Chapter 12: Firebending Practice

"Did you ever find out why Combustion Man was attacking everyone even after you told him not to?" Rinzen asked as she passed Zuko a bowl of stew that night at dinner, settling in beside him and leaning against Appa's front leg as the bison grumbled contentedly, nibbling on a bale of hay in front of him. The rest of the group seemed keen on ignoring Zuko as much as possible, even though Rinzen could tell that they were listening in despite their own conversations.

"I told you, his name's not Combustion Man," Zuko sighed wearily. "But yes, I did. He told me right before he turned on me."

"Well, the name's grown on me now," Rinzen admitted with a grin, elbowing his side lightly. "So what happened?"

Zuko pursed his lips, dropping his gaze to the bowl in his hands. "Azula happened."

Everyone fell silent abruptly, their attention turning fully on Zuko as the pretense of ignoring him disappeared.

"Azula?" Aang echoed, frowning across at Zuko from Rinzen's other side. "What's she got to do with Combustion Man?"

"I think she must've suspected you were alive, and she wanted to clean up her own mess before our father found out she'd lied to him. She'd already covered for herself by telling him I was the one who took you down in Ba Sing Se, but I know she likes to be thorough. We both hired him for different reasons, but he probably took her contract more seriously." Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose, grimacing. "I shouldn't've trusted him."

Hesitating for a moment, Rinzen nudged her shoulder gently against his. "Hey, at least you didn't put the actual hit on Aang's head."

"See, you're making progress being a good guy already," Aang agreed cheerfully. Zuko glanced up at him briefly, his expression a mix of disbelief and confusion at Aang's optimism, before shaking his head wryly and dropping his gaze to the bowl in his hands, his eyebrows furrowed pensively.

As the others slowly returned to their original conversation topics, Aang distracting Katara from burning a hole into the side of Zuko's head with the intensity of her glare by starting a conversation with her, Rinzen shuffled a little closer to Zuko, nudging his side lightly to get his attention.

"Don't beat yourself up over it," she said quietly and he glanced back up at her, frowning.

"But it's my fault."

"Well, there are plenty of other things that are actually your fault, so don't add it to the pile," she answered jokingly and he rolled his eyes mildly. She added, "The way I see it, even if you hadn't hired him, Azula would've. So nothing would've changed."

He huffed slightly. "I guess." Still, he cracked a tiny smile, leaning in slightly to press his shoulder against hers. "Thanks."

It was still slightly overwhelming to have him so close to her, his warmth against her side tempting her to curl up into it, but she managed a smile back at him, knocking her shoulder back against his.

"Anytime."

Rinzen had hoped the nightmares would end once she was back with Aang and the others, but she awoke in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, her heart feeling like it would leap out of her chest and the lump in her throat nearly choking her as she scrambled off the small cot in one of the rooms inside the temple and hurried out the door. She did her best to be as quiet as possible, knowing that everyone else was sleeping inside the temple just like her - the night had gotten too chilly to spend outside despite it being the middle of summer - but still practically ran down the hall to the room Aang had chosen for the night and peeked in, clutching the door frame as she did her best to slow her panicked breathing down.

Aang was fast asleep, one arm curled around Momo as the lemur slept beside him and his other hand tucked underneath his head. The bison-shaped whistle he had bought to call Appa with months ago lay beside his pillow and his blanket was tossed haphazardly over him. Rinzen watched his chest rise and fall slowly in his sleep and found some comfort in it, knowing that he was safe and sound. She crept into the room, straightening out the blanket and covering him properly with it as she tucked the ends around his shoulders carefully to make sure she didn't wake him. She knew he had to be up at sunrise the next morning to begin his first day of firebending lessons with Zuko. After a moment's hesitation, she brushed her hand over the top of his head fondly, unable to help a small smile at how peaceful her little brother looked.

He stirred briefly at her touch. "Rin?" he mumbled. It was a testament to how trusting he was, even after everything she knew he had been through, that he didn't even bother opening his eyes to see if it was really her.

