(A/N)- Many apologies dear readers, I missed last week's update because I was just so busy with other things. But here we are, a nice juicy chapter that I hope you all enjoy.

Disclaimer: Happy 15th anniversary Avatar! I still don't own you but hey.

Frustrations

He was useless.

Katar snarled in frustration as his wobbly half-formed water whip broke cohesion again, falling back down into the pond.

The water splashed and rippled, loud in the quiet-sounding night.

His fists curled at his sides and he slowly drew in a long breath.

He had to get this. Just once. He had to.

He tried again, moving his hands in a semblance of the motions depicted in the scroll.

Raise, curl back, shift balance—

Splut!

His grip slipped and the water splashed back down.

He wanted to scream. Angka had made this look so easy when she had done it earlier that afternoon.

Thinking of that brought a sharp stab of guilt into his chest. He had snapped at her, actually yelled in her face, angry at his inability to get this one simple-looking bending move and taking it out on her.

-ATLA-

"See Katar? You just gotta shift your weight through the stances," she was telling him, effortlessly performing the move with practiced perfection. "Keep your feet steady and—"

"I know what I'm doing!" he bit, suddenly and unexpectedly harsh. "I don't need your help!" Fuming hot, a red haze around his head, he continued, "If I can't even get one thing by myself without you having to hold my hand through it what good am I?!"

He stopped at the expression on her face. She looked stung, her eyes watering and her lip quivering as if he had slapped her.

The anger left him in a rush.

"Oh gosh..." he whispered, horrified. He held up his hands as if to reach for her. "Angka, I... I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you... I don't know what came over me..."

She wiped at her eyes with a sniffle. "It's okay," she told him, flashing a brave smile.

"No, no it's not," Katar countered, placing his hands on her shoulders, his face twisting when she flinched. "But I promise, it won't happen again." Urgently he let go and went over to the scroll and rolled it up, handing it to her quickly. "Here. This is yours. I don't want to have anything to do with it anymore."

-ATLA-

He'd made her cry. And he hadn't even kept his promise, sneaking the scroll out of her bag and sneaking off in the middle of the night to try again. (And again, and again.)

He was useless.

He let his hands fall to his side, exhaling in a long breath.

Calm down, he told himself. Focus.

He was about to try again when a strange metallic thud! sounded in the distance. Katar stopped, turning around, some warning sense tingling in the air around him.

He stepped over to the bushes, pushing aside several branches to see farther down the river.

His breath caught.

There was a Fire Nation cutter craft parked on the beach.

Immediately he thought of Angka and his sister, sleeping unknowingly back at the campsite, and backed away, turning to run, to go warn them.

He stopped suddenly, jerking back before he could smack face-first into the figure before him, tall and imposing, His fear spiked as he recognized one of the pirates they'd stolen the scroll from.

The man caught him by the wrist as he was trying to run, almost easily pulling him back.

"No!" Katar yelled, summoning a water tendril from the river, twisting it up to smack the pirate in the face. "Let go of me!"

He did, sputtering as the water hit his nose and chin. Katar stumbled away, his only thought to run, but he hadn't even made it more than a few steps before another tall figure loomed in front of him.

He gasped, his wrists caught again, squeezed in a crushingly strong grip, looking up in terror at golden eyes glaring out of a scarred visage at him.

"Don't worry about the pirates," a growling female voice threatened. Zuka's eyes were dangerous and narrow as she told him, "It's me you should be afraid of."

And he was. And he wished desperately that Angka was there.

-ATLA-

The fear wouldn't stop churning through his stomach, but he hid it well under a stubborn veneer of defiance.

He was surrounded by pirates and Fire Nation soldiers, his hands bound behind him around the trunk of a small tree. His only consolation was that they hadn't found Angka already. There was a chance he could still protect her, so long as he didn't tell them where she was.

He really hoped they weren't going to try torturing the information out of him.

Zuka was standing in front of him, her cold, even glare firmly in place. She crossed her arms.

"Tell me where she is, and I won't hurt you or your sister," she demanded.

Katar shot furious eyes at her.

"Go jump in the river," he growled.

Her mouth tightened. For half a second Katar wondered if she was going to get angry and hit him.

But then her face softened a little. She stepped towards him, her arms outstretching.

"Try to understand," she said. "I need to capture her to restore something I've lost."

"What's that, your skincare regimen?" Katar muttered, not looking at her.

"My honor," Zuka said through gritting teeth, her appeasing tone faltering a moment. It was back shortly as she said, "Perhaps in exchange I can restore something you've lost."

