Water
Strategic Missteps
"I trust that you slept well?"
Katara scrubbed at her eyes with the heel of her hand. More and more hair was working its way out of her braid, and the loose strands hung in streaks across her face and stuck out to the sides in unruly clumps. She really ought to redo it, but without any way to wash, or at least comb her hair, she couldn't see much point.
"What gave you that idea?" she asked sarcastically.
The general raised an eyebrow and gave no comment. Soundless, he pushed the teapot closer to the bars.
She scowled. She didn't look that bad. Probably. Her hair may be messy, but she was well-rested for the first time in days. She couldn't look that bad.
She bent another serving of tea into both cups anyway and took another bite of the odd, gloppy breakfast the general had brought while she waited for him to drink. The food, surprisingly, didn't taste terrible. It looked strange, with slippery, semi-liquid pieces sliding around the bowl if she jiggled it, and the texture was a little slimy for her liking. But the flavor wasn't bad. It was sweet, with just a slight, pleasant edge of spiciness.
Of course she would never admit that she liked it. It was Fire Nation food, and she was determined to stay far, far away from Fire Nation food for the rest of her life once she got out of here. She was sure she could manage that. All she had to do was stay far away from the Fire Nation.
"Do you always have breakfast this early?" she asked. It had still been dark when she woke up, and by the faint light through the porthole behind her, she could tell that the sun hadn't made it very far across the sky yet. She normally wouldn't be up quite so early, but that, she figured, could be blamed on the fact that she'd fallen asleep so early yesterday afternoon. Even after two whole days without rest, it seemed that she couldn't sleep much longer than a reasonable person on a reasonable day. Sometimes she envied Sokka a little. He could sleep for days if he tried hard enough.
But at least when she'd woken up, the guard waiting outside the cell was less grumpy than either Masao or Daiki, and she hadn't had to wait very long before the general appeared with breakfast. Waking up on a Fire Nation ship could have been much, much worse.
"Quite often," the general replied. "It is rather common among firebenders to rise with the first light of dawn." He took a sip of tea. "Or, when one gets old, sometimes much earlier."
Katara picked up her cup and did her best to look nonchalant. If that was true and all the firebenders rose early, maybe she could use that to her advantage. Maybe she could turn the crew's routines against them.
"Does Zuko get up early?" That was a bit less subtle than she'd hoped.
The old man didn't seem to notice. "Hmmm." He considered his gently steaming bowl. "As a rule—Prince Zuko keeps the hours that suit him."
Katara's eyebrows crept downward. What was that supposed to mean?
"My nephew is quite young," the general added. "His routine does not always remain fixed."
So was Katara, but she didn't have any problem keeping a routine. In fact, she was so good at routines that she didn't have much problem enforcing some of those routines with Sokka and Aang.
"How young is 'quite'?"
"He recently celebrated his sixteenth birthday." He paused, pulled a face, and downed another sip of tea. "If a larger than usual breakfast and shortened training session can be called a celebration."
Sixteen? She could have sworn that Zuko looked—well, he didn't look older than that, actually. His scar and his perpetual scowl made him look scarier, not older. Still, she never would have guessed that he was sixteen.
"He's my brother's age," she blurted, nose wrinkled. Or close enough. Sokka still had a few months left before his birthday, but that never stopped him from insisting that he was 'basically a grown man'. He most definitely wasn't, but Katara didn't usually care enough to argue that point.
The general nodded. "I am not surprised. The three of you seem to be of a very similar age."
Katara frowned. Accurate or not, she wasn't sure she liked being lumped into a group with Zuko. She took a sip of her tea. It didn't matter anyway. She needed information. All she had to do was find the right place to start looking for it.
"So you're related to Zuko." She was tempted to say something about how she was glad none of her family were such massive jerks, then thought better of it. "You must be related to his mother."
The general cocked his head to the side. "What gives you that idea?"
"You seem too normal to be related to the Fire Lord."
"I'm flattered." He stirred his bowl of pale, gloppy stuff, and raised a bite up to his mouth before finishing, "But you are mistaken. The Fire Lord is my brother."
