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Bitter Alliance	By : Looneyluna Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > Het - Male/Female > Katara/Zuko Views: 31138 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
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
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Act II

Chapter Two

--

Staring at the reddish-orange hue of the horizon as the sun rises, I sigh softly. It is the only time of the day that the sky looks as it should. The rest of the day, the sky looks menacing, as if the clouds will open and rain blood onto the land. Sand swirls at my feet as the breeze comes in off the desert.

I have been here for three days, restless and tired. Nothing anyone says can allay my worries. The baby will be here soon. I anticipate its arrival sooner than most. My back aches continuously now.

Sokka stirs and startles awake, looking around the room wildly. His nightmares have gotten worse.

Walking to the bed, I touch his shoulder softly and calm him. “It’s okay, Sokka. We’re home, now.”

Even in the shadows I can see the tears streaking down his face and hear his raspy breathing. “I dream…” he says, taking a sobbing breath. “Bad things.”

Instead of asking him what kind of bad things, I wrap my arms around him and offer him what little solace I can, for my dreams are riddled with nightmares too. I dream of Zuko. He calls to me, begs me to return him. As I draw closer, I do not find the welcome arms of my lover, but those of his father, who waits to steal my child from me. It is a nightmare that repeats in my mind until I question my own sanity.

Sokka rubs my stomach for comfort and sings off key to the large mound. “Aang,” he murmurs softly.

I pull away, my emotions on the cusp of collapse. “Sokka…” my voice is husky with tears. “Aang is dead. My baby isn’t Aang.”

My brother looks at me solemnly. “Uncle Iroh,” he whispers Zuko’s uncle’s name and pats my stomach.

I chuckle, wondering if my brother will name the baby after Appa or Momo next. Truth be told, I have considered the name of Zuko’s uncle for the child if it’s a boy. I want to honor my lover’s lineage, to honor the man who taught him to become more than the hideous soul his father fostered. If it is a girl, I will name her Keya after my mother.
As if sensing my thoughts, the baby kicks.

Pushing my brother over, I crawl into bed and try to go back to sleep. A sharp pain lances through my midsection and I feel a warm gush of fluid between my legs. Startled, I sit up in bed. “Sokka, go wake Song. It’s time!”

--

“Focus,” a warning growl comes from the shadows as the flame of the candle flickers. “Feel the energy flow through you. Embrace it. It’s different than that of the sun, warmer and more welcoming, but difficult to control.”

Exhaling sharply, I reach within myself and search for the “heat of the earth,” the inner core that lives and pulses beneath our feet.

I hear Jeong Jeong shift near me, calling upon his abilities to put the flame out. This is basic Firebending, but necessary. Instead of harnessing the sun, he harnesses the earth. It is a strange discipline, one I am unaccustomed to and find great difficulty grasping. How does one harness the power of the earth to create fire?

As children, we are taught that we are descendants of the sun, and that even though it is far away, its heat lives within us. Now that the remnants of the comet block the sun, most Firebenders are powerless.

My father was ruthless, not only destroying the other nations with the fire rain, but establishing his reign over all his dominion.

There is a sect of Firebenders – a rather small number – who have learned to overcome this disability and tap into the heated core of the earth. Jeong Jeong is one of them, and I am practicing to become another.

As I slip into the meditative trance, I feel my body temperature begin to rise. This is the exercise – to touch the core and regulate my body temperature. As my mind slithers into the soil, an element alien to me, it yields to me. I am not bending it. It is welcoming me, pleading with me to restore the balance between all elements. The earth shelters us, but it cannot do so forever.

A burning pain racks my body and I lose my tenuous hold. It feels as though I am a great distance. My eyes snap open and the flame that I had been focusing on is out. I get the impression that a great amount of time has passed. I can never tell without the rising and setting of the sun. It feels as though I haven’t eaten for days and my stomach growls.

“Welcome back,” a soft voice greets me from the shadows of the cave. “How do you feel?”

Mahari steps into the light and eyes me with concern.

Shrugging my shoulders, I try to stand, but my legs are weak and do not cooperate. I fall to the ground in a confused heap.

“Don’t worry,” the seer soothes me. “It took Jeong Jeong a week to get back to his old self when he tapped into the core. Tell me, what did you see?”

I am frustrated by my own feebleness and attempt to stand again. “I saw nothing,” I hiss with effort. “I felt pain. In fact, I still feel the pain.”

Offering me a hand, Mahari frowns. “That is odd.”

Slapping her hand away, I pin her with a warning glare and manage to pull myself up to sit against the nearest wall. “Instead of getting all mysterious, why don’t you just tell me what the hell is going on!”

