Katara was bent over, thigh high in the pool of warm water, trying to get pieces of flour and egg out of her hair. Aang had warmed it up to a steamy temperature before Toph and Katara had started their bath. Toph set her feet in first, getting used to the heat. Katara couldn't help but notice the brown clouds of muddy water rolling off Toph. She sighed as she settled the rest of her body in the warm water.
"You know what would make this bath even better?" Toph asked as she splashed the water with her hands.
"What's that?" Having given up on her hair, she took off her bindings and sunk into the water. She didn't feel self conscious about being naked with Toph, after all they were both girls and Toph was blind.
"Mud," Toph said simply.
Katara smiled, "You can if you want to, but wait until after I get out. The point of this bath is to get clean."
"There's nothing wrong with a little dirt," Toph said defensively.
"Except that it gets you dirty."
"Correction," Toph her finger a little to the left of Katara. "Dirt gets you dirty. It makes me clean."
"Whatever you say Toph." Crashing thunder drowned out Katara's voice. Apparently, the storm had arrived. She hoped Sokka came home soon. Toph had her hands pressed against her ears and Katara noticed she looked a little pale.
"I hate lightning!"
"I thought you weren't afraid of anything Toph."
She settled her hands back into the water. "I am afraid of nothing that's on the ground," she said as she raised her head in pride. "But lightning attacks from the sky. Totally different."
Katara laughed as she reached for the Fire Nation soap they had picked up along their travels. Not so surprisingly, it smelt spicy. "I don't understand why everything here has to be spicy," she held the soap out for Toph to examine it. "Even their soap is spicy."
Toph just grabbed and started putting it in her hair. "I kinda like it. It's better than that girly flower stuff you usually have."
"I like that flowery stuff. That's what girls are supposed to smell like."
"Exactly! I don't want to smell all girly. I don't really want to smell like anything."
Toph finished lathering up her hair and then held out the soap for Katara. "I guess, at least you like it."
"It's not that bad. It'll just make you smell more…" she paused, taping a finger against her chin while she searched for the right adjective. Finally she settled on "Daring."
"Daring?" she asked while she lathered up her long locks of hair. It took Katara longer to wash her hair than Toph. She used to not even bother, since it was always in a tight braid, but now she couldn't keep it in a braid with all the humidity. It just frizzed up.
"Yeah, the girly stuff makes you smell dainty and fragile. Like you can't do anything for yourself. But the spicy stuff is stronger. Like you won't stand to be pushed around."
Katara pondered that for a minute while she washed her body. She liked the way Toph made that sound, not taking any crap. "I guess when you put it that way. I don't really want to smell 'dainty,' especially with everything that's going on."
"Exactly. We're warriors now so it's time we start smelling like one!" Toph smashed her hand into the water.
"Well technically, I don't think warriors take baths."
Toph stood up triumphantly and point in Katara's general direction. "I told you! Baths are for dainty wusses. We need some dirt," She moved into a bending stance and pulled the dirt out of the potted plants near the wall. Katara jumped out of the water, squealing a bit, as Toph dumped the dirt over her head. The water around her began to thicken into a gritty mud bath.
Katara rolled her eyes as she rung the water from her hair. "I just got you clean," she said exasperated.
Toph smirked at her, "This is proof that you should stop trying. It's a never ending battle." She laughed, "At least I still smell good."
Katara shook her head, a small smile on her face, and turned to leave when someone burst through the door.
"Katara I need—" Zuko stopped mid-run, his jaw slack. Katara was frozen for a split second, wide-eyed, staring at him staring at her. Then time returned to normal speed and she screamed. She threw up her hands and the room filled with steam so thick she could barely see her hands.
Zuko's senses seemed to have come back as well because she could hear a stream of apologies coming from his mouth. It was too late though, the damage was done and she wanted revenge. Her eyes narrowed as she pulled the remaining bath water from the pool and pushed the huge wave at full speed towards him. The water flushed him out of the room and down the hall. She grabbed her dress and threw it on hastily, not caring that she was still wet.
Toph laughed behind her, "You know that wouldn't have happened if you had stayed in the mud."
She turned to Toph, still furious, "Why the hell didn't you tell me he was coming?"
"I didn't know. My visions all fuzzy in the water. I can't see like I normally can. Besides I can't always be watching out for everyone all the time," she shouted back.
Katara ignored her and stomped into the hallway, not finished with her revenge yet.
The whole hall was flooded. She gathered up more water as she saw Zuko dart around the corner. She chased him into one of the rooms with the extra beds. It was bigger than most of the others and had several beds lined against the wall. Aang had mentioned during the grand tour that this room was used for the smaller children who didn't want to sleep alone.
