105AN: This chapter was sooo much fun to write. And hey, look! We've entered a shiny new Arc!
But just so you're all aware, I've gone all wonky with the time line in this chapter - nothing too major, just a little playing around with the structure. The chapter starts out with a letter, then goes into a flashback for the bulk of the time, and then ends all caught up, the day after the letter is written. -If that makes any sense.
Really, I just have the letter first because I thought it would be fun to mess with everyone.
Speaking of, you guys are awesome! Hearts and kisses to you all!
Oh, and a shout-out to Kimberly T. for the cartwheeling image from your review. It made a very brief appearance in this chapter because I couldn't get it out of my head...
-Pragmatic-
An A:TLA Fic brought to you by:
Electric Risk
Arc III: Combustion
Scroll Eight: The Iguana-Seal Conspiracy
Dear Sokka,
I am sorry I haven't written before, but I didn't want you to jump to crazy conclusions or think that you'd need to show up here with your boomerang ready and some ridiculous battle cry at your lips. But, anyway, I'll start at the beginning.
You probably already guessed this, but I was completely miserable when I first got here and it was especially hard not having you around for the first time in my life (thank you for the picture and the gift, by the way – it's nice to know that even though I won't get to see you on my birthday, I still get presents)..
They've also deemed it necessary for me to take Fire Nation history lessons from the driest, most domineering woman I've ever met in my life. Her name is Lady Ai, and did I mention she was awful? But I suppose, to be fair, she does have some redeeming qualities… Though I really didn't like her at all when I first got here – she made me get into a ridiculous outfit for my first meeting with the prince – there was a whole ceremony and everything! I had maybe fifty pounds of fabric wrapped around me and about as much makeup caked on my face too. It was awful.
And like I said, Zuko certainly didn't make things any easier, but what can you expect from a royal jerk (Ha! Get it?). He seemed to think that our marriage (hypothetically speaking…) would be in title only and that we'd just go about our lives as though the other wasn't there, at least as often as we could get away with it. He wasn't too happy when I told him I could leave whenever I wanted and he refused to have anything to do with me for a whole week. Odd behavior for someone who -should- theoretically be sucking up to me, but I've come to learn that Zuko is anything but logical.
I kept busy though. As the new potential future Fire Lady, I felt it was my duty to explore the grounds and familiarize myself with everything, including Prince Zuko's favorite places to relax ("relax" is a relative term of course; whereas to you and me it means kicking back and doing something fun and mindless- to Zuko it means sitting tensed up like a boulder, "meditating"). Stalking Zuko turned out to be a great way to practice my water-bending too! (Did I mention he preferred to meditate next to a fountain?) Needless to say, Zuko couldn't avoid me forever… He's got a bit of a temper, that one.
The other day things reached a boiling point (-Ha! I'm so on a roll, and who says you inherited all the sense of humor?), and it also happened to coincide with the completion of a new sparring arena, one made special for me with a really nice mote. We worked our differences out the old fashioned way.
Things actually got a little better after that. Despite having a disposition rivaling an angry polar-leopard, I think he just feels really guilty… It's a lot to explain and not my business to share, so I won't go into detail. And before you get all self-righteous and thinking that I've gone and fallen for him – think again. At the end of the day, Prince Zuko is as much a thick-headed idiot as you are sometimes. Especially where girls are concerned. He and I aren't speaking right now, but this time it's on my terms.
I am very upset with how some things have played out right now, but it would be far too hasty for me to just up and leave this second. And yet, I've come to learn that, for as proper and educated as that stupid boy purports himself to be, he's extremely talented at putting his foot in his mouth, and as this talent holds no visible limitations, I won't be surprised if I'm home within a month.
I hope things are going well on your end! I guess it's a little difficult to get post back and forth from where we are… Still, that doesn't mean you shouldn't write to me! I'm putting this letter on the next supply ship due to set out and I expect a reply when that ship returns! Or else!
Give my love to Dad and Gran-Gran!
Your sister,
Katara
PS. When are you guys going to visit? I miss you all so much I can't even think straight!
P.P.S. If you ever happen to encounter an Iguana-Seal, do me a favor and punch it in the face.
