Chapter Five
The next morning, the group of five set out on their journey. Since driving five ostrich horses would only slow them down, they decided to share three. Sokka and Suki rode on one, Katara sharing with Toph and Zuko on his own, though admittedly he was getting the short end of the string.
The ostrich horse, affectionately named "Shifty" by the stable master, fought Zuko every step of the way, biting at him if it felt the need.
The others smirked as Zuko yelled out in frustration when Shifty stopped in its tracks to wander off the road for the umpteenth time.
"By Agni I hate this animal!"
The others snickered, earning them a death glare from the Fire Lord.
For the first hour, it was amusing to see Zuko argue with Shifty, but after that it got to be grating. Not to mention they would have to stop every so often to readjust the ostrich horse's saddle because it had a tendency to wiggle out of it.
"Zuko, do you want to switch?" Katara asked, finally taking pity on him. They were in the shade, giving the ostrich horses a break before they got started again.
"Katara, if he couldn't control that thing, what makes you think you can?" her brother hitched himself up onto his own animal and was giving Suki a hand.
Ignoring him, she went over to said thing, who looked at her with suspicious eyes. They stared each other down in silence. And then, she slowly held out a few sugar cubes, which it took cautiously. She rubbed its beak and it leaned into her hand, making a sound of contentment.
The boys looked at the two with jaws dropped. In a matter of moments she had tamed the beast. Zuko immediately dug through his pockets for some treats and stomped over them, pushing them towards the ostrich horse.
Shifty snorted and continued to keep its attention on the water bender.
Katara rolled her eyes, "Zuko, you can't just force animals to do what you want them to do."
The boy huffed and went over to Katara's ostrich horse and swung his leg over it, hitching himself up. Toph looked to the two and went over to Zuko saying,
"I'm not getting on that thing Katara, I don't trust it."
Zuko protested a little as she hauled herself up, telling her that it was better for girls to stick together, but she paid him no mind.
Punching him in the shoulder she said, "Suck it up, Sparky!"
He winced, rubbing the sore spot where she hit him. How did so much violence exist in such a tiny girl? Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Katara giggling and shot her a glare, which made her laugh even more. Rolling his eyes, he clicked his tongue and to his relief, the ostrich horse listened and returned to the road.
Ooo
As the sun set, they came upon the outskirts of the town of Shui and decided to rest for the night in the surrounding area.
"Hey, why do we still have to sleep outside if we have the Fire Lord hanging around?" Toph complained, dropping a load of firewood onto the ground.
Katara formed the wood into a cone, "The less money we carry around, the better."
"If it rains, we'll go into town," Sokka reasoned in the background, unpacking his sleeping bag.
Toph grumbled, "Big help, I can make my own shelter."
Raising a brow, Katara asked, "I thought you liked the outdoors better."
"I do," shrugged Toph, "But I like beds to sleep on, you know?"
The water bender could understand. Sleeping on cold hard dirt with the occasional rock sticking into your side was not her idea of a good night's sleep, but it was more practical. She glanced at Zuko and smirked, at least lighting the fire was easier now, thinking of all the different methods Sokka would try to ignite a flame and ending in failure.
Finishing up with the fire wood, she turned to Zuko, "Could you light this?"
Nodding, he breathed in and punched the air, expecting for the flame to ignite, but as it did in the Western Air Temple, only a small puff came out. Confused, he tried again, but gasped as an intense pain spread from his chest in the area where Azula had shot him with her lightning.
In concern, Katara rushed to him and opened his shirt, revealing the star shaped scar left behind from the wound. He clutched at it and his features clenched in agony.
"I don't understand, I healed this months ago," the water bender whispered, encasing her hand in glowing water and pressing it to his chest.
Slowly the pain receded and his tense body started to relax. His breathing returned to normal and his golden eyes turned to her in questioning.
She furrowed her brow, "I don't know what's going on either."
"Has this happened before?" Toph asked, next to Katara.
Zuko weakly shook his head, "I haven't had a chance to fire bend since the end of the war. I didn't have a reason to, and I was so busy that I never thought of trying."
Sokka was silent for a moment, looking at the scar and was suddenly reminded of something, "Maybe your chakra is blocked."
Three sets of eyes turned to him and he nodded to himself, "Yea, remember that time with Azula in the caves? She shot Aang then and he couldn't enter the Avatar State. Maybe this is something similar to that, but on a bigger scale because she hit your heart."
In irritation, Zuko sat up abruptly, "So what are you saying? That I've lost my bending like my father?"
"Not exactly."
