Title: Midsummer Madness
Author: BurningIce
Rating:PG-13
Summary: Katara learns that there are both advantages and drawbacks to being a female water bending master, and pays back a favor to an old friend.
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Disclaimer: Not mine, really, would I be writing fan fiction if it was? No, I'd be writing CREATORfiction. AKA Cannon. I would be writing cannon. Scary, huh?
It should be!!
Because it's HALLOWEEN!!
Happy Halloween/Samhain!!
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Chapter 20: The Lullaby
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June opened her eyes and sat up, Ursa was nowhere in the campground. Her bedroll was empty, but her Ostrich horse slept soundly a few feet away. June growled, she hadn't lost a patron yet, and she wasn't about to start. The bounty hunter grabbed her whip, cloak, and Ursa's bag, then nudged Nyla, pressing the Fire Lady's bags under her nose.
"Which way?"
Nyla started off into the woods and June followed, squinting in the half light.
Ursa was sitting on one of the rocks not far away, running her fingers over the small doll's body that she cradled in her arms. Tears streaked down her cheeks as she gently rocked the doll back and forth. June frowned, a grown woman hugging a doll and crying? It was damn creepy.
Ursa hummed softly to the doll, thinking about her children. It had been years and years since she had seen them. They probably didn't remember her anymore. They probably didn't love her anymore. She hummed the lullaby she used to sing to Zuko and Azula when they were small and scared, and then picked up the lyrics, her eyes filled with tears again.
"No, Night, you don't frighten me . . . You're dark and grey . . . But you won't be here in the morning . . . for one whole day . . ."
She wiped her eyes, rocking herself more than the small toy that used to be her daughters, comforting herself by going through the mothering motions. Loneliness was an old and familiar friend by now, it visited her often at night, when she couldn't fall asleep fast enough, and she welcomed it into her chest, welcomed it into her soul like an old friend.
"Cry, Wind, try to frighten me . . . Cry good and strong . . . But you won't be here in the morning . . . So I won't cry alone . . ."
Nyla raised her head and oriented on her from where she was laying, and her tail began to thump against the ground, the beast got up and crawled closer, slinking on her belly. Ursa reached out and patted the beast, reminding herself that it was the curious properties of her voice that was making the creature warm up, not any genuine affection. Nyla liked June, and that was pretty much it.
"Full moon glowing a ghostly shade . . . Smile away, soon you'll fade . . . I look up at the morning star . . . Wondering where you are . . ."
June couldn't believe it, her eyes were actually tearing, her heart going out to the woman singing across the way. She wondered what it was about this woman's voice, why it could invoke things in other people. She had never experienced it full blast, maybe it was more powerful when she sang than when she talked, and it was clear that Ursa was using her talent to the fullest. If Ursa had turned to her and asked June to stab herself in the heart, the bounty hunter would have. She would have done anything asked of her by that voice . . .
"So, night, why you frighten me is hard to say . . . Perhaps, because as nights go on . . . I think how long my boy's been gone . . . But you won't be here in the morning . . . He may . . ."
Before she knew it, or fully understood why, June had sat down next to the older woman and hugged her from behind, wrapping her cloak around both of them. The small gesture of compassion seemed to undo her client, and Ursa put her face in her hands and fell silent, wracked with soundless sobs. The spell, if it could be called that, was broken and June looked back and forth, feeling awkward, but as though she couldn't just let go and flee without saying something.
"We should reach the Great Divide tomorrow." She spoke when the sobs had turned to soft sniffles.
Yea June, she told herself, Nothing cheers up a miserable woman like geography.
"Thank you, I'm sure we will." Ursa sounded despondent. She patted June's hand in a polite dismissal, and the bounty hunter fled, vowing never to try to cheer up anyone ever again. It was out of her depth.
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Azula slumped over her mongoose dragon's neck, biting her lip. It hurt like hell just to breathe or move, and now her mounts legs striding underneath her were making it nearly unbearable. She bit her lip and thought hard about her mother, trying to block out the physical pain with emotional pain and anger. It helped a little, but not as much as she hoped. Not as much as it usually did.
Mai watched her friend a mix of boredom, admiration, and loathing. The girl had been demonstrating the kind of physical endurance only insanity could loan. She had not been sleeping, but had grudgingly kept Mai warm at night, and the dark circles under her eyes were practically purple, standing out starkly from her pale skin. She was looking more like death every day, and the aristocrat was relieved that soon the fire bender would not have the strength to keep up her crusade.