Katara put the pen down and sighed. There was so much more she wanted to say. She wished Suki was there; she so needed someone to rant to, to complain and rail against the stupid, idiotic Fire-brat to. It was getting ridiculous. The boy's idiocy knew no bounds. One would think a prince would know to behave more diplomatically, to be more aware that playing around with people, more specifically girls' hearts, would rear up and bite him. And then scratch him too, for good measure.
Then again, from the sounds of it, Zuko wasn't very familiar with people actually caring for his opinion, or for his opinion to actually carry any weight at all. It's hard to mess with peoples' lives when they don't care a jot for yours.
That wasn't an excuse though. Not by a long shot.
It all started the day after the sparing incident. Zuko still had some secrets to his daily routine as Katara never could figure out where he disappeared to between breakfast and lunch. And then his days were usually full of studying and his uncomfortable looking meditation sessions when the sun was at its peak in the sky.
Winter in the Fire Nation, Katara was informed during one particularly excruciating history lesson, was its best and most temperate season for visitors (Fire Nation locals, for obvious reasons, still favored the summer), but this didn't prevent things from getting indecently hot around the noon hour. At that point in the day, Katara typically receded deep into the depths of the palace (before she and Zuko came to their understanding, this would be prefaced with a little sabotage outside). She hadn't quite managed to acclimate to the higher temperatures yet. She didn't relish the thought of spending summers in a place like this… Lady Ai generally chose this time to swoop in and accost Katara into lessons; she was much easier to corner inside the palace than out on the grounds.
Thus, it was late in the afternoon the day following the near-disastrous spar when Katara finally managed to corner the crowned prince of the Fire Nation into a bonding session. The sun hung low in the sky and a cool breeze blew down from the north, making their quaint set up in the grassy courtyard all the more pleasant. A small, low table and soft seat cushions provided they needed for a nice, long chat. However, Zuko's was a tough shell to crack and Katara soon realized that moment beside the pond was only a small nick in a very thick barrier (rivaled only by the thickness of Zuko's skull). They were not, as she had hoped, laughing like old friends over tea.
The tea was there (a nice, calming herbal one to ease nerves), but the conversation was a little stilted and Zuko looked supremely uncomfortable. Katara, true bleeding heart that she was, sat with brewing determination to somehow bypass the prince's spiky, brusque and rather rude outer husk and make friends with, at least what she hoped would be his gooey, good natured inner self.
"So," Katara said, drawing out the 'o' sound. The tea was still too hot to drink and she was running out of ways to distract herself from the awkwardly stoic prince. "Tea."
Zuko looked both as if he was surprised she was there and as though she'd just dribbled on her shirt. "Yes," he articulated slowly, lifting his own cup. "Tea." Then he brought the cup to his lips, and subtly tried to hide the fact that he'd just taken a sizable gulp of scalding liquid. Zuko stiffly returned the innocent tea cup to the table.
Katara took more pleasure that she probably should have in seeing his good eye start to water. Then she remembered she was supposed to try and become his friend. She sighed, "You know, you were a lot more talkative yesterday. If we have to rely on the guilt angle for this whole friendship thing to work, I'm not sure we're in for a very healthy relationship."
She slouched down on her elbows and leaned forward, all the while hearing Lady Ai's reprimanding trill in the back of her mind. It made Katara grin. "Then again, does this mean you don't feel responsible for the burn anymore?"
"What? No!" he cried. "Of course I still feel responsible! It was my fault!"
"You're impossible." She held up her forearms for him to see. "Look, they're fine!" And it was true; one nice long soak in the bath and you could only just see the wispy traces of tender pinkness, and even then they were mostly covered by her bangles. That last bit of discoloration would probably never disappear completely, but it was so minor it hardly mattered.
Zuko looked away. "You shouldn't come near me. I'm dangerous."
Katara quirked an eyebrow. "I'm absolutely shaking."
"I'm serious!" Zuko whipped his head back towards her, gripping the edge of the table. "How can you just sit there after yesterday? I told you about my father and sister! I'm related to them you know! How can you just sit there and assume that I'm so different?"
Katara sat back and appraised him. "I'll give you one thing; insanity sure does seem to run in your family."
