What am I gonna do when I face the Fire Lord? Zuko may have been wrong about the virtues of revenge, but he had a point this time. A man like Fire Lord Ozai wasn't liable to listen to reason.

And to top it off, he was still worried about Katara. Aang was glad she hadn't gone through with killing the man, and even more glad that his two most important people were finally on good terms with each other. But she didn't look like she felt much better.

Aang sighed, walking over to Katara's tent just as Sokka was leaving; from the look on his face it seemed the siblings had patched up their differences as well. Sokka gave him a nod, as if to say go on in, it's your turn for an apology. But Aang didn't need an apology, all he needed was to know she would be all right.

"Katara?"

He heard a sniffle and the rustling of blankets, and she turned around.

"Oh...hey, Aang. Listen, about the other night, I-"

"Don't." He sat down next to her. "Remember when Appa was stolen and I acted the same way you did? But that's not why I'm here...are you going to be okay?"

Katara shook her head, fresh tears running down her cheeks.

"I don't know," she cried. "Oh, Aang, I thought after I confronted the guy I'd feel better, but now all I can do is remember my mother and it hurts more than it ever did."

"That's because now that you've let go of your anger, you've made more room in your heart for sorrow," Aang said. "Zuko told me what your mother did, and she sounds like a very brave person who loved you enough to trade her life for yours."

"I just wish she hadn't had to! That man was so insistent, why couldn't he be stupid and naive enough to believe her when she said there weren't any Waterbenders left?" Katara sobbed. "I know why she did it, I know it was her choice, but I just...can't help feeling guilty about it." She sniffled. "Like you must have felt at the Southern Air Temple that day...heh, at least I was with Mom, though. You didn't even know until it was too late."

"That doesn't make any difference," Aang said. "Loss is loss, and it hurts." He pulled her into his arms and stroked her hair. "And we both know that kind of thing doesn't go away no matter how much time passes."

She shivered, locking an arm around his waist and burying her face in his shoulder. Neither one of them said another word for the rest of the evening.

This was what she had needed all along, Aang realized.

To grieve.