This is the last chapter of Part 1 hope you enjoy.
I do not own Avatar
Part 1 - First Stitch - Chapter 3/3
"Will you sit now?" Zuko grumpily asked the bound waterbender before him.
Despite the anxiety nesting in her chest, Katara found the prince's cranky tone amusing. Things were not ok, her situation was not ok and she was definitely not ok. Still, Zuko's promise, while probably only theater helped ease her the fear that threatened to undo her. The whole situation while to some extent her fault, was absurd. She'd been chased by pirates only to be caught by the fire nation, tied to a tree and taunted with her mother's necklace and now Zuko the prince of the fire nation was protecting her honor and making solemn oaths in the middle of the night.
She'd laugh at the ridiculousness of it all if she wasn't still tied up, still a prisoner yet somehow, safe.
With nothing else to do, Katara once again made the awkward movements needed to take a seat while Zuko went back to tending the tea.
He gently warmed the kettle before pouring the steaming liquid into a cup. When he passed it to her the thin blue sleeves of her tunic pulled back, revealing angry red marks the amber lamp light. Zuko now understood why Uncle had packed the salve.
Katara carefully sipped the warm liquid, the initial bitterness caused her nose to wrinkle before notes of something more delicate and but not too sweet smoothed the flavor out.
"It's willow bark and chamomile. Uncle says it's supposed to help with pain and promote relaxation." Zuko explained without looking at her.
"Your uncle is very thoughtful." Katara continued to take small sips of the warm liquid, anything to help dispel the cold.
"When you're done, he sent a salve." Zuko said jutting out his chin to indicate the state of her wrists. He set out yet another red dish with small cakes that emitted more of the delicate aroma.
"Peony and orchid, they balance the bitterness of the willow and harmonize with the chamomile." Zuko recited Iroh word for word.
Dispelling the confused look from her face Katara leaned forward and took one of the sticky cakes. Taking a bite she found that they were dry but fragrant and laced with bits of honey.
"Are those flowers?" Katara questioned.
"What?" Zuko gave her a perplexed look.
"Orchid and Peony, are they flowers?" she asked again.
"Yes." he affirmed, his confused look persisted.
"The south pole isn't a habitable place for many plants, let alone flowers. I've seen quite a few lately but this is the first time I've eaten them."
It hadn't occurred to Zuko that Katara would have never seen flowers because there were almost none in the South Pole. He'd been there but he was so fixated on the Avatar he never took notice.
"Flowers grow in abundance in the Fire Nation, there are so many different ones they even had their own language at one point." he explained.
"Language?" it was Katara's turn to look confused.
"Different flowers meant different things and what you gave someone conveyed a message."
"Sounds complicated."
"It is, that's probably why no one uses them anymore. I mean the language part, they're still part of everything, banquets, birthdays, funerals, weddings- " cutting himself off his eyes dropped to the blue satin wrapped around his wrist.
Katara didn't seem to notice as she drained the rest of her tea and handed him back the cup. His uncle was right, the tightness in her chest, while not completely gone had loosened its grip on her. Her aches had dulled to something almost unnoticeable. Zuko replaced her cup with a pot of salve.
"Use this, it'll need to dry before we go to sleep."
Deciding not to pick at his odd wording Katara pried the lid off of the small pot and was immediately hit with the scent of the ocean. Her grandmother's warmth, the salty taste of sea prunes and the smell of smoked meats all flooded he mind, a thread of homesickness tugged somewhere at her heart. She dipped two fingers into thick salve and found it surprisingly warm. Carefully she spread the thick greenish stuff across her skin, wincing here and there as she went. She could guess by the salty tang, it was probably made from seagrass or kelp, harvested during their time on the ship. Her own tribe used various seaweeds for both food and medicine. Salves like this one were common and especially helpful for treating cuts and burns, common injuries when hunting or cooking.
With both benders lost to their own thoughts, silence slipped into the void between them. It seeped into all of the cracks and crevices of their rough cut truce. It wasn't yet the worn in, comfortable kind, but it wasn't that awkward and painful kind that begged to be broken and filled either.
Katara finished dabbing at her angry red marks and closed the salve pot before holding it out for Zuko to take. He reflexively replaced the container in her hands with another serving of tea. Uncle's habits were well worn and at some point unknown to him had become his own.
As she sipped the warm liquid in the amber lantern light, he began to pack up the various pieces of porcelain from dinner. It was when he started unpacking cushions and an olive toned coverlet that Katara got curious.
"You're not tying me back to the tree?" she asked hopefully.
"No, you're already torn up, if I tie you up now you'll just bleed everywhere and attract predators to the camp." he stated blandly.
"How thoughtful of you." Katara's words dripped sarcasm.
