You are the spark to my writing. Thank you to each and every one of you, my readers, current, and future. I got immensely sweet and encouraging reviews today. One said she shipped Aya and Haru -things like that matter so much to me. It gives me the encouragement to know you enjoy an OC and that putting them more into my story will be appreciated and not off-putting. I feel so encouraged, which leads to this… another chapter today. I hope you enjoy it, and please review. Good or bad, I need them to be a better, more entertaining writer.

Still, I need to say, I look at each and every view of my story. Reading it matters to me. Thank you

That said, every read and every like/kudos makes me thrilled. Anything and any moment you spend reading this humble woman's story means the world to me.

And in this chapter, Katara is even more awesome. She takes back her power while still being vulnerable.

Zuko leaned on the door frame of the bathroom, watching Katara. "Is there a reason you're filling the tub with water right before we go to dinner?"

"Yes," she said simply, not taking her eyes off the water level rising in the tub.

"And that reason is?"

She turned to look at him. "Hopefully, ridiculous. And if it does end up being ridiculous, you can heat up the water after dinner, and we can bathe together. Sexy, right?!"

"Is there a reason you're not telling me?" He asked curiously.

"Yes. I want to be wrong. And… You know I trust you," she asked, her shoulder sagging.

He walked over and pulled her into his arms. "Will you tell me later tonight when we are having a sexy bath together?"

She gave him a sweet smile. "Yes. That I will do." She then leaned down and turned off the water. Zuko was wondering how they would both fit in a bath that full, and he worried about what was bothering her.

Dinner was everything his father had wanted it to be and more. Hakoda couldn't even look at Katara sitting next to Zuko, which was awkward since the Fire Lord purposely had Hakoda sit across from Katara at the table.

Halfway through, Hakoda said, "and for the negotiations? I'd prefer them to start now."

Ozai replied, "What kind of host would that make me if I rushed you into negotiations? No. Stay a while. Enjoy yourselves." Zuko carefully controlled his reactions. He didn't want to end up rolling his eyes at his father.

"Funny," Hakoda said in an unamused tone. "I would think you'd be eager to know the location of your banished wife."

Zuko felt Katara grip his hand tightly; then, he watched in surprise as she bolted to her feet. "Have you no sense?! You're picking a fight with the Fire Lord in his palace?!"

Hakoda glared at her; Zuko idly thought about how he was finally looking at his daughter. "My options are more limited than yours on how to get along here. I can't spread my legs for the prince like you do."

She released Zuko's hands and slammed her palms on the table, and leaned down. "Judge me all you want, Chief Hakoda. You're the one using humans as bargaining chips."

"M-my mother died," Zuko said nervously.

Ozai scoffed, "no. Your mother was banished. She poisoned my father because he ordered me to kill you. He wanted me to feel Iroh's pain. Your mother… objected to his command –strongly."

And all of a sudden, Katara knew her father had a bargaining chip. But not the way he thought. Ozai confirmed that when he began laughing. "I don't give a flying money-rats-ass where Ursa is. There isn't anything I need from her anymore."

"Even if she's with her old lover. The one who she was engaged to for what, a whole day before you decided she was yours since her grandfather had been the Avatar?"

"Why would I care when she gave me heirs and the throne? She's just a woman to me now; they are all replaceable. One that knows how to make an untraceable poison. Forcing her back here would be foolish on my part. I'm no fool."

Katara sat back down and looked at Zuko and noticed he was looking crushed. She took his hand and tapped on the eyes of the dragon with the other. Reminding him to decide the outcome and become a diamond.

She watched him pull himself together and straighten his spine. He then looked over at the servers standing nearby and said, "after dinner is cleared, make sure dessert for the water tribesmen is served to them in their suite of rooms. They won't be lingering at the table tonight." Katara heard Ozai chuckle at Zuko's pronouncement.

When dessert was served after Hakoda, and his men had exited, Ozai said, "I noticed your bracelets. Dragon, interesting."

She smiled at him and honestly said, "Zuko got them for me. They remind me of what is important." She knew he would take it to mean something other than it did.

No one lingered after dessert. It wasn't a dinner anyone particularly enjoyed. The company hadn't been enjoyable for anyone, and even Ozai was annoyed. He didn't like the reminder that someone else had helped him gain the throne.

Katara and Zuko stepped into the room, and he heard her sigh and mumble, "I wasn't being ridiculous."

She closed and locked the door behind them and said, "you can come out now!"

