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Chapter 15:

ZUKO

The marshland is dense and unforgiving. It is hard to travel through even with ostrich horses. We continually get trapped in vines and green muck. Moss-clogged roots bar the way, and the murky water gets too deep to trek. We dismount often. Katara bends as many paths for us as she can, but it is grueling, exhausting work. I don't know how anyone can comfortably inhabit this place.

I howl in frustration and I yank yet another elbow leech off of me as we fight our way through a murky gully of jumbled roots. Sore from riding the ostrich horses for so long through uneven terrain, we opted to travel on foot for a while, which presents a new set of problems, including elbow leeches.

"If I get one elbow leech, I'm burning this entire place to the ground!" My gnarled hands claw at the air as I fight the overwhelming urge to shoot fire from every appendage I have.

"Awe, is the big bad swamp too much for the pretty prince?" Katara coos and pinches my cheek as she saunters past me.

I lunge after her only to have her slip through my grasp, giggling as she sprints away with Korri carefully cradled against her chest. If I wasn't dragging our ostrich horses behind me, I'd give more vehement pursuit.

"I'll burn you with it," I threaten but there is no heat behind this threat, and we both know that. She isn't afraid of me anymore. I doubt she ever really was to begin with. I'm soft when it comes to her, and on some level, I think she's always known that.

Midday sun breaks through the foggy canopy overhead as we press on, brightening the otherwise green-gray world around us, bringing all the yellows and browns on the ground to life. It also intensifies the humidity and thickness in the air. It isn't that hot, but the air is thick, and difficult to breathe, making a sweat break out over me and causing my clothes to latch to me like a second skin.

To make matters worse, Korri is teething and grumpy. She, like me, hates the bugs. Katara tries to give her a cool cloth to chew on, but she, like me, is determined to be fussy.

Momo covers his ears and flies off into the treetops overhead as Korri continues to shriek like the screeching dodos that inhabit this godforsaken place.

"How long will you stay?" Katara asks as she pats Korri's back in an attempt to soothe her.

Met with what is now a familiar resistance at the other end of the reins, I sigh, kneel into the muck, and yank at a vine I find coiling around one of the ostrich horse's legs. "What?"

"How long will you stay here with us before going to Gaoling?" she clarifies, watching me intently.

"I haven't thought about it," I say flatly, my eyes staying on the leg of the ostrich horse. I fight the overwhelming urge to firebend the vines away. Katara explained that we needed to respect the swamp, but these fucking vines have it out for me. "Why? Are you asking because you want me to leave or because you don't want me to?"

We both know good and damn well that she doesn't want me to leave, but I'm going to make her say it. I want her to say it. Because, apparently, I am soft, weak, and starved for any kind of acknowledgment from her.

Katara flushes and looks away when I straighten and pin her with a firm gaze. She has hardly been able to look me in the eye since our little encounter at the lake. She is flushed and flustered, which, admittedly, gives me some smug satisfaction. But I do wonder if she regrets it, if I took things too far.

I probably did. The last thing Katara and I needed was another layer of intimacy between us, but I took more from her anyway. Even though we're about to separate for who knows how long.

Idiot.

She brings a hand to her chest, nervously twirling the stone of the betrothal necklace around her fingers. "I don't want you to."

I freeze as if she has frozen me herself. For some reason, I hadn't been expecting her to admit it. If anything, I braced myself for the opposite. Sure, Katara's body responds to me and gives me the affirmation I apparently want from her, but she has always been careful when it comes to voicing any feelings she has for me.

"We've been through so much together… We've been together for so long…" Her eyes finally rise to meet mine, and she gives me a forlorn smile. "I don't know what I'm gonna do without you."

I'm so stunned that I can't speak. Even if I wasn't, Korri's wailing would make it hard for Katara to hear me.

There is so much I want to tell her, but the timing never feels right. Even now, Korri's screaming prevents the conversation from going any further.

"If it were up to me, Katara, I would never leave you again." I didn't mean for it to come out. It was supposed to be a thought for me but ended up as an admission for her.

My words only scratch the surface of what sleeps inside me, though. I don't know how many times I've wanted to say, "fuck it" and run off with her.

If things were different…

Katara closes her eyes as if my words have hurt her. Her lips part, as if she is about to speak, but before she can get anything out, the sound of rustling branches and sloshing water echoes around us, immediately followed by booming, drawling voices.

