A/N: Chapter 2 has arrived, say hello to Lu Ten.

Chapter 2

Zuko

Zuko looked at his buzzing phone to see Mai's name appear on the screen. He huffed and let his head fall back into the headboard he had been propped up against for all of ten minutes. He had just settled in to do some homework on top of his bed before he planned to roll over and go to sleep in about an hour. So why in Koh's lair was his sister's friend phoning him?

Well, Zuko knew one sad explanation for that already: he didn't have any friends of his own.

Apart from Mango and Peach, that is.

It was getting harder and harder to push away the dark and sometimes rather heavy feeling that there was something fundamentally wrong with him. He often thought that maybe the scar covering half of his face had something to do with it, but whether it was a cause or a symptom...

"Maybe it's both," he muttered to himself before forcing himself back to reality and answering the call. "What do you want, Mai?" he asked, trying to imply with his tone that this had better be something pretty damn important (like life or death important) or else... But he suspected he probably came across like a petulant child instead.

"Hey... Zuko. Can you um... Ca-can you come and get ush?" Zuko could practically hear Mai swaying on the other end of the line, "Azula... Azula, I think Azula passed out and she has the car keys an-and Ty Lee is throwing up in a bush over there."

"So you're all too drunk to drive?" Zuko guessed with a sense of impending doom. Zuko had learned quite a while ago that drunk people could manage very little thinking, so he had to do the thinking for them - which in practical terms meant guessing what they were trying to tell him rather than asking any questions more complicated than Are you having a good time?

"Yep." (Which, coincidentally, was usually more or less the answer to the good time question.)

"And if Azula has the car keys, that means the car is with you guys... Wherever you are?"

"Err yep."

"So... Where are you?"

"In a field," Mai snarked like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Dammit, he broke his own rules.

But at least he had something to go on and scooted so he sat on the edge of his bed. He had neither time nor energy to change out of his pyjamas, so he awkwardly began stuffing his woollen-wrapped feet into his shoes while still holding the phone to his ear with one hand.

"Hey, Mai? Are you in the poppy field?" Zuko asked, hoping the answer would be yes, but not necessarily expecting that it would be.

"Nope," she answered, far too cheerily in Zuko's opinion.

"Are you in the field by the train station?" He guessed the next closest field as he opened the door and stepped out into the evening.

"Nope," was, again, the far too cheery answer.

Zuko sighed, every other field was more than a thirty-minute walk away now. Suck it up, he silently thought to himself. Out loud, he said, "Mai, can you make sure Azula is laying on her side?"

"Why?"

Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose as he started walking towards the other side of town and tried to gather all his reserves of patience - of which he was steadily running out. "Because it's dangerous to let a drunk person sleep on their back. Can you just roll her over for me?"

"Okay okay, which side does she like to sleep on?"

"It doesn't matter, any side."

He heard a grunt of assent from Mai and a lot of faint rustling. He sped up his pace until he was just shy of getting out of breath. They were really drunk out there, dangerously drunk, and worry was quietly taking up residence inside him while gently ushering his tiredness out.

"Mai, can you see town from where you are?" Zuko asked once he was fairly certain that his sister was safely on her side.

"No, I don't think so... No wait! There it is!"

Zuko could almost feel his remaining patience for the day draining out his ears. He even rubbed at the area under his ear just in case something had actually leaked out. "Okay, what buildings can you see nearest to you?"

"Erm... I don't know."

"Spirits damnit Mai! How can you not know? Just look towards the town and then look at the buildings closest to you!" And there it was, his breaking point. Mai was lucky he still had a way to walk so that he could calm down before he had to deal with her drunken idiocy in person.

"But they're too far away," Mai whined.

"Wait. Are you on bobsled hill?" Zuko had no idea what the field was actually called - or if the field even had a name, people weren't usually that big on naming fields, they usually saved that privilege for streets and buildings and babies... But this particular field, being on quite a big hill, had come by its name for obvious reasons, especially in the winter.

"Yeah! We're on bobsled hill!" Mai chanted and Zuko could faintly hear what he assumed was Ty Lee, hopefully with her head now out of the bushes, echoing her in the background.