She drew something out from her sleeve with a flourish, brandishing it in front of his eyes.

"I'm sure your sister must be missing this."

Katar gasped, the moonlight catching on the blue pendant and reflecting in his eyes. "That's mine!" he cried, straining forward, the ropes twisting on his wrists. "Give it back!"

Zuka glanced between him and the necklace dangling in her fingers, confusion and something else—Chagrin? Disgust?—rearranging her expression.

"Yours?" she repeated disbelievingly, her tone laced with a faint hint of revulsion.

Katar glared. "It belonged to my mother," he said. "How did you get it?" he demanded.

"Well I didn't steal it," Zuka muttered, shoving it back out of sight. Her pleasantries were gone as she faced him again. "Tell me. Where she. Is," she emphasized, every word threatening.

Fat chance, he thought.

"No."

Zuka simmered, but now she had other things to worry about, as the pirate captain was stepping forward.

"Enough of this necklace garbage! You promised the scroll!"

Zuka produced it, holding it over a flaming hand. "I wonder how much this is worth," she mused, to the immediate protest of the pirates.

Katar's heart pulled down, sinking with guilt. That blasted scroll. The thing that had started all this. Because he just had to take it, just had to be good at something for once in his life and thought he needed it to help make him better.

And not only had it not done that, not provided the magical technique or wisdom that would break through his inadequacy and make him a better waterbender, but it had caused conflict between him and the very person he was trying to protect. And now it had even put her in danger.

He was going to hate himself for a long time for this one.

He slumped his head back against the tree, his eyes and mouth twisting as he watched the pirates trudge off to look for Angka and Sokki.

-ATLA-

It was agony seeing her in the hands of the pirates and knowing it was his fault she was there. So when things turned into chaos, the Fire Nation soldiers and pirates turning on each other for possession of the prize, his only thought—once Momo had bitten through the ropes holding him—was to get her and his sister out of there.

He rushed into the smoke, calling for them.

"Angka! Sokki! Where are you?"

"Over here!" Angka replied, her young voice carrying over the sounds of melee combat.

"Where?" Sokki yelled, sounding flustered. "I can't see a thing!"

"Follow my voice!" Angka told her.

Katar ran through the mist, ducking and dodging pirates and Fire Nation weapons until he spotted a glimpse of orange fluttering around in the haze. He reached out in relief, grabbing her wrist, pulling her away from the fight and towards safety.

His foot caught on something on the ground and he nearly faceplanted into the dirt.

"Ow!" came Sokki's indignant protest. She stood up from where Katar had almost tripped over her, crawling out of the smoke. "Would you watch where you're stepping?"

Katar rolled his eyes and grabbed her wrist as well. "Come on!" he urged.

They ran for the pirates' wooden junk, beached just a ways down the river. Katar dropped their hands, placing his palms on the prow.

"Help me get this boat in the water so we can get out of here!"

The two girls took up places on either side of him, pushing with all their might. All three of them struggled to budge the boat even an inch closer into the water.

Finally they gave up and stepped back, panting hard.

"We need a team of rhinos to budge this ship!" Sokki complained, rubbing splinters out of her palms.

Angka was looking pensively up at the boat.

"A team of rhinos..." she said.

She looked significantly at Katar.

"...or two waterbenders," she finished with a smile.

The words squeezed his heart with a warm thrill and his wide eyes almost watered.

She believed in him.

A swell of confidence and hope rose up in him. If Angka believed he could do it, then he certainly give it his all.

He took up position opposite her, and with a small nod, they slowly started raising the tide higher and higher.

The boat creaked and groaned as it lifted off the sand. Katar could hardly cover his elation.

It was working. He was bending.

He was a waterbender.

The ship slid into the water, and Katar almost whooped in victory. He straightened, motioning for the girls and Momo to follow.

"Everybody in!"

(A/N)- Katar is finally working past his cycle of self-hatred and feelings of inadequacy (good lord it feels like it's been taking forever ssskjfhkjh) and getting better at his waterbending thanks to some heartwarming words from Angka, and Zuka has... many questions about Katar's choice in jewelry lol.

I know it feels like I've been treading and retreading the same ground with Katar and him feeling useless and weak but I think this is definitely a turning point for his character. Katara really started getting good at waterbending after this episode, after her many initial failures and awkward attempts, so of course it had to be a benchmark for Katar as well. I cannot wait to start exploring his growing confidence and inner strength.

Aaaaand next chapter we will start to see some things developing on Angka's side. Looking forward to that.

See you next week readers!