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 "No Light, No Light" by Florence and the Machine
Rating: General Audiences. Warning: some scenes contain dark themes and minor violence
Chapter 4: The Oasis
No light, no light
In your bright blue eyes
I never knew daylight could be so violent
A revelation in the light of day
You can't choose what stays and what fades away
And I'd do anything to make you stay
The bitter cold seeps into his bones, numbing his fingers and toes. He trudges against the sharp, icy wind and through the deep snow. Behind him, Appa groans, the loud noise only carrying slightly over the blizzard winds.
Zuko tugs his coat more tightly around him. He's out of his element again, and he's never been so cold in his entire life. He can't even start a fire. Between the unending snowfall and his frozen fingers, he can't even summon up a spark.
He feels vulnerable in a way he's never felt before. He's not sure he'll make it out of here alive. But he has to keep going - he has to reach the spirit oasis and find the hidden Waterbenders.
If they even exist, a dark part of his mind whispers. They might be all gone. Then no one can help Katara and you'll die out here, alone, in a cold wasteland.
No. He can't give in to thoughts like that. What would Katara say if she was conscious? Something about the universe wanting balance and helping them out, or even something as simple as holding onto hope and pushing through the hardship.
Suddenly panicked, Zuko realizes he can't remember the sound of her voice. He can still remember her eyes, though; vivid blue and full of excitement and wisdom and compassion.
And he still remembers how they looked the last time he saw them - panicked and fearful, before fading away and closing.
Zuko can't remember what his own mother looked like. There are still a few paintings of her, like the one at the house on Ember Island, but the artist could only capture a still, dead image of her. There's so much more to a person than their physical features. He can't remember her eyes - they were golden, he knows, like his, but he can't remember the exact vibrancy and emotions inside them. He can't remember the lines at the corner of her eyes as she squinted, whether or not she had dimples when she smiled. He can't remember the shape of her lips as she pressed them into tight lines in concern.
Was that part of what the witch took when he visited Her last time? Did She take more than just his favorite memory of his mother?
Your mother did vicious, treasonous things that night, his father had said in the bunker. Zuko doesn't have any memories in which his mother did horrible things. He remembers moments, but he can't see her in them. They're like facts without images. He knows she used to race him along the beach at Ember Island. He knows she used to feed the turtle ducks in the royal palace courtyard with him as a child. He knows she tucked him into bed at night - but he can't picture any of those memories. The images in his brain are gone.
His mother may still be alive, but she's well-hidden. Even if Ozai is defeated and the war ends, Zuko will be too busy fixing the Fire Nation and ensuring peace to search for her. She's gone. He has to accept that.
He's lost a lot in his life so far. He's not losing Katara, too.
The blizzard dissipates by the next day and Zuko and Appa march on through the old abandoned city. The frozen ruins are almost completely overtaken by the snow and ice; only parts of tall towers or walls still protrude out of the snow. Even the occasion mast of an iron Fire Nation ship reaches out to the sky, frozen forever in the heat of battle.
They reach the spirit oasis when the sun is at its peak in the sky. The climb down is a bit rough, but Zuko is re-energized by the sight of the small pool. While the rest of the North Pole is destroyed, the spirit oasis remains unscathed. Zuko can't help but wonder if it stayed that way during the battle or if it was rebuilt by survivors.
He kneels at the edge of the small pool. Two fish swim around, one white and one dark. The spirits Tui and La, the moon and the ocean. Zuko leans down and scoops a bit of water in his hand. Instead of freezing his fingers even more, he feels the coldness melt away and natural color return.
Zuko still has the vial of spirit water that Sokka had given him for Katara. Zuko doesn't think she needs it anymore - not when the entire pool is here.
He's not sure what to do next. He's brought her here, where there's a chance of Water Tribe survivors hiding. But where? And how does he find them? How does he get them to trust him?
Now he's at a blank. He has no idea what to do.
"Is anyone here?" he yells, cupping his hands around his mouth. His voice echoes in the stillness. "Is there anyone out there?"
Nothing. He takes a deep breath and tries again, yelling as he walks around, sifting through snow piles with the toe of his boots and knocking against the cliff walls surrounding them.
He spends hours doing this. Appa and Momo help, bellowing and chittering respectively. Zuko yells about the Avatar and the last Waterbender and needing help to restore balance to the universe. He yells about the war with the Fire Nation and how she's the last hope. He yells about everything he can think of.
