Disclaimer: All rights belong to Nickelodeon, Bryan Konietzko, Michael Dante DiMartino, and all the men and women that created the A:TLA show, books, and comics. I take no credit, and I do not mean to break any copyright rules. This is simply a work of fiction made for enjoyment. No money is being made. The lyrics are from the song "Little Things" by One Director

Rating: General Audiences. Warning: some scenes contain dark themes and minor violence

Author's Note: I hope you all had a good Christmas or whatever holiday you celebrate at this time of the year! My Christmas gift will be coming to you in about three chapters ;)

Chapter 7 - False Identities

All those conversations are the secrets that I keep
Though it makes no sense to me

"We'll reach the nearest Earth Kingdom port by noon," Zuko tells Katara the next morning. "We're going to make a stop for supplies. My men and I will go first to make sure the port is secure. When we make our second trip, you can join us."

She doesn't question his logic, which he's thankful for. The truth is, they aren't really checking to see if the port is secure. Zuko just wants to ask around about the Avatar without Katara hearing.

"I've never left my tribe before, except for the one time I went to the Northern Water Tribe," she remarks. "I don't remember making any stops, so we must have travelled straight by boat. I've never seen any Earth Kingdom villages."

"You see one, you see them all. Trust me. I've been around." Zuko stabs at his food with a chopstick. "The only important ones are Ba Sing Se and Omashu."

"So you've been everywhere now?"

"Everywhere except the Air Temples. The Airbenders won't let me anywhere near their dumb monasteries."

"So you've been to the North Pole?" Katara's eyes shine with a glimmer of hope. Zuko feels guilty. He wasn't the one who destroyed her nation, but he might as well have been. It was his great grandfather, after all.

"Yeah. There's nothing left. I'm sorry."

She leans back from the table but doesn't seem too heartbroken. He'd underestimated her; she was prepared to hear the worst.

"Do you ever miss your home?" she asks.

"No." Zuko avoids her eyes. She's the kind of person who can see right through you if you make eye contact with her. He isn't ready to expose himself like that, especially not to her.

"Two years is a long time to be away from the people who love you."

Zuko isn't thinking about his father or sister when he says, "Yes, it is." He's thinking of his mother. Although it's been a bit longer than two years since she left. He shoves the painful memories away. His mother is to blame; she betrayed their family and the Fire Nation. He's not supposed to mourn for traitors.

"They must miss you," she presses. Zuko doesn't like where the conversation is heading so he stands.

"The sooner I finish my mission, the sooner they can stop missing me. I have to get ready now."

She doesn't say anything as he leaves, but he notices the way she looks thoughtfully down at her bowl. She's trying to understand him, trying to ask questions that reveal more about who he is to her. Her problem is that she can never understand where he's coming from.

In the Fire Nation, everything revolves around honor. Especially if you're royalty. His whole life, Zuko has been trying to prove himself worthy. Practicing his firebending for hours a day, dressing just right, speaking only when appropriate, talking only to nobles, attending the right social events - even eating the right food and exactly the right amount of it at banquets. He did everything right. When his mother disappeared, he was forced to compose himself the very next day to show the public that traitors aren't to be missed in any way, even if they are your mother and the only person who showed you genuine love and compassion. The Fire Nation comes before even family.

Zuko did everything perfect his whole life. And when he made one mistake, spoke once out of turn, he was scarred and banished and his honor stripped from him.

Just like the elements they control, the Water Nation and the Fire Nation are complete opposites. In the Water Nation, family comes first. There is no sense of undying loyalty to the people as a whole. Small villages are what everything revolves around. If you make a mistake, the people in your village will rally together to help you fix it and find forgiveness. Family bonds are strong and unbreakable. Honor isn't a badge you wear; it's a reputation you earn by helping others. And the people from the Water Tribes live fully in the present; finding joy in the day to day life is what they hold most dear. They don't worry about the future. They don't worry about destinies.

And that is why Katara will never understand him. She's never had pressure to act, to look, to perform a certain way. She's free. Zuko is not. It's quite simple.

