Hey brother! There's an endless road to rediscover

Hey sister! Know the water's sweet but blood is thicker

Oh! If the sky comes falling down

For you

There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do

-Avicii, 'Hey Brother'

"So, I think we should talk."

Katara looked over her shoulder to see Sokka standing behind her, his arms crossed and eyes downcast. She was standing in the middle of the slow-flowing river, running her hands along its surface. She had wanted to experiment with her regained bending, but was afraid that if she tried, nothing would happen and it would have all been in her imagination.

She grinned and waded to shore, throwing her arms around her brother. "I'm so glad you're here, Sokka!" she pulled back, her smile diminishing a little. "Yeah, I guess we should."

"Is there a good place around here, or…?"

"We can cross the river here and walk on the other side." Katara suggested, indicating the opposite bank. The forest thickened on the other side, completely untamed with overgrown weeds, roots, and unknown creatures lurking in its thick shadows.

"That's fine." Sokka grimaced as he waded through the water, noticing that his sister had no problem getting her clothes wet. She could just bend them dry anyway.

They clambered up the steep bank and sat on its sandy peak for a moment. Sokka looked at Katara expectantly.

"What?" she asked. "Do you want me to go first?"

"Well, yeah, but do you think you could…?" he gestured to their clothes. Katara looked confused. "You know, bend our clothes dry?"

"Oh." Katara said, her eyes shooting to the river. "Right. Of course." She took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly through her nose. With trembling hands and awkward motions, she pulled the water from first hers then Sokka's clothes and sent it streaming in a flood back to the river.

Sokka eyed her concernedly. "You used to be a lot better at that."

"It's been awhile okay?" Katara snapped.

"It's been awhile? Since what, you bended?" Sokka pulled her to her feet and they began walking. "I think you should start."

"I don't even know where to begin." Katara murmured, plucking a leaf from a passing tree and shredding it. "It's been so long…"

"I know." Sokka's voice was quiet, sad. They walked for a moment in silence, each reflecting on their own lost childhoods, and wondering how they could ever tell the other about the things that had happened.

"I guess…when Aang died?" Sokka nodded and Katara bit her lip before speaking. "Zhao captured me. He took me to the Fire Lord. Ozai…he…hurt me until he was sure I didn't think the Avatar could have lived." Katara closed her eyes against the torturous memories. "I escaped from there a month later, but my hands," she lifted them to see if the scars were really gone. "they were badly burned and I couldn't heal them. It hurt to grip anything for a long time, or to even move them. They healed twisted and wrong. Zuko just helped me get them back." She sighed. "I stowed away on a ship headed for the Earth Kingdom, but they found me and tossed me overboard halfway through the third day. I managed to cling to a floating log that took me back to shore, but I was still in the Fire Nation." Sokka guided his sister to a flat, mossy rock and sat down beside her on it, listening silently to her story. "For a couple months I worked as a cleaner in an inn beside the shore until I had enough to buy passage to the Earth Kingdom. The people who owned the inn were kind and didn't ask questions. By the time I left, I…I knew I was pregnant." She heard Sokka's muttered oath, but he didn't interrupt. "The ship wouldn't let me on when they saw my eyes; they said that all suspected water tribesman had to report to the capital, and one of them grabbed me. I bit him and he let go, but then they all came at me. I ran." She rubbed a hand across her eyes. It was hard to remember this part. "I don't really know where I went or what I did to survive, but I know I stowed away on another ship at some point. By the time I was close to…to having the baby, I was in the Earth Kingdom, near the western tip, about two hundred miles from here. Romjak and his wife found me and brought me back here with them. I had Kaya a month later. We've been living in this village ever since." She turned to give Sokka a little smile. "Two months ago Zuko and his Uncle showed up in a refugee group from a village that had been destroyed by the Fire Nation. No one here really remembers there ever was a Fire Prince, so they've been living as Lee and Mushi."

"That's great." Sokka spat. Katara looked at him in alarm: his fists were shaking on his knees. "He doesn't know she's his, does he?" At her astonished look, he growled: "She's Ozai's isn't she? Kaya. She's Zuko's fucking half-sister."

"Yes." Katara whispered, looking away.

"Who else knows that?" Sokka yelled. "Who else knows she's the Phoenix King's bastard?"

"No one!" Katara screamed back at him. The tears were beginning to line her face. "She's mine too, Sokka! She's my daughter, she's nothing like him!"

