A/N: Hey y'all. This chapter is dedicated to Written Parody, Whiskey2011, and Holly Short (of the LEPrecon (and I am loving the Artemis Fowl reference)), who (somehow) managed to motivate me to write this chapter up. Thank you everybody who's reviewed this, and my other stories. A special thank you to AnnaAza, who volunteered to spell/grammar check my stuff. You should check her stuff out!
DISCLAIMER: I, in no way, shape, or form, own Avatar or the world. I own only my original OCs and the plot of this FANfiction.
Healing Lightning
Chapter III: Arrival at the Northern Water Tribe
14 months. Katara sighed as she realised that this was the first day of her fourteenth month in the Northern Water Tribe. She had come to her sister tribe with Gran Gran and Master Pakku when her grandmother's health had deteriorated, and Pakku had insisted that she return to her native tribe. After coercion not only from her old flame, but from her son-in-law as well, she eventually acquiesced. Pakku had suggested that Katara come along, as well. Although the Southern Water Tribe could use her help in the reconstruction, she remembered one of General Iroh's favourite teachings: One can never learn all that there is to bending. Never turn away the chance to learn something new. Keeping that maxim in mind, she agreed eagerly with Pakku's suggestion.
So now she found herself in the healing huts, studying directly under Full Moon Yugoda, arguably the most knowledgeable healer in the world. When she had come here more than two years ago, before the Siege of the North, she had only given Yugoda's teachings a half-hearted listen. She had been so... angry at the fact that Pakku had dismissed her as a bender because of her gender that she had almost completely ignored Yugoda's wisdom. She now realised how lucky the Gaang had been – aside from Aang's lightning injury that she had used the Spirit Water on, the only truly serious wound that they had gotten had been...
Zuko.
At the thought of his name, a slow heat slowly crept up into her face. Even after nearly two years without contact, the scarred boy still had this effect on her. She still wondered why Zuko had cut off contact from her – she had received a single letter from him at the Southern Pole, but after that, she hadn't received any. She had tried to send him missives, but he never replied. After a year, she stopped mailing him ever couple weeks and slowed to one every two or three months. She didn't know why she continued to mail him despite the lack of answer, but it just felt like the right thing to do. Her family had been mildly concerned, so after the first year she stopped telling them about the letters that she wrote. The only person that she told was also the only person who really didn't like her writing them... Aang.
Aang was a touchy matter with her right now. After the war, he had announced her as his girlfriend, and had stayed with her for a couple of months after the war in the Southern Pole, and they had ridden penguins, and life had been great. He was the perfect boyfriend, attentive when needed, knowing when to back off, and all around great. But eventually, his Avatar duties couldn't be put off forever, and he left the South Pole after four months. Since then, she was lucky if she saw him twice in a year. The Northern Water Tribes were kind of out of the way, and his duties tended to keep him in the Earth Kingdoms. And even when he did see her, it was always when it was convenient to him. He had missed their anniversary both times that it had rolled around, and had missed Katara's sixteenth birthday. The rare chances that she did get to see him however, always followed a set formula: first, they would be overjoyed to see each other again. Then they would gradually cool, and by the time that he left again, she was usually unhappy, or even angry, with him. They could still talk about anything, except one thing.
Him. Zuko. Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, and his own firebending sifu.
Whenever the subject of Zuko came up... it was almost as if he was a different person. He became almost frighteningly intense; acting nearly... well; jealous was the best word that Katara could come up with. But there was nothing going on between her and Zuko... was there?
- - - oOo - - -
"Hoist the mainsail! Tie down those crates!" Captain Sinaaq of the Atka called out over the deck of the small ship. There was a storm coming, and he hoped to make port at the Northern Tribe before he could get caught in it. From his years of experience sailing the waves, he knew that the Great Iceberg was just over the horizon, but there was a storm coming up fast on his starboard side. As the wind was whipping through his beaded greying hair, he heard a woman's voice.
"Captain, I implore you to hurry. My patient is barely stable as-is, and with the rocking motion of the storm... we can't risk it. Please... I can't let him die." He turned and saw Maraka emerge from the shadows as she spoke. She had dark creases beneath her eyes and her skin was a good two or three shades lighter than it usually appeared.
"Tui and La, woman! Haven't you slept since we've left the capital?"
