Among Us - Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – A Wise Talk

~P~

The next morning, they all gathered together for breakfast. The entire time, Mai was extra affectionate, almost inappropriately so, to Zuko, who was embarrassed by her. Katara watched them, feeling her heart clench as Mai ran her hand up and down Zuko's strong forearm.

She was being awfully clingy, Katara noticed. Not only was Katara feeling a bit jealous (to which she couldn't really explain), but uncomfortable and annoyed, too. What Mai was doing was completely unnecessary!

At first, she tried to ignore it, because at first, it wasn't that bad. It was the same kind of love she gave Aang on a daily basis.

Next, she turned to Zuko. He gave her an innocent shrug and inched away from his girlfriend, who had been trying to kiss his neck – he didn't understand her odd behaviour, either. Pulling back at Zuko's rejection of her, Mai looked across the table to see him looking at Katara.

He was smiling admiringly at her, trying to conceal his very blatant staring at her. Overcome by a sudden envious stab, she leaned forward and full-fledged kissed Zuko, surprising him thoroughly. Katara's head turned quicker than the others, and upon seeing what she did, her annoyance of the situation got the better of her.

"Ugh!" she shot up from the table, throwing her hands up and marching out of the room. She saw Mai smirk against Zuko's – who was extremely flustered – lips. "When you two decide to be a little more decent when it comes to a meal, I'll be back in for breakfast!" And with all that said and done, she stormed down the hallway and outside to the large main garden. She slowed down when she knew she got a good distance away from them all, and she sat down at the pond.

She breathed deeply, clenching her fists as her anger and jealousy from her sudden outburst still coursed through her. The worst part was, she knew she shouldn't be jealous. She was with Aang and she loved him, but she could no longer ignore the fact that she liked Zuko. They had almost kissed late the night before, but she hadn't allowed it, and a part of her regretted it, but another part, the more reasonable of the two, knew better.

Slowly, she calmed down a bit, but she still wasn't about to go back inside. She walked over to the Turtleduck pond slowly, but stopped when she saw a stout older man standing there. She recognized him. It was Zuko's Uncle Iroh!

She approached him, and he turned around. "Oh, hello!" he said to her brightly. Noticing how angry she was, he commented on it. "You seem quite incensed."

She wanted to question him as to where he had been the last few days, but didn't do so. Instead she sat down and hugged her knees to her chest. "Yes." He sat down beside her and smiled understandingly. She sighed, knowing he wanted to hear what about, and she gladly vented to him. "Zuko's girlfriend is – horrible."

"Lady Mai?" Katara nodded. "I will agree," Iroh nodded, as well. "I'm not a fan of her, and she doesn't make Zuko as happy as she used to."

Katara smiled at that, and the pair sat in silence. Eventually, Iroh stood up and looked down at her. "I'm going to make my morning tea. Would you like some?"

"No, thank you," she shook her head.

Iroh nodded at her again and left her sitting there. Even though they had barely said anything to each other, Katara felt better about facing Zuko later on the subject.

~P~

Back in the dining hall, Zuko pushed Mai off of him in disgust. When she gave him a glower, he gave it right back. "What the hell was that?" he spat her. Mai simply crossed her arms defiantly and looked away. Sokka and Aang sat there awkwardly, while Toph exited the room, unnoticed.

When she didn't answer, he rolled his eyes at her childish behaviour and stood up.

Aang stood up, as well. "I should probably go talk to Kat—"

"Sit down, Aang. I'll talk to her," Zuko commanded him, and the Avatar gave him a look.

"Zuko, I think—"

"I said sit down! You are my guest, and so I will deal with this situation-" He shot Mai a dirty look, "-on my own!"

Aang's eyes flickered, but he sat down as he was told. "Fine."

At that, Zuko walked out of the room in the direction that Katara had stalked off to. As he went down the corridor, his mind was chaotic with unexpressed anger towards Mai. He was thoroughly unimpressed with her actions – she had told him that she was okay with him going to the North Pole with and being around Katara, so what the hell was that? He'd have to give her a piece of his mind later - no games this time around! As he walked outside, he saw Katara sitting beside the pond, and he made his way to her.

~P~

Katara heard footsteps that became increasingly louder from behind her, and she sighed. She wasn't really in the mood for one of Aang's goody-goody lectures.

"Go away, Aang," she grumbled, glaring at the water on the Turtleduck pond's surface, causing it to ripple out of her irritation. "I'm not in the mood. Just let me be angry for once."

"It's not Aang."

She turned upon hearing Zuko's voice and she crossed her arms at him, her expression remaining unchanged. "You? What do you want?"

