Chapter 1
Good-bye Western Air Temple



Wham
Zuko was smashed up against a wall and when he tried to see who had attacked him, he was hit with another wave.  He felt something pierce through the flesh of his arms and legs which had pinned him to the wall behind him and he let out a loud scream.  He looked to his left and saw that the spears that had struck him was and ice dagger and then up at his attacker.  Zuko’s attacker was no one other than Katara, his once enemy.

All of a sudden, Zuko’s eyes began to widen and his stomach dropped.  He couldn’t move a muscle, and his body was totally useless.  Zuko looked deeply into Katara’s eyes and found only sadness, brokenness, and most of all was hatred for him.  He tightly shut his eyes as the waterbender shot one last ice dagger at his face.

“AAAAAHHHHH!” screamed Zuko as he tossed the blankets off of him and immediately sat up in his bed, sweat almost pouring out of his hair.  He realized he was back in the Western Air Temple.  He dug his hands into his thick hair and said to himself that he had to make things right with the waterbender.  He got up and put his shirt on and whipped the sweat off his head.  Once he was done he walked out of his room and started towards Katara’s room.

Once he got there he knocked but no one had answered so he went in.  For some odd reason, Zuko wasn’t so supprised by this.  At the thought of where she would be he closed the door and walked to the fountain to find her standing in it practicing her waterbending.  She was where nothing but her outfit from under her usual clothes.  Zuko started to walk towards the young girl and was stopped when he felt a huge stream of water wrap around his body and pull him towards the one who had forced the water to grab him.

He had stopped at the edge of the fountain so he wouldn’t fall into it.  “What do
you want with me now?” asked Katara without letting go of Zuko or even looking at him.

“I’m here to apologize to you, to settle what happened in the cave between us,”

Katara’s hold on him tightened and Zuko was feeling it getting harder to breathe but calmly waited for her response.  He watched as water formed on the tips of Katara’s fingers and hardened to ice as if they were claws.  Katara, without warning, spun around and swung her clawed hand with her.  The ice went flying off her fingers and just narrowly missed Zuko’s head and he heard then hit something wooden.  Katara let out a “Yes,” with a smile and released Zuko to allow him to turn around.  When he did, he saw that the five ice claws had hit the center of five targets, each on a different column.

‘I thought she was really gonna kill me’ Zuko thought as a drop of sweat ran down the back of his neck.

He looked back at Katara but her expression went back to an angry expression.  “If you’re planning to tell me some lies just to make me feel bad for you, you might as well go back to bed,”

“I’m not here to trick you, I’m here to explain myself and I’m prepared to do whatever it takes to earn your forgiveness.”

“Well you can’t have it.”

“Well I won’t just give up.  Can I at least explain myself for now?”

“Fine, go ahead.  We have a few hours until everyone else gets up,”

With that she waterbended an ice seat and sat down while Zuko sat indian stile on the edge of the fountain.  Zuko sat there wondering where to begin.

“You can start with why you betrayed me in the caves,”

“Okay.  Now when we were talking, I really did mean what I said.  The thing is, I hadn’t cared about capturing the avatar until him and my uncle came bursting in.  I was really taken back by what you had said about your mother.”
“Then why did you betray me?” Zuko could see Katara trying to hold back her tears and went on.

“I did it because as soon as you left my sister came and trapped my uncle.  She told me that if I helped her, I would be able to come back home and have my father’s love,”

“You can’t win a father’s love, Zuko, or anyone’s for that matter,”

“I know that now.  But anyway, she had reminded me of everything that I had wanted for so long and my uncle tried to convince me that she couldn’t give me what I had wanted.  She left me to decide while she went after you two.”

“And that’s when you betrayed me.”

