Chapter 10

The Lightning's Hand

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Katara

I awake to an empty bed. I think nothing of it because that is what the norm has been for quite awhile now. When I actually open my eyes is when I remember that something is different; this is not my area in the curtained room. It takes a moment for last night to come back to me but as soon as it does, I look around for Zuko. I do not see him in the main room.

When I pull back the covers to make exploring easier, I see that I am still wearing all my clothes from last night. I expected nothing different, but I am still surprised. PAssing this thought by, I start to wander. To the right of the bed, there are two doors: they open to a closet. Its large enough that I'll come back to explore it at a later time.

I head down the length of the room. I am not sure why I did - there are only tapestries down this way. I sigh, walk past the doors that enter into the room, and proceed to head to the other side of the room. This side has more trinkets to it. I see numerous daggers, but only one is placed in a glass case. I make a mental note to ask Zuko about it later.

The only interruption in the tapestries is a pair of matching swords. With the size of the blades, I am thankful to see that there is a decent amount of dust covering them. I continue back towards the bed. I reach the bathroom doors, pop my head in, and see nothing. For whatever reason, Zuko is no longer in his room. I decide to take this time to clean up. I wash my face and my hair.

I walk out of the bathroom, drying off my hair in a towel when I hear the door open. I turn towards it and see Zuko sneaking in with a tray of food.

"When did you get up?" I ask.

"I wake with the sun. I have been up for about an hour. Since you seemed to be in a heavy sleep, I decided to go on a morning jog and then get some food so we can talk more about what happened last night."

"Actually, I'm not sure if I can. I have other jobs that I have to complete."

"Katara, the reason you were brought here was for me. Since you are with me, there will be no other things that you have to complete."

"Oh, right. I guess that is true."

"Katara. With me, you do not have to guess." Zuko says this as he reaches for my hand. I let him take it and move closer to him and the food.

"So what did you get?"

"I wasn't really sure what you would like, so I got a lot of little things in the hope that you would at least like at least one." He seems to almost question himself and his apparent shyness about it makes me laugh.

"What?" he asks, almost surprised.

"You are going way over the top for me. Truly, I would have been fine with a piece of bread."

"I am the crown prince of the fire nation. Even I would laugh at myself if I went down to the kitchen and asked for only bread."

"Well then, let's just eat."

As soon as we sit down and have taken the plates off the tray, there is a knock on the door. Zuko sighs as he rises and heads that way. When he opens it, we are treated to Ma Ling holding a tray with a tea pot on it.

"Sorry for the inconvenience Prince Zuko, I am just here to bring Mistress Katara her daily tea."

"Oh, thank you. I didn't realize that she had daily tea."

"Nothing to worry about sir, just please make sure she gets it. Now if you would please excuse me, I have other things to do today."

"Go ahead. Thank you for bringing this."

And with a slight nod of her head, Ma Ling is off. Zuko carries over the tea and pours me a glass.

"I didn't know you needed daily medicine," he says with a puzzled look as he sits back down at the table with me.

"I don't need it. They have forced me to take it since I arrived here."

"Forced to take what?" he says, concerned.

I delay my response. If I tell him about both herbs that I am taking, not only will I die of embarrassment but if I only tell him about the herbs blocking my bending, then it means that I might have a chance to gain back my bending. I go with the option that I only tell him about the bending blocking herbs. Nothing else has happened that would require him knowing about the birth control herbs.

"They think that I am dangerous enough that they need to block my bending."

"Well to be fair, you have been fighting with the Avatar since he emerged from his iceberg. You have become a very well known bender throughout the kingdoms. If they were planning on keeping you for any length of time, they needed to do something about a powerful waterbender in the Capitol."

"I don't understand how it takes your sister forever to realize who I am, but all the people in your armies realize who I fight for."

"I don't think that they know who you are, but rather that they realized that you were a waterbender when they saw you fight."

"Yeah, I guess that would be an obvious reason to give me those herbs."

There is a silence between us. Zuko looked almost ashamed.

"It is not my choice that they do this. It is an unfair to take away anyone's bending. I can not imagine not having my firebending to fall back on."

