Here's chapter two of part two, see the end for some updates on ... updates?

Part 2 - Healing Iroh - Chapter 2/4

"Katara?" the voice above her sounded confused.

"Spirits Zuko!" the annoyed waterbender nonchalantly pressed her hand to the flat of the blade he had pointed under her chin.

Pushing it away she gave herself room to get up.

"What in Tui's black depths are you doing!" Katara shouted angrily.

"Why are you here? I told you to leave us alone!" he thundered back.

"I'm not here for you dunderhead." she shot back, "I'm here for him" Katara pointed to the opened doorway.

Zuko glanced back to where Iroh laid just beyond the lit doorframe.

"We don't need your help or your pity peasant.", he snarled.

"Pot meet kettle, last I checked you were roughing it like the rest of us." she just managed to clench his title between her teeth before it slipped past her lips. While she longed to rub salt, she needed him to cooperate if she was going to help Iroh.

"I have no pity to spare on you and this isn't help, this is my returning a favor." she leveled at him.

"What favor? Babysitting your earth bender?" he jeered.

"Leave Toph out of this, if I recall correctly she helped save your sorry butt from your crazy sister!"

"We would have been fine on our own." he huffed

"Oh really? Because from where I stood it looked you were getting your rear handed to you." Katara closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, this wasn't getting her anywhere "La grant me patience with this one."

"You're the one testing my patience." Zuko fumed.

"Zuko shut up! Just shut up and listen to me."

"Why should I listen to you?"

Katara popped the top off of her waterskin and palmed a small orb of water, "Because if you don't, I'll freeze your tongue to your nose." she said clearly fed up.

It wasn't a bluff, her skills were far better than when they first met and the moon was out in its full glory. The odds were obviously stacked in her favor, Zuko growled and sheathed his Dao swords.

"Why do you want to heal Uncle? What's in it for you?"

"Nothing." Katara said softly trying to diffuse the situation.

She bent the orb back into its pouch, "Iroh is hurt and I'm a healer, that's it."

"How do I know you won't hurt him?" he asked suspicion dripping from his words.

Katara pushed down the irritation that flared in her stomach, "It's the least I could do for someone who tried to protect La."

Zuko's eyes bored into her as though he could reveal some misintention if he stared at her long enough but Katara refused to wither under the disgraced prince's glare.

After what felt like an eternity Zuko turned on his heel and muttered, "Come with me."

Her shoulders slumped a hair as she followed him. The first threads of exhaustion had begun to pull at her, she brushed them aside and continued on. Zuko led her through the door to a large empty room floored with well-worn dusty wood planks. A small fire crackled in a sunken fire pit set into the middle of the room and vented up through a chimney in the ceiling. It looked like it was the main living space in the house. Whatever family lived here before them likely took their meals and slept here together. The room branched off into two other wide doorways obscured by thick curtains.

On the side of the room furthest from the door was Iroh laid out on what could roughly be considered a cot. Next to it was a bedroll with the covers thrown to the side as if someone had rushed out of bed. Katara quickly moved past Zuko and knelt next to Iroh's cot pressing a hand to his forehead. His skin was pale but cool to the touch, no fever, no infection, it was a good sign. She only barely registered Zuko taking a seat beside her watching intently as she gently pulled apart the front of his uncle's shirt. She was surprised at what she had found, Iroh's wounds had been bandaged by a skilled hand. The familiar scent of the ocean, brought her back just for a moment, to a tree on a riverbank.

She turned to look at the scarred prince, "You did this?" she asked a hint of wonder coloring her words.

"Yes." was all he gave her.

"It's really well done." she commented offhandedly while continued her examination.

A silver thread of pride ran through Zuko. It was an unusual feeling, one that was only slightly less strange than hearing praise from someone who wasn't his uncle.

"I have to remove the bandages, do you have more dressing for the wound?" she asked.

"No." another short answer.

He and Uncle were just barely getting by, they had very little in the way of supplies but it wasn't something he was going to admit to her.

She stood up, "The well still has water in it, I can wash them and reuse them. If you can start removing the dressing, I can get more in the meantime."

"No." Zuko rose, "I'm going with you."

Katara stood up placing her hands on her hips, "This really doesn't need two people, besides, I'm a waterbender, water is kind of my thing."

