Zuko thrummed his fingers restlessly along the cushioned leather arm of his chair, the downside of being Fire Lord was the honor of being announced last and the guestlist for this particular ball had been extensive. He couldn't care less about the various dignitaries and diplomats that had populated his palace walls for the last month - Agni, he was more than happy to see some of them go. Everyone he did care about had been announced and was already mingling with the crowd, but hearing Uncle's and then Katara's introductions while comforting, managed to make him even more impatient.

Iroh had gotten her to the ballroom just as planned, doing him the favor of waiting on and escorting her as an extra precaution. With the palace in a flurry of preparations, he wanted to make sure an extra set of trusted eyes were on her and Uncle's penchant for long talks about Pai Sho was the perfect deterrent for nosy delegates and rude acolytes alike. Though, the twinkle in Uncle's eye when he accepted the request made him somewhat uneasy, whatever old man might be up to - if anything - he would deal with it later.

Right now everyone else was over watching out for Katara, taking over once she was delivered to the ballroom, well everyone else but him. His duties as Fire Lord made it nearly impossible for him to help, he was one of the most powerful men in the world, and at the moment, he couldn't feel more useless. Instead of watching out for her with the others, he was expected to schmooze politicians from other nations.

'Think about the trade agreement, think about all the prosperity it would bring to the Fire Nation' Counselor Shian had reminded him only this morning. The counselor always managed to omit how a stone trade with Gaoling would help expand his son-in-law's masonry business and further deepen his family's already heavy pockets.

Zuko rolled his eyes and leaned back in the overstuffed chair with another impatient sigh. The nearly nightly ritual of tea with Katara - when she was most decidedly not hiding in his quarters - had brought him a much-needed breath of genuinity. He could trust her to tell him when he was wrong and take comfort in knowing that she was looking out for his well-being.

Katara was a duality that fascinated him infinitely. When they were kids, she had had no trouble threatening his life the first night he had become their ally, then, after the Agni Kai, she saved his life tending to him day and night for over a week, healing him until she could barely stand. It was something that had not changed in nearly a decade and over the years, Katara had given him both the scathing criticisms and the kind reassurances he needed even when he didn't necessarily want them. It had taken him many heated arguments, troubled letters, and much too much time to realize these words, both the comforting ones and the sharp ones had been gifts. He wasn't sure if she knew, but those gifts had helped shape the leader he was today, even now, her words helped him navigate the political waters of the summit.

In the last few days, their evenings together had become bittersweet, he enjoyed spending time with her but the fact that it was quickly coming to an end, seemed to loom over him each night. He couldn't keep the countdown of days from quietly ticking in his head. She was like the sea, just as the tides would rise and the waves would crash against his shore, she would be gone, headed back home in only a few days.

Zuko rubbed his bare wrist and looked down at the empty spot where the necklace should be, he would still catch himself looking for the smooth satin and carved pendant to run his thumb across. It had been nearly a year yet that empty feeling along his skin persisted, it felt like a piece of him was missing.

Four years ago Aang and Katara arrived at the palace to announce their engagement and Zuko had pulled out all the stops, breaking out the best the Fire Nation had to offer in food and wine. And why not? His friends had brought some of the best news he had heard in months.

The rushed banquet had been a small but decadent affair where the fire whiskey ran like water. They ate, talked, and reminisced about their time together as kids for hours. So long that Iroh and Ursa, after some dance lessons, had retired leaving the 'children' to enjoy themselves and by the night's end, Mai and Suki had their hands full with the much too intoxicated trio of Ty Lee, Sokka, and Aang. The pair of Kyoshi warriors sternly dragged them off to bed leaving Katara and Zuko alone. Much like she had tonight, Katara had sent a note ahead of their arrival requesting to see him privately. He couldn't fathom what she needed to say that she couldn't in front of the others but he agreed, completely unprepared for the brilliant blue leather pouch she procured from her tunic - it had been the same blue as her eyes. Katara had shyly pressed it into his hands, as words tumbled from her lips.

"I want you to have this."

