Chapter 14:
good
luck
wedding
Katara is good at saving people.
She was there for Sokka when their mother died; it was her who held everything together, especially after their father left.
And she found Aang in the iceberg, and helped him too — saved his life a couple of times — whether it was healing the lightning wound Azula gave him, or bending the water from his lungs after the unagi incident. Saved Haru too — went aboard that ship and helped all the Earthbenders escape. I'll never turn my back on people in need, she'd told Aang once.
Once.
But now...
They've made camp for the night. Zuko has left to try his hand at hunting, although he usually doesn't find anything. Still, it would be nice to add something else to their rather thin stew of parsley and wild carrot.
And Azula is sitting by the edge of the clearing, although she won't be there long, Katara predicts. She'll leave soon, to run through the forest and shoot lightning at the moon.
How can you save someone who hates you?
How can you save someone who you hate?
Hate is perhaps a strong word, but that burn scar on Katara's palm keeps her awake at night. Slows her bending — just a little — but enough to upset her every time she thinks about it. Every little action — holding a hairbrush, brushing her teeth, stirring a stew — reminds her of what Azula has done to her.
All Katara wanted was a reason. Something, anything, to justify what happened. But there had been nothing. I don't know! I don't know!
Don't you get it? She'll never change, Zuko had told her once, the first time he found out she was aboard the ship. The words had stung at the time, but now Katara reflects on them pensively.
Friends.
And suddenly, she remembers the words of the fortune-teller.
Your enemies become your friends, and your friends become your enemies.
She had, of course, immediately decided the first part referred to Zuko, and given it no further thought. But maybe it referred to someone else...
Your enemies become your friends.
"Azula," Katara says. The girl looks up sharply. "Come here."
Katara expects Azula to ignore her words. After all, she's still hardly the type to follow orders. People, yes, but not orders.
But Azula is nothing if not unpredictable, and she stands up and walks over — a relaxed saunter that reminds Katara so strongly of the old Azula that she automatically reaches for her flask, feeling the reassuring weight of water, even though she has the entire river at her back.
A long, slightly awkward silence stretches out. Katara had called out to Azula on instinct, not planning on an actual conversation. But now here she sits, with Azula standing before her, waiting. The silence goes on. Azula stands with her hands by her side, Katara notes, and her feet together. It's not intimidating, but with her chin raised and her gaze direct and unwavering, it's hardly submissive either. Katara frowns, taking a closer look at Azula's arms and hands. There are thin scratches and bruises along the skin.
"What happened?" she exclaims, standing up and taking Azula's wrist for a closer look before she realises what she's doing. "You look like you've been running through brambles."
Azula makes to pull her wrist away, a small frown on her face, but Katara doesn't let go.
"I can heal those," she says, uncapping her flask. She's half-expecting to use the water for a fight rather than a healing session, but Azula surprises her again. She stops pulling away and then holds out her arm expectantly. Katara stares at her.
"I'm waiting," Azula says at last, the first words she's spoken so far. She speaks with a faint air of impatience, but other than that there's no anger or malice in her voice.
"Well — just give me a moment. It's not instant magic, you know." Katara pauses, gathering the water to her palms and laying her hands upon a particularly large bruise on Azula's forearm. "Besides," she mutters, "I don't heal as well, now that I've got that scar."
"So practise more." Azula speaks with that faint impatience again.
"That's what I'm doing now, aren't I?" Katara retorts, feeling a little under-appreciated. Azula doesn't reply and Katara focuses on a long scratch along her wrist. "I suppose that's your personal motto," she adds, after a short silence. "Practise more. Unless you've always been a naturally gifted firebender." She remembers how Zuko used to say Azula was born lucky.
"I work hard," Azula says sharply. "That's why others are so weak. They're lazy peasants."
"Oh, really? Well, I distinctly remember defeating you."
"You work hard too."
That surprises Katara so much that she nearly drops the water. She manages to quickly gather the splashed droplets again, applying them to the last graze along Azula's knuckle. She's half-hoping that Azula will speak again, or at least elaborate, but the girl is silent.
"Well, that's done." Katara steps back, returning the water to her flask. "But you should really be more careful." She shakes her head. "Where do you go at night?"
