Disclaimer: Dear Santa, I would really REALLY like to get Avatar: The Last Airbender for Christmas this year. Because I know that me owning the show is a next to impossible request, I'm sending you this letter now in the hopes that, come Christmas, you'll have somehow arranged for me to own the show :)

*

It was cold. Katara was aware of that. And even though she was curled up inside multiple blankets, she was also aware that it was raining.

That's odd, we've been travelling for a few days now. Why haven't we reached the South Po-?

Then she remembered.

*

'Thank-you,' said Pakku – he looked tired, she noted – as he stood up, brushing the palms of his hands together as if to wipe away the memory of the last few day's events.

'I'm just sorry we weren't here to help sooner,' admitted Katara softly.

'It isn't your fault,' interjected Suki, her voice firm, 'there was no way that you could have known that the attack was going to happen. Nobody knew ...' The silence that followed was marred only by Sokka's cooing – he was holding Saika, and was completely absorbed with his small daughter.

'Do you have any idea who did this?' asked Zuko.

'No,' said Pakku, 'the attackers were dressed in black, and they took extreme care not to show which nation they were from – not a single one of them used bending, even if they had been able to.'

'Then they must have wanted to keep their identities a secret,' mused Zuko, 'if they took such great care – the nation that these people belonged to –'

'The disgrace would be unimaginable,' finished Pakku simply, 'the repercussions ...'

'Everyone wants the Water Tribes to be restored to their former glory – especially the central Earth Kingdom,' continued Zuko, 'who desperately need to start trading again. And if I remember correctly, the Earth King's armies are a force to be reckoned with. Admiral Nasou will hear of this.'

'And then what?' asked Sokka, who had apparently been completely tuned-in to the conversation the whole time. 'What happens next?' Something in his voice broke slightly, and Sokka's eyes narrowed.

(He was standing in smoking ruin of what once was his home holding his infant daughter while the mother of the aforesaid child talked about the dire consequences of unprovoked attack on a developing nation with the Fire Lord.)

Zuko closed his eyes, for a second it looked as if he were praying, and breathed in deeply. 'I'll go back to the Fire Nation and get Toph. Then we'll go to the Earth Kingdom and interrogate all of the officials there, and then we'll go back to the Fire Nation and ask them. Someone has to know – we'll find them. Toph will be able to tell the instant someone seems to be hiding something, then we'll have a lead. Then I'll go back to Ba Sing Se and get the Earth King to pledge his armies to the cause and we'll hunt them down. I'll probably sneak in disguised or something like that, to get to the heart of the base and discover who's really behind it all, and –' Zuko's fist clenched, an electric blue spider web popped and crackled around it –

'I'm going with you.'

There was silence.

'Um, Katara,' began Sokka tentatively, 'before Sparky here goes and blows up stuff, he has to go to Shei Lo or whatever first. Right?' Zuko nodded.

'I know. I'm going to Sho Lei with Zuko.'

More silence.

'Katara,' Suki's voice was gentle, 'Zuko really has to leave for Sho Lei today, remember? Didn't you want to see Hakoda and Gran Gran?'

'I know.' Katara pursed her lips, her jaw set. 'But I have to go with Zuko.'

It was obvious that nobody knew what to say. Several times Suki opened her mouth as if to speak, but each time she shut it – worry growing in her eyes. The worry lines in Pakku's forehead deepened, but he said nothing.

'Why?' The hurt in Sokka's voice was evident.

'I have to do this.'

'No. You don't.'

'Sokka ...'

'What?' Sokka spun around to face Suki. 'Katara doesn't have to do this at all! There are going to be people we love at the western tribe who are hurt, and they're going to need Katara to heal them – but she's decided, oh no, they can bleed and wait –'

'Sokka!'

Sokka's eyes turned shiny and bright, '–For you to finish your little field trip with Zuko, which is obviously more important to you!'

'No, it's not more important to me!' snapped Katara. 'I love you all equally – but I owe Zuko this.'

'Katara.' Everyone turned to face Zuko. 'You don't have to do this. Sokka's right, you can't go to Sho Lei with me, you're needed in the western tribe. You don't owe me anything.'

