"You think the snow scared him off?"
Suki scoffed.
"Would you quit it, Sokka? He said he'd be here."
Suki turned promptly to Katara in the distant snow, who stood uncharacteristically quiet despite the smirk she gave as a 'thank you.' Suki shrugged a 'you're welcome,' instinctively knowing better than to bring up doubts of whether or not a certain someone would actually turn up.
After all, if anyone understood what it was like to tackle frigid weather, with pelts and thermal seal-otter jelly being the only sources of warmth against miles of ice… occasionally debating if an impossibly-sweet and proud water-tribe student was worth all of this trouble… it was Suki.
She watched her friend's focused-but-hopeful eyes stay on the knots she made to the packs, not daring to say a word… because she wanted to be hopeful, too. Suki wanted to be, in spite of how she wouldn't dare judge someone not accustomed to this arctic tundra abruptly choosing to turn away.
And he was making quite the trip just to get here, the Earth dweller knew… a two-day's journey travelling over land, then over water, then on a small canoe around some glaciers… all in the hopes of attending Chief Hakoda's traditional birthday ice-fishing expedition.
It was all because the boy had been invited months ago, and he said he would join.
The sky was lingering with the grapefruit-pink of dawn. Suki pulled around the ropes to her travelling pack, the thickness of her parka hood unable to hide the blush on her cheeks as Sokka came over to start loading the polar-bear-huskie sleds.
GranGran and Pakku were already mounted on their personal sled, cuddling with blankets up to their shoulders for the cross-country journey of snow ahead. Bato was checking each of the bear-huskies, handing their eager mouths slabs of jerky and securing their straps for the sharpest turns on the snow. Katara knew it would only be ten, fifteen minutes before her father returned from the distant trading post, announcing they'd have to leave before the snow fell at its thickest, with or without their missing passenger.
The waterbender didn't want to jinx it. All it took was a brave smile from Suki, half-shivering despite her parka, to know that if anyone were willing to turn their back on the cold, it definitely would not be him.
And as the first flurries began to show themselves more in the air that morning, around that small trading post outside of the Southern Water Tribe, Katara let her mind wander to a few months earlier… back when it was still Spring Semester at Praying Mantis High, back when all she could think was that she had lost her best friend somewhere in the distant correspondence… when the letters had suddenly stopped coming.
You might not hear from me for a while.
That had been the last thing Zuko had written to her.
Before that, his letters were paragraphs-long, arriving by messenger hawk on Monday mornings to Praying Mantis, and it was something Katara looked forward to at the start of the school week. His writing was graceful, poetic; the opposite of what she'd see in the boy's usually-reserved, awkward composure:
…It's funny… the way wild sky-bison soar around the high mountains of the Northern Air Temple is how people would see a family of finch-robins gliding close to a nest of eggs. They're protecting their home.
…I wish you could see this…
…You wake up to the sound of Nothing – no birds, no trees – maybe the distant waves crashing against the icy-walls at the border of the Northern Water Tribe's grand huts – and it really makes you understand just how remote this place is…
…I wish you could hear this…
Katara would gobble up Zuko's descriptions in these letters and imagine every place, every sound, every meal. There were moments when he would boldly sketch out maps or animals – doodles, really, but definitely more comprehensible than any of Sokka's artwork.
So, when, about two months into his letter-writing, on an uneventful day in early March, Katara only received that one cryptic line, and nothing else to explain Zuko's lack of correspondence thereafter… she worried.
What was more concerning was that… just another week after that final letter arrived… Ms. Ursa had stopped coming to teach her class. A young, eccentric archaeology professor from Ba Sing Se University had arrived as a substitute until further notice.
Nobody complained about this professor from Ba Sing Se University, as his excitement for discussing hidden libraries within the Si Wong Desert were greater than his interest in grading history papers. Everyone seemed to get A's as long as they turned something in, and Sokka would casually chat away with this professor like they'd been old pals from a war.
Three weeks came and went like this, and there had been a lot of talk as to why Ms. Ursa had been away – the rumors mainly dealing with royal scandal - but Katara refused to let those ideas sink in.
She was beginning to understand why Zuko always kept his family life private.
She didn't blame him.
Four months had now passed since the school's winter Year-End-Dance. News about the true nature of Ozai's disappearance – as well as princess Azula's psychotic breakdown - had long been deemed old news… but was still horrifying from people who dared to talk about it. It was like a dark, poisonous air that swept the hallways whenever students brought up that controversial fire-bending method that Azula had attempted on herself.
The reputation for the Fire Nation's royal family was dangling by a delicate thread, and despite all of this… Katara felt lucky to at least see Mr. Iroh still walking with a welcoming smile among school grounds.
He never brought up his nephew in the moments when Katara would pay a tea visit. For once, the girl was learning to not probe into people's business… but it certainly didn't stop her from telling Mr. Iroh just how much she missed her best friend.
How she missed their conversations, their jokes, their walks home together.
How reading his letters was like having him next to her, in a way… that calm, patient, focused demeanor of Zuko holding her together in spirit and she tackled through Spring semester as the new class president.
It was another Monday morning – no letter from Zuko – with the week of Spring Recess looking like a grand finish-line for everyone. She could feel the weight of her class presidential duties heavily on her shoulders as Sokka babbled during their passing period. Her brain was still floating from Mr. Pakku's trigonometry exam, wondering if she'd gotten that last problem right, but Sokka was persistent.
"So, I think for the next cultural immersion, we should look at the Spring Awakening celebrations they do in the south east borders of the Earth Kingdom. Suki would have tons of ideas for that. We could teach kids how to make their own fans… maybe do some make-up tutorials…"
"Yes, Sokka—I talked to Suki about it yesterday. She'd be okay with it."
Deep down, she was hoping Sokka would not follow her all the way to her locker.
"Oh! Perfect!" Sokka beamed. "Now we can focus on the speech for Friday's assembly. I think we need to tone down the theatrics in your voice this time—"
"Excuse me?" Katara felt a migraine brewing as she opened her locker and exchanged one binder for another. "Sokka, my voice is not that theatri—you know what?"
She shut her locker promptly.
"I'll see you at lunch. I need to use the restroom."
She turned on her heel and didn't even apologize for hitting past Sokka's shoulder to beeline over to the women's restroom, located on the second floor's east wing of the school building. She knew she only had a few minutes before the second gong would sound, so she stood there, adjacent to the restroom door as younger female students made their way in and out of it.
For a few moments, Katara closed her eyes and let the trigonometry fade out of her mind so she could only think of… water. Clear, calming blue waves of an ocean… herself swimming along the moonlit path on the water. It was the only image that seemed to give any sense of tranquility during those last few months, and occasionally, something else would pop up in that image. Perhaps a school of colorful arctic jellyfish-rays skimming up on the surface, or pelican-lemurs flying over the moon, or… very rarely… a giant sea dragon would leap its way out of the water like a seahorse humpback and surprise her as she swam.
The sea dragon part puzzled her, a bit, but she would just go with it.
"Hey sweetie!" came a familiar, musically enthusiastic young voice from a few feet away.
Katara could feel herself take a breath in, smiling even before she looked up.
While Aang'd had a small growth spurt, he still stood on his toes to reach Katara's cheek for a kiss. She noticed Kuzon and Loung tailing behind him, and the girl immediately blushed, touching her cheek bashfully.
"Didn't expect to see you until lunch!" Aang exclaimed. "What brings you up here?"
She chuckled, "I just needed some quiet time. Sokka's at it again with the class-presidential agenda, but it's not a big deal."
"Yikes." Aang made a disgusted face as Loung and Kuzon had caught up with him. "Did you want me to say something to him? He can't argue with the future Avatar…" and he proudly, charmingly smiled at her.
It could only make Katara blush again. "Sokka's just trying to keep me in line. I'll see you at lunch, okay?"
Katara leaned over to kiss his cheek sweetly, which made Kuzon and Loung make exaggerated "awwws" in the background. The girl ignored them, heading to the stairwell and not looking back.
But Aang rushed over to her. "Hey! The Oak Tree kids were talking about going to Masquerade Festival in Yu Dao on Friday. Would you want to go? We can dress up, wear masks and makeup… and dance….!"
Aang showed off some impromptu funky pig-chicken moves.
"Maybe it can take your mind off of the serious stuff!"
Katara smiled, as she had also heard about the Spring Awakening Masquerade. It happened every year, and even Sokka and Suki were planning to go and support the Kyoshi warriors who'd be performing. She smiled at the idea, as she had never really considered it after so many months of studying and work.
Then again, she was constantly reminded by Aang how she needed to seize her youth and live in the moment, and it seemed like that philosophy of his had resonated all year.
"I'd love to go, sweetie!" she grinned. "We'll talk about masks at lunch. See you!"
She saw her boyfriend wave a goodbye to her as she went down the stairs, and she couldn't help but smile. 'Boyfriend' still sounded strange to say, but Aang had no problem saying 'girlfriend' to anyone who'd be at earshot of him. Still… Katara didn't mind it… as this cheerful, carefree nature of his was one of good things that she always liked him.
Deep in the market district of Yu Dao… only a short train-ride away from Praying Mantis High… Smellerbee and Longshot were painting their faces for the Earth Kingdom rumble hip hop number with the Oak Tree clan.
There weren't any formal competitions in the Masquerade, so the group made it their creative freedom to look like a ragtag team of friends with well-coordinated war-paint. They looked like ancient earth spirits in various shades of green, orange, and onyx. Mai had offered to help with the face-painting, adorning a smile on her face that was so small, a squint of one's eyes missed it completely. There were drums playing all over the Yu Dao center, paper lanterns hanging overhead between the alleyways, aligning the streets with vibrance. There were flower sellers and food vendors with their rickety carts, coloring the crowds gleefully among the various stages set up for the festival that evenings.
The Spring Awakening Masquerade had encouraged practically all the attendees to wear elaborate make-up or spiritual masks that night, engulfing the crowds into what looked like a moving spectacle of spiritual creatures and mysterious entities. Only a token few didn't seem to get the memo, but thankfully, masks could be purchased easily for an over-priced amount by one of the keen mask vendors, bellowing through the crowds with "Get your festival mask right here!"
It was like the floors rumbled with life from all the dancing and the music that late afternoon, when Katara stepped off the Yu Dao train station with Aang, Kuzon and Loung… an energy that came from each small space set up within the alleyways of the city center, and the girl loved being in the web of it.
She had dressed herself in honor of the Painted Lady, a spirit whose wooden figurine literally fell into Katara's hands as she had walked alongside Zuko earlier that year, back when they were looking for a gift for his mother's birthday. Aang was sporting a Jolly Sun Spirit mask as he happily held hands with Katara. He didn't know much about the Jolly Sun Spirit's origins, but he was content just knowing that it liked to smile just as much as he did.
As Aang pulled Katara left and right to look at the various street performers and the snacks that were showcased on carts, the girl was mesmerized by the fire-dancing that she would spot in certain corners.
It had felt like ages ago when she'd been lucky enough to witness fire-dancing by the royal family on Ember Island – the gracefulness, the deadly-but-beautiful flames that seemed to give off a life of their own – it put a smile on Katara's face, those street performers reminding her of how acrobatic fire-bending could be.
Zuko must've been somewhere along the North-Eastern part of the Earth Kingdom by now...
You might not hear from me for a while.
It doesn't matter now, anyway, she thought to herself. She couldn't dwell on things she didn't yet understand. She had already expressed what she could express about the situation with Mr. Iroh in his guidance counselor's office weeks earlier.
Katara closed her eyes, took a deep breath back into the present, where she and Aang were enjoying a cup of sliced mango, red beans and lichi over crushed ice. Aang's mask was lifted over his head, making his arrow very recognizable to passersby.
"Hey, you two love-birds!" a voice that could only be Sokka shouted out to those familiar faces. When Katara and Aang looked over, all they could see was a Southern Water Tribe wolf warrior and a Kyoshi warrior in elaborate garb and makeup. Sokka's shouting was followed by an immediate elbow to the chest by Suki as she noticed Katara blushing even from a few yards away.
"Great work with the make-up, Katara!" Suki exclaimed as they approached them at their table. "We're headed to the South Amphitheater. It sounds like they're about to throw a Fire-Dancing showcase."
"Oh! That sounds amazing!" Aang exclaimed to Katara, then turned back to Suki. "Do you know if anyone can join in?"
Suki laughed, "I'm sure, but you'll have to get there quickly! I think spots are filling up fast."
Aang tugged at Katara's hand that he still held, for support. "Do you wanna check it out?"
The girl blushed, unable to say 'no' to that eager smile. "I think it's time to show the world what the Avatar-in-Training can do with fire."
Aang kissed Katara sweetly on the cheek, but noticed Katara hadn't even finished half of the mango-lichi-redbean freeze. "Oh… um… did you want me to wait until you finished?"
She looked down at her dessert, particularly seeing the mango as something she was looking forward to enjoy last… but then looked up at Aang. She shrugged, saying "it's fine!" and took a spoonful more of it before tossing it in the garbage bin. Aang smiled back, thinking nothing of it.
Suki was not kidding—the South Ampitheatre was so packed with seated onlookers that security was now setting up rails in the corners between the aisles for "standing room only."
Katara spotted Loung and Kuzon, now sporting sloppy face-paint that made them look like a sleep-deprived tiger-dillo and moose-lion, respectively. They were situated just a few rows up in the ampitheatre seats, their jackets taken down to either save seats or give themselves more leg room—it was hard to tell.
"Over here!" Loung waved to them. "We got a good view for the stage. We can fit two more people."
Sokka and Suki exchanged looks with Katara, wondering who would draw the short straw, but Aang was already pulling Katara forward to get to the seats. "Wait, Aang," Katara said, "You have to head over to the stage and sign yourself up, if you want to perform in the showcase! I'll wait here for you."
"Oh, right! Good thinking," Aang smiled and headed over. Katara glanced at her brother and Suki, and without hesitation, she said "you guys go ahead. I'm sure Aang and I won't mind watching from the floor."
Sokka smirked. "Really? That little ball of energy doesn't want to sit down?"
"Be nice, Sokka," Suki rolled her eyes, and smiled at Katara. "We'll be cheering for your sweetheart!"
Katara smiled under her Painted Lady hat as Sokka and Suki headed to their seats. She could see Aang practically losing patience in the crowded line to get his name in. Heading to one of the standing-room rails, she was very much surprised to run into another familiar face.
"Hey, Sugar Queen," the brash-but-girly voice jumped in, and Katara's hat almost slipped off in surprise.
"Toph! How'd you know it was me?"
"I can spot Twinkle Toes' anywhere… especially when he's with his lady," Toph smirked under her helmet.
Katara hugging her before she could protest. She noted the girl's intricate Earth Kingdom badger-mole helm framing her head, a forest-green tunic on her frame, metallic armor on her limbs, and black warrior face marks that demonstrated her willingness to fight anyone, anytime.
"Welp, I guess our little pupil is ready to show off his stuff," Toph teased as Katara made her way behind the rails. "Too bad Sifu Hotman isn't here to see it."
I know, Katara thought. "Where's Teo?"
"Meh," Toph shrugged, "this place was getting too crowded, so he's at the Earth rumbling dance-off with the Oak Tree kids. Mai said she'd look after him, which- frankly? I still can't believe she's helping them, right?"
Katara laughed. "Yeah… good for her, though."
She let herself think about Jet; just for a moment, and nothing more… letting the spirits know she was happy for him.
