A. N. : A short breath before diving into Serious Things. Not that this chapter isn't serious.
Katara looks at the sea.
Behind her, she hears Sokka and Zuko talking with dad and Bato about whatever idea they just had to better Sokka's invasion plan. Jet drops a word from time to time too.
She grits her teeth. It makes her sick, to see dad treat Zuko – Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation – the same as he treats Sokka. Like he isn't quite an adult yet – he is, he has the same blood as the rest of his family, him doing the right thing now doesn't erase what he did before –
Or maybe it's not that dad treats Zuko differently, but simply that he doesn't treat Sokka like his son anymore. Bato acts the same with both of them too, and he's not dad.
She doesn't want to turn around, doesn't want to see Zuko sitting next to dad, smiling every time dad asks for his opinion, like he's dad's son –
He isn't, but it's not him that Katara is angry at, not really – why does dad do this, act like Zuko is family, is Sokka –
Why doesn't Sokka say anything at this ?
Dad left and now they found him again but it's like – like they aren't his children anymore, aren't special anymore.
All these years, she just wanted him back, but now –
Is he really dad anymore ? Or is he just Chief Hakoda of the Water Tribe ?
It hurts, to think that maybe she lost dad to the War too – he said he would protect them, said he would be here for them after Mom's death, but then he left and now it's not the same, it's not –
It's not dad.
It can't be dad, because dad wouldn't have left them on their own, dad wouldn't be acting like he's preparing Zuko to succeed him as Chief, dad would see Katara and know what's wrong, like Mom always did, because they're family, they're blood –
Even Zuko knows what to do when Lin isn't well, and he said they aren't blood, he said he found her.
Katara wonders for a second if he is trying to start a new Tribe, like Jet did with the Freedom Fighters, a Tribe to replace blood, to erase the evil of the Fire Nation and make the world a better place. A Fire Tribe.
But it's stupid – if he wanted that, he wouldn't start with taking care of a baby, she knows that even if politics aren't really her forte. He would start with finding adult Fire Nation renegades, like Jeong Jeong and his men, and women too because a Tribe doesn't work without the women to make decisions, and then build his Tribe from there.
So his taking care of Lin is really just helping an orphaned fellow Tribesman – she makes sparks after all. It's like Katara does for Aang – he isn't Water, but she found him and he has no one else and he learned waterbending before anything but airbending, so he is family.
Toph isn't, but she is a friend and very important too. Zuko… Katara wants to give him a chance, he deserved it, but he isn't Tribe and isn't a friend yet either and his blood is the worst.
Sokka laughs behind her, along with the others – except Zuko for some reason – and she wants to scream.
Sokka doesn't trust easily, so for him to lower his guard, something must have happened with Zuko, and she believes in his instincts. Jet apparently has some sort of history with Zuko and so he has reason to act this way, even if Katara wouldn't say they are friends – though there is no way she trusts him.
But dad laughs too, the same laugh Katara remembers from long ago, and it hurts – has he forgotten Mom, has he forgotten them –
Has the War taken everything from her ?