Chapter Seventeen: Day 1, Katara v the Evil Fire Nation

Dearest brother,

Thank you so very much for your concern. You might be interested to know that I was captured by pirates in the middle of the night while all the brave Water Tribe warriors were sleeping...

Sokka's shoulders relaxed more and more as he read Hawky's latest delivery. Aang, reading over his shoulder, starting biting his nails.

"Are you sure she's not angry?"

"Pfft, of course not! Look at this, and this. Clever code phrases, right out in the open! Zuko is probably reading her mail, but he's an idiot and she's slipping them right under his nose. She's clearly saying that she's got things under control."

...and I will graciously forgive that 'awful sister' comment if you come get me now.

So very sincerely,

Katara

"Huh, just 'Katara'? That's kind of lame."

"So… are we going to get her now? She did underline that. Five times."

"What? No! That is clearly the opposite of what she wants. I mean, just read all this scathing sarcasm. Do you really think that's aimed at me? Look, she's already got Zuko under her finely-crafted Water Tribe boot—she's even sleeping in his room!"

Which, now that it was out of his mouth, was one of those statements that would have alarmed Sokka a lot more if Zuko wasn't twelve. And not the sure-you-need-to-go-splash-in-that-water-without-shirts kind of twelve that Aang was, but the noticed-the-fluffy-bison-instead-of-his-sister variety.

"I guess you'd know her better than I do," Aang admitted.

"She knows what she's doing, Aang. We've got to trust her. Hey, do you want to write the next one?"

Aang air-poofed himself away like he thought the paper was going to come back to bite him. "Uh, no thanks. You clearly understand this, ah, code better than I do."

Hey Katara! Glad to hear you're okay. We're kind of busy today, try again tomorrow.

Sokka, Best Big Brother South of the Equator, Were You Even Trying to Fill This Part Out, Please Respect Fire Nation Titling Customs in Your Future Missives

The brig was full of pirates. And maybe Zuko wouldn't have put the waterbender down there anyway, she was Sokka's sister (and a completely untrained, powerful bender). But he wouldn't have given her his room. That was Uncle's idea. Uncle had ordered this while Zuko was brewing a new pot of tea for him, and Zuko was starting to suspect Uncle didn't even like his tea he just used it as an excuse to get Zuko out of the way for five minute intervals. Which was, as it turned out, enough time to give away his room.

This was why Zuko was currently pounding on his own door. "Waterbender!"

"Go away!"

"Sokka's sister!"

"I don't want to talk to you!"

"Too bad, peasant!"

The door screeched open. (We really need to oil that, was not what Zuko should be thinking with a girl glaring down at him why did she have to be taller than he was couldn't they have this conversation after his next growth spurt—)

"Do you even know my name?" She stood with her hands braced on the frame, Sokka's latest reply crumpled in her fist.

"Um. Is that really important right now?"

She slammed the door. He heard the very distinct sound of it being locked on the inside. Which was also where he'd left the key, right out in the open on his desk. Because who would dare lock the prince out of his own room on his own ship?

"...I just want my shirts," Zuko said.

The door did not care.

Katara paced in the confines of the horrible metal box. Five steps until her foot hit the futon on the floor; five steps back until she was nose-to-cloth with the disgusting Fire Nation banners. There was a shoddy little desk in one corner and a chest of clothes that would fit her but it was all red and black and smelled like fire. Her skin crawled just touching them; she'd slammed the lid shut. And kicked it, and now her foot hurt, and it was all Sokka's fault and all Zuko's fault simultaneously. There was 200% blame to go around.

At least they'd left her the key to her cell; Fire Nation hospitality. Not like she was going anywhere, not with Sokka playing whatever stupid game this was, and oh when she got her hands on him—

She was trapped. On a Fire Navy ship. Just like the ones that had come to their village. And that key was mocking her, it wasn't like she could just go wandering around a shipful of killers.

...Couldn't she?

She could, just let them try and stop her!

Katara flung open the door, and came face-to-mask with her guard. Of course there was a guard. She straightened up and narrowed her eyes and dared him to stop her.

"I'm going for a walk."

And she did. Right past him.

Crewman Teruko should have never snickered at the Lieutenant's dancing. Or at the least, she should have done it from the safety of the bridge, where all the smart people had been laughing.

