Chapter 11: Aftermath

Katara was finally able to get the pain in her shoulder under control, though it still ached with a dull throb. She was so exhausted—her body and spirit felt drained of all energy, and all she wanted to do was lie down on the courtyard stone and sleep, perhaps for a hundred years.

However, the day wasn't over. They still needed to get back and connect with the others, if they had been successful on their end. If Aang... if Aang had been successful.

He succeeded, she told herself, over and over. He succeeded, and though he would probably be miserable, she would be there to make it better for him. Somehow, that thought was enough to give her enough strength to climb to her feet, and help Zuko to his as well. He had already put out the remaining fires that hadn't burned out on their own, and now the ground around them was littered with scorch marks.

"I guess," Katara began, "we should... go find the others?"

Zuko shook his head. "I don't think I should leave here. If I'm the Fire Lord now, I need to start acting like it. I should probably go talk to the sages."

They had both been silent while Katara worked on her arm, the mood heavy. But she needed to push everything that had just happened from her mind for now. They both needed to think, to be practical.

"Are you sure?" she asked, reaching forward to place a supportive hand on his arm. "What if they attack you? You're not in any condition to defend yourself." And she wasn't in much condition to defend him either.

"We'll just have to hope they respect the results of the Agni Kai," he said grimly. His eyes flickered toward the overhang, where Azula still lay on the metal grate, her form mostly obscured by distance and the pillar. He quickly looked away, a pained grimace in the set of his jaw, though he tried to hide it. He looked back to her. "They're more scholars than fighters anyway, or they're supposed to be."

"I'll get Appa," Katara said. "That will give us some extra firepower."

Zuko nodded once. "Okay." His eyes strayed in Azula's direction again. "I'll just..."

A quiet sound on the opposite side of the courtyard made Katara start. It sounded like a small cough, or a throat clearing.

Katara turned at the same time Zuko did. Though she didn't have the energy, she raised her good arm in defense anyway.

In the doorway to the temple at the head of the courtyard, the sages all stood in their flowing crimson robes and elongated hats, looking nervous. One finally approached, cautiously, and still some distance away, he fell to his knees. He bowed forward, until his forehead touched the ground.

"Fire Lord Zuko," he mumbled toward the stone. "We are here to serve you."

When Zuko didn't immediately strike him down, the others also approached, lowering themselves down one by one behind the first, murmuring the same.

Zuko glanced at Katara, then back at them. "What about my father?" he asked. There was one power above Azula they may still prefer to answer to.

The sage hesitated, then replied, "We... have received word... that Phoenix King Ozai—former Phoenix King—has fallen to the Avatar."

Katara felt some more of the remaining tension in her shoulders fade at last. Katara could only imagine what the sages were feeling—those they had served, now fallen. Zuko could have them all executed, and replaced with those who he knew would be loyal to him. He would see that they only recognized him now because they had no other choice—their only hope was to throw themselves on his mercy. Having served under Azula, likely they didn't know whether to expect it or not.

"I see," Zuko said at last.

When he said nothing more, the head sage finally asked, "What is your first command, my lord?"

Zuko hesitated. Then at last his eyes wandered back toward the grate behind the pillars. "My sister fought bravely," he said. "I want the proper arrangements made, so that she may be sent off from this world as befitting a member of the royal family." He hesitated, then added, "And if there is anything left of him, I wish the same to be done for my father."

The sage's head rose a fraction, then he seemed to think better of it, pressing his forehead to the ground again. "May I speak, lord?" he asked tentatively.

Zuko nodded, then seemed to remember none of them could see him. "Go ahead."

"We received word by messenger hawk that the Fire Lord was defeated by the Avatar. However... it seems that the Fire Lord still lives."

Zuko's good eye widened slightly. "What?" he demanded.

Cringing at Zuko's anger, the sage pressed on quickly, "From the report, it would seem that... the Avatar took the Fire Lord's bending. He is no longer a firebender."

Zuko stared down at him dumbly. "My father..." he began. He glanced at Katara, as though for answers.

However, Katara could only stare down at the sage, trying to process it. Aang, defeating Ozai. Defeating him without—

"What would you have us do, Fire Lord?" the sage asked after a moment. "We are at your disposal."

