Chapter Six
They docked in the Fire Nation the next day. Katara spent the intervening hours alone in her room. She got up once and tried to explore, but it was too much; she tried to feel her way around, but on the pitching ship she was too unsteady. She passed the time alternately sitting and laying on the floor mat, occasionally crying a little and praying to the Moon that her eyesight just needed time to heal.
She also had time to do a lot of thinking, mostly about her friends. Had Aang, Sokka, and Toph rendezvoused with Uncle Iroh yet? What did they think had happened to her? She wondered how long they had looked for her, if they had somehow found out how she had been captured. Would she see them again? At this she shook her head violently. Of course I will, she told herself firmly, biting back tears. I will see them again. I will. See them.
When the ship docked with a metal clang, she jerked upright. Wringing her hands, she listened to the suddenly increased activity on board. Doors slammed, boots stomped, and cargo boxes were slid across the deck. Then the door to Katara's room creaked open. She tensed up instantly in the second it took for stomping foots to cross the floor. A rough gloved hand grasped her arm harshly, yanking her up. She stumbled, refusing to cry out even as she was pulled full-long into the soldier's armor.
The soldier pulled her roughly down the ship's hallways, up a flight of stairs, and into the open air. She could feel a breeze again, cool on her still-aching burns and she relished it for a moment, tilting her chin up, before she was jerked forward again. As they disembarked, her foot landed on the edge of the ramp and she nearly tumbled into the harbor. She swung her free arm desperately to bend the water below her, but her other arm was heaved back up.
She gasped in pain, and the soldier swung her around and grasped her roughly by the shoulders. "If you waterbend, girl, it will be twice as bad for you," he growled menacingly, giving her a shake. She nodded dumbly, head spinning. How did Toph do it? Oh, right. She basically had superpowers. Katara had never wished for power over a different element, but just then she would almost have traded her power over water for the ability to see like Toph. As it was, she stumbled, tripped, and faltered beside the soldier, who maintained his firm grip on her arm.
She could hear crowds of people surrounding them, pressing in and calling out to the soldiers, cheering as they paraded through the street. Katara caught snippets of voices shouting out to sell their wares, ask for coins, and generally to celebrate the ship's homecoming. There were even a few cries of "waterbender!" Then the shouting turned gradually to murmuring, and Katara heard whispers of "the princess," "Azula." And the murmurs turned to silence. There were softer noises now, fabric swishing and footsteps as people moved back from the army parade. Katara moved blindly onward, propelled by the man at her side.
She didn't know how long they walked, but she was exhausted. It was so hard to place her feet without knowing what to expect. Every step was psychological torture, wondering if she would fall or slip or sprain her ankle. And she did stumble quite often, lurching forward and being jerked backwards by a strong hand bruising her bicep. The soldiers took turns walking with her, switching off periodically. None of them spoke to her, but there were a few who seemed sympathetic; they did not growl or mutter to themselves when she fell. Others did, but Katara did not respond. She also made it through the day without crying. She had never been an overly weepy girl, but then again this situation was way worse than anyone would expect to encounter.
Eventually the road made a sharp turn and Katara felt the ground sloping up a hill. Her toes kept stumping into the cobblestones. It was a short climb, and then they came to a halt. There was shouting up ahead, a grinding of metal, and they were off again. "Welcome to the palace, water peasant," muttered the soldier currently at her side. She realized suddenly that it was a woman, but her grip on Katara's arm was no less resolved than any of the men's had been. Her heart rate quickened even more, but she held her head up and kept marching even when she stumbled.
The cobblestones turned to smooth floor tiles that echoed with the army's footsteps. Katara was led dizzily through twisting hallways, hearing doors open and close all around, tittering voices of women, children laughing. The deeper they went into the palace, the fewer sounds there were, until the only noise was a constant roaring of flames. Katara stood stock still, unsure exactly where the fire was. Then a voice spoke ahead of her. Azula.
"We have returned with the waterbender, Father." Her chilling voice echoed off stone walls. "She was no challenge to capture, and the sport is still going strong."
Father? Katara's blood ran cold at the thought of the Firelord. He was here? And then a male voice came from farther ahead. "Bring her here." Chills ran down Katara's whole body as she was forced forward and to her knees. There was a long silence, during which Katara tried to keep her breathing under control.
"She is damaged." The Firelord spoke without inflection, in an even tone, but even so he sounded purely dangerous. He did not ask a question, but an answer was plainly expected.
"There was trouble, Father," Azula replied. "She insulted my honor and I succeeded in regaining it. It is not serious." Katara felt her face burn.
"Fine. We will put her into the dungeons for now." Ozai still gave his words no inflection. Azula gasped.
"The dungeons?" she hissed. "I thought you would punish her in public. Make her friends suffer with her! Lure them in to a trap with her as bait!" Katara bit her lips and squeezed her eyes closed. Would it work? Would Aang and Sokka and Toph come for her, or would they focus on keeping Aang safe? They hadn't gone back for Zuko. But that wasn't fair of her -
The silence was tense, waiting for Ozai's reply. "I have plans for all of her friends, Azula. You are doing well at capturing their little group, but until I have all of them - including the Avatar - I will do with her as I see fit. And for now she will wait in the dungeons with the rest of my prisoners. You are dismissed."
The Fire Princess's knees hit the ground with a thud as she bowed low to her father. "Of course," she murmured. And then, louder in a biting tone, "Commander Chin! Have one of your men escort the water peasant to the main dungeons!"
Her footsteps echoed out of the chamber until a door slammed, and then the rest of the army moved. Katara was pulled upright once more by the female soldier, and shoved through a passageway. She had no way to see the stairway, so when her foot hit empty air she pitched forward, only to be yanked back by the soldier's hand on the back of her dress. She picked her way gingerly down the rest of the steps, feeling the temperature drop with each footfall.
