A/N: OMG you guys, this fic just cleared a thousand reviews and I'm super stoked. I love you all for being so forthcoming with your feedback. I couldn't let you hang too long after that last chapter, so, without further ado, I present to you Chapter 20... Agni, I can't wait to see your reactions...

xx-Kitten.

Brightest Nights or Darkest Days

By Kittenshift17

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY

Zuko sat in the dark, bathed in moonlight as he watched Katara come up for air again, cursing this time, while his uncle's words rang inside his head. For days he'd been conflicted over his growing interest in Katara. All day spent aboard the Rhinos and all night curled in his sleeping bag with her pressed against him, he didn't have a lot of time to think of anything else. She was always there, constant, both warm and cool at once, sweet relief and blistering irritation all at the same time.

She drove him mad. Half his time in her presence was spent thinking of the best way to keep her from talking, and even plotting her demise. The other half was spent wanting to crawl inside her skin and bury himself inside her until he would never be free. Zuko had never known anyone so infuriating or endearing and he'd been aware of his growing intrigue the longer he spent with her. He'd been certain that his uncle would tell him it was just the result of so long spent without friends or female company – the result of being in close quarters with a pretty girl. Natural, but fleeting. He'd almost hoped his uncle would tell him to let things run their natural course, destined to rise and glitter as brilliantly as the sun, but to sink and set as surely as night would come.

He'd expected his uncle to tell him that affection was fleeting. That feelings like this were rare and ought to be savoured, because all too soon they would be gone. He hadn't expected to be warned away, or shown all the reasons that she could be both a boon and a bane upon his life. Zuko hadn't expected his uncle to think that he might care for the Waterbender enough to warrant a discussion about the Fire Nations likelihood to accept a Waterbender as the next in line for the throne. He hadn't even thought of marriage or children – more than to fleetingly worry that such mistakes as children were a potential risk should he fuck the little waterbender until he couldn't move, anyway.

He certainly hadn't expected his uncle to open up about the wife he'd lost and the way it had affected him. Zuko watched Katara with different eyes, now. He hadn't really thought of her in the sense of being something he could lose. He'd been thinking about the fact that he'd grown used to her and even maybe decided he was her friend, and he'd been pondering the likelihood of suffering when he had to return to the nest of rat-vipers he called home for the sake of his crown, but he hadn't really thought of her as something he'd be devastated to lose. As he watched her give up on her water-scooter in favour of pretending to be an octopus again, Zuko realised with a small jolt that he would be thoroughly put out if someone tried to take her from him.

She might not be his girlfriend, but she was his friend and he felt strangely possessive and protective of her. The idea of anyone hurting her or disowning her or shaming her because she was his friend and because she'd been kissing him made his blood boil and Zuko understood with sharp and stabbing clarity just what Uncle had meant about setting the world ablaze for taking her from him.

She was his, plain and simple.

His friend. His Reiki Kizuna. His Water Bender. And if anyone tried to take her from him, Zuko was going to show them just was a spoiled and petulant, spiteful little prince he could be. He was going to introduce them to the full power of his Firebending and his swords, too. But even as he had the thought, he circled back to what he'd said to his uncle.

She was his, but she could never be his.

They were destined for different lives. His job was to repair his Nation, clean-house in the Fire Court and cleanse the world of the war his people had waged upon it for one hundred years. Hers was to rebuild her own Nation, her tribe obviously in desperate need of her bending and her wisdom and the example she could set for why women were just as capable as men when it came to being warriors and protecting themselves and their loved ones.

He might be able to imagine Katara keeping an ice-hut and raising a horde of children with alarming ease, but he'd witnessed her fighting for her loved ones and her Tribe. She'd fought him, and though he wasn't conceited, Zuko knew that was no small feat. She met him head on, rising to his challenge every time and just as he had grown, so had she. She could hold her own against him, when so few could, and Zuko wasn't stupid enough not to recognise what an amazing achievement that was.

Zuko wanted her, he realised as he watched her sling her long brown hair over one shoulder and begin to wring it out, letting her octopus tentacles drop back to the surface of the river and run away. He wanted to keep her. Forever. And he wouldn't be able to. His uncle was right. She might be a blessing and a delight, but she was also a distraction and something to be used against him. If he ever took her to the Fire Court they would roast her alive just to hurt him and Zuko knew that his fury would be far more devastating than his uncle's because he would indiscriminately turn upon his own people if they ever hurt her. Unlike Uncle, Zuko hadn't been raised in Court and taught that his Nation should come before all.

