Water
The Breach
Much as Katara hated to admit it, there was something to be said for Zuko's pessimism at the moment. She didn't like it. Looking at the world around them and just bracing for every possible way that things could go wrong was uncomfortable. But with a face-eating spirit on the loose, a hole blasted through the city wall, and a ship's worth of firebenders now pouring through the gap, it was hard not to acknowledge that he had a point. Things weren't going well. And though it was difficult to imagine them getting much worse, she couldn't exactly see how they were supposed to get better either.
They hovered as close to the intact stretch of wall as they dared, both perched out on Appa's neck. From here, the battle was starkly visible out on the horizon, and the single ship that had squeezed past the lines sat uncomfortably close.
"At least it's only the one ship," she said hesitantly. From the look of it, the waterbenders were still holding off the rest of the fleet without much trouble, and the warriors left in the city were swarming in to fend off the firebenders as well as they could. They might be able to do this.
Zuko frowned. "But it's Zhao's ship. Exactly the one we don't want getting into the city."
Though they weren't actually cold, Katara rubbed her hands together. "That means that it's your crew and your uncle, though. Right? So maybe—maybe they won't all be as bad as they could be."
She couldn't miss the tension in his jaw when she glanced over at him. Right. His crew. His uncle. People he wanted desperately to protect all mixed in with the ones they needed to defeat. Of course this was going to be more complicated than she'd expected.
He frowned. "Let's just focus on Zhao. If we can take him out somehow, then—maybe the rest of them will retreat."
"Do you think so?"
Zuko grimaced. "Wish I knew. But—I don't know. I guess stranger things have happened." Narrowing his eyes, he leaned a little farther forward and pointed to a building a few blocks away from the hole in the wall. Far enough from the fighting to keep Appa mostly out of sight, and yet near enough for them to creep up without losing too much time. "Can you take us down over there?"
"I think so." Katara pulled on the reins, and Appa swung around in an arc toward the alley behind that building.
Once they had landed, Zuko grabbed her by the hand and pulled her down from Appa's neck, then dragged her off toward the corner. If he was worried about his uncle and his former crew, he wasn't giving much sign of it at the moment.
"What's the plan?" she hissed as he pulled her tight against the wall when they neared a corner. "Or is there a plan?"
Zuko's mouth compressed into a thin line, and he darted out from the corner, still pulling her along. "There's—a beginning of a plan. That's better than nothing, right?"
"Usually," she conceded.
"Then I have the start of a plan." He pressed back against another wall and paused for a moment.
"And? I doubt I'll be very much help if I don't at least know what the idea is."
Zuko frowned. "Well, wherever Zhao is, he's not going to stick with the others for long. That's not how he works. If he even suspects that someone else might try to take credit for getting rid of the moon spirit, he's not going to let them come along."
"So—we might be able to catch him alone?"
He nodded. "I hope so. It shouldn't be that hard, right?"
Katara frowned. "I guess we'll figure that out as we go."
He grimaced, clearly not as confident in his plan as he wanted to be, but after checking around the corner one more time, he pulled Katara along to the left, skirting around the place where most of the noise seemed to be coming from. If Zhao had somehow managed to slip through all of the fighting, if he really knew where to find the Spirit Oasis, then he couldn't be too far off now.
They made it another block or two before Zuko darted out a little too quickly around a corner, and they found themselves face to face with a firebender. With Taro, to be precise.
Katara scarcely had time to recognize him before Taro shot an apparently instinctual burst of flame at both of them. And, in precisely the same instant, Katara pulled a great mass of water in from the side to knock Taro off of his feet while beside her, Zuko retaliated with just enough vibrant red flame to dissipate Taro's attack.
There was a deep, unpleasant thump as Taro's back slammed into the wall, and for a few seconds, everything was quiet again. Zuko stood braced to strike again, Katara drew another bulge of water up from the snow-covered street, and Taro just stared at both of them for what felt like a very long time.
Then at long last, Taro spoke. "Prince Zuko?"
Katara tensed. If he so much as tried to draw attention their way, to get Zuko caught, she would freeze his entire head to the wall. She might not even leave any holes for him to breathe through.
