A/N: The Following is rated S; for stalking.
It contains dialog, where appropriate, from S2E6 "The Blind Bandit."
Reader discretion is advised.
Chapter 5 "The Blind Bandit"
Winter, year 10 in the reign of Fire-Lord Ozai
This is a lot easier than I expected it to be, Zuko thought, scowling as he peered through the needles of another evergreen tree.
As he sat, irritably glaring down at the three sleeping forms (along with their giant bison) he wondered how precisely had these three evaded him for the better part of a year. They seemed to make no effort, whatsoever, to hide themselves as they traipsed through the Earth-Kingdom. Perhaps they were less concerned since he wasn't supposed to be chasing them anymore?
I am following, not chasing, he reminded himself.
Whatever he was doing, he had, no less than three times over the course of the previous week, made his way to within eyesight of the Avatar's camp. Watching the three fools sleep so peacefully, without so much as a protective picket line or a guard, might have made him angry if his eye hadn't inevitably fallen on Katara. For long minutes he would mindlessly watch her sleep before he snapped out of it and realized what he was doing. Then he'd climb out his tree and walk away; silent and disgusted with himself.
Are you one of THOSE now? That spies upon women as they sleep? He silently derided himself as he snuck away to make his own camp. Pathetic. Next, you'll be trying to catch her bathing, or stealing her underwear or… or… some other base perversion.
He always told himself that he was simply checking on their location, making sure that he did not wander too far off course, or run into them by accident. At some level, however, he knew that he was just lying to himself.
She just looked so peaceful when she was asleep.
Despite their incaution, the trio made their way to the free city Gaoling without incident and Zuko arrived not long after. Located on the southern edge of the Earth-Continent the port city was a thriving commercial center, having been left alone by the Fire-Nation for the entirety of the war. This was largely due to its lack of loyalty to the Earth-King's interests and because they were, even after a century of fighting, the number one producer and exporter of fine silks and weavings to the Fire-Nation. Conventional strategic wisdom suggested that when Ba Sing Se fell, Gaoling would offer a mostly unconditional surrender and join the Fire-Nation, its wealth intact. As such it was left alone to conduct its own affairs for the time being.
If Zuko had thought that the Earth-Kingdom villages he had been in were rowdy classless places, it was fortunate that he had gotten used to them before he came into Gaoling. The city streets were full to bursting; merchants, and tradesmen and performers and refugees all mashed together in a bustling stew of commerce and entertainment. Every business had a barker outside its doors, shouting or singing or simply physically grabbing passersby and enticing them into their shops. Lucky for them, and for all their limbs, none of them tried that on Zuko. Apparently, they had enough experience to know that you didn't try and lay hands on a ronin.
So, this is what happens when you let merchants run a city.
He abruptly found his quarry in an open shop and, pulling his wide straw hat down further over his face, he passed on by and then settled down against a nearby wall to wait and observe.
Sokka appeared to be… buying a purse.
No. Wait. He's put it back down… now he's picked back up again.
Sokka mused over the price tag, winced, and then put the green shoulder bag back down.
Alright, now that that's settled… Or not.
Sokka had picked the bag back up again, and was now comparing its leather strap to his boots to see if the color matched.
Who CARES!? Just buy the blasted thing! Or DON'T! Pick ONE you insufferable-
Sokka spent the better part of a half hour with the purse, even going so far as to exit the store twice before darting back in to re-examine the same bag.
It was infuriating.
Nothing they did was interesting, or of any strategic significance, and Zuko was both enormously unimpressed and disheartened by it considering how much effort and thought he'd put into their capture. He recalled back to long hours spent looking at maps, in conversation with his officers, or just staring out at the sea, contemplating the boy's next move. All the while it seemed his opponents hadn't even been paying attention. Zuko scowled behind his hat as the Avatar, bringer of balance and peace and whatever else, was nearly taken off his feet by one of the roving barkers who was distributing leaflets, one of which the boy took with a smile.
Later in the day, Zuko discovered that the leaflet had been for some cut-rate earthbending "dojo," which was offering a free lesson for prospective students. Zuko was mildly insulted to see something so commercial be billed as a dojo but he had to admit that watching the Avatar get knocked around by small earthbending children more than made up for it.
This is pointless, Zuko mused to himself. What is it I'm trying to accomplish here? Killing the boy would be ENORMOUSLY satisfying but strategically unsound. He narrowed his eye. And if it's JUST to watch the girl… I need to stop and RETHINK my life.
A pair of teenagers from the "dojo" walked past Zuko in the alleyway he was skulking in, chatting loudly amongst themselves. The volume of that conversation, alongside his own internal berating, almost distracted him from the real threat.
"Hey strong guys, wait up!" came a voice which, in principle, was familiar. But Zuko was certain that he'd never heard her sound so… chipper before.
Experiencing the same mild panic as he had before, Zuko lept through an open window, into an empty building, just before Katara ran by.
"Strong guys?" What in the Sun's name is she doing? He wondered as he crouched beneath the open window, his back to the wall.
"Hey baby, decide to ditch the shrimp, huh?" one of the "strong guys" said in a tone that suggested he believed he was being charming.
"BABY?" Oh, he's a dead man. She's probably going to-
Katara giggled, a sound Zuko found so odd that he wondered if his sanity had finally snapped. Or perhaps his sake had gone bad.
"Well yeah!" Katara said in a false high voice. "I like real men. Men who can earthbend, you know?"
