Sorry for the long wait. Writer's block, three chapter rewrites, and lots of editing...took awhile, but you can forgive me. And this chapter, it's all Zuko and Katara! Woohoo!
Iroh, still on island: "Um, helloooo...?"
No worries, Iroh, we'll get to you soon enough! Now, on with the show!
Chapter Nine: " A Complication"
Katara tilted her head up and took in the warm sun hitting her face. She sat along the back ledge of the bow, while Prince Zuko was busy piloting the ship at the helm. Their vessel was a small fishing boat, much like the one Sokka had been on when she and Aang had came to his rescue during a storm a while back. It had both a sail and a small coal engine for when the winds died down. They had finally been able to pick up speed after carefully sailing past the majority of Fire Nation ships patrolling and investigating the waters, and were now starting to put some distance between themselves and the island they had previously been on.
As they made their way through the island-dotted sea, Katara tried to enjoy the small moment of peace and quiet they had before facing the inevitable difficulties ahead. It was nearly impossible, however, due to the tense, awkward silence that seemed to crowd every space of the boat. A truce had been called between her and Zuko, but even after having worked together more than once, it was still tentative at best. Now that they were out on the waters, and in search of the others, the question of how long the truce would last became more pressing than ever. She knew their cooperation would cease once they finally found one of their allies, but as to what would happen once it ended remained to be seen.
Katara was brought out of her thoughts by a loud grumble. After a moment of surprised confusion, she realized she was the source of the noise! Now that she actually had a moment of free thought, her empty stomach made itself known. Katara looked around, as if expecting a dinner plate to be lying on deck, before she got up and looked over the rim of the ship. The water was too deep for any fishing...perhaps the man who owned the boat had some fish below deck?
As she walked over to the stairs leading below, she was halted as Zuko intoned, "What are you doing?" Katara glanced up to see Zuko looking over his shoulder and watching her out the corner of his eye.
"I'm going to see if there's anything to eat below deck," Katara answered, "I'm starved."
She started down the stairs, not waiting for his answer, when he spoke up again, pausing her at the second step. "Good idea," he said, "Find something for me as well." Katara nodded an descended, not sure if she should be annoyed at his command. Because it was a small boat, the space below deck was somewhat cramped. She looked around, seeing the small coal engine, stacks of equipment, piles of net, and a few barrels. After investigating the barrels, she discovered some of them contained fish. Touching the fish, she found they were still cold, meaning they hadn't been sitting around long enough to become warm, and thus were freshly caught. Good. She grabbed two large ones and brought them on deck.
"I'll stop the engine so we can eat," he called as he stepped below deck. A few moments later, he was back up, and approached Katara, holding out his hand expectantly. Katara handed him his fish, only to be annoyed when he stuck his hand out again.
"What? You have yours!" she pointed.
"Your fish. Give it to me. I'm going to cook it."
Katara cocked her head to the side slightly. "Why? These fish are fresh. We can eat them raw." Zuko gave her a funny look. "You've eaten raw fish before, right?" she asked.
"No. My people like to cook their food before they eat it, like civilized beings."
Katara glared. "Where I come from, we cook many of our meats, but like to eat our fish raw on occasion. It's considered a delicacy," she replied, an edge of haughty indignation creeping into her voice.
"Suit yourself," Zuko shrugged as he stabbed his fish with a small harpoon he had brought up from below deck. He lit a fire underneath it and began to cook his meal.
Katara stared at him a moment before asking, "May I see the knife?" She nodded to the knife in his belt.
Zuko raised an eyebrow. "You're not just going to bite into it?" he asked.
Katara glowered for a moment. There was only so much insult she could take. Speaking with forced calm, she responded, "No. And just because people have different customs than you, Prince Zuko, that doesn't make them barbarians. Now, may I have the knife?" Zuko handed it to her and she cut her fish into small bite-sized pieces. Both ate their meals in complete silence.
Zuko was finishing the last bits of his meal when he heard a ship's horn sound in the distance. He stood upright in a flash and looked around. Off in the distance, and closing in fast, was a Fire Nation vessel! The prince cursed himself for not paying more attention to his surroundings. He rushed below deck and started the coal engine up again. Katara stood up, alarmed, and gasped at the approaching ship. Zuko grabbed her by the wrist roughly and shoved her below deck. "Stay here, and stay silent," he hissed, and she nodded back with round blue eyes. Zuko grabbed a cloak hung on the wall below deck and put it on quickly, pulling the hood far over his head. As he came back on deck, he briefly considered trying to make a break for it, but the repeated horn sounds coming from the ship indicated it was hailing him. To run now would only raise suspicion. Damn!