Zuko growled in exasperation. "You just don't get it, do you? I've been doing a lot of thinking and the fact is that I'm dangerous! I can't control my temper and that means people are going to get hurt!"
"So what? You want to go lock yourself in a tower too? Like you're some kind of beast?" Katara snorted. "I think you're giving yourself a little too much credit, Zuko."
"What?" He balked, "You think I'm not as powerful as them?" He gestured off vaguely behind him, and Katara assumed he meant his crazy-pants father and sister.
"Are you saying you actually want to be capable of what they did?"
"No! Of course not!"
Katara flayed her hands out, "There you go! See, you've got this little thing called a 'conscience', and that's what's preventing you from rampaging through the palace like… like… Well," she shrugged, "like your sister."
Having garnered only silence from the impassioned and supposedly 'dangerous' fire-bender, Katara experimentally tapped the side of her tea cup. Deeming it cooled enough, she took a sip. "Do you know what your problem is?" She postured thoughtfully, staring into the shallow depth of her cup.
"No," Zuko grumbled, crossing his arms, "but I'm sure you'll spell it out for me in excruciating detail."
"You've gone your whole life knowing that Ozai and Azula don't care about you, and you just go ahead and assume that no one else can either." She set the cup down and gauged the prince's expression before continuing. "I know I'd be angry and full of self-loathing if I thought no one cared a lick about me."
"I am not some pathetic kicked koala-lamb!" Zuko cried indignantly. "I know plenty of people who have cared about me! There's my mother for one- she always cared! And Uncle and Mai-" He stopped speaking abruptly.
This of course piqued Katara's curiosity. "Mai? Who's she?"
"She was… um, my pet… iguana-seal."
Katara snorted; she couldn't shake the mental image of Zuko baby-talking a dead-eyed lizard. "Your pet loves you. That's sweet, adorable even. And where is the little guy?"
"Iguana-seals aren't little…They're big like komodo-rhinos." Zuko explained, and then he blushed and stammered on, "And um… Anyway… Mine's dead! That's right, my pet is dead!"
"Poor little Mai," Katara cooed. "You must have been very sad."
Zuko swallowed thickly, his face flushing as he concentrated hard on picking some lint from his knee. "Yes… so much so that I don't really like talking about… her."
Katara eyed him thoughtfully, not entirely convinced that his story was the whole truth. Perhaps the name was tied with some painful memory, like his mother or something. Come to think of it, she hadn't heard much about his mother before now… Nothing in fact. But she'd already poked and prodded him so much in this one little tea party that it hardly seemed fair to attack him from that front. And besides, it would probably scare him away and they were making such beautiful progress…
The beautiful progress was short lived. Its destroyer cartwheeled into Katara's life in a blaze of pink.
A day and a half later, when the sun was at its highest, Katara was engaged in an exercise of stealth. In the two weeks that had elapsed since her arrival in the Fire Nation, she'd finally learned to train her ears for the gentle and near silent swish of Lady Ai's silk robes. It was tricky evading her, especially now that Katara was aware of her status as ex-spy and assassin, but the challenge was thrilling in itself, and every second spent out of Lady Ai's clutches meant less eye-twitchingly dull history. Katara at least had the advantage of speed, as a proper lady would never condescend to run. And today, the esteemed tutor had promised a detailed account of the second dynasty's grain exports.
Katara found it a real shame that a country whose history was so rich in blood-shed and treachery could be so unforgivably tedious.
Failure was not an option.
Katara rounded a humongous ebony pillar and entered the eastern wing of the palace. Under normal circumstances, she avoided this place as it was where the ceremony of her arrival had taken place and a ready reminder of what was easily one of the most unpleasant, traumatic days of her life. However, compared to droning statistics and constant slights on her "unrefined manners", Katara considered this the lesser of two evils.
It was the most pretentious part of the whole palace because it was the area most frequently in the public eye. She vaguely remembered Lady Ai mentioning something about the grand eastern hall also paying homage to the Fire God, Agni, by way of greeting the sunrise, but mostly it just seemed built to intimidate. The high ceilings seemed to go on forever, up and up and up. The larger-than-life fire emblem banners only added to the ominous feel of the place. Katara couldn't help but let her eyes travel up to their point of origin in the dark recesses of the ceiling.
