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Push and Pull	By : AngelaBlythe Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > Het - Male/Female > Katara/Zuko Views: 19400 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- 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
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PUSH AND PULL
CHAPTER 08: Master Ullo
Part I
Deep inside, Zuko was glad the incident hadn’t resulted in violence. There was no telling what could have happened if they were forced to fight their way out of the North Pole. It wasn’t something he relished, especially not after the first time he’d had to do it. Zuko had a lingering feeling Katara’s assertion that they were her prisoners – however ingenious – was going to come back to haunt them. Zuko was unaware of the social complexities of the Water Tribe, and that such an assertion of ownership in the name of one tribe meant so much. In the Fire Nation, that never would have flown. In fact, if their places were switched, in the Fire Nation he would probably already be dead.
When they entered to what was to be their chamber, Zuko was half-disgusted and half-amused at his surroundings. It was a large room with pelts of animals along the walls. There were no beds, but there were piles of fur, and one window above their heads that looked up at the sky. It was of a very thin sort of ice, easy to see through. The rest of the room was decorated with four totems in the corners, and a large table in the direct center with pillows and furs around it.
Katara seemed very relieved, but when the servant left them, promising a hot meal, Zuko couldn’t help but throw a barb her way. He turned on her tired expression and raised an eyebrow. “So…your prisoners, huh?”
Her shoulders slumped. “Look, I’m sorry. I couldn’t think of anything on the spot that would have worked better. Do you really think they would believe…whatever it is that you are trying to do?”
Zuko didn’t reply, but he guessed not. Katara flopped down on one of the piles of fur and rubbed her face in it. Unbidden, an image of Katara thrown over that fur naked popped into his head, and Zuko pushed it away quickly. She sighed and then sat up. “I don’t think you and Iroh should come with me to see Chief Arnook,” she said softly.
“Oh, I quite agree,” Zuko heard his uncle say. “That was enough threats on my life for today.”
Katara nodded, then looked up at Zuko through her eyelashes. “You do trust me to relay your message just as you want – to not reveal the date of the eclipse….don’t you?”
With a raised eyebrow, Zuko considered this. “Yes.”
She smiled brilliantly. “Good,” she breathed, falling back on the furs. “I know you probably don’t feel so lucky… I mean you grew up in a palace that’s probably a thousand times more extravagant than this…” she said aloud, her face looking through the sky window. “But these are probably some of the best rooms in the palace.”
Zuko snorted disdainfully. Well, at least she was right about one thing. The palace he grew up in was a thousand times more extravagant than this. There was gold, and silk, and exotic animals. Here there was ice, and fur, and pneumonia. Still…the rooms weren’t so bad. And they were definitely better than the road…
“I can’t wait to get back to the hot springs,” she moaned into one of the furs.
“Hot springs?” His uncle perked up at this.
Katara nodded. “Well,” she considered, “They’re not really hot springs.” She sat up on the furs and pulled one over her lap. “Actually, one of the currents from the warm waters of the Fire Islands passes under the cold currents of the North Pole. They surface under this glacier, and create the feeling of hot springs.”
“The Fire Islands?” Zuko asked.
Katara nodded again. “Well, yah. Those currents are the only things keeping this place warm.”
Zuko snorted. How ironic that the only thing that kept these people alive was the warm water from the islands of the people trying to kill them. That really was irony… A few women came in bearing food. Zuko saw the chief was thoughtful enough to give Katara a new fur coat for her stay. She left into the washroom to take a bath, and when she emerged she looked…well, rather royal…in a rustic, fur-and-ice kind of way.
Her robes were light blue – the same color of her eyes, and they were tied around her slender waist with white silk. It was the only silk on the garment. The sleeves were wide and long, and trimmed in soft white fur, as was the collar that wrapped around her neck and down her side. She wore her hair up in a different, braided style with white opals in it. She knelt at the table and picked at the food that Zuko and Iroh had left – mainly the stewed sea prunes. “I can’t believe you don’t like this,” she said in a genuinely astonished voice, dipping her chopsticks in to pluck out a prune.
