Chapter 8: This Safe Place

The three of them sat around a crackling campfire. Zuko's stomach growled loudly.

"What do you guys do for food?" he asked warily.

"Well," said Aang, poking suspiciously at a pot whose contents Zuko couldn't see. "This might not be exactly the kind of food you're used to…"

"I'm used to a lot," Zuko said dismissively. "It's not like I was some kind of pampered prince on my ship, you know. I had to eat pretty much the same food as my crew." Plus, I'm so hungry I don't think I would care what I eat, anyway.

"Oh, but this is probably really different," Sokka said, glancing down into Aang's pot.

"Just hand some over!" Zuko snapped, trying to keep the impatience out of his voice.

"If you say so," Aang complied, passing the pot over to Zuko. Zuko snatched the burned and blackened pot eagerly. He looked down into it and wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"What is this?" Zuko asked in distaste. All he could see was a shapeless black lump. Cautiously, Zuko poked at the lump with one finger. "Ah!" he cried in surprise as he snatched back his hand in fear and threw the pot across the clearing. "I think that thing tried to bite me!"

"Yeah, well," Aang said, shrugging, "sometimes that happens."

"Is this how the three of you have been living?" Zuko asked incredulously. First, there'd been the total lack of any shelter. Sokka had simply spread his sleeping bag out on the dirt floor, and Aang didn't even have anything to sleep in at all. Then there had been the total disregard for proper hygiene. Zuko wasn't a sanitation freak; of course he'd had to become accustomed to living on a ship, but at least he'd tried to keep up some semblance of cleanliness. The other two… they seemed to not care about the dirt at all.

What probably bothered him most, though, was the total lack of anything to do. The other boys seemed quite adept at keeping themselves occupied, but Zuko was used to the tasks of running a ship filling up his day. He was bored. And now, this? The monster they tried to pass off as edible?

"Oh, no," Aang said, smiling mischievously. "You haven't seen all of it yet. When Katara was with us, she made us follow all these crazy Water Tribe traditions."

"What are you talking abou—Aah!" Sokka cried as Aang blew a gust of wind at him that made him topple off his log.

"These crazy Water Tribe traditions," Aang repeated firmly. "Like, we had to do a dance every time we ate to thank the gods for our food."

"Really," Zuko asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow. Aang's story did seem pretty ridiculous, but then again, how much did he know of barbaric Water Tribe customs? As a prince, he had had endless lessons on the history of all four nations in order to, of course, better conquer the lesser three, but no one had bothered documenting or teaching about the pathetic existence of the Southern Water Tribe. Who knew what sorts of crazy stuff those people did?

"Oh, yes," Aang nodded solemnly in affirmation. Suddenly, he leaped off his log and started madly hopping and twisting around the campfire.

"Come on!" he cried, inviting Sokka and Zuko to join him. "Remember, it takes three people to do!"

Both boys sat firmly on their logs, arms crossed and identical expressions of disbelief on their faces. Zuko was beginning to think that the Avatar had been lying to him. Who knew the boy had it in him?

Aang picked up the pot that Zuko had thrown and started banging on it. He had danced a few more steps when the shapeless black lump fell out of the pot and landed on the tiny fire, which suddenly roared to life with thick flames.

The boys stared at the healthy fire, dumbfounded.

"Well," Aang joked, "I guess now we know what to use instead of firewood." He dropped onto the ground and lay down on his back, breathless. A few minutes passed, his breathing gradually slowing down. "I wonder what Katara's doing right now," Aang finally said, a little wistful note in his voice.

"Probably sleeping," Sokka said glumly.

"I hope she's okay," Aang said. All traces of laughter were gone from his face now. Sokka went over to Aang and sat down next to him. Aang sat up, hugging his knees.

"I'm sure she's fine," Sokka said comfortingly, patting Aang on the back. "Don't worry about Katara. She can take care of herself."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Aang said, staring out into the night.

Zuko didn't say anything. He didn't know Katara the way these two did, and he had no desire to take part in their little comforting circle.

When Katara woke up again, the first thing she noticed was that she was on some sort of scratchy mat. It wasn't all too soft, but then again, it was a whole lot better than sleeping on cold metal. Someone had also given her a blanket, but she couldn't tell what color it was in the darkness. Her hands had been untied, though Katara could still feel the rawness of her skin where the rope had rubbed harshly.

