Disclaimer: The Avatar world and characters belong to Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.
Zuko woke from his sleep, his body curled on the floor of Appa's saddle. He groggily lifted himself so he was sitting, his legs crossed as he rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palm. In front of him, Zuko could see Katara's stiff back as she steered Appa over the vast expanse of sea. The sky was hinting that dawn would soon break over the horizon.
"You should get some rest to save your strength, I can steer for a while," Zuko suggested to her. His voice was rough and low, his mind still half-asleep.
"Don't worry about my strength." Katara didn't even bother to look back at him while she spoke. "I've got plenty."
Zuko frowned at her back, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. He was aware that Katara was determined, but Zuko was worried that she was going to be stubborn to the point of stupidity, to the point that it weakened her rather than fuelled her. The only thing stopping him from arguing the point further with her was the empathy he felt; Zuko knew that stubborn determination well from when he had chased the Avatar for years. It was because he understood how Katara felt, having that taunting target finally so close, that he knew he would not be able to change her mind.
They had already agreed that they would sneak into a Fire Navy communications tower as every tower had to be up to date on where each navy division was deployed. Occasionally the towers had archived information regarding the higher ranking officers, and contact details should communication with them be necessary. The key to their mission was to not be spotted, otherwise the Southern Raiders' fleet would be tipped off long before Katara and Zuko could ambush them.
Katara landed Appa on a nearby rock. The tide was low enough that it made for a perfect landing spot, with no one around to notice them. Cloaked in their black tops with masks the bottom half of their faces, they headed towards the tower. Zuko followed as Katara bent a patch of ice large enough for them to float on. They jumped onto it, and Katara accelerated them forwards towards the island on which the communication tower stood. Katara raised the wave and, together, she and Zuko jumped off of the ice float and vaulted themselves neatly over a low wall before shooting across the paved walkway. They hid around a corner while a guard walked past on patrol, oblivious to them.
Successfully managing to sneak into the tower without being detected, Katara and Zuko crept into the air vents to scout the rooms. After a little while, they spotted a small room which looked promising: a large map of what appeared to be current naval routes lay on a wooden table, and Katara and Zuko nodded at each other to confirm that they wanted to check it out. A guard sat in the middle of the room at a desk, writing a letter. Katara bent the ink out of the pot, spilling it across the page and smearing the careful writing. The guard blinked in surprise before angrily standing up and leaving the room to find something to clean the mess with. Zuko and Katara quickly dropped down from the air vent into the room, and began to look for the Southern Raiders on the map.
It was too late when they heard the door open behind them.
"Hey, what are you doing in here?" A guard asked, shocked. He readied his stance to firebend but, before he could, Katara stopped fell into a stance Zuko didn't recognise, and the guard froze.
She was bloodbending.
Katara lifted the guard up into the air slightly, his toes just brushing the floor, before lowering him to his knees on the ground, his arms bent at painful angles behind him.
Zuko's eyes widened in shock, but he remained silent as he watched. It wasn't his place to judge Katara for her abilities.
Katara had a strong hold on the guard; he couldn't talk, but kept trying to make noises from behind his numb lips.
"I'm going to let you speak because we need information. If you call for help, I'll break a limb. It might be your arm or it might be your neck," Katara threatened. She hadn't expected to use her bloodbending - it wasn't something she enjoyed - but there was no time for a battle. The guard had needed to be subdued instantly, and Katara had reacted before she could even think about what she was doing.
Katara kept the guard's mouth shut, but allowed him movement of his head. He nodded cautiously at her.
"I need to get some information on a commander in chief. Where can we get that?" She asked bluntly. Katara eased her hold on the guard's face.
"Okay! Okay!" The officer squeaked. "There are files on Commanders and other officers in a cabinet through that door. The room should be empty."
"How do we know that's true? You're aware that I'll kill you instantly if it's a trap."
The guard gulped anxiously at Katara's words.
"I swear, it's true," he pleaded.
Katara kept the guard under her control whilst Zuko cautiously walked to the door and cabinet. Hesitantly, he opened the door, ready for an assault, but the room was small and unguarded.
"Clear," he called quietly to Katara.
Zuko searched through the cabinets for the section on the Southern Raiders Special Forces unit. He managed to find the file of the unit's Commander in Chief, but when looking for a location on a current expedition he noticed that the Commander was appointed four years ago. He knew that Katara's mother had passed before that time.