The flaming torches around the amphitheater began to dim, and drumming from the back of the stage began to gain momentum. When the drapes fully drew back to reveal the small team of drummers and musicians, Katara's heart began to drum with them. She was so engrossed; she almost didn't notice Aang go behind the rails and stand between her and Toph.
"I think I got in!" the boy said happily to Katara's ear, putting his mask on. "Oh! Hey Toph!"
"Loverboy," was her greeting, her face unchanged.
An announcer walked to the center of the extended platform of the "T" shaped stage, making his professional presence and very-trimmed beard known. The dim light appearing in flames around the platformed stage were giving the man an almost ethereal glow. Immediately, the first dancer appeared on stage with an acrobatic fire-bending horizontal SLICE around the amphitheater. She was a girl with chopped wavy-black hair that framed her face, but her mask was that of a ferocious golden lionhead.
"Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you, the spirit of the Condor-Lion, protector of all things sacred in our city of Yu Dao." It cued the dancer to open her mouth from her mask and unleash a great blast of fire within.
Katara stared in amazement – this showcase was definitely not for the faint of heart of spectators. The dancer made flips and punches with her bending that synchronized well with the drumming in the background. People cheered and whistled.
"Oh! By the way—" Toph then shouted to Katara. "Nice work with the foggy swamp-bending activities."
Katara giggled. "I never thought I'd see Haru eat a giant bug with such gusto."
The girl under the badger mole helmet laughed. "See, you're the kind of president this school definitely needed. I cannot wait to show everyone what Gao Ling's earth-rumbling is all about!"
"Okay, Toph," Katara gave her a stern look. "I don't think we can invite actual Earth-Rumblers into our Cultural Immersion classroom."
That didn't stop Toph from grinning widely.
A few more dancers in black attire and various creature masks had made it to the stage, making tumbles and leaps on the platform. It made things so fantastical to see dancers in elegantly-detailed makeup and ceremonial masks… almost reminding Katara of the Winter's Solstice dances that she and her brother would perform when they were little. Katara smiled the whole time.
She was beginning to wonder about what she and Sokka might showcase for their Southern Water Tribe week at school, when the announcer bellowed: "Everyone, we have quite a treat for you today. Our very own Avatar-in-Training will be demonstrating his mastery with fire-bending. Quite the young prodigy!"
The crowd gasped and cheered at this news. Aang lifted his mask to show his matching Jolly Sun smile.
"Behold—" the announcer pointed to Aang, then, "the mighty Jolly Sun spirit, bringer of life to our kingdom's flora and fauna."
Aang made no hesitation to air-scoot his way onto the stage, landing perfectly at the center and taking a dramatic bow to the crowd in his mask. A few girls in the crowd were giggling, and Katara rolled her eyes at that.
With a suave grace about him, the boy then shouted to the crowd: "I'd like to dedicate this dance to my beautiful girlfriend, Katara!" He gestured a hand over to where Katara was standing.
The crowd noise hadn't exactly died out, but to Katara, it might as well have. She felt her cheeks flush with color as she heard a few coo's and whistles come her way. Even Toph couldn't help but snicker at her side, and Aang was so happy as he looked over, the waterbender tried her hardest to smile to the crowd. Under her Painted Lady hat, she could feel the blush warm her face.
"Go get it, Loverboy!" Toph shouted, despite Katara's shove from her side.
Aang was already with his mask on, hearing the drums rhythmically behind him.
As her blushing subsided, Katara looked over to Sokka and Suki sitting a few rows over, the two of them watching Aang dance and sweetly holding each other close, like best friends and partners in their warrior tunics. Suki had a hand to her heart as she locked eyes with Katara… as if to say, "How cute is this kid?"
The waterbender smiled, and let herself take in this surprise dedication with ease. There were moments like this where Aang's child-like innocence and enthusiasm would melt away as he concentrated on his bending, and he would grow up right before her eyes. That's exactly what was happening, then, and Katara looked onward in deep mesmerizing awe.
Aang held his firebending poses with such focus, it was like the smile on his mask expressed the fun he was having. He air-launched himself and made a twisted ladder into the open air with the flames. He landed on his hands and made cartwheels of flames, and in his final pose, he released a series of horizontal fire rings out from his frame… resembling giant golden ripples against a dimly-lit theatrical space. He wasn't hurt by them, Katara noticed; Aang had wonderfully mastered the ability of self-restraint.
Katara's eyes began to glimmer; not just for what she'd seen her boyfriend do, but knowing that his teacher deserved just as much praise.
It's a shame, she thought, that Zuko wasn't much into theatre. He would've perhaps loved to see this.
She was clapping loudly along with the entire crowd as she – at the corner of her eye – noticed a figure popping out from the wings of a stage, so obscured that it seemed like a bright blue dot floating in the dark. There was something about that stoic stance that made Katara think it was paying respect to the young Avatar-in-Training's technique. She was too far to see the mask in detail… and with one quick glance to Aang's jumping off the stage to return to the rails… the blue mask disappeared behind the drapes.
"Nice work, Loverboy!" Toph punched him when he returned. "You might actually be man enough to fire-duel with Hotman when he comes back from his soul-searching."
Katara laughed, but Aang's smile left his face. "Toph, Agni Kai's aren't for fun. They're sacred in the Fire Nation, and they're fight-to-the-death dangerous!"
"I'm just sayin'…" Toph brushed off, "I'd be cool with shaking things up with those pesky Fire traditions."
At that, the announcer came out and a few backstage helpers were setting up an extension to the platform, connecting the end of the "T" shaped stage with additional curves to make a half-moon.
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for showing your support for the first part of our Fire-Dancing showcase. The rest of this time will be dedicated to our dancing volunteers from the top fire-dancing academies across the Fire Nation islands. Due to the dangers of the techniques that you're about to witness, we ask that you please, do not try this at home.
The stage hands were now securing what looked like fire-proof tarps onto the platform, stapling them with metallic nails, and even pushed some of the railing back so as to give the crowd a bit more distance from the platform. As Katara, Aang and Toph backed away further behind the rails, it was getting pretty clear that whatever was coming next was the reason behind the huge crowd in the theater in the first place.
Katara was already feeling the goosebumps.
"They're dimming all the lights now." Aang whispered, holding her hand tightly with protective instinct.
The announcer then nodded towards the stagehands, and they all exited the stage.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen…we present to you the story of our Earth Kingdom's most mischievous trickster. I give you… the Legend of the Blue Spirit!"
There were a few cheers at the last remark, but the space had gotten too dim that it was hard to know where the sounds came from. For a handful of minutes, it was darkness and silence… until a few candlesticks sparked with tiny flames at the curve of the stage.
The candlelight revealed a dancer, dressed in full black garb and a bright blue demonic face for a mask.
Katara's blinked, lifting part of her veil to see the demonic face more clearly. Her eyes widened.
She knew that mask. She knew it well.
But it… no. It couldn't be…
The dancer crouched at the foot of the platform, letting the candlelight highlight the smile of the Blue Spirit. He held a bongo drum as he crouched down, and he started playing on it with both hands… softly at first, and then loudly, roughly… determined to make his presence known to the world around him.
Katara studied the dancer's gracefulness, the way he crouched down to play the drum… and her eyes remained wide. There was absolutely no way he could be…
"Okay, this is weird. How come I've never heard of this spirit?" Aang wondered out loud, but Katara and Toph shushed him in unison, and the boy let the silence take over.
As the Blue Spirit continued drumming, the drummers in the back of the stage followed suite. It became an orchestra of thunder. A tsungi hornist also chimed in, and it was as if the sound of the horn compelled the Blue Spirit to finally stand and pose to the audience. After a good, long set of seconds, the Blue Spirit set his drum down… and back-flipped into the straight-line platform… letting a firebending arc of flame out into the air as he landed on one foot like a crane.
He held his hands close to his frame and with two-finger-pointed hands, he darted little arrows of flame in all directions… lighting up hidden candles around the perimeter of the rails and platform.
It brought in more light into the space of the theater and revealed the other dancers at the foot of the stage, who – by the looks of their elaborate costumes and masks – were meant to play the jealous spirits.
Katara was at a loss for words, and the crowd murmured excitedly at the revelation.
The spirits approached the stage, slowly and dramatically. One looked like a sinister snake, another of a beautiful-but-smoldering goddess with draped sleeves, another of a deadly but magnificent bird, and the last one of a sly fox. The drummers played the thunder as the Fox dancer leapt onto the platform in a crouching position, holding its paws out and summoning flames in the shape of daggers. The Blue Spirit moved calmly at each swipe that the Fox made with its daggers. The dancer jumped, tumbled and leapt towards the Blue Spirit that sent the daggers around the space on a spiraling, mesmerizing design of light.
Katara couldn't even take a moment to hear the "ooo"s of the crowd. As she noticed the Fox Spirit taking on the Blue Spirit's just-as-agile abilities on the stage, behind the climbing tension of the drums, she noticed how the other spirit dancers made fire-bending poses of their own, casting blasts of light for the dance. It was all very professional, very theatrical choreography.
And this was meant to only be a free festival showcase? She thought.
"I can't believe Haru's missing this!" Aang exclaimed in a squealing voice. "He'd be going crazy!"
The tsungi hornist made another solo as the Blue Spirit overpowered the Fox with small fire daggers of his own, putting the dancer on the edge of the platform and slicing the air on an acrobatic jump. As the Fox jumped off the platform, defeated, the Red Serpent dancer made itself known on the very of the walkaway that touched the stage. The serpent looked cunning, its eyes glowing like rubies as the dancer's hands summoned a swirling flame of a whip.
By the distance between the dancers on that platform, Kuzon couldn't help but shout "Agni Kai! Woooo!" but the silence of the crowd got the boy blushing into silence as well.
The duel was commencing, and the Blue Spirit kept himself steady, fire-daggers still at hand. He jumped and wheeled out of the way of the whip, cutting through the fire with his daggers, and the Red Serpent expressed frustration, lunging himself towards the Blue Spirit with the tsungi horn sounding out the drama.
Katara cheered along with the group as the Blue Spirit leapt over the serpent dancer, sending a beautiful twisted ladder of fire into the air from his feet, implying that the Blue Spirit was learning the whip technique of the Serpent. He created a whip of his own, one on each hand… which made the audience gasp in excitement.
The serpent dancer unleashed another whip from its hands then, and the two dancers composed a duel of the fire-whips, looking like intricate steamers of light.
By that point, the goddess-like dancer, in her elaborate robes of green and copper, and crimson red lipstick, let herself fire-bend slice the whips with one of her sleeve drapes. The audience gasped. There was a fierceness in the woman's kicks and elegant leaping towards the Blue Spirit as he still tried to handle the Red Serpent… but the Blue Spirit immediately sent the serpent off of the curved platform with one final send of his whips, then releasing a fury of a fire blast with an acrobatic kick of his leg.
The crowd cheered the Blue Spirit on, and he silently approached the goddess on the other side of the stage, ready to fight off anything she would throw at him. But, surprisingly, the new dancer just remained perfectly still… her dark eyes and red lipstick gazing at the Blue Spirit… as if in a trance.
That was when Katara's eyes rose, gripping Aang's hand almost to the point of cutting off circulation.
She remembered something Zuko had mentioned to her ages ago… back when they'd gone to look for his mother's birthday gift.
Over on the elevated seats, Sokka had also turned giddy in front of Suki – the girl wincing by the amount of commotion.
"Suki!—you're not gonna believe this—"
"What? What is it?" the girl whispered, noticing how Kuzon and Loung were turning their eyes to them.
But Sokka was persistent, whispering: "You remember that day we went shopping for camping supplies, and I asked you to wait for me while I went to check on my sister and Hotman?"
Suki gave him an incredulous frown. "I've tried to forget, but go on."
"They were talking about the Blue Spirit!" Sokka squealed in a low voice. "It's Hotman's favorite childhood folktale! When I got within earshot, he had just started telling Katara about the evil, manipulative Temptress. And I'm a warrior. I can recognize a fighter's stance anywhere."
Suki looked perplexed but looked over to the dancer portraying the Blue Spirit, trying to see if there were any sort of placement with the dancer's posture or stance. Every person's stance was different, and a master warrior would be able to recognize a familiar fighter.
This dancer – Suki noticed - had the tall, determined, fearless posture of a regal young man.
"You—you don't think-" she turned to look at the Blue Spirit, standing calmly on one side of the stage.
"Katara, what's wrong?" Aang whispered up to her, but she could barely hear him. Her memory of that afternoon in the marketplace was returning to her in fragments.
She remembered the alleyway of vendors, carts full of intricately beautiful hand-made trinkets that Zuko seemed occupied with browsing through. She had been happy to see him get excited so openly about something, for once. "This one," he pointed to a scary-yet-majestic falcon mask that was hanging over him on the wall of the vendor cart, and the seller obliged with a bow and took the mask down.
Zuko eyed at another mask over on another part of the wall, elbowing Katara for her to look in that direction as well. "That's the one I was telling you about, by the way." Katara glanced at the demonically-smiling face of the blue mask, as if it were smiling directly to her… and the girl couldn't help but make a face to match. She turned over to the falcon mask that Zuko was just purchasing, and her facial reaction seemed to stay the same.
"But…" Katara wondered, "Wouldn't your mom like something more elegant? Like a nice evening fan?"
Zuko laughed, "No—trust me." The vendor wrapped the mask in tissue paper and placed it in a paper box. "She loves the legend of the Blue Spirit. She would tell it to me all the time as a kid."
As they had walked down the crowded alleyway that afternoon, Katara was intrigued in knowing more about those masks that Zuko enjoyed so much, and he went into it easily, though awkwardly, in the way that Katara couldn't help but adore.
"It's pretty straightforward. It's about a mortal fire-bender who lived in the Earth Kingdom and made his living doing charitable acts. He fought to protect the innocent, the poor, and the weak… but he was clever about it. He found ways to bust innocent people out of prisons… or trick the wealthy into giving up their comforts to provide to the less fortunate… that sort of thing. As it turned out, some spirits got jealous because humans were praising a mortal man's good deeds, rather than spiritual entities. The four spirits who tried to take him down were the Jade-Eyed Fox – the keeper of the forests, the Red Serpent – the bringer of wealth, the Blazing Temptress – the carrier of human desire… and the Golden Falcon – the symbol of bravery."
Zuko lifted the gift parcel with the mask after he said 'falcon,' gesturing to Katara as a reference to the mask he had just purchased.
"The spirits each got to fire-bend with the mortal, but they underestimated his drive to learn from his opponents, and there was no stopping him. He took down the Jade-Eyed Fox after learning to be agile and unpredictable, he took down the Red Serpent by learning to be swift and graceful… but the Temptress was the one who almost destroyed him."
"What'd she do?" Katara asked curiously as they walked. "Did she lure him into a trap with her beauty, or something?" She clawed her fingers over at Zuko, which made the boy give a rare chuckle.
"No, actually," Zuko looked elsewhere for a second, then nervously to her. "She…um… fell in love with him."
Katara blinked, her clawed fingers freezing in front of her. The answer made her blush, which in turn made Zuko blush.
"Oh!…Hah… how typical…" Katara laughed awkwardly.
"I mean—it wasn't the 'good' kind of love…" Zuko started to feel a blush himself, "…not the kind that deals with feelings or trust. The Temptress was beautiful, but cold, selfish and possessive. She took advantage of the mortal, holding an immense amount of power over him."
She waited for Zuko to keep going. "How did he get out of that?"
