Chapter 6 – The Lifespan of Cut Flowers

Above her the sun was burning at its zenith when Katara woke up. Sore all over, she sat up and gazed around groggy and disoriented. Sokka was asleep nearby on the bare ground, but Aang and the lemur were gone. They had none of their baggage anymore, not even sleeping sacks, and had collapsed on the softest place they could find, rich coastal grass. The air was salt-water and flora. Aligned on a promontory, they were bordered by the sea on two corners and a steady, calm beat of the waves washed in the background. While it was peaceful there at the moment, she felt that any of the islands visible on the horizon might harbor that Fire prince, who could even then be heading towards them.

She went over to her brother to wake him, needing to shake his shoulder roughly to make any progress. "Sokka, you're injured?"

"Yeah, here and here," he gestured with his eyes still closed, reluctant to get up. "Magic water still works when I'm asleep."

"It's already noon. We have to get up and get moving soon."

"Just another hour," he muttered, and fell back asleep. Sighing, she prepared to tend what injuries she could see; it seemed like that was all she had been doing since going back home. By the time she was finished, Aang and the lemur returned. He was using his cape as a makeshift tarp to hold a batch of fruit. As if he could smell a meal, Sokka promptly rose, complained about his pain, and then began shoving fruit into his mouth without even looking at it or acknowledging them. However, she couldn't blame him as they were all famished. "Fine, we keep the lemur," he said between bites.

"What are you naming him?" she asked.

Aang replied, "Momo." At that moment the lemur was biting into a peach larger than his own head.

"Sokka, where are we?" Their map was, like all their other possessions, abandoned in the Pitola Mountains.

He did some mental calculations, then began drawing invisibly on his arm with his finger. "About forty miles west of Gao Ling."

"There's a small town nearby us, a few miles north," said Aang. "I saw it while looking for breakfast."

"Let's check it out then. But, Aang, you should stay out of sight. Those clothes are going to cause trouble for us." He was stripped down to his Air Nomad clothing with his polar outfit long shorn and left with their baggage.

Katara, used to the process from her two years as a wandering healer, quickly found a client that afternoon who paid for having an un-broken finger by letting them take his shed for a night and a meal at his table. Borrowing the parka she had still been wearing, Aang was presentable enough to sneak into the shed with Momo after dark, though they would need to do something about his clothing and arrows soon. He said he understood and took what food they could sneak him saved from the meal without a complaint. By morning Sokka, who had gone out for a few hours that night, had a new outfit and a hooded cloak for him. "Where did you get these?" she asked angrily.

"Does it matter?"

"My reputation matters."

"Well, your reputation matters less than avoiding Prince Poke-and-burn finding out where we went. Rumors about a kid with obnoxious blue tattoos all over his body would spread pretty quickly."

"We'll come up with something better in Gao Ling, but for now, let your hair grow out and try to keep a low profile," she explained.

Sokka chimed in, "That means no airbending. Actually, just don't bend anything at all. Our dad is in Chameleon Bay, clear on the other side of the continent. And with no convenient flying hairy monster that means a long trip." Having chastised the younger boy, her brother turned to her and looked her over curiously. "Hey, Katara, where is Mom's necklace?"

Her hand flew to her neck and found the skin bare. "No way, I don't believe it." She looked around but didn't see it anywhere. "I don't remember when I last had it." She thought of it being lost in that cave, sitting forgotten in the darkness, or worse, burned to a crisp by the firebenders, and felt like crying. He tried to console her but, between everything, she was in a terrible mood, and the loss of her only momento of her mother was too cruel. They helped her check the town in all the places they'd been, but turned up nothing from their search.

In two days they arrived, sore and hungry, outside the gates of Gao Ling. It was peaceful, reasonably prosperous, and on the north shore of a bay with port traffic and fishing docks. Between tree-lined streets were well maintained houses of white plaster and black tile, and the city spread from the port into a valley. Clusters of bare stone were scattered through the outlying area. In the central district the streets were paved in clean, squared stone and businesses lined either side of the avenues. As Katara looked for a potential client Aang disappeared momentarily, causing the siblings to worry, but he jogged around the corner a minute later holding a poster, the arrows on his arm visible as he held it up. Sokka grabbed his arm and tugged his sleeve down, giving him a glare. "Sorry, I'll be more careful, but look, they have an earthbending school."

