~000~

Chapter Eight: A New Path

~000~

"Next!" the city guard shouted as Ty Lee and Zuko approached an entrance to Ba Sing Se guiding their ostrich horses. The city guard spoke to the teens after they approached the gate from his wooden table. "Names."

"Li and uh, Ty Ty." The chi blocked chuckled at this after Zuko said it.

Zuko eyed the blue box over the guard's head.

[LV 17 Earthbender]

The city guard kept using his feather as a pen on a scroll and asked another question. "Do you have any relation to the Fire Nation?"

"Uh," Zuko at Ty Lee and down himself before responding. "N-No."

"All right." the city guard looked up at them from his helmet as he fixed it. "Are you carrying any contraband?"

"No." Ty Lee muttered.

The guard looked up at them from his scroll. "The toll is a silver piece per person and a copper for any steeds and wagons."

Zuko looked back at the long line behind him of refugees. Haggard looking Earth Nation farmers and craftsmen filled Zuko's heart with sadness as he looked on their faces, seeing exhausted mothers carrying wailing children and even a wounded man trying to stay awake in the boiling hot sun while sitting on his wagon.

Feeling a personal debt to all of them, Zuko gave the guard all his silver and copper. "I'm covering the next twenty or so people, is that all right?"

[Inventory Update; Earth Kingdom Copper Pieces: 0, Earth Kingdom Silver Pieces: 0]

The guard's eyes widened seeing the coins, not often witnessing such charity. "U-Uh yes of course. Welcome to Ba Sing Se," he said as he swept all of the coins Zuko gave him off the table and into a desk drawer. "Next!" he shouted when Zuko and Ty Lee walked into the city.

Zuko turned around to see what would happen after helping the lady standing in line behind him and how she'd react. The woman carrying her baby son who was wailing in her arms burst into tears of joy when the guard splayed a hand explaining her fee for entering the city was covered. The lady clutched her baby tighter sobbing her eyes out in happiness, even going so far as to hug the guardsmen himself in joy.

Zuko chuckled quietly holding back tears of his own seeing the entire line of twenty or so react similarily. 'There. That's what being the Mask is all about. Helping the people who need it in person.'

Ty Lee saw Zuko sigh in relief seeing how joyous the people trying to enter the city became after he acted charitably. "You feeling all right Zuko?"

He nodded. "I'm fine. You can visit the Jasmine Dragon tea shop if you want to talk to either Uncle or myself. I'll be happy to know how you're doing."

Ty Lee hugged Zuko and the two smiled.

[Congratulations! You have gained +20 Affection points with |Ty Lee|!]

"Goodbye Zuko, I will be looking forward to seeing you again." Ty Lee smiled at him.

Something in Zuko told him to hold his pretty friend and peck her on the cheek but it just didn't seem right at the time. "See you around."

Ty Lee waved to him and turned away.

Zuko started walking down the street toward his uncle's tea shop glad he was back in the city he swore to defend as the Blue Mask.

~000~

"H-Hello Uncle," Zuko said when he saw Iroh.

The man turned around from taking an order and smiled, hugging his nephew. "How was training?"

"Fine." said Zuko as he looked around the tea shop, "Where is Jin?"

Iroh chuckled. "She comes around midday to see if you returned."

"Every day?"

Iroh nodded with a smile. "I believe she has missed you dearly."

Zuko turned to the counter. "I'll go get my smock, I'm ready to get to work."

"Start with two orders of Ginseng, it's been popular today," Iroh said.

"All right Uncle." Zuko left towards the kitchen.

~000~

In the small apartment where Azula and Mai were renting with Ty Lee, Azula devised a plan.

"So you failed to capture the traitor, Jeong Jeong?" asked Azula sharply. "And Zuko returned with you to the city?"

The chi blocker piped up after nodding. "Zuko was there, he's grown much stronger." Mai did not like how Ty Lee said this at all, but knew better than to threaten her friend.

"Much stronger eh? I'd expect as much that he'd learn from traitors." Azula balled her fists, "I knew I should've gone with you. All right then girls here's what we're going to do. We're going to make Zuko regret he ever intervened."