"To talk about it," he said simply, inviting himself to sit down beside her. He tried to make eye contact with her, but she refused it.

"There's nothing to talk about, Zuko." She glared at the ground.

There was a short silence between them before Zuko spoke up. "I'm sorry for Mai's actions. I don't know what came over her." He paused, and Katara noticed the tone of his voice change, darken. "I'm not happy with it, either. It was unacceptable."

The pair sat in silence then, Zuko staring at the pond grumpily and Katara moodily glaring at the ground beside her. Despite herself, Katara turned to see Zuko's expression. His face matched his voice – he was glowering intensely at the pond.

Sighing, she grumbled out whisperingly, "I... don't like her. At all. I'm sorry, Zuko, but I, personally, do not understand how you can stand her." She didn't want to offend him – she was just stating her point. She couldn't hide how she felt about his horrid girlfriend – how fervently she disliked her and how Katara could think of about a million reasons why Zuko shouldn't be dating her.

"I lied yesterday," he said suddenly, and she blinked at him. "I told you that she was okay with you... she's not. She doesn't like you, either. Actually, she's jealous of you." He turned to her, and she blinked at him again, this time in surprise. Mai was jealous of her? He pointed between himself and her. "She thinks that we have something secretly going on between us, and refuses to let it go!" He pounded his hand on the ground out of his apparent annoyance of her. "We talked it out and everything yesterday... and then she went and pulled this this morning... I don't understand her anymore! I mean, there's nothing going on between us..." he trailed, and he looked over at Katara with wide eyes, as if this would reassure him that he should still be with Mai.

Katara's face flushed because of his intent gaze at her. "E-exactly," she whispered. "We're just friends."

Zuko nodded then, and she noticed – albeit reluctantly – how his face fell just slightly. Looking out at the pond again, his eyes cast downwards, he said, "I know..." He then added on, "but she doesn't..."

The two sat there awkwardly for a few moments before Katara broke it. "Are you going to talk to her about it later?"

"Of course, I am," Zuko told her.

Katara couldn't believe what she was saying next. "Don't... don't yell at her. I want you to smooth things over with her, Zuko – I don't want us going to the North Pole her while you two are in the middle of a rift." Zuko gave her a look and opened his mouth to speak, but she intervened before he could. "Please, Zuko, promise me. You'll be decent to her and mend things."

Zuko gave her a hard stare, but he eventually gave in and nodded in defeat. "Fine. But don't expect her to act any differently afterwards – she doesn't like you, and once Mai sets her mind on either liking or disliking something or someone, she does everything in her power to let you know that."

Katara shook her head. "That's fine. I'll act civilly to her as long as she does to me. Just as long as we leave with you two on good terms."

Zuko simply sighed at this, and Katara swallowed. She felt like she was forcing his relationship with Mai on him – she didn't want to be the reason they broke up, but at the same time, it wasn't her decision if Zuko no longer wanted to be with her, and besides, she detested the woman, anyways - and that she was drilling into her mind that they were just friends. Like she was trying to convince herself differently of her new feelings for the Fire Lord.

The scene went quiet again, but this time they welcomed it. They embraced the silence happily, and they just sat there, enjoying the other's presence. Then something occurred to the Waterbender, and she turned to her companion.

"Hey, Zuko," she began, waiting for him to respond. He turned to her and nodded in acknowledgement. "Um, I know this is kind of out of the blue, but... why didn't you inform your Uncle about going to the North Pole? I know he's like a father to you, so I kind of suspected that he would have been the first person you would have gone to for approval."

Zuko answered simply. "He's in Ba Sing Se. He's been there for the past few weeks, aiding in the repairs in the walls along with the other White Lotus members. I thought about sending a messenger hawk to him, but I figured that by the time it got to him and he delivered it back with a response, we would be long gone. So I decided there was no point. I'll just ask Mai or someone to send him a messenger hawk telling him where I am after we're gone."

Katara's expression turned confused. "But," she pointed in the direction she had seen Iroh go. "I just saw him, like, ten minutes ago. He was sitting out here."

Zuko's eyes lit up childishly, and she had to suppress a smile. "Really? He's here?" he asked excitedly, standing up suddenly. Katara nodded, allowing herself a smile now. Taking Katara's hand in his, he pulled her up, and they took off across the lawn.

"Zuko! Slow down! Why do you even want me there with you?" she laughed.

