Kana cried out again and trembled violently, throwing her torso onto Sokka's limp form and taking his hand into her own. Katara watched in tears at the scene but soon noticed that more soldiers were coming from around them.
From the small group of Fire Nation recruits, one man stepped out. No older then Sokka was, but in a way, the expression on his face looked like he had seen a lot and knows a lot more. On his ivory skin was a flame shaped scar around his right amber eye.
Quietly, he unsheathed a long sword and held it with two hands. Kana was oblivious to her surroundings as she raised a shaking hand to touch Sokka's face. But as she moved weakly, the scarred soldier raised his sword high above his head with two hands.
Katara stumbled from behind the rock and called out in a half-sob, "Mother!". Kana smiled peacefully into Sokka's face as she inched closer with her hand to his face.
The wielded man stared at Kana with determination and brought his sword down upon her. Kana's face paled even more, but with the same peaceful smile, she gazed upon her daughter and shut her eyes abruptly. Trickles of blood escaped her slightly blue lips as her hand around Sokka's became limp.
For Katara, time seemed to stop for her. Everything seemed motionless, even the cold winds passing through seemed to stop. She walked numbly to the pale bodies of her family with shaking legs and a frozen heart. The only thing she could see was the two bodies.
When many hands grabbed her arms, Katara snapped back to reality. Tears flowed down her face with true sadness as she fought the soldiers who held her down.
Using her right hand, Katara punched a soldier in the jaw. Her left forearm was released and with all her might, she broke free from the clutches of her enemy.
"Mother! Sokka!" Katara cried out through her tears. She was within arms reach of them before someone stepped in front of her.
She wiped the stinging tears from her eyes and looked up bravely. Her blue glare met an intense pair of amber eyes. Beyond the sadness within her, anger awoke with a furious start. Tears gently streamed from the corners of her eyes as fists curled into balls. Katara narrowed her eyes and suddenly lashed out in fury.
The tears continued to flow and fall from her face as she pounded on the scarred man's armor.
"You murdered my family! You monster! You murderous, vile, horrible-" the man would not take such criticism from a mere water tribe peasant. He scowled and slapped the girl across the face, watching her fall to the bloody snow.
Katara was on her hands and knees as she clutched her cheek. She panted lightly and lifted her head, trying to contain all of her emotions at once. No more then a foot away from her was the corpses of those she loved. Her breath came short and her heart felt constricted. Hands grabbed her arms again, but this time there were more and they were stronger.
"On behalf of the Fire Nation, I proclaim you a prisoner of war. You will be taken to the Fire Nation capital where further decision of your being will be decided." The scarred man said from above her.
Katara looked into his eyes hatefully as the soldiers pulled her harshly to her feet. "Take her to the ship and throw her in the brig." The man commanded the soldiers.
Once again Katara resisted by kicking, biting, anything she could think of to run away from these men. Finally, she screamed with all of her emotions and bit the hand of one of the men. Blood seeped through the cloth as he released her wrist. Another soldier holding her forearm let her go with one of his hands to help the fallen man from the ground.
Seizing her opportunity, Katara elbowed the man who tried to help. The commander watched intently at the girl, with hints if disgust on his face.
"She's certainly going to be a nuisance with that impudence." He thought extremely agitated.
He glanced at the corpses near his feet and saw a rope looped on the hip of the woman peasant. A plan formulated in the secretly wise mind of the commander. He pulled one end of the rope and coiled the length around his shoulder.
As he neared closer with his graceful steps, the girl broke free from her soldiers and ran west of the docks. Her steps were quick and evenly paced as she ran away from the six soldiers that chased her, all whom were weighed down by their armor and their wounds.
"This foolishness much stop. She is a prisoner now and that proclamation must be enforced." The commander quickly sprinted in the direction of Katara. Katara heard no footsteps behind her and gasped as the scarred commander himself was only a few yards behind her, and the distance between them continued to shorten continuously.