Zuko shook himself, and suddenly it must have all seemed real, because he stood up a little straighter, shoulders back, head held high. "Take care of my sister," he said. "With the respect and honor the royal family deserves. I want her prepared for a proper Fire Nation send off. And fetch me the robes of the Fire Lord." He glanced at Katara, her injured shoulder still exposed to the air, then added, "Also bring something for my friend to wear."

The sages murmured their obedience, but didn't immediately move from their subservient bows.

Zuko said at last, "Um, you're dismissed."

They all stood up and scattered, one headed toward the Fire Lord's robes where Azula had discarded them, the others back toward the temple, though two broke off from the group to move, slowly and reverently, toward where Azula's body lay. When they saw her they would know she hadn't been killed by a firebender—Katara just hoped they wouldn't use it to try to contest Zuko's reign. She doubted they would—after all, Zuko had said they weren't fighters. And Zuko would be a far kinder, more merciful Fire Lord than Azula would have ever been.

"I'll go get Appa," Katara said, turning.

She felt a hand on her good shoulder, and she stopped.

She turned to look at Zuko, though not quite meeting his eyes. Instead, her eyes drifted toward the spot on the grate behind the pillars, where the sages had now reached. A third approached with what appeared to be a dark crimson cloth, hemmed in gold and black, folded in his arms. They carefully draped it over Azula's still form. Katara looked away.

"I'm..." she began slowly. "...sorry, Zuko. So sorry."

Zuko's hand hadn't moved from her shoulder, and for the first time she allowed herself to glance back at his face. She expected to find—she wasn't sure what. Pain, perhaps. Even anger. When she had killed Yon Rha, it had been her decision, and hers alone. She had no doubt that if she had turned and walked away, Zuko would have followed her. This ought to have been his decision, but she had made it instead.

However, while there was sadness in his uneven eyes, there was also acceptance. "Thank you, Katara," he said softly. "You saved me. Thank you."

Katara glanced away. "If it hadn't been for me, you wouldn't have needed saving."

Zuko was silent for a long moment. Then he said, more quietly still, "I was stronger than her for once. I could have won. But..." He looked at Katara then. "Azula's will was always stronger than anyone's. She would never have surrendered, not to me. I don't know if I could have beaten her without—" He paused, then added, almost to himself, "I was counting on you to be here to heal her when I won. So if you hadn't—hadn't been here—"

"Fire Lord."

Two of the sages had returned, one bearing the Fire Lord's robes Azula had worn, the other what appeared to be a folded sheet of black and crimson silk. The two bowed, proffering the objects for Zuko to examine.

"Will this do, Lord Zuko?" asked the one with the silk.

Zuko took the Fire Lord's robes first, looking down at them with a strange expression, as though they seemed entirely alien. Then he looked at the folded silk. Carefully, he picked it up, and when it fell open Katara could see it was a cloak, with a clasp at the neck with the Fire Nation symbol.

"Yes," he said. "Thank you. Now, if you would make preparations, to ensure the rest of the palace knows what has happened. I want a detachment of guards sent to me, to escort me to the palace."

The two sages glanced at one another apprehensively. Then one said, "Your Majesty... there are no guards. The princess, she—she had them all banished. She believed them to be untrustworthy. She also sent away her Dai Li agents. Only we and a few servants remain."

Zuko glanced at Katara, startled. It seemed there had been something even more wrong with Azula than they had realized. But—there was nothing to be done about it now.

"Who does remain?" Zuko asked finally.

"There are guards still watching the prisons," said the sage.

Zuko nodded once. "Send for a small retinue of them." He added, "Are any of the physicians still here?"

"The princess banished your own family physician—but we can send for one of the physicians of one of the noble families."

"Good," Zuko said. "Do that. Thank you." After a moment when no one moved, he added awkwardly, "You may go."

As the two backed away, still bowed, Zuko pressed his hand to his chest, then flinched slightly.

He must have noticed he was still clutching the cloak then, because he turned, offering it to Katara.

Katara took it, pulling it over her shoulders. She winced at first as it brushed against her shoulder, but then she relaxed. The cool silk felt good against it. She closed the clasp, then shifted the material, making sure it completely concealed her arm from sight.

"Do you want to stay and have the physician have a look at it?" Zuko asked. "Or do you want to go find the others?"

