-Chapter 16- Raining More Than Ever
"I've heard it said, that its always darkest just before the dawn. That once you hit bottom, there's nowhere you can go but up."
.
Experiencing the fighting at the Arena from a fighter's perspective felt strange after all her years working with Shiyu. The prison rang with unnecessary noise as guards seemed to pick prisoners at random, slamming cell doors and shouting out instructions along with insults. Katara watched from the back of her cell as her father was taken up for one of the matches. He flashed her a brave smile which she returned. She noticed the young bender move to the bars separating them.
His words were cautious. She'd been quiet all morning since she woke.
"How are feeling? I hope you're not sore from yesterday-" His eyes went wide as he stammered to fix how his words could be construed. "I meant our practice yesterday. I hope that didn't tire you out too much for today!"
Katara nodded. "I'm fine. I don't feel stiff at all." It was a lie of course, but he visibly relaxed. She focused on the conversation, to keep her mind from slipping back to the night previous. "How do they pick who will fight each time? Will they put me up there today?"
"When they give you your clothing, you'll find a number stitched onto the left hip. It's tiny, but visible from close range. When you get escorted to the ring you can see a board where the guards keep track of who's fought and who's due to go, as well as the number of wins. I just noticed it last time I went up. It's hanging on the wall just before you head up the stairs inside the guard's watch room." He explained using his hands, as if he could describe the scene better with their help.
Katara looked around to try and spot the numbers he spoke of. She never noticed them while healing the fighters. Though, she supposed she had other things on her mind and wasn't looking for them.
"What number are you?"
"154. They must reuse the numbers when a fighter dies or wins his freedom, so they don't get too high. The highest number I've seen is 378."
"Is anyone close to winning and getting out?"
"The board had one of us with 6 wins. I think that's pretty impressive since once you show potential to win, the Arena Master steps in and makes sure you face harder opponents. Usually it becomes an uneven fight, or you face the masked fighters. After winning that many though, the moment you lose, your contract will probably be bought by the group of noblemen we keep hearing about. Your chances of dying with them fall greatly, but you lose your chances of winning your freedom."
"Then why would anyone want-?"
"You don't have a choice. If one of them buys your contract from the Arena Master, you have no say. You can't choose to stay here."
"Oh," Katara sighed. The odds just seemed to be piled higher and higher against her. "Why do you have to lose for them to buy your contract?"
"None of us are sure, but that's what we've noticed. Everyone who's been switched lost their last match before moving." Katara bit her lip and turned this information over in her mind. Could being bought out be better then down here- for her? Fearing he'd lose her to her silence once more, the boy continued.
"It'll be tough, but we'll all cheer you on if you're going to try and win all the matches."
"What other choice do I have?" Katara asked, confused.
"It's the impossible dream. Most of us are just focused on our next match," the young man smiled. "Picking your losses is an easy way to stay alive. Win the ones you can't walk away from. Lose the ones you can. Because the more matches you win in a row, the more chances you'll be paired against the animals or a crazy masked firebender, both of which will kill you and not care. I'd rather not die like that."
A new set of guards entered the cell block. They pulled two men from the cage to Katara's right and then came for her. She didn't struggle against them, knowing she'd need her strength for her first match.
Once she was led upstairs to a small space near the fighting ring, a guard tossed her the same outfit all the other prisoners wore. She pulled it over her silk clothing and tied the deep blue sash around her waist. She looked down and spotted the small number stitched in sloppy red strokes of thread; it read 37. It was difficult moving in two sets of clothes, but she would wait to change out of her palace garb until she was back in her cell. She would still be surrounded by men, but at least she'd be away from the leering guards.
Finally, she saw the men push the water troughs into place, signaling that the waterbending matches would begin. She was pushed out first against another man. His belt was green, but he didn't look like an earthbender. She was proven wrong when he attacked without warning, sending two giant boulders towards her. Katara threw herself to the ground to avoid them.
Even after living with Shiyu for six years, the noise level in the center of the Arena was far more deafening then she expected, especially when the crowd liked or disliked the events happening below them.
