Book 2, Earth

Chapter 3, Spring Equinox, Part II

I've included some author's notes and replies to those who so kindly reviewed my previous chapter at the end of this chapter.

Chapter Summary: The spirits are out in full force tonight. Katara discovers that she has acquired mysterious new powers when Zuko accidentally becomes her first victim. Zula hires a bounty hunter to capture Aang and assassinate her brother.

……………………………..

Night falls like a heavy, velvet curtain crashing down on a stage after the final encore of a performance. The setting sun surrenders to the full moon, which rises swiftly and glows in the sky like an immense, silvery orb.

Former Avatar Roku's dragon flies towards Aang, and beckons him to climb aboard. The young avatar's spirit spirit eagerly leaps forth from his body to obey. "Sure beats hanging around here, moping over Katara," he says to himself.

The dragon carries the new Avatar's spirit away and leaves the boy's frozen, inert body behind. Sokka, Katara and Nilak do not see the dragon. But they shiver at the vague sensation of wings beating overhead, as Momo looks up and chirps apprehensively. Aang's body continues to sit on top of Appa's head, but he looks waxen, stiff and lifeless.

Sokka nervously utters, "Uh-oh … I think we're on autopilot, now." He grabs the reins from the younger boy's frozen hands to guide the giant bison, and announces to the others, "I'm taking us down to the ship, just to be on the safe side."

……………………………..

They circle down slowly as Sokka waits for Iroh, Tupilek, and Lieutenant Ji to notice them. The three small figures finally look up from the deck below and wave back. Ji orders Zuko's men to clear space for the landing. Appa floats gently down and settles his immense, furry bulk on the cold, steel deck of Zuko's ship. Sokka, Nilak and Katara silently descend from Appa's saddle, and Aang's pet flying lemur adroitly leaps onto Katara's right shoulder. She pats the small, lithe creature on the head and says in a low voice, "It'll be okay, Momo."

"It is good that you have come," declares Iroh, "We, too, felt the presence Avatar Roku's dragon."

"There appear to be many spirits out and about tonight," adds Tupilek softly, as she nods towards a pod of whales sallying forth from the horizon towards the ship. "I suspect that Katara may soon have some visitors of her own."

Iroh nods towards the lieutenant, and mildly requests, "Could you please send someone to the kitchen and ask them to bring us some tea and spring rolls with plum sauce, Lieutenant? We need to stay on deck until the Avatar awakens."

"… And order some for you and your men, and retire early so you can get some rest. We can keep watch for now."

"Aye-aye, Sir," Ji crisply responds, as he bows his head towards the retired Fire Nation general.

To Katara's simultaneous relief and crashing disappointment, the fire prince is nowhere to be seen. She glances anxiously towards Aang, and her heart melts with admiration and sadness. If only she could return the boy's love… or at least not feel the way she does towards Zuko. The color rises to her cheeks, as she thinks resentfully, "What DO I feel for him ANYway? And why HIM?"

She glares furiously down at the deck and clenches her jaw so fiercely that her teeth grind together, as though she could fend off her strange attraction by turning her face into an implacable fortress.

Iroh chuckles softly with amusement, as he observes the confused and shifting expressions brawling for dominance over the water girl's pert, pretty features. He declares in a neutral tone that seems directed towards nobody in particular, "Prince Zuko always meditates at this time of day, but I am sure that he will join us shortly." Undeceived, Katara lowers her head to conceal her irritation.

………………………..

A few minutes later, the door leading to the deck slams open as Zuko strides urgently towards his uncle. He looks pale and shaken, and does not notice the visitors.

"What is the matter, nephew?" Iroh inquires anxiously. "Has a reptilian parrot stepped over your future grave?"

Zuko shudders and he implores, "Please, no proverbs now, Uncle. Especially ones like that!"

"I apologize," the older man warmly responds. He wants to embrace the boy, but knows better. He settles for placing a comforting hand on his nephew's shoulder. To Iroh's surprise, the prince does not move or strike his hand away.

"He looks scared," Katara whispers. Sokka's keen blue eyes grow large and round like Momo's, as he whispers back, "Man, I don't want to meet whatever it is that could scare the likes of him!"

The fire prince confides to his mentor in a bewildered tone, "I was trying to meditate. But, it wasn't working. At first I thought it was because I couldn't stop thinking about …"

Iroh raises an insinuating eyebrow, but Zuko grimaces and snaps, "ENOUGH!"

