Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed so far. I really appreciate the feedback. This story is starting to get bigger than I planned but I'm glad you're all enjoying it--the positive reaction really helps me keep going. That said, I hope you like the next couple chapters.

Chapter Seven

Katara tossed her robes on the floor and stomped to her bedroom. She threw open the wardrobe and pulled out her training clothes. With brisk, angry movements, she put them on and then stomped out to the gardens, sliding her doors shut with not a little bit of violence. She went to the bare patch of ground where Zuko and Maiko had been training and planted her feet. She would have preferred a body of water to stand in but since the pond was filled with turtle-ducks, she would have to make do with her water skin. Without stretching or doing any breathing exercises, she pulled the stopper out and began to bend.

The women had gotten to her. With their veiled comments about her 'common' upbringing, the darkness of her skin contrasting with the blueness of her eyes, her choice of color for her gowns, and the Fire Lord's opinion about taking concubines to continue the family line, she'd begun to wonder if there was no one in the Fire Nation besides Iroh and Lu Zuo who liked her. She'd met more than a few young women, younger than herself, who looked at her with envy and had made comments she wasn't sure she completely understood but knew had something to do with the Fire Lord's bed. By their expressions, her inexperience about those matters had been fairly obvious from her reaction to them. Yet somehow, they did it all without being overtly rude. It took a certain finesse to deliver an insult sprinkled with niceties and these women were professionals. She'd felt slow and exactly the peasant they had ever-so-gently called her by the end of lunch, but she was proud of herself for keeping her head up throughout. She'd seen the surprise on their faces that she didn't react badly.

Alone, she didn't feel like crying, although halfway through the third course, she thought she was going to lose it over her soup, but right now, she was ready to blow a hole through the top of the palace's roof. Since that wasn't an option, she went to the one thing in the world she knew best. As she made the water dance, Katara felt her heart rate slowing and her body found its rhythm again. A slow, almost dreamy, smile curved her lips as she went through slow, deliberate movements of Waterbending.

In the back of her mind, she made a note to keep up with her exercises. Her life had gone through a big change, but there were some things that still stayed the same. She was a Waterbending Master and those women had no idea the power they were dealing with. Fire Lady or not, she was Katara of the Southern Water Tribe and...

"What are you doing?"

Katara had been so lost in her thoughts that she didn't realize Maiko was sneaking up on her. The little princess was rubbing her eyes having just woken up from her nap and she was dressed in a loose shirt and pants, her robes nothing more than a memory. Katara couldn't help but find her slightly off-kilter ponytail endearing. With a flick of her wrist, she put the water back in her water skin.

"Waterbending," she answered.

"Can you firebend too?"

Katara smiled at her. "No, but Uncle Iroh tells me you're very good at it."

Maiko nodded. Katara stepped back to give her some room on the training ground.

"Could you show me?" she asked.

Maiko took her starting position, legs straight and her palms pressed together. She took a deep breath and then took a step forward, her small fist coming out at the same time. A solid jet of fire came shooting out and Katara felt its heat pass her by. Not having to pretend she was impressed, she turned to the princess.

"That was amazing," she said.

"Daddy says that he couldn't do that until he was five," Maiko said proudly. "Can you do that with water?"

Katara opened her skin and froze a bit of water. She floated the sliver above her hand so Maiko could see it then flicked her fingers forward, shooting the sliver directly into the trunk of a tree a good distance away.

"Wow," Maiko breathed. "Could you teach me to do that?"

"Besides the Avatar, we can only bend one element at a time," Katara explained.

"Oh." Maiko dug a toe in the dirt. "You looked very pretty when you were bending the water."

Katara smiled. "Thank you. Would you like to learn the poses?"

"But I can't bend water."

"No, but you can use them when you bend fire."

Maiko chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully and she blinked her clear amber gold eyes at Katara. Katara wanted to pinch her cheeks but had a feeling she'd end up with singed eyebrows if she did. She would step carefully with this one and hopefully she'd be able to add the princess to her list of people in the Fire Nation who liked her.

"Okay," Maiko said. "But promise you don't tell Aunt Azula."

"I promise."

Katara walked Maiko through some poses and was surprised that she caught on so quickly. Iroh wasn't just boasting when he said she was a prodigy. Maiko was very aware of the movements of her body and after an hour, was able to go through an a number of poses without a single mistake. When she was finished, she wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked to her teacher. Katara had to stop gaping at her.

"You're amazing, Princess Maiko," she said. "Any Firebender Master would have been proud to watch you today."

"And Waterbender Master too?"

Hearing the uncertainty there, Katara knelt and put a hand on her cheek.

"Prouder than you can imagine."

Maiko grinned. "Let's keep practicing."

"Alright."

In unison, they got into start position. Katara glanced sideways at her new pupil and couldn't help grinning. But that grin quickly disappeared when she saw Zuko standing in front of her room, his arms resting on the windowsill as he watched. She started to straighten but he put a hand up and gestured for her to continue.

"What's wrong?" Maiko asked.

Katara blinked. "Nothing. Let's start with the second position: the water snake."

"I like that one."

Together, they moved through the exercise, Katara keeping her eye on the princess and allowing herself a small smile when she saw how close to perfect Maiko was moving. The only hitch was that she still moved like a Firebender. Waterbending was graceful and the movements were as liquid as the element they bended, but Maiko's movements were a little too sharp, too swift. However, Katara would save her criticism for later. At this moment, she was just glad that Maiko wasn't kicking her in the shin or giving her a look that would cause a lesser person to drop dead.

