new chapter of good indigestion or Zuko's adventure with Miss smarty pants bossy boots
“What are you doing here!?”They asked each other simultaneously.
“Hey jinx!”Katara said good naturedly, thus successfully avoiding answering the question.
“Jinx? What’s jinx?” Zuko said looking truly confused. Poor Zuko, didn’t even know what jinx was. Katara blamed Azula personally. Little sisters are meant to jinx older brothers, not fly in to homicidal rages and try to kill them.
“If two people say the same thing at the same time then one of them gets to jinx the other. Now you can’t speak, until I release you.” Katara replied as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. Zuko appeared absolutely perplexed. He opened his mouth, closed it again, looked around, sighed and finally threw his arms up and said:
“Jinx is stupid! And it doesn’t explain what you’re doing here.”
“It doesn’t explain what you’re doing here either Zuko. And you’re not meant to speak until I release you, but I understand that you’re new at jinx so I’ll let it go. You may speak.” She said with a magnanimous little hand gesture.
“Did you follow me?” Zuko asked
“Yes, obviously. Why else would I be out here.” Katara said.
“Why?”
Katara looked down shyly. He seemed to genuinely want to know and she didn’t have an answer. She didn’t know what possessed her to throw on the nearest clothes she could grab and run out into the night. She just didn’t like the thought of him going off to do something foolhardy on his own. And he obviously was doing something foolhardy. Nobody snuck out to do something sensible after all. Besides, she liked being around him. Not in the ridiculously moony way that Toph thought. Urgh. Katara could here the girl’s voice chant in her sing song voice just admit you liiiiike him Sugar Queen. She just worried about him. He was obviously off to do something stupid. Katara decided that the best form of defense was attack. Rather than admit she liked being around him, she fired back.
“I’m watching out for you. You idiot.” Zuko made a face at that. “You’re obviously off to do something stupid and dangerous. Because you’re sneaky off and that either means danger or trouble and I don’t want you getting into either.” Katara said in a self justified manner complete with a little foot stamp.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean danger or trouble” Zuko said a little defensively.
“Oh so all the other times you’ve sneaked off it was just to prance about safely in a field of daisys?” Katara said incredulously. Did he think she was born yesterday? He’d told (okay after she had nagged just a little)her about all the things he got up to as the blue spirit and she knew that a sneaky Zuko was definitely going to find trouble.
“Ugh fine!” Zuko sighed before conceding, “It’s a little dangerous, but nothing I can’t handle.”
“Sorry Zuko, I’ve followed you this far. I’m coming with you whether you like it or not. “ Katara said in full determined stance. She had her hands on her hip and everything. She was not letting Zuko out of her sight.
“You can’t just invite yourself along on my quest. It’s a dangerous. Like really, really, really dangerous” Zuko spluttered indignantly before realizing his mistake. Katara didn’t mind danger, Danger was Katara’s middle name. Katara didn’t mind about danger but she seriously minded her friend being a giant prize idiot and running off to find danger alone. Katara made a face and took a deep breath. She had a speech coming. Zuko seemed to have realized his mistake and was backpedalling fast.
“Did I say dangerous? I meant boring. Like really, really, really boring. So boring that you’ll write messenger hawks to Sokka that say ‘Dear Sokka. I’m so bored.’ And that’d be it.” Zuko said while putting up his hands in a placating gesture.
“Listen buster!” oh there was going to be trouble as soon as Katara calls someone buster.
“If you think I’m just going to let you swan off into the sunset…”
“I wasn’t swanning. I was sneaking!” Zuko unwisely interjected. Katara quelled this interruption with a look. She was in speech mode.
“…on some foolhardy stupid quest all on your own because you delicate male ego can’t ask for help then you’re got another thing coming! I’m going with you whether you like it or not, what happens if you get really hurt and no one is around to help you. Did you think of that!? Did you think of how worried and sad everyone would be!?” Katara demanded in a voice that could be called shrill- by a much braver person.
Zuko waited a few seconds until the tide of righteous anger ebbed. He could see Katara’s point. It would be better, easier and safer to go with a second person. But the quest was meant to give him time away from her, so he could be moony and mopey in peace. If she came along, he wouldn’t be able to even sigh wistfully without her wanting to know what’s wrong. Maybe it was a result of his pride (or delicate male ego as Katara had called it) but he wanted to do this alone. It was about his mother and that was…private. Katara thought she could just put her hands on her hips and make a speech and get her own way with him all the time. Well she could, mostly. And often she didn’t even need the speech or the hands on the hips. But this time Zuko didn’t want to acquiesce so easily.
“Katara I really appreciate you wanting to come along. But I just want to go alone and I’ll be fine on my own. I always have been. “ Zuko said in what he thought was a diplomatic voice and once again realized his mistake a little too late.
Zuko wished he could have Uncle follow him around and just stop him before he made mistakes like this. He could just stand behind him and say Miiiiistake. He knew deep in his bones that another rant was coming his way.
“Oh, you always have been?! Really?! Because I remember several instances where you definitely were not fine on your own! What about the time you nearly fell to your death fighting with crazy Azula and you would have too if I hadn’t been there to catch you, or the time……and she was off again. A very long list followed, about all the times he’d done something stupid and gotten injured or nearly injured, How she did so much for him and never got appreciated. Zuko held up a hand to silence her before she could get to the part about how he would be perpetually wearing odd socks and eating fire flakes for breakfast if it wasn’t for her.
