Chapter Three: Hold On
The sun had finally risen, glaring into my eyes but coaxing the cold water off my skin. Katara and I were too tired to hurry back to camp, but too motivated to fall asleep right there on the bank. So we walked across the clearing together. We didn't talk to eachother at all, but kept our heads down and thoughts elsewhere. Soon we were at the forest again, and so we began retracing our steps.
It was evening when we finally reached our campsite. Appa was standing, munching on the foliage around him. Everything was exactly where we left it. For a fleeting second I wondered why bandits hadn't stolen our supplies— then I realized that monster of a bison had been unknowingly guarding the site for us.
I sighed. Finally, partly to break the silence and partly because it was true, I said: "I'm starving." I threw myself onto Appa's fluffy tail and rubbed my sore feet.
"So am I," Katara agreed. Her voice was softer that usual from not using it all day. "We still have some leftover food from last night…"
"Good, 'cause I'm too tired to find more," I said, struggling to keep my eyes open now that I was lying on a blanket of soft warm fur. I rubbed my eyes and climbed onto the saddle.
"Appa has had his rest, though." Katara joined me, setting the leftover nuts between us. "We could sleep while he travels."
Appa let out a consenting grunt, as though he understood our conversation.
"Yeah, that sounds good," I agreed. "But where are we going?"
"Well… where would Zuko be heading?" she asked, probably more to herself than to me. After a moment she concluded: "It must be Agni-Shi."
I almost shuddered. The prospect of going to the capitol of the Fire Nation was scary… Unless we intercepted them on the way— only then we could avoid the city.
"How do you know?"
"A few months ago, Prince Zuko captured Aang. And the first thing he said is that he was going home." Katara paused. "Then Aang escaped, of course…."
But can he escape again? was the question we both asked ourselves.
"We could follow the river," I suggested after a few moments. "The river that the ship is on right now. Appa can fly as fast as it can sail, right? I'm sure we'll catch up to them soon enough."
Katara nodded. "That's a good plan. I'm sure Appa can do it. We should leave as soon as possible…" She cast a worried look in the direction from which we came, the direction of the river, as though hoping to see the ship's dark-gray mast sticking up above the trees.
"Everything's packed," I told her. I hoisted myself up onto the saddle and Katara yip-yipped.
We sped into the sky. My stomach didn't lurch now as much as it did during the first lift-off; I was ready for it this time. In fact, I realized that I was beginning to enjoy the breezes that would whip my hair across my face, and I could look down at the doll-like villages and forests without feeling sick to my stomach.
The sun was high in the sky, it was about noon, but Katara was asleep on Appa's shaggy head. I found it wasn't hard to drift off myself, although the sun might have been glaring through my eyelids. In a moment sleep had enveloped me in a warm cloud.
I laid in a state of half-sleep: my senses not fully recovered, only vaguely aware of the world around me. I found my thoughts drifting unrestrained.
The shutter creaked open. Just a crack, enough for the little boy to peer out the window into the sunlight.
He saw them: two Fire Nation soldiers, red and black armor clanging, marching down the village street. And between them was a man, green-clad with his head held up proudly, showing no trace of fear.
The boy gasped and ran to the back of the room. The low murmur of voices came to an abrupt halt as he threw the door open. "Haru!" scolded his mother. She sat at a wide table with several adults, who Haru knew to be the village Leaders. "You know not to disturb us during our meetings---"
"The Fire men!" he cut her off, his young vioce shrill with panic. "They were marching down the street. And they have an Earthbender!"
The men and women glanced at eachother, scared but composed. They arose, one by one, and moved to the main shop room. Standing at his mother's side, Haru saw doors of other houses opening, heads peering over windowsills, women across the street crying. For there wasn't only one set of Earthbender-and-Captors, but a whole parade of them marched down the street.
Haru looked up at his mother's face. She was once so happy, always smiling. But since the Fire Nation invaded the village last month, he could already see lines of worry on her face, and thin streaks of gray in her hair. And now tears rolled down her cheeks.
But is mother was invincible! The knowledge that even she could cry was impossible to bear... Frightened, Haru turned his gaze back to the street.
His father was being held by two Firebenders, hands tied behind his back, head proudly held high. As he passed he turned his head, meeting his wife's sad eyes. And then he looked straight at Haru. His fearless eyes clearly said to Haru's scared ones, "Be strong."
But Haru couldn't. Tears stinging the corners of his eyes, he turned and ran.
I sighed, eyes still closed, trying to banish the memory from my mind. I knew how disappointed his father must have been of me. I was supposed to be strong; I became the man of the house that day. But instead I ran away, I tried to hide from my fears…
And I still do, I realized guiltily.
Then a cool wind of dusk blew over me, fully pulling me from sleep. When I looked over the edge of Appa's saddle, I could see the clear river feeding into the sea. The Fire Prince's ship was nowhere in sight.
"Katara," I said, crawling across the saddle. I slid down the bison's neck and onto his head where Katara was still sleeping peacefully. "Katara," I said again, shaking her shoulder.
"Wha…what?" she said, lifting her head. Half-dried streaks of tears ran down her face. She blinked sleep away and quickly rubbed the wetness from her eyes.
"What's wrong?" I said, almost shocked.
