The Pawn |Katara

TWENTY-NINE

The next day found Katara and Akira where the night had left them; at the peak of a cliff, overlooking a valley. Akira woke up the moment the first rays of sunlight reached him, along with the first songbirds, their song a wake-up call he hadn't had the chance to witness a lot of times. There weren't many birds heard in the Fire Nation capital – he imagined they didn't like noise.

There was not much time to lose this morning. They had to make haste to reach Ba Sing Se, and even though he wasn't all that keen on leaving to make Zuko happy in light of recent events, he was still looking forward to finding himself in one of the luxurious houses of Ba Sing Se's Upper Ring. He missed the comforts of home. He knew the first thing he would do was take a long bath.

If he had been on his own, Akira knew he would have left by now, but as fate would have it, he was not alone. And his companion had yet to wake up.

He looked at Katara sleeping soundlessly next to him. Not for the first time, he felt his chest flood with a warm feeling he couldn't call anything but affection. It wasn't because she was doing something particularly sweet, or anything out of the ordinary. She was sleeping, no worry in her features, and that was all he needed for the feeling to surface. He had never thought Katara would trust him enough to sleep next to him for the whole night, or that she would let him in her life, even invite him to spend some time at the Southern Water Tribe. Roughly a week ago, she treated him with mistrust and suspicion. But he guessed the attitude of people changes, with time they see and learn things about the other they hadn't known before and a new understanding forms. They had both been through a lot these last couple of days. Still, he didn't regret much.

He told himself he would let her sleep and rest for a little while more while he gathered their supplies so that they would be ready for their trip. Then, he would wake her up.

And so, that's what Akira did. He silently gathered their provisions and loaded them back to the war balloon, and out of habit, he kicked soil on the small hestia of fire they had used last night to get out for good any ember that remained. That was when he approached Katara.

"Katara," he called her name softly before he got too close. When she didn't budge, he repeated it once more, this time firmer, as he lowered himself to squat beside her. He grabbed her shoulder, shook her so gently the movement was almost imperceptible and called her name in a voice to match. Katara stirred.

"Wake up, Katara," he repeated, this time in a tone slightly firmer. She hummed, half-opened her eyes. Her gaze was unfocused, and she took a moment to look all around her before she focused on him. Akira offered her a small smile. "Good morning. It's about time to go."

"The sun is hardly up yet," she protested, but still, she slowly pushed herself up. His smile widened.

"You will sleep on the war balloon. After you make the ice go away, that is."

She sat up fully, rubbed one of her eyes. Akira reached up to smooth down a rather rebellious strand of hair that still refused to cooperate even after he had attempted to shape it. He was halfway into repeating the motion when he noticed Katara's narrowed eyes. His eyes widened and he pulled back.

"Wha-"

"Yes, my hair tends to be horrible in the morning."

"I didn't say anything," he raised his hands in surrender. His bewilderment soon turned into amusement the longer she kept on looking at him with her eyes narrowed. Katara's gaze turned into a glare.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing," he denied, even though his smile was only growing wider by the second. Her eyes narrowed even more and he was sure she was going to protest. Before she could, he leaned closer. He gave her just enough time to realise what he was going to do and then pecked her lips. The intensity of her glare loosened as he pulled back, still looking at her with that same, soothing smile of amusement. "Come on. Help me start this thing."