And here it is! This was written to the music of the cartoon soundtrack. It is surprisingly good, by the way!

/

Katara found herself face to face with Aang as she walked out of Zuko's room, blocking her path. Her lips were pressed into a thin line, his glance too serious for his actual thirteen years of age-for the first time, he looked truly adult and weighed down by a century to her eyes.

"I heard what you told Zuko," he said. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, by they way- I just heard you and Mai talking and opted not to enter."

Katara just stared at him, watching Aang's expressive face shift from a little sheepish to grave again.

"So… were you telling the truth or were you lying?"

"Couldn't Toph tell you?" scoffed Katara and tried to shoulder past him. Aang didn't let her.

"I am asking you."

Toph chose that moment to elbow through.

"Make way, lamers. I'm going to keep Sparky some real company, instead of having all you thickheads remind him he's surrounded by morons who are only good at crying all the time," she said in her loudest, most provocative voice as she nearly kicked the door to Zuko's room, and shut it behind her with a bang. Mai's protestations and some low-tone hints of chuckle soon ensued from inside, and Katara felt grateful for the little earthbender for a change, because with her distraction, it would be certain Zuko or Mai wouldn't be able to listen in to her talk with Aang, even though they were standing so near their room.

And Aang was still looking at her expectantly, as if he hadn't even heard Toph.

Katara's shoulders sagged a little.

"I want to be telling the truth."

Aang nodded and smiled.

"Good; then you are. You need Spirit Water- that is fact. Iroh is bringing it. The healers' tea and your little healings will keep him alive until then, no matter what Yagoda says."

"But Spirit Water is not enough," huffed Katara, keeping her voice down just in case Toph's giggling wasn't enough.

Aang bended water from the kitchen into an orb, and, with it hovering between his hands, he looked at Katara with a calm, confident smile.

"When I was too frightened to firebend, and went with Zuko to the Dragons, the answers came to me by looking into the element I was so afraid of and couldn't master. Perhaps it's time for you to do the same."

He tossed the orb to her, and she instinctively caught it before it spilled into nothingness upon the floor. She frowned, puzzled.

"Look at the water? But-"

"Not just look at it, but into it," Aang said grinning widely. "You want to heal the sun with it. So take that ball of water out now, while the sun is setting, and really look in it until the sun rises again- and your element will give you the answers on its own."

Katara frowned, a little hesitant.

"Did the Spirits tell you that?"

"No, this is Avatar Aang's advice on the matter," Aang giggled. But then he got serious again. "The Spirits only said to use the power from all the elements, and that you should do it. So I guess you can do that by waterbending, and so your element will show you how, just like the fire taught me how not to fear it."

Katara set her shoulders and nodded. It that was what it took, then that was what she'd do.

/

Iroh hated riding lizardy beasts and flying, but in a few short hours he had done both, along with the nation officer that he trusted to help with his speed instead of hinder it. Going to get the Spirit Water, speaking with everyone necessary, having to say what the matter was with Zuko, receiving three full vials of it along with words of compassion and hope- it had all gone extremely smoothly, well and fast.

But to Iroh it was all a blur, and he remembered nothing of it, except the guarded look of the waterbenders that just didn't want to tell him how hopeless his nephew's predicament was, and the sighs of sadness and pity when they thought too soon he was out of earshot. It haunted him just like Zuko's soft gasping breaths, as he left him still unconscious half a day ago. He had to make it in time. Zuko couldn't die.

His eyes seemed riveted to the sun's course the whole time of his journey, a relentless timer of his nephew's life that wouldn't stop pushing. He had made the journey so fast that his companion had had to send falcon ahead to have ready other beasts to switch lest Iroh forced Appa to fly to death- but he had managed to get the Spirit Water within a day. As the sun was setting, he was already rushing on his way back to where the flying bison would be waiting for him to fly him back to his tea shop.

"Sir, we need to halt," his companion was repeating to him for the umpteenth time, but Iroh didn't even both to answer, and just egged the lizard on.

"Sir!" the Fire Nation officer cried out, making Iroh finally growl at him, eyes flashing.

"What is it?"

The officer shuddered. The only time Iroh seemed to resemble his defeated brother Ozai was now, in his experience, that the new Fire Lord's life was at stake. The officer didn't understand it. Were the nephew to die, he would be up next for the throne, thus restoring a birthright long since stolen. He could even start a new dynasty, if he were willing, since many Fire Nation women definitely would be regardless of Iroh's age.

