Published January 12, 2012

The next time Katara came, she brought tea. "From Iroh," she explained. "Since he can't see you himself – he's living in Ba Sing Se now." She slid the cup between the bars.

Ozai didn't take it right away. "And how is my brother?"

Katara frowned. "He's very well, actually." If he wanted pertinent information – like how Zuko often wrote to Iroh to ask for advice – he wasn't going to get it.

"Hm." Ozai seemed to be turning something over in his mind. Then, after a moment, he spoke again.

"Is Azula here?"

Katara looked surprised. And she was – not just because he was asking her a question, but because of the question itself. "No. Did … no one told you?"

"What?"

Katara looked almost embarrassed. She didn't look at him when she spoke. "Azula went insane. We think it started when Mai and Ty Lee betrayed her at the Boiling Rock prison – you heard about that, didn't you, when Zuko and our friends planned a jailbreak?"

Ozai nodded.

"My father and brother were among the escapees. Anyway, when her two best friends turned on her, Azula started getting paranoid. And when Zuko and I came to fight her during Sozin's Comet … well … she went kind of crazy. She's in a mental hospital now."

She dared to glance at him. There was no sympathy or sorrow in his expression, only condescending disappointment and bitterness.

He was remembering the last time he saw Azula, two days before Sozin's Comet. She had sounded … desperate, pleading with him.

She hadn't just lost a throne, as he had; she had lost her mind. She had been weak – weaker than he had thought Zuko was – and he hadn't realized it.

Katara's soft voice broke him out of his thoughts. "I'm sorry."

Ozai just glared at her. "No, you're not. You fought her, didn't you? You're part of the reason she's insane."

Katara looked at him. Then she set her jaw. "I meant, I'm sorry for what happened to her. But I'm not sorry for what I did." It had to be done, she thought but didn't say.

She rotated the cup in her hands. "You know, Zuko asked Iroh to fight you at Sozin's Comet."

Ozai looked up sharply. Katara continued, "Iroh wouldn't do it. He said it would be the wrong way to end the war, having a brother fight a brother. He didn't want to have to kill you, if it came to that."

He hadn't known. Ozai narrowed his eyes at the girl. "Why are you telling me this?"

Katara shrugged. "I don't know. I don't even know why I bother coming here."

They sat in silence for a moment. Then Katara said finally, "I know Zuko hopes your time here will put you on the right path. I guess I thought I could help with that."

"Then you'll be disappointed." He looked at her with dislike. "You're just another unwanted reminder."

"Reminder of what?"

Ozai didn't answer. There was brooding silence for a long moment, as Katara thought over his words. A new thought occurred to her.

"Are you jealous of me?"

Ozai was surprised at her directness. "What do you think?" he asked rhetorically. She had everything he didn't – youth, bending, freedom, power, a future …

Katara bit her lip. When she spoke, her voice was hard. "You brought this on yourself, you know. You and Azula. You were both born with a gift. You were born with power. But you abused it. There's a lesson to be learned from that." Then she stood and left, before he could make an angry response.