Published December 9, 2011

Author's Note: Thank you for such enthusiastic reviews! You've motivated me to update quickly. This chapter turned out a bit longer than I'd planned (considering it's a "drabble"). Please, let me know what you think!

Ozai had more or less resigned himself to solitude. The only people he came into contact with were the guards who brought him food. Some were still terrified of him, the former Fire Lord and Phoenix King, who had once wielded so much power. But once they got used to his angry silence, some mock him for failing to defeat a child and for his pathetic state now.

He knew he was getting sick, but he didn't care. He had lost the human instinct to fear death. He no longer cared whether he lived or died. His life was nothing.

He was slightly surprised when the Fire Lord and a teenage Water Tribe girl came into his cell, but he shrugged it off indifferently. He refused to meet the two teenagers' gazes; but his eyes flickered up to glance at them.

Ozai was the first to break the silence. "I didn't think I'd see you again."

Zuko set his jaw. "Believe me, this is the last place I'd like to be."

"Oh, my sentiments exactly." Ozai's eyes fell on the girl in blue. Her expression was neutral, but her eyes were studying him intently, taking in his ragged clothes and disheveled hair. "And this is?"

"My friend," Zuko answered simply.

The girl looked at Ozai steadily. "My name is Katara, and I am the only waterbender left of the Southern Water Tribe." She said this calmly, with a kind of defiant pride.

"How nice for you," Ozai sneered.

Katara adjusted the water pouch strapped across her chest. "I have healing abilities, too. That's why I'm here."

"I don't want your help," Ozai growled. He didn't want anything from them.

Something briefly flared up in the girl. "Don't want to accept help from a water peasant? Don't want to stoop that low?"

Ozai just scowled.

"Quit trying to act proud," Zuko burst out. "It's pointless. You lost it all. All you have left is your life – and you're going to keep it, whether you want it or not."

Ozai seethed for a moment; Katara thought his eyes smoldered the same way Zuko's did when he was angry or hateful. After a moment his broad shoulders sagged in defeat.

Katara knelt down next to the bars, as close as she could get. She could feel him watching her as she uncorked her canteen and swirled the water in the air and around her hand, which she stuck through the metal bars. His eyes were still narrowed in suspicion, but she also saw a flicker of curiosity. She wondered if he had ever seen a waterbender before. Probably not.

His surprise and curiosity only increased as she moved the water over his arms and chest. Her hand hovered just above his clothes, guiding the water over him. He could feel his blood moving beneath his skin; the aching subsided; he almost felt strong again – at least as strong as any normal, healthy person.

Zuko knew the feeling. Katara was a healer. She took away as much pain as she could. She soothed people who were hurting, physically and emotionally.

"Better?" Katara asked. Ozai just shrugged. He was almost, but not quite, disappointed when she guided the water back into her container. He might have liked to feel her healing him a bit longer, but he didn't want them here anyway.

"I won't be coming back here," Zuko promised. "Good-bye." He turned on his heel and walked away. Katara glanced back at Ozai a moment longer before following her friend out.

Ozai thought about thanking her; but he changed his mind.