Zuko raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. After all their traveling and the escalations towards fighting, he was actually kind of tired. Katara was walking nervously back and forth the room, her face serious, deep in thought. He longed to throw her down in one of the piles of fur…
A knock came on the door. The chief wanted to see Katara. She gave them both the briefest of smiles before ducking out with the servant. Zuko lay back, trying to relax. The food had been good at least. Save the sea prunes, perhaps. Soon, though, sleep called.
Part II
Zuko finally woke to Katara’s bright eyes. Their room was dim because it was only lit by the dying sunshine from the ceiling window. She was kneeling at the table, a brush in her hand. But she was looking at him. When she saw his eyes open she smiled. “I was wondering when you were going to wake up,” she said softly. “It’s almost dinner.”
Zuko shot up. “Where’s uncle?”
Katara shrugged. “He left only a little while ago. He said he was going to play Pai Sho with Master Ullo,” she replied. “I’m sure he’s fine. Master Ullo is quite old, and I’m not sure he’s interested in much other than a game of Pai Sho.”
Zuko grumbled. He had found that his sleep was not as warm as he thought. Wasn’t he supposed to be warm because of all the furs? Sure he could regulate his body temperature, but he couldn’t do it in his sleep.
“The meeting with Chief Arnook went well, though,” she told him hopefully. “He says he’ll need five days to position his ships for the solar eclipse, and he agreed to all of your…um, stipulations,” she said with a smile. “Though he doesn’t know it’s you,” she added. “I thought I’d ask you before I told him.”
For a moment she just looked at him, until she ducked down her head and began writing with the brush on the parchment before her. “You know,” he said after a moment, “for a bunch of people living on an ice cube, you sure don’t know how to keep warm. I was freezing.”
Katara laughed. “Do you need more furs, your royal chilliness? I can ask Chief Arnook for some more. ‘Chief Arnook, my prisoners are cold, would you mind sending for the winter pelts?’ Oh, I’m sure he’d love that.”
“Oh,” Zuko snorted. “So these are the ‘summer pelts’?”
She looked over at him and sighed as he struggled out of the mass amounts of furs piled on him. “Well, you’re not even doing it right,” she said softly. “You have to have more furs below you than above you. The floor is made of ice you know, and your back or stomach will keep you warm if there’s enough padding. And besides –” Then she stopped short, a blush forming on her cheeks.
Zuko cocked his head. “What? No more instructions from Little Miss Water Tribe? What else, O Knowledgeable Master Katara?”
Her shoulders were stiff, and her cheeks turned a beet color of red. Then she stood up, placing the wet brush on the stone block that held the ink, and moved towards him. When she looked at him her eyes were smoldering and deep. “Besides,” she said in dulcet tones. “You’re supposed to have someone to share them with…”
Her eyes met his clear and blue as crystals, and as she was turning to go to he uttered an order. “Come here.”
She looked back at him, eyes clouded. “It’s not a game, Zuko.”
In a hard voice, Zuko growled, “And I’m not playing.” He paused, voice softer. “Come here.”
Katara’s eyes shifted to her feet, as if willing them to move. She stood at the edge of his furs, eyes eventually meeting his. Zuko stood, brushing a lock of hair out of her face, one that had fallen loose as she was writing. She shivered, but Zuko knew it wasn’t because of the cold room. Her cheeks were a little bit rosy, and Zuko raised his body temperature slightly. She looked up at him innocently, just barely biting her bottom lip. He smoothed his thumb over her cheek, tilting her head as her short breaths panted against him.
Slowly she closed her eyes, and Zuko pulled her into a soft kiss. When her cool lips met his Zuko felt a thrill of desire shoot through his body. Soon his arms were around her, deepening the kiss. Taking advantage of a soft sigh, Zuko teased the entrance to her mouth, tasting the sweetness inside. Her hands formed fists in the fabric of his shirt, and he was sure he could feel her heart thumping a thousand miles an hour.
When he pulled away to look at her, he saw her lashes fluttered and her lips were still trembling. Taking pride in the fact that he had reduced her to this, clinging to him and unable to speak, Zuko smirked.
“Why did you do that?” she asked softly, her eyes finally opening.
