Getting closer! Sorry for the sporadic updates, I'm working a lot and going to school, so I don't have a bunch of time. Mostly because I'm not making time, so I'll try to be better.

Chapter Thirty

The Interrogation

Plunk. Plunk. Plunk.

Katara regained her senses slowly, one at a time. She was first aware of the ache in her shoulders and back, and next, the dim thud of dripping water. Then, the heat moved in all around her, heavy, sticking to her skin. She smelled sweat, blood, something awful and putrid. Her eye muscles twitched, but her lashes were glued shut, and her eyes wouldn't open. Katara frowned and gave up, not needing sight at the moment.

Plunk. Plunk.

Zuko. Her body stiffened and dread bolted through her veins like a runaway steed. How could she not have known? Through all the wretchedness and heartache, he had stood watch over her, even though he couldn't have remembered any of it- how they'd hated each other at first sight and feared what they didn't understand, that they hadn't known their lives would spiral together and they would come to know each other as two sides of the same coin. But why hadn't he recognized himself, at all, throughout any of it? Was his memory really gone, just like that? She didn't even know how much of it could be recovered. That knot of steel she'd worked at in the back of his mind had felt like the memory block the Dai Li had put on Jet, though she hadn't made the connection last night. Zuko's knot had been deeper, twisted into his cortex, wound even into that space where in benders, Katara felt an intuitive flow of chakra and spirit. She hadn't felt anything like the heat of a firebender, but in her state, she wasn't sure of anything that she'd done. It was all so hard to remember, so hard to concentrate- the knot was concentrated, but she'd worked at it… so had it broken? Was it enough to make him remember who he was, who she was?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door creaking open, and the sound of many footsteps. Katara swallowed and wiggled her fingers, trying to bring any feeling into her arms, and was suddenly awash in an agonizing needling sensation. She knew her circulation was in grave danger, and wrenched her eyes open, blinking away the tears as her eyelashes tore painfully apart, and her mouth cracked open in a gasp. Katara heard a high, malevolent giggle and her lips twisted up into a snarl, mucusy tears tickling the corners of her eyes and the hollows under her nose. It hurt to breathe, hurt to stand with every muscle straining as she tried to keep the weight off her arms. Azula's blurry form hardened into a clear outline of the little brat in full armor, her hand up in a signal to the guards who followed her into the room. But when she raised her arm, the tie under her armpit came loose, and her shoulder pad started to sag off one arm. Katara blinked, trying to keep her eyes from weeping so she could see better. The younger royal was grey and her eyes- those golden eyes- they were too large in her tiny, pinched face. "You can stay outside the door for now, gentlemen. She's not going anywhere," she said imperiously, her feline eyes and sharp nails glittering in the torchlight. Katara was pretty sure she didn't imagine the tremor in Azula's voice. There was a tense moment of silence, and one of the guards, a tall man with a salt and pepper beard bent down and murmured something in her ear. "That will be unnecessary. Just leave already!" she snapped, and the soldier stood up straight again and turned towards the door. The guards filed out immediately, grumbling ominously, and the door swung shut.

"I'm not going to talk to you," Katara rasped before Azula could say anything, "You can do whatever you want to me, but it won't do you any good." She heard the princess- she could never think of Azula as a Fire Lord- huff a deep sigh, and grinned, feeling her lips crack as she did so. Her blue eyes flickered around the room- small and dark, with two doors and the cell taking up the back half of the square. Probably close to where they'd kept Sokka. Katara's thoughts were fragmented as she tried to focus on the young woman on the other side of the bars, but there was a flair of triumph to them- she'd done everything she meant to do. She found Zuko, or he found her, and she saved Sokka. Lani was safe. Everyone was safe, and she had to believe that if nothing else, Zuko remembered enough to start healing. God, she'd had his blood on her fingers only hours before. She glanced up, but her fingers were grubby, not bloody. So they'd washed her off or something. She looked back at Azula, and all her victories made her bold- there was no one left to hurt but herself, and that was safe. She smiled.