"Well honey blossom you're in luck. My friend and I have three tickets to Earth Rumble Six! Don't suppose you'd care to-"
Zuko was in the middle of sniffing his large waterskin, to see if his sake had indeed gone bad, when the conversation gave way to sounds of a scuffle, muffled curses, and a crunching noise. Risking a peak and rising from his crouch, Zuko saw that Katara had lured the two earthers next to an open sewer grate and then waterbent them each to a wall of the alleyway, locking them in ice. Only their heads were exposed, except the one on the right whose arm was extended revealing several slips of paper.
"Pathetic," Katara said with a sneer. "Is this the best the samurai of earth have to offer? Listen well you insolent SAVAGES! I don't know how things are done here in the barbarian east, but disrespect like that deserves no less than death. Are you prepared for seppuku?!"
Wait a minute. Is she… impersonating ME?
The two fools locked in ice began apologizing and pleading for their lives in a most satisfactory fashion. Katara nodded solemnly, seeming to weigh their begging against their insults.
"Mwhahaha! Very well, but forgiveness is never given freely and must be EARNED," she walked over to the young man with the tickets and grabbed them roughly. "In recompense for your disrespect," she said, holding the tickets aloft.
"Mwahahaha?" I don't sound like that. Do I?
"And one last thing," she said, in a frigid tone of voice that Zuko found FAR more familiar. "If I ever hear even a whisper of either of you calling another woman baby…" she flicked her hand, bending a blade of ice from her waterskin. "Your ancestors may forgive you, but I will NOT."
She IS impersonating me! Zuko thought, mouth dropping open in shock.
As Katara spun around on her heel to leave Zuko managed to duck his head back into hiding. After she had left, he clambered out the window and stared dreamily the way she had gone, a sappy smile on his face.
What a woman!
"Hey buddy. You wanna give us a hand?" one of the fools cried out pitifully from behind him.
Zuko turned around, sappy smile transmuted into a savage grin, and advanced on the two bound earthbenders who had gone as pale as milk.
"You will tell me EVERYTHING you know about this… Earth Rumble Six."
/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\
Zuko wasn't sure what to make of it.
After night had fallen he had made his way to the Earth Rumble arena which had been carved out of the inside of a local mountain. He found it flooded with people in an even greater density than had been outside. He almost turned around at that, realizing that there was no way he would be able to find anyone in this mess, but he'd already spend three bu on his ticket and so continued onward and upward to his seat.
Earth Rumble Six was clearly a fighting even, a blood sport for earthbenders, but there seemed to be more to it than that. It seemed… almost a performance, a play. The combatants were earthbenders, who did fight one another, but they seemed almost caricatures, playing roles designed to inspire or offend the audience.
On the one hand, he found himself aghast at what was essentially the commercialization of the sacred art of bending. On the other hand, he found the presentation… appealing. The "rumblers" were talented and if there was a storyline to go along with the fighting so be it. But Zuko couldn't care less about whether "The Hippo" had stolen "The Boulder's" girlfriend.
Zuko found himself surprised to be cheering along with the crowd, chanting and clapping and wincing at particularly nasty hits.
At least he did until "Fire-Nation Man" took the stage.
He was a rather rotund man in a red and black cape, waving a Fire-Nation banner amid the loud booing of the crowd. He planted the flag in the center of the stage and seemed to revel in the catcalls and jeers causing Zuko to feel a strange mixture of pride, embarrassment and ominous foreboding. This was the Earth-Kingdom after all and despite having been left out of the war the Fire-Nation was not well loved here.
He had the sinking suspicion that Fire-Nation Man was not going to win.
"Please to rise for Fire-Nation national anthem!" Fire-Nation Man shouted in what Zuko assumed was supposed to be a northern colonial accent.
Yes. Definitely an entertainment piece, Zuko thought with a scowl. While colonials were a bit on the rough side as far as the Fire-Nation went, they were still his people. Lt Rin, Zuko's former infantry commander, had himself been from the northern colonies and he had been the very picture of the grim stoicism that one expected from a Fire-Nation samurai.
Zuko watched, silently fuming, as The Boulder, the over-muscled and extraordinarily stereotypical earther protagonist, took Fire-Nation Man apart. Against all reason and logic Zuko found himself disappointed in Fire-Nation Man's poor showing.
The man never even got a chance to bend. How is THAT fair?
Sighing, Zuko rose to his feet to examine the rest of the arena as a large badger-mole entered the ring to re-bend the rocky leavings of the stage clean. The bustle from the streets of Gaoling was enormously amplified in the stadium concourse as merchants continued to ply foods, beverages and, more interestingly, character and event merchandise. Zuko actually found someone selling fire flakes and bought himself a box. They weren't as good as he remembered from back home, but they were still a nice crunchy piece of nostalgia, and he munched on them slowly as he contemplated buying some Fire-Nation Man merchandise that no one else even went near.
"YOU!" snarled a voice from behind him.
Oh crap.
The crowds, which Zuko had been using as passive concealment, had cleared a great deal as he mused over a Fire-Nation Man commemorative woodblock printing and, based on the sounds, the performance had started up again.
Which really didn't explain why Katara was still out in the concourse.
Sundamnit. How does she keep FINDING me?!
"Generally speaking," Zuko growled, not turning around. "It's not considered polite to simply shout 'YOU' every time we meet."
"HA! What do you know about courtesy?!" Katara shouted.
"I know that right now you are making a scene, which is generally considered to be rude in most civilized parts of the world," he said, eye narrowed as he turned around to face her.
She flushed in anger but lowered her voice. "What are you doing here? You said you weren't following us anymore," she spat through clenched teeth.
"I said I wasn't trying to capture you anymore."
"So, you'll just… what? Follow us around hoping something terrible happens? Then swoop down like a hornet-vulture?"
