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frostfur7
Here it is bri sorry about it being a big chunk, i'm a slob! LOL "Hey, Katara, look! No hands!" Teo and the Duke rattled past her in the new two-seater. As they did, one wheel nudged the laundry tub. Soapy water sloshed across her dress and soaked her lap. Neither the two kids nor Aang -- soaring above them, despite the seemingly-thousands of times she had told him "no gliding in the halls" because she just knew he would break the new glider and the Mechanist had worked so hard on it -- noticed. They rolled and flew away. She stood and ran after them, water half-bent from the tub and prepared to create a tidy little ice-ramp for Teo, when she saw Teo and the Duke careen straight off the balcony and into the chasm. For one heart-stopping moment, she forgot how to scream. Water splashed to the stones. Her mouth opened but nothing came. She found herself pointing mutely, her throat suddenly sore, as the slender little dart of a vehicle simply dropped off into the misty abyss, pointed down like a falling arrow… …and snapped open its wings, and lifted into the air, seemingly buffeted by three young voices crowing their triumph under a hot Fire Nation sun. She was vaguely conscious of Sokka screaming and shouting and lifting Toph up and spinning her: "It worked! It worked!" "Quit spinning, you'll make me sick!" Zuko came running down the hall. He was so light on his feet, now; she barely heard him. He stopped short and stood in profile, panting and squinting up at the sight of the flying chair. The three children danced and spiraled around one another in the air like sparks. His head tilted to watch them. She saw amazement and frustration vie for prominence on his face. She knew that look. That was the Aang Look. The Aang Look was what anyone who knew the Avatar long enough started to wear -- that strange expression that meant you were halfway between strangling the kid and holding him tight and never letting go. The Aang Look did not belong on Zuko's face. She folded her arms and hardened her voice. "Shouldn't you be teaching him his firebending?" Zuko turned, blinked, and looked her up and down. "You're all wet," he said, and left. She had a tough time finding the rhythms of their new life here. Everything was upside down. Literally. Moving "up" afloor meant going down the stairs. The overgrown gardens grew up from the under the eaves. Even the sky was down; she looked up and saw mosaic tile, she looked down and saw the deep dark void between two landmasses. She had no idea how far down it went; Toph had stamped her foot once and her eyebrows had risen and she said "Way, way down." There was no water, only trickling fountains. That wasn't real water. She had grown up hearing the tide. She had seen the sun turn the sea into endless waves of glimmering silk. On the third day she realized she was hopelessly lost; an hour later she understood it was because there were no landmarks. There was no land, period, and no water, not even a way to see the sun move across the sky because the sky was just a sliver of blue awning that flapped and fluttered above their cool, stony new home. The people who had built this place had designed it from a position in the sky that she could never attain -- not without a sky-bison. You have lived on ice. You have lived on land. You have slept in swamps and on top of a bison miles and miles above the earth. You have navigated your way through glowing crystal caves. Do not let some crazy Air Nomad architecture get the best of you. But occasionally she imagined the towers of their new home suspended upside-down like chicken-pigs in a butcher-shop window. She pictured Toph wandering down a slender little staircase that clung to the cliff-face for dear life, a staircase that had no railings because it was meant for airbenders. She remembered Combustion Man's hand and the way it glittered, disconnected from his body, as he fell into the depths. And then she wondered how safe it really was. "Aren't you tired of being carried, by now?" "Nope! So make with the piggyback, Sparky!" She looked up as Zuko squatted wearily on the stone. Toph scrabbled up his back and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I thought your feet were healed." "Oh, they are," Toph said. Her heels landed sharply on his ribs. "Now giddyup." Zuko winced. Rolling his eyes, he stood up and hefted her across his shoulders. He started to walk. "Say the magic words!" Grimacing, Zuko muttered something under his breath. "Louder!" Toph commanded, jabbing his shoulder with one finger. He took a deep breath. "Where does the greatest earthbender in the world want to go?" The boys erupted in laughter. Sokka actually fell to his back, drummed his heels on the floor, and pointed at them as he clutched his stomach with his other hand. "See, there we go," Toph said. "That wasn't so hard, was it?" "You know, I left the palace to get away from this kind of thing…" He adjusted her weight and started walking toward Toph's room. "Be careful!" Katara shouted. "She'll bump her head! She's blind, you know!" Zuko stiffened, one foot caught mid-step. "Katara, don't yell at my ostrich-horse," Toph said. "And take a look at the ceiling. It's way up there. Oh, wait, I'm blind, so I couldn't possibly know that." Silence. Those had been popping up more and more often these days. They were like little black bubbles in the conversation -- these odd uncomfortable moments when the newer members of the group had no idea what to say, and when she was absolutely certain that they thought she doing a bad job keeping them together. "Hey, Toph, your pants have a hole," the Duke said, pointing. Toph blushed. "They do?" "It's okay," Zuko said, lacing his fingers under her and covering the spot. "It's easy to fix." "Oh, and I suppose you expect me to fix it," Katara said, folding her arms. She gestured at the cooking pot and the line of washing. "Not that I don't have enough work to do around here-" "Well fine, don't fix it, it's not like I care about some stupid hole that I can't even see!" Toph kicked Zuko again. "Take me to my room." She watched them leave. Zuko said something and Toph giggled. And Katara got a funny feeling, like she first time realized that up was down in this place. Like the whole world had been pulled inside-out, like the moment she'd slid off Appa's saddle and set foot in the Western Air Temple she'd actually stepped into a different universe. Like someone telling her the sky was green and the earth was blue. Vertigo. The next morning, Toph sat cross-legged and Katara surreptitiously took a peek to see how the hole was doing. But it wasn't there. She frowned. No one else seemed to have noticed. In fact, Sokka seemed to be delivering a long lecture on the nature of boomerangs that no one was listening to. But then Aang and Zuko came in and she had to hand off bowls of congee -- eagerly to Aang, grudgingly to Zuko -- and she listened to them instead. "That's because you've gotten bigger," Zuko was saying. Aang brightened. "I have?" "Of course you have. Back then you were up to here." Zuko made a line on his chest with one hand. "But now you're up here." He moved the hand up an inch or two. Aang's jaw dropped. "Really? I got taller? By that much?" He turned. "Katara, did I really get bigger?" "Sure. Fine. Whatever. Eat it before it gets cold." Aang frowned, shrugged, and spun through the air to a high pillar of stone that had once been a part of the fountain. He sat there and swung his feet as he ate. "I can't believe I got taller! You know, my shoes are feeling a little tight, too, maybe my feet are growing!" "Are you sore and hungry all the time?" Zuko asked. "Of course he is!" Katara said. "You have him training all the time!" "I thought that was what you wanted," Zuko said. He turned to Aang. "I thought that was what you wanted." "Well, uh, if we could leave off with the early morning meditation-" "Not a chance," Zuko said. He tucked into his congee. "That's something we both need. We both have to get control of our bending." He climbed up the rock beside Aang's and gave one of his teeny tiny almost-smiles. "But if you're going through a growth spurt, you should probably start going to bed earlier." "Oh man, growth spurts," Sokka said, slapping his forehead. "We're gonna have, like, no food. At all." "We already have barely any food, Sokka," Katara said, staring at the scraped-clean sides of the pot. She peered at Zuko from the corner of her eye. "We have more mouths to feed, now, and it doesn't look like they're going anywhere." Teo, the Duke, and Haru squirmed in unison. "Um…we could start eating less?" Haru offered. Sokka tossed his boomerang. "Or hunting more?" "Why are you guys so focused on meat?" Aang asked. "This is the Western Air Temple. We should obey Western Air Temple rules." "Eggs," Zuko said. "Huh?" "Eggs. Can you eat eggs?" "Yeah," Aang said. "Then we should get some." "Oh, are you just going to go to the corner store?" Katara asked, waving a spoon around the expanse of the temple. "Or did you plan on stealing some?" "What is your problem?" Toph set her bowl down with a clang and stood up. "Come on, Sparky, we're foraging. You'll do better with an earthbender to help you." "Zuko has to help Aang learn to firebend, Toph. He can't go scrounging around looking for food with you." "Sure I can," Zuko said, sliding off the stone. He pointed up at Aang. "Forty squats, forty push-ups, forty sit-ups, forty leg-lifts. Then practice the forms we've learned so far until I come back." Aang suddenly looked anemic. "W..What?" "You ran out on me yesterday to play with your glider. If you run out on your training again, I'll double the amount." He gestured at Katara. "Do the forms in front of her. She'll know if you're doing them wrong." Katara wished she could sigh steam, like a firebender. "I will, will I?" "You've seen enough to know." Zuko crouched on the ground. "Come on, your worshipfulness, let's find some eggs." Toph climbed onto his back, and away they went. "Well, at least they're getting along," Aang said. "Hey, Sokka, you want to-" "Guys! Guys! Wait up! I want meat!" To Katara's chagrin, Zuko returned not only with eggs, but with a whole miniature family of puffi-toucs. "Pets? You brought more pets?" "These are hens," Zuko said, holding up an angrily-twitching sack. "They'll keep laying if we keep feeding them." "You're starting a farm?" the Duke asked. "Yes," Zuko said. "Now I have to find a place to put it…" "I can show you a good place!" Aang popped up to his feet, then wavered. "Oh. Wow. I'm really sore…" "Pain is weakness leaving the body," Zuko said. He handed the sack to Toph, then knelt and slung Aang over one shoulder. Aang yelped tiredly. "You're heavier than you were at the solstice. You are getting bigger." "What solstice?" Toph asked. "I carried him through a blizzard," Zuko said. Katara stood up. "You kidnapped him from the Spirit Oasis after you fought me for him!" She pointed. "Stop acting like you can just make up for everything you did by being nice! You stole Aang from us. He would have died if we didn't find you. And you would have died if Sokka hadn't decided to show you some mercy!" "This sounds like a long story," Toph said. "It is," Zuko said, and the way he stared at Katara made her want to squirm. But she didn't. Instead she had a flash of memory -- the way her arms ached as she twisted up a ball of water like a tangle of tough old yarn; the hard, unforgiving impact on her body when he blasted enough hot air to send her flying into the roots of a glacier. She balled her fists and stared right back. Aang slid down from Zuko's shoulder. "Um, let's go make that coop," he said. "Yeah, Sparky, I think these birds are gonna start squeezing out more than just eggs if we don't hurry," Toph said. And she and Aang tugged Zuko and the bag of birds off in another direction. Sokka wandered in with a sack that smelled like fruit and a strange little creature that looked as though it might once have been a raccoon-toad. "That Zuko is so fast," he said as he opened up the sack. "I mean, he was in the tree when I was still noticing it had fruit on it!" "Zuko, Zuko, Zuko!" Katara threw her hands in the air. "That's all anyone ever talks about, anymore! Zuko! He's everywhere!" Sokka held up one finger. "He's everywhere and he's nowhere. Like a ninja." Katara made a sound that reminded her very much of Appa, and stalked away. That night they had raccoon-toad -- it was unpleasantly chewy and greasy -- and Zuko taught Aang how to make an omelette. Katara lost her appetite just watching them. How could Aang just forgive him this way? Aang, who had the most to lose from Zuko's treachery, who had fallen to earth thanks to Azula's evil and Zuko's betrayal? Aang, who still wore a scar just as broad and deep as Zuko's under his clothes, because of what Azula had done and Zuko had chosen? Aang, who now stood beside Zuko with a frying pan in one hand, his clumsy elbow guided by Zuko's ash-stained fingers: "Good, good, like that, just flip it over, not so hard, be careful…" She watched in eyebrow-twitching horror as Zuko smiled at Aang and said: "This is how they fold steel to make swords." And Aang said: "What, in a frying pan?" "Hey, Toph, the hole is gone," the Duke said, pointing. Toph instantly brought her legs together. Her ears pinked. "You don't say." "Did you fix them yourself?" Teo asked. "I'll bet you got Katara to help you," Haru said. Toph drew her knees to her chin and hugged them. "What does it matter? Who cares about some hole?" "You wouldn't get holes in your pants if you didn't sit like a boy all the time," Katara said. Her jaws instantly snapped shut. Did I just say that? I sound like Master Pakku! What am I doing? Toph turned to Katara, her eyes milky-blind but her gaze unerring. Her lip curled. "Don't even start with me, Sugar Queen," she said. "I've had enough of your crap." Katara dropped her chopsticks. They clattered in the bowl. "Excuse me?" "You've been weird since we got here, and I'm tired of it. Everyone is. You've been nothing but suspicious and petty about Zuko, and it's not helping." Her mouth fell open. "Petty? Did you just call me petty?" Zuko took a step forward. "Toph-" Toph snapped her fingers. "Shut it, Sparky. You're not the only one she talks down to." "Talks down to? I don't talk down to you, Toph, I-" "You do so, and you like it," Toph said. "You like being everyone's mom. It makes you feel special. And now you're all mad because Zuko knows how to do stuff that you can do too. You're mad because you know he can beat you." "Toph, Zuko is not a better bender than I am-" "Oh, sure, that's why he whipped you during your last two fights," Toph said. "Because you're better than he is." Zuko transferred the frying pan from Aang's hand to the floor. He crossed to Toph and took her by the collar, the way he had when he'd stolen Aang. "I am not a better bender than Katara," he said. "Katara's bending can heal people. Mine can't do anything like that." "But you can re-direct-" Zuko pinched Toph's lips shut with thumb and forefinger. "You and I have to talk," he said, and he marched her down the hall. They all watched the pair, tall and short, Zuko's hand curled around Toph's right shoulder, Toph's feet dragging. "She wasn't talking about bending, you know," Sokka said, and he too stood to leave. Aang turned to her. "Katara, I know Zuko hurt you-" "No, you don't," Katara snapped. "You didn't see him tie me to a tree. You didn't see him throw me into a glacier because I was fighting to protect you. He didn't betray you under Ba Sing Se. You weren't there. You didn't see it. You were gone." In the corner of her eye, she saw the Duke