Oh how the mighty have fallen . . . Mai thought with satisfaction watching her fiancé slump. She nudged her mongoose dragon with her heels, and it increased it's speed, pulling up beside Azula's.
"I think we better back track." Mai suggested trying to keep the smugness out of her voice.
"We back tracked an hour ago."
From her vantage point, she could see a huge purple bruise on the princess's back, the bones underneath moving out of synch with each other each time the girl took a breath. Mai shuddered in revulsion and stared in fascination. The princess was coming apart at the seams mentally and physically. It was obvious.
"Maybe we should walk the mongoose dragons backwards for a while then." Mai told her, she wanted to watch her fiancé to suffer. After the electrocution she had given her earlier, in Mai's opinion, they should be finding this Siren healer via the earth kingdom.
"We're FINE!" Azula snapped, whirling on her friend. It must have hurt horribly, the princess straightened and wrapped her free arm around her chest, her face contorting into a grimace. She turned her back on her stoic companion and leaned heavily on her mount's neck with her good side.
"I'm just worried that we might be followed." Mai told her, "I saw the wanted posters in the last village."
"We disguised ourselves passing through the village. They are looking for a princess and an aristocrat, not a farmer and his pregnant wife." Azula had wound so much fabric around her middle to brace herself that when she put a shirt on, she had in fact, looked pregnant, and quite chubby. She had made Mai tuck her hair up under a large hat and rub her face with the depressing kohl she used on her eyes to simulate a five o'clock shadow. If someone had looked closely, they would have been able to see through the disguise, but luckily, it seemed nobody had. Who cared about two travelers passing through these days?
"Stop." Azula raised a hand.
Mai reigned in her mount, watching the princess warily as she slid out of the saddle and tied the reigns around a tree branch. She limped off into the woods, and Mai sighed wondering what was up, probably a bathroom break or a change of disguise break. Or maybe a fainting spell and throw up break.
"What area you WAITING for?"
Or not.
Mai slid down and hobbled her mongoose dragon, then followed the princess through the underbrush. It was a weird mountain they were climbing, and she wondered if the princess was taking her on a wild elephant-goose chase, it didn't look like anyone lived on it.
Azula knelt down and touched the earth, her fingers tracing around the contours of a footprint. She followed the walker's direction and found a small cave mouth, hidden by a large waterfall.
"She is in there."
"Why would you have an 'old associate' who lives in a cave?" Mai asked, crossing her arms.
"Does it matter?" Azula rolled her eyes, "Just come on."
"I'm not going in there."
"Why the hell not?"
"I'll get wet getting in for one thing. Probably muddy too. It all looks very undignified."
"I don't understand," Azula propped herself against a tree, sounding frustrated, "You spend all your life bitching about how much you hate being a lady and having to behave in a ladylike, socially acceptable sort of way, but the moment you get a chance to get down and dirty and break some social taboos, you refuse. You're so conservative."
Mai didn't say anything right away. It was true, the earth bender that her boyfriend . . . EX boyfriend seemed so fond of acted like a total bull pig. Jumping in the mud, yelling, wrestling, breaking things . . . Mai felt like she was still shackled by her mother's expectations, even miles and miles away from anyone who would know or care.
She looked at the princess, then down, then back. She could prove the princess wrong, she could crawl into the mud and ruin her shoes, tear her dress, and muss her hair. Her shoulders slumped.
"Are you coming?" Azula asked, curling a finger in a come hither motion.
"I'll wait here with the mongoose dragons."
The princess rolled her eyes. Good help was so hard to find these days. "Toss me your daggers then."
Mai pulled a pouch out of her robes and tossed it to the princess who tucked it into her belt at the small of her back and pulled her oversized shirt down over it. She proceeded down into the grotto, wading through the knee deep mud and weeds to get to the cave behind the waterfall.
The damn place was dark and drippy, too bad Mai hadn't come, it matched her personality. Azula flared her nostrils, detecting the faint hint of smoke that hung in the air and following it down through the passages. A small plume of flame blossomed in her palm, lighting the way for her as she picked her way carefully down the rocky passage, her side throbbing in pain.
