-Chapter 15- Like Today Never Happened

"My freedom for his life, and I would do it again in a heartbeat."

.

For once, the room filled with sunlight before either of them awoke. Filtering through the curtains, the light stirred neither of them. They lay curled together; Zuko had his back to the window with Katara's forehead pressed against his chest. Her hair lay unbound against the pillow, resting in tangled brown waves behind her. Zuko's hand lay on her waist. The silken sheets covered their hips and legs, the rest of them exposed to the warm morning air. Had there been no disturbances, the two of them could have dozed until midday.

The knock on the door gave them little warning. Zuko opened his eyes just in time to see the knob turn.

The sharp voice echoed from the hallway outside. "Zuko-"

"Don't come in!" Zuko called, but he was too late to stop the intruder. Katara woke to Zuko sitting up in bed and grabbing at the sheets to make sure everything was covered.

"Why?" The voice snapped as the door was thrown open. It her a moment to long to recognize the voice, an by the time she pulled the sheets over herself, it was too late. She could feel her face reddening.

"Zuzu," Azula sneered, her smile devious.

"Get out," Zuko growled. Katara felt the bed sway as he chucked a pillow towards the door. His sister caught it with little effort.

"Alright, but then you won't hear the message I was supposed to give you." Still smiling, she turned to leave. "Your loss."

"Azula!" Zuko called, halting her in the doorway. "What's the message?"

"It's about Uncle." She eyed the two of them in bed. Katara tensed, clutching the silk to her chest as she sat up. Any embarrassment she felt from the princess catching them like this faded immediately. Azula laughed to herself.

"Though I'm not sure Uncle would be pleased to hear that you're fu-'

"This isn't-"

"No Zuzu," Azula countered. Her voice sharp. "This is exactly what it looks like. Won't Father be proud." She laughed again.

"What's the message Azula?" Zuko ground his teeth as his siter examined her nails dismissively.

"Nothing important rally." She rolled her eyes. "Just that Uncle is with the doctor in his rooms right now. He's been there all morning, ever since his ship pulled in at dawn. The palace's been-"

"Get out," Zuko said, his voice less of a growl now. Azula sent one last glance at Katara and shut the door. It wasn't even closed before the prince leaped out of bed and rushed to his drawers. He tossed Katara one of her tea outfits and proceeded to get dressed in record time.

Katara put on the outfit, fumbling to get all her wrappings in place in her nervousness. She was worried about Prince Iroh. Though, some of her nerves could be attributed to the fact the princess had found her in bed with Zuko. There was another knock on the door, this one much more furious.

"What?!" Zuko shouted. He threw open the door to find Lu Ten standing in the hallway. The young man winced at the shout, though he had not backed away, his hand still raised mid-knock.

"Where have you been?" He asked, then added. "Did you get the message I sent? The doctor's worried he won't last much longer." Zuko waved Katara after them as Lu Ten lead them down the hallway at almost a full sprint. She noticed the sling around the older prince's right arm. If she remembered correctly, that was his stronger sword arm.

"What happened to your arm?" They turned a corner and moved in to Iroh's wing of the palace.

"The Earth Kingdom armies ambushed us about two miles out before we even reached the main camp," Lu Ten explained. "No one was killed, but we suffered major injuries, some worse than others."

Lu Ten pushed open a pair of double doors and a large room decorated in light woods with white accents came into view. Katara spotted Iroh on a grand bed similar to Zuko's and hurried to his side.

Zuko caught her shoulder with the silent signal to wait. She acquiesced, biting her lip with worry. She noticed two people in the room as well, recognizing Zuko's mother instantly as she set a vase of fire lilies on the bedside table. The palace medic, Katara assumed, stood over Iroh, checking his pulse. The man wore no expression as he placed his hand back on the bed and bowed to both younger princes. Someone must have given the man a signal since he said nothing as he left the room, shutting the doors as he went.

"What did the doctor say?" asked Lu Ten. Ursa folded her hands in her sleeves and looked down at her brother-in-law on the bed.

"He says his pulse is slowing, and he's struggling to draw breath." As if to prove her statement, Iroh coughed and his breathing sounded strained as he wheezed. Lu Ten moved to his father's side and held his hand. Iroh had yet to open his eyes.

