Episode 8: Secret Tunnel

What was she thinking? Katara did not do dates. She'd never even thought about accepting an invitation from a man to do something that might distract her from her life goals. Yet here she was, a planned 'activity' with an unknown criminal (thank you, Sokka) for Saturday night. Granted, it would only be fifteen minutes during her shift break at the hospital, and it wasn't a date. It was a thank-you-for-saving-my-life activity. She smiled, remembering his shy question, and then quickly repressed it.

Not only that, she was also seeing him tonight as the Painted Lady for 'training'. Whatever that meant...but she hoped to take another look at the waterbending scroll with him. They could uncover secrets of bending that had been lost for thousands of years.

Katara gasped in outrage when Zuko bumped her with his elbow but then noticed that the entire Biology class was staring at her in silence. Again...

"I'm sorry, Master Pakku, could you repeat the question?" she asked guiltily, shrinking down and blushing.

"We were discussing mental health and birth defects. I thought since you frequented the psychiatric ward on your shifts you might have some insights." He spoke quietly with that tone of reprimand that was worse than yelling or calling her outright for not paying attention.

"Yes, Master Pakku." She kept it brief and to the point, adding personal examples when applicable until Pakku finally nodded, satisfied with her answer. This was exactly what she was talking about: how had she allowed herself to get so distracted? This was her dream. One that she had been forced to fight for, and she was throwing it all away for some boy?

"Are you okay?" Zuko asked quietly once Pakku had restarted his lecture. Katara's knuckles whitened on her pencil. Why did he get to keep asking that question? She was the doctor. She was the one teaching him in their one-on-ones. He was the business major, and yet somehow he was checking in on her.

"Yeah," she replied. "I just have a lot on my mind."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Now?" she whispered back, her eyes motioning towards the front of the room where their teacher was. Zuko rolled his eyes.

"You're such a rebel," he mocked. "No. We could grab tea after or something." He shrugged.

"Tea?" This had to be a record for how many times she'd been invited to an activity outside of school in 24 hours. "I have class."

Zuko shrugged again, turning back to his notes. "Suit yourself, offer stands if you change your mind. Now, I would suggest you get back to writing before Pakku calls on you again."

Katara glanced down to see Pakku was indeed looking at them. She quickly copied down what was on the board before hissing back, "You're the one distracting me."

"I'm offering something nice," he retorted, also under his breath.

"Save it for after class, then," Katara said, "I'm trying to focus for both of us here and you're not making it any easier."

"You weren't focusing at all before," he countered, "but fine, next time I won't bother."

"Fine!"

A loud voice boomed, "Would you two prefer to teach the class, or may I continue?"

"Sorry Master Pakku." They grumbled, still scowling at each other.

Katara waited until the end of class to speak to him again. "I'm sorry," she said. "I should have been kinder to you, you were only trying to help."

"That's all I've been trying to do, Katara," he responded. He was packing his folders into his messenger bag and Katara stared at the logo.

"Sokka says you want to go back," she blurted. She wasn't entirely sure what question she wanted to ask, so she paused and watched him while he finished packing.

Zuko seemed to understand her predicament. "You want to know why."

Katara mimicked his earlier shrug.

Zuko took a deep breath. "This bag is all I have to remind me of my old life, when my family was still together. I know Sokka told you about that."

Katara nodded.

"I want to make my father proud, I want to honor my mother, I want to get back to where we used to be. I want to be able to stand on my own accomplishments, and the only way to do that is through Phoenix Industries."

"Would it still be your own accomplishments if you're starting in management?" she asked.

"I didn't start in management," he said, finally catching her eyes. "I worked in the factory, I've been a member of the guild. I know what it's like to start at the bottom. I had to apply to earn my internship just like anybody else."

"But that's just it," she said. "It's not like everybody else. You don't understand the advantage it is to have someone on the inside."

"It's not like that with me," he said.

"How could you know?" she demanded, her emotions rising up again. "You don't know what it's like to be on the outside."

"Forget it," he said. "Don't ask questions if you're not going to bother listening to the answers. I thought you had to get to class, anyways."

