Whoa, this is really getting popular! Thanks to all of my reveiwers. I would have long given this up if it wasn't for you lot. If only you guys would come to my school and convince all of them that I'm not a total loser. :)
Zuko woke up later that night, jolted awake by some unknown force. Sitting up, Zuko looked around. Everyone was sleeping peacefully, if Kyru's snores were anything to go by.
Everyone, that is, except for Katara.
The Waterbender's face twisted into a mask of pain, Katara's breathes came in short gasps as she grasped the edge of her tunic. Her newly shorn hair was damp with sweat. "Sokka? Mama? Dad? No, where are they? Let…let me go!" Katara thrashed about, nearly tearing the sheet hanging up.
She's having a nightmare, and a bad one, thought Zuko. He had gotten them when he was younger, though not anymore. What had his mother, and then his uncle, done when he had nightmares? Woke him up and gave him some tea, Iroh's cure all.
Zuko reached over and shook Katara, to which she made no response, except to groan a bit. "Katara, wake up," the prince whispered. Katara's expression changed to one of fear.
"Go…go away," she murmured. Zuko shook her harder.
"Katara!" Katara sat up with a jolt. She looked around wildly, then relaxed as she realized that Zuko had woken her up.
"Oh, Zuko! It's only you. There…there was blood. And fire. And millions of people dying." The poor girl just collapsed in tears.
Zuko had never been one to comfort others but the sight of Katara, crying like that, sent a pang of sympathy through him. Out of instinct, Zuko reached out and touched Katara's hand.
Katara looked up at Zuko. "I felt, I felt like I was one of the people. It was so vivid, so real. I didn't know what I'd done, but I felt like the whole mess was my fault."
"It was just a dream, Katara," Zuko murmured. "It was just a dream." The distraught Waterbender fell against the Fire Prince. Not knowing what else to do or say, the prince just repeated what he had said in attempts to comfort the weeping girl. Soon, Katara drifted to sleep.
Zuko laid her on her mat, careful not to wake Katara. The prince brushed a few strands of Katara's hair out of her face as he laid her down. He felt a shiver run up his spine, for reasons he didn't understand, and didn't want to at the moment. He sighed and lay back down, falling asleep in minutes.
Zuko woke up at, yes, the crack of dawn. He found that Kyru had woken up and left earlier, probably to do Ji Li's "grocery shopping", as Kiena put it. The Earthbender clearly thought her brother could do better.
"Why, if you and Kyru are Earthbenders, don't you and the other Benders team up against Ji Li?" Zuko asked after he heard Kiena muttered something about Ji Li being a lazy ass.
Kiena snorted. "Ji Li thought we'd do that, which is why he sticks Benders with completely opposite bending powers in a compound."
"And which is where I've been." The prince and Kiena turned to see Kyru standing in the doorway of the hovel.
"Kyru," Kiena said suspiciously, "what have you been doing?"
The twenty-year-old Earthbender smirked. "I just told you, did I not? I stopped by the other compound coming back from Qigong. Apparently, Ji Li has ditched the 'Firebenders and Waterbenders in one compound, Earthbenders in the other' tactic, because I saw about ten Firebenders and twenty Waterbenders," Kyru added. "Anyway, there's this Earthbender in the other compound who's been helping me whenever Ji Li has a big order to fill. We've been planning an escape plan for the past six months." Kyru ducked as Kiena bended a rock at her brother's head.
"You never told me?" Kiena asked, disbelieving. "You kept a secret from me for six months and you never cracked?"
Kyru smiled proudly. "Nope. Wasn't even tempted to tell you. We don't have it all planned out, so no one knows, and it's going to stay that way." He gave Kiena a severe look. Zuko assumed she was a bad gossip at times.
"We're just waiting for the right time to put the you-know-what into action," Kyru said. "And so far, nothing looks like a chance might pop up soon. But when it does, trust me, all hell will break loose."
Katara woke up soon after Kyru's return, dressed in the outfit given to her last night, her hair tied back. Kiena smiled. "You look for all the world like one of us."
Yes. One of them, Zuko thought as Katara thanked Kiena. One of them.
Breakfast was very much like dinner, with the stares and the slaps, until Zuko muttered something to Kyru, loud enough for people to hear, that if they didn't stop staring, he would blast some heads. Everyone then quickly returned to his or her previous conversations.
Suddenly, Kiena whispered to Zuko, "Take Katara and hide in the hovel!"
"Why?" Zuko asked, confused, as everyone was getting up and standing poker straight.
"Madam Su! I keep forgetting that she stops at the compounds every other day. And guess what day it is?" Kiena muttered. "Hurry!"
Zuko nodded to Katara, who followed him to the hovel, but not before snagging enough breakfast for the two of them.
Katara sat down on her pallet. "I feel like a Sucker Snake is sucking out my energy."
"That's explainable. You were having a horrible nightmare," Zuko reminded her. "I had to wake you up or this hovel might have collapsed from your thrashing. It's only natural that you feel exhausted."
Katara nodded. "Thanks for waking me up. I don't think I could have stirred myself. That nightmare was horribly vivid." Suddenly, Katara froze, memories from the dream coming back to her. She started trembling.
Zuko laid his hand on her shoulder, which seemed to calm Katara. "Sorry, I guess I shouldn't talk about it," the girl whispered.
Thinking of what his uncle had done every time he had a nightmare, Zuko said gently, "It's alright."
"No, it's not. I haven't had a bad dream like that since I was a little girl," Katara said. "I'm fourteen! I should be past those by now."
Zuko remembered faintly the last time he had a nightmare, he had been ten. He had told his uncle the same thing, only with more resentment and his sister snickering in the background. However, before he could say anything to Katara, the Waterbender collapsed into a fit of tears, landing in the Fire Prince's arms for the second time that day.
Once again, Zuko was at a lost. He was a warrior, son of the Fire Lord. He was not a people person. He had just gotten used to realizing that other people's safety outweighed his own needs and wants. Dealing with distraught young women was best left to those who could handle it, like Uncle Iroh. He was qualified for these situations; the Fire Prince Zuko was not.
Suddenly, voices neared the hovel. Katara hushed as a voice both teens recognized rang out.
"So this is where you and your brother live, Kiena?" Su asked, rather loudly.
"Um, yes, Madam," Kiena said. Silently, Zuko thanked the spirits he had pulled the small curtain shut because the hovel's door was still open and Su was standing outside it.
"Hmm, you've made it look rather nice, given your resources," Su muttered. "Are you sure that Prince Zuko and the girl Katara have not been seen around here?" Zuko held his breath.
Kyru's voice replied. "No, Madam. We have not seen them, nor has anyone else. But if we do, we will tell you."
"One of the guards said they saw Prince Zuko here, though."
"He must have been mistaken. Perhaps he was drunk?"
Su chuckled. "Probably. Ky Lel is rarely sober. Very well. I'll see you this afternoon, Kiena."
Ten minutes after Su left, Kyru slipped into the hovel. "Katara? Zuko?"
"Yes?" Zuko whispered.
"I think it would be best if you two stayed in here for awhile. We can't risk anyone seeing you again. I'll slip food in here at mealtimes."
"Fine," Zuko replied.
"Good. Apparently, Su wants me to run an errand. I'll be back later." Kyru left the hovel.
Katara extracted herself from Zuko. "From one prison to another," she muttered.
