Aang spent the next few days practically glued to Appa's side. He had a lot of missed time with his big buddy. He regaled him with stories of being at the palace and gave him lots of treats, even though he probably didn't need any more. Well, whatever! Aang was going to spoil him, at least a bit.
On the fourth day, he came out of his cabin and was surprised not to see Appa, but Zuko.
"Aang! Woah...hair." Zuko's eyes bugged. "I mean, looks good."
"I'm glad you're still alive," Aang said, hugging Zuko.
"I think that's my line," Zuko chuckled, looking around at the Swamp, taking it all in.
"Hardly. We're pretty protected here. I wouldn't put it past your dad to...slit your throat in the night," Aang said honestly. Zuko shrugged, not disagreeing.
"Is it how you imagined it?" Ty Lee asked, swinging herself over the railing to stand next to Zuko. Though he'd been the one to set up this communication and knew the location, he hadn't ever been here, not until now.
"Better," Zuko said, "Seeing everyone here...not fearing for their lives...it's good." From his dark expression, Aang almost didn't want to ask. But he had to. Zuko winced, inhaling.
"It's Zhao. Ever since finding out you were the Avatar- the ultimate Airbender- he's...gone off the deep end. And my dad only encourages him. Anyone he thinks is an Airbender…" Zuko drew a line across his throat. "It's been a week since you escaped, and already, his body count that we know of is thirty. Possibly more. Hard to say how many were airbenders, how many were 'Airbender sympathizers,' and how many just looked the wrong way at him."
"Holy smokes," Aang groaned, "Well, I mean, we gotta go out and find them! Bring all the airbenders here, obviously. And stop Zhao. We have to-"
"Woah, slow down!" Zuko held up a hand, "Find my uncle and Toph? I need to talk to you all."
"Not Shen or Dhakiya?" Ty Lee questioned.
"In the town over. I'm on a 'trip' right now with Alcina, Yue, and Suki. Yue and Suki are volunteering. Alcina is having lunch, in town, with her father and Dhakiya. Thought it would be kind. Plus, I don't trust her enough to bring her here." He laughed. "I mean, I barely trust anyone."
"As you should. Be mindful of who you speak your secrets to," Iroh said, coming up the path with Huu. "Nephew, it's good to see you."
"Now we just need Toph," Zuko said.
"I'll get her," Aang offered. He darted back inside. Toph was lying on her bed, making small shapes with a ball of dirt above her.
"Hi."
"Shit, Twinkletoes!" Toph snapped. "Can't sneak up on me like that."
"Sorry," Aang winced, "So you're...completely blind here?" He hadn't thought to ask before, until now. Toph hopped off her bed, running her feet across the floorboards.
"Usually, even in structures, I can feel the earth beneath me and see easily. This earth is all wet," she complained.
"So…?"
Toph motioned for Aang to come forward. She found his face after a few missed attempts and then took her hand and pressed it to his eyes, fingers spread.
"Can you see very well right now?"
"Erm, not really," he said, squinting through the openings.
"Exactly. It's like that. I can get a bit, but it's really difficult and sort of tiring," she replied. Aang understood; ever since arriving here, his connection to the other Avatars was like a bad signal. It wavered in and out. Sometimes, he could hear a few clear words from them, but it was usually choppy. Other times, he could only hear the faint fuzz and murmur in the back of his brain, like a fly that never left. He'd rather it was all or nothing because this half-connection was way worse. Oh, fear not though, his past Avatars figured out how to annoy him through his dreams, so he wasn't without their sage wisdom, he thought with a roll of his eyes. Was it too much to have a normal, non-lectured dream, though?
"Need help outside?" Aang offered, feeling bad for her.
"No! I have legs still," Toph snapped, and proceeded to walk into her dresser. "That wasn't there before," she said stiffly.
"Sure," Aang agreed, though he was pretty sure it had been there since they arrived.
"What's the big deal anyway?" Toph asked, "I'm pretty much ignored here." It was for the best, lest she teach more swear words to children. With her unreliable sight right now, there wasn't much she could do.
"Zuko's here."
"Zuko! That means…" Toph's whole face lit up. She ran outside, only tripping once, eager like a child on their birthday.
"Sokka! Come on out! Where are ya? I can't see very well, so you gotta come to me," Toph said, grinning, lifting her feet to show the wet squishing sound that was shadowing part of her vision.