With a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, she managed to force out an answer. "Barely, Captain. Kinapak's barely gotten her Crescent Moon certification. I couldn't leave her alone with a wound of this significance. Frankly, I'd like to talk to the healer that healed his chest in the first place- they did a terrible job. It's a miracle that his wound hadn't re-opened before now."
Rolling his eyes, the Captain mutter under his breath "Women..." but before Maraka could call him out on it; he cupped his hands to his face and started barking orders. "Waterbenders! To me! We've got to make port before the storm catches us! If we don't, then the Healer here will have your hides!" The crew, which had suffered the woman's sharp tongue and almost fierce protectiveness of her patient, hurriedly took up their positions, with the three male Waterbenders taking up position on the sides of the boat. Settling into the last position himself, he signalled to Maniitok, one of the non-benders aboard, to start beating out a rhythm. With a nod, Maniitok started beating out a simple three beat chorus on the sealskin drum.
- - - oOo - - -
Meanwhile, Maraka had gone back below deck to check on her patient. She smiled as she saw Kinapak reading her medical texts while keeping a somewhat tentative eye on Zuko. Her smile, however, shrank when she saw a looming figure in the corner of the room, smoking a firestick, filling the room with a smoky scent. The slight glow from the burning tip illuminated a narrow face with piercing orange eyes. The tall, silent Fire Nation guard that Iroh had sent along as an escort. Claiming that the Crown Prince couldn't possibly travel without at least a single escort, the Fire Lord had pushed this Imperial Guard on her.
Hanzu. He had initially been feared as one of the most lethal men under General Iroh's command when he was waging his campaign against Ba Sing Se, and had nearly been picked out as a member of the Rough Rhinos, but now served as the Crown Prince's personal bodyguard and confidant. He looked as dangerous now as he did all those years ago: a deadly naginata was leaned against the wall beside him, and attached to his belt were his matched weapons, his katana and wakizashi. She knew that although he was a Firebender of little strength, he more than made up for it with his weapon skills and his skill with the short bow hidden in his pack. Despite whatever her... personal relationship to the bodyguard was, she didn't appreciate not being trusted, although she could understand the Fire Lord's worries. Forcing her eyes from the tall warrior, she looked down at her patient.
The Prince didn't look much different than he had when they brought him aboard: He would always have the original star-shaped scar, but now he had a few smaller one scattered around it from where the lightning had arced in between his hands and chest. His face was pale, but darker than it had been immediately following his injury. As she thought about the scene, however, her smile fell into a frown. Stepping into the small room, she began her lecture. "Kinapak, what did the Prince's original healer do wrong?"
Screwing her face up, the young Waterbender tried to come up with an answer that would be suitable to her sometimes formidable mentor. "Ummm... they just healed it and left it at that?"
With a nod of her head, Maraka began to smile. "That's exactly right. Although our gift is great and powerful, it is not without its weaknesses. Whoever healed it did have a large amount of raw ability, but little to no training in using her gift to heal. Waterbending's ability to heal is limited mostly to immediate tissue damage. It can't heal broken bones, nor does it restore chi. At least, not in a single treatment. This sort of wound... if it's been a water tribesman, he wouldn't have been let out of the infirmary for a month, and would have still had lingering treatments for another month after that to fully repair his chi flow."
"Ladies!" The two healers looked out the door to the short corridor leading up to the deck. "The Wall is in sight! We're going to beat the storm, no worries. Your patient will be fine." With a sigh of relief, the two Waterbenders and the Firebender began to prepare Zuko to be moved.
- - - oOo - - -
Katara was standing on the edges of the main entry canal when the Atka entered through the gates. She had just finished today's lessons with Master Yugoda and had gone to run a short errand before she returned to her quarters in the Palace's eastern wing. She saw the ship entering the city, and before she could investigate why Ambassador Amaguq's personal ship was returning ahead of schedule, she heard a drawling voice behind her calling her name. Briefly clenching her fist, she forced a smile upon her face and turned to face the source of the voice.
"Hello, Hahn. How are you doing this fine day?"
"Well, the scenery just improved when I realised that it was you, Master Katara." Although the words were polite, the tone was condescending, mocking almost. "You look beautiful today."
"What do you want, Hahn? I'm in the middle of something, and I'd appreciate being left alone right now."
"Why so cold, Waterbender? I'm just trying to be friendly." Hahn spread his arms out in a placating manner, trying to disarm Katara with his charm.
