Frozen Flames Part One
Zuko and Katara's Story
Caught
"Again." ordered Iroh, and Zuko sighed heavily, his brow furrowed. The sun had begun to set against the vast ocean, and the fire benders standing across the deck from the banished prince once more raised their arms, assuming a defensive position. Zuko took a deep breath, and felt the heat rise in his gut. He launched himself forward as fire exploded from his fists, and with a roar of fury and frustration he attacked.
Only moments later, both soldiers lay on the ground, defeated. Zuko allowed himself a faint smile, and looked back at his uncle. Iroh paused in pouring himself some tea, and his gaze swept across the fallen benders. He nodded slightly and turned away.
"Do it again." Zuko felt a different kind of burning, and instead of sparring his soldiers again, he shook off his robe and walked below deck, silently fuming.
Meanwhile, miles away, Katara and Aang stood on the back of Appa's saddle, sending fluidly sharp blasts of liquid at each other as each blow was blocked by more water. Sokka sat next to Momo watching the benders and cleaning his boomerang. After a while, Katara straightened up out of her stance and bowed slightly to the Avatar. "You're getting better at aiming, but your movements still need some work. Try to be softer when you're transitioning from one pose to another, but also remember to be firm when you strike. Got it?"
Aang smiled at her. "Yeah, thanks for helping me. I'm going to have to know how to perform the basics if we run into Zuko again. Last time we fought, it was like his anger somehow made his bending stronger. Even with my air bending he was too powerful to hold off for long." He paused for a minute, then looked at Sokka. "How are we doing on food supply?" he asked, and her brother shook his head and rolled his eyes.
"Same as ever, not quite as much as we should have but enough to tempt me." His gaze slid over to the food bag, and his stomach rumbled loud enough for everyone to hear. "We should get some food soon, I'm starving and Momo is looking more and more like dinner every minute." Momo chirped, looking alarmed, and Katara looked around.
"Well, maybe we could find a boat or something nearby that would sell us some food, considering we're in the middle of an ocean and the closest land is Fire Nation." she rolled her eyes, then did a double take as she set her gaze onto an object far off. "Wait, I think there's something out there. Aang, can we fly nearby and see if they have anything we could buy? We're running low on fresh water too." she said, sounding worried.
"Sure, lets go! And if they're bad, we can just get out of there before anyone sees us!" Aang propelled himself onto the back of Appa's head and grabbed the reins, steering him to the left and unknowingly right into the path of their enemy.
Zuko was in his quarters when he heard shouts coming from the men on his ship. The captain rushed through the open doorway, and as soon as he said the words "The Avatar has been spotted" Zuko was pushing past him and sprinting to the deck, his heart beating in his throat. Finally, a chance for honor, he could not lose it this time if his life depended on it.
A catapult was loaded, and two seconds later a huge fireball was spinning towards the bison. Zuko watched as the beast veered in the air, and as a body slowly slid over the side of the saddle and down, down, down into the water only about a hundred yards from the ship. Zuko sent two of his men overboard to retrieve the person, and hoped it was the Avatar. The bison hovered in the air, narrowly dodging attacks from all sides.
"No, Aang, we have to get her, we have to go back!" Sokka yelled, and scrambled to the edge of the saddle, watching frantically for signs of Katara resurfacing. He saw a small figure below, and zeroed in on Katara, floating motionless on the top of the water. "AANG! Please!"
"I know Sokka, I'm trying to get lower to the water without getting us all killed!" Aang yelled back, straining to rescue her. He felt desperate as he saw the fire benders small metal boat speeding towards the place where she had dropped, and too late, realized he had focused his attention on the wrong thing. He turned back to the larger ship just as a fireball came blasting towards them. It was too close to stop, and without thinking he spun his staff and a rush of wind howled forward to blast the fire-doused rock into smaller chunks. The smaller portions had too much momentum, and the world faded to black as he felt a sickening pain strike his head, as Sokka's yells disappeared into silence.
Sokka watched as a rock hit Aang, and knew there was nothing he could do. He thought quickly, if he tried to save Katara from the people on the boat he risked getting captured, and Aang was in no condition to fight Zuko. He knew his sister was safe for the time being, and he knew how to find her if she was with Zuko. As more fireballs came crashing down all around them, he grabbed Appa's reins and turned around, leaving her behind in order to save her later.
Katara woke up the next morning, and opened her eyes to an empty room. The walls were a deep crimson color, and the bold, black Fire Nation emblem dominated the ceiling. She panicked and shot up off the bed, then collapsed to the ground as pain radiated from her head, back, and stomach. She curled into a ball on the ground and closed her eyes as the world spun.
