Chapter 12

While Katara slept, Zak and Rafai got to talking. Zak was mostly curious to find out why Tenoko had put him "in charge" of Katara after their gang split up. She seemed aware that Tenoko was a pirate too.

"Well," Rafai stammered, "I guess it was because I was her closest friend"

Zak chuckled. "Boyfriend, eh?" she remarked,

"That was never entirely clear," Rafai replied, "I mean; I don't know what she thinks of me. I'm pretty sure she's never really had any friends in her life, and so I'm not sure if she's thinking it's a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship or just 'really close' friends."

Zak glanced over to where Katara was sleeping. She was snoring; an attribute that the both of them thought was slightly unusual, especially for a teenage girl. Of course, considering that Katara had many, many attributes that were not normal for a teenaged girl, they simply shrugged it off.

"What do you know about her, exactly," Zak asked, "I need to know about her if what I intend to do is going to work out."

"What do you intend to do," Rafai asked,

"Spread lies about her," Zak replied; she worded it like this just so she could see Rafai's reaction. Of course, he looks angry, and ready to side with Katara. Rafai might have seemed slightly naïve at first, but he was not a young man to anger.

"chill ax," Zak laughed, holding him back, for he had charged at Zak after she had said those words, "when I say I'm going to spread lies about her, I'm talking about the good kinds—the kind that will keep the kid hidden, so she doesn't have to be running all the time. Even I heard about what she said about the Fire Nation, and so we're going to make sure that while she's here, that she is happy—or, at least, happier than she usually is. This is why I need to know what I asked you."

"She's difficult to understand," Rafai replied, "She has unstable emotions, just like she has unstable power."

"What makes her happy," Zak asked,

"She likes to talk," Rafai replied, "I reckon that poor girl hasn't had a proper conversation in her life before Captain Dragmire took her into our crew. She loves it when people understand her and what she goes through. She also seems to love anything that can help her relax."

"Like a massage," Zak asked, curious to know what exactly Rafai meant by his somewhat obscure statement.

"Aye," Rafai replied, glancing over at Katara again. She was still asleep, fully dressed. "You don't plan on giving her one or something, do you?"

"Nah," Zak chuckled, "I might organize for her to get one, but no, massaging is not something I do. I beat people up instead."

Rafai chuckled. "Alright then," he remarked.

"Aye," Zak replied, "so how has she been?"

"She's probably in one of her less positive mood swings at this point," Rafai replied, looking at Katara's sleeping face. Her eyes were still closed, but she was jolting slightly. She looked uncomfortable. "I wouldn't try to reason with her if she snaps—she just needs someone to balance her energy."

"I'm the Avatar," Zak laughed, "this kid can't be THAT powerful; right?"

"Don't ever say that to her," Rafai warned, "she HATES when people underestimate her power."

"Pride complex much," Zak exclaimed,

"No," Rafai replied, "it's that misunderstanding thing again. I don't think the rest of us can quite comprehend just how much energy she has to try and harness to keep her poor self alive."

"Power is a terrible thing," Zak remarked, "chi-dominant benders have it really rough in today's society... and then we get an extreme case like Katara's, and the poor thing can't get two minutes to her self. It's no wonder she likes being alone. Was she like that on Tenoko's ship?"

"Aye," Rafai replied, "even when she wasn't mad at us for whatever reason, there'd be times when she just wanted to be alone."

Rafai paused for a moment and then looked Zak right in the eye.

"Why are you so interested in her?" he asked, "Why do you want to make her happy so much, as to go to these types of lengths?"

"Because she deserves to be happy," Zak replied, "she doesn't need all these people after her. It's just something I try to do with any troubled person I meet. Chi-Dominant Benders are generally disliked by society, and, like in Katara's case, many people don't even think they're human. It's really a nasty case of prejudice if you ask me, and I hate it.

Of course, some usually have their families, but to know that there was such a powerful firebender at that age on the loose, just wanting to try and control her power without people after her; it made something click inside me, Rafai. I'm generally not the nicest person around, but I don't like seeing people hated because of their power."

"Why is that?" Rafai asked curiously,

"because that's my story," Zak replied bluntly, and then changed the subject, "so since I'm sure you two are not going to be living with me forever, make sure you take good care of that girl when you leave—or even when you go out and about."

"How long are you keeping us here?" Rafai asked,

"Keeping you here," Zak exclaimed, "I'm not. If you want to leave, you know where the door is. I was merely offering you my hospitality. Either way, Katara will likely enjoy the Fire Nation, so if you're trying to make her happy, I'd recommend spending a decent amount of time here."

"I can do that," Rafai responded, "I just don't want her getting captured."

"Neither do I," Zak replied, "she's dangerously powerful, and they could use her if they know how to get to her."

"How would they do that?"

"Family," Zak replied, "or at least; that's the word going around in The Avatar Guard. Hopefully The Order of the Avatar Slayer hasn't figured that out yet. Either way, if they got hold of any of Katara's family members, they could force Katara to do whatever they wanted her to. Threatening her with death isn't the answer; threatening her family with death is."