"The doctor thinks the broken ribs may have punctured his lung. They don't think he'll pull through. It's incredible that he made it this far." There was silence for a moment, all eyes in the room fell on Iroh.

His head, above his eyes, was wrapped in fresh bandages. Katara noticed his left wrist had been set in a splint; it had been broken. She was sure the injuries continued under the ivory blankets that had been pulled up to his armpits.

"Can you give us a moment Mom?" Zuko asked.

Lady Ursa nodded. "Of course." She walked to the door after putting on hand on her son's shoulder in comfort. Soon the room was just them.

Zuko let Katara go and she hurried to the other side of the bed. Lu Ten had taken a seat on the stool, his forehead cupped in his uninjured hand as he leaned on the bed beside his father. The scene reminded Katara of herself and GranGran, how she sat with her, begging all the spirits above to make her better and not leave her alone. They hadn't listened then, but maybe they would listen to Lu Ten. He was a prince after all. Maybe spirits actually listened to royalty?

"How did you make it back so fast Lu Ten?" Zuko asked, approaching the bed.

"The engineers came up with these new war machines. They call them balloons. They fly using hot air from our firebending, so they're so much faster than the tanks... even so" Lu Ten sighed. "If he's punctured a lung, not even the best doctors in the Fire Nation can help him." Katara saw Zuko jerk his head up and level a stare in her direction.

"Maybe not, but maybe Katara can."

Katara's eyes widened in panic. She shook her head, silently pleading with him not to say more.

"I know she worked with the Arena Zuko, but-"

The youngest prince interrupted him. "No listen. She healed me when I came home ripped to shreds from the Arena. She can do it. I know she can."

"But Zuko, this isn't a burn or even a wound I can see. How am I supposed to heal this?" She felt tears burn in her eyes. She was terrified of the prospect. It was not so much that these two would tell her secret, not entirely. There was also a fear, somewhere deep, that she would not be able to help, that her healing would fall short. She'd feel responsible then if Iroh died. She was not sure if she could handle that. Zuko moved to the vase his mother had set down and presented it to Katara.

"No one will find out," Zuko coaxed. "You can do it." He glanced at Lu Ten; the older prince had fallen silent. Katara watched him glance between her, his cousin, and the vase. After a moment, his eyes grew wide in realization. After all, he had been the one out with her the night of the guard's death.

"Please help him," he begged, putting just enough of the pieces together. Eyes still blurry with her panicked tears, Katara nodded and took the vase. These two believed in her, even if she did not fully believe in herself. She would pull her strength from them and try her best.

"I'll do what I can," she stated. Katara handed Zuko the fire lilies, thankful the flowers were so greedy about water. She stepped into her stance and drew the water from the vase and into the air.

"I don't believe it," Lu Ten breathed, watching the water hover as Katara pulled back the sheets with one hand. Iroh wore a loose white shirt that opened down the front, allowing the doctors and Katara easy access to any injuries. She concentrated on holding the water with one hand and searching for the tender spot with the other.

It was obvious that his left two bottom ribs were broken even from the surface. His whole chest was bruised, though small scratches already looked like they were trying to heal.

"What happened?" Zuko asked again, looking down at his uncles' injuries. Katara lowered the water over his ribs and placed her hands on his skin. He was too warm, even for a firebender.

"We were riding the last few miles to camp with the Komodo-rhino division discussing last minute strategies, and the Earth Kingdom army surprised us with a small group of benders. Dad got hit by a large boulder and flew off his rhino before any of us even knew where they were coming from. We took them down, but not before I took a hit, breaking my arm and dislocated my shoulder. Dad wasn't so lucky. The head wound made his lose consciousness off and on the journey home. Though until we landed and he was moved here, he was breathing fine."

Katara only halfway listened to the story as she urged the water to seep under Iroh's skin and find the issues. It was difficult work, but eventually she found what she thought was the problem. Katara had never seen the inside of a human before, so she had no idea what everything she felt through the water was.

What she did know, was that gaping holes and inflamed tissues were not normal in a healthy human. She felt her strength fade and allowed the water still on Iroh's skin to glow around her hands. Lu Ten's gaze and sharp intake of breath almost caused her to lose her focus.

"What's happening?"

Zuko answered for her. "Somehow, she can use her waterbending to heal." The two princes watched in silence as Katara closed her eyes and concentrated on closing the scar tissue on the lung. She coaxed the lung to build itself a patch to cover the hole the bone had pierced.

