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It had only been a couple weeks since Zuko had joined with the Avatar and his friends, so he understood why things were still tense. He’d barely said a word to anyone while Aang was still recovering from Azula’s lightning attack, and he’d gotten the feeling that hadn’t helped matters. But even after that, he hadn’t really felt it was his place to speak up whenever there was a disagreement about what was best to do. He was too new to all of this, all of them. He’d bonded a little bit with Toph, Sokka, and Aang when he helped the three of them pull some scams for money (though he still thought it would have been easier just to steal some), but that didn’t make them best friends, and Katara still glared at him when she thought he couldn’t see her.
For now, he was sticking in the background, which was where everyone seemed to prefer him. He taught Aang firebending, but it was slow going, and he was still working on Earthbending from Toph too, which took up some of his time.
It didn’t bother him, for the most part. He understood that trusting him wouldn’t exactly come easy to them. Zuko was in this to help the Avatar overthrow his father, and hopefully get to see his uncle again. He didn’t need them to like him.
That didn’t mean it wasn’t difficult on nights like tonight, when he had to sit by and watch all of them casually enjoy each other’s company.
“And they knew, the blade of Wing-Fun was haunted!” Sokka exclaimed, leaping to his feet and ending his story with a terrible attempt at a creepy ghost noise.
There was a second of silence.
“I think I liked ‘The Man With a Sword for a Hand’ better,” Aang said.
“Water Tribe slumber parties must stink,” Toph deadpanned, and Zuko hid a smirk behind his hand.
“No wait, I’ve got one,” Katara said. “And this is a true Southern Water Tribe story.”
Zuko glanced over, admittedly rather curious, and noticed the fire had died down. He slid forward, close enough to hear Katara clearly, and shot a couple of small blasts to feed the fire as an excuse.
“Is this one of those ‘a friend of my cousin knew some guy that this happened to’ stories?” Sokka asked, not sounding very impressed.
“No,” Katara said. “It happened to Mom.”
Zuko shifted back just slightly, hoping no one would notice that he was closer than he’d been before. The only thing he knew about Katara’s mother was that she’d been killed by a Fire Nation soldier, and he’d badly wanted to know more. Even if he wouldn’t dare ask.
Everyone else seemed intrigued too, and sat up as Katara started talking.
“One winter, when Mom was a girl, a snowstorm buried the whole village for weeks,” Katara started. “And a month later, Mom realized she hadn’t seen her friend Nini since the storm. So Mom and some others went to check on Nini’s family. When they got there, no one was home. Just a fire flickering in the fireplace. While the men went out to search, Mom stayed in the house. When she was alone, she heard a voice. ‘It’s so cold, and I can’t get warm.’ Mom turned and saw Nini standing by the fire. She was blue, like she was frozen. Mom ran outside for help, but when everyone came back, Nini was gone.”
“Where’d she go?” Sokka asked, and Zuko glanced over to realize that while he’d leaned forward, intent on catching every word of the story, Sokka had jumped up to hide behind a tree root.
“No one knows,” Katara said. “Nini’s house stands empty to this day. But sometimes people see smoke coming up from the chimney, like little Nini is still trying to get warm.”
There was another long stretch of silence. Zuko was going to pretend the chill that ran down his spine was from the wind.
Suddenly, Toph gasped. “Wait, guys! Did you hear that?”
Katara, Aang, and Toph all rushed into a huddle, but then Toph continued, “I hear people under the mountain, and they’re screaming.”
Sokka scoffed. “Nice try,” he said, leaning away.
“No, I’m serious, I hear something,” Toph insisted.
“What does it sound like?” Zuko asked, because Toph sounded like she meant it.
“Oh, come on,” Katara said, waving a dismissive hand in Zuko’s direction. “You’re probably just jumpy from the ghost stories, Toph.”
But Toph turned towards Zuko. “It just stopped,” she said.
“Alright, now I’m getting scared,” Aang said.
“Hello, children,” came a new voice.
The four of them screamed and ran to grab at each other, and Zuko jumped to his feet and summoned a small fireball as a defense, pretending he hadn’t jumped right along with them.
But after a second, an old woman walked into the clearing. “Sorry to frighten you,” she said. “My name is Hama.” She looked between all of them, and paused for a second when she spotted Zuko. Zuko thought he saw her eyes narrow slightly, but she turned back towards everyone else before he could be sure.
“You children shouldn’t be out in the forest by yourselves at night,” she said. “I have an inn nearby, why don’t you come back there for some spiced tea and warm beds?”
Zuko let out a slow, quiet breath, and extinguished his fire. The prospect of tea was tempting, though he doubted Hama would make it like Uncle. No one ever did.
“Yes please,” Sokka said weakly to Hama, as the others in the group nodded. Zuko went to gather his things, and passed everyone else items to them as they approached, and once they got everything together, the five of them followed Hama out of the forest.
…
Katara had to admit, hot tea and warm beds sounded like a much better alternative over the forest. Hama even had a stable out back big enough for Appa to sleep in.
“Thanks for letting us stay here tonight,” she said as Hama finished pouring her tea. “You have a lovely inn.”
“Aren’t you sweet,” Hama said with a smile. She opened her mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by Zuko coughing a couple times from the other end of the table.
Everyone turned to face him, and Zuko’s cheeks turned a light pink. “Sorry,” he said quietly, looking down. “I’m uh— just used to— it’s delicious,” he said, holding up the tea and taking another drink, even though he didn’t seem to be a huge fan.
Katara shook her head and rolled her eyes, trying to stop herself from glaring a little as she looked away from Zuko.
“That’s alright,” Hama said. “I’m told I have pretty unusual preferences in comparison to the rest of the village here.”
“I dunno, it tastes pretty good to me,” Sokka said with a smile.