Zuko carefully unlaced the leather and when he emptied the pouch, his eyes went wide. Sitting in his palm was the familiar deep blue satin and carved stone choker, her mother's necklace. As much as the memory made him grimace, their first real interaction had revolved around that necklace and with that, every memory they had shared since the night at that stupid tree came crashing down on him at once. He tried to give it back to her, but she only smiled and shook her head.

"Katara, I can't. This was your mother's." Zuko faltered, "I can't."

Katara folded his fingers down, closing the necklace in his fist and pressing the cool stone to his palm, "Yes, you can."

Zuko shook his head.

"Yes, you can Zuko. I want you to have it."

"Why?"

"As a token of goodwill between the Southern Water Tribe and the Fire Nation." the rehearsed words came out exactly as they had probably been practiced but still fell flat.

Zuko knew Katara hated empty gestures. Performative acts that did nothing to help those who needed it had become a pet peeve of hers and his dubious look had told her as much. With a small sigh, she finally told the truth.

"I wanted you to have it, as a kind of thank you. For helping me find peace with my mother, and for saving my life." Katara explained.

"Last I recall, you saved my life too," he told her, to which Katara responded by pinching his arm.

"Ow! What was that for?"

Katara laughed and it lit up her features in a way that he didn't realize he had been missing.

How had he forgotten that sound? Had he forgotten it, or did she simply not laugh as much as she used to?

"For ruining the moment." Katara gave him a smile he hadn't seen since they were kids, "Take the gift Zuko."

She pulled him into a hug and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek, he had barely gotten his arms around her before she let go.

Her smile had softened as her fingers came to the glittering citrine at her neck, "Besides, I have a new one now."

Those few words drove an unexpected thorn into his heart, its ache nearly staggering him.

Where had that come from?

Two of his best friends has amazing news, they had found happiness, together. He should be happy for them. So what was this despair? Chalking it up to, too much alcohol, Zuko accepted the gift and bid his friend good night. An hour later he found himself sitting on the edge of his bed the satin band running through his fingertips and a dull ache settling in his chest.

Zuko shook his head as if he could throw off the weight of the feelings that had settled on him, "This is ridiculous." he declared to his empty chambers.

Looping the necklace around his wrist in that familiar way he had all those years ago, he headed to bed. Slumping against the pillows he convinced himself that he'd feel better in the morning, he just needed to sleep off the night's festivities.

Too few hours later, the sun peeked up from the horizon resonating with the living spark within him, pulling him reluctantly from slumber. Zuko pushed his hair from his eyes and the necklace's cool stone brushed his face, its satin running a soft caress along his temple. Cracking his eyes open he found a familiar band of blue wrapped around his wrist and the events from the night before flooded him and that same ache settled in his chest, only deeper than before.

It would be the first time of many, and from then on that dull pain would greet him anew every morning no matter who he brought to his bed or how he had tried to drown it. After too many months he came to accept two things. First that he had feelings for Katara, and that he would carry the pain of those for the rest of his life.

At least, that's what he had thought, right up until nine months ago when he awoke to find in his bed, a mocha-skinned woman with black-brown waves, tear-stained cheeks, and a broken heart.

"My Lord?"

Zuko looked up, the guard's worried words had broken through his thoughts, pulling him from the memory, "Yes Chale?"

"It's time my Lord."

Zuko rose from his seat, it was time to join the ball.

"Thank you, Chale, lead the way."

…

Katara stood at the top of the stairs admiring Iroh and Ursa's handiwork. The grand ballroom lived up to its name, it was a sprawling room with white, gold-veined, marble floors, high flung mahogany coffered ceilings, and ornately carved columns. The décor was proudly drenched in Fire Nation red and edged in scrawling metallic gold.

Much had changed at the palace since her first visit at fifteen. Bleeding, exhausted, and afraid, she had wandered the lifeless and abandoned corridors calling for someone, anyone to help her wounded friend. Back then, every carving, painting, and tapestry had been chosen solely on how grand and fearsome they were and that day it had worked. After Ozai was imprisoned, Zuko was much too busy with his new duties to even try so Iroh tried his hand at redecorating. Sourcing fabrics, art, and furniture from all over the Fire Nation and even a few pieces from the other nations, Uncle had put forth an honest effort but it had fallen flat with every room resembling a tea shop. It was only when Ursa returned to the family and joined forces with Iroh, did they strike an elegant balance, now the palace felt warm and welcoming while still being regal and stately. Iroh still joked that he had been on the right track all along but was missing one crucial element, a woman's touch.

