She slowly swam back to consciousness, fuzzy shapes and blobs of color moving across her vision. Her sides and limbs still burned with every tiny movement. Voices started to make sense.
"Katara?" a concerned voice was asking.
"She's still alive," another, calm voice said.
Katara let out a croak as she tried to ask for water. Her eyelids fluttered, and it felt like it took years for her to force her eyes to open. There was Aang, hovering over her, looking worried, with another airbender beside him.
"We should get her water - she's a waterbender," Aang said. "Maybe she can heal herself."
"Wise thoughts, Acolyte Aang," the other airbender said in her calm voice. "Why don't you ask the Fire Sages where some water could be found?"
"Right, yeah. Got it," Aang said, springing up.
"Just lie still, Katara," the airbender woman told her softly, laying a cool hand on Katara's forehead as tears of pain began to run down Katara's cheeks. "We are bringing you water. No one else was hurt."
Some of the tension went out of Katara's shoulders. No one else had suffered the wrath of the Spirit of Fire. That was good. The Air Nomads and the Fire Sages hadn't done anything to deserve Agni's anger.
Aang appeared in her vision again, bearing a full jug of water. "Here," he said, his large grey eyes wide with concern. He helped Katara into a sitting position so she could get to the water, and it was all she could do to keep herself from screaming out loud. The airbender woman gently guided her hand to the jug, and Katara managed to get some flowing over her hand.
"My side…" she whispered. That was where it hurt the most. The airbender woman got the idea and set Katara's water-covered hand over her injured ribs. Katara sagged back in Aang's arms as the water began to glow blue. The relief was indescribable. Once one side was mostly healed, she moved her hand slowly to the other side of her ribs. After finishing there, she started in on her arms and legs, stopping every so often to refresh the water in her hands. The airbenders watched in amazement as her burns healed miraculously under the glowing water.
When Katara had finished healing herself most of the major burns were completely gone, though there were still some that were pink and tender to the touch; she had begun to run out of energy by the end. She picked up the jug and drained it, relieving her dry and sore throat.
"Why… why did he attack like that?" Aang asked, sounding shaken.
Katara shook her head. "I'm so sorry, Aang. I should have warned you all…" She told them her history with the Spirit of Fire (and his son) and about the impossible tasks he had set her and the ultimatum he'd left with. Aang and the other airbender listened, eyes wide but compassionate.
"We will help you get to the Earth Kingdom," the woman said, laying a soft hand on Katara's shoulder.
"Yeah! You can ride on Appa," Aang said, mustering up a grin.
"Really?" Katara asked, looking between the two of them. "But I'm a danger to all of you - if the Spirit of Fire decides he's angry with me again - "
"The Spirit of Fire may be quick to anger, but he is also a spirit of honor," the older woman said. "If he has set you these tasks, he will not interfere."
Katara felt the hopelessness of her situation rising up to overwhelm her again. "But how will I do all those things? Snow from the highest peak in the Earth Kingdom? A scale from a dragon? A trinket from Koh the Face Stealer? In the Spirit World?" She shook her head. Her lip had started to tremble. "I can't."
"Your people are counting on you, Katara," the airbender woman said in her soft voice. "They need you. You cannot turn your back on them now."
"And there's also Zuko," Aang added. "You need to settle that as well, for closure, if not reconciliation. Forgiveness is always the way to go."
Katara set her jaw. "You're right. I can't turn my back on the people who need me. Ever."
o0o
Agni, Spirit of Fire, stood in the doorway to his son's room and watched him, concerned. Zuko's face still had not healed, even after several days of treatment. Zuko himself had been feverish and weak since he returned home.
Agni's brow furrowed. This was all because of the waterbender. He was still of two minds about killing her. On the one hand, she had shown spirit and determination in seeking him out - even if it was simply to apologize to his son, which he doubted. There was clearly something else motivating that particular request. On the other, she was responsible for the pain of his favorite son and that was enough to earn his anger, not to mention the fact that her arrogance about her bending had been what had caused this whole thing in the first place.
