Chapter 6

The next couple of weeks flew right by Katara as she was having the time of her life. Despite not being able to share a room with Yue, they still had plenty of fun and misadventure together, often staying up past midnight and having to be very stealthy to avoid getting in trouble with Uncle Iroh. Toph and Aang were frequent presences during their free time away from Pai Sho practice sessions, and the four of them had a whale of a time hanging out together. Katara was glad to see that Aang didn't appear overly upset by her soft rejection, although to Katara's slight disappointment, he hadn't made a move towards Toph, something that the Earth Kingdom girl still hoped for.

Uncle Iroh made sure to organize plenty of activities for them away from the Pai Sho boards, whether it was a spectacular boat cruise around the Serpent's Lake or a day trip to the nearby metropolis of Ba Sing Se, the Walled City. It was during their visit to the zoo at Ba Sing Se when Haru Tamang had made his move, approaching Katara with some earnest compliments about her growing skill at Pai Sho, as well as about her enchanting looks, before asking her out on a date.

It had proved very hard for Katara to turn him down, and even as she did so, Katara was busy arguing with herself, trying to convince herself that her life would be so much easier if she could just force herself to date a sweet, caring guy like Haru. It would save her from so many problems in the future. She still hadn't come out to her family and Katara was dreading the day she would have to do so. The thought of her father and grandmother being upset and disappointed with her was difficult to bear. And what would Sokka think? He'd probably start to think of her as a rival for Yue's affections, and she genuinely wasn't trying to be a rival. She just wanted to bask in the warmth of the sun that was Yue, at least for a short while.

And of course, dating Haru while not really liking him in that way and still thirsting after Yue, would have been very unfair towards Haru. He was too nice and thoughtful to be used that way. Katara didn't want to be good at manipulating other people. She didn't want to manipulate anyone. What she wanted the most was to be allowed to simply be herself, but… the times were what they were. She was probably doomed to either remain single or end up in a loveless marriage with some guy, just to avert the rumors of her queerness.

However, these romantic entanglements involving Haru would appear insignificant when compared with what occurred at the start of their third week at Uncle Iroh's Pai Sho camp. One morning, Katara noticed Yue slipping away from the breakfast table before she had even finished eating. It made Katara feel concerned because the previous evening she had been looking for Yue after supper, unable to find the other girl anywhere. In fact, Katara had intended to ask Yue about her odd absence, but she had just slipped away again before Katara had even had the chance to ask.

Puzzled, Katara quickly finished her breakfast and made some excuses to Toph and Aang who looked eager to follow her. Katara then walked out of the estate, wondering where Yue might have gone off to. The estate's gardens were quite vast and good for hiding, if one was inclined to do so. Then there was the path down to the lake, but the water was still cold at this early hour, so Katara didn't believe that Yue would have gone for an early swim. At a loss, Katara wandered down the gravel path leading away from the estate, then freezing when she came up to the main gate. Yue was there, leaning over the gate, busy smooching with someone on the other side of the barrier.

With her heart thundering in her chest, Katara walked up to the pair, determined to find out what was going on and with whom exactly Yue was cheating on her brother. "Hey!" she called out sharply, causing Yue to part from… her brother? "S-Sokka?" Katara gasped, incredulous. "What… what the hell are you doing here?"

"Oh, wow… you sound really happy to see me, sis," Sokka rolled his eyes at her, looking too smug and amused for Katara's liking.

"Never mind that!" Katara hissed at him, hands on her hips. "Unless I'm mistaken, you're still supposed to be in Cape Kuruk! Does dad and Gran-Gran know that you're here?"

"Well… I might have told them that I was leaving early for Agna Qel'a," Sokka shrugged, not looking particularly worried. "There was a phone call from the restaurant," her brother continued, making expressive air quotes. "It seems that they needed me in Agna Qel'a a couple of weeks early." What Sokka referred to was his summer job of bussing tables in some fast-food dive in the Water Tribe capital city. Most of the tips he earned went into paying for the cheap hostel he was staying at, so the financial gain was miniscule, but according to their father, this was all about getting some work experience. According to Sokka, this was all about being closer to Yue.

"Is this one of your hare-brained schemes, Sokka?" Katara could not force herself to calm down. "How did you actually make it here? Where are you staying? You can't come in, you know that, don't you?"