Zuko paused, considering for a moment. "That's… not a terrible strategy," he said, making a small mocking bow. "Thank you, Shinjo."
"You're horrible."
"Horrible I may be, but at least I bought my ticket for this… whatever this is."
Katara's eyes grew wide. "Y- you saw?"
"I did. I was most impressed. In the future I would suggest knocking them unconscious after you are done with them though. It increases the fear they will feel in any future encounter and reduces that chances of them being found and… interrogated."
"You killed them, didn't you?" Katara said, dark face paling slightly.
"What? No. They weren't mine to kill, they were yours. You defeated them. But then you decided to be stupid."
Maybe don't call her stupid?
"Uhhh… I mean… merciful. You decided to be merciful."
…Which was obviously really stupid.
"There is nothing stupid about NOT killing somebody," Katara said flaring up again and advancing into his personal space.
"You dishonored them, for nine bu worth of tickets to this… thing, and then left them alive to plot their revenge. It is foolish to leave an enemy alive at your back."
"I left YOU alive!"
"Yes, and that was stu- I mean… unwise."
"Maybe," she said, glaring up at him and poking him in the chest with her index finger, "I should rectify that situation."
Zuko grinned down at her. "And I would love to see you try, but you won't. Because, merciful tendencies aside, you aren't an idiot. Not a lot of water here is there?"
"Who said I need water? All I need is to find a city guard, I'm sure the authorities would love to get their hands on the fire prince."
"Except I'm not a prince… and you are not a coward."
"Excuse me?"
"You won't get anyone else involved in this," Zuko rumbled. "You probably haven't even told the boy that you saw me. You get anyone else involved-" he gripped the scabbard of his katana- "people will get hurt."
"Don't think you know me!"
"I know you well enough. You are too nice. Someday that is going to get you hurt, or killed." He frowned, looking down and away from her. "I would rather things not come to that."
"You've been trying to kill me for over a year," Katara said, not angrily but with a widening of the eyes that indicated confusion.
"No, I wasn't. I just wanted to capture the Avatar. You stood against me. It was duty." Zuko said with a shrug. "I would have… regretted killing you."
"How can you not see how… utterly… completely… STUPID that is?!" Katara said, stamping her foot in irritation.
"It was my duty. I was a loyal samurai. I didn't have a choice." Zuko wasn't quite sure how else to explain that to her.
"You always have a choice! You can't just say 'it's my duty' like that explains everything! It doesn't make it alright! It doesn't make it fair!" She was absolutely quivering with rage, and some other emotion that Zuko couldn't place, much to his confusion.
"I… have upset you," he said softly, taking a smooth step backwards and bowing seriously. "That was not my intent, and I am sorry. Good evening." He bowed again and turned to leave.
"Wait a minute! You can't bow and walk away! I'm not done talking to you yet!"
"Another rule of courtesies, Shinjo," Zuko said, turning back around, and attempting levity, "It is considered very rude to attempt to continue a conversation when someone has already said goodbye." He paused. "Unless you ask to accompany them of course."
What are you doing? Idiot! You've made a clean getaway, now get out of here before the Avatar-
Glaring at him, but not meeting his eye, Katara stalked her way next to him and pointed. "Walk," she spat.
"Good enough I suppose," Zuko said with another bow, his heart doing cartwheels. "One must make allowances for your lack of education."
/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\
"Fire flake?"
Katara took the opportunity to glare at the proffered box of snack food as though it had personally insulted her ancestors and then turned that glare on Zuko making him feel like an idiot.
Which, in all fairness, he was. That fact established, the two of them resumed sitting in the sparsely populated upper deck of the Earth Rumble arena… in incredibly awkward silence.
Before this, Zuko had been too surprised by Katara's sudden appearances, in the woods and the concourse, to really overthink the situation he was in. Now, however, Katara was only a few bare inches away from him, sitting next to him on the stone bench and his brain felt like it had turned to molten slag. Every time he tried to speak his tongue felt like wood and his heart seemed to be threatening to explode right out of his chest and demand that his stomach fight him in an Agni Kai.
Don't just sit there! Say something!
"So… do you… like earthbending?" he managed, gesturing towards the ring.
Oh yes, very well done. Idiot.
"It just looks like a bunch of guys chucking rocks at one another to me," Katara said, leaning her chin on her fist.
"Well… yes. It's… earthbending. That's… that's what it is."
Silence reigned again.
Damnit. Why did I get her to follow me? This is awful.
Silence continued, broken only by the occasional roars of the crowd and Katara's tapping foot.
Ok. So, she doesn't want any fire flakes, she doesn't know anything about earthbending… what does that leave me? Think damnit.
Katara began drumming her fingers on her knee, occasionally glaring at Zuko out of the corner of her eye.
Wait a minute, SHE was the one who said we weren't done talking! The onus of conversation is on HER!
"You… had something you wanted to speak to me about?"
"What? Oh, no, not really. I was just sick and tired of you ending everything on your terms."
"My terms? If I ended everything on my terms I'd have had your… friend in a cell back in Otosan Uchi."
"Not for long you wouldn't have. I'd come for him and then I'd have come for you," she said, scowling at him.
Which most likely had the opposite of its intended effect as Zuko found it extremely attractive.
"I have no doubt of that," he said with a slow smile.
Katara flushed and jerked her head back towards the ring.
They sat in silence once again.
Well… shit. Now what? What would Uncle say?
He'd most likely say something charming and get her to laugh. Zuko, unfortunately, had never really been good at that sort of thing. He nearly always forgot everything but the punchline of most jokes.
