Chapter Two: Lost
Katara collects water from the streams on the walls.
It seems purer than the fresh water outside, but she still does not trust it. But no matter how reluctant the girls are, they have to drink something as they keep walking. Both starvation and exhaustion kicked in twenty minutes ago and the girls are too weak to go much further. It might be a cave. They might be walking to a dead end where they die.
They resume their march. Both have thoughts they should voice, but talking takes too much energy.
An infinite amount of time later, their salvation comes in the form of rays of light. They exchange an excited glance as they walk towards the candles with all the strength they have left. When they peer through the narrow tunnel indented in the cave wall, they see an encampment of red tents, weapons, food and armor pieces.
Azula gestures for Katara to follow as she shimmies through. She rubs her chapped lips together and forces herself to take cover behind a large boulder. It is the Ruthless Sun, but no one is here.
"Let's go," Azula hisses.
Katara agrees with her enemy. The need for food definitely is an equalizer.
They scamper out and with very light steps, collect any supplies that they can carry. They leave the armor and weapons, but take some survival gear, all the food they can shove into two stolen bags, and skins for water. Katara hooks one to her hip and quickly fills it with the cave-wall water.
She feels much safer now.
Azula feels the opposite.
The campfire is still warm.
"They'll be back," Azula whispers, pointing at the tunnel. "We have to hide."
"We can take them," Katara says fiercely. "They must have a ship that we could steal. We could take anything we need from this place if we defeat them all and—"
"I know trusting me is unwise, but you need to in this case," Azula crisply insists.
Katara pauses. "The Ruthless Sun isn't on your cousin's side, are they? They're on yours. Why are you afraid of being seen by your own soldiers?"
"That's absurd. I told you that they work for my cousin and he is not a kind man. If they were on my side, they would be loyal to their princess and help her escape," Azula purrs. She sounds confident, but Katara does not believe her.
Azula's fear cannot be of combat, seeing as she has blue fire and Katara saw her take down an entire team of rebels before capturing Katara. It is something else, and Katara truly believes Azula has a connection to these brutal raiders that she has not shared.
They return through the tunnel and hide in such dim light that they cannot make out each other's faces. The two girls eat more fiercely and eagerly than they ever have before in their lives. Having their mouths full means that there will be no bickering or dreadful conversation.
"They got in," Azula says when she pushes her rations away from herself. "They must have a way out. Dangerous sadists or not, at least we're not trapped in this cavern."
Katara shrugs. She is too busy sympathizing with Sokka's love for food.
[X]
The girls have been silent for some time when they hear voices approaching.
They both tense and hesitantly peer through the small tunnel. The Ruthless Sun has returned from whatever they were doing, and are joking around. One woman is particularly loudmouthed, and a guy beside her laughs so hard Katara thinks he might cause a cave in.
"Alright, boys," announces the loud woman, "you have seven hours of precious sleep, you got me? Don't waste it."
Azula glances at Katara. They share the mutual realization that they only need to wait ten hours or less for the Ruthless Sun to leave their hideout. That sounds uncomfortable, but better than the fight that could ensue.
Maybe they have a chance.
[X]
Katara has dozed off against the slick, cool wall when Azula shakes her brutally. She shoves at the princess and tries to come to terms with her surroundings.
'What?' Katara mouths.
Azula nods towards the tunnel. The Ruthless Sun has left, and they can see sunlight shining on their abandoned supplies.
The two girls must abandon much of their stolen food. Their clothes have been half-lost due to the heat and shipwreck, and so they lack for pockets. Some of it can be slid into bandeaus but most of it is too bulky, slippery or big. They really wish they had stolen bags from The Ruthless Sun too.
Azula and Katara exchange a furtive glance and hope for the best. Escaping the cavern will be harder than making it through the jungle; of that they are certain.
Princess Azula smirks as she shimmies through the tunnel, Katara not far behind. They both creep as quietly as they can past the camp, not stopping to restock – that would be too risky – and then start walking towards the blindingly white sunshine ahead.
"Ambush!" Azula snaps before it even begins. Katara has been on the other side of ambushes before, and they never end well.
Katara runs forward and rolls away from the orange fire flying at her face. Azula runs, tendrils of blue flame sweeping across the walls and burning the dust. The acrid smoke of Azula's attacks almost suffocates Katara, but she keeps herself together as her eyes adjust to the light and she sees twice as many Ruthless Sun as were sleeping here.
How many are onthis island?
Katara grabs water from the walls and impales one man grabbing at her with an ice blade. She then keeps running, not even worrying about if he died or not. Katara has avoided murdering a single person in her life, and she does not want to start now.
The cavern groans and rumbles. It begins to fall apart on top of the battle between two fourteen year olds and thirty buff soldiers.
A man three times her size manages to grab Azula when she is forced to dodge a falling rock. She burns him in a bright burst of blue and he releases her, groaning from the pain.
"That's her!" the loud woman shouts and more to herself, "This is like finding the Lake Laogai Monster! Get her!"
Azula's heart drops into her stomach.
