There was a long period of time between Toph waking and when she finally exited her tent. Momo's insistent chirps had been followed by the soft footsteps of Katara and the bouncy ones of Aang. The sound of bubbling water and the warm smell of last night's dinner mixed with something else—rice or oats or something like that—amounted to what was sure to be breakfast.

Zuko's larger feet and heavier steps sounded soon after. He said a few words about meditating, which elicited excited responses from Aang, and then walked toward the beating ocean and out of Toph's view.

It didn't make any reasonable sense, but Toph kept her eyes closed during this time. The smells and sounds of cooking, the rhythm of soft conversations—something about mornings like this made her want to remain in the condition between sleep and being fully awake.

But her body wouldn't let her remain long. Smelling the stronger scent of meat, her stomach rumbled, quickening her heart and giving her a final shove to finally stretch and exit her tent.

"Nice of you to join us," Katara noted with good humor as she handed Toph a bowl of leftover-dinner-turned-breakfast.

The food was serviceable but only just. Toph swallowed the food without giving it much time to sit in her mouth. "You know, when this is all over, I'm going to have you guys taste actual food."

"Oh?" Katara asked, giving her a fine opening to ridicule her cooking. A trap, most likely; one ready to spring.

And Toph was happy to oblige. "Yeah, you know, good food."

"It's not—" Aang began.

But Katara interrupted, "So you could do better?" Yet the manner she spoke in was unusually patient.

Toph pressed her hand, though not as much as she could have; there seemed to be more interesting things going on with Katara than just annoying her: "Don't need to be a builder to know the dam's burst," she said with a shrug.

Katara responded with only an unsatisfying hum of recognition before turning to Aang: "Will you be ready to practice soon?"

"Sure." By his tone, he had picked up on Katara's unusual chipper attitude as well.

"Great. I'll meet you by the water." And with that, she got up and headed toward the waves.

A thought occurred to Toph: "Where'd Zuko go?"

"I don't know." Aang's voice faded in and out as he whipped his head around to spot the firebender. "Oh! There he is. He's pretty far up the beach."

"What's he doing?"

"He told us he was going to try to meditate. Did you know he meditates?"

Huh. "I don't know why anyone bothers with it."

"It's got several—"

"Well, it doesn't work on me."

"Have you tried?"

"It doesn't work," she replied with practiced nonchalance. Nothing could would come out of telling him of her attempt a week ago at meditating—What was the deal with it?—that ended with her falling asleep sitting up.

But Aang saw through her evasion. "So you have tried meditating."

Thankfully, Sokka's sleepy movements inside his tent a few steps behind her indicated a possible interruption soon. Move faster.

"Meditation doesn't work the first time you try. You need to practice to get your mind in the right space." Practice relaxing? "Most people usually can't keep their thoughts clear. Or some even fall asleep!" He laughed.

Move faster, Sokka, she prayed. Leaving nothing up to the spirits, she took another bite of her cooling breakfast—which somehow tasted worse—and noted with increased volume, "Wait until Sokka tries this."

On cue, he poked his head out, hair undone and sticking out every which way. "I heard my name."

"Nothing!" Toph called over her shoulder. Holding up her dish for him, she said, "Just eating."

"Save me some!" he cried, retreating into his tent and changing quicker. "I'll just be a second!"

"If you want," Aang continued, adamant on finding someone else to infect with his meditation beliefs, "you can meditate with me next time. Oh! What if we all start mediating in the morning? That would be so fun!" Spirits, no. What kind of existence is that?

Footsteps sounded behind her, signaling reinforcements. "Meditating's kind of silly, if you think about it," Sokka said, talking as he hurried to fill a fresh bowl of food. "You sit and think about nothing, right? That's wasted time. I could be thinking about a hundred different things during that time."

"It's not about that. It's about inner peace. Being calm. Not letting the world or yourself overwhelm you."

Sokka paused to contemplate, then said, "Sounds like something you need."

Aang bobbed his head up and down. "We could all use it."