"I didn't say anything, Prince Zuko," Iroh responds silkily, as he gruffly draws his nephew closer.

The boy continues with an agitated stammer, "Wh-when the candles flared up, it-it suddenly felt like s-someone else was trying to-to … steady them." The fire prince suddenly looks down with embarrassment and continues in barely audible mumble, "I … I … feel like there's somebody inside of my brain prying into my memories … and … and … the things I most care about … and the things I most fear."

Iroh pats his nephew's shoulder soothingly and murmurs, "Strange things do happen on nights like this. Do you feel like this thing in your mind wishes you good or ill?"

Zuko shoots his uncle a puzzled look, reflect for a moment, and finally says hesitantly, "I … think it wants to help me. But it STILL has no business mucking around in there!"

Iroh casts a shrewd, suspicious glance towards Aang's inert silhouette, and then turns back towards his nephew.

He says in a calm, reassuring tone, "We have no choice but to hope for the best. But my intuition tells me that you shall emerge from this experience unharmed, and that we will soon get to the bottom of this."

Then he adds, "In the meantime … I'm afraid we have company, Prince Zuko."

………………………..

Zuko attempts to pull himself together, as his eyes follow Iroh's towards Tupilek, Nilak, Sokka, Appa, Aang, and Momo. They finally settle upon Katara. Despite the darkness, her wide blue eyes are clearly visible and glowing with concern … presumably for him. The good side of Zuko's face flushes crimson with embarrassment and he involuntarily frowns.

He immediately regrets it and scolds himself, "Why did I DO that?"

But it's too late. The girl's face blanches white, and she steps back into the shelter of Appa's dark, heavy shadow. The fire prince casts a smirking leer towards the Katara's general direction to disguise the sharp pang of misery occasioned by her retreat.

"Oh, CRAP. Now I'm making things even WORSE," Zuko mutters to himself furiously.

Indignant, the water girl lunges forward, tears the hat that the fire prince had given her from her head, and viciously flings it towards him. The fur trim ruffles softly and the silky, iridescent fabric catches the rays of the moon and shimmers as he watches it float towards the pointed toes of his black, leather boots. The girl's bluish-black curls cascade wildly forth and whip around the delicate curves of her neck, shoulders and heart-shaped face in a jaunty, taunting manner.

Zuko glares fiercely towards Katara. She meets his eyes and glowers back defiantly.

"Sokka's right," she thinks angrily to herself, "Zuko could never care for ANYone, let alone me. This HAS to stop."

Suddenly, a scalding torrent of fury rushes through the girl's body, as she quivers with searing hot rage. Lightning flashes ominously from her eyes, and the fire prince's slim, muscular form distorts as though his skin and internal organs want to leap forward several feet, but his skeleton refuses to obey. Everyone wheezes with horrified sympathy, as he clutches his chest and abdominal cavity, curls up into a ball, and falls upon the cold, steel deck of his ship.

The tide of Katara's anger recedes as swiftly as it had risen. With a terrified shriek, Katara leaps forward and kneels beside Zuko's crumpled body. She peers into his face to see if he is still breathing. "Yes, but barely," she silently observes. She runs her hands over him to check for broken bones, and finds nothing amiss. The girl grunts with effort and mutters, "He's way heavier than he looks!" and gently lifts his head into her lap.

"What happened? Are you okay?" the girl cries out in alarm. But there's no answer.

She tenderly cradles his cheeks between her warm, soft hands. His skin feels clammy. Finally, to the girl's relief, Zuko's eyelids flutter open. Without thinking, her chilly blue eyes meet his blurred caramel-colored ones and deepen to warm, glowing sapphire and her mouth curves into a smile. Annoyed, Katara mutters under her breath, "There I go again."

"Are you okay?" she repeats as she reaches for his hands, which lie inertly at his sides. She gathers them to his chest and continues holding them.

"Now I am," Zuko says weakly, with a faint, gallant grin. "But … I … I … can't move."

The water girl looks up towards Iroh and demands, "Is there a doctor on this ship? Someone needs to look at him. And we need to take him downstairs so he can rest."

"Of course," replies Iroh. "I'll fetch Dr. Liu right away.

"Come with me. I'll need your help with the stretcher and the supplies," he orders the others. "… But you need to stay, Tupilek, in case Aang awakens."

Zuko lies there in a daze, staring up into the girl's luminous blue eyes and watching their colors subtly shift and change like smoothly rippling waves in a shimmering summer sea. "You're beautiful, Katara," he murmurs in a barely audible whisper. Her eyes widen with surprise as the color rises to her cheeks and an embarrassed smile slowly creeps across her face.

