Hey all, it's been awhile. Longer example in the A/N down below.
Thanks to my reviewers: (TPC) Lightning, Willowdove, GODISAWESOME, (TWG) Zutarawasrobbed, poeticmoonchild, storyofanunknownfangirl, sophiecambellbower, Guest, Slythindor Ren, Zebra Blu, cascada1007, Aetzfeder, Auri Kvothe, StarlightSoulWriting, magerism, ShadowHunted, Cherokee96, and Cacille Tenosky!
Lightning: I've been there and done that with stories! Glad you enjoyed it!
Guest: There is going to be a big event soon where Katara can have lots of jealous attention!
Katara missed Toph. She missed Aiga. She missed Zuko, and he was here in Makapu with her, though you would never be able to guess that they had some wild romance from the way he was treating her.
As soon as they had set their items down in their rooms, General Iroh was asking about this mysterious Aunt Wu, and Zuko was finding a reason to avoid going to see her.
"Oh, she sounds fascinating, she really does...but I think that I need to meet with your Mayor...yes, well, maybe tonight…but everyone else should absolutely go! We don't want to offend our hosts!"
Sokka had tried to jump ship with Zuko, with little success.
"Prince Sokka, you're my assistant. You go where I go," Iroh announced jovially, dragging Sokka back to the convoy that would be going to Aunt Wu's shop in the middle of town.
Prince Zuko had said good-bye to each of the four girls, kissing their knuckles and wishing them a good trip. When he came to Katara, however, she saw him redden and kiss her knuckle like he was licking General Iroh's shoe.
The motion was not missed by anyone.
"What in the world did you do to get him to act like that?" Besu said, snorting.
"Did you two get into a fight?" Ty Lee asked, eyes liquid with worry and sympathy.
"No! We're just…" Katara struggled, "You know how it is sometimes." She flailed helplessly for an explanation. Only Uncle Iroh gave a knowing hum, patting Katara's shoulder comfortingly.
"Do you think this might stay between us?" Katara thought to ask. "If his displeasure is so overwhelming, I'll be gone soon anyway. If not, there's no reason to send certain girls into a tizzy," she said, wincing.
"Certain girls," Alcina hmphed. "You can say Nadhari. We're all friends here," she said, winking. Ty Lee quirked a smile and Besu cackled, nodding. She seemed to be doing much better after the whole ostrich-horse incident. Now that she was on solid land, of course.
"Right?" Alcina prompted, uncertainty coloring her tone.
Katara gave her a smile. She might be on the outs with Zuko and his ultimate bull-headedness right now, but there was no reason to hold a grudge against Alcina. It's not as though Zuko was off limits to her. She was only doing what she was supposed to be doing.
"Of course," Katara said, clasping her fingers. She cared about her friendship with the fire bender far too much to let Zuko come between them.
General Iroh enthusiastically led the way to Aunt Wu's. Katara hung back, having a feeling that Sokka was going to try to slide away from the group, as he was walking slowly near the edge, eyes flashing all around.
"Oh, come on. It might be fun!"
"I just think it's all mumbo-jumbo," Sokka said, "and a waste of time. We could be eating, Katara. Eating." He nearly tripped as his nose followed a scent wafting from the food carts near the square.
"So," Katara started dryly, "Your sister can manipulate water, and your other two best friends can manipulate earth and fire, and you've seen signs of spirits, but you draw the line at fortune telling?"
"Exactly. A guy's gotta make his stand somewhere, or else he'll believe anything," Sokka said, puffing out his chest.
"Or are you afraid to have your future told?" Katara teased.
"What? No. No! I'm not afraid," Sokka waved her off, "I doubt I'll believe anything she says to begin with."
"Then what's the harm of just going in there?"
"Because it's against my morals!" Sokka objected. "The ones that, albeit, I just discovered, but I'm strongly against it."
By this point, they had reached the entrance of the fortune house. The girls at the front were talking amongst themselves. Katara turned to go back to them, but caught Sokka trying to scoot into a side alley.
"No you don't!" she said.
