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Rises with the Heart	By : AngelaBlythe Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > Het - Male/Female > Katara/Zuko Views: 11670 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-PART I
- 2-PART II
- 3-PART III
- 4-PART IV
- 5-PART V
- 6-PART VI
- 7-PART VII
- 8-PART VIII
- 9-PART IX
- 10-PART X
- 11-PART XI
- 12-PART XII
- 13-PART XIII
- 14-PART XIV
- 15-PART XV
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- 11
R
ISES WITH THE HEART
X.I
Zuko had begun earning the respect of his fellow officers. In fact, he had been earning the respect of a lot of people, as he would soon learn. General Shu often watched Zuko as he trained his troops, or trained himself. Zuko, determined to have the best regiment in the capitol city, had been a relentless taskmaster – though nothing quite so terrible as latrine duty on Sunday mornings. He hadn’t enjoyed that any more than his regiment, but by the end they respected, and perhaps even liked him. At least, they offered their table to him. Not many higher-ranking officers were invited to sit with their regiment – lieutenants would, but they were just barely foot soldiers in a captain’s eyes. Zuko had declined, knowing that captains that sat with their regiment often lost the respect of their soldiers. He didn’t want to be too personable.
He did, however, choose to sit apart from his higher-ranking officers. At dinners he couldn’t avoid it – he had a duty to fulfill at the royal table. But during the day he often sat apart, or didn’t attend, mess hall meals. He trained or meditated. He was becoming known as a hard-working, respected, powerful, and crafty officer. He still fought off the rumors that plagued him – he’d been a traitor as well as an exile, or some such things. Zuko could tell people had been bored in his absence because of the creativity of some of the rumors.
His watchdog/minister, Rakun, still followed him relentlessly. One night after slamming the door in the doddering, pathetic man’s face, Zuko walked right into himself. Someone had put a large mirror in his room near the entrance. For a moment, Zuko was entranced with himself. He’d not seen himself in a mirror for quite some time – blurry reflections in the water, aside. His jet-black hair had grown several inches off his head, and he was taller than he’d thought. He instantly remembered why he hated mirrors when he saw the angry red of his scar. Slowly, hesitantly, he brought his fingers to the rim of deep red. How hideous he was…how disgusting… How could anyone look at him? How could Katara look at him? Touch him? Kiss him? He wasn’t a vain man…but he knew what handsome was, and he knew what he wasn’t.
“Like it?” a cheery, dangerous voice said from his bed. “I thought your room was a little plain.”
Azula laughed a tittering, high laugh, rolling around in his bed. “Get out of my room!” Zuko commanded.
She laughed again, sitting up and opening her arms wide. “Zuzu! Not even a hug for your favorite sister?”
“GET OUT!” Zuko roared flames bursting into his hands.
Azula’s face fell into its normal, cool façade. She crossed her arms and slipped off the bed. Her brown eyes met his viciously, a sneer on her lips. “Fine. I just wanted to let you know, you don’t fool me. And you don’t fool father. I don’t know what you’re planning, but I’m on to you…Zuko.”
Zuko’s face remained impassive. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Azula. Now get out of my room.”
She looked at him long and hard, her draconic nails drumming on her upper arm. Then she sneered and brushed past him, leaving the door of his room open. After the guards closed the door, Zuko shut his eyes, rage building uncontrollably inside of him. Azula always made him this way. With a loud, enraged howl, Zuko spun powerfully and shattered the mirror with a fire-fueled kick. The millions of pieces were set aflame, but as Zuko had turned initially, he could have sworn he’d seen…
“Blue flame?” he asked quietly. Had it been that? Truly?
Immediately, Zuko flew out of his room, men with buckets of water rushing in to calm the fire. He headed for the training arena. It was late into the night, and he would have to train himself. But Zuko would train and practice until he was sure…until he could do it again…
X.II
Katara had never been blind in her life. She’d been in the dark, like in the cave to Omashu, but she’d never been blind. Now, she was blind. She couldn’t even take her blindfold off for fear of the two other women they shared a room with becoming suspicious. The only time it was off was when she was asleep – and then she just stared into the blackness. The motion of the ship and the voices and sounds all around her became thousands of times more acute.