lean over and ask Haru a question. Haru's mouth made the shapes for I don't think so, but he shrugged. "What?" Katara asked. "What did he ask you? What are you talking about?" "Nothing," Haru said. "Don't worry." But he was blushing under his moustache, and Katara could guess what the question had been. For some reason, she thought of Jet. Katara thought she was getting better about navigating. She thought she was finally getting to know this place. But at night, with the shadows all turned around and the stone that looked the same -- honestly, how many flying bison sculptures had she passed already? -- she had no clue how to get back to her room. "Lost?" someone asked behind her, and she froze. That voice. Funny, how it rasped: like he'd broken it permanently one day, like he'd screamed it all out and spoke only with the quiet echo what should have been a normal boy's tones. "It's okay," he said. "It's…It's easy to get lost." "I am not lost." "What helped me was-" "I told you, I don't need help!" She turned to face him and he grabbed her wrists, a strange echo of that night -- was it really only seven months ago? -- and she felt the strength in his fingers like before, the way he could probably break her bones just by squeezing if he really wanted. He could probably feel her pulse. He could probably feel her breathing. Her eyes fixed on his chapped lips and the single shaking line they made. She swallowed. He turned her around but kept his grip. He leaned down and it was too much, it was too similar, his voice in her left ear and his breath on her neck: "Port," he said. He moved to her right ear. "Starboard." Katara took a deep breath. "That means that in front of us, that's the bow." "That's right," he said in her ear. "That's where the water is." The fountain. Of course. She could think of the two halves of the Temple on either side of the fountain as two ships about to pass one another. If she pictured them that way, the whole layout made more sense. Up and down didn't matter so much; the floors became decks on very tall, deep ships. And she'd been on plenty of ships before. "That…" she began to say, turning, but he was gone. "Zuko?" she asked the shadows, but no answer came. For the next whole day, she saw neither Zuko nor Toph. They came out just before dinner carrying a basket full of smooth, egg-shaped stones. "Toph, I know you love a good rock, but this is a little much," Sokka said, hefting one in his hand. "Hey, I've seen these before," Aang said, picking up another. "You boil them. Then you can wrap them up and put them between sheets when it gets cold." "They're yours," Zuko said. Aang frowned. "Uh, Zuko, it's the summer…" "You can practice heating them up." "And when you're done, they make a great massage tool!" Toph picked one up and tossed it. "Who would have thought that two of my favorite things could come together so neatly?" "You can make them colder with your waterbending too, Aang," Zuko said. "It's easier than ice if your joints get inflamed." Katara almost asked him what was so wrong with ice, but Sokka said: "What, like Aang is gonna get arthritis anytime soon?" He instantly bent double and mimed a walking-stick. "In my day," said Sokka in an old man voice, "we had to fight the Fire Lord uphill both ways!" "In the snow," Aang said. Toph lifted a foot. "With no shoes on!" For some reason, they all found this hysterical. Even Zuko sort of laughed -- it was more a tucking of his chin into his neck, his shoulders shaking. Toph pointed at him. "Do the Iroh voice!" Zuko's unmarked ear pinked. He coughed. "No." "You can do an Iroh voice?" Aang asked. "He does a great Iroh voice," Toph said. "I do not." "Do you do any others?" Sokka asked. "Ty Lee, maybe?" Zuko paled. "Um…" "Do it! Do it!" Zuko bent and placed his palms on the floor. He seemed to roll somehow, and then his feet were in the air and he said: "Azula's just jealous 'cause boys like me better," in a high, bright voice. Then he somersaulted back to the floor. "That is so awesome!" Sokka said, clapping. "Do your sister!" Zuko's eyes popped. "I mean, do an impression of your sister," Sokka added. Looking at the floor, Zuko stood. Then his whole body seemed to change; he stood taller and threw back his shoulders before speaking in an eerily-high, sweet voice: "I am not jealous, Ty Lee. Circus freaks like you have nothing for Fire Princesses like me to be jealous of." "It's, like, so scary and so funny at the same time," Sokka said, enthralled. "Do the Iroh voice," Aang said. Sighing, Zuko placed one arm behind his back and held up his other finger. "Girls, the key to a man's heart is not in his eyes, it is in his stomach!" This he punctuated with a very false, rough laugh and a patting motion on his belly. "It's uncanny," Sokka said. "You should be an actor!" "Uh…" "Do the Fire Lord," Aang said. "Do Ozai." Zuko looked away. He made fists. Well, one good turn deserves another. "Aang, don't," she said. "What? I want to learn about Ozai." "And making fun of him is an excellent educational tool," Sokka said. "Go on, Sparky, show him Ozai." Zuko licked his lips. "You want to see Ozai?" Aang nodded. "Fine." And then Zuko whirled his arms -- his right arm clock-wise, his left counter-clockwise -- and a spark of blue light seemed to fizzle between them and for one terrible moment Katara thought of Azula, before lightning shot clear of Zuko's two fingers and off into the mist. Very far away, on the other side of the divide, Katara heard rocks crumbling down and birds shrieking. "That's Ozai," Zuko said, and left. Katara looked at the single bowl of food left. The other boys were eyeing it. Finders keepers. She turned to Toph. "Toph, do you want to take Zuko his dinner?" "Can't," Toph said. "Too blind." Katara winced. "Aang?" "Too full," the Avatar said, flopping down dramatically on the floor and miming a huge belly. Katara rolled her eyes. "Fine." She got to her feet and made a show of straightening her dress. "Guess I'll just do it myself, then." Haru piped up: "Katara, I could-" "No, no, Haru, it's fine. I'll do it." She closed her fingers around the bowl and made for Zuko's room. He sat on his bed against the wall with a shirt in his hands. It was his own shirt; he wore only the outer vest and she could see what the clothes had kept covered in their other encounters: the shoulders like coiled rope, a fading bruise in a rough circle-shape shadowing his ribs. As she watched him, he inserted a needle through the shirt, pulled it away, then repeated the motion. "You're sewing?" Zuko froze. He put aside the shirt and stood. "What do you want?" She pushed into the room and made straight for the shirt. "You sew?" He shut his eyes. "I mend things. I don't sew." "Mending is sewing, Zuko. You were sewing. I saw you." She pointed at him. "You sewed Toph's clothes! You were the one who fixed them!" He looked at a space just past her right shoulder. "So what if I did?" "I just…I had no idea!" She looked around the room. He kept it with military precision. A picture of his uncle hung on one wall, the twin blades near the bed. A dagger she didn't recognize poked out from under the pillow. And there beside the shirt was a tiny blue silk sewing kit with a group of needles all in a row. "When did you learn to sew?" "It's not sewing. It's just…fixing things." "What, is there something wrong with sewing? Is it not manly enough for the Fire Prince?" His knuckles whitened. "I'm not the Fire Prince any more." Pushing air past his teeth, he sat down on the bed and picked up the shirt. "And I learned to mend my own clothes when I was with my uncle." "You mean when you were chasing us?" "When Azula was chasing me." "Oh. So when you started growing your hair." He shrugged, and began working the needle again. "Is that my dinner?" Belatedly, she looked at the bowl of food and held it out. "Yes. You should eat it before it gets cold." "I'm a firebender. My food doesn't get cold." He leaned forward, took the bowl from her hands, and blew on it. A small hint of orange flame emitted from his lips; the onions in his food caramelized gently. Katara threw herself on the bed. "Do you have to be so good at everything?" He frowned. "Excuse me?" "All everyone talks about now is how good you are at things. What a great teacher you are. How you can just go out and get food. You can make Sokka laugh. I can't make Sokka laugh, unless he's laughing at me. You even sew Toph's clothes! That used to be my job!" She looked at her hands. "And you can bend lightning. I thought only your sister could do that." "It runs in our family," Zuko said. "My father can do it. I can do it. My sister can do it." He looked at the portrait. "My uncle taught me and I'll teach Aang." For a moment, he sounded a little like her dad. Her dad used to say things like that to Sokka about fishing or hunting or building tents. With her dad, learning was like moving up and down on the decks of a ship: first level, second level. Her mother was the opposite -- Katara didn't remember learning anything, just being asked to help. And then one day she wasn't helping, she was doing, because there was no else to do it. "My mother showed me how to sew," she said. "Our needles are made of bone, though." He gave her a half-glance, like he didn't want to look directly at her. "My father… Before I left, my father said that my mother was alive. Not that I was lying, before! Just that I, um, didn't know… He didn't tell me. No one told me. She was banished. Just like I was. She and I have that in common." "Your dad banished your mom? Why?" "Dad said she was a traitor." He spat the word. "But she was only trying to protect me. Fire Lord Azulon wanted me dead! And so she suggested that Dad get rid of Azulon -- his own father -- instead. And he did! But he banished her anyway!" Wow. Toph was right. His family is messed-up. Way more messed-up than we thought. It's a miracle he's not just plain crazy. "And now you know how insane my family is, you probably don't want me anywhere near Aang," Zuko said. The shirt had gone taut in his hands, the steaming bowl of food forgotten between them. Katara sighed. "That's Aang's decision." She frowned. "You knew your mother was alive and you came to find us anyway?" "My place is with you," he said. He stiffened. "With your group, I mean. With the Avatar." She nodded, then looked at the food. "Aren't you going to eat? I had to pry this away from that flock of vulture-wasps out there." "Oh. Right. Thank you." He put down the shirt and picked up the bowl. Katara snatched up the shirt and began examining the stitches. "Hey!" "Your sewing really needs work," she said. "Look how big these stitches are!" "Well, your cooking really needs work! It's bland and flavorless!" "Oh, I suppose I should make it extra spicy for Fire Nation Man over here!" He frowned. "Fire Nation Man?" "Earth Rumble Six. You weren't there. And I'm not going to burn out everyone's tongues just to make you happy." "I don't want you to burn anyone! Just stop adding so much salt!" "Oh, so you think you can out-cook me, now? I don't see you with an apron on!" "I left it in Ba Sing Se!" Katara made a noise halfway between a giggle and a snort. "You had an apron?" "It was part of my uniform!" She suddenly felt very much like an owl-cat who had spotted a particularly tasty-looking polar mouse. "Uniform?" Zuko rubbed the back of his neck. "I… My uncle and I… We worked in a tea shop." Several images collided within Katara's mind. Among them were dainty little rice cakes covered in sugared cherry blossoms, delicate teacups painted in gold flowers, and elegant tea whisks with lacquered turtle-duck shell handles. At the center of these images was Zuko, his hair in its old severe topknot, his scar an angry red, wearing his prickly Fire Nation armor under a very fetching lace apron. She promptly fell to the floor laughing. "That's… that's the best thing ever," she said between gasps. "That's better than Aang wearing Avatar Kyoshi's big old shoes! That's better than Sokka wearing Suki's makeup!" "I'm glad you find it so amusing." He leaned over. "Did you say that your brother wore makeup?" And for some reason -- maybe his curiosity, maybe his expression, maybe his timing -- this ignited another firestorm of giggles inside her. The laughter just bubbled out. She couldn't stop it even if she wanted to. It and the tension of the past few days drained away from her until she was curled in a happy little ball looking at the way her hair seemed to have already attracted hundred-year-old dust bunnies from under the bed. "Next you'll tell me you know how to cut hair," she said. "Of course I know how to cut hair. You take a knife to it and you cut it. Simple." He folded his arms. "Too simple for you, apparently; you haven't cut yours in months." She sat up on her elbows. "I have so." "You have not. That braid was between your shoulders before. Now it hangs down closer to your-" He looked away. "It's longer." "And it's not in a braid any longer, genius." "I know that! Women don't wear braids." His face met his palm. "I mean, braids are for little girls. I mean, um…you look different." "You should have seen my Fire Nation clothes. They were plenty different." Zuko peeked out from between his fingers. "Fire Nation clothes?" "This silk robe thing. It. Well, it was in two parts, actually, so technically they were a them, not an it. But I think we still have them. You know, for disguises?" He blinked. "Your brother let you out in…?" "Sokka doesn't let me do anything, Zuko. He stopped pulling that big brother stuff when I became a bending master. Hey, where are you going?" Zuko was on his feet and moving down the hall. "Hey, we're not done!" Katara called. "Your brother and I are having a talk!" She formed an amplifier with her hands. "A manly-man talk about tea and makeup?" "Yes! And you're not invited!" "I'm still mad at you! Just because I don't get lost any longer doesn't mean you just get to walk away from me!" "Fine!" "And I'll put as much damn salt in the food as I like!" "Go right ahead!" He turned a corner. The next day, Sokka approached her with his best You're gonna hate me now, but in the long run you'll thank me look. "So, Sparky and I got to talking last night…" "About?" "Well…apparently your uh, dress thing, it's only for uh…single Fire Nation girls." "I am a single girl, Sokka. What's your point?" "Well, uh… Sparky says it's more for the kind of single girl who wants to, um, not be so single any more." "Does Sparky think my Fire Nation clothes are too provocative, Sokka?" "No, no! Nothing like that! He told me so. But he said something about how, if the dress is in two pieces, you can see whether or not a woman has had a baby, and-" "Stretch marks? This whole thing is about stretch marks?" "Uh, something like that, I don't know, but it, uh, means that you'll attract a lot of attention. So, we decided that-" A horrible thought occurred to her. "Oh, no. Tell me you didn't." "Katara, we only wanted-" But she was already running in the direction of Zuko's room. She skidded to a halt just outside his closed door. Without bothering to knock, she yanked it open and shrieked at the sight before her: Zuko, her old enemy, with her clothes strewn across his lap, a needle in his right hand, an expression of quiet contentment on his face. "Sewing is so relaxing," he said, an odd little smile on his face. "I think I'm really getting better at it." "SOKKA!" .... It started, as these things do, with an explosion. The blast rocked a distant, deep tower of the Western Air Temple. Katara looked up and saw smoke billowing from one of the old gardens. She let her water whip splash down to the stones below and started running. Her feet skidded on the gritty stairwells