Chapter VI - Introductions

Katara barely had the time to blink, before she found him quickly approaching.

"You have exactly thirty seconds to explain what happened."

He had to be a little older than her—around two or three years. A small crown the shape of a flame held his black hair in a small, messy topknot; his eyes shined like pure gold, his shoulders framed in official coal-black armour and a crimson suit. It could only mean one thing.

Fire Nation AND royalty, a voice in her head answered readily. Katara instinctively felt like taking a few steps back.

But now that he was close, she vaguely noticed it was hard to look him straight in the face. It took her a few seconds to realize the reason was a large scar, disfiguring a good portion of the left side of his face, making what was left of his eye into just a little fissure. The scarlet shape of a flame spread to his ear and temple. How could such a young face bear such a painful mark? Why did a child of the sun bear the scar from his own source of life?

"Didn't you hear me? As your general, I am talking to you and I demand to be answered."

His harsh tone resounded in Katara's ears and made her shudder. "I am sorry. I got... carried away."

"This is not the kind of attitude I will accept in my army . Is I clear, soldier?"

Katara had to forcibly bring herself to give an affirmative answer.

"What is your name, soldier?" he asked then, backing up a little.

"My... name." Katara felt her stomach drop. How could I not figure this out earlier?, she thought in frustration. She threw an imperceptible glance at Sokka, looking for help—but he had stepped back into the crowd and was shaking his head hopelessly. "Sure, my name. My name is..." Toqqar? Shun? Let me think... Kai? No, too Earth Nation. What about... "Kahn." She paused and tried to look confident. "Kahn, son of Chief Hakoda from the Southern Water Tribe."

"Kahn," the boy repeated warily in his irritating, hoarse voice, attentively studying her from top to bottom, which on impulse made her want to slap him in the face. "Southern Water Tribe? I thought you were... extinct."

"Well, you should check your sources a little better," Katara said a little too boldly. "We're alive and kicking."

A few steps away, Sokka was by then gnawing on his hand. A couple coughs came from the crowd of men behind them, along with a few awestruck cries. "Yeah, two of you made it out of there," someone's distant voice pointed out.

"Silence," the Fire Nation boy said loud and commanding. "Where is your conscription notice?" he bit at her.

She handed him the scroll out without a word and waited as he skimmed trough it. She pretended not to hear Sokka's suffocated moans behind her. There was no turning back. She was to be officially enlisted now, and there was nothing she or her brother could do about it.

"Chief Hakoda... I feel like I've heard this name before."

"Chief Hakoda of the Southern Water Tribe," a voice said from behind the boy. "One Hundred Years war. If I remember correctly, his name became glorious after he sunk our entire southern fleet," the elderly kind man concluded simply with a blithe smile. He was coming their way, hands on his belly. "Is it that Chief Hakoda you're talking about?"

Katara nodded and pretended to ignore the look the boy gave her. "Well, what do you know," he remarked, more to himself. A sudden change in the boy's face saved Katara from opening her big mouth once again.

"Is that... a necklace?" he sqeezed his eyes to look better, and they were lying on her neck.

Katara instinctively brought her hand to the pendant, suddenly out of words to say. She had forgotten to take it off. What kind of fool would do that?

"This is, uhm," she stuttered for a few seconds, that seemed to last one eternity. "This is... my mom's bethrotal necklace," she suddenly managed to say, and regretted it immediately. "She gave it to me so I can think of her... in case I would miss her. You know how boys are: your mom is always mom," she tried to conclude with a nervous smile. Laughter and giggling rose from the crowd behind her. If there was a way to make it any worse, she had found it.

The young general made a gesture with his hand. "You better take that off. You're a grown man and a soldier now, this is no place for playing with fancy jewelry."

Katara swallowed as she watched him walk away, fearing he had seen through her.

But as he turned around again, in front of her and the rest of the soldiers, he was staring at them all. "I want everything back where it was within curfew," he growled. "And tomorrow, the real work begins."

Katara was reluctantly trying to turn and face the angry soldiers muttering behind her back, when the general spoke again. "And you," he pointed right at her, "you will have the special task of running along the perimeter of the camp ten times before dinner time. At least you will save your energy for something more productive than destroying my camp. Is that clear?"

Katara heard more chuckling behind her and crossed her arms at the note of hauteur in his words. Notonce in her life had someone spoken to her in such a pretentious manner, and it really had no relevance if he was her superior. Enough was enough.

