Chapter Text
To say that Katara was not happy with this development would be a complete understatement.
She was angry in fact, very, very angry.
But also somehow confused.
She sat down next to an unconscious Zuko, the guy who had tricked her, the guy who had tried to kidnap Aang, had chased them down all over the globe, and tricked Katara.
She hadn’t forgotten that last part, and probably never would.
But now here she was, from the kindness of her heart, treating the Fire Nations Princes wounds after he had allegedly ‘saved them’.
This was the part that had confused her the most. After everything he’d done to them, it was difficult to trust that his actions were genuine, and not some new ploy to hurt them, like he had done before.
Katara had fallen into that trap, she was not going to be fooled twice, and she wouldn't let the others be fooled either.
But, he’d almost died.
This was the part that had confused Katara the most.
Zuko had risked his life to save them, and he had almost died in the process. She would have thought that there would be easier ways to trick people without putting yourself in that much danger. And the Assassin…
He tried to kill him.
This could either mean two things,and honestly Katara didn’t know which one was worse.
Either Combustion Man and Zuko had made this elaborate ploy to trick them, but it went horribly wrong, or the man betrayed Zuko.
If it was the first one, it at least validated Katara's suspicions, but that meant that she was treating a traitor who wanted to hurt them. If it was the other…
She was being paranoid and Zuko really was on their side now, and he had almost died.
Katara sighed and dipped the damp and slightly warm cloth back into a bucket of cold water, wrung it out, and plastered it over Zuko's forehead again.
He had gotten a nasty fever since having fallen down the chasm, which was to be expected because of all the injuries he had sustained. This meant that they’d had to take the ducklings away from Zuko's neck so that he could cool down a little bit better. They had not been happy about it to say the least, and her hand was still stinging from where one of them - Azula apparently - had bitten her in the hand.
They did settle down a little, being with Appa, but Sokka had to be standing guard to make sure they couldn't try coming back inside.
The Gaang had been taking it in turns to look after the unconscious Prince, as none of them wanted to leave him alone, just in case. Aang would come in and meditate next to him, Sokka would try telling jokes ‘just in case he could hear them’ and Toph just sat next to him quietly when she was inside, occasionally reaching out and taking his hand in hers. And even then, the others hung around outside, just out of earshot, just in case.
Katara couldn't blame them. She didn't want to stray too far away either. Even if the Prince deserved it, though…
She was becoming more doubtful about that with every passing second.
Suddenly she heard a whimper. Katara paused what she was doing and looked at the Prince with wide eyes. He hadn’t so much as twitched since he’d had his wounds cleaned.
Katara continued to stare, and felt the side of his neck, checking his temperature.
He was still too warm, even for a firebender.
And then his head lolled towards her hand. Katara froze.
Zuko's eyes opened up and gazed at her with a glassy, unfocused stare.
”…Mama?” He said, his voice raspy and weak, but filled with so much hope.
Katara swallowed. She could let him have this. She could tell him that she was his mother, just for these few fleeting moments. He probably wouldn't remember much.
But that would be a lie. And Katara knew that if she did lie to him, she would just be a hypocrite.
”No.” she said softly, “I’m sorry, I’m not her…”
Zuko blinked slowly at her.
”…who?” He asked, sounding small.
”Katara.” She said.
Zuko stared at her more intently, as if he was trying to figure out who that was.
”…Katara…” he said faintly, tasting her name.
And then:
”’m sorry.”
Katara blinked at him.
”Excuse me?” She said, thinking she had heard him wrong.
“‘M sorry…” Zuko said again, “‘fur takin’ ur necklace.”
Katara blinked again, subconsciously reaching for the choker.
”’M sorry fur tryn’a kidnap… Aang.” He said, his voice barely coming out a bit stronger with each word, “‘M sorry for… tricking’ you… in th’ catacombs…”
”It’s… ok.” Katara said softly, not quite believing her ears. It wasn’t, not really, but at this point Katara didn't know what else to say.
”…Is Uncle here?” Zuko asked.
Katara stared at him quizzically for a second, before realising who he meant.
General Iroh.
Honestly, Katara didn't know what to think of the Firenation General. He had always been with Zuko every time she had seen him, supporting him through thick and thin, she suspected. But he had helped them. Quite a lot, Katara would say.
