Chapter 6

Katara woke up, and knew at once that this was not where she went unconscious. She was lying on a bed of some sort, but the room she was in was rocking slightly. She got up and looked around, and after a little bit of looking around, she found that she was on a ship. She was annoyed at being taken against her will, and wanted to find the woman who had done this to her. She left the room and went up to the main deck. At once, Katara knew that these were pirates, judging from their appearances and the amount of loot they seemed to have. Wherever they were, they were not in the Earth Kingdom—or any nation for that matter. They were out on the seas.

It did not take long for Katara to scour the ship in search of Lucy. She had gone straight to the captain's quarters and was banging on the door until she heard a voice behind her.

"Ah," said the voice; it was female, and Katara turned around, slightly startled. In front of her was a woman that was most likely the captain of the ship, judging from her apparel. Ironically, other than Lucy and the captain, there were very few other women on board.

"May I help you with something?" she asked; it was not a rude voice, but rather, straightforward, as if she was not going to take a lie.

"Aye," Katara replied, plucking up courage again, "where, is the woman named Azula Caroso?"

"Lucy," the woman remarked, "ah, she must have been the one who brought you here, she's—"

But Katara cut her off.

"Damn right she was the one who brought me here," Katara snapped, "and that's why I want to find her. I need a word with her."

"There's no need to get snappy, kid," the woman replied, "you sound like that old earthbending legend from a thousand some-odd years ago—Toph was her name. I like your style though."

"Shut up and tell me where Lucy is," Katara snapped,

"I was going to," the captain replied, "but you cut me off. She is right over there. And you may call me Tenoko; Captain Dragmire, or whatever floats your boat. I honestly don't care enough. Respect is only demanded by those who are insecure enough to think they need it. I'm no more special than you are, Toph."

"My name's Katara," Katara growled.

"And everyone's got a nickname on The Blazing Phoenix," Tenoko chuckled, "this isn't Gaoling, kid. We have no rules."

"Gaoling," Katara asked, not knowing that that had been the name of the city where she and Sokka had lived;

"Aye, Gaoling," Tenoko replied, "we were there selling off goods, and a few bounty hunters of mine decided to get a few of our enemies. We were moderately successful too."

"WHAT," Katara yelled, "why am I your enemy? I don't even know who the hell you creeps are!"

"You were a special case," Tenoko replied, "Lucy captured you for her own reasons. She works for the highest bidder."

"So I'm your... your prisoner," Katara exclaimed, angry, upset, and very, very frustrated; "get me out of here. I want to go home!"

"We're only half a mile from the shore," Azula remarked, appearing out of nowhere behind Katara, "you, can swim back if you want. Just be sure to watch out for any of the things that dwell in the shallower seas."

Azula was being completely truthful. Unlike her name would indicate; she was actually almost nothing like Azula of old. Azula Caroso was a simple woman who did as she pleased and generally worked for the highest bidder. Katara, however, looked more upset.

"I can't swim," she replied, "what do you want with me?"

That is our business," Tenoko replied;

"You know that with me being with you all that people are going to come after you, right?" Katara asked,

"Aye," Tenoko replied, "and that's one of the reasons we're not letting you go. The more people that come after us, the more people we're going to fight to the death. The more people we defeat, the more dangerous we will become. Besides, if it helps cause a little chaos in Xin Shing's world of Order, then I'm all for it."

"I'm only 13!" Katara pleaded, "Why can't people just leave me alone?"

"Because the world is not simple like that, Katara Altina II," Azula replied, "we live in a terrible world right now. Believe me, the stories I could tell about the prejudice I got."

"Aye," Katara remarked sarcastically, "I bet you have too much power to control as well. That sounds incredibly likely."

"how much power do you have exactly," Tenoko asked curiously, "surely people could not have been telling the truth about that much energy contained in a girl your size and age."

Katara laughed, though it was an angry laugh.

"You need to get out more then," Katara retorted, "for the things they say about my power are true. Believe me, it's not something you want. Power is entirely overrated."

"So this is the girl with the power," one of the other crew members, this one a man, asked;

"Aye," Azula replied, "and she's about to prove it to us; I think we've been underestimating her."

Katara thrashed backwards at Azula, thinking that she was being sarcastic. However, another element about Azula's simplicity was that she generally told things the way she saw them. However, when Katara attacked, she was easily outmaneuvered by Azula, who was around 25 years old, and so all in all, the teenage girl was no match for the grown woman.

Right as Katara made to strike, Azula grabbed her arm, twisted it backwards and flipped Katara over, slamming her onto her back. Thinking this would teach her not to strike randomly, she let go. This was her mistake, as, though on the ground, Katara flipped onto her hand [Azula's maneuver had not hurt damaged her arm] and kicked out a blast of fire towards Azula. Azula was able to barely avoid it, but it nearly singed her bare feet.

"Girl," Azula snapped, darting over and grabbing Katara by her throat, lifting her into the air, "you really need to stop trying to hurt me. You're not going to win unless you get more control over your body, spirit, and emotions. I will not hurt you unless you try my patience first. Believe me, I am not a woman that you want to see angry."