In the present moment, Katara's face was flushing beneath her Painted Lady makeup.
The Blue Spirit approached the Temptress, flaming lasso on one hand and a flame-dagger on the other, yet the lovely spirit did not move. The tsungi horn commenced a sadder part of its melody… and with both hands, the Temptress threw a giant blaze of fire over her head… a grand arc that overpowered the mortal man's weapons. That fire of passion that the Temptress showed had even manipulated the candlelight surrounding the platform. Everything seemed to come ablaze around the Blue Spirit, as if symbolically he was being consumed by the beautiful spirit's intentions.
The light had come in so magnificently, that Katara had covered her eyes with the brim of her Painted Lady hat. People gawked and clapped while the Temptress demonstrated her power to the Blue Spirit, and the male dancer caved his body towards the ground… as if expressing an injury but staying put.
Katara felt her heart racing. Her mouth quivering. It could not be possible… but there was no other real explanation as to why she recognized that stance, that determination… a very familiar blue mask.
She was starting to imagine the boy's focused frown underneath that mask, as he stood his ground onstage.
"Zuko."
"Katara-did you say something?" Aang's voice came, and Katara shushed him quickly with a shake of his arm.
"Shhhh!—this is the best part!" The girl remarked eagerly under her breath.
The Temptress approached the weakened Blue Spirit, and the thunderous music continued the tension. The man caved in pain as the woman lured herself closer and closer, her draped sleeves holding an arc of fire with much strength over her head, then moving it about in circular motion.
She danced with her sleeves twisting and turning overhead along with the fire she summoned, as if adoring the mortal man and ignoring the pain he was in. The male dancer lingered and stepped backwards to the end of the stage, towards the curved platform. And then, the candles dimmed by the Temptress's sleeves, and it brought the man down to his knees. People gasped in the audience… as if knowing that the Temptress was about to bring the kiss of death to this mortal man. The spirit towered over him with her long hair, a draped sleeve extending, the delicate hand reaching the Blue Spirit's chin… her lipstick closing in on its mouth.
Katara held her breath.
As the woman's other sleeve circled up to control her hovering fire… the Blue Spirit blocked her arms… much to everyone's surprise, and let the fire levitate instead. It was a weak grip, but powerful enough to bring the lights back to the candles… and the drumming pounded powerfully in reaction.
The Temptress screamed like a banshee demon, trying to lay her power back over to this mortal man she loved, but he fought back. He blocked all the swings of fire that she threw to him, all the twisted lunges of her legs that brought fire blasts of their own. They reminded Katara of the incredible cartwheel kicks on Ember Island during the bonfire… something that Azula easily mastered.
The Temptress became monstrous in her movements, unstable… the graceful part of her presence completely gone as she she threw erratic blasts at the Blue Spirit… until finally, she met the man at the edge of the platform… summoned a fire-arc from her feet… and the Blue Spirit split the arc in the air, breaking the Temptress's jump… and the dancer fell off of the platform. The mortal man remained, as if looking down to a dark abyss, the music of the tsungi horn relaying the tragic and triumphant emotion of the scene.
The audience cheered for the Blue Spirit, and even Katara clapped along with them.
That was when the falcon dancer leapt onto the stage… landing at the middle of the platform walkway. The tsungi horn continued – a slower, darker edge to its tune - as the Golden Falcon began a staring contest with the still-very-weak Blue Spirit on the end of the platform. The Falcon stood tall and then jumped, lifting its arms and showing a pair of wings come out as flames, like an extension of its being. Even as the falcon dancer stuck the landing, the flamed wings continued to blaze out at its sides. It was made clear that this spirit was the most powerful of the four, and Katara started to remember the story Zuko had told her…
"The Golden Falcon saw the bravery that this mortal man carried as he fought all these powerful spirits, and he realized that he wasn't an attention-seeking do-gooder, but just a man who wanted to connect with humanity. And so… the falcon chose to teach him the ultimate fire-bending power… the one that would connect him to the heavens and the endless sky."
"…Lightning?" Katara could only guess.
Zuko just blinked, saying nothing. He just kept walking.
"Wait! You're not going to tell me?" Katara stood for a second with her arms out, then hurried up to him.
The boy chuckled. "I was trying to pause for dramatic effect… but I think I'll just leave you guessing."
"Oh, COME ON!" Katara punched him lightly on the shoulder, and Zuko just kept laughing. They gave each other a partial hug and just continued walking down the alleyway, leaving the story at that.
And Katara's heart began to race again.
Would this be lightening?
Mr. Iroh had even mentioned the technique was too dangerous to learn without proper breathing practice and discipline to separate the energies in the body. Zuko had been adamant about learning… mainly on the basis of being a worthy opponent for his sister, but Mr. Iroh said he wasn't ready. He would have to learn to be calm, patient, and separate himself from strong emotional influence in order to summon lightning.
There was no way Zuko could've mastered lightning so quickly… could he?
Katara held her breath. A part of her was questioning if this dancer was indeed Zuko, after all.
The Blue Spirit hesitated with the Falcon he approached, the dancer stomping like a bird's heavy claws over the walkway, letting its arms unfold up, and down, up, and down to the rhythm of the drums. Gradually, the mortal man began to mimic the movements of the falcon, and with those movements, an intricate design of yellow fire-wings came out of the Blue Spirits arms.
People gasped and gawked at the sight. The two dancers moved around each other on the dimly-lit stage, and the Blue Spirit mimicked the Falcon's movements, creating what looked like mythical phoenix wings. Raising and lowering his arms in calm focus, the Blue Spirit seemed to be preparing himself for something greater to learn, and Katara once again gripped Aang's hand so hard, it was cutting circulation.
"Katara—ow!" Aang attempted to free his hand as the show continued, and while he looked at his girlfriend's mesmerized face… the music dramatically turned again.
The Golden Falcon descended into a bow on the stage, paying respect to the mortal Blue Spirit as the lights around the theater brought themselves into a dark dim. The tsungi horn started to play a deep crescendo, without drums. This was almost like the soul of the Blue Spirit was evolving into something bigger… greater… and the dancer seemed to turn around a look at every angle of the space surrounding him. As the falcon continued bowing to him, the Blue Spirit looked up to the sky, as if the heavens were calling to him.
The drums then came back, sounding more like a thunderous roar with each second that passed. People even started to look up at the night sky to see if a storm was really commencing.
That was when the Falcon dancer stood up again, and began to demonstrate "cracks" and "sparks" with two-finger-pointed hands… its arms circling in a spectacular motion. The world seemed to hold itself still as the Blue Spirit observed the Falcon's technique. The sparks of the hands were not powerful, but the dancing that came with it was enthralling, and the Blue Spirit crouched and took every movement like a sponge.
And then… with a small breath… Blue Spirit's hands separated the positive and negative energy around him.
Katara didn't notice the tears glimmering in her eyes, but Katara felt the grin widening on her face.
The fully-realized lightning began to form around the Blue Spirit. The drumming crescendo'd against the sparks of the lightning, and the tsungi horn intensified as the he danced with the sparks on his hands… being extremely careful to not bring his hands together or towards anyone.
Finally… he placed both palms together towards the sky in one quick, swift motion… and let the lightning take shape and take flight into the night sky like a crackling storm.
And then… darkness.
The stage had gone completely black, the candles put out. The music had stopped. The world seemed to be quiet for a second before the eruption of applause commenced… the cheering and the whistling along with it.
Katara felt her voice start to go raw from all of her cheering, but she didn't care.
Toph and Aang were so thrilled, they were banging on the rails with excitement. The stage lights dimmed back up to show the five dancers, the stage crew, the musicians and the announcer on the walkway. They all had their masks on, still, but the Blue Spirit dancer turned a prompt head when hearing "way to go Sifu Hotman!" from Sokka's fanboyish voice, which also made Katara raise a brow.
"Wait, WHAT!?" Aang could hear Sokka's voice distinctly
The dancers, musicians and crew took their respective bows on all sides of the stage with the applause.
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your generous support for our show, and enjoy the rest of the Spring Awakening Masquerade!" said the announcer, and at that, everyone on stage left behind the thick curtains.
Aang was still laughing almost in disbelief. "How did Sokka know the Blue Spirit was Zuko?"
Toph gripped the rail a little too tightly, denting it in reaction, "Wait a minute- you mean… THAT was Prince Angry-Pants?" She looked straight into Aang's general direction with her helmet. "Holy crud-muffins… I could barely keep up with his feet!"
They both looked over at Katara, wondering why she seemed to have a delayed reaction. The Painted Lady seemed to have a permanent smile on her face, still looking at the stage. She wiped a tear from her eye before even realizing what she was doing.
"Katara- are you crying?" Aang lifted his mask from his face.
That's when the girl flinched, her face almost flushed in color.
"Oh! Yeah….I was just… so moved!" Katara smiled.
"We should go say 'hi' to this lightning dancer," Toph then brought up. "I'm gonna punch him in the gut so hard."
Sokka and Suki showed up right behind Loung and Kuzon to meet Aang and the others in the standing rails. All were so giddy and smiley, their faces still recovering from that performance.
"Did you know that was HOTMAN!?" Sokka couldn't contain himself. His arms were flailing.
Katara was about to say "yes!" but stopped herself, immediately raising a brow to her brother.
Aang spoke up instead, his smile not leaving his face "How could you even tell it was him? It was amazing!"
But before Sokka could even say a word, Suki jumped in and spoke on his behalf: "We… saw Zuko putting his mask on before the show. Nothing weird!" she smiled politely. "I think we should stop by and say hello!"
"Forget pleasantries… I'm gonna barge in there and demand an explanation for that lightning," Toph started to move out of the rails. Loung and Kuzon were cheering on about that idea as well, and eventually so did Aang. He tugged on Katara's hand, but she still stood there, noticing Katara's hesitancy under her Painted Lady hat.
"Hold on," Katara wonders nervously, "Do you really think it's okay to barge in on him like that?"
"Katara—he's your best friend!" Sokka narrowed his eyes on her with sarcasm. "I thought you, of all people, would want to see him. I mean- when's the last time you got a letter from—"
"Okay, Sokka—enough," Suki pulled him back, seeing how Sokka was studying his sister's hesitant face a little too closely. "Katara might be right; maybe he didn't tell anyone he was performing for a reason."
"Why would he hide something like that?" Aang asked.
"Ugh- who cares! Let's go, kiddos!" Toph starts marching towards the stage area, Kuzon and Loung behind her, chatting away about the show. The crowds had dispersed and Toph wasted no time making her way into the crowd by earth-bending the ground to shake people out of her way.
Katara's heart didn't slow down.
"Guys! They're coming out of that side!" Toph shouted, pointing to the left side of the stage area.
"Okay- let's go see this Sifu Hotman." Katara smirked, and Aang smiled joyously, while Sokka and Suki happily led the way. The group of Praying Mantis kids wasted no time catching up to Toph and her sidekick boys. The crowds were still moving from every direction, exiting the theater, but Aang held Katara's hand and he swiftly helped them beeline over to where Toph's helmet was situated in the crowd.
Some musicians and the announcer were chatting just outside a side door from the draped stage, drinking tea and smoking pipes, and it took some effort to get through the tight little corridor. The group huddled closely to the side of the opening door, as if melting to the wall, trying to peek to see which faces were coming out. Only a few stage crew members and a handful of musicians seemed to want some fresh air.
Perhaps the dancers had already stepped out?
After a few more minutes of waiting, however, the dancer who played the Falcon popped out through the door, taking off his magnificent golden headpiece to wipe some sweat off of his brow. He was a towering height, a lean figure with ivory skin and thick razor-sharp eyebrows… but his face was flawless from scars. He was saying "Nice work on that second leap, by the way!" to some unknown person still behind the door.
And then- the raspy, broody, very familiar voice that came next made everyone's heart leap with joy.
Especially Katara's.
"Yeah-thanks, Mako," came the Blue Spirit, stepping out of the door, "that was right on mark."
He hadn't expected to see that small cluster of masked onlookers by the stage door. He flinched and froze for a second, then slowly carefully removed his mask… revealing a very-shocked and puzzled boy with a scar.
"Zuko!- you're BACK!"
Aang air-jumped and clutched the Blue Spirit into a tight hug before he could protest. "That was -Why didn't you tell us you could DANCE like that?"
"And since when are you able to shoot fricken' LIGHTENING!?" Sokka couldn't hold himself back, even with Suki trying to calm him down.
Toph shoved Sokka with a "HEY -I was gonna ask him that!"
As Zuko caught all the familiar voices coming out of the masks and makeup in that cluster, he took small deep breaths. His eyes were wandering around the group as they spoke to him, trying to find a calm set of eyes to focus on. And he felt a small, crooked grin form as he noticed a girl dressed up as the Painted Lady, with familiar blue eyes hiding under the hat's veil. Those blue eyes met his.
They were both speechless.
And all the other Praying Mantis kids kept asking him, commenting him, praising him.
"Sir, we definitely need to talk about the lightning—" Sokka wouldn't give him a break. "I'm planning ahead for the science fair next year and this is gonna change every-" but Suki cut in.
"I think what my idiot boyfriend means to say is… we're so happy to see you, Zuko," and the Kyoshi warrior brought a comforting hand to Zuko's forearm, feeling all the stress coming from this surprise visit.
Toph jumped in. "So how did your soul-searching trip go with Miss Crazy?"
Katara winced at Toph as much as Zuko did.
Aang jumped in, "Oh yeah! Did you guys ride the elephant koi like I suggested?"
"Um…" Zuko looked down at Aang's giant eager eyes, "I… um… ah… heh!"
The Blue Spirit chuckled nervously, placing a hand to his neck as a few more performers came out of the stage door. The Temptress still had her intricately colorful makeup on, forming an adoring grin through her red lipstick at the sight of the swarm of kids who seemed to cluster around Zuko.
The Temptress and another un-costumed girl came out of the stage door together, holding hands, with another dancer right behind them – whose Serpent mask was resting over his head.
"Whoa!" came the girl with the red lipstick, and – as Katara noticed – a pair of serene blue eyes. "Buddy-you didn't tell me you had a little fan club. That's adorable!"
Zuko blushed over at his fellow performers who stood un-movingly on his right, and he turned back to Aang and the others. Toph was the one who spoke up.
"Excuse me? We're not a fan club—were his friends!"
"How sweet," came the other girl without a costume, so astonishingly tall with a long wavy mane of black hair. "You should've brought some cards to autograph!"
"Asami, no—they're—they are my friends," Zuko said with a big of mustered courage.
The Serpent dancer laughed so boyishly, it almost aged him down ten years. "You never told us you were friends with kids."
"Okay- who're you calling kids!?" Sokka chimed in. "For your information, we all go to Praying Mantis High School, and this kid is the Avatar-in-Training."
Sokka gestured out to Aang, who made an ecstatic wave of a hand. The Serpent dancer looked over at Zuko in a small pause, and the Blue Spirit could only grin nervously.
"Right—Um…" the Temptress's husky voice drifted, turning her red-lipsticked face to Zuko. "We're on our way to grab some dinner. Coming?"
It took him a second, which felt longer with the awkward air in the clustered crowd.
Zuko looked at his "fan club," made a quick glance at Katara's shy face under her Painted Lady hat… and the boy made his choice.
"It's alright, Korra," Zuko turned to the Temptress, "You can go ahead. I'll see you guys at Call Time."
The three older kids made an odd glance at Zuko's decision, exchanging looks to each other, but the girl named Asami quickly dismissed it with a shrug. "Have fun, Lee!" she patted his shoulder.