“Thank you, young man,” Hama said with a smile back at him. “You know, you kids should be careful. People have been disappearing as of late in those woods you were camping in.”
“What do you mean disappearing?” Sokka asked, leaning forward.
Hama’s face was guarded as she responded. “When the moon turns full, people walk in, and they don’t come out.”
Katara suppressed a shiver.
Hama brightened suddenly and stood up. “Who wants more tea?”
She seemed to pick up on the way she’d unnerved them all, because a second later she smiled and her gaze softened. “Don’t worry, you’ll all be completely safe here. Why don’t I show you to your rooms, and you can get a good night’s rest?”
That sounded good to Katara. Something about the woman put her at ease, and she smiled as she stood up. The five of them followed Hama upstairs to their rooms, and though Katara wouldn’t say it out loud, she was glad she got a room far away from Zuko. It was hard enough sleeping near him at a campsite, or on Appa. She was glad to have a few nights off.
Not that she didn’t appreciate Zuko. Aang needed someone to teach him firebending, and she was glad Zuko had turned over a new leaf. It was definitely better than running for their lives from him all the time. It was just hard to look at him and not see everything he’d done, everything the Fire Nation had done. She knew that Sokka, Aang, and Toph had warmed up to him a little more than she had, and Aang specifically had told her that she should give Zuko a chance, but…
Katara shook her head to clear her senses and climbed into bed. There was no use thinking about it tonight. She needed to get some sleep. She could think more about Zuko tomorrow.
Or, more likely, avoid thinking more about Zuko tomorrow.
…
Zuko was up and moving by the time Hama and Katara came to get him. As a rule, he tended to rise early, a habit from when he was traveling with Uncle— if he didn’t get the two of them moving, the day would never get started.
The same apparently applied to Katara, and there had been plenty of times that the two of them had been the only ones awake in awkward silence, when the others didn’t have to be up yet.
Apparently they were going shopping, so Zuko headed down to wait in the entryway as Aang, and then Toph, and finally Sokka came down, the last of the three still looking half asleep.
The walk to the market thankfully wasn’t long. They bought quite a few seemingly random ingredients, and Zuko stuck to the back behind Aang, Sokka, and Toph as Katara and Hama talked up in front of them, clearly getting along well, even if they were too far away to hear.
Zuko wasn’t sure how to feel about the old woman. He was no stranger to, well, strangers giving him kindness throughout his travels. Plenty of people had given him a place to stay free of charge just like Hama had. But something about the woman still rubbed him the wrong way. He just couldn’t quite put his finger on what.
“You won’t have any ash bananas until next week?” came the loud voice of a customer at a nearby stall. Zuko glanced over, only half paying attention until the shopkeeper responded.
“Well, I have to send the boy to Hing-Wa island to get them, and it’s a two day trip.”
“Oh, right, tomorrow’s the full moon,” the customer said, all of the anger dropping from his voice.
“Exactly,” the shopkeeper said. “I can’t lose another delivery boy in the woods.”
Zuko glanced over at the others, hoping they’d noticed so he wouldn’t have to bring it up, and was relieved to find that they had, and Sokka looked to be thinking about it.
“People disappearing in the woods?” he said, glancing at Aang. “Weird stuff during full moons? This just reeks of spirit world shenanigans.”
Aang nodded in agreement. “I bet if we take a little walk around town, we’ll find what these people did to the environment to make the spirit mad,” he said.
“And then you can sew up this little mystery, lickety-split, Avatar style,” Sokka said with a grin.
Zuko raised an eyebrow. “Is it that easy?” he asked. “I thought I remembered you guys saying the spirits give you more trouble than that.”
“Oh please,” Sokka said, waving his hand dismissively. “Last time people were disappearing because of a spirit it only took him like a day and a half to figure it out.”
“I thought you said you got kidnapped that time,” Toph said. Sokka elbowed her in the side with a glare, but Toph just grinned back.
Zuko looked at them for another second before shaking himself slightly and turning back towards the direction he was walking in, just in time to see Hama and Katara stop shortly ahead of them.
“Why don’t you all take those things back to the inn?” Hama said. “I just have to run a couple more errands. I’ll be back in a little while.”
Zuko nodded, and was about to turn to head back towards the inn when Sokka walked up to Hama. “This is a mysterious little town you have here,” he said.
Zuko would have smacked his forehead if that wouldn’t have been an even more obvious sign of suspicion. Seriously, these guys were terrible at being inconspicuous. How had it ever been difficult for him to find them?
Hama’s response, however, was somehow weirder. “Mysterious town for mysterious children,” she said with a smile.
Zuko, slightly involuntarily, took a step back. Okay, so his instincts about this woman were probably on to something.
Sokka seemed to think so too, and he brought it up once they got back to the inn.
“That Hama seems a little strange,” he said, setting the food down, while Zuko was just glad once again that he didn’t have to be the one to bring it up. “Like she knows something. Or she’s hiding something.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Katara said, turning from setting her food down on the opposite counter. “She’s a nice woman who took us in and gave us a place to stay. She kinda reminds me of Gran-Gran.”
“I don’t know,” Zuko said hesitantly, earning him half a glare from Katara. “Something seems a little off about her.”
“Yeah,” Sokka said with a gesture at him, seeming glad to have support. “And what was with that comment about mysterious children?”
“Gee, I don’t know,” Katara said, turning around. “Maybe because she found five strange kids camping in the woods in the middle of the night?”
“There’s nothing inherently suspicious about camping,” Zuko pointed out hesitantly. “Especially nowadays. Plenty of people travel or are on the run most of the time.”
“Well, I guess you’d know, wouldn’t you?” Katara said, turning around with a roll of her eyes.