And because of this, she was caught completely off guard when her center of gravity violently shifted. She was dipped back sharply, her head coming to a jarring halt only an inch or two above the ground.
"Whoops!"
Katara suddenly found herself staring up into expressive brown eyes and an alarmingly cheerful grin. It was disconcerting, considering the strange girl's head was framed by the oppressive, ornamental palace doors. The gilded dragon lock curled around the newcomer's head like a thorny halo.
"Sorry about that! I thought you'd see me coming your way!" The bubbly girl trilled as she yanked Katara back to her feet.
The girl was decked out from head to toe in light pink (though still unmistakably Fire Nation in style with the sharp angles of the collar with flared out to a point over each shoulder), her long brown hair pulled back into a perky, but elegant braid that trailed down her back. "Gee," she continued good-naturedly, her gaze flicking invasively over Katara, "You're a lot prettier than I was expecting you to be."
Katara took a step back, self-consciously wrapping her arms around her bare stomach, "E-excuse me?"
The girl plowed on, evidently unaware of her insult. "I'm Ty Lee! You must be Princess Katara!"
"Just Katara, please," she replied automatically.
"Okay Katara!" Ty Lee beamed, linking her arm around Katara's. "Wow, you really are nothing like Mai said you were."
Katara tilted her head to the side and the memory of Zuko's pet iguana-seal rolled to the forefront of her mind. "Oh?" Funny, she wasn't aware that giant lizard-things could talk, let alone gossip.
"M-hmm!" Ty Lee nodded as she began to steer them out of the eastern wing (and back towards Lady Ai's territory). "She said you were a bit wild-eyed and that your hair looked like it hadn't ever seen a brush before." A hand then launched out and gently latched onto a lock of Katara's hair, which slipped easily through her fingers.
Katara unlinked their arms under the pretense covering her mouth to cough, and then promptly crossed her arms behind her back.
The pink girl laughed. "Oh Mai," she sighed, wistfully shaking her head. "I suppose she was just upset when she told me those things, can't blame her! You seem nice enough though! In fact, I'm sure we'll become the best of friends!"
"Sure," Katara said, bemused and bewildered. "So… who's Mai?"
Ty Lee stopped mid-step and pivoted around to face Katara. Her eyes widened like saucers. "You mean Zuko didn't tell you?"
"Tell me… what, exactly?"
"That he was engaged, silly!" Ty Lee started pacing. "Oh, Zuko's gonna get it when she finds out!" She glanced back at Katara, who still hadn't quite processed the new information. "That's actually why I'm here." She patted a scroll tucked into the sash around her waist. "Mai wanted me to deliver this letter to Zuko."
Things started to make a lot of sense; why Zuko was so ready to just throw himself into a strategically loveless marriage… so he could spend his time with his true love. That conniving, manipulative little… Katara leaned against the wall and slid down into a lump on the floor. "I can't believe that Lord Iroh would go out and make me come here if Zuko was already-"
"Oh no!" Ty Lee butt in, "it was all secret, Zuko hadn't had a chance to tell his uncle before the whole 'marry for diplomacy' thing came up."
"Well then why didn't Zuko say something!" Katara shrieked. A sick, curdling feeling settled in her stomach and she didn't like it at all. "If he was in love with another girl, he never should have agreed to this!"
"Katara… he didn't have a choice," Ty Lee explained solemnly. "It was either take a foreign bride, or face another war. After everything his uncle worked for, Zuko couldn't tell him no."
Katara felt like a home-wrecker and it made her want to cry. No wonder Zuko hated her.
-Swish-
As if things needed to get any worse...
"Ty Lee," the unmistakably sharp-tongued Lady Ai snapped, "What business do you have here? And Princess Katara, why on earth are you slumped over on the floor? You look like a street urchin!" The lady kneeled gracefully and tugged Katara's chin up. "Are you… crying?" She looked back over her shoulder at Ty Lee. "What have you said to her?"
"Umm…" Ty Lee rubbed the back of her head bashfully. "I may have said something I shouldn't have…"
"You told her about Zuko's engagement to Mai, didn't you?"
Ty Lee's jaw slackened. "No one was supposed to know about that!"
