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Chap: a bath at last…..

Once the guard left the room, Katara collapsed on the huge bed. She closed her eyes, exhaustion pouring over her.

Iroh and Zuko were not so idle. "Have you found any weaknesses in their defenses, uncle?"

"None that I could see so far, Prince Zuko." He sighed. "We don't have enough intelligence about the island to make a working plan. This is most unfortunate."

The young man nodded in agreement. He frowned in thought before glancing back at his uncle. "Can we send out some of the guards to gather more information? Since they're under the princess'," he gestured to the girl, "protection, they should be able to move about with some form of immunity."

The old man nodded in thought. "I will send the word out for them to keep their eyes and ears alert, but we must be careful not to arouse suspicion. We don't want to wear our welcome too thin. The empress doesn't look like someone we should try to cross."

The teen nodded grimly. "You said that there were legends about Gamera," the prince said. "What legends?"

"I had always thought that they were just made up stories to entertain the children," the man replied. His face became grim. "I've only heard that those who go to Gamera never come back. The giant sea turtle was born back in the beginning of the world, and is the oldest creature on the planet. As it drifted through the waves, soil and plants clung to its shell, building into the island we're standing on right now." He glanced over to the girl. "Surely the water tribes have more knowledge of this than I."

"If they do, I've never heard of it," she said wearily. "But right now, I don't think I'd remember my own name, I'm so tired." She sat up with some effort, her gaze sad. "I'm so sorry about all of this."

Zuko blinked, his only show of surprise. "For what?"

"They have to put those bands on you. I'm so sorry."

Iroh shook his head. "You were trying to protect us from harm, a noble thing. You did us a service, and we will not forget it."

Katara found herself blushing at his praise. She looked bleary-eyed around the lavish room, grimacing in distaste. "Who decorated in here, a blind man?" The room was a chaotic swirl of green and purple coverings, hangings, and curtains. The furniture was painted in gaudy colors; everything looking like a mismatched kaleidoscope had exploded on it.

Zuko shuddered, hating the room instantly. He preferred much simpler accommodations. "Okay, who gets the bed?"

"Lord Iroh"—"The princess"—Katara and the elder spoke at the same time. She gaped at him. "I'm not about to take a bed away from an elder, that's disrespectful!"

He laughed outright. "I'm not about to take a bed away from a princess."

"I'm not a"—

"Shh!" Zuko hissed, his hand going up to help silence them. He tilted his head to listen to the noises of the hallway better. "Someone's coming." They immediately parted and went to separate parts of the room, Zuko by the door, presumably to guard it. Iroh headed for the closet, looking like he was sorting the clothes he found there. Katara made for the bed, kicking off her shoes and loosening her hair from its bun.

One of the geishan went and knocked on the door. Zuko slowly pulled back the sliding door, questioning the boy's purpose there. He gave a soft voiced answer, and the prince let him through after checking him for any concealed weapons. If he was going to be a bodyguard, the prince thought to himself, he'd better look the part.

The geishan was a thin boy, no older than Zuko, and was slightly taller than the prince, with long brown hair pulled into a low braid and green eyes cast down to the floor. He only wore a short vest and a pair of loose trousers, with a pair of thin leather shoes on his feet. As Zuko resumed his post as guard, the boy sank into a deep bow.

"Greetings, Princess Katara. I am Pai Long, a trained geishan of Empress' Zhiyi's court. I have been sent to be your loyal servant from now on."

"Well met, Pai Long," the elder man said kindly. "I am Iroh, the princess' advisor and servant. You've met Zuko," he gestured to the firebender, "the personal bodyguard of her royal highness."

"Hello, Master Iroh, Master Zuko," the boy answered. "I have been instructed to see to the Princess' needs. May I be of assistance to you?"

Katara blushed, a bit flustered at so much attention and having no idea what to do with it. "C-can you do anything with hair?"

He nodded, going over to the vanity and rummaging through the drawers. Finding a brush and a few hair ribbons, he walked over to her side. She made to get up, making him look at her oddly. "Do you require something, princess?"

"No," she said, confused. "I'm just moving so you can reach my hair better."

