Author's Note:

Hi, I'm just going to explain a few things here.

First of all, I am not a native English speaker, so when you find any mistakes in the story, I'd be really glad if you'd just write them into a review, so that I can update the chapter with less mistakes. It would also help me to improve my English, so that I won't make as many mistakes in the future.

I have never read a fanfiction before January 2019 and I was completely surprised and amazed by all these stories and ideas. I love writing and I got inspired pretty soon, but I didn't know if I was going to write my idea down or publish it, but as you can see I made my decision.

This fan fiction is based on the fact that I am a Zutara fan, but I also like Kataang. I always wanted Katara and Zuko to be together, but I didn't want any jealousy or hostilitiy between Aang and Zuko again, so I'm okay with Kataang. Zuko and Aang are bros and that's what is most important to me. I actually also like Mai and I don't think that she's that apathetic, but I cannot see her being at Zuko's side as his wife or for their whole lives. And when Fire Lord Izumi finally showed up in LoK I got pretty frustrated that they still didn't tell us who Zuko's wife was. Comic Spoiler: And then Mai broke up with Zuko in the comics (I know she still has feelings for him and vice versa, but I'm just going to pretend that they are not going to be together again) and I was wondering, who Izumi's mother was. And since I totally like Zutara I just invented my own waterbender (who is not totally like Katara, that would be silly) who would actually develop feelings for Zuko and vice versa. I tried to pick up the best things about Zutara (enemies in the past, both stubborn and hot tempered, opposite elements, ninja missions, serious talks, teasing, blah blah blah, etc.) and to add them to my story without making my waterbender too much like Katara. I also wanted my story to be possible, i.e. to fit into the canon and into the comics, so there won't be any change in canon, since it is perfect as it is, in my opinion.

That's it, I'm done with introducing my story and I hope you'll enjoy reading it!

I do not own Avatar The Last Airbender, nor its characters. The only characters I own are my OCs.

Chapter One

A Thief in the Night

Kilara

In the nights of the full moon I've always had trouble sleeping. I've never liked to close my curtains or the shutters, so the moonlight could shine brightly and untrammelled into my room. But that's not what bothered me.

Inside of me, between my rips and my navel, it felt like something tug on my organs. This pull was powerful and made me restless. I just felt so awake underneath the full moon.

When I was younger I used to sneak outside of the house and go to the creek which marked the border of the grounds. Then I would stand in the water, barefoot, looking up at the moon and feel it's power running through my veins. I could feel the water in my body, I was fully aware of the creek and what lived in it. Sometimes I could even feel the people inside of the house, for they were full of water.

After a while then I would start bending. I loved the way the water flowed between the movements of my arms, how I could shape it to everything I wanted, to ice it and make it liquid again. It always felt like dancing to me, how I would twirl in the creek, making the water following me.

But that was before.

Now, I would just toss and turn in bed, waiting for the moon to set so I could finally get some sleep. Sometimes I would read scrolls or books, trying to keep myself distracted.

Tonight was a different night. The evening before had been unnerving and even without a full moon I wouldn't be able to get any sleep. I had a lot to think about. And to pout about and to complain about.

But to be fair, my uncle had given me time.

I didn't need to make a decision right now and I also didn't need to marry anyone until I would turn sixteen. Which was in seven months.

I snuggled deeper under my blanket and sighed.

Then I felt suddenly another source of water on the grounds. A person who made his or her way to the kitchen house.

I got up, put on some shoes and a dressing gown before I made my way to the person I could feel.

This person definitely didn't belong here.

Zuko

It was ridiculously easy to find the kitchen of this mansion. I just had to follow my nose. Relief went through me when I noticed the kitchen to be in a small house attached to the main house. Definitely better than last time when the kitchen had been in the basement.

I made it there quickly and silently. With a small dagger I managed to open the door without leaving a sign of the breaking.

Those rich Earth Kingdom idiots should rather invest their money into their safety than into their parties and looks.

I pulled out my bag and started looking for bread first. When I had what I wanted I searched for dried meat or fish. I grinned to myself when I found both. The faint smell of tea leaves came to my nose and I could nearly hear my Uncle scolding me for stealing food. Frowning I moved to another part of the kitchen, looking for fruits and vegetables, when a shadow cast over the floor.

I dropped the food sack, quickly pulled out my swords and settled into a fighting stance, looking at the person at the door.

In front of me stood a girl in a white expensive looking dressing gown. I could make out flowery patterns made of lace on her collar which covered her chest to her collarbones. Her brown hair was tied in a bun, but some strands danced around her cheeks and neck. Her skin looked pale in the moonlight, but I could still see that it was much darker than mine. Her eyes were sparkling blue. She was smaller than me, but seemed to be my age, maybe even older. Even with this to know, I couldn't help but wonder, what the Avatar's waterbender did here and if he was maybe nearby. Only when she moved, my mind registered that this girl was not the Avatar's waterbender. Just some other Water Tribe girl.

I frowned in confusion, wondering what a Water Tribe girl was doing in such fine clothing in such a fine mansion in the Earth Kingdom.

But then again, if she knew who I was, she'd probably be thinking the same.

The metal of my swords reflected some light and she took a hesitant step back, looking slightly frightened.

Good. She should just turn around and leave me be. I could still make it out of here with the food.

Kilara

Goosebumps covered my skin and my whole body stilled when I saw him. It was just my luck that I had to run into a demonic spirit. Would it eat me? Or simply kill me?

But I noticed his face to be blue, so I wondered if he was a water spirit and maybe because of me being half Water Tribe and a waterbender he would leave me be.

The spirit was definitely a him. There was nothing soft or curvy about his appearance. Even though his clothes were a bit loose there was no mistaking his muscular body.

Wait a second. He wore clothes. Loose and dirty clothes.

I narrowed my eyes at his swords, figuring that he was just a guy hiding behind a water spirit mask.

"What are you doing here?", I asked, hoping my voice would sound strong and confident, demanding.

The man didn't move at first and clearly was not going to answer, but then he picked up a full bag and held one of his swords in my direction.

Slowly he made his way towards me.

"Answer my question!" I said in my best order voice.

