Chapter 17
At the start of their third week at Uncle Iroh's summer Pai Sho camp, the Serpent's Lake estate was buzzing with excitement, anticipating a visit from a surprising guest. This particular guest was known in the circles of Pai Sho enthusiasts as "Guru" Pathik, a legendary and almost mythical figure in the eyes of many. An old man in his eighties, he had dominated the Pai Sho scene for a decade almost sixty years ago. A three-time world champion, Pathik had then unexpectedly retired in his early thirties, disappearing from the public eye to devote himself to spiritual pursuits, forsaking all of his material wealth to live out the rest of his life as an eccentric hermit.
The collection of "Guru" Pathik's best games was a part of the curriculum of any self-respecting and aspiring Pai Sho hopeful. Pathik's style had been considered unorthodox during his time, and while many had sought to copy his unusual way of playing, nobody had managed to do so successfully. It was his unique style of play together with his mysterious and reclusive lifestyle that had over the years slowly turned "Guru" Pathik into this almost myth of a man. There were only two men in the world who kept close contact with Pathik, Iroh Nakamura and Aang's foster father, Gyatso Jetsun. Pathik had made his last public appearance almost four years ago. The news that this Pai Sho legend planned to travel from his obscure Earth Kingdom wilderness hideout to spend a couple of days at Iroh's lakeside estate, sent shockwaves throughout the camp and made all the kids dying from excitement to meet one of their idols.
Katara was immediately impressed by the old "Guru" upon his introduction to the kids attending the camp. With his white eyebrows, moustache and beard, Pathik looked positively ancient, almost like some kind of a mystical and powerful wizard. He wore simple yellow robes and walked around barefoot, with a much sprightlier and energetic step than expected from a man of his age. Katara found herself thinking that if Aang was ever to reach such a venerable age, she expected him to look a lot like Pathik, though perhaps with a less impressive beard.
After the breakfast, Iroh asked all the kids to gather in the estate garden and bring their Pai Sho boards with them. Once they had all set up their boards, waiting in anticipation, Iroh appeared together with "Guru" Pathik at his side. "Boys and girls, I have asked you all to gather here as a favor to my friend," Iroh smiled fondly at the older man by his side. "He has kindly agreed to play a simultaneous exhibition game with you all."
There were startled gasps of disbelief from all of the kids at the camp. Simultaneous displays, or simuls for short, were occasionally performed by great champions and grandmasters, playing up to thirty opponents at once. These simuls could serve a variety of purposes, educational for the junior players, or sometimes the grandmasters turned them into commercial opportunities. Katara had heard of Pakku holding these events annually in Agna Qel'a, and the cost of participation was three hundred yuan. A few years ago, Katara had even started to save from her pocket money towards this opportunity to be crushed by grandmaster Pakku, but once she had learned what kind of man Pakku Karetak actually was, she had decided to put her money towards better use.
However, now they were all given an opportunity to take part in something much more valuable and unique, a chance to learn from "Guru" Pathik himself. Nobody had witnessed him play for more than a decade, although Katara was sure that he probably had multiple long-distance games running with Iroh and Gyatso, just like she did with Yue.
"I also have to tell you that there is an additional prize to be won," Iroh spoke up, cutting through the excited chatting of the teenagers. "My friend will evaluate your performance during this demonstration. The player that impresses him the most will receive an opportunity to spend an afternoon with me and "Guru" Pathik for a private lesson. I wish you all the best of luck," Iroh finished. Katara noticed the way he gave his nephew an encouraging nod, no doubt willing Zuko to leave a positive impression on "Guru" Pathik. Katara instantly became even more determined not to let this chance slip by her. This was a unique, once in a lifetime opportunity. She needed to secure it for herself.
"Oh my goodness," Katara turned to watch Yue practically bouncing up and down next to her. "Is this really happening, Kat?"
"I know! I can't believe it!" Katara nodded in return. "I hope he chooses one of us, Yue."
"Agreed," Yue smiled at her. "Good luck, sweetheart," she added, the two girls joining in a quick hug as the simultaneous display began.
About half an hour later, Katara already found herself developing great fondness for the old "Guru". He seemed so full of smiles, kind and respectful towards all the kids, and there was genuine warmth in his eyes, mixed with some amusement which he clearly took from confounding these highly talented teenagers at their Pai Sho boards. After about a dozen or so moves, Katara had decided that her wizened wizard comparison was very apt indeed. The move selection by the old "Guru" was making Katara scratch her head in confusion as she was clearly failing to predict the intentions of her opponent.
