Chapter Text
When the only male around you that’s your age is your brother, you don’t really think of soulmates that often. In fact, her soulmate hadn’t crossed her mind since her mother died. She used to tell Katara stories of how one’s love for their soulmate was so strong that they pulled from each other’s chi. It was a magnetic force, that switched when they got close. It was love so strong, that there was a need to share experience. It all sounded so romantic to her then.
Now? Not so much.
It started when she found Aang. At first, she just thought he was a cute kid who was an airbender. They went penguin sledding together and they explored the abandoned Fire Nation ship together. It felt nice, having someone other than her brother to spend time with. It didn’t feel so nice when the snow turned black, and the Fire Nation ship knocked down their ice walls. It especially didn’t feel nice when the Fire Nation Prince demanded to know where the avatar was and Aang turned himself in.
But the worst of it? When the Fire Nation Prince realized he couldn’t bend. Katara knew what that meant, she was the only girl his age around for miles, and unless Sokka had yet to tell her something, she was pretty sure he couldn’t bend because of her. She didn’t say anything, of course, not when they all escaped on Appa, not when Aang and Sokka didn’t seem to put it together.
So, now as she wandered around Kyoshi Island, she couldn’t help but think of her mother and those stories of love. And she realized that that’s all they were: stories. (Her mother obviously knew nothing of the Fire Nation Prince, who tried to destroy their village, who was trying to capture the Avatar and end the world’s last chance at peace.) She tried not to think about it at all, really. Couldn’t come to terms with the idea, and sometimes if she thought on it too hard, she’d stumble over a bush and vomit.
She watched her brother flirt with Suki, the leader of the Kyoshi warriors, and felt jealous. Sokka was free to do whatever he wanted with whatever non-bender he pleased. There was no way of knowing if Suki was his soulmate or not. (Suki seemed sweet. Suki seemed to want to make the world a better place.)
She watched Aang flirt with all the girls on the island, too. They followed him around and he showed off his airbending, trying to ride the unagi, posing for pictures with them. Doing typical fourteen-year-old boy things.
Katara tried to convince them that they needed to go, they had been there long enough. But Sokka always said he had one more move to learn from Suki, and Aang said that he promised the girls he would do something with them. And Katara would storm off angerly, asking herself why she even tried.
So, she found her own things to do on the island. She collected supplies and found maps and collected more supplies. (Okay, so she didn’t have a lot to do on the island.) She had walked into the local hospital to collect some bandages, to try and form a first aid kit of some sort. The doctor said she could have some bandages, as long as she would help around. They were understaffed and needed as many hands as they could get.
Katara now had her own reason for wanting to stay: there was always another patient that needed help.
She started to have tea with some of the girls her age (mainly the Kyoshi Warriors) and they would giggle and gossip. Katara tried to follow along, but she wasn’t familiar with everyone they were talking about. One girl, Mili, was telling her all the details of having an earthbending soulmate. She complained that he always avoided her and she had to stay away from one side of the Island, just so he could learn how to earthbend. She had just finished telling them a story of how she accidentally walked too close to him while he was training and he hunted her down, telling her to stay away from him.
“I mean, soulmates are supposed to be the love of your life, and he so obviously hates me. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” she put her head in hands and Katara reached over and rubbed soothing circles on her back.
“That must be so frustrating,” Katara validated. Mili nodded into her hands and all the other girls started adding in little comments.
“Screw him.”
“He is such an ass.”
“He’s my neighbor, and he always threw a fit when he didn’t get his way.”
Katara corrected herself, “That must be so frustrating for the both of you.” Mili looked up at Katara, questioningly. “The way he must see it, you’re the reason he can’t bend. Think of the reasons why he would want to master earthbending, I mean, there’s sort of a war going on. You’re learning how to defend yourself and your island, why shouldn’t he be able to as well.”
Mili started crying, “You’re right Katara,” she put her head on Katara’s shoulder, “and I’ve been treating him like an awful person, gossiping about him. When all he wants to do is protect our village!”
