Katara

Wow can things change overnight. After weeks of waiting, we one night find out that the Earth King is a puppet, the Di Lee are kinda evil, or at least run by an evil man, Jet is also here, or…or he was. Long Feng, the leader of the Di Lee, killed him to escape. And after all of that, Appa's cell was empty. We crawled back to the surface downcast and defeated.

But our luck changed. Somehow, Appa had gotten free and he came back to us. I hadn't seen Aang that happy since before the library. And now, there's nothing to stop us from flying over the palace walls and telling the Earth King of the War.

So we do. It's more complicated than we had hoped, King Keiu is less star struck by The Avatar than anyone else we'd met and didn't trust us right away, plus the Di Lee covered their tracks well. But in the end, he saw the truth and Long Feng was taken down.

We meet with the king and the 5 generals, and we set the invasion plan. And when the Di Lee return the messages Long Feng intercepted from us…we all go our separate ways. I stay to help aid the planning and be a liaison when needed. Suki arrives to the city with some other warriors, and I figure it'll be good for me to help them get situated at the palace and find their place in the invasion. Sokka goes to meet up with Dad. Toph goes to meet with her mother. And Aang goes to meet up with a Guru who says he can help him master the Avatar state.

With things finally settled and planned, I decide to go get tea at the new most popular shop in the Upper Wall. The Jasmine Dragon sounds amazing, and I could use a good cup of Jasmine Tea.

I walk in the tea shop, taking a deep breath. I open my eyes and look around…and I freeze.

Zuko and Iroh are working the shop! Iroh I'm not too worried about. I don't think he has any intention of helping the Fire Nation win the war anymore, especially after the North Pole. But, Iroh loves Zuko more than anything, and Zuko on the other hand…He's still after Aang. He's got to only be here until he has more clues to where we're staying.

I hide behind the pillar and stare at him a minute. His hair is longer, his skin more tan. And he's smiling, something I didn't see often until we started…whatever we were. My body betrays me, wanting to rush over and tackle him with a hug and punch him in the face and demand he give everything up and tells me why he couldn't do that sooner. But thank the Spirits, logic prevails. He made it clear he's not a traitor and he'll do anything to capture Aang. And I can't let that happen. So I rush back to the Palace and tell Suki.

Except it wasn't Suki. It was Azula. And next thing I know, I'm tossed in some kind of crystal cave while the world goes to shit.

I pace trying to figure something out, a way to escape, a way to beat Azula, anything. I hear the Earth shift above me, and try to see if I can sneak out before they close it again, but instead someone else comes tumbling down.

"Zuko?!" I shout in surprise as I see the fire prince thrown into the pit with me. I wish I had water anywhere nearby, but no such luck. He doesn't attack either, though, which is good. Without water, I'm no match for him.

I let out a frustrated groan and walk as far away from him as I can before I sit down. I Need to keep distance between us, find a way to get rid of the traitor's urge to be next to him. My mother's necklace feels heavy on my neck, and I am suddenly overcome by anger and grief. Anger at him for leaving, anger at his nation for her death. It might as well have been him. Zuko's heir to the fire nation throne, Ozi's son, banished or not, Fugitive or not. If we don't stop him he'll capture Aang one day and sit atop the throne, and if we don't win this war then it'll be him waging it, trying to dominate the kingdoms and tribes that aren't his to possess. And I have no doubt that eventually if they can't possess the rest of the world, then they'll burn the rest of the world to the ground.

I jump to my feet. I can't just sit here with him. Not anymore. The time for truce has long since passed.

"Why did they throw you in here?!" I shout at him. He doesn't even look up. "Oh, wait, let me guess. It's a trap. So that when Aang shows up to help me you can finally have him in your little Fire Nation clutches." Bitterness is dripping from my lips and seeping in my voice. He looks at me, but looks away just as quickly. He doesn't say a word, and his silence is infuriating. "You're a terrible person, you know that?! Always following us, hunting the Avatar, trying to capture the World's last hope for Peace! But what do you care? You're the Fire Lord's son. Spreading war and violence and hatred is in your blood." At this point, I just want to say something to hurt him.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" He answers me sharply, That statement infuriates me more than his silence did.

"I don't?" I say, more of a challenge than a question. He has no idea how exactly I know what I'm talking about. My mother was a subject I never broached with him. "How dare you! You have no idea what this war has put me through. Me, Personally!" I sit down and feel my eyes well up with tears. Angry, grieving tears. "The Fire Nation took my mother away from me." I tell him, my voice choked with emotion. I don't know what I expect, but I don't expect an apology.

