Disclaimer: I don't own 'Avatar: The Last Airbender'
Notes: And on to Book One: Water, Chapter Fifteen: Bato of the Water Tribe (the third and final part) and also Book One: Water, Chapter Sixteen: The Deserter.

My weekends are really being consumed by the volunteering work I'm doing… It's something called 'Brownies', and basically I'm doing a lot of camping whilst looking after a bunch of brats—I mean, little angels. Not to mention that my summer holidays (or vacation, whatever) are approaching and I must pay some attention to my friends. So… updates may be more separated than a week. I'm really trying, but it takes a lot of work and I often rewrite chapters and choose my favourite. But I'll see how it goes…

SMOKE

Smoke... smoke... had to get out of the smoke... suddenly a warm hand gripped onto her wrist tightly. Katara stopped breathing. "Where do you think you're going, water peasant?"

Flowerperson
© 2006

Part XII: Perfume

Zuko attacked first, lunging forward with a flaming fist of fury—angry at the Avatar for having this chase go on for so long, angry at his uncle for referring to the peasant by her first name, angry at himself for feeling somewhat guilty towards said peasant, angry at the bounty hunter for assuming that this peasant was his girlfriend and angry at the boy peasant… because he still hadn't forgiven him for that blow to the head all those weeks ago.

The Avatar was more than ready, using the air currents to push him up so he could dodge the Fire Prince's attack. He brought his staff down to whack Zuko smartly on the head but the elder of the two sidestepped. Zuko took a deep breath, gathering fire into his hands—"Remember your basics, Prince Zuko; firebending comes from the breath"—and pushed the orb forward. Aang foresaw his move and had made a sphere of his own made up of pressurized air currents.

The two globes of elemental energy collided.

BANG! Forced back by the sheer force of the impact, Zuko and Aang both struggled to their feet, both still with looks of determination on their faces. They paused for a few moments before diving in again to battle.

I'm going to do this for you, Father.

I'm going to do this for you, Katara.

Katara, watching helplessly in her paralysed state, looked on in horror as her best friend was up against their worst enemy. The strange dark-haired woman and her monstrous steed moved closer towards the fighting boys but was intercepted by a fierce-looking Appa (she had never heard him growl like that) with Sokka sitting upon him. Her brother just had to go ruin their entrance by making some stupid hero-pose and commenting on how he was going to beat her and her overgrown rat.

Prince Zuko's uncle Iroh was no where to be seen, but the waterbender knew that he would not get involved in Zuko's fight unless it looked like his nephew was in mortal danger. And even if he did involve himself, it would only be to retreat.

So Katara, the only waterbender from the Southern Water Tribe, was forced to remain powerless as her loved ones fought a powerful enemy. Her little finger twitched, but that was the most she could move. If only she hadn't been so slow…

One of the Sisters—the same one she had talked to the other day—rushed over to her with a small cream bottle in her hand. She uncorked the lid and placed it under Katara's nose. "Smell this," she instructed and Katara obliged. Sneezing, her whole body shook for a few seconds. Her hand went up to wipe at her nose before Katara realised the significance of that reaction; she could move again.

Jumping to her feet (but swaying slightly because of her unused muscles), Katara's hand reached for her water bottle. It was such a small amount of water that Katara doubted it would make much difference. Gazing back and forth, she noticed Zuko and Aang fighting around a well. Katara turned to the nun.

"Does that well have water?" she questioned. The nun nodded, unsure as to why she was asking this question before her lips curved upwards in understanding. She was from the Water Tribe, after all.

Katara mirrored her nod before rushing over there just in time to see Zuko perform a roundhouse kick, knocking the Avatar away. Katara moved her hands in a sudden push motion, forcing the water at the bottom of the well to rise at an incredible pace.

"Zuko!" she called. The Fire Prince turned to her, confused. How did she—he was cut off by the upward surge of water from below him, throwing him at least twenty feet in the air. He had no time to yell, or curse, as he met the unforgiving ground with an undignified "Oomph!"