The stands towered over her in every direction as she lay on the ground propped up on her elbows. They were only half full with watchers. She had walked through the Arena before with Shiyu, but never had she stood in its center to look up.
The earthbender grunted and Katara put the dizzying, panoramic sight from her mind and focused on her opponent. Though, she was immediately thrown off balance when he attacked. She did not know what she was expecting, but it was not this. The earthbender was experienced and knew how to use her confusion to his advantage. Finding herself on the ground again to avoid another attack, the waterbender remembered she could fight back. Katara reached out towards the trough and called a stream of water to her hand.
The earthbender squatted and stomped his bare foot, freeing rocks from under the sandy Arena floor. They hovered before him, waiting for direction. Heart pounding, Katara stumbled to her feet and flung a waterwhip at him. The earthbender responded in kind, punching the air, sending the individual rocks flying towards her. The water glanced off his shoulder, rocking his stance, but it did not stop the barrage of rocks.
Only a quick reaction on Katara's part to reach for more water and make an ice shield saved her from being pummeled. Safe behind the ice, she did not see the earthbender charge until he was too close. He punched the ice wall and even for a smaller man, the force behind the hit was incredible. The ice shattered, ricocheting off both of them. Throwing her hands up and glancing away, Katara took a blind step backward. The ground where she had stood shook and cracked. Her balance was still shaken, but not enough that she could not avoid the next attack.
Katara called the ice chunks to her, letting them melt back into water and sent the newly formed sphere at the rock hurtling towards her face. Success brought a hesitant smile to her face and she gathered more water, streaming it towards her opponent as she dodged a minefield of flying rocks. Luckily for her, it took the rocks a second longer then she could to change course, so she avoided them all.
With a flick of her wrist the water slammed into the earthbender's face from below; he spun with the water's momentum. In her moment of victory, Katara neglected to notice the floating rocks all veered from their intended paths and swung hard turns to the right, the same way the bender had spun.
One knocked her legs out from under her; she landed hard on her backside. Another rock collided with her arm and back, knocking the rest of her to the ground. The waterbender lay stunned, trying to catch her breath. Movement made her focus her attention on the figure at the edge of her vision.
The earthbender approached her slowly, a descent sized rock following along at his side like a flying polar bear dog. He stood over her in a loose bending stance. Katara flinched. She was toast.
"Do you yield?" The man asked. It took Katara a moment to process what this meant.
"Yes," she answered. "I yield." The man dropped the boulder and extended a hand to help her up. The annoucer called the match as the girl stumbled to her feet. Guards appeared to take them both back to their cells. On the way, Katara caught her breath, wondering what had happened that she fought so poorly. Back in her cell, the others wanted to know how her match went.
"I lost," she told them. "I was put against an earthbender."
"Hardly any of us won our first matches. Don't worry about it too much." One of the benders in the cell to her right said.
"At least you weren't injured," the young bender smiled. "That's a positive." Katara nodded, though she figured she have a few bruises from the hits she took before night fell. She thought back to the match. The adrenaline still flooded her veins, making her jumpy. Her fight with Zuko in the training room probably looked like a polished dance compared to her arena match.
Another man offered friendly words. "You were nervous. Everyone's first time is difficult. You don't know who you're up against or how they'll fight. Sometimes you're not certain of all the rules. The noise from the crowd can make you feel off balance. It just takes some getting used to."
Katara nodded. She sat, still clothed in the two sets of clothing, and listened to the other men's conversations to keep her distracted. It helped. She picked at a stray thread on the hem of her sleeve.
The day ended and the crowds left. So once the cells grew dark and the guards all but vanished for the evening, Katara decided that now would be as good a time as ever to change.
She found changing was a struggle in a prison full of men, but she would take their eyes over the lustful gazes of the guards any day. In the end, she never took off her bindings, so it almost did not matter; that, and most of the men nearby turned away to give her a semblance of privacy.
