Corresponding Hearts Chapter 4
MidnightJade
Notes:
/insert thoughts here/
Again, Not mine just using them for my own delight. BWAHAHAHA
Anyway, please enjoy!
He couldn't believe what he was reading. It was a letter to Katara from Zuko. But, why? What reason did Prince Zuko had in writing anything to Katara and why didn't she show this to them? Didn't she trust them, him? What in the world was going on?
In the letter, Aang read, Zuko was looking for explanations from Katara and if he wasn't mistaken, was the fire prince offerin his help?
/Is this true? That would be great! But is it true? Did Katara write him back? I still don't understand why she didn't tell me about this./
"Aang. Hello, Aang. Earth to the Avatar! HEY!" Aang shook himself from his self monolog to look over the saddle into the waiting gazes of his friends. He made instant eye contact with Katara, trying to read anything in her eyes that would give him answers to his questions.
"Hey Aang, have you got the stuff? What happened to you up there? We've been calling you for a while now!"
"Sorry Sokka." Aang glided down to stand by his friends. "I guess I dozed off waiting for Katara to finish. Here are the supplies Katara."
Aang handed the gauze and wraps over to Katara, still watching her as closely as he could without raising any kind of suspicion from the water bender. He knew that he needed to talk to her about this, but not now, maybe after they all got a good nights rest.
"See Katara, I told you you were taking to long with you freaky water bending, voodoo healing, magic trick. You put Aang to sleep."
Katara pulled back and punched her brother as hard as she could on his uninjured arm. "Shut it! Is that the thanks I get for healing your sorry butt?"
"Ouch! Katara, that hurt!" said Sokka as he rubbed his now injured upper arm.
"Well good! I'm glad it hurts! Next time you can get your girlfriend to heal it for you! You know the one I'm talking about, the same girl that gave you the gash in the first place!"
At this point Katara was screaming at the top of her lungs. She really wasn't angry at Sokka, it was just the memory of a certain fire prince and the wear on her body from all the running that finally caught up with her, making her both mentally and physically exhausted.
"Alright you two, calm down." Aang stepped between the two, successfully tearing them apart before they could tear each other apart.
"Why don't we all turn in for the night and get a good night's rest? I think we all need it." Aang turned his head to look at his two flying companions.
"You too Appa, Momo, lets go to sleep."
Appa and Momo made their sounds of agreement and quickly fell fast asleep.
/Man, I envy them! Wish I could go to sleep that fast.
Toph, I miss you. What am I going to do about Katara? I
wish you were here//
The sun barely broke the horizon when Katara rose from her sleep.
Her dreams troubled her all night, filled with images of gold and red
swirling around and consuming soft shades of blue and silver. A
light sheen of sweat covered her as she rose from her sleeping bag.
/Uugh. I need a bath. That was weird. I wonder what it meant. "You know exactly what it meant Katara. You're thinking about him, even subconsciously, you can't stop thinking about him." Oh great! Now, I'm talking to myself./
Katara looked around their camp to see Sokka snoring softly, locked in a peaceful dream. She envied him his ability to do that. As her eyes scanned the rest of the group, she spotted Momo snuggled deep in Appa's fur, making a solid nest were he laid. Appa, unfazed by his bed mate, slept soundly. The only one that was missing from their small group was Aang.
/I wonder where he is. I guess he had the same idea I had and went to freshen up./ Katara decided to wait for his return before she would take her turn in the river. An hour had passed and Aang still had not returned. Katara began to worry and decided to see if she could find him in the trees that surrounded them.
Iroh forced his way into the closed flaps of his nephew's tent after hearing the distress in Zuko's cries. When he saw the young prince, he was tossing and turning on his matt, the light sheets he used to cover him where now entangled around his legs. His cocooned form seemed to only cause Zuko more distress as he was trying to fight his way free.
"Zuko. Zuko! Wake up! Prince Zuko wake up!" Iroh deftly grabbed Zuko's shoulders and shook him violently, trying to save his nephew from what ever demon that possessed his dreams.
"Un…. Uncle…. Is that you? Uncle, what's going on?"
"That's what I'd like to know. It seems that you were having very troubling dreams. Is there something that you would like to share with me, Prince Zuko."
