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 "A Sky Full of Stars" by Coldplay

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

Chapter 4: Year of the Dragon

'Cause you're a sky, 'cause you're a sky full of stars

I'm gonna give you my heart

'Cause you're a sky, 'cause you're a sky full of stars

'Cause you light up the path

Aang slides back from his usual perch on Appa's neck and into the saddle. "Appa's getting pretty tired," he tells the others. "We're going to have to land so he can get some sleep."

They had flown the entire night. Katara, Sokka, and Suki had slept, and she's sure Aang had also drifted off a bit. They had flown even into the morning hours, trying to put as much distance between them and the Fire Nation. As good as Appa is, even he's not tireless.

Sokka pulls out a map. "We should be about here," he says, pointing to the northwestern-most part of the Earth Kingdom.

Suki peers over his shoulder. "This entire area was taken over by the Fire Nation in the early days of the way," she says. "It's all Fire Nation colonies."

"How dangerous is it?" Katara asks. "Will we be recognized?"

Suki shakes her head. "I don't think so. Most of the inhabitants are still from the Earth Kingdom. There's just Fire Nation governors and some soldiers to keep order. As long as we keep our heads down and stay out of trouble we'll be okay."

"Aang might bring some unwanted attention," Sokka points out. "Aren't all the Airbenders in hiding?"

"Not hiding," Aang corrects. "They just isolated themselves to stay out of the war. We don't believe in fighting unless we absolutely have to."

Katara sees some flaws in that logic, but she respects Aang's culture and beliefs enough to not argue. "Azula knows that we have an Airbender with us. She's probably alerted the soldiers in the area to keep their eyes out. I don't know if they've revealed the truth about the Avatar returning yet, but we have to be careful. We'll get you a hat, Aang."

"Hey, there's a little city down here," Sokka points out. "We can land outside the city and find somewhere hidden for Appa to sleep. Then we can go into the city and gather some news."

"That sounds like a good idea," Katara says. "I'm supposed to help the world, but I don't even know what's going on."

"I've always wanted to explore an Earth Kingdom city," Aang says brightly. "This'll be fun!"

They find an abandoned plain not too far from the city and Appa touches down gently. As soon as he hits the ground his eyes close and the soft rumble of his snoring follows.

Aang strokes his side. "Poor guy," he says.

The others slide off the saddle and group together a few feet away from the sleeping bison.

"I know you're excited to go into town," Katara tells Aang, "but I think we need to wait a bit."

Aang pouts. "Why?"

She motions to him. "Look at your clothing. You're dressed like an Airbender. And look at mine. I'm still filthy from my time in the prison. I think Sokka and Suki should go into town first, pick us up some new clothes to help us fit in."

"I think that's a good idea," Suki agrees. "Sokka and I already have Earth Kingdom apparel. And trust me, Aang, you would really stick out."

"We'll be fast," Sokka promises. "No side quests or anything."

"Good. We'll see you later, then." Katara and Aang watch Sokka and Suki head off into the city. When they're out of sight, Aang grabs his staff.

"I'm going to go fly for a bit," he says.

Katara debates it for a minute. "Okay," she finally allows. "But don't go too far. And look if there's a lake or a river nearby."

"Will do." Aang mock-salutes before taking off.

Katara watches him fly overheard. She's the Avatar, the master of the four elements. Well, not yet - but one day she will be. She wonders what it will be like to fly like that, without fear of falling. She'd flown at the Air Temple, of course, but according to Aang, flying using airbending is completely different than just gliding on air currents. And she'd been terrified the entire time.

Katara has no idea how she's going to master the elements. On the ship with Zuko, when the hurricane hit, she's pretty sure she'd used some air- and fire- bending techniques along with waterbending, but that was when she was in the Avatar state and had completely given herself over to the spirits of the past Avatars.

She remembers how long it took her to learn to waterbend. Years of practice every day, and then finally one summer with the instructors at the North Pole. And even after Master Pakku declared her a master, Katara still found ways to improve her technique and experiment with different moves.

Maybe the other elements will go a little faster since she already knows the basis of bending, but she still can't imagine really being the master of all four elements in the near future. Maybe a few years from now, but hiding from the Fire Nation and constantly being on the run or in hiding for years sounds awful.

Katara suddenly isn't sure how she feels about this whole Avatar gig. Of course she wants to help people, but she's starting to feel the weight of her responsibility. How can anyone expect a sixteen year old girl to save the world? Especially when she doesn't even know where to start?

She's just thankful she has some good companions to watch her back for her.

She hears a dull thud behind her and turns to see Aang twirl his glider shut. "I found a little lake," he says. "It's about a ten minute walk from here."

