Chapter 21: plans and hopes


"That was strange." Katara hears Toph talking when they both reach the camp. She sits by the campfire, her legs bent and arms wrapped around her knees. "I couldn't feel anything at all."

"I thought you can feel it!" Sokka screams. "How do we know now if it's true?!"

"Why should she lie?" Aang guesses, stroking his bald head.

"She can still lie about General Iroh." Sokka explains. "We don't know if Azula actually holds him as a prisoner."

"What's going on here?" Katara intervenes, slowly approaching the campfire and kneeling to check if the meat is already cooked.

"Toph can't sense if Azula's lying!" Sokka flails with his arms. "Can you believe that?!"

"She is twisted. She has no emotions or is very good at lying." Toph tries to justify herself. "I am not almighty, leave me alone!"

"Okay then, chill out!" The Water Tribe warrior frowns for a minute, his fingers on his chin as he thinks about what they should do next, his blue eyes staring at the flame in front of him. "I know!" He announces. "We don't have to fight to free General Iroh!"

Katara turns the skewer to roast the other side of the meat better. "What do you mean?"

"I'm just saying we have to sneak into the Fire Nation palace and free him from the prison secretly."

"How I did as the Blue Spirit when I helped the Avatar escape from Zhao's stronghold?" Zuko asks, bending his legs and flopping down on the ground, next to Katara.

"Exactly! A sneak technique!" Sokka starts drawing something on the ground with a stick. "It's very simple, we just need to get into the Fire Nation as the Fire Nation citizens, no one will expect a thing!"

"That still doesn't solve the problem." Zuko says seriously. "The palace is guarded by many guards, we can't get inside whenever we want."

"That's why we'll do it at night, when darkness will be our cover. Also, firebenders are weaker at night, and you Zuko know your Dad's palace, you know where everything is, you can take us to the dungeon, right?"

"Yes, but... there are too many of them, it will be impossible for us to knock them down so that no one will hear, we can't pass completely unnoticed."

"And what about that we get rid of the first guards we see, get dressed in their armor and get inside as guards ourselves?"

"Maybe it's okay?" Zuko ponders. "But still not perfect. What about the guards in the palace yard and on the walls? How do you plan to get rid of a few guards so they don't notice that? They have arrows, they can shoot you as soon as you get closer."

"I'm sure I'll come up with something, we can trick them somehow. We still have time to think about it though, we're going to train first, just in case we need to fight Azula." Sokka leans back, showing what he drew. It's a picture of Zuko when he was still with his ponytail, his face looking angry, eyes shooting lasers.

"Hey, why did you do that?!" Zuko points at the drawing.

"What?" He shrugs. "I still remember how you screamed at me SHUT YOUR MOUTH, YOU WATER TRIBE PEASANT!"

Zuko blushes. "It was a long time ago!"

"Calm down, I'm just teasing. It was a good time, but of course it's much better now that you're on our side. I would never have imagined that having an enemy as a friend is so exciting!"

"Yeah, we are happy to have you here!" Toph punches him in the arm.

"Ow!" Zuko rubs the sore spot. "Why do you have to beat everyone?"

"Because that's who I am!" She smiles sincerely and everyone starts laughing.

After a while, the meat cooks completely and they enjoy supper by the campfire. The sky is already dark, billions of stars are shining above them, and the smoke and flames rising in the sky reminds Zuko of his first Music Night. Everyone seems to be enjoying this evening, even Appa silently eats his hay nearby, hiding in the shades of the trees, and Momo jumps from one to the other trying to steal the food. Aang gives him some nuts and he eats them purring quietly. The monk doesn't eat meat, but they have a little tofu with vegetables from their last meal.

After the supper, they decide it's time to rest, but they have a bit of a problem...

"We don't have enough tents." Sokka declares. "Before we camped, we didn't have an extra member, we only needed three tents. But now that we had to flee, we didn't get another one and Zuko has no place to sleep."