"I'll decide when I need to go." She made a point of standing there for an extra moment before announcing, "I'm going to class now," and turning on her heels to leave him behind.

How could she be so infuriating, captivating, intelligent, and obnoxious all at the same time? If women were puzzles, then Katara was the Enigma. And yet that only drew him in more.

He really was doomed.

Going about daily life was slowly calming him down. Sokka was playing video games in the living room, yelling intermittently at the TV like it was Saturday night football. Zuko was just sliding the newest batch of brownies into the oven when Suki walked in through their apartment door.

"Hey guys," she said, then stopped. Sniffed the air. And smirked at Zuko. "Nervous for your date?"

"It's not a date," he insisted for the hundredth time.

"Yup, he's nervous," Sokka confirmed from the other room, then shoved his mouth full of chips.

"Shut up and put a shirt on," Zuko called back, his usual response to Sokka's antics.

Suki came into the kitchen and sat at the table. Zuko thought he heard her mutter, "or don't, whatever."

"Enjoying the view?" he teased under his breath, quirking an eyebrow. Suki blushed profusely and used one of the dirty utensils he'd left on the table to fling some brownie mix at him.

"So do we know this girl you're meeting tonight?" she asked, dragging her finger across the dirty bowl and licking up the chocolate.

"It's tomorrow night," Zuko said, grabbing the other dishes and starting to wash them.

"Nice deflection, Sparky." She grinned.

"Is this an interrogation, detective?" he countered. "Because if it is, you're going to have to bribe me by helping with these dishes."

"I'll clean it my way," Suki said, scooping another finger full of chocolate from the bowl. "Now spill."

"I'm not saying anything," Zuko chuckled. "You guys will just scare her away."

"Fine," Suki sighed. "Where are you taking her?"

"Haven't decided." He shrugged.

"Zuko," she reprimanded, "where you take a girl on the first date is very important!"

"It is?" he asked.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Sokka yelled in the other room followed by the clicks and whirls of his rapid gaming. Zuko checked the time.

"I have to go," he said, taking off his apron and hanging it by the fridge. "Can you take out the brownies in a couple minutes?"

"Sure thing, Sparky," Suki said, moving from the bowl to lick the spoon. Zuko walked through to the bedroom, ignoring Sokka's objections when he passed in front of the TV, and grabbed his things. He was supposed to meet the Painted Lady in twenty minutes. Zuko stopped packing his back.

They were meeting alone...was that a...date? Zuko groaned, when had dating become so complicated. Perhaps dating had always been complicated and he'd just never cared.

Not that he cared now...because he didn't have a date.

He finished packing headed back out into the main room. Suki had moved from the kitchen and was now sitting next to Sokka on the couch.

"I'll see you guys later," he said. "I'll be back pretty early, I've got a morning shift at the Dragon before I study with Katara."

"I'll try to save some brownies for you," Suki said, waving him out.

It was a trek to the Western border of the city. Zuko could have taken his motorcycle but the cool air of the oncoming evening was too nice to pass up.

The Painted Lady was meeting him at Omashu park, a small patch of grass on the edge of the city where he liked to go read and get some time alone. He couldn't help lying down in the grass when he arrived and breathing in the dewy scent of the silence for a couple minutes.

"This isn't as secluded as I was led to believe."

The Blue Spirit lazily turned his mask to face her, his eyes slatted against the streetlight she was standing under.

"Good evening, my lady." He hopped up. "If you'll just follow me."

"Where exactly are we going?" she asked, but still followed as he led her towards a broken overpass to the right of the park.

"Such impatience," he tsked.

She suddenly stopped. "Wait," she said, "is this where you kill me?"

Zuko laughed. "If I wanted you dead, all I'd have to do is sit back and watch." But the words of Zhao rang in his ears. You have until the end of the month. "Have you, uh...had any other run-ins since I last saw you?"

She shook her head. "Haven't had a lot of chances to get out. I'm looking forward to spending some time with the scroll this evening," she said.

