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Katara doesn’t know what to think.
Blue- Zuko just turns up again, after leaving them to die in Ba Sing Se, telling them about how this is always where he was supposed to be and how he had to “walk his own path” or whatever and just so happens to reveal he’s the long dead son of the Firelord.
She knows he’s still the same person who tried to save the Northern Water Tribe, who decided to help Toph when she was alone, who freed Appa under Lake Laogai, but he was also always the child of the man who’s destroying the world.
Azula’s brother.
She shivers at the thought.
It’s not like he’s dangerous, he has never hurt them nor does she think he will, but there’s still the fact he lied. Lied to them all.
He never was just a wanderer, someone forced to upend their life because of the war, cursed by a spirit to to their dirty work because he fought to stay alive.
He was a prince, a soldier, who got swept off his warship in enemy waters.
She spent so much time traveling with someone who arguably profited of this war which took away so much from her.
Whenever she looks at him now, she doesn’t know what to see anymore.
She sees Blue, the drifter who begrudgingly decided to help them when it was just her, Sokka and Aang.
And then she looks into his hair and her eyes fall on the hairpiece of the princes, and all she can see is the amalgamation of all the monsters who decided they deserve to rule the world.
Blue is still her friend, but she knows nothing about Zuko.
-
Sokka and Bl- Zuko came back with dad and Suki!
They were all anxiously waiting to hear back from them, their trip was taking far longer than they thought, but at least they had a semblance of a good reason.
She'll get to that. Later...
Dad looks just like the day they had to leave him behind in the capital, and she immediately beelines to hug him.
She feared the worst when they were forced to surrender, that she'd never get to see him again, that the Fire Nation would once again show it's cruelty, but --thank the Spirits-- luck was on their side.
They all settle down, every other plan for the day canceled to catch up. They sit together for hours, exchanging stories and explaining plans. Their circle stays together until the night starts to move in.
Sokka recounts to Suki what happened after they split up at the Serpent’s Pass, the coup in Ba Sing Se, their journey through the Fire Nation and the failed Invasion. They all pitch in their side of the story and try to piece together the whole story from their different perspectives.
Only once it gets so dark Aang lights the campfire in the middle of the Air Temple’s courtyard does she realize, Zuko's nowhere to be seen.
-
It’s late, when their conversations have already started to die down, when he ends up joining them around the fire.
He walks into the courtyard, steps silent as ever, and moves to sit next to Toph and Sokka at the fire. His hair is down, the hairpiece he started to wear so much lately in his hands.
She looks away from him back to dad next to her, just making sure once more that he isn’t just an apparition. She knows he isn’t, but she still finds it hard to believe he’s actually here.
What she sees however leaves her wondering; Dad is looking at Zuko strangely, his face is twisted up in something that resembles surprise, but somehow she also sees his eyes twinkle in a way that usually means he thinks something is funny.
Zuko is setting his hairpiece back in with practiced ease, expertly tying his hair pack and affixing the metal. The gold ornament shimmers beautifully in the fire.
Is he surprised a guy would wear something like it? Does he think it looks funny?
She’s about to ask dad what's going on in his mind, but just as she opens her mouth Aang decides it’s time to extend story-time.
“Hey Zuko! Now that you’re here, why don’t you tell us a story? We’ve all been catching up with one another, and you must have tons of fun stories!”
The courtyard falls silent.
He just stares at Aang blankly, his functioning eyebrow raised just slightly: “Most of my stories aren’t very fun.”, he claims matter- of- factly, and from what she knows of him, she would agree.
Aang is not deterred however: “Come on, I want to hear something form you for once! Maybe something about how you worked for the spirits? Or how you got into your pact? There has to be something to tell there!”
Zuko sighs and shrugs: “That’s not really a story. I just got swept off my ship and swept up on an island. There was nothing but a shrine there, so when I starting going hungry and delirious I started to pray.”, he pauses and shrugs again, “And when I woke up I was in that lousy contract. That’s it.”
