Throughout the journey to the Fire Nation, all Katara wanted to do was tell the people to turn the ship around and take her home or anywhere else. Anywhere but the Fire Nation. How was she supposed to face them again? How was she supposed to look them in the eye? Her role in the group was the mother. Everyone had told her so. Mothers were supposed to be strong and brave and protective--they were supposed to be able to keep everyone together. She hadn't been able to do that, she hadn't been able to keep anyone together. They had slipped through her fingertips like the water she Bended did if she lost her concentration.

Even in the depths of her guilt and self loathing she could appreciate how ironic it was that Azula was the thing that had brought them back together. Azula who had been so beautiful and so terrifyingly strong, Azula who had done her best to separate them. Azula who had suffered a fate a thousand times worse than she would have inflicted on the Fire Lord himself, the one person they hadn't been able to teach any lesson to, the person they hadn't been able to save.

Until now.

In her most restless nights Katara would think of the pieces of the puzzle she knew. Azula seemed to spend most of her time in a cationic state. Zuko went to visit her but it was horrible to see someone you loved in that kind of state. The healers who were in charge of her seemed to be almost frightened of the Princess. Katara could understand that. Fire Lord Ozai was rotting in prison, his Fire Bending and his sanity slowly slipping away. His defeat had been so final, so definite that there was no possibility he would recover.

But Azula, Azula was different. Many things could be said about the Princess but there was no way to question her abilities. She was the one who had been groomed as Ozai's heir. She had been the one to master Lightening Bending. She had been the terrifying one, the one who haunted their nightmares. The Fire Nation seemed divided on whether the Princess should be put down like a dog or sent into exile farther away. Zuko would hear none of that. Despite all that had happened between them (including her shooting him full of lightening), Azula was still his little sister. Katara knew Zuko blamed himself for not being able to save her. He thought that there should have been something he could have done. He was her big brother after all. She felt for him, especially after seeing Sokka leave. Siblings had a bond and she knew Zuko wished he could have that with his sister.

She understood the fears of the Fire Nation. A crazy Azula was a dangerous thing--she knew that first hand. She knew Azula's cationic state was one of the main reasons that Zuko was able to keep it a non issue. But if word got out that Azula was gone, if Zuko couldn't prove that she had been kidnapped, if he couldn't lay the rumors of an uprising to rest, then it could be the undoing of the fragile stability in the Fire Nation. They, simply put, had to get her back before word got out or they could be looking at another war.

"Master Katara," one of the men bowed to her, "we're approaching the port."

"Thank you," Katara said standing up.

She was not used to the silks she was wearing. The South Pole was a cold place, the Fire Nation was not. Her furs and heavy garments were replaced with those of silk. It was funny to think the last time she had been here she had been in red. Now she wore the blues, whites and lilacs of her Tribe. She was able to come as herself, not as someone else. The feeling was both strange and exhilarating. She clasped her mother's necklace, a nervous habit she had never really grown out of, and took a deep breath before she stepped out of her room and onto the deck of the ship.

It was a good thing her hair was in its usual braid and her hair loops were secure, it was a windy day out. Though her eyes stung it was not just because of the wind.

It was because Sokka was standing on the dock waiting for her.

Katara's hands flew up to her mouth. He had gotten so tall. He wasn't a child anymore. When he had left the edges of his teenage years were still visible but not anymore. His sword was slung over his shoulder and the sight of the familiar object made her throat clench but only when she saw the boomerang that he had carried as a kid did she really start to cry. Before the ship had even properly docked she had practically flown off it and slammed into her brother's chest. She barely even came up to his shoulders anymore.

"Hey sis," he said enveloping her in his arms.

He only had a glance at Katara before she was suddenly buried in his chest but his sister seemed to have gotten even more beautiful in his absence. And grown up. He imagined she was a bit more serious too but the crying wasn't all that different. It hadn't taken much to bring Katara to tears before and he doubted that had changed. He had decided to meet her at the dock but it had taken a few pushes (literally) from Ty Lee to get him to stay there. Now he was glad he had. He didn't want his reunion with Katara to be in the middle of the Fire Nation palace with everyone watching. Even the few people she had come with hung back to give the siblings their privacy. Though he hated to see her cry, Sokka was ust glad she wasn't using her tears or he water around them to Bend his ass. Even if he knew he deserved it.

Finally Katara stepped back and swiped at her cheeks.

"When did you get so tall?" she demanded looking at him.

"About the same time you got beautiful," he said with a grin. She gave a half hearted glare but it didn't wipe the smile off her lips.

"Ooo pretty boat," Ty Lee appeared on one of the supports of the dock, peering at the Water Nation ship.

"You remember Ty Lee," Sokka said motioning.