He stopped in his tracks for a moment, but then continued walking towards me.

I took several steps back, for I certainly didn't want to feel his sword in my stomach.

"You're a thief, aren't you?" I squared my shoulders the best I could and felt for a water source. I would just encase him in ice while distracting him with my questions. "Feeling good because of it?" I added a teasing and provoking tone to my voice. Behind him in the kitchen was a big water tank. I concentrated on the water, having it already in my grasp without doing anything else than clenching my hand into a fist. "Clearly you think that you are better than the people you steal from. That you deserve whatever you're stealing. You feel smart, don't you?" I backed away again, since he had made a fast move towards me, swinging his sword in a deadly manner. I swallowed. No, I would end this. I would stop him. There is nothing honourable about stealing and I would not let him get away like this. Not when he was trying to steal from my family. So I quickly pulled a big amount of water towards me, wanting to splash him from behind.

But I hadn't known that he would be so quick. He dropped the bag of food and dodged the water, so that it nearly hit me. But my grip on the water was too tight and I quickly sent a wave and a whip towards him, nearly at the same time, moving into the stances with ease from years of practice.

The masked thief truly was a good fighter. He used his swords to cut through my water whips and dodged the waves I sent towards him, always a small bit too fast for me. He didn't stand still for one second and moved through our fight with an ease and grace that only belonged to experienced warriors. But I didn't give up, sending a dozen water whips in his direction when I noticed what he was doing. He was trying to tire me.

Narrowing my eyes I chased him down to the creek without touching him one time with water. But there was enough water now nearby and he wouldn't be fast enough to dodge a wave as big as this.

I raised my arms quickly, the water rising immediately due to the full moon. I created several tentacles and waves, attacking him from every side, moving my arms fast and powerfully.

There was just too much water and I quickly had him in an orb. I put some water down to reveal his head and froze the water.

He wiggled frantically, articulating quiet sounds of anger while he was trying to get out of my small iceberg.

Cautiously I approached him, still waiting if he had something up his sleeve to get him out of the ice. But there was nothing.

Suddenly he stilled, looking in my direction as I came closer.

I didn't feel very smug or victorious since the fight had been longer than I had anticipated. I was a pretty good waterbender, nearly a master and it was the full moon, dammit! I should have won within a blink of an eye.

I felt angry about him being able to fight so good, but I was also curious. Why did such a highly skilled warrior need to steal food?

My feet touched the ice and I reached out to his mask, wanting to see what was underneath.

That was when he finally moved, flinching and trying to move his head away. Huh, so he didn't want me to take the mask off his face.

But I still did it. It was not easy, since it was bound tightly behind his head and he was still wiggling his head, so that I couldn't get a good grip on the knot, but I managed to take his mask.

Underneath was someone who I would have never expected.

It was a boy. A teenage boy around my age.

Suddenly I felt very impressed by his fighting.

Short black hair stood from his head in every direction and his pale skin looked nearly as white as the moon herself.

The left side of his face was badly scarred, damaged to an angry reddish purple colour and a texture which looked like lizard skin with some unevenness.

I figured it was a burn scar. I had seen enough of them since the day I discovered I had healing abilities, so I knew just fine how they looked like. Spirits, that must have hurt! There were no eyelashes around his eye nor an eyebrow and even his ear was damaged.

Both his eyes were narrowed and an angry scowl covered his face.

I crossed my arms underneath my chest, still holding the blue mask. A frown tugged at my mouth. "Why were you stealing food?", I asked.

His eyes even narrowed more, but then he simply looked away, not bothering for an answer.

Now it was my turn to scowl. "Answer when I ask you something!"

His head snapped back at me, his right eye suddenly more open, although his left kept narrowed, as his eyebrow moved into a frown. "Don't speak to me like that!", he growled, his voice raspy and rather deep for his age.

A slight shiver ran down my spine which I chose to ignore. "And why shouldn't I, thief?"

He didn't answer again, only scowling more if that was even possible. "Let me go", he finally said, his voice full of anger.

I smirked at that. Did he really expect me to let him go? Never. I would deliver him to my uncle who would decide what would be about to happen to him.

"Let me go!", he snapped again. "Or else I will hurt you really badly."

I suppressed the urge to back away. "First you would need to get out of the ice", I stated in a voice more confident than I felt like.

"I can get out", he simply said. "I'd just appreciate it not to show you."

My frown deepened, but instead of pondering on his words I stamped my hands on my hips, and leaned in even a bit closer. "I'll decide if I let you go when you tell me why you were stealing food."

Zuko

Dammit, that was just my luck to get encased in ice again. I really didn't like that, but it wasn't as if I could just firebend me out of here. Well, I could, but it wouldn't be very smart. I was a thief now and I didn't want to give her one more reason to contempt me.

I hadn't had a lot contact with Earth Kingdom people before, but sometime I would overhear people talking. They were angry with the Fire Nation, especially firebenders. That's exactly why I used my swords.

But unless they developed a will of their own, they wouldn't be able to help me escape.

Water Tribe girls must really love to encase their opponents in ice.

I felt so angry that it was really difficult to not heat my body. This stupid waterbender who was for whatever reason in the Earth Kingdom had been able to take me down! It just wasn't fair to me. It showed me only more what a failure I was.

I would never be able to return home. I would never see the gardens of the palace again nor would I become Fire Lord one day.

My anger was so omnipresent that I nearly couldn't understand what she said.

"What do you mean? You wouldn't let me go, so don't pretend you'd do!", I snarled.

Her eyes narrowed a bit, she then rolled them and looked to the side. "Okay, fine, I wouldn't let you go. But my uncle might. It depends on your reason for stealing food."

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. "Well, what do you think why people steal food? It's clearly not for fun!"

The girl frowned and moved her lower lip to the side while she looked me up and down. Suddenly it felt like there was something alive inside the ice. A presence which surrounded me and felt almost like water. But the ice didn't liquefy one bit.

"Soooo…" the girl said slowly. "…you don't have any food of your own?"

"No." I hoped she would just finish this nonsense and let me go. I had no desire to stay in the ice for longer. What if I would catch a cold?