Nothing. Silence.
Night falls. Zuko climbs up Appa, checking on Katara. Despite all the blankets, her skin is cold. Her pulse is so faint it's hardly there. She's fading quickly now. Zuko won't leave her. Even after she's gone, he'll wait here. He's not leaving until she's healed - and if she's never healed, then he'll fade away with her. He won't give up hope.
But the voice in his mind whispers that it's hopeless. No one can hear him. No one is coming to help them.
There's no one here.
There's no one left.
Just nothingness.
A half dozen spear tips are pointed straight at Zuko when he groggily blinks his eyes open. His head immediately clears and he pushes himself into a more upright-position, his back still against Appa's side. The bison growls, and Zuko glances over to see more weapons pointed at his head.
"Why are you here?" a man hidden underneath a fur hood demands.
Zuko breathes in the chill air deeply, the coldness sharpening his mind. "I'm looking for surviving Waterbenders," he says, deciding to be truthful. "I need a healer."
"We'd never help someone from the Fire Nation," another voice, this one feminine, hisses. "I say we kill him now."
Zuko throws up his hands. "This isn't for the Fire Nation!"
"Don't lie!" A spear pokes at his shoulder, rougher than necessary. "We know exactly who you are, Prince Zuko."
He feels a spike of fear through his veins at the mention of his name. He had hoped he would introduce Katara as the Avatar and a fellow Waterbender before they discovered his true identity. Now they won't believe anything he says.
He has to try anyway.
"I am Prince Zuko. But I am not working in the interest of the Fire Nation - not the Fire Nation that my father leads, at least."
"Why?"
They don't believe him. He has to be smarter about what he says before he loses this small suspension of disbelief.
"My father is a cruel warlord. He banished me years ago because I refused to fight. Since then, I found the Avatar and joined her mission to defeat my father and end the war. She was fatally injured when my father struck her with lightning, and the only thing that has the power to save her is water from the spirit oasis. But we have no Waterbender to use it to heal her. If she dies, it will be years before the next Avatar is old enough to face my father - and I fear by then it will be too late."
There's a pause in the group for a minute as they digest this information. Then the woman says, "Where is the Avatar, then? Show her to us!"
He can hear in her tone that she still doesn't believe him. It's not fair, but he understands. His name and title may give Fire Nation soldiers pause, but it will only fuel distrust and anger in everyone else.
Zuko climbs up on Appa's back and untucks Katara from the sleeping bag and blankets. Luckily she's stayed nice and warm bundled up from the outside elements and against Appa and Momo. She's still wearing her Water Tribe furs from the invasion battle. Zuko is grateful for the tell-tale mark of her nationality right now.
He gently carries her down and holds her in his arms as two of the fur-covered figures step closer, craning their necks to look at her.
"Her name is Katara. She and her brother survived the attacks on their tribe a hundred years ago by fleeing and hiding in the ice, but unfortunately they stayed sleeping for all those years."
One of the figures lifts a hand and touches the sleeve of her fur tunic. "She's from the Southern Tribes," the man says.
"The outfit is, at least," the woman shoots back, still sounding cynical. "That's a convenient story."
Zuko feels frustration build up. Why don't they believe him? The evidence is right in front of their eyes! Besides, haven't they heard the tales of the Avatar's return? Everyone has, except for those living under a rock.
"Look, are there even any Waterbenders among your group?" he asks, his frustration bleeding into his words. "She'll die in a few days if you do nothing to help her."
"Even if we could, why should we?" the woman demands. "She abandoned us for one hundred years."
"Because she's the only one who can defeat the Fire Lord and bring balance to the universe!" Zuko would have thrown up his hands if he wasn't still holding Katara. "I'm not making this story up to reveal your secrets and sell you out to the Fire Nation. Look, I'm travelling with a winged lemur and a flying bison who I borrowed from an Airbender friend. I have in my arms the last Waterbender and the Avatar. And if you look through those saddlebags, you'll find a passport from Toph Beifong, an Earthbender friend of ours. I'm not working for the Fire Nation!"
"Check the bags," the man orders. Two of the other figures start rifling through the bags tied around Appa's saddle. Momo chitters irately at them and flies over to Zuko's shoulder.