Iroh, at the front, was looking around. "Prince Sokka? Prince Sokka! Oh, there you are! Come up here, right in the front by me," he said, grinning. Katara almost wondered if he was doing this intentionally, bothering Sokka, but General Iroh was more refined than that...right? Sokka cussed, holding up his hands in a defeated motion.
Katara made sure he went to the front. He was as slippery as a whale-eel when he was skiving off doing something he didn't want to do.
Ty Lee spun to the girls, tapping her chin.
"What do you all want to know? Is it silly for me to want to know about love?" Ty Lee asked, sighing.
"Not at all," Katara said, although Katara knew that Ty Lee would not be asking about Zuko, as the rest may assume she was. To the point, Alcina was looking at her warily, sure she was trying to get a leg up in the competition. Besu…Katara couldn't tell if she cared one way or the other. She seemed aloof concerning most things. No, driven. Focused. On winning Zuko's heart? Katara was unsure.
"I'm torn. I'd like to know about that, but there are other things I'm worried about," Ty Lee admitted. "What about you, Besu?"
"Nothing specific," she said, but it absolutely sounded like she had something specific she wanted to find out. "Alcina?"
"Oh, spritis...just about everything." She gave a creaking laugh. "I guess that my sister is…" She trailed off. "Just that she'll find happiness."
"Oh, right," Besu said, looking sympathetic, "How's she doing since she was kicked out?"
"Sent home," Alcina corrected sharply. "Fine," she added, but her confidence was only surface-level.
"What about you, Katara?" Ty Lee switched swiftly.
"I'd be happy with anything," Katara said. "The world is unpredictable. Even knowing one thing may be helpful, whatever category it falls into." She wasn't sure if she could hear a truthful fortune about her love life right now, Tui and La!
"Ah! Aunt Wu has been expecting you all," a tall, thin man said, greeting them at the doors with a bow. Alcina's breath increased, her eyes sparkling. Sokka saw and rolled his eyes.
"Well, duh! Everyone in town, once again, knows we were arriving. Plus, someone could have ridden ahead…"
"Or she saw it in the future!" Alcina argued.
"Fine! Look, I can make a prediction." Sokka coughed dramatically. "In the next minute, the six of us will walk through that doorway. Oooh, spooky, I can tell the fuuuutuuureee toooo," he said, wiggling his fingers dramatically as the six started through the door. When Alcina moved toward the door, though, she suddenly squeaked right outside.
"Ouch!" she moaned, holding up her foot to show a large thorn stuck into her heel. She sniffled, carefully extracting it as Ty Lee twittered next to her.
"Can you walk on it, Lady Shen?" Iroh asked.
"Yeah, darn, that just really hurt," Alcina said, limping through the doorway.
"Hey genius," Besu said, grinning at Sokka. "It was over a minute. You were wrong. Only five of us went through the doorway in a minute."
While Sokka was sputtering incoherent arguments, Ty Lee just kindly patted his shoulder. "Some people just don't have the gift, Sokka. Don't take it personally."
Katara did wonder what Ty Lee thought about all of this. She could see auras, or so she claimed. Was seeing the future on the same line of deeper thinking?
There were six cushions inside. Sokka sat on one immediately, drawing into himself and crossing his arms. Iroh started talking to Sokka about something, drawing his attention away from the gilded room.
There was a yelp of joy from the door to their left. A woman in green came out. "Oh, thank you! I just found out the love of my life is going to give me a rare panda lily!"
Ty Lee gave an 'aww'. Sokka either was trying to ignore this entirely or didn't hear.
"I'm happy for you! I hope we'll be getting an invitation to the wedding," a second voice said.
Sokka whipped around so fast that Katara was almost sure that he almost snapped his neck.
"Woah, where's the fire?" Alcina giggled.
"I just…" Sokka said faintly, eyes scanning. Something about that voice had sounded familiar to Katara, too.
The lady in green waved to the sitting six, a grin as wide as her face stretched out. Following her was a petite girl with unruly hair, likely sixteen or seventeen. She wore a traditional kimono, a deep purple shade that glimmered in the light.