“Because I wanted it,” he replied sharply. Was she upset that he had? He knew she thought he thought this was all a game, but he couldn’t handle her constant accusations.
“I –” she began with a hitched voice.
“What?” he asked more forcefully than he’d intended.
Her cheeks tipped with pink as she looked at his lips. “I want you to do it again,” she said softly, leaning towards him.
This time he kissed her feverishly, pulling her to him as he ravaged her mouth. She didn’t balk at all. In fact, she returned the kiss with equal fervor, hanging onto his shoulders as he crushed her chest against his. He kissed her until she was trembling, until he felt her growing weak in his arms.
She made no complaints when he dipped her down on the furs, one leg between hers as he nipped at her jaw and trailed hot kisses down her soft neck. She actually whimpered when he sucked at her pulse point. “Zuko,” she moaned in his ear, soft and velvety. Just like her skin. His name on her lips drove his passion, made him brave. He moved his hand gently from her hip up to her ribs and over one of her breasts. She moaned his name again, softer this time, as she arched into his touch. The kisses on her neck grew more persistent, a little rougher as he cupped her breast. She inhaled sharply when his thumb moved over her nipple, and Zuko couldn’t stop thinking about seeing her naked breast, all the dreams he’d had about them…
“Please,” she breathed. Zuko was sure she was going to say ‘please, more,’ but they were interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Dinner!” a female voice called from the other side.
Zuko ground his teeth, letting his forehead drop on her shoulder. She was shaking beneath him, and he let her rise. Her hands trembled as she straightened her nice blue robes. He watched her from the furs as she walked slowly to the door, admiring the shallow swish of her hips as she moved. She paused before opening the door, her head downcast as a few women began to pile the table with food.
His uncle walked in, followed by the old waterbending master that had sat to the left of Chief Arnook. Ullo, Katara had said his name was. Ullo shuffled in, giving Katara a warm greeting. Zuko smirked as he saw how embarrassed she was. Her face was flushed, her lips swollen, and she looked as if she had just been kissed within an inch of her life. She did her best to hide this, ducking her head and taking deep, shuddering breaths to calm herself. He had done this to her…Zuko felt like grinning ear to ear.
“How fortunate of us to come in right as dinner was being served!” his uncle said, giving Zuko a bright look that Zuko knew to be treacherous. “I have invited Master Ullo to dine with us, and he has graciously accepted.”
“I see young Arnook gave you the ambassadorial suit,” Master Ullo commented dryly. Zuko wondered how old the man really was, to be calling Chief Arnook ‘young Arnook.’
Katara took a silent seat next to Zuko on one side of the table and his uncle and Ullo settled in on the other side. Glancing over, Zuko saw Katara’s face had cooled a bit, and she was absolutely demure as she blew on her tea. Zuko smirked again. Yes, he had done this to her.
“You must have improved very much, Katara,” Master Ullo was saying as he slurped some squid into his mouth. “If you have managed to capture both General Iroh and Prince Zuko. You’ll have to tell me how you did it.”
Zuko raised an eyebrow as Katara searched for words. Fortunately, his uncle came to her rescue. “Master Ullo is teasing you, my dear,” Iroh chuckled softly. “I have already told him the truth.”
“Uncle!” Zuko barked, his fist clenching under the table.
“Oh, it’s all right, he’s agreed not to say anything to Chief Arnook,” his uncle chided him.
“The young can be so impetuous,” Ullo said in a dry, cold tone. “I’ve been around for long enough to see through simple guises like yours. And spirits help me if I can’t recognize General Iroh, Dragon of the West.”
Zuko could barely form words, but Katara raised her head calmly. “Forgive my ignorance, Master Ullo,” she said softly. “But have you taken Master Pakku’s place as the principal waterbending master of the North Pole?”
Ullo sipped his tea. “Yes, though not permanently. Just as you are Pakku’s star pupil – and likely successor – young Pakku was my star pupil and successor. He, however, has chosen to go south with many of the young benders. He will be the principal waterbending master of the South Pole as he continues with construction alongside his students. I’m just here to choose a new successor…not one of these young waterbenders mind you…”
Zuko saw Katara smile gently. “Have you heard word from Master Pakku?” she asked, taking a small bit of a white fish.