Iroh chuckled, "Princess, you need not move for that. He can reach around you." Zuko shook his head in amusement at the girl. As the servant worked, Iroh headed out into the hallway to speak to the guards. It was time to gather some intelligence.

"Oh," she said, blushing. Pai Long simply went for her hair, looking concerned as he ran the brush through her dark brown locks. She began to relax, accepting the foreign touch and liking the odd feeling of being pampered. She nearly started when he spoke, "My Princess, would you like for me to trim your hair?"

She glanced over her shoulder. "Does it need it?"

"The sea air has not been kind to it," he nodded. "Is there a particular style that you care for me to try?"

"Um, no, not really. Just a simple trim should do," the girl replied. In truth, she'd never had her hair cut. There wasn't any real reason for that, just that she'd never had to the time. It was over four feet long when undone.

The former general returned to the room, a look of concern on his face as he addressed the geishan. "Perhaps tomorrow," Iroh said, "but for now, I believe the lady could do with a bath."

"A bath?" Katara said, delight coming through her voice.

"As you wish, Master Iroh," the boy nodded. He went to the door and out the hall, fetching some bathing supplies and calling for some of the guards to bring in a large brass tub. They brought in buckets of steaming hot water, Pai Long adding soap shavings to the water to make it bubble. As soon as the tub was full, nearly overflowing with bubbles, the guards took their leave. Iroh and Zuko made for the door, but Pai Long stayed put.

Katara glanced over at him. "Don't you have something to do?"

"Indeed, Princess." He brought out a large pitcher and a bucket of warm water, sitting down by the side of the tub. "I have the rinse for your hair ready."

Her eyes grew wide at the realization. "You-you aren't leaving?"

He cocked his head in confusion. "Do you want me to leave, Princess?"

"Ah, my lady," Iroh interrupted from the hallway. "I believe the young man means that he too is a personal servant, and so means to help you bathe."

Pai Long nodded in agreement before pausing. "Do you wish for your regular geishan to do this, princess?"

I have no idea what he's talking about, but it has to be better than this! "Y-yes, I do."

"Very well, princess." He got up to leave. "I will return when you call for me."

"Thank you, Pai Long," she said. He nearly stopped in his tracks in surprise before regaining his composure and continuing out the door. She looked over at the two men.

Zuko scowled at her when the door slid closed. "You aren't supposed to thank servants for doing their job."

She glared back at him. "Why not? They don't have to do a good job, you know."

"They do if they want to live longer," he snapped. Her glare grew hotter as the two teens stared at each other. Iroh cleared his throat, breaking the stalemate. "My lady, we can give you further coaching in royal ettiqutte later, but for tonight, we have more important things to discuss."

Zuko nodded in abashed apology, Katara bowing slightly as well. She gave a worried look at the elder. "My apologies for being rude, but you have to tell me something. This is driving me crazy, what the heck is a geishan?" Zuko perked in intrest as well. He had a slight idea of what they might be specifically for, but didn't want to jump to conclusions.

"I questioned the guards about it," Iroh said. "I told them that I wanted to see how the new geishan would measure up to your own in comparison of duties. They told me that the geishan are the most personal servants of the nobles, like a manservant in most royal palaces. Some areeven trained as bodyguards for the upper nobles." He refrained from mentioning the rest of their duties.

"So that makes me a geishan?" Zuko said, scowling.

"I'm afraid so, my boy. But cheer up! You get to spend endless amounts of time with our lovely princess."

"Oh, joy," Katara drawled, unable to help her laughter as his discomfort. She made some shooing motions. "Enough chit-chat for me, now get out. I want that bath."

"Alright," the general nodded,"but Zuko has to stay in here with you."

"What!" Both teens cried.

"He has to stay here with you. He's your bodyguard, and cannot leave your side even for a moment. And only your geishan can see you undressed," Iroh explained. He winked at his nephew. "No peeking, now."

"Uncle!" He said, mortified.

Katara was blushing bright red now. "Oh, boy." She inched towards the tub as Iroh left the room. Zuko went over to the door, turning his back to the room. "Go on and get this over with," he growled.