She glances down at her grimy skin. She'd been dirty from the prison, and dealing with slime balls and all the mechanics at the air temple hadn't helped. It'll be nice to finally wash away some of her travels. And maybe she'll feel better overall after a good wash.

"Let's go," she says. "We'll be back in time for Sokka and Suki."

The door of the cell is opened abruptly. Both Zuko and Shang sit up in their bunks quickly. Two guards stand in the doorway.

"Which one of you is Zuko?" a guard asks gruffly.

Zuko stands. "I'm Zuko."

"Come with us."

Zuko follows the guards out. He has no idea where they're taking him or why, but there's no point in fighting it. His best guess is that Azula has come to brag.

A shock of fear suddenly runs through him. What if Azula has captured Katara? What if she's here to brag about that?

Zuko doesn't know how he's going to react if that's the case. Katara is smart and powerful; he trusts she would have gotten as far away as possible. But his sister is also cunning, and she has the advantage of an entire army and any resources she needs, not to mention being an extremely powerful Firebender.

His fears increase the longer he walks. The guards walk him through the cells, across the courtyard, and into the warden's house. And Zuko begins to dread every step.

He's not afraid of his sister, but he's afraid of what she's capable of doing to Katara. Azula is just as determined to gain their father's respect and love as he was, but unlike him, she doesn't have any restraint. Their mother was never able to reach her the way she reached him.

They take him past the fancy rooms and down a flight of stairs into the basement. Zuko is really starting to get confused now. His sister would never humble herself to enter a basement, no matter how clean of one.

"Where are you taking me?" he demands. The guards open a door in the basement and throw him into a room. It's small and completely empty, save for one wooden chair in the middle.

He turns back to the guards. "I didn't do anything wrong!" he insists, thinking that maybe the guards heard him and Shang and the others talking about an escape plan.

"Come on, Zuko. We all know that's a lie."

His mouth drops. The guards slam the door shut behind them and Mai steps forward out of the shadows. She's looking just as good as ever, but her face reveals a weariness he's not seen before.

Zuko sits down on the chair and avoids looking her in the eyes. He can't. Not after what he did to her. By helping Katara, he betrayed her. It seems that no matter what good he tries to do, someone he cares about always gets hurt.

"How did you know I was here?" he asks quietly.

"Azula told me what you did."

Her voice is oddly soft, the normal sarcastic edge completely gone. That's how Zuko knows he really hurt her.

"But...how?"

"The warden's my uncle, you idiot." She crosses her arms. "The truth is, I guess I don't know you. You were detached and depressed since you returned. I knew you weren't happy, but I didn't know why. I definitely didn't think it was because you loved someone else."

"Mai -"

"You could have at least told me to my face! Instead you pretended like nothing was wrong and you let me love you again and then you went behind my back and ripped out my heart!"

She paces across the room. Zuko doesn't know what to say. A part of him is relieved that it's not Azula here, but another part of him would rather face Azula than face Mai. With his sister, he knows what to say. To Mai? He fears that anything he says will only hurt her more.

"I wanted to tell you," he finally says. "I didn't want to hurt you."

"Aw, thanks, Zuko. Because this worked out so much better."

He sighs. "Mai, I never meant for this to happen."

"What? For me to find out? Would you have just kept up the lie?"

He shakes his head. "No. This whole situation. I wanted to be happy with you in the Fire Nation. I really did. And I do care about you. I never meant to develop feelings for Katara."

"Ah, Katara. The Avatar." Mai grimaces. "I fought her, you know. Tracked her down and fought her."

Zuko's head snaps up. If Mai found Katara, that means Azula also found her. And that means…

"She's weak," Mai finishes sharply. "We would've captured her if it wasn't for her little friends coming to rescue."

He lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. Katara is still free. And hopefully running farther and farther away at this very moment.

Mai stares at him for a long time. Then she does something that completely shocks him: she leans against the walls, slides down to the floor, and wraps her arms around her knees. He's never seen her act so vulnerable before. She always puts up a tough or apathetic front.

He remembers what she admitted on Ember Island about her parents giving her everything she wanted as long as she acted like the perfect daughter. "You want a teary confession about how hard my childhood was? Well, it wasn't," she had said. "I got everything I wanted. As long as I behaved."

Mai got everything she wanted - except for her parents' love. Just like his own father, her parents never actually cared about her happiness. They just cared that she put up the right public front. If Mai was hurt, she couldn't find consolation with her parents. They didn't have time or energy for her. And she certainly couldn't go to her best friend, Azula. Maybe that's why she and Zuko grew close as kids. In a world full of uncaring, cold families, they had each other.