She was stalling, wading through her memory would not make the task before her, disappear.

Katara laid a hand on the carved railing and with her head held high she descended the stairs, ignoring the hundreds of eyes now fixed upon her. Her title change had confirmed what everyone had been thinking for the last three weeks, her engagement to the Avatar was over. The news sent a ripple of murmurs that traveled through the crowd before Katara had even set foot on the ballroom floor.

Some had the courtesy to be discrete while others openly balked, the looks varied from politely neutral to ones of dismay and outright hostility, but she had expected this, right? The Avatar with his boyish charm was too kind and too sweet to hurt anyone or anything - well except for that buzzard-wasp, no one ever found out about. Toph and Mai warned her that the break of their relationship would automatically become her fault and they were partially right. She was the one who ended the years-long engagement, but Aang had been the one to break her, but as she had been told, no one would care.

Making it to the last stair, she caught a flash of Air Nation orange in the corner of her eye, and then the crowd before her began to part making her heart hitch. A man with a shaved head and a tall lanky frame draped in bright linens waded through the parting bodies making a beeline for her. His warm beige skin was inked in lines of brilliant blue, tattoos, tattoos her fingertips had traced along a thousand times, she knew where every blue-sparrow's egg colored line began and ended.

Anxiety bloomed in her chest as the crowd opened further revealing more orange and yellow-clad bodies. All of them familiar, and not a single one happy to see her, all except for one, their Avatar.

"AANG!" his name echoed through the room when a brown-haired, yellow, orange streak, raced across the ballroom floor before launching itself into Aang's arms, "I missed you!" it announced loudly and joyously.

His surprise faded quickly enough for him to reach out with a smile.

Hei-Won.

Aang expertly plucked the woman's slight frame from the air taking her weight easily and wrapping her up in a bone-crushing hug. Hei-Won, now wore the robes of a senior acolyte, the young woman had been promoted in Katara's absence. She had been offered the promotion years earlier but turned it down, citing her need to train under Aang a bit more before accepting the title, and leaving his side to represent the Air Nation elsewhere.

"Hei-hei, I missed you too." Aang smiled.

He was given only a moment to shoot Katara an apologetic look before Hei-Won spun them around so their backs were to the waterbender. The acolyte's surprise appearance meant that for the moment, Katara would be forgotten. The yellow and orange-clad troop began to melt back into the crowd but Katara didn't miss the satisfied sneer 'Hei-hei' shot over Aang's shoulder. It wasn't the first dirty look she had gotten when it came to her relationship with Aang, La, it wasn't even the thousandth, but like water down a turtleduck's back, she let it roll off just like the rest.

"Ambassador Katara." a quiet voice rang through the ballroom turning heads including Katara's, she had found a familiar face.

Katara never could understand how every inch of Mai's noble upbringing managed to ring through that slightly bored, colorless monotone, "The Ukano family is honored to welcome you." Mai bowed solemnly and Katara returned the gesture.

The formal greeting was unnecessary between friends, but Mai's show set the tone for how Katara's newly reclaimed title was to be handled by the other partygoers. With respect. She had barely straightened up before Mai swept her up in an uncharacteristic hug, Katara responded by wrapping her arms around the fair-skinned, raven-haired beauty. Despite her time with the Kyoshi warriors, Mai had kept the same waifish build into adulthood, but the years of training had given a considerable solidness to her frame. Beneath her hands, Katara could feel the various sheaths and blades concealed in the layers of her flowing black gown. The Kyoshi warriors were always at the ready, even Suki would have her fans stashed away somewhere.

"Are you ok?" Mai murmured in her ear.

Katara gave a slight nod prompting Mai to release her.

"Ty did say she was a-" Mai paused rethinking her wording, "really something."

Katara gave a halfhearted smile, "Yeah, she is."