Just before breakfast, Jeong Jeong would come down to their cabin – he shared a cabin with three other men down the hall – and lead Katara and Toph to the main deck of the ship. They would eat the sailors’ rations and sit on the deck for hours and hours, doing nothing. She knew the voyage would be four days, but she felt as if it would never end. Time seemed to have less meaning, and she couldn’t do anything for herself.
She knew how Toph felt for the first time in her life. True, Toph wasn’t handicapped like this on the ground, but to a certain degree she was. She couldn’t see faces, just bodies and outlines. She couldn’t see colors, just vibrations. She never knew if someone smiled at her, or what style of clothing someone was wearing. Visibly, people from the four different nations were different. Usually you could tell – Fire or Water, Earth or Air. But when you were blind you could not. This made it easier to speak with her two cabin mates. They were a mother and daughter on their way back home. They had a house in the capitol where they lived with their family, and the mother had come to bring the daughter back home to see her new nephew. They were kind, and always helped Katara and Toph when Jeong Jeong wasn’t around.
One day, as Toph, Jeong Jeong, and Katara were on deck, Toph straightened and looked out towards the Fire Nation. “We’re very close,” she said urgently.
“Can you see it, Grandfather?” Katara asked Jeong Jeong.
He hummed. “No.”
“It’s there. Close. I can smell the smoke…” Toph explained, brushing up against Katara as she held tightly to the railing.
A day ago they had passed the first island in the Fire Nation island chain. It was small, and Jeong Jeong explained that it was largely unsettled due to a fire that had destroyed it ten years ago. Tropical rainforest covered most of the Fire Nation, but that island was barren, and was where the Fire Temple was located. Katara had actually been there before, and recalled its bleak appearance.
“When we land we’ll have to present our papers again,” Jeong Jeong explained quietly when a man came on deck calling their estimated time of arrival. “It will be more dangerous now, we may be interrogated…questioned heavily. It is not uncommon if the authorities search a person and their belongings, detaining them for hours, if they look questionable.” He paused, putting his hand on Katara’s forearm. “That’s why…I think I may have to do something that will hurt you.”
Katara swallowed hard. “What’s that?” she asked fearfully.
He sighed, leading them to his empty cabin. “An old man traveling with not one, but two blind girls – neither of which look particularly like Fire Nation citizens…it is very suspicious. Especially since two are wearing blindfolds, blocking the most efficient way of telling your nationality – your eyes. They’ll want to see your eyes. Toph we can get away with, she’s actually blind.”
“Thanks!” Toph said in a cheery, sarcastic voice.
“But you they will know in an instant for a foreigner unless we can do something…”
“And what’s that?” Katara asked, taking her blindfold off to see his pained face. They were alone in the cabin, but Katara was still rightfully nervous about breaking cover. Jeong Jeong had a small bag in his hand, and a frown on his face. Without his bushy hair and trademark facial hair, he looked rather fragile.
“This is salt,” he explained. “I’ve been grinding it down into a fine powder since the beginning of our trip.” He pursed his lips. “We’re going to put it in your eyes.”
“What?!” Katara gasped.
“The affect will last only a few hours,” Jeong Jeong explained. “But if we get it deep into your sockets, you’re eyes will turn red with veins and be rather unsightly. If the port authorities take your blindfold off, all you have to do is look up to hide the color, and the ugly red veins will do the rest.”
Katara closed her eyes. If it would only last a few hours…if they would eventually heal themselves…she could wash them out later… “Okay,” she said quietly.
Toph cleared her throat. “Old man, who’s this ‘we’ you seem so adamant about?”
Jeong Jeong hesitated. “She won’t be able to keep her eyes open. It’s a natural instinct. You’re going to have to hold her down and keep her lids open as long as you can.”
“Huh. Is that so?” Toph said challenging.
Jeong Jeong sneered. “In return, you’ll get to do a favor for me, little girl,” he growled, closing the string tie on the bag of salt.
“Sounds interesting,” Toph said dryly.
“My scar is an identifying mark,” Jeong Jeong explained. “You’ll need to reopen it to make it look fresh…maybe give it a nice bruise…anything to make it look recent.”
Katara grimaced at Toph’s sadistic smile, her eyes glinting oddly in the dim cabin. “Oh, I think this plan will work out just fine,” she said lazily.
