Okay, so I'm feeling sorta guilty that I've only been able to update every year. I decided to start the writing process earlier to at least quench the thirst. Thanks again for the reads and for those special reviewers that dropped me a thought! Enjoy this installment; I hauled ass to do this one!

"Just one final favor?"

She looked at him with furrowed eyebrows and a light frown. What right did he have to be asking for even more than what he was already receiving?

"I can't promise it," she said. "I have to hear it first."

"Take me around your country," he said. "This room is all I've actually seen of the Water Nation."

It was an odd request, not something she expected. It wasn't explicitly mischievous but it wasn't quite innocent either.

She found herself agreeing, and her heart might have even fluttered a bit.

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"Is it always this cold in the Water Nation?" the firebender asked, still shivering even after the two extra layers that she had provided him from the hospital's supply room.

"I'm surprised you need that much clothing to stay warm," she retorted. The Fire Nation citizens were really of a completely different species, weren't they? She noticed that he was also taking his sweet time walking over the snow and ice. "Come on!"

"I don't want to fall," he whined.

Katara rolled her eyes and traced her footsteps back to the firebender. "Come on," she growled, taking his hand and dragging him to move faster. "You're not going to fall as long as you move confidently."

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, watching the cloud of heat rise from her mouth.

He wasn't wrong to want to explore the Water Nation. The Water Nation was beautiful and there was no reason to deny that. The country hosted the deepest oceans known to mankind, the highest ice-tipped mountains, everything in blue, silver, white, and black undertones. In all her years living in the Water Nation, she never found any reason to leave the breathtaking landscapes of her home country.

The Water Nation primarily stretched out across the largest continent of the world, originating at the bottom pole of the world and creeping up to a fourth of the way up to the equator. There were hot springs, waterfalls, rivers and creeks—all sorts of wildlife migrated to the Water Nation during the dry seasons around the rest of the world. And because of all the water, there were all kinds of plant life as well, from mosses to conifers.

Of course there were many things that the Water Nation didn't have, but the land was so expansive there were was never a lack of anything to explore.

There was something so freeing about re-exploring her homeland, something so exciting about showing another person the beauty of what she had always thought beautiful.

Katara took him first to the ice sculpture park. Legend had it that the men of the Water Nation back in the day sculpted figures out of the ice in order to impress their lovers. There wasn't the tradition now, but the ice sculptures were nevertheless a tradition, and the Water Nation celebrated annually in this park to showcase their artwork.

"Beautiful," the firebender said. He gently ran his finger over a sculpture shaped like a tidal wave, tracing the shape's generous curve thoughtfully.

"You know, I might actually get to like this place," he said.

Katara didn't reply and chose to watch her frostbit reflection in the sculpture in front of her.

"I guess that's good since this country is going to be my grave, huh?" he said.

She heard the smile in his voice and deadpanned, "We burn the bodies we don't want in our soil."

The remark didn't faze him. "Well," he said. "That'd suit me." He looked up at her. "That's a proper respectful burial for us—to be born into the fire and pass away from the fire." His gaze shifted to the horizon. "It's probably not something I would have earned."

Katara studied him for a moment. "Is this related to your scar?"

The firebender smiled darkly.

"Why are you fighting for a nation that doesn't even respect you?"

"That's exactly why I'm fighting—to get my honor back."

She scowled. "So the more bodies you reap, the more honor you'll get?"

"Isn't that the way it is here, too?"

The firebender was right. Her own father had leapt up to his general status because of the number of fights that he had won, the amount of blood he had spilled, the weapons he returned with fresh Fire Nation blood.

So she didn't say anything back.

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She took him to the cliffs, a favorite place for many waterbenders to look at the ocean. From a distance, the overarching rock looked like it was trying to reach the moon, arched in a way that made it seem like the land was scared of what the black ocean would do to it in the night.

"That's why we call it Brave Point," she explained to the firebender.

"That's clever," he said. A smile traveled over his face, stopping at where the scar began.

She suddenly realized that he could probably never fully smile—and that after he got the scar, he probably found no reason to fully smile.

"The sea looks the same from here, you know?" he said. "Except we have a beach and I'm sure the water is a lot warmer." He paused for a moment, as if he remembered something. "Are your father and brothers in the war?"

She would have preferred if he hadn't remembered. Her heart immediately tensed at the reminder of the last time she had seen Sokka and her father. "Everyone's brother and father is in the war," she replied.

When hearing the scowl in her voice, the firebender turned to observe her suddenly darkened features. He didn't question it, but she could feel that he was aware that she was hurting.

Katara nodded in the direction of the ocean, water black and dark even under the white light of the waning moon. "Can you imagine how much blood has been spilled in it?" she asked suddenly.

Motionless, he continued to stare at the dark water. "The ocean is still blue, though."

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Katara even dared to take the firebender to her very special spot.

"I found this place when I was running away from home one day," she told him. "I come back here sometimes when I need to be alone."

She didn't mention that recently she had been there more often than usual.

He looked at the cavern with unjudging eyes. "It's peaceful," he said. "Why'd you run away from home?"

Katara hesitated. But the firebender was a dead man anyway, and he was a good listener.

She sat on the ground and leaned against the wall, in the same spot that she always did—where she had the clearest view of the moon and the stars. "My mother passed away and I didn't understand why the world let her go."

The firebender nodded and joined her on the ground, taking a seat on her right.

Katara found herself continuing, clutching the pendant around her neck. "She wasn't a waterbender but she was strong-willed and independent."

"Is that necklace from her?" he asked, his hand inadvertently reaching over to take the pendant in his hands. She let him, and their hands lightly grazed as she passed him the memento. "It's pretty," he said, as he neared her to get a closer look at the necklace.

She grew uncomfortable at the decreasing distance between them and turned away from him to take her necklace back into her own hand. The firebender leaned back against the wall when she retreated.

"Yes," she replied stiffly. "She was killed during a raid."

"What happened?"

Katara wasn't going to answer that question. What did the story ever matter to him, to his people anyway?

The firebender took the loud silence as her reply. "I don't really know you, Katara," he said. "But I know that you don't like the war. And I hope that it'll end one day." He laughed once without humor and looked at his hands. "But who am I to be saying something that momentous and that idealistic? I'm just going die tomorrow."

She continued to stare at the ocean.

"Hey Katara," the firebender called.

She turned towards him.

"Let's run away together."

Guys, yes, I sorta purposely made Zuko say honor. Haha!

Review please!

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