"No bending," reiterated Sokka.

"I just want to watch."

"Go with him," said Katara. "I'll meet with you in front of that noodle shop a block back in three hours." With Sokka relegated to chaperone, she had the leisure to ask around and found a client with a broken leg not twenty minutes later. The young man's mother guided her inside their home and had tea served while she began. "I can do two hours today and another two hours tomorrow. The break is pretty bad." He'd snapped it a week ago during earthbending practice, he explained, and the entire appointment she felt his eyes crawling all over her. Luckily his mother, a well-made-up lady of upstanding manners, was nearby watching, so the son did not let his ambitions carry him away.

"Thank you, young lady," said the mother as she offered with both hands a pouch containing the first payment. "Do you remember a year ago, when you last came by? At that time you helped my mother in law with a broken hip. We're glad to see that you are still practicing. It would be nice if more healers came down from the North Pole."

"I'm from the South, actually," she replied. "I've never been to the North Pole. I'll be back tomorrow to finish the work. It would be best for him to stay off his leg for the time being."

At the noodle shop her brother and Aang hadn't arrived yet, so she took the time to browse the shops, looking for replacement equipment. She paused in front of a boutique selling jewelry and gazed at the array of necklaces. The hairpin she'd picked up in the empty village had stayed with her through all of the interrogation, the chase, the fight, and even across the sea by raft, but she would have traded it for the necklace in a heartbeat. The merchant at first tried to make a sales recommendation to her, holding up a few pieces she said suited her, but, when the old woman saw her expression, she dropped the merchandise back to the table and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Katara!" shouted her brother. Quickly she wiped her face and thanked the merchant, then met with the two boys, listening to them recount the earthbending class, which they had spied on from a nearby tree, over lo mein. Against the urging of the waiter, Aang tried to keep his hood up as he ate, drawing frowns of disapproval, and yet more censure when the lemur crawled out from his cloak and began dipping his paws into the meals of other customers. Katara had to apologize to the waiter and customers, then finished her meal with the lemur's tail pinned under her leg, distracting him with tidbits of noodles and vegetables. That evening they went to find a solution for their airbender.

In the morning, standing in the washing room of the inn, she scolded him to stay still while she applied the makeup to cover what of the arrow stuck out from under the hat. The thick cosmetic was a close, but not perfect, match for his skintone. "Don't get your face wet and don't touch the makeup," she said.

"Maybe a headband would work better," commented Sokka, as Aang looked at himself in the mirror.

"He can't wear both a headband and a hat, and he needs the hat until his hair gets longer," she said. He had one week of growth but the blue was still extremely visible.

"Why not?"

"Because it would look stupid, and suspicious, and our goal is to avoid attention, not attract it," she replied angrily. Seeing Aang reaching towards the paint, she smacked his hand away. "Don't touch it."

"It smells weird."

"Ugh!" She washed the cream off her hand and picked up her newly purchased hairbrush to finish getting herself ready. "I have to go finish a client consultation, and then I need to book another one, because we need to buy a lot of things. I'll tell you right now, boat passage east is more than we can afford for three tickets. To get to the South Pole I had to use all my savings. So guess what, we're walking there, and it's going to take months, but unless the Fire Nation conveniently shows up to roast the city on a bonfire, there are only so many injured people in one town at one time and I can only make so much money. Sokka, why don't you go and make yourself useful?"

"I am intending to, thank you very much," he said while examining himself in the mirror and smoothing out his own hair. "I have to file a complaint about my stolen wages, and it just so happens that Gao Ling has a regional office. Does this mean I have to take Aang with me today?"

"I can go out by myself."

"No!" the siblings shouted in unison. Sokka continued, "Aang, you've been trapped in an iceball for a century; things aren't the same anymore and you stick out too much. You speak like a grandpa."

"No I don't," he said defensively. "Do I?"

"Sometimes, yes," said Katara. "You sound like Gran-gran." He made a face. "Go with Sokka and stay out of trouble. If I have to see Burny-shouty Jerk show up again I'm going to go crazy."