Katara started patting her back, “That doesn’t excuse the way he’s been treating you, Mili. You’re valid in feeling this way and talking about it with your friends.”
Mili sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Really?”
“Really,” Katara assured.
Suki looked at her with pursed lips, “You seem very wise in the matter, Katara, have you met your soulmate?”
Katara worked to keep her face still, not wanting to give anything away, “No.” She shook her head, innocently. “I just can’t imagine how hard it would be to suddenly loose my bending.”
“I didn’t know you were a waterbender!” one of the other girls exclaimed.
Katara shook her head, laughing, “I’m not a very good one.”
“Well, you just haven’t’ been properly trained,” Suki said. “What was it like growing up in the Southern Water Tribe?” she asked, with a slight blush.
One of the other warriors corrected her, “You mean, what was it like growing up with Sokka?”
Suki blushed and all the other girls started giggling. Katara couldn’t stop herself from joining in. She told them storied about Sokka as a kid, groaning about how sexist he is (he’s not like that anymore, Suki said), lamenting over the games they used to play (Fire Nation Attack), laughing about all the stupid things he did (accidentally setting his pants on fire while trying to get warm, slipping into his own hunting traps, knocking down a whole igloo while training with a spear), and talking about how strong he is. Sokka was always there for her, always. When her mom died, when their dad left, Sokka was there.
She turned to Suki with a glint in her eye, “Do you think Sokka is your soulmate?”
“I hope so,” was all Suki said. Katara wished she still had the uncertainty, the giddiness of not knowing.
Her heart ached for that feeling when Zuko did come to Kyoshi Island, when he had his men burn down the village, when it was confirmed that he couldn’t in fact bend. She didn’t look down as they escaped on Appa.
She never should have stolen that Water Bending Scroll. Now, she was tied to a tree with her mother’s betrothal necklace dangled in front of her, and the only thing she could think of was how much she regretted taking that scroll. Looking her soulmate in the eyes as he preached about honor, she scoffed.
“Water tribe peasant,” he sneered at her. “I can’t bend anytime you’re around me.” Katara looked up at him as realization donned on her. Her eyes widened and he seemed surprised. “What are you doing to me?”
And then, Katara laughed, in his face. “You don’t know,” she said, in between tears.
“Know what?” he demanded. But she kept laughing. “Why are you laughing?” he was yelling now. He grabbed her by the throat and said, “I’ll give you something to laugh about.” Katara immediately stopped.
She sucked in a breath and said, “Why don’t you ask your uncle, Fire Prince.” He let her go. He threw her necklace onto the ground and stomped on it. She watched as the pendant snapped in two, but no, she wouldn’t cry. Wouldn’t let him get to her.
“Tell me where the avatar is, peasant,” he said it like a curse word, hatred oozed from his lips.
She spit in his face.
“How would I know? You’ve tied me to a tree!”
He wiped her saliva off of his face, “You’re going to pay for that!” but before Katara could find out how, he was cut off.
“Prince Zuko.” General Iroh said, sternly, “It is not honorable to attack someone while they are incapacitated.” Zuko stepped away from her at once.
“It’s no worries,” Zuko sneered at her again, “he’ll come and try to rescue you anyways.”
And so, when Aang and Sokka did come, and they did rescue her. All she could do was smirk from Appa as they were flying away.
…
Katara stumbled out of the desert. She was so happy to find a town, maybe someone could spare her some water. Her skin was covered in welts that needed healing and her throat ached to be soothed by her element.
Getting separated from the group wasn’t exactly the plan, but she knew that they would meet up in Ba Sing Se. She just had to find a way to get there. But first she had to find water, and after hearing, “I’m sorry, we just have nothing to spare,” for the fiftieth time, she gave up and started walking towards the next town.
She felt him before she saw him. She could feel how her body heated up with her new firebending abilities, how her own flowing nature felt drained. She no longer had the connection to the water inside her, to her chi. Instead, she felt his. It felt hot and quick flowing through her. She hated this feeling. It didn’t take long for him to make himself known in other ways. She heard his familiar voice arguing over the price of his ostrich-horse. She turned her head with a sigh, there he was, dressed head to toe in Earth Kingdom clothing. He had hair and he would have looked attractive if it wasn’t for his massive scowl on his face.