She keeps running as the loud woman throws powerful blasts of fire in her direction. There is a reason this lady seems to be in charge of the operation; she is strong and she thinks quickly under pressure.
Azula slides under one man and he stumbles onto her face. She runs past him, burning two women brutally without a second thought. She runs out to the edge of the cavern and wobbles to a stop. Katara catches up with her, panting.
"Jump!" Katara shrieks with wide eyes.
"It's a long way down," Azula whispers.
"Into water! Jump!" Katara's eyebrow twitches.
Azula vehemently shakes her head. "No! I can kill them all myself. I was trained for situations like this."
Katara watches Azula begin to turn around before setting two hands on her back and shoving her off the side of a cliff. That was extremely satisfying, but Katara does not have much time to enjoy it before she must follow the princess.
The Ruthless Sun begins to climb down, but it will take them more time. Katara plunges beneath the water and swims out of their sight. The arrows hitting the surface are not something she wants to have flying at her head.
She sees Azula and finds her pinned against a bank. Katara grabs her by the arm and pulls her onto shore.
"Keep running!" Katara orders through her gasps.
Azula suddenly slaps her across the face, and then runs ahead of Katara as she rubs the agonizing mark in shock. Katara follows her in a complete panic.
They use the river as a marker as they march deeper and deeper into the unknown.
[X]
The girls have vanished and Akio is livid. Her men should have been able to take on those two little wenches.
Akio looks at her soldiers. They are too out of breath for a pursuit of two small teenage girls who can't be more than fourteen. She stands up on a crate and crosses her arms.
"We are going to capture those girls, if it is the last thing any of you do. I do not care if any of you die; this is worth more than your lives. The princess is obvious; the one true Fire Lord will pay top gold for a living waterbender. Kill the waterbender if you must; take the princess alive and mostly unharmed. Do I make myself clear?"
"It shouldn't be hard," says Deshi.
Akio frowns. "It shouldn't be hard? I think I saw you faceplant while chasing them. The princess is a highly trained soldier with blue freaking fire and we have no idea what a waterbender is capable of! I'm going to group you into small teams and you will spread out. This isn't a very big island, and we have enough decent men to cover it."
"And how exactly do we drag them kicking and screaming back here?" Ichiro demands.
That makes her roll her amber eyes.
"I will give you adequate supplies for taking prisoners. Let's get started before they get too far away," she bluntly orders.
[X]
Meanwhile, Azula and Katara stop, panting and falling onto their knees. They have made it out of the thick jungle, but it has left its marks all over their skin in cuts and bruises. Azula has been trained to the point of breaking bones and bleeding, and she has never run that fast before. Katara lies down with her face pressed against the dirt.
It is hotter than she had hoped.
"I cannot believe you pushed me off of that cliff," Azula snarls. "You will pay for that, peasant. As soon as you aid me in escaping this island, you will pay for that."
Katara groans. "Fine, whatever. I accept my divine punishment, your worship."
Azula rolls her eyes and rubs at the worst of her cuts.
"Look at those ruins," Azula says as soon as she acclimates herself to her surroundings. "We could hide in there easily."
Katara sits up and nods, rubbing the filth from her face and bending the sweat off of herself. She does not offer to help Azula with the same thing, and Azula does not ask.
They stand up and force themselves to walk into the tall but crumbling walls that must have once been a city.
Once they get deeper inside, Katara realizes the walls are closing in.
"What is this?" Katara demands, looking around the ruins. They are in much too deep. This is not good, this is not good, this is not good.
"A labyrinth, probably," Azula airily says with a careless shrug.
"A what?" Angrily, Katara cocks an eyebrow.
"It's a maze that—"
"I know what a labyrinth is. I was asking why there is a labyrinthon this island. How do you know this is one anyway?"
"Firstly, I have no idea why there's one on this island. Secondly, I read the word labyrinth written on the stone a few minutes ago."
"Wait – you can read these ancient squiggles?"
"They are Fire Nation language, so, yes. I had to learn it before the Civil War broke out. I think this is one of those Dragon Temples. They had these tests of worthiness where people had to carry fire through a maze of sorts in order to get to the place with the… dragon stuff, I guess."
Katara cannot believe this. "The… dragon stuff, you guess?"
"I don't honestly know what would be in a Dragon Temple."
"Maybe dragons," Katara suggests.
"Yes, that is a possibility. There might be treasure."
"That would could steal?"
Azula glares. "No. I would never deface a Dragon Temple. That's abhorrent."
"You are a murderer and shallow and cruel and kidnapped me and—"
"And even shallow cruel murderers who kidnap whiny water peasants have their limits. I will not raid a Dragon Temple."
Katara touches her necklace. Raid was a poor choice of words on Azula's part, not that the princess has any clue.
"Is that some sort of cultural thing?" Azula inquires, trying to start conversation. She will lose her mind if she does not have something to focus on other than the island.
Katara faintly frowns. "No. Maybe. Well, to the Northern Tribe, but it was my mother's."