Still, even though Katara felt hopelessly outmatched, the others were faring far worse. One by one, the younger kids at the camp had to admit their defeat at the hands of "Guru" Pathik. From Katara's acquaintances, Meng folded very quickly, failing to reach twenty moves. Ghashiun, Teo and Kori followed shortly after. As Katara had expected, the ones to last the longest would be her, Yue, Aang, Toph, Zuko and Haru.
Katara had no idea how the others were coping, but from the tense looks on all of their faces it seemed that her friends were all struggling. The old master expertly created such complications on the Pai Sho board that trying to follow all the potential treads drove Katara crazy. It seemed as if all of her friends were similarly confounded. How "Guru" Pathik was able to navigate through such complications in six concurrent games, Katara had no idea. All she knew that her only hope lay in simplifying the game as much as possible, but it was very hard to accomplish when her opponent skillfully evaded all of her attempts to exchange tiles.
Toph was next to bow out with a frustrated groan, surprisingly followed by Haru, whom Katara had fancied as a favorite to last the longest, either him or Zuko. Katara feared that she might be the next to suffer defeat, but then she spied a clever opportunity to use her Wheel tile and create a fork to threaten her opponents flower tiles. This wasn't a decisive move on Katara's part, because Pathik had the opportunity to counter with a fork of his own, and he spotted it easily enough. Still, this allowed Katara to force an exchange of several tiles, and it simplified the situation on the board, taking some pressure off of her. While Katara's position improved, Aang ended up surrendering, followed in defeat by Yue.
This left only Katara and Zuko opposing Pathik. Now that the "Guru" only had two opponents to focus on, Katara and Zuko immediately faced hard times. Katara tried to resist bravely, attempting several snares to trip up her opponent, but the "Guru" seemed to see everything. Katara desperately hoped that she could at least outlast Zuko, but it was not to be. Pathik's Orchid quickly cleared the path towards him forming a harmony ring and the game was over. Zuko lasted four moves more than she did before he too was forced to acknowledge the inevitable.
"Guru" Pathik rose to address the group of excited teenagers. "I am very impressed by this new crop of talented Pai Sho players," the old man spoke with a kind smile. "Iroh and I will take a few minutes to discuss which one of you acquitted themselves the best."
As Iroh and Pathik withdrew, all the kids immediately broke into excited speculation. Almost everyone seemed to believe that Zuko would be chosen because he had lasted the longest against Pathik. Katara and her closest circle of friends did not necessarily agree with that opinion. "Ugh, I know I won't be chosen and for a good reason. I made too many mistakes, I'm so angry with myself right now," Toph grumbled. "The rest of you played much better games, but I think Zuko is celebrating prematurely."
Zuko overheard her words, coming over to the small group of four. "What are you talking about, Beifong?" he frowned. "I lasted the longest. That means I'm the best from this lot."
"Just because you can last a little longer than most doesn't make it good," Yue shot back. Some of the older kids who understood the double entendre broke out in hearty laughter, making Zuko go red in the face.
"You should really watch your mouth, Taqqiq," Zuko threatened Yue.
"Or what, you're going to try something?" Yue refused to back down, hands on her hips. Katara stood next to her, glaring at Zuko. "Everyone saw that Katara played a much better game. If they pick you, Zuko, it'll only be because your uncle put in a word on your behalf."
Zuko's healthy eye twitched dangerously as some of the other kids were openly sniggering behind his back. Fortunately, the tense standoff was broken when Iroh and Pathik reappeared in the garden, both of them smiling in satisfaction as they approached the tense crowd of teenagers, swelling with anticipation.
"After some lively debate with my good friend Iroh, we have a decision for you," the bushy bearded champion of old spoke up. "As I said before, I am very impressed by the overall level of play by this new crop of players. Some of you impressed me a little more than the others. I would like to make a special note of the young Water Tribe lady with the white hair, and the young Air Nation lad. You have the potential to achieve great things." Everyone took a moment to applaud Aang and Yue, the two of them blushing from the attention.
"And then we come to the two young players who impressed me the most," Pathik continued. "Zuko, was that right?" He asked, looking at Iroh's nephew. Zuko nodded, a little nervously. "You did extremely well, Zuko. And lastly, the young lady in the blue dress over there," Pathik smiled as Iroh leaned in to whisper in his ear. "Katara, yes, excellent," he nodded to himself.