"We need to talk about that," Zuko said stiffly.
"I hate that tone," Ty Lee sighed.
"Let us retire inside," Iroh said, "I have some tea on."
Once they were in the main living room of the hut, Toph turned to the wall. "Okay, Zuko-"
"Over here." Zuko interrupted.
"I knew that," Toph said, but her face was flushed scarlet, "Where's my boyfriend?"
"That's...fuck." Zuko winced. "He's not coming."
"Not coming...today?" Toph said somewhat hopefully.
"No. Not anytime soon. Possibly...never." Zuko swallowed. Aang felt something cold grip his bones, a foreboding sense that only grew as Zuko recounted the Agni Kai. Ty Lee gripped Aang's arm tightly, whimpering at the sound of it. Iroh shook his head sorrowfully, handing out teas. Toph's face stayed the same, almost confused, as though she didn't quite believe him.
"...And he's hurt badly now. My father won't let Katara heal him. As it is, he seems...intent on staying. But I'm not sure he'd have the strength to make the trip anyway." Zuko pressed his palms to his tea cup, trying to figure out what to say next. "Spirits, Toph, I'm sorry-"
"You did what?" Toph demanded. Zuko's whole demeanor shifted from apologetic to furious, his back straightening like a whip and his eyes inflamed.
"What I had to!" Zuko snapped back at her, "Spirits, if my father-"
"You nearly killed him! And I'm supposed to thank you?" Toph's fists clenched. "Aang, where is the Fire Idiot? He deserves exactly what he did to Sokka!"
"I'm not helping you punch Zuko," Aang choked.
"Traitor," Toph snarled.
"Toph, Zuko is right," Iroh said, "Ozai would have killed Sokka. This was merciful."
"Merciful! Huh, I'm beginning to wonder if you flame yahoos have ever read a dictionary in your life because me and you have two very different definitions," Toph said. Then, the truth seemed to wash over her. Aang saw tears gather in her eyes. He expected her to cry. Instead, she spun, angry, moving toward her bedroom door.
"Toph!"
"Stop!" Toph shoved Aang hard. "Because none of you get it!" she said, throwing a finger out, yelling to keep herself from crying. "You and Ty Lee get to be all lovey-dovey in your room over there, together," she said, "And Zuko and Katara get to be awkward and shit at the palace, but they're together too if things go bad. But for me? And Sokka? It's not fair."
"Not fair?" Zuko gave a low laugh. "Toph, spirits, wake up and smell the swamp water. All you and he had to do was not get caught! But no!" He threw up his hands. "You could have come to me. We could have gotten you off the competition list. There were two million things we could have done, but you chose to be selfish and do whatever Toph wanted to do, and look where it got you!"
"Zuko…" Iroh warned.
"She needs to hear this!" Zuko stood, his voice thundering. "You can just dance through life and expect that the wake of your decisions will always work themselves out! From the baby scandal to your behavior at the balls, to this!" Zuko threw out a hand motion. "Why are you so consistently surprised that bad choices have bad reactions?"
"A bad reaction is maybe getting privileges revoked! Forcing an Agni Kai against Sokka is mental and cruel!"
"A heavy punishment for a heavy crime," Zuko said icily. "You knew I had no feelings for you past sibling love. I could have fixed this early on. I could have. But Toph always does what Toph wants," he said angrily, crossing his arms.
Toph stood still for a few seconds before she stormed into her room, slamming the door. Zuko stomped out of the house, steam rising from his shoulders as he threw curse words out.
"Let them," Iroh said to Aang, who was poised and trying to decide who to go after first, "It is in Zuko's nature. He needs to calm down. And Toph?" Iroh stroked his beard. "Well, she needs to internalize some truth in Zuko's words." He looked down. "More tea?"
After half an hour, Zuko grumbled his way back in. Toph eased out of her room, still looking distrustful.
"Fine," Toph said in a high voice, "Maybe I made some bad choices. Okay, I'll own up to that. But since you're not gunna bring Sokka to me, I'll go get him myself."
Zuko just sighed, sinking low into a chair. "You can't," he said, grinding his teeth. "None of you should leave this area."
"Try to tell me what I can and can't do." Toph snorted.
"You, Toph, and you, Uncle," Zuko said, sounding tired and drained, "Are dead. According to, well, everyone. That's also why I didn't want to bring Alcina or the other girls here. They all think you two were executed. If you showed your face if anyone started to doubt my father's lies...I fear he'd retaliate and actually kill Sokka."