Zuko couldn't stop the blush from flooding his cheeks as he waved to the others as they walked away.
"…'Lee?'…" Suki raised a brow under her Kyoshi makeup, her hands on her hips. Kuzon and Loung started to chuckle, and eventually, so did Toph.
"Zuko—what—what is going on?" Sokka then changed his voice to a serious one. "And why are you calling yourself something else?"
Toph snorted a laugh. "Are you undercover, or something? Dude- I could've given you much better fake names than that."
"No!" Zuko attempted. "No, I'm not - it's hard to explain. I just needed some time to… not… be myself."
A series of blank stares came at Zuko, the noise of the crowds making it impossible to read whatever mood the Fire prince was in.
Zuko glanced at each and every one of them, the last one being Katara… and that's when he noticed the sea shell accessory woven delicately at the heart of her Painted Lady costume. Zuko's eyes grew wider, just for a second… before Suki's voice broke the silence.
"Oh… well… um, do you want to maybe join us at the food alley?" the Kyoshi warrior spoke in her calm, collected manner, "Sokka and I were just heading over there. Anyone else can come, too."
"That's a great idea!" Aang chimed in, already tugging Zuko's arm. "I want to hear all about your trip!"
"And I wanna hear how you learned those fancy dance moves without me knowing about it." Toph stomped a foot in frustration, causing a minor quake.
The Blue Spirit chuckled nervously as Aang tugged his arm. "Okay—okay- I'll go!"
And Zuko was pulled into the cluster of friends down the noisy alley towards the food vendors. The crowds made it nearly impossible for the group to walk together as a unit, but Toph made due by parting the Earth beneath them to have people "stumble" out of the way for them to pass.
Katara kept her distance as Aang led the way and asked most of the questions.
"Did you visit the Foggy Swamps and watch their competitive swamp-skiing?"
"Yeah…" Zuko laughed. "Yeah—we were lucky enough to catch the tail-end of their season."
The waterbender smiled, but didn't laugh with the others, because her chest felt uncomfortably heavy, and her head felt weighed down—and not just from her Painted Lady hat.
It was a strange, mixed feeling of surprise, shock and betrayal.
Zuko had never once mentioned in her letters that he might be at the Masquerade festival—he never even came across as the "festival" type. Who was this guy walking with them? Katara frowned. And why was he going by a different name?
"Katara!"
Aang whipped his head back to her, and she flinched out of thought to say "Y—Yeah?"
"Did you have any idea it was Hotman dancing out there the whole time?"
The blush in her cheeks was instantaneous, but Katara giggled casually. She spoke as quickly as she could, trying to avert her eyes from the Blue Spirit mask that was hanging behind Zuko's neck.
"Oh—um—not really… but I… guess I had a feeling it might be him… maybe."
Zuko caught Katara's hesitation as he turned to her, and his brow rose, but he said nothing.
Aang just kept on talking, tugging at his arm and leading the way. He spoke a mile-a-minute, asking Zuko about the glaciers of the North Pole, the eerie Swamp Lagoons, the earth-bent chute system of Omashu, and the sunrise of Eastern Air Temple.
Zuko barely put in a "yeah" or "no" before Aang would go off on a tangent about how the Eastern nomads were praised for their spiritual dancing and held celebrations there all throughout the year. It almost amused Zuko at how very little he had to say by the time they made it to the food vendors.
Toph instantly stomped her feet to raise an Earth-table and stumps for seats for each person in the group.
Katara volunteered to hold the table while everyone got food, and Zuko – not being all that hungry – found himself sitting fully across from a quiet Painted Lady.
As the group took off, Aang lagged behind and put an arm around Katara's shoulders. "I'll get us some Soba noodles and egg custard. You'll love it!" and he kissed Katara on the cheek before scampering off towards the vendors with his mask on.
She blushed instantly, knowing that the makeup wouldn't hide it but still doing all she could… scrunching the veil over her face. Zuko had his elbows perched on the table, his chin resting on his hands, observing her in a jokingly-judgmental way, and Katara just looked at him with a slight frown in her eyes. She knew it was no use hiding her blush, so she rolled her eyes, took off her hat and starting fanning her face with it.
That's when she saw Zuko smile his first smile to her in a long time.
He blinked, then, putting a stop to that staring contest. With shaking of the head, Zuko lifted his chin.
"You are so ridiculously smitten."
Katara frowned as she continuing fanning her face. "Stop it. He takes me by surprise."
She couldn't understand why, in spite of knowing Zuko for so long, this was suddenly feeling like first-day-of-grammar-school small-talk. Katara just held herself calmly, letting the seconds pass between them in silence… unsure of what else to say… but also, wanting to say a great many things all at once.
Zuko looked elsewhere for a minute, then glanced back at the familiar seashell on Katara's outfit… his eyes dropping sadly like a sigh.
"Is that the… um…?" Zuko pointed to the seashell with his nose.
Katara blinked, and she stopped the fanning. She looking down to what he was referring to, and then placed a shy hand over her Painted Lady brooch, forming a smile on her face.
"Oh! Yeah… It inspired me to make the whole outfit." It really did, as the girl remembered walking through the marketplace. "Nice mask, by the way."
Zuko winced, as he'd almost forgotten about the mask that was hanging behind his head.
"Must've been a pret-ty skilled artisan who crafted together that bad boy," she kept the sarcasm going.
This time, it was Zuko who smiled.
"Is that how you figured it was me?" he asked bashfully.
Katara shrugged, "I could tell from a bunch of things. The way you played the drum, how you held your center with your bending moves…"
"You can tell how I move?" his voice was low, another blush forming on his face.
"Well, I think Sokka noticed that, too," she couldn't help but smirk, as Zuko scoffed incredulously.
The boy hung his head in surrender, pinching the crook of his nose.
"And here I thought I'd make it out unseen, for once."
"Yeah! About that- what is it with you? Why the secret name? Why are you even here? I thought you'd still be travelling the world with—" Katara then paused, her voice dropping an octave. "Where's Azula? Is she okay?"
"Actually, that's why I'm back," Zuko fished for the right words, and his voice got quiet while his eyes never left Katara. "We had to place her in an institution a few weeks ago."
Katara's eyes rose, her world closing in and giving her friend undivided attention now. Zuko continued.
"With everything that's been publicized about my father's death, and Azula's attempt with the Passage of Agni… I didn't want reporters to bombard me with questions about her current state. So… I'm pretending to be 'Lee from the Earth Kingdom.' It was my uncle's idea. I just needed a break. I…".
Katara blinked, speechless… suddenly angry at how selfish she was, about to ask why her best friend had stopped writing to her. She shook her head, trying to keep herself from any shaking in her voice.
"Zuko… I…" her voice betrayed her and began to quiver anyway. "Oh my gosh, I am so—"
But he cut her off with a simple hand. It's like Zuko knew she would approach him, then. He could already feel the hug coming, the sympathy...
"It's fine," was all he said. It stopped Katara in the middle of getting up, her eyes glimmering.
At the corner of their eyes, Sokka and Suki were bringing their plates of food, and Katara immediately looked elsewhere as they sat down. Zuko bravely smiled and met their gaze.
"So… Lee… tell me how you learned to bend lightning!" Suki brought up again on behalf of Sokka, who was already digging into his roasted seal kabobs. "Isn't that one of the rarest fire techniques to master?"
Zuko nodded, "My sister actually taught me, while we were travelling through the Earth Kingdom."
"Hold up-" Sokka said with a mouthful. "Your crazy sister was kind enough to teach you lightning?"
"Sokka, don't call her that," Katara muttered, not noticing Zuko's brief glance to her direction.
"Really?" Suki continued, ignoring Sokka's chewing. "It sounds like the trip gave you good bonding time."
Just as she was saying that, Toph, Kuzon and Loung returned with their food plates.
"You guys talk about the lightning yet?" Toph looked over at Zuko's general direction. "I wanna know how you, Spark Fest, kept that big secret from me!"
Toph started chewing on one of her greasy pig-chicken hot wings with her fingers, paying no mind to the mess.
"Oh! Aang's on his way back, by the way-" Kuzon then brought up to Katara, as she the only one not having anything to eat. "He ran into Brei An and Xai on the food lines… and Toph thinks they're on a date!"
Suki beamed. "Wait a minute—seriously?" her voice went to Toph, her heart all a-flutter.
Toph just snickered. "I'm just sayin' what I'm seein'."
The Kyoshi warrior couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. "Oh, finally. I was hoping one of them would make a move. Those two are so cute together."
Suddenly, Teo approached the table in his wheelchair, wearing some Earth bending goggles and a badger-mole helmet. Even before he said "hey everyone!" Toph's face developed a blush.
"Hey, you," the little Earth bender said quietly, and Teo kissed her on the cheek. "Want some wings?"
Teo laughed, noticing Toph's face already painted with wing sauce, but then he did a double-take when noticing Zuko at the table.
"Whoa! You're- you're back?!"
And Zuko, once again, smiled embarrassingly at the revelation.
"Actually," Toph chimed in, "He's going by 'Lee' now, until further notice."
"Guys- guys." Zuko covered his eyes with a hand and shut his eyes, waving that remark with his other hand. "It's fine—you can use my real name, alright?"
"Sifu Hotman it is," Sokka said happily.
"But… why are you using a fake name, anyway?" Teo then asked.
Katara looked over at Zuko's hunched form with concerned eyes. She could feel the stress on his shoulders. Think, Katara- think! Before she knew it, she was talking.
"It's actually his stage name!" her voice blurted out Teo as well as the table.
All eyes looked over to the hatless Painted Lady, including Zuko.
"Y-Yeah! He told me while you guys got food," Katara explained coolly with over-gesturing hands. "Not a bad idea, right? That way, people don't have to know there's a royal prince performing in the show. Can you imagine, just hordes of people following him around if they knew?"
There was silence, and slowly all eyes turned over to Zuko as if to validate that statement. Katara eyed Toph as she kept eating, hoping the lie-detector wouldn't squeal. Thankfully, Toph didn't say a word.
Zuko shrugged. "Obviously, it's not fool-proof … but it helps."
There was laughter all around, and Katara gave Zuko a small grin. She was about to say something about the show, but then Aang showed up with his plate of food happily, planting another quick kiss on Katara's cheek and handing her a bowl of noodles and egg custard.
"Guys! You're not gonna believe what Brei An told me—there's an air-dancing showcase from the Western Air Temple happening in 30 minutes. On Ji is gonna be there!"
"WHAT!?" Kuzon immediately flinched, almost spilling his plate of hippo-beef teriyaki.
"She said one of the dancers got sick, so On Ji stepped in last-minute. That's probably why she didn't write to you abo-"
But Aang couldn't even finish his sentence—Kuzon was off his seat, teriyaki plate on hand, already on his way towards the western stage of the festival with a mouthful of "I'll see you guys there!"
Everyone chuckled, and Suki had another hand to her heart in adoration.
Aang placed an arm over Katara sweetly while she tried the noodle soup's broth. She lifted her veil over to the brim of it to eat. The young Avatar-in-Training even bended a small air twister to cool down the broth as Katara brought it to her mouth, and she smiled at him.
Zuko immediately looked elsewhere.
"You should totally check out the showcase, Zuko!" Loung then said, chewing on Arctic seaweed salad. "Do you have a long-enough break?"
The fire-bender shook his head, "I wish I did, but tell On Ji I said 'hello' if you see her."
"So, wait!" Sokka chewed on a seal skewer, "You haven't told us about your trip yet! You have five minutes to tell us everything."
"Five minutes?" Suki scowled over at her boyfriend, and Sokka gave her a blank face.
"Well, yeah! If we want to make On Ji's show and get good seats, it'll take at least fifteen minutes to get through the crowds… even with Toph!"
"Happy to be of service, Sokka," Toph snorted, her eyes on Zuko's general direction. "Okay, Spark Fest… Go."
And as if that coaching voice had triggered something in the young fire-bender, they all chewed on food and sipped their beverages while Zuko took a deep breath and told them all that he could.
He spoke about the voyage on the small Fire Navy ship, the pristine blue waters that welcomed them all the way to the Northern Water Tribe, where they were welcomed by none other than Chief Arnook, seeing the magnificent glaciers that seen thousands of years of life and thousands of humpback-narwhal migrations… by which incidentally, they had been lucky enough to witness one. He saw the Northern water-bending techniques and attended healing sessions with the elders, learning how to weave his own baskets, catch fish with his own nets, and even succeed in deep-sea diving under the icy labyrinth of under-water caves.
"Whoa—really?" Sokka exclaimed. "It took me two years to train for a deep-sea dive like that."
"I'm a good swimmer," Zuko said concisely, which made Toph choke a laugh.
From there, he talked about the Northern Air Temple, the sky-bison and air-gliding demonstration, which really got Aang's attention off of his egg custard. "Oh! Did you try your hand at air-gliding?"
"Yes—and I crashed into Azula mid-air. We're not naturals with flying, but we can free-fall with style."
That brought a laugh across the table, which got Zuko to smile… glancing a little past Katara's hairloops to remind himself of distinct things from his early travels.
He talked about things Katara had already knew about from his letters, but it was something quite different hearing Zuko talk about it in-person. It felt good to hear her best friend's voice after so many months away. He spoke so eloquently, passionately, like he had been trained to speak this way for formal, social situations… similar to how Katara noticed Toph code-switch in front of certain adults, like Mr. Pakku or Principal Roku.
Zuko talked about the small Earth Kingdom villages, then, trekking through the thick and narrow shadow forests of the North and admiring the nights full of bright stars – always trying to navigate with them. It was in these woods that Azula had decided to teach him lightning, he said, and then Toph interrupted with an "I was wondering when you were gonna get to that!"
He continued without bother, explaining that the storm clouds that were prone to the northern mountaintops made for good lightening practice. It was his uncle who'd taught Zuko how to redirect lighting, but Azula had mastered lightening on her own… separating the negative and positive energy with a clear head.
"Since she lost most of her fire-bending power," Zuko noted the awkward silence – Aang lowering his eyes respectfully – around the table, "Azula wanted to pass that technique down to me."
He turned his golden eyes to Katara, then, and their eyes locked sadly for a second.
Suki smiled, "That's really noble of her to do that, Zuko."
The young prince could only nod to her, a slight frown on his brow.
"Are you both taking a break from travelling to enjoy the festival?" Teo asked. "Where is Azula, anyway?"
Before Zuko could even come up with an answer, Sokka got up from his chair and stretched.
"Oof! Okay guys—if we want to get good seats for On Ji's number," Sokka looked at a mechanical watch-like device on his wrist, "We should start heading over, stat!"
People started filling their mouths with food, except for Suki and Katara—who both seemed rather disgusted at the quick gobbling-up of food.
"Well, Lee, it was a pleasure to run into you…give my respects to your sister…" Sokka saluted Zuko theatrically, "and let us know about your next performance in the Earth Kingdom. Onward, guys!"
Suki got up and folded her leftover dumplings with a napkin on her hand, waving a 'goodbye' to Zuko.
Toph punched Zuko's shoulder as she got up. "Next time you're in my neck of the woods, I better know about it, Spark Fest."
Zuko chuckled, "Will do."
Aang got up as well, but noticed Katara's hand holding the spoon for soba noodles. "Oh, you're still eating."
Katara glanced at her soup, then at Zuko, then at Aang. "Oh—yeah! It's okay—why don't you go ahead. I'll catch up with you."
