Wow 8 Reviews. I only own one hamster, a camcorder, a cell phone, two sisters, a crap ton of DVDs, VHS', CDs and as of yesterday one Christmas tree. In this chapter we may see the 'dragons' enter. As the title implies there may actually be a song. Enjoy.
Chapter 5: If I didn't Have You
The next morning Zuko and Katara headed out once again for the Great Divide, and along the way Zuko did some hunting so they would have some meat. As they neared Serpent's Pass they filled the waterskins Katara made from some of the hide that was left over from the meat, so they had water to drink that way Katara didn't have to give up her bending water.
As they continued on their trek they stopped only to have a bite to eat. When they were done Katara noticed the way Zuko walked and used his stick, he walked as though he weren't blind and used the stick as though it were a walking stick rather than a stick to guide him. Soon her curiosity got the better of her and she asked, "I don't mean to pry on a sore topic, but why do you have the stick if Momo sees for you?"
"Well the stick is actually a sword. One of the Dai Lee agents had it made for me that way if my dual swords are broken I'll always have a sword I can use incase I'm unable to firebend."
"That was nice of him."
"Yea he was one of few who actually believed in me after I lost my sight. I'll tell you the whole story some other time."
"One last question did they use real wood for the sheath and the hilt?"
"Yea he also had it coated in a special mix of diamond, and quartz."
"It must have been difficult to get both to liquefy in order to make it thin enough for the light to make it still look like wood."
Zuko merely shrugged, as if he didn't care when really it meant the world to him that a complete stranger cared enough to make something like the Third Eye as he was told its name when it was given to him. Zuko was leading at this point, they were nearing the Great Divide now, and Katara who had not gone anywhere past Omashu, was taking in her surroundings. Sure she trusted Zuko to not get lost but she was barely containing her curiosity as she was seeing new places. If Zuko could see her face he would have laughed but he couldn't so he was not paying attention to it and was getting a little anxious.
"Where are we?" she asked in awe
"The Great Divide, I think."
"I would comment on that but I'm not going to as it would insult you, and it's because of you we even made it this far."
"Thanks.", she was not close enough to see him blush at her comment, he felt proud of the fact that a complete stranger trusted him enough to lead her. What he didn't know was why she seemed familiar, he couldn't place it at the moment but eventually it would come to him. They were at the mouth of the Great divide, he realized this as the area felt like it, and he knew what to expect and warned her, "We should tread cautiously for now."
"Why is there trouble?" Katara asked, he knew the area better than she did.
"No, not yet if we're in Thieves Passage then I've been here a few times and they don't normally give me any trouble so just act mute they shouldn't give you any problems 'cause they'll think your like me."
"That and you just want me to be quiet."
Zuko chuckled and Katara smiled, they walked farther in the canyon Zuko was on full alert as he was almost positive they were at the right spot. It would help if they ran into at least one thief that way he'd know where they were. For awhile nothing gave them any sign that there was other inhabitants until Katara began to get the feeling they were being watched. At first she didn't say anything because she though once they passed the spot then it would go away, Zuko tensed after a few minutes of walking and was reaching for his Dual Dao when Katara whispered softly so they couldn't hear her but loud enough so Zuko could, "Zuko someone's watching us!"
He could sense where they were and handed her his staff and whispered, "Do you know how use this as just a staff not a sword?" she paused for a minute and pulled on his sleeve for yes he nodded, and unsheathed his swords. They were at a corner and had their backs pressed against it. He was about to tell her not to make any sudden movements but she had a handful of his shirtsleeve in her hand and was shaking a bit. Knowing that he'd have to do all the talking from their end he knew he had to be a little rough on them, when Katara saw a shadow move she couldn't control her fear and her mouth got away from her, Thieves!"
"Where I thought this place was deserted!"
Both Katara and the voice peeked around the bend and each startled the other and gave startled yells Katara losing her balance as she was backing away from the boy and into Zuko fell on her bottom, the boy however quickly jumped back behind the bend. She noticed the voice belonged to a young boy and asked him, "Aren't you a thief?"
"Monkeyfeathers now we gotta find somewhere else to hide."
"Nice job Twinkle-Toes, let me fix your mess." There was the sound of a throat clearing then, " We are two four hundred foot tall black scorpions who just happen to talk, we are poised for attack and kill anyone who comes near us." This voice sounded like it belonged to a girl about the same age as the boy. She then proceeded to make a noise similar to what a scorpion would make, but Katara was not convinced and neither was Zuko, the boy however had a different idea and he chuckled at their shadows and tried to point it out to Toph but all she said was, "Thanks for the help now they're really scared."
She then began to poke him and mumble things Zuko and Katara couldn't hear. Zuko tired of being left out of things simply grabbed both kids by their shirts and said, "They're real scary Katara, two kids are very threatening nowadays." And pulled them out from behind the corner. The girl wore a light green dress with a yellow tunic over it with green wrist and ankle guards, and her hair was in a messy bun with her bangs in her eyes and a headband. The boy was wearing Air Nomad style clothing with Earth Kingdom coloring. His shirt was a light green with a dark green quarter cloak over it, he wore brown pants and brown boots with a brown belt. He also had a head full of dark brown hair with blue arrow tattoos.
