A loud, pounding and fast heartbeat wakes her from unpleasant dreams of red and blood and yellow fire but it's a startled cry that makes her eyes fly open.
She fumbles for her waterskin and she bolts upright. The rope that is around her waist digs into her stomach uncomfortably. It's stopping her from wriggling out of the bedroll so the only thing that she can do is lean over the edge of the tree trunk that is her bed to see Zuko standing face-to-face with an armadillo lion.
It's big. It's bigger than she expected.
Zuko's hands light with fire and he starts trying to scare the animal away with fire darts. Katara watches, palms itching and water close by just incase something happens.
The armadillo lion makes a noise that's somewhere between hiss and a roar. Zuko's flames seem to scare it though, and it lunges backwards before circling around. The firebender meets it step for step, driving it back with more and more fireballs.
Her shoulders tense. But she doesn't move just yet. Armadillo lions travel alone from what she remembers so if Zuko can scare this one off they should be fine.
Water trickles out of the waterskin and into her palm.
Zuko's heart is racing but his expression is controlled. The Armadillo lion stops, it's tail twitching as it watches the firebender.
The beast lunges towards him and Katara sends a speeding arrow of ice at the animal's throat but Zuko is quicker and nearer - his flaming kick swipes against the fur on the chest near the heart.
The animal squeals, the heartbeat flashes for an instant like lightning, and then it stops. She sighs in relief.
The icy arrow strikes the ground and Zuko jumps. She smirks - out of all the things that could have startled him it was her arrow that did it.
He looks up at her and she can't read his eyes from this distance. "Thanks for the help," he utters.
"You looked like you had it under control." She smiles back at him. "Looks like you managed to kill something."
She reaches around to untie the rope around her waist. The cap of the waterskin is screwed back on before she climbs back down the tree trunk.
Zuko melts her ice dart with fire.
"Was that necessary?" She sighs. Quickly checking the animal's heartbeat, she is relieved to see that it is, in fact, dead. Good. They'll be able to have meat. Plus it's a big animal - they'll have meat for days.
Her stomach rumbles.
She grabs the backpack that's lying on the ground near Zuko's bedroll. She digs around through the fruit until she finds the small knife they bought at the market in Haru's village. It's not exactly a skinning knife and it's so small that it's going to take them a while, but it's all they have.
Katara sits by the animal. "Help me get it on it's back."
With the Prince's help, she manages to roll it over so that the soft belly is pointing towards the sky. It's a male - she quickly cuts off the pieces and throws them over her shoulder.
Zuko winces.
"Ever skinned an animal before, Prince?" She asks with a snicker playing at her lips - would it be too much to call him Princessinstead? She cuts one line from the animal's throat to just above it's tail.
When she pushes the knife underneath the slit to peel back the skin, the firebender gulps. But he's watching her carefully. Very carefully. Actually he's watching her hands but that's still her.
"No." He manages to force out. When she opens up the chest cavity by cutting up the sternum, she swears he turns green.
Now it's not as funny. Maybe. It is a little funny.
She lifts the hand with the knife and points it at him. His eyes widen at the blood and pieces of meat and who-knows-what-else on the blade. "Watch for animals. There's no telling what kind of scavengers are going to come around if this takes too long."
Zuko actually seems relieved and he steps away. She isn't sure where he's going until he goes by the tree where she slept. Curious, she watches him while she cuts through the windpipe. The firebender climbs up - not as gracefully as she had but well enough.
He swings his legs over to her trunk and sits, perched up to see the surrounding area. She quickly looks back down and sets the knife aside to remove the internal organs.
This was the part she always hated. Luckily, she was used to it. Sokka happened to hate skinning animals more than she did. Somehow she was the one who was always stuck with the job after a hunting trip.
Katara makes quick work of the rest of the steps. It's so natural for her that it doesn't take much longer cut everything they can't use free. She has to rock a little, and she grunts when she has to move the animal onto it's side to drain the blood out but she gets it done without the Prince having to come back down.
