Silence of Knowledge

Chapter 1

The Fire Nation was now a foreign land to her. It had been six years since she'd step foot on the warm lands. She had been off aiding countries that were in need of assistance since the defeat of Fire Lord Ozai. It was a tiring lifestyle, but it was necessary.

Tiredly, Katara climbed out of her small traveling vessel that was reminiscent of the bubble she'd used during the war years ago. She'd had Teo's father, the Mechanist, construct it for her. He, in all his genius glory, had made the vessel so that she could apply her bending to it, when need be.

Katara tied the vessel up to the dock and removed her boots before stepping onto the warm sand. Truth be told, she'd missed the reds and golds of everything that was the Fire Nation.

For the last year, she had been assisting Jet's small family as they continued to help rebuild their small Earth town. The sadness in their eyes from the loss of their leader hadn't gone away but they had grieved. They were going to be fine.

Katara took a few more steps before standing still and scrunching her toes in the sand, reveling in the feeling. She closed her eyes and stretched out her arms. The air felt so clean here, now. There was quite a sense of renewal upon this land that hadn't even been present when everyone had left all those years ago.

She had dropped everything and come to this nation because he'd asked her to. She felt relief at his request; relaxation at his written script. She did not know why he'd asked her to show; only that he did. And that was enough for her.

It had taken three days by water vessel to arrive. She only got out to stretch her limbs four times during the journey and to get air.

"You've arrived."

The water tribe woman opened her eyes to see the last airbender sitting atop his whirlwind of air, his hands on his knees, about ten steps away from her. Stooping down, she hurriedly stuffed her feet back into her boots, never mind the sand.

She blinked away the tears that were threatening to spill and ran towards the young man who quickly abandoned his post in midair. Katara threw her arms around the man. It had been three years since she'd seen Aang.

They'd last seen each other in Ba Sing Se after Katara had traveled to get their blind friend there safely. She and Toph had bickered the entire way there, but they had enjoyed each other's company, knowing that many did not have such an opportunity.

Toph was now under the watchful eye of, The Dragon of the West, Iroh, who was teaching her the 'trivial' information that was required for someone of nobility. She was to be crowned Lady of Ba Sing Se, with Iroh as her advisor.

"You're much taller than you were last time!" Katara exclaimed, a light smile on her face.

"I've been eating my veggies," smirked Aang. He was indeed much taller than she. He no longer wore his head shaved but he kept his dark hair cropped. Circling his forehead was a thin golden crown. He still dressed like an airbender.

"How've you been doing?"

Aang dropped his arm to her waist and guided her towards the carriage that would take them to the palace.

"When will Zuko learn?" Katara shook her head lightly. She wanted to walk through the vast market that surrounded the palace to take in the scents and colors of everything that was distinctly this new fire nation.

"Well, I am active in the Fire Nation's governmental affairs while the Fire Lord is away on business. It's definitely not an easy job but I like it all the same. How have you been?" Aang responded to her earlier question with a smile.

They continued to walk past the carriage and into the marketplace. Everything was more beautiful than she recalled. Fruit and vegetable stands were everywhere as well as various trinket carts. Farmers were doing quite well in this economy as business with the Earth kingdom boomed. The two nations worked together in working out provision plans for the less fortunate cities around the world.

Here was happiness.

"I'm doing well. It's quite the task helping these cities but it's rewarding. The only issue I have is that I don't see you all as often as I'd like."

"I agree. I'm happy that you made it here safely. I'm afraid that there have been accounts of benders banding together to conduct acts of piracy on the seas," Aang said with a grimace. As a monk, it wasn't easy when people weren't kind to one another.

"Well, I wasn't really on the seas, Aang." Katara grinned.

"Right you are. Any word from Sokka?" Aang's large grey eyes were curious.

"He's part of the task force that's looking into the attempted attacks on Ba Sing Se as far as I know."

Ahead of them, the palace didn't look as dark and foreboding as it had when Katara had first visited. The golden rays of the setting sun were hitting the red and white marble towers of the palace causing its beauty to be even more apparent.

"He must be doing well then because Iroh hasn't written us with any complaints," responded the Avatar with a light chuckle.

"How's…How is the Fire Lord doing?" asked Katara hesitantly. The last time that she'd seen Zuko, he had committed his sister to an asylum after Aang had stripped her of her bending. Though his sister was a dangerous power-hungry lunatic, he loved her.

Nothing had been easy but things were much better.