It opened out into a cavern where there were a few chains scattered here and there, a small bedroll, a fire pit, a few sacks of goods, and an underwater stream. Apparently she was not the only Siren who had fallen on hard times, and she hoped a few coins for rice and vegetables would convince the woman to help her. If not . . . she fingered the needle daggers Mai had tossed her . . . she would have to get creative.
Azula knelt down to wait. She would need her strength.
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"I'm not sure this is going to be a good idea." Katara fussed, tugging on her sleeping robe.
"It's a great idea." Ty Lee told her as she braided Katara's long hair, "at least for tonight, Sokka has been trying to make out a schedule, but since . . . for some strange, unexplainable, random, bizarre reason, he is tying to make one where Sparky never has a shift with you, it's taking a bit longer than he expected it to. Mainly because he is trying to schedule it so he and Suki have nights off together too."
"I don't see why we can't just stick together as a group then sleep in our own rooms, it's not THAT hard." Katara twisted the fabric of her sleeve between her fingertips. They both fell silent as the Kyoshi finished the braid and tied it off.
"Katara." Ty Lee's voice had suddenly become serious, "Azula . . . her weakness is Ursa." The acrobat shifted back and forth, feeling incredibly guilty, after all, she was betraying her best friend of many years.
"Ursa? Her mother?"
"Yea, she has it in her head that Ursa thinks she is some sort of monster, maybe that's why she is doing what she is doing, I don't know, to . . . prove her right."
"Her right?"
"I don't know, maybe just to prove she never needed her mother anyways."
"Zuko told me the war took his mother away from him, their mother away from them."
"It took everyone's mother away from them, all of us, maybe not killing them, but there is more than one way to skin a cat." Ty Lee shook her head, "Nobody knows what happened to her except Ozai and Azula. I THINK Azula does at least, once she indicated that Ursa was in the Earth Kingdom. I don't know, but I know she hates her, she hates her because she thinks Ursa doesn't love her."
Katara touched her mother's necklace, remembering her own mother.
"Come on," Ty Lee bounced to her feet, energetic again, "I'll walk you to the bedroom."
Sokka's great idea had been for everyone to camp out together in the same room like they had when Azula had attacked the Western Air Temple. He figured it had worked then and would work again now. They were banking on the fact that Toph would wake up when she felt strange vibrations, like she had with the tank that chased them when they first met the Fire Princess. They were also hoping to capture Azula, Toph had practiced several times bending up a metal cage out of bars on the floor around the "daughter of the Melon Lord", and nine out of ten times she didn't rip off a melon limb in the process. She always did catch at least 85 of the mannequin though.
Toph was brooding in the corner, her arms crossed, "I'm telling you guys, I broke her rib, she won't be coming around for a while. She'll need to find someone who can heal her."
"None of the surgeons will do it either." Zuko put in, "They train at the same Medical University as the nurses that work at the asylum, and after the brutal way she killed three of them, none of our healers will touch her."
"So, why don't you girls take the bed and me and Zuko can camp out on the floor." Aang suggested.
"No, Aang, you're still all battered, you should sleep in the bed with Zuko." Katara argued.
"Katara, you're bait, you should be the one in the bed in plain sight." Ty Lee put in just for the fun of keeping the argument going.
"Aang's bait too!" Katara pointed, "You can't convince me that she didn't have FUN doing . . . that."
"Then why don't you and Aang sleep in the bed together?" Ty Lee asked blankly.
"No!" Aang, Toph, and Zuko said together, than looked at each other with varying degrees of actual visual stimulation. Aang giving Zuko the same suspicious look he had shot him in the crystal cave under Ba Sing Se. Katara huffed, she hadn't realised that sleeping next to her was such a horrible option.
"Why you 'No'?" he asked fumblingly.
Zuko looked away, "No reason."
"I still don't see why Zuko wants to be here." Aang insisted
"I want to be here because she is MY sister!! I'm not going to leave you alone to fight her! She is my responsibility!" Zuko crossed his arms, looking frustrated.
Toph sat up and oriented her attention on Zuko, intrigued that his heart rate was jumping. He was lying. Sort of. At least half of the statement was a partial lie, that much was true.
"Why don't you ALL just squeeze into her old bed, it's a huge bed, it can comfortably fit six people." Ty Lee suggested, "I know from experience." Everyone halted the argument to glare at her, and quickly started admiring the desk she stood next to.
"Toph hogs the mattress." Aang blurted out, breaking the awkward silence.
