Okay, here's a disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER (unfortunately) OR IT'S CHARACTERS OR LOCATIONS OR WHATEVER. Si?
So, here's the next chapter. XD Hope you all like it. =)
Hehe, I'm semi-proud of myself for this one. I managed to write it even though I'd only written the Sokka/Aang/Oh part in my little notebook. And that too, only half. That means, mostly with nothing in the book. YAY, PRIDE! XD =P
Ch. 4.
Katara woke up in the room with an odd sort of pain in her back. She grimaced, rubbing her back with her fingers.
She looked up at the room and wondered whose it was. Iroh's? It seemed more lavish than a room she might have expected from a warship. Not that she had been on many warships…
Apart from that one in the South Pole which she had followed Aang into. She shivered, thinking of it. Would Zuko have found Aang if they hadn't gone into that warship? Would she be here?
No, she realized. She wouldn't.
Because she wouldn't even know that Aang was the Avatar.
Everything would have been different. She wouldn't have gone to Kyoshi or Omashu; she might still be in the South Pole. She knew that for some reason she didn't know, Aang had been upset when he found out he was the Avatar and he had been running away from it. She might never have found out. Aang had only admitted that he was the Avatar to protect her village.
Thinking of that, she pulled her knees to her chest and pressed her chin to them.
She missed Aang and Sokka.
And, even though entering that warship had led to them being followed around wherever they went, she didn't regret it. Not much.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of a metal churning and sprang to her feet immediately. She knew she was mostly helpless in this ship with no water she had access to, but it wouldn't do her any harm to be cautious.
It was Zuko.
He entered the room and gave her a cold glare. She glared back defiantly.
"What is he doing?" He shouted. She frowned. What was who doing? Zuko made no sense to her. And, even though her doubts were placed on Aang, she decided to play dumb. After all, he could have been talking about anyone. Maybe even Iroh; she doubted Zuko was very happy with her having a comparatively comfortable room.
"What is who doing?" She asked, trying not to laugh at his annoyed expression. He was fuming, literally. She could see the steam escaping his nostrils.
"The Avatar. What is he doing?" He shot at her. She fought to control her smile; his latest plan of capturing Aang seemed to be failing. Katara almost grinned.
"How would I know? I'm here, aren't I?" She said. Zuko's anger flared. The girl was obviously enjoying herself. Why did everything have to be that way? She wasn't supposed to be in his room, sleeping, while his plan failed!
Why did everything always have to fail for him? Everything, every single thing was so hard for him.
And he had been so sure that this would work! It was a foolproof plan; the Avatar was supposed to chase after the girl. They were obviously good friends, judging by how the girl and her brother had come to rescue the Avatar when he had first captured him, back in the South Pole. Why wasn't the Avatar doing the same for the girl?
Do not count your turtle ducks before they hatch.
He bashed his fist into the metal wall and left the room, door open.
For a moment, Katara was shocked. He had left the door open! She was sure there were guards outside, but she could take the chance, couldn't she? She waited until she was sure Zuko would be far enough, and then took a small step forward.
And then Iroh popped his head in through the door frame, a wide awkward-looking smile on his face. He said, his smile and cheerfulness audible when he spoke,
"My nephew, he says you will have to switch rooms. He isn't, uh, comfortable with girls sleeping in his bedroom." He said, saying the same thing his nephew had said with a few alterations; such as 'captive'.
Katara's mouth fell open. She had been in Zuko's room? Sure, she remembered thinking that it was quite lavish for a warship, but she had thought that it would be, at the most, Iroh's room. Not Zuko's!
And he had told her to feel at home?
The irony of it all did not amuse her one bit.
"Why don't you come down right now while we, uh, prepare a room for you? I'm sure you must be hungry." Iroh said, and Katara nodded gratefully even as one part of her was wondering what torture weapons they were preparing.
She followed Iroh, again, down flights of staircases. As they entered the main deck, she raised a hand to shield her eyes, nearly setting off a couple of guards. Iroh sent them back to standing in a stiff position with one signal. She saw Zuko looking into the sky with a telescope. Was he looking at Appa? She sighed at the thought. Zuko looked angry, much as he had when he had come into her room. The sun had just risen, she noticed.