Azula says nothing, simply turns on her heel and races away, disappearing into the trees lining the clearing. Well, what were you expecting? A thank you card? Katara asks herself. She tries to be annoyed, but if she's to be completely honest, she's feeling...well...
Flattered.
Azula gave her a compliment. You work hard too. Not much of a compliment — some people might just call it an observation — but Azula is hardly one for praise or polite niceties.
Katara turns to the cooking pot, a very faint smile on her face.
Where do you go at night, Azula?
Away. I go away, where nobody can follow. Where my ghosts cannot find me, where my past cannot find me, where the voices of my childhood are lost, where I can become strong again...
She runs through the forest, blue flames streaming out behind her, laughing. She's in a fighting mood tonight.
Azula raises two narrow fingers into the sky, closing one eye and tilting her head. Shoot for the stars? Hardly. There's a pause. Her eyes slide to the left. A grin starts to uncurl.
Then she swings around and sends a bolt of lightning at the man.
His eyes widen; he drops from his hiding spot, rolling out of the way, and sends a ball of flame at her.
"Pathetic!" Azula taunts, the thrill of a fight coursing through her veins. Her heart is afire. Her hair flies out behind her as she moves. She can sense the other firebender creeping up behind her. She grins. The night is crystal-clear and so is her mind.
It's been a long time since she has fought.
Azula narrows her stance, blue fire erupting in her hands.
So practise more.
After dinner — which turned out very well after Zuko returned with two rabbits — Katara decides to bathe in the nearby stream. While the surface water is warm, the current underneath ensures there's a bracing chilliness, and she takes a sharp breath as she steps into the stream. She gradually makes her way to deeper water, trying to get used to the chill, feeling the smooth river-stones give way to soft silt. All is quiet. Somewhere, an insect chirrups. The moon is a thin sliver of light. Soon, she's adapted to the chilly water and is lost in her own thoughts, idly bending a ribbon of water around her hands.
There's a faint flash of light in the distance. Snapped out of her thoughts, Katara glances up, the water splashing from her hands. A crack of lightning. Another white flash.
Azula is playing with her lightning again.
Katara smiles to herself and reaches out, picking her hair-comb from the bank and idly running it through her hair.
She races along the undergrowth, keeping low to the ground, branches bending, bracken snapping.
They're fast, but she's faster. They're strong, but she's stronger.
She swings around, stands up and forms perfect daggers of fire, sending each one out, one after the other, like searing arrows. Spot fires dance along the undergrowth, marking the path of their fight.
"You can't run forever, princess!"
She shoots a fireball into the direction of the voice; a cry affirms her precision.
Azula turns.
A sizzle of lightning misses her by an inch. She raises her eyes. The man grins.
"Did you think you were the only one who could create lightning?"
She races forward, blue fire propelling her body along, reaches out, and delivers a neat, sharp jab to the base of the man's throat. He reels backwards; her knuckle digs into his solar plexus as he wheezes.
Lightning? Does he think lightning is what gives her an advantage? Oh, she was defeating poor little Zu-Zu and crushing her enemies long before she had learned the art of lightning.
Azula twists the man's arm behind his back, hearing the satisfactory crunch of a shoulder dislocating. He falls to his knees, allowing Azula to drive her knee into his face. His head snaps backwards as his nose breaks. Azula tosses him aside like a broken doll and looks up. The other man stands nearby, staring at her.
"You're killing him," he says, eyes wide.
"That's the idea."
She raises a hand, blue flames flickering.
Katara furls up her bedroll, feeling refreshed as the new day dawns. She stirs the ashes of the fire, warm embers still left over from their campfire.
She glances across at Azula, recalling seeing the lightning last night. A rather spectacular show. Katara had finished bathing and returned to camp, falling asleep, and hadn't seen the girl return. She must have come back later.
Azula seems to be sleeping soundly. Katara studies her face, thinking how even asleep, she doesn't look peaceful. Her eyebrows are drawn downwards and she seems to be almost frowning. Katara notices a long scratch across the girl's cheek. She must have missed it yesterday.
"Katara?"
She looks up. Zuko was already gone when she woke, but he's returned now with breakfast: a small selection of fruit and berries.
