Summary: Fire Nation!Katara AU After being kidnapped as a young child by the fire nation, Katara is raised by Prince Ozai and Princess Ursa as Princess Katara of the Fire Nation. Katara/?
ARC 2, CHAPTER FOUR
"What did you say your name was?" The prisoner asked Katara. Katara smiled softly at him while he gobbled up the rice and fried meat she had brought him. His tea was already gone and she found herself pouring him some more. He was from the Earth Kingdom and had deep emerald eyes and messy brown hair.
"Katara." Katara said sweetly. "And your name is?"
"Romi." Romi said, gobbling the food up. "Who are you?"
"Nobody really," Katara shrugged. "I need to ask you about the Earth Kingdom's plans, Romi."
"I can't say," Romi said, scowling. He stopped eating the food and pushed the bowl away, scowling out against the wall. "This is dirty Fire Nation scum trickery. Sending in a child to do their work."
"A royal child." Katara said contently, taking a sip of her tea. Romi whipped his head around to stare at her, eyes wide.
"What?"
"My name is Katara, daughter of Firelord Ozai." Katara said sweetly. "I just want to know what your leaders plan to do. Do you know? If you don't, you simply have to say so and I can leave."
"The firelord sends his daughter to do his dirty work," Romi sneered at her. "How fitting."
"And what do your daughters do?" Katara asked, tilting her head innocently. "Sit around doing their makeup?"
"As women should do." Romi said.
"Hmm," Katara nodded. "I've deduced you know nothing. That's makes you useless." She stood and quickly wiped down her skirts. She smiled brightly at him and then twisted her fingers in a quick movement. Romi's arms and legs twisted unnaturally as he screamed, but his screaming quickly stopped when she heard his neck snap. Another broken neck. Unsatisfying.
Katara knocked on the metal door and narrowed her eyes at the nervous guard who let her out. She preferred the usual two guards she conversed with, Lee and Sho, and this new guard seemed altogether nervous of Katara.
"I-Is he dead, miss?" The guard said. Katara frowned. What was his name again? She felt like it started with a Z.
"Yes." Katara said simply. "He had no information. It would be stupid to have him in a cell when we could put more important prisoners in there." The guard nodded quickly and began walking her down the hall. This was her last interrogation of the day. She would go home, soak in a nice bath with lavender salts and then quickly train with Zuko and Azula.
"You're friends with Eiji, right?" The guard asked. "Ma'am."
"You know Eiji?" Katara asked, wrinkling her nose.
"Um, yes." The guard laughed awkwardly. "He's my little cousin. His father is my mother's brother."
"Small world," Katara said distractedly. "I'm sure we'll see more of each other then...?"
"Zaike, miss." Zaike said, swallowing thickly.
"Yes. I come here most days for interrogation." Katara said coolly. "Four to five days a week. I'm sure we'll meet again, Zaike. I'll tell Eiji you said hello." Zaike swallowed again as they reached the front doors where her palanquin waited for her.
"Y-Yes, ma'am." Zaike said, bowing low. He hurried off into the prison again as a servant helped her into the palanquin. Katara relaxed against the soft, silky pillows around her and shut her eyes. She couldn't wait to get home and get into that bath. She was exhausted.
Katara felt the servants stand and began to head for the palace. She touched her hair, scowling at a few stray hairs. Pulling her royal hairpiece out, she began to redo her bun until it was tight and secure. She quickly put her hairpiece back in place and smoothed the rest of her hair down. She folded her hands into the folds of her deep ruby dress and shut her eyes again. The swaying of the palanquin was almost therapeutic to her.
Katara frowned when she heard a low, melodic whistle. "What is-" She released a cry as the palanquin began to fall sideways. She tried to reach out to grab a curtain or even a pillow maybe but her hands slipped and she found herself tumbling out into the street. She squeezed her eyes tightly before blinking them open, rubbing at the pain in her arms.
"Princess Katara!" A servant cried out fearfully. Katara turned and saw three knives embedded in the man's upper torso. Her eyes narrowed carefully as she quickly hurried to his side. "You must run, your highness." The man said, shakily breathing. "My deepest apologies." Katara swallowed thickly as she watched his grey eyes glaze over.
She looked around and saw two of the other servants had similar wounds but the last had a large hole in his chest. "Come out and fight, cowards." She called out angrily. She quickly removed the water from the grassy area beside the road and readied herself.
