I don't own Avatar.
Chapter Eleven"Hey, Katara, can I talk to you?" Aang asked later that night, just as the group was preparing for a late dinner. Sokka was portioning out the hare that he had caught into pieces and putting the pieced over the fire.
"Yeah, sure Aang." They walked out of earshot of the group; evidently Aang didn't want this conversation to be heard.
"That was really mean of you, Katara. How would you have felt?"
"What? What are you talking about?"
"When we came back from the hunt and you were yelling at Zuko about his father," he said, his face bent in incomprehension and justice. "I've never heard you say such mean things about anyone, let alone to his face."
"Aang, he was—"
"I realize he's not a very good person, and he probably provoked you, but you're usually very even-headed and composed." He looked at her, and she immediately felt very guilty. He was right. "All I'm saying is that this doesn't seem like a situation you'd put yourself in. Just be careful; I don't think you want to say something you're going to regret later, and I didn't know if you realized how…well how horrible you were."
Katara looked down at her feet, shame and anger at herself filling her heart. Without saying anything, she walked heatedly off towards the camp. She looked at Zuko sitting against a tree on the other side of the campfire where Jay and Sokka were sorting out the food.
Many years ago, when Katara's mother was still alive, she had said, "Sometimes, Katara, there are things you have to do that you aren't going to want to do. Sometimes they are going to hurt you more than you are willing to be hurt, but you have to be able to see past yourself." This is one of those times, Katara heard her mother's voice say. It was such a vivid daydream that a tear spilled over and down her cheek. She walked slowly and quietly over to Zuko.
"What do you want?" he whispered, the ultimate revulsion laced in every word.
"I'm very sorry, Zuko. It was horrible for me to say those things to you earlier, and I…I…I'm sorry."
Zuko was silent and was not looking at her or even in her direction.
Okay, she told herself, now for the next part. She opened her mouth to speak, but her palate was dry of words. This was the hardest part of apologizing, and also the most essential, but she couldn't bring herself to say it. Part of her knew this was necessary, a kind of punishment for her beastly behavior, but the other part of her was adamant against it. He doesn't deserve it, she argued with herself. That doesn't matter. Without thinking anymore, she spoke.
"Will you forgive me?"
He looked at her, his eyes still eerily glowing in the dark. "Never."
She felt her face grow warm. Another tear fell slowly down her cheek, following the path of the last. How could she expect him to? For one, she was horrible to him, for another, he was Fire Nation and Fire Nation don't forgive. Do they?
"Understandable," was all she could say. She stood up and walked over to sit by Appa and watch Jay, Sokka, and Aang play with some rocks and sticks as they waited for the hare to cook.
He watched her watching them. Was that really a tear he had seen? She was a pretty good actress to be able to be able to cry like that on command. But as he looked at her, something told him that she hadn't been acting. It was the way she stared at her hands, a despondent look on her face. Was she really sorry? He watched her for a long time before ripping his gaze away. But still the questions hung there. Had she really been honest when she said that they had saved his life just because it needed saving? Was there no underlying alternative involved?
"We're close, I can feel it," Iroh told the captain.
"We had better be; these waters are crawling with Fire-Nation ships. If anyone interferes, there could be worse consequences than losing the Prince."
"They will take no notice of us. As long as we avoid their islands, and I don't offer to slaughter them in Pai-Sho, we should easily stay out of trouble."
The captain smiled at this last remark, but he kept facing out. Sometimes the general, however odd he was, was actually genuinely funny.
/chapter eleven
A/N I'm not going to update anymore until I get at least 23 reviews on this story. I know, I know, I'm a mean and horible person, but I'm not sure how many people are actually reading this, and I'm not getting any real constructive criticism. So, Chapter 12 will only be up when I have over 23 reviews. It's already written, so you're the only one stopping me!