Ikuro smiles at her when she sits down to watch his Pai Sho game. Kazuo is losing against him, as he always is; she can't tell from the game, which she still knows next to nothing about, but she can see it in the bright glint in Ikuro's eyes.
"Hello, Katara. Kazuo's just told me that we're stopping off tomorrow to get supplies - probably a village in one of the Earth Kingdom colonies."
"Oh, good," She smiles, "It'll be nice to get off this ship. I mean, I love being near all the water, but… it's not exactly the most interesting place to be."
Kazuo places down a tile and shrugs. "I don't mind being on the ship. It's better than prison, at least."
Strangely, that's something that they can all agree on, having all been to Fire Nation prisons.
"Well, prison's better than some things, too," Ikuro says, smiling at Kazuo as if he's told a joke. The younger man laughs, and Katara raises a brow.
"Such as?" She asks.
Kazuo looks over at Ikuro with a questioning look in his eyes, to which Ikuro simply smiles.
"Katara's water tribe - she won't care."
Still, Kazuo stares at her for a long moment, still uncertain and strangely scrutinising of her, before finally shrugging. "Army service, " he says in a low voice. "Don't go spreading it around, because if the crew finds out… well, the crew can't find out, okay? But I got myself arrested to avoid conscription. I was poor, and I would have been in the lowest ranks of the army… serving may as well have been death sentence."
"It's fine, I won't tell anyone. But- I mean, how did you just get yourself arrested?" She asks.
"I just went around talking about how the war's wrong - it's the one surefire way to get yourself in prison, instead of in some convict army. It's funny, y'know - if you just talk about how people shouldn't fight, they punish you by not making you fight. The Fire Nation doesn't want people talking like that in the army and causing mutiny."
She notices that he glances around him as he speaks, as if he's scared someone will hear him, before moving another tile on the board.
"Do you believe that, then? That the war's wrong?" She tries not to look too interested, too intense, when she says it - she isn't sure if the crew know she fought alongside the Avatar, but judging from how nicely most of them treat her, she doubts it. She doesn't want them to start getting ideas about how against the war she really is.
He raises his brow slightly, but answers nonetheless. "I don't think it's wrong. It's just not right enough for me to want to die for it. So many of my friends back in school would talk about how excited they were to serve their country, do something honourable, whatever else, but I've never had a friend make it back from the low ranks. The people high up don't really give a shit about the rest of us. I've heard that the low bending ranks barely even get firebending training, they just… get sent out. Don't even get cremated, just… put in piles. I don't think there's honour in that." He pauses, looking slightly sheepish at all he's said. "If you want someone who thinks the war's wrong, then talk to this guy," he forces a smile, pointing to Ikuro.
The older man places a tile down with a grin. "Katara's heard about many of my feelings towards the Fire Nation. Though, thinking about it, I did forget to ask you not to tell anyone - I hope you haven't been spreading rumours."
"Don't worry, I haven't." She laughs, thinking back to when he told her all about his days in prison, trying to convince more people of his beliefs. It had surprised her - she'd never thought that someone from the Fire Nation would be against the war - but it also made her feel safe, to know that not everyone on this ship was fine with what their nation was doing. "I'm curious, though - do a lot of people do that? Get themselves arrested to avoid service, I mean?"
Now, Kazuo laughs. "No, not at all. The people of the Fire Nation… they care about honour, and glory, and doing their nation proud. My mom used to tell me that that was what held us all together. I guess I just wasn't born with those traits."
"Or maybe you just didn't listen in school," Ikuro says.
Kazuo puts down another tile, rolling his eyes slightly "Of course you'd say that." He looks over at Katara. "He's always talking about how the Fire Nation brainwashes all their children, how our textbooks are filled with lies, how they're raising us to be little war machines - all that conspiracy theory stuff-"
"And," Ikuro interrupts, placing a final tile. "I always beat you at Pai Sho."
Kazuo groans when he looks at the board, grumbling for a moment before pointing a finger at Ikuro. "You have to admit, though - I'm getting better."
"Slowly, yes." Ikuro concedes, offering him a smile before turning to Katara. "It seems we've got off track, but about tomorrow - we'll stay in wherever we stop for an hour or two. You'll probably get some money to spend on whatever you like - maybe scrolls or books, to make the ship a bit more interesting? - but if Zui or Zuko don't give you anything, I'll give you some of mine."
They talk for a while more about things far less interesting, in Katara's opinion, than Kazuo's feelings towards the army, but she only half pays attention. If only she had already asked Ikuro about the Boiling Rock, or even just thought more about an escape plan, she could have tried to do it tomorrow. She could have gone back onto the ship when everyone was out getting supplies, and taken it all the way to the Boiling Rock to rescue her father.
Instead, she is stuck with getting books and scrolls to entertain herself, as they make their way to the Northern Water Tribe to kidnap a newborn baby. The juxtaposition would be laughable, if it weren't so terrible.
.