and she scraped her nails on the rugged walls. Please let it not be Azula. Please let it not be Azula. She arrived at the garden, heart in her throat, water whip already summoned, its outermost edge frozen into a club -- -- and saw the boys, all of them, coughing and wiping soot from their faces. A cooking pot -- her best cooking pot -- sat smoldering over a still-blazing fire. A musky, spicy, vinegary smell wafted away with the smoke. Her eyes stung. "So," Sokka said, licking his fingers, "we've established that fermented natto-beans do, in fact, explode." He pointed at Haru. "You owe me ten gold pieces!" Haru coughed. "Ten?! You said five!" Aang waved his hands. "Guys, guys-" "What is going on here?" In unison, the boys straightened and looked at the floor. They took a collective step backward; she even heard the squeak of Teo's wheels as they ground across the stone. "Oh, hi, Katara," Aang said in his best peacemaker voice. "We were just, um, working on some homemade blasting jelly." Her internal temperature dropped several degrees. "Blasting jelly?" She looked at Zuko. "Blasting jelly? Aren't you supposed to be training him?" Sokka stepped forward. "We're going to need weapons-" "Shut up, Sokka; I wasn't talking to you!" "Hey, wait a second-" But she only had eyes for Zuko. "Do you have any idea how dangerous this is? What were you thinking? Aang could have hurt himself!" Aang piped up. "Katara, it's fine-" "No, it's not! He could have burned you!" The garden went very still and quiet. She heard the distant rush of water and the mournful cry of a lone bird circling the temple. A warm breeze drifted over her skin. She felt as though her words had unlocked a secret room somehow, one in which the boys all stared at Zuko and waited, breath held, for him to respond. She directed her stare at him, too. He radiated tension. Something flickered there behind his eyes, just a trace of the boy who used to chase them, the one who had tied her to a tree and thrown her into a glacier, the one who sided with Azula. He swallowed, started to speak- "Actually," the Duke said, one tentative finger raised, "the blasting jelly was-" "It was my idea," Zuko said. Sokka's jaw dropped. His wide eyes roved from the Duke to Zuko to Katara before finally alighting on Aang. The Avatar shrugged. Katara huffed. She crossed her arms. "Well, it was a bad idea." "No, it wasn't," Sokka said, looking quickly at the Duke, who seemed to have shrunk into the aft seat of his and Teo's modified glider. "It was a great idea, and I don't know what your problem is, Little Miss Fussybritches." "I heard that," Toph said, her face appearing as she poked her head down from an upper level of the tower. Her hair hung down in front of her sightless eyes. "No one gets to use that name but me, you know!" "Oh, what, you're gonna get it patented, now?" "It would serve you right!" She snapped her fingers. She jabbed her finger into empty air. "Sparky! Quit playing tea party with those losers and come up here and help me!" Katara saw him look upward and bite back a sharp reply. "Fine." Aang fluttered after him. "I'll help-" Zuko made a half turn. "No, Aang. You stay here." "But-" "Stay." Zuko edged past them. He came within a hair's breadth of touching her; he seemed absurdly warm, almost feverish, and he smelled of garlic and pepper. She heard him make his way up the stairs. She was vaguely aware of Sokka leaning close to her and saying something about apologizing. "Why should I apologize to him? He could have really hurt Aang!" "Not Zuko, the Duke!" Katara frowned. "Huh?" She turned and saw only the boy's over-sized helmet; the Duke himself had frozen behind Teo -- who glared at her from beneath his goggles with pure, unadulterated disapproval. Her heart sank. Zuko had covered for the kid. And she had gone for it. And the Duke had let him, because he was scared. Of her. Way to go, Katara. Maybe tomorrow you can start stomping on polar mice. That night, it rained. She hated the rain. It wasn't as pretty as snow, and it made her hair go all fuzzy and wild, like an old woman's. Like Hama's. Moreover, the boys seemed to like lightning: another flash knifed through the sky and they all crowed and started counting One Omashu, two Omashu, three Omashu until the thunder came. Only Toph seemed to have an appropriate fear of the storm. She stayed with back and feet firmly planted against stone, her steaming bowl of soup clutched in white-knuckled fingers. "Where's Sparky?" "Missing dinner," Katara said. "More for us, I guess." "I… I guess he doesn't worry too much about the lightning." "I don't," Zuko said from the shadows. Without so much as looking at Katara, he strode into the cooking area, took note of the boys standing looking at the rain, and bent down to give Toph a small, reddish fruit. He gently pried the fingers of one hand away from her bowl and rested the fruit there. "What's this?" Toph asked, sniffing it. "Dragon-heart," he said. He set a whole sack of them down. "No, don't bite it; I'll peel it for you." "I can peel it myself! I have fingernails, you know." "No, you don't. They're all ragged. " He pulled a dagger from his belt and unsheathed it. His eyes lingered on something engraved in the hilt, then he flipped it over and began working the fruit against the blade. Talk to me. Say something. Start something. Stop ignoring me. Zuko lifted his head just in time to see Aang bound through the air. Aang plundered the sack immediately: "Dragon-hearts! I haven't eaten these in a hundred years!" "Tell me that's a special kind of meat," Sokka said, wandering over and scratching his belly. The others followed. "It's a special kind of fruit," Aang said. "They're only ripe for about a week. When they fall, it's already too late. But if you pick them too early, they're really bitter." "Oh, maiden-hearts," Haru said, picking one up. He tossed it in the air, bounced it off his bicep, and back into his hand. "That's what they're called where I'm from. Because the fruit is so, uh, delicate." The earthbender took a silent step away from Katara. "Yeah, that's a way better name," Sokka said, already plunging his thumb into the fruit and peeling away. "Oh man, look at all this juice! It's gonna stain!" "Since when have you worried about stains, Sokka?" The group froze as Katara walked over. She bent down and rooted in the bag. Retrieving some fruit, she gave Zuko her best arched eyebrow. "Is this your idea of dessert?" "It's great!" Toph said, before Zuko could answer. She smiled up at everyone, red juices dribbling from both corners of her mouth. "It's so juicy!" "Toph, you look like a clown," Sokka said. "And that's a bad thing because…?" "See, there are advantages to blindness; you've never seen a clown…" Sokka bit into his fruit. "Oh, wow, these are great! Katara, you gotta try this!" He held out half the fruit. Reluctantly, Katara took it in her hands. It really did seem to bleed -- the juice was already all over her fingers -- and it had four chambers, just like a real heart. Carefully, she slid a fingernail inside the pith and wiggled a fragile portion loose from the peel. She popped it into her mouth. Zuko peered up at her from his position on the floor. Flavor exploded inside her mouth -- sweet and tart and what sunlight should taste like. It tingled down her tongue and into her throat. Pretend you don't like it. Pretend it's not the sweetest thing you've ever tasted. Pretend you couldn't spend a whole day eating these. "It's…" She swallowed. "It's a little acidic, for my taste." Toph's sightless eyes popped. "Is your tongue broken?" "No, it's just been ruined by too much salt," Zuko said, reaching into the bag. The whole crowd laughed. Katara's mouth fell open. "I can't believe you just said that out loud," Sokka said, clutching his stomach. Katara's mouth worked. Her eyebrow twitched. Why was everyone laughing? "Is my food really salty?" "Yes," the group chorused. She resisted the urge to actually stamp her foot. "Why didn't anybody say anything?" "I just thought extra salt was part of your culture," Aang said. "Part of Gran-Gran's culture, maybe," Sokka said. "I love her, but the old lady can't taste anything anymore." "I thought you liked it when I made Gran-Gran's recipes!" "Water Tribe food is weird," Toph said, her mouth full. "You guys eat stewed kumquats." "Sea prunes!" Sokka and Katara corrected her. Haru winced. "Sea prunes?" "Do they explode?" Teo asked. "Only in your digestive tract," Aang muttered. Zuko looked mildly horrified. "She made you two eat sea prunes?" A disgusted little shudder reverberated through him. "My uncle Iroh made me try those. Ugh." Katara folded her arms. "Let me guess, was that when you were on your grand tour of the South Pole?" "No," Zuko said, his voice hardening, "it was when we were too poor to eat anything else." "They do get served a lot on the prison ships," Haru said. "At least, I think those were ocean kumquats…" "Sea prunes!" Sokka and Katara repeated. "Either way, they were awful," Haru said. He sucked juice off the fruit in his hand. Drops of it stuck in his mustache. "Not like this, though! Thanks for getting these!" Sokka raised his hand. "Zuko's in charge of groceries from now on; all in favor say aye." "AYE!" Katara's hands met her hips. "Oh, and I suppose you want our resident tea-and-custard expert to be in charge of cooking all this fabulous new food, too?" "Tea and custard?" Teo asked. "He worked in a teashop! He knows nothing about preparing meals for a group this size!" "I like custard," the Duke said. "Me too," Aang said. "And fruit pies. I miss fruit pies." "You worked in a teashop?" "Sparky likes playing tea party," Toph said, snickering. Zuko's eyes found hers. "I've never made food for other people, just myself." "See? I told you guys. He doesn't know how-" "Which doesn't mean I wouldn't like to try," Zuko said. The conversation died. Wind groaned through the temple. Katara suddenly felt the chill of the rain. "Uh, I think he just challenged you, sis," Sokka said. "Yes, I did." Zuko stood. "We each prepare a meal. We see who likes which best." "Oh yeah? And what do I get if I win?" "What do you want?" Katara opened her mouth. Nothing came out. She pointed. Still nothing. "I want…" What did she want? It was so easy to think about these things when Zuko was doing something wrong, not when he was offering to do something nice! She chose something Sokka used to trick her with when they were little: "I want you to be my slave for a day!" "Done. And if I win, you stop picking fights with me. For good." "I'll drink to that," Sokka said, squeezing fruit juice into his mouth. "Seconded," Haru said, following suit. "Uh…agreed." Katara squinted at Zuko. He smiled back -- his odd little smile, the one that didn’t quite belong on his face yet and still looked too new -- and settled down beside Toph. The earthbender stuck a dragon-heart peel in her mouth and smiled around it. Zuko laughed. And from way down deep in Katara's gut came a little voice that sounded an awful lot like Master Pakku's, and it said she might have just been outmaneuvered. Katara's suspicion grew as the days passed. They had agreed that three days would be enough to plan a spectacular meal based on the local ingredients. (She had made sure to scoff, saying that she could come up with what she needed in only a day.) But on the morning of the first day, as she stirred congee with just the barest hint of bending, several things occurred to her. First, Zuko knew the local food. He knew the flora, the fauna (not that fauna counted, what with Aang not eating meat), and what tasted best during which season. Besides, he had lived with his old uncle -- and that guy clearly liked to eat. And Zuko had probably eaten all kinds of fancy food when he was still a prince. For a moment her mind entertained a vision of a single long table overburdened with delicacies on golden platters, tiny jewel-like portions of fish alongside sizzling cuts of tender meat. She imagined fluffy custards with glittering crusts of caramelized sugar, the sort that crackled and shattered under the slightest pressure only to collapse utterly in the mouth, sweeter than a dragon-heart, sweeter than- Her stomach growled. "Are we eating anytime soon?" Zuko shouted from a far corner of the open-air chamber. He and Aang were mid push-up, both shirtless. Toph sat cross-legged on Zuko's back. "We won't be any closer if you keep stinking up the place!" Katara said, and gave the congee an especially violent whisk. "You're putting me off my food!" Zuko muttered something to Toph and she slid off him obediently. Why is she always so good for him? He and Aang each took a stance near the fountain, drew circles in the air, and kicked elegantly toward the water steadily streaming down from above. Instantly, it began to steam. Aang leaped high in the air and split the hot water into a rainy shower; Zuko ducked in under it. Toph jumped away but Zuko grabbed her by the collar and forced her in under the water. She squealed and laughed, kicking big splashes of water at his pants. In a moment they were all thoroughly soaked. Aang shouted "Hey, no fair!" and added waterbending to the splash-war. Water rode up over the lip of the pool and scattered across the stones. "No cheating!" Zuko said, covering his face with his hands as Aang lashed him with gentle water-whips. Toph stomped down into the stone and rooted Zuko in place; he was helpless to Aang's playful onslaught. It used to be like that for me, too. It used to be fun. When did it stop being fun? The last time she had tried to have fun, she wound up in a wooden cage with Toph. She frowned, watching as Toph cackled and Aang splashed and Zuko protested. When was the last time she and Aang had laughed together? It had to have been before the eclipse. But when? She couldn’t even remember. Well, aside from the whole Dancing Dragon thing. But that was still laughing at Zuko. And that was the only kind of laughter she seemed capable of, these days. But before -- just a few months ago -- there had been penguin-sledding and the slides at Omashu and even her bouts with Master Pakku. There had been Aang in Avatar Kyoshi's big old shoes. There were spa trips with Toph and washing those nasty, mean girls downriver. There had been laughter. There had been fun. Even Aang's crazy dance party wasn't as fun as it could have been. She had worked for hours on that party. Parties were only truly fun if you weren't doing all the work. She'd learned that the first time she helped Gran-Gran prepare a wedding feast. And dancing with Aang -- showing off with Aang, really -- was less fun when your feet ached and you had to light a million tiny candles by hand. Now, if Aang had figured out how to firebend earlier- "Hey, what's that smell?" Sokka leaned into the chamber, nose in the air. "Something burning?" Katara coughed. The smell of blackened rice hit her nostrils. "Damn it!" Sokka's palm met his face, and he wandered off in the other direction bemoaning his empty stomach. Toph let Zuko free and he stepped out of the water. The drops evaporated off his shoulders and arms as he walked. His pants steamed dry as he stood. Couldn't he at least put a shirt on? "You burned our breakfast?" "It's okay, Katara," Aang said. "No it isn't," Toph said, slogging her way out of the pool in sodden clothes. "I'm starving, and now I'm cold, too!" "Do you need more food?" Zuko asked, shaking his hair dry. Katara scowled. "Oh…just get Toph dry, will you? She'll catch a cold." Zuko shrugged and turned his attention to Aang. "Go for it." "No problem." Aang lifted himself into the air, pulled at various invisible threads of wind, and spun them like a child's toy. As his toes hit the floor, he