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"I cant believe they just left me…" I mumbled to myself. "'Me and Lee are going hunting! We should stock up on food so we don't have to stop walking so much.'" I mimicked Toph's voice. "Yeah…and leave me to clean up camp."
I kicked at the pile of burnt wood and watched it as it broke apart. "I should put snakes into their bag."
I picked up Lee's bag and threw it into the pile of supplies. "I hope they get lost…" A lot of good that'd do me, right? Besides, Toph could easily find me by following my string of complaints. Plus, what would I do if I got attacked by a bear? Water whip it? Hit it with an orb of water? Great, I'd get my ass handed to me.
I sat down at the base of the shadiest tree I could find and waited for them to return. They were probably taking their sweet time and laughing at me. Why couldn't I have gone hunting too? It's not like I don't want to. They probably think I wouldn't be able to handle it. I grunted in frustrating and called water to me from my waterskin. I practiced manipulating it into random shapes, a heart, back to a circle, a long stream, then blew on it, willing it to turn to ice. Satisfied, I pressed it to my forehead and sighed. What was taking them so long? They've been gone for at least an hour, it never took Lee this long, and so with Toph with him it should take no time for both of them.
I felt the urge to just get up and leave, but I knew I would never make it alone.
With the back of my hand, I wiped the melted water and sweat off of my brow.
"-and that was when I punched him right in the kisser, he didn't even know what hit him!" Toph's yelled from somewhere in the forest.
I groaned and thanked the gods they were back, I knew we only had a few days journey left, and if I had my way we'd not stop till we got there, but since Toph was in charge she wanted to take her time and "enjoy the scenery" even though she had a distinct lack of sight.
I picked up their bags and all but threw it at them when they entered the campsite. "Ok, enough playing around. Let's go."
Lee placed a bag of meat, which I hoped would be enough food to last us till we got to the avatar, onto the ground and shook his head. "We'll leave as soon as we can."
"What else is there to do? I cleaned camp and packed our bags. Can we go?" I begged.
Lee rolled his shoulders and looked at me. "I'd like to rest for a bit before we-"
"Lets go!" Toph yelled, causing Lee to jump. He looked at her pleadingly, but she just continued smiling.
"Ok…" I threw Lee a questioning look, but he wasn't even looking at me.
"Lee, pick me up, I want to grab an apple!" Toph yelled, pulling at Lee's shirt like a little kid. She was practically climbing up his side when he finally hoisted her onto his shoulder. I had to stifle a laugh at the hilarity of it all; the scene resembled one of a father indulging a daughter.
My laughter stopped, and I frowned. What happened when they were out hunting?
I folded my arms and observed them a little longer. Lee's face was impassive as Toph used his head as leverage to get higher as she reached her hand into the apple tree. He looked strangely at ease with the idea of someone climbing on his face,
How could they have become best friends in just an hour or two? A strange emotion- jealousy? - ran through me, but I quickly stomped it out of my head.
"Come on, let's go." I said gruffly, impatient that they were just goofing off when we were so close to the avatar.
Toph made a face and crossed her legs, still perched on lee's shoulder. "Fine, c'mon lee lets go."
Lee sighed and with a slight blush, mumbled something that I couldn't hear to Toph. With a smile, she nodded and patted his head as I watched them with curiosity. What surprised me the most was that lee moved forward and walked out of our campsite with Toph still perched on his shoulders.
I followed them mutely, counting down the seconds until lee would throw her off his shoulders, but it never happened.
"So, um…" I began, not sure exactly how I would word my question. I considered beating around the bush or making a witty comment, but decided to just come out and ask them. "Are you Toph's mule now?"
My bold question made lee falter in his step and caused Toph to burst out in laughter. I didn't see the poor boys face, but I bet it was as red as a tomato.
"Pretty much!" Toph barked out in laughter.
"May I ask why?" I persisted.
"Pretty boy over here lost a bet." She reached down and pinched Lee's unscarred cheek.
"Pretty boy?" he shouted indignantly.
I had to suppress my laugh. "What'd you bet?"
"He seemed to think he'd get the first catch." She made a strange sound akin to a scoff. "I think it's obvious who won."
Lee mumbled something under his breath that made Toph Laugh.
"How long is this going to last?"
She pursed her lips in an attempt not to laugh. "Indefinitely…he really thought he would win."
"And if he won, was he going to make you give him rides?"
"No!" lee shouted, sounding offended.