Zuko gasped in surprise, as Chief Hakoda and five men stepped out from behind the curtains and other dark corners of the room. He then saw Katara raise her arms in a big arch gracefully, and she pulled all the water from the tub and used it to freeze them all in place, up just past their knees.

"Oooooh," Zuko said, having it suddenly dawn on him why she needed all that water.

Katara then smiled, walked over to the couch, and sat down, leaning back like she didn't have a care in the world. "Now, it's time for a chat."

"You can waterbend! That's wonderful! Who did you manage to find to teach you?" Hakoda was obviously proud.

"You won't like the answer. Let's stay on point. Tell me about Zuko's mother. Apparently, he believed she was dead."

"You knew she wasn't dead?" Zuko asked Katara, confused.

"She was banished and then forbidden to be talked about. So, of course, it's a massive topic of conversation in the harem. I assumed you knew, so why would I bring up such a sore point?"

Katara then looked back at her father, "where is she? No negotiations, just tell me."

"So you can help the Fire Lord's son!? Why, Katara?"

She gave him a wicked grin. "No, to help the Fire Lord." She then stood abruptly and walked over in front of her father, staring him down. "Zuko will be the Fire Lord. Ozai will die younger than his father did; we plan to destroy him. He plays the good obedient son, and Ozai won't ever see it coming. And guess who is going to be Fire Lady? Me."

"He lies!" Hakoda yelled. "He'll say anything to get your help.

Zuko yelled, "enough! Don't you dare! If you knew your daughter at all, you wouldn't struggle to believe this. She is everything to me! I can't believe you could leave her. Just the thought of it makes me sick."

She smiled at her father and said, "when I arrived, they stripped me of everything I had, including my mother's necklace." She pulled the necklace out of her pocket and dangled it in his face. "I mentioned it once, believing it was destroyed. The next day he had gotten a hold of it for me." She placed it back in her pocket. "You don't have to believe a word of any of this. None of it is up to you. And I'm not going with you. Go home. See Sokka and your mother before she dies. She's been so sick this past year, and I'm afraid a harsh winter will kill her. This war won't end with you being an annoyance to the Fire Nation fleet. It will end when Zuko takes the throne and declares peace. Then show up again and negotiate a treaty. Now, where is his mother?"

"The Forgetful Valley. She has seen the Mother of Faces."

"You came to Ozai with that! She doesn't remember her life with Ozai or her family. Damn that woman. She preys on the hurt and the grieving, promising to release them from suffering for what they cannot have!" She smirked, "which means that it really hurt to leave Zuko. She wasn't suffering over Ozai and Azula's just like him."

There was a tapping at the door. Three short knocks and four long. Katars sighed, "sure, why not make this more awkward? You might as well let him in, Zuko."

When a rotund old man walked in, she said, "Uncle, meet my Father Chief Hakoda and his warriors. Everyone met General Iroh, the Dragon of the West and the man who taught me to waterbend." She was grateful they were all stunned into silence.

"Well, my trip here is a moot point," Iroh announced. "You know your father and his men aren't in their room."

"Does Ozai?" Katara asked.

"No, I have other… sources."

"Aya," Zuko stated definitively. "Your source was Aya."

"Way to remove the fun of the mystery," Iroh grumbled.

"Getting back on track," Katara said. "You need to leave. Ozai will have you murdered in your sleep. He has no honor."

"He could never sneak up on us!"

"Get out. Live. Be furious with me, but live. Go home and try to realize what I'm doing. This is for love, father, and I hope you believe I deserve to find love no matter who he is." She moved her arms swiftly and released the ice, turning it back to water and sending it back to the tub. "Leave."

She watched them all turn to leave without a word of goodbye. The next morning it was discovered that they were gone, and there was no hint of their ships.

Once Hakoda left the room that night with Iroh trailing him, Katara went and drained the bathtub. Zuko asked nervously, "how are you?"

"I was going to ask you that same question."

Zuko sighed, "my mother is happy and away from my father. I'm a little jealous. But seriously, she didn't choose to leave me. She killed to protect me. It sucks, but…."

"But you weren't abandoned."

"I wasn't going to say that."

"No, I am. Our fathers are a piece of work. If mine would stop insisting I'm a whore that would help."

Zuko drew her to him and pointed at her wrist. "He doesn't choose who you are. You do. So, what are you?"

She thought about it all and said, "primarily happy. Yeah, today sucked, but still, I have your love."