"Yes, I know that, Katara," Sokka sighed at her. "Also, you've heard about hitchhiking, right? It's not so hard to find some nice people who will happily give you a ride. And I'm staying at a hippie commune nearby. They're really chill about me just showing up and deciding to stick around for a couple of weeks. Also, they have free food."

"This is idiotic!" Katara declared angrily, turning around and storming off. "I'm calling dad right now."

"Wait! Katara, please… wait up!" it was actually Yue who quickly caught up with her, Sokka remaining outside the gate, looking anxious. "Kat, please… can we talk about this? Please?" the other girl put her hand on Katara's shoulder, stopping Katara in her tracks. Yue pulled her towards a secluded bench, in the shadow of some thuja trees.

Katara reluctantly sat down next to Yue on the bench, feeling so upset that she could barely speak, almost starting to hyperventilate. "You knew he was coming!" Katara exclaimed accusingly. Fortunately, they had made it far enough from the gate to be outside of Sokka's earshot. "You know Sokka was coming, and you didn't tell me!"

"I'm sorry, Kat. I had a feeling you would be upset, and… I just hate the thought of upsetting you," Yue whispered, pressing closer to her. It instantly became that much harder to remain angry at the other girl. It also made Katara curse her own weakness when it came to anything related to Yue. "But yes, I knew. I snuck into Iroh's office and made a call to your home, pretending to be from the restaurant."

"But you're going to see him throughout all of August," Katara argued. "Why go through with this… deception?"

"Katara, Sokka is my boyfriend, and I really do want to spend time with him," Yue said softly. "Besides, we're not going to have that much time together. My father isn't very happy about me dating Sokka, and besides, Sokka will be busy with his job. We're not going to have as many opportunities to hang out as you might think, Kat."

"I was just hoping…" much to her dismay, Katara began to sob. She realized how incriminating her reaction must have looked to Yue, but she simply could not control her emotions any longer.

"I know, babe… I know," Yue embraced her, whispering soothingly. "You're always going to be my main girl, Kat. I really hate myself for having upset you so much."

"It's… not your fault," Katara sobbed, trying to stop herself from crying. The effort just made her cry even harder. "I'm angry with Sokka, anyway. Why couldn't he just let me have this?" she exclaimed in frustration, wiping her reddened eyes with the sleeve of her dress while she waited for Yue's reaction. There was no way that the other girl had not guessed the reason why Katara was so distraught, and surely her only reaction could be disgust at the feelings Katara clearly had for her. Why else would Katara be breaking down like this unless she was seriously into Yue?

Still, for some reason, Yue was not withdrawing in disgust. If anything, she seemed to be hugging Katara even more fiercely. "Listen to me closely, Kat," Yue spoke softly. "We're both only fourteen. Sokka's not the first boy I've dated, and he's not going to be the last. But regardless of what boy I'm going out with I want you to know something. Nothing is ever going to change the way I feel about you, Kat. We have a special connection, you and I, and I think you know that. You'll always be special to me, babe."

Katara didn't know how to respond. She was very upset and needed time to process what Yue was saying. Her words were sweet, but Katara still felt as if Yue was simply trying to let her down gently. Or maybe Yue was trying to tell her something else? Yue had just said that her father disapproved of her dating Sokka, probably because Sokka was dirt-poor. If a dirt-poor boy was no good, then a dirt-poor girl would probably be hundred times worse. Katara forced herself to take a deep breath. "Your father…" she began hesitantly.

"Yes, Katara," Yue nodded at her. "My father expects me to conform to certain… standards. He is tolerating Sokka because it hasn't become very serious yet. But there are certain things he wouldn't tolerate."

He would not tolerate me dating another girl. Katara understood immediately. Somehow, the possibility that Yue on some level wanted her, but knew that they couldn't pursue a relationship, didn't make any of this easier to accept. Katara still wanted the clarity of knowing whether Yue fancied her, at least a little, but… she was just too terrified to ask. "I think I understand," she finally said in a quiet voice, starting to calm down.

"Then you're not mad at me?" Yue asked hopefully. Katara vigorously shook her head, hair loops bouncing around. "Spirits, I'm so relieved to know that. It would have hurt so much to know that you're mad at me, Kat."

"It's alright, Yue," Katara had recovered enough to manage an earnest smile. "I was being really silly just now. And I was being very selfish."

