Part 4, Chapter 3 – These Lovers Prophesy to Lock Embrace

Katara finished filling the water skins and capped them while Zuko fished through his baggage. Finally he pulled out an eyepatch, the same Suki had sewn for him when they went to Yu Dao, and put it on while grumbling. Katara joked, "I'm surprised you kept that all this time." His golden flame ornament had been left in the care of Iroh and his hair was pulled partially into a low, short ponytail, an Earth Kingdom style, with the sides kept loose so they could cover his ear. She had softened the scarring and restored much, but the mark was still apparent and they didn't want everyone to know the Firelord was wandering around the Earth Kingdom without any guards. They had brought very little as anything from Caldera City would mark them as having come from the Fire Nation, but would be going through the rebuilt Gao Ling where they could buy local gear.

The ship would stay in port a few days before going out to Whale Tail Island, still used by the Fire Nation as an outpost but now happy to host both military and civilian ships from all nations. They had no idea when they would be back and would need to arrange their own transportation. Zuko shouldered his bag and walked with her down the path to the city. She had been familiar with it before and the new construction looked vaguely similar, but it would never be the same. The plot of the streets and districts remained the same, but the structures were rapidly created to house the displaced population as quickly as possible again, and there were materials earthbending could not replicate. The artistry was gone and the walls were bare stone entirely undecorated.

They took a hotel for the night to rest. In the morning they would begin the trek through the mountains, where the plains began and would melt into the desert's edge. "There's a village on the other side of the pass where we can buy mounts. Gao Ling is out," said Zuko. "Let's make sure to eat a good dinner. The interior is poor and often doesn't have enough food for their own, let alone travelers."

"I know," replied Katara. "It's a shame so much of their southern landmass is taken up by a desert. If only that was arable ground, they could grow enough food to never experience hunger again."

With the room settled, they went for noodles with chashu and soup-eggs then ordered a plate of steamed buns to go for their breakfast. The hotel they'd selected was in the best condition in the city, relatively luxurious as it was intended to host international diplomats and businessmen who could revitalize Gao Ling, and included a bath area. Clutching the towel over herself, Katara slipped from the changing room into the screened back garden where underground heat powered a hotspring. Zuko was waiting for her already submerged in the water and she slipped in with him to the blissfully warm water fragrant with minerals. "This will be our last bath until we return. I want to stay in a while and enjoy it," she said. There was a seat-level impress in the stone edge perfect to rest at, warm water up to her neck, and she leaned against Zuko and shut her eyes.

"The Fire Nation has a lot of hot springs, but they're a luxury elsewhere. Here, the sake is warmed." He pulled over a floating tray of round wood, where a decanter sat in a bowl of steaming water, and poured two cups. "Don't drink too much."

She took hers up and replied, "We're prepared for tomorrow, there's nothing left to do tonight."

"There is something important to do later. This might be the last time for months we'll have a proper bed, and you'll be all warmed and relaxed from the bath. I'd like to enjoy myself, too." She splashed at him and felt her face warming. The sake was heavy and sweet, swirled with opaque white sediment and warmed through. Ridges in the glazed ceramic fit perfectly for her fingers and she sipped between hugging it to her chest, inhaling the fragrant steam as her throat warmed through. He's a liar. He likes me slightly drunk for it, just enough to relax our inhibitions. In a bed as fine as the Firelord's own, softness against her back, he expressed his eagerness and dwelt a long while licking and toying, ensuring she was satisfied until she was so exhausted she couldn't go on. She pulled him up to the top of the bed with her and rolled to her side against him.

The next afternoon they arrived in the village and purchased two ostrich-horses and a hot meal. By night they were camping in the plains with the mountains to their south. The aridity was already apparent and water already becoming scarce. She had sensed out an old well for them and they'd tied the mounts at a slender camphor tree. Zuko pushed a bucket of water at them imploringly and they cackled and kicked at him until he gave up. While he was stomping back towards her they finally investigated the water and began to drink. She held her tongue as he sat down oblivious to their turn-around and rubbed his hands over the campfire. It was small, as they didn't have as much fuel around as might have been found in a forest, and they'd only scavenged a few sticks and dried grass. The camphor tree gave off an oil from its bark which repelled insects and mosquitos, and the wide canopy left the ground spared from aridity so the grass could grow dense and luxurious, perfect as a campsite carpet as well as fodder for the animals. They'd included some of its twigs in the fire and they cast a strong menthol fragrance mint-like yet earthy.