sent the twisting air straight at Toph. It danced around Toph for just a moment. She emerged dry and unscathed, with hair sticking up in all directions. Zuko started smoothing down her hair, but she batted his hands away: "I can do it myself!" "Hey, how do I do the steam thing?" Aang asked. "Um…take a deep breath and pretend you're a teapot." As Aang frowned and tried to make himself into a piece of cookware, Katara quirked an eyebrow at Zuko. "'Pretend you're a teapot?' What's next, 'be the wise rolling pin'?" "No, what's next is 'be the empty bowl, so that you might actually get fed.'" Zuko frowned into the pot of crackling, sticky rice, and shook his head. "Aang. Let's hardboil some eggs." And that was really the first meal he made for them, in a roundabout way, since it was Aang making the water bubble and Aang bending the eggs free of the pot, but it was Zuko looking on, arms crossed, his eyes following each movement. It was Zuko who taught him how. It was Zuko who kept the fire burning. "You know what would improve these?" Zuko asked as he peeled the shell away from his second egg. "Some salt." The salt cellar hit him smack in the forehead. Finally, the night of the cooking battle -- it could be nothing less than a battle, Katara had decided -- arrived. There was a beautiful sunset, the chirping of evening birds, the smell of summer blossoms on the air. Katara barely noticed. Her preparations for the battle had included allowing the laundry and other tasks to pile up over the past three days. Each time she left them behind to forage for new and exciting ingredients, she happily pictured Zuko drowning in domestic labor and begging for her help. Her plan of attack was simple. She would prepare one new vegetarian dish for Aang, one fish dish for the others, and a sweet dessert from thickened and reduced dragon-heart juice drizzled over ice of her own bending. Meats and sweets -- the keys to her boys' hearts. She laid out all of her ingredients on her side of the kitchen area: eggs, mushrooms, kecap-manis (what little they had left), breaded fish, simmering oil, dragon-hearts. Her dishes were clean and spotless, if a little worn. She had the amounts measured to the last detail. There was no way she could lose; Zuko was out of his league. Or so she thought, until Zuko and Toph marched in bearing piles of meat, vegetables, and fruit on brand-new, sparkling platters. Zuko wore his swords. He carried a single plate of metal -- Katara thought she recognized the wreckage of a Fire Nation vehicle. He set it down over his fire pit, and smiled. Katara pointed. "Where did you get those new dishes? Did you steal them?" "Toph made them," Zuko said. "She bent mud into the right shape and I fired them." "Dude, you make pottery now?" Sokka asked. "Could you be more of a girl?" "Oh shut it, Snoozles," Toph said. "I'm not the one who gets all excited when beans explode." "You had help!" Katara protested. "You didn't say we could have help!" "He didn’t say you couldn't, though," Toph said, grinning. Zuko had the grace to look sheepish. Katara turned on Toph. "This was your idea, wasn't it? You-" "Less fighting, more eating," Sokka said. He pulled a gold piece from one sleeve and tossed it in the air. "Call it." "Flame," Zuko said quickly. Katara growled. "Sozin." The piece came down on Sokka's palm and he flipped it over on the back of his other hand. He revealed it: "Zuko, you're up." Zuko rose from his kneeling position and stood. He saluted, and cleared his throat. "Um, it's a little dark in here. You guys should, uh, get low." Frowning, the crowd ducked down. Zuko braced his feet, pointed his fingers, and began shooting little darts of flame into the higher recesses of the temple. The flames found their targets and small sconces positioned in the rafters blazed with new life. The room filled with light. The mosaic -- bison chasing each other across a brilliant blue sky -- glittered, suddenly illuminated. In the flickering light, the bison seemed to truly move. "Whoa," Haru said, staring upward. "Yeah," Teo agreed. "Whoa." That's beautiful. Katara firmed her resolve. It's also cheating. She cleared her throat. Zuko startled, and she directed his gaze to the food. "Right," he said. "Well, um, I'm only really good at two things, so…" He unsheathed the swords and balanced them on the makeshift worktop. Steadying himself, he began a dizzying flurry of movement: the swords sliced effortlessly through meat and vegetables and fruit with a distinct clatter. The boys' eyes grew round. She watched him set aside vegetables and fruit, flipping each slice with the broad side of his sword and making them dance across the blades. Katara found herself leaning forward as he brandished a group of skewers from a kerchief, speared the mixture with one hand, and slathered it with some sort of sauce with what appeared to be an old calligraphy brush. Fanning the skewers in one fist, he breathed deep and blew fire at them. The sauce caramelized instantly. The smell of charring meat wafted her way. Sokka's eyes seemed to have gone quite large. They glistened. "Meat… on sticks!" Zuko handed Aang a vegetarian skewer, Sokka one with meat only, and Toph and the Duke one with meat, vegetables, and fruit. He quickly created three more, and handed two off to Haru and Teo. He held the last out for her. Katara gingerly gripped the skewer between thumb and forefinger. She bit into the meat carefully. Juice spattered across her lips. Black bits of carbonized meat smeared across her face. Her tongue sneaked out to catch them. Oh, this is good. This is really good. Nothing Zuko makes should ever be this good. She had expected his food to be hot or bitter or sour. She had expected to wrinkle her nose and pucker her lips. She hadn't expected sweetness. This was the warm, good kind of spicy, the mellow kind, the kind that snuck up on your tongue and left gentle waves of heat in the belly like the ripples created by a serpent under water. Her eyes opened and Zuko was staring at her mouth. He raised his good eyebrow. "Happy?" Her mouth full, she could only nod. The tension seemed to drain out of him, and his shoulders fell. He speared himself some food, blasted fire at it, and started eating. He chewed thoughtfully before saying: "I used too much honey." "Where did you get honey?" "Bees." She frowned. "You went to a beehive?" "Where else do they live?" "You reached inside a beehive?" A greasy little smirk lit his face. "I don't like to lose." He nodded at her food. "Your turn." Katara set her skewer aside, squared her shoulders, and stood. The crowd before them continued munching happily. The Duke now wore a glossy brown smile of smeared sauce. Katara couldn't help but smile. "Hi, everbody," she said. They ignored her. She grimaced. "Hey!" "Huh, what? Oh." Sokka paused his ruthless devouring of the meat skewer and said: "Okay, Katara's up." Aang waved a little blue flag. "You can do it, Katara!" She grinned. "Thanks, Aang." She clapped her hands together. "Tonight I'm making fried fish with sweet mushrooms, a mushroom omelet just for Aang, and dragon-hearts over ice for dessert." "You didn't say there had to be dessert!" Katara turned to Zuko. "But I didn't say there couldn't be, did I?" Zuko sighed steam. He crossed his arms and looked pointedly away from her. Smiling, she bent fresh water from her skins in two ribbons and sliced the mushrooms with them. Next she lifted the water and spun the mushrooms inside the watery ball to clean them; she saw bits of dirt separate from the flesh before letting the mushrooms fall back down to the plate. Keeping one in the air, she opened her mouth to catch it- "No!" Zuko had her by the wrist. He yanked her out of the way, caught the mushroom, stared at it, then proceeded to blow flame at all the mushrooms on the plate. He indiscriminately scorched the fish and eggs until they were just one black, oily mesh. Screeching her indignation, Katara transformed the water-ball into a whip and sent Zuko flying into the wall behind them. "What do you think you're doing? It's bad enough you have new dishes and a fancy light show, but now you have to sabotage me?" Zuko coughed and held up the mushroom. "This," he said, panting, "is poison." "A likely story," Katara said, folding her arms. Zuko slowly drew himself to his feet. "Aang. You've been here before. Tell her." Aang stepped forward and took a look at the offending fungus. His eyebrows flew up in close proximity to his arrow. "Uh, Katara, I hate to say it, but this is death's head fungi." He held it out and pointed at the dark blotches on the mushroom cap. "See how it makes a skull?" Katara bent down. Sure enough, if you looked at the spots just right, they formed an uneven, abstract skull-shape. "Aang, how did you know to recognize it?" "School," Aang said. "Our teacher did a lesson on dangerous woodland plants and animals!" "I knew school was a good idea," Sokka said, stroking the place where his fake beard used to be. "If school were always that useful, I'd consider going," Teo said. "Me too," said the Duke. "So, Twinkletoes," Toph said, scratching her arm, "did your teacher say anything about the side effects of the skull-faced whatchamacallit?" "It causes a high fever and delusions," Zuko said. He grimaced. "Also, you vomit like there's no tomorrow." "What, you decided to sample one for yourself?" Katara asked. "My sister slipped one into my food as a joke. I was in bed for a week." "Good to know," Toph said, and promptly retched on the floor. Katara's blood froze as the boys scurried away from Toph and her pool of vomit. Then, as though time had snapped back into place, she sprang into action. She bent the vomit away from Toph's mouth and guided the girl to the fountain. Toph doubled over and threw up just as they reached the water. "Breathe, Toph. Here, let's clean your mouth out." Toph weakly took a drink from the rushing fountain and shuddered. "I feel awful…" "It'll be okay. You'll be fine. I'm sure you just ate too fast." Toph shook her head. "Sorry, Sugar Queen. I don't think ginger tea's going to fix this one." She held out her arm. "Is there something on my skin?" To Katara's horror, angry red spots had risen on Toph's arm. Katara pushed the sleeve up and saw that they were on her shoulder, her back, her neck. Biting her lip, she turned to the others and pointed silently at Toph's skin. Sokka winced and Aang started biting a nail. Zuko's good eye popped and he jumped right over Teo and the Duke's glider, running straight for Toph. He took the earthbender by the shoulders. "Flowers," he said. "Did you pick flowers, today? Did you smell a strange flower you didn't recognize? Did you get pollen on you?" "H-How would I know?" Toph asked, wriggling away. "I was in the old tea garden sculpting-" Zuko stood and blasted a torrent of fire into the distance with a groan of frustration. He knotted his fists in his hair. "How could you be so stupid? You know you're not supposed to touch anything unless-" "Don't call Toph stupid, she's-" "She's blind! And now she's got white jade poisoning!" "Is there anything in the Fire Nation that isn't poisonous?" "The white jade bush is an Earth Kingdom plant!" "Who cares?" Sokka pointed at Katara with one empty skewer. "Katara, you do what you can to make Toph feel better. Zuko, you go up to the tea garden and see if you're right. If you are, burn the plants." Zuko didn't have to be told twice. He took off running. Katara turned to Toph, who lay curled in abject misery near the water. The earthbender continued scratching her arms. "It itches," she said. "It feels like it's burning under my skin!" Katara gloved her hands in water. Soon they began to glow. She ran them up and down Toph's arm. "Is that better?" "Yeah, thanks," Toph said. "Now, uh, could you get it to go everywhere at once?" "I can try." She summoned more water from the fountain and swaddled Toph in it. With a greater release of energy, she pushed the water to glow and soothe the hot pinpricks on Toph's skin. "Man," she heard Teo say as he adjusted the two-seater's position. "I'm glad he's on our side." Katara looked up. There on a distant tower stood Zuko, his body wreathed in flame. The summer twilight made him a shadow against the dance of brilliant orange and black smoke. Sparks from the destroyed garden rose into the night air and faded away. "It doesn't make sense," Sokka was saying. "The mushrooms make you throw up. Toph is throwing up. But she didn't eat any mushrooms. And none of us are sick." Katara, her arms trembling from keeping the water wrapped around Toph, said tiredly: "Then it was the white jade bush." "But Zuko says he can't be sure it was the white jade bush or the white dragon bush. He says his uncle made the same mistake." "Which means he set fire to the garden for nothing," Aang said, staring into the fire. "And it's not like I ate any flowers," Toph said. Her voice was a rough croak. "What does he think I am, a sheep?" "Well if he were actually here, you could ask him." Katara let the water go. "I'm sorry, Toph. Can I just rest a minute?" "Sure, Sugar Queen." Toph rolled over. Momo promptly jumped onto her chest and curled up there. "What did Sparky say happened to Iroh?" "They went to a healer," Teo said. Katara hugged her shaking arms. They felt like jelly and twitched of their own accord. "Damn it, where is he?" "Probably finding a healer." "Wouldn't that give away our position?" Haru asked. "Maybe he went as the Blue Spirit," Aang said. "I mean, he can be pretty convincing, what with the swords and the mask and all." "Maybe he ran off to find a Fire Navy camp and steal their medicine," the Duke said. "That's what Jet would do." "Yeah, but how would he know which ones to take?" Sokka picked at his teeth with a skewer. "You never know which ones to take," the Duke said. "That's why you grab everything you can." "Good point, little freedom fighter," Sokka said. "Well, he's been gone forever, so he'd better come back with something useful-" "I've got the mud," Zuko said, lugging four buckets of greenish goo. He reeked of pondscum and his clothes were caked in dirt. The others covered their noses and backed away. "Mud?" Katara asked. "You got mud?" "Is it at least expensive mud?" Sokka asked, holding his nose. "It's from out there," Zuko said, pointing into the crevasse. "I had to climb down, then climb back up." He crouched with his hands on his knees. Katara heard the small bones in his spine popping. "Aang, get me a sheet. An old one." "Sure thing." Zuko nodded at Katara. "Get her clothes off." Her jaw dropped. "No way! Tell me what's going on!" Zuko sighed. "When my uncle drank the white jade tea, Song's mom covered him in green mud. This was the best I could do." "Who's Song?" "I've got the sheet!" Aang joined Zuko. "Now what do we do?" "Get it wet. Then spread this stuff all over it." "Okay…" Aang diverted water from the fountain onto the sheet, spread it out, and bent mud from one bucket across it. Zuko looked at Toph. "Have you ever eaten a cabbage wrap?" Toph stuck her chin in the air. "Yes, blind people do occasionally eat cabbage wraps like normal folks, your highness." Zuko winced. "I'm sorry. Okay? I got scared, and then I got angry. But now I want to make it better." Toph crossed her arms. "Well if you think I'm getting undressed in front of you, you're crazy." "Fine." Zuko stood and stalked away. At the arch, he turned. "Are the rest of you going to watch her change? Come on!" "But the meat's in here," Sokka protested. "It's just Toph-" "OUT!" Toph bellowed. Momo and the boys shrieked in unison, and vacated the premises. "Earth," Toph said as Katara rolled her in the damp and messy sheet. "Cool, soft, squishy, muddy earth. Thank