"Why didn't you tell me you could do that huh?"

"It didn't come up until now. There was no reason to say anything."

"It still would have been nice to know."

Katara rolls her eyes, "Well when you tell me every little detail about your bending I'll tell you every little detail about mine. For now though let's just try and find the others."

"Hmpf," Zuko exhales. "It's getting dark we should camp for the night."

"How can you even tell it's getting dark, this swamp is the same shade of green now as it was half an hour ago."

Now it's Zuko's turn to roll his eyes, "Really, I'm a fire bender. A nice little detail is that I can feel the sun."

Katara sticks her tongue out. "Okay, but I don't see why we should stop now. We should keep looking."

"Because soon it will be dark and we don't know what's out there." Zuko takes a breath to stay calm.

"What, scared an alligator eel might come and eat you?"

"I'm am not scared! I'm tired but not scared!"

"Fine, okay. Sorry, I didn't mean anything by it."

He sighs, "Let's just make camp." The two work in silence, each ruminating on the events of the day. Zuko's sad and short tempered from the run in with what he prays was not his mother's ghost and Katara's angry and jumpy and quite honestly still terrified from her encounter with the illusions of Chang and Fong. Zuko gathers wood while Katara gathers whatever plants and nuts she can find. A koala rabbit wanders by at the wrong moment and - snap - her mud whip stuns it. She carries her finding proudly back to the campsite.

Zuko raises his eyebrow at her catch. "What is that?"

"Dinner."

"Do you plan on killing it?"

"Uh," she looks down at her feet, "I was kind of hoping you would do that."

"No."

"Why not!"

"Why don't you?"

"I caught it, I shouldn't have to kill it too."

"I'm not killing some innocent little animal just because you can't go without meat for twenty-four hours." Zuko retorts.

"I can to go without meat!"

"Well then prove i-"

Katara jumps. During their argument the creature had regained it's mobility and now kicks off of Katara, not only getting out of her grip and bounding away but also getting two large muddy paw prints all over the front of her dress. Zuko smirks, "I guess we don't have to worry about it anyway." Katara huffs at his words. "Anyway, the wood's all wet. Can you do anything about that?"

"Can I do anything about it, bah. I'm a master water bender of course I can do something about it but I don't think it really matters since now our meat is gone and we don't have a pot to cook anything in. I think we're just sticking to nuts tonight."

"Oh."

"Yeah," Katara sighs and plops down on the muddy a twitch of her hand she separates out clean water from the mud and bends it into her mouth. Zuko walks up beside her, licking his lips slightly. He doesn't even ask before a ball of water hovers in the air in front of his mouth. He drinks it down greedily, Katara supplying more until he finally stops. He sits down beside her and offers her some nuts, a peace offering of sorts even though she gathered them. She looks at him, exhausted, before smiling a little and accepting the food. They watch the swamp around them until Katara speaks up. "Thanks for getting the wood even if we didn't use it."

Zuko shrugs, "It's nothing."

Katara thinks nothing of it as she scoots next to him and leans against him. Any other time she would have realized, she would have maybe given a thought to the muscles underneath her cheek and the arm that touches hers but for now it's his strength and his warmth that she needs and the stability. Even though they once were enemies she knows she can count on him, she could count on him to always find them wherever they went and she could count on him to not take advantage of her and now she can depend on him to be there for her in the middle of the night when the nightmares are bad or even during the day when she just needs a reminder that things are okay now. He tenses at her touch but even in her sweaty, muddy, disheveled state just her being there makes him relax again. She's the one who makes him smile, she's the one who shows him that being kind doesn't mean you can't also be strong, she's the one who shows him that peace is worth fighting for. He turns his face ever so slightly and rests his cheek on her hair, drinking in her iron will and calm after the hellish day.

Katara laughs lightly, "To think, today started out with us all trying to relax."

"We'll make sure never to do that again."

"What, relax?"

"Yes." She can't quite tell if he's serious and so shrugs internally, looking out at the descending night.

. . .

Sokka hates this place. No, he doesn't hate it he despises it. He's lost, alone - except for Appa - scared, and shaken. Other than a few minutes, maybe an hour or two here and there, he's never really been alone in his life, not truly alone. His tribe was always there or at least Katara. Even when she was captured Aang was there. Now unseen birds croak and chirp in the deep shadows and no one else is there. The warrior shivers and pulls his knees to his chest. Appa just groans and continues to float leisurely along the muddy stream. He has no idea where they're going and no idea where the others are and Appa won't fly for some unknown reason so he plays babysitter to the giant bison, hoping that he won't be wandering the swamp forever.

