Disclaimer: All rights belong to Nickelodeon, Bryan Konietzko, Michael Dante DiMartino, and all the men and women that created the A:TLA show, books, and comics. I take no credit, and I do not mean to break any copyright rules. This is simply a work of fiction made for enjoyment. No money is being made. The lyrics are from the song "Dog Days" by Florence and the Machine
Rating: General Audiences. Warning: some scenes contain dark themes and minor violence
Chapter 5 - The Village
Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father
Run for your children, for your sisters and brothers
Leave all your love and your longing behind
You can't carry it with you if you want to survive
"Your Highness, we can see something ahead!"
The captain turns, a pair of binoculars in hand. Zuko takes long strides to cover the distance between them and snatches the device out of his hand.
"Where?"
"Over on the left."
Zuko follows the man's finger and zooms in as far as he can. In the blue and white horizon, something gray is sticking out of place.
"Set course for it. I need to see it closer."
Zuko doesn't take his eyes off the strange object. When the ship adjusts its course, he moves with it. As they get closer, the smudge in the otherwise pristine expanse begins to solidify.
"What is it?" Iroh asks, coming to stand at Zuko's shoulder.
"I think it's a ship," he says. "A Fire Nation ship."
"We are close to where the Water Tribe villages used to be, then." Iroh glance around, then lowers his voice. "Our guest may not like what we find. You must be gentle with her."
"She's not a scared little girl."
"Precisely. She is very powerful. If there isn't much left of her village, we must be careful in how we handle the situation."
"I can handle it just fine."
They pass the object close enough that everyone can see the old Fire Nation ship half buried in the snow. A tattered flame-embroidered flag hangs stiffly on the bent main mast, frozen in place.
"Look at the design of that ship," a crewman remarks. "It has to be a hundred years old."
"It's from when my great grandfather destroyed the water tribes in an effort to kill the Avatar." Zuko hands the captain back the binoculars. "Keep an eye out for any sight of civilization, past or present. We're getting close."
He turns to his uncle. "Go find Katara. She'll want to be on the first boat to shore."
"Is that really a good idea? We have no idea what we're going to find."
"If there are still Water Nation people living here, having one of their own with us will keep them from killing us on the spot."
Iroh nods and departs. Zuko keeps his eyes on the lookout. He really hopes they find the village soon; his eyes hurt from seeing nothing but white.
Katara bursts onto the deck and runs to his side. "Did you find something?" she asks, breathless.
"Not yet, but we're not far."
She eagerly joins the crewmen on watch, pacing back and forth on the deck, her wide blue eyes open for any sign of her people. Zuko wonders how she can be so excited to find people that she can't even remember. What if her life was horrible? What if she's getting hyped up only to be disappointed?
Not every family is as messed up as yours, he reminds himself. The thought just makes him bitter so he pushes it from his mind.
After an hour with no results, Zuko is getting impatient. He can tell Katara is, too, so he walks over to her.
"Want to practice while we're waiting?" he asks. She seems instantly relieved.
"Please. I need to do something with all my pent-up energy."
They start with warm-ups, slowly stretching and practicing forms without summoning their elements. When their muscles are loosened up, they face each.
Like yesterday, they start slow and calmly, focusing on their movement and aim. As the minutes go by, they start moving faster and paying more attention to the intensity of their elements, relying on reflexes and muscle memory to continue the proper motions.
Unlike yesterday, they keep sparring long past the point where their muscles are aching and their arms shaking. The only alternative use of their time is to stare out at the frozen wasteland around them, which neither is eager to do.
Finally Zuko waves for them to stop. The sun is high in the sky, and the glare from the ice is burning his eyes too much, not to mention his stomach is rumbling uncomfortably.
Katara splashes her water on her sweating face. Then she wipes her forehead off with the back of her hand. "It's so hot," she complains. Zuko can't agree with her on that point. In his opinion, it's freezing, even with his muscles warmed up from exercise.
Iroh brings them out a bowl of rice and fish each. They sit down on the deck and eat without speaking. When Katara is finished, she puts her bowl down next to her.
"What if my family is worried about me?" she asks. "I've been gone at least three days. What if they think I'm dead?"
"Three days isn't very long. Not for a powerful Bender."
"But I don't think I've ever been away from home that long before. Except once, when I spent the summer in the North Pole. I remembered that last night. But I think that's the only time."
