Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA.
Thanks to The Congressman, Ravynne Queen, JourneyRocks13, PB, and Guest for reviewing:)
They're knee deep in mud, and the rain pours down around them, soaking them to the bone. Katara is not sure how this transpired. One minute they were traveling with a steady pace on the road; the next, the ostrich horse lurched to a stop, and Katara was almost flung out of the saddle.
Now mud slowly makes its way into her boots as she and Zuko try to push the ostrich horse out of the muddy road.
Her hair is plastered to her forehead, and some how, Katara has managed to smear mud onto her cheek in an attempt to brush some of her soggy curls away.
Zuko isn't faring any better; his frustration is only mounting.
Katara should be bending the water out of her clothes, but she needs all her strength to help the stuck animal.
When another attempt to get the ostrich horse free fails, Katara gives up and trudges over to Zuko, carefully picking her feet out the mud.
His golden eyes are smoldering. "There is water in the mud," he says this as if it is a new revelation; she has known since they have first gotten stuck. "Bend us out of this mess."
She gives him a pointed glare as his mouth curls into a sneer. Katara has been done with Zuko's attitude for a long time now.
"Please bend us out of this... peasant."
Katara plasters a sweet smile on her face. "You want me to bend the mud?" He nods as his eyes harden into their own deadly glare. "Of course I will. All you had to be was pleasant."
"Can you hurry it up?"
"Oh? Am I going to slow for your liking?" Her hands are clenched at her sides. Fury rages inside of her. She is sick of the rain, sick of the mud, and sick of spending her time with Zuko. "Maybe this will help."
She bends a wave of mud onto Zuko, letting it cover him head to foot. She gingerly steps out of the mud pit and onto high ground.
"Get out yourself, Your Majesty!"
She stomps away, smiling to herself when she hears Zuko's curses in the background. Who knew the Prince of the Fire Nation has such a colorful vocabulary.
Katara finds a relatively big cropping of rocks where she is able to find a decent size cave to make as their temporary campsite. She starts gathering firewood while slowly bending water away from her clothes and hair. The mud stays as residue; her shoes are now caked with dry mud that flakes off with every step.
She is hungry, dirty, and tried. But right now, Katara has to focus on finding firewood, and then drying the soaked sticks she manages to find in the dark.
A bright orange fire is already cracking into the night sky by the time Zuko comes storming in with the ostrich horse not far behind.
A wet sticky substance is plopped on her head and is rubbed into her scalp. Mud drips down her nose as she looks up at Zuko smirking. "You didn't."
He has wiped most of the mud off of his face, and the rain has taken care of his clothes, but his temper is still there. Katara knows he is not happy with her. "I did."
As mud continues to drip down from her hair, she bends water from the rain, smashing it into Zuko's face. The force causes him to fall down.
"I haven't had a good fight in months." He backflips into a fighting position. A burst of fire comes from his clenched fist.
Katara ducks, bringing another round of water with her. Making the water into ice spears, she flings them at Zuko.
He dodges and ducks each one. He starts to kick fireballs at her. Katara's heart hammers in her chest as one or two of them come close to burning her, but with quick footwork, they end up splattering harmlessly against the rocks.
"Is that all you got?" He taunts.
They're out from under the rocks now; the rain splashing down onto Katara energizes her. She flicks the water away from her eyes, forming the rain into disks and starts to pelt Zuko with them.
"Not even close," says Katara.
His feet are a blur in the night as jumps out of the way of the mini disks that keep coming. One disk hits its target causing him to stumble backwards. Zuko quickly makes a massive swirl of fire to melt all the disks coming near him.
Katara backs up at the wall of fire that has started to spread, She bends waves and waves of the rain to extinguish the fire.
A fire whip comes close to singing her hair as it hits the bark of the tree behind her.
There is fire whip in each hand. He brings them both up to strike only to be blocked by her water whips.
Steam is emitted into the air whenever the two elements collide.
Sweat, mixing with the rain, drips down onto her face as she concentrates. His fire whips are too much like her water whips. He is using a waterbending technique.
Katara doesn't know how he learned this, but he is trying to use her own style against her.
Then it happens, the water Katara is bending suddenly drops to the already soaked ground with a splash. She tries to lift from the ground again, but her hands are still empty. She stares at the ground in shock, at the puddle of water just sitting there.
Zuko pushes her up against a tree; a fire dagger protrudes from his hand, and he presses it up against her neck.
"Apologize."
"To the ostrich horse? I will gladly do that."
"Apologize to me."
"Why? Because I dumped mud on you? You had it coming."
"Arggg." He pushes away from her, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"We should get inside the cave," Katara says, rubbing her arms, trying to get the numbness out of them.
The frustration and energy leaves their bodies.
When his back is turned, not looking at her, she bends the water on the ground. At least it is not permanent she thinks as she holds a sphere of water in her right hand.
Zuko follows her to where she has set up camp. He sits down by the fire's edge, taking one boot off at a time. He pours the water and mud out, but grumbles anyways knowing they're ruined.
