Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender, or any of the characters in this chapter. If wishes were fishes...
Almost done, just another chapter or two to go after this one!
Firewater Rose: Arc 1, Chapter 7
Three days of hacking their way across country was beginning to grate on her nerves. So was he. Never again would she take Appa for granted! She took out her frustrations on the vines that grabbed her thin tunic, knocking them loose with a stick. Two yards ahead of her, the other source of her frustration was doing the same.
Hunger didn't do much for his temper, and berries and fruits weren't doing much for his hunger, apparently. The only weapons they had to hunt with were sticks and stones, and apparently, despite all fairy tales to the contrary, the Prince had apparently not spent much time chasing game. That meant they would have no meat until they found a town.
And then what? The only things either of them had were the tunics they'd been forced to wear on Zhao's ship, and a tin plate. Nothing that would fetch a price. They'd have to work for their supper.
A vision of Zuko mucking-out a stall rushed into Katara's mind, and she had to cover her mouth to avoid laughing out loud. In her haste to avoid embarrassing herself and Zuko, she choked. She balled her fist and slammed it into her chest several times to reopen her airway, then her whole body slammed into something hard.
Zuko. The young man flailed blindly for a few moments, finally grabbing onto a tree. The tree swayed and groaned from his weight, and Katara saw why he stopped. The ground had stopped. Where the trail had been, a chasm easily a half-mile across and hundreds of yards deep ripped across their path. Hastily, she grabbed Zuko's tunic and pulled him back from the gaping maw.
They tumbled backward to the ground in a writhing knot of arms and legs. When they sorted themselves out, Zuko ended up on top of her, and she went stone-still. Her eyes became wide, unfocused, as recent memories flooded her soul. Getoffgetoffgetoff! Her mind screamed.
Suddenly, the weight was gone. She could breathe again. She lay on the ground, panting. When the world came back into focus, she was mortified to discover her tunic had ridden half-way up her thighs. With hasty, trembling movements, she sat up and smoothed her tunic back over her legs, and stared at her knees until her breathing slowed.
A hand came into her line of sight. An open hand. She grabbed hold of it, and it pulled her up. Another hand steadied her, and two eyes of amber fire gazed at her in concern.
"I'm OK," she breathed. "You just startled me is all."
Zuko said nothing, and turned to gaze out across the chasm.
Startled my ass, Zuko thought. He'd seen that look before. On dozens of soldiers returning from the war. Anytime they heard rocks falling, or waves crashing ashore, they wore that look. They wore it for the same reason she did. They thought they were under attack, again, and so had she.
How dare she think me capable of that!
"Looks like we have to turn back," her voice was still trembling.
"No, let's follow the chasm to the east. There's bound to be a bridge or something to cross the gap," he said. And maybe something to eat...
The waterbender sighed. "If only Aang were here, we could just fly across it."
Zuko's annoyance grew at the mention of the Avatar's name. "Why do you follow that kid around?"
Katara stared at him as if he'd just sprouted red horns and green spots. "Because Aang will stop this war and save us..."
"You know, if the Fire Nation captures you, you will die. Are you willing to die for him?" Zuko spat.
"Of course..." Katara's eyes were whirlpools of confusion.
Zuko clenched his jaw. There it was again. Her unwavering loyalty to, and undying faith in, a child. How long had it been since anyone had that kind of faith and devotion to him? How long had it been since he felt those things himself?
He mentally chided himself. Those had all cloaked themselves and walked out of his life nearly ten years ago.
"I envy him," he finally said.
Katara turned a bewildered face to Zuko. "Envy him? Why?"
"You believe in him. He's done so little to warrant your faith and devotion, and you offer it so freely."
"What about the men on your ship? Aren't they dedicated to... whatever you're trying to accomplish? To you?" she asked.
"They're paid. There's a difference. Every last one of them would turn his back on me if a better offer came along," Zuko's voice dripped with scorn. "They do what they do for money or out of fear. You choose to do what you do of your own free will, and you do it out of..."
"Love," she finished the sentence for him.
"Love," he echoed.
