STOP! ARE YOU READING THIS? THEN PLEASE REVIEW. EVEN IF WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY IS HORRIBLY MEAN :)
A/N LOL So I'd like to say that I've been busy and that's where I went, but truth be told I had the notion that I was done with FF and wanted to write something publishable stuck in my head. It turns out, I am not ready to give this up. Besides, So, if you're still reading this, thank you. I also wanted to let everyone know that from now on I will pledge to post each chapter every Monday at 6 pm. (Lets see how long that lasts.) So without further ado, here is chapter 5.
Chapter Five: The Waterbender
Katara planned on returning to the courtyard the next night to practice her bending. She was slightly nervous about practicing in the open after her encounter with Zuko. Now she was much more aware of how easy it would be to be caught. But, when she returned to her room the next day after supper she found a note on her desk. The note was from her husband to be, asking her meet him in the arena before she went to the courtyard. The cryptic message gave her little detail other than a reminder to keep the note between the two of them.
She waited until three hours after sunset, when she knew that the majority of the palace would be quiet and made her way to the arena. Katara had seen the dueling arena once before, when she had been given the grand tour of the palace. She hadn't given the place much thought, and to be perfectly honest, the fact that the palace even had a dueling arena made her completely unsettled. Despite all this, she managed to find her way on the first try.
The arena consisted of a long, raised platform that went from one end of the room to another. On each side of the platform were rows of seating, enough to accommodate a crowd of two, maybe three hundred people. Although Katara had never seen an Agni Kai, she knew that they usually took place during the day, where the sky lights would create most of the room's lighting. But in the dead of night, there was nothing but a few burning torches and a few drops of moonlight to light the room.
"You're late." Zuko had been sitting atop a large barrel in the center of the room. Katara scowled, baffled. How could she be late when there had been no official meeting time? He was utterly insufferable. Deciding now was not the time to argue with him over something so trivial, she let his idiocy momentarily slide.
"Why are we here?" She asked.
"To duel." He responded, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He hopped down from the barrel, which Katara realized was full of water.
"Zuko? What? This is crazy." Katara exclaimed. She knew that he didn't particularly like her, but she didn't see why he would go to such lengths to actually try and fight her.
"Actually it's not. You're never going to get anywhere with your bending if you don't have someone to actually fight with. So let's fight." He didn't give Katara a chance to respond. A blast of fire exploded from his fist, whizzing past Katara's face, so close that she could feel the heat lick the side of her cheek.
"Zuko! What the- you could have burned me." She shrieked.
"That's kind of the point. Now are you going to fight back or not?" He shot another blast. This time Katara had to duck completely to avoid being hit by the flame.
"Have you lost your mind? Stop!" She cried from the ground
"Fight back and I will." He yelled, advancing towards her.
The next blast he shot was met with a large wall of water that erupted from the barrel. She held the standing waterfall just long enough to regain her footing. As the wall fell back into the barrel Katara pulled part of it away, and then shooting it back out to whip across the room and knocking into Zuko. As soon as he hit the floor Katara shot water at his hands and foze them to the arena floor. It was thin as parchment paper and would never hold, but it would stop him long enough for her to maybe talk some sense into him.
"What in La Zuko? Are you trying to kill me?" Katara yelled, trying to steady her breathing. She wouldn't be entirely surprised if his answer was yes.
"Relax Katara, I know what I'm doing." He broke free from her ice hold and jumped to his feet.
"Really? And what exactly is it that you are doing Zuko? Enlighten me." If she weren't so far away from him, the way look of contempt on her face might have intimidated him.
"I'm training you."
"That's insane." She couldn't think of away to make it any clearer just how crazy and deranged she thought this was.
"Why? That's what you want right? To be a waterbender?"
"I am a waterbender. But you know who isn't? You. How on earth do you expect me to learn how to waterbend from a firebender?" Zuko had to admit, the plan was a little half baked, but it was the best he had.
"You'll learn from necessity." That's how he had learned, with Azula. He either found a way to defend himself or let the wrath of her fire consume him.
"Or you'll scorch me. I'd rather not be burnt to a crisp by my Wedding day."
"Well it's a good thing you can do that trick with the healing then."