She followed Iroh down the same set of stairs they had traveled before she had been trapped in the small cell. Hopefully, she would never have to see that cell again.
As she reached the metal doors which, unlike the rest, had locks with keys to them instead of cogwheels, she followed Iroh, looking straight ahead at his grey hair. When they reached a small room with a low table on a bamboo mat, not too different from the one she had slept on, lit by two of the same red lanterns that could be found everywhere in the interiors of the ship and multiple flags of the fire nation adorning its walls, Iroh stopped walking.
"Ladies first." He said with a grin, and she smiled at him and took a seat at one of the chairs. Iroh sat on the chair adjacent to hers, grinning at the plates that had been set out in front of them; a steaming garnished fish, a bowl of boiled rice next to each plate, and a bun on a plate in front of them. There was also a small container of salt.
"We have a lot of fish, considering we're always sailing." Iroh provided. Katara nodded.
"We used to eat a lot of fish, too, back in the South Pole. And other sea creatures."
"What was your favorite?" Iroh asked.
"Five-flavor soup. And arctic-hen." Katara said after a bit of thought. She'd never thought too much about food, really. That was what Sokka did.
"My favorite dish is roast duck. Not that we get it much here." Iroh said, looking upset at the thought. Katara smiled a little to herself. For the Fire Lord's brother, or so she supposed Iroh was, he seemed to be a very simple man.
There were three plates set, Katara noticed, but didn't pay too much attention; she was hungry.
A few bites in, Iroh started talking again.
"You must be wondering why there are three plates set. You see, the third one is for my nephew. We didn't exactly have dinner." He said. Katara nodded. Of course they didn't have much of dinner; they were too busy trying to capture the Avatar. She wondered, though; did Zuko ever eat at all? He seemed to be consumed by his search for Aang. Didn't he ever feel hungry or tired? She doubted he had slept at all in the night, considering she had been in his room for quite a while. She would have woken up if he, or anyone, had come in.
Not that she cared. She was just curious.
She shook her head and continued eating her fish. She didn't know when she would get a chance to eat again, did she? She might as well dig in.
"Why are we flying so slowly?" Pirate Oh grumbled. Aang made a frustrated sound at the question.
"Look, Appa's tired, okay? None of us had any rest last night. And he's not used to carrying a fully grown man and me and Sokka." Aang retorted. Oh grunted.
"So how long is it to Gaipan?" Oh asked. Sokka, who was sitting at the saddle, audibly irritated at Oh's consistent stream of questions, lack of sleep, and worry for his sister, replied,
"We're not landing in Gaipan, we're landing close to there. And, I don't know, okay? Maybe a day. We've just left, and, and we don't want Zuko to reach us before the rest of the pirates do, do we?"
Oh grunted again, and leaned back on Appa's saddle, closing his eyes. Aang closed his eyes too, slowly feeling the drowsiness and lack of sleep making it difficult to open them again.
In a few minutes, Aang and Oh were both asleep, leaving Sokka holding Appa's reins. He was tired too. But he couldn't sleep.
No, Sokka wouldn't sleep.
Zuko trailed the flying bison's progress using his telescope. He had resigned himself to the fact that kidnapping the girl had obviously not done anything, not yet. It was the same. Maybe he still did have the upper hand, though. He could track the Avatar; he had until now, and he would continue to until he captured him.
The bison was moving consistently north-east. He frowned, pulled the telescope away from his eye and strode into the wheelhouse and pulled out a map. Unrolling it, he frowned. They were near the pier which hosted the junk ships, which was… there. They were traveling North-East, which was upriver. This made no sense to Zuko; there was nothing there. He knew there were a couple of small earth kingdom villages, most taken over by the fire nation a long time ago, and a canyon… But nothing else.
Uncle would know.
"Where is my uncle?" He asked the helmsman, but in his hurry it came out more like a bark.
"Dining, I think." The helmsman replied. Zuko nodded and rushed out of the wheelhouse, still clutching at the map. He rushed below deck and to where he knew his uncle would be, courtesy of the helmsman.
