A/N: This takes place during the episodes Secrets of the Fire Nation and the Waterbending Scroll.
Chapter Eleven; Trouble
Sokka looked over the side of Appa's saddle, wondering where the scream had come from. A young woman in a dark red robe was being dragged across the metal deck of one of the blockade ships, yelling and kicking. For a moment, he didn't see anything special about her.
Then, all of a sudden, realisation kicked in and heedless of the danger, he leaned over the side of the saddle and shouted, waving his arms.
"HEY! Water Tribe! YO! UP HERE! WATER TRIBE!"
The dark-skinned woman ceased in her struggles and looked up, blue eyes clouded with tears briefly catching his before she was dragged below deck. Sokka sat back, stunned. Katara… He shook himself abruptly. She's dead. That was just a dark-skinned fire nation. It happens sometimes. It wasn't her. It wasn't…
Katara was walking on the decks of the ship when it happened. She loved the ocean, and had always dreamt of being aboard a boat, surrounded by nothing but sea. But after three weeks on the blockade ship, the appeal had begun to fade. She could only go upon deck at certain times, and the only people who she could talk to were the officers, and they weren't interested in helping her alleviate her boredom.
Yes, that was it. She was bored. Bored to death. Bored to tears. She was bored of being bored. She was so bored she had found herself counting the visible rivets in her ceiling, then the non-visible ones, then all of them together, then…
There was a sudden rush of soldiers past her, and she was herded to the railings as the soldiers began raising the heavy catapults and arming them. Katara lent against the railing, settling in for a long stay. It was always amusing to see the men rushing around like headless chickengeese.
Some of the other ships were already firing, and she followed the trajectory of the fireballs, trying to see which cloud they were aiming at as a target today. There was a sudden anguished bellow, and a white furry form dipped below the clouds briefly. The Avatar!
"NO!"
Katara was moving before she knew it, running towards the catapults. She was caught roughly around the waist, and she turned towards her attacker, clawing them across the face. She registered it was Zhao, but continued struggling, letting out a piercing scream as he hit her, hard.
She was eventually dragged belowdecks and shoved into her room. She dimly registered the door locking through a haze of confusion. A water tribesman… What was he doing there? I thought the Avatar hadn't reached the North Pole yet…
She sat numbly on the carpet for hours. Night fell, and there was the sound of footsteps in the corridor. The door opened, and Zhao came in. Katara could tell instantly that something bigger than what she had done was wrong, and she tried to run, ducking under Zhao's arm before he closed the door. She only managed a couple of steps before her arm was twisted viciously behind her back and Zhao slammed her into the wall.
He pushed her ahead of him into his room, shutting and locking the door. He turned towards her, his eyes glowing with venom.
"Defy me, will you?"
Katara's screams lasted long into the night.
Aang's pacing was beginning to irritate Sokka.
"Would you sit down? If we hit a bump you'll go flying off. What's bugging you anyway?"
"It's what Avatar Roku said. I'm supposed to master all four elements before that comet arrives!"
"Well, let's see," Sokka turned round to face Aang. "You've pretty much mastered airbending and that only took you 112 years. I'm sure you can master three more elements by next summer."
"I haven't even started waterbending and we're still weeks away from the North Pole. What am I going to do?" Sokka winced as his intended humour failed. He sometimes forgot just how young Aang was.
"Calm down! Look, maybe we can find a lake for you to try and work some moves out in. I mean, it can't be too hard, right?"
"This is hopeless! I'm never going to get even one move! I give up!"
Sokka looked up from scrubbing Appa's feet. "Maybe you just need to take a break? I felt like this when I was learning the boomerang, but once I got it, no problems!"
"Yeah, maybe you're right. We can go into that town near here and have a look around!"
Aang's exuberance made Sokka wince, remembering their last 'shopping' trip.
"Okay then, but we can't spend too much. We've only got a few silvers left, and we need to make it last."
"Run!" Aang zipped past Sokka, catching the confused boy by the hand and dragging him along.
"Why-!"
"Just run!"
"Why? It's not as if the pirates are after us!"
"…Yeah, about that…" Even through the sheer terror on his face, Sokka could sense his embarrassment.
"Oh great! What did you steal this time!"
This was getting annoying. Since Aang had found out about the - joys - of pick pocketing from some of the less savoury people they had met, the young airbender had taken a liking to the pastime and did it whenever he had a chance. It had gotten them into and out of trouble more times than he could count. Sokka didn't know whether to consider it a blessing or a curse.
"I didn't steal anything!"
"Sure you didn't, Mr Sticky-Fingers! What was it?"
"…That scroll! I need to learn waterbending! I'll give it back when I'm finished!"
"Well they don't know that, do they? All we need now is for Zuko to show up! Come on, run!"
Zuko showed up.
A/N: Three, maybe four chapters to go before Katara joins the GAang.
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