It took a second, but then Aang smiled widely and said "No worries, sweetie!" before he kissed her.
This time, it was a very-precise peck on the lips. Katara had not been prepared for that.
The young airbender glanced over to Zuko promptly with a "great seeing you, Hotman!" and then he jumped off of his seat, placed his jolly-sun mask back on, and scampered off to catch up with the others.
A moment of awkward silence passed between the Blue Spirit and the now-blushing Painted Lady at the table.
Zuko chuckled in amusement over "sweetie," crossing his arms.
Katara just slouched, placing the Painted Lady hat back on her head again, laughing at herself, too. She chowed down at her noodles with chopsticks. For a few minutes, they said nothing—just letting the noise of the crowds encompass their large table as Katara seemed to take her time with the noodles.
Zuko narrowed his eyes to her. "So- you're still eating at a glacial pace?"
"It's called 'savoring,' dummy," Katara muttered, but with a grin.
"I've seen Lion Turtles eat faster than you."
That made Katara almost choke with a laugh. "Oh, is that so?" her sarcasm chimed in, "Maybe that's why they live for thousands of years. It's all that constipation."
Zuko chuckled at that, and Katara smirked proudly. It felt just like old times, but slightly different – like a ghost was floating between them on that table as a barrier. Soon enough, Katara put down her spoon.
The prince curiously peered his head over to the bowl. "You're not even going to finish that?"
"I'm full!"
"That's not even a spoon's worth of- You know what?"
Zuko snatched the bowl before Katara could protest, slurping the soup off the bowl directly from one hand… letting some noodle hang out of his mouth for a second before swallowing it all.
Katara just stared at him, then crossing her arms and looked away in amusement.
They let the crowd and the music envelope the space for a few more seconds. Deep down, she was hoping that Zuko would speak up again. But a glance over at his hunched form told her that he was just as unsure of what to say as she was. This whole encounter with all of these familiar faces had been a big surprise, she knew, and the situation could not have been any more awkward.
But Zuko looked away for a breath, then met her eyes again through her Painted Lady veil.
"I'm sorry I stopped writing to you."
She nodded, acknowledging his answer, but tried not to think about all the times she worried about him… his words just disappearing abruptly.
You might not hear from me for a while.
She had never expected "a while" to turn into weeks...
Zuko was never one to be so vague about time.
Even before he left on the big trip with Azula, on the morning of his send-off… Zuko had asked Katara to meet up for his send-off and gift-exchange an hour before the boat's departure, because he was the kid who did his research. He knew how busy the naval ports were in the Winter, and a small Fire Navy cruiser was the lowest priority and may have to depart much earlier than scheduled.
That's how good he was about time. He didn't obsess over it as much as Sokka did, thank goodness, but still… Zuko was always prepared. He'd always been considerate of time, especially when it involved others.
But Katara gazed at her friend, not wanting to shame him.
"It's alright," she said. "I'm just a little – surprised – to see you here."
Zuko nodded simply.
Katara took another breath.
"How long have you been back?"
He swallowed. "Almost a month."
"A MONTH!?"
Her voice had been raised almost as a shout, and Katara quickly covered her mouth.
Zuko had winced looking at her.
Those feelings of secrecy and betrayal were starting to really show on her face now: her clenched jaw… her frown… the biting of her red-painted lips.
"Zuko—" she felt her voice quiver, "you could've reached out to me." She looked away, telling herself to not let any tears flow, despite the anger. "I didn't have to know everything; I just wondered if… if you were okay."
The boy could only furrow his brow more and close his eyes, pinching the crook of his nose.
"I'm sorry… I…" he shook his head, "I just needed some time. Things got… really complicated."
Katara didn't want to be selfish, but her heart was racing and she couldn't stop it. All those things she had shared with Mr. Iroh in his counseling office were slowly coming back in pieces, echoing in her ears. Tears were stinging at the edges of her eyes but she refused to let them fall as she looked at Zuko.
Zuko lifted his eyes to her, and they were worried eyes-that was rare for him.
Tell me we're still friends, her glimmering eyes seemed to ask him. Tell me I haven't lost you.
"Katara—trust me- I was going to write to you again."
Her eyes looked down at the table. "It's fine- it's- I just worried. That's all."
Zuko sighed. It's one thing he deeply appreciated about Katara; she wasn't a good liar.
Then again, neither was he.
Especially with her.
"I meant to write after the festival this weekend, after things calmed down. I needed some time alone here, and feel better about the 'Lee' thing."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Zuko hesitated- the pause making the festival noise around them a little too uncomfortable for Katara.
"I don't think that's a good idea," he finally said.
The girl just nodded slowly, forcing a smile to replace her sad frown, her eyes beginning to glimmer behind the veil. And the boy frowned, angry at himself.
Zuko knew it was no use hiding anymore— Katara was right there, right in front of him. And despite the discomfort that would come with any explanation, he wouldn't have wanted to share this with anyone else.
He took another small breath, looking at the table, feeling her eyes on him.
"Azula hurt herself."
He didn't look at Katara as he spoke, but he felt the emotional weight of her regardless.
"It happened in the Northern Forests, a few days after she taught me the lightening. It was bad… and… I couldn't talk about it with anyone. I had to figure out a way to get her home without causing so much attention, and- Okay-Stop looking at me like that! - It's fine now."
Katara swallowed, trying to compose her horrified face. Zuko sighed.
"Anyway, with all these messed-up things that've been made public… I needed to be with my family, and keep this under-wraps as best I could."
The girl only nodded, placing a soft hand to the sea shell brooch.
"So, your mother's been helping Azula settle into her new place…" Katara deduced quietly, "and you've been living here as 'Lee' the whole time?"
"Yeah… and I needed to do something to get my mind off of everything. They needed fire-benders for this festival, so I auditioned."
Katara took in a small breath, letting the selfishness and anger pass through her system while she saw her best friend's inner strength reveal itself by the glimmer of his golden eyes.
"Well… it was all amazing. I'm glad I was able to see it."
"Thanks," Zuko managed to grin, despite everything.
"Will you be okay?" Katara couldn't help but ask. Zuko nodded.
He looked over to his right - at the alley from where they had arrived. "I should start heading back."
Her eyes glimmered because this was the Zuko she knew… someone so considerate of time, of promptness… and her eyes glimmered because she wished that that hadn't been the case.
Katara got up and met him around the table. They stood there just at arm's length for a few seconds, saying nothing. The space between their eyes brought an invisible, inexplicable warmth.
Before Zuko could protest, she put her Painted Lady-draped arms around him tightly, like it was something she had wanted to do all night. He secured his arms around her waist.
"I missed you so much," she said over his shoulder.
"Me too," Zuko rasped. "I miss sparring with you, if you can believe that."
Katara laughed, which made Zuko hug her tighter before they fully parted. She looked at her friend's face closely. He was so good, she thought, so brave behind that stern, almost-permanent frown over his eyes.
"What'll you do for the rest of the Spring?"
"There's a decent training space nearby for Shaolin practice, and I have a low-key job at a small teashop. Mako and Korra keep telling me to catch a pro-bending game with them. So… I'll be in good company."
Katara grinned. "Since you'll be sticking around here, do you mind if I write to you?"
"Not at all."
She could feel her grin widening. "What's the address?"
Zuko smiled. "Just put Lee – Turtle Duck Tea Shop—Yu Dao, and that should do it."
That brought out a musical laugh from her. "'Turtle Duck?'"
"I didn't pick the name."
"Well, I definitely won't forget that one."
"I know."
"Okay, then."
"Okay…"
There was so much that she still wanted to say to him as his voice trailed off, and there was an awkward few seconds as they remained near each other. Katara glanced over to her right, towards the alleyway where Aang and the others were about to see On Ji perform.
Zuko must've felt that lingering hesitation, because after a handful of seconds, he bravely brought his elbow to softly nudge Katara's closest arm. She looked at her arm, and then at him.
At the small, hopeful grin on his face.
"Walk with me?"
Katara blinked up to him.
There was a strange, delightful feeling that passed along Katara's skin, then, and a feather-light fluttering that seemed to take off from her bare Painted Lady shoulders. Zuko suddenly winced, as if regretting what he just said, taking a step back and looking elsewhere.
"I- um-don't want to steal you away from anything."
And that's when Katara laughed sweetly.
"Zuko, you're not stealing me away," she corrected him, "You're my best friend."
Suddenly, it occurred to her why Suki had given her that momentary smile at the food table before they left. It's like the Kyoshi warrior already knew the Painted Lady would be missing in action for the airbending showcase… and Suki would be ready to vouch for her if Aang or anyone else started asking where Katara was.
Zuko grinned, and brought out an arm to her like a proper gentleman, and Katara took it, hooking her hand to his arm like a noble lady. It was déjà vu from the last time they walked down the artisan alleyways. Together they made their way down, catching up on the things they hadn't known about each other for weeks.
The boy opened about being on a ship, how it really felt to be captain (well—co-captain with his sister) of a small fleet without so many people's authoritative glances of judgement weighing on his back… how it really molded him into believing he could be a great leader. A great navigator.
"Do you see yourself making a career out of it?"
"I think I could run part of my cousin's naval fleet once he inherits the throne. I would be encouraging peace outside the Fire Nation."
"That's brave of you." Katara couldn't believe this was the same guy she had helped out of the rain last year.
"How're your plans for nursing school going?"
"Mmm, I haven't really thought about them in a while."
Zuko threw her a look, and Katara promptly smiled. It felt good to know nothing got past him.
"It's still on my radar, I guess. Sokka's definitely going to Ba Sing Se University for engineering, and Dad can't wander too far as the re-elected cultural official of the Southern Water Tribe. The best thing for me would be to stay home for a bit and help Pakku and Gran-Gran, since they're getting older."
"That's great for them," Zuko rasped, and with a firm voice he said, "but what do you really want?"
Katara met his eyes as Zuko turned his head, the ember-gold shimmering from the festival lights that hung over them as they walked. It took a second for the girl to breathe, to remember that this is just her friend asking her a simple question. Nevertheless, her heart began to race, thinking about her mother… how she missed those last few years with her because a girl had gotten so greedily committed to her craft.
The waterbender looked away, chagrined.
"I don't think I could be selfish again, Zuko."
"Maybe it's time you stopped running away from it?" he suggested. "You're not the same snobbish kid obsessed with her bending ability."
She narrowed her eyes as they kept walking, listening to his words.
"You've helped people. You deserve something for yourself like the rest of us."
Don't you dare say it, she thought all of a sudden, feeling the frown on her face. Please don't say-
"I think… she would want you to be happy."
You. Stupid. Jerk. She breathes, looking down towards the cobblestone.
As they continued to walk, she felt herself holding onto Zuko's arm tighter, thinking about her mother.
Katara felt the weight flow off of her shoulders, a small grin crossing her face. Bravely, she turned to Zuko's profile through her Painted Lady hat.
"I have to say," shes said with a lilt of amusement, "Your soul-searching journey kind of rubbed off on me."
Zuko glanced over at Katara with a smile, letting her continue.
"I've been thinking about Aang, and the air-nomad culture he brought to the school. I never really learned about the Air Nomads, not as much as the Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom, so… I think it would be a nice experience to visit the Air Temples after I graduate, do some civil service with them, and teach them about my own Water Bending culture… like a youth ambassador."
"That would be great for you," Zuko squeezed Katara's arm tightly to his frame.
Katara smiled, letting her head rest on Zuko's shoulder as they walked.
"Aang invited me to spend this summer at the Southern Air Temple. He wants me to meet Monk Gyatso and watch air-dodgeball tournaments."
"That's good," Zuko tried to ignore his clenching jaw. "Will you go?"
"I think so…" Katara says thoughtfully. "It'll help me ease into world travelling and civics engagement."
"That would be a great experience," Zuko lowered his head to her. "We could write to each other, too, if you'd be up for it."
Katara snorted. "Of course. Where will you be this summer, anyway?"
"Hopefully at the palace for a few weeks, then basic training at the Fire Naval academy."
She nodded, taking a breath and ignoring the fluttering in her stomach. Even before she spoke up again, Zuko could feel the nerves coming from her shaking hand.
"How do you feel about a three-night ice-fishing trip in the South Pole?"
Zuko blinked over to her, which made Katara blush ferociously.
"I meant to say—it's a traditional birthday outing for my dad. We go every summer on the first weekend in July. Sokka's invited Suki the last couple of times… and I already invited Aang, but he turned it down once I told him about…well… what the trip would involve."
"What exactly would it involve?"
Katara sighed. "Fishing… eating said fish… raising tents made of fish bones... wearing pelts..."
And Zuko tried really hard not to chuckle. "You realize you're dating a culturally-proud vegetarian, right?"
She nodded embarrassingly under her hat, and Zuko had the instinct to caress her arm as they walked.
"I wouldn't mind," he proclaimed, "but… are you sure?"
"Yes!" Katara said this a bit too boldly, and she took a breath. "I mean- you invited me to your mother's birthday trip last year; I think this makes us even."
Zuko felt a frown again, but ignored it. "Alright- I'll plan ahead for that first weekend in July."
"Just to warn you, it does get frigid." Katara raised her head to look up at him.
"I'll come prepared," and Zuko held his friend's arm tightly, and Katara grinned.
"Did you ever make it to the South Pole, by the way?"
"No- that was going to be the last leg of the trip."
"Mmm," Katara shook her head, "the best time to go is in the Spring, for the Arctic jellyfish-ray migrations. They light up in amazing colors in the water, like a cluster of bright colors just moving beneath you. I keep wanting to invite Aang for a deep-sea dive expedition to see them himself…but he-"
"-can't handle wearing the thermal waterproof suits?"
Zuko knew this from the North Pole; those suits were made of elephant-seal hide. Katara said nothing, but her hand clutched his arm.
"I'm sure Aang would understand. He'll appreciate the invitation, anyway."
"Yeah," her voice was low. Gloomy.
By that point, Katara mustered the courage to bring up things that had been irking her about this relationship, those last few months. Things she didn't feel comfortable talking about to anyone; not even Suki.
"He's so sweet… and so nice… but sometimes, he just overdoes it with the attention-seeking! I mean, it's cute that he likes to tell everyone that we're a couple, but… to complete strangers? In a festival?"
"You're probably his first girlfriend." Zuko rasped, "He wants to show the world how happy he is."
"I suppose, but he loves being the life of the party! And he doesn't understand that we don't have to do amazing things every moment in order to be happy—like, it's okay to do nothing every once in a while." Katara grunts. "It's easier to go with whatever he wants. If I ever feel like I'm disappointing him, it's awful."
"You shouldn't have to pretend to have fun with him," Zuko challenged with a frown.
Katara looked up at him, seeing his concerned eyes through the veil. She almost couldn't catch her breath.
"I do have fun with him. It's just… different now that we're together- I don't know. Maybe it's just me."
Zuko said nothing, letting her thoughts take shape as they walked through a tight-knit cluster of people.
"I don't want this to be a cultural thing – because it's exactly what I was running for Student Body President to change around – but I don't think there's much we have in common as…as people. We don't even like the same food."
Zuko couldn't argue with that one. He recalled how once, during Aang's first month at the school, Katara had offered to share her stewed sea prunes with him – one of the few vegetarian Water Tribe meals – but one look from Aang's face-full of prune indicated that once would be enough for him.
The same thing happened with pickled seaweed salad… green-algae butter on toast…
It came to the point where Zuko started asking Katara to try the sea prunes lunch table, and he gladly traded it for skewered hippo-venison kabobs. Zuko understood how things could feel lacking in a relationship.
