DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN AVATAR (cries)
"Oh," Toph murmured softly. She paused, before continuing. "You don't have to talk about it, if you don't want."
Katara shook her head, tears beginning to creep into her eyes.
"No, I want to." Katara sniffled. She looked at Toph, her lips curling into a small smile. "Since when did you get so considerate?"
"I'll have you know I'm a very considerate person," Toph huffed. "But back to your problems."
Katara smiled again. Talking with her friend seemed to make all the problems in the world go away. That was, until, Katara remembered what she was supposed to be talking about. Taking a deep breath, Katara knew that this would be good for her. She needed to talk to someone about her dream, and she'd be damned before she talked to Zuko about it.
"I used to have the dream a lot, mainly when Sokka and I still lived at the South Pole." Katara began, fiddling unconsciously with her hands. "The dream became less frequent as time went on, but every so often it'd come back again."
"Like last night?" Toph prodded gently. Katara nodded, and then realized Toph couldn't see her. Instead she whispered in agreement, tears building up even more.
"It starts when I'm back at the South Pole, with all my family," Katara began. She continued in the story, describing everything she felt in her dreams to Toph, who didn't interrupt. Voicing her dream seemed to make it less sad, as if she had someone who could give her sympathy and offer kind words. And, okay, maybe Toph wouldn't exactly be her first choice, but she was good enough.
"And then I wake up." Katara finished, her voice breaking with emotion. Tears were falling silently down her cheeks, but she made no attempt to quell them. "And it's the same every time. I have to watch my mother die over and over and there's nothing I can do about it."
She turned away from Toph and rested her head against the wall, clenching her eyes together in pain. The cell was silent for a minute, save for Katara's shuddering breaths.
"I'm sorry." Toph said, her voice low. Katara nodded, unable to speak, her eyes still closed.
Zuko had listened to all of that, a small frown on his face throughout.
So that's why the Waterbender is so defensive over her mother's necklace…he thought, guilt seeping into his brain. He ran over everything the girl had just said in his mind, hearing the anguish in her voice and the way she stopped talking every so often, her voice breaking. No matter how much Zuko tried to distance himself from emotion, it hurt him to hear another human being in that much pain.
He glanced up to Mai, and saw a peculiar expression on her normally passive face; it was mixed sympathy and scorn. She was staring down to the floor, still listening. Now however, all that could be heard were the Waterbender's sobs as she tried to compose herself. It was several minutes before she did however, and Zuko noticed that Mai's expression slowly faded to be replaced by one of boredom again.
"Do you think she's finished yet?" She whispered, tediously. Zuko stared at her, speechless, wondering about her lack of emotion towards the grieving girl in the cell before them.
Great, she's turning into Azula…Zuko thought. The notion unsettled him; one Azula was more than enough.
Then they heard the Earthbending girl speak, her tone soft and gentle, a far cry from what Zuko had heard her talk like before.
"I'm sorry." The girl said, sounding slightly hesitant.
"Yes, you said that already." Mai hissed, rolling her eyes again. "Say something else, something useful."
"Shut up." Zuko muttered through gritted teeth. Mai would never know the pain of losing her mother at an early age, so could never understand where Katara's grief was coming from. At least, not the way Zuko could.
Not that that's relevant to anything, Zuko thought hastily. Katara was vulnerable right now, and Azula would expect him to exploit that vulnerability…but Zuko couldn't. It was too cold, too cruel and unnecessary. He could get the information his own way, without having to resort to playing on a girl's pain at losing her mother.
"Did I tell you my necklace went missing?" Came Katara's voice suddenly. Zuko stiffened, waiting to see if she would accuse him.
"What? When?" The Earthbender asked, horrified.
"When I woke up, it was gone. I'm pretty sure Zuko took it." Katara replied, sounding defeated.
Zuko winced slightly as he saw Mai look up at him, eyebrows raised. For a moment, he was sure Mai was about to start accusing him, but instead she smirked coldly and nodded her approval. Zuko shrugged coolly as if it were nothing.
Toph's eyebrows shot up in disbelief.
"Zuko?" She echoed. "Zuko took your necklace?"
Katara nodded glumly. Her tears had stopped, and now she just felt tired and emotionally worn out.
"He says it wasn't but who else would it be? Sid the wily jewellery gnome?" Katara asked sighing, and Toph smiled. "I just don't understand why he took it." Toph's smile turned malicious.
"Maybe it makes him feel pretty." She said, her blind eyes glinting with amusement. Katara laughed and immediately felt better.
"Whatever issues he has, he'll have to deal with them in his own time, when I'm not there. In fact, he can deal with them when we're all out of Ba Sing Se, a long way from the Fire Nation and the war." She said, wistfully thinking of such a place.
"Is there any place away from the Fire Nation?" Toph asked, now serious. Katara's smile dropped slowly as she shook her head.
"To be honest…I don't know." She murmured, looking down. "I would say the Water Tribe, but the Southern Water Tribe wasn't up to much last time I saw it, and the Northern Tribe barely survived the Fire Nation's last siege. I think the only reason we survived at all was because of luck."
"Sokka told me that Aang turned into a giant spirit monster that wiped the Fire Nation Navy out." Toph pointed out.
"Well, there was that too." Katara agreed. Quickly reminded of something, she glanced around the room, looking for Toph's bowl of soup.
"Come on, you should get back." Mai whispered, nudging Zuko, who almost fell. Shooting Mai a dirty look, he nodded and pushed himself upright.