“I’m gonna take a look around,” Sokka said, ignoring both Zuko and Katara’s comments and starting for the stairs.
“Sokka!” Katara called, running after him. “Sokka, what are you doing? You can’t just snoop around someone’s house!”
Zuko brushed his way past her and started after Sokka. “It’s actually not that hard,” he said.
“That’s not what I— ugh, both of you get back here!”
“She could be home any minute,” Aang said, he and Toph rushing after them as they all made their way upstairs.
“Zuko, you take one half I’ll take the other?” Sokka asked with a nod at the hallway.
Zuko nodded in agreement, and they both started pulling open doors and closets.
“You guys are going to get us all in trouble,” Katara snapped. “And this is just plain rude!”
The next second, Sokka pulled open a cabinet, and several puppets of Fire Nation soldiers fell out, though their strings managed to catch them before they hit the ground.
“Okay,” Aang said. “That’s pretty creepy.”
“So she’s got a hobby. There’s nothing weird about that,” Katara said, moving forward to close the cabinet, though even she was starting to sound unsure.
Sokka ignored her and started up the last set of stairs to the attic. Zuko followed, and the others came close behind.
“Guys, you’ve looked enough,” she called. “Hama will be back soon!”
As they reached the top, Sokka walked over to the only door in the attic, but it was clearly locked as he tried to tug it open.
“Just an ordinary, puppet loving innkeeper, huh?” he asked, turning back as everyone else came up the stairs. “Then why does she have a locked door up here?”
“Probably to keep people like you from snooping through her stuff!” Katara exclaimed.
“Zuko, give me a hand, would you?” Sokka asked, gesturing at the door.
Zuko nodded, and pulled out his swords. The lock was large enough that he figured they would probably work to get it open, and after a second, the door swung open, revealing nothing in the room but a tiny chest.
“Zuko, how could you break into someone’s private room like that!” Katara explained.
Despite himself, Zuko smiled a little. “Told you, it’s not that hard,” he said.
Sokka walked forward and picked up the chest, as the rest of them walked into the room.
“We shouldn’t be doing this,” Aang said.
Sokka didn’t seem to have much luck with the chest, and started looking around. “Maybe there’s a key here somewhere,” he said. “Or Zuko, could you open this one too?”
“I’ve got it,” Toph said. “Hand it over.”
Sokka did just that, and Toph pulled off her meteorite bracelet, then molded it into a key, sticking it inside the keyhole.
Zuko leaned forward in anticipation, and found everyone else, even Katara, doing the same.
After a second, however, Zuko turned to watch the door while Toph worked. If she could handle that, he could be lookout.
“Come on, come on,” he heard Sokka say.
“This isn’t as easy as it looks,” Toph said, irritated.
“Guys, I don’t know about this,” Aang said.
“This is crazy. I’m leaving!” Katara snapped.
“Suit yourself,” Sokka said, just before the lock clicked.
Everyone, even Zuko, whirled back to face the box. The four of them crowded around it, but Zuko hung back, though he strained his neck up just high enough that he’d be able to see.
“I’ll tell you what’s in the box,” came Hama’s voice. All of them cried out in surprise and whirled around. Zuko stepped back to the side as she walked forward to take it from Sokka, who bowed his head in shame and passed it over.
Pretty typical for kids who seemed like they had never done this before, but if they were going to keep breaking and entering, they were going to have to stop feeling bad about it. Not that Zuko was going to say anything. Especially not while Hama was reaching inside the box, and pulling out… a comb?
“An old comb?” Sokka asked, sounding disappointed.
Definitely their first time with this. It didn’t matter what it looked like, if it was being kept in a locked box in a locked room, it was important somehow.
A second later, Hama confirmed just that.
“It’s my greatest treasure,” she said. She looked up at Katara and Sokka as she spoke next. “It’s the last thing I owned from growing up in the Southern Water Tribe.”
“What?” was exclaimed by several people at once.
“You’re from the Southern Water Tribe?” Katara asked, leaning towards Hama.
Hama smiled. “Just like you,” she said, putting the comb back in the box.
“How did you know?” Katara asked in astonishment.
“I heard you talking around your campfire,” Hama said.
“But why didn’t you tell us?” Sokka asked, narrowing his eyes slightly. Zuko could agree with that sentiment, and turned to peer suspiciously at Hama.
“I wanted to surprise you,” the woman said. “I bought all this food today so I could fix you a big, water tribe dinner. Of course I can’t get all the ingredients I need here, but ocean kumquats are a lot like sea prunes, if you stew them long enough.”
“Great,” Aang muttered, sounding about the opposite of enthusiastic.
“I knew I felt a bond with you right away,” Katara said, a bright smile on her face.
“And I knew you were keeping a secret, so I guess we’re both right,” Sokka said, but he was smiling brightly now too.
Zuko crossed his arms but didn’t say anything.
Katara whacked Sokka in the arm, and he added, “But, I’m sorry we were sneaking around.”
“Apology accepted,” Hama said with a warm smile. “Now let’s get cooking.”
Katara and Sokka both eagerly followed her out, and Aang did too, albeit a little slower. But while Zuko waited for a second, expecting to follow Toph, instead the earthbender crossed the room and leaned up into his face.
“What aren’t you saying?” she said.
Zuko leaned back, unnerved. “What?”
“I can feel your heartbeat. It’s on edge still, and everyone else’s calmed down. What aren’t you saying?”
“Nothing,” Zuko said, taking a step back.
“And I can definitely tell when you’re lying,” Toph said, narrowing her eyes.
“I don’t want to bother anyone with it,” Zuko said, holding up his hands. “I just… I still get a bad vibe from her.”
“Hama?” Toph asked.
Zuko nodded. “But I doubt saying it would go over well,” he added. “Especially to…” he trailed off.