When Zuko was first banished, Iroh had tried telling him that he was free now, that he could do anything - start a new life, enjoy traveling the world. But Iroh was wrong. Zuko has royal blood running through his veins. He has a royal title. He has the face of his father, as much as he may hate it at times. And, most of all, he has a royal duty.

Zuko doesn't care much for the war. He doesn't care much for his father's plans to take over all the nations and turn them into one huge empire. He does, however, care for his people in the Fire Nation. One day his father will die and who will take care of them if Zuko can't? Azula? She's crazy. Azula is like their father: she cares for power, not the people.

That's why Zuko has to capture the Avatar and return home to reclaim the right to the throne. His honor isn't just with his father; it's with his responsibility to his people.

There's a knock on his door that breaks through his thoughts. "What is it?" he calls out.

"We're anchoring by the earth village, sir," the captain's voice replies. "A small party is preparing to go ashore."

Zuko pulls his hair out of his royal queue and lets it fall over his face. He used to have it perfectly cut when he was still Crown Prince. After the incident, he'd shaved it off save for a ponytail in the middle that still represented his status. The past few months, as his search grew more and more hopeless, he'd let it start growing out again.

Looking in a mirror in front of him, he can see how shaggy it's become when it's down. He can almost pretend his horrific scar doesn't exist. And he can blend in better when he's in foreign cities.

When he'd first begun the search for the Avatar, he'd boldly proclaimed who he was in order to use his and his father's reputation to scare people into helping. Lately, he's found people are much more willing to assist if he comes across as an anonymous traveler. It's a hard compromise; by hiding his true identity, he's showing that he doesn't want to be known that way and that his reputation isn't important to him. By revealing his identity, he's hurting his quest to regain his honor.

He pulls a plain black robe over his obviously Fire Nation clothing. Nothing is easy for him. Nothing has ever been easy for him. He firmly believes nothing ever will be easy for him. It's not written like that for him in the stars the way it is for others, like his sister, Azula, and Katara. Even for his uncle Iroh - life had been hard for the old general, but now it's decided to let him have peace.

No one has had to struggle the way Zuko has. So no one can ever understand him.

He flips the hood of his robe up and departs for the earth village.

Katara is sitting on the deck of the ship, entertaining the remaining crewmen by telling them a traditional Water Tribe fable she had recently remembered. She uses water to create animated characters to enhance the tale.

Bits and pieces of her memory keeps coming back to her. She'll be doing something completely normal when something reminds her of a story from her past and then suddenly she has another memory. The problem is that the memories are so scattered and random she has trouble putting them into a mental timeline. She feels like she's reading a book whose pages are out of order.

She remembers her whole family now. In addition to her parents, she had a brother, Sokka. He was like her father - an excellent strategist (although his brilliance was often used for pranks), quick witted, goofy, clumsy, and loyal beyond measure.

He must have died with the rest of the village in the attacks. Katara knows that since she survived, there's a tiny chance he did, too, but she isn't going to waste time hoping for it unless she sees some evidence. She has to accept what she lost and move on.

But that's the very problem, isn't it? Moving on. She didn't just lose her family, she lost her entire way of life. Her whole culture - just gone. She has to find another purpose in life. She'll have to find somewhere new to settle down, to make friends, to create a new life. The lone survivor of a horrible genocide - where can she go?

Maybe she can settle in the Earth Kingdom. She can live in a village next to a river or on the shore and use her waterbending as a healer. But if there really is a war going on like Zuko and Iroh told her, who will trust a strange foreigner?

And there's still the nagging feeling that she's missing something huge. But what could possibly be so important to nag her endlessly like this? It's like an itch she can't scratch.

Suddenly one of the crewmen stands up and announces, "The prince has returned!"

The other men jump into action. A few of them thank Katara quickly before running to help haul the smaller boat up to the deck level. Then they all start taking armfuls of supply boxes and bags down to the storage hold.

Katara is about to go and help when Zuko vaults over the railing onto the deck. He's wearing a dark robe and when he pulls back his hood, she sees that he's wearing his hair down. He walks over to her.