"Who do you think you are to talk that way to me?" she snarled. "I am your soldier, not your subject. I deserve respect, even though I'm not Fire Nation."

Surprisingly, he turned to her and though his face still looked sculpted from granite, a slight shade of chagrin flashed across his traits. "Listen carefully, soldier. My name is Zuko, son of Fire Lord Ozai and Crown Prince of the Fire Nation." As he spoke, he spoke to everyone. "I've been assigned to be lieutenant general of these divisions, for which I will directly acount to my superiors." He paused a moment. "My father sent me here to fullfill the agreements settled with the Earth King and it is my duty to honor the task I've been given, as much as it's yours to bring honor your own nations. Whether we like it or not, we're here to get along with each other. Is that clear?"

"Yes, your Highness," the men said as one.

Suddenly, Katara felt her ears sting oddly and her stomach ache. A lot of mixed emotions had been triggered by those words, and she was not sure if it was just because of the waythe prince had spoken them.

"You will learn to behave yourself in front of your superiors," he muttered then, talking to her.

Katara closed her eyes and nodded once, fighting all her muscles in order to bow slightly before the boy she had to get used to calling "prince". When she looked again, he was gone.

The grumbling behind her increased, and Katara felt each stare on her like punches on all her limb; but she had to keep her head high and her eyes cold, until she could find some peace of mind to finally process all that had just happened and find a solution. So she strode through the piercing stares, her blank expression fixed on her features. At least until an abrupt tug on her arm pulled her away, after which she found herself in a shadowed corner, safely hidden from the murmuring crowd.

"Okay. I'll try to put it simple." Sokka was clearly working hard on his tone as he spoke. "What. Was. Going. Through. Your. HEAD!" he growled between his teeth.

"Me? What are you doing here in the first place?" Katara laughed nervously. Her mind was functioning again, and now facing Sokka had abruptly brought her biggest concern back. "If you thought I was going to close an eye on you showing up here, forget it, Sokka. Don't bother unpacking your things. You better go home now before I get mad."

Sokka pinched the bridge of his nose. "I can't believe this. You're trying to mother me. Even now..."

"Enough with that nonsense, Sokka. I demand you go home now or else I'll... I'll..."

"You're not serious, are you?" was shaking his head. "You've gone crazy and you need to go home now. You have no idea what you have got yourself into. If they catch you-"

"You know what is crazy?" Katara remarked, her tone increasing dangerously. "Calling wounded, helpless men to war demanding they should leave their homes and families with no protection! Or forcing boys who barely even... shave themselves yet to be torn apart from their families, just so they can go risk their lives and follow the rules of one of those-those Fire Nation tyrants!"

"Katara, stop talking like that," Sokka implored as he squeezed her arms. "Calm down.

Listen, you clearly need some time to realize what you've done. It's too soon now, I understand. But it's okay. You're going home before daylight, I promise. Just give me a few hours to figure this out and we-"

"And then what, Sokka?" she widened her arms. "It's too late now. I gave Prince Grumpy over there our family's conscription scroll, remember?" She stared in glorious spite as Sokka dropped his jaw at the realization. "I'm officially in as Chief Hakoda's son and there's no way to go back."

"You can still run, Katara! Leave this place before anyone notices. I'll stay here and fix things up for you... somehow."

"I don't think so," she replied. "There's no way I'm going to leave you here alone."

Sokka sighed and ran his hands across his head. Once again, he nervously looked around. "Katara, why did you do this?" His voice on the edge of cracking. He sounded powerless, heart-breakingly powerless.

"You know why."

Katara's eyes had widened as she stared deep into her brother's.

Sokka sighed again. This time a longer pause followed. "What are we going to do, then?"

She shrugged. "Nothing."

"What do you mean, 'nothing'?"

"What else could 'nothing' mean?"

"I mean... how can we possibly get out of this?"

"I don't know. As for me, I'll just... do what they want me to do," Katara hunched her shoulders.

"But that's not the point...! Katara, for the last time, this is serious. This is a real war. You could hurt yourself... seriously."

"Oh, so that is what you think?" she sneered. "And let's see, what do you think makes you more qualified than me to do this?"

"I just think there's a reason they called men and not women to fight in this army."