Toph seemed to consider this for a second and nodded. “Fair enough. But if you get any more bad vibes, let me know. They don’t always mean nothing.”
With that, she turned and walked off. And though in Zuko’s experience they almost never meant nothing, after another second, he turned and followed her.
…
Katara was still reeling from it all throughout cooking dinner. Of all the places to find someone from the Southern Water Tribe! They spent the evening in the kitchen, and the smell of home soon filled the space. Katara could tell Sokka was enjoying it just as much as her, even if he wouldn’t admit it. But while Aang was taking a break to go check on and feed Appa and Momo, and Toph was sitting at the table in the other room, Zuko was standing in the corner of the kitchen, arms crossed and watching Hama. Katara couldn’t tell if it was his normal brooding mood, or something else, but she couldn’t blame Hama when the woman noticed and didn’t seem comfortable.
“Is something bothering you, young man?” she asked, drawing Zuko’s gaze.
“What? No,” Zuko said. “Just… I’m not very familiar with water tribe dishes. I don’t think I’d be much help.”
“That’s alright,” Hama said. “I think I’d prefer to cook the dish with the fellow members of my tribe anyway. It’s not exactly something the Fire Nation appreciates.”
Katara thought back to how Zuko reacted to her tea, and found herself agreeing with that sentiment. She turned away from Zuko and kept working on the ocean kumquats.
Zuko, true to his word, stood quietly in the background throughout their cooking, and exchanging of stories of what it was like to grow up in the Southern Water Tribe now, versus when Hama was young.
Finally, the soup was finished, and Katara helped carry the large serving bowl into the dining room, where everyone else was waiting. Sokka thankfully took the seat next to her, leaving Zuko to take the seat at the other end of the table.
“Now,” Hama said, walking up to her spot at the head of the table. “Who wants five flavor soup?”
Everyone raised their hands, but all Hama did was lift her own, and suddenly, the soup flew from the serving dish into the bowls.
Katara lit up. “You’re a waterbender,” she said in amazement, turning to Hama. “I’ve never met another water bender from our tribe!”
“That’s because the Fire Nation wiped them all out,” Hama said solemnly. “I was the last one.”
Katara noticed Zuko start to shift uncomfortably at the end of the table.
Good, she thought, though she turned her gaze firmly away from him. Serves him right.
“So how did you end up out here?” Sokka asked.
Hama’s shoulders slumped, but her face turned grave. “I was stolen from my home,” she said. She sighed, and drew herself up slightly, as if preparing for a battle. “It was over 60 years ago when the raids started. They shot huge fireballs at us. Like the one your friend made when I found you, but enormous and deadly. They took every waterbender they could before we drove them out. But then they came again and again. Each time rounding up more of our waterbenders and taking them captive. We did our best to hold them off, even managed to strand one of their ships in the ice. But our numbers dwindled as the raids continued. Finally, I too was captured.”
Hama turned away, the memory obviously painful to her. “I was led away in chains. The last waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe.”
Katara stood up and walked over to comfort Hama, wrapping a reassuring arm around her shoulders. She may not have known the woman well, but she couldn’t help it, and Hama didn’t push her away.
“They put us in terrible prisons here in the Fire Nation,” she continued, shaking her head and closing her eyes. “I was the only one who managed to escape. Something you know all about, I’m sure,” she added with a glance up at Zuko.
Zuko’s eyes widened, and he shook his head. “Uh, no, I’m sorry,” he said. “That was long before I was born. My grandfather never told me about any of the raids.”
Hama sighed, but didn’t say anything else.
After a second, however, Zuko spoke again, hesitantly. “How did you get away?” he asked. “And why did you stay in the Fire Nation?”
Suddenly, Hama stood up and braced her hands on the table with a loud smack. “Don’t you know better than to ask an old woman about painful memories?” she snapped. Zuko leaned away, looking startled.
Katara glared at him. “Honestly, Zuko, she only has to tell us what she wants to,” she said.
But a second later, Hama sighed, and sat down again. “No, no, I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have lost my temper. It’s just too painful to talk about anymore.”
“We completely understand,” Katara said, with a gentle squeeze of Hama’s shoulders and another short glare back at Zuko.
“We lost our mother in a raid,” she added, looking away.
“Oh, you poor things,” Hama said, patting Katara’s hand gently. Everyone was quiet for a moment, and Katara could feel a similar grief shared between her and Hama.
She managed a smile at her. “I can’t tell you what it means to meet you,” she said. “It’s an honor. You’re a hero.”
Hama smiled warmly at her. “I never thought I’d meet another southern waterbender,” she said. “I’d like to teach you what I know so you can carry on the southern tradition when I’m gone.”
Katara gasped. “Yes! Yes of course,” she said, almost desperately, even though Hama had offered. “To learn about my heritage, it would mean everything to me.” She bowed her head to Hama in respect.
“It would mean just as much to me, child,” Hama said, reaching out and gently raising Katara’s chin. “We can start tomorrow.”
Katara sat down again to eat her soup, feeling lighter than an airbender. Even though Hama had been through so much, she still wanted to teach Katara. Tomorrow couldn’t come quickly enough.
…
“So,” Toph said to Zuko as the two of them followed Aang and Sokka to look for anything that would make a spirit angry. “Still getting bad vibes?”
Zuko didn’t say anything. The answer was yes, but after seeing how much Hama meant to Katara, and how excited she was to learn from her, he couldn’t take that from her. Especially if he was the only one feeling like anything was off. He wasn’t always right about everything— all of them knew that. You only had to look at the past three years of his life for proof.
“Zuko,” Toph said, drawing his attention again. “I mean it. I noticed how she singled you out last night at dinner.”
Zuko turned towards her more, surprised. “You did?” he asked. He hadn’t thought anyone else would.