She gave them some money and instructions on what they had to buy for themselves, then she returned to the house and stopped dead as the young man presented her with a rose. Politely stating that his medical needs were pressing, she had the rose stuffed into a vase and burned with humiliation, wishing she had her necklace on so everyone would think she was already engaged and would leave her alone. Seeming to understand her son had offended her, the mother sent her off with a snack fresh from the kitchen, steamed plum buns, and quietly apologized. "My son just thinks you're the prettiest girl he's ever seen," she giggled. "Now he wants to go to the South Pole to pick out a wife."

Thinking that the only girls left there were either already married or were under ten, she wished him luck and took the buns to a nearby park where she could eat in peace. Contrary to how much she despised the young man, the buns were delicious and easily the best thing she'd eaten in weeks. Sitting on the railing of a bridge, turtleducks began gathering under her, and she broke off pieces of the dough to throw to them. The ducklings accompanying the mother were so young and small they must have just hatched that spring. Cherry blossoms carpeted the garden and littered the pond, sticking to the yellow feathers of the ducklings.

#

A yell and a loud bang told him that another crewmember had been rejected by the beast. The first man assigned to the animal had tried removing the blinders since it was housed safely inside the hold, and that was when their trouble had begun. Zuko peeked his head in the doorway of the large hold, which was three quarters dedicated to the komodo rhinos and, carefully separated and screened off from sight, the other quarter occupied by the air bison. The most recent man who had tried to attend its injuries was slumped upside down by the wall he'd been tossed against. The bison beat its tail against the floor, making his ears ring with the metallic echo. The crewmember struggled up and stormed out of the hold. It would be useless to him dead, so Zuko paced and thought for a while of how to approach the animal. Finally he went to his closet and found a tunic in a light grey color, changed out his crimson and armor, and returned to the bison. It seemed to recognize Fire Nation clothing.

Zuko inched inside, trying not to alarm the bison. "I'm here to help, I'm a friend. Look, I have medicine," he murmured in what he hoped was a calming tone of voice. "Here, bison. Easy." It gave a snort and turned towards him suddenly, its horns prominent and extremely sharp-looking. "Hey, it's okay, buddy," said Zuko as he paused and showed his hands. Being hit with the tail meant lumps and bumps, but the horns would turn him into skewered meat. Frozen under inspection by the enormous bison, Zuko watched its brown eyes move over him and tried to read its emotions. Slowly he offered a hand towards it. "Easy there." He inched forwards at a slow, even pace, aware that its mouth was large enough to bite his arm clean off. The bison snorted and he paused, his hand just a few inches from its nose, and the animal sniffed the air loudly so that he could feel its hot breath on his skin. It seemed to be looking at his face intently. Taking the risk, he moved one more step forward and laid his fingers on the bison's nose bridge, tensing to be trampled, bitten, or gored, but nothing happened. Out in the corridor his uncle watched nervously peeking around the doorway.

"There, that's not so hard." A small burn flecked the bison's ear. Zuko, each step sure and slow, took a dallop of the medicinal cream and reached towards the wound, then was allowed to smooth it on. "It feels nice, right? This will make you feel better." The bison declined its head to make it easier for him to reach the area. With the animal's size, he estimated they would need a gallon of the salve. He moved around administering aid until he used up what he had brought as a testing amount, then left with the promise to bring more later. In the hallway he was greeted as a hero. "Wear something not-red."

The scent of the salve brought back strong memories for him—it was the same that had been applied to his own burn six years ago. He knew how good the relief felt and pitied the animal.

They were already en route to the mainland and were passing the eastern extent of the island chain at that moment, which he could tell from the sensation of the ship changing directions. He went to the deck to watch. On one side the mountains were slowly passing, the same white-stone peaks that had frustrated him through the past week, and ahead was a small island containing only a minor settlement along with the line of green-grey at the furthest distance that indicated the mainland. He watched their progress for a while, then turned northwest to where a small Fire Nation boat was dragging a line of direction that would intersect theirs. "Who the hell is that?" He called inside for information, and the captain was already aware and slowing down their speed. Frustrated with being forced to stop, he stomped back to deck and stood, tapping his foot. The boat was small, but compared to his small ship it wasn't overly dwarfed, and it was a type used primarily as a messenging skiff. He already had a bad feeling about it as their lift carried it up and the messenger stepped onto deck.

"Prince Zuko is requested to dock at Whale Tail Island's outpost before proceeding further north," said the man.

