Catalyst

Chapter 13: Morning

As usual, Katara woke up to Momo's persistent mewling. She quickly dressed and headed for the campfire. Appa was sleeping nearby, flat on his back, surrounded by flattened saplings. She had seen a few of them last night when she stumbled back to her tent, but did not realize just how many Appa knocked down. It was easy to forget how powerful the air bison was sometimes.

Katara passed by her brother's tent—whose occupant was no doubt still asleep—to restart the cooking fire from the night before and get breakfast going. Instead of smoldering embers, she arrived to see an already crackling fire tended by Zuko. He looked up when he she was there and nodded. His shoulders were slumped and his expression was one of someone half-awake.

Seeing that Aang was still sleeping on the other side of the fire, she whispered, "Morning."

"Mornin'" he mumbled before turning back to the fire.

She considered inquiring about his sleep or, rather, the apparent lack of it, but decided instead to ask, "Are you up for helping me with breakfast?"

Rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands, he grunted, "Okay." He stood and stretched, wincing slightly. "Just sore muscles," he explained before she could offer help.

They spent the next ten minutes quietly cooking a sizeable but plain breakfast for the five of them. After some fruit was sliced, Katara covered a pot of simmering rice and commented, "It'll be a long day, but I think we'll make it to the coast by nightfall."

He nodded.

"We'll be able to have fish for dinner probably," she continued brightly.

"Mh hm."

Taking the hint, she fell back into silence. A couple more minutes passed and the rice was almost done.

Katara jumped when Zuko spoke, his already rough voice made worse by his (thankfully) infrequent coughing fits, "He's so young." He watched the sleeping airbender with a pained expression. She blinked and the look disappeared.

Turning to face her fully, he stated with surprising confidence, "I've thought about it, and I've decided that I will teach Aang firebending," adding less assuredly, "if you'll let me, of course."

She looked back to her work at hand to hide her surprise and pleasure. Had he overheard us? Is that why he was acting so odd last night? If he had, what does volunteering to teach Aang firebending mean exactly? And while Sokka would have no problem with him teaching, Aang still needed to be convinced of the arrangement. She replied, "That's something you need to ask Aang."

"But you..." His eyes silently pleaded with her, begging for what he refused to take.

"I'm okay with it." She tried to give him her warmest smile. "Why wouldn't I be? You're on our side now, right?

"Uh, yeah."

He still doesn't know if he's doing the right thing, being here—not yet anyway. "Hey, would you mind letting Sokka know breakfast is ready? I'll get Aang and Toph—she's probably already up and just waiting for me to finish cooking anyway."

On cue, the door to Toph's stone tent slid open. "Breakfast ready?" she called as she crawled outside.

"Like you don't know."

"I don't know if you've realized this," she started, to which Katara rolled her eyes, getting ready for the inevitable sarcastic comment, "but I'm blind. How could I know breakfast is ready?"

"Right," Katara muttered into the rice as she spooned it out.

"You sound like Sokka when you're annoyed." She walked over to Katara's side, waiting for a bowl of breakfast.