When he got there, he was surprised to see the water tribe girl eating as well. She seemed surprised to see him. He ignored her as well as his uncle's comment about him finally coming to eat.
He wasn't there to eat.
"Uncle! The Avatar is heading North-East." At this, he looked carefully at the girl to see her reaction, but she only seemed a little surprised. Why was that?
He turned his attention back to the map in his hands, tapping their location and then tracing the river. "We're here, and they're going North-East, which is upriver. What could possibly be there?" He asked, frowning. Iroh shrugged.
"I don't know, Prince Zuko. There are only a few small villages and a stronghold." Iroh said, tapping at some points on the map to mark the villages and the stronghold. "Nothing else."
Zuko was stumped. What was the Avatar doing?
"I can't understand what he's doing. The Avatar has already proved that he's the master of evasion…" At this, Katara sputtered. Both, Zuko and his uncle turned to face her, Iroh with amusement and mild interest on his face and Zuko with confusion.
"Aang? Master of evasion? You're joking, right?" Katara sputtered, and then started laughing in spite of herself. That was truly funny. She didn't know why Aang was heading upriver, but she did know that everything he was, he was not a "master of evasion".
"I'm not," Zuko said, a little bit irritably. She seemed to be having the time of her life on his ship. She shouldn't be; she was the captive. "He is. Do you know where he's going?"
"I already told you. I don't know where Aang is." The girl said, now sounding irritable. Zuko frowned.
"Then do you know his plan? Why he's heading North-East? Where is he going?" He asked, his good eye gleaming.
Katara clenched her jaw.
"I don't know if he has a plan. We didn't exactly expect that I would be captured by you, you know. And, like I told you, I don't know why he's going North-East, because I'm here and not with him." She said, her voice laced with bitterness that she hoped Zuko would catch. Maybe he would feel guilty for kidnapping her, though she doubted it. She doubted that he actually had any feelings, really.
She also hoped that he wouldn't notice that she hadn't answered his last question, because, while she had her hopes on Aang flying to the North Pole to find a waterbending master, she wasn't sure, and she certainly didn't want Zuko to find out about that.
Iroh was watching their argument with some amount of wariness, and nearly opened his mouth once to say something, but then closed it. Neither of the two noticed. He noticed, however, that there was a trace of bitterness in the girl's voice when she spoke of the Avatar… A bitterness that wasn't much different from his nephew's when he spoke of his scar… Or the Avatar.
Zuko glared at the girl for a minute. She certainly seemed to be telling the truth.
Then he clenched his jaw, lifted the plate that had been set for him from the table, and, still holding the map in one hand, walked away.
"I was hoping he wouldn't turn up. I might have gotten to eat that fish." Iroh said, sounding upset, making Katara laugh.
"So, um… What's your name?" He asked, realizing that he didn't even know her name.
"Katara." She said, giving him a small smile.
"Again, I'm sorry about my nephew. He hasn't learned any manners from me. Eating should be done in its place, not holding a map up." Iroh said, grinning at Katara.
How was it even possible that Iroh and Zuko were related?
Not much of Aang/Sokka here, just the general update, I guess you could call it. Zuko and Katara make their first real interaction (sort of). And Zuko is at wits end as to why Aang's traveling north. Haha.
Thank you so much to CrazyJulz16 for reviewing. =)
To CrazyJulz16: Thank you so much. I really tried hard on Zuko's room's description. Screenshots are a great help. I guess, that is sort of... not usually done. Hm... =/ Thank you SO much, anyways. Everything you (And everyone who reviews) means a lot to me. =D
Also, I don't mind or have any issues with constructive criticism. That's very welcome.
Also, I was wondering, in case you guys are having any confusion about location and the map and all, I actually take my map references from The World of Avatar map by Felinoel (on DeviantArt) and the key from the Avatar:TLA official wiki. If you search for map in it's search bar, you can get it. I'd give a link, but links don't work on . =)
Okay, I'm done. Thanks a lot to all of you for reading... Review? Thanks. =)