Chapter 47
The winter holiday was off to a good start, at least as far as Katara was concerned. Sure, Sokka being delayed in Agna Qel'a was annoying, but he was due to arrive tomorrow evening and then the family would finally be together. Privately, she daringly counted Azula as a part of the family, while at the same time trying to remind herself not to presume too much. Still, she was delighted that Azula was getting along with her father and grandmother. Sure, Azula was slightly stiffer and shyer than usual, and her conversations with Hakoda and Kanna came off as a little stilted, but Katara was deeply touched by the effort that Azula was putting in to get along with her family.
Katara imagined that if Azula had come to visit her directly from the Fire Nation, she would have found the living conditions shocking and unacceptable. But her journey through the mental asylum in Agna Qel'a and living in Iroh's Ba Sing Se estate had tempered her expectations and thus, life in Cape Kuruk did not feel like a complete and utter culture shock. Katara had only heard the occasional quiet muttering about some of the dishes not being seasoned enough, the unreliable water pressure and temperature in the shower and most predictably, complaints about the air mattress. As with Yue, Katara had offered Azula to alternate the nights spent on the air mattress and the offer that had been eagerly accepted.
Of course, Katara had been very tempted to share the bed with Azula, especially because it would have meant for fairly tight squeezing. The attraction hadn't gone anywhere, the physical part of it was as strong as before, and the emotional connection was growing day by day. Azula seemed to have overcome her mental health crisis from November, resulting from learning about Ozai's threats to her horses and the disastrous meeting with Ursa and Zuko. She was slowly coming out of her shell once more, and to Katara it was the most beautiful sight ever. For some reason, Azula's recovery brought back a certain memory from Katara's childhood. When Katara had been only six years of age, together with her mother, they had come across an injured arctic fox hiding in a patch of firs close to their house. The fox appeared to have been badly mauled, both of its front paws broken, and yet it had snarled at Katara and her mother when they had tried to approach. It had taken them so much effort to earn the trust of the injured fox, but eventually, after several days of bringing it food and water, the poor animal had finally allowed Kya to approach it. Katara remembered how her mother had carefully picked up the wounded animal, and together they had taken it to a nearby vet. That story had a happy ending, and now remembering it made Katara think of Azula almost as of that injured fox, abused and struggling to trust anyone.
Katara had been a little surprised when on their third day in Cape Kuruk, Azula announced that she was eager to go and explore the estate of her paternal grandfather Azulon Nakamura, near Puffin Creek up east. Azula's interest in anything related to her father's side of the family just plain made Katara wary. She wasn't sure why Azula was so curious about some piece of remote property that had stood empty for almost a decade. Not that there was a lot to do around Cape Kuruk, so Katara supposed that she didn't really mind this drive to Puffin Creek. Perhaps Azula had overheard Katara's conversation with Gran-Gran earlier in the morning about how she was going to teach Azula how to ski, and Azula was now trying to find an excuse to wriggle out of her skiing practice.
The half an hour long drive to Puffin Creek passed quickly. Katara had thought that Azula would be relying on her for directions, feeling a little surprised when Azula actually didn't need her help. Her friend had bought a very detailed map of the area and had studied the layout of roads beforehand. Their rigorous Pai Sho training meant that they both had excellent, nearly perfect photographic memories. With Azula driving as confidently as if she were a local, Katara was left with little else to do than to look outside the car window and enjoy the scenery. Both Puffin Creek and Cape Kuruk skirted the same majestic forest of ancient firs, but Puffin Creek was situated a little further inland and was bisected by a river with a nasty tendency to overflow every spring.
In all honesty, Puffin Creek was even less of a village than Cape Kuruk, with the local Waffle House serving as the anemic and weakly pulsating heart of the settlement. "So, I have no idea where exactly my grandfather's estate might be," Azula confessed as she parked the Chevy Camaro in the Waffle House parking lot. "I can't believe how much of a wilderness this is. Don't you people know about things like street names and addresses?"
"That seems rather unnecessary when there's only one street in the village," Katara laughed as they got out of the car. "And calling it a street is very generous, I'll admit."
"Well, it's certainly unhelpful," Azula frowned. "I guess we'll just have to ask around for someone who can point us towards my grandfather's estate."
"I assume by that you mean that I will have to ask around," Katara winked at her.
"Please," Azula said, blushing lightly. "I mean, I would ask myself, but you locals probably communicate in something like the language of seals." Katara laughed and made some exaggerated seal noises at Azula. Her Fire Nation friend groaned and facepalmed. "Agni, you are so embarrassing," she sighed.
