Chapter 31

Zuko smiled to himself, watching the small crowd of excited guests of the royal soiree engaged in spirited conversation. Calming music provided a pleasant background for the evening's gathering, the soothing and wistful sound of the tsungi horn making Zuko feel nostalgic about his travels with his Uncle Iroh during his exile. Among the gathered dignitaries, some of the most important people in the Fire Nation were present, as well as representatives from the foreign embassies in the capital. But this wasn't just some meeting of the power brokers, far from it, Zuko had some very specific plans for this evening, and for that reason he had made certain to have the still functional part of his family in full attendance, his mother Ursa with her family, and even uncle Iroh had made the journey from Ba Sing Se.

He looked fondly upon the intended target of his plans for the evening as she stood conversing with a group of Earth Kingdom officials. Katara was looking particularly resplendent tonight, in her beautiful Southern Water Tribe infused Fire Nation outfit, this particular version of the dress tantalizingly baring her shoulders in a way that made more than one of the soiree guests struggling to take their eyes off her. Zuko smiled and shook his head at the sight of his beloved. She has truly made me the luckiest man in the Fire Nation, he thought to himself. I can only hope that what I'm planning tonight will make her just as happy as she's making me every day we spend together.

"It really is as I thought, isn't it, nephew?" Uncle Iroh came to stand next to him, smiling softly as he also gazed upon Katara nearby. "She truly is one of a kind."

"Yes," Zuko replied a little absentmindedly, unable to take his eyes off her. "Sometimes I'm not even sure I'm not living in some kind of a beautiful dream."

"Don't worry, Zuko, from what I have observed, the young lady in question feels equally strongly about you," Iroh grinned. Katara had moved on to speak with her brother Sokka, then noticing that Zuko and his uncle were looking at her, turning around to regard them with a beaming smile that for a moment made Zuko forget about everything else around them.

"Thank you for taking care of that matter for me, uncle," Zuko turned back to Iroh, gently patting the inside pocket of his royal Fire Lord robes where Katara's gift was carefully concealed. "I really appreciate it, I know it must have been difficult to find a skilled Water Tribe craftsman."

"It was a bit of a challenge, but the lady is well worth the effort," Iroh replied. "Did you take a look at it? I hope it meets with your approval, Zuko."

"I think it is beautiful, but it doesn't matter whether I like it or not, the only thing that matters is if Katara likes it... and I think she will," Zuko smiled to himself.

The gift in question was a betrothal necklace, its design closely matching the necklace of Katara's mother. The central piece was a bright blue jewel bearing the waterbending symbol, but the difference in the necklace that Zuko had commissioned was that the pearl was encased in an intricate gold frame, consisting of Fire Nation motifs, a circle of flames and a pair of fire-spewing dragon heads forming the clasp. Both parts of the necklace were crafted by two different jewelers from their respective nations, but they came together beautifully and naturally, just like their union.

"Well, I can't wait to see her reaction," Iroh chuckled. "I hope you're not too nervous, Zuko. You have no reason to be."

"Of course I'm not nervous, why would I be nervous, what a ridiculous thing to say, ha-ha," Zuko managed. "Alright, maybe I'm just a little bit nervous. I wish I could just give it to her now, but... the time has to be right."

"Does Ursa know about your plans?" Iroh asked, waving at Zuko's mother and her husband Noren, being entertained by the unusually happy and smiling royal treasurer.

"No, I was planning to surprise mother as well," Zuko smiled. "But she has been needling me about proposing, so I don't think it will be much of a surprise. She and Kiyi are both crazy about Katara, you know."

"I can't possibly imagine why," Iroh laughed. "Anyway, I've taken too much of your time already, nephew. Do your royal obligations and go mingle with the other guests," he added, giving Zuko's shoulder a light push.

With a reluctant grumble, Zuko set to his task. He would have much rather preferred to steal Katara away from whatever group of dignitaries she was currently engaging with, and spend more time with her. At the same time, he knew that Katara was too dutiful to appreciate the distraction. The soiree was an amazing opportunity to strengthen diplomatic ties in less formal circumstances, and Katara was clearly making good use of it, chatting with the guests and winning them over with her charm.

As Zuko began to mingle with the guests, he found most of them full of praise and support for the Fire Lord, with the sole exception being the Earth Kingdom delegation, their ambassador giving him the cold shoulder. With no other option but to deliver a hefty down payment for the Fire Nation airships, the Earth Kingdom officials were understandably surly about this turn of events. Still, even though the Earth Kingdom had suffered terribly at the hands of the Fire Nation, their finances were in a better shape than those of Zuko's homeland. Earth Kingdom was the vastly dominant nation of the world in terms of territory, and it allowed them to bounce back quickly from the disastrous war. Of course, just because the Earth Kingdom could afford to spend money for its new airships, it didn't mean that their corrupt officials were happy to do so, since it left them with less money to enrich themselves with.