Zuko wonders what it's like to be worried about your parents missing you. His father certainly doesn't miss him, and if his sister misses him, it's only because she has no one to torture and make fun of. His mother left him.
He doesn't say anything. He has nothing to say. Their lives are completely different.
"Do you miss your parents?" she asks suddenly, taking him completely off guard. He knows she has no idea what he's suffered, not a clue about his past, but the question still cuts him deep.
"None of your business," he says gruffly.
She seems a little disappointed but doesn't push. Instead she picks up her bowl and stands. "I'll be back in a few minutes. If you find something, let me know immediately."
Zuko returns to pacing back and forth across the deck. He grows impatient after a minute and grabs the shoulder of a crewman. "You see see anything yet?" he demands.
The man shakes his head. "No, sir." Zuko releases him and stalks away, but before he takes three steps the man suddenly calls out, "Wait! I think I found something!"
Zuko whirls around. "What?" He grabs the binoculars and peers into the distance.
"You see that white curve? That's no iceberg. I think it's a wall."
"A wall?"
"Yeah, a wall. Made out of ice. It probably surrounds a village."
"Then we're going there. As fast as we can."
Katara emerges on deck a minute later. Zuko walks up to her. "Did your villages have walls of ice around them?"
She frowns and thinks silently for a moment. "I can't remember exactly, but it sounds right."
"Then we may have found your village."
Her blue eyes widen. She sprints to the railing of the ship and leans out, scouring the horizon. "Yes! I remember now! That's the wall around my village!"
"We should be there in a few minutes. Do you have all your belongings?"
She nods.
"Good. A few of my men and I will accompany you down. Your people won't react kindly to our presence."
She nods. "I'll speak for you."
Zuko waves at a couple of crewmen. "Prepare the boats. I want four men with me."
The crewmen run off to follow his orders. He turns back to the approaching ice village, praying to all the spirits that he can find something, anything, to lead him to the Avatar. This is his only hope.
Katara can hardly contain her excitement as she sits in the boat with Zuko and the other Fire Nation men. It's true that her memories are coming back slowly and that she still has many to recover, but she's sure everything will come back quicker once she's surrounded by her family.
She doesn't remember any details about her parents, but she remembers a feeling of happiness and home. It's enough to give her the confidence she needs to walk right up to the village and announce that she's back.
She starts getting a bad feeling deep down as they get closer to shore. The wall doesn't look as impenetrable as it did from a distance. No smoke rises from behind the walls. Deep scores and cracks in the ice become apparent.
They disembark in front of a huge gate of ice. It's half open - a sign of either welcomeness or abandonment. In light of the giant Fire Nation ship anchored not so far away, Katara begins losing hope.
She hadn't prepared herself for this. She had just assumed everyone would be here waiting for her. After all, she hadn't been asleep in the ice for that long. A couple days, maximum.
She uses her waterbending to open the gate fully. She picks up her pace as she walks up the slippery slope and through the entrance. She walks halfway through the main path into the village before she even realizes she is in the village.
What she sees makes her freeze. All the homes are half-buried underneath snow piles. There are animals skins and weapons half sticking out of the snow in no apparent order. The walls are scorched and melted from the inside, evidence left from a great fight.
She sees something pointy underneath the snow and digs it out to reveal a Fire Nation mask. And that's the moment the memories come back to her.
All the Elders in the village gather in the middle everyone to give some important announcement. Katara stands next to her parents, shivering not with cold but with excitement. What could be so important that everyone has to be present?
"What do you think it's going to be?" she asks her mother.
"I'm not sure, dear," her mother replies. "But whatever it is, it's not an excuse for getting out of your Waterbending lesson this afternoon."
"But Mooom," she complains. "I don't need more lessons. Master Pakku said I'm ready. There is no more he can teach me. I'm a master."
"Even masters can get out of practice." Her mother wraps an arm around her. "Besides, I think your teacher has an important task for you to complete today."
"Important how?"
"Our tribe is growing," her father says, joining the conversation. "We need more land. They need you to start expanding the walls."
Katara can't help herself from jumping a bit in joy. "Yes! Finally something useful! I want to help the tribe as much as I can!"
Her parents laugh. "How did we get so lucky to have such a special daughter?" her father asks.
Her mother smiles at him in return. "Probably because she has such a good father."
"I think you get the credit for being good."
Katara stops listening to their conversation and watches the people around them. Someone is missing. Someone she knows very well.
Before she finds the missing person, something strange happens. The snow, which was gently falling down on them, has turned dark. She catched a handful in her glove and looks at it suspiciously.