(The last time she saw him, he was bent over his uncle, crying. Katara looked back helpless, knowing she couldn’t do anything to heal him, before walking away.)
He could apparently feel her too because he turned and looked at her with nothing but a glare. But then he took notice of her getup. Clothes, thin and torn, welts caking her skin, her lips as dry as the earth surrounding them. His face softened and he turned back to the dealer. He gave Zuko five silver pieces in exchange for his companion and he walked towards her.
“You look awful,” he said. Not in a cruel way, but in a matter-of-fact way. That didn’t stop Katara from being offended.
“Oh Zuko,” she brought her hands to her face, “always the charmer.” She said with a fake smile that dropped soon after.
“Well, I am your soulmate,” he said, the last word dripped from his lips and if it came from anyone other than him, she would have liked it. His uncle must have told him, finally, he deserved to know. (Just not from her). “And it’s Lee, now.” She continued walking, she didn’t plan on addressing him as either anytime soon. He followed behind her. “So…” He started awkwardly, “Where are you going?” Katara rolled her eyes, why did he care?
“I have to find water. Unless you happen to have some on you?” she asked that last part as a joke, it’s not like it would do her any good with him following her around like he was.
“I could buy some,” he suggested. Which made Katara stop in her tracks. Zuko almost ran into her.
“What are you doing?” she asked, without turning around to look at him.
Zuko sighed, “I’m not your enemy anymore, pea-sant?” His name for her was more like a question and Katara realized that he didn’t actually know her name. She could have laughed.
“That doesn’t mean you’re my friend.” She said and continued walking, this time faster. (As fast as one could go without drinking any water for a day and without eating for even longer.)
“I’m trying to help you!” he shouted behind her, in his pouty I-didn’t-get-my-princy-way kind of way.
“I don’t need your help,” she turned around and said. When she looked at him, he looked defeated. She turned back around and walked away, not bothering to check if he followed her.
Zuko was never too far off from her because she never felt her chi come back. She was arguing with an innkeeper, begging him to let her stay just one night in the inn, when she heard his raspy voice behind her.
“I’ll take one room and one meal,” he commanded, putting a silver piece on the counter, a silver piece that she didn’t have. The innkeeper turned away from her and inspected the silver piece. He went to give Zuko his change when Katara butt in.
“Make that two meals.” Both men looked at her confused, but Katara could only think of her aching throat and rumbling stomach. “You said you wanted to help me.”
“Deals off the table, why don’t you go ask your pride for a meal.” Zuko snubbed. Katara could feel panic start to bubble over her over what she was going to do, how she was going to survive the night.
She felt the ghost of tears forming in her eyes, though her body could not produce them herself. “Please, Z—"he raised his one eyebrow, “Lee” she corrected and looked into his eyes. He sighed.
“Make that two rooms and two meals,” he decided on.
“Are you sure about that, kid?” The innkeeper asked, “I can throw her out on the streets.” Katara liked to see him try, but without her waterbending she was pretty much useless.
“I’m sure,” Zuko nodded.
The innkeeper shrugged, “Well, I only have the one room and we don’t let unmarried couples stay together.”
“We’re soulmates,” they said at the same time. They gave each other side-eyes.
“Whatever,” the innkeeper sighed, handing Zuko the key to his room. “Dinner is served at sundown,” and then to Katara he said snidely, “think you can wait that long?” Zuko took her hand to lead her to their room, but Katara ripped her hand out of his. The innkeeper mumbled something like, “Soulmates my ass.” But Katara didn’t care, they got the room.
They walked in silence. When they got to their room, Katara noticed a bath full of water. She didn’t hesitate to strip of her torn garments until she was dressed only in her wrappings. She practically jumped into the water and let out a little giggle. The water stung against her injuries, but it felt too good to be soaked in her element again. She wished she could heal herself, it seemed like such a waste to have all this water that she couldn’t use. She longed for the South Pole, to be surrounded by all forms of water. Things were simple back then. She didn’t have to worry about dehydration in the South Pole, she didn’t have to worry about Zuko, in the South Pole.