Sokka was standing by one of the beds. "What happened?" He asked.
"What happened? He walked in on my bath that is what happened!" Katara shrieked as she lifted her water and pushed it down on Zuko as he tried to apologize again.
"He what?" Sokka shouted at Zuko. She saw something move on Sokka's back and then blood was spraying everywhere.
Her eyes widened. He was bleeding! Her brother was bleeding! "What the hell happened?" She ran at Sokka while Zuko cursed. One look at the blood squirting out of him and Sokka collapsed. Zuko caught him and clamped his hand around Sokka's neck to stop the bleeding.
"This is what I was getting you for. A pangolin-skunk attached itself to his neck."
Katara skidded to his side, water already around her hands. Zuko started to let go of the wound when she got closer but she stopped him, "No, Leave your hand there." He simply nodded. She pushed the water through his fingers and then placed hers on top. Both their hands glowed with the water that was beginning to stain red.
After a tense moment she felt the wound close, "There," she said as she pulled away. Zuko moved his hand so she could inspect the wound and make sure it was all fixed. "Is he hurt anywhere else?" Zuko wordlessly shifted Sokka to his stomach, mindful of the few inches of water that still flooded the room thanks to her.
As she worked on her brother's back, she became aware of just how close she was to Zuko. His head was right next to hers while he watched her heal. Their knees were even touching. She could see droplets of water from his wet hair fall onto Sokka. She was aware of his breathing and his smell. Something was very off about the last part.
It seemed in her haste that she had temporarily put aside her hatred for him. Not that she had forgiven him for interrupting her bath. No, definitely not forgiven. But she supposed it was an emergency. She just wished he had come a moment later, or maybe even a moment sooner when she was still in the water.
She could feel his intense gaze on her while she worked. She didn't like being watched so closely, it made her uncomfortable.
"You smell different," Zuko commented absentmindedly. She started a little at the strange comment. Of course he had chosen now to say something like that, when she was already painfully aware of how close they were.
"Yeah well, you too. In fact you just flat out stink." That seemed to silence him. Good. I need to concentrate anyways. I can't just sit around thinking about Zuko sniffing me. After all, she had a job to do.
As she finished up Sokka's last cut she decided now was as good as any time to finish her business with Zuko. "Zuko," she said and for the first time, managed a polite tone.
He seemed startled at first but then he responded, "yes?"
"If you ever tell anyone about what you saw," she kept up the sweet tone, focusing her eyes on Sokka. His face reddened slightly and he swallowed nervously. "I'll kill you." She met his eyes then, emphasizing the threat. He inhaled a slow breath and gave her a terse nod.
After finishing the last cut she stood up and stretched. Zuko silently lifted Sokka up and set him on one of the beds. She hadn't noticed Haru lying on the bed next to him. She moved over to the bed and pulled up water to check for wounds but when she got closer she had to step back to breathe. The smell coming off of him was so horrendous it got caught in her throat and threatened to strangle her.
"He's fine, just unconscious." Zuko said.
She nodded, glad she hadn't needed to get closer, and sat down on Sokka's bed while he started to wake up.
"What happened out there?"
"We ran into a pangolin-skunk," Zuko sat on the bed across from Sokka's.
She looked back at him. "That thing on Sokka?" He nodded. "Where is it?" She looked around but didn't see it in the room.
"I want it dead," Sokka mumbled as he sat up. As if the animal could hear him, it chose that moment to dart from under the bed and out the door.
"Well it looks like it got away," Katara said. She stood up to leave, thinking the matter was laid to rest when Sokka darted for the door.
"That thing lives over my dead body!" His feet slipped in the water and he landed on his side in the inch deep water. However, he wasted no time to get up again and chase the animal at full speed.
She stood frozen for a moment and then took after him. "Sokka! You shouldn't run like that," she shouted as she chased him down the hall. She could see the little pangolin about twenty feet ahead of her before it darted into a room. Both of them filed in after it to find Aang sitting on his bed with the animal in his arms.
"Hey look what I found!" He said as he hugged the small animal.
"Now hand it over Aang. I have a score to settle with it," Sokka sounded deadly when he said it.
Aang's eyes widened a little, "What? No, she's just a helpless animal."
"Hey, what's with all the noise down here?" Toph said as she walked in with the Duke and Teo. It was starting to feel a little cramped with all these people in Aang's small room.
"Tell that to Haru, that thing is far from helpless."
"What happened to Haru? Did he get hurt?" Teo asked as he wheeled his chair to Sokka.