Dressed like all the others now in her grey outfit, she truly felt like a prisoner at the Arena. She folded her nice clothing and left it in the corner to use to sleep on or if she got cold.
...
The next week passed slowly, as time tends to when there is nothing to do. Katara spent most her time against the bars, talking with the other bender and his cell mates. She loved hearing their stories about the Northern Water Tribe and their waterbending training. She wished she could see the city with her own eyes, even if it was not where she grew up.
When they were let out to practice, Katara asked the others to spar with her. It was difficult with the little water they were given, and she ended up losing each time, but she learned a foundation of reading her opponent's moments. She knew what to focus on improving now. She stretched and went over stances in her cell when she got bored.
The waterbenders around her always made sure she was correct in her forms, even if she thought they weren't looking. Soon, she found herself surrounded by several tutors, happy to help her improve her bending. They were better than any instruction she had read from the books.
Halfway through the week, Katara sat stretching on the ground. It had been a late day for them, and her group had just been let back in from their free time outside. The guards had had a problem with one of the new captives in one of the other groups and it messed up the whole schedule. It was almost dark in the cells now and they had only been back long enough to eat what the Arena gave them for dinner.
Touching her nose to her knees as she reached for her toes, footsteps rang in the cell block. She looked up just in time to see two guards unlocking her door. She felt her heartbeat skyrocket. She scrambled to her feet.
"Don't let us interrupt," one guard sneered. Katara touched the wall behind her, taking a deep breath. She knew why they were here, the whole prison did, but she had no way to fight them off. Neither one of the them had visited her on the first night.
She struggled against them but eventually found it easier to focus on the voices around her calling at them to stop. She let her body react as it did, but her mind was elsewhere. It was a gloomy thought, the idea that she could do nothing to deter any guard from taking her body as they wanted, but she knew it was the truth. She had to win to be free. She couldn't lie back and except a half-life down here like the others. Not like this.
Katara felt them run their hands along her body before they left for the night, satisfied. It felt like a mockery of all the gentle loving caresses Zuko had given her. Her mind focused instantly.
Loving? The word shocked her. Where had that come for?
Was what the Prince did out of love? Or just attraction? She knew love, or at least she thought she did. Her parents loved her; her brother and GranGran loved her. She wondered about Zuko. He had slept with her because she asked him to and he was attracted to her, but he had still been patient with her and even kind. Even after he got what he originally wanted, he put up with her uncomfortable questions.
The attraction was there on both sides. He held her trust, but she knew they could not be together. Their cultures where too different; they were from different levels socially; the world would never permit it. She shivered as thoughts of Zuko filled her mind. Ignoring the voices around her asking if she was ok, Katara held onto his memory and retreated into asleep.
...
Soon the next Arena day was upon them. Again, Katara was chosen to fight, only this time she knew what to expect.
Once in the field, she sized up her opponent. He was a normal looking man. The only thing that struck her as odd, was his waist scarf. It was red. Why would a Fire Nation citizen be in the Arena fighting as a prisoner? He attacked before she could figure out the answer.
A flying knife sliced through the air near her face. The man held a handful of knives, still plenty left to do serious damage if he hit her. The first one landed point down in the dirt behind her. She fell into a defensive stance just in time to deflect the next knife with a stream of water. She was over the initial shock, now she could put all her practice to good use.
The man circled her and the water trough. Katara was not going to leave it if this was the only source of water. That left her opponent with only one option to win: disable her with a lucky shot. Katara attacked with a waterwhip, striking the man on his left shoulder. Another knife was thrown, this one grazing her bicep when she didn't react fast enough.
She wondered how she could win. Death was one way, but she hoped to avoid killing anyone if she could get away with it. She had not even been able to kill off the enemy in her mind when she had been daydreaming back at the palace, how could she do it in real life?
She hoped brute force would do it. Katara spun on her heels and funneled the whole barrel's contents at the man as he moved to make another throw. The high-powered stream crashed into his chest, ruining his aim and throwing him backwards. The projectile was flung up in a high arc and stuck into the dirt a few feet short from where Katara stood. She called back the water, filling the metal container it started in and looked to her opponent.