"You have to know that you've lost, Azula. You have to know that everything you've been doing is wrong, and you're going to be held accountable for it all. I'm not going to tell you anything." Azula narrowed her eyes at Katara's words and strode forwards towards the cell. Katara locked eyes with her and leaned in, suppressing a groan of pain as her bones creaked. She was in much worse shape than she thought. It was bad all over, but her shoulder wasn't bleeding, and on the whole, she felt more hunger and fatigue than anything.

"Who else was with you?" Katara bared her teeth and said nothing. She wished she had fangs, she wished she had magic or claws or anything else to rip at her. Azula 's left eye twitched, and she gripped her hands into fists. "There was evidence of all kinds of bending. Obviously the Avatar accompanied you, but the knives, Katara? That was someone else, something new." Azula had dead eyes. Katara couldn't help it, she blinked and felt her heart hiccup. There was no reaction from the other girl. Azula just tilted her head and said, "Back to Aang then. Your peace-loving little pet attacked the Fire Nation. What's next? Is the Fire Nation to suffer all the abuse of the other nations just because we tried to evolve you people?"

Katara gritted her teeth. Azula sneered, but her eye and cheek twitched again, and the effect was more psychotic than smirk. "That always strikes a chord," she breathed, and even though by now Katara's curiosity was killing her, she held her tongue. She couldn't say anything. It nagged at her, the desperation, almost as if a sixth sense was telling her. Don't speak. Say absolutely nothing- you can't give her anything to contradict-

"Where is Zuko, Katara?" Azula asked, and Katara kept her face frozen. It was like playing No-Face with Aang after his encounter with that demon- he'd had nightmares of it, so Katara had suggested they turn it into a game. Keep still, no matter what is said or done, no matter how funny or irritating it is- but they're not allowed to touch you. She kept still. She was always still.

A profound understanding lanced through her. She was always still. Katara had no idea what it meant, but it gave her a stir, and she felt her face flicker. Azula zeroed in on it with her sharp eyes, and within a millisecond she was at the bars, pressed against them, and Katara wished she was strong enough to break free and kill her. But then an image flashed through Katara's head- small, shaking shoulders, silent tears coursing down dead porcelain features, her fingers wetting Azula's hair as she wove through her fractured mind and feeling the silky strands slip right through her fingers.

"Why are you like this?" Katara croaked, a disgusted shiver running up her spine, followed by more shivers as her entire body ached. "I healed you. I held your mind between my hands, and even after all I did for you, and all that's happened in the world since you lost, you still can't let it go? You were never meant to be Fire Lord-"

"Oh, come on now Katara. Do we really have to do this again?" Azula interrupted harshly, her voice cold, the words familiar. The waterbender felt her whole body tense as her mind leapt backwards, going over the words again, thinking so slowly in her shock that she missed what Azula said next.

"What?" Katara said, and tried to wiggle her fingers again, the prickles intensifying as Azula raised her eyebrows indulgently.

"I said, 'I'm tired of having the same conversations'." Katara growled, frustrated by the nonsense and her coy smile, and leaned backwards, her legs shaking. Her heels hung a centimeter off the ground, and her calves ached from standing on slight tiptoe to take the strain off her arms. But she was so sore… too sore for just one night, or however long she'd been in the cell. Her stomach dipped uncomfortably, and she lost a bit more of her strength.

To hell with it, she thought. "You won't get away with this you know. Everyone knows now, what you did to Zuko. And Sokka? You imprisoned an innocent man, who has ties to both Kyoshi and the Water Tribe. You think we're still kids, Azula? You think-"

The girl on the other side of the bars smiled fiercely, opened her mouth, and spoke along with Katara:

"-that this time no one's going to notice when we go missing? People have been looking for me for years!" Azula mimicked, her voice outlasting Katara's which faded away as soon as she realized the that Azula spoke her thoughts aloud with her, memorized verbatim, almost as if

Plunk.

Almost as if she'd heard them many times before. Many days in a row. The same conversation. Katara's eyes went wide.

Plunk. Plunk. Plunk.