"I wouldn't try that again if I were you."
Katara lifted her head to see Zuko leaning against the doorway with a strange look on his face. He wasn't glaring like she was used to, he was staring straight into her eyes like he was looking through her. The strange amber color of his irises flickered in the candlelight, and she took a deep breath and pushed herself up into a sitting position.
"What did you do to me? Why am I here, and where's Aang and Sokka? She asked, her voice cracking under her despair. Zuko stepped towards her, and she backed away from him, holding her ribs. "S-stay away from me." she murmured, and he stopped. She tried to take a deep, calming breath, and found her wind stolen by the sharp pain in her side. She whimpered, and once again he moved forward. He placed his hand on her side, and the other on her shoulder, stilling her movements. Her skin felt like satin.
"Quit moving so much, you fell a long way into the ocean, and you've been injured. The Avatar and your brother escaped," he muttered, gritting his teeth at the last sentence. There was something about this girl. Her skin was darker, but it shone with a dim glow, and her eyes were wide and clear, so unlike the narrowed, mistrusting eyes of his family. She didn't look so defiant at the moment, and he found himself cringing along with her when she was hurting. He had never felt this empathy before. It was disconcerting, and he wasn't sure if he liked it at all.
"They'll come back for me," she assured him, and he wrinkled his nose at her tone. Was she mocking him? He stood up and offered her his hand, and when she flinched, expecting an attack, he withdrew it, mentally hitting himself for showing kindness.
"While you are on this ship you will be taken care of by me and by the only other woman we have on board. If you try to escape, we will kill you. If you mind your manners, you might just see your friends again." He let his voice turn cold, and walked out of the room without looking back, slamming the door behind him as he went.
As soon as he left, Katara let her body wilt, and felt tears gather in her eyes. Yet at the same time, she was confused. Zuko had been almost kind to her, and nothing like his usual self. She had never looked him in the eye before. Though one half of his face was scarred, the other half was pure porcelain, and his eyes glowed with a sort of fire, not so much searing as smoldering. She took off her outer dress layer then dragged herself to the mattress and bended some water from the wash bin to press against her body, trying to heal herself. The cool liquid soothed her, and she fell asleep.
An hour later, Zuko went to check on her, and found her sleeping. She was dressed in a light slip, and her dark hair was spread around her face. He looked closer and saw a red stain coming from her side, and felt his stomach churn. He walked silently to her, and lifted the slip above her shorts to reveal a gash in her side, slowly trickling blood. He didn't know how it had happened, but we guessed she had hit something below the surface of the water in her fall. Zuko looked around, brought the wash bin closer and ripped a strip off his robe. He dipped it in the water and as quietly as possible started to clean the wound. He froze when he heard her gasp, but she didn't wake up. He had no clue how to do this, or even why he was helping her, but it gave him a strange sort of pleasure, different than the tainted joy everything else in his life held for him. Once he was done, he tore more strips from his robe and wound them around her waist, trying to staunch the flow and bandage the cut. His fingers pressed down firmly and glided over her skin, and he noticed her shivering. Her room was dark and cold, with no furnishings other than the bed and the wooden bucket holding water for her to bathe in. He smiled faintly as an idea formed in his head, and got to his feet, walking confidently out the door to her prison.
Katara woke up warmer than she'd been in ages. She opened her eyes to see a small flickering fire in the corner of her room, and next to it was a small cup full of a translucent yellow green liquid. She started to sit up, but froze when she felt something foreign and binding against her side. Slowly she moved her hand under her slip and felt the fabric wrapped around her wound, dulling the pain. She bit her lip, confused and unsure. Why was someone showing her kindness on this ship? She was not only a water bender, but the Avatar's friend. There was no reason to be nice… unless it was a trap. Unless somehow, it wasn't acts of kindness but something to hurt her more?
Frantically she tore at the bandage, wincing at the pain but pressing on until the wound was once more free. She threw the cloth aside, but a flicker of gold in the deep red fabric caught her eye. Katara's heart beat faster as she ran her thumb lightly over the Z embroidered on the cloth. "This was Zuko's?" she murmured quietly to herself. Numbly she set it down on the ground, and stumbled to the wash bin to clean herself off. She absently noticed that they had given her enough water to clean herself, but not enough for her to bend into a water whip to slice through her prison, or even harm anyone. Not that she was in any condition to be fighting anyway. Her wounds were on their way to healing though, she guessed that once she was better it would take some effort and a lot of bending to escape. But could she even find Aang and Sokka if she managed it? Her thoughts were interrupted when the door to her cell slid open. She turned around, and her blue eyes widened as she backed away.