"How Azula?" Mai sharpened her knife against a whetstone.

She smirked. "By inflicting the worst pain imaginable, the pain of the heart."

"I won't poison him." Mai objected in her dry voice as she sat down on her bed.

Azula giggled. "I didn't mean to hurt him. That lovely girl of his we saw during the festival a few months back, go to the tea shop Uncle set up and poison her. Make her hurt, do not kill her Mai."

Mai remembered Jin and obeyed, knowing the restraint she'd need not to murder Jin. She stood up from the bed and bowed to Azula. "As you wish m'lady."

Azula held a toy soldier in her hand. "The time to strike is now. I will conquer the Dai Li, and with it, control of Ba Sing Se. Afterward, I will send word to father to occupy the city. And the war might as well be over."

"What about Zuko? Or the Avatar?" Ty Lee asked.

A sharp look set Ty Lee down. "Don't be foolish. We've waited too long to stop now."

Azula set the solder down on the table overlooking Ba Sing Se from her apartment window. "Long Feng has raised a tariff on incoming refugees, other officers must be losing heart over this. This will all be over soon ladies, I don't expect Zuko to be strong enough to stop us."

She nodded to Mai who walked out of the apartment. "Ty Lee, if you have any doubts about your loyalty to me I'll make one thing clear." Azula's gaze was sharp enough to freeze her to the spot. "You know what I'll do to you if you take Zuzu's side."

"Y-Yes mistress." Ty Lee bowed her head fearfully.

~000~

Mai waited in the shadows gripping her kunai so hard her knuckles bared white. She never would've considered disobeying Azula, but sparing Jin's life just to make Zuko suffer seemed unnecessary.

Her thoughts crashed in her intelligent mind like waves. 'I don't care about her. Not one bit. But Zuko'd never forgive me if I opened her throat. Or if I poisoned her.'

Mai sighed and pinched her nose. 'I've never had doubts like these, but I can't believe I still care what Zuko thinks of me. I really wish I wasn't still in love with him.' She raised her gaze to the street. 'Love? I haven't spoken to him in such a long time. But I still want to. I don't. Gah!'

Mai knew it was very unlike her to want to have doubts over anything, especially her feelings. She remembered her role as a part of the Fire Nation and her place in the war. 'A soldier has no doubts.'

As if on cue, Jin strolled into her sight walking towards the tea shop. Mai reached out of the alleyway and wrapped a hand over her mouth, dragging her into the shadows with her. Having never been more scared of her life seeing a random stranger threaten her with a knife, Jin felt like passing out. Her chocolate brown eyes widened as Mai raised her knife and cleanly drove it into her side above her hip.

Mai expertly muffled the scream with her hand as Jin was in unimaginable pain from the knife entering her skin so quickly. Mai dug the blade around for just a moment causing more pain and making sure the poison stuck before releasing her kunai and running off. The second Mai released the knife, Jin slid down the alleyway wall gasping loudly in pain.

Other Ba Sing Se residents gathered around Jin and one of them started calling for help. "Doctor? Is there a healer somewhere around here?"

Iroh and Zuko along with other Jasmine Dragon patrons rushed outside to see the commotion before Zuko pushed through the crowd to see what was happening. A woman was trying to help Jin up as Zuko saw her in dire pain on the verge of passing out. "Jin!" Zuko ran to her.

"L-Li." Jin smiled weakly as Zuko held her. "You're back."

"Jin, are you all right?" he asked on the verge of tears seeing how much blood stained her side.

"N-No, I-I." The crowd gasped as Jin passed out in Zuko's arms.

"J-Jin?" Zuko's eyes widened as a medic pushed his way through the crowd. The bearded man took over instantly. "Step back let me see her," he said confidently.

The medic laid Jin on the ground and inspected the cut. He instantly began to dress and clean it, giving Zuko orders as he worked. "Apply pressure here, don't release it until I tell you."

Zuko nodded as his voice shook seeing Jin completely gone. "A-All right."

