Chapter 26
"He was just getting over you, you know! You're a heartless, cruel, mean, dumb, girl!" She spat at me. "How could you do that to him? Just leave him like that?"
"Who? What are you talking about?" I pushed myself against the well and looked around for Zuko. Whoever this crazy girl was, I was beginning to doubt my ability to defend myself from her.
"Who do you think was there to dry his tears when he cried for you each night? Who do you think had to listen to all the stories about how wonderful you were and how it was all his fault that he left you alone with Zuko." She said through clenched teeth.
"Just calm down and tell me-" But she cut me off, wild, uncontrolled black hair bobbing behind her as she shook her fists.
"And now you're back! Out of the blue, just like that!" The girl snapped her fingers. She opened her mouth to say more, but suddenly a huge explosion rocked one side of the town. The girl dropped her fists and I whirled around to see a pillar of smoke rise into the sky.
"Zuko!" I yelled, dropping the waterskin and running to the place where the smoke came from. Unfortunately for me, most of the other townspeople were also running in that direction. The crowds pressed in on me at every side, and soon running became impossible. My steps slowed to an agonizing crawl as I pushed my way through the many bodies. Desperation was beginning to claw at the edges of my mind.
Zuko wouldn't firebend unless he absolutely had to. What's going on?
Finally, I burst from the crowd into a wide, open space on the city street. Relief washed over me as I saw Zuko. He was in a fighting stance, palms raised and glowing with fire, but unharmed. I was about to rush over him when another voice stopped me cold in my tracks.
"Where is my sister? What did you do with her, you monster?"
Sokka.
I turned slowly. The world had suddenly become a blur. There, standing at the opposite edge of the clearing, boomerang in hand, stood my brother.
How he'd grown! He bore himself with the stance of a warrior now, his shoulders had broadened with muscles, and his face had lost some of its youthful roundness. Yes, he looked every inch a warrior now. I wanted to cry, I was so proud of him.
"I should never have left you alone with her! You'll pay for what you did!" Another familiar voice spoke. Aang stood beside Sokka now. He'd grown, too, though he'd kept his wiry frame. His eyes were cold and angry, his grip on his glider firm as he stared at Zuko with unwavering fury.
"Yes, you'll pay one hundred times over!" Sokka yelled as he rushed Zuko, boomerang raised.
Great, I just find them, and now they're all going to kill each other.
I rushed out from the crowd and stood in front of Zuko. "Sokka! Stop!" I raised my hands and hoped I had not changed so much that he wouldn't recognize me.
It took a few seconds for Sokka to realize what was happening. He stumbled forward a few steps, anger written all over his face.
"Miss, please step back I-" And then Sokka's eyes widened. The boomerang fell from his limp hand as he stared at me.
"Katara... you're... you're alive?" He shook his head as if he couldn't believe it.
"Katara's back!" Aang's joyful whoop filled the open circle as he rushed forward and gathered me into a hug. I laughed and hugged him back, joyful tears running down my face and staining my clothing.
"But... we searched... every day." Sokka was still sanding there dumbly. He seemed afraid to make a move, as if I might disappear if he touched me, like a mirage in the desert.
"It's okay, Sokka." I said, opening my arms wide. It was all the invitation he needed. The young warrior ran into my embrace and buried his face in my hair, sobbing.
"We thought you were dead. We searched every day for a month." Sokka said, hugging me so tightly I had trouble breathing.
"Where were you? Why did you leave us?" Aang looked up at me in confusion. Sadness tugged at my heart.
"It's a long story." Zuko spoke now, his voice was low and annoyed.
"You!" Sokka whirled on him. Before Zuko could react, Sokka leapt at the Prince, knocking his feet out from under him and pinning him to the ground. "You kidnaped her, didn't you?"
Zuko's wrists glowed red and I knew he'd reached his boiling point, in a very literal sense. Sokka was on dangerous ground.
"Listen, everyone just calm down." I said, raising my hands as if I could bend the tension away like I bended water. I gave Zuko a pleading look, and he grit his teeth and grudgingly submitted to being pinned for a little while longer.
"Please, Sokka, Zuko's on our side now."
Sokka laughed bitterly. "I'm supposed to believe that? He made you say that, didn't he?"