Likely following the sound of Korri's cries, a woman and two men weave through the trees and approach us. Scantily clad in various assortments of leaves, bark, and vines, I assume they are the swampbenders Katara told me about.

"See! I'm not crazy! I knew I heard a baby!" the woman beams but is missing a few teeth.

"You must be Sokka's sister," one of the men says as he scratches dried mud from his exposed belly. "But Sokka didn't say nothing about her havin' a baby."

The woman snickers as she saunters toward me. "If I was with him long enough," her dark eyes flutter up at me, "I'd have a baby too."

I redden and look away. I may be imagining it, but I think Katara's chin juts out in the way that usually means she's irritated.

The other man takes a step toward Katara. I instinctively take a protective step forward, planting myself between them. "No, this is her. I recognize her from when she came here with tha Avatar before."

"So Sokka's already here?" Katara visibly brightens at the prospect.

"Oh, sure," the man says casually with a toothy grin. "Been here a while too."

A huge smile spreads across her face as she shifts Korri up her chest. "Will you take us to him?"

"'Course," the other mud-caked man replies. "We're headin' back to tha village anyway."

The village is all moldy logs, wooly huts, mud, and campfires, which is honestly what I'd been expecting given what Katara has told me about this place. The smell, however, was not something I could have ever been fully prepared for. Whatever meal they are making cannot be safe for human consumption, but countless people gather around the fire and clay barrels, eager for a serving.

As I adjust to the culture shock and continue to scan the area, I'm not the least bit surprised whenever I find Sokka at the campfire eating something bug-like off a skewer.

Next to me, Katara's eyes are frantic as they search for her brother. Silently, I put a hand on her shoulder and point Sokka out to her.

Katara lights up in a way that I haven't seen in a long time.

"Sokka!" she cries, handing Korri to me and running right for him.

At the sound of his sister's voice, Sokka abruptly stops eating. The skewer goes flying out of his hand, almost hitting a nearby swampbender. He rushes to his feet so fast he almost trips over a log and falls into the fire.

"Katara!" he shouts just before she crashes into his arms.

I can no longer hear what they are saying to each other, but I don't have to. I know they are saying how much they've missed each other. I know that they likely feel that sense of home all over each other. Warm and familiar.

Katara clings to the fabric of his shirt, likely dampening it with a few tears as he pats the top of her head.

As they hold each other, I know that I've lost her.

If I ever really had her to begin with…

A lithe touch on my shoulder brings me back. I follow it to large dark blue eyes and a heartfelt smile.

"Hi, Suki." I feel my features soften, mirroring hers.

"It's good to see you, Zuko." Suki's eyes go to Korri and her expression changes to a mix between confusion and intrigue. "And who's this?"

"According to Katara, the next Avatar."

As Sokka, Suki, Katara, and I sit around the campfire together and eat, it is as if nothing has changed, but at the same time, it is as if everything has changed.

Conversation flows freely and easily as we catch up, carefully filling in all the blanks and lining up our timelines, but the shift in dynamics is palpable. There is no hiding how things have changed between Katara and me as we wordlessly communicate and tend to Korri's needs. It is subconscious and second nature to us now, but the behavior is jarring to Suki and Sokka.

Sokka's jaw has practically dislodged and rolled into the fire. "I've seen a lot of weird stuff since we left home with Aang, but seeing Zuko with a baby has gotta be the weirdest."

Suki tickles at Korri's rounded baby belly. "I think it's sweet."

"Don't be fooled. It took a long time to get Zuko to this point with her. You should've seen him the first time he had to change her." Katara grins smugly at me. I cast her a half-hearted black glare in return.

Sokka laughs and slaps his knee. "Man, I hate I missed that!"

This would irritate me more if I hadn't legitimately missed Sokka. I'm surprised by how much I've missed him and every aspect of his infectious personality. In his own unique way, he is just as soothing and comforting as his sister.

Suki motions to hold Korri, and I pass her into her waiting arms. "So you two really think she's the next Avatar?"

"Katara and Bumi do," I answer, ignoring how Katara cuts her eyes at me. "I'm on the fence."

Sokka looks intently at Korri, rubbing his chin. "There are two other Potentials at the North Pole. We helped relocate them to the Northern Air Temple for the time being. They're there now with their families. Pakku and some of the others are watching over them."

"There's another one here too!" Suki adds as she bounces Korri on her knee.