"For Agni's sake," Zuko muttered, before making his voice audible through the phone, "just make sure Azula stays on her side and if you have any water or anything with you just try to drink some. No more alcohol okay? Now I'm going to put the phone down but I'm coming to get you, only it will be a while since you're right on the other side of town and up a great big fucking hill okay?"

"Okay," Mai sighed happily.

Zuko put the phone down for the sake of his sanity and for the sake of Mai's feelings - but mostly for his own sanity. He shoved his hands deep into his hoodie pocket and glared at the ground as he strode ahead as if he was angry at it for stretching out between him and his destination.

What in Agni's name did Azula think she was doing getting mullered on a Monday night?

He was starting to think he should have just left them to fend for themselves, but visions of them getting hypothermia from being out all night, or wrecking the car (and themselves) trying to get back into town spurred him on.

He powered through town in the fading light, feeling grateful for the slight chill in the air to counteract his rising body heat from the rigorous pace he was setting. Eventually though (and Zuko thought he had probably set a new personal best walking from his house to the top of bobsled hill) he saw the car parked to the side of the dirt track that ran between the fields.

He slowed down as he approached his proverbial finish line, the fact that the car was still there meant that at least they hadn't crashed and burned trying to get back home themselves. He walked straight past the car and picked his way through the hedge to find his sister still on her side (good; not surrounded by vomit either, also good) and Mai and Ty Lee sat pressed up together against a tree looking out over the town.

"Zuko!" Ty Lee squealed and leapt up to envelop him in a hug with a grace and speed which would be barely believable if she was sober, let alone wasted. Zuko wrinkled his nose at the strong acidic smell and began to pry her off him. "I was getting worried you weren't going to come, but you're here! You're so nice."

"No, I'm not," Zuko replied, "I'm only doing this so Dad won't go apeshit on me for leaving her out here."This was partially true, he realised, but the thought hadn't even entered his head until he needed a snarky reply for Ty Lee. Maybe that meant he was nice. Ugh but nice was so boring. No wonder no one liked him.

Zuko managed to successfully disengage Ty Lee while thinking in the back of his mind that trying to pry a large and determined octopus off him with both hands tied behind his back might have been slightly easier. "Have either of you tried waking Azula up yet?" He asked.

"No," Ty Lee said sheepishly while Mai shook her head behind her, "were we meant to?"

"Not really I suppose," Zuko sighed as he went to crouch over his sister. He shook her with not as much gentleness as he could have - because what was the point in being irritated if you couldn't let people know? However, there was no response. He shook her again with even more vigour and called her name, and when that didn't work, began patting her progressively harder on the cheek until she finally began to rouse.

"How did you guys even get a hold of any alcohol?" He muttered, partially to himself and partially to Mai who had appeared at a cautious distance over his other shoulder; although he hardly expected a coherent answer from her.

"You think my parents actually keep track of the alcohol in their house?" Mai replied drily and with much less slurring on her behalf than earlier.

Underneath Zuko's hand, Azula moaned incomprehensibly at him and tried to bat him away when he sat her up. "Azula, stop. Where are your car keys?" Zuko asked but was met with more slurred babbling. He rolled his eyes and started searching her pockets. "Do you have any water with you?" He called over his shoulder with a glance that showed him a worried-looking Mai and a Ty Lee that had started giggling to herself while rolling through the grass.

"No, but there was some lemonade. I had half a bottle but I could only manage to get Ty Lee to have a little bit." Mai answered.

Well, he guessed, that was better than nothing. "I'm gonna need you to help me get Azula into the car," Zuko said, "and then sit in the back with her while I get Ty Lee into the front."

Mai nodded and came to the other side of Azula to help hoist her to her feet. She was wriggly and barely cooperative and it took far too long but eventually they made it through the hedge, and Zuko was immensely glad Azula was too drunk to remember any of this. He focused on manoeuvring her through the last bit of the hedge and got more irritated than was probably rational when the sleeve of his hoodie got caught on a twig sticking out at a malicious angle. And even though he tried to detangle himself carefully, he still ended up with another rip in his hoodie.

He unlocked the car and squeezed Azula into the seat after Mai and turned back to fetch Ty Lee.

"Zuko..." She began as he pulled her arm over his shoulder, her tone turning coy.

