….
Katara watched as the Avatar's brow furrowed briefly in concentration, the light from her glowing hands dancing across his closed eyelids.
The two of them were kneeling across from one another under the shady overhang at the edge of his training arena. A large stone bowl full of water sat between them, their hands resting in the water. She looked down at her glowing hands; and then at the Avatar's larger hands — poised and ready, but completely unilluminated.
Katara sighed. She was trying to teach the Avatar to heal. She'd been trying for days now. But so far, to no avail.
She had taken it for granted how easily healing had come for her. By the time she had begrudgingly shown up at Yagoda's healing hut in the North Pole, Katara had already healed twice before: once for herself, and once for Zuko. Healing was so innate in her, so strong, that she had done it before anyone ever taught her how. So she was finding it difficult to teach; how do you teach someone to breathe or to laugh? For her healing had been nearly as innate, something she could just do.
For the Avatar it did not appear to be so easy.
But he was determined to learn. In their first healing lesson Katara had expected the Avatar to pick it up quickly in his typical maddeningly prodigious way. But he hadn't. And after an hour of trying, Katara had ended the lesson. He'd looked disappointed, but quickly smiled brightly saying that he "couldn't wait to try again tomorrow!"
But "tomorrow" had been equally unsuccessful. And the day after that, and the day after that. The days seemed to stretch on interminably as he tried so diligently, but failed every time.
Katara looked down at her glowing hands in the water. She had no idea if this bowl of water would do anything more than she had tried before, but she was reaching for any way to help him learn.
She looked again at the Avatar's face; his eyelashes cast a shadow on his serene cheekbones, the elegant arch of his dark eyebrows contrasted starkly the broad stroke of blue on his forehead. He took a deep breath and his lips parted softly; Katara's eyes dropped to his mouth. Her eyes lingered there for a moment before she fidgeted and looked away.
The Avatar was a handsome man. And it bothered Katara immensely that she noticed.
Katara shifted again, releasing the healing glow from her hands. Sensing her shift the Avatar peeked one hopeful eye open. Seeing that his hands were as dim as ever, his shoulders sagged with a defeated sigh. "Still nothing," he admitted sadly.
"Maybe we should… concentrate on the other aspects of waterbending. Shelf healing for now," Katara suggested. Katara had begun to notice the critical looks on the faces of their observers — to anyone else it might appear that they were doing nothing at all. She worried that her efforts to teach him to heal might be misinterpreted. That these lessons might cause trouble for her later.
Katara drew her hands out of the bowl. She made to stand up, but Avatar Aang's hand shot forward, grabbing one of hers imploringly.
"Please don't stop teaching me!" he begged. "I know I haven't gotten it yet, but I'll… I'll try harder, I promise!"
Katara looked down at her hand, the one clasped in one of Aang's. Noticing her gaze, he let go of her. He spoke again, his voice softer but still earnest. "I want to learn to heal. I need to do this!"
Katara recognized his determination, his need. For she had felt it herself. When everyone had told her she couldn't learn to waterbend, that as a woman she ought to remember her place. She hadn't just wanted to prove them wrong; she had needed to.
That same need was echoed in the Avatar's intense grey eyes. Why? What did he need to prove?
"Okay," Katara resigned getting to her feet. "But we need to try something different. This isn't working. Come here." Katara walked to the stone bench nearby and sat. The Avatar followed. As he sat next to her she sighed. "Maybe we need something real to work on, something that needs to be healed."
The Avatar cocked his head slightly in question.
Katara beckoned to the water in the bowl and pulled a slicing stream from it. She sent the sharp water quickly across the skin of her forearm. A bright red cut appeared.
"What are you doing?!" the Avatar protested standing up, clearly shocked by this move.
"It's no big deal," Katara said, "its small and clean, and I can heal it if I need to."
"No!"
Katara was taken aback by the intensity of the Avatar's protest, his eyebrows furrowed angrily. One hand rubbed nervously across the back of his other.
"No!" he said again, his tone a demand. A royal command. "You are not to be hurt!"