The medic applied ointment to the cut and sewed her up with a needle, which had no effect on Jin as she was passed out. Zuko teared up as Jin just laid there as her cut was being closed up.

"J-Jin." Zuko sniffled and cupped her now cold face as Iroh rubbed his shoulder.

The bearded healer raised his hand over Jin's nose. "Her breathing has slowed, she's bleeding internally. Or worse, a poison or the cut's effect is causing her to be in so much pain her body is shutting down."

"C-Can you do anything?" Zuko asked.

He shook his head. "The only way I could heal her internally is with waterbending techniques. But I'm afraid those healers are too far away to reach them in time to heal her."

"W-Waterbending?" Zuko looked at the medic and then his uncle, turning from sad to determine in an instant to save Jin's life. "I know where to go." The medic and a few observers in the crowd gasped as Zuko carried Jin bridal style in his arms. "Don't worry uncle, I'll be back."

"Where are you going?" Iroh asked as Zuko ran off carrying her.

"To the inner ring!" Zuko yelled back as Jin laid passed out in his arms as he sprinted.

Zuko ran into an alleyway before mustering all his strength and flying up onto the rooftops with two [Flame Gouts] from his fists having loaded Jin onto his shoulder. When Zuko landed on the shingles he sprinted so fast he flew over a street with people walking below him almost in a blur, instinctively running towards Aang's home like he did months before.

He built up enough speed to launch forward with another [Flame Gout] onto a taller building to run faster towards the inner ring of Ba Sing Se.

"L-Li?" Jin asked weakly.

Zuko nodded as he kept looking forward to not trip and fall off a rooftop. "Y-You're gonna b-be fine."

"Where are we going?" Jin took her eyes off her boyfriend.

"To get you help. D-don't worry." Zuko choked up.

Jin raised a hand weakly to Zuko's face. "T-Thank you. I."

Jin passed out again as Zuko cried as he ran over the rooftops, jumping again while he carried her. "Jin?" he looked down to see she passed out. His tears ran off his face when he took another jump across a street, shaking his head and leaping off it.

He held Jin closer to him as he approached the earthen track that held up Ba Sing Se's rail system powered by Earthbenders. 'I need to get her to the Avatar. I need to. I need to.' Zuko mustered all of his strength and blasted himself off the rooftops and onto the earthen tracks with the largest [Flame Gouts] he ever summoned and sprinted across it to enter into the inner ring.

~000~

Zuko jumped down from the rooftops and kicked the door open to the Aang's home. "Help me now!" he shouted.

Aang's friends all reacted in different ways, all of them burst onto their feet in alarm, especially Aang who raised his staff defensively at the sight of Zuko, but then lowered it seeing Jin in Zuko's arms.

"Help me I don't have much time! I don't have anywhere else to go!" yelled Zuko.

"W-What?" Katara raised her palms summoning water from a nearby jug, preparing to bend it at Zuko. "Wh-what's happening? What're you doing here!?" her kind eyes flickered between the girl in his arms and his face.

Aang gulped, "I-It's okay Katara. His friend needs help."

Sokka lowered his boomerang as Toph lowered her fist after Aang said this, Katara bending the water back into a pot.

"Thank you." Zuko nearly passed out from exhaustion when Katara helped Zuko lay Jin down on the wooden patio inside Aang's home.

Zuko showed Katara the cut from where Mai stabbed her as Aang, Toph, and Sokka watched quietly from behind. "She got stabbed, a healer told me she was poisoned." Katara bent some water out of her pouch and made it glow blue as she passed it over Jin's gash.

Katara eventually withdrew the water from the cut and sighed. "The poison already is in her system, I managed to stop the bleeding."

Zuko grew mad. "What!? You can't do anything else?"

"Well, I can't bend the poison out of her without killing her. Unless you can somehow filter all of her blood and keep her alive while doing so we have no choice but to leave her."

"You!-" Zuko said.

Gasping herself awake, Jin winced and coughed. "L-Li?"

"Jin are you all right?" Zuko took her hand. "Jin what happened?"