The girl couldn't help her unease. "You—you promise you won't look?"

He almostwinced at the slight fear in her tone. He knew he had a fierce reputation, but just what did she think of him? "I promise, now would you hurry it up? Some of us want to get some sleep sometime before dawn."

"Alright already. Sheesh," she muttered, resentful of his tone. She made short work of her clothes, moaning out loud as she stepped into the hot water. "Oh, this is divine," she said.

Zuko had his fists clenched, getting very annoyed. "Will you hurry up?"

"I haven't had a bath, a real with soap-and-bubbles bath, for two whole weeks. Pardon me for missing it," she snapped. "I'll be out in a minute". She only used the soaps for her hair, not familiar enough with the oils to risk using them, rinsing off and hurriedly scrubbing her body. As she made to get up, she noticed the lack of towels. "Um, Zuko? Did you see where Pai Long put the towels?"

He glanced over his shoulder to the room. "Over on the bed with the night robe."

She blushed furiously at the thought of walking through a room, naked, that had a strange boy in it. She shook her head at her own ridiculousness, getting up and hurrying over to the towels, wrapping her hair up in one and tying to other around herself. "You can look now."

He turned back to face her, but whirled back around at the sight of the girl. "For the love of Agni, put some clothes on, woman!"

"Will you calm down?" she shook her head at him. "I'm almost done. So hurry and get your bath," she said, shimmying out of the towel and wrapping the night robe around herself.

He started, turning back around and staring at her in shock. "What?"

"You need a bath too. Why do you think I didn't use the oils? I didn't think you wanted to smell like a girl."

A very wicked thought driven by hormones entered his head and wouldn't leave, making his mouth talk before he could think. "You—I don't want you to help me! I can take a bath by myself!"

She looked at him oddly. "Who said anything about that?" He flushed at his presumption. "But I can't leave, so I'll just wait by the bed. Besides, you aren't supposed to leave someone alone in a bath if they just got a head injury. Those guards hit you pretty hard. Are you okay?"

He reached up a hand, rubbing his neck and blushing. "It wasn't that serious."

"I'd still feel better if someone was with you, and since we're in this situation, it has to be me. Besides, you don't have anything I haven't seen before." She then gave him a mock horrified look. "Or do you?"

"Oh, shut up," he muttered, face turning red as he undid the fastenings of his armor. She turned her head to give him privacy, looking back only when she heard him getting into the water. He relaxed, sinking into the water till only his head was visible. 'It's been way too long,' he thought to himself. On a ship, water was too precious to waste on a full out bath, so this was a rare luxery for him.

Katara smiled at the expression on his face. "Fabulous isn't it? In the Water Tribes, we can't get hot baths. Fuel is too scarce up there, unless you live near a hot spring."

He looked over at her in surprise. "You mean you had to have a cold bath every time? How can you stand it?"

"If it's all you've ever known, you never miss what you've never had," she shrugged. "First time I got into a hot spring, I thought I was about to boil."

He shook his head, sitting up to get down to business. He glanced around the soupy water in mild confusion, "Where'd you put the wash cloth?"

"Over here," she walked over and handed it to him. As she made to go back to the bed, she noticed something and turned back towards the tub. Sitting herself down, she gingerly touched the back of his head.

He jerked around to face her. "What are you doing?"

"Checking your injury," she said, not really paying attention to him anymore despite their close proximity. Well, that wasn't quite true. She 'saw' his body in the tub, she just didn't 'notice' the other ninety-five percent that she wasn't focusing on. "Its swollen pretty bad back here. Why didn't you say anything?"

"Its not that bad," he said, teeth clenched in pain as she ran her fingers over the injury in a light sweep. Truthfully, it was causing a pounding headache, and he had been feeling sick to his stomach for awhile now.

She rolled her eyes. "Men. Everything the hard way." Using the techniques she learned from the healer masters, she brought up water from the tub, cooling it to the right feel to begin. "Hold still, I can fix this."

"What are you doing?"