"I'm so … happy," Zuko thinks to himself with amazement as he closes his eyes and drifts hazily into a dreamless sleep.

………………………..

Katara hears the door creak open as the men return with Dr. Liu, and she raises her head. To her bewilderment, she sees Tupilek peering at her with an odd, inscrutable expression. Dr. Liu kneels down beside Zuko, and peers closely into the invalid's face through her bifocals. She then touches two fingers against the side of his neck to take his pulse while passing a cool, competent hand over his forehead to check for fever.

"Will he be alright, Dr. Liu?" Katara demands fretfully. The doctor smiles and replies, "You can call Lucy. And yes, I think he'll get well. He just needs some rest.

She briskly tucks a wavy strand of chestnut hair back into her top-knot, and adds, "… and some good, nourishing food." She wags an admonitory finger towards the Dragon of the West, who petulantly rolls his eyes and protests, "But … I can never get my nephew to sit still long enough to eat!"

"Well, the prince won't be able to move much for at least a week," the physician retorts. Then her eyes twinkle behind her bifocals as she wryly comments, "Perhaps the girl could be more persuasive … What's your name?"

Katara remembers her manners, holds out her hand, and gulps, "I'm Katara, Dr. Lucy."

Dr. Lucy shakes the girl's hand, and states, "You kept your cool and handled things well, Katara. If you ever need a job, I'd hire you as a medic in a Sozen City second. We have so many danged accidents around here, with all these firebenders onboard."

The water girl beams merrily as she contemplates the pleasant possibility of paid work. "First, I'd buy myself a nice new tunic," she thinks happily. She was never one to particularly care about clothing. But her current outfit is faded and worn, and – she suddenly realizes, as she blushes for the second time that day – has gotten a bit tight across the chest.

Sokka, Nilak and Ji cautiously move Zuko's slumbering form onto the stretcher. Katara attempts to stand up, but her legs are numb from kneeling in the same position for so long. She stumbles as Tupilek steps towards her and places a plump, fine-boned, but surprisingly powerful arm around the girl's waist to catch her in mid-fall.

"Thanks, Tupilek," says Katara with an appreciative grin. But the high water shaman's midnight blue eyes fill with tears. "Oh, my poor girl," she cries as she embraces her bewildered, squirming student.

Sokka and Nilak raise Zuko's stretcher with visible effort. "Man, he's way heavier than he looks," Sokka grumbles.

Then, the Southern Water Tribe boy turns towards his sister and her mentor with a skeptical expression, and snorts derisively, "Poor girl? As I recall, Zuko's the one whose freaking INSIDES just tried to jump out from his body! Shouldn't he be the one you're fussing over?"

Tupilek solemnly replies as the tears continue rolling down her cheeks, "All living creatures, including humans, contain a lot of water. In theory, a skilled waterbender can control that water. But I have never seen or heard about anyone actually doing it … Until now."

Sokka glares and sharply retorts, "What are you saying? Now, my sister's a GUT-bender, too?" He rolls his eyes and groans, "Aw, MAN! That's the LAST thing we need."

Katara whimpers, "You mean … I did that to him? Sedna help me!"

Nilak's face pales with shock as the girl's older brother frantically shouts, "Bleeding hog monkeys, Katara! Watch your language!"

The boys stagger and barely avoid dropping the stretcher as a large object bumps violently against the ship.

"Nice going, sis," snarls Sokka.

………………………..

Katara skips lightly towards the source of the disruption, and stands on tiptoe to peer over the rail. She sees an enormous blue whale with a crown of slick, leathery seaweed upon its head, followed by a motley pod of whales, walruses, sea lions, and seals.

She cries out, "Sedna? Is that you?"

"Of course I'm Sedna, girl!" the whale snaps with its immense jaws, and blasts forth an immense, cascading fountain of water contemptuously through its blowhole. "What were you expecting? The fire lord?"

The water girl eagerly demands, "What do want with me, Sedna."

"Well, for starters, a little respect wouldn't hurt," the whale huffily retorts.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way," apologizes Katara. Then, she solemnly intones, "What do you want with me, Sedna, Great Goddess of the Sea?"

"I need to talk with you," Sedna hisses through her gargantuan jaws. "Come to me."

"NO-O-O!" Sokka bellows, as Katara fluidly climbs over the rail and leaps overboard. But the dreaded, plunging splash never comes.