"Is it even safe to leave him here alone like that? Especially with a fire going?" she continued.

Zuko cocked his un-ruined brow at her, "This type of fireplace is meant to be left unattended, it heats the surrounding rooms at night. I've swept the entire town, no one is here, the closest living things are crow-vultures, bat-vipers, and the Avatar's camp."

"Wait how did you know that?" she demanded.

"Fire is kind of my thing." ignoring the rest of her question he walked to the door and held it open for her, "Let's go."

Katara groaned as she dragged a hand down her face, "Fine, I absolutely have the time to spend the entire night with you." she mocked walking towards the door. Once outside, Zuko picked up two pails from an alley on the side of the house and they started the short trek to the well.

After a brief stint of silence, Katara curiously asked, "Where did you learn to treat wounds like that? Your work is very good."

Zuko cocked the scarred side of his face upward, "After the worst of it, I had to clean and bandage it myself."

She stopped in her tracks, "Oh spirits Zuko! I'm -", she cut herself off.

Zuko, looked back at her from a few steps ahead, he wore his trademark scowl and his eyes had turned a molten gold a warning of the anger that sat just behind them.

"You're what?" he asked daring her to continue.

Katara mustered all of her diplomacy, straightening her spine and schooling her features before she looked him in the eye and continued, "I apologize, it was not my intention to pry. I did not realize my question would result in such a personal answer."

Surprise trickled in as his head took a few seconds to process what she had said. The small pull at the corner of his mouth made Zuko's features soften ever so slightly. He was a little impressed, not that he'd ever tell her that, full of surprises this one.

"Accepted." he said brusquely, "Let's go, unless you actually do want to spend all night with me, again."

Her jaw dropped and her cheeks reddened, Zuko not wanting to give her room to retort turned on his heel and continued walking. She grumbled, jogging to catch up with him. He reached the well before her, setting the pails on its ledge. Katara only a few steps behind peered over the edge, wasting no time she called out to her element. Feeling the familiar tug she lifted her arms up and out from her sides forming a 'T' with her body. She let out a breath and bent her knees giving in to the water's pull. Starting at her fingertips she scooped one arm down, cupping her hand at her waist and dipping her control below the water's surface deep in the well. Keeping it at shoulder height Katara brought her other hand over the first drawing the water up as a column curving her palm and steadying the energy as the water made its ascent up the stone walls of the well.

Zuko never took his eyes off her, partly in habit of always being on guard and partly in minor interest of the fluid movements that she used to bend the water to her will. Iroh had instilled in him that learning fire bending techniques alone would make him a weak opponent, one must learn to learn from all sources, so he looked on gleaning what he could.

Taking only what she needed and resisting the urge to 'accidentally' soak her grumpy firebender companion, Katara filled both pails and released the remaining water back into the well.

Without prompting Zuko took both pails off the ledge and turned back in the direction that they came.

"Let's go." were the only words she got before he started walking back through the small town.

She fell in step beside him, making the trek back in silence, she didn't know what to talk to him about, it was pretty clear he had nothing to say and she was ok with that. The quiet that hung between them should have been awkward and uncomfortable instead, it was like what they encountered at the riverbank. It was a silence that did not beg to be filled or ended instead, it held a familiarity that was comfortable in its own strange and unexpected way. They continued along the dusty path, the trip back feeling shorter than the one out to the well. Soon the Katara could see the soft glow from the small house where they had left Iroh resting. She reached the door first, holding it open for him.

"Put both near the cot." she instructed following him in, "Do you have a basin I could use?"

"Look through there," he directed jutting his chine at a curtained doorway.

Katara pulled aside the umber curtain kicking up the dust at her feet. Behind it, she found an area that appeared to be for storage and food prep. The walls were lined with shelves, though barren now, they would have once held the family's cookware, food, and dry goods. In the center of the room stood a small island, it was crafted from a stone base and had a hammered metal washbasin attached to the side furthest from her. The dark wood top was worn smooth, interrupted here and there with nicks and dents from various knives and cooking implements.

