Hi again.
It's been quite a while, sorry about that. I hope to keep updating as much as possible, but you know how life is.
I know I usually switch viewpoints after each story and you're probably sick of Katara by now, but this next one is important, so I hope you like it!
Please keep commenting and voting – you have no idea how much it helps us writers (unless you are one yourself, of course). Plus, and this is a purely selfish reason, it makes me feel so great :D
Thanks y'all.
- Ellie
….
It had been six days since she'd last seen Aang and her brother. Six days. Sokka might be little childish sometimes, but Katara knew he still considered himself her guardian – enough that it wouldn't have taken him six days to track her down. And Aang… Well, she'd like to think he was the same.
Lien's words had been echoing in her mind for hours now: 'your friends aren't coming to save you'. He could have just been taunting her, but somehow Katara didn't believe that. Lien had known something. And her instincts told her it wasn't a good something. Wherever they were, Aang and Sokka were in danger, and the only person who could help them was chained to her cell with her hands behind her back. There was no way she could waterbend in this position.
Katara kicked the cold iron floor in frustration just as the door creaked open. She stiffened but relaxed as soon as she saw who the visitor was.
"Haven't you done enough damage to our ship, princess?" Iroh's gentle voice chuckled from across the room. A hot cup of tea was cradled in his wide hands, its steam trailing towards the ceiling, as if he was protecting it from the harsh world outside.
"Why do you call me that?" Katara asked as he made his way over to her, cloak swishing along the black floor.
"All in good time," he told her as he crouched down. Katara flinched away from the proximity involuntarily, cursing herself for her new weakness. An angry expression flitted across Iroh's usually kind features so quickly that Katara wasn't sure she'd seen it.
"S-sorry," she mumbled, her eyes fixed on the metal underneath her.
Iroh, realising what she must have thought, quickly corrected her. "Oh no, child," he said, "not you. That Lien will pay for what he did to you."
Katara sighed and looked at Zuko's uncle. In the last two days, he'd been the only visitor to her lonely cell and Katara was more grateful for the company than ever before. Whilst she hadn't seen Zuko since the attack, Iroh had quickly figured out her favourite flavour of tea and always made sure she had as much as she wanted. He was so much nicer than Katara had been led to believe any firebender could be, especially the Dragon of the West. She wondered how he'd got that name in the first place…
Iroh held the steaming cup towards her and she took a tentative sip. The tea burned its way down her throat like it always did, clearing her head and waking her up.
"Better?" the old man asked.
She smiled and nodded.
"Good," he said. Groaning, Iroh straightened up, his back clicking in the process. The ship bobbed up and down as the Dragon of the West turned back to the door. But before he left, Iroh looked back at the waterbender and studied her, carefully considering what he was about to say.
"You know, Katara," he said, his voice lowered so the guards outside the door wouldn't hear him. "You're stronger than you think. The rules that bind the rest of us might not apply to you too."
And with that, General Iroh sauntered out of Katara's cell, leaving her yet again in a state of confusion and asking herself why the hell he always had to speak in riddles.
Katara lay on her back with the cold metal of the ship seeping through her thin dress, looking up at the uneven hole she'd made a few days ago, before… She shuddered. Don't go there.
It was midday; she could tell by the position of the sun in the sky. Another half a day gone, and she was no closer to getting out of this mess than she had been at the start. The shackles around her wrists were aching and she longed to just be able to move them without the metal digging into her skin. Now would be the time to use waterbending to get out of this situation, but her hands were behind her. As a rule, you can't bend without using your hands for the movements. So infuriating.
Wait.
As a rule… A rule.
What had Iroh said? "The rules that bind the rest of us might not apply to you too."
Katara sat up and looked over her shoulder at her hands handcuffed behind her. Maybe she could… No. Stupid idea. Nobody could do that.
And yet. She had no other ideas. Might as well give it a go.
