Chapter 57: Waking to Strife
Katara had not expected Zuko to wake up for another day at least; that's why she was surprised when he shot out of his bedroll with a cry.
"AHHH!" he yelled, hand rushing to his chest.
She jumped. "Zuko!"
The others, who were all outside, heard her shout and came running.
They found the Firebender with his back pressed against the cave wall, one hand to his bandaged chest, a wild eye, and his free hand full of red fire.
Katara was crouched a ways back from him, hands where he could see them. She glared over her shoulder at the others, nodding for them to go back out of the cave. They did, albeit reluctantly.
She said in a low voice, "Zuko, it's okay. You're safe. It's Katara. The others are outside. You're okay."
She kept repeating herself in that same soft tone. She watched as the wildness drained out of his functioning eye, the tension bled from his body, and finally the flames flickered out of existence.
He collapsed back against the wall gasping, "Katara?"
She nodded and shuffled closer to him, slowly so that she didn't startle him. She asked gently, "What happened?"
He shook his head, mouth shut tight. She rested her hand on his bare shoulder. He still felt too warm for her liking, though he had cooled off a little.
She said, "Zuko? You can talk to me, you know. Or not, if you don't want to. Either way, I'm here."
She smiled at him. He just stared at her. It was… strange seeing him with both eyes visible. Not bad, but strange. She'd gotten so used to only seeing the one. It made his face look different; in some ways older, but younger in others.
She must have been staring too long because Zuko's hand rose and pushed some hair out of his face, blocking her view a little. The hand froze though.
He said lowly, "Where's my patch, Katara?"
She said, "You don't have to put it on, you know? If you're more comfort—"
"—Where's my patch?" he interrupted.
She scowled, but pointed to where she'd left it, right beside his bedroll. He grabbed it and fumbled it on.
When it was settled in place he just said, "I'd prefer that you not touch it."
She huffed. "Fine. Whatever. Not like I saved your life or anything."
He scowled back at her. "And I'm grateful for that, but from the stinging sensation in my chest, that's where the injury is; not on my face. You had no right to remove it."
"I just thought—"
He interrupted her again. "Well, don't."
She shouted, "Fine! Be like that!"
She shoved herself to her feet and stormed out of the cave. She shook her head at the others saying, "Someone else can deal with him because I just can't right now. Not when he's being such an asshole."
She went to the shore of the lake, keeping her back to the others, and just staring into the water.
The others exchanged glances. Aang said, "One of us should talk to Katara while another checks on Zuko."
Toph said immediately, "Dibs on Zuko."
She didn't wait for any further response; she just walked into the cave to talk to the Firebender.
Aang and Sokka's eyes met. Eventually Sokka said, "I think we should let Katara be, for now. So she can cool off. She's been stressed since Zuko… you know. We all have."
As much as Aang liked talking to Katara, he couldn't help but agree with Sokka. Perhaps now was not the right time to be talking to his Waterbending teacher.
Toph strode into the cave, walked right up to Zuko, and plopped down beside him, their shoulders brushing. He flinched ever so slightly, but she chose to ignore that.
She just said, "So, what did you say to get Sugar Queen's panties in a bunch?"
Zuko glared down at her. Instead of answering he asked, "Sugar Queen?"
"Clearly Her Majesty is sickly sweet, so if the shoe fits." That was the only explanation the Earthbender gave. Zuko sighed.
"She… Well, I'm assuming it was her. She took off my eyepatch while I was out. I told her she shouldn't have."
Toph nodded. "I'm guessing you could have been nicer about it."
Zuko huffed. His body relaxed slightly. Toph could feel the warmth that was emanating from him and chose to enjoy it.
He said, "Maybe so, but, in my defence, I have a hole in chest."
Toph nodded again. "That's a pretty good defence. You know what Sugar Queen's counter would be?"
Zuko shrugged. Toph continued, "She'd say that she fixed the hole in your chest."
Zuko let his head fall back against the cave wall. He said, "Since when are you and her on the same side?"
"Hey, you were the one that told me to give them a chance. Besides…" the girl paused. In a quieter voice she said, "You almost died, Sparky. There were a few moments there where we thought… Well, the whole thing with Katara just seemed kinda petty beside it, you know."
Zuko sighed. With a grimace he raised his arm and draped it across the Earthbender's shoulders. She huffed, but allowed it.
He said, "Sorry for worrying you."
She just him gently in the ribs with her elbow. "Not your fault. Your sister got the drop on you, that's all."
He sighed again. "Yeah, she did. I assume she got away?"
Toph nodded. "Yep. Made some kind of fancy fire shield that knocked us all down and then took off on that eel-hound of her's. We were too busy making sure you were alive to go after her."
He nodded. "Probably wouldn't have been a good idea to take her on alone. Don't get me wrong, you're good but… Azula is terrifying. Always has been, ever since she made her first flame."
"How old was she? My parents told me that I was Earthbending at four."
He cast his mind back, struggling to remember. He said, "Two, maybe three years old? It's… it's actually one of my earliest memories. I didn't—I didn't make a flame until I was seven. Two years after she did."