"Cowards?" A sultry voice said. Katara scowled when a young woman with thick dark hair and a skin tight red outfit appeared from the shadows. "Did you hear that, brother?"
Behind her, a deep voice boomed. "I did. Poor child doesn't know what she's getting into." A bald man with black armor grinned cruelly at Katara. Katara inhaled deeply and readied herself.
"I am the daughter of Firelord Ozai," Katara warned the two. "The moment you attack me, you invite death."
"Sweet girl," The woman purred, three knives appearing in her hand. "I am death."
The man struck first with a large sword. He ran towards Katara and dove at her with the sword. Quickly, she brought the water up and froze his hands to the sword before slamming her foot into his knee, making his stumble downwards.
"Turum!" The woman cried out. She sprinted towards Katara, knives flying towards the young girl. Katara quickly brought up water from nearby plants and made a shield of ice in front of her. The knives sank into the shield, nearing her face. Scowling, Katara reformed the ice into ice knives and sent them flying at her.
The woman easily dodged around most of the them and let out a snarl when one sliced her skin. She twisted around and glowered at Katara. "You're a foolish girl." She spat.
"Why?" Katara asked angrily. "Who sent you? Why are you doing this? I don't even know who you are!"
"I am Amin and my brother is Turum." Amin sneered. "Many know us as the Mad Twins."
Before Katara could do anything, something hard hit her back and she was sent across the street. Her pretty dress was ripped up, her arms and legs bleeding. She was sure her hair was an absolute disaster and she scowled darkly at the two as she struggled to get up. Katara heard Amin's heels clack against the road as she neared Katara.
"You want to know why we're here, weak little princess?" Amin snarled. "The man who sent us told us to relay a message. Never, ever insult a Tan ever again." She whipped a knife from her sleeve and went to impale Katara's throat but was suddenly stopped.
"Sister?" Turum asked in confusion. Amin's eyes went wide as Katara stood shakily, hands raised.
"Thank you for telling me." Katara said lowly. "I'm sure my father will enjoy destroying the Tans." She flicked her wrist and watched as Amin's threw the knife at Turum, impacting his forehead.
Blood began to roll down Turum's eyes as he gasped for breath. "S-Sister..." He breathed before collapsing onto the road. Amin's eyes stared at Katara in sheer fear.
"Please." She begged.
"The tables have turned." Katara said coldly. "You have committed treason against the crown by attacking me. The punishment for that is death." She twisted her palms upward and for another time that afternoon, she watched as the woman's neck snapped and she fell onto the ground lifeless.
Katara sighed deeply and turned to the road. The capital city was far ahead. It would be a long walk and she was sure if she wasn't home before dinnertime, her father would be quite upset with her. Holding her bloodied arm, she started forward. She really wanted that bath now.
"Sire!" Firelord Ozai looked up in alarm as a servant rushed in. He scowled, about to threaten the servant but the man cut him off. "Princess Katara was just attacked on her way home. She doesn't look good, sir." Ozai felt the blood drain from his face as he stood.
"Where is she?" He demanded.
"The infirmary." The servant bowed, quickly moving out of the way as Ozai rushed out the door. He quickly walked through the halls of the palace until he reached the infirmary where his other two children and Eiji was waiting outside the door. Eiji seemed agitated, pacing up and down the halls.
"Father!" Azula cried out. Ozai nearly stumbled as both his children slammed into his legs. He sighed deeply and patted their heads gently. "Katara's really hurt."
"Do you know what happened?" Ozai asked them.
"She was barely breathing when she finally got here, sir." Eiji said. His eyes were red and puffy. "Collapsed at the bottom of the stairs." Ozai clenched his jaw at the thought of his daughter barely breathing, walking from the prison to the palace.
"How long have they been in there with her?" Ozai asked.
"About thirty minutes, father." Zuko said. His grip was tight on Ozai's pants. Ozai allowed this to slide, seeing the circumstances.
"Okay." Ozai said, his mind racing. "Listen, you three stay here. I'm going to go find out what exactly happened. Send a letter to me when you hear about Katara, okay?"
"Okay.." Zuko whispered. Ozai nodded, patting his children's heads softly before taking off down the hall, determined to find out what exactly happened.
Skyshadow54: Yep, Esoh definitely didn't react to the rejection well. Hope you enjoyed this chapter :D
rach12901: Thank you for the review and I hope you enjoyed this chapter :D