"Do you think that matters?" Sokka ground out. "If he finds out, if he finds you…" He sighed angrily. "He'll destroy you both. So will Azula! The Fire Nation won't want a bastard Fire Princess on the wrong side."

"She's not a Fire Princess." Katara snapped. "She's Kaya of the Forest." Sokka cocked an eyebrow at her. Katara shrugged, brushing the tears away. "That's what she calls herself."

Sokka chuckled. "Why not of the Water Tribe?"

"Because she's not a bender." Katara sighed. "She grew up in these woods. They're all she knows."

Sokka rubbed the back of his head and looked out into the forest. "Have you told him?"

"Ozai?"

"No." Sokka gave her a condescending look. "That guy's son."

"No. I don't know how." She replied, frowning at the ground. "It's not like I can just go 'hey guy I've been sleeping with, this is actually your sister. Your father raped me, but it's okay now 'cause I think I love you.'" She laughed, a nervous, hysterical giggle. "That'll work."

Sokka put his arm around her, tugging her close. "We'll figure it out."

"Yeah." Katara slumped against him. "I should tell him?"

"I think he deserves to know."

"What if he hates me?" It wasn't really a question. A fear brought to life. "What if he hates her? What if she turns out like Azula?"

"I don't think at this point anything would make him hate you." Sokka reassured her. "I think he loves you. Like, a lot. And she'll never be Azula, not with you for a mom."

"Thanks, Sokka." She hugged him again, still so happy to find him alive. "Your turn."

Sokka sighed and stood, Katara mirroring him. Their footsteps crunched through the sun-dappled forest floor, overturning stones and sticks in their path.

"It was Azula who took us after we were captured." Sokka began. "Her and her two creepy friends. They dumped us in the bottom of their ship and didn't come back for days. By the time they did, we were starving, dehydrated. She interrogated us about the Avatar, about you, about where Appa could have gone." At Katara's questioning noise, Sokka shook his head and continued. "We wouldn't tell her anything. She told us it didn't matter, that her father," he spit the words. "would be getting information from you soon, that he had special plans for you and if we didn't cooperate with her you'd die." He looked at his feet. "We didn't really have any new information, but we knew…we knew Aang was dead. We didn't know where Appa was. She had the guards feed us and left us in the dark again.

A couple weeks into the journey, she started taking Suki out, up on deck. She won't tell me what Azula did to her, not even now. She'd come back bleeding and terrified, white as a ghost." Sokka cleared his throat. Katara felt her heart wrench. "Once she came back and Azula had taken her little fingers. Had that girl chop them off at the second knuckle. It was only luck she didn't die from infection." Katara made a strained choking noise, her face a mask of hurt and anger. "They healed up okay, and she can still fight. But she says that if she ever sees that girl again, it'll be a slow death for one of them.

"The ship docked soon after that and guards came down to throw black bags over our heads and drag us up the metal stairs. We walked for a while before they lifted the bags briefly so we could go down a long dark flight of stairs, sliding the bags back on when we reached the bottom. I screamed when I felt them take Suki away from me; I thought they were going to kill her. But they threw me in a cage underground, leaving the bag over my head. I remember wondering why it wasn't hotter in the Fire Nation when I heard Azula's laugh from a little ways away. She was explaining to someone, a guard I think, that war prisoners were usually taken to the Boiling Rock, but her father thought it would be a bad idea for a lot of potential water benders to have access to such a dangerous resource. We were in Ba Sing Se, in the prison of the Dai Li under Lake Laogai. All the guards were members." It was Katara's turn to swear. "When I finally got the bag off my head, I saw the green crystals and the stone walls of the cell, lined with metal bars. I spent a long time pacing the confines of my cell, trying to stay sane."

"I didn't see Suki for years. I didn't know what happened to her…I thought she was dead because she obviously wasn't Water Tribe. A few months after we got imprisoned, water tribe people started trickling in; men on one side, women on the other, separated by a huge wall. My cell was close enough to the entrance that I could see everyone who got brought in and where they were sent. I found out soon that they were all benders; non-benders were sent somewhere else, apparently to live in the Fire Nation capital where they could be watched. I guess I was considered too dangerous, since I travelled with the Avatar.

"Days, then weeks, months, and years passed in that cell. We tried to stay as fit as we could, doing exercises and talking. But we weren't fed well, and anytime they did feed us they strapped us all down and dumped any water down our throats. We were lucky we didn't drown half the time.

