"It has special properties, so I've been saving it for something important. I don't know if it would work, but..." her trailing voice echoed in the glowing cave as the petite girl reached up to touch his cheek. Her ocean eyes bore into him, curious, timid, and kind. Zuko soaked in her face, savouring each aspect of it like a starving man would a meal. His eyes landed on the pink dusting of her cheeks just as the wall behind them exploded. Zuko fought the urge to bend down and kiss her before they had to go, the first person who'd touched his scar in years, the first person to call him important since his banishment other than Uncle.
Zuko shot up with a start, leaving sleep behind like an eel hound jetting from shore. Freeing his hand from the twist of his blankets, he tenderly lifted his hand to the spot her's had just been. He could still feel her curved palm on his cheek, the soft pads of her fingers brushing his scar, but the warmth radiating from her hand was gone.
He groaned and flopped back on his bed. It'd been a week since the catacombs, since joining Azula, and each night he'd had the same dream. The water tribe girl was haunting him like a stubborn apparition. "Family. Duty. Honor," he mentally repeated as he tried to shove her from his mind. But still he whispered "Katara," into the darkness, his voice hoarse with regretful longing.