"You'll need this to fit in." He reaches into a satchel at his side and hands her a pile of folded clothes.

She takes them. "Thank you."

"We can go into the port again as soon as my men finish unloading."

Katara goes down to her room to change. Zuko's gift of new clothing is completely unexpected but not unwelcome. She doesn't want to stick out even more as a foreigner in her Water Tribe clothing. Besides, the blue furs are a dead giveaway to her origin, and if everyone believes that all the Waterbenders are gone, then she has a surprise advantage.

She still leaves on her necklace, the one with the dark blue ribbon and the carved turquoise pendant. She doesn't remember why she values it so much, but she knows it's too important to take off.

Zuko and his uncle are standing on deck when she reemerges. She approaches the pair.

"I'm ready," she says.

"Good. Let's go. We only have a few hours left of light, and I want to start sailing again tomorrow morning."

Iroh smiles at Katara, and she notices a strange gleam in his eyes. "You kids have fun," he says. "And try the tea shop around the corner from the docks. They have the most excellent peppermint tea!"

Katara uses her waterbending to bring the smaller boat up to the level of the deck so she and Zuko can board and then lowers it again. They ride silently into the port. Katara sits at the front of the boat, taking in the new scenery.

"I can't believe how green it is," she exclaims. "And how warm!"

"If you think this is warm, you should never come to the Fire Nation," Zuko says dryly.

She turns around. "How hot can it possibly be?"

"We have a prison called Boiling Rock. It's called that because the water around the island is boiling. It's so hot that if you were to fall off the edge, you'd die before you even hit the water."

Katara feels her eyes grow wide. "No way!"

Zuko sits back, smiling smugly. "It's the most high security prison in the Fire Nation. You can only get to it by air or specially built ships."

"We didn't have prisons in our villages. I don't think." Katara frowns slightly, trying to remember. "No, I don't think we did."

"That's because you don't need them. Anyone wandering around outside would die of the cold."

"True," Katara admits. "Or get frozen in ice, apparently."

"Maybe you were a prisoner," Zuko suggests. Katara is tempted to smack him, but she just crosses her arms instead.

"That doesn't make any sense," she complains. "I never did anything wrong."

"Nothing that you can remember," he shoots back. This time Katara waterbends a small stream of water and dumps it over his head. Then she's the smug one as he wipes off his face on his sleeve.

"I'm just saying," he says. "I didn't do anything wrong, either, and I still ended up out here."

His voice turns bitter with the last few words. Katara wants to ask what he means but she can see that he's closing himself off. So instead she turns around again to scout out the Earth village and to give him some space.

She wishes he was more open. She's only known him for a few days now, but she still wants to understand him. Why can he be kind and thoughtful at times and cold and shut-off other times? Why does he care so much about his mysterious mission? Why does he seem to blow off his uncle at every chance he gets?

And why is he being so nice to her right now after being so distant before? When she first met him, he was suspicious of her and mentioned wanting to find her village for his own reasons. When they found her village destroyed, he seemed fine not getting what he was looking for, and he offered to let her travel with them. He went from being cautious to welcoming in one day.

Katara gets the feeling that something is going on but she has no idea what. She wants to trust Zuko, and she does trust Iroh, but she won't feel completely comfortable until she knows more about the prince.

Zuko's voice breaks through her thoughts. "Pull the boat up there," he says. She uses the sea to guide their boat to where he pointed, and they ride up onto the beach. The port is quiet, most of the ships tied up and anchored for the evening. A fishermen glance at them as they pass, but no one says anything.

"They don't trust foreigners," Zuko tells her. "No one does. Not for a long time."

Katara's hope for finding a new place to settle down quickly withers as they explore the village. The shop owners are polite but not welcoming. The mothers they pass on the street grab their children's hands and sweep them into their skirts. The men look them up and down before deciding they're not a threat. The teenagers stare at them until they pass out of sight. Even the man selling cabbages watches them with narrowed eyes.

