ARC 3: A Mountain Divides Them Apart
DAY 18: Pieces
Jin has had plenty of bad ideas.
Visiting the Avatar's zoo was, admittedly, a decent one.
Splashing around like children in a fountain at night and having the city guard called on them? Bad idea (especially considering the nasty colds they'd caught afterward).
Teaching Jin to jump from rooftop to rooftop? Bad idea (she's taken that as a personal invitation to creep into him room at all hours—even when they became just friends instead of potential lovers).
This idea, however, takes all the Fire Flakes. He just doesn't know it yet.
"They say that the Avatar's waterbending teacher is still in the city," Jin tells him over tea one night, "Her name is Katara and apparently she's the last Southern Waterbender."
The shop is closed and Uncle is in the kitchen (they've just moved into the new shop and it's still a lot to get used to). Zuko fiddles with his cup to mask the overwhelming drowning sensation.
Katara. Here in the city.
Here.
"How do you know all of this?" he finally asks.
"Well," she drawls, "Let's just say Guardsman Kyoji and I are awfully friendly nowadays."
She smiles in a leery way that illustrates exactly what sort of friendly things they've been doing together.
"Do I need to speak to him?" he asks.
"No, Dad." Jin rolls her eyes.
Though they are only friends, Zuko feels a sort of kinship with her. As if she is a sister, if only by virtue of being a fellow refugee, another person adrift in this war torn world.
"Anyway," she continues, "She's in the upper ring. We can find her."
He's almost too afraid to hope, but he nods. He needs to see her again.
"Tonight." he says.
He doesn't wear his mask (because it's a secret, obviously). He's just Lee, in normal clothing (he swallows down the panic that comes with thinking of himself as just Lee). Jin's kind-of-boyfriend lets them through the gates, even tells them where to find the Avatar's house. He manages to look away when she "thanks" him with an overenthusiastic kiss.
Then, with all obstacles behind them, they creep through the streets.
He expects the Avatar's house to be bigger; much gaudier than it really is. It's a simple house, elegant. It lacks all the pomp and circumstance of Fire Nation affairs and Zuko finds that he rather likes that (even as he misses the over-dramatic posturing that characterized his childhood).
There is a garden behind the home and in it, they find a woman bending water in the moonlight. Zuko's breath catches in his chest. He'd know this silvery goddess anywhere.
The woman turns in his direction and he nearly falls off the roof (Jin manages to snag his tunic before he dies).
It's certainly Katara. She looks healthy, glowing even (if moonlight can be trusted at all). But she's going to have a baby. Very, very soon.
"She's pregnant?" Zuko sputters.
Ty-Lee glances between her mark and the strangers on the rooftop.
Princess Azula had given strict orders to watch the waterbender, but Ty-Lee knows that man on the roof. Even under the moonlight, the way his body moves lithely across the shadows is eerily familiar. His companion is a complete stranger, but that hardly matters.
She leaves her post and trails the two into the night (she has a tingly feeling that says Azula will be pleased before the night is out).
Summons come from the Earth King the next day, to serve him tea! Uncle is ecstatic, proclaiming a free cup of tea for everyone that day. He scurries around the shop, offering cups even the customers that insist on paying (his tea is that good). It warms Zuko's heart to see the hold man happy, but the same cannot be said for himself.
He'd hardly slept the night before, burning with questions. What if Katara's child was his? What if it wasn't? Was he mentally equipped to deal with either scenario?
Part of him desperately wants to know the paternity right away. The other part of his wants to block everything out and focus on serving tea until everything goes away. But ignoring the obvious hasn't helped him in the past and it's certainly not going to help him now. He needs to see her, that much is clear (but really, more than anything, he needs to hold her close, caress her unruly curls).
Zuko promises himself that he'll find her as soon as the meeting with the Earth King is finished (he'll wait outside of her door for days if he has to).
She'll be happy to see him, he tells himself, everything will be better.
He's never been more wrong.
There's a lot that Katara expects. Earthquakes, the Fire Nation, venomous lizards.
Zuko isn't one of them.
