Chapter 21
Four Months Later.
The morning was cold and cruel. Dawn had crept into the seared and blackened battleground, the fine streams of wavering sunlight sending wisps of vapor into the sky to mingle with the tendrils of smoke that still reached into the air like the rippling arms of wraiths.
I walked among the ashes and felt the still-warm earth heat the soles of my boots. Everywhere splashes of red peeked from beneath boulders and piles of uprooted earth. Sometimes, it was the uniform of a fortunate firenation soldier that had simply been trapped. Other times, it was the blood of one who had been less fortunate.
But deaths were kept to a minimum. A live firebender soldier was of far more value to us than a dead one, since live soldiers were used to barter with the Fire Nation. Even so, there were still fatalities on both sides. Those I couldn't help, and I'd learned long ago not to grieve over every lost soldier, for if I had I'd surely have gone crazy within a month. No, I spent my thoughts and energy on those I could help.
I spotted a short, stocky earthbender sprawled on the torn battlefield. He was cursing under his breath and sweating despite the cool of early spring's morning. I pulled the cork from my canteen and knelt beside him. He looked up, surprise and happiness evident in his expression, and stopped swearing.
"Miss Katara." He nodded his head to me and lifted his hands off a nasty gash in his right thigh. I closed my eyes, placed my hand above the wound, and let the healing force of the water draw energy from me, flow through my fingertips, and heal the cut.
A sigh escaped the man's lips and he nodded to me again. "Thank you, Miss Katara. I owe you one."
"Don't start counting now," I laughed "By the time you get wise enough to keep yourself from charging firebenders ten times your size you'll owe me your firstborn." I teased as I got up and continued my rounds.
The teasing was meant to lighten the mood after battle, but it was true that many of the men owed me their lives many times over. For this, I'd gained the respect and admiration of every earthbender in the army, which was a sizable number. Over the past four months the ranks had swollen to over seven hundred men, with new recruits coming in every week.
But I owed them my life, as well. On more than one occasion I'd been caught in a very literal crossfire or had found myself almost crushed beneath the hooves of a Komodo dragon, but one of the soldiers had always been there to save me. It was just what we did for each other. Like a family.
No where was that more evident that with Zuko. Teikei treated him in all respects as if he were his own son, and the act was not going unrewarded. Zuko had lost none of his fiery temper or princely surliness, but he was beginning, very slowly, to lose some of the desperation that had haunted him for so long.
A saw something move in the corner of my eye and turned to see the red uniform of a firenation soldier as he twisted and pulled himself along the ground and toward the treeline. His arm was twisted unnaturally at his side and he bled from several cuts on his shoulders. From the way he dragged himself, he'd undoubtedly broken one or both of his legs, yet he still had the determination to try and escape. I smiled as the trait reminded me of a handsome young prince I knew.
I ran to him and held his only good arm, halting his escape. He fought, but he was weak from loss of blood and shock. I uncorked my waterskin and pulled out a ribbon of water to heal his shoulder, but he pulled away as if I carried the plague.
"I don't need your healing, waterbender!" He spat at me, yellow eyes burning with hatred. I looked into those eyes for a moment, struck by their familiarity. Hadn't those same eyes stared at me only a few months ago? Yes, they had. But they'd stared out at me from a different face.
Zuko's. He'd looked at me with the same mistrust and anger the first day he'd found out he was my captive. Back when I thought all firebenders were evil and not worthy of my healing. A lot had changed since then... for both of us.
Gently I reached forward and placed my palm just above his skin, letting the water work its healing. The man writhed at my touch and yelled at me. "Don't touch me, waterbender!" He said the title as if it were the strongest curse he knew how to utter. "I don't need your healing."
"You do need it, and you will receive it." I said, ignoring him and finishing the healing. The soldier continued to gripe, but the relief his was evident as his muscles relaxed, his breathing evened out, and some of the color returned to his cheeks.
"Ashmi, come here please." I beckoned over a young new recruit. "Find one of the healers and have him splint this soldier's broken bones." I instructed as I got up from beside the firebender. Ashmi bowed deeply to me and ran off into the crowd of earthbender soldiers that were mulling around the battlefield.
