three: old friends
Katara was not loving how often her stomach rolled with this level of anxiety lately. First with Aang, then with the decision to leave the South Pole, and now, the morning of her arrival, the thought of seeing Iroh and Zuko for the first time in almost two years had her wound up and pacing around her room, a giant ball of nervous energy. Katara hadn't waited for a response to the envoy she sent them, she'd just packed up her things and invited herself over. Only now was it occurring to her that that might not have been her best idea.
She sighed. Can't do anything about it now.
As the crew prepared to dock, Katara waited quietly with her baggage and wrung her hands, unable to help much. Distracted, her mind wandered back to the last time she had seen the Fire Nation royal family - a mostly uneventful trip with Aang. They'd come to check in with Fire Lord Zuko about the liberation process for the Hu Xin provinces, with the ultimate decision being to absorb it into the United Republic upon official instatement.
Katara hadn't been much involved in the meetings. She had really come to get out of the house, in a manner of speaking, and visit old friends. However, Zuko, the old friend in question, had been in a sullen mood the entire time she was there. She suspected it had to do with the failing search for his mother; and maybe, partially, the fact that Mai, whom he was still dating on and off, was quite literally a walking black hole, slowly draining the life out of him.
She wanted to say she had made peace with Mai and Ty Lee for their transgressions before the Comet - and sure, she didn't actively hold a grudge against either of them. But still, that didn't mean she had to like them as people. Zuko had proven himself to be someone with a good moral compass, someone willing to work for what he had done wrong, but she hadn't seen any effort from Azula's friends - especially not Mai. As far as Katara was concerned, all Mai cared about was herself.
She hadn't even gotten a real goodbye from Zuko when they'd left. Something had "come up," and he wasn't able to make it to the dock to see them off. The last conversation they'd had, he'd been so grumbly and quiet and inattentive with her, that she'd gotten frustrated and cut it short to leave him alone to stew in his thoughts.
He hadn't been writing her, either, despite the promise he made her.
Regardless, it was time for her to take another stab at it. Xin, one of the crewmen, offered to help her out with her luggage, which she gratefully agreed to. Leaning over the railing, she scanned the dock eagerly, searching out familiar faces to greet her. Iroh was there, beaming and waving wildly. She laughed, realizing how much she'd missed him.
The man welcomed her with a large, warm hug as she descended. Her fears from the early morning were quickly evaporating. "Welcome back to the Fire Nation, Master Katara." He placed his hands on her shoulders, smiling. "We have missed you."
"I've missed everyone too," she breathed, soaking in the feeling of relief. "Where's Zuko?"
An odd expression crossed his face for just the briefest moment; she couldn't decipher it, and it was gone so fast she wasn't entirely sure she didn't imagine it. "He remains at the palace. My nephew sends his regards, but he cannot greet you in person until later this evening."
She raised an eyebrow. "No time in His Excellency's busy schedule to stop by and say hi?" Katara quipped. The joke fell a little flat; Zuko hated his friends using any sort of title with him. Katara loved to take advantage of his faux ire, but Iroh didn't pay much attention to it either way.
"He is very sorry to have missed you, Katara," Iroh told her softly, letting go of her. "But there is a great dinner planned for tonight. You will have time to reconnect with him then."
"Well, you didn't have to do that for me, but thank you." Iroh began to lead her to the caravan that would shuttle them back to the palace, and she felt a spring in her step as they walked.
The palace was a short ride away, especially compared to the last two weeks she'd spent at sea. The air was different here than her last visit; the streets were noisier, rang with more arguing, as well as laughter - she noticed more children running and skipping across the smooth brick roads and playing between the shops and stands. The vendors were bolder, hollering about their wares and produce so loudly they could be heard three streets over. It was dry season here; the grass that lined the paved roads was brown and brittle, the trees limp and sad. Few flowers were growing, fewer still blooming. The sun beat down heavily on everyone and everything on the ground; while she knew it wouldn't last very long, Katara was momentarily content with the change of climate.
Iroh, echoing her thoughts, leaned over and followed her gaze, fixated on the plaza they were passing by, easily the busiest part of the city they had seen so far.
"Everyone is preparing for the midsummer festival; it begins in three days," he told her. Pointing up at the elegantly constructed pagoda at the southern point of the square, he continued, "You came at a great time. This right here is where we will be holding the festivities. The colonies more or less kept the summer tradition during the war, but the Fire Nation Capital has not held a proper Midsummer Festival in nearly thirty years, since before my own son was born."
She smiled and turned towards him. "What's the festival for?"
"To celebrate the peak of Firebending strength. The festival was created to honor the spirits who gave us our bending."
"Will there be firebending performances? I saw some at a festival in an Earth Kingdom colony once, during the war. That's... sort of how we wound up with Aang's first firebending mentor." She shuddered a little at the memory of the giant fireball hurtling towards her face on stage, but shook it off. She knew better than to participate now, but she wouldn't let that stop her from watching.
There was an odd twinkle in his eye when she looked up at him eagerly, waiting for an answer. "The best in the world."