When they throw him in, she's busy rubbing her belly and trying to sooth away a persistent pain in her abdomen. Pains like that are normal, expected even, but they've slowly become more and more frequent (which usually happens in the weeks before birth).
The man in green and brown rolls down the steep incline, once, twice, and then slams into a glowing crystal at the bottom. He curses, pulling himself up with a muted oof. The man's hair is short, uneven in a way that suggests it had been hacked off with a knife at some point. Then he looks up and Katara feels as though she's been punched.
She doesn't expect a short haired Zuko in Earth Kingdom clothing to appear in her prison. He clearly doesn't expect her either. They both stop short and stare. She says his name and the spell is broken.
They stagger to their feet, embracing each other tightly. Katara inhales deeply, surprising to smell tea and steam, instead of Fire Nation smoke and spice. She bites back her tears and looks up at him.
"I thought I'd never see you again." she says, sniffling pitifully.
He laughs unexpectedly. "Spirits," he says, "I've missed you."
Zuko kisses her, a quick touch of his mouth to hers. She smiles, but another twinge from her abdomen interrupts her words. It catches her by surprise and she staggers against Zuko.
"Where are you hurt?" he asks urgently.
"It's okay, I'm fine," she tells him breathlessly, "It's the baby."
That only serves to panic him more, "Are you having the baby?!"
"No!" she snaps, then composes herself, "Sometimes women have fake labor pains. It's normal, I'm not going into labor. Not yet."
He helps her sit against a crystal stalagmite.
"Are you sure?" he asks, hesitantly.
She nods, rubbing her belly again (she likes to think it help settles the baby). Zuko stares at the gesture, one hand outstretched. Katara reaches out, thin fingers wrapping around his wrist.
"Are you sure?" he asks again, but for an entirely different reason.
She smiles and nods. He touches the swell of her stomach. The baby kicks and Zuko's eyes nearly pop out of his head. She can't help laughing at him and the moment passes. He sits back, criss-cross (she props her feet on his lap).
"Why are you here?" she asks.
They swap stories, filling in almost nine month's worth of gaps. It takes her mind off the current predicament. Zuko slowly relaxes, even as he talks about the difficulty of his permanent banishment and life as a peasant.
"Join us," Katara offers as he winds down, "Aang needs a Firebending teacher."
Her proposal shocks him. He's never even considered…deserting the Fire nation. He's surprised Katara would even suggest his willing betrayal. He flounders for a moment, then considers his own bending ability.
Zuko laughs bitterly. "Have you seen my bending?"
This confuses her.
"Zuko," she says sternly, "Your bending is amazing."
"Then you haven't met my sister." he mutters.
"I have." she reminds him, tapping his arm lightly.
He's not sure what to think. She wants him to teach the Avatar? He's not worth her high estimation to begin with and he can't betray his father. Can he?
"Katara—
She puts a finger against his lips.
"Don't answer," she says, "You have a lot to think about, I understand. But consider it."
She closes the gap between them and kisses his scarred cheek. Zuko looks away.
"I wish you wouldn't do that." he murmurs.
This seems to remind her of something. She reaches around her neck and retrieves a tiny vial.
"I went home for a little while," she says, "And my grandfather gave this to me before I left. It's water from the spirit oasis in the North. The water has special properties and…and I think it might help…with your scar."
His eyes widen, indescribable hope blooms there.
"I know it bothers you," she admits, "But I might be able to heal some of it. Maybe."
"Would you?" he says hoarsely.
She nods, reaching up to touch the rough, dead flesh around his eye. Zuko imagines a face without the mark of his dishonor, a clear and smooth face. Someone worthy of standing beside Katara.
The Avatar explodes into the cavern.
Katara gasps, struggles to her feet and shouts his name. The two embrace, like a mother and a child (a child who glares at him around his mothers arm). Then his Uncle is embracing him and before he knows it, the old man is ushering Katara and the Avatar ahead. It feels as though he's blanked out for a few minutes and left reeling in the aftermath of some very important event. He manages to mutely wave to Katara as she goes.
Find me, she mouths and then leads the child Avatar away.
Zuko touches his scar and wonders if she really meant her words. Any of them. He watches her disappear into the darkness.