"S-Some girl. Dark hair. She stabbed me." Jin's eyes welled up and released tears in pain. "L-Li, it hurts. It hurts so much."

Zuko squeezed her hand. "I-I'm so sorry. M-my name's n-"

"L-Li." Jin gulped. "I can't." she began shrieking uncontrollably in pain as Katara dashed to a cupboard and mixed medicine into the water in her pouch. As Jin kept screaming, Katara bent the water into her mouth, eventually calming her down and knocking her out completely.

"Wh-What was that!? I just had her back!" Zuko yelled.

Katara stayed calm at Zuko's rage. "It was to make her sleep. Her body shouldn't withstand that kind of pain. I have to cycle that poppy every four hours and make sure the poison doesn't damage anything internally now. Just leave her for now."

"N-No! I-"

"Zuko." Aang placed a hand on his elbow. "Katara will do her best."

Not knowing how else to react, Zuko shrugged off the Avatar's hand and turned to Katara. "W-Will she die?"

"I don't know the effects of this poison, but until I can cure her, she will suffer," Katara admitted without being able to meet Zuko's eyes.

"I-I..." Zuko looked around the room reading everyone's sullen faces, "I-I just couldn't let her die."

He retreated outside to the pond in Aang's home as Sokka balled his fists. "Sorry, but I can't be the only one who doesn't believe him. Doesn't anyone else think he could just be lying to trick us and steal Aang?"

"He's not," Toph said as she looked over Katara tending to a drugged Jin. "He was telling the truth."

Despite this, Sokka was still upset and was about to go outside and give Zuko a piece of his mind before Aang put a hand on his chest. All it took was a look from Aang to let him know to back down. Surprised, Sokka let Aang slide the wooden door aside and speak to Zuko.

Zuko looked over his shoulder as he sat down by the pond and Aang walked out to meet him. "Hey."

Zuko turned back around and down at the water. "Hey."

"I wasn't expecting that from you at all."

Zuko snickered bitterly. "What?"

"Compassion," Aang said as he sat down next to Zuko as he stared down at his reflection in the pond.

"Y-Yeah. Neither was I until recently." Zuko broke down crying unable to withstand his own reflection. "I-It's all my fault. It's Azula. She's trying to get to me, t-through Jin."

"Jin? That's her name?"

Zuko smiled as he cried. "She kept coming into the tea shop. U-Uncle made me go out on a date with her. A-and I fell in love with her."

"A date?" asked Aang. "That doesn't sound like you."

"It wasn't." Zuko sighed. "It wasn't."

Aang smiled and placed a hand on Zuko's shoulder. Frightened, Zuko turned to the monk who smiled. Aang stood up and placed his staff above the water. "My favorite lesson from Monk Gyatso is that our feelings are like water. When we become troubled." Aang touched the water with his staff. "The water shifts." the water rippled as Zuko made eye contact with his fractured reflection. "But then," the ripple subsided and Zuko could see clearly. "It settles. And our emotions are settled too."

Zuko smiled and laughed. "You'd like to meet Uncle."

Aang kept smiling at Zuko. "Don't feel troubled. You did the right thing by coming to Katara."

"Thanks." Zuko looked back at the Avatar and then his home. "I'm ready to go back inside."

Aang nodded and stood up as Zuko wiped away his tears. "I really appreciate it, I just got back and Jin's gone."

Aang drew a long breath. "I know how you feel, I'm missing a friend of my own right now, he's been gone for a while."

'The bison.' Zuko thought as he realized he hadn't seen it at Aang's home.

"Do you think we still could be friends?" Aang wondered. "I don't know if I want to forgive you yet. But I still want to know."

Zuko remembered him saying this after Zuko saved Aang from captivity. It still rung throughout his mind powerfully, but he felt like he didn't have an answer just yet. "I really wish I knew right now."

Aang laid his staff against the entrance from the pond to his home. "I understand."

Zuko entered the home carefully, avoiding eye contact with anyone inside as he slid the door behind him. Zuko walked up to Katara as she knelt over Jin and rubbed ointment on her cut. "How is she?" Zuko knelt next to her.

