Disclaimer: I do not own ATLA or any of the characters from the series.
Chapter 9: The Little Memories
Month 5, day 27: Everything is going well. I enjoy working at the Jasmine Dragon, and it gives me a chance to learn about my two companions. Three nights a week, I take Zuko out around the town. Gradually, he started accepting my invitations on his own, started opening up to me while we talked, and started letting himself have some fun. One night Iroh and I got him to go on a date with one of the girls who often came for tea. He seemed to have had a nice time. I think he's enjoying the chance to be a normal teen. I wish I could.
As he opens up, I find myself becoming fonder of him. I doubt I'll ever love him, thankfully, but maybe I could see him as a friend. Maybe marrying him wouldn't be so bad. But first things first- I have to get him to fall in love with me, and he has to get back to the Fire Nation and reclaim his birthright one way or another. Easier said than done.
Katara walked into the shop one morning to find that no one was there. Concerned, she went to the apartment to see why the old general and his nephew were not at work yet. It was unusual for Iroh to be so late; the old man still rose with the sun.
"Katara! Good morning," Iroh greeted when she knocked on the door.
"Good morning, Mushi. I'm sorry if I'm intruding, but I was worried when I saw you weren't at the shop yet. Is everything alright?"
"Oh dear, I am sorry, I forgot you would be coming in this morning. Zuko has come down with a fever, but he should be alright in a few days. I am afraid I cannot open the shop until then, though."
Katara frowned. Zuko must really be ill if Iroh didn't bother using their aliases. It was one thing to realize Katara was the same girl as Kala, but another thing altogether to admit that Lee was Zuko.
"Is there anything I can do? Is it something I can heal?"
Iroh shook his head. "I have just been trying to keep him cool and hydrated. But perhaps you might be able to help with that. Then I could make some tea. I believe your skills are much more fit for this kind of care. Firebending does not help much." Iroh added the last part quietly.
Iroh lead the waterbender into Zuko's room. The prince was laying on the pallet. Even though he had neither blanket nor shirt covering him, his skin was damp with sweat. The old firebender was right- Katara couldn't heal this kind of sickness. Whatever it was, she didn't recognize it. But she could keep him cool better than anyone else could. She bended a ribbon of water to flow around his head and torso, focusing on the pulse points such as the wrists and neck. She kept this up throughout the day, always making sure Iroh was there when Zuko woke. She knew he wouldn't want her there while he was in this state.
Finally, around sunset, Zuko woke up again. This time his eyes were clear and focused. His temperature was down.
"Katara?" His voice was hoarse but steady.
"Mushi!" Katara called over her shoulder before turning to her patient, "Thank Agni you're alright. We were really worried for a while there when you began hallucinating."
Iroh knew instantly that his nephew's fever had broken. Katara has used their real names while Zuko was ill. He walked into the room with a tea tray.
"How long have I been out?" Zuko asked, looking at his uncle.
"You collapsed yesterday morning. It's been a night and two full days. You are lucky. If it weren't for Katara here, I fear you might have been ill for much longer. I did not expect you to be well for another three days. It takes time for your body to recover from that. Here, drink some of this."
"Then I suppose I owe my thanks to you, Katara," Zuko gave a slight bow from his seated position, "Now, ah…where's my shirt?"
Katara rolled her eyes at his bashfulness, but handed him the shirt anyway.
Iroh made them all eat some rice and dumplings and drink some tea before sending them to bed. Despite her protests, Katara slept in their living room again.
"We all had an exhausting day. We need to sleep. I do not like the idea of you walking around the city, especially through the rubble district, when you are exhausted."
In the morning, Katara helped Iroh make breakfast. Zuko woke up and greeted them with a bright smile.
"Good morning, Uncle, Katara. It's a beautiful day isn't it?" He opened the windows by the table, sat down, and drank his tea as if he did that every day. Katara and Iroh looked at each other with surprised expressions, but quickly hid it.
"Here, try some of the dumplings Katara made. They are simply delicious," Iroh persuaded Zuko to eat.
"These are good. Thank you, Katara." For some reason, Katara found herself blushing at his warm smile.
"It's no problem, really. My grandmother taught me how to cook just about everything." It was true- Kana had taught Katara recipes from around the world, just in case she ever needed it for one of her covert-operations. A good thing, too. It had helped her out of quite a few sticky situations.