"Here?" Katara reels, and so do I. I hadn't thought about one here, but swampbenders are technically waterbenders, so it is possible.

"Yep. His name is Ditto and he is so chunky and cute!"

"Pakku, Jeong Jeong, Suki, and I have talked about the Potentials a lot, and we think the best way to keep them safe will be to pass them between us and the members of the White Lotus." Sokka uses a stick to aimlessly shift some of the rocks on the muddy ground around. "You know, not keep them in one place too long and let them bounce between masters and elements. A moving target."

Katara's ears perk. "Wait. Jeong Jeong? When did you see Jeong Jeong?"

"Oh! Right. He's around here somewhere. Probably at the banyan-grove tree." Sokka jabs a thumb in the direction of the woods behind him. "The White Lotus got word to him that we'd be here. Since messenger hawks are kind of risky for us, the members have been traveling and passing messages and letters along to each other themselves."

"Better safe than sorry, I guess." Katara's eyes favor the fire.

"So we are raising, training, and protecting the potentials until one of them can take down the Phoenix King?" I glance across the campfire at Sokka. "That's the priority? That's still the White Lotus' plan?"

Sokka frowns. "It is the current plan, yes. Other more radical plans have been met with resistance. That's what Jeong Jeong said anyway." He shrugs a shoulder. "I get the sense that they want to continue to keep a low profile for now."

My jaw tightens as I fold my arms over my chest. "So what does that mean for us?"

A cynical yet oddly amused grin breaks across Sokka's features. "It means we're still Team Avatar."

One thing time has not changed, is Sokka's brain. He jumps right into making plans and talking strategy. Since we got here, it feels like we have done nothing but talk about plans for the potential Avatars (or the Potentials as he and Suki have taken to referring to them), the state of the Earth Kingdom, and of course, the Phoenix King.

More than anything, we continuously toss around the seemingly never-ending theme of: what now?

Today, we are doing so in an uncomfortably warm hut. As a firebender, heat doesn't usually faze me much, but the humidity is unpleasant. I'm beginning to understand why the swampbenders dress the way they do.

Katara bounces a fussy Korri in her lap as all of us look at scrolls, maps, and chat. She's still teething and, like me, hasn't adapted well to the change in climate and atmosphere. There are also dozens of women in the village who can do nothing but oo and ah at her and beg to hold her. She isn't used to all these people tugging at her and passing her around, which I also understand. I don't like strangers touching me either.

Suki and Sokka try to help out with Korri (maybe even bond with her), but it quickly became abundantly clear how used to Katara and me she is. She prefers us. I wonder if she even remembers her mother - a painful thought.

To Korri, Katara and I are her parents. Because, well, for the last few months, we have been. We are all she knows and this new dynamic has created a subtle awkwardness within our group. It is as if Katara and I have come back as parents, speaking a new language Suki and Sokka aren't familiar with. The rift this creates is a small one, but a rift nonetheless.

Then, of course, there is the underlying tension between Katara and me. We are at a loss. We don't know how to interact with one another in this environment, so we don't much outside of caring for the baby.

Things are different now that we are back with the others. There is no more hiding. It isn't just us anymore. We are forced to confront what this thing between us really means and the effect it will have on everything around us.

Katara and I need to talk. We can't go on like this, but since we've got here, there has been little time for anything outside of planning our next move.

"We should get Korri back to Yanna," Katara says. "They need to be together. They've lost enough time as it is. Plus, I want to see Dad."

According to Sokka's sources, Hakoda was alive and well. He supposedly traveled through the Earth Kingdom with Teo and the Duke after the comet, helping out and making sure they got to the Northern Air Temple safely before he returned to the South Pole. He's apparently there now, so Katara and I probably just missed him when we left the Southern Water Tribe with Korri.

Sokka rubs at his chin. "We can go back home. Take her to Yanna then see what Yanna wants to do."

"That's what we did with the other Potentials before relocating them," Suki chimes in as she eyes the southern hemisphere on the map. "We kinda gave them a choice. Kyoshi might be a good place for them."

"Or the Southern Air Temple." Sokka shifts one of the other maps back onto the crooked wooden table, which is not nearly big enough for all the materials we have scattered out along its surface.

I put the scroll I was looking at down. "All of them are looking at a life on the run until we know which one is the Avatar." My eyes find Katara's. "You should be careful with how much time you spend back home too. The Phoenix King knows the next Avatar is a waterbender. Even if he catches onto our strategy at some point, he won't loosen his hold on the tribes until he finds them."

