Chapter 2: First Impressions

"Sokka, I'm back!" Katara banged against a wooden door with her foot a few times, unable to open the door with her arms occupied. Zuko was absolutely exhausted, her meaning of living 'close by' didn't make sense to him at all. They must have walked through the forest for at least an hour or two, and sustaining a flame in his weakened state for a prolonged period of time, had worn him out. His right ankle was sore from the constant weight of his body, as he was trying to keep his broken one free of pressure and pain.

He lifted his face to see a small house that looked like it had been abandoned for many years. The trees nearby had grown, intertwining its branches into the side of the house, perfectly blending in with the rest of the forest in the darkness. He learned quite a few things about Katara on their walk here. Since he was too tired and occupied to talk, she had filled in the awkward gaps of silence with things about herself. She was currently 17—he found himself surprisingly pleased that she was younger than him, not that he admitted to her— and she had a brother named Sokka who five years older than her. He had been her only family for as long as she can remember, and they lived like nomads, always moving from place to place. She and her brother were traveling through the forest yesterday morning when they decided to stay in the small house for a while. She had recalled that she was out hunting in the morning, but had found him instead.

"I heard something crash and break through the trees, so I went over to where I thought some dead animal may have fallen through, and I found you." She laughed at the memory. "At first I thought you were dead, but I felt your pulse and thought it was a miracle that you didn't die on your way down."

He snorted and slightly rolled his eyes. "Please, I wouldn't die that easily." She raised an eyebrow at him. "Yeah, okay, I guess I was lucky," he said with a sigh of defeat. He figured his uncle was worrying about him, but soon cast the thought aside knowing that his uncle would be waiting back at their farm with some fresh tea. Zuko smiled at the picture, and put his energy into sustaining the fire at his palm and walking straight; while trying not to think about the strange girl next to him.

Zuko heard quick footsteps from inside the house, and watched as the door was abruptly swung open and saw a large man—who he assumed to be Sokka—emerge from the house. He held the same blue eyes and tan skin as Katara, dark brown hair that sat messily on top of his head, and beard stubble covering the lower half of his face.

"Katara! Where do you think—" he paused as he caught a glimpse of Zuko, who decided to keep his head down, not wanting to see the deep frown that creased Sokka's forehead. Worry, confusion, and anger seemed to radiate from his body. "Hurry up and come in," he grumbled, "You can explain to me once you're inside."

Zuko felt Katara shift under his weight and stepped into the house, as he limped and followed her lead. She set him down on the floor, his back leaning against a hard wall, and he heard Sokka shut the door and walk back into the room.

"Sokka could you get me my water canteen? He's injured and I promised I would finish healing him when we got back." Katara called to her brother, and turned to face him.

Zuko released a quiet sigh of relief as he sat down, his feet no longer under the weight of his body. He lifted his face to see Katara pull down her hood revealing her light brown hair, flowing into waves down her back and framing her face.

Sokka frowned at his sister. "Katara, why are you—"

"He knows I'm a bender," she said, cutting him off. Sokka's eyes widened at her statement and shot a glare back at Zuko. "But you know I can heal faster that way," Katara said and stepped in between Zuko and her brother with her hands in front of her. "Besides…He's a bender too! He bends fire."

In a split second, Zuko watched as Sokka roughly pushed Katara out of his way, making her crash into the other wall, and abruptly grabbed the collar of his shirt, forcefully pulling him up to meets Sokka's enraged face.

"Firebender," he growled through his teeth. "Who are you? And what do you want? Based on your answer I may just kill you right here, right now."

Zuko was utterly dazed, the wound on the side of his neck had ripped open again, and he could feel his blood slide down his neck. He looked up into Sokka's face and saw his eyes widen as their eyes met.