Yue seemed to become upset at her words, however. "Don't you ever say something like that again, girl," Yue admonished her. "Your feelings are not silly. They're very important to me. And I'm going to make sure that your feelings are not hurt. Sokka may have traveled all this way to hang out with me, but I swear that he won't receive all of my free time. We're still going to hang out, Kat, just the two of us. I promise," she said, then pulling Katara into a fierce hug.

Katara eased into the embrace, allowing the happiness of their physical contact and Yue's reassuring words to fill her. "Thanks, Yue," she whispered. "You should go back to Sokka, though. He's probably freaking out at the gate. Just tell him that he doesn't have to fear me ratting him out. I'm not going to do that."

"I knew you wouldn't," Yue smiled at her. "Because you're one of a kind, Kat," she added before leaving. Katara remained sitting on the bench, still feeling overwhelmed from their conversation. Yue now knew for certain that Katara fancied her, and her reaction had been… more accepting than Katara had expected.

Another week passed at Uncle Iroh's summer Pai Sho camp. It wasn't Katara's most treasured week of July, mostly because she now had to share Yue with Sokka, and she just couldn't help becoming a little envious of her brother. She never got mad at Yue, though, because she could see how the other girl genuinely tried her best to split her free time evenly between the Enuaraq siblings. When Katara wasn't overcome by her jealousy, she had to wonder how Sokka felt about this arrangement, realizing that her brother had legitimate grounds to also feel a little upset. After all, Yue was his girlfriend, while Katara and Yue were merely friends… best friends, sure, but it still wasn't on the same level. Sokka had hitchhiked all this way, probably thinking that he'd have Yue's undivided attention, only to discover that he would have to compete for Yue with his sister. This realization helped Katara temper her envy towards Sokka, and made her appreciate what time she got to enjoy with Yue all the more.

And it wasn't as if Katara was completely miserable when she couldn't hang out with Yue. She ended up spending more time with Toph and Aang, always getting a good chuckle from watching the antics of the two younger kids. Aang was dealing well with her gentle rebuke of his advances and did not appear terribly upset with her. Katara felt that it would not be appropriate for her to start encouraging Aang to ask Toph out, but watching the two younger kids interact, Katara began to suspect that perhaps in the end Aang wouldn't even need her encouragement. He suddenly seemed to be showing much more interest in Toph, and the girl from Gaoling appeared grateful for it. Knowing that Katara was not her romantic rival had also made Toph act less acerbic towards her, and as a result, the bonds of friendship between the threesome only deepened.

As far as the other kids were concerned, Haru seemed to have gotten over his disappointment of Katara's rejection, and had then moved to pursue Kori Morishita. Even though Katara clearly recalled Kori having a steady boyfriend three months ago in Yu Dao, Kori seemed quite responsive to Haru's affections. Katara was rather amused to hear Yue telling her how she had run into them making out in a secluded nook of the vast estate gardens.

At the start of the final week of the camp, Uncle Iroh had decided to change the pace of their Pai Sho practice by throwing a friendly little contest in the form of a speed Pai Sho tournament. The prize was quite tantalizing, an opportunity to choose the venue for the penultimate day of the camp when Uncle Iroh was known to throw a party for all the kids who had attended the month-long summer camp. Katara would have loved to win the prize of this friendly contest. She had several locales of Ba Sing Se in mind for such an occasion. However, Katara knew full well that her chances of winning a speed Pai Sho tournament were close to non-existent. Speed Pai Sho was more for players like Azula Nakamura, someone who was well used to making their moves in ten seconds or less. Katara's brain didn't work like that. She needed more time to consider her move before she truly felt comfortable committing to it. The speed limit of only having ten minutes for the entire game was putting Katara right out of her comfort zone.

As the tournament progressed, Katara's expectations of her own performance quickly came true. She would have been happy to finish with an even record, which meant having as many wins as she had losses, and until the final game of the tournament, she managed to hold on to that score. But then she came up against Zuko Nakamura in the final round, the reigning U18 champion who had thus far mercilessly clobbered all of his opponents. Katara did her best to try and stifle him the same way she had confounded Azula Nakamura to win the U15 title, but it quickly proved hopeless. Zuko decimated her in a little over twenty moves, a rather embarrassing disaster for Katara.

"I expected better from the U15 champion," Zuko snorted at the conclusion of their game. "Honestly, that wasn't impressive at all."

"I don't know what to say, other than that speed Pai Sho just isn't my thing," Katara shrugged. Zuko's words were spoken rather dismissively, but there was no denying that he was right. Besides, Katara had already accepted the fact that Zuko didn't really know how to be polite or gracious towards the younger kids.

