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A tree branch slaps Katara in the back in annoyance from her forcefully pushing it out of the way. The jolt sends her stumbling forward, and she her back stings from the impact. Leaves are tangled in her hair which is a rats nest in itself as she had lost her hair ribbon many days ago.
Katara aggressively flings her hair behind her back as she plods on after Zuko, who is many yards in front of her from being too impatient to wait. The woods were barely manageable when they had the ostrich horse to carry them around everywhere, but now they were animalless and have to rely on their feet to take them through the woods.
And her feet were starting to ache; the blisters were forming blisters, but she had no time to heal her feet. Zuko wouldn't stand for unnecessary stops, and Katara didn't want to waste any of her water, which was solely for combat and drinking, on her sore feet.
Though Katara hated their new mode of transportation, she isn't mad at Zuko for making the decision. It was the right one. They ended up receiving a decent price for the beast, and they will get a new ostrich horse when they reach another town. Preferably a town without Fire Nation colonists.
"Can you pick up the pace?" Zuko says without turning around. He hops over a fallen tree and waits until she is closer before he starts to move again.
"You're walking to fast," Katara mumbles, finally reaching the fallen tree. Her muscles protest and groan as she stands up on the bark, slightly smiling to herself when Katara sees she is taller than Zuko for once.
"We wouldn't be having these problems if your legs weren't so small and strides so short." He has to tilt his head upwards to talk to her.
Katara jumps down with a soft thump. "If someone wasn't freakishly tall we also wouldn't be having a problem."
Zuko opens his mouth to retort but decides against it. "Just try to keep up."
"Of course, Your Highness. I will do whatever I can to please you."
"You better," he says, the corners of his mouth twitching up at the end. He turns around before she can comprehend the situation.
Katara stares at his retreating back, her face morphing into a dumbfounded expression. Did she just see a smile?
"Hurry up!"
Katara shakes her head and runs to chase after him. In split second, her sore feet decide for her. She launches herself onto Zuko's back, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist for support.
Zuko stumbles forward at the sudden weight but quickly catches himself before they both tumble to the ground.
"I saw you smile," she whispers into his ear. Katara isn't sure where her new found energy emerged from, but she has a feeling the different expression on her companion's face is the fuel.
"What are you talking about?" He tries to whack her back so she gets off; it doesn't work.
Katara tucks her hair that falls in front of her face behind her ear. "It's this thing where the corners of one's mouth decide to turn up when one is amused."
"I know what a smile is."
"Are you sure? Because you only scowl."
"Will you get off my back?"
"I saw you smile Zuko. You should do it more often."
His feet scrape against the dirt as he quickly comes to a stop. Katara rests her chin on his shoulder.
"Why?"
Such a simple question that Katara has millions of answers to. "For starters, you don't look like a jerk. You look younger, and not like the weight of the world rests on your shoulders. And a smile is adorable on you."
"Adorable!? I don't want to be in the same category as a turtle duck."
She never knew Zuko could get so flustered over one word, and well... it's adorable. Katara laughs out loud as Zuko grumbles in response.
"You also look cu-"
"If you say I'm cute, you're getting throttled off my back, and you can find your own way to Ba Sing Se."
Her lips form a pout, and her nose brushes across his shoulder. Katara's eyes widen and she quickly lifts her face off of his shoulder. "You stink."
"Yes, I know I'm no fun."
"No. I mean you stink. When was the last time you took a bath?"
"Hey! You don't smell like roses either."
Zuko starts to walk again, and her feet start to slide from their hold on his waste. She quickly readjusts. Zuko's hands fumble under her legs to find a good hold, making Katara realize she is not getting off of him any time soon, and he knows that.
"Do I smell that bad?" Katara brings her arm up to her nose, taking in a wiff. Her nose scrunches up in protest. "Okay, so maybe I do."
"When we get to an inn or river, which ever one we happen to stumble upon, you can bathe first."
"What a gentleman." Katara rolls her eyes at him.
They don't speak for many hours. By this time, Katara has hopped off of his back and has opted to walk beside him. Every so often Katara finds her eyes drifting to her companion. Zuko stares straight ahead, and she lets her eyes rake over his appearance without him knowing. His short hair has gotten longer since she has stumbled upon him. She has full view of his unscarred side, and, she thinks with amusement, he has a smudge of dirt on his cheek.
"Are trying to catch me smiling again? Because it won't happen."
Katara quickly diverts her gaze to the foliage. "We'll see about that."
"Is that a challenge waterbender?"