No, he'd been banished from his home, disowned by his father and tormented by his sister. He'd been abandoned by his mother and he'd had to make his way in the world with only his Uncle to help him. He had little loyalty to his Nation and less to his father. He wouldn't hesitate to protect Katara over his own people and if he'd been thinking clearly, Zuko might've realised what a dangerous game he was playing. But he wasn't thinking clearly. No, he was thinking about the fact that they would be in Ba Sing Se in under a week.

He was thinking about the fact that her brother and the Avatar might already be there, just waiting to pull her away from him and to remind her of what a monster he'd been. They'd be there to take her away and he might never get to find out what Uncle meant about them coming together with a glory the world would stop to see. She would be with them and he would be pulled away, back to Court, back to a life of duty and honour and free of Waterbenders who made him laugh and stole his food and snuggled into his arms late at night.

Sliding off the rock where he'd sat watching her, Zuko crossed the clearing to stand at the edge of the river. He stopped beside her pile of clothing where she'd obviously stripped down to just her sarashi wraps and his lips twitched as he pulled on the drawstrings of his sleep pants and pulled his tunic off over his head. He stepped out of them in just his underwear and waded quietly into the water, listening to Katara as she hummed softly, that same Water Tribe song she'd sung for him before Meng and Kuzon had showed up.

"Did I wake you?" she asked without looking at him, obviously feeling him moving through the water when her bending power was so alive beneath the full moon.

"No," Zuko answered. "Though the sleeping bag was cold without you."

He saw her smile even though she was peering at something across the river, squinting in the moonlight.

"Do you see it?" she whispered when he drew level with her in the stream, his body warm despite the icy water.

Zuko squinted in the direction she was looking and he froze when he spotted the giant badger-mole that had tunnelled out a nearby hill in search of a drink. It moved slowly toward the water, blind and obviously following it's nose. It shifted the snow on the grass and the earth all around it as it moved, somehow silent despite its size.

They both stayed quiet as the shy creature took its drink from the river before turning away and burrowing into the earth once more.

"I'd wondered how the other animals might be faring in this weather," Katara murmured thoughtfully, "but it looks like the only ones truly suffering at the Fire Nation people."

"I wouldn't call it suffering," Zuko replied just as quietly.

She glanced up at him, a little frown marring her brow and Zuko met her gaze steadily. She didn't smile and neither did he. She simply regarded him curiously, and Zuko knew that his intensity was confusing her.

"We should reach Ba Sing Se this week," she said quietly, nibbling her lower lip and seeming unaware of the way she took a step toward him in the water, bringing herself closer as though she'd grown as used to being inside his personal space as he'd grown used to pulling her close until he was inside hers.

Zuko didn't know if it was the result of their spirit bond, pushing them to feel one another's chi brushing together with a subtle touch of fingers or knees. He only knew that if she was close by and he couldn't touch her, he got annoyed.

"We'll need to blend in," he nodded in agreement with her statement. "Uncle plans to try getting a job in a tea-shop."

She laughed suddenly.

"Prince Zuko playing waiter to grumpy customers?" she laughed. "Oh, I'd pay to see that."

"I know how to hand out cups of tea," he said, frowning.

"Yes, but generally customer service is supposed to be delivered with a smile," Katara chuckled. "You have to be nice to whiny people who never use their manners and always have something to complain about, and you've got to do it all with a big smile on your face. I give you an hour before you dump tea over someone's head and slam their faces into the table."

"I'm not without restraint, you know," Zuko said dryly, lifting his good eyebrow in challenge. "You don't get to be a prince without learning how to smile politely into the face of rat-vipers who want your crown, your approval, or your money."

"Customers don't want your money, Zuko," she laughed. "They want your obedience. The one thing you've been trained all your life is not yours to give, but to demand."

Zuko frowned at her.

"Well, maybe you'll just have to help me be nice to people," he said.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not a miracle worker."

Zuko reached for her under the water, pinching her arm. She narrowed her eyes and pinched back.

"I'm not above dunking you, Water Bender," he threatened.

"Oh, please," she rolled her eyes. "It's a full moon and we're in the river. You're at my mercy."

"Never," he shook his head.

"Care to spar and find out?" she challenged, looking only too keen to fight with him and wear off some of the energy that the full moon infused her with.

"I'd hate to burst your bubble about being able to actually defeat me, even with the full moon to help you out," he smirked.

She water-whipped him, quick as lightning, but Zuko didn't respond. He knew he didn't stand a chance against her under the full moon. Especially not when he was in the river.