He waited apprehensively as the ship approached. It was a small Fire Nation ship, not much larger than his own; most likely used for patrol, guard, and other odd jobs. It was probably out here trying to gather information about what had happened to Zhao's ship. Zuko watched a man lean over the deck railing as the larger ship came astride to his. Judging from the style of armor, this man was a captain. The man waved and called, "You there! Fisherman! What are you doing out in these waters? It's far too deep here for any fishing!"
Zuko deepened his voice and answered, "I was just taking my catch into port, sir..."
The man scowled. "Port? The closest port is that way," he jerked his thumb in the direction of the island he and Katara had just come from. Zuko clenched his jaw as he saw other a few other soldiers peering out from over the ship's rim.
"I...I'm not taking my catch there...I'm taking what I have to another port up further north. I have family there I'm planning to see."
"Not many towns up north...," the captain responded, a slight furrow forming on his brow, "Say, have you seen anything peculiar recently? Surely you know about the accident that happened yesterday evening, right?"
"Yes," Zuko said quickly, "I did. It's tragic. Other than the whole mess this has caused, I can't say I've seen anything strange...why? What's going on? Is there something more to this accident...?" Zuko held his breath. Hopefully, with the questions turned on him, the captain would quit his query and would possibly divulge some information they could use...
"No, no, nothing, simply asking," the man answered. Hmm, Zuko thought, either they really don't have a clue what's going on, or they're keeping quiet. Unfortunately, Zuko's inquiring didn't defer the captain from further questioning, and he continued with a suspicious tone, "Such a beautiful day out...why the coat?"
Unable to think of a feasible answer, Zuko simply shrugged.
A knot grew in Zuko's stomach as a soldier approached the captain and whispered something into his ear. The captain eyed the name of the ship printed on the side of the fishing boat and nodded. "Where exactly are you coming from, friend?" the man asked, a predatory glint in his eyes.
Shit! Did he know this ship was stolen? Zuko quickly gathered himself and smoothly responded, "Tai Ko."
"Ahh...that's not too far from here. I hope you don't mind the delay, but we would like to have a look around your ship..."
That was it. He could pretend no more–whether the captain knew this ship was stolen or was just suspicious of him in general, once access was gained to the ship they would discover who was aboard...and he could not allow that to happen. Zuko turned his head slightly and whispered to Katara, "Delay them with waterbending!" The girl peeked from below deck and made a movement with her hands.
"Who's that?" the captain asked, but was cut short as a wave crashed against his ship. The ship rocked backwards from the impact, and the men aboard shouted in confusion.
Zuko looked over his shoulder and yelled to Katara, "Keep them busy!" While she attacked the Fire Nation ship with more waves, Zuko tried to maneuver the boat away. The captain noticed this and ordered his ship to move forward and cut them off. Katara managed to slow them a little, but not enough to allow Zuko enough time to slip by, and the fronts of both ships collided. The impact hardly even scratched the other vessel, but was powerful enough to rock the smaller boat and knock Zuko to his feet. He quickly got back up to take a hold of the wheel and assess the damage–only to realize his hood had fallen back, revealing his face for everyone to see.
"The scar! It's Prince Zuko! What is he doing here?" Shouts rung out across the other ship.
Zuko spat out a curse and gripped the ship's wheel. "Hey!" he shouted to Katara, "Get our engine stoked and delay that ship as long as possible!" Katara went to work instantly, putting more fuel into the engine and fanning the fire, then rushing back out on deck. She raised her arms in the direction of the pursuing vessel and moved them in a circular motion, creating an ominous looking whirlpool. The Fire Nation ship attempted to steer out of the way, but the whirlpool was too close to be avoided, and the ship began to be sucked into the current. The entire ship was turned nearly 90 degrees before the whirlpool disintegrated. Unable to continue such a demanding technique anymore, Katara resumed her attack on the ship with large waves.
While Katara helped put distance between them and the other ship, Zuko quickly debated over to do. The waterbender would eventually tire and the other, more powerful ship would catch up. The ship's speed would easily overtake them, giving them little time to hide. Not only that, but there were only a limited number of islands in the immediate area to hide around. Zuko grit his teeth. What to do, what to do?
