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Note : Again, English isn't my first language so I'm sorry for any grammatical errors. I'll try my best to check it again and re-read my writings over and over again. Thanks for all the reviews and favorites! Also, I'm sorry to some anonymous/guest reviews that I can't reply to. This website only allows me to reply to active accounts.
CHAPTER 4 – Red, Black, and Gold
Katara slowly opened her eyes and tried to sit up, but failed. She immediately fell back to her pillow as her head started to spin around. Ugh, what's with this headache again? I felt better when Kana healed me… Did I really hit my head that hard? Katara thought to herself as she rubbed her temples. After the pain began to subside a bit, Katara tried to slowly lift her body with her elbows.
"Whe-where… am I? This room looks… different" Katara said to herself as she tried to strain her vision. As she finally could see clearly, she sat up straight and began observing her surroundings. Hmm, it seems that I'm in a bedroom. A big one for sure, but… almost everything is red. Katara felt disappointed and sad again, she thought that after she woke up… her nightmares might be over. She thought that this whole ordeal was just a horrible dream.
She then realized she's on a four-poster king sized bed, much larger than the infirmary bed. It has silk red sheets, and a deep red velvet bed cover. The room was almost 4 times bigger than the infirmary room. On the wall behind her, a big drape of fire nation insignia was hanged. On each sides of her bed, there were two end tables. To the front, there's a big double doors right on the middle of the wall. To her far right, there's a fireplace with two armed chairs in front of it, and a big rug. On the corner of the right room there were big tall bookshelves.
To her left not far from the bed's end table, was a medium sized wardrobe. Made of a deep colored mahogany. To her far left, there were also bookshelves but smaller than the right one. On the front of it, was a work desk and a chair. And last, on the corner left of her room was another door, much smaller than the front doors.
I guess I'm still in the fire nation then. This is real.. She thought to herself, as she noticed every furniture in the room were either red, gold, or dark brown. She sighed deeply, frustrated at her situation and especially, being all alone. Huh I wonder where Kana is... I'm curious to go out but, no no. That's too risky for now.
"Maybe I'll just check where that door in the corner leads to" Katara said to herself, as she slowly slipped down from the bed, and walked towards the door on the left corner. When she opened the door, it leads to another room. Or so she thought… apparently it's a big bathroom. The whole walls and floor was made of black with white streaks marble. The room was big, bigger than her tiny house back in her tribe. That's when she realized she hadn't thought about her home. Her real home.
"Ugh, this is so frustrating!" Katara shouted with balled fists up her head. "I still can't remember anything! Oh mom… dad… I can't remember how I got here, and why". Tears started to fall from her eyes. Katara was so confused and scared, but the most frustrating thing was that she didn't even remember what happened.
Katara tried to remember back to where she belong to, where she came from. She still could remember her home, her tent, but it came in a daze. She tried and tried again, but she failed. She also tried to remember the people that lived in her tribe, but sadly… all of their faces were a blur. It's no use.
The more I try to remember the more frustrating I become. And ugh, this headache! My head is starting to throb again! Katara thought to herself as she walked further into the bathroom. The room was pretty spacious. There's a big bathtub made of white marble with golden water tabs, in the center of the room. There were few pot plants in the corner of the room. Near the plants, was a golden sink with a big mirror above it, and also a tiny wardrobe next to it.
"Oh well, couldn't hurt if I take a bath. Maybe it'll ease my mind" Katara said to herself as she opened the water tab on the bathtub. After she waited for the water to fill the whole tub, she tested to make sure it wasn't too hot.
Please with the water temperature, Katara disrobed herself. She smiled to herself and slowly got into the tub. "Ahh… that's the spot. Gah, can't believe how dirty my hair is, yuck! I smell bad too!"
Zuko feeling bored, decided to go to the private royal garden. As he was walking past through the wide long hallways, he became lost in thought. He got so curious of what Azula told him about the prophecy. Zuko's not one to easily believe in prophesies. He believed that anything could happen if you want it to, if you make it to.
As Zuko got near the royal garden, he heard water splashing. Zuko snapped back into reality and looked up to see what's going on. There on a fountain nearby, sat two girls. One was was wearing a pink outfit and giggling like crazy. And one was wearing a normal kids fire nation outfit, with no expression at all.
"Heyy, Zuukooo!" the girl in pink stood up, and called out to Zuko.
Zuko, not really one to hangout with other people, decided to just ignore them. Pretending he didn't hear but he thought that'd be too rude. Sighing in frustration, Zuko answered, "Mai? Ty Lee? I didn't know you guys are here". Zuko thought that he had no choice but to approach them. He guessed that hanging out with them a bit wouldn't hurt anyway.
