A. N. : In keeping with the sacred trees/plants theme, today's title is brought to you by the Bodhi Tree, which seeds are used to make prayer beads. And of course seeds are also a symbol for hope and new growth. Could that mean that things are finally not entirely terrible ? You decide.

It's like déjà vu.

Jet looking Zuko straight in the eyes, apologizing in earnest for something he did because he was afraid of Zuko's fire – of Zuko being Fire.

It's a familiar sight.

It's different.

Zuko thought about it – had the time to think about it during the journey, his mind kept cycling through – Azula is going to kill Uncle, the world will take Lin from Zuko sooner or later, Jet tried to kill him, Azula is going to kill Uncle, Lin, Jet, Uncle –

He's had time to think. To spot the difference between what happened in Ba Sing Se and this incident. Jet wanted to hurt him – to kill him – but he didn't want to hurt Zuko.

It's odd, the difference it makes. A hand on his neck rather than his face, aimed at his fire – but not at him. If it had been, Zuko knows no amount of apologies would've mattered. They would've been done.

But Jet didn't aim to hurt Zuko in the most personal way, didn't imitate Father, didn't use Azula's cruel words. He was just scared, and reacted in the only way he knew.

Zuko gets it.

When he was at sea on that spirits forsaken ship, most of the training he did in the three years spent hunting a mirage had one goal – to get him used to fire again. To make sure he wouldn't freeze up and recoil at the sight of a flame, at the heat near his face, at the searing light of even his own fire.

That was probably the most humiliating part, the fact that at first, a small flame of his own was enough to send him back to the day of the Agni Kai, nauseated and close to tears and shaking like a newly born woolly-fawn.

He remembers hating this with all he had. Hating himself for his weakness – that was exactly why Father had to do what he did, wasn't it ? Because he was a dishonorable coward.

Without Uncle, he wouldn't have managed to teach his body to see fire as an ally again. As a part of himself he can trust.

It took even longer, until Lin and the terror of losing her, of hurting her, to realize he didn't deserve any of this. That Father didn't have to do anything, rather chose to hurt him, to burn him, out of pure cruelty. Or maybe – Azula always lies, always, but if Father was ready to burn him for talking out of line, who's to say Grandfather wasn't the same –

It took Zuko three years, and Uncle's full support, to get used to fire again.

Jet spent even longer doing – living – the exact opposite of that. Fighting against Fire Nation soldiers, relearning over and over that fire hurts, kills, burns and destroys everything he loves. That the only way to survive is to be the first to strike. Be the first to kill.

Of course having an angry firebender get in his face would set him off. Zuko – Zuko shouldn't have done that. He couldn't help it – the memory of Jet suggesting they leave Uncle to die is enough to make his skin itch – but he shouldn't have done it.

It's the same for Jet.

He gets it.

But that doesn't mean he's alright with it happening again. If there's a next time, there's no telling that Jet will manage to stop himself. Zuko can't let that happen, for his own sake, for Lin's sake, and for Jet's. Because even if Jet doesn't trust him, doesn't think he's really doing his best to right the wrongs of the Fire Nation, the way he's apologizing right now shows he cares nonetheless.

Zuko won't let Jet hurt him, won't let him hurt himself. And if that means he'll have to take matters into his own hands, sit Jet down and talk to him, bend in front of him, the way Uncle used to do for Zuko… Well. That's something he'll have to bear with, the same as teaching the Avatar when he is barely equipped for it.

He tries not to let his thoughts stray to the fact that, if it took him three years to learn to live with fire again, can he even have any hope for Jet ?

He pinches the bridge of his nose. In any case, he's the only one who can do this.

Some responsibilities just can't be avoided, he supposes.