The match was announced with her as the winner after he lay there for a few more seconds. The guards escorted Katara back down to her cell. A quick glance back told her the other man was alright. He rose, slowly holding his hand against the back of his head. The cheers had been short lived, even Katara knew her match had not been very entertaining, but she could have cared less; she won. Once back in her cell, she was met with questions.
"So?" asked the young bender.
"I won. I was put against a man who threw knives." She did not have time to mention his strange belt color.
"And you weren't injured? Good work."
The talk of injuries brought a memory to mind. "Though, I almost wish I had been. Then I could see Shiyu again."
"Who?" The waterbending boy asked.
"The Arena medic. I worked with him for a long time as his assistant."
A man from across the hall called out. "I knew you looked familiar! You helped me when I lost a fight with one of the tiger-oxes. I was ripped up pretty bad."
Katara nodded, though she did not remember the exact occasion he spoke of, she would be surprised if any of these men had not been treated by her at some point. She had only been sick and confined to bed twice when there had been matches taking place, so she would have seen most if not all of them. Except for one very important man. He was back in his cell, returned from his own match in one piece.
"Dad?" she asked. "I never saw you at the medic's. Haven't you been injured?" Hakoda sat in the corner closest to his daughter's cell.
"My injuries usually aren't gruesome enough that the guards take me there. I was there once with a gash down my back, a few years ago, but I didn't see you." Katara assumed she must have been sickly and sleeping when he had come in.
She nodded and spent the rest of the day conversing with the men who returned from their matches. Whether they won or lost did not matter, Katara listened to their strategies and recollections of their fights to get ideas. The prospect of winning her freedom seemed closer then ever with this first step.
...
Long after the last match finished and the evening approached, the hall door was opened and a swell of voices broke any peace that could have been found.
Katara's heart raced as they moved closer to her cell. She stood and waited at the front bars. The guards approached her cell, just as she expected them to whenever she heard anyone approaching in the evening hours. She had not figured there would be five of them though. Only one man was the same as before; he spoke to her through the bars as he unlocked the door. Already the men in a nearby cell were voicing their opinions.
"We saw you won your match today," the guard sneered over the commotion.
"Do you know who you beat?" asked another. Katara shook her head in confusion. She did not think it mattered, especially to a bunch of guards.
"That was Lyu's cousin," stated another man, pointing out the last man in the group.
"Why was he in the arena?" Katara dared to ask. Her heart pounded in her chest as they surrounded her in a semi circle, trapped with the wall at her back.
"He was arrested and sentenced to fight in the Arena till he won a single match. We just want you to know because of you, he has to fight again, something his cousin here isn't too happy about," growled the first man. The other men chimed in with 'yah's and 'that's right's'. Katara had nothing to say.
"So, we just wanted to let you know how we felt about your victory today." The man whose cousin was in the Arena explained. He lunged forward and aimed a punch directly at her stomach, below her rib cage. Katara crumpled to her knees, gasping for breath. The other men leaned in, standing over her.
"What's wrong little waterbender?" asked one of the men. "Afraid to fight back?" She felt a kick to her hip and was thrown to the floor completely, still holding her belly with her hands. Once she was on the ground, the assault began in earnest. She curled into a ball and did her best to protect her head and abdomen.
She knew enough about the body to know that she needed to protect the soft section of her stomach along with her ribs, as well as knowing the fact that her teeth would not grow back or take her healing powers if they were knocked out or chipped. Luckily, the only face-shot they got in was a misaimed kick to her cheekbone, just below her eye. Soon, they realized the waterbender could be used as more than just a punching bag. As much as she knew it would not change anything, fear drove Katara to try and fight them every inch of the way. It did little good.
They left her on the ground abused and beaten, promising worse if she won any more of her matches. She curled into a ball, and let her tears fall freely, ignoring all the voices she heard around her asking how they could help. It was too much: winning was so much harder then she thought. Her hope nearly shattered in the dark. Another scream echoed in the prison.
