Zuko
I was at the South Pole for one reason and one reason alone; to see Katara.
But, as she had ran off, I could only suspect that she didn't want to see me. Not that her not returning any of my letters wasn't a clue.
She obviously regretted that day years ago. And I had to respect that. She obviously wanted to move on with her life and not have anything to do with me.
I felt like a fool.
I felt like a fool for coming, for believing that maybe there was still something, that maybe, maybe things could work out.
Who was I kidding?
It was time to pick up and move on, but, easier said than done.
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Katara
I jogged up the steps that led to the second floor of the palace. I turned into the hallway that led to my room and slipped inside, bringing up an ice wall behind me in the place of a door.
I moved quickly within the rooms, heading towards the back. I stopped short over a thinner patch of ice on my floor and melted it. I dropped quietly down into the antechamber beneath my rooms.
No one but the water benders who had built the palace knew this was here. They had shown it to me when I first moved into these rooms.
I resealed the ice above me, then knelt and crawled until I felt the lip of the chute that led farther down. I flipped my legs into it, and pushed off. The ice walls flew past and I landed smoothly in a pile of snow. I scrambled out of it and bent the excess water off of me.
I turned North and started walking towards the smooth sounds of the ocean.
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Zuko
After returning to my room, I spent an hour staring at the ceiling.
I was interrupted from my staring by a knock at the door. A small dark haired girl popped her head in, "My lord?" She said quietly, "The chief asks that you join him for supper in half an hour."
I stood, "Thank you, I'll be right along."
She nodded and left, leaving me once more to my thoughts. I showered, shaved, and changed. Trying to keep myself busy in order to keep my mind Katara-free. But soon it was time for supper and I followed my nose down to the hall where I knew I would be seeing her once again.
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Katara
It took me ten minutes walking fast to reach the underground cavern at the sea's edge. No one but water benders knew this was here. We had erected a temple to Tui and La here, surrounded by water when the tide came in. It was ice obviously, but it held more grace and beauty than any other structure we had built.
I knelt at the steps and began speaking, "Yue, help me. I don't know what to do. Zuko has come to see us, but I can't summon the courage to tell him what I need to tell him. But, with the impending proposal from Yako, I don't know what to do. My heart tells me to pick Zuko, but my brain tells me to choose Yako. I know if I go with Zuko, I'll have to leave and I don't know if I'll ever be able to come back. He would let me, of course, but it wouldn't be the same. And I can't ask him to stay here, he has a whole nation to run! But if I pick Yako, I'll be here, I'll be with my family, but I'll never have the chance to be with Zuko. And I'm fairly sure I love him. Oh Yue! What do I do? What do I do?"
I kept my head down, almost crying. Yue was the only person I could trust in times like these, I just hoped she deemed this a good time to respond.
Suddenly, the usually calm waters around the temple rushed in to meet me. I stood quickly to keep from getting pulled under, and grounded myself to keep the strong current from moving me.
"Yue?" I called out, "Yue!"
A pale light glittered in the waves that were rushing around me, it surrounded me completely. Soon, the waves were far above my head, almost hitting the top of the ice cavern. Then, they all crashed down onto me.
I held my breath and closed my eyes, waiting for the waved to crush me.
But they never did. And when the sound of rushing water stopped, I opened my eyes to see that the water looked like it had never moved. And the only proof that it had, was the still fading pale white light and the ice water mark on the palm of my mitten.
"Thank you, Yue. You always did know exactly what to say" I grinned at the diminishing light, then turned and ran back to my room, clutching the heart shaped ice patch on my glove to my chest.
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Hey everybody! Thanks a heap for sticking with me! I love you all for continuing to read this. This time I thought I should elaborate on why Katara was avoiding Zuko :D I did, but I guess it's still a little vague, eh? But I think (HOPE) some of you will get what I mean, if not, I'll explain better next time!
Love you guys SO VERY MUCH haha,
Kai