He sighed unhappily, Zuko could just tell where this was going, and he could think of several different activities involving various torture devices that he would rather endure than go there with Ty Lee again. "Stop." He said, "I've had a really long day, I'm tired and I'm not in the mood. So just save it, okay?"

"But you need a girlfriend Zuzu!" Ty Lee burst out, she had been telling him every time Zuko had found himself in her sole company for almost a year now.

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do! If you had a girlfriend then you wouldn't be so grumpy all the time. You have to let me set you up with someone!"

Zuko almost ended up shouting at her, but shouting at Ty Lee was like trying to steal candy from a baby - surprisingly difficult and generally disapproved of. Plus either action would result in a small but persistent feeling of guilt niggling away at the back of his mind.

So he let her shining eyes and her trembling lip cow him into swallowing his complaints and concentrated on just getting her into the car. He drove back to town a little slower than he would have liked, but he was very aware of the potential for more vomiting from everyone else in the car and deciding that a smooth, clean ride was preferable to a shorter and possibly messier one was an easy decision to make.

Eventually, though he pulled up outside of Ty Lee's house and handed her off to one of her sisters at the door, and soon after that he pulled up outside of Mai's house. Mai had managed to sober up quite a lot and was, in fact, capable of sneaking back in through her bedroom window.

Zuko watched her feet disappear and wasted no time in setting off again, even though it was only a four-minute drive home, Zuko was eager to just get it over with. The sooner he got home the sooner he could dump Azula on the couch, shove a bucket next to her and then... Well, he would probably sit on the next couch and finish his homework before going to bed.

There was still every possibility that Azula would end up vomiting all over the couch and the carpet.

Zuko sighed. He wouldn't put it past her to vomit everywhere but the bucket, and do it on purpose.

He was just entering the living room with Azula leaning so heavily on his shoulder and with her feet dragging so much that Zuko thought it might have been easier to pick her up and carry her when his father came down the stairs.

"What are you doing? What happened to your sister?" Ozai asked, his anger at a very visible and audible simmer.

"She had a little too much, I'm just going to lay her on the couch," Zuko replied, both him and his father ignoring Azula's slurred attempts at what Zuko assumed was explaining herself.

"You're going to lay her on my couch in that state?" Ozai asked. Zuko could see the cogs turning behind his father's eyes, he was quite familiar with the process by now. Ozai was angry at something and he would do some, often quite impressive, mental gymnastics to make sure that it was all Zuko's fault.

"I'm going to get her a bucket."

Ozai narrowed his eyes and took a step closer so he could properly loom over Zuko. (Not that Ozai needed the proximity to be imposing, Ozai was a man who could loom quite effectively while sitting down.) "I expect to find not a single cushion out of place, not a single stain anywhere in the room - not even an odd smell, do you understand? If I find anything out of place by breakfast time tomorrow you'll be pulling double shifts all week at the gym and don't expect the extra shifts will get you out of any of your chores at home either!" He threatened.

Zuko, who had not expected that extra shifts as punishment would get him out of anything other than sleep, simply nodded. He also didn't expect his father to withhold the punishment even if Zuko met the criteria. When Ozai was in a mood like this, he generally seemed to like the idea of a punishment so much that he hated the thought of wasting it if Zuko was good.

It was possible to change his father's mind, Zuko knew this even though he had only seen it done maybe three times in his life, but the process required a lot of skilled persuasion and tended to happen only slightly faster than tectonic shift.

"Yes sir," Zuko acquiesced.

Ozai looked Zuko up and down in a manner that suggested he was going to make Zuko pay, one way or another. "What's this?" he demanded, his hand darting out to grab Zuko's sleeve and yanking it closer for inspection.

"It's just a little rip."

"How long have you been walking around like this? Do you like looking like a vagrant? Do you like making this family look bad in public?" Ozai asked, brandishing Zuko's sleeve, and therefore his arm, in front of him.

"No sir, it only jus-"

"Enough! I will not have your shortcomings on display for all to see. Throw this out," Ozai sneered as he dropped Zuko's arm, "I will have to buy you more clothes next weekend."

Ozai then stalked past and continued to the kitchen.

"This is all your fault," he muttered to his incoherent sister before hauling her over to the couch and laying her down, he wasn't keen on still being out in the hallway when his dad came back the other way.