'Don't make my choices for me, Zuko. And don't say I owe you nothing, because that's a lie.' Katara turned away from the small group. 'Zuko, we have to leave now if we're to get to Sho Lei in time to meet Admiral Nasou. Goodbye everyone.'

It was only later, as Appa flew away, that the tears began to fall.

*

She looked up. The sky was dark grey, fringed with storm silver and pearl-white where weak beams of moonlight shone through the clouds. For several minutes Katara said nothing, and listened to the rain fall. Only when the raindrops began to fall on her cheeks did she sit up, wiping them away with the back of her hand. Looking up, she could see Zuko – or at least the back of his head and his shoulders – sitting on Appa's head.

'Zuko?'

The figure remained motionless. Katara crawled up along the saddle, until she could lean over the edge and talk properly to Zuko.

'You should get some sleep – I'll fly Appa.'

Zuko said nothing. His face stayed turned away from hers.

'Zuko?'

Katara slid down, out of the saddle and onto Appa's head, next to him.

'You okay?'

Zuko raised his chin slightly, still not looking her in the eyes. 'I'm fine, Katara,' he said tersely.

There was a brief pause.

'No you're not.'

'How do you know?' snapped Zuko, turning suddenly to look at her. 'Are you me? Do you know what I'm thinking? Do you regularly take trips inside my head and analyse every single thought of mine?'

'Zuko –'

'Do you understand that I can do this on my own and that I don't need you to help me? Don't you get anything at all? I don't need you, Katara! I can do this on my own and you don't owe me anything!

'You were needed at the South Pole but you deserted everyone there because of something that you supposedly owe me and how do you think that makes me feel? All of a sudden I'm responsible for people who are hurt not being healed because you chose me over them!'

'Zuko!' Katara's voice broke as she said his name.

He stopped suddenly, turning away again. Closing himself off. If this had been several months ago, Katara would have been crying by now – tears sliding down her cheeks, her heart hammering away in her chest because she was becoming submerged in an ocean of pain and equally painful memories.

But, of course, it wasn't several months ago. It was now. And Katara was really mad.

'I. Owe. You. Everything.'

'No, you don't!'

Something inside Katara snapped. 'You say you don't need me, Zuko, and maybe that's true, but have you ever once considered that maybe it's the other way round and I need you? And, for the record, what I did was my decision – not yours. Sure, you were a contributing factor into the choice I made but it was my decision alone and –'

'But this remains my burden too because you just as good admitted that if it hadn't been me you would have stayed at the South Pole –'

'I said nothing of the sort!'

'If it had been anyone else you would have gone to the western tribe to heal the injured! But because it was me and you need me you abandoned your people! It's my fault that the injured are staying that wa-'

'It was MY decision, Zuko!'

'Yet you admitted that I influenced it!'

'Of course you did! You just don't get it, do you?'

'I guess I don't. Do a better job of explaining yourself and maybe I will then.'

Infuriated, Katara clenched her hands. 'Fine!'

There was silence.

'Whenever you're ready ...'

Katara struggled to find the right words. 'I – you're – you –'

'I'm what?'

Katara made an exasperated sound. 'You're YOU. You're special to me and of course you're going to influence my decisions in a completely different way than, say, Sokka would because of who you are and what you've done for me!'

Zuko laughed hoarsely. 'What I've done for you?'

Katara nodded, her mouth a thin, straight line.

'I shouldn't be special to you, Katara. I'm the reason Aang is dead. Instead of 'needing' me, you should do the smart thing and keep hating me.'

Katara said nothing for a few seconds. The next time she spoke, her voice was small and teary. 'Does our friendship really mean that little to you? Would you dispose of it that quickly, just so I could do what you think I should?'

'Don't think of me that way, your friendship means the world to me, but I'm undeserving of it.'

'Nobody deserves love, Zuko, and I suppose the same could be said for true friendship. I can't control how I feel about you, and it's unfair of you to tell me to be otherwise.'

'Then I apologize. In hindsight, what I said was cruel and wrong.'

Everything had become so unbearably formal. Katara's chest felt tight.

'Goodnight, Zuko,' she said stiffly, before standing up and leaving his side.