"Why didn't you tell Zu-zu? He could have had Aang keep her at the temple instead."

"That wouldn't be fair."

"She ruined your engagement." Mai countered.

"That's not completely true."

"I beg to differ."

Katara sighed and shook her head, "Things between Aang and I were already a mess and neither of us addressed it." she glanced back into the crowd, "Hei-Won just expedited the inevitable."

"You're too kind to those two." Mai shook her head, "Let's find the others", she gestured toward the other side of the ballroom, prompting Katara to follow her.

Katara trailed the noblewoman glancing over her shoulder at the bits of orange and yellow that peeked through the crowd, nearly a year later and the familiar colors still filled the pit of her stomach with unease. The same colors she had tried so desperately to associate with home. Katara had originally told herself that the beginning of their end, was when Aang chose the acolytes over her but after having several months to reflect, she came to realize that they had been falling apart before they even began.

Hei-Won had founded the Avatar Fan Club at only 13, and by the time they met her, it had grown into a network that spanned the nations. That same network came to their aid in Yu Dao when the conflict between Zuko and King Kuei over the Harmony Restoration Movement had come to a head. These fangirls later became some of the first Air Acolytes.

Their first meeting with the fangirls, even years later, had always stuck out to her, it was after all the first crack in their still blossoming relationship. At first, she thought it was the jealousy that made her feel ugly inside but as she got older she learned to cut her 16-year-old self some slack. Any girl who had the Avatar for a boyfriend would be unhappy at the gaggle of girls fawning over him. In truth, it didn't have much to do with the girls or Aang for that matter. It was her, she was the one to make the first cut with the decision she made for them that day. She had been upset, yes, but those girls, with their artifacts, adoration, and crude understanding of his culture, they let Aang find something he had lost over a hundred years ago, something that felt like home.

Katara knew she could call Aang her family all she wanted, but his home, that sense of belonging, was something she would never be able to give him. So that boisterous day in Ba Sing Se, amongst the girls, the music, and her boyfriend's glowing smile, she quietly ceded. It was not the first time Katara had put aside her feelings for Aang's sake and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

She had secretly folded those ugly feelings down and tossed them in the back of Appa's saddle. Out of sight, out of mind but never truly forgotten. Looking back, she realized that while her early decision to put herself aside for him and the acolytes had felt selfless, it had been foolish to compromise herself for his happiness. The fact that her happiness was equally as important was a lesson her younger self would learn much to late.

The group of enthusiastic young fans learned quickly giving Aang a way to preserve Air Nomad culture and a budding population to lead. With Hei-Won's aggressive recruiting of new members, Aang's teachings on the ways of the Air Nomads, and Katara's policies laying a foundation for them to grow, this small group quickly expanded and developed into the new Air Nation.

The fledgling nation now attended summits and peace talks and even began exporting a little over a year before her departure. It had taken some time, but the role of the Avatar and the tiny Air Nation was growing and she had grown with them.

Or at least, that's what she had led herself to believe.

Ursa had once spoken of her marriage to Ozai, she described it as being at sea in the eye of a storm. The storm is always clearest from the shore and while the eye may seem calm, it leaves you blind to everything around you. Aang had been her world since the day she found him. She helped him end a war, worked side by side to bring the fractured nations back together, and even helped restart the Air Nation. But Aang was at the center of all of it, and maybe that's why she hadn't noticed the first time those cracks turned into a chasm.

Only a few months had passed since she had donned Aang's citrine collar and left her mother's necklace in the care of Zuko. She was returning from Gaoling with Haru & Toph to start an exchange program they had been working on for months. The number of acolytes had swelled and they needed a place to call home. The Air temples carved into mountains and cliffs were an obvious choice but after a century of abandonment, they had fallen into deep disrepair.

This was where Haru and Toph had come in, their earthbending students would get a chance to refine their skills repairing the temples while living amongst the acolytes and learning about Air Nomad culture. With their help, the temples could be restored in less than two years. Aang had been enthusiastic about the idea and when Katara's trip to the Earth Kingdom had proven successful the pair accompanied her back to the Western Air Temple. They were to discuss the logistics of the first rotation's arrival with Aang, but when she got home she found Aang with Hei-Won and everything they had worked on for the last few weeks had come to a halt.

