"Katara!"
The waterbender drops the armful of wood in her hands and runs.
Aang sounds absolutely terrified, and since the last time she saw him the twelve-year-old was supposed to be training with Zuko, she immediately assumes the worst.
She reaches the area they usually use for practice, water at the ready and looks around, her mind coming up with all sorts of nasty things the firebender could be doing to her friend.
She stops short as she rounds the corner. Not only is he not doing anything awful to Aang, the firebender is on fire. Literally. His shoulders, chest, and shirt sleeves are in flames.
Her first instinct should probably be to help him. Instead she pauses, hands on her hips.
"What did you do to him?" she demands, glaring at the firebender.
"It was an accident!" Aang wails, misunderstanding. He's upset, though, and he's been afraid of accidentally hurting someone since Zuko first started teaching him firebending, so Katara sends the water from the bottle at her side forward, soaking the firebender and dousing the flames. She can figure out what happened later, when Aang isn't freaking out.
Zuko makes a face, and for a moment Katara thinks he's more annoyed at being suddenly wet than he was at being on fire.
A moment later steam starts rising from the firebender. "Uh-thanks?" he says, though she can tell by the tone in his voice that he's not particularly grateful.
Figures.
"What happened?" she asks, sharply, and both of the boys standing in front of her flinch.
"I lost control." Aang answers before his firebending teacher can, his shoulders dropping as he lowers his head. The Avatar is a picture of abject misery.
Zuko looks over at him and frowns. Then he shrugs. "I wasn't expecting him to create a flame so easily," he admits. "It caught me by surprise. No harm done, though."
Aang's head jerks back up. "I set you on fire!" he protests. Zuko shakes his head, as if to deny the fact.
"My shirt isn't even singed." He points out. "I'm not hurt." He considers Aang, still visibly upset, for a long moment. "It would take more than that to do any real damage, Aang."
The younger boy doesn't look convinced.
"Look." Zuko rolls up his sleeves, offering his bare arms up for inspection. "I'm fine."
Aang looks, and since she's standing right there, so does Katara.
He's right, there are no fresh burns. Nothing to suggest that he was on fire just a minute ago, nothing to suggest that Aang set him on fire, however accidentally.
There are more than a few scars, though, she notices, and can't help but wonder what caused them. Zuko catches her looking and rolls his sleeves back down.
"Old scars," he says, shrugging. "No big deal." She waits, eyebrows raised, and after a moment he continues. "Mostly from when I was younger. Some from sparring, some from training-more than a few from Azula...I eventually learned to just stay out of her way, but it took a while."
At least Aang seems to be calming down. "Do they hurt?" he asks. Zuko shakes his head.
"Not really," he says.
Aang looks up at him, studying his face intently, and the firebender tenses. "What about-you know-your-scar?" The last word comes out nearly a whisper, like he's not sure he's actually allowed to mention it.
For a long time Zuko just looks down at him without answering, but eventually he sighs, and his shoulders slump.
"Yeah, that one-sometimes it hurts," he admits, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"Does it hurt now?" Aang asks, and Zuko winces.
"Aang," Katara says softly, suddenly feeling the need to intervene, even if she's not entirely sure why.
"It's okay," Zuko says quickly, and Katara thinks he realizes that Aang's own fears about being burned-or accidentally burning someone else-are at least partly responsible for him pressing the issue. He takes a steadying breath. "It, most of the time it just feels kind of-tight? But sometimes it itches, and sometimes it feels like pins and needles-like when your leg falls asleep? And sometimes it kind of still feels like it's burning-but that's usually just when something smacks against it, or when I dream that-" he breaks off abruptly, paling slightly. "Never mind."
Aang doesn't ask what he was going to say. "Does it hurt? Since I-?"
"No." When Aang doesn't look convinced, Zuko lets out an annoyed huff of air. "Here."
He takes Aang's hand in his and leans forward slightly, bringing Aang's hand up to rest lightly against the scar only for the airbender to immediately snatch his hand back.
"It's okay," Zuko guides Aang's hand once more toward his face. He doesn't move while Aang tentatively brushes against the scar with a feather-light touch, or when he traces along where his missing eyebrow ought to be, over to his damaged ear, then across the firebender's scarred cheek under his eye, toward the center of his face.
"That doesn't hurt?" Aang asks, his voice nearly a whisper.
"I mean, it kind of tickles?" Zuko admits, most likely only because Aang needs the reassurance. "But you really don't need to worry. This kind of burn-" he hesitates a moment before continuing. "This kind of injury doesn't happen by accident." Aang's eyes widen in horror, and he jerks his hand away as if he were the one burned instead. "Not when training, not when sparring-you have nothing to worry about. Even if you did manage to accidentally burn me, it wouldn't be anywhere near this bad."
Oddly enough, the conversation does seem to be helping Aang calm down. Zuko ends up ending their training early anyway, and Aang is more than willing to stop, but by the time he's made it across the courtyard to where Sokka and Toph are arguing about something, he seems to have more or less recovered from his fright.
It is only once the Avatar is fully engaged in whatever debate that Zuko winces, raises a hand to the scarred side of his face, and lets out a small sigh. Eyes closed, he looks like he's in pain.
Katara hesitates, then says, "I thought you said it didn't hurt?"
"I did say that, didn't I?" he murmurs softly, dropping his hand back to his side and raising his head to meet her gaze. After a moment, he shrugs.
He takes a step towards her, close enough that she can tell his next words are for her and her alone. "I'm not telling Aang that even that little bit of heat against the scar on my face is enough to make it still feel like it's burning. That's not something he needs to know.
"You lied to him?"
