ARC 3: A Mountain Divides Them Apart
DAY 16: Switch
To say that joining the Avatar is a minor change in plans is an understatement. It requires a switch, a change, a complete overhaul of everything and every plan they've ever had.
Within days of finding the little airbending boy in the ice, Fire Nation ships appear on the horizon (they quite figure out how they found out so quickly, but Sokka thinks it might have been the huge, obvious light that took up just about the entire horizon). Grandfather Pakku takes one look at the Fire Nation banners and orders the entire trip to leave immediately. The Water Tribe slips away in the night, leaving Katara and Sokka to care for the little boy (they draw away the Fire Nation fleet and nearly die in the process, which defeats the purpose, but they made it out alright anyway…so no harm, right?).
By the time they leave for the Earth Kingdom, the South is empty and Katara is the only one who watches it recede into the distance. Sokka pours over maps and reports, Aang looks back at her from time to time with a goofy smile (he's so small and sweet and eager to please). Only Katara feels the difference.
She and her brother have left the South again and again; this is no different than sailing away in a boat. But something is different, something she doesn't know yet.
Fate called her home to deliver her child, only to deposit an Avatar in her waiting arms. Fate tells her to look back and savor the last sight of her homeland, she makes sure to look back because she doesn't know if she'll ever return. Maybe she won't. Maybe her life will never the same again (which is kind of an understatement, because nothing will ever be the same after Zuko).
"When do we start my training?!" Aang bounces beside her.
He's quick like that, bald-headed and gray eyed and light as the clouds themselves (and just as quiet when he wants to be). She offers him a smile, but it's hard. All of her smiles are tinged with sadness these days (and they will be for a long time, she thinks)
"As soon as we reach the Earth Kingdom." she says.
"Maybe we won't have to go there right away," he says, "I can't wait to show you guys the Southern Air Temple!"
Katara's smile dies. She doesn't know how to tell him.
Sokka glances at her from his side of saddle and gestures, tell him the truth. But Katara can't. She can't take that smile away from his face. Not yet (in a way, she thinks that fate made a good choice sending this boy into her life; he'll be in good hands because Katara will die before she sees this strange little boy hurt, Avatar or not).
"Katara?" Aang says.
"Yes," she says, snapping back to herself, "I can't wait to see it."
He grins and launches into the fourth description of it's magnificent awesomeness (or so he says). Her heart hurts for him and for the moment, she'll hold onto that feeling. Better than inflicting it upon him so soon.
Sokka shakes his head and turns back to his maps.
It's truly a measure of how far they've fallen.
Uncle begging. Singing for money. Sitting beside the road with hands out asking for assistance.
Zuko wants to die from the shame, scream at the men and women who disrespect his Uncle with pitiful looks and rude words (well, he actually wants to kill the man with Dao swords who thought it'd be funny to force an old man to dance for a single gold coin thrown at his feet). It's all he can do to sit through the hours that follow, fume and rage until night falls.
He creeps away from their camp on the outskirts of the city, shakes away the ropes that bind prince Zuko, Zuko the fugitive, Zuko the peasant, every Zuko that ever was. For a night, he's the Blue Spirit. He's free.
No. He's the shadows; the darkness itself. Safe behind a fearsome visage and sharp swords (stealing them from the man who'd forced Uncle to dance was fitting enough—at least he didn't kill the man), he leaps from rooftop to rooftop, roaming where it pleases him.
And because the Blue Spirit is not the messenger of justice (no matter what they say about Commander Zhao's fortress burning to the ground, allowing crucial Water Tribe prisoners to escape into the night), because Zuko no longer cares about anybody besides the old man who sleeps on the edge of the city, because he's tired of having nothing, he steals.
Food, clothing, Ostrich horse feed. Money, a fancy teapot for Uncle Iroh, a necklace with blue gems and white diamonds that belonged to the Mayor's daughter. He decides it would look better on darker skin and takes it with him (the Blue Spirit does not concern himself with whether he'll ever find Katara again, he wraps the necklace around his wrist where he will always see it).
Maybe she wouldn't approve of the Blue Spirit. Maybe Uncle wouldn't approve.
Maybe Zuko doesn't care.