She didn't seem to be expecting it when his hand shot out, fisting her damp long hair and pulling her to him. Her eyes widened slightly as she collided with his chest, no match for him physically, full moon or not. She didn't voice a protest when his free hand slid over her bare hip under the water, smoothing around to rest on her lower back. He pressed her to him firmly, knowing that despite the cold water, she'd be able to feel the fire in his blood. Her chi rushed against his, powerful and positively crackling tonight and Zuko's lips twitched when he held her there, his mouth poised over hers, not quite touching.

Her breath hitched and her fingers trailed over his sides and up his chest, seeking purchase where she'd ordinarily have had a shirt to tug him around by.

"You realise that when we reach Ba Sing Se, everything will change, don't you?" he asked, his voice husky as he held her gaze intently, letting her squirm, knowing she wanted him to kiss her and revelling in the way she twitched.

She nodded her head, a frown pulling at her lips.

"You know it won't be long before I'll be gone," he went on, a strange feeling coursing through him, some fizzy concoction of desire and pain and attraction and urgency all at once. He felt like he needed her. Like he had to have her, just once, in all their glory.

He felt like tonight needed to be one of those moment when their endless dance crossed close, a glorious sight to behold should anyone see them glow together, but something secret here where no one would see and no one would know. No one but the two of them.

"I don't want you to go," she admitted, frowning even more, her hands tracing up the ridges of his abdomen until her palms rested against his chest. Zuko wondered if she could feel the hammering beat of his heart inside it, battering against his ribs and thumping out an uneven rhythm. Her chi raced over his, tingling and teasing, feeling entirely too good.

Something inside him flipped and twisted at her admission and Zuko almost caved, wanting to claim her lips with his own. It wasn't safe, he knew. It was the full moon and her power was brimming and bubbling like boiled water in a pot, just waiting to spill over and drench him. Zuko realised he wanted it. He wanted to feel all that power surging through her. He wanted to watch her glow like the moon overhead.

"I want to take you with me," he admitted in reply, his voice a rasp as his breath changed with the restraint it took not to claim her right then.

"You know you can't," she whispered, looking forlorn.

He nodded. "They'll kill you, or use you to control me. I might not see you again for months. Maybe even for years."

"We need to take Ozai down before the comet comes," she disagreed, knowing as well as he did that it was only a few short months away.

"We do," he agreed. "But no one said we'd be together for the fighting. Or after it. You've got a Tribe to rebuild and I've got a Nation to pull back from war while they fight me tooth and nail for the right to continue fighting until the Fire Nation conquers the world."

She seemed to shrink in his hold as he said so. Maybe she'd hadn't thought of it that way. Zuko didn't blame her. He'd known on some level that there would be a time they would all have to part ways and rebuild their Nations and their lives. He'd known his role as Fire Lord would put restraints upon his time and his freedom. But he hadn't really thought about how much work would go into it or how it might keep him from his other interests.

"I…" Katara's frown deepened and her eyes grew sad as she stared up at him. "I might not see you for years. This… might be all we get."

Zuko nodded.

"But… we're Spirit Bound," she reminded him. "Even if we're apart, you'll still know, and I'll still know. The link will still be there… and I'll bet it'll ache."

His mouth twisted, suspecting that might be true, too. He didn't know when he'd grown fond enough of the little Waterbender to think that being away from her would ache, but it was true and he was dreading it.

"You'll put your village back together and your father will arrange your marriage to some Northern Water Tribe guy to repopulate the world with Southern Waterbenders," Zuko said quietly, hating the pain the thought seared through his chest.

"You'll have advisors and councilman breathing down your neck about marrying for political alliance, expected to sire the next generation of royal Firebenders," she said in return, similarly frowning.

She closed her eyes then, as though the very thought pained her too much for words. Zuko knew the feeling. He didn't like it, either.

"This is it," she whispered. "The deep breath before the plunge. We've been so set on reaching Ba Sing Se and finding Aang that I'd forgotten what comes after. After the fight. After the comet. After the war. I thought…. I thought we'd be there together for the fight… and then, after…."

She kept her eyes closed, but he watched so intently and the moon was so bright, that he caught the glitter of the tears that slipped free to trickle down her cheeks.

"You promised you'd come penguin sledding with me," she choked out in a whisper and Zuko's lips twitched at the reminder.

"I'll keep my promise," he said in return and Katara blinked open her eyes, looking pained and worried and confused and torn all at once. Zuko understood the feeling. He was caught somewhere between knowing they were doomed to grow apart, and the confusion of knowing that just five weeks ago, they'd been bitter enemies.