Aang had changed his mind.

Her fiance had explained that after her departure, Hei Won and a small group of acolytes approached him, vehemently opposing Katara's idea and eventually convincing him that the exchange would bring outsiders to places sacred to the nomads. They believed that only acolytes should perform the repairs even if it would take years longer.

Katara was patient, she could understand the hesitation, after the war, the world became full of change, and not all of it was for good. At the South Pole, the council had to put a tight rein on the new ventures arriving on their shores in search of oil. If they had not, their hunting and fishing grounds, the places they relied upon for their very way of life, would have been destroyed.

Katara knew how delicate the balance between advancement and preservation was and she also knew how to strike it. She, Sokka, and Hakoda had already worked to broker an agreement that helped her tribe prosper while ensuring that her their way of life went on, but none of that mattered to Hei Won or Aang. Her words fell on deaf ears and both refused to budge. It was Haru's words that eventually moved them, bringing them around to the idea, but it wasn't until Toph - to the acolyte's horror - quite literally knocked some sense into him, did Aang finally relent.

With that resolved, Katara threw herself back into her work, her only refuge at the temples, and their spat was soon pushed to the back of her mind. Just another trivial argument that marked the growing pains of a growing nation.

Right?

Had she not noticed? Or did she simply not wish to see? Katara had not only lost her voice to his acolytes but lost Aang, her future husband's support. It was after this that things began to quietly get worse between her and Aang's followers. When even more bits and pieces of her began to disappear.

Katara was a waterbender and proud of her Southern Water Tribe heritage. While she might have been happy to get her hands dirty rebuilding the Air Nation and participating in its traditions, she would never be an Air Nomad. Many of the acolytes had both understood and respected that fact, but there had grown a small minority that refused and at the center of it had been Hei-Won.

In the beginning, Katara ignored it, for Aang's sake. These were to be his people, and it wasn't that bad, a few dirty looks and maybe some errant whispers, nothing she couldn't handle. Dating the Avatar required her to grow a thick skin after all, but over time those dirty looks turned into confrontations and those whispers became grievances that spawned friction in her and Aang's relationship.

'Did she just come back from hunting?' a hushed voice asked one morning.

By day's end, Aang had asked her to stop and she relented, agreeing to no longer hunt around the temple grounds. But on their travels, the acolytes would shoot her disapproving looks when she skinned her catch at the edge of camp.

'Why is she eating meat?' another asked.

She could agree with Aang that the temples were a sacred space and out of respect, she would stop cooking and eating meat within its walls. An unhappy compromise allowed her to use sheltered firesides Toph - much to Sokka's delight - had erected outside the temple walls to accommodate her and the siblings' carnivorous appetites.

'Why doesn't she join in meditation?'

An innocent inquiry started a quarrel that ended with Aang wondering aloud why she didn't accept his culture and by extension, him. Feeling guilty, Katara joined the meditations, using what Zuko taught her about the breath control he used in his own meditations. She came to like it, how it brought her a sharp focus and came naturally, like the ebb and flow of the sea. But this was not the way of the Air Nomads and the acolytes made sure she knew it. The mind should be quiet and empty as the cloudless sky they told her. Only then could one fully open and connect spiritually to their surroundings, Aang explained. Katara gave in and tried but even after giving it her all, her endless to-do lists and racing thoughts made it more frustrating than calming. Eventually, she took to catching up on her mending or sitting quietly during the hours-long sessions but extending her time among the acolytes only spurred more murmurs.

'Weren't her clothes made of animal skin?'

Another argument with Aang left her sitting alone in their room her chest full of guilt and a tinge of heartache while she packed away the clothes her grandmother lovingly made for her in an old trunk. She somberly traded tiger-seal skin and moose-elk fur for sky-colored daisy-cotton and camel-sheep wool.

'Why does she still wear blue?'

Tucking Aang's gift into her waist and out of the way, the bright orange dupatta stood strangely against her blue tunic. Its neat pleats, running across her chest, to fall from her shoulder and tumble down her back.