"It's okay, nothing's wrong," she reassured him softly. "Go back to sleep."

To her relief, he didn't ask any questions, only humming slightly in acknowledgment and dozing off again. She slipped out of the room as quietly as she could, nearly yelping in surprise as she nearly collided directly with Zuko's chest.

"What're you doing up?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I could ask you the same thing, you nearly gave me a heart attack," she hissed back, barely remembering to keep her voice down as her heart slowly returned to a normal pace again.

"I heard you moving around outside." He tilted his head to the end of the hall in a silent question and she nodded, following him outside.

The night air was still somewhat chilly, but Appa clearly didn't mind with all his fur, his flat tail curled around him and his legs folded underneath him as he slept deeply by the dying embers of the fire they had built earlier in the evening. Zuko took a seat in front of the small pile of kindling, pushing a small flicker of fire into it to build it back up, and Rinzen dropped down beside him, focusing on how the heat washed over her skin as little sparks leapt from the wood onto the stone floor.

"So are you going to tell me why you were checking on Aang in the middle of the night?" Zuko prompted after a few moments of silence, leaning back against Appa's large furry side, and Rinzen shrugged one shoulder as she did the same.

"No reason." Zuko leveled her with a look that meant he clearly didn't believe her and she dropped her gaze away from him, not liking how vulnerable it made her feel. "I just needed to make sure he was okay. That's all."

"Right. And the nightmares you've been having aren't part of the reason at all." She glanced up at him sharply to find him looking somewhat sheepish. "Sora said you had them every night."

Rinzen rolled her eyes. "Remind me never to trust Sora with anything I don't want you to know."

Zuko huffed a soft chuckle. "If it makes you feel better, neither of us know what exactly your nightmares were about. Although I can take a guess."

"Keep guessing all you want, because I'm not saying anything," she answered stubbornly and he held his hand out. After a moment, she gave in and dropped her hand into his, palm up, and he laced their fingers together slowly. She tried not to enjoy how nice it felt to have his warm palm cradle the back of her hand even as she marveled at how naturally their fingers curled around each other.

"Okay, well, let's see." He made a show of thinking for a moment before deciding, "You were failing a math test." The guess was so far off from what she had expected him to say that she couldn't stop a laugh from bubbling out. He smiled, clearly pleased that his words had had their intended effect as he played with her fingers absently. "You showed up on the first day of school and realized you forgot pants." She shook her head, another giggle escaping before she could stop it. "You got lost on the way to school."

"I'm getting the impression that all of your nightmares are school-related," she pointed out once she got her laughter under control.

"I never really liked school growing up, okay?" He wrinkled his nose and she found herself smiling despite herself at how endearing the expression was. Finally, his expression sobered as he dropped his gaze to their intertwined hands. "Ba Sing Se?" he guessed finally. "In the catacombs?"

She swallowed back the sudden lump in her throat, relieved that his eyes weren't on her. "Yeah." His expression crumpled in guilt and she turned her hand over in his, squeezing his fingers gently. "It's okay. I'm okay. I just had to make sure he was."

"It's my fault it even happened in the first place." He kept his eyes fixed on their hands, his eyebrows furrowing slightly. "You should never have to have nightmares about your brother dying."

"Hey." She reached out impulsively, nudging his chin up gently, and he reluctantly lifted his head to meet her eyes. "That's not your fault. You didn't take the shot, Azula did."

"I still helped," he pointed out dryly.

"Well, you're making up for it now." She reached up to brush her thumb over the crease between his eyebrows and it automatically smoothed out as he blinked at her, surprised. "There, no more worry," she said, satisfied.

"I mean, there's still a little worry," he deadpanned, but smiled fondly all the same. Her throat tightened at the sight of his smile and she barely resisted the urge to lean in and kiss him, dropping her gaze away from him. To her surprise, he lifted their hands to press his lips to her knuckles softly and she was left breathless, like she had been punched in the stomach. How was she supposed to stick to her resolve of wanting to remain friends when he did things like that? "I'm sorry," he said quietly as he lowered their hands again after a moment and her heart finally resumed beating. "I don't think I'll ever say it enough to make it up to you, but I am, Rin. For everything."

