A/N: Hello! I think this is the longest chapter yet clocking in at 8.5k words. I'm so thrilled you've all been enjoying the story so much and so touched by all of your reviews. You'll be pleased to know they have sparked me to slam out HEAPS of new chapters (I'm currently in the middle of chapter 19, but still having to edit the others). I have an ending all mapped out and I'm enjoying the ride to get there. I hope you continue to enjoy this as much as I've been enjoying writing it. Much love!
xx-Kitten.
Brightest Nights or Darkest Days
By Kittenshift17
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
"She's the one," Aang told Sokka, unable to take his eyes off the little blind girl in the middle of the ring at the Earth Rumble as he watched her throw her head back and laugh. "She's the one who's going to teach me Earth Bending."
Sokka glanced at the bald monk seated beside him, Aang's eyes fixed on the Blind Bandit like he'd just seen a shooting star fly across the heavens.
"Are you sure, Aang?" Sokka asked, completely distracted from his cheering for The Boulder to see his friend so focused after being so agitated and such a pain in the rear since they'd been separated from Katara.
"Yes. Bumi said I need to find a teacher who waits and listens before striking. That's what she did. I have to talk to her. She has to teach me," Aang insisted.
Sokka smiled just a little bit to see the kid enthused about anything again. Since his time in the Spirit world when they'd been on the road – where he'd found less than anything useful about the Blizzards other than that they seemed to be the result of Tui and La punishing the world for daring to think they could strike down Tui, the Moon Spirit. The brief death of Tui before Yue had sacrificed herself to give her life back to the Moon Spirit had thrown the entire world into chaos.
They had believed that Aang's convergence with La had been the extent of the spirit's terrible anger and fury at the interruption of his eternal dance. They'd been wrong. Without the moon to balance La's power, the world's oceans had all been pitched into chaos. Tui controlled the push and the pull of the tides, and without Tui, even briefly, La was beyond control and flailing like a dying koi fish pulled from the pond. Flopping and writhing and uncontrollable the spirit's power had been released and the dance had resumed with Tui's revival but such a release of cosmic energy could not be so easily set to rights.
Combined with the fury of the other spirits who cared for Tui and who were tired of the Fire Nation's arrogance, the cosmic energies of the spirit world had stepped in to take action. Hei Bai and many others were furious and they had had enough. The blizzard would wage until the Fire Nation was laid low, or so Aang believed. The spirits, Sokka had learned, were fickle things and uncommunicative at best.
Aang believed the blizzards and the snowy weather would rage on and that was just fine with Sokka. He preferred the cold and the snow. He'd been born to it and it reminded him of home. It also felt like cosmic justice – a recognition of the sacrifice Yue had made and while it did little assuage his guilt, it certainly helped with his anger. Sokka was on board for anything that would help to slow the wheels of war and bring the Fire Nation to justice.
"If she's the one, then get out there, Aang," Sokka told the young Avatar. "Convince her to be your teacher and to run away with us. She can teach you while we keep searching for Katara."
Aang smiled widely, looking better than he'd done in weeks. Sokka smiled back, hoping that just maybe, their luck might be beginning to turn and that soon enough, they would find his sister.
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
Princess Azula of the Fire Nation looked sideways at her two travelling companions and most trusted friends. Mai was, as usual, looking utterly bored with the proceedings of their attempts to run down the Avatar and his friends. She suspected the girl had been hoping when she agreed to come with Azula that their search for the Avatar might bring her into closer contact with Prince Zuko.
Azula rolled her eyes at the very idea, not understanding how Mai could still be hung up on Azula's brother five years after his banishment. They hadn't seen one another in more than five years and despite Azula's plans to capture Zuko and Iroh just as soon as they'd caught the Avatar, she had the feeling that Mai was going to be disappointed when she finally did reunite with Zuko.
Zuko was a traitor, after all. He was a traitor just like their Uncle and he would be punished for his crimes and for what an embarrassment he continued to be to her and to their father, Fire Lord Ozai. Mai might be entertaining secret fantasies of being with Zuko again – of having the betrothal contract between the banished prince and herself dusted off and reinstated, but it was never going to happen. Not if Azula had any say in the matter. And she would make sure she did have a say in it.
Ty Lee, by comparison, was as chatty and fickle and shallow as ever but Azula didn't mind that so very much. The girl was easy to control and always willing to do her bidding, no matter her initial reluctance after being recruited by Azula from her ridiculous circus troop. Together the three of them were going to ensure the glory of the Fire Nation once and for all. If all went well, they would capture the Avatar and haul him back to the Fire Nation where he couldn't save the world like he was supposed to. If it went badly and he died – well, they'd wiped out the Air Nomads looking for him already. They could do the same to the Water Tribes. The Fire Nation had only lost at the Northern battle because Zhao was a fool and because the Avatar had gotten his glow on.