Lady Ai stood and gave her a pointed look, hands on her hips. "Go on Ty Lee, you've done enough damage for one day."
"But I have to deliver this message!" She yanked the scroll from her sash and held it up beseechingly.
Lady Ai's eyes flashed. "Then do it! But don't you dare go causing more trouble- and that includes telling Prince Zuko about your disastrous meeting with the Princess. Now, get out of my sight. I have to attend to my weepy protégé."
Ty Lee shrugged and tucked the scroll away. Then she folded like a ragdoll onto her hands and walked out of sight, one palm in front of the other, her ankles dangling just above her head.
"What is she?" Katara asked, momentarily distracted from her distress by the bizarre departure of Hurricane Ty Lee.
"One of Azula's old playmates," Lady Ai replied absently. "Now up on your feet! We can't have you sulking like this; it'll ruin your posture and give you wrinkles."
Thankfully, Lady Ai took pity on Katara and postponed the grain lecture in favor of a trip to the royal spa. There, she didn't force Katara to talk, or try to compensate for Zuko's behavior, or comment on the natural injustice of the situation and the requirements of royal court and diplomacy. Instead, they relaxed, allowing the attendance to comb, massage, and buff all their troubles away.
When it became time to part ways, Lady Ai paused at the doorway, "You might want to discuss with Zuko the repercussions of his dishonesty and discourage him from such behavior in the future."
"And how am I supposed to do that?"
An uncharacteristically devious smirk flitted across Lady Ai's lips, but it was gone so fast Katara wasn't entirely convinced she hadn't imagine it.
"Oh, I don't know," her tone of voice suggested a shrug, but Lady Ai was above such common gestures. "You handled yourself fairly well when he foolishly tried to snub you. I'm sure you'll think of something when you take your tea with him this afternoon. After all, a future Fire Lady must learn how to curb her husband's baser habits."
It took Katara a moment to process the paradigm shift Lady Ai had caused. Was she actively promoting mischief? Fun? It was almost too much to digest in one day. The emotionally stunted, socially awkward Fire Prince has a more active love-life than her. Azula's childhood friend rivaled Sokka in indelicacy and peppiness. At this point she wouldn't be entirely shocked if Zuko's fiancé was a talking iguana-seal…
When Zuko arrived for afternoon tea with Katara, even he couldn't miss the animosity radiating off the girl. He frantically searched for something he could say to abate the situation, and noticed the extra sheen to her hair and a familiar rosy scent which typically indicated a trip to the royal spa. "You… look nice," he tried.
Not five minutes later, Katara was stomping her way back into the palace, leaving Zuko pinned by various tea-wrought icicles to a near-by tree. "I thought you wanted to try and be friends!" He yelled at her.
Katara didn't bother turning around and yelled in reply, "Oh, go cry to your iguana-seal!"
As was typically the case when Katara was behaving maliciously to the prince, she soon encountered Fire Lord Iroh. And predictably, he grinned at her in that knowing, conspiratorial way. She held back a groan. This was decidedly not good timing. She was having some trouble coming to grips with the fact that Iroh would be so heavy handed with his own nephew's love life –not to mention the turmoil his actions were putting her through. Somehow, knowing about Zuko's old flame reignited some of the misery she felt in her first few days at the palace.
"Miss Katara," he boomed. "My, I feel like I haven't seen hide nor hair of you in days! Tell me, how are things going with my nephew?"
Katara opened her mouth to answer, but quickly closed it, thinking better than to share the truth of the matter just yet. Swiftly, she changed tactics and responded to his question with one of her own. "That's right! I haven't seen you since the sparring match, sir! Have you been extra busy lately? Is something going on?"
Iroh blinked, startled, but he composed himself almost immediately. "Funny you should say," he chuckled. "But never you mind; it's nothing too serious. It's just that I find myself with an unusual amount of correspondence to attend to. There are a few cities in the Earth Kingdom I'm attempting to develop a friendly rapport with, in particular a place called Gaoling. Ever heard of it?"
Katara shook her head. "No. We didn't get very deep into the Earth Kingdom on our trip."
