It had been several days.
He stayed beside her, unable to take himself from her side, not even for a moment. He hardly ate, barely slept, his mind swirling with the possibility of losing her; nothing in all of his life had ever caused him more fear than that. Though others tried to push him away, to send him to sleep in his own bed, he couldn't. He just couldn't leave her. It was the middle of the seventh night, the moon hung low in the sky, moonbeams illuminating her body in the bed. Earlier that evening a healer had opened the window, to let in some of the cool summer air, in hopes that would help lower her fever, and he had not bothered to close it yet. He gripped her hand lightly, his arm extended upwards to grasp it; he was draped over her legs, his other arm tucked beneath his head in a makeshift pillow. The wind was lightly blowing, rustling the trees outside her window, and as he closed his eyes, he felt the clutch of her hand, the smallest but strongest grasp of her fingers as she clawed her way back into the waking world.
In an instant he was sitting up, peering over her, his other hand reaching out to brush a stray lock of hair from her face. She came to slowly, her eyes blinking for several moments before she fully came to, her mouth moving with silent words. "Zuko..." She murmured, her voice soft, hardly more than even a whisper, confusion settling into place on her features. As she shifted, she hissed with pain, her expression taut with it, her skin paling as her eyes fell closed and she leaned back against her pillows.
"Easy... It's okay..." He murmured softly, drawing his chair closer to the head of her bed, keeping his hand locked in hers. "Don't move too much..." Her eyes fluttered open and she was panting slightly, her one hand at her left side, where beneath her clothes was a heavily bandaged wound. "You're hurt pretty bad." She nodded in response, her eyes flickering with the memory of the battle they'd just fought. The battle they'd almost lost. And while they may have come out the victors, she didn't feel all that victorious. No... Because winning came at a price, a price almost too high to pay. "It's taking a long time for any healer from the Water Nation to arrive. The roads are dangerous right now." Of course they were. The Fire Nation was caught admist a small civil war- those loyal to their deposed Fire Lord against those loyal to its new one, the young man sitting at her bedside. "The last of the rebellion should be squashed in a day or so, then they'll be able to make it through." He knew there was more to the pain behind her eyes, pain that was much more than the physical pain she was in.
"It's fine... I can heal myself now..." She murmured, though she found she felt too weak to even lift a hand, let alone attempt to heal herself. Instead she lay back against her pillow, her head turned away, blue eyes glistening with tears. "He's gone, isn't he?"
Her words struck him and Zuko felt his stomach clench, his heart skipping a beat. But she then turned back to look at him, her eyes on his, and he found that he could not speak. Instead, he merely nodded, watching as the heartbreak spread across her features. She leaned back once more, a tear trailing down her cheek, her hand raising up to cover her mouth as she choked on a sob. "H-he didn't suffer..." Zuko tried to offer her a little comfort with the truth- Aang had faded so quickly, there had been no pain, no fear in his eyes as he took his last breath. She nodded, silent as tears rolled down her cheeks, her hands rising up to angrily swipe them away. "We didn't bury him... Not yet." Zuko then said, watching as surprised widened her teary eyes and she lowered her hands which Zuko promptly took with his own, to offer them the smallest of squeezes. "I couldn't, not without you..." To his surprise, Katara was moving, throwing her arms around his neck, ignoring the shooting pain it caused her. Too stunned to respond at first, Zuko stiffened, but then returned her embrace as gently as he could, as to not injure her further. A moment later she lay back, allowing him to carefully tuck the blankets back around her, allowing him to get her a cup of water, to fluff her pillows and then tenderly wipe away all the traces of her tears. "Just get better." He urged softly, sitting back in his chair, no closer to leaving her side than he had been a day ago. He wasn't going to leave her side until she could take her first step out of the bed.
"Thank you... Thank you, Zuko..." Her sleepy voice broke the silence a few moments later and he smiled upon her, his golden eyes finding hers, well aware of the pace his heart was beating, and completely unaware of hers. He nodded and lids fell closed over those beautiful blue eyes and she drifted off.
[x x x ]
On the tenth day since the final battle, a healer from the Northern Water Tribe finally arrived.
The old woman was ushered into Katara's bedchambers, only to shoo out a very agitated Fire Lord, who complied only at the last single moment. Katara, who though was in pain, felt much better and had tried to tell Zuko and the Fire Nation healers that she was fine, sat propped up on the pillows while the old woman bustled around her, mumbling. "Your fever broke two nights ago?" The woman questioned without so much as a hello, raising her sapphire hues to meet the younger woman's. Katara nodded but had no time to respond as the woman went on speaking. "Good, good, here you will take this to keep it at bay," she thrust a small vial towards her, to which Katara arched a brow, but swallowed down the vile liquid without a word. "I must be sure of no infection before I heal you," she went on, coming around to the left side of the bed, taking the seat that Zuko had previously been occupying. Laying back, Katara allowed the woman to remove her upper layer of clothing, revealing the bandage that covered the awful wound to her left side. As she pulled back the bandaging, Katara couldn't help but to flinch, the pain quick and sharp. The burn was large, covering a good portion of her left side all the way down to her hip. "It was a lightning attack, was it not?" Once again Katara nodded, the memories of the battle flooding her thoughts; how Azula had crept up upon her, taking advantage of her when her attention was drawn from the battle and instead lay on Aang high above. The lightning had crackled and she had turned, but there was no time to run, no time to even try to block it. It'd cracked like a whip, catching her in the side, taking her down in several seconds. "It's healing well." The older woman said as she inspected the wound, her blue eyes squinting slightly, but then she rose her gaze back to Katara's face. "You are lucky."
Now that was something Katara could definitely agree with.