Katara froze. Questions flooded in on her—what was the Fire Lord like, why was he so determined to take over the rest of the world, did he realize how many people he'd destroyed, why was his son so intent on capturing her and Aang, how had the general turned out so—nice compared with the rest of his family, what were the Fire Lord's weaknesses, and how could she take advantage of them? The general probably knew everything she could possibly need to end the war for good if she could just pry it out of him.
But all of the questions fell away. Before her mind could catch up with her mouth, she burst out, "The Fire Lord must be ancient."
Perfect. That wouldn't tell her anything useful at all. King Bumi was ancient, and that didn't stop him from fighting.
The general chuckled. "And how is that?"
Well, at least the general wouldn't suspect her of digging for information if she asked stupid questions. "Isn't that how royalty works? The oldest one takes the throne?" She didn't know much about royalty, but that was how it worked in Omashu. Why would Fire Nation royalty be any different? "If you're his younger brother, then—"
"It is traditional for the eldest to take the throne," he agreed. "But my father's passing was—sudden. I was far away and in no proper state to rule, so my younger brother took the responsibility that I could not." A faint, troubled look flashed across the old man's face and was gone as quickly as it had appeared. "As my brother had heirs and I did not, there was little objection to the change." There was a flicker of sadness, but that too passed, and the general clapped his hands on his knees. "Now. I must eat quickly, as I believe I have business to attend to this morning." He finished off his breakfast in a few large bites and washed it back with a swallow of tea. "I will be back to share lunch with you later, Miss Katara."
With a sigh of annoyance, Katara turned back to her own meal. It shouldn't surprise her that her brief attempt at interrogating her captors would lead nowhere, but it still bothered her. Just a bit. Her mind was clearer than it had been in quite some time, and her arms ached from two days of almost continuous bending—thinking, planning was all she could really do, and she had nothing useful to work with. What was she supposed to do now? Just rest?
"Will it be all right if I leave you now?" the general asked. "I will send Taro back until the shift bell rings."
Katara shrugged. Fine. She could at least finish her breakfast and her tea. She'd watched the general eat and drink enough to be satisfied that none of it was tainted.
The old man's footsteps retreated toward the stairs, and she leaned back against the bunk, holding the rapidly cooling bowl in her lap. She had to learn that trick he used to heat up his food. It looked useful.
As she ate, muffled conversation carried down the corridor toward her. Katara tilted her head slightly, hoping to catch even a snatch or two of useful information, but quiet rumbling was all she could make out over the endless noise of the engines.
She frowned and took another drink of her tea. Maybe she shouldn't have spent quite so much time waterbending over the past few days—this was the longest she'd been left alone in days, and if her arms didn't ache so badly, she could be using this time to escape. But she'd had no way of knowing that she'd feel so much better after a few meals and some rest. She hadn't known that the general would ever take an interest in helping her.
Katara still refused to believe that the general had only followed Zuko's orders. That was just ridiculous. Zuko wasn't that nice. Zuko wasn't nice at all.
A new pair of footsteps descended toward her, and Katara kept her focus on her bowl. A few minutes to herself. It wasn't much, but maybe next time, she could make some progress in taking down the door.
A shadowy figure stopped outside the cell door, and she took her last drink of tea. She should ask for water next time. She could bend with tea, but water would be better. Having water to drink would be good too.
The shadowy figure still didn't move. What was his problem? The chair was right there. Why couldn't he sit down like a normal person?
"Are you just going to keep stand—" She let her eyes trail to the side and almost dropped her bowl. That wasn't the man who'd been guarding her all night.
Zuko crossed his arms. "You're eating."
Was that supposed to be a question or a statement? His tone was too flat, his expression too —scowly—for her to tell for certain. And if it was meant to be a question, it was a painfully stupid one. What else would she be doing with a bowl of food?
Setting her bowl down, Katara stood up. She didn't care to be loomed over, especially not by a jerk of a firebending prince who was barely older than Sokka.
"What are you doing here?"
"It's my ship," he answered. "I can go wherever I want."
Katara crossed her arms right back at him. "Really? Because you barely set foot down here for two whole days. I was starting to appreciate not seeing your stupid face."
Zuko flushed absolutely scarlet back to his—well, not back to his ponytail, actually. His head took on an odd, grayish cast partway back—roughly where his hairline should be. Where his hairline apparently was.
