Water
A Frosty Welcome
"This isn't fair. The only reason you keep winning is because you have an unfair advantage."
"It's called being an airbender, Sokka. I can't help that."
"What? No, not that. I can beat any bender. The countdown is what I'm talking about. You have extra time to prepare because I keep doing the countdown. That's why I keep losing."
"I'm pretty sure that's not it, but I can do the countdown if it makes you feel better."
"Get ready to eat those words, airbender. I'm winning this time."
"We'll see about that. Ready? Five, four, three, two, one—"
Both boys belched in unison, long and loud enough that it echoed off of the icy walls around them.
Katara clenched her jaw. This was fine. It was all fine. She didn't want to scream at all. They'd been flying—well, floating at this point—for days, and the boys had to occupy themselves somehow. She should be grateful that they'd moved from some of their worse ideas on to something less likely to kill them all.
But she really, really wished that they'd find something less annoying than belching contests. Katara had busied herself with waterbending practice and sewing, neither of which was the least bit annoying to the boys. Couldn't they find something different too? She was getting so sick of the burping contests that the frigid black waters around Appa's legs were starting to look oddly inviting. She was a waterbender, after all. She could handle the cold. Probably.
Sokka frowned up at the steep sides of the icy channel. "Okay, I'll give you that one. But I was just warming up that time. Start over. I know I'll win this time."
"If you say so. Ready? Five, four, three—"
"Ugh! Can't you two just stop?" Katara shouted. So much for trying to show restraint. "You've been at it for hours! Why does it even matter who can burp the loudest?"
Aang looked chastened, but Sokka merely scoffed.
"Somebody's jealous."
"Of anyone who doesn't have to listen to the burping? Yeah, of course I am."
"Of my awesome skills, you mean."
Katara glared at him. "Burping isn't a skill." She jabbed her bone needle through the tunic a little more forcefully than necessary, then winced when it stabbed into her thumb.
"Ha!" Sokka crowed. "That's the universe's way of saying that you're being too fussy."
Glowering, she uncorked her waterskin and pulled out a few drops. Without breaking eye contact, she held the water against her sore thumb until it flashed bluish-white and the skin closed up.
Sokka narrowed his eyes. "You know what? I changed my mind. That's way more unfair than Aang's burping advantage. Why do I have to heal the normal way when my sister can do that?"
"Maybe that's just the universe's way of telling you to stop annoying people with burping contests," she answered loftily. She certainly wasn't going to waste her healing abilities on any of his pricked fingers. Not when he was being obnoxious.
Aang leaned a little closer to her, peering over her shoulder. "Hey, your Zuko shirt is looking a lot better now. It's starting to look like a shirt again."
Without turning her head, she stared at him. It was an obvious attempt to deflect the argument, but she wished that he'd picked something, anything else. She had a feeling that this was going to backfire.
It did.
Sokka cackled. "A Zuko shirt."
Katara glared at him.
"What? That's what it is."
"It's just an Earth Kingdom shirt." And frankly, the longer she worked on it, the less it looked like the tunic Zuko had bought for her. There was enough damaged fabric around the hems and enough seams that needed to be opened and stitched tighter that it couldn't look much like it used to.
"An Earth Kingdom shirt that Zuko bought for you," Sokka clarified.
She clenched her jaw. At the time, it had seemed like a good idea to go along with Sokka and tell the boys everything that had happened on Zuko's ship. He was right, she'd thought. It was better if they all told each other the truth. But now, she was beginning to seriously regret telling them that part. What har could it have done to tell them that she'd stolen the clothes somewhere? It would have been just as easy to believe as anything else, and Sokka wouldn't be bothering her about keeping the clothes. Everyone would have been perfectly happy with that.
Except for the scorch marks on the clothes. Those stupid scorch marks made it way too obvious that she'd gotten them before the ship exploded.
"Why did you keep it anyway? I would've gotten rid of it."
Her face warmed just a little, and she kept her eyes aimed stubbornly downward. "Because I might need to look like an earthbender someday."
"So you decided to keep the clothes from Zuko?"
"It's not like we have a lot of money to spare, Sokka."