"Zuko, you played a very good game today," Pathik said, turning back to Zuko. "It was tactically sound and had very few weaknesses. I am sure it will take you far in your career as a professional player. However… your style of play is also a little dogmatic. I was more impressed by the creativity and adaptability of young Katara's game. For this reason, I choose her as the victor of this little contest."
Everyone aside from the shocked and outraged Zuko broke out in applause for Katara as she just stood there, flabbergasted, unable to believe her good fortune. "Katara, after dinner, please take your notation book and join me and "Guru" Pathik in my study, please," Iroh spoke kindly, even though privately he probably had hoped that Zuko would be chosen.
Katara could only stand there and nod numbly. This was proving to be an afternoon she would remember for the rest of her life.
The couple of weeks that her father and Zhao remained on Sozin's Island left Azula very tense and frustrated, even more so than usual, despite the fact that for once she was not under the scope of Ozai's attention. Besides, at this point, Azula was more concerned about Zhao. Ozai had sent him to test her Pai Sho progress on three separate occasions, and it hadn't been a pleasant experience. Zhao hadn't made any weird and inappropriate comments like the previous summer, but still, the way she occasionally caught him staring at her made Azula feel icky. Because of it, Azula had developed the habit to dress in a certain way when she knew that she would have to interact with Zhao. Her usual great sense of style was set aside for plain and unattractive jeans and oversized shirts or a baggy sweater. At least she had managed to acquit herself well in her sparring sessions with Zhao, well enough for Zhao to report favorably back to her father, and Ozai had made no more requests for further sparring.
Azula had also made sure to warn Zirin about Zhao, telling the other girl to avoid her father's right hand man as much as possible. Zirin managed to successfully wriggle out of the tasks that could have put her at risk of interacting with Zhao, and when Ozai and Zhao left a few days ago to return to Caldera City, both girls let out big sighs of relief. At this point, Azula was done pretending that she was still angry with Zirin. She knew that there would be precious few opportunities to spend time with the other girl. Ozai would return in less than a week, and with so much to do at the estate, Zirin hardly ever got more than a couple of hours off during the day. And even then, making good use of Zirin's free time was difficult because they always had to worry about the prying eyes of the others. The other servants would be only too happy to earn some brownie points with Ozai by reporting that his daughter was spending an inordinate amount of time entertaining this new servant girl.
The best way to not get spotted was to spend time away from the estate. Azula loved spending time at the stables, and fortunately, it turned out that Zirin also loved horses, albeit not as much as Azula. Stables became something of a safe haven for them, a place where they met almost daily. Occasionally, Azula dared to invite Zirin to come with her for a ride, and it seemed to be safe enough, especially if they stuck to the side of the island which had been left a little wild and underdeveloped. Azula always had to smile when she recalled Zirin's first time atop of Goldflake, the older girl freaking out a little having never ridden a horse before. Still, Zirin had bonded with Goldflake quite quickly and had since become very comfortable atop of a horse. To Azula, this was yet another sign that Zirin truly was repentant for what she had done, and that she could trust the other girl not to betray her again. Someone who got along so well with her beloved horses couldn't be all bad.
"Hey there," Azula almost jumped at the sultry sound of Zirin's voice close to her ear. She had allowed herself to become so distracted by brushing Innocence's mane, feeding her sugar cubes while thinking about Zirin, that she had failed to spot the other girl's arrival at the stables.
"Oh… hey," Azula replied, turning to face Zirin. The older girl was wearing her trademark torn jeans and a checkered flannel shirt, a passable outfit for horse riding.
"Someone's being miles away," Zirin grinned at her. Azula hated how the gesture made it all but impossible for her not to smile back.
"I guess," Azula shrugged. Zirin's mere presence made it so hard for her to act casual and indifferent. "Shall we go for a ride? I was thinking that maybe I should take Goldflake today. I miss her."
"No, no, I should keep Goldflake," Zirin chuckled. "You should stick with Innocence. For reasons we are both well aware of." Azula blushed darkly at that comment. "Gods, that blush makes you look so hot," Zirin breathed out heatedly.
"Shut up, idiot," Azula snapped in embarrassment.
