Mistakes
Before I get started I have to clear something out of the air, Balut and Ginseng are aphrodisiacs, and the definition of an aphrodisiac is -an agent which is used to increase sexual desire
"Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to error that counts."
Nikki Giovanni
"Hello Miss. Katara, I have to admit I didn't believe he was going to make it, but I am happy to report he is in excellent condition!" The doctor led Katara and the guard through the thick rice door.
"Here he is," the doctor pointed to him, "not a scratch on him, just a minor headache." The doctor had a wide grin on his face which reflected his achievement.
"Thank you so much, Dr. Zhou Dai," Katara shook his hand and maneuvered pass him to see Zuko sitting on the clean white bed drinking different herbs and water mashed together as a remedy.
"It took a lot longer than expected, but here he is alive and well!"
Katara rushed to his side and sat on the foot of the bed, she smiled at him, "I thought that I was gonna have to do this by myself," she giggled a little. Zuko didn't smile he was tired of hearing giggling of any sort. He set down his drink and stood up.
"Oh! You have to get your rest! It is consequential if you don't!" Dr. Zhou Dai pulled on Zuko's pale broad shoulders to pull him back down.
"I've rested for a month, I think I'm fine." Zuko pulled his green removed shirt over his head and walked out the door.
"He's always like that," Katara said with a small smirk on her brown lips as she watched his retreating back.
"Well, I'm not worried about that, but I do require payment." The doctor held out his hand and pushed up his chin.
Katara batted her eyelashes pleadingly at the guard and he sighed,
"How much?"
"10 gold pieces and 5 more for his miraculous recovery." The guard furrowed his eyebrows and showed his teeth in disgust.
Zhou Dai shrugged his scrawny shoulders and lifted his thick white eyebrows, "How else am I supposed to pay for medicines?"
The guard sighed again and shoved 15 gold pieces into the doctor's hand from under his green belt.
"Thank you so much, Fou! I promise I'll pay you back!" Fou, the guard, walked out of the door with Katara following behind.
Katara cupped her hands and placed them under her chin, her eyes darted across the lively streets. "Where's is he?"
"I don't know, but I have to get back to my post. You remember where my house is, right?" Fou asked her
"Yea and I gotta thank you again Fou, so much!" Katara hugged him and he easily hugged her back. Zuko watched from the other side of the door and smirked. He pulled his shoe over his foot and stood up.
Fou pointed in the distance toward Zuko, "Isn't that him?" Katara turned her slender back around and nodded, "Yup, unfortunately…he is really boring." The both chuckled
"Well I have the all day shift, so I won't be home tonight, here is 5 silver pieces to buy dinner." Fou handed the money to Katara and she grabbed it out of his hand.
"We sound like a married couple," Katara began to laugh again, Fou smiled, "I have to get back to work…see you later."
Katara smiled, she waved goodbye and he left. She turned around to approach Zuko. Zuko had a smirk on his face.
"You're boyfriend," he quietly said and let a small laugh surpass his lips. Katara lifted her eyebrows, "No he's not! He just my friend." Katara swatted at invisible dust on her robe and pulled back her hair.
"Alright," Zuko easily dismissed the conversation, he tied his robe and began to walk off, and Katara sped up with him.
"Some recovery, huh, not a scratch on you." Katara fiddled with her fingers and pulled out the silver pieces.
Zuko carefully jostled her to the side, cautious not to draw attention, "I saw her," Katara furrowed her eyebrows unsure of why they were in a corner, "Saw who?"
Zuko rolled his eyes, "Zhy, I talked to her, I went to the spirit world." He slowly moved back onto the busy streets and kept his voice low, "Here, I found this," he pulled the burgundy book from under his shirt. Katara grabbed it.
"I've been looking for this," she skimmed through the pages and again the words on the pages morphed, "Look," she held the book in front of Zuko, Zuko read the message aloud, "Be Wary," he gave a puzzled look.
"I guess we'll just have to be careful," she shrugged her shoulders and handed the silver pieces to Zuko
"Fou gave this to me for food." Katara advanced to a food cart with an old man standing behind it. She felt oddly drawn to the cart. Zuko followed with the money.
"Hello, how are you guys today?" The old man eyed them apprehensively.
"We're just fine, just looking for food." Katara browsed the food selection
Zuko looked at the man, he slightly furrowed his eyebrows in suspicion, the man looked different from everyone else. His hair was jet black, his eyes were amber-brown and his skin was lighter then the peoples here.
He looked firenation, without a uniform.
"I have the perfect treat for the lovely couple." He rummaged through the shelves under the cart table.