"No, he wanted something else." Toph smile made me very curious, but trying to get information out of her could be compared to playing the lottery...you might as well not even try.
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"Lee, put me down, I have to pee." Toph groaned.
Lee's face took on a look of disgust and he immediately stopped walking. "What's the magic word?"
"Just put me down before I go on your shoulders." She warned him with a straight face.
I had never seen lee move so fast. In the blink of an eye, he pulled her off his shoulders and sent her into the forest. "Hurry up!" he yelled.
"Thanks lee, I will be sure and take my time!" she yelled back.
I pursed me lips to keep from smiling.
"Damnit, she probably will take her time." He muttered.
"So…" I began, not wanting to go through an awkward silence no matter how much I disliked him. "How did you two become friends so quickly?" I joked.
"I don't know." He grumbled, obviously not in the mood to talk, but when was he ever?
"You must know. Come on, I'm curious." I prodded.
He turned to me and appeared to think about it. "Well, she's not nearly as rude as you are."
I took a beep breath and decided to be the bigger person and let that one go.
"Seriously." I reminded him.
He gave me a look that clearly said 'I was being serious'. "She's just easy to get along with. How long did it take for you to become her friend?"
"About ten minutes." I muttered.
He gave me a strange look. "She's honest too, which is something that I respect. She never lies or hides things. She's an open book, but you…you always say strange things. I have a feeling you're hiding something…"
I was about to ask him when this became about me, but I realized something that made me keep silent.
This was the moment of truth, tell him or keep my secret?
No…I couldn't tell him, he'd think I was crazy, do they have insane asylums in this world? But he probably already thinks I'm crazy. Could I trust him enough to keep my secret? Trust…that's the problem here. Do I trust him…has he done anything that would cause me to think him unhonorable? Has he hurt me? Lied to me? Has he done anything to me? Despite everything I've done to him, he hasn't done anything that wasn't uncalled for.
Still, he wouldn't believe me, and the idea of him thinking I was a liar made me strangely uncomfortable.
But he's done so much for us…for me. Despite what I've done to him and what I've called him, he still taught me how to fight.
He needs to know, hedeserves to know, but why is it so hard to just open my mouth and tell him? Why can't I just say it? Lee, I'm from a different world. Just say it Katara, you can do it. "Lee…"
He glanced over to me, his molten eyes filled with curiosity. "Yes?" he asked expectantly.
"Um…I uh…do you think I'm crazy?" I blurted out.
He furrowed his brow. "Well…weird, not crazy."
"If I tell you something, and I swear it's true, no matter how crazy it sounds, will you believe me?" I asked hopefully.
"You swear it's true?"
"Yes."
"Then I'll believe you. I don't think you would lie to me. And if I have any doubts, then I'll ask Toph."
I took a deep breath and decided to just say it and get the biggest part out of the way. "I'm not from your world."
Lee opened his mouth, furrowed his brow, pursed his lips, and sat down silently, allowing me to continue.
I knelt down next to him and started talking. "I was hiking through the forest and poof these two people- no, spirits- were in front of me…" I looked at him, expecting to see him holding back laughter, but saw him staring me straight in the eye. His intensity unnerved me. "They told me to find the avatar and threw me into this world." I breathed in and out to calm myself. "Well?"
"These spirits…what were they like?"
"You really believe me?" I asked.
"I told you I'd believe you." Lee swallowed hard. "My uncle…" he seemed to have to force those two words out. "he's been to the spirit world. It's not hard to believe this."
I couldn't help but smile at lee. "They were amazing. I think they said they were the moon and the ocean...but wow, they were perfect." I gushed.
He nodded his eyes and smiled back. This was the first time I had seen him smile in the entire time I had known him, and dear gods above, it was breathtaking. I felt like we were having something like a moment. It sounded lame to say this, but I thought we might be having a moment.
"Lee!" Came a shout from the forest.
Both of us jerked our heads towards the sound of Toph's voice. "Toph?" He called back.
"Um…if I were to…Oh, I don't know…stumble upon something that might be poison ivy…How would I know?"
"Oh no…" I groaned.
Lee sighed long and hard. "I got this." He got up and jogged towards Toph's voice. A minute later I heard him shout "Geeze Toph, how far did you go?"
"I didn't want you guys to see me!" she yelled back.
"Well you didn't have to go this far!"
"How would I have known? I can't go by the 'if I can't see them, they can't see me' rule!" she screamed, voice dripping with sarcasm.