"Come on Sokka, Haru is fine," she turned to Teo, "He's just unconscious." She looked back at Sokka, "Don't you think you're being a little ridiculous?"
He looked at her incredulously and lifted his bloody shirt. "You saw what that thing did to me! How could you say that?"
The Duke pulled at Sokka's shirt to get a better look, "What happened out there?"
"What happened? I'll tell you what happened. I got attacked by a dead bird, fell off a tree, was almost eaten by a plant and then that thing bit me in the neck!" There was a moment of silence before everyone started laughing.
"How did you get attacked by a dead bird?" Toph asked after catching her breath.
"Look it was a very complicated process and I don't have the time to get into the how just know that it happened."
"Uhh, Katara, something's wrong with her," Aang set the pangolin down on his bed. Katara moved forward to get a better look. She was breathing heavily and now that Katara could see her up close, she noticed how large her stomach was.
"She's pregnant. It looks like she's going into labor."
"Really?" Aang asked excitedly.
"Okay," Sokka declared, "We wait for her to have her babies and then we kill her. When the pups get bigger, we can eat them too."
Katara turned and leveled a look on Sokka that said he was crazy. The Duke squirmed uncomfortably and even Teo voiced his concerns for the ethics of the situation.
"Look Sokka," Toph spoke up. "I love meat as much as you do but even I have to say killing and eating a mother and her babies is a little disturbing."
He let his boomerang fall to his side, defeated. "Oh alright. I won't eat it."
Aang let out a sigh of relief and turned to the laboring pangolin-skunk. "Did you hear that Piper? You're safe now."
"You already named her?" Katara asked while she moved Piper to the floor.
Aang shrugged, "Everyone needs a name. Do you not like it?" She couldn't help feeling amused. Aang loved everything about the world. Sometimes she was surprised by how attached to everything he got, being a monk and everything. But then again, he was only twelve so she supposed it was to be expected.
She shook her head, "No, I like it. These pups are coming soon so unless you want to see the miracle of life, I suggest you leave."
Sokka's face turned a little green before he stated, "I'm out." Teo and the Duke followed him.
Toph turned while mumbling, "I wouldn't be able to see anything anyways."
Midwifeing for a pangolin-skunk was considerably easier than it had ever been for humans. First of all, Piper was only in labor for thirty minutes and second, having all those animal instincts, she already knew what to do so all there was for Katara and Aang to do was make sure there weren't any problems.
In the end, Piper became a mother of five. Aang watched each one as if it was the first, thoroughly amazed by it all. Even Katara had to admit that the strange mix of scales and fur was cute.
"We should let everyone help decide on names for them," Aang said as he pet the mother.
"We'll have to give them a few days first. They need to get a little bigger before we let the others play with them." She moved water around the newborns, cleaning the area of blood.
"Can they stay in here with me?" He asked excitedly.
Katara smiled, "I don't see why not." She rose and brushed off her legs. "I need to go start dinner before Sokka passes out again."
"Okay," he said absentmindedly, already creating a little bed with his blankets for the new family.
Katara moved down the halls, feeling better than she had all day. Aang's selfless behavior was definitely what she needed.
Unfortunately, as Katara was learning fast, nothing lasted forever. Or very long for that matter. Her peaceful demeanor was shattered as soon as she stepped into the kitchen. Zuko was standing at the counter, chopping vegetables.
"What are you doing?" She asked loudly. She could see a plucked bird on the counter next to him, waiting to be cooked.
Zuko looked up, "I'm making dinner." He had a question on his face but he didn't ask it.
"I'm the one who makes dinner!" She stomped her foot, feeling helpless. She knew she was acting childish but she couldn't help it. Zuko didn't deserve a mature response from her.
He stopped cutting vegetables and looked at her, "You were busy so I figured I'd give you a break."
"I doubt you even know how to cook. You're just a spoiled prince." She walked up and pushed him aside, cutting the vegetables herself.
He threw his hands in the air, exasperated. "You may not have royal blood but you are spoiled."
Katara stopped, slowly turned; making sure her full furry was directed at him. She saw, for just an instant, the tiniest bit of fear but then his familiar steely mask quickly covered it and he returned her glare.
"What. Did. You. Say?" She said slowly, pronouncing each word carefully.
He leaned forward, "Spoiled. Brat." He said just as slowly as she had.
She screamed and pulled water out of a bucket on the floor. She threw it at him, turning it into a deadly point. He brought up fire and destroyed it right before it hit his face. He took a step back, readying himself for her next move.