"Six months ago, it was just another day. Gross food, attempted drowning,you know, the usual." Katara snorted. "I don't know why but that song, that stupid song, got stuck in my head somehow. That one those idiot travelling players sang? Secret tunnel, secret tunnel..." Katara rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I started humming it, and the men all wanted to know what it was. I told them the words and we started singing it. Loudly. Soon we were yelling it at the top of our lungs. It seemed to really annoy the guards. We sang it every day for almost a week, when, and this is crazy, we started hearing rumbling on the other side of the wall. Remember that drill that almost went through the wall of Ba Sing Se that one time?" Katara smiled and nodded. "It sounded just like that! So, we're hearing this noise, but only when we're singing that song. We stop, it stops. And one morning, before our meal of the morning, we found cracks in the wall and they were spreading and we started singing and suddenly there was a badgermole!"

"A badgermole?"

"A badgermole!"

"No way."

"Yes! We were busted out of jail by a badgermole!" Sokka waved his arms in the air, emphasizing his story. "There ended up being two of them and they tore a big hole in the side of our cell and lifted up the metal bars from underneath. A lot of the men scrambled out then, escaping into their tunnel, but I wanted to find out about Suki. Twenty of us waited and ambushed the guards when they showed up. We knocked them down long enough to get their keys and let the women out. I almost didn't recognize Suki, and I know she didn't recognize me. I had the coolest beard." Sokka's eyes turned wistful. "There were maybe twenty women that escaped with us. Six were too sick and we had to leave them behind." His eyes turned sad, regretful. "We followed the winding tunnels of the badgermoles for two days before we reached the surface. It actually brought us out close to the shore, about seventy miles from here. Everyone who had escaped earlier had waited for us there, so we had about two hundred people all standing around not knowing what to do. A lot of them struck out on their own, saying they were going back to the North Pole to see what was left and start rebuilding.

"When the rest of us finally got to a town, we stuck out really bad. A whole bunch of people with blue eyes and word of a break out? Not a good combination. Luckily, we had come up in one of the last free towns in the Earth Kingdom, though they knew we'd be followed. The tunnels weren't…subtle. But there were a lot of bends and shoot-offs. A couple kids showed us the way here, and told us that Romjak took in anyone who showed up. So we're all here. Me and almost a hundred waterbenders. The end." He gestured dramatically, making Katara smile. They came to a stop in a beam of light that broke through the dense tree cover. Katara watched as a flock of birds flew from the ground and up through the break in the leaves.

Sokka watched her. His sister was different than she was: quieter, less nosy. The old Katara would have pelted him with questions the moment she saw him. He wondered if it was just her growing up, or if what Ozai had done to her had changed her forever. She looked good, healthy. Her cheeks were a little hollow, her waist a little too thin. But the wave of her hair, the flash in her eyes, the determined set of her shoulders; they hadn't changed. Her hair was piled on top of her head in a style that was too Earth Kingdom for him, and he wasn't sure about the green forest clothing. But oh well. She was alive. She was…happy?

"Are you happy?" He blurted out, startling her. She turned to him with raised eyebrows. "Here? With Zuko?"

She smiled, her eyes lowering. "I was happy here long before Zuko came. But yes. He's changed, Sokka. Or maybe he didn't…who he is now, is who he really is." She glared playfully at him. "Don't kill him. He makes me happier."

"If I do, Chi Lin says he'll slit my throat."

"Please don't annoy him either." Katara groaned. "He's one of Romjak's closest advisors. When I first came here, he was only eighteen and new too, and he stuck close to me to make sure no one hurt me." she smiled sadly. "He taught me how to defend myself and use knives. He still watches out for me, when I need it." She cocked her head sideways. "I wonder why he never said anything about Zuko…"

Sokka rolled his eyes. "Strange loyalties aside, he's scary."

"Yeah." Katara giggled. "If you don't hurt him, he won't hurt you."

"I really missed you, Katara." Sokka grabbed her up in a bear hug that she returned just as fiercely.

"I thought you were dead." She whispered, tears running down her face. "I should've looked for you."

"No, no, no. Don't think like that." He wrapped his arms around her neck. "You would've ended up in that pit with us, and Kaya wouldn't have a mom."

"Do you know what happened to Dad?" she asked him softly, slightly tightening her grip, as if he'd melt away.

"He's somewhere in the Fire Nation Capital." Sokka said, beginning to rock back and forth in a comforting gesture. "He's a prisoner, but he's alive. Bato's with him."

"They destroyed us, Sokka." She whispered.

"No, they just scattered us. We just have to put ourselves back together again. Find our way home."