Katara didn't so much as glance at him. "She's stable. She's still fighting the poison as she's running a fever. What was her name again?"

"Jin," answered Zuko.

"Jin." Katara scoffed as she dressed up Jin's wound with a bandage, folding it over her skin. "You lied to this girl, and then almost got her killed."

"She could've been robbed," Zuko said half-heartedly.

Katara glared at Zuko. "I knew it had something to do with you. There's no way this was some coincidence. What kind of common thief carries a poison this unique?" Katara shook her head. "No, this was planned. To cause you pain." Katara looked at Zuko's troubled face. "And it worked. When she wakes up, she deserves to know the truth. To find out who you really are."

"S-She will."

Katara rubbed her nose and spoke bitterly. "She better. She fell in love with this 'Li' person, not you. She fell in love with a lie. And when she learns what kind of person you really are, you'll get what you deserve."

"K-Katara," Zuko muttered. "Y-You-"

"When I heal her you'll leave. And never come back." Katara bent water over Jin's burning forehead to cool her. "I can finish up here on my own."

"I-I'll go back outside the pond then," Zuko said as Toph pushed herself off the wall with her foot.

Sokka looked at her. "Where are you going?"

"Zuko. You have an Uncle, right? I heard Katara mention him once." said Toph.

Zuko nodded. "Yeah."

Toph turned to the door. "I'll go find him and bring him back here. Where is he?"

"The Jasmine Dragon tea shop. It's off the fifth corner from the main avenue in the outer ring."

Toph shrugged. "I think I won't have much trouble finding him. I see a lot better when I'm walking."

After seeing Toph leave, Zuko stood up watching Jin's face as she slept, and went outside to the pond again. This time, Sokka rolled aside the door to speak to Zuko.

"I'm don't really want to talk right now Aang." He looked over his shoulder from his spot by the pond. "O-Oh. Hey."

"Yeah, so Katara is pretty mad at you." Sokka sat down next to Zuko on his rock by the pond. "And so am I if I'm honest. You kind of just dropped your girlfriend on us and expected us to forgive you out of the blue."

"I'm not expecting you to forgive me," said Zuko. "I'm expecting you to understand."

"Oh no," Sokka shook his head. "We understand all right. You needed our help, and now you have it. Toph'll go get your uncle, you'll stay until Katara heals your, friend? And then you'll be on your way."

Zuko sighed. "I never wanted this to happen. A part of me wants your forgiveness, but mostly," Zuko stared at his reflection in the pond. "I get it. I don't want it if you all aren't ready yet."

"Thanks." Sokka leaned back and drew a long breath. "So...this is weird."

Zuko nodded staring blankly at the pond's tree after a bit of silence after this comment. "Yeah. This is pretty weird all right." he sighed. "How do I tell Jin that I'm not who she thinks I am?"

"Jin is your girlfriend?"

"She is."

"Mhm." Sokka sniffed. "All right, you just let her know I guess. Tell her who you really are."

"B-But I can't." Zuko voice shook. "I can't just tell her who I really am."

"Then you're never going to really know her," admitted Sokka.

Zuko nodded. "How do you know so much about this?" he looked at Sokka.

The water tribesman shrugged. "I don't. My first girlfriend turned into the moon and I never got to let her know how I feel."

Zuko grimaced. "That's rough buddy."

"I know." Sokka patted Zuko's shoulder and stood up. "Toph should be back with your Uncle soon."

Zuko gave a small grunt of acknowledgment and look up at the sky as night began to fall.

~000~

Toph and Iroh returned chuckling from the Tea Shop as they entered Aang's home. Sokka grew surprised seeing this, looking up from a scroll he was reading. "Do you two know each other?"

"We do!" Toph smiled. "We met each other when we running from Azula on the road. He's a good friend of mine."

Iroh looked over to a sleeping Jin who was sweating into a towel Katara placed over her head. Iroh hugged Zuko when he ran up to him, and when they ended their embrace Iroh looked around at Aang at his friends. "I understand this and all your feelings must be very strange for you. Let me make us some tea."