"You never stop tossing and turning unless I hold you down!!" The earth bender defended, but sounded amused.
"Okay okay," Katara held up her hands, "This is silly, we're all friends here, we have all camped out next to each other. Aang and I will be bait in the bed, Zuko, Toph, you guys decide where you both would be best suited . . ." She crawled into the bed beside her sort of boyfriend and stroked her hair, pretending to be uninterested.
Zuko glanced at Toph, and then they both sullenly climbed in as well.
That's what I thought. Katara smiled smugly as the Fire Bender settled on her opposite side. She watched as Toph pulled the covers over her.
"Maybe you could sleep next to Zuko?" Aang asked her hopefully, from his place between the two girls.
"I want to be the closest one to the window where she'll come in, in case things do go down." Toph retorted loftily. It had nothing to do with the fact that she was starting to enjoy sleeping next to the Avatar.
"See!" Ty Lee said from the door, "One big happy family!"
They looked anything but happy. Toph was tapping her heel on the floor, diligently measuring the distance to the window through vibrations and muttering about skewering her a fire princess. Aang was edging away from Katara, looking as though he was convinced she would jump him at any moment, like she was a ticking time bomb. Katara was playing with her hair, pretending to have absolutely no interest in the pajamad fire bender that had slipped into the huge bed next to her, though the slight blush on her cheeks gave her away. Zuko, on the far end of the bed was glancing at Aang every few minutes, trying to figure out how he could get Katara out from between the two of them without arousing suspicion. The acrobat wasn't sure if it was literal or metaphorical, auras were vague like that.
"One big happy family." Ty Lee repeated again with less enthusiasm. Katara and Zuko's auras were melding into each other, as were Toph's and Aang's, though Aang's aura was repelling Katara's retreating from the blue ether until it was held tight against his body. She turned on her heel, "Good night guys, sweet dreams."
"You too Ty Lee!" Katara called.
"Good night, don't let the Vampires bite." Toph echoed in a sing song.
"Lock the door on your way out." Zuko instructed her.
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Katara sighed, drifting in and out of consciousness, one of her arms tossed over Aang's stomach, the other pillowing her head. Toph's arm was flung across the Avatar as well, her head on his shoulder, and he kept shifting back and forth uneasily, getting cuddled from both sides. His arms lay flat at his sides, rigid even as he slept. Zuko had shifted as well, putting an arm around Katara's waist, and resting his fingertips on Toph's hand, his nose pressed into the water bender's neck.
She was just drifting off to sleep when a familiar heat began to roll out across her skin. She swallowed hard, praying to Yue to not unleash what she was probably about to unleash, but she must not have been keeping up with her tribute. Her heart started hammering in her chest, her breathing sped up, and her skin began to crawl. Leaning over and kissing Zuko or Aang or even Toph was starting to look very appealing. She was sure her heartbeat alone would wake up the blind earth bender in another minute.
"R'lazzz 'Taara." She heard Zuko mumble from where he slept, his hand moving from where it touched Toph's to pat her stomach and then caress it. It sent shivers all through her, and she grabbed it, pulling it off of her. She had to get out from between her two sort of boyfriends, right then!! She sat up to crawl to the edge of the bed, and felt Zuko's arm relax back across her lap. She must have put her hand down on Aang as she sat up because he yelped and propped himself up, waking the other two people.
Zuko hastily removed his arm from her waist.
"What's the matter Katara?" Aang asked, concerned.
"Oh, nothing nothing." She started to crawl out of the sheets, "Bad dream."
"Where you going, Sugar Queen?" Toph asked, rubbing her eyes, "What's wrong with you? You're sending off vibrations like nobodies business."
Aang grabbed her arm, hugging it against him, not fully understanding where hugging her arm put her hand, "Katara, what was the dream about?"
She blushed and tried to twist her hand out of the Avatar's lap, what were normal girls afraid of again? "You know, umm . . . spiders."
Zuko put a hand on her shoulder, and she could feel his breath dance across her neck, "What phase is the moon in?" he asked, innocently enough, but she could hear the smile under his words.
Damn Fire benders. Damn, hot, sexy, attractive, kissable . . . she had to get out of this bed!!
She pulled against their hold, "I'm okay guys I just need some air." And a cold bath, and to sneak back to my room and sleep there.
"No way! You're not going alone!" Aang insisted, "What if Azula is waiting on the balcony?!"