They lasped into silence (although the old healer really didn't give her much of a chance to speak when she had been talking) and Katara was lost to her own thoughts. So many things had happened in the world these last few days... So much had changed. The war was over, the Fire Lord deposed and a new one crowned. The Avatar had been lost to the war but, despite her sadness, she knew he (or she) would be born again. Though Aang was lost to them, his reincarnation would eventually be reborn, for that was the nature of the Avatar. So consumed was she by her own thoughts, Katara did not hear the woman as she spoke. Blinking back to reality, she offered the old healer an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry?"
"I asked, how does that feel?" The old woman asked, pulling her hands away from the young woman's side. It would take more than one healing session to make such a wound heal completely, but in a day or so, the girl would be able to tend to it herself. In truth, she was no longer needed, the danger had passed for the girl's life... But, the young Fire Lord had insisted and so she came. The girl nodded, a faint smile curving her lips, as she said it felt much better. Carefully, the woman rubbed a thick cream onto the wound, knowing even with her lightest of touches it would cause the young woman pain; but she remained silent, hardly even flinching as her bare hand connected with the wound. Dressing it quickly, the healer helped her back into her top and shot a quick glance to the door. "I believe your friend is waiting with baited breath to return to your side." Katara looked up in surprise, her eyes widening slightly, a soft chuckle escaping her. "From what I've been told, he's kept a bedside vigil from the moment they brought you into this room." From the look that passed over her pretty face, it seemed that the young woman had not been aware of that. Rising up, the healing woman smiled at the sight of the shocked girl's face- it was quite apparent to her what was going on between the two, but it seemed as if they were both oblivious. Ah, young love, she supposed, it had to find its own way. "Keep to this bed another day, do you hear me? I will return tomorrow for another healing session, then you may rise. But small, light activity only. No bending for at least a week. And certainly no sparring or fighting for a few." Katara nodded as the instructions were thrown at her, but her thoughts were not of herself, they were of Zuko. That night... That night she'd woken up with him at her bedside, that had not been the first night he'd been there. That had been the seventh.
When the healer had gone with promises of returning the next day, the door opened again and Zuko came in, looking tired and strained, with his hair falling into his eyes and his hands at his sides. Katara felt something deep within her heart and she patted the side of the bed, indicating for him to sit there instead of on the chair. "You should rest," she began and immediately he opened his mouth to respond, to argue with her over the matter. Instead, she reached out, putting one slim finger against his lips, hushing him before he had a chance to make a sound. "Let me rephrase: you will go rest." Her blue eyes found his and he could not help but to smile as she took his hands, squeezing them, her own lips curved into a smile. "Go on, I can't have you collasping from exhaustion, they'll have me thrown in the dungeon." She teased, which illicited a chuckle from him, which could only make her smile more. She stared at him, taking in the sight of his ever-familiar face, memorizing the look in his golden hues as they stared back at her. "Don't make me force you." With a nod, Zuko slowly rose from the bed, forcing his feet to drag him away from her side. As he approached the doorway, he turned back, to find she was staring at him once again, those big blue eyes penetrating, staring deep into his soul, her lips moving with silent words. He lifted his hand, a silent gesture of goodbye, a smile cracking her features, her head tilted, dark hair cascading across her shoulders. Her image frozen in his mind, he escaped the room, down the hall and went into his own, shutting the door behind him.
Climbing into bed, Zuko found for the first time in days, he was tired, exhausted really. He'd hardly pulled the covers over himself before he was falling into the darkness of sleep; when he dreamed, it was of her... Her lovely face hovered above, her soft vocals calling out his name... Zuko... He woke with a start, groggy, unsure of his surroundings. There was a weight across his legs and he shifted, blinking back to reality. In his palm appeared a flickering flame, giving him enough light to make out the figure draped over his legs... Katara. He sat up, careful as to not wake her, and he glanced around the room, wondering just how much time had passed. It was dark in the room and as he glanced out the window, he realized it was dark outside too. Hours had clearly passed, but he was still so tired, so groggy as if he'd been slumbering for days... Sliding his legs out from beneath her, Zuko rose up and gently put his arms beneath her slim frame. Zuko could only wonder what she was doing there, when clearly she was told to remain in her own bed, where she could continue to heal properly. He deposited her into his own bed, watching as she slept for a moment, jumping only a moment later when the door to his room swung open. It was his uncle, Iroh, the old general who over the last week had taken up the role of deputy Fire Lord, ruling in Zuko's name until he could be crowned. "You're awake, nephew." Iroh said, keeping his tone low, his eyes sweeping from Zuko to the sleeping girl in his bed. "She hasn't left your side for two days."
Zuko's head snapped back to Iroh, his golden eyes widening with his shock. "Days?" He questioned, swiveling his gaze from his Uncle to the sleeping girl and back once more. "She should be in her own bed, she needs her own rest..."
"She's kept a constant vigil at your side. She's a stubborn girl." Iroh chuckled, remembering how she'd nearly fought off the guards outside of Zuko's door when they had not let her in that first day. "I told her to remain in her room, in bed, but she insisted she be here, as you'd been at her side." Zuko could not explain the feeling that overwhelmed him in that moment, but it was something stronger than he had ever felt in all of his life. When Iroh had left with the promise of returning shortly with food for him, Zuko returned to the bed, where Katara was turning over, waking as Zuko sat down beside her. She blinked a few times, lifting a hand to sleepily rub her eyes, a small, embarrassed smile taking root upon her features as she realized where she was.
"You're so reckless," he muttered, reaching out, not really thinking about what he was doing or what she might say. His mouth found hers and he felt her stiffen in his grip, but only for a split second, and then she was melting against him, fitting against him as if she had always been meant to be there. And there is where she would stay- he would make sure of it.