He scowled, and Katara could feel how badly he wanted to argue with her. Well, that was just too bad for him. She knew when she'd made a good point. Sokka was a sucker for logic.
Sure enough, after what felt like several full minutes of staring, Sokka huffed and looked away. She'd been hoping for something a little more definitive than that, but a victory was a victory.
"Ugh, Aang," he complained, leaning back on his hands. "I thought you said we were getting close to the North Pole."
"We are getting close."
"But you said that three days ago."
"Then we're three days closer than we were when I said it the first time."
"Uggggh!" Sokka's voice echoed off the icy cliffs all around them. "And we can't even do anything fun because Katara says—"
"That three hours of burping contests is too much? I stand by that. It's disgusting."
"So—what I'm hearing is that two hours of burping contests is fine, then."
"No!" She bunched up her sewing and shoved it to the side. "I swear, if you burp one more time, Sokka—"
"Maybe Katara has a point," Aang interrupted. "It was fun, but we should find a new game now."
"Hey!" Sokka's voice squeaked at the end. "Don't try to pin this all on me! The contest was your idea in the first place."
"But it wasn't my idea to keep going all morning long. You just didn't want to admit that you lost."
"I did not lose, you little—"
Katara's eye started to twitch. She was about ten seconds away from slapping them both with ice water. "Would you both quit it? I don't care who started it, just stop."
"Yeah? And then what? What do you suggest we do instead, oh wise and powerful sister? You haven't exactly been giving us any good ideas to keep from going crazy."
"When did it become my job to entertain you?"
"Guys, please stop fighting."
Katara whipped her head in his direction. "This isn't fighting, Aang."
"What is it, then?"
Sokka answered this time. "It's just some perfectly healthy yelling!"
The ice around them started to crack, but Katara paid it no attention. Cracking was just what ice did.
"If you really want to know what I think you should do, Sokka, you could always try fixing your own holey socks."
"What? First the cooking and now this? You're being unreasonable, Katara."
"Oh, I'm being unreasonable? I've been working or training almost the entire time we've been stuck on Appa, and you—"
The cracking grew louder and closer until Appa lurched to a halt and gave a deep, rumbling moan.
"What the—" Katara leaned over the side and looked down into the water. Or into the ice, more accurately. The bison was completely surrounded—all six of his immense legs were lodged in dark, glossy ice.
"Shit."
Katara turned back to see Sokka hanging over the other side of the saddle.
"Shit," he repeated, sitting up straight. "Katara, you've gotta break us out of here."
Before she could respond, Aang held up his hands to silence them both. "Guys, stop. I think the Northern Water Tribe found us."
Eyes wide, Katara searched the cliffs around them. As far as she could see, it was nothing but shades of blue and white, just snow and ice everywhere. But all the cracking had seemed to come from straight ahead of them. That would make sense if the Northern Tribe had noticed their approach and come out to intercept them. She couldn't see any waterbenders, but that didn't mean they weren't out there.
But then as she squinted into the brightness, figures began to emerge one at a time from behind the sharp jags and spires of ice.
Her breath caught in her throat, and across from her, Sokka let out a low whistle.
"Shit," he repeated in a whisper this time.
Uncle was hiding things.
It was a little less gnawing now that Zuko spent much of his time in disguise and out of the cabin, but he still noticed it. In fact, it was difficult to think about anything else sometimes. When he was toiling his way through yet another shift scrubbing the deck or hauling crates around—or hiding from the rest of the crew down by Jasmine's stall—he could either think about that or about how depressing his life had become. He was well aware of the latter point. He didn't need to dwell on it to realize that spending all his free time with an angry komodo rhino was nearly as low as he could sink.
Which mean that he spent a lot of time thinking about what Uncle had told him, and more importantly, what he hadn't. Though he'd asked time after time, Uncle still wouldn't say exactly where they were going. North, toward the North Pole and the Northern Water Tribe, Zuko knew that much, but he didn't know any of the specifics. What part of the tribe they were headed toward. Why they were bothering with people who'd kept out of the war for a hundred years. What they were supposed to do once they got there. It seemed like a waste to Zuko. There wasn't any point in spending time or resources on a nation that wasn't fighting back.