"He probably stole the animals and the passport," the woman tells the man, saying it just loud enough that Zuko can hear clearly. "And the poor girl is no doubt kidnapped. It's an obvious ploy to infiltrate us."
"The scouts haven't reported any Fire Nation sightings within our borders," the man replies. "And those animals seem tame and friendly for being kidnapped."
"So he's trained them," the woman scoffs. "It means nothing."
"There's no evidence to support that theory."
"There's no evidence to the contrary!"
Zuko is about to open his mouth and give them a piece of his mind when one of the other men yells, "Sir! I've found something!"
"Bring it over here!"
The second man returns, clutching something small in his gloved fist. When he opens it up, revealing it to the pair in front of Zuko, the two gasp.
"It can't be," the woman gasps. "The Fire Lord has infiltrated our most sacred organization!"
"No," the man breathes. "This is proof. He's telling the truth."
A pause. "You're absolutely sure?" the woman asks.
"Yes. We keep in close contact, even despite my hiding. No one can infiltrate our ranks."
"Then his quest must be sincere," the woman grudgingly admits.
Zuko leans forward slightly to see what the man holds. What could be such a certain truth that even the most skeptical of people could change their minds within moments?
On the man's palm is a single Pai Sho chip with a White Lotus painted on it.
"Akkun! Skai! Follow Liana!"
Zuko is herded in the middle of the others as they lead him through caverns carved in ice. They'd blindfolded him during the entrance, so he's not sure how to access these caves, but now he can see the clear crystal passages in all their glory.
He doesn't stop to admire the craftsmanship or the beauty, though. His eyes are fixed on Katara, who's being carried away on a stretcher. He tries to follow the two men carrying her and the three individuals who follow in their wake, but he's blocked by the man who had questioned him outside.
"They're taking her to be healed," the man says. "They need space to do their work. You will follow me."
Zuko does so, but grudgingly. He doesn't like the idea of letting Katara out of his sight. But Momo had been perched on the stretcher, so at least she's not completely alone.
The man leads him to a room with mats on the ground. Zuko immediately collapses - it's like all the fight has drained out of him. He has completed his mission and now he can finally rest.
Except there is no rest for him. His mind is running a thousand miles an hour. He's been working on a non-stop autopilot with the sole objective of finding a way to heal Katara. Now that she's in the hands of the healers, everything from the past few days crashes down on him.
The truth about his mother's disappearance. His father's words and actions. Katara being injured and almost dying.
He hasn't let himself even think about it other than to motivate himself to get her into safe hands. Now he lets it hit him the way it hit the others - the suffering, the grief, the sadness. The overwhelming worry that she might not make it.
He sees that moment every time he closes his eyes - she turns, her eyes are wide, and then sudden shock and pain exploding on her face before she fell, twitching on the ground. There was smoke and a huge black scorch along her back and she was unmoving and hasn't moved since -
Zuko wipes at the moisture underneath his eyes. It's all his fault. He had the chance to kill his father and end the war. He could have prevented it from happening. But he didn't, and now Katara is paying for his mistake. What did he say his reasoning was? That it wasn't his destiny? Who cares! It doesn't matter who ends the war. Zuko was a fool for letting his father get away with just a scare.
"You really do care about her, don't you?" the man asks. Zuko looks up, surprised. He thought the man had left.
"She's the Avatar," he replies quietly.
"But it's more than that." The man spreads his hands out, palms flipped up in a peaceful gesture. "We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Yudaro. I guess you could call me the leader around here."
"Zuko. But you already know that."
"I know about Prince Zuko, the heir to the Fire Nation throne. I don't know who the young man sitting in front of me is."
"I'm not the heir to the throne anymore," Zuko replies bitterly. "I'm an outcast who is rejected by his own people - by his own family."
"You're the companion of the Avatar. That is something important." Yudaro holds up the Pai Sho tile, the one that had saved him and Katara. "And you have powerful connections."
"I don't know what that means," Zuko admits. "It's probably just a spare from my uncle."
"Your uncle. General Iroh, correct?" Yudaro's eyes sparkle.
"Yeah." At the thought of his uncle, Zuko's mood manages to worsen even more. His poor uncle, who had taught him how to redirect lightning - a trick which had saved his life. His uncle, who had only wanted a simple life and threw it all away to save Zuko from his sister. His uncle, who is sitting in a Fire Nation or Ba Sing Se prison somewhere.