He also understood the thing about stewed sea prunes. It was… an acquired taste, but not terrible.
"Katara, if you like him, it's worth talking to him about what's bothering you," Zuko insisted. "Aang's a good kid, but he might not pick up on things until you tell him."
"Yeah…" Katara trailed off indistinctly. "Anyway—are you still keeping in touch with Song?"
The young prince promptly looked ahead at the alleyway, biting his lips. Katara peered over to his side, wondering what that meant.
"We—um—sort of lost touch while I was away." Zuko's eyes seemed to focus on the crowd as they walked, trying to pick his words carefully. "She's probably in Gao Ling for medical school by now."
He didn't dare look at Katara's reaction, but he could feel it anyway.
"Okay—what happened?"
"Nothing!" Zuko felt the judgment radiate from her stern blue eyes. "We were just growing apart. Believe it or not, that happens."
Katara kept her silence, but softened her expression as she looked at him.
It gave Zuko a sigh to continue. "She wanted me to go live with her in Gao Ling, after my trip ended."
There was an unfamiliar, bashful look that crossed the boy's face, and Katara felt her heart hitting her chest, pounding against her throat.
"Oh…" Katara gulped, looking ahead. "…that… is a pretty big step."
"She kept asking me about my family, too… and I just wanted to keep all the dark stuff away from her. Song was sweet, but she didn't really understand what she would be walking into."
"Zuko, what are you talking about?" she gripped his arm for attention. "Your family isn't just this dark abyss full of scandal. I still remember the laughter and dancing you all did on Ember Island."
The boy looked at her and said nothing.
"But if you weren't comfortable with how fast things were going, I'm sorry if she was pushing you."
"Pushing me?"
"Yeah. Right?" Katara blinked at him curiously. "That's why you broke it off with her?"
"No!" Zuko flinched slightly on his walk, trying to calm his senses. "It wasn't an ultimatum or anything- I just realized that I didn't want… I didn't see myself with her."
"Just because she asked you live with her?"
"Well… no… it was a culmination of things."
"What were they?"
His body turned stiff as he turned to her. "Okay, since when do I have to tell you everything that's personal?"
And Katara blinked at the growl in his voice. "That's not fair! I told you about my relationship with Aang."
He shook his head, eyes closed, trying to deny something that he couldn't.
"Can we please talk about something else?"
"Zuko, what's the matter?" Katara searched for his eyes. "What did she do?"
"Nothing! She didn't do anything. It was all me, alright? It was…"
When he opened his eyes, all he saw were her worried blue… glistening like sapphires, and he couldn't handle it. The boy instantly shrugged Katara's arm off of him, picking up the pace to walk ahead of her, through the crowd in the alleyway.
"Zuko? Zuko!"
He pretended not to hear Katara calling from behind.
Zuko didn't want to recall the last conversation he had with his uncle, because it was only going to hurt him more. He knew this… but it was gradually coming back to him in bits and pieces…
He remembered Iroh taking his time walking around the three-floor walk-up that was Zuko's new temporary residence in Yu Dao… a simple four-hundred-square-foot studio that was clean but nothing to write home about. The one window had a nice view of the sunrise, Zuko insisted. He remembered Iroh glancing through its shutters, peering over to locate the source of the laughter and childs-play audible from where they were. Zuko had been in the tiny nook of a kitchen, arranging his uncle's fresh bouquet of water lilies into a small vase as the tea kettle began to whistle, and Iroh went over to tend to it.
As Zuko had finished arranging the lilies on the kitchen table, Iroh brought the kettle to the living room.
"Nephew, come. Sit with me," and his uncle carefully poured water into two small cups.
Zuko knew what those words always meant - his uncle's approach to counseling was anything but discreet after so many years – and Zuko just was not in a mood to be counseled.
He had been living this double-life as "Lee" for a week by then, had auditioned for a dancing festival on a whim, even landed a job… and yet, he still felt incredibly lost… now that his soul-searching had been cut drastically short in the most horrifying, traumatizing manner.
If the boy hadn't had enough reasons to hate himself, he could now add the reason of hating the idea that he hated his sister for what she put him through. After a week of being alone, pretending to be someone else and pretending to be "okay" with it… Zuko was tired.
It had been a month since he brought Azula home, safe and sound… and Zuko's eyes still looked tired.
Iroh saw that. But strangely… it wasn't what he wanted to bring up for conversation.
"What happened with Ms. Song?"
"Uncle—" The word came out of Zuko with a bit of a bite, a sting, and the boy looked out the window.
"Did you like her?"
"Yes."
"Was she kind?"
"Yes."
"Well, then… what happened?"
Zuko could not answer that automatically, feeling his form slouch more on the couch.
"She was gentle, Zuko." Iroh then said. "She was funny… and quite caring for you. I don't understand."
Zuko frowned, looking down at his tea cup. "She… wanted things to get serious."
Iroh blinked.
"I see. Well… it's normal for people to desire at different paces, when they feel so much," Iroh pressed gently, "I suppose if you had explained yourself, she would've understood. Did you write to her?"
The boy nodded.
"And what did she say?"
"She said she wouldn't mind taking it slow. That she'd be willing to wait. I guess she… really liked me." Zuko shut his eyes, his mouth bitter with the words.
Iroh looked at his nephew questionably. "And yet, you broke it off."
The boy swallowed, holding his teacup to his heart. "I didn't want to make her hopeful."
After another small sip of his tea, Uncle Iroh let another question take shape.
"Have you written to Ms. Katara?"
Zuko opened his eyes at that, meeting his uncle's stern face. Iroh usually referred to her as "your good friend" or "the nice waterbender," but never on that first-name basis. Hearing her name out loud by his uncle's voice made the young prince feel … seen. And vulnerable.
"Not since I brought Azula home," he said as matter-of-factly as he could.
"May I ask why?" his uncle took another sip of tea.
Zuko sighed, looking out the window… and that's when Iroh took a deep-belly breath in, and out.
"I'm going to be frank with you, nephew: I will not be around forever."
Zuko blinked back over to him, imagining the worst.
But Iroh smiled and kept talking.
"What I mean is: Someday, you will have to be the one bringing up your own troubles, instead of waiting for me - or anyone else - to fish them out of you. Life is hard for everyone. That is no excuse to be silent."
Zuko inhaled, and took his time with the next few words.
"Song was perfect, Uncle. I should've been happy with her. I should've been excited about this relationship she wanted to have… but I wasn't. I couldn't."
The boy looked at his uncle like a pelican-gull staring at the sun after a monsoon, hoping for warmth.
"What is… wrong with me?"
"I think you need to ask yourself, Zuko… what kept you from opening up to Ms. Song the same way you were with Ms. Katara? And… why have you stopped writing to your best friend?"
Zuko shook his head, looking out the window with a frown, and Iroh kept his eyes at him.
"I had seen you and Ms. Katara in my office for quite some time… and while I am not a prophet, nephew… I can say your minds danced like a single entity. It reminded me of the water spirits – Tui and La – how the "push and pull" of your conversations had you both laughing in my office, supporting each other, had you speaking your deepest, harshest truth without any intention to hurt. That is a kind of trust that comes from the core of your soul. Do you understand how rare that is?"
Zuko opened his eyes back over to his uncle, and they were glimmering. Iroh shut his eyes, bringing himself the strength to continue speaking, and he did in a much quieter tone.
"When you stopped writing to her, she came to me," Iroh began, and Zuko blinked, his lips parting in worry. "I won't share what was said – that's confidential – but believe me when I say she worried about you. Ms. Katara had looked forward to your letters, and then you left her completely in the dark. You could not find the decency to tell her you would be coming back home when you did?"
"I couldn't face her yet, Uncle," he muttered, closing his eyes.
"Zuko, you've faced this girl fearlessly many times, and she has been your anchor. She needed you, as much as I believe you needed her, while you were away."
The boy had long abandoned his tea, placing it on the coffee-table, holding his head with his hands in shame.
"Uncle…" Zuko began, with a quivering voice that was unlike him. "I wanted to write to her. I did."
"Why didn't you?"
"Because I didn't want her to take pity on me, anymore!"
Zuko's body flinched violently as he got up from the couch, his arms flailing… his eyes bulging towards his Uncle… the angry ghost of a boy who'd visited Mr. Iroh's office countless times.
"I'm sick of it!" The young prince began to pace back and forth to let the energy out. "Azula tried to kill herself, and I was the only one there to help… and… I knew how Katara would react."
Zuko felt his heart, felt even the veins pulsing on his neck as he rested his hands on the backrest of the couch.
"She would hug me, and tell me it's not my fault… and I don't want her to feel sorry for me. I want her to see me strong, and brave… and..."
"… and what makes you believe she doesn't already see you that way?"
Zuko looked at his uncle, frowning.
"I think you're discrediting yourself harshly, my nephew. You are stronger than you realize, just from what you did to help your sister."
Iroh looked at the last bit of tea inside his cup, letting a frown of his own take shape in his face.
"And I think you are making a mistake… not writing to the one person who would not leave you alone in your silence, your darkness… who would gladly fight with you, if that's what it took to reach you."
Zuko let the words weigh in on him as he hung his head over the couch, closing his eyes. It took a long time for him to speak up, and when it did, the words passed like daggers to his throat. So painful… he could only whisper them to the air.
"She is with the Avatar."
His eyes shimmered in gold as he rested his elbows on the couch, covering his eyes. His shoulders fell, surrendering with invisible weight… as if his body were pleading to sink into the floor.
When Zuko looked at his uncle, the sadness in his eyes matched his own, but with empathetic understanding.
"I see."
Iroh placed his cup back to the table. He'd known about this relationship, of course, seeing Aang and Katara walking together on school grounds. The guidance counselor had his own opinions about that pairing, but he kept those thoughts to himself, only focusing on the troubled boy in front of him. He glanced at Zuko with a firm breath, seeing him as his nephew much more than any other fancy title he had.
"Does she know how you feel?"
"No."
"She deserves to know, Zuko."
"I can't…" the boy shook his head in denial. "She is my best friend. I can't lose her."
Zuko could feel the corners of his eyes sting with tears as he blinked to look elsewhere, trying to recall those short moments over time where he could see himself letting Katara in, into his world.
And he felt like he didn't deserve her… like he felt poison seep into his skin just at the idea of stealing her from Aang… a boy who brought her less drama, much more happiness and laughter. The boy who so openly expressed his feelings for her at school, in the way Zuko never could. The boy who never caused any reason for Zuko to hate him - as much as he wanted to - for claiming his best friend's heart before he'd even realized such feelings were forming in his own.
No, Zuko thought, as he lowered his head, he wouldn't dare pursue her like that.
And yet… how could he manage this life… between the emptiness he felt in his stomach, being without her… and the heaviness he would feel in his chest, being with her yet seeing her with someone else?
Zuko didn't stop the tears from falling, letting the droplets hit the couch cushions as he rasped more words into the heavy air in front of him.
"I thought if I stopped writing to her, the feelings would go… but…."
When he raised his head back to meet his uncle's eyes, it was the pelican-gull, staring at the sun after a monsoon… wondering if it could still fly towards that warmth, despite its body feeling so beaten-down.
"…what am I supposed to do?"
Iroh rested his hands on his knees as he sat, giving his nephew a warm face of encouragement.
"Speaking from the heart is the bravest thing any man can do," Iroh imposed. "I urge you to try."
Zuko felt tears fall silently from his eyes, putting a hand at the crook of his nose, swallowing those words that seemed lodged in his throat.
"Don't be afraid of the outcome, my nephew," Iroh said cautiously. "Romance or not… I beg you to not let that connection with her die. I believe… from what I have already seen… that you will do wonders with each other."
Zuko coughed a short laugh as tears fell, wiping them with the back of his wrist. That was when Iroh got up and went over to hug his nephew behind the couch, caressing his back as Zuko slowly sniffled a few cries.
"I miss her," the boy's voice quivered between sobs against his uncle's frame. "I feel lost without her."
"I know, Zuko…" Iroh comforted him. "… I know."
"Lee-your MASK!"
That caught Zuko's attention as he brisked the walk, hearing Katara call him by his fake name. He turned around and almost received the brim of Katara's hat to his chin, and he stumbled backward in defense.
As he straightened himself, Katara held up the Blue Spirit mask with her hands, acknowledging that it had fallen off of his neck somewhere in his brisk walk.
"Whatever is bothering you, it doesn't matter… but… don't lose this, okay?"
Katara pressed the mask into Zuko's frame, not out of malice but in kindness, and she looked down to admire details of it like an old friend.
"Thank you."
She was still pressing the mask sweetly onto his frame, and the boy took it from her hands, letting his gloved hands fold onto Katara's for a small moment. In an instant, Katara brought a hand to press her shell, and she looked back up to Zuko.
That was when she seemed to recall their last in-person meeting, at the docks of the Fire Nation capital port, Zuko fully packed and about to embark on the small ship with the handful of crewmembers… his sister already boarding with two assistants carrying her elaborate sight of luggage. Katara had made a point to see her friend off, as she wasn't sure when they'd see each other again, now that Zuko no longer had a reason to go to Praying Mantis High. They had promised an exchange of gifts as well, to help get through the next year without each other's presence or silly jokes.
Katara opened her gift first—a small parcel that Zuko had perhaps gotten someone professionally to wrap in delicate paper and string, because she'd never seen Zuko wrap anything before.
It unfolded to be a lovely ivory-colored clam shell, big enough to almost cover the palm of her entire hand.
"It's from the beach on Ember Island," he explained. "I found it near the place we sat together."
Katara just kept looking at it admirably, but Zuko wasn't sure how to read her face.
"It's… not that incredible…" Zuko shrugged shyly, recalling a time when he brought Mai seashells to cheer her up, which it didn't. "You don't have to keep it, if you don't like it… I know it's dumb."
That's when the girl smiled and made it known by looking back up at Zuko, putting the shell to her heart.
"It's not dumb, Zuko- I love it. Thank you!" she brought her free hand to squeeze his arm for comfort, and then went into her shoulder bag to take out her gift for him.
Zuko was still adjusting to the shock that Katara liked his gift, he wasn't prepared to receive a parcel with two hands.
"But Katara—I thought we agreed we wouldn't purchase anything." Zuko frowned.
"I didn't buy this."
He looked at her oddly, placing the box parcel to his ear and shaking it slightly. He still wasn't convinced.
"Did Sokka buy something on your behalf?"
"Nope."
"Did your father?"
"Zuko, just open it…" she retorted.
And carefully, curiously… Zuko unwrapped the cloth with one hand, lifted the top of a paper box that was underneath all of the cloth… to reveal the mask of the Blue Spirit. It was molded with delicately-weaved canvas and plaster, painted by hand, sculpted and sewn by hand to securely strap in to the head of any dancer or mighty acrobat.
Zuko stared at the mask with raised eyes, unable to say anything.
"Your uncle was nice enough to give me your head measurements, and I used Sokka's actual face for the plaster—which reminds me, I need to wash his clothes all this month."
Zuko was still silent, his eyes finally lifting from the box to meet hers.
"I asked the mask artisan in the marketplace about how to make it fire-proof, so I dipped it in fine sand three times for a base-coat. I'd still be careful around fire, though.
The young prince just shook his head in disbelief, turning the mask in various angles to find any sign of an artisan's stamped seal. There were none.
"You made this…" Zuko's voice was quiet, his eyes glimmering its golden rims. "You made this for me?"
