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Warning: I actually don't think there's any need for a warning! OMG!


Chapter 9: Too long since I've seen the sun


Yugoda had been combing through the Earth King's library for hours, Zuko following obediently behind. At first, she had started out calm, diligently but peacefully searching through the books. Now, though, she was quite agitated, with books being searched an thrown every which way when they didn't have what she wanted in them. When they did, they were thrown at zukoo, quite forcefully, forcing him to catch and redistribute on the pile in his arms. It was only after two hours of Yugoda's increasing agitation that someone from the library ran up to them.

"Please, Ma'am!" he yelled, running up to Yugoda like a madman. "Please, ma'am, you can't do that to the books. Please you have to leave!" By this time, Yugoda had reached the end of her row. Anxiously, she went around to both sides of the shelf, then scanned the rows next to it.

"Are these all the texts that you have on the Water Tribe and waterbending?" she asked, slightly angrily. The librarian cowered in fear.

"Y-yes," he stammered. "It's the most extensive collection in the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom combined."

"It's lacking. You should tell that to your superiors." With that, Yugoda pushed passed him and sped toward the entrance, looking like a woman with a mission if he had ever seen one. Zuko hurried to keep up with her, but cast a look behind him at the distraught librarian, who was now mourning all the books that had been carelessly thrown to the floor. He felt a little bad for the man, but didn't risk staying to help him. Yugoda still scared almost as much as Katara.

"So, Yugoda, have you figured it out?" he asked when he caught up to her, precariously balancing the giant pile of books in his arms while walking and talking. This could end very badly, he could tell.

"I think so. I will call your attendants and Uncle, as well as Master Pakku, to explain to them my theory," she said.

"Master Pakku?"

"If this has to do with Katara the way I think it does, then he will want to know."

Zuko could feel his heartbeat speed with the thought. What could this possibly have to do with Katara that Master Pakku would have to be present to hear the news? Nothing good. Nothing good at all.

When Katara woke up, she was lying in a cot. Her hands were free, as well as her legs and head. A bowl of water and some covered rice sat beside her.

"So he really did mean it," she said to herself as she sat up, then clutched her head against the massive headache that attacked her.

"Yes. I did mean it," a voice came from the side of the tent she was in. Tenzin was sitting there, watching her. "And that rice will help with your headache. An unfortunate side effect of the drugs I gave you."

Katara cast a glance down at the table the bowls were sitting on.

"Chopsticks?" she asked casually.

"Oh, yes," he said, getting up and walking over to her. He placed the chopsticks on the table and crouched down in front of her, so that now she was looking down at him. "Forgive me?" he asked.

Katara watched him carefully, studying him, his eyes, everything. He had said it in such a casual voice, she thought he meant for forgetting chopsticks. But in his eyes she could see a quiet desperation, a plea for her to forgive him for something more. More, she thought, than just capturing her and tying her up. More than this whole organization against Zuko; more than his taunts of Hama. She couldn't decide whether she wanted to forgive him for all that, nor whether she was capable for forgiving him for what he really meant, so instead she picked up the bowl and chopsticks and commenced eating.

Tenzin sat and watched her awhile, presumably waiting for an answer. When it became clear she wasn't going to, he moved back to his seat.

"You know," she started. "I could probably kill you right now."

"I know you won't," he said.

"What makes you so sure?" she asked, absentmindedly bending the water in the bowl.

"Because you're stronger than that. Than to just lash out in revenge at those who caused you pain. Look what you did to Hama."

She turned back to her food. "I threw Hama into the side of a tent."

"Yes. But you could've killed her. You're better than that. To just lash out in revenge."

"You already said that."

He looked at her, considering. "Because it's true."

Katara put down the now empty rice bowl and slowly stood from her cot. Halfway off the cot, her legs gave out, the pain in her back making her arch as she fell to the ground. Tenzin was out of his seat as soon as he saw her legs start to give. As she arched her back and fell, he caught her in a gentle grip. She was whimpering softly, and small beads of sweat were visible on her brow.

"So," she ground out. "If I hadn't been a healer, this wouldn't have happened." She was breathing heavily. Slowly he tried to shift her in his arms, but she winced and moaned. "Where's Hama?" she asked. "I need a healer."

"Hama's gone," Tenzin said, brushing the hair away from her face. "Back to where she belongs." Katara winced again, grinding her teeth.

"Too bad. Even if I don't trust the woman as far as I can throw her, I know she wouldn't let her star pupil die."

"Is that a possibility?"

"By the amount of time that this has taken to heal? Perhaps."

"Is there anything I can do?" he asked anxiously. He could feel the sweat on his brow. What would he do if she died? He wasn't quite sure how his plan would suffer, nor, in fact, how he himself would react. She winced again.

"The water," she said, her voice gruff with the pain. "Put me down on my stomach and get the water, then do exactly what I tell you." Tenzin did what he was told, carefully lowering Katara the rest of the way to the floor, then helping her role over with her chin on her arms. He could see the bandage around her middle from here, rapidly soaking with blood as her wound reopened. He gritted his teeth. Never had he felt such remorse over his own shot. Even with a killing wound, he had never felt guilt. Until now. Quickly he grabbed the bowl of water and knelt beside Katara again.