"Careful now, you still want me to ask the locals because you're too shy, right?" Katara grinned. Azula frowned, then sighing and nodding. "Alright, just wait out here, I'll try my luck inside the Waffle House," Katara said, heading inside the largely empty establishment, only a few of the tables occupied by customers.
Katara briefly considered how to go about her information gathering task. She didn't want to just straight up ask for directions to the Nakamura estate, which might invoke questions as to her interest in it. Katara figured that the local kids probably knew all about abandoned estates in the vicinity. She eventually managed to strike up a conversation with a boy younger than her, bussing the tables. Katara didn't even need to do any of the eyelash batting or warm smiling before she had learned the information they were after. Apparently, there was a large estate at the southern edge of the village that had stood abandoned for many years. This seemed to match Azula's description perfectly.
Shortly afterwards, they were driving again, up and down a twisting village road. Azula was forced to stop the car before the estate had come into view, simply because they quite literally ran out of the road. The rest of the path leading up to the Nakamura estate looked like it hadn't been maintained for years. Even though snow had been sparse this winter, the road was clearly impossible to drive on without risking seriously damaging the vehicle and considering that it was a rent car neither of them was willing to chance it. The two girls got out of the car, Azula retrieved a previously prepared duffel bag from the trunk and together they began making their way up the snow covered path until reaching a locked iron gate.
"That's not promising," Katara said. She frowned at the impressive padlock keeping the gate firmly shut.
"Well, I wasn't expecting anyone to roll out the welcome mat for us," Azula shrugged. "Come to think of it, that would have been worrying."
"Please don't joke about that," Katara sighed. "Sneaking around abandoned estates feels creepy enough as it is. Anyway," she said, pointing upwards where both the gate and the tall wooden fence surrounding the estate were reinforced with barbed wire. "No climbing that."
"Well, I haven't come completely unprepared," Azula replied. She rummaged through her duffel bag and retrieved a pair of familiar looking pincers. "These should help with the barbed wire."
"Are those my dad's?" Katara blinked.
"Uh…" Azula blushed fiercely. "He's not going to miss them for a few hours, right? I'm going to put them right back as soon as we return to your place, I promise."
"Azula, you could have just asked," Katara sighed. "My dad likes you."
"Even if that's true, don't you think he would have wanted to know what a pair of eighteen year old girls would need pincers for?" Azula asked.
Katara considered the words of her best friend, eventually nodding. "That's a good point," she said. "Still, that fence is really tall. We can't reach it from here in order to cut the wire."
"You could give me a boost," Azula suggested.
Katara looked skeptical. "I couldn't hold you long enough for you to cut those wires," she shook her head. "I mean… we can try if there's no other way, but-"
"Alright," Azula nodded. "Let's take a walk around the estate. Maybe we'll get lucky and there will be a completely unlocked back entrance."
In the end, they were not as stupidly lucky as to find an unlocked back entrance, however, they did discover a recently fallen tree that was leaning against the wooden fence, allowing them to walk up its trunk and then have an easy time cutting the barbed wire. Once they had cleared large enough gap from the wire, Azula was the first to hop onto the fence and then land inside the yard on the other side, Katara quickly following her example.
The house itself was quite picturesque, built on top of a small hillock. It was technically a log cabin, though that description did not do justice to the luxurious building. It was certainly large enough to be referred to as a log palace. Adjacent to it was what seemed to be a garage and a woodshed, also built from thick logs. The driveway running from the gate up to the garage was barely visible under all the snow as the two girls made their way to the front door of the estate.
"Azula?" Katara finally decided to ask something that had started to bother her ever since Azula had pulled her father's pincers out of her duffel bag. "You seem to be very prepared for what is supposedly just some poking around. I'm starting to think that you're looking for something particular."
Azula turned around to face her, looking earnest. "I'm really not," she said, shaking her head. "But I don't want to pass on any opportunity to dig up some dirt on my father, no matter how remote that chance might be. Ozai hasn't been here for like ten years or so. This is most likely a wild goose chase, but it would really nag at me if I hadn't come here and checked it for myself, you know?"
Katara smiled at her friend, feeling reassured. "Yeah, I get that," she nodded. "And I'm with you, all the way."
"Thanks," Azula looked grateful as they turned to face the locked front door.
"So, are we just going to break in?" Katara asked. She couldn't deny feeling a little thrilled about doing something that qualified probably at least as a misdemeanor.
