The rest of the evening was spent idly. Chang showed her to yet another library that had books on other bending techniques. While most of it involved things she already knew, Katara tucked herself into a chair and read a book called "The Remedies and Healings of Granny Yura."
The same young man kept coming in and out of the room bringing her snacks, tea, and a thin blanket to curl under. After about the third visit, Katara caught his eye and asked his name.
"Razan, if it pleases."
"Well Razan, what do you recommend to read?"
"What is her ladyship looking for?"
"Something entertaining." Razan grinned and moved to a bookshelf. He pulled out a thin, unassuming novel. The black cover only had a title imprinted in fake gold leaf. "The Shapes Dragons Take."
Katara put it off to the side and continued reading about Granny Yura. This was written by a healer from the North Pole, generations before Gran-Gran had even been born. The writer referenced Avatar Kuruk and there were substantial passages dedicated to events and festivals surrounding the spirit world.
As night firmly settled in place, Katara put down the heavy tome and grabbed the book Razan had suggested. She had heard of "Love Amongst the Dragons," but that was a play. As Katara flipped through the pages all she could see was prose.
With a shrug, Katara took up her tea cup and nestled further into her chair.
Being in the dragon obsessed Fire Nation, it could have been about anything. And Razan had said it would be entertaining.
A few hours later, Katara hid in her bed.
The book, which she didn't recall taking with her during her hasty retreat from the library, had been shoved unceremoniously under her pillow.
It had certainly been entertaining.
A dragon, fearing capture by the Firebenders that were hunting her kind en masse, took the form of a woman to hide. She ran to the Earth Kingdom, all the way to a rice-growing village nestled in the foothills of vast mountains. There she met the daughter of the village leader, and promptly fell madly in love with her.
The rest of the book was about how the dragon seduced the leader's daughter, changing her shape into a man's so she could marry her lover, only to change back once they had left the village.
It was written very vividly.
"Who even bought that book?" Katara whispered aloud to herself. She rolled onto her side and felt the hardness of the book under her head. "Why did I take it with me?"
Katara heard the door to her receiving room open and close, with footsteps coming to the tapestry.
"Katara?" The voice slurred and she popped her head up.
"Zuko?"
"Can I come in?"
"Uhmmm…." Katara hummed as she looked at the heap of clothes that she had tossed off to the side of the room. Getting the clothes off had been just as frustrating as putting them on and, being flustered from the book, had just wanted to be free of them.
She had not bothered dressing to get into bed.
"Just, hold on." Katara slid out of the bed and darted into the room with the wardrobe. She snatched open the door, grabbed the robe, and had one arm in it as she closed the chest.
"Come on in Zuko." She said as she walked back to the bed, tying the robe closed. Zuko pushed heavily on the tapestry and came stumbling in. His other hand held a ball of fire and it illuminated the small room.
"Katara. Your brother drinks a lot." Katara laughed but kept her eyes on the fire.
"Set the lights Zuko and put that out please." After blinking slowly, Zuko tossed the fire at one sconce and then dragged it in a loop before extinguishing it. Now all the small fires burned where they should.
"Did you try to keep up with him?" She asked as she sat on the edge of the bed and tucked one leg under her.
"Yes. And then I realized too late that he was trying to drink himself under the table." Zuko staggered over to the other side of the bed, the side Katara had been laying in, and fell onto the mattress.
"Are you going to be okay?" Zuko turned his face to the side to look at her.
"Sure. Firebenders have a great ability to burn things up." He said and then grinned stupidly. Katara laughed as she leaned back to lay down, looking even with Zuko.
"What do you want Zuko?"
"I dunno." Zuko mumbled and swept his arm up toward the head of the bed. It slid under her pillow and just as it stopped, Katara stopped. She watched as Zuko propped himself up and reached under the pillow. "Wa's this?" He pulled out the book and flipped his wrist down to read the cover.
She watched his eyes trace lazily over the title. Then stop and retrace it with more purpose. Zuko turned slowly back to Katara, the grin now even wider and more stupid.
"Katara." He said in mock chastisement. Katara's face was on fire and she could hear her heartbeat thudding in her ears.
"What is that book even doing in the library? And how do you know about it?" She shot back. Zuko started laughing and tossed the book off to the side.
"I put that book in the library and I know about it because I was once a very curious young man." He said and moved closer to Katara.