"Raids were already happening when we left the North Pole," Suki states matter-of-factly as Momo shoots into her arms.

"All of us will just need to keep moving," says Sokka, tracing his fingers along the map in demonstration.

I almost scoff. He says this like it will be a challenge, like it could be difficult. Not for me. No, I haven't stopped moving since I was banished.

"So we are heading south again then?" Suki prompts, scanning all of our faces briefly for approval.

"Seems like it," Katara consents, her voice listless as she rests her cheek on top of Korri's curly head. Her eyes are distant.

Suki turns toward me almost sheepishly. "What about you, Zuko? What'll you do?"

Katara visibly perks at the question, and I try not to notice.

I shrug and plop onto one of the nearby rickety stools, which grumbles under my weight. "I'll decide after I talk to Uncle."

"Why don't we all go to Gaoling together?" Sokka slams a fist into his open palm. "That way all of us can meet up with Toph and Iroh and spend more time here helping the Earth Kingdom. Then Katara, Suki, and I can head south."

I'm not sure if Sokka proposes this because it is an efficient and effective strategy or because he wants us to stay together and reunite Team Avatar.

It is clear we are once again being pulled in different directions, but it is also clear that none of us want that. There is this silent underlying resistance, a steady incessant tug to revert to the state we were in before Aang's death ripped us all apart. Or maybe to go back to before Aang died at all.

There are too many feelings involved, too much attachment, and too many unhealed wounds. All these things run through us like a steel rod, connecting us at all kinds of abnormal angles.

Despite all that has happened, the bond between us holds. Firmly. Desperately. I don't know if it is what lingers of our connection to Aang or the way the Avatar itself has woven itself all through our destinies, but one thing is obvious:

None of us can let go.

With a tentative plan for the Potentials to relay to the other members of the White Lotus, we finally abandon the stuffy hut and see Jeong Jeong waiting for us crosslegged by the campfire.

"Well?" he prompts with an odd mixture of impatience and genuine interest, his white eyebrows inching together. "Do we have a plan?"

The man wastes no time with formalities or small talk. As always, he is brisk, antsy, and all business. His only interest is the outcome and what needs to be done next. If he is anything like me, he is also ready to get out of this swamp.

Sokka sits down next to him and begins giving him a very condensed version of what we spent all day discussing, which the rest of us happily leave him to. To say that we are burned out on the subject would be an understatement.

Babbling resonates near my shoulder, and I look over to see Korri lunging out of Katara's arms toward me. Unthinking, I take her. It is habitual at this point. Instinct.

I catch Katara's gaze. "We need to talk. Alone."

"I know," she agrees ruefully, reluctantly. Something briefly gleams in her eyes, but it comes and goes so quickly that I barely have time to pinpoint the emotion behind it.

At that moment, I realize why we have both avoided this, why we have stubbornly refused to speak whatever it is between us into existence. We do it to keep it alive. By never acknowledging it, we never have to face the fact that it will have to die. It allows us to stay in the delusion, in the dream we've been lost in for months now, a dream where we were nothing more than two people - not even benders - who found solace, contentment, and affection in each other.

"Meet me out by the tree line past the huts after dinner." I jerk my head in the direction of said tree line.

Katara merely nods as Suki saddles up next to us.

"Wanna take her over to meet her fellow Potential?" Suki points across the way to a couple near the water's edge. Next to them, a blob I assume is a baby tries to crawl around between them.

"Sure." Katara forces a smile and heads toward them, tugging at the sleeve of my shirt as she goes. "C'mon, Zuko."

So I follow, and Suki introduces us to the parents and then to fellow potential Avatar, Ditto himself, who may be the largest baby I have ever seen. He and Korri are exactly the same age, but he dwarfs her in size.

"Welcome cousin!" the father says to Katara as he pulls her into a hearty embrace.

"T-Thank you," Katara yelps as he slaps her back.

His parents are both stocky, which may explain why he is so girthy. His mother is taller than his father with her short hair pulled back, held in place by a hearty leaf. His father wears a leaf hat over his braided hair, but the braid itself is thick and frizzy.

I place Korri on the mushy ground next to Ditto and his pet catgator. Momo quickly joins in, perching himself on Korri's head and eyeing the catgator skeptically.

