Chapter Six: Contact
When Katara was a little girl, she lived among the rebels in the Earth Kingdom. It was only a year after the death of her mother that she and Sokka stowed away with their dad. He was protective of them—more than most fathers would be—because he loved his wife so dearly.
Katara saw things that no child should. She watched people bleed out, saw famine in front of her eyes, looked at burnt fields that once sprouted flowers, and learned to fight from a young age in order to protect her from the Fire Nation.
Four years before getting stranded with Azula, she met a girl a bit older than her. She carried a message to Hakoda and rode a furry beast larger than an ostrich-horse but, in the girl's words, not full-grown yet. Katara could not stop staring at the girl who must be about ten or eleven.
That night, the girl stayed, resting her back against her beast.
Katara crept across the camp to sit across from her.
"Hi. What's your name?" asked the young waterbender.
"I'm June," replied the messenger.
"You work for the rebellion?"
"No," sarcastically said June, "I'm a Fire Nation spy."
"Do you have family?"
June sighed. "You want my life story? It's short. My parents got slaughtered with everybody else in my town and I was saved by a passing rebel patrol that lost the battle against the occupying forces. The rebels raised me, but I've never liked playing by the rules so I screw up and get bullshit missions like this one."
Katara nodded. "Who's that?" she asked, pointing at the furry monster.
"This is Nyla. She's a shirshu and makes me the best messenger there ever was," June said proudly, as if the creatures feats were her own.
Katara smiled even if she did not like the girl's demeanor. She did not know that they would become unlikely colleagues over the years.
[X]
Six months ago, Azula stood across from a messenger. She brought news to Ba Sing Se, to Ozai, and stopped in the gardens to give water to her huge creature. Azula crept outside to stand across from her.
"Who are you?" asked Azula.
"Does it matter?"
"I am a princess and I asked you a question."
June rolled her eyes while her back was still turned to Azula, but she faced the girl anyway.
"I have a proposition for you. My friends in the military have been talking about following someone other than Ozai or Lu Ten. They want to follow you. Looking at you, I honestly don't see why they think that, but apparently you're a big deal. If you broke free and went rogue, you could rule the world, and I bet a lot of people would follow you."
Azula knew that, deep inside of her. Ever since her father told her how valuable she was to her cause, her dragon blood and her talented firebending…
She always could have broken free.
"I am loyal to my father. He has always been good to me," said Azula.
June replied, carelessly but with intensity in each word, "Well, a lotta people, even the ones from the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes, wanna see balance restored. If we had just one leader end the war as soon as possible, we could that."
"My answer will always be no. I love my father," said Azula. She meant it.
June shrugged. "If you ever want to take me and my friends up on that offer and be Fire Lord Azula, I'll be in Shanxira City."
She and her shirshu left Azula behind.
The princess shook those thoughts from her head. She would not fight against her beloved father. Yet, the idea kept coming back to her. Before bed she would see herself ascending to the throne, or fighting a final battle between three armies and hers prevailing.
But two weeks later her brother was banished. They never got along, but Azula saw opportunity and seized it.
"What do you want from this?" asked Zuko as she snuck out of the palace and latched her pack to an ostrich-horse.
"I want to restore balance, ZuZu," said Azula, knowing she could end the war long before Lu Ten and her father could. "Is that such a crime?"
[X]
In present day, in the city of Ba Sing Se, the home base of Fire Lord Ozai—or so he is called by his followers—two girls walk into the throne room of the palace. Years ago, they welded metal over the stone, tore the murals shreds, scrubbed all traces of the paint from the walls and replaced tapestries with the flag of Ozai's army.
Two girls walk into an audience with the man himself.
He does not greet them, even if they have known him for a very long time. They bow before his throne and he gives only one instruction.
"The Ruthless Sun reported finding my daughter running around on an island," he growls. "Bring her home at any cost. You're the only ones who know her well enough to do it."
They both accept the task.
[X]
Out at sea, "Katara," whispers Azula, kneeling on her bed in the darkness. "Katara, wake up. Katara, wake up. Katara."
Finally, the waterbender opens her cobalt eyes. "I'm exhausted. I just fought and rowed a boat and I've earned some sleep."
"We got picked up by the Ruthless Sun, not merchants," she whispers, shoving the flag into Katara's hands. She adjusts the messenger bag with the dragon eggs in it on her body. "Now lose the attitude, because I came very close to not bother with saving you. This is only an act of honor since you were integral in my escape from the island."
Katara mockingly murmurs, "By which you mean I saved your butt."
"By which I mean you followed instructions admirably," Azula hisses, standing as quietly as she can. "Now, we have to sneak to the lifeboat and get to the nearest port."
