Okaaaay...CoWAS was creepy, veddy creppy. Well, in case you couldn't tell, this fic is AU and has been since SotFN. Anyway, on with the show.
At Toshi's remark, an all-around hubbub broke out.
"What?"
"Ain't she the creepy Fire-freak?"
"Watch your terms, Zhen."
"I thought she was on land."
"You an' everyone else here."
"We're all gonna die! We're all gonna die!" (That was Chen, the cook.)
Aang made an air scooter and hushed everyone. "No one's going to die! Just stay calm. I don't think she'll think much of the ship!"
"But we tried to attack her!"
"Yeah, but she didn't supervise the return fire. She merely waved a hand an' left."
"Okay, but what about the furry hunk of meat on deck? I'm sure Azula will see him" Appa groaned in indignation. Momo flew and scratched the offender's head.
"Y'know…that's a good question," Aang agreed. "Lakai? Captain Toshi?" The married Waterbenders looked at each other.
"Do we still have that hay and straw?" Toshi asked Lakai. Lakai nodded.
"Shi-Shi has been using it as bedding, but we have plenty. And some of it looks white from a distance…" Lakai kissed her husband's cheek. "Honey, you're a genius!"
Sokka, still pale, looked at them. "Huh?"
"We get a lot of the hay and straw, and maybe some wool, and make bundles to hide Appa's fur. From a distance, no one would be able to tell he's here." Aang nodded.
"But who's Shi-Shi?" Lakai hit her forehead with her palm.
"My pet lemur. Not winged, like Momo. She's a little lazy."
"A lot lazy. She was supposed to catch rats and such but you spoiled her!"
"It's not my fault I don't have kids to spoil!" At that comment, all the men on board winced; even Aang had trouble restraining a groan. Everyone else (the women) laughed at Toshi's face.
"She's got ya there, Cap'n," Asha said. Toshi glowered at Ash, but just headed down to get the hay.
Zuko shook his head. He remembered one of the ladies of his father's court (not the concubines, actual nobles as in Mai's mother and Ty Lee's aunt) complaining that she had no children and it was her husband's fault. The other men, his uncle included, had given the poor man so many hormone-increasing remedies that, when his wife did bear children, there were a lot of multiple births. Women could get mad if their husband didn't give them children, especially in the Fire Nation.
Katara sighed. "You want to help make the bales?" she asked him. Zuko nodded and took Katara's hand.
Toshi was muttering under his breath when they arrived. A lemur with black markings was hissing at him, but the pirate captain didn't seem to care. "Captain Toshi?" Katara asked softly.
"What?" He spun around to see Zuko and Katara. "Oh. Come to help?" They nodded. "Okay. Just start grabbing handfuls of the stuff and pack it into those crates." Toshi pointed at the crates Shi-Shi was sitting on. The little lemur scrambled out on deck.
"Is everything okay?" Katara was slightly worried, if the tone of her voice was anything to go by. "You seem upset."
"You would be too if you were blamed for a childless marriage," Zuko muttered. Toshi nodded.
"I know Lakai wants kids; she loves them. I wouldn't mind being a father either, but we've tried and it just doesn't work. And she blames me for it. It's not entirely my fault." Toshi shook his head. "I'm sorry."
"No, it's okay. Though I think she was just joking." Everyone turned to see Lakai herself standing on the stairs. "Toshiyan, I love you to death, you know that right?"
Zuko and Katara looked at each other. "I say we leave," she mouthed. Zuko nodded in agreement and the two teens left the married couple to talk it out.
By the time all the bales were made and set out, it was late. Everyone but the night crew had gone to sleep in their quarters below. (The night crew consisted of the navigator, the one who was steering the ship (the crew took turns), the lookout, and one or two ordered to hang around in case of a late-night attack. There were plenty of places to be alone.