She had just allowed herself a small sip of the water, though it was contaminated by her filth and was definitely not meant for drinking, it was worth the look of disgust Zuko gave her, as the ache in her throat softened.
“What’s your name, peasant?” He didn’t ask in a demanding way, she could tell that he genuinely wanted to know. Katara chose to hold her breath and stick her head under water. She held it for as long as she could before she broke the surface panting. She brushed her hair out of her face and turned to look at her companion. “It’s only fair, you know my name.” Katara tsked. “I gave you a meal and a place to stay.” But still, Katara said nothing, turning to face away from him. “Fine,” he snapped, “be ungrateful. See if I care.” He didn’t try and speak to her until dinner time.
Katara didn’t get out of the water until it was nearly sundown. She had to towel herself try, silently cursing to herself that she couldn’t just pull the water off of her. She looked over at Zuko who had done nothing but lay on the bed and stare at the ceiling. She was excited while she was getting dressed, she hadn’t had a proper meal in weeks.
They walked down to the dinning area in silence and when Katara sat down there was a plate full of hot vegetables and rice and a cup of water in front of her. She took the glass of water and downed it in one go. One of the workers saw and went to refill her cup. She drank the whole second cup and he refilled it again.
He noticed her eyes and said, “You’re from the Water Tribe.” Katara nodded. “Are you a waterbender?” He asked, excitedly. “I’ve always wanted to see a waterbender.”
Katara looked over at Zuko, who looked upset. “It’s none of your business, server” he snapped, “now leave us to finish our meal.” The server looked down and nodded. He filled Katara’s cup up one last time before leaving.
Katara finally addressed him, “That was incredibly rude.”
Zuko sulked, “Couldn’t he see that we are together?”
“We aren’t together.” Katara snapped.
“I didn’t mean like that.” Zuko mumbled, “Besides, I didn’t want you to feel embarrassed about you’re lack of bending.” Katara let out a hmph and didn’t say anything. They ate in silence.
She finished her meal before Zuko and got up to go back to the room, leaving him there. She wanted to see if it was far enough away from him that she could bend at least some of her welts away. But when she got to the room and turned the handle, it didn’t budge.
She ended up waiting on the floor for Zuko to come up, but he sure did take his sweet time. When he did finally come up, she was half asleep. She frowned when she saw him smirk. He made a big show of taking his time to open the door.
“Just open the door, firebender,” she sneered.
The next thing Katara knew, he was holding the key up to her neck and giving her a look so fierce it gave her chills. “Don’t call me that.” He emphasized each word by applying pressure to her neck. He turned and opened the door for her.
When he stepped inside, he immediately started gathering blankets to put on the floor.
“What are you doing?” Katara asked.
“Sleeping on the floor,” he said it in the same way one says duh or obviously.
Katara rolled her eyes. “I can see that. But why? The bed’s big enough for both of us.” (She might hate him, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t feel bad that he paid for her room and meal and was going to let her take the bed.) He sighed when he layed down.
It was well into the night, but Katara couldn’t sleep. Zuko was moving around too much for her to stay calm enough to fall asleep.
“Why did you help me, firebender?” She pondered out loud. Her back was facing him.
“I told you not to call me that,” he practically spat it out.
“So you can call me peasant, but I can’t call you firebender? Would you prefer if I called you ‘your royal highness’ instead, Prince Zuko?”
He stayed quiet for a long time before he whispered, “I’m not a prince anymore.” He moved again, and Katara assumed it was to face her. “And besides, how else am I supposed to address you when you won’t tell me your name?”
Katara turned towards him. There was hardly any space between them on the cramped bed. Katara felt her already hot body grow hotter when she realized where she was laying. Who she was laying with. Your soulmate, she thought to herself. No. That doesn’t mean anything. He’s the enemy.