"Yeah, we just wanted to visit and play with you and Azula! Thought that we'll wait here, we already told Azula we're coming. Oh yeah… where's Azula?" Ty Lee asked as she started to flex her upper body limbs.
"Uhm, well… I'm a bit busy now. I gotta study few stuffs, and… I'm not sure where Azula is right now" Zuko answered, while scratching the back of his head with his right hand. Zuko walked closer to those two girls and stood in front of them, not wanting to sit down and join them. Sometimes he just can't handle Ty Lee talking too much and too loud.
Upon hearing this, Ty Lee frowned a bit and sat back on the fountain's edge. "Aww well… I guess we'll just have to wait again! Hey Mai, why haven't you said anything? Zuko is here, cmoonn don't be ruude!" Ty Lee said as she slowly leaned in close to Mai, with a big grin on her face.
Mai suddenly blushed and looked down, and stuttered, "Uh-uhm.. well, I-I didn't-". Mai was cut by a sudden surprised, as Ty Lee leaped and stood on the fountain's edge. Ty Lee began flexing her arms and legs, doing her athletic circus movements as always.
"Hey hey, Zuko! Look at this new move I can do! I've been practicing for daayyss and daays. It's soo hard but but, I think I could finally do it!" Ty Lee exclaimed as she tried showing of her new difficult move. Ty Lee tried flipping her torso to the back so that her head came out from between her legs. She kept her hands on the edge as she tried to keep balance. She then slowly lifted her legs up, but suddenly her left leg slipped.
"Aaarggh!" Ty Lee yelled as she fell into the fountain, water splashing everywhere. Mai and Zuko was now soaked really badly. Ty Lee sit up, half of her was still submerged in the water. Upon looking Mai and Zuko's annoyed face, Ty Lee smiled apologetically and said, "Oops… ehehe, sorry guys. Guess I'm still not able to do it haha"
"Ugghh! Now I gotta change again!" Zuko said madly, as he stomped away. As he was now far from the two girls, he said to himself "I can't believe it… Girls… Should've pretended I didn't hear them"
As he got inside, water dripping from his clothes onto the hallways long carpet, he saw Azula few meters away. Huh about time she shows up! I wonder what she's been telling mom… Zuko thought to himself as he got closer and closer to Azula.
As they're now standing in front of each other, Azula smirked. "Well, well… look who's been having fun" Azula chuckled.
"Ugh shut up Azula. Mai and Ty Lee are here at the garden, they're waiting for you" said Zuko, as he tried to untie his top knot hair.
"Mhm, I know that. They told me they were coming" Azula said with a bored look on her face, while she's checking her fingernails.
"Then don't keep your friends waiting. It looks like they've been waiting forever. Now look what happened to me because of their boredom! Ughh" exclaimed Zuko, becoming more irritated as he's having a hard time untying his top knot.
Azula looked up to Zuko, who's still tugging his top knot. "Yeahh, friends... mhmm, oh well" said Azula as she walked, and brushed past Zuko.
"Urghh" Zuko growled as his sister brushed past him. He hated it when Azula did that and sadly... she did that a lot, it's so annoying. Actually, Zuko just hated it when anyone walked and brushed past him, either intentionally or not. Suddenly, remembering about Azula being dragged by Ursa to tell about the things she knew, Zuko called out to her, "Hey Azula! How's it going with mom? What did you tell her about? You haven't finished telling me about it…"
Azula stopped on her tracks, and turned her head a bit to look at Zuko from her shoulders. She smirked a bit, then turned back and started walking again while saying, "Hmm.. nahh Zu-Zu, sorry but ain't telling you. You can't keep a promise. Don't think you can ever"
Zuko annoyed by Azula's remarks, replied back, "Yeah whatever Azula. It's not like I'm believing you anyway! I bet it's just a lie, you like to make up things!"
"Ahh… taking a bath really does helps my mood" Katara said to herself as she's drying her hair with a towel, in front of a big mirror. Then she suddenly got an idea. Wait… what if, I could bend the water dry from my whole body? I gotta try that! Katara thought to herself.
Getting excited, she tried to focus and bend the water off her body. Scrunching her nose, constraining hard… and it worked! Happy with the result, Katara was smiling broadly as she bend the water away to a nearby pot. "Omg, I can't believe it worked! Wow… I can't believe I could do that. I should practice more!" But then remembering her situation again, her happy face faded away and was replaced with a sad look.
Katara picked up her clothes and started to dress. She realized that some parts of her clothes were torn, especially the hems. She sighed deeply. Her clothes surely didn't fit to be worn in the fire nation. It's way too thick, and she thought that she probably wouldn't be able to survive the heat, in her water tribe clothes.