Zuko peeked his head back around the door frame; the guard was still quaking in his twisted position.
"I need the name of the Commander in Chief of the Southern Raiders unit. Not the current one, the one from…" Zuko looked over at Katara. "How many years ago?"
"Seven," Katara answered firmly.
"I'm not sure!" The guard replied, panicked.
"Think," Katara suggested in a hard tone, tightening her grip.
"Uh, Yon… something?
Zuko searched through the file names for a Yon.
"Yon Rha?" Zuko checked.
"Yes! I think so! Yon Rha."
Zuko checked a couple more times, but there was only one Yon filed as a commander. Checking the file, Zuko saw that Yon Rha had been Commander during the time of the raid on Katara's village.
They had found him.
Zuko began to scan the record, searching for where they could find him now.
Zuko felt his limbs freeze up momentarily. It was like his legs and arms had turned to stone, and the only thing he could move was his head. He looked over at Katara, half expecting her to have used blood bending onto him for whatever reason. But she stared back at him in anticipation, waiting for information, and Zuko realised that his immobilisation was internal.
He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. If he'd been with Sokka, he would have sworn. But it felt inappropriate to swear now; not because it was in front of Katara, but because there was no swear word that would do the situation justice.
There was no justice for this situation at all.
He looked away from Katara and then back to the file, his head bowed. He had taken her here to confront her unleashed feelings, but now she'd never be able to get closure. He wanted to deliver the man responsible for her pain to her, had promised her that he would take her to him, and now he couldn't.
Yon Rha was dead. A stamp on the corner of the page read in clear, bold letters: DECEASED.
Zuko stared at the page. He half-hoped that if he just kept looking at it, then a solution would emerge on the page. But the DECEASED stamp stayed where it was, mocking him. Zuko was also trying to work out what to say to Katara - he couldn't just break the news to her while she had a hold on the guard with her blood bending. What if she accidentally killed him from the shock of the news?
It was then that Zuko noticed the next of kin section.
Zuko wanted to put the file away, to take Katara from the tower and tell her the bad news without mentioning anything else from the file. But he knew that there was no way Katara was just going to walk her away from her mission. This was her decision to make.
"I've got it," Zuko finally said. "Let's go."
Katara gave Zuko a look of suspicion, clearly wondering why he took so long to read the file. But she nodded at his words, and dropped the exhausted guard to the ground. As they began to make their escape with the file, Katara looked back at the guard, her face conflicted.
Zuko gently placed his hand on her arm. "Just leave him, he can't hurt us," He whispered to her.
"But he saw us and, he knows who we're looking for." Katara explained in a strained tone.
"Then knock him out so we can escape. He can't identify us, and we'll have a head start."
Katara had never used her bloodbending to render a person unconscious, and feared that doing it incorrectly could kill the guard by accident. So instead, she released the guard from her hold and picked up the nearby heavy ink pot. Before he could protest, Katara whacked the guard around the head with the base of it, and she and Zuko stared at the officer as he crumpled to the ground.
Quickly, they made their way back to Appa, following the route they had used to break in. It was only once they had stepped off of Katara's floating patch of ice to bring them to safety and were climbing onto Appa that they spoke again. Zuko had been bracing himself for the conversation that was about to ensue, but was determined that it was better that he deal with Katara's reaction alone, rather than with Fire Nation bystanders surrounding them.
"What was that back there? He's not with the Southern Raiders anymore?" Katara questioned.
Zuko shook his head at her, finding his words.
"Do you have the location of where he is now? Where are we going next?" Katara asked gruffly as she pulled out the map.
"It's up to you," Zuko answered.
Katara's head snapped up from the map to glare at him.
"What do you mean it's up to me? Where is he!?" she growled.
"It's your decision how we continue from here," Zuko answered calmly as he held out the file to Katara. He stood in front of her as she read in the early morning light.
Zuko watched her eyes scan the file, and saw the exact second they fell upon the big stamp on the corner of the page.
"Deceased." Katara silently mouthed the word to herself, her eyes wide with shock.
Katara stared at the stamp quietly. Zuko felt like he was standing next to a bomb, waiting for her to explode. He watched as the realisation hit her that there was no man to answer her questions; Yon Rha had died, and now Katara could never exact her revenge on him.
