Disclaimer: I do not own ATLA or LoK.

CHAPTER 6

The first rays of sunlight lit the tiny apartment, igniting Zuko's inner fire. Blinking away the sleep from his eyes, he sat up to stretch his stiff muscles until the joints popped satisfactorily. The dawn meant that he had a few hours before he was due to report to the tea shop.

Today would be different. Zuko was nothing if not observant, and he had studied Uncle's every action for most of yesterday. He was accustomed, now, to pretending to be something he is not. Surely he could find a way to pretend that he was the man who helped run a tea shop with his uncle and cousin—

—the cousin who was supposed to be dead.

Lu Ten was supposed to be dead. How could Zuko tell his uncle that he was not who he appeared to be when it would inevitably force him to reveal the whole truth? It had made his heart swell to see this version of Uncle living the dreams of the one he knew, minus the burden of grief and guilt weighing him down. Zuko refused to illuminate a different reality.

No. He would find another way out.

His gaze fell to the bed, where the waterbender's sleeping form was cocooned in a mass of blankets. Her long hair was splayed across the pillow as she lay facing the window, and the early morning light gave her skin an almost ethereal glow.

For a child of the moon, the sun suited her quite well. He was momentarily transfixed, unable to help his admiration of her soft features. The seemingly ever-present crease of her brow was smoothed away in sleep.

Zuko had been earnestly shaken by the presence of the cousin, who he, in truth, had lost touch with many years before his untimely death. The woman before him had just found out her dead mother was coming for a visit. Zuko could not begin to fathom what she was experiencing.

A familiar grip of shame tightened around him the longer he looked at her, but another possibility had simultaneously begun to surface in his mind. Thoughts of his own mother materialized without his permission, but he shook them away. He could not afford to get his hopes up.

He forced his eyes away from her still-sleeping figure and made his way to the washroom.

Zuko grimaced at the mirror. Despite his hair being slightly shorter than he had been used to in recent weeks, it still managed to stick out in every direction.

He moved to the tub and turned the nozzle, watching with only slightly-waning amazement as the water flowed inside. Atop the spout was a button. Curiously, he pressed it and looked up in alarm as the water began cascading like rain from a new source above his head. Convenient.

Discarding his clothes quickly, he stepped under the shower, sighing contentedly as he heated his skin to steam the water around him. Reaching for a bar of soap, he stopped short at the number of bottles of varying size and shape that littered the tub's edges. There were more of them than he had ever seen at the Royal Palace spa. How had he not noticed these before, when he had pulled the glass out of the waterbender's foot?

More importantly, which one was the soap?

After several minutes of experimenting with the scented liquids, Zuko surmised that he was clean. He steamed himself dry before grabbing a robe that he assumed was his from a nearby hook.

Running his fingers through his damp hair, he scrutinized the two toothbrushes that sat on the counter's edge. He eventually gave up and sent a silent prayer to the spirits as he grabbed the one that he hoped was his.

Once his teeth were clean, he made his way back out to the front room. The girl had not moved in his absence. He recalled the clothing Lu Ten had been wearing, choosing a similar pair of uncomfortable-looking pants and a plain gray shirt from the drawers under the bed.

He moved away from her toward the kitchen area to change, mentally griping about the lack of space as he went.

A frustrated grunt stirred Katara from her fitful slumber. The sound had come from the kitchen.

Careful not to alert Zuko that she was awake, she opened her eyes to watch him attempt in vain to light the stove. A small frying pan sat atop its surface, but she could not see its contents.

Little bursts of flame shot from his fingers to the underside of the pan, and each time the burner did not ignite, she noticed the muscles in his back tighten a fraction more under the fabric of his shirt.

She was content to watch him struggle for a moment, but his move to sleep on the futon the previous night was a gesture that had not slipped her notice.

"You're supposed to turn the dial underneath the burner."

He whirled around at the sound of her voice. She met his alarmed gaze, brows raised, before he frowned, and turned back to the stove. He rotated the dial as instructed, and a small flame erupted underneath the pan. Katara laid her head back against the pillow, listening to him fumble around the kitchen as she stared at nothing in particular. At one point, she felt his eyes on her again, but she chose to ignore him.

Sokka's words played in her mind repeatedly, but she found herself unable to fully process them. She knew she was supposed to be overjoyed. Her mom…she was alive. And she was coming to see her.