Katara bit into a piece of leather as they poured the salt in her eyes. Toph’s hands were strong, her fingers immobile as they held her eyes open. She couldn’t help squirming, or little cries of pain, but nothing prepared her for her leaking eyes and stabbing stings. Jeong Jeong rubbed the salt everywhere, merciless as he held her with one arm. The worst part was seeing the salt come. After a while she didn’t have to worry about that.
She didn’t get to see it, and she almost couldn’t focus on it. Her own pain was so consuming… Pained grunts and dark chuckling filled her ears, and she heard the telltale thwack of bone striking bone. Toph must have done a fine job, because when Katara put her hand on Jeong Jeong’s shoulder so he could lead her and Toph on deck for arrival, he moved like he was in pain.
As Jeong Jeong told them, the port authority in the Fire Nation capitol was stringent and strict. After looking over their papers, a woman took Toph and Katara into separate rooms, and Jeong Jeong was wheeled away by a deep-voiced man. Katara had put on her blindfold, closing her eyes. It was about a thousand times more painful to close her eyes than open them, so tears leaked down her face every so often.
“When did you leave the Fire Nation, girl?” a venomous voice said from behind her.
She was nervous, in pain, but still confident. They had rehearsed their story thousands upon thousands of times. “I left with my mother and father when I was very young, less than a year, sir.”
He hummed, steps going behind her chair intimidatingly. “And what did they do?”
“My father was a carpenter, and my mother was a seamstress, sir.”
Still pacing behind her seat, “So where are they?”
Katara hung her head. “They’re dead, sir. A few months ago…to fire.”
He grunted, standing close behind her. “You don’t look like Fire Nation. Your skin’s too dark. You look like a peasant. An Earth Kingdom peasant.”
“My mother always said I had bad skin,” Katara replied sadly.
Grunting, he flipped some papers and walked out of the room. Almost an hour later someone appeared to give her some water, and ask if she needed to relieve herself. Katara accepted the water but stayed in the little room. A good while later the man came back in and told her to stay seated.
“Very suspicious,” he said sharply. “Three travelers, all three with something wrong with their eyes. One girl born blind, one girl blinded in a fire, and an old man with a cut up eye from a fight.”
Katara stiffened. A fight? Jeong Jeong had said they would say the injury was from falling into a sharp corner of his cabin. He would have said that. He wouldn’t have forgotten. …Would he?
“Sir,” Katara said softly, fearfully. She could get found out, destroy everything if she called out this officer. If she was wrong, and Jeong Jeong had forgotten and said he got the eye in a fight, she would ruin it all… “My grandfather fell…in his cabin… He would never fight.”
There was silence, and Katara felt waves of fear pass through her like ghosts. “Hm…seems he did say that,” the inquisitor said, sounding none too happy. “Still,” he barked, causing Katara to straighten in her seat. “Very suspicious. Two blind girls…a beat up old man…very suspicious.” He paused, walking around in front of her and putting his hands on her temples. “Mind if I take a look?”
Katara’s hands covered his. They were rough and large. She thought he must be a very big man to have hands so large. “Sir…they’re…unsightly…” she finished softly.
He snorted and pushed the tie over her forehead, gasping as she raised her eyes. She rolled her eyes back as high as they could go, but he didn’t look for long, covering them with the blindfold. After mumbling something under his breath, he left the room. A few minutes later a woman came in to lead her to Toph and Jeong Jeong. On the way she overheard a conversation.
“The old man was practically senile,” her interrogator said spitefully. “He could barely answer my questions.”
“Sad thing about the girls,” a woman said. “So young…”
“The older one would have been pretty,” replied the man. “If it wasn’t for those horrible eyes. They’re red as fire…”
Katara shuddered as Jeong Jeong put an arm around her and Toph. It was a long, hot walk to the inn they selected. When Katara reached her room, several hours of pain later, she sat before a water basin and cleansed her eyes continuously, until they felt raw. Then she closed them and slept for a long time. It was ten days ‘til Sozin’s Comet would appear. She was terrified.
X.III
It was the second time Zuko had passed out from hunger and sleep deprivation in the past three days. The first time had been in his room – thankfully – where no one could see him. He’d not slept since that night Azula was in his room – four days ago. When he’d seen the blue fire, just that small glimpse of it, he’d become obsessed. The night passed and he trained, and then in the morning he directed the regiment, and when he was done with that he didn’t even come to dinner. He went and trained. And when he could no longer use fire, he would meditate.