Azula came closer to the bars, staring at her the same way as a girl views an animal at the zoo. She looked excited, expectant. Her armor was almost completely off her shoulder now, and as unhinged as she looked, Katara could only feel that she missed something. Something big. And Azula just kept staring at her. Zuko's… how dare you have Zuko's eyes, Katara thought faintly in her panic, and Azula caught her breath. "Yes, like always, it's hitting you now. You remember the Dai Li, of course- or perhaps you don't. You're thinking, 'how many days have I been here, and what has she done with all the little secrets I've confessed to her?'- Hmm- you're having a quiet day. Wonderful, I love th-" She backed away as Katara screamed and threw herself forward towards the bars, kicking up through them, almost catching her in the nose. The pain of it was crippling. She couldn't breathe. The bitch barked a laugh at her, breathing heavily, shaking. Katara couldn't keep it in anymore- the noises coming from her mouth were entirely alien to her. How many days? They'd taken her memories. For how many days? What had she missed? She jerked forward again, refusing to look away, howled, "Tell me!"

"Not until you tell me! Where Zuko is, when he's coming for me, how big is his army? I've heard the rumors, water witch, now tell me!" Azula screamed, and Katara felt a pang in the back of her head as she squeezed her hands into claws, and the leak in the corner of the room froze back into the crevice it came from, and the stone cracked above Azula's head. Both girls heard it at once, and Katara grinned hatefully. Azula gasped. "No… you can't…"

Katara knew the block when she felt it, and broke through it, feeling her very spirit return in a rush of cool and clean energy. "Watch me," she hissed, and tensed her fingers into claws.

Those golden eyes widened, and that little unhinged girl threw herself backwards as little stones tumbled down in front of her nose, the ice in the ceiling expanding, pushing at the rock, rumbling all around. Electric anger and disbelief crackled between the two benders, and Katara knew then that Azula was still afraid of her. One hand up by her face, the other thrust against the wall behind her, Azula stared back into Katara's icy blue eyes. "Guards! Guards!" she screamed. Half her armor clattered to the floor, and Azula sank down, still screaming in fear. Katara watched hollowly as the door burst inward and strong arms dragged Azula behind a wall of bodies. She couldn't focus, couldn't feel anything but the loss of reality- they'd taken her own memories from her.

How many of them? Katara's eyes snapped wide open and she quickly ran through the faces in her mind- Sokka, Lani, Iroh, Aang… and Zuko, her protector in the blue mask. Everyone accounted for. She knew who she was, where she came from- just nothing new, nothing beyond that night in the caves. So she must have not told Azula anything about that yet, if they were still- but how long was still? Katara groaned, and her head pounded. There was a commotion in front of her, and Azula fought her way through the arms holding her until she could once again see Katara.

Azula shoved the chest of the guard holding her, glaring and heaving wordlessly at the water bender. She really was small, but strong, for the man tumbled and had to hastily right himself before his heavy armor unbalanced him. "Get your hands off me- she was supposed to be secured! Her b-bending- this is unacceptable!" The guards glanced through the bars as Azula's voice got shriller, and their wary gazes unsettled Katara. She had attacked them before, obviously. How many times, or how well she did was impossible to know, but she figured it had to have been bad. Maybe they knew the men she had killed trying to get Sokka out of the dungeon. Good- they shouldn't have tried to go after her family. Azula should have known better then to go after her family.

"I'm going to kill you, Azula," she said simply, the realization just occurring to her in all its finality. She'd realized it didn't matter. Speaking calmly took more effort than yelling. All her doubts were satisfied and all her reservations had dissolved the moment that she realized what Azula had done. But at least for the moment, Katara was in control, and she looked away from the golden eyes to the hands, shaking and clenching into little fists. "You know it. It's the only way to make things right, isn't it? Me killing you, for everything you've done?" Katara grinned blackly, feeling her lips crack. Azula was just still and silent, breathing heavily, and from where Katara hung, blinking hazily, she thought she saw a tear rolling down her sunken cheek before one of the guards stepped in front of Azula, blocking her from view.