Zuko tried to recall the fleeting images of his nightmare, trying to grasp any image that would shed light as to why he was currently tangled in his own sheets. The fog in his mind receded slightly to show a field covered in blood. There were bodies everywhere; Water, Earth, Fire, no one was excluded from the carnage. His own body held the signs of a great battle. His left arm was dangling limp and useless at his side. Cuts, burns and darkening bruises marked his face. It took all his strength just to stand. He remembered moving through the sea of bodies looking for something. He wasn't sure what it was that he had lost, but he knew that he just had to find it. Finally, there in a low valley, lay a figure shrouded in torn blue shreds of clothing. Their hair, loose from its bindings, was obscuring their face. The blood that surrounded them, made it difficult to see any other identifying details. Ever so carefully, Zuko knelt down and pulled the hair away from their face. Then the screaming started. It was Katara, the water bender that had plagued his dreams. Her body was so badly abused; it was almost too much to bear. This is what he lost and he just wanted to die from the pain.
"Zuko, Zuko, snap out of it!"
"What, oh, I'm sorry. What did you say?"
Iroh gave his nephew a concerned looked, trying to gauge the damage to his poor psyche.
"I asked if there was something you would like to share with me concerning your night tremor."
Zuko disentangled himself from his sheets and sat on his mat looking at his uncle, trying to decide if he should confide in the wise general or not. His uncle had always been there for him. Ever since he could remember, he was the only one that didn't turn his back on him. No matter what trial Zuko found himself in, his uncle was always by his side. How could he not trust him now? Especially when Zuko knew that he might be making the hardest decision in his life. He let out a long awaited sigh as he turned from his uncle to stand outside, facing the morning horizon.
General Iroh thinking this to be a dismissal of the subject, followed his nephew outside and was about to leave him alone with his thoughts when Zuko's soft voice held him in place.
"I don't now what I should do uncle. I mean I think I know what I should be doing, but I don't know if I have the strength or the courage to do it. What am I going to do?" He turned his head to look at his uncle. The weight in his eyes made him look much older then his current years.
"Zuko." Iroh waited until he received Zuko full, focused, attention before continuing. "Does this have anything to do with the remains of the letter that you burned from a certain bender of water?" The corner of Iroh's mouth twitched upwards as he locked his eyes with that of his nephews.
"What? How did… How did you find out about that? I swear I burned that thing."
"You did, but apparently a small fragment escaped your furry. You really should learn to control that you know? The only thing that was legible from the scrap was a few words, which I could only assume was an ultimatum of your acceptance; maybe into a certain trio that I could mention. What is going on Prince Zuko."
He knew that he had been found out. He couldn't keep his conflict to himself and he was glad that it was finally in the open. No more hiding within himself.
"I know what I must do now uncle. Nothing else matters to me except the safety and the secure future of my people; not my crazy family, my abandonment nor my forsaken honor. All that matters is them and I'll do anything within my power to insure that they have those things. If the only way I can accomplish this is to make good with the avatar and his followers, then so be it." Zuko stood in front of his uncle with his shoulders back and his head held high. He wanted to show his uncle that he was serious and that he would see this through.
His uncle gave his nephew a huge smile and gathered him in his arms, startling the poor teen. "Oh, my nephew, how can you say that your honor is forsaken when you have just shown me that you have more honor than I have ever witnessed from a member of our family. I am so proud of you." Iroh released Zuko as a sudden thought struck him as odd.
"You say that this is all about helping the Avatar and joining the Avatar, yet you wrote your letter to the water bender girl. What was her name again? Oh yes, Katara. Why was that?" Zuko's cheeks turned the slight shade of pink as he quickly turned away from his uncle.
"Because, uncle, she showed incredible kindness to you when I thought Azula might have killed you. She didn't have to. We were the enemy and yet she seemed to throw all of that away, just so she could help you. I didn't understand that, I still don't think I get it. I just wanted to find out why. That's all and I wanted to offer the Avatar any help that he might need. If I'm not mistaken, he still needs a fire bender to show him how to manipulate our element. But it doesn't matter anymore."
"And why do you say that?"
"Because, uncle, you should have read the entire letter. She wants me to perform for her like some common actor in a play. She wants me to prove that I mean what I say. It's… it's …its INFURIATING!"
Iroh let out a laugh that was so hard he had to bend over to hold his sides.
"What are you laughing about?" Zuko couldn't understand what his uncle found so funny about his situation. Couldn't he see that he was in turmoil, not knowing what he should do now in order to achieve his new found purpose.
"I'm laughing, Prince Zuko, because I think it is funny. Why do you find it so infuriating, when I think it was very smart of the young girl to demand what she did of you."
"What?"
"Come now. Turn the situation around. If she were to suddenly inform you that she wanted to leave behind everything that she knew and loved to fight for your cause, wouldn't you be suspicious? Wouldn't you want to test the bender's loyalty by asking her to perform certain acts to prove her words?"