Yudaro reaches across the space between them and returns the White Lotus tile. "Although it seems meaningless to you, it has deep connections. I would keep it close. You never know when you'll need it."
Zuko pockets the tile. "So what is this place?"
"We are a small community of Northern Water Tribe people, descended from those who survived the attacks a hundred years ago. There are only thirty of us, and of those, only three Waterbenders. Liana, the woman who was with me outside, is our main healer. Traditionally in our culture, the female Waterbenders are the healers and the males are the fighters, but in order to preserve our knowledge, Liana has had to pass down the arts of healing to the other two Waterbenders, both of whom are men."
How strange to have gendered forms of bending. In the Fire Nation, men and women alike are soldiers and fighters. Azula is a prime example. Zuko can't imagine her being contained to a docile use of her firebending.
"Katara mentioned that she spent a summer training at the North Pole since the Southern Water Tribe benders were scarce. But she can fight as well as heal."
Yudaro nods. "There have been tales of the rogue female Waterbender from the south who put one of our masters in his place when he refused to train her in certain forms. I never realized it was her, but it makes sense."
"She doesn't like being treated unfairly."
Yudaro observes him for a long moment. "You're very close with her, aren't you?"
"Yeah."
"Then there truly is hope for the future." He leans back against the wall. "We had heard rumors that the Avatar had returned, but we don't venture far or often from our hiding place. We didn't think much of the whispers - such things have come and gone throughout the years. Why would this be any different? But now we have reports about rebellions - successful and not - and even an invasion on the Fire Nation itself. But my partner, Liana, and I were not moved; after all, even if the Avatar did defeat the Fire Lord, how could he or she change the entire mindset of a nation? Cutting off the head would only produce another conflict as to who would take that new position. There are many Fire Nation nobles and generals that would love to be in control, not to mention the royal family. One war would end only for a new one to begin."
Zuko nods in acknowledgement. That is exactly what would happen. Even if his father was captured or killed, Azula would just step up. And even if she was out of the tapestry for some reason, Zuko could easily name a dozen generals whose loyal soldiers would help them fight and vie for the position. The Fire Nation would be weaker, but the lust for power would not stop. And the people - the people who, for well over a hundred years have been fed war propaganda, would not step down, either. Whatever new ruler stepped up would have to keep them happy. They would never be happy without conquest or war - not when they've grown up being taught that it's their birthright.
"The only way to truly bring peace to the land was to have someone peaceful on the throne. A ruler who was willing to withdraw from his colonies and settle back on the original Fire Nation territories and work to undue the decades of brainwashing on his people. No one had hope of that. I certainly didn't - at least, until I met you."
"I just want to do what's right for my people. This war isn't that. It's a personal quest for power and my citizens are the ones being hurt the most by it."
"You will be a good leader one day, young Zuko."
Zuko glances at the door. "Only if Katara survives."
"What happened to her? What could have caused such a grave injury?"
"My father." The words are bitter in his mouth. "He struck her with lightning. In the back, like a coward."
Yudaro presses his lips together. "She has already faced him? How can we be sure that she will succeed the next time?"
"She wasn't ready. We had a plan, but she went off-script and wasn't prepared. We tried to push the timeline too soon - she's only learned basic firebending, and hasn't even started with airbending. We won't make the same mistake twice."
"Do you really think she has what it takes to defeat the Fire Lord? She's so young."
"She's strong and resilient and brave. Once she masters all four elements and connects with the Avatar State, she'll be unstoppable."
There is no doubt in Zuko's voice. He knows her. He knows that she'll take this defeat hard, but that she won't give up hope - no, she'll just work harder to ensure that it doesn't happen ever again.
"I hope you're right." Yudaro stands. "Get some rest. We will take care of your bison and alert you if there's any change in the Avatar's condition. The healers are using spirit water from oasis and doing the best they can, but she's in bad shape. It could be a while before we know if she's going to make it."
Zuko nods. He wasn't expecting anything less. "Just let me know the moment there's a change in her condition."
"Of course."
Zuko curls up and, despite all the things going through his mind, manages to fall into a deep, dreamless sleep.
"Should I eat these berries or these nuts?" Sokka holds up both options and peers at them carefully in the flickering light of the fire.