Katara didn't turn back once to look at Zuko – for what? A sign of regret, perhaps – as she curled up in Appa's saddle, wrapping blankets around her for warmth, all the while wishing that it had ended differently. Why hadn't she been able to explain anything to him? Sighing unhappily, she yanked the blankets up to her shoulders and drew her knees up until they almost reached her chin.

Katara didn't have nightmares that night. She was also unable to sleep.

*

Everything changed after the argument. Zuko stopped speaking to Katara unless it was absolutely necessary, and Katara stopped talking to Zuko full-stop, out of a combination of anger and hurt. As a result of this, a good percentage of Katara's time was spent in silence while she sat in Appa's saddle with her chin in her hands, watching clouds go buy and feeling a knot form in the edge of her shoulder blade. All in all, a decidedly boring experience.

For his part, Appa flew well and fast. A part of Katara wondered if the bison had grown since the day she had first seen him, but then again Appa had always been huge to her – maybe she was just imagining things. Either way, they were making excellent time.

She did sneak several glances Zuko's way every now and again, just to see how he was doing. For his part, Zuko seemed okay – maybe a little distracted and tired, but that was to be expected. Sometimes she caught him looking her way, too, but of course neither of them said anything about it.

*

A few days later – two or three, Katara had lost track of time – they reached the north-western Earth Kingdom shores. Zuko broke the silence by telling her this.

'Sho Lei is probably a day's flying from here,' he said, 'if we don't make any stops.'

'Well we need to,' replied Katara almost coldly, 'I want to –'

'We can stop somewhere before we arrive and you can freshen up there if you want to. I already thought of that.'

A little touched, for a moment she was at a loss for words. 'Well, thanks. I'll do that.'

'Do you know what you're going to wear?' asked Zuko, tentatively continuing the conversation.

'What, do you want to colour-coordinate our outfits?'

There was a short bark of laughter, courtesy of Zuko.

'Sokka would've been proud of that,' he said, smiling.

Katara shrugged. 'Probably.'

Zuko stopped laughing, and although Katara couldn't see him from where she was sitting, she had a feeling that his eyes had turned grave.

'Katara, I ...'

'Please don't talk to me, Zuko.'

Surprisingly, he did.

*

'Katara? We need to leave or we'll be late!'

Katara quickly bent the water out of her hair, and splashed out of the river – where she had been standing it had been knee-deep. Quickly doing the same for the rest of her body, she slipped back into the dress she was wearing – red, at least this one will match Zuko, she thought sarcastically – and, while running up the hill to where the Fire Lord was waiting for her pulled on her sandals.

Zuko, who was sitting at the base of a tree, turned around, evidently surprised by her presence.

'What?' asked Katara, too curious to ignore him.

'Nothing, it's just you actually finished on time. I thought that women took ages getting ready for formal events and –'

'Whatever. I can do my hair while we're on Appa,' said Katara noncommittally as she walked over to the sky bison and clambered into the saddle. 'How far away is Sho Lei anyway?'

Zuko shrugged. 'About two hours, one if Appa proves to be a miracle-worker.'

'Mm-hmm.'

'Katara?'

She looked down at him.

'I'm ... sorry,' began Zuko slowly, 'I shouldn't have questioned your judgement ... If you want to go to Sho Lei with me, then that's your decision. I'm sorry for interfering.'

Katara forced her mouth up into a smile. 'Thanks.'

'And, I just want you to know that I'm sort of happy you're coming with me. At least that way there's someone with me who I can really trust. I don't want to enter Sho Lei with us on bad terms with each other.'

Even though she didn't say anything, this time she could feel that her smile was almost genuine. Almost.

*

'There's Sho Lei.'

'Really? Where?' asked Katara – I thought you were ignoring Zuko, a snarky voice in her head responded – leaning over the saddle to look down. She could see what appeared to be a regular Earth Kingdom city – there were walls, and she could see tiny green specks that indicated earthbenders stood guard. Sho Lei actually reminded her of Omashu.