"I'm never shutting up about how hot you are," Zirin grinned. She stepped closer to Azula, hooking her fingers in the younger girl's belt and lightly tugging on it to pull Azula towards her. As Azula was forced to move towards the other girl, Zirin attempted to catch Azula's lips against hers, but at the very last moment, Azula turned away sharply, leaving Zirin's lips to brush awkwardly against the side of her cheek. "Ouch…" Zirin commented, releasing her hold on Azula's belt.
"You are aware that we can never have any sort of… relationship, right?" Azula asked, her voice hoarse.
"A relationship?" Zirin spoke softly. "That's a big leap, considering you haven't actually said aloud that you forgive me."
"Of course I forgive you, stupid," Azula snapped. "I forgave you some time ago."
"Well, that would have been nice to know," Zirin rolled her eyes. "Thank you, though. Anyway, a relationship? Yeah, I kinda figured that it wouldn't be possible, not with your father ruling over every aspect of your life."
"I might have more say once I turn eighteen, though my father is likely to still hold my inheritance as leverage to ensure that I always do what he wants," Azula sighed. "But that is only to be expected. I shouldn't expect to inherit his riches if I end up disappointing him."
"Oookaaaay," Zirin stated dubiously.
"Eh, you wouldn't understand," Azula shrugged. "Different social strata. Besides, it'll be a long time before I turn eighteen. I'm going to turn only sixteen in three weeks."
"Are you still going to be here then?" Zirin asked. Azula nodded stiffly. "Oh, we should do something wild to celebrate."
"Hah, fat chance of that," Azula laughed, but it rang hollow. "My father will be here, along with a host of boring dignitaries who mean nothing to me. They will supposedly come to greet me and bring me expensive gifts, but in reality they will be here only to curry favors with my father. Trust me, if I had the chance to choose with whom to spend my birthday, it would be you, Zirin."
"Oh," Zirin looked touched by her words. "Maybe I can think of some kind of an early birthday present, then?"
"That depends on what you have in mind," Azula replied guardedly.
"I might have some ideas," Zirin smiled, moving closer again. This time Azula did not turn away when the older girl moved in to kiss her, eagerly drinking from Zirin's tender lips.
Over the past few days, their growing intimacy had escalated. Horse riding by now involved stops of at least a quarter of an hour, rolling around in some secluded meadow away from the prying eyes of others, trading passionate kisses with fiery vigor. There was a part of Azula that was scared to explore this growing closeness, afraid that it might end up the same way as it did with Ty Lee. But at the same time, Azula was so thirsty to experience it with someone, and she also knew that for her opportunities would always remain scarce under her father's watchful gaze.
"I might be interested in hearing more about some of those ideas," Azula admitted once Zirin had stopped kissing her.
"It might involve you leaving your window open when you retire for the night," Zirin whispered. "And some impressive wall scaling on my part."
Azula shuddered briefly, both from uncertainty and anticipation. "I… I'm not sure I'm ready," she managed.
"You'll need to make that decision soon," Zirin spoke softly. "Azula, I know that we can never have an actual relationship. But I would still love to give you what I can in these brief snippets of time together. I can sense that you both want and need this. And even if we can't be together, I would love to be your first, babe."
Zirin's earnest words frightened Azula. Her father would surely kill them both if he was to discover what Zirin was proposing. Azula's self-preservation instincts should have kicked in by now to stop her from this obviously terrible idea, and yet they hadn't. She didn't know whether she loved Zirin. She probably didn't. The thought that they couldn't be together didn't hurt as much as it probably should have if she would have been earnestly in love. But she still wanted to experience what Zirin offered. Zirin was stupidly attractive, she was older and more experienced… she seemed to be exactly what Azula needed at this moment of time.
"Let's go for that ride, shall we?" Azula instead replied, pulling away. She gave Zirin a longing, meaningful stare. "We'll take a longer than usual break at the meadows. Maybe you can find some more persuasive arguments to convince me that I'm ready for what you propose."
Zirin's only reply was a promising smile on her lips.
When an overawed Katara had entered Iroh's study to join him and "Guru" Pathik, she had thought that the old master would spend a half an hour at most on giving her some general advice. She couldn't have been further from the truth. The clock on the wall informed her that it was now a quarter past eight in the evening and the three of them had been frozen at the Pai Sho board for over four hours straight, about to miss their supper.