"Those eyes…" he stared intensely at Zuko's face, Blue meeting gold. "I haven't seen gold eyes like yours in twelve years… and I'll never forget it. You're definitely—"

"Sokka!" he heard Katara yell. "What are you doing?" She glared at her brother in confusion and anger. He blinked, as if he remembered that Katara was still there, and Zuko felt the grip on his collar loosen slightly. Sokka turned his face over to meet hers, he opened his mouth but no words came out. Zuko watched as he seemed to struggle with his words, and swiftly turned his head to look back at Zuko's face, and with a final glare, he let go of his shirt. Zuko fell back down on the hard floor and let out a groan in pain as he landed on his tail bone and lower back, biting back curses.

"Just heal him." Sokka said in a low voice, and Zuko watched him swing open the door and step outside.

There was a second of utter silence before Zuko let out another curse in pain; he reached up to his neck and felt hot liquid smear onto his hand.

"Zuko, I'm so sorry, I had no idea this would happen." Katara quickly stepped to his side and place her hands to his neck. "I've never seen him act like that before. I should have never told him you're a bender. He must have been really mad, jeez, I—" Zuko pulled his clean hand up to her mouth to stop her from speaking. He felt her pause in confusion and he looked at her face, more exhausted than before.

"It's fine. Just—heal this, please," he breathed out painfully.

She nodded quickly as he let his hand drop from her face, trying hard not to recall the feeling of her skin and lips against him palm. Katara reached for her canteen, popping off the lid in a fluid motion, she bended the water out to her palm. The water coated her right hand like a glove and began to glow a brilliant blue. Zuko had expected pain when she pressed her hand over his neck, but felt immediate relief and a cool sensation over his broken skin. He fought the urge to scratch his neck as he felt his skin and muscles mend together. He looked over at Katara in the corner of his eyes, thankful that she had her eyes closed in concentration. He felt his cheeks warm up, recalling that he never spent much time with girls. He had always lived with his uncle in these mountains, practicing his bending.

Katara slowly opened her eyes, taking another deep breath, and Zuko quickly darted his eyes back to staring at the plain wall. She removed her hands from his neck, bending the water back into the canteen and looked down at him with a slight frown on her face. "How does your neck feel?"

He pushed himself up and raised his hand up to his neck, feeling smooth skin; there was no trace of a deep gash that marred his neck just moments before. He cautiously rotated his head, stretching the muscles and pulling his shoulders back, but felt nothing.

"Amazing," he breathed out and looked at Katara. "Nothing feels out of place. Thank you." He grinned at her. She averted her gaze downwards to her hands as she started to fidget with her fingers.

"That's good," and sighed in relief. "But… I can't heal your broken ankle right away. You see, skin and muscles are easier to mend, but bones really have a mind of their own. They like to heal by themselves..." She looked at him apologetically.

Zuko let out a small laugh. "Katara, I'm more than grateful for you even helping me out in the first place. Not everyone has a heart like that you know."

Katara's face relaxed, "Well, even if I can't heal it completely in one night, I can do treatments for your ankle everyday so it'll definitely heal faster." Her eyebrows came together as if she was trying to remember something. "Bones are natural healers, it'll usually take about 40 days for a broken bone to heal completely, but I can get you up and running in about 10." She smiled while nodding her head in approval. "So until you're healed, you can stay with Sokka and I."

Zuko frowned as he remembered what happened a few minutes ago. "You know, I don't think your brother really likes me—he did after all, throw me up against the wall and threatened to kill me."

Katara sighed at his words and looked up towards the door where her brother had left. "I'll go talk to him right now," she said as she stood up and starting walking to the door. "Just make yourself comfortable and I'll make sure Sokka understands your situation."

He nodded in thanks and started to shift around, careful of his broken ankle and tried and find a comfortable spot. "Oh—and Zuko?" he heard her calling him and turned his face to the direction of her voice. She was standing outside the house and poked her head in so that he could only see her face, two sparkling blue eyes looking down at him.

"I think your eyes are rather pretty, so don't let him get to you."