However, in the centre of the town, if she looked hard, Katara could see that all was not well. As Appa began to lower himself through the sky, she could clearly see what was a construction area. That must be the site of the factory that was exploded. She could also see a red sea admit the green colours of the Earth Kingdom soldiers – those people must be the fifty soldiers who were meant to be travelling with Zuko – all standing together in what appeared to be the centre of the city: a large, circular-shaped courtyard with several statues – Katara could not discern what the statues were actually meant to depict, not from the sky, anyway – in the courtyard's centre.

As Appa flew lower and closer to the ground, many of the faces, both Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation, turned upwards, and even from Appa's saddle Katara could hear that they were all talking at once, their voices sounding disbelieving. With a roar, Appa hit the floor of the courtyard, scattering the soldiers like desert wasps.

Always quick, Zuko was the first one to get out of Appa's saddle. He managed to do so with very little grace, literally staggering down brown-arrowed back of the bison's tale – but, Katara supposed, it was really hard to 'dismount' a bison gracefully – however it appeared that soldiers were too surprised to really notice this. Katara came second, feeling slightly wobbly when her feet found solid ground.

'Fire Lord Zuko.'

Katara was surprised that the male voice was not that of Admiral Nasou's – she had expected the cold-hearted admiral to make an appearance – but instead appeared to be that of Lieutenant Ryuu. It took Katara a second to pick the man out of the crowd and find his face. The lieutenant stepped forward and bowed once to Zuko and Katara.

'And Princess Katara too – what a surprise! Admiral Nasou will be most intrigued to hear that you accompanied the Fire Lord all the way here!'

'Zuko,' Katara wasn't sure if she should address Zuko with his title or without, but she decided to forgo it, after all, they were friends, 'asked me to accompany him to Sho Lei. The Earth Kingdom is a wonderful nation, I was glad to have an opportunity to go there again.'

'Having the Avatar's fiancée here is a great honour,' replied Lieutenant Ryuu smoothly. 'However I feel it is my duty to insist that you must refrain from touring the factory site with Fire Lord Zuko and his men – perhaps you would prefer to go sightseeing instead? Sho Lei hosts some of the Earth Kingdom's most prized exhibition gardens and –'

'Why wouldn't I want to tour with factory with Zuko?' retorted Katara, too late realizing that she had interrupted a powerful man who could be a potential enemy.

To her relief, the lieutenant smiled, relaxed, his teeth glinting in the sunlight. 'I assure you that I meant no discourtesy – I was concerned that a lady such as yourself would find touring an old factory site dull and mundane, and was merely suggesting that you would hopefully find as a more pleasing alternative.'

'Thank-you for your suggestion, Lieutenant,' replied Katara, keeping her voice almost as smooth as his, 'but I came to Sho Lei with the intentions of touring the factory site with Zuko, and that is what I plan to do.'

Momentarily, something in the Lieutenant's face fell and his eyes briefly darkened, but as soon as it had appeared the face was gone and he was smiling broadly again.

'Very well,' he said, 'the factory is this way. Please follow me.'

*

Katara was surprised that no form of transport had been offered to her or Zuko, but of course she said nothing – the factory was only a short walk away, and it was nice to be able to stretch her legs again. Upon arriving at the factory – a large metal building, a mixture of metal and scaffolding – she and Zuko were ushered inside by Lieutenant Ryuu. Admiral Nasou was waiting for them inside – the man started in surprise when he saw Katara. Nevertheless, he waited until the formal introductions had pleasantries had been exchanged before enquiring into the waterbender's presence.

'We did not expect your company, Princess,' he said as the large group made their way down a long corridor.

'It appears,' began Ryuu quickly, 'that Fire Lord Zuko asked Princess Katara to accompany him to Sho Lei. At first I did not believe that a lady would be interested in such political matters, but Princess Katara insisted on joining us.'

There was quiet, marred only by the sound of footsteps echoing on the metal floor, before the admiral spoke again, a sigh in his voice.

'Well, it appears that the princess has made up her mind then. So let it be.'

They arrived at the end of the corridor, where the ground opened up into a large shaft.

'Before we explore the ground level of the factory, Fire Lord,' stated Nasou, 'I would first like to show you the lower level – the factory's underground mining area where precious metals were searched for. The mine's frameworks were badly damaged in the explosion, and I believe it is essential that you survey the damage yourself.'