"Well, we are going on the trip together," he commented quickly. He stopped momentarily in a random hallway, and looked around before starting off again. "And besides, he trusts you. He doesn't trust a lot of people. Despite how friendly he looks outwardly, he's actually very protective and distrustful... he has been ever since the death of my cousin." Zuko slowed down slightly at that, but before Katara could even give him a sympathetic look, he had shaken off the sad feeling and taken off in the direction of Iroh's room again.

When they arrived there, Zuko stopped at the doors but did not open them.

Katara gave him a concerned look. "Why aren't you opening them?" she questioned.

"I... I don't know," he admitted. "I'm scared, I guess. I don't know why."

Katara smiled at him before taking his hand in hers and intertwining their fingers tightly, squeezing it. The action both unnerved Zuko and filled him with a certain confidence.

"Why don't you go in there and show him how much you missed him, Zuko?" Katara told him quietly.

Smiling at her, the Fire Lord squeezed her hand back before releasing it and placing his hands on the door handles. Inhaling deeply, he reefed them open, surprising the old man inside and almost causing him to drop his tea.

Zuko stepped forward, a painfully innocent look on his scarred face. "Uncle?"

Iroh turned around at the sound of his nephew's voice, and he smiled brightly to himself. Sipping at his tea quickly, he placed it down and turned around to greet his nephew with extended arms.

"Zuko!" he called, and at that, Zuko took his cue and ran forward to his uncle. The elder and his nephew embraced with such happiness, and Katara observed the scene from behind the door. She had never seen Zuko like this before – to see the usually stoic Fire Lord rendered to show only the rawest form of love and respect! It was, dare she say it, incredible. Zuko was a complex human being emotionally, she knew this, and she was glad to be a part of his life.

After seemingly an eternity passed, the two men retreated from the hug and Zuko looked down at his uncle. "I'm so glad to see you." His gaze held such emotion it was difficult for the young man not to simply beam.

"Same to you, Zuko." The older man smiled brightly at his nephew before noticing some movement behind the large double doors. "Zuko, you were raised better than to ignore your guests! Invite your lady friend in, will you."

Zuko blushed at his forgetting about Katara, and he turned to her. "O-oh, I'm sorry, Katara," he walked back to the door and took her hand gently, pulling her into the room and closing the door behind her. Iroh, in the meantime, had poured two cups of teas for the youngsters.

Katara shook her head at Zuko, smiling at him. His blush intensified with her look at him, and he rubbed the back of his head with the hand that wasn't still holding hers.

Iroh watched the exchange amusedly before placing down the steaming tea cups on the little table before him. "Sit," he motioned to the small pillows in front of him.

Obeying, the pair sat down beside each other. A short moment passed when nothing was said, but Iroh spoke up, much to Zuko's embarrassment, and said, "You know, Zuko, I don't think Princess Katara's going to be able to drink her tea what with you holding on to her hand like that."

Zuko's jaw dropped ever-so-slightly at his Uncle's pointing it out, and upon noticing his hand was still latched to hers – not that she minded – Katara blushed. Letting go of it, he looked to the side to avoid eye contact with either of them.

Katara smiled sheepishly at him before picking up her tea and sipping at it, and out of his peripheral vision, he caught the gesture, returning it with a slight one of his one.

Iroh simply smirked to himself. He took a drink of his tea before turning to Zuko. "Now, you probably want to talk to me about the North Pole trip you are taking with Princess Katara, don't you?" The Fire Lord blinked at his uncle, wondering how he knew. "I heard about it from some guards," Iroh explained, and Zuko rolled his eyes. Mai was right – things did travel around the palace.

"Yes," Zuko nodded. Looking at and motioning to Katara, who was still sipping at her tea, he continued, "Katara and I are going to go to the North Pole so that she can heal my scars." Iroh's eyes widened noticeably at this notion. "I just wanted to know... would you be okay with it?"

Iroh blinked at Zuko before taking another drink of his tea. Zuko patiently awaited his uncle's opinion. "Personally," Iroh began, closing his eyes thoughtfully, "I think that this will be a trip of epic proportions for you both – it will be both a great, thrilling experience and a heart-shattering tragedy – I can feel it in my old bones. But despite this, I think that it a journey both of you desperately need. You will learn a great amount about yourselves and each other – so, yes, I give you my approval, my nephew."

Zuko blinked at his uncle and then at Katara, who did so right back at him. Katara spoke up out of concern. "Um, what do you mean by 'heart-shattering tragedy'?"

"I do not know," Iroh admitted cryptically. "But I can feel it. Something significant is going to happen between you two. Something indescribably powerful and intensely beautiful."

Both Katara and Zuko blushed at each other. What did the old man mean?