When she's waterbending the next morning, she senses someone walking up the stairs and onto the deck. She glances over her shoulder to find Zuko; they lock eyes for a short moment, before he looks away and goes back down the stairs.
He's done this several times before, and each time, it annoys her more. She knows he's coming up to firebend, because it only happens on days when she hasn't heard him bending earlier on in the morning, but she can't understand why he feels the need to go back to his room and wait for her to finish, when he could just firebend somewhere else on the deck.
That's a lie - she can understand it, in the sense of him trying to be courteous, or avoiding things being awkward, or accidentally sending a fireball flying towards her. She can understand it in the sense of him thinking she'll get angry at him firebending near her - but that's exactly why she doesn't want to understand it. Because as much as she wants Zuko to see her as an enemy and nothing more, she hates people acting like she could just blow up at any moment, as if she's someone to fear, not for her skill or strength, but for some streak of instability. She hates it with Zuko especially, because every time he acts uneasy around her, she is reminded of her dream and her harsh gold eyes and his piercing screams.
It makes her feel like a monster. That should be a good thing, because he is her enemy and anything that makes him fear her is an advantage, but it doesn't feel like one - it doesn't feel like one at all.
.
Her mood has improved significantly by the time they dock. As much as she wishes she could escape right now, the thought of walking on solid ground and seeing people other than the seven men and women she's been surrounded by for the past weeks is undeniably appealing.
The colony village is small and run down, with empty restaurants and tea shops dotted around lines of houses each coated in a thin layer of red paint, only half-masking the green underneath.. Most of the colonies she's been to have looked more distinctly Fire Nation, with their building's flat roofs replaced by dark curved ones and their people all dressed in shades of red. Here, there is only hasty paint jobs and Fire Nation flags draped over any clear symbols of the Earth Kingdom, and there is a significant number of people still wearing greens and browns. Zui gave her a red tunic to wear while she's here, and as they walk through the town, it seems that she looks more Fire Nation than half of the people here.
It unsettles her - the half-finished takeover, the remnants of defeat peeking through red. She catches up to Ikuro, who is walking in front of her, to ask him about it.
"Ikuro, this town - it doesn't look very Fire Nation, does it?"
"That's exactly why we're here." He replies. "Zuko's banishment means that we can't go on Fire Nation land, which I'm sure you know - but that includes colonies. We're only stopping off now because we really need fresh food, since most of my ingredients have gone off, and they all will have gone bad by the time we get to an Earth Kingdom town that hasn't been colonised. This town - Huiwang - is technically a colony, but it hasn't been one for long, and the Fire Nation effectively gave up on it when they realised what little it could offer - it's our safest bet. Don't go into any shops run by Earth Kingdom people, though. You're in Fire Nation clothes and, well, there's not exactly harmony between the nations here."
She furrows her eyebrows. "Thanks for the tip. But… we're not technically meant to be here, then? What if someone recognises Zuko? I mean, his face is pretty… distinctive."
"There's no need to worry about that. Half of the people in the Fire Nation don't properly know what Zuko looks like - a recently colonised town isn't going to recognise him."
"What do you mean they don't know what he looks like? He's a Prince."
Ikuro huffs slightly, lowering his voice. "I mean, they don't know what he looks like with his scar."
Oh. She hadn't thought about that properly - that Zuko was banished straight after he got it. She supposes it changed how he looked quite a bit. Part of her wonders what he looked like before it, but she pushes the thought away before she can try to picture it - what use would that be, anyway? He has it now.
She realises that Ikuro doesn't know that she found out how Zuko got his scar. So, she simply nods and mumbles something about how that makes sense, and falls behind so she can walk on her own again. Somehow, she doesn't quite feel like talking anymore.
When they reach the part of town with more shops, they all go their separate ways. Out of the corner of her eye, she notices Zui keeping a close eye on her, and part of her feels relieved - maybe her missed opportunity to escape now wouldn't have worked anyway. She wanders through a few shops with dust-covered sculptures and trinkets littering their shelves and Fire Nation shopkeepers desperate for her to buy something, before she finally finds one with books and scrolls. Surprisingly, the store has quite a selection, and she finds herself so engrossed by all of the titles and descriptions that she doesn't notice Zuko, looking through books on the other side of the shop, for quite a while.
She wishes she hadn't noticed him at all. She only glances over again to see what book he's looking at - something called Love Amongst the Dragons - when she notices that she can only see the side of his face without the scar, and the question from earlier on pops back into her head - what would he look like without it? She knows it's stupid to think about, especially considering the fact that he's still her enemy and she probably shouldn't be thinking about him at all, but it refuses to leave her mind, and she can't stop looking back over at him every few minutes to try to get a better idea.
The realisation that he really does look like a prince should not be nearly as shocking as it is to her. Yet, the high cheekbones and strong jawline and pale, slanted eyes are all undeniably aristocratic, and if she tries to forget the scar covering the other side of his face, it becomes clear that he is royalty. There's another word to describe it lingering in the back of her mind - handsome - but she refuses to acknowledge it.