He spent a few minutes positioning Azula on her side on the sofa, ears straining to hear footsteps above Azula;'s moaning, and then ran to grab a bucket and placed it on the floor next to her head once the coast was clear. He then went back again for a glass of water and coaxed her into drinking a few sips before giving up and placing it on the coffee table so it was just within arm's reach.

He finally slid a cushion underneath her head and threw a blanket over her, tugging one corner just enough so it provided decent cover and went to fetch his homework from his room. There were a couple of worksheets for science which, ugh, but he was glad it wasn't any more than that, and an essay for history which he was a bit more comfortable with.

He scooped everything up and dropped himself and his work onto the opposite sofa and proceeded to ignore his sister until she finally lost control of her stomach (which wasn't too long after he got into a rhythm with his essay) and helped her get all the mess into the bucket. He held the bucket under her until he was sure there would be nothing else coming up. Then he passed her the glass of water and got her to drink some while holding the bucket ready, because it would be just his luck that she wouldn't be able to keep the water down and would spew it all over if he tried to empty the bucket now.

He sat in front of Azula, feeding her sips of water for a good fifteen minutes until most of the glass was empty. He studied her, and apart from babbling a little still, she seemed to be doing a little better, so Zuko quickly cleaned out the bucket and placed it back beside her just in case, refilled her glass of water and finally dragged himself to bed.

Getting up with his alarm the next morning was a punishment in itself and Zuko groaned before glaring at his alarm as he switched it off. He had just enough time to throw on some clothes and hastily check the living room before his father should be getting up.

He was still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he descended the stairs and was barely stifling a yawn when he walked into the living room. It stank, and there was a lot out of place, but he couldn't find any stains on the carpet or the furniture so that was something.

Still, he huffed angrily as he went to clean out the bucket again and rummaged in the back of the cleaning cupboard to find a bottle of odour-eliminating spray. Brandishing it like a weapon, he stalked back into the living room and went about spraying down every cushion he picked up until it felt damp in his hands before putting it back where it belonged. He grumbled and cursed to himself as he did so because the room looked like Azula had gotten up and thrown every cushion within reach - which was definitely something she would do if it would get him in trouble.

He was almost finished with putting everything back when Azula sauntered up to the room and leaned against the door frame. "Oh no!" She gasped with mock surprise, "What happened here? Zuzu, did you have a party without me?"

Zuko turned and scowled at his sister, she had gotten washed and dressed, and somehow, a little weariness around the eyes was the only indicator that she had done anything out of the ordinary the night before. "Azula!" He growled, "You know full well what happened last night."

"I'm sorry Zuzu, I don't know what you mean, my memories of last night are a little fuzzy," Azula sang, not even putting any effort into making her false innocence look convincing.

"Azula!" Zuko snarled and took a step towards her, ready to lay into her about what had in fact happened the night before and what he thought about her trying to play innocent. But at that moment his father rounded the corner and cast a disapproving eye around the room.

"Zuko, I believe I told you that I wanted this room to remain pristine. Since you can't even do one simple thing, you'll be working double shifts at the gym all this week."

"But dad-" Zuko began to protest only to be cut off sharply by Ozai.

"No buts! You are lazy and undisciplined and you will show me respect! As long as you live under my roof you will abide by my rules, do I make myself clear?" Ozai thundered.

"I was only going to-"

"Zuko! I do not want to hear another word from you about this! And if you even dare try to talk back to me one more time it will be for two weeks, understand?"

"Yes sir," Zuko conceded. What other choice did he have?

Zuko did his best to ignore Azula's smug smirk as he turned back to finish putting the living room back together but it still irked him. Well, Zuko had had a shitty Monday and it looked like the rest of the week was only going to go downhill from there.

The day passed exactly like Zuko expected it would, school wasn't completely awful but it was the low-grade kind of crappy that had Zuko feeling drained by the end of the day - which was definitely not what he needed if he was doing extra shifts at the gym.

He really hoped the rest of the week wasn't going to be like this.

Katara

By the time Friday rolled around, bringing with it Katara's next literature lesson, she had succumbed to curiosity and desperation, and Aang's attempts at reasoning with her, and had looked over the test. The first thing she learned was that the name of the boy was Zuko.