"I'm not going to tell you where Aang is," Katara said suddenly, out of the blue, "so you can stop looking."
"What?"
"I can see you scanning the crowd. You probably think that you can snatch him in the press of people when this is over."
Zuko blinked his single eye rapidly in utter bewilderment. "And do what with him? Throw him over my shoulder? I've been cast out, Shinjo. It's not like I have anywhere to take him."
"You can't really expect me to believe that you, the Fire-Lord's son, were made ronin because you couldn't capture the Avatar."
Zuko shrugged, some nights he had trouble believing it too, but his father was not big on leniency. He considered it a weakness.
"So, you followed me back here… because you thought I going to attack the Avatar?" Zuko said.
Katara nodded.
Typical, Zuko thought, letting out a small sigh and turning his attention back to the ring where the Boulder was engaged in a three-way battle against "The Gopher" and a masked rumbler who had not yet been identified.
Probably going to turn out to be his long-lost half-twin or something else suitably rediculo-
"Well?" Katara snapped, startling him.
"What?"
"You don't deny it?"
"Deny… I already did. You didn't believe me. And if you don't believe me… Well-" he gestured to her necklace- "we've seen how good I am at persuading you."
"You tied me to a tree!"
"You were bait!"
"I. AM NOT. BAIT," she said, punctuating her words with a jabbing finger to his chest.
"No… you are not," Zuko rumbled back, smiling another slow smile, and Katara jerked her finger back as though she'd been burned.
They sat in silence once again for a good minute. For some reason, the masked rumbler had begun bending chairs out of stone and hitting the Boulder over the head with them.
"Well!?" she practically shouted.
"You keep expecting me to say something," Zuko said, irritation flaring in his voice. "And to be honest I have NO idea what it is."
"You said you're in love with me."
"Ah… that," Zuko said, irritation replaced by embarrassment. "Uhhh… yes. Sorry."
"Sorry? You're sorry!?"
"Yeah. I… uh… didn't mean for you to find out. But… like I said I'm not a good liar. So… yeah."
"You are NOT in love with me."
Zuko managed to look mildly offended at that.
"If you were," Katara continued, "you'd have given up on chasing the Avatar… and tried to woo me instead."
"Woo you? What the ash is that supposed to mean?"
"You know, buy me gifts, recite some romantic poems, maybe bring me the horn of a rhino-whale as proof of your intentions! Something."
"I actually did recite you a poem, you didn't seem to like it."
Although, to be fair, death haiku weren't usually considered to be very romantic.
"THAT did not count."
"Why not? It was about you," Zuko muttered, looking away in embarrassment. He'd spent far too much time wistfully composing that particular death haiku when he should have been training.
"The point is," Katara said fighting against another blush, "you're not even trying. Hence, a lie. You do NOT love me."
"Even if it had not been my duty to capture the boy… well… I have no great skill at conversation AND you despise me. Akodo said 'if you are sure to lose a battle, then do not have one.'"
"Well, Akodo sounds like an idiot. Sometimes the losing battles are the most important," she said with a sanctimonious sniff.
Wow. Normally I'd be angry at somebody insulting Akodo.
"The point is," she continued, "that if you really believe strongly about something, you have to fight for it. Otherwise it really didn't mean that much to you at all."
"Do… you want me to?"
"To what?"
"…Fight for it?"
"NO! Absolutely not. Not even a little bit!" Katara said, crossing her arms tightly over her chest and looking away.
"Oh. Right."
Zuko mused silently for a second, eye on his hands.
"But… If I were. To fight for it, I mean. How… would I do that?"
"You… you would say something nice. A compliment," Katara said, peeking at him out of the corner of her eye.
Zuko paused for another moment of seemingly deep thought.
"You are beautiful."
"Not like that!" she snapped.
"But… you are. Beautiful is nice. Isn't it?"
"It's too much, too soon. You're supposed to ease into it."
"You're… pretty?"
"Hmmm. Too general. You should be more specific."
Zuko considered the girl for another moment.
"I like your hair."
She blinked in surprise and actually turned back to face him. "You do?"
"Yes."
"…Go on."
"It's… brown?" The pleasantly intrigued look on Katara's face flashed to irritation.
No. Wrong. "NICE." Not just adjectives.
"I… uh… like your… loop things." He furrowed his brow in continued consideration. "But not your braid."
"What's wrong with my braid?" she said, hand flying to it and running down its length as though checking it for loose ends.
"Nothing," Zuko said quickly, "It just… I think it looks better loose. More… flow-y."
"Oh," she said softly, "thank you." And now it was Zuko's turn to flush.
Ok. Now what? If this were a fight I'd have scored a hit… I think. Not that it is. She-
"I don't, you know, despise you," Katara said quietly, eyes on the ground still running her hand over her braid.
Wait… what? She doesn't-
"You don't?" Zuko said hoarsely, lone eye wide.
"No. I mean, I should but… you're not really a bad guy. Bad guys don't say that they're sorry."
OH, ash and bone, it IS a fight! Say something nice! But not TOO nice!
"I… also like… your bending," he said, smiling weakly, his tone rising at the end making it almost a question.
"Seriously?" she said raising one eyebrow.
"Yes. I like bending. I wasn't scanning the crowd earlier, I was just watching the fights. Despite all the posing, the Boulder is actually pretty good."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I think he's a Yasuki of the Crab dojo. You see the way he twists his wrist when he strikes? Completely unnecessary, but it is pretty standard for the Yasuki school which can be over-stylistic due to its roots as a teaching style."
"Why do you know so much about earthbending?" she said, goggling at him.