Why, then, was he so anxious to save the life of one contender?

But Iroh was looking at him, and he rushed to answer.

"Sir, we need to stop even for a few minutes-"

"You stop," Iroh hissed through clenched teeth, knuckles white around the reins. "And rest all you want. Don't even think about returning to the Fire Nation- you are banished, and be glad I just don't have the time to burn you to a crisp."

And with that, Iroh pushed the lizard he was riding to leap forward, quickly putting distance between him and the startled officer.

Iroh's eyes watered as she pressed on, passing one hand over the vials hanging in a special pouch at his side. Zuko, my boy, please hold on. You need to live so that you will teach your generation to be less treacherous and dishonourable than mine. Please.

It wasn't long before his thoughts strayed to Lu Ten and how he had been forced to look upon the body of his son, ravaged by Dai Li arrows. The healers had of course removed the shafts before showing the dead prince to his father, but they had done nothing for the punctures or the blood, still caked upon Lu Ten's armor, neck and face. Iroh let out an audible sob. He had almost killed himself that day, but the duty of giving his son the funerary pyre he deserved properly in their homeland held him at the time- and then somehow things happened too fast, and Ursa left, Ozai was Fire Lord and Lu Ten was looking up at him with eyes full of fear and hope.

It wasn't Lu Ten, but then Zuko always had looked so much like him at that age… and the boy needed someone to be parent to him so desperately.

And so Iroh had postponed his suicide, promising Lu Ten that he would do it and join him in the spirit world just the moment he was free of being Zuko's real guardian, just the moment when Zuko would be his own person, and not someone shriveled, twisted and tortured at the whim of his brother's debasement. As he was hopping off the lizard and upon the sky bison, it occurred to Iroh that he had been content to watch Zuko be finally actualizing his potential, having gone through thick and thin to find his way and defend it to the ones so few children ever manage, and though he had been free of being his guardian, the thought of killing himself to join Lu Ten had not crossed his mind. Lu Ten, my son, have I betrayed you? Is this my punishment because I forgot myself, feeling happiness in the world that doesn't hold you any longer?

Iroh swallowed and shook his head to rid himself of these thoughts, the way a dog would to throw off water. Lu Ten had always been a kind soul, a kind spirit, one that has always been with him, giving him strength in ways only he, Lu Ten's father, knew and had never confessed to anyone else, because it was nobody else's business. Lu Ten wouldn't want his cousin to die because his father is a dotard- and Iroh knew, as he had always known in his heart, that Lu Ten would not approve of Iroh going to meet him before his time upon the earth was done properly, and not by his own hand. I am sorry, my son. My grief and fear nearly caused me to blame you unfairly, and disregard your love to me, and Zuko. You and him are my family, and I promise you, I will be the one to join you first, while he lives on to do what we both know he can, and will.

Appa grunted then, sailing tirelessly into the night, as if somehow he could hear Iroh's thoughts, and agreed with them.

/

Katara had been watching the floating ball of water in front of her for nearly all night- with short interruptions for small healing sessions to ensure Zuko's breathing didn't become too difficult and the artery still held until Iroh returned. It had been beautiful, silvery and sleek, its slightly rippling surface playing with the moon, and after that the star light, but it revealed nothing that would be able to help her understand what the Spirits meant.

And it wasn't becoming any better- each time she went in, at Mai's call, to help the ailing firebender she realized he was a little bit worse, a little bit weaker, and the healing was a little bit harder to achieve than the time before. She hadn't said so, of course, but she suspected Zuko had noticed if not Mai. He was making every effort not to fall asleep, talking with his fiancée in soft, gentle tones. Once, upon entry, Katara heard Zuko argue about wedding garments and children, and Mai looked both flushed and in the same time stricken with heartache- Zuko himself was grinning, albeit weakly, allowing himself the makebelief that he was not deteriorating.

And still, he tried his hardest not to sleep, because everyone in the tea shop knew that if that happened, he would most likely not wake up again.

And still, the water globe she bended to float in front of her outside in the veranda, revealed nothing to her that she didn't know. But she wouldn't give up. She couldn't give up- everyone was relying on her to do it, even Aang who seemed so confident she'd get whatever it was she was supposed to get, that he was sleeping deeply outside, on the same veranda, Momo's tail wrapped snugly around his neck.

