Caeghliegh March 9, 2012
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Avatar the last air bender, Nick does
'who is daddy bringing to play with me today? I cant wait to find out who. Why are these halls so long?' Zuko thought to himself as he walked with his mother to the throne room of the palace he lived in, in the Fire Nation. Zuko stopped at the door as he watched two dark skinned children fighting with his sister Azula. "Zula you don't need to hurt our new playmates" Zuko told his sister.
"Azula, come here, what did I tell you, Zuko go and meet the new childern." Ursa said in a calm voice. "These two young children are Sokka and Katara. They are to be treated like your brother and sister. The only reason they are alive is because they are the chiefs children and they were to be kept alive for some reason or another."
"Hi Katara and Sokka my name is Zuko. I think you already met my sister Azula, so I will show you around. Be careful to keep close because this palace is huge and I get lost on occasion,. It's a good thing that there are servents around or I would still be wandering around." Zuko said keeping his eyes glued to Katara.
"I know your name is Zuko, my mom told me that I would meet you right before she died she said that you would be my older brother along with Sokka. She said you would be able to protect me from any dangers. She also said that she met your mom and your mom said that if your anything like her you'll protect me if it kills you. You seem nice I don't want you to die." Katara spoke in a clear but soft voice. "So how about showing us around, you said it was a huge palace and I want to see the whole thing. We had better get started."
Turning on his heels and walking into the hallway he stopped as soon as he was out of the room. 'Which way' Zuko thought and he heard right in his head. "You said right, right." he asked and Katara and Sokka just looked at him. They looked at Zuko then they looked at each other confusedly and finally answered him.
"No I didn't say anything." Sokka answered as he looked at the decorated walls.
"Not me." Katara mumbled as she looked down at her feet, she had thought it so why was he asking if they said anything out loud.
"Ok well let's go right." Zuko mumbled once again hearing the same voice, 'where are we?' 'We are in the west wing, or where all of the royal family sleeps.' Zuko thought.
"Where are we Zuko?" Sokka asked. Trying to remember the way they came in. 'I think we came in through the front gate and we passed like ten corridors and then we were in the throne room, then we headed right and walked down a hallway and now were here.'
"We are in the west wing, or where the royal family sleeps." Zuko answered, slowly getting annoyed because he had answered the same question twice and he hated repeating himself.
'My brother and I are the chief's kids. The chief in my tribe is like the fire lord here.' Katara thought. 'So it's like we are royalty, but I don't want the title because I know that if I do I might change. I love who I am and I don't want to change.'
'So wouldn't that make you a princess or something like that? And I bet you wouldn't change you're a nice person. I can't see you mean like my dad.' Zuko thought.
'Yeah something like that.' Katara thought absently looking around her, knowing she better had get an idea that she should because she will be living there. 'What do you mean like your dad? Is he a bad man?'
'Well Lady Katara it has been a pleasure to meet you.' Zuko thought causing her to laugh. He thought that he could get used to the melody of her laugh, and the passion in her voice when she talks. 'You can say that.'
"Zuko, how old are you?" Katara asked suddenly, making Zuko and Sokka jump from the sudden noise, simply because not a single word had been said since Sokka asked where they were.
I'm ten. How about you, how old are you?' Zuko asked in his thoughts curiosity getting the better of him. He knew that she couldn't possibly be older than he. She was so small and girls his age were the same height as he is.
'I'm eight.' Katara responded shocked that the prince of the fire nation was curious about her, simply because she was born in the southern water tribe.
"Well, well ZuZu, making friends with the water peasants are we?" Azula asked, purposely calling e water tribe children peasants to try to make them feel upset that they weren't born in the fire nation and born into royalty.
'What is a peasant?' Katara wondered as she tried to put Azula words with a definition. It could only be one of two types of people, rich people and the rest of the population that struggled with trying to make ends meet.
'A peasant is someone that has little money.' Zuko answered bluntly without thinking of her feelings or background. To Katara the thought came too causally for her tastes and it bothered her immensely.
