Part Four: Kiss Your Past Good-Bye

Katara's hands were stained with blood. She blinked her eyes and wondered dreamily why that should be, then memory came flooding back, memory and a deep pain in her side like she'd never felt before. Mai had stabbed her…why? What did it matter? the other part of her mind demanded. She stabbed you. Do something about it, Blood Bender.

She pressed her hands back to her side. That's why they were bloody; she'd been trying to staunch the flow of blood from the wound and must have passed out. That also explained why she was lying on the floor.

She rolled onto her side, crying out at the additional pain that small movement caused, then pulled herself determinedly to her knees. She swayed with dizziness but held on with every ounce of determination she had, with all the stubbornness she'd ever been accused of, concentrating on moving the flow of blood away from the gash in her side, forcing it to avoid the damaged vessels and move through the uncut veins so she wouldn't lose any more than she already had.

Mai had stabbed her. She'd stabbed her, thrusting her knife into Katara's side even as she held the door open and asked what the other girl wanted. Then she'd leaned forward and whispered something, what had she said? Katara tried to gather her thoughts, but they stubbornly refused to be gathered, like ground-nuts scattered by the winter winds…

Zuko. Katara smiled triumphantly. It was something about Zuko, that was what Mai had whispered. Something about him getting what he deserved, just as Katara was getting what she deserved.

It still made no sense, but it did set off alarm bells. If Mai had gone nuts and stabbed Katara for some imagined or hallucinated insult, then what had she done to Zuko? He refused to keep bodyguards when not in public, and he trusted Mai; he'd let her into his rooms as readily as Katara had.

She dragged herself to her feet, light-headed from blood loss. There was quite a lot of it on the floor, more than she'd ever seen in one place at a time outside of animal slaughtering, and she vaguely wondered how much a human could lose before…well, before. She walked through it when it was obvious she didn't have the strength to jump over it, leaving a trail of bloody footprints behind her as she opened the door and staggered into the hallway, calling out weakly for help.

No one was there. Most people were out at the parties that were still going on in the public wings of the palace, away from the sleeping chambers. She hadn't felt like celebrating, and Zuko had been working, or at least in his office, the one that opened onto his private chambers…which way was it?

She made her way down the hall, leaning heavily with one hand against the wall, the other pressed firmly to her side, splitting her attention between keeping the blood flowing away from the wound and not collapsing.

She made it all the way to Zuko's chambers without meeting up with a single person, guest or palace resident, servant or guard, and wondered dully if Mai had sent everyone away so no one would be able to help Katara and Zuko. If, Katara thought, Zuko was even here and hurt. Just because Mai said he was getting what he deserved didn't mean she'd stabbed him the way she'd stabbed her; after all, Zuko was the Fire Lord, a master Fire Bender…and she was a master Water Bender, and look where that had gotten her.

She was concentrating so fiercely on remaining upright that she almost passed the door to Zuko's office. It stood open, and one look inside told her it was empty. She almost went on, then hesitated and entered. There was another door, the one to his private chambers, and that was open as well. Which she doubted he'd leave open if he wasn't there. She hauled herself through the door, leaning heavily against any furniture she encountered, uttering a quiet curse she'd learned from Sokka when she realized she was bleeding again. Not as heavily as before, but her concentration was wavering under a burden of concern for Zuko. She called out his name and paused for a moment by the massive wooden desk, listening.

Nothing. No sound, but the open doorway drew her on. Zuko had to be here; what if Mai had stabbed him as well? He was no Blood Bender; he'd be helpless. She damned him for his stubborn insistence that he needed no bodyguards, and damned herself for her weakness. Her knees were shaking, and she knew if she didn't get help soon she'd lose first her consciousness and then her life. But she moved on in single-minded determination. She had to find Zuko and make sure he was all right.

When she did find him, he wasn't all right; he was collapsed on the floor of his sitting room, eyes closed and unmoving. She dropped to her knees and placed shaking fingers on his throat, feeling for the life pulse and offering up a silent prayer to La and all the gods and spirits when she found one. He was still alive.

She looked for a wound and found nothing more life-threatening than a bitten lip that had stopped bleeding, but his eyes were closed and his breathing was shallow. Some kind of poison, she decided; that had to be it. Nothing she could help him with without knowing what Mai had used.

The bitten lip nagged at her mind; if Mai had poisoned him, perhaps it wasn't something he'd eaten or drunk but something she'd gotten directly into his blood. Through that bite, perhaps? It seemed crazy but then, so did stabbing Katara for no good reason.

