The incident at the fountain had depleted Katara.
Uncle had explained that the amount of healing she had endured had drained her and it was likely that, similar to other forms of bending, a waterbender would need to build up stamina when healing.
After a few pointed words from Uncle regarding exploring outside of one's boundaries and the risks they would bring on themselves, the two friends found themselves confined to the same wing during the day. Katara had been particularly sheepish after this talk, her stubbornness fading in the wake of the events in the Garden.
However, by the end of the week, both of them were starting to get increasingly irritated with their constricted playground. Guilt still weighed on Zuko's mind, and he had forced himself to spend as much time cooped up in Uncle's wing as he could, in a warped camaraderie with Katara.
Therefore, both children were greatly relieved when his uncle came in after lunch one day to suggest that they should go on a small excursion in the Palace to meet someone that afternoon. Katara responded with excitement, Zuko with cautious confusion, but both were pleased to have this opportunity to break out of the familiar corridors and rooms.
"Where are we going?" Zuko asked.
"Ah, actually you will be familiar with where we are heading, nephew," Uncle chuckled. "I have received a request from Princess Ursa to meet Katara," he said, winking at Zuko.
"M-Mom?" stuttered Zuko, ignoring the questioning glance from Katara as he blinked at his uncle. "We're going to see Mom today? Why?"
"I've been telling Ursa a little bit about Katara and she is eager to meet the girl that's befriended her son," Uncle said, kind amber eyes twinkled at Zuko, clearly amused by his surprise.
"Oh."
His uncle laughed at his discomfort and Zuko could feel the heat rising in his cheeks. "Is there a problem with that, Zuko? I would have thought you would be happy that Katara finally got to meet your mother."
"N-no, no problem," Zuko mumbled, refusing to look up at the confused giggling coming from Katara's direction.
Why was he nervous about this?
He knew it was inevitable. But the longer he had known Katara, the more nervous he had felt about his mother meeting the waterbender. He scuffed his feet against the ground, falling behind Uncle and Katara as they keenly sped towards the wing that his family lived in. Why did they have to walk so fast? They seemed purposively oblivious to the fact that Zuko was dropping behind, so much so he had to jog to catch up with the excited pair.
It will be fine.
They approached the entrance to the wing. Uncle barely had to acknowledge the guards before they swept open the doors, revealing the living quarters of his family. He heard Katara suck in a breath at the room they entered, an action that surprised Zuko. Uncle's quarters were more impressive than his family's, being the Crown Prince, however Zuko found himself feeling a little pride mounting at her awe at their rooms. A servant directed them to a couch, offering to fetch his mother while they waited.
Zuko sat down, trying to stop fidgeting and contain the nerves. Katara came to sit next to him and unexpectedly started to bounce her knee. Now that they were no longer walking, he noticed that she was slightly shaking. Zuko was relieved to find he was not the only one anxious by this meeting and the two of them sat in amicable silence as they nervously waited his mother's entrance, both avoiding the bemused expression of his uncle.
They didn't have to wait long.
Katara was just drawing in another shaky breath, when the most elegant woman she had ever set eyes on glided into the room. Slim, tall and graceful, with long sleek hair - half of which was pulled back into a high twist and held together with an ornate gold flamed headpiece - Fire Princess Ursa smiled at Iroh as she entered the room.
"Iroh, it is good to see you!"
Sparkling, golden eyes found her and that smile brightened as Katara rushed to her feet, bowing in a moment of comprehension of the woman she was meeting.
"Oh please don't worry about that, child," Ursa calmly stepped towards Katara. The girl tilted her head back to look up at Zuko's mother.
"You must be Katara, my son has told me quite a bit about you," Ursa continued, eyes moving to Zuko. Katara could feel the heat coming in waves from the presumably red prince.
Katara nodded, speechless. Her shyness caused a barely stifled chortle from Iroh and she briefly scowled at him before fixing her eyes on her feet, embarrassed by the loss of control in her expression.
"Well, this is a new experience, she normally isn't this quiet," Iroh seemed to have shrugged off the warning in her glower, infuriatingly continuing to enjoy her timid response.
"Well, I am honoured to finally meet you. Katara is a beautiful name and it appears to match you perfectly," Ursa continued.