But Taro was still just spluttering. "It's—you're—but I thought that—" The color began to drain from his face.
"Oh, for the love of—" Zuko took a step forward. "Don't you dare pass out again, you stupid—"
It was too late. Taro's eyes rolled back in his head, and he crumpled to the ground.
"Well." Katara stood close by his shoulder while Zuko stooped to check Taro's pulse. "That was easier than I expected. If we can just do that a few dozen more times, this fight could be over pretty quickly."
Zuko shot a glare back over his shoulder. "Right. Because it sounds like a great idea to walk straight up to all the others and count on them fainting at the sight of my face."
"It worked once," she said, nudging him with her knee. "There are tons of them and only two of us. If we want to stop them, we might have to fight a little dirty."
"Not like this."
"I'm teasing, Zuko." The snow crunched a little, and after a moment, he felt her hand brush against his shoulder. "Is everything okay?"
Zuko shrugged. Truthfully, it was hard to tell. He was fine. Mostly. Running into Taro was undeniably weird—on the one hand, it seemed unlikely that Taro would fight them now that he recognized Zuko, but on the other, on the slight chance that they might have to fight Taro, Zuko wasn't sure he could go through with it.
With a sigh, he pinched the bridge of his nose. Things had been a lot simpler when there was only a face-eating spirit and Zhao to worry about. It was way too easy to forget that his former crewmen were mixed up in this as well.
"Seems like he's fine," Zuko said. If he just pretended that that was all Katara was asking about, it had to help. Right? "At least the ground is soft this time. He couldn't have hit his head too hard. What now?"
Katara frowned, glancing down at Taro for a brief moment. "Well—if we wake him up, what are the chances that he'll tell us something useful? It sounds like most of the fighting is still a few blocks away. I don't think anyone would hear us if we asked a few questions."
"Maybe." Zuko looked down at Taro too. "If he doesn't pass out again."
"Interrogation it is, then," Katara said, drawing up a small amount of water before she let it drop unceremoniously on Taro's face.
Zuko dropped back down to his knees and grabbed both of Taro's shoulders as he coughed and spluttered his way back to consciousness. "Don't even think about passing out on me again, understand? Twice is already too much."
"Twice?" Katara asked. "When else did that happen?"
Zuko shook his head. "Back on Zhao's ship—long story. I'll tell you later." He turned his attention back to Taro. "Are you back? Or do I need to drag you off to a canal and drop you in?"
Taro blinked a few times. "Prince Zuko? You're really here?"
With a groan, he dropped back onto his heels and rubbed his forehead with the heel of his hand. "Yes, I'm here. What do you think I am, a ghost?"
"But you were dead."
"He was never dead," Katara interrupted. "He got close to it for a little while, but nobody died."
Taro's eyes went even wider than before. "Waterbender? But you were both—I saw the ship go down. There's no way that either of you could have escaped."
"Maybe you just lack imagination," Katara said.
"But the explosion—and Admiral Zhao said—"
"Zhao is the one who blew up the ship," Zuko snapped. On an impulse, he reached across and flicked Taro hard in the middle of the forehead. Just like Katara always did to him. "I'm alive, okay? Get past that. There are more important things to worry about."
Taro blinked a few more times. "Why are you dressed like you're Water Tribe?"
Zuko groaned.
"Disguise," Katara said, ticking off points on her fingers, "keeping warm, and annoying a jerk named Hahn. Plus all the rest of his clothes are frozen somewhere inside the city walls."
"Still not the point," Zuko said. He grabbed one of Taro's shoulders. "Focus, would you? I'm not dead, and we need to know where Zhao is going."
"He's—he said that he was looking for a shrine," Taro said. "Sounded like rhino shit to me, but what do I know?"
Zuko interjected before Taro could continue. "And does he know where this shrine is? Does he have a map, or—"
Taro frowned, then shook his head. "I don't think so. Not that I saw, but—you can probably guess how much he trusts the old crew."
"Right. Why would he tell you anything?"
"We're not that incompetent, Prince Zuko."
