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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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RISES WITH THE HEART
II.I
Katara woke with dirt on her face. She jerked as she remembered her dream. No, not a dream, she told herself. Though they were not as clear as they had been in her vision, if she concentrated hard enough… The healing methods came back to her slowly but surely.
“Every healing technique ever discovered,” Katara whispered quietly.
She gazed determinedly at General Iroh. His chest was moving up and down slowly, but it was steadier and stronger than it had been last night. The light of morning was streaming through the cave, but it was relatively dim where the cave bent towards the natural, underground water.
With a quick glance at Prince Zuko (who slept feverishly), Katara removed her torn anorak from General Iroh. In the light of morning Katara could see the full extent of the burns. They were much more ugly and widespread than she realized. With a deep frown, she moved her hands over his body, her eyes barely able to look at his face. Though the burns were clean, they glistened with pain. She knew if Iroh woke up he would be in intense pain. The burns had fried many of his nerves – perhaps beyond repair. Thanks to Tui and La she knew a few ancient techniques to deal with nervous repair, but they were difficult.
Katara was still determined, so she set to work mending his skin focusing on his hands, chest, and face. She would have to be careful not to drown the man. Even a bit of water down his nose could cause him to drown – his lungs were so weak and burned. Katara never really realized how completely a person could be burned, but she imagined inhaling fire could do this to a person. She remembered the pain in her hands…she couldn’t imagine that feeling in her lungs…
For a long time she focused on the fallen general’s hands. They were the most important part to a firebender, she’d been told. If he were going to be any use to anyone – Katara meant to her – then he would have to have his hands. Everything Tui and La had gifted her with – all the information on healing – was useful in the process. She was able to do the nervous healing with little trouble. She imagined he would be better now than he ever was, for she healed the slight arthritis that was forming in his hands as well.
Iroh’s new flesh was pink and taunt over his muscles, and Katara knew it would hurt when he began moving again. That was a hurt that was good, however – it proved his nerves worked. Laboriously, Katara focused on his hands and arms before her stomach began to growl. She knelt back on her haunches, looking at her work thus far. His hands were perfect, though pink. She imagined with a little sun they would get their original color. His arms had taken a lot of damage, too, but he was healed up to his biceps. She would have to target the chest and stomach next…
When her stomach growled again, Katara looked over at Prince Zuko. He had a travel bag with him. And he was asleep. She frowned, but covered General Iroh before brazenly crouching next to Zuko and his pack. As she was riffling through his things – odds and ends, clothes, and finally food – she didn’t notice his eyes on her.
“What do you think you’re doing, peasant?” he growled in a gravelly voice.
Startled, Katara fell back, her eyes wide. Then her eyes hardened into blue saucers. “I’m hungry, and I need to eat if I’m going to continue to heal your uncle.”
He glared at her then swiftly snatched his pack away from her pilfering hands. “Then forage,” he said stonily.
Katara sneered, standing and walking away with a huff. Forage, indeed. After al she’d done for him – for his Uncle Iroh. Stupid, selfish, spoiled little princeling. Fortunately, she was able to recognize some edible berries and mushrooms. It wasn’t much, but she gathered them in her skirt and marched angrily back to the cave about a half an hour later.
A surprising scene welcomed her when she came upon the entrance of the cave. Zuko was supporting his uncle under the arms, practically dragging him out of the cave. “What do you think you’re doing!?” Katara screamed, food forgotten, fallen from her skirt. “Stop it this instant! He can’t be moved!”
Zuko snorted at her. “Get out of my way, peasant.”
Anger filled Katara to the brim. “If you move him,” Katara said in a stony, serious voice, “he will die. There are no villages for miles, and your psychopath sister is on the rampage.”
“We’ve survived worse,” Prince Zuko said, his voice unmoved.
Katara felt her eye twitch. Glaring mightily, Katara moved in front of the prince and his Uncle Iroh. “Why, you spoiled, selfish, stupid Prince of NOTHING!” She screamed at him, her voice growing shrill. “Do you care so little for your uncle that you will let him die rather than share a cave with a peasant?!” She paused, breathing through her nose. “HE! WILL! DIE!”
Then, in an amazing display of strength, Katara bent the water from within the cave and let it swirl around the limbs of General Iroh, lifting him off his nephew’s back and setting him next to the spring gently. Then, putting her face right into that of the Fire Prince’s, “Now leave him alone!” She pushed past him, bumping his shoulder angrily.
