Chapter 1: Hiding
Disclaimer: If you thought that I was creative enough to come up with ATLA then I am flattered, but you should get you head checked.
This is my first fanfic so please read, and tell me what you think in that handy review button there at the bottem of this page.
Zuko and Katara stared down at the chained princess at their feet. Azula had stopped struggling and lay on the ground, breathing heavily. Zuko half smiled as he saw his sister knowing that for once he had beat her at something and that she would not get a chance for revenge. Pride washed over him as he stood there but it did not last long the wound on his chest started throbbing as he almost fell to the ground.
Katara caught him then looked around her for inspiration, it looked like she had not completely cured the wound but it would be easier for her now.
When the lightning had first touched him she had began to drown in her own feelings of relief, confusion, sympathy, gratitude and guilt this had made it hard for her to focus on healing him with her water. Azula tried to escape from her chains again trying hopelesly to burn them or hurt somebody, she did not succeed but she did give Katara an idea. Water she thought looking over at a fountain a few feet away from her.
She summand it to her and brought it under Zuko as she turned it turned to ice. She could now carry him using her element, she new that healing him would be easier if he relaxed too. Katara still had one problem because she did not know the palace and most definitely did not know were he would feel most comfortable.
She explained this to him as she bended his frozen seat up the steps past the fire sages, who did not make any attempt to stop her and just watched in surprise and shock. Zuko did not tell her a location preferring to use direction which a rather worried katara followed, walking through the open doors under the now burnt fire nation, army emblem.
Katara looked at Zuko's face as he scrunched his eyes in pain, seeing this she moved faster finally arriving to her surprise in a library. It was beautiful but a little bit over done with red. There were tapestry with phoenix and dragon patterns in gold on red and the whole place was huge and crammed with books.
Katara payed no attention to any of this as she followed Zuko's directions further into the library. She reached a section which looked as though it had been cut of from the main point of the library and she stopped gasping this was surely not the right room, was this really were Zuko felt most comfortable.
The room was smaller than other sections of the library, but that's not what made it so different. This room was unmistakably full of information on her culture, it was not draped in blue or any of that sort of thing but there were a few wolf style hats and there were also a few other water tribe items such as water bending scrolls, a traditional outfit, a few tapestries and an old looking model of the northern water tribe (without the walls that surrounded the real thing).
"Zuko, this is very familiar to me and it makes me feel comfortable but its you who needs to feel relax."
Zuko who was sitting on one of the only bit of visible red, a small coach simply nodded his head.
"I don't think you heard m..."
"I heard right Katara, this is were I feel most relaxed. "
"But..." She was confused and it did'nt help that it sounded nice when he said her name. "I am not lying, I used to come here to be alone. "
"But why here, I mean...are you ok!"
Once again Zuko screamed out in pain(not loudly it was more of a groan actually ). Forgetting her questions katara bended half the water she had used to get him to the library, out the window. She slowly opened his already torn shirt, not noticing for once the muscles that had caught her attention the first time she had seen them. She slowly brought the remaining water down slowly onto his chest, lighting up as she scrunched her eyes in concentration. The blood seemingly disappeared as the skin started healing, it looked weeks older.
It was not completely healed but Zuko felt almost no pain and the wound looked as if it would heal on its own. The energy Katara had put into this had taken away her own energy and Zuko noticed this. Content with the fact that there would be no scar and grabbed her hands and looked at her telling her with his eyes that she should stop. Using what she felt was the last of her energy she bended the water she had used to heal him and then simply collapsed, falling asleep and landing on something comfortable.
Hours later she woke, realizing that the comfortable thing was Zuko who was asleep, still shirtless and had his arm around her waist. Katara was not sure what to do and though she was comfortable she knew that she could not stay here any longer. she considered it, maybe she could sneak out of the room before he noticed. Yes, that seemed like the best idea, but as she attempted to get up Zuko stirred and to her surprise his arm became tighter around her waist, surly he could not want her to stay there.
Zuko opened his eyes staring into Katara's, he then looked down at his arms moving them away slowly, but as she tried to leave he grabbed her hand. "Don't get the wrong idea, I don't think you should leave but that doesn't mean anything, I mean I am not goanna try and...I mean..." He struggled to find the right words looking down.
"Don't worry I get it...Sorry"
"Why?
"For falling asleep."
"You were tired." he replied amused, turning his head slightly as he smiled to himself.
"Well, wait did you just smile?"
"Umm, yes, why does it matter anyway."
