Charred //ZUTARA

Chapter 39 - ''He is Ozai's son.''

Katara was grateful for the cold wind swooshing over her flushed face. She was burning with the rage. Aang kept glancing back at her while he gave out the commands to Appa, directing him over the Fire Nation's palace. 

The place that Katara was sure she'd see again. Soon, if the Avatar was to be believed. 

She waited impatiently as they flew over the walls that she loathed. Thumping her foot on the saddle's material, she crossed her arms as her body shivered in anticipation. 

The Once Banished Prince long forgotten as her focus maintained on the back of Aang's head. The arrow clearly visible in the sunlight, the markings of the true Master. She usually envied him; at least he had that. The proof of how powerful he was, for everyone to see. 

''Keep going, buddy,'' the Air Nomad softly whispered to his furry animal. Appa grunted his approval which Aang deemed good enough to jump into the saddle. He gently sat down right in front of her, his eyes wondering off to the sky and clouds around them. ''I don't even know where to start.''

''From the begging would be ideal,'' Katara scoffed. She did not want to pretend anymore. Her anger was obviously reflecting in her features as she back away further into the rail. 

The weariness weighted heavily on the Avatar's face. She would be inclined to feel bad for him if not for the deceptions he put her through. He scratched the back of his head, the habit that he inherited from his childhood that never really went away. ''We've received a letter, no more than three months ago from the Fire Sages themselves. The message it conveyed was... Katara, it was world changing.''

The waterbender's brow rose up. ''What did it say?''

Aang smiled as the tears welled up in his eyes. The happiness that was written all over his face was unmistakable. It stirred the curiosity within her even more, overshadowing the fury that threatened to be unleashed any moment. His sight fixated on her. ''There was only one sentence. One, Katara,'' his voice cracked and she couldn't help itching forth. He reached into his robe and pulled out a tiny scroll. It seemed he was prepared to have this talk with her. Unless he carried it with him all the time. 

He handed it to her silently. Katara did not hesitate to grab it, pulling it open. Her eyes surveyed the Fire Sage's seal and the words written on there. 

The Air Nomads are alive.

A joke. Surely. Her hand shook and Aang took the scroll back, gently folding it back into his robe as if it was the most sacred thing he'd ever owned. 

She couldn't comprehend; not as she looked up at his brightened face and her own moist eyes deceived her. 

''Is this true?'' she's whispered, the words tugging at her soul. 

The Avatar nodded stoically. Her pupils dilated as she observed him. Her heart fluttered at what it meant. 

Her head was filled with questions as the joyous laugh escaped her lips. She moved closer, her knee touching his. ''I don't understand. How is this even possible?''

How many times did Aang cry over his lost nation? An entire generation of airbenders wiped off the existence. His friends, his family brutally murdered by those who were afraid of the Avatar's power. 

Years he has spent blaming himself for it. Resenting himself for not being there to help them; possibly even die with them. The darkness that left a scar over his heart that followed him everywhere; only to find out that even a small fraction of them survived. 

Katara would never be able to understand what the Avatar felt. Not even now. 

''Sozin was not as merciless as we thought he was,'' a dark laugh drew from Aang's throat. The sound that always reminded her he was no longer a child. ''He's taken few families hostage, after a careful examination that proved neither of them was the Master of All Four Elements, of course. The weakest of the airbenders, that he knew would not fight his guards. Their spirits and their hearts broken by what they witnessed being done to their people.''