Pathik had started by taking her notation book and going over it, commenting on the way she kept her notations and the remarks she had made during the analysis of her games. The old master was full of praise for her detail-orientated and studious approach. He had then asked her to pick out three of her favorite games for them to go over together. Katara made the selection from her games at the finals of the past spring, a beautiful victory over Hahn Adjuk, and tightly contested losses to Azula Nakamura and Ruon-Jian Ogawa. Again, her choices drew praise from both grandmasters, remarking that she was not overcome with hubris and was not using this as an opportunity to show off. Pathik's words of 'victory is empty, there are lessons in defeat', were something that Katara knew would stay with her for a long time after.
Curiously, it was Katara's loss to Azula that seemed to elicit the most interest in the old master. After they had spent several hours examining the lengthy contest of two stubborn wills, "Guru" Pathik found himself with plenty to say. "If you had not shown me this game of yours, child, I would have told you that your weakness is your reliance on the defensive aspect of your game. I would have advised you to diversify your style to make it more viable at a professional level," Pathik said. "However, this one game alone already reveals a remarkable range of tools at your disposal, all at a very tender age. I am… beyond impressed. Iroh, do you think you could have bested this young lady when you were a strapping young lad of fifteen summers?"
"I seriously doubt that," Iroh laughed, shaking his head. "Young people these days are just too good if you ask me."
"You certainly have a very rare talent, Katara," Pathik told her. "But you must never become complacent. Talent alone makes up for no more than one third of what you will achieve as a professional player. If you stop nurturing your talent, others may overtake you purely with hard work. That's what happened to me, you know?"
"Really?" Katara gasped. Iroh also gave his old friend a curious look. It seemed that this was a story he wasn't familiar with.
"There isn't much to tell, it's not some dramatic story if you were hoping for one," Pathik chuckled. "My string of successes became my downfall. When you are already winning everything, how do you motivate yourself to continue putting in all that grueling training? I failed to motivate myself, and began to suffer defeat after defeat. And instead of making the hard choice to immerse myself in training and preparation, I made the easy choice to retire."
"I would never judge you, old friend," Iroh respectfully bowed his head. "The amount of work necessary to remain at the top can be daunting. There is a reason why I have not competed on a professional level for more than ten years. It is very draining."
"But it can also be so very satisfying, especially when you create a work of art such as this," Pathik smiled, pointing at the notations of Katara's game with Azula. "Of course, it takes two to create something so memorable. You are a generational talent, young lady, but so is your opponent in this game. Iroh, I could not help but notice that you share last name with this girl, Azula."
"Yes," Iroh nodded. "Azula is my niece… estranged niece. She is firmly under her father's thumb."
"Ah yes, you have told me of your family situation," Pathik nodded. "It is regrettable. I would have liked to study her games as well."
"Actually, my remarks to those notations come from analyzing this game together with Azula," Katara smiled at the fond memory. "We spent time studying Pai Sho together this spring. We even became tentative friends."
Iroh looked very surprised, but also pleased. "Katara, I am very thankful that you are making the effort to befriend Azula. As I understand, she is not easy to get along with," he said gratefully. "I fear greatly for her. My concern is that living with Ozai could destroy her very humanity."
"I didn't find it very hard to get along with her," Katara shrugged. "Please don't be offended, Master Iroh, but I actually find interacting with Zuko a lot more challenging than speaking with Azula."
Iroh gave a hearty laugh at that. "Oh, you're not telling me something I don't already know, Katara. That boy still has a long way to go before he understands that he doesn't have to prove himself to the entire world." Iroh shook his head. "Spirits, would you look at the hour? Young lady, we have taken up far too much of your time."
"Indeed," "Guru" Pathik nodded with a smile. "Time just flies when you sit down at the board, doesn't it? I hope you have learned something useful from these two old men, Katara."
"Of course! I will not squander any of this knowledge, I promise," Katara said, rising from her seat and bowing to the two older men. "Thank you so much for everything," she uttered breathlessly, departing with a proud and accomplished smile on her face.
It seemed that the other kids had already scattered after their supper, but Katara felt too happy and elated to even think about food. She was eager to find Yue and the others and tell them everything she had learned from the "Guru". Figuring that the others would probably be sitting out in the garden, Katara raced out of the estate and ran straight into Zuko Nakamura, walking up the stairs together with his girlfriend.
"Watch it!" Zuko glared at Katara after she had managed to avoid collision at the very last moment. "So, I guess you're done wasting the grandmaster's time?"
