Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or anything pertaining to it.

Ethereal

Chapter 7: The Mining Village of Changde

"Through the veins of a Dragon runs Fire; through the veins of a Dragon runs the will of the Sun." - Motto of the Dragon Court

The siren fought every bit of her instinct to close her eyes and looked up at the man holding her at knife-point. He was tall with grey hair and a silly large hat... and some sort of strange bird on his shoulder. Smugglers, Katara quickly concluded.

"Of all the caves a foolish girl could have chosen to stay in, she decided to stay in my humble storage place," he sneered, going to offer his hand to help her up after returning the knife to its sheath. Katara remained unamused.

"On your feet," he finally snapped after she neglected to move. She moved to take his hand as she counted the number of companions he had. It wasn't in her interest to fight back; no, she would have to be cleverer about it.

The young man wasted no time in binding her hands with coarse rope then proceeding to search through her bag, trying to determine if any of it had value. He quickly pocketed the coins in the side pocket of the bag, then flipped the lip close after deciding that nothing else was of any value to him.

He placed a hand on her shoulder and began leading her out of the cave, barking a few orders at the other smugglers to move the supplies. He wasted no time in tying her to a tree and using a questionably hygienic piece of cloth as a gag for her mouth. Smugglers was the politically appropriate term, the siren decided; classless pirates was the more accurate one.

"Are you here alone?" he asked, arms folded. Katara looked straight at him as if to imply he was foolish for asking such a ridiculous question when she was gagged. "You can nod your head yes or shake your head no," the smuggler snapped as if he had read her mind.

Nod. Way to lie and cover Zuko, the blue eyed woman quickly fussed at herself after her answer. She reasoned he had probably left her at the first sign of trouble for a clean getaway. Spineless coward.

"And are you from the Volcanic Islands?"

She shook her head.

"Did someone tell you about this place - damn it," he began to ask, then cursed when one of his men shouted a question at him. "I'll be back," he glared at her threateningly, then turned around to go back inside the cave.

It was barely dawn, so it was still moderately dark in some areas - especially in the thick brush of the jungle. If only she could loosen the ropes and just squeeze one hand free she could...

Suddenly, the ropes dropped to the floor. But she hadn't done anything, and she was fairly certain sirens couldn't cause such things with only their mind. Before she could remove the gag, a hand clapped over her mouth and turned her head to look at a familiar face. The fugitive prince had a finger pressed to his lips for a moment before returning it to the hilt of his blade. He began backing away slowly and quietly, pulling the siren along with him. It would seem he wasn't nearly as tactless as Katara had originally thought he was.

After a few moments of silently backing up, Zuko finally released Katara from the cradle between his arm and chest, took her hand and took off running. She wasn't sure why he felt the particular need to hold her hand, but told herself it had to be for security purposes. He didn't want her running in an opposite direction from him.

"Run ahead! She can't be that far along!" the captain of the smugglers shouted.

Katara felt her heart pounding in her chest like it was when she escaped the palace. She tried her best not to gasp for air too loudly, fearful of being heard. Zuko tried to pull her along to force her to keep up, but it was clear he was running slower in the interest of not leaving her behind. She couldn't tell why; most people would have just left it to their survival instincts at this point - run or be killed, as it were.

In all her thoughts, she felt herself suddenly sprawl forward after her foot got caught on a root. She turned to look at Zuko as she rose to her feet, well aware she was probably bleeding and bruised in more than one area, when she felt the ground beneath her legs start sinking.

"Don't move," he whispered, crouching towards her. "It's dry sand pit. You're lucky because only your legs are in it."

She reached out quickly to grab his arm as he started to rise to his feet. You can't just leave me, she wanted to say. She wanted to scream at him for abandoning her in this moment. She needed help. Katara started to try and pull herself out when he took her hands in his and narrowed his eyes.

"Do you trust me?"

"No," she said matter-of-factly. "I do not."

Zuko sighed then shrugged a bit, "Fair enough. I don't entirely trust you either. But if you move and try to fight the sand without leverage, you'll sink faster and die. I'll be back, okay?"

He turned and left before she could object and Katara closed her eyes, praying in her native language, "Mother of my body, Mother of my spirit, please allow me to live through this so I may continue to serve you." A pang of guilt struck the siren, however, because for the first time, she wanted to ask them to allow her to live - for herself.