She calmly tucks her hand into her sleeve and sits in front of me. “The pain… Describe it to me.”

I can see that the seer isn’t going to leave me alone until she gets what she came for, so I reluctantly close my eyes and try to recall my experience. The pain lances through my gut and lower extremities. With the pain come strange and vivid images.

The air is dry and I lick my lips. A woman with dark hair and eyes holds my hand.

“Listen to Song,” the woman says worriedly.

“I am exhausted,” I murmur softly, the echo of my words bouncing off the cave walls. “As though I have expended a great amount of energy.”

A baby cries in distance and people are gathered around it, trying to comfort it.

“There is a baby. It is crying.” I shift uncomfortably and feel the need to go to it.

“You aren’t done, Katara,” the healer cautions.

“Katara!” I call out, my heart and soul aching as realization dawns on me.

“Push!”

“I can’t!”

“You must!” the healer commands.

“The second child… Was it born?” Mahari questions, a voice seemingly floating in a void as I try to move through the pain and focus on Katara.

I can see the vivid blue of Katara’s eyes. She is exhausted and worn.

“Please,” she pleads. “Take it. Save the baby.”

The healer works quickly, gathering supplies and mixing them in a bowl. She rubs the mixture onto a cloth and holds it to my lover’s mouth and nose. “Breathe deeply,” she instructs solemnly.

Tears mar the perfection of Katara’s beauty as she takes a shuddering breath and closes her eyes.

“You knew!” I rasp in pain as the images fade and I open my eyes. “You knew!”

Mahari’s black eyes are filled with remorseful worry. “Yes,” she hisses. “I knew she carried two babes within her womb.”

“Why?” I ask her, the agony of what I have just seen fresh on my mind. I want to shake the woman before me, but I resist the inclination. It isn’t her fault. It is mine. If I had only been strong enough to stand against my father…

The seer grasps my sleeve. “Did you see whether the second child was born?”

Pushing away from her, I struggle to stand, but fall onto my knees. She repulses me. She is only concerned about the second child. She has the same gleam in her eyes that my father gets when he hungers for power.

“Is she alive? Is Katara alive?” The words stick in my throat.

“Is the second child born?” she counters my question with the same question as before.

I slam my fist into the ground, feeling helpless and scared. “I don’t know. I didn’t see it!”

Mahari paces the length of the cave like a caged animal. “It must live. It must! No matter what the sacrifice!”

I close my eyes as the tears threaten to spill. Just like my father, the woman before me has an agenda. What it is, I do not know? “Is Katara alive?” My voice is filled with anguish as I realize the depth of the fateful plot that has ensnared Katara and me. Even now we are not truly safe.

Mahari waves her hand in frustration. “I have not seen her death, but it doesn’t mean she isn’t dead. Most women do not survive the birth of multiple children.”

I long to strangle the woman before me, but the wariness has taken its toll on my strength. Even in the ill-illuminated cave, her dark eyes shine.

“There is a way!” she exclaims, madness clear in her inflection. “Once you’re rested, you can connect with the core again. That is what allowed you to see such a distance.”

Without Katara, my own soul holds no value. “I will not seek the core again.” I prepare myself for her wrath, but she merely stares at me in disbelief. I do not know what this woman wants. Nor do I care. Katara is most likely dead; as is the second child this woman is so obsessed about.

“If you want knowledge of the second child, do it yourself.” I wait for her to strike at me, releasing me from the misery of this life.

Instead, she does something totally unexpected. Kneeling next to me, she touches my scarred flesh and presses her lips against it. “Forgive me,” she whispers next to my ear. “My gift is sometimes a curse. As I ponder my visions and their meanings, I often lose sight of the people they are about.” She rests her head on my shoulder and shivers in the damp cold of the cavern.

“The Fire Sages were right,” she continues. “The Avatar has returned – born of fire and water. I do not know how this is so, but the spirit of the earth has been sent forth among us again.”

Pulling away from me, Mahari leans against the wall of earth. “I am sorry. I did not mean to belittle Katara’s sacrifice for the greater good.”

“Stop it!” I demand, crawling away from her. “Stop talking like she is dead!”

“Prince Zuko –”

I keep crawling away from the seer. “Leave me!” I rail. I know what she is trying to say, but I do not wish to hear the words. Katara is alive. I know she is. I hope she is. She is strong. She would never leave our children.

--

TBC

A/N – Many thanks to Spleef for beta-reading. I love you, man!
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Bitter Alliance