"As I can tell, he's been great. He has been a bit obsessed though. It's not my place to tell you what his obsession is in regards to."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," the waterbender smiled. It would be nice to hear it from the source.

The large palace doors pulled open upon their approach and there he stood; the Fire Lord.

Standing there before her, he looked just as he did when they were in that cave so long ago, when she had touched his scar. Back then, she would have blushed from such a thought but she was older now. The world had taught her how to deal with silly little thoughts in her head. Voicing said thoughts was another matter entirely.

He stood tall, like the man that he was, and she could tell that he was still quite in shape. His hair was short and he also wore the same band around his forehead that Aang did. His presence was knee-buckling. It had been so long since they'd seen one another.

Aang released Katara's waist and bowed before the Fire Lord.

"I know that you two have business to attend to. I'll go," said Aang before creating a ball of air and zooming off. Katara took a tentative step towards Zuko, but could not move any further. She didn't know how to greet him.

"It's been two years and that's all you can manage?" the scarred man grinned. He held out his arms and the tears that she held before sprang free. She considered herself a strong woman but she hadn't seen the man she loved since their brief encounter in the Earth Kingdom a couple of years ago.

She rushed into his arms, allowing the representative figure of the Fire Nation to envelope her in his warm embrace. The red of his scar, the gold of his eyes. This was what she remembered.

"Your hair? Where'd it all go?" Zuko questioned, releasing her from his hold. Katara wiped her eyes as best she could and lightly pat her head. He was referring to her crown of wavy hair that stopped short of her earlobes. Zuko began to lead them into the palace.

"With all of the traveling that I've been doing, it was best to chop it off. It would get snagged and all knotted up, so I decided to let it go," the dark-skinned woman smiled gingerly. Naïve Aang hadn't even noticed. If he had, he would have mentioned it.

Zuko had walked her to a small dining area. No doubt, they were in his personal quarters as he hated having servants stand behind him while he ate. There was only one maid in the room and she left as soon as she poured tea into their cups.

"You still look beautiful. Now, I'm sure you're hungry." The smile was in his voice. Katara grinned happily at the amount of foods that were on the table in front of them. She lowered herself to a pillow that was on the floor and Zuko did the same.

"I'm sorry about the extreme urgency that was present in the letter that I sent," Zuko started, "It wasn't my intention to have you drop what you were doing to come here."

He knew where she was and what she was there for every time that she relocated, thanks to his personal tracker, June, if only to know that she was safe.

"It was mine. The people needed to learn what to do on their own. I was there to help them gain control but they can't rely solely on someone to bring them out of a mess."

Katara looked down into the cup of freshly brewed tea that sat in front of her and smiled a tired smile.

"Besides, I needed a break."

"You deserve one but I did call you here for a reason. You specifically."

"And what would that reason be?" asked Katara with a quirk of a dark eyebrow.

"I need your help, Katara. I need to finally find my mother and you're the only one that I know who can help," were the words of Fire Lord Zuko.

"How is it that I'm the only one?"

"Remember when I helped you find your mother's killer? I need the same sense of retribution and I know that you understand that want. I'm not sure if my mother's dead or not but I'd like to find out. Peace of mind, if you will."

Katara glanced up into his golden eyes and saw the same look that she was sure had been on her face during the trip that had initially caused their friendship. Determination.

"You're right. I do understand. When do we start the search?" Katara grabbed a kebob off the table and started munching merrily. It had been a while since she had gone on a mission. A mission with Zuko would be exhilarating though her waterbending skills were rusty.

"We will wait until you're well-rested," Zuko stopped speaking when Katara held up her hand with an interjection.

"What if I told you that I was well-rested now? When do we start?"

"I'd say that you were lying. I can see the dark circles beneath your eyes. Give it a week. I still need to tie up a few loose ends with the council before leaving and it'll give you the time you need. There'll be a few sparring matches as well."

Katara narrowed her eyes. Call her selfish, but she wanted to get back out into the world of danger. She missed the thrill although she knew that peaceful times were nice.

"As long as I get to pummel you into the earth during these so-called sparring matches, Fire Lord Zuko," she smirked, finally giving in.

"Of course. I wouldn't mind setting you on fire, Master Katara." Zuko stood up and bowed to her before walking towards the door.

"I'll see you at dinner. Aang will have returned by then. I'm sure that you two have much to discuss."

"See you…Zuko."

Katara finished eating her fill, her thoughts afire. It seemed that he didn't even remember their time in the Earth Kingdom; a night of such wonder and abandonment. The night that she fell in love with him.