Sokka mutters, "C'mon Nilak. Let's get my sister's dashing young prince to his room before she returns for the final kill!"

………………………..

Sedna positions her blubbery whale body below to ensure a soft landing. Katara bounces gently, regains her balance and scrambles forwards. She affectionately embraces the protuberant bulge of the whale's forehead, and then dangles herself precipitously from the whale's sloping brow to plant a huge kiss upon the cavernous space between the creature's eyes.

The eyes glow warmly for a moment. Then, Sedna brusquely commands, "That's quite enough, girl. We need to talk. But I would prefer to do so in a more civilized fashion."

She shakes her immense, bulbous head, and Katara falls upon a soft, gelatinous cushion with dangling tentacles. "A jelly fish!" Katara exclaims, as Sedna shrinks into the form of a pretty mermaid with an alabaster torso covered with long, wavy, glistening pale green platinum hair and gracefully curving legs encased with glistening iridescent blue and green scales softly tapering into a sheer, feathery fish tail in lieu of feet.

Sedna looks into Katara's arctic blue eyes with her liquid green ones, as her mouth splits open in a wide grin to reveal gleaming white teeth. She trills with an ethereal, silvery laugh that shimmers through the air like a high tide cascading exuberantly over a pebbly beach.

A long driftwood table floats towards them, laden with an ivory teapot, matching cups and saucers, and dainty little sandwiches and cakes. Katara barely manages to squeeze in and find herself a place as the assorted sea creatures jostle each other and hungrily crowd around the table. She manages to snatch a tiny sea-cucumber sandwich (with the crusts removed, of course) for herself, only to have a sea lion engulf her hand in its soft, warm mouth and swiftly masticate her little prize and suck it down into its gullet.

"HEY," the girl protests, and then sighs with resignation and reaches for the teapot. But a large walrus hooks the tip of its flipper into the crook of the handle and snatches the teapot away. After pouring a cup for itself, the creature turns its grizzled face towards her and politely inquires, "Would you care for some more tea?"

She snaps back, "Well, I can't have more tea, because I haven't had any tea yet." The walrus huffily replies, "Very well, then! Suit yourself!"

When the walrus finally looks away and engages in a light-hearted conversation with another walrus across the table, Katara reaches for the teapot again. But she finds that she cannot lift it, because a seal has placed his head inside of it and fallen asleep. The whale sitting next to the loudly snoring seal laughs merrily and announces, "Oh, he always does this!" and nonchalantly places the teapot lid on top of the seal's head.

Katara impatiently bursts out, "None of you make any sense at all! There's no TIME for this foolishness!" A sea lion removes a pocket watch from its silk, paisley vest with an adroit flipper, and triumphantly holds it aloft. It then barks happily, "No worries! We have all the time in the world, because my watch has stopped!" The girl's brow furrows with frustration as she clenches her fists and hot, angry clouds of steam billow forth from her ears.

Finally, Sedna taps a silver spoon against her teacup, and a calm hush descends upon the tea party. She smiles softly towards Katara, and sighs, "If you keep insisting that everything in the world should make sense, and losing your temper when they don't, you will never gain full control of your powers."

Then, the Goddess of the Sea abruptly leans towards the girl, seizes her trembling hands, and hisses, "Has nobody ever told you that a Daughter of the Sea's power resides in her HAIR?"

Katara's lower lip trembles as her eyes cloud with confusion. "N-no," she stammers weakly.

Sedna thoughtfully murmurs, "Ah, yes … there have been no Daughters of the Sea for over 100 years."

Then she gently explains, "When you and your friends freed me from Fire Lord Sozen's enchantment, I knew you were meant to be my Chosen One. My Chi began flowing into yours. Alas, when you shaved your head in order to impersonate the Avatar and trick Admiral Zhao into taking you and the others onto his ship, you unknowingly disrupted the flow. When your hair grew back, you gained too much power too soon."

Sedna's voice rises and takes on an edge of urgency as she continues, "With power comes responsibility, girl. You MUST learn to control your emotions. You and your companions cannot defeat the Fire Lord without each other. Until then, you must bind your hair and keep it covered."

"B-but HOW?" wails Katara in despair. "I do try!"

"Tupilek will guide you towards a calm center of self-control. I do believe in you, Katara. You have a courageous and pure heart. But you're still so young. It's a shame that you must grow up so fast," the mermaid responds.