One afternoon, Katara and Zuko went for a walk. Iroh had insisted they get some fresh air while he closed up the shop. After several days of putting the two teenagers together in different situations, they suspected he had an ulterior motive for wanting them to be alone together.
"Honestly, it's as if he's trying to set us up together."
"My uncle tends to intrude into other people's business when it comes to things like that."
"Well, maybe it's a good thing. Look- there's the Lantern Festival! We can go there." Katara grabbed Zuko's hand and led him through the crowd to watch the performers.
Only later, after several routines, did Zuko realize that Katara has never let go of his hand. Even more surprising though, was that he didn't want her to. He tightened his grip on her hand, making her turn and smile at him.
It was midnight when he walked her back to her apartment. It was the first time he had seen where she lived. Zuko suddenly understood his uncle's concern; the rubble district was crawling with shady characters leering at them from the shadows. Katara laughed at him when he wrapped his arm around her protectively.
"I can take care of myself, Lee. Always have, always will. I don't need anyone else to take care of me."
"You sound like me. And look how far that got me- walking through the rubble district with no way to defend myself," he teased. But he did wish he had his Dao swords with him.
By the time they reached her one-room apartment, Zuko was reluctant to let her go.
"Don't worry about me. I've lived here for three months and nothing has ever happened to me." Katara kissed his cheek quickly. She went to close the door, but he grabbed her wrist.
"Are you sure you don't want to stay with us? We have plenty of room in our apartment. It's the least we can do, after all the help you've given us. Or I'll stay here with you. This is no place for a lady to be staying alone."
Katara was amused by this. "I'm hardly a lady, Lee. I have no home, no title, and no family to claim as my own. But don't worry. I'm a waterbender. Anyone who tries to get in here without my permission will find himself frozen to the wall. Or maybe the ceiling, if he gets me mad enough. Goodnight, Lee."
Zuko recognized the dismissal. Despite her reassurances, he was still reluctant to leave.
It had been four months since they came to Ba Sing Se. 'Four months and I'm still no closer to getting him to fall for me than I was three months ago. Maybe if I told him I was the same girl as Kala? No way. Nothing good could come from that. The Painted Lady? Ha. Then he'd think I was stalking him. Which, I am, but I don't want him to know that.' Katara wandered the streets aimlessly, thinking about her situation. The moon was full so she couldn't sleep. Instead of tossing and turning in her desolate room, she decided to be outside. Donning the river spirit guise again, she felt free to wander the streets without being bothered.
But she was not alone. Someone else was nearby. Ducking into the shadows, Katara looked around her. No one was visible, but she sensed another presence. After a few moments of silence, she stepped toward the light again.
A hand slipped under her veil and clamped over her mouth and an arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her back into the shadows.
"Shhhh. Dai Li," a male voice hissed near her ear. He pulled her slowly down the side of the road into an alley. Half way down the alley, he released her. Looking back, she searched for the secret police agents. Sure enough, one leapt down to the street, and two more disappeared over the edge of the roof.
Turning back to the man beside her, she saw that it was the Blue Spirit. Neither of them moved for a long time. Then, carefully, he moved to pull back her veil. 'Not so fast, you sneak,' the river spirit jerked back and ran down the alley away from the Dai Li. She looked back, making sure her fellow spirit was following. Always staying just in sight, she led him through the city until she found her destination- a large lake a little ways outside the walls. She came here to practice her bending. Being disguised as a river spirit, it would make sense for her to try to "escape" here. Slowing down, Katara let the blue spirit catch her when she was knee-deep in the water.
"Wait. Please." When he saw that she wasn't trying to pull away, he continued, "You know who I am. Now it's your turn, who are you?"
"Take off the mask. If you want me to show myself, you'll have to do the same."
"Fair enough." The Blue Spirit reached back with both hands, untied the wooden mask, and pulled back the hood, revealing the face of the Fire Nation's prince. Katara smiled. 'Perfect.'
Turning away from him, she took off the hat and veil as well as the heavy purple robe, leaving just the red silk shift. The outer garments sank under the water, sitting on the sand where Katara would be able to retrieve them later. Before Zuko could catch sight of her face, she dove into the water, leaping into the deeper part of the lake.
Zuko cursed under his breath. He had been so close. He dove in after her, hoping he still had a chance. He stayed under the water as long as he could, but it was too dark to see anything. The firebender rose out of the water, gasping for air. A hand closed over his eyes, and an arm wrapped around his waist, pulling him into shallower water toward the opposite shore. When he was released, he spun around, half expecting the river spirit to have disappeared again. Instead, he found her wading in a pool of moonlight just out of reach, the red paint washed away.