The second thing was that he was actually really good at literature. Although, upon reflection, Katara felt that she shouldn't have been so surprised by that, he had been asked by Mr Pakku to tutor her after all.

And, since her conversation with Aang, she may have had to admit to herself that she had been a little harsh with him the first time he had tried to tutor her.

So with all the confidence and refreshed attitude of someone particularly gifted at fooling themselves, Katara arrived at her literature class five minutes early in hopes of catching a moment to clear the air with Zuko.

Luckily he was already there when she walked in, head pillowed atop his folded arms which were, in turn, atop his books. She walked up to his desk and cleared her throat, startling the boy into looking up at her.

"Thank you for lending me your test, and um, sorry about Monday," she recited. She offered the test back to him with a touch of sheepishness at the fact that the test had clearly been screwed up, after which a valiant attempt to smooth it out had been made; but ultimately, Katara was unable to completely erase the effects of her pettiness.

Plus Katara was not exactly well-versed in giving apologies. She had never had much occasion to give them before… and it made her uncomfortable.

Zuko blinked at her for a moment before reaching out and taking the test. "Oh, um... Thanks?"

"Did you think I wouldn't give you your test back or something?" Katara asked in the face of Zuko's obvious surprise and confusion.

"Well, I wasn't expecting you to come to class early just to hand it back to me... And to apologise?" Zuko replied uncertainly and with almost a dazed look in his eyes.

"Oh, so you think I'm just some rude jerk with no manners?" Katara challenged, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What? Where did you get that idea from?" Zuko asked, feeling something similar to how he imagined it felt to be a passenger in a car and suddenly become aware that the driver had lost all control of the vehicle and was now irrevocably careening towards disaster. He was full of questions such as: how has this happened? And: how badly is this going to hurt?

"Well, why else would you be so surprised?" Katara retorted and turned on her heel to storm back to the front of the classroom and took a seat as the rest of the class started to trickle through the door.

Although never having been one of her favourite classes, literature was quickly becoming her most frustrating subject.

And it certainly didn't help that Mr Pakku, sadistic man that he was, kept the whole class behind for five minutes just because they'd been a little loud while working.

All of which led to Katara finally arriving at the table and interrupting a rather animated conversation between Sokka, Aang and Suki at lunch by slamming down her tray.

"Hey Katara, you ok?" Asked Haru, from the seat next to her.

Katara glanced in his direction to see Teo and Smellerbee throw concerned looks her way from the other side of him. "Yeah, I'm fine," she saved them off, "Mr Pakku is just being a jerk again."

They all nodded in understanding, it was difficult to find anyone in the school who hadn't had first-hand experience of Mr Pakku's jerkiness.

As intended, Haru went back to his conversation with the others and Katara turned towards her brother and his girlfriend and Aang.

Aang looked at her with his big puppy-dog eyes and asked again if she was ok with just enough concern to irritate her but not enough to warrant a reprimand. Which only added to her frustrations.

"I don't wanna talk about it." Katara griped before she forcefully wiped some of the annoyance off her face and from the tone of her voice and recited, "So what were you guys talking about before I got here."

"Well," began Sokka, immediately and enthusiastically launching into story-telling mode, "Aang was telling us about how he's practically an airbending master-"

Aang rolled his eyes as Sokka continued obliviously, "and top of the league at his old school and was saying how much he missed it, and he asked us if there was anything similar around here. So me and Suki told him the only place that had any sort of martial arts or bending practice was Solaris gym and then-"

"And then," Suki interjected with layers of sarcasm and derision heavy enough to give a forklift some trouble, "I told him about my Kyoshi-style class on Thursdays and Saturdays and Sokka decided he would have a rant about how fans aren't proper weapons and therefore Kyoshi style couldn't be a proper martial art and must be just a really angry style of dancing instead."

"So then," Aang continued happily ignoring the glare Suki was sending Sokka's way, "I said that it sounded like it would be fun to try because you never really know whether you like something until you try it, and somehow we persuaded Sokka that he should try it as well."

"Aang made a very good point that my arguments were based purely on assumptions and that if I wanted to add credence to my side of the debate I should gather some first-hand evidence," Sokka explained in that airy tone of voice people adopted when they were repeating something they had been told, but didn't fully believe. Katara blinked at him. "I know, I know. I don't know how it happened either, but Aang and Suki would make a really good debate team."