"Prisoner, remain silent. This is your first and only warning before we put you out and come back later… be still." The words stirred something in her, but before she could process anything else, the guard shuffled Azula out of the room and glanced up at the ice threading through the ceiling. "Bind her hands and give her a drink of water. Evaporate that," he directed, pointing towards Katara's handiwork, then looked back over his shoulder to Katara, "I will return shortly. Do not hurt my men."

She thought about it as all but four of them left the room, and tried to catch a glimpse of Azula. She saw nothing but a flash of black hair, a snap of blue fire, but she could hear the wracking, strained breath, and nothing could have made less sense to her. She wasn't allowed to act weak and childlike now. She had her younger years for that, and Katara hated her even more for delaying their inevitable confrontation. She gritted her teeth, and one of the soldiers left raised his hands, the others following suit.

"We have no reason to harm you as we carry out our orders, but… well, if you attack us…" His voice trailed away, and he swallowed thickly. Katara tried to clench her hands, and pain shot through her wrists and shoulders.

"About how often do I do that?" she asked tightly. They exchanged glances.

"Not too often anymore. The tunnels are blocked now, so there's no way to escape now. Sometimes though, you still try." The one who spoke moved towards the bars, and the man behind him handed him a key. The door clicked, but he stayed outside, his hands grasping the bars. "Do I have your word?"

Katara nodded, because he was peaceful, because he had information, because they had to know she couldn't fight them with her body like this. So he nodded back to her and swung the door open, and she couldn't help it. Her body leaned forward, and her eyes stung. "How long have I been in here?" she asked as the four men filed in and stood around her.

"You're not allowed to know that. Fire Lord's orders," said a different voice from behind her, and then, all at once, the men reached up and down and laced a line of fire right into the locks, the metal burning her skin for one millisecond before it unclasped and clattered to the floor. Katara's full body weight hit her legs then, and she couldn't hold herself up- she went down, arms grasped her roughly and settled her into a kneeling position.

"Ow," she muttered, biting her lip as blood rushed back into her arms, and she convulsed, dry-heaving. Voices rose above her as hands pushed her flat to the ground and pulled her arms behind her, and she sobbed once for them to stop before finding her jaw and snapping it shut, shutting her eyes and stopping her breath, trying to find the center of her body in the midst of the roiling storm. Muttered apologies came then, and Katara heard them. Really heard them- the soldiers holding her were sorry to be securing her hands together and to the ground behind her, were sorry to heave her back up into that sitting position. So did they like her, or were they afraid of her?

She got control of herself as quickly and quietly as she could. There was nothing else to do. She had to find out what was going on outside. The world was at the brink of another war for all she knew. And there was no longer a way to truly know who was safe and who wasn't, not without having everyone there and accounted for. She would never leave her family again if she were returned to them. Katara let all these thoughts fill her as she spotted the clay pitcher they were bringing into the room. She just drank it, without thinking or tasting or feeling, but the relief was immediate and overwhelming, surging over her in waves. She choked, and the man tugged the water away from her lips, splashing some onto her clothes. With one wave of her finger, it lifted and spiraled back into the pitcher, and she leaned forward, coughing, eyes watering, desperately waiting for the pitcher. But he backed away, clutching it to his chest. Oh. "Sorry," she wheezed, "I'm thirsty. Please."

""Let her finish," Katara heard, and craned around the guards to see the one who'd taken Azula out of the room. He stood just outside the cell, and gestured for the man to step back to her. Katara stared at him as she drank the rest of the water, moving as little as she could, muttering a polite if not hoarse thank you. He never dropped his gaze, but his eyes were calm, controlled. She didn't know why, but something inside her told her to pay close attention to him.

"Thank you," he told the other guards, who filed out of the cell, and then the man came through the door and sat directly in front of Katara, right there on the ground in the filthy cell. She leaned back, trying to sit up straight, but it hurt her back too much. She couldn't feel her hands, just prickles and pain. "And thank you for staying calm. I'm sure it must be hard in your state."