“Katara,” she whispered. She didn’t think telling him her name would amount to anything. So what if he knew her name? “My name is Katara,” she spoke a little louder.
“Katara,” he tested out on his tongue. She immediately regretted telling him, it felt too intimate, him saying her name. Especially the way he said it, like a fragile animal he caressed. He said her name again, this time like a prayer. Katara rolled onto her stomach and turned her head away from him again, showing that she was done talking to him for the night.
He clearly didn’t get them memo. “The one who dishonors his soulmate dishonors himself three-fold,” he answered her first question.
Katara felt a flash of anger flow through her, she propped herself up onto her arms and looked him in the eyes. “Let me make one thing clear.” She didn’t want to leave any room for misunderstanding, “You and I, we share chi, we aren’t soulmates. We are nothing to each other. It means nothing.” She layed back down, turning her back towards him again.
“Whatever,” he said, in a way only Zuko could say. He rolled away from her as well and they both went to sleep.
The next morning, Katara felt herself wake up with the sun. She turned to look at Zuko, who was still fast asleep and groaned. It was his chi waking her up, telling her that she was at full power again. And while she hated that his chi woke her up before her body was ready, she was curious.
Hoping out of bed, she sat on the floor with her legs crossed. With one hand in front of her, she tried to focus all of her energy on the fire she felt inside of her, tried forcing it all into the palm of her hand. It took over an hour, but Katara felt a spark ignite in her palm. Just a small one, but she smiled to herself over the accomplishment. But when she tried again, and fire appeared in her hand, she became frightened and tried to fling it off her with a scream.
This, of course, woke Zuko up. The fire that was in Katara’s hand was now on the bed, burning the sheets. Zuko jumped into action and grabbed the pillow, trying to stomp the fire out. It worked, but it didn’t stop his hand from getting burned.
Holding his now burnt hand, he looked up and said, “What were you thinking?” Katara curled herself up into a ball, remembering the time Aang burned her when he first learned firebending. Fire is destruction, Jeong Jeong had said. He was right. “Don’t you know how dangerous fire can be without proper control?”
“I’m sorry,” she said softly. And she was. She was sorry that she thought firebending could be something that it wasn’t. Sorry that she couldn’t heal his hand. Sorry that she had a firebender for a soulmate. Sorry that she got separated from Aang, her waterbending pupil. She was just sorry.
Zuko got up and stuck his hand in the mucky bath water. She eventually got up too and grabbed her empty waterskin that was sitting by the bed. She went to fill it up with the bath water when Zuko stopped her.
“You can’t possibly be thinking about drinking that?” But Katara kept filling it up. This water wasn’t for drinking. And she couldn’t wait to get out of Zuko’s presence so she could heal the welts that were soon going to scar. “Come on, we’ll go downstairs and get some real drinking water.” He grabbed his dual swords and his small bag of coins and walked out the door. Katara followed soon after.
After having a quick meal together, Katara finally felt refreshed. Her body still ached, but her stomach wasn’t empty, and her throat wasn’t cracked. They stepped out of the inn and turned to each other. They said awkward goodbyes, which was followed by them both going in the same direction.
“Are you following me?” Katara accused.
“No,” Zuko said. “I’m simply going the same direction as you.”
“Well, simply go the other way,” Katara hissed.
Zuko shook his head, “I can’t, I’m headed to Ba Sing Se.” Katara stopped walking and pouted to herself. Of course, he is, she thought. Why couldn’t he just leave her alone? He realized she wasn’t walking with him anymore he stopped and turned around. “You’re going to Ba Sing Se,” he didn’t sound upset. Katara nodded, slowly. “Well, we can just go together then,” he said, exhaustedly. He was obviously tired of fighting with her. She, however, wasn’t.
“We aren’t going anywhere together. We are only walking in the same direction,” she huffed as she stopped in front of him. She didn’t have to turn around to know that Zuko was walking a few yards behind her.
“Great. Just great,” she was mumbling to herself. Her injuries ached to be healed and his chi was making her hotter than usual. How do firebenders exist? “You’re stuck walking close to the only person in the world who can stop you from waterbending, what luck you have Katara?” Her fists were clenched, and she was staring at the ground, angrily.