I couldn't hold back my laughter as lee's voice faded away.
With a smile still on my face, I kicked at the dirt and waited, hoping that Toph really hadn't gonethat far.
Unexpectedly, I heard footsteps coming towards me through the thick trees.
"Wow that was quick…" I muttered, and turned towards the oncoming footprints.
Like a scene from a movie, three figures walked into sight. The one leading was beautiful; she had golden eyes that pierced through me as soon as I caught her sight. They were gold, like Lee's, but where his were full of emotion, hers were empty, almost soulless. Her hair was up in a bun with some kind of headpiece holding it together. She looked to be wearing some kind of strong looking armor. Her whole aura screamed Leader. One of the women was wearing dark colored robes, and seemed to be barely awake. The last, certainly happiest of them all, was wearing a pink midriff, and a plated skirt over her pants.
"Well, well, well…" the leader said. "What do we have here?"
"Hello." I muttered nervously, not sure about these girls. They made me nervous, I wasn't sure who they were or what they were doing in the middle of the forest, but I didn't care to find out.
"Hi!" The girl in pink waved and walked over to me. "What's your name?"
"Kat." I told her, still looking nervously at the leader.
She seemed to circle around me like a shark, but her smile never left her face. "That's a weird name, where are you from?"
I swallowed hard and lied. "The Water Tribe."
The leader stepped forward. "What is a little Water Tribe girl like you doing in the Earth Kingdom?"
"Hey Azula, she looks like that other boy- the cute one- what was his name? Something starting with an S."
The black haired woman, who didn't look incredible bored, rolled her eyes and looked back at me. "She's right…they have the same eyes…" she stared at me, her eyes intense. "Ty Lee, stop distracting me. We don't have time for this, take her out Mai, no one can know we've been through here."
"Take me out?" I shrieked. I was not ready to fight yet, sure…I could ward off attacks, and water whip the crap out of someone, but not only was there no water around, but I was all alone. All I wanted was Toph; she would bury these girls (literally).
The one in the dark colors examined her nails, long and pointy (just like her teeth probably were). "Azula, I just did my nails…Ty Lee, go."
"Damnit." Fight or flight, fight or flight? The one in pink took a running leap at me and my decision was made. I ran like a bat out of hell.
In only a few seconds, she was in front of me. It was like she dropped out of the trees. She got into a strange stance and jabbed her hands at me. I dug my heels into the ground and almost fell, but I was able to jerk back quick enough to avoid her jab. As quickly as I could, I popped the cap off of the water skin.
"Nice! You're pretty fast…" she cocked her head and smiled at me,
I brought out a stream of water and aimed a water whip at her head. Like a gymnast, she did a back flip backward and landed in a crouch.
"You can waterbend?" she asked with a polite smile.
"No, what gave you that idea?" I sneered, not in the mood to be all smiley-smiley.
I took the water and made it into a small shield about the size of my head and attached it to my left fist. I couldnt waterbend very well, but I could sure as hell fight dirty.
I gave myself a solid fighting stance and brought my hands up to easier defend myself. Pretending I was a boxer, I bounced lightly from foot to foot. In the split second before she attacked me, I was able to debate the best was of going about this. Should I pull her hair? Would she let me get close enough? Go for her weak points, eyes, throat, under the arms… How much force would snap a collar bone? I once read that only seven pounds would do it if I hit the right spot.
She shifted her weight and brought her leg up to deliver a stunningly high kick straight for my head. I ducked quickly and jumped to the side, sure she would use the opportunity to attack me again. She didn't disappoint. Her arm met empty air, and I thought I would have time to take a swing at her, but I was mistaken. Taking her arm, she swung it around and jabbed at my arm before I could even think of moving. The hit itself didn't hurt as much as I thought it would, but a strange, tingly feeling overtook my arm. To my surprise, my arm dropped limply to my side.
I struggled to bring it back up, but it wouldn't budge. My heart was beating franticly, but I was able to gather myself enough to liquefy the shield that hung off my limp fist and whip it at her head.
It hit her with a loud smack, and sent her straight to the floor. I allowed myself a small smile, but it quickly faded as she used her own momentum to roll backwards into a standing position.
"What the hell!" I shouted, frustrated that she always seemed to bounce back, and ran towards her again.