Then, just before dawn, while the dark sky was giving into the soft pastels of the brand new day, Zuko's eyes slipped closed in mid sentence, scaring Mai for the few moments before she realized he was still breathing- and it had been the hardest healing yet, and it didn't make the new Fire Lord wake.

Katara stumbled out into the veranda again- Aang was inside now pep-talking Mai, Toph and Suki- tears once more rolling down her cheeks and she made the orb of water float between her trembling palms once more, trying desperately not to bawl by biting down on her lower lip.

Oh, Spirits, please, help me! I am doing all I can, I will do more than that- just tell me how, and I will do it!

For a few moments, nothing seemed to happen, and Katara just kept the water bended into that infernal ball that played with her eyes and revealed nothing- but then, the sun's tip kissed the mountaintops in the horizon, and golden light spilled like a rejuvenating wave over all creation.

The sun rays went right through her infuriating ball of water, and the water bended them in thousands of beautiful colours- Katara gasped, and lifted the ball of water higher, making it larger.

It was the first time that water spoke to her, under the light that had given it speech.

/

The sun had risen.

Iroh grit his teeth, knowing time had nearly run out. He didn't remember the pleasantries of the benders in the oasis, but he did remember one line- Ride fast, for time is the murderer you must first beat.

"Faster, Appa," he nearly barked at the beast. Appa grumbled irritably, making Iroh sigh. "Please, Appa!"

The sky bison beat its tail powerfully once, and Iroh's heart picked up in beats. There was Ba Sing Se! If only Katara…! But she must have, the healer he left with her had made abundant doses of the necessary tea, so she must have!

"Good, Appa, good! I'll tell the avatar how great you are," he said, patting the bison but he was really egging it on to go even faster.

His hand then went to the pouch with the Spirit Water vials- they were there, very safe.

He was back. Flying over Ba Sing Se, he picked out his tea shop by the band of red armor that was the guard, and Appa rushed there, speeding up with the promise that he could finally rest, and maybe be petted by Aang for his feat of flying.

It was Appa's grumble that brought everyone out in the veranda, where Katara was still staring with mesmerized eyes into the water, and as the exhausted sky bison landed heavily, Aang, Toph, Sokka and Suki converged around Iroh asking in various tones if he had been successful, but Iroh only asked:

"My nephew?"

Aang smiled, albeit thinly.

"He's here," he said in that meaningful arbitrariness that seemed to say everything without putting it in words, and Iroh swallowed. He nodded, and pulled out the three vials- they glistened like diamonds with the spirit water in their translucent bodies.

"Here- I …I was told this amount is far more than enough. Where is Katara?"

They only just then realized that Katara hadn't budged from her position in the corner of the veranda, holding the large water ball floating between her palms and looking at it, her pupils so dilated her eyes looked black.

Aang was unsure, as he approached, whether to bother her, but as he neared, she flinched to her senses, and the ball of water fell on the tiles, free of her bending.

"Katara?" he asked, gently helping her get up, but she was bubbling over with excitement.

"I know the answer, Aang! You were right! The answer is in my element!" she said, and kissed him on the lips before bouncing off towards Iroh, wildly gesticulating that he should not worry any longer. Aang was left smiling, rooted on the spot for a few blissful moments, before Katara's hand yanked him to the small circle of benders that she had formed.

"We will heal Zuko once and for all from Azula's lightning," she said decisively, "and we will do it now. The Spirits were right- the Spirit Water is necessary, but we need to energise all the elements through it."

"That's more or less what Twinkletoes had already said, Sweetness," Toph sighed.

"How does that translate into action, Katara?" Iroh asked.

"Water is the giver of all Life," Katara said, "Just like all elements in their own way- and so it contains all the other elements in it. In the Spirit Water, you must bend your element, and I will make sure it does remain in liquid form- and with that, I will heal Zuko."

The spark of optimism had finally returned to Katara's eyes, and it was only that which made Iroh believe in her, and decide to do exactly as she said.

/

AAAAAARGH! I STILL DIDN'T MANAGE TO FINISH IT!

Basically I ran out of time to continue writing, and this was getting long anyway. But I think the story will defy all logic if it DOESN'T end with installment six!

It better finish or it will be sorry! XD

I don't have time to answer the reviews today, but I definitely will with the next update, (answer last chapter's and this one's), so PLEASE review if you please, and make my day!

Reviews make everyone happy :D

Anyway, I hope you like this one, even though Zuko isn't at all well yet. :p