3- All Good Things Come to an End

Zuko's father stopped him from leaving breakfast that morning. He wanted to discuss a few things with him. Zuko was worried at first that Ozai had found out about his friendship with Katara. But, it turned out to just be another lecture on how important his bending was. He kept Zuko so long that when he finally made it to the training arena Katara was already there waiting for him.

She smiled in greeting when he walked in. She ran straight for him, touched his shoulder and dashed quickly to the other side of the room while yelling. "Tag. " Zuko just stared back at her in confusion. She giggled and tried again, "Tag, your it."

Zuko was very confused at the girl's strange behavior. But, he shrugged it off thinking maybe it was a water tribe greeting he just didn't understand. He tried walking over to where she was standing. But, before he could get close she ran away from him "What are you doing?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

"Your it," she said as if that should explain everything she was doing.

"What?" he asked again. She still ran away from him when he tried to move closer.

"Your it," she repeated. "Haven't you ever played tag before?"

"What's tag?" he asked.

"It's a game," she replied still not believing he had never played before and continued to run from him just in case. "The person who's it has to try and tag someone else and once they do that person becomes it. It's fun, try it," she encouraged.

Zuko, who had only known games that Azula had made up was reluctant. But, he decided to humor Katara for now and started chasing after her. She giggled as she ran away, delighted that he had chose to play with her.

It only took five minutes of chasing each other around for Zuko's dread to completely disappear and he actually started enjoying himself. After awhile of going back and forth, Katara stopped chasing Zuko and started looking around the room.

"What's wrong?" asked Zuko out of breath from all the running.

"I want to play a different game. But, this room wont work," she told him.

Zuko thought this new game, tag was fun and wanted to keep on playing. But, he was also curious as to what she had in mind. So, he took her hand with his and pulled her along after him. He led her down a couple hallways and stopped at the door to his rooms. He opened the door and asked her if this arena would work.

"Yeah," she responded. "This is a great place. There are lots of places to hid in here. As well as more rooms to make it even harder," she said. Zuko's suite consisted of a sitting room, dressing room, bathroom, and bedroom.

"What do you mean lots of places to hide," he asked. "What are we playing?"

"Hide and seek of course," she replied.

"What?" he asked.

The next week was the happiest in Zuko's young life. It was all because of his new best friend. She had taught him so many new games to play and for the first time in his life he was genuinely having fun.

Because Katara had to sneak out while her father was in meetings with his father, she usually showed up at the same time every day. He still got there early and waited a few hours before he knew she would arrive. That's why he was startled but pleased when she was two hours early. Zuko grinned and ran up to her. "Miss me too much?" he asked teasingly.

She looked up at him with a sad smile and tears sliding down her face. He hadn't noticed until now how slouched her body was with her head hung low when she walked in. "I'm going to," she said sadly answering his question. Zuko had a really bad feeling settling in the pit of his stomach as he asked her what was wrong. Then she said two words that practically ripped his heart out. "I'm leaving."

"What do you mean? Where are you going?" he asked frantic.

"I'm going back home, Zuko. My father finished with his meetings and we're leaving today. He's preparing our boat right now. It's going to leave at noon," she told him.

"No," replied Zuko firmly. "You can't go."

"I have no choice, Zuko. This is good bye. We can't even write to each other. I hate this war. Why does everyone have to fight?" she asked while burying her face in Zuko's shoulder.

He wrapped his arms around her before replying. "I don't know. But, I do know that this is not good bye for you and I. I will see you again."

"How?" she mumbled into his shirt.

"I don't know how yet," he said. But, I will find you. Somehow, I'll make it safe for us to be friends. I'll make it safe for you to bend. And I'll bring you back here where I can keep you safe and we can play tag and hide and seek as much as we want. I promise," he added seriously.

"You really think we'll see each other again?" she asked looking up at him.