"Oh!" Katara hurries over, pleasantly surprised. She had pointed out the edible berries and non-poisonous fruit as they walked through the forest, but she hadn't expected him to go out and collect any.
"These are edible, right?" he asks.
"Yes. Thanks," she says, then frown and picks up a strange fruit with knobbly skin. "I don't recognise this, though."
"Oh, that's a sour pitaya fruit," Zuko says. "They grow in the Fire Nation. They taste awful," he adds.
"Why did you get it then?" Katara asks, puzzled.
"Azula likes them."
"But they taste awful?"
"Well, we all know how sane she is." Zuko shades his eyes against the early morning sun. "We should get moving. I want to reach the next village before nightfall."
They eat breakfast — Azula wakens and sets about demolishing the pitaya fruit — and begin packing up their camp site. Zuko throws water over the embers of the fire, then kicks dirt over the ashes, burying them. Katara watches Azula; the girl's fingertips are stained red with the juice of the pitaya fruit, and she disappears in the direction of the stream — to wash her hands, Katara thinks.
She's got half a mind to follow Azula and ask her questions, but in the end she lets it go.
It's a pleasant afternoon. The weather is mild. The azalea blossoms are fragrant in the air. On each side of the tree-lined road, lush green fields fade into the distance.
Mid-afternoon, they pass through a quiet village. Children laugh and swing around a porch-post, the sun dazzling off their hair. A pair of elderly women watch Zuko and Katara pass, looking at them with curious eyes. Katara meets their eyes; they grin toothlessly and nudge each other.
They descend into a valley, following the worn path, the slender branches of the plum trees swaying in a light breeze. In the distance, the mountains are a haze of misty forest. It's very serene, Katara thinks. Peaceful.
As they round another bend of the path, Zuko pauses ahead of her.
"What? What is it?" Katara asks curiously, peering around him. Below, in the valley, a great crowd of people are laughing and singing. Unlike the usual green-and-brown attire of their Earth Kingdom compatriots, they are wearing a vast array of vivid colours.
"I don't know. Some kind of celebration?" Zuko suggests.
"Well, I guess we'll just have to go around them," Katara says, scanning the path ahead and planning the best detour.
They continue in their journey, but not long afterward, a man espies them. He waves a palm fan at them and calls out.
"Hey! Hey!" he shouts, gesturing for them to come to him. Zuko swaps a look with Katara.
"I guess we should see what he wants," Katara says. Zuko looks doubtful and she adds, "he can't mean any harm. Besides, it would be rude to ignore him."
They go over. The man greets them with great enthusiasm. He's very cheerful, Katara realises. And drunk.
"Come here! Come here," he says, leading them to the heart of the celebrations. "Welcome, welcome! A great omen for the wedding!"
"Wedding?" Zuko asks in confusion.
"Yes! A stranger at a wedding is a very good omen. It means the couple will soon have a baby! Two strangers is even luckier! Fortune smiles upon us today," he says, taking them each by the arm and waltzing towards the celebratory crowd. "You must join us, my most welcome guests! Ah — a third? Our luck grows!"
To Katara's dismay, he's spotted Azula. But at least — dressed in her new Earth Kingdom clothes, her hair brushed and her manner lucid — she looks passable for a sane person.
"Thank you for the invitation, but we really — " Zuko begins, but the man cuts him off.
"No, no! You bring great luck, my friends! Come, come and celebrate."
Katara looks at Zuko and shrugs helplessly, feeling that it would be rude to decline the man's request. Besides, she thinks, it won't take that long. Just a brief congratulations to the happy couple, then they'll be on their way...
Surely.
The wedding party greets Katara, Zuko and Azula with great happiness, repeating the man's belief of good luck and auspicious omens. They ply them with much food and drink — an elderly woman explains to Katara that the wedded couple desire a son, and Zuko's appearance at the wedding suggests the spirits will grant this wish. Katara laughs, watching the firebender awkwardly dealing with the attention. He gratefully accepts a cup of wine from an old man and tries to retreat.
"A male stranger is very good," the woman says, pouring Katara a cup of sweetened wine despite the waterbender's attempts to stop her, "but don't worry, dear, a woman is good luck too."
"Thank you," Katara says, accepting the cup of wine and sipping it, overwhelmed momentarily by the strong sweetness.