Surprisingly, he didn’t say a word. He just left the cave. Amidst a slew of explosions, Katara knelt between her patient and the artisan spring, and smiled. A few moments later, Katara saw Prince Zuko enter the cave and slump against the wall.
She frowned.
He was eating her mushrooms.
Fortunately, Katara was beyond hunger. She sighed, trying to let calm regain control, trying to find a balance. Inward and outward she breathed, then she began to waterbend over General Iroh’s chest.
Katara ran into many of the same problems as she had with Iroh’s hands. The nervous damage was great because of the burns, and the healing process was slow. A few times her mind became nothing but water and healing – those were the times she was able to heal on instinct, when she got the most done. She tried to find that place as often as possible, because it seemed to be when she was strongest, when all the healers of the past were working with her hands. Like the Avatar State, Katara thought grimly.
It was still hard to look at General Iroh’s face. She was scared to try and heal his face, but she knew she would have to before she began on his back. For a long time she tried to remember what his face looked like before the burning. All the hair had been burned off his head, and his skin literally hung on his bones. He had a nice face, a friendly face. It was old, kindly, but had the ability to be terrifying if angry. She tried to imagine where the muscles were, where the skin was, where his eyes and hair were.
She began with his neck – an extension of her healing of his chest – and slowly worked up to his jaw, cheeks, and ears. The ears were difficult because of the sensitivity of the nerves. She was afraid a few times that she wouldn’t be able to do it, that he would be mostly deaf, or even lose an ear. But she persevered, and when she came to his eyes she was confident in her abilities. Katara didn’t know how to make hair grow, but she knew that hair would again grow where the burns had been. She had been very careful when she’d healed his nose and lips, so that no water could enter the general’s lungs.
When she was done with his face, Katara was so tired she could barely see straight. In fact, she couldn’t even move. She slumped over and fell onto the ground. She wanted sleep and food, but she was too tired to get food and too hungry to sleep. Groaning, Katara felt herself being lifted into a sitting position, cradled against something warm. For some reason she felt safe…
A low voice spoke to her. “Eat this,” it said in a murmur. She couldn’t, but she could smell the cheese. “You have to eat.”
Katara nodded and opened her mouth. Chewing, she felt some of her energy return, and she opened her eyes to the Fire Prince. This close, she noticed his eyes were flecked with gold and red – not just wholly bronze. He put another, small piece of cheese next to he mouth and she chewed, closing her eyes and leaning against his chest.
He also gave her some water, and covered her with a blanket as she slept. She didn’t sleep for very long – but it was a very sweet sleep that left her refreshed. When she turned over she saw Zuko was kneeling next to his uncle, his hand on Iroh’s forehead.
“I swear, Uncle,” Zuko said in a low, furious voice, “I will kill her for this. I will kill her.”
He heard Katara standing behind him and spun around. For a moment, he looked as if he was going to yell at her, but he opened his mouth and then closed it. He stalked past her, and Katara felt a wave of sympathy for Prince Zuko. An outcast whose own father had mangled him and banished him from his home…a boy-man who idolized a dying general… Katara remembered Yue’s words. No one is immune to it. Especially certain Fire Princes.
“Kindness,” Katara said under her breath. The Fire Prince looked at her, his eyes mysterious as the thoughts in his head.
“What?” he snapped.
She took a few steps towards him. “Prince Zuko,” she said softly, respectfully. Jerkily, still a little weak, Katara knelt next to him.
“What?” he snapped again.
Katara knew she couldn’t be scared by him. No one is immune to it… Putting up an invisible shield to his cruelty, Katara looked into his eyes and said, “Let me heal your wounds… I know you’re in pain.”
He narrowed his eyes, almost in a glare. “Save your healing for Iroh. He’s the one that needs it.”
Bravely, Katara put a soft hand on one of Zuko’s. She couldn’t decide if it was more surprising that she did this, or he allowed her to do this. “I think you need healing, too, Zuko…”
For a moment Zuko was covered with surprise – written on his face was an emotion Katara had never seen before…what was it? Then his face grew hard and he snatched his hand away. “Never,” he said angrily, “speak like that to me again.” His face twisted with rage. “Or, I’ll kill you,” he added.
Katara’s eyes fell and she walked back to General Iroh, her patient. But not before she heard Zuko spit, “Filthy peasant,” as nastily as he could. For a moment she was angry, but she just knelt between the covered Iroh and the underground stream. Zuko had turned his back to her.