"I know you are," she managed to say once she regained control of her voice, squeezing his hand lightly. "We'll be okay."

"Will we?" he asked, a hint of amusement in his voice as he cracked a small, wry smile. "Because I don't think we will if Katara has anything to say about it."

Rinzen rolled her eyes. "She'll come around." She shuffled closer before she could stop herself, nestling against his side, and he readily released her hand to wrap his arm around her shoulders instead. "Just give it time."

He huffed a quiet laugh and she felt him press his cheek against the top of her head. "If you say so," he murmured, a note of fondness in his voice that she only remembered hearing once before from him, that morning before she had left for the Eastern Air Temple. She shoved aside the pang of melancholy that came with the memory, curling in closer to his warmth as she watched the fire in front of them flicker and dance, throwing little spots of light around them.

She hadn't meant to fall asleep against Zuko, but realized that she had ended up doing just that when she was awoken by the first rays of sunlight peeking over the eastern horizon and hitting her directly in the eyes. She grimaced and turned her face into the crook of Zuko's neck as he shifted to sit up, pausing when he realized it would be impossible without dislodging her.

"Rin, you need to let me get up," he pointed out, but she could hear the smile in his voice as he brushed his fingers through her hair. She leaned into his warm touch drowsily. "I need to get Aang and start teaching him firebending."

"Five more minutes," she muttered back, still half-asleep, and felt his shoulders tremble slightly with a suppressed chuckle.

"Okay, five more minutes," he conceded as he leaned back again. She hummed quietly, content to have won the fight as she dozed off again. She only returned to consciousness when she heard soft voices nearby.

"You're good for each other." She recognized Aang's voice, quiet and wondering. "She seems happy."

"You think?" She could hear the frown in Zuko's voice as he shifted upright slightly, his fingers carding through Rinzen's hair absently. "Seems like all I've done is hurt her."

"Trust me, I've seen her smile more often when she's talking about you than the whole time we were growing up together." There was a small note of bitterness she had never heard before in Aang's voice as he spoke. "She felt more like a stranger than a sister sometimes back then. And when she met you, it was like you gave her a reason to be her own person." He hesitated. "I don't really know what's going on between you two. But you make her happy. So just...be good to her, okay? She deserves it."

Zuko was silent for a moment before answering solemnly, "I know she does." Rinzen felt him tighten his hold on her almost protectively. "I won't hurt her again. I promise."

"Good, because you and I both know it's a bad idea to make me mad," Aang joked and Rinzen took the opportunity to pretend to wake up, shifting slightly to sit upright. Both Aang and Zuko fell silent, clearly trying to pretend as if they hadn't been talking about her, and she opened her eyes to find them watching her warily, trying to determine if she had overheard them.

"Was I keeping you two from starting your training?" she asked around a yawn and they both relaxed.

"It's still early enough," Zuko reassured her as he pulled back to climb to his feet, Aang following his lead. "You were only out for a few extra minutes." He nodded to the stairs leading up to an open platform above them. "We should train in open areas so the fire isn't enclosed. Besides, I don't think Appa's that fond of fire." Rinzen followed his gaze behind her where Appa had stirred and begun inching away from the dying pile of embers in front of them.

"He's not," Aang confirmed, frowning worriedly as he watched Appa shuffle away from the fire. "He went through a lot while he was separated from us. We still don't know the extent of it, but he's been pretty scared of any fire aimed at him ever since." Rinzen reached back to stroke Appa's massive side as the bison grumbled slightly, but settled down.

"I'll take care of him," she reassured Aang. "You two go ahead and start your lesson, I'll get started on breakfast for everyone in the meantime." Aang still looked uneasy, but nodded as he followed Zuko up to the open platform. Rinzen could still hear them talking as she climbed to her feet, stretching a little before stoking the embers back into a flame once Appa was a safe distance away and retrieving water to start boiling over the fire.