"Then maybe you should try and get better at it. There's plenty of money to be made in professional speed Pai Sho tournaments," Zuko replied, getting up from the table to leave.

Not deterred by his terseness, Katara also rose and hurried after Zuko. There was something she had wanted to ask him all throughout the camp, but that Jin girl was always hanging around Zuko like some possessive and glaring specter, chasing away any girl that would dare to approach her precious Zuko. "Hey, Zuko…" she called out after him, making the older boy stop in his tracks. He turned around, wrinkling his brow at her approach. "Listen, there's something I wanted to ask of you…"

"No autographs outside the official signing sessions," Zuko frowned at her.

"What? No, I don't want your autograph, you jerk!" Katara exclaimed. Zuko actually looked rather affronted at that. "I wanted to ask you… well, actually, it's about your sister."

Zuko's expression darkened beyond that which Katara had ever witnessed. And she had seen Zuko get pretty angry on a few occasions. "Why, what do you want to know?" he barked. "I'm going to tell you straight up, Azula is not my favorite topic of discussion."

"I'm sorry, but I just want to know something," Katara refused to budge even though Zuko was looming over her threateningly. "When I beat Azula in Yu Dao…"

"That's the only reason why I'm wasting my time talking to you," Zuko snorted. "Alright, I'll be honest. You played a very good game. I only wish I could have been there to see the look on Azula's face."

Katara frowned at Zuko's reaction. She didn't understand the Nakamura family dynamics. She could imagine that perhaps there was some resentment between those ending up on the opposite sides, but she hadn't expected Zuko to be this hostile. "It's not about that, I didn't bring up my victory in order to brag," Katara said quickly to clear up any misunderstanding. "I think that your father did something to Azula after she lost."

"Like what?" Zuko asked, looking at her with his eyes narrowed. He did seem curious.

"I think he hurt her. Like… physically. You know, gave her a beating," Katara managed. She still felt uneasy thinking back about that episode. She felt like perhaps she hadn't done enough.

"Pfft. My father was beating me all the time," Zuko shrugged. "And Azula actually defended him! She said I deserved it! So yeah, whatever. Azula made that bed when she sided with our father. Now she has to lie in it."

"Was that during the divorce proceedings?" Katara asked. "But she would have been only ten at the time! You can't justify her being abused like that just because she said or thought something when she was so young!"

"It's not just about that! You have no idea about all the ways in which she tormented me when we were still living under the same roof!" Zuko's voice rose to the level of shouting. "This!" he pointed at the scar marring the side of his face. "Azula is the reason why I must forever carry this grotesque mark!"

"Did she do that?" Katara asked in a soothing voice, trying to placate Zuko. It didn't seem to be working.

"She was the reason behind that entire incident!" Zuko glared right back at her.

"But what exactly did-…" Katara pressed on, but she never got to finish. Zuko was onto her in a flash, seizing her and then roughly shoving her backwards. Katara ended up sprawled on the neatly trimmed lawn, looking up at the angry boy standing over her and fuming. He was so mad that for a moment Katara thought she could see smoke coming from his nostrils, like an irate dragon.

"Zuko!" the voice of Uncle Iroh immediately caused the tension to drop slightly, although Zuko still looked angry. "What is the meaning of this? You can't treat a lovely young lady like Katara in such a way!" Iroh looked disapproving as he walked up to them, Katara slowly picking herself up from the ground.

"I'll do much worse if she keeps poking her nose into affairs she should damn well stay out of!" Zuko exclaimed, not backing down even from his beloved uncle. "And I mean it!" he added before stomping off angrily.

"Are you alright, Katara?" Iroh asked, helping the girl get back up to her feet.

"I'm not hurt," Katara managed. She felt more than a little perturbed by what had happened. The sheer amount of rage burning in Zuko, it was frightening. "I didn't mean to provoke Zuko…"

"I heard some of that conversation, and you did nothing of the sort, young lady," Iroh said. He then let out a deep sigh, turning to look after Zuko but his nephew had already fled the scene. "I'm afraid that Zuko still finds certain inquiries about his family very… sensitive."

"Yes, so I noticed," Katara nodded, rubbing her shoulder. It didn't hurt as such, but it did feel a little stiff.