"Grab this," Zuko's voice broke her concentration. She opened her eyes and reached her hands out for the large branch he had in his hands. "I'll pull you out."

She held on tighter than she ever had to anything in her entire life as the man tried to pull her out, using his own body weight as leverage. When she was finally on solid ground, he collapsed alongside her, panting and gasping for air. This made the second time in less than half an hour that he saved her.

Katara hoped he wasn't keeping score.

The siren never gained confidence that they had truly shaken the smugglers when they finally did start moving again. And she was also sorely disappointed she lost the bag Iroh had given her. However, she was more preoccupied by the fact Zuko not only saved her life - twice - but he returned after leaving this morning to save her from smugglers. Smugglers with bad intentions.

They had stopped by a small creek when Zuko decided it was finally time to check the damage from her earlier spill near the dry sand pit. "Take a seat; we won't be able to cover our tracks if you keep bleeding all over the place."

She sat down at the bank, cupping her hands and bringing the water to her lips. Finally. Her body seemed to be cursing at her for neglecting to keep it hydrated. She wondered what it would feel like to never go into the water again...

"You okay?" he asked abruptly, interrupting her train of though. He began using a knife to cut up the rag that was serving as a gag into strips, then laid them flat on a rock.

The siren nodded, watching as he took her leg onto his lap and pushed up her pants leg.

"Well, you look like hell," he said. Katara frowned; abrasive as always.

"Ouch," she fussed a bit as he cupped water into his hand and let it go onto the sizable cut on her shin.

Zuko rolled his eyes a bit. "Quit fussing, it's just water. Someone like you should enjoy it of all people."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

He sighed a bit and looked at her plainly, "Do you want my help or not?"

Katara grew silent and watched him as he continued to work. He was an interesting fellow, that was for sure. He had gone from making his disinterest of her quite well-known to tolerating her to begging her for help to rescuing her to tending to her war wounds. She hated to imagine the story that went with how he became engaged to Mai.

"Where are we?" she finally asked, her voice sounding raspy as he wrapped the self-made bandages around her leg.

"I can't be one hundred percent sure, but I think we're either near this mining village right outside the capital. Or we're near some farmlands. It's hard to tell," he shrugged a bit then began attending to her other leg. "This one only has minor scrapes; I'll just flush it with water then we can refill our waterskins and keep going."

Zuko sat up before Katara could blink, then slung his bag over his shoulder.

"We should go before anyone comes along. I have a little bit of money, so I should be able to get us some decent food, a room to sleep in, and maybe a map so we can make it to the bay," he explained, then started walking along the creek. "Let's go, it'll be high sun soon and we know how you don't handle heat well."

The siren sat up slowly and stumbled a bit at first, then began following him along. This guy was really some sort of mystery and she didn't understand him for a minute. He seemed so cold and calloused before; like he didn't even care about anything. She just didn't understand it.

Then everything went black.

The next time the siren opened her sapphire eyes, she was in a bed with a few dimly lit candles. Her head had a cool, damp piece of cloth placed on it and cup of clear liquid was sitting beside the bed. Water.

She quickly sat up and brought the glass to her lips, draining it quickly.

"You've been out quite a while, Miss," a soft voice informed her. Katara looked at her; she was plump with gentle eyes and black hair. "Your husband brought you here, then he went out into town to try and find you some tea."

Husband?

Katara's face must have had a strange expression of confusion because the young woman quickly explained, "Tall, handsome, amber eyes, long hair pulled back. He has that... mark."

Scar. She was being polite. One thing the siren did admire about the people of the Volcanic Islands was their dedication to being polite; most people from the Glacierlands were blunt and direct.

Truthfully, Katara had wanted to ask him about the scar on his face. It was hard to ignore. But she never had; after a while, she had stopped seeing it. It was just... part of him, just like her tail would be part of her when she was finally in the water.

"Miss, are you alright?" the young girl repeated. She apparently spaced out while the girl was speaking.

"Yes, I am well," Katara rasped weakly. Her voice sounded horrible.