And now they don't even have that.

"What happened to us, Zuko?" She props her head on her knees and looks up at him.

"I don't know," he says. It's a lie. He knows exactly what happened. His father banished him. He became angry and build indestructible walls to keep people away. Then Katara came. She didn't try to break down his walls; like the waves against the shore, she was patient and wore away gently at his walls until they dissolved. And then he betrayed her and nothing could fill the hole she carved out. Not power, not riches, not even an old love.

"I missed you," she admits. "I was so mad at you for being so stupid and getting banished. I had no one except Azula, and whenever I tried to talk about it she just told me you got what you deserved."

"I missed you, too."

In the early days of his banishment he often daydreamed about finding the Avatar and returning home victoriously, sweeping Mai off her feet and making all sorts of promises. He imagined telling her all the stories of his adventures while he was away. Those were the first six months. After that, his anger and bitterness burned away all the other feelings. He's surprised that there was anything left of his old self by the time he met Katara.

"I wrote a hundred letters that I couldn't send. There was so much I wanted to tell you." Mai angrily wipes at her eye. Then she stands. "I was so stupid. I knew the moment you came back that something was off."

Zuko feels so guilty. He should have told her from the beginning. She would have been upset, but she would have understood. Three years is a long time to be away from someone. Instead he tried to get back with her and he used her. And now she's in a lot more pain than she has to be in.

"I'm sorry," he says. The words sound so hollow, so empty, so meaningless. He really is sorry. He just doesn't know how to prove it to her.

"Whatever." She puts back on that apathetic face. "Azula, Ty Lee, and I have been instructed to hunt down the Avatar and bring her in. I won't be visiting again." She turns and sets her hand on the doorknob. "I hope you're happy with the choices you made."

Then she's gone. Zuko puts his head in his hands. He can't believe he made such a horrible mess of things.

"I'll race ya there," Aang says as soon as the lake is in sight. He glances over at Katara. She narrows her eyes at him.

"Then be ready to lose."

They take off, running down the hill and jumping over fallen branches. Aang falls slightly behind on purpose. He watches her run, the wind blowing back her hair and a gleeful smile on her face. She had been silent and brooding since he'd returned from his flight, so he's glad he was able to bring out a bit of her fun side.

She crashes into the water, not coming to a full stop until she's waist deep. She turns around and smiles.

"I thought Airbenders could run as fast as the wind," she teases.

Aang shrugs from where he's standing on the beach. "Guess it isn't my day," he says.

He watches as she dives under the surface of the water. When she comes back up, she pushes her hair out of her face and wipes the water out of her eyes. The layers of grime are already washing off. Aang realizes for the first time how beautiful she is.

She looks over at him and smiles. "Come in! The water's warm!"

An idea suddenly occurs to him. A smile grows on his face. This is gonna be great.

"I'll be right back!" he calls. Then he jogs back up the hill a bit. He gets a running start and then leaps into the air, unfurling his glider. He flies back over the lake. Katara is watching him from below. When he's almost right over top of her, he suddenly closes his glider and drops straight down, tucking his knees into his chest.

"Cannonball!" he cries. Katara shrieks as he hits the water not two feet in front of her.

She's laughing when he resurfaces. When she laughs, her eyes close and her nose wrinkles just a little bit. Aang decides he wants to make her laugh as often as he can.

"Cool trick, huh?" he asks.

She smiles slyly. "But not as cool as this."

She waterbends a sphere of water and drops it right over his head. He spits water out of his mouth.

"So we're playing like that, huh?" He slaps the water, using his airbending to blow up a wave of water her way. She stops it an inch in front of her face and sends it back towards him. He dissolves the wave with a blast of air.

Katara lays back in the water and floats at the surface. "I missed this," she admits.

"Missed what?"

"Being a kid again." She closes her eyes and a peaceful smile grows on her face. "I've been really stressed lately, with the whole Avatar thing and being in prison and dealing with the Fire Nation. I have to remind myself that I'm only a teenager and that, sometimes, I deserve to act like one."

"The monks always had a saying," Aang says. "'When working hard, one must always remember to play hard.' I think you've been working pretty hard."

Katara opens her eyes and puts herself into an upright position. "You know, Aang, I'm really glad you joined the team. And not just because you showed up when we had no more hope left."

Aang feels all warm inside from the compliment. "I'm really glad I joined, too," he says. "Someone needs to keep you guys from getting all brooding."

She laughs. "Exactly."

They hang out in the lake for a little longer before heading back to the clearing to wait for Sokka and Suki to return.

"Here you go," Sokka says, handing Katara and Aang a stack of fresh clothes. "I hope they're the right size."