Katara blinked, turning toward him. "Go find the others? But—don't you need me to stay here, with you?" She glanced after the retreating sages, still not sure she trusted them. "You know, in case anyone still tries to..."

"Stab me in the back?" Zuko asked, with a hint of a grim smile. He looked at the Fire Lord's cloak with its long dark material and broad shoulders. He pulled it closer, as though to pull it over him, then hesitated, and held it away from him again. He turned back to Katara seriously. "It sounds like there aren't that many people here. And I probably know most of them that are. They might have been loyal to my father, but with him officially removed from power by the Avatar—well, they're all people of honor, and I think they'll be more loyal to the Fire Lord and the Fire Nation than my father personally." He glanced in the direction of the palace, then muttered, "Besides, if anyone didn't want to accept me, I don't think you being here could do much to stop them."

She knew Zuko was probably right. He was Fire Lord now, of royal blood, the rightful heir with Ozai removed. Only the most radical Ozai followers would even think of trying anything, and from the sound of it, Azula had probably banished most of them. And she wasn't in much shape for fighting anyway.

"I..." Katara began. "I'd like to go find the others. Make sure everyone is all right. And I can tell them the capital is ours."

Zuko nodded. "We'll all meet back again later."

Katara turned away, ready to head back across the courtyard, back outside to where Appa was waiting.

"Wait! One—one more thing."

Katara blinked and glanced back.

Zuko was staring at her, face full of pain, conflicted. "Thank you, Katara," he said at last, softly, but with conviction. "Thank you, and—I'm sorry."

Katara stared back at him. Her mind felt so dull, so utterly spent, and yet, somehow she understood.

Katara had thought she had cried all the tears she had left to cry, but her eyes now stung again. She turned toward him, and in spite of the still throbbing pain in her shoulder, she threw her arms around him. She felt him tense, and grunt at the pain still in his chest—before he relaxed, and hugged her back. She understood what he felt; what he couldn't quite say, because it felt too wrong to put it into words. He could hate her—she wouldn't blame him if he did, if they could no longer be friends. But he thanked her, apologized to her instead—because he, too, understood what she felt now without her saying it. The heaviness that hung over her. That would always hang over her.

At last Katara finally pulled back, wiping away some of the tears with her good hand. She smiled briefly, and he smiled back.

She turned away then, heading back across the long courtyard. Passing the black scorch marks of the battle, the half empty water troughs, and the metal grates full of rainwater. And even when she passed beyond the edge of the buildings, and they were far behind her, the scene remained burned in her mind.

Though Katara was tapped out in every way imaginable, she couldn't help but marvel slightly as she flew over the battlefield. Half destroyed Fire Nation airships and great navy ships lay scattered across the craggy landscape, broken husks like dead polar-whales picked clean by scavengers. Nothing was burning—instead the surrounding rock gleamed slightly, reflective, as though with a recent rain.

She couldn't believe that it could have rained here, so conveniently in the middle of summer, and she wondered if Aang could have done it somehow. But that would take so much power—the Avatar State at least. But Aang wasn't supposed to be able to use the Avatar State anymore.

The searing red of the comet was fading from the sky now, and it was nearly night by the time Katara spotted them. Several figures, collected together on one of the many soaring rock towers, near one of the broken airships.

Katara brought Appa lower, until at last the bison landed on the small space of stone with a thump.

Sokka and Suki, who had been sitting on a rock nearby, both stood up seeing her. Sokka was half limping, leaning on Suki, one leg done up in bandages, but otherwise they all looked fine. Nearby Toph sat on another rock, which jutted unnaturally from the ground, likely one she had bent herself.

"Hey!" Sokka called. "You're here, great. That will make this a whole lot easier."

Katara smiled hesitantly, then climbed down off of Appa, careful to keep her cloak in place. "You're all okay," she said with relief. She glanced around briefly. "Where's Aang?"

Sokka shrugged a shoulder. "He just went off to find some soldiers, you know, to properly arrest Lord Sunshine here. But since we have Appa now, well, maybe we can skip past all that."

Katara glanced down toward one of the rocks on the small outcropping, and tensed slightly when she noticed another figure slumped there, back to the stone, arms dangling limp at his sides.

Even though he was sitting down, Katara could tell he was tall—he wore no shirt, exposing an impressive torso of powerful muscle. His long black hair fell in wild sheaves around his sharp face, and his eyes were closed, perhaps unconscious—however, she had a feeling if they were open, they would be a familiar burning gold.