He didn't know if he loved her. He didn't believe he truly knew what love was, but he felt something for her that made his chest ache at the idea of losing her. He'd never had any real friends, so he didn't know if this was how people felt about their friends or if this was more than friendship and more than the attraction that so often flared between them at times like this, in the dark of the night when they were alone.

He knew they were teetering on the edge of something here and he knew that tipping either way spelled pain. If they tipped left he was going to fuck her right there in the river and he'd likely spend the rest of his life wanting to do it again, and likely never getting the chance. If they toppled right, he'd have to let her go and risk never knowing if he could love her and if it was worth it, and what he was missing. Either way he was doomed to return to the Fire Nation capitol alone where his marriage would one day be arranged to a girl like Mai.

Zuko realised when the thought sickened him that he felt more than friendship for Katara. He didn't want Mai, though for a long time she'd been the girl he'd thought of at night. He didn't want some sardonic, spoiled brat of a woman who would nag him and whine and find every negative thing to point out and to bitch about. He wanted the girl who teased him and stole his food and smelled good when he held her at night. He wanted the woman unafraid to call him a jerk to his face and only too willing to back it up with more sharp words or a good fight if he took offence.

"Zuko," Katara breathed, her eyes darting between his own before lowering to rest upon his lips.

Zuko tried to resist. He tried to topple them to the right of this blade. He tried to remind himself that a taste of perfection might spoil him forever and he tried to keep his head and use his brain rather than his dick to make his decisions.

He tried, and he failed.

If he was going to lose her and he was going to ache over it, he was going to damn well scream with the agony of knowing exactly what he'd lost. Ducking his head, he captured her lips in a soft, insistent kiss. She tasted of river water, but she was warm and firm and soft all at once and she whimpered into his mouth when he traced his tongue against the seam of her lips until she parted them for him. Her nails scratched gently against his chest, trying to pull him closer, wanting more and Zuko lost himself in the sweep of his tongue against hers and the feel of her supple body moulding against his firm one.

The frigid kiss of the water all around him dimmed, his body heat spiking with how badly he wanted her, and Zuko nipped her lower lip hungrily, trailing his fingers over her skin and swallowing the little morsel of sound that escaped her. Part of him dreaded the moment he expected was coming, knowing the likelihood that he would get to have her, to fuck her right there and then, was low. The universe had conspired against him so far, something always happening to ensure they couldn't do more than get hot and bothered before being interrupted or distracted by more pressing matters and Zuko almost didn't want to try his luck again now, not sure he'd cope if he got close enough to claim her only to have her slip through his fingers one more time.

He tensed when she trailed her fingers up and down his back, unable to fight the urge to grind himself against her. When she lifted her legs to wrap them around his hips Zuko bit back a moan of loathing the idea that his Uncle, or Kuzon or Meng might hear and think him in pain, rather than a few cloth layers from sinking deep into bliss. Katara rolled her hips against the hot and throbbing length of him and Zuko's eyes crossed behind closed lids, their movement shifting from tentatively insistent to urgent and hungry in the space of a few seconds.

Agni, he wanted her.

Before now, he'd thought he knew what it was to crave the soft, tight welcome of a willing girl under him, but he'd only known a shadow of that need. Now, with her chi rushing all around him, twisting and teasing, intertwining and fizzing like some out-of-control river seeking to find every flicker of his fire and engulf it whilst simultaneously feeding it made him twitch with need. Without conscious thought he found himself making his way out of the river, heedless of their damp flesh or the cool breeze that blew or even the snow that lay upon the ground at its banks.

She didn't stop kissing him, gripping him tighter, clinging to him needily and Zuko almost lost his balance more than once on the slippery river edge. He nearly toppled over when she pulled back from his lips to trail a burning line of kisses along the length of his jaw before kissing and nipping her way down the side of his neck and she huffed out a breath of surprise when he dropped to his knees before laying her down on the cold ground by the river-edge.

The snow melted around them with her bending power to make things more comfortable and when he breathed out a sigh of pleasure as she nibbled his ear, the temperature surrounding them rose by several degrees. Looming over her, Zuko tugged at the sodden ends of her sarashi, aching to get her free of them and his smirked just a little when she used her bending to pull the water from the cloth, drying his underwear in frustration when she couldn't work the tie loose while it was swollen and wet. She wriggled in her wraps, shivering slightly when he managed to unwind her enough to free her breasts and Zuko pushed warmth through his cold fingers before laying his hands upon the cinnamon globes.

