Zuko
She's driving me insane. Every night, I lay in front of a fire with Katara sleeping in the tent right behind me. And every night I wish I was in the tent with her. It's harder because I know she wouldn't refuse me, she'd just cram herself into the farthest corner away from me as she could, and I don't want her to do that. I'd rather be a little cold than make it hard for her to fall asleep. A few times, I've checked in on her when I hear her having nightmares. Once she settles down, I can't help but notice how sweet and peaceful she looks in her sleep. I could watch her all night if that didn't make me feel like a creepy stalker.
Once we get to Ba Sing Se, I'm going to find Uncle and she's going to look for The Avatar and his friends. Then once I find Uncle, I'm going to tell him goodbye and start tracking them again. I know she's hoping I'm going to join them, and she's just going to end up feeling hurt and betrayed after this ends.
I just want it to be over, be back in my nation with the Avatar in chains so we can end this damn war and the Beautiful Water Tribe Girl with Chocolate Locks and Blue Orbs nothing but a sometimes pleasant sometimes infuriating memory.
The trip gets harder as the days go on. I want to slow down for her, I know she's having a hard time after the Desert Sickness but If I try to comfort her or make it easy then one thing may lead to another and I'll end up trying to kiss her again, and now that she's a waterbending master she can do a lot worse to me when my guard's down than just splash me against the wall. She may have given in last time, but this time she won't. Not after me knocking her out cold in the North Pole, letting Nyla paralyze her, and a billion other things that happened between us after she got off my ship. And I really can't take the rejection right now.
We're on enemy sides of a war. She hates me, she thinks I hate her, we're traveling under truce until we get to Ba Sing Se. I need to keep it that way.
Sparing makes it better and worse at the same time. I get to release some pent up energy, but it always ends with one of us on top of the other or me frozen in ice. I learn a few neat tricks from it, like how to use fire whips like her water ones, or how to break her octopus tentacles. But she learns how to beat my movements too, which might be a problem if we ever fight again for real.
Things keep going like this for a little over a week. Minimal conversation, both of us getting more frustrated but in different ways. Sparing in the evenings before dinner. Me sleeping just outside the tent, but never really getting into a deep sleep. There are a lot of Predators in the wilderness here, and the last thing we need is one of them catching us unaware. I know I'd move faster throughout the day if I let Katara take a watch shift, but I don't want to wake her up.
After a week of travel, we're walking along when we hear a loud scream. Katara and I look at each other, then sprint to the sound of the noise. Over the first hill, we see a man and pregnant woman, cornered against a boulder formation by a Sabre Tooth Moose Lion. He woman is standing behind her husband, clutching her stomach. The man is standing with shaky arms holding an outstretched sword. Even from here I can tell he has no experience using it.
"We have to help!" Katara yells and starts running down the hill.
"Katara, Wait! I'll handle it!" I yell, thinking of all the different ways that beast could kill her. But she either doesn't hear me or she doesn't care, so I just sprint down the hill afterwards, drawing my swords. With Earth Kingdom citizens around, I can't firebenders unless I absolutely have to. We get to the bottom, and Katara gets the beast's attention on her by using the water whip on it's tail. It turns around and growls at her, but doesn't charge.
"Katara, get the family out of here! I'll cover your retreat!" I yell. She nods at me and I clank my blades together, getting the animal's attention
"Come on, he's got this!" Katara tells the family as the moose lion and I circle each other. "We need to get to safety!"
"You go, I'll stay with him!" The man says to his wife. He's brave, I'll give him that. Stupid, but brave. But I need him out of eyesight so I can firebenders this thing.
"No, he's handled worse before!" Katara tells the man. "You need to come with us in case we need protection from anything else!" She understands why I need them gone. I can see the man hesitating.
"Just go!" I yell, and he finally nods and turns around, ready to follow Katara. They sprint off and dissapear into the maze of rocks.
"Finally." I say and sheathe my swords on my back. I bend a fire whip and lash the beast on the antler as it tries to charge me. We go round and round for a while, both of us getting hurt to some degree, when I finally hear a scared little bleat. I take half a second to turn around, and I see behind me hiding in the rocks is a Sabre tooth moose lion cub.
It's protecting her cub. I realize. I don't need to fight this thing. I just need to get away from her baby. But I have to get far enough away that she won't chase me, and it's hard to outrun an animal like this.
"I'm not going to hurt your cub!" I yell, knowing it won't understand. "I'm just going to leave you alone!" I take off running, with the moose lion right on my heels. Before she can catch me, though, I get to the back of the rock formation. Using my fire, I'm able to blast myself upwards to get a handhold on the rocks and pull myself up to the top.
Looking back down, the Moose Lion isn't happy. She rears on her hind legs and snorts, but decides I'm not a threat anymore and runs off.
"Finally." I breathe, sitting down to catch my breath. I take a swig from the water skin on my hip, then stand back up and start looking around. I don't see Katara or the family anywhere, but that's probably because they're hiding. I put two fingers in my mouth and whistle as loud as I can.
"Katara!" I yell, looking all around. "Katara, it's safe!" A moment later, I see her running out of a cave.
"Zuko!" She yells. "Come quick. Make camp! There's a baby is on it's way!" She runs back inside.
My stomach drops as I climb down from where I was, running into the cave I saw her in. I see there's a fire going, and Two badger horses tied to the cave wall.
"We've been camping here hours, waiting for the baby to come. She was supposed to have another two weeks before her time, according to the midwife. We were on our way to her village, when the contractions started. We heard walking helps, so we took a stroll. That's when the Moose Lion found us." The man tells me, then bows. "I am Shin Lu. Thank you, sir, for saving us. We are forever in your debt. Please, what is your name?"