"Dad, what's wrong with the snow?"
The other villagers are also looking around with alarm. No one has ever seen anything like this before. At the front of the crowd, the Elders seem nervous.
"It's too late," she hears one of them say. "We're too late."
Too late for what? she wonders, but she doesn't have to wonder for very long. There's a loud cracking noise and suddenly the south ice wall splits apart, giving way to a giant metal ship.
The crowd starts babbling loudly.
"What is it?"
"Why is it here?"
"What's happening?"
And then one voice, loud over the others: "It's the Fire Nation!"
As soon as the words are spoken, a dozen Firebenders jump off the sides of the ship and start attacking. Everything disintegrates into chaos. Katara feels her mother grabbing her shoulders and pulling her away.
"No, Mom!" she protests. "I want to help! I can help fight!"
"No! You must escape, Katara!"
More Firebenders emerge from the ships. The people from her village try to fight them off, but they're hopelessly outnumbered and unprepared. Katara watches with horror as her father defeats one soldier, only to turn and immediately be hit with a whip of fire from another Bender. He falls into the snow and doesn't get up.
"Dad!" she screams, lunging out of her mother's grip. She summons water and sends the Firebender flying backwards into the icy wall.
"Katara!" she hears her mother scream.
She turns to see a man holding her mother, a knife against her throat.
"No!" She runs but she isn't fast enough. All around her, her people are being burned and chased. The air is full of screams and the roar of fire.
She feels someone grab her arm. "We have to go, Katara! We have to escape!"
She doesn't see who this person is, but she knows she can trust him. She stumbles away from the scene of the massacre, shock numbing her to the pain all around her.
Katara falls to her knees on the snow. She had been so eager to get her memories back and now she would do anything to forget again. The pain that she hadn't felt that day comes rushing through her body. Her chest aches as if she's been literally stabbed.
Her mother, her father, her friends, her entire tribe - all gone. And she'd had no choice but to run away, leaving them all for dead.
She tries to breathe past the pain in chest but the breath gets stuck in her throat. She can feel herself hyperventilating, her fingers clenching the snow on the same ground that her parents had died on.
"Katara? Is this your village? Do you recognize anything?" The footsteps get closer. "What's happening? Are you alright?"
The voice is what sends her over the edge. Suddenly the pain is gone, replaced by a boiling anger that makes her entire body sing with energy.
"You." She doesn't recognize the voice that comes from her own mouth. "You did this! You and your people!"
She whirls around and slams Zuko with a dozen gallons of water. He goes flying into a cluster of buildings. The other men who'd accompanied him instantly jump into defensive positions, but they don't stand a chance against her rage.
"The Fire Nation killed everyone I love!" she screams. Ice shards flying out from her fingers and sink into their target. She backhands another crewmember with a stream of water. Pins a third to the wall with an ice spear that just barely misses his skin. Throws the fourth one into the air.
"Katara! Calm down!"
Zuko is back, his hands slightly raised. She attacks him, this time without any restraint. She can feel her powers amplified three-fold. They'd been equally matched when they sparred together on the ship, but now she has the advantage. And she lays waste to him, pulling out all the stops. She only stops when he hits the ground and doesn't get back up again.
It's not enough. She wants a real fight. She wants to lose her mind to her rage and take out an entire battalion of Fire Nation soldiers. She wants to kill the ones who killed her mother, her father. She wants to quench their fire forever.
But there's no one else left to fight. And the ones she's really mad at, well, they're long gone. Her rage fades as quickly as it had appeared as she falls to her knees once again.
What does she do now? What can she do?
She has no family, no friends, no people. She has no one to be with and nowhere to go. She might as well have just stayed sleeping in the ice.
She hears the crunch of footsteps in the snow behind her. She turns slowly, not even bothering to wipe the stream of tears off her face. Iroh stands behind her, a blanket in one hand and a flask in his other.
"I think you should not stay here," he says calmly. "Nothing good comes from chasing ghosts."
He wraps the blanket around her shoulders and hands her the warm flask before helping her to her feet. "Come, now."
"Why are you helping me?" she asks, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "I attacked your men. I hurt your nephew."
"You have suffered much today already," Iroh says, putting a gentle hand on her back. "The cycle of suffering only ends with kindness."
She can't stop the next sob that builds up in her chest and bursts its way out of her throat. She doesn't look back as the old general escorts her away from the ruins of her past.