“After you escaped and my uncle was thrown in prison, Azula and I went back to the thrown room.  I said that I had betrayed uncle but she said he had betrayed me and how I had restored my own honor that day.  Shortly after that we returned to the fire nation and few hours after we were back in the palace, I saw my father.  The only thing was that he had never said once that he had missed me or worried about me while I was gone for three years.  All he said was that he was proud of me for helping conquer Ba-Sing-Se, for helping Azula, for capturing my uncle, and for killing the avatar-“ Katara had remembered exactly what happened in the caves.  Azula had killed him.  “You’re saying that you lied and told your father that you killed Aang!?” questioned Katara furiously.  “No, I didn’t.  Azula had told him that.  When I went to her that night asking her why she told our father that I had killed him, she said that she did because I was so worried that he still wouldn’t accept me that she gave me all the glory for it.”

Katara was astounded but refused to let it show so she she kept her eyes on the water slipping past her legs and started to talk.

“So now, what convinced you to all of a sudden switch sides.  I’m guessing it was your uncle.”

“Well you’re partially right.  Somehow he was able to get in and out of his prison without anyone noticing.  He left me a note saying that I needed to know how my great-grandfather died.  I thought he was talking about my father’s grandfather but he meant my mother’s grandfather.  Both of my great-grandfathers were best friends.  They shared a birthday and almost everything else they had,”  a small laugh escaped Zuko’s lips.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, I was just thinking about what your reaction to who my mother’s grandfather was will be,”

“Well if your so anxious to find out then tell me,”

“Okay.” He took a deep breath and continued.  “It’s Avatar Roku,” Zuko had not once taken his golden eyes off  Katara’s blue ones.  He waited for her to say something.  “S-so you helped because Aang’s related to you?”

“Also because when I was back at home, I was always just so confused and angry at myself because I felt like I didn’t know the difference between right or wrong.” Zuko could tell that his explanations weren’t getting anywhere by the sad expression in Katara’s eyes.  He was at the least happy that he had finally told her everything he felt she should know.  Out of the corner of his eye, Zuko saw a large blue and white bird with a very large, sharp, long, beak and set of claws darting towards Katara.  Without thinking, Zuko jumped towards Katara and dragged her down into the fountain with his eyes tightly closed, the large bird narrowly missing his head.  As they fell Zuko could feel Katara’s arms tightly wrap his around his neck and her head rest over his left shoulder, the side of her face pressed against his scar.  He opened his eyes and found that he was on top of Katara, his torso between her legs and their heads above the water and only a few inches away from the others.  Zuko could see the now furious waterbender’s hair floating around her.
He could have stayed there all day if he hadn’t known he was going to be yelled at.  “Zuko, why on earth did you just tackle me for?!” he was brought back to his senses and said:

“Because that bird was about to kill you!” he said as he pointed to the bird now perched on Katara’s ice seat.  “Oh, that’s a bird from the Northern Water Tribe,” she said with almost no expression but Zuko could tell that she was excited to see the large bird.  She slowly released the boy from her grasp and her arms slid into the water.  Both of his arms were in the water at the side of both of her shoulders.  “Zuko, you can get off me now you know.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry,” he said as he very slowly and carefully got off of Katara and helped her up.  The two stepped out of the fountain and Katara waterbended the water out of their clothes an back into the fountain which poured straight off the end of the water line.  Zuko watched as Katara walked to the bird and took the letter from its leg.  She read it thoroughly and then a second time.  She set the paper down in her pocket and let the large bird climb on her shoulder.

“Doesn’t that hurt you at all?”

“No.  I’m pretty familiar with this blue jay eagle.  I used to take care of it while we were in the Northern Water Tribe so it’s pretty gentle with me.”

“Are you okay?  You seem like that letter worried you.”

“You said you wanted to regain my trust didn’t you?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I’ll tell you what it said but you can’t tell anyone else.  Especially not Aang or Sokka.”