"Is this good guard, bad guard?" Katara blurted out, "Because I'm going to need a second if you're gonna hit me, or that water's going to come right back up." As it is, she was stretched full and very uncomfortable. The soldier smiled grimly.

"No, this is an interrogation. I'm against wasting a good set of working arms, so I get them to take you down for a few hours. I did that for your brother too, but… your case is slightly more dire."

"Thanks, I guess. Is my interrogation going to hurt as much as his did?" Katara ground out from between her teeth. His face fell shut.

"I wouldn't know. I don't normally do the interrogating." This was news to her, and he answered her question before she asked it. "The Fire Lord preferred to handle you both herself."

"So why isn't she doing that today?" Katara demanded, and his eyes shifted to the men filing out the door, their slowing footsteps, and he frowned at her.

"No questions from you." She grimaced back at him, and as the door slammed shut, he said, "Don't speak. Just listen to my questions and then when you have my permission to speak, answer them directly."

"No," she said, but he was already speaking, and she composed her face, afraid to give up anything that would hurt anyone. How could she even know what to say? What if she'd lied before, and the lies hadn't matched up? It would be so easy to catch her. Azula probably had caught her, judging by how bad she was hurt, in a good many lies.

"I have not always worked in the palace, but in the short time I've been here, your imprisonment here has caused more problems for me than anything else so far in my life. If anyone finds out you are here, there will be rebellion. There is already something going around in the streets, an invitation of sorts. Azula does not want you to know anything more than what she's already told you about this."

"Then why would you tell me?" she interrupted, remembering how Azula had mentioned an army, and the man raised his eyebrows.

"You don't recognize me? Very well. You cut yourself and bled all over the garden stones to fool my men, then faked unconsciousness so I would carry you into Lady Ursa's home. After which, you proceeded to destroy the infrastructure responsible for keeping her presence there secret, and Azula had her returned to the palace." Katara had a faint memory of the man snarling under his breath as he loped into the room and dumped her onto a couch, but her eyes had been closed. No wonder his voice had stirred something in her- he'd been her instrument to sneak into the house.

"Is Lady Ursa still here?" she asked, and he nodded. "Does she come to see me?" she asked eagerly, and he shook his head no.

"She's confined to her room, but she has considerable influence over some aspects of the palace. She suggested me to the Fire Lord as a personal bodyguard, and I've been accompanying her to see you this whole time."

Katara frowned. "How did Azula not see through that? You're spying on her, right? For Lady Ursa?" The guard sighed.

"The Dowager Fire Lady is concerned about the Fire Lord's mental state. A mother never stops caring, I suppose," he said, and instantly Lani's young, shining face flashed through her mind. "Lady Ursa knows that Azula is gearing up for something big, but she's stopped performing her duties and the last three payments towards reconstruction in the Earth Kingdom never came. I was told to keep her Lordship stable, and as such, I'm barring her from seeing you today."

"Why?" Katara asked, taking a chance. The guard did not answer her, but she read it on his face- she was breaking Azula. "She's afraid of me. It's stupid, because I can't lift my arms, but everyone here… I can't tell if the guards fear me, or if they feel bad."

"Why not both?" he replied, "Don't forget that many of these men have worked in this palace for many years- some, even long enough to remember you roaming the halls with the honorable Prince Zuko. But times have changed, and under Azula's reign, you are the enemy and you've acted as such."

"Now that we're alone, tell me how long I've been here," she said in a low voice, and he pursed his lips.

"Why? You'll forget by tomorrow anyways. That's how it goes until you tell Azula what she needs to know. You wake up, she interrogates you, you have your memory erased so that if you say anything, you would forget and possibly contradict yourself. Every morning you think it's the first morning in the caves, and she won't let us tell you anything about outside until you tell her about Zuko."

"Does everyone know?" she whispered, craning her neck back and forth as her stomach growled uncomfortably. She thought of all the people in Caldera, swift whispers running through the streets and into the air, speaking of a resurrected king. "Is that why Azula's so scared, is because she's afraid he's making an army?"

