"Katara?"

"Hmmm?" Blue eyes lifted from the book laid out in front of the girl to gaze at Iroh, blinking in the sunlight.

"What are you reading?"

Katara raised a hand to block the glare from the sun behind him, smiling when he moved to obstruct her view. "Oh, Zuko's leant me one of his favourite stories. He has lessons today so I was bored."

"What is this one about?"

"I'm not very far into it but it's about one of the oldest Spirits, Koh the Face Stealer," Katara said, scrunching up her nose. "Zuko seems to like scarier stories than I do."

"Ah, you may be right. I read that one to him when he was younger," Iroh nodded. "He has always enjoyed stories about the Spirits."

"Well at least I'm reading this in the middle of the day."

Laughing, Iroh sat down in the chair next to Katara's. "I actually came out to ask you something. I ran into Lieutenant Yao this morning and he mentioned that he was shipping out again at the end of the week. He said he has previously invited to introduce his daughter to you and was wondering if he could bring her over tomorrow…if that was acceptable to you of course?"

He held back a chuckle at how fast Katara sat upright, nodding her head enthusiastically.

"I would love to meet her."

By the following afternoon, initial enthusiasm had subdued into shyness. Iroh watched as the two girls stared at the ground, shuffling their feet, twitching their hands and playing with their hair in comical mirror images of each other. Iroh and Yao exchanged amused glances at each other over the heads of the girls.

"Shall we leave you two to get to know each other a bit better?" Iroh asked, raising an eyebrow when Katara worriedly looked up at him. "We'll go and find something for afternoon tea."

"Liao, maybe you could tell Katara a little bit about the city?" Yao said, squeezing his daughter's shoulder encouragingly and winking at Katara before turning to leave with Iroh.

Katara gulped as she sneaked a look at the Fire Nation girl standing in front of her. Untamed strands from a dark fringe obstructed amber eyes trained downwards, with colour awkwardly spreading over pale cheeks as Liao bit her lower lip.

"Um, do you live in the city?" Katara asked hesitantly, instantly regretting the choice of words. Of course the girl lived in the city.

Confused eyes left their safe haven focussed at Liao's feet and peeked up at her. "Yes?"

"I-I mean, where in the city do you live?"

"Ahhh, closer to the docks than the Palace," Liao answered. "Actually you may be able to see it from up here," she moved closer to the balcony, peering out at the city. "You can, we live in one of those buildings out over that way, one of the ones next to that larger one with the curved maroon steeples," she continued, a slim finger pointing out further towards the wall surrounding the city.

Katara gazed out in the direction the girl was indicating, nodding. All the rooftops looked the exact same. Reluctant to revert back to the awkward silence, she held her tongue and offered some kind words.

"That looks like a nice place to live."

"Oh! Thank you. Um, I-I would need to ask my mother, but I'm sure you could come over and visit at some point…" Liao returned to worrying her lower lip between her teeth, her burst of confidence failing. "I mean…if you wanted to. I could show you some of the city maybe…"

"I'd like that. I want to see some more of the city eventually, I haven't been able to explore anywhere outside so far," Katara smiled at the girl, feeling a little less nervous as the gesture was returned. "Actually I haven't really been able to leave this wing so far…"

"We may have reached the point that you should be allowed to," Katara jumped as Iroh's interruption startled the two girls. "I'm sure you could eventually build up to being able to venture into the city," Iroh continued, beaming down at them, hands clasped around a platter of food. "Especially with an experienced guide such as Liao here."

Both girls glanced shyly at each other, tiny smiles gracing their faces. The awkwardness subsided as both of them feasted on fruit and giggled at Iroh and Yao's stories of time spent stuck on ships. By the time Liao had to leave, they had endeavoured to meet again in the Palace a few months later when Katara had settled in more.

Wrapping her arms around his legs in an appreciative yet unexpected hug, Katara once again thanked Yao for helping her on the ship. In response, she received a pat on the shoulder from the suddenly bashful lieutenant, followed by a wink and a promise that Yao would come and check on her next time the ship docked in the Fire Nation.