"Drink some water," she handed the siren a cup, who graciously accepted it and drank it quickly. The water was a little salty and burned her lips. It slipped from her fingers as she winced in pain and spilt over the bed.

She felt so clumsy and foolish. "I am so sorry," she apologized.

The girl quickly patted the water spots dry with a towel and gave the blue eyed girl a reassuring smile. "It's just water. Sorry, we get ours from a nearby hot spring. It's cleaner than the creeks since the coal miners use those, but it tends to be a bit salty. Maybe I should get my uncle to come by here; he's a healer, after all."

"No, no, that is not necessary. I thank you for your hospitality, however. When will Z- my husband be returning? Do you know?" She decided since he was a fugitive it would also be unwise to refer to him by name, but maintaining her composure while she referred to him as her husband was a little too easy. It was entirely too natural to call him that; she made a mental note to scold him for telling such a lie and not sticking around to help her keep the cover. Who knows what he had already told the girl?

"Say, you have a peculiar accent. You're not from here, are you?"

Busted. At least it wasn't for her looks.

"And you have blue eyes; you know, I've never seen those before. Most people have brown or hazel, except for the occasional Glacierland trader. And then there's the royal family; they apparently have gold eyes. Oh, you must be a Glacierland trader! That's how you met your husband, right?"

Katara found herself wishing Zuko was there - for the second time in the day. This girl was a never ending source of questions. Is this what she sounded like when one of the girls was having a fling with a fisherman from the nearby village?

"Jia, what are you doing?" a familiar voice asked, as if it was a blessing from the moon herself, going to set down a brown package on the end of the bed.

"Oh, she's fine, we were just talking. Say, I think we have some hot and sour soup in the kitchen left over from dinner. I can get it heated up for you."

He nodded a bit, his eyes not leaving the siren as the girl slipped out of the room and closed the door behind her.

"Jia? My husband? Did you injure your head?" the siren whispered as fierce as you could, then began coughing into her hands. He sat down at the edge of the bed and pushed her until she was laying back.

"What should I have said? 'Hi, I'm the disgraced former Crown Prince Zuko, wanted for murder of the Dragon King Ozai by the now Dragon Queen Azula. This is a siren who can literally tear you to shreds if she's in water. Would you mind giving us a place to crash for the night? Thanks.'" he retorted, his voice surprisingly calm and low. "Anyway, I brought you some oolong tea. That and some soup will help you feel better."

"I am fine," she insisted, starting to sit up. He placed a firm hand on her shoulder and kept her reclined in the bed.

He sighed a bit as she tried to fight him. "You're not. A few days ago you were holding me off the ground with one hand, now you can barely sit up straight. You're not yourself, and I need a partner that can defend herself."

The siren searched his eyes for a moment, then relaxed into the bed as the girl returned with a large bowl of soup and handed it to Zuko. He nodded at her, seeming to thank and dismiss her simultaneously. He waited until the door clicked close, then brought a spoonful of the soup to his lips, blew on it, then placed it at Katara's mouth. She reluctantly opened her mouth to accept the hot liquid.

"Tomorrow - if you have the energy - we'll keep going. I found out we're at that mining village called Changde right now. Another day, two days max, and we'll be near the coast. I'll get us a boat ride to the Southern Windmountain, and then I'll keep going and you'll be free to go back to the Glacierlands," he explained, concentrating on feeding her.

"Zuko," she whispered.

"Li," he corrected, refusing to look at her.

"Li,"

"Yes?" he sounded a little annoyed.

"Why did you come back for me? In the cave. And save me from the dry sand pit and the smugglers, and now you do this for me. I am afraid I do not understand. I believe we are enemies by nature."

He rolled his eyes as if to convey he couldn't believe she was asking such a foolish question. "Because, where I'm from we value honor above almost everything else. I gave you my word I would return you to the ocean; I intend on seeing to it. Now stop talking and eat your soup or I'll pour it down your throat."

She grew quiet, unsure of what to respond. Should she thank him? No, that would probably just make him even more conceited and arrogant than he already was. Finally, she knew what to say.

"Li," she mumbled, her eyelids growing heavy.

"Mm," he grumbled a bit, going to stand up.

"I am glad you are one of honor,"

"Goodnight, Jia."

Then the door clicked and she was alone.

Posted: 06/09/2012