Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any characters from ATLA.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A Marriage of Convenience, Chapter Fourteen: The Cave of Two Lovers

"Katara, it was just a dream," Zuko reasoned calmly.

"No, it was a vision!" she insisted.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He had been half asleep, already worrying about the packed day ahead of him, when Katara had come bursting into the room spouting some kind of nonsense about caves and his mother. For a moment he'd felt an almost painful surge of hope that she actually had some new information about where his mother might be. But as he realized how far-fetched Katara's theory was, he began to lose patience with her. "You seriously want me to believe that you had a vision revealing her location?"

"How else do you explain this?" Katara waved the embroidered pillow in front of her.

"Explain what? It's a pillow! Look, we have a lot to do today, we don't have time for this—"

She stomped her foot. "Just tell me, Zuko, where did this pillow come from?"

He frowned. "It was my mother's. I think her nurse made it for her when she was young. So?"

"So….didn't you say her nurse was from the Earth Kingdom?"

"What does that—"

"What city in the Earth Kingdom?"

He sighed, hoping this would all be over faster if he just humored her. "Omashu."

"Aha!" Katara crossed her arms as if she had just proven something. When he failed to respond, she stuck the pillow in front of his face. "Haven't you ever actually looked at the design embroidered on this pillow?"

He took the cushion and held it out, examining the interlocking pattern of green and gold threads for a moment. "It looks…like a map?"

Katara smacked her forehead. "Finally! And tell me, boy genius, it's a map of what?"

He did not appreciate her sarcasm. "I don't know, why don't you tell me?"

She leaned forward, pointing to a phrase along the bottom. "'All you need to do is trust in love,'" she read. "Don't you know where that's from? It's part of the curse of the Cave of Two Lovers!"

"Whoa, what curse?"

Katara ignored him. "It means this is a map of the Cave of Two Lovers!" she said triumphantly.

"Look, my mother had a romantic streak. She used to tell me the story of Oma and Shu before bed all the time when I was little."

"See, that proves it!" Katara said excitedly.

Zuko stood impatiently and began pacing. "A dream and a pillow—"

"A vision and a map!"

"—don't prove anything. You don't seriously believe my mother is hiding out in that cave, do you?"

"Where else could she be? She's not in the Fire Nation. Your father said she probably went to the Earth Kingdom, but she hasn't come back, even though you've been Fire Lord for months. It would make sense, if she's hiding out in the caves and doesn't know that the war has ended. What other explanation is there?"

"She could be dead!" he shouted, whirling around to face Katara. "Don't you think I've asked myself that question a thousand times over? Why would she stay away all these years? Is she so ashamed of me that she'd rather live in hiding than come back to the palace?" He turned his back to her, running his hand roughly over his face. "I don't know what I want more – to find out that at least she's alive, even if she doesn't want to see me again. Or to learn that she's been dead all these years, and that's why she never came to find me."

He felt Katara slide her arms around his waist and press her head against his back. He took a ragged breath, trying to reign in his turbulent emotions. "Your mother loves you, Zuko," she said softly. "If there was any way for her to get back to you, she would."

He thought back to all those quiet evenings when his mother would recount the tale of the two lovers. He always complained that it was a silly story, but still he sat raptly as she described how they first learned to earthbend, and the man's death in battle followed by the woman's violent grief. He remembered again the last time he had seen his mother. He had been asleep in his bed, and she woke him up, saying, "Remember this, Zuko. No matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are." Then – he frowned as he struggled to recall the details – she had shoved something into his hands. Something soft…the pillow! The damned pillow Katara had waved in front of his face. Could it really be a map to her hiding place?

"Zuko, we're going to Omashu anyway," Katara said, interrupting his thoughts. "Let's get some earthbenders as guides and just go look in the caves. If we don't find anything, it's no big deal. But, what if she's there? We have to at least try!"

Zuko took a deep breath, releasing it slowly, trying to expel some of his tension. He didn't dare get his hopes up, but Katara was right – they had to try.

"Maybe King Bumi will start the meetings a day late," he said. Katara squealed in response and squeezed him tighter. He turned and smiled. "But there's just one condition – I pack our bags for the trip to the caves. Your packing is hopeless."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The airship ride was uneventful. Omashu was conveniently located on the Western coast of the Earth Kingdom near the Fire Nation, and thanks to a strong tailwind and the ship's powerful engines, they reached the city by noon. King Bumi was a strange old man with an unfortunate abundance of white hair shooting out of his armpits, which Zuko found quite distracting when trying to conduct a rational conversation. Still, luck seemed to be with them. Aang and Toph weren't going to arrive until the next day and so the first day of meetings had been postponed. Finding an earthbending guide was also annoyingly easy.

"Haru!" Katara called out in delight before letting the overly mustachioed young man sweep her into a hug. Seriously, what was it with earthbenders and body hair?

"Katara, my Dad and I were just saying how we hoped we'd get to spend some time with you while you were here for the meetings."

Katara reached out to shake hands with the older man. "Tyro, it's good to see you again."

"You're looking as lovely as ever, young lady."