"Don't you need to train with Katara?" Toph reminded him.

He shot to his feet. "Oh, yeah! Thanks!" Then he ran off towards the surf, leaving Toph and Sokka eating breakfast.

Attempting to eat breakfast. "Is it just me, or is the food worse here?" Sokka commented.

"The food or the cook?"

He cocked his head at her, and Toph knew he was giving her a look. "The food," he said, his voice sounded like he was smiling.

"It's barely edible, if that's what you're saying."

"I noticed the shopkeeper in town was a little low on supplies. Everyone was."

"Not a lot of money either," Toph recalled hearing very few coins jangling in people's pockets. "What are you thinking? Spoiled food?"

He nodded. "Spoiled food or something else. I've heard of people adding grounded wood to powders or watering down liquids to make things stretch. If you don't have much to sell, it makes sense to do it."

Holding her dish up, she said, "I don't know about grounded wood, but I'd guess something is in this that shouldn't be."

"Agreed," he said, sighing unhappily. "There goes our money. No wonder that guy threw in the rope for free." He absently took another bite, made grossed-out noises, but still swallowed the contents. "This really is terrible."

"Stop eating it, then," she said, eating another spoonful.

"It's still food."

"Is it?"

He thought about it. "It probably has food in it. Might as well eat."

"Want mine?"

"I'm okay."

-o-0-

Breathe out. The summer sun warmed the air and it beat itself into Zuko's skin, warning of a coming hot day. A salty gust dispelled some of the heat, but its power rose and fell quickly in waves so that it provided no consistent easing of the temperature.

Breathe in. The ocean pounded into the sand like a series of drums being beaten out of rhythm, each wave followed by the high notes of spraying water rushing towards shore only to be pulled back and overpowered once again by the relentless crashing.

Breathe out. Warm sand gathered by him, around and in between his toes and partway up his crossed legs. A seabird called to his right and another behind Zuko answered, adding their voices to the scene.

Breathe in. Amidst the sounds, new ones emerged. Human voices. Faint. Recognizable. Zuko frowned. I must keep—but announcing he must keep his mind clear already told enough about his current focus.

Zuko opened his eyes, squinting at the brightness of his surroundings: the water, the sand, the cloudless sky. To his left, far down the beach, was camp. Somewhere between the two, though closer to camp than him, was Aang and Katara splashing amongst the waves. When a wave threatened to topple her, Katara parted it in two as if she were a solid rock standing at the shore. A few steps inland, Aang beckoned a milder wave toward him and then threw his hands up, creating a much larger, almost impossible-sized wave.

After another round of that, they stood across from each other in the shallows and passed an orb of water to each other for several minutes. Zuko didn't realize it at first, but the shifting orb grew substantially as time passed. Only until it was big enough that it didn't seem to move between the two benders did the ball of water fall apart and back into the ocean.

The sun grew hotter, baking away any humidity and making good on its promise. A dry branch broke behind him but, turning, he found it was only a seabird poking around the brush. Though meditation had helped focus his thoughts, it did nothing to ease his worry of discovery. Too much had not gone according to plan and being discovered by villagers would do nothing to help their cause.

Getting up, Zuko dusted off his pants and began walking back to camp. He kept further inland, off the wet, dark gray sand, and let his feet sink into the loose powder that pulled at him with each step. Three. Weeks…Three. Weeks. The steady rhythm of Hakoda's words beat itself into his mind. Three weeks until Invasion Day. Three weeks until the Avatar wouldn't kill the Fire Lord. He counted the days they'd been gone. Actually, it's two weeks, he realized, shaking his head.

Neither Aang nor Katara appeared to notice him as he walked past, but, then again, he didn't want to distract them from practicing. Aang needed the training, not just to keep up his skills but to focus his mind. The boy could get so distracted by the smallest thing.

