Part 1: Chapter 1
"You may have the others fooled, but not me," Katara said as she leaned against the doorframe to Zuko's room in the Eastern Air Temple.
Zuko sat up, startled. The waterbender had appeared without warning. "I don't get it. The others seem like they've accepted me into the gang. Why won't you trust me?" His heart rate sped as his stomach twisted into knots.
"I was the first one to trust you, remember? Back in the catacombs in Ba Sing Se," she snapped. Zuko could picture that moment easily. The memory had often come to him as he had lain awake in his bed in the Fire Lord's palace when he had returned home. She had blamed his nation for her mother's death, just as he blamed it for his own mother's disappearance. But just as she had begun to see him, the real him, he had thrown it all away. And for what? Honor? he thought to himself bitterly.
"Katara, I'm sorry. You didn't deserve any of that." Zuko's voice felt strained in his throat.
"You and I both know you've struggled with doing the right thing. But if I think for one second you might slip up again or do anything to hurt Aang, I will not hesitate." Katara stared down at the Fire Nation boy. He looked so hurt, so wounded, but she knew it could only be an act. People didn't change so drastically. This boy was only a facade of the real Fire Nation prince, who would return to try to capture or hurt Aang. If her friends let down their guards around him, she would have to watch him extra closely.
Zuko opened his mouth to speak, but Katara turned and left. He dropped his head into his hands. "Why am I so bad at being good?" he groaned.
. . . . .
The next morning after breakfast, Katara sat with Toph on a boulder to watch Zuko teach Aang firebending.
"Firebending is all about the breath," she heard him say. She turned to Toph.
"After all we went through, how can you trust him?" she asked.
Toph faced straight ahead, her gray eyes unfocused. She blew a strand of hair from her face.
"I can tell when people are lying, remember?" Toph pointed to Zuko showing Aang how to create a small fireball. "Zuko isn't lying about wanting to help." She opened a bag of fire flakes and popped some into her mouth.
Katara scowled. She looked back at Zuko, watching him readjust Aang's stance. "Well, couldn't he have been brainwashed? Like Jet."
Toph shrugged and spoke with her mouth full. "Sure, it's possible. But I don't think so."
"Why not?" Katara bristled at Toph's ambivalence.
"Because, sugar queen," Toph said. "You haven't talked to his uncle like I have. He's been struggling for a long time. People can change for the better."
Aang made a perfect fireball and cheered. "Did you see that, Katara?" he called across the temple floor.
"Yeah, that was great, Aang!" Katara flashed a fake smile and hoped the airbender didn't notice her unease.
"Who would have thought Zuko would be such a great teacher!" Aang said as he continued punching to create small fireballs.
"Hey, what's all the noise?" Sokka asked as he walked into the open-air hall, munching a papaya. Aang turned, and Katara felt the world slow down. Aang's arm continued in its arc, his fist producing a fireball straight toward Sokka.
"Sokka!" Katara screamed, leaping to her feet and uncorking her water pouch. Before she could bend the water out, Zuko's arm cut through the fireball headed straight for Sokka.
"Aang! You've got to be more careful!" Zuko yelled as he turned to his student.
"Yeah, I'll say! You almost burned off my ponytail!" Sokka said, pointing to the singed end of his hair.
"That might have been a good thing." Toph smirked as she crunched on more fire flakes. She seemed completely impassive to what happened, and Katara felt the urge to slap the bag of fire flakes out of her hand. "Simmer down, Katara, I'm only joking," she said, as if she could read Katara's thoughts from the tensing of her muscles.
"Sokka, I'm really sorry," Aang said. His hand rubbed the back of his neck. "I was trying to be so careful. I never want to burn anyone again, not after what happened to Katara when I was learning from Jeong Jeong."
Katara walked to him and put her arm around his shoulders. "It's not your fault. Your teacher should have been giving you better instruction." She looked up to see Zuko glaring at her.
"You're blaming me for this? If it weren't for me, you'd be an only child right now!"
"If it weren't for you, Aang would be learning from a real teacher, not some banished teenager!"
"Guys, stop fighting!" Aang pushed his way in between them. "Katara, I'll be more careful. I won't burn anyone. Zuko, please forgive me. I need a firebending teacher. Don't be mad at each other. The monks used to tell us that a house with weak walls will fall."
"I'm glad to know they taught you architecture as well as airbending," Toph said dryly.
"No, it's not about that," Aang replied. "It means that a group will only be strong so long as everyone works together. I need both of you." Aang looked back and forth from Katara to Zuko. "Please?"