"Ditto, meet Korri," Suki introduces playfully yet formally as she kneels next to them. "Korri, meet Ditto. You two are probably going to be spending a lot of time together over the next few years."

The rest of the evening is surprisingly casual, as lazy, and languid as the swamp we inhabit. We fall into amenable conversation as we sit around the campfire and eat, which I am grateful for after a long day of doing nothing but talking about potential futures, strategies, and paths to take.

We learn about Ditto and his parents, Pu and Lelli, who are distressingly casual at the prospect of their child being the next Avatar ("I reckon that'd be neat," they'd said). Jeong Jeong even loosens up a little (perhaps thanks to the swampbender hooch being passed around) and tells a few stories about leaving the Fire Nation Navy and moving from place to place to avoid military pursuit, the latter I think he does for our benefit seeing as we will likely have a similar lifestyle for the unknown future.

Katara and I go through the motions of feeding Korri, passing her back and forth between us as we attempt to feed ourselves too. The villagers continue to mistake us for her parents throughout the meal as a result, but Katara and I have grown tired of correcting them, so we just take it at this point.

"You know, she could actually pass for yours and Zuko's," Suki muses with a smirk, watching Korri as she sits on the ground in front of us and chews on her own hands.

Katara snickers. "Don't say that where Sokka can hear you."

"C'mon, Zuko! You gotta try it!" Sokka shoves some kind of bug-kabob into my face.

"Get that thing away from me!" I make a face and jerk away. I have lowered my standards a lot over the years, but I am still Fire Nation royalty, and I refuse to eat a fucking bug.

Sokka hauls an arm over my shoulder and wriggles the skewer under my nose. "Just one bite! It doesn't even really taste like a bug!"

I shove him, but he doesn't move much. "I'm not eating it, Sokka!"

As Sokka continues to paw at me and attempts to shove the bug down my throat, I hear Katara's laugh next to me. There's a smile on her face as she watches me try to fend off her brother. The smile is genuine but there is still something wistful in her eyes as they find mine.

Momo leaps onto my shoulder, takes the bug off the skewer, and flies off, effectively saving me from Sokka.

"Momo! No!" Sokka howls and chases after him.

Freed, I take the opportunity to get more possum chicken instead. It has significantly fewer legs.

Jeong Jeong takes Sokka's place next to me.

"You love the waterbender, don't you?" he asks lowly so that only I hear.

I try and fail not to react. I'm sure my eyes are as wide and wild as Momo's.

I want to say no. I want to deny it. But I'm not sure if I can even though I told Katara myself that I didn't love her. Now I wonder if that was nothing more than a reflex, a response to her words. Did I only say that because she did?

"I don't know," I reply honestly before taking a swig of water and wishing it was something stronger. "What if I do?"

He scoffs. "Then you're a glutton for punishment, Prince Zuko."

Sokka returns with Momo on his shoulder and a new bug-kabob that he - thankfully - does not offer me. Instead, he plops down next to us and takes a hunk out of it with his teeth.

I think he speaks to me or maybe Jeong Jeong. Maybe both. I probably drone back. We likely have a whole conversation, but I wouldn't know because I'm not really here anymore. All I can do is ask myself over and over again:

Are you a glutton for punishment, Prince Zuko?

The dying campfire crackles loudly but the village has quieted to a gentle lull as everyone winds down for the night, retreating to their huts, oblivious to the firebender pacing in and out of the darkness of the nearby tree line like a tigerdillo.

I feel like I might combust as I wait for Katara. A part of me wants to. Combusting would be a mercy. Combusting will probably be less painful than the conversation Katara and I are about to have.

My mind churns and churns and churns for what feels like hours before she finally shows up. I hear her before I see her, those soft, fluid footfalls I've come to know so well. It is a distinct sound, one that is unique to me now. Her footsteps are different from everyone else's.

Katara joins me in the darkness, illuminated more by the moon than the faint orange that still radiates off of the campfire a short distance away. The contrasting radiance catches her rounded features brilliantly. Her dark skin glows. The blue of her eyes shines fiercely, clearly gaining vitality from the moon. She's always stunning, but Katara is at her most beautiful at night.

Folding her hands in front of her, she watches me sheepishly. She keeps her distance, which angers me because I know it is intentional. Strategic.

"Hey," she breathes.

"Hey."

"You wanted to talk?"

I rub the back of my neck. "…Yeah."

"What about?" Katara asks more out of formality and obligation than actual curiosity or necessity. It is like a line right off of a script. She knows her cue.