"I can help dry your clothes," she says tentatively, kneeling next to Zuko.
"I can take care of it myself, peasant!" Zuko snaps at her, causing Katara to recoil faster than she thought possible.
Katara's anger swells again. "Oh? Is that so. What are you now? I don't see a crown or royal guards. I don't think you're wearing silk. Face it Zuko, you're a peasant too."
"I wasn't born in an igloo."
"Well I'm sorry we all couldn't live in a palace surrounded by codeling servants. Why are you out here with us lowly peasants? Did daddy get sick of your attitude? Were your snobbish ways even to much for him?"
"You know nothing of my father!" His golden eyes blaze with fury as he comes face to face with her.
"Did your mother wave good bye to you, wiping tears away with her silk handkerchief? Did your mother wish you luck, hoping you would regain your honor?"
"Don't you ever talk about my mother!"
"Oh I'm sorry. Did she forget to give you a kiss on the cheek when you left?"
"I would shut up right now waterbender." Zuko roughly grabs her shoulders, but Katara doesn't stop.
"Have I hurt your male pride? Your hand is steaming, better put that away before you give yourself another scar. Isn't that how you got your current one, from your carelessness?"
"You're even stupider than your brother." He lets go of her.
"How? Tell me where I have guessed wrong in your perfect little life."
"Where do you want me to start?"
"Hold up. I actually got something wrong? Please indulge me where I have gone askew."
"Lets start with when I left. I was thirteen. I haven't seen my homeland in three years." Zuko isn't looking at her anymore. His glare is directed at the fire.
"To bad. You were probably too busy chasing us. Though it doesn't explain why you didn't go home after the North Pole. Why are you still here?" Katara asks, generally interested, but still blinded by fury that she doesn't know when to stop pushing.
"I can't go home," he says quietly.
"You mean you don't want to. Which is perfectly understandable, I wouldn't want to live in the Fire Nation either. I-"
Zuko is facing her know. "No, you don't understand. If I step one foot on Fire Nation soil, I will be put in prison."
"Wow. You did make daddy angry. What did you do, talk out of turn during a meeting or something." Katara chuckles, knowing her suggestion is ridiculous.
He probably stole something, she thinks. He is pretty good at thievery.
Zuko doesn't laugh with her. He stays silent; his hands are clenched into fists, turning his knuckles white.
"I did," he finally says.
"What?" Katara is caught off guard by him answering.
"I got my father angry by talking out of turn in a war meeting."
"Oh. Wait, but how did you get banished for three years just by speaking out?"
"It's what transpired after that got me banished. I was a coward." Zuko turns away from her. The light of the fire hitting his scar, making an eri shadow across the side of his face.
A few pieces click together in her head. She can't take her eyes off of his scar. His father gave him that scar, she thinks. The Fire Lord marred his own son.
"Zuko, I'm sorry. I didn't kno-"
"Just stop okay. It doesn't matter. That was a long time ago."
"Obviously it does matter if you can't talk about it. If you couldn't go home, why did you want Aang?"
"If I can't."
"What?"
"You said if I couldn't. I still can't."
She gives a sharp nod of understanding. "Why do you want Aang?"
"Because with him, I can go home."
"A twelve year old's life to see your homeland, for your honor?"
"And for father's love," he whispers.
"Wait, let me get this straight. You needed Aang so you could go home to your father. Your father who I am assuming is the one who scared you, correct?" Zuko nods; his eyes are focused on hers, the fire reflecting in his golden orbs. "Okay. So you think the man who gave you a permanent scar is going to love you again?"
"He i-"
"A parent doesn't just start loving a child again. He never wanted you to succeed. You should just give up trying to get the Aang because he will never allow you home."
"How do you know that?"
"Because if he cared about you, he would've have let you come home with or without the Avatar. La, if he cared about you at all, you wouldn't have a scar on your face. When a parent loves their child, they don't care if they failed or not. Tell me, if your father can still possibly love you, why are you starving in the middle of the forest?"
When Katara looks into his eyes again, she sees them shattered. He rises, not looking at her.
I went to far, she thinks.
His mouth is set into a thin line. The rise and fall of his chest is the only thing that indicates that he is alive. He stands there, still as a statue. Katara wants to comfort him, but she doesn't know how to.
"Zuko, I'm reall-"
"You're wrong." His shattered glare hardens. He pivots on his feet, turns his back towards Katara, and walks away.
He comes back an hour later, still soaked to the bone. Katara believes the light of the fire plays tricks on her eyes because she sees tear tracks on Zuko's face, illuminated by the orange glow.
Sorry about the long wait. Hopefully this chapter makes up for it:) I've been so busy with AP summer work lately that I have had barely anytime to write, and no time at all to concentrate on this story. Updates might be every two weeks starting now but I will see what I can do.
On another note, I wrote a story called Frostbitten for Zutara Week 2015,if you want to check it out.
It is also on tumblr; my user is shatterinseconds.
Happy Zutara Week!
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