"Bring it on, Sugar Queen." He taunted her.
"You are going down, jerkbender." His lips twitched at the nickname and she took advantage of the distraction. Pulling her hands closer to her body, she collected the water from the storm outside and began throwing icicles at him. He brought up a wall of fire and knocked them aside like toothpicks. He threw fireballs at her and then slid his foot across the ground, coming at her from up high and down low. She jumped and rolled forwards, causing him to step backwards. Katara came up with two razor sharp ribbons of water that slid off her arms as she crossed them in front of him. Zuko ducked quickly but not quick enough. One of the ribbons sliced across his cheek like a feather caress, just underneath his scarred eye. It might have even been mistaken for gentle if it hadn't immediately pushed blood through the thin cut. He had nearly doubled over from the back bend, but he came back up to his feet with no struggle.
Katara took a step towards the arched doorway leading to a balcony outside. Zuko moved his hand to his face and touched the stream of blood that trickled down it. His wicked smile was nothing compared to the dangerous wrath that poured from his golden eyes.
He caught both hands on fire, "You will pay for that." He came at her then with a fury that reminded her of the Spirit Oasis. He was throwing punch after punch, getting dangerously close to hitting her.
He had seemed so reserved for so long that she had almost forgotten what it was like to fight with him. It was exhilarating. Her blood pumping pure adrenaline. She felt herself smile as the two of them settled back into old habits. Fighting Zuko made her feel alive again.
She quickly gathered more water while dodging his attacks and was acutely aware of the lightning storm happening outside. She turned and brought all the water in front of her to catch the new fireballs he had thrown. Then she split the big bubble of water into two thin streams and began twisting and whipping them around him. He parried and ducked the whips as they got close to him. She started back towards the kitchen when he brought up whips of his own and whipped them across the air horizontally. She had backed up against the counter and knew she didn't have enough water to stop all the flames.
Katara jumped while bringing water under her feet to push her over the counter top. She had just barely cleared the counter when his flames grazed the tops, burning all the cut and uncut vegetables. Rolling to her feet, she brought the water around his feet up into icicles that criss-crossed over and around his ankles. He tried to move back and fell on his butt. She leaped back over the counter and charged at him, fists covered in ice.
Zuko kicked off the ground, breaking his bondage, and did a back flip. Fire flew from his feet, getting just inches from her face when she felt a third person attack her. He threw his body into her side and moved her away from the flame just in time. She saw Zuko stand normally, no longer in his fighting stance. Sokka stood up and moved in between the two angry benders.
"I told you to fix things with her, not attack her!" Sokka shouted at him. Katara stood up and brushed off her skirt. She pulled a high wave of water up and pushed Sokka back into the kitchen area.
"Stay out of this Sokka," she rushed Zuko as soon as Sokka was out of the way. She threw her body into his and they both rolled out onto the balcony. He kicked her off of him and stood up. Rain fell all around them and the sky flashed with more lightning. The scene was almost poetic, with the world around seeming as chaotic as how she felt inside.
She dropped her bending and came at Zuko with nothing but her fists. They took turns, both trying to hit the other, both being blocked. There was a time when he would have beaten her, maybe even easily. But a lot had changed since the last time they had fought. He was stronger than her, still, but she was smaller and had learned how to use that to her advantage.
She could move her body around his quicker and caused him to almost lose his balance a few times, but he could use his strength to push her down. She moved to punch him and he would grab her hand and twist her body around. She'd bend her elbow and swing around, almost catching him in the jaw with her other fist but he would block and go for the stomach.
It continued this way until they were both panting heavily. Just when she thought she could go on no further, she thought this was it, her final defeat; a forceful gust of wind followed by an angry, shouting Avatar knocked them both on the floor. The wind was strong enough to cause them to roll a few feet before they stopped. Zuko had wrapped his arm around her as they rolled, protecting her head from hitting the ground. He quickly moved off of her when they stopped and collapsed next to her.
She didn't know what to think about the protective move Zuko seemed to have done without even thinking about it, like it was second nature for him. She was too tired to think of anything but how to breathe so she just dropped it. Another day, she thought.
She could feel the rain fall on her face, cold against her warm skin. Her dress was soaked through completely now. She lifted her head to see Zuko next to her. He was in the same sorry mess she was, exhausted and drenched. They barely had the strength to sit up after all that.
She smiled, unable to stop herself and laughed a little. All that work for nothing. Both of them had dished out their best, and neither of them got the victory. Zuko was confused at first by her laughter but then he resigned to chuckling with her, probably realizing the same thing.
"You think this is funny?" Aang shouted, bringing them back to the current situation. They both sobered up immediately.