Good, she wasn't getting out as much which would keep Zhao's henchmen off her scent. Zuko stumbled when he realized he fit into that category. When had life gotten so complicated?

The Painted lady moved as if she were going to pass beneath the underpass when the Blue Spirit reached out to stop her.

"Not that way," he said. "Over here, there's a secret tunnel."

She snorted. "Secret tunnel?"

"Don't judge my secret tunnel," he defended. "Its the only reason we're here tonight."

He thought he heard her mutter something underneath her breath, but by that point he was shifting the false rocks to expose the entrance. He probably should have thought harder about bringing her here. He knew next to nothing about this woman. He could have at least sworn her to secrecy or something, and yet he didn't feel the need to. She was a bender, they were from the same world, set apart from the rest of the people. Don't you think she would understand? Maybe Katara was right.

"How did you find this place?" she asked, following him into the damp cavern.

The door shut suddenly behind her and she squeaked, grabbing onto his arm with her terrifyingly strong grip.

"Ow!" He flicked her hand to make her release. "Spirits, woman, would you relax?"

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice echoing in the complete darkness, "I wasn't expecting that." Then her tone changed, "you could have warned me."

"Secret tunnel?" he recounted, "Did you think it would be open and bright?"

"Ok, Mr. Sarcastic," she said, "can we get out of here?"

"Just a moment," he replied. His eyes searched the familiar darkness. He could feel her shifting beside him, obviously uncomfortable.

"What are we-?"

"Shh. You keep telling me you're capable, are you capable of being quiet?" Oh, he'd been waiting to use that one. Normally, she was the one talking down to him. It was nice to be the one in control, even just for a moment. Thankfully, she kept silent and they waited.

Any moment now...

A snap of a twig had him grinding his teeth together. Breathing heavily, she continued to shift, making slight noises with her shoes against the ground.

"It has to be silent," he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"I'm sorry," she whispered back, equally frustrated, "I'm just...a little nervous. I'm not particularly fond of small spaces."

Zuko softened. "Here," he said. Reaching out, he found her arm and slid his fingers down to grip her hand with his own. "Relax. It's going to be ok. Nothing bad will happen, breathe slowly."

She cleared her throat and then shifted slightly closer to him before taking a deep breath and falling quiet. He stood straight and still, not just because he had to. He could feel the heat of her body against his side, her hand warm in his own. No wonder these one-on-one things were called dates. Zuko suddenly felt guilty, like he needed to tell Katara about this. He shook his head. Don't be ridiculous.

But then his mind started to wander. Was Katara the jealous type? She seemed like she would be. Was she...Did she spend time one-on-one with other guys? The thought had his grip tightening on the Painted Lady's hand.

Apparently he was the jealous type.

The Painted Lady's intake of breath drew him from his brooding thoughts. Along the ceiling of their tunnel, thousands of three-inch softly glowing blue lights were blinking into existence. He remembered what it had been like his first time coming through here, the beauty that took your breath away, thousands upon thousands of glow worms lined rocks filling the chasm with their other-worldly light.

"It's beautiful," she whispered. Zuko quickly let go of her hand and started trudging forward, motioning behind him for her to follow. He'd forgotten the lore about the tunnel's origins, that it had been carved by two forbidden lovers who introduced the glow worms to create a secret meeting place that others couldn't access unless they knew the secret. His ears were burning beneath his mask and he didn't look back to make sure she was behind him while he foraged through the maze, following the trail of the glow worms. To his surprise, she made very little noise behind him. In fact, there were several times he was sure he'd lost her when he would suddenly hear a short intake of breath to signify her presence.

Finally, they made it to the end where he pushed through the final door that opened into a hidden, natural alcove. It was a small stretch of grass with a creek flowing down the side towards the ocean. There were cliffs all around and the sea below making it impossible to view the area from the sides. Due to the height of the platform, it would be difficult to be spotted from the sea unless someone was specifically looking for it.

The Blue Spirit held out his arms as the Painted Lady crawled out of the tunnel. "Training space, sweet training space."

She snorted and then tripped on a loose rock, almost losing her hat in the process. Zuko didn't try to hide his laugh. She deserved it. But it did remind him of something he'd brought.

