It had been a week since death of the old Fire Lord and there were only two people at the dinner table since the new Fire Lord was still in the War Room. Zuko didn't have an appetite for any of the many fancy dishes that lined the table. Today he had his head in his hand and just sat there tapping his chopsticks on the side of his rice bowl.

Opposite him was his sister holding a bowl to her lips and slurping the last of some soup. Azula wiped her mouth and turned her eyes to him.

"Zuzu, you haven't been eating properly. If it's because mum and Katara disappeared, life goes on. Now that father is the Fire Lord, you're probably going to be too someday, so toughen up or I'll take the throne from you." The princess pointed her chopsticks at her brother.

"Mind your own business; I'm fine. I'm just not hungry tonight." Zuko scowled and stared at his bowl, still tapping his chopsticks rhythmically. "But I would like to know why everyone ran off."

Azula looked downwards and cleared her throat. "Well, I don't know about mum, but… the reason Katara and her mother disappeared…"

The prince stopped in his tracks and looked straight at his sister. "What do you know?"

"Well… I kinda stuffed up, and…"

"Azula, what happened?"

"I… kinda let slip to grandad that they were staying at the palace. And he… kinda wanted them to be hostages so we could make demands of Chief Hakoda."

"You what?! So it's your fault they're missing and you made them fugitives!" The prince could feel his blood boil as he walked toward her, fists clenched.

"Whoa, hey." Azula held her hands up in front of her face. "I told mother about it so she could organise to get them out of here. If I hadn't done that, they'd be in a jail cell right now."

"But it's your fault they were being chased after in the first place!" Zuko would have lashed her if the guards hadn't rushed to hold him back. "Let go of me!"

"What is this commotion?" boomed a displeased voice. Ozai stood there in the magnificent red robes of the Fire Lord, a golden flame-shaped crown on the back of his head.

Everyone dropped to their knees and muttering could be heard coming from a metal helmet. "Your Majesty, Prince Zuko was about to attack Princess Azula in a fit of rage."

"Zuko! How dare you raise a hand against your sister! What is the meaning of this?" The Fire Lord fumed.

Azula smirked at her brother. "He's upset that the little waterbender is gone, and is blaming me for it."

"Zuko, your mother should never have invited the enemy into the palace in the first place. If you're going to be Fire Lord someday, you can't get emotionally attached to anyone outside of the Fire Nation, do you understand? Not to mention attacking your sister over a water peasant is unheard of! You must forget about her immediately."

"But…"

"I said forget about her! Do you want me to have her hunted down?!"

The prince's eyes widened in fear. "You wouldn't do that!

Ozai smiled deviously. "Oh, but I would. Waterbender from the South Pole, was it? She'd be the last one left. I'll send a message to the captain of the Southern Raiders to kill the last waterbender in the South Pole. She'll be dead in a few months." He calmly sat down and began to eat his dinner.

"No! You can't do this!" Zuko screamed and once again he had to be held back by the guards.

"Guards, escort the prince back into his room and make sure he doesn't come out today."

Zuko struggled as much as he could, but it wasn't long before he was in his room, banging on the closed door with clenched teeth. He punched the door and screamed as loud as he could as tears fell to the floor in front of him one by one.

Hakoda ran across the ice through the wind and snow, clutching the little mitten-covered hand of a tiny girl who couldn't stop her tears and struggled not to stumble in her thick blue coat. "Dad, what's going on? Who is that strange man and is mum going to be ok?"

The chief kept his eyes firmly fixed on the ice in front of him. "Just keep running, Katara. I promise you everything's going to be fine. I'll go in there and make sure that guy in red armour never comes back again."

When they reached the small tent, Hakoda whipped aside the tattered cloth covering the entrance and father and daughter stumbled in. What met their eyes was the lifeless body of Kya, covered in burns and lying strewn over the cold ice floor. Her eyes were open, as if still staring in fear at the deadly burst of fire.

"Mum?" A worried look came over her face as Katara wriggled out of her father's grip and ran to her side. "Mum, what happened to your skin? Why aren't you waking up?" She poked a tender cheek, and got no reaction.

Her father tried to pull her away. "Katara, your mother needs to rest now."

The little girl started banging her tiny fists on her father's chest as the tears came. "You liar! Mum's not ok, is she? I can't wake her up!" Her father tried to hug her, and Katara slowly stopped struggling. The chief broke down into sobs, holding his precious daughter in his arms. It was the first time she had ever seen her father like this, a chief admired by all who knew him.

Katara turned towards Kya's body and gently laid her hand on her burned cheek. Sobbing, she slowly took the beautiful necklace and clutched it, shutting her eyes to try and stop the tears from flowing.