She pulls with all of her might to get the animal back onto it's stomach so that the untouched back is underneath her when she sits on top, straddling it. Her forearms and hands are all bloody and messy but there's no use cleaning it now.
The cuts are similar to before. She quickly slides the knife through the cuts and gently saws the skin off of the meat. Skinning takes longer than gutting it. Actually getting the meat from the body takes even longer.
By the time she is completely finished, the sun is up and her arms are covered in red. Gulping and pushing unwelcome memories away, she quickly straightens up and goes over to the side. She bends water from some other weeds and washes herself off.
She has to take a few moments to breathe before she's willing to turn around.
"Finished?" Zuko asks, his voice a little strained.
Katara takes another breath. She wipes her wet hands on her tunic. "Yeah. Come down here and cook it all. Make yourself useful again."
She turns just in time to see the firebender fall to the ground when he misses a notch. He grunts but she laughs. A sound that clearly irritates him because he glares at her as he quickly stands and goes to where she's laid the meat out on some rocks.
Just like she instructs, his fires make most of the strips into dried-out jerky for them to eat later - she uses her water to help that along as well - and he slowly, lightly burns other pieces for them to eat now.
The meat has a charcoal taste to it and it's slightly burnt, but it'll do. She swallows it down with some water.
Katara bends some water out of the ground that she used earlier to wash her hands. With it, she washes the fur out and then lays it out so she can bend the water out of it.
Their stomachs are full, they have meat to last a few days, and now they have raw fur and hide. They're certainly better off than she could have hoped.
She stuffs the fur and the bedrolls into the pack - barely - and it's bulging when she slings it across her back.
When she looks up, she sees that sure enough, they're heading west. She tries to hide her grin as she starts walking. Zuko scrambles up from the boulder he was sitting on to follow after her.
"Where are you going?" He asks after they make it several yards from their camp.
She shrugs her shoulders. Best to act like she doesn't know. "Somewhere. Better to keep moving than to stay in one spot."
He quirks an eyebrow. The good one. "Even if that somewhere is a place you don't know?"
She hums instead of replying.
After a mile of silent walking, Zuko is the first to break.
"Where did you learn to skin animals?"
She gives him a humored look. "The same place I learned to hunt: home. There are some things you can't learn in a palace, Prince."
He frowns. "I'm sure I could have managed to get the meat without… all of that."
"Sure." Katara laughs. "And I'm sure you would get the bad meat. You'd probably also try to eat the organs, too."
"I thought the organs were okay to eat?"
"Some of them are. But others - like the stomach, intestines, and some livers can kill you. You have to know the animal before you start eating that. It's why I threw those out instead of having you cook them.
"You also could have cut the wrong thing and made the animal start hemorrhaging. Or you would have wasted a lot of the good, protein-rich meat in favor of the lesser." She looks at him. "It's a lot more complicated than you think."
The Prince seems to think about this for a moment because it's quiet again.
"Plus," she decides to add, "it's rather disgusting. I hope we get to a river soon because I really need a bath."
"You certainly smell… different." She looks at him sharply but he's smiling and his eyes are light.
The insulted frown on her face changes into a small smile. She steps over a log - grateful that her slippers have been replaced by boots - and chuckles. "I guess I do."
When she realizes that her shoulders are relaxing and the smile is still on her lips, she clears her throat. Wriggling, she grips the backpack a little tighter and starts to speed the pace.
She can't be playing too nice to Zuko. She just needs to lead the Prince to Ba Sing Se so that they can take him prisoner and win the war. That is her goal. Niceness and friendships will just...complicate things.
Just like it had with Lee. She had spared the whole ship of firebenders - and Zhao because she knows that he survived her ice darts - just because he asked her. Well, pleaded her to but that's the same.
