Work Text:
“Ha, Sokka, you're too late, I won again!” Katara grinned triumphantly at her brother as he huffed indignantly at her from across their modified airball court.
“Hey, that wasn't fair! I thought we agreed that this would be a no bending match!” Sokka yelled as soon as he had breath. “Seriously Katara, we've been playing this game for like five years, and every single time you play you break the rules!”
“I do not!” Katara returned hotly, still grinning. “I only nudged it a little bit.”
“NUDGED? You call that a NUDGE??” Sokka squeaked in exasperation. “You whacked it way over to the side so it would go out of bounds, and I'd run out of time!”
“Can you prove that's what she did?” Aang sidled up to the arguing siblings with a placating grin. “From where I was standing, it looked like it hit your hand and then flew sideways.”
“Well I thought it looked like Katara definitely hit it with her magic water,” announced Toph, approaching from the sidelines.
Sokka sighed in relief, “Yeah, thanks To—hey!”
Cackling, the earthbender waved her hand in front of her sightless eyes. She never ceased to be amused at how easy it was to make those kinds of jokes with Sokka.
“And I think you're all being ridiculous,” said Suki, Sokka 's girlfriend (and usually the only one who could talk any sense into him in an argument). “Regardless, it's getting late, won't your father be wanting you back for the first emergency meeting? You know, the whole reason we're all gathered at the Southern Air Temple in the first place?”
“Oh right, I forgot that was happening,” groaned Sokka, putting his face in his hands. “Honestly, guys, I'm still not even sure what we should do about that.”
“About what?” asked Toph. “I'm just here with my parents, and of course they didn't tell me what was going on at all, so I have no clue.”
“I'd appreciate a quick recap too,” Suki admitted. “Your dad called the Kyoshi leaders here to aid in the discussions, but his letter wasn't terribly forthcoming in details, as you can expect.”
“Well, it is technically still somewhat classified information,” Sokka began conspiratorially as the group headed back to Chief Hakoda's tent. “Basically the Fire Nation's Crown Prince has gone missing, and of course they're trying to accuse everyone else of abducting him or something, despite the fact that the Four Nations have been at peace for as long as anyone can remember and that kind of move wouldn't actually benefit any of us in any tangible way anyways. Besides, with their security measures you'd think it'd be impossible to steal a whole person, especially someone as important as the future Firelord.”
“Wow, that is really weird,” said Suki, frowning.
“I mean, if you ask me it just sounds like they pulled some stunt on their own and are trying to use it to pick a fight with everyone else,” Toph groused. “You know they've been kinda testy throughout this peace, and honestly I wouldn't put something like that past them at this point.”
“Well, we did kinda have to…uh…dispose of Firelord Sozin to keep him from continuing that war,” Katara offered. “Luckily his son, Firelord Iroh, has done a lot to smooth things over with the other nations since then, but it's been awhile since then and it seems like they've started to get testy again.”
“From what I can tell, there's also some contention over the fact that the Crown Prince isn't actually the Firelord’s son, but his nephew,” Aang pointed out. “Firelord Iroh lost his only son in some of the aftershock battles after the war, which was part of why he wanted to repair things with the other nations so badly.”
“Wait,” Toph butted in, “wouldn't that mean Sozin had more than one kid? That'd be a surprise.”
“Yeah, he had a second son, who I've heard takes more after their father,” said Sokka grimly. “Regardless of that though, Firelord Iroh didn't seem to trust him for some reason, which is why he's not the heir to the throne.”
“And it's his son instead?” Toph scoffed. “Like that'll be any better.”
“Evidently it is,” Suki said evenly. “We have to trust that the Firelord knows what he's doing, even though none of us know hardly anything about his heir at all.”
“Actually, I think I could help with that,” said Aang. “My Avatar duties bring me over there sometimes, and even though the Fire Nation has been pretty reclusive since the war, Firelord Iroh has been making as much effort as he can to maintain peace both with the other nations and within his country, which as you can imagine is pretty difficult. The Crown Prince is Iroh’s nephew, Prince Zuko, who I believe is about Sokka’s age. From what the Firelord told me, he was in a pretty bad situation at home with his dad, and Iroh actually was the one who took him in and has been raising him instead.”
