Writerswand
Boiling Water
Chapter 2
*Katara*
I sat huddled in the corner of a dark, dank cell, my arms wrapped around my knees. I shivered, only in my lightweight water tribe styled dress. My parka lay on the other side of the cell, cold and wet with snow. That would do more harm than good right now. I rubbed my hands on my arms, trying to keep warm. I had tried to escape earlier, but the spaces between the bars of the cell were too small for even me! I squeezed my eyes shut. Earlier today I had been penguin sledding with Sokka, I was happy. Who knew everything can turn out this way?
I licked my dry lips. My throat and parched and I was very thirsty. I eyed my parka and suddenly had an idea. I lifted a good amount of water off of my parka and drank it. It tasted a little weird, probably from being on my parka. Then I had another idea. I drew in a deep breath and lifted all the water off my parka. I froze it into a large ice cube before dropping it in the corner of the cell for later. I crawled over to my newly warm and dry parka and threw it on.
I quickly buttoned it up, it was difficult with cold and shaking hands but I managed. I instantly felt warmer, not by much, but that would change once I had it on longer. I wondered what the fire benders wanted me for. I couldn't help but be scared. I rubbed the blue stone in the necklace that Gran Gran gave me for my birthday last year. That always comforted me before.
*Zuko*
I sat by the pond outside the palace walls as I tossed smooth, round rocks into the pond. I watched them splash and create ripples and sometimes skip across the surface. I made sure to stay clear of the turtle ducks, it took a whole week for the bite the mother gave me to heal, and it hurt like heck. I sighed. I had no idea where my mom was. Actually...I had no idea where anybody was right now. Well...except for Azula, she was leaning against the palace wall. She walked over to me, playing with a bit of blue fire in her hand. She was already almost a master, and let me tell you— that fire is HOT.
"Hey Zuzu, guess what?" she asked grinning as she tossed the blue flame between hands.
I gritted my teeth at the much hated nickname. "Go away Azula," I said through my teeth.
"I guess you don't want to know what I can provide."
"No, I don't."
"You don't want to know what the Naval Rank brought back with them from the South Pole?"
"I couldn't care less."
"Well it's a little girl," she said turning away to leave.
I looked up surprised. "What?"
"I thought you didn't want to know," she said turning her head back to me, her dark hair falling over her shoulder.
"Tell me!"
Azula grinned. "I'm not entirely sure about all of this, what they are planning, but she's apparently the last water bender of the South Pole. I'm not sure what they're doing with her at the moment though," she explained.
I gave her a quizzical look.
She shrugged before turning her head away from me. "Just telling you what I heard," she said before walking away.
I walked through the palace walls, thinking over all that Azula told me. It didn't make any sense. I heard voices coming from the hallway ahead of me. I ran forward, my shoes slapping hard against the red metal floor. I stopped at the end of the hallway and peeked out behind the corner. I saw a small group of soldiers, including a general, and a little girl between two tall men. The little girl wore a blue dress and had a blue coat hung over her arm. It's probably warmer in the Fire Nation then she's used to. She had long dark brown hair and wore a pretty blue necklace. Just then my mother ran up to the general.
"What are you doing with this little girl!?" she demanded.
"Lady Ursa," the General bowed. "I was just taking her to the prison hold while I discuss a future idea with the Firelord," he explained.
"You were going to put her with a bunch of criminals!?" my mother asked appalled.
"She's a water bender, a formidable enemy, Lady Ursa-"
"She's a little girl!" she cried.
"It's still the same."
"No, I won't let you, I'll take her, you can go discuss your ideas with my husband," she snapped before taking the girl's hand and stomping off. She whispered something to the little girl that I couldn't hear.
The general grumbled something to himself before walking off. The soldiers scattered.
"Prince Zuko," they nodded as they passed me. Some just ignored me and walked past.
*Katara*
When the soldiers led me through the Fire Nation palace, my first thought was: Wow, they're taking me to the palace? my next thought was: Wait...they're taking me to the palace!? I started fretting after that. While we walked through a hallway a dark haired lady ran up to the mean man. She began to talk to him, she seemed angry. I saw a pale skinned, dark haired boy peeking out from behind a corner, watching the scene unfold. He looked a little older than Sokka.