She thought that when she pointed it out he would stop smiling but to her surprise he actually widened his grin even more amused and looked almost as if he were laughing. That's when she realized two things, first that when he smiled there was almost no resemblance to that angry boy with the ponytail that chased Aang all around the world and second that he, despite the scar he had a very handsome face. There was also something that was unique about his grin that no other boy could do and that was that he did not look in any way stupid with such a wide grin on his face, he did not look in the least way stupid.
"Are you going to answer or just keep staring in horror at my scar." Zuko prompted her to speak the smile finally left his face as he mentioned his scar.
"Well you almost never smile and why would I be staring in horror at your scar? Why would I be staring at your scar at all? It does not look strange to me anymore, I would probably stare more if you walked past me with no scar."
"Your used to it now but admit it when you first saw met me you found it ugly."
"Well, to be honest when I first saw you I did not really care what you looked like only what you were doing, I did feel sorry for you and wondered how you got it hoping that it had not caused to much pain. Then as you kept chasing us I thought you deserved it but what I found most ugly about your face was actually your anger."
"My ahh anger?"
"Yes your expression and your temper, it looked like you could never be happy like your Uncle seemed to be. Then the day I forgave you I felt sorry that I had not taken away your scar when I had the water, but..."
"But what?" He had stopped smiling but Katara had not noticed."
"Well, I regret thinking that now because even though you don't like it your scar is part of who you are and I don't think its ugly nor do I think that it makes you seem brave I just think its part of who you are."
"Really?"
"Yes really, and can you please but your shirt back on."
"Are you sure that's really what you want."
His grin returned though not as wide and with that slightly playful element that is only ever found when someone is teasing a friend.
"Just put your shirt back on, Sparky." Katara rolled her eyes, joining him in his novel mood.
"Uhh, don't you think its enough that Toph calls me that."
He said showing his annoyance for once. This behavior had become uncommon to Zuko in the course of the past few days, he had not shown much emotion for small things as there were so many larger problems and decisions occurring that caring about the smaller ones was laughable.
Zuko looked down noticing the remnants of his partly burnt robe. Realizing with a smirk that, to Katara's apparent disappointment, he would be shirtless for a little longer in her presence.
"Don't worry I won't start calling you that, unless you are annoying me." Katara promised awakening him from his thoughts.
"ah Katara" He said "you forgot that my shirt is burnt and that I would have to walk shirtless all the way to my room to get a new one and when I get there may not even be one there so I don't think that I can put my shirt on, your just going to have to suffer."
"Who said I was suffering?"
I smile appeared on her face similar to the one he had worn earlier.
"Well you did or why else would you want me to put my shirt back on?" He challenged
"Well umm you see umm don't you think that if..."
"I am listening"
"I don't know actually."
There was silence for a few seconds as the two just stared at each other. "Well now that you are not in danger then don't you think it would be a good time to tell me why we are in this section of the library."
"Well when I stayed here I mostly somebody new were I was wherever I won't and it was hard for me to be alone, it was not always a problem until I started to achieve things."
"But if you achieve something would you not rather your family see it and congratulate you on your achievements and anyway what has that got to do with this room."
"Can you please let me finish and no you would not want to show your achievements, not if you have a sister like Azula, every time I achieved something she would either achieve the same thing at a higher level or achieve something different that she would make sound better than my achievement. The only thing person who thought anything I did was good enough to congratulate was my mother and I learnt to live with that but when my mother disappeared I did not want anyone to see my achievements because they felt more like failures compared to what Azula did."
"What about your Uncle?"
"What about my Uncle?"
"Well you said that nobody except your mother..." Katara started
"Yes my Uncle did pay attention to my achievements but he was not always around in fact he was almost never here."
"O"
"So one day when I was hiding from Azula in the library because my seemingly perfect sister thought that she was so amazing that she did not need to find study or read information that her teachers did not give her and somehow she still always knew the right answer, the write thing to say at the right time. I knew so many things so many answers but nobody would ever ask about those things.
So anyway when she did read it was something that our father or grandfather had given her, she was almost never in the library. So I came to hide and when I came in I heard footsteps and then my fathers voice, he was talking to someone. I didn't hear what they were saying but I understood that it was important and that it would embarrass my father if the two men stumbled upon me.
So because I wanted to please my father at the time I went further into the library to hide and I found this room by mistake. That is how I found the room on your culture, well not really because at the time this area was a section on one of the small fire nation islands and our water tribe section was much bigger."
"Wait, what, I mean I understand how you found this room but how is it you favorite room in the castle."
"Well first of all you should know that when this building was made the architect was being chased."
"Chased why?"