Her facial expression changed suddenly. Instead of looking angry and demanding, she looked sad. I knew this look all too well. Pity. How much I hated that!

As suddenly as it had appeared on her face, it disappeared again. A look of confusion crossed her features. "You… How could such a highly skilled warrior not have any money to buy food?", she asked, sounding suspicious.

"I just don't. I don't have a job, so I don't have money!" My eyes narrowed angrily at her. This was so humiliating! I didn't only have to steal; I had to explain myself and actions now to a teenage waterbender!

"And why don't you have a job?", she asked in an innocent sounding voice. Too innocent.

She probably thought that I just didn't want to work and rather use my skills to steal to make myself a comfortable life. Well, that wasn't that wrong.

But I was also a fugitive and Uncle and I couldn't afford to stay in one place for several days so that I could work to earn us some money. Only one day more in one place could be our death sentence.

"I… I can't stay in one place for too long. That's not quite helpful for getting a job", I answered nonchalantly.

"And why can't you stay in one place for too long?", the girl asked, almost sounding bored.

I frowned angrily. "That's none of your business!", I snapped.

She came closer, getting all in my space and narrowing her eyes. Her finger poked in the ice, where my chest was. "But you are my business! You broke into my family's house, tried to steal our food and I prevented you from actually do it! So until I don't know why you're here or why you can't stay in one place, you are so my business!"

I had moved my head a bit away from her, since I hated it when people got near me. But I had still been able to catch some of her scent. Fresh like rain and something that smelled like a flower, but also reminded me of tea. I couldn't help but notice that it was a nice scent. Not too girly anyway.

"I'm getting more and more tempted to just free me myself!", I hissed, hoping to frighten her somehow.

"I'd like to see you try." She sounded overconfident, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Oh dragons! How could I get out of here without having to reveal my firebending?!

"There's no way you could get out of there unless you were a waterbender yourself which you are clearly not. I have trained with Earthbenders and I know that they cannot get out of ice by themselves." She again started to poke into the ice and narrowed her eyes a bit. "And you cannot escape with dual dao swords!"

I couldn't help but be surprised that she knew the actual name for my weapons. Most people called them just double or broad swords.

The girl suddenly took a step away, gasping, her eyes wide with shock. What the hell? "You're from the Fire Nation", she whispered.

I've never been good at lying or denying the truth, nor have I ever been a good actor, so I couldn't pretend to be shocked at her words. In the back oy my mind I wondered how she had come to that conclusion.

But it just had been too many prejudices, too much hatred, too much contempt and fear. I've had enough.

"So?!", I snapped. "Am I therefore a bad person who deserves nothing but hatred?!" It was out now and I didn't care anymore, hot air left my nose and the ice around me melted away from my body heat.

I kept the heat up, wanting to steam myself dry and getting warm again.

The girl gasped, taking one more step back. "You're a…" Suddenly she cocked her head to the side, looking confused and curious. "Why didn't you fight with firebending?"

My frown deepened, but it was more one of surprise than anger now. Why did she care?

"Does that matter?" I brought my swords together and sheathed them.

"I was just being curious." She shrugged and hugged herself around the waist, shivering slightly. "Are you… a soldier?", she asked, biting her lip.

Wow. I being a firebender in the Earth Kingdom had never brought up this curiosity in a person.

"No", I said lowly.

"Then… what are you doing here? I mean, in the Earth Kingdom. Well, the free, not occupied Earth Kingdom."

"I… That was not intentional. Not totally." I rubbed my neck, not feeling comfortable under her searching and judging gaze. I then noticed that she wasn't in a fighting stance anymore. How stupid. She couldn't be sure that I was not going to attack her again. How utterly stupid.

I quickly charged forward, one flame in my left fist, sending it to her right side and while she concentrated on this, I shot another fire ball right before her feet, causing a little explosion and knocking her to the ground.

She hissed out of pain and anger while she rubbed her back. Dragons, why did she rub her back in the middle of a fight?

"Stop that!", I growled.

She looked up at me in confusion. "What?"

"You're getting distracted too easily", I told her. "Just because I wasn't attacking you before doesn't mean that you can let your guard down."

Her surprised look probably matched mine. Why the hell was I instructing her?

"And now that! I just attacked you and you are not moving, only rubbing your stupid back!", I snarled angrily.

She frowned at me again. "Yes, you did attack me, but you weren't going to hurt me. You could have easily done so if you wanted to, but you only sent me on my butt."

I was clearly taken aback at her words. Well, she was right, but she couldn't have known that!

Quickly I rushed towards her, grabbing her wrists and holding them to the ground, pressing my body to hers, so that she couldn't move nor fight.

"You cannot know that for sure!", I growled, perceiving her scent again and fighting to ignore a shiver that ran down my spine. "You are completely defenceless now! You could have stopped me doing this, but your confidence and pride seem to threaten your senses! Are you always that careless with your life and safety?"

She narrowed her eyes again, looking angry to my relief. "I'm not too confident, nor too proud. And you might be from the Fire Nation and a firebender, but you also seem to be running away from something and hiding in the Earth Kingdom. You are a starving teenager and not a ruthless killer. You might want me to be afraid of you and maybe I am. A little bit, since I don't know you and now that I think of it, you truly could be a ruthless killer despite your age. You could even be a rapist since you are pinning me to the ground. Like a rapist!", she shot back while blabbering a little in the middle of her monologue.

I drew back as if I had burnt myself and sat down a few feet away from her. Bending my legs I let my arms drop to my knees. "I'm not a rapist!", I snapped. "And I certainly would never rape anyone! That is a disgusting und most dishonourable thing to do! And I have never killed anybody!"

As the girl sat up, I couldn't help but notice a smug expression on her face. She mirrored me, bending her legs and laying her arms on her knees. "Then I don't have anything to fear, do I?"

I blinked and didn't know what to say.

We stared at each other for a while, maybe seconds or even minutes. I didn't know what lingering here would now gain me, since I wouldn't try to steal the food again, but I also couldn't leave because that felt too much like giving up.

While I stared at her, I became curious myself.