Zuko had a hairline? Since when?
Well, on second thought, he probably did have more than that single patch of hair. It only made sense that the rest of his head was shaved bald, but still. His hair looked stupid enough on a regular day when there wasn't any proof that he was capable of growing a normal head full of hair.
Ugh, she was not going to get distracted because his stupid hair looked stupider than usual. "What do you want?"
"I want to know where I can find the monk and your brother."
Katara couldn't decide whether she should be impressed by the attempt at honesty or not. Probably not. "What kind of an idiot do you think I am?"
He scowled deeper and started to speak, but she cut him off.
"Seriously, if I knew where they were, why would I tell you?"
"So you don't know where they are?"
Katara threw her hands up. Ouch. She should probably avoid that until her arms stopped aching. "How would I? Do I look like a fortuneteller to you? Do you think I can magically see what my brother is doing while you're keeping me locked up here?"
Zuko's scarlet flush darkened a shade. "Can you at least tell me which way they're going, then?"
"No!" Katara shouted. "I don't know that either!"
"How do you not know which way your friends are going? Didn't you pay attention when you were with them?"
She gaped. She knew which way they had been going. She couldn't say what Sokka and Aang had decided to do since then. They could still be traveling north, or chasing after Zuko's ship, or trying to find Dad, or looking for help somewhere else entirely. How in the world was she supposed to know that?
She let a mocking edge creep into her voice. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Zuko. I must not have been paying close enough attention to where they've been headed these past few days. Tell you what, you can let me out of this cell, I'll go find them, and then I'll be right back to tell you which direction they're going."
His single brow furrowed, and for a second, he couldn't seem to decide whether she was being sincere or sarcastic. "Why would I ever agree to something like that?"
She gave a huge, exaggerated shrug. Ouch. "Why would I ever help you kidnap my friends?"
Zuko spluttered at that, and Katara jutted out her chin. Served him right, the big, pompous jerk. He ought to feel like an idiot.
When Zuko finally managed to string words together again, he scratched at the back of his head. "My uncle said you were talking to him. You could at least tell me something worthwhile."
Katara rolled her eyes. Now he knew how she felt trying to wring information out of the general. "So sorry for wasting your time."
"You're not helpful," Zuko snapped.
"Remind me when helping you became part of my job."
He just kept turning redder, and the dull outline where his hair should be stood out more and more. "Can't you understand that none of this is about me? I'm just trying to do what's right for the Fire Nation."
"Unluckily for you, I don't care what's right for the Fire Nation." She stood as straight as she possibly could and glared deep into his eyes. "Not until you and your people stop trying to destroy the rest of the world."
His mouth opened and closed a few times before he managed to form another sentence. "I liked it a lot better when I didn't have to talk to you,"
"The feeling is mutual," she answered hotly.
Zuko scowled, scratching his head, and then started to turn away.
Katara couldn't stop herself. She took a step closer to the bars before he could step out of sight, and shouted, "And your hair looks stupid!"
In profile, she watched his face turn several more interesting shades of red.
Spluttering again, he peered back at her. "I—but—well, yours is stupider!"
Before she had a chance to reply—that's the worst comeback I've ever heard, and my hair is not stupid —Zuko let his arm drop back to his side, and something small and blue slipped past the end of his sleeve.
That wasn't his. It couldn't be. Firebenders didn't wear blue, and yet there it was, a little circle of pale blue dangling from his wrist.
"Where did you get that?" she demanded at his retreating back. Now that she'd had another moment to look, she knew exactly what that little bit of blue was.
He didn't pause to look back, but he somehow seemed to know exactly what she meant. Still walking, Zuko shoved the pendant back up his sleeve and out of sight.
"Zuko! That's my mother's necklace, you thief!"
There was no way to know whether he'd heard her or not. Before she had a chance to yell after him again, Zuko pounded up the stairs and slammed the door behind him.
It was childish, Zuko knew, to enjoy the sound of his own stomping feet so much. But he couldn't help it. He savored the deep, metallic thuds as he stomped back to his cabin and then back and forth in small laps from one end of the cabin to the other. Stomping felt good. Much better than listening to the waterbender's voice still bouncing around in his head. He most certainly did not have stupid hair. His head was overdue for a shave, but that didn't mean that it looked stupid.
