Chapter 10

Katara did not by any means plan to let her captors manipulate her like they had hoped to, and so she immediately got to work devising a plan on how to escape from their clutches the moment she returned to consciousness. Moreover, it was one of the only things that she COULD do at this point, for her injuries had kicked in, and she was otherwise virtually incapacitated. Her ankles seemed to be broken, and she was pretty sure that she had broken a few of her ribs as well.

She awoke though; in the medical room of what she assumed was a ship. Ironically, it was almost as if this medical room was familiar, but in her muzzy state, Katara could not quite identify if or where she had seen it. Regardless, she did not assume that Ozuma and his gang had traveled alone, nor did she think that they would remain in the Air nomad lands, where there was little or no war, unless foolish Order invaders decided not to respect the Air Nomads' declaration and attack. Therefore, she logically concluded that they owned a ship, and that they had some sort of healers on board in case any of them got injured. With a war going on, it was foolish to travel the seas without them.

Katara looked around and saw that the room she was in was deserted. Her wounds though, were bandaged, and, apart form her pains she was in otherwise comfortable conditions. Her clothes had been removed for medical reasons, [but she still had her undergarments on at this point], but to her surprise, she saw them on the nearby nightstand.

Another thing Katara noticed about her whole body was that she was cleaned up completely. She had obviously lost a lot of blood. Also by her bed was a pair of crutches. Apparently they knew enough about Katara's curious nature to know that she would try to get up and look around. She did, because she wanted to find out where she was going, who she was with, and how she was going to be treated. Pulling herself up, she eventually got on her feet, using the crutches to keep her balance. She limped on both feet though, which made walking, even with them, especially difficult. She made her way to the door, when she suddenly heard a voice—a familiar voice.

"You didn't think that we were just going to let them take you away like that, did you?" the voice laughed. Katara spun around and saw Tenoko leaning against the wall, her arms cross and one of her legs against the wall, her other being her method of balance.

"Tenoko," Katara exclaimed, "why... how..."

"Because this is umm... my ship;" Tenoko laughed, "we kicked Ozuma's butt nice and easily, and took your bleeding, broken form back and have nursed you back to health. Welcome back to The Blazing Phoenix, Katara. We missed you quite a bit."

"How long have I been out?" Katara asked, deciding to sit down. Moreover, she had also just remembered that she was still in her undergarments, and although [according to the male crew members] she was kind of cute, she didn't feel like going out there like that.

"You've been out at least 4 days," Tenoko replied, "you lost a lot of blood, and your firebending decided to spazz a few times."

"Damn, it" Katara muttered, "Even when I'm out cold my powers don't give me a rest. Ah, that's annoying."

"Well, you're safe for now," Tenoko remarked, "but either way, new need to get you to the Fire Nation."

"why," Katara asked curiously, "I mean; I know it and the Southern Air Temple are the only places I haven't been to, but it's not like I NEED to go there, do I?"

"No," Tenoko replied, "but you'd blend in much better there."

"Why can't I just stay with you all?" Katara asked curiously,

"Well," Tenoko replied, "I have other business that I need to tend to as well, so the crew of The Blazing Phoenix is splitting up for the time being. Rafai said he would go with you."

Katara smiled. Rafai was her best friend out of Tenoko's crew, but even though they were close, they didn't seem to be planning on a permanent commitment. Of course, they were only 14 and 15, so perhaps that would come in a few years.

"What about the rest of you?" Katara asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to find my children," Tenoko declared, "Azula and a few others are going to stay with the ship and possibly find some side work, and some of the other guys are just going to go and look for something to do. All in all, you're going to need one of these."

Tenoko handed Katara a gold coin that had Tenoko's seal on it.

"If someone passes the word to you, Toph," said Tenoko, using Katara's nickname again, "be sure to let any fellow crewmates that you run into see this somehow. Don't lose it, and don't spend it."

Katara chuckled.

"I'm barely 14," she remarked, "that doesn't mean I'm stupid though."

"Get some rest then, kid." Tenoko laughed, "You need it. You were in nasty condition when we found you."

And that was what Katara did. All in all, her trip to the Fire Nation was not very eventful because she only finished recovering on the last day of the voyage, during which time she heard a rather interesting story, and her friend Haru seemed to be the talk around Rafai and his little gang of guys that he usually hung out with.

Naturally, Katara, being the curious young girl that she was, did ask Rafai what had happened [and of course, this being several days after she woke up, she had obviously gotten dressed since that time]. Rafai, who couldn't help but laugh during the course of events, said that he [Haru] had been "seduced" by a girl named Josika. Haru [one of the older young men] did not disclose very many details, but Josika had been seen on the ship. Luckily, Tenoko didn't mind, as the story naturally spread to her as captain, and she found it funny.

"Don't worry, Haru," Tenoko laughed, "we'll be landing at the Fire Nation within a few hours, and then you can get away from them.