"Hey, you wanna join us Katara?" Aang asked, vibrating with excitement at the idea.

"You know, I really think you'd like it Katara. It would be a good way to let off some steam," Suki offered.

Katara hesitated but faced with three pleading faces, she was powerless to resist. "Okay, fine. I'll go, just to see what it's like. When is it?"

"It starts at ten o'clock tomorrow in studio three in Solaris gym, it lasts about two hours," Suki responded.

"Do I have to bring anything?"

"Just some water. And make sure you wear comfy clothes, I have enough spare fans for you guys for tomorrow."

Katara nodded. At least it would be a good distraction, she thought.

Katara was a little nervous the next day as she followed Sokka through the gym complex to a door with a sign centred at eye level, clearly marking it as studio three. They were a little early (impatience was also a family trait she and Sokka shared) and a peek through the narrow window in the door told them that there was a yoga class still in progress on the other side. So the siblings stepped back a polite distance and waited in the corridor as first Suki, bearing a large bag over each shoulder arrived, and then Aang and then some more people that Katara didn't recognise. It took Katara a moment to note, with some surprise, that the majority of the people waiting for Suki's class were women.

It made the class seem a little less daunting for Katara.

For Sokka, if his snort of barely concealed contempt was anything to go by, it had a different effect. Katara could see her brother mentally adding a tally under his side of the argument. Katara gave him a gentle thwack on the arm as a reminder to keep his piggish thoughts to himself.

Soon the yogis filed out of the room and Suki's class filed in. Suki dumped her bag in the corner where a basic sound system was set up and began rummaging around in her bag and extracted three fans and three sets of lightly padded armour, which she offered to the newbies.

"Armour?" Sokka scoffed.

Suki shrugged. "You don't have to wear it if you don't want to," she offered sweetly.

While Sokka gathered his male pride, Katara eyed Suki. Suki was many things, many good, admirable things, but sickly sweet and soon to back down were not among them. As Sokka wandered off to remove his shoes and help the others to spread out mats on the floor, Suki met Katara's eyes with a promise that, later, great fun would be had at the expense of her brother. Great fun with a little flavour of revenge.

And so, not being one to ruin other people's fun, Katara stayed quiet but graciously accepted both fan and armour from her friend.

The mats were set up efficiently and Suki led a warm-up for everyone before commanding the class to line up with their fans, no armour needed yet. "Newbies on the left!" She called as the rest of the class took up what seemed to be their prearranged places. "And this class is strictly for the art of Kyoshi war fans. No bending."

Suki went straight to the other end of the line and called out a string of words that seemed like utter gibberish to Katara, but which apparently made sense because the three people furthest down the line from her nodded their heads and adjusted their stances, ready to spring into action.

Suki walked a little closer and again spouted some more gibberish (why did martial arts have to have such technical names for everything?) that five people responded to by nodding and getting ready to move. It happened four more times when Suki barked out orders incomprehensible to Katara but which were acknowledged by various numbers of people, moving down the line until Suki stood in front of her, Sokka and Aang.

"So we're going to do a basic block to start with. I'll demonstrate, and then I'll do it with you for the first few times, okay?" Katara nodded even though she was pretty sure the question was mostly rhetorical.

The first half of the lesson continued in that very traditional vein, with Suki calling out grade-appropriate combos to the more experienced practitioners and then slowing down and switching to layman's terms to show Katara, Sokka and Aang some simple blocks and strikes, until the last half of the lesson.

"Okay, folks!" Suki called out to the class at large, "Get your armour on, it's nearly sparring time!"

Over the scuffle of everyone else hurrying to put on their armour and one girl taking pity on Katara and helping her get hers on properly, Katara heard Suki reiterating to Sokka that of course the armour was optional and, him being a big, strong man and all, probably wouldn't need it anyway.

Katara seriously wondered how Sokka had not learned to recognise that the specific manner Suki was adopting just then was more than indicative of impending doom.

Before they were let loose to spar, Suki demonstrated some partner drills to try... on Sokka. There were no titters or giggles from the audience but the atmosphere noticeably changed from mild offence (they knew why Sokka had neglected to don any armour) to great amusement as Suki demonstrated her impressive skill and control, each strike making contact firmly enough to be unpleasant but light enough that Sokka's ego daren't let him protest.