On the third night he missed dinner he was sitting in the royal Fire Temple, meditating over the flames. His hands were flat on his knees, and as he breathed the flames rose and fell. He was caught in a state of half-sleep. The fire consumed him, filled him, played in his mind. The meditation was intense, and then he passed out. He had almost reached the plateau he needed…
When he opened his eyes he was lying on some pillows, and the old general was sitting before the flames, meditating where he had been. He didn’t look at Zuko as the Fire Prince rose to a sitting position. Eyes still closed, he frowned and growled low in his chest.
“Eat that,” he commanded in a voice that broached no argument. There was an assortment of meats and bread and fruit on a plate, and also a large jug of water.
Zuko turned away from it. “I don’t have time to eat. I have –”
“What? Too busy killing yourself? Eat, goddamn you!” General Shu barked, breaking his meditation to glare at the young prince harshly.
With a growl of his own, Zuko stuffed a large slice of meat in his mouth and chewed it deliberately loudly. As Zuko ate (the more he put in his mouth the more he realized how hungry he was) General Shu spoke in dark tones.
“Scores of men have killed themselves, trained and meditated their lives away, doing exactly what you’re doing,” the general murmured mysteriously. “I’ve seen them, young men grow old in the pursuit of the flame…the blue flame…”
“I’ve seen it!” Zuko replied, his mouth full of food. “I did it!”
“SILENCE!” the general commanded. Rage burned inside Zuko, but he kept it, surprisingly, in check. “The blue flame is not something you can achieve! It is not a level of firebending or something that you can train to have. It is a kind of flame. A type of firebending. If you are not born with it, you will never reach it. And by now you’d know if you were born with it, boy.”
Zuko drank the water ‘til it poured down the sides of his chin. Wiping it away from his mouth, he glared at the old general. “I know what I saw.”
The general looked away from him. Then, standing and limping heavily towards to door of the temple, he turned to Zuko. “If you continue,” General Shu said quietly, “you will die. Whether it is in a week without food and sleep, or a lifetime of meditation and training. You will die never having seen that blue flame. If it’s not there, it never will be. Go to sleep, boy. I’m saving your life.”
Zuko grunted and returned to meditation. “And if you don’t appear at dinner tomorrow, you can bet I’ll rip that regiment away from you faster than oil spreads fire.”
Zuko turned with flames in his hands, but the general was gone, walked out of the temple chuckling. Zuko closed his eyes. Ten days ‘til Sozin’s Comet. He hadn’t heard from Jeong Jeong, Katara, and Toph. He’d not been able to send for them, and he was beginning to worry that their plan wouldn’t work at all.
With a frown, Zuko relented, returning to his rooms. Tomorrow he would resume…after some rest. What was it Uncle Iroh used to say to him? A man needs his rest...
X.IV
Katara smoothed her hair down before putting the blindfold over her eyes. They would be going out into the capitol that day, and Jeong Jeong would be observing the changing of the guards, trying to find the best way to infiltrate the complex. He was the only one with the skill and knowledge to do it. Still, Katara and Toph would need to know the way if their plan was going to work.
She was tired of her blindfold, tired of having to strain to just function like a normal person. But she couldn’t take it off unless she stayed in that awful room at the inn. It was better getting out. She could at least smell the Fire Kingdom. Something always seemed to be burning, and there was the perpetual scent of spice in the air. Jeong Jeong led them around for several hours, pretending to buy produce or be a sightseer. He was quite adept at playing the doddering grandfather figure, and it made Katara wonder if he had family here. Surely a man of his age was married, had a home and grandchildren? Had he deserted them as well as the Fire Nation?
After several days of stakeouts, Jeong Jeong informed them that he was going to slip into the castle and try to deliver a message to Zuko. It was four days before Sozin’s Comet, four days before everything would either come together or fail miserably. Katara looked out their third story window. The Fire Nation always seemed to have this fog over it. And it was always so bright. How could people live and never really see the stars?
X.V
The shattered pieces of his mirror had been cleaned up. Zuko hadn’t been in his room in days, he wasn’t sure why he expected them there. He looked at his bed longingly and threw off his disgusting training robe. It stunk to high heaven, because he hadn’t been bathing either. But baths could wait. Sleep was calling…
He fell into his bed with a grunt, his mind automatically going to Katara. He saw her face and moaned into his pillow. Katara, Katara…he couldn’t stop thinking about Katara. Was she safe? Was she here? Was she alive? In his mind she touched his face, kissed his lips, let him hold her…would he see her again? Would she stay…forever?