'Is the area safe?'

'Of course,' said Nasou, 'the areas that are still considered truly hazardous have been blocked off. The ones we shall be in have been deemed fit to be in – however, it is still possible to see the extent of the damage caused.'

Zuko nodded. 'Very well. Katara?'

'Princess,' interrupted Nasou somewhat gently, if that was even possible for him, 'by all means, the journey to the mining area of Sho Lei's factory is by no means a comfortable one – quite claustrophobic if I do say so myself – and you are by all means welcome to wait here for us.'

'No, I'll go,' Katara's voice was resolute; 'I'm fine with tight spaces.' She remembered how Toph had earthbent them all underground back during the group's first journey to Ba Sing Se, and how dark it had been there. Surely she would be able to cope with two rides – she guessed that one of the soldiers would bend a pillar of earth up through the shaft and that they would stand on it as he earthbent it down - which would be relatively easy to deal with.

Nasou said nothing, but nodded. He made a motion with his hand and a young Earth Kingdom soldier stepped forward, bending earth up through the shaft. Nasou indicated for Katara and Zuko to step forward, doing so himself. A second later, Lieutenant Ryuu followed.

'Fire Lord?' asked a Fire Nation soldier, stepping towards them. It was obvious that there wasn't going to be enough room for all of the soldiers – not on the first trip down, anyway.

'Shuzo, Taizo, Zenjiro,' said Zuko. Three of the soldiers joined them on the earth. Katara noted that they were all tall and muscular – one of them had a long scar running from his left temple down to his jawbone.

'Fire Lord, you are welcome to invite more of your men onto the elevator,' said Nasou, 'I have no need to ask Earth Kingdom soldiers to join me – there are more men waiting on the lower level.'

Slowly, Zuko shook his head. 'Three firebenders is enough.'

Nasou smiled coldly, and one of the earthbenders widened his stance and pushed down with his palms, the pillar of earth quickly descending down. Katara looked up, the faces of Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation soldiers peering down at her until they became so small that she could no longer see them, still they were going down, into the darkness, when finally the shaft ended and the group was standing in a large, open cavern. Stakes of wood had been earthbent onto walls and lit so that there was light. If she looked closely, Katara could see the glints of precious metals in the walls of the cavern.

'This way, please,' said Nasou.

The small group made their way through the cavern, stopping in front of what appeared to be solid wall. The earthbender who had taken them down to the lower level of the factory made a punching motion with his hands, and the wall sunk into the ground.

They walked down a corridor, through a small network of pathways, and through two more caverns.

'Admiral? Were there any rooms in particular that you wanted to show us or was your plan for us to wander around all day?'

'Of course, Fire Lord, you are needed in the cavern straight ahead.'

Zuko said nothing in reply, but glanced once at Katara and rolled his eyes, suppressing an exasperated smile. Finally, they reached the cavern – it was the largest of all the ones she had been in so far. For some reason, the lights were dimmer there; it was almost as if the flames themselves had lost their spark. Waiting for them in the cavern were at least fifty Earth Kingdom soldiers, all standing to attention with their faces smooth and passive. They all bowed to Zuko upon his arrival in the cavern; the Fire Lord returned their gesture.

One stepped forward and shook Zuko's hand. And then several things happened very fast.

The earthbender pushed Zuko's hand against the wall, bending earth out of it and pinning him there. Katara felt two hands roughly grab her shoulders, instinctively she elbowed the assailant in the gut – a groan, the pressure released – and spun around, already raising her hands in preparation of attack, to her horror realizing that she didn't have her waterskins with her.

'Argh!'

Katara spun around to see Zuko, who still had one arm pinned to the wall, fighting off the earthbenders. There was a sudden rush of heat – Zuko was breathing fire – and the sounds of earthbenders crying out in surprise and pain echoed across the cavern.

Katara took a deep breath. Think, Katara. You need to get Zuko out of here. You don't have water so how –?

Something glinted in the weak firelight. It was the hilt of a blade that Nasou was carrying – that should've tipped her off right away. What use would an Earth Kingdom admiral have for a knife? Katara smiled, because now she had a plan. As she sprinted over to where the admiral was standing, Katara ducked the arms that reached out to restrain her, until she finally stood face-to-face with Nasoul.