After their guests had left, Katara folded her arms and cheekily looked up at Iroh. "So…I heard that I'm ready to leave the wing?"

Iroh huffed out a laugh. "Don't know what sort of idiot told you that, seems like a terrible idea."

"Oh, I don't know, he strikes me as someone who has hidden wisdom…he's just a little reluctant to show it," Katara teased drawing a scoff from Iroh.

"Youngsters these days, no respect for their elders," Iroh shook his head. "Disgraceful."

Giggles spilled over from Katara, but eventually she tentatively asked, "Can I actually see some more of the Palace?"

"You've been here almost a month, I guess you are as ready as you are going to be," Iroh sighed, uncertainty creasing his features. "And I guess they will be as ready for you as they are going to be too."

Katara chose to ignore the trepidation rising in Iroh's eyes.

No.

She wasn't going to let this opportunity to finally see more of the Palace slip from her fingers.

Her next few days were filled with the anticipation and excitement of venturing around the Palace, each time she was able to convince Iroh to show her somewhere new. Iroh had a skill for being seemingly able to find times that the Palace was mainly deserted, but they still passed a number of noblemen and servants in their travels. For Katara, the hallways still blurred into crimson covered confusion but she was beginning to notice a few distinctive landmarks in their explorations.

It was on the third morning of an early trip around the silent building that Iroh finally brought her to the Palace Gardens. The Gardens were breath-taking. Katara had never seen so much green in one place. Barely concealed awe and emotion flooded through her as she blinked at the picturesque colours dancing throughout the space in front of them. The morning sun's rays cascaded over the wide and open space, warming her face, as she drank in a cocktail of greens, blue and pink spilling from the flowering bushes. Shadows from the trees surrounding the garden cast crawling fingers over the central pond, currently home to a number of lively turtle ducks and proud badgerfrogs.

In a refreshing contrast to the expected temperatures of the Fire Nation, the crisp morning breeze ruffled her hair, bringing with it a bouquet of fragrances coupled with melodic birdsong.

An unanticipated paradise in the heart of this foreign place.

Another time, Zuko joined them. The grumbling prince impatiently followed them through the place he grew up in, staggered by the continued eagerness from Katara to see everything. Despite his grumbling, there were places he perked up at their introductions, notably the library, the entrance to the war council chambers and further investigation of the gardens.

After a day full of new discoveries for Katara, the two friends found themselves lazing in the late afternoon sunlight as Iroh had been called away. Conversation had breezed through the standard fare but had finally rested on a previously avoided subject. Curiosity had gotten the better of Katara and awkwardly she had finally asked about Zuko's family.

"So…I presume you don't just live in this place with your uncle and the Fire Lord…" she asked, voice trailing off as she saw the look on Zuko's face. "Iroh has mentioned your mother before?"

"She's been busy lately but she said she does want to meet you at some point though." A mischievous grin emerged on his face as he looked at her, a taunt forming on his lips. "Can't see why she would though, you're not that special."

"Very unbecoming of a prince to make comments like that."

"I thought we had established this, I can make whatever comments I want," Zuko stated. "I'm a prince."

"You may have declared that, but at no stage have I said I would accept your authority," Katara said, sticking her nose in the air in response to the smug grin on the prince's face.

The action was met with raised eyebrows. "Downright insubordination is an interesting choice."

She shrugged, both children chuckling before falling back into companionable silence.

"You never mention your father…" Katara said quietly, watching as something indiscernible passed over his face. Zuko looked at his hands. "Iroh said he is away in the Earth Kingdom colonies?"

The emotion was brushed aside as Zuko raised his head, nodding earnestly. "Oh, he's just away at the moment dealing with some uprisings for grandfather. He should be back in a few more months," he said, his voice holding steady. "Uncle left at around the same time for another part of the Earth Kingdom. He was meant to be away for longer too, but grandfather called him back early…I don't know why…he only came back a week or so before you arrived here," Zuko babbled, a little more uncertainly.