The other thing that had made him hold back was that Zuko had tried to protect this waterbender, multiple times, and he wanted to know why, and if his son's fascination with this mortal would last. And maybe, just maybe, he was curious to see how far she got in this little test of his. The first task was not totally impossible, but the second was almost certain to get her killed, and there was no way conceivable that she could complete the third.
Agni snorted. Prove herself worthy of his son, indeed. As if a waterbender, scion of Tui and La, those pathetic things, could ever be worthy.
o0o
Zuko's face was burning, as if the hot oil was still splashing on it, over and over again. He was alternately racked with chills and bouts of extreme heat; drenched in sweat yet shivering. His father hadn't yet come in to see him, and Zuko was glad of this, because his father's anger and promises of vengeance only made him worry about Katara, and then made him angry with himself for being worried since she clearly hadn't cared about him enough to respect his word, and the internal conflict only made his face throb the worse.
"Zuko?" came a deep voice from the doorway and Zuko only just held back a groan. Speaking of. He rolled over to face the door and squinted at his father, who was again a man of flames.
"Yes, Father?" he croaked. His face was in agony. Nothing the spirits had done had helped.
"I found the waterbender today," Zuko was informed, and everything stood still for a moment.
"Where?" he breathed, all he could manage. His face… it was worse than ever all of a sudden.
His father scoffed. "My own temple in the capital! I taught her a lesson," he said, watching Zuko closely.
Zuko sank back on the bed; he had half-risen at the news that Katara had been found. "Is she dead?" he asked, though his throat had a lump in it threatening to cut off his voice and there was a horrible, hollow feeling in his chest.
"She is not," Agni said, and Zuko's good eye flew open in surprise. His father was still watching him with an inscrutable expression on his face. "She has a warrior spirit," he said, somewhat begrudgingly, "and she wanted the chance to prove her loyalty. She wants to ask your forgiveness. So I set her three tasks. If she completes them, she will make her apologies."
"Tasks?" Zuko asked, seizing upon the least compromising thing in his father's declaration. Alive. She was alive. The warmth that he suddenly felt toward her nearly overwhelmed him. She already had his forgiveness, had gotten it as soon as he heard she was trying to come back to him. His face had stopped burning quite so badly.
"Yes, three of them," Agni replied. "They are quite difficult."
"What are they?" Zuko asked. Perhaps, in some behind-the-scenes way, he could help her - without his father finding out, of course.
"She must retrieve snow from the highest peak of the Earth Kingdom, bring back a scale from a dragon of the Sun Warriors, and then fetch me a thing of mine that Koh the Face Stealer has had in his possession for far too long."
All the color drained from Zuko's face. "That - is quite the set of tasks," he said. He was sending her to treat with Koh the Face Stealer? His passionate, quick-tempered Katara? Zuko squeezed his good eye shut. No, he couldn't think on that now. The snow he was fairly certain she could handle - she was a waterbender, after all. A scale from a dragon of the Sun Warriors. The Sun Warriors had always accorded him a certain amount of respect; he could put in a word for her like he had done with Vaayu the Air Spirit.
Resolved, Zuko let out a huge yawn. "I am tired, Father."
A small smile crossed the Spirit of Fire's face. "I will let you rest, my son." He laid one flaming hand on Zuko's shoulder, then left. Zuko rolled over to face the wall, a secret smile on his own face.
His face no longer felt as though it was on fire.
A/N: This actually took me a lot less time to finish than I thought it would... *shrugs* Another fast update for you lot, I suppose!
Guest (1) and Guest (2): Thank you both for the reviews! I appreciate the love :) I'm glad you like the story so far.
So, plans are made! Hope you liked the Zuko POV; I hope I kept him in-character.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the story so far! (Also, if you haven't read the Percy Jackson version of this myth yet, you should do. It's absolutely hilarious and I want to share it with as many people as possible :)