That dinner that Iroh had told her about was still several hours off. Katara was tired, having slept little and fitfully the night before in anticipation, but when she tried lying down in the guestroom that had been set aside for her, she found herself staring at the ceiling, trying to wish time to pass faster. She'd already gone through all of the clothing she had packed, trying to find something nice to wear for the evening. Truthfully, she just didn't own much in the way of fancy clothes. In the South Pole, she had a nice overcoat or two, but there wasn't usually much point in nice dresses - they would mostly go unseen under all the necessary layers in eternal winter.
Having settled on something mildly pretty - a plain blue, scoop-neck dress with a high waist, wide skirts and short sleeves - she eventually got up and left the room, meandering through the hallways of the palace's third floor. It had been some years, but she still more or less remembered the path out to the gardens. Some fresh, warm air would do her good.
It took her a little under five minutes to find it, but once she arrived, her hope was quickly squashed as she saw a pair of tense-looking guards hovering in front of the exit doors, closed.
She approached the shorter of the two men. "Excuse me - h-hi," she stuttered, feeling the intensity of the Fire Nation Royal Guard's stare beat down on her as she drew his attention. "Are the gardens closed?"
"Yes," he barked. "Fire Lord Zuko has ordered the exits closed off while renovations are underway."
Her eyebrows furrowed, confused. "Renovations? He loves that garden." Some of his best memories with his mother were there - it made no sense for him to tear it down or build up around it. "Why would he do that?"
"Those are orders, ma'am."
"Well. That's unhelpful," Katara sighed. "When will they be reopening?"
"To be determined, ma'am."
She crossed her arms over her chest, annoyed. What was she supposed to do now? "Thank you for your help," she muttered, giving them the traditional Fire Nation departure bow and gesture, which they pointedly did not return. When did these guys get so stoic and mean?
Frustrated, she sauntered off in search of the royal baths - Zuko had put in a large steam room somewhere on one of the lower levels a while back. She had never seen it, but he'd definitely talked enough about it the last time she was here. In fact, that was the only thing she remembered him being genuinely excited about the entire visit. Guy must be under a lot of stress to be so jazzed about a steam room. Lucky for her, it would be the perfect place to practice some waterbending techniques she rarely had the chance to work on. Steam didn't often occur naturally in the South Pole.
#
When she found it, she was shocked how packed it was.
The bath house was enormous. Several pools spanned the room, infinity edges spilling between them to connect the different bodies of water. Pillows and benches lined the walls, a good distance away from the edges of the water, and black and gold statuettes that Katara couldn't identify were placed at strategic intervals for decoration. She knew that the palace staff was allowed to use it during their breaks and after hours, but the place was filled top to bottom with a wide variety of men and women, many of which carried an authoritative, important air one didn't usually see with servants.
It took her a while to find a quiet corner to claim for herself, still an uncomfortably close proximity to a few other bathers, but she forced herself to let out a sigh and began to disrobe down to her wraps. It took a few more deep breaths with closed eyes to feel truly centered, but she eventually let the steam take over, felt it pulsing softly inside of her, and released her tense muscles. Her hands rose up instinctively in front of her and, eyes still shut, she let her limbs flow through the movements slowly, easily. It took more coaxing and strength than fully liquid water, and she soon warmed up to the challenge, opening her eyes and grounding her stance. It danced through the air seamlessly, and she thought with a smirk that anyone watching would assume it was easy. Her fingers curled out and in and out again, finessing it to fold in on itself and maintain its shape.
Katara was so lost in her own thoughts that the sudden sound of clapping in her direction startled her, and she dropped the water from its place over her head all over herself. Blinking, she cast her gaze over her shoulder.
It was Mai.
And she wasn't alone. Zuko's girlfriend, tall, slim and oddly beautiful, was surrounded by several other people, relatively close to her age, and relatively close to her signature level of dark broodiness that Katara disliked her for. She didn't recognize any of them.
"Nice show," Mai said evenly, peering at her through her perpetually-narrowed eyes.
Katara bent the spilled water off her hair and body and lowered her arms. She loosened her stance, standing full upright. "Thanks?" She didn't mean for it to come out as a question, but this was two more words than Mai had ever willingly said to her before.
Mai crossed her arms over her chest - quite a bit bigger than Katara's own, she noticed wistfully - and stood a little straighter herself. "You know, Zuko only told me two days ago that you were coming," she said, her voice still tinged with that raspy quality that Katara remembered. "You could have given us more notice, you know."
She ducked her head a little, embarrassed. She should have expected this - they had never really gotten along to begin with. "I know. I'm sorry. It was sort of a last minute decision," she explained, shrugging.
"Poor planning on your part doesn't constitute an emergency change of plans on our part." Mai tilted her chin up, just slightly. She let the silence drag on between them for a long, painful beat. Katara notice a couple of her friends trying to hide their snickers. Finally, she gave that trademark laboured Mai sigh. "But, you're here, and that's that. Sorry Zuko couldn't greet you at entry today; he was... helping me with some things." One of her cronies - a young woman with a small scar on her lip - let out an uncontrolled laugh that she tried unsuccessfully to cover up with a cough.
