Chapter 3
Zuko felt warmth flood into his veins as the sun crowned the horizon.
Katara had stirred him about an hour before, it had been comforting to wake up to her blue eyes looking at him. She was beautiful in the dawn with her hair curling around her features in the wind. He wished he could stare at her for the rest of his life, but then he remembered the events of the day before. His mood fell considerably.
Now he sat at Appa's head seething. He didn't quite know how Katara was feeling on the inside but the dead look in her eyes after they received the news terrified him. She looked like a shell, like a husk of the powerful woman she used to be. He wanted his father to pay for making her like that.
It was Ozai's fault. Zuko wanted to turn around and wait at the doors of the palace for his father's return. Zuko desired to watch the firelord burn on the front steps of the monsters own house. Zuko felt violent and vengeful. It took every ounce of discipline he had not to explode.
It wasn't just how Katara was feeling that upset him. He also thought of how the world must be feeling. There was no way the news of the Avatar's death had gotten out to the corners of all four nations yet. That meant somewhere out there someone was going about their normal day unaware that the life as they knew it was on the brink of destruction. They didn't know how a single death could turn the world on its axis.
Zuko had never been that close to the Avatar himself. Over the weeks they spent together they had developed a sort of friendship and Zuko respected him. Aang was a powerful bender, loyal, and merciful, sometimes too much so, but he had always been Zuko's pupil and Zuko was his teacher. The kid had always been more of a means to and end, no matter how horrible that sounded.
Zuko needed to capture him so he could go home, Zuko needed to train him so the world was safe. Him and Aang never really clicked. The avatar was immature and unfocused but Zuko didn't want him dead. In honesty Aang was the only one who really had a chance against Ozai and now he was gone. The last hope of the world destroyed and retribution was in order.
Zuko glanced back at Katara. Her expression was neutral as she bent the clouds around them. They were lucky that it was a fairly cloudy day and katara only really needed to focus on the sunny areas. They had been skimming the top of the clouds for a while now and zuko couldn't ignore that it was beautiful. They had turned pink, orange, and purple. Watching Katara was the best part. Her form was impeccable. She crafted the swells around them with skill and precision.
Appa finally came to a thick, low, cloud bank they could just fly over and Katara sat down and scooted towards the edge of the saddle closer to Zuko.
"How are you doing?" She said, concern etched on her face.
"Pretty okay, it's a little cold but I'm not tired yet."
She turned away, not meeting Zuko's eyes.
"No I meant...with Aang." She said quietly.
Zuko frowned. "I dont really know, honestly. All I feel is anger. I'm angry we didn't win. I'm angry at my father, so, so angry at him. I'm angry at the universe for letting this happen. I'm angry at myself because what if this my fault? I feel like I didn't teach Aang enough. We didn't practice enough, he wasn't prepared. But mainly I'm angry at Ozai. He's a disgrace, he killed so many." He made you cry. Zuko didn't add that part.
Katara was silent for a while, like she was deep in thought. Zuko knew she would speak when she was ready.
"That's what I felt like when mom died." Zuko turned to look at her. A silent tear rolled down her face. "I was so angry and I was out for blood. When we faced Yon Rah…" she took a deep breath. "I thought I would kill him, I knew I would kill him. I was prepared for it. But I guess what Aang said-"
Zuko interrupted. "It wasn't anything that Aang said that made you spare him. It was you. You showed him mercy. Not Aang. You."
Katara pulled her knees up and rested her head on her arms. Her voice was quiet and cracking, "That's a side effect of living with the most important person in the world for a year. You lose yourself."
Zuko stared at the sunrise. She continued, her voice a little more confident. "But I found myself too, I learned things about myself I never would have learned holed up in the Southern Water Tribe. I helped people and I learned things, and it wouldn't have been possible without Aang." Katara turned to Zuko. "And it's not your fault, we did the best we could, and now...now where just gonna have to do better."