Friendship with firebenders will get her nowhere. It will gain her nothing but more complications and she doesn't need those. They're the last thing she wants so she just needs to stay as cold as the southern waters and harden her heart like ice.
She needs to do it for the Avatar - she needs to do it for Aang. Sokka, her father, her soldiers, her tribe and the world is balanced on her shoulders now.
Smiles will not make that burden any lighter. Only heavier.
-/-
"This is maddening."
Katara lifts an eyebrow and looks at the Prince. They've been walking the past few miles with as little speaking as possible. She's been fine with the quiet - her newfound resolve making it difficult to start chattering away - but it seems the firebender is not.
"We can at least...talk about...something. This - This silence isn't doing anyone any good."
She snorts. "What did you expect, firebender? We're just trying to make it...somewhere. We're not even friends - we're enemies and I was your prisoner, need I remind you?"
Zuko's permanent frown grows deeper. "I-I know that. I haven't forgotten. But I can't stand this quiet. I'm going to go mad."
"Who says you haven't already?" That earns her a glare. "Relax, firebender."
She hates him. She hates him.
He sighs. Lifting a hand to run it through his hair, Katara quickly averts her gaze. She hates him.
"Your uncle… He came to visit me after that night," she pauses but Zuko already knows what she's referring to. His back straightens and his eyes jerk to hers. She clears her throat, continues. "He said you had - have? - a cousin. Lu Ten, I think?"
Something quirks at the corners of his lips. "Yes. He's a few years older than me. I think he'll be… twenty-six this year?" He shrugs his shoulders. They seem heavier than before. "Why? What did he say?"
It's Katara's turn to shrug her shoulders. "Just that you and he were close before he went away -"
" - he didn't go away. He was banished."
"Oh?" She feigns ignorance, not for the first time.
"He was a part of my uncle's plan for Ba Sing Se. After he captured the city, he placed Lu Ten in charge. My grandfather wanted to see how well the heir to the throne could rule a city, I suppose." Zuko's face twists. "But rebel forces drove out the troops. We've never been able to re-capture the city since."
"And that warrants banishment?"
Zuko's lips pinch. "It wasn't just that. Lu Ten - he was very popular with the soldiers even if the superiors didn't like him much. When my father became Fire Lord, he discovered rumors of Lu Ten inciting a rebellion because he felt he should be on the throne. Father had the rumors investigated, found them to be true and banished Lu Ten from the Fire Nation."
"Why did your father have a claim to the throne over your uncle and cousin? Shouldn't they have been the natural heirs?" Katara steps up onto a fallen log before she steps down; Zuko steps over it.
"Yes… But Lu Ten's loss of Ba Sing Se changed that. When my grandfather expelled him from the army, Lu Ten's honor was lost...and so was his birthright. Iroh was too old and had no other children. So, the claim fell to my father."
"And you believe all of that? The rumors of rebellion? Lu Ten's apparent ambition?" Katara presses.
Zuko tenses immediately. "Of course. He was found guilty. My father should have executed him but he didn't for the sake of his brother. He was merciful."
"Are you sure your father wasn't trying to get rid of him for...political means? You already said Lu Ten had the support of the soldiers, and if -"
Zuko's hand grabs at her arm and he glares down at her. "My father would not make up such slanderous lies about someone. Especially about his nephew."
His hand is warm - too warm and it's getting even warmer to the point that it's starting to burn - and she starts to pull away. "Let go. You're burning - " The heat is gone in an instant. She blinks, startled as he quickly steps away. Looking back down at her hand, she sees a few small heat blisters and the red imprint of his hand.
Her healing blood surges to it. The familiar tingle and pain make her drop her arm back down to her side.
Zuko though...he's watching. He steps forward, slowly reaching out to grab her hand - gently - and he pulls it back up. His eyes don't leave her skin as the burn starts to heal before his eyes.
Katara watches him watch her healing.
