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Before leaving her home, Katara had never really known hot weather. In the South Pole, they knew heat from the fire; they knew body heat that made them sweat under the heavy furs; occasionally even the sunshine would feel warm on their cheeks. But heat that stayed in the air around you; that forced you to wear as little clothing as possible even though being naked wouldn’t really help at all; that made it feel like you weren’t breathing enough air, no matter how much of it you inhaled? That didn’t exist in the South Pole. The air was sharp there, and dry, and always freezing. It was only until she and Sokka accompanied Aang to the Earth Kingdom that they started experiencing heat, even during its so-called winter. They’d had to stop wearing their furs pretty soon, and hadn’t needed them again until they’d gotten to the North Pole.
The very thought of wearing furs made Katara reach for her water skin and take a sip. Droplets of sweat ran down her neck and back, dampening her hair, wrappings and clothes. She periodically bent the perspiration off, but being dry didn’t bring much relief. The water may have been bent off, but the salts and other components in the sweat remained on her skin, making her feel grittier by the minute; besides, she was already producing more of it by the time she was done. Her hair was so wild she suspected even a braid couldn’t tame it. It was up in a half-topknot, since none of the hair ornaments available to her could contain its entire mass. She sighed, sliding down a bit further on the stone bench. It had felt cool against her skin when she had first sat on it, but by now it didn’t feel any different than the air around her, even beneath one of the largest trees in the Fire Nation palace. She had never experienced weather this hot before. Even the desert had at least been cool at night.
She heard soft footsteps on the grass behind her, but couldn’t really muster the energy to turn around and see who it was. A few seconds later, Zuko plopped down on the bench beside her and sighed. She glanced at him, then gave a dismayed gasp.
“What?” he asked.
“I can’t believe you’re wearing those stuffy clothes! It’s so hot I’m almost melting!”
“I know. These are my formal clothes, I have to wear them whenever I’m in an official Fire Lord capacity,” he explained, sounding miserable.
“Well, are you in an official Fire Lord capacity right now?”
“Not right now, but I will be in a few minutes. I kind of ran away for a little while,” he confessed. “They don’t know where I am.”
Katara gave him a sympathetic look. “How many layers?”
“Three. It’s usually four, but I gave up the…innermost layer to try and make it less stuffy.”
“The innermost layer? You mean your underwear?” she asked, blushing. For the first time, she was glad of the heat; her cheeks were probably already flushed, so he wouldn’t be able to tell.
He smiled, not meeting her eyes. “Yeah. It didn’t help much though. I think I’m starting to get dehydrated from all the sweating.”
Indeed, the wisps of his hair that had escaped his topknot were plastered to his neck and face, and Katara could see numerous beads of sweat running down his skin into his expensive robes. Silently, she moved her fingers and extracted the dampness from his clothes, body, and hair, dumping it on the grass in front of them. He seemed surprised at first; then, he smiled.
“Thanks.”
“Sure. Not that it helps much,” she said, somewhat apologetically.
“It helps plenty. I mean, it’s not like I’ll stop sweating, so at least there’s less of it in my clothes or something.”
“Yeah.” The back of her dress was already wet. Then, an idea occurred to her. “Let me try something.” He glanced at her curiously. She sat up and reached behind her, moving her fingers in a slow bending motion. The sweat on her back instantly solidified, and the sudden temperature contrast caused her to arch her back and gasp.
“What?” Zuko sounded slightly alarmed. She moved slowly, trying to adapt to the icy layer she’d created. It was already melting. She turned to look at him.
“I turned the sweat on my back into ice.”
“Oh.” He glanced at her back and licked his lips. “How did it feel?”
“The shock was a little too strong at first, to be honest. It was nice after, but the ice’s already melted, so it doesn’t last very long. I guess it is a little refreshing,” she conceded. She placed her fingers on the back of her head and tried the same motion, but much more slowly and deliberately. The layer of sweat beneath her thick hair and on the back of her neck solidified less abruptly than before, but the contrast was still uncomfortable at first, and Katara grunted. When she opened her eyes, Zuko was staring at the goosebumps that had appeared all over her arms. “Want me to do you?”
“Eh?” he said as he looked back up at her, eyes slightly wide. “Oh. Yeah, sure.”
Katara moved her hand as gently as possible. She could almost see the thin ice crystals forming beneath his hair and on his neck and back. He closed his eyes and moaned, arching his back slightly as her hand swept the air behind him. Suddenly, his reactions from before seemed to make a lot more sense, and Katara blushed. His eyes were still closed, and before the ice on his neck had fully melted, she leaned forward and gently blew on it. He shuddered and smiled at her. She could see the goosebumps forming on his neck and couldn’t fight a small, satisfied smirk from gracing her lips.
“You’re right, it is a little strong at first,” he said, a half-smile still on his face. “But…I liked it.”
“Yeah,” Katara replied, not feeling particularly eloquent. She mentally shook her head to regain some focus. “It’s probably not very healthy to keep doing it though. The temperature shock will probably give you a cold or something. And the only thing worse than weather this hot is being sick while the weather is this hot.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. Still,” he added, glancing at her, “maybe a couple more times wouldn’t hurt.”
“Maybe.” She smiled. “Wait, I have another idea that might work.” Katara summoned a large ball of water from the nearby pond and brought it over their heads. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on sensing the smallest possible particles in the water separately; then, she prepared herself to freeze them all at the same time. Finally, she spread her fingers and brought her arms down. She sat back on the bench as thousands of tiny snowflakes fell down toward the two of them. A few of them melted before getting to their targets, but several landed on their faces and necks, providing a gentle sort of relief as they touched heated skin.
Katara smiled as she heard Zuko sigh beside her. He was staring at her when she glanced at him, and the soft grin on his lips gave her butterflies. “That was amazing.”
“Thanks,” she said, slightly breathlessly.