It was clear that the boy hadn't been told much about the change in circumstances, but Katara realised with sudden shock that she wasn't even aware that Iroh had only returned to the Palace just before she had. The possibility of another, likely deadlier, outcome from her meeting with the Fire Lord weighed on her momentarily before she locked that negative thought back down.

"Oh, I wonder why he came back…" Katara didn't realise the thought had slipped out until Zuko's eyes found hers, the boy shrugging in response.

"No one really told me."

Katara hummed thoughtfully. "Is it just you and your parents then?"

"No," Zuko responded, Katara unable to help but notice a change in tone. "I have a younger sister as well."

"Oh, that's nice!" exclaimed Katara. "Errrm…I'm surprised you haven't brought her up before?"

Zuko smiled ruefully. "I guess there hasn't been a reason for it to come up."

"Oh…"

When he didn't continue, Katara changed the subject, instead asking something that had been bothering her. "I should have asked earlier but I don't even know how old you are?"

Shaken from his thoughts, Zuko looked a little taken aback at the question before the corner of his mouth curled up. "I had been wondering that about you as well…I turned eight a few months back, just after my father left actually."

"Oh, that's not too much older than I am. I will turn eight a month after the winter solstice."

"So you're almost a year younger than I am," a sharp laugh escaped Zuko. "I would have thought you were younger than my sister…although to be fair, you're not that much older than her."

"And why would you think I was I was younger than your sister?" she asked haughtily, watching Zuko's eyes light up as a cheeky grin grew across his face.

"Name a reason. You're tiny, you get far too excited about the weirdest things and you just have the worst sense of humour," Zuko smirked at the spluttering from Katara, knowing he had landed a shot.

Katara crossed her arms and glared at the gloating prince. "Well, if you are an example of how an eight year old should act, it's not like there's going to be an improvement in the next year."

At the resulting look on his face, she descended into laughter, easily dragging her friend with her.

She didn't seem to notice them.

But he did.

Weeks had passed, and Katara had become bolder in her exploration, begging Iroh to allow her to visit new places for longer and at busier times of the day. He had been careful to not indulge her too much, but found that acquiescing had still lead to some predictable issues. The main one being that the pair of them had run into an increasingly large number of people. Ministers, noblemen, servants.

Often Katara had been lost in her surroundings or shyly watching her feet as they passed someone. But Iroh hadn't, calmly acknowledging the restless eyes and pursed lips of the observers with a nod of his head or an easy smile. Often the expressions of those caught would suddenly transform into an imitation of respectful acknowledgement, the conveyed meaning of their upturned mouths not being reflected in their eyes. On more than one occasion, Iroh had forgone his casual demeanour for one indicative of his rank and blood, his glare daring the recipient to voice their thoughts on the matter.

However, Iroh was finding it was getting harder to ignore his growing concerns. He had expected Katara to cause a readjustment period for Fire Nation citizens, specifically those within the Palace. But he was realising that he had been naïve as to the extent of the change required.

Nevertheless, Iroh endeavoured to expose the Palace's occupants to the vivacious waterbender accompanied by his own presence. He remained cautiously optimistic that after a transition period, more of the Fire Nation citizens would accept the new inhabitant of the Palace.

In all honesty, Iroh wasn't appreciating this new addition to his already mounting list of problems. Ever since Katara had inadvertently revealed her father's role as Chief of the Southern Water Tribe, Iroh had been pushing down his apprehension of what the response to her abduction would be from the Water Tribes. Iroh could only suspect how Katara's father would have reacted to his own daughter being taken to the Fire Nation, along with the added circumstance of his wife's death at a Fire Nation soldier's hands.

Was the Commander of the Southern Raiders aware of this connection when he took Katara?

