Hi again.
It’s been quite a while, sorry about that. I hope to keep updating as much as possible, but you know how life is.
I know I usually switch viewpoints after each story and you’re probably sick of Katara by now, but this next one is important, so I hope you like it!
Please keep commenting and voting – you have no idea how much it helps us writers (unless you are one yourself, of course). Plus, and this is a purely selfish reason, it makes me feel so great :D
Thanks y’all.
- Ellie
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It had been six days since she’d last seen Aang and her brother. Six days. Sokka might be little childish sometimes, but Katara knew he still considered himself her guardian – enough that it wouldn’t have taken him six days to track her down. And Aang… Well, she’d like to think he was the same.
Lien’s words had been echoing in her mind for hours now: ‘your friends aren’t coming to save you’. He could have just been taunting her, but somehow Katara didn’t believe that. Lien had known something. And her instincts told her it wasn’t a good something. Wherever they were, Aang and Sokka were in danger, and the only person who could help them was chained to her cell with her hands behind her back. There was no way she could waterbend in this position.
Katara kicked the cold iron floor in frustration just as the door creaked open. She stiffened but relaxed as soon as she saw who the visitor was.
“Haven’t you done enough damage to our ship, princess?” Iroh’s gentle voice chuckled from across the room. A hot cup of tea was cradled in his wide hands, its steam trailing towards the ceiling, as if he was protecting it from the harsh world outside.
“Why do you call me that?” Katara asked as he made his way over to her, cloak swishing along the black floor.
“All in good time,” he told her as he crouched down. Katara flinched away from the proximity involuntarily, cursing herself for her new weakness. An angry expression flitted across Iroh’s usually kind features so quickly that Katara wasn’t sure she’d seen it.
“S-sorry,” she mumbled, her eyes fixed on the metal underneath her.
Iroh, realising what she must have thought, quickly corrected her. “Oh no, child,” he said, “not you. That Lien will pay for what he did to you.”
Katara sighed and looked at Zuko’s uncle. In the last two days, he’d been the only visitor to her lonely cell and Katara was more grateful for the company than ever before. Whilst she hadn’t seen Zuko since the attack, Iroh had quickly figured out her favourite flavour of tea and always made sure she had as much as she wanted. He was so much nicer than Katara had been led to believe any firebender could be, especially the Dragon of the West. She wondered how he’d got that name in the first place…
Iroh held the steaming cup towards her and she took a tentative sip. The tea burned its way down her throat like it always did, clearing her head and waking her up.
“Better?” the old man asked.
She smiled and nodded.
“Good,” he said. Groaning, Iroh straightened up, his back clicking in the process. The ship bobbed up and down as the Dragon of the West turned back to the door. But before he left, Iroh looked back at the waterbender and studied her, carefully considering what he was about to say.
