𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝑹𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒔

Chapter 10

Katara opened her bleary eyes as the sounds of rustling movements and mumbled "good mornings" from her fellow soldiers around her greeted her ears. The air was biting cold even inside the tent; body heat was not enough to drive off the coming chill of fall. She almost welcomed it in instead of the killing heat that controlled most of the Fire Nation's long summer months. They didn't even have snow here in the winter; just a few rain storms and generally cooler and cloudier days.

"Are you feeling better, Katara?" asked Hiro quietly, looking over his shoulder at her as he rolled up his sleeping bag. "You could sleep for a bit longer while we clean up the campsite."

Katara smiled and shook her head. "I'll be out in a moment. I'll just be in your way if I stay here while everyone tries to pack up."

Hiro shrugged. "If you need help, just call one of us."

Katara nodded, and as Qin, Faozu, Ensei, and Hiro crawled out of the tent to tend to various morning duties (cooking, feeding horses, packing up), she gritted her teeth and began the painful job of getting out of her sleeping bag.

She tried setting her elbows firmly on the ground and pulling herself out, inch by inch. That required too much movement of the abdominal muscles which sent spasms of pain through her injury, so she lay back down, breathing heavily. A few more hours of this and she'd be out in no time. Clenching her fists, she began again, trying to distance herself from the worrisome ache growing in her side, and the sweat that came with the strenuous movement.

All of a sudden, two hands gripped her gently under her arms and began pulling her out slowly. "I've got you," the Emperor said softly. "Just relax."

Katara honestly tried to, but the nearness of his presence, his breath right beside her ear, his arms encircling her body, caused all the wrong reactions. Instead of relaxing like he'd said, she just tensed up, every muscle rigid.

He seemed to sense it. "I'm not trying anything perverted," he snapped, sounding annoyed. "I'm just trying to help you."

"Thank you," she forced herself to say. Their argument from yesterday was still fresh in her mind. And the things Lt. Ensei had told her last night as well: The Emperor still thinks he owes his life to you. You could order him to set fire to his palace and he would do it to make you happy.

"Your gratitude overwhelms me," he snapped back.

Katara frowned. The Emperor thought she'd saved his life, and so was doing everything he could to help her. She understood that. What she didn't understand was why he was being such a... such an ass about it.

But then again, she admitted grudgingly, she wasn't exactly playing the part of a heroic, generous rescuer either. They were both covering up their nervousness and respective needs for distance with unkind remarks and angry sniping. Hiding beneath a mask of toughness and I-can-take-care-of-myself attitude was apparently something they both had in common. We're not making it easier for one another.

Well, Katara decided she'd be the first to change that.

As Zuko set her gently on the ground next to her sleeping bag, she thanked him again, with more sincerity than the first time, and reached to put away her things.

He didn't seem to hear her, or was choosing to ignore her, as he began to fold up her sleeping bag for her. "I'll do that," he said, his tone having lost it's earlier edge. "It'll be faster for both of us if I do it."

Katara sat silently, leaning against her pack to conserve her energy as she watched the Emperor make quick work of her things. Before he was finished, however, the voice of Lt. Ensei called the Emperor outside to deal with something involving the fire. Giving her a stern look, he said, "Don't move until I get back. You'll just end up hurting yourself again."