He huffed. "I know that. And don't call me—ugh." He pinched the bridge of his nose. It was weird to hear Taro call him 'Prince Zuko' again, but now was not the time to argue about that. "I'm just saying that Zhao barely even trusts the people he chose for his own crew. Of course he's not going to trust anyone who used to work on my ship."
"Well, you're right about that. As far as I know, the only person he's really talked to is General Iroh. The rest of us just hear rumors."
With a sigh, Zuko rubbed his forehead again. Of course. Of course one of the few people in the fleet who wouldn't kill him on sight also didn't have any real useful information.
"Which way did he go?" Katara asked. "We don't care about the rest of it. We already know what he's looking for. But if you at least saw which direction he was going when he got into the city—"
"West, I think."
She exhaled. "Then we still have a chance. He doesn't know."
If they could find Zhao. If they could catch up with him before he realized that he was headed in the wrong direction. Still, even that slim chance was the best news they'd gotten in quite some time, and Zuko managed the briefest flash of a smile back at Katara before he turned on Taro again.
He turned back to Taro. "If we let you go, will you do me a favor?"
The skepticism from both Katara and Taro struck Zuko like a wave, but he did his best to ignore that. He knew what he was doing. At least for today. He wasn't going to leave Katara's side for a moment if he could help it, and he wasn't going to let his crew get killed either. If that meant that he had to rely on Taro for a little help, then that was just the way that things would have to be.
Taro finally shrugged. "I've already been on toilet scrubbing duty for three weeks. What else can Zhao do to me? Sure."
"Find the rest of the old crew and make sure that they get out of here safely," Zuko said. "This isn't a fight you're going to win. The waterbenders are still holding off the rest of the fleet just fine, and they're going to be a lot stronger when the full moon rises tonight. I think we both know that Zhao won't care if you and the rest of the crew get out of here alive or not as long as he gets what he wants."
A grimace. "You can say that again."
For some reason, that small hint of agreement was all it took to trigger another avalanche of words. "And there's a giant centipede spirit loose in the city trying to eat people's faces. We're working on that, but I'm not sure where it is right now. Just—if anyone runs into it, try not to show any emotion and apparently things will be fine."
Taro blinked a few times. Then after a sigh, "Giant bugs. Wonderful. That makes about as much sense as anything else, I guess."
"A giant bug spirit," Katara inserted. "And there's only one of them. Don't make this worse than it already is." She shifted a little, and Zuko could almost feel the restlessness in her movement.
He exhaled. Right. They had to get moving now if they were going to find Zhao in time to stop him. Slowly, he pushed to his feet. But then, just before he turned away, another impulse struck.
"If you see my uncle, tell him that I'm okay. We don't exactly have a plan yet, but we're figuring things out. And—I'll see him when this is all over."
There was more that Zuko wanted to say. He wanted to say that he missed Uncle. He wanted to say that Uncle's letter had been confusing and frustrating and almost completely unhelpful until the last minute. He wanted to say that he hoped Uncle was okay and that Zhao hadn't been more awful than usual since Zuko left. That Zuko wasn't taking Uncle's advice, but that he'd made a friend despite himself, and it was—nice. Better than he'd ever expected.
But he couldn't bring himself to say any of that—certainly not to Taro, of all people.
"And since you're already playing messenger," Katara added, "tell the general that we're onto him. We know he's been writing letters to more than just his Pai Sho partners."
Taro looked, if possible, even more confused than he had before, but he shrugged again. "I—sure, I think I can remember all of that."
"You'd better." With a single, smooth motion, Katara pulled the last of the water from Taro's hair. "And if you breathe a word of this to Admiral Zhao, I will hunt you down and make you pay for it."
Zuko gave her a withering look. "Really?"
She shrugged. "It seems fair to me. Zhao tried to kill us once. If he gets another chance because someone gives us away, freezing someone's head to the ground just makes sense."
Taro was still on the ground, legs sprawled out in front of him, and looking confusedly back and forth between the two of them. "What exactly is—this?"
Zuko's face heated. "Just—go, find the others. Get them all out of here before Zhao can sacrifice you all like General Bujing would." Cheeks still burning, he turned back the way that he and Katara had come. "We should go."
