Zuko's eyes widened in shock. Was Katara bending this man's blood? He glanced back over to Katara, a million thoughts racing through his head, and pulled himself back together. He held his stance. Katara bowed lower, keeping her arms and hands stiff and strong. Zuko watched as the man's body squirmed and contorted unnaturally under her invisible grip. The anger in Katara's eyes seared fiercer than ever, yet at the same time, she seemed disturbingly calm, in control.
"Think back," Zuko snapped at the man. "Think back to your last raid on the Southern Water Tribe." The leader of the Southern Raiders was bent over on the ground, his face still held to the metal floor by Katara. Zuko was desperate for this to work. This man needed to be the man for Katara's sake. He wanted so badly for her to have closure. It was more than just wanting her to stop leaving a room whenever he walked in to join everyone, or frowning whenever he made a comment while they were all sitting around the campfire, or serving everyone their food while leaving him to serve his own. Though he wanted her to trust and accept him again, it was more than that. Zuko wanted this for her. He wanted to fix something awful that had happened to her so that she could be at peace. This wasn't for him.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Please!" the man begged, desperation flooding his voice. "I don't know!"
"Don't lie!" shouted Zuko, lowering himself to the man's level. Zuko could feel himself starting to get angry. This man couldn't keep denying it. He had to be the person they were looking for. Zuko whipped around and pointed at Katara, who still seemed weirdly calm considering the circumstances. "You look her in the eye and you tell me you don't remember what you did."
Zuko watched Katara stand up, taking the man's body up again too. Her cool demeanor finally seemed to be breaking. The anger in her eyes was obvious on her face, her hands even beginning to tremble. Zuko stood to the side as Katara stared the man down, forcing his head and neck to bend towards her and look her in the eyes. She was angry and determined and the man was scared and desperate. Something seemed to pass between them.
Suddenly, Katara's determined face broke into a look of surprise and a little bit of. . . sadness? Relief? Her body slumped and the man hit the ground hard. "It's not him," she said. Zuko had to strain to hear her soft words. What? he thought. How could this man not be the one they needed? And how could she even be sure?
"What! What do you mean he's not? He's the leader of the Southern Raiders. He has to be the guy," Zuko said, motioning to the man on the floor now struggling to move his own muscles again. Katara must be confused. They'd come too far for this to be the wrong guy. Katara's head just fell and she walked away towards the door. Argh. Zuko turned and rounded on the man, grasping his collar and pinning him against the wall in one smooth motion. "If you're not the man we're looking for, who is?" he asked angrily, holding the man's arm behind his back.
The man grunted, his eyes shut in pain. "You must be looking for Yon Rha. He retired four years ago." Zuko figured the man would have no reason to lie and dropped him to the floor, following Katara out the door and back outside to Appa.
For how sneaky they had to be getting in, it felt pretty easy getting out. Most of the guards were knocked out. Katara was walking so fast Zuko had to start jogging when they were outside again to catch up to her. "Katara. Katara wait," he said, grabbing her shoulder.
"Get off me." She pushed his hand off and climbed onto Appa, grabbing the reigns. Zuko knew Katara well enough now to know she didn't want to go back to the gang right now. She was still determined to face the man who had killed her mother. But she also seemed lost. She wasn't quite as angry anymore, just dejected and maybe a little sad. Did she blame this failed mission on him?
"We can still find Yon Rha, Katara. It's not over," Zuko insisted. His hand clenched into a fist at his side.
"I know, Zuko. I know I still need to face him. But he could live anywhere in the Fire Nation now. He's been retired for four years." This was true. How were they supposed to find him? Zuko took a deep breath and thought. Yon Rha couldn't be far from here. He wouldn't have truly left.
Zuko climbed up on Appa next to Katara. "I remember there being a decent sized village on the mainland not far from where we are. It's the closest one. I'd bet anything that's where he's living," he told her. Her eyebrows creased in renewed determination and Zuko noticed how truly tired she looked. Her eyes were even starting to get red from lack of sleep.
"That's where we'll head then," she said, turning forward and preparing to tug Appa into the air.
Zuko reached his hand out to cover hers before she could do so. Her hands were shaking. Whether from anger, tiredness, or straining to not cry, he couldn't tell. Maybe it was everything. He used his other hand to take the reigns out of hers, and then held both of her hands in his. She looked at him in confusion. Her dark skin felt surprisingly cool. "You're tired."