"Ah," the Fire Lord nodded. "I see. Well, as luck would have it, it seems the city was rather displaced from the war. I've been hoping to use that to our advantage since they have so little to begrudge us for, on their own behalf at least."
"Oh," Katara replied, unable to stop herself from wondering whether or not the Fire Lord was sneakily trying to secure a back-up bride, in case she should fail. "Any luck?"
He smiled softly, "As a matter of fact, I've just about convinced them of the benefits of a diplomatic trip to the Fire Nation. With any luck, we will be hosting a few foreign dignitaries within a month."
The Fire Lord's happiness and positive nature was infectious. Katara soon found herself smiling right back at him.
"Speaking of correspondence," Iroh began, "Have you any letters you'd like to send home? I have it on good authority a supply ship is heading out that way first thing tomorrow morning. I'm sure your family is dying to hear from you!"
By noon the next day, Katara's letter was safely bound for the Southern Water Tribe. She mentally plotted how long it would take for the ship to arrive, and how long it would take for her to get a reply back. A three-day voyage each way, and at least a day or two in port… She'd hear back from her family in a week, at the absolute earliest. Just in time for her to miss them terribly for her birthday. Thinking about it reminded her of the dagger Sokka had hidden amongst her belongings – his birthday present to her. Having had few things in her life to really grow attached to, Katara was not by nature a very sentimental person. Yet, at that moment, she needed to see her brother's dagger just as fervently as she needed to wear her mother's necklace every day.
She retrieved it from the back of her vanity drawer. It was silly, she fully realized, worrying about being caught with such a weapon when she could readily create something just as deadly as long as she had a bit of water around – Zuko certainly was a testament to that fact what with her furious tea-bending the previous afternoon. Still, it was a special, thoughtful, beautiful gift (that Suki had probably helped Sokka pick out) and Katara felt no shame in wanting to keep it safe.
She ran her fingers lightly over the indented floral detail on the leather sheath before pulling the dagger out. She held the shiny blade up to the light to admire the craftsmanship, the lovely etched detailing on the polished metal, the matched design on the handle. It was a truly a work of art, despite it's being a rather deadly looking weapon.
Zuko rudely chose that moment to burst into Katara's room. She looked at him, her mouth gaping at the audacity of the Fire Prince, who apparently had skewed notions of privacy and couldn't have experienced any of Lady Ai's long-winded lectures on propriety.
"Katara we need to talk!" He blurted out, charging boldly into her room. "I-" He stopped rather abruptly and took a hasty step backwards. "What… what exactly are you planning on doing with that dagger?"
AN: Did I mention I had fun with this chapter? Because I did. The whole thing was written up in about three days (I had a midterm to not study for). The editing job might be a bit shoddy because it's limited to the read-throughs I do during the writing/posting process... So if you catch some horrible error, please point it out to me in embarrassing detail.
I've gotta say, I'm really liking Lady Ai more and more. She's a stickler for the rules and propriety, but she's a badass on the weekends.
Ty Lee is great. I had a hoot writing her character. Please tell me whether or not I did her justice, okay?
Oh, and Zuko? He's a terrible liar. He couldn't have fooled an infant with that inarticulately delivered load of crock. Katara, however, just naturally assumed he had no game with the ladies - keeping the truth a nice, sound sucker punch to her gut.
Got to admit though, there's something to the whole Mai-as-giant-lizard thing.
...Don't worry, she's not going to fall victim of character-bashing. But you didn't think she'd just disappear to the shadows for ever, did you? After all, she is a heart-broken teenaged girl. And I'm almost positive she possesses a soul. (No really, I mean it: no character-bashing!)
None of you guys thought I forgot about Sokka's dagger, did you? Because I didn't. Totally forgot my original intentions for it, but the dagger itself is safe and sound in my mind and will hopefully be as loaded as Chekhov's pistol. Or a red herring. Haven't decided yet.
No idea when the next chapter will be up and running, however you can keep yourselves busy trying to piece together the little tid-bits of foreshadowing I've sprinkled through this chapter. That said, I am very pleased with how things are going.
Ugh. I just realized that my initial descriptions of the Fire Nation palace are NOT accurate to canon. Revisions will occur... eventually.
Peace, love, and review,
-Electric Risk-