She threw a punch; he ducked it, quickly sending his own fist flying into her stomach. Gasping, Katara staggered back a few steps – Nasou was now rushing at her, she narrowly avoided him by spinning around at the last minute and, as his back was facing her, grabbed the knife!

You go, girl! she mentally congratulated herself, quickly pulling the sleeve of her dress up to her shoulder.

The stinging sensation, the result of drawing the knife up her arm, was something akin to a slap in the face, but Katara had no time to dwell on the pain. Already she could see blood, slick and scarlet, rising to the surface of her arm. Hurriedly, she bent the blood off of her arm – there wasn't nearly enough for anything useful, but still, she had to try – and now she could fight.

Pushing her way through a sea of Earth Kingdom soldiers – using her own blood to cut them, sometimes in the forehead so blood went into their eyes, sometimes wherever she could hit – Katara moved like a snake. Twisting, turning, back and forth with a slash, pushing shoving, the scent of sweat and blood and smoke thick in the air, out of the corner of her eye seeing Zuko's three firebendings, swamped by earthbenders, and –

A hand from behind closed around her neck, squeezing hard. Very hard. As Katara gasped and choked – shecouldn'tbreathe – trying to wrestle out of the attacker's grip, the knife was wrenched from her hand. Her chin was pushed up – with a sigh she started inhaling and exhaling again – so that she could barely see over the bridge of her nose, and the cool edge of the blade was being pressed against her throat. And none too gently either. (She could see the bodies of Zuko's firebenders, still and unmoving, on the floor, and tasted bile.)

'Coward! Let her go!' The anger in Zuko's voice was undeniable, but there was something in his voice that was pleading, too. Katara wondered if he had been able to break free of the earth-cuff.

The grip around Katara's throat slackened ever so slightly, and she dropped her chin. She could now see that Zuko had indeed broken free of the earth-cuff, and was now standing in the centre of the cavern. Very slowly, he raised his arms, never taking his eyes off of her.

The man behind her chuckled darkly. 'So the girl turned out to be useful after all.'

'Quiet!' hissed another unknown voice, and the man stayed silent.

Nasou was now standing in front of Zuko. Although his back was to Katara, she had a feeling that the arrogant admiral would be smirking.

'Fire Lord Zuko, you are under arrest.'

What? No! Katara wanted to rush forward, attack Nasou, get that disgusting man away from Zuko, but the knife pressing against her throat was a constant reminder that movement of any kind of her part would be fatal.

Zuko lifted his gaze to Nasou's. 'What are the charges?'

Nasou laughed coldly, a soldier came behind Zuko and Katara heard the clink of metal on metal as his hands were bound behind his back.

'Treason. As I always say: once a traitor to a nation, always a traitor to a nation.'

'I was pardoned.'

'Were you?' chuckled Nasou. 'Or was it just assumed on the day of your coronation that you had been forgiven? Far from it, Prince Zuko.'

'What do you mean?' Zuko's voice was scathing.

Nasou sighed. 'As you most likely already know, you were the first Fire Lord ever to succeed the previous one while he was still alive. Although you took the title, your father –'

'That man is not –'

'Oh really? I guess I must be imagining the fact that you two are the spitting image of each other – despite the fact you both vehemently deny it.'

Zuko eyes widened in realization.

'You've been in contact with Ozai.' It wasn't a question.

Nasou nodded. 'Of course.'

The next ten minutes passed in a blur. Katara remembered being dragged out of the cavern, feeling slightly woozy – probably from blood loss – into another room. Katara felt like she was in a dream – none of this could be possible.

At the end of a room was a throne. A man who looked a good deal like Zuko – same face, same eyes – sat there, dressed in a ruby-red robe, gold at the cuffs of the sleeves and collar. Zuko whitened at the sight of the man, making a surprised sound from the back of his throat upon first sight. It took Katara a few seconds longer than it should have – she blamed the blood loss – to realize who the man was.

'Well, well, this is a most unexpected surprise. The new Fire Lord and his little friend.'

