A/N. I'm so sorry I haven't been updating this story these last two weeks. My family was in town, and I had a lot of work otherwise. But here we are, a calmer chapter to ease back into it!
"Well… This might have to do, for the moment." Katara sighed, as she finished to tie the bandages around Aang's chest. It made her sick… Doing this made her think about those horrible three weeks after the fall of Ba Sing Se. Those weeks, she had done the same thing, wrapping the airbender's chest and back in those hated linen bandages… Tui and La, how she had loved the moment he had thrown them on the fire in that cave, not far from this town…
"He'll live?" On Ji's voice came from her right, and Katara had not even known that the girl was still near. The night had been long, and to be honest, the waterbender didn't remember it all… But now that the dark night sky was becoming slightly clearer, she turned her attention to the outside world. She heard the thunder and rumbling above the roof, indicating that the weather had not been a dream. It had begun to rain just after Aang had been stabbed, and she didn't know if it was just coincidence or rather some sick joke from the spirits.
"He will. I think the air was escaping from his lung, but I made sure it could escape instead of building up pressure between the lung and his flesh… If he had been awake, it would have been far easier… He would have made sure to keep the air out of his left lung…" Katara sat down on a stool next to the bed, rubbing the sides of her head with her knuckles.
"He… Is it… It is true, isn't it?" The girl asked shyly, grabbing a stool from another bed to sit down on the other side of Aang's unconscious form.
"What is?" Katara didn't look up, concentrating on rubbing the worry and exhaustion away.
"That he loves you above everything else… He seemed… well, I could tell." On Ji spoke quietly, making Katara look up. Of course… The Fire Nation girl was the only one who had actually spoken to the airbender.
"What did he tell you?" She asked.
"Well… I was in the library, and I heard someone enter. I thought it was my father, but when I spoke, the air turned… I don't know, solid? No sound entered the room, but I saw him. He looked… Well, worried and relieved at the same time. He just waved his hand, and sounds could be heard once more. When I asked what in Agni's name he was doing inside the town, he just told me… Well, that, of course, he was here for you. He thought you were being held prisoner, and wanted to know where…"
As Katara had feared… Aang had done this for her. Of course… of course he had. She would have done exactly the same. It was just not possible for them to see the other in danger, and when he had been given hope… She could only imagine the discussion Aang would have had with the others… If he had even taken the time to actually discuss this with their friends.
Oh Spirits…
Sokka. Her brother would, of course, have followed the airbender. Even if Aang had gone alone, her brother would have found out sooner than later, and would have followed his friend, to get to her, or to drag the idiot back. Sokka could never stop Aang, even if he wanted to… But knowing him, he would have tried.
"Have there been any others?" She asked softly, looking at the frown on Aang's forehead. He was sweating, even though it was not that warm, with the rain and wind raging outside the walls of the building… And he didn't have a fever either. Perhaps he was bending the air around him? No… That, she would have felt, being so close to him.
Close…. Finally. Finally, they were close together, and in a twisted, cruel way, he was not there to enjoy it. Not that she was particularly enjoying it, but at least she knew he was safe. As safe as could be, trapped with her now. But she could pass as a Fire Nation citizen, albeit a "mongrel" from the colonies. Aang didn't have that luxury. Not now. With his bloodstained tunic lying next to the bed, his tattoos were on full display, the long blue lines dancing across his forearms, his neck and his bald head. No, he was not safe here… The danger was all around them. Orsu belonged to the Council, and his home was frequently visited by other people, not least of all the governor…
"Not that I know of… But that doesn't mean they aren't here. They would not let the Avatar go in alone… Would they?" On Ji whispered the word Avatar, as if it was dangerous only to think about it.
"If they knew he was going? No… But knowing Aang, he would have thought twice about taking any of our friends. He would have worried about me… And would have thought it better to be the only one taking a risk."
"But… He is the Avatar! An airbender! He is far too… Too…"
"Rare? Important?" Katara asked, knowing what On Ji had meant, and also knowing that it wasn't meant as an insult, but rather out of concern.