She began somersaulting backwards, and my anger fueled me to follow. With a hard push, she was airborn. I sucked in a quick breath, I knew what she was doing and I was going too fast to stop it. My speed carried me right under her and she reached out, grabbing my shoulders. Weightlessly, she landed behind me and swept at my feet, with a push, I was sent sprawling to the ground. I felt my nose snap, and tasted blood.
My forehead throbbed as I looked up at her, the shock of hearing the snap making the pain of my broken nose lessen.
"Sorry!" she said, biting her lip.
I stared at her incredulously, and sprang to my feet, using my one good arm to keep me steady. My head was spinning and pounding in pain, but I was able to remember my goals, go for the weak points.
She came at me and jabbed at me again and again, but I was able to put a shield in between her hands and my body. I took my leg and swiped at her feet, but she jumped up to avoid it. She flew high into the air, almost clearing the top of my head, and came down quickly, her arms sticking straight out for balance. My chance was here, so I took it.
With as much strength as I could muster, I brought back my fist and punched her in the throat.
She made a strange, strangled sound and collapsed to the ground. I took the opportunity and ran for my life. I felt the blood dribble off of me chin and onto my shirt, but I was too frightened to care. I had to get out of here, if Ty Lee came back, I would be done for.
Quickly, I glanced behind me and saw the bored looking girl running after me with her arms in her sleeves, in the blink of an eye, her arms shot out. Metal glinted in the air as it soared towards me in slow motion. Mid stride, I dug my heels into the ground and leaned sideways, hoping I would fall and hit the ground before it hit me, but I was wrong. Sharp pain blossomed on the back of both my legs, and I crumpled to the ground. Despite the horrible pain, I got to my knees, and tried to get up, but the girl got to me first.
Her arm shot out and she grabbed me by the hair and started pulling me back towards the woman in red. I struggled as hard as I could, trying to loosen her grip with my only good arm, but her grip stayed relentless. "Lee! Toph!" I screamed, hoping one of them would hear me if Toph hadn't already felt the fight going on.
"Were coming Kat, hold on!" I heard lee shout from not too far off
I nearly cried at the sound of their voice, they must have heard the fight and came running as soon as possible.
The girl in red looked towards the voice with a strange expression that quickly turned to a smile. "Mai, you take Ty Lee and go on ahead, I'm going to take this one."
Mai sighed loudly and nodded releasing my hair. "Whatever. Just hurry up, I don't want to be stuck with Ty Lee for too long. You know how much she talks." She walked over to Ty Lee, where she sat rubbing her neck, tears in her eyes, and helped her up. I almost felt bad for her, it was really dirty of me to hit her there, but I was immediately reminded of my arm, which I still wasn't able to move.
Lee and Toph burst into my view and their eyes immediately found me, my face covered in blood, and my clothes torn and dirty.
A look of fright passed over his face, but as he glanced around to see my attacker, that fright turned to horror. "No…" he breathed the word out, but I heard it loud and clear.
"Oh Zuzu, what are you doing here…I'm sure fathe-" before she could even finish her sentence, Lee was sprinting towards her, swords drawn, and pointing at her neck. A small look of surprise graced her face, but it was quickly gone and replaced with a sadistic smile.
"Lee!" I yelled, trying to stop him. She was the leader, the strongest one, and if she was any better than Ty Lee, she would be impossible to beat.
He took a swipe at her head, but she leaned backwards and it missed her face by inches.
Toph came to my side and gripped my shoulders. "Are you alright?"
"I'll be fine." I assured her, my broken nose causing me to sound nasally. "I can't move my arm though."
Lee looked to be in bad shape. The girl, Azula was her name, swiped her nails at Lees face, but he jerked back just in time. Taking his swords, he swung at her, but she met his swords with the armor covering her forearm. It bounced off, sending sparks shooting.
"No bending today?" she asked him. She reached out and her hand erupted into fire. I jumped a mile, jolting my nose and making the pain worse. Firebending. She reached back and punched out, sending a ball towards his chest. It hit with excellent accuracy right in the center of his chest leaving a burnt hole in his shirt. I expected to see his skin below a burning, blistering mess, but it was fine. Smooth and normal, albeit a little pink.
"Let me feel it." She reached out to grab my arm, but I stopped her.
"No!" I snapped, "Go help Lee."
"What am I supposed to do?!" she yelled back. "I can't see fire!"