"Were not a couple," Zuko quickly told him before the man gave them the food. The old man quickly raised up from under the table, empty handed.
"You are two people, which are a couple. And you are both lovely. A lovely couple." He looked at them as if it was obvious and began rummaging through the shelves again.
Zuko and Katara looked to each other in perplexity. Sensibly he was correct. He came back up with a bottle and a bag.
"Balut and Ginseng tea," the man smiled and his yellow and brown teeth showed through.
Katara tried to cover up her repulsion.
"Thank you, but I've never heard of Balut." Katara grabbed the bottle out of his hands, and left the Balut.
"I insist," Katara pulled only onside of her mouth up, giving a face of distrust. The old man, however, persisted, "I will give you it for free since its you first time," He shoved the bag in Zuko's hands and pushed them away.
They both exchanged surprised looks. Zuko slowly opened the bag, he pulled his head away and had a repulsive look on his face. Katara watched his reaction and peaked inside of the bag. It was duck eggs, four of them to be exact. She nudged at Zuko's shoulder,
"It's just duck eggs, and I've actually always wanted to try them."
Katara took the bag from Zuko's hands and began to walk to Fou's home. Zuko followed.
"You stayed at his house?" Zuko entered through the rice paper door. Katara ignored his question. Katara set the bottle and bag down on a small Maplewood table, on a tatami floor. She pulled out red pottery plates from the cabinet and placed two on the table she cracked the two eggs and put them on both plates.
Instead of runny yolk and egg whites emerging from the cracks of the eggs a duck embryo fell onto the plates Katara's mouth watered. Zuko looked at the eggs with repugnance.
"Aren't you going to cook them?" Zuko sat on a green pillow at the table and poured the ginseng into a cup.
"They aren't supposed to be cooked." She smiled widely in satisfaction and took a bite of the egg.
Zuko looked at the window. The day was almost out, the sky was cast red and orange as the sun was setting. He looked back down to his plate.
Katara sucked her cheeks, "It's really good you have to try it," she cracked another Balut on her plate and poured some ginseng.
Zuko placed the Balut to his thin pink lips, he shivered at its sliminess. He gradually bit into embryo. He chewed into the egg and perked his lips up at the texture.
Katara smiled, "D'you like it?" Zuko drunk some tea to wash it down and replied, "It is actually, alright," he finished it off.
Katara and Zuko were sitting by the window watching the sunset. "It's beautiful isn't it?" Katara smiled at Zuko and placed an arm on his shoulder. Zuko just stared up at her, Zhy was right she was beautiful. He looked at her again and studied her round ice blue eyes. And her shape, she was beautiful. The sun slowly went down like a leaf swaying from a tree into the water and the moonlight shown through the window. Katara walked away to a door swaying her hips. It was alluring. Zuko followed like a fly attracted to light.
She stood at a door, it was hand crafted and had flowers and water carved onto it. Zuko stood behind her with his mouth wide open. Katara giggled and Zuko laughed. Katara slowly opened the door.
It was a bedroom. There was a king size bed against the wall with silk green and gold sheets. The comforter was cotton filled and had flowers and earthy things sewn all over it and the bed had poles on all for corners holding a sheer canopy above it. The room was dark.
Katara held Zuko's face and cocked her small caramel head to the side, "You know," she puckered her lips, "The room has candles in it and I'm sure you're the right man to light up a room," she smiled
Zuko entered the room and carefully lit the candles; they were aligned along the bed, in a pattern. Gold candles and behind and in front of them were green swirled candles. Zuko tugged Katara's hips and pulled her into a kiss.
His thin pink lips met her brown caramel lips and it seemed as if the room filled with an aurora of passion. He slipped his tongue in between her lips and she happily returned the favor.
Zuko began to saunter backwards onto the bed and Katara stood between his legs, still fervently kissing him. Zuko broke the kiss and started his way down her neck, chills ran down her frail spine.
Zuko felt something well up inside of him, he felt a force overtake him. It was as if he wasn't in control of his body anymore and all he could do was watch himself. Katara just stood there enthralled by his infatuation.
Zuko proceeded and slowly untied her robe, she wrapped her arms around him and rubbed her slender hands down his pale back. Slowly she pulled his shirt from around him and tossed it to the floor. He pulled her further onto the bed and they lay there ardently captivated under the sheets.
-Zuko tossed bare, in between a thin gold sheet-
"Zuko, I have something to tell you," Zhy held Zuko's hands and put her head down
Katara awoke to a tossing of her stomach. She quickly pounced up and ran to the bathroom. Zuko awoke by the sudden burst of movement. He held his head as he remembered what he did. He sat up on the edge of the bed with his head furrowed in the palm of his pale throbbing hand.
