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Prologue: Watch your step.

Katara had left some time ago, but Zuko still watched the doorway she had just strode from.

It had been a hard few months and he was very much aware that it hadn't simply been hard for him. He couldn't blame the young woman for speaking her mind as venomously as she had, she had to. She had to make it as clear as the water she could bend that if he stepped one foot out of place, she would make him suffer.

Zuko sighed and sat back down, his bag and the few prized possessions he had managed to steal away with him spilled from his arms to tumble onto the modest but comfortable bed he had been granted. And that's when he felt it.

Zuko's hand went to his left side in a feeble attempt to ease the pain that had just shot through it. Ever since the unfortunate run in with Toph that very morning, it had been aching terribly. Of course it was something to do with the column of earth she had shoved into him, no less than he deserved after burning her feet. He had been so angry at himself that he spared the injury no heed, until now.

Now everything was quiet, he had been accepted into the group and all he wanted to do was focus on the task at hand. Teach Aang fire bending and restore balance to the world. All of that, and making damn sure he didn't tick off their resident water bender in the process.