Katara looked unimpressed, "Toph, is Azula on the balcony?"
"Nope."
"Then I am going to get some air."
"It's not a good idea, We all decided that we were going to work as a team to guard you and Aang, so you cant just run off." Zuko added.
"Katara, stay here, please? It was just a dream, it's not worth risking it." Aang pouted, giving her his best puppy dog eyes.
"Your heart is still hammering." Toph looked suspicious, like she had an idea of what might be the problem, but didn't want to voice it out of embarrassed fear of being wrong, "Are you sure it was a . . . NIGHTMARE nightmare?" she hinted, making sure that Katara knew she knew she was lying.
"You don't look scared." Zuko added, "You look embarrassed."
She chewed on her lip.
One night, how hard could it be? She asked herself, and then sighed, "Okay Aang."
"Thank you Katara!" Aang gave her a hug,
Katara scrunched her nose, a pained expression crossing her features, there was too much topless Avatar touching her. Her heart sped up, her body quivered, and her breathing caught in her throat in what some might call a whimper if they were very brave.
"Are you cold?" Aang asked, feeling her shudder and mistaking it for a shiver.
"You should warm her up, remember how?"
Aang shook his head, "Show me again Sifu Hotman?"
The Fire Bender wrapped his arms around her again, bending his skin hotter, and instructing Aang on how to do the same, ". . . no, you're going too hot, just a few degrees works wonders. Yes. Now channel it into your breath, and exhale, NO! No sparks! Katara has pretty long hair, do you want to singe it off? Don't look at me! Watch what you're doing! No, more like this."
She felt Aang adjust his breathing, and the area around her became almost stiflingly warm. Both boys still had her encircled in their arms, and things would get really bad really fast if she didn't think of some way to get out of there that instant. By then her breath was coming in gasps, and she began wrenching the boy's arms off her, the trouble is, they kept coming back.
"Katara what the hell?" Toph asked, one of her eyes squinting in a short epiphany as she grabbed Aang's wrists and pulled them from around the water bender.
"Toph!! Don't swear!"
"Katara, what in the world?" She repeated, "Are you actually . . .?"
"Claustrophobic! I'm claustrophobic!!" Katara was grasping at straws. She was caught between a rock and a hard place . . . well, technically a hard place and a hard place. The rock was on the Avatar's other side, head tilted as she listened to the conversation.
"No, you're lying."
"I am not!"
"Aang, you should offer her a neck massage, she looks a little tense."
"Do you want one?" Aang asked, slightly lost but following his Sifu's instructions. He reached up and began rubbing her neck tentatively, without waiting for her answer.
"No!!" Katara's voice cracked. They were NOT taking this SERIOUSLY!! Zuko was actually smiling a Cheshire grin by then, propped up on his elbow on the other side. Katara supposed it was better than him going into a jealous rage, but not that much better. Damn instigating Fire Lords with beautiful gold eyes and . . . Katara shook herself. Not again!!
"You want me to keep warming you up? I bet you're feeling better already!" Aang gave her a goofy grin, letting go of her neck.
"Yes, Aang," she agreed through gritted teeth, "Much better." She lay back, pulling the covers up to her chin, trying to think of unarousing things. Cave crawlers, cabbage merchants, Kyoshi makeup, foamy mouth guy . . .
Aang lay on his side, watching her, an unreadable expression on his face. Katara studied the ceiling, listening as first Toph, then the Avatar relaxed back into sleep. Aang began tossing this way and that, and Toph put a heavy arm down on his chest, pinning him to the mattress.
She was just starting to dose when Zuko discreetly poked her in her side.
That jerk bender!
She whirled on him, opening her mouth to yell at him, and completely forgetting what she was going to say when she found her face inches from his, his golden eyes glittering in the moonrise.
"You're sweating." He whispered.
"You're a jerk bender!" She hissed back, pulling the red-brown covers up over her nose and mouth.
"So I hear."
"Why didn't you STOP them?" Katara narrowed her eyes, "You could have backed me up!"
"Payback."
"For what?!"
"Swamp Skiin."
Katara huffed and turned back towards Aang. Karma was a bitch and so was Zuko.
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Katara woke grumpily at dawn (she had not slept much the prior night), hearing her three roommates talking in low voices to one of the castle guards. The guard sounded panicked and apologetic, and Zuko's voice kept getting louder and louder, as though he was angry or scared.