He fished through his bag until he pulled out a ceramic mask like his own but this one depicted a red cheeked woman's face, as they would have been painted in the olden days. "Here," he said, "this is for you."

She gingerly reached out and took it from him. Her hands looked thin and dainty but still rough on her palm and knuckles. She must use her hands a lot for whatever profession she works in.

"What is this for?" she asked, drawing her thumb over the pronounced red cheeks.

"It will be difficult for you to maneuver with that hat on," he clarified. "I thought we might start training with the mask and then move into working with the veil."

She nodded, seemingly satisfied with his answer, and turned around. "Don't look, please."

Zuko blushed again, mentally cursing himself as he turned to face the seaward edge of the clearing. What an idiot. What had he been thinking bringing her here? He should have brought Katara instead! He was alone, in a secluded spot, with a woman he knew barely anything about. He wasn't built for this kind of stuff, this was Sokka territory.

"Alright, I'm ready."

The Blue Spirit turned and gulped. Her coat masked most of her shape and her hood kept her hair hidden from view, but her slender neck caught the moonlight just right. The paint along her arms and shoulders gave her an exotic feel that was accentuated by the gold rings around her upper arms and wrists.

"I'm a firebender," he blurted out, almost yelling.

Let's face it, at this point, he knew he was an idiot and had unknowingly started a competition with himself to see just how idiotic he could be in one night. It was just...looking at her had made him think of the deadline, and how he was confused about Phoenix Industries, which had him thinking about Katara's opinions, which reminded him that she thought he should tell the Painted Lady, and it had just slipped out...Loudly.

She straightened up. It was strange, even though he could technically see more of her body, he felt like her language had changed and he no longer had any idea what she was thinking.

"That's why you went after the scroll," she said. "You hoped it might have answers for your own bending."

"No," he said, quite a bit calmer. He breathed in the scent of the ocean and relaxed a little more. "I don't want to learn it."

She tilted her head slightly in question. "Why not?" she asked, "are you afraid?"

His shoulders fell. "Yes."

"Of your bending?" she pried.

"Of what it might do to me," he said. "I've seen what it does to people, what they become when they use it." He gulped. "I won't let it happen to me."

"It's not bending that changes people," she said. His eyes snapped up to look at her. How could she say that so confidently?

"You don't know what I've seen, Lady." His voice had dropped to a dangerously low level.

"It's power," she continued. "Power is what causes people to show who they really are. Bending is a form of power, and if you allow it to, it will consume you. I'm a bender-" she held a hand up to her own chest "-do you think I'm evil?"

Zuko observed her for a moment. "You're a waterbender," he said, "it might be different."

Something changed in her demeanor at that. Her fists clenched at her sides, her shoulders stiffened making her appear taller. "It's not different."

"How do you know?" he demanded.

"Because I've met someone who used their bending for evil, and they were a waterbender." She spoke so quietly he almost thought he'd misheard her. Other benders?

"How many?" he asked. "Where?"

She crossed her arms over her stomach and turned away from him. "One. A horrible woman. I met her in the North during my studies at the Tribes. She was a teacher and she...she found out about my bending." Her shoulders that had been stiff a moment before were shaking. "She told me she could help me, taught me some of the basic moves, and then...she made me..."

He knew she was crying but he didn't dare go closer to her.

After a moment and a couple of shaky breaths, she twisted halfway towards him. "She taught me something about waterbending I swore I would never use again."

Zuko waited, entranced by her words as always.

"If you've found a connection then your bending is a part of you," she said. "Don't let fear hold you back. If you're aware of what it could do to you then you're already better than anyone else who might try to use bending for their own gain. It's a gift," she finished, "and you get to decide how it will be used."

He watched as she pulled a gentle wisp of water from the stream and twirled it around her body before making it dance across her palm and slide right back to where it came from. Could his bending ever be as beautiful as hers? Water was life and balance while fire was destruction and unbridled chaos.

"I'll think about it," he said. "For now, let's focus on your training."

She sighed. "Alright."

And so it began.