Chapter Nine

A Peaceful Moment

He had to get out of there. Those three, after talking about everything there is to talk about, the adults were still yammering away over tea. Zuko half expected their lips to fall off and plop into their teacups. Oh, and the conversation; it was more boring than what the politicians that visited the palace used to discuss. The boy felt the urge to put a hand to his ear, just to see if it was bleeding. Agni, get me out of here. I knew Uncle was getting lonely just traveling with me all the time, but this is just too much.

When his uncle turned and looked at him, suggesting that he take a walk around the village, it was like his prayers had been answered. Of course, the gods are cruel, even in mercy. Iroh had suggested he take Katara with him.

So that was how, ten minutes later, the two had come to find themselves wandering around the little stone paths of the village. Most everyone was inside, drinking tea or eating dinner or preparing to go to sleep. You could tell who was awake still by the yellow light in the windows.

Their shoes clicked on the cobblestones with each step, echoing off the trees or houses or the fence surrounding the village. Every once in a while a lantern hung from a pole to light the path. After passing a few of these, they came to a small and decorated bridge over a tiny stream, one that happened to lead out past the fence and into the fields. The little bridge was painted green-yellow, but in the setting sun looked dark brown. Long shadows cast upon the ground echoed every movement as Katara leaned over one side, elbows resting on the railing, and Zuko hunched over on the opposite side sulkily. They stood there silently a long moment listening to the white noise of a little waterfall.

Katara shivered a little in a chilly breeze. Zuko noticed.

"Are you cold?" His voice didn't sound particularly caring, but it wasn't mocking.

"No," she replied stubbornly, and then took control of herself.

A short silence, and over the crickets chirping Katara asked quietly, "Do you hate me?"

"What does it matter? It's not as if you'll have to put up with me for much longer."

She sighed, "Yeah. But you'll still be trying to capture Aang. Since you don't have any affiliations with the Fire Nation, it must be because you hate him, right?"

His eyes shot wide open at the mention of his country.

"And I'm his friend," Katara continued. "So you must hate me too, right?"

"Shut up!" The sudden shout made Katara jump. "You don't know anything about that!"

For a few seconds the girl just stared at him, not knowing where the sudden anger had come from. That was what Iroh said, right? That they were no longer affiliated with the Fire Nation. At last, she turned, muttered, "Sorry," and started to walk away.

Zuko, still a bit angry-sounding but much calmer, told her, "I don't want to go back just yet."

She stopped, sighed, and sat on the railing, feet dangling above the water. For a while all that could be heard was the crickets and the water, which now seemed so loud to her that she wondered how anyone could sleep. And once again she felt her thoughts drift back to her friends, slowly, subtly, until she wondered how the worry and loneliness had crept back up on her.

Zuko stared at the reflections in the water. Tiny ripples distilled the clouds passing over a yellow moon. A few water bugs skittered about on top of the water, paired off, and hopped away to the grass that overgrew the banks and dangled into the stream. It was so quiet here, so peaceful. Did this village even know that a war was going on? Didn't they fear the Fire Nation? They hadn't even questioned whether he and Uncle were Fire Nation or not.

Or course, they had to know about the war. After a hundred years, it was impossible not to. But still they act so nice and welcoming. It would be their undoing one day. Nice people didn't survive a ruthless war.

The night had grown dark except for the little light of the moon and distant streetlights before Zuko finally said that it was time for them to head back. Katara followed his lead down the path, silent and daydreaming. That's the way the whole walk back was—Zuko in the lead staring off to the side at the village's scenery, lost in thought, and Katara zoning out.

When they reached the house, the lights were on inside and laughter could be heard. Zuko opened up the door and gave half a glance at the adults playing Pai Sho by candlelight before he stalked off to the guest room that they were staying in. Katara, who was to be sleeping in Momo's room, said goodnight to them before going to bed herself.

"My," said Ming worriedly, "It's awful early t be going to bed. I do hope everything is okay."

Iroh laughed, "I'm sure everything is fine." He paused, studying the game board, and then clicked a tile down. Over the incredulous faces of Johta and Ming, he stated modestly, "I believe I win this game. Care to play again?"

"No way," replied the man, "That's five times in a row you've beaten me!"

"Oh, I'm sure that you will win this time."

XOXOXOXOXOX

In the morning, it was decided that they'd leave after lunch, leaving plenty of time between when Katara woke up and then. Perhaps, she thought, time that could be spent checking with the villagers for signs of Aang passing through. Appa was a giant furry monster with an arrow on his head, right? Pretty hard to miss that.