When he was just a baby once more he wouldn't be able to glow and bat their ships about like a lion-cat with a ball of yarn.
"These idiots have no idea that the reason we keep finding them is because of that beast's trail of fur," Mai grumbled, rolling her eyes when the sky bison flew off once more. The further into the Earth Kingdom they travelled, the less the blizzard seemed to have effected. The snow was thinner on the ground here, almost as though even the weather had turned on the Fire Nation. The warmth meant the bison was losing his winter coat and making it all too easy to track them, no matter the white fur on white snow issue.
"It's a wonder Zuko hasn't managed to capture these fools before now," Azula sneered. "My brother really is pathetic if he can't even capture a boy too stupid to notice his shedding pet is going to be the cause of his own demise."
Azula smirked when Ty Lee laughed while Mai looked away, all mention of Zuko always making her even broodier than usual. She focused her attention of the Avatar's bison once more, only too excited to capture the little Airbending fool and haul him home. Her father had promised her that when she returned from capturing Zuko and Iroh, he was going to reward her.
She believed that if she captured the Avatar, she could use him as bait to lure Zuko home with them before handing him and Uncle over to her father in chains. Father had promised that when she returned, he would begin personally seeing to it that she would follow in his footsteps to become Fire Lord and that in good time, he would personally see to it that she had an heir to follow in her stead, too. She would make him proud and she would take the crown she'd always wanted, right out from under Zuko's nose.
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
Katara couldn't sleep. She didn't think she'd ever be able to sleep again. She felt strange inside. Zuko and his Uncle were still sitting up, drinking tea and speaking in hushed voices across the room. She'd briefly fallen asleep in Zuko's lap earlier, after what he'd done to her with their strange chi interactions. She'd drifted off right there in his arms while his Uncle grinned at the two of them.
"What are you talking about, Uncle?" Zuko demanded in a low voice, drawing Katara's attention slowly. She'd drifted off in his hold and eventually he'd put her to bed, she supposed, since she was now tucked between the covers, blinking awake, feeling disoriented and cold.
She realised with an odd twist that she felt cold because she missed the heat of his body pressed close to hers in the bed and she missed the feel of his chi against hers. Sitting up slowly, Katara squinted against the light of the fire, peering at Zuko and Iroh where they sat at the table. Iroh was in the process of fixing another pot of tea.
"Ah, Katara," Iroh smiled, looking over when she moved and spotting that she was awake. "I wondered how long you might sleep. How are you feeling?"
"Cold," Katara admitted.
"I thought you might be," he nodded, beckoning her closer. Katara slipped out of bed and walked over to the pair of Firebenders, accepting the cup of tea that Iroh handed to her. There were only two chairs in the room, so she turned, planning to walk back to sit on the end of the bed, but before she could get two steps, Zuko reached for her.
She squeaked in surprise when he pulled her down until she was sitting in his lap, looping one arm around her waist carefully. Iroh watched them with a funny expression on his face, but he didn't comment and Katara sighed, sipping the tea and smiling at the delightful flavour before slowly relaxing back against Zuko's warm body.
"Uncle, explain," Zuko said in that authority-laden tone of his that belied a life spent ordering people about and expecting them to do his bidding – even his own Uncle.
He gave no indication that he'd pulled Katara into his lap or that she might be in his way or uncomfortable.
"I don't know what you want me to tell you, Prince Zuko. The reason neither of you have experienced the linking of your chi energy like that with anyone else is a very little known one because it is very rare. There hasn't been an incident like it in many, many years."
"But it has happened before?" Katara confirmed. "I don't know any legends or stories about it from the Water Tribe. Is it something unique to Firebenders?"
Iroh shook his head, smiling slowly.
"It's a rare occurrence and hasn't happened since before the Hundred Year War began," Iroh said. "Reiki Kizuna was a phenomenon seen in the days when the Air Nomads still walked the Nations. When they were wiped out and the Avatar went missing, it was assumed that the power laid with them – that it was a spirit gift leftover from their work to let go of earthly tethers. Some said that their desire to achieve spiritual enlightenment left an excess of love-energy in the world, meaning that certain people from different Nations – always Benders, always from two different Bending disciplines – encountered that energy and that it created Reiki Kizuna."
"Spirit Bonding?" Katara frowned. "Wait… there are legends of that in my Tribe, though I don't recall them very well. Gran Gran used to tell us stories when I was a little girl that in the days before the Air Nomads were wiped out it was common that those who visited with or befriended the Air Nomads tended to be lucky in love and that they would often forge strong relationships and friendships with the other Nations. She said that before the war there was a time when everyone from every Nation travelled freely between the Nations. The Air Nomads, of course, did so most often."