"Welcome, Royal Palace Friends!" she crooned, and Katara blinked in surprise. If she closed her eyes, it sounded like Toph. A much nicer, less swear-prone Toph, but Toph nonetheless. Sokka was scrutinizing this girl too, probably wondering what Katara was, if this might be a long-lost cousin or something. Or, logically, there had to be people that sounded similar to one another out there, right? "Would anyone like some tea or food while we wait for Aunt Wu?"
"Tea!" Iroh said enthusiastically at the same time that Sokka asked for food as though he'd been starving for a week.
The Toph-not-Toph girl vanished and reappeared a couple minutes later with a tray of puffs and a large teapot.
"What's your name, child?" General Iroh asked as she handed him a steaming cup. Sokka attacked the bowl of food.
"Meng. I've been Aunt Wu's assistant for years now. You're in for a real treat."
"So she tells your future?" Ty Lee asked, looking thoughtful.
"Bits and pieces. To know too much is to obsess over it. She tells me what she thinks I can manage to know," Meng said sagely, "and it's always been enough for me."
"So, she's not a fraud?" Sokka asked, mouth full of food. General Iroh sent him a disapproving look and Katara elbowed him.
"You're hardly the first to question it," Meng said. "But nothing we say will convince you. You'll just have to go in there yourself," she said with a casual shrug and a wide, welcoming smile.
Iroh distracted Meng with questions about the tea in the area while the girls nibbled on the food. It seemed like in no time at all, an aged woman was parting the curtains at the doors, coming out.
"Ah, so good to see your faces all in person finally," she said. "Who would like to go first? I can only have one at a time, or else I begin to get mixed signals from your spirits."
No one rushed to offer. Katara wasn't sure if it was because no one wanted to seem too eager, or because they were suddenly caught with a little fear of the future.
"Well, I will. I didn't want to let these lovely ladies feel unimportant, but since no one else is offering…" Iroh said.
"General Iroh, please follow me."
They were gone for maybe ten minutes. In that time, the girls broke out into nervous laughter, unable to contain themselves. Sokka rolled his eyes, continuing to stuff puffs into his mouth.
"These are great, Meng," he said. "So, uh, you've lived here your whole life?"
"Far as I know," Meng said.
"Right, right, cool…" Sokka swallowed. "You...a bender at all?"
While Sokka tried to engage Meng in conversation, Katara curled her legs underneath herself. What did she want to know about her future? Well, perhaps right off, knowing that she wasn't going to die some tragic death would be a fantastic start.
She could ask if she was going to marry Zuko, but she feared the answer. She feared a yes as much as she feared a no.
She still hadn't figured much out by the time Iroh returned.
"I hope that this settles you, General Iroh," Aunt Wu said brightly. "It was a pleasure to look into your future!" She scanned the group. "You next, dear," she decided, pointing to Besu. Besu scurried up, nearly tripping over her pillow.
Katara could tell the other girls were dying to know what Iroh found out, but they stayed quiet. Meng continued to serve them while Katara sighed. If Zuko was here, what would he ask the fortune teller? Would it even be about her?
When Besu exited, she looked exactly the same.
"What happened?" Alcina asked as Ty Lee was led away.
"She was a little vague, but I think I got the answer that I was searching for."
"Of course she's vague! She's just throwing things at the wall and hoping one will stick!" Sokka said, waving his hands around. "That's not magic, that's guessing."
Ty Lee looked brighter when she returned. She gave a thumbs up the group.
"She probably hasn't ever told anyone a bad fortune," Sokka hissed under his breath. "Then she wouldn't have any customers."
"Visiting Aunt Wu is completely free," Meng said. "She always uses her vision for the good of the community!"
"Me next?" Alcina said, starting to stand.
"Dear girl, your question is overwhelming my senses," Aunt Wu laughed. "And I have an answer; it will be a noble year for twins."
This seemed to ease Alcina, who let out a long breath. "Thank you so much!" she said.
