Chapter 13: On the Run
Training Aang in firebending became much easier once Zuko regained his own firebending. Rinzen also noticed a marked difference in how powerful Zuko's firebending had become after returning from the Sun Warrior ruins. Both he and Aang had been abnormally quiet about what they had seen in the ruins, but they had still shown everyone the firebending form they had learned from murals and statues that had, in Aang's words, "led us to the original source of firebending." It looked more like a dance than anything, and Zuko had to grudgingly admit that the firebending form was indeed called "the Dancing Dragon," much to Sokka's delight.
In the middle of the night a few days after Zuko and Aang returned from the Sun Warrior ruins, Zuko disappeared again with Sokka and the war balloon, leaving only a note behind.
"'Need meat, gone fishing. Back in a few days. Sokka and Zuko,'" Katara read, frowning at the small piece of parchment. Aang yawned as he lay back down, attempting to go back to sleep since Zuko wasn't there to force him to train at sunrise for once. "Oh, there's more." Katara turned the note over. "'Aang, practice your firebending while I'm gone. Do twenty sets of fire fists and ten hot squats every time you hear a badger-frog croak. Zuko.'"
Just as she folded the note to put it away, a badger-frog croaked loudly nearby and Aang groaned as he forced himself upright, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Nobody else has homework," he grumbled as he climbed to his feet and began his sets of fire fists and hot squats.
For the rest of the day, Rinzen took a little joy from imitating a badger-frog's croak in between real badger-frogs nearby, which left Aang practicing almost constantly. It took him until the late afternoon before he realized that he was being tricked. Katara burst into laughter at the look of indignation on Aang's face when he turned around to find Rinzen mid-croak.
"I can't feel my legs because of you!" he complained.
"Hey, I'm just preparing you to fight the Fire Lord," Rinzen answered innocently, but it didn't stop Aang from getting back at her by stealing her glider for the rest of the day.
Zuko and Sokka returned two nights later in a giant Fire Nation airship.
"What happened to the war balloon?" Rinzen asked, gaping at the metal monstrosity in the temple courtyard.
"It kind of got destroyed?" Zuko offered sheepishly.
"Must've been a crazy fishing trip," Aang said dryly. He still hadn't quite forgiven Rinzen for keeping him training constantly while Zuko had been gone, but he had at least regained feeling in his legs.
"Did you at least get any good meat?" Toph asked eagerly.
"The best meat of all," Sokka confirmed, grinning. "The meat of friendship and fatherhood." Rinzen frowned, confused, but then Suki and Hakoda stepped out of the airship and Katara sucked in a sharp breath.
"Dad?" She stumbled forward into her father's arms as Hakoda hugged her tightly, drawing Sokka into the embrace as well.
Rinzen sidled over to Zuko, who was watching the reunion with a small smile. "Okay, where did you two actually go?" she demanded.
He flushed slightly. "We may or may not have snuck into a high-security Fire Nation prison to break Sokka's father and girlfriend out."
"Why didn't you just say so?" she pointed out.
He shrugged helplessly. "We didn't want you all to worry."
She rolled her eyes, but found herself smiling all the same as she watched Sokka and Katara hug their father once more before letting the others greet him and Suki. "Well, at least I managed to perfect my badger-frog impression while you two were gone."
"Shut up, Rin," Aang retorted irritably from several feet away where he was shaking Hakoda's hand and Zuko bit back a laugh.
"Thanks for keeping him busy, anyway." He wrapped his arm loosely around Rinzen's shoulders and she found herself leaning into the embrace before she could stop herself.
The night was warm enough that everyone slept outside for once, curled together in little huddles of sleeping bags. Aang was already fast asleep on top of Appa's head while everyone else slept around the dying campfire, leaving Zuko and Rinzen to settle in against Appa's side for the night.
"So did anything else happen at the prison?" she asked quietly to keep from waking the others up, curling into Zuko's side comfortably. "Because it looks to me like something's still on your mind."
He bit his lip. "Azula was there when we made our escape. And so were Mai and Ty Lee. They turned on Azula to help us get away and she had them imprisoned."
