Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

It's the last day of Zutara Week 2013! There's been so many great stories and such lovely artwork. I present to you my entry for Spark, set during the masterpiece that is Season 2! Namely, around the time of Tales of Ba Sing Se.

Spark: a small fiery particle thrown off from a fire. (or firebender)

It was a cloudy night in Ba Sing Se. The plants, trees, and roads were cast in shades of blue and gray. The dark, looming clouds held promise of heavy rain. Katara hardly had time to absorb her dreary surroundings as she closed the door as slowly as possible so to not make a peep.

Katara breathed out in relief and straightened her hunched, careful posture. It seemed she was able to exit the house without being caught. She walked down the pathway, a slight sway to her hips and a happy hum in her throat. She patted her water skin, once again checking that she had to with her.

She had entered the middle tier of the city by the time she found a decent water source. The pond was secluded, hidden behind a cluster of multi-story shops. It opened up into a river that had a quaint bridge arcing over it. Katara bent down beside the muddy bank and dipped her hands in. She smiled at the feeling of her element enveloping her skin. The water was not as clean and pure as she would prefer, but it would have to do.

After Katara had spent some time enjoying being immersed in her element and bending it to her heart's content, she was alerted to the sound of men talking nearby. She immediately fell into a fighting stance. Her braid whipped around as she scanned the area with narrowed eyes. Please don't be Fire Nation. Katara already regretted leaving the house just to practice her waterbending. Then she remembered that she was, in fact, in Ba Sing Se. There were no Fire Nation soldiers in Ba Sing Se.

Several green-clad men came into her line of vision. She relaxed a bit, recognizing the Dai Li – the protectors of the city. She dropped her water back into the pond and relaxed her tensed shoulders. The Dai Li, however, continued to approach her.

"Hello, gentlemen," Katara greeted them awkwardly with a half-hearted wave. She tried to appear friendly. "Out for a midnight patrol?"

"Young girl, you are out after curfew," one of the men said curtly. His eyes were concealed in the shadow of his hat. "We will have to escort you back to your home."

Katara started for a second. A curfew? That was a foreign concept. She stayed in her spot and gave a light laugh. "That won't be necessary, sir. I'm just visiting the city with my friend, the Avatar."

One of the other men whispered something inaudible into the first Dai Li's ear. His demeanor changed and he took a step towards her. "I'm afraid you are in violation of our strict law against waterbending in the city. We will have to take you to our boss for further assessment."

"What?" Katara shouted, jumping back and preparing a water whip. She had bent in the city before and it hadn't been an issue. "I'm not going anywhere with you!"

"In that case, we must use force." She was pelted by a barrage of rocks, shaped into the forms of hands. Swatting them away with strong streams of the pond water, her eyes darting around in search of an escape. Her feet waded into the cool water as she was forced back. She lifted her arms with the purpose of freezing the men when two rock-hands managed to clamp around her wrists. She screamed in protest, struggling to release her hands. The water is right there!

Two Dai Li grabbed hold of her upper arms tightly. She kicked out at them desperately and was hit by two rocks aimed at her knees. Her legs buckled out underneath her. She was trapped in the soldiers' hands. She bowed her head, ashamed by how easily she had been defeated.

"A waterbender lost surrounded by her own element," one of the men chuckled. "Does Long Feng really think her a threat?"

"Let me go!" Katara cried, glaring daggers at the men she had thought were her allies. A threat to what?

"Not going to-." The Dai Li agent cut himself off with a choked gasp. He fell forward, and in his place stood a man dressed in all black with dual swords in his hands. Covering his face was a demon mask painted in blue and white. The Blue Spirit.

No one had noticed his presence until now. The Dai Li were still for a moment, obviously baffled that the Blue Spirit had been able to breech the walls of the city. But they were quick to lunge into action, shooting rock-hands out to contain the Blue Spirit. He dodged each and every rock hurled his way with a graceful swiftness, using the darkness of the shadows to his advantage. Katara watched in awe as his leaped into the air and sent his swords swinging at the closest earthbender, slicing into his shoulder and causing the man to howl in pain.

Katara realized that all of the Dai Li were distracted, including the ones that had grabbed her arms. She frantically tried to summon enough water out of her water skin to cut through the rock-hands. She closed her eyes tightly and drew upon every ounce of concentration she could. She ignored the sound of wielding swords and panicked shouts. In her mind's eye she saw a stream of water slither out of the skin. She furrowed her brows and aimed it at her wrists. The rock crumbled away.

She snapped her eyes open and prepared to run. It seemed the remaining two Dai Li had the same idea, as she opened her eyes just in time to see them bolt. She turned to look at her masked savior, and that was when she saw it.

Sparks. Tiny dots of light at the tips of his fingers, the very same fingers that wrapped so securely around the hilt of the sword. His fists were clenched tightly as he watched the Dai Li run away, anger rolling off him in waves of steam. It was then that the mask faced her.

He slowly put his dual swords back into their sheaths.

The Blue Spirit took cautious steps towards her. Katara could sense the internal debate running through his head. Maybe he could sense her conflicted thoughts as well. She stood in place with baited breath.

He reached out for her hands, and she lifted them warily. He held her small, brown hands in his larger, more callused ones. The holes of the blue mask seemed to examine her palms and upturned wrists as if searching for any damage. Then he turned them over.

Everything clicked. His touch felt no different than it had before. I'll save you for the pirates.

He let go, and her arms fell limp at her sides. She felt her heart skip a beat in terror. For a moment they merely stared at one another. Katara feared he would attack her at any moment, but he remained as calm and silent as ever.

"Thank you." Her voice wavered, but she felt the words needed to be spoken.

The mask bobbed once in acknowledgement. He seemed to hesitate, and she almost thought he was going to say something, but instead he reached a hand out and pushed one of her hair beads back into its place. The Blue Spirit quickly darted back into the shadows.

Katara headed back the way she had come. Fortunately she did not see another Dai Li agent, and she slipped back into the house as quietly as she had left. She would have to tell her friends in the morning about her worrisome encounter with the Dai Li.

She toyed with the hair bead that had been loosened during the fight. Her encounter with Zuko, she decided, could be a story for another time.

And that concludes this story. Thank you all that have read any of these silly drabbles! I tried to keep a balance in my series, with light and dark elements (although the last few definitely haven't been all that cheery) and different time periods throughout. The two Season 3 drabbles, Calor and Gravity, were probably my favorites to write.

A note for Spark: I found it very difficult to not make it boring. I rewrote the beginning several times, and finally settled with this. But I knew I wanted to include The Blue Spirit in here somewhere. Because who doesn't love The Blue Spirit?

I want to give everyone a big thank you again. This was my first Zutara Week and it feels good having participated. Goodbye for now!