"Yeah… That. If he was captured, or… or… ehm… killed?"
"Piandao would have stormed the town without question. He is honourable, but he also is a member of the Order of the White Lotus. He is aware that the balance of the world hangs on a thread… And that thread is Aang." Katara answered quietly, letting her hand pass over the airbender's forehead, past his cheek and letting it rest on his jaw.
"You love him a lot, don't you?" On Ji asked, and the waterbender looked at the girl. The soft ember eyes were trained on Aang's face.
"I do." Katara sighed, smiling despite the situation. Aang was alive, even though Shoji put in an effort to kill him, "And to answer you, Aang doesn't care about himself. I have scolded him far too often during our travels about it. He doesn't take into account that the world can't lose him… Not when friends are involved… or me."
That earned a silence from On Ji, who kept looking at the airbender with a frown on her face. The waterbender turned her attention back to actually healing him, and felt his forehead again. Still warm…
"He doesn't have an infection, I would have sensed that with my healing…" She sighed. Why was he still feverish? He was supposed to be awake. Aang was strong, and the knife had not hit anything too important. His lung would heal, and she supposed that with his airbending, he would not even be bothered by the wound. He had not lost too much blood. Yes, there was some loss that would have weakened him, but not to the point of having him unconscious…
"Was he like this… That time after the fall of the Walled City?" Katara saw a hesitant hand rise from the other side of the bed, hovering over Aang's arm. Glancing towards the Fire Nation girl, she saw that On Ji was following the paths the tattoos drew over the airbender's arms.
"Worse." She didn't wish to think back at those few horrible, terrible weeks. This was already far too much, and Katara knew that her heart and mind were fighting to keep the images of a dying Aang out of her thoughts, but that it was a losing battle.
"Shoji… He probably didn't mean…"
"Didn't mean to stab a man in the back?" Katara retorted before On Ji could say another word, "Sure, that is why I had to heal a stab wound. That is why that idiot plunged a knife deep into Aang."
"He…"
"He did it because he thought Aang was Kuzon. And Shoji is a jealous little shit." Katara knew that it wasn't On Ji's fault, but her irritation bubbled up, "He likes you. He probably thinks he loves you, but he doesn't. He thinks that being kind to you, and a friend, gives him the right to love you. But real love is not like that. Shoji has been spying on Hide, not because he wants you to be safe, but because he wants to catch him in an act that would make Orsu reconsider the betrothal. And when he saw Aang, thinking it was Kuzon, he feared that you would run off with him. Am I far off?" The last question, Katara asked with such venom in her voice that even she was surprised by it.
The ember eyes rose from Aang's tattoos to her, and the waterbender saw the hurt in those eyes.
"He has been my only friend here since the school closed." On Ji whispered.
"But that doesn't mean you have to accept what he does." Taking the airbender hand into her own, Katara couldn't help but revel in the fact that she was holding Aang. Unconscious, trapped inside the town with her, but with her.
"I know that…" On Ji spoke so quietly that Katara had to strain her ears to hear her. A knock could be heard, far louder than the girl's voice. Turning to the door of the stable-turned hospital, Katara frowned.
"It's Orsu." A voice whispered hard enough to be heard above the rain, meaning he probably had to be shouting outside. Katara quickly got up, unbolted the door and opened it just far enough for the man to enter. On Ji's father had gone away early in the morning while Katara was still occupied with healing Aang to learn what was happening outside their little world.
"Agni above." Orsu muttered, as he entered the room, shaking off the dark red cloak he had been wearing, darkened to black by the rain, "I, for one, am glad about the roof above my head. I don't imagine how those poor souls outside the town are faring…"
"Well?" Katara asked, wringing her hands together. Orsu had to have news! If someone had come with Aang, and had been captured, Orsu would know.
"No one has been arrested tonight, except a few soldiers at the… inn… next to the northern gate." The older man's ember eyes flickered towards his daughter, and Katara understood the meaning. They both knew that that inn, where Hide spent most of his time, was much more than a simple drinking hole. And Orsu didn't want his daughter to know.