. . .

Aang can feel the world here. He can touch this tree and feel it all from Gran-Gran in the South Pole stirring a pot of broth clutching a baby to her chest to the walled city of Ba Sing Se where cat rats and old men fight for scraps of food while rich young men laugh. Over the icy tundra Princess Yue sits trying to smile while her jaw clenches to avoid any possible tears and Chief Arnook introduces another suitor. Across the Great Sea a man with gold in his hair and cold anger on his face curls his lips at General Iroh who stands defiantly in manacles. On the walls of Omashu the Fire Nation flag flies and King Bumi is hoisted into the sky inside a metal box. His mind keeps coming back to a girl though, one he doesn't know but he can't seem to tear himself away from or perhaps the tree is just guiding his thoughts. She's not too far away in a decently sized Earth Kingdom town. Aang can feel the walls around her house and her bare feet plodding around until a servant comes near and she straightens into a ladylike position. She nods, the large black bun on her hair bobbing and the servant straightens her bangs before they head inside. He says something and the girl laughs, not heartily for she is now a lady but still genuinely. Aang won't ever forget that laugh that still sounds like chimes.

By the time Aang opens his eyes it's dark. He's not even sure when or how he got there but he's perched on top of one of the massive branches beside the gargantuan tree, leaning up against the trunk. The moon is high and the stars twinkle and the Avatar curses, "I wasn't supposed to leave, I was supposed to be looking for the others with Sokka. Maybe this tree can show me where the others are and then I won't have to worry about it." He closes his eyes and sinks back into the tree's awareness. It's not hard to find Sokka and Appa floating around, Sokka trying to get comfortable to sleep. Katara and Zuko sit beside each other while Momo scampers around after bugs. Aang's blood rises slightly at the thought of them together but at least they are safe. He also feels other people, walking around in leaves and guffawing at each others' jokes but they don't seem threatening. Aang relaxes, everyone is okay, he can find them all in the morning.

. . .

"Hey."

Zuko looks up as Katara walks back to camp. "Hi."

She looks at her feet, a blush rising to her cheeks. "Uh, do you mind if uh, well-"

"What?"

Katara pauses then pushes the words out quickly, the syllables stumbling over each other, "Can I sleep with you tonight? It's been a long day and it's chilly and uh yeah."

That is not at all what he was expecting! "Um, sure I guess?"

"Thanks," she doesn't look at him as she drops onto the ground, her back nestled against his side. He swallows, not sure what he did in life to warrant this and not sure if it's an immensely good thing or a bad thing. Is she trying to send a message, is she honestly cold, is she hoping that he'll put his arm around her - ugh - girls are crazy! What if they fall asleep like this and she wakes up in the morning and he's accidentally groping her or he's too close or what if that's what she wants and she'll think he's a loser if he doesn't or or or or. Zuko's frantic thoughts are cut short. "I'm sorry about this, I just don't want to be alone tonight. I saw things out in the swamp and well, I just don't want to be by myself."

He doesn't question what he's supposed to do after her words and curls around her, an arm draping over her side which she clutches. "I saw things too," he mutters into her hair before closing his eyes. Momo lays by his head and the Prince of the Fire Nation falls asleep with surprising ease, the warmth of another person lulling him.

. . .

Zuko wakes in the predawn unsure of his surroundings before realizing that he slept in the middle of the swamp. The warmth on his left is a snoring Katara whose arm is draped across his chest. Surprisingly enough she isn't screaming and mostly slept through the night. He even slept well, only waking twice. Zuko smiles slightly, wondering if she managed to get any deep sleep. He looks at the dark shadows under her eyes, the proof that her sleep lately has been less than good. He won't mess with her slumber and so he stays laying down, an arm around Katara's shoulders mainly because she has it pinned that way. Any shift in movement is met with a grunt and her chin poking him in the ribs as she repositions.

"Really Zuzu, sleeping with peasants now? Bah, and a water bender at that," a voice drawls. "At least you had the decency to pick a master but come on Zuzu, a dirty peasant?"