Ullo seemed to mull this over. “It seems about a week and a half ago we received a messenger. Young Pakku has settled in quite nicely, and several of the younger benders have already taken wives of the women of your tribe.” Then he frowned. “Women younger than you have been made happy wives. I see you still wear Kanna’s necklace.”
Katara smiled again. “I am too young to be wed, Master Ullo. And I still have a lot to do before I can even think of it.” Then she looked down at her hands.
Ullo shrugged. “Seems to me a girl as pretty as you should have no problem finding a husband up here. You should stay.”
Zuko saw Katara’s eyes flash towards him. “Thank you, Master Ullo. But, no.”
Zuko relaxed a little when Ullo turned his attention away from Katara and towards his uncle. Katara ate very little after that, her eyes pinned to her knees. Zuko could tell she was deep in thought when she put her fingertips against her lips just briefly. Zuko couldn’t help the smirk. Yes. He had done that to her.
PART III
Usually, Katara had a problem rising with the sun. When training under Master Pakku she might have been his favored, most talented student, but she was not always his most punctual. But Zuko and his uncle – spirits help her if she didn’t kill them – were up just before the sun, seemingly anxiously waiting for the solar sympathy to begin. Katara moaned loudly and buried herself in her furs, throwing a particularly warm tiger-seal pelt over her head.
Last night Master Ullo had invited her to train with the rest of his waterbending pupils. Like Pakku, he began lessons when the sun had fully appeared over the horizon. Katara absolutely hated getting up before the sun. It was an unnatural and horrid practice. She let herself soak in the warmth of the furs – she had not been so content since before her father left… He’d always had the igloo piled with furs.
They had stayed up late into the night, long after the torches were lit, talking. Well, mostly Iroh and Ullo were talking, but after the table was cleared of everything but tea, Katara continued writing a letter to Master Pakku, and then studying from some scrolls that Ullo had brought. Zuko sat next to her quietly, occasionally looking over her shoulder at the waterbending scrolls. When Master Ullo had left, the moon was visible through the sky window. Katara shrugged out of the heavy outer layer of her robes. Underneath it was a very nice, crisp white cotton robe, and without anything else to sleep in, she used that.
She finally had to wake up when Iroh approached her and reminded her of her promise to attend the waterbending lessons.
Katara moaned again and peeked her head out of the warm furs. “Five more minutes!”
Iroh smiled. “You will be late.”
Katara finally sat up, scratching the back of her neck leisurely as the furs fell to her waist. Yawning and stretching her hands above her head, Katara looked over her shoulder and found a certain young Fire Prince was staring at her with wide eyes. She blushed and turned away, somehow made uncomfortable by his gaze. She pulled her hair back into its obligatory bun and braid and put on her old robes to train in. She didn’t want to get the nice ones Chief Arnook had given her dirty. The new anorak wasn’t of as good quality as her father’s – but that was only because it wasn’t baby turtle seal. She popped her head out and left an agitated Zuko and Iroh in the room. They really couldn’t wander about without her.
“I’ll take you to the hot springs this afternoon,” she promised as she left.
She had to run in order not to be late, and she just barely made it. Training with Master Ullo was much different than training with Pakku. For one thing, he made them do far more physically challenging activities. Katara had always relied on raw bending talent, but Ullo demanded that she train her body as well as her talent. After all, the other disciplines required a certain amount of physical stamina. Waterbending should be no different, Master Ullo reasoned.
She was challenged by a few of the boys in the class during sparring, but they weren’t quite on her level. Like Pakku, Master Ullo was stingy with compliments, and seemed to give them in a completely round about, backwards way. But by the end of the lesson, Katara was convinced that Ullo thought her an excellent master – though he made sure she knew she was nothing compared to him in his glory days. That was fine. Katara was young, and she still had things she wanted to learn.
After pulling off her anorak, Katara flopped down on the furs in her room. It was past noon, and she had yet to eat. “I trust training went well,” Iroh said as he and Zuko ate lunch.