I brushed the dust and ashes from my skirt as I began to look for Zuko. After asking around for a while, I gathered that a few had seen him slip into the woods to scout for any escapees.
Typical Zuko. I sighed to myself. Everyone else is resting from the battle and he's still fighting. I walked into the woods, looking for any sign of his passing. Of course, he had left none. I continued walking, feeling the weariness of battle slowly melt from my bones as the cool breeze washed the smell of smoke and blood away. I stopped to admire the tiny buds of a Mapine tree, their pink and green leaves were still curled in tiny balls, a promise of spring's return.
I closed my eyes and stretched out my arms, letting the breeze tangle in my hair and carry the scent of thawing earth and early-blooming flowers to perfume my clothing.
Suddenly, two hands were wrapped around my waist. I didn't jump or scream. I recognized the warmth of the hands to be that of a firebender's, but the gentleness with which the arms held me were that of only one person.
"Zuko." I whispered.
"Now, what's a young water peasant doing out here in the wilderness, completely unprotected?" I felt his cheek brush against my neck, felt his breath warm my shoulder, sending tingles of heat to spread across my neck and then continue down through the rest of my body.
"I'm not unprotected. I have a spoiled young prince around here somewhere watching out for me." I leaned into his touch and felt him draw me in, pulling me tight against his body.
"Really? How do you know he won't just leave you to the firebenders?" His voice was deep and throaty in my ear, like a lion guarding his prey. I twisted around in his embrace so that I was facing him, staring up into his golden eyes.
"I don't think he would. He needs me too much." My voice dropped into a murmur.
"What makes you think that?"
"Because..." I closed in on him quickly, stopping just inches from his face. The action had its desired effect. The smirk fell and the prince took in a quick breath. "He needs someone to patch him up after he spends his nights fighting like a cat with nine lives." I pulled away a bit and lifted my chin, peering at him over a defiant little smirk of my own. I felt his body heat up subtly.
"Zuko? Katara? Where are you?" Teikei crashed through the bushes in the distance like a komodo dragon with twenty legs. Wordlessly, we let our embrace slip and stepped back a few paces from each other before Teikei bounded into view.
"We're moving out now. Would you two like to join us?" Teikei raised an eyebrow and smirked irritatingly. Something he'd picked up from Zuko.
"No, I'm coming. Zuko was just scolding me for walking alone in the woods." I said carelessly over my shoulder as I headed back to the scarred battlefield.
"Heishing. It's just a little north of here. We should stop by and restock on supplies." Teikei was bent over his map again, a line of thought crossing his brow.
"We are getting low on thread." I admitted reluctantly.
"The men have been complaining about not having enough burn ointment." Zuko said. I shot him a glance and mumbled "Wonder why..." Zuko was still training the recruits, and was just as merciless as when he first started. Most came away with minor burns and singes that they simply treated with ointment.
"That settles it, then. We'll take twenty men on a detour to Heishing and restock tonight while the rest stay here and wait for us to get back. It'll be safer that way." He stood and shook the wrinkles from his tunic.
"Katara, I'm putting you in charge of buying thread."I felt a bud of excitement blooming inside of me. In the five months since my capture I'd only been able to visit a few of the towns we stopped at on the way to or from battles. It had always been too dangerous before. I smiled as I hurried off to gather my pack.
Heishing was a small town, but it was as busy and bustling as any of the larger towns I'd visited. By the time we got there night was falling, resting a heavy hand of gathering darkness over the town, but the cheerful fires of many torches lit the streets and kept the night at bay. Merchants called their wares with operatic voices, trying to be heard above the crying babies strapped to thier mothers' backs. Warbling, off-key singing could be heard coming from the open door of a tavern, where also came the smell of roasted duck and boiled vegetables. We lost a few men there, as Teikei generously gave them leave to enjoy themselves until they were needed to carry home supplies.
Gleaming on the tables of merchants were beads and jewels of every kind. Pearls gleamed iridescent white among the blood red of rubies and shimmering blue of sapphires, clustered in boxes crusted in gold and lined with velvet. Here we lost a few more men, who desired to bring something home for their wives and daughters. We passed stands containing swords and shields and armor, and tables covered in fresh fruits.
