It hit him like lightning, ironic as it was, as he gained his senses after the battle against his sister. He realized, that stronger than the smell of burnt skin and wood, that she had that lingering scent of fire lilies and cinnamon. He took the time to wonder just how did she possess that natural scent, taking in consideration she had travelled the world, also born and raised in the remote, icy South Pole.

He also realized, that even if the insane, heart wrenching sounds of his sister's hysterical sorrow were high enough to grab anyone's attention, that her frail, frightened voice reaching out for him was clearer than someone's speech right by his ear could ever be, muffling all the other sounds the world around him created.

Muttering words so low and foreign that not even he could understand, he opened his heavy eyelids to the minimal of slits. The colors of fire, wood and red dirt hurt his sight, still fearing the sharp, thin and bright thread of lighting to erupt before his eyes. But, looking into her own soothing blue orbs, he realized that she stood clearer and brighter than everything around them. Brighter than the fireflies that illuminated his mother's garden in the warm summer evenings, brighter than the fire created by him and his sister, brighter than the moon cradled in the bosom of the goddess Yue.

While she pulled him up in a sitting position, and enveloped him in a relieved hug, he sensed her hands still trembling, and that her cool skin soothed him in that blistering inferno.

Allowing himself to bury his nose in her hair, and smelling that comfortable, welcoming scent of flowers and evergreen trees, Zuko realized, that above all, he would give her everything if the Fates had given her to him.