Good Enough: Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven
Zuko had sent Aang away and was sitting down on one of the many benches that were against the walls. The kid learned quickly and, even though he wasn’t actually throwing fire, Zuko was able to teach him quite a bit in the short time they worked. Even with Zuko not Firebending, he still felt tired; but he could defiantly tell he was almost back to the way he was before his imprisonment. Zuko felt stronger, his head was clearer, everything in general was easier to do and caused him less pain.
“Soon, Katara will have to agree I’m better,” he muttered to himself. Then I don’t have to worry about teaching Aang behind her back anymore. It was pleasant to think he wouldn’t have to keep lying to her; it gave him a guilty feeling every time he had lied and he felt even more awkward with Aang helping him lie.
Zuko pushed away his doubts with the help of the soothing scent of Fire Lilies and lay down on his back on the bench, crossing his arms behind his head and taking a deep sigh. Zuko felt the sun and his breathing calmed as he fell asleep. Things are going smoothly. Now, if only it would last…
“I think we just found an escape route, Katara,” Toph said. Katara looked around the dimly lit area. Toph was right; they were at the bottom of the canyon.
“Wow,” Katara breathed. It was really sparse and sunlight didn’t reach the bottom of the canyon. Katara pointed to the river that ran by near them. “That river must have craved this canyon out.”
“The rock beneath my feet is so cold down here. The sunlight must never reach down here,” Toph contemplated. She moved her foot in a slow circle around here to feel the stone. “How far down is this, Katara? Can you see the Temple?”
Katara looked up to see the long stretch of canyon walls then some tiny green squares that she recognized as the roofs of the upside-down temple. “Really far. I can barely see the Temple. Could you imagine falling down here? There would be no chance of surviving.” Katara pictured herself falling into this black, empty pit, the wind whooshing in her ears and the canyon walls flying by as the ground rushed up to meet her; she shivered.
Toph huffed. “Not unless you were an Airbender or Earthbender.” She moved back to the door that had led them down here. “Let’s go back up before my feet freeze.”
Katara turned slowly away from the sight of the temple and back to the door, hurrying up to catch Toph. “Yeah, Sokka and Dad will want to know.”
“…and there was a river at the bottom of it. We could use it as an escape route if anything happened,” Zuko heard Katara explain from his seat beside her brother.
Sokka frowned at his sister when she and Toph finished explaining it to him and his father.
“You were supposed to be resting today,” he muttered.
Hakoda patted Sokka’s shoulder, “It’s alright, Sokka. Your sister and friend might have found something important. Plus,” he added, looking back at Katara sternly. “I’m sure she’ll get her rest in this evening.”
Katara sighed reluctantly. “Yeah, I’ll get my rest.”
Zuko couldn’t help but snicker at her. Unfortunately, Katara heard him. She turned and glared, pointing a threatening finger his way. “Don’t even start with me—”
“What are you going to do,” he cut her off tauntingly, “You have no power over me today.”
Katara’s shoulders dropped and she looked briefly to the side before glancing back up at him. Why did he insist to be such a pain in her side today?
Before she could say anything, a solider walked up to Hakoda and spoke quickly before leaving after her father gave a nod. Turning to them, he smiled. “Good news! General Iroh, Lady Ursa, and Master Piandao have just arrived.”
Katara saw Zuko and Sokka stand up immediately. Sokka walked up to their father. “Where are they? I can’t believe I’m going to see my old sword master again!”
“They’re coming this way,” Toph said, and in that moment, Piandao walked through the doorway followed by Iroh and Ursa. Katara saw Zuko’s mom gaze at everyone pleasantly and she hurried over to her son, wrapping him in a fierce hug. Zuko accepted the hug as Iroh patted his shoulder.
Katara sighed; she felt the same envy towards Zuko as she had before. My mother won’t come back. She was happy for Zuko but, at the same time, it was hard to watch.
Sokka was busy introducing Master Piandao to her father and Katara didn’t want to intrude so she stood by Toph, looking around uncomforting.
“Feels awkward, doesn’t it,” Toph asked, blowing some of the hair out of her face.
“Yeah, it does.”
“Don’t feel too bad, Sugar Queen. I’m sure Zuko’s family is going to nab you soon.”
Katara just had time to look confusedly at Toph before she felt Ursa’s slim arms around her. “I can’t thank you enough for helping my son. You’re a very talented healer.”
Toph smirked as Katara said, “Um, no problem. It was no problem.”
Ursa held her at arm’s length and gave a small laugh. “Don’t even try to tell me my little Zuko wasn’t a problem. He was always disobeying orders. I can’t imagine that much has changed.”