She gestured toward Zuko. "You both remember my husband, Fire Lord Zuko." The two earthbenders faced him, their expressions ranging between guarded and hostile. They clearly hadn't forgotten the years of occupation by the Fire Nation and were in no particular rush to forgive and forget. "You were at our wedding," Katara reminded them with her usual tact, "you know, right after Ozai was defeated."

The men shuffled their feet and mumbled their greetings with a reluctant bow.

Seemingly oblivious to their tension, she stepped forward eagerly. "Haru, we need some earthbenders to take us into the Cave of Two Lovers. You can help us, can't you?"

"Uh, Katara, that's not exactly a tourist spot," Haru cautioned. "There was a cave-in recently."

"But that wouldn't stop a master earthbender like you, would it?" she teased, tilting her head and smiling sweetly in a manner that made Zuko want to punch the young earthbender.

"Well, no, but it's just that those caves are dangerous-"

Zuko leaned back and watched his wife make short work of Haru's and Tyro's objections. Through a combination of flattery and sheer stubbornness, she soon had them agreeing to take them to the cave that same afternoon after they had dropped their bags off at Bumi's castle. He smirked. It was kind of refreshing to see her manipulate someone other than himself for a change. He almost felt sorry for them.

His first glimpse of the infamous caves was less than impressive. A simple tunnel entrance, with a stone carving above, was the only indication they had reached the caves.

Haru must have noticed his frown. "What's wrong, Fire Lord? Afraid of the dark?"

"No," Zuko replied, ignoring his barb. "But after all the stories I've heard about this place, I was expecting it to be a little grander."

"Yea, there's another entrance. It's got pillars and statues, all that stuff."

"So why aren't we going in there?"

Haru smiled coldly. "Fire Nation blew it up."

Awkward. Should he apologize? It's not like he was the one who blew it up, after all. He was spared from answering when Tyro waved him forward, announcing that it was time to enter the caves. The others paused to pull torches from their packs but Zuko walked forward alone, a small flame in his hand sufficient to light his way. As the sunlight fell further behind him, he resisted the impulse to shudder at the cold darkness. A firebender normally didn't like being buried so far away from the sun's warming rays, but he was confident in the strength of his own internal fire.

Katara caught up to him, her head tilted back as she examined the shadows stretching above them. The ceiling was so high that their meager light didn't reflect off of it.

"What are you looking at?"

She jumped, almost guiltily. "You should see the ceilings when they glow. They're really beautiful."

"Since when do the ceilings glow?" Zuko asked, adjusting the straps on his backpack as they continued walking deeper into the tunnel.

"Oh, you know. Something about the curse," she waved a hand casually. "Long story. Never mind."

"Why do you keep talking about a curse?"

Haru's deep voice cut in. "Because it's real. According to the curse, anyone who enters this labyrinth will get trapped inside forever."

Zuko frowned. "But we've got a map."

"Can't map these caves, boy," Tyro said. "They change all the time. It's part of the curse."

Zuko turned toward Katara. "Did you know about this?"

"Well, kind of. I mean, Sokka tried to map the caves when we were here and he couldn't do it. He said it was like they kept changing."

"How did you get out, then?" Zuko demanded.

Strangely, Katara blushed. "That part doesn't matter. This time around we have earthbenders with us. We won't get trapped."

Zuko heard the crunch of gravel behind him as Haru and Tyro stopped walking. "I wouldn't be so sure about that," Tyro said.

Something in the tone of his voice put Zuko instantly on alert. He turned to look behind them and couldn't see even a trace of sunlight any longer. They were probably a half mile inside the caves now, and the two earthbenders stood between him and the distant entrance. Suddenly they sank into fighting stances and Zuko quickly followed suit, bringing a blaze of fire to his fists.

"What's going on?" Katara cried.

"You made the wrong choice," Haru replied. "You should have gone home, stayed with your own kind. Instead you betrayed your people when you married him." He gestured toward Zuko, sneering with distaste. "We'll never forgive the Fire Nation for the pain it inflicted on us."

"It was you!" Zuko shouted. "You were at the wedding. You planted the bomb!"

Tyro had the audacity to laugh. "It was wrapped up in one of your wedding presents. A little gift from the Earth Kingdom."

Zuko weighed his options. The urge to strike out was strong, but they were enclosed in such a small space, and Katara still seemed frozen in shock. He could distract the earthbenders with a barrage of fireballs, but there was no chance that he and Katara could get clear of the tunnel before they struck back.

When Haru interrupted his thoughts, he realized he had waited too long. "You may have survived our first attack, but you won't survive this." Together, father and son reached into the air and brought their arms down, causing the entire roof of the cave to come crashing down upon their heads.

"Run!" Zuko screamed, grabbing Katara's elbow and frantically pulling her deeper into the tunnel. She took the water from her pouch and created an ice shield over their heads to deflect the debris raining down. Zuko lit their way as they continued running until, breathless, he realized the rumbling was slowly grinding to a halt. He pulled Katara to a stop, coughing in the choking dust as he turned around to look down the tunnel. No one was following them. They were alone.

Completely alone.