"What if it was?" She brings her gaze back around to him, determination set in her eyes.
"Than I'd say that you would lose."
"You're underestimating my skills."
"I think you're underestimating me."
She walks around him, eyeing her challenge. "I don't know Zuko. It seems very easy to get you in a good mood these days."
"You're delusional. But we'll see if you can manage it." Zuko's eyes pierce hers in a silent acceptance of their 'competition'. He breaks eye contact and says, "I think we should rest here."
Katara nods in agreement as she sits down first, and Zuko pulls out some dried fruit, handing it over to her. The fruit is small enough that many are able to be piled up in her palm. She brings her nose down to sniff the food, and Katara thinks it smells like apples but she cannot tell. She just prays it is not papayas as she pops one in her mouth. The fruit is hard to swallow without any water, but it feeds her growing hunger.
"Are you ever going to tell me about your bending?" Zuko picks at another piece of fruit before putting it in his mouth.
"I-I don't know where to start."
"It happened that night, right? When you fought those soldiers with me?"
She nods. "It was when they put the metal chi blockers on me. Ever since then my bending has been all out of sorts."
"Do you lose it for very long?"
"It comes and goes. But everytime it comes back, it feels stronger."
He taps his fingers on his chin, thinking. "I didn't think chi blockers were supposed to cause this as an after effect. Does it have to do with spirits; have you talked to any recently?"
Yue, she has spoken to Yue. Katara looks at Zuko from the corner of her eye, and a grin appears on her face. "The only spirit I've talked to is the Blue Spirit. But he didn't like answering back."
"Haha. Very funny. I'm serious."
"Yue spoke to me in a dream once. She's the moon spirit."
"Did she have anything interesting to say?"
Besides the warning that Katara may kill him? "No, nothing at all."
"Hmm. Maybe if you meditate, you can connect to a spirit."
Her blue eyes widen at the thought. But she shakes her head. "It won't work. I can't enter the Spirit World."
Zuko's golden eyes drift from her face to the trees behind her, lost in thought. "Well... maybe you can meditate near a river or in a river and at night. You might be able to connect to your Water Tribe gods or spirits that way without having to go into the spirit world."
Katara nods, that may work. "Is that why you meditate most mornings? To connect to your gods and spirits?"
"No, I do it to help find my center. It helps with my firebending training."
Katara purses her lips, and wipes her hands on her trousers. "So what you're saying is you're guessing on how to connect to spirits."
"It won't hurt to try."
She starts to tug at her hair in frustration, and laces a curl around her finger. "This is hopeless. Has anyone been to the spirit world or connected to a spirit besides Aang and his past lives?"
Zuko's eyes widen in sudden realization. "My uncle did once."
"Do you think he would be able to help us, well... help me?" Katara glances around their resting spot as if expecting his uncle to be there.
"If you were a firebender, I'd say yes. But I don't know if he knows enough about waterbenders to help."
"We should find him then. He could help me connect to Yue." Eagerness is back in Katara's voice. Now she can finally find someone to figure out what is wrong with his bending.
"There is just one problem; I don't know where he is." Zuko spreads his hands, helplessly.
"I guess we're in desperate need of a water source than." They haven't seen a river or lake in the past couple of days, and Katara is starting to miss her element.
"To bathe? Then yes." Zuko smirks at her and scrunches up his nose.
"Don't start that again." Katara pushes him off the log he has been resting on. But his foot hooks hers, and she tumbles after him.
She narrowly misses banging her forehead into Zuko's nose. His hands find her waist and gently stops her from fully plowing into him. When her hands find leverage to keep her body up right, one of Zuko's leaves her waist and plucks something out of her hair. He twirls a leaf between his fingers before he lets it fall to the ground.
"That was not a good idea Katara."
"You were the one who started it with the stink comment again." Her hair falls in front of her face; the curls land gently on Zuko's nose.
He tucks her hair behind her ear. "I never said you stank."
"You implied it." She shifts her weight as her arms start to go numb.
"You're knee is in my stomach," Zuko says with a grunt
Without her permission, a light blush takes over the coloring of her cheeks. She had forgotten about the position she is in. It isn't like she has been lost in his golden eyes or forgotten that his warm hand is cupping her waist.
"Sorry," she mumbles.
Zuko's lips part to say something but then close as Katara stretches out her hand to help him up. His hands brush off the dirt that had coated his clothes during the fall. Katara picks up the pack off of the ground and slings it over her shoulder. She throws him his sheathed dao blades.