She hunted around the room looking through the few items left behind, most were broken bits of boxes and various containers. After a few minutes of digging she found a chipped bowl, it was a little smaller than what she needed but she could make do. Uncorking her waterskin she drew out roughly an ounce of water creating a perfect liquid orb that hung before her. She flattened it out running it along the surface of the bowl cleaning it of dust and dirt before draining it soiled water in the washbasin. Satisfied she took her findings back to the main room where she found Zuko tending to the fire. It had gotten a little low while they were out but no harm had come to the space around it, he might have been right, but she wasn't about to tell him that.

Katata took a seat at Iroh's side placing herself next to his chest where the worst of the damage was, she set the bowl on her right between her and the two pails and drew water from the closest one into the earthen bowl. She took in a deep breath and let it out casting off the weariness that weighed on her, it was time to get to it. Taking in Iroh's pale face and his bandaged chest, she knew her work was cut out for her.

"Zuko," she called over her shoulder, "I'm going to need your help."

He threw two more boards into the fire and walked over to Iroh's cot. Standing next to her he looked down at his uncle, his breathing was even but Iroh's skin was still pale. The feeling of Katara's eyes on him made him turn to look at her, she didn't flinch like she used to, in fact, she held his gaze without fear or disgust. He somehow hated it and found solace in it at the same time.

"What do you need me to do?"

"I have to unwrap the bandages, can you lift his shoulders so I can get them off?"

With another silent nod and he knelt at the head of his uncle's cot. Slipping his hands under Iroh's shoulder blades he gently raised the older man's torso, the jostling of the wounds drew a pained groan from the unconscious man. Katara sucked air between her teeth, the sound jolted her into action, quickly locating the tucked end of linen she started unwrapping the cloth as quickly a she could get her hands to move.

Zuko tried to observe but her movements were so rapid she was nearly a blur passing the crumpled growing mass of cloth from one hand to the other, as soon as she removed the last strand Zuko gently lowered his uncle back to the cot. Katara placed the bandages into the bowl of water and began rinsing them. There wasn't too much to scrub, since burns cause cauterization there wasn't much blood but other fluids from the wound had begun to seep in. When she felt the bandages were clean she drew the dirty water out of the bowl and sent it out through the slats of the shutters. Repeating her motions she drew more water from the pail to rinse the linen strips, sent the water outside, and then cover the bandages with more clean water before handing up the bowl to Zuko.

"What do you expect me to do with this?" he asked roughly.

"Boil it." her response sounding like the most obvious thing in the world.

He looked at her like she just sprouted saber-tooth moose antlers. She sighed, her body was telling her that she was starting to pull from her reserves and she needed to hurry.

"Boiling it sterilizes it and helps prevent infection. Bring it to a boil for about ten minutes and then I can dry them when you're done."

"What makes you think that I can boil it?" he questioned.

Katara looked confused, "There's a fire right there, you place on the circula-," she stopped, he was royalty, wasn't he? what if?

"Zuko," she started gently, "it's ok if you haven't boiled water before, I- I can show you if you like."

Zuko's brain stalled for a second, "I know how to boil water Katara." he growled

"I didn't mean to imply that you didn't, I-", she stopped as the bowl in Zuko's hands began to steam.

Katara shot to her feet so quickly she almost made herself faint. Peering into the bowl she saw the water had begun to bubble like a pot on a fireside. He was boiling water with just his hands!

The awe that painted her face made Zuko's anger recede. She didn't know, just like she didn't know about flowers. How could she, she'd been running from fire benders for the better part of the last year. It was doubtful that she stuck around long enough find out what they were capable of. It also meant the Avatar hadn't learned fire bending yet.

Tucking that information away Zuko sighed, "Firebenders can heat things without using a flame. I don't need the fire to boil water." he reluctantly explained.

A small surprised, "Oh.", was all he got from the blue-clad young woman that stood before him. Were the dark circles under her eyes always there?

"Let me know when you're done sterilizing them, I can dry them for you after." Katara mumbled before reclaiming her seat by the cot.

Zuko decided the best way to escape the awkwardness of his own creation was to pass the remaining minutes by the fire. He moved himself and the bowl over to the edge of the sunken fireplace. Taking a seat he angled himself so he could keep an eye on the water bender that was now tending to his uncle's wounds. While he didn't want to trust her, Iroh needed help and currently, she was the only one for miles who could give it to him. He watched as she bent small streams of water gently cleaning the burns and sending the spent water out through the slats of the shutters. Her control had gotten better, she had mastered the forms he caught her studying at the riverbank and learned much more in the process.