But whatever Zhao was doing had been Father's plan, and Father must have known what he was doing. Naturally, Zuko was curious to figure out what exactly the plan was.
And if Uncle wouldn't stay anything, then Zuko would just have to figure that out on his own. Maybe he could even find a way to prove himself and earn his way home. If this mission was important enough for Father to personally approve, then maybe Zuko could play a part in it. Maybe that would be enough.
But he needed to know what the point of the mission was first. Which meant that he would have to do some serious snooping. It shouldn't be too hard. He was getting used to blending in with the crew, to sneaking around in full armor, and despite the worried looks that Uncle was always shooting his way, Zuko was perfectly fine now. Maybe he didn't look fine, what with all the still-healing cuts and bruises and the ever-growing stubble on his head, but Zuko was as strong as ever. He could sneak around the ship for days and be none the worse for wear.
So that was what he did. Zuko learned the patterns and routines of the ship and crept soundless through the corridors whenever he could be certain that they were empty. After two days, he had the ship's layout memorized. After three, he very nearly managed to sneak into the control tower. He'd been forced to retreat when he discovered that the tower wasn't as empty as he'd hoped, but he'd been close. If he could come that close to Zhao's charts just by sneaking up a set of stairs, a bit of planning should get him much, much closer. Planning had never been Zuko's strong suit, but in this case, he had an advantage—Zhao still thought that he was dead.
And that was precisely why he was still lingering around the cabin this morning. He knew the ship's patterns by now. If he left Uncle's cabin early, he'd have to hide somewhere until the flood of crewmen heading off to their morning shifts subsided. If he left at his usual time, he'd get swept up with the morning shift and have to risk being caught when he tried to sneak away again.
Which meant that waiting until the morning shift had begun was his only realistic option. He needed information, which meant that he needed to sneak around, which meant that he couldn't be mistaken for one of the morning crew. For once, he knew exactly what he was doing.
But Uncle was waiting around too. And every time Zuko happened to glance his way, he found the old man staring at him over a raised teacup. Which did not make it any easier to keep waiting.
"Are you certain nothing is wrong, Prince Zuko?"
That was a ridiculous question. Plenty of things were wrong, but Zuko was fine.
"What, it isn't enough that I'm banished and stranded on a ship with the man who tried to kill me?"
Uncle gave a pained look, and Zuko did his best to suppress the stab of guilt that followed. This wasn't his fault. Zhao was the one who'd almost killed Zuko. Zhao was the reason that Uncle had seen the wreckage and thought that Zuko was dead. Zuko shouldn't have to feel bad for reminding Uncle about that.
He still did feel a little bad about it.
"That is not what I meant," Uncle said. "I was merely wondering if you are feeling well today. You have been eager to spend most of your time outside the cabin recently. There must be a reason for your delay this morning."
Zuko frowned. How many times did he have to tell Uncle that he was fine? He had his strength back. Even the faintest lingering headache was gone by now.
"I'm not planning to spend anotherday scrubbing the deck, if that's what you mean." He caught a look from Uncle. "I'm fine. I'm just trying to figure out what I need to do next."
Uncle's expression didn't relax, and Zuko clenched his jaw. If Uncle was that worried, then he ought to just tell Zuko what he needed to know. He wouldn't have to sneak around the ship if he knew all of Zhao's plans. But Uncle wasn't being helpful on that front. Even the usual vague, unhelpful advice had run dry, and now it mostly felt like Uncle was hovering, just watching and waiting in case Zuko fell apart.
That wasn't going to happen. And Uncle really had nothing to complain about if Zuko was trying to make the best out of his situation here on the ship. If he'd wanted to coddle Zuko all along, then Uncle ought to have stayed back at Weiji rather than packing Zuko into a box and smuggling him onto Zhao's ship.
"I hope you will not take any undue risks, Prince Zuko. Admiral Zhao has not learned of your presence yet, but if you are not cautious—"
"I know, Uncle."
"The consequences will be severe. I cannot predict how Zhao will react, and it is unlikely that he will listen to reason."