She would have to learn eventually… But yeah, probably better if she didn't know about these things. She already had enough on her plate, with the Avatar in her home.
"So, he came alone?" She asked instead, looking at the pale figure on the bed.
"It appears so… And the princess is here. I went to Kantuno, hoping to learn something. He was with her… And I understand what you meant. She can't be Fire Lord!" Orsu's eyes widened a bit when he mentioned Azula.
"She is still crazy?" That didn't surprise Katara one bit.
"Crazy is a kind word. Totally out of control is a better description. I met Kantuno at breakfast, and she was there. When I asked if he wished for me to summon the council, and begin talks once more with Lord Piandao, she interrupted me and told me, word for word, that Traitors are all among us, we wouldn't want to give us the impression that you are one of them, do we?"
That sounded like Azula. The subtle threat of high treason would be enough for anyone to reconsider their point of view, certainly if it was someone as feared as Azula who spoke those words.
"She sounded like that even before she went mad. She is totally unpredictable now… She was already dangerous before, but now? Tui and La… I know she hates me for some reason… It would perhaps be better if we leave, for your safety…" Katara hated that idea, but Aang had come from somewhere, he had bent a tunnel through the wall… That meant that it could be used to get out of the town. If, in the dark, they managed to cross the mile of open ground… But that was if Aang woke up. Otherwise, it would be a lot more trouble…
"That is out of the question. Avatar Aang has been wounded in my home, and that is unacceptable for me. The least I could do is give him shelter during his recovery. And you have never been a burden… It was actually quite good to see that my daughter had a friend that didn't kill people for fun." Orsu's eyes flickered to the door of the stables. He had taken Shoji to the library and had locked the door behind the young man.
"Not for fun… But I killed people. You should know that." Katara spoke. Orsu, On Ji's mother and everyone in this house took an incredible risk by helping them…
"I don't doubt it. But there is a difference between killing someone in a war, or trying to kill an unarmed man trying to find his wife."
"Shoji didn't know what Ava… Kuz… Aang was doing." On Ji spoke up, sounding somewhat defiant.
Orsu turned his attention to his daughter, and Katara could see the steel behind those ember eyes, and not for the first time. The man was kind and gentle most of the time, but from time to time, there was a resolve and iron will.
"On Ji. Shoji attacked a man, without knowing for sure who it was. He carried a knife, and not just one for eating. Sure, these times would explain why he would prefer to go out armed, but still… Using it? On a kneeling, innocent man? I draw the line at that." Orsu's voice was clear, but Katara heard the slight tremble.
Of course, Shoji was someone who would have visited this house his whole life. He would have played here as a child, and he had clearly been invited to spend as much time as necessary here. He was poor, and the friendship with a richer person would have been good for him… And Orsu and On Ji's mother had accepted him as a friend, feeding him when his parents could not… Orsu probably considered the young man as a part of the family… And to see him do such a thing would be traumatizing for him…
But still, Shoji had tried to kill Aang. And that, Katara could not forgive.
"Shoji has not killed him!" On Ji gestured at Aang.
"But the intend was there. I don't know why he would do such a thing, but I intend to ask him. And he better have a very, very good reason."
Katara saw On Ji's eyes glance towards her, and knew perfectly well what the girl mean to say.
He doesn't know, please don't tell him.
So, On Ji had been aware of Shoji's feelings… Or at least, didn't want her father to know about them. Spirits, what a mess… But whatever the young man's feelings, or ideas of what was his right… He had tried to kill Aang. And that, Katara could and would not forgive.
"How has he been?" Orsu changed the subject, taking a step towards the bed on which the airbender was lying.