They are all quiet, impressed by his refusal to tell an actually interesting story in an interesting way.
“And what happened then? That can’t be all, right? How did you get off the island?”, it seems like Aang is determined to hear this story, Zuko’s refusal to tell be damned.
“The spirits somehow had a boat show up on the island, and from then on they always just told me what to do. I fulfilled the favours until you showed up and you know the story from there.”
Suki leans forward to look at Zuko from her spot next to Sokka: “When did you come to Kyoshi Island? You were still wearing Fire Nation clothing when we caught you.”
Sokka sputters next to her: “Wait! You were on Kyoshi Island?”; he looks from Zuko to Suki repeatedly, dumbfounded, mouth hanging open, “You two knew each other this whole time?”
The two just nod: “Yeah.”, they say in unison, blinking hard like they don't get why that would be surprising.
“She tried to feed me to the Unagi.”, Zuko adds as if it is a little fun- fact, pointing with his thumb at Suki.
Sokka groans and buries his face in his hands. She gets it.
Zuko continues undisturbed, answering Suki's original question: “And I came to Kyoshi Island immediately after making the contract. That was my first favour.”
She hums in response, and that seemingly the end of that conversation, Katara takes the chance to ask Zuko something herself.
“What did you do while you were in the Fire Nation?”
She knows he might just decide to stay quiet if he doesn’t like her question, but she still had the need to ask anyway.
He looks startled, but quickly regains his composure. Slowly, he moves a bit further away from the fire. ...From them.
“I, uh, just stayed at the palace most of the time? Father didn’t really want me there, so I just...”, he shrugs again, “...spent some time with Azula.”
“How do you spend time with Azula?”, Katara asks incredulously, the question spilling out of her before she can stop herself.
What can you even do with that monster? Kill little animals for fun?
Zuko shrugs again dejectedly: “Well, .. Sometimes we’d train together, sometimes we’d talk a bit, and most of the time she’d just stare at me and then leave.”
Toph nudges him: “You’ve certainly got the most friendly relatives out of all of us.”
That earns her a snort: “You’ve got no idea.”, he comments, and the conversation dies down once more.
At least he wasn’t killing little animals for fun with Azula...
Sokka has his thinking face on, rubbing his chin and one eyebrow raised: “What do you mean your father didn’t want you at the palace? Why would he not want both his children home?”
Katara almost forgot he mentioned that part. She watches Zuko for his response.
The Firebender looks uncomfortable, staring into the fire dejectedly, but he answers anyway after a beat: “He never wanted me to come home, it was Azula’s decision to take me back. He only let me stay because I maybe would have become useful at some point.”
“He knew I helped you, and he made sure I would know about what would happen if I stop being loyal to him.”
He shivers visibly: “He always knew how to make his points, sometimes I was just to blind to see it.”
Toph starts to lean closer to Zuko. The campfire is deadly quiet.
“What do you mean by that?”, Aang asks innocently, and Katara doesn’t know if he genuinely has no idea about what was just implied, or just can’t believe what he just heard.
Zuko stills. He sits at the fire like a statue. His head turns to face Aang directly.
“...Look me in the eyes.”, he breathes out, the words barely audible (and Katara wishes they weren’t audible at all).
Aang’s eyes go big and round, and he slinks together where he sits. She understands.
There’s no follow- up, they just stay around awkwardly waiting in silence for someone to bring up another topic that doesn’t involve the Firelord torturing his own children.
Dad suddenly leans forward, head propped up on one of his fists: “I’ve got another story to tell.”, he says, and his eyes wander from one person to the next, looking for any objections.
At the lack of such (no one would object a story from dad after all), he starts setting the scene.
“This was quite some time ago, but I couldn’t tell you when exactly. Me and my men, we were sailing out of the Earth Kingdom when we were attacked by Firebending and sword- wielding thief.”