"On whose authority?"

"That of the crown prince."

He grimaced and felt like spitting. Once his title, that honor was now held by another. "What does Zhao want with me?"

"I'm not told. I'm here to escort you to the dock."

Zuko stormed back inside while leaving the operation to Jee to carry out, feeling as good as prisoner to the whims of his scheming sister and that slimy lickspittle. With their progress in overtaking the airbender thrown out the window, he sulked inside until the docking was complete, and then grudgingly deboarded to the pier. His sister, impossibly prim and spotless like always, was waiting for him. "Zuzu, it's been so long. You didn't even say hello to me at the Pitola outpost. Whatever put you in such a hurry?"

His uncle had come out to join the siblings, to which Azula dropped her smile and gave him a hard scowl. Zuko, biting back his own anger, replied, "I was tired of the cold so I wanted to head towards the equator."

"I heard you went all the way to the South Pole this time. You'll have to tell me all about it, of course."

"It was cold and everything was frozen. That's all there was."

"What a pity. Oh, but I heard you blew it up. At least it isn't quite as frozen anymore," she said, then laughed. "Come inside. I'll even have tea brought. I know Uncle can't go five minutes without it."

The outpost was grimy steel poorly soldered and already overcome with rust from the pervasive seawind and saltwater, erected into a derelict pagoda which also functioned as a lighthouse beacon. His sister made a show of having trained all the guards like dogs, and they kowtowed as she walked past and led them to a room she'd appropriated. The furnishings were cleaner and newer than anything else in the outpost, like she had put the staff up to clean it floor to ceiling for her benefit. She seated herself and looked to the two expectantly. It wasn't another minute before a servant ran in with a teaset and laid it at the table, then backed out and closed the door behind himself.

She recounted pleasantries and recent news until the tea was ready to be poured, and then dug into the matter when Zuko was at his peak of misery. "It's a mystery to me, Zuzu, why you would go around the mountains on the south side when your intention was to head north. It's almost like you were trying to hide your intended course from me. Now, whyever would that be?"

"The seas were calmer to the south," he said.

"Our voyage was across the north, and the seas were quite calm." With her legs crossed she reclined, ignoring the tea, and looked him over to the extent he felt naked. "Why would you take such a maneuever unless you had a catch at hand which you didn't want me to get wind of?"

"You're reading too much into it."

"No, I rather think I'm not. And for your position there's only one thing you're interested in. Of course, that would be the Avatar."

"The Avatar is still in hiding, if he exists at all," replied Zuko, trying to keep his emotions concealed. "I caught a strange animal and was hoping to sell it on the mainland."

"Pressed for money? My husband has already told me all about your newfound pet, but one thing stuck out to me."

Iroh cut in, "Ah, the saddle. I've already explained to—"

"Don't butt in, Uncle," she bit. In a calmer voice, she continued, "Your course, Zuzu. You raced out of the South Pole to the Pitola Mountains, pursued something or someone overland, and then, with this newfound Air relic munching haybales in your hold, you're zipping off to the north. Now, it seems to me the only reason for such haste is that you've caught the trail of something enticing. Oh, but don't worry—my husband hasn't pieced that much together yet." Having laid a noose around his neck, she sat back looking pleased with herself, and Zuko drowned trying to find a response. After watching his struggle for several moments, she offered him salvation: "I'm disappointed you didn't ask me to help you, dear brother."

"What? Why would you help me?"

"How poorly you think of me. What have I ever done to harm you? We're siblings—we're a pair. And seeing you banished puts me in a worse position. I do want you to come home. Who can I trust more than family, after all? And my son is already set to be Firelord; I have nothing to gain by presenting our long lost Avatar to Father."

She didn't, truly. Azula already had everything in the universe secured in her hands. He felt conflicted, suspecting a snare but not seeing where a flaw in her reasoning could lie. Beside him, their uncle sipped tea while thinking it over for himself, and the two exchanged a brief look. Zuko strung together a reply of, "So, how are you offering to help me?"

"My husband happens to have a fleet of three dozen ships under his command. Real ships, not floating junkers like your vessel. Surely you can see how that might be useful to you. If you've been chasing the Avatar, that means he's evaded you for this long. Since the South Pole, was it? How many failures to capture him does that already make? I will lend you all the power my husband possesses so you can restore your place and come home. And I'll feel safer knowing my big brother is around the palace and owes me a favor."