But it wasn't real. At least, not for her. This wasn't the same woman who had died protecting her. Katara was not the daughter that she knew. Still, the thought of seeing her face again, of feeling her arms around her again, effectively overwhelmed Katara. Silent tears dampened the hair and sheets surrounding her head.

The eclipse. It was soon. Exactly how soon, she didn't know, but she could not afford to get comfortable. If that meant passing up her only opportunity to see her mom again, alive…to tell her that she loved her…

So be it.

She had to stop the invasion before it was too late. That meant finding Aang as soon as possible and getting back to her life. This life was not hers. This was not real.

The very real pain that constricted her insides disagreed.

Heaving a sigh, she sat up slowly. Zuko had just finished placing two plates on the table, each holding an egg cooked sunny side up. Between the dishes, he set down a bowl of cherries.

If he noticed her tear-stained cheeks, his expression gave nothing away. "I made breakfast," he murmured.

After a brief debate with herself, Katara sat gingerly in the chair opposite him—her stomach made the decision for her when it reminded her rather loudly that she still had not eaten. Zuko was not a master chef, but the simple meal would be enough to get her through the morning. They ate in silence, for which Katara was grateful. Zuko did not broach the subject that she was certain he wanted to bring up the moment Sokka had left the apartment.

She decided then that she would go to work. She was still firm in the belief that learning as much as possible about this reality could only help her. Plus, she needed the distraction from thinking about her mom, and she couldn't help her curiosity about what this job entailed.

A movement in her peripheral caused Katara to glance up from her plate at Zuko, who had picked up the folded leather square that she had left on the table.

"Oh, that's your passport, I think. I was looking around the apartment yesterday and found it."

He didn't respond, appearing lost in thought for a moment. Eventually, he gave her a slight nod and pocketed it. "Did you find anything else that could be useful?"

"Not really." Truthfully, she just wasn't in the mood to explain to Zuko all that she had learned about the little handheld device.

When she was finished eating, Zuko took her plate and placed it in the water basin on the growing pile of dishes. She nodded at him in thanks.

He moved over to the window then, and sat cross-legged on the floor, his back to her. Rolling a cherry pit around her mouth, Katara watched him do a series of breathing exercises.

She suddenly remembered something he had said to her before he left for his uncle's tea shop the day before, blurting out the question before she could stop herself. "Did you tell your uncle about us?"

His breath audibly hitched, and he half-turned to her. "No." After he turned back toward the window, he added, "I don't know if I can."

The response was not at all what she had expected. "Why?"

At first, he said nothing. Katara thought for a moment that he had ignored her and returned to his breathing exercises. When he eventually turned to face her fully, there was a sadness in his eyes that she had never seen. He looked almost human. "There was a…complication." She did not speak, waiting for him to continue.

After a moment's pause, he sighed and went on. "My uncle had a son, Lu Ten, who died in the war. It broke him. It's the reason he retired. It's…the reason my father became Fire Lord." Katara's eyes widened. It had never occurred to her that Zuko's gentle traveling companion could have once been the Crown Prince.

She had a feeling she knew where this was going.

"Lu Ten was in the tea shop when I got there yesterday."

Katara winced, her suspicions confirmed.

If Zuko told his uncle, the dream would end. He would no longer be able to live the fantasy of a reunion with his cousin, in a world that had not been ruined by his family's war. She thought again of her mother, and anger simmered white-hot in the pit of her stomach.

"You are the one who claimed your uncle could help us. If you want to get out of here as badly as I do, like you said you do, telling him should be your number one priority," she snapped.

"I know—" he started, but Katara cut him off. "If I'm going to miss out on my only chance to see my mother again, you can miss out on hanging out with your cousin in a tea shop. Which, by the way, you've already gotten to—"

"It's not like that!" He was on his feet now, scowling down at her. She hadn't remembered him being that tall.

"If I tell Uncle who I am, he's inevitably going to have questions. For example: where does Lu Ten fit into all of this? Well, Uncle, he doesn't fit in anywhere, because he's dead. And it's your fault." He was fuming. Katara watched a vein pulse in his forehead.

"What do you mean, it was his fault?"

"Lu Ten died fighting in the siege of Ba Sing Se. The siege that my uncle, his father, led him into."

Oh. Oh.

He continued before she had a chance to respond. "Showing Uncle that such a cruel side of himself could exist…that he could be capable of…" He closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose before starting again. "To tell Uncle that in another life, his son—his dream—was crushed by his own ambitions…well, I could just add that to the list of terrible things I've done to him. Leave it to me to find a way to hurt him in more than one version of his life."