goodness." "Does it really help?" "Yeah, Sparky knows his stuff," Toph said. She frowned. "I don't know why he freaked out like that, though." Katara put the finishing touches on the wrap. Mud oozed out from the seam. "Well don't ask me; nothing he ever does makes any sense." She dipped her hand in the mud. "Do you want some of this on your face, too?" "Yeah, that would be great, thanks." She carefully smoothed some of the mud on Toph's face. "This is like that time at the spa," she said. "Remember how you scared the attendant?" Toph bent the mud on her face weakly. The mud made two tentacles near her eyes that danced before falling back to her face with a wet little splat. They laughed. "That was good times," Toph said. "I wish we still had time for that stuff." "Me too." Katara sighed. She rolled up Toph's clothes and placed them under the earthbender's head as a pillow. "Maybe Zuko just worried that your welts would scar," she said, examining the slightly-swollen spots on Toph's face. "Why should he care?" "Because of his own scar," Katara said. "What scar?" "The one on his face." "Hey. Katara. I'm blind. Help me out, here." "Well, it's…big," Katara said, suddenly feeling a little flustered. "And it's red-" "I don't see color either, genius." "I forgot, okay? It's big and it's ugly and it looks like it hurt. It covers his whole left eye from his nose all the way to his ear. He can't even open that eye all the way." "Can he still see out of it?" "I… I guess so. I've never asked." "What about the ear? Does he still have it?" "Yes. But it's small and sort of wrinkled." Toph pursed her lips. "How did he get it?" "I don't know. But it feels pretty old." Toph's brows furrowed. "You touched it?" Katara blushed. "Just once." "When?" "When Azula threw us in prison together, under Ba Sing Se. I… I offered to try healing the scar." "So why didn't you?" "Aang and Iroh got there. They sort of interrupted us." "The plot thickens." "There's no plot to thicken! Azula showed up too, and Zuko betrayed us!" Toph blinked. "You mean he betrayed you." Katara stood up just as Sokka poked his head in. "Where's our little cabbage wrap?" he asked, holding out some flowers. "She's all yours," Katara said. "Good luck. I'm done." And she really did think she was done. Until, after a fitful two hours of non-sleep, she remembered that she had left out the pot of dragon-heart juice, and that if it hadn't been devoured by flies at this point, it might still be of some use tomorrow. Quietly, she crept out into the hall, intent on making a sneak attack on the kitchen without waking Toph. But Sokka was awake too, his body folded against one wall as he threw a ball at the other. "Sokka? What are you doing still up?" "I think Toph was allergic to something in Zuko's meal," he said, tossing the ball. It rebounded back to him. "It's just impossible to know what. I've gone over it in my head and that's the only explanation." "If that's true, we'll figure something out. But you'll feel better after some rest." "He's in there with her, right now," Sokka said, eyes on the ball. "She wanted him. Even if it was kinda his fault, she wanted him. She wants to ride on his shoulders and order him around. That used to be me, you know." Katara frowned. "Huh?" "I used to carry her around. I used to make her laugh." Sokka threw the ball with more force than necessary. It bounced violently off the wall and slapped his hand when he caught it. "I mean, I know I already have one mostly-normal little sister, I don't need another one, and maybe he needs her more 'cause his baby sister's a complete psycho, but…" "You're jealous." Katara leaned against the doorframe. "You're jealous. Of Zuko." "Oh, and you're not, Little Miss 'Getting Help Is Cheating'?" Sokka rolled his eyes and continued throwing the ball. "It's like with Aang, too. Aang and I used to have adventures. Now he and Aang have adventures. They conquered an ancient temple together! They met a lost civilization! They danced with dragons! It's not fair. You and I put in all the hard work, and now Jerkbender gets to show up and do all the fun stuff." "But I thought you liked Zuko." Sokka caught the ball. "That's just it. I do like him. And that's what scares me." "Tell it again. I want the Iroh voice this time." Katara edged into the kitchen. She heard Zuko clear his throat. He sat against the fountain. Toph still lay on the floor. "A sage, a swordsmith, and a soldier are all on a sinking ship," he said in his driest, oldest voice. Katara smiled despite herself and began carefully putting the dirty dishes into the cauldron. "The sage says 'Save the women and children!' The swordsmith says 'Screw the women and children!' And the soldier says, "Do we have time?'" Toph laughed. "Do you know any others?" "None that I can tell you." "Oh, come on!" "I spent three years with Fire Navy sailors. That is the cleanest joke I know." "You're no fun." She sighed audibly. "Tell me a story." "I don't know any good stories." "Tell me something that happened to you." "I once pretended to know how to juggle. It didn't turn out so well. The end." "Sparky, you're not distracting me from the itching. I hate the itching." Katara could practically hear Zuko rolling his eyes. "Fine. What do you want to know?" "How did you get your scar?" A long pause. "How do you know about that?" "Katara told me." Zuko snorted. "Figures." "So? How did you get it? Were you fighting a dragon?" "No." "Wicked sunburn?" "No." "Stare too long into a volcano?" "No." "Your crazy sister used you for target practice?" Zuko almost laughed. It came out sort of broken and weak. "Sort of." "Hey, whoa, I was kidding-" "It was my dad." Zuko adjusted his position. Katara crouched down to avoid being seen. There amid the ashy remnants of their dinner, she listened as hard as she could: "My dad did it. I spoke out of turn. We had a fight, and he marked me. And then I was banished." Silence. Far away, Katara heard wind rushing through the ancient corridors of the Western Air Temple. Then Toph spoke: "…You're not lying." "No. He said I could come back if I brought the Avatar with me. But I ended up joining him instead." "So what happens when we go to fight your dad the next time?" "He'll try to kill me. He tried it once. He'll try it again." "Wait. Was that when he burned you, or some other time?" "Another time. The day of the eclipse. He shot lightning at me." There was a dead, hollow sound to Zuko's voice as he spoke of his father, as though Ozai weren't really related to him at all. Goosebumps rose on Katara's arms. She tried to imagine her own dad hurting her. She'd seen him get mad, seen him discipline his crew. But he was at heart a gentle person; he'd never hurt her or Sokka no matter how angry he felt. Even when her mother had died, he'd just taken long, lonely walks out on the ice, choosing to brood by himself rather than expose his children to his pain. "What did you do?" Toph asked. "I shot it right back." Katara's inner voice surprised her: Good for you, Zuko. Nice work. "Did you hurt him?" Toph asked. "I hope so." "What about your sister? Was your dad ever mean to her?" "No. He loves her. She's always had his approval. But that doesn't matter." A soft, gentle sweetness tinged his voice. "She's not really my sister any more." Katara heard Toph squirm. "Well, it's all weird to me. I'm an only child. My parents had one blind kid and got too scared to have more." "That's all right. You don't want a little brother or sister. Sokka and I both think they're a pain." Katara bit back a sharp reply. How often did Sokka talk to Zuko about her behind her back, anyway? And hadn't Sokka just said that he missed spending time with Toph and Aang? "But Katara loves Sokka," Toph said. "That's true. And he loves her. But Azula never cared about me." Toph said something Katara couldn't hear. She found herself straining, leaning forward to catch it. "What was that?" Zuko asked. "She just didn't know you," Toph said. "Sing me a song." "I don't sing." "Sing in the Iroh voice. I bet Iroh sings." "Uncle Iroh does sing. He also plays musical instruments. He's a talented man." Zuko took a deep breath. "I can't believe I'm doing this." "Believe it, Sparky." "Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you." He cleared his throat. "Leaves from the vine/ falling so slow / like fragile tiny shells, drifting in the foam / little soldier girl, come marching home / brave soldier girl... comes marching home." Zuko's singing was, in fact, pretty awful. His normally-raspy voice stumbled over the words and he had no sense of tune or rhythm. "That sucked," Toph said sleepily. "Don't they give princes music lessons?" "I always skipped." "Slacker." "Princess." "I'm not a princess, I'm a bandit…" Toph yawned. Zuko continued humming. Katara's thighs ached from crouching for so long. When she finally rose, the tendons clicked and she had to twist her neck to rid it of kinks. Now standing, she could see that Zuko held Toph's head in his lap, although he still kept it pillowed with her clothes. Her hair had come undone somehow and his fingers traced through it. When she moved, Zuko caught sight of her and his mouth opened. Even in the dark, she saw him blush deeply, painfully red. His mouth became a single line and turned away to scowl into the dark. Katara picked her way to him. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop," she whispered. "Sure you didn't." "I think it was really sweet." "The part about my dad burning me, or the part where I had to fight him?" "Neither!" She gestured at Toph's sleeping head in his lap. "I think this is really…nice. Weird, but nice. Toph would never let me do this. She really cares about you." "She just likes piggyback rides." "Don't be stupid! There's more to it than that. She really likes you." Zuko's good eye bugged and he stared down at the child in his lap anew. "Likes…" "Not that kind of liking, Zuko. She doesn't have a crush on you. She's twelve." "My girlfriend had a crush on me when she was twelve." Zuko cocked his head. He pulled two locks of hair to either side of Toph's sleeping face. "They even sort of-" "What girlfriend?" "Mai," he said. "The one with the needles." Katara had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. "You dated the needle girl?" "I sort of still am. I'm not sure. I wrote her a note before I left. I said I didn't know if I was coming back." "You broke up with her in a note?" Katara couldn't resist slapping him upside the head. Then she folded her arms. "Great. More enemies. Fantastic." "Mai wouldn't-" "Zuko, I can't believe you could be so stupid. You broke up with her in a note and then abandoned her! Now she's going to hunt us down with her crochet hooks of doom, or whatever they are." "They're called senbon." "Same difference. She's going to kill us all." Zuko almost smiled. "I'll, uh, ask her not to." "Well you'd better make it good! We didn't come all this way so that a woman scorned could take us all out!" "A woman scorned. Right." "Did you at least buy her some panda lilies before you left her hanging?" Zuko winced. "Well, no…" "What about sweets? Did you give her sweets?" "Um…" Katara slapped her forehead. "It's hopeless. We're going to die. Your creepy girlfriend is going to kill us in our sleep, because you suck at relationships." "Oh yeah, and you're so great at them. Aang told me what happened on that boat, you know. What, did you think he would just forget kissing you?" Katara's face flamed. "He told you?" "The whole group knows how he feels! Even Toph, and she's blind!" "Well at least I attracted the Avatar, not some ostrich-faced wannabe ninja with a psycho and a circus freak for friends!" "He's a twelve year old boy! Are you afraid to handle a real man?" "Absolutely not!" Katara brought her voice back down to a whisper. "I was almost… There was this other guy. And I thought he felt something for me, but he betrayed us. You'd like him, he was always switching sides and stealing things. And he had these two…" She gestured, trying to approximate Jet's use of the hooks. The color faded from Zuko's face. "Please tell me it wasn't…" "His name was Jet." Zuko looked as though he wasn't sure if he should laugh or cry. "You had feelings for that hay-munching clown?" "He was smart! And a good leader!" "He was thief and a bully!" "So were you!" Katara's jaws snapped shut. She popped back up on her feet before she could think, and said: "Well, this has been interesting. You're really good with Toph, so don't screw it up." She looked around the kitchen. "And I fully expect you to help me with the laundry and the cooking tomorrow. Neither of us won the battle, so we'll just have to split the difference." "You want to play nice? Really?" He sounded doubtful. Katara sighed and nodded toward the kitchen. "Keep up the good work in there, and I'll think about it." Her stomach gurgled in support. He smirked. "You really liked dinner, didn't you?" She licked her lips. "Well, it's not seal jerky, but it'll do." She frowned. "What was in that sauce, anyway? Besides the honey, I mean." "Spark-seed, salt, and roasted monkeytoes." Katara sputtered. "What?" "They're a kind of nut. They're also called coilnuts." "Can't eat those," Toph murmured. "Mom said…" In unison, Katara and Zuko slapped their foreheads. ... "Sokka, it was your turn." "Says who?" "Says me, that's who." Katara folded her arms. "It's gathering wood, Sokka. It's not that hard. What, don't you want to use your super special sword on some poor defenseless trees?" "This sword is a precision instrument! It's not for chopping wood!" "Yeah, well, there's nothing to burn, so dinner's going to be a little raw." Sokka folded his arms behind his head. "I happen to like sushi very much, thank you." Rolling her eyes, Katara swept out of the room and down the hall. She fanned herself as she went. The clouds had hung low and gray over the Western Air Temple all day, and the air was thick and heavy in even the coolest, most shadowed alcoves. The humidity left her hair curled in every possible direction; it had gone from a braid to a bristly coil of old rope. She briefly considered coating it in cooking oil just to keep it down. Pausing at the fire pit, Katara toed the remains of the morning fire and winced. Even if she asked Zuko to roast their dinner, he'd have to bend continuously if they wanted to keep the fire going into the night. Briefly, she pictured the whole group clustered around Aang and Zuko's fistfuls of flame. She kicked lamely at the last bits of charcoal. They crumbled dryly under her toe. Did the Air Nomads keep hatchets around? Haru and Teo had investigated the Temple, maybe they would know. She found them watching Toph and Zuko train Aang. Aang stood between them on a broad verandah, simultaneously fending off chunks of earth and blasts of flame. Be careful, her mind shouted, but she snapped her mouth and eyes closed. Count to three. Zuko isn't going to kill Aang. One. Toph would rip Zuko apart if he tried. Two. Aang is the Avatar and he can take almost anything. Three. Sighing, she opened her eyes and found that Aang had created a miniature cyclone around himself that diverted both the rocks and the sparks into a hot, dusty cloud over his head. He quickly sent it flying over the side. Dusting his palms off, he turned to Katara and smiled. "Hi, Katara! Want to join us? We could have all four elements!" "Well, actually-" "Come on, Sugar Queen, it's good practice," Toph said. She pounded her palm with a fist. "What, are you too scared to face me a second time? Afraid of getting dirty?" "That mud fight was classic," Aang said. "Mud fight?" Zuko and Haru asked. Katara looked between them. Haru's mustache twitched, and he and Teo shared a look. Zuko wore a