Iroh suspected this was unlikely. Azulon didn't appear to have any knowledge of this, as Iroh's own request would likely not have been granted if the Fire Lord had known of this. There would be little motivation for Yon Rha to have held back this extra information, unless he thought he had made a mistake in taking Katara. No. That was doubtful. Laughably so. Iroh had known the Commander for a number of years and Yon Rha was not a man that was easily convinced that he had made a mistake.

So that posed a further headache for Iroh. If he was to bring this new information to his father's attention, Katara's fate would likely be out of his hands again. It would be unwise to predict how Fire Lord Azulon would react to the knowledge he had the daughter of an enemy nation's leader. Iroh was reluctant to find out the answer to this particular problem.

Conversely, it had reached a stage where Iroh could no longer shoulder the burden of this secret alone. He needed to find someone to divulge the gravity of his situation. To share his dilemma in the hope that there may be a solution or at the very least to diminish some of his worrying.

It was obvious to Iroh who the best person was.

Whether she would be appreciative of being drawn into this mess was another question.

"Come on, it's sunny outside and there are new baby turtle ducks!"

"But Uncle isn't around at the moment…"

"It's been a few weeks! Surely I can go out there by myself…" Katara said imploring. "And I wouldn't even be by myself, I'll be with you!"

"I don't think this is a good idea…" Zuko replied quietly.

"It's still within the Palace and it's such a nice day out there," she argued, drawing her eyebrows together in frustration.

"Katara…"

"Please, Zuko?" Katara appealed to him, inwardly squealing as she saw his face twitch in response.

Shaking his head, Zuko sighed in frustration. "You're being ridiculous…" he glanced at her pleading face, both knowing he had lost this one. "Fine, but you have to tell Uncle it was your idea."

Katara shrugged nonchalantly and grinned.

Victory!

Rolling his eyes at her antics, Zuko followed a beaming Katara down towards the Gardens. As they walked over the threshold outside into the sunlight, he breathed deeply. He felt his chi rousing contentedly as he absorbed the warming rays.

Maybe this wasn't a bad idea after all.

Summer hung around in the Fire Nation long after the solstice. Even as they were nearing the end of the season, the intense heat of summer remained on days such as this one. The warmth drew the anxiety from Zuko. As the two friends rounded on the pond, he couldn't help but feel at ease and in gradually higher spirits, anticipation of seeing the new baby birds again building.

Until he heard a noise. A very familiar noise.

That didn't last long.

"Oh no, not them…"

Zuko stopped in his tracks, flinging out an arm to drag Katara to a similar stance. He tried to ignore the confused stare the girl directed at him, expressive eyes forming an obvious question.

"Who?" she asked. Apparently his silence was not enough of a response for Katara.

"My sister and her friends…we should go," Zuko made to turn around but was stopped by Katara's hand on his arm.

"I don't understand. Why would we leave, they don't own the Gardens," Katara said. Persuasive blue eyes met his, earnestly convincing him to stay. "Come on, we just got here. I'm sure it will be fine."

Zuko hesitated, unsure how to deal with this.

It didn't matter.

Stomach sinking, any decision making on his part was quickly interrupted by a clear, teasing voice cutting through his thoughts.

"Zuzu, how nice of you to join us…and I see you have brought a friend."

Surprise forming in Katara's mind, she watched as her friend caved in on himself at the sound of a voice. Dragging her eyes from the confusing transformation in front of her, she swung herself back to see three girls standing in between them and the pond.

One of the girls was standing in front of the others and currently focussed on Katara.

Almond-shaped, golden eyes looked her up and down slowly, a perfectly curated eyebrow raised and a sweet smile blooming on the face of the small girl. An air of confidence was projected from every inch of her, screaming nobility from her graceful posture, elegant clothing, flawlessly arranged hair and assessing smile. Uncommonly pretty, the girl conveyed an ingrained sense of perfection.

A fact that she appeared to be completely aware of, as if perfection made up her very psyche.

Katara found herself frozen under that gaze, unable to speak.

"You must be Katara," her voice was calming yet had an edge to it, each word enunciated impeccably.