She acknowledged the cry with a sharp outward breath. Blue eyes closed tight, Katara sent a prayer to Tui and La, begging them to send her strength- to send them all strength. Somehow, she needed a way forward, a way that made winning more bearable. She never would have guessed how the spirits choose to answer her plea.
...
Katara awoke the next day stiff and sore. If last night's events had not been so fresh in her mind, she might have wondered why her match had affected her so badly. The young girl struggled to sit up and noticed breakfast had already been dropped off. The bowl of soupy rice was still lukewarm, but Katara seemed to have lost her appetite for anything. She moved to the front of the cell and used the bars to stand, wincing as she did. She could see the looks the other prisoners gave her when she finally straightened up. Pity.
There was nothing she could do to prove them wrong at this point; she was sure she looked the part. She leaned with her back against the bars lining the walkway, her palace robes draped over her shoulders for extra warmth as she sat and sipped at the gruel.
"I wish we still had a healer," one of them men in the cell beside her sighed, watching her. "Those bruises will take their time in healing."
"If I had water," Katara explained softly, her throat aching from the words. "I could heal myself."
"You're a healer?"
Katara nodded. She thought she explained that when she came in. "That was how I got caught, from healing."
"You should have known better then to heal yourself where someone could find you," one of the earthbenders grunted.
Katara snapped at him. "I wasn't healing myself. I was healing someone else. He was dying. I couldn't-"
"Wait," Hakoda ordered from his cell. Katara tried to turn her head to look at him, but it hurt too much to do so.
"What?"
"Who were you healing? Another fighter? Did that doctor catch you then?" He asked. She could tell he was confused after hearing her speak so highly of the man. The waterbender took a steadying breath and felt the bruises on her ribs as she did.
"It was after I was with Shiyu, Dad," she began. "I didn't tell you the whole story. Something happened when I with him that made him give me to someone else. To keep me safe."
The waterbender boy moved to sit near the bars separating their cells. "What? Why would he do that?"
"Because I was kidnapped. After I was rescued, Shiyu sent me somewhere I'd be safe from the kidnapper." No one said anything, but she could feel their eyes on her, curious, she finished. "I was sent to the royal place, with Prince Iroh." The whispers began.
The open tunic over her shoulders felt heavy as she told the tale. She refused to take it off and spoke to the bowl in her lap. She told them of serving tea, the royal family, and finally how she ended up serving the youngest prince. Even though she did not go into detail about any of their intimate moments, she felt her face flush with the thought of him. She was glad she decided not to face any of them. A smiled filled her face.
"So you got caught there," another voice asked. A slamming door echoed on the far side of the prison block.
"I got caught healing Prince Iroh. He would have died if I hadn't."
Another bender growled. "So what? That's one less Fire Nation royal to deal with. After all we've been through, it would be nice to know they can die just as easily as us." If she had not been as injured, Katara would not have taken his statement as subdued as she did. Instead, she had time to think on his words for a moment. Katara did not blame the man for his hatred. Given their situations here under the Arena, she'd be surprised if anyone stood by her decision and thus its consequences.
"Why'd you risk it, Katara?" Hakoda asked. She looked down at her lap and the half empty bowl; how would she explain it to her father. Would he be able to understand? She started simply.
"Because I was asked to save his life," she breathed, "by his nephew, Prince Zuko."
"How did the prince know you could heal?"
"I told him I could. I told him I was a waterbender." That set off the chorus.
"What!"
"Why?"
"Are you stupid girl?!"
"Why would you tell one of the rulers of the nation that enslaved us that you could bend?"
The criticisms and shouts rang around her. But none of them had been there in that room while the youngest prince bleed out and she made her decision. She closed her eyes and smiled to herself.
"I told him because I made him a promise. I was not going to lie."
"What made you think he would uphold his side of whatever bargain you made?" Slow footsteps sounded down the hallway. They sounded like they belonged to one of the guards doing his rounds. They never bothered them during the day, so she kept talking, ignoring the approach.