Katara nodded proudly, smiling. "I thought it'd be a good reminder for you to never lose that childhood curiosity, now that you're going out into the worl—"
And the girl was cut short by Zuko's strong arms around her shoulders, smothering her face a bit but enough to let her breathe a musical laugh. She scooped her arms up to his back and let her hands hold his shoulder blades in return.
"I was hoping you'd like it," she managed to say, letting themselves fully part after a few moments.
Katara noticed a small tear streaming down Zuko's good eye, and she let one of her thumbs wipe it off just before Zuko could put a sleeve to it.
"I—um…" Zuko tried to find the words, but Katara's glimmering blue eyes were distracting him. "I'll write to you by messenger hawk. The letters should arrive by Monday morning through the school's mail aviary."
Katara smiled, putting a hand to Zuko's scarred side of his face. "I like that plan."
Zuko grinned, not hesitating to reach a hand behind Katara's head to put their foreheads together – something they'd gotten so accustomed to doing for 'good luck' between friends.
"Safe trip, okay?" Katara whispered, feeling her own eyes water up with tears.
"Okay," Zuko rasped.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
And before they knew it, the moment was gone… and Katara smiled as Zuko boarded the ship and waved a quick hand for goodbye.
Katara remembered lingering towards the small ship as it was still docked for another minute, then hearing her brother call out to her. She didn't hear the end of it when they left, and for once, Katara didn't care.
She was surprised, actually, that Sokka hadn't given her that much trouble about being with Aang, in comparison.
Katara brought her mind back to Zuko again, then, the mask against his frame, and gave him that reassuring smile – as if saying he would always have friends in Praying Mantis High if ever needed to take a break from almost-adulthood. Zuko smiled, gesturing his head in a 'tilt' direction to continue walking along the alleyway, and so they did.
The amphitheater was right up ahead, but on one of the small sub-corridors of the alleyway, Katara and Zuko caught a somewhat familiar voice of a girl shouting, "five, six, seven, eight!"
They exchanged curious glances, but it's Katara who pulled Zuko's arm to her side to peer into the sub-corridor, and a live band was drumming while the graceful airbending Kyoshi girl Suganya demonstrated a fun partner dance with sticks to semi-full crowd of participants. The music was upbeat and the dancing felt like an intense cardio-filled workout more than any type of bending moves Katara had seen.
"I've seen this dance," Zuko brought up behind Katara. "It's from the Earth provinces, close to the Eastern Air Temple. My sister and I stumbled into a festival, and they taught us some group dances… like that one."
Katara clutched Zuko's arm adorably, the idea of him dancing with a bunch of strangers looking nothing but silly and awkward and cute.
"We should join in!" she exclaimed, "Suganya's teaching everyone the routine right now— and there's plenty of space."
That's when Zuko's form stiffened. "Katara, my call time is in a few minutes. We should keep walking."
"Wait!" she kept a hold on his arm as he backed away. "You still have the first part of the showcase to buy you some time, right? That has to be at least 20 more minutes."
He locked eyes with her. She had a valid point; all he would do in the wings would be some stretching and hydrating, and perhaps endure the overly-flirtatious air of the female tsungi hornist.
Katara grunted. "Look, if you don't want people to recognize you, just wear the mask, and you'll be fine!"
And with that, Katara pulled them both into the floor, Zuko fumbling to get his Blue Spirit mask on securely over his face. They grabbed some sticks that were sitting on a box near the entrance (which they later learned were called dandiya's) and the Blue Spirit and Painted Lady situated themselves in the near-back of the dance room while people in various elaborate make-up and masks were learning certain jumps and step.
The drumming was fast-paced but Katara managed to keep up eventually—thanking herself that she decided to wear dance-friendly shoes for the festival. She looked over at Zuko's Blue Spirit face, and she could even tell with the mask on that he was sternly concentrating on getting the moves right. Katara had to admit—it was quite entertaining to see the Blue Spirit's face jumping and gliding back and forth with the drumbeats, dandiyas clicking over his head. As Suganya demonstrated at the front of the room, Katara kept trying to emulate all the facial expressions encouraged with each move.
And then, Suganya shouted "Okay! Now turn to your partner and click the dandiya's together!"
Katara froze, and so did Zuko, but almost instantly they turned their heads to each other and their bodies followed. They crisscrossed their dandiyas in front of them, clicking them together at the same rhythm of the drumming, while lifting their knees and feeling like two funky winged cat-lemurs.
Zuko was familiar with these movements, Katara could tell, not hiding the grin on her face. For a few more minutes, they danced together, then separately, then back together, clicking dandiyas to each other and over their heads like they held some kind of magic inside them. When Suganya then instructed the partners to circle each other, Katara hesitated with the change, but it was Zuko in his Blue Spirit mask that stepped forward confidently… those dark eyes almost looming mischievously at her. He brought a hand to her shoulder as they circled, and stepped, circled and stepped, as if Zuko were saying "see? It's simple."
They circled each other with the drum rhythm, letting the dandiyas click as they did so. Katara could only imagine the looks that Zuko must've been giving her under that mask, but in a way… she liked keeping that a mystery. The colorful masks and the lights and the music were putting this girl into a peaceful, almost-childhood-rendering joy. It was like the Blue Spirit and the Painted Lady were exchanging glances for the first time in a thousand years, letting the energy of the room take them.
Suganya then shouted, "okay! Now the squats and the final jumps, guys. Let's go for it! Find your partner and jump! Click those dandiya's!"
Katara did the sliding movements opposite the Blue Spirit, and Zuko had taken the liberty of doing the perfect head-bob that many other people in masks did. She fought a laugh, and looked at the Blue Spirit mask with just-as-much-seriousness and intensity in her eyes. The final jump involved a leap that Zuko immediately gestured for Katara to leap over to him, and so she did. Zuko caught her and held her frame tightly in mid-air, Katara's dandiya's held with raised arms, and it felt like the two of them were touching the heavens.
Zuko held her there for a long second, not faltering, and the Painted Lady smiled down to the Blue Spirit while the noise of people cheering and clapping, engulfing them with joy.
They hadn't been the center of attention… and there wasn't an air for the need to be perfect… or show off a move to anyone. Nobody seemed to be paying any mind to these two friends… but to Katara and Zuko, it was more than enough. It was like they had been briefly transported out of their present responsibilities, back to a childhood. Before fathers' disappearances… before mothers' deaths, before scars on the face and sibling rivalries, before all the struggles for perfectionism, before first-crushes and heart-breaks, before plans for adulthood had made things so much more complicated.
Zuko lifted his mask to exchange a rare, teethy smile to his best friend, finally letting Katara back down to the ground with ease, and he welcomed the hug she gave him in return. It was hug so tight, they felt each other's heartbeats pounding like drums.
"That was fun!" the girl exclaimed, grabbing Zuko's dandiyas along with her own to bring them back to the bin.
He breathed deeply, going over to get some cups for water, when immediately he heard Suganya's voice.
"Zuko! What you doing here? You're—you're the Blue Spirit?"
The boy's face drained of color, very aware of how loudly Suganya's voice was raised in the room. Katara immediately jumped in and sandwiched herself between them.
"Hi Suganya!" she attempted. "Um… great dance class… and yes! Zuko is the Blue Spirit, and we actually need to head out, because his next show is coming up."
They could feel a small crowd of intrigued faces and masks beginning to cluster in to ask about the Blue Spirit's amazing fire-dancing. Katara took one of Zuko's paper water cups, did a little 'click' for cheers with his cup, and they both gulped the water together… then heading toward the exit door.
"Dude! Aren't you supposed to go on in like 10 minutes?" another dancer with a sad monkey mask said.
That's when Zuko and Katara looked at each other blankly and scurried out without so much as a 'goodbye' to Suganya. The crowds outside seemed to be closing in on the alleyway towards the amphitheater, with so much anticipation for the Blue Spirit's performance. The two friends weren't expecting that much of a tight crowd in the alley—word must've gotten around about the first performance being so amazing, so of course the final performance was not to be missed.
"Oh spirits… spirits…" Katara pushed her way through the crowd in front of Zuko, grabbing his hand and using her Painted Lady hat as a shield to push and make way. The stage had to be only twenty yards away, but it would've taken a miracle at that point to get there by the slow pacing of the crowd.
"Katara, the water." Zuko grasped his friend's shoulder, and the girl turned her head.
"What?"
"Use the water!" Zuko gestured to the various cups, drinks and beverages of liquid that people were holding in their hands as they clustered in the alleyway. And immediately, Katara knew what Zuko was implying.
After all, she wasn't at Praying Mantis School – she could water-bend as she needed here, however she could.
"Stay close to me," she said, putting her Painted Lady hat back on, and Zuko did as such, placing his mask over his face and holding Katara's shoulders. Katara breathed deeply and raised her arms straight up to summon liquids from about a six-foot radius, fusing them all together to form a very mud-colored water-whip. It left the close crowd of onlookers confused and gasping, but Zuko smiled in amazement beneath his mask.
Katara put on her game-face on as she swiped her arms in a forward motion towards the right, then the left, then the right… parting the crowd forcefully to walk through. The gasps from the crowd kept coming, and Katara muttered "sorry! So sorry!" under her hat… but as they kept moving… and as her whip maneuvering got more and more under control… Katara's words became "Excuse me! Pardon us! Blue Spirit coming through!" And it made the crowd part ways a little faster for them, even making some people clap and cheer with respect to the talented Blue Spirit dancer, trailing behind the Painted Lady's voice. Zuko even nodded with his mask a few times as a "thank you," playing along with the cheering.
Near the end of the alleyway, they were able to pick up the pace, finally, and Zuko and Katara made a short dash towards the backstage door. By the time they got there, they were so wiped out, they let themselves hit the adjacent wall, laughing. Zuko lifted his mask over his head to breathe, propping himself further up against the wall as Katara then released all the mud-colored water down to a nearby drainage pipe in the ground.
"Hey—I was thirsty!" Zuko remarked between his laughter, the adrenaline of that sprint still present.
"You really would've settled for a bunch of liquids that have touched other people's mouths?" Katara remarked, laughter in her voice.
Zuko shook his head, but still chuckling. "I'm just parched."
His eyes were heavy-lidded as they exchanged a glance, and Katara wondered if he really would be okay to perform in a few minutes.
And suddenly, she thought about Jet… on a hot sun-scorching day…
"I'll find you some water," Katara voice fell to her concerned tone, stepping away, "Just stay here for a second—"
"Wait-NO!—No, I was just-"
Their eyes locked… realizing how quickly Zuko had grabbed Katara's wrist, and there was no way around it.
It was as if he had been pleading for her to stay… and it made her heart quicken. Zuko was slowly regaining his own composure with slow breaths, his chest rising and falling. He looked down at the ground, then… the blush in his face instantaneous after that impulsive gesture he'd made.
When his gloved hand finally let go, her skin had spouted goosebumps, beginning to miss that touch.
"Katara… I…"
Zuko courageously lifted his head to meet her eyes.
"…I really like you."
In the distance, the same announcer's voice was making the same remarks: "thank you for supporting the first part of the showcase, ladies and gentlemen. Now, stay tuned for our special performance." The musicians were warming up. The crowds were still passing them by, trying to find their way into the amphitheater.
His eyes stayed on hers behind the veil, and it was like the were standing worlds apart from that veil. He could feel his whole self shivering just from her unblinking blue.
Another deep breath, and his words kept coming.
"I know you like Aang, a lot… so I didn't want to say anything. I didn't want to lose you as a friend. I stopped writing because... after Azula... I didn't want an excuse for you to comfort me anymore. I thought it would help these feelings go away... but... it didn't. It hasn't."
The noise around them could've been unbearable to anyone else… but to Zuko and Katara, their minds had suddenly become so hauntingly quiet… their hearts beating like a drum as their eyes met between a veil.
Twin suns over a vast, tranquil ocean.
"I'm…" his eyes began to glimmer. "…I'm sorry."
"Zuko…"
Years from now, Katara would still reflect on what it was that got her to move, then.
Perhaps it was that brave smile of his that took shape as she said his name. Or perhaps it was the way his brow lifted sadly, or how he fought to hide the blush from his cheeks. Or perhaps it was all of that, braided among a few other little things that had occurred to her long before that moment.
In any case, she could feel her heart drawing itself to him.
Katara felt the butterfly-moths in her stomach, but she didn't let that stop her. Placing a hand to the boy's shoulder, she carefully brought her face over to Zuko, tilting her hat at a slight angle… letting her lips touch Zuko's cheek through her Painted Lady veil. The kiss came so dangerously close to the boy's smile, it was unclear to know what exactly she had been aiming for, but Katara brought her face a little bit back, still holding onto the boy's shoulder… her insides refusing to stop shaking.
Through the veil, Katara saw his reaction instantly.
Zuko's golden eyes rose with a copper tint of shock. His good brow was lifted in a very inquisitive way.
His smile had disappeared completely.
Katara's eyes fell, feeling less brave all of a sudden.
She brought her hand away from his shoulder, giving them more proper space, letting her eyes instead focus on her veil—on the little red-painted lip mark that was left dangling from that impulsive kiss.
A handful of seconds passed, silently.
Katara breathed and tried to find the energy to step even further away… away from this whole moment.
… but then, her veil moved.
The red lip mark seemed to be floating up, up, up to the sky.
Katara held her puzzled breath, her eyes now wide open.
Her eyes caught the last few moments of Zuko's gloved hands carefully lifting the veil onto the brim of her hat.
It startled her. It amused her, too, seeing how the boy's hands trembled in the process. It captivated her as well, her eyes glimmering a purple tint with its blue in the shade of her hat, seeing Zuko's face more clearly.
The shock from his face had disappeared. All she saw now was Zuko with his usually-stern look, but with a slightly softer tone as he kept his gaze on her.
Only Katara could've noticed a smile, then—that small press and curve of the lip that was becoming more present as the seconds passed.
They breathed.
Zuko didn't have the strength to say anything; his heart was beating rapidly as his hands returned to his side against the wall. He propped himself up a bit more, but he didn't move any closer to his best friend, as much as his now-dancing insides seemed to beg him to.
With deep breaths, he waited for her. For her to give the signal to indicate that she was okay.
That this was okay.
That this would all be okay… despite their friendship… despite what their young, unknown futures didn't yet know… despite everything going on in their lives… the significant other who would be affected by this…
… and that it was okay to not think about all of that, right now.
Zuko needed to be sure Katara knew all of this, in those seconds that seemed to stretch for hours.
And then… he saw the girl's face form a brave grin beneath her glimmering eyes.
He didn't even notice her hands when they came to rest on his shoulders, but it gave Zuko an electric pull that that coursed from his neck down to his spine.
He saw Katara's grin become a wider, teethy smile. She brought herself closer to him, and just as nervously… just as carefully… Zuko brought his face under the Painted Lady's hat to meet that smile.
And gravity did all the rest.
This was not Mai, or Jet.
Or Song.
Or Aang.
This was a gentle kiss, warm lips welcoming the other openly… like waves approaching cliffsides… crashing… receding. They let their mouths explore while their hands caressed and their voices sighed, their forms resting more neatly against the wall.
It was a kiss that spoke of Saturday rainstorms, hugs in the Shaolin arena, fights with Azula, dances in the school gym, near-death explosions in the science lab, and countless conversations in the school hallways. It spoke of rare smiles and musical laughter on Ember Island, of various exchanges of words that were not meant to mean much, but instead meant everything.