Having spent what felt like an eternity entertaining the guests, Zuko felt discouraged seeing that Katara was still going strong, speaking with the Northern Water Tribe ambassador and not looking ready to quit just yet. Sighing with mild frustration, Zuko instead went over to the heavily laden tables of various delicacies and helped himself to some food, finding the sizzle-crisps with exploding peanut sauce a truly magical combination. The other guests seemed to think so as well, since the snacks were gone almost instantly as soon as the bowls were refilled. Or maybe it's just Sokka, eating it all, Zuko chuckled to himself, then turning to approach the musicians and enjoy their performance, but finding someone blocking his way, delighted to see Katara's smiling face in front of him.

"I can tell you're getting a little bored," she winked at him. "I thought you might do with some company."

"I could do with your company in particular," Zuko smiled at her. "You need a break from all those boring officials, anyway."

"What are you talking about, they are all fascinating people and our conversations were absolutely riveting," Katara grinned wickedly. "No, you're right, it was starting to get a bit boring," she eventually admitted. "Now you have to entertain me."

"Uh... I'd be happy to," Zuko replied. "We could always try dancing," he suggested half-seriously. Indeed, some of the couples had taken to dancing, though there was not much space for it and the musicians were not playing particularly suited music for dancing.

"I'm not much of a dancer, honestly," Katara shook her head.

"Oh really?" Zuko feigned surprise. "That's not what I heard. I have it from credible sources that on this one occasion you and Aang put on a real show to wow some Fire Nation school kids."

"Who told you that?" Katara blushed.

"Toph."

"Of course it would be Toph," Katara sighed. "It's like her mission in life is to embarrass me. Anyway... I am not confident enough about dancing in front of all these dignitaries. I'd probably get tangled up in this dress and trip over or something."

"So you are saying that we need to first practice in private," Zuko suggested innocently. "Lots and lots of practice."

"Mhm..." Katara mused dreamily, tracing an idle finger across his chest, coming dangerously close to where her gift was hidden. "Yes, I see much potential in practicing in private," she added with a promising wink.

"You're amazing, you know that?" Zuko chuckled, wrapping his arms around her waist while ignoring the gathered guests. "I know I've told you before, but it bears repeating again and again."

"You're pretty amazing yourself, Fire Lord," Katara smiled back. She looked like she fully expected him to kiss her there and then, and Zuko knew the moment was right.

He tightened the hold on her waist, looking deep into her sapphire blue eyes. "Katara, there's something I have to tell you-..."

A sudden scream somewhere in the crowd of guests cut Zuko's words right off. Damnation, what's that all about! They parted instantly, looking around alertly. Suddenly, they found themselves surrounded by the Kyoshi warriors, the presence of whom had been completely unnoticed throughout the entire evening.

"There!" Zuko exclaimed, pointing in the crowd. Between two of the guests, he could clearly see the familiar shape of the black clad assassin, with its dark cloak and intricate white mask. Just as he had pointed at the assailant, she was gone in an instant.

"We can't use bending here, it's too dangerous, we might hit some of the guests!" Katara shouted. Fortunately, some of the more astute dignitaries quickly got the right idea and were fleeing for the exits, but there were still far too many who had frozen in shock from this brazen intrusion.

"Where is she?" Suki cried in frustration, the Kyoshi girls having formed a tight protective circle around Zuko and Katara.

"There! Watch out!" Ty Lee called out a warning as the assassin suddenly reappeared, frighteningly close already, just a few feet away. The black clad figure made a swift lunge at one of the Kyoshi girls who brought up her fans to deflect the incoming blow. The assassin's long, dark dagger sliced right through one of the fans and struck the girl deep into her chest. With a strangled gasp, she collapsed at Katara's feet, gravely wounded.

Katara went numb with shock of the terrible sight, but still reflexively managed to create an ice barrier to protect herself, Zuko encircling them both with fire shields, not risking to use offensive bending in these tight quarters, filled with panicking dignitaries. Fortunately, the Kyoshi girls reacted quickly, plugging the gap formed by the fall of their comrade.

The assassin struck again, her movements so fast that they almost became a blur. It was fortunate, however, that her next target was Ty Lee, a young woman of unsurpassable acrobatic skill and incredible reflexes. The dagger struck fast and true, but Ty Lee somehow managed to dodge and weave out of the way, and committed to her swing, the assassin became unbalanced, unable to defend herself as Suki delivered a savage blow across the assailant's chest with one of her fans. Instead of dropping the assassin, as Zuko would have expected it, the blow seemed to only impede her slightly. Still, before she could regroup and resume her attacks, Ty Lee beat her to the punch. An acrobatic kick to the face sent the masked assassin reeling, stunning her and pushing her further back.

