A/N – Now I'm worried I made everything too light-hearted, but will support myself with the fact that most of them are teenagers and are still easily manipulated despite their situation in life. I have to keep reminding myself that these characters haven't experienced the things they did in canon avatar and are still pretty immature about things…
Disclaimer – I don't own the characters or story arc of ATLA.
Chapter 3 – Pai Sho and Combat
Katara was deposited in a hard steel room with just a mat to sleep on, and a table with a candle in the corner for light. Her bonds were cut, and soldiers locked the door after exiting. Katara was hit by a wave of emotions, mostly fear for her life and her village, but perked up when she heard shouting down the hallway echoing loudly.
"This has gone far enough Prince Zuko. You never think these things through!" A frustrated gruff voice was saying. "We have no use for any more prisoners on this-" there was a slight pause and she couldn't make out what was said. "-and no I don't care that she is a waterbender! Yes it is curious, but what's your plan? Are you going to sail into fire nation waters to deliver her to a prison site? This is just like what happened with the earth bender-"
"It is my duty Uncle!" Katara recognized the Prince's voice. "We are at war, and if I'm going to be fire lord one day, I want to do what's best for my country." She heard a distinct clanking, like someone stamping up the stairs, "and in the meantime they can be of use!" she heard Zuko snarl. "Well maybe not the fool with boomerang, but the benders give me real experience in training, you know that!"
Then there was silence. Katara thought she may have heard a loud sigh, but otherwise that was the end of the argument. 'He took Sokka' Katara thought miserably. As the hours passed by she wondered where they could be keeping him on this dreadful ship. Then suddenly the door unlocked and she saw a soldier standing in the doorway.
"Come with me." He grunted lazily.
Katara thought about resisting, but looked around and saw no hope in her little room, so she followed the soldier into the corridor. They stopped outside a door in the back of the ship, and the guard gestured for her to enter. There she saw an old man in a reddish robe with fire nation armor over it and a boy about the age of 15 in a red shirt and pants that seemed too big for him. They were studying a pai sho table and didn't look up when she crossed the room.
"Welcome, Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, please join us." The old man made a rather decisive move on the board, and the boy across from him paled a bit.
"How did you know…?" Katara started. "Who are you?" she asked confused.
"My name is Iroh, first born son to the late Fire Lord Azulon and uncle of Prince Zuko, the commander of this ship." he stated, formally introducing himself, and as Katara stumbled back at this information stunned, Iroh continued, not noticing her reaction, "and this is Haru," he said gesturing to the boy. "- who, if I may say, is in quite a predicament in more ways than one" he finished with a knowing smile.
"I'm not beat just yet…" he responded, then flicked his finger, sending one of the stone tiles the full length of the board, knocking one of Iroh's tiles to the side. Iroh scowled and studied his remaining pieces while Haru turned to Katara. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Katara."
"You're an earthbender!" Katara exclaimed astonished at the way the stone had moved without him touching it. She felt faint all of a sudden, as her mind tried to process everything that was happening.
"What's going on here?" she asked aloud befuddled at the strange scene in front of her.
"This old man's about to get his butt kicked…" muttered Haru while studying the board with great intensity.
Iroh looked away from the board, disappointed with himself for overlooking such an obvious move, and noticed Katara's condition.
"Here, sit, have some Jasmine tea, it is very calming for the mind." Iroh said reaching for the pot and a cup.
Katara sat, but only because the weirdness of the situation made her legs weak. Here was the fire lord's brother serving her, a prisoner of the fire nation, tea and acting like she was his guest. After studying Iroh's face and finding zero hostility, she took the small teacup from his outstretched arm and just stared at the steaming contents. 'Tea is water.' She thought, but before the thought could develop, Iroh spoke without looking up from the board.
"If you're thinking about bending your tea, might I suggest drinking some before making a mess of things? It is quite delicious." He said.
"Stop stalling, Iroh, you know what move you have to make" started Haru. "Unless you've got something up your sleeve…"
"Fine." Iroh huffed plopping down his lily tile, ending the game.
"Excellent." Haru said with a smile. "I take three quarters of the board."
Iroh glanced at his new guest. "It's not poisoned you know" he said, and emphasized this by taking a long drink from his own cup and letting out a sigh. "Please, drink. It does wonders for those under a lot of stress."