“I guess that's a good sign,” said Katara as they finally arrived back at the campsite. “But none of that solves the problem of what we should do about his disappearance.”
“Well, that is what we're about to discuss,” said Hakoda, emerging from his tent. “Perfect timing, kids, we're about to head over to the temple for the first meeting. Follow me.”
Glancing at each other, the teens followed the Water Tribe Chief up the path towards the Air Temple, wondering just what lay ahead of them.
As they walked, Katara lagged behind a little, lost in thought. Of course, when her father had told her and Sokka about the Fire Prince's disappearance, something about the situation had struck her as quite odd. As a member of the royal family, and the heir to the throne no less, there must have been plenty of security measures in place to prevent anything bad from happening to him, so it probably couldn't have been some kind of external attack.
And yet, it didn't seem to Katara like an inside job, either. No traces had been left, and no body had yet been uncovered; but there also hadn't been a ransom note or warning specific to the incident either. Besides, with all the chaos that had arisen from the war and its lingering negative aftereffects still fresh in many minds, it would be sheer insanity for anyone to wish to provoke that again.
It was hard to tell though, especially since intel was proving more and more difficult to acquire and verify. Relations with the Fire Nation had been strained (to say the least) since Firelord Iroh had ended the war, because the political situation within the Fire Nation was taking a very long time to smooth over. Many nobles, Katara knew, had supported the war for their own personal gain, and had continued to be unhappy about its premature end for many years afterwards. This was where the real threat from the Fire Nation came from; the Firelord meant the world no harm, but who could stop the war-hungry nobles who had someone to blame for their Prince's disappearance?
Who knew what had actually happened, or how to stop the oncoming wrath of the Fire Nation?
Reaching the temple doors, the group paused for a moment as Hakoda greeted the guards stationed there. Katara rubbed her temples, a sharp headache suddenly clouding her vision. As her head throbbed gently, she could've sworn she saw the vague shape of a face, pale with golden eyes, and some kind of scar around the left eye. Before she could try to focus on any details on the face, it vanished. Then a low, soft, raspy voice seemed to call out to her, “please…help me.…” Another throb, and everything was gone, except the hum of the headache in the back of her head.
“Hey, are you okay?” Aang asked, touching Katara’s arm lightly with a look of concern.
“Huh? Oh yeah I'm fine, just a headache,” she assured him as the group went inside. “It's probably just stress from this whole situation.”
They all gathered in the meeting room, where many air nomad leaders, as well as other high-ranking officials from the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes, sat around an enormous meeting table setup. As more people arrived, hushed conversations murmured throughout the room. It was clear just how anxious many of these people were, especially the Air Nomads, whose population had been nearly decimated by the previous Firelord’s warmongering.
Hakoda went to the head of the table and clapped loudly. “Attention everyone! Please find a seat, and we'll get this meeting started.”
~~~~~
The meeting stretched long as various leaders presented official updates from each nation, followed by more specific reports from each area within each nation.
Katara knew it was important to have this background to lay the framework for negotiations and discussion, but she was finding it increasingly difficult to focus as her headache grew. Every so often she would see that pale, scarred face again, or hear the same voice that pleaded to her for help, but they seemed like figments of an exhausted and pained mind, so she ignored them as best she could.
Finally, introductions were finished, and they had a short recess. Katara headed towards a balcony that branched off of the main room, rubbing her temples as she walked. She needed a breath of fresh air and some water, and why wouldn't this stupid headache go away? And that voice too; even now it seemed to plead for her attention and assistance of some kind (what kind that was, she surely didn't know).
But as she walked outside, the voice seemed to focus again, and she once again saw the face, but more clearly now. She could see that the scar seemed to be from some kind of burn, and it was quite large, stretching from his forehead back to behind the ear, and down to the cheek. She also noticed now that when the voice said something, the face seemed to speak, as though voice and face belonged to the same person. His message remained the same, a plea for help, but Katara now saw that his face also conveyed the distress of someone who would need to beg for help so earnestly.