Katara realised with embarrassment that not only was she still staring, her jaw had dropped. A blush formed on her cheeks as she nodded, her reaction causing a bright, friendly smile to form over the girl's face.

"Oh, it is so lovely to meet you. My name is Azula and these are my friends, Mai and Ty Lee," the girl - Azula - said, indicating each of the girls behind her as she spoke.

The first girl, Mai, was staring at her feet, barely looking up at the mention of her name. A dense black fringe fell perfectly over her forehead, buns formed on both sides of her head each with their own crimson ribbon cascading from them.

Ty Lee, on the other hand, bounced on her toes, rocking as she enthusiastically waved at Katara and greeted her. Surprisingly, Ty Lee had brunette hair, a feature that struck Katara as abnormal amongst the more common black hair she had witnessed adorning the Fire Nation citizens. The majority of that hair was currently pulled into a thick braid, with sections falling haphazardly around the cheerful girl's face. She was dressed in shades of pink, another observation that seemed out of the ordinary for the inhabitants of the Palace Katara had previously seen.

Katara had been so focussed on Ty Lee's fervour that she had missed that Zuko had spoken from behind her.

"–should go, we don't want to interrupt or anything."

"Oh don't be silly Zuzu, you aren't interrupting," Azula smiled at him. "Anyways, it would give us a chance to get to know Katara."

Golden eyes flicked back to Katara, the smile broadening and eyes dancing with humour as Azula watched Katara's speechlessness.

"You appear to have become a bit of a celebrity around here," Azula said. "It's been so unfair that I haven't been able to meet you before now," she continued, a small pout formed on the previously smiling face. "Uncle and Zuzu have kept you all to themselves… If you asked me, they have been a little bit selfish. Surely it would be nice for them to have allowed you to meet some other girls your age."

Katara could feel the tension coming off Zuko in waves. To her surprise, the prince appeared to be unable to control the heat coming from him, the surrounding temperature rising as he listened to Azula's words. It was becoming very clear to Katara that this girl was Zuko's sister. But the reaction overflowing from Zuko did not align at all with the perfectly friendly girl smiling without hesitation at Katara. There was no trace of animosity directed towards Katara, despite Azula saying she knew who, and presumably what, Katara was.

"How have you found the Palace so far, Katara?"

Realising she still hadn't spoken, Katara forced herself to utter a simple response, her voice wavering. Despite her weak answer, Azula beamed back at her as if Katara had achieved something wonderful. Katara could feel her unease slipping away at the girl's kind and encouraging expression.

This was starting to make sense. Zuko and Azula were siblings. Of course Zuko was not always a fan of his sister. Katara knew that her relationship with Sokka could get tense at times.

There was nothing to worry about.

Zuko's reaction was perfectly normal.

"Kaatra, you will have to come and practise cartwheeling with us when you're free," Ty Lee spoke up, interrupting Katara's musing. "Have you ever cartwheeled before?"

In response to Katara's shaking head, Ty Lee offered to demonstrate and proceeded to execute a perfectly formed cartwheel, landing lightly on her feet and dramatically bowing, drawing a giggle from the other girls at her theatrics.

"Oh, I would love to be able to do that!" Katara exclaimed, impressed. She couldn't help but grin at Ty Lee, despite noticing Azula's calm appraisal of her diverted interest from the corner of her eye.

"You know, we may actually have enough people to play a game!" Azula's bright voice brought Katara attention back to her, to find Azula smiling encouragingly at her. "Katara, would you like to play a game?"

"Uh, sure," Katara said hesitantly.

"I don't know if that is a good idea, Uncle said we couldn't be out for long," the sharp tone in Zuko's voice caused Katara to swing around and look at her friend. Zuko was rigid, hands curled into fists at his side, glaring at Azula.

"You are being ridiculous Zuzu," Azula laughed, shaking her head. "Either way, I imagine you haven't forgotten all of your manners. It's obviously Katara's choice as to whether she wants to play the game."