"Yes," Iroh smiled. "Before Sozin attacked the Air Nomads, back when Avatar Roku was still alive, the four Nations used to have a yearly gathering. Every year it was held in a different Nation for the sake of fairness, but many travelled to attend. The purpose of it was to seek Reiki Kizuna. It is the bond of chi, a link that allows certain Benders to combine their chi in such a manner that together, with practice and training, they could essentially bend their own element through their bond partner."
"And you think that Zuko and I have a Reiki Kizuna?" Katara asked, frowning slightly.
"You do," Iroh nodded. "Had Zuko channelled his will to Firebend through you earlier during your convergence, he'd have been able to bend the fire through your hands. Should you attempt it, with enough practice and training, you would be able to Waterbend through Zuko, too."
"But fire and water are opposing elements," Zuko protested.
"Aang always said that he dreaded learning Earthbending the most because it would be his natural opposite, thereby making it the hardest to master."
"Ah, yes," Iroh nodded. "That is true for the Avatar because he must master the elements and control all four. This type of convergence does not allow you, Katara, to Firebend. Were you and Zuko to achieve the Kizuna for the sake of Bending, you would not control the fire, Zuko would. You would merely be the channel. In times past it was said that through such bonds the Bending was more powerful. You could, in essence, bend through Zuko, and he, through you. Doing so combines his bending strength with yours, making it that much more powerful."
"You said something about it being caused by an excess of love-energy in the universe?" Zuko protested. "I don't love her, Uncle, and I know she doesn't love me."
"It was believed to be the cause, yes," Iroh said. "But I didn't say it resulted in love. Reiki Kizuna is a bonding of spirits. If one is lucky enough to find the person with whom they can bond, many do go on to love one another, either through friendship or romantic love merely as a result of close and frequent interaction. As you have seen, physical contact is necessary for your chi to touch, and as you have described, having you chis connecting makes each of your feel more comfortable with the bond partner than you might be with anyone else."
"But it's not some crazy soul-mate type idea, right?" Katara frowned.
"Yes and no," Iroh smiled gently over the rim of his teacup. "It does not force you to find one another, nor to be together now that you have done so. The link is believed to be spirit energy that latches onto and links certain individuals. Imagine the powers creating it as little clouds of lint if you like, drifting about and landing on the invisible links between every two people in the world."
"But we're not linked," Zuko said. "Until this blizzard we were enemies."
"Enmity is still a link, my nephew. Just as the earth is connected to the sky, and the Four Nations are connected to one another, no matter the things that divide them, everyone and everything in the world in connected by bonds and ties that we cannot see. The energy creating Reiki Kizuna lands where it will and it seems that it has landed between you and Katara."
"Because of Aang?" Katara asked, frowning.
Iroh looked thoughtful.
"That's a difficult question to answer, Katara," Iroh said. "It was believed that the Air Nomads were the cause of the excess energy, but there was nothing proving it to be so. However, you and Zuko have both been in contact with an Air Bender, so it's certainly possibly that Aang is to blame. It could also be that as they travelled more frequently and knew more people from around the world, Airbenders were seen as the connection linking two people together by introducing them. Maybe the link already exists. Maybe it is as some of the Earth Kingdom people believe that we are each born as a single entity that is ripped in two, two halves of one whole, and that it is our destiny to spend our lives searching for the other half of ourselves. Perhaps Reiki Kizuna is what happens when the two halves converge."
Katara frowned thoughtfully.
"It doesn't matter where it comes from," Zuko muttered. "What matters is what we're supposed to do about it."
"Do about it?" Iroh raised his eyebrows before chuckling. "What do you imagine you would like to do about it, nephew?"
"What can we do about it?" Zuko countered.
"Nothing," Iroh chuckled. "The bond exists, whether your like it or not. You do not have to utilize it, if you choose not to. No one will force you."
"The bond doesn't… force us to interact? Or to… feel things for each other?" Zuko asked, and Katara could hear the tightness of his tone, as though he feared their recent burgeoning friendship was born of the Reiki Kizuna.
"As you have already said, the feel of your chi and Katara's touching is a good one, yes?" Zuko's uncle asked, raising one eyebrow. "To say that any other feeling either of you might experience for the other is a result of the bond would be reckless and potentially incorrect. I don't believe the bond would make you fall in love with one another, but I don't claim to know everything about them. I believe it would be safe to say that it makes you comfortable with one another and that anything else you feel for each other is of a more physical nature rather than the effect of a spiritual link."
Katara nodded slowly, thinking carefully about the interactions she'd had with Zuko so far. The fact was that until the blizzard, she had strongly disliked him. Hated him, even. He had been terrible to her and her friends. He was a horrible person who spread violence and death and war wherever he went.