"And has for the hair …" She glances at the sea lion in the paisley vest, who propels itself forward, digs a flipper into its pocket, and produces a perfect, rose-colored scallop shell. Sedna opens the upper lid and a silky, translucent strand of bluish-green seaweed floats up from inside.

"Turn around," she commands, and the water girl obeys. The mermaid gathers Katara's errant locks into a loose ponytail at the nape of her neck and fastens it with the ribbon. "Only this can bind your hair. But you need to keep it tied loosely so you can easily untie it when you run into trouble … As I am sure you shall."

"Thank you, Great Goddess of the Sea," Katara cries.

The sea lion ostentatiously raises the pocket watch to its ear, and twitches its whiskers. The Goddess of the Sea kisses the water girl gently on the cheek, and announces, "The watch is ticking again. It's time to go."

"But," Katara objects, "There's … just one more thing I need to ask you, please."

"Very well then," Sedna snaps, "But be quick about it."

The girl lowers her eyes and murmurs in a low voice, "What if I … already might have feelings for someone?"

Sedna bursts into a peal of silvery laughter, and declares, "You need to CONTROL your emotions, not AVOID them! After all, you're only human!"

She puts two fingers in her mouth and puffs her cheeks out, as she waves her hand and gives off a high-pitched whistle. An immense albatross majestically glides down from the sky, as its alabaster wings reflect the silvery moonlight. It swoops towards the girl, gently encircles her waist with its giant claws, and carries her towards the deck of the ship.

The giant bird opens its long, pale beak and squawks in protest, "I don't normally do late night pick-ups. The tips are lousy." Katara can't think of anything to say in reply, but the albatross doesn't seem to notice, and launches into a full-blown tirade.

"This place has totally gone to the sea-dogs. Back in the old days, it was nice. Not fancy, or anything, but it was a real neighborhood. Friendly with lots of families and good people who kept an eye on things and looked out for each other. Now, with the Fire Lord running things, things have gone downhill. The Gulf Stream is always loaded with pirates who will murder you and take you for anything you've got. And you've got runaway kids and derelicts selling pots on every ice floe, and Sedna-knows-what-else! Man, I'd sure like to give Ozai a piece of my mind. If I were running things, I would …"

The drone of the bird's voice lulls Katara to sleep, until they land with a hard thump on the deck of Zuko's ship.

Katara reaches into her pocket and thrusts two copper pieces, a needle, a small spool of blue thread, and a white sand dollar picked up from the Island of Kyoshi as a souvenir towards her large and voluble form of transportation. The albatross's eyes glitter appreciatively, as its jaws open wide in a bird-like approximation of a smile.

"Well, that's awfully kind of you," the creature exclaims. "That's the thing with basic working-class folks. They don't have a lot, but they're generous with what they've got because they know how hard it is for regular people to get by …"

The water girl nods off, but jerks awake when her ride squawks, "Goodbye, and Sedna bless you! If you ever get stuck, here's my card. Never go with the big companies or the gypsy birds, they'll rip you off big-time."

She waves and smiles with relief as the albatross sails away into the sky.

……………………………………………..

Katara sees the hat lying on the deck where she had thrown it, and puts it back on her head. She feels sleepy and can't wait to climb onto Appa and snuggle into her warm sleeping bag. But she decides to first check up on Zuko. "Especially, since it's all my fault," she rationalizes to herself.

She opens the door and descends the echoing steel stairs. The lower chambers are shrouded in darkness and eerily silent. Even the guards in charge of the night watch snore softly, oblivious to the fact that most of the torches have sputtered out. "How strange," the girl murmurs, "Zuko runs a tight ship – and Lieutenant Ji would never allow this."

Suddenly, a wrenching howl shatters the air, as though a demon has savagely torn out the still-beating heart from a tormented soul's living body.

"Creeping canyon crawlers! He's delirious! Or possessed!" Katara gasps. "…And why won't anyone wake up?" Two thoughts swiftly occur to her: First, that it is still the night of the Spring Equinox, and that spirits may have placed a spell over the ship. And second, she doesn't know where Zuko's chamber is.

She heart pounds with terror as she races down the corridor towards the sound of Zuko's voice, stumbles over several pairs of feet, and finally sees a door marked with the faint outline of a Fire Nation insignia that had been torn off. She cautiously opens the door to reveal the fire prince's agitated and feverish form. Beads of sweat pour down his forehead as the convalescent tosses and turns while babbling incoherently.

Katara attempts to push a chair towards the side of the bed, but it refuses to budge. Then she remembers that bolting heavy furniture to the floor is a common safety precaution on ships. She finds the water closet, soaks a washcloth in cold water, folds it neatly, and places it on Zuko's forehead.

