『𝑻𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒆』

Chapter 14

The palace was in a state of chaos. From her bed, Katara heard stories from her brother, from Toph, and from Iroh, that Zuko was on a rampage. He'd succeeded in terrifying the maids, the cooks, the guards and half of them could barely be in the same room as he was. The other half that could were immediately dismissed. Katara wasn't so sure about the wisdom of that move, but she wasn't going to be the one to talk him out of it. Iroh had tried and gotten thrown out of Zuko's study as a consequence.

Someone had gotten close enough to threaten the life of someone close to the Fire Lord and the Fire Palace quaked with fear. There were whispers that they hadn't seen Zuko that angry before—which was saying a lot. Katara knew where all the anger was coming from: fear. If someone had gotten close enough to get to her, that meant they could have gotten close enough to get to his children and that was what was making Zuko want to turn everything around him into ash.

Still weak, she wasn't able to be much help and ever since she'd woken up, he hadn't come back in to see her. So much for her nurse. However, Toph was proving to be good company as was Sokka, and they brought in the children when Katara was feeling strong enough for it. Maiko and Toph were getting along as warrior women tended to and Lu Zuo didn't let go of Katara, screaming as if he was being killed when it was time for him to go. She wanted to keep them close so she could make sure they were alright, but Sokka assured her that half the Fire Nation army was outside the family wing, being led by Iroh—the only person Zuko trusted to watch over his family.

Azula, from what Katara had heard, was investigating every single person who had passed through the palace with a suspicious blemish on their records. It was time consuming work and kept her away. If she managed to find a good suspect, then her time wasn't wasted, but if she didn't, it at least got her away from the palace and Zuko had one less person to watch out for, Katara guessed.

Her body was slow to recover but within the next week, she was able to spend the entire day out of bed, though she was sitting for most of it. Sokka was right about her needing sun and leaning against a tree, she sat next to the turtle-duck pond, her face tilted up to catch the rays that managed to sneak past the approaching clouds. She could smell rain in the air and welcomed it. The mixture of rain and sun was appropriate and made her feel alive and rejuvenated her in a way.

Idly, she began to bend the water in front of her. The stream in her control swirled and twisted in mid-air, errant drops hitting her cheeks, but she made no move to wipe them away. As water moved and danced, power she'd forgotten about sang through her veins. For a week she'd been lying helpless in her bed. For a week, she'd relied on others to bring her news and information. In the process, she realized she'd been neglecting her gifts and had forgotten who she was. She was a Waterbending Master, one of the most powerful in the world, and she wasn't going to let some faceless coward take her down. She had stood up against the armies of the Fire Nation before she'd even turned sixteen. She'd let all this get to her head, this strange situation in an unfamiliar place that had too many bad memories. She'd made her peace with it in parts, had found a friend in an enemy, but somehow she'd forgotten the most important part of her.

She'd gotten soft.

Getting to her feet, Katara got into proper stance. Taking steady, measured breaths, she let her instincts take the lead. Wading into the water, she gently cleared the pond of turtle-ducks with a few flicks of water and began to move with the gentle push and pull the breeze was causing on the water's glassy surface. Moving with it, she pushed harder and pulled with more force until the water was splashing onto the grass around it. Her arms began to sway and bend to a rhythm only she knew. Her stance was fluid, her hands and wrists orchestrating a powerful symphony that had her hidden behind a furious concert of battling streams of water that almost emptied the pond.