Zuko gazed at her. The morning light made her skin glow. He knew he shouldn't blame himself and her saying that fact confirmed in his head that there was nothing he could do. Calm settled over him, like the calm he felt when Katara healed him, cool and refreshing. Wrath still writhed within him like a dragon and he new that the dragon would not be calmed without proper retribution but for the time being tranquility spread over his chest. Now Zuko wanted Katara to be okay. She put on a courageous facade but he knew that she was grieving deeply. Suddenly something on the horizon caught her eye.
She sat up into a crouch and pointed at a spot of land through the clouds on the horizon.
"That's the island." Her and Zuko made eye contact. "Bring me slowly down to the water."
Zuko followed her directions and let Appa make a slow descent down the the sparkling sea. Out of the corner of his eye Zuko saw Katara stand and begin a complicate movement with her arms.
As the dropped through the storm front a sort of hole opened up for them and the clouds began to unnaturally swirl around them. Appa was completely encased by the dark grey thunderheads that moved like a coiled snake poised at the waterbender's command. He saw lightning flash somewhere within the storm and a chill went up his spine. Zuko's robes where soaked with mist and as they dropped down beneath the thick storm. Thick sheets of rain began to fall all at once.
Zuko whipped his head back and saw Katara's arms mimicking the pattern of the rain. No, not mimicking, controlling. Zuko was breathless he had never seen such amazing power from bending except from Aang at the North Pole. She was commanding the entire storm.
"Hey!" She shouted at him as a crack of thunder rumbled his chest. "Stop staring and drive!"
He quickly turned to sea the churning sea rushing towards them. Over his shoulder he heard her yelling again.
"Get me as close to the water as possible!"
He obey her order and he brought Appa down towards the surface. His huge paws skimmed the surf and waves began to lap onto the saddle.
Zuko was quickly losing his grip on the slick reins and he held on more so to stay on the bison than guide him. Appa was eerily quiet and Zuko quickly wondered if he had done things like this before.
Almost suddenly something switched in the atmosphere. The space they were flying through calmed and the rain began to form a roof over his head. Zuko glanced at Katara once more and saw she was in the same stance she took when stopped the rain during their confrontation of her mother's killer. He was just as impressed this time around. The wind stilled and all was silent.
The tempest raged just outside of their little bubble, pounding on the outside like rain on a glass window.
Zuko couldn't do anything but stare. For a few minutes he tried to wrap his head around what she had done. Katara, simple Katara from the little village he had marched into only a year ago had just summoned a storm from afew dark clouds. He needed to stop underestimating her.
He saw a dark mass in the distance as a they grew closer he could tell it was the Island.
Zuko heard Katara speak up from behind him.
"If I remember correctly his house is near the middle of the island. The village is on the eastern shore but since we're coming from the west we shouldn't be spotted. I'll bend some fog just incase. I won't be able to keep it up for long and we will have to find a body of water to fly along." Zuko nodded as katara bent away their little water umbrella. The rain had begun to slow. Zuko didn't know if it was Katara's doing or if the storm had decided it was done. As they neared to shore Zuko saw the mouth of a river and steered towards it.
Tendrils of fog began to rise besides them and soon they were completely encased Zuko couldn't see anything in front of him.
"Fly to the right a little we'll be at the mouth of the river in about two minutes."
Katara said quietly.
Zuko followed her directions, "how can you see through this fog?" he said, squinting to no avail. Zuko could barely see Appa's horns in front of him.
"I can't, but I can sense the currents in the water, like you can sense when the sun is rising."
"How did you know that?"
"You wake up every morning the second the sun comes over the horizon, I'm not stupid."
"How did you know that!? Are you watching me? Because that's creepy." Katara scoffed. He could almost hear her roll her eyes. "I'm not watching you. Our rooms were next to each other in the Western Air Temple and at Ember island. You were basically my alarm. When you got up to "meditate", or whatever it is you did, I knew that it was probably time for me to get breakfast started for everyone."