"You never talk to me unless you want something, Hahn. Last time, it was to put in a good word for you with Chief Arnook. The time before that, you wanted me to talk you up to that one junior healer, Kinapak, was it? What is it this time?"
"It's nothing really... it's just the fact that you've recently turned sixteen"
"So? What's your point, Hahn?"
"Well, you're not in the Southern Tribes anymore, princess. In the North, girls are engaged by the time of their sixteenth birthday. The Avatar doesn't look like he'll propose anytime soon, and not one of the other unmarried men can handle you."
"Where are you going with this, Hahn?" Katara asked, even though she was getting a sinking feeling that she knew exactly what he was talking about.
"Well, Katara, seeing as how you're not spoken for, and I haven't chosen a woman yet..."
"Absolutely not, Hahn. Not even if you were the last man on earth. I'd sooner marry a Firebender than marry you. You only want me so that you can get in good with Arnook and Pakku." Katara threw up her arms in disgust and stomped off.
"Just think about it Katara: no other man in the Northern Tribe will take you, and apparently there's a shortage of available Firebenders for you to choose from. Remember a woman's place, Katara. Every woman needs a man to take care of h-"
Hahn was cut off by a drift of snow that just happened to fly six feet through the air and slammed him into the ground, spontaneously freezing him in place.
"Katara, come on, let me out!" Hahn yelled at her rapidly disappearing figure. As she turned the corner, he realised that she wasn't coming back to help him. "Katara? Anyone?"
- - - oOo - - -
As Katara entered the building at the end of the street, she was overcome by the smell of feathers and smoke. She smiled as she saw a man with nearly snow white hair facing the opposite wall, tending to one of the Northern Tribe's specially bred dragonhawks. Instead of the normal bold red and tan plumage, these birds sported a blue and tan color scheme. As she opened the door fully, a small bell rang out and the shopkeeper turned towards Katara.
"Why, hello there, dear. Another letter for your Fire Nation friend?" Hiroshi, one of the only Fire Nation citizens to brave enough to live in the Northern Tribes year-round, was an expert falconer and had worked extensively in the Southern Polar region prior to the war ending, trying to develop a hardier breed of dragonhawk. The end result, although slower, was the perfect way to keep to Water Tribes in easy communication with the rest of the world. Fire Lord Iroh himself had given Hiroshi this promotion, and, as a result, he got to continue doing what he enjoyed best: breeding dragonhawks.
"Yes, please. Is Razor available?" Katara asked sweetly, holding her message in one of the small scroll containers. Razor was one of her favourite birds, because she always rubbed her head against Katara's shoulder while Katara held her. Nobody knew that she mailed Zuko: Hiroshi knew that she was corresponding with someone in the Fire Nation, but he had no idea who.
"For you, Miss Katara, she certainly is. She doesn't seem t like anybody else besides us, for some reason. Here you go." Handing her a thick komodo-rhino leather falconer's glove, she put it on while Hiroshi opened Razor's cage. With a short whistle from Katara, she flew straight from the cage onto her extended arm. Katara whispered sweet nothings into the dragonhawk's ear as she attached the scroll case to her back. Turning and walking a handful of steps, she opened and door and whispered a name to the bird before it flew off, heading south-west, off towards the Fire Nation Capital.
Zuko...
- - - oOo - - -
On the edges of the great city, on top of the wall, a sole figure watched the hawk approach. Settling into a waterbending stance, the figure shot a bolt of water at the hawk, grabbing it and freezing it solid. Catching it as it fell, the figure quickly bent the water away and, at the same time, took the scroll out of the container.
"Keep them out of contact, you say. Hard to do without being caught, but it'll be well worth it." With a slightly sinister smile, the figure threw the dragonhawk back into the air and watched it continue on its way towards the Fire Nation.
"Serving the Avatar has all sorts of job perks to it"
- - - oOo - - -
Closing A/N: Yes, Hahn lives. In case you didn't know, a naginata is like a glaive, or like the elves' spears in LOTR. I've never liked the explanation about Zuko's wound... I mean, it was not only life threatening, like Aang's wound, but she didn't even have Spirit Water. Also, how lucky WERE they that they never once got seriously injured? That's another thing that I hate – Katara got NO training, and yet she's always depicted as an awesome-uber healer. I think that healing is more like learning bending rather than a specific subset, like... lightning. Once you have it, you have lightning. But healing... that's something that should be LEARNED, with hard study, in my opinion.