Uncle pleads frantically with him, trapped behind crystal stalagmites. Azula paces like a tiger-wolf, stepping lightly
"Decisions, decisions, Zuko," she leers, "Now it's time to make yours."
His mind races.
If he helps the Avatar defeat Azula, he'll have a chance to be with Katara and their baby (she hasn't admitted it yet, but they both know it's his). But he'll never go home. He'll slide into peasantry and obscurity (fighting against his own is unthinkable—never).
But if he helped his sister…
Zuko could go home, welcomed as a prince and as a hero. His honor would be restored, father would finally be happy. Everything would go back to normal (but was there room for Katara? The baby?).
"The waterbender," he asks, surprised by the urgency in his voice, "What will happen to her?"
He is struck the greatest longing to see her in red and gold, holding a son, and sitting beside the turtle-duck pond once again with her.
Azula stops short, laughing with disbelief.
"That is that your price?" she asks, "Your loyalty for the pregnant bitch?"
And Uncle cries, Zuko, No!
Zuko sets his shoulders, steels his resolve, and makes his decision.
Lightning crackles behind her eyes every time she closes them. She sees Zuko, standing beside his leering sister. Aang falls from the sky, the sound of her own scream ringing in her ears.
They flee the Earth Kingdom and she cries bitter tears as she turns her airbender over in her arms. His lips are blue, his body limp.
Katara finds her vial of sacred water, a gift from Grandfather Pakku before they left the South. To think that she had considered using it on Zuko (she will have time for grief later; right now is for action). She draws the sacred water out and sends it glowing into Aang's wound.
It's so bad, so terrible that she shouldn't hope. But she does. Katara will hope even when everything else has been lost.
Aang opens his eyes, just a fraction. His chest rises with breath, one little hand clutching at her chest. She smiles despite herself, tears streaming down her cheeks again. Aang smiles at her, then his eyes flutter close.
Then pain rips through her and she screams. She clutches the Avatar against her and fights the contraction. This one is longer, more painful, much more real. She belatedly realizes that her skirt is wet and it has been for some time (her water is broken and spirits, she's about to give birth).
Her brother is crawling toward them, hanging onto giant clumps of Appa's fur. He's bleeding, she realizes, from a nasty slice above his eyebrow. It'll scar if she doesn't heal it soon.
"What happened?" he shouts, "Are you—
"The baby!" she cries, "He's coming!"
Everything that could have gone wrong—has gone wrong.
Everything has fallen to pieces and all they can do is stand and watch.
They land in Chameleon Bay an hour later.
Aang is gently passed down, ushered to a tent where he will recover in peace. Sokka carries his struggling sister down. Her contractions have grown stronger and closer together, but she won't be taken away.
"I need to help him!" she screams, "I can do it, let me save him, Sokka!"
They both know that if the Avatar dies, the next one will instantly be reborn into the next nation in the cycle. Katara's baby could be the next Avatar and neither of them wants to see that happen. Sokka carries her into the tent with Aang, sets her on a hastily constructed bed of furs. He knows that everything that can be done, has already been done. The pieces are falling and all they can do is wait.
Chief Hakoda watches from the tent flaps, dark skin pale with shock.
His baby girl cries out in agony (she's about to become a mother, he tries to comprehend), his little boy who somehow became a man overnight holds her hand throughout the labor. The Avatar sleeps peacefully in the corner of the tent, the little Earthbending girl holding his hand and looking every bit of twelve years old. They're all crying, some loudly and others quietly, but there is so much heartbreak that it's all Hakoda can do to walk away and collapse somewhere along the beach.
There is nothing he can do to help them and the very feeling burns at his insides the way Kaya's death still does. So useless. All of this is useless. If the Avatar dies, all of this will be for nothing. He fights back his own tears and watches the night bleed into the day.
Just as dawn touches the horizon, he hears Katara cry out again. He's suffered through the sounds again and again, but this time an infant's wail follows it.
Hakoda rushes to his feet and sprints to the tent. He bursts inside and stops short. His daughter has given birth to a baby girl, laughing and crying at the same time. The Avatar is still alive, still sleeping peacefully in the corner, chest rising and falling gently with each breath.
Suddenly they can all hope again.