"That means someone has to sleep in ONE TENT!" Toph grabs the boy by the arm, giggling. "I can take you to my makeshift tent, Snoozels, you're very welcome!"

"No way! I'm not going to bury myself in the dirt!" He tries to pull his arm out of her grasp, but when he succeeds, her tenacious hands wrap his arm again. "Let me go! I won't go anywhere with you!"

"I can sleep outside." Says Zuko and everyone strangely stares at him. "Just because I'm the Prince doesn't mean I need to be treated like one. I slept outside many times."

"It can get cold at night." Katara's voice feels uneasy. "You definitely need a blanket and a shelter. We can share one tent if you don't mind, I can give you my bedroll, I have sleeping bag."

"Well..." He blushes, rubbing his neck. "If you say so..."

"Believe me, nobody wants to sleep with Sokka, he snores and tosses around at night, he hit me in the face once."

"I already apologized for that!" He screams as he walks toward his tent. "Do what you want, I'm too tired to think."

"Sure, Miss Queen wants to sleep with Sparky!" Toph giggles again. "I know you guys hooking up!"

"Yeah!" Sokka suddenly freezes in the middle of walking into the tent, his eyebrows frowning. "What was that all about?!"

"What do you mean?" Katara turns away, feeling her burning cheeks.

"I found you in the dark, and Zuko was undressing."

"No, I'm not!" Zuko opposes. "I was fixing my sash!"

"Sure. That's why you kissed Sweetness." Toph points at her. "Is she your girlfriend?"

"No, she's not!"

"I can tell you're lying!"

Everyone starts staring at him again. Zuko feels himself dissolving into dust. He's still not used to Toph being able to determine when people are lying, especially when she boldly tells it to everyone. It's uncomfortable for him when someone learns his secrets, especially when it crosses his personal boundaries, but he isn't angry at her, Toph is Toph and it's in her blood.

The Earthbender can feel his heartbeat and she knows he's nervous. She still smiles foolishly, oh how she likes to tease people, and even more when they feel uncomfortable!

"Okay, okay." She says after a minute. "Let's get some sleep." And kicks a small rock that hits Sokka in the head.

"Ow! Why?!" He asks, rubbing the back of his head.

Toph just blushes, lies down and lifts two earthy blocks that surround her on both sides like a tent. Sokka crawls into his tent murmuring something, only Aang sits in one place and stares at the extinguished fireplace as if he can see something in it.

"Zuko, you can go inside, I have to talk to Aang." Katara says. The boy nods and soon disappears in the tent. She quietly approaches the monk, but he doesn't look up at her. "Aang, that's not why I let Zuko into my tent. He's not my boyfriend... well, not yet."

"I know." He says in a sad voice. "He feels most comfortable with you because you healed him and you spend most of your time with him."

The girl sits down next to her friend. "I think Zuko has been with us long enough to feel comfortable with any of us, I just want to show him that he is more than welcome in our group, I just want to help him feel like family, but that doesn't mean I won't help you the same way when you feel down. You are as important to me as Zuko, Sokka and Toph. We are all family and we help each other."

"Is that true?" Aang finally raises his eyes at her. "Did Toph tell the truth that Zuko kissed you?"

Katara darts her eyes to the ground. "Yes, he did. But I was the first one to kiss him. I think he likes me. I'm so sorry Aang, I—"

"It's alright, you can kiss whoever you want, it's not like we're a couple!" He smiles, but she can see sadness on his face. "I'm going to bed, I am very tired. Goodnight, Katara!"

Aang gets up and goes to his tent. Katara looks at that side for a while, worried about her friend, then goes to her tent herself, where Zuko is waiting for her. She feels guilty even though she knows she did anything wrong, she's not guilty about her feelings and loving Zuko isn't a crime. He also deserves to be loved, but she still can't forget how hurt Aang looked. He loves her more than she thought he does.

