Chapter 8
Almost a week had passed since Katara had first run into the banished prince, and she was already getting used to living with the last of the benders in their forest hideout. The first morning, she'd been awoken violently by the sound of a large crash outside. She'd run out in a panic, only half dressed, to discover that the Earth Benders appeared to be training; the blind girl, Toph, leading them through drills.
Unable to sleep, she'd wandered around to try and become familiar with the area. Her intention had been to learn the forest and sneak out when nobody was paying attention, but that proved nearly impossible based on the number of people who were always around. Most of the outlaws were benders, but some of them had brought their entire family with them and it seemed there was never a chance to escape.
Another obstacle in her path was the prince himself. He hadn't brought up his insane theory that she was the Avatar – and it was a truly insane theory – since the first day, but his never ceasing presence revealed that he still felt that way. It seemed to her that she was never able to escape from him; even when he wasn't next to her he was always there, hovering at the edge of her vision.
And so, she'd stayed, unsure as to whether she should try to contact her brother or not. She was in the midst of this inner conflict, when someone sat down next to her.
"Penny for your thoughts?" A voice asked and she looked over, completely unsurprised; of course it was him.
"What do you want Zuko?"
"You were sitting alone with a pained expression on your face, not eating. What's up?"
She seriously considered not telling him.
"I want to find my brother, but you won't let me go."
He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Hmm. What would Uncle say? Sometimes, patience is needed for the things which come to those who wait."
"That doesn't even make sense." She glared at him.
He shrugged. "I'm not that good at impersonations."
She felt like she was missing something. "Hey are you making fun of –?!"
"ZUKO!" They both looked back to see one of the few Fire Benders, who's name she could not remember, sprinting at them full speed.
"Zu-ko." The guy repeated, coming to a skidding halt in front of them, completely out of breath. Zuko waited patiently.
Finally, the poor guy was able to breathe normally. "We think we found him."
"What? What proof do you have?"
"One of the ships, the one you sent to the southern continent, saw something. They said it looked like nothing at first but as they got closer it appeared that a large beast was frozen in a block of ice. They sent a few men over to investigate and there was something else in the ice."
Zuko's good eye widened in amazement. "What was it?" He asked breathlessly.
"A boy," the other guy whispered. "They found a boy frozen in ice."
Zuko stood up suddenly. "Come with me," he addressed Katara, before he began to walk away. She stood and followed him warily, earning a curious look from the Fire Bender.
They walked over to where the Earth Benders had been training all morning. They arrived in the middle of what seemed to be a sparring battle; Toph was up against a large muscley man.
"The Boulder is going to smash your tiny body into pieces." Katara was confused, what boulder?
"I hope you brought a spoon to eat your words, Boulder!" Toph declared, and Katara realized that this 'Boulder' was actually the name of the large man. For a moment she was concerned that Toph was going to get seriously hurt, but before anything could be determined, Zuko stepped in between them.
"The Boulder demands to know what the Scarred Prince is doing in the battlefield!"
Zuko looked at him coldly. "The Boulder can wait. I need to speak with Toph." He walked over to her and beckoned Katara to follow.
"Zuko, you are no fun. I was going to teach him a lesson about –"
"They found a boy frozen in ice." Toph stopped complaining.
"Where?"
"Near the South Pole, according to Li."
Toph looked over towards Katara. "So you're going to take Sugar Queen?"
Sugar Queen? Wait, what?!
"We're taking the last ship. I thought I'd let you know." The blind girl nodded at that, and Zuko walked away, Katara fuming behind him.
The sounds of earth crashing filled the aor as Zuko and Katara walked further away. She was still angry. Sugar Queen? Who was she calling Sugar Queen? That little –
"Katara." Zuko stopped.
Silence.
"Yes?"
"I need you to come with me." Katara felt her heart flutter a little at the words. Go with him? Where?
"You said that you weren't the Avatar; that there was no way you could be."
Oh no, not this again.
"But you're the only Water Bender."
"I told you I'm not. My gran –"
"It doesn't matter. Do you want to prove you're not the Avatar?"
She did. Maybe if she could prove that, then he'd let her go find her brother so they could continue the search for their father. "Yes."
"Then I need your help." He continued walking. They were so far away from the camp now that she could no longer hear the sounds of the Boulder and Toph fighting.
"Where are we going?"
"To get the ship." He didn't turn around.
"What ship? Why do you need me?"
"We have one last ship left from the Hundred Year War. You and I are going to take it and we're going to the South Pole."
Katara stopped walking. She'd just gotten here, from the South Pole. Why would she want to go back? "But, the South Pole…" His words from earlier clicked. "Listen, I told you that I wasn't the last Water Bender but the only other one left is my grandfather. And you already agreed with me that he's not the Avatar."
"No, he's not," Zuko agreed. But wait, Katara thought, he's not looking for a man. Something about the conversation from earlier tugged at her mind and she gasped.
"You think the boy in the iceberg is the Avatar?"
Zuko nodded, bingo.
"So why do you need me?"
"Well, if I were to try and get him out of the ice, I'd probably just burn him alive. You're a Water Bender. That means you can get him out and probably heal him if he's injured." He started walking again.
"But it doesn't make any sense. You have no proof he's even alive, let alone he can bend any elements."
"Come on."
"Zuko! Why are you so set on trying to find them?"
He turned and looked at her with a strange expression on his face. "I need to regain my honor." It was almost a whisper.
They continued walking in silence.
Almost an hour later, Katara could smell salt. Were they really so close to the ocean? Almost as soon as she thought that, they emerged from the trees, and she saw the ocean. Zuko turned and started walking along the edge of the cliff where they were.
"Where is this ship?" She broke the silence.
He pointed, his finger pointing towards a small harbor town.
"Is it just going to be the two of us?"
"If we can, yes. I don't want word about this spreading."
They walked in silence until they could see the ships in the harbor.
"Dammit," Zuko cursed suddenly.
"What?" She flipped around, thinking they'd been followed. "Is something wrong?"
"I let those idiots guard it one time…" He wasn't paying attention to her.
"Zuko! What's wrong?" She hated always feeling left out like this. It was like she had jumped into the middle of a story and nobody filled her in on what had happened before.
"Pirates," he said. "Those idiots abandoned our ship and now it's fallen into the hands of pirates."
A shiver ran unbidden down her spine. "So now what do we do?"
He looked over at her, and she was shocked to see an evil smile playing at his lips. "Well, we're gonna steal it back."
At that moment, Katara hated him. This prince had stolen her necklace, kidnapped her and refused to let her leave, and now was going to make her help him steal a ship from pirates so they could hunt down an imaginary Avatar. And here she'd thought Sokka was the brainless one.
A/N: Wow this is a fast update! Yay! Anyways, not super sure if I liked this chapter. It's a bit longer than the others, but still. feels rushed for some reason. I may go back and edit it later or something, but I got all the plot points I wanted to and frankly I think the people who read this read it for plot, not for my failed writing style.
Please review this! I'd love some constructive criticism!