"They turned on her?" Rinzen echoed, surprised.
"Yeah. I'd never seen her so angry before." Zuko grimaced slightly at the memory. "Mai and Ty Lee were probably the only people in the world she actually cared about. With them gone, I don't know what she'll do."
Rinzen frowned, studying his face for a moment before the emotion on it finally registered. "Wait, are you feeling guilty? How is any of this your fault?"
Zuko glanced back up at her, startled by her incredulous tone. "If I hadn't been there, then Mai and Ty Lee wouldn't have turned on Azula."
"But isn't it a good thing that they did?" she pointed out.
"Yes. I mean, no. I don't know." He scrubbed a hand over his face wearily. "It's good that she doesn't have them on her side, but...now she's got no one left who actually cares about her. Definitely not our father, anyway."
"And you feel sorry for her?" she guessed and he nodded, smiling wryly.
"That sounds stupid, doesn't it? Feeling sorry for Azula, of all people."
"She's your sister," Rinzen reminded him. "Even if she's crazy, I can't blame you for caring about her."
He relaxed a little at that, a more sincere smile spreading across his face. "Thanks." He slid an arm around her shoulders and she leaned into the embrace, nestling her head against his shoulder. "I don't think anybody else would've reacted the same way if I told them that I was feeling sorry for Azula."
She shrugged one shoulder, doing her best not to dislodge his arm accidentally. "I was just being honest."
"Yeah, well, I still appreciate it." She looked up slightly to find him smiling back down at her, his golden eyes soft and fond, and she felt her heart stutter in her chest as she realized that this was what Katara had meant when she had said Zuko looked at Rinzen like she was his whole world. In that moment, it felt like the rest of the world fell silent somehow and vanished into the background until it was just the two of them left.
Overwhelmed suddenly, she tore her eyes away from his, and the world rushed back in around them. Only a second or two had passed, but it felt like much longer.
"Rin?" The concern in Zuko's voice stung just as badly as looking at him did.
"We should probably get some sleep, it's late," she said quietly, burying her face into his shoulder to keep from meeting his eyes.
He didn't respond for a moment, but then sighed quietly and placed his head on top of hers. "Yeah, okay." He squeezed her shoulders gently. "'Night."
"Goodnight." She did her best to stamp down the conflicting emotions threatening to swallow her whole as she shut her eyes and tried to fall asleep quickly.
Normally, Zuko's company helped her sleep more soundly, but this time, she slept fitfully, doing her best not to toss and turn so that she didn't alert him. She felt like she had barely slept more than an hour when the temple shuddered with the impact of an explosion. Zuko jolted awake beside her, rolling over to shield her instinctively.
"I'm fine," she reassured him quickly, nudging him back as she opened her eyes to find Aang throwing a blast of air at a second incoming bomb so that it exploded in mid-air. "What's going on?" she called up to him as he slid off Appa's back and grabbed his glider, running to the edge of the cliff to investigate.
"We're under attack! Fire Nation airships!" he called back and she climbed to her feet, grabbing her own glider and joining him at the edge of the cliff. She peered over the edge to find several airships rising out of the mists below, large and ominous.
"We should go." She ushered Aang back to where everyone else was wide awake now, clambering to their feet and hurrying to pack up their camp. Several more bombs flew into the walls of the temple and rattled the foundations. Part of the ceiling began to crumble and Zuko grabbed Katara out of the way before the debris could hit her.
"What're you doing?" she snapped at him.
"Making sure you didn't get crushed?" He blinked back at her, bewildered by the hostility.
"Well, I'm not crushed, so get off me!" She shoved him off her and hurried to the wall of the temple, where Toph was working on boring a hole so that they could escape through the tunnel.
"I'll take that as a thank you," Zuko deadpanned after Katara's retreating back.
Rinzen did her best to usher Appa towards the tunnel Toph was creating, but he registered what she was leading him towards and tried to jerk away, whining nervously.
"It's not gonna work," Aang sighed, rubbing Appa's side gently to soothe him. "Appa hates tunnels."
"Well, it's not like we have much of a choice," Rinzen pointed out worriedly. "We can't get past them."