"One story at a time."
"You know I can't listen to your story if you don't tell me."
"What why?"
"Because I will be thinking about what happened to the architect and why he was chased."
Gosh she is stubborn Zuko thought but he answered her anyway because he wanted to tell his story. He wanted someone to listen to him and even though in the past few weeks (or months) that he had joined the Avatar people had listened but he had gone more then thirteen years without being listened to so he was not missing this opportunity.
"Fine the architect was getting chased because he had helped a criminal, a water bender from the southern tribe who had done something similar to what Hannah did?"
"It's not Hannah, its Hama."
"You now what I mean."
"Is that all you know."
"Yes."
He was lying but even though he appreciated her listening he still found comfort in the silence he had learnt to get used to so Zuko was not prepared to tell her everything, although he thought, 'I have been telling her a lot lately.' It was true since the day Katara had forgiven him the pair had been slowly coming too each other more often in search of the others advice.
"So anyway he decided that he needed a plan incase well you know. He decided the best thing to do was to have a safe house…"
"A what?" Katara interrupted
"You know somewhere to hide if he needs to go into hiding."
"Wait I can see why that is useful but wouldn't someone notice eventually."
"Well, the idea was to stay there until people start to give up a bit on looking for him and when the chase calmed down a bit the he would find another idea."
"That doesn't sound like a nice way to live."
"It's not but what other choice did he have."
"I guess your right."
Even though she had said it casually it still shocked him to hear it. He was right he thought, he was and his sister would not be right again, feeling happy as he remembered that she was in a temporary prison of chains, Zuko continued.
"Two weeks past and he could think of nothing, but then again he was busy with his work. At this point he was adding the finishing touches to the design of this building."
"Umm Zuko"
"Yes"
"How do you know so much about this architect?"
"Wow, slow down I am already telling you two stories now you want me to tell you a third how much do you think I can do at the same time?"
"Ok, never mind. Just carry one."
"Well three nights before the building of the first tower he went to his sister's house for dinner. His sister had a daughter she was an earth bender…"
"An earth bender in the fire nation!"
"This story took place long before the war it was not at all unusual, though its true there were not many earth benders here even then so it was hard to find a teacher for her. So her father taught her instead. She loved what she could do with the earth but she was not what you would expect of an earth/fire nation child. She was not stubborn, she had a temper but it was not easily fueled and even though her father taught her and she enjoyed his lessens, earth bending was not her fist interest. She learnt her hobby from another member of her family, her Uncle."
"You mean the architect."
"Yes. It began with her simply looking at his sketches, then she started asking questions and soon they began to have long conversations and they grew very close. Her parents were pleased with there daughter's eagerness to learn and approved of her interest in architecture but her father still wanted her too progress in her earth bending. So he spoke with her Uncle and the two men came up with a clever solution. They brought her some rock."
"Couldn't she just have got herself some rock and why is a rock so clever?"
"The rock was one of the stones used in the architect current project, it was black like Toph's bracelets or so I believe. The two men presented the girl the rock and they encouraged her to bend it."
"What else would she do with a rock?" Katara interrupted sarcastically.
Rolling his eyes as the water bender interrupted him yet again Zuko continued shifting his position.
"They had planned to show her how to combine her hobbies and had rehearsed the conversation, but the girl had worked it out herself, already bending her new toy into the structure of buildings and towers and other…"
"I don't get what this has to do with this room."
"Are you ever going to stop interrupting and by the way I was not going to tell you any of this but you insisted so if you don't want to hear the…"
"No, no, no I do carry on" Zuko just looked at her. "Pretend I never said anything." Katara was quick to remember that Zuko did have a temper no matter what mood he was in.
"I was saying that on her first structure she had bended a firelily accidentally and after that every time she made a structure somewhere she would bend a firelily."
"A firelily?"
Well not exactly there was something different about the flower that the architect could not describe, so I can't explain but after a while it became her sign, her trademark and though she always bended it or drew it but nobody ever knew about it except her family."
"So how come you know about it."
Zuko ignored her this time, he had now lost himself in his own story, telling it more to himself then to Katara as he thought of the small fire nation cottage he had seen a painting of when he had first discovered the architects story. It was made of rough grey stone with a thatch roof, the size was not very grand but the cottage was well furnished suggesting that its size was the owner's choice and not due to lack of money.
"One night the architect arrived at his sister's house, later then he had planned as it was about two weeks before the building sketches had to be handed in and he had been working every spare second. When he arrived it was raining..."
"That must have been awful for..."
"I thought you were a water bender."