"We give thanks for your boyfriend's presence," the woman adds, downing the cup of wine and nudging her empty cup meaningfully towards Katara, who dutifully refills it.
"He's not my boyfriend," she says, selecting a rice snack from a nearby platter.
"Oh, my mistake. Don't you have a boyfriend?"
"No," Katara says, not wanting to say yes and be peppered with questions. She discreetly waterbends her cup of wine into a nearby shrub. A mistake, as the elderly woman spots her empty cup almost immediately and refills it.
"Oh, really? That's a shame. You strike me as the kind of girl who has many boyfriends."
"Oh. Um. Thanks...?" Katara says doubtfully as the elderly woman leans over and pats her hand. After the woman has excused herself, she's still wondering over the remark, trying to decide whether it was an insult or a compliment.
But she soon forgets it. Her hosts are generous people, keen to share their happiness, and it's not long before she is laughing and chatting with various people. A band of musicians strikes up a simple song and the bride stands up, her face flushed, and announces (with quite a lot of giggling) that everybody must dance. Katara, feeling a little unstable from the wine earlier, elects to sit out rather than risk stumbling along and making a fool of herself. A gaggle of elderly women quickly descend upon her, urging her to dance.
"Look at your boyfriend, so handsome! You won't dance with him?"
"He's not my boyfriend," Katara replies, amused at the sight of Zuko dancing with other girls. As soon as he tries to escape, another girl appears to ask a dance.
"Oh, to be young again. Only my bad back stops me dancing. You are wasting your youth," an elderly aunt admonishes Katara. She pours her a cup of something that, thankfully, isn't wine. Some sort of sweet-tasting tea. Elderberry, the aunt tells her. Azula, on the other hand, has discovered a cherry liquor and is making short work of it. Katara sticks steadfastly to the elderberry tea — discovering far too late that 'elderberry tea' is actually a fortified herbal liquor.
Which is how she and Azula end up, quite inebriated, under a jacaranda tree and discussing Earth Kingdom invasion strategies.
Zuko, despite his best efforts, finds his resistance melted by the slightly-drunk groom and his friends.
"That's my wife," the groom — Liu Wei — says dazedly, staring across the field as his bride dances joyfully with a little girl. "That's my wife."
"Lucky, lucky man." A friend slaps him on the back. "You've got the most beautiful woman in the village."
"I do," Liu Wei says slowly. Then — "I do! Gentlemen! My friends — both old and new!" He slaps Zuko heartily on the shoulder. "A toast to my beautiful bride!"
"A toast!"
The wine flows. Wooden cups rolls across the table and spill over untucked tunics.
"To your beautiful wife!"
"And your inevitably charming children!"
"Of which there will be many!"
"Not too many," Liu Wei says hastily. He turns to Zuko. "Friend, have you met my brothers?"
"No," Zuko says, startled. Liu Wei bursts into laughter and gestures widely at the grinning men surrounding him.
"Are you sure? Because these are my five brothers." Liu Wei names his brothers one by one, including a set of twins; finished with the introductions, he turns to Zuko. "And how many brothers do you have?"
"Just a sister."
"Ah. What have you done, friend, that you have angered the spirits so much? Your crime must have been terrible, that the spirits should bestow such a curse upon you."
Zuko's mouth drops open. "How did you know?" he says.
One of the brothers nods sagely. "We have a proverb in the mountains. Better ten brothers than a sister."
"A drink for you, my cursed friend!"
Zuko turns his cup upside-down — a custom, in the Fire Nation, to politely refuse a drink. The brother notes the gesture and hands him a new cup, filled with water.
"It's a brave man who will face his sister sober. You have my greatest respect, friend."
Zuko's never had much luck making friends, but he's beginning to find these people very agreeable.
It seemed like a good idea at the time — retire to the tree with a bottle of wine, which of course only Azula will drink, because Katara is the responsible one, and she'll just have her elderberry tea, thank you very much...
But now she's sprawled by a tree with Azula, watching the wedding guests dance and beginning to suspect that the odd-tasting tea is something far more brisk.
"So," Katara says after a long moment, "it's good idea, right?"
"Good?" Azula sits up. "It's brilliant! We'll take over the entire Earth Kingdom! Our enemies will be crushed beneath our merciless firebending!"
