Disclaimer: I do not own any part of ATLA in any way, shape, or form. I own NOTHING!

Chapter 12:

ZUKO

"If I never get on another cargo ship again, it'll be too soon," I declare as I toss my bag onto the dry earth. It collides with the Earth Kingdom soil, causing a thick puff of dust.

The ground is thirsty, but the sky is gloomy and overcast. Rain could come down at any moment, and I wish it would. We haven't been here long but I can already tell the Earth Kingdom hasn't changed much since the comet. There are a few patches of green grass trying their best to come through the dull parched land, but the dominant colors around us are dingy browns and gray the same lifeless hue of the clouds looming in the sky.

Katara paces the brittle clearing, cradling Korri in her arms and bouncing her gently. She is trying to wake her. We had to give her sleeping herbs throughout the journey as a precaution. It was either the herbs or the risk of her screaming as we tried to sneak off the ship.

"She's fine." I dig around in my bag, looking for our Earth Kingdom map as Momo perches on my shoulder. "We didn't give her much."

Katara ignores me, as she usually does in these situations.

A lot has changed between us, but in some ways, nothing has. Aang always came first to Katara. Other things mattered, of course, but he was always her priority.

Whether Korri is the Avatar or not, she is getting the Aang treatment from Katara. Aang's death has only magnified this instinct in Katara. I would even argue that the sentiment has doubled in size. And as a result, she will not be convinced of the baby's safety until she confirms it for herself.

Since she is ignoring me and my words apparently offer no comfort, I stick a piece of jerky in my mouth, give Momo some lychee nuts, pull out our map, and try to determine where we have ended up.

We are somewhere along the coast between the Lover's Cave and Omashu. Although, it is hard to pinpoint exactly where. The harbor we arrived on gave little indication and was crawling with Fire Nation troops. To say that we didn't linger would be an understatement. Katara created a path of ice for us so we could avoid the docks altogether. We dashed straight for the coast and didn't look back. Regardless, we should be fine as long as we continue east.

The sound of voices nearby pulls me away from the map. My eyes find Katara's. The panic on her face would have gutted me if my stomach hadn't already dropped.

"Do you see anything?"

"No."

"I'm telling you, I saw something get off that ship!"

"They went that way."

I shove the map back into the bag, haul the bag over my shoulder, and nudge Katara forward. "Go!"

We rush through the dead trees at an odd pace. As much as I want to run as fast as I can, the troops are close enough that they could hear our footsteps. The foliage all along the forest floor is far from forgiving. Every step crunches with what was once a lavish forest.

There is little to hide behind. There is nothing but the bones of trees. Every now and then there are some pathetic firs or pines that are attempting to bud with life. Some drought-tolerant shrubs litter the area, but other than that, there is no cover for us.

We fumble through the countless logs and fallen trees that blanket the forest floor. Unless you are flying like Momo, it is impossible not to trip. My skin is torn apart by the rough shrubs as I force my way through them.

I want to hold Katara's hand, but she has both her arms wrapped tightly around the baby to shield her from anything and everything. The best I can do is continually grab the crook of her arm or place my hand on the small of her back in silent encouragement.

All at once, the earth beneath my feet is gone. I go tumbling down into a gully. I drop for what feels like forever until I wrap around a thin fallen tree at the bottom. It knocks the breath out of me, which may be a good thing. It keeps me from crying out.

Katara slides down into the gully, skidding to a stop next to me, the baby still cradled closely to her chest. I nod that I'm okay even though I'm not entirely sure how true this is. Adrenaline has me numb.

We crawl into a hollow within the gorge beneath more fallen trees. It isn't much cover. It is like hiding inside a heap of skeletons, but it is the best we have.

"Check that ravine over there!"

I squeeze Katara's hand before pulling away and crawling to the other side of the ravine away from them. A flash of betrayal hits her face, but I do my best to tell her to trust me with my eyes. We need to split up in case we're spotted. They don't need to find all of us in a helpless bundle down here. I just can't risk telling Katara that, so she is just gonna have to trust me.

The baby whimpers and wiggles against Katara. She is waking up.

Fuck.

Katara winces and does her best to rock and shush her. It isn't working. Korri gets louder.

Rain falls lightly around us. I briefly think it might muffle her cries, but the rain is too weak and wispy to muffle anything as distinct as a baby's shrill mewls.

One of the troops leaps into the ravine a few feet from us. He lights a flame in his hands to better inspect the area.