"I am still a bender, while you're not."

Katara repented. She had really said that, but it was what she thought , whether it was fair or not. Sokka's face turned purple, and it took some time for him to reply. "Fine. We'll see what you can do."

"You're not seeing anything. You're leaving in five minutes."

"Here we go again. This is getting ridicoulous," he grumbled. "I came all this way here to look after you. It's just like you said, I'm not going anywhere without you. There's no way I'm doing that."

"You shouldn't be here either. I came all this way to keep you away from this in the first place. If you stay here, how am I supposed to-"

"Katara..."

"Sokka," she said, imploring this time. "Please. Leave. I need you to leave."

"Katara." He had said it in a way that made it impossible not to listen. "Don't act like you're the only one in the world to care about someone."

At those words, the nude, blank reality of what she had done flashed before her eyes. Thoughts, certainties, plans, seemed to suddenly fall and shatter inside of her head, scattering their fragments everywhere. She felt the physical need to hold her temples in her hands, in a vain attempt to put the pieces together.

"Katara! Wait!" Sokka whispered, but as he reached out, she had disappeared into the chaos of the camp—and something told him it was better to let her be gone for a while.

Katara had been running.

When the sun was about to go down, its still lukewarm rays heavy on her sweat soaked shoulders.

Everything was burning and aching but she kept going.

It had been hard to avoid Jet and his subtle, hateful looks for hours as she worked. Keeping her back on him, she could still sense his glares. A feeling not too different from having actual needles pinned in her neck. His black eyes so full of bitterness—and she couldn't tell if all the resentment was even aimed at her —looked frightening from that distance.

Working silently on the mess she had made, she would barely look up to anyone around her. She hadn't bothered looking for Sokka—then again, he had been nowhere to be seen all through the day. Better off this way, she thought, hoping he had left.

She ran out of breath and came to a stop, hands resting on her knees. She almost made herself smile at the thought of the only two friends she had made that day—a pair of two peaceful, rather quirky waterbenders who told her they used to live in a swamp; and judging from their appearances, Katara could almost believe that. Despite everything, they'd made her laugh when she had seen they had no clue how to rid their brand new uniforms of dirt. It had been comical.

It's not going to work that way, she couldn't help but say after watching another attempt to bend water up and down the cloth multiple times, only to stare at the mud stains that wouldn't leave. You have to rub your soap there until it's gone, she'd explained, as she made a demonstration. See?

The two men had been staring at her in complete awe during the whole process, and when the cloth was finally clean, their warm and sincere amazement had made Katara smile. Soon enough they joined her and their help came in handy, but most of all their off-key swamp-themed songs made the work a little lighter.

Katara was happy she had made friends. Too bad she had made far more enemies.

At the ninth lap, she almost fell onto her knees. She had never stopped although the pain had started after the third one. She could have just cheated and let go of it, no one was watching, but it was not like her. She didn't want to.

After the tenth turn, the sun had set. Katara hit the ground without a sound. As she rested on the grass, a thin string of silver light stared back at her peacefully from the night sky. For the first time that day. aching bones and torn muscles and burning lungs and heavy chest made her feel oddly warm and comfortable.

She managed to get back to her place—well, the place where she had droppedher stuff,—expecting to find nowhere to sit. But when she got there, she found a welcoming, perfectly built tent standing up.

Katara knew exactly who to blame.

But she was too tired to be mad at him for doing her work. So tired that she allowed herself to smile as she walked in.

After dinner, she had been resting alone for a couple hours, still somehow unable to sleep, when the sound of someone clearing their throat alarmed her.

"Uhm... Katara?" a familiar voice whispered. "It's me"

"Get in! Hurry !"

Sokka rushed in and closed the tent behind him. "Phew. I forgot I should call you by the... other name from now on. Good luck you picked this... well-hidden spot. No one around."

"I chose it on purpose," she shrugged as she embraced her knees, still staring at the ground. "By the way... Thank you, Sokka."

"For what? This? Ah, you don't have to thank me," he smiled and waved his hand. "I figured you would need help building things. You know, manly stuff, right?"

Katara smiled in return, as she knew that was far from being the actual reason.

A brief silence followed. "You know," Sokka sighed and sat down, "You made quite a scene with Prince Grumpy today. It was very foolish of you to keep your necklace on. And the explanation you came up with—you'll miss your mommy? I can't believe you willingly signed up for a destiny of doom. I wouldn't wanna be in your shoes."