content, pleased sort of smirk. "That's a surprise," Haru said. "We all know how you like to keep things clean." Katara folded her arms and raised her chin. "As a matter of fact, I do. And that's why-" Toph began making chicken noises. "Sparky, do you hear a chicken in here?" Teo and The Duke took up the chicken noise. Soon the verandah seemed populated by a coop of increasingly-agitated hens. Aang held his hand out. "Come on, Katara, please? It'll be fun!" "Fine, fine," she said, throwing up her hands. She crossed the verandah to stand equidistant to Toph and Zuko, forming a triangle with Aang in the middle. She uncorked her waterskins and summoned two ribbons of water. "Ready." "Onetwothree go!" Katara sent her ribbons of water straight for Aang's feet. He leapt high in the air, jumped on his air scooter, and took a turn around the triangle blowing the hair from their faces as he collected up Katara's ribbons. He froze them and began firing frozen arrows straight at his opponents. Toph made a suit of stone, and the arrows pinged harmlessly off her armor. Zuko summoned a wave of fire and pushed it at Aang; the boy jumped off the air scooter just before it dissolved. He somersaulted through the air, keeping himself unnaturally high and light, before directing a slice of air at all of them. Katara froze her feet in place and rescued her ice arrows from the puddle on the floor. In her hands they became thin, sharp discs. She volleyed them at Aang; he batted them away with hands gloved in flame. Then Toph sent him flying. The stones beneath his feet bounced him right off the verandah; his feet made contact with the nearest tower and he flipped over in the air, flame trailing from his feet. Katara made to make an ice slide for him, but Toph stepped forward too late, and the water coated her earth-armor. Toph now stood coated in mud. "Ugh!" Toph stomped her foot, flicked both wrists, and sent the mud straight at Katara. Katara wiped mud from her eyes. "Toph!" "Look at you, you're filthy," Zuko murmured from behind her. Her jaw dropping, Katara whirled on him and quickly bent the water from her clothes into a cloud and pushed it at him. His hair now plastered to his face, Zuko shook out his bangs and licked water off his lips. Smirking, he steamed his clothes dry. "Thanks, I meant to wash those." Katara was vaguely aware of making a little growl at the back of her throat. Then she was summoning mist straight from the crevasse -- it twined around her arms like cold, wet serpents and she made two ice-daggers with it. Raising them, she suddenly encountered Zuko's own fire-daggers. Hers began to melt. A lock of her hair stuck to her cheek. She gritted her teeth. "I could crush your heart inside your chest, you know," she said. Zuko's eyes followed the line of her hair from her mouth to her ear. "Maybe I should just singe off all that hair, it's gotten so wild." "I'll show you wild," she said, and broke her stance. He pounced forward. As he did, she pictured the blood in his body as nothing but water, and drew it to her will. Instantly, he locked up. He struggled inside her grasp, but his arms and legs refused to move. Zuko tried to thrash free, but only his head and neck would move. He growled. "What are you doing? Let me go!" Aang stepped forward. "Katara-" "What are you gonna do now, Jerkbender?" Katara asked Zuko. "You know, it's too bad I didn't know bloodbending in Ba Sing Se, maybe it would have made a difference. I'm sure it would have healed Aang a lot faster." Zuko's face hardened. "Maybe," he said. "But you're forgetting something." "Oh, yeah? What's that?" He took a deep breath. She saw the flame in his eyes before it poured from his mouth; he directed it over her head but she ducked anyway, breaking her grasp. He grabbed her by the wrist and forced it behind her back. "We agreed," he said in her ear. "You said you'd play nice." "Go jump in the river!" "Huh?" "Stop it, both of you!" Aang appeared between them and suddenly Katara was three paces away, catching her breath as a blast of wind sent her sliding across the floor. She stopped herself with a careful hand on the flagstones. Zuko stared at her, panting, from his corner of the shadows. Aang paced between them, his glider twirling in his hands. "I'm the Avatar," he said. "I'm supposed to restore peace and balance. How can I do that for the whole world if I can't even do it for you two?" His face lifted, and Katara saw the frustration, anxiety, and disappointment there on his young face. Her heart plummeted and her gaze hit the floor. No one, not her dad and not Sokka, had ever made her feel shame quite the way Aang could. It was like a physical thing, like a cloud of Master-Pakku's ice-needles. She felt just as imprisoned by it, just as chilled. "I'm sorry, Aang," she said quietly. Silence, then: "Well, I'm not the one you should be apologizing to, Katara." Her face flamed and she stared up at Aang. The boy remained resolute, though she saw the effort in it. She risked a glance at Haru and the others; they looked away as though the moment were just as hopelessly awkward and uncomfortable for them as it was for her. Firming her lips, she looked at Zuko. He seemed oddly impassive, his posture loose. He looked away from her. "I'm sorry," she said. Aang turned to the firebender. "Zuko?" "I'm sorry, too," he said. He looked at the floor. "For everything." Aang sighed. Wind filled the whole room. "Okay, then. Well, Zuko, I guess we should keep training-" "Does anyone know where I can find a hatchet?" Katara asked. "Why, so you can bury it?" Toph asked. Katara winced. "No, so that I can cut down some firewood. Sokka didn't gather up any, and I'd rather not get splinters in my bending water." "You won't get anything dry enough to burn, anyway," Zuko said. "It's going to rain." She forced her voice to remain civil. "I suppose your Sparky super-powers alert you to oncoming thunderstorms?" "No," Zuko said. "It's the monsoon season." To a one, the assembled crowd slapped their foreheads. "Monsoons," Teo said. "Great. Wheelchairs just love the mud." "Just because it's the monsoon season doesn't mean it's going to rain right this minute," Katara said. No sooner had her mouth closed than lightning split the air and rain began shimmering down from the afternoon sky. A moment later, thunder reverberated through the temple. Katara closed her eyes. She focused on her breathing. She counted to three. Why, when she was still covered in dirt and Aang had just forced her to apologize in front of the others, did the universe see fit to send some of Sokka's luck her way? "So what if the wood gets wet?" Toph asked. "Sugar Queen can just bend the water out." Katara opened her eyes. "That's a great idea, Toph!" She popped back up to her feet. "Who's scared of a little rain, anyway?" Only the thunder answered her. "Well, I just need something to cut down the wood-" "Take Zuko with you," Aang said. "Those swords cut through wood, right Zuko?" "They cut through anything," Zuko said. He shifted on his feet and looked at Katara briefly before looking away. "If you want to go, we should go now. I don't want to have to bend lightning away from you." Katara sighed. Aang gave her his sternest look, the sort he gave to people who destroyed forests or poisoned lakes. Suppressing a shiver, Katara squared her shoulders. "Fine. Let's go." Zuko remained mostly quiet on the trip. He helped her up the vine-rope without complaint, and led the way to a copse of trees due north. The trees clung tenaciously to the cliffsides, and their shape had long since bent to accommodate the winds that funneled through the crevasse. The sun still shone, although the warm rain continued pattering down on them. "How can it be sunny and raining at the same time?" "Sunshower," he said. He pointed west, to a thick line of gray clouds marching across the sky. If she squinted, she could see the silken lines of rain sluicing down from them. "Those are the ones we should be worrying about." Katara bit her lip. "Okay." "Don't worry, we'll be back before it hits." "I'm not worried." "Good, because you shouldn't." "I'm not." Zuko pulled his swords before they entered the scrub forest. "It's steep," he said. "Toph usually roots her feet a little before we go in." "Oh, and what do you do? Fly?" "Sort of," he said, and ran straight up the nearest tree. It had bent to a low angle, so that he could walk along the trunk as it curved parallel to the ground. "I chop, you gather," he said, swinging the swords. Mentally reciting several colorful words she'd learned during her time at sea with her dad and Bato, Katara trooped into the forest. To her chagrin, she discovered that Zuko was right: the footing was insecure at best and outright dangerous at worst. Her right foot rode higher than her left, the incline was so steep. She had to pick her way along tree roots and jutting rocks. This meant she moved much slower than Zuko; she was vaguely aware of him climbing, swinging, or just plain jumping from tree to tree above her head. His blades would glitter in the air, and another bough would fall down ahead of her. For a moment she thought of Jet, and she had to work hard to push the thought from her mind. "Slow down! You're going too fast!" "You're going too slow," Zuko said from a few trees ahead of her. "You can move faster than this. I've seen you." Katara bent and grabbed another prickly bough of wood. She shouted over the twigs: "Well, I wasn't aware you were taking notes! I'll be sure not to disappoint you, next time!" A pause, and the blades whirred through the air. Another bough crashed down to earth. "How did you do that, before?" It took her a moment to puzzle out his words. She was suddenly glad they weren't looking at each other. "I'm a waterbender. Blood is made of water. So I can bend it while it's still inside someone." She stepped forward and picked up more wood. "The woman who taught it to me said I could only do it during the full moon," she said, grimacing. "But I think I'm just a stronger bender than she was." "Don't be stupid," Zuko said. He was now much closer, somewhere directly overhead. "Of course you're stronger." Katara found herself hugging the sharp, knobbly twigs in her arms a little more tightly than she'd thought. It was one thing for her friends and family to cheer her on, or for her master to mark her as gifted. Hearing an enemy take her skills as given was something else entirely. "Thanks," she murmured. Then the burning in her ears got to her and she added: "That woman was once a Fire Nation prisoner, you know. She was from the Southern Water Tribe, just like me. And they put her in a cage and she went crazy." A bough fell before her feet, and she saw Zuko dart away through the trees, far away from her. Wishing she had a hand free to slap her forehead, Katara picked it up. Bending down, her spine popped and she sighed. Why did she always have to ruin things? He had just complimented her. He was trying to be nice. Not that his being nice meant she'd ever forgive him. But she could at least be civil and put aside the hard, cold lump that moved from her stomach to her throat when she pictured her mother falling down in the snow, pictured Aang's body plummeting to earth. A twig snapped in her hand. Then again, maybe not. In the distance, a second twig snapped. "Zuko?" Nothing. Her senses seemed to explode at once; she was suddenly and painfully conscious of each sound -- or rather, the lack thereof. The birds and insects had ceased their chatter. Goosebumps rose on her arms. Thunder shattered the air above her. Suppressing a shriek, she looked to the west. The clouds were much closer than they had been when they started out. A chill wind blew through the trees. "Zuko?" she asked in a much smaller voice. And other twig snapped. She wondered how long it would take to uncork her waterskins. Should she drop all the wood? Would that attract whoever was out there? "Zu-" Someone dropped into place behind her, clamped a hand over her mouth, and slammed her against a tree. Zuko. She bit him and he pulled his hand away quickly. "What were you thinking?" He was sweating. "Cover yourself in ice. Right now." "What?" "Right now, Katara." Lightning flashed and he pulled them away from the tree. Barely amoment later, thunder shuddered through the air. Zuko set his teeth. "There is a razor-toothed iguana-moose out there," he said. "It should have gone to ground in the storm. That means it's either hungry or crazy." "What does this have to do with me freezing to death?" He rolled his eyes. "They follow body heat. Make yourself cold." "Why, so you can just leave me here? We should go fight it together!" "If it's rabid, we can't let it bite both of us," he said. "We might spread the sickness to Aang." Katara hadn't thought of that. Her anger at not having thought of it was only matched by her indignation at being left behind. "How will I know if you've been bitten? Am I supposed to just sit here and wait for you to show up? What if the-" she had to avoid saying the word monster "-razor-toothed thing shows up first? What am I supposed to do?" "Kill it, then kill me," he said. "Didn't you say you could crush my heart? Here's your chance." "But what are you going to do?" "I'll distract it, lead it away." Lightning licked down through the darkening sky. The rain had begun in earnest. "If the storm gets bad, go home. If I'm not back tomorrow, don't bother finding me." She whipped wet hair from her eyes. "Could you be more melodramatic? You're going to get rid of this thing. Right?" He swallowed, and looked out into the damp, chilly darkness. "Right." "You'll be right back." "I'll be right back." "Because if you abandon me out here like this, Zuko, I swear to you I'll-" "You'll kill me. I know." He licked his lips. "I'm not leaving you. I'm just…finding dinner." Zuko turned to her and gave her an odd look as though he wanted to say something. His gaze settled on her necklace, and she found herself touching it. "Don't let that get wet," he said. "The leather will shrink." And then he was gone. "I know that," she said to herself, as she slowly began to coat herself in frigid armor. The necklace did get wet. So did everything else. Katara crouched in the mud, her body huddled against a rock -- no good hiding under a tree in a lightning storm -- and her arms hugging themselves. Zuko hadn't returned. How long had it been? An hour? It felt like longer. But everything felt longer when the night was closing in and the rain just wouldn't quit, and when the thunder kept returning for seconds and thirds. Why didn't I bring a lantern? Why didn't I bring a blanket, or something? She had tried bending the rain away from her. It worked for a while, but it distracted her enough that she worried about keeping her eye out for the razor-toothed menace. Then the hunger set in: her stomach said it was time for her to consider making dinner. Maybe that will lure Sokka out. Maybe he'll realize there's no food and he'll come looking for us. For the second time that day, it seemed as though the universe had heard her thoughts. A tallish shape emerged from the rainy shadows. She stood up, shedding the watery armor, for once grateful to see Zuko. Then she noticed the broad rectangle sprouting from the shape's back. Instantly, she assumed a bending posture. "Who are you?" A ball of flame appeared in the figure's hand, exposing a woman's wet face framed with stringy hair. She carried what appeared to be a large instrument case. "Just another woman lost in the rain," she said. "I think there's a little cave up a bit further. Would you like to share?" Katara thought about it for a moment. Even if Zuko's plan was a little stupid, she shouldn't just leave him