Chapter 20

The ferry ride to Ba Sing Se was miserable. Toph had never liked sea travel but it was Katara who was truly suffering this time. Apparently the minute sway of the large craft aggravated her already weak stomach. It was weird for a waterbender to be so bothered by the motion of her element. The rest of their group rather enjoyed the pleasant weather and new people. King Bumi had seen that they had all the necessary papers to get passage and into the city and Toph was thankful they didn't have to navigate Serpent's pass again.

Resting back against her palms on the deck, Toph tried to feel for Katara's double pulse. It was the groan instead that alerted her to her friends presence beside her.

"How much longer before we reach the city? I don't have anything left to puke up and I can't stand the thought of food."

"Don't worry Sweetness, we should be docking soon. Personally I'm not looking forward to the crowds after so long on the road avoiding towns. Oh well, the place we were staying at in the upper ring is fancy I guess. Not that it matters to me what it looks like." Katara didn't respond to her attempt at humor so she had to assume she was laughing silently. "I don't like boat rides either. Hey maybe once we're there Gramps will have heard something about Sparky and your brother. Staying away from large towns was good for avoiding attention but shit for getting news." Katara sighed and leaned against the wall behind them. They sat quietly for nearly an hour until they started to hear the commotion as the ferry pulled into dock. She stood and turned to Katara and stuck out a hand. "Come on Sweetness, let's get off this rocking tub." Katara only groaned as she grabbed her hand and let her haul her to her feet.

They shuffled along the deck towards the exit, following the flow of refugees. Before she could pick out any of her family, Katara bumped into a chatty older Earth Kingdom man and his son who were talking in serious voices about the fire nation. Katara subtly leaned her head in their direction so she could hear better over the crush of people disembarking.

"Anyway it's like I said, now that's he's out of the way old Ozai will likely be too distracted trying to sire a new heir now that his son is dead to be much bother to us for a while. I hear his new Fire Lady is hardly older than the prince was. He probably doesn't leave his bed chamber these days!" The prince was dead? What prince? He was not talking about Zuko. He wasn't. She interrupted the older mans quiet laughing with a shaking voice.

"Excuse me… who are you talking about? Who is.. What were you saying about Ozai?"

The two men shared a nervous glance before the younger one answered her.

"Haven't you heard? The Fire Nations traitor prince is dead apparently."

No.

"According to the Fire Lord's propaganda machine some colonial mercenaries done him in over north of Omashu a couple weeks ago."

No it wasn't true.

"Here, these were recently posted all over the colony we've come from. Story's all there. Such a shame too. Personally I'd hoped he'd kill his father and take over. Figure he's a traitor for a reason right? I bet he would have been less crazy than anyone else in that family at least."

He handed Katara a folded up notice from a pocket in his tunic. Unfolding it, the first thing she noticed was the image of Zuko from his wanted posters. As she ran a finger over his face, her chest squeezed painfully and her breathing came short and shallow. Her eyes moved over the words, belatedly realizing she should read it allowed for Toph but unable to do so.

The disgraced Prince Zuko, traitor son of the Fire Nation has been brought to justice at last. The mercenary Jiang of the colonies has been credited with this victory. Prince Zuko was hunted down just northwest of Omashu and burned to death in a raging forest fire caused by the firebending mercenary. The water tribe scum he traveled with was also killed.

All hail Fire Lord Ozai, long may he reign.

She stopped breathing, her mind dissolving into uncomprehending chaos as her vision blurred. He couldn't be dead. Zuko wasn't dead! Sokka wasn't dead. They were alive, they were she knew they were. This had to be just another Fire Nation lie! Propaganda meant to further demoralize. Fat tears rolled down her cheeks as her breath suddenly came back to her in great shuddering gasps. Toph grabbed her arm, her voice betraying her own panic when she spoke.

"Katara, calm down. Please."

Blinking rapidly, she turned to her friend.

"Calm down… Toph.. this says, this says Zuko is.. that my brother is... I can't. I can't calm down! Toph! Toph…" Her voice broke and Toph started shoving people out of there way as she drug Katara to the ramp.

"Come on Katara, let's go get out of here." She only half noticed the sudden temperature drop and the wet sheen on the deck freezing beneath her feet. They had to get out of there before she revealed herself as a waterbender before they were safely in Ba SIng Se. She knew this, so she allowed Toph to drag her off of the Ferry, still struggling for breath between sobs.