She'd scrubbed the latrines this morning; now that something worse had come up, the duty roster had been quietly updated to put her on Waterbender Watch instead.

Teruko trailed the violent savage as inconspicuously as a woman in full armor could, and fondly remembered a time when she only had to scrub toilets.

The soldier stomped after her at every bend and turn, but Katara would not be intimidated. Or stopped. Especially not by doors; she threw open the first one she saw. See how they liked being invaded.

Inside were bunks. Red blankets spilled over every bed like blood. Most were empty, but there was one soldier sleeping. He could never pass for Water Tribe, but with his eyes closed she could almost imagine he was from the Earth Kingdom.

That muzzy sleepy fake-innocence lasted only a second. He cracked open a brown-gold eye and grabbed for his weapon, lunging for her—

Pikeman Kazuto was having a really good dream one moment, and the next there was a Water Tribesman in the doorway and he was back to the night when his last ship had been lost (butcherers in wolf helms, everyone knew the Southern Slaughter didn't take prisoners) (and the days that followed, the fear of every ship on the horizon, hoping he and his scrap of flotsam would be found by the right side), and then as now he had only the clothes he'd worn to bed, but he'd learned to keep his spear propped next to him—

(She was too young for a warrior, and since when did the Water Tribe let women fight, and her eyes were really blue and getting wider and he couldn't pull back in time—)

Teruko knocked the shaft aside with an armored wrist. "Go back to bed, Kazuto. Your shift is in three hours. Did you seriously sleep through the pirates?"

"...What?"

"Sleep." She pried the spear out of his hand, and leaned it back against the wall next to his bed. "It'll make sense when you wake up."

Kazuto blinked at the glaring Water Tribe girl, and doubted that.

Katara stalked away from the half-asleep man who'd almost murdered her, ignoring the one who'd saved her. Just to prove she wasn't afraid, she shoved down the next door handle she saw. The guard crossed his arms and shifted his weight, almost daring her to do it. So Katara did.

Steam whafted out.

Helmsman Kyo was in the shower. Surrounded by water. Staring into the eyes of a waterbender who'd gotten pirate blood on his armor, and he'd never noticed how small this scrub cloth was before, and his full towel was over by the lockers he dove for it and crouched low—

"Get out!"

Teruko smirked under her helmet. And the waterbender learned to knock.

Katara knocked. No answer. She looked at her guard. No particular signs of smugness. She let the door creak open, very slowly.

Oh. The toilet. The unoccupied toilet.

She pointed at the ground outside, and stared her guard down. "Stay." Backed inside, shut it...

...Came back out, an appropriate time interval later. "That was surprisingly clean."

"Thanks," her guard said.

She had heard of Fire Nation pride, but this was just getting weird.

Hawker-Slash-All-Purpose-Animal-Handler Genji was babying the rhinos. Everyone was either in the mess hall coming down off the adrenaline high, or still showering (not to name names Kyo, always taking twice as long as everyone else, guy should have been born Water Tribe), so no one was going to walk in on him talking baby-talk to these big mean chubby-wubbies, oh no they weren't—

Blossom growled a happy growl, tugging at the eel jerky in his hand. He braced his weight and leaned back.

"You wanna eat, you'd better work for it—"

Someone knocked on the door. It was kind of a snitty knock, if a knock could be snitty. "Ah… come in?"

Katara opened the door on a man tormenting penned animals, making them struggle for every scrap they ate.

She didn't know what she'd been expecting, but she still managed to be disappointed.

In the mess hall, third watch was crashing. Hard. But not quite hard enough to crawl back into bed for the handful of hours they had left until their shift.

"Didn't anyone wake Kazuto?"

"Are you kidding? That guy startles."

"So take away the spear before you poke him, obviously."

Over at the prep counter, Helmsman Kyo huddled in hastily re-donned armor, a towel draped over his wet hair like a kid hiding under blankets.

"I used to think they were relaxing, but it's really just marinating yourself in the enemy's weapon."

"You'll need to shower again sometime, Kyo." Assistant Cook Dekku handed him a warm cup of spiced cocoa.

"I always thought the Southern raids were extreme," Kyo continued, utterly failing to notice the knock on the mess hall door, "but if that's what waterbenders are like, maybe they deserve—"

"Deserve what?" the waterbender asked, and she was there and she was glaring and he was holding a liquid.