Now that they knew which way to look, they were able to find Zhao much quicker than before. Katara landed Appa just about a block away from Zhao, and almost before they touched down, Zuko was already sliding from the bison's neck, jaw visibly clenched and eyes fixed straight ahead.
He was in a hurry. She couldn't really blame him for that, but it was still a bit frustrating trying to catch up with him once he started to run. They were a team. She was supposed to stick with him every step of the way.
Luckily, she didn't have to run very far before they reached the next corner and Zuko's pace abruptly slackened.
"Admiral Zhao! Stop right there."
Zhao didn't seem particularly inclined to listen, and there was no sign that he'd recognized Zuko's voice. For all Katara knew, Zhao probably just thought that one of his firebenders had come after him for some reason, and that it couldn't possibly be worth his time to stop and listen. Katara wasn't in the mood to be ignored. With a quick swing of her arms, she whipped a rope of water down the street to snag Zhao by the ankle. Then, slowly, almost gracefully, he toppled face-first into the snow.
Zuko advanced another few steps forward, fists clenched by his sides. "I know why you're here, Zhao. I won't let you go through with it."
As Katara edged forward toward Zuko—hanging back just a bit so that she had ample space to waterbend when it came to that—she scanned hastily around the street. There was snow and ice everywhere, that wasn't a problem. She could throw half the city at Zhao when this inevitably devolved into a fight. But she was less pleased with the street itself. She and Zuko were still in the middle of the block, penned in by the houses on either side with very little cover from attacks that Zhao might throw their way. And Zhao, in the meantime, was very nearly into the next intersection. He could take cover, he could retreat much easier than they could.
Zhao rolled onto his back, and for a moment, the surprise was evident in his eyes. But almost as quickly as it had appeared, the look vanished, and he eased back into a smirk. "Prince Zuko. I can't say that I was expecting to see you again."
"I know you thought I was dead, you murderous coward," Zuko said hotly. "Don't act like we're friendly acquaintances. You tried to have me murdered and then told my uncle it was all an accident."
"Hmm. You would think that I would remember something like that if I'd done it."
"Don't play dumb with me. I know my ship didn't blow up by accident. I could smell the blasting jelly while your men were loading it on board."
Slowly, casually, Zhao began to rise, dusting the snow off of his uniform. "I would be more careful if I were you, Prince Zuko. That's quite an accusation to make without any proof."
Anger began to boil in the pit of Katara's stomach. She'd known all along that it was Zhao who'd placed the blasting jelly—or at least given the orders for it—and she'd heard a lot of the rest. But there was nothing that could quite prepare her for how casual and apathetic he was about the whole thing. It was almost like, to his mind, attempted murder was a perfectly acceptable part of life.
"I heard the lies you tried to tell my uncle," Zuko snapped. "I know that you tried to keep everyone else away while he was supposed to be grieving so you could control him."
"And where is your proof?" Zhao's eyes flicked lazily back to Katara. "Really, Prince Zuko, if you're going to try to prove anything, you ought to think it through a little better. At least bring someone useful along with you rather than this—"
"Don't you dare say a word about her! You tried to kill her too!"
"And why would I do that?" Zhao advanced by a single step. "What possible reason could I have for any of this, Prince Zuko?"
"Stay back," Katara shouted, stepping forward until she was only a pace or two behind Zuko. If she didn't hold her ground, Zhao was going to back them up far enough that they wouldn't have any chance to retreat or escape. "Come any closer to us, and I'll—"
"What? You'll splash me?"
Her temper flared again, and with a quick snap of her wrist, she shot a razor-thin disk of water up to slice one of Zhao's sideburns clean off. Then, when his eyes widened in surprise and he reached up to feel the side of his face, she said, "You've never seen me bend before. Maybe you should be more careful about underestimating me."
Zhao's eyes narrowed, and he opened his mouth as though to speak, but Zuko beat him to it.
"She's a better bender than I am. And don't forget that I've defeated you before."
"That? That was hardly even a duel." Zhao glanced toward Zuko's left arm. "It's a pity that it's not more visible."
Zuko's stance strengthened a little. "You tried to kill me. I'm not stupid, Zhao."