A waterbender in the Earth Kingdom who didn't hate me simply for what I am. We had fought, but for another reason and now there was no hostility left.

I noticed that her eyes weren't all blue. They had a tint of green, nearly looking turquoise. That reminded me of my favourite beach on Ember Island with white sand, where the ocean had exactly that colour.

"What about a deal?", the girl asked, looking curious.

Quickly I put my guard back up and narrowed my eyes (or eye) at her. "What deal?"

"You answer my questions without being rude or lying. And I let you have some food, I even help you gather it and I can cook you some meals that you can take with you or eat now." She held her chin slightly higher, challenging me with that suggestion.

Answering her questions without lying? Hell, no. I wouldn't tell her anything. She already knew too much.

But my stomach didn't agree with me at all. It gave out a loud growl, clenching and annoying me. Life would be so much easier without having to eat.

But no, I could still get food elsewhere. I wouldn't get a warm meal, that was for sure and I didn't know how to cook, so it also wouldn't taste that good, but I still couldn't accept.

I continued to glare at her, when my stomach protested again. Urrgghhh! I was so fed up with being hungry and not eating something proper and stealing, for it was a dishonourable thing to do, and sleeping in the dirt and urgh! Just everything! I even missed Uncle's tea.

I was proud, always had been and always will be. But I was not a complete idiot. And I was human. So I needed and wanted to eat.

Swallowing my pride I inclined my head a bit. "I accept, if you answer my questions as well."

She frowned in confusion. "What could you possibly want to ask me?"

I cocked my head to the side. "Like what does a waterbender do in the Earth Kingdom?"

"Oh. Well, okay. We have a deal." With that she stood up, motioning for me to follow her.

I was still cautious, since it all could be a trap, but I followed her to the kitchen. She grabbed up my bag and put it onto the countertop. "Would you mind making some light?", she asked while going through the stuff I had wanted to steal.

I looked around, noticing a few lamps around the walls and one giant lamp in the middle of the kitchen. I exhaled deeply and concentrated on the lamps, trying to focus. I inhaled and exhaled again, then I shot out several little fire blasts lighting every lamp, but not burning anything else.

Pleased with my work I allowed myself to smile a little bit. Precise fire shots had never been easy for me.

"So… I'll just start with the questions", the girl said. "What's your name?"

Zuko. I really almost said that.

"Err… You can call me Lee", I said, rubbing my neck with my left hand. I walked to where she had dropped my mask and took it into my hands, examining it for scratches. Suddenly I noticed that I was being rude for not wanting to know her name. "Erm, what's your name?"

She was busy going through pans and pots in the cupboard. Finally she rose to her feet with a pot and putting it onto the stove. "You can call me La."

I frowned. That was her name?

Well, it fit, since it was also the ocean spirit's name, but I didn't know that Water people named their children after their spirits. Fire people certainly didn't name their children after the Great Dragons, for it were sacred names.

Uncle had given me lessons on the Water Tribe culture and spirits, while we had been floating on that damn piece of wood that dared to be called a raft. First, I had rejected his attempts to get me to listen, but he had explained to me why he had defended the moon spirit and why I should not ignore it. After all, we had only had the moon and the ocean out there and since we didn't die, but managed to find shore Uncle had been very smug. He believed that his prayers and belief had brought us to safety, not my navigation skills. I had learned a lot on my ship, since I wanted to know everything about… well, everything. I didn't like to rely on people and had worked out our course myself (with a little help from Lieutenant Jee sometimes), I had checked on the engines and the ovens, even the food. I hadn't cared about what the cook made of the food, but I had cared about me and my crew getting enough proteins and vitamins. Once, I even had convinced the cook to make special diet food for my uncle, but that hadn't done anything to his stomach. I had suspected him to hide cookies or cakes in his chambers.

La looked over her shoulder at me and raised her eyebrows in a sarcastic manner which meant that La was not her real name. So she had decided to not tell me her name, since she had noticed that I had been lying about mine.

I tried not to look guilty. "So… er, you live here?" I changed the subject.

"Yes. For now. It is my uncle's house. My mother is gone and my father is off studying… well, something in the Fire Nation. Probably history."

My eyebrows shot up. "How is he doing that?"

La filled a pot with some small light brown things I had never seen before. "Talking to people in the Fire Nation? Reading Fire Nation books?"

"So he currently is in the Fire Nation?", I pressed.

"Yes, he is. Now it's my turn. Who are you running from?" She poured milk into the pot and stirred the inside with a cooking spoon.

O dragon. She really got down to business. "My sister", I simply said.

La shot me a quick look. "Why would you run from her?"

I flinched a bit, not knowing how to say the next things. "I was set a mission by my father. But I didn't manage to accomplish it and now he…" Wanted me imprisoned, stripped of any rank and name. He took my birth right from me and humiliated me. Not that I didn't deserve it. The Avatar had already been mine, but I hadn't planned for bad weather or anything else unpleasant. So it was my own fault that he'd gotten away. "Well, I have been disinherited and my sister has been sent after me. She is to bring me back so that I…" will be imprisoned. "…can face my punishment."

"Punishment? That sounds a bit too grave. Are you sure your own father wants to do that to you?"

I nearly dropped my jar to the floor. "What? You've never been punished by yours?"

"No. Not really." Her mouth twisted in thought and she added: "Well, he can get angry and would even yell at me, but I don't remember being punished for anything in my whole life."

Anger and envy rose up quickly inside of me and I couldn't help but be reminded of Azula. Loved and cherished daughters who would never be hurt by their fathers.

"Then again, my father is not really one for punishment. When I did something bad he simply told me why that was bad and how I could do it better or why I shouldn't do it again. And when I listened to him, he would buy me some honeybuns or sugarcakes."

I shuddered at the thought of those. They were a common treat in the Earth Kingdom and Uncle loved them. Almost two years ago when my ship had first landed on Earth Kingdom territory Uncle had pulled me with him, looking excited (I thought he had heard or seen something important about the Avatar's whereabouts), and introduced me to a sweets shop. I had never seen such a thing and the amount of sugar in there had been frightening. That day I had eaten Earth Kingdom sweets for the first and last time.