The girl prepares her bed in complete silence. Zuko can feel that something is wrong, at first he thinks she feels uncomfortable because they have to sleep in one tent, even if she herself offered them to sleep together.

"I can leave if you don't want to—"

"No, stay!" Katara says abruptly and grabs him by the hand, though he hasn't moved from his seat yet. "You misunderstood, I feel completely fine with you being here."

"Okay." He gulps and blinks several times, the heat radiating from her body. She doesn't let go of his hand for too long and he starts to feel really uncomfortable.

"I'll take off your bandages tomorrow, you don't need them anymore." She adds.

"Oh." He manages to say and nods, her grip finally loosen. "I was waiting for you to say that."

"It takes a lot more time for fractures to heal, but you heal unusually fast." She sits in silence for a minute, Zuko can see her increasingly reddening cheeks. "Um... maybe you... could turn around... so um... I could undress?"

"Of course I can!" The Prince retreats in a sudden motion, his cheeks red as well. "Sorry!"

There is silence in the tent for a while, Zuko hears Katara's clothes slip off her body and he holds his breath, afraid to move even a little and cause some suspicion that he is peeking or so.

"I'm done, you can turn around." She says. "You're not undressed, are you going to sleep with all your clothes on?"

"No, of course not." He rushes to take off his tunic and shoes, but stays with his shirt and pants, and only then turns to look at Katata. Though it's dark in the tent, he can see the wave of her dark hair in front. It means she's turned away from him, which is fine, he doesn't want her eyes to register his every move.

Zuko finally crawls into his bedroll. He also lies turned away from her, it's so quiet in the tent that he can hear her breathing, and that makes the situation even more uncomfortable, he can clearly imagine that she can hear his breathing too.

Katara tries to glance at him without making too much sound, wondering if he feels the same way she does. "You know." She says. "Don't get mad at Toph, she just likes to cross the line, but she doesn't want anything bad."

"Yeah... I noticed." He whispers as if not wanting for someone to hear him on the other side of the tent.

"She is actually trying to help us. By telling how and what we feel for each other, she let others know so that it doesn't get complicated later."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know how long it would have been when others learned that we... you know? Then it would be hard to explain why we didn't tell them anything, but now they know. Aang knows I like you, he feels upset, but at least he knows. It would have been a lot harder for me to explain it to him, Toph sensed it, so she said it for me."

"I guess it's okay?"

"Of course it is. Aang will have more time to accept the fact that I don't love him the same way he loves me. I know it sounds cruel, but I'm powerless to do something, I can only support him as best as I can." She is silent for a minute, thinking. "But Toph can keep secrets if it's necessary, she actually respect others. She is very confident, but at the same time behind that solid shell I can see a sensitive girl, and that's why I admire her. I've always wanted to be so brave, but I guess I just can't."

"You are you, Katara. You don't have to be someone else or pretend to be someone you are not. Believe me, I've tried it many times, but it didn't work out, you see where it led me, to my true self. You can't run away from your true self."

She smiles even though he can't see that smile.

"I still didn't thank Toph for not leaving me injured in the woods." He continues. "It's probably not too late."

"She knows you're grateful, you don't have to tell her."

"Maybe. But I have to tell you what happened before she brought me to your group. I still didn't tell anything from that night."

"You don't have to if it makes you upset. I know you were attacked by the earthbenders and they captured your Uncle, that's what Azula said."

"You are my friends now, it would be wrong if you didn't know more about me."

"Well then, if you think so, you can tell everything in the morning." Katara buries her shoulders in her sleeping bag. "It's the time to sleep now, we'll have to travel again tomorrow. Goodnight, Zuko."

"Goodnight, Katara." He whispers and closes his eyes, smiling. He thinks about his Uncle. Although they are not together now, he knows that Uncle is alive, waiting for him, and he will soon travel to free him. Zuko believes he'll succeed when Katara unblocks his chakras, and he will finally be able to feel completely healed.


To be continued...