“Okay, okay you can come.” Zuko said and Katara paused mid rant.
“Oh. Well that’s good then.” Katara didn’t seem to have anything else to add to that. And there was an awkward pause where they both just looked at each other in indecision. Zuko almost looked like he was smiling but Katara couldn’t be sure that she wasn’t imagining it. He readjusted his backpack and gestured along the path.
“Shall we go?”
Katara gave a little smile and fell instep with him as they walked together. They walked in companionable silence for a while and once every so often Zuko’s hand would brush hers and she would feel a flicker of that weird good indigestion feeling. Or maybe it was actual indigestion. Katara couldn’t tell. She’d never been afflicted with indigestion quiet like this before.
So where are we going anyway?” Katara asked after a while.
“You gave me the buster speech and you didn’t even know where we were going?” Zuko asked with a smile. Zuko actually kind of liked Katara’s bossiness, though he’d never tell her in a million billion years. But he knew she bossed as a way of showing affection, similar to the way toph was always punching him in the arm. Zuko was no stranger to weird ways of showing affection, (Zuko was still getting used to affection and he wasn’t very good at it yet) he appreciated the simple directness of Katara’s affection. She bossed, she listened and she touched. Really, she’d been the first person who wasn’t his mother or his uncle to hug him. She was definitely the first to touch his scar. He’d never let anybody before Katara touch his scar. Now she touched his scars all the time and her hands were soft and sometimes when she leaned over he could see her…
FOCUS ZUKO.
“You’ll think it’s a stupid quest.” Zuko said a little sadly. He thought it was a stupid idea too, but he just had to know.
“Try me.” Katara answered.
“We’re going to see an oracle. And prove our worth. Then we get to ask it a question. I was going to ask it where my mother was.” Katara liked that he instantly started referring to them as a ‘we’, like they were already a team. She wasn’t surprised that this would be about his mother. She was surprised that he would talk about her so matter-of-factly. She rarely spoke about her mother because it just made her too sad and she thought that Zuko rarely spoke about his mother for them same reason. It was worse for him, she thought, not knowing. At least she’d be able to grieve and move on. Not knowing would be worse.
“Oh.” Katara didn’t quite know how to respond. She was glad that she could be here, with him, after he’d been so supportive of her when they went to go see the southern raiders. They’d always bonded over their missing mothers. It was their thing. She just worried that an oracle wouldn’t be able to give him the answer he was looking for. But she didn’t think he was stupid for hoping.
“Just so you know, I don’t think going to an oracle is stupid.” Katara said after a while. The autumn night had gotten a little colder and she shivered slightly. She hadn’t packed anything, not even jacket when she’d run out after Zuko.
“You don’t?” Zuko asked as he took off his jacket and put it around her shoulders without comment just as she was answering him.
“No, When Aang and Sokka and I were in the earth kingdom,…Zuko I couldn’t take you’re jacket. won’t you be cold?” Katara turned and looked at him and thought two thoughts. The first being Ooh bare arms. Mmmmmmm. The second was oh no he will be cold. Zuko didn’t seem bothered at all and simply said “It’s okay. I can keep warm in other ways.”
“Okay then” she said as she wrapped his jacket firmly around herself. It smelled like him and that comforted her. Since when did she know or care what Zuko smelled like? They kept walking. Katara had lost her train of thought. She’d been talking about something and now her brain was just filled with Zuko smell and Zuko arms. Work brain! She remembered what she’d been about to say.
“When we were in the earth kingdom, we met a great seer called Aunt Wu. Sokka thought it was all bollocks, but everything she said came true and everyone in the village always believed her. I thought she was brilliant. She told me the most amazing things”
“What did she tell you?” Zuko asked with what Katara was sure was a smile.
“That my true love would be a powerful bender.”
“Aang?” Zuko guessed and seemed to deflate a little. The smile was gone. Katara had thought that Aunt Wu might have meant Aang at the time, but then at the time he had been the only other bender that she knew well. She wasn’t sure how she felt about Aang. She did love him, but in a similar manner to how she loved Sokka. She was started to suspect that this kind of love wouldn’t be enough for Aang and she didn’t know how she felt about that. She just knew that she never got the indigestion feeling around Aang.
“He’s not the only powerful bender out there.” She replied, perhaps a little defensively. They’d both paused on the road and Zuko was looking at her with his amber eyes. She looked at him shyly and blushed. Even if she was embarrassed she held eye contact with them. They weren’t so very far apart on the narrow dirt track. What was this…were they having a moment.
“Maybe she meant that Haru guy with that weird mustache.” Zuko said in what he thought was a comforting voice. Katara had seemed so agitated when he brought up Aang and he wanted to smooth it over and make her feel better. Her eyes widened in surprise but Zuko continued. “He’s a powerful bender and he seems keen on you.”
Katara looked acutely disappointed. He’d said the wrong thing, he knew. Maybe she was sad because her future husband had that weird growth that masqueraded as a mustache on his face. Zuko could see why. It was a stupid looking mustache. Zuko knew that Ty lee thought he would be better looking without it.
“It’s the mustache isn’t it? I’m sure he can shave it off.” Zuko finished lamely. Katara made an incredulous face and then schooled her features.
“We should probably make camp here for the night.” she said in an even tone as she pulled the jacket even tighter around her. She would not have believed it, if someone told her a year ago that she’d be in the fire nation with Zuko and know what he smelled like and wear his jacket. He sat down and started unpacking his bag. He looked up a little guiltily. He’d only packed one sleeping bag.