Zuko had nothing to say. How could he when he knew that he uncle spoke truth?
"I hate you." Zuko turned from his uncle breaking down his tent and gathering his belongings.
"Well hurry up. We're leaving." Iroh's laugh turned into small chuckles that shook his shoulders.
"And where are we going my prince."
"East. We're going to track down the Avatar."
"Hmm, and am I to assume that we aren't trying to catch him this time."
"No uncle, we're not. We're going to help him, whether Katara, or any of them for that matter, likes it or not."
Katara made her way through the thick maze of trees, trying to find any sign of where Aang could have gone.
"Aang, Aang, where are you? Can you here me? Aang come out where I can see you." Katara kept walking forward, steering her way towards the sound of the river. At least there she could be surrounded by her element and regain her bearings.
The sound of the peaceful river flowing by did a lot to sooth Katara's troubled mind. She still couldn't find Aang, but she knew that he was alright. He was the Avatar after all and she knew that if anything did happen, he would have done something to let them know.
"Katara." Aang's whispered voice floated behind her back. She spun around surprised to see her friend standing closely behind her.
"Aang! There you are I was looking…" Aang put his hand up, stopping Katara mid sentence. He looked at her and she could see that something was troubling him.
"We need to talk."
"Aang, what's wrong? Did some…." Aang pulled the folded piece of paper from his pouch and help it in front of her face. She didn't need to see it unfolded, to know exactly what it was. She had read it over and over many times.
"Where did you get that?" Her demeanor turned from worrying for his safety to worrying, now, about his reaction.
"When I was searching for the medical supplies from you pack everything fell out and this was hiding underneath the package of wraps. What's the meaning of this Katara? How long did you have this and why didn't you tell me about this? Did you write him back? Don't you trust me anymore?" Aang's face had fallen. His expression was so sad that Katara had to restrain herself from rushing him and taking him into her arms.
"That isn't it! Of course I trust you!"
"Then why didn't you tell me about this?"
"Because, Aang, I wanted to make sure that it wasn't some kind of trap from him trying to bring down our guard so that he could capture you again and yes I did send him a response. I did it to see if he was truly sincere about what he wrote in that letter, but I haven't heard back from him and it's been nearly three weeks since I sent it. Besides, I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you because I was the cause he was close enough to you to try anything. Please try to understand. I didn't keep this from you to hurt you. I did it to protect you."
"I don't need your protection!" The blow couldn't have hurt if he had physically struck her, as it was the corners of her eyes were prickling from unshed tears. She couldn't look him in the eyes anymore, so she lowered her own to the floor. The silence between them was deafening. The seconds that passed between them felt like hours to her as she waited for him to say anything.
Aang had to take that time to calm down himself. Now that he knew the reasoning behind her actions, it did make sense. Though he wished she would have come to him when this first happened.
"Katara, it's ok. What's done is done and I understand why you did what you felt like you had to do." Katara raised her head in the hopes that she would find forgiveness in Aang's eyes, but when she locked her eyes on his, what waited for her was one of him famous smiles. She smiled back.
"Thanks Aang. I'm sorry. I should have shown it to you as soon as I got it. So, what do we do now and… does… does… Sokka know?" Aang laughed lightly at Katara's concern. He knew she had all rights to her concern. Sokka was not going to be happy when he finds out about this.
"No, not yet he doesn't. I wanted to hear your explanation before I mentioned anything to him. You do know that we are going to have to tell him, don't you?"
"Yeah, as much as I would love to keep him in the dark about a lot of things, I know that he has to be told sometime." Katara stood quietly for a moment considering the best way to approach her touchy brother.
"Ok as soon as I take a bath we'll let him now."
"What? Really, so soon?" Aang was a little surprised by Katara's willingness to inform her brother of the letter she received from the Fire Nation's Prince. He just hoped that Sokka wouldn't overreact too much.
"Yeah, if I have to do this, I'm going to do it as soon as possible. If I've learned anything from our travels together; it's that the more Sokka is kept out of the loop the worse it gets…for everybody." The smile that graced Katara's face let Aang know they were alright and that they were going to do this together. He had an idea.
"Hey Katara."
"Hmm?" She turned her attention from the river back to Aang.
"Feel like writing another letter?"
Ok that was the end of part 4! Super Duper longer then my other three chapters! Yeah, I just couldn't stop writing. Well I hope you like-y.
Kisses- Jade