"Maybe we won't have to," Azula said. Katara caught a glimpse of a slightly mischievous smile on Azula's lips, before her expression became serious again. "Mighty spirits of Fire and Water, I invoke you to grant us your blessings and show us the way inside," Azula intoned solemnly. She then walked up to the window to the left of the front door and pushed the tin plate of the window sill upwards, pulling out something hidden underneath it, a small key.
"What the heck?" Katara blinked. "How did you know it would be there?"
"The explanation is very simple, Katara. I'm a magician," Azula replied with an air of mystique.
"Bullshit," Katara laughed. "Iroh must have told you."
Azula snorted. "Fine, believe that if you want to be boring." She cleaned up the key a little bit, frowning at how it had rusted badly over the years. Fortunately, as Azula slipped it into the keyhole, it still turned and unlocked the final barrier between the two girls and their goal.
"This is kind of exciting," Katara whispered as they carefully advanced into the dark hallway.
"You don't have to whisper, dummy," Azula admonished her gently. "There's nobody here but us."
"Maybe so, but it's still spooky, and dark," Katara replied. She reached out and hit the nearby light switch. Nothing happened. "Damn, no power," Katara sighed.
"Well, that figures," Azula nodded. "I thought that it might not be connected to the local power grid. There's probably a fuel generator somewhere around here."
"We should try to find it," Katara said. "Where do you think it could be?"
"I don't know," Azula shrugged. "Where do people usually store fuel?"
"Right, the garage," Katara realized.
"Exactly," Azula nodded. She then rummaged around her duffel bag some more and retrieved a flashlight. "Of course, I also have this," she said, switching the flashlight on. "But I agree that finding the generator and getting it running is a good idea. Come on, the garage should be down this way," she said, leading Katara through a doorway to the right. Passing a small utility room, they soon emerged in a spacious garage. The first thing Azula did was to open the garage doors and let some daylight in, making it easier for them to examine their surroundings.
It didn't take them long to spot the big piece of machinery that looked vaguely like a fuel generator in the corner of the spacious garage. "Alright, so I obviously don't know how to handle a generator," Azula said, giving Katara an expectant look.
"Why are you looking at me?" Katara shrugged. "Dad or Sokka would probably know, but certainly not me. I'm sure we can figure it out, though," she said optimistically. "I mean, how hard could it be?"
"That sounds like something people say before they blow up their entire house," Azula groaned. They did a cursory examination of the generator and discovered that operating it did seem to be fairly simple. There was a fuel tank and a pair of switches, and not much beyond that. "Right, we probably need to find fuel," Azula concluded.
Katara sniffed around the lid of the fuel tank. "I might be wrong, but I think this is a diesel generator," she ventured. "Hopefully there's a canister around here somewhere."
"On it," Azula nodded. She walked over to the other side of the garage and stared at something large and vaguely car-shaped, covered by tarpaulin. "Hmm, this is odd," she said, having lifted the edge of the tarpaulin to take a closer look.
"What is odd, Azula?" Katara asked.
"Eh, it's probably nothing. It's just that uncle never said anything about a car being here," Azula shrugged. "Iroh said that they always rented a car in Agna Qel'a, just like we did. He mentioned it when I asked him how we were supposed to get around up here in the north."
"Maybe it's your father's car," Katara suggested. Ugh, even mentioning Ozai sent a shiver down her spine. "Didn't you say he also used to come here?"
"Yeah, but I thought that Iroh was the last of the family to come here when Lu Ten was still alive," Azula replied. "I might be wrong, though, or Iroh might be misremembering the timeline. We're talking ancient history here. Anyway," she said suddenly. "That wasn't the point. My father would have also rented a car like Iroh did. I mean… I suppose my father is rich enough to buy a car just for one vacation, but I don't, it just seems weird."
"Well, while you're feeling weird about some stupid old car, I could use help tracking down that fuel canister," Katara sighed.
"Sure, in a moment," Azula replied. She was starting to remove the tarpaulin covering the car, even if Katara didn't understand why she bothered. Surely there was nothing interesting about the car. After a decade of neglect, it wasn't in any condition to be used.
Katara was having no luck in tracking down the fuel canister. She turned around to face Azula, now also getting her first look at the uncovered car. It was a classic red Pontiac. The fact that the car was red made something stir in Katara's memory, an unpleasant, warning sensation. For some reason, she suddenly lost all interest in investigating this abandoned place.
"Maybe… maybe we shouldn't be poking around here, Azula," Katara said nervously, watching as her friend circled around the car, examining it. Once she had reached the front of the car, Azula froze in her tracks. There was an odd, almost shocked expression on her face as she looked back at Katara. "What is it?" Katara asked. Azula just stared back at her, no words coming out of her mouth. "Azula, what is it?" Katara demanded, starting to walk over to where Azula stood.