After the controlled drills, came the actual sparring with a cursory reminder to the class to look after each other and paired Sokka, Aang and Katara each with one of the most experienced people there, with more instruction to take it easy and show the new guys the ropes, before she turned to observe the class with a critical but protective eye.

They switched partners a few more times before the end of the class and Katara felt the need to apologise to each new partner she was burdening with her inexperience but was promptly told not to worry and was very patiently shown some more techniques, more than she was actually sparred with.

Occasional glances in Aang's direction showed Katara that he was picking Kyoshi style up with almost supernatural alacrity. Occasional glances in Sokka's direction (for perspective) showed him grimacing at every hit, which was pretty often, and wheezing when he was slammed to the floor in every takedown.

His partners had seen an opportunity to literally beat the misogyny out of someone, and understandably, they had taken it with great enthusiasm.

If Sokka didn't admit he was wrong at the end of this Katara would personally bend a bucket of ice-cold water over his head.

But before their revenge could turn into bullying, Suki called an end to the class and gave a bow each to Katara Aang and Sokka.

"Thank you all for coming, I hope you enjoyed the class and come back soon." She said sincerely.

And to Katara's surprise, Sokka bowed right back. "I think I should be the one thanking you," Sokka replied with just as much sincerity as Suki, "I was being a jerk and you showed me a better way. Thank you."

Suki smiled at him with enough affection to make Katara feel gooey and uncomfortable inside and dismissed the class. Katara stripped off her armour and tucked it and her borrowed fan into Suki's bag while said friend was distracted by her brother, and helped put the mats away. Because Katara did have manners.

When everything had been tidied away and Katara had put her shoes back on and collected the keys to the car she and Sokka shared, Katara decided she would rather wait by the entrance to the gym than witness whatever was likely to happen between Suki and Sokka before they were both ready to go.

She waved goodbye to Aang at the door as he headed home and slowly assessed the lobby for the best place to wait.

There were no chairs but there was a desk which stood to provide great leaning opportunities, so she meandered over to the desk and took a quick peek at the area behind the desk before she leant on it, only to be stopped in her tracks by the sight of Zuko curled up among some kind of pads and other soft gym equipment asleep.

Her mouth hung open in shock. Suddenly another man stepped between her and Zuko from the other side of the desk. He was wearing the gym staff uniform and looked a little like Zuko but a few years older; he had the same aggressive scowl on his face as he asked her if there was anything he could help her with. The way the man had practically snarled at her made it extremely clear to Katara that, if she did indeed want anything, then the man in front of her was who she was to bother and most emphatically not her sleeping classmate.

"I'm sorry... Lu Ten," Katara responded, squinting at the nametag, "I was just surprised to see someone sleeping under there that's all."

"If you have a problem with him sleeping, you can take it up with me," the man continued, still a little more aggressively than Katara thought the situation called for.

"No, no." Katara squeaked, backing off slightly and holding her arms up in surrender, "no problem, just surprised is all."

"Okay," replied Lu Ten, visibly lowering his hackles, "Well, like I said if you need anything, just come and get me."

"Sure," Katara conceded, still slightly wary of the man.

But Lu Ten simply nodded and began cleaning the desk area. It wasn't lost on Katara that he kept himself in easy view of the entire lobby so no one else would be tempted to approach the desk, looking for help from someone that wasn't him.

Katara didn't have to wait for much longer though before her loud and obnoxious brother burst into the lobby accompanied by the sound of Suki's giggles. "Katara!" He exclaimed, "You're still here! Suki thought you would have taken off without me because we were taking so long but I was right! You are a good sister!" he finished triumphantly.

Katara didn't have to turn around to feel the glare from Lu Ten on the back of her neck as she heard rustling and groggy murmuring coming from under the desk behind her.

Instead of reading the room and noticing either Katara's wince or Lu Ten's glare, Sokka only noticed Zuko as he sleepily unfolded from behind the desk.

"Dude! Were you sleeping on the job?" Sokka practically yelled, ignoring Zuko's obvious deer-in-headlights look and ploughed straight on, "That's badass! I wish I could get away with napping at my job, but it would be pretty obvious if I was asleep on my cash register."