"I cannot believe you read that."
"I cannot believe you read that." He said and put one arm over her waist. He pulled her to him and nuzzled her neck. "I am still a very curious young man Katara."
"Zuko!" Katara said and pushed him away. He laughed and rolled onto his back.
"I know you're curious too." He said smugly and Katara glowered at him.
"I'm curious why you didn't tell me about your injuries." She said.
"I was hoping we'd get to a situation where you would find them yourself." Katara scoffed and felt her blush deepen.
"Does it hurt?" She asked softly. Zuko turned his head.
"If I say yes will you put your hands on me?"
"I thought you said we were moving too fast."
"I still believe that. But I like playing with fire." Katara groaned and pushed her pillow into Zuko's face. Laughing, he tossed it aside and grabbed her. As she shrieked, he rolled over her and pressed his hips against hers, keeping one of his legs between hers.
"Tell me to leave and I will only take the image of you with me." He said.
"Do you love me Zuko?" Her throat was so dry, and every part of her felt like it was being tied down.
"More than I deserve to feel Katara."
"Love me then."
He kissed her, his lips still warm and soft. There was that moment when his mouth pulled away and she could feel his breath still on hers. Unthinking, she caught his bottom lip with her teeth and he came groaning back to her. For now, it seemed he only wanted to feel her and the whole weight of him bearing down on her. She could feel his hands under her, his fingers pressing into her back.
As Katara slid her hands around Zuko and clung onto his back, she also hooked one of her legs around his. As he pulled his free leg up to kneel, Katara clung to his back, trying to keep him in place.
His lips, his tongue, she could taste the sweetness of the alcohol he had imbibed.
"Katara." He whispered and sounded pained. She felt him, all of him, still pressed against her hips.
Putting her hands to the hem of his shirt, Katara gave no subtle urging and Zuko sat up to remove it. There again she saw the bruises, the stitches, and the abrasions.
"Does it hurt?" She whispered, her fingers now tracing over the bumps of the black stitches.
"How can I feel anything but you?" Katara didn't respond but instead let her eyes move up his chest to his face. He looked, not down at her body, but intently at her face. "You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen." Katara looked away and her hands fell to her chest.
"Zuko, could you, put out the lights?" She murmured. Almost immediately, the light was extinguished in the room. Feeling her breathing hitch in her chest, Katara moved her hands down to the knot on her belt. Her hands shook as she untied it and slowly she grabbed the edges of the fabric. Zuko put a hand on her stomach.
"Are you sure?" He asked. Biting her lip, Katara said nothing as she shrugged out of the thin robe. She pushed herself up with her elbows, letting the robe fall further away from her and Zuko bent down to meet her.
"You shine even in the darkness." He said.
"The light is coming from you." She remarked.
Their lips met and Zuko put an arm around her back and lowered them both down. He became more urgent and she shifted under him. His hands slid around the fullness of her chest and over her stomach. His knee came up between her legs and she gasped at the pressure.
Angling around her, Zuko's hand drifted farther down and he bit gently on her neck.
"Only a Waterbender could be this wet." He said and Katara laughed, or she tried to. Zuko had begun to trace the edges of her and her breath caught in her throat. Rolling onto his side, Zuko used one arm to keep his head up while the other parted the softer parts of her. Katara's eyes widened and she gripped the sheets.
He was warming his fingers.
"Make more of those delightful noises for me Katara." She jumped as his thumb rolled over a small nub and he smiled.
With slight pressure, Zuko rolled his thumb over the same spot as Katara gasped. It felt like he was spooling something up inside of her and something tightened below her navel. She felt like crying and her hands gripped the sheets tight.
Something in her snapped and Katara cried out just as Zuko slipped two fingers inside of her. The spooling began again and Katara struggled to catch her breath. Zuko's hand rocked and Katara pitched. Very quickly she cried out again.
With a low laugh Zuko stopped and pulled his hand away as Katara panted.
"More." She said and Zuko kissed her.
"That's easy to say now. Let's talk tomorrow." Zuko rolled out of the bed and walked to the washroom. She heard water splashing and then he returned. "Can I stay?"
"Please." She said and Zuko got back into the bed. Leisurely, he grabbed the blanket and pulled it over them.