Katara turned her back to Zuko and crossed her arms. "I said I would go along with what you think is right, Aang," she said quietly.
Zuko ran a hand through his shaggy hair. "Fine. Aang, let's go back to practicing hot squats. Your form needs work."
Katara stomped to her room, snatching the bag of fire flakes out of Toph's hands as she went.
"H-hey, what about me?" Sokka asked. "I'm the one who was almost burned!" Toph responded by pulling his ponytail sharply.
"You look fine to me," she said.
. . . . .
Zuko turned over in the small bed in the air temple bedroom. The thin mattress felt every bit of its hundred years. Punching his pillow, he tried to fluff it up enough to get comfortable, but after more tossing, he gave up on sleep. The light from the nearly-full moon poured in through the window, casting a cool white glow on the stones set in the floor. They looked almost like ice, and felt cool under his bare feet. He decided to practice his bending, since he couldn't sleep.
He made his way out of his room and climbed the stairs onto the mesa above the cliffside temple. A forest grew near the edge of the cliff where the temple was hidden, and Zuko slowly walked between the trees, breathing the cool night air crisp in through his nose. He produced a small flame to guide his way to the stream that ran through the forest. He came up here every evening before dinner to clean himself and his clothes after the day's training with Aang. It was a quiet, peaceful spot. Owlmonkeys hooted softly, and small animals scurried through the brush, too small or quick for Zuko to spot. Ahead, the stream ran into a dark pool surrounded by a thick stand of bamboo.
The moonlight sparkled on the water, and Zuko realized Katara was standing in the pool, quietly bending the water around her like a noblewoman pulling on a silk robe. She wore her underclothes, the ones he had seen her in as she trained Aang in waterbending. Zuko crouched behind the bamboo, afraid the noise of turning back would startle her from her concentration. She would accuse him of spying her, of course. Zuko knew she only saw the worst in him.
He wanted the water bend around her shoulders, down her arms, flowing like snakes around her wrists and waist. He wondered what the temperature of the water was. He had seen her turn lukewarm water into ice and back in an instant. But can she heat it up on her own? If she can't, she's probably freezing, he thought.
He was too far to see if she had goosebumps along her arms, and his legs began to cramp from holding his crouched position. He decided to turn around and head back to bed, leaving Katara to her bending, but as he stood, a twig snapped under his foot. Instantly, the water flowing around Katara's body splashed back into the pool.
"Who's there?" she called.
Zuko froze, wondering if he should try to slip away. He weighed his odds against her chasing him. He hated to admit it, but in the moonlight, she would be more than a match for him. Instead of escaping, he called out.
"Sorry, it's me. I didn't realize anyone was up here."
"Zuko?" Disbelief crept into Katara's voice. "What are you doing up here?" She crossed her arms across her chest. "Are you going to tie me to a tree again?"
Zuko cringed at the idea of trying to tie this master waterbender to anything. "N-no. And sorry about that. Tying you to a tree, I mean. And for sneaking up on you. But that was accidental."
"Right." Katara stepped out of the pool, and Zuko tried to ignore how the droplets of water on her skin shone like specks of silver. She bent to gather her clothes, and Zuko shifted his weight from one foot to the other, wondering if he should just go. He began to open his mouth to ask, but Katara held up a hand. "Wait. Did you hear that?"
Zuko cocked his head. "Hear what?"
"Shh!" Katara turned toward the underbrush. Then Zuko heard it. A panting, snuffling sound. Something big. And closeby.
"Look out!" Katara screamed as a giant boarwolf crashed through the forest. It raised its tusks and bellowed, swinging its head from side to side. Katara bent water from the creek as Zuko fell back into his defensive firebending stance. The beast bellowed again, and its front hoof scraped the ground, preparing to charge toward Zuko. Before he could react, Katara bent the water around the boarwolf's legs. The water turned to ice, effectively pinning the boarwolf where it stood. For a moment, Zuko felt relieved. It seemed like Katara had finished this fight before it had started. Unfortunately, the boarwolf had other ideas. Twisting its spine, it used the momentum of its back muscles to break free from the icy bonds. Its hooves smashed the ice into splinters.
"Uh, got any other ideas?" Zuko asked. The beast bellowed again.
"Climb!" Katara grabbed the lowest branch of the closest tree and pulled herself up. She quickly began reaching for the next branch. Zuko watched for only a second before he ran after her. He followed her up the tree as the boarwolf began to charge. It hit the trunk of the tree just as Zuko reached the branch Katara was sitting on. They gripped the tree as it shook from the impact from the beast. Although they were twenty feet up in the air, Zuko wished they were twice as high. The stench of the boarwolf was overpowering, like it had rolled in a sulfur spring before eating an entire field of fire beans.