Katara looked up at her in surprise. "M-me? But you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen-" she blurted out, eyes widening and hand clamping over her mouth as she realised what she had said. She felt her cheeks heating, betraying her embarrassment. Iroh broke out laughing, also a cruel betrayal.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Zuko gawking at her. She ignored him. A breathless giggle from above her urged Katara to draw strength and look back up at the Fire Princess.
"Well I am very flattered," Ursa smiled at her kindly. "You have striking eyes Katara, what an incredible colour."
Katara swallowed down past a block in her throat. "Thank you, your headpiece is very pretty," she said hesitantly. "Is it to show that you are a princess?"
"Why, yes it is," Ursa reached up to touch it momentarily as she answered. She returned a curious expression to Katara, humming as she continued. "Iroh has told me a little about your family. It appears to me that you are also a princess, did you have something similar when you were at home?"
Shocked, Katara stuttered as she reacted. "W-what- no, I'm not-"
"She can't be a princess," Zuko interrupted, flushing as his mother sent an unimpressed expression towards him for his outburst.
"Are you not the chieftain's daughter?" Ursa asked steadily, returning to Katara, amusement growing in her eyes.
"Y-yes?"
"Therefore, I would imagine you would be the closest definition of a princess within your tribe?"
"The Northern Water Tribe has a princess, but we do not," Katara explained, pointedly avoiding Zuko's flustered stare burning into the side of her face.
"From my understanding, and I believe that Iroh holds the same understanding of the circumstances, you would be considered a princess within the Fire Nation hierarchy based on your standing within your tribe," Ursa's eyes twinkled at her. "Of course I may be incorrect, and I wouldn't want to have you feel uncomfortable by that assertion."
"Oh, I didn't think of it like that," she responded quietly.
"She couldn't be a princess anyway," Zuko muttered under his breath.
Hearing him, Katara sent her most formidable glare his way. "And why not?"
"Well you don't act like any princess I have ever met," he grumbled, ducking his head to evade her.
"Zuko!" Ursa exclaimed.
Katara couldn't help it, forgetting the presence of the adults for a moment. "Well, that makes us equal," she snarked at him. "You don't act like any prince I have ever met either."
Puzzled eyes sneaked a peek at her. "But I am a prince," Zuko said in bewilderment. "This is how princes act."
"Says you."
"How would you know?" he continued. "You don't know any other princes."
"I know Iroh," Katara looked up at the beaming face of Iroh, the traces of tears forming in his eyes at repressed laughter. "I thought Iroh was a prince as well."
Ursa chuckled, a delightful sound that brought the attention of both children back to her. "Well, I guess you did warn me Iroh," Ursa's eyebrows were raised as she looked at the two of them. "I was a little surprised but now I have seen it in person, I can't fault your comments about the two of them."
Her chuckling continued as matching confused expressions, gold and blue eyes alike, blinked up at her.
"Shall we get some tea?" Iroh suggested, eliciting a pleased clap of the hands from Ursa.
Katara and Zuko stared at each other as the attention was removed from them, Zuko shrugging in response to her whispered question.
It was the following week before Iroh deemed Katara rested enough to return to waterbending training, and a further week before she was allowed to head to the wards for her first morning spent with Doctor Pang.
Apprehension over what the experience with Fire Nation soldiers would entail was quickly relieved as Pang stated he wanted her to start with healing small wounds on him, specifically a prick on his finger caused from a thin blade. He explained gently that the added pressure of learning to heal in front of a cynical soldier may be too much for a beginner, which brought an instant release of nerves from Katara.
Despite this, healing brought a lot of pressure and recreating the calming feeling that had spoken to her in the fountain did not come easily to Katara. She found that she was unable to look directly at the doctor, squeezing her eyes closed as she concentrated.
It took over an hour before she could keep Pang's hand coated with water, and even longer to produce a stunning blue glow that drew a gasp from Pang. The gasp broke Katara's focus and as she opened her eyes to stare at the glow in wonder, water escaped, splashing around their feet. Pang delightedly congratulated her before setting up to start again.
Healing sessions exhausted her in a different way than her waterbending instructions with Iroh and Katara was only able to make sporadic appearances at the wards. Over a month passed with repeated healing sessions progressing, the breaks between visits to the ward decreasing as Katara built up her strength.