His tone turned to pleading, "Not for me."
He sat down next to her and took her other hand, placing it on top of the cut on her arm. Pulling water to him, he placed his own hand firmly over hers. "Please! Heal it."
Katara was so surprised by his behavior, that for a moment she simply looked at him, his eyes begging her. She in no way felt that this minor cut merited any of this reaction, but she gave in anyway, replying shakily, "O-okay."
She closed her eyes and felt the warm hum that always came when she healed. She felt the cut close easily.
When she opened her eyes, the Avatar had leaned closer, his hand still on top of hers. "Please, don't do that again," he said quietly.
He looked up at her, and her stomach jolted at the blatant care in his eyes.
"F-fine," she replied, heat rising in her face. He didn't move away, and their proximity was making her heart beat faster. Katara gulped, the heat of his hand on hers suddenly too warm.
"What's going on here?" a women's cold, commanding voice demanded.
Avatar Aang jumped to his feet.
A woman had approached them without their noticing.
"Azula!" he exclaimed. "N-nothing is going on. Master Katara is just… teaching me… waterbending, of course." Katara noticed that he took a step sideways, half-covering her view of the dark haired woman.
"Really?" the woman questioned, the innocence in her tone dangerous; like a viper-fox sneaking into the rabbit-hen's coop. "I didn't see any waterbending."
Katara bent her head to look around the Avatar at the woman. Her clothing was not elaborate, a suit clearly tailored for activity, but it was clear that it was made from fine cloth. The woman stood with a haughty confidence, her face both beautiful and fierce.
Azula? Katara wondered. So this is the Crown Princess…
…
Azula had been busy since returning to the Palace: war meetings and reports to attend, dignitaries and military leaders to humor, and communications to be managed from her generals in the Earth Kingdom. All these things leached her precious time. In her time home, she had barely managed to spar with Aang once. And not until now had she managed to "observe" one of his little waterbending lessons.
But what Azula observed filled her with a feeling she wasn't used to experiencing.
Arriving at this time Azula knew she would only catch the last of the lesson — which is what she wanted anyway. The last part was usually the most exciting, when the most advanced moves would be practiced. Azula had worn her practice uniform in hopes that she could challenge Aang to a little spar when he was done.
What she'd observed when she arrived, however, soured her mood immediately. She'd watched from the second floor for ten minutes while Aang did nothing more than marinate his hands in a bowl of water! A complete and utter waste of her valuable time.
However boring those ten minutes had been, they had given Azula plenty of time to observe his new waterbending master. Which frankly had only soured her mood even more.
The woman was much younger than the Princess had anticipated. Younger and prettier. She wondered if that idiot Zhao had simply hired her for her looks. What she'd observed so far gave no indication that she could even waterbend.
Azula had been about to break up the hand soaking extravaganza when Aang and the girl had gone under the cover of the second story balcony where she could no longer see them. She'd stood, annoyed, rapping her fingernails on the balcony banister for a few moments before deciding to simply go down there herself.
She'd planned to announce herself with a clever remark as she descended the stairs, but what she'd seen when Aang had come into view had chased the witticism from her mind. The two of them sat close together on the bench, Aang's hand—her Aang's hand—resting on the pretty waterbender's. The two of them were so absorbed in one another they didn't even notice her enter the arena and approach them.
"What's going on here?"
Aang jumped when he heard her, guilty as a boy with his hand caught in the cookie jar.
"Azula! N-nothing is going on. Master Katara is just… teaching me… waterbending, of course." His stuttered speech was like a cookie in the hand of a boy denying thievery.
"Really? I didn't see any waterbending."
"It's water healing," Aang said quickly, taking another step sideways and further shielding the waterbender from the Fire Princess's piercing golden eyes. "Master Katara is teaching me to heal."
"Why?" Azula scoffed with a laugh. "Sounds like a waste of time to me."
"I want to learn it." Aang said firmly. He stood up taller between her and the waterbender, his shoulders squared. Azula approved. It was a rarity, but sometimes Aang actually looked like the Prince he was supposed to be.
