Dinner comes around, and Katara and Zuko are nowhere near. We eat dinner in silence, the bread stale. Suki and I return to our tent, but she doesn't stay long.

I feel apart. Separate from the whole of the people around me.

I toss and turn throughout the night, and eventually give up when the sun rises. I leave my tent to bask in the cool air from the night, and I perch on the same rock as Zuko yesterday. Eventually, my eyes fall on the spot where Aang normally feeds Appa.

Appa is gone.

I stand, grip tight on my bo. It hasn't left my side since Zuko gave it back to me. But no, Aang said Katara and Zuko needed Appa to go after that guy. Aang let them take Appa. I sit back down abrupting, anxiety washing over me. Does Aang trust Katara not to kill?

I hope so.

My anxiety makes the day go by so slowly. I try to spar with Suki, then with Sokka, because Aang is practicing earthbending with Toph, but it all feels like too much. Or too little.

Regardless, it isn't enough.

I lean against a rock, head leaned back, staring at the sky. Sweat pools on my back, but I don't feel it. After a while, I break the silence by saying, "You're pretty good with that sword." I toss this out to Sokka, who is polishing his black sword.

He sits straighter, beaming, and Suki throws a smile toward me. "You're not too bad with that bo yourself! It reminds me of Aang's airbending staff."

"It's the same concept. Except, it doesn't have the fans. I don't have use for the fans anymore." I run my hand longingly against the wood on my bo. My mind wanders to carving. "Do you have a knife, Sokka?"

"A knife?" Sokka asks, holding up his sword. "I got a giant one right here!"

Suki and I laugh. "No, like a small knife. Like to carve points onto sticks to roast meat on the fire. Or to carve into a piece of wood in general."

I don't have paper and ink to sketch out my ideas. But I have an idea in my mind. Of ice and fire and pain. Of tea and ships. Of running and hiding and finding love. Of hope.

"Yeah! I do. One second, it's in my tent." Sokka sheaths his sword, leaving Suki and I in the small shade provided by the rock.

"What are you planning on doing?" Suki asks, watching Sokka leave.

"I want to tell my story. In my bo. I've been thinking about it for a while." I roll the staff between my hands, my warmth feeding into the warmth of the wood. It is a light brown with some bend to it. There are dents here and there from where I've taken blows, but it is smooth to touch.

The plan is already forming in my mind. I'll start on the ends and work my way in to make sure it's balanced.

At least, that was the plan until Suki says, "If you carve into the wood, it will create a weakness in the wood. It could chip and break if you do that. It wouldn't be good for fighting."

All my energy, my desire to create this thing in my bo, deflates out of me. Sokka is returning, small knife in sheath held out to me. But I don't take it.

Suki, sensing my lack of enthusiasm on this, says, "You can burn it though. Burning a pattern into it wouldn't compromise the integrity of the staff. Just carving out parts of the solid wood would break it."

Sokka retreats the knife from me, seeing my deflated expression. "How do you know that?"

Suki shrugs, saying, "I worked with a lot of different weapons back home. The bo wasn't used a lot, but I knew someone who carved into it. It damages the staff as a whole."

I look up at her, and I attach to the one bright part here. "But burning would work?"

She nods. "Burning it wouldn't leave the same mark on the wood as carving it would, so there wouldn't be any splinters. It would be harder to burn it, especially if you wanted to share your story, but it would still be used as a weapon."

I smile over at Suki. "Thank you. I appreciate the advice."

That complicates the plan I had in mind a little. Burning the pattern into the wood would require a little more finesse to keep the burn from spreading beyond what I intend. But it doesn't make it impossible.

In my mind, I start planning out what I'll need. I can't let the pattern be unplanned like I had wanted with carving. I'll need to find paper and ink, and a metal rod to heat up and use on the wood.

All materials I don't have access to right now.

Pushing the project to the back of my mind, I leave Suki and Sokka to whatever they have planned for the rest of the day. I wander over to Aang and Toph and watch them spar.