Zuko whips his head around, finding the source sitting daintily on a boulder examining her nails. "You're not really here." Even so, he pushes Katara off and stands facing his sister. Katara mumbles at the sudden movement but he hardly notices. He can't be too careful with Azula, whether she's really there or not.

Azula laughs, "Does that matter? I just came to gawk at how far you've fallen, that's all. Father will never want you back now that you're consorting with the Avatar."

"I don't need him to want me back!" Th

"Oh really?" Azula stands slowly, leisurely, and props a hand on her hip, "You're saying you don't care about us aren't you? You don't care about your family, your honor, any of it. Poor dear Mai, I know she was devastated when you left and now, hearing that you don't care will destroy her."

"You're twisting my words around, Azula! I care about all of you, that's why I'm doing this."

"Really brother, are you sure about that? Are you sure you're not just doing it for that little water bender?" She sighs theatrically, "To think you'll always be a banished prince because you can't keep it in your pants."

"It's not like that, Katara and I are - we're not - it's not about her! It's about the fact that this war is killing thousands of innocent people and it was all started because Great-Grandfather was power hungry! There was no Air Nomad Army, there was nothing attacking us, it's a stupid war!" Zuko shouts.

"Zuko?" A voice much softer than either of the Fire Nation siblings' cuts in.

"Yeah?" Zuko looks over his shoulder at Katara blinking sleep out of her eyes.

"Who are you talking to?"

"To Azu-" He stops, the space where his sister had been standing is empty and no footsteps mark the muddy ground. He scans the surrounding area but there's no trace of her. "My sister, she was right here."

Katara rises and rests a comforting hand on his shoulder, "There's something about this swamp, it's making us see things." He shrugs her off. "You want to talk about it?"

"No. Let's get moving."

. . .

Aang jumps from tree to tree, his toes barely touching the leaves as he leaps towards where he saw Zuko and Katara wading through the mud minutes ago. He's stopped several times to feel the energy in the trees and make sure he's going in the right direction. It doesn't take long before he drops through the branches, creating a cushion of air for a soft landing.

"Aang!" Katara smiles widely and pulls him into a hug as soon as he lands.

"Hey Katara! How are you, are you okay?"

"Yeah, Zuko and I found each other last night we're doing fine. How about you, what happened? Is Appa okay?"

Aang grimaces, "Uh well he was fine the last time I saw him, Sokka too."

"What do you mean, the last time you saw them? What happened Aang?"

"Nothing, nothing, I just got - uh - distracted." Katara's eyebrows shoot up and even Zuko's twitches. "Well I was looking around for you guys with Sokka and then well, somehow I ended up at the big tree in the middle of the swamp."

"Somehow?" Katara's voice rises drastically, "Somehow! Somehow you just manage to wander off leaving my brother by himself in the middle of Goddess knows where! He might be getting eaten this second, we're going to find him right now young man!" She stomps off in the direction they had been heading before Aang arrived. Zuko follows behind, casting a moderately disgusted look at Aang for his foolishness. Aang just winces and hangs his head before walking along.

. . .

Sokka has decided that while he hates being lonely he doesn't mind being alone. Also he's discovered he can mimic the bird croaks quite well. He's also finally had time to himself to think about Yue and for once he stopped tearing up on his own, not out of a need to make conversation and seem happy.

"Whelp, it's got somethin on its back. You reckon this is what we lookin fur?" Sokka jumps at the nearby voices and he peers over the top of Appa's saddle. It's times like these that he envies the blind. Two men, a tall lanky one and a short fat one stand in a boat of sorts wearing only leaves. Their hats are leaves, their loincloths are leaves, everything is leafy. Needless to say, Sokka isn't too happy about the intrusion.

"Hello? Hello!" Sokka stands, his boomerang at the ready just in case.

The strangers' eyes widen in surprise momentarily before the short one resumes scratching his belly. "I guess we can't eat em then. What chu doin up there anyhow huh?"

"I'm floating along having the time of my life! What does it look like, I'm fucking lost in the middle of nowhere with no clue where my friends are babysitting a two-ton bison!"

"So, you need help or somethin?"

Sokka smacks his forehead. "Yes, yes I do," he sighs.

"Well what you waitin for huh? Follow us. I'm Due and this here" the tall one points to the fat one "is Tho."