He looks over them once more, trying to gauge their reactions to the story’s beginning.
At the apparent budding interest, he continues: “This thief tried to steal one of our ships, and fought hard against us to get it. He fought not one, not two, not even five of us for it, but nine hardened Water Tribe warriors.”
Katara sees Sokka lean forward to hear better, he always liked stories about the crew.
“He fought with fire and steel, and when we finally got him he was just a-“
“You don’t have to do this.”, Zuko suddenly interjects from across the fire, his voice stern and serious. Katara didn’t even notice him standing up, too focused on dad’s story.
Aang frowns next to her: “Do what?”, he questions.
Katara would certainly like to agree. Do what?
Zuko shakes his head: “That’s me. He’s talking about me.”, he motions at dad with one of his hands.
Katara’s head swivels to look at her father. That can’t be true right?
Dad is staring at Zuko intently.
“I didn’t think you would catch up to what I was doing so fast. I’m sorry that it’s not what you wanted. I thought it would be fun to tell the story like that.”
Sokka’s eyes go big and round, his head turns to look at dad and Zuko repeatedly: “You two met as well? How is that even possible?!”, he exclaims, disbelief evident in his voice.
Toph quips: “Looks like Sparks got around way more than we did.”
Zuko’s face twists into a face of displeasure, and he plops back down on the ground with a huff.
“It was the spirits. Meeting all of you was all part of their plan. They wanted to set me on this path.”
“I thought the spirits wanted you to do their bidding in the World- of- the- Living?”, Aang states, and his eyes shine with interest.
Zuko sniffs: “Yes,but now that I think about it they always made me run into people we’d meet again later.”
He points at dad: “Like him, or Suki, or Toph.”
“And when I completed the contract under the lake, they told me I was set on a ´path´ by them.”
“I think they wanted to prepare me for traveling with you. They knew this would happen.”, he finishes, and everyone at the campfire is staring at him with wide eyes.
Dad leans back: “So the spirits knew you would end up on our ship?”
Katara studies Zuko, who stares at the ceiling of the temple: “Yeah.”, he breathes out.
Her father breaths in deep next to her. What exactly happened when they met?
“The spirits didn’t care much about you beyond your purpose, then?”, he asks next, and Zuko’s head droops back down to look at the ground.
He shrugs: “They thought I had to be here, so they made sure I’d be in the right place at the right time at all costs.”
“They always worked like that. When they realized I didn’t know how to pray with prayer beads they made me do it for three days straight.”
“I felt like pawn.”, he reaches up to touch the hairpiece glimmering on his head, “It’s why I felt I couldn’t be Zuko anymore. Zuko would never be a pawn.”
Toph scoots further towards him, they almost lean into each other.
“But I’m Zuko now. Not because I rejected the spirits, but because I decided to follow what I thought was right. It’s what I would chose, and that holds me together.”
Katara rests her hands on her knees: “Do you regret working for the spirits?”, she asks, and she is genuinely curious this time.
He seems to mull over the question for a bit, but his answer comes ultimately: “I would’ve liked to not have to do it.”, he says.
“But I don’t know how I would have met you then, if I would still be fighting for father by the time Aang came out of the ice. I don’t want to think about what I might have done if...”
His words drift off, but they all caught what he was trying to say.
The campfire stays quiet, the future that could have been really soured the mood.
-
After a few days, Katara realizes: She stopped worrying about who Zuko is.
She still knows almost nothing about the prince of the Fire Nation, but somehow she stopped being troubled by it.
She thinks back to what might have changed and realizes, if Blue and the Zuko can both decide on what is right, she doesn’t have to worry.
The friend she won half a year ago is still here, but this time he isn’t just with them because he has to be, he’s here because he chose to fight with them, despite what his family has told him to do.
If the prince would have done the same as Blue, she doesn’t fear where his loyalties might lie.
Her friend is here, now more than ever.