He had stood up to General Zhao in the North Pole, and, while Katara hadn’t been there herself, she had heard from Aang how helpful he had been in finding the catacombs they had been trapped in by the Dai Li in Ba Sing Se. To the point where Aang had halfheartedly suggested that maybe they could look for him to be his firebending teacher, something that hadn’t worked out mostly because they didn't know where to find them after he had saved them from the rest of his family.
But through it all, Katara knew one thing:
General Iroh was extremely close to Zuko.
Katara sighed sadly.
”I’m sorry, he’s not here.”
Zuko stared at her for a couple of seconds, as if processing the words, before, to Katara's horror, his eyes started watering.
“I-I d-d-.” Zuko stuttered, “I- he- I’m so- It’s my f-fault…”
”Hey,” Katara said, genuinely concerned now, “It’s alright.”
She threaded her fingers through his thick, hot and wet hair before she could stop herself or realise what she was doing.
”I d-didnt w-want t-t-to.” Zuko said, trying to curl into himself but being too weak to do so, “He w-was right, I n-needed t-to… I hated it. I h-hated g-going ba-back, I th-thought that m-m…maybe th-things w-would be… better.”
Katara paused.
”Go back?” She echoed, “What do you mean?”
”I- I… d-d-didnt f-ffff-fight.” Zuko managed to say, “I… he h-hurt… b-banished… h-had t-to reg-regain… honor… b-bring b-b-back… Avatar…”
Katara stared at him like he had just revealed himself to be Momo in disguise.
She didn't understand much of what he said, but…
Tui and La, this was…
”Who hurt you?”
”…Ozai…”
Katara stared at him in shock.
That was… that was the name of the Firelord, wasn’t it? Zuko's father? Did he…?
Katara suddenly remembered what Toph said, about his father giving him his scar.
Her eyes widened in terror as she looked at the scar on Zuko's face. The scar that had been the face of the enemy for so very long. And Toph had said…
That the scar had come from none other than Zuko's own father, Firelord Ozai.
Katara suddenly felt sick. How could… how could someone’s father do that to their own child?
She let out a shaky breath. It wouldn’t help Zuko if she had an angry breakdown now.
”D-do you think…” Zuko asked quietly, “Uncle c-could ever… forgive me?”
”I know he will.” She told Zuko, “He loves you Zuko…”
Zuko fell asleep a little while after that. He was muttering how sorry he was under his breath while Katara tried to reassure him that it wasn’t his fault.
After he finally succumbed to sleep Katara watched him for a few seconds, thinking.
To say that Katara was angry would be… right. She was angry. At herself, but most of all at Zuko's father. But she was also still confused.
She was going to have to ask Toph for her side of the story again when she saw her next.
”No!” Sokka yelled at one of the ducklings as it tried to move out of formation. The duckling in particular - Lu Ten, as Toph helpfully said - gave him a look, “I am teaching you how to survive in the wild! This is very important training for life! Especially if you’re going to be with us for a while.”
Sokka tried to gently push the duckling back into the line he had put them in, only to be nipped by one of the other ducklings. He yelped and quickly snatched his hand back.
”Oh for goodness sake!” Sokka said, glaring at the offending duckling, “Momo was much easier to train than you.”
”You didn’t train Momo though.” Aang said thoughtfully from his seat next to Toph on a large piece of rock left over from the attack.
Sokka turned around and gave him an offended look.
”Of course I did!” He exclaimed, “I taught him how to bring me food!”
“That’s because it was a peace offering.” Aang pointed out, “And thats how you met him. You didnt train him to do that! He just did it himself!”
“That’s not true!” Sokka insisted, then paused and thought about it, “Is it?”
“It is.” Toph confirmed. Her feet were dangling in the air, occasionally touching the side, before she forced herself to take her feet away. Aang could tell that she was trying not to think about Zuko, but failing miserably. Mostly because she had been frowning a whole lot more than usual, and partly because he was trying and failing to do the same thing.
It brought his mood down a lot, because he was extremely worried about the Prince. But also because this entire scene would have been a lot more amusing if he hadn’t been worrying about Zuko.
One of the ducklings - Iroh presumably - had fallen asleep, next to the duckling named Zuzu, who was tilting her head strangely to try and get a better look at Sokka, confusion written over her tiny face. Azula the duckling looked annoyed and so did Lu Ten, if Aang was being honest.
Sokka continued to frown. Momo, who had been perching on Aang's shoulder for a better part of the day, chittered. Aang looked at him to see the little lemur staring at the house Zuko was lying in with a sad looking expression on his face.