"I'm going to be stuck with you for the rest of my short life, aren't I?" Katara bitterly mutters as she collects herself and starts sneaking down the corridors with Azula.
"Probably," Azula breathes. "Now, we need to find the yellow egg before we escape."
"Azula," Katara hisses through her teeth, "the yellow egg is a lost cause. Let's get to the lifeboats together and get out of harm's way. Why do you even want it so much?"
Princess Azula hesitates when she hears that. "I have this strong feeling that I cannot abandon it, or these two. They were calling to me that day and they haven't stopped."
"Once you get back to your brother, you can hunt down the Ruthless Sun and get the yellow egg back. But we're not going to ever get home if we don't get onto a lifeboat now, before they find out we found out who we're with," Katara calmly, evenly whispers, and it reins Azula in.
"Fine," is the last word she utters until they creep down to the lifeboats.
Azula and Katara step into one and Azula severs it with her fire. The splash makes her cringe and Katara yelp. They might have been successful at getting off of the ship, but the Ruthless Sun probably heard that.
Katara begins to bend, getting them away from that ship as fast as she can.
[X]
As fortune would have it, the first port they reach is Shanxira City.
Katara guides Azula through the streets and finds the bar where June told her to leave a particular fake name for her. Azula smirks when she realizes that Katara has led her right where she wants to go.
Now, they both check in with their secret savior.
"My contact is here," Katara eagerly says, excitedly wringing her hands after she successfully leaves the code word. "I'm so glad fate brought us to the best possible place."
Azula crosses her arms after successfully leaving her own. "My contact lives here too. How will yours find us?"
"She just will," Katara chimes, shrugging. She has no reason to explain.
"Mine will too. I suppose it is a race then." Azula knows she will win now.
She has the edge in every kind of way.
[X]
"That cloud looks kinda like a giraffe-fox," Katara remarks, squinting up at the clouds as she lazily runs her fingertips through the cold ocean water. She sits on a little-used dock with Azula, waiting to be found. "What do you think?"
"I already told you that I am not playing this stupid game," snarls Azula, turning even further away from the waterbender. "I am simply waiting for my contact to arrest you."
Katara smiles. She does know that Azula does not want to play, and it is exactly why she will keep going until her contact gets here and arrests Azula.
"So, if that guy was your brother, did you ever have a boyfriend?"
"Did you?"
"I asked first."
"Which is why you answer first, to make me trust you enough to reply."
"Fine. No, I've never had a boyfriend but it hasn't stopped Hahn from hitting on me for two years. I'm not spoiled for choice with my group of rebels." Katara grimaces at the very thought. She never has found anyone desirable in her life, which probably has more to do with her array of choices than herself.
"I kind of had sort of a possible girlfriend."
"A kind of, sort of, possible girlfriend?"
"We never got far enough to become more than a… mutual crush that was semi-acted on?"
Katara loudly laughs this time. Azula, her face flushed, shoves Katara into the ocean. As Katara propels herself from her trap, lunging back at her companions, the voice of her contact ceases the altercation.
"You girls are a fun bunch," says June. Azula leaps to her feet. Katara grabs at Azula's wrist to stop her from escaping.
Azula snaps, shaking Katara away, "Oh, don't try to fight me. You can't run."
"No, you can't run!"
"No, you can't run!"
"No, you!"
"No, you!"
"I didn't know I'd end up babysitting toddlers. This is really funny because I'm assuming that you both think you were waiting for different people and now you're both gonna be so embarrassed."
The angry girls exchange a glance, both blushing. It does not take long to figure out that both of their contacts are the same person. Azula simmers with rage while Katara is merely dumbstruck.
"A rebel could not possibly trick me. What would you gain from putting me on the throne?"
"You're Ozai's greatest weapon. We took you away from him. What can I say? Don't you like the idea of beating your cousin and your daddy and becoming the ruler of the world?"
Azula scowls and turns away, pouting like a child.
"And you said…" Katara does not know if she should be mad or not.
June declares, "Let me take you back to my place here and you both can finish pouting while not in plain sight of the occupying forces."
Azula grabs the messenger bag with the two shiny rocks.
Katara does not get the obsession, especially at a time like this.
[X]
Azula steps inside of this apartment and wants to scream. "This place is disgusting. There is no way I am staying here, even for five minutes."
"Well, you can leave and get a ride on some ship back to your dad or wherever you wanna go," says June, shutting the door behind them. "I'm not kidnapping you, but I bet you wanna stick around for what I'm supposed to tell you guys."
"What are you supposed to tell us?" Katara asks, sitting down on a mat on the floor. Azula decides to remain standing.