He pauses again and slowly raises his eyes to look straight at me.

"If you end up staying in my room, they will have no way to monitor if you take them or not. We'll take the tea with us every morning and just pour it down the sink once we get back."

"Are you sure? I could be a danger to you."

"Honestly, watching you cower away from Azula yesterday was too sad; I would not wish that upon anyone. As long as you do not bend when others can see you, I see no problem with you having your bending."

"Even if that means I could kill you in your sleep?"

"There has to be some show of trust between us. I could do the exact same thing. This way at least we are equal."

"Thank you. I will owe you for this."

"You do realize that this means you will have to stay in here, right? You'll need to move your schedule so that at the time you need to take the tea, you'll always be in here."

"How will we do this?"

"It should be easy. You'll just tell the head of the brothel that I requested that you to move into my room permanently."

"And would I need to worry about other people coming in during the day?"

"Just the person who cleans my room, I believe, but I'd doubt she'd give you any problems."

"Thank you, Zuko. This means the world to me."

"Again, the trust has to start somewhere. To me, this is the best way to do that."

"So with trust means we can talk about anything, right?"

"Sure."

"Why is only one of the daggers in your room covered by a glass case?"

"That one was gifted to me by someone very close to me."

"Who, your mother?"

"No. Actually, it was my cousin Lu Ten."

"Why have I never heard of him before?"

"He died in the first battle of Ba Sing Se. I barely remember him. The thing I remember most was how lost my Uncle was when he came back from the battle. Before he left to take Ba Sing Se, Lu Ten came to me with the dagger. He kneeled before me and said, 'Zuko, with me leaving, it is time to show everyone what a man you have become. This is the first dagger that my dad gave me. It is now your turn to take it.' I did and I cherished that dagger. When Lu Ten didn't come home I offered the dagger to Uncle. He told me that Lu Ten meant for me to have it and I should keep it safe until I could pass it on to my first born. I put it in a case to protect it and it still stays there to this day."

It is my turn to comfort him. I reach across the table to grab his hand. He holds on tight. I try to say something to comfort him, "You've lost in the same way that I have because of this war haven't you?"

"I thought we realized this in the cave. The same loss but for different reasons. Yes, this war takes its toll on all."

"Zuko, I never realized"

"Never realized that it could get to the royal families? Why would anyone be free from it?"

"You think that the leaders won't be affected by the war. I am not sure why this ideal stuck with me because I saw what happened in the North when you rained fire down upon our heads. It just isnt a common thought."

"War touches all. Sozin thought the comet would be a quick start and easy end to the war. He was wrong and here we are almost 100 years later waiting for the next comet to come and end the war for the good or bad. Hopefully we will not be in this capital when everything finally ends."

"Not in this capital? What do you mean?"

"I mean that the world will be lit on fire. Just because I have not sat in on these meetings does not mean that I do not know what is happening. My Father's plan is to light the Earth Kingdom on fire. Not only will it crush their spirits but it will also showcase the power behind the Fire Nation. The survivors will have little choice but to surrender to the Fire Nation's rule. I just hope to be in a corner of the world that will not be on fire that day."

"You can't accept the World buring as the only option. There's Aang now he is much stronger now than when you first faced him…"

"It still may not be enough. Without a firebending teacher he has no hope of beating even the weakest firebender when the comet comes."

"Then become his teacher. You could help. You seem so unhappy here we can leave."

"Do you know how hard it is to escape the palace?"

"Yes, you think that I honestly wouldn't try and canvas the possible escape routes? With two master benders it should be no problem."

"We still have to wait until your bending is back. That means at least a week maybe two."

"That's the perfect amount of time to come up with a plan."

"You really want to do this?"

"I should be asking you that question. Would you be okay running to people that you hunted for years?"

"If it keeps the world from burning, yes I would do anything."

"Thank you, Zuko," I say as I get up and actually go to hug him. I don't give a second thought to it. It feels natural because I am so grateful in that moment. With his height, the hug is comfortable and warmth coming off him, I close my eyes and am able to relax for the first time since I got to this accursed place.