"Uh-huh. I'm Sokka."

"Alright Sokka, come one!" Due rotates his arms and the boat jumps into life. "We'll go slow for you and your friend." They set off along the muddy river, Tho bending his little craft forward and Appa following behind.

"Hey, Sokka!" Katara shouts from a river bank, muddy and disheveled, but smiling at the sight of her brother safe and sound. Zuko and Aang follow close behind.

Sokka's eyes narrow in on the monk. "You," he hisses and, in a rare show of talent, scales Appa, marches across the mud, and has the collar of Aang's robes bunched in his fists within about three seconds. "You selfish prick! I don't give a damn if you're the Avatar, you don't just fucking leave people like that."

"I didn't realize I was leaving until I was already gone!" Aang defends and Sokka scoffs.

"Didn't realize you were leaving? What, did your feet just get up leave by themselves? We were supposed to be looking for my sister and you run off doing who knows what leaving me here in the middle of the swamp with Appa and no idea where to go!"

"Sokka, Sokka, it's okay. Yeah Aang made a mistake, but we're all okay." Katara grabs his hands and loosens them, her soothing words a sharp contrast from the anger she displayed minutes before.

"Well howdy, I'm Due and this is Tho. How ya'll doin?" Everyone freezes and blinks. Zuko and Katara raise their eyebrows equally high.

"Oh yeah, someone" Sokka shoots a deadly look at Aang, "decided to come by and help me out. You know, they could have raging psychopaths, thankfully they're nice."

"Yupp, we sure are nice ain't we, Due?"

"Yeah, sure are. So, what'd ya'll do to end up here?"

"What do you mean?" Zuko asks.

"Well the swamp wants you here or else you'd be gone by now."

At that Aang perks up, "Well I'm the Avatar and the big tree did seem to want to talk to me."

Zuko groans and Sokka smacks his own forehead. "Aang, it's a tree. Trees don't talk to people."

"This one did!"

"No," Zuko replies, "It's a tree."

"Nah, bald kid's righ. The banion grove tree calls all kines o' people here. Ya'll seen weird stuff out here in the swamp?"

Sokka shudders Katara instinctively hugs herself, and Zuko's nostrils flare, "Yeah, why?"

"Thas the swamp talking to you, showing you what you want or need ta see."

"No!" Sokka, Katara, and Zuko interject loudly.

Due just shrugs, "Come on. We'll show ya to our village. Talk ta Huu, he'll know what to tell ya."

The swamp people walk off and Zuko mutters, "Due, Huu, next there'll be Foo and Loo I'm sure." Katara smirks silently and Sokka nods his agreement. Aang's already hugging Appa so doesn't hear. Due lifts his hands and the water around him twitches in answer. Katara goes wide-eyed as his little boat starts to move, Appa trailing along behind.

"You're a water bender!"

"Yeah, so?"

"I didn't know there were any outside of the Poles! Are there many more back at your village?"

"Most of us are benders," Tho interjects, "It'd be weird ta live in a swamp and not be able to talk wit it."

"Talk with it?"

"Ya know, feel it and know what's goin' on out and about an' all."

"Wait, you mean you can feel stuff through the water?"

Tho shrugs, "O' course."

"That's amazing!" Katara whirls on Zuko, "That technique I told you about, your Uncle taught me that. They never said a word about it while fighting in the North Pole, I mean there was a little with the 'being one with the water' and some in healing but never actually communicating with the water or using it to see! Your Uncle must have come here! Can you imagine, a Fire Nation General learning water bending moves and living in harmony with a bunch of water benders!" She croons.

Zuko frowns, thinking. "If-"

"What chu talking bout?"

The master water bender turns back around, "Did a fire bender come here several years ago? He would have been short, probably had a beard. I don't know how large he was back then."

Tho strokes his chin as Due continues to bend absentmindedly. "Wasn't there that guy bout what eight, ten years ago?"

"Yeah, I remember something bout that. Wasn't he a fire bender?"

"Yeah, think he was. Oh yeah, I remember now, he helped us catch old Slim."

"Mhmm, and he sure made nice fires, juiciest bear fish meat I'd ever had was cause of him."

