Steam: An Avatar Story

Chapter 3

A few days later, Katara walked into Zuko's room. He wasn't around, so she went into the inner chamber and sat down on his bench. She was waiting for him because she was going to try and do that healing thing with his hand.

"Katara," Zuko was surprised to see her in his room when he walked in. He had been busy practicing some Firebending and was dripping in sweat.

"Hi!" Katara looked towards his door. Her eyes couldn't help themselves as they traveled down his strong, chiseled body. The sweat dripping down his body was following all the hard grooves that separated the different parts of his defined muscles. Katara swallowed hard. Zuko was hot as Agni, and she couldn't stop looking.

"What are you doing here?" Zuko asked. "Also, happy birthday!" Katara smiled.

"Thanks Zu-Zu," She said. "I came here to see if I could try healing your hand." Zuko looked down at the angry, swollen, black and blue knuckles. "Also, don't interrupt me or anything when I start, let me finish."

"Sure. But don't faint this time, please." He whispered. Katara nodded and bent a stream of water over and surrounded it on her hand. Hesitantly, she touched the broken hand, willing the water to turn glowing blue and start knitting everything back together. It took a second, but Katara managed to start it.

"That's really uncomfortable." Zuko said nervously.

"What do you expect? I'm healing up a broken hand. I have to knit every bone fiber and every ligament and tendon in there back together." She was already getting out of breath.

"Okay, but don't talk anymore, I don't want you to waste your energy." Katara nodded and concentrated on her task. She had been doing extra training so she could have the strength and stamina to heal him completely.

Zuko watched, worried. Her tanned face was getting paler and paler, and she was sweating. Her hands were shaking, but per her request, he didn't interrupt. At least not yet.

A few more minutes passed. Katara was almost white.

"Katara," Zuko warned. He winced as a surge of uncomfortableness shot through his hand. With a loud pop and an incredible amount of pain, the water surrounding Katara's hands fell off, soaking his pants. Katara slumped forward on the chair, breathing heavily.

"Katara, are you okay?" Zuko asked, gently resting a hand on her head, which was currently in his lap.

"I will be in a second." She whispered softly. Zuko just stroked her hair as she gathered her strength back. When she felt better, she sat up.

"Katara, you're incredible." Zuko muttered. Katara gave him a tired smile.

"So your hand feels better then?" Zuko nodded, clenching and opening his fist to test mobility.

"Good." Katara smiled again and hugged him. "I wanted to heal it, I felt bad that you couldn't Firebend fully."

"Well thank you Kat. And now, I need you to get cleaned up and drink some coffee or something, because you have a 16th birthday celebration to get to. Katara's oceanic eyes snapped to Zuko's molten orbs and her face lit up.

"Are you serious?" Katara laughed. Zuko nodded. "You threw me a party?"

"I did. Just like mine." Katara rolled her eyes. "Okay okay, I know I don't get credit for the idea, but I wanted to surprise you."

"Well that was very sweet Zu-Zu," Katara said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now go get changed, we have a party to attend."

~~

"I can't believe he threw a party for me," Katara said to her hand maid. Katara and her had grown close over the last few years.