"Princess Maiko," her nanny called out and jumped when she saw the Fire Lord. "My Lord. Princess Maiko will be going to her lesson in a half hour and I must have her dressed and washed before..."

"I am not her teacher at this present moment, Sun," Zuko said. "The Lady Katara has charge of the princess right now."

Incensed, Sun trotted over to the practice ground. Katara watched her, stopping halfway through her position while Maiko continued.

"Lady Katara, may the princess be excused? She has a lesson she must attend in a half hour."

"Of course," Katara said. "Maiko, we'll do this again."

"Tomorrow?"

Katara started to ask the nanny but remembered Iroh's words that she stand her ground.

"Yes, tomorrow," she said firmly. "When you don't have lessons."

Sun took Maiko by the hand and they disappeared into the princess' room. Katara put the stopper on her water skin and walked to where Zuko waited.

"I suppose you'll tell me I shouldn't encourage Maiko to learn Waterbending forms," she said bitterly.

"Actually, I was going to ask if you could continue teaching her," Zuko said archly. "Stop trying to put words in my mouth, Katara. You don't know me."

Katara hated the way he looked at her as if she were an ant-fly that he'd decided not to swat at. She supposed that was why she decided he was as good a person as any to use as a scapegoat for all that she'd experienced that afternoon. It wouldn't be completely unfair after all since he bore a great deal of the responsibility for bringing her to this place.

"From what I heard from the women at lunch today, I really don't know you," she said.

"What does that mean?" Zuko scoffed. "Are you really stupid enough to actually believe what those hens whisper about behind each other's backs and mine?"

"After you take your first concubine, will I be known as the first wife? Will I be like the captain of your harem?" Katara asked cuttingly.

His good eye blazed at her. "If you were any other person, I would burn you where you stand."

"I'd like to see you try."

They stood toe to toe, glaring at each other. Katara had pulled the stopper from her water skin without realizing it and Zuko had planted his right foot, getting ready to bend. Then he blinked and straightened.

Katara realized belatedly that they had an audience. The maids and both nannies had come out into the corridor and were staring blatantly at them. Heat blossomed on her cheeks and with suddenly clumsy fingers, she put the stopper back on her water skin. Even Zuko didn't seem to know what to do for a second but he gathered himself and glared at them.

"I'm sure you all have work to do," he growled.

They scurried away, leaving Zuko and Katara to look at each other helplessly.

"Why do you have to bait me?" he demanded exasperatedly.

"Reflex," she said, rubbing her forehead where a headache was starting. "You just...you make me so angry."

"The feeling's mutual but you don't see me lashing out at you like a wounded saber-tooth tiger moose. You're acting like a spoiled teenager."

"You know what that's like."

"That's it," he said, pushing past her, his shoulder knocking into her, and he went into her rooms uninvited. "If your plan was to annoy and anger me until I kicked you out of the Fire Nation, then you've succeeded. Nothing is worth this."

Katara was speechless and she stared at him with her mouth half-open. He rolled his eyes as he pulled her with one hand and shutting the doors behind her with the other.

"There's proof that I'm doing the right thing," he snorted. "You've finally shut up."

"But you've already made your announcement," she said slowly.

"What is it now? Now you want to stay?" he demanded.

"No. It's just that...we're committed," she said, closing her eyes against the throb of her headache.

"Are we? I haven't had a normal conversation with you since you got here. All we do is jump down each other's throats and I don't know about you, but being in the same room as you is making my blood pressure rise," he said, hand in the air just to show her how high.

Katara sat down on the couch. She fiddled with the string that held her stopper to her water skin. Zuko paced up and down the length of the room, his hands clenching and unclenching. Several choice oaths hissed passed his lips and she was fairly certain he'd just cursed at five generations of her family. She watched him and thought this was more like the Zuko she remembered. And for some reason, that was more comfortable than the thoughtful, centered, confident Fire Lord he'd become.

The hurtful words that had come so readily to her lips faded away in the face of his frustration and the truth in his words. She was sad and angry about her situation, but she knew she could do better than this. Also, she had to admit that lashing out at him wasn't making her feel better, as righteous as she felt about it. It was unlike her to attack so mindlessly; all she was doing was reacting and not doing any thinking at all when it came to him. It was as if they had switched positions and she wondered what Sokka would have thought to see her acting like the angry jerk and Zuko acting like the calm one. She wondered what Aang would think. She took a deep breath.

"We have to make this work," Katara said. "As much as I want to, I can't leave here and we can't break this engagement. You made your announcement and I just spent the afternoon getting flayed by women who can end your rule. Zuko, you're in trouble and the last thing you need is more trouble."

"I don't need you to tell me that," Zuko said acidly, stopping in the middle of the room to glower at her.

"Well, maybe I needed to say it," she said, her voice starting to rise. "We also need to stop fighting in front of everyone."

"I agree with you there. You can be sure that the maids have spread the new of this last one to the opposite end of the palace by now," he said with a scowl. "Women love to gossip."

"What can we do to make this work?" she wondered aloud, ignoring that last comment.

They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence. Katara stared at the hem of his robes, could see the restless tapping of his foot in the ripple of material.

"I don't know," he said, frowning. "I have to go. I'll talk to you later."

Katara watched him go, her heart sinking as she wondered if there was anything they could do at all.