“Okay, but why wouldn’t you want your brother or the Avatar to know about the letter?  I figured that they would be the first people that you would tell,”

“I know I should, but……it’s just that there’s a part that I don’t want anyone freaking out about, especially them.  The only other two people than you that I would tell would be Toph or Haru.” As Katara had said ‘Haru’ Zuko had felt a bit jealous of the male earthbender.  “So, what did it say?

“Well the first part said how that since the waterbenders that traveled to the Southern Water Tribe had finished rebuilding it that they were ordered to the Northern Water Tribe.  It said that they were getting an army ready for an attack on the fire nation and that they were waiting for my return to lay the attack-,” Katara was cut off by Zuko as if on her que.

“Wait, don’t you mean that they would be waiting for the avatar,” he asked wide eyed.

“No, I mean me,”

“Oh sorry, I thought . . . . . um,” Zuko had found himself dumbfounded by this.

“It’s alright, that’s sort of that took me by surprise too.  The second part was what I really wanted to tell you,”

“What is it?”

“It . . . . it said that I’m the princess of the Southern Water Tribe and that Sokka’s the prince.  It said that they were all waiting for me because since I’m the greatest waterbender there is, that I’m in charge of all of the military for both tribes.  I guess I wanted to ask you about it because you’re a prince,” she held her folded legs close to her body and waited for the prince to say something that she hoped would comfort her.

“To tell you the truth, I had always wanted to be apart of all of the military forces and know more about it.  That’s how I got banished, I wanted to go into a war meeting but the guards wouldn’t let me in.  My uncle came and asked me what was going on and I told him that if I was to rule one day that I should be able to know what the meetings were like,”

“And he let you in?”

“Yes, but he warned me not to speak.  When I was in there the general had spoke of using a whole fleet of new recrutes as bait on Ba-Sing-Se while more experienced soldiers came in as a sneak attack.  I knew he was wrong so I got up and said that he couldn’t just use those men like that but by doing so, I showed disrespect and the only way to resolve that is Agni-Ki.  I thought I was supposed to face the general and said that I wasn’t afraid.  But when I turned to face my opponent it was my own father.  I begged him for mercy and he gave me this,” he said as he placed his hand on his scar and continued.  “After that I was banished and sent to capture the avatar.  I guess that all I can tell you is to do whatever you think is right.”

“Thanks . . . . . well than I guess that we need to set a course for the Northern Water Tribe once everyone is done with breakfast.” Katara decided and she stood up and Zuko followed.

All of a sudden, the earth began to shake and Katara fell on top of Zuko, nearly kissing him.  They scrambled to get up as they heard the rumbling a second time.  Zuko and Katara were now back to back as they saw two dragons fly straight up and to where the two benders stood.  Without stopping the red and blue dragons surrounded Katara and Zuko and finally landed.  The red dragon stood in front of Zuko and the blue in front of Katara.

“What are the masters doing here?” Katara heard Zuko mumble to himself so Katara did not draw any water to her trusting the two mighty dragons.  Katara examined the dragon in front of her and could spot a feminine charm in its face and as her gazed traveled it stopped at its left hand.  It was holding something.

“Zuko,” she whispered.

“Yeah,” he answered, also unarmed.

“The dragon, it’s holding something,”

“Listen, do you remember how to do the firebending move that Aang and I did, the Dancing Dragon?” Katara could tell what he was thinking.

“Yeah, let’s do it.” And with that, they started the Dancing Dragon.  Each move was performed with great care and at the precise moment the other did it.

Once they came to an end, they stood perfectly still for a few seconds.  Each of Katara’s knuckles were perfectly laid on each of Zuko’s.  When they released their stances, they stared deeply into the eyes of the dragons standing in front of them.  Katara took a few steps back until she hit Zuko’s back.  He could feel her trembling on her back and grabbed her hand to reassure her that they would be alright and that if anything was to happen he would protect her.  She could only gently squeeze his hand back.