The waterbender rushed over to Aang, but he seemed to be knocked out cold. She hoped that the firebender was in a similar state but his muffled curses and groans as he got to his feet proved this incorrect. She stood in front of Aang, her heart beating at a thousand beats per minute. She had to protect him, he was the hope of the world, he was her best friend, he was just a twelve year old kid…

"Get out of my way."

"No."

He brought a hand up to wipe away the moisture still present from her surprise attack. His hand reached into his pocket, taking out something that he knew would affect her. Sure enough, Katara's eyes narrowed.

"Give it back."

"What?"

"My mother's necklace," she growled, "Give it back."

"Then move out of my way. Do you really think you'll stand a chance against me? Think about it. I'm a Fire Nation Prince and you are Water Tribe pauper." His smarmy tone caused her fists to clench. The hand that wasn't holding Katara's mother's necklace blazed into flames, steadily approaching the piece of jewellery held in Zuko's left hand. "You better think quick, peasant."

Katara couldn't lose the only thing she had left of her mother, but she couldn't lose Aang either.

Should she give up the past, or the future?

Suddenly Appa charged past him, being chased by the bounty hunter's Xir-Xiu. The latter's tongue darted out, intending to lash at the furry bison but instead smacking an unprepared Zuko round the head. The fire prince twitched a few times before falling backwards, the fire in his right hand extinguished but the necklace still held in the other. Katara blinked, thanking the lucky stars for her good luck before looking back to Aang, making sure he was okay.

The Sister that had cured her paralysis ran over to her again. "Please, Daughter of Hakoda. The beast is starting to attack the Sisters. What do we do?" Katara frowned, thinking over what she could do. Aang was unconscious, Zuko was unable to do anything, Iroh was no where to be seen, the bounty hunter was trying to control her animal and Sokka and Appa were being chased by the persistent rat-looking creature.

What did she know about it? Its tongue caused paralysis. It was fast. It was hard to control. No, there was nothing good there. What had it done when she first saw it? It had sniffed the air… and then again when it was following Sokka's path. Could it be… that it relied on its sense of smell? She hadn't see any eyes on the beast, so it was logical.

Now, only to do something with this weakness…

You'd think that surrounded with a village full of sweet-smelling perfumes, she would have gotten the plan quicker but it took Katara a good few minutes to realise this seemingly obvious fact.

"Quick!" she ordered, "Spill the perfume! As much as you can!"

The Sister stuttered, hesitant. "A-Are you sure?"

"If you want to save this village! Trust me!"

The nuns quickly obliged after a few moments. Rows upon rows of perfume pots were pushed over until the scents were making even Katara sneeze. She stood ankle-depth in the large puddle full of perfume then began to move her arms in a flowing motion. The liquid began to flow to her movements, reaching up until it became a huge wave. Making a grunt of concentration, she brought down the small tsunami onto the Xir-Xiu, covering it with the smelly substances.

The animal sneezed, halting in its chase. Whipping at it mercilessly, the bounty hunter was treated with a slap of the Xir-Xiu's tongue, immobilising her.

Somehow throughout all this mess, Iroh had arrived and the dark-haired woman coincidentally fell upon him. She scowled but was powerless to do anything about their position, having to settle with lying upon a perverted old man (well, he certainly acted that way towards her).

Katara grinned. She had done it. She had really done it. She wasn't useless, wasn't just the damsel in distress.

I protected Aang.

Sokka dismounted Appa and rushed over to his sister, swooping her into a bear hug. "I thought I lost you again," he murmured, "I don't ever want to lose more of my family again." Suddenly he was crying and she was crying and then Aang was there and he was crying.

It was a very emotional moment, Katara would reflect.

Eventually they separated. Aang and Sokka went to apologise to the nuns but received only smiles and choruses of "Don't worry. It's no trouble at all." Katara stood alone, her arms wrapped around herself for comfort. Out of habit, her fingers moved to her neck to touch the crystal and feel its soothing surface but met only bare skin. How could she have forgotten?

Warily, she made her way over to Zuko; her hands were poised ready to waterbend, just in case. He was obviously still paralysed, as his golden eyes watched her with a malicious hate and also… shame? Her mother's necklace was held loosely in his hand and she gently pried it from him before tying it around her neck.