He arrived at the mouth of the cave to find Sokka sharpening his boomerang and Toph nowhere to be seen. "She's back there," Sokka said, answering his questioning expression and jutted his thumb back behind him without looking. A loud, echoing crash told them exactly what she was doing. Zuko nodded but didn't step away to find her. Sokka glanced up, then back to his work. "Ready to fight again? Can't get enough of me beating you?"

He flashed Zuko a grin to which Zuko responded with a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Arms sore?"

Lifting his head up so his chin jutted out a little, Sokka said in a slightly higher pitch, "I don't know what you mean."

Zuko barked out a laugh. "Uh huh," he said, still wearing a grin. Then, shrugging a shoulder, he said, "No, I finished meditating, but I didn't want to interrupt their training." He motioned to Aang and Katara.

"Busy having fun." Annoyance and concern wound themselves together in Sokka's words.

"Not with me," Zuko reassured him, "and definitely not Toph."

Sokka shook his head. "It's not like I want him to be miserable training, but I wish he'd—I don't know—not act like it's fun and games. I wish he'd take it more seriously." Zuko couldn't help but agree, though, in Aang's defense, it seemed skill was not the issue but his battle within himself. Opening his mouth to say as much, Zuko started, but Sokka cut him off: "I know he is taking it seriously in his own way—we saw that a couple nights ago. I just…I don't know." His gaze had fallen to the ground, and he kept it there before choosing to go back to work sharpening his boomerang.

"There's a lot at stake," said Zuko.

He paused. "Yeah."

"And a lot we'll have to do," he prompted. Especially since we're not killing the Fire Lord. A hot wave of anger and shame rolled through him at the thought of that man.

"Yeah, well," Sokka said, resuming his work, "some of us, anyways. I'm just some guy with his boomerang. You guys will have to do most of the heavy lifting." It was lightly said, but Zuko sensed it wasn't as much of a joke as he might have wanted it to be.

Thinking back to the day they first met, he said, "I remember you almost knocking me out with that." He'd barely paid attention to any of them, but he did remember the lone warrior charging toward him. "I didn't underestimate you again, you know."

"I know." He looked up, revealing the faintly amused grin he'd been hiding. "Not bad for a nonbender, huh?" Then his attention was brought back down to the boomerang again.

"Bending doesn't solve everything."

"It helps a lot, though." He stood, grunting, "And I can't do anything about it." With a swing, Sokka cut through the air which resulted in a loud whoosh that told of its sharpness.

The weapon had never fallen into Zuko's hands for him to gauge its deadliness, and so he held out one hand. "Can I see that?"

The swinging stopped. "What, this?"

"Yeah, I just want to hold it."

"Uh uh." Sokka held the boomerang away from Zuko, a smile quickly forming. "I'm not going to let you get good at this too!"

"Come on, Sokka." He took a step forward which Sokka kept distance with by taking one step back, weapon held high above his head. Why is he being like this? "I'll give it back."

"No!" He was being like a little kid, waving it around for Zuko to see. "As soon as you touch it, you'll be a master boomeranger!"

"Sok—" Though frustrated at his friend's antics, Zuko couldn't help but chuckle at the name. Master Boomeranger. He let his hand fall back down. "Okay, fine."

Sokka lowered his hand as well and gave the weapon over. "I thought you'd fight harder for it."

"I wasn't going to force you." Zuko held the weapon in his right hand, feeling the weight of the blade. For its odd shape, it was surprisingly well-balanced. It also held an edge that felt good enough to shave with.

"I'm kind of glad; my arms are pretty sore—so's my whole body. Not quite in fighting shape yet."

"You're getting better," Zuko replied though his focus was on swinging the boomerang and feeling how it moved. Not quite the same as a dao but it has a good weight to it.

Sokka conceded with a shrug: "Eh. Not bad for a beginner."

After a few more practice swings, Zuko half-considered trying to throw it, but knew he was likely to do damage to the edge Sokka had worked hard to create minutes ago. Instead, he returned it to Sokka. "Why don't we practice more today?"

Once he sheathed it in its place along his back, Sokka massaged one shoulder. "I need to take a look at the map. Figure out where we need to go next."