"and those who just lost half their Pai Sho tiles" said Haru with a smirk.
"I thought you said this was just for fun?" Iroh said paling slightly.
"That was last game, this one was for keeps" He said complacently and swept most of the tiles into his lap.
"Do you play?" Iroh asked Katara. "I dare say Haru has enough tiles to share with you if you'd like…"
"I never learned the game" Katara said distractedly and took a sip from her cup. She found it warm and soothing after all her shouting earlier and the taste was unlike anything she had ever experienced.
"Well, that will have to change." Iroh said with a smile. "I'll just have to make sure I don't teach you as well as I did Haru over here." He joked.
"Heh heh" Haru chuckled and poured himself a cup of tea.
"Where's Sokka?" Katara randomly blurted then felt the tea give her focus and remembered something. "I heard you shouting…" she mumbled.
"Ahhh yes, my nephew can be quite stubborn sometimes. I'm afraid I must apologize for him for what he has put you through, that's one of the reasons I asked for you to be brought here." Iroh said with a frown. "Your brother is currently scrubbing the deck topside, and I couldn't get him here without Prince Zuko noticing. I will not ask for you to forgive him, but if it is any consolation, he left your village unscathed, minus the wall the ship hit, and I believe he has every intention of letting you go eventually, without bringing you to the fire nation."
Katara felt a little relief from the old man's words and took a long drink from her tea before replying. "I was so scared…" and her emotions started riding high again as she remembered the events from this morning. A tear came out of her eye and she wiped it away furiously.
"I felt the same way when they took me." Haru said sympathetically. Iroh looked between the two teens and decided it was best for Katara that he left.
"I need to use the restroom." He said and quietly exited.
"My village in the Earth Kingdom was raided about 5 months ago." Haru continued, and Katara looked up with a gasp. "My mother and I fled, but we ran into the prince on the outskirts of town." He said with disgust. "Surprised, my mother tripped and almost plummeted down a high-rise in the path. I saved her with earthbending out of instinct, but Zuko saw… They surrounded me, and threatened to hurt my mother if I didn't come with them. The look on my mother's face as they took me away was heartbreaking. The fire nation had taken my father away just a few years ago for 'illegal' earthbending. I wish I could see them again…"
"I'm so sorry." Katara replied. "So you're a prisoner too?"
Haru smiled darkly. "Doesn't seem like it, does it?" Katara shook her head.
Just then the door shot open, and in walked Prince Zuko. He saw Katara and stumbled, obviously surprised. He awkwardly righted himself and asked "how did you get-?" then he saw the pot of tea on the table. "Uncle…" he muttered under his breath furiously. "No matter. It saves me the trouble of introducing you. Let's go."
Katara didn't move and stared at the Prince, hating him, but he just turned and exited, while a few soldiers walked in to push them along.
"Just don't resist." Haru felt the need to mutter to Katara. "You aren't in any real danger from these guys."
Katara complied, but was confused by Haru's comment. Weren't they on a fire nation vessel? What was different about this ship than the ones that had taken the other waterbenders from her tribe?
They came out onto the main deck a few seconds later, and Katara saw Sokka up on the second tier with a mop.
"Katara!" He yelled when he spotted her and reached his hand out in worry, but a guard next to him gave him a sharp elbow to the ribs, and he continued scrubbing; shooting her continuous nervous glances as Zuko led them to the center of the deck. There was a pile of coal and a few buckets of water.
"I'm taking you down this time Fluko!" Haru taunted and smiled at his joke. Katara heard Sokka laugh a little and rolled her eyes.
Zuko didn't dignify that with a response, and waved his hand. The men cleared to the side, taking Katara with them. Iroh walked up on deck and nodded to Zuko and then to Haru, and took a place to watch near Katara.
Upon seeing his Uncle, Zuko slowly slipped into a firebending stance, and said clearly to his opponent. "Let's see it then."
Haru immediately brought some coal to his side and started shooting it in chunks toward Zuko. The Fire Nation prince blocked these easily with his fists and feet and shot a stream of fire straight at Haru's chest.