But that had been the surface. That had been when she knew nothing but his name and his goal. Now she knew much more about him than that. She knew he had a sense of humour, no matter how angry and angst-ridden he happened to be. She knew he had lost his mother thanks to his father's thirst for power and that he'd been mistreated and unloved by his father all his life. She knew he had suffered and that despite his skill with weapons and at Firebending, he had to work for it. He practiced hard and he pushed himself to stay in shape and to ensure that he didn't lose a step when it came to ability.
She knew that he could change. He hadn't outright said he would turn his back on his Nation and his family for the sake of saving the world, but he'd certainly seemed to entertain the idea. Given that she'd thought him nothing but a mindless killer a week ago, Katara would say she was proud of the type of progress he had achieved in such a short time and that she might one day like or even love the person he could grow to be.
"It doesn't… force us to be together or to be… attracted to one another?" Zuko confirmed.
"I am no expert, Zuko," Iroh shrugged his shoulders. "But I don't think so."
They were all silent for a little while after that, drinking their tea in quiet contemplation and Katara tried not to notice the way Zuko was so warm and the way she felt so safe perched upon his lap.
"I suppose then, that it is time to ask the more important questions," Iroh said. "You said you have both been travelling toward Ba Sing Se; do you still plan to do so?"
"I do," Katara nodded. "Sokka, Aang, and I agreed to meet there if we were ever separated and couldn't readily find one another."
"And you, nephew?" Iroh asked. "Is it still your plan to capture the Avatar? Are you taking Katara prisoner to use as bait to lure Aang to you for the sake of returning to the Fire Nation and regaining your honour?"
Katara held her breath, turning slowly in Zuko's hold to stare at the Firebender. He was frowning deeply, his eyes darting between his uncle and Katara. He looked conflicted and Katara wondered what he would say.
"I…" Zuko began before he stopped, his frown deepening even more. Katara stood from his lap, glaring at him dangerously and ready to bend at him should the need arise. She didn't think he was going to turn on her, but she wouldn't exactly say he was trustworthy, either.
"Well?" Katara demanded when he didn't speak for the longest time and she couldn't hold her breath any longer. Zuko's golden-hued gaze lifted to stare steadily at her and his face lost all expression. For one terrible moment, she feared he was about to attack her. She feared he might turn on her after all, Reiki Kizuna or not, and she narrowed her eyes, ready to drive an icy spear through his chest should he present a true threat.
"Uncle," Zuko said quietly, his eyes drifting from Katara over to his Uncle. "I don't think my honour was ever lost."
Katara reeled in shock and Iroh grunted in surprise, sitting back in his chair as though it was news to him.
"I… for the longest time I thought that my honour was something that Ozai could strip from me as he stripped my crown and my birthright. As he stripped you of your birthright, Uncle," Zuko explained. "Even when you and I parted ways, I believed that. I believed that he had taken it from me – that I had lost it in my refusal to fight a grown man who was supposed to protect me and love me – just for speaking out of turn. But… I see now that my honour was not something he ever could take from me.
"He charged me with capturing the Avatar if I ever want to return home to reclaim my throne, but if I do that I guarantee that the toxic, hateful reign of our people will be forever cemented. If I capture Aang and hand him over to my father, the world will eventually fall to Fire Nation rule, and right now it is not a Fire Nation I am proud to call mine. I… I am disgusted with our people. They are cruel and cold, and they spread hate for the sake of power and greed, not for the sake of sharing our greatness with the world, as I'd always believed. We are not a great Nation. We're a nation of bloodthirsty, power-hungry murderers."
He was breathing heavily when he stopped talking, his brow furrowed and his fists clenched.
"Zuko… what are you saying?" Iroh asked, darting a glance at Katara, whose hand had subconsciously moved to clutch at her heart inside her chest where it rapidly kicked out an uneven, nervous beat.
"Make no mistake, Uncle," Zuko said quietly, his voice steely and his gaze resolved when he looked up. "I will have my throne and I will be Fire Lord someday soon. But I will not be following in Ozai's footsteps. I don't want to capture the Avatar. I want to help him learn Firebending and I want to help him take my father down. I want to be good, Uncle. I'm so tired of being bad. I'm so tired of messing up. I'm so tired of being hated by the whole world just because I was born in the Fire Nation or because I can Firebend. I want the other Nations to prosper in their own way, without fear of being invaded and overrun by Fire Nation soldiers. I don't want to ever meet another Earth Kingdom family who are struggling to survive because their fathers, husbands, brothers, or sons are off fighting and dying in a never-ending war that they're slowly losing.