However, Iroh did not give the young pair a chance to dwell on the secret meaning of his words. "So, who wants to hear about the progress at Ba Sing Se?" the old Firebending general changed the subject suddenly. He was trying his best not to laugh at the others' expressions.

Zuko, who desperately wanted to diverge from any subject that would bring further embarrassment upon himself, nodded eagerly. "Sure, Uncle."

For the rest of the morning, the three shared stories about Ba Sing Se and other things that occurred on their previous adventures. They laughed and joked and cared not at all about anything else for that short amount of time.

When they were done their third pot of tea, Katara decided that she should go check up on Aang, because Zuko had brought up that he had wanted to see her.

"Would you like another cup of tea, Princess?" asked Iroh, holding up the teapot happily.

Katara shook her head politely. "No, thank you. I think I'm going to check on Aang – you," she turned to Zuko, "said that he wanted to talk to me."

Zuko, who had been having a great time up until then, grew sombre at the mention of Katara's boyfriend. "Oh, uh, yes," he coughed, "you should go see him." Iroh noticed the disappointment in his nephew's face.

Smiling at him, she leaned over and hugged him. "Thank you for your concern earlier, Zuko," she whispered, pulling back and placing a light kiss on both of his cheeks, causing the Fire Lord's entire face to go pink.

"Anytime," he told her, and he watched as she got up and left the room. If Katara was being truthful with herself, she didn't want to leave. She didn't want to go see Aang quite yet. She just wanted to be with Zuko. But ignoring these inner emotional requests, she opened the door, and with one last fleeting look at her good friend and an honouring bow to Iroh, did she leave the room reluctantly.

Iroh watched as Zuko's shoulders slumped and he sighed, love struck. He was smiling dreamily in the direction of the door and he had a glazed over look in his eyes. Iroh chuckled at his dumb expression, and leaned over.

"She's quite the specimen, Zuko. Feisty and fiery, just like yourself, but at the same time, gentle and sensitive. You two are so alike! I can't blame you for being in love with her. Not to mention, she's the Princess of the Southern Water Tribe! Good catch, if I do say so myself!"

Zuko flew around to stare at his Uncle, eyes wide. "W-what are you talking about? She's with Aang and I'm with—"

"I'll be honest; I like her much better than Mai. And you," he pointed down at the flustered young Firebender, "do, too." Zuko tried to splutter out another lie about denying his feelings, but his Uncle would not have it. "And don't try to deny it, Zuko! I see the way you look at each other, how you two interact – you love her." Iroh stated like it was the simplest thing in the world.

"U-uncle, I-I—" Zuko tried to form words, but he found he could not.

"However," Iroh became stern now, and he gave the Fire Lord a dark look. "I will advise you not to go too far with Princess Katara – like last night, as an example – until you officially end things with Mai, or else, Zuko, there will be repercussions for your actions."

Zuko glared at his Uncle then, suddenly threatened at the mention of the night before. "How do you know about what happened last night with Katara?" the Fire Lord inquired fiercely.

Iroh shrugged. "I got back to the palace from Ba Sing Se late, late last night. That's why I hadn't seen you until just a few hours ago. I went out on the patio of my room for some late-night tea, and what am I presented with? I see my nephew holding the Waterbender as though they you were lovers!" Zuko's eyes were burning out of guilt, but Iroh figured it was more so out of being caught than what he had committed against Mai. "If it weren't for that one peculiarly large Turtleduck, you and Princess Katara would be stealing kisses behind your significant others' backs as we speak!"

Zuko blinked at the floor, face in his hands, trying to comprehend all of the information he had just had thrown at him. Peering up at his uncle with scared eyes, he asked, "Please, don't tell anyone, Uncle."

"I will not, Zuko, but I want you to know that I just want what's best for your happiness," Iroh walked around the table and placed his hands on Zuko's shoulders. "And I truly think Katara is the person who will make you the happiest."

Zuko took a few minutes to process his thoughts again, sighing. Looking up at his Uncle, he did the best he could to muster a weak smile. "Thank you, Uncle." At that, he stood up. "I should probably get going – I have to start packing for the trip."

Iroh nodded at him and smiled, but he kept the concerned look in his eyes. As Zuko approached the door, he said one last thing.

"Just end things with one before starting something with another."

Zuko nodded his head in acknowledgement, bowed to Iroh, and walked out of the room. After he got back to his own corridors, he landed on his bed and sighed heavily. He couldn't believe that he was almost caught! He had suspected that they were being watched that night - what if it had been Mai? If it had been Mai, Zuko would be in a world of hurt... but at the same time, if it meant that he could hold Katara that close in his arms again, he would gladly take the lashing his psychotic girlfriend would give him.