"That's all you need? Don't you want a full reading?" Sokka asked, shaking his head, as though someone disappointed in her.
"I guess I really only had one overwhelming question and she just answered it." Alcina said, "Nothing else matters as much."
"If there was more to say, the spirits would have told me to bring her back, but as it is, they were resounding about that," Aunt Wu agreed.
"Katara, you next," Sokka said.
"Actually, boy, I'll take you." Aunt Wu said.
"Uh, no. I don't need my fortune read," Sokka shrugged.
"I think you might want to hear what I have to say."
Sokka exchanged a weird look with Katara but followed her nonetheless. Katara sat back down, already having been ready to follow her.
"Princess Katara, that's your name, right?" Meng questioned, "More tea?" Katara hadn't even realized that she'd had all of hers until she was staring at the bottom of her cup.
"Sure."
"Look," Meng started uneasily, "You can tell your brother I'm flattered but-"
"What?" Katara blinked.
"He's been flirting with me this whole time. Asking me questions and stuff," Meng said. Katara frowned. He had been making a big effort to talk to her. "Aunt Wu told me I was gunna marry a guy with big ears, and no offense, your brother's ears are average."
"Erm, thanks? I'll let him know," Katara said, blinking at the interaction that had just occurred.
Sokka was in with Aunt Wu the longest, nearly fifteen minutes. When he reappeared, he looked sallow.
"So?" Katara prompted.
"It's not true. She's just...she's not…" Sokka spat out. "I stand by it. Fortune tellers are all phonies," he said firmly, but seemed unwilling to share what he'd heard or explain his sudden caginess.
"Princess?" Aunt Wu waited for her at the door.
Katara gathered herself, still unsure what she wanted to know, if anything at all.
The room was cozy. There was a scent of burning incense lingering and a warm fire. It made her outfit feel a little too heavy and she wished she could strip her layers. As it was, it was unlikely she'd be in here for a long time. She fanned herself with her fingers the best she could, wishing she was an airbender so she could do something as stupid as cool herself off.
Katara sat on a bigger, softer cousin that was in the middle of the room. Katara mused upon the methods that she'd seen in their short time.
"You're wondering how I see the future, dear," Aunt Wu said.
"A little, but well, everyone must...don't they?" Katara asked, craning her head up to the cloth-covered ceiling.
"You'd be surprised. Many are simply complacent with their place in the world, wondering no more or no less than what's outside their doors each day. They are pleased with simple predictions; if it will rain tomorrow or if they'll have a safe journey in three days. Very few question things and seek deeper truths."
"So I'm different?" Katara raised an eyebrow. "So...I ask a question and you...magic the answer somehow? Bring it forth?"
"No. There are many ways to divine the future or deeper truths. Ty Lee sees people, I see time. We are not dissimilar. Rather, the truths to the future exist around everyone. They are not something I am pulling from the bottom of a lake, but we are swimming in, at any moment. I have just learned how to best interpret the answers and sharpen what you seek," Aunt Wu said. "It's like a swarm of bees above your head. I just find the exact bee you have a question about, but all the other bees do not fail to exist."
"Ah," Katara said absently. "What if I have no question that I wish to ask?" she asked in a soft voice.
"That is fine, Princess. You are open to any sort of response from the spirits, that is good." Aunt Wu held out a basket of animal bones. "These will help me seek through your spirit aura. Choose one and throw it on the fire," she instructed.
Katara felt her fingers draw her to a long, curved one. She looked at Aunt Wu, who only gave her an encouraging smile. Katara threw it onto the fire. It crackled and sizzled, until Aunt Wu fished it out with a pair of tongs.
"Mhh, so, I see you're a native-born Fire Nationer. Water is important to you," she began, looking over the bone's crackled edge at Katara.
"One out of two." Katara couldn't help but wince. It was pretty obvious she was Water Nation, wasn't she?
Aunt Wu looked deeply distressed. She looked at the bone again, then back at Katara. Katara half expected her to fake some reason why she'd flubbed her original reading, but she instead just ignored it and moved on. Her face was set into a frown, like she couldn't make sense of something.