Kyo whimpered.

There was a clatter as every soldier in the dining hall leapt to their feet and pulled on their helmets. All this for one fourteen-year-old; such a brave people, these Fire citizens. Katara squared her shoulders and didn't give them an inch.

Even the cook was trying to intimidate her, with his level stare and his crossed arms and his being-so-much-taller-than-her. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah. I need something to eat. Or do you just live off suffering and misery?"

"Misery, suffering, and soup. Got some bread, too." He slapped things on a tray, which made him the only one in the entire room who took his eyes off her for a single second, and why did that guy have a towel under his helmet?

Katara didn't sit. She downed the soup in a few quick gulps, and shoved the bread in her pocket. They probably hadn't had time to specially poison her food yet, but who knew what they'd do before the next meal.

She eyed the room at large to show them she wasn't going to be intimidated by a bunch of faceless foes, then slammed the door behind her.

Third watch sagged back into their seats.

Helmsman Kyo stared down at his cocoa. "...How many ways could a waterbender kill with just this cup?"

"You can't stop drinking, Kyo." Assistant Cook Dekku slid him a bowl of soup. Kyo looked into the broth, and shuddered.

Engineer Hanako was second shift, but she deserved a cocoa break after digging out her armor. Engineers weren't supposed to need their armor. She leaned over the counter, and put on her best Innocent Technical Question expression. "How much water is in the human body, do you think?"

Kyo made a sound like a lost deer-frog fawn.

Assistant Cook Dekku turned his frown on her. It shifted into a smirk, right at the edges. "Has she been to engineering yet?"

Hanako pulled on her helmet, and ran.

Katara was stopped outside the suspiciously outlined-in-a-fiery-glow door by a shouting half-pint in armor. The voice was muffled through the mask, but it definitely hadn't cracked yet, and there was only one person on this ship who could possibly be that short. She narrowed her eyes.

"What are you hiding in there, Zuko?"

Raw volume hit Katara. She wasn't able to make out words, but she didn't need to know how many ways her ancestors were being cursed in order to execute a tactical retreat.

That… hadn't been Zuko.

Lieutenant Jee pinched the bridge of his nose as Engineer Hanako personally scared off all sea life within a kilometer radius. Then he stopped, because he was not going to be picking up headache-reducing habits from the prince. Or admitting that Zuko was right: Hanako was at least fifty times louder than he was.

"Is the waterbender literally just opening every door?" a crewman asked.

"Maybe they don't have them in the South?" another answered. "I don't know, kids and new technology..."

Lieutenant Jee had not, in fact, seen any doors at the South Pole. He did not contribute this to the conversation, preferring instead to stand at military ease in the doorway of the bridge, just past the swing of the door's arc, awaiting the inevitable.

She knocked, first. The Southern Water Tribe had an unusual conception of manners.

"Occupied," Jee said.

There was a very slight pause, then she opened the door anyway.

"Very funny," the waterbender scowled.

I'm glad you find this amusing, Jee did not say. "You can't be up here, ma'am."

"Says who?"

Jee continued standing at ease. Directly in her path.

"Lieutenant Jee!" another entitled voice shouted, stomping closer down the hall. "Why is Hanako shouting? I was trying to meditate!"

Prince Zuko elbowed the waterbender out of the way to claim his usual place inside Jee's personal space.

Maybe you should ask Hanako, sir, Lieutenant Jee also did not say. Somehow, the prince seemed to understand him anyway. All his least favorite commanders always had. To be fair, getting written up for disrespectfully creaking armor had been one of his proudest achievements.

"I can't ask her, she's still shouting!"

This was a valid point, and Lieutenant Jee let him have it. Unfortunately, Hanako wasn't the only one with volume control issues.

"Did you just shove me out of the way?" the waterbender shouted.

"What are you even doing here?" the prince also shouted.

"I'm not your prisoner! I can go wherever I want!" More shouting.

Jee cleared his throat. "Is she a prisoner, your Highness?"

Somewhere in the deafening cacophony that followed, the prince never quite got around to clarifying that point. And Lieutenant Jee began to realize how many fourteen-year-old girls there weren't in the palace. Especially ones a prince couldn't just order around.