She was faced with a dilemma. Even if she bound up her side (why hadn't she thought of that earlier?) she would still be losing blood if she stopped Bending for herself and started on Zuko.

His pale face and labored breathing decided her. There was a shirt lying carelessly across the chair nearest them, she dragged herself over to it and wrapped it around her waist as best she could, doubling up the sturdy fabric directly over the wound, hissing in pain as it contacted the ragged flesh. Then she grit her teeth and undid the sash around Zuko's waist. It was too wet to be of any use as a bandage but might help keep everything in place.

When she finished, taking far longer than she wanted and crying out for help repeatedly in the hopes that someone would hear her, she turned back to Zuko, closing her eyes and concentrating on the feel and flow of his blood.

The poison was centered around his head and neck; she could feel its alien presence in his blood like a malevolent snake hiding in a hole. She kept it in place, straining to keep it away from his heart and traveling from there to the rest of his body. It wasn't doing his breathing any good, but it wouldn't matter if she couldn't get him to a healer soon. A real healer, not just a half-dead Water Bender with pretensions toward greatness…

She was becoming even more light-headed with every passing second, and her vision was blurrier every time she opened her eyes, so finally she just kept them shut. She called out one last time, only to realize that her voice was too weak to carry past the heavy wooden door that lay between them and the corridor. She cursed herself for not thinking to open it, then felt herself swaying and collapsed over Zuko, tears leaking from her eyes. "I'm sorry," she whispered, raising her head and gazing down at him. "I'm so sorry, Zuko." Leaning forward, she planted a shaky kiss on his lips, then fell back into unconsciousness.

oOo

Katara opened her eyes, then immediately wished she hadn't as a wave of dizziness passed over her. "She's awake!" someone yelled, and she wished a further wish that they'd shut up and let her go back to sleep.

Her eyes started to flutter shut, then snapped open as memory came rushing back. "Zuko!" she cried, raising herself to a sitting position and only then noticing that she'd been lying down.

A second wave of dizziness, stronger than the first, caused her to sink back against the pillows she'd just abandoned. Sokka's face appeared in her line of sight, a frown of concern mellowing into a smile of relief as she stared up at him. "Zuko?" she repeated in a whisper.

"He's fine," her brother hastened to assure her. "The healers are with him now. Thanks to your Blood Bending, the poison didn't spread as quickly as it should have, at least that's what they're assuming. You did Bend the nasty stuff away from his heart, didn't you?" He wriggled his fingers and she found the strength to nod. "You'll be fine too," he continued in a rush. "You lost a lot of blood—that's how I found you, by following," he gulped and paled, but continued: "By following the blood smears to Zuko's rooms." He shuddered at the memory. "Man, did you leave a scary large puddle behind in your own room!

Katara closed her eyes wearily. "Sorry about the mess," she found the strength to mutter, but knowing that Zuko was safe was enough for the moment, and she drifted back to sleep.

Sokka stared down at her, gnawing at his lower lip as his heart clutched in his chest. She was so pale and still, even her moment of wakefulness wasn't enough to fully reassure him that she was going to be OK, no matter what he told her.

He glanced toward the door. Where was Dad with the healer? He'd gone to fetch the man when Sokka announced Katara's wakefulness. He fretted over how long it was taking. Katara was still his baby sister, and he didn't take kindly to her being stabbed by some unknown assassin. Or assassins; one that had stabbed Katara and one that had poisoned Zuko. Whoever it was, they'd gotten clean away. Their only hope of tracking them (him? her?) down was to wait for Zuko and Katara to wake up enough to tell them who'd done it.

The way things were going, that might be a long wait. Too long in Sokka's opinion; the longer it took, the more likely the killer-attemptees would get away completely.

Not if he had anything to say about it. Which, he admitted as he sank back into the chair by Katara's bed, he didn't. Not until his sister and Zuko woke up for more than seconds at a time.

He passed the time by speculating on why the attacks had occurred, who was behind them, but mostly why anyone would want to stab his sister. Zuko he got, but not his sister. Heck, everyone loved Katara, even people who'd only just met her. And surely she hadn't had time to make any enemies over the past couple of days!

