Katara felt strong hands flipping her to her front. Is this real?
She thought she heard a sharp intake of breath. Or maybe it was only the wind.
Arms went under her back and then her head was pillowed on something soft. What could that be?
She struggled to open her eyelids, squinting into the night. Everything looked out of focus. A face swam through her field of vision.
It was Zuko's face. He looked alarmed.
Now she knew she must truly be delirious.
"you. it would be you" She croaked, raising a limp hand in the general direction of his face.
"What are you talking about? What are you doing out here? Where are your friends?" Zuko pelted her with questions but she only smiled dreamily, closing her eyes again.
"not the worst way to go…" she muttered, passing out.
"Katara!" He shouted, holding her head in his lap.
He shook her shoulders vigorously, but she didn't stir. Her lips were dry and cracked, her skin was dusty, and she was burning up. It was obvious she had been wandering the desert for some time. But she was still breathing, faintly.
No, no no no no no no. Zuko's heart hammered in his chest. He fumbled with the bag on his back, swinging it beside him and pulling out a full waterskin.
He propped her up against him and tipped it to her lips, making sure it went into her mouth. For a moment, nothing happened and Zuko feared he was too late.
Then, she sputtered, her eyes cracking open a fraction as the violent motion wrested her from her stupor.
"more" she mouthed, her voice barely a whisper.
Zuko carefully fed her water, as much as she could take at a time, until she fell unconscious again in his lap.
O – O – O – O – O – O
Zuko paced the room anxiously. It had been almost twelve hours since he found her, and she hadn't woken up once. A glass of water sat untouched at her bedside.
The old man, Fung, joined Zuko in the room, looking at the patient and clicking his tongue thoughtfully.
"What are you doing? You're just standing around. Do something. I thought you said she was going to recover from this. She hasn't woken up all day."
"Patience, patience, young man." Fung put a hand to her forehead, then gently checked her pulse.
"Now isn't the time for patience!" Zuko threw a hand up in frustration. "Look at her."
"I am looking at her." Fung smiled serenely, further annoying Zuko. "I said she would recover, and she will. She has the desert sickness. But you brought her to me in time."
"What do you mean, 'desert sickness'? Speak plainly, old man."
"A mix of dehydration and heat exhaustion. Happens to anyone who is out in the desert for too long, except the sandbenders of course."
"You're supposed to fix it. So fix it."
Fung gave Zuko an indulgent look. "She needs rest."
"And water. You said she's dehydrated. She hasn't had any water."
"Very well. Let's see what we can do." Fung brought Katara to a sitting position, propping his arm behind her back to hold her upright. He reached for the water but Zuko got to it first.
"I'll do it."
"As you wish."
Katara groaned, stirring just enough to drink the water as Zuko tipped the glass to her lips. She drank half the cup before becoming unresponsive.
"That's not enough. She needs more." Zuko said.
"It's enough, for now. Come, help me lay her back down." Fung began to swiftly tilt Katara backward.
Zuko intervened, putting his hands on her back to stop Fung. "Watch it! You're going too fast. She's sick." Zuko lowered her himself, much more slowly. With a frown of worry, he brushed the hair from her face.
"She must mean a lot to you."
"What? I—I barely know her."
"It is obvious you care about her."
Zuko glared at him. "How long until she's better?"
"A few days, maybe." Fung placed a reassuring hand on Zuko's shoulder, squeezing. "She will be all right."
"She better be. Or I'll rain misery on this little backwater town of yours," he grumbled.
Fung only smiled and left the room.
O – O – O – O – O – O
The next morning, Katara shifted and tossed in the bed, groaning.
"mom?"
Zuko jolted awake. Sometime in the night, he must have drifted off sitting upright on the small stool at her bedside.
"Katara!" He grabbed her hand.
"i don't want seaweed noodles again"
Zuko's face fell. She wasn't really there.
He jumped up and yelled out of the door, "Hey! Fung! She's awake. Sort of. Get in here!"
He returned to her side. She was staring blankly at the ceiling, mumbling gibberish. He wanted to hold her hand again, but he hesitated, then withdrew. He scowled. I'm not cut out for this! What am I supposed to do? And where the hell is that old man?
"Fung!" He shouted again. Katara didn't even seem to hear him.
"I am here." The old man said, entering the room with a bowl of something bland and soupy-looking.
Zuko snatched the bowl from him. "About time. She's talking. That's good… right?"
"Yes, it is good. We'll see if she can eat." Fung propped her up again.
"wheeee" Katara smiled.