After about seven seconds, Katara let go of Zuko’s warm hand and started to walk towards the blue dragon in front of her.  Zuko quickly looked back at her and decided to follow her example of bravery and turned back to face the red dragon.  He walked towards it and the dragon held its hand out in front of Zuko so he reached his arms under its closed claw just as Katara was currently doing.
Katara watched as the blue dragon lowered its closed claw down into her palms.  Katara felt something slowly fall into her hand.  Something sort of round.  Something . . . . . . alive.  Once the dragons’ palms left Zuko’s and Katara’s hands, it revealed a large egg in front of each of them.  Katara’s egg was a light blue that looked like it was covered with frost.  Zuko’s egg was a deep red that looked as of it were covered with fire.

“Can we tell anyone?” asked Katara.  She was only to be answered with the feminine blue dragon gently shook its head to signify a no.  “Okay,” she answered Katara with a twinge of gilt that she won’t be able to tell Aang or Sokka at the very least even the duke.  No, now the only one she could talk to about this was Zuko.  It pained her but she knew that no one else could know about the eggs until they were hatched and fully grown.

Katara now watched as the dragons took flight and had gone, leaving Katara once again alone with Zuko.  Zuko turned to look at her and when he did, he saw her staring down into the mist of the canyon.  He decided to approach her and as he did, he decided to speak.

“Are you okay?”

“What do you care?”

“Obviously enough to wonder why your upset.  Now what’s on your mind?”

“I . . . I guess I saw something in that dragon’s eyes.  It’s nothing.”

“Well than I guess we should go hide these in our rooms then.”

“. . . . . yeah . . . . . we should,”

And with that, Zuko and Katara made their ways back to their rooms.  When Katara got to her room she was about to hide the egg in her bag she decided to get a drink of water.  She accidentally spilled a drop on the egg. She watched as it fell and landed on top of her egg.  Within a second, it quickly froze.  She quickly laid her hands on the frosty egg.  As she moved her hand throughout its shell, she noticed that it was quite warm.  She quickly but gently placed the egg into her bag and ran strait towards Zuko’s room with her canteen in her hand.  She saw his door open and ran straight in and stopped directly behind him so he wouldn’t hit his kneeling form thus probably crushing his egg.

“Zuko,”

“Yes?”

“I don’t know if this means anything but did you possibly spill any water on your egg?”

“No, why?  Did you?” as he said this, he turned to face her standing form.  His egg in hand.  “Yes I did.  I wanted to know what happened when water touched yours.  Do you mind if I spill a drop on yours?” Zuko had remembered all the books he had read about dragons when he was younger and nodded.  She kneeled down next to him and waterbended a small drop of water out of her canteen and onto the egg.  Zuko and Katara both watched very closely to the egg.  In a second, the small drop of water turned into a small flame.  When the flame had disappeared, the droplet had gone.

“The water on mine froze.  Does that mean anything?” asked Katara softly.

“I don’t know.  I’d once read that stuff like that would rarely happed, but I’ve never heard of the water freezing.  It would always burn.  But I don’t really know what it means,”

“Well than I guess that we’ll just have to find out when they hatch.  I guess that we should go back to the fountain,”

“Okay,” said Zuko and he put the egg into his bag and followed Katara back up to the fountain.  When they got there, Aang was there and ready for some more firebending lessons.

“Good morning, Katara,”

“Good morning, Aang,”

“I’m ready for some firebending, Sifu Hotman.” Said Aang with a lot of enthusium.  Katara could tell that Zuko’s temper was rising tremendously but was glad he answered calmly.

“Okay, let’s go,” he said.  As they left, Katara sat down and started to get breakfast ready.

As though on cue, Sokka came out with Toph in his arms the moment the rice was done.  After that came Haru, then Tao, then The Duke.  Everyone sat around Katara as she handed out the food.  Of course, Sokka finished first and had about two more bowls until he was full.  By that time, everyone but him and Toph had already left to go have some fun.  As he was about to leave, Katara pulled him back down.