Sokka actually quite enjoyed how calmly Iroh went about preparing his Ginseng as if they were all good friends, smiling a bit as the Fire Lord's brother went about his business as if everything was normal. Zuko and the rest of the household sat around a table together quietly as Iroh asked Katara a question. "So then, is there any way to cure her?"

Katara shook her head. "Until I know what poison it is, I can't stop giving her poppy."

"Poppy? The pain is that great?" asked Iroh as Katara looked back worriedly at the Earth Nation girl.

Katara nodded sadly and looked down at her lap. "I wish I could help her more. But the pain is far too much for her to handle awake."

"Hm." Iroh shot out a small flame from his palm to warm the teapot. "I have heard of this poison. It is from the westernmost islands back home."

"Back home?" Zuko raised an eyebrow.

"You mean from the Fire Nation?" Sokka asked.

Iroh added the finest amount of shredded Ginseng leaves to the teapot. "Indeed. The poison will cause nothing but pain for young Jin until we can create an antidote. Unfortunately, the antidote is quite difficult to create, and requires time to make."

"So how do we make it?" Zuko was having difficulty not tearing up seeing Jin wince in her sleep.

"The ingredients can only be made by a great Sage. The wisest man I know, Pathik, lives on a mountaintop to study the ways of Chakra. Only someone who understand emotions and pain as well as he can be able to cure her."

"P-Pathik?" Aang looked at Iroh.

"Mm." Iroh raised the spoon to his lips, satisfied with the taste he raised the teapot and placed it on the table. "I found him when searching for myself after losing my son. His legendary abilities could help you master the Avatar State."

Aang registered this for a moment before Zuko jumped off his comfort and made everyone jump in surprise when he yelled. "Well then what are waiting for!?" Zuko roared balled his fists. "We need to take Jin to him right now!"

"Sit down, we have much to discuss first." Iroh poured tea for a slightly startled Katara, the only person in the room whom Zuko's outbursts didn't affect at all. "My niece Azula is in the city. Only someone with her level of power within the Fire Nation may have access to such a poison."

Zuko calmed himself down, remembering what Jin said about being poisoned by someone with dark hair. 'Mai.'

Everyone listened attentively to Iroh's words. "If Azula is indeed here in Ba Sing Se, she can only want one thing. To conquer the city and end the war. The city, however, is in no condition to defend against an invasion. Either from within or from without."

"How? We can still fight." Sokka bunched his eyebrows together.

Iroh smiled warmly. "I admire your bravery. But the city itself is the only thing strong enough to fight the entire Imperial Army. And a siege of Ba Sing Se will cost many lives. Believe me, I know the price of war." Iroh poured himself tea. "Regardless, we must re-take control of Ba Sing Se."

"From who?" Katara asked as Iroh sipped his tea and let Zuko answer for him.

"The Dai Li," Zuko remembered helping the shopkeeper. "They're the ones who placed a tariff on the incoming refugees. They harass citizens and run the city. I've seen them myself."

Iroh set his empty teacup down and began pouring some for everyone at the table. "I believe quite strongly that Azula will use them. And whence she does, the city will fall to her hands."

"I will take you and Jin to see Guru Pathik one day," said Iroh to Aang. "But for now, we cannot leave Ba Sing Se in its current condition."

Zuko looked over to Jin. "Can she survive that long?"

"She will require constant poppy and attention and she will be weakened, but yes, Jin will survive." Iroh passed the tea to all at the table.

Katara suddenly remembered what she carried with her. The water from the Northern Water Tribe. 'Could it be enough? Do I want to use it though?'

Zuko swirled the tea around in his cup. "So what do we do?"

"We fight," Katara said determinedly. "We stop the Dai Li and Azula. Do we have any other choices?"

The room stayed silent, Katara looking around the room. Zuko cleared his throat and everyone's attention snapped to him. "I'll go out tonight and find the Dai Li and where they're hiding."

"I'll go with you," said Katara.

"What about Jin?" Zuko asked.

"I'll take care of her," Iroh assured. "Don't worry."

Zuko stood up and nodded to Katara. "Meet me on top of the inner wall at sundown, I'll go get my gear."

"Your gear?" Sokka looked confused.

"I left it back at our apartment." Zuko left quickly.

"He moves quite quickly, doesn't he? This is some great tea Iroh." Toph noted.

Iroh smiled. "Thank you. Zuko is often afraid of how he feels." Everyone focused on Iroh and his words again. "He received more responsibility than anyone should've at his age, and does not want to be a burden."

Aang frowned down at his cup. 'We're more similar than I thought.'

"I'm glad he has someone as wise as you to guide him." Katara put her cup down and bowed to Iroh when she stood up. "Thank you for the tea."

Sokka watched his sister walk away to her room to prepare. "This is all very strange," he said when the door closed to her room.

"It is often from strange circumstances where strange friendships emerge." mused Iroh.

"I don't know if I want to be Zuko's friend yet. Or ever." Sokka said.

Iroh looked around the table. "There is a difference between wanting something or not and being ready for it. You will all realize your true feelings in time. Would anyone like any more tea?"

~000~

Katara wore black robes and a mask covering everything but her eyes. She didn't know how to feel about finding an elusive enemy with someone who embodied everything she stood against. The sun went down over Ba Sing Se and the sky became colored orange. For some reason whenever she was alone, Katara missed her mother very dearly.

She gasped when she realized Zuko was standing next to her suddenly. "Ugh!" she crossed her arms. "Do you have to wear that ridiculous thing?"

"What? I always wear it when I'm protecting the city." Zuko said from behind the blue mask.

Rolling her eyes and looking over Ba Sing Se, Katara asked another question. "Why'd you call me up here?"

"It's a good place to find yourself I guess." Zuko admired the view. "Wouldn't you say?"

"Maybe," Katara said crossly as she ignored how beautiful the city and the sky looked during the sunset.

Zuko looked at the box over her head.

[Katara - Level 33 Waterbender]

"You don't want to find the Dai Li with me. And that's fine, this whole day moved really quickly." Zuko splayed a hand and shrugged. "That's fine. You don't have to like me to try to save the city with me. But you do have to trust me."

"Trust you?" Katara glared at him. "No one should trust you! You nearly got that girl killed I'm sure, your uncle said so! And you've done nothing but try and capture Aang the whole time you've known us. Why should anyone anywhere ever trust you?"

"Because maybe I've changed," Zuko said calmly after Katara yelled at him. "Or. Maybe I haven't. But first, you need to trust me if we're going to work together."

"Why?" Katara turned away from the Blue Spirit mask she considered absurd to wear at night.

"Because if we trust each other we can do this well. For Ba Sing Se's sake."

Katara sighed deeply, looking up into the black marbles in Zuko's mask. "I'm not one who can talk about being trustworthy. I haven't been entirely truthful." Zuko watched Katara reveal a small flask of water from within her robes. "It's water from the Spirit Oasis. It has incredible healing properties and I-"

Zuko shook his head despite the jump in his heart knowing his girlfriend could be healed. "I understand. You didn't know if you should use it to cure Jin or not. Either way, the decision's yours."

Katara put the flask away. "Thank you."

"I haven't been the Ba Sing Se's protector for very long. But one thing I know for sure is that if you're going to be the hero the city needs, trust is key. Otherwise..." Zuko sighed. "You're just not there. I will admit it, I believe quite strongly Mai poisoned Jin, and it probably is Azula getting revenge on me. It is my fault."

Katara glanced at him and contemplated what he said for a minute.

"So," Her head whipped around when he interrupted her thoughts and Katara looked at the hand Zuko offered. "Do you trust me now?"

Reluctantly, but understanding what it meant, Katara took Zuko's hand. She gasped in surprise and started screaming when they took off flying from the wall as Zuko ignited a [Blaze] and an explosion of fire launched them into the sunset sky. Zuko knew he'd have the ability to cushion their fall with more fire bending, after all, he had enough practice.

~000~

~000~

~000~