That finally got Azula to move. She bolted from her spot and rushed up to Katara, stopping her. "Don't," she exclaimed. "You're right, Katara, we shouldn't be poking around here. Let's just leave, right now."
"What did you see?" Katara asked. She tried to push Azula aside, but her friend did her best to cling on to her. "Azula, what did you see?" Katara repeated her question in a shaky voice. She felt herself trembling from nervousness, made worse by Azula's strange reaction. Also, something about the car felt familiar even if Katara was sure that she had never seen it before in her life.
Azula finally seemed to get a grip on her emotions. "Alright… alright, this could be bad, but maybe it's not what it seems," she muttered, sounding nonsensical to Katara. "You deserve to see for yourself, though," Azula said, finally releasing her hold on Katara.
Together, they walked around the car to look at its front. That was when Katara saw what had disturbed Azula. There was a light crack across the windshield and the front bumper had been pushed back an inch or two. The left headlight was broken, and there were visible dents in the front radiator. But the worst part of it all were the visible stains across the headlight and the radiator, almost like rust, but not quite, something a little darker.
Everything suddenly clicked in Katara's head. Her mind spun in circles and her knees buckled as she fell into soothing blackness.
Katara woke up lying on a bed in a room that she didn't immediately recognize. The walls made from logs immediately suggested that she was still at the Puffin Creek estate of Azulon Nakamura. Azula must have dragged her into one of the bedrooms of the vast log cabin after she had passed out. The room was covered in so much dust that Katara's first reaction was to break into a sneezing fit. Azula had opened a window to air the room, but the dust was still there.
And speaking of Azula, where was she? The only sign of her Fire Nation friend that Katara could see was her discarded duffel bag, resting next to Katara on the bed. Katara immediately started to freak out again, calling for Azula. Fortunately, her friend came running almost instantly, rushing into the room breathless, the Minolta camera she had brought to take shots of the breathtaking views of Cape Kuruk wilderness seized in Azula's hand.
"Are you okay?" Azula blurted out immediately.
"Yes… well, no," Katara replied. She felt… she didn't know how to feel. She hadn't allowed herself to truly process the possibility that the car they had just come across might have been the one involved in the hit and run that had taken the life of her mother. "What are you doing with that camera?" she asked.
Azula blushed lightly. "It's not important," she tried to brush off the question. "Katara, you know how it looks, right?" Azula said in a deeply serious voice. "We shouldn't jump to conclusions, though. That car might have hit a deer or some other large animal."
Katara forced herself to calm down, at least a little. "Okay, I suppose," she conceded, even if she really didn't believe it. What were the odds? "It's starting to come back to me, though. The witnesses claimed that the car which hit my mom was red. I think there was also a rumor about some Fire Nation tourists possibly being behind it, but it was unsubstantiated and nothing came of it."
"If it's true-" Azula began to speak, but as she did so, everything about that night came back to Katara all at once. Her nagging Kya to go to the store, the scene of the accident and the paramedics hovering over her mother's lifeless body, the way Hakoda had broken down at the funeral, throwing himself onto Kya casket. A flood of tears hit Katara and she could not hold it back or stop it, even as Azula threw her arms around Katara in a desperate attempt to comfort her. It took ages for Katara to weep her eyes dry, but even after she had finally stopped crying, Katara found herself unable to speak. Azula released her only for a moment to quickly retrieve a bottle of water from her duffel bag, offering it to Katara.
"Are you going to be alright now?" Azula asked as Katara eagerly drank the offered water. "I don't want to push, but we need to have a conversation about the very real possibility that my father had some involvement in the death of your mom."
Katara gave a hysterical laugh of disbelief at Azula's words. She wished she could detach herself like that from this situation and make herself think about things and events rationally, but she wasn't sure she could do that right now. Katara had thought that the scars left by her mother's death had finally been healed largely thanks to her sessions with Yagoda. The old wounds had been reopened in an instant and she felt as if she was rapidly bleeding out.
"I'm sorry that I don't know how to act in these situations, okay?" Azula said, looking a little lost and desperate. "But I'm really struggling, too. I spoke to your dad yesterday about his job on the oil rig. It made me feel terrible about the way my father exploits decent people like your father who simply don't have better work prospects up here. To know that my father is also possibly involved in the death of your mother… it seems as if my family is destined to hurt everyone, your family in particular. It makes me afraid that I will also eventually end up hurting you."