In the back of her mind, she could feel the two broken bones through the water's touch. Already his body had begun building them back up, though only the lowest one was truly broken. It felt as if the top rib only sustained stress fractures, easy enough for a body to heal with enough bed rest. The bottom rib was not completely severed, but it had moved out of position and poked inward. Iroh coughed, shifting his ribs under Katara's hand. She cringed when she realized the bone would simply puncture the lung again if left as it was. She looked up to the two young men.

"I need one of you to try and support his rib. It's too close to his injured lung to heal properly. If you could somehow lift it into place-"

"I'll try," Lu Ten said. With his good arm, he carefully wedged his hand under his father's rib cage. Though he had lost weight due to the injury, it was still difficult with his wide stomach. Lu Ten finally got the right pressure and Katara sent the remaining water to where she felt the fissure, speeding up the process just enough for the rib to support itself without fear it would cause more damage.

Katara thanked Lu Ten and put her head to Iroh's chest. She frowned and looked around for more water.

"I just need a little more water." Zuko looked around and noticed the teapot on the dresser. He looked to Lu Ten who shrugged. The pot was brought to Katara. The tea leaves had not yet been added, so she pulled the small amount of water into the air and opened Iroh's mouth. She guided the glowing liquid down his throat.

"I'm not sure this will work." She admitted the words more to herself then the others. The waterbender guided the ball of water into the still inflamed lung. There she settled it over the injury she had attempted to patch and pressed her hand gently onto Iroh's skin. The water pulsed again the swollen tissue of the lung and knitted itself back together.

Iroh attempted to cough once more an Katara realized it was because of the other fluid filling his lungs. Lifting her hands off his skin, Katara closed her fingers without making a true fist and appeared to push the fluid up and out of Iroh's mouth. Before Katara could decide where to deposit the mucous-filled water, Iroh took a deep breath and opened his eyes. He looked from Lu Ten to Zuko and settled on her.

Katara?" He asked, just as the door opened to the bedroom. Water still hovering, Katara froze under the gaze of the three witnesses at the door. Iroh's eyes drifted shut once more.

"Father." Zuko stood and faced the door, standing between Katara and the visitors. Katara lost her waning concentration as fear flooded her veins and dropped the water at her feet. Though it splashed her, she didn't let her eyes leave the doorway.

"Guards!" called Prince Ozai.

"No wait! She just saved my father's life, Uncle!" Lu Ten shouted as he rose to his feet.

"That's not what I saw," Ozai scowled. A group of guards swarmed past Ozai, his wife, and daughter in the doorway and flooded into the room.

"Take the waterbender to the Arena where she belongs!" Ozai ordered.

"Father stop! You don't know-" Zuko approached him as the guards took hold of Katara's arms and began to force her towards the door.

"I know a waterbender has been living in the palace for who knows how long, and she hasn't been caught!" Ozai roared. "And it appears that my own son knew and did nothing!"

"But she-"

Katara stopped listening. She had no tears to shed for herself; Iroh was saved, Lu Ten would live, and she was truly a woman because of Zuko. She had no regrets as she listened to Zuko shout at his father. The princess watched with a delighted smile as Katara was forced passed them.

Azula sneered. "She must have been really good in bed if you want to keep her this badly Zuzu," For the first time, Katara felt her face go red at the thought of someone talking about her. She did not have a response since the guards dragged her down the hallway and forced her to march all the way to the Arena without stopping.

It was a decent journey, one Katara could recall doing in the other direction in the dark with Iroh not too long ago.

They did not stop when they came to the Arena's center. She was brought down a set of stairs and submerged into cool darkness. The door at the bottom was opened and Katara was met with looks from other prisoners as they watched her through their own cell bars.

The guards walked her past hundreds of others, all dressed in the same tattered grey tunics and pants that she remembered seeing as a little girl. Finally, she was pushed into an empty cell against the inside of the Arena and locked in. She came to the bars and touched the cool metal, trying to settle her racing heart, letting her eyes adjust.

Whispers grew louder as the other prisoners watched her. She saw the age ranges in the cages around her and noticed that she was the only woman in sight. Katara slid down the bars and knelt with her head against them.