"Okay, well, you made a great sacrifice for your town, did you not?"
Katara felt uneasiness settled over her, "Tribe, but erm, well, yes I suppose I did."
Aunt Wu looked more relieved that she'd been able to see that, though Katara wasn't sure it made her feel okay.
"And would you say that you are a voice for those who did not have a voice? That you performed a selfless act for your people?"
"In a way, perhaps," Katara said, gnawing on her lip.
"Also, did you-" Aunt Wu broke off, face pale.
"What?" Katara asked, breath increasing. "Tell me, what do you see?" she asked, leaning forward nearly over the fire, desperate to know what caused such a paleness to the woman's face.
"It says here you died."
"I'm going to die?" Katara echoed, her voice cracked in terror and anguish.
"No, that you did. Have you ever had a near death experience?"
Katara thought back. "Well, I mean...another contestant tried to poison me. Unsuccessfully, but I suppose…" Katara swallowed hard. "Would that count?"
Aunt Wu did not look convinced. "Yes, yes. That must be it."
"Oh, well, that's a relief...I guess…" Katara tried to ignore the urge to get up and leave now. "Does it say something about my future?"
"It seems to be intertwined with your future, your past that is." Aunt Wu turned the bone every which way. "It's hard to untangle the two from each other. This, Princess, is not something I've come across before. It's most peculiar…" she said, "But...yes, I think this is part of the future, your future," she added, which Katara found a weird thing to specify.
"Yes?"
"You will be in a fight. It will have a great sacrifice, but your rewards will end up being exactly what you seek. You will find your companion where you least expect it. It will be a child of a dark dragon and humble girl. "
Katara thought back to what Sokka had said about Aunt Wu just throwing out phrases with the hope one hit home. She couldn't help but feel a little let down.
"It's not more clear?"
"I'm sorry, Princess, but this is a very strange bone reading," she said. "I wish I could be of more assistance."
"No, no." Katara felt her hands shake. "I suppose you've been most helpful."
She stood, bowing to the elder. She couldn't help but feel like her legs were shaking hard as she walked outside.
It had to be talking about the tournament. What sacrifice would be made? And what was that she sought after the tournament? Zuko? Her people's salvation? Both? How did Aunt Wu know the answer to that if Katara herself did not even know?
Or maybe the spirits knew and Katara did not!
And the comment about her companion. Did that mean romantic love? Best friend? Partner in crime? But it sounded an awful lot like Zuko and his parents, did it not?
Spirits, Katara had more questions than she did when she walked in!
"Hey Kat. Were the answers of the universe unveiled to you?" Sokka asked sardonically.
"Maybe," Katara replied tightly. "I guess it's a lot to think about."
"Everything...okay?" Sokka asked, realizing she wasn't hitting him or yelling at him.
"If I choose to believe it, it's just a lot to take in," Katara said, unwilling to share her concerns with him. "What now, General Iron?" she asked, specifically turning around to their leader.
"Well, Meng was just telling me about the most wonderful little tea shop near a market! If you ladies would like that, we might as well make the most of our day while Prince Zuko handles some boring meetings…"
XXxxXX
"Can't believe that we lost those airbenders again," Aang overheard one of the other soldiers grumble.
"Well, they're literally light on their feet," another whispered in the darkness of their camp for the night. "And now they have to know we're after them."
"Yeah, but what about good ole turning on thy neighbor? I'm surprised we haven't had better luck."
"Zhao's pissed," a third voice said, shuddering. "If we don't find at least one soon…"
"Where do you think they're going?" the first voice asked again. Aang rolled himself more snugly in his night furs, trying not to be obvious he was eavesdropping, but terribly curious. His fingers played with a long roll of fishing twine, distracting them from shaking.
"Airbenders?"
"Well, they could be anyway. They can fly," the second whispered in awe.
"No, they can ride the wind, idiot," the first said, and Aang heard a thump as they hit him across they head. "But they can climb things easier, I'd bet. Maybe we just need to start looking in the trees," he laughed, the joke funny only to him.