Azula's earnest words immediately distracted Katara from the emotional turmoil brought up by her painful memories of Kya's passing. She wrapped her arms around Azula and hugged her friend. "You're not your father, Azula," she whispered. "You've proved it again and again. I trust you not to hurt me."
"I hope you're right about trusting me," Azula said more calmly, sounding touched by Katara's words. "Are you ready to talk now?"
"What do you want to talk about, Azula?" Katara asked, looking into the amber eyes of her best friend. "Everything seems pretty clear to me. Once we get back to Cape Kuruk, we need to go straight to Bato and make a report. Uh, I mean, Officer Bato Echalook. He's the local policeman and a friend of my father. They became quite close after my mother died."
"That's not a good idea, Katara," Azula shook her head, much to Katara's surprise.
"What? Why? How can you say that?" Katara exclaimed, feeling surprised, even a little shocked. "If your father is involved, I want to see him answer for his crimes. I deserve it, Azula! My family deserves it!"
"Of course, you deserve it," Azula nodded. "But do you think that the local police station has the resources to investigate this? I don't want to be mean to a friend of your family, but what experience does Officer Bato have investigating cases like this? If he makes a single misstep, my father's lawyers will be all over it, poking holes in the case and discrediting the entire investigation."
"I'm sure he could call in someone from Agna Qel'a if he didn't feel capable of handling it himself," Katara didn't relent. "Come on, Azula. It is the right thing to do. This needs to be handled officially."
"I disagree," Azula frowned. "I know how much corruption has infested these official channels. If there is an official investigation, my father will learn about it right away and he will find some way to quash it."
"Sometimes I feel like you ascribe almost godly powers to your father," Katara shook her head. "I refuse to believe that he's as omnipotent as you paint him to be. He didn't dare to snatch you from the asylum. He wouldn't dare to mess with a police investigation in the Water Tribes territory."
"I don't overestimate my father, Katara. It's you who underestimates him," Azula said. "I can't stop you from going to the police, obviously, but I think it will do more harm than good. Also, Katara… do you really want to drag your family through all of this again?"
Katara froze at Azula's words. She really wanted to argue and shout about how they also deserved justice for Kya, but… Hakoda and Sokka seemed to have coped better with Kya's death over the years, perhaps because they didn't have the deeply personal aspect of crippling guilt that was still bothering Katara. To drag her family through it all again would be beyond cruel, she had to concede the point to Azula. At the same time, she wasn't sure that Azula was saying these things because she was so concerned about the feelings of her family. She seemed to have a plan of her own.
"Alright, let's suppose that I agree with you that going to the police is a bad idea," Katara said eventually. "What do you suggest that we do then, Azula?" She nodded at the Minolta camera Azula had placed next to the duffel bag on the bed. "Does it have something to do with the camera? Have you been taking pictures of the car?" she asked.
"I took some pictures, yes," Azula admitted. "If Ozai is really involved in this, then it could be exactly what I need to get him off my back, Katara."
"Wait a moment," Katara gasped, starting to realize what exactly Azula was saying. "You're planning to blackmail your father with this information about my mother's death?" Azula looked conflicted, as if she couldn't quite completely figure out why Katara appeared so upset. "Azula, you're asking me to give up on having justice for my mother's death just so that you can use this information against your father. That… that isn't right."
Azula seemed to consider her words for a while. "I admit, having my father stand trial for some of the things he has done would be highly satisfying," Azula spoke in a low voice. "But Katara, I know that it's not realistic to hope for. You are saying that I am denying justice to you. Understand that I will also never have justice for all the things he has done to me."
Katara frowned. She didn't like the way Azula spun this argument, but she couldn't find any way to argue against it. It just didn't feel right, but that was all down to her being emotional, she realized that much. "You make a good point," she was finally forced to admit.
"I might be able to really hurt my father with this information, Katara," Azula said. She was actually looking quite eager as she spoke. "And I would do so for both of us, trust me."
"Alright," Katara finally conceded. "But I can't promise that I won't decide to involve the police anyway. I'll need to think about it some more."
"I would never ask you to promise me something like that," Azula said.
"So, if we don't go to the police, what should our next steps be?" Katara asked.
"I'll have to think about it some more," Azula replied. "But it seems pretty clear to me. The most important thing to do is to establish Ozai's presence in Cape Kuruk at the time of your mother's death…"
Next chapter: Katara struggles with her decision not to report these events to the police, while Azula follows up on an idea regarding her own investigation.