“I’ve met enough sleazy nobles to learn how to recognize when someone’s twisting words on purpose,” Toph said. “I don’t trust her.”
Zuko frowned a little. It was definitely nice not to be in this alone, but still…
“We don’t exactly have concrete proof,” he said. “Our snooping around just led us to an old comb. And… I can’t take this from Katara.”
“Oh no, I’m with you there,” Toph said. “I can’t either. And no offense, but you definitely can’t, specifically.”
“None taken,” Zuko muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “I know.”
“Still, I’m gonna keep my eyes out. You with me?” Toph nudged him a little roughly in the side, but Zuko didn’t mention it.
“Of course,” he said instead.
“Guys, we’ve got a problem,” came Aang’s voice from up ahead, and Zuko turned to see Aang and Sokka approaching. “Or, more accurately, we don’t have a problem. This has got to be the nicest natural setting in the Fire Nation. I don’t see anything that would make a spirit mad around here.”
“Maybe the moon spirit just turned mean?” Toph offered.
Sokka turned very suddenly and glared at Toph with the force usually reserved for Zuko by Katara. “The moon spirit is a gentle, loving lady!” he snapped. “She rules the sky with compassion! And lunar goodness!”
“Uh, okay,” Zuko said. “Look, maybe we should talk to some locals. They’re bound to know more about this place than we will.”
“Good idea Zuko,” Aang said, already looking the other direction. “Look, there’s one now. Excuse me, sir!” He ran up to a man that was walking past. “Can you tell us anything about the spirit that’s been stealing people?”
“Only one man ever saw it and lived,” the man said. “And that’s Old Man Ding.”
Toph walked over from the man’s other side and pulled on his sleeve. “Where does Old Man Ding live?” she asked. “I think we’ll be paying him a visit.”
…
“Growing up at the south pole, waterbenders are totally at home surrounded by snow and ice and seas,” Hama said, as Katara followed her down a rocky cliffside, towards what looked like a field of red flowers. “But as you’ve probably noticed on your travels, that isn’t the case wherever you go.”
“I know,” Katara agreed. “When we were stranded in the desert, I felt like there was almost nothing I could do.”
“That’s why you have to learn to control water wherever it exists,” Hama said.
“I’ve even used my own sweat for waterbending,” Katara said, hoping her smile didn’t come off too proud.
“That’s very resourceful Katara. You’re thinking like a true master,” Hama said anyway, which made Katara’s smile grow. “But did you know you can even pull water out of thin air?”
Before Katara could say anything, she waved her hand in an arc, and drew water droplets out onto the tips of her fingers. “You’ve got to keep an open mind, Katara,” she said, and then turned the droplets to ice. “There’s water in places you never think about.” She turned and hurled the ice towards one of the nearby trees, as Katara watched in amazement.
Hama met her smile with an amused one, and then nodded her head further down the hill. “Come on, there’s more I want to show you.”
They ended up in the field of red flowers that Katara had spotted earlier, and she couldn’t help but smile down at them.
“Wow, these flowers are beautiful,” she said.
“They’re called fire lilies,” Hama said. “They only bloom a few weeks a year, but they’re one of my favorite things about living here.” She turned to Katara with a smile. “And like all plants, and all living things, they’re filled with water.”
Katara nodded. “I met a waterbender who lived in a swamp and could control the vines by bending the water inside.”
“You can take it even further,” Hama said. As Katara watched, she pulled the water up and out of the flowers, then shot them across the field at a rock with such force that pieces where she’d sliced slid off.
“That was incredible!” Katara exclaimed. But when she looked down at the flowers, she found them lifeless and gray, and her smile fell. “It’s a shame about the lilies, though.”
“They’re just flowers,” Hama said, waving a hand dismissively. “When you’re a waterbender living in a strange land, you do what you must to survive.” She paused, and turned to Katara, looking suddenly wary. “It’s one of the reasons I was so surprised to see you traveling with a firebender.”
Katara chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck. “Yeah, that’s Zuko,” she admitted. “He’s a little… different, from other firebenders. And you know, Aang needs to learn firebending, so.”
“But you don’t trust him, do you?” Hama asked, her voice dropping dangerously.
Katara hesitated. “Look, I know it can seem a little unusual,” she said. “But Zuko’s changed a lot recently. I’m not saying he’s my favorite person, but I don’t think he wants to hurt us. You know, anymore.”
Hama didn’t say anything for a moment, but finally, she sighed. “I understand,” she said. “It certainly surprises me, but… you are in unusual circumstances.” She stood up straighter. “We should get moving. We’ll want to be back at the inn before dark. It’s the full moon tonight, and with people disappearing, I’d just want you all to be extra careful.”
…
It was getting dark as they approached Old Man Ding’s house, where he was nailing slats up onto a board. He was about to start hammering in a nail, when Aang called out, “Old Man Ding?”
The hammer went right down on his thumb, and Zuko winced, remembering what that felt like.
The old man swore for a couple seconds, holding on to his thumb, and then glared at the four of them. “What? Can’t you see I’m busy? Got a full moon rising. And why does everyone call me that, I’m not that old.”
He bent to pick up his plank of wood, but after a couple seconds of him obviously struggling, he sighed. “Well, I’m young at heart,” he amended.
Aang stepped forward to help him pick up the board, then helped him carry it up towards his window.
“Not ready to get snapped up by some moon monster yet, at least,” the man said as they did.
“Actually, we wanted to ask you about that,” Zuko said, stepping forwards to pick up the hammer so he can nail the board down. “If that’s okay.”
The man shrugged. “Sure, hit me with your questions, sonny,” he said.
“Did you get a good look at the spirit that took you?” Aang asked, leaning back slightly to peer around Zuko.