"Just pick one already," Toph groans. "You've been staring at them for an hour."
"It's the last of our supplies. Whatever I don't eat tonight, I'll have to eat tomorrow. So I have to think ahead to what I'll feel like eating tomorrow."
"If you weren't against fortune tellers, you could always hike back to the village and ask Aunt Wu," Suki replies dryly, lounging back on her arms.
"He doesn't need Aunt Wu. He can make the decision for himself." Aang is sitting with his legs crossed over themselves, his eyes closed. Meditating, like he's been doing since they left the village.
"You guys have all gone crazy." Toph crosses her arms. "I never thought I'd say this, but I can't wait until Katara gets back."
"If she were here, she'd force Sokka to pick one so he'd stop whining." Suki pushes herself up. "Guess I'll have to make the decision for him." She reaches over and snatches the handful of berries out of his hand.
"Hey!" Sokka protests as she puts them in her mouth. "You're supposed to be nice! You're my girlfriend, not my mom."
"Then start acting old enough to have a girlfriend instead of a mom." Suki rolls her eyes.
Sokka opens his mouth to protest, but Toph sits up suddenly, clamping her hand over his mouth.
"Quiet! I can hear something! Someone's coming."
Aang's eyes pop open. Everyone freezes. Then, Toph summons up a stone wall just as something bright and hot flies their way, exploding the wall. Aang jumps up and grabs his staff while Suki and Sokka cover their heads with their hands.
"He's over there! Behind the trees!"
Aang twirls his staff and blasts a shot of wind right as another fiery projectile shoots their way. The missile is extinguished but the impact still sends Aang tumbling backwards. Suki jumps up and brandishes her fan, leaping into the treeline after Toph. Sokka follows, slightly slower but with no less enthusiasm.
Toph raises up platforms, trying to disturb their assailant's footing. Despite his large frame, he's surprisingly agile.
"What is going on?" Toph calls out. "Is he some special type of Firebender?"
Suki dodges away from another projectile. "Not like one I've ever seen before. But I can't get a good look at his face."
The tree branches above them part and scatter and Aang bursts through. He lands right in front of the figure, spinning around and delivering a kick of sharp air. The man stumbles back. Another burst of fire shoots out, hitting the trunk of a tree. Sokka barely swerves out of the way.
"Did you all see that?" he demands. "Please tell me someone else saw that."
"It looked like it...came from his forehead." Suki sprints ahead, cutting around to the side of him.
A cry comes out from the darkness. Toph. She's so tough that the others often forget how young she is - but it's more than evident in her voice when she's in physical pain.
"Where is she?" Aang calls out, landing lightly between the trees.
Sokka slows down. "And where did Suki go?"
Not too far away, another flash flares and the sound of Suki's battle cry catch their attention. The crack of trees breaking and falling fill the air. Sokka and Aang run toward the chaos.
Suki has her legs wrapped around the assailant's figure, the sharp edge of her fan at his neck. He's thrashing around, trying to dislodge her, but she's holding on tightly.
The beams of fire exploding from his forehead are shooting out randomly, causing trees to crash down haphazardly. Aang and Sokka join in the fray, keeping an eye out on the crashing trees.
"It looks like the fire is coming from that third eye tattoo," Sokka says, ducking a branch. "He must have found a way to focus it in concentrated bursts."
"So how do we stop him?" Aang asks. Before Sokka can answer, Suki cries out as she's thrown through the air. She hits the ground hard and rolls until she hits a downed tree trunk. The man turns toward her and the spark on his forehead flashes.
"No!" Sokka yells. He lounges forward, not sure what to do but needing to do something. Aang shoots another blast of air at the assassin, but the fire is already shooting out.
Right before the projectile hits Suki, a wall of rock emerges as a shield, this time thick enough to suffer the hit without shattering. Toph steps out of the darkness behind Suki, her sightless eyes narrowed and her arm bleeding. A make-shift bandage is tied around it, the material torn off from the bottom of her tunic.
Sokka kneels beside Suki and helps her sit up. She has a few small scratches on her face and arms, more dazed than injured.
Aang and Toph battle the man, the skirmish leading them slowly away. Sokka stands up, trading his club for his boomerang.
"I have an idea. Stay here."
He knows she's been knocked out of it because she just nods and holds her head with a hand. He sprints through the mess of trees toward the others.