"No!" Katara shrieked after a tense moment. She flung the file away from herself and threw her hands up, grabbing at her hair in angry despair. Zuko watched as her eyes turned wild, flitting from side to side, unable to settle on something. "No! No!"
She looked up at him, her eyes filled with fury. Zuko had thought she hated him, but the anger she had pierced him with before was nothing compared to the rage on her face now. She lunged forward, tackling him to the floor of Appa's saddle.
Appa growled in disapproval at the violence occurring on his back. Katara sat on top of Zuko's legs as she leaned over him, her hands gripped at the collar on Zuko's tunic. She shook him roughly.
"It's not fair! He killed her! He killed her and then he died on his own terms! That's not fair! This was all for nothing!" Katara shouted in his face.
"It's not over," Zuko told her.
Katara's breath caught, and for a moment she was silent and still on top of him.
"He has a sister," Zuko admitted.
Zuko was afraid of what Katara would do with the news, but he knew that it wasn't his choice to keep the information from her. This was her situation to deal with, and it would be her decision on how she used it to get closure.
Katara's hands limply held the edge of Zuko's shirt, her breathing shaky whilst she took the information in.
"Where is she?" Katara asked, her low voice a stark contrast to her previous yelling.
"It's the same town Yon Rha lived in. The files a few years old, the information could be outdated, but it's likely she's still there."
She leaned back and let go of his shirt. "I want to meet her," Katara said firmly. A grim frown was etched across her face, and Zuko could see her obvious disappointment over the situation. But Zuko knew she would want to see this out to whatever end she could.
Slowly, Katara got up off of Zuko, and offered him a hand to pull him to his feet in return. Zuko stared at her in the moonlight as he took her hand, trying to figure out what she meant by "meet". But it was impossible to read Katara's face; the fierce determination from before was back in her eyes.
"Then we'll go meet her," Zuko agreed. They quickly worked out their new direction and set off on Appa into the night sky. The town wasn't too far on the map, and they calculated that it would only take a few hours before they would arrive in the late hours of the afternoon.
"The Southern Raiders…" Zuko began. Katara looked over her shoulder at him, surprised at the sound of his voice. They'd been mostly silent so far while flying. "They're not a normal military division; they're a Special Forces unit. Ozai tasked them with eradicating all waterbenders in the South."
"And?" Katara asked, confused as to what point Zuko was trying to make other than increase Katara's hatred for Firelord Ozai. She turned back to the sea.
"I didn't know… was your mother a waterbender too?"
"No," Katara replied. "She was a harmless civilian. Didn't Sokka tell you the story?"
"Only about the raid. He didn't know much about what actually happened to your mother…"
Katara paused, staring up at the sky in silence. She took a deep breath, and began to speak quietly.
"We saw the soot falling with the snow," she began, "and I ran to find our mom. But when I made it to our home, there was already a Fire Navy solider there. My mom said to him 'Just let her go and I'll give you the information you want.'" Katara bit back the beginning of a sob at her last memory of her mother. "The guard yelled at me to leave, but I wanted to run to my mom. I was scared and I needed her reassurance. She told me 'go find your Dad, sweetie, I'll handle this.' So I did. I began to leave, but I looked up and saw the face of that man standing in our home. And I swear, I'll never forget his stony face and cold eyes."
Katara moved to hug her knees as she talked, still staring at the ocean in front of her. "I ran as fast as I could to get to my Dad. He was fighting other soldiers, and I yelled to him about the man in our home. Together, we ran back, but… we were too late. When we got there, the man was gone. And so was she."
Zuko paused for a moment, taking her story in. "Your mother was a brave woman," he finally said.
Katara touched her mother's necklace around her neck. "I know."
It was a few more hours of flying before they talked again.
"We're here," Katara commented as a valley in the mountains came into view.
Rather than his usual descent, Appa began to hurtle towards the land. He crashed into the ground, with no attempt at slowing down, and skidded along the ground sluggishly. Both Zuko and Katara gripped on for dear life to avoid falling out.
"Well that wasn't the smoothest landing," Zuko commented dryly. They both quickly jumped off of Appa to inspect him for any injuries. Appa just laid there, grunting occasionally.