She tried to contradict him, but he spoke over her. "Don't try to deny it. You've been up all night, and I know whatever you just did in there to that man took a lot of energy. I could tell. You'll be more effective fighting Yon Rha if you've rested and restored your strength."
Her lips had been pursed and her eyebrows creased as Zuko had talked. He'd tried to imply that she'd already proven she was strong. She'd already proven she wasn't the same little girl she was before. He wasn't accusing her of weakness or lack of strength by implying she should sleep, but was trying to tell her that she'd clearly overworked herself and that he cared enough about her as her friend to urge her to build up her strength again. She seemed to understand because her face softened, and she looked down.
"You're right. I'm sorry," Katara whispered. Zuko felt her slip her hands out of his and caught a whiff of her cool, strangely refreshing scent before she crawled back to Appa's saddle to lie down. It was the same scent he'd briefly smelled on her when he'd grabbed her around the waist and shoved her to the ground and out of the way of falling rocks earlier the day before. He suddenly felt embarrassed at having grabbed her hands. Shaking his head angrily, Zuko grabbed the reigns tightly and whipped them into the cool night air.
As they traveled, Zuko thought back to Katara's bending during their break-in of the Southern Raider's tower. He'd never seen her bend like that. It wasn't even just the blood bending, her water bending also seemed more powerful than he'd ever seen it. It was incredible. Their battle at the spirit oasis at the North Pole felt like so long ago, but he remembered how her skills finally seemed to have blossomed after her time there. He chuckled. He vaguely remembered calling her a peasant and taunting her before he'd kidnapped Aang. It was so strange to think back to those times when they all barely knew each other, yet knew of each other so well at the same time. Aang had just been the avatar to him. A prize, not a person. And Katara and Sokka had just been the two annoying water tribe kids who always seemed to be in his way. Zuko knew he'd treated them terribly; chasing them relentlessly and constantly trying to capture Aang. If only he could've seen himself now. He chuckled again. Destiny really was a strange thing. Not only was he helping Aang, but he'd been accepted into their group. As one of them. The very people that had always been outside of his reach. The very people he'd chased across continents. The very people that had taunted him in his dreams for so long. Now they were friends.
Thinking of destiny reminded him of Uncle. Zuko shook his head and gripped the reigns tighter. He'd betrayed the only man that had ever cared about him, and watched out for him, and worried about the kind of man he would grow to be. Thinking of how Uncle loved him for who he was and not because he did or did not capture the avatar was too painful. Surely now Uncle didn't love him anymore. How could he? Zuko had disrespected and betrayed him worse than he had his own father three years earlier. And his father had burned him for it. How could Iroh ever want to see his face again?
Zuko glanced back at Katara in the saddle, sleeping on her side and using her arm as a pillow. He sighed. Why did his betrayal of her sting almost as badly? She'd opened up to him in Ba Sing Se. Someone she barely knew. Actually no. She knew him as the guy trying to kill her and her friends. But not only had she opened up to him, she had offered to heal him. Zuko closed his eyes. He knew Katara. She put on a tough exterior– especially to him– and she was an extremely powerful and gifted water bender. She fought fiercely for what she knew to be right, and spoke out against any injustice. But Katara was also caring and gentle and kind. She worried about everyone, and for the people who were lucky enough to be people she loved and held in her heart, she was a pillar of strength and comfort and warmth. That's why his betrayal of her cut almost as deep as that of his uncle, and that's why she'd been so cold to him since he'd joined the group. Zuko had basically taken advantage of her caring nature in Ba Sing Se. He didn't blame her.
But clearly, Zuko thought, there was still some things he didn't know about her. Where had she learned to bend a person's blood? He knew it couldn't have been at the North Pole. He'd never seen anyone else do it. Had she invented it? Zuko's mind flew back to his thoughts when he first saw her force the man to the ground. Zuko had been shocked, yes, but also. . . scared? Katara had a terrifying more amount of power than he had ever thought. What else did he not know about her?
Zuko watched her, his gaze intent and curious. Perhaps she was less of an open book than he'd always assumed. Katara shifted around in her sleep and Zuko's eyes drifted lazily from her peaceful face, down her slender body. Quickly, he whipped around, suddenly mad at himself. Spirits. What was wrong with him?