Zuko glanced over his shoulder, his eyes narrowed at the airships, which were stopped in front of the temple and hovering perfectly still in the air. "In any case, I think this is a family visit." He hesitated before glancing at Rinzen. "Keep trying to get Appa through, I'll hold them off." Before she could grab his hand to stop him, he broke into a run towards the airships.
"Zuko!" she called after him, but he ignored her, dodging a bomb that exploded beside him on the floor of the temple as he headed for the cliff's edge and stopped in his tracks.
"What're you doing here?!" he shouted and Rinzen could see Azula leaning over the edge of the railing of the airship nearest the temple.
"Isn't it obvious?" she called back, a sneer in her voice. "I'm about to celebrate becoming an only child!" She flipped herself over the railing to send a massive blast of blue fire at Zuko, who parried it with an equally-powerful wall of fire.
"Come on, we've gotta get out of here!" Sokka insisted behind Rinzen, distracting her from the fight, and she reluctantly focused her efforts on helping them convince Appa to get into the tunnel.
"We can't get him to go through," Katara said in frustration after several failed attempts to tug Appa's reins forward.
"We're gonna have to split up," Sokka decided reluctantly before turning back to his father and the remaining group of refugee children. "Take the tunnel and get to the stolen airship."
"No!" Katara protested furiously, hurrying forward to grab Hakoda's hand. "The Fire Nation can't separate our family again, Dad!"
"It's only for a little while," Hakoda soothed her, hugging her tightly. "It's not forever, Katara." She didn't argue, but pressed her face into his shoulder hard for a brief moment and then tore herself away reluctantly. Sokka did the same, clutching his father tightly before letting him and the others retreat into the tunnel.
"I'm not going anywhere," Suki said firmly, grabbing Sokka's hand. "I'm coming with you."
Sokka opened his mouth to protest, but was distracted by Toph running her hand along a wall thoughtfully. "I could clear this out and we could fly right through here," she suggested.
"That's an awful lot of fire in that general direction," Sokka said skeptically, but Aang's expression was determined when Rinzen glanced at him.
"We'll get through," he said, climbing onto Appa's head. "Everybody get on." Rinzen climbed into the saddle before helping Katara and Toph up while Sokka and Suki climbed on from Appa's other side.
"Where's Zuko?" she demanded, glancing around for any sign of him, but he had vanished.
"We'll find him," Aang reassured her, snapping Appa's reins to get him moving. "You ready, Toph?"
Toph cracked her knuckles. "You gotta ask, Twinkletoes?" She pushed her hands out and the wall crumbled to form a shield of rock around Appa.
"Yip yip!" Aang called and Appa rose into the air as Toph concentrated on keeping the shield in front of him. They soared past Azula's airship as she focused on attacking them with a barrage of fire blasts. The heat was almost unbearable as the fire rushed around them, but the shield absorbed most of the impact as it crumbled away. Rinzen peered over the edge of the saddle, trying to spot Zuko, only to find him climbing on top of another airship and then leaping onto the ship Azula was on, aiming a blast of fire at her before she retaliated with a whip of blue flame.
"There he is!" she called to Aang, who followed her line of sight before turning Appa around quickly to dodge another rain of fire from the other airships they were flying past.
"We can't get to him safely," he protested.
"Well, we have to try," Sokka answered to Rinzen's surprise as he sat up, chewing his lip as he calculated a plan. "There's an opening. We can fly around and right under Zuko to catch him if he jumps off." He pointed at a space between two of the airships.
"They're gonna keep attacking us," Suki pointed out, but Katara's expression was stony as she flipped open her waterskin and drew out a large stream of water.
"Leave them to me." She whipped the water out at a fireball headed at them, batting it away and extinguishing it in the same movement as Aang tugged on Appa's reins to fly him between the two airships and around. They soared underneath the airship Zuko and Azula were on just as the two firebenders hit each other with an equally-powerful blast, the impact exploding between them and throwing them both off the airship.