"I want to stop the fighting, Uncle. Or at least I want to turn it on the people who deserve it, like my Father and Azula. I want people to live in peace without fear that some Firebending jerk is going to come along and take it all away. I want my throne so that I can make sure that those who do continue to push for war will be at my mercy, and I want to show them the mercilessness that they have shown the rest of the world."
Zuko was on his feet, pacing, his brow furrowed and his fists clenched and Katara would swear she could see the flames of his passion dancing in his eyes as surely as they danced across his fingertips in his conviction and his anger.
She flinched when Iroh got to his feet, too. The older man strode quickly across the small space separating himself from Zuko and Zuko made a sound of surprise when his uncle tugged on the front of Zuko's shirt, hauling him into an embrace that was meant to hide the tears that ran down the old man's face.
Katara felt very much like she was witnessing what should've been a very private moment between the two and she wondered how long Iroh had been waiting and hoping and hinting to Zuko that he needed to change; that he needed to be better than his father; that he'd been born to be a better man.
"My nephew," Iroh said, his voice thick with restrained emotion as he squeezed Zuko tightly. "I have waited a long time to hear you say such things."
Katara felt tears trickle down her face, wondering how much of Zuko's decision to change had to do with her and what this might mean for the two of them – for the whole world, in fact.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Zuko asked, frowning and glancing at Katara before hiding his face when a tear trickled from his eye too.
Iroh sniffled and actually laughed softly.
"It was a decision you had to make for yourself. My task has always been to guide you and to help you; to try and help you see the man you could be if you make the right choice," Iroh told him.
Katara dropped down to sit on the edge of the bed, shocked by his change of heart and hopeful for a future where the Fire Lord might be vanquished and someone decent might be installed in his places as his successor. She was shaking her head, a slow smile spreading across her face as a sudden imagining of the future spread out before her.
They might really be able to do it. She'd believed since she'd met Aang and realised he was the Avatar that he could save the world, but having Zuko working with them, rather than against them would make their journey to get there and to succeed a lot smoother. She could almost feel her heart singing inside her chest and more than ever she wanted to find Sokka and Aang just so that they could celebrate this victory and so that they could get right to work. Aang still had a long way to go with his Waterbending, let alone getting started on Firebending and to her knowledge still needed to find an Earthbending teacher.
They needed to get moving. The sooner they could overthrow Ozai, imprison Azula, and install Zuko as the new Fire Lord, the sooner the war would be over. She didn't delude herself that it would be a smooth road to peace or that the defeat of Ozai would be the end, rather than the beginning of a new battle to change the way the world looked at the Fire Nation and to heal the wounds this divide of Nations and this war and ripped into the fabric of their existence, but it would be a step in the right direction.
"This will not be easy, Zuko," Iroh told his nephew when he pulled back, wiping at his eyes to fix a proud smile upon his face. "There are many things that we must consider, including the fact that in order to be crowned Fire Lord when Ozai is defeated, you must first have your banishment revoked and have Ozai crown you as Prince of the Fire Nation once more."
Zuko's brow furrowed.
"How am I supposed to do that if we're trying to take him down? I know I'm not strong enough to defeat him, Uncle. Not on my own," Zuko said.
Katara realised there was a lot more to the old General than met the eyes when he smiled a cunning smile, and she wondered how long he'd spent thinking about how to take down his brother and install his nephew as Fire Lord.
"The first thing we must do is reunite Katara with Aang and Sokka," he said. "Which means we must blend into the cities as refugees. We'll need passports. There is no way into the Ba Sing Se on foot or by sea that we could take without being caught. We must leave this village as soon as possible when dawn breaks and the weather allows."
"How do I get crowned once more, Uncle?" Zuko asked. "I want to help Aang but I don't see myself being able to return home as anything but a prisoner without capturing or killing him. How am I to help him learn Firebending and take down my father if I have to return to Ozai's side to be re-crowned?"
Iroh's smiled turned truly wicked.
"It will take some careful planning and no small amount of luck and artistry, my nephew. But we will manage it. To have you crowned as Fire Lord when Ozai falls, you must be recognised as Prince once more. You must be seen helping Azula and you must be seen killing the Avatar," Iroh told him. "The whole world must see and must know."
"You want me to kill him?" Zuko asked, frowning, glancing at Katara, who was on her feet once more and thinking about killing Iroh for the very suggestion.
"Oh, no," Iroh shook his head. "We just want the world to think that you have. Careful planning, Zuko. We must make it seem to all the world that you are the dutiful son of the Fire Lord when you return. Aang and his friends will have to help with that. The invasion and the takeover must be swift and done from the inside as well as the outside. You will be the one on the inside, but you must not be the one to take your Father's life, Zuko. That is very important. That is the Avatar's task, not yours. If you do it, it will merely look like one more act of violence and a grab for power from a blood thirty Firebender. Aang must take his life. You must simply stage the coup and work from the inside to take down Azula and the government."