Korri wails again. Louder this time. The troop hears her and walks closer. He pauses at the sight of Katara and Korri. He is taken off guard, and during that pause, I leap out, slam him to the ground and hold my swords to his throat. His helmet flies off and rolls into the mud. His slate-gray eyes widen at the sight of my face.

"Prince Zuko?"

I push my swords to his throat. "Unless you want your head to join your helmet over there, I suggest you keep quiet."

"Wait! Please!" The troop is young. Wet behind the ears. "I'll help you!"

Korri continues to cry as I glare down at him and try to decide if we want or even need his help.

"Toku! Where are you?"

The other soldiers are back. One of them slides down into the gully, and as soon as he comes down, Katara launches a hunk of ice made out of the muddy ravine water at his head, knocking him out instantly. When the other follows, she does the same to him.

I turn my attention back to Toku. "Is there any Earth Kingdom resistance going on right now? Is that why there are so many soldiers here?"

"What's left of the Earth Kingdom is too busy fighting starvation and disease to put up much resistance. That's what I hear from the taverns and brothels anyway…"

My assumption about this young man being wet behind the ears was correct. He is inexperienced, and I doubt he has even been in a proper fight. He doesn't rank high enough to have any intel from my father, and he won't know much that we won't be able to deduce ourselves as we travel. At this point, he's more trouble than he's worth.

Sensing my displeasure, he continues: "But we think the Phoenix King is anticipating some form of resistance. You know, a kind of preemptive strike."

Katara steps forward, still bouncing Korri against her chest. "Has he started rebuilding yet?"

He swallows hard. "I-I don't think so - at least not here. Right now the primary interest is resources."

I almost laugh. "Of course, he isn't interested in building his Earth Kingdom yet. He's hoping more of the real Earth Kingdom will die off first. He just wants the supplies and resources."

I've heard enough. This entire interaction has me angry and nauseous. Even if he has more to tell, I don't want to hear it.

More cries from Korri echo around us as I teeter between killing him and letting him go. It would be easy to kill him. It would be safer to for us kill him. No witnesses.

"Give me one could reason why I shouldn't cut your throat to ribbons?"

The man's face changes dramatically. "Your father killed my sister and her children."

I keep my blades on his neck but I loosen the hold I have on him.

"He destroyed some of the Fire Nation colonies with the comet too. Did you know that? He forced his people to go live there, then burned them like the rest."

I'm sure I am white as a sheet. For some reason, I hadn't considered this. I know they planned on burning the entire Earth Kingdom to the ground. I know he said he would destroy everything, but I assumed he hadn't meant the colonies. I thought surely they would have been spared.

My expression threatens to soften, but I can't let it. I still have to treat him like a liar. Just in case.

"Zuko…" Katara says my name in a soft yet pointed way that tells me she believes him and wants me to let him go.

"You are going to go back to your commander now. You'll tell them you got knocked out too and don't remember anything." I press the blades of my swords further into his neck, almost breaking the skin. "And no one is going to know about this."

He nods nervously, trembling beneath me. "No. Of course not, sir."

I shove him away from me and he keels over into the newly formed mud. He grabs his helmet and clumsily gets back to his feet.

Holding my side, I walk over to Katara and the baby. Katara gives me a nod that they're okay, but I still wipe some of the mud off her cheek and place a hand on Korri's head for my peace of mind.

"I hate this, you know. I hate being here. I hate seeing all the things we've done to these people." Toku takes a step toward his unconscious comrades, pauses then looks back at us. "I was oblivious and naive before I came here. In the capital, you don't see any of this. All you hear there is that we won the war. No one tells you about this side of things."

Rain continues to fall in light sheets. Korri continues to cry and paw at Katara.

"I'm not proud of my home anymore. I'm not proud to be Fire Nation. And I'm not the only one who feels this way." Toku turns around, his eyes finding mind as he tucks his helmet under his arm. "I won't say anything. You have my word. A lot of us want you to help us find our honor again, and you can't do that if I turn you in, can you?" A hint of a smile plays at his lips.

I'm taken back for a moment, but when I remember myself, I give him a firm nod.

He straightens, bows, and raises his hand in salute.

"I told you that you had allies you didn't even know about," Katara declares as we sit around the fire with our dinner.

Rattled by how close we got to capture, we didn't stop putting distance between us and the harbor until it got too dark for us to continue. We eventually reached a cave that reminded me a lot of the one Uncle and I stayed in during our fugitive days. It is chilly and damp but still safer and less conspicuous than our tent.