Katara shivered. "Is that—"

Sokka nodded gravely. "The one and only. Lord Sunshine."

"Phoenix King of drooling-while-he-sleeps," Toph added cheerfully.

Katara glanced at him, not entirely sure it was a good idea to be antagonizing the man who had intended to burn the Earth Kingdom to ashes. But at least he seemed out for the count now.

"Um," Katara began. "Are you sure he—you know—"

"Oh yeah," Sokka said, waving a hand. "He's got no bending at all. Apparently Aang met a big turtle monster or something that taught him how to take people's bending away. If the guy could have roasted us, he would have five of Toph's nicknames for him ago."

Katara gazed down at him. At the man who had caused so much suffering in the world—scarred Zuko's face, attacked villages, used earthbenders as slaves. Who would have burned all the Earth Kingdom to the ground, just to extinguish their hope. She could see the lack of kindness in his face even while he was unconscious, the harsh lines of cruelty, and she could easily imagine him on his feet, dangerous and powerful with blazing flames at his fists.

And yet—she didn't feel anything she might have expected to feel. She didn't feel angry, angry that he had survived, or triumphant to see him reduced to this, as the others seemed to. She didn't feel like gloating or calling him names. He was a defeated enemy, that was all.

A defeated enemy who would soon find out his daughter was dead.

"So how did things go over there?" Sokka asked her. He peered up at the saddle. "Where's Zuko?"

Katara glanced away. "Zuko... defeated Azula. He's officially Fire Lord now. I think he's making preparations to receive us now."

Sokka considered that. "Hope he's planning to throw us a feast. Not a big one or anything, just something with some nice, satisfying Fire Nation meat." He glanced at the sky. "You know, if we go now, we might be able to catch up to Aang. Then we wouldn't have to wait. Now that we have Appa, we can just carry you-know-who, we don't need any soldiers."

"Maybe," Toph said doubtfully. "Except we might miss him and then he'd have no idea where to find us. And honestly I don't know if I want to share the saddle with the guy."

"Would be kind of creepy," Suki admitted, glancing at the passed-out Ozai.

Sokka sighed deeply, then ran a hand over his face. "We're still going to be here a while, aren't we?" Then he brightened slightly. "Hey, I have an idea. If Toph takes us over to that taller rock over there—I might be able to see where my sword might have gone."

Suki gave Sokka a look between exasperated and sympathetic. "Sokka... I don't think we're going to find it. This valley is huge. And the ships came a long way beyond the point that you lost it. Even Toph wouldn't be able to sense it at this kind of distance."

"I know, I know," Sokka said, arms folded. "I gave it up. But—we could at least try." He stroked his chin. "You know, I might be able to sense it if I'm in the right spot. We had such a connection, master space sword and I, and with all this spirit-y turtle stuff going on, I feel like the rules of the world have changed." He wiggled his fingers spookily for emphasis. Then he grumbled in an undertone, "Not like we're going to be doing anything else."

Suki rubbed his arm. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to at least look." She glanced at Toph. "Right?"

Toph sighed, then cracked her fingers. "Fine, we can jump over to a few other rocks. But I better not hear any girly screaming on the way."

They walked over to the edge of the platform, facing in the direction of another rock spire some distance away, where they might have a better view of the valley beyond the crashed airship. However, Sokka paused.

"Oh, Katara, you think you could watch King..." He paused, evidently trying to think of a new nickname he hadn't used already.

"King of... no fire?" Suki suggested hopefully.

Toph gave a long-suffering sigh, as Sokka put an arm around Suki's shoulders and gave her a proud smile. "That was good!" He glanced at Toph. "Don't you think that was good?"

Toph shook her head. "He's patronizing you, Suki. Don't let him get away with it."

Suki frowned at him. "Yeah, don't pretend, Sokka."

Sokka sighed. "Okay, okay. King of I'm-alive-and-fear-my-morning-dragon's-breath—can you watch him for a few minutes, Katara? You could probably take him with your little pinkie."

Katara glanced at the unconscious former Fire Lord, then at the others. The last thing she wanted was to be left alone with the man right now, but she forced a strained smile. "Sure. No problem."