"Oh, oh nothing's wrong." She smiled at me, embarrassed for crying. "The wind just makes my eyes water…"
Of course, I thought, she misses her brother and Aang. I felt horrible doing so, but I knew I had to… so I reluctantly told her: "I don't know where they are. I think Zuko lost us."
"Oh…" she said with a gasp. Katara bit her lip and looked down at the empty sea ahead of us.
I cast a worried glance at Katara. Her eyes were sorrowful; the bright blue I vividly remembered from our last meeting now seemed a duller melancholy shade. How is she taking all of this? I wondered. I knew how much harm grief could cause, and I didn't want the same to happen to her…
Katara kept her mind on her task: reaching the Fire Prince's ship. She slept little and worked hard. My eyes were stinging from the harsh cloudless sunlight and cheeks numb from the cold whipping wind. But Katara was still determinedly holding the reins, her long dark plait lashing in the rough wind. We had been flying around the edge of land for the past five hours since I woke Katara up, and the afternoon was quickly fading away.
"Katara, we have to land," I begged for the third time.
"But if we don't find them now, we might lose their trail forever!" she said frantically. She had a hand on her brow, squinting directly at the sun in the horizon, searching for the silhouette of Zuko's ship.
"If we don't land now, Appa will faint of exhaustion and us from hunger. That wouldn't help the Avatar and your brother."
"You know that's not true. We slept all day!" she parried. "And Appa rested as well. We could keep flying into the night and find them!"
I sighed. "We have no idea where they are, though. They could be heading in any direction for all we know. Why don't we stop and—"
"—Ask for directions!" she finished suddenly, her face lighting up. "That's a great idea, Haru. I'm sure somebody has seen the ship!"
I frowned. That wasn't exactly what I had in mind. But if it gets us out of the air, I thought, then I'll go along without objection.
Katara pulled on Appa's reins and we soared towards the seashore.
After we landed and set up camp, we saw a a small family of refugees approaching on the path.
"Hello there!" Katara called to them. I recalled my own first "meeting" with Katara as she greeted the travelers, a smile on my face. They were taken aback at first, but soon told us everything they knew about the ship — which was nothing — and even offered that we share a meal together. However Katara declined; we were too busy searching for the lost ship.
She walked back to me, bidding the family good-bye.
"I'm glad you said no to them," I told her.
"Why?" she asked curiously.
I replied, "Because we can't trust them."
Katara frowned. "They were a young family, Haru, only two little kids and parents... What, did you think they were sent to murder us?"
"Haven't you ever heard of a family of bandits?" I said, shaking my head. "We can't trust anybody…"
"You sound like Sokka," she told me, a smile creeping across her face. "You worry too much."
"That's because you don't worry at all," I replied with a sigh.
She stopped each of the next civilians we came across as I searched for a good campsite, asking if they had seen the ship; still I could do nothing but keep a wary eye on them, ready to protect her from the results of her own trustfulness.
I had expected silence. I had expected seclusion. But I had not considered that this was Katara, not me. She apparently had a different way of dealing with grief: relishing the happy memories.
After she had finally settled back to camp, Katara talked nonstop during our small meal of lychee nuts. She entertained me stories of her adventures with Aang and Sokka.
"So Aang got a great idea: he tied the bags of food to the front of the Canyon Crawlers, and we rode them up the canyon wall! It was amazing!" Her eyes shone as she recalled the memories of her closest friend and dear brother.
I peeled the skin off another lychee nut. "Wasn't that scary? Riding a giant bug straight up a huge wall?"
"Heck yes!" she laughed. "But it was better than staying in the canyon and getting eaten."
We both laughed.
The next morning, Katara and I were gathering our supplies so we could begin another day's journey. She seemed thoughtful; her eyes were on her task but they seemed glazed over. Then she turned to me as though sudden realization had struck; she looked awed, confused, and surprised all at the same time.
"Haru," she said to me, turning, "why are you still here?"
"What?" I said, caught off guard and confused. "What are you talking about?"
"You! Why are you coming with me?" she exclaimed, taking a step closer. "You said you were travelling to Ba-Sing-Sei to get a master. Doesn't your village need you, Haru?"
I hadn't even thought of it this way before. Doesn't your village need you, Haru? The words rang in my head, shocking and painful. It was a few moments before I recovered and came up with an answer.
"Katara," I said, "you couldn't save them by yourself..." I took a step closer. "I couldn't let you travel alone. I… I care for you, and I don't want anything to hurt you…"
Katara's eyes bore into mine. "But your village…" she said softly.
My mind made up, I said, "I think the Avatar—the fate of the world—is important enough for one soldier to be a little late."
She nodded sadly and turned away.
And I bit my lip guiltily.
A/N: AAAHH! This thing took FOREVER! I am so sorry! My site is soo high-maintenance, it completely runs my life now. And I don't even like this chapter... Hopefully the next chapter will come sooner.
The chapter is all cut-up into little bits, if you hadn't noticed. I used like ten ruler things. That annoys me, but it ended up that way because half the chapter used to be one paragraph.
That little "you don't worry at all" line came from the Revenge of the Sith novel. If you like Star Wars, read that book NOW! It's awesome!
Another huge thank-you to Hotspur for motivating me and giving me the flashback idea!