"As I said, I cannot tell you any more than-"

"But you need to! Ask Ursa, she'll tell you I need to know!" Katara snapped, frustrated.

"I have asked Lady Ursa. She does not want me to tell you anything that could endanger you." As Katara's eyes widened, he saw the betrayal play out on her features and shook his head. "She is caught in the middle, between the daughter who needed her and the last remaining link to her son, the hope of a future. I have clear instructions, and I will follow them."

"Then follow them," she muttered, staring at the floor in front of her. She heard him shuffling, and a quiet clinking, then something rolled into her vision. A little glass tube, something clear and beautiful sloshing inside, quickly rolled under her knee. She blinked, then looked up, watching the guard stand, his face impassive.

"Something went into motion tonight, and now, you need your memories. You need these days. On the day when you unlock your bending, I was ordered to watch for an opportunity to help. This has been my first opportunity to give you this and if something happens, my last. Lady Ursa thought you could protect your memories somehow, prepare for the next steps. She was very clear that you needed to be lucid from this point on-"

"But I can barely bend, I'm half-dead, I…." Her thoughts raced, and doubt filled every atom of her body. Preemptive healing, protecting her brain? That had to be impossible. She didn't know it. But he was speaking, quicker now, and she had to listen.

"They let your hands free for five minutes when you get your bread. If you can manage it, you should-" There was a banging on the door, and he stopped. Katara watched him close his eyes, mutter one foul word, and then he exploded forward and slapped her sideways as the door swung open with a creak and a groan. "I said no questions!" he bellowed, and as he leaned over her, she felt him nudge the vial under her body with his foot.

"Jin, it's time. Lord Azula's waiting to hear what she said." Katara popped her jaw and shook the hit off, watching the guards pile in, one of them holding a tray. Jin nodded and stepped off, kicking her lightly in the arm, and she gritted her teeth, letting her tongue flick out to catch the drop of blood forming on her cracked lip.

"Stop her mouth from bleeding before you feed her. When are you putting her back under?" he asked, and Katara knew he did so for her benefit. The guard holding the tray shrugged.

"Probably right after she eats, the Fire Lord said she wouldn't be back down today." He shot a nervous glance at Katara as Jin nodded and started to walk out, then called after him. "Is she- well, did she cooperate?" Jin turned back, his hands folded imperiously behind his back, and studied Katara. She tried to look small and weak, the act not being much of a stretch from reality.

"She's calm. You can let her feed herself today. Prisoner, if you hurt my men I will double the discomfort you live in, and triple the beating I gave you." With that, he left, and the guard closest to the door shuddered as he passed.

"Scary," he muttered, and then all four of them turned to Katara. "So… prisoner, we are going to-"

"I have to pee," she said quickly. He stopped talking, and his face went red. "Badly, please, is there anywhere I can…?" He motioned, and the guard on her right grabbed a bucket by the door, gingerly holding it out from his body as he brought it over. Katara's stomach squeezed unpleasantly, and she felt the fragile glass shift just a centimeter under her calf. "Um. Okay… thanks," she said, and her face flamed as the guards all shuffled their feet uncomfortably and tried not to watch her as she realized they'd have to help her up. "I can't get up. Can you…?" she stopped, uncomfortable, not sure how to ask.

"For Agni's sake," the one with the tray muttered, an older man with a pure white beard, " come on, lads." He set the tray down, and Katara's mouth watered at the sight of bread. "Not even able to relieve yourself without help, what this place has come to." The four men quickly opened the locks on her wrists, and she sighed in relief. The old guard's mouth was set unhappily, and as he grabbed Katara under her arms, he was gentle. "Got a daughter, bit older than you," he grunted as she felt the cold rim of the bucket, the guard behind her gingerly lifting her robes up.

"Please," she blurted, and he stopped. "I'm… really sorry, but please…" Motion ceased around her, and the guard sighed.

"Alright, lift her up," he said, and hauled Katara forward, mostly off her feet. She stood. It hurt, but she was up, on her own legs, and the vial was under her left foot, right beneath her arch. She trembled from the exertion, knew she had to move quickly. But how could she even use the water? It didn't make any sense.