Ozai stood up and walked over to Katara, standing in front of her. He tilted his head slightly, examining her. She was painfully aware of just how fast her heart was beating, racing and hammering away in her chest.

'Leave her alo –!' There was the thud of flesh hitting flesh – Zuko groaned and fell silent.

'I have to admit, you were nothing like I expected.' Ozai's voice was low. 'Of course, when I was a child the Southern Water Tribe was all but extinct – the tales I heard of the people there spoke of savages and unintelligent brutes. Yet you, however, could almost pass for a lady. How interesting.'

Gritting her teeth, Katara fought hard to stop herself from retorting. Ozai turned around, as if to leave her be, but at the last minute his eyes caught sight of her bloodied arm, and he turned around again.

'This is most curious,' he murmured, eyes lingering on blood-soaked sleeve of her dress, 'especially as I gave Admiral Nasou express orders not to harm Zuko while arresting him – we did not expect your company, of course, but nevertheless the orders are still relevant to you.'

'The waterbender cut herself with a knife,' informed Nasou, dropping all pretence of using titles, 'so that she had something to bend with.'

Ozai raised his eyebrows in mock disbelief. 'She was able to bend her own blood?' He smiled cruelly. 'I have an acquaintance, a waterbender too, you might know of her, who also bends blood. Her name is Hama.'

Katara felt as if the floor had dropped out from underneath her. For a second she forgot how to breathe. She couldn't hear anything, or think properly, everything else passed in a blur of panic and confusion.

Ozai knows Hama. Hama's here. How did she escape?

She was being pushed out of the cavern, Ozai said something about Zuko's 'training' beginning tomorrow. (Hama wasn't here yet, but she would arrive soon. Then Katara could begin training too. She almost screamed.)

Bloodbending. Only by the full moon. Wait, didn't Akako manage to during day – what if?

Arriving at the door of a metal cell.

She's back. She can hurt people. She'll hurt Zuko.

The door slid open. Ice-cold handcuffs, tightened around her wrists until they bit into her skin, bound in front of her so that any type of bending would be impossible.

She'll hurt Zuko.

Zuko turned to look at her, his eyes wide and scared.

She'll hurt me.

Katara should have been too numb to cry. The horror associated with the situation she was in shouldn't have set in yet. So why was she able to cry?

Because Zuko will get hurt.

AN:

Wow, long chapter. (By my standards.) I wrote most of this without going over any of it, so if you spot any spelling/grammar mistakes, could you please tell me in your review? *not-so-subtle-hint*

Aaaand: Having Katara and Zuko argue just when their relationship is seemingly smoothing out was something that was important to me - I wanted to write anst! (I have a feeling Aang would be proud of me, he being the King of Aangst). Because these two are going to argue whichever way you look at it, and then - while I was writing, I mean - was as good a time as any. I wanted to show that Katara's decision was affecting everyone around her - from Sokka (who is more likely than not seeing this as selfish abandonment) to Zuko (poor guy now feels completely responsible for Katara leaving.) Personally, while writing the argument I wanted it to appear that there was no right or wrong side to it, because there isn't.

Also, Nasou's betrayal was something that I'd had planned from pretty early on. (This is something, coming from me, who'll change the entire plot of a fic on a whim. Seriously.) Honestly, did you see it coming? Were you suspicious of him? Was this all painfully obvious from the beginning? And, just to clarify, Nasou can't earthbend. I think I forgot to incorporate that into the story, but it explains why he didn't use bending to attack Katara when she was trying to get the knife off him.

But before everyone forms an angry mob and hunts him down - I'll be the one weilding the giant butterfly net to trap him with - I just want to say that both Nasou and Ryuu tried to talk Katara out of going into the factory with them. This shows that they aren't so completely ruthless that they'll let Katara be taken prisoner without a second thought. But if they'd given her any more hinting that things would turn ugly, they'd have to compromise The Grand Plan, which is ultimately more important to them. (You get to find out why later.)

Anyhoo, I've rambled on enough, goodbye for now peoples!

(Oh, and by the way, see that button down there? The one that says 'review'? You see it? You do? Good. Click it. Please.)