"Little vermin," the third one spat. "I hate having to hunt 'em like this. Who thought they'd be so intelligent?"
Aang tried not to inhale too sharply, too angrily.
Calm, my brother, Kuruk intoned, Do not let them see your anger.
Aang pressed his lips together. The handful of airbenders that Rasra had managed to find, the five that Zhao had originally gotten the tip about, and three today that Aang had managed to intercept before Zhao and the soldiers found them, and apparently a few more they picked up on their own. Nearly twelve airbenders, all hopefully on their way to the safe-house Zuko had set up.
But it still wasn't enough. If there was still one singular airbender out there that Zhao could kill and torture, Aang's work was not done.
We are walking a thin line, Kasata whispered to the group sitting in Aang's mind. Save too many groups that Zhao was actively hunting and he'd start to wise up that someone was funneling information. They needed to be just getting the word out, somehow.
"Whatcha got there, Prince Kuzon?"
Aang nearly jumped out of his skin. One of the guards near Aang's sleeping furs had noticed what he was braiding in his fingers. The voices of the three whispering guards that Aang had been listening to fell quiet.
Aang did not correct him. Many people assumed he was a prince or a prince-adjacent. It was fine. Aang was so used to being called faux names that it hardly registered as strange at this point.
He sighed. "Nothing much," he said, looking down. It was a simple necklace, braided from a roll of fishing line he'd found near the sea today. There was a soft pink flower in the middle of it. He hadn't realized what he'd done until now...but yes, Ty Lee would like that.
"Ooh, is that for a girl, sir?" the guard asked, eyes glimmering. "Is there going to be another Royal Wedding soon?"
"What? No."
"So you're just casually making your casual hook-up a casual necklace," the guard said, snorting. "Suuuureee."
"Well, I-" Aang turned bright red. "We're not...we haven't even...it's very complicated."
The man shrugged, rolling back. "Did she tell you that? That's what my wife said. One day we were 'complicated' the next day we were 'married'." He laughed. "So watch out, I suppose."
"Do you miss your wife?" Aang asked, realizing he knew very little about all the guards Zhao had tapped for this mission.
"Of course I do. Drives me nuts, but I still love 'er," he said, staring up at the stars. "She's always worried about me. I know it's just airbenders and they used to be all love and peace and all, but we're fighting a new war. Who knows what might happen."
"You'd die for Zhao's war?"
"It's Fire Lord Ozai's, isn't it?" The man frowned. "But what choice do I have? If he says it's for the good of the nation, well, I'm not a Lord so I couldn't know."
Aang was silent for a very long time.
"I think she'll really like it."
"Huh?"
"The girl you're not making it for. I think it's sweet, kid."
XXxxXX
Katara paced in her room that night. Aunt Wu's predictions swam in her head, unable to let her close her eyes for even a second before she was jumping back up, trying to unriddle them.
A great sacrifice; did this mean she was going to lose? Win? Would someone die? Was she going to be horribly injured?
It was all too much for her mind to handle.
"What does she know?" Katara hissed to herself, rubbing her arms. "You are the master of your own fate, not...whatever she sees…" she tried to tell herself, looking out onto the balcony.
She found a tin of water near her bed in case she got thirsty. Katara raised her fingers, lifting the water from the barrel. She started simple, molding the water into soft circles and a long whip, cracking it at a flower pot in the corner, slicing off a petal cleanly.
She made it into a spear in her fingers, feeling the water harden to ice. She made it into a dagger, into a sword, into a great big sphere that rumbled around the room.
Katara made the water dance like a bear on display, sliding her feet along the wooden floor of the room, twisting her wrist and ankles as she swung around. She made an impenetrable shield in front of her, wide and thick and glistening, ready to catch anything that came her way.
She went through all the motions of the waterbending stances over and over and over until she felt sweat drip down her back.
But she still was not satisfied.
On the railing outside was a turtledove.