Toph winced. "Ouch. Bet the Fire Lord didn't take too kindly to that."
Zuko shook his head. "He wasn't Fire Lord then, but no, he didn't."
Zuko's mind drifted to that, particularly, awful point in his childhood. He continued, "I'd spend hours every day trying to make fire. Sun up until sun down, unless I had lessons to attend. Nothing ever happened until one day it just… clicked, you know."
He shook his head. "Story of my life, that. Everything just came easily to Azula, while I struggled along behind her. My dad used to tell me that Azula was born lucky, while I was lucky to be born."
Toph frowned up at him. She said, "You know, that's a pretty messed up thing for someone to say to a kid."
He nodded. "It is. Yeah. Kinda the least of my dad's sins, though, you know."
"Doesn't mean it's not bad."
He sighed. "Yeah. I know."
Sokka had eventually decided that Katara had been cooling down long enough. He gestured for Aang to stay by Appa while went over.
He made a point of picking up his fishing gear before he approached. He sat down on the ground next to her and began arranging his rod and fishing line, making sure the hook and lure was attached and properly baited. Then he cast it out into the lake and sighed, as if content.
He said, "You want to sit down?"
She huffed but did so. She said nothing though, just kept staring out towards the water.
Sokka prompted, "So, how's our resident Jerkbender?"
She snapped, "He's a jerk."
Sokka nodded sagely. "Hmm, that's why the name fits so well. What did he do that was particularly jerk-ish?"
She groaned. "He freaked out cause I took his stupid eyepatch off while he was unconscious. Told me I had no right when I'm the one that saved his life. I'm the one that's been looking after him while he was out. But I have no right?"
Sokka nodded again. He readjusted his grip on his fishing rod, moving the line and the lure to try and draw some fish in.
He said, "Well, you know, the guy's sensitive about it."
She frowned at him. "What are you talking about? He never makes a big deal about it. I just thought—"
"Katara." Sokka said, in a voice so serious that it made her pause. "Zuko has his dad's handprint scarred onto his face. Gotta assume he's not going to be okay about it."
Sokka shook his head. "Spirits, how could anyone be okay about something like that?"
Katara frowned. "I—I know you're right, but does that make me wrong?"
Sokka shook his head. "I don't think so, no. You were trying to make him comfortable when he was in a lot of pain. Nothing wrong with that. But he's not wrong to freak out about it. Especially since he's just woke up, you know."
She sighed and bowed her head. "For once, you might actually be right."
She said it with a slight quirk to her lips. He scowled. "Hey, that was top quality insight I just gave you. And I'm right on many occasions. Like with Jet, and when I said it was a trap in Omashu, and—"
She interrupted, "What about with Aang? You thought he was a Fire Nation spy. You thought Fong was to be trusted too. And the Mechanist."
"Hey! The Mechanist could be trusted he just… he was in a tough spot, okay. Doesn't mean he was a bad guy."
She nodded. "You're right. About that and this one thing with Zuko. But the rest? Eh."
She shrugged her shoulder, purposefully trying to aggravate her brother. It worked.
He said, "Go talk to the Jerkbender. Let me fish in peace."
She stood and bowed. "Have fun, oh wise fish-bender."
"Just get outta here!"
She laughed and walked back towards the cave mouth, sobering quickly the closer she got. She could see Aang watching her from the top of Appa's head. She pretended she didn't see; while she loved Aang, she didn't need more advice complicating this matter. Sokka's was enough. He was right, she just needed to talk to Zuko, apologise and hopefully he would do the same.
She nodded to herself and walked into the cave.
Toph said, "Just so you know, Katara's on her way here. She'll be here any second. You should probably take your own advice and apologise to her."
He sighed. "I know. I will."
The Earthbender nodded. She climbed out carefully from under his arm, stepping out of his bedroll. She said, "Try not to take your shit out on her again, she doesn't deserve it."
He nodded. "I know. I won't. Thanks, Toph."
She nodded back and walked to the cave mouth, just as Katara was stepping inside.
She said to the Waterbender, "Sugar Queen."
Katara frowned at the nickname but said, "Toph."
The Earthbender left and the Waterbender came closer. She sat down carefully at the end of his blankets, not meeting his eye.
He cleared his throat.
"I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry."
They spoke at the same time, both in a hurried voice. They both paused, met each other's gaze, and laughed a little.
Katara said, "I'm sorry I took your patch off; I was just trying to make you comfortable cause you were in so much pain. I shouldn't have done it, though."
He nodded. "I know why you did it. I shouldn't have snapped at you. I'm sorry. I'm just—I don't like people touching my face normally, but especially when I can't stop them, you know."
She nodded. "Yeah, that makes total sense. I'm sorry."
They laughed again. She said, "Have we apologised enough to each other yet, or should we go another round?"
He laughed. "I'm good if you are."
She nodded, smiling. "I'm good, yeah."
He nodded. "Good."
She smiled at him, and he returned it.