Haru said nothing, and so suffered through the playful taunts that Norik, Shai, Rafai, and the likes tossed at him every now and again. However, it also got Katara thinking about relationships in general, and so she confronted Rafai regarding the matter. After all, their relationship was unclear, and, though they did not know it at the time, it would remain unclear for many, many years. Katara asked him if anything like that would ever happen between them.

"Not if you didn't want it to," Rafai replied, "it's not like I think we ever plan on... I mean, we're just friends, right?"

"That's what I always assumed," Katara replied, "I... I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page."

"That's a respectable idea," Rafai replied, "even a normal friendship cannot function properly unless it's that way."

"I can't wait to see the Fire Nation," Katara remarked, changing the subject slightly, having run out of other things to say regarding relationships; "the stories I've heard make me want to go there."

"Well," Rafai commented, "you ARE a firebender."

"But I was born and raised in the Southern Water Tribe," Katara remarked, "I've never been to the Fire Nation."

"That's why we're going," Rafai replied, "but we're going to have to get you some new clothes so that you'll blend in like e refugee."

"Does that mean I'm gonna have to be flaunting my midriff like most of those other Fire Nation girls I've met before?" Katara groaned,

Rafai stammered, knowing the truthful answer, but not wanting to upset young Katara.

"Err, "he stammered, turning slightly red, "you might have to. Either way, you'll err... be with me. And I think you're sexy."

"That was... blunt," Katara muttered, turning pink,

"I thought you said you liked bluntness," Rafai questioned,

"I do," Katara replied, "I hate when people talk in riddles."

"Then what's the problem," he asked her,

Katara said nothing, because she couldn't really think of anything other than the awkwardness that had sifted into the area and surrounded them both, though mainly around Katara.

Eventually, Rafai decided to break it by getting up.

"Well," he remarked, "I'm going to go ask Tenoko a few things, so I guess we'll meet up when we land, alright?"
"That works," Katara replied bluntly, and so the two of them parted ways. Katara went out on the deck and looked at the ocean, and saw smoke in the distance from the many volcanoes that were in the Fire Nation's lands and islands. She still missed Sokka, and also missed her mother, whom she had since realized was not against her.

Either way, she still had her violent mood swings, and even Rafai wasn't immune to them. However, like Sokka, he was a patient young man, and he served well as the voice of reason for Katara in Sokka's absence.

During this time, she decided to draw again. Because of all of her crazy travels as of recent, she had actually started a series of drawings, almost like a picture book. They were scenes from her life, mainly from when she and Sokka first were separated from their mother. Katara had a bad tendency though to emphasize violent scenes in her life, particularly if she was the one getting hurt. She had at least 7 images alone of the fight she had had with Sokka before that mysterious boy had picked them up and taken them to the hospital. Out of these 7, only 2 of them showed her hurting Sokka. The others were him hurting her.

It was not because she hated Sokka, but rather, she was angry with herself for acting the way she did, and she enjoyed venting her anger out by bringing back memories of him hurting her, because she felt that she deserved it for being such a handful.

Katara spent a lot of time making more drawings. Incidentally, she had never shown them to anyone on the ship, for she was usually left alone unless when went out looking for someone on the ship. This time though, Azula peered in. Her original intention was just to see if Katara was alright, for although she seemed fine, her legs were slightly unstable. However, when she saw Katara leaning over the table the way she was, frantically scribbling, she knew Katara was up to something of course.

"What are you writing?" she asked curiously; incidentally, Katara was drawing [since she can't write] an image of Azula.

"I can't write," Katara chuckled, not looking up, "I can't read either."

"Then what are you... sweet spirits..."

Azula wasn't even able to finish her sentence. Katara's image of Azula was not bad by any means, but rather, really, really good. Katara was a freakishly good artist [possibly because any free time she had she spent drawing or bending], and her rendition of Azula was very accurate, and her pose was... awesome. There wasn't really any other word for it. She had two fingers out like she was about to shoot lightning, and was crouched down, her face clearly indicating that she was seconds away from attacking.

"I'd write your name," Katara shrugged, "but I don't know how to write."

Azula was still shocked, as Katara started wrapping up on her current project, adding more detail.

"Katara, that's amazing," Azula remarked, "how did you learn to draw like that?"

"Simple," Katara shrugged, "you just have to spend half your life doing nothing else, and you're bound to be good at it. Drawing and bending are the only two things in the world that I'm good at, so I do that a lot."

"Well," Azula replied, knowing that Katara didn't like attention, "I just came in to tell you that we've landed. You've been in here a while."

"Alright then," Katara replied, and started packing her things. She had little else other than her clothes and her drawings, and so she was ready to get off as soon as anyone else was.

She met up with Rafai just as planned, and they left into the realms of the Fire Nation together.

Rafai didn't say this to Katara, but Tenoko had warned him to keep a close eye on Katara so that no one else did the same thing to her that they did. To them, Katara was their close friend. Either way, yet another page was about to unfold in Katara's history, as her journeys and adventures in the Fire Nation had begun.