"Not if I get there first," Toph responded haughtily.
"Do you want to risk his life?" Zuko asked seriously. Toph did consider it and deflated.
"Dammit!"
"And you two," Zuko spun to Aang and Ty Lee, "Are Most Wanted One and Two. You will be killed on the spot."
"So we just stay here a bit longer." Ty Lee tried to sound bright and cheerful, but the mood was grim. "We can still make a difference from here...right?"
"That's what I came to ask," Zuko said, "If you had any ideas. I mean, any new plans." He waved a hand. "What can I do since you're grounded?"
"Keep sending airbenders our way," Aang said. "Try to stop Zhao whenever you can. Injunctions, burning his supplies, turning his uniforms bright green...whatever you can do," Aang said without pause, "I'll, uhm, practice the things I didn't really get a chance to do at the palace."
"Master that thirty-sixth tier?" Ty Lee teased. Zuko threw Aang a confused look, but Aang waved it away, grinning at Ty Lee.
"That's not much of a plan," Zuko said uneasily. "Something is coming Aang. I can feel it." He paused. "If I keep sending you the information I have on the Equalists, in your spare time, maybe leaf through it? I hardly have time to look at it. If we figured out who they were and what they wanted, we'd have one less issue on our hands."
"Sure," Aang said, "Guess I don't have much else to do." Part of him was glad he wasn't going to be expected to go out there, waving the flag of battle when he had no battle plans to enact. Part of him was frustrated to not be able to help, unable to dig into what his people were feeling and experiencing. He felt almost like a fraud, safe here.
"We can't lose you, Aang," Zuko said, as though reading his mind. "You're our most valuable player."
"I'll find a way to cope," Aang sighed, hating feeling so useless.
"Can we get to talking about more exciting stuff?" Toph asked. "If Sokka's not gunna show up, at least you can entertain me."
"Whatever do you mean?" Zuko narrowed his eyes. Aang groaned.
"New gossip," Toph said, easing back into her chair, "What sort of trivial BS is going on at our dear Royal Palace?"
Zuko looked ready to argue, but perhaps he was tired of fighting with Toph. Plus, Aang noticed Ty Lee looked a bit piqued. Even Iroh leaned forward a bit. Zuko relented. He seemed to realize they all needed something a bit less...dark to end this day.
"Okay, well...Yue and I had lunch the other day, and you wouldn't believe the weird story she told me…"
XXxx
Katara felt like all her time was spent waiting. Waiting specifically, to be allowed to see her brother. She wanted nothing else, felt no desire to do anything else. She would sit in her room until she was summoned, knowing that was a poor use of her time, but finding little energy to care...until she couldn't.
So, Katara tried to push herself to do other things. She read some of the books from the library that had accumulated in her room. She worked out. She tried embroidery again and recalled why she'd stopped in the first place. She tried to practice bloodbending, but as soon as she began, she had flashbacks to her brother's blood in the arena and simply...could not.
One of the days, while Zuko was still gone with Alcina, Yue, and Suki, Katara wandered into the Ladies' Room. On Ji had told her that there would be tea cakes there for tea time and Cillia had tried to encourage Katara out by asking her to spar with her later. Katara had said she'd see how she felt.
The discussion was, frustratingly, still about her brother and Toph. Any and all gossip was about their relationship and the drama surrounding it. Katara almost wished the Equalists would make a surprise visit so that the other girls would be talking about something else!
She intended to grab her tea cakes and cup of tea, find an excuse to quit on Cillia (who, luckily, wasn't in here at the moment), and leave quickly, but she couldn't help but overhear.
"I can't believe Prince Zuko put Sokka through that! And executed Toph! Maybe I...maybe I don't know him like I thought I did," On Ji was saying, looking at her hands, lip quivering. Katara snorted quietly. It was obvious that Zuko didn't enjoy a second of it.
"Then leave," Nadhari snipped, "And we'll continue on."
"I didn't say I wanted to go." On Ji frowned. "I just think there should have been another way."
"What they did was wrong," Mai reminded, and Katara nearly dropped her teacup in anger. However, when she looked at Mai, she saw beneath her calm facade a frustration, an uncertainty. Mai was glued to the rules as her life depended on them. It was all she was taught, and some part of her was starting to question it like On Ji, but her rigid upbringing was barring her way.