"Katara?" He gasped.
"Hello Zuko. Lovely night, isn't it?" Katara smiled; she loved messing with him. Especially as he stared open-mouthed at her, struggling to unscramble his thoughts.
"Ok, wait, let me get this straight. You're Katara."
"Very good, Zuko. Yes, my name is Katara," the girl said sarcastically.
Ignoring her, he continued, "And you're the river spirit? The one that I saw at the river that day?"
"That's typically where you'd find a river spirit."
"And you know my name. How?"
"You told me, of course. Or, rather one of your crew called you 'Prince Zuko', and you responded. I knew you were the Blue Spirit when I saw you put on the mask."
Zuko shook his head. "Ok, explain. Crew? What crew-Oh! When were you near my crew? And when did you see me put on the mask?"
Katara sighed and leaned back to float on the water. "Remember Kala? No, I suppose you wouldn't. The little stowaway from the Southern Water Tribe? Yes, now you remember. That was me. And don't you dare say anything about lying to you- you've done the same to me for the past four months, Lee. Anyway, I saw you put on the mask one day when we were docked. That was also about the same time I learned about the Painted Lady. The crew and soldiers, as well as your uncle, were all sharing myths and ghost stories."
"And what made you decide to disguise yourself as the Painted Lady?"
"I was traveling by myself to Ba Sing Se the same time you were. I think you'll agree it's lonely on that path if you aren't traveling with someone else. I wanted, needed, to talk to someone, even briefly."
"So? Why not just approach me? Why go through all that trouble?"
Katara gave him a pointed look. "And what would you have done, if I had just walked up to you? The last time you had seen me, I worked for you as a scullery maid and healer's assistant."
"Oh, right," Zuko rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. "So, ah, does Uncle know about all this?"
"Iroh knows about me being the same girl as Kala; he recognized me when we met in the ferry docks. Don't be mad at him, I asked him not to say anything. But he doesn't know about me being the Painted Lady. Unless he's figured it out on his own. You haven't said anything about it to him, have you?"
"About the river spirit who appears out of thin air? Who heals him in the middle of the night? Who kisses me, then disappears without a word? No, he'd think I was crazy."
"Oh. Thanks. It would be weird to think he knows about me posing as the Painted Lady."
"Weirder than him knowing I'm the Blue Spirit?" Zuko asked, wondering now if she had been the one to tell his uncle about the mask.
"Yes, weirder. And don't give me that look; it wasn't me who told him. He figured it out on his own."
"How did I not recognize you, all these times?" Zuko pondered, more to himself than to her.
Katara answered anyway. "It is easy to forget a face you do not already recognize. Each time you saw me, I presented myself as a different person, so you would not have automatically associated one girl with another, and therefore were more likely to forget my face again."
They sat in silence for a while, just sitting in the water.
"So... What do we do now?" Zuko asked, unsure. Katara was silent for so long, he thought she wasn't going to answer.
"This." With movements almost too quick to follow, Katara leapt up and dunked the prince under the water, using her bending to drag him back into the deeper part of the lake.
"Oh, now you've done it, you little shrimp," Zuko lunged to grab the waterbender. "Hey! Not fair! No bending allowed!" Katara just laughed, teasing him by letting him go, only to catch him again just before reaching her.
It was almost dawn when they found themselves lying on the beach, worn out from their water fight.
"We'd better get back. It's a long walk back to your apartment. Your uncle will wake up soon, and then we have to work."
"Yah. We'll be tired today." Zuko helped Katara up from the sand. She bended the water from their clothes and led the way back to the walls. It wasn't until they were both in their respective rooms that they remembered to ask the other why they were out walking the streets so late at night.
"These two med are firebenders! Arrest them!" Katara looked up in surprise at the outburst.
"Jet!? What are you doing here?" The Freedom Fighter didn't hear her- he was arguing with one of the customers, pointing accusingly at Zuko, who was looking pretty irritated. Before she could do anything, the saw the two men grab their swords and begin fighting. The tea shop's customers followed them out to the street.
Katara watched anxiously as they fought. They were evenly matched, and Katara was afraid for Zuko.