"I can't remember what 'home' looks like." Katara said, stepping back and wiping her eyes. "I can't remember if home is a block of ice in the shape of a house, or if it's the bank of this river, or the inside of a tent."

"Home looks like wherever you want to be." Sokka said, laying a hand on her shoulder. "Right now, I could use a home that looked like a pile of meat."

Katara let out a watery laugh and couldn't stop. Sokka joined her, letting the stress and the memories out.

"C'mon. We can get you something to eat." Katara turned to go back to where they first crossed. "And I'd love to talk to some of your waterbenders.

"Yes, please." Sokka followed her eagerly, his mouth already watering at the thought of a full belly. "And they're not my waterbenders. Them and their sparkly magic water…"

He laughed as his sister slapped him on the chest before she turned and led him back to the village.

***Line break***Line break***Line break***

Zuko let himself smile a little bit as he drilled his students as the sound of female laughter rang across the camp. Katara and Suki sat together with several of the waterbending women near the river, catching up. The women seemed thrilled to be near water again and were practicing their bending. He knew the girl from Kyoshi was avoiding him. He really wanted to go sit with Katara, bury his face in her hair, listen to what they were talking about, but he knew if he intruded he'd only push Katara's friends further away. And she was happy having someone to talk to about…girl things, he supposed, and be with her own people again. The thought made him just a little sad…what if she really did want to leave? To return home. Leave him behind and rebuild the Poles.

"Patterns!" Zuko bellowed. His students shifted into the first of their patterns, blending through the eight attack forms one after the other. Zuko wandered through them, pointing out blunders and correcting stances. He felt his pride swell as he noticed less and less mistakes.

"Hey." Sokka's voice came from over his shoulder and Zuko turned. Sokka stood with a practice sword in one hand, the tip resting back on his shoulder. His face was relaxed, matching his posture. His long hair, wavy like his sister's, was tied back in a casual knot, not the traditional warrior wolf-tail. "Want to give them a show?"

"What do you mean?" Zuko walked over to where he stood, keeping an ear on his students. After the morning's confrontation, he wasn't sure about Sokka's feelings towards him. He definitely didn't want to get into another argument.

"Before I was an honored guest of the Fire Nation," Sokka said in a lofty tone. Zuko snorted. "I trained under a Master." He shrugged. "I'd like to see if I can still fight."

"You could duel one of them." Zuko jerked his head to indicate his students.

"No. I want to duel you." Sokka's face was determined.

Zuko looked him up and down, searching for a trick. "Why?"

"Because I'm a sword master too." Sokka said. "I just haven't practiced in a while."

"I don't want to hurt you." Zuko said, wondering if Katara would dunk him in the river if he did.

Sokka shrugged. "I'll try not to let you." He shifted into a defensive stance and smirked. "Do you want to put a bet on it?"

Zuko glared at him, aware that behind him his students had stilled to listen. "Can we do this later?"

"I'm free now." Sokka grinned. "You scared?"

Zuko smirked in reply, holding out his hand for a bokken. One of his students stepped forward to press one to his palm, and stepped back just as silently. Zuko swung it in a complicated pattern, making Sokka's eyes widen. "I'll never be scared of you."

Sokka began to circle him, his bokken at the ready. Zuko mirrored him, his steps even and practiced. Sokka struck first, charging at him with a war cry. Zuko wanted to roll his eyes: what idiot screams as he attacks? He countered easily, noting the other man's fumbling swipes and stumbling steps. He crouched back as Sokka collected himself and began to circle again.

Zuko's students spread out to form a loose ring, their bokkens hanging slack in their hands. Sokka's steps got better as he slowly sank back into the rhythm he had known. His muscles stretched and ached, remembering the movements. His face got cockier the longer he circled. He lunged in again, striking close to Zuko's head. Zuko dodged, slapping his sword away with his own, delivering a slap to Sokka's ear. His students chuckled at the look on Sokka's face.

Sokka took the blow in stride, his face sobering up. He crouched low, running at Zuko with his sword cocked behind him. Zuko met him and they clashed body to body, pushing against each other with bared teeth. They parted only to rain blows on each other with ringing wooden thunks as their bokkens collided. They parried and thrusted, stabbed and whirled, the eyes of Zuko's students getting larger and larger. Sokka's confidence grew with every strike, his moves becoming more fluid. Zuko found it more and more difficult to block him and lunged forward, taking the offensive. Sokka fell back, a frown creasing his face, his teeth bared, as he blocked Zuko's attack.