"As I understand you were making inquiries about my niece?" Iroh asked. Katara nodded quickly. "I see. Well… follow me, then. Perhaps it's best we talk somewhere more private," the older man spoke, leading Katara inside the estate and towards his quarters, entering a large study crammed with an astonishing amount of Pai Sho awards, medals, diplomas, a wall of newspaper cuttings, all sorts of exciting memorabilia that for the moment made Katara forget that she was curious to learn about Azula Nakamura.

Iroh poured them both glasses of cherry lemonade and then beckoned Katara to sit down at the table with him. "You must understand that I have not been to the Fire Nation in three years, and as such, might not be the most accurate source of information. That said… I sometimes end up hearing things," he added, sounding a little amused at some kind of a private joke that Katara didn't get. "What is it that you wish to know about young Azula?"

"It's… about her relationship with her father. I have a feeling that she is… not treated well," Katara explained.

"Ah," Iroh winced, appearing uncomfortable. "Sadly, I am not surprised. I was clear in my statement to the jury. My brother is a violent man, and I didn't think that it would change just because Zuko was to be removed from that abusive environment. It is regrettable that Azula is now suffering the same treatment."

"I don't understand how the courts did not remove both Zuko and Azula from his care," Katara wondered. "I heard that a lot of witnesses decided against testifying, but you were there and you gave a statement. Their mother must have testified. And the scar on Zuko's face…"

"Considering how stacked the jury was with Ozai's sycophants, I'm surprised that the judge didn't side fully in Ozai's favor," Iroh sighed. "Of course, Ursa fought tooth and nail to get both of her children away from Ozai, but…"

"But how did they decide that Ursa would keep Zuko and Ozai would retain Azula?" Katara inquired further. This was the strangest divorce case she had ever heard about, not that she had heard about many.

Iroh paused for a moment, looking like he was searching for an answer, not having one ready. "The truth is that I don't know," he finally admitted. "All I know is that Ursa and Ozai met in private to settle the matter. Afterwards, I helped Ursa and Zuko travel to Ba Sing Se and start a new life in the Earth Kingdom. Azula was left with Ozai. I don't know… perhaps Ursa believed that Ozai would not hurt the girl. He had always favored Azula over her brother, he absolutely adored her. Ursa must have thought that Ozai's cruelty extended only to Zuko and not to Azula."

Katara wasn't sure what to think about this explanation. It seemed like such a strange leap of faith to assume that Ozai, a known abuser, would treat his daughter decently. How could a mother make this sort of choice between her children? Iroh had said that Azula was Ozai's favorite. Was Zuko their mother's favorite? What sort of parents even had favorite children? Everything about this felt wrong.

"Zuko said that his scar was Azula's fault," Katara said, having spent a moment to take it all in.

"Those two never got along from a very early age," Iroh sighed. "Azula goaded Zuko into a fight and then pretended to be seriously hurt. Their father flew into a rage and burned the side of Zuko's face."

"But that's awful!" Katara exclaimed in distress. "How could the jury remain unmoved by this story? I mean… the evidence was right there, on Zuko's face."

"Well… they questioned the authenticity of the story," Iroh admitted reluctantly. "After all, I wasn't present at the time of the incident, so I was retelling the account given to me by Ursa and Zuko. Ozai contested the story and offered a different interpretation. Azula supported her father."

"What did they claim happened to Zuko's face?" Katara asked with bated breath.

"It doesn't matter, Katara. Whatever they said was a filthy lie. Ozai always lies," Iroh sighed deeply. Katara wasn't quite certain why he wasn't giving her the full story, but she reckoned that perhaps the memory of it was just too painful.

"So… there's no way to get Azula out of this situation where she's being abused?" Katara asked then.

"It would be extremely difficult, considering Ozai's influence… and believe me, I have made inquiries," Iroh said, sounding reluctant. "The first option is to simply wait until she reaches eighteen and can make the decision to walk away from her father. The other option… well, if Ozai were to do something so awful to her that even the corrupt and bought off Fire Nation child services could not ignore, then she could be separated from her father. But I think I would vastly prefer the first option."

Katara felt a cold shudder running through her, followed by a wave of disappointment that it seemed impossible to do anything to help Azula. "I agree," was all she could say in the end. "Let's hope that other option never comes to pass."

Next chapter: It's autumn, and both Azula and Katara are back at their Pai Sho boards, trying to qualify for the main U18 World Junior Championship event.