Really, this was all Uncle's fault. He'd been the one who insisted that Zuko talk to the girl—just as he'd expected—and it had gone just as well as he'd expected too. What did Uncle think was going to happen? There were only so many things that Zuko could say to the waterbender, and he'd exhausted the vast majority when she refused to give him any information that he could use to capture the monk.
He supposed it wasn't surprising that she'd refused to tell him anything. He wouldn't give her any information that she could use either. And it did come as a relief to know that she wasn't suffering any ill effects from her time without food or water, but Zuko could see no reason why he'd needed to discover that in person. He could have taken Uncle's word that she was okay.
Zuko scratched the back of his head again. And no matter what she said, his hair wasn't stupid, it was just scratchy. He'd fix that later, after he'd calmed down enough to shave without slicing his scalp in the process.
The pendant poked out of his sleeve again, and although there was no one around to see it, his face heated. He hadn't really intended to keep wearing the necklace around his wrist after they left Jun and Nyla behind, but he'd grown so accustomed to wearing it that he usually forgot it was there. Well, not anymore. He was almost positive that Uncle would keep insisting that Zuko visit the waterbender, and the last thing Zuko needed was another reason for her to argue with him. Or a chance that the crewmen might notice the girl's necklace and make comments. Assuming they hadn't already.
Frowning, he unclasped the necklace and dropped it to the bottom of his trunk. Thief. That was rich, coming from her. He hadn't stolen anything. The one time he'd tried recently, the waterbender beat him to it. And he certainly hadn't stolen the necklace. In fact, she ought to thank him for finding it. If it weren't for him, the necklace would have been swept up and discarded along with the rest of the rubbish at Haishui. She never would have seen it again.
With a long sigh, he closed the trunk. Maybe he could use the necklace to strike some kind of bargain with her if he could just find the right thing to ask for. Not information about her friends' whereabouts, clearly.
A knock came at his door, and Zuko scowled, then stomped across the cabin and swung it open.
Uncle smiled up at him. "How did it go?"
"Lousy." He took a step back and motioned the old man in. "I told you it would be a waste of time.
"Hmm." Uncle rubbed his chin. "I found the young lady to be quite pleasant."
"She just kept yelling at me."
Uncle raised an eyebrow, his gaze sharp. "And did you, by any chance, happen to yell back?"
It was a question in structure alone. Zuko looked away. "How much did you hear?"
"I couldn't make out what was said, but the volume was unmistakable."
Zuko bit back the urge to say she started it. "Why should I bother, Uncle?" he settled for instead. "She clearly doesn't want to talk to me." And he couldn't see much reason to speak to her either. Not if she would just end up insulting him again.
"Perhaps she felt that she was being interrogated," Uncle offered. "It may help if you could find a way to put her at ease before asking questions."
Zuko glared. "And how am I supposed to do that? I'm already making sure that she has enough food and water. Her cell is—fine. It's not like I can just let her wander around the ship." Given the chance, she would definitely jump overboard. If she was feeling vindictive, she'd probably do her best to sink the ship too.
"Is there nothing else you can think that might come as a comfort to her?"
If I stopped trying to talk to her. With a frown, Zuko rubbed a hand over his prickly scalp and down the side of his face. "I don't know. She's a mess and her clothes are filthy."
"Ah!" Uncle perked up. "Now there might be a start!"
Zuko's hand slipped and he almost slapped himself. "I'm not going to let her have enough water for a bath, Uncle."
"Perhaps not, but there may be other options." Uncle folded his hands, apparently waiting for Zuko to supply suggestions.
"Maybe a change of clothes?" he guessed doubtfully.
"A promising possibility!"
"But where am I supposed to find a change of clothes for her? Aside from her, I'm probably the smallest one on the ship, and—" Zuko caught a curious look from Uncle, and his face flamed. "And she is not going to wear my clothes!"
"I didn't say that she should," Uncle said, but his eyes sparked with amusement. "I will leave the particulars to you."
Zuko grimaced but nodded. He could think of something. Probably. He doubted that it would make any difference, but he could try.
Uncle started to turn away, then paused. "Is something else troubling you, Prince Zuko?"