Finally, their foe was in a place where she could be struck with bending, with nobody in the near vicinity of her on the soiree floor. Zuko was about to launch a torrent of fire at her, collateral damage be damned, but fortunately Iroh beat him to it. A massive arc of lightning struck the hapless assassin and threw her sizzling frame right into the heavily laden delicacy tables.

Convinced that they had finally gotten rid of the pesky assassin, Zuko allowed himself a relieved breath, but then with incredulity he noticed the assassin rising again, albeit slowly. She cracked something in her left hand and billowing plumes of smoke began to envelop her and spread throughout the room, masking her.

"Damnation, not again!" Zuko shouted. "She's getting away, don't let her escape!" Iroh and the Kyoshi warriors immediately charged towards the assassin, but it was to no avail. Just like before, she had somehow escaped capture.

Zuko quickly stopped being angry about the assassin's escape when he turned around to see that Katara had recovered from her shock and was already down on her knees, trying to heal the injured Kyoshi girl. Zuko was no healer, but it took him one look at the terrible wound in the girl's chest to realize that the injury was life threatening. The pool of blood surrounding her was slowly growing larger, and Katara's dress was already heavily stained as she desperately tried to weave her waterbending healing powers to mend the injury.

"Spirits, no..." Sokka had arrived on the scene, a sob escaping his lips as he sank to his knees next to his sister. "On Ji... it's On Ji... sis, you have to heal her..." Zuko's chest clenched painfully at Sokka's words, the rest of the Kyoshi girls also rushing back to stand over their injured sister, all of them in severe distress at what they were seeing. Ty Lee was crying already, tears rushing down her cheeks and washing away the coat of paint.

"Sokka, please, you have to let Katara work," Zuko spoke calmly, sitting down next to Sokka and placing a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder.

"It's not working!" Katara exclaimed desperately. Tears were forming at the corners of her eyes as she worked frantically. "She's losing too much blood... I can feel her slipping away..."

"Katara? Maybe you can try something else?" Zuko suggested quickly. He knew that under normal circumstances Katara would never consider what he was going to propose, but On Ji was in danger of dying unless they thought of something. "If she's losing too much blood... maybe you can control her blood to stop it from escaping?"

Katara gave him a shocked stare, but then an expression of understanding set into her eyes and she gave a firm nod, taking a deep breath and trying to focus herself. Katara's hands moved in strange weaving patterns, and reacting to her bending, blood stopped oozing from the terrible wound in On Ji's chest.

"I don't know what you're doing, sis, but it's working," Sokka exclaimed. "Keep it up, please! You can save her!"

"We need another healer!" Zuko suddenly realized. "While Katara is keeping her from losing blood, someone else needs to close that wound!"

"I'll go find the Water Tribe delegation," Iroh nodded instantly and rushed off, moving a great deal faster than most men his age.

"He needs to find a healer soon," Katara managed. The effort seemed to be taking a lot out of her, she was trembling and beads of sweat were running down her brow. "I don't know how long I can keep this up..."

"You have to, sis! You have to!" Sokka pleaded with her.

"Sokka, I'm doing my best!" Katara all but shouted in reply, somehow managing to retain her focus. Despite her best efforts, however, On Ji didn't seem to be getting better at all. She was clearly struggling to breathe, shaking and starting to cough. "Spirits, the blood is filling her lungs and I can't stop it!" Katara realized with dawning horror in her eyes.

Zuko felt sickened and lightheaded, almost as if he was going to faint from one look at poor On Ji. Blood was starting to pour from her mouth now, first a small trickle, but quickly becoming a thick stream. A few of the Kyoshi girls watching the grizzly scene had already broken down, unable to face the sight. One had fainted outright. Ty Lee's face was a messy coat of tears and paint. Suki's tear stained eyes shone with righteous anger.

"I'm... sorry," Katara whispered, unable to maintain her concentration, her hands starting to shake too much for her to continue. Sokka let out an anguished wail as he watched On Ji's head roll to the side and her suffering finally came to an end. Sokka continued to sit as if frozen by the side of his girlfriend, holding her limp, lifeless hand.

Zuko reached out and despite his horror and discomfort, closed poor On Ji's eyes. He forced himself to look away from the terrible sight, turning to Katara. She was sitting there, covered with On Ji's blood, staring right at him, but there was a frightening emptiness to her stare, as if she was looking right through him. In an instant, Zuko was at Katara's side and gathered her into his arms.

A powerful shudder coursed through her, as if she had snapped back to reality. Then she began to weep uncontrollably.