"Yes," he responded. "Nothing will stop me from ending this war, for you. It should be easy. I'm going to be Fire Lord one day. "He reached for the side of his belt and removed something that he had kept on him always. "My Uncle gave this to me," he told her gesturing to the knife in his hands. "It's very special to me and I want you to hold onto it until we meet again. It's to remind you of my promise and help keep you safe when I'm not with you."

She slowly removed the sheath from the blade and read the engraving out loud. "Never give up without a fight," she quoted.

"And I wont," he told her firmly,

She put the knife on her belt before reaching behind her head and removing a blue necklace he had always seen her with. "This was my mothers," she said while handing it to him. "It was also my grandmothers and my great - grandmothers. Would you keep it safe for me until I see you again. It'll remind you of me."

"I will return this to you," he told her.

"I believe you," she said. "I believe I'll see you again." Neither child was in the mood to play. They spent their last morning together talking, crying and promising. When it came time for Katara to leave, Zuko came very close to taking Katara and just hiding her in his room. But, she reluctantly walked to the door and just before she left turned to face him. "So, I'll see you later?" she questioned.

"He smiled at her sadly before saying in a very determined voice, " I'll see you soon."

Zuko knew he couldn't let his father see the necklace. So, he hid it in the garden. He didn't trust it anywhere in his room. The servants were in there too much. The turtle- duck pond was the safest place he could think of. Only his mother and himself ever went there. He put the necklace safe in a sturdy wooden box he found and hid it in one of the holes in the tree by the pond.

It had been a couple months since Katara had left and even though she had only been in his life for one week, it changed his priorities around in a big way. His goals were still the same, master fire bending and become Fire Lord. But, his reason's for wanting those things had changed. He no longer practiced his bending to please his father. He did it to better be able to find and protect his best friend.

He had started paying attention at war meetings he attended to better his information on the war. What he heard appalled him more and more. The Southern Raiders had just returned home from a special task assign to them directly from his father. This got Zuko's close attention. It had to be important if his father took a particular interest in it.

"Was everything settled back in the South Pole?" Ozai asked the ships captain. Zuko didn't like the sound of this. That was where Katara told him she was from.

"Yes," the captain replied. "There was very little resistance. The water tribe has greatly diminished over the years. Their last water bender didn't even know how to defend herself."

"So, it was a female," replied Ozai. "Well that must have made things easier." All the men in the room shared a laugh. But, Zuko felt as if he was just punched in the gut. He couldn't listen to another word. He just silently panicked through the rest of the meeting. He replayed Katara's fear when he first saw her bending and her telling him that if it was ever discovered the Fire Nation would take her away. He also remembered his uncle's worried face and warning to keep it secret. How had his father found out? Where was Katara now? Had the Southern Raiders brought her back here? He had to find out.

After the meeting he raced after his father to question him about it further. He had to be careful though. If his father thought he cared about the girl for one moment, it would just make things worse. He had to make it seem like he was wondering about important war details. "Father, you sent the Southern Raiders after a water bender?" he started.

"Yes Zuko," Ozai replied. "Can you believe they were trying to hide the fact that they still had a bender down there from us. Luckily, their Chief let it slip while he was here two months ago. He meant it to show that their tribe was still a strong adversary. Well, we dealt with that," he finished with an evil grin.

Zuko pretended to find humor in his father's joke. "So, did the ship bring her back to our dungeons?" Zuko asked.

"Oh, don't you worry, Zuko. "Our brave young captain took care of our little nuisance," replied Ozai.

"How?" asked Zuko.

"Well, we couldn't let their concealment go unpunished, could we?" said Ozai like it was obvious. "He killed her by burning, just as I ordered him to."

Zuko stopped walking abruptly when he heard that. "Good," was all he could say to keep in character before dashing off. He was in tears, much to his embarrassment before he made it to his Uncle's room. "Uncle," he yelled bursting in.

"I know," Iroh replied sadly. He reached over to comfort the young boy. But, Zuko pulled away. This sadness and crying was weak, beneath him and would accomplish nothing.

Anger was better Zuko decided. Anger could accomplish tasks. "He's going to pay, Uncle. Ozai's going to pay for what he's done."