"Oh, uh, I'm Lee."
"I need help!" Katara yells over to us. "Set up the tent. I need clean blankets. Fill as many pots as you have with as much water as you can. There's a stream dripping out of the cave wall over there."
"I'll get the water!" Shin Lu says and grabs some pots out of his saddle bag and runs to the dripping stream.
"Guess that means I've got the tent." I grunt, going over to my knapsack.
"Just breathe, Jaing. You're doing great." Katara tells the woman. I work fast as I can, setting up the tent and blankets inside it, then helping Katara move the woman in.
"By the way, when I meet Earth Kingdom people, I tell them my name is Lee. Zuko is far too Fire Nation." I whisper in Katara's ear as we help the woman get comfortable. She doesn't say anything, just nods. I can tell by how calm she is she's probably done this before. I remember when I saw her village in the South Pole, how many young women with children there were. Katara probably helped deliver a lot of the babies.
"Lee, I need you to tie a rope with a loop at the bottom over the support pole of the tent. She'll need it to pull herself up as she pushes."
"Yes Ma'am." I say and get a rope, doing as she says.
"Than-Thank you, Katara." Jaing tells her through breaths. "I thought I would be doing this alone."
"Well, the Spirits must have been looking out for you." Katara says, wiping her forehead with a cloth. "I'm glad we found you when we did."
"And thank you, Lee." She looks at me. "You saved our lives. We're forever- Oh Spirits it Hurts!"
"You owe me nothing. Just focus on having that baby." I tell her and exit the tent. Her husband is outside, nervously pacing. I decide we could both use a distraction from the screams inside the tent.
"Draw your sword. I'll teach you how to use it a little better in case you get in trouble again."
"What?" He looks at me. "You'd teach me?"
"Of course. I need something to do anyways."
"Alright." He says and draws his sword. I teach him how he's supposed to hold it, and how to move his way through the strokes and stances. Jaing's screaming distracts him from time to time, but I can tell he's a diligent student even with just the one lesson. He doesn't want to be caught defenseless again. I know the feeling.
After two or three hours, and a little light sparing, the screaming turns into the cries of a newborn baby. A few minutes later Katara runs out with a huge smile on her face.
"You have a son, Shin Lu!" She tells him. "He's perfectly healthy. Come meet him!"
I watch as Katara leads Shin Lu into the tent. The man is grinning like an idiot. I try to shake the awful thoughts out of my head. Was my father that excited to meet me when I was born? Or did he hate me from the start? I don't know which is more depressing.
"Lee, They asked you come into the tent." Katara says after a little while, sticking her head Out of the tent flap. I don't know why the'd ask for me, but I nod and head inside the cramped space. There I see a happy family with an adorable, sleeping, and swaddled baby boy in Jaing's arms, which she hands to Shin Lu which he hands to me.
"Woah, I don't-" I start to protest, but hold him tight as his father removes his support.
"We wanted you in here to meet him, Lee." Jaing says, looking up at her husband with adoring eyes. "We've chosen a name."
"Yes. His name shall be Shin Lee." Shin Lu says proudly, making me look up with shock. "One for his father. And one for the man who saved our lives. We've never met someone with such honor and courage to risk his life for strangers like you did."
"That's not-" I start, feeling horrible inside, like I deceived these two. Honor? Courage, maybe, but honor? If they knew, they wouldn't name a child after me. But it's not exactly like I can tell them who I am.
"It's the least we can do." Jaing says. "Thank you, Lee. You've given us and our baby life."
"You're-" I start, then clear my throat." "You're welcome. May he have a good life ahead of him."
"Thank you, also, Katara. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been here to help me. May the spirits bless you and your husband with a child of your own soon." She says, making me and Katara both blush crimson. Neither of us deny it though. It's easier to let people believe what they think than to try and explain why we're traveling together while leaving out the fact that I'm Fire Nation, and Katara's apparently not going to throw me under the chariot. "I'm sorry." Jaing laughs at our crimson faces. "Sometimes I speak too freely. But even only holding this little boy for a few minutes, he's already the greatest blessing in my life."
"It's okay." Katara smiles at her. "Thank you for the blessing. I can't wait to be a mother one day."
Before I can stifle it, a flare of jealousy goes through me, picturing Katara having kids with someone else. Which is crazy, because as much as I've admittedly daydreamed about kissing and holding her, and maybe had a few dreams about sleeping with her, I've never pictured a future or family with her. Now, I am.
"Thank you for letting me hold him." I say, giving him back to his Father. "I'm going to go get some more water." I get out of the tent, then run to where the stream is. I splash my face and wash it, trying to clear my thoughts. It doesn't work.
I see a stream of images in my head, each more beautiful and more impossible than the last. Katara in my arms, her body pressed against mine and my mouth on hers. Seeing her in white, walking down the aisle at the Palace while I wait for her at the Altar. Standing behind her with my hands on her pregnant stomach as we both look at the ocean from my family's Ember Island beach house. Her holding my son and daughter in her arms, laughing with them. Standing beside me at my coronation one day, ready to rule by my side as Fire Lady.
I also see another reality. One where I never go home. One where we're both peasants for the rest of our lives. I don't know what that looks like, exactly, not in as much detail as in the Fire Nation. But it's the same images in different clothes. Holding her, marrying her, watching her grow life and then holding my kids. It doesn't matter that we have dirt floors and clay walls as long as she's beside me.
Frustrating, impossible images. I splash my face again, punch the wall, and run back to make everyone dinner.
Stupid daydreaming. I resolve to put her out of my head completely when we get to Ba Sing Se.
...