Light poured onto Katalina. She squinted her eyes as she continued to follow Zuko through the doors. And when her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw where they were.

"The courtyard," she said, smiling. "The one nice place in the entire palace and it's not even inside."

He laughed. "This place hasn't changed either."

"Yeah, I can tell." She walked over to the small pond and knelt down beside it. "This is where I first learned I could firebend."

He sat down beside her. "That's right," he recalled. He laughed, shaking his head, "Even I remember that day."

"Well, you should. You were the one who told me to give it a shot in the first place."

"I know, I know." He laughed some more. "Azula was so pissed."

"I know! I was just gonna say, do you remember her face when she saw me bend for the first time? Hah! That was priceless."

"Yeah, that was definitely a good day."

"And then training begun and that was hell," she stated.

"No kidding."

They then fell silent. Katalina played with the water in the pond while Zuko just watched her.

"Sokka told me that you freed the Avatar's bison back in Ba Sing Se," she changed the subject, breaking the silence. She looked back towards him. "What made you do that?"

He shrugged. "I don't really know. I was going through a lot of changes then and I was really confused about a lot of things and…" he sighed, trailing off. "I just don't know."

"And there's nothing wrong with that so don't worry about it. I mean, you were obviously able to get out of that confusion."

"Yeah, but I had to return here before I managed to do that. I had to betray Uncle before I managed to do that."

"But you still found your way and that's what matters. Besides, Iroh had clearly forgiven you."

"I still feel bad about what I did, though."

"You shouldn't, Zuko. That's in the past now. And what happened to leaving the past in the past?"

He rolled his eyes at her, but smiled. "So you're using my own words against me now, huh?"

"I had to."

"Oh, of course." He chuckled some more. "We should get back inside," he then suggested, standing up. "It's getting dark out."

"Why not just stay out here tonight?" she wondered, laying back on the ground. "Why not sleep under the stars?"

"Do you want to?"

"I think it'd be nice."

"Very well." He sat back down. "I guess we're staying out here, then."

"We should also stay up all night like we used to."

"Lina, we're not kids anymore."

"Zuko, we're like sixteen and seventeen. So yes, we are still kids."

He sighed. "We have that party tomorrow night, so we need to sleep tonight."

She thought for a moment. "You're very first party as Fire Lord," she then pointed out. "Are you upset you can't attend it with Mai?"

"Lina—"

"I'm not trying to start anything! I'm asking a legitimate question."

"Well, you know Mai," he replied. "She's not really the party type."

"And you are?"

"Shut up."

She laughed. "C'mon, I'm sure she would still be willing to attend a part with you."

"I'm not sure if she would really enjoy it, though."

"So are you gonna mention tomorrow's party to her?"

"Why should I? Not like she would care."

"All right, if you say so."

"Let's just try to get some sleep now."

"It's not even dark yet, Zuko! At least wait until the moon rises."

"You're really stubborn, you know that?"

"I learned from the best." She gestured to him, smiling.

"Shut up," he said again, shooing her arm away from him. "I am not stubborn." She raised an eyebrow at him. "Not as stubborn as you, at least."

"Fine, I'll let you have this one," she gave in. "So Ozai was locked up in prison and Azula went insane, right?" she changed the subject again.

"Right," he confirmed. "She just completely lost it."

"Is there a chance I'd be able to see her while we're here."

He shook his head. "Yeah, I don't think so."

"I thought so, but figured I'd ask anyway." She shrugged it off. "Oh well. Ozai is good enough for me."

"Are you gonna rub it in his face that he lost the war?"

"No, I am going to act maturely when I visit him."

"You? Mature? Hah!"

"Shut up," she stole his words. "I can be mature."

He laughed. "Either way, he's gonna love seeing you again," he stated, a puddle of sarcasm surrounding him.

"He should love seeing me again. He should be honoured that I'm going to visit him even after everything he put me through."

"It couldn't have been as bad as what he put me through."

"You don't know how he treated me after your initial banishment, Zuko. You don't know what he did to me."

He sat up straight. "Then tell me what he did to you."

She shook her head. "No, you'll overreact."

"No I won't."

"I know you, Zuko. So yes, you will."

"Please tell me what he did to you, Lina. And I promise to remain calm about the situation."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

"Fine." She sat up as well, taking a deep breath and letting it out. "Well, he did to me what he did to you," she informed him.

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that you're not the only one who got burned by Ozai." She pulled her hair away from her neck to reveal the scar on the back of it. "He burned your eye when you were in front of him, and then he burned my neck when I had my back turned to him."

Zuko's eyes widened. "He did that to you?"

"You promised you wouldn't overreact, so don't make a big deal out of this." She let go of her hair, allowing it to fall back around her face. "And don't mention it to any of the others."

"Am I the only one who knows?"

"No," she admitted. "Iroh, Jet, Jin, Yolanda, Hakara, and Shion all know."

"When exactly did he do that to you?"

"Before you left."

"What?"

"I confronted him about what he did and he didn't like that. Then I told him that I was gonna go with you and he liked that even less. Burning me was how he kept me here. And I made sure he regretted it."

"He had no right to burn you."

"He had no right to burn you, either."

"Yes he did." He lowered his voice. "I made a fool of him in front of all those War Ministers. I disrespected him and spoke out of term."

"You're joking, right? Ugh! Ozai made a fool of himself by burning his own son! You did not make a fool of him. You showed honour and bravery by not fighting him."

"How?"

"Because you stepped down for a damn good reason, Zuko. You didn't want to fight your father and that's okay. And if you did fight him, then you would have come out with a lot worse than just a scar on your eye."

His head was hanging low. "I wanna believe you, but…" he trailed off. "Why do I still feel this way?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure. You shouldn't, though. Plus, it happened over three years ago now. So stop worrying about it. You're the Fire Lord now and Ozai is behind bars. Everything is the way it should be."

"You really think so?"

She smiled now. "Of course I do."

He smiled back. "Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me." She lay back down. "Come on."

He lay back down back as well. And the two friends lay in silence. They stared up into the sky, transforming from day to night.

"This really does feel like the old says," Zuko spoke up. "I mean, it's like we have actually gone back in time eight or nine years."

"Doesn't it, though?" Katalina sighed deeply. "Things are very different now, though."

"But things have differed for the better."

"I guess they have." She chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

"Just being here is all."

"Under the circumstances, you mean?"

She nodded. "It just proves how destiny works in funny ways."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. It's very ironic. I mean, did you really ever expect to make it here?"

He chuckled. "I get what you mean." He paused. "What else do you think destiny will throw at us?"

"Who knows? I mean, after everything that's happened I believe that pretty much anything is possible."

"Anything?" he repeated. "That's a wide range of possibilities."

"Well…" Katalina trailed off, thinking. She noted Zuko lying beside her. She noted that he was with Mai. "Maybe not anything."