behind. On the other hand, he had distracted one predator -- assuming he'd told the truth -- and she had the chance to distract another. Someone wandering out here at night was bound to find the crevasse, and might hear the goings-on in the Temple. And that someone might lead the Fire Nation to Aang. She smiled. "That sounds great," she said. "Thank you." "So," the woman asked as she measured out servings of boiling water, "what's a nice young lady like you doing out on a night like this?" Katara stuck her hands closer to the fire. She hadn't remembered how cold she could get just being wet; she didn't dare bend in front of this woman and now her clothes clung to her. She shivered. "I was gathering firewood with…" She bit her lip. What to say? She'd never refer to Zuko as her brother; that was just wrong. Her friend? No. "My cousin," she said quickly. "We got separated. He heard a noise and thought it was this big animal. He wanted to distract it, so he left." The woman whisked tea carefully in two bowls. She turned one in her hands before handing it to Katara. Katara smiled gratefully and curled her hands around the warm ceramic. "Thank you for the tea." "Nonsense. Sharing tea with a fascinating stranger is one of life's true delights." The woman frowned as she whisked. "Your cousin's plan sounds brave, but foolhardy," she said, lifting her own bowl of tea. She had the sort of quiet beauty that Katara envied most. Her hair streaked silver at the temples and she held her tea with a delicate grace despite her ragged fingernails and calluses. Katara nodded. "He's not too bright, sometimes." "I'm sure he will be fine." "Oh, I'm not worried," Katara said. "He's pretty strong when he wants to be." "I'm sorry, you just looked a little preoccupied," the woman said. Katara smiled tightly. "Just cold, I guess." "You poor thing, lost out in the rain." She sipped her tea. "Is it just you and your cousin?" "Yes." "You don't have any parents?" "Our mom and dad-" She stopped herself. "Well, my mother and his mother…" Quit messing this up! Figure out a story and stick to it! "They died in the war." She hurriedly sipped her tea. "I'm sorry," the woman said. For a moment her eyes seemed to gaze off into a distance that Katara couldn't see. Then she returned to herself and said: "Very sorry. And my manners seem to have left me. My name is Kuma." Katara smiled. "I'm-" "KATARA!" The shout was very distant. It seemed to drift away on the wind. Then it sounded again, closer, like the approaching thunder. Katara half-stood in the little cave. "I'm Katara," she said, and poked her head out. "That must be-" Zuko emerged from the shadows completely drenched and furious. He looked like her memories of him: eyes spitting fire, face wet. His hair hung down across his face and his boots squished water. He leaned in close: "What were you thinking? Do you know how long I've been looking for you? Don't ever-" "You're the one who took too long! I thought you were moose-meat!" "I said I would be right back! Why don't you ever believe me? I thought-" "Stop yelling at her this instant!" Zuko froze. He turned woodenly toward the cave. The storm suddenly seemed very loud. This close, Katara saw the muscles in his throat working up and down. His lips could barely move. "Mom?" His swords clattered to the cave floor. And then Katara had to move aside, because Kuma stepped out of the cave and into her son's arms. "My darling," Kuma said, gently covering Zuko's ruined ear with one hand. She leaned against him. "My darling." "Mom," he said, and Katara saw his eyes squeeze closed as he buried his face in her wet hair. Her name wasn't Kuma. It was Ursa. And she was a traveling guzheng player. "I've been collecting songs about the Avatar," she said, as she unfolded the instrument's legs. Her zither, while smaller than Katara had expected, was ornately carved in dragons and lotuses. The lotus reminded her of something, but she couldn't remember what. "There are quite a few, now." "There are songs?" Aang leaned forward on his knees. "Really?" "Yes, especially recently," Ursa said, smiling. Aang blushed. From the corner of the kitchen space, Katara thought she heard Zuko snort quietly. She looked at him quickly; he sat with his knees to his chest, a blanket still draped around his shoulders and his hair blown in every direction by a gust of Aang's bending. Katara imagined she didn't look much better: dress still covered in dirt, hair fluffy beyond repair, and eyes hollow with hunger. "Like what?" Aang asked. "Well, there's Happy Avatar Day and General Fong's Folly, and Fear Not, Little Arrowhead…" Sokka frowned. "What was that last one?" "Oh, it's a very peaceful song. I learned it from some kind, gentle nomads who claimed to have met the Avatar." Ursa flexed her fingers. "They also taught me some of their other songs. They said you enjoyed the one about the-" "Secret tunnel," Sokka said, slapping his forehead. "Oh yeah. We remember." "I can play it-" "NO!" Sokka, Katara, and Aang shouted. Silence. Katara cleared her throat. "I mean, do you know any others?" "Well, there's Hei Bai's Lament and The Ballad of Tui and La," Ursa said. She smiled. In unison, Sokka and Haru took on a dopey, happy look, like when Momo got his belly scratched. Even The Duke looked like he'd fallen in love. "There are even songs about each of you," she said. She looked to Katara. "There's The Coal-Bender's Friend, and The Painted Lady Returns-" "You've been following them?" Zuko stood. The blanket fell from his shoulders as he strode to the center of the room. He jerked a thumb at himself. "I was following them! This whole time I was trying to win Dad over and running away from Azula and you were following him?" He pointed at Aang, who seemed to shrink a little. "No," Ursa said in measured tones. "I was following you." Her face softened. "Sadly, I don't move as fast as a flying bison, or a Fire Navy ship." She tilted her head. "I've been gathering stories as I go, trying to learn as much as I can…" Katara waited for Zuko to say something. All eyes turned to him. The firelight flickered on his face, giving it odd, deep shadows, making it seem older and his scar uglier. His mouth opened, then shut. His gaze hit the floor. He opened his mouth a second time. "I-" "Oh no!" Toph yelped. "I forgot to feed Appa!" She knelt forward on the stones, patting them with her hand, doing the helpless blind kid bit from her Runaway act. "Sparky, can you help me?" "Of course," Zuko said, making a beeline for her. He crouched on the floor. "Get on." Toph climbed on his back and clung on. He looped her legs through his arms and she held his shoulders. Zuko stood and Toph said: "Gosh, I hope he's okay!" "Me too." And they marched out of the room, Toph bouncing lightly against Zuko's back. Katara frowned, looking between them and Ursa. She watched Ursa watching them. The former Fire Lady looked more than a little bewildered. Toph had that effect on people. "Would you like more tea?" Sokka asked, standing at Ursa's elbow with a towel hanging on one arm. Katara quickly bent mental ice-daggers at her brother. Don't flirt with Zuko's mom, she tried to say with her eyes. I'm just being nice, Sokka said, lifting his eyebrows at her. "More tea would be lovely," Ursa said, holding out her cup with both hands. Sokka made an elaborate bow before pouring. "My pleasure, my good madam," he said in his best stuffy manservant voice. He sounded like the butlers at the Bei Fong household. "You're quite the gentleman," Ursa said. "What service!" "Zuko used to work in a teashop," Aang said. "He and Iroh ran it together." Ursa smiled faintly. "Yes, I heard about that…" "Iroh's really smart," Aang said. "And he's, um, really kind to animals. Zuko and I met these people who used to know him, and-" "You saw the dragons?" Ursa asked. Her voice had gone quiet, apprehensive. Aang's eyes grew very round. "You know about the dragons?" Ursa gave Aang a very indulgent look. She gestured to the dragons entwined about her guzheng. One was lacquered blue, the other red. They coiled around one another. "These dragons?" Aang's jaw dropped. "Those are the ones!" He pointed. "I faced the red one!" "Ah, so Zuko faced the female," Ursa said. "That's…fitting." "The blue one's the girl?" Aang asked. "How do you know?" "Blue dragons hide high in the sky to camouflage the young, while red dragons use their bright coloring to distract other predators," Ursa said. She stroked the edges of her instrument, tightened a knob on one side. "The mother stays behind to protect her clutch, and the father goes off to battle." Katara's stomach flipped over. We might spread the sickness to Aang. I'll distract it, lead it away. Suddenly she was standing. "I'm, uh, just going to see what's keeping them," she said, nodding down the hall. And then she was running. "I'm not so good at families, either," Toph said. Toph and Zuko lay against Appa's fur, facing one another. They rose and fell with the great animal's sleeping breath. Zuko twisted white fur between his fingers. "It's just-" "Hi there, Sugar Queen." Guiltily, Katara stepped out of the shadows. Zuko instantly reddened and looked away. "Don't worry, she didn't hear much," Toph said, sliding down Appa's belly. "They're dancing up there; I'd better make sure Twinkletoes doesn't hurt himself." Zuko sat up. "I can carry you-" "Nah, I got it," Toph said, waving a hand. "Just don't keep your mom waiting too long. She might get ideas." Zuko's mouth opened, fish-like, then shut again. He drew his knees to his chest and fell back against Appa's fur. He stared up at the stable's high rafters. They were still beautiful a hundred years later, with smooth, polished wood setting off a fabulous trompe l'oeil ceiling. "What do you want?" Katara folded her arms. "Your mom is waiting for you." "I know." "She followed you all this way." "I know." "She knows about the dragons." Zuko directed his gaze at her. "Really?" "Yeah. She said you faced the female." "The blue one," Zuko said, nodding. Zuko's eyebrows furrowed. "Why would my uncle tell her about the dragons and not me?" His face pinched. "He never trusted me…" Zuko threw his hands in the air. "Of course he never trusted me, look at what I did!" He covered his face with his hands. "And now Mom knows, too…" Zuko peeked from between his fingers. "You love this, don't you?" Katara frowned. "What?" "My mom's been following me! She knows every bad thing I've ever done! She knows I betrayed my uncle and hunted the Avatar and fought you all those times! She knows everything!" Appa snuffled and abruptly rolled to his other side; the whole stable shook and Zuko stumbled to his feet. He brushed himself off. "So go up and tell her what a bad person I am," he said, lifting his face. "Tell her how I tied you to a tree and stole your necklace and everything else. I know you want to." Katara blinked. It was one thing for Zuko to beg and plead and throw himself on his knees and say how sorry he was. A small part of her expected that. Sooner or later, everyone fell down in front of Aang and pleaded for forgiveness or help or mercy. But Zuko wasn't a coward -- stupid, yes, and arrogant and a traitor -- and he never ran from a fight, not even from men twice his size. Zuko never gives up. So he had to be pretty sorry about everything, to hide from Ursa. He had to be pretty ashamed, to avoid his long-lost mother who clearly loved him enough to follow him despite what she heard. Katara blinked and tried to imagine what that kind of remorse would feel like, how heavy it would be, how it would weigh her down, and she thought of Aang's limp, dying body in her arms and how failure and regret felt like her friend's blood trailing down her aching, shaking limbs. She tried to imagine carrying that every day. "I don't know what you've heard," she said, turning away, "but I don't break rule number one." She peered at him from the corner of her eye. "I won't tell on you. Water Tribe people don't do that." "What?" Katara stepped up to him and began picking strands of Appa's hair from his clothes. "We were on Dad's ship for weeks and Sokka didn't tell on me once! Not about the pirates, or Jet, or anything else." She brushed his shoulders with both hands. "So I'll be nice. This time." "But you hate me," Zuko said. "This is your chance." Katara grabbed his tunic. "Look, I don't know how you do things back home, but this isn't your dad's house and I'm not your sister. I don't betray people." "I know you don't…" "Your mom is up there waiting for you! And she followed you all this way!" "I know that!" Zuko broke her grip on him and stepped away. "She doesn't know me! She's never seen me like this!" "Like what? Taller?" "Like this," Zuko said, pointing to the scar. "She's never seen my face." Katara rolled her eyes. "Who cares about your face?" "You do! It's the enemy's face, you said-" "I didn't mean it like that! You think I'm that shallow, Zuko? You think your mom is that shallow?" She stepped forward and jabbed him in the chest. "If you don't have the guts to face up to your own mother, then you don't have what it takes to be in this group." Zuko gently moved her pointing finger away. "Then maybe I don't have what it takes. Maybe I'm just ugly inside and out." Katara bit her lip. She gave Zuko's scar a hard look. Funny, how she couldn't really imagine him without it. "Do you know what I would give to have my mom alive to tell me I was ugly?" she asked in a tiny voice. "Do you?" And with that, she left. Upstairs -- downstairs, really, but up a few floors in number -- she found Aang trying to teach The Duke some of his oldest Fire Nation dance moves. The younger boy was a bit clumsy, but he tried his best. Mostly he kept staring at Ursa from the corner of his eye. Her fingers plucked the strings of her zither. She knelt before it, her hands flying through the air. Music rose in to the highest corners of the Temple. Sokka danced with Toph standing on his feet. They were terribly off-beat. "Katara!" Aang held his hand out. "Let's show Ursa our moves!" "Don't you want to try it with The Duke?" "I tried," Aang said. "He got kinda nervous." "I don't like being upside down," The Duke said. "We'll fix that," Haru said, laying a hand on The Duke's thin shoulder. "Come on, I'll show you how to do a cartwheel." The boys retreated, leaving the way clear for Aang and Katara. Smiling, Katara bowed, and assumed a bending posture. They began their dance. As before, Aang waited until they formed a tight circle before bending the air beneath her. Ursa's music grew livelier, as though she were responding to the dance. Toph began clapping. Sokka and Teo joined in. The air licked her toes and her neck and she saw the Temple ceiling, saw her feet above her head. "Wonderful!" Ursa said, still playing. "I'm doing it!" The Duke shrieked, standing on his hands with Haru's hands keeping a loose hold on his hands. "I'm upside down!" "Good for you!" Ursa shouted. "Way to go, Duke!" Haru said. "It's The Duke!" Katara sailed through the air. When she landed, Zuko was leaning against a column, watching. She stumbled a little and he caught her by the wrists. "He can see down your dress, you know," Zuko said in her ear. Her face flamed. She pushed herself away. She pointed a single shaking finger at the pots and pans. "Dinner," she said, sputtering. "Now." "Sparky just got told," Toph said. The music ended. Applause and whistles surged up from the audience. Ursa blinked at Zuko as he began arranging vegetables on the cutting surface. "Zuko cooks?" "Zuko does lots of things," Sokka said. "He cooks, he sews, he makes pottery, he dances with dragons." Sokka turned to her. "I'm sorry, but your son has turned into a complete girly-man." Toph promptly