Because I was on a hunt of the Avatar who we all thought was a master of all four elements.
"My uncle taught me," Zuko said instead, "He said that if you only took lessons from one element your thoughts became rigid and stale. And understanding is the beginning of victory. I mean, my ancestors learned lightning from watching waterbenders so…"
"You can throw lightning!?"
"Uh, no. It's an advanced form and uncle said I wasn't ready yet. My sister can though."
"You have a sister?"
"Yes. She's very good. A prodigy, like you."
"I'm not a prodigy," Katara said smiling ruefully.
"You went from accidentally freezing my soldiers to the deck of my ship to waterbending mastery in less than a year. If that's not genius, then I've been misusing the word my entire life. Ash, I've been training since I was seven and I'm not a master."
"You aren't? Everybody in the Colonies seemed to think you were."
Zuko shrugged. "They must have been confused. There are a lot of trials and tests one has to go through to prove one's worth."
"Hmmm. They just said that you beat some other master in a duel. But I guess they were wrong."
"Oh… no. I did… that… beat one, I mean. Zhao. But that's not-"
Wait a minute… that IS how it works. Beating a master in an Agni Kai was actually the original route to being declared one yourself. The trials of mastery had been invented much later as a way of expanding the pool of masters without having to kill or dishonor one.
"Blood of the Sun… I'm a master," Zuko said blinking rapidly.
Katara snorted in mirth. "You're seriously just now realizing that?"
"I… uh… I was rather focused on other things back then. You three had just destroyed my ship."
"So… how did you know I was a master then? I thought it was because I beat you at the Shrine."
"Oh, no. That was just obvious. You are a master. Wait… did the Crane NOT declare you one?" he said, voice growing hard and his eye narrowing in irritation. "I know they were stupid about girls fighting but-"
"No, they did. Eventually. But I had to fight for it. Literally."
Zuko nodded, grunting in approval. "Akodo said that 'the sweetest victories are the ones most hard fought.'"
"See, now that doesn't make any sense. How could he say 'don't fight' and then that at the same time?" Katara said, eyes twinkling in amusement.
"He never said don't fight. Akodo was a very pro-fight person. He just said that you shouldn't feel obligated to fight, especially if you knew you're going to lose."
"And I say that sometimes those are the most important fights. You can't let yourself get knocked down, but if you do you have to get right back up again. Especially if people are counting on you."
Zuko grunted again and considered, stroking his short beard in thought.
"Alright. I'll try it your way."
"Good! That's… wait what are we talking about?"
"I'm going to fight," Zuko said nodding to himself.
"I will NOT let you take Aang," Katara said with a grimace, her hand dropping to her waterskin.
Zuko just smiled at her. "I think… you have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen."
"…What? No-no-no-no-no-no. That's not- I didn't mean- NO!" She punctuated her last negation with another sharp jab from her finger.
"Apparently the battles you think you're going to lose are the most important," Zuko said, wrapping his hand around her finger gently. "And you do have the prettiest eyes."
Katara looked entirely pole-axed, her eyes wide and her mouth frozen in a small "oh."
It's a skill, like anything else, it just takes time and practice. And it's not as though I have anything ELSE to fight for anym-
"What the fuck!?" Katara gasped, then covered her mouth in shock at her language.
Zuko snapped out of his thoughts to find Katara, face twisted in mild confusion and a no small amount of horror. His heart plummeted… until he realized that she wasn't looking at him. She was looking down at the stage where, to great fanfare and revelry, the champion of Earth Rumble Five was entering the arena and…
Appeared to be a tiny girl.
The little dark-haired girl could not have been much over four and a half feet tall and, based on her stance, the way she held her head, and the fact that she was being introduced as "The Blind Bandit" Zuko discerned that she, was in fact, blind.
"They're going to make that little girl fight the Boulder?" Katara spat, horror at her language now forgotten as she glared down at the stage. "What the… the… ASH is this?!"
She even makes swearing attractive somehow, Zuko thought dreamily.
"It's just a performance, Shinjo. It's not really real, the Boulder will probably-" Zuko cut himself off as he stared down at the two earthbenders- "No… that's not… The Boulder is afraid of her," he said in with growing surprise.
"What?"
"Look at him," he said, pointing in growing excitement, "his weight is on his heels and he's clenching his feet and hands… he's nervous! This is going to be a real fight! What in Akodo's name is this?" Zuko was now on the edge of his seat, along with the rest of the arena.
"The Boulder feels conflicted about fighting a young blind girl," the Boulder said, continuing to refer to himself in the third person as his voice rang out across the hushed crowd.
"Sounds to me like you're scared, Boulder," the Bandit called back, her voice loud and mocking.
Well, she certainly doesn't lack for confidence.
The Boulder squared his shoulders and glared down at the girl who was easily more than two feet shorter than him. "The Boulder's OVER his conflicted feelings, and now he's ready to bury YOU in a ROCK-ALANCHE!" he roared.
"We need to stop this!" Katara hissed in barely suppressed fury, grabbing hold of Zuko's arm. "She's just a little girl!"
"I think… she's going to kick his ass," Zuko said, sounding just a surprised as he felt.
"What!?"
"There's something going on here that I don't understand. I'm not getting anything from the girl… she's just… waiting."
The Blind Bandit seemed singularly unimpressed by the Boulder's threats. "Whenever you're ready, The Pebble!" she said throwing her head back and laughing at her own joke.
"Ok, waiting AND mocking, but combat wise I… don't know. Only the earthbending masters are supposed to give nothing away like that."
"You're sure?" Katara said, looking up at him.
"Absolutely," he said grinning back at her.
