Zutara: When Chemicals React (Avatar the last air bender fan fiction)

Katara- Part 11

My eyes were still wide from what I had just heard....did my ears decieve me?....Could it be that Ursa is actually Zuko's mother? All of us continued staring at Zuko wide eyes and in shock. No one knew what to say. The expression on Zuko's face told me that  he was ready to spring into action.  After a long moment of silence I was finally able to speak up. "Zuko, are you sure?"

"Yeah," he said. "There's no doubt about it, no other woman in the fire nation has a name like that." Zuko then turned to Gran Gran and stood up. "Did she say where she was going? Where she was headed or anything?"

"Oh um, she didn't mention anything about where she was going or signs of her future travels....before she left she just said it was time for her to move on."

"I see...."

"Don't worry Zuko," Suki spoke up. "We'll find her."

"Yeah," I said. "We'll be sure of it. It will be a top priority. At least you know she's safe,"

"Yeah maybe your right," he sighed. "Maybe she doesn't want to be found."

"That;s not true, I'm sure she'd be happy you found her."

"Maybe not...so many years have gone by....she may think I was brainwashed and ended up like my father."

"I don't think she would ever think that about you. You could never be like your father."

"But she doesn't know that..."

Now that Zuko knew his mother was alive and well, she would always be in the back of his mind. He'd be looking around every corner for her. I knew he wanted to see her....talk to her...but it seemed it would be some time before that would happen due to the fact she didn't tell anyone where she was gping. For the rest of the evening Zuko was a bit preoccupied in his own thoughts. It wouldn't take a mind reader to know what was on his mind. I could only imagine what he was thinking.

By that time dad and Master Paku came back with food for us to eat. Plenty of fish to fill our empty stomachs. Sokka was the first to get his piece. Sometimes I felt I was related to dumbfounded bear with no sense of know-how.

"Yes food! Fissh!" Sokka yelled excitedly as he hurried from his spot and grabbed three helpings of fish from our dad's arms.

"Hey save some for the others Sokka," dad said.

"What? They're fine. I need a good helping protein. I'm a warrior."

"Warrior of what?" Toph spoke. "Idiocy and pig headed-ness?"

"Hey, I've saved you quite  few times Toph."

"Yeah, from sheer dumb luck." Everyone laughed mostly except for Zuko.

"Don't let your eyes be bigger than your stomach, son." dad said. Sokka was so preoccupied with hunger and glutony that her was about to pick up his fish and take a bit. "Um, Son?"

"No dad," I spoke. "He'll have to learn the hard way," I smirked. My dad folded his arms and smiled waiting for Sokka's blow up. Sokka took a big bit of his fish, and mid chew his face went sour as his eyes went wide. He looked around at everyone else and then looked down at his fish. He saw that is was raw and uncooked.

"BLAH! AHHHH!" he yelled spitting out the raw fish. "EW EW EW EW!" he said in disgust as he wiped his tongue with his hands. We all laughed, even Zuko. "Why didn't any of you tell me?!"

"Dad tried to Sokka," I said. "You should have been paying attention. And what do you think? They just got back from getting the fish. They haven't had the time to cook it yet."

"That's what you get for being greedy," Toph smiled.

"Dad..." Sokka's face saddened and sunk in from embarrassment. "Am I going to die?"

Dad laughed. "No, Son, you didn't digest or eat enough. Your breath may smell a bit, so Suki I suggest you don't kiss him for a while." Suki laughed as Sokka's face frowned and he crossed his arms and started mumbling complaints. After everything settled for a bit, I could feel my dad's eyes on me but I didn't pay any mind to it. I saw him hand over some fish to Master Paku and the patted his shoulder. He then made his way over to me and and sat next to me.

"So how's my angel?" he asked.

"Great," I smiled. "It's good to see you," I said and hugged him.

"Same here, It's nice to see you and your brother's smiling faces." It was silent for a short moment before he spoke again. "So...the firebender huh?" he smiled. 

"How did you know?" I blushed a little. 

"Your grandmother told me...I'm a bit surprised...Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Well...things just changed...I never realized how strongly I actually felt towards him...I feel more of myself with him."

"Hm...I see...well I won't ask what happened with the Avatar....but I know you make good choices and you usually make them for a reason. And as long as you are truly happy with someone you truly love, then I'm happy for you. For boh of you. At least he's not the hot head he used to be," he chuckled.

Aang must have heard a good portion of our conversation because the next thing I knew he was silently walking out the tent to head outside. "I should probably talk to him," I said starting to move but my dad stopped me by putting a gentle hand on my back.

"Hold on....I'm sure you have tried to talk to him a few times already haven't you?"

"Yes...so has Zuko..even this appraoch was a bit more rash..."

"Well there's nothing more you can do to help Aang realize and accept this. He's going to need to take him time, and through this at his own pace. Try to think of it in his perspective, and how hard it might be dealing with losing someone he really cared for. It was something he didn't really see until the last minute, It was something probably unexpected to him and it happened so suddenly."

"I never though of it that way..."

"So take it easy on him, he'll come around. Don't try and force it down his throat, it'll just make things worse and make him angrier than he already is. And i know you and Zuko both don't want that. But I'm gonna go see how he's doing."

"But I thought you said we shoudn't talk to him..?"

"I said you, as in you and Zuko and all of your other friends. But I am am an adult and will give a different and possibly a different enlightment on the situation. He won't listent to anything you all have to say becasuse you all are so close."

"I understand," I smiled. He smiled at me and patted my shoulder and then got up to go outside.

"Is everything ok?" Zuko asked, moving next to me and looking towards the entryway of the tent.

"Yeah everything is just fine," I smiled. He smiled back as a bit of his black hair fell in front of his eyes. I moved closer to him and laid my head on his shoulder as he put his arm around me and rested his head on mine.

We spent a couple more days in the south water tribe, I had gotten so comfortable being home again, I had forgotten that we would be leaving soon, and heading to Omashu to visit King Bumi. Even Appa and Momo were having blast. Knowing that we had to leave soon made me a bit sad. Knowing that we were leaving again and that it may be some time before we returned made me feel nostalgic. But I knew they would miss us too, but they also knew I was out living my life and growing up. I knew they were glad that both Sokka and I were experiencing things they didn't when they were young. 

I was glad that they had also taken a liking to Zuko, especially due to the fact he wasn't who he used to be, and regardless of my decision they still respected it. I still wondered what my dad said to Aang a few nights ago, but I knew he wouldn't make anything worse, I trusted him. He's always known how to talk to people. To make them feel a bit better about themselves or whatever is going on. But I just hoped that Aang would feel better one day, and wouldn't feel so much anger towards me or Zuko, or anyone else that supported us. That would be bad for him later on. I hope he finds as much happiness as I have with Zuko.