Chapter 37
Katara hummed to herself as she was busy chopping up vegetables for an evening meal at the Ba Sing Se estate. Sokka had recently returned from his daily escapades in the city, fortunately remembering to bring with him some of the fresh produce from the Middle Ring marketplace, and Katara was now using it to whip up a quick meal for the two of them. During the past week of her stay at the Earth Kingdom capital, cooking had become her favorite form of distraction. Creating something, just about anything, made her feel at least somewhat useful, and put her in a more positive frame of mind as she tried to sort out her complicated emotional state.
The talk with Uncle Iroh had been incredibly useful for putting some things into proper perspective for Katara, and he had also been correct when saying that time will help her see things for what they truly were. She was becoming much better at focusing on all the good things she had done for Zuko and the Fire Nation, instead of dwelling on her perceived failures too much. The news coming from the Fire Nation were not exactly good, but at least things were not getting worse. The forces loyal to Zuko were in the process of slowly retaking the Fire Fountain City, while the rebels maintained complete control of the Hing Wa Island. Overall, it seemed as if Zuko was in control of the situation, and that eased Katara's mind somewhat.
The most encouraging sign for Katara was that the previous night for the first time since the latest assassination plot, she had managed to sleep through the night without once being awakened by a dreadful nightmare involving poor On Ji. Katara was slowly coming around to accepting the idea that the best way to atone for her failure to save the girl was by serving the people of the Fire Nation with increased vigor, commitment and vigilance. She did nobody any favors by collapsing under the weight of her decisions, in fact, giving up and running away from her responsibilities was something that would completely devalue On Ji's sacrifice.
Overall, Katara felt like she was becoming more and more ready to return to the fold and continue serving the Fire Nation at Zuko's side. The precious gift of his necklace that she refused to remove at any time, reminded her about the promise of what awaited her at the Fire Nation capital, and time and again she caught herself running her fingers across the smooth surface of the engraved jewel, wondering what Zuko was doing and fantasizing about what they could be doing if they were together at that very moment. Most of these fantasies tended to become rather heated very quickly, so Katara had to make sure to only indulge in those in the privacy of her bedroom.
There was no denying that she was starting to miss Zuko more and more. When she had come to Ba Sing Se, Katara had been in such low spirits that she hadn't been certain at all about returning to the Fire Nation, but by now she knew that it was only a matter of time before the urge to return to Zuko became overpowering. Still, she resolved to wait a little longer, just to be sure that she was returning for the right reasons, and not just because she ached to be touched, to have her willing body explored and satisfied by her damnably handsome and charming Fire Lord.
"Mmm, something in here smells really good," Sokka interrupted her thoughts, poking his head into the kitchen and taking a good whiff of the aromas mixing over the stove. "I'm starving!" he added unnecessarily.
"Well, it's almost ready, I just need to add the veggies and the rice noodles," Katara replied, tossing a generous amount of spices into her chicken broth, an amount that a couple of months ago she would have considered potentially dangerous, if not deadly.
"Just make sure there's enough," Sokka reminded her, earning a glare from his sister. "Oh! I almost forgot to tell you something! I met Toph earlier!"
"You met Toph and didn't think to mention it sooner?" Katara sighed at her brother. "Will she be stopping by?"
"She wasn't sure," Sokka explained. "She said she had an audience with King Kuei."
"Huh... I wonder what the king might want with Toph," Katara mused, throwing the sliced vegetables in with the broth.
"Toph didn't know either," Sokka replied. "Anyway, I'm sure she'll stop by later if she has the time."
"Right," Katara nodded, quickly adding the noodles and waiting a bit before filling two bowls for Sokka and herself, with plenty still remaining in the large cooking pot that would hopefully be enough to sate Sokka's unnatural appetite.
The two of them had only just sat down at the kitchen table and started to eat, when the sound of someone entering the estate interrupted them. "That must be Toph," Sokka said, reluctantly rising from the table and leaving the kitchen. "Uh, Katara... it's not Toph," he called out a moment later.
"What do you mean?" Katara jumped from the table and rushed over to where her brother stood. Maybe it's Zuko! was the first thought on her mind. It wasn't Zuko. Someone else stood by the entrance, giving Sokka and her a slightly goofy, impish smile. "Aang?" she managed to get across her lips.
"Hey, you two," Aang greeted them. "I expected the estate to be empty, but I'm sure glad to see you both!"
