Chapter Four: Rain
The island is hot, but when it rains, it might as well be the South Pole
Unsurprisingly, Azula takes the freezing cold far worse than Katara does. As she sits inside of the Dragon Temple, drenched in the rain, she shakes like a leaf in autumn. Katara watches Azula tremble and hears her teeth chatter as she curls up in a ball on the stone floor and tries to rest. She attempted a shield from the raindrops, but she became too tired to keep it up.
The ceiling does not protect them in the slightest. It barely blocks the downpour.
"Do you want what's left of my coat?" offers Katara. Azula looks like she might die before the storm ends.
"You had a coat?" Azula asks, her words distorted by her chattering teeth.
"Yeah. It's… this strip of my clothes." Katara holds up a chunk of blue fabric with a grimace.
Azula eyes it with disdain for a moment before shaking her head. "No. I am completely f-f-fine and have n-n-o need of your assistance."
Katara cocks an eyebrow.
"I have never seen someone shake as hard as you're shaking right now in my life, and I once saw my friend lose her parka in a snowstorm," she remarks. She glances at the ceiling and has to blink the rain out of her cobalt eyes.
"I said I was fine, peasant!" Azula snaps, recoiling into herself. It does not help.
"Stay positive. At least we don't have to worry about dying of thirst," she says, gesturing loosely at the stone bowls they left out. "And if the Ruthless Sun soldiers are as pathetic when it comes to cold water as you are, we'll probably live through the night."
Even though Azula's trembling is extremely funny, Katara does have to admit that her military training still shows. Princess Azula may come from a background of wealth and frivolity, but Katara is grateful for her help. She could do without her talking and her personality, but if Katara wound up fighting those soldiers on her own, she would be chained up and abused and sold as a novelty or science experiment.
Both girls are competent at survival, but the rain has punched them in the gut.
They meet eyes for a moment and clearly see that they need each other to escape.
"It's probably warmer underground," Azula suggests, nodding at the lower level of the temple. "We obviously need to sleep in this temple since we're not getting anywhere in this weather."
"I told you that I'm not going in there," Katara says. This temple is the creepiest place she has been in her life, and she would rather brave the cold for a few more hours than face those depths.
"Why?" demands Azula. "I would go alone, but I don't like what happened last time."
"Because it seems stupid!" Katara snaps. She feels sick about her fear, but she also has faced far too much in the past three days. "We don't know what's down there!"
"Up here is hypothermia and potential d-d-drowning." Azula looks at her cold and soaking hand. She stands up. "I am going down there. Screw this."
Katara exhales softly. She knows her reluctance stems purely from stubbornness at this point.
"Why don't you just build a fire, Miss Firebender," Katara says, curling up tighter.
"Because it is soaking wet in here and I am…" Azula blushes through her pallor.
"Too cold to bend? You're too cold to bend, aren't you?" Katara snorts and coughs.
"I am dying of hypothermia." Azula looks at her numb fingers. "I am sorry that I am completely unable to control my body temperature or build a fire right now. Rain is hot where I am from."
Katara has never heard of hot rain, but she has never been to the Fire Nation either.
"I'm already babysitting this shiny fossil for you," she protests, gesturing at the red stone halfway submerged in the puddles. "I think it's creepy and you found it down there."
Azula sighs and sets her hand on the blue egg cradled on her lap. "Now I'm thinking about how much we need to get that egg back from the Ruthless Sun…"
"Not a priority," Katara says, groaning.
"Yes, a priority!" Azula shouts over the downpour. "I am not leaving this island without it."
"Well, I am! It's a rock!" Katara sits straight up and glares.
Azula sighs. They both fall silent for some time.
Finally, the princess makes a move. "If you go down into those chambers with me I will tell you my relationship with the Ruthless Sun."
"Your promises are cheaper than dirt," Katara says. "Cheaper than wet dirt."
"Mud? You could have just said mud."
"Shut up!"
Silence, again.
Azula breaks it, again. "That boy who captured you with me was my brother."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Katara demands.