"But I have to teach Aang Firebending," Zuko said.
"And you will. In Ba Sing Se. You know Azula is still hunting us and hunting Aang to usurp your ability to ever return. You know that if she can, she will prevent you from achieving the task your father set as a condition for your return. With you banished she is in line for the throne. But you are the firstborn son and it is your divine right to rule the Fire Nation, not hers. Besides, she's crazy and she needs to go down. She will eventually make her way to Ba Sing Se. Aang draws attention no matter where he goes. As long as he is not captured before then and we all reach the city in good time, there will be time to teach him what he needs to know before you can be seen 'turning on him' with Azula as witness. The strike will have to be precise, but Aang will have to fake his death. The city may fall in the attempt, but it will be a short-lived occupation, I think. While the Fire Nation forces invade the city, you will return to the palace, you will gain your father's trust and be re-crowned. And you will dismantle the government from the inside.
"Ozai means to use the strength of Sozin's comet to purge the world, Zuko. He will stop at nothing and Aang must be ready by then. You must be ready by then. The war must end before or on the day of the comet or we are all doomed. You will be ready by then and you will be crowned when your father falls."
Zuko and Katara both stared at the old man, who seemed to have thought out every move of the war up to the comet and Ozai's demise. She understood then why it was said that he'd been such a fine General and she realised that without Lu Ten's death he'd have been a more successful and more effective Fire Lord than any who'd come before him.
Zuko seemed to realise the same thing because he blinked slowly before a little smirk pulled at one corner of his mouth.
"How long have you been plotting this, Uncle?" Zuko asked curiously.
Iroh had the decency to look bashful for a moment. "Since your grandfather signed over the title of Fire Lord to Ozai when it was mine by birthright," the man shrugged. "Since your mother disappeared. Since Aang came out of that iceberg and we began chasing him across the world. I have had a good long time to figure out how to dismantle the Fire Nation and take down my brother, Nephew. I have had plans in mind should you ever stop focusing on his lies and learn to use your head and realise what it is you must do if you want to rule your Nation as a Fire Lord is supposed to rule his people, not as a terrible dictator bent on world domination. Believe me, Zuko, I have spent years planning every last move, plotting for every possible outcome. We will not fail as long as our faith in what is right remains strong and as long as we do not lose hope or lose our nerve."
Zuko stared. He was frowning.
"Do you want to be Fire Lord, Uncle?" he asked in a soft voice. "It was supposed to be your birthright. You would make a better Fire Lord than me or anyone else in the Fire Nation."
"No, Zuko," Iroh shook his head. "I let go of my anger over my brother's coup a long time ago when I realised that the cost of Azulon's resolve to allow me that right rather than allowing it for Ozai was a greater price that I was willing to pay."
Zuko frowned. Katara frowned too, confused by the way he worded the sentence, as though he had secrets and as though there had been more than the death of a Fire Lord and blackmail involved to ensure that Ozai succeeded Azulon as Fire Lord, rather than Iroh, as was proper.
"What was the cost, Uncle?" Zuko asked, his head suddenly snapping up and his gaze fixed upon Iroh with suspicion and something that looked a lot like resignation.
"I think you already know the answer to that, Zuko."
Zuko gritted his teeth, looking over toward Katara for a moment and she raised her eyebrows, not understanding.
"When Lu Ten was killed in battle and we received word at the Palace, my Father asked to speak with Fire Lord Azulon," Zuko said quietly, apparently telling the tale for Katara's benefit. "He prefaced it with a display from Azula, showing off her natural talent for Firebending and the fact that while I was still useless at it, she was skilled. Gifted. A true prodigy."
He sounded bitter as he said so. "When my Grandfather grew tired of the peacocking, he demanded to know what Father wanted. Father pointed out that with Lu Ten gone, Iroh had no heir to one day succeed him and no wife to sire more heirs. He claimed that if Iroh took the throne, the royal bloodline would end with him and petitioned that instead of Iroh, he be appointed heir to the throne. My mother took Azula and I away when Azulon grew angry, claiming that it was the height of dishonour to ask him to strip a grieving father's title from him when the news was so fresh. I left before I heard anymore, but Azula stayed. She told me once that my Father was going to kill me. That Azulon had threatened that if Ozai wanted to rule so badly, he would have to murder me for the right, so that he might know the pain of losing his first-born son for the sake of the title; that he would suffer as Iroh suffered and see if he still felt the same about the title."
Katara covered her mouth with her hand, shaking her head slowly in silent protest.