Katara turned onto her side and curled up, bringing her knees up against her chest. Memories were slowly dripping into her mind, cold water like stabs of ice that chilled her from the inside out.

Airi's gone.

No, not gone. She shouldn't try to sugar-coat the truth. Gone could mean anything. Gone could mean that Airi had simply left to visit someone, and that she would be coming back any day now. Gone was vague, a coward's word. It meant nothing. Airi was dead.

But Katara couldn't accept that alternative, either.

A sudden coughing fit engulfed her. Her throat was dry, and it hurt to swallow. Katara wished she had just a bit of water to soothe the roughness of her throat.

Approaching footsteps interrupted her thoughts, and Katara curled up even tighter, trying to shrink into the corner of her cell. Whatever it was, whoever it was, she didn't feel up to dealing with it right now.

"Are you hungry?" A formless, dark figure stopped outside of her cell. Katara recognized his voice as the man's who'd spoken to her earlier. His voice was low and kind, but Katara refused to let his tone lull her into a sense of false security. It didn't matter what he sounded like—he was entirely likely to have evil intentions, especially given the fact that he was probably somehow involved in her capture.

"You've been asleep for awhile," the man continued when Katara didn't answer. "Maybe you'd like something to eat?"

"What do you have?" Katara finally responded listlessly. It seemed a stupid thing to say. She wasn't even hungry. …But maybe he had some water.

"This is one of my favorites," the man said cheerfully. Katara heard him pass a plate through the bars of the cell and place it on the ground, a dull thunk. A cup full of sloshing liquid followed. Katara made no move to reach for the food, though her throat was aching and crying for relief. Who knew what the Fire Nation had done to the food? Maybe they'd poisoned it so that she would die within the hour. Katara refused to acknowledge that, if they'd wanted her dead, she would already be on her way to the spirit world. Katara expected the man to leave then, but instead she heard him settle on the floor outside her cell.

"I'm sorry you have to live like this," the man began, his tone weary. "And about what happened to the Water Tribe. You must have the most awful impression of the Fire Nation," he said sadly. "I'm Iroh, by the way. We've met before, but I don't think I ever properly introduced myself to you? I'm Prince Zuko's uncle."

In some distant part of herself, Katara wasn't all that surprised. She'd guessed that the old man she always saw with Zuko was somehow related to him. What surprised her was the fact that… Iroh… was sitting on the other side of the bars instead of behind some himself. If she remembered correctly, he had spoken out against the high-ranking Fire Navy official, threatened him for trying to destroy the moon. Iroh had seemed to be more on their side than the Fire Nation's. And now he was her captor. Well, it just went to show how fickle and unreliable Fire Nation people were. None of them could be trusted.

With a sudden stab of fear, Katara remembered that Zuko was from the Fire Nation. If Iroh had been his good companion, and Iroh was working for the Fire Nation….then Zuko couldn't be trusted, either. And she'd made the stupid, ridiculous decision to stay at the North Pole instead of going with Aang and Sokka. What if they were both in danger now because she wasn't there to protect them from Zuko? Katara berated herself. How could she have been so utterly selfish? She had to warn them. She had to warn them about Zuko.

"Forgive me, but have you—" Iroh's voice broke. When he tried again, Katara could hear his breath hitch, bleeding barely-contained hope and a desperate longing. "Have you seen—seen my nephew?"

Zuko woke up abruptly. His back ached, and he was stiff from sleeping on the hard ground. After Aang and Sokka had had their little pity fest, they'd all eaten some of the dry food they'd taken from the Water Tribe. It wasn't all too tasty, but Zuko had been too hungry to refuse it. That hadn't stopped him from complaining, though.

Then they'd gone to sleep. Well, he and the Avatar had gone to sleep. The Water Tribe boy had still insisted on staying up to "guard" Zuko, though Zuko felt that his enthusiasm was wavering a little, especially since they were living outside in the cold night instead of inside the warm room they'd stayed in at the North Pole. At any rate, it looked like Sokka had crawled back into his warm sleeping bag instead of falling asleep sitting up like he usually did. Aang was curled up on the bison's shaggy tail.