"Don't worry," he says as he places a hand on her shoulder. "Will figure it all out. Just... just be careful from now on, Okay?" His thumb brushes a tear that had started to run down her cheek, cutting through the caked dirt on her skin. "Okay?"
"Okay." Her eyelids flutter closed.
"I think it's time we found a town to rest at. Does that sound good to you?"
She opens her eyes. "It will be a nice change of pace from rocks and dirt."
Zuko has to fight off a smile because he doesn't want to lose. "When we get to the town, call me Lee."
Katara readjusts the sack to her other shoulder. "I probably shouldn't go by Katara."
"But don't you want Aang to find you?" he says, confused.
"I don't want to endanger anyone or you. I'll be Ling."
"That's a good choice. Now lets find a town so you can bathe." She punches him in the shoulder as they start walking again.
The next log they have to climb over brings them to a clearing, but still no closer to a town.
Stones are lined up in many rows and all are accompanied with a mound of dirt in front of them. Weeds have already made their home in many of the cracking crevices of the stones, but some of areas looked fresh, like the stones and dirt were just put there yesterday.
"What is this place?" Katara goes to kneel in front of the closest one. Her hand brushes away dirt and weeds, and underneath she finds a name and date.
"It's a graveyard." Zuko bows low, paying respects to the dead.
Katara hurriedly stands up and does the same. She should have realized before, but Earth Kingdom customs are different than the Water Tribe's. Where the Earth Kingdom buries their dead, in the Water tribes, they throw their dead in the sea, to be closer to Tui and La.
"The Fire Nation cermates their dead. I wish I knew how the Airbenders respected their deceased."
"Why? I'm sure Aang knows."
"It wouldn't matter now," Zuko says while staring at the gravestone Katara had uncovered. Pain flashes across his features.
"Why wouldn't it matter now?" Katara is oddly curious.
Zuko sits down at the next grave stone and starts to clear away vines that had grown around it. Katara kneels by the next stone to his left, waiting for his answer.
"I had to bury an entire nation," he says vaguely. He places a hand on the stone and mutters a blessing to the unnamed person who is buried below them. Katara looks at the stone, no name, just a date, dating back many years.
"I- I don't understand."
"I searched the Air Temples first when I was looking for the Avatar. Do you know what I found?"
She is scared to ask, but in her heart she knows what he found. "W-what?"
"Bones, skeletons of all the dead nomads. When the Fire Nation attacked, they didn't clean up their carnage. The airbenders' bones were scattered everywhere. Katara, I had to pay respects to children. I found a nursery in one of the temples; the soldiers just burnt them in their cribs. No mercy was shown to the women or children."
His golden eyes are full of pain and sadness. For the first time since she's known him, Zuko looks vulnerable.
"Aang saw the bones of Monk Gyatso. It made him go into the Avatar State. I can't imagine what it would have been like if the all of the bodies were left untouched. How old were you?"
"I was thirteen, and I had to pay respects to an extinct culture. I didn't want to burn their bones, as they were already subjected to fire once before. So I said prayers to my culture's gods, not theirs as the Fire Nation doesn't teach us who the Air Nomads worshiped, and tossed their bodies, no their bones, off the cliffs."
Katara stays silent, knowing Zuko isn't finished.
"In the Fire Nation, we were told the nomads fought back, that they resisted us. Resisted our greatness we were trying to spread to the world. " Zuko laughs, but there is no humor in it. "But there was no evidence of any struggle. At thirteen I didn't want to betray my nation any more than I already had. I pushed it from my mind. I haven't thought about those weeks in a long time."
She places a hand on his and gives it a gentle squeeze. "I think Aang would be very happy to know the nomads were given a burial with respect and were not just left there."
"I think seeing them broke me in a way my father couldn't. I didn't speak to anyone for many days afterwards. If I didn't do it, no one would have... except for Aang. But no child should have to burry his people."
Katara doesn't remove her hand, but turns her head to look at the three rows of graves in front of her. "These are soldiers, not villagers. That's why some have no name. Would you like to pay respects with me?"
He gives her hand a squeeze and pulls his away. "Of course."
She prays to Tui and La; he prays to Agni. Every prayer is laced with sadness and hope that these soldiers have found their way to the spirits.
It's odd updating on a Saturday, but I just finished the chapter and didn't want to wait another week.
I strongly believe that Zuko had to burry the dead nomads; it is my number one headcanon.
Yes, it's a filler. But the next chapter is going to be long. (Hint: They finally reach a town and interact with its inhabitants. What will come of that?)
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