"Sokka, how can he make me say anything while you're on top of him?"
"Oh, he's crafty, I'm sure he has ways." Sokka glared at Zuko, who glared back just as fiercely.
"Sokka, please believe me." I said softly. "He's the leader of a rebel army. You've heard of it, haven't you?"
"Zuko, the leader of The Earth Kingdom Rebels? Katara, what happened? Did you bang your head while you were gone?"
"Listen to me! I'm telling the truth!" Agh! Sokka was just as stubborn as he had been a year ago.
"I think we should listen to her, Sokka." Aang spoke for the first time. He was looking up at me with piercing, discerning eyes. "Katara wouldn't lie to us."
Sokka seemed to think about it for a moment. I could see his eyes shift from me to Aang, to Zuko, still beneath him, before he finally shifted and let go of Zuko's wrists. He stood and backed away from Zuko, studying the Prince with mistrust. Zuko turned at shot me a look that said 'you owe me big time'.
I felt a stirring of pleasure at the thought of making it up to him. I shook the thought from my head. Now was not the time.
"We're staying in a little hut just east of here. Would you like to come back with us and have some rice and eggs?" Aang beamed at me. "It would give you a chance to tell your story."
I sighed. "Yes, Aang, that would be wonderful."
The rice and eggs were delicious. I ate as if I'd not eaten in a year. And, to be honest, I really hadn't. Unless you called the hardened bread and dried meat of our army rations food.
While I chewed, I described the past year in great detail, painting with words for them the vast, gruesome battles, the joyous victories, the rousing speeches given to the troops by Zuko, and sometimes me. Disbelief melted into amazement on Aang and Sokka's faces as I described the army, the fortress in the mountain, and the way Zuko had become leader of the rebels.
Of course, I left out several details that the boys didn't have to know about at the moment, such as the fact that Zuko and I shared a bed, though, of course, nothing more than that. Or the fact that we'd kissed. And fallen in love...
That could all come later.
"Wow, Katara!" Aang sighed. "And I thought Sokka and I had an exciting year!"
"What did you and Sokka do?" I pushed my empty bowl away. Army rations would never be the same after thatmeal.
"When we came back from town and noticed you were gone, we went looking for you." Sokka spoke before Aang could. His eyes were dark and they rested on Zuko, as if he still believed it was the Prince's fault I had disappeared.
"We followed your tracks to the river. They went up to the edge of the forest, and then just stopped." Sokka explained. I nodded. One of the first things I had learned after joining the earthbender army was how to erase your tracks in the snow. It was one of their most basic battle tactics. Doubtless they'd used it the day they captured us.
"But we saw that the ice was disturbed. There were many cracks in it. And then... we went further out and... there was a hole in the ice." A look of unbearable sorrow crossed Aang's face. "We searched the river. We called your name until our voices left us. We ran through the forest looking for you until our feet bled with blisters. But you were gone." Aang's voice faltered a little, and Sokka broke in.
"We did this for a month, gradually widening our searching until a month had passed and we'd not even found a footprint. Finally, we accepted that you must have fallen through the ice and drowned." Sokka's shoulders slumped as the memory descended upon him.
"What did you do after that?" I said, trying to push away the feelings of guilt.
"What we had to do. Aang still needed to learn fire and earth bending, so we came to the Earth Kingdom to learn."
"Did you find an earthbender to teach you?"
"Many, actually. Aang's become quite good at it." Sokka said proudly. How like brothers they'd become! Aang beamed and spun a few rocks effortlessly in above his palm, then tossed them into the air and made them explode in little puffs of dust.
"Now imagine that, only bigger." Aang opened his arms wide as he hefted an imaginary rock. I laughed and congratulated him.
"Then, Aang suggested we come here." Sokka rolled his eyes. "I thought it was a waste of time, but he seemed to think it was worth a try."
"What do you mean, worth a try?" I asked, confused.
"Well, he wanted to see Aunt Wu and ask her if she knew where you were."
Aunt Wu! No wonder the town looked so familiar! This was the village of the fortuneteller! Just then, the door opened and the crazy girl from the well strode inside, holding a jug of water. She was smiling broadly when she walked in, but the smile dropped immediately into a disappointed frown when her eyes came to rest on me. Everything was falling together. I knew this girl...