“Didn’t see no spirit,” the man said as Zuko hammered the last nail in. He stepped away as he kept talking. “Just felt something come over me. Like I was possessed. Forced me to start walking towards the mountain. I tried to fight it, but I couldn’t control my own limbs. It just about had me into a cave up there, and I looked up at the moon for what I thought would be my last glimpse of light. But then the sun started to rise, and I got control of myself again! I just hightailed it away from that mountain as quick as I could!”
“Why would a spirit want to take people to a mountain?” Sokka asked.
“Oh no!” Toph exclaimed suddenly. “I did hear people screaming under the mountain! The missing villagers must still be there!”
“We have to go get them!” Aang said, turning to look anxiously at the mountain.
But before any of them could start moving, they heard “What are you guys still doing out here?” come from behind them.
All of them turned to find Katara and Hama approaching. “Hama said people are going missing during the full moon, why are you still outside?” Katara asked, walking closer.
“You’re still outside,” Sokka pointed out, crossing his arms.
“We were on our way back,” Katara said. “Where you should be already.”
“Katara, we actually need to—” Aang started.
“Katara’s right,” Zuko said, keeping his gaze away from Hama, who he was sure was looking at him. “Whatever we need to do, we can do it tomorrow morning, when it’s not as dangerous? Right Toph?”
Toph seemed to pick up on what Zuko was doing, and she didn’t look at Hama either. Instead, she nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “I’m with Zuko. Let’s go get a good night’s rest and take care of this when we’re not tired and in danger.”
“But—” Aang started, before Toph cut him off with an elbow to the side. “Okay, okay.”
They all made their way quickly back to the inn, where unfortunately, Hama started working right in the entryway, meaning they were all forced to walk upstairs.
“What the heck was that about?” Sokka hissed, as soon as the downstairs was out of sight.
“What was what about?” Katara asked in confusion.
“We figure out the missing villagers are trapped under the mountain, and you all just want to leave it till morning?” Aang asked in disbelief, though thankfully he kept his voice low.
“I don’t want Hama to know where we’re going,” Zuko said plainly.
“What? Why on earth would that matter?” Katara asked, crossing her arms and glaring at him.
“Katara, I think he’s right,” Toph said. “There’s something off about that woman.”
“No, there’s not, Zuko’s just ashamed to have to confront another horrible thing his family did,” Katara snapped. Zuko winced.
“Katara!” Aang exclaimed.
“Look, I’ve spent more time with Hama than any of you,” Katara said, narrowing her eyes. “She’s nothing but a sweet and helpful woman who’s been through way too much. I can’t believe you’re all still distrusting her!”
“Katara, we just don’t know her that well,” Toph said.
“Oh, you’re right, so you’re going to side with Zuko, who for most of the time we’ve known him, has been trying to hunt us and capture Aang?”
“Hey, stop it,” Sokka said. “We’re not going to solve anything by fighting with each other. Let’s just take a break and go look for the villagers tomorrow when we’ve all cooled down.”
Katara glared at him for a couple more seconds, then snapped, “Fine,” and turned and marched off to her room.
Sokka sighed, and turned to Zuko after he watched her go. “Sorry about her,” he said.
“It’s alright,” Zuko said, looking away slightly. “She has a lot of reasons not to trust me.”
Sokka sighed, but all he said was “We’ll regroup in the morning,” and then headed off towards his bedroom.
Aang and Toph did the same a second later, leaving Zuko to walk to the end of the hall, where his room sat, slightly away from everyone else’s.
Just as he was about to get ready for bed though, he heard a knock on his door. He expected it to be Toph, so when he opened the door and found Hama, it took him a second of surprise before he had his guard up.
“Sorry,” he said. “We weren’t bothering you, were we?”
“Not at all,” Hama said. “I just wanted to make sure you were alright. From the little I heard, it sounded like they slung quite a few insults your way.”
Zuko shrugged. “I’m pretty used to that,” he admitted. “It doesn’t really bother me.”
“It is a fairly tall order, asking all of them to trust you,” Hama said, narrowing her eyes.
Zuko kept his face intentionally passive. “I’m not asking them to do anything,” he said. The two of them stared at each other for a couple seconds.
Finally, Hama folded her hands behind her back. “Why don’t you take a walk with me,” she said. “I’d like to speak with you.”
“Thanks,” Zuko said, moving to shut the door. “But I’m tired.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Hama said, and suddenly, Zuko felt his hand stop moving. He turned to it just in time to watch, eyes wide, as it slid the door further open against his will.
“I didn’t mean for it to sound like a request,” Hama said, her hand held up by her face with intention. She gave him a deeply unsettling smile. “Come take a walk with me, Prince Zuko.”
…
Katara was interrupted from her angry pacing by a knock on her door.
“That better not be you, Zuko,” she snapped, marching over and yanking the door open.
Instead of Zuko, however, she found everyone else, looking worried.
“What’s going on?” she asked, looking between them.
“We can’t find Zuko anywhere,” Sokka said. “Toph went to talk to him and he wasn’t in his room.” Katara huffed in irritation and went to slam the door shut again.
Aang caught it before she could manage. “Katara, I know you don’t like him,” he said. “But he and Hama are both gone. We need to go find them.”
Katara stood upright. “Hama’s gone too?”
Sokka narrowed her eyes. “Katara, we need to focus on finding Zuko,” he said. “It’s the full moon, remember? What if he got taken up to the mountain with the rest of the missing villagers?”
“Or what if he dragged Hama somewhere?” Katara said, crossing her arms.
“Katara, you’re being ridiculous,” Sokka snapped. “Are you coming with us or not?”
Katara grabbed her bending water from where she’d hung it by the door. “No,” she said. “I’m going to look for Hama.”