"I'm back," Suki stepped into the clearing, holding up two rabbit tortoises, "And look what I caught!"
She looked at their somber looking faces and after an uncomfortable silence asked, "Did something happen?"
"Nothing, nothing happened," Zuko mumbled, getting up and walking away from the group.
"Zuko!" Katara followed him.
The remaining three watched them leave and then turned back to each other.
Finally Toph said, "So…does anyone remember how to light a fire?"
The Fire Lord and the water bender were still in sights of their party, but were a good distance away down the river. He picked up a rock and threw it into the water, it fell with a singular 'plunk' and sank to the river bed. Katara touched his shoulder,
"Zuko…"
He whirled around, his eyes wild "What Katara, what is it?!"
"I…" she looked up at him, not knowing what to say, "I'm sorry."
He grunted and threw another rock into the river, it ended up the same fashion as the other one. They stood there, listening to the rush of water as it moved past them and finally, he yelled out,
"Agni, I hate this! First Mai and now my bending?!"
It was like the world was against him.
Katara winced, this was partially her fault. He was like this because he had protected her from Azula. She remembered the horrific scene of his body convulsing under the lightning's aftershocks, the smell of cooked flesh and the fear pulsing through her blood. Fear for Zuko and fear for her own life as Azula's crazed golden eyes turned to her in maniacal delight that she had killed her own brother. After Katara had defeated her, she had run back to Zuko and forced her energy into him, desperate to save him even if her arms started to shake from the effort. Her tears had mixed into the water healing him as she yelled at him simultaneously to come back. Finally, she had collapsed, completely drained when there came from him a small groan. In her relief and joy, she threw her arms around him and began to sob. He was alive, he was alive!
Coming back from her thoughts, she looked at the silent boy and felt the weight of the memory press down on her.
"Zuko, we can fix this. It's going to be all right," Katara said to the angry monarch, "It's happened to Aang before, but now he's fine. His chakras are flowing again."
Looking darkly at the ground he asked, "And how exactly did he do that?"
"He told me he felt them realign when Ozai threw him against a rock and a stone pressed the right area," she admitted, pushing a piece of hair behind her ear.
Gritting his teeth, he turned to her, "So that's it? Have my father throw me against some rock?"
"Look, I'm not telling you that because I think it's the solution," she shook her head, "What I'm saying is that you can be healed, we'll go to the North Pole. They have highly trained healers there and they will be able to help you."
He sighed, and clenched his fists and unclenched them. Looking at his hands he grimaced, feeling useless now. It was like a part of him had died.
Ooo
"You want to WHAT?!" Sokka exploded at his sister.
"I'm taking Zuko to the North Pole so that he can get his fire bending back," Katara repeated calmly.
He raised his hands in the air and yelled back, "We have a mission! Potential rebels, over turned peace?! Any of this ringing a bell?"
"Look, I'm not forgetting about that. Don't you remember that there was also a water bender involved? We can find information up there to see if there is a possible connection with the Bao Fu. Maybe it's not just a one nation thing," Katara sighed, "Please Sokka. I owe it to Zuko."
He looked suspiciously to her, and then to the boy standing behind her and then back to her again. Finally he said, "You're going to find out about the water bender and heal Zuko. That's it, right?"
"Yea, that's what I said," she blinked in confusion, "What else could we do?"
He nodded at this, mollified slightly, "Fine, we'll split up. You guys go to the North and we'll continue onto Chen Mo."
"Thanks Sokka," she grinned, and then to the others, "Is everyone else all right with that?"
Toph shrugged, chewing on a blade of grass, "As long as I don't have to go, that's fine."
Suki nodded in agreement, "Yea, I'd like to stay away from ice for a bit longer."
So the group separated the morning after buying some supplies in town. Katara waved good bye to her friends and got on her own ride. Zuko eyed the animal with some hesitation.
"What?" she asked, noticing that he wasn't getting near it.
"That's Shifty."
"So?"
"He hates me."
Scoffing, she corrected him, "Shifty is a girl, thank you very much. And she'll be fine as long as you leave her alone."
He grumbled, but hauled himself up. And much to his surprise, Shifty was fine. In fact, she was quite peaceful and obedient. No trouble at all. He gingerly hooked his fingers into Katara's belt and she looked at him in impatience,
"You're going to fall off. Lock your arms around my waist."
"Errr…"
After another second of deliberation he lightly encircled her and they set off back to Omashu.