Their conversation was halted by a rumbling groan overhead. A shadow burst through a cloud, revealing itself to be the Avatar's flying bison.
"Appa! Aang! Sokka!" the girl yelled. Zuko's face fell.
An errant breeze carried her beautiful voice aloft to their ears. "Appa! Aang! Sokka!"
"Katara!" Aang and Sokka shouted in unison. Both boys' faces were alight with happiness and relief. Sokka scanned the ground before them and spotted two figures standing at the edge of the cliff beneath them. One of the figures was waving frantically to them.
"There she is!" Sokka exclaimed, pointing to the right and behind them. Aang tugged on Appa's reins and steered the great beast back around to where Katara was stranded on the cliff, with...
Zuko! Sokka's eyes narrowed. That dirty, rotten firebender! If he's laid one filthy hand on my sister, I'll... Well, Sokka wasn't too sure what he'd do, but it would involve a great deal of violence, whatever it was. It may get him killed, too, but his sister's honor was worth it.
When the boys slid off of Appa's back and onto the earth at the top of the cliff, they gazed in confusion, casting glances back and forth between Katara and Zuko. Sokka's hand stayed on his boomerang.
"Come on, Katara, let's get out of here before his buddies show up," Sokka said.
Katara nodded in agreement. Then she did the most incredibly stupid thing Sokka had ever seen his sister do. She introduced Appa to that bastard!
"OK, now I think he'll carry you, Zuko," she was showing Zuko how to climb up on top of Appa.
"No," Sokka said, "Absolutely not. We're not taking him with us."
"We can't just leave him here," Katara blinked at her brother.
"Oh, yes we can. It's simple. The three of us get on Appa, he stays on the ground, where he belongs, Aang tells Appa to take off, and voila! We're safe in the air, and he's here on the ground."
"Sokka, how can you be so cold-hearted," Katara looked hurt.
"It's easy. We're Water Tribe. He's Fire Nation. He stays, we go."
"If he stays, I stay," Katara insisted. She's bluffing, Sokka thought.
The object of their discussion, so far, had not made a single statement. He was leaning quietly against the hairy beast. The hairy beast's only comment was a groan that sounded more like a yawn than anything else.
Then Aang spoke up, "If we let him come along, what are we going to do with him?"
"Take him back to his ship, of course," Katara answered.
"Oh, no you don't," Sokka shook his head at his sister, "We take him back to his ship, his soldiers shoot Appa, Aang gets captured, and this entire adventure has been for nothing. No, we leave him here."
"That's the deal, Sokka," Zuko finally spoke up, startling the water boy in the process. "I helped your sister escape Zhao, she helps me get back to my ship. Love it or leave it."
Sokka glanced back and forth between Zuko and Katara. He's lying. He's got to be. Katara wouldn't do something that stupid. Would she? Katara's face remained firm and she nodded. She would.
"Sokka," Aang chipped in, "It'll be OK. Katara's back. We owe him that much."
Sokka wished he could share his friend's optimism.
A few minutes later, everyone was secure on Appa's back and the bison moved away from the cliff. Sokka never took his eyes off his enemy, and he was rewarded with sadistic glee when he discovered that Zuko was terrified of flying. Oh, the guy tried to hide it, alright, but his insistence on sitting in the middle of Appa's back, and his refusal to look at anything that might let him see just how high up they were, those were dead giveaways.
"How did you find us?" Katara asked.
"Well, actually, we were following that ship," Sokka replied.
"What ship?" she raised an eyebrow. At that moment, a molten piece of rock shot past Appa's right shoulder, singing him on its way. Burning pitch fell off as it streaked overhead, setting Appa's coat on fire. Katara raced to pat out as many of the flames as she could before Appa was injured.
"Uhm. That ship!" Sokka exclaimed.
Zuko whirled around to face the direction Sokka was pointing. "Zhao!"
Aang pulled sharply on the reins as a barrage of fireballs filled the sky in front of them. Momo clung to Aang's head as the other three occupants held on for dear life. Appa twisted and dipped his way past the barrage in a desperate attempt to get out of range.