It was Zuko's turn to shrug. "It's up to you."

"Thanks, though. Maybe after?"

"Sure." Zuko turned and left the mouth of the cave. Maybe he could watch Katara and Aang more and learn how she taught him—

"Zuko."

He looked back.

Sokka stepped toward him, clasping his hands. "I'm going to do my part. I don't want you thinking I'm not willing to fight or something…"

Frowning, Zuko replied, "I didn't think that at all. You're still learning dao, but you've been in enough fights against me and others—benders and nonbenders—and survived and even won. You're a good fighter, Sokka."

"Yeah," he replied, smoothing back his wolftail, "you're right, but I think about Ozai and what's waiting for us. It's a whole new level."

Zuko knew all too well what the Fire Lord was capable of. "Yes…" he agreed, "but that's why we train and why we're meeting up with everyone." There were so many things that could go wrong with their plan, but that wasn't what Sokka needed to hear. "Us against them; it's never happened before." Zuko smiled conspiratorially. "He won't know what hit him."

-o-0-

Katara looked on as Sokka spoke, a few small particles of fruit escaping his mouth as he talked, " 'o I de'ided t' t'ain uh day. Ah'er ra'h."

"What?" Aang asked, squinting hard at Sokka as if that would aid in deciphering his meaning.

"He's training with Zuko today," Katara translated. "After lunch." She gave her brother a look he could translate: don't talk with your mouth open.

Toph interjected, "Do you do anything but swing your boomerang around? It's not that different from a sword."

Swallowing quickly, Sokka exclaimed, "Uh, yes, it is! You try swinging that thing around!"

"Alright. Enough," Katara said, stopping the bickering before they got into it too much. It's almost like they like arguing. Nodding to Toph, she changed topics: "So you're taking Aang after we finish, right?"

A shrug. "Yeah. Maybe he'll finally learn to attack someday. Might as well be today."

Zuko's head lifted up from eating to look at Toph, then his eyes flicked to Katara. Their gazes met briefly before he resumed his meal.

Letting Toph's statement lie, Katara continued, "Okay, so Sokka's training with Zuko—"

"Well, first, I'm going to take a look at the map," said Sokka. "Then I'll train some more with Zuko. I can't do much right now besides that." He took another bite and added, " 'uh mi' sheck on Ap-ha 'oo."

Throwing up her hands, Toph reported, "I couldn't make out more than 'Appa,' " and both Aang and Zuko looked to Katara for clarification.

"He might check on Appa too," she absently repeated her brother's statement, not bothering to reprimand him again. She couldn't help noticing the tone he took when he said he couldn't do much. Sad. He must miss Dad. "Don't worry; it won't be long before we, and Dad, will need you," she said, smiling. But that didn't seem to be the right thing to say, and he only nodded in response.

"What about you, Zuko?" asked Aang, bringing Katara's attention back to the afternoon's activities. "More meditating before training?" He bounced his legs up and down, already recovered from the morning's training.

"I'll probably do my own training before Sokka," Zuko said without much conviction. On closer inspection, he appeared rather tired.

Everyone stood, brushed off the sand that seemed to cover everything, and made to leave. "We're still leaving tomorrow, right?" Toph asked before anyone could take more than a step or two.

Sokka nodded. "Yeah, I'll figure out where we can go that might be safe."

With that, Aang bounded after Toph as they walked deeper into the cave while Sokka exited it completely to have better light to view his map, leaving Katara and Zuko by camp. "What will you be doing?" he asked.

Shrugging, she said, "Maybe fish a little." She still couldn't shake the feeling that while they had patched any rift between them from the day earlier, Zuko—or, for that matter, perhaps the others—were still not completely satisfied by Aang's decision. If we're going to have any chance at winning, we're going to have to be united. "Um—" It was still such a recent wound, but it needed to be remedied. "I, uh—want to go for a walk and get some air?"

Zuko's body stiffened a little. He must already suspect I'm going to say something. But he was good enough to reply as relaxed as he could: "Sure."