"Oh" Zuko hadn't realized that anyone had noticed him. He didn't think much of the fact that when he came back from warming up by himself, no pun intended, before he started firebending practice with Aang, that Katara had begun breakfast. He just thought she was an early riser too. A dark thought entered his mind and Zuko frowned. There would be no more warming up with Aang anymore. Zuko tried to shake it off.
"So where are your waterbender senses leading us now?" Zuko inquired.
"Well, we're about to come to the river and enter a wooded area." She was right. All of the sudden there were sounds of a forest. Birds started singing and frogs began to make noise. There was the rustle of the breeze in the trees and the soft lapping of the water below them.
"I'm impressed." Zuko raised his good eyebrow.
"I literally created a storm half an hour ago and this is what your impressed with." She dead-panned.
"Hey, that was awesome but you were a little occupied so I couldn't compliment your storm summoning skills at that exact moment."
Zuko barely heard her snicker to herself.
They flew slowly as they went farther down the river. Katara periodically gave Zuko quiet directions but the farther they went he could tell she was getting tired and anxious. Appa was obviously nervous; not being able to see where he was going, but he seemed to trust Zuko steering him and stayed quiet.
"I don't really know exactly where his house is. Sokka never explained it in detail." Katara said about an hour into traveling down the river.
"How does Sokka know Master Piandao?" Zuko had thought that Katara just new him from the white Lotus and had just stopped on the island, not long enough to build up a relationship of any kind.
"He taught him swordsmanship back before the eclipse."
Zuko turned to look at her.
"He taught Sokka? How do I not know these things?"
Katara have him a funny look.
"For one, I have no idea how you don't know that, he hardly ever stops talking about it, and two, why does it matter?"
Zuko smiled to himself.
"Master Piandao taught me how to use my duo swords when I was first banished. We took refuge at his house at first because he was a friend of my uncles, I didn't know he was in the white lotus at the time." Zuko looked at the fog emptily. Memories of that time began to trickle in. "He really helped me, he taught me that even with being banished and dishonored. that I wasn't completely useless. Generally fighting with weapons is disgraceful for benders in the Fire Nation but with the help of my uncle he showed me that I could incorporate bending into swordsmanship, at the time I didn't appreciate it but after a while I realized that his advice really helped me in those first few years. He gave me confidence and helped me get over my scar, or at least showed me that being half blind in one eye didn't have to hold me back."
Katara was silent. Too silent. He turned to look at her. She had an odd look Zuko couldn't quite place and her eyes were wide and round. Anxiety creeped up his throat.
"Katara? Katara what's wrong?"
She swallowed and it was a moment before she spoke.
"Zuko…" she paused think hard about what she would say next. "Zuko, does your scar… does your scar have something to do with why you were banished."
Zuko knew this would happen one day. Eventually everyone asked about it. He never told anyone the same story but it had been weighing in his chest for so long he was finally ready to. And he trusted Katara so much and he cared for her so much that not telling her felt like lying to her, and he never, ever, wanted to lie to her. He squeezed his eyes shut and prepared to start the story when she spoke up again this time she sounded spooked.
"What is that." Her voice was as quiet as a whisper. Zuko followed her gaze to a shadowy mass not ten feet in front of them.
His body stilled, like a piece of prey caught in the crosshairs of a predator. Zuko had been on edge for the past four days. He raised his hands in an attack position.
The silhouette cleared up a little and it revealed itself to be a boat house. Zuko breathed a sigh of relief and he heard Katara do the same. He didn't let his guard down completely and was about to turn back to Katara when he saw the pattern of a lotus tile on the side of the building. He could barely make it out but he held up a small flame and the image became more concrete. To a normal passerby it would have just been a decorative addition or maybe a family crest but Zuko wasn't fooled. He locked eyes with Katara.
"We're here. "