"It gets surprisingly cold at night," he said. They'd purchased the recommended clothing but wouldn't know how suitable it really was until they were in the sand.

"Sleep close to me, then. Those two will be getting cozy." There were two breeds of ostrich horse: the general, and the one specialized for the desert, which is what they had procured. Their eyelashes were longer to keep sand from their eyes and their feet wider to walk across the loose sand. She asked, "Hey, Zuko. What would you like to find in the library? If we do find it, I mean."

He set the undercooked skewer of jackalope back on the cooking rack, built of its own horns, and flicked the juice off his hand. "Engineering manuals would be nice. If we had better water management systems, we could improve agriculture. Maybe there are more books on the dragons as well. I still feel guilty that my predecessors are the ones who nearly killed them off."

"Well, I for one am kind of glad they're gone. A giant flying fire-breathing carnivorous lizard is the last thing we need."

"They're sort of cute."

She snickered. "Those are cute? Zuko, I thought they were going to eat you."

"Well, so did I, but it turned out fine." He prodded the meat. "Do you think the jackalope is enough for dinner? It's not too late to catch a singing groundhog."

"You could never catch one, and how can you eat them? They're cute. They sing. That's more than your dragons do."

"They can dance." He ceased fidgeting with the meat when the emptied bucket was overturned behind him, then muttered about the stubbornness of ostrich-horses as he went to refill it.

They followed the directions to Zhao's starting point, a small outpost at the edge of the desert where merchants stopped. The desert was visible in full, stretching as far as she could see like an ocean composed of sand, and Katara wondered how it would even be possible to find the library's tower in such a vast place. Fire Nation instruments were well-made, but she couldn't imagine it could be precise enough to follow the exact route the ex-commander had made. Already her lips felt dry and her hair texture was suffering for want of conditioning oil.

It was late afternoon as they approached the bar and tied the ostrich-horses up outside. A group of men wearing tan-and-white garments and strange glasses leered at them, and Zuko meticulously untied all their baggage and brought it in with them. A deer-dog continuously barked in the distance, scraping its antlers against a door. Zuko scowled at the menu and placed an order, cursing about the prices, then tugged at his eye-patch, which he had put back on just before their approach to the oasis town. He rejoined Katara at their table where she had been watching their luggage dutifully to wait for the food to be prepared. "What a dump."

"Don't say it too loud," she whispered. Wanted posters decorated the wall and most of the guests wore prominent weapons. Zuko had his dao with him and crossed his arms to scan the crowd. In the opposite corner, four burly men were seated with a young woman. One had his hand on her wrist in a tight grip and was whispering in her ear. She gazed ahead as if unaware of where she was. Katara didn't like her expression, that of dreams and anesthesia, and kept watching. One of the men pulled out a flask and added more to her beverage, then forced it at her, compelling her to drink. "Zuko."

"Don't watch," he whispered. "Look at me." She did. He had picked up on it as well but was avoiding eye contact.

When the server brought their meal he asked about it. The man glanced back, then said firmly, "Best not get involved. Whatever you do, don't do it in my shop or they won't be the only ones trying to kill you." He set the tray down more harshly than necessary and returned behind the bar.

They ate while keeping an eye on the situation. To her surprise, the skewered meat was heavily spiced akin to Fire cuisine and burned with harissa. She downed a creamy shot of coconut milk afterwards, which was sweetened and spiked with cinnamon, and it took the heat off. While she scoffed her food down quickly, wanting the meal but also concerned with the situation, Zuko had his polished off before she even looked up.

The girl was dazed and Katara had the idea she was being drugged. With their meal and beverages finished, she looked to Zuko and nodded. "Wait," he whispered. Perhaps he wanted to time it better, but she was antsy to intervene as soon as possible. The beverage cups were made of solid ice slowly melting in the heat. The men took another round of drinks and they were kept waiting a long while. The girl didn't say a word during that time and only moved when told to do something, otherwise remaining seated with a blank face. By the time she found it unendurable the group suddenly stood and pulled the girl to her feet, then slipped out the door. Zuko stood and followed, abandoning their baggage, and she joined him, subtly vanishing their beverage cups into a stream of water held beside her as she walked.

They lifted the flap into the new colors of sunset and a draft of the abating sun leaving the temperature cooled. It took their eyes a moment to adjust. The settlement, however, was small and it was easy to track them. They were heading towards a low building with a curtain hung in the doorway and the windows covered. Zuko unsheathed his dao. "Hey. Just where are you planning to take her?"