"Alright then," she said quietly as she turned back to the stage and, had Zuko not been so focused on watching the fight, he would have most likely had a heart-attack as Katara laced her fingers in between his own.
The two earthbenders stood there sizing one another up as the tension throughout the arena mounted to astronomical levels. Gone was the cheering and jeering crowd, gone was the announcer narrating everything, gone was any pretension of plot or narrative.
There were just two fighters, one posing and flexing as earthbenders always seemed to do before a fight, one in absolute stillness, a small stone on a mountainside.
The Boulder moved first, flying towards the Bandit, roaring loudly and the girl slid into an unorthodox stance, hands parallel to the ground, palms up, her right foot slightly forward. The Boulder had only taken a single step forward when the Bandit kicked at the ground, a single scuff of her foot, creating a small track of broken stone that curved its way forward…
And right underneath the Boulder's descending second step.
His balance was destroyed completely as his leg was dragged across the rest of his body, forcing him into the splits.
"OOOOOOHHHH!" squealed the boulder and the male half of the crowd in agony.
The Bandit followed up with a single strike, like a chopping motion with one hand, bending blunted stone stalagmites out of the ground and launching the Boulder OUT of the ring.
There was a stunned pause… and then the arena went berserk.
"YEEEEEESSSSS!" Zuko roared triumphantly, leaping to his feet, and pumping the fist he shared with Katara in excitement.
"Oh, thank the Spirits," Katara gasped in relief, rising along with Zuko and the rest of the jubilant crowd.
"That has to be a completely original style!" Zuko shouted excitedly, turning, and beaming down at Katara. "I've never seen, or even heard, of anything like it!"
"That was amazing!" Katara cheered happily. "How did she DO that?!"
"I have NO IDEA! That was AWESOME!" Zuko laughed in pleasure and then, without thinking about it, he ducked down and kissed Katara in celebration.
Katara, apparently also without thinking about it, kissed him back, her hands coming up to grasp at the collar of his kimono pulling him closer.
The world ceased to exist for a long moment.
This. This is worth fighting a losing battle for.
After an eternity they separated, breathless, from one another, Zuko his eye closed in exhilaration, Katara her eyes wide in worry, her bottom lip caught between her teeth.
"That… that was…" she tried and failed to make sentences.
"Wow," Zuko said succinctly.
Katara nodded jerkily. "Yeah."
Do I go for another one? She's not backing away. Maybe-
"Oh no! Aang!"
"What? Where?" Zuko said, whipping his head around, his eye widening.
"I've got to get back," Katara said, flustered. "They've probably started looking for me!"
"Ahhh, I don't think so. He seems like he's got something else in mind," Zuko said indicating the stage where the boy, still clad in the uniform of the earthbending "dojo," mounted the stairs.
"Oh good!" Katara said, beaming happily, "he's going to ask her to be his earthbending teacher."
"No. Not good! That idiot!" Zuko began to boo, joining others in the crowd.
"Don't boo at him!" Katara said.
"This is her DOMAIN!" Zuko said gesturing for emphasis, "you do NOT challenge an earthbender in their place of power and expect anything but violence."
"Do people really want to see two little girls fighting out here," The Bandit crowed much to the crowd's amusement.
Zuko did not join in with the laughter. "He's going to ruin everything!"
"What? How?"
"He's going to go in there to talk," Zuko said, investing the word with as much scorn as he could. "She will have NONE of it, and then they will fight. The idiot will airbend. Airbend at a blind girl who thinks he's an earthbender! He'll knock her right out of the ring and become the 'champion' of Earth Rumble Six. She will never teach him after that."
The two of them watched silently as over the course of a few dozen heartbeats things transpired exactly as Zuko had predicted. Katara's mouth dropped open in shock and Zuko began to massage the bridge of his nose as the crowd re-exploded in surprised cheering.
"And you wonder how people always find him," Zuko snarled. "THIS! This is how we find him. He does something so stupid as to airbend in front of a stadium full of people! While simultaneously defeating the reigning Earth Rumble Champion! They will be talking about this in Ba Sing Se in two days and in Otosan Uchi in under a week!"
"How did you DO that?" Katara asked eyes wide in surprise.
"Me? What did I do?"
"How did you know what was going to happen?"
"Well… it was obvious. Wasn't it?"
"No it wasn't! That was incredible!" she said beaming up at him.
Zuko felt his face flush. "Well- It's- When you…" he gave up. "Lucky guess?"
"We'll talk about this later," Katara said rolling her eyes. "but I do need to go before they notice I'm not there." She matched her words with actions and strode off.
We'll talk… "LATER?" Zuko thought wonderingly. She WANTS to talk to me? His heart began to play taiko drums in his ribcage.
This was phenomenal! Better than he could have possibly hoped for!
But… why? He thought suddenly. Why would she…
Because you could be USEFUL to her, a voice seemed to whisper. She will USE you to help the Avatar bring down the Fire-Nation. To kill your family, your sister.
No, that's not… I need to get out of here, Zuko thought. Clear my head.
He suited his own thought with action and made his way to the exit, pausing only long enough to purchase a pair of stone souvenir teacups with the logos of Fire-Nation Man and The Blind Bandit.
/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\
The Beifong estate was vast.
As Zuko made his way through Gaoling's inns and taverns over the last few days, eavesdropping on conversations and trying NOT to dwell exclusively on Katara (and on where he might be able to find a rhino-whale horn) he had held out hope that he would hear all about the wickedness and perfidy of the famously wealthy Beifong family. Such wickedness would, of course, be righteously avenged by a visit from the Grey Ghost… if it had existed. Much to Zuko's disappointment, no one spoke ill of the Beifongs. They employed a great many people throughout the city, gave generously to charity, and if they were known to be a bit aloof it probably had more to do with them being the wealthiest people in the Earth-Kingdom than with any evil intent.