Rinzen felt her heart seize in her throat as Zuko fell through the air, but Appa flew forward without even being prompted and she reached up as Katara did the same, both of them grabbing Zuko's arms to pull him into the saddle. He collapsed back against the edge of the saddle, breathing hard from the adrenaline, and Rinzen smacked the back of his head as he winced.
"Don't do that again!" she shouted at him over the rushing wind, but he was already looking back to where Azula was still falling through the sky.
"She's not gonna make it," he said worriedly, but then Azula twisted herself neatly in the air and pushed a blast of fire out from her feet to propel her until she could grab hold of the mountainside. Her hair fell out of its usual neat bun as she tore her hairpin out to jam it into the stone as a handhold. "Of course she made it," Zuko said bitterly, relaxing slightly and leaning into Rinzen's side as Aang snapped Appa's reins again and they soared away from the destroyed Western Air Temple.
"You know, it kinda feels like old times again, camping like this," Aang said cheerfully as they gathered around the fire that night after dinner with cups of steaming tea that Rinzen had made. Thankfully, Zuko hadn't tried brewing tea after the last disastrous attempt a few days ago and had left it to Rinzen to take over the task of brewing tea for everyone from then on. They had landed in a small clearing on a cliffside near Ember Island, where Zuko had said they could hide out until the day Sozin's Comet arrived.
"If you really want it to feel like old times, I could always chase you around for a while and try to capture you," Zuko said dryly, making everyone else laugh. Even Rinzen found herself biting back a smile as she elbowed Zuko lightly and he shrugged back at her, a small grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. Only Katara scowled, her lips pressing together firmly as she stared into the fire.
"Well, here's to Zuko," Sokka said as he lifted his cup of tea. "Who knew after all the times he tried to snuff us out, today he'd be our hero?" he added jokingly even as everyone else but Katara raised their cups in agreement.
"Hear, hear!"
Zuko flushed slightly at the praise, ducking his head. "I'm touched. I really don't deserve this."
"Yeah, no kidding," Katara muttered, setting her cup aside and pushing herself to her feet as she stalked away from the fire.
"What's with her?" Sokka said, bewildered.
"I wish I knew," Zuko sighed, setting his own cup aside and getting up to follow Katara.
"What's with him?" Sokka asked before glancing at Rinzen expectantly.
"Why're you looking at me?" she demanded.
"Hey, you're the Zuko expert, I thought you could translate," he said with a shrug and Toph elbowed him in the ribs hard. "Ow!"
"Maybe I should go check on them?" Rinzen mused, glancing over her shoulder at where Zuko had caught up to Katara at the edge of the cliff. They seemed to be in the middle of a heated argument.
"Let them hash things out at their own pace," Aang reassured her. "They're probably working out the details of their own field trip together."
Rinzen snorted with amusement even as Toph complained, "Hey, I never got a field trip with Zuko."
"Neither did I," Rinzen pointed out and Toph rolled her eyes.
"Escaping from prison and going to the Western Air Temple together counts, Rin." Suki opened her mouth, but Toph beat her to it. "That goes for you, too."
"Well, that's no fair, I had to share with Sokka," Suki huffed goodnaturedly, slumping back against Sokka's side, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pressing a kiss against her temple fondly.
Rinzen dropped her gaze away from the couple, feeling like she was encroaching on a private moment between them. How did they find it so easy to be affectionate when even looking at Zuko was sometimes too much for Rinzen? Did Sokka find it just as terrifying when Suki was in danger as Rinzen had when she had been watching Zuko fall that morning, or more?
"Hey, Rin," Aang said as he nudged her shoulder, drawing her out of her thoughts as she looked up to find everyone dispersing for the night. "Is everything okay? You were kinda spaced out for a minute."
"I'm okay," she reassured him. "Just thinking, that's all."
He studied her face for a moment, frowning slightly. "You sure?"
"Yeah." She squeezed his shoulder. "I'm okay. You go ahead, get ready for bed. I'll clean up here and catch up in a minute."
"Okay." He still didn't sound quite convinced, but obediently got to his feet and headed over to Appa to settle the bison in for the night. Rinzen glanced over at the cliffside to find that Katara was heading for her tent, her expression stormy, while Zuko made his way to Sokka's tent, looking pensive. She busied herself with cleaning up the cups of tea and putting out the fire before heading over to join Aang beside Appa.