But her luck was the least of her worries when she ran into a hard body. She looked up and gasped, she had slowly walked into one of the Earth Kingdom gangs she had been warned about. Oh, and she couldn’t waterbend, making herself practically useless. She started backing away slowly, desperately trying to reach out to the water in her skin with Zuko’s chi. It was now use.
“What do we have here?” The tall, muscular man in front of her said, stepping towards her. The other men in the gang started laughing. Katara felt panic rise up within her. She looked backwards to see Zuko notice and start to run towards her, he was farther away than she thought.
“Don’t touch me!” she yelled, as the man tried to grab her. He looked up and saw Zuko as well and smirked to himself.
“Who is that your boyfriend?” one of the other men sneered.
“Too bad he’ll be too late” was the last thing she heard before she felt pain like she had never before. Looking down, she saw a sword being pulled out of her stomach as she fell to the ground.
“Katara!” she heard Zuko yell. But she was only thinking about how she had to heal herself, she had to fix this. She had to get back to Aang and Sokka and Toph. She couldn’t die, she had to make it Ba Sing Se. Tell the Earth King about the invasion. I can’t die here. I can’t die here. She thought to herself over and over again, feeling the blood gushing out of her body.
“Katara, Katara!” she heard Zuko say, his voice was wavering. She looked around and saw the whole gang on the ground, each of them died. “Katara, you have to cauterize the wound. You have—”
“Zuko,” she said pleadingly. He didn’t seem to care that she used his real name. She didn’t have much time. “The water in my skin, I need you to—to bend it,” she said, gasping.
“What?” he said, confused.
“I need you to heal me.”
“But I ca—”
“Yes, you can.”
Zuko nodded and ripped her clothes off, revealing the wound. He took her waterskin and poured the water inside on his hands and over her, Katara hissed. That’s one way to do it. Zuko’s face was full of concentration as he tried to bend the water now on her. “Tell me how, teach me how.”
Katara felt like she couldn’t breathe. “Look inside me, feel inside me,” she was trying to remain calm, one of them had to. Zuko was nodding along, “Feel your chi inside me.” Zuko stuck his tongue out (which was kind of cute) and tried to grab onto her insides. Katara felt the moment he found it and looked up to see him smile, just a small one.
“Okay, now what?”
“Feel the water, use it to concentrate your chi to my wound. Help it repair me.” Zuko took a deep breath and Katara could feel herself start to heal and the bleeding stopped. It was strange to have someone else heal her, control her from the inside. But also, nice in a way. She felt a strange sense of comfort in the way that Zuko was leaning over her, giving his everything into healing her.
It took a couple of hours, but Katara could feel the wound eventually close up. She complimented him and he said, “I could only do it because it was my chi inside you. I wouldn’t have been able to do it if it were anyone else.” She still couldn’t sit up without risk of her wound splitting open again, so Zuko said that they would spend the night here. She worried about other gangs showing up, but when she looked around and saw six men scattered around them, dead, she wasn’t afraid. Zuko would protect her.
She tried to get him to walk away from her, just for a little while, so she could heal herself properly, but he disagreed quickly. He wasn’t going to leave her alone again, at least until they reached Ba Sing Se.
The sat in silence for a while, Zuko had started a fire for the night and looted the men around them. They were eating dried meats and fruit that Zuko had found in one of their bags. He had also found some gold pieces and added it to his coin pouch.
Once Zuko was done eating, he asked, “Why didn’t you tell me you were a waterbender?”
“Why would I tell you, so you could have another weapon to use when you were attacking us?” she sneered.
Zuko looked into the fire for a while. “I understand why you didn’t tell me then, but why didn’t you tell me now?”
Katara sighed, “I didn’t know if I could trust you.”
“And now? Do you trust me now?” he asked, meekly, as if he was scared of the answer.
Katara said, just as quietly, “Now, I have to.” She let out a breath and decided to go to sleep.