Katara shrugged. "It was the best thing I could come up with!" she protested.

"Maybe it's not too late to make it up," Sokka brought his hand to his chin, "like, saying you're keeping it for your girlfriend would mark a significant improvement to your reputation. But I'm warning you—in this case, start making up details from now."

Katara laughed. "I didn't think men were that eager of details."

"They are. But don't worry—you have the best teacher."

Katara laughed softly and bit her lip, a thought still stinging in the back of her mind. "I guess now there is no chance to convince you to go back home, is there?"

"You're correct, sis'. I got officially enlisted as a Water Tribe volunteer just a little while ago."

Katara smiled sadly. "I'm sorry I dragged you into this," she said after a while, "I should have known."

"It's okay, Katara. Call me crazy—but I've thought about it, and I do believe that we—that you have a chance to handle this," he said, a little surprised at his own realization. "Sort of. And whatever it is, you always know I've got your back."

"But... Dad," Katara's face had darkened at the sudden thought. "Does he know you're here? He must be broken right now."

"He didn't want me to come at first; he had to let me go. Don't underestimate Dad, Katara," he asserted. "He's not that kind of man. He'll be fine. We'll be fine."

"You think so?" she asked sadly.

"Yeah. Definitely." Sokka's expression made it hard to reply.

Another pause followed, as Katara played with her pendant. "Okay, now—you're the idea guy. So what's the plan?"

"Plan?" Sokka had to pull his eyes up from the bowl of rice Katara had left half full.

"A plan. I am completely clueless about... everything. What are we going to do? How are we going to act this scene? I'm going to need help if I want them to fall for it, and-"

"Slow down and listen," Sokka said, lifting one finger. "I've got everything under control. There is no need of a properplan for now. The only thing you have to keep in mind is—stay alive. And keep a low profile."

Katara hunched in her shoulders, thinking of what had happened the last time while she was keeping her profile "low". "Yeah, I already knew that, but..."

"Katara, it's okay. Training starts tomorrow; but if you avoid drawing attention, you're not as noticeable as you think you are. You just have to appear comfortable. That's the secret: be sure of who you are and others will be sure as well. It'll be easier than you think. For now, we just have to do what they tell us to do. If we're lucky, we won't even have to worry about setting foot on a battlefield. Clear?"

Katara rolled her eyes, as she had finally followed the direction of her brother's gaze. "Come on, Sokka. I'm not eating that. It's all yours."

Sokka's eyes glimmered and he started to chomp on the rice, which disappeared over a few mouthfuls. "Well, thank you! I'm so hungry I could eat a whole platypus bear!"

Katara sighed and shook her head. "I thought you'd had dinner with the others after sunset."

"I did," he shrugged in the most genuine way. "Hey, about this," he added as he got on his feet, "I have to go now. That Haru guy asked me and some others to come over for a gaming night and stuff—you should come. It would be an occasion for you to learn a few things."

Katara shrug her shoulders. "Actually, I... I don't think it's the right time for that. I just want to rest a little. But you should totally go. I'll be fine."

Sokka stared at her. "Oh. Okay. I understand. Well, you better rest well—tomorrow will be a hard day and you will need all your girly strenght to keep up with me," he grinned playlingly.

Katara's lips curled. "We'll see who runs faster, ponytail guy."

A/N: Most important: thanks to the awesome Seleina Bellamy for helping me with this chapter and beta-reading it!

Hope you liked this chapter. So here we finally have Zuko and Katara interacting! Zuko was extremely difficult to handle in this part, for some reason. I just wanted to clarify one thing: Zuko's position in the army. Mind that I made him general, or, more precisely, lieutenant general of Lu Ten. As a prince, he had to be something more than a simple captain like Shang, but he still has to abide by Lu Ten's orders.

As for the rest, I just hope you enjoy this story and where it's going :) as always, I have made some art—a small doodle of Katara's new look after the haircut. You can find it on my tumblr (for which you can just google paintedfirelady).

I am REALLY sorry for this chapter coming so late. Real life and duties keep getting in the way and I never found time for this. I'm afraid the next chapter will take just as much—not only for my lack of time but mostly because I have to rewrite entire parts of my old original draft.

But after that, everything will come down easier :)

See you guys soon!