Disclaimer: AtLA is property of VIACOM and Nickelodeon. No profit is made from this story.

Katara woke up to the sound of footsteps. That wasn't right – blinking, she could see that it was still dark. Glancing up through her bedroom window, she could see that the sky was a deep blue-grey. It must be early morning.

The footsteps were louder now; she could see a light shining under her door. It grew brighter. Getting out of bed, Katara walked across her room and opened the door.

'Zuko?' She almost reached up to rub her eyes.

'Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up.'

'It doesn't matter, I'm a pretty light sleeper – what are you doing here at this hour?'

Zuko turned away, and Katara felt her heart almost stop. She reached out to grab his wrist. 'Zuko?' She tried to keep her voice calm, but nevertheless hysteria bubbled over.

He pulled away and she let go, continuing to refuse to meet her gaze. Katara's heart hammered away in her chest. Trying to steady herself, she took a deep breath. It did nothing to calm her nerves.

'Zuko, tell me what is wrong. I can help fix it.'

'Katara, believe me, this is something you can't fix.'

After what seemed like a century, in reality is was barely a few seconds, their eyes finally met. Katara did not know why the simple action made her feel so relived – maybe it was because somehow a little bit of Zuko was always showing in his eyes, no matter how hard he tried to hide it.

But this time Zuko was completely unreadable, and it frightened her. He sighed.

'There's an Agni Kai at sunrise.'

'Oh.'

'I'm in it.'

All of a sudden Katara couldn't feel her legs. She swayed. Quickly catching herself, she managed not to fall.

***

Some people can be like ice frozen above the water. Smooth and clear on the surface, you think you are able to see right through them, down into the depths of their souls, the ocean floor. Aang had always been that way – Katara had always understood him, the sources of his pain and happiness had been like a flowing river and she had only had to follow it to reach the end, the solution.

But Zuko was different – Katara had never really understood him, never understood his drive to change himself. She knew that there would be people out there who assumed that she was close enough to Zuko to understand him. But there had been days, when she had been living in the Fire Nation, when she would look at his face and wonder 'who is this man?'

***

The sun had begun to rise, but it was still cold.

Despite the hour, it was packed inside the stadium.

And although it was technically against the rules, Katara had managed to grab a waterskin on the way out of her room, and had hidden it in the folds of her dress. Just in case. And although she had promised herself not to, Katara glanced at the other end of the arena, to the nobleman. Toph had said his name, but Katara had chosen to not remember it.

Iroh was sitting at her side, Toph at the other. Sokka and Dad were there too Akako and Koji with them. A part of Katara had wanted to ask her apprentice to sit with her, but she had decided against it. This was something she needed to go through alone.

There was fire. Giant, towering flames – but Katara did not look at the fire. She kept her eyes on Zuko. Katara remembered watching him fight Azula. Of course, this Agni Kai was different; there was no comet to enhance Zuko's firebending.

There are some things in life that can't be explained. A mother will die not out of love, but something else entirely, to save her child. An entire race will fall, save for the boy that will save the world. A hundred years later he would be found in an iceberg. A heart could be broken by a promise. And the reason for that break could be the one thing that kept it from falling apart all over again, every single day.

And exactly one second before it happens, a waterbender will whisper 'no', an old man turns as if to ask what's wrong, and then the Fire Lord falls, clutching his stomach, now a horrible mixture of charred flesh and blood. The crowd roared. Toph gasped, and Iroh made a horrified choking sound. Katara couldn't move. She was frozen.

Then there was a roar, and Katara watched as Zuko kicked out with a leg. A semicircular-shaped tongue of fire lashed out across the arena, smacking the nobleman in the legs. He cried out, hitting the ground flat on his back. Zuko was still on the ground, yet had managed to draw back his fist. He burnt the nobleman in the side. Katara turned away so that she didn't have to see the Agni Kai end.

And now she knew how Zuko got his scar.

***

Staying up by someone's side all night isn't nearly as romantic as it sounds. It meant sitting in an uncomfortable wooden chair, which meant getting pins and needles in your legs. It meant dozing off, only to wake up to the sound of the aforementioned someone retching. It meant holding their hand, getting rid of the vomit. Waiting for them to regain consciousness.

An hour or so past midnight, Zuko stirred. 'What …?' His voice was dry and parched.

'Shhh. Go back to sleep.'

His hand slipped out of hers, and rested beside his side. 'Why don't you?'

For his second bout of consciousness, he was surprisingly aware. Katara wasn't sure if she should be pleased or concerned.

'I'm staying here to make sure you're alright.'

Zuko turned only his head, so that he could look at her. 'I remember. You healed me.'

Katara remembered all too well. 'There'll be some scarring on your chest, but nothing major. Once you're better I can try some more advanced techniques to see if I can remove them.'

He turned away from her. 'Just because you can't see scars …' he was losing consciousness, 'doesn't mean they're not there.'

Zuko submerged into the sea of oblivion, and Katara was left wondering who he had actually been talking about.

***

This Fire Festival was a lot different from the last one Katara had attended. For starters, she wasn't badly disguised in a purple cloak and wearing a mask. This time Sokka was actually having the time of his life – gorging himself on the festival foods. Koji had run off with a group of young firebenders, her father was helping with the fireworks – the man who was meant to be in charge of them had been bitten by a weasel-bat and had to take sick leave – while Akako had preferred to stay at Katara's side. They were watching two firebenders perform.

'Look at how these performers use different forms to waterbending.' Although this was technically meant to be a vacation of sorts, Katara still couldn't resist giving Akako a waterbending lesson – even if it was only a theory one. 'What can you tell me about them?'

Akako cocked her head to one side, thinking. 'Well, they're shorter.' She frowned. 'They use that … punching motion a lot.'