An urgent need called for his attention, and Zuko wiggled out of his sleeping bag and made his way into the nearby forest to take care of it. The sky was still mostly dark, but gray pre-dawn light was sufficient for him to pick his way through the twisted, gnarled tree roots and duck the low-hanging branches.

He was about to head back when he heard shouts along the beach. Curious, Zuko walked to the edge of the forest and peered between the trees and bushes. What he saw made his heart suddenly pound faster.

A Fire Navy ship was anchored in the small bay that the island created. Rowboats dangled over its side, and several boats had already made their way to shore. Men in Fire Navy uniforms were climbing out.

Zuko's first reaction was excitement, a heady rush of blood to his head. Finally, something was going his way. Zuko had expected to have to wait until he got to the Earth Kingdom to find Fire Nation soldiers who could help him capture Aang, but here was a whole shipful of them, and Aang was helpless and ignorant, trapped on this island. All he had to do was walk forward a few steps, and then he could lead the soldiers straight to Aang—no, the Avatar—and the unsuspecting Avatar would be captured and at his mercy. His mission would be complete. He could return home with his honor restored. He could claim his birthright to the throne. His father would, finally, be proud of him.

The tantalizing thought urged him forward, and Zuko was already in mid-step, his mouth open to yell for the Fire Nation soldiers' attention, when something stopped him. A short figure stood on the beach, barking orders at the men. Zula.

These were Fire Nation soldiers, yes, but who were they truly loyal to? Him, the disgraced, exiled prince, or Zula, the firebending prodigy and the Fire Lord's favorite? If he tried to command them, would they listen to him or Zula? Because if he led them to the Avatar, Zula would probably take all the credit for capturing the Avatar. She would be even more revered, and their father would honor her, not him. Probably even more so, since she would accomplish in weeks what he hadn't done in over two years.

Zuko hissed in frustration. There was absolutely no reason to give Zula even more admiration and honor than what she already had. Pretending to join the Avatar had been his plan, and it was a good one. The Avatar completely trusted him now. The Avatar was his, and Zuko wasn't about to let Zula take all the credit for capturing him. No, he would wait until the three of them had traveled to the Earth Kingdom, where he could find Fire Nation soldiers who hopefully didn't know that Zula had taken command over much of the Fire Navy. Then he would put the last stage of his plan into action. Then he would capture the Avatar, and everything that he was working for would be achieved.

Zuko was fully intent on running back to camp to warn the Avatar and the Water Tribe boy so that they could all fly away on the bison before they were found, but something caught his eye just as he was turning away.

Huddled next to Zula was a small, slender blue-robed figure with dark hair in a braid that was all too familiar.

Katara.

How the hell had his sister captured Katara? And how stupid had Katara been to get kidnapped the second she was left on her own? Zuko swore. The girl obviously couldn't be trusted to take care of herself. There must have been an attack on the Water Tribe after they'd left, but Zuko couldn't figure out what the hell Zula was doing with the Water Tribe girl. Unless...

The plan didn't have to change, Zuko told himself. He could still run back to the Avatar and the Water Tribe boy right now, and the three of them could still escape and fly away on the bison. They didn't have to know that he'd seen Katara with the Fire Nation soldiers. They would believe him if he just told them that he had sighted a Fire Navy ship, and that they needed to leave right away. They didn't need to know that their sister and friend had been kidnapped.

But even as he had the thoughts, Zuko knew that he couldn't just leave Katara at the mercy of his sister. It wasn't about caring about Katara personally, exactly. It was more about what was honorable. An honorable prince wouldn't abandon a girl to the whims of a whole ship full of Fire Navy men and Zula. Zuko cursed again. He had to at least try to rescue her, even if he didn't want to. It was the proper thing to do, really.

"We all saw the bison land on this island. They're definitely somewhere here. Spread out!" the Fire Nation girl commanded. "Comb this island until you find them! Capture them and bring them to me."

The Fire Navy men hastened to obey her orders. A few seemed reluctant to take orders from a teenage girl, but one look at the girl's harsh expression told them not to underestimate her. Katara heard one man mutter as he walked past,

"And I thought her brother was bad." He shook his head as he ran after his fellow men, who were heading down the shoreline.

Brother?

There was even more of her? Katara wondered. She hoped she would never have the misfortune of ever meeting this mystery brother.