“Hey, is everything okay?” Katara suddenly heard Aang at her elbow. “You've been acting weird all evening.”
Katara shook her head to rid her mind of the image of the face, and nodded. “Yeah, this headache has really stuck around longer than usual, but I'll be fine.”
“Do you want me to get you some water, or maybe you should go rest for a bit? I'm sure we can continue the meetings without you, and Sokka and I can update you when it's over.” Aang had an expression of genuine concern on his face.
“It's fine, I have some water here, and I'd rather be here for the meeting myself. It's just a headache, I'm sure it'll go away eventually. Besides, I think my dad is gonna call everyone back pretty soon anyways.” Katara smiled at him, hoping he'd take the hint to leave her alone.
Aang, looking only somewhat mollified, nodded, and went back inside to the table.
Katara sighed. She liked Aang, and she really valued his friendship, but she had the feeling that he felt something deeper for her that she just couldn't reciprocate, and it seemed that it was becoming increasingly difficult for him not to show those feelings for her.
Returning to the table at her father's call, Katara once again heard the voice in her head: “Please… save me…”
She still had no idea what to make of the face or its message, but there wasn't time for that. She'd think about it later, she resolved, but right now she needed to help figure out what to do about the missing prince.
~~~~~
The meeting ended late in the evening. They had gotten a start on their discussions, but there was still much to be done, and Katara was exhausted. Her head was still throbbing though, so she decided to take a walk by herself in one of the Air Temple's gardens to try to clear it.
The moment she stepped into the fresh air of the garden, her headache eased, which she was grateful for. As she strolled around the pathways, the moon shone down on her, giving her an energy and warmth that she often missed during the daytime.
She stretched her arms out, feeling the surge of energy from the moon, and reaching around her for a body of water to bend. She discovered that this garden had a well in the center of it, so she headed towards it, eager to practice some of her bending moves before going to bed.
As she came closer to the well, she thought she heard a badgerfrog croaking.
“That's weird,” she mused aloud. “I didn't know they lived this far south.”
When she reached the well, Katara saw that it was situated under an enormous tree with spreading branches that swayed gently in the soft breeze, allowing the moonlight to come down in dappled patches onto the path by the well.
The beauty and serenity of the place calmed her mind, and she found herself reaching for her mother's necklace. She took it off to admire the way it glimmered softly in the moonlight, thinking about the way it had looked on her mother during similarly serene, moonlit nights in her childhood.
As she looked around the base of the tree, Katara saw the form of a rather large badgerfrog sitting close to the edge of the well.
Ah, so there it is, she thought. Still weird to see one here, but maybe the monks have some here for some reason?
As she stepped under the tree, she saw that the badgerfrog was watching her with its glossy eyes, but she decided to ignore it. It's just a badgerfrog anyways, a little unusual but not that weird.
Setting her mother's necklace down for a moment at the edge of the well where she could see it, Katara had just drawn some water up from the well to begin her bending practice, when an unexpected sound made her squeak and drop the water on the ground and the poor badgerfrog. It was the same voice that she had been hearing in her head all evening, only this time, it sounded like it was coming from somewhere else in the garden. She looked around, half expecting to see the pale-faced, scarred person from her visions, but no one else appeared to be in the garden except for her.
Katara sighed, and went to pick up some more water. It was getting late, and she knew she'd need some rest before the meetings continued tomorrow.
But as she pulled up more water, she heard the voice again: “Who are you?”
Now well and truly mystified, Katara spun around again, but the only other creature in the garden with her was the badgerfrog, still looking right at her with its liquid eyes.
Perplexed, Katara asked loudly, “Who said that?”
“I did, of course,” said the voice, and it seemed to be coming from the badgerfrog.
She stared at it, and it stared back.
“Great, I must be losing it. There's no way there's a badgerfrog talking to me right now,” Katara muttered.