"Azula, Azula, Azula — " Katara has to pause to remember, "I don't firebend."
"And then we'll — what? What do you do, then?"
"This." Katara, with great concentration, manages to bend a little of the wine from the bottle. Azula nods sagely.
"You're a winebender. Could be useful, if you're a waiter or Uncle Iroh. Anyway — we'll crush the Earth Kingdom and rule them all! And if we fail — which we won't! — if we fail, we'll say — we'll say — "
" — we were under the influence and therefore totally excusable," Katara finishes. "It's a great idea. Great. Lots of elderberry. For everyone!"
"Yes!" Azula flings her arms out, nearly taking out Katara. "Listen, I've got a plan. A devious plan."
"Oh, I like devious plans! Wait — unless — is it about me?"
"No, no, no. Listen, we throw a party for the peasants."
"Oh, that's nice."
"Then — when they're all distracted — listen, listen — you're not listening!" Azula reaches out and slaps the bottle from Katara's hands.
"I'm listening! I just — I got distracted — "
"Okay. So we get all the peasants to go to a party. Then when they're distracted, we very slowly build a Fire Nation temple around them. And replace all their houses with Fire Nation houses."
"That — " Katara stares glaze-eyed at Azula, "that...that's the best plan I've ever heard. I mean — I mean — it's — no, wait! What? No, no, no. We're not invading anyone!"
"What if — what if I invade nicely?"
"What?"
"If I ask first."
Katara mulls over this possibility. "Well," she says, "then it's not really invading, is it?"
Azula frowns and reflects on this for a very long time.
"You know," she says at last, "you can be quite cunning sometimes."
Katara starts to laugh.
He hears the laughter first. There's an awful lot of giggling and he wonders what on earth happened to Katara. She's giggling away with someone —
Azula?
Zuko makes his way across the field, to the large jacaranda tree; Katara is sitting beneath it, still laughing as Azula looks on with a frown.
"Are you okay?" he demands. She just laughs harder. "Katara! What did she do to you?" Realisation sinks in. "Are you — have you been drinking?"
Katara manages to subdue herself. "Only elderberry tea!"
Zuko picks up the cup beside her and sniffs it. "Katara, who told you this was elderberry tea? It's liquor."
"Oh! Well — it's not — don't look at me like that, Azula started it! She's got wine, you can't be mad at just me."
Zuko stares at his sister. Azula, drinking? He's not sure if it makes her less or more dangerous.
"The peasant is lying," Azula says to Zuko. "She's plotting to invade the Earth Kingdom. In fact, she suggested some very interesting strategies."
"I did not!" Katara retorts. "Well — sort of. I mean, yes, I did, but it wasn't a very good invasion plan."
"I'm confiscating this." Zuko picks up Azula's bottle; his sister doesn't protest. "You shouldn't drink if you can't hold your liquor," he admonishes Katara, sitting down beside her. She pulls a face at him.
"You had some wine."
"I'm used to it, from all the festivals and galas I attended as Fire Lord."
Katara doesn't reply to that and the conversation lapses comfortably as they watch the wedding guests laugh and dance for a long time. When Zuko next tries to talk to Katara, he discovers she's fallen asleep. He studies her face for a moment, faintly amused by the fact she managed to accidentally drink fortified liquor. Elderberry tea? He shakes his head and, after a slight pause, takes his cloak from the knapsack and covers her with it. He'd prefer not to use the cloak — it's an unmistakeable Fire Nation red — but most of the guests are inebriated anyway, and he doubts they'd notice or care. Besides, the afternoon is casting long shadows now and a cool breeze is picking up.
He leaves his sister and Katara sleeping by the tree. He could always wake them, make excuses to the hosts and leave. But strangely, he finds he doesn't mind the interruption to their journey.
Katara wakes at dusk. Zuko is no longer beside her, but she sees him nearby, talking to a man with brown hair. She catches drifts of their conversation — they're talking about blacksmithing and swordsmanship.
Zuko looks over and catches her eye; she gives him a smile, feeling a little more clear-headed. The effects of the liquor have faded. Beside her, Azula is sleeping. She looks peaceful, Katara thinks. Younger, somehow.
In the distance, a flock of cranes are silhouetted against the setting sun.