It's a sad world, she thinks. She's always been a trusting and compassionate person. To see people act this way breaks her heart. She wants to live in a world where people assume strangers are good people, not threats.

"I hope the war ends soon," she says quietly as they return to the ship later that evening. "It's so sad that people can't trust others."

"The war won't end until my father has conquered all the nations," Zuko replies. He stares straight ahead.

"Is he powerful enough to do so?"

"Maybe. But he will be soon."

And just like that, another mystery Katara has to solve. But not tonight.

"Thank you for taking me into town," she tells Zuko when they are back on deck. "I appreciate it."

"Sure."

He doesn't say anything else. Katara stands with him for another minute, trying to think of something to say but finding nothing. He doesn't exactly facilitate long or deep conversations.

So she turns and heads back down to her room, wishing she knew what to say to someone who keeps so many secrets.

"This is where Suki and the other warriors train," Oyaji explains, walking Sokka to a building at the end of the main village street. "They are the protectors of our village. We call them the Kyoshi Warriors."

Sokka looks around. It's not a large village, but the atmosphere is warm and welcoming. He wouldn't mind settling down here and starting his new life. It's hard for him to admit that's what he needs to do now, but Sokka has always been strong. He's always been able to push through grief and continue living.

"So who's that?" he asks, pointing to the large statue of the woman at the front of the village.

"That is Kyoshi. She is the one who created Kyoshi Island."

"Created?"

"We used to be a part of the Southern Earth Kingdom, but the king treated us poorly and threatened us. Kyoshi, who was the Avatar at the time, saved us by breaking off our land from the Earth Kingdom. We've lived quite peacefully here since."

"If you live peaceful lives, then why do you need warriors to protect yourselves?"

Oyaji points to the coast. "We have a lot of ships come through. Most are just harmless traders seeking shelter from an approaching storm or in need of supplies, but there are also a fair amount of pirates and raiders who think they can take advantage of us. Our warriors have always stopped them before they reached the village."

"You're warriors must be pretty good, then." Sokka pulls out his boomerang and slaps it against his palm. "You know, I was considered a pretty good warrior myself in my tribe."

Oyaji chuckles. "Don't underestimate the Kyoshi Warriors. They can teach you a thing or two."

"Now I'm eager to meet these mighty warriors. Lead the way."

Oyaji walks up to the door of the building and knocks before slowly pushing the door open. Sokka steps in and then suddenly flinches back. A metal fan whirls just past his face and embeds itself in the doorframe an inch from his ear.

"I see our visitor is awake."

Sokka turns in surprise to see a group of girls in green kimonos and dramatic make-up watching him intently. One girl stands in front of the others, obviously their leader. He recognizes them as the girls who were standing over him when he washed up on the beach.

"You're kidding, right?" he asks Oyaji. "These girls are your protectors?"

The lead girl takes another step forward. "That's right." She unfurls her fan. "Let's see what you've got."

She springs towards Sokka. He steps back for a moment in shock before resuming a fighting stance.

They circle each other for a minute. "What, are you scared of a girl?" the Kyoshi warrior taunts.

"Scared I'm gonna hurt you, yeah," Sokka replies.

She narrows her eyes. "I wouldn't worry."

Sokka jumps forward. The next moment he's lying on the ground, the breath knocked out of him. He jumps back to his feet.

"What just happened?" he asks in surprise.

"I happened." The warrior smiles.

Sokka charges her again, this time not holding back. He blocks a jab from her, tries to land one of his own, and ends up on the floor again. This time the warrior is pinning him down.

"Yes, I'm a girl. But I'm also a trained and experienced warrior. We don't need you to patronize us. You should be thanking us for saving your life." She releases him and stands up. "Come, girls. I think training is over for the day."

Sokka picks himself up slowly once the girls leave. Oyaji is still standing in the doorway, a sympathetic look on his face.

"That was Suki," he explains. "I warned you not to underestimate the warriors."

"Yeah. No kidding."

Sokka watches the girls walk into the village together, feeling angry, humiliated, and hurt all at the same time.

And, if he's being honest, a little impressed.