Azula's eyes darted to the waterbender behind him. Her startlingly blue eyes looked back at Azula without any sign of the proper humility she ought to display in the Princess's presence. Something red hot, which had nothing to do with her fire bending, burned in Azula's gut.
To cover her feelings, Azula laughed, shifting her sharp eyes back up to Aang. "Father won't like you wasting your time."
Aang opened his mouth to reply, but the waterbender impudently spoke up first.
"It's not a waste of time!" The water-wench had gotten to her feet and stepped around Aang, her hands in fists at her side.
Blatantly ignoring the tribal woman's protest, Azula spoke to Aang, "Is your waterbender simple? or just simply stupid, Aang?"
Again Aang made to answer, but the woman spoke out of turn, facing Azula with all the insubordinate gall of a woman who clearly wanted to die. "Healing can be an invaluable skill!"
Azula scoffed and glared daggers at the peasant. "Invaluable skill? Oh please! It's nothing more than a crutch for inferior warriors hoping to stave off the just rewards for their lack of battle prowess."
The woman ignored Azula's obvious warning to remember her place and shut her mouth. "Being able to keep someone you want alive can be just as important as being able to kill someone you don't!" the water girl spat.
Azula's temper flared. Speaking of not wanting someone alive…
The waterbender continued, an arrogant challenge in those icy blue eyes. "Any decent tactician should know that."
Azula took the insult personally —as it was clearly intended. "You wretched, filthy peasant! You dare to speak to me like—"
Narrowing her gaze on the indignant waterbender, Azula brought up two fingers on each hand, feeling the cold fire within begin to spark. She would rid herself of this woman's insolence!
But Aang stepped between her and the waterbender, blocking her target. "Azula! No! Please!"
He held his hands up in the air, studying Azula for a moment, before he turned to toward the water-wench and said forcefully, "Master Katara, that is no way to address the Crown Princess Azula!"
Azula still seethed, annoyed that Aang had interfered. The waterbender glared unrepentant at the Princess.
Aang glanced at Azula again before turning and grabbing the waterbender by the wrist. "Master Katara, you should bow to your Princess. Show her your respect!"
The waterbender's icy eyes finally left Azula and looked at the Avatar with an even colder chill. Azula couldn't see Aang's expression, because his face was turned toward the tribal woman. But the waterbender's eyes seemed to follow his gaze, glancing up toward the balcony, the archers. Eventually the waterbender ripped her wrist from his grip and turned toward Azula. She begrudgingly bent at the waist.
It wasn't a proper kowtow, and Azula was sure she would not accept this meager show of humility as penance. She would show the whelp what respect looked like! She wanted to see the woman on the ground and begging for forgiveness!
But Aang turned back towards Azula and plead, "Please, Princess, Master Katara meant no harm! She simply forgot her place. And with no wonder—I never introduced you properly! I'm sure she didn't know to whom she spoke."
Aang's entreating eyes bore into Azula, distracting her with a not entirely unpleasant flutter in her stomach. "The fault is mine," he continued.
Her eyes swept over the impudent, but Agni-be-praised finally silent, waterbender. And then darted back to the Avatar. His eyes watched her carefully—he had such striking eyes—as he entreated her. "Please, Azula, show mercy."
Azula liked when he begged.
It made her want to fight him. Or kiss him. She couldn't decide which she wanted more.
"Very well," she conceded, walking closer to Aang. She brought her hand up and touched the side of his face. "I suppose if you ask it of me…"
Azula saw Aang's Adam's apple bob stiffly, but he didn't move away from her. "Thank you, Princess."
Slowly, intentionally, Azula lifted up on her toes and placed a kiss on Aang's cheek — the contact sent an electricity through her body unlike any lightning she'd ever generated. She liked it.
Before she lowered back to her feet, she looked over Aang's shoulder directly at the waterbender, and smirked. "Waterbending is over for today. Run along, Peasant."
Then lowering to her heels and grabbing Aang's hand to drag him out into the sparring courtyard she said, "The Avatar is mine now."
…..