Katara cautiously opened the double-doors, letting the cool summer's air whoosh over her flesh. Goosebumps rose along her arms as she dipped her fingers into the now-dirtied water from her practicing, letting it coat over her fingers and palms as tight to her skin as a perfect glove.
"Hey, there," she cooed at it softly. "Just...I'm not trying to hurt you, okay?" she asked.
Her last animal to practice on had been a hummingbird. An actual bird was a great deal larger, but Katara felt the desperation freeze her veins with worry.
She stepped into her third stance, sliding her fingers out, trying to reach into the bird to feel the blood that pumped under the feathers.
It was there, like she was trying to grasp a thread billowing in the wind. She clenched her fingers harder, and like lightning hitting her, she was connected.
The bird began to fuss, no doubt feeling its will being taken momentarily, and Katara could feel the animal fighting against her.
"Shh, shh," Katara tried to calm it. "It's okay. Just...move...over...there…" she urged. She could feel it fighting back, but slowly she was able to bend the blood to its foot and make it hop to the other side of the balcony. She could feel its little heart fluttering frantically, terror gripping it.
"I know you're afraid," Katara said, "I'm not going to hurt you. I just need to practice. I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she said, shaking her head. "Okay...let's take flight?"
She cracked her knuckles as she expanded the wings, lifting her fingers as the dove leapt into the air. She made it fly in place for a second.
But, like a rope vine stretched too far, she could feel the connection was close to snapping. Before she could stop the whiplash, the connection broke apart. Katara stumbled forward, spilling her water out the balcony and slamming her lip against the doorframe. The bird made scared trills as it flew far away.
"Awe, crap…" Katara muttered. She raised her fingers to her bottom lip, feeling it bruised and split open. Droplets of blood dribbled onto the floor.
All her water was gone.
Her own blood was water, sure, but she wasn't ready to try that experiment yet.
Sighing, she threw on a robe, careful not to stain it, and creaked the door open to the hotel they were staying in.
It was past moon high, so most were asleep. There was not a single person awake, sans the guards, and Katara recalled where she saw the kitchen was. She would just pop in quick, grab some water, and heal her lip before anyone was the wiser.
She pushed the door open, spying a water pump at the edge of the room. Katara felt some residue of water in the pipe, not wanting to wake anyone by creaking the handle, and pulled it into the basin. Cool water rushed out with a splatter, spraying her hands.
She scooped her fingers in, pressing it against her lip and sighing as the cold water numbed and healed.
Someone grabbed her wrist.
Katara spun to find Zuko, seeming thoroughly exhausted, staring at her hand in the dim light. He looked sooty and weary, wearing just a pair of light shorts and a white cotton undershirt. His uniform was rolled under his arm.
"Why is it that whenever I find you, you're bleeding or about to make someone else bloody?" he asked, spying the smudges of her injury on her skin.
She snapped her hand back. "I see you're talking to me now."
"If I recall," Zuko said hotly, baring his teeth, "You were the one who refused to speak to me."
"You deserved it," Katara said, bending some of the water into a glass with every intention of going back to her room.
"Did you find out your fortune from the seer?" Zuko asked, but there was a hint of malice in his tone. Katara paused, turning.
"You don't believe? How original," she said, in a crappy mood as it was.
"I don't, no," Zuko confirmed, "Not in the way you girls seem to fawn over it."
Katara clenched her jaw, trying to keep from trembling. "Did you just get back?" she asked, changing the subject.
"Yes," he said, yawning. "The mayor took me up the volcano. It's not close to erupting, but I still spent the day helping them fortify the barricades, in case it does." He gave an emotionless laugh. "Had I been smarter, I would have brought you."
"Me?" Katara asked, bewildered.
"Yes. It would have been better if you'd been there to help. I was bending the lava, no small task mind you, and we were just waiting for it to solidify as a barrier. If we could have had someone dousing it with water, it would have hardened faster."
"Sounds like a lot of work," was all Katara could think to say, "Dangerous."
Zuko huffed, shrugging, as though this was per the norm.
