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Katara of the Southern Water Tribe (k_waterbender) wrote in mirage_rpg,
@ 2008-10-28 21:43:00

Entry tags:

complete, day 20, katara, zuko

Day Twenty
Who: Katara and Zuko
When: Day 20 ; Late Afternoon
What: Katara confronts Zuko
Where: Building A - Zuko’s room
Rating: PG-13
Status: Complete

After healing Toph’s wounds, trimming her singed hair, and acquiring the story of how she came to look like she’d been attacked by a firebender, Katara set out after Zuko. Would he attack her, too? Yes. If he hadn’t remembered Toph, he would remember her. They had met in the South Pole when Zuko came to claim Aang. That was how they had discovered Aang was the Avatar. They had met again in the North Pole where Katara had defeated him to save Aang after the Fire Prince had first knocked her out to kidnap the then-twelve-year-old. Did he remember the Crystal Catacombs? That was doubtful. Why would he feel the need to still capture the Avatar if he did remember that?

Would he recognize her? She had aged, but she was still the same woman. If the former leader of the Southern Raiders could recognize her after she had aged six years from a child to a teenager, Zuko should be able to recognize her after five years of aging from a teen into a woman, especially because the differences would be less sharp.

Despite the fact that the golems had refused to help her find Vincent, she needed them to help her find Zuko. After all, he could be anywhere, including the forest where Toph had seen him. There were simply too many options in too large a space to search for the Fire Lord.

The golem she found happened to be made of clay. His graceful movements were nothing like a human’s, but they seemed strange for one made of an earthen substance rather than flesh and bone. He led her over the grounds to building A. Yes, the Planet probably foresaw troubles if an enraged and unremembering Zuko was to be in the same building as Katara and Toph. His building wasn’t even among the same cluster of three as the female benders.

As she entered the building, following the golem, her heart began to beat faster. Too many questions swirled through her mind, and her fingers subconsciously moved to touch one of two full water skins as if to comfort herself with its presence. Zuko had become one of the greatest masters of firebending over the years she had known him. Ever since he and Aang had gone on that trip so Aang could learn firebending and Zuko could learn to fuel his firebending with emotions other than anger, the Fire Lord had progressed quickly. Even wounded, Katara suspected her friend would be powerful. If only she knew.

She stood in front of his door, heart beating rapidly beneath her breast. His was the first door, number one hundred. Katara stood there for a moment, unmoving. She hardly noticed the golem’s departure. At last she raised her fist to knock, but she paused. The key was in the door. Why would he do that?

Using the key, Katara tentatively unlocked the door and turned the knob while pushing at the wood. The door swung open to reveal a Fire Navy ship-like room. She hardly had to turn her head to see Zuko lying on the cold steel of the floor, passed out- most likely from weariness and pain. He hadn't even made it to the bed.

From the way he lay, the healer knew his right foot was the wounded one, but she could see the dark blood that had oozed from the wound. Even in sleep the body was mindful of wounds. A wave of compassion wound over her. She wanted to heal her wounded friend, for she still viewed him as such. She didn’t like to see him hurt. The last time he had been severely wounded had been when he had tried to save her from Azula’s lightening. It had taken a while to fully heal him again, but she was eternally grateful that he had almost sacrificed himself for her.

Subconsciously, her feet moved her forward, but she found the way blocked by an invisible barrier. It brought her attention back to the present, back to what Toph had told her conspired between the two during a chance meeting. This was not the Fire Lord Zuko she knew. This was the old Prince Zuko she used to know inhabiting the body of the Fire Lord she had last seen. She needed him awake, but she also needed to be prepared. Taking a defensive stance, one hand at the neck of a water skin, she rapped at the frame of the door.

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k_waterbender
2008-10-29 02:26 am UTC (link)

Katara plucked the stopper from the neck of one of her water skins and bent the liquid from the container, urging it slowly into the hole in her friend’s foot. The blue glow common to her style of healing began to shine brightly, and the waterbender worked the qi lines. It was soon apparent to her that something was amiss. His qi lines felt strange to her. They were almost… polluted feeling rather than simply blocked off or broken here and there. She had never dealt with anything like this before now. Poor Zuko. His foot would have to wait. He wouldn’t heal right until she dealt with this part first.

First, she had to figure out how to deal with this of course. She nudged at whatever this was a bit before she realized she could force whatever it was that left his qi polluted to move elsewhere. If she could make sure it all gathered in one spot, she could draw it out with the liquids in his body. She could also put fresh and untainted liquids back into him, so he wouldn’t lack anything he needed.

It seemed to take ages, and it definitely did take some hours and a lot of her energy, but she finally managed to pool whatever it was in all into his stomach- or at least the majority of it. With one hand, she concentrated hard on keeping it there, and she had to place her hand on his belly to keep her power connected to him. With the other, she carefully tilted his head back so the path from his stomach to his mouth would be straight. With both hands suddenly placed against his belly, she extended her qi into him in order to move with her hands as she dragged them over his abdomen, moving up his chest, over his throat, and suddenly a stream of liquid that would have been stomach acids, water, and a bit of blood emptied from his. The strange substance was among those fluids. She poured the entire stream into a bowl that had appeared beside her when she was too absorbed in Zuko to notice. She would need to examine that later, or she could find someone who would be able to tell her what that had been.

Katara used a stream of fresh water to put back into him, drawing it along the same pathway that she had drawn out the foreign substance. This was much easier because she didn’t have to worry about keeping it from absorbing back into his body. She wanted that to happen so he would be replenished with the life-giving water. Sweat shone on her brow when she was finished with that. She felt so drained, but she had to keep going. She needed to work on his foot.

The waterbender moved back to her position at his feet and resumed what she had started. The room had been glowing blue for a long time, and it only continued here. She focused her qi and energy on healing his physically apparent wound once more. She did all she could for the energy she had left, but it wasn’t nearly as healed as she’d hoped. However, pulling that weird stuff from his body was the more important task. She was glad she was able to accomplish something greater. The fact that he slept through the ordeal made it a lot easier. He was more relaxed through it, and he wasn’t fighting her every step of the way.

When she had done all she could, she dragged her tired body back to his side where she tucked her feet beneath her, took his hand in hers, and waited. Her water skins lay on the floor where she’d set them after her body had grown too tired to carry them on her back any more. The bowl filled with that strange substance lay a few feet away from them, so it wouldn’t accidentally be knocked over. She needed to know what it was. Her hair loopies had fallen loose from the bun that held up half of her hair so they dangled as strands, and some wisps had fallen loose as well to frame her face. Healing him as much as she did had taken so much out of her. She was nearly dozing off where she kneeled.

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