They stand there for a few minutes, her hand in his. His fingers are warm but it's not uncomfortable even though it should be. Katara's breathing starts to slow and so does his - it's strange but… she can't bring herself to tear her arm away from him.
When her burns are basically invisible, Zuko finally looks up at her. "Can all waterbenders do that?"
He should know the answer to that and she almost doesn't bother replying.
But, she sees the curiosity and awe on his face and she sighs. "No. I-I think I'm the only one…"
Hama and Pakku thinks it has to do with the bloodbending and the healing. Before she was a warrior or a bloodbender, the few waterbending training she was able to receive was focused on healing.
Now, she was a master waterbender and one of the two known bloodbenders. Hama could do something similar, but she did not have as much healing training as even Katara had. Plus, she wasn't nearly as young.
Katara doesn't know why or how she can heal herself. She just knows that she can. She also knows that it's tiring and takes up a lot of energy and she can't really control it. It's become more of a hinderance more than anything in battle.
The waterbender realizes that Zuko has held her hand for far too long and she slowly pulls it away, letting it fall back limply by her sides. They're still close though, standing beside each other - facing each other - in this forest.
She hates him.
"Why do you do that? Every time you burn me you pull away." It's her turn to ask the questions.
Zuko's eyes flicker and for a moment, she wonders if he's going to tell her a lie or the truth. He looks torn, like whatever he might admit is something big and important.
So she waits.
"I don't like to burn people." His voice is a rasping whisper. "I don't...I don't want to cause scars on the ones that don't deserve them."
The way his heart beats steadily and the truthfulness that fills his eyes assures her that he's not lying.
Her eyes naturally flicker to his scar. It's almost indiscernible underneath his black hair but she sees it. Red and angry against his pale skin and amber-colored eyes.
She remembers the first time she saw him; how he thought he would be handsome if not for that scar. Now...she doesn't even see it unless she tries.
Her fingers want to touch it. She wants to see if it feels like the scar that covers her back. Dangerous thoughts.
Katara turns away and starts walking again. After a while, the firebender follows.
Two and a half miles of silence later, Katara feels the pull of the water before she sees it. It's huge - Huang He - and she practically starts running.
When she sees it, she smiles so big that it feels like her face is going to split in half. Finally, a bath.
The backpack drops on the ground beside her. When Zuko finally catches up to her, she is already tearing the tunic over her head and shoving the pants down her hips. Her boots are long forgotten somewhere and her hair is out of the messy braid.
She's in the water before he can even ask her what's going on.
In the safety of the stream, she unwraps her bindings and stays low in the water with her back to him. Not only does she need to re-wind them after the day, but they also need a good washing out.
When she lays them out on the grass - making sure that her other arm is keeping her covered - she notices that Zuko isn't in the clearing. For a few moments, she starts to panic and she starts looking around wide-eyed and -
- a splash sounds behind her and she jumps, whirling around to see the Prince brushing his now-wet hair out of his face.
Relief floods through her.
She settles down deeper into the water and lets it wash over her. Katara would kill for soap and a washcloth so that the grimy feeling would go completely away. She reminds herself to get some when they stop in the nearest village.
The two benders stay away from each other. She spots his breeches and tunic down the way and she can't help but blush a little as she looks away.
Turning her back to him, she rinses her hair out several times. She winces when her fingers work through the snags.
When she starts to turn pruny, she grabs her bindings from the grass and starts wrapping them around her chest and bottom. Finished, she stands and bends the water out of them before climbing out to grab her clothes.
She washes them out several times to try to get the animal smell out before she pulls them on. They're dry with a flick of her wrist.
Zuko climbs out a little after she does - she keeps her head turned to the side - and she bends the water out of his as well without him asking. He's as surprised as she is at the gesture. Luckily, no one says anything and she simply grabs the bag.
"We should probably take turns carrying it." He comments, noticing how the bag sags a bit down her back with the weight of all of their things.
