Chapter 14:
Katara slowly came awake. Every inch of her felt damp and slimy, and she was vaguely aware that sticky clumps of hair were draped all over her face. She was chilled to the bone, and her limbs felt unnaturally heavy.
Groaning, Katara slowly sat up, blinking. Her head felt light, and throbbed slightly around her left temple. Feeling gently with her fingers, Katara discovered a modest-sized lump where she had been struck. Katara noticed the river flowing a few feet away from where she was lying, and immediately drew water from it. Pressing the orb of liquid to her head, Katara healed her injury with ease. She gingerly stood up, wincing as she discovered a myriad of fresh bruises and cuts. Where did they come from? she wondered.
Katara glanced around at her surroundings with mild surprise. Lying right next to her was Sokka, collapsed in a heap and sleeping like a log. Her eyes traveled further, and saw the princess of the Fire Nation next to Sokka. She was also out like a light.
Katara strolled over to where they were lying and knelt down between Sokka and Azula. She placed a hand on each of their foreheads. Sokka was fine, but Azula was burning. Katara frowned, but then began to carefully examine Sokka for any injuries. He was covered in the same amount of bruises as she was, but nothing too severe.
Moving on to Azula, Katara instantly noticed that the princess's wrists were still secured with metal chains.
Well, that saves us the trouble of having to tie her up, Katara thought.
She hesitantly flipped the princess onto her back, and wrinkled her brow with surprise when she saw that the entire front of Azula's robes seemed like they had been completely torn off. The bandages were gone, and her shirt completely ruined. Katara could not figure out how in the world that had happened. The intensity of Azula's burns had ebbed away over the past few days, but they were still hot and tender.
A quick scan of the area told Katara that they had not been lucky enough to escape with a few supplies. Katara reached down and tore off a whole length of her skirt. She wrapped the cloth around Azula's chest, covering her up the best she could.
Scratching her head with wonder, Katara recalled the events that had occured the night before. They had been ambushed by thieves. One of them kidnapped Sokka, she dashed after them...and then that was it. How they ended up downriver and soaking wet she could not comprehend.
Nonetheless, Katara immediately took action. She sucked the water out of all of their clothing and hair, leaving them dry. She then set off to scavenge for food. The forest surrounding them was quite generous, and yielded a variety of berries and edible plants. Katara returned to Sokka and Azula carrying a handful of vegetation. She knew that Sokka would complain about the lack of meat.
Katara gathered logs and twigs, and then went to work igniting them. After all of the months of camping in the wilderness, Katara was well-informed of what it took to make a fire. Just as the wood began to crackle, Sokka yawned.
"Thank goodness you're awake," Katara sighed.
Sokka rubbed his eyes. He was extremely tired, and crawled sluggishly toward the fire. Sokka had been tormented by dreams of ice cold water, drowning, and blue fire. He shook his head to clear his mind. "Got any food?"
"You bet." Katara dumped a pile of berries into Sokka's awaiting hands. He shamelessly proceeded to shove them all down his throat. Purple and red juice splattered over his mouth as he munched greedily.
"Sokka," Katara sat cross-legged on the ground. "Care to explain how we got here?"
"Do...you...know..." Sokka mumbled in between chews. "How close...we were...to dying...?"
Katara shook her head. "No, actually, I don't. So what happened?"
Sokka swallowed a heavy mouthful. "We were kidnapped by a couple of thieves. They tied all three of us together..." Sokka motioned to Azula. "...and threw us in the back of a cart pulled by ostrich-horses. We had a little accident, and the cart tipped!" Sokka's hand motions grew wild. "We crashed down the hill and landed in the river!"
Sokka stuffed another fistful of berries in his mouth, and Katara patiently waited for him to finish chewing.
"We sank like a rock, and I thought for sure this was the end of Sokka of the water tribe!" Sokka was now energetic, with a belly full of food. "But NO! I grabbed both of you ladies and swam to shore, saving all of our lives!" Sokka sat back with a flashing smile.
"Wait, wait, wait," Katara shook her head.
"What?" came the slightly annoyed reply.
"You said that the three of us were tied together. How in the world did you get free?"
"The details don't matter," Sokka brushed it off.
"Of course they matter," Katara cocked a brow. She immediately sensed her brother's hesitation. Just what was he hiding?
Sokka exhaled. "...Well...Azula burned all of our ropes off, but that's besides the point!"
Katara's eyes narrowed. "So basically, we would all be dead if it weren't for Azula?"
"No!" Sokka uttered. "Of course not! I would have figured out a way for us to escape...somehow!"
"Uh-huh," Katara poked at the fire. Sokka scowled, stuffed some berries in his mouth, and resumed scowling.
"This means nothing," Sokka perked up. "She was only freeing me because she knew I could get us out of the situation. She was saving herself."
"But clearly, Azula knows that you could have just left her there, and only saved me," Katara pointed out.
"Pfft," Sokka scoffed. "Spare me. It was probably just some last resort...she had nothing better to do, so she freed me in hopes that I would be merciful enough to rescue her."
"And...you did," Katara muttered.
Sokka smacked his forehead in frustration. "Darn it! My gentlemanly instincts must have taken over. I couldn't leave a girl to just die in the cold water like that. If I had been thinking straight, I would have let that demon drown without a second thought!"
"You never would have done that," Katara said softly. Then something crossed her eyes. "And Azula knows it. She was taking advantage of your kindness. She realizes that you wouldn't let her die, for the sake of your conscience and for the sake of Zuko." she massaged her brows. "Azula's just playing smart again."
"You're right!" Sokka's hand curled into a fist. "We were fooled by Azula, yet again!"
Their eyes traveled to Azula's unconscious form.
"What are we supposed to do with her?" Sokka lowered his voice, as if talking too loud could bring the princess to life.
"Well we have to get out of here and find the others as soon as possible. If Azula isn't going to wake up, then we'll have to carry her, somehow."
"Not it!" Sokka clamored.
Katara frowned. "Come on, Sokka. You know we'll have to work as a team and take turns carrying her." Hearing Sokka's groans of protest, Katara added, "Don't you want to be a gentleman? Or do you want to be known as the guy who wasn't man enough to carry an injured girl, and let his sister do it for him instead?"
Sokka smacked his forehead half a dozen times.
"The longer we wait, the more lost we'll be," Katara said.
"Haven't we been taught to stay in one place if we're lost?" Sokka asked hopefully. "Maybe we should just relax here until Appa swoops in from the sky and picks us up?"
"No," Katara snapped. "I'll tell you what you're going to do. You're going to pick up Azula right now, and we're going to head upstream...right NOW."
Hearing the threat in Katara's voice, Sokka stood, grumbling about crazy sisters and Fire Nation princesses. He reluctantly shuffled over to where Azula lay, and pulled the senseless princess up by the crook of her elbow. Azula's head hung limply, and her hair lay in disarray across her head.
Sokka noted that Katara had wrapped part of her skirt around Azula's chest, and a blush began to creep to his cheeks as he remembered the inappropriate image he had seen the night before. Shaking his head furiously, Sokka cleared the memory from his brain. This is Azula we're talking about, he growled to himself.
Grunting, Sokka lifted and draped Azula around his shoulders. He turned to look at Katara, who was busy stomping out the fire.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" he grumbled. "Let's go."
Together, they headed uphill with high hopes of finding the rest of the Gaang.
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