"It was one man," I reply dismissively.

"He said he wasn't the only one," Katara counters, determined to hold onto this new thread of hope.

I put my empty bowl down near the fire, and Momo hops toward it, licking up the last drops of my stew. "I'm sure he isn't if what he said about the colonies is true. And even if it wasn't, no one in the army can go back home because they're still cleaning up the Phoenix King's mess here in the Earth Kingdom. The only people happy with the world my father has created are those sitting comfy in the heart of the Fire Nation."

"That's a lot of people who would be willing to help us." Katara pulls Korri into her lap, hands her one of the toys I stole for her back on Ember Island, and attempts to smooth down the wild strands of dark hair at the back of Korri's head only to have them spring back up again.

"Keep in mind that he is young and has probably spent most of his life in the capital. He isn't like the thousands of others who have been fighting this war all their lives."

Katara rolls her eyes and puts her hands on her hips. "It really is impossible for you to look on the bright side, isn't it?"

Korri leans toward me and whines. She tosses the toy away and thinks about crawling but remembers she hasn't quite mastered that yet. She wobbles as she leans back and cries for me again.

Sighing, Katara lifts her and extends her toward me, and I pull her into my lap because I have officially surrendered to her and Katara.

"Just take it as a good sign," Katara continues. "I know it isn't much but I'm still encouraged by the fact that there are people in the Fire Nation who hate Ozai."

"Fine. I guess you're right," I agree as Korri yanks at my hair and giggles.

We clean up after dinner, map out our route for the next day, and sort our sleeping bags into an incoherent mass that mimics a bed.

Katara chooses to keep the baby wedged safely between us, and even though there isn't much room, Momo finds a way to curl up between us too.

If I wasn't utterly exhausted, there is no way I'd be able to sleep like this. But I am exhausted and the only thing that will wake me will be Korri when she wakes us in the middle of the night like she usually does.

Katara moves my arm around as if she owns it and turns it into a pillow. I instinctively cradle the back of her head in my hand, her soft hair caressing the space between my fingers. Our eyes meet briefly and that's when I feel that things have shifted between us. Being back in the Earth Kingdom has changed things already.

I feel far away from her. Her demeanor towards me has reshaped in this environment. The elements here are different from what they were on Ember Island and they are molding us into something else. Something I don't recognize yet.

I'd been expecting it. I knew I could only hold onto her for so long. I knew I was on borrowed time and that my moments with her were stolen. Limited.

But it still hurts, and I'm still not ready.

Traveling in the Earth Kingdom is just as miserable as I remember it being. Actually, it's worse.

The days here are long and despondent. A vast contrast to the cushy, sheltered life we led back on Ember Island. But even if they weren't, the journey would still be unpleasant in almost every way.

There is misery everywhere you look. Disease. Famine. The destruction of the comet is still painfully evident. As a result, the sting of failure is more acute here. All the consequences of our defeat are on full display. We are forced to walk through the dead earth, the unmarked graves, barren crops, and the remains of what were once thriving villages.

It is worse than I thought, which is saying something. I came here expecting the worst.

The road to Omashu is eerily quiet and barren, which immediately puts me on alert. The path isn't completely abandoned. We cross paths with a few thin Earth Kingdom travelers (to who Katara immediately gives food and money), but they are the only sign of life for miles.

If a path isn't traveled, it typically means that it has been deemed unsafe. During my time as the Blue Spirit, I learned that word traveled fast about these things. People learned to avoid my stalking grounds. If I were a betting man, I'd say this is likely prime bandit country.

But we get lucky and reached a massive refugee camp near the outskirts of Omashu without incident. It sneaks up on me, and I'm not sure if it's because we were closer to Omashu than I realized or because this camp spreads for acres. Perhaps both?

"We should stop," Katara says. It is more of a command than a suggestion as she rushes down the dirt path with Momo flying after her.

I grab her arm and yank her back, causing the baby in her arms to grunt. "We can stop, but we can't stay long. We have to get Korri somewhere safe and this place isn't safe. This isn't the Earth Kingdom you remember."

She rolls her eyes and swats my hand away.

"You can't help everyone, Katara!" I bark after her, but she ignores me.

I agree we should help. I want to help. It is the least we can do. I want atonement and to compensate for our shortcomings, but our wanted posters are still up and people here are desperate for food and coins, and desperation brings out the worst in people.

I suddenly hear Uncle's voice in my head:

You must never give into despair. Allow yourself to slip down that road and you surrender to your lowest instincts…

And we are surrounded by people who have surrendered to their lowest instincts.

As we enter the camp, I do my best to hide my scar with my hair and my hood even though scarred men are far from uncommon. I see them everywhere. Waterbenders, however, stick out like sore thumbs.

All I can do is pray that no one makes the connection and that they will be grateful enough for her help that no one would think of turning us into the Fire Nation for a reward.

We wander the labyrinth-like paths and weave through the countless tents scattered around. There are sick, starving people of all ages everywhere. Some of the people lying around on the ground are dead. In the short amount of time we've been here, we've seen several carried off by bulky earthbenders and thrown into wagons pulled by scrawny ostrich horses, leaving screaming family members chasing after them.

Katara leans into me and clutches my arm.

Shifting Korri in my arms, I look down at Katara and say: "Where do you even start?"

She swallows hard and glances over at a nearby elderly woman sitting on the ground who appears to be a few breaths away from collapsing onto the ground completely.

"…Here, I guess," Katara replies and kneels next to the woman.

There isn't much for the baby and me to do while Katara makes her rounds, weaving in and out of the thousands of tents that span across acres and acres of dead earth.

I never like to be too far from Katara in case someone tries anything, but I attempt to explore and learn more about the camp - at least as much as I can with a baby clinging to me.

The camp structure is complicated. Families make up communities. Communities make up blocks and blocks make up sectors. Then sectors make up a settlement. Each block has elected a community leader to represent the block. Everyone is expected to convey their concerns and needs through their community leaders. Although I'm not sure where these concerns go. I assume there is another elected leader or elder somewhere up the chain. I just haven't been able to find out who that is yet.

As I continue to explore, I find what Toku said to be true. These people are broken and tired. They don't have energy for much outside of pure survival. The occasional thug comes by and gives me a dirty look. Some bump into me on purpose but none of them pick a fight with me. Whether that's because of the guards around keeping the peace or Korri, I couldn't say.

Toku was also right about the colonies. There are Fire Nation people here too. They have an isolated settlement within the camp to keep tensions down, but they are certainly here, as broken as anyone else around.

Everything around me is hard to see, hard to hear, hard to smell, hard to feel. Unable to stomach anymore, I go searching for Katara.

As I look for her, I scare off a few bullies who mess with some smaller, younger kids and try to steal their rations. Kids are afraid of a man with a scar even with a baby on his hip.

When I reach what I think is the area where I last saw Katara, I sit on a barrel with Korri whining in my lap. Korri is hungry and restless, but I lose the sound of her cries in the sea of suffering around us. All I can do is watch these people and think of all the ways we failed them, of everything I did that may or may not have brought us here.

What if I had told everyone about my father's plan sooner? What if I joined Team Avatar sooner? What if I went with Katara instead of Azula when Ba Sing Se fell? Trained Aang longer? Better?

The pressure I feel to fix all of it crushes me more and more with every person that walks by, with every burn I see on the skin of innocent children, with every hollow-cheeked baby in the arms of someone who may not even be their birth parents, with every wail and cough that fills the air.

Was this the weight that Aang felt? Was this what it was like for him to wake up after a hundred years and see what had happened in his absence? Knowing it was up to him to fix it? To set things right?

I wish I could talk to Aang. Just one more time. I'd apologize. I'd offer all the empathy and sympathy possible. I'd give him credit. Not only was he physically stronger than all of us, but he also had incredible mental and spiritual fortitude That's the only way he could have withstood everything swarming around and inside him.

What I feel now isn't a fraction of what he must have felt. But he never let on. He never let it show. He rarely wore it. He didn't let it change him.

I don't know how he did it. I don't know how I'll do it. I'm not half of who he was.

Korri continues to wail, and her cries are finally loud enough to bring me back, to bring the muffled blurry world back into focus. I do my best to soothe her and can't help but wonder if she feels the anguish I do. Does she feel the turmoil around us? If she is the Avatar, does she feel Aang's pain? Does it live on? Does she hold those memories without realizing it?

Katara finally exits a nearby tent with what appears to be a mother clinging to her side and thanking her profusely. She looks older than she did when I left her here. Worn. Tired. This environment is doing things to us, and we haven't even been here that long.