Sidestepping around the innuendo, Katara stuck out a hand to the closest one of Mai's unintroduced friends. "I'm Katara," she breathed, forcing a smile.
The woman stared down at her hand for an unnecessarily intense moment before reluctantly shaking it. "Ruriko," she remarked flatly.
"Nice to meet you." She met, learned and promptly forgot the names of the others in quick succession; none of them were any friendlier than the one before. They all looked somewhat similar, a slightly olive-toned look to their skin that Katara hadn't often seen before.
To her surprise, Ruriko spoke up. "We're from Kirachu island, here for the summit."
Katara blinked, stunned. "The what?"
Mai raised a thin eyebrow. "The summit, Water Tribe. Representatives from the major islands are here for the festival and are meeting this week to discuss matters of top national priority. We have other concerns besides housing the riffraff that shows up on our doorstep."
Katara felt her face turn deep, dark red, and thanked the spirits that the room was dim. "I-I didn't know that. Zuko didn't mention it."
The taller woman scoffed. "Presumptuous and ignorant. Wonderful. Are you bringing that attitude to dinner tonight?"
It took a second for the words to come together, and when they did, it hit Katara like a ton of bricks. Dinner wasn't for her; she'd been invited last minute when Zuko got her letter. She hadn't realized it would be a court affair; she'd hoped, maybe naively, that tonight was just for old friends. By the sheer number of important people here in the room, Katara guessed she had walked right into the middle of a huge national affair. She kicked herself mentally.
As much as she wanted to throw a water whip in Mai's face, Katara bit her tongue and held back the urge. "I'm just excited to be here," she said quietly. She gave them the sign of farewell and marched back to the wall to retrieve her clothes, face still burning hot.
Finally, it was time. Her dress was tied, hair pulled back into a simple high, loose bun, and her skin was still glowy from the steam room (at least something good came out of all that, she thought). The knock on her bedroom door came and she answered with an excited grin to let in the servant who would be leading her down.
Iroh had mentioned that the dining area for each nightly meal had to be kept secret for now; nobody besides Iroh, who was Chief Adviser and assisted the Fire Lord in strategizing, knew the whereabouts until it was time to send for the escorts. He said something briefly about concerns of poisoning - he wouldn't elaborate whether it was simply a precaution, or whether they knew something that warranted the secrecy, but either way she knew she could get Zuko to talk. If he was in danger, no matter how big or small the threat, she was going to know about it.
The escort - whose name, she discovered after some intense prying, was Saori - was a young girl, about fourteen or fifteen, and was small and quiet. Katara tried getting her to talk on their long journey up to the fifth floor, but to no avail. The girl made a conversation of nods and one-word answers. She sighed; she desperately needed this evening, just for the sake of someone to talk to. The last two weeks of solitude had been rough.
As they approached a set of simple, yet elegantly crafted doors, Katara's heart rate kicked up. She nearly shoved through the doors in her excitement to get inside - though, to her disappointment, they were the first to arrive.
"I will show you to your seat," Saori murmured, so quietly she almost didn't hear her. Brushing her arm gently, she led her towards the middle of the table, at a seat that looked far away from where Zuko and Iroh would be sitting.
"How many people are coming to this?" she asked, eyeballing the long row of chairs. She'd assumed earlier that the national summit was going to be a large to-do, but there was no way all of those people were coming to dinner tonight.
Right?
Fifteen, twenty minutes passed, and strange guests began filing in, their escorts leading them gracefully to their assigned seating. Everyone else came in pairs; it looked as though Katara was the only one here alone. Many were romantic couples, though not all. Some were with apparent business or political partners, some with friends. Everyone was wearing some sort of insignia that identified their colony; she recognized only one or two. It was funny how she had spent her whole childhood being terrified of the Fire Nation and their power and control, yet she'd never really stopped to consider how big they were as a nation - how much land mass, how many people, how many towns and cities and islands. She'd sort of always thought of it as one big conglomerate powerhouse, even when she was staying on the different islands in the outer rim.
It was nearly a half hour before Iroh appeared. They're really serious about this security thing, Katara thought. Keeping secret the timing of the Fire Lord's appearance was part of the deal. Something's wrong.
"Honored guests," Iroh announced, quickly shushing the entire room of its chatter. "Welcome to the Fire Nation Capital. I trust your journeys were safe and smooth." Here he gave a small bow of the head, which the rest of the guests returned to him. Katara, catching on a moment too late, returned the bow as well, a beat after everyone else. "It is my great pleasure to introduce the host of tonight's event, the Esteemed Fire Lord Zuko!"
Joyous applause spread easily down the table, and Katara found herself clapping with them, her heart stirring excitedly as she waited for his entrance.
Four guards shuffled into the room, each looking extremely tense and serious. Their expressions kicked up anxiety in Katara's stomach, her unease about the issue of the poisoning threat from before rising up again. Her hands curled up into tight fists in her lap; she was going to talk to him the second dinner was over.
And then, from behind the last Fire Nation Royal Guard, she saw him, waiting for a clear space to enter.
Zuko.
author's note: leave a review please! would mean the world to me.
