Chapter 7

The Lightning's Hand

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Katara

I awake with a jolt. Again I have found myself in a strange room. It takes a moment, but soon the past nights events all come rushing back. I look around and do not see the prince. After some more snooping, I hear some soft snoring at the end of the bed. I look and see Zuko sleeping on the floor. I make some ruckus to try and wake him up. It succeeds and he sits straight up with eyes wide and daggers of flame shooting out of his balled up fists.

"Sorry," Zuko says. "I'm not used to having others in my room all night."

"I thought you said that it would look better if I stayed. How is it helping me if you didn't have any..." I pause trying to figure out an appropriate word to use, "other girls stay?"

"Again, it comes to the fact that you are mine. I don't have return you for the use of others and can keep you for as long as I like."

"You can keep me?" I say, outraged.

"I just saved you from my father and you focus on the 'keeping you' part?" Zuko replies with some snark.

I realize that he is right - he did save me from his father. It leads me to wonder about his intentions so I ask, "Why would you save me?"

With a furrowed brow Zuko takes his time answering me. "Everyone truly believes that I have killed the avatar. I cannot have you blabbing."

"This is something I can use to get you to release me. Why are you telling me?"

With his golden smolder, Zuko looks straight into my eyes as he says, "I am trying to get back to where we were in the catacombs"

My eyes widen as I realize the severity of what he was saying. "We can't just go back to that like nothing happened," I shout. "I opened up to you, I told you about my mother." I fall to my knees onto the floor. "I haven't told anyone about her since she died. Then within the next minute you betrayed me to go help fight with your sister against Aang. How could I ever go back to trusting you?"

Zuko looks truly ashamed. All he says is, "I think it is time for you to go back now."

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When I arrive in the curtained room, I am quickly surrounded and bombarded with questions.

Ma Ling soon breaks through the crowd. "Really girls, do you not remember your first night? Honestly, give the girl some space," she says as she leads me to my room. Once we are there she asks me, "Katara are you okay? We expected you back hours ago."

"The prince saw no need to return me promptly because I am his," I reply, keeping my answer curt.

"Are you okay?" Ma Ling says, overlooking my rudeness.

It is an odd question and gives me some pause. I respond with the only thing that can come coherently from my head, "How can anyone in this situation be okay?"

This time Ma Ling does not take my disrespect. "We are quite lucky to be in this situation as you call it. We are kept and protected from the war as well as fed and cared for. There is nothing more one could ever truly need," she snaps at me.

I am ready for a fight so I scream back at her. "I need to be out there fighting. Yes, I may not get three proper meals a day but at least I will be making a difference and not bowing in submission to the Firelord."

Ma Ling reels back and slaps me. "You shall not ever talk that way again while you are here. You have the rest of the day to sit here and think about how to change your attitude because tonight you are going back to the prince."

As soon as Ma Ling finishes her sentence she leaves my room. Before I can even think of leaving, a silhouette appears outside of my curtain. There is something ominous about the shape of the guard so I know I am stuck here for the rest of the day.

I use my time to pamper myself like I haven't been able to in forever and plan my escape. I comb my hair, wash it, comb it again, and then properly braid my hair up into the traditional southern style. I scrub all traces of dirt from my face and my nail beds while thinking of ways to get out of the palace without being noticed.

The trickiest part will be the guards. It appears as if each and every corner is so diligently watched. There are regular changes so there will be no chance to take advantage of their fatigue. Unless I can find a blind spot in the surveillance, there is little chance that I will ever make it over the walls.

If there is any hope at all of escaping, it will only work if I find a way to stop taking my herbs. But there will be problems with that because of the nature of the two herbs I am taking. They look and taste too similar. Presented on a platter and with little time to study them, I don't think I could tell them apart. In the recesses of my mind I remember a trick my Gran-Gran taught me. The herbs have slightly different smells. It takes practice to be able to tell them apart, but if I can discreetly smell them, I can tell them apart. There is no chance that I am going to have the Prince's spawn, but I do need to regain my bending.

I lose track of time in my plotting and before I know it, Ma Ling comes through my curtain with a few guards. With her comes my daily tea.

"You are to take this and be ready to see the prince in 30 minutes." A guard throws something at me and Ma Ling continues. "Some of the other girls helped pick this outfit out for you. You will be expected to wear it when seeing the prince tonight."

With that Ma Ling and the guards leave. I have 30 minutes to find the right herb and get dressed. Thank goodness I had already done my hair so it looks like I had the time to make myself look presentable in the 30 minutes they gave me.

I sit down in front of the tray and grab a different herb in each of my hands. I take the one in my left hand and smell it first. It smells sticky sweet, almost like the sap that comes out of trees. I remove the herb from the proximity of my face, take a few breaths to cleanse my nostrils and then bring the other herb to my face. This plant has more of a bite to its smell. It almost resembles the smell of spices put into most of the foods here.

I think back to what Gran-Gran taught me so many years ago in the Southern Tribe's healing hut. The difference in these two herbs have to do with where they were harvested. The birth control herb has its origin from the Earth Kingdom meaning it would have smells that closely resemble other things found in nature. The Bending suppressor is from the Fire Nation meaning it has much stronger smell. Having remembered this, I toss the herb in my right hand in the planter in the corner of my room hoping that the leaves already present will hide the tossed medicine.

I quickly make the tea and while I am waiting for it to properly steep, I put on the clothes I was brought. Again the clothes were made from materials from the red side of the spectrum. This time, only a veil-like material covers my body with my more private parts of my anatomy covered by a thicker opaque type of cloth.

By the time I have finished my tea, two guards barge into my room.

"Stand up, it is time to go," one orders.

I see no use in resisting. The better a prisoner they perceive me, the less likely that are to suspect that I would do anything. The guards lead me down the now familiar hallways towards Zuko's room. Once we are there, they tie me to the headboard again and leave me alone in the room.

All that is left for me to do is to wait.

A/N: Thanks to all of my readers. It has been so much fun writing this story knowing people are waiting for the next chapter. That being said, I need to take a short hiatus from recreational writing. I need to work on finding scholarships for college and making the decision of which school I am actually going to attend. That does not mean I will be gone until May. If all goes as planned, I should be back by the end of February or the beginning of March. I promise there is much more to come. Sorry for the wait.

-CM