The soft, breathy sound she emitted sent heat racing down his abdomen and Zuko groaned into her mouth when she suddenly pulled him down until he was pressed on top of her, capturing his lips and kissing him hungrily.

"Agni, Katara," he muttered when she broke the kiss several torturous minutes later. She hummed a soft sound of pleasure as his fingers toyed with her nipples, pinching them and rolling them in a way that made her arch into the touch.

She gripped his shoulders tightly, rocking herself against him and Zuko couldn't resist pushing at her just a little with his chi as he rocked back. Her eyelids fluttered before her bright blue eyes opened, gleaming in the moonlight and making her look like something out of a legend. She pushed back with her chi, making him shiver. She was reaching for him, intent on getting him naked, when suddenly her eyes darted to something beyond him and Zuko tensed as her grip on his shoulders shifted from needy to something else.

Zuko grunted when she flipped him off her suddenly, rolling him across the grass and straddling him before leaping to her feet, her eyes on the sky.

"APPA!" she shouted, snatching up her shirt from their pile of discarded clothing and pulling it on over her head.

"Hey!" Zuko complained, frowning at finding himself on the cold hard ground.

She ignored him, shouting again.

"AANG! SOKKA!" Katara yelled into the night and Zuko's eyes lifted to the sky where she looked, waving her arms like a fool.

There, drifting across the moon with some speed was a dark shape. Zuko had spent enough time watching the sky for that very shape to recognise the Avatar's sky bison and he felt a strange twist in the pit of his stomach at the idea that the Avatar was here. He laughed coldly at himself as his gaze darted between Katara – waving her arms and shouting excitedly, heedless of the sleeping companions – and back to the sky bison flying overhead. Five years he'd searched for the Avatar and right this second the last thing he'd wanted was to find the stupid kid.

What he wanted was his Waterbender. Naked. Writhing under him with all that fizzing intensity as their chi clashed and interlocked and twisted together with the explosiveness that only fire and water combined seemed able to produce. He wanted to be finding out just how much of her body heat he could claim, and how much he might stoke the embers of her passion until she became a raging inferno.

Growling to himself about the wretched Avatar, Zuko snatched up his sleep pants and pulled them on, watching the way the flying shape overhead seemed to shift course slightly. He expected them to stop. Surely they'd been searching for her. But when the bison kept flying, Katara slowly stopped her waving, a terrible sadness and pain coming into her voice as she trailed her dashing run to a stumbling sort of walk.

Zuko watched her for a moment, looking back to the sky and seeing the bison disappearing against the blackness, flying away into the dark. He knew that they hadn't even heard her, let alone ignored her. If he'd learned anything during his hunt for the Avatar it was that Aang, Sokka and Katara were loyal to one another and would never spitefully or maliciously leave each other behind. Not like Azula would. Zuko had grown up in a vastly different world to that of the waterbender and as he watched her shoulders slump and begin to shake, undoubtedly with soft sobs, he knew she couldn't tell the difference right then between spite and plain ignorance.

Her shouting might've roused Kuzon and Meng – both of them hurrying out of the igloo carrying weapons, looking half-asleep but ready to fight – and it might've stirred his Uncle, who followed at a more sedate pace and looked up to the sky keenly, but the Avatar, her brother, and the bison clearly hadn't heard her.

"Oh, Katara," Meng said, dropping the club she carried and hurrying over to the waterbender just as the girl fell to her knees.

Zuko stood frozen as he watched the scene. A cold sense of disappointment washed through him and he realised at that moment that everything he'd said in the river was true. Things were about to change. He'd grown used to her, he realised. He'd even admit to being comfortable with her. She was familiar to him now – how could she not be when he spent all night, every night curled around her in a shared sleeping bag, and all day pressed against her in the saddle aboard their rhino? But as he watched Meng gather the saddened girl into her arms, murmuring assurances that they would catch up and that she'd be with her friends soon, Zuko realised that she was far from being his waterbnder.

She'd been the Avatar's first. She belonged to her tribe and her brother and her quest to help the Avatar. She'd only snuggled up to him in the first place to find a way back to them. Zuko felt like he'd had a bucket of ice-water dumped over his head, an uncomfortable sensation in his chest making him aware that he'd fallen for their ruse – he'd fallen for the charade of her being his girlfriend. She wasn't, and she never would be. No matter all they'd been about to do and all they'd already done, the girl was just some Water Tribe peasant trying to get back to her friends and her family, trying to end the war, trying to make sure that Zuko's father didn't wipe out every non-Firebender in existence.