"I don't know. I guess I knew I could trust him. He never told anyone about my bending."
"But because he made you-"
"He didn't make me," Katara interjected. "He would never have made me do it. He asked me to save his uncle's life, and I did. I don't regret it all."
Her Father's voice cracked. "Not even after-"
"No." She knew what he was referring to, everyone did. "And I would do it all over again if he asked me to." Katara paused and thought about the Prince. Unbidden, more memories of the moments they shared filled her thoughts, warming her cheeks. She smiled to herself again.
"You have feelings for him, don't you?" asked one of the waterbenders in the next cell over. It wasn't dark, so they could see every flush in her checks as she spoke. The whole cell had been starring at her.
The question caught her off guard. She forgot about the footsteps closing in on their section of cells, the abuse she had suffered, and the dwindling prospect she had of winning her freedom. Her heart picked up its pace and her stomach did a flip as she remembered his tender touch at night and how he held her close in the mornings. What she would have done for his warm skin near hers now.
"It's more than that, isn't it?" The boy questioned. Katara looked down at her lap and thought about the confusing things she felt. She knew the prince had lit a fire in her heart.
"Do you love him?" He asked, his eyes closed as if dreading the answer. Katara was ready this time. She looked to him after a moment when he reopened his eyes, she gave him a small smile.
"Yes," she nodded. The boy's focus darted past her.
"Katara." The familiar voice was deep, rumbling right behind her. Katara's eyes widened and she turned so fast she nearly got whiplash. She could have cried at the sight before her. It had not been a guard at all. It was the youngest prince. He stood tall, dressed in a deep maroon hooded cloak to cover the obviously royal make of his clothing underneath.
She struggled to stand, wincing when she refused to give into the pain. The shocked expression he had worn to greet her melted into one of worry. He covered her hands on the bars with his own and eased her back to the ground. She closed her blue eyes to hide her embarrassment in the fact that she had not been strong enough to even stand. Feeling his hand touch her check and move to cup her jawbone, she opened her eyes and met his gaze. A tear slid from her eye.
"What's wrong?" His gaze darkened as his thumb moved to trace the bruise on her face. "This isn't from your match yesterday. What happened?" Katara shouldn't have been surprised that he had seenher match, but she was.
She noticed the men in the surrounding cells all paused to watch and listen, not even bothering to hide it. Some wore expressions of confusion and shock; others like her father, kept their gazes stoic and hard and stood at the bars to overhear their words. Katara shook her head in response to the prince's question. Would he how come to visit her if he knew what had happened? She couldn't bear to see him walk away now. Her whole body ached. She couldn't tell him.
"Katara," Zuko insisted. "Who did this to you?" Again, he ran his thumb over the bruise darkening her cheek and edge of her jawbone. She winced, though his touch was feather light. The waterbender closed her eyes. She had taken so many chances for him. She decided to take another.
"The guards. A group of them came down last night." She swallowed the lump in her throat, leaning into his touch. Finally meeting his gaze, she noticed that while he was staring at her bruise, he was not truly seeing her. She hoped. He turned this new information over in his mind. How many pieces he had put together. Would he feel the same about her knowing he wasn't the only one who-
"Why?" He asked. She figured he meant the question as a rhetorical one, but she responded anyway.
"They told me it was because I beat one of their cousins and kept him from winning his freedom from his sentence. They said if I win again-"
Zuko interrupted. "No, you're going to keep winning and none of the guards will ever threaten you again." When Katara looked doubtful he added, "I have a promise to keep. No one will touch you while you're mine." As possessive as the statement was, Katara was forced to smile. It was a nice thought, but how would he make it so? She tried to ask him.
"How will you-"
"I'll challenge anyone who hurts you to a duel. It's my honor they'll be disrespecting if they go against my orders. That should be enough to keep you safe from any midnight visits." With those words Katara knew Zuko figured out she had been more than simply beaten. Her breath caught.