Then his voice rings out defiantly and echoes throughout the chamber, as he shouts, "I am NOT yours to command, Father!"

A chill surges down Katara's spine, as she returns to the water closet, washes up, and fills a cup with water. She climbs onto the bed and sits cross-legged next to Zuko. Then, she tips up his head, and holds the cup to his lips. He takes a couple of long, thirsty gulps and begins to settle down.

The water girl takes the fire prince's hand and whispers soothingly, as though he's a child in the throes of a nightmare, "Shhhhh … It's not real, Zuko. It'll be okay."

He calms down but continues murmuring unintelligibly. She vaguely catches something about friends, and an apple tree growing in a desert. "Yes, you do have friends now, and we're here for you. When we win, you can plant an apple tree. Remember to water it."

Katara yawns and realizes how weary she feels. Her eyelids grow heavy, and she tells herself, "I'll just rest for a minute…"

……………..……………………………..

Sokka rolls away from the golden rays of the rising sun so he can burrow into his sleeping bag and catch a few more Z's. But he joyfully sits bolt upright when he sees Aang lying on his back a few feet away playfully buffeting a saffron and ruby-winged butterfly with gentle gusts of air.

Sokka cheerfully calls out, "Good morning, Aang," and then gruffly adds, "You're alive!"

Aang smiles at him, but says nothing. Sokka's sharp, ice-blue eyes bore into the clear gray ones of the younger boy as he pleads, "Aw, c'mon, Aang. What happened? You're holding out on me!"

"I can't now," the Avatar replies. "It's not my story to tell."

Nilak breaks the silence, as he emerges from his cocoon, rubs his eyes, and joyfully shouts, "Aang!" as he lurches forward with his legs still tangled in his sleeping bag and gives the Avatar a hug.

Then, Nilak's face lights up with excited glee, as he spills forth the gossip.

"Man, you totally missed all the fun while you were out with that dragon thing. Prince Psycho goes running to his Uncle Iroh with his face white as a ghost babbling about someone being inside of his brain. Then Psycho realizes we're there, too. As usual, he and Katara just look at each other and get into a fight for no reason whatsoever … and all of the sudden, she totally rips his guts out!"

Aang looks towards Nilak with disbelief and exclaims, "No way."

Sokka retorts, "Yeah, way. Sure, Nilak enjoys spinning yarns. But I was there too. We saw the whole thing."

Nilak picks up from where he left off:

" … I'm serious. They're facing off, and all of the sudden, his insides start jumping out of his body. Like they had a life of their own. It was one of the scariest and most bizarre things I've ever seen in my life! He falls down unconscious and then she runs to him and gets all gooey-eyed."

The narrator pauses to stick his finger down his throat and make a gagging noise.

"Maybe she likes him more when he's unconscious. Can't blame her for that! We went down to fetch the doctor and a stretcher. When we came back up, he was awake and looking totally sappy and pathetic, too. I've always thought Prince Psycho had another side to him. Then again, maybe he just needed to throw up.

While Dr. Lucy was looking at him, Tupilek goes into a crying fit and starts going on about how Katara has some strange new power and may be the one who DID that to him! Then, the girl gets scared and her eyes get all misty. She calls for help from the Great Goddess of the Sea – and actually utters her real name.

Well, you know the sort of thing that happens when Katara does that. The Goddess turns into a whale and crashes into us so hard that we almost drop Prince Psycho. She demands that we give Katara to her, or else she'll destroy the ship. And then, Katara leaps overboard."

Without thinking, Nilak smiles with the satisfaction of a good story well told.

Sokka looks around, and wonders aloud, "But … where IS my sister?"

"I'm sure she got back okay and is around somewhere," Nilak says reassuringly. "Sedna wouldn't harm her."

Sokka scowls and his jaw tightens. But Aang knows what the Southern Water Tribe boy is thinking, and declares, "I don't think Zuko would harm her either."

……………………………………………..

Katara is awakened by the bright sunlight streaming through the porthole. She discovers that she had fallen asleep in a sitting position, and that her head is slumped forward onto Zuko's chest.

The girl jumps up and exclaims, "What time is it?"

"It's almost noon," he replies faintly with a wry smile, "I guess we both had a rough night."

Katara sees two bowls of noodles sitting on the night table, reaches for one and devours the contents ravenously. She sets her bowl on the table, notices that the other bowl is full, and frowns at Zuko accusingly.