Time passed and he remained stiffly in his seat, feeling uncomfortable at the closeness. Shifty jolted harshly, making him hold on more tightly than he was before. He quickly glanced at her face to see if she had noticed, but her face was focused intently on the road. In relief, he relaxed and watched the scenery as it rushed by. Her hair tickled his face as it fluttered in the wind, bringing the smell of panda lilies just as it had done in the garden. He found himself leaning into her soft warmth, wanting to breath more deeply her scent.
"Are you worried?"
Zuko snapped back to reality, "What?"
"Are you worried about Mai?" she asked again.
He withdrew from her slightly, and sighed, what was he doing? Mai was out there all alone and he wanted to smell another girl.
"Of course I'm worried," he replied, "I just wish that she hadn't left like that."
"Well you did do something kinda stupid."
He resisted the urge to groan, "Like?"
"I don't know, but I'm sure it was."
"Why am I always the one at fault here?"
"I'm going to assume it was your fault. Did she get really quiet?" Katara laughed at his indignation.
He thought back to their last argument and nodded, "Yea, how did you know?"
"Um, I'm a girl too," she shrugged, the cloth on her back shifting, "You my friend, made a big mistake. What did you say?"
"I just asked her to marry me because she said I was toying with her!" Zuko shouted, very frustrated, "What's wrong with that?!"
Katara clicked her tongue in disapproval, "Well for one thing, you asked her to marry you for the wrong reasons. And another thing, that was the most unromantic thing you could ever do."
"What wrong reasons? And what does romance have to do with this?"
"You just said that to shut her up right? Because you didn't want to argue with her anymore?" she analyzed, "Not to mention, if I were her, I would want the guy I love to put some care into the idea that we would be spending the rest of our lives together."
"Shit."
The water bender laughed again, that irritating soft laughter Zuko had heard in the garden. He could hear the smile in her voice as she said,
"Don't worry. If she really loves you, she'll be back. And when she does, make sure to grovel and beg like your life depends on it."
ooo
It was nearly nightfall when they finally decided to stop. Since Omashu had no air ships or a harbor, they decided to pass it and go straight to Gang Kou where they could hitch a ride to the Fire Nation and go from there.
"I wish we could see Bumi again," Katara mused as she unsaddled Shifty. The ostrich horse gurgled at the relief of being unburdened and immediately started to roll on the ground to get the feeling of the saddle out of its back.
Zuko threw another stick into their fire, which they built by hand, "There's no helping it, we have to get to the North Pole as soon as possible and then back to your brother." He thought of the Bao Fu and wondered just how far it had reached if a water bender had joined them. The South Pole was out, because Katara was the only water bender from the South. That only left the North, so they would be killing two birds with one stone in a sense. Yet no matter how much he tried to justify it in his mind, he kept feeling selfish for dragging Katara away from her friends and away from her mission. He added after a pause, "Sorry."
The water bender turned to him in surprise, "For what?"
"For taking you away from your friends," he grabbed another stick and began drawing on the ground. He scratched the Fire Nation symbol and then scribbled it out.
She sat down across from him, the fire between them, and pulled her knees into her chest, "Zuko, I want to help you. You're my friend too."
Looking at her face, he tried to search for a lie. Her clear blue eyes were wide and honest, only flickering in the light. He sighed, "I just hope we find something about the Bao Fu in the North, or else it'll be completely about me."
She laughed and tossed him a bread roll. Catching it, he thanked her. He bit into the tough dough, hard and dry from being stored in a bag all day, but he ate it anyway. Taking a swig from his canteen to wash it down, he noticed her staring into the fire with a blank expression.
He raised a brow, "What's up?"
Her attention came back to the present, "What? Oh, I'm just thinking about Aang and wondering how he's doing. He's all alone right now."
"He's the avatar. He'll be fine."
"He's barely thirteen!" she rubbed the dirt with her shoes. Aang was too young to be handling this kind of business, defeating Ozai had been bad enough.
Zuko shrugged, "Katara, he has thousands of years of knowledge at his disposal. I think he's going to be okay."
She chewed her lip, not wanting to admit that he was right. Not replying, she slipped into her sleeping bag and pulled it over her head. She heard him chuckle and scowled into the fabric.
"Good night Katara."
"Meh."
Ooo
Author's note: UUUUgh. That was kind of hard to write out. I don't know why. Block I guess. Haha. Soooo, I really think it's cool when people from all these countries show up on my traffic thinger. Like from India, UK, Ireland, Australia, Slovakia, Belgium, Trinidad and more. So I see you all. Yep.
So the Zutara has officially started.
Read and review, because I love it! And makes me want to write more! Hint hint nudge nudge say no more say no more.