Despite being blind, Toph can feel the movements of the earth beneath her, as well as the vibrations given off by people when they move. She is evenly matched with Aang, and I let the day fall around us, letting my focus become a pinpoint of rocks thrown between Aang and Toph.

Eventually, eventually, eventually, Zuko and Katara come back. At least, Zuko and Appa come back. He climbs off Appa, and he is wearing that same solemn expression as before.

"Where's Katara?" Aang asks, crowding Zuko immediately.

"I left her at Ember Island. I think she needs time to herself."

"Ember Island?" I ask. "What's there?" From a hundred years ago, Ember Island was a tourist island.

"My family has a home there that's basically abandoned. I figured it was a good place to hide."

"Better than here!" Sokka says.

We start breaking down the tents, and Zuko is telling us all that happened. Or, what Katara didn't do.

"She didn't kill him," Zuko starts, taking his tent down. "He's a sad, grumpy old man. She still hates him, but she couldn't kill him."

Aang is jumping up and down, loading the tents and other camping gear onto Appa. "I knew she wouldn't do it! I knew she wouldn't kill him!"

After finishing packing, Zuko guides Aang to Ember Island. It's a small island off the larger island that houses the Fire Nation capital. By the time we reach it, the sun is beginning to set. Zuko and Aang go over to Katara, who is sitting at the edge of a dilapidated dock.

The rest of us turn and wander the house. The inside of the house isn't much better than the outside. It is dusty and dark, with cobwebs covering the majority of the surface. In the dying light from the sun, I find a large courtyard with a fountain in the center. The fountain is empty of water, but I sit on the edge of it.

I sit there for a while, exhausted but having done nothing all day. The sun disappears, and the sky darkens, and I stay seated.

I've tried not to think about it all day. But, now that Zuko's back, thoughts come bubbling back to the surface. What does Zuko's father have in plan for the day of the comet? What was so destructive that Zuko left?

Eventually, Zuko comes to find me. He is carrying a bundle of clothes, all red, and he sets them down next to me before sitting down on the wall of the fountain. "I found some old clothes you can wear. To get out of the prison uniform finally."

I touch the red fabric, and it is smooth despite not being worn in years. "Thank you."

Neither of us says anything for a long time, until finally I ask, "What does the Fire Nation have planned when Sozin's Comet comes back?" My eyes cut over to him, and I can see his gold eyes dancing in the moonlight. "Everything I've learned from the Fire Nation is that they're not just going to sit around and do nothing when this massive comet comes back around. What does your father have planned?"

In those eyes, there is guilt. And sadness. And anger, still, buried under everything else. I put my hand on his and give it a squeeze.

"He plans to destroy the world in fire. To use the comet's power to burn the world to ashes."

There is also horror behind his eyes. Horror at what his father is planning to do, and horror at what his great-grandfather did.

"Have you told Aang about this?"

"Aang doesn't think violence is ever the right answer. He doesn't know what he's going to do when he faces my father."

"The comet is soon, isn't it?" Zuko nods. "He'll have to find the right answer quickly." I don't say that I know Aang can't kill anymore than Katara can, regardless of the destruction Ozai has planned for the world.

While the bedrooms are dusty, there are enough rooms in Zuko's old family vacation home for everyone to have their own bed. I lay out the clothes Zuko found for me, all varying shades of red. A shirt that is cropped to show the midriff, baggy pants, and a darker red tunic vest to go over top of it. I touch the embroidery along the edges of the shirt, wondering who this was made for, who wore it before, as well as the history of the house around me.

As I climb into bed, still stuffy despite the open window, I can't help but imagine a different Zuko - a younger Zuko - here with Iroh and Lu Ten. Playing in the sand. The war so far away from all of their minds. A Zuko free from scars and pain. A Zuko that was not angry.

I fall asleep to these thoughts, knowing Zuko is smiling again, and he's close to happy despite everything. Everything looming over us. The war. His father. His sister. And all the choices he's made and will continue to make.