"Now what?" he asked.

"Put the bowl down," she said. "And undo the bandages." He did as he was told. "Now," she said, letting the pain in her voice leak through, "pour the water down on the wound." He let the water slide from the bowl. It fell at first quickly, then congealed into a single bubble and started to glow. He watched her arms as Katara let the water gently drop onto her wounded back. It was only her fingers that were moving, but he watched her face as the show of emotions flickered across her face. When she finally relaxed, he watched as the water slide away and into the ground.

"No tainted water for you," she said. She pushed herself up slowly on her arms. "Next time, though, I would prefer immersion. Maybe in a river or a stream."

He smiled, relieved that even if she was in pain, she was hiding it for his sake. Yes, maybe it was because he was the one who had abducted her and she didn't want to show weakness, but still—it was hidden. He didn't think he could handle her clearly in pain.

"I'll keep that in mind. You should get back to bed," he said, crouching down beside her.

"No," she said, pushing away his helping hand. He watched her, surprised, as she struggled up, using the table and cot as crutches. "It's been a long time since I've seen the sun." She smiled at him. "Besides, I want to know where I am so that I can plan my escape." She winked.

Tenzin was astonished at her. She was smiling at him. Him, the man who had abducted her and sworn to kill her friend.

"Now," she said, "if could give me a hand and help me out of this tent?"

Tenzin was still staring at her, openmouthed, but he shook himself out of his stupor to lend her his shoulder for support. "Of course, because, I know that you will never actually be able to find your way back to the capitol from this place," he joked. If she tried, she probably could. He was hoping she didn't want to try.

"Oh really?" she retorted. "And what makes you so certain of that?"

He stepped out into the sunlight with her.

"Because," he said, smiling as he watched her eyes sparkle in the sunlight, "It will take a long time for you to find your way out of this place."

They were in the middle of nowhere.

Zuko was waiting anxiously to hear Yugoda's announcement, along with his uncle, Ping, Master Pakku, and Kana. Apparently, the old woman had made the trip down with her new husband, and since she had heard the news was about Katara, wanted to hear it herself. Zuko couldn't blame her; he probably would've done the same for his own granddaughter. Just then, Yugoda emerged from behind the curtain that led to her bedroom. They were in the antechamber of the healer's suite at the palace, all to restless to really enjoy the tasteful décor of the Earth King's palace. Everyone watched as Yugoda positioned herself on the low couch in front of them and took a deep breath. Not a sound was heard save for that.

Kana had finally had enough. "Yugoda," she burst out, "what has happened to my granddaughter?" Yugoda looked carefully at Kana before nodding her head and beginning her explanation.

"I believe Katara to have been seriously injured." There was an intake of breath from every person in the room.

"How do you know this?"

Yugoda paused, considering, perhaps, how to best answer this question.

The sunlight shone on a meadow with a river running through it in the middle of a dense forest. Since they had moved while Katara was knocked out, she had absolutely no sense of how far they had gone, or in which direction. Which meant she had absolutely no idea where to go, or how far they were from the capitol. I could always just follow the river, she thought, but who knows how long it would take me to find anyone.

As she and Tenzin moved farther into the clearing, her newly healed and still tender back was jostled, and she winced in pain. Not before I heal, though.

Tenzin saw her wince and furrowed his eyes in concern. "Do you want to rest?" he asked thoughtfully. Katara leaned more on him in answer. He turned the bustling clearing and asked for a chair to be brought out. When the chair arrived, Katara slid down into it and sighed heavily. She started to fidget, the move more and more, then finally she stood from the chair again.

"No good back support," she said in answer to Tenzin's question look. He watched as she tenderly and slowly moved through the motions of waterbending, taking extra precautions for her back. When she was done, a reclining chair of ice and snow stood before him, which Katara gratefully sank into. "Perfect," she sighed.

The clearing had grown quiet when Katara stared to waterbend, the men wary of one whom they had heard so much about. But, slowly, after she had sunk into her chair, one of them approached. Warily he looked at Tenzin for conformation, but Tenzin simply stared back at him. He slowly turned to Katara, who had her eyes closed on the reclining chair. He cleared his throat, and she lazily opened her eyes.

"Yes?" she asked, her voice husky.

"M-ma'am?" he stuttered. Tenzin was surprised; the man was on one of his best teams. But he understood that anyone in their right mind would be terrified of this woman.

Katara nodded for him to continue.

"I-I—well, me and the guys, we were just wondering—is it true that you can do that thing the other bender did, except that you can do it all the time?"

"Do you mean Bloodbending?"

"Yeah."

Katara turned her eyes away. "Yes. It's true. I'm stronger than Hama and can bloodbend at almost anytime." She turned her blue gaze to him again. "Though it comes with a price."

"Do you—" he cleared his throat— "do you think you could give us a demonstration?"

Katara's gaze turned icy. "You would be willing to offer up your body to be at my mercy? I could do anything to you."