"I am being honest about something to prove that – ugh, I'm going alone!" Azula stands up and narrowly avoids slipping on the soaked floor. She walks to the stairs and Katara remembers her situation earlier today.
She sighs and follows the princess.
[X]
They pass the main chamber; the skylight had soaked it. Delving deeper makes Katara uncomfortable, but she can feel the warmth and her hair is already beginning to dry. They find a small room and slip inside. It is creepy, but it is dry.
"What was this room used for?" Katara asks, glancing around.
"I have no idea. I am educated, not all-knowing," Azula says, sitting down against the wall. She still trembles and the warmth stings her skin, but she knows it will pass quickly, unlike the storm above. "Let me warm up and I will tell you everything."
"Tell me now," Katara insists.
Katara stares until Azula meets her gaze.
"You want my answer? Fine." Azula sighs. She does not know why it matters anymore. "I'm… I am… I'm wanted by the Fire Nation. Not just my cousin's side. My father too. There are three factions in this world, and there is a price on my head in all of them."
She does not usually tell the truth like that, and it makes her skin crawl. She does not want to admit any weakness to this water peasant, but she also knows it is wiser to gain Katara's trust than to enrage her further. Steps towards a temporary partnership work in her favor, dislikable as Katara may be.
"What did you do?" Katara inquires, her eyes wide.
"I ran away." That statement is a lie, but Azula has no need to explain the circumstances around her exodus from her father's empire.
"I won't ask why. I don't need to know. I guess both sides of the Civil War want you bad enough that you're scared?"
"I am not scared."
"Then why are we hiding?" Katara asks, slowly shaking her head.
"This conversation is pointless. I am going to try to sleep until this horrible rain ends."
Katara watches Azula cross the room and curl up.
Maybe she sleeps. Maybe she doesn't.
Why should Katara care?
[X]
Azula wakes up with her cheek stuck to the floor. She sits up and rubs the back of her neck.
"Katara, Katara, wake up," she hisses, poking the waterbender. Katara does not budge. Azula pokes her again. Again, harder this time. Harder the next time. She pauses, heats her finger, and stabs it nail first into Katara's neck.
Katara wakes up screaming, trashing her hand around. It would make contact with Azula's face if the princess did not pull off a narrow dodge.
"Why did you do that?" Katara demands, glaring.
"You wouldn't wake up," Azula says, standing up and massaging her wrists. That was the worst night of sleep she has ever suffered. "We have to leave this place. The Ruthless Sun knows we're here. I think we should find somewhere to hide and plan our attack."
"Our attack?" Katara asks, now on her feet.
Azula grabs the blue egg. "Yes. We are going to use their resources to escape, but we need to take them down methodically. I believe we are more than capable."
"If it gets us off this island, I'm in," Katara says. She sighs before taking the red fossil. Why did she agree to this?
They walk up into the temple and run towards the shore.
The forest puts up no resistance, and they make it to the beach before they even run out of breath. They pace around until they find the perfect hiding spot – an alcove that can easily be camouflaged.
Dunes stand nearby and rocks on the other side of the strip of sand.
Perfect.
[X]
In the early afternoon, Azula lounges in the sun as Katara climbs a series of trees.
Katara glares down at the most unhelpful person she has ever met in her life. Azula suns herself while Katara sweats half to death.
"Oh, those ones look good! Get those ones instead!" Azula calls up.
"If you give me one more order…!" Katara exclaims before dropping down her final branch.
As she returns to the ground, Katara catches her breath and says, "So, now to figure out how to fight the Ruthless Sun. I think we can do it. If we find food and…"
"Before we take them down, we need to scout them out. We need to know how many there are, where their ship is, where their supplies are and anything else I think of once I've eaten." Azula glances around the beach. "You're Water Tribe. Can you catch fish?"
"I can catch fish. I'm great at catching fish." Katara almost groans when she realizes how much she sounds like Sokka right now. She realizes he probably thinks she is dead or captive in the Fire Nation, and she does not know which is worse.