"What's wrong, buddy?" Katara asked as she inspected Appa's eyes and his mouth for any signs of illness.
Appa yawned loudly in response.
"I'm no doctor, but he looks exhausted," Zuko suggested. Katara narrowed her eyes at him, like he and Appa were somehow collaborating to sabotage her mission. But then she looked back over at the sky bison, and Zuko saw sympathy for him wash over her.
Katara's frown was back. "He does look pretty tired. He'll need to rest for at least a few hours," she admitted.
Appa groaned louder.
"I think he wants more than a few hours."
"I didn't know you spoke sky-bison," Katara shot back. "So what, we're stuck in this town?" Katara asked dismayed.
Zuko nodded regretfully. "Whatever you had planned is going to have to wait until we have a quick getaway again."
"Ugh! This is all a disaster. Do all of your little field trips typically go this well?" Katara asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Zuko thought about his trip with Aang, when they'd been stuck in goo after they'd just escaped suffocation over a golden egg, and when he was held prisoner on a Fire Nation ship when he was helping Sokka find Hakoda. He wasn't even going to start thinking about any of his failed missions when he was chasing the Avatar.
"Pretty much, yeah." Zuko shrugged as he patted Appa sympathetically.
Katara leaned her back against Appa's side as she brought her hands to her face and groaned in frustration.
"What now?" she asked, her voice muffled by her hands.
"We'll find and track the target. And feed Appa. We should eat too, to keep your chi up," Zuko suggested.
They had a small supply of food packed at the back of Appa's saddle. Katara sat next to Zuko, eating her portion grudgingly, before making sure that Appa was well fed and had enough water. From there, they headed into the small town.
It would have been picturesque if they weren't here for such a serious mission. A small town in the valley of two mountains, the rich nature and wildlife was striking against the dull grey sky. Katara and Zuko discreetly navigated around the town to find the address Yon Rha's sister lived at. They had learned that her name was Elua from the file.
Her house was small, and was near the local market. Keeping out of sight, the two watched through her window from afar for hours as she sat in the corner of her home, reading a long scroll. There were no signs of any other family members; if they did exist, it looked like they were away at the moment. She was alone.
Katara made to move towards the house, but Zuko shook his head at her.
"Appa's not ready yet," he whispered. Katara sighed and allowed herself to retreat away from the home.
It was getting dark, and Zuko knew that Katara was probably exhausted, having insisted on not resting for the entirety of their trip so far. He located a tiny inn and began heading towards it, gesturing for Katara to follow him.
"What are you doing?" she hissed at him. "We can sleep on Appa!"
"Leave Appa be, he's resting! I have enough money to pay for a room. If you're going to face tomorrow, you'll need a good night's sleep."
Katara rolled her eyes at him, crossing her arms. Zuko waited, his arms crossed too, as she internally debated the options.
"Separate beds," Katara insisted.
"Separate beds," Zuko agreed. "Let me do the talking, your blue eyes might raise some questions."
"Oh and your face won't, your Royal Highness?"
"We're in the middle of nowhere, they won't know who I am here. And people don't like to look too hard at my scar anyway," Zuko argued. Katara frowned at him, forgetting that not everyone was as used to seeing Zuko's scar as she was. After a moment, she relented.
"Fine." Katara followed him into the Inn, waiting by the side while Zuko chatted to the man behind the counter, paid some coins for the room and then returned with a key and a lantern.
"They only have one bed available," Zuko said nervously, brandishing the key in front of her.
"What? This town is hardly a tourist attraction, how on earth are they booked up?" Katara said, her words sharp with incredulity.
"Well in case you didn't notice, it's not exactly a big inn. They only have around three rooms to begin with!" Zuko let out a sigh, one hand pinching the bridge of his nose, "It's fine, I'll sleep on the floor. It's already paid for."
Katara shrugged. If Zuko wanted to sleep on the floor, then that was his choice.
They headed up a flight of stairs to the only other floor in the building, and sure enough there were only three rooms and a communal bathroom. Zuko unlocked the door on the left, holding up the lantern as they walked inside. A narrow double bed sat in the middle of the room, next to a small bedside table. There was a closet in the corner and enough space on the floor by the bed that Zuko would be able to stretch out on the ground.