"If they say anything else-"
"-I'll tell you." Mai finished for him. "Now hurry, in case they say anything interesting."
Zuko allowed Mai to lead him back to his cell.
"You know I took the necklace out of revenge, right?" Zuko asked suddenly. Mai smiled faintly and nodded. Zuko, relieved, nodded back to her and walked back into his cell, not relishing the idea that he may not get out for awhile.
"Did they feed you?" Katara asked hurriedly. Toph nodded slowly.
"They brought in some food for me…but I didn't eat it. I think it was supposed to be soup, but it had this weird cabbagey smell to it, so now I'm not so sure." Toph mused.
"Yes, it remains a mystery." Katara said distractedly, looking around for a bowl. "Where's your soup?"
"Oh, I wouldn't eat it so the guards took it away…a couple of minutes before you showed up actually." Toph told her.
Katara cursed under her breath. A couple of minutes? Well my timing sucks…
"What did you say?" Asked Toph enquiringly. Katara turned to her.
"Nothing that you don't already know." She said, remembering Toph's alarmingly large vocabulary when it came to swear words.
After that, the two girls spent awhile talking, sometimes discussing how they would escape, sometimes wondering how Sokka and Aang were getting on, and sometimes just meaningless girl-talk. Katara was just filling Toph in about her history with Jet (well, it passed the time) when Mai opened the door sharply and walked in.
"Get up." She told Katara harshly. Two guards (different again, as Katara noticed) strode in and grabbed Katara roughly by her upper arms, hoisting her up.
"Hey!" Katara complained, trying to tug herself away from the guards' grip. As before, it didn't work. Looking over her shoulder at Toph, Katara called back.
"Don't worry. I'll be back soon." She said, in what she hoped was a comforting, enthusiastic voice. She was pushed out of the cell, into the corridor. Mai remained behind with a still-chained Toph.
"Yeah, that's what she thinks." Mai said nastily, before stepping out after them and shutting the door, leaving Toph, once again, alone.
Katara was practically thrown into her cell. After she was shoved inside, she stumbled and had to clutch at the wall for support. Sighing, she brushed off her arms and made her way over to her mattress, pointedly ignoring Zuko. That was, until, she noticed what was lying on the floor.
My necklace! Katara thought, shocked. She quickly swooped down and grabbed it, fastening it around her neck, a smile on her face. The necklace wasn't damaged at all, not even scratched. Still smiling, Katara stood, upright and turned around to Zuko's mattress. He was in his usual position; leaning against the wall with an unimpressed look on his face.
"Thank you." Katara said, her smile lessening slightly to show that she was sincere.
"For what?" Zuko asked, taking his back off the wall and looking up at her. Katara's smile faded a little more as she realized that he was still pretending that he hadn't taken her necklace.
"For giving me back my mother's necklace." Katara told him. "Of course, you shouldn't have taken it in the first place, but I'll look past that this time."
Zuko sighed heavily and stood up. Katara hated when he did this; it made her feel small and self-conscious. She folded her arms across her chest, and looked up at him. He looked just as steadily back down at her.
"For the last time. I Did Not Take Your Mother's Necklace." He told her. She sighed in exasperation and dropped her hands to her sides.
"Whatever." She said, shaking her head and turning away from him. For the first time Katara noticed that there was only one lamp lit, giving the cell an eerie glow. She didn't know what time it was, just that it had been a long day and she was tired. Stepping over to her mattress she made sure her necklace was securely in place before lying down. She was about to shut her eyes when she thought of something and sat back up. Looking over to Zuko, Katara saw that he was about to extinguish the lamp.
"Oh, and Zuko?" She asked, making her voice sweet. He turned to her in an expression that asked her what she wanted.
"Next time you feel the need to steal my things…" Katara started, looking Zuko square in the eye. She made her voice harder. "Don't."
She stood there for perhaps five seconds, merely staring at Zuko. Then, she smiled again, but this time there was something else in her smile; a hint of danger.
"Goodnight." She said, before lying down on the mattress and shutting her eyes. She dimly registered the lamp going out and the cell being plunged into total darkness before she fell asleep.
Zuko extinguished the lamp, then sat down on the edge of his mattress, thinking. He had a new emotion stirring inside of him right now, and he wasn't sure exactly what it was. It had only started after he had heard the Waterbender's story, but he knew it wasn't pity. The way she had gone about every day after her mother's death as normal impressed Zuko, as did the fact that she hadn't completely broken down yet, despite everything that had gone wrong for her. Was that why he had returned her necklace, because he was impressed with her strength? Possibly. It left Zuko a little amazed that, after pouring her heart out to her friend, she could walk in here as if nothing had happened, with not even traces of tears on her face.
Sighing, Zuko lay down on his mattress and closed his eyes. Just before he drifted off to sleep, he realized what that new feeling towards the Water Tribe girl was:
Respect.
A/N:
Hey, well I'm back from sunny California. I managed to sprain my wrist snowboarding, but that didn't stop me from typing this chapter up.
Sorry for the "Sid the wily jewellery gnome" thing. It was a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reference, apart from Buffy said "Sid the wily dairy gnome"…lol.
By the way, Kohroxmysox, and anyone else who was wondering about my spelling: I'm British, so sorry if some words have an extra "u" in them.
Oh, also, I need you guys' opinion on something. Do you want me to do a chapter on Sokka, Aang and Iroh? I already have pretty much the whole story planned out, but I can slip in an extra chapter if you want.
Please review with your opinions, and as always, many thanks to those who review :D