Despite all of that, Zuko had decided to observe the grounds of their estate anyway. Perhaps the spirits would favor him with a display of the secret villainy of the Beifongs, thus justifying him entering the grounds to set things aright. Which also, entirely coincidentally, would also allow him to refill his coin purse in a semi-guilt free manner.
The spirits, as usual, chose to favor him with a sign that merely complicated things. Zuko's contemplation of exactly how villainous one needed to be to justify a visit from the ghost was interrupted by the voice of a young girl ringing out powerfully… and rather vulgarly.
"Put me DOWN you gravel-chewing, hog-humping, stone-shitting, piece of trash-FUCK!"
The owner of the voice was currently locked in a massive iron coffin that was slung over the shoulder of a massive man that Zuko recognized from the rumble arena as "The Hippo."
"Yeah! Put us down you… you jerks!" came another, significantly less profane, voice from a second coffin, which was being carried by the rest of the cast of Earth Rumble Six.
That's all of them, even Xin Fu the announcer… except for the Bandit, Zuko thought, narrowing his eye. She's probably the swearing voice. The other voice…
"Maybe we can talk about this?" the young boy's voice said hopefully.
…is the Avatar. Damnit. Ideas whirled through Zuko's head and were just as rapidly discarded. He wasn't going to fight almost a half-dozen earthbenders for the sake of someone he'd just as soon see dead.
I bet KATARA would be grateful if you did though, a voice in his head whispered seductively. Probably a LOT better than a Rhino-Whale's horn or whatever.
To his absolute horror, he actually pondered it for a moment.
NO! I am NOT a lovesick child performing stupid, selfless acts of heroism in the hopes of winning maiden's heart. Besides, there's no WAY that little shit doesn't wriggle his way out of this. He's been in tougher spots. I'VE put him in tougher spots.
Acting on a whim, Zuko dropped out of the tree he had been sitting in and followed the gang of earthbenders with their cursing coffin, curious to see exactly how the Avatar would escape this time.
/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\
The Bandit's name turned out to be Toph.
Zuko had followed the kidnappers, unsurprisingly, back to the deserted Earth Rumble arena. They then suspended the two coffins, one of which was still echoing loudly with banging and swearing, into the air above the stage and settled down to wait. Zuko, who had managed to snag an only partially stale box of fire flakes on the way in, settled into the upper decks, also to wait.
"Damnit Toph, will you shut up!" Xin Fu shouted up at her.
"Why don't you come up here and MAKE me?! You salt-sucking, inbred, sack of pig-monkey shit!" Toph retorted. "I'll earthbend that stupid grin right off your ugly-ass face!"
"I'm not smiling!" Xin Fu said, his face as dour as ever.
A few minutes later the Shinjo siblings and a tall richly dressed man appeared at the edge of the stage.
"Xin Fu! You will release my daughter," the tall man shouted.
"You have mymoney, Lord Beifong?" Xin Fu sneered.
Lord Beifong? The Blind Bandit is the daughter of the Beifong family? This is getting GOOD! Zuko thought, eating another handful of fire flakes.
A sack of money changed hands, and Toph was lowered from the ceiling and released from her captivity. She kicked Xin Fu in the shin and then scampered over to her father.
"What about Aang?" Katara said, staring daggers at the rumblers.
"I think the Fire-Nation will pay a hefty price for the Avatar," Xin Fu sneered. "Now, get OUT of my ring."
Damn right we will, Zuko though to himself, shaking his head. This is why you don't airbend in front of people. Idiot.
"Go," Aang said, waving Katara off, "I'll be fine."
No you WON'T.
Katara apparently agreed with Zuko because she ran after Toph who had already exited the ring with her father.
"Toph, there's too many of them!" she shouted. "We need an earthbender. We need you!"
Shockingly that was all it took.
After a brief conversation with her father, Toph wrenched her hand out of his and strode back into the ring like a blacksmith approaching a forge, ready to hammer her will into anything that opposed her. With a wave of her hands and a minor flex she caused the far side of the ring to explode into a stone wall, blocking the band of kidnappers from leaving.
"Let him GO you sacks of shit! I beat you all before and I'll do it again!" she roared in her loud, but high-pitched, girl's voice.
Lord Beifong, who had reappeared at the edge of the ring, seemed to grow faint at her language.
Zuko was on the edge of his seat again as the entire cast of Earth Rumble Six charged the tiny figure. Toph calmly cracked her neck and spat on her hands, which seemed to cause her father to go even paler, and then she went to work.
She destroyed them.
She began the fight by nearly upending the entire stage, a bending maneuver Zuko could feel all the way where he was sitting. Calmly walking into the cloud of dust she'd kicked up, she began to systematically eject every single opponent from the ring, embedding their bodies into the stands. As the dust cleared only Xin Fu remained.
Zuko held his breath.
They circled one another for a moment until Xin Fu launched a flurry of attacks, almost a dozen boulders flying at the girl from multiple directions. Toph created an angled stone shield that shrugged off the assault as though it were a spring breeze. Then she launched it at him ripping through the earth like a demonic plow. Xin Fu lept aside embedding one hand into the stone like it was water, flinging a gargantuan boulder at the girl. Toph waited until what seemed to be the last possible moment to spin aside and grab at the stone by her feet with a yanking twisting motion. Xin Fu found his arm pulled even farther into the stone stage, trapping him.