stamped her foot, twisted it, and made the nearest stone jump up and punch Sokka in the stomach. He doubled over. "Sparky burned my feet," Toph said, dusting off her hands. "But then he begged me to forgive him. He even crawled. So it's all okay now." "And he can run sideways on the wall, like this," Aang said, skimming the nearest column with his air-scooter. "But he's not even an airbender!" Ursa turned to Katara. "Do you have any stories?" Katara folded her hands. "Um…" "She and Sparky don't get along," Toph said. "To be fair, Katara's temper is legendary," Sokka said. "Like, there should be a song about it. You could call it Shortest Fuse in the South Pole, or something." "Sokka!" "I rest my case." "Dinner!" Zuko called, brandishing skewers. Teo got there first, and Haru "walked" The Duke there on his hands like a wheelbarrow. Toph sucked fruit off her skewer. She sat in the other seat of Teo's glider, her feet hanging off the edge. "I like mango as much as anyone, but how come we don’t eat papaya anymore?" "I hate papaya," Zuko and Katara said in unison. The whole room laughed, even Ursa, who seemed unable to help herself. She laughed behind her hand. "Zuko, may I please have one of those?" she asked, mastering herself. "Oh! Right. Sorry." Zuko handed her a skewer with both hands. The room paused as she took a tiny bite. She smiled. "Honey and spark-seed, just like the recipe your uncle sent from Ba Sing Se! That was years ago; how did you remember?" Katara turned to him. "You remember recipes from years ago, but you forget when it's your turn to make breakfast?" Ursa seemed to choke on her food. Aang patted her back. "Are you okay?" "Oh yes, I'm fine," Ursa said. "Zuko, this is very good. I don't know who taught you to make this-" "Uncle," Zuko said. "I watched him." "Iroh taught him all kinds of fancy bending too, and now he's teaching me," Aang said, his mouth full of vegetables. "Look!" Aang lunged forward, the skewer pointed out like a sword. Fire shot from the end of it, inadvertently scorching the vegetables. "Uh, that wasn't how it was supposed to go." "It rarely ever is," Ursa said. "But Zuko's still really good at firebending. You should see." Aang's eyes widened. "We should do a demonstration!" "What, like a talent show?" Sokka asked. His eyes popped. "A talent show! Sokka, you're a genius!" A collective groan rose from the crowd. Sokka's genius plan involved Teo and the Duke flying through the night air in their two-seater trailing a flaming rag; Sokka demonstrating both his boomerang ("and then it hit him like this, right between the eyes!") and his sword ("I made it myself!"), then testing the latter on Zuko's twin blades; Haru and Toph facing off (Toph won by a landslide, when she bent her bracelet into a blindfold); and Aang and Zuko performing the Dragon Dancing form. Ursa clapped. "That's amazing!" "And now you know why dancing was banned in the Fire Nation," Sokka said. "Actually, that is one reason it was banned," Ursa said. "The Fire Lords wanted no one establishing an alliance with the dragons." "Really?" Sokka raises his fists skyward. "My genius is confirmed! Eat that, universe!" "Yay…" The Duke said sleepily, and promptly put his head in Ursa's lap. Ursa's mouth made a little O of surprise and adoration. She stroked The Duke's hair away from his face. "Looks like it's past his bedtime," she said. "What bedtime?" Sokka asked. Ursa winced. Great. Now she thinks we're a bunch of helpless orphans in need of a mom. As though reading Katara's mind, Ursa looked up at her and said: "It must take all your energy to keep this crowd in line." "Oh, it's not that hard," Katara said, summoning a ribbon of water from one of her skins. She flicked her wrist and the water tripped Zuko over on his way to finding more skewers. "Hey!" "I want one, too," Katara said. Zuko picked himself up and made two fists. "There's only one," he said. "So you'd better come over here and get it." "Oh, no," Aang murmured. "Oh, yeah," Toph said. She folded her hands behind her head and lay down. "This is gonna be great." "You might want to move back," Teo said, wheeling backward. As an afterthought, he pulled his goggles down. Katara was already crossing to the center of the kitchen. She had two ribbons of water, now, and they hovered under her hands. Seeing them, Zuko waved his hands in the air and brought forth two fire-whips. They blazed in his hands. "Was once not enough for you, today?" "I just thought I'd give you the honor of a rematch," Katara said. She gave him her best pout. "You want to win your honor back, don't you?" "I never lost it," Zuko said, but he was already swinging the two whips at her. She jumped over them, and pushed a wave of water at him. Knocked backward, Zuko stumbled into the puddle of water. Katara quickly froze it around him. She raised it, freezing him to a pillar. "I'm sorry," he said, the ice around him already dripping, "I didn't know you were so hungry." Katara braced herself. "I'm starving." He exhaled a blast of fire. The ice shattered and he was running, firing volleys at her. She retrieved the water and made an ice slide for him. He ran straight up it and dove off with a flip, kicking leg trailing fire on the descent. Katara spun her water-whip, but he ducked it and inched in closer, hands on fire. He punched wide; she wove around it and kicked high. Water splashed his face. Katara took advantage of his momentary blindness and let the ice skate her away. Transforming it into needles, she sent them flying toward him. Zuko, his hands still aflame, batted them away as he came closer. He made two long arms of fire; sent them straight for her. She sucked up more water from the fountain, its glittering length briefly spraying their audience as it roared above their heads, and made her own arms. They locked, fell away, locked again. They swung their arms, their hips. "Feels like old times, doesn't it?" Katara asked, her elbows trembling with effort. "Don't tell me you missed this." He spun, joining his two arms into a great arrow of fire. Released, it blazed over her head. She rolled sideways, folding herself into a cocoon of water. A boom resounded through the Temple. Lifting her arms, Katara raised herself on a cyclone of water, her whole body leaning this way and that as she twisted a second ball of water from the fountain. She sent glittering shuriken of ice through the air. Smirking, Zuko darted around them, running straight for her pillar of water. Yelling, he jammed his hands inside, right up to the elbow. Katara frowned. A moment later, she understood: the water nearest her feet started to get very hot. Now I know how crawdads feel. Hissing, Katara popped free of the water. She soared, flipped over, and the water came with her in a broad swath; rain turned gold by firelight sluiced all around her. Thinking quickly, she froze it. Snow whistled down at Zuko, who stared up at her with legs braced and arms out. Shivering, he caught her and they rolled down into the fresh snow. He pinned her. Teeth chattering, he said: "Looks like I'll be eating seconds." "Oh, really?" Katara asked, and nodded downward. The ice dagger in her hand pointed straight for his belly. Zuko almost laughed. He rolled off her into the snow. Instantly, it began melting and pooling around him. He panted. Katara sat up. "That was-" "Great," Zuko said, still breathing hard. "Waterbending," Katara said, looking at Ursa. "I hope you enjoyed it." Ursa looked at her son lying in a melting puddle of snow, still dazed. "It was most…enlightening." "She beat the pants off him, as usual," Sokka said, yawning. "What else is new?" "Can I take my goggles off, now?" Teo asked. "I think it's safe," Haru said. Zuko sat up. He tilted his head to the right and tapped the left side. "How did you get water in my ear?" "Oh, be quiet. You'll live." Katara bent the snow around them into a cloud, and sent it over the side into the crevasse. "Ew, you stink." She bent the sweat right off him. It followed the cloud. Toph yawned hugely. She whistled. "Sparky! Tuck me in!" "Tuck you in? You're twelve! Do it yourself!" Zuko rose tiredly to his feet. He swayed unsteadily. "Let's go." "Carry me!" "No way." "I'll bet Iroh would carry me." Zuko cleared his throat. "Young lady, these old bones are very tired," he said in his Iroh voice. Ursa laughed outright. "Go ahead and tuck her in, Zu-Zu." "ZU-ZU?" Ursa knelt beside Katara as she wearily bent soapy water around a bowl. As she finished, she handed it to Aang to dry. "Here, let me," the former Fire Lady said. "My hands get so stiff playing; the warm water feels good." "Do you need a healing session?" Katara asked. "I'd be a fool to pass up the Painted Lady's healing touch," Ursa said. "But if you're too tired, please don't worry about it." "Oh no, it's fine," Katara said, taking the older woman's callused hand in her own. She summoned some water. A moment later, it began to glow. "Katara's really good at that," Aang said, blowing a spoon dry. "Magic," Ursa said softly. "Not magic, just bending," Katara said. She squinted at Ursa's sleeve. "I can mend that hole, too, if you want," she said. "See, it's unraveling." Ursa looked at the sleeve. The light inside her dimmed slightly. She picked at the threads. "This was how I felt about Ozai," she said. "Excuse me?" "When you hate someone, this is what happens," Ursa said, gently tugging a red thread away from the hole. It grew wider and wider. "You keep trying, but the hole just grows bigger until there's nothing left." The water flared bright blue. "Don't tell me you forgave Ozai," Katara said. "He banished you! He took your family away from you!" "From a certain point of view," Ursa said. "But from another, I chose to give Zuko up. Despite how much I loved him, I had to leave to keep him safe. I knew that when I chose to eliminate Azulon." The spoon clattered to the floor. Aang bent to pick it up, hiding his face. "You had to give him up?" he asked. "Yes. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. But it meant that he lived. And even though Ozai hurt him, he still found all of you." She smiled. "He turned out to be a pretty good bender, too! He's made such progress!" Katara goggled. "Progress?" "Oh yes, Zuko could barely execute a kick when he was small," Ursa said. She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial level. "Don't tell him I told you, but he was always a little bit clumsy." "Clumsy?" "I, uh, have to go," Aang said, standing. "Is something wrong?" Katara asked. "Do you not feel good?" "Just something I have to do." And then he was flitting away. Ursa's frown mirrored Katara's. "He's a very special boy, isn't he?" "You've got that right." That night, Katara heard Zuko and Ursa and Aang moving about the Temple long into the night. Funny, how she could already distinguish between their footsteps. Maybe this is how Toph does it. She waited until Zuko passed her door for the third time in an hour before finally opening it. "What?" He startled. "Can't sleep." "Can you not sleep somewhere else? I'm tired." Zuko rubbed the back of his neck. "I know, I'm sorry." His good eye widened. "You're not hurt, are you?" "Pfft. Please. You? Hurt me? You can't even touch me." "Mom says you're a really great bender. She was really impressed." "Well, she's impressed with you, too, Zu-Zu," Katara said, rubbing sleep from her eyes. "She told you that? Really?" "Don't act so surprised! You're her son! Of course she's proud of you!" He looked at the floor. "I've done such terrible things…" Sighing, Katara threw her hands in the air. She re-entered her room, intent on finding a lace to tie her hair back with. To her surprise, Zuko had followed her. "I'm really sorry," he said. "I know you're sorry," she said, pushing her hair to the side and beginning to braid it. "Really sorry." "Zuko, I know how sorry you are." "No, you don't," he said. "I know you'll never forgive me, I know you hate me-" "Shut up, Zuko. Stop putting words in my mouth." Instantly, he silenced. Katara concentrated on finishing her braid, not looking at him. "Aang's right," she said. "We aren't going to win this war if we keep fighting amongst ourselves. And if I… If we don't learn to let go, we'll just end up…unraveling." She took a deep breath and looked at him. "But the truth is that every time I think about forgiving you, it feels like I'm betraying my mom." His mouth fell open. He stared again at the floor. "I understand." "No, you don't," Katara said, pulling her braid out of its knot. "I don't like hating you, okay? I don't like who I am when I'm fighting you." "You don't?" "Well, I like the bending part," Katara said quickly. "Just not the being angry part." Silence. She ran her fingers through her hair. Zuko watched them. "Maybe…" He squared his shoulders. "No, forget it." "What? What were you going to say?" He made to leave. "Nothing. You wouldn't like it." "Tell me now!" Zuko turned. "Maybe…" He licked his lips. "Maybe we could make the bending a regular thing. Like…practice." Katara let her hair go once more. "Together?" He nodded, stepping closer. "It can't hurt to train a little bit more," he said. "And even if you did get hurt, you could always heal yourself." "That's true…" She bit her lip. "Aang wouldn't like it…" "He doesn't have to know," Zuko said, his voice strangely low, like there were already a secret to keep. "We could wait until he's training with Toph." How had they gotten this close? He radiated heat. "It might help," she murmured. "We could try getting it out of our system…" "Exactly." She was nodding. "It did feel like old times tonight, didn't it?" "Like home," Zuko said. "And you won't get any better if you don't get a challenge once in a while…" "You wouldn't have to hold back." Katara couldn't suppress a nervous little laugh. "You promise?" "I promise." He swallowed. "Think about it." The moment broke and he stepped away, turned for the door. Then he turned on his toe and said: "Oh, I forgot. Mom says…" He was breathing too lightly, and he was pushing the half-braid away from the left side of her face, he was too quick on his feet these days, "Mom says…" "What does she say?" Katara whispered. He moved and his mouth was just at the corner of hers, warm and dry and soft, and his fingers were in her hair. Her cheek burned when he pulled away. "She says goodnight," he said. "Okay," Katara thought she heard herself say, though blood thundered in her ears. This is how it's supposed to feel like. Right now, this minute, is what first kisses are supposed to be. Swallowing, Zuko pulled away. His fingers trailed down her arm as he left. He was at the door: "So, tomorrow," Katara said. He turned, smiled. "Tomorrow." THE END Hello!!!! Charaters i play. 1 Luna Lightheart (Night pack leader) 2.Lupin (in Blood pack.) 3. Abby Butterdream (Loner) 4) Tim toughttime in Nightpack 5) Blacktip 6) Vilote flower pack I wrote the book so its all copy write, more comign soon. =) ~Frost  Luna (when shes a bit mad....) <- Tim Luna while on her quest, thinking of tim.  Luna (sz bout eyes) Luna  Luna while mophing (younger) Luna Younger Luna Vilote (left) and sister (Lilly) right Abby and rain agian. Luna and Vanni (younger) Luna agian Blacktip (above blood pack)  Blacktip agian  Abby  Abby agian.  Abby with her (now dead) sister Sorry bout the eyes(Abby Butterdream)  (yet agian Abby) Sorry bout eyes agian Abby as mage. Abby (left) and her best friend who is missing Rain How Luna feel's at one point. (luna) Abby (left younger) Abby(younger) Abby upset Tim Time agian Ah!!! It's Luna and Tim Abby agian. oh my god i love this picture  nother ranodm pic.I drew none of these
Latest page update: Feb 27 2009, 3:49 PM EST
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