He was sitting on the edge of the bed now, his hands fisted in his lap. His voice was huskier than usual. To Katara's shock, he appeared close to tears.

She blinked. Was Zuko…acknowledging the atrocities committed by his nation? Regardless of if that was his intention, his explanation for not telling his uncle the truth was not at all where Katara's train of thought had been. Though, it was only fair to assume the worst of Zuko.

She imagined what she would do if she woke up one day, and Sokka told her that in an alternate reality, she had turned her mother over to the Fire Nation, just to protect herself. Even if she personally was not the one who had done it…the thought sent a shiver down her spine.

"Well, couldn't you…lie? If he asked?"

He looked at her like she'd suggested he murder his uncle. "Lying would be dishonorable."

She could barely stifle a scoff. "What is it with you and—"

Her retort was interrupted by a persistent vibration coming from her device in its place on the table. Its display was similar to when Zuko's uncle had called him, except there was no name at the top of the image—only numbers. Frowning, she pressed 'Accept.'

"Uhm. Hello?" she held the device close to her face, mimicking Zuko's movements from the previous morning.

"Hello! This is Ming, calling from Hidden Jewel. Am I speaking to Katara?"

She nodded, before realizing Ming probably could not see her. "Yes?"

"I'm calling to confirm your reservation for two for tonight at 7 PM."

It took some restraint for Katara not to slap her hand against her forehead. She had meant to cancel that. Glancing over at Zuko, who watched her in confusion, a wave of guilt unexpectedly washed over her as her outburst from earlier replayed in her mind.

They did need to eat, and Katara didn't imagine Zuko's cooking skills ranged much further beyond eggs in a frying pan. Katara could cook, but she didn't trust herself in this kitchen.

"Hello? Ma'am?"

She jumped. "Oh! Sorry. Umm." She looked at Zuko briefly once more. "Yes! We'll be there."

"Great! See you this evening." There was a beeping sound that Katara assumed signaled the end of the conversation.

"What was that about?" Zuko asked incredulously, his earlier emotions seemingly tucked back in place.

"We have a dinner reservation tonight. Hidden Jewel at 7 o'clock." She didn't wait for his reaction, and instead marched straight to the washroom.

Zuko watched the door close behind her, his lips still parted slightly in shock. What just happened?

Was this progress? Was progress what he wanted?

He took a few calming breaths, the last vestiges of anger stubbornly clinging to him. There had been an all-too-familiar pity in her eyes when she looked at him. If there was one thing he knew he definitely did not want, it was her pity.

Maybe I should just take what I can get. After all, it was the first time since they had gotten into this mess that she had shown him anything but blatant hostility.

He stood up with a sigh, deciding it would be best to leave before she changed her mind about dinner.

He arrived at the shop early. Uncle was already there, seated at one of the tables and sipping his own cup of tea. "Good morning, Zuko!" he chirped, gesturing for him to sit.

"Feeling better today, I see," he said, eying Zuko up and down. In truth, he wasn't feeling better at all, but Uncle didn't need to know that.

"Where's Lu Ten?" Zuko asked, glancing toward the back room as he slid into the chair opposite his uncle.

"I gave him the day off today so that you and I might spend some time together." His eyes twinkled. Zuko fidgeted. "I'm sorry about yesterday, Uncle. I promise it won't happen again."

Uncle smiled. "I trust you." Zuko didn't miss the significance placed on the words. He would almost certainly be cornered for a chat later. Sweat beaded on the back of his neck as he met the man's level stare.

He didn't have to worry about it for too long, however, because the tea shop was packed from the moment they left their spots at the table to open up for the day. Uncle had taken Lu Ten's place in the back, leaving Zuko unattended at the front counter.

Operating the register was comparable to using his phone, so he was able to stumble through with middling success, especially after having watched Uncle do it. While he wasn't very nuanced in the vernacular of tea orders in this particular shop—he had to consistently remind himself to ask the customers if they wanted "regular sugar and ice"—there was no denying that things were going better than his previous shift.

Though, he didn't imagine things could possibly have gone worse.

He got better at swiping cards as the day wore on. Cash was a slightly different story, but he noticed that no one seemed to actually count the change he gave them. Hence, his inevitable mistakes went largely unnoticed. He even managed to earn a few tips.