Katara wondered, briefly, what sort of turmoil churned inside of Mai currently?
"He could have killed Sokka too, but he did not." Mai finished, tucking her arms into her sleeves.
"That wasn't merciful. For all we know, Toph's in an unmarked grave," Smellerbee spat. Clearly, this was a heated discussion. Katara was glad there was a dissent. If all the ladies just accepted it, she would have been alone.
"I doubt that." Mai shook her head.
"We wouldn't know, though, would we?" Smellerbee shoved a cake in her mouth. "I just don't know about Sokka's punishment, though…"
"I think he'd prefer it to death," Nadhari said with a raised eyebrow, "If we were to ask."
That was it. Katara couldn't just leave now, not with such fighting words from her least favorite person.
"Don't presume you know my brother," Katara growled.
"Oh, so he wants to die, then? You'd let him walk into an execution?"
"Don't twist my words!" Katara stalked up to her, months of pent-up frustration spilling from her. "We have suffered a thousand times more than you have! You've lived your entire life as a nobleman's daughter, afforded things that I only dreamed about not so long ago! And, if someone you loved ever did something so reckless, you wouldn't stay awake at night worrying about how your people are going to survive now that there's no more food coming! At worst, you'd miss one of your hundred meals a day."
"Don't act like you know my life." Nadhari stood, face to face with Katara. "You're not the only one who's gone through trauma, who's suffered!"
"Oh, like what?" Katara asked, "Your nail broke? You lost your favorite dress in the hundreds that you own? The chef wasn't serving the meal you wanted for dinner?" she cruelly mocked. "My suffering...my brother's suffering is not the same as yours."
Katara felt the electricity of the emotion in the air and wondered if this was going to lead to a fight. She'd be ever so pleased to knock Nadhari on her ass.
On Ji stood up, nervously looking around, distressed. "Hey, guys! Before Yue left, she told me this really funny and sorta weird story-"
"Katara is right! You have no idea what people like me, or her, have gone through!" Smellerbee jumped up.
"The story-" On Ji tried again.
"You can't minimize another's plight, though," Ratana said, and all of a sudden, any order in the room crumbled and almost everyone was talking over each other, lines starting to be drawn in the proverbial sand. Katara only knew for sure that Smellebee was staunchly with her, everyone else on varying degrees.
"Everyone!" On Ji stood on a table, surprising all with the booming of her quiet voice. "Really? Are we going to act like wild animals in here?" she asked, "We all clearly have a lot of emotions and this is doing nobody any good!"
Begrudgingly, even Katara agreed with her. All the girls slinked to opposite places in the room, scattered with their food, looking a bit ashamed.
Katara reloaded her plate, knowing that she didn't want to be here.
As she left, she heard a side-comment from Ratana, almost so quiet she missed it.
"Maybe Sokka didn't deserve it, but Toph got what she deserved. Poor Zuko... never took her for a whore."
Katara lost it. Her food and drink clattered to the floor and Ratana only had time to make a squeak of surprise as Katara lunged at her like a cougar. Ratana made a grunt as Katara collided full into her, knocking them both into a side-table. Ratana was staring up at Katara in utter shock, and Katara was just as surprised at her own actions. She'd begun to like Ratana, especially after the Painted Lady incident, and this deeply hurt her.
That hurt bubbled. and as Ratana grasped to shove her off, Katara slapped her hard across the face. The sound echoed around the room, seeming to linger. Her hand burned, but the reddening mark on Ratana's flesh was satisfying.
Ratana hit Katara back, making an impact with her cheekbone.
From there, Katara was in a daze as the two girls clawed and snarled, rolling on the ground, pulling at each other's hair. At one point, Katara split Ratana's lip. Ratana grabbed a book from the table above and hit Katara's head hard. As Katara's head spun, she registered the rest of the girls pulling them apart. Katara yanked against whoever had her, dizzy as she was.
"Stop that!" Mai said, "What have you done?"
"Take that back!" Katara demanded. "Keep your mouth shut and never talk about Toph that way again!" Katara's eyes burned with tears.
"You're insane!" Ratana hissed back, Nadhari holding her from lunging at Katara. "I'm just defending Prince Zuko! He was heartbroken, but Toph didn't care. She is a who-"
"Ratana," On Ji shrieked, "Stop saying that word!"