Scanning the islands around him, Zuko's eyes came to rest offshore of the one islands in the area. It's coastline was jagged, and there were numerous rocks jutting up all around the waters surrounding it. If he could maneuver the ship through that rocky area, where the larger ship would have more difficulty following, they might be able to give them the slip.
"We're going to head through those rocks!" Zuko shouted over his shoulder to Katara.
Katara turned her attention away from the Fire Nation ship to see the area Zuko was talking about. When her eyes caught the craggy rocks sticking up out from the water, she shrieked, "Are you insane? You'll get us killed!"
"If you have a better idea, I'd like to hear it," Zuko snapped, "Now, quit whining and try to slow them some more!"
Katara glared and went back to crashing waves into the Fire Nation ship. Zuko steered the ship closer and closer to the rocks, taking glances behind him to see how quickly the other ship was gaining on them. Soon, they began to reach the first of the crags. Because the ship was fairly small, it didn't have much difficulty weaving it's ways through the dangerous waters. Zuko looked back, expecting the other ship to stop before it reached the rocks, but instead found it was only slowing down. They were going to follow them through the crags, despite the danger of having a larger ship! Zuko, however, was only slightly surprised at the persistence. After all, he was a banished prince trespassing on his nation's grounds, and his arrival was in concurrence with Zhao's ship being sunk. Not to mention he was traveling with a waterbender–he was probably their biggest, if not only, lead so far.
Just the same, their persistence wasn't making his life any easier. If crag-infested waters weren't enough to defer them, what would? He and Katara couldn't play hide and seek in here forever–the risk of tearing out the bottom of the ship was too high–but if they left the rocky waters, the Fire Nation ship would be able to come after them at top speed again. There had to be some way to stop that ship. Suddenly, Zuko was struck with another one of his brilliant ideas.
Straight ahead were two massive rocks, each about double the size of the Fire Nation ship pursuing them, with a sizable space between them–enough for both their ship and the larger ship to pass through without being hit. Of course, it would be a tighter squeeze for the other vessel, but if the captain thought it would close the gap between the two ships, Zuko was certain the ship would follow them through. Then he and waterbender could spring their trap.
"You!" he shouted to Katara, catching her attention, "Do you see those rocks ahead?"
Katara nodded. "We're going to lure that ship between them. Once the ship passes between those rocks, I want you to freeze the water and trap them there!"
"What?"
"Did I stutter? When the ship passes between those two rocks, I want you to freeze the water around there ship and trap them in space between the rocks! Can you do that?"
"I...I've never frozen that much water before!"
"It's just in between those rocks!"
"That's still a lot of water!"
"Do you have any skill as a waterbender?" Zuko snapped, "No wonder your people are losing the war, with their ranks filled with utterly incompetent–"
"How dare you! My people–"
"We don't have time for this! Either you do it, or we're caught!"
Katara looked apprehensively at the other ship, then turned back to Zuko and said, "All right. I'll try."
"Good," Zuko said as they began to pass between the rocks. The massive crags, black and rugged, slowly went by them as they made their way through the passage. Once they had passed through, Zuko sharply turned the boat's wheel back and forth, causing it to jerk as if it had been glanced by a rock hidden under the surface (earning a surprised yelp from Katara), and slowed. No doubt the Fire Nation vessel was scrutinizing his movements, and if it appeared as though his ship might have suffered damage, they would undoubtedly take the opportunity to seize him and Katara.
Zuko watched with held breath as the Fire Nation ship continued forward. As it began to pass between the two rocks, Zuko inwardly cheered–until he remembered Katara still needed to freeze those waters, or they were done for. "Do it now!" he cried.
Katara closed her eyes and concentrated. A furrow formed at her brow as the waters around the ship slowly began to crystallize. It wasn't enough, however, and the ship simply sailed through, splintering the thin ice as it went. "More!" Zuko yelled.
"I'm trying!" Katara screamed, hands shaking from the effort.
Zuko gazed up at the advancing ship with dread. At the rate Katara was creating the ice, it wouldn't be enough to stop the ship in time! She had to step up her waterbending–they were both depending on her to save them! The firebender prince paused as an idea came to him. Zuko walked up to Katara and put a tentative hand on the her shoulder. "You can do it...Katara," he encouraged stiffly, a little awkward at the familiarity of the first-name reference. He rarely, if ever, encouraged others, but he felt it was needed in the given situation and did so. It seemed to do the trick as Katara gritted her teeth and concentrated as hard as she could.