“Really? Then how come it's happening?” It was clear now to Katara that it was, in fact, the badgerfrog talking, using the voice she'd been hearing in her head all evening.
“I don't know,” Katara replied incredulously. “And I don't suppose you could tell me?”
“Well, it's really complicated,” said the badgerfrog. “Basically, one minute I'm going about my day as normal, as human, and then the next minute I'm a badgerfrog, and here, which, I still haven't been able to figure out where this is.”
“This is the Southern Air Temple, in one of the gardens,” said Katara slowly, still processing. “Wait, so you mean to tell me that you aren't a badgerfrog, or at least weren't originally? And that you're not even from here? I mean, how does that even happen?”
“I'm, uh, not exactly sure about that,” said the badgerfrog sheepishly. “Like I said, I was just having a normal day, and then—”
“Katara?” Aang’s voice interrupted. “Sokka's been looking for you, but he didn't know where you had gone.”
“Wait, you're Katara?” the badgerfrog whispered, pausing in its retreat to hide under the tree.
“Yes, I'm—wait, how do you know me?” Katara looked around, but she stood alone by the well’s opening, feeling very much confused.
“There you are!” Aang jogged over to stand next to her, then noticed her befuddled expression. “Hey, is everything okay? Is it the headache again?”
“Oh, no, my head feels fine now,” said Katara, truthfully. She still wasn't positive that she had actually seen the badgerfrog (and not hallucinated it), so she decided it would be wise for her not to mention it. "Just came out here to practice some waterbending and clear my mind, but I think it's getting around to being time to turn in for the night. Where did you say Sokka was?”
“He was back at your family's tent, but I think he followed me for a little while to look for you,”Aang replied, still not convinced that Katara was okay but having no proof otherwise. “I'm sure if we head back that way we'll run into him.”
“Oh, it's okay Aang,” Katara assured him, “I'll just head back myself and find him. It is getting late, and I bet you want to get some rest before the meetings tomorrow, too.”
Aang deflated a little. “Of course, Katara. I'll see you tomorrow?”
Katara gave him a small smile as she headed for the garden's entrance. “Yep, I'll be seeing you!”
As she walked, Katara started to try to sort out her thoughts, but there was just too much. First the lost prince, and then her weird visions and the voice in her head, and now that same voice but coming from a badgerfrog who knew who she was? None of it made sense at all, and she was still mulling everything over as she ran into Sokka close to the camp and headed in with him to get ready for bed.
It wasn't until she was preparing for bed that Katara realized that she didn't have her mother's necklace. She looked around for it unsuccessfully, and then she remembered that she had taken it off in the garden to look at it. She must have left it there, but it was too late to go back for it now. She decided to go back to the garden the next morning before the first meeting to find it.
Katara hoped that with a good night's rest, she'd be able to think about her situation more clearly, and get a better idea of what was going on.
Unfortunately, that was not to be the case. Just before dawn, Katara woke up, and no matter how hard she tried she was unable to get back to sleep again. With still a few hours til the first meeting of the morning, she decided to try to find her mother's necklace in the garden.
Throwing a robe over her clothes to help fight the damp chill of the early morning, she stepped groggily out of the tent and into the outside world. Not much else was stirring in the silver light of the early dawn, and Katara found the peace of the world around her to be soothing to her anxious mind.
She started out at a quick pace, and it wasn't long before she had reached the garden she had been in the night before. She hoped to be able to find the necklace quickly so that she could return in time for the meetings later on.
She hurried over to the well in the middle of the garden, observing the beauty of the trees as the dawn's clear sunlight filtered through their leaves, lighting up the trees in a silver glow with the mist that still floated around them.
As she came closer to the well, she didn't see anything by its edge, not even the badgerfrog. Now well and truly worried, she looked around at the surrounding landscape, and didn't see the necklace anywhere. She hoped it had not been knocked into the well by accident, who knew how deep it was—
“Oh, good, you're back!” Katara jumped a little as she heard that voice behind her.
She spun around and there it was again, the badgerfrog that spoke to her, and no amount of rubbing her eyes or shaking her head would make it disappear.