Zuko, overhearing his mom, looked away and glared at the floor.
“Well, you caught me.” Katara laughed as she looked over at Zuko. “I tried, but she knows you as well as a mom,” she teased.
Iroh gave a deep, hearty laugh. “Very good, Miss Katara!”
Ursa walked back over to Zuko, dragging Katara with her. “Come, come! Let’s go for a walk, there’s so much to talk about!”
Katara felt herself get pulled away from her family as Iroh walked behind her and they headed out, walking through the door and down the hallway.
“So, Zuko, Miss Katara,” Iroh said after a moment of silence. “What have you been up to since our last visit?”
Katara and Zuko exchanged a look, both of them thinking of the same thing: arguing. But Katara answered his question by talking as though Iroh’s “you” meant the whole group at the Western Air Temple and not solely the two of them. “We’ve been hiding out here while my brother and father are making plans for another invasion.”
“Oh, come now,” Ursa sighed, the same polite, kind smile on her face. “You make it sound so dull. Did nothing exciting happen while we were away?”
Zuko took over by shaking his head and replying, “Basically, that’s all that’s been happening. But Katara found a secret escape route today.” He looked at Katara, who picked up the conversation with a retelling of her story; Zuko was relieved to just be walking between Katara and his mother, not having to talk too much.
When Katara finished, Iroh waited for a second before asking, “So, nephew, have you started the Avatar’s training yet?”
Zuko gulped; this was the last thing he wanted to talk about. Every time it was brought up, he and Katara argued and he got a feeling of upcoming dread. Katara promptly folded her arms across her chest and answered for him. “No, he hasn’t. He’s not well enough to be training Aang yet.”
Zuko made a face and muttered angrily, “Yes, I am.”
Ursa jabbed him in the side and said sharply, “No, if she says you’re not well, you’ll listen to her.”
Zuko sighed and resented Katara’s smug glance. “Yes, ma’am.” Guilt continued to claw at him as they continued their walk, heading towards the small garden where Zuko first saw Katara after waking up.
“Well, this is simply lovely,” Ursa breathed, gazing in wonder at the bright orange flowers surrounding the fountain.
Uncle Iroh plucked an orange blossom and handed it to her. “A Firelily for the Fire Lady.”
Ursa laughed and took the bloom, holding it to her nose and inhaling deeply. “Thank you, Iroh.”
Zuko rolled his eyes while Katara looked on in mystified shock. She leaned over and whispered to Zuko. “Is your uncle…flirting?”
Zuko glanced down at her. “Is that what that is? I always thought it was just the way he was.” He watched his uncle weave the lily in behind his mother’s ear. What would Katara do if I tried giving her a flower? He glanced across at her; she was smiling and his hand was reaching for a lily he felt bouncing lightly against his leg.
“Here you are, Miss Katara.” Zuko’s hand fisted as his uncle held out a lily to Katara.
“But I’m not the Fire Lady,” Katara stammered hurriedly, color rising to her cheeks as she looked down.
“Maybe not the Fire Lady but a lady nonetheless.” Katara let him place the flower behind her ear and smiled hesitantly up at the old man. “There, beautiful. Does she not look lovely, nephew?”
Zuko gulped as Katara turned to him. She did look lovely, beautiful even; he’d seen this already. What he hadn’t been prepared for was the way she looked in the moonlight, the water from the fountain reflected on her skin and in her eyes. “Yes,” he stuttered as he nodded. “Yes, she does.”
Katara’s mouth opened slightly in shock as she took in what he’d said. Her? Lovely? Hardly. It must’ve been because his mother was there. He wouldn’t insult her in front of his mother. But, just for a moment, she’d allowed herself to believe that he’d truly thought her pretty. She smiled warmly.
Uncle Iroh grinned triumphantly and clapped his hands together. “Now, this old man is tired. Fire Lady Ursa, Lady Katara? Care to do me the honor of showing me to my room?”
The women laughed, looping their arms through his, and turned to leave the garden.
“Are you coming, Zuko?”
He looked up to see Katara gazing at him expectantly; he shook his head and tightened his fist to keep from taking her outstretched hand. “No, I’m going to stay here a while longer.”
“Do you want me to stay with you?” She let her hand fall and pulled her arm from Iroh’s, turning back to him.  
Again he shook his head. “You go ahead and go. I just want to think about some things.” Like how I’m going to explain my betrayal to you in a way that will keep you from killing me.
“Oh, okay,” she replied solemnly, returning to Iroh’s side. “Just don’t stay up too late.”
“Yeah, okay,” he promised, watching them leave. He caught his mother glancing over her shoulder, her amber eyes full of amused pleasure.
“Don’t forget to wash your hand, Zuko. Lilies stain.”
He looked down to see the flower in his hand had been crushed in his fist and he winced as it fell, bruised and bleeding, to the ground.