"Don't hurt us we didn't mean any trouble."
"So much for poisonous scorpions."
"We weren't lying about the scorpion bit there are giant poisonous scorpions here luckily for us I'm an earthbender."
The boy then noticed Katara, and overdid his introduction, "Hello Miss Katara was is, my name is Aang, and she's Toph." Who was very subtly attempting to flirt with Zuko, "But you Sparky can call me Tophy if you want."
"Yea too sweet, full of sugar, and hard to chew." He commented
"I'll give you something hard to chew!" she angrily, and went to pick up a rock, but dropped it when she heard Zuko talking to Katara, "Where you two off in such a hurry she asked
"To save Ba Sing Se." Katara called back.
"I wonder what's wrong in Ba Sing Se." Aang said
" I don't know but we should probably find a new place." Toph added
"You're right let's go."
When they heard something behind them they were confused at first then turned around to head for an empty home for the night, but saw a scorpion and ran after Zuko and Katara, screaming about a scorpion they temporarily forgot that Toph could earthbend a wall to stop it. They were forced to stop at small gorge, luckily for Zuko Katara grabbed his arm to stop him as he lost his balance from the sudden stop. Toph quickly earthbended a bridge for them to cross, unfortunately the scorpion was nearing and causing the bridge to crumble and Zuko was near the end but was having trouble keeping balance. Katara got back on to help him across.
"Zuko grab my arm."
"OK."
She gave a good hard pull and managed to get them both back on the other side, the scorpion however ended up at the bottom of the gorge and Toph bended over the gorge. Now there was one less scorpion to worry about, they eventually had to stop at a dead end, Toph knelt down and felt catacombs beneath and was ready to bend a way down them. Out of nowhere a lightning bolt hit just above them Toph and Aang were a little surprised and scared since Toph couldn't see, and Aang had never seen firebending up close before.
"What happened!" Toph shouted
"It was lightning only I'm not sure if it was the father of the daughter." Katara called back
She felt Zuko tap her shoulder and he handed her the Third Eye for her to use she was about to object and reach down to uncork the waterskin to use her waterbending but she saw a silhouette that looked familiar and when she recognized it, "It's Ozai!"
"He's the one who has your mother right?" Zuko asked
"Yes he can't see me or he'll know what I'm doing and try to take me back!"
"Well let's not give 'em the opportunity." Toph said and earthbended a hole which connected to the catacombs below she jumped in then Aang, Katara, and finally Zuko.
They slid down the tubes Toph and Aang giggling and laughing like it was a vacation where as Zuko and Katara were just yelling. Toph landed on her feet, but didn't move in time for Aang to land, so he landed on top of her with a leg draped over each shoulder. They had just managed to stumble out of the way when Katara landed, but as she turned to get out of the way Zuko flew out and landed on top of her but only she could see his blush, since he was blind he couldn't see her blush. They quickly separated before the other two noticed.
"Are you sure it's safe down here?" Katara asked
"Right now it's a lot safer down here than up there." Toph remarked
"We know all the best escape routes." Aang commented
"By the way Twinkle-Toes what was with you earlier, YOU COMPLETELY BLEW OUR COVER!"
"I was trying to be friendly what's wrong with that?"
"Just the simple fact that THEY COULD'VE BEEN THE BAD GUYS!"
"With all this fighting I'm surprised you haven't pulverized each other." Zuko commented irritably.
"The thing is we can't use our bending on each other." Aang said
"Yea when we were given our bending abilities we tried to use them when we were mad at each other but found out that we couldn't use them in anger." Toph added
"Not for lack of trying though.", Aang commented
Katara was a bit surprised at their attitudes toward each other, it reminded her of the way she and Duke used to tease each other when they first met.
"Why in the world would you two fight each other so much?", she asked
"Well some benders like to create gusts of wind just to show that their element can't be seen. It's really pathetic." She said
"No it's not."
"Yes it is!"
"No it's NOT!"
Aang then aimed a sphere of air towards Toph and when he threw it at her it broke apart he then looked at Zuko and Katara with a look that said 'I told you so' Katara only looked confused where as Zuko had a blank look on his face. Aang looked over to Zuko then back to Katara as if trying to figure out where he'd seen them before and if he had seen them before. When he came up with nothing he then turned away from them and was a bit reluctant to face Toph again. Katara saw what they were talking about especially when Toph tried to sink Aang into the ground as she sensed his attack even though it did not make contact with her.
"Zuko pass me your sack, I'll get the food started if you want to start the fire then I'll cook dinner if everyone's hungry." Katara suggested, everyone was feeling a little hungry so they set up camp for the night, and would continue in the morning. Ozai however was getting rather impatient as he needed Bashkim in order to make his plan work. As for now he had to find food for his men so they could eat dinner, and set up camp for the night.
I know, I know no song but in the next chapter there's a surprise inside. Please read and review, I love the feedback. It helps me know if I need to improve and it motivates me to keep going.