Yes. The girl was still on his ship, and Uncle was still making Zuko deal with her, and his head just got more and more itchy the longer he thought about all of it. Why, of all the things the girl could have chosen, had she decided to insult his hair? It wasn't as though there weren't other things she could have chosen to mock.
"Uncle, do you think my hair looks stupid?"
In hindsight, a shouting match against the prince of the Fire Nation probably wasn't the best idea Katara had ever had. Not when she was locked up on his ship and all but powerless. If he'd been angry enough, he could have used his fire against her, and the few meager drops of water that settled on the walls would have been her only defense.
But something about it had felt good. Yelling at him, telling him that he had stupid hair—it was juvenile, and probably dangerous, but it felt good. She hadn't realized how angry she was until she was shouting at him, and once she'd started, it was like taking the lid off of a boiling pot. The pressure eased with every word, and when she was done, she could breathe just a bit easier.
Of course, now she was angry about the necklace too. She didn't know how he'd managed to get his filthy hands on it, but at least it was close. She'd almost given up hope of ever finding it again, and now she could finally get it back if she could just figure out a plan.
Katara flopped back onto the bunk, resting her elbows on her knees, and stared down at the remains of her breakfast still in the bowl. It was odd. Of all the things Zuko could have done after an argument, she hadn't expected him to repeat her own insult back at her and then stomp off. And do it worse than her. Zuko was a firebender. Cruelty was in his blood, and yet he couldn't even argue properly. It was weird. And in a strange way, almost disappointing. What kind of firebender was that bad at arguing? But mostly, it was weird. Her mouth had gotten away from her, and she'd insulted Zuko, and yet—nothing had come of it.
At least not yet. She'd have to keep a closer eye on the firebenders for a while just to make sure that they weren't going to punish her for insulting Zuko. Even though he deserved it. His hair especially.
She leaned down and picked up her bowl, then huddled back against the wall. In the meantime, at least she had something safe to eat. As long as the general kept his word—as long as Zuko didn't order the old man to stop spending his mealtimes with her—that shouldn't change.
By the time the guard made his way down and plunked into the chair across the hall, Katara was finished eating. Aside from the day of her arrival, that had been the longest absence yet.
Staring across the cell, she frowned in thought. Maybe she could use that to her advantage. With the general coming and going, and now Zuko doing the same, she would have moments here and there when she was left to her own devices. Longer ones, it seemed, when Zuko was distracted after an argument. If she could start saving up small amounts of liquid—the condensation from the hull, spilled droplets of tea and soup—she would at least have something to work with in her brief moments of solitude. Maybe she could use that time and the tiny bits of liquid to cut her way out. Of course, she'd never tried to cut steel before, but she'd sliced up plenty of vegetation. Water could cut things. Steel would just take longer.
And if she was careful, she could work a few minutes at a time over a few days—or longer—until the door opened at last. If she was careful about it, she might even be able to make it off the ship before her absence was discovered.
But that still left her necklace.
Katara drew her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on the back of her hand. It could be a problem if Zuko wore it all the time. Getting her scroll away from Masky had been easy enough, but Zuko probably wouldn't be quite as easily distracted. And if he didn't wear it all the time, that was a problem too. The ship was big. How would she find a tiny little necklace somewhere in all this space? She didn't even know where Zuko slept.
Probably at the top of the command tower or something. Wherever the fanciest, most prominent part of the ship was, that had to be where Zuko slept.
Letting out a long breath, she clenched her fists. She was going to get her necklace back. And she was going to escape. It was just a matter of figuring out how.
Author's Note:
These kids really don't know how to deal with the fact that they're both kids, and I honestly love that about them. More awkward bickering! MORE! They have to realize that Iroh's right about them being pretty similar sooner or later, right?
I'm writing this author's note SUPER early because I'm trying like crazy to expand my chapter buffer, so hopefully by the time you read this, I'll be working my way through drafts of Chapter 30 - beyond during NaNo. Gaah, I'm just so excited about this stuff, and I want to get as much of it done as quickly as I can so we can go to weekly updates for at least part of 2021. Thanks so much for reading, reviewing (if you feel like it), and feel free to visit me on Tumblr (soopersara)!