Zhao had the nerve to laugh. "Are you going to attack me, Prince Zuko? Don't be ridiculous. You and I both know that you aren't nearly brave enough for that. Or should I say that your sense of honor is too strong to attack a man who isn't trying to fight?"
"Where did you get the orders to kill me?" Zuko roared.
Zhao smirked. "I'm not sure that order is the right word for it. I would consider it a privilege. And I think you already know who might want to be rid of a disappointment like you."
A sense of foreboding gripped Katara's insides, and then, before she could properly react, Zhao surged forward, launching such a massive gout of flame at the two of them that even Zuko's best effort did little to block it. Katara crashed backward into the ground, and beside her, she heard a grunt as Zuko landed as well.
It wasn't an elegant attack. Based on what she'd seen from Zuko, it wasn't even particularly goodfirebending. But there was power behind it, and for a second or two, she was too stunned to do anything but stare up at the sky. It hurt. She wasn't sure where it hurt, but she was aware of hurting and she was aware of Zhao approaching them both.
There was an ominous laugh, and Zhao spoke again. "All that posturing, and you're just as pathetic as ever. You're useless without the general here to protect you." The snow crunched as he advanced further. "But you were right about one thing. The Fire Lord gave me a task, and I intend to complete it. I will succeed where my men failed."
The world seemed a little hazy around the edges, but she could see the flickering orangish light of the fire dancing over Zhao's palm. She could hear Zuko fumbling in an effort to either rise or to strike back and throw Zhao off before he could attack again. But more importantly, she could feel the ice beneath them now. Thinner than it seemed through the rest of the city—maybe even hollow.
The tunnels.
Before Zhao could finish his gloating and make another move, Katara swung herself around with all the force she could muster, arms drawing a broad arc over her head while her legs looped over Zuko, pinning him in place. Beneath them, the ice cracked, and she and Zuko plummeted into the tunnel atop an uneven, jagged disk of ice.
The air left her lungs in a rush, but she pushed through it as well as she could, melting the disk of ice from beneath them and tossing it back upward to plug up the hole in the street before allowing herself to lie back again. They were safe. At least for a little while, Zhao wouldn't be able to reach them.
It felt like a long time lying still in the cold, dripping dark, listening to herself and Zuko breathing before he finally rustled beside her and sat up, a small flame flickering over one hand.
"Katara?" he croaked. "Are you—"
She groaned. It still hurt to breathe. She probably only had herself to blame for that—the bottom of the tunnel lay a dozen or so feet below the street, and she hadn't done much to soften the landing. And she was almost certain that Zhao had burned her too, though it was still difficult to tell where exactly the flames had left their mark.
Slowly, she sat up, wincing when she tried to support herself on her hands. Ouch. But rather than taking the time to inspect the damage, she pulled a bit of water from the wall behind her, encased her hands in it until the glow pulled all the stinging pain away, then skimmed over her wrists, her face, and her neck just to be certain.
"I'm fine," she said, face still dripping. "A little sore from falling that far, but fine."
By the light of his small flame, she couldn't make out much more than the look of relief on his face, and she leaned in closer, straining to make out any sign that he might have been hurt as well. He'd been closer to the blast, after all. If Zhao had managed to burn her, then surely Zuko must have gotten the worst of it.
"What are you doing—" Zuko began, then broke off at the start of an odd, muffled roaring sound above them. An ominous reddish light pierced through the roof of the tunnel, and the dripping from the ice grew both faster and louder.
Her heart sank, and she scrambled up to her feet as quickly as she could, then reached for Zuko's free hand. "Come on, we have to—"
He gasped in pain, and she looked down just long enough to catch a glimpse of the red, blistering skin on his hands.
"I'm sorry." Katara released his hand and took hold of his elbow instead. "As soon as we're out of sight, I can heal you. Everything will be as good as new, I promise."
It seemed to take a considerable amount of effort for Zuko to rise without brushing his hands against anything, but the moment he was up, he relit his flame and broke into a run alongside her. "You don't need to—my hands are okay. I can still firebend."