"But you wouldn't," Tenzin put forth, calling Katara's ice eyes to him. "You're too righteous for that."

Katara paused for a long moment. "So what do you want me to do?"

Tenzin smiled. "How about some archery?"

"There is a legend of a great healer in the Northern Water Tribe. Compassionate, kind. Gentle. But fierce, strong of spirit. The greatest healer the Tribe had ever seen, perhaps even the greatest Master, had she been allowed to study. But even then, the Northern Tribe had their restrictions.

"It is said that one day a man came into the healer's workspace, dripping water and blood from a fatal wound, deathly cold. He was a hunter from a party that had met with misfortune; almost everyone in it was dead from an animal attack, save him. He had fallen through a hole in thin ice and somehow made it out of the attack alive, swimming through the bitter cold water with his fatal wound, which he had frozen water over in order to slow the blood. Somehow, he made it to this healer's space, and then collapsed onto the floor. The healer immediately rushed to save him, warming his blood and the water on him, then healing the wound so that it would no longer kill him. For such a serious wound, however, there were many healing sessions after that initial one for the healer to keep the man alive. But the man did live, a long and happy life.

"But the healer ran into misfortune.

"She was on an expedition, a ship headed toward the Earth Kingdom for trade, then onto the other nations as well, to serve as healer and to collect important herbs. Not much grows in the icy plains of the Water Tribe, you know. But on the ship's way towards the Earth Kingdom, they met with fierce pirates who attacked them for their precious cargo.

"The waterbenders fought fiercely, aided, in quite a large part, by the healer on the ship. Whenever someone fell, she was there and already helping them to their feet. But, while she was executing her duties one day, the healer was shot. Wounded, almost fatally. Luckily, there were other healers, and many waterbenders, enough that the woman could still fight for her life below deck while the waterbenders fought on deck. After days of endless fighting, neither gaining the upper hand, however, another fleet of Water Tribe ships arrived, loaded with the best warriors in all the North. With the new reinforcements, the Water Tribe easily beat back the pirates. But many wondered how word had travelled back to the Tribe of the fleet's troubles; no messages had been sent during the mellee, and no ships had sailed by. So how had word gotten back about the fight?

"The captain of the warrior fleet stepped up and explained how the man who had been healed previously had felt that the healer was in danger, pain, and close to death. He had struggle through the overwhelming pain he felt and told the warriors what had happened. He said to trust him, that he was the only person who could make sure the fleet remained afloat. The warriors, seeing no reason not to trust one of their one, made ready and set sail. But many have wondered how the man knew of the healer's danger. Only one who has studied the art of healing would even begin to untangle the mystery, but I believe, with Fire Lord Zuko's experience, and some of the other documentations I've found for similar ones, I know how this connection works.

"In expending so much of her power healing him, I believe that some of the healer's chi transferred into the man's body, and some of his chi into hers. I believe that that is a side effect of saving someone's life so drastically."

"But," Zuko broke in after making sure that Yugoda was finished fully, "Katara saved Aang's life, too. She probably spent more chi healing him in one moment than she ever did on me."

"But Aang is the Avatar. He is connected to all living things, and to everything in the Spirit World. His chi is probably more selective than yours."

Zuko closed his mouth, considering. It made some sense to him, probably more to the healers and waterbenders than him. Yugoda saw the bewilderment in his face, and so she continued.

"Basically, you and Katara have a connection. One that can communicate across any amount of space."

"So, I can feel when she's been hurt?"

"And perhaps other things; I've no idea, the connection's never been studied with so few cases. And even if it was, most of the records would've been destroyed by time or war."

"But I don't know where she is right now," Zuko said, thinking of the story he had been told earlier.

"Don't worry, sir," said Ping, surprising everyone with the determination in his voice. "We will find her."

Tenzin was watching Katara sleep in the sun when the messenger rode into the outskirts of camp. The news travelled fast to Tenzin, and when he arrived at the stable area, the messenger was already greeting his friends and laughing jovially. When Tenzin stepped into the stables, the men fell quiet, and the messenger straightened up with importance.

"And?" Tenzin said simply. His face was serious, scary.

"The package has been sent," the man said, "it should arrive within a few days. Then our plans can be set in motion.


Teaser of Chp 10:

"Set down, set down, said the moon to the sun,
"So that I, so that I, can float overhung,
"And can watch, and can watch, all my little ones,
"As they sleep, as they sleep, with water in their bones,

"For the Moon loves her children,
"The children of the ice and sea,
"Oh, the Moon loves her children,
"The children like you and me…"


A/N: Clearly, I've already started on the next chapter, but I may take a little break to write it. Most of these chapters have happened one right after another because the timeline progresses that way, but the next one takes place a few weeks later, so I may just wait a week or two for the update...

Wouldn't that be mean?

In the meantime, I'll be putting up chapter titles that I've thought of (because I write in one word Document, so it's easier to have clear separation between chapters). So...go back and read again, and see if there's anything that doesn't add up still quite yet. I love to reread, just saying. There are so many things I forget!

As always, read, review, and leave me love.