It spoke of want. Of so many moments wanting the other as something more than just a conversation, a clever comeback, a punch to the arm, a press of the heads, a comforting hug. Of so many strange moments, wanting to embrace the other but not let go… desiring that touch… adoring it when it occurred yet not really understanding why. Of the endless, countless moments of wanting to say something, but not knowing how the other would react – the fear of them slipping away if such feelings were to make themselves known.
It spoke of need, too – of needing that other person, like a plant void of sunlight or parched of water.
More than anything, their kiss spoke of honesty – raw truth – how, between them, they could truly deal with the world and not hold anything back.
How, despite the costumes they wore in that moment… they didn't have to wear any "faces" for each other.
They could be real.
They could be angry… and sad… and frustrated… and happy… and it could all be real.
It was a kiss that reminded them how they could keep each other safe… holding their deepest thoughts, dreams, fears and hopes close to their hearts, where nobody else could touch them.
A kiss that acknowledged how they could be each other's home, and the world could work around that.
By the time Zuko and Katara let that kiss settle into a softer, comfortable pace - their hearts not racing as much – someone burst open the stage door and frantically shouted in their direction.
"LEE!- spirits, Lee—where have you been!?"
They flinched out of that kiss frantically, Katara's hat falling straight off, unsure even where to look.
When they jerked their heads towards the stage door, a young man with thick eyebrows and a serious-looking clipboard stopped talking, his mouth shrinking into a line.
"Oh," he almost closed the stage door instinctively, but then remembered why he was out there.
Katara noted the red paint smudged on Zuko's general lip area, and the stage manager spoke again.
"Okay—don't mind me… I saw nothing… but, Lee—" and he made a harsh whisper to Zuko, "you're on in FIVE MINUTES! We're calling PLACES!"
"Alright, Bolin- Thanks!" Zuko managed, waving to the young man while still holding Katara with one arm. Bolin made a saluting nod and disappeared back behind the door.
And the two friends exhaled.
"Hold still-" she brought her sleeves to Zuko's lips, wiping the red off, and Zuko chuckled at that.
"Wait—" he then lifted some of Katara's sleeve to clear the sloppy red from her lips and chin completely. It made the girl give her musical laugh.
And the boy just couldn't resist. Zuko went in and kissed her cheek, and Katara turned her head to meet his lips again. They both held each other tightly through that short, second kiss. Zuko leaned them back against the wall as they let that kiss live its short life… and they caressed their arms when they parted, bringing their foreheads together, their eyes closed, their lips smiling.
Deep breaths, subtle silence.
They let a few seconds of a quiet settle into that peaceful space, before Zuko's voice softly returned.
"I love you."
Those words seemed to course through him nervously, vulnerably. Courageously. It was the same set of words they had exchanged as friends countless times before.
And yet—
Zuko had never said them, first. Never. It wasn't that they deliberately kept of track of this sort of thing, but between him and Katara, it was comically predictable.
Until now.
Katara felt her cheeks flush in a warmth, letting those familiar words echo in her ears and settle in somewhere deep within her chest, beating heart. And her voice quivered as she spoke.
"I love you, too."
The words were, again, familiar. The many prior instances had made these words almost feel rehearsed… an automatic rhythm no different from "hello" and "how are you." A calm and easing tone, every time.
But not then.
Zuko could feel her hands trembling with this fragile honesty she was giving him.
And the two of them couldn't help but smile, letting out a small breath through their noses, feeling an invisible weight come off of their shoulders… knowing now.
Knowing how the other one felt.
The boy let his hands find Katara's hands at his arms, holding them and planting a small kiss to her knuckles before bringing them to their center. She hummed at the gesture, caressing his hands with her thumbs.
"Since when?" she breathed, their heads touching as they always did.
"I don't know," Zuko rasped softly. "Since you pulled me out of the rain, really. You?"
"Since I watched you dance on Ember Island."
Zuko's eyes glimmered a blink. "Really?"
"Yeah," she let their noses brush sweetly. "I didn't want things to be weird with us, so… I ignored it… just hoping it would go away. It never really did. And when you left..."
"Katara…" he caressed her arms in comfort.
"...Zuko, your letters kept me together. I felt so lost... and Aang is so sweet, and I've tried so hard…" Katara shook her head. "… but he just isn't you."
He placed a hand to her cheek, already seeing the tears form in her eyes.
"I kept wanting Song to be you," the boy whispered. "That's why I broke it off. She wasn't you."
Katara exhaled a disbelieving laugh, tears greeting her cheeks… and when she kissed him, he kissed her back, deeply and happily before burying their faces into the crooks of their necks. Holding their souls close.
The outside noise was returning to their ears, and they knew that if they didn't part soon, Bolin would be showing up again. There was a strange shift in the air between them, then, and Zuko and Katara's smiles suddenly faded down into deep sighs as they looked at their hands. What they did had been spontaneous… and wonderful… but they were starting to feel the horrible repercussions of it.
Like all of a sudden, they were turning into the kind of people they resented…the ones who were selfish, who stole girlfriends… who wrecked relationships… and didn't think of other people's feelings. Here they were, believing they did something right, and yet it seemed like all of that positive energy was turning against them.
They stood there: The Painted Lady and the Blue Spirit.
Two souls who chose to risk everything by doing something impulsively honest… something they refused to see as selfish… but indeed it was. And they had failed to properly think things through.
And despite all of that… Zuko and Katara could only exchange brave eyes to each other, knowing that they couldn't and wouldn't undo a moment they would not have traded for anything.
As she spoke again, they held each other's hands close.
"I'll talk to Aang," Katara felt more tears stream down her cheeks. "I'll explain everything."
"Do you want me to be there with you?"
She grinned. "I'll be alright. I just hope he understands."
"He will," the boy nodded, bringing a gloved hand to help wipe her tears, and Katara smiled as he did.
Zuko didn't feel any victory over this – over what could only be described as stealing someone's heart - as much as the moment seemed to call for it. After all, Aang was just a kid- he had done nothing wrong. Zuko couldn't forget he was his friend, too.
And Katara looked at her best friend sweetly, courageously. Carefully, she brought a had to Zuko's arm, caressing it and watching his frown soften. It was like she reminded him that this was ultimately her choice… her heart to give. That it had nothing to do with stealing.
The boy turned towards the stage door, and the girl's eyes followed in a sigh.
"Would you stay for the show?" This sounded selfish, and he hated it.
"I can't." This sounded selfless, and she hated it. "It's getting late. I should find the others before they worry."
The boy nodded with full, sad understanding, his stern face coming back as he picked up Katara's Painted Lady hat from the ground, handing it over to her. Carefully, she took it, but only held it with her hands.
Their eyes held an unhappiness over having to part at that very moment… one that they'd perhaps been thinking about longer than they realized. But Katara brought a soft hand to Zuko's scarred cheek, watching him briefly close his eyes and lean into that touch. It made the girl's heart soar.
Zuko then brought a hand to gently graze Katara's hair. Within that small silence, they were reassuring the same thing.
There's nothing to regret.
We'll figure it out.
Distantly in the theater, they could see the crowd noise fading and the lights dimming down… and with their hands still lingering on each other's cheeks, Zuko and Katara brought their faces close again for a fourth kiss. A warm, soft… supportive peck on the lips. They could feel their souls dancing just from that.
And as that kiss turned into a tiny, almost invisible planting of a fifth, a sixth… the tsungi horn music was beginning to play in the amphitheater… and the two of them used all of their strength to part themselves fully except for their hands… their chests heaving, their throats swallowing.
His eyes glistened. "I'll write to you."
"Me too," she smiled as he caressed her hands. "-okay- hurry! GO!"
Zuko planted a quick gentleman's kiss on her hands. Her cheeks blushed as she saw her best friend give one final smile to her before disappearing behind the stage door.
That feeling of floating… gliding along the alleyway … was something of another person's life.
It was a feeling of her body's insides dancing... fluttering… almost exploding with joy. Of finally being at ease. Finally.
As she traveled back, bumping into other people and holding her Painted Lady hat like a shield, Katara knew that she was heading towards the group of friends over at the Air Bending showcase. She knew that's where she was headed, where she needed to go.
Where she had to be.
And still…
She heard the noise of the audience yield to silence at the majestic drumming of a mischievous spirit.
Katara turned her head back towards the amphitheater, feeling the thunderous sound of drums beat along with her rapid heart. She could picture the look on Zuko's face behind the mask, then, as he concentrated on the drums alone on that stage… imagining that he were calling to someone far away.
Sending a message.
…she already knew that her heart hadn't left with her.
Her eyes glistened even before she brought herself to full halt, letting people bump against her shoulders as they passed. Her heart beat rapidly, anxiously… wondering if she could even- if she should even…
She took a small breath and gripped her hands tightly to her hat.
The girl could be selfish…
With trembling arms, she placed her Painted Lady hat back onto her head and directed herself to the stage door, paying no mind to a very-stunned Bolin who appeared when she knocked.
…she didn't have to be afraid of it.
Bolin noticed her firm, determined face. The stage manager shrugged, holding the door for her.
And in moments… the Painted Lady vanished from the festival. She was last seen watching the Blue Spirit from the wings. She would wait for him after the curtain call. The smiles they would exchange? They would bring a warmth that would try the sun.
Fingers entwined, the two of them talked for the rest of the night.
Their friends would survive.
Katara took the first morning train home.
The world would forgive.
"Looks like the snow didn't scare your boy off after all!"
Katara heard Bato's bass of a voice shouting from a distance, making the girl look up from her knot-tying. Suki was still next to her, and she followed her gaze.
There were two figures approaching the caravan of sleds in the light drifts of snow, one definitely the familiar, bundled mass of her father, and the other… well, not as tall, but still attempted to walk tall in spite of the tote bag he carried over his shoulder and boots sinking into snow.
Katara gleamed. She could recognize that posture anywhere… and perhaps, so did Sokka, because behind her wide smile she heard her brother exclaim, "well well well… look who decided to sweep my sis off her feet with his royal hotness."
Suki couldn't help but giggle.
And for once, Katara didn't rebuke Sokka. Not because he was right (she wasn't swept off—her feet were very much on the ground… and even if she had been, it had nothing to do with royal titles or 'hotness' level)… but because in that moment, Katara had dropped what she was doing and briskly ran towards that figure in the snow… towards a bundled, very-much-freezing face within a thick parka… a crooked smile spread across it.
Zuko dropped his tote bag and opened his thick parka arms to bring Katara into a hug, lifting her up, hearing her musical laugh for the first time in months.
They let their foreheads touch serenely, taking in air from their noses as Katara caressed his cheeks. She knew Zuko wasn't keen for public affection, but there was something about long-distance… about those months of being apart and relying only on sweet, handwritten letters… that compelled a person's heart to beat so rapidly with boldness that it threw all modesty out the window. It compelled Zuko to bring his face closer to the girl who held it, feeling his arms turn into jelly as Katara met his lips for a warm, tender kiss… not caring that her father or her brother were standing right there.
No amount of letter-exchanges could replace the rush of joy that it felt to have each other that close. When they parted, Zuko planted little kisses on her button-tip nose.
"Hi," she whispered, sneaking a tiny kiss onto his chin, admiring the breath of a laugh he made.
"Hello," he rasped, shyly bringing his head back to gaze at her eyes.
They kissed again, letting the warmth juxtapose the snow that was sprinkling down around them.
"I was beginning to think 'seal-otter jelly' might've been too much," Katara said after they parted.
"Please—" Zuko let their noses brush sweetly, "-it'll take more than that to get rid of me."
He reached behind his pack to show a small parcel wrapped in crimson and gold cloth. Katara received it with a smile, taking in the scent.
"Ginger-Chai?"
Zuko nodded. "It's supposed to help with the warmth, but I had to get it fresh."
Katara smiled in gratitude, reaching for a gloved hand. "How's your sister?"
"Better- she's starting to speak again, though it's not yet coherent."
"It's progress, though, right?"
Zuko nodded. "I was thinking of bringing her some ice-stones as a souvenir." Zuko extends an arm out for Katara to grab as they walk through the flurrying snow. "How's Aang?"
It took a second to respond, but she did with a hopeful smile.
"He's doing well- his training keeps him busy… and says he wishes you luck on your Fire Navy exams."
Zuko blinked, almost perplexed that his former pupil no longer hated his guts, but Katara caressed his arm reassuringly, and he embraced that warmth.
"How are you doing with the air-glider?" Zuko then nudged her, and Katara gave him a playful side-eye.
"I've… managed to not air-glide with my eyes closed anymore, so…"
He chuckled. "That means you can focus on not swallowing temple moths; they're becoming endangered."
She frowned, but his devilish smirk greeted her.
"Okay—you do realize you're standing on an ice kingdom… with a top-notch waterbender, right?"
"That may be," he rasps, "but I don't mind fighting you."
"Hey-" she elbowed him lightly, but he pulled her arm in for a deep side-hug within their parkas. That was when Katara couldn't resist, and Zuko welcomed her lips for a gentle kiss just as Bato's bellowing, commanding voice jumped in.
"Alright, you love-penguins – we need to get a move on!"
They parted with a flinch, continuing their walk to the sleds with blushing faces.
"Greetings from the edge of the world!" Suki exclaimed. "And trust me; the seal-otter jelly is a life-saver."
The young prince chuckled. "Good to know."
"Hotman!" Sokka patted Zuko on the back as he picked up the fire prince's totebag, "Welcome to the family!—well- sort of. It's not official until you spend a night half-naked with everyone under pelts."
Zuko's face froze in horror, turning to Katara, who promptly smacked Sokka over the head.
"Ow!- What? It's a legitimate survival tactic!" Sokka help up his hands.
"…which hasn't been used since Gran Gran's time," Katara jeered, turning her eyes to Zuko. "Don't listen to him."
She shoved her brother ahead of them while simultaneously letting her hand find Zuko's as they walked.
It took a second, but the fire-bender laughed with ease as they made it to the sleds, his golden eyes taking in the beauty of glaciers and snow around him… clutching Katara's hand.
She leaned her head to his arm as he did.
A/N:
So...
It was 2020, the world was a strange place, ATLA was on Netflix, and on one particularly uneventful day, I was compelled to return to this little AU from 2008 and give it the alternate Zutara ending.
A lot of life can happen in 12 years, and… after a better understanding of people and relationships… to me, this just felt right. When I re-watched the show and dove deep into each character's arcs, I couldn't help but feel that Zuko and Katara deserved much, much more than what they got. They deserved an incredible love story with someone who really saw them, understood them at their maturity level and inspired them to be amazing people rather than just a love interest. I keep thinking about what Hayao Miyakazi always encouraged in his own films, rooting for the characters to not just be romantically involved but become profound individuals who build their best selves just from the other one's support. This wasn't something I saw in Zuko's arc when I read the ATLA comics, or something implied with Katara's arc in LoK, and so… this story happened.
Please know I don't hate Aang — he's wonderful and the last thing I tried to do is throw him under the bus, but with the way I envisioned Katara and Zuko… being inherently selfless people, becoming close friends who understood each other, and ultimately choosing to be brave about their deep feelings… there was just no way around it. Sometimes, to be selfish, people get hurt. I sincerely apologize to anyone who liked my story and its original ending with the original pairing, who may have felt a bit betrayed by this. It is certainly your decision to either "accept" or "reject" this alternate ending.
In any case, I hope you understand where I'm coming from, and continue enjoying my writing.
Thanks and stay safe!
MM