A few of the customers were evidently regulars and addressed him by name. This made him uncomfortable, to say the least. Though, he only needed to ask a customer what he had meant by ordering "the usual" once, which felt like a small victory.

Before he knew it, the day was over. He slumped into the same chair he had sat in that morning, exhausted.

"Busy day," Uncle said as he locked the front door.

Zuko had almost forgotten his nerves until the older man turned to him with that same glint in his eye from earlier.

"While I do, of course, revel in my own tea shop's success, I had hoped we would have a bit more downtime today. It's been so long since you and I have really had a chance to talk." There was a brief pause as he made his way toward the back. "Would you like some tea?"

Zuko nodded politely. "Thank you, Uncle."

Uncle disappeared in the backroom to busy himself with boiling the water. While he waited, Zuko thought back to the days when he and Uncle had been each other's only source of companionship—when the only thing there was to do was talk. It felt like a lifetime ago, though he supposed it truly was a completely different life from this one.

Uncle spoke again from the doorway, breaking him from his thoughts. "I may look an old fool, but I know you, Zuko. You did a better job of pretending today than yesterday, but you can't hide from me. You are not acting like yourself. Now, please tell me exactly what is going on."

All pretexts had been dropped. Uncle had planned this. Perhaps this version of the man was not so different from the one he knew, though his uncle would likely have spent more time on the buildup.

Zuko clenched his jaw, meeting the man's gaze. The golden eyes sparkled with their usual sincerity. I still don't deserve you.

"I'm just…confused…" This certainly wasn't a lie. He recalled a similar conversation he had recently had with the imprisoned version of Uncle. In Zuko's drained state, the desperation he had felt during that other conversation was bubbling dangerously close to the surface. How did Uncle pull these emotions from him so easily?

The kettle had begun to whistle, but the man waited patiently for him to continue. His look of at once concern and adoration was identical to the one he had shown Zuko during their last conversation in the prison.

Eventually, "Confused about what, exactly?"

In this reality, Zuko was not Iroh's surrogate son. Zuko was not someone to fill the hole that Lu Ten had left in his chest. But yet, those eyes still bore into his nephew with a father's love. And that is when Zuko realized that this man did know him. This was his uncle, and nothing the spirits did could change that.

He braced himself and waited until Uncle returned to sit at the table with a teapot and cups. Agni, help me. "I'm not who you think I am."

There was a pause, and the glint of confusion in Uncle's eyes was all that betrayed his serene expression.

"Not who I think you are. Well, Zuko, I'm sure you can imagine what my follow up question might be."

Uncle's words in Ba Sing Se entered his thoughts. Who are you? What do you want? Here he was, forced to face those questions again. He still wasn't ready to answer them.

So, he told Uncle almost everything, from the beginning.

Uncle listened intently as Zuko explained the concept of the four nations and the elements that formed the essence of each. That some were blessed by the spirits with the ability to manipulate one of those elements. Except for the Avatar—he was able to master all four.

Hesitantly, he told the story of Fire Lord Sozin's ambitions to expand the Fire Nation, the war that followed, and the Avatar's disappearance.

This was the first time Uncle's face gave away any sign of alarm. "Did you say, Fire Lord Sozin?"

Oh no. His first mistake. He thought about what the waterbender had said to him earlier about lying. Zuko was a terrible liar.

"Uh—that's…a coincidence." He could not tell him their family's exact involvement in the world's conflict without having to explain Lu Ten's absence in the narrative. A smaller part of him called out another reason for withholding that information, but he squashed it quickly.

Uncle's brows were slightly raised, but he nodded for Zuko to continue. He chose his words more carefully after that, leaving out many of the details of the war-torn world his reality had become in the last hundred years.

He briefly explained the Spirit World—though he truthfully didn't understand it himself—and how he journeyed there, only to be dragged into a pool, then wake up in an unfamiliar bed, suddenly older and…different, in this other life.

Zuko could feel himself rambling, so he stopped to wait for a response from Uncle. The man was scrutinizing him as he sipped his tea, his expression unreadable. Zuko squirmed in his chair. After several moments of this, Uncle spoke.

"And what about you?"

Zuko balked. "What do you mean? I just told you." After everything he had just said, that was his uncle's response?

"You've given me a…fascinating description of this world that you have come from. But you have yet to answer my original question. Who are you?"

Damn. The man really didn't miss a beat. "I'm—uh. I'm a…refugee."

"And your family? From which nation do you hail?"