Laboriously, Katara turned General Iroh onto his stomach and surveyed the damage. It was less than his chest, hands, and face, but it still took time. Soon she had healed the skin, and it was fresh and pink. She tackled his legs – a relatively easy task, and looked again into his face. There was still a problem. His lungs were burned, and his stomach had…something wrong with it. She would need help if she was going to heal his stomach and lungs.
Cautiously, Katara approached Zuko again, sitting at his side. “What?!” he barked.
Katara waited for him to face her. When he did she looked him in the eye. “I need your help, Zuko,” she confessed.
He frowned at her, and turned away. “I though you were a great healer – unequalled.” Then he paused, his façade faltering briefly. “I wish…” But he caught himself and then frowned. “What do you need?”
Katara smiled to herself. “I’ve healed your uncle’s body – his skin anyway. But,” here she paused, uncertain how to describe what she wanted to say. “There’s something wrong with his stomach. We’ve never –” she caught herself. “I’ve never seen anything like it…”
Zuko nodded.
“But that’s not it,” Katara said. Zuko looked at her, a flash of worry in his eyes. “His lungs are severely burned. I can heal them…but it’s a delicate procedure. I can’t do too much at once because he might drown.”
Zuko looked at her harshly. “What do you need me to do?” he bit out.
Katara rose and waited for him to follow her. He knelt opposite her and Katara sighed, finding her focus. “I need you to listen to his heart, and every time it beats count out in sets of five. I think five heartbeats is all I can have water in his lungs.”
Zuko nodded and pressed his ear to Iroh’s heart. “Start counting,” she said softly.
“One…two…three…four…five…” Zuko counted out evenly. Katara slipped the first bit of water into General Iroh’s lungs.
“One…two…three…four…five…” Katara slipped the water out, happy with the result.
“One…two…three…four…five… One…two…three…four…five… One…two…three…four…five…”
Katara repeated the process many times. Once or twice she thought she had messed up so terribly that Iroh wouldn’t recover. She decided to give the old man some rest before trying to find out what was wrong with the inside of his stomach. She had given his lungs a great head start, but the rest would have to heal on their own. He simply wasn’t strong enough to take it.
Zuko quit counting when Katara brushed his shoulder. “That’s all I can do, Zuko,” she said softly, leaning against the wall of the cave. The water rushed by her, and she scooped a handful to drink. It was tinged with metal but it was good. “Do you know what happened to his stomach, Zuko?” she asked quietly.
He didn’t say anything, and when she turned to him she saw he was looking at her. “Lightning,” he replied. “It’s how he defends against Azula’s lightning attacks. In one arm, through the stomach, and out the other.”
Katara frowned. “That sounds like…waterbending…”
Zuko’s eyes flashed. “Yes,” he said softly.
They sat in silence. “I wish you’d let me heal your burns, Prince Zuko,” Katara whispered softly.
He didn’t even look at her. For a long while, he said nothing, but Katara wasn’t about to give up. “It doesn’t hurt…and I can’t work on your uncle for a while…his body can’t take it. And it won’t take too long…”
When he looked away from her, saying nothing, Katara took this to mean she had permission. She walked around Iroh’s sleeping form and knelt on her knees next to the Fire Prince. He wasn’t looking at her, but when she asked him to lay down he did and didn’t complain. She studied his chest and face – they bore the brunt of the burns. He was steadfastly looking at the cave wall, not her.
Then she pressed one hand in the middle of his chest and one on his stomach – like she had with Iroh. The water flowed freely around the burns, healing the skin more completely than she had with the gash on his chest. She could see that beginning to scar. She wished she could have done it better the first time. Now, however, it would be just as ugly as his eye. She grimaced when the job was done on his chest. The flesh was a little pink with newness, but it was whole. When she put her hands over his face, Zuko flinched and snatched them away.
Katara did nothing for a moment. “I can heal some of those burns,” she said softly. “I won’t drown you.”
He tensed, then relaxed, his eyes pinned to hers as she summoned the water to work with his face. Just like Iroh, the burns had destroyed many nerve endings. She was an expert by then though…
When she was done, Zuko looked at her and felt his face. She could almost feel his disappointment when his hands went over his scar. Katara pursed her lips. “I can’t heal that, Prince Zuko,” she said in a whisper.
“I know that,” he snapped bitterly.
