The Prince's Choice (Zutara)

XXII

Within the next couple days, there were no large catastrophic events, as Katara had been fearing there would be. In fact, things were better, if she had to put a name to it. Everyone was just so excited to be able to explore the palace they one day hoped to live in that spirits were high and the nights were filled with girls tripping over each other to tell a story about some strange portrait in the third hallway on the second floor or about how they found a room gilded completely in gold.

It made Katara almost gleeful to be part of something, since she was not without her own experiences to tell.

It also gave Katara a chance to see those she wanted to and avoid those she didn't. Namely, that would be Nadhari. The dark-skinned girl hadn't done anything nefarious yet- that Katara had seen - and she was seemingly making an honest to god effort, that is to say that she was staying out of Katara's way. But also, Katara saw her hold back a nasty comment at dinner one night.

Katara shrugged; it was food for thought, at least, to imagine that Nadhari could be good, could even redeem herself.

Was it just an elaborate plan to get Katara to not tell on her? Katara was unsure. If it was, it would only benefit everyone around her, since she'd have to keep this niceness up until the end of the competition.

THEPRINCESCHOICE

Katara managed to get her first spar in with Aang. It had been decided that since he was thought to be a Fire Nation Royal, he'd firebend from now on, even if they were 99% sure no one would be checking in on them. It was just too risky.

Other girls who wanted to spar found perfectly nice gardens or outdoor pits, but Katara didn't tell anyone about the arena. It was ultimately very selfish, but she wanted to enjoy being the only girl who knew about this area for as long as she could.

Katara found that she and Aang were evenly matched when they sparred. He wasn't great at firebending, since it was his second element, but Katara wasn't entirely schooled on how to waterbend to begin with. Plus, she'd only ever fought a non-bender. While it was still a bit strange because she wasn't fighting a waterbender, benders just moved differently than non-benders did.

The first spar Katara and Aang did, they declared a draw after two hours. Both were dripping with sweat and bleeding in one or two places, though only by accident. Sparring against Aang was tough; Katara knew the theoreticals of firebending, and while Zuko had taught Aang proper firebending technique, Aang still did some of the moves like an airbender. It was like hearing someone speak a different language with their native accent. However, Katara was determined to memorize some of the recurring movements, lest she ever get the chance to fight Zuko.

Frankly, she wasn't seeing him much.

"He's super busy with the trading," Aang said when Katara asked him. "His father keeps saying that this is just a taste of what being Fire Lord is like. Then, Azula made some comment like 'if you can't do this, how can you be the Fire Lord' and that just made Zuko throw himself into the whole thing even more." Aang gave a deep sigh. "He's impossible sometimes. The whole family is."

"I bet he's really stressed." Katara chewed on her nail, worried for him.

"He'll be alright. As soon as diplomats come in to negotiate, things will be easier. He's trying to do three different negotiations all through messenger hawk right now," Aang said, shrugging.

"Not that you're not great company, Aang," Katara said, because after around the third time of her asking, he had seemed a little glum.

"Yeah, no, I know," he said. "You like him. You don't like me, not like that, which is good. Not that you're not great, but..." He scratched his head.