"Can you bend from here?" Zuko asked. "I don't want to burn the whole forest down!"
Katara nodded, and readjusted herself so she straddled the tree branch she sat on. Gripping the branch with her thighs, she used her arms to bend water from the stream. A wave reared up, eclipsing some of the smaller trees. Zuko had only seen a wave this immense when the same waterbender had directed one toward him at the north pole. The boarwolf stared with its beady pink eyes at the wave, but did not back down. Its tusks glinted in the moonlight.
"Urrr-ahk!" Katara grunted as she sliced her arms apart. The wave turned to sharp icicles that tore through the air toward the beast. It bellowed and stood its ground. A few of the icicles pierced it, but its hide was thick. Nearby, the stream was nearly depleted of its water.
"Try something else!" Zuko yelled, but before she could raise her arms, the boarwolf slammed into the trunk of the tree again. They both yelled as they held on.
"It's going to knock down the whole tree!" Katara's eyes were huge, and Zuko felt fire in his lungs.
"I need you to trust me."
"What?" She stared at him as the boarwolf continued to slam its body against the tree.
"I need you to trust me!" He reached up and grabbed her wrist. "When I say jump, you jump, okay?"
Katara nodded. The boarwolf backed up and stomped its front hooves.
"I think this is it," Zuko said as the animal began to charge. As it collided, they heard a deafening crack that ran through the wood. As the tree pitched unsteadily, Zuko let go of Katara's wrist and pulled himself to a stand on the branch of the tree. She stood next to him. The tree wobbled unsteadily, reminding Zuko of the ship he had lived on for three long years. Beside him, Katara, only in her underclothes, looked determined. He knew she hadn't come this far to be killed by a wild animal.
The boarwolf bellowed and rammed the tree again. This time, the tree snapped, the top half bending precariously. As it began to fall, Zuko judged the distance to the ground. "Now!" he yelled, jumping and twisting to send a fireball down the tree toward the animal. Beside him, he felt Katara tuck herself into a ball and roll. He was not so coordinated. He fell with his back to the ground, hearing someone scream his name before he blacked out.
. . . . .
Katara smoothed back Zuko's hair from his face. His eyes were shut, but he was still breathing. She glanced back at the boarwolf, but it was clearly dead. Zuko had aimed the fireball directly between its eyes. Its carcass was still smoking, but Katara had more important matters now. Bending water from the stream, she placed her hands on Zuko's chest. Two ribs were broken from his fall, but they had not punctured his lungs. She could also feel a nasty bump forming at the back of his head. He'd have a raging headache when he woke up, but he'd be fine. She used the water to heal him, feeling his bones fuse back together and his bruises mend. As she finished, his eyelids fluttered. She had spent weeks watching his every step, waiting for him to make a single mistake that signaled his true intentions with Aang. Now that he was completely at her mercy, she felt nothing but compassion.
"Katara?" he asked. "Am I dead?" He groaned and shut his eyes.
"No, but you're in a lot of pain." She looked him over carefully while searching her own heart for the hatred that had burned in her until now.
"What about the boarwolf?"
"Dead," she answered simply. She swallowed and took a deep breath. "Zuko, I want to say thank you."
"Then say it." His eyes opened slowly and met hers.
"Hey, I just saved your life," she reminded him. She could not understand how he could be so infuriating even as they narrowly escaped being gouged by a savage animal.
"And I just saved yours!"
She sighed. Even though she was beginning to forgive him for his past, he could still irritate her in an instant. "Okay, fine. We'll say it at the same time."
"That childish, huh?"
Katara set her jaw as he smirked. "I healed your ribs, but I can just as easily break them again," she warned. "We'll say thanks on three. One, two-"
Zuko raised his hand and pulled her head down to his. He kissed her gently, and her eyes flew open. He tasted like charcoal and wood. She began to pull away, but the kiss felt just as healing as any water. It was as if she could feel the torn bits inside herself start to mend. Her eyes closed, and she touched his face as their kiss lengthed. His lips moved in intensity, pressing more firmly when he felt her relax into him. As she pulled back, he said, "Thanks."
"For saving your life?"
"No. For that. You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that."
She felt her heart lurch, as though it forgot how to keep beating. Before she could respond, she heard someone yell her name.
"Katara!"