She dropped Katara, who clutched her neck. Tears began running down her face, as she was now very upset, angry, and was feeling forlorn. She stood up and, mainly just to vent, blasted enormous fireballs out across the ocean just to relieve her self of some extra energy.

This actually was an eye-opener for Azula, Tenoko, and the rest of the crew, all of whom watched in awe.

Katara's power was truly awe-inspiring though. Some of her larger fireballs were nearly as big as the ship itself. The smallest ones were still about as big around as a grown man. Katara continued relentlessly, though by this time, both Azula, Tenoko, and some of the crew members could tell that she was hurting herself. She was yelling, but with the sounds of the huge fireballs, they could not tell what it was that she was saying, if anything.

"She wasn't lying," Azula exclaimed, "that girl is going to kill herself at the rate she's going—that poor thing."

"It makes sense as to why she's upset," one of the men remarked, "look at her. That looks like it hurts—she's screaming."

Katara finished with one huge blast that could have engulfed the ship itself if she had been aiming at it. This was powerful enough that it knocked her off her feet, sending her spiraling backwards, where she landed on her face.

"Treat her carefully," Tenoko declared, "I don't want her to hurt herself. There is more to this kid than meets the eye.

Tenoko Dragmire was not a cruel person, despite being a pirate. Her history was long and complicated too, as the 41 years of her life were not the happiest ones either. Azula, at 25, was not much different. Most of Tenoko's crew had similar tales, and so Katara fit right in.

Tenoko stooped down and noticed that Katara was crying. If Sokka had been there, he could have told them that that was an indicator that Katara had declared herself defeated.

"Look, Toph," said Azula, using the nickname that Tenoko had given them, "I was wrong in doing what I did, perhaps. Right now though, that is not our concern. Our concern is to make sure you don't get yourself killed."

"Then take me back," Katara said through her tears, "taking me away from my home kills what little will to live that I have left."

"And why is that," Tenoko asked calmly, "why have you lost the will to live? Tell me everything."

"Hell no," Katara replied, "I don't need to bring up my darkest memories to some worthless pirates. What are you going to do; torture me; kill me? My life is torture, and death would be a privilege. It's an eye for an eye, Captain Dragmire. Learn that."

"Very well," Tenoko replied calmly, "if I must bring up why MY life was miserable for you to explain why yours is, then I shall—though listen closely, as I will not repeat it under any other circumstances. You though—you loom troubled; very troubled. I want to help you, and so telling this story would be worth it I assume. Though if you don't cooperate, I'm pretty sure our crew could make good use of you as a handy weapon in this war."

She had only said that last part to motivate Katara to "play by the rules", but that just upset her more than before.

"Don't remind me," she said, standing up, "I'll be right back. I'm going to go kill myself now to end this stupidity. I'm 13! I'm still just a kid. Leave me alone... I don't care about your stupid war."

Tenoko stopped her by gently putting one of her braced hands on Katara's shoulder. The braces Tenoko wore on her hands and forearms were just like Katara's, only blue.

"I didn't care about it either," Tenoko replied, "until my husband and children were killed because of it—twice; twice, Katara. I lost my lover and my babies twice. I've since figured that if I married a 3rd time that I'd have babies again, only to lose them and my husband as well. I'm not keen on reliving that again, Katara. I lost my family just like many other people in the war—however, I didn't lose my parents like most people did—I lost my children and my husband—my little babies."

She paused, and closed her eyes, as fine streams of tears came out the corners of them. She embraced Katara.

"No parent should have to bury their child," she said, "ever. No 21-year-old woman should have to look upon the lifeless bodies of her husband and two baby children—twice."

Tenoko had actually not even seen the bodies of her 2nd set of twins, but she had not seen them in nearly 12 years, and so they were assumed dead, since at the young age when they disappeared, they could have never taken care of themselves.

"The war ripped my family apart too," Katara replied, sniffling, for Tenoko's story had touched her—family was always a big thing in young Katara's life.

"It took my daddy from me. It ripped me from my mom, and now you all have to come and rip me away from my brother—my last hope and desire to stay alive. Why did you have to do this to me? Now I've got no one. I'll say it nice and honest right now—I don't care about anyone except for my parents and my brother."

"Apologies, Toph," said Azula, "perhaps I should start over as well. My name is Azula Caroso."

"My name is Katara," Katara replied bluntly, "Katara Altina II."

"'Tenoko Dragmire here," Tenoko added, "and what is mine on this ship is yours. Welcome to the Blazing Phoenix. I recommend you take a rest and then I can tell you how things work around here."

Katara consented, because especially after the emotional outbursts, added with the spiritual chi outbursts, Katara was exhausted. She found her room and plopped down on the bed fully dressed, and was asleep within minutes.

She was able to relate with Tenoko a little bit, and thoughts of her, and Azula Caroso remained in her mind. Maybe they weren't so bad after all.