Zuko sat by the fireplace in his room, staring at the flickering flames. He'd failed. He'd had a chance to convince her, but he hadn't been able to make her listen. She truly hated him.

A crushing weight bore down on him, filling his heart. The woman he loved... couldn't stand the sight of him. Nothing he said or did was ever going to convince her that he wasn't evil. That he was worthy of her love.

She would never love him.

Memories filled him, memories of Kara. Traveling, with her always by his side. The Cave of Two Lovers, the desert, sneaking out in baskets. Ba Sing Se at last, finding Uncle, starting a tea shop. Jet.

Kara's laugh. Kara's smile. The way she always tried to take care of him, even when he didn't want her to. The way she always took care of everyone. Her eyes as she pleaded with him, under Lake Laogai.

The way the words filled his soul, every time she told him she loved him.

Kara.

Kara.

Kara.

His whole world revolved around her- she'd been everything to him. The only reason he'd been willing to start over, to make a new life instead of pursuing his honor. It had all been Kara.

But Kara was gone.

Now she was Katara, and Katara had always hated him. Katara could never see the Fire Lord as anything but evil, no matter what. Katara hated Zuko. She wasn't his Kara, and she never would be.

Zuko put his head in his hands, clenched his fists in his hair.

What by Agni was he supposed to do now?

**__**

Lia sleeps peacefully beside me as I move my arms back and forth, up and down, in a paddling motion. Pushing our little ice boat farther and farther from the Southern Water Tribe, farther and farther from home.

And farther and farther from him.

With every stroke of my arms, every rush of water beneath the boat I created, I feel better. Safer. Calmer. More... myself.

I hadn't realized how on edge Zuko made me. But now that I'm finally escaping him, I can feel weeks' worth of tension draining out of me. The icebergs are silent witnesses to my escape, the soothing sound of the ocean's waves beneath the hull of my little boat the only music.

As the half-moon shines down on us, I tilt my head back and smile.

Finally... finally, I'm free. I don't know where we'll go, but I know the Earth Kingdom pretty well from my... travels.

I could go back to the village in the Patola Mountains... but no. I won't hide. That's not the point of this. I plan a route in my head as we work our way out of the bay and turn east.

I'll skirt the Air Nomad Territory to the left, and then head up the straights past all the Earth Kingdom's southern islands. Past the Eastern Air Temple, all the way into Chameleon Bay. I'm familiar with all the reefs and deadfalls in the straights from my time with the pirates, so getting us through will be easy. I smile to myself, glad to have a plan.

As the sun breaks over the eastern horizon, just a little to the right of us, I can almost imagine that the sunlight is welcoming us, blessing our journey.

Beside me, Lia stirs. I glance down at her and she smiles at me sleepily.

"Mommy? Where are we going?"

I look out over the icy landscape to either side of us for a moment, then smile down at Allia.

"We're going to Ba Sing Se."