La stopped stirring the inside of the pot and went to cut a moon peach, which I really liked. Although I only enjoyed moon peaches when the flesh was hard and when they tasted more sour than sweet.

"Altogether I'd say that my father is just a pacifist."

I stared at La for a few seconds, not knowing what to make of this statement, when I sighed. Wow, we couldn't be more different.

"You enjoy talking about him, don't you?", I asked, trying to sound gentle, while I kept looking at her.

"Oh, yes." For some reason she sounded sad saying that. "You don't enjoy talking about yours, do you?"

"No, I don't", I said quietly, adverting my gaze when she turned to look at me.

"Then, what about your mother? Does she want you to face your punishment, too?", La asked hesitantly.

I frowned, fighting the memories of happier days, when I had felt whole. When my family had still been whole and everyone had had their place.

Not even then had I had a close relationship to my sister, for she had loved to embarrass, humiliate and insult me the best way she could. But at that age her ideas hadn't been grave and sometimes we even had fun playing. I had accepted that she always wanted to be the best and let her be it, but that hadn't been enough for her. She had to be the best and I had to be a weak worm.

Father had never been loving or caring towards me, not even towards Azula, but he hadn't been so frightening either.

And Mother… She had been the source of all my happiness. She had made me laugh, had comforted me when I had felt weak and had made me feel more confident, too. She had encouraged me that if I kept trying I could manage everything.

"I don't know. She is… not around", I answered honestly.

La glanced at me, frowning. "What happened to her?" She added the moon peach to the pot, along with a spoon of something brown and some seeds.

I swallowed, moving towards the window and staring out at the full moon. "She… disappeared. I was ten."

La blinked at me, stunned. "Just like that? Without saying goodbye?"

"No. She did come to me that night. She said that everything she had done, she had done to protect me. And that I should never forget who I am. I think that somehow my father made her leave. A lot happened that night and because of that my father suddenly… had a higher rank. But I…" I dwelled on that for quite some time, not noticing La finishing my meal or that she kept the silence between us. I've never told that anybody. Not even Uncle knew what I was thinking about that night. Maybe I just needed to get that out of my head, to talk about it. Uncle always said that keeping things locked up didn't help and often only made it worse.

After a while I felt a hand on my arm and I noticed that it had been there for a while now. I looked up to see La standing close to me, a gentle expression on her face. She looked nice like that. Friendly and pretty.

"I'm sorry for your loss. She clearly loved you a lot, just like a mother should." La drew her hand back and that spot on my arm suddenly felt cold and lonely.

I frowned at my arm, noticing that this girl had woken up some of my teenager hormones.

My gaze went back to her, as she looked at the moon, too. "That is something we have in common. My mother died. Fire Nation soldiers."

I gasped and stepped back a bit. That was so wrong. My nation was supposed to bring wealth and progress to the Earth Kingdom. I was not so naïve to think that war went on without a loss of lives, but I had never imagined things to be so grave. Nearly every person from the Earth Kingdom and certainly also from the Southern Water Tribe had at least one family member lost in the war.

"Okay, so why do you not hate me? Everyone who is not from the Fire Nation seems to hate the Fire Nation. You even lost someone to this war. I wanted to steal your food and when you found out that I'm from the Fire Nation, you should have… you shouldn't be so…" Oh no. I hated it when I came to a loss of words.

"What? I shouldn't be so what?" La raised her eyebrows and looked up at me with those turquoise eyes. I noticed that she had pitch black eyelashes though she had brown hair.

"Nice?", I tried. "Don't you see where I'm getting at?"

"Yes, I do. And honestly, a few months ago I might have taken my anger out on you", she admitted, her eyes cast down and her hands folded. "My mother… Well, I was really angry and desperate. I needed someone to be responsible for her death and it was all too easy to accept the hatred for the Fire Nation, since everyone is doing so, but my dad… He told me that not everyone from the Fire Nation is bad and that many people there even don't want the war, for it only takes their beloved ones. My dad has been to the Fire Nation quite often and he has friends there. A few months ago I went there with him and it was okay. There were things I couldn't stand and I became furious about some things, but I've seen that my father is right. There was a lot of propaganda over there and the children are already fed with lies. For example that the genocide on the Air Nomads was necessary to protect the Fire Nation and that the Fire Lords are all great and good." She sighed, wrapping her arms around herself again. "But who am I to tell you about that? Clearly you have heard all these lies your whole life."

I swallowed and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Yes, I have." My voice nearly hadn't any sound and I coughed a few times.

"Well… are you still hungry? I made you something extraordinarily delicious." La forced a smile on her face and rushed back to the stove. I was glad that she had changed the subject. She put large spoons of a light brown porridge in a bowl and I had trouble to keep my face from grimacing. That didn't look delicious at all. Oh, I would give anything for some fried meat and fire flakes. O fried potato plantains. Or the dragon soup.

Concentrating on keeping a friendly face I took the bowl from her and the chopsticks she handed me. La gestured to some stools around a high table and we sat there facing each other.

"Thank you", I said and bowed my head slightly. Then I took a bite from the porridge with my chopsticks and… was surprised to find it spicy and sweet as well.

I licked my lips and decided that I liked that porridge. The texture wasn't slimy at all, more like the inside of warm and fresh bread. The whole porridge tasted a bit like almonds and the cooked peaches made it sweet and sour.

"That's the only thing I can cook", La suddenly said. "Tu Ling, a friend of my father's showed it to me when we were visiting her in the Fire Nation. It actually is a breakfast meal, but it will be light in two hours, so… Well, I hope you like it."

I nodded and kept eating. And to be honest, I was so hungry that I would have eaten almost everything.

La smiled at me and put her hands on the table.

Suddenly I felt a little uncomfortable because she was looking at me and I tried to avert my gaze.

"So, Lee… Do you have a family member that doesn't want you to face punishment or who is still around and cares about you? Someone who could help you in your current situation?"

"Yes. Well, no." I frowned, wondering if Uncle still cared about me, for I had left him. Was he angry with me about that? He had said that he saw me like his own son, but look at what my real father has done to me. "I travelled with my Uncle", I finally said. "But we parted ways a little more than a week ago."