The waterbender crossed her legs and closed her eyes. Although she'd never done it herself, Katara had seen Aang meditate lots of times and knew the basics. She just had to relax and clear her mind of any thought.
Katara retreated into herself and for two hours remained as still as possible whilst the boat around her rocked and swayed to the rhythm of the water below.
Slowly but surely images and feelings came to her; essences of elements and beings and spirits. All was calm inside her mind as the waterbender carefully felt out for the sense of the river the ship was resting on. There.
The water ran through her mind like the real thing outside, and she imagined herself jumping into it and letting it carry her along its path. Katara flowed with it, twisting and turning at the same moment, holding onto the feeling of it. Then suddenly, waterbending moves flashed through her head and…
She had it. Caught in her grasp to do whatever she wanted with – the water.
With her eyes still closed, Katara fed a strand of the river through the hole in the hull and directed it towards the shackles binding her wrists. An icy breath escaped her lungs and the water froze on the metal. Katara could see spirit of the water in her mind's eye and urged it to expand. It obeyed her, and the handcuffs broke apart with a resounding 'clunk'.
Rubbing her wrists, Katara grinned and made her way over to the door. She considered blowing it off its hinges, but couldn't resist a bit of drama. Using the water to unlock it, the waterbender opened up the door from the inside and strode past the guards with a smooth "Evening, boys," savouring the looks of astonishment on their faces. With quick spurts of water, Katara froze them to the walls, leaving their noses free to breathe.
The ship was bigger than she'd realised and Katara knew she was wasting valuable time by getting lost. Heart thumping, she raced along the narrow corridors, well aware of the racket her shoes were making on the metal floor. It was only a matter of time before she came across come the guards, and Katara didn't want to push her luck on a battalion of Fire Nation soldiers.
Just as she was starting to think she'd never get out, Katara burst out of the ship and onto the deck. She'd been lucky not encountering any guards below, but now she was even more visible in her bright blue dress and the waterbender knew she had to get out of there fast. Who knew what they'd do to her if they found her.
Katara ran over the rails and climbed up, ready to ride away on a wave. But just as she summoned the current, a blast of fire shot past her shoulder and knocked her back to the ground.
"Going somewhere?" asked a familiar voice.
Zuko stood defiantly behind her, surrounded by 50 guards and firebenders, all poised and ready to attack. His expression showed no surprise at her having gotten out, but fury and annoyance. It was enough to chill Katara to the bone and she realised just how naïve she'd been.
This isn't a game, Katara, she reminded herself.
Brushing dirt off her dress, Katara moved to stand but Zuko quickly barked out, "Don't move."
So she stayed sat down and stared at Zuko, refusing to let him terrify her. His eyes burned into hers as neither of them moved; a silent battle raging between them.
He couldn't let her go. She was his one chance of capturing the Avatar.
But Katara had also been focusing on other things, and Zuko's refusal to back down had prevented him from noticing the wall of water building behind him. Every time she felt the water's power waning, Katara thought of Aang and Sokka, and the water rose even higher. It wasn't until the shadow fell across the ship that the men finally looked up and saw the danger they were in.
"Now," Katara said firmly, raising her voice so everyone could hear. "You're going to let me go, or I let the wave fall."
Zuko ignored his men's cries of incredulity and stared at Katara, trying to suppress the respect building up inside. A rogue thought fluttered through his mind, 'finally, a worthy opponent', and he shook his head to dislodge it.
"No?" Katara asked, mistaking his head shake for an answer. "Well, then-"
"STOP!" Zuko yelled, and Katara looked back at him with shining blue eyes, again catching him unprepared. "You are free to leave. But I will never forget this."
The waterbender had no doubt that the Prince meant that as a threat, but she was too busy focusing on controlling the water for it to scare her.
"Good," she replied, and she dove into the river, reducing the wave into nothing but a few ripples.
Iroh watched as the girl disappeared into the water, pride growing in his chest.
You will be the best of them all, Katara, he thought as he turned to watch the sun dip below the horizon.