Katara and Suki came with the waterbendering women to stand with the growing crowd, drawn by the sounds of wood on wood.

"Isn't it great to see the boys getting along." Suki said dryly, making Katara snort.

"Better than it has been." Katara muttered back. "At least these swords have no points on them." Suki nodded in agreement.

From around them, mutterings turned into cheers for Zuko or Sokka. The waterbenders urged Sokka on, while Zuko's students cheered him on. The two combatants were exchanging blows faster than most people's eyes could follow, matching each other so well it looked almost like a dance. Suki and Katara watched, enraptured, as Zuko finally broke through and delivered a powerful blow to Sokka's ribs, knocking the other man to his knees. He grimaced as Zuko laid the tip of his sword across his throat, asking for his surrender.

"I yield." Sokka growled, laying his bokken on the ground. Zuko smiled crookedly and stuck his hand out to haul the other man to his feet as the crowd cheered. They both looked around, chests heaving. Zuko watched Sokka warily, but the other man turned with a lopsided smile of his own to offer his hand. They clasped each other's elbows; Katara and Suki let out a sigh of relief.

"That was entertaining." Romjak's great growling voice said. The throng in front of him parted to let him through. He strode forward, looking the two winded men up and down. "Lee, how are your students progressing? Have they mastered the eight forms?"

"Almost." Zuko panted, standing tall. "They improve every day."

Romjak stroked his beard. "I believe your warriors would welcome a chance to practice as well, Sokka."

"They're not my warriors." Sokka answered. "But yes, they would."

The headman nodded. "I think it's time to introduce sparring into our daily trainings, one discipline at a time. We can mix them together later. They need to learn how to fight, not just the motions. I believe Chi Lin can handle the weapon matches. But for offensive bending…" He paused for a moment, catching Zuko's eye "Moswren can teach the earth benders. Lee, you can train the Firebenders." Zuko nodded in agreement. "Sokka, can you instruct water bending?"

Sokka chortled. "I'm not even a bender at all. The last free waterbending master is my sister Katara. She was trained by Master Pakku of the Northern Water Tribe, and she trained the last Avatar."

All eyes turned to Katara, including Romjak. He hadn't realized she was a bender, all these years. She straightened, lifting her chin. She knew Sokka didn't realize he had given away more than she had in the last six years. They could probably all guess who she was now. Suki stepped forward to support her, laying a hand on her shoulder. Zuko saw the look on her face, the strength in her stance, and knew she wasn't hiding anymore. His mouth quirked up in a smirk. She had always been a warrior.

"My real name," there was an intake of breath from the camp. Sokka walked to stand next to her, looking guilty. "is Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, Master Water Bender. Student of Master Pakku of the Northern Water Tribe, and teacher of Avatar Aang of the South Air Temple." The wind picked up, blowing her hair across her face in dark stripes. Whispers and murmurs sprang up as she finished speaking. Zuko tensed in anticipation of outrage, but none came. "My brother Sokka is a master swordsman, trained by Piandao of the Fire Nation." Zuko's eyebrows shot up. Piandao had instructed him in his dao swords when he was a child. Sokka's technique had seemed familiar…"My friend, Suki," She gestured to Suki who nodded. "is the former leader of the Kyoshi warriors." She looked at Zuko, struck with an impulse to introduce him formerly as well, but he gave a small shake of his head. It wasn't time yet. "I have only recently regained my bending ability, thanks to Lee." Heads swiveled to inspect Zuko before turning back to her. "I would be honored to lead any waterbending instruction necessary, headman."

Romjak had noted the silent exchange between Chi-Katara and the ex-Prince. He also noted that Katara didn't call him 'father', as she had for years. He supposed it was because of her brother's presence. Or because she had come back to herself. He sighed. He knew it couldn't have lasted forever. But she was strong enough now, with her friend, her brother and her…Prince. He smiled. "We'll be ready for anything now." His smile turned into a roaring laugh. "Those fire nation bastards won't know what's coming!"

***Line break***Line break**Line break***

A.N. Ack! I wanted to keep writing this one but it's so long already…murr.

To BlueLion: I know…he's just such a good villain!

To Ummmm: Sorry you feel that way no need to be rude….

To Lithriel23: I have a plan….muahahaha.

To the Moon our Witness: xD I love your reviews!

To Kat-Tastrophe: You make me giggle

To heros bane, TheRealTayler13, and starwarrior221: Thank you! :D