Zuko’s eyes shot open when the flames shifted. He was sensitive to the fact that they were leaning towards the windows…someone was out there. Feigning sleep, Zuko waited and listened. The footsteps were soft, careful. Whoever it was had actually crept through the window…and he was sure they were a bender.
The footsteps stopped at the edge of his bed. Assassin? Maybe… Zuko spun in his bed, fire charged in his palm. But the man gripped his hand and flung him against the solid headboard of his bed. “Very sloppy, Prince Zuko,” the bald man said dryly. “What if I had been an assassin?”
Zuko squinted his eyes, rubbing the back of his head. “Master Jeong Jeong?”
His scarred right eye was bruised and scabbing over. He’d also shaved off all his hair. “I’m in disguise,” he replied. “We had to disguise ourselves to get past the port authority.”
Zuko paused. “So…you’re all here?”
“We said we would be,” the old master said. “Tell me of your progress.”
Zuko relayed to Jeong Jeong about his rise to captain, about his connection to General Shu, and his rise in popularity amongst the public, but also the lords of the Fire Nation. He mentioned in particular General Shu’s part in Zuko’s success, which made Jeong Jeong frown in concentration.
“Shu makes it a habit to take unknown, almost charity cases under his wing. He seems to pick them arbitrarily for traits only he can fathom, but they tend to lead successful careers after his mentoring. It seems you are his latest project, Zuko. You’ve done well for your position if you have Shu’s confidence…” Jeong Jeong paused. “I have given thought to what must happen…”
Jeong Jeong stopped for a moment, seemingly to listen for anyone else who might be in the room. “Ozai is prideful, Prince Zuko,” Jeong Jeong began in a low voice. “He will want to display your uncle on the night of Sozin’s Comet, show the Fire Nation what happens to traitors. He will probably be given a public execution.”
Zuko stiffened. “We have to get him out of the city! My father’s power will be a thousand-fold that night. Even though the comet is days away, he still feels it – it’s in his blood somehow, driving him crazy.”
Jeong Jeong shook his head. “You forget, Prince Zuko, his blood is your blood. And Iroh’s.”
“It’s different though,” Zuko barked in return. “Uncle Iroh and I don’t have the madness. Azula has the madness; she could feel the comet. It may increase my powers, as every firebender’s powers will increase, but it’s not the same.”
“Nevertheless,” Jeong Jeong replied harshly, “I do not think we will be able to get Iroh out of the compound. I have been watching your father from the shadows. He visits your uncle every night. He keeps a tight leash on him.” He paused and looked out the window. “He will want his death to be public. He will use Iroh’s death to harm you.”
“We CAN’T sacrifice uncle!” Zuko screamed, the candle flaming high. Jeong Jeong glared at the outburst.
“No,” Jeong Jeong agreed. “We cannot.” He sighed and put his head in his hands. “You will stay out of this as much as possible. We cannot afford to tarnish your name, otherwise the Fire Council and the nobles will not accept your rule.”
“What are you saying? I will kill my father,” Zuko ground out.
Jeong Jeong only shook his head. “No. You do not have the power. Iroh and I will stall Ozai until the Avatar can be rescued.”
Zuko seethed. This wasn’t exactly what he’d thought would happen. “And how exactly will that happen?”
“You don’t need to worry about that,” Jeong Jeong said sharply. “Your job is to keep your hands clean, keep out of the way. We can’t have doubt cast on you, not after all everyone is going to sacrifice for your rule. Remember that before you attempt any childish endeavors.
Straining his ears, Jeong Jeong cocked his head. Zuko heard footsteps down the hall. “I must go,” Jeong Jeong said. “Try to do as I say, Prince Zuko.”
Zuko turned his head. “Just go!” he said in a harsh whisper.
Jeong Jeong escaped nimbly, just as Zuko’s doors were thrown open. Rakun was breathing heavily, his skinny face flushed with sweat. He looked up at Zuko and gave him a nervous look. “Your sister,” he breathed, “Princess Azula…”
Zuko frowned. “What has she done?” he asked darkly.
He gave Zuko an unreadable look. “Princess Azula…is dead…”
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Rises with the Heart