"Let me get a drink, then we'll talk," says June, grabbing an open bottle and a dirty glass. Azula grimaces; Katara pays it no mind. "I don't think I was supposed to tell you both at the same time, but you both left your fake names and I don't care enough to try to mess around anymore."
"Start talking," Azula orders.
June rolls her eyes. That stiffens the firebender's posture.
"So, basically, there's going to be a devastating comet coming and it'll be catastrophic if we don't get a third or fourth party involved," bluntly says June. "The fight between the two sides in this Civil War is gonna burn down the whole world or something else dramatic like that."
It strikes Katara speechless. Azula sighs.
"Is this why you people wanted me to defect? I honestly think that adding my fire in two directions will just make things worse for you people." Azula leans against the wall. Her back hurts.
"I'm just the messenger. I figured you two would know what to do with the information." June downs her drink in one gulp. She pours herself another.
"I—" Katara gets cut off by the yelling outside.
Azula strides across the room and peers out of the dusty window. "Our friends seem to have followed us. I guess a lifeboat is not the pinnacle of stealth."
Katara jumps to her feet, confused or not.
"The Ruthless Sun can't have followed us. Why do they want us so much?" Katara exclaims, running to press herself against the window beside Azula.
"We escaped. They have pride issues." Azula sighs and takes a few steps back. She turns to June. "We should get out of here. I doubt things will be very pretty once they start turning the city upside down looking for me and Katara."
Katara spins around. "We can't abandon all of these people! If they really will go so far to get us, we can't just sneak out!"
"Why not?" Azula turns up her palms. "Better their fingernails and lives than mine."
Katara grabs the messenger bag with the fossilized dragon eggs. Azula lunges forward to grab it but Katara pivots away.
Azula lights her fists up bright blue. "I will hurt you for those. You cannot hold them over my head."
Katara shoves open the window with her elbow and holds the messenger bag outside.
"Oh, I'm not holding them over your head. I'm holding them over the street."
Azula steps forward again. Despite the lack of a tell, Katara loosens her grip on the bag and Azula stops her blow before she lands it. Slowly, the princess retreats, but the waterbender does not return the eggs to her.
Then, the roar of fire catches Katara off-guard. She drops them when she pulls away, stunned that half of the street just went up in flames. People screaming makes her panic. It sounds and looks much worse than the average pillaging.
Azula jumps out of the window after the bag. Katara wants to check on her, but the room starts filling with smoke. June throws the alcohol away from herself and it explodes, hissing and flaming up. Katara runs through the door, June close behind her, and tries to find a source of water to put out the flames. No such luck.
They race down to the street below. The chaos masks them; no one recognizes Katarra.
"Let's get out of here," June orders, grabbing Katara's arm.
"I should find Azula," Katara says.
"It's not your fault she jumped out of a window and she's a firebender. She'll be fine. We won't be," June says, tugging on her new ward. Katara has to admit her old colleague has a point.
They start running, fighting soldiers as they go.
[X]
Katara and June run along with the people wise and fast enough to escape Shanxira City. They reach the hills and Katara sits down. She will not abandon this town, but she will sit out on the panic and keep the smoke out of her lungs.
June keeps running and Katara loses track of her in the massive crowd.
Determined to go back for the people she doomed, Katara curls into herself and waits for the soldiers to extinguish the smoke.
[X]
I am not looking for Azula, Katara tells herself as she walks through the badly burnt streets and tries to find survivors, I am rescuing the people I doomed.
She helps a kid out from some fallen wood, but every other body she finds is dead, including the sparse few soldiers. They must have been the nonbenders.
Katara continues walking through the carnage, blinking back tears. She recognizes the disfigured building that held June's apartment. Katara does not see Azula outside of it, so she clambers up the stairs.
She sees the discarded, burnt messenger bag first. The eggs have been removed.
"I'm sorry that you have to put back the pieces of your—" Katara hears cats. No, maybe birds? She walks further inside and finds the princess in her underclothes, the outer ones scorched, curled up behind June's counter with two tiny… things moving in front of her.
Not things. "Those are dragons."
"I know," Azula replies, her voice dizzy. She appears to be in a dreamlike state, not a state of shock like Katara. "I saved them, remember?"
Katara stares at the scene in front of her, trying to figure out if this is real or if she passed out from smoke inhalation.
When Azula strokes the blue dragon and it makes a sound unlike anything the waterbender have ever seen before, Katara chokes on her own saliva.
She dares to touch the red one and it presses its scaly head against her hand. The way it looks at her gives her chills, then, as she gazes into its ruby eyes, she feels the strong compulsion to pick it up in her arms.
Katara knows the creature cradled in her arms is half of a powerful spark, but she does not know what the birth of two dragons will ignite.