Zuko hurriedly ran a hand through his hair and tried to straighten his clothes, which only partially worked to disguise his recent doze, "No. I wasn't asleep I was just um..." he began.

"Don't try to deny it!" Sokka scoffed. But Katara forgot to listen to Sokka as he carried on, at the look of dawning horror on both employees' faces, and turned around to see another man coming to a stop in the centre of the lobby, looking deeply unimpressed by the sight before him.

"Sleeping on the job, Zuko?" the man asked scathingly before immediately commanding, "With me. Now."

Zuko made to follow the man out the door but Lu Ten caught his arm as the boy passed him. "It's fine," Zuko muttered as he shrugged his arm out of Lu Ten's hold and walked out the door.

Sokka had thankfully, finally managed to absorb the atmosphere in the room, but it was too late.

"I think it's best if you leave," Lu Ten said to them icily.

"Um, whoops?" Sokka said as soon as they were outside, throwing a concerned glance over his shoulder.

Katara couldn't help but copy him. Even though she could not profess to actually like Zuko, she wasn't exactly comfortable with being an accomplice to getting him fired.

Maybe she would apologise on Monday... Although that would make two apologies in less than a week, and to the same person! And given how the last apology had gone, Katara wasn't exactly hopeful for the outcome of the next one.

Lu Ten

"They treat him like dirt!" Lu Ten growled as he slammed his front door shut behind him. He didn't care, he was too frustrated.

"Welcome home son, how was your day?" Iroh greeted him drily. He appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, hands occupied with drying off a plate, and gave his son an assessing look before beckoning him into the kitchen. "Come have some tea with me," he added in a more serious tone.

Lu Ten kicked off his shoes and quickly stuffed them onto the shoe rack by the door and dropped his bag on the floor nearby before marching into the kitchen. He sat and watched as his father calmly went through the ritual of making tea. (Lu Ten had never been able to detect anything inherently spiritual about the process of making tea, but the way his father went through the steps so precisely often made Lu Ten think he was witnessing something deeply ritualistic.)

Lu Ten knew that his dad refused to be hurried, but that did not mean that Lu Ten wasn't impatient to vent. He barely managed to stop himself from drumming his fingers loudly on the countertop by clasping his hands tightly together.

When the tea was finally made to Iroh's exacting standards and served, Lu Ten looked up and met his dad's piercing stare. "What did my brother do this time?"

Lu Ten didn't know if it was sadder or relieving that Iroh just knew.

Taking a deep breath, Lu Ten let it all out, "Ozai has been making Zuko work pretty much every second that gym is open this week - when the kid isn't in school or training - but today he was just exhausted. Like, he could barely keep his eyes open. So I told him to take a nap under the desk but some high-school kids got him busted and... Dad, you should have seen the way Ozai was on him in that training session! It lasted four hours and Ozai wouldn't let up the entire time! It was painful to see."

Iroh closed his eyes and shook his head sadly, "You are right, my son. My brother does treat Zuko abominably."

"It was like Uncle Ozai just dragged him into the dojo, just so he could call it teaching instead of a beating. And then... and then he gave Zuko an extra week's double shifts!" Lu Ten vented some more, "Are you absolutely sure we can't do something? Anything?"

Iroh sighed, "I know you want to take Zuko away from Ozai and so do I but..."

"I know, I know," Lu Ten groused, "We don't want to be charged with kidnapping."

"We have no evidence," Iroh consoled ineffectually.

"He has bruises," Lu Ten pointed out. "And burns."

"Which can be explained away by his firebending training."

"Don't tell me you believe that!" Lu Ten cried aghast.

"Not at all," Iroh replied firmly, "but that is how Ozai will plead his case to any judge or social worker." Iroh covered Lu Ten's hand with his own, "We simply have no case if Zuko is unwilling to speak out against his father-"

"Some father," Lu Ten muttered.

"And I fear that if we get social services involved prematurely, Ozai will do something drastic to ensure Zuko is permanently beyond our help."

Lu Ten turned his hand over and returned his father's grip. "Was Ozai always like that?"

"No." Iroh replied sadly, "Ozai always was a hothead but he was never so prone to cruelty. If he had been like this fifteen years ago, I never would have moved us away."