Merciful Ancestors, she can feel the disruptions in the earth! Zuko marveled, understanding blossoming in his mind. THAT'S how she can fight… that's how she SEES!
The grin on Toph's face was visible even from the far reaches of the arena as she ejected Xin Fu from the stage.
"yeesss," Zuko cheered quietly pumping his fist and leaping to his feet.
/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\
He found Appa on a cliffside later that evening.
The trio, and to Zuko's bewildering mixture of pleasure and consternation it was still only three of them, were packing their bags preparing to leave. Zuko had posted himself up another tree, just waiting for them to take off, which would give him an approximate bearing to follow along with. He was silently trying to figure out what Katara had meant by "talking later" when a tiny swearing figure in tan and green broke through the bushes near the base of his tree.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit," Toph hissed quietly, turning her head one way, then the other listening intently.
"Lost, are we?" Zuko said, surprising both of them.
"Who's there?" Toph shouted after sliding into a defensive stance.
"I'm… a fan," Zuko said. "What can I do for the champion of Earth Rumble Six?"
"I'm not the champ anymore, buddy," Toph said, not dropping her stance.
"Yes you are. Airbending is cheating."
"Yeah! It IS isn't it?" she said brightly. "You have no idea how much of that kid's ass I am going to kick!"
Zuko grinned.
"So, why don't you help a lady out and help me find him, hmmm?" she was still twisting her head back and forth trying to hone in on his position.
Finally, someone who's appropriately cautious, Zuko thought.
"Forty-five degrees to your left, up the mountainside about four hundred and fifty yards."
Toph sank into a crouch and placed one hand on the ground focusing intently.
"They are preparing to leave, I recommend you hurry."
Toph nodded rising to her feet. "Thanks for your help Mr. Tree," she said, then she bent earth, flinging herself into the air, towards the Avatar.
I think I would pay a LOT more than three bu to see her kick the crap out of that boy, Zuko thought, his scarred face splitting into a grin.
A/N: Ladies and Gentlemen, boy and girls welcome, to the greatest A/N in the world! Or at least this chapter. Congratulations on making it through my rendition of "the Blind Bandit." I hope you enjoyed it, but if you didn't leave me a comment, I'm all ABOUT feedback. And if you DID like it… well STILL leave me a comment. Thanks, you're the best!
So how did we all like Zuko and Katara's first date? Just as argue-y and fumbly as we all knew it would be.
And now some poorly formatted…. META-BITS!
Samurai and mercantilism: Generally in samurai culture being seen to engage in commerce is rather crass. ('crass' being the best word I have for it) They acknowledge that money is an important part of governance but being overly concerned about it is greedy, and dishonorable. Also "merchants" who themselves create nothing, are on the lowest end of the totem pole of the "Heimin" or peasants. This caste includes them, artists (a step up) and farmers (the highest ranking). Below them, is a group which will not be appearing in this work called the "eta," people who did the really dirty(to samurai anyway) work.
Anyway, I saw Gaoling as this HUGE mercantile center, untouched by war and probably not even ruled over by a samurai. Beifong Lao (Mr. Toph's-dad), isn't a samurai which will have interesting ramification in the next book.
Fire Flakes: Ah, fire flakes. A staple of Avatar cuisine. To my mind, I see them as having the consistency of Kellogg's cornflakes, and the flavor of Flaming Hot Cheetos or Takis if you prefer. YMMV. The ones Zuko has here are probably not THAT spicy, being Earth-Kingdom knockoffs. Either way, Zuko is pleased.
Pro-Wrestling: Obviously our, boy Zuko, born a royal, is going to have mixed feelings about the Earth Rumbles. He's a martial artist and seeing his art used as part of "low-brow" activity like this is going to irritate him. That being said he's still an 18-year-old who likes bending. So misgivings aside he going to enjoy the fights. Bruce Lee watching MMA.
Zuko, Firebending master: It is par for the course that Zuko wouldn't notice that technically he's a firebending master. This was done with forethought on my part, now he associates something he can be proud of with Katara. Also his lack of attention to that detail as a major contributing factor in Zhao's behavior. He defeated Zhao in a duel, but then DIDN'T start wearing the sash, or claiming his mastery. This would have been a HUGE insult. He is, essentially, saying that Zhao wasn't really a master. Zuko isn't doing it on purpose, as he said he was too focused on Aang. So there's that.
Katara, the momma bear: I like to think that (in the canon show) while Aang is having flashbacks and realizing that Toph is meant to be his earthbending master, Katara is having a bit of a shout about Toph getting hurt. I've always seen her as the mother-bear, protective of the little 'uns type. So I've given her a chance to air those grievances with swearing (something she most definitely wouldn't do around Aang). I think she knows that Zuko's not going to judge her for that, which is also a good point to show here.
Toph, the greatest and best: I must admit to you, here and now, that I love Toph. She is, by and large, my favorite person here. I love writing her in all her mouthy glory, and lament that she doesn't get nearly as much screen time in this book as she should. (still more than Aang and Sokka though). I have added swearing to her repertoire because it just made sense to me that a "rebel wild child" from a posh family would swear at every possible convenient (and inconvenient) point. She is now also Zuko's favorite, as she is going to A) help keep Katara safe and B) kick the living hell out of Aang. I regret nothing.
That's it! No more to say here! Thanks again for reading, commenting/reviewing and just generally being extant and using your finite time on my writing!
NEXT WEEK on a very special "Avatar: The Last Dragon"...
Zuko fights a "losing" battle and things get flirty.
TUNE IN. Same Zuko time, Same Zuko channel!
Original post date: 9 September 2018