Zuko couldn't tell if Uncle actually believed everything he had just told him, or if he was merely humoring him by asking questions. Either way, he could feel himself beginning to slightly panic.

"I'm from the Fire Nation. And…so are you. We travel together."

Uncle's face lit up with realization. "So, you are you, but you've somehow dropped into this other version of your own life?"

"…Yes. And, so has Katara. She was with me when the spirit dragged us into the pool."

He nodded thoughtfully, taking another sip of tea. "What of your mother? Your father? Azula?"

Zuko gulped. "My mother…well, I don't know where she is." He looked down at his hands, fisted in his lap. "My father and Azula—we…got separated awhile ago." It wasn't a complete lie. He decided not to add in the details of their reunion. He was waiting for the other shoe to drop—for Uncle to ask him about Lu Ten. But, to his relief, he never did.

"These…benders, you speak of. Are you one of them?"

Zuko hesitated, checking out the window of the shop. He took a deep breath before lighting a small fire in his hand.

Uncle's eyes widened, and it was the first time in their conversation that he appeared genuinely taken aback. Perhaps he had just been humoring Zuko up until that point.

Though, he quickly rearranged his features into a calm mask. "So, you say we are refugees, fleeing the tyranny of our nation." He was nodding to himself as he spoke. It wasn't a question. He was stating it like it was obvious. Zuko's eyes narrowed. Not exactly, he wanted to say, but was no longer in the mood to answer questions. So, he asked one of his own.

"What is the nature of my relationship with Katara?" He was pretty sure that he already knew the answer but was ready to do anything to get off the topic of his family.

Uncle's brows had knit together slightly at the change of subject, but he did not object. "Zuko, you do live with her. Surely, you can put two and two together. Unless that means something different in your reality?"

He was evidently handling Zuko's revelations quite well.

"Are we…married?"

Uncle chuckled. "No. Though, I must confess that I've hoped for quite some time that that might change. Katara is a lovely, intelligent young woman."

Zuko felt his face heating, but it seemed to only encourage Uncle. "In fact, I assumed that she had something to do with what was troubling you so much." He appeared not to notice his nephew's growing discomfort. "I thought something might have happened…prematurely…to force you into that next step," he continued wryly.

Did he mean…?

Zuko spluttered out something unintelligible, suddenly choking on air. Uncle was now openly laughing at him, but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

The J train was delayed this morning, which meant Meili would be late to work. Again. She sighed and began to tap her foot impatiently as the platform slowly filled around her. She might not even make it onto the next train if it was too crowded. Someone nearby was loudly playing music without headphones. So this was going to be that kind of morning.

She briefly scanned the platform, mentally preparing herself to box out anyone who tried to cut in front her to get to the train doors.

Was that Katara?

Her coworker stood three people away from her, thoroughly absorbed in her phone. This was new. Katara was never late.

"Katara!" Meili called as she shuffled between commuters to reach her, ignoring the annoyed grunts as she passed. Katara looked up, and on closer examination, she looked thoroughly frazzled.

"Hey, girl!" Meili gave her a quick hug as she settled next to her. Katara seemed just as surprised to see her. Meili continued, "What's up? You never leave this late."

"Do I? Um—I just overslept."

Another first. Though, that didn't seem like the entire truth. Something was off about her this morning. Meili decided not to press her for more—she would open up eventually.

"So, guess what I did this weekend." Katara stared at her for a moment. "What?"

"I finally hooked up with that guy I told you about."

Katara's eyes widened. Meili took that as encouragement. "He was just as amazing as you guessed he would be," she added, smirking.

The other girl shuffled slightly. "Uh—wow. That's great! Just like I told you!" She was smiling just a little too widely.

Her slightly erratic demeanor was beginning to be cause for concern. "Honey, are you okay? Did something happen this weekend?"

Katara looked like she was about to respond, but the screeching sound of the approaching train stopped her mid-sentence. Her face melted into frightened fascination as if she had never been on the subway in her life. Meili frowned, glancing between Katara and the train, which was now beginning to slow down as it reached the platform.

Katara looked back down at her phone, and Meili caught a glimpse of the maps app open on the screen. "Are you going somewhere that isn't the office?"

The words seemed to snap Katara back to reality. She tore her eyes away from the train to look over at Meili, her expression one of…relief? Recognition? "No," she said quickly, sliding her phone into her purse.

Okay…what the fuck is going on?