"Prince Zuko is a big boy. He doesn't need you to defend him," Katara said, finally wrenching free from Mai's fingers. "I'm not going to start something. I'm fine," she said, holding up her hands. She needed to wipe the blood away. Gingerly, she touched the side of her head and winced. Tender.
Katara turned to leave, and she heard Ratana mutter, "What a psycho. If Prince Zuko had any reason to keep her after her brother's fuck up, he won't now."
As soon as Katara closed her door, she grabbed her arms and shook. Had she just signed her ticket home?
XX
There was a knock on her door later that night. Part of Katara fully assumed it would be the guards, telling her to pack her bags. She was surprised to see Pan at her door.
"Lady Katara! What ever happened to you?"
While she'd cleaned up her injuries fine, she was still wearing the dress with some blood on it. In hindsight, she probably should have changed.
However, this meant Ratana hadn't told anyone yet about their...altercation. How strange. What was her end game with this?
"Uhm. Not important."
"I'm here to escort you to your brother if you wish to see him."
Katara's heart lifted. "Of course! Yes, please," she said, grinning. She was surprised to see Pan scowling.
"Are you sure you wish to visit him?" Pan asked.
"He's my brother? How could you ask that?" Katara said, uncomprehending. She shooed them out, motioning for Pan to lead the way. He did so, but with great resistance.
For most of the walk, they were silent, but Pan was looking sweaty.
"Pan?"
Pan gave a great sigh, looking at Katara nearly wistfully.
"What is it?" She could tell when her representative was deeply troubled.
"We have the newest poll results of where you all stand in the competition," Pan said cagily.
"Oh. I dropped a few spots?" Katara guessed. She was sure that was what was bothering him.
"Not just a few. You're in the last place."
This felt like a whiplash.
"What?" Katara stumbled over a rug, nearly breaking what she was sure was a priceless heirloom. She caught herself, staring at him with wide eyes. "But I was...first." In truth, she didn't think she cared about the rankings. Not when she was first. But this steep of a drop? It clenched at her stomach and settled painfully. "It must be a mistake!"
"We thought so too. So we recounted. Three times," Pan said, "Lady Katara...people do not like the Southern Water Tribe right now."
Well, that should not have been a surprise. Naively, she hadn't realized that the palace's attitude toward the Southern Water Tribe would seep to the common people, changing her life here so badly. She was grateful that a low ranking was not a dismissal, but it wasn't going to help her case, not after she'd nearly maimed Ratana today.
"So that's why you don't think I should see Sokka?" Katara realized.
"The more people see you two having a connection...the worse your public image likely will be. People think he did something unforgivable."
"Uhm, we're siblings," Katara said, "We're connected for better or worse."
"Yes, but you don't need to make it obvious," Pan said. Katara bit her lip. She'd had one brawl today and wasn't in the mood for another.
"I will see him. I don't care," she said, grounding herself.
"The people used to love your stubbornness." Pan gave a longing sigh, as though he imagined Katara gone tomorrow. "And now they'll hate it."
He brought them to the jail cells. She remembered how awfully Bahiravi had been treated and hoped Zuko had kept his word about better treatment of 'traitors'. She was led through the halls. There was a stagnant, musty smell that made her want to sneeze.
At the very end of the hall, with five guards monitoring it as though he was going to murder the whole Royal Family, was her brother's cell.
"Princess Katara wishes to see her brother. Per Fire Lady Ursa's orders, she is allowed to be in there alone with him."
"So they can conspire to break the Prince's heart more?" one of the guards asked.
"For the love of Tui!" Katara threw her hands up.
"Stand aside," Pan commanded, shaking his head at Katara.
"You are allowed half an hour."
The door closed behind them and the guards moved away.
Sokka was sitting on a cot. It didn't look plushy, but he had a pillow and blanket. For one frantic moment, Katara was sure he was dead, for he didn't stir at all when she came in.
"Sokka?" she asked, reaching for a pulse. He was fully alive but still didn't acknowledge her. She pressed her hand to his forehead. Not sick…
"Sokka, talk to me!" Katara demanded.
"Leave me alone," Sokka whimpered.
"Are you hurt? Are you okay?" Katara was ready to pull her hair out. "Great Spirits, Sokka!"
She grabbed his shoulder to turn him around and stumbled back, clanging against a bucket for waste in the corner. Her fingers grasped the rough wall behind her and she inhaled, holding back a worse sound.