By the time I arrived at the weaver's I was alone, except for Zuko. He blended well with the shadows in a dark cape and a hood pulled low over his face, but he seemed to take no solace in the disguise, tensed and turning at every little sound.
"What's wrong? Don't you want to go look at swords and knives and other things that firebenders should never get a hold of?" I asked.
"I don't like this place." Zuko said. His eyes, mirroring the torches, scanned the crowd with an uneasy suspicion. "I'm not comfortable in this town."
"So you've suddenly taken up an interest in sewing?"
"I've taken an interest in making sure you don't open your mouth to anyone you shouldn't." Zuko's words were biting, but I knew it was just because he was about as comfortable around marketplaces as a cat was comfortable underwater.
I ignored his comment and walked into the store, knowing that macho, Mr. Prince Of The Fire Nation would be punished enough just having to follow me into a sewing shop.
"Hello dear, how can we help you today?" The gravelly, kind voice of an old woman caught my attention. I turned to see a white-haired lady sitting on a cushion. Her hands, knobbed with age, were working with deft precision on a tapestry of mountains and a village. She smiled at me, her face creasing with a thousand wrinkles, reminding me strikingly of Gran-Gran. My heart broke a little and it must have been evident in my expression.
"Ah, you look like your love marooned you on a desert island and sailed away with your favorite sweater! Come tell Gramma Mae what's troubling you." The old woman patted an overstuffed cushion on a rickety old stool beside her.
"Oh! Nothing's wrong. I've just come to buy thread." I said, quickly trying to hide any traces of sadness.
"Ach! Do you think Gramma Mae was born yesterday? She knows a broken heart when she sees one! Tell me, it was a boy wasn't it? A boy broke your little heart, didn't he?" I heard Zuko scoff behind me. My face burned. Just to defy him, I turned to the woman and began to walk toward the cushion she had indicated to me.
"No, actually. I... I'm just feeling a little homesick." I felt myself pulled into the stool, which was actually a lot more comfortable than it looked. I sank into the cushion and watched the old woman get comfortable herself, dropping her weaving and sinking back into her cushion as she looked at me with wise, motherly eyes. I felt tears prick my eyelids as Gran-Gran's image floated hazily in my mind.
"Ah, far from home, are you?" Her voice was warm and welcoming, drawing me out.
"Well... yes."
"Hmm... I suppose the Water Tribes are a bit far from the Earth Kingdoms, aren't they?" She smiled and winked at me. Great. Was it that obvious? I had thought I blended pretty well in the green earthbender tunics.
"That necklace is a Water Tribe betrothal necklace, is it not?" She asked. A blush settled on my cheeks.
"No! I mean, yes, it is... but I'm not-" I stammered.
"GIRLS!" The woman shouted so loud that I almost jumped right out of my cushion. Suddenly three bright eyed little girls about Aang's age scurried around the corner and stood by Gramma Mae.
"Take the gentleman in the back and show him our fine gloves. He must be growing bored standing there listening to two girlies chat." Zuko stiffened. I saw him push himself against the doorframe as the girls came over to tug at his arms and cape.
"I don't need gloves." Zuko said gruffly as the girls continued to tug at his arms.
"Nonsense. They're the finest cloth in all of Heishing." The woman waved her hand at him, encouraging him to follow the girls. Zuko resisted, but all three children pushing and pulling at him threatened to reveal his disguise and he eventually had to follow.
"Now, what's a young woman from the water tribes doing all the way out here, betrothed to a firebender no less?" The woman smiled at me and raised her eyebrows. My head swam and my pulse quickened as I fought with myself on which question I should deny first. Finally, I composed myself enough to speak.
"How did you know he was a firebender?"
"Last I knew, waterbenders didn't have golden eyes."
"But he was wearing a hood!"
"A bit of snow on the roof doesn't meant the windows are iced over." Gramma Mae said. I stared at her blankly. She sighed and explained.
"Just because I'm old doesn't mean I can't see. I've got sharper eyes than most, dearie, and besides that, the room got warmer when he walked in. These old bones feel cold like a knife, and a bit of warmth, even a candle's heat, doesn't go unnoticed. Must be nice to cuddle with him, eh?" She giggled like a little girl and I felt a blush cover my face from my forehead to my neck.