'Shouldn't become an acolyte if she's to marry the Avatar?'

The more she partook in the festivals, rituals, and traditions, the less her heart was in it, but she was the Avatar's betrothed, so she tried harder, dug deeper, and bent until the day came when she finally broke.

Zuko always said a small leak can sink even the biggest ship. Blinded in the eye of the storm Katara had begun to drown and didn't even know it. She just may have slipped under losing herself to it all, if that day hadn't grabbed her by the hair and dragged her up to the surface, raggedly gasping for breath.

Maybe Katara should have asked him for help, and maybe Aang should have known to step in, which was right she wasn't sure and it was much too late to figure it out. Their inaction was rooted in Katara's selflessness and Aang's fear. Her attempts to preserve Aang's happiness at the cost of her own combined with his fear of losing the love of his acolytes more than losing Katara's was what led them into that bow-breaking storm.

The day that finally sunk their battered ship still stood clear in her mind. She and Aang had, had another clash about her clothing, only this time it was the boots and parka her father had sent her to wear home for the winter solstice. They were crafted of reindeer-buffalo hide and lined with rabbit-fox fur, intricate embroidery had been painstakingly hand-stitched with bleached sinew, and the beautiful garments had managed to bring her comfort and make her homesick all at once.

Katara had been careful to open the package alone in her quarters, away from the prying eyes of the acolytes, yet somehow, they had found out. It wasn't long before the usual complaints, disgruntlement, and general uproar, quietly erupted in the social halls, prompting Aang to take action.

What had started as a gentle discussion broke into yet another full-scale argument. Aang didn't want her to wear the garments to the solstice, insisting that the acolytes could weave her a parka that was 'just as warm'. She couldn't understand why he cared when he wasn't even attending, after all, he had already decided that a small performance was more important than the solstice he'd missed for the last four years so Katara refused his demands. Her tribe had made these things for her, to not wear them and appreciate the labor and caring that went into their crafting would be an insult to her people. Aang pushed back, saying that she represented the Air Nation now, and when they got married, she would be a part of the Air Nomads. The Nomads believed life was sacred and so should she. She argued that her tribe valued the lives of the things they hunted and showed respect by not letting any of it go to waste. Her traditions were a part of her and she would not abandon them. They went back and forth for what felt like hours and when Aang couldn't take it anymore, he did what he did best, he ran away.

Not wanting to stay in their empty room alone Katara took refuge in the infirmary. Among the beds, stored herbs, tinctures, and potions laid a comforting quiet. The infirmary was the only place she could find some sense of belonging within the temple walls, healing was her expertise and the temples' infirmaries were her domain. They were the one place where she was not questioned but respected and left blissfully alone. That's what made the knock on the door so unexpected.

Sliding it open, Katara was irked to find Hei-Won standing on the other side. While the other woman had not been directly involved in bringing about her and Aang's most recent argument, she had no problems quietly spurring on the other acolytes.

"Good afternoon Acolyte Hei-Won, what brings you to the infirmary?" Katara struggled to keep the cold edge out of her voice.

With hands clasped behind her back, Hei-Won pressed forward strolling through the door and making herself comfortable on one of the empty beds, "No need to be so formal, I just wanted to talk to you about something." she said sweetly.

Ignoring the intrusion Katara moved to the opposite row of beds and began folding a set of fresh linens, "What did you need to see me about?"

Sensing there would be no hospitality from the savage woman, Hei-Won dove right in, "Last month when we were visiting Sifu Toph in Gaoling. You were healing in one of the smaller villages for a few days, right?"

"I am a healer, it is what I do. Did you need healing Acolyte Hei-Won?" Katara asked, not at all interested in the answer.

"You helped a woman while you were out there," Hei-Won recalled, ignoring the question.

An uneasy feeling rose in Katara's stomach, and she continued to fold linens without looking up, "I healed a lot of people we were there for three days."

"This woman was different."

"How so?" Katara kept her attention on the white fabric between her fingers.

"She had a wandering pregnancy and was in unbearable pain. No other healer could seem to help her, except you.

She would have died had she not found you."