Katara flipped onto her back, arms stretched at her sides. “It was awful!” she replied. “He made us run and haul ice and swim for miles in the cold water – all without bending. I’ve never been so…exhausted.”
“I guess you’ll be happy to hit the hot springs,” Iroh replied, a satisfied look on his face.
Katara was about to agree when Zuko snorted derisively. “That’s all? No wonder you’re a weakling.”
She bolted up. “I am not!”
He gave her a doubtful glance. “You might be a powerful bender, but you don’t have to work at it.”
Katara dropped her jaw, almost unbelieving of what she was hearing. Zuko said it all so calmly, even stopping to eat fish in between insults. “I train all the time!” she exclaimed, clambering off the furs and standing with her hands on her hips.
“Maybe you train with bending, but not your body,” he replied, not looking at her. “I could tell by how easily I tracked you. You tire easily because you aren’t in good condition. You really should work on that.”
Katara was stunned into silence. Her mouth moved wordlessly for a moment before she could speak. “OH! Is that so, your Highness,” she spat. “Well, I’m sorry I’m not all muscle and pomp like you, but I work just as hard as you do.”
She was almost too angry to realize he was just egging her on at this point. He shrugged and continued eating. “Oh, that’s it!” she seethed, her fiery temper finally getting the best of her. With a deep breath, she froze every speck of food on the table – even the bite Zuko was about to take. With a glare she turned out of the room. “If you need me I’ll be in the hot springs!”
She slammed the door behind her, not even wincing at the harsh crack. She let two female attendants open the doors to the hot springs for her. It was a regular resort, the springs being divided in half for men and women. It was a cavernous area, like a beach but under a large dome of ice. Dividing the two halves was a large wooden fence, and rocks and trees and little islands decorated the springs. She knew that some people preferred to go into the springs nude, but she couldn’t. It wasn’t really modesty, but just privacy. She didn’t want gawking… But she seemed to be alone, save the women who asked her if she wanted a massage or some oils. When she declined a massage but accepted a bottle of oil they left her.
Katara reasoned the springs wouldn’t be very busy during the ‘summer’ months – though she didn’t see why. It was dreadfully cold out still. The temperature never really got above twenty degrees on the poles, and hot springs should be wonderful year round.
For a long while she sat with just her feet in the springs, adjusting to the temperature. It was quite warm. She lay back on the cool surface of the rock – the dichotomy of having hot feet and a cold back was instantly refreshing and calming. Breathing in and out, she allowed gentle waves to caress up to her knees and back down her calves.
Her thoughts eventually drifted to Zuko. Not necessarily what he said…but how he said it. So calm and matter of fact. Did he really thing she was weak? She looked down at her body. She wasn’t bad looking. She had tight, youthful skin, and her stomach and breasts were shapely but not fat. Sure she wasn’t gifted with a lot of extra muscle, but she couldn’t help being petite. She was actually considered tall in comparison to her mother and grandmother.
She didn’t want Zuko to think she was weak. She didn’t want anyone thinking she couldn’t take care of herself. She was a waterbending master. And maybe that didn’t count for much in the grand scheme of things, but it was a goal many people never met. But of course Zuko would think she was weak. He’d saved her countless times. He’d seen her broken and dying. But hadn’t he also fought her? It had been here, at the North Pole. She’d given him a run for his money until the sun came up. And even then she had beaten him easily the following night. Perhaps lunar sympathy and his exhaustion had helped her a little there…but it certainly counted.
With a sigh, Katara sat up, pulling her hair into a messy bun on the top of her head. The two female attendants had warned her that some of the minerals in the water would cause her hair to dry out, so she heeded their warning as she sank into the water. She shivered delightfully at the contact, dipping down below her shoulders with a sigh. She inhaled deeply and stood. The water came up to the influx of her waist. With gentle, prodding fingers, she felt the scars that marred her back. She hadn’t seen them yet – having not been alone with a mirror in a long, long time. But every once in a while she would reach back and feel them. They were awkward to touch because of the angle, but the lowest scar was below her chest wrap. It was thin and raised, and cut from rib to rib.
Coldly, she pulled her hand away and reached for the oils. She didn’t even hear the gentle splashing at the other end of the springs.
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Push and Pull