She was still surprised when one morning she had arrived at the ward to find a young man on the bed in the ward. Smiling at her encouragingly, Pang introduced the young man as a soldier who had stumbled into an opponent's sword during standard training at the barracks. She peeked at the man – was man the right word to use, he couldn't be more than a teenager - who was meaningfully staring at the wall. Pang ignored him as the doctor moved closer to the bed and gently removed the bandage covering the soldier's arm.
Gulping, Katara stepped forward, forcing a wave of nausea down at the gnarly sight. A jagged wound sliced through the man's forearm, coagulated blood forming along the edges, an acrid smell meeting her twitching nose. Shuddering, she tore her eyes from the injury to find Pang closely watching her. After she nodded acceptance, he smiled and reached for a bowl of water from the bench behind him, holding it out towards her and patiently waiting for her cue.
Katara took a long, deep breath, calming herself before calling the water to her, covering her hands as she leaned towards the soldier's arm. She ignored the man's flinch, refusing to look up at him and focussing only on the gash carved into his arm. Concentrating, she brought her hands over his arm, remembering the repeated lessons with Pang, drawing the soldier's energy paths through to where her hands hovered. Relief was pushed back as the water covering her hands began to glow, unwilling to break her sole focus as she knitted the wound back together.
Drowning out the soldier's unsteady breathing, a few minutes passed before she returned the water to the bowl and leaned back to quiet congratulations from Pang. Pride washed through her as she observed her work, the arm returned to normal and shocked tawny eyes observing her. She smiled shyly at the young man.
"T-thank you," the soldier stammered, raising his arm and twisting it in front of his face in astonishment.
"You're welcome," she said quietly.
One month at the wards became two, then three, and cold weather finally descended on the Fire Nation.
Well, cold weather according to Zuko.
To Katara, the drop in temperature merely brought the Fire Nation to a reasonable and liveable warmth. The array of spectacular colours inundating the Gardens and the change in the breathtaking view from Iroh's balcony continued to astound Katara as the season passed. The weather was milder here than it was at the Water Tribe at all stages of the year. With surprise, she found the Fire Nation in winter to be pleasant, even enjoyable.
The continued grumbling from Zuko was just an added bonus.
Katara continued to notice barely concealed glares at her presence in the hallways, and not all the soldiers she healed responded in the same appreciative manner as the first one had. She had had variable results with her healing, but assurances from Pang convinced her that she was improving. Notably, it had dawned on her that Pang never brought a burn victim to her, an oddity considering where she was. She suspected that Iroh may have had some sway in shielding her from those memories for the time being.
She found she was rarely bored. Between waterbending lessons with Iroh, healing sessions with Pang and exploring with Zuko, the months flowed past, bringing with them a routine that reassured Katara.
Nevertheless, the realisation that she had been away from home for so long was manifesting in the back of her mind, causing a rising dread to pool in her stomach and play games with her mind. Slowly eating away at any positive emotion that dared to rear its head and make her feel joy.
Four months after she had arrived in the Fire Nation, the magnitude of that time lost struck her. They were closing in on the winter solstice and therefore, creeping closer to her birthday. The desperation to see her family again returned with a vengeance. Continued waves of shame and guilt flooded her mind at the memories of her mother, her family, her tribe.
What was wrong with her?
How could she even be feeling a small amount of happiness with her life here?
She knew Iroh had begun to worry about her, finding her wandering the halls in the middle of the nights. He stayed up with her on these sleepless nights as she sat in silence gazing out from the balcony. In vain, he tried to reassure her, telling her that she had no reason to feel guilty.
That none of this was her fault. But as winter drew ever closer, Katara was finding it harder and harder to not feel culpable. At her lowest moments, she had realised that she really had allowed herself to adapt to her surroundings.
To adapt to living within the Fire Nation.
And that felt wrong. Painfully wrong.
"Katara?"
She didn't appear to have heard him. Iroh approached carefully from the side, taking the seat next to the dispirited waterbender who was blankly staring out at the city. After a few minutes of waiting for Katara to register that she had company, he tentatively reached out and placed his hand on her arm. He could feel the shock ripple through her arm as she startled, hazy blue eyes flashed towards him.
"Katara, I'm worried about you. Please tell me how I can help."