They exited the shaded cave and what could have been an enjoyable walk had there been a cloud or a constant breeze was marred by the heat and slight sulfuric smell that only seemed to grow stronger as they traveled deeper into the Fire Nation. Neither one made note of it and walked along the edge of the surf to give some respite to their feet.

It was only when the entrance of the cave and its surrounding threatened to disappear as they rounded a bend in the beach did they slow and stop. For a minute or so, Katara tried to find the right words to open the door to talk about the invasion and Aang again, but nothing seemed natural.

"I used to go to a beach like this when I was a kid," Zuko said, causing Katara to start at the break in silence. "The sand is whiter there and there are a lot more people and buildings and stuff and there aren't any caves that I know of," he rambled, "but this reminds me of it somehow." A faint smile touched his lips.

"Good memories?" she prompted.

He nodded. "Yes. A lot. My, uh," he said, frowning, "the Fire Lord—"

"Your dad."

He glanced at her, then, seeing what she hoped was a kind and open expression, nodded again. "Yeah. This is the only place I have good memories of him. Before he was the Fire Lord. Before my…" He shook his head and left it at that.

And though she wanted to hear more about this side of the Fire Lord and Zuko's past, she had to remain focused. She stopped walking and faced him. "Do you think your dad will ever stop?"

His reply was quick, sure, and final: "No." And there it was.

"Not even if he was in prison?" she asked, wanting to confirm what she already knew his answer was likely to be.

"No one is truly safe if he's alive, but," he said, almost grimacing at the word, "I will honor Aang's wishes. It is his duty to provide balance to the world, so if he thinks it will be alright by not killing him…" doubt already crept into his voice as he spoke, but he only let out a frustrated sigh and relaxed. "I won't kill him—if that's what you wanted to find out here." He turned and gestured to their path back to camp.

"No, I—" What was she doing? What made her think that getting him upset again would solve anything? The good reasons she had before were forgotten. "I just saw that you still weren't happy and I…I don't know," she confessed, a little embarrassed that she had appeared to only care for him out of self-interest.

"Oh," he said, his voice quickly losing its accusing tone. Then Zuko faced her more fully and asked, "What?" A concerned frown formed on his brow.

"Are you, you know…happy?"

His frown deepened. "What?" His tone was low, but he sounded surprised. Not needing Katara to repeat, he answered as he turned away, "I'm not unhappy," and continued to walk further down the beach.

Catching up, she asked, "Are you? Because you seem unhappy about our plan."

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "Are you happy with the plan?"

She slowed as she thought, half-expecting him to continue at his current pace, but instead he matched hers. "It's the best we have right now," she told him. He remained silent. That wasn't what he asked her. "I…" She stopped and Zuko stopped a step later, looking to her. The breeze fought against her clothes and she took hold of them, playing with the hem of her sleeve as she did so. She could either continue to try to convince him or just tell him what she was thinking. "Do you want the truth?"

Unlike much of what she had said recently, this seemed to be exactly what Zuko wanted to hear. His expression lightened some, and he nodded. "Always."

It was the invitation she didn't know she needed, and a kind of pressure that had been gathering in the back of her mind began to make itself known. "I don't know if the plan will work—or even if we'll get to that part of the plan. There's so much that has to happen for it to work, and I know it won't work perfectly, but I think it's better than nothing," she quickly added. "It gives us a goal and it doesn't put as much pressure on Aang. He has more than enough of it already." She closed her eyes and urged the meandering flow of words to stop.

Inhaling a deep breath and letting it out, she then said quietly, "Really, I'm worried about Aang." The statement hung in the air like it was an admission of guilt, like she didn't believe in him or she doubted his ability to defeat Ozai. But that wasn't it, at least, she didn't think so.

She met Zuko's gaze, watching him watch her with his intense golden eyes and nearly permanent furrowed brow.

"I just—he's a kid, we all are. Is having a twelve-year-old kill your dad the only way to stop this war? It can't be, can it?" she said, half-asking him but also wondering herself. "There's got to be another way, but…I can't think of one.