"Unconscious, but otherwise… Better than could be expected from someone who has been stabbed in the lung." Spirits, there was some luck in that… At least Shoji had not hit his heart. Katara tried to keep out the horrible images of what that would have caused… Bleeding, on a scale she would not have been able to stop… And by each heartbeat, the knife would tear through flesh in another angle… Spirits, this was really a stroke of luck…
Walking back to her small chair next to the airbender's bed, she looked down on that beautiful face… Well, she thought it beautiful. Now that she took a moment to look at him, Katara could see that things had happened. A badly healed cut on his cheek would leave a small scar, and all across his torso were nearly healed burn marks… The result of his fight with Ozai? Tui and La, she didn't even know how he had done it. He had been so stressed, so helpless… But he had managed to fight the Fire Lord, to beat him…
And she had not been there to let him fall in her arms after that battle… What she would have given for that moment…
If Azula had not escaped, somehow… If she had just stayed put, waiting with Zuko for the others. But no… She just had to be like that. She had to fly to Wulong. Would Aang have found Appa? How were the others? If Aang had been wounded, for he clearly had been, how were the others? Why had they sent Toph to fight the airships? They had clearly not thought anything through… But On Ji and Orsu had told her that all her friends, and her father, had been at the meeting in front of the gates…
So at least, everyone was alive…
"If they won't let me talk to Lord Piandao, I have no way to let them know the Avatar, and you, are safe. And they will have realized that the Air Nomad is missing, so I guess we have a day, two at most. No army could stay camped outside these walls with the monsoon raging outside." Orsu sighted.
Yeah… That was a problem. Piandao had eight thousand soldiers, and there were five thousand inside the walls. But those walls would make up for the difference in numbers, that was for sure.
"Come On Ji. We'll go talk to Shoji. And ask, what in Angi's name he was doing." Orsu spoke softly, waving his hand towards his daughter. Katara saw that the Fire Nation girl looked uncomfortable, probably not looking forward to the prospect of Shoji telling her father why he had done this, with her being in the room… But Katara didn't say a thing, or invited her to stay with her. No… She wanted a minute alone with Aang. Even if he was unconscious.
As the Fire Nation girl stood up and followed her father, Katara waited until the door closed behind them, leaving her with the airbender.
"Tui and La, my love… Why?" She whispered as soon as she knew no one would be able to hear her, "Kina?". Katara knew that Aang wouldn't be able to hear the question, but she still spoke it quietly.
Why?
There was no answer, of course, but as she let her hand slide back over the airbender's forehead, she still felt the incredible feverish warmth on his skin. How could that be possible? Had she missed something? Perhaps he was still bleeding inside? Perhaps the bleeding was building up, or maybe the knife had been drenched in poison, or even in dung… That was a very effective way to cause infections, she knew that…
Maybe there was no explanation? Maybe it was normal for a lung wound? She had never healed such a wound. The Spirit Water had healed Aang's lungs and heart in Ba Sing Se. Not her… No, she had just done the basics after that. Keeping the wound clean, healing the flesh around it…
Removing her hand from the pale tattooed skin, Katara was surprised to see it shake slightly as she brought it to her knees. Joining that hand with the other, she began to wring them together. She knew she did that when she was stressed, but she ignored it. Aang was wounded… And if just someone other than On Ji or Orsu entered the room, she would have to probably fight them.
What would they see? A young woman, nearly eighteen… Matching the description of the hated waterbender, sitting next to an unconscious young man, scarcely seventeen… with the tattoos of an Air Degenerate. Spirits, how she hated that. How could the people just not see that Aang was the good guy? They thought that Lord Ozai was good, that he had been a good ruler. And that Aang had killed him. Of course he had not.
But now, he was here, stuck with her in this place. Tui and La, she was beginning to hate this place so much… If they got out, she would ask Zuko to pull down the walls. Those hated walls… If Zuko won this war, there would not be need of town walls, of fortifications… Aang would make sure no war would break out. Spirits, how it was probably breaking his heart that everything he fought for during this year had been for nothing… Because now, his beloved Fire Nation, or at least the promise of a return to the old ways, was being threatened by Azula.
And, more importantly to Katara, he was being threatened by it. The proof was lying somewhere on the floor, the knife with the blood of her love on it. She needed to do more. She needed to check if there was no infection. At least, she could do that. At least, she would be useful. But she had done something wrong, of course… Otherwise, Aang would be awake. Otherwise he wouldn't be burning up with a fever.
