When Aang finally returns from the Sun Warrior ruins, new firebending knowledge isn’t the only thing he brings back.
“Why is there a stranger in our camp?” Katara asks, eyeing the (admittedly very attractive) boy standing in front of her.
“That’s Zuko,” Aang says. “Uncle thought he could help me learn the techniques.”
“Uh-huh.” She searches the area, but General Iroh is nowhere to be found. “Where is Uncle now?”
Zuko throws his arms into the air. “Why do you keep calling him that? He’s not your uncle.”
“Oh, really?” Katara walks toward him until they are only a few paces apart. “Is he yours?”
Which, well. Props to committing to the bit, but that’s simply not possible. “Don’t lie.”
Toph looks up from her meteorite bracelet. “He’s telling the truth.”
“Then he has a concussion or something. There’s no way we wouldn’t have heard of him by now, if he really was…you know.”
Aang straightens. “Zuko wasn’t raised by the rest of his family. The Sun Warriors adopted him when he was a baby—”
”You weren’t supposed to tell anyone about us,” Zuko says.
The color drains from Aang’s face. “Oh, no. I’m sorry.”
Toph snorts. “What was he supposed to say? ‘We picked up this random kid in the wilderness’?”
Zuko folds his arms tightly across his chest. He’s breathing so heavy she can almost feel it, hot and thick like…well, like fire. “I’m not a kid. And you could’ve just let Uncle do the talking. Uncle’s good at that.”
Katara almost laughs. Uncle might be wise, but good at lying? Definitely not.
Footsteps ring out behind them. “Hey, Aang,” Sokka’s voice comes, “would you mind showing me your—huh, new person.”
“Oh, this is Zuko,” Aang says. “He’s Uncle’s nephew.”
Zuko raises his hand in a weak greeting.
Sokka pauses. “Okay. Would you and…Zuko mind showing me your new moves?”
Aang tugs on Zuko’s shoulder. “C’mon, let’s dance.”
“It’s not a dance.” But Zuko nevertheless shifts into a fighting stance, and they begin.
It’s…Katara can’t think of a word to describe it. Stunning, maybe. The fire shooting from Zuko’s fist is a rainbow of different colors, red and blue and purple and green all at once. He moves far more gracefully than any firebender she has ever seen.
Toph elbows her. “Even I can tell you’re staring,” she hisses. “Make it more obvious, why don’t you?”
Katara manages to tear her eyes away from the demonstration. “Make what more obvious?”
“Your—” Toph cuts herself off. “Never mind.”
When the dance finally ends, Katara doesn’t understand her own disappointment.
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