A thread of jealousy twisted inside him, his own training had begun to suffer after Azula tried to capture them. The Earth Kingdom did not take kindly to fire benders so practice of almost any kind had been out of the question. The look the kid had given him resurfaced in his mind, he hated to admit it but it still hurt. Time was up, he gave his mind a reprieve pulling himself from his thoughts, he stood to bring the bubbling bowl back to Katara.

"It's done."

"Oh, thank you." she stood and reached for the bowl.

Zuko hissed and quickly backpedaled leaving her to grasp at empty air, "What are you doing?!" he barked, "Are you trying to hurt yourself?!"

Katara looked back at him blankly, the exhaustive fog that clouded her mind quickly parted at the sight of the still boiling water. Her eyes widened at the realization of what she was about to do, quickly followed by a wince when she recalled the searing pain of Aang burning her hands.

Zuko watched the various emotions flit across her face, confusion, horror, fear, and finally embarrassment. He watched as a heaviness seemed to settle on her shoulders. They were not allies by any means yet it concerned him.

Her face flushed, "Put it down over there.", she gestured to a spot on the floor trying her best to not look him in the eye.

He placed the earthen bowl on the floor and felt his irritation rise in expectation of the waterbender's usual feisty words and resulting argument, but it never came. The heat of his annoyance died when she drew the bowl's scalding water up and out through the slats and sat down without a word. His sharpened tongue had held the beginnings of some imagined response but she had given him nothing to retort against, just empty air. He couldn't help but feel like she had bested him even if nothing had transpired. Looking down he found that he was left with the still-hot bowl, now just with clean, dry bandages. With nothing left to do he picked up the bowl and took a seat.

A surprised Katara gave Zuko a perplexed look when he sat beside her, he in turn made a pointed effort to ignore her gaze by putting an excessive amount of attention into rolling the now clean bandages. Her confusion quickly flowed to amusement when furrow formed between the firebender's brows, she had to quickly turn her attention back to Iroh to keep the upturn of her lips a secret.

With Iroh's wounds now cleaned, the real work would begin, she murmured a small prayer to Tui and La for strength and to hold off the exhaustion in her bones for just a little longer. With a sigh she moved into kiza and dipped both hands into the nearest bucket, the freezing water sent a chill through her fatigued body, she did her best to shrug it off and focus. Healing this much damage was going to take an enormous amount of energy, much more than she had, but looking down at Iroh's pale face, she knew she needed to try. Schooling her breath she let a controlled exhale ignite the glow in her water-gloved hands. The energy that encased them prickled like warm liquid static waiting to be let loose.

Zuko looked on in unabashed awe, he had only half-listened to his uncle's stories of the waterbenders ability to heal but seeing it up close was something else entirely. Katara's hands were literally glowing, the soft blue light illuminating her lovely features.

'Lovely?!'

He mentally scolded himself, she may be helping Uncle but that didn't put them on the same team, besides, prince or not, even a peasant like her wouldn't want the horrific ruin he called a face. His thoughts ran on and the wonder that painted Zuko's features slowly gave way to an emotionless mask he had perfected in his father's court.

Katara continued to work, unaware of the mental battle taking place next to her, she had limited reserves so she needed to prioritize what she would be able to repair. She began first mending any damage to the organs. Iroh had taken the brunt of the damage just below his sternum, even though a few had broken, his rib cage had done its job of protecting his vital organs, unfortunately, part of his liver wasn't so lucky. She started there repairing the damaged tissue and restoring function to the organ. The liver had a constant turnover making it the easy part and only taking a short while before she discarded the spent water. Reaching into the frigid bucket she took more than half the water it contained and moved her attention to his sternum. Cartilage took a long time to heal on its own, longer than bone. It would take most of what she had left but if she could repair the injuries there, she could significantly cut down on how much healing his body would have to do on its own. Cartlidge has three forms and the one that made up the sternum was the most stubborn, mending it was akin to weaving iron threads. Taking a deep breath she pressed her water-gloved hands to Iroh's chest looking for cracks and fissures, she worked her way from the top down fusing the rifts in the tissue one at a time. The work was slow and taxing, she could feel the toll it was taking on her energy reserves. At this rate, she would just barely make it back to camp and it was then she found bad news.