"What purpose would telling him serve?" Zuko wants to know. "It would just make him terrified that he's going to hurt someone again, and then we have to start all over again-and anyway I'm not actually hurt-it's just damaged skin and damaged nerves. The skin there is still kind of oversensitive to heat."
She abruptly realizes that he's talking to her as a healer, and that he's trusting her not to repeat any of this to the others-especially Aang.
"So how much pain are you in right now?" she asks. She can talk to him as a healer, even if she's still struggling with how much they can trust him. Even if she's still pretty sure she doesn't like him.
He breaks eye contact with her long enough to verify that Aang has wandered off with Toph, presumably to throw boulders at each other, given the faint sound of large objects being thrown around and crashing into other objects.
"It's-bearable," he says, turning and heading toward the entrance to the temple. "For the most part."
Katara follows him inside, across the room, and over to the corner where he keeps the few things he brought with him when he left the Fire Nation-namely his swords, and a small, worn pouch that could very easily be worn and hidden under his clothes.
He removes a small jar from the pouch. Opening it, he dabs two fingers into what looks like some kind of balm before offering the rest of for examination. When she accepts the tin he turns his attention to the stuff on his fingers, carefully applying it to the scar on his face.
Katara sniffs the stuff in the jar, winces, and turns her head just in time to avoid sneezing into it. "What is that?" she asks.
"Burn salve." He gently reclaims the jar and dips his fingers in once again. "It's multipurpose-there's a numbing agent, for the pain, plus some other stuff that helps keep the skin from drying out and cracking, and, uh, stuff that helps with healing-I mean, the scar's never going to go away, but with a fresh burn, it would help."
"How often do you use it?" she asks; it's easier than she expected to continue to look at this from a healer's point of view, especially since they need him to teach Aang, which means they need him capable of functioning normally.
Zuko nearly fumbles while trying to replace the lid, suggesting it's more often than he'd like to admit. "It works better as a preventative," he admits. "Fortunately, a little goes a long way."
He's pretty wound up by now and Katara will admit, at least to herself, that it's probably difficult for him to have this conversation with her, healer or not, after the way she treated him when he first joined them. Especially since she hasn't really gone out of her way to change-or apologize-even though she's pretty sure by now that he's not going to betray them a second time.
He drops the pouch, spilling the remainder of its contents. There's a battered teacup, a small dagger, and a small packet of what looks like tea but has a very clear warning label.
"What's this?" she gets to it before he does, and he freezes, eyes wide, as if he's been caught in the midst of betraying them after all. She looks down at the label.
Maximum dosage not to exceed 1 gram within 24-hour period. Excessive use may negatively impact control in firebenders. Do not operate heavy machinery while using.
She looks back at Zuko, still frozen in place, eyes still far too wide. "What is this?" When he doesn't react, she takes a step closer. "Zuko?"
He swallows and looks away. "I told you, the pain is bearable. Most of the time. That's-" he gestures vaguely but doesn't finish.
"For when it's not?" Katara suggests, and Zuko hunches his shoulders.
"It's unopened," he says, as if that helps anything. His voice is low. Ashamed.
Katara lets out a long, slow breath, and because he came to her as a healer, she shoves her personal feelings over the whole affair aside and forces herself to deal with this as a healer should.
"Tell me why I shouldn't be concerned about this," she says, and something inside the firebender loosens just the tiniest bit.
He too, lets out a calming breath. "It can be habit-forming," he admits. "And it can cause problems with a person's bending. Long term use can cause permanent damage to control. And a little goes a long way." He risks looking at her again, and she can read the misery in his eyes clearly. "Sometimes it-" he breaks off, looks around as if checking to make sure that they're the only two people there. "Sometimes it feels like I'm still burning-like it never stopped burning." His gaze drops to stare at the floor. "When it gets to a point where I can't bear it anymore, then I-just enough to take the edge off. Just enough that I don't want to claw my own face off." He doesn't look up. "It doesn't happen often. Uncle used to hold on to it, before-if you want, you can-it's important for you to be able to trust me."
Katara looks down at the packet in her hands. "If it's habit-forming, you probably shouldn't have easy access to it anyway," she points out. "Just in case."
And in the meantime, she can watch him for signs of withdrawal. That will tell her quicker than anything else whether or not she should be worried. Whether or not he's telling the truth.
He nods, but still doesn't look up. "I probably should have mentioned it before-"
"I haven't really made you feel like you can open up to me, even if you're hurt," Katara admits, albeit reluctantly. "Maybe I still have some doubts, maybe we'll never be friends, but I'm a healer. You should be able to come to me if you're hurt. Especially if it's something like this." She wavers for a moment before adding, "Even if I'm mad, or you're being a jerk, I still want you to be able to come to me if you're hurt. Okay?"
"Okay," his voice is soft, almost too quiet.
"You weren't hoping to get into this tonight, were you?" she asks, testing the waters. His head jerks up and he stares at her in surprise, as if he wants her to believe the thought hadn't so much as occurred to him.
Then again, maybe it hadn't.
"It's not that bad," he says, after a moment.
She tucks the packet safely away, out of sight, nearly out of mind. And as weeks pass without him mentioning it, she stops worrying about it, and figures he wasn't lying when he said he rarely uses it. And since Zuko doesn't seem to care that she hasn't, and since he's trusting her as a healer, she doesn't say anything to anyone else.
It's not long before she completely forgets that she still has it.
Disclaimer: Avatar the Last Airbender does not belong to me.
Author's note: Things just seem to happen with this particular fandom. No planning. Very little actual plot. Lots of fluff, lots of banter, lots of let's get to know each other a little better. Hope you enjoyed reading. I know I enjoyed writing it.