“I’m—you’re—what??” she sputtered indignantly.
“I had thought you had, like, gone for good, and I'd never get a chance to see you again,” the badgerfrog said, hopping closer towards her. “Anyways, as I was saying last night, the last thing I remember was this weird lady with face paint coming into the room I was in, and—you’re Katara, a princess, right?”
“Um, I don't exactly have that title, but I suppose I'm the closest thing the Southern Water Tribe has to one,” she replied, still confused. “But I don't see—”
“Okay, so you're that Katara, that's good,” the badgerfrog interrupted her. “Because the last thing that I remember that weird lady saying was that all I'd have to do is get a princess to kiss me, and then I could go back to normal, and go home, and my uncle—”
“Hold on, kiss you?” Katara squeaked. “No, hold on, it's way too early to be thinking about all of this, and the sun is barely in the sky, and I'm sorry but kissing a badgerfrog sounds like the worst idea ever—”
“Oh come on, please? Just a little one?” The badgerfrog pleaded. “My uncle is probably looking for me, and he's probably so anxious to have me back! I'm sure he'd be able to give you anything you want if you could just help me this one time!”
“No, I don't care who's looking for you! I'm not going to kiss a badger frog!” Katara insisted. Besides, she still needed to find her mother's necklace, before—
“Hey, you lost something down the well yesterday, right?” The badgerfrog looked at her intently. “It was a pendant or necklace or something?”
“Oh yes, it was my mother's, and I—wait, did you say it's in the well?” Katara was suddenly very interested in what the badgerfrog had to say.
“Yeah, it fell down there when you dropped the water on me yesterday—no worries about that, by the way,” the badgerfrog said. “Oh wait, I've got an idea! If I go down there and get you that necklace, will you help me then?”
“Well, I mean, I'm sure I can just get it myself,” Katara said, reaching out to the well to see if she could find the necklace with her bending.
However, the only things that she could feel were the walls of the well and the occasional rock. It seemed like the necklace was too far down for even her to reach with her bending.
“Can you?” The badgerfrog seemed to sense her frustration.
“No, I guess it's too far down. But are you sure you can get it?”
“Sure, it's just swimming,” the badgerfrog said casually. “Apparently badgerfrogs are pretty good at that.”
“Oh, I guess that makes sense,” Katara said hesitantly. “Well, I guess if you do, then I might be willing to help you.”
Immediately, the badgerfrog jumped forward and into the well. Startled, Katara stepped forward as well, reaching out with her bending to feel the badgerfrog swimming down the well until she couldn't feel it anymore. Then, after a moment, she felt it again, swimming up with something in its mouth.
It came up to the top of the well and hopped out, dropping her mother's necklace on the ground in front of Katara. Surprised that the badgerfrog had actually found her necklace, she knelt down and picked it up, then put it on after bending the water off of it.
Catching his breath, the badgerfrog asked, “Well? Will you help me now?”
She sighed. I must really be insane, but he did help me, she thought, as she replied, “Okay, fine, but just one!”
Gleeful, the badgerfrog hopped up closer to Katara. It hopped onto her hands when she held them out, and she raised it to be at her face’s level.
“By the way, you never told me what your name was,” Katara said, hoping to stall for a moment.
“Oh, um, my name is Zuko,” the badgerfrog said awkwardly.
“Oh,” said Katara, at a loss for anything else to say. The name did seem vaguely familiar, but her still-sleepy brain wasn't able to identify where she had heard it before.
Deciding that wasn't important, she finally steeled herself and went in for a kiss, deciding on a quick peck on the top of the badgerfrog’s head. Its fur was a little slimy and still wet from the well water, but aside from that, it wasn't as bad as she had been anticipating.
She waited for a moment for something to happen, but nothing did.
“Um, was something supposed to happen?” She asked hesitantly.
“Uh, I'm not exactly sure?” The badgerfrog sounded as confused as she was. “Maybe it was supposed to be a longer kiss, or maybe just like a full-on…” it trailed off, clearly embarrassed.
“Well, I mean, if that's what it takes…” Katara said uncertainly.