This had been the one thing she had feared ever since that day in the bathroom when she discovered she could bend. Being sent to the Arena meant certain death. Slowly, Katara heard the voices around her instead of her own morbid thoughts.

"-from a rich house-"

"She has to be a waterbender then-"

"-just found her ability?"

"-won't last two matches."

"Poor thing."

Katara gripped the bars tighter and held back tears. When no one was looking, she could cry, but not here, not now. She looked up as she took a steadying breath. Using the metal bars for support, Katara stood and examined her cell. Except for the fact that she had no cellmates, it was the same as all the ones around her.

"You must have been from a noble family, those are nice clothes for anyone to consider giving any of us," said a voice in the cell across the walkway. Katara turned and saw an earth kingdom man leaning against the bars, watching her.

"You can say that," Katara nodded, swallowing her tears, blinking hard to clear her eyes.

"Did your bending come late then?" Asked a man in the cell to her left.

She shook her head. "No, I've known since I was little."

"Water?"

She nodded.

"Northern or southern Water Tribe?" An eager man just older than herself asked.

"Southern," she answered. After a moment, she saw the men pass looks between each other and turn towards the cell diagonal from her own to the right, she asked. "Is anyone still left from my village? I know it's been ten years-" She paused, watching a man shake another awake in the cell across the way.

"Only two of them are still down here," came the muffled response from somewhere on her left.

The man across the hall spoke to the waking man. "We have a new bender. She says she's from your village." She watched him move towards the bars.

The young earthbender in the cell beside her gave her a smile she didn't see. "So, what's your name?" The girl's eyes had not moved from the cell with the man who had been sleeping. Tears came and she let them fall when she heard his voice answer for her.

"Katara."

"Dad," she smiled. He had aged more then she thought possible in the span of ten years. it must have been the constant fighting to survive that put undue stress on him. She wished she could hug him and stay safe in his arms like she had done when she was little. He would stroke her hair and tell her everything would be aright and that he would protect her from all the monsters.

"You're a waterbender?" He asked slowly. She wasn't sure if she heard confusion or something else in his voice.

She nodded, fearful that he was disappointed. "I know that- "

"I'm so proud of you Katara," he smiled. Katara saw the truth in his words reflected in his expression and smiled. She looked around, seeing no recognizable faces.

"Who else is still here?"

"Kuhro," Hakoda answered.

"Were all the rest-?" she almost did not want to hear his answer.

"No," Hakoda answered, "Sokka and handful of others had their contracts bought up and fight without the fear of death anymore. I hear your brother is doing very well for the nobleman he fights for." Katara smiled, knowing Sokka was still alive, even if he was still fighting.

"I saw Sokka a few years ago-" and so she shared the story of how she and Kanna worked for Ouran Zu, and then how she ended up with Shiyu and learned of her bending powers. She didn't mention that she ended up at the palace; she was not sure how to share the story and skip the part about the youngest prince. The thought of telling her father made her heart race and face flush.

The prince would not be banished from her mind so easily though; she dreamed of him behind the mask of the Blue Spirit that night.

The next day she was let out to the practice area with the benders in the 2 cells beside her own. She noticed how the guards seemed to gather and watch them, most specifically her. One of the young men who spoke to her yesterday noticed her discomfort.

"Come practice with me," he stated, moving to the barrel of water that was only half filled. Each man took a fair share of the meager amount and moved through their own training. Katara watched her partner extend his hands and send the water in a slow smooth arc toward her. She copied his stance and felt the transfer of push and pull as they moved the water through the air in a complete circle between them. It was calming, but Katara figured it was meant to be done with more water.

"Why don't they have more water out for us to use?" Katara asked him. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that the others all struggled to make do with what they were allotted. "There are a lot of us for so little."

"They think we'll try to escape if they give us anymore."

"Why do they want us to practice anyway then?" He changed the path of the water followed to that of a figure eight. It involved controlling the water as it passed around and behind them. The exercise was more difficult, but Katara picked it up quick enough.

"The arena master, or the 'Head of Games' as he calls himself over the announcements wants all the matches to be entertaining. If we don't know what we're doing and the fights end too soon, then the people get bored. At least that's what we've concluded. I don't complain though, this beats sitting in those prison cells for six days waiting." The young man shrugged.

"When is the next one?"