"Oh. But you like him? And trust him?"

I sighed, now looking at her. "Yes, I do. He can be annoying with his obsession over tea or his proverbs and talking love and peace the whole time." I looked down at my meal again and smiled, when something else about Uncle came to my mind. "I also hate it when he's flirting with women. That happens rather often."

La chuckled softly and I found that I liked the sound of it.

"He is also obsessed with pai sho. He plays it every day and keeps his lotus tile with him the whole time. Maybe he thinks it is a lucky charm. Once, he thought he had lost it and he changed our whole travelling route, just so that we came to a port city and Uncle could find a new lotus tile. But he didn't find one. But a whole lot of other garbage."

La raised her eyebrows in amused anticipation and I wondered why I told her all this stuff.

"Decoration and music instruments, parchment with flowers on it, a kite, new clothes of course and a really awful looking hat", I continued.

Again La chuckled and I saw a glint in her eyes. "He seems like a funny and nice man", she finally said.

"He is. I can never laugh at his jokes, but most people think they are great. And he's always been nice to me. The last years weren't easy and I was…" A slight heat crept up my neck at what I was about to say. "…difficult. I have been rude and angry all the time. But my Uncle just bore it, for he knew that I needed someone to be there."

"Well, you still can be rude", La replied in a mocking voice, taking a bit of the seriousness from the situation.

I just shot her a flat gaze and she chuckled again.

"But why did you part ways?", she then asked.

I nearly choked on my next bite. "Because I wanted it."

"And now you regret it?"

I looked at her, feeling surprised that she had known what I felt. "Yes. This life might not go like I want it to, but it's been better with him."

"I'm sure you'll meet again and then you can travel together again. By the way, do you have any plans for your further travel?"

I merely shook my head.

"If you go east, you will come through a valley with vast orchards and far more fruits that you can eat. Of course they belong to someone, but I'm sure you'll find a way." She smirked at me and I was suddenly surprised again.

"Now you think stealing is okay?"

"No, of course it's not. But distributing goods is important and when people who have less help themselves to distribute the goods fairly I'm totally okay with that."

She actually managed to get a chuckle out of me, which surprised me a lot.

"But now, tell me what are you doing here? You belong in the Water Tribe, not here between rice fields and deserts."

La shrugged at that. "I don't think that there really is a place I belong. I can see any place as home, as long as my brother is with me. I've never been to a Water Tribe. I was born in Gaoling and lived on Kyoshi and in Makapu Village for some years. After mother's death we moved here."

I frowned. "How come that you've been born here? Why were your parents not still with the Water Tribe?"

"My mother is from the Northern Water Tribe. She was a bender, but couldn't use her power to defend her home and the people she loved. She was only taught how to heal with waterbending. The Northern Tribe is really old fashioned, when it comes to gender roles. My mother knew that she could never be happy there. So she left and went to travel the world. She healed a lot of victims of the war here in the Earth Kingdom and taught herself how to fight with waterbending. Once, she healed a wound of my father's from a Fire Nation raid and the rest is history."

"So your father is from the Earth Kingdom?"

La nodded. "Well, his father is. But his mother is from the Fire Nation."

My eyes were probably as large as saucers while I stared at La.

A small smile tugged at her lips. "He is from the colonies. My grandmother's family cast her out because she fell in love with an Earth Kingdom man. But he cared for her and they got married. My father told me that it wasn't easy for his father as well. To find himself suddenly falling in love with an ashmonster."

My jaw tightened at that word. I've never heard that insult, but I certainly didn't like it. But I swallowed my anger and carefully kept my voice neutral. "So, you are practically from three nations," I stated.

"Actually, my mother even had Air Nomad ancestors," La said quietly.

"What?" I shouted, nearly spitting out my food.

La smirked. "The Air Nomads got their name for a reason, you know. My mother's great-grandmother travelled the world within a small group of Air Nomads and fell in love with a man from the Northern Water Tribe. She stayed with him and they married. My mother's grandmother was even an airbender. After the genocide my great-grandmother was maybe the last airbender, except for the Avatar of course. But none of her children became an airbender, too. My grandmother died in a young age and the Water healers suspected the imbalance of the world to be the cause of it," La said softly, her eyes fixed on the floor.

Wow, that was some ancestry. And the most different one from my own that I could have imagined. So many marriages because of love, not because of profits or advantages. People from all over the world accepting each other, despite their different elements. I had a difficult time processing all of that.

"I'm sorry for…," I began, but now I didn't know how to continue. "…for what my nation did. It was not right."

La shot me a kind smile. "Don't apologise. You have nothing to do with that. It is the people on top who decide and we can't do anything about it."

Maybe she couldn't. But I could.

My father might want me imprisoned, but I was still the rightful heir to the Throne of the Sun. If he accepted me, I would become Fire Lord one day and then no one could stop me from making things right. Or righter, since I didn't believe the Fire Nation generals would accept a truce. They were so taken by the war, that they even sacrificed our soldiers and our people. The world was like a board game to them, but I have seen the truth in my father's war room. And now the truth shouted in my face, the whole time.

I knew what was right, but I also knew my place. And everything inside of me ached to be at home. I so badly wanted to be where fire lilies would grow, where turtle ducks swam in the ponds and creeks and where the sun was so hot it felt as if it would burn you.

I silently finished my meal, while La kept staring at me. She probably wanted to know where I got my scar from, but didn't find the courage to ask. I tried to ignore her insistent stare.

When I was finished she got up and collected food that wouldn't go off quickly. She used to ask me what I liked and didn't like.

"Wow, you are picky!" she laughed.

I shrugged.

"Your father… you said, he received a higher rank. Is he an important person in the military?"

I stiffened and averted my gaze again. "Yes, you could say it like that," I muttered.

"Are you nobles?"

Damn, did she figure out who I was?

La pulled dried hippobeef out of a cupboard and folded paper around it. "I'm just asking, because you… give yourself like that. You stand and sit upright and the way you articulate is also proper to Fire Nation nobles."

