Chapter Text
Chapter 1
The pirates
It was a stupid idea. She knew it was a stupid idea but she was desperate to learn. Desperate to grow.
She had gone nearly 20 years without any idea how to bend properly. Even though Aang had tried to teach her, she had struggled. So when the scroll was basically just served to her on a silver platter, she felt like it was a blessing falling into her hands.
But it wasn't really given to her...
But it was so easy to steal...
....
She shook her head and ignored her warring, inner thoughts and just followed the scroll. She got one more move and then another. She cheered herself on. She knew she could do it. She knew she could be good. She wasn't going to let ththSosouthern Watertribe lose its bending.
She bent the water once more but then she heard a scuffle from the trees and then the pirate captain's iguana parrot came flying out.
Katara groaned in annoyance and took off.
The last thing she needed was to be captured by pirates. But she was starting to feel like it was inevitable with the way she continuously stumbled on foliage and branch roots. They were definitely going to catch her.
She needed to outrun them but they were gaining in on her. This was bad. She mentally scolded herself for not waiting to use the scroll until they were farther.
She tripped over a root and struggled to stand. She could hear the pirates as they stepped over leaves and rocks.
She stood up as fast as she could. Maybe if she took a turn into the dense forest she could lose them.
She took a sharp turn and was suddenly pulled against a tree by two warm, large hands.
“I’ll save you from the pirates.”
Katara's eyes widened at the sight of her captor.. Things had just gotten exponentially worse for her. Standing in front of her, nearly a head taller and with her wrists gripped tightly by his hands was the banished prince.
Before she could utter a word, her hands were bound and she was being flung over his back like a sack of flour.
....
“Do you know what the word saving means?” She asked the arrogant, annoying, utterly aggravating firebender.
The man, who was leaning against the tree across from her, rolled his eyes.
“The pirates don't have you do they?” He asked. “Would you rather I hand you over to them? Do you know what pirates do to little blue eyed watertribe women? ”
She paused for a moment. He wasn't wrong about the pirates but it didn't mean she couldn't be annoyed.
The banished prince had tied her to a tree of all things. He told her they would wait for Aang and Sokka to find them. So now they were just waiting.
Just her and the prince.
The prince who aggravated her to no end.
He had been following them for weeks now and she had no idea how he kept finding them. He was at every village, every port and even every forest the trio visited.
It was incredibly ridiculous. A bit ridiculously incredible as well. How he was so good at tracking she didn't comprehend it.
“Crazy ashmaker, stalker,” she muttered under breath. “One eyed cretin.’
But the prince heard her and with one arm above her head he leaned over her and got right into her face. His breath was warm and smelled like spiced cider. It was not unpleasant much to her displeasure. She couldn't use it against him.
“You should be careful what you say to me, peasant.”
She gave him the best glare she could muster. If this man thought he would scare her...He was wrong.
“Crazy,” she said firmly. “Ashmaker. Scar faced stalker!”
His nose twitched but he only backed away. She was a bit surprised,having expected him to lash out.
“I’m just trying to restore something important that I've lost," he began. “Frankly, I thought you would understand that.”
She huffed in annoyance.
“What would you know about what I've lost?”
He gave her a cruel smirk then circled around her. she had to strain her neck to see him but he was there, still smirking. Then he leaned over to her, his lips by her ear.
“You lost this didn't you?”
She saw a flash of blue coming from her other side and turned her head.
“My necklace,” she said angrily. “Why do you have it!?”
He circled around to face her once more, the necklace dangling between them.
“I found it on the ground. Must not be that important if it was haphazardly tossed on the floor of an earth kingdom prison ship. I thought about burning it but it came in handy..”
No longer really thinking and acting on pure rage, Katara kicked him where it hurt.
....
Zuko had been banished from his home nearly 10 years ago. His own father had scarred him then discarded him by sending him on a mission that was by all accounts an impossible task.
But he took his punishment like a man.
He did not enjoy having to traipse around the world in search of a myth. He had almost given up many times. Then as if a miracle, he found the avatar.
A teenaged boy with a tendency to run away before the fight got real. And much to Zuko's chagrin , he still couldn't catch him.
But he couldn't deny that now that he was chasing a real person around, things had become much more interesting. And try as he might to deny it, he found the watertribe siblings interesting as well. The brother was an oaf but he was a good strategist. And the sister, as novice as she was, was good.
A prodigy in the making.
And even though he had just kicked him in the stones, he couldn't help but think she was beautiful.
With a grunt of pain he leaned forward to her face. He wanted to quell his anger but her kick had hurt and he was not one to forgive.
“Now that I have you I don't need this little trinket.”
He singed the corner expecting more rage from the woman. He fully expected enough rage for her to yell and scream and lure the avatar to their location.
He didn't expect the tears.
“Wait please!” She cried out. “Please don't!"
Up until that moment she had been feisty and full of nothing but sass. Now her blue eyes were overflowing with tears that ran down her high cheekbones onto her pretty lips.
Zuko couldn't stop the flush from happening. He could not deal with tears.
“Im sorry,” he said stopping the burn. “Please...”
He wanted to ask her to stop crying. That he wasn't really going to burn it but he had to dodge the brothers boomerang.
“Get away from her you creep.”
And with that the adventure continued as the fight began.
.....