'I didn't have much money. My dad was always worried that he couldn't feed Sokka and I everyday' Katara specified, hurt by Zuko's insensitivity.
'You had a title you were royalty.' Zuko corrected her still with a harsh edge to his thoughts.
"ZuZu hurry up father needs to talk to us, today." Azula remarked in a snarky tone, with a severe amount of impatience.
"Go ahead, mom told me to do something and it will take a little bit to complete. I'll catch up later and I will find out what dad wanted to tell me" Zuko sneered. Zuko took Katara and Sokka through each wing showing them the rooms they would be staying in while they were there. He took them through passage ways, along paths outside the palace and down hallways. After all of the touring was one Zuko looked at Katara with a mischievous smile.
"Sokka now that you have seen the entire palace I must be leaving, oh and Katara, tag you're it." Zuko told them in a monotone voice before he ran down a hallway and disappeared around a corner.
'Zuko I'll get you.' Katara thought and sped down the empty hallway and around the corner he turned before he rounded another corner quickly followed by Katara on his flanks, then he was gone, it seemed like he had just disappeared into thin air.
'Zuko where did you go? I'm lost and I don't remember how I got here help me. Please!' Katara screamed in her thoughts looking around here getting a better view of her surroundings so she could possibly find her way out of this part of the palace.
'What do you see around you? Any one door that looks weird or stands out from the others, what? What and be sure to tell me about other features of the hall. Are there any curtains, what please tell me?' Zuko demanded; there were some areas of the palace off limits to the guests. If she was caught in there she would be punished severely.
'I see a giant blue door between two small green ones. Other than that all I see is red, many portraits and there is a huge curtain along one of the walls it is as long as the wall is tall.' Katara thought.
'Do not move or make a noise! If you do every one will hear you, generals the fire lord and his council. It's amazing that they didn't hear you running up that particular hall. Do me a favor and stay where you're at. Do not come looking for me.' she heard him scream and footsteps come up from behind her.
"Z-" she whispered to him and she saw that he was not wearing any shoes.
All he did was put a finger over his lips and pull on her wrists as if to tell her to follow him somewhere. They walked for a little bit and Zuko broke the silence between them with a quick phrase, saturated in urgency and fear.
"Behind you was the war chamber and you could be punished severely if you were discovered that close without being invited in. Do you see the garden over there; I'll meet you there after the meeting with my father ok. Just promise me you won't go exploring, that could get you banished if you were in the wrong part of the palace" Zuko pointed out through massive columns as he made her promise.
'Ok Zuko' Katara thought 'oh and Zuko tell me what happens during your meeting with your father, promise' Katara thought as he ran back the way they came obviously in a rush. Katara wondered if she had made the prince late to his meeting with his father. 'I promise not to explore the palace without you to make sure we stay out of trouble.'
Zuko ran down hallway after hallway until he rounded the corner he found Katara not even ten minutes ago. He knew his dad was mad and he would have to face his fury.
"Zuko what took you so long to get here?" Ozai asked sternly as soon as Zuko walked in the room oblivious to the stares on his back.
"I had to do something momma asked me to do. I had to follow her request, because if I hadn't I would have been in trouble with you more than I already am." Zuko answered fear clearly etched into his voice.
"And that was?" He asked incredulously, as well as impressed. His fire lady had made a demand and his son followed it.
"To show princess Katara and prince Sokka around the palace and show them where they would be sleeping every night they are here." Zuko muttered with his eyes locked on his feet, he wouldn't dare look his father in the eye about something like this.
"Katara and Sokka are here as guests until they are of age to serve you and the army you will command when you become fire lord. They will be your servants for life. One will serve you almost immediately and the other you will have to allow to mature before she can serve you. You can think about it as she is the first girl in your personal harem." Ozai proudly to his son almost as if he was boasting that his son will be the same man Ozai is.