"I don't- we haven't- I'm... I'm not betrothed! And certainly not to a firebender!" I said, straightening.
"Why not?" The old woman's question startled me out of my indignation.
"What do you mean, 'why not?'"
"Why 'certainly not to a firebender'?"
"Because... he's... a...a... firebender!" I grasped for words that wouldn't come. The old woman was becoming increasingly irritating.
"Listen to me, dearie, and listen good. I was young and stupid once like you. I had a man once that I looked at the way you look at that young firebender, and I was foolish enough to let it slip away. Now learn a lesson from an old woman." She laid her head back and closed her eyes. For all appearances, she seemed to have gone asleep. I blinked in the growing darkness and wondered if I was in the same room with someone very wise or very insane.
"GIRLS!" She bellowed. This time I really did fall out of the cushion. Three little girls came running from the back room, followed by a very provoked looking Zuko.
"Give the young lady ten spools of thread, and bring a bowl of soup. We do not send customers away hungry."
"No, really, I'm fine." But the bowl was already in my hands, and it smelled delicious. My stomach rumbled as it distantly remembered the rich foods of home, so different from the tough, long-lasting army rations.
I ate the whole bowl. By the time I was done, the sky had darkened and night had taken hold of the little town.
"Katara? Are you here? I thought you'd be done by now... the men are looking for...you..." Teikei's voice trailed off as he stepped through the door and his eyes locked on something.
Gramma Mae.
"Hello Teikei." She said softly. She rose from her seat with a grace that belied her age, and pressed a bowl of soup into his hands.
"Radish and rabbit. You always liked it." She said. Teikei nodded as he accepted the bowl, opening and closing his mouth as if it had suddenly become rusty and needed working to let words out again.
"Thank you, Mae." He said.
"Don't forget to visit me again." She said. Her voice was light, but sadness hovered on the edges. He nodded again, and then turned and walked from the shop. Zuko and I followed, each one lost in his own thoughts.
I did not ask Teikei about the old woman, or about the soup, or about anything that had happened that day. As far as I was concerned, I wanted to put the town as far behind me as I could. We joined the other soldiers on the road and started from the town. All of the men, except one, carried packs heavily laden with supplies. The one man who didn't was stumbling and slurring drunkenly.
"He had a bit much to drink in the tavern. Started talking to this woman. I caught him before he said too much." One of the soldiers, the man's close friend, defended to Teikei as he glared disapprovingly at the drunken solder.
"Did he talk to anyone else?" Teikei muttered to the soldier as we neared the outskirts of the town.
"No, just the girl. She was talking to him all night, giving him drinks. I think she was a girl for hire. Wore a veil over her eyes and all." The man whispered the last part. Teikei nodded, but his mouth was set in a grim line that meant he was not at all happy.
"What's wrong?" I lay beneath the thin blankets that covered our camp mats. It was still another day before we'd get back to our base, and I looked forward to the heavy wool blankets that awaited me there.
But for now, Zuko was the only thing that kept me from freezing at night, and he still hadn't come to bed. He was sitting stiffly by our dwindling fire, staring intensely into the night.
"What's wrong?" I asked him again, hoping that we could resolve it and he could come to bed for my own selfish reasons.
"Something's not right." He said. A cold chill ran down my back. Zuko's voice was grim and serious. I sat up and scooted closer to him.
"Have you talked to Teikei about it?" He nodded.
"What did he say?"
Zuko shrugged. "He posted some more sentries."
We fell silent for a while, a sense of foreboding hanging above our heads like a dark cloud. I was tired, and my mat looked tempting, but the thought of leaving Zuko alone by the fire with only his suspicions to accompany him through the night did not sit well with me. I rested my head on my hands and watched the flames dance in front of my face until I could not keep my eyes open any longer and I fell asleep sitting up.
When I awoke, all was screaming and smoke and chaos. The sun slit through the layers of smoke that choked the breath in my lungs. I gasped, but there was no air. Only smoke...
And screaming...
And confusion...