It's a trap, he thought. She's after something. Azula always lies. However, he couldn't figure out what, and knew the formalities of her agreement were just a friendly presentation meant to spare his ego. If the crown prince—and that was now, after their marriage, Zhao—ordered him, Zuko would have to obey his command or risk complete status as a traitor, which would make mere banishment look like a vacation.

"Well?"

"Fine," he said, and felt like a rabbit looking into the eyes of a fox. "Just don't tell Zhao."

"He doesn't need to know the details. His only power comes from his marriage to me, so he'll do whatever I tell him to and won't ask questions. You have found him—the Avatar?"

"Yes. I think he's hiding in Gao Ling, and I know who he is."

She laced her fingers under her chin, her golden eyes glinting with the subtle shift of positions catching the light.

#

Aang, in Earth Kingdom colors, waited patiently at the table as Katara walked over, still in his hat and with his makeup in place, unsmeared, and his arm tattoos hidden. Even the lemur was behaving itself. Satisfied, she sat down and passed a portion of the money to her brother, who paused from his beverage to count it, then exclaimed in delight. "You are the best sister ever."

"Did you go to the office today?"

"Yep. I put in a complaint. Aaaaaaaaand they're processing it."

"Well, how long will that take?"

"It's best not to ask. In fact, I didn't even know where to tell them to send the resolution letter to—I asked one copy sent to the main settlement of the South Pole for Gran-gran to hold, and one to Ba Sing Se to be held for either me or Dad to pick up. I was thinking, if we're taking Aang to Chameleon Bay, the city isn't much further. We could ask the Earth King for help."

They placed their dinner order and before long the table filled with dishes. Making up for the days of going hungry, her brother must have been trying to pack in as many calories as possible, and passed between slurping a noodle soup with braised beef and pickled vegetables to a bowl of rice topped with egg to a plate of steamed dim sum. Katara impatiently asked him to remember that he has table manners, then watched Aang pick apart steamed buns to double check that they were really vegetarian, turning them into a pile of mess. She tried to focus on her own meal, but had to mind that the lemur was entertained with a sufficient variety of food so he wouldn't get bored and find his paws wandering, and felt like she was raising three children.

Sensing that she was stressed, Sokka took care of the shopping the next day, and again the trio had all their necessities gathered so that they could leave any time they wanted. However, the city was beautiful and they all needed the break, so they spent a few days enjoying having beds to sleep in and hot meals. Aang went every day to watch, at a distance, the earthbenders. He must have been trying to make up for his earlier lies as he was doing everything in his power to please the siblings, and even Sokka was coming around to forgiving him, though establishing trust would take longer.

Katara, able to go where she liked, wandered the city with the lemur on her shoulder. His tail swept down her back parallel to her braid, tickling at her waist. It had been a year, and the city looked the same as she remembered, but seemed smaller and less impressive than prior now that she knew something far more meaningful was set at motion in the world. Locked in ice, the Avatar had been held suspended for a century. When her mother was killed Aang wasn't even five miles away, slumbering under the icy water. If not for their chance meeting he might have been trapped there for the rest of eternity. A couple holding hands walked down the avenue and passed beside her; they looked so happy, while she'd had two years of memories of being alone, directionless in a foreign land, and only reunited with her brother by chance of that prince's appearance. She didn't even know his name, only his anger and desperation. It seemed like the Fire Nation already had everything it could want, and even the Earth Kingdom couldn't stop them from establishing colonies and outposts where they pleased, but here was their prince no better off than she was, traveling a foreign land alone, banished for reasons she couldn't imagine, not much older than she or her brother, and missing something so desperately that he could act as ravacious as a starving animal, throwing away decorum and peace alike. If the Fire Nation came to dominate the rest of the world at last, that kind of fundamental dysfunction, that senseless misery, would come to them as well.

In the evening, on her way back to the hotel, she bought a bouquet of flowers as the shop was closing. She wanted to look at something beautiful, even if for only a short time.

#

A/n: It might be a bit lightly stated, but the reason Appa examines Zuko's face so intently and then allows him to approach is because Zuko has a burn on his face and Appa's logic is, "Enemy of my enemy."