The next thing I knew that that the lady, whose name I found out was Ursa, a pretty name, though it sounded a bit like a sea monster, held me by the hand and led me through the palace.
"It's okay little one, I won't hurt you," she whispered kindly to me.
I wondered if she was a fire bender. I found out she was the Firelord's wife, I didn't understand how the wife of someone so evil and wicked, could be so nice...
"I have a girl about your age, how old are you?" she asked as we entered a room.
"I'm seven, but I'll be turning eight in a little while Ma'am," I informed her.
"Oh, were going to have to celebrate it then, my daughter just turned eight, you'll just love Fire nation parties, I think," she said looking through a trunk of what appeared to be clothes.
She turned her head to look at me. "You can sit," she said before turning back to the trunk.
I looked around, my eyes falling upon the large bed. I climbed up on it and sat down, my legs dangling off the edge. After a few moments kind Ursa turned around holding a red dress with a modest collar, sleeves that came down to about my elbow, and a flame pattern embroidered around the collar and ends. It was really pretty.
"This use to be my daughter's..." Ursa trailed.
I nodded as she helped me into the dress. She was very kind, like my mother...my mother. A tear fell down my cheek as I thought of her.
"Do you have a name?" Ursa asked as she straightened out the dress.
"Katara," I said.
"That's pretty, do you have a family?" she asked tossing my clothes in the fireplace to burn in the fire. I swallowed, holding back tears.
I nodded. "My brother Sokka isn't a bender, he's at the South Pole with my Gran Gran, my Papa's away at war and my Mama...she was killed by that mean man..." I sobbed, tears running down my face.
Ursa looked at me with a distraught look on her face. She sat down and pulled me on her lap. "It'll be okay," she said running a hand through my hair.
"You talk about your daughter a lot; will I be able to meet her?" I asked, still sobbing.
Ursa laughed. "I'm not sure if you'll want to, she's a lot like her Father and more, Azula's a strange girl, even though she's closer to your age I think you'll like my son more, Zuko's more like me..." she trailed. "This is a spare bedroom, you can stay in it if you like, there's a brush on the dresser over there...I'll bring you some food later if you like," she added with a warm smile.
I nodded. "Yes please."
Ursa nodded and walked over to the door, closed it behind her, and locked it from the outside, with a key.
I sighed and dropped off the bed and walked over to the tall dresser. I reached up and picked up the brush. I put the pretty brush to my hair.
Ursa made her way to the throne room where Ozai and the general who killed little Katara's mom were speaking. Ursa stood by the door and pursed her lips together impatiently as she waited for them to finish discussing ideas. When they were finished the general bowed and left the room, slightly nodding to Ursa as he passed her. Ursa walked up to her husband where he was surrounded by fire.
"Put the fire out for God's sake Ozai!" Ursa demanded.
The Firelord muttered something to himself and the fire slowly receded until there was no more.
"What was that about?" Ursa asked noting the discussion between him and his general.
"That's none of your business Ursa," he said smoothly.
Ursa opened her mouth to speak but Ozai held up and hand and shushed her. "You seem to be pushing your power a bit too far don't you think? Your sticking your pretty little nose is places it doesn't belong."
"But-"
Ozai cut her off again. "My general told me you took the last water bender from him?"
"Yes, He can't treat a child like that, Katara is-" She stopped speaking when Ozai spoke.
"So now you're treating the enemy as your child?" he asked raising an eyebrow.
"She's a little girl Ozai!" Ursa cried appalled.
"I think it's time for you to leave," Ozai said coolly.
"Tell me what you have in store for her!"
"She's the perfect weapon, a young water bender we can mold into a faithful Fire Nation citizen. A water bender in the Fire Nation Ranks, perfect, I really need to rank up that general," he said mostly to himself.
Ursa's mouth fell open. "Y-You're going to use her!? She's a person Ozai! She can die out there! She's not a toy you can experiment with! I forbid you to do that!" she cried enraged.
Ozai's amber eyes flashed, turning to a fiery gold. "A woman can't tell me what to do, leave now, and when I say leave, I mean forever."
Ursa's jaw fell open. "You're banishing me?"
Ozai made a tsk tsk noise with his tongue and called soldiers out to escort a curse-flinging, enraged Ursa away.