Before she had time to overthink it, she went in again, this time aiming for the badgerfrog’s wide, sticky mouth.
Instead of feeling this when she kissed it, though, what she felt was more like a pair of human lips, soft and gentle and warm.
Startled, she was thrown back onto the ground by the force of the magic transformation that was occurring, and felt a weight settle over her.
When she finally looked up, her eyes met a pair of brilliant gold eyes, set in the same pale, scarred face that she saw in her visions yesterday, framed by shaggy, soft-looking black hair. The eyes studied her face closely, lingering on her lips, and he almost looked like he wanted to go in for another kiss.
Then, he shifted, and Katara realized that the weight she felt was him, on top of her, supporting himself on his arms on either side of her head, arms that were muscled and strong and bare…
“Wait, are you...wearing…anything?” Katara squeaked, suddenly embarrassed.
The boy looked down at himself and squawked as he drew back, allowing Katara to sit up. Without looking at him, she took off her outer robe and threw it at him.
He sputtered inelegantly, but thanked her as he put it on, red-faced.
As he stood up, Katara remembered where she had heard his name before.
“Wait, Zuko?” She said, and his head snapped up to look at her. “You're the missing prince from the Fire Nation?”
“Oh, so people do know that I'm missing?” Zuko said, surprised. “I guess I should've known that Uncle would immediately start looking for me, I bet he's so worried.”
“Yeah, I bet so too,” said Katara sympathetically. Then, as the reality of her situation settled in, she said, “and so is everyone else! The Fire Nation nobles are apparently trying to start an uprising because they think one of the other nations did something to get rid of you, and the Firelord is trying to smooth things over but things are apparently really complicated over there so it was only a matter of time before we're all gonna be in big trouble, and—oh, I should bring you to my dad, he'll know what to do! Come on!”
And so, Katara spun on her heel and ran out of the garden, grabbing Zuko's hand on her way out so that he would follow her, trying to ignore the way that his lips had felt when she had kissed him, or the fact that she'd just seen him naked and on top of her and had not disliked it at all. There simply wasn't any time to unpack any of that yet, but she needed to let everyone know that the lost prince had been found.
~~~~~
Fire Lord Iroh chuckled gently as he sat in his office, the late morning sun streaming in through the window as he re-read the letter that he had just received with the story of how his nephew had disappeared and been found.
Evidently, a lady in face paint and an intricate cloaked costume (he suspected it was actually the Painted Lady spirit) had turned his proud nephew into a badgerfrog and sent him to the Southern Air Temple to give him a chance to ask for help from others, and probably also to get him to meet other people outside of the Fire Nation capital.
Apparently it had been Katara, the daughter of the Southern Water Tribe chief, Hakoda, who had helped him to be restored to his human body, although neither Katara nor Zuko had been forthcoming on how. Iroh thought he knew how, since he'd heard of the legends of the Painted Lady and knew that her curses were usually resolved with a kiss, which he knew his nephew would be uncomfortable sharing with anyone, so it checked out.
Regardless of how he had become human again, Zuko's appearance caused the three nations’ meeting this morning to turn from planning to trying to get into contact with the Fire Nation to let them know that their Prince had been found safe and sound, and would be aided in his return to the Fire Nation as soon as possible.
Zuko himself added a small footnote to this letter, adding that if his uncle didn't mind so very much, he would like being able to stay a little bit longer to get to know some new friends, who he had just met. He also mentioned something about political alliances, and suggested that something between the Fire Nation and the Southern Water Tribe at some point might be beneficial to both nations.
Come to think of it, Iroh did seem to recall that the Southern Water Tribe Chief's daughter was close to his nephew in age, and if word and his memory were to be believed, as lovely and strong-willed as her late mother had been…perhaps it might be a good match, after all.
Iroh chuckled again. Maybe sometimes, interventions like this could even be good for the boy, he thought, as he drafted a reply allowing Zuko to come back as soon as he was able and willing. Maybe I have been sheltering him a little bit too much, and having some new friends would be good for him either way.