"Come here." Katara turned onto her side and pushed her back into his chest. She could still feel how attentive he was.
"If you remember," He whispered into her ear. "That was how the dragon convinced her lover that being a woman wouldn't stop her." Katara dug her elbow into Zuko and he huffed.
"Goodnight Zuko."
"Goodnight, moon of my life."
When Katara woke up, she found herself alone. She knew why, knew that Zuko rose with the sun, but it still hurt to have no memory of his leaving.
She bathed, stretched, and found her breakfast waiting for her. Finding parts of her still wound tightly, Katara was glad to find that Sokka was absent from sharing this meal with her. With a small wry smile, she recalled how drunk Zuko was when he tumbled into her bed.
It was going to be a very long day.
After exiting her room, Katara went next door and knocked. She waited for a moment in silence, looking up and down the hallway. When no answer was coming, Katara knocked harder. If Sokka was passed out, she was going to have a rude awakening for him.
"Your brother went with the Fire Lord for morning exercises." Katara let out a shrill eep! and jumped. Turning, she was unsurprised to find Changg standing with her hands hidden in her sleeves.
She briefly considered the possibility that Chang could even sneak up on Toph.
"I'm surprised they had the energy." Katara replied and stood awkwardly holding onto her arms.
"The Fire Lord does a simple Tai Chi exercise. He finds it relaxing."
"Ah." They stood in silence. Katara started to feel a blush rise up and she inhaled sharply. Chang's face remained blank. "Soooooooo."
"Lady Katara." Katara let out a breath and her shoulders relaxed.
"Thank Pinga." She muttered and looked past Chang to see Rin approaching. She was wearing spectacles that were pinched onto the bridge of her nose.
"The Fire Lord has requested your presence." Rin said and stopped next to Chang, who she now turned to and nodded. "Good morning Chang."
Chang tilted her head. "Good morning Rin."
"You can call me Katara, Rin, all things considered." Both Rin and Chang turned bland faces toward her.
"I hardly see the benefit in doing so." Rin said blithely and Katara frowned.
"You said Zuko wanted to see me?" Katara's voice came out thin but neither woman seemed to notice.
"If you would follow me." Rin turned and began walking briskly down the corridor. Katara fell behind her, with Chang only a few steps after.
Rin was the eldest child of Shui Yong, a widowed tea merchant. She and her three younger brothers were all very talented earthbenders, but having grown up in such a central place during the war - and having lost their father - Rin wasn't very keen on maintaining her skills. Instead, when Iroh had fallen in love with her mother, Rin requested an administrative position. So of course, Iroh put her in charge of Zuko.
Shui Yong had told them that Rin used to be outgoing and gregarious. The death of a parent can do a number on personality though, as she well knew.
Katara followed behind her silently.
When she entered the room where the rest of them had already congregated, Katara could tell that the energy was high. Suki sat on a low couch, her chin resting on top of a fist, as she looked at nothing. Zuko and Sokka were talking in low tones over a large mahogany desk. Papers were strewn across the top, but they may have been incidental as neither of them were referencing them.
"Fire Lord, Lady Katara has arrived." Rin announced as she moved past Katara, picked up a thin board from a side table, and stood over in the far corner. Zuko and Sokka both paused and looked over.
"Good morning." Zuko said, his voice coming out warm but otherwise emotionless. Surely he had to remember last night, Katara thought to herself.
"So what's the meeting about?" She asked and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Well." Zuko stopped and looked over at Sokka, who sighed and turned back to his sister.
"He's having Ty Lee move Azula today." Sokka said. Katara frowned and looked at Zuko.
"Don't you think it's a little, soon?" She asked.
"The problem is that I know Azula knows she's here, and I also have a heavy suspicion that Azula is somehow communicating with, our father. I don't want to give them time to plan how to use this, when they invariably guess what will happen." Zuko explained, his hands moving in nervous circles as he spoke. Katara chewed on the inside of her lower lip. It sounded too sinister, too contrived to be true. But so had the whole culmination of a global war.
"Okay, so what do you need?" She asked. Zuko and Sokka again exchanged a look.
"Well, nothing really. Suki and I will be taking care of it." Zuko said. Katara looked from one man to the other.
"What?"
"We just thought, you wouldn't like the plan." Sokka said. Katara raised an eyebrow.