"Ursa – Zuko's mother - caught wind of the plot and knew that Ozai would do it. She favoured Zuko over Azula – the wretched girl was always crazy, if you ask me – because Ozai has always favoured Azula," Iroh chimed in. "Ursa knew that Ozai would murder Zuko for the right to be Fire Lord. He'd tried once before. When Zuko was born and didn't show any of the early signs of being a Bender, Ozai planned to pitch Zuko from the palace walls – killing him in favour of the 'shame' it would be to raise an heir who couldn't even Firebend. Ursa and the Fire Sages convinced him to reconsider and Zuko eventually showed the signs of bending. But he'd been willing to kill his only child – Azula wasn't yet born – for the sake of his pride. For the crown, it would be no small thing to him, and he never liked Zuko. He still doesn't. Ursa pleaded with Ozai to wait and said she knew another way."
"My Mother killed Grandfather?" Zuko asked, sounding shocked.
Iroh nodded. "She did it to save you, Zuko. She poisoned Azulon and she forced him to sign over the crown to Ozai. Afterward, Ozai turned on her, claiming that she couldn't be trusted and had her banished from the Palace or killed – we were never certain, back then."
"Uncle, what are you saying?" Zuko asked picking up on something in his Uncle's tone that Katara had missed. "Is my mother alive?"
Iroh looked over at the boy.
"While you are I were separated, I learned a few things about Ursa," Iroh nodded his head sadly. "She's alive, Zuko. I spoke to an old friend who was once one of your mother's closest handmaids when I ran into her in a village. She told me that when Ursa disappeared, all of her servants were banished too. Ursa is alive, or was when Ling last parted ways with her. Before your mother was forced to marry Ozai, she was engaged to another man. Ling believed that Ursa planned to return to his side, if she could find him. He'd taken a new name and a new face from the Mother of Faces when Ozai tried to have him hunted down for being engaged to your mother."
"Where?" Zuko asked, his voice hoarse his face pale with worry and shock.
"I don't know, son," Iroh said, moving over and putting his hand on Zuko's shoulder, steadying the shaking young man. Katara felt compelled to do the same, shuffling closer and gently taking Zuko's hand, knowing that like her, he was extremely damaged over his mother's loss. "All I know is that Ursa changed her name to Noriko. I understand the urge to seek her out, Zuko, but it is something that must wait until your task is complete. Currently having you find her would only bring trouble down upon her."
"She was… forced to marry Ozai?" Zuko asked, frowning.
Iroh sighed. "Your mother was the granddaughter of Avatar Roku, Zuko. In a bid to ensure that your father would sire powerful Firebending children, he insisted that he be allowed to marry Ursa, no matter her betrothal to another man or her unwillingness to marry him."
Zuko looked devastated at the idea, frowning deeply and drawing in a slow, pained breath. She realised when his hand tightened around herself that he was furious over the idea.
"He forced her?" Zuko confirmed.
Iroh nodded sadly before pulling Katara away when Zuko suddenly dropped her hand and stormed toward the fireplace. The powerful display of Firebending he emitted in his fury scared her, but she understood his anger. One of the things about the Northern Water Tribe that had bothered her the most was the gender roles and the fact that the Chief of the tribe or the father of any Water Tribe girl could choose who that girl married, whether she personally cared for him or not.
She recalled too, the way Zuko had been so strongly offended by the idea when she'd suggested worry that he might ever force himself on her as she'd feared that first night together when he'd tugged her into his sleeping bag for warmth. He was morally opposed to forcing women into marriages they didn't want and obviously didn't hold with rape.
"I'll kill him," Zuko swore. "Avatar's right to restore balance be damned, Uncle! I will kill my Father if it's the last thing I do!"
Iroh released Katara carefully, glancing down at her as though wondering what her reaction might be to all of this.
"If your try, it will be the last thing you do, Nephew," Iroh said sternly. "Believe me, I know the fury and the rage of the notion that he dragged Ursa into a marriage she didn't want and I know how truly corrupt my brother is. I have known for a long time and I have done nothing because it will achieve nothing. He is younger. He is surrounded by guards. He is stronger too, if I am honest. He would defeat me if I tried to fight him, and he would defeat you too, Zuko."
"He forced her, Uncle!" Zuko shouted, spinning towards the man with fury painted across his face. "He might as well have held her down and raped her while she screamed! Even worse than that, he made sure she had to live with him and sleep in his bed every night. He repeatedly forced himself on her, all for his lust for power. He turned her into a murderer and took away her happiness and then he threw her out like some piece of soiled and torn laundry!"
He turned back toward the fireplace just in time before breathing fire right out of his mouth in his rage.