"My Uncle wouldn't have come to a place like this!" Zuko stands, offended at the thought of his Uncle running around with these - these - not peasants because that's exactly what he's doing right now with Katara and Sokka but half clothed potential maniacs!

"What chu mean, a place like this?"

He immediately backpedals, "I just mean that uh"

"His uncle is a fire bender, he was just surprised that water benders would accept him."

Due shrugs at Katara's explanation and Tho nods, "Well, we ain't about to turn someone away that the swamp wants here. Anyhow, right up ahead's our place." They dock and Appa steps out onto semi-dry ground. Huts raised on stilts dot the muddy terrain and people clothed in leaves and leather wander around. Five men and seven women stop their archery to watch the newcomers. A couple grinding nuts stop mid kiss to look. A bunch of children stop to gawk and one topples over as Appa yawns loudly.

"Due, Tho! You brought them foreigners?" A lanky woman hollers.

"Yupp, this here's the Avatar. Don't know the names o' any of the rest of em cept ponytail's is Sokka."

"Hey, this is a warrior's wolf tail! That," Sokka gestures at Zuko, "Is a ponytail. There's a difference."

An older man claps him on the shoulder and laughs, "Sure thing son."

Sokka sighs and Katara steps forward, "Hi, I'm Katara, this is Zuko, you've met my brother Sokka and this is the Avatar, Aang." Various hellos chorus out and heads nod in hello.

"You move like a bender, you one?"

Katara doesn't even get to answer before another woman replies, "Of course she is, an the kid wit the 'actual ponytail' is a bender too. Looks jus like the guy here a few years ago. Prolly a fire bender."

"Hey, you ever cooked bear fish?"

"Ooh, what bout eel ray?" It doesn't take long before everyone's muttering amongst themselves debating what they want for dinner that night and how nice it'll be to have a fire bender there again. "So, what bout it? What chu good at cookin?"

"Well, I've never really cooked anything before."

All the talking stops cold, "What chu mean yo've never cooked!" Another person groans, "Oh no, we ain't training this one too. We'll just cook it ourselves!" "Ya'll get outta the way. We need to get ready fur company!" With those words action explodes. Someone grabs Katara by the arm and ushers her and the others up some stairs and into a large hut. It takes about five seconds for them to go from standing beside Appa to sitting confused in the middle of a room with a catgator trying to get Sokka to pet it. Sokka yanks his hand back but the scaly creature nudges his leg insistently.

"Heh, Roob always did love an excuse to party." An older man with fat hanging over his leaf loincloth chuckles. "You four have just made his year."

"Well uh that's good," Katara states, clearly uneasy.

"I'm Huu, by the way." Zuko stands to bow but Huu just waves him down. "We're not much fur formalities here, Prince Zuko." Zuko hisses. "Yupp, 'Tara said your name an I knew jus who you were, yur uncle used to talk 'bout you all the time. He didn't never say anything bout your face though."

Zuko goes from a slight scowl about his name to a clenched jaw and a blank face with fire raging behind his eyes. "There's nothing wrong with my face."

"Nah, nothin wrong, jus different." Huu shrugs and sits cross legged. Katara grabs and tugs on Zuko's pants, pulling him down next to her before he starts really fuming. "So anyhow, the banyion tree wants you here Avatar?"

"I guess so but I'm not getting the strong pull from it like I was earlier. I think it showed me what it wanted to."

"It might have, but I'll take you up there tomorrow ta make sure. There's so much it can teach."

Aang nods, "Okay. We do need to get to Omashu after this though. I saw Bumi and it looked like he was in trouble."

"You saw old man Bumi?" Sokka scoffs, "Yeah right, he's like a hundred miles away."

"No, I'm serious I did! The tree showed me."

Zuko perks up, "Did you see my uncle?"

"What about Gran-Gran?"

"Guys, it's a fucking tree. It's not going to -"

"I saw Yue."

Sokka's voice cracks, "What?"

"She's good, she seems happy," Aang lies.

"Oh, okay."

"Gran-Gran seemed to be doing well. And no, I didn't see your Uncle." Huu gives him an odd look but doesn't say anything. Katara's smiling and Zuko is just lost it thought.

The older man stands, "Well I'd best go help with the festivities. Roob'll start throwin a fit here soon ifin no one helps calm em down."

"Do you need any help?"

"Nah, missy we've got this under control. You all just relax an we'll take care o you."