"Not pretty, huh?" Sokka asked, voice flat.
His entire arm was circled with scars, lacing up his biceps and shoulders like a dragon twined around him. The burns crept up his neck, one strand of fire-touched flesh curled up onto his cheek. It may have not been as outwardly shocking as Zuko's scar, but he'd never be able to hide it.
Katara crumpled against the side of the cell. If she'd been able to attend to him after the fight, she could have salvaged most of the skin. Now, she knew even with the magic water, she wouldn't get through a fourth of it.
"It's what I deserve," Sokka said, rolling onto his back, staring up at the cell.
"We could have saved you," Katara said, referring to trying to break him out.
"I deserve worse," Sokka said, closing his eyes.
"Don't say that! You went through the Agni Kai, you earned your honor back!" Katara crawled to his side, furious that he still thought he needed more punishment.
"I thought it would fix things," Sokka whispered quietly, "In my head. My own guilt. But it...hasn't...and now…" His eyes flickered to his arm. "I don't want to be here."
"Stop it!" Katara demanded. "Don't say things like that! Don't you...don't leave me," she pleaded, "I need my older brother. Mom and dad need you. Toph-"
"Don't say her name, please," Sokka asked quietly, staring at Katara in agony. "How can I go on? If you were the cause of Zuko's death, how could you ever live with yourself again? Believe you deserve a place in the world?" he asked softly.
Katara recoiled like Sokka had knocked the wind out of her. "What?"
"I got Toph killed. I only meant to love her. If I had anger left, I'd be furious at Aunt Wu. When she said I'd cause the person I loved most to leave the palace, I thought it would be someone leaving alive," Sokka said, face twisting. "I just have emptiness. And survivor's guilt, I suppose. I think we were meant to go out together. So I just feel...stuck," he admitted.
"Sokka...spirits," Katara's voice quivered. She stood, checking to make sure the guards were far away before she dropped her voice to a scarce whisper. "Do you think Toph's dead?" She had to clarify, "Tui and La! Is that why you refused our plan?"
Sokka shot up immediately, eyes distrustful. "What do you mean do I 'think'?" The intensity of Sokka's stare bored holes into Katara. "The guards told me that both General Iroh and Toph had been privately executed."
"Sokka, oh," Understanding flooded Katara and she felt a thousand different emotions. Of course, everyone thought Toph was dead, as they should for the cover! Why would Sokka know differently? She assumed Zuko had told him, but maybe Zuko had just thought Sokka would be in on the plan or that Aiga would have...arg!
"Toph's alive. She escaped with Iroh and Aang and Ty Lee. They went to the survival camp," Katara whispered, eyes flickering to make sure none of the guards were close by. Sokka stared at her, jaw dropped.
"Katara, you'd better not be lying, or else-"
"Why would I lie?" Katara groaned, kicking his bed. "So...so...all of this? Could have been avoided? You thought you had to balance the scales because of Toph and...oh, great spirits!" Katara wanted to scream.
"Well, of course, I wouldn't have agreed if I thought she had made it out!" Sokka tried to stand but shook on his feet. Katara guided him back down. "I gotta go and find her."
"And now you're here, miles away from recovery, certainly not well enough to make that trip!" Katara shook her head. "I can't believe it," she said, pinching the bridge of her nose, "Are they treating you well?" How his conditions were in his prison cell would hasten his recovery process.
"Uhm. Well enough." Sokka looked guilty. He still was withholding information.
"What. Else?"
"Well, I mean, I was in a shitty place, you saw that," Sokka motioned, referring to his state only moments ago, "So, well, the food has been actually okay, but I haven't...really been eating it."
Katara wanted to slam her head against a wall. Repeatedly.
"But I will now!" Sokka said.
"I'm surprised you haven't come down with a fever already." Katara pressed his forehead again. It was warm. Great. "I'll tell the guards to look out and to get me or get you medicine when this all catches up with you."
"I have a reason now." Sokka nodded his head. "I'm going to get better."
"You'd better," Katara said. "That's a threat. I won't lose you, too!"
"How are things outside?" Sokka motioned outside his cell bars. "How are you? How's the tribe?"
"Fine. Really. Mom and Dad are worried about you, of course."