Of course, there were still Ozai supporters out there, but it still made no sense for her to be stabbed in her room and Zuko to be poisoned in his. If she'd interrupted the assassination attempt, then it would make sense; and it would be just like her to rush to Zuko's aid without any thought of her own safety. But that wasn't the way it had played out; the trail of blood told the story as clearly as if Katara had been able to explain it to them. She'd been stabbed in her room and made her way to Zuko's chambers, helping him before collapsing herself.

He shook his head, knowing it was futile to speculate further but unable to stop his whirling thoughts. At least, he realized, she'd recognized that Zuko was in danger, otherwise the new Fire Lord would most likely be dead by now. And if he, Sokka, hadn't gone looking for her to drag her back to the festivities and stop brooding on whatever it was that had her so down, then she'd be dead too. He shuddered at the thought. "You're just lucky I'm as stubborn as you are," he murmured to her sleeping form.

Soft footsteps warned him of someone's approach; he turned his head and smiled when he saw Suki. She and the other Kyoshi Island warriors had voluntarily remained behind when Ty Lee had been detained for questioning by Lord Iroh. Besides, as she told Sokka, she wanted stay and help him through this crisis.

She stopped just behind him and rested a hand on his shoulder. He reached up and squeezed it affectionately as she asked: "How's she doing? Your father said she woke up…"

Sokka nodded. "She did, and she asked about Zuko. When I told her he was gonna be OK, and that she was gonna be OK, that they were both gonna be OK…" He stopped himself from babbling further, took a deep breath and continued in a calmer voice. "She went back to sleep. The healers said she'd be doing that a lot until she fully recovered from losing so much blood."

His breath hitched in his chest and the flow of words stuttered to a stop. Suki's hand slid down to his chest as she leaned her head on shoulder, enfolding him in her gentle embrace. "She'll be OK. Katara's a lot tougher than people think. Including you."

"I just wish she'd stay awake long enough to tell us who did this to her."

"It was Mai."

They started and turned to face the newcomer, Suki stepping away from Sokka just enough to take up a fighting stance if it proved to be necessary. Old habits died hard. She relaxed when she saw it was Zuko's Uncle Iroh standing in the doorway. "My nephew regained consciousness just long enough to tell us her name. The servants for the wing holding the guest and family quarters say she sent them away to enjoy the festivities for the day." His lip curled in a sneer. "And the guards saw her riding away a few hours ago. No one had any reason to stop her. Soldiers have been sent after her and her parents have been arrested until we can sort this out." He moved into the room and peered down at Katara's sleeping form. "How is she doing?"

"Better," Sokka replied, hoping he didn't show his shock at Iroh's revelations but knowing full well he did. Heck, so did Suki, although she wasn't standing there with her mouth open the way he'd been. "She woke up and asked about Zuko."

"He doesn't know about her," Iroh said. "And we plan to keep it that way, until he fully recovers." He was in full Dragon of the West mode, remote and merciless, no sign of the genial tea-drinker about him at all. "No one is allowed to see him unless cleared by me, including you two," he added unapologetically. "If you wish to visit him, let the guards know and I'll see if I can spare the time to bring you there myself. If anyone tries to get in without me or the chief healer, the guards are ordered to stop them by any means necessary."

"You think this was some kind of conspiracy?" Suki asked while Sokka returned to gaping in shock.

"I don't know what to think. All I can do for now is make sure no other attempts are made on Zuko's life, or Katara's. You and your family are free to visit with her," he added, "but her guards have the same orders as Zuko's: only approved people can come to see her, and anyone else will be stopped."

"Has anyone told Aang?" Sokka remembered to ask. "Or Toph?" He hadn't seen them all day, come to think of it.

Iroh's face, already forbidding, hardened further. "They left the palace early this morning. They're being sought for questioning."

"You don't really think Aang had anything to do with this!" Sokka sputtered in outrage as Suki shook her head in vehement denial, but Iroh merely shrugged.

"I don't know what to think. All I know is the timing of their abrupt and unscheduled leave-taking is suspicious. It might have nothing to do with this situation, or it might not. We need to know, and we need to know now, before the Fire Nation erupts into civil war over this assassination attempt."

He turned and left the room, and Sokka collapsed back into his chair, from which he'd half-risen, a gust of air exploding from his lungs as he did so. "Whoo! How did we end up in this mess?" he demanded, slapping one hand over his eyes.

Suki slipped onto his lap, threading her arms behind his neck and planting a firm kiss on his lips. "I don't know," she said softly, her gaze drifting to Katara's sleeping form. "But I do know one thing; we're not going anywhere until we figure this out."