Zuko laid out the cushions in a hollow of the trunk until they resembled a reclined chaise. He reached into the cuffs of his knee high cuffs his boots and pulled out two long daggers that Katara probably should have noticed before. At roughly waist height thrust them into the tree's trunk edge side up. Not the best way to treat a blade but he needed them high enough to keep the water bender from causing trouble and low enough that he could grab them from his position on the ground.
As she watched the blades Katara's brain kept working all of the angles. Each of her calculated ideas were shot down one after the other when the ropes reminded her that she could barely brush her hair from her own face let alone wield a weapon. If she managed to get even one of the daggers loose, just trying to cut herself out of these knots might hurt her enough that getting back to her camp would be the least of her problems. The gears in her mind kept ticking, looking for options when Zuko placed the last cushion and Katara realized something was amiss.
"If you're going to sleep there, where do you want to me sleep?" she inquired with a quirked eyebrow.
"You're sleeping with me." he said flatly.
"I'm not doing that." her reply near instant.
"There's only one blanket, either we share it or I leash the ropes to the tree and let you sleep in the cold dirt." Zuko told her in a bored tone.
Katara was a bit too aware of the chill in the air around them. The little warmth the tea provided had already worn off and a shiver threatened to tremble through her but she refused to give him the satisfaction.
"There's not enough room for two people.", she argued.
"What's your choice water bender?" he pushed with an annoyed tone.
Katara chewed on her bottom lip, she was already freezing, her thoughts raced looking for an out. If she let him add more rope, it would mean more restraints to undo on top of the ones she could barely reach. Even if she got free of the tree, the limited use of her arms kept her from undoing the hobble. It would take forever just to clear the camp assuming she didn't fall again. She didn't know what was in those woods at night and if she found out she couldn't defend herself or get away. La, she really was stuck. Katara sighed, if she was going to be stuck, she might as well be warm while doing it.
"With you." she grumbled.
Where Katara expected another triumphant sneer, there was just a simple blank faced nod.
"Come this way." he place a hand on her shoulder and guided her toward the makeshift bedding. The few steps had an air of awkwardness they both tried to ignore.
Once they came to the edge of the green bedding, Zuko turned Katara around so she faced the camp with her back to the tree.
She heard shuffling and settling behind her before there was a gentle but firm tug down on the ropes binding her elbows. She resisted and heard a growl before the tug shifted directions and became a firm downward pull that took her balance.
For a second her heart migrated into her throat when she began to fall, warm hands on her shoulder and hip braced her as she took a slowed decent down to the cushions. The mossy green coverlet was pulled over her covering her all the way up to her chin, it was about that time Katara registered her back was resting against Zuko's chest.
"What do you think you're doing?" Katara demanded, irritation coloring her words.
She tried to push herself off the ground but Zuko had already grabbed hold of one the knots binding her and pinned her to the spot.
"Keeping you from escaping." he told her in a bored tone.
"I can't go anywhere, you've already made sure of that." she groused.
Zuko gave in, he was tired, it was late and in too few hours he'd have to restart his search. It was time to play dirty. He ratcheted up his body temperature warming the space below the blanket for several short seconds before ripping it away allowing the bitter cold to rush over them. He called more warmth to his hands and made sure to grab Katara's bare forearms as he pushed her forward into the frigid night. She immediately began to shiver.
"I know you can't go anywhere, I also know you'll still try. Your choices remain the same." he said with no room for argument.
He glared down at her from behind, she wouldn't call his bluff, of that he was sure. Katara couldn't regulate her temperature like he could and being used to the cold only took her so far when all she had on was a thin tunic in the chilly night.
Of course she was going to try to escape but that wasn't what he cared about. Truth was, leaving her out in the cold was asking for trouble. The pirates may have gotten their scroll back but that wasn't going to be enough. If they had it their way they would go to great unspeakable lengths to make sure she never stole from them again. There was truly no honor among thieves and to those drunken pirates, she was free game. He'd have a fight on his hands trying to stop them if one wandered out this way. If it looked like he'd already claimed her as his own, well they would think twice about taking what belonged to the Fire Prince. While it would be easier to explain this to her - even with her hands tied - she'd probably deck him for simply thinking it.
Katara could almost feel his stare burning holes into her back. The faint heat emanating from Zuko and the blanket caused another shiver to run though her. Dammit, what she would give for just one of her furs back home right now. There really was no getting out of this, was there?
Katara gave an annoyed huff and scooted herself back, when she felt herself bump into Zuko she stiffened not allowing herself to lean against him. The effort was wasted when Zuko once again gripped the rope between her elbows and pulled her back firmly against his chest. He settled the blanket over both of them making sure they were both well covered before settling against the cushions. Everywhere they touched she could feel his heat bleed though her clothes, seeping into her skin and slowly warming her.