Katara didn’t move for a moment, but then she rose to check on Iroh. Zuko’s iron hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. Katara turned, surprise painted on her face at Zuko’s pained expression. “Thank you,” he said quietly. “For Iroh,” he added quickly, releasing her hand.
Though she was smiling inside, Katara didn’t allow herself to smile on the outside. Especially not certain Fire Princes… Katara wandered back to Iroh and began meditating over the problem of his stomach.
II.II
Prince Zuko couldn’t imagine how their attack could have gone more poorly. Not only had Azula taken the Avatar, but Iroh had been almost killed, and now he had a needy waterbender peasant hanging around him like a leech. When she had first approached him on the shore of the river he had been dying. He would have agreed to anything. But now he was halfway regretting agreeing to help her. She was a great waterbender, though a pain in the ass. But she was healing Iroh…
He had been certain Iroh would die. Azula had concentrated on their uncle, treating Zuko like a fly to be batted away. He felt more in the way during the battle than a warrior. When she had attacked him with his own broadswords he had fallen, and woken to the words of the waterbender from the South Pole. Katara…he thought unevenly.
Yes, that was her name. Katara of the Southern Water Tribe. He had faced her several times over the past few months, watching her grow into an amazing waterbender – the most powerful he had ever seen. Zuko loathed waterbenders – they were the complete antithesis of firebenders. Even their elements were enemies. But when he looked at her…he no longer saw an enemy.
He wasn’t sure when this started. Perhaps when she had bent over him and breathed life into his body, healed Azula’s cut. She was the only reason he was alive – the only reason Iroh was alive.
He hadn’t imagined she would be so…kind… No one was kind to him. His mother had been before her death. Iroh was when Zuko allowed it. But no one was kind to Zuko. No one was beautiful as Katara even looked at Zuko twice – unless it was in disgust. Or they knew he was the prince. Even then…he knew that noblewomen from the Fire Nation would be repulsed at having to marry him…much less lay with him.
But Katara didn’t look at him with disgust. And she didn’t look at him with pity. She just looked at him. …With beautiful, cerulean, clear eyes…
When he held her…he didn’t know what had come over him. But he’d felt a need to protect her. And not just because she was Iroh’s only hope. It wasn’t that…
He hadn’t forgotten her hard words at the mouth of the cave either. No one in his life had ever spoken like that to him. Spoiled, selfish, stupid Prince of Nothing! No one had ever pinned him so well, described him so accurately. Even Azula’s words had never carried so much spite and anger. Prince of Nothing! That was he. Zuko, Prince of Nothing.
With a glance over to her sleeping form, Zuko put his face in his hands. Prince of Nothing. And yet… And yet she had been nothing but kind to him since then. I think you need healing, too, Zuko… I wish you’d let me heal your burns, Prince Zuko… Her words echoed in his head. They hadn’t stopped since she’d uttered them. I think you need healing, too, Zuko… If she would drive one of those ice pikes into his brain he couldn’t thank her more…
He rolled over, away from Katara’s glowing skin…away from her soft, full lips…away from her beautiful, kind face… It was too much to hope that she might have feelings for him. It was just pity, he told himself. He closed his eyes tightly and covered his ears to the echoes of her voice.
As soon as Iroh was better he would leave her.
II.III
Zuko woke with a growling hunger. The sun had risen for the second time, and they were no closer to leaving the cave. Two days. Azula and the Avatar had two whole days on them. He frowned and walked out of the cave – to relieve himself and to get something to eat. He didn’t want to waste his rations. Especially after he’d fed the peasant the rest of the cheese.
He didn’t notice that Katara wasn’t in the cave.
However, it was hard not to notice the scene he stumbled upon next. Just as he saw her he ducked behind a thick bush, terrified she saw him, his eyes wide. Katara was…bathing. She was thigh-deep in a pooling, slow-moving portion of a good-sized stream – a tributary of the river the battle had been on, no doubt. Her silky hair was loose about her face, clinging to down her back as she poured water down her skin. He had wondered…but now he knew. All of her skin was that delicate tan color.
Bravely – he was a man after all – Zuko peeked out behind the bush. She was sitting on a rock, but she was relatively clothed with her brief undergarments. She was meditating with her legs crossed beneath her. Her hair was still wet and loose, framing her face, and her hands were upturned on her knees. Two, spinning orbs of water danced over her palms.
Zuko ducked behind the bush again, wondering what he should do. He returned to the cave, determined not to give her a reason to think he might have seen her. His stomach reminded him of the reason he was out at all, and he collected some various berries and nuts.