When they were no longer in danger, Sokka looked up from where he had grasped on to Appa. Aang, Katara and Momo seemed no worse for wear, but Katara was frantically looking around in the water for something. She musta lost something in all that tumbling around. Then it hit him. Zuko wasn't on Appa.
"There he is!" she pointed to something in the water, a hundred yards behind them. Zuko was treading water in the violent surf. "We have to go back!"
"No. I told you it was a bad idea to bring him on board, and besides, if we go back, that warship is going to shoot us out of the sky," Sokka pointed out. "If he's a good swimmer, he can make it to that beach before the warship gets him."
Katara glanced over the side again, and back to her brother. "Aang, Sokka, I'm sorry. I made a promise," and with that she dove into the river.
This time was a hundred times worse than when she had jumped off the warship that was now firing on her. This time, she was sure Appa had done a belly-flop into the water right on top of her. She came up spluttering and searched the waves.
She found Zuko, struggling to keep his head above water, several yards upstream. She bent the water around her, slowing the current that was pushing them both out to sea, and giving herself a chance to reach him before it pulled her under. With sure strokes, she pushed herself through the water as the river's current pulled him toward her. When at last he was in arm's reach, she grabbed a hold of his collar.
A whistling sound overhead caught her attention. She looked up in time to see a fireball bearing down on them. Frantically, she kicked, willing the water out of her way. Darkness washed over her like a tidal wave.
Zuko awoke, choking on brackish river water. It took him a moment to place where he was. Not on land, he was in the air. He sat up, and discovered he was being watched very intently by the water boy.
"I was in the water. What am I doing back up here?" he asked.
"My sister's an idiot," the boy said, contempt seeping out through his pores, "she jumped in after you."
"She did? Where is she? We have to go back! If Zhao..."
"Relax. You really think we'd bother to save you and not her?" Sokka glared at him.
Zuko noticed a bundle of blankets laying next to him.
"Touch her and die, scumbag."
"Is she going to be OK?" Zuko couldn't see anything but her face, which was calm and serene in her slumber.
"The burns will heal. She'll probably heal them herself. Bet you didn't know she could do that, did you, firebender," Sokka taunted him.
"Actually, yes, I did," Zuko gazed at his hands.
She came back for me? Zuko wondered. She jumped into the water, the same water Zhao was bombarding, for me? Maybe she did it out of her own personal sense of honor, but that didn't matter. Her safety and freedom had been right in front of her, and she had turned back for him. For the first time in a long time, Zuko smiled to himself and let happy thoughts escort him off to sleep.
It didn't register with Iroh for several minutes, just what that dark spot in the sky was. It was only a few hundred yards off the ship before he recognized the Avatar's flying beast. This was the last thing he wanted, as Zhao was sure to be chasing his quarry, and Iroh was desperately out-gunned by the Admiral's flagship. His soldiers prepared to fire on the unwanted arrivals.
"Uncle!" Iroh's eyes welled-up when he heard Zuko's call.
"Lower your weapons, men! The Avatar is returning Prince Zuko to us!"
Mutters and whispers of amazement washed over the deck of Iroh's ship as his men stood down. The flying monster glided closer to the ship, close enough that Iroh could stretch out his hand and rub the beast's flank.
Rather than petting the Avatar's pet, Iroh stretched out his hand to help his nephew down. Zuko paused, hanging off of the bison's side.
"Sokka, thank Katara for me? Tell her... Tell her I'm glad she didn't let me win?"
The water boy peered quizzically over the animal's side.
"She'll understand," Zuko explained, before dropping to the ground.
The water boy was still staring at Zuko as the huge bison took back to the skies. Zuko watched as they disappeared into the atmosphere.
"You're not going to shoot him down, Prince Zuko? What about your honor?" Iroh asked, incredulous to what he'd just seen.
"Uncle, I'm hungry, I haven't had a bath or a shave in nearly two months, and I haven't had a good night's sleep in nearly a week. The Avatar can wait."
With that, Zuko retired to his quarters for a bath. Over the next few days, his uncle noticed a strange tin plate had appeared on Zuko's dresser, but the old man decided that some questions were best left un-asked.