"Now I know you're nervous, but remember, firebending in and of itself is not something to fear," Zuko was saying to Aang when she turned her attention back to them.

"Not something to fear," Aang echoed skeptically, "Right."

"But if you don't respect it..." Zuko added warningly, pausing for dramatic effect before shouting suddenly, "It'll chew you up and spit you out like an angry komodo rhino!"

Aang yelped in surprise, jumping back, and Rinzen bit back a smile as she poured out some rice from their meager supplies - they needed to start foraging for fruits and nuts soon to replenish their food - to begin cooking it into porridge. She knew that Aang was used to that kind of teaching style from Toph and only needed to get used to hearing it from Zuko, too.

"Now show me what you've got," Zuko said calmly, as if he hadn't just snapped at Aang. "Any amount of fire you can make."

Rinzen paused in her work to look up, curious to see Aang firebending for the first time that she could see, and Aang took a deep breath before pushing his palm forward. A tiny wisp of smoke escaped, but no real fire. Aang dropped his stance, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly as he flushed with embarrassment.

"Maybe I need a little more instruction. Perhaps a demonstration?" he suggested tentatively.

"Good idea," Zuko agreed. "Stand back a little." He ushered Aang to the side and focused for a moment, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before punching forward hard. To Rinzen's surprise, only a small flame flickered out of his closed fist. Even Zuko looked confused, attempting to conjure another blast of fire and only managing the same tiny flame. Aang applauded politely all the same, his eyebrows furrowing in concern at Zuko's growing frustration with each failed attempt. "What was that?" Zuko demanded angrily at last, giving up on trying to conjure the fire blast as he studied his hands as if hoping to find the problem in his palms. "That was the worst firebending I've ever seen!"

"I thought it was nice," Aang offered. "Maybe it's the altitude?"

"Maybe," Zuko agreed, but didn't sound convinced.

"Or maybe it's just too early in the day?" Rinzen called up to them and they both jumped, clearly having forgotten she was listening in.

"But firebending's supposed to be strongest at dawn," Zuko complained as he and Aang began to make their way back down.

"Well, it won't hurt to try again when the sun's higher in the sky," Rinzen reasoned as the others began to slowly make their way out of the temple, Katara scowling briefly at Zuko before silently taking over Rinzen's breakfast preparation.

However, even after Rinzen convinced Zuko and Aang to eat breakfast and the three of them retreated to a lower platform to resume the firebending lesson, Zuko was still unable to conjure a proper blast of fire, throwing punch after punch, but only yielding the smallest of flames each time.

"That last one felt kind of hot," Aang said as he sat up on the broken pillar where he and Rinzen were watching Zuko attempt to firebend.

Zuko glowered back at him. "Don't patronize me, you know what it's supposed to look like!"

"Sorry, Sifu Hotman," Aang said apologetically for the fourth time that morning and Zuko groaned, dropping his head into his hands.

"And stop calling me that! No one says 'hotman' anymore!"

Rinzen frowned worriedly as she sat up beside Aang. "Do you think something's actually wrong with your firebending?" she pointed out.

"I don't know!" Zuko glanced up at her again, frustrated as he ran his hands agitatedly through his hair. "This has never happened to me before!"

"Hey, jerks, mind if I watch you two jerks do your jerk-bending?" Sokka asked cheerfully as he strolled up, munching on an apple and oblivious to the tension in front of him.

"Get out of here!" Zuko snapped back, pointing in the direction Sokka had just come from.

"Jeez, relax, I was only kidding," Sokka snickered even as he obediently turned to leave. "Ahh, jerk-bending, I still got it."

Rinzen shook her head wearily as she got to her feet, crossing the distance between herself and Zuko and closing her hands over his. His fingers were still hot from the recent blasts of fire he had thrown, but cooled down rapidly the moment her own fingers curled around them. "Hey. Breathe." He grudgingly took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he dropped his gaze to their intertwined hands. "Whatever's wrong, we'll figure it out. Don't work yourself up."