She followed the blind girl, half blinded herself by tears and panic. They stopped once they reached an empty stretch of beach out of sight of the dock. Toph led her to the water's edge and finally dropped her wrist. Staggering ankle deep, Katara dropped to her knees and vomited into the bay. Tears fell into the bile as she screamed at the muddy yellow water.

"You have to calm down Katara. I know, fuck, this is... No. I don't believe it. No way some cheap mercenaries took them out." She reached out and patted Katara on the back as the water around them began to freeze. "Oh, Katara. It's gonna be.. we're gonna be… oh fuck." Toph took several unsteady steps back before falling on her backside as the pebbled beach froze over too.

Katara could hear her sniffling behind her as she stood and let her anger and sadness attack the water. She threw her arms up, tossing massive waves around as she wept and screamed. It wasn't' true. It couldn't be.

The more she thought about it the more the waves around her turned to ice, freezing in grotesque shapes as it was blown up around her. She pictured Zuko holding their baby and she fell to her knees again. It couldn't be true. He was alive. She'd know if he were dead wouldn't she? If it were true, she'd be alone. Bringing this child into the world, this precious and important child, without a father. Was she strong enough?

It didn't matter because he was alive. They both were. She didn't know why Ozai would lie but he had. He must've. This war that had already taken everything. Her mother, her home, her friends, now it wanted her brother and the man that would be her husband. Her heart ached and her head hung as the water still swirled around her. Sobs shook her as she imagined her brother and her lover both burning to death in some La forsaken forest on the edge of the Earth Kingdom and she screamed again. Rage and sorrow shared space in her heart as she thought of all the ways she'd like to murder the Fire Lord for this lie.

When at last all of her tears were spent she sat back on the beach, her wet hair clinging to her face and her knees drawn up to her chest. After a time she heard footsteps cautiously approaching. Toph sank down beside her, her unseeing eyes staring out at the water.

"I am going to kill him Toph. I am going to have this baby and then I am going to go to the Fire Nation. I will reach into Ozai's body and bend the blood away from his heart until it bursts. Then Zuko can be Fire Lord and Sokka can be, well Sokka and everything will be fine because they aren't dead and that's that."

"So you don't believe it then? That they're dead?" Toph sounded incredulous.

Katara scoffed.

"No. It can't be true. I refuse to believe it. I don't know why the Fire Lord would lie about this but he has. Maybe he just wants everyone to think he's dead so he can name a new heir. Who knows what that bloodthirsty maniac is thinking but… It isn't true Toph. I know it isn't."

Toph held the notice to her. Katara vaguely remembered throwing it at her before they'd ran from the ferry. "What does it say exactly? You mumbled something about a forest fire when you were reading it." Katara took it and read it out loud, her voice hollow and rough. When she had finished, Toph was immediately skeptical.

"Why a forest fire? That just seems too easy. There wouldn't necessarily have been bodies to find so they wouldn't know if they'd managed to escape. This Jiang guy could easily have failed but taken a gamble and gone to Ozai anyway. He was probably desperate enough to believe any story even without proof. I think you're right Sweetness, there's no way they'd get taken out that easy. They're definitely alive somewhere."

Toph's words soothed her somewhat. She ran her hands through her wet hair and took a cleansing breath. She was right, the story was too ridiculous to be believable. Bending the water from her hair and clothes, Katara stood and bent all of the water back into the bay.

"Come on. We need to get back and find my dad and everyone. I'm sure they're wondering where we are by now and General Iroh may be waiting for us to arrive too. I'm not going to waste anymore time thinking about that trash." She crumpled up the notice and threw it into the bay before turning towards the ferry docks. She knew she would see Zuko and Sokka again. Surely now that the world believed them dead they would head straight for Ba Sing Se rather than meander north like they'd planned. If they were declared dead two weeks ago, they might be here in another two. It took four weeks to get from Omashu to Ba Sing Se after all. That thought brought a smile to her face as they found her father in the crowd and boarded the train.

As the train moved through the outer section of Ba Sing Se, Katara felt just a twinge of doubt creep into her mind. She quickly stamped it down and prayed Tui and La would keep them safe just the same.