Iroh took a step forward, wanting to offer comfort but Katara put a hand on his shoulder stopping him. He looked down at her, his expression tortured as though seeing his nephew so angry and hurt was unbearable. Katara gave him a brave smile before carefully crossing the room to where Zuko stood leaning against the mantle, his knuckles white and the wood groaning under his tight grip.
He breathed fire again like a dragon, barely managing to restrain his temper and his outpouring of rage to the fireplace. Katara suspected that he'd very much like to destroy the room and everything in it. That he'd like to rid this village of all the soldiers and lay waste to everything between here and the Fire Nation Palace before engaging in a showdown against his father. She believed him angry enough to succeed, too.
But it would do no good and she needed a way to calm him down. If there was one thing she was good at besides Bending, it was at calming down those fuelled by pain and rage when they lost control. She had done so many times with Aang, trusting him never to hurt her, even when he was in the Avatar state and ready to lay siege to the whole world.
Zuko's rage poured off him in waves but Katara took a deep breath before stepping up right behind him and looping her arms around his waist. He was rigid and tense against her when she pressed her body against his back, moulding her shape to his and pushing with her chi, this time refusing to let his chi envelope hers. This wasn't the time to let her feel safe and protected. This time it was Zuko who needed comfort and she would provide it.
He remained rigid in her hold even after he stopped breathing fire and she was shocked that he didn't recoil from her touch or order her away. She'd been expecting both. Without them he fell silent, his hands never leaving the mantle and his chi threatening to consume hers whole when he pushed back. Katara pushed harder, trying what Iroh had told him to do earlier, attempting to ensconce his chi with her own and squeeze it tight, as tightly as she was hugging him.
For the longest time the three of them stood there in silence, only Zuko's laboured but controlled breathing filling the room. He remained tense, never once relaxing in her hold, but he stopped breathing fire and fought to regain control of himself.
"Killing him won't be enough," he said finally, his voice as cold as ice.
"No," Iroh agreed. "It won't."
Zuko slowly loosened his grip upon the mantle after several long minutes, one hand lowering to gently take hold of Katara's where she clung to him. He traced his fingers over the back of her hand in a pattern – the symbol for calmness – and Katara slowly breathed out, letting her chi unwind from the way it completely enveloped his, feeling their combined chi curl together intimately as his heat brushed against her coolness, twisting and turning until her chi was enveloped within his once more.
"Before he can be killed, we will take away everything that he cares about, my nephew," Iroh said, moving over and placing a hand on Zuko's shoulder, resting the other one lightly upon Katara's shoulder and giving it a little squeeze of gratitude. "It has been my plan all along."
"He doesn't care about anything, Uncle," Zuko protested without looking at the man, his fingers sliding between Katara's once more, interlocking them as though he needed to draw strength from her touch. "He only wants power and the right to rule the world."
"And we will take both. He cares about Azula. He cares about the line of succession. He cares about his image in the eyes of the Fire Nation and about winning this war. We will take it all, Zuko. Before the end he will be paranoid and bereft. When he faces Aang, he will be ready to crumble and when he has nothing left – not even his pride – then the Avatar will take his life."
Zuko nodded his head slowly before finally, slowly turning away from the fire. He pried Katara from his back, never releasing his hold on her hand even as he guided her around to stand beside him. When he met his Uncle's gaze his fury was still obvious, but this time it wasn't hot and fiery and explosive. This time it was cold; calculating; the slow simmering burn of true hatred in favour of easily spent rage.
Katara could tell the difference because she recognised it as something she'd experienced herself. This wasn't the quick and devastating anger of a tantrum or a fight. This was the determination to ruin the cause of his anguish until there was nothing left. This was the cruel, driven version of Zuko she had seen when they'd first met so long ago in her village where he'd come searching for Aang, determined to capture him and take him away forever.
This was the drive that had pushed Zuko to follow them across the world and back, no matter how many times he almost caught them only to be foiled at the last moment or to have them slip through his fingers again. She recognised in that moment that this wasn't a boy who was used to getting everything he wanted just because he'd been raised to think himself entitled. This was a man who'd worked hard for everything he had – not in the material sense, perhaps, but it was clear to her now that Zuko was more powerful than she knew not by some accident of birth, but by force of will.
He wasn't some Firebending prodigy, no matter his impressive bloodline or his skill with the Fire. He wasn't some gifted weapons-master because of his breeding or his training as a Prince. This was someone who had worked hard at it every day to get better. This was someone who had failed many times over and had used the anger and frustration of each failure to drive himself to do better; to be better; to improve until there was nothing left to learn.
Zuko held Iroh's gaze, his hand wrapped carefully around Katara's as he said, "What do you want me to do, Uncle?"
Iroh smiled another of those cunning smiles before he began to describe the most detailed and well-thought out plan of complete and utter destruction for one man that Katara had ever heard in her life.