Taking a deep and steady breath, Katara sprinted faster away from the gaining threat. Her feet sank slightly in the slowly terrain as she applied more pressure to her steps. Sweat dotted her forehead lightly as her steps became quicker, her hair loosening in the braid down her back.
The commander saw the distance between them become gradually larger as the girl attempted to sprint further ahead. He narrowed his eyes and thought,
"Stupid girl, she cannot escape from me." With applying less pressure to the ground, the man sprinted even faster then at first, evidently closing in on Katara fast.
She looked behind her shoulder again and now he was so close, she could see the muscles tensing in his body. Facing straight ahead again, Katara tried to get some more distance between them, but no success.
A large amount of weight rammed into Katara's back and caused her to fall face-first into the snow. The weight wasn't lifted from her back as Katara squirmed on the ground. The commander held her body down with his own, straddling her and forcing his weight onto her so she couldn't move. He grabbed both her wrists and held them firmly in his hands.
"You will NOT disobey me. You WILL comply with my orders!" he shouted at her.
She wriggled vigorously and shouted just as loud, "I will NEVER listen to a Fire Nation murderer!"
Angrily, the commander forced more of his weight onto her petite body.
"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to defy royalty?" he said coldly, holding his position for a few moments.
Katara blinked back fat swells of tears as she broke out in convulsions. His words rang in her mind like a broken record, repeated itself, each time seeming crueler then the last.
"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to defy royalty?" Katara heard it one last time as a wave of information crashed over her.
"Royalty? Is this the exiled Prince Zuko? He DOES command a fleet of soldiers. Prince Zuko murdered my family…" Katara thought in her mind with a confident voice.
Zuko was startled by the sudden start of convulsions, and then the sudden stop. The peasant made no movement under him, "Makes it easier for herself."
He thought in his head bitterly. Making no hesitation, he firmly tied the girls wrists together and left a small length for a guard to pull on. He held the rope tightly and glared into the girls eyes.
"Vile peasant wench." He spat at her.
Katara walked ahead of Zuko, seeing as her hands were tied behind her. This man had tied her ropes like a leash, like some animal!
As they approached the cluster of brusied soldiers, Zuko yanked on Katara's rope. She stopped moving in front of the scowling soldiers, she glared at them and spit on the ground in front of their feet.
Her captor narrowed his eyes and tugged harshly at the rope, "Mind your manners wench." He said in a smooth voice.
She turned her gaze to behind her shoulder and furrowed her brows in evident dismay.
Ignoring her looks, Zuko gazed onto his wounded men and requested loudly, "What is the report men?".
One man stood out of the cluster and Katara noticed it was the man she punched in the jaw because his face was swollen and he sounded a tad muffled.
Katara smirked at him as he spoke, "Well sir, no other people were found alive. Casualty report : four killed and ninety-seven wounded. We have one prisoner of war, and submission of village is useless at this."
The man stated in a official voice. Zuko nodded and motioned one of the soldiers to take Katara's rope.
"Take this girl to the brig and have two guards stand on lookout in front of her door. Whatever you do, do-not-take-your-eyes-off-of-her." Zuko spelled out specifically.
The soldier saluted and told Katara, "Head to the docks now." But she didn't move, instead Katara stood staring at the mid-afternoon sky in mock wonderment.
Zuko marched to Katara, his eyes shining with anger at her impudence. Katara gazed up at the clouds, they seemed ominous and looming, with threats of a heavy storm.
Long fingers grasped her chin that was tilted upwards and pulled her head back to ground level. There her eyes locked harshly with the shining amber ones of the Prince Zuko.
"Are you deaf wench? Did you not hear that order?" he said in a low voice.
Katara smiled coldly and replied, "Of course I did, but I chose not to listen to one that belongs to such a horrid nation."
Zuko's grip on her chin became increasingly painful as his gaze became diamond hard. "Your impudence will cost you dearly."
He said in a low and serious voice. Shoving her chin to the side, she walked toward the docks, not showing any of the fluttering fear within her.