The war, Zuko has always been told, is a necessary one. It is wrong for the world to be divided so. The Fire Nation is merely showing the others the way to enlightenment, uniting the world under one flag. But the people of the Earth Kingdom are slow and stubborn and stupid, and the Water Tribes are just as foolish. The Fire Nation is like a parent, a well-meaning mother who is doing what is best for her children. But because the right thing to do is sometimes painful, the other nations, like ignorant children, scream and struggle and fight back. This war is their fault.

Zuko has been brought up to think this way. He is not heartless though; he isn't his sister. He knows that in a war, no matter how righteous, even the best of soldiers are injured, or worse.

But he has never thought of the people. Ordinary people, civilians, and the suffering the war has heaped on their backs. And now, he thinks of the mothers and sisters and daughters, so much like Song and her mother, who wait helplessly and hopelessly for the men to return. As each day passes, it is only more certain that they will not be coming home.

From the corner of his eye, Song reaches out a tentative hand towards him. It only takes him a split second to realise why, and he grabs her hand before she can touch his face.

He doesn't want her sympathy or her pity. This is his scar, private and painful, and none may go near it.

"It's okay," she says softly. She closes her eyes and when he looks at her, he can almost see her entire wretched past etched on her face like an open wound, so pained it almost hurts to look. "They've hurt me too."

With shaking fingers, she draws the hem of her robes. Zuko can't help the gasp that escaped his mouth as he sees the grotesque scars snake their way along the ruined skin of her calves. He remembers his own injury, the pain that came with it, and the infection that set in soon after, before finally, almost reluctantly, the wound began to heal. He wonders what it must have felt for this girl.

I'm sorry.The words rise quickly to the tip of his tongue, and just as quickly, he bites them back. They are useless words, meaningless, and they will do nothing to ease her pain or his, and they won't stop this war.

He remembers his arrival at the Southern Water Tribe, all those long months ago, and again, he sees the desperately frightened faces of the villagers looking back at him. All of them, children and old women. And that waterbender girl. Katara, his mind supplies automatically.

He wonders when their men left, and how long they have been waiting for them to return, and how much longer they must wait still.

He thinks of Katara's rage and fury as she had fought him in the North Pole. She was only defending herself and all that is dear to her. For the first time, he sees himself and his people as monsters.

"Lee," Song says, and it takes Zuko a moment to realise that she is talking to him. He turns to her, and realises for the first time that she is very pretty. Her eyes, somehow, are wide and soft and trusting, even after the Fire Nation - his people - have razed her innocence to ashes. He wonders if they haunt her in her sleep too and wonders why she isn't as angry as him.

She's reaching another tentative hand towards him, and he flinches. She sees his reaction and misunderstands, and she draws back, hurt and apologetic at the same time.

He wants to tell her it isn't her fault, but his. She is like a lotus blossom, rising out of muddy, dirty waters, pure and lovely and unsoiled, while he is filth.

But he can't tell her this either, and he can't undo everything his people and his ancestors have done.

So instead, he stands.

"Thank you for the meal," he says stiffly, then turns, and leaves.

XXXXX

Katara and Aaang have been trudging along in silence, listening to the crunching rocks beneath each step, waiting and watching for some indication that they are nearing the end. As they walk, they're only all too aware of the torch's weakening light.

Katara has been thinking. There are many things she wants to accomplish, and dying is definitely not a part of her agenda. She hasn't seen her father for years now, hasn't shown her Gran Gran how much she's grown as a waterbender, she hasn't told Sokka how much she truly loves and cares for him, even though he's an annoying elder brother. She thinks about other things, like how she wants to see the end of this war and how tired she is of fighting. She's had to face the idea of dying before, of course, throughout her journey to the North Pole, but somehow, she'd always thought that if she was going to die, it would be in battle, standing tall and proud before Fire Nation soldiers. She'd never ever thought that it would be like this.

"We're gonna run out of light any second now, are we?" Aang asks, breaking the silence and her thoughts.

Each step Katara takes feels sluggish and heavy, like she's walking through quicksand. "I think so," she says softly.

"Then what are we gonna do?"

"What can we do?"

Katara steps towards Aaang, and she thinks about how she wouldn't like to die, unloved and alone. She knows he doesn't want to, but she would like to know what it would feel like to be kissed. As she moves in close, she sees the round smoothness of his cheeks. She smells, beneath the sweat and dirt, the sweetness of his skin, like mother's milk.

He's only twelve, she thinks. A child. She keeps forgetting how young Aang is sometimes. He's too young to have the fate of the world on his shoulders. Too young to die.

But then, so is she.

She places a hand on his, and as they move towards each other, she closes her eyes. She can smell the smoke and ash of the torch, and hears the crackle of flames. Without warning, she thinks of Zuko. He is so different from Aang, all sharp angles and rage. In her mind, she sees him as she last saw him in the North Pole, tired and bruised and burned, the most vulnerable she has seen him. She remembers him sidling towards her as she is tied up to a tree. As her lips brush Aang's, she wonders, very briefly, just what the fire prince's lips would feel like against hers.

Okay, that took forever to get up. I remember writing Zuko's half ages ago, and finishing it fairly quickly. It was harder writing Katara's part, not sure why.

'The Cave of Two Lovers' was, to me, one of the most significant episodes for Zuko's kickstart into growing out of a brat and into someone a little smarter. I know Song's a one-time character but I'd still like to think she impacted him that much.

On the other hand, the episode was fodder for all Kataang fans, which made it way harder to incorporate the Zutara element.