The acolyte's statement felt more like an accusation, that uneasy feeling began to twist on itself, "I remember. Thank Tui and La that I was able to heal her." Katara lied.

Hei Won nodded, "That's what I had figured had happened"

The uneasy feeling slowly began to unwind.

"Except." an unfriendly smirk formed on Hei Won's full pink lips as she left the word hanging in the air.

Katara finally looked at Hei-Won, her stormy blue gaze meeting the other woman's deep green, "Except what?"

"Except you can't heal what isn't damaged. A wandering pregnancy isn't an injury. It's an unborn that develops in the wrong place. By the time it becomes an injury both mother and child can perish." the look in Hei-Won's eyes sharpened, "Yet you managed to help her."

"I did."

Hei-Won stood abruptly, "You didn't heal her, you bloodbended her!"

Katara remained stone-faced, despite the accusation. Hot wisps of anger began to trickle in, she was almost at her limit for aggravation today, "So what if I did?"

"Avatar Aang says that bloodbending is wrong, he abhors it and you know it." Hei-Won smiled like a spider with a fly.

"So what are you going to do now? Run off your precious Avatar and tattle on me like a child?" Katara provoked.

It wouldn't be the first fight they'd had because of his acolytes and it wouldn't be their last.

"No, not at all." the other woman smiled.

Katara finally looked up, a mix of suspicion and surprise painting her features. She swore Hei-Won would have taken any chance to curry favor with Aang. The fact that she'd be cutting down Katara in the process would just be icing on the cake.

"Then why bring it up?" Katara cautioned.

Hei Won's haughty expression quickly morphed into something solemn, she turned, almost as if she didn't want Katara to see the sudden sadness that spilled across her features.

Eyes locked on some empty corner of the room Hei-Won spoke, "Because, before I met Avatar Aang, I had a sister. She was beautiful and much older than me, already married and living with her husband by the time I started school. They were trying to get with child, and after some months, they were successful. But what was supposed to be a joyful moment quickly turned grave. One night she woke up and much like the woman in Gaoling, she was in unbearable pain. Her precious baby had wandered and it was killing both of them." Hei-Won looked back at her, eyes shining with unshed tears, "My father and her husband brought every healer they could find but none could help her. She died less than a day later."

"I'm so sorry Hei-Won." Katara's voice was hushed, she took a seat on the bed across from the acolyte, her mocha-colored hands winding themselves into the blue of her tunic, crumpling the fabric. It was the only thing keeping her from trying to embrace the other woman. Hei-Won may have spilled out these vulnerable parts of herself but they weren't close enough for Katara to give her that kind of comfort.

"There's nothing to be sorry about. That was years ago, my family and I have long moved on, but finding out about what you did in that village." Hei-Won swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand, "If my sister could have met someone like you- maybe she'd still be here, and maybe I would have a little niece or nephew to spoil."

Hei Won gave her a sad smile, Katara returned it with a slight upturn of her mouth that softened her features.

"You know, when I started the Avatar Aang fan club, it wasn't as popular as it was when we first met. There were maybe two or three of us, and being one of the only members wasn't easy, we were made fun of a lot and picked on constantly."

"Children can be cruel." Katara offered.

"Yes they can, and they were." Hei Won toyed with the edge of her orange sash sitting in her lap, "Then when Avatar Aang ended the war, a funny thing happened. Overnight, everyone wanted to join and be a part of the very same thing I had been ridiculed for."

Katara pushed down the annoyance at the mention of Aang's heroism. The 'club acolytes' often omitted the White Lotus and her friends' involvement in ending the war, and Aang often 'forgot' to correct them just as often despite her, Zuko, Sokka, and Toph nearly dying in the process. She would bite her tongue, for now, she could always have another talk about it with Aang later, right now she needed to listen.

"To them, it was just a trend to follow, they knew nothing about him or the Air Nation. They didn't know what he had been through and they didn't care, but we did."

"That must have been frustrating."

"It was, but then I got the chance to take part in Air Nomad culture, really be a part of it and help it persevere, and I dove headfirst into that. Devoted my entire being to it." Hei-Won's fingertips skated along one of the brilliant blue lines that were etched into her skin, "But I think I may have let my devotion to the Air Nomad way of life blind me to some things."