". . . didn't hear anything! I swear, Your Lordship has thick doors, and they came in very silently." The guard was saying as Zuko pushed past him out of the room. Aang followed, calling after his friend.
"What happened?" Katara sat up, alarmed.
"Someone broke into Zuko's bedroom!" Toph told her, "Scrawled blue lightening bolts all over the walls. It has to be those nut jobs that think that Azula should be Fire Lord and Ozai the Phoenix King."
Katara swung her legs out of bed as she listened to Toph, "And he's just run off?!"
"Sparky? Yea."
"How do we know it WASN'T Azula?"
"She would have actually lightening bolted everything. Probably" Toph said, following her friend down the hallway. Apparently she was on Katara-guard-duty. She followed her friend back into her room and flopped down on one of her chairs. "Point is, she doesn't need to scrawl things on the walls, it's not like her."
It was weird, dressing with someone else in the room, even if they couldn't see her. She pulled a fresh pair of legging out of her bag and something fell to the floor. It was the snake scale and the bit of parchment. In the confusion and hustle she had forgotten about them entirely.
Katara stooped and picked it up. She WAS out of the swamp now. She broke the seal and unfolded the paper.
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The damage wasn't as bad as he had feared. The bed sheets were slashed and the tapestries singed, the walls scrawled with paint, and the furniture taken apart, but everything in his desk and safe seemed to be fine. All the vital papers that could have been leaked were accounted for, if a little worse for wear and spattered with blue. Most likely it had been some stupid kids trying to make a statement. Still he would have to look into it and punish someone or it would happen again.
Aang started picking up the cloths off the floor but Zuko put a hand on his shoulder, "Don't touch anything. I want one of the investigators on the watch to come look first, see if they can find anything."
"At least you weren't in here." Aang tried to cheer his friend up, "They might have hurt you."
Zuko was about to reply when he heard a scream echo down the hallway.
"Katara!" Aang yelled and bolted off towards the noise, Zuko hot on his heels. They both dashed down the corridor and around the corner. There were a few guards already clustering at the door and they pushed past them and hauled her door open, nearly falling over each other getting inside. Katara was backed up against the wall, her head buried in her arms, maybe she was crying, maybe trembling, Zuko was not sure.
Aang was faster, and he torpedoed through the air, landing next to his friend and putting his arms around her.
"Katara!! Katara!! What's the matter? I heard you scream!! Is Azula here?"
"She dropped this." Toph held out a bit of parchment to Zuko, "I don't know what it is. A letter I think, and then just fell to pieces."
Since Aang had already nabbed the 'comforter' slot, Zuko took it and unfolded it.
"It doesn't say anything, there's just the water bending symbol scrawled across it with brown ink." He told her, looking questioningly as Aang, who shrugged.
"That's not brown ink . . ." Katara spoke through her knees, her voice steady.
Zuko relaxed a bit, at least she wasn't crying. He poked at the stuff and it crumbled off into his hands, he recognized it pretty quickly.
"'Tara, this is written in blood . . ."
"That's gross." Toph declared, "I don't think I'll ever want to write something to someone THAT badly."
"Katara, is that message . . ." Aang started, "Is that a message from who I think it is?"
Katara nodded, spitting out the name with as much venom as she could. "Hama . . ."
"Who is Hama?" Zuko asked curiously. They had never mentioned her.
"Sifu Hama . . ." Katara repeated, not really listening, and Aang patted her on the back again, whispering something Zuko couldn't hear.
"I thought Pakku was your master . . ."
"Hama was this creepy old lady we met while we were traveling around the Fire Nation." Toph explained, "She was freakin' crazy, she captured a bunch of villagers and threw them into a makeshift prison."
"So, what's she want with 'Tara?"
"Me and her, we are the last two Southern Water Tribe women who are water benders, in fact, we're the last two southern water tribe water benders all together." Katara stood, composing herself, smoothing imaginary wrinkles from her skirt, "She . . . she taught me a technique . . . she taught me blood bending. Then she made Aang and Sokka fight . . . like they were her marionettes . . . she, I think she's summoning me . . ."
"You're not seriously considering GOING, are you Katara?!" Aang asked, aghast.
"I . . . ."
"I think you should." Toph cut in quickly, "It's obvious that she has something more that she wants to teach you."