"I've never not been able to firebend before," he said quietly, no longer sounding angry, but worried as he looked back up at her. "If we don't figure out what's happening, then Aang's going to need a new firebending teacher, and fast." They both turned to look at Aang, who was glancing between them warily. Belatedly realizing how close she was to Zuko, Rinzen released his hands quickly and took a few steps back.

"We'll figure it out," Aang reassured Zuko, managing a smile, but Rinzen could still see the worry on both of their faces.

"Listen, everyone, I've got some bad news," Zuko said at dinner that night, approaching the fire everyone was gathered around. "I've lost my stuff."

There was an awkward pause before Toph piped up, "Don't look at me, I didn't touch your stuff."

"Not like that," Zuko reassured her quickly. "It's my firebending. It's gone."

Another moment passed before Katara suddenly let out a harsh laugh. "Sorry," she said sarcastically when Zuko leveled her with a frown. "I was just thinking how nice it would've been if you lost your firebending all those times you were hunting us." From beside Katara, Rinzen elbowed her, but Katara didn't even flinch, only rolling her eyes back at her.

"In any case, it's not actually gone, just weaker for some reason," Zuko clarified.

"Well, maybe you're just not as good as you think you are," Katara retorted, taking a bite of food, and Toph snickered.

"Ouch."

"Maybe it's because you changed sides," Rinzen said suddenly as an idea occurred to her.

"Don't be ridiculous," Katara dismissed, but Zuko looked as if he was considering it.

"You think it's because my drive is different now?"

Aang nodded thoughtfully in agreement from Rinzen's other side. "Maybe you just don't have enough anger to fuel your bending anymore."

"So that's easy, we just make Zuko angry," Sokka pointed out with a cheeky grin. "Sounds simple enough." He reached over with a nearby stick, managing to prod Zuko in the shoulder several times before Zuko swatted the stick out of Sokka's hand irritably.

"Look, even if you're right, I don't want to rely on hate and anger anymore," he said as he glanced back at Rinzen. "There has to be another way."

"Well, then, you're gonna have to learn to draw your firebending from a different source," Toph answered easily instead. "I recommend the original one."

"What's that, a volcano?" Sokka said dryly.

"Maybe he could jump into one," Katara added with a smirk and Rinzen dug her elbow a little harder into Katara's side.

"Well, I don't know about firebending, but the original earthbenders were badgermoles," Toph explained. "One day, when I was little, I ran away and hid in a cave. That's where I met them. They were blind, just like me, so we understood each other." She smiled a little at the memory. "They taught me to use earthbending not just as a martial art, but as an extension of my senses. For them, the original earthbenders, it wasn't just about fighting. It was their way of interacting with the world."

"That's amazing," Aang said reverently, smiling as he added, "Rin and I learned from the monks, but the original airbenders were the sky bison. We haven't really changed our ways since we first learned from them." He tilted his head back to Appa, who was chewing on a bale of hay nearby. "Maybe you could give us another lesson sometime, buddy." Appa grumbled in response and Rinzen cracked a smile despite herself.

"Well, this doesn't help me. The original firebenders were the dragons, and they're extinct," Zuko said, to her surprise.

"Extinct?" she echoed, bewildered. "But Avatar Roku had a dragon as his spirit guide, and plenty of dragons were around when Aang and I were growing up." She glanced at Aang to find a stunned expression on his face as well. "Didn't you and Kuzon keep talking about wanting to ride a dragon?"

He grimaced as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, even though a small smile came to his face at the mention of Kuzon, his old friend from the Fire Nation. "We may or may not have tried once, but couldn't do it. But we did save her egg from poachers, so she didn't eat us."

"Eat you?" Rinzen echoed, frowning back at him disapprovingly. "Where was I during all this?"

"Probably back home being a spoilsport like always," he answered cheerfully and Sokka snorted with amusement.

"Rude," Rinzen muttered, offended.

"In any case, the dragons aren't around anymore," Zuko said sharply, drawing their attention back to him, before his eyebrows furrowed in thought suddenly. "But maybe there's another way. The first people to learn from the dragons were the ancient Sun Warriors."

