Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the last airbender or any of the characters though that would be awesome if I did

Chapter Thirteen

Zuko heard a knock on his door as he grumbled to himself and got up from where he sat in his chair, by his window. 'What now,' he thought, he opened the door only to see a young woman dressed in red nurse clothes.

"Your Majesty," she said curtsying.

"Yes," he said giving her a questioning look. She looked back up at him and smiled slightly.

"I have excellent news, the water nation girl is awake and conscious, however, right now she is slightly drowsy as the doctor had to give her some pain killers," said the woman. Zuko nodded then.

"Great thanks for telling me, you may go now," he said. The woman nodded and curtsied again before she left. 'So Katara's awake, that's great,' he thought. He figured he would go to see her later that evening. He walked over to the window then and looked out to the courtyards below as a sudden thought hit him. He wondered if he should tell her about the document that he had found but then decided against it. He didn't want to have her go into shock or anything; he figured he could just tell her once she was out of the infirmary.

Katara awoke with a start the pain she had felt earlier that morning, or she thought it was that morning she couldn't be sure, but at least the pain had dulled down to a slight tingling numbness now. She looked around the room only to realize that it was an infirmary. The walls were painted red and black, reminding her that it was a fire nation infirmary as well, she growled a little. Suddenly another thought occurred to her. "How did I get here?" she asked herself. "Better yet, how long have I been here?" she said again.

"Oh about four weeks," said that unfamiliar female voice from earlier. Katara looked around to see a woman in red nursing clothes. The woman smiled at Katara as a confused expression over came her face.

"What?" asked Katara.

"You've been here for about four weeks you had quite a nasty fall after you were attacked," said the woman.

"Attacked?" gasped Katara, the memory slightly coming back to her. Opening the door someone standing outside, then nothing, "Oh," she said. The woman picked up a chart then and wrote something on it before setting it back on the table next to Katara's bed. She left the room then leaving Katara by herself in the room. Katara looked around as she sat up from where she lay and looked around. There was a water pitcher and some food dishes filled with delicious looking food setting on a table over by a large window at the far end of the room. Her stomach rumbled then as she swung her legs over the side of the bed. Careful, so as not to lose her balance, she stood up gripping onto the bed as she slowly took a step forward.

She reached the table then in a few steps and sat down in the large comfy, red velvet chair next to it. She picked up a roll off one of the plates unsure of what she could eat right now, she took a small bite of it and waited then she took another bite and soon she had eaten the whole thing along with some soup and a cup of fruit. She reached for the water pitcher then when someone snatched it up. She turned to look at who it was only to see Zuko looking down at her.

"Here," he said pouring the water into a glass for her.

"Uh thanks," she said slightly confused. He only nodded then sat down in another chair next to the table.

"So I see you're finally awake," he said. She nodded then looked confused again.

"Um Zuko," she said. He looked at her then. "Umm not to be rude," she said, 'although I don't see why that should be a bad thing,' she thought, "But why are you here?"

"Oh well, I uh… I thought I should come see how you were since the attack and everything, do you realize it's been four weeks since you were attacked, the castle was on high alert for days," he said, 'Why am I babbling,' he thought.

"Oh really," said Katara. 'Why is he talking to me like this is normal or something,' she wondered. Zuko nodded, the thought of telling her about the document he'd found entering his mind again. 'Maybe I should tell her,' he thought. He looked at her again but she was looking down at the clothes that she was wearing; he noticed that she was still wearing the dress that she had been when she was attacked.

"Umm I can send a maid down with some fresh clothes for you and stuff," he said.

"Oh uh that would be great thanks," said Katara. Looking back up at Zuko then, 'Wow he really is being quite nice right now,' she thought. He nodded then and stood up from the chair and left the room.

Zuko walked from the infirmary towards his room when he ran into the maid, Ling Lee, the one whom he had assigned to Katara before. "Umm the water tribe girl needs a fresh change of clothes," he said.