Iroh heard the stomping coming from a deck away. "Ah, nephew. What was—oh, Lady Waterbender! Would you care to join me for tea?"

"My name is Katara!"

The stomping carried on.

Crewman Teruko gave Iroh a respectful nod, then followed after.

Stupid Fire Nation on their stupid ship with their stupid royalty, even a brief glimpse through the old man's open door was enough to show her that he was too lazy to even pour his own tea, a soldier was doing it for him, how was this country taking over the world—

Katara stomped out on deck and found the most isolated corner, tucked between a railing and some metal piping where her guard couldn't follow because his stupid armor got in his stupid way, ha.

Having the ocean be just a sweep of her arms away was an added bonus; one that her cell didn't have. She'd lock herself in there to sleep, but she was not going to be an obedient little not-a-prisoner and cower for them.

She let out a breath, and took another one in, and started shifting through the stances she knew. They weren't many, but they felt easier out here on the ocean than they ever had on land.

Her shadow grew long. The sun set in reds and oranges. Her guard switched with another, just as faceless, who watched her with just as much intensity. The moon rose, and she could breathe again. She relaxed into her stances, and flowed.

Then she heard the squawk. Katara poked her head out, and found the prince surreptitiously laying a trail of breadcrumbs across the deck, from where the pirate's iguana-parrot crouched on a rail back towards her own quiet corner that apparently no one had told him was taken.

The iguana-parrot hopped down to the deck, and started suspiciously sniffing the first chunk of bread. Zuko crouched ten feet away, holding the rest of the loaf. The soldiers on night watch seemed to be very deliberately ignoring him. That left it to Katara to step out, put her hands on her hips, and put a stop to whatever this was.

"And what are you planning to do with that bird?"

The prince fell over and the parrot retreated back to the rail. They made about the same noise. Zuko looked up at her with his golden eyes wide (...one of them, anyway).

"...Poison it?" he offered, in a sort of hopeful tone, like he expected her to approve.

That was an answer that would have kept both Zuko and the bird safe from Zuko's sister, but it was apparently not the correct answer for Sokka's sister.

"You're all the same! Just a nation of murderers, and you're the prince of murderers—"

He slowly inched back towards the railing, trying to wave the nightwatch off. Just yelling was okay, it wasn't like he wasn't used to yelling. She was a lot angrier than she'd been on the bridge. Maybe if no one startled her she wouldn't punch a hole in their hull like she'd done to the pirates.

"—took my mother, she was only trying to protect me, how could you—"

It was very important that he looked like he was paying attention to this (even if he already knew that tone and it was anger and disappointment and nothing you can do will ever be good enough, and even if he'd already been over this with the Sun Warriors, and if dragons didn't blame him for everything his family had ever done he wasn't going to let Sokka's sister).

"—and then you stole her necklace! The only thing I have left! You sneaky, rotten—"

Paying attention got really hard when the iguana-parrot dropped onto his shoulder. It tucked its neck around his, hiding its head half-way down the back of his shirt like that would protect it from the noise. One of its wings was tickling against his face, and its body was way colder than he'd expected, were iguana-parrots cold-blooded? It had been outside for hours and this was winter, he had to get it in—

"Are you even listening?"

"I'm sorry," Zuko said, because it was the kind of phrase that never helped but never hurt. Then he wrapped his arms around the parrot, and bolted for the door back below deck before it could squirm free.

(Before Sokka's sister could yell at either of them more. She was scaring the bird.)

Back in Uncle's room with the door safely closed-and-locked behind him, Zuko accepted a cup of tea (and instructions on how to pour for himself more elegantly), and tried not to pay too much attention to the hissing parrot perched on top of Iroh's cabinet. Sometimes you had to ignore animals to calm them down.

His eyes drifted to a blue pendant on Iroh's work table. Sokka's sister's mother's necklace.

"How do I fix the clasp?" he asked.

Uncle was very pleased to tell him.

Katara locked herself into her cell and sat down on the lumpy futon and pulled the blankets up over her head. It was a cold bed, which was exactly what she'd been asking for when she got on this awful ship.

AN: Replies to folks I can't PM—

spring, chapter 16: Sokka spent longer composing his titles than on any other part of that message. I guarantee it. ;)