The girl dragged her along the beach. Katara stumbled along, her hands, once again, tied behind her back.

After Iroh had left, Katara had sat in the dark for hours, trying to fight the urge to grab the cup and gulp down the soothing drink. Finally, when she couldn't take it anymore, Katara grabbed the cup and flung it across her cell. It hit the wall and bounced off, the liquid splashing onto the ground. Then she'd huddled on her mat again, finally falling asleep, only to be awoken by rough hands grabbing at her.

She'd tried to fight back, afraid that they had foul intentions, but they'd only forced her on her feet and tied her hands behind her again. She'd tried asking questions, but they answered only in grunts of "Hurry up" and "Stop whining." In the end, it had just been too much. She'd let herself be marched to the girl, who'd taken her off the ship and onto the island.

Katara stumbled again, and the girl yanked at the rope that bound her arms.

"Keep up!" the girl snarled.

Katara managed to twist her head to look back at the ship. She could make out the silhouette of the old man on the deck of the ship. He seemed to be struggling with a few other Fire Navy men. Maybe ordinarily, Katara's interest would have been piqued, but right now she just felt that not thinking was the easiest route. If she could keep her mind perfectly blank, she could numb herself against any emotions. Besides, it was probably nothing.

Somewhere in the far reaches of her mind, Katara knew that she should be plotting something, some way to escape. Had the girl said that Aang and Sokka were on this island? Was Zuko with them? If she ran, could she find them before the girl caught up to her again?

She was so hungry, so exhausted from trying to keep a;; thoughts at bay. It was all so much to think about. It was all so much easier to just follow. Follow the girl. Follow the harsh, snarling voice.

Zuko had made up his mind to first find the Avatar and the Water Tribe boy and then decide on a plan of action with them, but a voice stopped him.

"Where are we going, hmm?" the all-too-familiar voice purred. Zuko whipped around. Zula strode towards him, dragging a dazed-looking Katara behind her. "Going to run crying back to the Avatar?"

Too late now.

"Let her go, Zula," Zuko said roughly. He moved to grab Katara away from Zula, but a large burst of flame made him step back.

"No, no, no," Zula said, shaking her head. "You can't have her. At least, not until you lead me to where the Avatar is. And maybe not even then. Why should I share with you? You never let me play with your toys." She pretended to pout. Zuko growled in frustration.

"This isn't about a doll," Zuko said impatiently. "You have no use for her. Give her to me, now." But even as he made the demand, he knew that there was no way Zula was going to listen to him. She hadn't ever, even when they were just little children.

What seemed strange to Zuko was how lifeless Katara looked. Why wasn't she yelling at Zula, too? Why wasn't she fighting back? Trying to escape? Truthfully, Zuko had never seen Katara look the way she did now. She seemed like a mere shell of her usual self. Something must have happened. Zuko wondered exactly what his sister had done to Katara.

"Oh, but I do have some use for her, considering how… eager you seem to be to get her back. Now, what would a firebending, exiled prince want with a mere Water Tribe peasant?" Zula asked thoughtfully, tapping a finger to her chin.

"She means nothing to me," Zuko said indifferently.

"Really," Zula purred. She yanked Katara up against her and grabbed a handful of brown hair. Katara cried out in pain. Slowly, Zula raised her other hand over the hair; Katara fought the urge to scream from fear of the impending fire—

"No!" Zuko roared before he could stop himself. He'd taken a step forward before the look on Zula's face stopped him.

"Come any closer, and maybe my hand will just… slip over this lovely brown hair," Zula said silkily.

Zuko faltered. He couldn't attack Zula with Katara right in front of her. Given the way Katara seemed to be barely listening to the exchange, he wasn't even sure if she would try to get out of the way if he rushed Zula. He hesitated, eyes darting from left to right as he tried to come up with a plan.

His decision was made for him when, in the next instant, Zula let out a cry of pain as Katara tore herself out of her grip and ran for a nearby stream. Zula shrieked and lunged for the end of Katara's braid, but Zuko tackled his sister to the ground. He twisted his head around to see Katara's bound hands right in front of him. He exhaled, hard, and fire caught on the rope. Katara seemed stunned as she took a few more fumbling steps into the stream, where she plunged her hands into the water. The blackened and weakened rope broke and fell away when she wrenched her arms apart.