"Like what," Katara stated more than asked.

"Avatar Aang told me something Fire Lord Zuko heard from his uncle, the Dragon of the West. It is important to draw wisdom from many different places. If you take it from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale." she smiled, "The General seems like a very wise man doesn't he?"

Katara nodded, "He is, he also makes some of the best tea I've ever had."

The surprise on Hei-Won's face quickly faded, "The general's words made me realize that I was wrong about the Earth Bending students and the temple repairs have come along soaringly. Some of the earth benders even decided to stay and become acolytes and others spread what they knew about Air Nomad culture, bringing us other candidates from all over the Earth Kingdom. But more importantly, we learned from them as well, from farming and bending to how to better structure and repair the temples."

"I'm glad it was such an enlightening experience but I don't understand how this has anything to do with Gaoling."

"Right." Hei-Won looked a little sheepish, "Even before I became an acolyte, I was protective of Air Nomad culture, maybe too protective" Hei-Won confessed, turning a regretful expression on her, "Katara, I think I let that protectiveness turn into something ugly and it's made me unkind to you and for that I'm sorry."

Katara's eyebrows shot up, Hei-Won's words left her in stunned silence.

Hei-Won, not noticing the bewildered look on the Avatar's betrothed, continued, "I want to make it up to you." the other woman's words broke through Katara's shock, "If you'll allow me?"

"How?" Katara's curiosity mingled with a heavy dose of caution.

"Let me learn about bloodbending." Hei-Won urged.

"No." Katara dismissed turning her attention back to her linens.

"Think of all the things you could do with that power," she begged.

The memory of how good it felt to have the admiral under her control flashed through her.

"This isn't a good idea." Katara stood, "I think you should leave."

Hei-Won shot up, closing the distance between them, and took Katara's hands in hers, "Katara please, I know how Aang feels about bloodbending but he doesn't understand, it could help so many people, like you helped that woman in Gaoling," Hei-Won paused, her words coming more softly "like it could have helped my sister."

Katara shook her head despite knowing what the other woman said was true, she could save so many others, she could do so much more.

Hei-Won's pleading took on a desperate tone, she tightened her grip on Katara's wrists as if just the thought of letting go would make her dissipate into mist, "I know how Aang feels, but his devotion to Air Nomad culture has blinded him too. He refuses to see all the good you can do, how you could evolve healing even more." Hei-Won's green eyes bore into her, "Didn't the war claim enough lives? Didn't we lose enough friends, family? You could save so many more. Will you let Aang's blindness continue to force you to turn your back on those who need help, need your help?"

Tears shone in Katara's eyes at her words. She had lost count of how many times she'd argued and begged Aang to let her face this power again, and let her harness it. Not in Hama's image, but into something new, something hopeful. Each time the fight would be more bitter and each time he turned away in disgust. Now in the most unexpected person, she had found understanding, someone he trusted, someone he listened to. For the first time in what felt like too long, she felt hope and the slightest bit of belonging. It could even be the key to healing their relationship.

With a silent nod she acquiesced, and Hei-Won exploded in a happy shriek, hugging her tightly and jumping up and down. After dazedly agreeing to meet later that night, Katara barely heard the other woman go.

Hei-Won of all people wanted to put things right?

Maybe she had learned something from Toph and Haru and even her. Zuko had gone much further down a darker path and he learned to make amends. If he could do that, was this so hard to believe that someone else could?

Is that what was happening here?

With that realization, Katara couldn't help the relief that trickled through her, unwinding the tension that had been coiling in her bones for years. She wept, with sadness, with happiness but most of all with hope.

After some time she set herself back to work her mind a flurry with the possibilities of peace between her and the acolytes and more importantly peace between her and Aang. She smiled to herself, maybe for once, she could feel at home in the temple walls.

There was to be a full moon that night and the hours that took her from watching Hei-Won leave the infirmary to hearing screams in the dark were a blur. Before she knew it, she found herself standing under the moonlight, the balmy night air weaving its way through her dark waves. With the cluster of women closing in on her, Katara realized she had been set up.