"She's delirious," Zuko said, almost accusingly.
"Get some of my soup into her. With enough water, rest, and this soup, she'll be in her right mind in no time."
"You said that before," he groused, bringing a spoon to Katara's mouth.
When she'd eaten enough of the mixture to satisfy Fung, they lowered her back to the bed.
"How do you know if it's working?" Zuko demanded. He wished there was more he could do. He felt so impotent, just sitting by her bedside while she could be dying for all he knew.
"aang, i knew you'd find me"
Zuko clenched his jaw. Aang didn't find her. He found her. The Avatar had just left her to die in the desert.
"I know it's working because she's not already dead." Fung answered simply.
"How reassuring."
O – O – O – O – O – O
In the quiet hours of the night, Zuko sat up, watching Katara sleep. He was afraid if he closed his eyes, he might wake up to find she'd simply stopped breathing while he slept, no matter what Fung said.
As he sat awake, he thought about the time she had healed his burned hand, even though he'd been keeping her prisoner and she owed him nothing.
He grimaced. And how had he repaid that kindness?
In all the time that had passed, he had thought about that night on his ship a lot. And the more he thought about it, the more he thought she couldn't possibly have wanted him, that he'd just been fooling himself. He knew who he was. He was just lucky to be born, after all. He wasn't meant to have good things. Or to capture the interest of a woman like her. And certainly not after the Agni Kai—his father had all but guaranteed that no woman would look twice at him… except maybe in shock.
He was convinced that what he'd done was reprehensible. And every time he'd run into her since, he felt ashamed of his actions, positive that she must hate him even more than ever, that she must be afraid he would try it again. He was determined not to make it worse for her.
But it was difficult. Even though they'd been on opposite sides, whenever he saw her, he felt a desperate flood of desire, as inexorable as the tide. He wanted to rush to her and crush her against him. He wanted her so much it blistered. He longed to taste her again, to feel her body pressed to his. He imagined how it would feel to draw out gasps of pleasure from her.
And the worst part was, it wasn't only a physical need. He also ached to joke around with her and hear her laugh, to play pai sho and Would You Rather, and to forget that he was the banished and disgraced prince of the Fire Nation and that she was a Water Tribe peasant who traveled with the Avatar.
That was why he couldn't trust himself around her. He'd been careful to keep her at arms' length, to be harsh and unpleasant, because the alternative was unacceptable.
The best thing now, he knew, would be for him to be long gone by the time she woke up—really woke up. But… he had to see with his own eyes that she was going to be okay.
I'll just leave right away once I know for sure that she's recovering. Then she won't have to… feel afraid or uncomfortable… because of me. And what I did.
O – O – O – O – O – O
A few days passed, much the same. Katara rested and woke only to drink water and eat small portions of soup before falling back into a fitful sleep. Whenever she did rouse, she spoke nonsense and didn't seem to realize where she was or who was with her.
Zuko continued to angrily bombard Fung for answers whenever he appeared.
O – O – O – O – O – O
Katara blinked blearily and sat up. She was in a strange room, very plain. There was a small window covered by a thin curtain, which blocked the sun from streaming into her eyes. Still, it seemed unbearably bright. She closed her eyes again and groaned, wishing the light would go away.
"Are you really awake this time?" came a quiet voice on her right.
Startled, her eyes flew open.
"What?" She looked to the voice. It was Zuko, sitting on a small stool next to her bedside, looking like he hadn't slept in days. He was wearing simple Earth Kingdom attire. "You!"
Wasn't that a dream…?
He gave her a rueful smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Yeah, me."
"How?" was all she could manage.
"I just happened to find you stumbling out of the desert half-dead almost a week ago."
"Wha—a week…?" Katara had trouble finding words. She felt leagues better than she could remember feeling since the library—but after collapsing in the desert for what she had been certain was the last time, it was a shock to wake up not dead and in the company of Zuko, of all people.
"There's a nice old man who nursed you back to health."
"Why are you here?"
Zuko flinched. "I hung around to make sure you weren't going to die—I felt like it was the least I could do. But now that you're awake and feeling better, it's time for me to be on my way. Goodbye, waterbender."
He stood up to leave.
"What?! Wait! You aren't seriously leaving now are you?"
"Yes. I have to meet my uncle in Ba Sing Se. I'm already late."
Before Katara could say another word, he swept from the room. She sat there speechless for a minute, wondering what in the world had just happened. That impossible fire prince! He'd rescued her from the desert, stayed by her bedside in her delirium, and then thought he could just vanish at the first sign of her coming-to? What the hell is he playing at?