Confusion raced across her face, before tears welled up in the corners of Katara's eyes. "I don't think you can help me."
"I want to try."
"How? I don't even understand what is happening to me," Katara exclaimed, frustration seeping into her voice. "I feel lost and angry a-and so guilty."
"Katara, why do you feel guilty?" Iroh asked, surprised. "You have no reason to."
"Yes I do!" she said, defiantly. "I keep forgetting to be sad. I catch myself enjoying something and it just seems completely wrong to me."
"You're allowed to feel happy again," Iroh explained. "You aren't going to feel fine all the time. There will be moments where all of this will hit you like an earthquake that you won't see coming. It will feel like the ground has been ripped out from beneath you and you will be desperately grasping for anything to hold you in place," he continued, squeezing her arm. "That is normal. And you will learn how to deal with those moments, I promise you."
Silent tears spilled over, tracing glimmering paths down Katara's cheeks. Sniffing, she dashed them away with her other hand, ducking her head. But she didn't move her arm.
"Katara, no one should have to spend their life an empty husk of their former selves," he said gently. "I sincerely hope that will not be your fate, it would be a tragedy if it was."
With a slight nod of her head, Katara reached over her opposite hand and placed it on top of his hand. He could barely hear the shaky agreement but the meaning was there.
"It is hard to see the light from where you currently stand, but you are far stronger than you realise you are, and you will see it again one day," Iroh said, smiling as the girl finally returned her eyes to him. His heart felt a little fuller when her lips slowly creeped upwards. Katara looked exhausted but he thought there may be some further assistance he could provide.
"Would it help if you could send a message to your father and brother?" Iroh asked. "It could even be just to let them know that you are safe."
Eyes wide, Katara nodded vigorously jumping up from her chair with an enthusiasm he hadn't seen from the girl in over a week.
"How about we figure out what to write to them and if you write something down today, I will send it tonight."
"Mom, I'm worried about Katara," Zuko announced that night. Multiple days had passed with infrequent contact from his friend, tugging the prince down into a melancholic state. "She doesn't seem to be happy."
"I know Zuko," his mother sighed, sitting down on his bed and pulling the blankets up around his face. "I just think she is missing her family. It's understandable, but I know Iroh is worried about her as well."
"Uncle said she can't go home," he asked. "Is that true?"
She shook her head. "It is, she can't unfortunately."
"Oh," Zuko paused, thinking. "How do I make her feel better then?"
His mother smiled at him, brushing dark strands away from his face. "By being there for her as a friend," she said simply. "She needs you, she's just trying to cope with a lot of other emotions at the moment."
"Ok," Zuko replied quietly.
"Get some sleep, you never know, she might be up to a bit more tomorrow," she said, squeezing his hand as she leant over and kissed his forehead before leaving.
Zuko stared at the ceiling before rolling onto his side, trying to still his thoughts.
"I heard your little friend is feeling the cold."
A mocking voice sent him bolt upright in bed, sparking annoyance at the familiar tone. Azula was leaning casually against the door frame, arms crossed and smirking at his expression.
"Seems a bit odd, don't you think," she continued. "A waterbender who gets more miserable as winter approaches, it's strange."
"Go away, Azula," Zuko replied, slumping back against the headboard.
"You know, I was just thinking the other day that Dad is due back soon," Azula said, smug eyes affixed on his. "You would of course be aware of that."
"Of course I know that," the boy said indignantly. "What's your point?"
"I'm surprised Zuzu, I would have thought that even you would be able to suspect his reaction to finding his son has made a new friend. Of course you had to choose one with such a distasteful ancestry."
"Grandfather has let her stay, why would Dad have a problem with Katara?"
Rolling her golden eyes at him, Azula dryly danced around the question. "Your naivety is as entertaining as always."
Zuko let out an irritated groan, sliding back under the covers. "You're impossible."
Peals of laughter reached his retreated position, causing him to squeeze his eyes shut as he tried to ignore her amusement. "If you say so."
He heard a scoffing noise, as Azula realised that she had lost the attention of her intended victim. His sister threw out one last remark as she left his room, one that chilled his blood, sending shivers down his spine despite the heavy weight of the blankets.
"Sleep well, Zuzu, better enjoy your little friendship while it lasts."