"I suppose I didn't quite know what I'd be doing today," Zuko finally said. "And I wouldn't have wanted to put the girls in harm's way," he said, lifting his arm to show a pulsing, oozing crackled wound. A scorched burn. "The lava…." he trailed off, though it needed little explanation.
Katara considered all he'd said. She thought that if she hadn't gone to Wu's, perhaps they could have mended this argument together. Maybe she would not be worried by empty words, as it seemed now, or strange predictions.
But, as it was, Katara was still pissed at him. Sort of.
"So you're willing to risk my life, but not the others? Glad to know I'm expendable," she sighed, motioning for him to come to her. He narrowed his eyes, no doubt wondering if this was some sort of trap, until Katara held up a glowing set of fingers wetted with water.
He came toward her, tripping over his feet as he did so.
"It's not...you could handle yourself. I know that well," Zuko said. "I wouldn't be fussing over you like I would be for Lady Besu, for example." he said, seemingly too exhausted to argue or having reached a point in which he did not want to.
Katara hummed in response, grasping his underarm to twist it upwards, giving her better access. As soon as she ghosted her fingers over the wound, both of them winced. It was no small thing to heal someone, and it produced an intimate reactionary feeling, if you let it. Zuko stayed silent as Katara healed him. She wasn't about to let him go walking around with such a bad open blister, not when it was such an easy fix for her.
There was nothing she could think to say, not until she finished and he pulled back, rubbing his fingers over the newly stitched skin, shiny and sore.
"You look tired."
"You'd be right," Zuko said, leaning against a countertop. "I...I got these for each of you…" he said, pulling a leather square from his rolled items. He unfurled it to show four flowers. "Rare fire lilies. They only grow on the edge of the volcano."
"What a thoughtful and non-personalized gift," Katara said, but took one from the group anyway. Zuko shook his head, about to say something, but he licked his lips and kept it back.
"I'm trying Katara," he finally settled on, a soft whisper.
"Trying to do what?" she asked, halfway in the hallway to her room already.
"Find love," he said, sounding broken. His tone nearly shattered her, but she thought of the past few days between them, and then Wu's prophecy.
She gripped the stem tighter, keeping herself from saying something that would start a fight or make him want to kiss her. Still, it was not within her nature to leave a room utterly silent.
"Goodnight Zuko. Thank you for the flower."
Hey guys.
So, yeah.
It's been a bit.
Early November, my boyfriend of 8 years pretty much broke up with me out of the blue. In a lot of ways, relationships and writing have always been closley tied and for most of November, I just really couldn't muster anything within me to write. I just felt really torn down, defeated in a sense. And, even if now I'm starting to edge back into it, this story specifically was something that he actually had a bit of involvement in. He'd seen the series and even if he wasn't a shipper, I would bounce ideas through him and all, so more than any of my other ongoing fics, this one has been the hardest to come back to after it's all said and done. I think that this breakup was the right thing, in the long run, but it still just really blows, you know?
I don't want to make promises I can't keep. I don't want to leave you hanging either. I am still very excited about the story itself, but my muse just hasn't been around lately. I am sorta taking a hiatus from all my writing for the rest of the month, mostly so I can re-connect with friends and family, so we'll see where the new year brings us to.
On less depressing notes, some things on this chapter!
*I really enjoy writing Wu and her really vague predictions! So fun hehe. Any guesses about what Katara's (or Alcina's, since we heard hers) meant?
*Apparently, when my mom was in college, she went to a fortune-teller who told her a lot of things that have ACTUALLY happened. Have any of you ever been to one? Has anything ever come true?
*Fun fact, if you didn't know, is that Meng's voice actor is the same as Toph's! They liked her so much when they introduced Toph in s2, they brought back Jessie Flowers for the voice. Originally, I had this interlocking secondary plot I was going to do that Toph and Meng were sisters separated, but our lovely beta suggested that I already had a lot going on. Sometimes you just gotta kill your darlings. One day I'll write up a more complete idea of where that plot line was going to head, but it doesn't change anything in the grander story, so *shrug*.
Sorry again for the long wait, but I hope you all enjoy this chapter.