She knows it doesn't matter if he's handsome or not, because he's still Zuko, and he's still done the things he's done, but she won't allow herself to call him that nonetheless. It's too nice, too normal, too much like they're just two teenagers, instead of enemies on opposing sides of a war.
He goes to the counter to buy a few books and the shopkeeper makes light conversation with him; Katara can just about make out what they're saying.
"Love Among the Dragons, hm? Wouldn't expect a young man like you to be reading plays about romance."
"It was my mother's favourite. Yours is the first shop I've seen it in in a long time." Zuko mumbles; out of the corner of her eye, she sees that his cheeks are slightly pink with embarrassment.
"Ah, well, the upside of not getting much business is that I've got a lot of old books." The shopkeeper chuckles.
She doesn't miss how Zuko says was, not is. She also doesn't fail to realise that it means he really wasn't lying in Ba Sing Se, when he said that they had something in common.
Before she can dwell on it, the shopkeeper begins speaking again, this time in a much lower voice.
"Y'know, there's a girl in here who has her eye on you."
"What?" Zuko says, worry filling his voice despite the clear smile in the shopkeeper's tone.
"No need to look like that - it looked like she was checking you out. You should go talk to her, see if she's nice," He says; the last thing she sees is Zuko flushing bright red, before she turns away from the two as much as she can and attempts to act engrossed in the books in front of her, praying that the shopkeeper stops talking. Unfortunately, he does the opposite.
"Look right over there, lad," He continues in an even lower voice. "The pretty one in the red tunic."
She feels two sets of eyes looking at her and forces herself not to turn her head - maybe if Zuko can't see her face, he won't even realise it's her. She's not in her usual blue, after all.
"Oh, no, that's - um- she's not interested." Zuko mumbles, clearly flustered and even more clearly having recognised her.
"Hey now, don't sell yourself short. You're a good looking lad, even with that scar."
The shop feels stiller, for a moment. She never quite imagined that someone would just mention his scar like that, so unashamedly. She wonders if it happens often.
Zuko suddenly seems far less flustered. "Thanks. I should get going now." He mumbles, his tone resigned, and walks out of the shop before the man has time to reply.
She lets a few moments pass before she goes to buy what she's picked out - an old Fire Nation textbook, to see what they really teach in schools there, a book on the history of the Fire Nation royal family, and a few short novels. She wishes she could have gotten maps of the Fire Nation instead of the novels, but she couldn't find them anywhere.
The shopkeeper begins talking as soon as she puts the books down. "Well, that boy was quite rude, wasn't he? Just walking out like that!" He says. Katara raises an eyebrow, and he looks slightly guilty in response. "Ah, so you heard me talking about you to him. Sorry if I embarrassed you - but really, he could have at least tried to get to know you."
"We know each other already." She tells him curtly. "And neitherof us are interested."
The shopkeeper simply smiles. "Mhm, you're just friends, then?"
She wants to tell him, very clearly, that they definitely aren't friends either, but she doesn't want him asking anymore questions, especially as she should be getting back to the ship soon. Instead, she gives him a short yep and quickly changes the topic.
"Do you sell any Fire Nation maps, by the way?" She asks, hoping to sound nonchalant about it.
He raises a brow at the question. "No, colonies aren't allowed to sell maps of the Fire Nation. Just in case." He says, narrowing his eyes slightly. "Why are you looking for them?"
She tries to laugh it off, searching desperately for a sufficient answer. "Oh, no real reason. I'm just interested in geography - don't need them for anything specific."
She knows it's a stupid answer, but she prays she said it convincingly enough to get him off of her case. Yet, all he does is stare at her.
"You've got very blue eyes, don't you?"
She feels her heart rate increase. Maybe she doesn't look as Fire Nation as she thought.
"Oh, a lot of people tell me that," She tells him, forcing a smile. "No idea where it comes from, though. Both of my parents have brown eyes."
"Mhm, very mysterious. Your necklace is very blue, too." He says, not sharing her smile.
"Oh, that? I got it from a store owned by pirates. They'll sell anything." She says quickly. "Anyway, I should really get going now. My- friend- seemed kind of upset when he left, so I should go check that he's alright. Thank you for the books."
She leaves the store as quickly as she can manage without looking like she's running away, and finds that her heart rate doesn't slow down until she's halfway back to the ship.
A much quicker update than last time! Woohoo!
This chap focuses a lot on the fire nation and how things work there because I really want to expand on that in this fic, so sorry that there hasn't been loads of zutara interactions in recent chaps (though I think the thing w the shopkeeper does count lmao). I've realised that this fic focuses on a lot of other things other than zutara but i want it to be realistic and all, and they wouldn't exactly buddy buddy w eachother at this point lol - zuko hasn't even reached his full development yet! I promise zutara WILL definitely happen eventually and there will be more interactions coming up… just be patient please!
All likes and reviews are greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading this chap!