"Zuko my healing is good, but it's not magic. There are some wounds you can't recover from, especially if I'm dead." She spat at him.
"It's funny, I thought being a bender was the one thing you wanted more than anything in the world, would've thought something like that would be worth the risk."
"Why are you even doing this for me?" Unable to concede outloud, she changed her angle of interrogation.
"I thought about what you said, about being happy, and I get it, I can't change this wedding, I can't make us like eachother, but I can do this. We can do this Katara." For the first time since the two met, Katara saw something in him that she didn't believe was even possible. It was ever so slight, but there was a glimmer of it in his voice: hope.
"Look, if you want to go back to playing in the pond that's fine. But if you want to get anywhere, you know where to find me." Zuko knew he needed to give her time to cool off, he had every intention of turning to leave.
"Okay." Zuko stopped, he hadn't expected her to agree so quickly. He figured it would take her at least a week to look past her stubbornness and realize that he was trying to help her.
"But if we do this, we have to do it right. That means we're both wearing armor. And the minute this goes south, we stop. Got it."
"I don't think armor is really nece-
"Tomorrow, ten o'clock, be there in armor." Katara made sure to give him a real time, after being reprimanded for her imaginary 'lateness' she didn't want to give him a chance to do it again.
"I'll be here."
"And whatever happens here, stays here. We don't talk about it during the day, there's too many eye and ears." Katara didn't want to talk about it any longer, so she turned to leave the arena, stopping right before she reached the door and turned back.
"And Zuko, thanks."
In some ways, nothing changed. At least at first. They both showed up the next night, this time dressed in battle armor, as Katara had insisted. Once Zuko was confident that Katara would fight back, he didn't let her win so easily. He had never realized how difficult being the stronger person in a sparring match could be, he had never had the chance to be on that side of the equation. Katara was excellent at waterbending she did know, but she knew so little that it was hardly applicable to fighting. She learned quickly, once she found a new move she would practice it until the point of mastery. But in battle there was no time for her to stop and retry a move.
Soon, their duels spilled over into the rest of their lives. There afternoon walks were filled with sharing technique and trying to convert firebending moves into something Katara could do. It was finally the common ground Katara had been looking for and the distraction Zuko had desperately needed.
They almost got caught once. Katara had been working on packing more punch in her bending, something that she had been trained to avoid by Arnook, when she succeeded a little too well and sent Zuko flying back into the wall behind him. The boom of the collision must have alerted someone nearby because moments later the handle to the door squeaked open. Had Katara not wiped the torches out with her bending they would have been seen. Luckily, whoever it was did not feel the need to investigate a dark arena in the dead of night.
Nonetheless, it had made Zuko exceedingly anxious and while he hoped that the Fire Lord's desire for diplomatic peace would outweigh the crime of Katara's illegal bending, and Zuko's enabling, he could never be too sure when it came to Azulon. His grandfather had alway been particularly fond of public displays of punishment and Zuko didn't feel like losing any limbs any time soon.
Which is how Zuko found himself losing to his uncle at Pai Sho for a third time that day. He slouched in his seat, at a total loss of how to play the game, let alone win at it. As Zuko picked up one of the pieces and began to move it he heard his Uncle let out a loud snort. Zuko suddenly pulled the piece back and moved it in a different direction.
"You know Prince Zuko, if you are struggling I can always give you some advice." Zuko glared at his uncle, but did not necessarily protest his help. Iroh gestured towards the back of the board and Zuko hesitantly followed his Uncle's advice. Without missing a beat, Iroh made his next move, winning the game.
"Sorry Zuko, maybe you will win the next round." Iroh sat back in his chair in satisfaction, while Zuko's eyes went wide and then formed a glare.
"But- I did what you told me!"
"Yes, but you were already going to lose no matter what. If you hadn't already been set up for failure that would have been a good move." Zuko scowled. What a stupid game.
"That's it! I'm done playing this ridiculous game with you Uncle!" Iroh seemed unphased by Zuko's outburst.
"Very well, after all you were the one who suggest we play, I thought you must have had a change of heart." Iroh said, knowing well that Zuko hated Pai Sho.