"Sun Warriors?" Aang echoed, glancing at Rinzen, who shook her head back at him.

"Never heard of them before."

"You wouldn't have, they died off thousands of years ago," Zuko reassured her before turning to Aang. "But their civilization isn't far from the Western Air Temple. Maybe poking around their ruins might teach us something."

"The monks did always say that sometimes the shadows of the past can be felt by the present," Aang agreed, chewing his lip thoughtfully.

"You can't be serious," Katara said suddenly and Rinzen glanced at her to find her looking between Aang and Zuko skeptically. "You two are going alone to some ancient ruins on the off-chance you find something that'll teach you to firebend? No concrete plan if this doesn't work?"

Aang frowned back at her. "What other choice do we have, Katara? Zuko needs to get his firebending back, and I need to start learning somehow. It's best to get as close to the original source as we can."

Katara huffed a little, but had no argument, so she got up to focus on cleaning up after dinner. Rinzen began to help her as the others dispersed, Zuko and Aang breaking off to start discussing their imminent voyage.

"I can't believe you're okay with this," Katara muttered as Rinzen helped her collect everyone's bowls.

"What?" Rinzen blinked at her, confused.

"Them going off alone. You really trust Aang in Zuko's hands?" Katara demanded, frowning back at her.

Rinzen bit her lip, contemplating the question, before exhaling quietly. "I know you're worried about Aang, but hovering over him won't help. Believe me, I tried that all our lives, it never worked. He'd just get into trouble anyway." She stacked the bowls as high as she could and Katara bent a stream of water from the nearby fountain to begin rinsing them out. "I do trust Zuko not to hurt Aang, but even if I didn't, I know that Aang can take care of himself. Anyway, I think it'll be good for them to get used to working together without us in the way. It's only for a day or two."

Katara pursed her lips, but sighed heavily after a moment. "I don't agree, but I guess I'm the only one here who thinks so," she said reluctantly.

"You kind of are," Rinzen agreed with a wry smile and Katara rolled her eyes, but cracked a smile despite herself as they finished cleaning up. Aang and Zuko approached them again, causing the smile on Katara's face to instantly vanish as she glared at Zuko before turning sharply on her heel and following the others inside the temple.

Aang sighed a little in frustration as he watched Katara go. "She'll come around," he reassured Zuko, who was also watching Katara's retreating back with a forlorn expression on his face. "I'll go talk her down." He gave Rinzen a brief smile before hurrying after Katara.

Zuko reached out for Rinzen's hand and she let him take it, lacing their fingers together. "Aang and I are taking Appa in the morning to the Sun Warrior ruins," he explained. "We shouldn't take more than a day or two to come back."

"Sounds good." She squeezed his hand lightly. "You'd better get some rest, then, if you're heading out early."

"Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about." A faint pink flush rose in his cheeks. "You, uh, didn't have any nightmares last night, when we were asleep next to each other. So I had an idea that, um, maybe company might help with the nightmares. Entirely platonic company. Only if you wanted, though."

Rinzen blinked back at him, confused. "You could've just asked me to sleep with you."

He turned even more red. "Well, I could've, but that implies an entirely different thing."

Belatedly, Rinzen realized what she had said, feeling heat rise in her own face as she dropped her gaze to the ground, mortified. "Oh."

Zuko huffed a soft laugh before nudging her chin up to face him again. "Just sleeping," he clarified. "Is that okay?" She nearly agreed, but caught herself, biting her lip hard, and Zuko noticed her hesitation, frowning slightly. "You don't have to if you don't want to," he reassured her.

"The problem is that I do want to," she admitted. "It just makes things more complicated."

He was silent for a moment before nodding. "Okay. I understand." He squeezed her hand lightly again and released it. "If you change your mind, you know where I'll be?"

"Yeah." She already missed the warmth of his hand around hers as he gave her a small smile before retreating into the temple. Appa's low grumble beside her distracted her as he shuffled slightly, lifting his head and tilting it curiously at Rinzen. "Oh, don't you start," she scolded mildly as she scratched under the sky bison's chin gently. She could swear sometimes that Appa understood everything around him, especially with the amused look he was giving her. She rubbed his nose fondly before ushering him away from the dimming fire so that he could sleep peacefully and then heading inside the temple.