"How do you know this?" Rafai asked, slightly skeptical,

"I have my sources," Zak replied, "and Tenoko is one of them. Either way, I have some business to tend to, so you two sleep tight, and Rafai, I would not recommend taking Katara's pants off after I'm gone."

Zak was only joking, for this was part of her type of humor, but Rafai felt embarrassed. He hadn't actually done that to her, and both of them knew it. Regardless, Zak just laughed.

"Alright then," Rafai laughed, deciding to try and play along, "I'll take them off before you're gone."
He moved his hands towards Katara's waist, and Katara stirred. Zak laughed, and she left; Katara was just rolling over.

Once Zak was gone though, Rafai did not even touch Katara's pants, let alone remove them. He simply sat down and eventually fell asleep as well in a chair next to Katara's bed.

It was a while before either of them woke up, but when they did, Katara felt almost refreshed. She was a bit hot, and Rafai, who woke up around the same time, noticed it.

"Your stomach is almost as red as your top," he remarked, looking at it, [after all, with clothing that revealed that much of her midriff, it was hard NOT to glace at it every now and again] "and your face is even darker than it—are you alright?"

"Aye, I'm fine," Katara replied, "just hot—I need to let some energy out. Do you have any ideas that won't have me stand out?"

Rafai smiled [although he had been exaggerating Katara's redness a bit]

"Aye," he replied, "I do. I've been to this part of the Fire Nation before, and I know of a place that I named Sunset Beach for a legit reason. It's secluded, and I have yet to see evidence of anyone else being there but me. Come on, let's go. It's almost sundown anyways."

Zak was right about Katara's outfit making her look much less suspicious. With it, combined with her amber eyes and firebending [which she did actually start playing with just for the sake of using chi energy] she wasn't given any dark looks like she was before. She just looked like another common Fire Nation girl. For that matter, she even got a few remarks from strangers telling her that her outfit was cute. Katara was slightly irritable, but luckily Rafai was able to explain his version of why Katara was in a dismal mood.

Eventually, Rafai showed Katara the place he spoke about. It was secluded by trees, and looked out towards the horizon where the sun was beginning to set.

"Fire at will," Rafai replied, and he stepped back.

Katara's fire was huge, powerful, and as usual, looked like it was hurting her. Nevertheless, Katara was persistent, and eventually she depleted her excess chi energy as well as most of her regular physical energy. She flopped backwards into the sand onto her back, and didn't move. She was breathing heavily, but she was smiling.

"Finished?" he asked, bending down to look her in the eyes.

"Aye," Katara replied wearily, "but I'm too tired to even move."

"Then don't," Rafai replied bluntly, "just lie down—relax."

"What about you?" she asked curiously,

"I'll just sit here and be beside you," he replied, moving his hand onto her stomach and gently rubbing it, "we have nowhere to go as long as we're here—no one knows about this place."

Katara closed her eyes and relaxed. Rafai by no means knew how to give a professional massage, but Katara loved the feeling of his hands on her belly. Her mind began flowing with various thoughts about what happened, what she had been thinking of, what her dreams had involved, and what she planned to do while she was in the Fire Nation.

Rafai chuckled, seeing the happy smile on Katara's face.

"You look comfortable," he laughed,

"I am," Katara replied, "I could fall asleep right here."

"then what's stopping you," Rafai asked, gently squeezing her belly, but not getting close to anything Katara didn't generally reveal to the public, [for anyone knows that certain types of muscle squeezing generally feel good, even if it's not a real "massage"] "I mean; I'll wake you up if something happens; and it's not like we have anything else to do right now, right?"

Katara sighed happily. With how often she was using her body, be it for bending, training, or whatever she pleased, she always enjoyed having someone there to relax her muscles. Moreover, the sand she was lying on was also very comfortable, and the quiet whisper of the calm ocean breeze blew across her exposed skin, leaving a rather pleasant feeling in its wake. The quiet rushing of the waves soothed her ears, and closing her eyes and relaxing helped rest her eyes.

Eventually, Katara really did fall asleep, and it was pitch dark before Rafai decided that she wasn't going to wake up. Deciding that it would be ignorant of him to trust that absolutely no one had seen them [or that absolutely no one had somehow seen Katara's fire over the ocean] she hoisted Katara over his shoulders and began making his way back to Zak's place. Katara remained asleep the entire time.

Rafai, deciding that he was tired, and knowing that Katara was by no means helpless, decided to catch himself some shut-eye as well, and so he went to sleep, snuggled close to her.

They both woke up the next morning at about the same time, and most likely for the same reason as well—Katara's body heat had built up again. After all, it was indifferent to time. Katara, assuming Rafai was still asleep, decided to go look for a secluded place to let it out as not to draw attention to her self. Rafai followed her.

Again evading detection from Order extremists trying to capture her [in reality, there were not as many as Katara thought; either way, she did not trust anyone], Katara made her way back to Zak's place rather pleased with herself, albeit weary. Rafai was behind her.

"So," he said, "how do you like the Fire Nation?"

"It's nice," Katara replied, "and I'm glad we trusted Zak."

"As am I," Rafai remarked, "see Katara, there really are some good people out there."

Katara did not respond to this statement. Instead, she simply smiled.