She wasn't about to tell him that whole issue. She didn't think she could talk him out of another mental breakdown right now. Sokka's color started returning to his face as he asked about everything; he'd been deprived of any emotions, but now he was hungry. Hungry for information, hungry for life, hungry for surviving. She wasn't sure what that little mind of his was spinning, but she knew when her brother was making plans when she saw it.
There was a knock on the door. Katara leaned in, hugging her brother.
"Stupid meat-head," she grumbled.
"I know I am," Sokka agreed.
Outside, Katara looked at the five guards and Pan. "He's on the precipice of a fever and the scars have hardly been addressed. Unless you actually want him dead-"
"His penance is nearly over," the head guard informed Katara, "At the end of the week he'll be released to the hospital wing, where I assume he'll stay until he's well enough to go home to your tribe."
"And will you make sure he actually makes it there?" Katara questioned coolly, jutting her chin up, though she was a few inches shorter than the main guard.
"As you said, we don't want him dead-" the main guard began, but one of his inferiors interjected.
"He deserves to live forever with those scars as his reminder. Death would be too kind," she sneered. Katara stepped forward, and Pan must have sensed how close she was to causing another scene or fight, for he touched her elbow gently. That was enough to remind her that it would be foolish to try to take a guard on, here and now.
"They don't want him dead," Pan said gently, apologetically, "So that means above all, remember that he will live."
As he turned her away and down the hall, he gave a quiet sigh. "And we must be grateful in this alone."
XX
Zuko returned late that night. Katara only knew so because he was knocking on her patio door at a ridiculous hour. At first, she felt giddy, thinking he needed a run in the town as the Painted Lady (all her reservations aside) and the Blue Spirit, however, from the way he flopped on her couch face-first, she realized it wasn't going to be that sort of night.
"Erm, how's the group?" she asked.
Zuko raised his head, glaring at her. "Do you want me to kick you out?" he asked crankily.
"Zuko, have you slept at all?" Katara asked, recalling how unhinged he'd seemed the last time he hadn't gotten proper slumber. Zuko and sleep were a necessary duo.
"I would," he grouched, "If you didn't keep causing problems for me to have to cover up."
She winced. At any other time, she might have taken offense, but she did deserve his frustrations. She had crossed a line...both of them had.
"She called Toph a whore," Katara whispered brokenly. Zuko's stern face broke into a look of pain. He pulled a pillow under his chin.
"I know," he said quietly. "I've heard the accounts, in full, already." He paused. "I usually like Ratana...but Agni, I'd want to slap her too," he admitted. "But that comes to my question. Is this your way of asking to leave?"
"Of course not! Unless...you want me-"
"No, no," he hurried. "But Katara...you make it hard for me to give you such...privileges. Not when you attack another contestant."
"So...what now?" Katara stood, arms crossed, "Do I leave?"
"No," Zuko said after a moment, scaring her. "Ratana shouldn't have said that and certainly shouldn't have fought back. It was just you girls, no guards. Luckily we don't have Avizeh here, otherwise, the story would already be out in the world and people really would be calling for your dismissal," he said lightly.
"Wait, 'really'?" Katara caught, "Are they already?" Zuko ignored her question.
"And I've already talked to everyone else. Ratana agrees that if neither of you are sent home, it's fair. The rest of the girls – yes, even Mai and Nadhari – agreed that they wouldn't tell. I think they understand emotions are all over right now. I mean, I guess I had to bribe Nadhari, but she still agreed," Zuko continued talking as though he hadn't heard her.
Katara pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Zuko, I-"
There was a rapping at her door.
"Shh!" she whispered, and Zuko gave her an 'of course I'm going to be quiet' sort of look. They both stayed silent, hoping whoever it was would assume she was asleep.
"Katara! Katara, really!" It was Suki and she sounded frantic. Katara motioned frantically for Zuko to hide. He turned, about to jump off the balcony, but at the last moment crawled under the bed.
Katara stood at the door, turning, and then went and covered part of the space with a blanket.
"Just in case!" she hissed, "Now, stay silent."
"Yeah, gotcha," Zuko replied dryly.
Suki's pounding was louder.
Katara threw the door open to see Suki's face patchy.
"I'm sorry to wake you, but…" Suki gulped. "You need to come to the Ladies' Room," she said, wiping her nose. "Yue's trying to find Zuko. Oh, gosh."
"What? It's late and I-" Katara tried to hedge, but Suki grasped her arm.
"Now."