"Of course I remember Ty Lee," Katara said rolling her eyes.

The Chi blocking former acrobat (former enemy too) gave a bright smile and wave. She had traded her usual garb for the pale pink of her homeland just as Sokka wore the blue of the Water Tribe. Blue with a darker stain where Katara had cried on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she said flicking her fingers and removing the water, "I got your shirt all wet."

"Don't worry about it," he said slinging an arm over her shoulder, "lets go meet the Fire Lord again," he frowned, "hey we can still call them by their names right?"

"Oh no," Katara said with mock seriousness, "in fact, you have to call me Master Katara now."

"Yet another girl in my life who can kick my ass," Sokka said with a dramatic sigh, "I need a normal girl who I stand a chance against."

"'Fat chance of that," Ty Lee snorted falling into step beside them.

"Hey! It could happen!" he argued.

Katara laughed, feeling some of the weight on her chest ease as the three of them headed the short distance towards the Fire Nation palace. But when the impressive building loomed in front of them she could read the nervousness on Sokka and Ty Lee's faces as well. Sokka's arm slipped from her shoulder to grip her hand and all Katara could think was that she was glad she didn't have to walk in there alone.

"Welcome back to the Fire Nation," a bored voice said behind them.

"Mai!"

Ty Lee slammed into the advisor with more force than Mai though possible from the former acrobat. Mai returned the embrace, albeit a bit more reserved than the enthusiastic warrior. Some things didn't change. Their parents had risen to power together and they had fallen from grace together as their rebellious daughters had proven themselves as something other than the children of high ranking families. Ever since Ty Lee had saved Mai and the two had spent a bit of time in prison together they had been good friends. Before that they had been as well but it was as though before that they had been more of an alliance in their friendship with Azula--or at least, towards the end it had been that way. Before then, well, it would do no good to bring the past to light, to remember the times before the Princess's sanity had slipped away. Mai gently disentangled herself from the embrace and turned to the Water Nation siblings.

Katara looked every bit the Bending Master that she was even if she wore the hair loops still. It was a testament to how far the Nations had grown apart that when Mai thought about it she couldn't even remember the last time a member of any Water Tribe had come to the Fire Nation.

Sokka, well, Sokka looked as adult as Zuko did now. It was strange to see him with so much hair. Ty Lee had told her that all the Kyoshi Warriors argued over who got to throw him when he helped with Suki's lessons occasionally. She had laughed about it remembering the gawky Water Tribe boy but now she could see why they would argue over such a thing.

Both looked rather nervous to be there.

"Zuko's sorry he couldn't meet you," Mai said, making the decision to use Zuko's name, given who they were, "but you all are the last ones to arrive."

"Hey, Fire Lord's gotta do what the Fire Lord's gotta do," Sokka said as they walked into the Fire Nation, "we can call him Zuko right?"

"Sokka!"

"I'm just asking," he retorted.

The three of them walked into the small room where the rest of them were.

"Hello Team Ava--" Sokka froze.

They looked different.

Really, really different.

Aang looked like an adult. Maybe not the +100 year old adult he was and maybe not as adult as he and Zuko did but definitely not the gawky young boy who had miraculously saved the world.

Iroh looked the same, so did the sexy dangerous bounty hunter standing next to him. But they were guest stars in Team Avatar.

Zuko looked like a Fire Lord. His hair was long, he wore the crown piece, he looked like a grown up. Not like a kid playing dress up and definitely not like the freaky prince that pursued them before becoming good. He didn't look confused anymore.

And Toph---

"When'd you become a girl?!" Sokka demanded before he could stop himself.

"I've always been a girl," Toph snapped, a bit of the old energy she used to display coming back to her voice.

"And when'd you start wearing shoes?"

"When did you start being so inquisitive?" she shot back.

"Ignore him," Katara said rolling her eyes.

"But you're in a dress! You've got shoes on! Where'd the poofy little things on the side of your head go?! I am so confused!"

"Well some things never change," Toph said dryly.

"It would seem that way," Katara added matching Toph's vocal tone seamlessly as she walked over to the blind Earth Bender.

Even Sokka could see that most of the eyes on the room had gone to Katara. Despite having been separated for a while the Big Brother instinct apparently did not die. He saw the way Aang's eyes tracked her movements with a sort of sad longing, the last bittersweet remnants of a love that had ended a long time ago. Sokka liked Aang, Sokka liked Katara. Sokka did not like Katara and Aang together. Both were too nice, too sweet, too--too alike to be together. The world was all about balance. Water and Air did not balance each other out. Which was exactly why Sokka's eyes had landed on Zuko. Apparently the Fire Lord seemed rather stunned at how Katara looked. The kind of stunned that led to things that no big brother wanted his sister to do. Especially not with the very adult looking Fire Lord.