"You haven't eaten ANY of yours!"

"I'm not hungry," he responds peevishly.

She props the invalid up on his pillows, scoops up a spoonful of noodles and broth, and holds it to his mouth. "Here, just try one bite," she pleads. Zuko turns his head away. Katara climbs on the other side of the bed and tries again. Her patient rolls over in protest, and groans with pain.

"Stop that," Katara exclaims indignantly as she walks over to the other side of the bed and pushes the spoon towards his tightly closed lips. "Dr. Lucy says you need to EAT … and get some REST!"

Zuko turns his head away. Katara impatiently snaps, "If you don't STOP this nonsense, I'll tie you down to the bed and FORCE you to eat!"

"Sounds interesting," chuckles Iroh as he opens the door and walks in.

The two of them scowl and shout in unison, "GET OUT!"

The retired general bursts into loud laughter, closes the door and walks away. The fire prince's amber eyes flash with amusement, as the ghost of a smile flits across the corner of his mouth.

"Okay, okay, you win, Katara! I'll be good now," he promises.

When he finishes eating, Katara bursts out, "I need to tell you something, Prince Zuko. And you're probably not going to like it …" She tells him the story of her strange evening with Sedna and concludes, "… So now … I guess, I'm some sort of monster." The girl's blue eyes begin to fill with tears.

But the ever-practical Zuko merely lifts an admiring eyebrow and says, "Hey, we need all the help we can get. Especially when my sister comes after us."

"Your sister?" Katara blurts out with astonishment.

Zuko shrugs and explains, "Zula was married to Zhao. If you think he's evil, wait till you see her! As you can probably imagine, my family's pretty … dysfunctional."

Katara looks at him with wide eyes and asks, "So, does that have something to do with what happened to you last night?"

"I don't usually like to talk about that stuff," Zuko replies, "But … here goes."

……………………………………………..

A tall, slender brunette parries and thrusts her sword against her opponent's, and finally gets the better of him, even though he is an experienced warrior twice her size. The door opens and a page announces, "I'm sorry to interrupt your training, Princess Zula. But the person you've been waiting for has arrived."

The princess nods coldly, adjusts the Fire Nation emblem, which gathers her thick chestnut hair towards the top of her finely-molded head, and strides towards the antechamber to receive her visitor.

An equally beautiful girl stands before her, with raven black pulled high into a bun and fastened with a morbid decoration that looks like a small, human skull. Her abundant remaining hair is parted on the side and falls along her high cheekbones and cascades down her back. She wears a long black leather tunic with no sleeves to reveal a scarlet spiral tattoo on her shoulder, and sports matching black leather leggings, long gloves that go up to her tattoo, boots with pointy toes that curl up slightly, and a defiantly cynical expression of world-weary nonchalance.

Zula wrinkles her nose and snaps, "What is that smell?" Then she notices the large, unattractive animal her visitor has brought along. "What is that thing and why couldn't you leave it in the stable?"

"His name is Shirshu, and where I go, he goes," the girl blandly replies.

Zula's cheeks flame with rage as she moves towards her visitor with her sword raised. "You need to address me with more respect, Jun."

With a bored expression, Jun reaches out to grasp the blade with her gloved hand, and draws it downwards. Then she raises her sleepy eyelids and looks the princess full in the face with impenetrably dark eyes rimmed with heavy, black eyeliner.

"Do you want me to do the job or not," she demands.

"Find the Avatar and bring him to me alive," Zula orders.

"And your brother?" Jun inquires.

The princess's eyes glow deep red and she snaps, "Dead, of course. But I want the body."

"You agreed to pay me a retainer up front," Jun states.

"Of course," Zula responds and reluctantly draws forth a pouch full of gold pieces.

Jun's implacable expression suddenly softens as she gently murmurs, "Please accept my sympathy for your recent … loss."

Admiral Zhao's face flashes before Zula's eyes for a moment, and then she rolls her eyes and sneers contemptuously, "Oh, please. You of all people."

……………………………………………..

AUTHOR'S END NOTES

Hi reviewers … I've finally added my replies to your comments on my last chapter, below.

Miscellaneous Notes

Lieutenant Ji: D'OH! Of course the Lieutenant's name is Ji … Iroh says it in Episode 9, The Water Scroll. I have no idea how it's spelled, so I'm using XseaBiscuitX's spelling from Hearts of Fire.