They paused and looked behind their shoulders. "Get lost." They left her in the hands of one member while the others turned to face him and presented their own weapons. Katara readied herself, still keeping the water concealed behind her.

Zuko, flipping the dao, said, "Hand her over or you'll find out how good I am with these."

They took the antagonism and rushed him. A mace slammed down, catching the end of his loose outer jacket as he side-stepped, and that man came to regret it with a trace of crimson opened through his shoulder. While their attention was on Zuko, Katara slipped around and froze the guarding man's face into an ice sphere, then grabbed the girl and took off. She was placid and followed her suggestions without struggle and Katara pulled her around a corner trying to find the building she was looking for. The sign hung in the distance, painted with the image of a red tulip, and she and the girl darted for it. It was one of the few shops with a solid door, which she found locked.

She banged her hand against it and looked back. Zuko wasn't yet following. She waited tensely, wondering if she should leave the girl at the doorstep and go back for him, but then heard motion inside. A slat racked open and eyes peered out, meeting her own. With a momentary pause the door was unlocked and opened. A small, tanned man in green and white clothing offered them admittance. Katara led the girl in. With a single glance the man seemed to know what was going on. "Watch her for a minute," she said, then ran back to where the fighting was.

Zuko had two of them grounded and the fourth was scratching his fingernails ineffectively at the ice sphere with a blue face. Katara hefted a brick from a border wall and pelted it at the last man's head. He yowled and Zuko landed a last hit to put him on the ground, then joined her. They returned to the flower shop, slipped in the door, and latched it behind them.

The shop owner looked at them with amusement. "Greetings, Firelord. I've had my assistant go to collect your luggage and animals." They'd been on the list of White Lotus contacts but she marveled at how much more put-together he was than her brother. "The girl is resting."

They followed him inside to a hidden backroom, its door lost behind a hanging curtain of dense pothos leaves, and he closed it carefully behind them. The rescued girl was lying on a cot. "She's been drugged. I think it's a preparation of a local hallucinogenic plant. If treated a certain way, it can produce a state of absent-minded compliance. However, she'll be okay by morning, though it does have addictive affects. We'll take care of her from here."

"Thank you. How did you figure this out so quickly?"

"Well, it's not every day a blue-eyed woman and a man with his left eye hidden under an eyepatch walk into the desert. We're bringing your animals through the back door to the supply room. Though if they eat any of my violets, I will expect compensation, Firelord."

"Consider yourself compensated. Do you know my uncle?"

"Of course."

"What's going on here?"

"Business. We interfere when we can, but there isn't enough manpower to halt it. The beetle-headed merchants deal in a variety of trades." There was cacaphony in an adjacent room, which must have been the ostrich-horses and luggage being brought in. "The bar owner is a good man, but he can't stop it alone, and he relies on the merchants for his own business. Ah, while we wait for tea, here is a good mental exercise. Young lady, what do you think of our oasis?"

She didn't think much of it, if she was honest. She tapped her foot while thinking of what answer he was looking for, then thought of the out-of-place glacier in the middle of town and the frozen drink glasses. "The bar owner is a waterbender."

"Well, you would be a fine addition to the White Lotus yourself. Very good. Incidentally, his family came here five generations ago from the North Pole, where his ancestor committed a great sin and his entire family had to flee. They settled here, the furthest place from that great tundra, as no one would think a waterbender would survive in a desert. He founded this oasis by sensing out the wellspring. Strangely, the locals have never questioned how he procures his ice. People here don't ask questions. Firelord, you might learn temperance. You cannot be both a leader and a vigilante."

"Thanks for the moral lesson. I'll be informing the Earth military that they need to tighten their control of the desert region."

"You'll find they will decline your suggestion. No one controls the desert. They've tried in the past and the merchants ground them down. It isn't easy for an outsider to survive here long, and that goes as well for the Earth military."

The four they had fought were not quite dead but would be incapacitated for a while and require a doctor. However, it didn't sound like they were alone, and she wondered if they would have trouble when leaving and what other groups might be around. "Zuko, should we call off our journey?"

"No, it will be fine. They can't follow us into the desert—no one else has ever discovered this library, and we're the only ones who know where to go. Zhao's directions were detailed, and there is nothing in the world more accurate than the readings of Fire Nation instruments. No other nation has developed navigation tools with the same proficiency, and that goes as well for the desert peoples. Across the distance we intend to travel, if pursuers were off by even one degree they would end up completely missing us."