"Uncle, I know." He rubbed his forehead, then stopped short when his hand brushed against his scalp. The stubble wasn't prickly anymore. In fact, it was almost—soft. With a huff, he let his hand drop back to his side. "If you're so worried, then at least tell me what you think I should be doing instead. I can't wait around and try to blend in forever. I'm never going to find my way home if I don't know what I'm up against."
A pause. "You hope to return to the Fire Nation."
There was enough of an edge to the words that they sounded almost like a question. Almost.
"Of course." What else was Zuko supposed to do? He couldn't do things the old way. Even if he wanted to, he was never going to be able to bring Katara or the airbender back home to Father, he'd had to accept that fact. But the Fire Nation was still his home. His people. After three years of fighting to get back, he couldn't just give up now. Besides, it wasn't like he had any other options. Where else in the world could a disgraced Fire Nation prince go? Unlike Katara and her friends, he didn't have the luxury of being welcomed into any Earth Kingdom village he came across.
The shift bell rang in the corridor, and Zuko pressed his ear up against the door. He just had to wait until the activity died down again, then he could slip out unnoticed.
"You must let go of the past, Prince Zuko. Only then will you be able to forge your own path forward."
Zuko looked back over his shoulder. "That's what I'm trying to do, Uncle." With that, he pulled on his helmet and stepped soundless out the door.
There was probably a more embarrassing way to arrive at the North Pole. Objectively speaking, this couldn't be the worst way to enter the city.
But it was still pretty bad. The warriors guarding the city's perimeter had heard the boys' belching contest, then the bickering that followed. Of course they'd gone out to investigate, and of course they'd found the group easily. That part was a bit humiliating all on its own. It became much worse when the waterbenders wouldn't listen to a single word of explanation and instead froze Katara and the boys each into their own block of ice with just their heads and hands sticking out.
There were probably worse ways to be escorted into the city, but for the life of her, Katara couldn't think of a single one. Being wrapped up in ice reminded her of King Bumi and his jennamite, and although she could have easily broken herself free, there wasn't much use in trying, not when she was surrounded by much bigger, much older waterbenders. What good would it do to break herself out when the warriors were right there, ready to freeze her up again?
The only good thing she could see in this whole situation was that they'd made it into the city. If they were here, then maybe they'd get a chance to explain themselves properly. The warriors hadn't seemed to listen when she and Sokka had tried to explain that they were from the Southern Water Tribe, or that she and Aang needed to find a waterbending master, but maybe the chief would listen. Maybe someone would believe that Aang was the Avatar. It seemed unnecessary to explain any more than that. Katara was Water Tribe. She shouldn't need any special Avatar exception to stay in the city and learn her own element.
"Okay, this is getting ridiculous," Sokka hissed when the warriors unloaded them in front of a grand, graceful ice building and disappeared through the arched doorway. "Both of you stop playing around and get us out of here."
Katara looked at Sokka, then at Aang, then back again. "Sorry, what?"
"The ice! Break us out!"
"Sokka—"
"I don't think that's a very good idea," Aang chimed in.
"Why not? We're stuck in ice. You're both waterbenders. Maybe it's just me, but I see a connection there."
"No, really?" Katara asked, voice thick with sarcasm. It would be easy enough. All she had to do was clench her fists and the ice would begin to crack, but what was the point? "What would we do then, Sokka? We want to be here, remember? Do you want us to run away without learning anything after we traveled all the way around the world?"
"Exactly," Aang agreed. "I thought you were supposed to be the plan guy, Sokka."
"I am the plan guy." His voice crept higher, and he squirmed inside his block of ice. "Excuse me for not being able to think very clearly when my tender bits are freezing off."
"Ew!" Katara said. "Don't be gross, Sokka."
"It's not gross, it's anatomy! And my anatomy is about to freeze off!"
Katara scowled. If her arms were free, she'd whack him for that. In fact, she was a little tempted to unfreeze her arm for just a second to do exactly that.
"Thinking about your anatomyisn't very helpful right now," she hissed instead.
Sokka wasn't listening. He squirmed again, staring aimlessly out over the city. "I think it's inside my underwear. How'd they get the ice all the way in there?"