Zuko placed the lantern on the table, and an awkward silence fell between them. Katara opened the window on the other side of the room in an attempt to feel like there was more space in the room. Quietly, they both removed their layers of black clothing to make sleeping more comfortable. Katara stripped down to her bindings and moved to lie on the bed whilst Zuko settled down on the ground in his usual dark brown trousers, using the rest of his clothes as a pillow.
After a few minutes of lying on the wooden floor in the dark, Zuko accepted that it was not going to be comfortable, and that he might be awake for a while. Although, he figured, it wasn't that far from some of the sleeping conditions he had endured in the Earth Kingdom with Iroh.
Katara admitted to herself that even though she was tired, and even though the bed was comfortable, it was very unlikely that she would actually fall asleep. Zuko had wasted his money and was sleeping on the floor for nothing. She lay there, staring up at the ceiling, unable to stop her brain from thinking about her strange situation.
Circumstances were forcing her and her unintentional husband to remain in the town where her mother's killer had lived, and where his sister still resided. Katara would never be able to face her mother's killer. Now there was no way Kya's death would ever truly be avenged. What was the point in her even being in this lonely town? It wasn't going to bring her mother back, and it wasn't going to punish the bastard that had killed her. The only things left were to do were unleash her anger and hatred on the lone relative of Yon Rha and get answers.
Katara still needed answers.
There had to be some end to the grief, even if there was no justice in this world. The cruelty of the situation caused tears to prick Katara's eyes.
Katara quickly regretted allowing herself to think about it in her cramped room with Zuko. The harder she tried to reign in the deep grief surging through her, the more she began to quietly sob. The worst part was that she could remember how, when she was young and couldn't sleep because she was sad, her mother would crawl under the furs with her and hold her until she drifted off.
Zuko, still awake on the floor, lay there in alarm. He could hear Katara crying and didn't know what to do. Was he supposed to pretend that he was asleep and couldn't hear her? Was he supposed to comfort her? Azula had never really been the crying type, and Mai had never cried in front of him either. He cleared his throat awkwardly in the dark in an attempt to remind Katara that he was in the room and awake.
Katara sniffed loudly, trying desperately to get it together. "Zuko?" She asked quietly.
"Yeah?"
"Would you… please…?" She couldn't find the right words.
"Do you want me to leave?" He whispered.
"No," Katara replied quickly. There was another beat of silence. "Stay, please." The words were raw with sadness, and a need for comfort. Katara pulled the covers back and sat up, leaning across the narrow bed to where Zuko lay on the floor. Gingerly, she held out her hand to him.
Confused, Zuko took Katara's outstretched hand. He felt her gently pull on his hand, tugging him towards the bed. He let go of her hand to push himself off of the floor and carefully sat down on her bed, moving slowly to give her time to change her mind. He couldn't see her face clearly in the dark, and Zuko didn't know what she wanted from him.
Katara let out another sob from where she sat on the bed and Zuko tentatively placed his hand on her shoulder. At this small gesture, Katara choked out another sob and leaned onto Zuko's shoulder. He sighed, wrapping his arm around Katara's shoulder as she curled into his side.
Katara clung to Zuko as she pressed her face against the front of his shoulder, and Zuko adjusted himself so that he had both arms around Katara in a comforting embrace. They leaned back so they were resting against the headboard of the bed.
Katara wished she could have made it through the trip without needing to be held like this. She was doing fine until they had stopped moving, meaning that there was nothing to distract her from her thoughts and troubles. Now the need to be held outweighed her issues with Zuko. She felt so weak; crying in the privacy of her own tent or in front of a family member was one thing, but to cry in front of Zuko and seek comfort from him was entirely another. Katara felt like a child again, fragile and defenceless against the injustices in the world. Sobs wracked through her chest as tears streamed from of her eyes, her nose running whilst she took great gulps of breath in between each sob. She wished that Sokka or her father were here to support her, but most of all she wished her mother was still alive to hold her.
She was grateful to Zuko for coming with her. So far he hadn't stood in her way; he was just there beside her, helping her find ways to complete the mission. She wasn't oblivious to the kind fact that he was making sure she was staying healthy, too. Secretly, she appreciated his support. It was nice to have someone look after her for once in these moments when she couldn't be as strong as she would like to be.
"Please, stay," Katara sniffed. "At least until I fall asleep."