Zuko released his grip on the rope and wrapped his arm around Katara's waist, grabbing a handful of the deep red linen that made up the left side of his tunic he pulled her tighter against him. Being careful not tug, he gently wound his left hand into her hip length braid. Zuko finally leaned his head back and closed his eyes.
"Are you really that worried about me escaping?" Katara asked musing at the his arm wound around her waist.
"The avatar has eluded me before, I won't let it happen again." his bored tone coming from behind shut lids.
Zuko had managed to school his breathing and seem unaffected by their arrangement, but with him pressed so close, Katara could feel his frenetic heartbeat against her back. She became aware that he wanted this just about as much as she did, neither of them were here because they wanted to be. She realized that it must be painful to be so close to something you were sure you would never experience. The thought gave her the strangest urge to soothe her enemy, the firebender who chased them around the world, stole her from a river bank and kept her as bait for the Avatar. The lone, scarred boy prince who swore to protect her honor and held her fast, as if she would disappear like smoke on a eastern wind. She sighed and made what felt like yet another traitorous but right decision.
"It's not how I imagined my first time either." she stated to no one in particular.
Zuko's eyes cracked wide open at her statement, he had been working on putting his thoughts elsewhere, but now? Now he couldn't help but be more aware of how her hips pressed against his groin and how the weight of her against his chest made his heart race while bringing a calm to his nerves. Outside of sparing he hadn't been this close to another human being since his mother died, as far as he understood, his scar almost guaranteed there would never be a first time.
She ignored how his heart managed to be even more disconcerted and just kept talking, "What I mean is - we have a tradition called a 'snow in'. A courting pair works together to build a shelter and spend the night in it together. If it survives until dawn, the pair is considered successful. For us courting starts when you are sixteen and involves many trials but your very first snow in is special."
Katara paused, Zuko's pulse still raced but had evened some so she continued.
"The day before you first snow in, a small feast is prepared and you spend the day with your family. You then spend the night with your elders listening to stories and getting bits of advice to help you get ready for what lays ahead."
"What if they fail?" he interjected.
Zuko surprised her with his inquiry, she only intended to distract him, she never expected him to take an interest.
"Well, that depends, they can either break the courtship and start again with someone new or learn from it and keep going. The snow in tests a pair's ability to cooperate and work together while allowing them time alone to understand their … compatibility. But it's only one trial of many and the success of the coupling is determined by the pair, no one else." she paused, "We are taught early on that the tundra is an unforgiving place, that will exploit your weaknesses, so choosing the Tui to your La is something not to be taken lightly. Just like they are two parts of a whole, your partner should be someone who is strong where you are weak and vis versa. That's why courting can take so long in our tribe, it can take many trials and multiple pairings before you find the other half to your whole." Katara managed to recite nearly all of Gran-gran's lecture from memory.
"It sounds like a good system." he replied not entirely sure what to say, he was banished from the fire nation at 13, two years before any talk of courtship customs would begin. He had little to no information to share in return, then again, it was unlikely that he would ever need it.
"It is. According to Gran-gran, it's part of why our tribe has survived for so many generations." she told him pride coloring her words. She felt him nod in response.
Katara could no longer feel his heart attempting to thunder out of his chest. It was about time. The tea and the heat of the fire bender that enveloped worked in tandem to dull the ache in her bones and unwind the tension in muscles. Drowsiness began to weigh on her.
"It's beyond late, we should sleep." she stifled a yawn.
He gave a another silent nod.
As the water bender in his arms fought a losing battle with sleep, Zuko's thoughts kept ticking. He understood what she had done, he just didn't understand why. The fire nation had taken so much from her tribe, Agni he took her mother's necklace and even her first courting ritual. His cheeks reddened at the implication. He shook it off, how could someone find it in themselves to be so kind in the face of all of that? As much as he wanted to he couldn't question it, he need to stay focused, he would capture the Avatar and return home. The girl in his arms was just a means to end, right?
He felt Katara's breathing give in to the slow and steady rhythm of sleep. Tomorrow was another day and when the sun rose she would be his enemy but for tonight he had made a promise and she was his charge to protect. He tucked her head under his chin and shut his eyes letting the drowsiness pull him under. Idly thumbing the braid woven between his fingers as he gave into slumber, he couldn't help but liken it to strands of silk.
I hoped you liked part 1, reviews are always appreciated.
I'll be posting a short Zutara fic 'A Scorching Hand' starting next Monday - it started as a one shot that morphed into a story that's about 3-4 chapters long.
Once I'm done with that, I'll return to this fic with Part 2 which takes place after 'The Chase' where Katara sneaks off to heal Iroh much to Zuko's chagrin.