"Glad to see you as well, buddy, it's been too long!" Sokka ran over to Aang to give him one of his smothering platypus bear hugs.
Katara couldn't decide how to act upon seeing Aang. When she had last seen him, he had stormed out of this very estate, heartbroken and angry, but now he stood there, smiling at her as if holding no grudge? She felt like the right thing for her to do would be to get her things and disappear, but it felt almost rude to lead in with that. "I made some food for Sokka and myself, but it's made with chicken broth. I can whip you up something else instead, if you want," she decided to offer.
"Thanks, Katara, I am pretty hungry after a long flight," Aang replied with a grateful look as he followed her into the kitchen. "Smells really nice... I've missed your cooking, Katara. This will feel like the good old times," he added, sitting down at the table and observing her working at the stove.
"What brings you to Ba Sing Se, Aang?" Sokka asked, busy gulping down his own serving of noodles.
"Just needed to take a little break from everything," Aang shrugged, his eyes remaining on Katara. "When I saw light in the estate windows, I thought maybe it's you, Sokka, but I definitely wasn't expecting to find Katara."
"I'm just taking a brief vacation, nothing more," Katara replied, a little evasively. She definitely did not want to share her personal troubles with Aang, spirits knew how he would interpret that.
"Yes, I've heard that things are getting a little too hot in the Fire Nation," Aang nodded knowingly.
"It's nothing that Zuko can't handle," Katara said, aware that she sounded a little defensive.
"I hope so, but I'm worried," Aang sighed. "I was told that he ordered his own father to be executed. That's... I'm not alright with that, honestly. There was a reason why I chose not to kill him."
"I respect your decision and your convictions, Aang," Katara answered politely. "But I'm not sure leaving Ozai alive served any practical purpose. He was never going to seek atonement for what he had done. All he did by remaining alive was to inspire a wasteful rebellion in his name."
"Hmm..." Aang mused thoughtfully, gratefully accepting the bowl of stir-fried noodles from Katara. "As I understand, the rebellion actually got a lot worse after Zuko had Ozai killed. But, correct me if I'm wrong," he added before digging into his food. "Oh, this is really good, Katara, thank you... Fire Nation spices, eh? That's a very nice change."
Katara did not respond to the compliment, still inwardly seething about Aang's earlier comment. She didn't expect him to be aware of all the intricacies of Fire Nation politics, but it still seemed as if he was making a point by trying to cast Zuko in a bad light. What's he playing at, anyway? Is he trying to sow doubt into my mind about Zuko? Well, I won't let him.
"Zuko's really trying to do the best he can, Aang," Sokka unexpectedly came to her boyfriend's defense, and Katara gave her brother a warm look of gratitude.
"I'm sure he is, but I can't blame Katara for needing a little break from all that craziness back there," Aang nodded. "I think we all imagined that Zuko would have a much firmer grip on his throne by now."
If he had married Mai, he probably would, Katara's treacherous mind reminded her. If Zuko doesn't have a firm grip on his throne by now, it's because of me, not because of him.
Katara was still trying to work out her reply to Aang's comment, but thankfully, she was interrupted by a knock on the doors and someone else entering the estate. "Any of you lot in here?" Toph's voice rang out, loud and clear.
"We're in the kitchen, Toph!" Sokka called out to the earthbender, being the first to hug their friend as she entered to join them, Katara and Aang repeating the greeting afterwards. Toph's appearance was rather unusual, she was wearing a very elaborate and complicated dress of Earth Kingdom's white and green, some makeup to bring out a shade of pink in her usually pale cheeks, and her hair was styled in an amusing combination of differently sized buns.
"You look amazing, Toph," Katara complimented her with a smile.
"Thanks, but ugh... they make me dress up like this for the king, and then I don't even get to sit down with him? Instead, those lame Dai Li ambushed me!" Toph complained. "And they didn't even have any snacks! I'm starving... something here smells really nice, can I get some of your grub?"
"Sure, Toph," Katara chuckled, giving her brother a look. "There's enough left for two, Sokka, you want an extra serving as well?" Sokka's answer was an emphatic nod, so Katara just laughed and split the remaining food between the two of them. "So, what did the Dai Li want with you?" Katara asked as she placed the bowl in front of Toph.
"They wanted to enlist the services of me and my metalbenders," Toph explained. "Something about reverse engineering a Fire Nation airship."
"Oh... those Dai Li are crafty," Katara winced. It was no surprise, really, having been utterly fleeced by the airship sale, the Earth Kingdom was undoubtedly eager to begin production of their own airships. "So, did you agree to help?"