"I don't like the plan, but I can't think of anything better so it might just be that this is a bad situation that isn't going to offer a good solution." She explained.
The men were silent. Suki kept staring off.
"Gonna be honest, did not think it would be this easy." Sokka finally said.
"Oh for…" Katara let out a groan and rubbed her face with her hands. "You're the planner Sokka."
"Then I guess we'll get started." Zuko turned. "Suki?" Without any sign of hearing him, Suki stood and brushed something from her pant leg.
"Ready when you are." The pair walked together out of the room, Zuko passing by Katara with only a small nod. She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest again. She flinched as she felt Rin brush past her and she watched as the three of them exited the room.
"Did you sleep ok?" Sokka's voice seemed abrupt, and Katara realized she hadn't been paying attention.
"What?" She consciously tried to relax her stance, but now her arms seemed to hang awkwardly heavy at her sides.
"You look a little, tense." Sokka said as gently as possible. Katara sighed and felt her body deflate some.
"Yeah. I stayed up too late reading." She said as she held her eyes close for a long moment.
"Read anything good?" With her eyes closed, Katara could picture a thin, well-bound book. She opened her eyes and fought down a blush.
"There was a book about a Water Tribe healer. It talked about spirit festivals I had never heard of before."
"Well, that I can understand. Think Zuko might let us take it home with us?" Sokka said idly. Katara still noted his words and perked.
"With us?" She repeated. Sokka grimaced and rubbed the back of his head.
"Eh, yeah. Slip of the tongue. I may be going back to Republic City instead of being here. With Suki."
"What's in Republic City?"
"An architect. Dad had wanted me to go to the North Pole for training to be a judge, or something, and he had even found a guy I was supposed to live with. I have no idea why he thinks I would find that remotely interesting. But Toph and I had been talking about the structural capabilities of buildings made of metal, and I think that's a better use of my skills."
"Like I said, you are the planner." Sokka laughed and clapped his hands together.
"She wants to build a city of metal. Can't say I'm not tempted to try and work that out." They both laughed and Katara shook her head.
"Knowing you two, it's going to be overly complicated and gaudy." She said. Sokka pulled a serious face and leveled his gaze to hers.
"I will have you know that I find that very offensive." Katara snorted and he smiled.
"If you two are looking for something to do," A voice broke out at the door. Chang, of course. "Perhaps Lady Katara would benefit from your exercises this morning."
So the three of them - as Sokka was far too clumsy to teach anyone anything remotely dexterous - were soon out in a garden, moving in the same, fluid movements. At times, it felt natural to Katara. Many of the circular movements were to be found in her bending techniques. But still there were sharp thrusts, a quick exhalation, her breath made into another force. It was like how Zuko did his firebending.
In fact, as Katara slid part of her mind away from the exercise, she recalled that Zuko seemed to be well versed in all the types of bending.
How he had kept warm in the Cooler was airbending. His movements for firebending had betimes been sinuous, like her own. And when he sparred with opponents larger than himself, he moved with strong retorts, throwing power into quick bursts.
Perhaps it was all the travelling they had done, or Iroh's general favor on being multinational. Either way, they had all been influenced by other bending, it didn't mean anything for Zuko to be as well versed. Even she had picked up some tricks, being able to melt ice with her breath and creating small explosions by super heating water.
She thought and swayed through each motion.
After their light exercise, Katara took Soka to the library and showed him the book on Granny Yura. Sokka made all the polite comments and astonished noises as Katara flipped to different passages on the festivals. Then they sat and drank the tea that was brought to them, discussing how they might implement them back at home.
They knew of the Spirit Oasis in the North Pole. Sokka had gone quiet as the book described the sacred pond where Tui and La swam. They had not realized that there was another Oasis in the South Pole.
Neither had they realized what all the totem animals in the North Pole represented, or known what had happened to the Glacier Spirits Festival. They still had something of a vague imprint of that festival: on the winter solstice the families stayed awake as long as they could and ate special treats held back from the earlier trading months. The author described the Glacier Spirits Festival as a time of unification for the North and South Poles, with a solemnity enacted through fasting and meditation.
"That," Sokka said and tapped the page. "Is not going to work back at home."