"Pea…sant…" he muttered weakly.

"Thank you for looking after it for me," she responded scathingly. "Good bye, Zuko. I hope we never run into each other again."

"You wait… peasant… you just… wait…"

Katara tried her best to show that she was not intimidated by his words—really, she had heard so many of his threats, felt the heat of his fists so many times—but could not suppress the way her hands trembled. He seemed to have noticed, as his thin lips curved slightly into a smug smirk.

"Katara!" Sokka called, "Let's go!"

One more look to the paralysed prince, then the peasant was gone.

-

Katara pursed her lips apprehensively. Aang had seen the posters for a traditional Fire Nation festival in a nearby village (and they had also seen wanted posters for the Legendary Avatar). It seemed nothing—including curd-puffs—could deter him from attending the celebration. He promised the Water Tribe siblings that he would do nothing to attract attention and simply blend in the crowd, watching the firebenders, jugglers and magicians perform. And to Sokka, he added that there would be tons of special food. Delicious, mouth-watering, satisfying food.

"I swear that I'll behave. Just for a little while… please?" Not the puppy-dog eyes. Katara was not strong enough to withstand the Avatar's pitiful look that demanded sympathy (and a big hug).

"I don't know," she whispered, "We should really be making our way to the North Pole…" Aang only had until the end of that summer to master three elements, after all. Katara had offered all she could about water-bending but only knew the basics herself (and she had never had a teacher, learning all her skills by herself).

Sokka agreed. "We've wasted too much time already. At this rate, we'll never get through all three elements before summer has ended. I say we just leave now. There will be plenty of festivals after we saved the world." He stated it in such a way that Katara didn't think he was very interested in having the world's future on his shoulders. In fact, the thought seemed to bore him.

Aang then protested, saying that he could finally see a master fire-bender at work and see how they did it. He would be using the time efficiently, having fun and learning at the same time!

Personally, Katara thought they had seen enough firebending, thank you very much.

With more persuasive looks, Katara surrendered. "I guess we could go check it out."

"What?" Sokka questioned incredulously. "You want to walk into a Fire Nation town with them all fired up with their… you know… fire…" he trailed off, suddenly feeling quite stupid. Was his sister thinking right?

"We'll be fine if we have disguises. And if it looks like there's going to be trouble, we'll leave."

Sokka's eyes drooped. "Yeah, because we always leave before the trouble starts," he stated cynically before sighing and following the others towards the village. Aang + Party Disaster, Sokka mused but did not continue the argument.

After assuming their disguises (and laughing over Aang's pitiful excuse for a cover), they walked into the Fire Nation town. Little children holding fire on sticks ran in front of them, giggling and smiling. Katara resisted the sudden urge to tell them to put the sticks away before they hurt themselves. A colourful lizard-like thing crossed their path and the group stepped back in alarm, seeing nothing like that before.

Looking around, Katara noticed that everyone was wearing masks. "I think we need new disguises," she muttered and walked over to a stand selling "Genuine Fire Festival Masks". She glanced over the varied collection, finding it hard to decide which one she would buy.

Something inside poked painfully at the idea of masks and disguises, but she ignored it. I don't care about him. I hope I never have to see him again.

Unfortunately, Fate is rarely that kind.

-

The Sisters had moved the trio about a mile away from their abbey but had done nothing else—quoting that they believed in peace first and foremost and that they should follow their good example. Zuko had scoffed at that, and received a glare in return. They had, however, searched his uncle Iroh and removed the perfume bottle he had concealed in a hidden pocket in his armour.

Prince Zuko had scoffed at that too.

The bounty hunter had recovered first, departing without a word, even when Iroh waved with no sign of his supposed paralysis. Frustratingly, it was a good fifteen minutes before Zuko could stand on his feet.

He rubbed his neck, feeling his muscles ache at the sudden movement again.

"Where to now, Prince Zuko?" Iroh asked. Zuko frowned, wondering why his uncle did not find their next plan of action obvious.

"To get the Avatar, of course."

Zuko missed the sigh from his Uncle and began to walk away, following the direction he had seen the air-bison fly towards.