"Thanks," she said, "I think I can… um. Yeah." He nodded, and turned away, his hands behind his back. She was surprised that he dared.

"Come on, boys, give her some privacy." The guards on her left and behind her turned, but the one who had brought her the bucket stood firm.

"You're all crazy. She could kill us! Let her piss herself, wouldn't be the first time," he sneered, and Katara's mouth fell open in shock and horror. The older guard was in his face in a flash, his teeth bared, his tone gruff.

"You're looking at a teenage girl who's been imprisoned, tortured, and beaten. She wants privacy to perform the most basic, the most necessary function, and I was surely not appointed as warden so I can watch young, pompous men degrade those under my care. Turn. Your. Back." There was silence, and then Katara saw nothing but the backs of helmets. His concession touched something in her. They weren't all bad- God, how many of them weren't all bad, and she'd killed them anyways? Their jobs. They were just doing their jobs.

"Thank you. I promise I won't do anything. I'm sorry. Thank you."

Katara watched them carefully as her legs shook, as she hiked up her robe and squatted, face flaming. As she did her business, she swirled her fingers, and felt the water answer her call. It felt so pure, so lovely. It was easy, like breathing. It slithered up her leg, through her collar, around the nape of her neck, across the shell of her ear. She let her mind slip into a simpler place, just heat and cold, just raw nerves grating against a build-up of black tar. She soothed them. It was hot, and then cool, and then clear. Something changed, and as her flow trickled to a stop and the men began to shift their feet, an icy, sweet peace blossomed inside her heart. Whatever happened now, she'd tried.

"I'm done," she said, wrinkling her nose, and refused to meet their eyes as they faced her again.

"Take it away," the old guard said, and the bucket was pulled away, taken out by the same grumbling man who'd told her she had peed on herself. She sat, trembling, and the old guard handed her the bread with a kind smile. She ate in big gulps, choked it down, gagged when it hit her empty stomach. When the guard returned, he had a small cup hewn from wood in his hands, and he handed it to her. She felt a prick in the back of her mind, a warning, instantly soothes by a peace she held quietly around what she imagined was a part of her soul. The old guard pursed his lips together.

"It's time you went under. We have to transport you safely, and for the most part, you're good about this. Will you drink it, or do we have to force it?" Katara sniffed the pungent liquid, all eyes glued to her hands, every movement, and she figured she didn't have a choice. But before she drank it, she looked into the old guard's eyes, and she saw someone very tired.

"This can't go on forever," she murmured, "but when it ends, however it ends, thank you for your kindness." And with that, the waterbender sipped from the cup, grimaced, and drank the rest in one long gulp.

Then, she slipped away.

Two eyes locked in on the palace at midnight, gleaming out from the darkness, silent and watchful. The lights glowed, golden and flickering, over the old red wood and the pillars making blocks of shadows on the ground. When these eyes blinked, they disappeared, only to flicker back to life a second later, never missing anything.

Golden eyes watched the golden palace, and a rough wind dragged a name from unseen lips. "Katara…"

Another pair of eyes, milky and grey, blinked open and lowered to the ground. Another voice joined his, quieter but higher in pitch, saying, "She'll be okay. She's tough." As she spoke, a light in the palace's West Wing turned off, then back on, then back off. A few moments passed, and the light stayed off. Those golden eyes closed for one moment, and then, they turned back into the darkness.

"Not tonight, but soon," he said in his quiet, gravelly voice, and a thousand pairs of eyes blinked open, shining brightly back at him from an army of shadowy figures as the message carried through them. He turned back to face the palace, hearing the bodies behind him turn and start back the way they came. He stayed for one moment longer, watching and wading through old, hazy flashes of gilded halls and long walks and talks, shy smiles and a love so deep that he knew he couldn't survive without it, without her. "Soon," Zuko promised her quietly, then turned and followed his followers back into the inky night.

And soon, I promise you! This was really a difficult part to write, so I believe now I'm past it, things will come together rather quickly. Thanks for reading!