"Tomorrow." Katara nodded. Her count had been correct; she wound up here just in time to fight for her life.

They went through more forms with new stances and Katara asked about his own training. It turned out the boy had been part of the Northern Water Tribe and sent out in an ambush to try and free one of their outlying villages from Fire Nation rule.

They had eventually succeeded, but not before him and his three friends were all captured two years back. He turned out to be slightly older than she assumed, explaining that all four of them had been training with the city's master for several years until then. Their schooling was almost complete. He shared as much as he could think of.

The skills she had learned on her own impressed him and some of the others when they took breaks to catch their breath. Katara was tired by the time they were returned to their cells. Once again, she was alone, though now that she knew the men around her a little better, it was not so bad.

Later, once the sun had set and the cells were pitch black, Katara heard the main door open. She sat up from where she curled up in the corner to sleep, wondering what the guards were down here for. The firelight made its way down the walkway.

She noticed the tension in the air build in the cells around her own. Someone moved in the cell across and down on from her own, standing at the bars. Light blinded her when two guards stopped at her door. She scrambled to her feet, still protected by the soft flat shoes she wore in the palace.

"What do you want?" Katara asked nervously. The men wore neither heavy armor nor their helmets, just the under tunic with the symbol of the Arena embroidered over their hearts.

"That's no way to talk to your welcoming party, dearest." The man with the flame in hand grinned. The light caught all the wrong edges on his features, throwing harsh shadows across his face. They unlocked the cell door and approached her.

"Leave her alone," Katara heard her father call from his cell.

"Leave her alone he says," the other guard mocked. "I don't think I will." He moved forward and grabbed at Katara, forcing one arm behind her back and leaning his head in the crook of her neck.

"Besides. I doubt she'd used to be left alone, especially at night. I wouldn't want her to be lonely down here." Katara reddened and instantly knew what the two men had come down to find her for. She struggled to be free as the second man closed in on her. the cells around them exploded in a cacophony of shouts and raised voices, her own amongst them.

She saw flashes of the two men in the alley and then the nobleman in the hallway. Only, where they had all failed, the guards now succeeded. She had no water to bend and no surprise rescuers, not here.

She fought them tooth and nail, but eventually they got what they came for. They were both quick to finish and left with a promise to return and keep her company.

Collapsed against the wall where they left her like broken doll, Katara wiggled back into her pants and closed her eyes. Tears fell down her face when she realized this would have been what she experienced as her first time if she had not begged Zuko to show her. This was what the other women of her tribe had most likely gone through when they were sold away to their original masters.

The scariest part of all was that if she had had not been rescued by Lu Ten from the kidnapping at the brothel, she would have known this life under Admiral Zhao already. It finally made sense now, what everyone else seemed to know but refused to tell her; Sokka's insistence on her never getting caught bending and set here, her grandmother's phrase about a life worse than death, and Iroh's fears she would learn this on her own. And under it all, she heard Zuko's voice, his promise that he would let no one else touch her.

While that promise lay broken, she would not fault him. There was no way he could know what happened in the bowels of the Arena. He was a prince of the powerful Fire Nation. Why should it matter to him what became of the girl prisoner he to took to bed every night for the last week?

"Katara?" She heard her father ask cautiously. She realized how silent the cellblock had become. She wiped her eyes and tried to take a calming breath. Outwardly it helped. Inside, she felt numb.

"I'm ok Dad." It was an obvious lie.

"You don't have to be strong Katara. No one expects you to be. Not after that." She heard the anger in his voice. Katara nodded, easing herself to sit up against the iron wall behind her. She absentmindedly noted astray beam of moonlight fall over her from the openings above.

"Those guards have no honor," the young bender added from the cell beside her own. She nodded again, touching the hand carved pendant around her neck and lifted her chin to face the moonlight. The men around her remained silent as she sat bathed in moonbeams like an ethereal spirit. The light blinded her to the other cells, but Katara felt anything but alone in her single cell. If anything, she felt her mother's soft presence beside her, holding her tight as she cried.

(Original Author's Note)

OK, and so the story is heading up to the main event. Several more chapters are on the way, worry not. And I am aware that Katara bounced back from this little Arena reality check slightly too easily, but, she has some lovely spirits watching over her.

*The chapter title comes from "Dare you to Move" by Switchfoot*