It wasn't a betrayal, exactly, but it felt like one. He'd counted her as his friend. His companion. His ally. His partner in crime. He'd forgotten that the minute she was back with her brother and the Avatar, she wouldn't be so willing to crawl into his sleeping bag beside him to share her body heat. He knew her well enough by now to know that she wouldn't maliciously turn on him when she was reunited with her own, but she would put some distance between them.

And how could she not? He had to betray them, return to the palace and reclaim his birthright. She had to stick by the Avatar and work with the Resistance to end the war. They had different destinies and no amount of intertwining chi or even a Reiki Kizuna was going to change that.

Zuko watched her wipe her eyes, looking forlornly in the direction the bison had flown, before she sighed and let Meng lead her back into the igloo. His uncle quietly suggested they all have a nice cup of tea to calm their nerves and Zuko watched them dispassionately.

He almost startled when Kuzon walked over to him, scooping up the remainder of Katara's clothes that she'd shed by the riverside and reaching to hand them to Zuko.

"Interrupted again, your highness?" he asked quietly, no trace of a taunt in his tone. Kuzon sounded almost dire as he spoke the question, frowning as deeply as Zuko did himself.

"It's for the best," Zuko said.

"She never was your girlfriend, was she?" Kuzon asked. "It's all just been a ruse."

Zuko shrugged his shoulders, unwilling to speak on it. Out of the corner of his eyes he watched Kuzon frown harder, opening his mouth like he might ask why they'd lied or how they'd made it look so real. Zuko's tightening brow warned against it and Kuzon thought better of his question. Zuko didn't even want to think about the answer because he knew the reason they'd looked so convincing was because they'd begun subconsciously thinking of one another as such.

Zuko turned away from Kuzon and from the hut, looking out across the river and watching the way the subtle ripples distorted the image of the moon reflected on its surface. He frowned. It would be best to start pulling back from Katara, he decided. They would be in Ba Sing Se before the week was out – especially now that they had the drive of knowing the Avatar was there. Soon enough he would need to focus on training the Avatar to Firebend and then he'd need to find a way to make it look like he'd killed the kid in order to return home a war hero.

He didn't need the drama of fighting with her brother about his intentions or anything else. He didn't need to unpleasant side-effects of prolonging their strangely affectionate interactions. He needed to reclaim his throne and he needed to put an end to his father's rule. He'd do it without the pretty waterbender worming her way under his skin, into his heart. He'd do it without her in his bed, too.

"It would be a mistake," Kuzon's voice intruded softly on his musing, "to think that just because she's excited to reunite with her family and her friend, she mustn't want you. You've spent five weeks in our company, Prince Zuko, and until tonight I never doubted that the two of you were a couple. Honestly, I'd been mentally practicing calling her 'Fire Lady Katara' in preparation for you coronation. Maybe you're not actually dating in an acknowledged and agreed upon union, but you've got something with that Waterbender. Something powerful and dangerous, and something that will either be your greatest strength or your downfall, your highness. Soon enough we'll return home and you'll be parted from her; soon enough you'll need to be on your guard and make sure that your sister and your father never learn just what has passed between you and that Water Tribe girl. Don't ruin what little time you have left with her by pouting or second-guessing your interactions up until now. The only spiteful bone in her body would be yours and we both know you haven't been fucking her."

Zuko gritted his teeth against the words he didn't want to hear, subconsciously noting that Kuzon would one day grow to prove an invaluable asset as his advisor when Zuko claimed his throne. Until then, though, he didn't want to hear about fucking Katara or about her intentions or his own stupidity.

"Go to bed, Kuzon," Zuko told him.

Kuzon sighed, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly for a moment, having learned that while Zuko had been stubborn at five, he was downright obstinate in adulthood.

"If you let this tear what you and her have, you'll regret it until you're older than your uncle, Zuko," Kuzon told him, unable to resist a parting comment. "And I'll spend every opportunity between now and then reminding you of what a stubborn jerk you are until you see reason and reconcile with her."

With that said, Kuzon walked away, returning to the igloo and leaving Zuko to his fury and the darkness and the niggling thought that it had all just been a well-executed deception on Katara's part to soften him to her way of thinking and save her friend from his persistent pursuit to capture him. The idea left a sour taste in his mouth and Zuko's fury mounted until he began pushing himself through his bending forms – the brightly glowing fire that burst from his hands, his feet, and his mouth in spite of the glowing full moon a testament to his rage and his pain.