"Okay, maybe I'm not entirely okay," she confessed and Aang gave her a small, satisfied smile.
"I knew it." He sat down against Appa's foreleg, patting the ground beside him. "What's wrong?"
Rinzen dropped onto the ground beside him, smiling as Appa snuffled against the top of her head before laying down and curling around the two of them protectively. "I was thinking about earlier today," she admitted. "Watching Zuko fall."
Aang's eyebrows furrowed slightly. "But he's fine, we caught him."
"I know. I just-" Rinzen broke off, unsure how to put what she was feeling into words as she brushed her hair behind her ear and out of her face. It was more trouble than it was worth, leaving her hair as long as it was now, but she couldn't bring herself to cut it short again. "I don't know. Seeing him fall scared me. A lot. And it shouldn't, stuff like that happens to us all the time."
"But it's different 'cause it's him?" Aang guessed and she looked up to find him smiling back at her knowingly. "You know, this whole 'pretending you're just friends' thing is great in theory, but I don't think it's actually doing you any favors."
"Who's pretending?" she said, frowning. "We are just friends."
"Right, and I'm a ten-foot-tall pink platypus-bear," he said dryly.
Rinzen wrinkled her nose. "Sarcasm doesn't suit you."
He huffed slightly. "You're missing my point. Why don't you just tell him that you love him?"
"What?" she said, taken aback. "I don't-" She broke off as the words registered slowly, finally putting a name to the way her heart skipped a beat every time Zuko smiled at her, and the way the world seemed to slow down every time she looked up to find him looking right back at her. "Oh." Her voice was smaller than she had expected as she looked back up at Aang, feeling like she had been hit over the head with a heavy brick. "I do, don't I?"
"And I thought you were supposed to be the smarter one between the two of us," he pointed out, amused.
"Shut up." She knocked her shoulder gently against his and he grinned. "Like you've told Katara how you feel about her."
His expression suddenly sobered. "I kissed her before the invasion," he admitted. "And we just...never talked about it after. It's like she wants to pretend it didn't even happen."
"Oh." Rinzen felt a pang of guilt. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."
"It's okay," Aang reassured her quickly, plastering a smile on his face, but she could still see the pain behind it.
"No, it's really not." She wrapped her arm around his shoulders, pulling him into an embrace. "I'm sorry. That's really rough."
"Yeah," he conceded, his voice trembling a little as he buried his face into her shoulder. "It's dumb to worry about something like that in the middle of a war and all, but it still hurts."
"I know," she reassured him, tightening her hold on him as she turned to wrap her other arm around him and haul him close. "It'll be okay." As she held her little brother tightly, she realized that she had been so obsessed with sorting out her own feelings towards Zuko that she had hardly paid any attention to how heartbroken Aang clearly was, and the resulting guilt was almost overwhelming.
"Is everything okay?" Zuko's voice broke through her thoughts and Rinzen pulled back from Aang to find him standing a few feet away, glancing between the two of them worriedly.
"Yeah, we're fine," Aang said quickly, climbing to his feet. "Just talking about stuff. Nothing important."
Zuko frowned, clearly not believing him as he looked at Rinzen. "You sure?"
She tried not to think about her sudden realization only moments earlier, but found it difficult the moment she met his eyes. "Yeah," she said, forcing herself to sound as casual as possible as she leaned back against Appa's front leg. "We're okay."
"I'm gonna go to bed," Aang said, aiming a pointed look at Rinzen before heading past them to his tent. "'Night, Zuko."
"Goodnight," Zuko called after him and Rinzen felt a pang of nerves the moment they were alone. "You sure everything's okay?" he asked again as he turned back to face her, his eyebrows furrowing in concern. "You're a little pale."
"I'm fine." To distract him, she asked, "So what happened with you and Katara?"
He sighed heavily as he took a seat in front of her. "It's complicated. From what I understand, she's associated the anger she has against me with the pain of losing her mother."
Rinzen frowned. "Well, that's not fair to you."