'That's because firebenders rely on a strong offense when fighting – there aren't many defensive firebending forms.'

'That's sort of the opposite of waterbending, isn't it?'

'What do you mean?' Katara turned to face Akako.

'Well, nearly all of the waterbending forms you've showed me block attacks – but there aren't really any,' Akako frowned, clearly searching for the right word, '… attack attacks.'

'Sure there are. There are ice-daggers, for starters. Master Pakku once told me that, if your aim's good enough, they can go straight through a body.' Akako's eyes widened, and she grimaced. 'Water-knifes can cut through pretty much anything,' mused Katara aloud, 'once, when Toph and I were in prison together, I used one of those to cut through a wooden cell, so I suppose they could slice skin as well … And you could use a water-whip to strangle someone …'

Akako's face was now deathly white. 'Y-you think?'

'Why hello ladies!'

Katara sighed. She turned around, even though she already knew it was Sokka. He had a wide, goofy grin on his face, and there was a slight stagger to his step. Although Katara knew that the festival caterers weren't providing beverages or food with alcohol in them, she knew that Sokka's sugar-induced state – the result of the cakes she had seen him stuffing into his mouth by the dozen – was very similar to that of drunkenness.

'Watcha talking about?' He walked over to Katara and slung one arm over her shoulder. She quickly shrugged it off.

'The many ways you can kill a person with waterbending,' said Akako, grinning, to Sokka.

'Oh …' Sokka nervously eyed Katara and her apprentice, and began to back away. 'I'll just be going – ohmygoshlookatthat!' He pointed up to the stage. Katara and Akako both spun around. Nothing was different. By the time they turned back, a blue-clad figure was stumbling away from them in the distance.

Katara glanced at Akako. The girl was biting down on her lip, her face bright red. They both began to laugh.

***

'Zuko?'

The door was ajar – he must be in there. Pressing her palm against the wood, it swung open for her. Zuko was sitting on his bed, hunched over, staring at the ground.

'The fireworks are going to start soon. Everyone's wondering where you are.'

He said nothing. By now Katara had walked close enough to Zuko to see that he face was completely blank. Even his eyes were devoid of emotion – which meant that something wasn't right.

'Zuko?'

He looked up at her. Something flickered in his eyes. 'Did Uncle tell you why the Agni Kai happened?'

'No.' Katara was surprised that she hadn't realized this sooner – she had just assumed that it was some sort of minor problem that the nobleman had escalated into an all-out fire duel. But the look on Zuko's face told her that it had been anything but that.

'I was at the meeting. Zheng called you a liability to the Fire Nation. He wanted the Southern Water Tribe to pay for the … expenses,' the word was pure bitterness, 'you had caused by staying here: food, bedding – he even wanted to charge you for the nurses that were taking care of you after you were poisoned!'

Katara felt her heart skip several beats. 'And so you …'

Zuko hung his head. 'Captain Zheng insulted your honor. And honor disputes are always settled by an Agni Kai.'

Katara stood in front of Zuko, placing one hand on his shoulder. Oh spirits, you are not going to cry now. Tears slid down her cheeks.

'I could have fought Zheng.' The name itself felt disgusting in her mouth, it was the name of the man who had caused Zuko so much pain. 'You know that.'

'Of course I do,' Zuko half-smiled, 'but it wasn't about that.' His face darkened. 'That wasn't all that Zheng said …' he looked down at the floor again.

'What did he say?'

Zuko's face colored. 'Some … stuff.'

Katara placed her hands on her hips. 'What stuff?'

'Aaah … well, about that … stuff.' Zuko rubbed the back of his neck, looking almost sheepish.

'Mmm-hmm?' Katara was not amused. She had learned the signs of 'bad news' from Sokka, and everything was there. The red face, the neck-rub, the avoiding of the actual subject. Usually, when Sokka was involved, it meant that all of the blubbered seal jerky had suddenly and mysteriously disappeared, and he needed her to cover for him.

'You see,' Zuko seemed to have accepted that Katara was going nowhere unless she got answers, 'Captain Zheng sort of … implied that … we, ah … had a … thing.'

'The stuff was actually a thing?' Katara resisted the urge to giggle.

Zuko was turning redder by the second. 'A thing, like a …'

Then Katara understood. She almost had to pick her jaw up off the ground. 'Oh. A thing.'

'Yeah.'

Now it was Katara's turn to flush red.

***

At first sight, the woman appeared crippled. She was hunched over, her face heavily lined. Her hair was long and grey with an almost silver look about it – almost pretty if not for the fact it was greasy and hanging in filthy knots down her back. The rags the woman wore were in muted tones: dull brown, earth tones – not the color of her nation.

But Hama wasn't being patriotic today. The time for that was soon arriving, for now she could afford sacrifice …

'Hama.' The voice was rasping. She glared down at Ozai. And spat on him. 'You disgust me.'

The man just laughed hoarsely. 'And yet you answered my summons.' He stood up, and walked over to face the waterbending witch. 'Tell me, how did you escape your imprisonment?'

The woman's eyes gleamed in the darkness. Slowing and deliberately, she raised one hand, and clenched it.

Ozai's entire body froze. Spirits, he couldn't move! For barely a second he was locked. His eyes met Hama's, and hers narrowed in malicious delight. She spread her fingers, and her hold over him was gone.

'You have no idea,' she hissed, 'how long I have wanted to do that.'

Ozai could have killed the woman right then and there. But he didn't. He had heard of her legendary abilities – to bend the fluids in a person's body, to crush them from the inside. And barely seconds ago, all of those rumors had been proved to him.

He smiled. And told her of his plan.

And by the time Ozai had finished, Hama was smiling too.

A/N: And so the plot thickens, mmm?

*cackles* xD

Please review!

- Writing a sugar-high Sokka was fun!