"I told you she was going to lose it," Toph mentioned behind Aang.
"I think he lost it too," Sokka said.
"Aang, I-" Katara started but Zuko interrupted her.
"It's my-"
"No!" Aang blew more air over both of them, blowing away all the rain for a moment. "How am I supposed to bring peace to the world if I can't even keep peace between my two teachers?" He didn't let them answer before he continued. He looked close to tears, which broke Katara's heart before his next words sliced it apart. "I expected more of you Katara. I told you I trusted Zuko, that should have been enough for you but you continue to hate him!"
Her eyes swelled with tears as she saw his disappointment. Disappointment in her. Aang had never looked at her that way before. "Aang I- I'm sorry."
"No Aang, it's my fault," Zuko said as he got up to his feet. "I was taunting her."
Aang looked between Zuko and Katara, glaring at both of them. Then he sighed and his face softened. "Okay, no more though, kay?"
They both nodded. Aang smiled, appeased, and walked back into the kitchen. Zuko moved to help Katara up but she jumped up before he had the chance and followed Aang.
"So, uh, what's for dinner?" Aang asked as he looked around at all the charred food.
Zuko brought his hand up to his head, "Sorry, that was my fault."
Sokka was holding the squirrel-parrot in his hand, "Only a part of this got burnt, maybe we can still eat the rest?"
Zuko examined it, "Yeah I can cook this. It won't be a lot but it will feed us until tomorrow."
"I'm just as able to cook that as you are," Katara argued, still not ready to relinquish her responsibilities. Zuko rolled his eyes and was about to argue with her further when Sokka interrupted him.
"We all know you're a great cook Katara," she wasn't sure, but she thought she heard a hint of sarcasm in his compliment. "But Toph and I have something better for you to do."
She hesitated for a moment before giving in, "Oh alright. What is it?"She figured it didn't really matter who cooked, as long as she was busy.
They dragged her over to the table and pushed her to sit down. Sokka and Toph stood on either side of her with the same satisfied grin on their faces. Teo, the Duke, and Aang gathered around the table to see what was going on. She noticed Haru wasn't here and supposed he was still knocked out.
"Okay so I know I haven't been the best of brothers to you as of late," Sokka said as he settled down next to her. "I wanted to make you feel better so I asked Toph to help me with a little project."
Taking that as her queue, Toph stood up and moved into a bending stance. The rock table shifted, separating two sides to reveal a hidden compartment underneath. She moved the compartment up to fill in the hole and then the table look exactly the same as it had a moment ago, only this time with a small addition. In the middle of the table now stood a cloth covering something big.
Sokka moved the fabric away dramatically with a loud, "Ta da!" and revealed a very large and splotchy pot. "We fixed your pot!"
"Well actually, I did the fixing, Sokka just brought me the idea," Toph said triumphantly. Katara pulled it closer to get a better look. She recognized part of it to be the pot Sokka had destroyed. She could see the black stains the fire had given it, but now it was several colors and twice the size it had been. The colors went from the burnt black to a rough, metallic silver, to a yellow gold.
"How did you get it so many colors," Katara asked quietly, in awe of her new present. She felt her face soften and her eyes start to water. It was beautiful, better now than it had ever been.
"I had to use extra metal to make up for the parts Sokka blew up," Toph explained.
"Yeah and I thought since it was going to be different anyways, we might as well make it bigger."
She wiped a tear from her face, trying not to cry, and smiled at both of them, "Thank you." She set the pot down and pulled them both into a hug.
"You should thank Zuko, too," Toph said as she pulled away. "He helped find the extra metal."
That surprised Katara. She couldn't imagine Zuko as the kind of guy that would spend time on a project like this for someone else. She looked behind her to the fire pit, where Zuko stood over their dinner. His eyes came up and briefly met hers. He smiled, so small she wasn't sure she had seen it at first. She smiled back. The same, small, unnoticeable smile and he looked back at the fire. She knew she wouldn't have to say any more to him, knew that he wouldn't hang this over her head or throw it back at her. In that small exchange, everything that had needed to be said was said and that would be the end of it. At that moment she also realized she didn't know him as well as she thought.
A/N: Finally! Now there is a little bit of understanding on both sides. In the next chapter or so we'll get to see the pangolin-skunk pups. As mentioned in the story, there are five little babies and they need names. As a special treat to my readers, you guys get to name them! So send in what you want their names to be.
By the way, if you don't know what a pangolin looks like, I seriously suggest looking it up. They are the cutest (and strangest) little mammal I have ever seen.