Katara and Aang duck into the forest to change. When they come back, Katara is wearing a flowing shirt with loose, cotton pants. Aang has on a long tunic and pants. The edges of the pants are rolled up because they're a bit too long.

"These clothes are really comfy," Katara says. "I couldn't have picked them out better myself."

Suki grins. "I'm glad you like them. Sokka over here was trying to get you a dress."

Katara looks at him with a puzzled expression. "A dress, Sokka? Really?"

He puts his hands out in front of him in defense. "Hey! I thought girls liked that sort of thing." He doesn't see anything wrong with the outfit he had originally picked out.

"I can't fight in a dress," Katara explains. "Not unless the skirt is loose. But even then it's hard."

"Suki fights in a dress," Sokka points out.

"Yeah, and it took years of practice to master." The warrior rolls her eyes. "It's okay, Sokka. This is why I came along."

Aang holds up one too-long sleeve. "Uhh, guys?"

Sokka scratches the back of his head. "Yeah, about that…"

"That was the smallest tunic size we could find other than for little children," Suki explains. "Sorry, Aang."

"Did you run into any trouble in the city?" Katara asks. "Is it safe for us to go in?"

"Everyone in the city was too busy preparing to be bothered by strangers," Sokka says.

"Preparing for what?"

Sokka reaches into his bag and pulls out a scroll. He unwinds it to reveal a poster. Katara reads the characters out loud.

"Annual New Year's Fest." She frowns. "I guess I've lost track of time. Is tomorrow the first day of the new year?"

"Apparently," Sokka says. He points to a drawing on the poster. "Year of the Dragon."

"We take celebrating the New Year pretty seriously here in the Earth Kingdom," Suki says. "Even Fire Nation occupation can't dull our festivities."

"What kind of things do you do to celebrate?" Aang asks. "Air Nomads don't really have lots of festivals. I've never been to one."

Suki grins. "There are always lots of parties. The entire village or city will come out to celebrate. Vendors line the streets, there will be music playing and people dancing, fireworks - we don't hold back."

Aang's eyes get wider. He turns to Katara. "Can we go?"

Katara looks over at Suki. "When does it start?"

"Right before sundown. And it lasts late into the night."

Sokka watches Katara try to decide. He hopes she says yes. When they were in the city, Suki's eyes had never looked brighter than when looking at all the festival preparations. He can tell she misses her island and her people and her warriors. After all she's done to help them, the least they can do is give her back a little piece of home.

"Maybe we can stay for a little while," Katara says. "We could all use a little celebration."

"Yay!" Aang jumps in the air, creates an air sphere, and rides around Appa's sleeping body.

"But not too long," she says. "We have to travel during the night. We're still basically in the Fire Nation."

The walk to the city is about twenty minutes. They can start smelling all the food from the vendors when they're still five minutes away.

Sokka walks up to the guards by the gate confidently. Katara is a bit more cautious, her eyes darting around quickly and suspiciously.

"Don't worry," he says. "It's the same guards as before. They'll give us no trouble."

They group walks up, Sokka and Suki at the front. The guard on the left scans the group.

"Back again?" he asks Sokka.

"Yessir," he says.

"Brought some of your friends along, too, I see," the second guard notes.

"The New Year's Fest was too irresistible," Sokka says breezily.

"You're clear to go. Just don't cause any trouble."

"No trouble," Sokka swears, putting his hand over his heart.

They walk into the city, which is a hub of activity. Men and women and children alike run around the streets, carrying banners and lights and fireworks and all sorts of other things. Vendors line the streets, frantically dealing out food and drinks and other festival goods to eager crowds.

Suki has a huge smile on her face. "It's almost exactly like home," she says.

Every once in a while they pass a pair of Fire Nation guards, but the men pay them no attention. There's just too much going on for a small group of teenagers to be noticed.

They use a bit of their remaining money to buy dinner from a vendor. As they walk around the city and eat, a group of small children run by with dragon masks on. The sun sets, casting orange light over everything. The civilians start lighting torches on the corners. The sidewalks are lined with little lanterns made from carved squash and containing a small candle.

In the main center of the city, a group of musicians play some traditional folk songs.

Suki grabs Sokka's hands. "Come and dance," she says. "It's tradition."

"I, uh, don't know how to dance," he admits.

"It's easy. I'll teach you."

She pulls him away from Katara and Aang, who wink at him. He feels a bit nervous, which is stupid. It's just Suki. He's crossed the world with her. They've been imprisoned together, undercover together, and they've fought at each others' sides. He shouldn't be nervous.

She leads him to an open area and shows him the steps. "One- two- three- one-two-three- one-two-three," she counts, stepping in beat to the music. "Come on. You try now."

He attempts it, tripping a bit. She laughs.

"See? I'm horrible."

"No! You've just learned. Come on, let's do it together."

They do it a couple more times with Suki counting. Sokka watches her feet closely. After a few measures, they fall into the rhythm. Suki stops counting. After a couple more measures, she reaches out and lifts his chin up, holding his eyes with her own.

"Trust yourself," she says. "Just feel it."

He does. He lets Suki lead and just listens to the music. After a minute, she spins out and back in without missing a step. She grins when Sokka is holding her again.

"See? You got it."

They stare into each other's eyes as they continue to dance. She has really pretty eyes that change color depending on the light. Right now, in the light of the lanterns, her eyes are reflecting a warm amber color. They shine brightly.

Sokka was nervous to dance with Suki because he isn't exactly sure what they are. When they were in the cave outside of Omashu, they'd kissed. But since then, they've been so busy trying to rescue Katara that they haven't really talked about it. And since breaking out Katara, they haven't had any privacy. Sokka had thought about bringing it up when they were in the city earlier together, but he was just enjoying the moment too much.

"Uh, Suki?"

"Yeah?"

"I, um…"

He just stares at her, suddenly blanking. Her lips form a small smile.

"I really like you."

She smirks. "I like you, too. I'm really glad you washed up on my shore."

"When I first saw you, I thought you were the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen. I thought I had died and gone to heaven."

Suki laughs and rests her head on his chest. "Wasn't that a rude awakening then?"

Sokka thinks of the first time she kicked his butt and embarrassed him in front of all the Kyoshi warriors. He had been a bit of a jerk.

"I deserved it," he admits.

"Yeah, you did." She lifts her head. "But you've made up for it. Now, are you gonna kiss me or not?"

He leans down and kisses her. Around them, people are still dancing to the music. Torches and lanterns are flickering. And above them, fireworks split apart the sky.

After Suki and Sokka disappear in the throng of dancers, Katara and Aang are left alone. Aang watches her carefully. She seems happy to be here, and she seems to be enjoying it, but he can sense a bit of distance from her, like her mind is preoccupied by something else.

"Do you want to dance?" Aang asks. "I don't know how to do Earth Kingdom dances, but I'm really good at the ones from my people."

She shrugs. "Sure. I like dancing."

Air Nomad dances require a lot of the moves used in bending. Katara may be a Waterbender, but she picks up on the moves quickly. Soon she's twirling around Aang and laughing. They get some strange looks from onlookers but Aang doesn't care. He's having fun. And he's glad Katara is also having fun.

After a little while, Katara finally steps back and waves him off. She's breathing hard and her hair is frizzy and wild but her eyes are bright.

"That was fun," she says. "But I'm exhausted. I'm still not entirely back in shape from my time in prison."

Aang had already forgotten that she'd been in prison. Not really forgotten, but it's not on the forefront of his mind when he thinks of her. She doesn't act like someone who had been in prison for weeks. He can only think of how she has tremendous strength to bounce back from such a horrible experience so quickly.

She sits on the side of the street next to a couple lanterns. He takes a seat next to her. The night air is cool but not cold. She looks up at the stars a bit longingly.

"Do you know the constellations?" he asks her.

"Yeah. See those two right there? It's a mother bear and her baby bear. In my tribe, we have a story about them. It's long, but basically the mother bear is searching for her cub forever."

Aang looks at them. "That's pretty sad," he says.

"Yeah."

Aang turns and is surprised to see tears glittering in her eyes. He doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know her well enough yet to know what's troubling her and how to help.

"The moral of the story is that sometimes you're not destined to be with the people you love," she says, her voice cracking a bit. She takes a deep breath and rubs her eyes with her hands. "Agh. Sorry. We're supposed to be having a good time."

Aang watches her sadly. Obviously she isn't crying about the story of the constellations. There's something else going on. He wishes he knew so that he could say something helpful.

"Look," he says, pointing. "They're starting the fireworks. I've never seen fireworks before! Have you?"

She smiles sadly. "One time."

The sky explodes into brilliant colors. Aang is worried about Katara, but he can't help but watch the beautiful sight in the sky above him. His jaw drops. The Air Nomads were against unnecessary things, and fireworks are a creation of the Fire Nation, so he'd never had the chance to see them before. He'd heard stories of course, and descriptions, but nothing compares to seeing them in person.

As the show winds down, Aang looks over at Katara. The lights in the sky reveal a trail of tears running down her cheek and dripping off her chin.

Aang really wishes he knew how to make her feel better - truly better, not just for a few minutes.