"I said I'll consider," Toph shrugged. "I really don't like those Dai Li, though. Hey, do you think Zuko would open the royal treasury for me not to help the Dai Li?"
"Umm, are you being serious now?" Katara wondered. With Toph, you just never knew.
"Not really," Toph chuckled. "Like I said, those Dai Li still rub me the wrong way, I've no interest in helping them. Still, I think eventually they'll find someone smart enough to figure out those airships and how to build them."
"Probably," Katara nodded. She briefly wondered how Toph didn't show any surprise about her being in Ba Sing Se, but then she realized that Sokka had probably already explained the reason for it to Toph during their meeting earlier.
"Anyway, Twinkletoes!" Toph exclaimed while still busy slurping down her noodles. "I'm surprised to see you here! I got word from my dad that you were helping out his business around Cranefish Town."
"I wasn't exactly helping his business, it just happened as a result of my involvement," Aang explained. "But he is a nice man, Toph. Despite your rocky past, I think he really cares about you a great deal."
"At least he's learning how to show it," Toph muttered. "He hasn't been great about that in the past. My mother has the same problem, really. Anyway, enough about my parents... I was asking you about Cranefish Town because my father's letter implied that you were going to stay there for some time?"
Aang seemed to hesitate for a while before answering. "Well, you're going to hear about it from your father sooner or later, so I can just come out and say it," Aang replied. "Zuko came to visit me just before I left Cranefish Town."
Katara instantly froze in surprise. "Zuko came to visit you? What for?" she asked.
"Mostly to apologize," Aang replied. Katara blinked, then noticing that Toph's brow was furrowed as she gave Aang a deep frown. "And he also came to beg me for help. I couldn't help but feel that he's really losing his handle on the situation."
Katara's heart clenched painfully in her chest. Spirits, are things really so bad that poor Zuko had to seek out Aang and humiliate himself by begging the Avatar for help? Maybe if I had remained by his side, he wouldn't have been forced to do something like that!
"You're going to help him, right?" Sokka asked expectantly.
"I'll have to think about it, Sokka," Aang shook his head. "It's not the Avatar's duty to interfere in the internal politics of any nation. I can't be seen as the errand boy for the political leaders of the world to be called upon whenever they have some rebellion to crush."
"I... guess that's fair," Sokka replied, though he sounded disappointed.
A thought suddenly occurred to Katara as she listened to the conversation, feeling increasingly anxious. I can't believe Aang would do that, but I need to know... and I can use the fact that Toph is here... yes, I need to ask. "Aang, did Zuko tell you that I was in Ba Sing Se?" she asked.
Aang paused for a moment, taking a brief glance at Toph, instantly realizing that he could not lie. "I can't remember... I think he might have mentioned something like that, yes," he answered as evasively as he could.
Katara had to quickly turn away to hide the expression of anger flaring up in her face, forcing herself to remain calm. He said earlier that he hadn't expected to find me here! That was a fucking lie! Just so she wouldn't say something she would later regret, Katara rose from the table and began busying herself with cleaning up the kitchen, even though all she really wanted to do was to scream at Aang for choosing to rush to Ba Sing Se, instead of doing the right thing and helping out Zuko.
"Hey, so... why don't we move elsewhere and let Katara finish up here?" Sokka suggested to the others. "We can exchange tales of our latest adventures, and I'll even share the last bag of Auntie Ashuna's blubbered seal jerky I brought back from my last visit to the South Pole."
"Ugh, that stuff is dreadful," Toph groaned, but she still allowed Sokka to lead her out of the kitchen, Aang lingering behind.
Katara pulled herself away from scrubbing the saucepan. "I'll finish up here as Sokka said, then I'll get my things and be out of here," she spoke flatly.
"What, why?" Aang appeared desperate. "Please, Katara, you don't have to leave, not for my sake. I want you to stay."
"I don't think that's a good idea," Katara frowned.
"Well, I think it's a great idea," Aang smiled at her. "I mean... I assume that you want me to help out Zuko, right? We could talk about that."
"I... see," Katara's eyes narrowed as she stared at him, not entirely certain what he was getting at. She didn't want to assume something worse than he actually intended, even if his statement left a lot to interpretation. "Fine, I'll stay. For now," she decided.
"Glad to hear it," Aang gave her another bright smile. "I'm certain you won't regret it."
