The Teahouse
Post-"Tales of Ba Sing Se"
Rating T (PG-13)
Chapter 1
She had only been here a grand total of two days. And already she hated it. No wonder Toph was in such a foul mood when she entered the city. Not only was Ba Sing Se much too metropolitan for her South Pole tastes, but the city itself reeked of disillusion.
It had taken about four hours for Katara to figure that out.
It had taken about six hours for Katara to get restless.
It had taken about ten hours for Katara to craft a way to sneak out. And trust me, which was no easy task.
It had taken about five minutes after entering the lowest ring of the city for Katara of the Southern Water Tribe to get lost.
The stone buildings all looked the same, brown, muddy, and run down. It seemed as if the world itself in this town was no colors except brown and green, lacking the vibrancy of the outside world; or at least the Water Tribe.
The people were somewhat bland as well, shuffling along in the dusty streets aimlessly. The bazaar was crowded with townsfolk, but no buying, selling, or bartering of goods was visible.
The people looked dejected. Was this not the Promised Land? Was this not the refuge they traveled weeks, months, and even years for?
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered if safety was worth freedom. Somehow, Katara believed that the people outside the walls of the great city were the happiest.
Even though there was a war going on.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wished she could simply walk through the slums people watching as she had before, but it over in a flash.
She knew that Long Feng was out to get them, but honestly Katara did not believe that the Dai Li would go after her in broad daylight.
Well, they did. And as she sprinted through the labyrinth of slum streets, her heart ached from the exertion. A binding force seemed to weigh down on her chest as her legs became heavy.
She rushed past the stalls as the night lights began to light up the streets. People cleared a path for her, women screamed, men gasped.
Katara ran as fast as she could, four dark clothed Dai Li agents on her tail.
The earth underneath her feet spat into a small bubble to interrupt her stride, causing her foot to catch it and launching her body three feet forward in the air. Throwing up her arm to brace the fall, she clenched her teeth as she could feel the skin coming off on the hard stone ground, her body skidding another three feet away from the initial fall.
Stumbling up, she could feel the wetness of her forearm, knowing that a sickly scrape went from her wrist to her elbow. She tripped again three steps later, clawing at the ground violently trying to get up. Successful in her attempts, Katara was able to get up and sprinted down the alleyway.
A building stood at the end of the street, a three way intersection presented itself rapidly approaching. Left or right. Katara could hear the Dai Li agents, four of them, chasing her.
Katara made her choice. Veering toward the right, she sped up, grabbing the metal streetlight pole. Swinging to face the right alleyway, she let go, the action propelling her at a greater speed.
But one thing she didn't count on was the small chain, about waist height, blocking the apparent drop off, where the raised alleyway plummeted two stories downward to a lower street.
Unable to stop herself, Katara threw her arms out, catching the chain as she flipped over it. The force and speed she did so at caused the brittle links to break, dropping her down the fifty feet to the street below.
She fell hard, her back and right hip impacting first. Groaning in pain, she struggled to get up, her body shaking as she held her right side. Leaning up against the stone wall, she willed herself to be quiet, moving two steps to a wooden door, each step in excruciating pain.
Edging open the door, she dove in, slamming it behind her. The storeroom, Katara decided that's what it was, was very dark, the only light filtering through a red cloth into an inside room.
Katara moaned, touching the lacerated skin of her arm softly. Her back killed her also, but the shock of the impact was slowly wearing off.
Hearing footsteps outside the doorway, Katara stiffened, moving toward the center of the room as quietly as she could.
Slumping against the door, her heart nearly stopped as a figure entered through the fabric covering, noticing her.
"What are you doing back here?"
In an instant, she had two hands circling her arms, holding her captive before she had a chance to escape.
"Please, please don't say anything. Please, I'm begging you, don't tell them. Please. Please." Katara whined in a rushed voice, breathing heavily, gasping for air between words.
"Be quiet. Or else they will catch you." came the curt reply. The hands tightened around her arms, causing her to gasp.
Listening to the movement outside the door, Katara's breathing became quicker and shallower, as she looked over her shoulder to the door.
Turning back to this figure that was holding her still, he yanked her closer, whispering harshly, "Stand still and shut up."
Katara grabbed his shoulders, steadying herself and tried to slow her breathing. After some time, the iron like grip on her arms loosened, signifying that the coast was clear. A hand brushed along her bleeding arm, and she winced.