“Katara!” Sokka said, but Katara forced her way past him and started quickly down the steps, trying to come up with where Zuko might take Hama. He probably wouldn’t hurt her, but if he was angry at her calling him out earlier, he might want to scare her. Meaning he’d probably take her to the forest people were disappearing in.
Well, she’d certainly have some words for him when she found him.
She heard the others running behind her for a bit, but they were too far away to hear. When they reached the woods, the others split off towards the mountain, and Katara ran right for the center. There was a river there. She could grab extra water in case she’d need it. Not that she imagined she’d need much help to take on Zuko during the full moon.
As she approached the river, however, she heard voices, and she slowed to a walk, then started moving more stealthily among the trees.
“It’s a pity, that as a firebender, you’ll never understand the power the full moon brings.” That was Hama’s voice! She sounded okay!
Katara peeked around the tree she was behind, and found the river in front of her. And standing in front of it was Hama and Zuko. But… neither of them looked like they were attacking each other. Hama had her hands up like she was bending something, but the river did look like it was moving fast, maybe she was speeding it up. She definitely didn’t look hurt.
Katara hid herself behind the tree again, closing her eyes and feeling a shame curling in her gut. She’d jumped right to the idea that Zuko was hurting her. That wasn’t fair of her. Maybe he’d just wanted to talk to her.
But then, Zuko snapped, “It’s a pity that even as a waterbender you haven’t learned to not destroy everything you touch,” and Katara’s eyes shot wide open. She peered back around the tree again, but Zuko’s stance hadn’t changed. He wasn’t even in a position to hurt her. What was going on?
“Hama?” Katara asked, stepping out from behind the tree, and Hama turned around quickly.
Zuko still didn’t move, but he did yell out: “Katara, get out of here!” which was… deeply bizarre.
“Hama, what’s going on?” Katara asked. “Weren’t you the one who said it was dangerous out here during the full moon? Why are you and Zuko going for a walk in the middle of the night?”
“Katara,” Hama said, turning to face her with a smile. “I was worried I wouldn’t get to show you.”
“Show me what?” Katara asked, taking a step back.
“Seriously, go!” Zuko snapped, except he still didn’t turn around.
“What I discovered in that wretched fire nation prison,” Hama said, ignoring Zuko. She still didn’t lower her hands. What was she bending?
“The guards were always careful to keep any water away from us, you see,” Hama said. “They piped in dry air and had us suspended away from the ground. Before they let us drink, they bound our hands and feet, so we couldn’t bend. And yet, each month, I felt the full moon enriching me with its energy. I began to realize that where there is life, there is water. The rats scurrying across the floor of my cage were nothing more than skins filled with liquid. I passed years developing the skill that would lead to my escape… bloodbending.”
Katara felt cold with horror. She looked from Hama’s raised hands, back to Zuko, who was still facing the river. But now that she looked closer, she could see his hands twitching unnaturally, and the way his stance was not at all relaxed.
“Hama,” Katara said, her voice shaking. “What are you doing to Zuko?”
“Katara, once you perfect this technique, you can control anything. Or anyone,” Hama said. She moved her hands, and Zuko spun around, awkward and unbalanced and not at all like how he usually moved. Katara met his wide-eyed gaze with one of her own.
“Hama, let him go!” Katara asked, raising her own hands, though she wasn’t sure what to do with them.
“Katara, they tried to wipe us out. Our entire culture. Your mother!” Hama snapped. Katara felt tears starting to well in her eyes.
“I know,” she said weakly, feeling more than a little off balance herself.
“Then you should understand what I’m talking about!” Hama continued. “We’re the last waterbenders of the Southern Water Tribe. We have to fight these people wherever we can, but you! You allowed one of them to join you,” she glared at Zuko like he was something she wanted to smush under her shoe. “The Prince of the Fire Nation, no less. You trust him. He’s tainted you!”
“Katara, get out of here!” Zuko yelled. “Run!”
“Katara, you can’t let him convince you that his kind are worthy of anything,” Hama said, dragging the words out with bloodlust and rage. “You have to strike back first! Strike back harder! You must carry on my work!”
Katara felt something harden in her. “I won’t!” she snapped, drawing herself upright. She pulled two large balls of water out of the river and around to her. “I won’t use bloodbending, and I won’t let you anymore, either! Let go of Zuko, now!”
But the next second, Katara’s arms moved of their own accord, strapping themselves to her side, and the river water dropped the ground around her.
“You should have learned the technique before you turned against me,” Hama said with a chilling grin. “I can control every muscle, every vein in your body.”
Katara tried to force her arms to move, but they’d stopped responding to her, and after a second, Hama forced her to her knees. Katara let out a shaky grasp, and tried to push herself upright.
“Stop, please,” she sobbed, but Hama had turned her attention away from her, towards Zuko. She held one hand out to Katara, keeping her firmly in place, and with the other, forced Zuko to walk step by step into the river.
“Hama, stop!” Katara cried, but Hama paid her no attention. Instead, she jerked her head from one side to the other, stopping the flow of the river and creating two massive waves that built up on either side of Zuko.
Zuko looked out towards Katara, eyes wide and scared in a way she’d never seen from him. She watched him take a deep gulp in and hold it, looking up at the water above his head.
“Hama!” Katara cried.
“You’ll thank me eventually, Katara,” Hama said, and released her grip on Katara in order to use her hand to bring the waves crashing down.
Katara leapt to her feet and reached her hands out desperately. “ZUKO!”
…
Zuko felt the moment feeling rushed back into his limbs, and he dove instantly from the dry riverbed, landing on the bank and rolling into a crouching position. He looked up, trying to figure out what happened, and found Katara, hands raised and tears streaming down her cheeks, with her arms extended towards Hama. As soon as she saw he was out of the river, she jerked her head downwards, and the water crashed down and started flowing normally again.