"Aang? Over here!" she yelled back. Aang, Sokka, and Toph appeared through the trees.
"What happened?" Toph asked. "We heard a crash. Is that Zuko?"
"We got surprised by a boarwolf," Katara explained, helping Zuko sit up. "Zuko got banged up, but we're both fine." Sokka walked over to the dead animal to check it out.
"This is great!" he said as he prodded the boarwolf with his club.
"It is?" Aang asked.
"This'll feed us for a week!" He took out his sword and began hacking through a hind leg. "Aang, help me carry this back to camp."
"Uh, no offense, Sokka, but I'd rather not," Aang said, holding up his hands.
"Your loss. Toph?"
"Absolutely." Toph marched over to the beast and stomped, bending the earth around the carcass, and lifting the animal and the ground into the air. "Let's go, this thing is heavier than it looks," she said through gritted teeth. She and Sokka headed back to the temple.
"Do you need any help?" Aang asked Zuko as he clumsily got to his feet.
"No, I'm fine. Everything hurts, but Katara healed me." Zuko's eyes shot to hers.
She shrugged. The taste of him still burned on her lips like hot tea.
"Katara, where are your clothes?" Aang said.
"Spirits, I was taking a bath." Her face grew hot. "Aang, can you make sure he gets back okay? I'll go find my clothes."
"I'm not a child, I can get back on my own," Zuko said sulkily.
"It's okay, Sifu Hotman, I don't mind. Plus, you can tell me all about the fight," Aang said cheerfully.
"I just don't like the idea of Katara being out here alone, after all that." Zuko rubbed the back of his neck. Despite herself, she felt anger rise in her chest.
"I can take care of myself," she spat.
"Really? Because I seem to remember you being stuck in a tree with no plan." Zuko stared daggers at her, and she wished she could use a water whip on him.
"Stop fighting! Boarwolves only charge when someone disturbs them. Otherwise they're pretty tame. As long as Katara's quiet, there won't be another one." Aang twirled his staff. "Firebending practice starts bright and early, right, Zuko?" Zuko only groaned in reply and followed Aang back to the temple.
Katara watched them go. Aang bounced away on the balls of his feet as carefree as always, while Zuko limped beside him. Just as she was about to return to the stream, she saw Zuko look back over his shoulder at her. She turned quickly and ran to find her clothes.
. . . . .
The next morning, Katara woke stiff and sore. She felt like the boarwolf had rammed into her, not the tree. She wondered how Zuko felt. It would probably be best if she could spend more time this morning checking his ribs and head. For once, she didn't feel angry when she thought of him. Shrugging off the thought, she rolled out of bed and dressed herself.
When she walked into the bright morning sunlight filling the air temple's courtyard, she was surprised to see Zuko leading Aang through a firebending technique. Bruises purpled his shoulders and arms, but his vest hid his back and chest.
"What's going on with you?" Toph asked as she appeared from the hall leading from her own room. Katara jumped.
"Nothing. What do you mean?"
"Your heart is beating as fast as a jackalope's."
Katara laughed uneasily. "It's nothing. I'm fine."
"Suit yourself. Whose turn is it to make breakfast?"
Weeks ago, Katara, who was sick of mothering the group, had decided when they reached the air temple that she, Sokka, and Toph would split the cooking and cleaning while Zuko trained Aang. When Toph had tried complaining that cooking was hard because she was blind, Katara had argued that if her blindness hadn't kept her from becoming the Earth Rumble Champion three years running, she could manage a frying pan and eggs. Toph had only relented when Katara refused to make her food anymore.
"Sokka's, I think. Is he up yet?" Katara looked around.
"He never went to sleep," Toph said as she pointed. A small shed, hastily constructed of rocks and boulders, leaned against one wall of the open-air cavern. "He's smoking the boarwolf meat. I made the smoking hut last night when I brought the thing back."
Katara walked to the hut and almost fell over from the overpowering smell of smoking meat. Sokka was burning small fires under each slab of meat he had cut from the beast.
"Well, look who's finally awake!" Sokka said as he poked his head out from the hut. His eyebrows were nearly singed off. "Can you bend some water onto the fires? We need more smoke." Katara followed him into the hut and bent water from a bowl near the door, sprinkling it over the wood so they puffed and whined.
"Smells almost like penguin meat," Katara noted. She tied her long hair into a bun at the base of her neck.
"Less rubbery, actually," Sokka said before he ripped off a hunk of meat with his teeth. "Keep that up, would ya? I'll make us all breakfast."