He shrugged mildly. "It is what it is. I went to Sokka and asked him what happened to their mother. Given what he told me, I think I know how to find the man who killed her."
"So, what, you're gonna take Katara on a revenge trip or something?" Rinzen said, raising an eyebrow.
"If it'll help her get closure."
"I don't know if that's such a good idea," she said slowly. "Revenge isn't always what someone needs to get closure. It's different for everyone."
"Well, maybe that's what she needs," Zuko pointed out.
"Maybe," Rinzen conceded. "But in any case, you'll have a harder time convincing Aang than me. I know him, he'll say that forgiveness is the best kind of closure." She cracked a wry smile. "He really took the monks' teachings to heart."
"What, and you didn't?" Zuko smiled back. "Wow, you must've been a terrible student."
"Shut up, I had different lessons than he did." She stretched a leg out to kick him and he moved out of reach easily, grinning. She was always taken aback by how much younger he looked when he smiled, like the years of pain he had gone through were reversed the moment his lips curved upwards.
"I'm gonna go wait for Katara and ask her what she wants to do," he said, drawing her out of her thoughts as he climbed to his feet. "You should get some sleep."
Belatedly, she realized she had never actually said what Aang had told her to, and before she could stop herself, she climbed to her feet and blurted out, "Hey, Zuko?"
"Yeah?" He paused, turning back to her and frowning curiously, and she found that she couldn't work up the nerve to tell him.
Just tell him you love him, just those three words, she urged herself, but the words seemed to stick in her throat. "Uh, just, um…you should get some sleep, too. Don't wait up all night for Katara, she's probably already asleep, anyway," she finished lamely.
He gave her a small smile that made her breath catch in her throat. "I will. 'Night, Rin."
"Goodnight," she answered weakly as he walked away, mentally kicking herself for not following through with what she had wanted to say in the first place.
To no one's surprise but Aang's, Katara stormed up to them the next day with Zuko in tow, demanding to take Appa so that they could find the man who killed her mother.
"What exactly do you think this is gonna accomplish?" Aang asked, his voice taking on that sage-like tone which Rinzen knew meant that he was going to try and convince Katara out of it.
"Ugh, I knew you wouldn't understand," Katara muttered bitterly, turning away from Aang.
"Of course I understand," Aang said hurriedly, dropping the tone as he hurried around to face Katara again. "How do you think I felt when the sandbenders took Appa, or when I found out the Fire Nation wiped out my people?"
"She needs this, Aang," Zuko insisted. "This is about getting closure and justice."
"No, this is about getting revenge," Aang pointed out, frowning.
"Well, fine, maybe it is," Katara snapped. "Maybe that's what I need, and maybe that's what he deserves."
"You sound like Jet," Aang answered worriedly.
"That's different," Katara dismissed. "Jet attacked the innocent. This man is a monster."
"Aang might be right," Sokka said hesitantly, speaking up for the first time. "She was my mother, too, but I don't know if this will help."
"Then you didn't love her the way I did!" Katara retorted and Sokka reeled back like he had been physically slapped, his eyes widening in hurt.
"Katara!"
Aang sighed heavily. "The monks used to say that revenge is like a two-headed rat viper. While you watch your enemy go down, you're being poisoned yourself."
"This isn't Air Temple preschool," Zuko said dryly. "This is the real world. And we can't always just sit back and do nothing."
"No," Aang agreed quietly. "It's easy to do nothing. But it's hard to forgive."
"It's not just hard," Katara said coldly. "It's impossible." She stormed off and Aang hurried after her, hoping to try and calm her down again.
"I did warn you he'd try to go all philosophical on you," Rinzen pointed out wryly and Zuko sighed.
"I know." He glanced at Sokka, who was still standing as if rooted to the spot and staring after his sister. "You okay?" he offered, his voice softening a little.
"Yeah," Sokka said quickly. "I'm fine." He hesitated. "Just...if you are taking Katara to find the man who killed our mom, just make sure she doesn't get hurt."
"I know," Zuko reassured him. "I'll keep her safe." He glanced at Rinzen. "How mad would you be if Katara and I took Appa tonight after Aang goes to bed?"