"Our plan isn't the best plan, I know, but it's our best plan. Aang doesn't want to kill anyone and I don't want him to—not if he can avoid it." Despite what logic told her was the easiest and most sure way to stop the war, she couldn't imagine Aang setting out to kill anyone, even as someone as horrible as Ozai. It just wasn't like him.

Zuko replied, "I told Sokka he's already likely killed others—"

"Sokka told me what you said," she shot back. Like that justifies killing more people. "This is different."

Zuko nodded once. "You're right. Aang said that he wouldn't purposefully kill, even if it's down to him or the Fire Lord surviving a fight—but it will be," he replied, leaving no doubt in his voice.

It was Katara's turn to frown, but it was momentary. Shaking her head, hoping to clear her doubts, she said, "Aang will know what to do if it comes to that."

"Really?" His incredulity was only matched by his visible frustration. "All that's happened, everything we've done and will do before he fights the Fire Lord, and we'll leave it up to chance? Don't you understand that Aang will—"

"Believing in Aang is not leaving it up to chance," she retorted.

"It's definitely not a plan."

"That's why we have the prison plan—"

"That probably won't even work!" They stood facing each other for several moments, neither budging. Finally, Zuko, still riled but calmer than before, said, "I should go back," and began returning to camp.

The patched friendship they had so carefully created between them had been torn, and this time, it was her fault. She jogged after him. "Zuko, wait." But what else was there to discuss? Yet she pressed on: "What don't I understand? What will Aang do?"

He stopped and watched her catch up. "What?" he said, evidently not hearing her over the sounds of the ocean. She repeated her question. After running a hand through his hair, he looked at her, hesitating before saying, "I don't think you or anyone else understands that Aang will have to kill others, not only Ozai."

She furrowed her brow. "But you just agreed that this was different. He won't kill people, not on purpose."

"It is different." His agreement was grave and Katara paused, waiting for him to continue, and he did: "But, Katara, this is war: people will die, we may die, and we will have to kill to survive and win."

That was unacceptable. Wrong. She shook her head. "That sounds like something my dad would say."

Zuko slowly closed his eyes. "I didn't mean for it to be." Then, looking straight at her, he let out an exasperated sigh. "But you have to see that I'm right! Think about what will happen if they win."

Katara couldn't help but crack a smile even though it wasn't funny. I don't realize what the Fire Nation could do? Does he remember how we first met? The smile quickly vacated. "I'm well aware what the Fire Nation is capable of."

"No, I don't think you do." Had he said it any other way, she would have argued further, but something about his tone made her hesitate. He knew and that thought sent a chill up her spine in spite of the summer heat. "If we fail, if we don't stop the Fire Lord before Sozin's Comet, there's going to be nothing stopping him from destroying anything and everything."

Katara replied, irritation crowding its way into her voice, "I know."

"No, you don't." Again, the deadly seriousness made her hesitate to correct him. "They say a firebender's abilities will be a hundred times stronger during the comet. If that's so, everything could be destroyed. He could seize power and no one could stop him. As bad as Ba Sing Se is, it could be worse under his control.

"And the Water Tribe? Gone. I know he'd make sure of it. If he doesn't kill Aang, I'm convinced he'll finish what he and his father and his father started: ending the Avatar cycle and stopping the only threat to his power." Katara couldn't help but look to the cave Aang was sure to be in. Gone.

But Zuko wasn't done. "And there's the possibility of one of us killed, or worse, held prisoner. Katara." Suddenly, his hand gripped her arm tightly, almost desperately. She let out a surprised gasp, and while he lessened his grip with a quick "Sorry," he did not let go. He lowered his head and brought it close so they were eye-to-eye. "Whatever happens, don't get captured. Don't." The last word trembled and broke with emotion, whether with anger or something else.