When the train came to a stop, the doors opened to a partially empty car. At least one thing has gone my way. They shuffled inside, Meili grasping the pole in the middle and Katara following suit.

Meili decided it would be best not to set Katara off this morning. Whatever it was, she would tell her eventually. A change of subject was in order.

"Ugh. I'm so not ready for the Departmental this morning. Chan is going to waste half the time talking about his ridiculous no-code application platform idea. Why do we even hold these things on Mondays?"

Katara's brows knit together. After a moment, she just pursed her lips and nodded.

Okay…maybe silence is best.

They arrived at the office at 9:10—not as late as Meili expected. Katara hadn't said another word for the rest of the commute. She instead seemed to focus her attention on the actions of the people around her and the conductor's voice reading off the available transfers at each stop.

Meili settled into her desk and turned her computer on with a sigh. She murmured a "good morning" to Zhu, who sat across from her. It was several minutes before Katara hesitantly made her way to her desk next to Meili's.

Meili decided to procrastinate answering her emails by going into Google to search for some of the day's top news stories. In her peripheral vision, she could see Katara watching her intently.

The rest of the day progressed similarly. Katara seemed to mimic Meili's every move, following her into meetings and looking over at her computer while she worked. When she wasn't doing that, she took constant notes and wandered around the office like a lost puppy. Meili noted intense relief on Katara's face when Lin came by to tell her she had to cancel their mentor lunch. Meili frowned. Katara loved mentor lunches.

When Wei An approached Katara about meeting a deadline, she visibly panicked, stammering through an excuse about her calendar being too full. Wei An seemed to also sense her strange behavior, because he uncharacteristically extended the deadline. Katara's schedule was undoubtedly busy, but Meili had never seen her bite off more than she could chew.

They didn't speak much. Katara was focused, though clearly not on her work. Meili, meanwhile, had her own deadline to hit. She blasted her music in an only-slightly successful attempt to ignore the other girl's constant snooping and nervous fidgeting.

By the time the bi-weekly Web Review meeting had finished—late, to Meili's chagrin—it was nearly 6:00. She watched Katara practically run from the conference room, resolving herself to follow after her and get to the bottom of her behavior. She both literally and figuratively dodged Chan's invite to grab drinks after work, ducking around him to squeeze into the main office.

But Katara was already gone.

Zuko squeezed onto the edge of a crowded bench outside the restaurant. It wasn't too far from the tea shop, so he was slightly early. The facade was painted a bright white color with blue designs placed in a pattern, making it stand out from the other, plainer buildings. He watched passersby with idle interest, his mind wandering.

Uncle had helped him put the restaurant's name into the map on his phone before he left the shop. Their discussion had been cut short when Zuko had to go, but Uncle invited him to his home for tea on Wednesday afternoon to continue where they left off once they closed the shop. Zuko had a lot of questions, and he guessed that Uncle would have some of his own. He had asked for Katara to come along, too, no doubt curious about her place in their version of the world. Zuko had left out the fact that they didn't exactly get along.

Telling Uncle had been the right thing to do. Zuko didn't know how, but he knew Uncle would help him. It, too, crossed his mind that he somewhat selfishly reveled in a reality where he hadn't gotten the man imprisoned.

He spotted Katara before she did him. She was on the other side of the street, momentarily stopped as she swiveled around, looking for the correct building. She wore her hair long, instead of in her usual braid. Zuko noticed that she was wearing a similar dress to one a customer had been wearing today. However, he admittedly preferred the way it looked on Katara.

She must have felt him staring at her because she turned to look at him before pursing her lips and making her way across the street. Zuko could feel a blush creeping up his neck as he thought about what Uncle had said to him before he left the tea shop.

She greeted him with a nod as he stood up, and they made their way inside without a word. The host led them to a back garden, lit by lanterns. It was significantly less noisy at the secluded corner table at which they were seated. Zuko felt it was a bit of a waste, considering he and Katara weren't conversationalists—well, not with each other. At least he would be able to hear himself think.

"Would you like sparkling, bottled, or tap water this evening?"

Zuko looked to Katara, who appeared to understand it just as much as he did, which was to say, not at all. She shrugged and answered for them both. "Tap water, please."

The host nodded and hurried away. A silence fell over the table. Zuko attempted to examine the menu to distract himself from the woman sitting across from him. He found himself reading the line items multiple times, unable to retain the information.

She broke the silence. "Have you taken any trains since we've been here?"