As if on cue, a man cleared his throat from the doorway.
Katara's retort died on her lips, and her face grew hot. Maybe this was the most embarrassing way to arrive at the Northern Water Tribe after all.
"If you are quite through discussing your frozen sensitive bits," the old man said, advancing on them, "then Chief Arnook will see you now."
Sokka's eyes bulged, and Katara winced. This guy, with his long gray hair and wispy mustache, somehow looked grumpier than all the other waterbending warriors combined. And considering how poorly the rest of their arrival had gone, that was quite an accomplishment.
With a single, smooth motion, the old man released the three of them from their icy bonds and sent the water in a graceful stream over a railing and back into the canal.
Katara's eyes widened. That was real waterbending. She didn't even care that it wasn't a difficult feat—she could melt ice and move water too, but not like that. That was the kind of control she wanted over her element. Seamless, almost effortless.
She'd get there soon. All she had to do was get through this embarrassing little episode, make sure that they were allowed to stay in the city, then pour everything she had into training. Just like she'd been doing all along, but with a real teacher this time. As soon as she had a chance to start, her progress would skyrocket.
Katara bent the few remaining drops of water out of her hair, then joined the boys in a tight cluster. The old man gave them a look of disgust before he turned his back and motioned for them to follow through the grand, icy archway. Like the rest of the city she'd seen so far, the corridor was elegant and glistening, all different shades of icy blue. It was all so different from anything she'd ever seen. At the South Pole, they mostly had tents. Ice and snow were inescapable, but without bending, an igloo could only be built so large before collapse became too great a risk. At the South Pole, shelters of sealskin and whalebone were more reliable and far easier to maintain.
But the North Pole clearly had waterbenders to spare, and the pristine, graceful buildings shaped entirely out of ice proved it. She wondered if the South Pole would look anything like this if even half the benders were still there. The walls surrounding the Northern Tribe seemed like a bit much—didn't they ever have to reach hunting and fishing grounds outside the city? But aside from the walls, she could almost imagine the South Pole looking like this someday. Maybe when the war was over, Katara could bring that possibility to life.
They passed through another grand archway into a broad, dim chamber where a short set of steps led up to a platform draped with furs. A whole row of people—all men, with the exception of a girl with sleek, white braids—sat cross-legged along the platform, staring down at them.
The old man motioned them to a halt, then marched up the steps and took a spot at the end of the row.
Great. Mister Grumpy Mustache was going to try to throw them out of the city, wasn't he?
"I understand that these are our visitors," the man in the middle said evenly. He sat just a little higher than the rest of the council, and he wore a great number of beaded braids and a large ivory necklace. "Thank you, Master Pakku," he added with a nod toward the old man. "I believe you were correct that our response to their arrival was a bit overzealous."
"Perhaps it was. But at times like these, I believe it's best to treat all intruders with caution," Pakku answered. He looked down his nose at Katara and the boys. "Insignificant though they may be."
Katara bristled. Insignificant? They weren't a threat to the Northern Water Tribe, but that certainly didn't make them insignificant. Even if she and Aang weren't the Avatar, it was still a big deal that they'd traveled all the way here from the South Pole.
"Our patrols have given us a report of your arrival in our waters," the chief said in a measured tone, a good deal more gracious than Pakku. Not that it took very much. "This is your opportunity to explain yourselves. I hope you can present a more favorable impression than our patrols have."
She exchanged a look with Sokka, and he mirrored her wince. Whatever the chief had heard about them probably wasn't great.
"So—you heard about the burping contest, huh?" Sokka asked.
The only person in the entire row who gave any reaction was the white-haired girl, who pressed her lips together and looked downward as though suppressing a laugh.
The chief nodded. "Among other things."
"Ouch. That's rough."
This time, even the girl remained stony-faced. Not that Katara could blame any of them. As first impressions went, a burping contest was about as bad as it could get. The arguing had probably made it worse too.
But the chief was still willing to hear them out. That had to be a good thing. If she handled things right, then maybe they could turn this back around.