Ice began materializing faster around the ship. Soon the ice became thick enough to slow and halt the vessel. Ice crept up from the frozen water and along the sides of the boat and rocks, bracing the vessel in its place between them. Faint shouts of confusion and dismay could be heard from the frozen ship.
Katara teetered backwards slightly from fatigue, Zuko catching her and holding her upright by her arm.
"The ship's trapped! It worked!" Katara panted harshly, almost disbelieving.
"Because of your waterbending," Zuko replied, inwardly sighing with relief.
"Yeah–I did it!" she said proudly, chest heaving. She turned and gave him a genuine smile. "Your encouragement really helped. Thanks!"
Zuko blinked and averted his eyes, not quite sure how to react to the friendly expression. "Let's heat up the engine and get out of here quickly." As Zuko turned on his heel to start up the boat again, he found his hand still holding onto Katara's arm. He made a brief eye contact with her before jerking away and ducking below deck. More fuel was put on the furnace, and they sailed out to sea, leaving the craggy waters and Fire Nation vessel behind.
Zuko scanned the horizon as he steered, keeping his eyes peeled for signs of any other vessels, but saw none. It looked as though they had just managed to give the Fire Nation ship from before the slip. However, Zuko knew better than to get his hopes up. Now that there were people who knew he was here, word would get out, and undoubtedly create a plethora of new problems for him and Katara.
The prince looked back over his shoulder, the third time in the last ten minutes. Katara was sitting nearby, exhausted from using her waterbending ability almost to its limits. Her eyes were closed and her fingers absently traced the necklace at her throat. Katara's eyes opened for a moment and caught his, before he quickly turned his gaze back to the ocean in front of him.
"You don't have to worry about me," she said, "I'm fine."
"I wasn't worried!" he snapped.
"Then why do you keep looking back here?"
Zuko paused, trying to think up an answer. "I was looking at your necklace," he said.
"I imagine you had plenty of chances to look at it when it was in your possession," she responded dryly.
Zuko gave a strange cross between an irritated frown and an amused smirk. "Hm. I was simply wondering why anyone would put up as much effort as you did to get back such a cheap piece of jewelry."
Katara sparked instantly at this. "Cheap? Who are you to decide it's worth? This is my mother's necklace–it has sentimental value! Not that you would know anything about sentiment, coming from the Fire Nation!" she retorted.
Zuko glared. Hadn't she been utterly exhausted a moment earlier? And now she was chastising him? "There you go again," he argued, "damning nations you know nothing about..."
"I know enough," she muttered, her fingers stroking the pendant of her necklace, "I know that it was Zhao and the Fire Nation who killed my mother in a raid two years ago."
A small bell rang in Zuko's head. Something sounded very familiar. "A raid...?"
"Yes," Katara exclaimed, taking up the opportunity to rant, "Zhao and his men raided our small town two years ago. He pulled a sneak attack to overthrow the village, and killed many of our people." Tears welled up in her eyes at the memory. "He killed my mom...right in front of me! With men like Zhao running your country, I have every right to damn it!" Katara rested her head on her knees and didn't say anything more.
Zuko stood at the wheel, absolutely unmoving. A revelation hung over him like a dark cloud. He tried to ignore it, dismiss the whole story completely, but the coincidences were too much. That couldn't have been the raid he witnessed, could it? "I..I see..." he choked out.
Katara's head came back up. Zuko was surprised to see the anger etched in her face. "'I see'? That's it? Your people murdered my mother, slaughtered and oppressed my people, and all you can say is 'I see'? Hah! You're prince of the Fire Nation, all right!" she spat. Without another word, she stormed down the stairs and went below deck, leaving Zuko alone to steer the ship.
Katara stood in the middle of the small room, fuming. Just when she had begun to think maybe Zuko wasn't entirely bad...he had to say something so unfeeling, so callous, as that!
Zuko held onto the ship's wheel limply, his eyes gazing unfocused at the dark clouds gathering in the distance. Was her tribe the one from two years ago...?
Oh no, the drama! Next chapter, we see more of that wonderful Zutara, as well as find out what's happened to everyone else...including you, Iroh.
Iroh: Oh, I am much relieved!