Of course, there was the matter of preparing for travel. She had to buy some food for herself to last on her travels, since she might not be able to catch up to her friends right away. Zuko and Iroh were in the same position.

Iroh told his nephew that he would be with Ming for a few hours, securing some of that delicious tea, and had asked Zuko to go to the market in his place to get some food for their travels. They were told that they would be given whatever they needed from the villagers if they told them Johta had sent them. The village leader did this favor for most of his guests, as it turned out, since most of the guests were penniless travelers.

This was how Katara once again found herself alone with Zuko.

It was a bustling marketplace, with venders selling foods fresh in from the fields. The two tried not to walk together too obviously, but with the same goal of grocery shopping it was rather hard not to. They bought only what was necessary, ignoring several craftsmen with odd knick knacks, which was yet another reason Zuko had gone to do the shopping instead of his uncle.

A rather scruffy looking boy with a chubby face jumped in front of Zuko and Katara and stood grinning at them, apparently missing a front tooth.

"Hi-ya!" He said in a friendly voice, shoving a piece of pair out of his face.

"Move," Zuko half-snarled at him, pushing his way past the little boy.

Katara saw his surprise and apologized, politely moving around him and past.

Catching up with the older boy, she scolded, "That wasn't nice, you know."

"Tch, so what?" He sneered, "I don't have to be nice to a peasant."

"Ugh," came her aggravated reply, "That's not the point. Can't you just be nice?"

"'Nice' is getting the supplies and getting out of here as quickly as possible." He examined some fruits before shoving them in his bad and giving a little bow to the shopkeeper. "I hate little villages like this, they're full of ignorant peasants."

"You know," she said angrily, "You're going to have bad karma with that attitude."

"Yeah, right."

"Yeah, that is right." She put a head of cabbage into her bag and paid the man, handing over a coin. "I bet that's why you twisted your ankle—karma getting back at you."

"Oh, really? If it was karma getting me back, then why were you there to heal it?"

She paused a moment and glared past the market scene. "Perhaps some foolish spirit thought you deserved a second chance."

A pause, he considered how he would reply to that or whether it would be better not to. Before he said whatever his response was, a little ping caught his attention, and a flaming arrow arched up over the fence and struck the cabbage cart they were at not a moment ago.

"MY CABBAGES!!" Screamed the cabbage merchant as the flames engulfed the cart. Zuko put out the flames with some Firebending instantly, but the produce was already incinerated into a pile of ashes.

In the next instant the fence was being a torn apart, soldiers rushed into the town and the marketplace was in chaos.

The same Fire Nation soldiers from yesterday.

"Come on," shouted Zuko as he yanked Katara into a run.

"We can't just leave them!"

"Don't be stupid, do you want to get killed?"

The girl wasn't satisfied with that. She spotted something in the sky and smirked—it was a nice, fluffy cloud.

"I don't have to be killed," she said, taking her Waterbending stance. In a feat befitting a master, she pulled the cloud over above the market, and soon rain was sprinkling down, dousing some stray flames and preventing new fires. Then she was running again, wondering if karma was out to get her or if she was just unlucky.

They found Iroh, grabbed their things, and in a minute they were gone from the village. Their best hope was to lure the soldiers away from the town.

Not ten steps from the exit did Johta and Ming's daughter appear in front of them, and the three slammed on their brakes.

"Momo…" Katara said, and wondered whether the little girl would be safe or not.

She spoke in a calm voice, which was the first time they'd really heard her speak.

"My dad told me to give you a message, and this." She handed a little piece of parchment to Iroh, and then turned to Katara. "He was asking around town this morning, and said that a tan monster was seen flying that way," she pointed at a spot in the sky, on the other side of the mountains. "He says it might be your flying bison."

Katara was instantly excited, but surprised. "How did you know I was looking for a bison?"

"I let it slip," stated Iroh kindly, "In our conversation."

The little girl nodded. "Now, go. Get out of here. We can handle the Fire Nation," she said and bowed to them before running off.

Iroh opened the folded piece of paper the girl had given him and read curiously.

"Iroh

My wife and I were pleased to have you over. I'm sorry you had to leave like this, but we wish you safe travel. Don't worry about the soldiers, we still have a few Earthbenders in the village, and I'm sure we can take them.

Safe travel, Johta."

It felt wrong to leave, but they'd been reassured the village was able to handle it. This couldn't be the first time they encountered the Fire Nation. And so, they left the scene, heading for their next destination.