Katara was stunned by the pleading in Zuko's eyes when he looked at her. She tried to convey her apology back at him and Zuko looked crestfallen as he recognised her decision.

Dragging her eyes from Zuko's, she turned to Azula and smiled confidently. "I'd love to play a game," Katara said, feeling buoyed by the approval that came from Azula's ecstatic expression. "I don't know any Fire Nation games though…"

"Oh that's quite all right," Azula waved her hand, dismissing her concerns. "We were actually about to play one of my favourite games, it's pretty easy to learn."

"Oh ok, that sounds great."

"Are you also going to join us, Zuzu?"

Katara couldn't help but hear the defeated tone in Zuko's voice as he agreed to join in.

"Here's the way it goes. We place an apple on the head of one of the people playing the game and the other person has try to knock the apple off the other person's head, by whatever means they can," Azula said. "Look, I'll show you."

Azula moved Ty Lee into place by an artistic fountain. She calmly placed an apple on the other girl's head and stepped back. Ty Lee grinned at Katara, who was looking at the apple in confusion. Azula took a few paces away from Ty Lee, drew in a deep breath and shot fire at the apple, successfully knocking the apple off.

Zuko broke the stunned silence from Katara, protesting the choice of game.

"Oh, stop being a spoil sport," Azula giggled. "Ty Lee is fine, aren't you Ty Lee?" In response to the resulting nodding, Azula beamed at Zuko. "Come on, this will be fun!"

"But I'm not a firebender," Katara felt all of their eyes return to her as she raised an obvious problem.

"Neither are Mai and Ty Lee and they still play," the pout was back as Azula appealed to Katara. "Don't tell me that you are going to be like Zuzu about this too?"

In response to the silence, Azula shrugged and continued, the smile returning to her face as she looked at Zuko. "If you don't trust me, why don't you aim when Katara has the apple on her head?"

Katara looked at Zuko, silently imploring him to help her fit in here. To have a chance at feeling included in this game. She tried to smile assuredly but Zuko looked ill, wide eyed and pale.

Eventually, he slowly shut his eyes and took a deep breath, before raising his eyes to the sky and walking past Katara to grab the apple from Ty Lee.

"Excellent! Glad to see you're still able to have some fun Zuzu," Azula said, ignoring the ensuing glare.

Ty Lee came up to Katara and gently directed her to stand near the fountain. Nervously, Katara tried to convey a confidence she did not feel as Zuko approached her, pointedly avoiding her eyes as he placed the apple on her head.

"Please stay still," he breathed quietly.

He continued to not look at her, focussing instead on the apple, but Katara saw his eyelashes flutter as she promised she wouldn't move. Trying to emulate the statue formed in the centre of the fountain behind her, Katara refused to breathe as she watched Zuko lining up in front of her, ready to send fire towards the apple.

She shut her eyes.

A cry broke out.

Eyes flashed open.

A second of noticing someone colliding with Zuko.

Zuko falling towards her.

Fire.

Everywhere.

She was too hot.

Skin scalding.

An agonised scream.

A second to realise that it was coming from her.

She felt a body fly towards her. Crashing into her.

Katara was thrown back into the fountain. All she could hear was a voice yelling at someone.

A familiar voice.

Zuko.

She tried to speak, tried to open her eyes but she couldn't bring herself to.

All she could feel was the heat.

Until that wasn't the only thing.

Something else was trying to push through, attempting to invade her senses.

A feeling of calm starting to cascade over her, willing her to stop panicking.

She couldn't.

She could.

A voice cried out in front of her and she found she could open her eyes to investigate it.

Only to see a terrified face, jaw dropped and eyes large, pupils blown wide.

"What's going on?"

Her voice sounded foreign to her ears, as if coming from somewhere other than her own body.

Zuko had backed away from her. She could see the girls behind him, their faces sporting identical masks of horror.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Trembling lips wavered, a soundless explanation failing to express itself.

"Zuko?"

"Y-you're glowing!"