I frowned. "Just because I have a Fire Nation accent I have to be noble?"

La shook her head. "No, not at all. But I was taught the linguistic differences of every people and their ranks by my father," she replied proudly.

Then she had certainly done a good job. But the problem was that there was no way denying it now. She knew if I'd lie.

Somehow she had guessed all my feelings correctly and there was no point lying to intelligent eyes like that. Not cruel intelligent like my sister's, but curious, friendly intelligent eyes. She seemed to be that kind of person who liked to learn just for knowledge's sake, not for knowledge about your enemy's weak points.

I decided to not say anything about being noble or not. "Is your father a simple researcher and explorer or is he also a professor?" I asked.

La stiffened a bit and I knew that I had been right. "He's also a professor. He used to teach at the University of Gaoling, but now he's in Ba Sing Se."

My eyes widened. "Isn't that far away from here?"

"Yeah, it is. You have to travel several weeks," she said sadly.

Well, our families might be different in the way they're thinking, but we both lost our mothers, were with our uncles and had fathers who weren't there.

"But you'll go back to Ba Sing Se with him when he'll return, won't you?" I wanted to know.

"No, I won't. My father says the city isn't as perfect as it seems and that I couldn't bear the injustices there. I wouldn't fit in. That's why he never wanted me to go there with him."

I frowned and clenched my hands to fists. "That is not fair! Even if what he says is right, you are not a child anymore. You'd know what to do and how to behave! I mean, you have a right to be with him. He's your father!" I growled angrily, but knew that I overreacted because of my own situation.

La looked surprised by my outburst and smiled then. "Thank you. You are right, I think I could take it, but I know that he is right himself. He wouldn't say that if it weren't true. I'm sad that I don't see him as often as I would like to." She let a dry laugh escape her lips. "Actually, I am furious!" She stood up to her full height, her eyes glinted and her hands curled to fists. "I mean, he gets to be out there! He can go anywhere he wants to and studying and meeting different people and that's what I want to do, too! But my uncle thinks the best for a girl is to get married and not to study!" Now she rolled her eyes and sighed, her body relaxing a bit. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled like that."

"No, it's okay. I understand that. I wouldn't want my uncle to decide for me who to marry, either," I said.

La smirked sarcastically. "Yeah, because that is actually the same. You know your uncle wouldn't do that!"

"Probably. But if I were in the Fire Nation I also couldn't decide who I wanted to be with. Well, not freely. It all would depend on my father's approval and he is really hard to please. He probably would only accept someone for me who is exactly like my sister," I said darkly.

"Eeewww! I have a brother and I would certainly vomit the moment I had to marry someone like him." La shuddered a bit for emphasis and I smiled a bit. "That's why my wooers are down to five now. Hao and Shang were a bit too much like my brother."

Suddenly I got what she was saying. "So, you already have to decide now?"

"Yeah. My uncle has invited some potential husbands for me over now for weeks. He thinks I wouldn't get what he's doing, but I know that he wants me to be married when I'll reach the age of sixteen."

"You don't want to marry at all?"

She shook her head. "Not one of them. And not in seven months. I want to be older and I don't want to be a woman who stays at home, running the household and bearing one child after the other. I want to study and to travel the world like my father," she added silently.

I felt something like pity for her, although it made me feel bad, too. As if I would feel her desperation.

She forced a smile on her face and tugged some strand of hair behind her ears. "But who am I to complain? My life is not bad. I have people who love me, a roof on top of my head and am never starving. There are even servants."

I was thinking about the years after my mother had disappeared and how I had clung to my uncle. "Sometimes that is not enough to be truly happy," I said hoarsely.

"Self-realisation, I know. What is yours?" she asked innocently and I gasped slightly.

I couldn't tell her that!

"I want to be what my father is," I answered carefully. "I have been trained to be like him, to do what he does. But with him thinking of me as a failure I might never be able to fulfil my destiny." I looked down, wishing I had more hair that would cover my face. My fists clenched again and I grew angry about all the things I revealed here.

"So you want to have his rank in the military? You want to make war?" La asked, sounding shocked and looked at me with eyes wide open, in which I could see hurt.

"No," I quickly said. "I don't want to do the exact same things he does. It's just… with his rank I could work on making things better. Keeping soldiers home, not sending them off to war."

"Wow. You father must be something like the right hand of the Fire Lord, if he can decide on those matters," La said, sounding impressed and disgusted at the same time. Not that I'd blame her.

"Well, military officers of the Fire Nation can actually do as they please with their soldiers. The only rule is to use the soldiers to gain more land in the Earth Kingdom. Only when an order from above is received, the officers have to obey. And even then they only care about results, since it also is the only thing the Fire Lord cares about." Again I was thinking about my childhood. How unfair it had seemed that Azula didn't put any effort in anything, but still made everything right. But I had tried hard, I had made an effort all the time, but Father didn't care how much I strained myself. In the end I wasn't as good as Azula and that was what mattered to him.

"Have you met him?" La asked quietly, while she put prepared meals into my bag.

"Yes, I have. I've been at his coronation and I had been there when my father got promoted by him." Hm, I'd just described the exact same event.

"Oh. How is he?" She looked up at me, but I had enough now.

I leaned against the countertop and folded my arms. "Why do you want to know?" I snarled.

"I was just curious, that's all," La defended herself and I kind of felt bad for being rude again. "People say he's a monster, but none of them have actually met him. You have."

I sighed. "I cannot really say much about that. He looks regal and tall and scary. There was a wall of fire in front of his throne in the throne room which made him look inhuman. But I didn't see anything that made him look like a monster. He also didn't act that way. Everything bad he does he has to do because of the war. That doesn't make it okay, but I don't think he's a monster."

La narrowed her eyes at me. "Yeah? Then banishing his son was also something necessary because of the war?" Her voice had a sarcastic tone to it.

I flinched badly and stiffened like a board. Oh Agni. Did she know… How did…

"Huh?" she pressed.

"He was weak," I said in a hoarse voice. "He wanted to do what was right, but that is not required in a war. The Fire Lord needs a much stronger heir. Someone who can make sacrifices and doesn't want to save everyone."