“I need to talk to you and Aang,”

“Okay, can I have some more rice?”

“Huh . . . . fine,” she said as she dished him out another bowl of rice and handed it to him.

After a while, Aang and Zuko had finally came back.  Katara dished out two bowls of rice for Aang and Zuko.  Aang sat down next to Sokka wondering what he was still doing there.  Once Zuko had his food, he started to walk to his room.

“Hey Zuko, where are you going?  Don’t you want to eat with us?” Aang asked curiously with a mouth full of rice.

“No, I have a feeling you guys are about to have a long talk,”

“He’s right, Aang.  I do need to talk to you guys.  That’s why Sokka’s not practicing with his sword,” Katara quickly said before Aang could question Zuko.

“Well I’ll leave you all to talk,” said Zuko who was answered with Aang calling goodbye to him.  Of course Zuko just acted like he didn’t hear anything and kept on walking.

It took Katara a while to explain how the Northern Water Tribe was preparing their armies for another attack on the Fire Nation and that they would not go through with the attack until they arrived.  Sokka made it clear that the eight of their group would split up into three smaller groups to gather more troops.  Aang’s group would have Toph and Haru and they would travel back to Ba-Sing-Se to get men and bring them to the Northern Water Tribe.  Sokka’s group would have Teo and The Duke so they could blend in more when they went into villages, which they would do a lot since they had to go into villages and gather troops and ostrich horses to take to the Northern Water Tribe.

Of course, Katara was left with Zuko and they had to go to the freedom fighters’ forest hideout and get whomever wanted to help them fight and of course bring them to the Northern Water Tribe.  It was just her luck that she would get stuck with Zuko.

Aang quickly finished his breakfast and flew down the cliff on his glider to get a form of transportation for Sokka and Katara’s groups.  Sokka went around telling everyone to pack their stuff and explain what was going on to everyone else other than Toph since she was sitting by the fountain with Katara and heard everything.  Katara stayed with Toph by the fountain, she was packing individual packs of food for everyone that would last them a week seeing as they had to meet up at the Northern Water Tribe in about one week.

After a while, Aang came back up with three giant eagle cheetahs.  They were all tied on their beaks with rope and their wings were tucked into the sides of their backs.

“Aang, I think we need two more.” Said Katara.

“Sorry, this is really all I could find and I figured that Sokka and The Duke would share one and that you and Zuko could share another one while Teo got his own.” Said Aang giving the end of the ropes to Katara.

Katara looked and was annoyed just thinking of having to share a ride with him.  “Huh . . . . okay just go and get your stuff ready and we can go.” She said and he went running off to pack.  As he went the three animals he had caught approached Katara and sat next to her.  She gently, one by one, stroked the top of their heads.

When Katara had finally finished making the packs of food, she saw Zuko come out to the fountain area and sit in front of her.  Katara had continuously stroked the animals and tried not to notice the scarred boy.

“Here, I got your bag so no one would find the egg,” he said while handing her the bag.  She gradually turned to Zuko, took it and thanked him.  “Here’s your food,” she handed him the pack and he took it and packed it away without dropping it on the egg.

“Thank you,”

“No problem,” Katara answered him with no emotion at all in her voice.

Soon everyone was standing next to the fountain, including Toph since Katara finished healing her feet.  Everyone now had their food and putting their bags on their backs.  Katara and Sokka fastened Teo onto the giant eagle cheetah and was handed the reins.  Aang, Toph, and Haru jumped onto Appa and The Duke sat behind Sokka on the second giant eagle cheetah.  On the third one was first Zuko sitting in the font, holding the reins, and Katara tightly holding onto his waist.  Everyone said their goodbyes and farewells.  They turned their separate ways and took off.  Katara made sure that the eggs were okay and fastened tightly to the two benders backs while they took off and flew into the sky.

Katara could only wonder what would happen through this long week.  Pondering how things would go with just her and Zuko.