Zuko took Katara to a spot he had found earlier that day, behind some barrels and ropes that were stacked high. "I want to be alone, and we're less likely to be walked in upon here than in one of our cabins," he said when he saw Katara's confused look. Katara nodded and wrapped her arms around Zuko's shoulders.
"I'm sorry for Sokka's comment earlier. He's a jerk at times," she murmured. (Sokka had called Zuko a jerk and didn't think he was capable of true love.) Zuko chuckled softly and pulled Katara closer to him.
"It's okay. He just has to get accustomed to the fact that I love you." Katara closed her eyes and smiled softly.
"I love it when you say you love me. It makes me feel…wanted, for more than just comradeship and family relations."
"I'm sorry, you know. For being such a…such a…"
"Angry freak with a ponytail?" Katara supplied. Zuko laughed softly and nodded.
"That works. I was being stupid before I was declared an outlaw and I'm sorry." Katara smiled and moved one hand to rest on his heart.
"Don't be. You've more than made up for it with helping us, helping Aang, and…" here she trailed off.
"This?" Zuko kissed her lips softly. Katara shook her head.
"Not that. Something else…" she said coyly. Zuko cocked an eyebrow.
"How old are you?"
"Fifteen."
"And does your brother know how you talk to princes?" Katara gave him a demure smile.
"I don't think he cares."
"Is this sweet, little, gentle Katara? Or is this some rebellious twin I didn't know about?" Zuko murmured, brushing Katara's hair from her eyes.
"Oh it's me. I just wanted to see how you'd react to me being bold," Katara replied, resting her head on his chest. Suddenly, some loose fluff came over the barrels, landing on their heads. Laughing as they removed it, the two teens felt the impact of a long day hit them. "I don't think I can get back to the cabin," Katara mumbled, rubbing one of her eyes. Zuko paused and looked at the amount of fluff.
"Hold on." He adjusted the fluff so it made a large enough bed for two. Katara looked at Zuko.
"Zuko, what are you doing?"
"Well, instead of helping you to your cabin and collapsing with exhaustion from having to carry your weight as well as my own," he explained, "I'd rather sleep out here. With you."
"Zuko, are you implying…?" Zuko shook his head and looked at Katara.
"I don't your brother to kill me. I mean like we did back at the temple." Katara nodded. She was about to protest again, but an abnormally large yawn stopped her.
"Okay. Besides," she continued softly, taking Zuko's hand, "I missed feeling you right behind me."
Zuko smiled and started to lay down, pulling Katara along with him. "Good night, Katara," he whispered.
It was twilight on the ship a few days later. There were bales of fluff and hay spread out all over the deck, making some of the crew sneeze. Everyone was having fun watching Momo inspect Shi-Shi.
"I don't think he's ever seen a regular lemur before," Aang joked. Katara nodded and pointed to Momo lift one of Shi-Shi's arms up as if to ask why she had no wings. Shi-Shi hissed at Momo and scrambled off; the winged lemur followed her closely. Lakai sighed.
"Cute. Momo's got a crush!" she said. "And it looks like Shi-Shi does too."
"As much as watching the romancing habits of lemurs is interesting," Sokka said, "what are we gonna do? Aang's almost got Earthbending and he's learning Firebending; what now?"
"Good question." Aang turned to Lakai and Toshi. "Well?"
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Lakai said. "Let Aang master the elements first."
"We don't have much more time until the eclipse comes," Sokka argued. "It comes in a month and a half. The comet comes three weeks after that."
"I have a month and a half to master Firebending?" Aang exclaimed. Zuko sighed.
"Aang, you've already mastered basic and are almost done with the advanced set. Uncle says after that, the expert sets are very small and then it's lightning. You'll be done before the month is through."
"And if you haven't quite mastered Fire, Toph added, "it's fine. Not like you'll be able to Firebend anyway, with the moon blocking the sun."
Iroh hit his forehead with a palm. "I completely forgot about that! Young Aang, we could train on our way to the Fire Capital, and you still could be ready to fight my brother."