He slowly began pulling on his pants.
Katara walked from the bathroom and stopped at the door way of the room as she saw Zuko awake. Fortunately he didn't look up to see her, she slowly and quietly tip toed around to the kitchen.
She went to clean off the table. She knew they had left quite a mess last night.
She walked into the kitchen and everything was spotless. She furrowed her eyes questioningly until she saw Fou standing by a large bowl scrubbing dishes. Katara walked over to him.
"I'm sorry, I was just coming in here to clean up." Fou looked at her and then back to his dishes.
"It's alright," she could tell by his voice he was tired. His voice was scratchy and low.
"Here gimme," Katara pulled the wool pad from Fou's hands, "You need you rest go get some sleep." Katara pointed her head to the direction of the room.
"You know, I was going to do that when I got in, but some one or should I say some two where sleeping in my bed." Fou gritted his teeth and untied his belt.
"I'm sorry, I mean, we didn't do anything!" Katara quickly turned to meet his glare.
Fou pointed his finger to her attire, "Yeah, but your in his shirt?" Katara's eyes widened in shock, "I must have grabbed the," her voice faded into a low whisper, "wrong clothes on my way to the bathroom,"
There was an uncomfortable silence ringing through the house, "Well, I have today off, I'll be in town." Fou walked out the door slamming it behind him.
Katara felt guilty, Fou really help her through her time of loneliness, and she repays him by sleeping with another man in his bed.
Katara didn't know what happened she lost control. After watching the sunset a feeling blew over her a feeling of desire.
Zuko walked into the kitchen shirtless. The pair stood in silence, unsure of what to say. He didn't even spend more than a week maybe two with Katara and already he made the biggest mistake of his life. Zuko stood there looking at his pastel hands.
His head snapped back up when he remembered he was shirtless, "I just can in here for my shirt,"
Katara nervously laughed, "I grabbed the wrong shirt," she walked back to the room to change.
Fou walked to an old man behind a cart. The old mans frail voice rang between the carts, "Is it done?" Fou nodded his thin head and smirked, "It is,"
The old man smiled and looked up at the sky, "He will be most pleasurable."
Katara watched Zuko's back he was seated at the kitchen table. She took a deep breath and found the courage to approach him. She swiftly maneuvered toward him vigilant not to make a sound.
She stood behind him and began to talk, "Zuko…" she inhaled sharply trying to gather what she was going to say, "…don't tell," was all she seemed to muster out. She sounded like a little girl pleading to her older brother not to tell daddy she was the one who brought the seal penguin into the house.
Zuko was quiet and Katara grew troubled, he wouldn't tell, she was sure, would he?
"Zuko," she called his name to coax a response. He was quiet and she knelt by him to see his facial expression. His eyes were closed and his chin was rested on both of his knuckles, he looked serene.
To Katara's surprise he began to speak, "The dream," however, was all he said.
"Huh, what dream?" Katara didn't have any dream last night.
He opened his eyes and his piercing golden eyes stared at her, "You didn't have a dream last night?"
"No, in fact I haven't had a dream, for about a month." Zuko stood from his spot and began to pace the floor with his finger knuckle chiseled in his mouth.
"What was your dream about," she stood by the washing bowl, "Was it about Zhy?"
Zuko shook his head, "Never mind,"
Usually Katara would persist, but everything seemed different after last night.
Zuko opened his hand and looked down at it, "Where's the book?" Katara walked on the wooden floor and it creaked with each step, she went into the bedroom. She quickly returned with the burgundy book in her hands. She stepped over to him and opened the book.
The words began to transform again, and when they were done Zuko read the characters out loud, "Get Out,"
It seemed like as the words escaped through his lips a bright light filled the room and as it faded out they were in another town.
This place was eerie and it left and uneasy feeling on Katara's tongue. The fog was dense. It was impossible to see more than six feet in front of you. The buildings were old and waterlogged. Right ahead of them was a tall building. It looked like an inn. The words Eastward Inn was poorly etched on the side of it. This place seemed to be deserted too.
A slight patter of rain quickly turned into a pour. Then lightning erupted and crackled throughout the sky lighting the entrance for a second and in that split second an old man appeared in front of them.
They both gasped in shock.
"What," he chuckled, "You ain't never see n old geezer like me before?"
A/n: The italicized part is the dream, ONLY ZUKO had, and it was only PART of it…so yes you are supposed to guess. Did you like this chapter…Ohhh the big unalterable mistake happened, or did it?!!!