I franticly glanced back at lee. He was in way over his head. With only his swords to fight with, he wasn't able to get close enough to even touch her. Every time he neared her, she would attack with fire, sending him back and burning more of his clothes. My heart beat franticly with worry for lee, and I was afraid that at any moment, she would kill him.
"I don't care, do something!" I screamed. Azula hit him again, sending him flying back. He rolled out of the way seconds before another fireball hit him and sprung to his feet. He dropped his swords and starting fighting her hand to hand.
Her face was calm and composed the entire time they fought, nothing seemed to faze her. Every single attack lee made was countered and blocked. Nothing he did seemed to help sway the battle in his direction. She was toying with him, I knew that for sure.
"You want me to do something?" she glared at me through her sightless eyes. "Fine!"
Toph turned around and kicked at the ground, making what first appeared to be a crack in the ground, but soon turned into a small chasm. Azula, who was about to attack Lee, never saw it coming. The ground seemed to fall from beneath her. She only had time for a confused look to cross her face before she was disappeared into the ground. With one jerking motion, Toph closed the ground back up and spun to me. "There! You happy?"
"Where did she go?" I asked from my place on the floor.
"Down there." She pointed into the ground.
I opened my mouth to reply, but the expression I didn't know I was making made my whole face hurt. I tried to touch my nose, but my arm still didn't budge. I groaned and flopped onto the ground in anger and frustration, causing my nose to shift and erupt with more head splitting pain.
"We need to go and find the Avatar now." I groaned. "Go get Lee."
She nodded her head and sprang up, running over to lee. I looked over to the mud where my earlier water whip had landed and pulled it towards me. I made it into an orb, cooled it down, and plunged my face into it, using it as an ice pack. The pain immediately subsided with surprising quickness. Behind my closed lids, I could sense a bright light. When I opened my eyes, I gasped in a mouth full of water and dropped my makeshift icepack. The water had been glowing bright blue, and there was no denying it.
As I coughed and sputtered, my mind raced. I couldn't have been doing that, all I was trying to do was make my face feel-
My good arm shot up to my face and touched my forehead, which had surely been shredded during the fall. My skin was smooth and unblemished.
An instinct, a gut feeling, told me that I had done that, but how? All I did was put my face into the water. I touched my nose and the pain was gone, but my nose was still crooked. With a newly peaked curiosity, I called Toph over from where she was kneeling with Lee. He seemed fine, a little shaken, but fine none the less.
She came over with a smile. "Yes?"
"I need you to push my nose back to where it's supposed to be."
"Is that what you're supposed to do when your nose breaks?"
I pursed my lips. "It's what they do in the movies, just do it."
"Ok, your funeral." She replied.
"Just do it quick before-" Before I could even blink, Toph snapped my nose back into place with her thumb. Pain erupted through my nose and I had to fight back my tears, it felt like she broke it again. I pulled the water back up and put it back on my nose, this time keeping my eyes open. Sure enough, the water glowed and the pain ebbed away.
"Lee." I called, getting his attention. "How does my face look?"
I could see him squint at my face, and with a strange look, he got up and limped over to me. "It looks fine, how in Agni's name did that happen?"
"Agni?" Toph asked. "Are you firenation?"
"Uh…" he went pale. "Yes."
"Hmmm." She seemed to be thinking. "That's interesting…"
"I don't know…" I answered, ignoring their conversation. "I just put the water on my face and it got better."
Lee frowned "I heard that some waterbenders are healers, maybe you…"
"I can heal?" I asked, clearly excited. I couldn't fight very well, but if I could heal myself, then that didn't matter much! I could fight without worry, and even help Toph and lee.
I heard a pounding noise coming from where Azula surely was.
"Ok, we need to go now." Lee spoke up. "Azula isn't going to be stuck for long, so the sooner we get to the avatar, the better."
"Can the avatar beat her?" I asked.
He nodded. "If anyone could do it, it'd be him." With a grunt, he pushed himself to his feet and went off towards the dropped supplies.
Before he was too far away, Toph grabbed my shoulder and pulled my ear to her mouth. "Does Lee have a scar on his face?"
She pulled away and waited. "Yes."
"Is it over his eye?" her brows furrowed.
"Yeah." I nodded, knowing she couldn't see me.
"And his eyes are gold…" she half asked, half predicted.
"Yes…" I answered slowly, wondering how she could so accurately guess what he looked like.
"Well. That's interesting."
"How did you know?" I asked.
"Oh, just a guess…" she got up and turned to Lee. "C'mon, let's go."
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