She paused at the door to her small room, bracing her hand on the doorway as she looked in. It looked much like the room she had slept in growing up, one bare cot with a long, narrow window peering out into the courtyard of the temple. At one time, she imagined that she could've heard the serious discussions of older monks down in the courtyard as she prepared to go to bed in this room, and the giggling of younger children down the hall as they tried to avoid the nighttime curfew just a little longer, Aang's voice among them as he encouraged them all to stay up late and play together. Now, however, everything was silent and far lonelier than she had expected it to feel. She found herself turning away from the small, empty room before she could stop herself, heading down the hall and slipping into the last room on the right.

Zuko was still awake, propped up on one elbow as he studied a map and traced out a route to the Sun Warrior ruins, and looked up when she entered the room, a smile spreading across his face. It still took her by surprise to see how sincere it was. "Hi. You changed your mind?"

"Shut up," she grumbled, not in the mood to be teased about changing her mind even as she took a seat on the edge of the bed.

"I wasn't gonna say anything," he said, rolling his eyes fondly, but moved over obediently as he set the map aside. She nestled in against his side, pressing her head against the crook of his neck. Even with his firebending practically gone, he was so warm that she found herself curling in against him instinctively. "You gonna be okay while we're gone?" The question dragged her out of the cozy, sleepy state she was in and she nodded against his shoulder.

"I'll be fine." She had a feeling the next couple of days would be rough while she worried about Aang and Zuko being gone, but she knew just how important it was for Zuko to get his firebending back and for Aang to start his training.

"We'll try to be back as soon as we can." She felt Zuko's fingers brush through her hair.

"I know. I'll be okay, really." She tilted her head back just enough to catch the worried expression on his face, managing a small smile back. He studied her for a few more moments before relaxing a little, nodding as he pulled her in close again.

"Okay. As long as you're sure."

Zuko and Aang left early the next morning with Appa, almost as soon as the sun rose, and Katara seemed to warm up to Rinzen almost the instant Zuko was gone. It felt somewhat like old times again as they practiced bending against each other and explored the temple with Sokka and Toph. It had the additional bonus of keeping Rinzen distracted from worrying about Aang and Zuko while they were gone, although it didn't help when nighttime rolled around and there was still no sign that they were returning.

Momo seemed to sense Rinzen's anxiety and curled up with her that night to sleep, his long tail looping around her wrist as he nestled into the crook of her elbow. She rubbed his ears fondly when he looked up at her and chirruped sadly, his large green eyes wide and miserable.

"I know, buddy, I miss them, too," she told him honestly and he nibbled on her fingertips gently in response before closing his eyes and dozing off. She stroked his fur slowly, trying to stave off the inevitable, but reluctantly found herself drifting off as well.

Momo's company didn't stop a nightmare, though, and she started awake in the early hours of morning, her clothes sticking to her skin with cold sweat. The sun had barely risen over the horizon and a gray mist hung over the mountain ridges surrounding the temple. Rinzen slid out of bed, carefully untangling Momo's tail from her hand before stroking his ears when he stirred and whined sleepily at the disruption. He settled back down to sleep and Rinzen made her way out to the open hall of the temple.

To her surprise, Katara was already outside, bending water from the fountain around her in small, shimmering rivulets. She looked up when she saw Rinzen approaching, frowning slightly in concern.

"What're you doing up?"

"Couldn't sleep," Rinzen answered truthfully, sitting on the edge of the fountain to watch her practice waterbending. "What about you?"

Katara grimaced. "Same." She froze one of the rivulets of water before sending it out like a dagger towards the edge of the cliff and then thawing it just in time to bring the fluid stream back to her. The water curled around her slim wrist like a little snake. "I can't stop worrying about Aang."

