Dawn ~ Zutara
Chapter 3 – Meeting
"Katara!" Sokka yelled starting to go after her.
Toph stomped her foot and three earth walls barred Sokka's way. "Oh no you don't. You've done enough damage for today Sokka."
"But she's my sister I need to protect her!" He wined
"If making her work for you like a slave is 'protecting' her, I'm sure she doesn't want to see you any time soon." Sokka didn't say anything he just sat on his sleeping bag and put his head in his hands.
Zuko looked at his map spotting the closest river outside the city. He headed off. That's where they would camp. The waterbender would make them stay with in reach of her element. The chase was on.
Katara awoke with the sun high over head. She had fallen asleep through her tears out of pure exhaustion. She felt her clothing sticking to her with sweat and moved to bend her clothes dry. "aaAAaa" she let out a gasp. The waterbender had forgotten all about the burns all over her body. The pain was immense and instant as soon as she moved. The burns were from her hair line to her toes blotchy and unevenly spaced across her front. The biggest coal had landed on her left cheek giving her the semblance of being slapped. Even in a weakened state Aang could lash out strong peals of wind. She was still covered in soot and grime although around her eyes where she had been crying was clean. Katara couldn't move very much. The worst hit parts of her body were her legs and arms. For her arms she had tried to shield her face and most pieces had hit her arms instead of her face. Her legs though were a different story. The coals had made small burning circles of fabric were ever they hit and some had fallen through the fabric and grazed down her thighs and rested against her ankles. She needed to get to water but there was none around and she was far from the river. Katara tried to crawl back to the river but was soon crying in agony as her burns split and bled. She had only made it to the middle of the clearing before the pain made her blackout.
Zuko was nearing the stream when the sun was about over head, maybe 11:30am. He saw a clearing on his map and headed there for a quick lunch. The firebender was coming out into the open when he saw something in the middle of the field. He slowly approached at first in case it was an animal but when he got closer her could tell it was her. The waterbender. Katara. And she was hurt. He rushed forward some gut instinct knew that he needed to help her and he ran with it. She was his chance at being without the scar. She was his chance at the avatar if he was alive.
Zuko saw blood on her clothes and some kind of red marks on her cheek and arms and ,from the state of the holes in her pants, he guessed the same marks were on her legs. When he knelt at her side he could tell they were burns. How did she get them? He thought. Zuko started to pick her up bridal style when she gave out a pitiful moan. Afraid she would wake up Zuko froze. Nothing happened. Straitening, Zuko realized he had no idea where to take her. He couldn't go to the stream her friends were most assuredly there. Zuko was forced to put Katara down again earning another tortured scream, and look at his map. There was a cave with a spring near its entrance that would be perfect and it wasn't too far away. Zuko carefully picked Katara up and set out for the cave.
When they finally reached the cave Zuko put Katara down on the cool floor. Her back seemed not to be as injured as the rest of her. He unloaded his pack and found the thin sleeping mat he had packed. He rolled it out and placed Katara on it. He had no idea what to do. Should he let her rest? Should he try to bandage her wounds? He figured he'd let her sleep then in the morning she could heal herself.
"aAAAaaa... bur...it....burns.." Zuko immediately rushed over to Katara but she was still asleep, head lolled to the side. She's dreaming- he thought but about what?