Katara took a step forward. "Sir, we're sorry for making such a bad impression with your warriors. We've traveled all the way here from the South Pole, and it's been—"
Pakku curled his upper lip into a sneer, which somehow made him look even more prune-like than before. "Perhaps you should let your friends do the talking, little girl."
She stopped short and shot a glance back at Sokka. He raised an eyebrow in response, then shook his head.
"Uh—no, I'm good. I think Katara's got this."
Of course she had this. She wasn't the one who'd been caught talking entirely too loudly about frozen bits of anatomy. She was the one who was good with words. She certainly had a better chance of talking them out of this than Sokka did.
She fumbled a second to find her train of thought again. Of course, her chances of talking them out of this would have been a lot better if that old prune, Pakku, hadn't interrupted her. That took a lot of nerve after she had the chief's permission to speak.
"Right. Um—I was saying that it's been a long journey, and we didn't realize how close we had gotten to the city when the warriors overheard us." She could still feel Pakku's grumpy glare boring into the side of her face, but she wasn't going to let that slow her down. She couldn't. "We didn't mean to show up unannounced, but we didn't know how to send a message ahead. I hope you can forgive us for making such a commotion when we arrived."
The chief nodded graciously, and she felt a little bit better about their chances. At least he was listening.
"My brother and I are from the Southern Water Tribe," she continued. "There are no waterbending masters left at the South Pole, and we've come all this way hoping to find one. That's the reason we're here. All we ask is that we be allowed to stay in the city and work with a master waterbender."
The chief nodded again, though Pakku kept his pruney glare fixed on her. Maybe he just hated outsiders. Or kids. Or both.
"I see no trouble with admitting two children of our sister tribe to our city and its protection," the chief announced. "However, the stranger you have brought with you—"
"Me?" Aang asked.
"Yes. We know very little about you."
Katara knew she'd forgotten something. It was all Pakku's fault for interrupting her.
"I'm Aang! I'm from the Southern Air Temple, and I'm the Avatar, and Katara—"
"Found him frozen inside an iceberg a couple of months ago," Katara finished for him, giving him a significant stare.
They'd discussed this already. Katara's identity didn't matter when they were here. She was from the Water Tribe. Learning waterbending was perfectly normal for her, and besides, it wasn't like anyone would believe that she was the Avatar. She couldn't prove it. She didn't know how to bend the other elements yet, and going into the Avatar State just to prove a point was a little extreme. For now, telling anyone that she was the Avatar had to be a last resort.
Luckily, Aang took the hint. "Oh. Yeah. And since I still need to learn waterbending, we thought that we could learn together."
The chief looked between the three of them. "Then all of you are benders?"
"No," Sokka scoffed. "Not me. No way." He earned a glare from Pakku and tried to backtrack. "Uh—not that there's anything wrong with being a bender, but—"
"Thank you," the chief interrupted. "I understand." He looked both ways down the platform until he got an acknowledgement from every member of the council. "That will do. The three of you may step out. We will reach a decision shortly."
Author's Note:
Please look at what I titled this chapter. Really stare at it.
I don't know if I should be proud or ashamed of that one, but it's out there in the world now, and I'm not changing it. This is who I am as a person, I guess. I hope anyone who's made it this far in the fic isn't surprised by my INCREDIBLY DUMB sense of humor.
I'm both excited and a teensy bit nervous to get started on the Northern Water Tribe plotline, because there are some... kind of gaping holes in my plans. I'm sure I'll figure it out when I get to those spots, but the things that I have planned... ;) it's gonna be fun, I promise.
I'm still on track to keep updates coming every two weeks, and I'm almost done drafting my Big Bang fic, which means I'll be able to spend more time drafting future Ice & Smoke chapters! Gaaaaah, I'm so excited! Also slightly overwhelmed, because my Big Bang fic got MUCH bigger than I expected, which means I have an insane amount of editing to do, and now I guess I'm writing for the Zutara Wedding Zine too? I'm keeping up with everything (somehow), but I really need some kind of time-stopping machine so I can have more free time for all these fics. It's gonna be awesome, though. Lots of Zutara content, and I hope you'll all enjoy it!