"Not that mad," she answered with a small smile. "I'll explain it to him."
"You're the best." He squeezed her hand lightly before heading after Katara, who had clearly dismissed Aang rather harshly from the way the younger airbender's shoulders were slumped as he made his way back to Rinzen and Sokka.
Unfortunately, Aang was wide awake when Katara and Zuko attempted to sneak up to Appa late that night, both of them dressed in black.
"So you were just gonna take Appa anyway?" he complained as he sat up from where he was laying on Appa's other side, but Katara only glowered back at him.
"Yes."
"It's okay, because I forgive you," Aang said before giving her an innocent smile. "That give you any ideas?"
Rinzen elbowed him from where she sat beside him before giving Zuko an apologetic look. "I did try and get him away from here, but he was starting to suspect I was in on it."
"You were in on it," Aang reminded her.
"Don't try and stop us," Katara said, drawing their attention back to her as she climbed onto Appa's head.
"I wasn't going to," Aang reassured her, frowning now. "You need to take this journey. But when you do face that man, let your anger out, and then let it go. Forgive him."
"Yeah, you make that sound so easy, Guru Goody-Goody," Zuko deadpanned as he tossed a bag of supplies up to Katara before climbing into the saddle.
"Thanks for understanding, Aang," Katara said after a moment, her voice softening slightly before she snapped the reins. "Yip yip." Appa took off and Zuko gave Rinzen one last wave before they soared out of sight.
"You know, you're pretty wise for a kid," Sokka said as he approached and took a seat on the ground beside Rinzen and Aang, watching Appa fly away.
"Thank you, Sokka," Aang said gratefully.
"It's usually annoying, but right now, I'm just impressed," Sokka added and Aang frowned slightly.
"Uh, I appreciate that."
Sokka hummed for a moment before asking, "So can I borrow Momo for a week?"
"Wait, what do you need Momo for?" Rinzen demanded before Aang could answer and Sokka only shrugged.
The next two days were uneventful while they waited for Zuko and Katara to return, despite Toph keeping Aang busy with his earthbending practice. Rinzen had finally allowed Aang to convince her to practice airbending with him when they heard Appa's familiar growl as he returned, landing on the grass by their campsite.
"Hey!" Aang called as Rinzen lost her concentration and toppled off the ball of air she had been attempting to balance on, grimacing as her shoulder hit the ground hard.
"Ow," she complained.
"You okay?" Zuko sounded amused as he slid off Appa's back, moving to help her up.
"This is what I get for trying to learn the air scooter trick after all these years," she answered, rubbing her shoulder ruefully. "What happened?" She peered over his shoulder to find Katara walking away from them, her shoulders hunched slightly as she headed down the cliff to the nearby docks.
"Give her a little time," Zuko said before she could move past him to go after Katara, glancing at Aang to make sure he stayed in place as well. "It was tough for her, but she let him go."
"She did the right thing," Aang agreed as he relaxed slightly, glancing at Katara's retreating back with a small smile.
"I think she'll be okay," Zuko added to Rinzen, giving her a small smile as he slipped his hand into hers. "It really helped her, finally seeing that man and getting some closure."
"That's good, I'm glad." She squeezed his hand lightly. "Do you think you two are gonna be okay?"
"I hope so," he answered, squeezing her hand back. "We should get moving, we can probably reach Ember Island by nightfall if we pack up now."
"I'll go tell the others," Aang said, turning to head back to the campsite and inform Sokka, Suki, and Toph.
"I didn't expect him to be right," Zuko admitted as they watched him go.
"About what?" Rinzen asked, glancing up at Zuko curiously.
"Katara letting the man who killed her mother go. I really thought she wouldn't get any closure from that, but she did."
"Violence isn't always the answer," Rinzen pointed out with a small frown. "Aang would probably say it never is."
"Then what does he plan to do when he faces my father?" Zuko asked quietly as he glanced back down at her, but she had no answer for him.
We're coming up on the final stretch of Book 3! I'm very excited, especially for the Ember Island Players, lol.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter!