Kahina walked around the pond until she stood in front of the willow. Zuko and Katara followed her. Zuko walked stiffly, both from the aches that still plagued his body and also from nervousness. Iroh had never divulged much to him about what it had been like to drink from this otherworldly pond, but Zuko was about to find out.

"Are you ready, Fire Lord?" Kahina asked solemnly.

Zuko cast his eyes down to the water. He could feel its power as he looked down into the glow. The water was milky and swirled around with a tide that did not disturb its still surface. He took a deep breath before he looked back up at the Oracle.

"I am," he answered steadily.

"Before you drink, there is something I must tell you about the Pond," Kahina said quietly. "If you change your mind...I wouldn't fault you. But you must consider the weight of your decision, whether you choose to still go through with it or not."

"What is it?" Zuko snapped, a little harsher than he'd meant to. He softened his expression. His nerves were getting the better of him. "No matter what it is, I'll do this. I don't have a choice if we want to stop the prophecy."

Kahina held his gaze. Her eyes bore into him until Zuko wanted to look away from her powerful stare, but he wouldn't.

"The gifts of the Spirit World are not given freely," she said softly. "The Pond is no different. It has a price."

"What price is that?" Zuko inquired as a chill went through him.

He had suspected there would be some kind of catch. He couldn't fathom what it might be, but it had been the main reason why he hadn't been against Kahina's insistence that he should be the one to drink from the Pond instead of Katara.

"The price of enlightenment is blood." Kahina's pearly eyes pierced him. "If you drink from the Pond, someone you love will bleed for it."

Zuko's eyes flickered to Katara. She was watching him, but for once, her expressions weren't clear on her face. He swallowed hard and dropped his gaze back down to the water.

"It does not mean death, Fire Lord," Kahina added softly. "But you must weigh that in your decision here. Is spilling the blood of someone you love worth what knowledge the Pond can impart on you?"

"I…" Zuko trailed off, and swallowed hard.

He gritted his teeth. His hands curled into fists at his side. He felt conflicted as images of Katara, his mother, sister, flashed through his mind. He thought of all of the people he loved and cared about. If he did this, who would bear the burden of his enlightenment? And what choice did he truly have? Everything he had done had led him here. That had to mean something. To Zuko, it meant he really didn't have a choice at all.

"Yes," he ground out. He forced his fists to relax. "Yes, it is."

"Zuko—" Katara started, but he cut her off with a jerky shake of his head.

"There's no way around it, Katara." His voice was pained even to his own ears. Zuko couldn't bring himself to look at her. "I…" His breath left him in a sharp hiss. "I'll accept whatever consequences might come of this. I'll live with that guilt for the rest of my life...but I have to think about what this means."

"Of course," Katara acquiesced diminutively. She took his hand in hers. "And I'll be there to bear that burden right alongside you."

"The spill of blood does not mean death," Kahina repeated. Her prying eyes bore into him. "You are a testament to that, Fire Lord."

Zuko jerked his head up to look at her, eyes wide. "What do you mean by that?"

Kahina looked at his scar, the thing that had marked him for almost a decade now. Her eyes were knowing. "You have paid the price for someone's enlightenment."

Realization dawned on Zuko and his eyes squeezed shut. He rocked back on his heels and he suddenly felt a little faint when it clicked into place.

"Zuko?" Katara's concerned voice cut through the horror that filled his mind. He felt her grip tighten on his hand. "What is she talking about?"

Zuko opened his eyes. "Iroh. I paid the price of Iroh's enlightenment." He looked at the Oracle, his mouth twisting downward into a grimace. "Isn't that right?"

Kahina nodded slowly. "Yes."

Beside him, Katara gasped sharply. Her hand tightened around his. "Zuko?"

"I never told you how I got my scar," Zuko whispered. He glanced over at her. He could see the confusion and the worry in her eyes. "It happened when my father banished me. He challenged me to an Agni Kai...a thirteen year old boy, to a fire duel." Zuko shook his head. "When I refused to fight him, he told me that I was a coward. He gave me this—" He gestured to his face, his mouth contorting into a dark scowl. "—as punishment."

Zuko closed his eyes against the memory. It was still so clear in his mind. Perhaps years of revisiting it in nightmares had cemented it there. He could remember the fear he felt when he turned around to find his father at the other end of the arena, looking at him with rage and disapproval. He remembered the feel of the sun-warmed stone under his hands and knees, the way his tears glistened in the fire light on the stone between his fingers. Mostly he could remember the cold contempt in his father's eyes as he promised that suffering would be his teacher.

It had been that look that had haunted Zuko for all these years.

And he remembered Ozai's hand reaching for him. It had happened so fast then, but it seemed to happen in slow motion in his memory. He could feel the heat of the flames his father was conjuring singeing his hair and warming his skin. He remembered looking up into his father's eyes as the flaming hand struck. He could remember the blinding, burning pain, the scream that had torn from his throat that hadn't sounded like him at all. He remembered grabbing his father's forearm and pulling and clawing at it as he tried to get away from that burning touch. But Ozai didn't budge, not until he was satisfied. Distantly, he even heard the gasp of the spectators. But what he remembered most of all was the smell of burning hair and flesh. His burning hair and flesh.

Zuko shuddered, a motion that rocked his whole body. Then he felt Katara's arms wrap around him. She pressed her face against his chest and he could feel her tears on his skin now. He circled her in his arms and buried his face in her hair.

"I never knew…" Katara breathed against him. "I suspected, but never...would I have imagined anything like that."

He turned his head until his gaze settled on the Oracle, who watched them with an unreadable expression.

"Are you telling me that none of that would have happened if my uncle hadn't come here?" His voice was taut with anger, but Zuko wasn't angry with Kahina. No, he was angry at Iroh. "Did he know what would happen?"

"He knew what you know now," came the soft reply.

Zuko tensed against the rage that rose within him. He focused on Katara, on the sea-salt smell of her hair and the feeling of her in his arms. He couldn't lose focus now. He would deal with the repercussions of his uncle's choice later. Right now he needed to make a decision.

Could he subject someone he loved to the hurt and pain he was feeling right now? What if that person was Katara? What if she got burned, or lost a limb? Would he be able to live with himself having to see her like that, knowing it was because of him, for the rest of his life?"

"As I said, you must weigh your decision," Kahina echoed her earlier words. "It is not an easy one to make, but you must do so soon. The paths your friends walk continue on while you remain deciding. If you do not act soon, it may be too late."

With a heavy sigh, Zuko extricated himself from Katara. He resisted the urge to scrub his hand over his face or rake his hand through his hair. He knew what he had to do, even if he didn't want to. But first, he had to ask.

Zuko looked down at Katara. He saw horror in her eyes, at what his father had done—at what Iroh's choices had led to—but he also saw understanding there, and he felt relieved. She wouldn't forsake him for what he was about to do...for what he was about to subject someone he loved to. Even if that person might be her.

"Katara." He swallowed against the lump rising in his throat. "What...what if it's you? Would this be worth it to you, if you have to live with a scar or something worse?"

She offered him a small smile. "Well...I won't say that I like the sound of this...payment...that the Pond requires. But when it comes down to it, what's another scar in exchange for the world?" She sobered. "And I know, just like you, that this has to be done, Zuko."

He studied her for a moment, before he nodded. He knew she was right. "As long as you agree." He took a steadying breath. When he exhaled, he pushed away his anger and hesitation. "I'll do it."

He cupped her cheek in his hand. His thumb traced circles over her skin as he gazed into her eyes, telling her everything he couldn't say out loud. Thank you for being here with me. For your understanding. For your love.

Zuko pulled his hand away and turned toward the Oracle as he heaved out a sigh. "Let's get this over with."

He sank to his knees before the Pond.

Katara took a step back, her mouth twisting into a frown. She wrapped her arms around herself and struggled to contain the words that swelled on the tip of her tongue. She wanted to plead with the Oracle that there must be another way...but the rational part of her knew that their time was running short, and that this was the only way.

Zuko took one last breath and sent up a silent prayer. Agni, please help me. Please don't let this be a mistake. Then he plunged his hands into the water. It was cold and oily and clung to his skin like some viscous substance. He brought his cupped hands out of the surface. In his palms, the water seemed to shimmer.

May the spirits forgive me. He closed his eyes and drank.

Katara watched his hands fall limply to his sides as his head dropped forward onto his chest. It was miraculous he didn't fall forward into the pond as consciousness left him. She made to go to him, but Kahina's hand on her arm stopped her. Katara looked over at the Oracle. Kahina shook her head.

"He will be alright, Katara," Kahina assured her. "We must let him do this on his own. When he comes to, he'll have the answers that you need."

Katara turned her eyes back to Zuko. She frowned as pieces came together in her head. "We were meant to come here all along, weren't we? Everything that has happened since Iroh came to us that night...it was always going to happen."

"Yes." Kahina paused. "And even before that. You were always going to walk this path, Katara. You were destined for great things when you were born a waterbender, the last waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe. And Zuko's destiny was written when he was born of Avatar Roku's bloodline. Some things are just meant to be."

Katara shook her head slowly. It was a lot to take in and digest. She didn't know if she would ever be able to fully wrap her head around it. It was disturbing to know that everything she had ever done had likely not been entirely of her own volition.

As if Kahina could read her thoughts, she said, "Do not fret over it. The choices you have made have always been your own."

"How can you say that when you've seen my future laid out before you?" Katara looked at Kahina accusingly. "How can you say that my choices are my own when it has all led me here, to this prophecy?"

"Destiny is a fickle thing. It is not so simple. That is why it is able to adapt and flow like water." Kahina's eyes flickered to her before returning to Zuko. "Look at your love. His father thought he could shape his destiny, but Zuko took control of it on his own."

"Did he? Or was that pre-ordained, too?"

Katara's voice was all grit. She was seething, and she didn't know why. Was it the sheer injustice of it all? It didn't matter what the Oracle said. She felt cheated, robbed. Like her life was not her own. As if it never mattered what choices she made in life, in the end, she would just be led where destiny wanted her to go. Like a puppet. She was furious.

"All things happen for a reason."

Katara was not comforted by the Oracle's words.

Very slowly, Zuko became aware of the fact that he was no longer sitting beside the Pond. He could feel a cool breeze brushing across his skin and lifting his loose hair from his shoulders. He could hear insects buzzing and badger frogs croaking from somewhere nearby. And, he suddenly realized, he was not alone.

He opened his eyes and somehow, he was not surprised at all to find the Conduit standing in front of him.

Zuko recognized the field of sunflowers and the willow they sat under immediately. It was where he had confronted her in Jinsan all those weeks before. It seemed like so long ago now. So much had changed since then.

The Conduit spoke. Her voice was just as powerful here, in this...hallucination? Dream?—as it was in person. She leveled him with her violet eyes.

"I am more than just human," she said. Under the shadow of the tree, her eyes glittered. "I am also made of spirits and old power. The Avatar is too. We are one and the same, despite our obvious differences."

"How does that help me?" Zuko demanded to know. "I need to know how to stop the prophecy."

"The Avatar and the Conduit have circled each other for ten thousand years. It is a dance of push and pull, just like the spirits of the moon and the ocean." The Conduit's eyes flickered to the sliver of moon above them. "We are connected through our spirits, through our power. We balance each other, and we balance the world with our very existence." She pierced Zuko with her gaze, and the intensity in it forced him back a step. "We can't exist without each other. He can't kill me, and I can't kill him. There are only two ways for this to end."

"How?" Zuko could hear the desperation in his voice, but he didn't care. This was what he had come here for. He and Katara had been struggling for weeks to find an answer, and now it was here, behind those cold purple eyes. "In what ways can this end?"

The Conduit offered him her hand. "I'll show you."

Zuko didn't hesitate to put his hand in hers.

"This is why it is better if we do not know our fates." Kahina's voice broke the tense silence they had slipped into. "Sometimes, ignorance is best."

Katara nodded slowly, her eyes transfixed on Zuko's back. She agreed with the Oracle. She wished she didn't know now, because although she knew that the love she felt for Zuko, and the love he felt for her was real, something about it just felt off now. Like they hadn't had a choice in the matter. It didn't change how she felt about him...but it changed something within her.

"Do not begin to doubt yourself now, Katara. Now more than ever you need to be steadfast and strong. You need to be prepared for what comes next."

"And what is going to happen?" Katara turned her head and looked at Kahina. "You know, don't you? I know you said the prophecy suddenly became unclear, but I get the feeling you know more than you're letting on."

"You are correct in your assumption." Kahina's face was grim as she cradled her stomach with one hand and rubbed calming circles on it with the other. "I've seen a few possible endings. Some of them are worse than others. It is all dependent upon the choices you and your friends will make that will determine what the outcome will be." She nodded her chin in Zuko's direction. "And in what he sees, of course."

Katara huffed out a breath, casting her eyes at the grass between them. "You can't help us out at all? You know. So why are we doing this? Is it some kind of test?"

"Something like that," Kahina hedged. She rested her hand on Katara's arm. "I cannot interfere too much, Katara. It will throw off the natural course of things. I'm privy to things no one else is because it is my sacred duty...and my burden."

Katara's head jerked up. "Burden?"

Her mouth twisted into a scowl. "Do you think it is easy to know these things? To know the pain and suffering of others, and be unable to affect it? To know what is coming and be unable to act on it?" Kahina closed her eyes. "But Oracles are chosen for this duty. If we were to turn our backs on it...to defy what we must do...it would throw the balance off-kilter." Her eyes flashed to Katara. "We are only meant to know, not to act."

"Then why is this Pond here? Why do we even get to get a taste of that?" Katara asked.

"It is here because it is," Kahina murmured. "The Mother Willow put it here, knowing that only those worthy to drink its water would find it. Because sometimes, ignorance is not best."

Katara frowned, more confused than ever. It seemed like half of what the Oracle said made sense, and the other half did not. It was giving her a headache. Maybe this is why it was better for Zuko to do this, Katara mused. She wasn't sure she could understand it fully.

"Do you know who's going to pay for his enlightenment?" Katara hadn't meant to ask, not really. She didn't expect Kahina to tell her, and that was probably for the best.

"Yes."

Katara focused her gaze on Zuko. Her mouth twisted into a grimace. "I don't expect you to tell me who, but can you tell me…" She took a deep breath. "How badly is it going to hurt him?"

She heard Kahina's shallow intake of breath. Katara wanted to look at her, but she didn't want to risk seeing it in the Oracle's eyes. "It will hurt him very badly." Her voice was barely more than a whisper.

Katara squeezed her eyes shut as she felt her heart constrict painfully. She didn't want this for Zuko, but what alternative was there? He had known it, too. Whoever it was, even if it was her...Katara would help him through it. She knew it was likely he would try to self-destruct, eaten by guilt. Katara wouldn't let that happen.

Zuko was finally hers. Forever. She knew that. She accepted it. Wanted it. So this burden was hers to bear, too.

Zuko found himself floating above a volcanic crater. He was surprised to find he recognized it. It was one of the many peaks that rose above Capital City. The crater was cool and empty—except for the young man clad in orange and yellow that stood on the rim.

"Aang." Zuko's voice was hollow and wrong to his own ears.

"Yes." He looked and found that the Conduit hovered beside him, her mouth set in a grim line.

"What is this?" Zuko asked.

"I told you I would show you how this ends. So here we are." The Conduit pointed down to Aang. "Watch."

Zuko saw the Conduit appear then. She looked different from the woman floating beside him. It was hard to tell what exactly was different about her from the distance, but he knew something had changed.

He watched her fly over the lip of the crater and land before Aang. Even from where he was, he could hear the howling wind she commanded that blew up puffs of dust and volcanic ash. He watched Aang jump nimbly to his feet, brandishing his staff. He seemed to be saying something to her, but Zuko couldn't hear what was said.

"What good is showing me this if I can't hear it?" Zuko muttered.

"You don't need to hear. You just need to see."

Zuko scowled unhappily, but he kept his eyes trained on the figures below. The Conduit raised one foot and brought it down again. A jagged line of black rock shot toward Aang, who leaped aside. Zuko could see the Avatar's wide eyes and the way his mouth worked. He could almost imagine what Aang was saying: you don't have to do this! We don't have to destroy each other!

But the Conduit wasn't listening, or couldn't listen. She brought her hands up. A boulder followed her movements. With a powerful kick, the boulder went careening toward Aang, who dodged it again. He swung his staff wide and an arc of air sent the Conduit staggering backwards. But she recovered quickly, and Zuko saw the black flames that encased her arms.

The fight carried on. From where he observed from above, Zuko was suddenly reminded of a dance he had seen performed during one of his mother's plays. The Avatar and the Conduit circled each other, each lashing out but never landing a blow as they parried and blocked and fought. They were the other's equals, through and through.

At last Aang knocked the Conduit back with a wide blast of air. Zuko watched the Conduit skid across the rough crater on her back. When she jumped back to her feet, Zuko could tell, even from the distance, that her eyes were black.

"You're all powered up," Zuko said to the Conduit that floated beside him. "Like the Avatar state, but dark."

"You watched me do that in the desert. We are opposites, after all. Every tool, every advantage the Avatar has, I have one of my own. And I am every bit as powerful as he is," she drawled beside him.

"I don't understand." Zuko frowned, his eyes following the figures below as the Conduit sent blasts of black fire at Aang that he was hard-pressed to avoid. "You didn't want this. You didn't want to do this. What led you here?"

"It wasn't by choice." Zuko looked over at her and was surprised to see the Conduit's brow furrowed angrily. "Your sister is cunning, I'll give her that. What leads me here...to this...is that I underestimated her."

Zuko pressed his mouth into a thin line. Azula. He had nearly forgotten, with everything happening so quickly, that she had sent assassins to kill him. She had nearly succeeded too. If it hadn't been for the Conduit making an appearance in the desert and for Katara and Kahina healing him, Zuko would be dead.

He forced himself to meet her purple eyes. He clenched his jaw. "What did she do?"

"She sent her mongrels after us. They were to kill you, and capture me." Her eyes flashed dangerously as she glowered. "Given her...vast knowledge of my existence, I can imagine what her plans are." Her expression darkened and Zuko felt a chill run through him at the murderous scowl. "She found the way to contain me, with the Bonds of Enlightenment. As we speak, my once-loyal servants are carting me back to the Fire Nation. And I can't escape."

Zuko stared at her blankly. The Conduit...couldn't escape? Given her powers, Zuko didn't believe that was even possible. She had seemed so...invulnerable. That's why he and Katara had never planned to capture her themselves. Perhaps that was just a facade; he supposed that no one was invincible. He looked back down at a grim future in time to see the Conduit pummel Aang with a boulder that sent the Avatar crashing into the lip of the volcano.

"I know. I'm upset too." The Conduit snorted derisively. Her teeth bared in a sudden snarl. "I can only imagine what other tricks Princess Azula has up her sleeve. Whatever they are, it won't bode well for me." For a brief moment, her shoulders slumped and Zuko saw for the first time that the Conduit was not all-powerful. That realization was not comforting. "For all my strength, I am not infallible."

He sympathized with her. Zuko knew how that felt. He felt the same way in the desert when he couldn't protect Katara.

Zuko bit back the panic that bubbled up within him. If Azula had captured her, that did not bode well for himself or Katara, let alone for Aang. The possible future he was seeing play out below could become very real.

"Katara and I, we'll come rescue you—"

She cut him off with a wave of her hand. "No. Your path will not cross mine on Earth Kingdom soil again." She fixed him with a pointed look. "The Avatar is preparing to learn what it takes to stop me from the Sieshin Lord. What he fails to realize right now is that when he comes to face me, I won't be in control anymore. Azula will be pulling the strings...but I don't think even she understands the weight of what that means."

Zuko didn't know who the Sieshin Lord was or what Aang was doing with him, but he found it didn't matter much. All that mattered was hearing what the Conduit had to say.

Azula was behind this...and he wasn't surprised at all. He had suspected she had been plotting against him all these years since her escape. He'd tried to find her, though he supposed he hadn't looked very hard. In truth, he was hoping she would just...disappear. It was a foolish hope, and now he was paying the price. If he had known that she was capable of doing something like this, Zuko would have taken her far more seriously.

Below, Aang was picking himself up off the ground, swaying on his feet. The Conduit was advancing without hesitation. Zuko watched Aang close his eyes...and when he opened them, they were glowing white. His tattoos lit up and Aang charged forward.

"This is what happens if Aang can't break Azula's hold over me," the Conduit murmured. "It's not pretty. You might want to look away."

But he wasn't able to. In horror, Zuko watched as the two opposing sides met. The Conduit and the Avatar collided in a collision that seemed to shake the mountain itself. Light met dark and a bubble of power, black and white crackling against each other, swallowed them up. Even from where he floated above it all, Zuko heard the roar of power as the bubble grew. Inside of it, he could see Aang and the Conduit.

In a brilliant flash, the bubble burst. Zuko looked away from the blinding light. A hot, rancid wind washed over them, blowing his hair back from his face. When the light faded and Zuko was able to open his eyes, he looked down at the crater.

The Conduit and the Avatar were dead. Their broken bodies lay in the volcanic craters, laid out opposite of the other with their jangled limbs outstretched. Zuko was unnerved by how their bloodied corpses seemed to mirror each other even in death.

He only hoped it wouldn't come to this.