When he returned to the cave, his Uncle Iroh was still passed out next to the underground river. Zuko had clothed him with a spare pair of pants he had found in his pack, but Katara’s anorak was still draped over him like a blanket. Actually, aside from the pink, his uncle had never looked better. Eating his nuts and berries, he waited for Katara. She wasn’t long, but when she entered the cave he couldn’t look at her.
She seemingly ignored this, and knelt next to his uncle, moving off the makeshift blanket and putting her hands on his stomach. Zuko watched her anxiously, though he tried not to show it. She had her hands poised over his face, but she pulled them back and seemed to consider something. Then she opened his mouth carefully and said a few quiet words before plunging a small bit of water down his mouth. Her face contorted in concentration. After a few seconds she removed the water and she sighed. After a short rest she repeated the process five or six more times.
Zuko guessed she was done when she covered Iroh with her anorak and began to leave the cave. She stopped, but didn’t turn to him when she spoke. “The next few hours will tell…if it worked.” She sighed, and Zuko had trouble reading her emotions. He was usually always able to read someone… She eluded him just then. “If not, I have done all I can. The gods have him now.” She looked as if she would say more, but she walked out of the cave.
Zuko considered following her, but decided that she needed her space. He took his place next to his uncle. Iroh’s breathing was steady; his heart was strong. Perhaps the waterbender had truly done it. He touched his uncle’s forehead and sighed. And waited.
Zuko waited a very long time, during which doubted constantly. She said hours. But almost three hours after Katara left that Iroh began to stir. Zuko’s heart leapt with joy, but he was patient until Iroh opened his eyes. “Zuko?” the older firebender said with a gravelly, unused voice.
“I’m here, Uncle,” Zuko said urgently.
His uncle sighed. “Food,” he murmured.
Uncle Iroh ate quite a bit – he finished the food supplies. But by the time he had eaten and drank his fill, he sat up and began to ask questions. “What happened? I thought you were dead.”
Zuko did his best to explain. “The girl the Avatar is always hanging around, somehow she survived the battle and healed me. We took you to this cave, where she healed you as well. That was two days ago.”
Iroh nodded sagely. “We owe her quite a bit, don’t we?”
Zuko didn’t respond to that. “If you can walk, we should leave now. She made me promise to help her rescue the Avatar…and her brother. Azula has them. But I think it’s too dangerous.”
As his uncle prepared to answer, Zuko felt an angry presence at his back. “Too dangerous,” Katara said stiffly. “After all I’ve done for you –” She seemed to reconsider her words. “I’m going with you,” she said in a tone that broached no argument. Then she flung two packs on the ground.
“You went back?!” Zuko yelled, getting right in the face of the younger waterbender.
Katara turned on him with rage in her eyes. “What? Too dangerous? Why don’t you just say it? Too dangerous…for a girl!” Her eyes burned. “I’m going,” she said resolutely.
There was a tense silence in the cave, but General Iroh spoke up. “I agree.”
“What?” Katara and Zuko yelled the same thing at the same time. Though Zuko sounded a bit more incredulous.
“Uncle!” Zuko began. “You can’t be serious!”
Iroh nodded. “I’m afraid I am, Zuko.” Iroh coughed, and Katara rushed to his side, her hand on the older man’s shoulder. “She’s more than proved her worth…we can use her.” Zuko scowled at Katara’s grin.
Zuko said nothing as Katara worried over his uncle, offering him food – and surprisingly tea – from her packs. While Katara wasn’t looking, Iroh sent Zuko a wink, and Zuko growled. Leave it to his uncle to take advantage of a beautiful woman’s sympathies.
After Katara had finished her mothering and gone to sleep in her reclaimed sleeping bag, Iroh hobbled out of the cave, and Zuko followed him. He looked out at the stars with his uncle for a moment.
“Uncle,” Zuko said, taking up his previous argument. “Are you sure about this? I mean…she’s the Avatar’s friend…and a waterbender…an enemy…”
His Uncle Iroh sighed and stretched his arms. “She’s also powerful, determined, loyal…and quite lovely…” he added with a hint of a smile. “Anyone would be lucky to consider her a friend…or even a traveling companion.”
Zuko frowned. There were other reasons why Zuko didn’t want the lovely waterbender along for the journey. But he wasn’t about to let his uncle know what they were. He would have to weather the waterbender’s presence.
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Rises with the Heart