"Besides, now we can get on to discussing whatever favor it is that you want from me." Zuko's eyes widened in shock, was he that transparent? He had gotten so frustrated at that dumb game that he had forgotten his plan. "Oh now Zuko, don't you think the General of the Imperial Army would know a thing or two about strategy and negotiation. Now what was it that you needed?"
"Uh- well now that you mention it, there is something I could use your help with." Zuko mumbled, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, which it turned out, was quite impossible at this point.
"And what would that be?"
"A diplomatic bending pardon." Zuko held his breath, waiting for his Uncle's rejection. "For Katara." He added. Iroh looked neutral, Zuko couldn't tell what he was thinking and it was driving him insane. After a long, agonizing, pause, he finally spoke.
"This seems like the kind of matter you should be taking up with your Grandfather, don't you agree?" Zuko knew that. Afterall, Azulon was the only one with the actual power to sign a pardon of that scale. The issue was, Zuko was absolutely terrified of the Fire Lord, and asking him for a favor was about the last thing he wanted to do.
"Well yes, but I thought he would be more understanding if the idea came from someone with more of an objective perspective." Or rather, from Azulon's favorite child and not his least favorite grandchild.
"Ah.. I see, well I suppose I could suggest the idea to him." Iroh mused.
"However, it wouldn't do much good for Katara to have a pardon if she doesn't have someone to teach her how to waterbend properly. In fact, it might be quite dangerous."
"Katara's not dangerous, and she's a good bender." Which was partially true, she wasn't a danger unless she wanted to be, and he had never seen any other waterbenders, so for all Zuko knew, she was a good waterbender.
"But she could be much better. She's never going to reach her full potential without a master."
"That's completely unfair. Where is she going to find a master? There are no other Southern waterbenders left and the North isn't willing to teach her." Zuko protested. Surprised that he even had remembered that. Sure, Katara talked about it all the time, but Zuko hadn't thought he was listening.
"Well… there is one option. Someone who could teach her. He is very busy but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to ask. And I did get him that nice tea set last year so he does owe me a favor. Besides, if he were willing to teach her it would be very difficult for my father to deny Princess Katara her pardon." Iroh mused, although he was talking mostly to himself.
"Uncle who on earth are you talking about?"
"The Avatar of course."
"The Avatar? Uncle you can't be serious? You want the Avatar to come here to teach Katara waterbending?" The Avatar, while once had been a prominent face in the Fire Nation, spent most of his days in the Air Temples now, where he had faded out of relevance.
"Well why not? Aang has always been a great teacher? Besides, he and my father have been fighting for too long. It's about time they made up and this might be just the opportunity to do it." Iroh seemed unphased by his proposal.
"Uncle this is ridiculous, Azulon will never allow it."
"If you say so. But Katara is never going to get anywhere with the two of you staying up all night fighting, you'll run each other into exhaustion." Zuko's eyes widened in horror. How did Iroh know about them? Iroh laughed. "You are not as inconspicuous as you think Prince Zuko."
"So it was you? Who opened the door the other night?" Zuko asked. Slightly relieved that he knew it was Iroh and not someone else who had discovered them.
"I wanted some tea to help me sleep, when I heard a crash, I had my suspicions that you two had been up to something at nights, but I had no idea that you were fighting." Zuko cringed as he tried to ignore the suggestive tone in his Uncle's voice.
"Well she's exhausted, we both are. She deserves to be able to practice during the day, teacher or not." Zuko told him.
"I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you Uncle."
Zuko decided to keep his conversation with his Uncle a secret from Katara, at least until he had an answer. Three days later, Iroh handed him a document before lunch, saying nothing other than that they must begin preparing for the Avatar's arrival.
Zuko seemed in to be in an unusually good mood today, Katara noted to herself during lunch. She wondered if he had finally gotten a letter from Mai or beaten Azula in a bending match. Although she supposed she would have heard about the later already. He was also strangely impatient to go for their evening walk it seemed, scarfing down his food and then promptly excusing himself and Katara before anyone else, Katara included, had finished their meals.
"You were in quite the rush to get out of there today." Katara commented and Zuko just shrugged, not sure quite what to tell her. He was suddenly feeling silly for being so excited.