"You're bleeding."
"I know."
"Come on."
The red cloth drape was pulled back by her savior, and as she became accustomed to the light, she followed the boy, who did not look too much older than she, into another back room.
He had a mess of black hair, and he was clothed in brown and green garb, very much like the people of the lowest ring.
He never looked back once, so Katara didn't think anything of it. Closing the wooden door behind her, she peered around this new room. A cabinet stood in the corner, a chair to the side, not much else. The boy stood under the cabinet with a cloth, shaking it out when he turned back to her.
"Here, just press..."
Silence.
Two people, two teenagers, in a back room. Two refugees, two outlaws, brought together by sheer circumstance, stood facing each other.
"My God." Katara uttered, her eyes wide, and her hands quivering in front of her mouth.
There was only one person in the world to have a flame-shaped scar gracing the left side of his face, only one person with golden eyes like fire.
Katara shook her head. "No, no. You can't be him. You can't be..."
"Keep quiet, peasant." The boy spat back, the shock wearing off, his fists quivering as he prepared himself for battle.
"Zuko...it is you." Katara put her hands on her head, shaking it slightly.
"Unless you want me to throw you out to the Dai Li, I'll pretend you didn't know that fact." Zuko hissed, glaring harshly at the waterbender.
"I could go out and expose you right now."
Zuko growled. "As could I."
Stalemate.
"Fine. Truce. For now." Katara said warily.
"For now." Zuko repeated. Tossing the cloth at the Waterbender, he turned back to the cabinet, pulling a brown blanket from it.
Katara pressed the cloth to her skin, gritting her teeth as it quickly became soaked with blood.
Zuko walked by, shoving the blanket toward her. "The rest of the shop is already locked up. If you're going to clean that up, you have to go somewhere else."
"It'll take me hours to get back to the Upper ring!" Katara exclaimed, holding the blanket.
"Not to mention that the Dai Li would have you by then." Zuko retorted, turning back to face her. "Look, wear the blanket like a cloak. My uncle and I have an apartment around the corner."
Katara nodded, wrapping the blanket around her, finally over her head, shadowing her face. Zuko rolled his eyes, walking out of the room and back into the storeroom Katara had broken into. Opening the door to the alleyway, he waited until Katara came out before shutting it and locking it with a brass key.
The Dai Li stood waiting at the end of the street, facing the main road. Seeing this, Zuko groaned. This wasn't going to be easy.
Thinking for a second, Zuko turned toward the dead end of the alley. A protruding windowsill about eight feet off the ground showed escape. Motioning Katara to follow him, the two teens walked to the corner of the alley.
Zuko took a breath, and then jumped against the side wall, propelling himself to the sill in an almost ricochet-like move. Sitting on the sill, he waved for Katara to come up.
Katara just nodded in disbelief. She was agile, but not that agile. Taking a breath, she jumped against the wall to propel herself upward, but it was not nearly high enough. She just barely was able to grasp Zuko's outstretched hand.
He gritted his teeth, pulling her upward to the sill, Katara grabbed onto his shoulder, his other hand latched to her waist. Katara's feet dangled over the edge, and as she pressed them against the wall, a loose stone tumbled out from the wall, crashing to the ground beneath them.
Zuko cursed, yanking Katara upward fiercely onto the sill. Hissing at her to be quiet, they sat very still, praying that the Dai Li down the street did not pursue them.
Luckily for their part, there was just enough room to slide the window open, where the two teens were able to squeeze in-between the glass and stone frame.
Brushing off his shirt, Zuko looked around, making sure that he knew where he was at. Katara's hood fell to her shoulders as she blinked, regaining her balance.
"Come on, the apartment is down the hall."
She found herself, a waterbender, following the Fire Prince through a slum tenant house filled with Earth Kingdom refugees.
And if that was not strange, Katara did not know what was.
END CHAPTER 1
Author's Note: Back to writing Avatar fics, after a prolonged absence. You may know me from one of my last fics, "The Infinity Legend: Limitations". That's on a hiatus right now, and may or may not be reposted. This fic here started as a drabble, went to a one-shot, then continued to a multi-chaptered fic. Don't expect an epic; this will be about five to six chapters tops.
Reviews are highly appreciated.
Lady Windsong
November 28, 2006