'Katara, my father said that you are here as guests till you are of age to uh... Serve me. In bad ways but you don't have to now and I want it to be that way.' Zuko thought, fear for his new found friends.
'How old will I have to be to serve you and how will I serve you. I don't know how this is right I don't want to serve under you, I just want to be your friend.' Katara thought fearful of the destiny written out for her.
"How old would that be and how would she serve me exactly?" Zuko asked his father embarrassment clear in his voice.
"She shall be your concubine at sixteen." Ozai said without hesitation.
'Zuko how old will I be, and how exactly will I serve you? What about Sokka, what will become of him? Will we be separated soon or later? Zuko please let me know this much.' Katara begged him.
'You will start at sixteen and you will be a concubine.' Zuko thought with remorse obviously not wanting her to be his sex slave.
'What's a concubine?' Katara asked curious.
'It's a person who pleasures a royal family member or anyone really. They pleasure others without wanting to, it's like being a slave'
'Zuko please don't let me be a concubine please. I don't care what you have to do please anything but that.' Katara thought with terror sewn into her thoughts.
"The boy, Sokka, he shall fight with the rest of the fire nation soldiers." Ozai told his only son, not aware of the pain and fear he was causing in the gardens just outside this room. The only thing was that no one was eavesdropping.
'Katara your brother will fight in the war.' Zuko thought as he stared at his feet fighting the urge to yell at his father and call him a complete fool. Zuko knew he couldn't because that would be shaming his father and the fire lord directly, only fools insulted the fire lord.
"Zuko, both Sokka and Katara will serve under you. Never should a peasant serve with you, no peasant has that right. Sokka will start training next week. He will be sent out to the colonies in two weeks' time." Ozai said as he looked to the ccoulcil that composed of elderly men with the same mindset as Ozai and they merely nodded at him.
Only then did Azula speak up, after Zuko had been give the two water tribe children. "Father I want the next import of slaves." she demanded as Ozai simply laughed and scoffed.
"You can only as long as you can control two hundred grown earth benders. Zuko you are dismissed, Azula step forward." was all Zuko heard before leaving the war chamber That was all he wanted to hear after hearing the fate of the girl and boy that has become his only two friends. 'I've got to find Katara' he thought to himself when he fell to the ground without warning.
"Oh hi Zuko, where are you going?" Sokka asked as he stood up from the fall brushing off invisible dirt.
"I'm going to find Katara because I thought we could watch the turtle ducks out in the garden." Zuko said unsure or her brother's reaction.
"Go ahead, but I do not want to hear her upset about anything, at all." Sokka threatened. The last person that thought they could play with his sister and hurt her got a busted lip.
"I'll make sure that doesn't happen." Zuko promised as he ran off to the garden he pointed her to. "Katara, Katara where are you?" Zuko called when he was hit on his back by a mild splash, Well she was able to see him, that much was clear.
"Hi Zuko, how was your meeting with your dad?" she asked, doing it for show because she knew there were three girls about thirty feet behind where she was sitting..
"It was incredibly, boring nothing that you would be interested in. Because I so am not." Zuko managed to say before he erupted, laughing until his sides hurt, but behind him Sokka was lurking behind them, just waiting for him to hurt her, just waiting for that one insult that would hurt his sisters feelings.
" he doesn't know that I'm behind him, ha, foolish fire bender he won't know what hit him. The second he hurts Katara he's going to wish he hadn't.' Sokka thought completely unknowing of the girls behind him plotting to ambush him and the two benders in the garden.
"Ty-Lee you go to the left and make sure he can't move or talk, Mai I want you to walk around the garden, so that you're behind ZuZu and I will help you Ty-lee and then I go for the water peasant." Azula strategized completely unaware of her mother was standing right behind her listening to the ambush strategy.