"Hama locked innocent villagers in a cave!" insisted Aang.
"She also taught Sugar Queen a bunch of very very useful water bending, and Katara herself got to decide how and when to use the bending she learned."
"Katara HASN'T used blood bending! She said it was an evil method and that she would never ever use it!" Aang defended his friend's honor.
"Really?" Toph looked doubtful, "Sugar Queen, have you used the blood bending technique?"
Katara nodded, looking ashamed. She knew better than to try to lie to Toph.
"I say if the woman has another lesson to teach, you should at least show up for it."
"What if it's a trap?" Aang persisted, looking shaken.
"I doubt it, Hama never seemed interested in anything but teaching Katara all she knew, by any means necessary. Katara is like her pet project, her legacy, even if she hates the old woman. They're similar to each other in more ways than I think Sugar Queen is ever likely to admit."
"I need to think . . . I need some air." Katara roughly detangled herself from the Avatar and then pushed past the Fire Lord and the Master Earth Bender. She trotted down the hallway, heading for the Fire Nation gardens. Toph and Zuko exchanged a look that only Zuko really saw, and Zuko motioned to one of the guards milling outside Katara's room.
"Take an escort and follow her." He ordered, "Make sure she stays out of trouble, and that trouble does not find her." He watched as the men bowed and followed the tribeswoman, "And don't ogle her!" He called after them.
"Gee Sparky, you're getting so good at this ordering people around." Toph ran her fingers through her hair, "While you're at it, set up an escort for Twinkle Toes here, I want to go change out of my pajamas." She padded out the red and brown door and down the hallway, heading for her own guest room that was right next to Aang's.
Zuko glanced over at the Avatar, he was sitting against the wall where Katara had left him, looking dejected. The Fire Lord crouched down in front of him, worried that the younger boy was crying.
"I can't believe Katara blood bent." Aang twisted his lips back and forth, pensively, "After she swore she wouldn't . . ."
"Katara's only human." Zuko replied, patting his friend on the shoulder, "She has the same faults as us all . . . She makes mistakes just like everyone else . . ." he stood to leave and find Aang a guardian.
"But . . ."
"Aang," Zuko pinched his nose, "I think that . . . I think that there is a side of Katara that you just don't see. I don't know if you're naive, or in denial, or she just hides it very well from you, but she is NOT perfect."
"I know she isn't perfect . . ." Aang looked up at his fire bending sifu, "but blood bending? It's like when she was going to kill the man who killed her mother . . ."
". . . and how did she deal with your disapproval then?"
"She didn't tell me, she wasn't going to tell me."
". . . and what did you do when you found out?" Zuko prompted again, surprised he had to lead the Avatar to the answer in such a fashion. Ty Lee had accused him of being in denial!
"I tried to talk her out of it! It was wrong!! I kept reminding her of her other options!"
"So she knew you wouldn't like it, so she didn't tell you, does that sound familiar?"
"What are you talking about Zuko?"
Zuko shrugged, and sat down against the wall with his pupil, preparing to administer a lesson in life, "I just think you have this idea of her built up in your head that she is something that she is just . . . not."
"No, I don't Katara is sweet and kind, and she loves everyone and she is nice to everyone, and she looks out for her friends-"
Zuko held up his hand, stopping the other boy, "Katara hates plenty of people, I know, she used to hate me, she holds grudges, she tends to make decisions that help people but risk her friends, she can be-"
"You're just focusing on the negative!" Aang cut him off.
"I'm acknowledging that it's there, if that's what you mean."
"You don't have to say mean things about her behind her back." Aang defended.
Zuko sighed, he was getting nowhere. If the Avatar didn't understand, he didn't understand, he was still just a kid after all. Maybe he was expecting too much from his student. Maybe he should ease off and suggest that he go gliding. Zuko decided to try one last time.
"Aang, I'm going to be as blunt as I can, and then we're not going to discuss this again." Zuko stood, "You have expectations for Katara to act a certain way, you expect her to be all love and peace, and she tries, Spirits, she tries to conform to those expectations. It's impossible though, so she hides things from you, things she doesn't want you to know because it does not fit into the mold of her you have in your head, and it's what's driving the wedge between you two." Zuko ran his hand through his hair, well aware that he was driving the nails into the coffin of his relationship with the girl by explaining things, but it just didn't feel right not to.