Appa was lying a little off to the side, the bison apparently not wanting to leave Zuko alone, even if he couldn't fit in the small room.
Aang's best friend really seemed to like Zuko. It had been clear for a while, even before he had flown into the chasm to try and save the Prince.
Aang shivered at the memory. Those had to have been the most terrifying moments of his entire life, even more than the storm had been.
At first, it had been because Aang couldn't see Zuko amongst the falling rubble. And then when he did see Zuko, Aang couldn’t see him moving.
For one terrifying moment, he thought that maybe Zuko hadn’t…
Aang didn't want to think about it.
But Appa had spotted him at that moment, and made a beeline towards him, and Aang turned to beeline towards Appa, landing on the bison's back just on time to catch Zuko as he landed into the saddle basket.
The next few moments were Aang trying to move away the falling rocks to make sure they weren’t hit as they flew out of the way.
And then, when they were a safeish distance away from the debris, Aang had realised that Zuko wasn’t breathing.
In the Southern Air Temple, where Aang grew up, they had been taught first aid from a very young age. Aang new how to resuscitate people using his air bending, and, after a panicked second where Aang yelled at Zuko, he remembered his training and started compressions. After a minute or so, blew air into his chest until Zuko sputtered and looked around beadily, before passing out, and Aang almost felt like crying in relief.
He stopped breathing once more while Appa was trying to bring them back up, and Aang had to make his bison slow down so the pressure wouldn't stop Zukos breathing again.
Aang felt guilty. Maybe if he had spoken his mind when Zuko had come to them in the first place, all of this wouldn't have happened. Even then he had wanted to trust Zuko, he’d wanted him to change for the good side so badly. He was a lot like Kuzon, Aang had found, extremely passionate but, at the same time, this would lead to anger. He got angry a lot at the people around him who went against his opinions, and usually this would lead Kuzon to attack people with his fire bending when they angered him.
Aang was usually the only one who could calm him down, usually by taking him away from the situation, or taking him on a flight with Appa.
Appa had really liked Kuzon. Maybe that's why he liked Zuko so much.
“Aang,” Toph said beside him, “You trained Appa didn’t you?”
”Yeah.” Aang said, a wan smile at the memory, “Those days were really fun.”
”I think Sokka might need a bit of help.” Toph said, pointing towards their friend and the ducklings.
Sokka seemed to be having an existential crisis, and the ducklings had taken the opportunity to run towards the room where Zuko was.
Aang leaped up from his seat, and a second later he landed softly in front of the ducklings who all crashed into each other, except for Zuzu, who continued running slightly lopsidedly, until Aang used his staff to block her path.
”You can’t go in there.” Aang told them, “Mamas recovering.”
”Mama?!” Sokka said with a laugh.
”What?” Aang asked, tilting his head a little, “Zuko adopted them, he’s basically their mum.”
”Its just funny thinking of Zuko being a ‘Mama’.” Sokka chuckled, “I mean, mr brody jerkbender is now suddenly a mother to a bunch of turtleducks?”
”I think its sweet.” Toph said.
Aang sighed, and gently pushed the ducklings back towards where Sokka was.
”We’re going to need treats to train them.” He told Sokka, “It’s good for positive reinforcement, and the best way to try and train them. Do we have anything we can give them?”
”I have some bread.” Toph said, “Would that be good?”
”Yeah, it should be.”
”I’ll be back in a sec.”
Toph got up and quickly disappeared towards her room, while Sokka and Aang kept the ducklings occupied. When she returned, Aang began to teach them the basics of animal training. He taught them how to train the animal to understand when they were being good with a click of his tongue, and presenting them with food. This, he explained, was a kind of conditioning. He went on with explaining how to start with some more complex training methods using a stick with a rubber ball at the end, and giving the ducklings treats when they touched it, marking every good behaviour with a tongue click.
They spent an enjoyable amount of time trying to train the ducklings to follow the leader, and the three of them had almost completely forgotten about the Firenation Prince.
That was until Katara stepped out of the room.
The three of them looked at her, and immediately gathered the ducklings in their arms and rushed towards her, bombarding her with questions about Zukos condition.
She explained to them that he was… recovering.
“Are you ok Katara?” Aang asked, taking in her ashen complexion.
”I-…I’ll be alight.” She said, then turned to Toph.
“Toph, could I, maybe talk to you for a minute?”