"How can you say something like that?" she whispered. "If he truly is like that, then the world needs him to be Fire Lord!"

My eyes widened at her words in shock. Would she have spoken them in the Fire Nation she might have been sent to a prison straight away!

But I quickly regained my composure and narrowed my eyes at her. "He can't do anything! Look what his believes have done for him! Losing his honour and throne, his birth right, traveling for nearly three years to find that damned Avatar and now he is declared a traitor! He can never be Fire Lord and no one needs him! He is a disgrace on the royal bloodline! He is a fool, a weak and pathetic fool and you are one, too, for wanting him on the throne!" I spit out, clenching my fists and trying to hold back tears. There. I just said out loud what I have come to recognise. It had all been for nothing. My whole life had been for nothing. I would always be a fugitive and live like a peasant or beggar.

"I thought…" La sighed and gave out a dry chuckle. "Wow. Maybe you were right. Maybe I shouldn't have helped you, for you seem to be exactly like this Fire Nation scum that murdered my mother five months ago on Kyoshi!" she shouted angrily at me and I stiffened.

I had been on Kyoshi five months ago. I had set the village on fire to get the Avatar to face me. Did her mother die because of the fire? Had she been burnt or buried alive in a house that had burnt? I knew that my men couldn't have killed her, for they had the strict order not to kill anyone!

I couldn't be responsible! No, I just couldn't! I've never killed anyone, not even caused the death of someone, but if La's mother had died because of me…

Clear images of how Azula or my father would react to this shot through my head. They would just shrug and not care at all. One Water Tribe woman was worthless dirt to them and it didn't matter if she died or lived.

Oh, you're always so dramatic, Zuzu, a voice drawled in my head, suspiciously sounding like Azula. So what if she died because of you? She was in the wrong place and should have cleared your way and not stayed in one of these houses. So it was her own fault.

But no, I couldn't rationalise this.

Not when I was thinking about Lu Ten, Mother and Uncle. They were good people, I knew that. And they would not shrug the responsibility for someone's death off.

I knew that Uncle carried a heavy responsibility for the Siege of Ba Sing Se and all the people who had died in there.

But what had their kindness done for them? Lu Ten and Mother were dead and Uncle was stripped of his birth right and branded a traitor.

So if I wanted to achieve something, to regain my status and rank, did I have to be like Father and Azula? Did I have to be ruthless and cold? Not letting anything get to me, but only focus on victory and destruction?

I wasn't like them, never had been, but now that I realised what my obsession on victory had done, I found that I had it in me. I could be like Father and Azula. I only knew that I didn't want to.

Not when I'd hurt people like La, kind and nice, innocent people, on the way.

But maybe I did have to. Was that the only way to regain what I had lost? By sacrificing innocent people?

My breath and heartbeat quickened and I felt dizzy in my head. I had to get out of here!

That was simply too much for me now. I could think more about that when I'd be alone again, but not under her insistent and angry stare.

I took a deep breath to stay calm and neutral. "Well, then… I guess you'll feel better when Fire Nation scum like me doesn't bother you anymore," I assumed in a raspy voice.

Dragons, how on lava could I hide my feelings from this turquoise gaze?

La swallowed hard and looked away. "Maybe."

I frowned at the nearly physical pain I could feel in my heart. It was sad, that I had finally found someone who didn't hate me for what I was, who even seemed to sympathise with the real me and I still kept screwing this up.

So I nodded slowly, stood up and gathered my mask. I chose to approach the door on the other side of the big table in the middle of the kitchen. I didn't need to come near La again.

"Wait!" she suddenly shouted.

I turned towards her, trying to kill the flicker of hope in my chest.

She led out a deep breath. "Your food. I didn't pack you these things so that I can put them back now." She held my bag out to me and I approached her, feeling surprised.

She eyed me warily and stood an arm's length away from my bag, but it was still a friendly gesture. After all, she could have decided that I wasn't worth her food at all.

I reached out to take my bag and slung it across my shoulder.

La was truly a remarkable girl. Now that she was actually angry with me because of how I was she still wanted to help. I was most stunned by that.

So I placed my right hand flat over my left fist and bowed to her out of my hip, inclining my head, too. "Thank you for your kindness. I don't deserve it."

As I raised my head I saw that her mouth stood slightly open. She shook her head in bewilderment. "Don't do that. We had a deal."

Yeah, I remembered that. But still, I wasn't used to people keeping their part of a deal.

"I wasn't only thanking you for the food. But for the talk as well," I said sincerely.

La blinked and then she surprised me, too. She placed her palm upwards on her other hand which was a fist and bowed to me. A Fire Nation bow to show respect. "It was my pleasure."

We stared at each other and La licked her lips and looked away. "I wish… With more time I might understand you better," she said.

I frowned. "I don't think you would really like to."

She smiled and shook her head. "I wish you good luck with finding your uncle and staying away from your sister."

"Thank you. I hope you won't have to marry someone you don't love. Take your ancestors as role models. And I hope you'll study at a university and travel the world." I meant every word of what I said. Such a kind hearted girl deserved what she wished for.

"Thank you," she whispered and took a step towards me. "I also hope that your destiny will come true and that you'll like it. But never lose sight of what is right. You are not a bad person and I wish that you'll open up to the nice person who is inside of you. Friendliness and compassion are no weaknesses. I hope you'll understand that and that your father will accept you back."

Now I was the one staring at her in wonder. How did she know that I had been pondering about this the whole time? That I badly needed to hear this to make a final decision?

However, I would keep her words close and remember them every time I would be tempted to forget my destiny.

I wished I could smile and simply say thank you, maybe even hug her, but her words had made my inside go blank.

Eventually I pulled myself together and nodded. I took a good look at her, trying to memorise her face and keeping her scent in mind. Then I turned around and walked out of the door. I knew she was looking at me, but I couldn't find the courage to look back. So I kept walking.

So you made it to the end of chapter one! I really hope you did like it! Please leave reviews and tell me what you think about it. This is my first fanfiction and I really want to know how you guys have liked it (If you have liked it), so that I can improve my writing or change things.

Next chapter will come up by the end of the week!