A glance over at Hama showed him the old woman twitching unnaturally, and a second later, Katara lowered her hands and brought her down to the ground.
Zuko still felt his hands shaking, though he knew he wasn’t being bloodbent anymore, and it’s not like he’d ever admit it.
“Zuko,” Katara said, and though he could still see the tears on her face, he couldn’t hear them in her voice anymore. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” Zuko said, glad his own voice was coming out stably too. “Thank you, Katara.” He intentionally didn’t look again at Hama, but added, “I’m sorry this all turned out this way.”
Katara didn’t say anything, but a fresh wave of tears poured down her cheeks.
Before Zuko could figure out what they should do next, he heard feet approaching from the forest. He raised his hands, ready to defend Katara, before he spotted Toph, Aang, and Sokka leading the group, the rest likely the missing villagers. He lowered his hands.
“Zuko, Katara!” Aang called, the relief obvious in his voice, before he noticed the rest of the scene. “What… what happened?”
“Someone needs to take Hama into custody,” Katara said. “And make sure— make sure you bind her hands.”
…
Everyone had been giving Katara some space since they left the last town, which Katara was grateful for. The issue was, no one was holding her distrust of Zuko over her head either, which should have felt nice. Katara had learned her lesson on that front pretty thoroughly, after all. But she was pretty sure she needed at least one person to yell at her about what it had almost led to. It would have been nice if it could have come from Sokka, but he was apparently convinced she’d gotten it. Aang was just glad everyone was okay, and Toph was apparently understanding where Katara was coming from.
Which left just one person Katara could conceivably get to yell at her, and she doubted it would work.
But she walked up to Zuko at their next camp site anyway. He was setting his sleeping bag up a little ways away from everyone else, like usual, and it was pissing her off. She wasn’t going to lead with that, though.
“Hey,” she said, and Zuko stopped from smoothing out his sleeping bag and turned to face her.
“Oh, hey,” he said. “Do we need more fire? Because Aang really needs to practice, you should make him do it.”
“What? No, we don’t need more fire,” Katara said. “I— I wanted to apologize to you.”
Zuko raised an eyebrow. “To me?” he asked, sounding surprised to the point of being unconvinced.
“Yes, to you,” Katara said, putting her hands on her hips. “What, did you think I wasn’t going to?”
“For what?” Zuko asked. “You didn’t do anything.”
“I didn’t— Zuko,” Katara said, pinching the bridge of her nose. “You almost died.”
Zuko rolled his eyes. “Like I’ve never done that before. You guys have too. It’s pretty standard in the lives we’re leading.”
“Still,” Katara said. “This one might have been avoided if I trusted you. So I’m sorry.”
“You really don’t need to—”
“Oh for crying out loud, Zuko, will you just take the dang apology?”
“Okay! Okay,” Zuko said, holding up his hands. “I accept your apology. And I forgive you.”
Katara huffed and crossed her arms. “I—” she sighed. “I think it’s about time I forgive you too.”
“What do you mean?”
“For all of it,” Katara said, looking back at him. “I mean you… you’ve proven yourself trustworthy at this point. And you’ve proven you want to help us. So I forgive you.”
There was a moment of silence, and when she looked up, she found Zuko staring at her, stunned.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing,” Zuko said. “Just… wasn’t really expecting you guys to care enough about me to do that. Ever, actually.”
Katara raised her eyebrows in astonishment. “Did you think I saved your life because it was a way to pass the time?”
“I mean, the Avatar needs a firebending teacher,” Zuko pointed out with a shrug.
Katara stared at him. “You think I screamed your name in desperation and taught myself a terrible skill that horrifies me because I was worried Aang was going to lose his firebending teacher?”
Zuko opened his mouth, then shut it, then opened it again. “Uh,” he said. “Maybe?”
Katara gaped at him in astonishment, then looked down and shook her head. “Zuko,” she said. “Grab your sleeping bag and come eat dinner with the rest of us.”
“What? Why?”
“Because you’re a part of this group,” Katara said. “And everyone was worried about you. And I think we’d all feel a little better if you stopped hiding out on the other side of the campsite all the time.”
“Are you sure?” Zuko asked hesitantly.
Katara gave him her best ‘do what I’m telling you right now’ look that she gave the younger kids back home when they were misbehaving. Zuko raised his hands in surrender and picked up his sleeping back, then followed Katara back across their campsite until he could set it down around the fire. Katara settled on hers just in time for Sokka to glance over at them.
“Zuko, thank goodness!” he called. “I need someone to back me up here. You liked the sea-prunes-slash-ocean-kumquats from the other night right?”
“Oh, uh, sure,” Zuko said, looking to the side and scratching his neck. “Delicious.”
“Ha! See Aang, what did I tell you?”
“He’s lying, Sokka.”
“What? Come on Toph, no he’s not, he’s—” Sokka stopped when he saw Zuko’s face. “Zuko! How could you?”
“I’m pretty sure Aang warned us away from them for a reason,” Zuko said. “I didn’t try them.”
“What?”
Katara shook her head with a disappointed sigh. “It’s alright, Sokka. There’ll just be more for us.”
“But they’re missing out on so much!” Sokka exclaimed, flopping back on his sleeping bag. “I just can’t with you three!”
Katara laughed a little as Aang and Sokka burst into another argument about sea prunes, and Toph leaned her elbow on her knee so she could lean on her hand and listen to the show. And a second later, when Katara spared a glance over at Zuko, she found him smiling a little bit as he watched them all.
She smiled a little wider herself, realizing she didn’t want anyone to yell at her anymore. And that, for the first time, she felt fully comfortable with all five of them sitting there.