Katara shot a glance at him from the corner of her eye. "That doesn't matter, Zuko. He hurt you. You're out of your mind if you think I'm not going to help."
Zuko wasn't sure why he was so intent on pushing away Katara's offer of healing. His hands did hurt. Badly. He'd managed to shield his face from Zhao's attack, and the heavy, dyed skins of his parka had done surprisingly well at protecting the rest of his body, but his hands hadn't been so fortunate. And now, the effort of keeping a flame burning for light, keeping so much heat concentrated so close to his already burned and blistered skin, was making it worse. Still, for some reason, he tensed at the idea of allowing her to heal him.
Maybe a part of him just didn't want to admit how awful it felt. He'd been burned before, worse than this, and he'd always made it through. Maybe the memories were pulling on him too strongly now—maybe if he let Katara help this time, it would awaken too much of the past, too many thoughts about how different everything could have been if he'd known her sooner.
Maybe those thoughts of the past would push him toward wondering about the future. He knew that he wasn't ready for that.
In any case, Katara dragged him to a halt just after they rounded the second corner and doused his flame with a quick splash of icy water. Darkness closed in around them both, so deep, so profound that Zuko had to blink a few times just to be certain that his eyes were really open.
Hands closed softly around his wrists, and he heard Katara whisper, "Hold still," just before a mass of frigid cold encased both hands.
He gasped in both pain and shock at the temperature and tried to pull back, but the cold followed his hands until he managed to steel himself. It still hurt, and the cold was far too much on his burned skin, but almost as soon as he managed to steady his hands, the water began to glow a faint bluish white. He could see his hands again, surrounded by impossibly swirling light, and though it was still faint, the glow cast a silvery sheen over the whole tunnel.
For just a moment, Zuko forgot how to breathe. All he could think to do was watch her—the soft contours of her face lit from below, the tiniest tendrils of dark hair escaping from her braid and gathering in soft, unruly locks around the sides of her face and clinging in streaks across her forehead. There was an unfamiliar twinge deep down in the middle of his chest, and if he didn't know better, he might have almost thought that something in his core was dragging him forward, closer to her.
He almost didn't care what was going on outside the tunnels. He almost didn't care that Zhao was almost certainly moments away from melting the rest of the way through the ice to come after them. He could watch Katara just like this forever.
The glow receded just a bit, and Katara looked up into his eyes, still holding both of his hands encased in the glowing water. "Is that any better?"
Tongue entirely numb, Zuko nodded. His hands were fine. Better than fine. He wasn't entirely certain what that feeling in the middle of his chest was, much less what was holding his voice paralyzed, but that had nothing to do with the burns or her healing. It couldn't.
"Good." She relaxed visibly and started to pull the water away from his hands. "Could you give us some light again? We should probably get out of here as soon as possible."
Face ablaze, he nodded, shook the last of the water from his hands, and allowed a small flame to bloom in the air just over his palm.
Katara studied him for just a second longer. "Are you sure you're okay? You're acting a little—I just want to be sure that you aren't hurt."
It still took a moment before he managed to find his voice again. "No. I'm fine. It's just—it's nothing." He swallowed hard, dragging his eyes away from her. Whatever that feeling in his chest was, he couldn't deal with it now. "I, um—I think I can find the way back to Appa. Or pretty close to him, at least."
There was still a bit of skepticism in her expression, but she took hold of his free hand and squeezed it tight. "That sounds good to me. I think we might need a better plan before we go any farther."
Zuko frowned. His mind wasn't entirely clear at the moment, but it was obvious, even to him, that they were beginning to run out of time.
"I think," he began, "that I might have an idea. About Koh."
He felt Katara's gaze on the side of his face. "What sort of idea?"
"For right now, let's just say that we might have to stop back at the oasis to warn the others first. And after that—you're definitely going to hate the idea."
Author's Note:
This boy. This boy is SO head-over-heels and he doesn't even know it :) But on the bright side, his obliviousness at least keeps him from trying to start any in-depth conversations about things in the middle of battle. Sometime in the future, though... maybe.
I'll be back in two more weeks with Chapter 78, and in the meantime, reviews are much appreciated!