As they talked about home, another servant came in and asked "Is it true that you sometimes go months without seeing the sun?" So she and Chang were soon seated on a couch as Katara and Sokka stood, enacting the rite of passage ice dodging. Sokka tried to jump from an armchair onto a small desk but tripped on the arm and went sprawling on the floor. With the aid of tepid tea, Katara washed the scrape to his chin and saw the servant perched on the balls of her feet, hands on her knees, watching intently.
With that, they had to go back outside and Katara performed a demonstration of her waterbending. When another servant, a large blustering man, came out looking for the first, Sokka cajoled him into being a participant. Laughing good naturedly, Katara whipped small objects that the man threw upward. With a particularly expert flick of her wrist, a small clay bowl exploded into tiny shards and rained down on the observers.
The two servants then retreated and returned with lunch, wherein Sokka described Republic City for them. In the image he created, Katara saw the looming buildings - skyscrapers he had called them - that gleamed with metalwork and glass. Instead of the rutted dirt roads, he evoked wide avenues paved with sturdy stone and lined by shops or parks. There was no place in his telling for the wood and dust and sheer heady life that breathed there. Katara didn't mind it and did not interrupt him from his storytelling. The servants liked it well enough, hearing about the ingenuity and resources being used from the Fire Nation was always pleasing.
After lunch, Sokka begged off to go and take a nap. The servants, begrudgingly, also left and so it was just Chang and Katara as they walked back into the palace.
"Can you tell me about your husband?" Katara asked suddenly as they meandered through the hallways.
"What about him?" Chang did not seem offended, so Katara pressed on.
"What is he like? How did you two meet?" Chang let out a soft laugh.
"I can answer both with a story." They walked into the main part of the palace, and the expanse felt immense and empty. "Like I said, I had been born in Kyoshi but my parents moved us to the Yue Province. The Fire Nation had already occupied the area for a fair number of years but had tried to lure in people to replace the villagers who had left at their invasion. They didn't want to have to farm the land themselves you see.
"My family was old in Kyoshi, but poor. Neither were any of us benders so my parents thought it would be easier for us to move to Yue. Why would the Fire Nation bother us? But the others, they were unforgiving. I had already, well, I had begun my education as any proper young lady in Kyoshi would. They demanded that I stay. I fought with my parents, telling them that it wasn't right of them to pull me out of my home.
"My mother, shall we say reminded me that it is a child's duty to honor their parents. We left and moved to Yue.
"Due to my parents coming from an old Kyoshi line, we were invited to stay with the governor till we found our house. My first night there, I was insistent that I could make it back to Kyoshi. I snuck out and almost made it off the grounds when he found me."
"Your husband?" Katara had, at some point, begun to hold Chang's arm. The woman now patted her hand softly and gazed at her.
"Yes. Xue caught me. And since I had already started my education, I reacted accordingly. Xue was older, though not by much, and he was more educated than I. But," Here Chang smirked. "Not by much." Katara returned the smile and Chang looked forward. "He told me that I wouldn't make it very far with the area being filled with Fire Nation soldiers, but that if I stayed, he would teach me what he knew. Then, when I was sufficiently educated, I could attempt to make my way home.
"No one thought much about Xue and I spending our time together. I was, after all, a girl from Kyoshi and everyone knows what they are like. After a few years, I gained my majority, and had the total freedom to leave. He asked me if I wanted to go home. I said yes. We married and I've been home ever since."
"Chang."
"Yes Lady Katara."
"That is the most romantic thing I think I have ever heard." Chang smirked again.
"Thank you Lady Katara."
"But," Katara stopped walking and Chang looked at her. "When did you know? That you were in love with Xue?"
"The first time he ever saw me cry. I was so frustrated with my progress and living in Yue, and I had been feeling conflicted about him for weeks. After a failure, I burst into tears and he admitted that he had been hard on me because he didn't want me to leave. I told him that I loved him but that if I ever found out he was manipulating me again, I would kill him."
"That just seems so, you." Katara said. "How did your parents take it?"
"They were fine, for the most part. It was only when my son showed the ability to firebend that they became concerned."
"I can't imagine."
"I would think it would be more difficult if, say, a waterbender had a firebending child." Katara eyed Chang, whose face was passive.
"I can't imagine." Katara repeated, her tone flatter.
"Lady Katara." From over Chang's shoulder, Katara saw Rin approach.
"Saved again." Katara muttered as Chang turned.
"The Fire Lord has returned."