"Oh, I see she's back." Meng said.
"Yeah! Isn't it great?" Aang said cheerfully.
"Wonderful." Meng said, though her voice said that my visit was anything but. She walked into the kitchen with her water jug. I hid a smile. Now it was all beginning to make sense. I'd been in love with Zuko long enough by now to know that the look Meng was sending Aang was far from just a friendly one. And I wasn't sure if Aang wasn't sending the same look back.
She'd certainly changed over the course of the past year. She'd grown almost as tall as Aang and had developed the budding curves of young womanhood. Her hair, though still unruly, was now braided in a more adult style that suited her well.
"And of course, Aunt Wu told us absolutely nothing." Sokka continued talking.
"Yes, she did! She told us 'all are where they are supposed to be'." Aang defended the old fortuneteller.
"Yeah, which is a fancy way of saying 'I don't know'." Sokka rolled his eyes.
"Well, she was right, wasn't she? Everyone was where they should be."
"Anyway," Sokka ignored Aang. "She told us to stay here and we would find what we sought."
"And see? She was right again! You came right to us." Aang beamed.
"That's because they followed a trail of sightings that led them to us! It had nothing to do with her!" Sokka shouted, waving his hands in the air.
"Sure it did! She predicted it, didn't she?" Aang said. Sokka groaned and covered his face in his hands. I laughed out loud. It was so good to be back with my brother and Aang. I had missed them. I'd missed their arguing. I'd missed Sokka's big brother bossiness. I'd missed Aang's undying optimism. I felt like breaking down into tears right there at the table, but I didn't. A thought had come suddenly to my mind.
"Find what you sought... wait... Aang, do you know firebending?" I asked. Aang's face fell.
"No. I tried to find the old master, the one that defected from the Fire Nation and taught me some of what he knew, but I couldn't find him. I'm sorry that I didn't listen closer to his teachings." Aang paused. "But I wasn't ready at the time. He was right. I was too impatient."
"What about now?" I asked, an idea beginning to form in my mind.
"I feel ready." Aang said with conviction. "But I don't know where to find a..." Aang's voice trailed away as he looked at Zuko, who had remained silent at the end of the table, listening to our conversation.
A hush fell on the table. All eyes turned to Zuko.
It was settled. We would stay in the little village of the fortuneteller for a week, to give Zuko some time to teach Aang without being bothered by the army's demands. He'd placed his most trusted captain in charge when he'd left, and felt secure knowing that the man would do a good job overseeing the army while he was gone.
That night, Aang called a meeting in the village and introduced us to the villagers, who welcomed us with cheers and applauding when they found out it was Zuko and I that commanded the rebel army that kept their borders safe. Aang brought me to the village stables afterward to say hello to Appa, who licked me thoroughly with his rough pink tongue in greeting. Zuko wisely kept his distance.
That night, I slept on a mat on the floor, sharing the little room with Sokka and Aang and Zuko. It was the first night I'd spent outside of Zuko's arms for almost a year. I frowned in the flickering firelight. It would not be an easy night. I'd gotten used to the safety and strength I'd felt in his embrace, and now the night seemed all the darker and colder without him, though he was in the same room.
But the fire burned brightly, chasing away the darkness and the loneliness. Closing my eyes, I let the heaviness of sleep weigh down my eyelids and bring me dreams of passionate fire.
The next day dawned bright and early. Just as the sun was coming over the peak of the mountain, I met Zuko and Aang by a small pond in the crevice of a mountain. Aang stood straight as a rod while Zuko seated himself on the ground, three small candles in front of him. Waving his hand over the wicks, Zuko lighted the candles and then looked up at Aang.
"Fire bending is in the breath. Unlike the other elements, our power comes from inside of us, which is why it is so important to learn self-control first." Zuko said, closing his eyes and drawing in a deep breath, inviting Aang to do the same.
I readied myself for Aang to whine and pout about wanting to skip the easy stuff and work on the more advanced moves. But, to my delighted surprise, Aang bowed and sat down across from Zuko, taking in a deep breath as he was instructed.
Something hadchanged in Aang. There was more determination. More resolve. More self-control. I began to hold out hope for the world.