Haru brought the remaining coal up into a wall to protect him, and the fire ignited the coals as it dissipated around wall. Thinking quickly, Haru shot most of the coal he had used as a wall in a mound towards Zuko who instinctively jumped up over it. Expecting this, Haru made a sharp uppercut motion, which made the coal rise just high enough to trip the firebender in midair.
Zuko tumbled to the floor, but before Haru was able to make a follow up strike, Zuko pushed the flames that were still in the coals around Haru's feet and set his pants on fire.
Unable to keep his stance, Haru could no longer bend, and was forced to run to one of the buckets of water to dunk his feet into.
"Ahhhhhh" Haru sighed as the fire hissed away. Then he was caught from behind, a fire dagger at his throat.
"Enough" Iroh stated simply and walked over to where Zuko had Haru in a choke hold. "That was sloppy Prince Zuko, if the earth Haru was bending wasn't coal you very well may have lost that fight."
"But I didn't lose." Zuko said defiantly.
"It seems our friend comes closer to beating us every day, nephew… Iroh said thoughtfully. "His pai sho skills and his bending have grown much stronger in the past few months."
The three teenagers on deck all seemed to speak at once in retaliation to Iroh's comment.
"This isn't about him-!" yelled Zuko.
"He's not your friend-!" cried Katara.
"Hey! I just beat you last game!" shouted Haru crossly.
Iroh decided to respond to Haru. "You haven't been able to take the whole pot from me yet boy." He goaded with a smile.
"Is that a challenge?" Haru asked grinning.
"I don't care about your silly games!" Zuko fumed. "I have to be ready to face all the elements when I battle the avatar!" Katara flinched. Iroh and Haru were used to his outbursts by now and simply turned to him and bowed out of the way.
"Uncle…" Zuko turned to Katara. "How do you think I'll fare one-on-one with a waterbender?"
"That would depend on the skills of the waterbender…" Iroh answered with a nervous glance at Katara. "…and of course the time of day at which you fight" he continued. "I've studied waterbenders in the past, setting is probably more important than skill, when it's fire against water." He paused while Zuko studied Katara. "You don't need to fight this girl, Prince Zuko. I don't think it will help much if you ever face the avatar."
"We shall see." Zuko replied, ignoring his Uncle's advice and gesturing to have Katara brought forward.
Katara stumbled to her knees and faced the ground. The fight with Haru had been interesting to watch-she had never seen anyone else bend like that before-but the way they had treated Haru afterwards made her start to understand the situation a little better. Zuko had taken him on the premise of illegal bending, but really just wanted a bender to spar with so he could have more experience when facing enemies of the same element.
"I am ready." Zuko said simply and faced Katara with his hand extended in a fist.
"No" Katara said, finally deciding to be defiant.
"No?" Zuko replied his eyes widening.
"Come on, Katara! Beat his Fire Nation brains out!" She heard a cry from Sokka who was struggling with his guards trying to watch the scene.
"No. I refuse." Katara challenged but felt her heart beat twice as fast as the words slipped out, despite herself.
The prince paused and then scowled as he slowly walked toward her. "You will fight me." He said stubbornly, letting fire come out of his fists.
It took the rest of Katara's courage to refuse him again. "No!" she yelled and whipped up to her feet, facing him.
"Fight me, or burn!" Zuko let out a fiery haze from all around his body and Katara, her courage spent, looked on in horror. Zuko took one look at the helpless girl's face and recoiled slightly.
Katara watched as the Prince's face morphed from one of hatred to one of anguish and he started to look toward his uncle.
Iroh had his head downcast, his eyes closed and a look of disappointment on his face.
Zuko slowly started walking toward his quarters completely silent except for giving a furious order to his helmsman- "No one disturbs me without word of the avatar".
Katara was baffled at the Prince's sudden change in mood, and watched as he disappeared with a look that seemed to be agony on his face. 'What did I miss?' she thought, and looked around at the others. Iroh had a solemn and knowing look, and was staring at his nephew's retreating form, while Haru looked almost as confused as she did.
"But I'm hungry…" Sokka complained loudly to his guards as they tried to get him to work again. This broke the tension in the air, and Iroh shook his head and suggested quietly, "Why don't we all find something to eat?" and Haru and Katara followed him involuntarily as they contemplated the oddity that was Prince Zuko.
A/N – Awesome points to those who know why Zuko had the reaction that he did.