"Twist your head like that again, and something could go wrong with the bending, now hold still," she said sternly. He froze in position. He felt, rather than saw, the power start to grow in her hands. She slowly brought it into his system, drawing fluid away from the injury and balancing energies there. She let her sight fall inward, seeing the damage down on the inside. The young bender gasped at the sight of a slight fracture to his skull. Using the minerals of the water, she pulled them into his system to help repair the fracture, going slow to give his body time to go out of shock. Finally, it was mended.

She pulled away from him, slightly out of breath. "Did you know that your skull was cracked?"

"What? It was?" He asked, still not moving.

She gave a tiny laugh, "You can turn your head now."

He reached up, trying to feel what had been done. The swelling was gone, and his headache was gone with it. He frowned. "So I was in partial shock, then?"

"Yeah. It should leave in a few minutes. It wasn't that serious a fracture." She took a few deep breathes to get herself back.

He looked over at her, mild concern on his features. "You alright?"

"Yeah, just a little tired. If you want, I can wash your hair."

He started a bit. "Why?"

"Well, I want to be sure the energies are still right in that area, so that if they start to unbalance I can take care of it right away. You need to watch for that for the first twenty minutes or so, so that you can correct it if you haven't done it right." 'It has nothing to do with the fact that you look nice without a shirt on. No, not a thing to do with that.'

He scowled, uncomfortable with having her continue touching him for reasons he didn't want to think too much about right now, but acknowledged her practicality. He also noted her fierce blush as she worked in the soap. A small sigh escaped him as she worked her fingers over his head. She felt the stubble of new hair, growing curious. "Do you shave often?" She asked softly, not wanting to break the odd feel of comradery that she had with him. "I've never met someone your age that keeps their hair like this."

"About twice a week," he said. "I've kept it shaved since I got my scar."

She hmmed in acknowledgement and went silent, not wanting to ask outright about something so personal. Actually, she'd asked the crew about Zuko the moment she'd been given free reign on the ship. She'd asked what he was like, how he treated people, and what he would do with her. The answers had surprised her. They had said that Zuko was basically a good kid that had gotten a very bad deal from his father, and that he would be fine with her as long as she didn't cause trouble. That had given her a lot to think about, as what she had seen of his behavior didn't quite mesh with this side that she now saw.

She went for the wash cloth, lathering it up and starting on the back of his neck and shoulders, warning him that this was part of the area she needed to watch. Zuko was blushing so much he thought he might get a nosebleed. He'd never been around girls much in the palace, and being on a ship for two years hadn't helped his social graces at all. He truly had no idea what to expect from this girl. But the prince had to admit to some surprise that she wasn't asking about his face. He glanced back at her. "You've got to be the politest person I've ever met."

She frowned in confusion. "What makes you say that?"

"You haven't asked about my face once, the whole time you've been on the ship. Even now, you haven't said anything. I think you hold the record."

She looked away from him, not needing to clarify what he was talking about. "It's your business, not mine. You don't have to tell me anything, if you don't want to."

"Thanks for your generosity," he said with light sarcasm. He made to get up. "I'm getting out now."

"Wait, don't forget to rinse," she said, handing him the pitcher and moving off to the side of the room. He toweled off, wrapping it about his waist. "Are there any clothes for me?"

"Pai Long didn't bring any," she answered. "Give me a minute, I'll check the closet." She rummaged around, pulling out an open vest and a pair of pants. "This is it for men's clothing."

"It'll do," he said, moving to change into them. the pants were fine, but the vest was too small. He tossed it off to the side of the tub as he gingerly rolled his neck.The price smiled slightly at the feel of his once sore muscles now working just fine. Katara smiled at his action, privately congradulating herself on her third successful healing without supervision. She yawned, stretching tiredly. He took pity on her, knowing just how exhausted she must be after such draining bending. "Go on, get some sleep. I'll get this mess out of here." She nodded, making for the bed. She barely had the strength to pull back the covers before collapsing into sleep.

Zuko called the guards to clear out the tub and to bring him and his uncle a futon. They complied, and he settled down on the other side of the room to sleep. Iroh decided to stay up a little longer. He needed to know more about the island, and especially more about this Empress.

)(&&$)

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