"So I was thinking about why my water always collapses when we're dueling." Katara told him. The biggest issue she had with her bending lately was that it just wasn't packing the right punch.
"Well, with firebending, it's not necessarily about force, it's about heat. So I've been trying to transform firebending moves into waterbending, but it doesn't work because at the end the water dissipates. I think the problem is I'm trying to put so much force into the initial wave but it all fades by the time the water hits it's target. So instead of doing it in one wave, I need to do it in two, one to move the water and a second one for the strike. I think if I do that I can make it work right." Zuko never really understood the way Katara spoke about waterbending. She was always talking about waves and pulses and frankly, none of it made much sense to Zuko. Zuko sighed, she was working nearly day and night to make her bending work, he knew it was all she ever thought about these days.
"This would all be so much easier if you had a waterbender to teach you. Don't you think?"
"Zuko, nothing about my bending has ever been easy. I doubt it will start now." Katara laughed. As frustrating as it was to be completely outmatched in her ability on such a daily basis, she was just glad to be able to use her bending more or less unrestricted. No one was going to tell her to stop because it was unbecoming of a woman.
"I'm just glad we haven't been caught yet. I'm just trying to get as much out of this as can while it lasts." She added.
"Right, about that I actually, I uh- have something for you." Zuko said as soon as they were alone in the courtyard. He awkwardly looked at his feet and Katara wondered why he seemed so nervous.
"What is it?"
"I just thought it would be a lot easier for you to have this if you were going to keep bending. So - here." He pulled something out of his coat pocket and shoved it at her.
Katara's eyes widened as she read the document he had just presented her with. Trying to make sure she understood what she was reading. It was an official Fire Nation document, complete with Fire Lord Azulon's signature right at the bottom.
"Zuko, is this?" She asked, reading over the title again. She knew that the Ozai had been lax about her bending because he viewed her as incompetent (thanks to his son) and she assumed that her position gave her at least a little forgiveness when it came to breaking the Fire Nation's bending laws. But Zuko's warning of lost limbs had always rattled in the back of her mind.
"It's a diplomatic pardon, for your bending." Zuko said, reassuring Katara that it in fact was what she thought it was.
"Zuko, how did you- Arnook doesn't even have one of these." From what Katara understood, the only people who had diplomatic pardon's were public officials who permanently resided in the embassies, and a few business tycoons who had bargained for them by threatening to withhold certain imports.
"Iroh got it for you." Zuko didn't have all the details but knew it was a combination of Iroh arguing that it was inhumane for Katara to be withheld her bending, classifying it as a human right. Of course, Azulon was never much of the humanitarian, which is when Iroh mentioned that Katara may refuse to go through with the wedding if she did not receive such a pardon. Iroh conveniently waited until after the decree was signed to mention the teacher he planned on bringing for her.
"There was one condition, my Uncle thought that there was no point of getting you a pardon if you didn't have a teacher. It will take him a few weeks to get here from the Southern Air Temple but.." Katara's eyes widened before Zuko could finish his sentence, she cut him off.
"Zuko! Are you about to tell me that the Avatar is coming here? To teach me waterbending?" Her excitement was almost frightening.
"Um- yeah."
"But how? Zuko if this is a joke I swear on all the spirits I will-"
"It's not a Joke. He and Azulon used to be friends, he was Iroh's teacher, so Iroh sent him a letter asking if he would come teach you." He knew his Grandfather and the Avatar weren't exactly what would be considered "friends" but he decided now was not the time to explain the complicated relationship that the Avatar and his Grandfather had.
Katara flung herself at Zuko, for a moment he thought she was going to attack him. But then her arms wrapped around him as he stood frozen, unsure how to react.
"Thank you." She whispered as she released him from the embrace. Katara was still bewildered that he had gone to any length to do something of this magnitude for her. Somewhere along the road, from the garden walks and late night sparring, they were actually becoming friends.
A/N: Do you think Zuko's character change was too drastic? I was trying to keep him consistant but I sort of feel like he just flipped a switch. Let me know in your REVIEW. Also, I'm don't remember if I ever stated how long Katara would be in the Fire Nation before the wedding. (I had it in planning) if so, sorry for the retcon, let me know and I'll fix it.