"There is nothing more you can do. You have already done so, so much…" A soft, kind voice spoke up. Looking around her in pure confusion, Katara knew that there was no one else in the room… But it had sounded as if someone was standing right beside her. Right behind her, whispering in her ear.
"Who is there?" She asked aloud. The last time she had heard voices, it had led her here, and to this horrible place and situation. But this voice… It didn't sound malevolent. Rather… Concerned.
"Just someone who wants to help… Don't worry child, I'm not Szeto." The voice answered. It sounded like an old person, and clearly male.
"Szeto?" She asked, still not trusting the voice that spoke in her head.
"The man you heard, before stranding here. Appa heard it too, and he tried to help… Communicating with whatever would listen. The plants, the animals around as he was lost on the island. And they told me."
"And how would you know it is… Szeto?" She spoke the unfamiliar name hesitantly.
"Roku told me that Avatar Szeto has been corrupted by an evil spirit, and they have been trying to contact young Aang… Unsuccessfully, I might add."
Young Aang… And the voice had spoken about Appa. Perhaps he wasn't that bad. He didn't sound bad.
"Avatar Szeto?" She asked instead, trying to lure any information she could out of this voice.
"The Avatar before Sister Yangchen. He wasn't beloved except in the Fire Nation. He would give special treatment to his own nation, something an Avatar isn't supposed to do…"
"And an evil spirit corrupted him?"
"If Roku is right, yes. Young Aang… Well, he is in the Spirit World apparently, but my friend Roku refused to tell me where. He was going to help m… him. Help him get back here."
Katara heard the slight hesitation on the last part of the sentence. The voice had wanted to say something else, something that had sounded a lot like my. My what?
"So, he is going to be alright?"
"Spiritual, I hope so. Physically, I'm sure of it with you next to him." The voice spoke kindly.
"He is still wounded…"
"Maybe, but I've been watching ever since you broke him out of that iceberg. Don't worry, not the private things!" At that, the old man's voice chuckled, "He would have thrown me off the balcony if I had done that. Or be horribly embarrassed. I think the latter, to be honest."
"Who are you?" Katara had a horrible idea of who exactly was talking to her, but the idea that such a thing was possible was just too much to even contemplate. This was probably just a sort of twisted thing born from her exhausted imagination.
"What I wanted to say was this… I have full confidence that your healing will save him. Let the Avatars and I worry about his spirit. I promise you that we will get him to wake up." The voice spoke with such concern in his voice that the last of Katara's doubt was ebbing away. This spirit, for only spirits would be talking without a physical presence she thought, had no bad intentions… He even sounded caring…. Kind…
"And who promises that?" She asked softly, as she took the warm fingers of the airbender in her own hands once more. As she let her thumb travel slowly the skin towards the arrow point on his skin, the voice chuckled, a sound that filled her warmth and… Well, hope.
"Someone who has to thank you, not only for saving his life… But also for saving him. In more ways than one. So, thank you, Master Katara of the Southern Water Tribe…"
The last words were spoken from far away, as if the voice and the person to whom it belonged was walking away. As silence returned to the stables, the waterbender bit her lip, trying to hold in the tears that were welling up in her eyes. She knew who it had been… And that thought made her sad. Sad for Aang, who had been wanting to talk to that person ever since waking up from the iceberg, and missing that person as much as she missed her mother.
"Aang, my love… Where are you?" She asked softly as the fingers in her hand grew warm and cold in a way that felt so unnatural that it made her heart skip a beat.
Answers :
Leelee2234 : Oh yes, they have been through so much! But at least, they are closer than ever! And thank you!
Jjsmith103 : Yeah, with all that guilt he is carrying? God, I would hate to be him at this moment! I will explain everything, not in the next chapter, but the one after that!
StarJem18 : I hope you will keep trusting me, I don't want to torture Aang (too much at least lol)!
Katara2323: It will return! I promise! My heart was breaking during the writing of that chapter too, I hated/loved writing it so much!