"Katara!" Zuko yelled. He saw her turn around, Zula's fire racing for her head, but she was too far away—he wasn't fast enough, he couldn't get to her in time—

Katara snapped out of her dazed, trancelike state at the sound of Zuko's voice. He'd never called her by name before. It sounded so lovely the way he said it, like water dripping between fingers as the hand closes in a vain attempt to capture the slipping, sliding liquid.

She threw up a water shield just in time to counter the fire, but Zula had already turned her attention back to Zuko. And he was still staring at her, his face frozen in fear, completely ignorant of the fire hurtling towards his head.

In that split second, time slowed and each heartbeat lasted minutes as Katara's thoughts swirled agonizingly over who she should try to help. Her mind struggled to put together coherent thoughts, to reason, though her head hurt from when Zula had pulled at her hair, and her arms ached from being tied together.

Zuko is the enemy! He's a Firebender, just like the rest of them! He's made of fire, and fire kills. Fire killed

But Zula was a Firebender, too. And she was the one who had ruthlessly killed all those people. Zuko… didn't seem to be in league with her. They fought as if they were enemies. If Zuko was Zula's enemy, then did that mean that he was on her side? Who was Zuko loyal to, really?

In the end, it was all down to who was the lesser of the two evils.

So Katara bended water, as fast as she could, towards Zuko, and she gave him his own water dress.

The fire collided with the water that had suddenly surrounded him, and Zuko was unharmed when he turned back to face Zula.

Zuko began his own attacks against his sister, who hissed in frustration when all of her fire attacks were rendered useless by the armor of water that coated Zuko. She tried to destroy the source of the invincibility, but Katara was a Waterbender standing in water up to her waist, and Zula would not win if she tried to initiate physical combat against both Katara and Zuko.

Struggling to concentrate, Katara bended the water to Zuko's lithe form as he twisted through series of complicated maneuvers and stances. A bead of sweat made it way slowly down her temple as she fought to stay focused. A few minutes passed as Zuko and Zula dueled, and Katara's strength was waning. She hadn't eaten anything in who knew how long, and it was getting harder and harder to see Zuko as her vision started blurring…

Zuko could see that Katara's energy, which was probably running solely on adrenaline, was draining. He felt it, too, in the water that suddenly soaked his clothes in some places and the way a bare wrist here, an ankle there, were left exposed and unprotected. He tried to slow his movements down, to make it easier for her to follow him, but she was fading fast. And the slower he moved, the easier it was for Zula to hit him.

Zula seemed to know it, too. She rushed at him, baring her teeth in a mocking grin as she sent a blue-white blast at him. Zuko could feel the heat even though it was still some distance away, but it didn't matter since it was closing in on him, fast, and it was so hot that Zuko wondered if maybe it was cold instead—

A sudden, powerful wind knocked him off his feet and sent him flying. He collided into a tree and crashed down in a tangle of dirt-smeared tree roots, arms, and legs. Zuko shook his head, dazed. Something was blocking the sun.

"Get on!" a voice yelled, and someone roughly grabbed his arm and hauled him up. Zuko scrambled up the side of the bison's back and threw himself into the saddle, landing on top of a wet Katara.

"Higher, Appa!" the Avatar cried. The bison complied, rising out of the canopy of the trees into the sky.

They raced towards the Earth Kingdom shores, knowing that it couldn't take too long before Zula rounded up the men and started chasing them again on her ship.

They tried asking her questions. Of course they wanted to know what had happened, how she'd ended up with a Fire Nation girl on a Fire Navy ship.

But she refused to answer them. No, it wasn't that she refused, exactly. It was more like she couldn't. Didn't have the capability of retelling whatever horror it was that she'd gone through.

She lay curled up in a corner of the saddle, not bothering to bend the water out of her wet clothes. After several minutes of watching her shivering, eyes glassy, Zuko had a mad desire to somehow use his firebending to warm her up, but the Avatar quietly, softly, sat down next to her before he could, channeling gentle, warm air currents around her until she was dry again.

The only question she would answer was the one they hadn't wanted to ask.

"Do you want us to take you back?" they questioned gently, holding their breaths.

And no one bothered to hide the relief that coursed through them when she shook her head with a whispered "No."

They flew on.