And I know mine.

"You know. You knew the moment I asked you to meet me out here. You probably knew before I asked you. We knew this was coming the moment we got here."

Even with the gathering gloom, I see Katara stiffen.

I've tried to swallow my feelings back down for a long time now. I resolved to let what Katara and I have (or had?) go. I told myself we didn't have to talk about it. I told myself I could just let it dissolve into the ether because it was always destined to.

But I lied to myself. I was wrong.

I can't just let it go and act like it never happened, that whatever it is between us didn't exist. A part of me screams for acknowledgment. A part of me needs it.

She sucks in a deep breath. "Zuko…"

"We don't even have to really talk about it. I'll even promise to never touch you again. All I want-" I close the space between us until our breath mixes "-is for you to admit that you feel something for me."

"Not love," she says feebly, almost defensively, but the words are brittle and flimsy. Unsure.

I'm wounded, but I don't let on.

"Maybe not. But it's something just as dangerous."

"I can't love you," she says so softly I barely hear it, her eyes low as she rubs at her arm.

I laugh but it's not really a laugh. It is too bitter to be a laugh.

"Do you think I like this? Do you think I like feeling this way about you? Do you think I haven't tried not to?" I pull at my chest as if capable of ripping her out of me. "It's wrong. I know that. I know it has to stop. I know you probably think it was a mistake, and that's fine. I'll let it go. We can go on as if it never happened, but I need the truth from you before I can do that, Katara."

"I can't, Zuko," she repeats, but this time it comes out as more of a plea. Her voice is a pitiful thing, and her eyes glisten dully as they focus on the ground near my feet. "I'm sorry."

Scoffing, I turn to storm back toward the line of huts. "Yeah? I am too."

"Wait…" The word is quiet, faint as the wind, so faint I think I'm imagining it, a trick of my mind to dull the pain bloating in my chest.

So I don't stop.

"Wait!" she cries and chases after me, tugging my arm and digging her feet into the boggy earth to stop me. "I didn't mean it like that!"

I'm hurt. I'm angry. Stung, I continue to wrestle against her touch. She trips as she runs after me but doesn't give up.

"Zuko! Please!" Katara presses the entirety of her body against mine. She clings to the cloth around my arms as she looks up at me with wide, pleading eyes. "Give me a chance to explain myself!"

I stop because I can't stand her begging like that. The anguished quality of her voice is absolutely heart-wrenching. But it is also hard for me to look at her. Teeth grinding in my mouth, my gaze keeps going over her head.

"It doesn't matter…" I say but the hurt in my voice is evident.

"No, it matters. You matter!" She is so close to me that it feels like my body is slowly absorbing hers. Or maybe hers is absorbing mine. "I needed you, Zuko. I was so scared, vulnerable, sad, and hurt…and you were there for me. I couldn't have survived without you."

I tense and try to pry her off me again, sensing that inevitable "but" coming. She doesn't let me, though. She clings even tighter, working with every ounce of her strength to burrow into me completely.

Her body tells me the truth before she does.

"I have feelings for you," she finally says. "I feel so much that I don't know what I feel. I don't even know how to put it into words, but it is so…big and threatening and consuming. I feel like I'll burst from holding it…"

Wild, passionate, ravenous… Like fire…

As promised, I lift my hands away, holding them up as if surrendering to her. Who knows? Maybe I am. Maybe I already have.

"That's all I needed to hear." My resolve is forced but convincing. Even I almost buy it.

But Katara doesn't move. She stays frozen against me. We both know what her letting go will mean, and as she gazes up at me with a strange combination of agony and tenderness, I realize it isn't what either of us wants.

Her eyes flow over me diligently as she claws at me, hands loosening and tightening against the cloth of my tunic again and again. Her mouth tightens into an almost pout as she gnaws at the inside of her cheek, lips trembling.

I know very well what it is like to be at war with yourself. I know what it is like to wrestle with opposing versions of yourself. She can't hide it from me. I am so familiar with it that I can feel what Katara feels. I see into her so clearly. At that moment, I understand her so well that I no longer remember what it was like for us to be separate entities.

Katara pulls me closer one more time before lightly shoving me away and rushing back toward the still-crackling campfire.

My hands ball into fists at my sides, clenching so hard I almost draw blood as I fight not to run after her.

A/N: Thanks so much for reading and reviewing!