He walked over to the wall and pulled on one of the cords there and one of his servants brought in curtains.
"Please tell the Steward to arrange for a guard to escort the Avatar throughout the day." He turned to Aang, "I will be talking to an inspector about my room."
His room yielded no evidence, nothing that really narrowed the possible suspects. The inspector deduced that it had been three different criminals, though nothing on age, gender or family. At best, the inspector said he could round up the usual suspects and question them, though he didn't have much hope on any leads. Zuko had sighed and asked the man to do what he could, and then summoned the chambermaids to start scrubbing the walls, changing the mattress, hemming the tapestries, and generally straightening up. He walked out onto his balcony and gazed down at the gardens.
They were beautiful during the summer months, and today was no exception, the flowers were all in bloom around the fountain, and the leaves rustled in the wind. Zuko inhaled, he could smell the plants all the way on the second floor of the building. He noticed Katara on the grass in the sun, her guards a few yards away. She was doing sun salutations, like she usually did when the moon was at certain phases, to try to center and relax herself. He watched as she pushed up from plank into downward facing dog.
"I said no ogling!!" He yelled at her guards, who quickly found something else to be looking at.
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Azula breathed deeply, her eyes were starting to sting with tears. She could hear the grating of her broken bones each time she took a breath, and was beginning to worry that the damage may become permanent if it was not healed soon. That made her angry. She was always angry these days, it was rare not to feel it burning in her chest. In fact the only time she could remember that she hadn't felt the hot rage in her chest was when she had been terrorizing the helpless Avatar. That had been fun. So very fun.
"It's not something a lady should do." She heard Ursa say, but didn't open her eyes to look for the woman. Instead she focused on the Avatar, the way he had screamed. The way he had tasted. Then that insolent earth worm of a bender had come in and spoiled everything. Who did she think she was cutting Azula's fun short?
"To what do I owe this pleasure?"
Azula snapped back to attention, she had not noticed the woman come in, lost in thought as she was. She was getting clumsy. Clumsy people ended up dying. Azula stood, eyeing the woman.
"I thought you owned an inn, puppet master."
"I thought you were in an asylum, fallen princess." The old woman put an armful of wood down next to the sleeping roll.
"Once I am Fire Lord, the Sirens will be begging me back."
"Perhaps."
"You met my friend outside?"
"Yes. She was so polite she didn't even speak to me."
"I need you to heal my ribs." Azula cut to the chase, she had better things to do than chit chat with escapee madwomen about the manners of her mostly mongoose entourage.
"No."
"Why not?!" Azula stood up, "Don't you healers have to swear some sort of oath to always help those in need?"
"Yes, but I have orders not to help you. She is looking for you, you know, and it's only a matter of time before she finds you." The woman smiled, "She will find you. She will kill you. She has her orders, same as the rest of us."
"Not if I kill her first." Azula spat.
The woman laughed, "You think you can kill her? I am intrigued . . . you fire nation scum can all kill each other for all I care, the world would be better off without you!"
"How dare you talk to me in that way!"
"You're not Princess anymore, you're just a homeless woman begging for a healing."
The princess pivoted and kicked, a slash of fire illuminating the cave, and the old woman bent the water out of the stream, raising it up to block the fire, her reflexes remarkably quick. The water turned to steam which the puppet master quickly reformed into a whip, and used it to knock the girl off her feet.
Azula stood, exhaling a mouthful of fire, "This is your last chance, I am already in a fowl mood, you will heal me this instant or I will make you wish you had never been born!"
"Can you even lift your left arm?" the woman's smile became cruel, "Lift it up over your head and yawn. If you can do it without fainting in agony, I'll heal you."
Azula glared, a grin to match the older woman's spreading across her features. "Sorry, I'm just no good at taking orders from filthy water tribe peasants!"
The fallen princess smiled, she had been hoping she would be able to get creative . . .
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Okay, chapter 20, jeez this story is longer than I initially ever thought it was going to be! Wow, and more popular too!
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So I had some unexpected free time on campus and pretty much finished the chapter after this one too. I feel like it is too much fan fic in too short of an amount of time though. I mean, how much Zutara can you stand in one sitting?
I'll put it up in a day or two unless people bug me for it, I am very very susceptible to peer pressure . . .
Oh! It's got some sexy Zutaraness in it that you can look forward to!
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Oh, and brownie points if you know where Ursa's lullubye comes from!!