A/N: Perhaps you've been wondering about Katara?
Disclaimer: Okay, I don't own Avatar or its characters. Owell. I'll get over it. So will you. In the meantime…
CHAPTER 5:
Katara strummed the final chords of the ballad, letting the notes die away in a plaintive manner appropriate to the lyrics. A few moments' silence for the crowd to respond, then her hand began to beat a lively cadence on the belly of her instrument, and she grinned and looked around to tell her audience that it was time for a mood change. Another stringed instrument took up the beat with a wild dance air, and Katara gratefully stepped back into the small group of performers to take a rest. She had been playing virtually non-stop for well over an hour, at first with Sokka's accompaniment, then with support from other members of the group when he withdrew, and finally ending with a solo.
Her performance seemed to be well-received, although there was a period fairly early on when she had felt not all eyes were friendly. She shook off this vague fear as just the result of nerviness. How long had it been since Sokka left for the factory? How much longer before she should head for the river to meet him?
So far, everything had gone to plan. It had been simple for the two of them to fall in with the small group of itinerant musicians on the road to Dai Horishi, following the schedule of street festivals that formed the basis of their livelihood. Thanks to their father's role as tribal story-teller and years of enforced idleness during long winter storms, she and Sokka were both more than competent on several instruments, and Katara's singing voice was sweet and clear. While Sokka's repertoire was greater, and included a range of his own compositions that caught the interest of their new friends, puberty had played fast and loose with his voice, leaving him an unreliable vocalist.
Members of the Water Tribe may not be often seen beyond the poles, but they were not so rare as to cause any real comment. After all, the war had made refugees of many populations. Without Aang, they were merely two more anonymous faces in a world of increasingly unsettled peoples. And that was exactly what they were counting on.
When they were invited to travel and play with the musicians at the next several festivals, they had readily agreed. Several of Sokka's songs were added to the play list, and they integrated themselves into the group's performances over the next half dozen days. The group arrived in Dai Horishi a day in advance of the scheduled festival, and the siblings took advantage of the daylight hours to scout the object of their journey, the new weapons factory.
Operations had already begun at the factory, although manpower was still being recruited. Local opinion of the facility was ambivalent. It was well-known that the factory would be producing weapons for the Fire Nation's use, but it would also provide desperately needed jobs. The Earth Kingdom workers resented the presence of Fire Nation troops, even as they were grateful for the relative security from general pillage the troops afforded.
King Bumi had been right. A pall of complaisance hung over the city, and thus it became even more critical for them to succeed in the factory's destruction. This city's residents needed reminding that they were still Earth Kingdom, and that the Fire Nation was not invincible.
Rumor confirmed the intelligence they had been given as to the contents of the building. After the obligatory "songs for their supper" at the evening meal, Sokka and Katara met with a member of the local insurgent group that had provided the original intelligence on the factory to King Bumi. Arrangements were made such that a door would remain unlocked the next night, with the individual responsible ensuring his own highly visible appearance over the next twenty-four hours among highly-placed Fire Nationals by hosting a festival party.
Late that night, Sokka returned to the factory site and located the relevant doorway, hiding a lamp nearby and assuring himself that he could slip past the patrols and return undetected. The dry run set both siblings on edge, as much because everything was going so well as because the mission's main event was nearly upon them. It all seemed too easy! Sokka's customary pessimism screamed out warnings, and his mood blackened by the hour.
The day of the festival dawned clear and noisy. Katara couldn't shut out the bustle of merchants and shoppers, and she envied Sokka's long-practiced ability to sleep anywhere, anytime, under the most unpleasant conditions. Of course, he would need to be well-rested, so she didn't begrudge him these last hours of slumber. Or, at least, not very much. He had objected strenuously to her presence on this trip, seeing no need to endanger both of their lives. But the reality was that she kept him focused, as well as mediated between his perpetual grumpiness and the more easygoing musicians they traveled with.
The musicians were sleepily gathered near the fountain in the center of the market plaza, discussing the previous evening's carousings over breakfast. Most of the group was older than the Water Ttribers, long-term troupers. A lifestyle of late-night performances, rewarded as often as not with food, drink, and the not-infrequent embraces of appreciative audience members, was not conducive to early rising.
However, since the early bird does in fact get the worm, at least when it came to festival sitings, as Katara joined them the topic wandered to where in the plaza they should set-up for the night's performance. Strategic placement was important, since they needed to be far enough away from the potential noise of other exhibitions to not have to compete, and yet close enough to the main stream of foot traffic to attract an audience with pockets weighed down with coin. And then there was the consideration of adequate room for potential dancing. Well-briefed from their earlier explorations, Katara suggested the broad end of the plaza near the bridge spanning the river and leading to the Fire Nation Sector. After some deliberation and jockeying with other vendors, the musicians staked out their plot of hard-packed earth. Again, the Water Ttribers' luck had held, the space being merely a few long strides from their ideal location. Lots having been drawn on timeslots of guard duty to maintain the group's prime position, they splintered to attend to personal interests of grooming, appetite, and final snatches at shut-eye.
While Sokka slept on she continued with their preparations.