"I'm sorry." Escapes his lips. He sounds…gentle, sympathetic, sincere. I look up, wiping my tears away, and I see he's turned to face me. "That's something we have in common."

"W-what?" I ask.

"The Fire Nation. My Nation. And my mother. She's gone." I harden my gaze at him. All those weeks together on his ship, then traveling from the desert he never shared anything personal about his family. But he decides to tell me this now? No way.

"Liar. You're lying. Your mother was a Fire Nation Princess."

"I'm not lying, Katara!" He says and stands up. "It's the truth." I'm not Toph. I can't tell when people lie through their breathing and their heartbeat. But…there's something in his eyes and his voice that makes me believe him. Or maybe I just want to. I stand up too. "What happened?"

"I'm not entirely sure. But my mother disappeared the same night my grandfather died. I think my father had something to do with it. When I was 10, my cousin died in the war. He was my uncle's only child. My father always wanted the throne, and he saw this as an opportunity. Azula and I hid while he spoke to our grandfather, asking for the throne. My grandfather got angry at his treachery at my Uncle Iroh. He said Iroh had suffered enough losing his son, but my father would suffer as Iroh had. That his suffering had only begun. I ran off before I heard anything else. Then my sister told me later Uncle was coming home from Ba Sing Se. Defeated. Later, Azula started taunting me, saying Dad was going to kill me. My mother pulled her away for a talk, and I went to bed. Later that night, my mother woke me up and told me everything she did, she did because she loved me. My grandfather died that same night. His will had just been revised and said my uncle lost his birthright when he left Ba Sing Se. And I never saw my mother again."

"You think she killed the Fire Lord to protect you? And that she was killed because of that?"

"To sum it up, that's exactly what I believe." As he speaks I feel a pang in my chest.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you before. It's just that for so long, whenever I pictured the face of the enemy, it was your face." Except for when I was sleeping in your arms.

"My face." He says, turning away and putting his hand to his scar. "I see."
"No! No-that's-that's not what I meant."

"It's okay. I used to think this scar marked me. The mark of the banished prince. Cursed to chase the avatar forever. But lately, I've realized I'm free to determine my own destiny. Even if I'll never be free of my mark.

"Maybe you could be free of it." I say without even thinking. Before I can stop myself. He jerks his head towards me. "I have healing abilities."

"It's a scar. It can't be healed." He says. He told me that before on his ship. And he just sounds so…defeated. So hopeless. And all I want to do is help this hurting, broken boy in front of me. I take the spirit water out of my shirt and show it to him. "This is water from the spirit Oasis at the North Pole. It has special properties, so I've been saving it for something important. I don't know if it would work, but…" I look into his golden eyes, his stern expression, and the scar that takes up most of the left side of his face. I wonder how he got it, and if it's as horrible a story as the one about his mother. He absolutely refuses to talk about it.

Zuko closes his eyes and lets me touch his cheek. I Again notice how handsome Zuko is, with or without the scar. He's let his dark raven hair grow out, and it frames his face in a less harsh way than his ponytail used to. His skin that isn't scared is fair and smooth, and he has a strong jawline. A really attractive strong jawline that's gotten me in trouble multiple times. I try to shake the thoughts out of my head and try to remember all the chaos he's put us through. But it's hard to concentrate on all that after the weeks of traveling together, and the story about his mother. He's right, we do have that in common. Maybe he really has changed now? If I couldn't get him to, Maybe Iroh could.

I go to open the vial of spirit water, but right before I can I hear a huge crash. We both get startled, and when the dust clears I see Aang. I'm so excited I run over to him and wrap him into an embrace. Out of the corner of my eye I see Iroh hugging Zuko tightly.

"Uncle, I don't understand, what are you doing with the Avatar?" Zuko asks harshly.

"Saving you, that's what." Aang snarkily replies. I try to refrain from chiding Aang from being harsh. Not even an hour ago I was saying much worse.

Zuko looks angry at Aang, and I keep thinking about the spirit water in my hand. If I should go back over to him and try to heal his scar. But maybe Aang and Iroh crashing into the cave when they did was a sign from the spirits to save it. So when Iroh tells us to go help our friends, I follow Aang, casting only a glance at Zuko, the hurting and banished prince I offered to heal and am now leaving behind.