Katara dutifully kept the fires stoked and added water when the logs needed more smoke. Smoking meat had always been a relaxing chore for her. Hours could pass by back at the south pole as she tended the fires and watched the meat slowly turn from red to brown. She almost felt like she was home as she focused on smoking the meat. She only looked up half an hour later when someone walked into the hut.
"Need any help?" a raspy voice asked.
"Zuko!" she said in surprise. He handed her a bowl of fried rice.
"Sokka asked me to bring you breakfast." He sat next to her, and she began shoveling food in her mouth.
"Why aren't you training?"
"Toph wanted Aang until noon. She said his earthbending muscles will atrophy while he plays with fireworks."
Katara chuckled. "She's always a charmer." She chewed another bite while Zuko added heat to a fire that was burning low. "How's your… everything?" she asked, pointing at his body with her chopsticks.
He groaned. "I was stiff this morning, but it's mostly worked off from training with Aang. He really was up at the crack of dawn."
"Do you want me to take a look?" Katara knew if Toph were here, she'd make another jab at her jackalope heart beats. She took a deep breath. No big deal. Just healing someone.
"Do you mind?" Zuko asked, already pulling his vest off. Katara set down her breakfast and bended water from the bowl. Zuko turned his back to her, and she placed her hands on his shoulders and moved them down his back.
"Well, your ribs feel good. I mean, they feel fine. Healed." She shook her head, thankful Zuko wasn't looking at her face, which felt as red as a fire lily. Her hand traveled down his back, exploring the muscles, sinew, and bone.
"Ow!" Zuko flinched as her hand traveled over a dark bruise.
"Here?"
"Yeah, that spot hurts a lot."
The water surrounding Katara's hands glowed as she focused her energy on the bruise. The muscle began to relax under her palm. Slowly, he turned around to sit facing her.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome." As if in a trance, pulled by instinct and not thought, she leaned forward, her lips brushing his. His hand reached up to tangle itself in her hair, still tied in a low bun. He pulled her closer, lips opening as his tongue entered her mouth, tasting hers. This kiss was very unlike the ones she and Jet had snuck in the trees of the Freedom Fighter camp, those jerky, sweaty, clumsy kisses. She pushed those memories away and focused on Zuko's smooth lips. One hand tugged gently at her bun, trying to undo it, as the other held her waist. She realized absently that her hands were on his shoulders, and she squeezed the lean muscles. The hand in her hair pulled her bun free and raked through the frizzy waves. She pushed her tongue into his mouth, eager for more, and the hand on her waist began traveling up her side until the thumb just grazed the underside of her breast. Her breath hitched in excitement, but Zuko moved his hand away at the sudden movement. Katara broke the kiss for only a moment to whisper, "It's okay," before finding his hand with her own and pulling it back to her chest. He seemed to freeze as she placed his palm on her breast. She shut her eyes tight and moaned softly into his mouth as he squeezed gently. Suddenly, she smelled smoke. Too much smoke.
"Zuko!" she screamed as the slabs of boarwolf caught fire. She leapt to her feet and bent the water out of the bowl and tried to douse the flames. Zuko stood quickly and clenched his hands into fists to quell the flames.
"What's going on!" Sokka yelled as he burst into the smoking hut. "My meat! It's all burnt!" A second later, Aang and Toph pushed their way in, and the entire Gaang was stuffed inside the small room.
"Never let a firebender near a smoking hut! First rule of meat smoking!" Sokka yelled, tears pouring down his face. Katara stifled a laugh, but Aang and Toph burst into laughter as Zuko scowled.
"It's gonna be okay, Sokka. We can just cut the burnt bits off," Katara said.
"What the spirits were you doing that the meat went up in flames?" Sokka demanded.
"Yeah, what the spirits were you doing?" Toph asked with a smirk. Katara glared at her, but the blind girl took no notice.
"Uh, healing," Zuko said quickly. "I'm still a little sore from yesterday."
"I'm sure you're not the only one who's sore," Toph replied, unsuccessfully hiding her grin.
"Don't you have more earthbending to do?" Katara snapped. Toph laughed and grabbed Aang's arm, dragging him out of the hut as he looked in confusion back and forth between Toph and Katara.
"You are gonna help me cut off the burnt parts," Sokka said, pointing at Katara. "And you," he turned to Zuko, "are gonna stay the hell away from my meat."
"Trust me, I don't want anything to do with your meat," Zuko said quickly, hands held out in front of him. Katara smirked as she grabbed his vest off the floor, balled it up, and threw it at him.