Our eyes meet briefly, before Katara's attention goes behind me. Her entire face lights up.

"Haru!" Katara shrieks with joy.

She rushes past the baby and me. I turn and sure enough, the next thing I know, Katara is wrapped up in Haru's arms.

He laughs. "I knew it was you as soon as I heard that there was a waterbender healing everyone around the camp."

Katara blushes but recovers quickly. "What are you doing here?"

He shrugs. "Just trying to help out where I can. Camps like this are always looking for people to help keep the peace, which mostly means keeping thugs and bandits from taking over." He puts his hands on his thick waist and looks around. "Are any of the others with you?"

Katara scans the area, finds me, and points.

Haru's gentle eyes widen at the sight of me with a baby on my knee, but he waves despite his obvious surprise. I nod back and leave my perch on the barrel.

"Is anyone else here? My dad?" Desperation crawls all over Katara. It's like she's ready to claw Haru open if he doesn't answer her quickly enough.

Haru is taken back again. "Your dad? No. We split up after the comet. I figured he went to find you or went back to the South Pole."

Katara frowns and shrinks two sizes. I ache to comfort her, but Haru beats me to it.

Haru steps forward and holds her shoulders. "He was all right the last time I saw him. I'm sure he's fine."

She nods but is far from convinced. She's slowly losing faith in her father's return. I am too if I'm honest.

"But Bumi should be here somewhere…" Haru motions for us to follow him.

"Bumi is here?!" Katara cries as she rushes up next to him, and I realize how desperate she is for faces that aren't mine.

"Yeah, he is still king of Omashu in a new weird way. His people are here even if his city isn't."

Korri tilts in my arms and reaches for Katara, who quickly takes her. This is one of the many new games Korri has started playing. She likes to go back and forth as if she can't decide between us.

Haru rubs at the back of his neck. "So…you two have a baby?"

Katara blushes fiercely. "Yeah, but not in the way you think! I'll explain once we get somewhere more…private."

We are lucky we are dealing with Haru. He doesn't pry. I shudder to think of how Toph would have reacted to the sight of Katara and me with a baby.

Haru continues to lead us through the camp until I am thoroughly lost. The rows upon rows of tents blend together. There are no other landmarks to help distinguish our location. I have no idea how Haru navigates this place, but he does. He takes us further and further into the sea of tents and people until we finally reach the heart of the camp with bigger tents and what appears to be a makeshift market (that is not open since it isn't time for meal rations).

"That's his tent over there." Haru points to the largest tent we've seen so far. There are earthbenders scattered around outside it who I assume are acting as guards. "I'll ask around to see if-"

"It's about time you got here!" Bumi appears out of nowhere, shoves his way through us, and lifts the flap of his tent. "Well, c'mon, c'mon. Don't just stand around like scared goat dogs get in here. We ain't got all day!"

Unable to argue, we do as he says. We shuffle inside and sit down on the green cushions scattered about. A lot of meetings must take place in this tent. There are all kinds of maps, chests, and scrolls littering the space as well.

Once Katara is seated, Bumi scuttles around in front of her and the baby.

"Welcome back, Aang," he says as Korri claps gleefully and grabs a handful of his uneven beard and tugs. "You're eyes are blue this time! And you ditched the tattoos!" he snorts.

Katara and I exchange silent glances for completely different reasons.

For the first time, I am finally swayed that she might be the Avatar for no other reason than that she isn't terrified of Bumi.

After Katara and I explain how we ended up with a potential Avatar, Bumi and Haru fill us in on the Earth Kingdom situation, which is relentlessly bleak.

"Famine, drought, disease; you name it we got it," Bumi says in a painfully dismissive way that tells me he is very used to their current situation. Desensitized to it.

"Almost all the crops were destroyed," Haru's eyes are low and unfocused. "Many people who survived the comet didn't survive the winter. The Earth Kingdom population is down significantly. But if it wasn't for the White Lotus, Toph, Suki, and Sokka taking out those war balloons, things would be even worse."

"And what the famine and the comet didn't finish off goes to the Fire Scourge." Bumi takes a sloppy swig of tea. It dribbles down his chin and sinks into the fabric of the cushion beneath him.

"What exactly is Fire Scourge?" I ask, glancing at Katara and Bumi, whoever can answer me first. "I've been hearing a lot of people talk about it."

"Don't know." Bumi lifts his shoulders. "It just showed up one day and decided to try to finish us off. Awful disease. Makes you burn from the inside out. The fever rises and rises until your brain goes to mush. Some people break out in nasty boils and blisters to boot."