As Toph stomped her foot, and the three shot off from the edge of the stone toward the next one—Sokka not quite managing not to scream on the way—Katara took up the spot on the raised stone where Toph had been a moment before. She opened one of her bending pouches, drawing out some water, then, coating her good hand, carefully slid it under her cloak, up to her shoulder. She closed her eyes for a moment, focusing on the relief.

"And so I am left with but a single child for a guard..."

Katara's eyes snapped open. She found Ozai, still slumped against the stone, watching her through narrowed eyes.

Katara half stood on instinct, taking up a defensive stance, raising both arms from under the cloak—before she remembered her injured arm, and had to fight not to grimace. Instead she glared at him. Apparently he had only been pretending to be unconscious.

"One child," Ozai repeated with disdain. "Do you really think you can handle me alone, girl? They've told you my bending is gone... but can you be certain? I am the Phoenix King..."

Katara forced herself to relax her stance, then sat herself back down.

"Former Phoenix King," Katara said coolly. "And I'm Aang's waterbending master—so I wouldn't try anything if I were you." She added, "Besides, if you still had any strength to fight, you would have already tried to attack me."

Ozai hmphed, narrowed eyes glancing away. There was a time when Katara might have had more to say to this man—who had destroyed so many, would have destroyed so many. Demanded to know if he had ever felt any remorse, for the pain and misery he had inflicted. But right now she was too spent for any of that.

"So then," he mused after a pause, "Zuko has usurped the throne. I take it then that Azula has failed me."

"Azula is dead," Katara said flatly, then stopped. She hadn't meant to say it so harshly—even to this man. But something about the way he said it. As though the only purpose of anyone in the world was to serve him.

Ozai glanced at her, though his posture didn't change. His eyes drifted away in contemplation, to stare out across the rugged stone canyon. At last he murmured, "Perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps Zuko is not the weakling I always took him for."

In spite of the exhaustion permeating her skin and sinking deep into her bones, in spite of the throb in her shoulder, anger pulsed in her chest. Her eyes had shifted away from the former Fire Lord, but now they returned, to glare at him. To stare at the harsh lines of his face, so pronounced even with all his limbs sagging with defeat.

"Is that—all you have to say?" she asked finally.

Ozai continued to stare out across the jagged stones. "I knew she was reaching a point where she would no longer be useful," he murmured, still talking more to himself than to her. "I left her behind to limit the damage she might do, though from the reports she only continued to grow more erratic. A shame... she was so promising."

Katara stared at him, hearing his cold words, no emotion in his face. She searched for some sign of pain, of regret—but there was nothing in his eyes. Just cold.

"Why?" Katara asked quietly at last. "Why was she acting like that? When Zuko faced her, she was... different from before."

His eyes narrowed, lip curling with disdain. "She was weak."

Katara watched him, even though she already knew he would offer no further insight, whether he knew the true reasons or not. Because that was the only thing that mattered to him.

After a moment, Ozai added, "Just as the Avatar was weak. He could have made the final strike... but he didn't. He turned away. The fool. Only the intervention of equally foolish spirits saved him."

Katara looked away, out to the rock formations beyond. The light was nearly gone from the sky, and they formed irregular dark shapes jutting from the ground far below.

"But..." he said suddenly, making Katara's eyes flicker back. He was eying her, with a cold gaze, unsmiling, yet still somehow with a hint of triumph. "At least it would seem that she managed to take a piece of you with her." His eyes lingered a moment on her concealed shoulder.

Katara gazed back at him. She felt no fear of this man, and even the brief burst of anger was already draining away. She answered quietly, without emotion, "She did." Then she added, "But for all of the Avatar's weakness, you didn't get a piece of him."

Katara waited for him to reply again, but he didn't. Instead, they sat in silence until Sokka, Suki, and Toph returned—with no clues as to Sokka's sword, but all still animated and cheerful with the rush of victory. With her good hand, Katara worked on Sokka's leg for a little while to take some of the sting away, before she sat back and just watched them banter. However, her thoughts lingered with Ozai, still sitting just a few feet away—his lack of love, even for his own daughter, who was supposed to have been his favorite. As her shoulder continued to burn.

Night had long fallen when they arrived back at the Fire Nation capital. The Earth Kingdom soldiers who had taken Ozai into custody now escorted him to the capital prison for the highest ranking criminals, and Katara knew arrangements would be made to see all those who had been captured during the failed invasion on the day of black sun freed.

Katara should have been happy, not least of all because she knew how glad her father would be to be reunited with his men and fellow warriors of the Tribe. And she was happy—though it was a distant kind of happiness. Mostly she felt sluggish, her thoughts dull and far away.

However, as Suki leaped down from Appa's saddle, Katara followed. Sokka and Toph had spent most of the trip back talking about the food Zuko would serve at the inevitable Fire Nation celebratory feast. Aang had returned to meet them with Earth Kingdom soldiers with him, but Katara had seen him only briefly before he left again, to meet with Iroh he said, who the Earth Kingdom soldiers reported had successfully reclaimed Ba Sing Se.

Aang had seemed... different, somehow. Older, taller. Yet, he didn't look old—instead he seemed to walk lighter on his feet, as though they were cushioned by pockets of air. She didn't know all the details yet, but from what she gathered he had restored the Avatar State somehow during the fight.

Katara landed on the stone behind Suki. Then, hesitantly, she stepped up behind her.

Suki seemed alive with nervous energy, and now her eyes darted about the courtyard, as though searching for something.

"I think Zuko will probably have prepared rooms for us," Katara began. She paused, then added, following Suki's shifting gaze. "Is… something wrong?"

Suki shook her head. "I just want to check the capital prison. I know my warriors probably aren't being held there, but—I got them into this, and I'd like to get them out myself, if I can."

Katara wasn't sure she had the strength to do anything more tonight, but she felt compelled to ask, "Do you… need any help?"

"I'll be fine," Suki said. "Go get some rest, you look like you could use it."

"...Okay." Katara turned away. It would be strange to sleep in the Fire Nation palace of all places, but then, she was tired. She thought she would sleep about anywhere.

There must have been something off in her tone, and Suki had always been more observant than either Sokka or Toph, because Katara felt Suki's attention shift to her fully for the first time.

"Katara?" she began. "Are you—"

She didn't get to finish, because at that moment, her hand automatically reached out to touch Katara on the shoulder—her bad shoulder.

A hiss escaped Katara between her teeth before she could stop it, and her other arm automatically came out to grip her forearm through the cloak, as though that could help it.

"Oh!" Suki gasped, hand immediately withdrawing. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

Katara half glanced up, to find Suki suddenly standing beside her, half bent toward her in concern.

"I was wondering why you were wearing that," she said hesitantly, hand hovering in front of the cloak. "Are you hurt?"

"A little," Katara answered, glancing away. "The fight with Azula was... intense."

"Can I see?" Suki asked.

Katara didn't want her to—she hadn't even taken a proper look at it herself. But Suki was looking at her with wide worried eyes, and Katara reluctantly drew back the side of the cloak, until her arm was visible to the air.

Suki bent down a little to peer at it in the cloak's shadow, and as she squinted, she gasped.

"Oh, Katara," she whispered, staring at her with wide eyes. "You weren't able to heal that?"

"It'll take time to completely heal," Katara said, glancing away. "I'm working on it." She added, "Don't worry about me. You should be looking for the other warriors."

Suki was still staring at her, and she glanced back briefly toward Sokka and Toph, who had still been in the saddle arguing about the best Fire Nation spices. Toph had now jumped down, and Sokka was leaning over the lip, looking apprehensive.

"Uh, Suki?" he said. "A little help here?"

"I could help you," Toph offered with a grin.

"And break my other leg? Uh, thanks, but no thanks."

Suki was staring at them, frozen, face pale, and she opened her mouth as though to say something.

Katara, letting the cloak fall closed, reached forward and gripped her wrist with her good hand. "Don't tell them," she said in an undertone. "Just—let them celebrate."

"Sokka was injured too," Suki whispered back, but her eyes strayed back to the cloak, still with that strange, slightly sick expression.

"Don't worry," Katara said again.

Suki swallowed, then called out in a cheerful tone that was so fake it grated against Katara's ears. "Coming! I'll be right there."

Taking Katara's good hand and squeezing it briefly, she returned to the saddle, helping Sokka down.

"Okay," Sokka said. "Now if we can just get me to a room with some nice pillows…"

"Uh," Suki began, glancing at Katara. "I think I'll be going with Katara, we'll probably be sharing a room and I want to know where it is… And you should probably have a physician look at it first anyway. Uh, Toph, do you think you could…?"

Toph cracked her knuckles with delight. "Sure thing, Suki. Just leave it to me."

"Suki," Sokka complained. "Toph's idea of training is carrying boulders around and cutting rocks in half with your bare hands. Do you really think she knows how to be careful with people who—well, need being careful with?"

"He did save your life, Toph," Suki pointed out.

Toph sighed, throwing up her hands. "You two take all the fun out of everything." She turned to Sokka. "Okay, princess, let's go."

She stomped a foot, and a slab of stone popped up from the courtyard ground. It hovered there a moment, before she turned her hand in an almost casual series of gestures, and the stone in response sheared in several places, reforming into something very much like a throne, folded like elaborate origami.

Sokka eyed the chair dubiously, before tentatively sitting down on it. Footrests slid into place just at the base and, evidently trying not to look impressed, he carefully set each of his feet on them. He glanced down at the ground, where the stone hovered above it. "Okay," he admitted. "This isn't so bad. But how are you going to see where I'm going if I'm not touching the—"

The chair suddenly took off as if it was being propelled on jets of flame and, with a whoop of glee, Toph took off after it.

Suki watched them go, and as soon as they were out of sight, she stepped to Katara's side, taking her good hand, and placing the other gingerly around her back. "Are you hurt anywhere else?" she asked in a low voice.

"It's okay, Suki," Katara answered. "I healed the worst of it—"

A figure in crimson had just emerged from the palace doors, and as Katara glanced up, she tensed—until she saw the familiar tall hat of a Fire Nation sage. Two more appeared behind him.

They all bowed, hands folded in sleeves. "The Fire Lord welcomes the friends of the Avatar," said the first one. "He is unable to join you just now, but if there is anything we may do for you—"

"Yes," Suki said, glancing at Katara, apparently still getting over the weirdness of hospitality from the Fire Lord, even if it was Zuko. "Um, if you could show us to some rooms we could stay in. And, if there's a physician—"

The sage looked uncomfortable, but before he could reply, Katara said quickly, "We don't need a physician. Just the rooms will be fine." There was likely only one physician, and he would be taking care of Zuko.

"Just some burn salve then," Suki said. "And maybe some bandages."

The sages bowed. The first one made a short signal with a hand, and as they stepped inside the palace, one disappeared down another corridor, apparently to get the items Suki had asked for.

The hallways were long and massive, with decorative chandeliers that hung high above their heads from soaring ceilings. Torches burned at regular intervals along the lengthy walls, some flickering faintly as they passed below.

The place made her feel small, and all Katara wanted was to get to the room and sleep. However, even so, as they walked by a giant offshooting corridor with enormous pillars decorated with golden dragons curling around them, something caught her eye, and she stopped.

Almost as though she were in a dream, Katara pulled away from Suki's supportive grip, drifting away from the others, and found herself wandering down the hall.

"Ah," began the sage, discomfort obvious in his voice. "That is—the rooms are not—"

"What is it, Katara?" Suki asked.

Katara had stopped, and now she tilted her head back to gaze upward. After a moment, Suki followed her eyes.

A series of enormous tapestries spanned the length of the wall. Figures stood tall and imposing on each one, all holding blazing balls of flame, in their topknots the five-pointed gold headpiece of the Fire Lord.

Though she had never seen such depictions before, she knew from the order in which they were arranged who was who. There was Fire Lord Sozin, soldiers with skull masks and flames standing in a line at his feet, the blazing comet soaring above his head. And there was his son Azulon, the blazing circle like the sun that rose behind all their heads outlined in black. And at last there was Ozai, his portrait the most detailed and ornate, with the gears and pipes of the Fire Nation's newly developed industrial powers, the flames in his hands turning to the black, like oil, or death.

"Katara?" Suki began, glancing in question at the portrait of Ozai, then back at her.

Katara gazed up at them a moment longer, before she shook her head. "...It's nothing."

She turned away, and after a moment Suki followed, and they both trailed after the sages back along the expansive hall. However, her thoughts lingered for a moment with the royal line. In a way it was a history of the Fire Nation's reign of terror, immortalized and glorified—yet she found herself thinking instead of simply the faces. The men she had heard about, who had only been names before now. She wondered what they had felt over the course of their lives, if they had always known they would become tyrants, or if there had been something to happen to them to turn them that way. And the faceless soldiers at Sozin's feet—what they had felt, who they might have been, behind their masks.

The room the sages brought them to had already been prepared, the crimson silk sheets freshly pressed. The sages left then, bowing and murmuring that if they needed anything, they had only to ask. Suki, meanwhile, led Katara over to the bed to sit. She took a lamp from a nearby stand and lit it, then returned to sit beside Katara.

"You should have said something," Suki admonished gently. "I noticed you seemed a little quiet, but..."

Katara drew water from her bending pouch, coating her hand and pressing it to the burn beneath the cloak again. She had probably done about all she could do for now in terms of healing, but still the cool water brought some relief.

"It's okay," Katara said. She added, "You can go now, Suki. Go look for the other warriors."

Suki shook her head. "They're probably not being kept at the capital prison anyway. They'll be fine until we find them, they're tough."

Katara stared at a gilded window. With the lamplight inside, she couldn't see anything through it, though more than likely the only thing she would see was the palace wall.

"What happened?" Suki asked softly, placing a hand on Katara's good wrist. "In the fight with Azula, I mean." She seemed to sense that there was more to it than just the burn.

Katara didn't turn, just stared at the dark window. She could see her own reflection in it, staring back at her. Her water tribe clothing obscured by the cloak, her mother's necklace only half visible above it.

"I'm sorry, Suki," she said at last, very quietly. "I… kind of want to be alone."

Suki was quiet for a long moment. Before at last she gave Katara's good hand one final squeeze. "Okay," she said softly. "I'll… go check and see if I can get you that burn salve. And I'll bring you something to drink, in case you need it. I'll just take the room next door, and if you need anything…"

"Thank you, Suki," Katara whispered, and Suki gave a worried but supportive smile in return. She got up from the bed, and went to the door. Katara sensed her linger there a moment, watching Katara over her shoulder as though waiting for her to change her mind—then the door clicked closed.

Katara closed her eyes, breathing deeply, focusing on nothing but a faint wood-like scent on the air. Incense, she thought—she had heard vaguely somewhere that people of the Fire Nation burned sticks of it to loved ones who had passed. Perhaps those who had last stayed in this room had lost someone.

Katara unclasped the long cloak, letting it fall to the bed behind her. Her eyes opened. Then, at long last, she let her gaze slide down to her shoulder.

It was even worse than she had expected. The skin at the top of her shoulder was covered in angry red and white striations, which twisted down the length of her upper arm, bubbling and buckling in thick masses in no particular pattern. Though it appeared as a burn scar weeks old thanks to the healing, the sight of it still brought back the memory of the stench of burning flesh in her nostrils, and for a moment a dizzying sickness overwhelmed her.

Her lower arm had fared better thanks to her arm guard, though only a little, the skin still buckled and raw from elbow to wrist. The back of her hand was much the same, while her unprotected fingertips and palm bore the red patchiness of the heaviest burns.

It could have been worse. Azula's fire, hot as it was, could have left her arm as no more than a black, unusable mass, or even blown it off entirely. However, she had already healed the scars on the surface as much as they would heal, and even when the pain went away, it would probably always look like this. Like Zuko, punished by his father at a young age, this was a scar she would always bear.

The memories flickered in her mind. The courtyard, cast in the red light of the comet. Azula's mad features as she struck down Zuko, then came after her. The fury in Azula's face, the cold triumph, and yet the desperation, too. The moment when Katara had made her decision, that she knew she could never take back.

Exhausted, her mind and heart heavy, she closed her eyes. She was so tired. And yet, this day still wasn't over—because she still had to sleep. And she didn't doubt there would be someone waiting for her in her dreams…

A/N: Well, we're almost there. Just one more chapter left now, plus an epilogue.

Working on something like this always makes me realize again how many time gaps there are in a given episode or episodes; it all flows together so seamlessly I'll tend to miss it, but the writers are so strategic about what moments they choose to capture. In written form, there's often more of a continuous sense of events, or at least that tends to be my writing style, so I did my best to try to fill things in.

Thanks again for reading! If you have a moment, let me know what you thought, and hope to see you in the next one!

Posted 10/30/22