Dr. Liu/Lucy: Well, "Liu" is a common Asian surname and I was too lazy to trawl the Web for fictitious anime names. And I've always adored the "Lucy" as a nickname. So there ya go.

A "Sozen City Second": This is what Spleef has decided to name the capitol city of the Fire Nation in her opuplently well-written, and … um … rated T Zutara fic, Hot Water. It totally makes sense to me that the financial and cultural center of the Fire Nation (i.e. the equivalent of New York City, even though NYC neither has the Fire Lord NOR Dubya Bush, thank gawd) would be named after former Firelord Sozen, who had initially harnessed the power of the comet 100 years ago. So … heh, heh, heh … I STOLE it! And gosh darn it, if the folks who do the actual series come up with another name for it in the next season, I'll keep right on calling it "Sozen City," gosh darn it! Thanks, Spleef!

Sedna's tea party: Straight out of Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland," of course. I SO totally adore and worship Lewis Carroll, who is not only a writer but a master of logic (with a real talent for subverting its conventions) as well. He also wrote all these wonderful and hilarious word puzzles called "syllogisms" that my left-brained mom introduced me to. Believe it or not, they made me start actually ENJOYING algebra (which is extremely "OC" for a writer type like me). If you google "Lewis Carroll syllogisms," you'll find tons of them.

REPLIES TO THOSE WHO REVIEWED MY LAST CHAPTER:

Caged Bird
2005-08-24
Thanks, I sure had fun writing that whole bit between Katara and Sokka!

:)totallystellar
2005-08-17
Sorry you didn't like the Aang thang. Like you, I'm definitely a Zutara gal … but Aang already does seem to have a puppy love thing for Katara in the show, so I decided to have my little fun. Hope this chapter answers your question about tension in the group & that my teensy bit of tooth-rotting Z/K fluff (um, I think they call that "cotton candy") makes you happy. Monito
2005-08-15
Hair … must be a chick thang. The minute I wrote about them shaving Katara's head, I knew I had to figure out a way to grow her hair back! Glad you're happier now :)

Spleef
2005-08-14

I don't blame you for ignoring the new stuff. You started Hot Water way earlier than I started my stories, so it would be harder to add Zula & Jun (I mean, what would Jun be looking for?). And I like it the way it is!

crzysheelf
2005-08-14

Don't let the the ol' "all the ideas have been taken" stop you from writing a Zutara fic! We're all writing fan fics here! And the folks who write these TV shows steal tons of stuff from mythology, Shakespeare, Homer, the Bible (which is chock-full o' racy stuff – lot o' "slew"-ing and "begat"-ing going on), etc. I just adore ancient writers, in part because they don't sue! As someone complained way back in biblical times, "There is no new thing under the sun" (Ecclesiastes, 1:9).

Just figure out some story with situation where Z & K could plausibly meet, don't get too fluffy too soon, add some battles, fight scenes, amusing & snappy dialog, and weird creatures and spirits, and … voila!

But PLEASE do avoid the Zuko-captures-Katara-and-falls-in-love-with-his-prisoner thing … THAT particular idea is definitely taken and only a few writers are able to handle it well!

DudettRin101
2005-08-14
Whew, I'm glad you've still got hope for Zutara.

.XSeabiscuitX
2005-08-14
I wonder if the longer, more drawn-out seasons for A:TLA (i.e. 20 seasons instead of 13) has to do with the way they've structured the story as chapters within a book for each element?

Hotspur
2005-08-14
Sigh. Zuko's life IS sad.

!Mallaidh
2005-08-14
Thanks for the compliments … and I'm glad I'm not the only one who still has hope for Zuko joining forces with Aang! And I'm sure looking forward to September 23.

taybay500
2005-08-14
Am I really the first to include Zula? Wow. Sigh, I wish I could write for the show too. I'm hoping the stuff the folks at Nick are coming up with is better than the stuff we're all writing, or else I'll be disappointed!

taybayWarriorAtHeart
2005-08-14
Thanks for the praise – here's your update!

!kayko15
2005-08-14
Thanks for the info … and you're right about my coming to conclusions too soon about who hires Jun. I used your suggestion about Zula possibly being the one who hires her in this chapter, as you probably noticed. Alas, the folks at ComicCon did show a KatAang clip in which he makes her a necklace to replace the one she lost. Sigh.

Red Hawk K'sani
2005-08-14
Thanks … I'm trying not to let the new stuff throw me off, though I had to move a lot of my action/adventure/fight & battle stuff to future chapters in order to deal with it. I promise to put more excitement in my next chapters!