He wasn't sure what he had expected her to say, but it wasn't that. He gave her a slightly confused shake of the head. "No. Why?"

"Well, let's just say we're not in Ba Sing Se anymore." Is she making small talk? His brows knit together. "No, we're in Da Ping Guo."

"Oh? How'd you figure that out?" She seemed genuinely curious. He shrugged and mumbled something about signs he had seen on the street. In truth, Uncle had told him, but he wasn't ready to talk about that just yet.

"So, what did you do today?" he asked clumsily. Her eyes narrowed. "That doesn't concern you." There goes the small talk.

At that moment, a waiter returned with two glasses of water. He smiled at them, evidently not noticing the tension in the air around their table. "Do you know what you want to eat? Anything else to drink?" Katara nodded, ordering some kind of noodle dish that Zuko had skimmed over on the menu and an iced tea. "Uh. I'll have what she's having," Zuko mumbled. He silently marveled at her ability to adapt, or at least pretend. She didn't look anywhere near as bewildered as he felt.

The waiter nodded. "That'll be right out!" Gone again.

More silence. Zuko watched Katara bend the water to swirl it around her glass until she noticed his eyes on her. She folded her hands in her lap. He realized for the first time, then, how exhausted she looked. Maybe she wasn't adjusting as well as he'd thought.

With a deep breath, Zuko took the plunge. "I told my uncle about us."

Her head snapped up, eyes wide. "You did? Did—was he okay with…your cousin?"

"I didn't tell him that part."

She nodded slowly as she absorbed his words. Zuko continued, "He invited us to have tea with him on Wednesday afternoon."

"Oh. I don't know if that's a good idea," she muttered after a moment.

Zuko sighed. "I told you. You and I have the same goal. Uncle can help us." He hesitated before speaking the next words on his mind. "Besides, don't you find it strange that of all the infinite realities we could have fallen into, we happened to end up in the one where we live together?"

Katara scoffed. "I guess we're just that unlucky."

Zuko met her gaze. "Seems more like destiny, to me. I think we're supposed to be working together to get out of this."

She looked ready to object, but the waiter arrived then with their food. The dish consisted of noodles and small chunks of beef sitting in a bowl of an unknown broth.

Taking advantage of Katara's momentary distraction, Zuko spoke again. "Why did you invite me to dinner?"

Her expression softened slightly, and it was a few moments before she responded. "I…don't really know. I guess I felt a little bit guilty about what I said to you this morning."

He nodded, and a reminder of his own guilt was fighting its way to the surface. He stared at the ice cubes floating around in his water glass as he spoke his next words.

"I'm…sorry for what the Fire Nation has done to your family." He thought again of the look on her face when she found out her mother was alive. "If I could take back the mistakes of my people, I would."

Katara laughed bitterly, and her expression rearranged itself into a scowl. "The mistakes of your people? You realize that's almost exactly what you said to me in Ba Sing Se, right?"

Zuko recoiled. "Well, yes, but that doesn't mean—"

She interrupted him, her voice rising with each word. "Nothing you say will make any difference! You gave me your bullshit sob story about your mother and made the same empty apology as you are now, and then you turned right around to do what you've always done. And because I stupidly decided to trust you, you almost succeeded that time."

"I was never trying to kill Aang—or anyone, for that matter!" he stammered. "Katara, I just—my father—"

"Yeah, yeah, your father wouldn't have 'restored your honor' if you hadn't done it. Have you ever stopped to consider that the Fire Lord's idea of honor might be different from everyone else's?" Her blue eyes burned into his. The place where his scar used to be prickled.

Yes. Constantly. Why do you think I left?

Those were not the words that came out of his mouth, however. "Have you ever stopped to consider that we wouldn't even be in this situation if you hadn't pissed off that spirit?"

Her arms moved quickly, and he had no time to react as she bent the contents of her bowl in a jet straight to his chest. Then she stood, storming away from the table and out of the restaurant. The other diners stared after her, open-mouthed, then at a stunned Zuko, now dripping with hot soup.

AN: Another long chapter! This one took a couple of rewrites, but I'm decently satisfied with the finished product. I hope you enjoyed!

I can't believe this story has reached over 1200 hits. That might not be huge for some, but it's definitely not a milestone I expected to reach. I say it every update, but all of the comments and kudos are so appreciated!

Let me know what you thought of this chapter! I've loved all of the thoughtful feedback so far.