Her voice was small. "What if it's not?" Hope was something she did not want to let bloom if it would simply be crushed.
"It will be," Zuko promised. He looked up, hearing footsteps. Grabbing her hands through the bars, he came closer. She did as well.
"I have to go. You keep winning. Lu Ten and I have a plan." Katara gave him a brave smile and nodded. She could feel the heat radiating off of him as he knelt only inches from her on the other side of the bars.
"I will," she promised. He moved as fast as lighting, lips touching in a quick kiss that she was sure tasted like sparks. The prince gave her hands one last squeeze and then stood and strode off with purpose down the walkway. The sound of a door opening and slamming shut ended the silence.
"He's the one you risked everything for?" The question came from a warrior in her Father's cell. Katara forced herself to meet her Father's eyes to try and guess what he was thinking. She knew he had witnessed more than a Father should involving his child.
She nodded. "Yes."
"I don't know how far his word will go for keeping you safe- with that honor of his already up for debate, but it's a nice thought," one of the waterbenders said.
"It won't do any good," an eartherbender stated bluntly. "The guards will just regard him as the spoilt child he is who won't share his toy." Hakoda moved so fast that Katara almost missed it. The empty bowl from his breakfast flew from his hand and hit the man who spoke in the side of the face, skidding out of the cell.
"Don't you dare talk about my daughter like that!" He ordered over the sound of the bowl settling in the walkway after bouncing through the bars. Katara was shocked at her father's outburst but was thankful now that she understood the implication of the man's statement. The bender rubbed this reddening cheek where the bowl hit and snarled back.
"Everyone was thinking it."
No one denied his statement.
Another waterbender was kinder. "Try not to worry. The prince seems to be willing to put what's left of his honor on the line to keep you safe while you're here." Katara nodded, yawning to herself.
The rest of the prisoners let her be. She pulled her palace clothing tighter and tried to relax. She felt the embroidered dragon rub against the sensitive skin on her neck and silently wondered how Prince Iroh was recovering. Katara drifted in and out of sleep.
...
She spent the next day sleeping, stretching when she woke. It was easier to sleep then to feel every screaming muscle and tender bruise when she moved. Another day went by without incident.
When they were let out to practice, the guards steered clear of her. Even at the end of the practice time they were allowed, when she hung back and used the water to heal the worst of the bruising, no one forced her back down with shoves and kicks. She did get screamed at and herded back towards the others, but no one touched her.
All week, she was allowed to live without guards coming down to her cell at night. It appeared that Zuko had been true to his word, whatever he had done worked. The true test came the night of the matches. Katara won her second consecutive match, this time against an older earthbending man. She won through endurance, not bending ability or even fighting endurance, just by making him wear himself out first. Now that the bruises were mostly healed, it was easy enough.
That night, the cell block was once again silent.
The next Arena day came and went, leaving Katara without a match. She learned not everyone fought every week, especially if they had a winning streak going. It was frustrating, but she counted her blessings in the form that Zuko's threats seemed to have worked. Katara wished he would visit again; it was lonely in her single cell, even with everyone around her.
She fought the next week. Paired up against the woman warrior she remembered treating with Shiyu, Katara won once more. It was almost an instant defeat. Katara wished the guards were less on top of the drill with getting them back to their cells, as she would have liked to speak with her opponent. This was the first woman she had seen besides her. There had to more of them, but there was no way for her to find out. She returned to her cell to enjoy her newest win.
(Original Author's Note) And from darkness, she's found light. It wouldn't surprise me if she heard those quotes in the beginning from Iroh...
But be wary of plans that succeed too easily.
Kinda a longer chapter for you all, I just really didn't want to break the Zuko scene from the scenes of Katara's horrific treatment. I'm sure you can all imagine terrible things to put between the lines in those scenes, since I wasn't about to spell it out for everyone. Either way, we get a nice tender Zutara moment out of the deal. Probably my second favorite image from this story: the two of the kneeling, hand in hand, with only the bars between them. :)
The chapter title comes from 'Umbrella' by Rihanna*