Once again, the pressure was building up within her, but this time it felt like her heart was the thing that was being affected. It pounded against her chest so hard she wouldn't have been surprised if Zuko could see the movement under her tunic. "Okay," she breathed, not trusting herself to say more lest she betray her quickly rising fear.

Zuko's hand left her arm, and he took a step back. He opened his mouth to say something but instead drew an unsteady breath. Closing the distance between them, Katara grasped his forearm, partly to steady herself, partly to comfort him, and partly something else, something she didn't want to identify. He looked away and then back at her, an apology already written in his eyes.

She took a shaky breath herself and let it out. "It's okay," she said for both their benefits. He shook his head as a particularly large wave crashed and ran at their feet, spray hitting their legs. Forcing her muscles to make the proper movements, Katara gave him the best smile she could muster. "We'll get through this."

A ghost of a smile was returned as he twisted his arm around to take hold of her. "I want to believe you." His tone held an odd mixture of resignation and the smallest amount of desperate hope that everyone clings to, even when a situation is hopeless. Am I like that with Aang?

Tightening her grip, Katara said, challenging him to deny it, "Then believe me when I say that I will do everything I can to stop the massacre of my people."

His expression relaxed. "That, I already knew."

"Good." She let his arm go, but Zuko still held on, not completely done with the subject. He did not say anything. He didn't need to, she realized. "All of us will do what we can to stop Ozai, however it works out in the end. Aang doesn't want to kill him, but he won't let him go, I can promise you that. And if we…" She held onto Zuko's arm again, thankful he hadn't let go. Fighting her rapidly beating heart, she hardened her voice, saying, "If we do fail on Invasion Day, I will continue to fight until I fall. I won't be made prisoner." Somewhere in her heart she knew this to be true long before she said it, but, even so, it was different to hear the words, to hear them as a kind of vow that felt like she had just sealed her fate.

He released her arm again and so did she, though a part of her wanted to keep holding on, to have his support for a little longer.

They came to an unspoken agreement and began walking back toward camp. While they walked, neither saying anything to the other, Katara thought about Zuko's reaction and reviewed it in her mind's eye, particularly when ordering her to not get captured.

She glanced at him as they walked. He was as quiet as ever but kept pace with her. They stopped to watch a large group of seabirds dive into the water to fish, their white bodies piercing the turbulent sea before being engulfed. Seconds later they reappeared, three or four victorious with wriggling fish in their mouths.

Zuko stood silently next to her. Half-turning, he said, "Thank you."

Forcing herself to keep her eyes on the water, she replied, "What for?"

"For, I don't know, everything—well, not everything, but a lot." He rubbed the back of his neck, and Katara turned to hide the faint smile that was creeping across her face. "Dealing with me."

Thinking back to what he had told her about killing people and the consequences of losing the war, she felt like she had known it all along yet the way he conveyed it made it shockingly real. "You're afraid. We all are," she replied simply.

"I'm not—" he started to retort but then reconsidered. "I don't want to be."

"But we should be; just a little," she finished, turning to face him fully. His need for certainty, wanting to know what they were going to do about Ozai, trying to rely on something more than a last-second decision by Aang—it all made sense. "We need to know what we're facing—what we might have to do."

His expression had grown serious again, and he nodded.

"I'll talk to the others; let them know we need to work on a better plan." She frowned a little; something had been bothering her. "Why did you tell me—alone? Couldn't you tell all of us at lunch?"

Zuko lowered his eyes but they wandered back and forth, searching for something. "I guess because you…Because you somehow understand—well, no, not really. I mean, how could you really understand everything?" Before she could give a reply, his expression relaxed like he had finally found what he was looking for, and he met her gaze again. "But you want to understand. You've always tried to understand me." He narrowed his eyes, studying her.

She looked away, suddenly shy. "I've always been curious," she said with a shrug.

A neutral "Hm," was his only response, and before she could properly gage his reaction, he turned away to continue their walk.

She followed a half-step behind, finding herself unable to think of anything more to say. His words remained on her mind but also his face and, now that she thought about it, how happy he had been by her reply.