"Go catch fish then. I'll be here setting up this ridiculous shelter and figuring out our plan to raid the Ruthless Sun."
"Yes. I would love to see you do something, because all you seem to do is run your mouth."
Katara storms off.
Azula sighs and starts gathering the palm leaves.
[X]
Katara walks along the beach, wishing she actually knew how to do this. The solitude feels nice, but the pressure to figure out fishing feels dreadful.
She seeks clams first, because they can't move. After a long walk, she finds three and her heart skips a beat. Yes! Katara would do anything to eat. She holds up the sharp rock she gathered earlier and hopes this works; she has only seen other people do it before. She struggles for some time before she opens one of the three clams and smiles. Katara starts to cut out the meat before her finger touches it and she drops the rock.
These are better cooked. These are definitely less gross cooked.
She tries to close the shell and grimaces. Oops.
All she can do is juggle her catches until she gets back to where Azula has… kind of made a shelter. Katara is impressed that the prissy princess did anything at all.
"What is that?" Azula demands, gazing at the goo.
"Fish. It's edible." Probably. "You start a discreet fire—"
Azula crosses her arms. "A discreet fire, you say? I was planning on making a bonfire."
"Please, stop that for five minutes," Katara snaps as her eyes flash.
"Did you catch any real fish?" Azula asks, sitting down beneath the shade of the branches Katara harvested singlehandedly.
"This is real fish." Katara sighs at Azula's expression. "I'm so hungry right now. At least start the fire so I can cook for both of us, which is really nice of me, you should remember. I could let you starve or get sold by the Ruthless Sun, but I'm helping you live."
"If you want to be my servant, you can be my servant, by all means." Azula sparks the fire in the tiny pit she made while Katara was hunting for gooey rocks.
Katara is proud of herself for tolerating that comment. She should win a medal for breathing the same air as this girl.
"Do you know how to sew?" Azula asks as she sits down under the camouflaged cover. Katara looks up at her and exasperatedly rolls her eyes. "Do you? Because I think the current state of our clothing might be a hindrance at this point. I am trying to focus on our defeat of the Ruthless Sun at the moment."
Katara does examine the tattered blue cloth awkwardly stretched on her tan skin. Azula seems just as bad, if not worse.
"Icansew," Katara mutters in one breath.
[X]
That night, Katara notices how Azula sleeps with that blue rock under her arm. It is by far the oddest thing about the princess, and it makes Katara looks at her own red one in a different light. Maybe it does have more importance than she thinks. She sits up and pulls it closer to herself, but doesn't hold it like a kid holds a stuffed animal. She is not that far gone.
She does not think she will sleep; she does not know if this hiding place is a decent one, or if she will even wake in the morning, but she does pass out from sheer exhaustion.
Tomorrow might be a better day.
[X]
Katara wakes to see Azula setting her precious dragon egg into the small fire pit, and lighting it. She wonders if she still is dreaming. She had nightmares about dragons again and Azula's madness regarding the fossils is weird, to say the least.
"What're you doing?" Katara asks as she sits up and rubs her eye.
"Trying something," Azula slowly replies. Katara notices that she wears her newly modified clothes. They fit nicely; Katara admires her own handiwork for a moment.
"Are you trying to hatch a fossil?" Katara inquires and she takes Azula's silence as a yes. "Oh. Is it normal for Fire Nation people to be so into dragons?"
"No," Azula lies. Then she sighs. "Maybe. Do you not feel something odd about these?"
"I feel a rock," Katara replies. Azula shrugs and continues watching her fire. "So, any thoughts about the Ruthless Sun?"
"None yet," Azula says without looking up.
Katara yawns. The sun hurts her eyes. "How long have you been awake?"
"Sunrise," Azula flatly replies.
"Have you gotten anything useful done?"
"I found their camp," Azula casually says.
Katara's lips part at the mention of the Ruthless Sun. "You found their camp?"
"Not a permanent one. Not one for more than four soldiers, I would say," Azula explains, still not lifting her eyes from the fire. "But it's something."
"Take me to it," Katara says.
Azula, for once, does not object to an order.