I'm reminded of how my skin was covered in all kinds of boils and blisters after my father scarred me. I can still feel that pain. I can feel the crack of the blow that came from his hand, the months of stinging, burning, and oozing that followed, and the itch of the bandages over half my face and ear. I can smell the thick, chunky, pungent ointments they lathered on me for the pain.

I wince and put down my tea. I wasn't drinking it anyway.

"I can treat it, but there are so many people here…" Katara rests her cheek against the back of Korri's head as if she doesn't have the strength to hold herself upright anymore.

Haru, who is sitting next to Katara, leans closer to her and places a hand on her back between her shoulders. "No one is expecting you to heal everyone, Katara."

Nodding, Katara sucks in a slow breath before returning his gaze and offering a small yet genuine smile. Their eyes lock for longer than I am comfortable with as they have a silent exchange.

I burn with envy. I know sweet, grounded, good-natured Haru is not a threat. He's harmless. But I burn anyway.

The heat of my jealousy has to go somewhere, so I pick up my tea again and reheat it.

"You've been a huge help already from what I've heard," Bumi adds as Momo crawls on top of his head and picks at his hair. "Just do what you can when you can. That's what the rest of us are doing. Besides, you have a bigger job taking care of the Avatar…and the other potentials. Everyone in the White Lotus would agree."

"You've heard from my uncle?" I perk up significantly, my voice raising several octaves.

"Oh, yes," Bumi answers, taking a chunk out of some jerky. "He blew through here about a month ago. Left a message in case I bumped into you."

"What did he say?" I lean forward, knocking over my tea as I do so. Katara effortlessly saves it though and bends it back into my cup.

"He told me to tell you to meet him in Gaoling - or what's left of it. He's waiting there with Toph."

"What's he doing in Gaoling?"

Bumi shrugs in a way where I can't tell if he is playing dumb for our safety or if he actually doesn't know.

I nod and don't pry even though I was hoping for more.

"You two are welcome to stay here as long as you like, of course. Although I wouldn't recommend lingering long. Even with people like Haru and me doing what we can to keep the peace, the Earth Kingdom has become a harsh and unforgiving place." Bumi stands, walks toward us and the exit, and shakes Korri's hand. "And we can't risk anything happening to Aang."

That night, we're given separate tents. It feels odd, but neither of us comments on it. It's not like we could even if we wanted to. We couldn't just say: Thanks for the tents, but we prefer sleeping together now.

Too many questions. Questions we aren't ready to answer yet. Questions I don't think we even know how to answer. We haven't asked them ourselves.

I walk Katara to her tent, which is not far from Bumi's. As soon as we get there, Korri babbles and reaches for Katara. It is like she knows I won't be staying with them tonight, like someone told her. So I hand her over, my hands lingering on Katara's as I do so.

Katara's eyes find mine. We stare at each other for a long time as we loiter aimlessly outside her tent, clearly at a loss. We don't want to separate, but we can't be together either.

This is somehow more than us sleeping in separate tents for a few nights, and we both know that. We feel it. We might be resisting it, but it doesn't change it.

This thing between us, whatever we are, whatever it is, it doesn't work here. It can't.

"We can stay a couple days, but we really shouldn't linger," I say because I don't know what else to say. My words are stiff and professional. Everything suddenly feels like a business arrangement or contractual agreement, like we suddenly remembered our purpose in all of this, like we remembered what our original intentions were before we got so distracted by each other.

Katara needed a traveling companion and we have to protect the potential Avatar. That's it. Everything else is moot. Irrelevant.

"I know," Katara says but something lingers in her tone. It is clipped but there is a pinch of a whine inside as well.

An awkward pause immediately follows. There is a lot to be said. We are on overload from everything we heard from Bumi and Haru. There is so much I want to talk to her about. There is so much to the point that I don't even know where to start.

So I don't.

"Do you…need anything?" I ask, rubbing awkwardly at the back of my neck.

Katara shifts Korri on her hips. "I don't think so…"

"All right then." I take a step back and Momo flies to my shoulder, his tail coiling around my neck. "Good night."

She looks down at our feet and then back at my eyes. Her mouth opens and closes again. She almost reaches for me and stops. Every movement she makes is a tug of war with herself.

Ultimately, she just says: "Good night."

A/N: Thanks so much for reading and reviewing!