Sokka catches the glimpse of a spark and he sees his opportunity. "Duck!" he shouts at Aang and Toph. They do it without question as he flicks his wrist. His boomerang hits the third eye tattoo perfectly.
He's not sure what will happen next, but he hits the ground just in case. A shockwave blasts through the air, and then there's silence. Sokka feels stunned, and it's a few minutes before he slowly pulls himself into a sitting position. Toph is still laying in the dirt, and Aang is groaning and holding his head.
All the trees in the area are gone. Completely leveled. The combustion man is gone, but the slight burning smell in the air solves that mystery. Sokka's ears begin to ring, but he still can't hear anything else.
It's a few hours before the group meets up again. With the exception of Suki, who was far enough from the blast radius to avoid hearing issues, the others are still clutching their ringing ears.
Suki had helped Toph re-wrap her scalded arm before cleaning up her face. Then they'd just sat around, too stunned and exhausted to do much more.
"Do you think Azula sent him?" Aang finally asks, breaking through the silence.
"He was definitely from the Fire Nation." Sokka lays back. "We're getting close to the colonies again."
"I wish we'd had a fortune teller to warn us about him," Toph gripes.
"Let's get some rest and figure out our next steps when we're in a little better shape," Suki suggests.
No one argues with her, and within minutes they're all passed out.
Liana stands in the doorway of the make-shift infirmary, her arms crossed over her chest. The other two Waterbenders, Skai and Akkun, have already left, completely exhausted from the healing efforts. Although there are bags under her eyes, Liana is still standing cautious watch over Katara.
She gives Zuko a stern look-over before moving to the side. He enters the room slowly, his eyes never straying from Katara. Her eyes are still closed, but her skin has a healthy pallor now. When he touches her hand, her skin has regained its warmth.
"She should have died instantaneously," Liana remarks, still standing a few feet away.
"She'll never go down without a fight." Zuko takes hold of her hand, brushing his thumb gently over her knuckles. He won't feel the weight off his chest until he can see her bright blue eyes again.
"What happened out there?"
Zuko doesn't look up. "My father happened."
"The wound is in her back. That shouldn't happen in a fight."
He clenches his jaw. "She tried to face him alone. She wasn't ready. Next time will be different."
"How can you believe that?"
He finally raises his eyes to meet hers. "Because she's not going in alone next time. I'm tired of running from my destiny. I'm going to take my throne and my country back."
"You really mean that?"
Zuko's head whips down. Katara is smiling weakly up at him. That relieved smile finally breaks across his face.
"Hey," he says softly. "How are you feeling?"
"Not terrible, actually." Her smile suddenly falters. "I failed," she whispers. She blinks, and her face scrunches up a little, and those bright blue eyes that Zuko loves are dull and glistening.
He reaches a hand up to her face. "We all did. We all failed, Katara."
"But I'm the Avatar. I can't fail. Everyone...everyone was there for me. And I've failed them all."
"They were there because they believe in you. You were the one who inspired them. You gave them hope, and as long as you continue to fight, you're still giving them hope."
She blinks again, and a tear slides down her temple. "I've been holding on to hope for so long. But when the real battles happen, I end up running away. I thought that if I finally fought…"
"You'll have a chance to fight again. And this time we'll win."
He shifts to her side and helps her upright, his hand supporting her back. He's careful to not press against any of the bandaged areas.
Katara looks around the room chiseled in the ice and frowns. "Zuko, where are we?"
"The North Pole." Liana steps forward into Katara's line of sight. "He brought you here and we healed you using water from the spirit oasis."
"Healed me? But how? Unless…"
Liana nods. "Yes. I'm a Waterbender. There are two others. Our parents and grandparents survived the attacks and have stayed in hiding here. We are preserving the culture and heritage of our people until the war is over and it's safe for us to rebuild on the surface."
Katara presses a hand to her head. She shakes her head slowly.
"Are you okay?" Zuko asks.
"I just need some space." She swings her legs over the table and slides off, stumbling a bit until she secures her footing. "I just need to think."
Zuko watches her stagger out of the room, pushing past Liana in her haste to leave. The relief he'd felt when she woke up has nearly disappeared.
Physically, she's back; but Zuko is afraid that emotionally and mentally, she's far from the person he knew.