"Oh so she is awake then?" asked Ling Lee. When Zuko nodded she smiled and said, "Excellent then I'll see to her right away," she said as she rushed off. Zuko shook his head as he continued the rest of the way to his room. He figured he could tell Katara about the whole betrothal thing later that evening once she had had a chance to freshen up.

Katara looked out the window for a while until she heard the infirmary door open and close. She looked to see who it was only to notice the lady, Ling Lee, standing there with a fresh change of clothes, the gold hair brush, and some toiletries. She smiled then and Katara smiled back. "I'll go draw you up a warm bath my lady," said Ling Lee as she headed into the infirmary bathroom, after setting the things on the bed. Katara stood up then and walked over to the bed. She picked up the brush and ran it through her hair. "The bath is ready my lady," said Ling Lee, "Will you be needing anything else?"

"No, thank you though," said Katara. Ling Lee nodded then left. Katara picked up the toiletries then and walked into the bathroom. She looked at the bath then and dipped her finger into the water as she set the things on the floor. "Nice and warm," she said to herself as she removed the dress and tossed it onto the floor as she climbed into the water then. She sank down into the water letting it engulf her for a moment as her muscles let loose and relaxed. She grabbed some soap then and began to wash up, it felt good to get clean and the numbness had seemed to disappear in the water as well.

After a while she finished washing up and rinsed her hair out before draining the water in the tub. She grabbed a large red towel and wrapped it around herself before pulling on the slippers that had been among the things that had been brought down. She wrapped another towel around her hair then and left the bathroom. She walked back into the room then and over to the bed. She pulled on the clothes that had been brought for her; they consisted of a red sleeveless shirt, a red skirt with slits in the sides up to her mid thigh and black leggings. She bended the water from her hair then to dry it before running the brush through it, she pulled it back into a loose ponytail then. She walked back over to the window to look outside for a while until some came and told her she could go. It was then, that she noticed in her reflection in the window that it was missing, her mother's necklace, it was gone.

Katara glanced around the room looking for it hoping that it was just misplaced when she had been brought here. She didn't see it anywhere in the main room and went to check in the bathroom but couldn't find it there either. 'Oh no I couldn't have lost it,' she thought, 'maybe it fell off when I was attacked.' She hoped that was the case, she couldn't lose the necklace.

Later that evening Zuko walked down the infirmary to check on Katara, he opened the door and looked inside to see her sitting at the table eating what looked to be like soup and some kind of meat. He walked into the room then and sat down across from her. She looked up at him as she took a bite of her meat chewing slowly and thoroughly to avoid talking to him for as long as she could. 'I should tell her now,' he thought.

"I have something I need to tell you," said Zuko after a while. Katara finished chewing and swallowed.

"What is it," she asked. Zuko cleared his throat slightly and looked down at the table, 'I can't do this,' he thought. He looked up then to see Katara staring at him with an intense blue eyed gaze. "Well…" she said irritation showing in her voice. Zuko grew annoyed then that she would act like that when all he had done all day was act kindly towards her.

"You know what never mind," he said as he stood up. "It's nothing," he added before heading towards the door.

"Zuko wait," she said standing up from her chair, he looked back at her then as she added, "I'm sorry I'm just so frustrated the doctor hasn't let me leave yet but I feel just fine and I really want to go back to a normal room." She said it all so quickly that at first it sounded like she was babbling about nonsense. She looked at Zuko then and saw his slightly confused expression and realized she must have said a little much, she blushed and looked down at the table then, "What was it you wanted to say?"

"What?" said Zuko as he turned around to face her now.

"You were going to say something," said Katara.

"Oh yeah umm well…" said Zuko reaching into his pocket to grab the document.

Author's note: Sorry this chapter is kind of suckish, I just thought that some change in behavior needed to start showing given what is to come in the future. In my next chapter I plan to bring Sokka and toph back into the story a little since I sort of just dropped them out a while ago. I also plan to do a little bit more with aang. Anyway, Please READ AND REVIEW