'You idiot, Jet! What are you doing? I need him alive! And preferably not in an Earth Kingdom jail cell!' As much as she wanted to end the fight, she knew neither of them would want her to intervene. It wasn't just Fire Nation honor, it was a guy thing. Sokka had always resented it when she helped him win his fights.
Zuko glared at his opponent. 'Oh, no you don't. I'm not losing this one.' Zuko knew that the other man's goal was to get him to bend. Nut no matter how close he got to losing the swordfight, he wasn't going to rise to the bait. Not this time. He and his uncle had worked too hard to lose it all to this punk.
But when he found the rebel's hooked swords crossed around his neck, he was sorely tempted to drop the Dao swords and use his natural talent. The two opponents stood there, frozen, for what seemed like hours.
"Come on, firebender. Defend yourself. Or are you just going to let me slit your throat?" the man, Jet Katara had called him, taunted. Then he was knocked back by a spout of water that slammed him into the wall across the street. Ice encased him up to his neck.
"That's enough Jet. Leave Lee and his uncle alone."
"Katara? What are you doing? These men are firebenders. You have to believe me. You know I wouldn't lie about something like that. Let me go! They're the ones you should be attacking!"
"Why should I believe you? I've worked with them for months and neither one has shown signs of being a bender, let alone a firebender. They haven't lied to me. You, on the other hand, have. I know you have no limits to how far you'll go to get your revenge. You'll condemn hundreds of innocent people just for those few fire nation soldiers with them. I think you should leave here, Jet."
"Not until they do," he snarled, "And if you've betrayed your people to side with the enemy, then you can join them," Jet used a word that should never be directed at a woman. Zuko saw Katara flinch from the insult and felt his fury rise greater than it had when Jet accused him of being a firebender. At least that had been true.
By then Dai Li agents arrived. After a quick explanation from a bystander, they surrounded Jet. It took a minute to persuade Katara to drop the ice instead of freezing him solid, but she eventually stepped back. Zuko wrapped his arms protectively around her as they watched the agents lead a struggling Jet away.
Zuko looked at Katara questioningly. "How did you say you knew him?"
Iroh had sent them out again. Shoving a picnic basket and a blanket at them, he pushed them out the door, saying, "It's such a lovely day. You two go on ahead and enjoy yourselves. I can handle the shop for today."
So now they were sitting in the sun near the lake where the two spirits had revealed themselves as Katara and Zuko. He laid down on the blanket while she remained sitting upright next to him.
"So, what do you think your uncle is thinking right now?" Katara laughed.
"Knowing him, he's probably imagining some crazy fantasy about us falling in love and me realizing I wanted to stay here forever, working at the tea shop and raising half a dozen kids with you."
They laughed, knowing it was very likely that's what the old tea-maker was hoping for. "Yes, crazy." Katara "absent-mindedly" ran her fingers through his hair. "I like it better this way. Much more flattering than that ponytail you had when you were on the ship."
Zuko closed his eyes at her touch. "It wasn't always like that. The doctors had to shave most of it off to treat the burn. It just kind of ended up staying like that until Uncle and I had to run from Azula."
'Two touchy subjects in one breath,' Katara noted. 'What do I say to that?'
"Too bad I didn't meet you earlier. I bet you could have done a much better job healing the burn than those fools who call themselves doctors. What was it you said to me? 'No pain, no recovery time, and no scar'."
"That's right. And even then you still refused to let me heal you until both Iroh and On Ji told you to."
Zuko laughed. "I was a stuck-up fool, wasn't I?"
"Maybe. But who could blame you? Your family had been fighting against waterbenders for a hundred years. That kind of animosity isn't changed right away."
"But look how far we've come. You like me enough to get your friend- ok, acquaintance- arrested instead of letting him have me taken captive. And I trust you enough not to poison me with my uncle's own tea." Zuko sat up and faced Katara.
"Really? That's as far as it goes? Trust not to kill you?"
"No. But that's a big part of it. Besides, I couldn't quite find the words to say how much I like you." Zuko brushed back a strand of hair that had fallen from the waterbender's braid. Then he brushed his hand across her cheek and rested it under her chin, tilting her face up to his.
"Zuko, what are you….?" Her question was silenced when he pressed his lips to hers.
"That's for the first time you kissed me," he kissed her again, "That's for the second. And this… this is just because I want to."
Zuko kissed her a third time. This time, it wasn't soft and gentle, but deeper and with more feeling. Katara kissed him back, tilting her head to deepen the kiss.