Katara stood up. "And at every port, you and Toph can practice Earthbending. We could get people to follow us on ships and have a virtual army!"
Ty Lee spoke up. "I hate to be Ty Lee Raincloud, but how will we tell the King of Ba Sing Se that we're on the move to the capital?"
Komo, who had been listening, pointed to several hawk-like birds resting around the boat. "Them. They're really good mail carriers."
Aang bit his lip. "You guys sure I'm ready?"
Toph stood, punched Aang in the arm, then hugged him. "'Course we do. C'mon, Twinkle Toes! Buck up!"
Toshi stood and clapped his hands together. "Council o' War, map room, now. We better plan this out carefully." He left, everyone and their brother following. "Only myself, Lakai, Prince Zuko, Avatar Aang, Masters Iroh, Katara, and Toph, Lady Ty Lee, and Sokka. An' my brother and his wife." Everyone other than the mentioned people stopped. Zuko heard Sokka mutter to Ty Lee.
"I went from throwing my guts up, to sleeping, to watching Momo flirt, to a war council. Not a bad day." Ty Lee laughed and embraced Sokka.
As soon as everyone was in the map room, Toshi shut and bolted the door. "Okay, so far, we've decided to get going to the Fire Nation, hitting all the ports we can to recruit people. What else?"
"We should tell the King to hold off until we've gotten there. If we fail, we don't want the entire Earth Kingdom Army to fall at the same time," Zuko pointed out.
"He's already got some troops heading that way. He'd sent some out before we left. They will attack the day of eclipse. He promised to keep the majority back, just in case," Aang said. Toshi nodded. He looked at Lakai, who muttered a soft "oh" and started writing the plans on a spare piece of scroll paper.
"What about the Kyoshi Warriors?" Katara asked. Sokka shook his head.
"There's not enough, and we don't even know where they are. What about Jet?"
"No. Absolutely not. He'd kill Zuko and Iroh!" Katara exclaimed.
"Oh yes. La forbid that your boyfriend gets killed!" Sokka muttered.
"I'd watch it if I were you, Snoozles," Toph warned. "You started making out with a Fire Nation citizen looong before she did." Sokka blushed and looked away.
"Anyway," Lakai said, changing the subject, "anything else?"
They stayed holed away for at least two hours, planning everything out. They agreed to send messages to Haru, the Northern Water Tribe, and try to find Hakoda and Bato's warriors. Sokka and Ty Lee headed to their cabins after the meeting; Aang, Toph, and Iroh followed suit. Toshi and Lakai stayed in the map room to talk.
Zuko and Katara, on the other hand, had gotten into an argument on their way to the cabins. Zuko had made a slip and called Sokka an overprotective idiot.
"He's my brother, Zuko. Of course he's gonna be protective of me."
"Does he honestly think I'd do anything to you?"
"Are you telling me you never feared the worst when something happened to your mom or…Ty Lee?"
Zuko closed his eyes at the mention of his mother and fearing the worst. "Yes. Everyday. At least you know what happened to your mother."
"You think watching her die is better than not knowing what happened to her?" Katara asked.
"Yes." Zuko turned to her. "You don't know what it's like, do you, not knowing if someone you care for is alive, wounded, or dead? At least you have closure. You know what happened to your mother. I don't know and I probably never will!"
Zuko hadn't realized how loud he'd gotten. Everyone not already asleep looked out of his or her cabin, wondering what had happened. Katara didn't notice either.
"At least you can hope! I know my mom is never coming back and it hurts every time I have to face that fact again! Did I tell you what I saw in a mystical swamp? I thought I saw my mother, but it was just a tree stump. A tree stump! You know how much that hurt? I thought…actually, I don't know what I was thinking when I ran to it, hoping it was Mom. Just like I don't know what I thought when I said I love you!" With that, Katara ran out on deck. Lakai, who had poked her head out, gasped and went after the distressed Waterbender.
Ooooooh...Zuko's in trouble. Review please!