"I was about to ask about the difference between the Northern and Southern Tribes was, but then I remembered that I don't care." Pause. "Oh, wait, the difference is that the Southern Tribe is pathetic and I thought they were as extinct as the Sun Warriors."
Katara contemplates words for a fleeting second before tackling Azula to the ground on a whim. She quickly recoils in order to avoid getting her face burnt off by Azula's flying fist.
"What was that?" Azula shrieks.
"How would you feel if the Water Tribes killed people you loved?" Katara's eyes glisten from her tears.
Azula shrugs. "I don't love anyone, so I cannot possibly imagine."
"You'd be pretty angry if they took your mother from you like the Fire Nation did to me."
"I would be pretty unfazed by that. You forget that half of my family and countrymen are trying to kill me on a regular basis for no fault of my own."
Katara snarls, "You are even worse of a person than I thought you were, which I didn't think was possible."
"Well, that's you underestimating the sheer wickedness of my ethnicity yet again. Now, do you want to find your way out of this place or not? Because I think you also underestimate the magnitude of the Ruthless Sun's desire to disembowel us both," Azula purrs with a smug smirk.
Katara stands up and brushes herself off, while Azula momentarily lingers.
"Let's keep going," Katara says, blinking back her tears and resuming her march.
The stone walls progressively get taller as the girls walk, and they reach the first fork in the maze after nearly ten minutes of silence.
"Well, any hints, princess?" Katara asks, glancing around for any writing or clues. Nothing evident shows up.
"We go left," Azula orders.
"Why?"
"Because I said so."
Katara shakes her head, but she follows Azula. "Are there any fun facts about the Sun Warriors that could help us out in this situation?"
"Well, they probably wanted people to be able to get to the center somehow." Azula stops walking. "They probably had a way for the sages to get in."
Katara grunts. "We're already in the maze. That's no help."
"This place is half-rubble. We could try to cut through. We got through that little tunnel in the cave. There are gaps in the walls," Azula says, glancing around at the walls.
Katara rubs her chin and decides, "That is a decent idea. I should have known you would suggest a way to cheat."
"Cheating tends to be the best way to win." Azula smirks.
Katara rolls her eyes and starts scanning for a gap. Azula finds one first, and the two girls quickly enter it and come out on the other side. They walk for a few feet over the lush grass, and find a broken statue. It looks older than time itself.
Azula kneels to examine it. She burns the grass that had grown over it, and reveals markings. It takes her some time to decipher them and she sits back once she does.
"What does it say?" Katara asks.
"Nothing useful. We should keep cutting through." She is not quite lying.
They make it through four more walls before they reach a standstill. This barrier is eerily intact.
"I think we should set up camp. They might have lost track of us in the maze. I'm way too tired to think about a way through this one," Katara suggests and Azula considers hitting her with lightning; no one gives Azula orders.
"Do you understand that I am a princess?" Azula asks coolly, staring at Katara like she is a sea slug.
"Yes," Katara says coldly as she sits down on rubble. She does not know if she can handle another day with this girl.
"Then stop ordering me around. I have the divine right to rule, and I am therefore our leader. I will manage to escape this island, and if you behave properly, I will take you with me."
"Well, you don't lack for confidence," Katara mutters as she rolls her eyes at the moon.
Azula sits down and decides not to make a fire. It would draw too much attention, and the night is warm.
Conversation, conversation. "Where did you learn to waterbend? My grandfather said he made you people extinct."
"Not the North Pole. We had Master Pakku helping us with the rebellion. I had to… coerce him to teach me, but he did. I learned to fight, but…" Katara frowns.
"What?"
"I never learned to properly heal." Katara regrets it so much now that she is in this situation.
"Why not?"
"I don't know. I just didn't. I was the only waterbender who needed training, and we did have healers from the North Pole, but none of them wanted to teach me. They thought it was bad that I wanted to learn to fight like the boys and never taught me."
"Hmm. You savages really are pathetic. In the Fire Nation, we have long moved past sexism. That's why we won." Azula crosses her arms with a self-satisfied glint in her gilded eyes.
"And your technology and other stuff that you only had because Sozin invaded everywhere. We had to learn to survive while you people became so cultured, or however you put it. I think I'm more cultured than you, and your cruelty and immature obsessions with yourself. I value life. Every life."
Azula scoffs. "Now, that's no way to win a war. People die."
Katara plucks a blade of grass and begins to pick it apart with her fingers. "They do, but I wish I could save them all."
"That's reckless and insane," Azula curtly says.
Silence.
Katara decides to ask the question that has been burning inside of her for hours. "So, why did the Ruthless Sun compare you to a mythical creature?"
"Oh, my power is legendary," Azula purrs.
Katara glowers. "Give me a straight answer."
"I don't have one. Perhaps I am just difficult to catch."
"I'll humor your lie about them working for your cousin. Why does he want you so badly?"
"Reasons. I don't know."
They are in silence after that.
Azula is difficult to read; Katara gives her a slight benefit of the doubt. But that does not stop her from glancing around at the maze nervously.
She has a very bad feeling about this.