The day dawned bright and cheerful. It seemed that at one point during the early hours of the morning, that they reached a certain invisible line, because Katara noticed that almost at once, every soldier and sailor, including Zuko and Iroh, changed. The men began fidgeting once they crossed that line and darting frequent glances at Zuko. Iroh walked up to him and kept offering him advice.
"You will be arrested, Prince Zuko," he said calmly. "But once they realize you have the Avatar, I am sure it will become more of an escort."
"I know that, Uncle," Zuko said, staring out across the ocean. "I was expecting it."
He's just standing there, thought Katara. She slapped one of her new fans against her wrist. It was a dark grey with twirling patterns of silver that were meant to represent snow. It matched the grey and silver colors on her light blue dress. Iroh had assured her when she had questioned him, that many members of the Court would be wearing red and gold as their Nation's colors, but some would be wearing other colors as well. It was, however, imperative that when she attended formal dinners or some other such formal setting, that she wear the Court's uniform colors.
He's not moving at all, Katara returned to her thoughts on Zuko. I would assume he wasn't nervous about this all, but he is. I can just feel it in my bones.
She had spoken with Aang this morning before she dressed. The scene replayed in her mind.
"Katara," Aang had spoken up at one point. "This is so hopeless. I've failed the world."
"Come on, Aang," Katara had said with a brittle laugh. "You haven't failed the whole world – just everybody who's not from the Fire Nation. But one out of three isn't so bad."
Aang had given her a weak smile but it fell quickly from his face. "You know, you used to be good at this sort of thing – cheering people up," he had said.
Katara shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know what to say, Aang," she had admitted. "You didn't fail because you weren't good enough. You failed because you were too good. You made friends with me and opened your heart like the Avatar's supposed to and that's why you got captured." She had moved into hug him and he had wrapped his arms around her waist while she'd held his head against her shoulder.
"It was because of me you got captured," she whispered into his bald head. "Not because you're a horrible person or you didn't learn waterbending or earthbending or whatever – it was because you were too good a person with too big a heart to let one of your friends be used as bait."
"I guess there is such a thing as being too good," Aang joked into Katara's shoulder.
"No, Aang," she'd said. "You can never be too good. Other people can just be too bad."
"Katara."
Katara jumped and turned around to face Iroh. He was standing behind her and she hadn't even noticed!
"It is getting a little warm, and you are looking flushed," he nodded his head sagely towards her wrist. Katara looked down to where her fan was still tapping out a pattern against her arm. "Perhaps you should open your fan and cool yourself."
"Okay..." Katara held her fan away from herself and jerked her hand.
The closed fan would not open.
"Darn it," Katara muttered to herself. She tried again, and once more, but still it would not open. She was stuck shaking her entire arm up and down while an amused Iroh watched on until the fan was snatched from her fingers.
With a crack, Zuko held out the open fan to Katara. There was no emotion on his face. A blushing Katara took it back with a thanks.
"You must snap your wrist," he offered without any inflection.
"How do you know this?" asked Katara. She tried it once again after closing the fan but it still wouldn't work.
"You will be surprised to find how many men in the Fire Court know how to open a fan," Zuko replied.
"Why?" she asked, surprised. "Don't only the women carry fans?"
"Ah, no, Katara," laughed Iroh, snapping open his own simple red fan. "It can be very warm in the Fire Court, what with all the hot-tempered firebenders who reside there."
"Are many of the nobility firebenders?"
"Yes," Iroh nodded. "It is almost considered a sign of peasantry not to be a firebender." He smiled and clapped Katara on the back. "That is why when we arrive at Court, we will be addressing you as Lady Katara."
"But I'm not a firebender," she pointed out.
"But you are a waterbender and from the Water Tribe. So you will Lady Katara of the Southern Water Tribe."
"Why?" Katara asked, looking from Iroh to Zuko.
"It will help keep the vultures from picking your bones dry," Zuko answered. Katara flinched at the analogy. "There will be people there who will look down on you for being from the Water Tribe. Your people are not considered… refined in the Fire Court."
"They're considered uncivilized, you mean," Katara corrected him.
Zuko shrugged as if he couldn't care less. "There is not much you can do to change their opinion, Katara, other than show that you are."
"And there will be people who still do not think you are civilized even if you do act in all the courtly manners, which will be impossible for you," Iroh held up a hand when Katara opened her mouth to protest. "It is not that you would never be able to act in the courtly manners, only that there are so many and you haven't had the years and years to learn them as the other courtiers have."
Katara was mollified.
"But there will also be people who will be extremely nice to you," Iroh said with a sly sort of smile.
"Why is that?" Katara asked politely.
"Because you will be presented to the Court by the Crown Prince," Iroh said, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "People will try to befriend you to gain standing in the eyes of their future ruler. You will be seen as the Prince's close… companion."
"Uncle," Zuko warned.
"I did not say anything that was not true," he said with a large smile.
"Katara," Zuko led Katara away from his Uncle. They walked to the railing by the side of the ship. "Uncle is right… There will be people who will see you and I as… closer, I suppose, than we actually are. And some will ignore the rumors and treat you as the honored guest I am presenting you as, but there will be many who will see you as something else and treat you accordingly."
Katara nodded. She knew what he meant. They would think she was more than a friend, more than the girlfriend she suspected she was becoming.
"But no matter what, Katara," Zuko said. "I will be standing there next to you, and I'll keep them off-"
"A ship!" cried the lookout from the top of the boat. Zuko's face snapped to look up.
