Katara, of the Fire Nation

Chapter 13

Zuko gets everything he's ever wanted, he has his honour, his home, and his father, yet he still feels like something is missing.

He becomes withdrawn into himself as the days go on, anger boils in him as it did before, but this time he does not have his uncle to help him understand or move past the anger.

Zuko finds comfort with Mai, he 'falls in love' with her and he convinces himself that she makes him happy. But she doesn't. She distracts him from the one he really longs for.

"Father, what is to become of the water tribe girl?" Zuko asks one day.

"The water tribe girl?" Ozai asks, raising an eyebrow at his son.

"Katara," Zuko says, ignoring how his heart skips at the mention of her name.

"What about her?" Ozai asks, Zuko considers his words carefully, making sure his father cannot read into his intentions.

"Should we be looking for her?" he asks, "She is a traitor to the Fire Nation, she should be brought back."

Ozai regards his son, meanwhile, Azula glares at her brother and tries to figure out his reasoning for his questions. 

"Why worry about her?" Azula asks, pretending to inspect her nails, "She's useless and not a threat."

Ozai rubs his beard in thought as Zuko stares in shock at his sister.

"She's only a water tribe girl," Azula continues, "Why bother wasting resources to track her down?"

"She was brought here for a reason," Zuko says, looking back to his father, "You had her brought here when she was a girl, you had her trained for a reason. Shouldn't we try to get her back?"

"She has no purpose or value to me," Ozai says, nodding to his daughter, "Azula is right, why waste resources to track down one girl."

Zuko bows his head. Afterwards, he walks through the gardens and sits by the pond, feeding the turtle ducks and thinking of his mother.

"What in Agni were you doing in there?" Azula asks, standing in front of her brother and glaring down at him, "One would think that you wanted to protect the water girl."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Zuko scoffs, standing to his feet.

"Really?" Azula asks, putting her hand on her hips and raising an eyebrow at Zuko.

"I want her back here, safe," Zuko says, the last word slips past his lips in a whisper, "She was my friend."

"She was my friend too," Azula hisses, "What makes you think that she'd be safe here?"

Zuko's eyes widen as Azula grabs her brother's arm and leads him further away from the palace.

"Do you forget that father wants her dead?" Azula asks, "He wants to kill her and make you watch, there are still wanted posters littered through the fire nation with her face plastered on them!"

"I don't understand," Zuko says, pulling out of Azula's hold, "You wanted her dead in Ba Sing Se."

"I never said that," Azula says, "But if we were to meet again, yes, I will kill her. Because my Nation and my family come first. So, get over your little water bender bedmate and take Mai, she's dying to have you in her bed. Pray that we never see the water girl again, because she is a traitor, and I will burn her alive, but I don't want to."

Azula leaves Zuko in the gardens, she walks away as if she hadn't just shown a crack, a weakness in her armour.

Zuko pushes Katara out of his mind, he takes Mai to bed when he needs comfort, and showers her with attention and power.