Disclaimer: Fortunately for all of you, I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender or any of the characters in this chapter. I'm not near as good at storytelling as the real owners are.
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Flamewater Rose: Arc 1, Chapter 6
Katara sat huddled at the mouth of the cave with her knees tucked up under her chin and her arms wrapped around her shins. She watched silently as the first light of the pale dawn crept through the trees, vanquishing mists along its way. Slowly, she stood, stretching her aching back and legs. Her rear had started to go numb from sitting on the cold stone for hours.
She went back into the depths of the cave, where her companion was curled up on the ground, asleep.
"Zuko."
Two amber eyes flashed open and fixed on her.
"It's dawn. I'm going to get us something to eat. I'll be right back."
Without waiting for him to answer, she walked out of the cave. Carefully she picked her way past the brambles and underbrush of the forest to the beach. Did we walk this far last night? She thought. Maybe it doesn't seem so bad in the dark...
It took longer to get to the beach than she'd planned. She was going to have to hurry. She hated having to waterbend under pressure like that - it always made things messy. The last thing she needed was to draw attention, and Zhao's ship was still docked only a few miles away.
Carefully, she shifted quickly through her stances. Two large globes of water burst out of the ocean. She pulled them to her. Holding out the bottom of her tunic with one hand, she brought the fish-bearing globes over to her and released them. She bundled the flopping fish in her tunic and returned to the cover of the thicket.
When she got back to the cave, Zuko was meditating. He opened his eyes when he heard her approach.
"Took you long enough."
"Be glad I'm not going to make you go hungry," she released her tunic, letting her catch flop to the ground. Zuko raised his eyebrow skeptically at the fish.
"You plan to eat them alive, or let them suffocate?"
She grunted at him. "Watch and learn."
She grabbed the first fish by the tail and beat its head soundly against the stone floor of the cave. When she released it, it lay still on the ground. The second fish got the same treatment.
"Mind starting a fire?" she asked.
"And tip Zhao off to where we are? Forget it. Watch and learn."
Zuko reached under his tunic and produced the tin plate from his cell. She stared in wide-eyed amazement at him. He placed both fish on the plate, then balanced the plate across both of his palms. In a few minutes' time, the aroma of cooking fish filled the cave.
When he was done, he handed one fish to Katara with an admonition to be careful, the fish was hot. Katara held the fish by its tail for a few minutes, waiting for it to cool.
"You burned your hands," she observed.
"This?" he held one palm up and examined it. Sure enough, red marks ran down the side of his palm from his pinky finger to his wrist. "I did that last night breaking that glove."
"Want me to fix it?"
"After breakfast, maybe."
She nodded. They ate their fish quietly. When they were done, Zuko wiped the plate off with his ragged tunic sleeve before stashing it back under his tunic. He held his hands out to Katara, who bent the water out of her own tunic to heal him. As she massaged his hands, a strange question arose in her mind.
"Why did you steal that plate?"
"I didn't steal it," he sounded insulted. "Zhao owes me at least that much. Besides, I thought it might come in handy, and I was right."
Katara nodded and turned her attention to his other hand, pleased with the work she'd done on the first.
"I've been thinking," Zuko started, "Uncle is chasing Zhao, and so are your friends, because they both think that's where we are, right?"
Katara nodded.
"But, Zhao is chasing the Avatar. That means that our best chance of finding my uncle or your friends is if we go wherever the Avatar was going..."
"Nice try. I'm not biting," Katara looked up at Zuko. Does he think I'm that stupid?
"Then," Zuko stared at Katara, "we're stuck."
Katara stopped her work on Zuko's hands and looked him directly in the eye. Yes, Katara knew where Aang was going. There was no reason she couldn't start heading toward the North Pole, and just not tell Zuko where they were going. They were bound to encounter Aang or Sokka before they got all the way there.
"I'm leading the way. Don't ask questions," she instructed.
Zuko looked doubtful. "How can I trust you?"
"Trust me?" Katara let the hurt reflect in her eyes for a moment before it was replaced by anger, "After the last two weeks, how can you not trust me?"
"Fair enough," Zuko answered. "Where are we going?"
"No questions!" Katara yelled. She turned to storm out of the cave, then stopped, "North. We're going north."
Appa flew between the Fire Navy ship and the sun with his two charges on board, high enough that any Fire Navy personnel on the ship would be blinded by the sun if he looked in their direction. The ship had begun moving out around mid-day. Zhao was skirting the coastline, headed in a northerly direction, which suited Aang just fine. As soon as they got Katara off that ship, they'd be able to continue their journey without losing any more time.
"Tell me again, what's the plan?" Sokka asked.
"We follow Zhao. As soon as he puts into port again, we sneak on board and rescue Katara," Aang answered, sounding cheerful enough to almost be convincing. Almost.
"And, exactly how are we going to sneak onto a Fire Navy ship?" Sokka was skeptical about their chances for success.
"Well, I hadn't actually gotten to that part of the plan, yet, but I'm sure we'll think of something!" Aang flashed a smile at Sokka, who did not return the gesture. "Katara's fine, Sokka. She's gotten herself out of worse than this! I bet, by the time we get there, she'll have Zhao and the entire crew frozen to a catapult!"
Sokka chuckled. "You're right. But I'm her big brother, and as her big brother, it's my job to worry. That, and tease her, make fun of her," Sokka scrunched up his face and counted on his fingers as he listed all of the things that fell under, "brotherly duties."
"I'm worried about her, too," Aang said, quietly.
Zhao's fingers traced the coastline of the map laying on his desk. He started at the town where the traitor and the witch had escaped his custody, and moved in a northeasterly direction to where the map showed a river emptying into the ocean. There, his finger moved east, along the river, to a marking indicating a sizeable settlement on the river a few miles inland.
"Here."
"Are you sure, sir?" his pilot asked.
"Yes," Zhao's stern voice instructed. "There. We'll dock there, refuel, restock, and interview the locals."
The map indicated that the mouth of the river wasn't hospitable for a port. Topography indicated that the river had cut a massive chasm in the land, resulting in sheer cliffs at the ocean's edge. The land settled out to the east, sloping down to sea-level. This was where to docks had been built. This was where Zhao was going to continue his search for the Avatar, the coward, and the wench. Whichever one he found first was going to be extremely sorry that any of them had ever gotten away from him.
The pilot's voice trembled, "Are you sure you don't want to continue further north, sir?"
Zhao glanced up at the man, his gaze intense. "Why are you questioning me?"
The pilot gulped. "I'm not questioning you sir. I-I'll see that it's done!"
The man made a hasty exit. Zhao glared at the closed door.
Iroh calmly entered the bridge of his ship. He motioned to his pilot to join him by a map that was spread across the wall at the rear of the bridge. He pointed meaningfully at a dot on the map, along a river that cut into the continent's western coastline.
"We sail here. We need to make ready to be underway in an hour. Zhao already has three hours' headstart on us."
"How can you be sure this is where he's going?" his pilot raised an eyebrow.
"Your counterpart on his ship... Is not very good at playing Pai-Sho," Iroh chuckled.
The pilot's second eyebrow shot up. "General! Since when do you gamble?"
"Since it became advantageous," Iroh pulled his lucky lotus tile out of his sleeve and rubbed it between his fingers.
"And if he changes course?"
"We'll know when we get there, then. Keep your distance from Zhao. If we can stay out of sight, that would be best."