"Thank you all for accepting my invitation," Zuko said standing up and asserting his authority over the space, "As I told you in my letters, Azula has been kidnapped by a resistance group. Mai?"

Sokka had to admire Zuko's way of dominating the mood of a room. Mai stood up.

"Intelligence reports have come in saying that the group calls themselves Red Phoenix. Like most of the Fire Nation Rebellion groups they were made up of a small party of nationalists who would like to see the former glory of the Fire Nation restored. By the time we caught wind of them, that's changed drastically," she sighed, "they are a much larger resistance group simply because they are one of, if not the only one left. People unhappy with the government have no-where to go so they go to them."

"We don't know if Azula was in on the plot or if she was taken. Her room holds no signs of struggle," Mai glanced at Zuko who nodded, "she was given a bending suppressant in her food and June discovered that the suppressant contained a highly powerful sedative."

"Well if they drugged her--" Katara began.

"The suppressant wasn't going to be given to her until the day after her kidnapping," Zuko said, his gold eyes spiking with self loathing.

"What we need to do is to get Azula back and do it quickly," Iroh spoke up, "I assume you have a plan for that?"

"Yes," Zuko said, "that's why I invited all of you here."

"And I thought it was just for the joyous reunion," Toph said with a roll of her eyes.

"Well it is," he said, "the reunion's just going to be a bit more public than that," they all raised their eyebrows, "Toph, Aang, Katara and I are going to be in a series of formal meetings, Summits if you will. It will be the first time the Four Nations have met in a very long time. All eyes will be on us," he smiled, "while that happens our non-benders Sokka, June and Ty Lee will go and get Azula."

"Peace gatherings or go save the homicidal Princess, hmmm, I can't decide which sounds more fun," Sokka said.

"Homicidal Princess," June said, "when in doubt, always go with the homicidal Princess."

Mai looked at Ty Lee, trying to judge the warrior's feelings. Though she looked composed--or as composed as Ty Lee ever did--Mai picked out the little details, like the white knuckled grip she had on her pants or the fact her bottom lip was very subtly caught between her teeth. Mai walked over to her and gently touched her shoulder. Ty Lee jumped before she recovered quickly. By that time Mai had steered her out of the room and into a smaller, secure one. Ty Lee didn't even bother to hide her feelings as she walked a bit away from Mai, wrapping her arms around her waist as though she could find comfort in the gesture.

"You don't have to go," Mai blurted out.

"Yes I do," Ty Lee said, her voice more morose than Mai had ever heard it before.

"No you don't," the advisor argued, "it was a stupid plan, Zuko thought of it at the last minuet. I'm sure June and Sokka can get Azula--"

"N-no, I'm going," Ty Lee turned around, her eyes shining with resolution, "Its like Zuko said, she's more of a danger to herself now."

"She's still dangerous," Mai argued.

"I have to help her," Ty Lee replied.

"No, Ty Lee, you don't," Mai said, "I know you blame yourself but what happened to Azula was not your fault."

"Yes it was!" the acrobat cried out, "I-I blocked her! You-you had someone to save, you loved Zuko. And I'm glad I protected you, I am, but I--I blocked her Chi--I-I-" Ty Lee took a shaky breath, "I betrayed her."

"You saved a lot of people."

"But she-she went crazy. We were friends once, Mai, we liked each other before--before--" she trailed off.

Before Ursa chose to sacrifice herself to save Zuko. Before Ozai became the Fire Lord and made it very very clear Azula was his favorite. Before the world had gone crazy and Azula had been taken away with it. Before their friend had become this warped, cold person that they didn't recognize anymore. There had been a time when Azula had protected them from bullies, when Ty Lee had made her laugh and Mai had helped her with her aim. There had been a time when the three of them were genuine friends before Azula had watched as Ozai's inner circle shrank. Before she decided that fear was the best way to gain people's loyalty. There was a time when it was Mai-Ty-Lee-Azula, when you didn't mention one without the other two. But that had changed, changed until the fear had replaced the caring in their relationship. Until they were fractured.

Until they were broken.

"That was a long time ago, Ty Lee," Mai said crossing her arms.

"You just don't want to admit that we contributed to her breakdown!" Ty Lee cried, "you don't want to admit that someone was drugging her for all these years because they were afraid of what she was capable of! You just want to pretend that as long as Zuko's on the throne you get to have your perfect little life!"

"Watch what you're saying!" Mai hissed, her voice as sharp as the blades she wielded, "treason is a serious offense."

"Treason?" Ty Lee laughed, "treason?! I'm going after Azula and when I bring her back I'm never setting foot in the Fire Nation again!"