Melting

Two Days Later

There was an annoying pain in her side, and her eyes felt too heavy. She couldn't move, but she somehow knew she was safe. Katara let her mind wander back to the events that put her in this state.

She'd been in her room when she heard the door open. Her hands had tensed into a water bending motion waiting to happen. Even this small movement exhausted her, and even now she was too weak to heal herself. What about Aang and Sokka? Why hadn't they come for her yet? Her musings had been interrupted by an angry voice, saying angry horrible things. And pain, scorching pain only made worse by her attempts to help herself. She wasn't her normal self. She was weak.

Katara squinted her eyes against the tears, and then opened them. Light blinded her, and she closed her eyes again, head pounding. Little by little she began to see again, and as she looked around she noticed that under the cool sheet covering her body, she was nude.

Her heart started beating harder, and she felt a shock go through her. She stood up, taking the blanket with her and wrapping it around her body, toga style. Where were her clothes? How in spirits name did she get naked? She'd had her slip on…

Her door opened, and she whirled around to see Zuko staring at her open mouthed. "What are you doing in here?" she screamed, "Why am I… What did you do to me?" she shrieked, and he averted his eyes, staring instead at the ceiling as he blushed furiously and started stuttering.

"Uh- I wasn't the one to- well it was one of my soldiers who, oh! But she's a woman, like you, and well, none of us saw or did- uh… Well your clothes were kind of burned to a crisp, so I'm bringing you some new ones and you can get changed now sorry for intruding bye!" He said the last part extremely fast before practically throwing the clothes at her and tripping his way out of the room. She stopped up short with a quizzical look on her face. Since when did Zuko get flustered? When did he start blushing? As she walked over and stooped to pick up her clothes, she noticed a mirror had been set in the far corner of her room. She gasped at her reflection. Her hair was a mess, she had bruises everywhere- was that a scar on her arm? She looked down, and saw thin light colored lines, new scars, raised up on her skin. She would have understood if they'd been lightly scabbed over or newly healing, but these were already looking and feeling old.

Katara looked around and dropped the sheet, blushing. She got her clothes on as quickly as possible, and looked at herself doubtfully in the mirror. The fabric was soft and light, perfect for Fire Nation weather. The leggings were short, down to just above her knee and dark red in color. The skirt that went over them was longer but had slits up the sides to allow for movement, and it was lighter red. The shirt was short, and exposed her stomach- definitely strange. She'd never showed off her stomach to the world, and the haltered top did little to hide her chest completely (though thankfully it hid the scar from the gash in her ribs). It was deep red in color, with embroidered gold patterns delicately making their way down the half length sleeves. The same golden hues were visible on the edges of her skirt, as well as the burgundy robe that went over all of it. As Katara put her hands in the pocket of the robe, she found a small piece of paper and pulled it out, reading the short message.

"The man who harmed you has been brought to justice, and I have instructed my crew not to hurt you. Uncle Iroh has healed most of your injuries, including the one received from your fall, and has instructed the woman on board to give you an outfit to replace the one that was destroyed. I'm sorry. If you would like to speak to me, knock on your door from the inside and you will be escorted to my room by the guard. If you attempt to escape, be prepared for a watery grave- There's nothing out here for miles.

-Zuko"

Her head reeled. She sat on her bed for a moment, then slowly walked to the door and knocked.

"Prince Zuko, I believe you have a visitor," Uncle remarked with a smile as the water tribe girl came on deck. Zuko turned around and flushed. There wasn't any doubt in his mind that she was a pretty girl- especially when her eyes weren't narrowed in hate or mistrust. "Quite a beauty, isn't she?" Uncle teased and chuckled.

"Shut up Uncle!" Zuko groaned in disgust. Pervy old man, he thought. But he turned to face the girl, and was surprised to see a shy smile on her face. He reluctantly walked up to her, and ran a hand through his hair nervously. "Um. Sorry about being in your room earlier. I was just giving you the clothes… Yeah, so you found them. And everything. Right! So, what brings you up here?" he asked, trying to recover from what had to be the stupidest thing he'd ever said. He was beginning to realize that he had absolutely no clue how to talk to girls.

"Well I wanted to thank you and your uncle for helping me. I don't really know what to say…" she murmured, and blushed. This was awkward. Her enemy was taking care of her, not trying to kill her… Strange. "This is weird." she said absently, and Zuko tipped his head to one side and crinkled his nose, confused.

"What is?" he asked, and he could tell by the way she flinched and looked down that she hadn't meant to say that.

"Well, you're Fire Nation's prince, and I'm Katara of the Water Tribe. You've been hunting my friends and I for a while now, and for once you're not trying to kill us. You don't think this is weird at all?" her bluntness surprised him, and he smiled and dipped him head.

"Okay, yeah you're right this is kind of strange. But I have a good reason to want to capture the Avatar," he said, and his tone of voice was serious again, "it's the only way to restore my honor. The only way my father, the one parent I have left, will ever love me again." Katara watched as his eyes unfocused, and he seemed to be brooding. That didn't stop the anger that rose in her stomach though.

"Oh, so it's perfectly fine to kill Aang and give him to your father as a welcome home present to yourself? That's so twisted! And wrong, Zuko. Your father should love you anyway. My mother did before she died, and my father does, even though-" she stopped short, tears brimming in her eyes. He noticed her reluctance, and he stepped closer.

"What? Even though what, Katara?"

"Even though it was my fault she's dead," the girl whispered, and turned away, running back to her room as the guard chased her. Zuko started after her, but found his Iroh's hand on his shoulder.

"I think it is time we sit down with a nice, hot cup of tea, and discuss some things." Iroh said, and for once, he let his uncle lead him away instead of fighting the advice that is soon to come.