"It's fine. I got it." She doesn't say that she doesn't really trust him enough to not take off with it. Besides, holding it makes her feel...better. Like she's in charge.
"I'm clearly the stronger one here. You complained about me being useless so let me be useful now." He holds his hands out expectantly. Katara glares at him. "I'm not moving until you give me the backpack."
She scowls. "Fine." She rips if off her back and shoves it into his chest. He's steps back a bit. "You want the bag? Take the damned bag."
Katara starts stalking away as he puts it on and then he's following her. She feels lighter and more exposed without the weight that she was just getting used to.
Her shoulders don't ache anymore though.
Silence is their company once again as they make their way down the river. Katara keeps an eye on the sky to make sure they're going the way that the map said to go. She makes sure that she can see the water at all times. And when it falls out of sight between the trees, she makes sure she can feel it.
"You say you want me to help - that you're not going to do everything by yourself - but when I ask to help, you become all...tempered." Zuko says at last, breaking their peaceful silence with something that makes her blood boil.
"I'm not tempered." She hisses out, causing him to raise his good eyebrow. Seeing how that came out, she clears her throat. "I'm not tempered."
"Okay."
"I'm not."
"I said okay."
"Yeah, but I know what 'okay' means. You don't believe me."
Zuko sighs. "All right, waterbender. You're not tempered. There? That better?"
"That was so sarcastic that I can't even…" She breaks off, shaking her head. "Everyone thinks that I'm so temperamental but I'm not. You - You're the temperamental one. We can't have us both be that way."
"I am not." He scoffs.
"Oh, yes you are. Do I need to even remind you of all the times you almost killed me on that ship?"
"I never almost killed you. I just...used a bit of force…"
"What about the time when you tried to pull a trick like your Uncle and offered me tea? You were getting angry until I told you that I still had my cuffs on!"
"Well…" He's clearly becoming uncomfortable.
Katara ignores this. "Or what about every conversation you've had with Zhao? The time when I figured out Lee was your spy? When you became angry and tense after that night with Ji? When -"
"Okay. Just...stop. I understand how that all may seem but -"
"No buts." She interrupts him. "Face it: I may be a little temperamental but you're way worse than I am."
"I'm not even going to get in this with you."
"See! Right there - temperamental."
Zuko rolls his eyes. Katara smiles victoriously.
"Please, ignore your own faults in favor of focusing on mine." Zuko huffs. The smile on Katara's face drops.
"Just what do you mean by that?"
He looks at her quickly. "Nothing."
"No. You said it so you might as well finish it." Katara says crossly.
A pause. "You're too trusting and you don't listen."
Katara blinks. And then she laughs. "Oh that's rich, Prince. Me - I'm too trusting. I would love to hear you back that up considering that over those very few days that you held me as prisoner, I didn't trust any of you or your uncle's or Lee's attempts to woo me into talking about the Avatar."
Zuko sneers and shakes his head. "I was referring to the slavers - you just walked right up to them without even thinking! - and then of course that earthbending boy -"
"His name is Haru and he's hardly what I'd call a boy." It takes her a minute after she says that to realize how that sounds. Zuko's eyebrows lift and he looks at her with that knowing look even though he really knows nothing. "I didn't - I'm not… Just forget it." She huffs.
"You decided to trust both of those people and look where that got us. You almost wound up in the slave trade and your friend turned us over to his bending friends."
"We were hardly ever in any danger." She rolls her eyes.
"It doesn't matter. If we weren't benders there's no telling what would have happened because not only are you too trusting but you also don't listen to those around you. Namely, me. Because I was right on both of those accounts and you blatantly ignored me."
"Well, the thing is, Prince, that we do just happen to be benders - master benders at that. If that wasn't the case, I wouldn't nearly be so...opportunistic."
"That's not exactly the wisest way to think."
"What are you? A monk?" She just looks at him.