Oh well, what could I do? It's the only clothes I have… I really do hope someone might give me new ones. Even though I think it's probably impossible. I don't even know my situation here. I don't even understand why am I not in some fire nation prison. As Katara finished dressing, she walked towards the door to go back to her bedroom. When she got into her bedroom, she saw a figure sitting on the bed.
"Ka-Kana?" Katara asked with widened eyes. She immediately walked faster towards Kana. She hasn't known Kana for a long time, but it feels great to finally see someone else after being and feeling alone. Especially someone of her own kind in this foreign nation.
Kana was surprised and looked up to see Katara. Kana stood up and tapped her hands on the spot where she was sitting, as to fix the bed cover. "Oh Katara, I'm so sorry. I came here to check on you, but saw that you're not in the room. But then I heard water splashing so I thought you must be in the bathroom. Soo I decided to wait here" said Kana as she smiled widely, then continued, "I also brought you new clothes! And also tea"
Katara beamed upon hearing this, she smiled and hopped on to the bed. "Yay, thanks! I thought that I wouldn't be getting any new clothes. My old one is kind of… torn. Plus, it's really thick so I don't think I could handle the heat" Then Katara looked towards the bundle of new clothes on the edge of the bed. After realizing that all of her new clothes were red, black, and golden trims, her smile faded away.
"Katara? What's the matter?" asked Kana with a sad look on her face. Kana then moved closer to Katara and gently put her palm on Katara's left hand, as to try to comfort her.
"It's… it's nothing really. I like my new clothes. I guess… I should change soon" Katara answered. She closed her eyes and deeply sighed. She thought that it's finally time to ask Kana what was going on. Katara slowly opened her eyes, looked up to Kana and asked, "Kana, what's going on? I don't even know how long I've been here. In the fire nation. I don't remember what happened to me, how I got here, and why. And… if I really am in the fire nation then, shouldn't I be in some prison?"
Kana retreated her hand and deeply sighed. Her eyebrows pressed together, her face looked frustrated. She knew that Katara would ask things, and the hardest part was that she must lie about some things. "Katara… it's… it's really hard to explain. I'm not… I'm not in position to explain too much. In a mean time, you will know and understand… things. All I could say for now is that yes, you are in the fire nation. More precisely, you're in the palace. But-"
Kana was cut as Katara's gaze suddenly went wide, and shouted, "What?! I'm in the palace?! That's impossible! What's going on?! Why-"
"Katara! Please, here me out!" Kana raised her voice as she shook Katara's shoulder a bit. "Katara… I was about to tell you that you're safe. Trust me, you're safe here. You're not in danger at all. But then again, I can't say much as I'm in no position to. I'm here to take care of you okay?"
Katara looked down and sighed. She felt so helpless, so weak, so vulnerable. "Okay… I understand. I guess… I have to accept my fate now"
Kana took the teacup from the table next to the bed, and gave it to Katara. It really hurts Kana to do this, she didn't want to. But if she ever denied Ozai's order, it would be the end of her and her family. Even if she wanted to pretend to give Katara the 'tea', Ozai would always had a way to find out things.
"Here, a warm nice cup of tea for you. It'll make you feel calm. I can't tell you much, but in a few days you'll get the explanation soon. For now, you rest" Kana told Katara. Katara just sat there on the bed, holding her teacup and looked down.
"Well, it's almost midnight now… you should change clothes, and take some rest again" Kana said to Katara.
"Well, I'm not sleepy yet. And besides... I'm not in the mood to go to sleep too" said Katara, as she took a little bit sip of the tea.
Kana didn't know what to say to Katara, but then suddenly remembered that she had to be Katara's caretaker and… friend. Closing her eyes and clenching her fists in frustration, she tried to find some topic to talk to Katara. She thought that it wouldn't hurt to have a conversation anyway. Opening her eyes, Kana looked to Katara and asked, "Oh yeah, I haven't ask about your age Katara. How old are you?"
"I'm 9 years old. I'll be 10 soon though" Katara answered with a solemn tone in her voice, without looking up to Kana.
"Ah I see… you're still very young. Ah yes, you should tell me a bit about Sokka" Kana then cursed herself inwardly as words slipped from her mouth. She just realized what she had asked. She didn't mean to ask Katara about her family. She was supposed to make Katara forget of her past. Kana just wanted to be nice and friendly.
Katara suddenly furrowed her eyebrows then looked up to Kana. She looked confused, and asked, "Sokka? Who's Sokka?"
Author's note : Reviews and comments please! The more, the happier I am! Lol kidding it'll motivate me. Also, please tell me how you guys feel about this chapter. Not just the story, but how I wrote and described things. I wanted to describe it in details so you guys won't get confused, but I was also worried that I wrote too much. I thought it'd probably make you feel bored. So yeah, please do tell so I could improve more! Here, I'll give you all the sweet cookies I've baked myself 3