Entwined

Chapter 7

Katara paced, stared, and worried for three days until Lee regained his strength. Her bottom lip had become a mangled mess from biting it so much.

The man had stayed unconscious for most of the time, only having short minutes if lucidness every so often. When that happened, he hadn't said much; just incoherent mumblings. No matter how out of it seemed, Katara had always been amazed at how sharp his eyes looked, like he was physically drained and mentally fighting it.

She changed his bandages twice a day, and the hem of her tunic was in tatters because of it. She could have used his clothing, but ripping his expensive looking fabric just didn't feel right. The bandages had soaked up most of the blood, though a small pool still remained on the wooden boards, staining them burgundy.

The amount of blood he lost, was still losing, scared Katara. If only she could have healed him. She mentally berated herself for not being good enough. Lee had been in the same spot for three days in pain and she couldn't do a damn thing but watch.

With him being unconscious, Katara had a lot of time to think. In that time, she decided that as soon as he woke up, they were getting out there.

She didn't have a solid plan, but she knew that they would have to force their way off of the ship. She didn't like the fact that someone might get hurt, but she would do whatever she had to in order to get herself and Lee away from the pirates.

The firebender finally woke up in the afternoon on the third day. Katara had thought it was just another short period if consciousness before he blacked out again, but when he started to sit up, she knew he had woken.

She was about to warn him about his hands, which had not gotten any better, but he cried out in pain from trying to pull himself up before she could say anything. The waterbender rushed over to him, helping him move into a sitting position. She pushed him back to lean against one of the crates. His jaw was clenched, eyes narrowed in pain as he let his head fall back.

"Lee," Katara said softly, "look at me." She put her hands on his shoulders and shook him a little.

He opened his golden eyes, and she hated all of the pain she could see in them. He stared at her for a minute before looking down at his wrapped hands. Some blood was visible, seeping through the coarse blue fabric from Katara's tunic. With thin lips, Lee clenched his hands into fists, nails digging into his palm.

"No, don't do that," Katara gently admonished. She quickly uncurled his fingers before he could do any damage to his hands. She put his hands back in his lap, looking down at them as she said, "I'm sorry."

"What?" His first words were quiet and hoarse.

"I... I didn't have water, for your hands..." she trailed off, still looking down.

"Water?" He asked.

"For..." her eyes widened. "Wait, what are you doing? Lee!"

He had started to stand up, putting his elbows on the crate behind him and pulling himself up. He wobbled, wincing in pain.

Katara quickly got to her feet and put a hand on his arm to steady him. "You shouldn't be doing this. You've been unconscious for so long that your body-"

She stopped when he shook her hand off of his arm and turned around to give her a hard glare. Turning back, he slowly lifted his arms off of the crate. Katara watched as he gently transferred his weight to his feet. After a moment Lee pushed himself away to stand on his own, and he immediately went down, one of his legs giving out.

Katara stepped forward to assist, but he put a hand out. "I don't need your help," he snapped, then panted from the previous exertion. The waterbender's eyes narrowed.