"Yes, I meant it must have been awful for him bec..."
Katara was cut of by Zuko's partly sarcastic voice.
"Why. Because he would get wet, because he wasn't as talented as you. Really stop thinking of yourself so highly Katara." Zuko accused
Katara looked at Zuko with a "Hmm" wearing a very protective expression the way she often did when she was defending her actions or saying "I told you so'" which she did very often.
"I do not... I was just saying that the rain probably reminded him of the water tribe woman who he had helped and obviously she was not with him."
Katara crossed her arms over her chest triumphantly with a smirk as Zuko's eyes grew wider.
"Who told you it was a woman?" He exclaimed quickly
"You did, three seconds ago."
Katara smiled triumphantly.
"Azula used to do that to me" His voice so silent and hoarse that Katara had to lean in to hear the almost inaudible whisper.
Her smile disappeared there was a long silence as both stared into the others eyes. One pair apologetic and the other awkward and slightly nervous.
"Sorry!" Katara broke the silence, apologizing in a whisper looking him in the eye as she did.
"It's okay, well done on figuring it out."
"O, thanks"
The two had started talking in there regular voices again, but even though the volume was normal the atmosphere was still slightly tense.
"So the architect." Zuko tried to make the situation less awkward by resuming the story
"Does he have a name?"
"Yes."
"Well?"
"I don't know how to pronounce it. Wait but I do remember another name."
"Who's was it?"
"That's the thing, I don't know. Maybe you'll recognize it." Zuko wondered "The name was Jaludi."
There was silence as Katara thought for a moment.
"No, it does sound familiar though."
"O well."
"I think we should give the architect a name though because it will be easier to focus on the story that way.'
"Okay, what about... No... Or maybe... that won't work..."
"What about Setro?"
"Setro?"
"Yes, its really easy to say and its not his real name so it does not even really matter."
"Okay Setro, I suppose that works."
There was a minute of silence until Zuko cleared his throat and began the story again.
"So the architect... I mean Setro, wow that's going to take some time getting used to, Setro, Setro, Setro, Seeeeettttttrooooo... Sorry. Anyway Setro had been thinking about the water tribe girl as you said and he was of course reminded of what he would have to do to escape people hunting him. So that is what he had been thinking of when he arrived at his sister's house. At that same moment his niece had been practicing her earth bending and she had been making a model of the sketches he had shown her, it was a model of this building only she had began to get bored and made some adjustments, one of witch was a secret passage beneath the castle. Inspired by this Setro began to design a similar passage to an underground safe house beneath the castle, but soon he became obsessed with the idea of these passages and created many all around the castle, later they were all built."
"But, why did they let him put all his passage ways in?"
"I don't know, all I never really thought about that actually but I suppose that its written down somewhere."
Katara suddenly wondered how he knew so much about the Setro but for some reason didn't think to ask and simply let him continue with his story.
"One of the passage ways led from my room to this section of the library and if it were not for the passage I would never have returned here, but I did. The section was as I said before a section on one of the small fire nation islands, that island was the same island that Setro lived on when he was alive and there were one or two books that had managed to find there way here I don't know how they got into this section but they did, these books where his diaries."
"Why would he put his diary in the library of a nation witch he had betrayed?"
"Well I thought that to, but it makes sense I mean if you want to hide a book put it where there are enough books that it will be disguised and as far as I know I was the only person to visit this section in all the time it was here. Actually that's why they changed the section and they gave away all the books."
"O, well that means that you can't show me those diaries."
"Wrong." Zuko smiled proudly as he corrected her "I took the diaries out when the section changed and hid them in the passage from here to my bedroom."
Katara's face brightened, but it did not last. She looked as though she had realized something and then looked accusingly.
"What did I do?" Zuko asked as he but his hands in the air.
"You told me that you couldn't put a shirt on because you don't want to walk around the castle shirtless, but all this time there was a secret passage way to your bedroom."
Katara crossed her arms and tried to sound angry, but she gave up as an amused smile crept onto her face. Zuko blushed a little and smiled cheekily as Katara's expression became even more amused. Clearing his throat Zuko looked away from katara.
"I forgot?" Zuko said this as if he was asking if that was a reasonable excuse
"Mmm…Hmm."
Katara smiled not believing his excuse at all. Zuko looked slightly guilty and looked to the side giving Katara a full view of his scar.
"Well seeing as you have 'remembered'… don't you think it would be appropriate for you to find a shirt and if you don't mind, and I doubt you will since you've told me so much, I would like to see this passage."
A/N so what did you think. Please tell me if you want a second chapter.