"drowning the moon"
She finds him in the dark, alone.
It's late: too late for little girls to be wandering awake on darkened ship decks,but Katara is getting less little by the day. And it's past the time when all good princes should be in their rooms sleeping, meditating, preparing to fight another day. But Zuko doesn't rest much these days, wondering how much blood the word "good" has left to give.
He's tired of thinking things like this.
"Want to hear a story?"
No.
"It's about the Avatar."
...go on.
"Ah. Right. Well. Once upon a time there-"
Is it that kind of story?
"It's a story. Listen first and complain later, okay? Or pretend I'm talking to the fish and ignore me. Anyway. Once upon a time there was a king who was greatly troubled."
Whose king?
"What?"
Whose king was he? From what country?
"His own. Doesn't matter, quit interrupting or this will never get anywhere."
Yes, it matters. What kind of information am I supposed to get out of this drivel if you don't even know what people he ruled?
"His own people. They were his people, and he was their king, and this is my story—oh, never mind. Getting you to listen is like getting a sane man to chew glass, why do I—"
Why was he troubled?
"…because he was in love with the moon."
Ah. A madman.
"No. He was a very brave, very noble king and so the moon loved him too, but there was a problem. See, the king loved the moon to the point that he couldn't bear a single night without her. Whenever the moon began to wane, as was her duty to do, the king's health would begin to weaken alongside."
A madman with a lunar allergy in reverse. Fascinating.
"And you're immune to romance. Hush. Each night the king begged the moon to stay, but how could she? Her task was to go and return; she couldn't defy her fate any more than a rock could turn to water or a tree learn to walk. Instead, she begged the king to travel the sky with her. But the king was bound by his own duties and could never abandon his kingdom."
A good king, then. Even if he was stark mad.
"I think so too. It's kind of sad, though, don't you think? Maybe that's one of the ways to distinguish a truly good king from a simply powerful one; a good king is willing to be unhappy for the sake of doing the right thing. A king who's nothing except powerful will just do whatever he wants."
…
"So they continued to live and love, suffering the separations. On the nights when the moon was hidden completely, her nature taking her too far to be seen, the king's heart would fall so low he chanced dying. Desperate, they turned to the Avatar for help."
Which Avatar? Water, earth, fire, or air?
"Don't know. He was the Avatar, right, and had been the Avatar for a very long time; it probably didn't matter much by then. People remember Roku as the Avatar first and a Firebender second, don't they?"
People remember Roku as the last Avatar anybody knew about.
"Things change. Anyway, the Avatar asked what each of the two was most afraid of. The moon said, 'That one day I shall leave and go too far to find my way back to him.' The king said, 'That one day I shall look up and see no way to remember her.'"
Idiots.
"…maybe. Or maybe your thinking is different when you know you're in love but don't know what to do about it. Maybe it shows you new things to fear. Maybe you have to learn new ways to be brave."
Maybe he shouldn't have been crazy enough to fall in love with a moon.
"Maybe he didn't have a choice. Whatever. The Avatar looked at the king and the moon, and he said that he could aid their suffering. But the price for this would be a heart."
What did he need a heart for? What would the Avatar do with it?
"What do you do with yours? But the lovers were shocked by the Avatar's words and refused to consider such a sacrifice at first. It was because the moon's heart was her anchor to the king's world, and the king's heart was his signal to the moon's world. If one were to vanish, their connection would be broken and they thought they'd be unable to reach each other.
"But as time passed, the king, being mortal, grew older and frailer; the moon feared his aging body would no longer be able to endure the pain of their separations. Yet still she couldn't stay with him and still he couldn't go with her. Finally, she went to the Avatar and implored him to protect them from the pain that would eventually befall them.
She was surrendering before the actual fight? The madman was in love with a coward, then. No wonder they were doomed.
"It's not cowardice to be ready for tragedy. And she wasn't scared for her own sake, after all. The moon said, 'Give us something that will be there when I am gone and something that will last beyond his end. I will give up my heart if you will give us something that will last forever.' Unfortunately, when the moon tried to take her heart out of her chest, her grief was so strong that the heart shattered in her hands. She began to weep, thinking all was lost."
How does anyone give up their own heart? That's impossible.
"It's a story; impossible things are easier in stories. I think. So, the moon was crying but the Avatar said, "Don't despair; love does not depend on distance or time. I will give you something more powerful than death or duty, something stronger than dreams or memory. I will give you hope."'
"The Avatar took the tiny pieces of the moon's heart and began his work. First, he raised a pillar of earth so tall it scraped the black sky. Standing on its top, he took the pieces and ignited them until each shard blazed with radiance. Then he froze each bright piece to preserve its brilliance. Finally, the Avatar summoned all the four winds and scattered the shining pieces across the night's surface until no dark corner was left without a point of light."
And?
"And that's why we have stars in the sky."
Stars.
"Yeah. Stars. What—why are you looking at me like that?"
Because that was one of the stupidest things I've ever heard. What was the point?
I don't know.You've been sulking all day and now you're sitting in the dark, brooding. Again. I thought a distraction would help. At least a little.
I don't need your pity. Or your silly stories.
"I know," Katara sighs, tired too. "But it's all I had to give."
The night continues, the ship keeps moving, and neither the prince nor the girl say anything else. Eventually, Katara sighs again and, bowing gracefully, leaves. Zuko is only vaguely aware of the teacup left behind, assuming its contents finished and forgotten. When he picks it up, however, he is surprised to find it full.
Inside, he sees the moon.
Author's Note: Believe it or not, Ripley, this segment was written long before the season finale. The legend Katara tells is based on nothing in particular, but rather takes its cue from the general formula of folk tales that deal with magical brides and grooms.