Katara turned a concerned expression to Zuko who had been quietly looking on, "One of his ribs tore completely away from his sternum." she explained, "I won't be able to completely heal him but if I don't repair this now, it could puncture an organ later and kill him."

A look of alarm flashed across his face, "What other damage is there?"

"I already repaired his liver and was able to mend most of the damage to his sternum, healing the burned skin will be easy but I will only be able to reattach the rib and get to the worst of the muscles. He has a few cracked ribs but I don't have enough left, they will have to heal on their own. Once I'm done, you'll need to rewrap the bandages to support his ribs and chest while they heal"

Zuko assessed the water bender before him, there were layers of concern, focus, and weariness on her face but it was an underlying determination holding it all together that surprised him. After all, he had done, she was still trying her best, giving everything she had, he wanted to know why but now was not the time. Zuko nodded at Katara giving her consent to continue as she saw fit.

Katara called more to her hands knowing full well that she wasn't going to make it back to camp tonight. The idea should have scared her enough to stop and leave, she had no obligation here, she could drop everything, walk out the door and never look back.

But she really couldn't, could she?

If Iroh didn't make it she would never forgive herself. Some small part of her knew that she would be safe, permitting herself to trust that irrational part of herself, she forged on.

Placing her hands back on Iroh she found some badly needed good news, while the cartilage was completely torn, the rib itself had stayed in place, she would only need to reattach it.

Starting with the easiest part she addressed the angry burns across Iroh's chest, the trapped heat dissipated beneath the cool water allowing Katara to repair the skin leaving no trace of Azula's attack. She watched the angry red of burns fade and give way to new skin wondering if she could do the same to a healed burn, it would have to be something to figure out at another time. Moving to the muscle, she made quick work of mended the burns and repairing the rips in the fibrous tissue.

Katara pulled more water from the bucket and placed her hands over Iroh's right side. For more complex injuries that could not be seen, Yogoda would have her imagine what the injury looked like and work from there. Following her teacher's words, she shut her eyes and began. She moved slowly over his torso before finding the break beneath the skin, there she commanded her glowing, staticky power into it. Immediately she could see the milky, translucent cartilage that been shorn in two begin to heal. She worked to close the wide crevasse between the two broken edges letting it slowly fill in with her glow and giving way to new tissue. Healing the injury was taxing on her, she could physically feel her energy depleting but willed herself on. The exertion was making her hands tremor, the power that encased them hummed through her as she wove it to bridge the broken cartilage. In her mind's eye, she watched as edges of the torn tissue merged and knit together sealing the gap.

Zuko watched the glow from Katara's hands fade repeating the motion of discarding the spent water. Her head dropped and her shoulders slumped, her trembling hands gripped the side of Uncle's cot turning her knuckles white.

"Zuko?" she sounded uncharacteristically small and faint.

He tore his eyes away from his uncle and looked at her but she continued to stare down at her hands hiding her expression. She did not wait for him to answer.

"That promise you made, at the riverbank?" her voice was beginning to tremor sending a small trace of worry through him.

He paused, "What about it?"

"Do you still mean it?" her words while still faint were hopeful.

'As long as you're with me, no harm will come to you. I will swear that to you on my honor as prince of the fire nation. Will you trust that?'

His own words echoed in his head, he had sworn to her on his honor. Now even as he stood as an enemy of the fire nation, he was still bound by his word but why did this matter now?

"Yes, I still mean it."

With some effort, Katara picked up her head and looked at him with a tired smile, "Ok, good."

Immediately the color drained from her face her deep blue eyes slipped shut. He watched in horror as and she began to fall.

Thank you for reading! I hope you like where this is all going so far.
I have about four more weeks of updates lined up but I've hit a bit of a stumbling block with writing things. Figuring out how to take it in the direction I want to while trying to not warp the characters to much and stay true to what happened in the show has been a little difficult. Hopefully it doesn't interrupt things but if it does I at least want you to know why.