The man poured the tea and beckoned them to sit with him. "You two should leave tonight before they can assemble allies. The darkness will protect you, and the stars shall guide you. After tea, I suggest you get a few hours of rest. I'll wake you when it's safe to depart."

#

In the darkness they gathered their things and prompted the ostrich-horses awake. The sand was navy-blue and indigo with the guidance of starlight. Katara alternated between watching above her the familiar constellations and marveling at Zuko taking navigation readings in the near-darkness with a practiced hand. Each time required him to dismount the animal so its motions and fidgeting would not throw the instruments off, and he did this periodically to track that they remained on course. At the oasis there had indeed been an underground reservoir, but in the thick of the desert there was not a drop anywhere and even the air burned dry and yielded nothing. It was the most inhospitable environment for a waterbender, and, if they were attacked, she would be entirely dependent upon Zuko's firebending.

While the desert looked empty at a glance, it was anything but, and numerous animals seized the opportunity for the cool relief of night to foray out in search of food: the predators, scavengers, and venomous pests, including scorpions, snakes, and the gilacorn, which normally did not bite but could ruin a limb if it did. The flower shop owner had shown them a variety of dried specimens so they could become familiar with the dangers. There had been scorpions of every color, including a yellow-tan type called a deathstalker, named for good reason, as well as rattlesnakes, spider-snakes, and a single tooth from a sand-shark. Given the size of the tooth, the animal was large enough to swallow them whole. Being raised off the ground in saddle would protect her from the scorpions, at least.

She relaxed when they were a few hours out from the oasis. No one had followed them and they might be able to journey in peace. The night was expended and she found a migraine blooming from the lack of sleep. By morning they continued only far enough to find a camping site, then she and Zuko prepared the sand-screens which would prevent it blowing across their bodies and took the animals into the sheltered center. They, too, were tired and settled into the sand. A sun-shade covered the top, tied down to the screens which were sunk partially into the sand to weight them, and they had a large, loosely crafted tent to shelter them from the worst of the daylight.

Zuko reached into his bag and pulled out the medication that would let him sleep. She was used to sleeping through even sunlight from growing up in an area with midnight sun, but his body was sensitive, and he had to measure the dose carefully so he could still be woken up quickly if there was trouble. Then they both laid out on the thin sleeping mats already feeling the oppressive heat coming in.

She awoke covered in sweat towards late afternoon and checked their water supply. His sleeping form glistened with sweat as well, but she wanted to let him get his full rest and sat to listen to the silent emptiness around them. The sand grains blowing in the wind struck against the screens with a glittering chime subtle and quiet. After an hour the ostrich-horses woke, demanding water and feed, and were squawking before she could stop them. Zuko grumbled and rolled over. "Is it time?"

"We can prepare a meal and get them fed, and by then it will be evening and we can get going."

They chewed dried provisions without enthusiasm and watched the animals crunch down their own grain supply. The water had to be rationed, and Zuko finished some calculations for their speed to work out how many days of travel they looked forward to, though the trip back would be more difficult as they didn't know what to expect at the library or how much water to set aside for it. Zhao said fountains within it flowed and it encompassed its own gardens, but she still held doubts in reserve that such was possible even with the magic of a great spirit. "Don't give them any more water until the morning," said Zuko. "They've had a bit too much of it already."

As the desert turned mauve and pink, they had the screens and canopy packed away and were ready to take off. The blackness came in quickly, wrapping them above and below, and Zuko maintained the measurements and jotted down notes with a stick of charcoal to a tablet. Four days passed like that until he said, "We're getting close. It should be within a few miles."

They maintained course, watching through the dissipating night for any sign. The downside to traveling by night was that, when they made approach, their goal itself would be shrouded in darkness and easy for them to miss. They slowed pace and waited for the pale teal to turn to sunrise and give them a sign. By degrees the light rose, casting the desert in shivering hues of vivid pink and orange. Then, in the distance shimmering like a mirage, a stone line twisted up from the shifting dunes. It looked slight, but, as they finished the last stretch, it grew before them until reaching the sky. Zhao had not exaggerated. The size of the full structure would be unfathomably immense, and all of it was buried under their feet completely forgotten by the world.

#

a/n: Deathstalkers are a real thing, by the way. They're a type of scorpion aptly named.