"Azula I need you to go to your room and change into something nice while I talk to our new guests, and we will have a little talk about ambushing people.." Ursa said as she made her way toward Zuko and Katara, passing an un-expecting Sokka. "Sokka I need you to come with me to your sister and my son." Ursa said to the young boy. "Zuko, Katara I hear we will not be eating with Ozai but rather ourselves. It will be fun and you will enjoy yourselves. Zuko I need to take Katara and Sokka to introduce them to Azula and her friends or you can seeing how your such good friends with this young girl already.." Ursa said unaware of the connection established by the two benders.
"Momma can we sit around or a little bit longer?" Zuko pleaded, as his mother said he could but only for about fifteen more minutes.
"I want to show you something cool." Katara said as she bended some water out of a nearby pond. She moved her arms with such grace not even his sister could master.
"Katara don't do that it will get you in a lot of trouble like you might get executed or worse thrown in prison, much less hurt here!" Zuko nearly shouted surprised by where the outburst had come from. He wondered why he cared so much if she bended, it's not like he got into trouble when he bended, well this is the fire nation and he did bend fire.
"Ok I won't bend." Katara shrugged getting a sinking feeling in the corners of her soul. She knew that if a bender lost their bending they would never be the same, some even go insane.
"Thank you. So much, I know that you know what happens to a bender when they loose their bending but you can practice in secret. I'll help you" was all he could muster up. "You have to go now anyway. I'll see you at supper. Bye!" he shouted as Katara walked across the garden, unaware that his uncle Iroh had seen the entire scene between the two children and knew of the connection the two had between.
'I'm going to have grand babies later, I know it.' Iroh shrugged.
After Zuko told Katara goodbye she ran into that palace looking for Ursa. The hours passed quickly until supper was served.
Iroh looked around to the young girl and boy new to the table, Katara sat beside on his right Zuko and Sokka sat to his left. "Zuko who are these young people?" Iroh asked trying to make small talk with the group of children.
Zuko pointed to Katara who sat beside him, "This is Katara a princess from the southern water tribe." and he pointed to Sokka sitting beside him "This is Sokka prince of the southern water tribe. Their dad is the chief. So that would make them royal, right?" Zuko asked Just to double check his logic as Azula merely glared at him because he was right this time.
"It seems about so. Why don't you ask their father, the cheif." Iroh said as Hakoda walked in with his head held high as if nothing could bring him down. He carried himself with confidence, something people walk in with but always leave without, due to fear of the fire lord.
"Is Katara and Sokka royalty?" Zuko asked bluntly not addressing the chiefs title as he should have.
"Yes they are, and they should be treated as such, why do you ask such a simple question?" Hakoda asked simply blowing off the informalities.
"Ozai is making Sokka serve in the war, and at sixteen making Katara become a concubine." Iroh muttered to Hakoda and the children's father turned red in the face with anger. Before long the fire nation would have their leader chewed a new one for such an irresponsible and rude way for taking care of royalty.
"Iroh I want you to take my children away, even if that means that sneaking them out of here. I do not want my daughter to be defiled before marriage and I refuse to have my son die on the front lines of battle without having a family first." Hakoda asked clearly infuriated. "Get them into the earth kingdom tonight, Iroh I am not asking much, just take care of my children. Please?" Hakoda asked well aware of what he was doing and the consequences of it.
"Children, it is clearly time to go." Iroh said.
"Dad are you coming with us?" Katara asked tears building up in her eyes threatening to spill over.
"I'll do my best but I can't promise anything." Hakoda mumbled to his daughter giving her a kiss on her forehead. He knew this might be the last time he may ever see his children.
In a matter of a few minutes the two children had their stuff packed up and was saying their goodbyes, except Zuko who was anticipating getting on the ship and staying with Katara.
"Uncle may I go to help you with Sokka and Katara? I could also work on my bending." Zuko asked, although he already knew the answer.
"If you are going get your stuff ready to go. Ill meet you at the ship in five minutes." Iroh told his nephew.
Not even five minutes had passed and Zuko was holding a small bag that looked like it could only hold at most three different outfits.
"Hakoda I will keep them in the same condition." Iroh promised Hakoda as the two men and three children walked out of the back entrance of the palace.
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