He had turned his head so that she couldn't see his scar. His clear yellow eye was bright and faintly hopeful under the dead-pan he was trying to hide under.
He's so handsome, Katara thought with awe. How many of the younger girls had crushes on him before his father gave him that scar? I know he was only fourteen but he was a prince.
And fourteen isn't that young! I'm fourteen!
How could his father do that to him? And how could he still want to return? I just don't understand, I just don't…
"It better not be Zhao," Zuko muttered as he turned back to Katara.
His scar was still there, but somehow Katara didn't really notice it as she had before. It was like someone was holding a mirror along his nose and all she could see was the reflection of the other side of his face instead of his marring.
"What is it?" Zuko demanded. Katara had been looking at him funny. She shook her head, though and blushed.
"Nothing," she muttered. She snapped open her fan and Zuko could tell she had done it without thinking. He smiled, but the sentiment quickly disappeared as they waited for the ship to approach.
Thankfully, it was not Admiral Zhao's ship. It was General Lee's and he was much more polite to the Prince than Zhao ever was.
"Your Highness," the man bowed. He was short, though not as short as Iroh. His chest was very wide and his hips were very narrow, giving him the look of a misshapen bull.
"I am afraid, you Highness, that we will have to arrest you." The man did, indeed, look regretful but he stopped when Zuko held up a hand.
"That won't be necessary," Zuko said calmly. "I have captured the Avatar, and I am here to present him to my father, The Fire Lord."
"You have?" the man asked in confusion. But immediately General Lee's face broke into a huge smile and he bowed more deeply than he had before. "I am so thankful, Your Highness! You are truly a great prince, to have gone out and done a thing such as capture the Avatar!"
"Why is he acting like Zuko simply went out on a whim and captured Aang?" Katara asked Iroh quietly.
"He is being polite," Iroh said, his eyes never leaving the general. "But it is also true that Prince Zuko's banishment and the reason for it have not been paraded around. If the people realized that he was banished for speaking out against the slaughter of loyal Fire Nation soldiers, there would be an uproar."
"That was why he was kicked out?" Katara asked surprised. Her voice rose in volume but she brought it back down to a whisper. "He never told me."
"I am not surprised," Iroh said off-handedly. "He does not like to talk about it. The only reason the crew knows is because I was forced to share the story with them in hopes of suppressing a mutiny."
"I always thought he must have done some horrible. Even something bad for a firebender," Katara said, looking down at her feet. Iroh raised an eyebrow. She wasn't really thinking about what she was saying. "But that's actually kind of good – what he did. He's actually a good guy."
"Yes," Iroh agreed as General Lee bowed to him.
"General Iroh!" Lee called. "It will be so nice to have your presence around the palace once more!"
"I look forward to whipping you in Pai-jao," Iroh smiled as he bowed back.
Lee looked expectantly to Katara and Iroh raised a hand in her direction.
"General Lee, this is Lady Katara of the Southern Water Tribe," Iroh introduced her. General Lee's face showed surprise but he quickly hid it. "Lady Katara, this is General Lee. He is a good friend of mine from a long ways back."
"We used to fight together," he bowed to Katara. "It is so nice to meet you, my lady." His testament seemed sincere so Katara gave him her most gracious smile in hopes of winning him over.
"Thank you," she replied. She dipped down into a shaky curtsy, praying to the gods that it was the correct depth for a lady to be curtsying to a general. "It is a pleasure to meet you, as well."
Iroh's smile told her she had done well.
After Lee returned to his ship to continue the escort of Prince Zuko into the capital of the Fire Nation, Zuko leaned in close to Katara and spoke in her ear.
"You did not have to lean so far," he said, his breath against her neck causing her to shiver. A smile tugged at the corners of his lips.
"Perhaps, since the circumstances are as they are, Prince Zuko, it is better for Katara to bow a little deeper rather than a little lighter." Iroh stepped up behind them.
Katara pulled away from Zuko and Zuko glared at his uncle for his interruption. Iroh acted as though Zuko weren't even there.
"When in doubt, be more polite," he advised her. Katara nodded.
The hailing of the people lined along the docks and shore of the country as the Banished Prince returned from exile in glory with the Avatar in hand was stirring to say the least.
To say what it truly was like was the shouting and screaming of thousands upon thousands of people. There were children running through the crowds, darting between legs and being snatched up by mothers as they tried to follow the ship. People were beating kettles and stamping their feet. Many were waving flags or merely the red shirts off their backs in honor of their returned prince.
Zuko stood at the bow of the ship. He locked his knees and held his hands behind his back, looking the very picture of majesty and pride. It made many women weep with happiness to look upon his proud, battered face and know that such a strong man would inherit the throne.
Katara waited a far ways behind him, by the wall of the cabins on the ship's deck. She felt as proud of Zuko as she was sure the people lined along the docks were. She tried to ignore that nudging feeling that pushed against her heart.
Aang will be fine, she thought. I'll get him out of this. Maybe Zuko will let him go…
But she knew it was futile.
Even as she felt the twinge of pride for the boy she loved, she was planning the rescue of her dearest friend. She would have to wait to see what the layout of the palace was like, but she would rescue Aang.
She got him into this mess and she was going to get him out.
My friends were laughing at me the other day for writing fanfiction. they said it was obsessive behavior. It's not obsessive. Even if it is over sixty thousand words long.