"Me, too," Rinzen agreed, not wanting to mention Zuko and make Katara upset with her again. "But he'll be okay. They shouldn't be gone more than a day or two, at most."

"I know. Doesn't stop me from worrying." Katara let the water trickle down her wrist back to the pool at the base of the fountain, her lips pressed together as she debated saying something before finally exhaling quietly. "He really cares about you, doesn't he?"

"I mean, I should hope Aang does," Rinzen deadpanned.

"Not Aang, I meant Zuko." Katara looked back up at her, her expression weary even as her lips curved upwards in a small, tired smile.

Rinzen felt her cheeks redden as she dropped her gaze away from Katara. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Really?" Katara said dryly. "Because from what I can see, he's head over heels for you."

Rinzen shook her head as she fiddled with a loose thread on her sleeve, not wanting to meet Katara's eyes. "We're just friends."

Katara made a quiet humming noise, clearly unconvinced. "Well, with the way he looks at you when you're not looking, I wouldn't've guessed that."

"How does he look at me?" Rinzen asked, bewildered as she looked up at Katara, who smiled wryly back at her.

"Like you're his whole world." Rinzen didn't answer, unsure how to respond, and Katara sighed. "Look, I'll be the first to admit that I don't want Zuko here. But if him being here makes you happy, and he helps Aang, then I'll try and be civil to him."

"I'd appreciate that," Rinzen agreed. "I know you've got your reasons not to trust him, but he's really trying to do better. He deserves that chance."

"Well, we'll see," Katara said reluctantly, climbing to her feet as Rinzen followed her lead. "You want to get some practice in before the others get up?"

"Sure." As Katara drew more water from the fountain and Rinzen settled into a defensive stance, she did her best to ignore the thought of Zuko looking at her like she was his whole world.

It was almost overwhelmingly relieving to hear Appa land in the temple courtyard later that afternoon, but Rinzen couldn't get up to greet Aang and Zuko. Katara had her sitting on the temple floor, sitting on the edge of the fountain behind her and braiding her hair back to keep it from falling in her face whenever she practiced her airbending.

"Hey, guys," Aang said cheerfully as he and Zuko made their way into the open hall, stopping just outside Rinzen's field of view.

"Hey," Rinzen answered. "I'd turn to look at you two, but Katara's already smacked me for moving my head three times now." Katara tugged on a lock of her hair a little harder than necessary and Rinzen winced. "How were the ruins?"

"Really enlightening," Zuko deadpanned as he stepped into view, a wry smile on his face. "The good news is, we can both firebend now."

"Well, that's good." Rinzen frowned as she felt Katara's fingers moving to weave something into her hair. "Wait, what's she doing to my hair?" she demanded, glancing at Aang for help.

Aang peered over Rinzen's head before an odd expression came over his face, as if he was fighting laughter. "Don't worry about it," he said in a tone that Rinzen took to mean that she should definitely worry about it.

"I'm a little worried about it," she pointed out.

"No, really, don't worry about it," Zuko agreed when he noticed what Katara was doing, his tone just a little too innocent as he exchanged an amused look with Aang.

"I don't like that you two are ganging up on me," Rinzen complained. "Go back to being enemies."

Katara huffed as she tugged Rinzen's hair gently again. "Stop whining, Rin, I'm just making you look prettier."

"Prettier?" Rinzen reached back to feel her braided hair, ignoring Katara attempting to swat her hand away, and felt something soft brush against her fingertips. She tugged the foreign object out to find a tiny flower in her palm. "You put flowers in my hair?!" she said, horrified as she tugged her hair out of Katara's grasp and did her best to remove as many of the flowers she could find. There were far more than she had expected, which meant Katara had clearly been braiding flowers into her hair for some time before getting caught.

"You've got a flower crown," Aang snickered, giving up on stifling his laughter, and Rinzen leveled him with a mild glare.

"Traitors, all of you."

Yeah, I know, this chapter is almost entirely fluff. Just pure, unadulterated fluff. I don't know why this just took over the majority of the chapter, but I still had fun writing it ^^'.

I hope you enjoyed it!