Even through her annoyance with Zuko, another part of her was relieved to hear that Iroh had survived his encounter with Azula.
Already feeling her vigor returning, Katara rolled out of bed and made for the exit, bumping bodily into Fung as he came through the doorway.
"Whoa, whoa, where are you going missy?"
"I am going to have a TALK with a certain… boy," she finished lamely, realizing as she spoke that Zuko was a wanted fugitive and it probably wouldn't be a good idea to go around telling people he was a firebender.
"No you aren't." Fung said kindly. "You need to go back to bed and recover your strength. Come on now." He tried to steer her back to the bed.
"Thank you for everything, but I have to do this." Katara brushed past him, ignoring his protests as she went into the main living area of the home.
Zuko was nowhere in sight, so Katara jogged—she couldn't quite muster a full-on run, yet—to the front door. She could see his back receding in the distance; he was already at the end of the village!
Katara took off after him, puffing by the time she reached close enough to shout. And she was mad. "Hey! Asshole!"
Zuko turned sharply, eyebrow raising in surprise to see her trotting after him. "Excuse me?" He said mildly.
Katara had to stop to catch her breath. The dry desert air caught in her lungs, making her wheeze. "I… said… hey."
"Yes, that's not the part I took issue with." As Zuko spoke, she was surprised to see amusement, and not anger, flicker across his face.
"You said you're going to Ba Sing Se, right?"
"Yes," he said cautiously.
Katara took a deep breath. Should I really be doing this? "Me too. We should… go together."
Aang and the others clearly would have found her by now if they were in this desert town. That meant they must have moved on, either looking for Appa (she hoped they'd found him already), in which case she had no idea where they would be going; or they'd be off to Ba Sing Se, which was the original plan. They'd know that she would know they were headed there, and might be hoping to reconnect with her in the city. It was a long shot, but it was the only one she had right now. And she certainly didn't want to stay in this dusty village any longer than she had to. Even if Zuko cared nothing for her—which, considering the way he took off when she woke up, must be the case—traveling with him would be better than traveling alone. Two benders were better than one. She would just have to keep her impulses to herself.
Plus, since she had no idea where his allegiances lay anymore, traveling together would let her keep tabs on him. If he was still an enemy, then at least she'd know exactly what he was up to.
Or, that's what she told herself.
"I don't think that's a good idea." He said quietly, not meeting her eyes.
"Well, I think it's a great idea." She replied stubbornly. She tried not to feel embarrassed that he was probably uncomfortable around her because she'd basically jumped him the last time they were really alone together. "Come on, I don't want to go alone."
He smirked. "Yeah, well. I can see why. Look at the trouble you get into." He gestured to her, highlighting that she was still standing with her hands on her knees and trying to catch her breath after the short sprint to catch up to him.
She rolled her eyes. "I won't slow you down. I want to get there as fast as I can, too."
"Why, is your Avatar boyfriend there or something?"
"He is NOT my boyfriend." Katara's cheeks went pink.
"Either way, my answer is no."
"Then I'll just go on my own. Today. And I won't be far behind you! Maybe I'll even beat you there!" Katara's frustration was making her feel a bit lightheaded.
"You'd go alone, today, in the state you're in?"
"Yes." She said defiantly.
"That wouldn't be very smart."
"You're right. It would be smarter if I had someone to travel with."
Zuko gave her a searching look, then shrugged. "Hmph. Fine. I guess we can go together. Someone has to look after you."
Katara settled for glaring at him rather than rising to his taunt. She certainly didn't need anyone to "look after" her.
"But you'll need supplies. Unless you intend on going like that?" He looked at her pointedly.
Suddenly, she realized she'd run down the street in nothing but a thin sleeping shift, which she'd been clothed in while bedridden. Her sarashi wraps were still on underneath, though, so she didn't feel completely exposed. Still, her cheeks flushed a deeper red.
"I lost all of my supplies in the desert." She didn't feel like explaining to him that all of her stuff had been on Appa, who had been taken by sandbenders.
"Come on, let's go back and get you some. I want to be on the road by this afternoon."
Traveling with Zuko, she thought. Alone with Zuko. I can do this. We just need to get to Ba Sing Se. I can control myself. No problem. Just remember how much of a jerk he is and all the times he threw fire at you.
She noticed Zuko's golden eyes were still on her, as he studied her with one of his piercing gazes. Her stomach erupted in butterflies.
Uh oh.