"No?" He answers, giving her a glare. "All I'm saying is - oh nevermind. You're just going to ignore it and scream some more." He waves his hand and huffs, turning his head to stare straight ahead.
Katara swears she can feel her face turn purple as she putters. "Scream some more?! Just who do you think you are, firebender? I saved your inconsiderate and ungrateful ass on that damned boat! I'll scream if it so pleases me and you can't do a damn thing about it!"
Zuko huffs some more. Katara has to use all of her inner strength to keep from freezing him in place.
She hates him. She really hates him.
But this is good. Because this anger and this arguing is only making her hate him more. She likes the bickering, despite the annoyance and frustration. It's better than when they're nice.
Being nice to the firebender will get her nothing but trouble. Being like this though, it will only help her in the end. She'll be able to switch their roles like this - this… irritation will only work to her advantage. She just...has to make sure that she doesn't wind up killing him. She's strong, but she's not strong enough to carry his corpse on her back all the way to the Northern Tribe.
Katara focuses her attention back on Zuko. He's moved ahead of her and she smirks when he trips over a log, barely catching himself.
It's about time he started tripping again.
They stumble their way through the forest a few more miles before they sit and rest again. Katara never thought she would wish for snow. Snow doesn't grab and latch onto your clothes and scratch your face and hands.
She grumbles when she plops down on a boulder, taking a few pieces of the jerky from the backpack before tossing it to the firebender. They eat in silence and use the water in the waterskin to cool down.
Finished, she makes her way to the river to re-fill the waterskin. She caps it off, ties it at her waist, and waits for the Prince to get finished...whatever he's doing.
"I think it's my turn to carry the backpack." Katara says when she hears him behind her. She turns and holds her hands out like he had earlier.
"You carried it all day yesterday and this morning. Just let me carry it and then I swear, you'll get it back." He straps it over his shoulders.
"Why is everything so difficult?"
"You're the one who makes it that way. I'm perfectly fine holding it. You're the one with the problem."
She snorts. "Fine. Just take it."
Her legs are sore from running and walking yesterday and they're jelly from going so far today. But she will not ask to rest when the firebender is marching through the forest like it's no problem.
They stick to the trees again. Under the cover, it won't be as easy for others - if there even are others - to see them there. It's the way Zuko seems to want to go and as long as she can feel the tug of the river, she's fine.
That's when she realizes it. Zuko hasn't asked anything about where they're going since they met up with the river.
He has practically taken charge now. He's the one in the front, leading her through the forest without hesitation. She hasn't told him a direction or anything - he just went.
They're going the direction she had planned - north and west - and that was probably why she hadn't noticed it before.
But still. Why hadn't she noticed it before?
The Prince is leading her somewhere. She's been so absorbed with soreness and irritation that she hasn't even noticed until now. He knows where he's going… and she knows where she's going… but she isn't sure why they're heading on the same path…
Her eyes narrow instantly.
Testing him, she veers to the right - away from the river and deeper into the forest. Zuko notes the change instantly but she acts like she isn't paying attention to his immediate fluster.
"Where are you going? We should stick near the river." He tries to coax her back.
"I think we should go this way. Maybe there's another village where we can sell the fur and get some supplies."
"I don't think that's a good idea. Remember what happened in the last village? What makes you think that the other is going to be any different?"
"Look, firebender, we need some knives. Some real knives. Since we're both adamant to keep the other prisoner and are going to be traveling through this forest for no telling how long, we should get some supplies now instead of waiting until we need them."
"But we should stick to the river so we know where we're going."
She jumps over a puddle of mud. "I'm sure we won't get too lost. You're more than welcome to keep going. I'll enjoy my time in a tavern and a real bed instead of the tree." Flashing him a smile, she sees that he's frowning. "Hope you don't run into more armadillo lions."
The Prince huffs but she knows she's won again. Smiling, she takes the lead again, journeying deeper into the forest with the firebender behind her.
-/-