"What are you talking about?" Katara frowned at him. "Oh, I get it. You're so jealous you weren't the one picked for a private lesson."
"I should have been the one picked!" Zuko exclaimed angrily. "I'm better than you! Every time we have played, I have utterly destroyed you!"
"And despite that, "Guru" Pathik says that I have greater potential than you do," Katara shot back, refusing to be intimidated. "Or are you going to say that you know better than Master Pathik?"
For a moment, Zuko seemed lost for words, prompting his girlfriend to interfere and stand up for her boyfriend. "Don't listen to this Northern savage, Zuko, what does she know?" Jin glared angrily at Katara. "Why don't you crawl into some hole in the ice and make out with a seal or something?"
"And why don't you go and get started on that pile of dirty dishes in the kitchen?" After Katara had stood up to Zuko, she certainly wasn't going to bow down to Jin. "I thought you were being paid to help, not to bully the participants."
"Mouthy little bitch, isn't she? I'll show you!" Jin snarled. She stuck out her leg and then pushed Katara, making her trip over Jin's outstretched leg. Once again, Katara ended up with her back on the ground. "There, let that be a less-" Jin's gloating was suddenly interrupted by something hitting both her and Zuko, some sort of liquid dumped all over them from the upper floor of the estate.
"Ugh, what is this?" Zuko growled angrily. "Agni, it smells awful!"
"Damn it, that's fish sauce!" Jin cried out. "Someone threw it on us from the second floor balcony!"
"Let's get them!" Zuko exclaimed and together with Jin they ran off, forgetting all about Katara.
The Water Tribe girl had just about finished dusting herself off, when someone ran up to her, breathing hard from exhaustion. "Come on, Kat, let's go!" it was Yue, grabbing her hand and pulling her along. The two of them dashed around the front of the estate and ran down the little path running around the mansion towards the back.
"Did you just dump fish sauce all over Zuko and his girlfriend?" Katara managed, breathing too hard to laugh.
"Yes," Yue admitted between gulps of air. "They're both so mad! And stinky!"
"We better hide, Yue," Katara suggested. "They looked ready to beat us up."
"Hiding is the plan, Kat," Yue giggled, pulling Katara down the path that led to the collection of utility buildings behind the main estate. "In here," she whispered, the two of them running into the little shed where Iroh stored rows of birch firewood for the sauna. There was very little room in the shed and the two of them had to squeeze very tightly as they waited for any signs of Zuko and Jin searching for them.
"Maybe you shouldn't have done it, Yue," Katara suggested, struggling not to laugh when she thought of the surprised looks on Zuko and Jin's faces. "Although it was kind of awesome!"
"Nobody bullies my main babe and gets away with it, I thought you knew that," Yue replied with mirth in her voice. "Shush!" she suddenly hushed Katara. "I hear them coming!"
The two girls froze, keeping silent as mice as they listened to Zuko and Jin speaking in angry voices outside. Having checked some of the other buildings, the sauna and the tool shed, Zuko and Jin seemed to grow bored looking for them and headed back towards the estate. As soon as they were gone, the two Water Tribe troublemakers burst into relieved laughter, tears pouring down their cheeks from laughing so hard.
"You should have seen-"
"I did see! The looks on their faces-"
"That was awesome. You were awesome-"
"And I'd do it again-"
And then it happened. Katara later would have no recollection of how exactly they went from laughing themselves to tears to the next moment being lip-locked in the tight, confined space of the firewood shed. For the next couple of minutes, their lips crashed together with the kind of primal urgency that felt as if it had been restrained for years. Bits of uneven and sharp logs were digging in their backs as they staggered around the cramped shed, but neither of them seemed to notice the discomfort. Katara's hands were firmly entangled in Yue's flowing locks, trying to pull her ever tighter against herself, Yue repaying her in kind. Katara had absolutely no clue about the time that had passed during the almost savage kiss, but it felt like a lot. She actually felt sore from kissing Yue. Maybe Jin was right and they really were Northern savages.
Then they both finally opened their eyes at the exact same moment, and the reality of what had just happened hit them both like a truckload of firewood.
"Oh, no…" Katara whimpered. "No, no, no…"
"Shit!" Yue cursed, looking equally distraught. "This is bad…"
Next chapter: We'll check in with Katara and Azula in the fall, and we'll look back at the fallout of their summer dalliances.