Katara woke early the next morning, refreshed from her day off and eager to make up for it. There were sure to be dishes to do and she’d caught sight of a hole forming in the knee of Sokka’s pants that would mending.
Not to mention that the clothes were in need of a wash and someone was going to have to collect firewood for lunch; there was just enough for the cooking fire this morning. Although, with the Firebenders they’d gotten to join them, maybe firewood wouldn’t be needed.
She smiled, picturing Zuko doing such a mundane task as bringing the water to a boil. What a great way to see if he’d be strong enough to start training Aang.  Maybe today we can find out.  She pulled her hair back as she entered the kitchen. It was going to be one of those good days. She could feel it.

The room was crowded when Zuko entered. His eyes sought out Katara. He’d decided last night that he was going to spend today convincing her that he was well enough to train the Avatar. He couldn’t lie to her anymore and he couldn’t stop training Aang. So, he figured that, if he got her to see that he was perfectly capable of teaching Aang, everything would work out and he would be able to live with himself again.
He found her at the rice pot dishing out rice into waiting bowls with a smile and pleasant conversation as people came up to her. Taking a deep breath, he started his trek across the wide room. In his head, he rehearsed all the points he was going to make and all his arguments for the way he guessed she’d react.
Grabbing two bowls, he stood at the end of the line, moving forward one slow step at a time until he was right in front of her.
She glanced up at him and beamed. “Good morning, Zuko!”
“’Morning,” he said distantly, thinking of how to bring up the subject of his Firebending.  She dished some rice into the empty bowls and he whispered to her. “Can I talk to you?”
“Sure. Just a minute.” She stood and turned to Suki, who was sitting beside her. “Can you take over for a bit?”
Suki nodded. “No problem. I think serving is the only thing I can do right when it comes to cooking.”
Katara laughed as Sokka glared at Suki.  Suki just ignored his glare and started to greet people as they came up to get their breakfast.
Zuko handed Katara a bowl of rice and led the way out to the edge of the temple.
“So, what’s up,” Katara asked, sitting on a bench and pulling her legs underneath her.
Zuko leaned back against the railing. “I wanted to ask you something.”
She stopped in mid bite. “What did you want to ask me?”
He turned around, looking over the canyon and taking a deep breath. “I want you to let me train Aang,” he said quickly. “I know that you think I’m too weak and not well enough but I think I can do it.”
“Okay.”
“I know what you’re thinking but I promise to stop if…” He paused, comprehending what she just said as he turned to look at her. “What?”
She smiled. “I said, ‘okay.’  I know I’ve been hard on you but I think you deserve a chance.”
He blinked, gazing straight ahead of him. “That was easier than I thought it would be.”
Sokka came out of the crowd and headed for them. “Zuko, Aang’s looking for you. Said something about checking out something on the other side of the Temple. I don’t know why you two think you’ve got to be all secretive about your training but—” he held up his hand in mock surrender—“I’m not a bender. You people sail completely different seas.”  As Sokka finished, he walked off in the other direction, completely oblivious to how much his words would affect them.
Katara looked up at Zuko, confusion, then dawning, then hurt welling up in her eyes, and he saw tears start to form.
“Katara,” he said softly, reaching for her. “Let me explain.”
She shook her head and backed away from him. “You…you lied to me?”
“No!…I mean…yes…Katara wait!”
She had started to leave; Zuko reached out towards her again as he spoke and she turned back to him.  “I can’t deal with this right now.”
Zuko watched her retreating back, wishing that she’d yelled at him rather than just walk away.  This was much worse.  She is crying, because of me.

Uncle Iroh watched from his seat across the Avatar as his nephew stormed off in the opposite direction as the Waterbender, looking suddenly very cross and irritable.  Aang went on eating, oblivious to what was unfolding behind him.  “So, why do they call you the Dragon of the West anyway?”
Iroh brought his eyes back to the young boy’s face and smiled. “Well, a long time ago, when dragons still roamed the world, I learned Firebending from some of the true masters. In fact, their city is not far from here…”

“Katara, you’ve got to come out sometime.”
“Please, just leave me alone, Toph.”
Toph leaned against the wall beside the door to Katara’s room. She didn’t need her feet to tell her that Katara was crying; she could hear her sniffles. “At least let me in. You need to talk this out.”
“I don’t want to talk about it. I want to forget it ever happened.”
Toph sighed. “It may not be what you want, but it is what you need. Now, are you going to let me in or are we going to have this conversation where everyone can hear it?”
She heard the click of Katara’s door being unlocked and Toph walked in to comfort her crying friend.

“How could I have been so stupid?”
Suki sat at the edge of the fountain in the same position she’d sat in since entering the small clearing fifteen minutes ago. And, had she been counting, she’d have known that that statement had left Zuko’s mouth more than ten times; he’d asked that question quite often. Unfortunately, she didn’t know if he was looking for her to answer the question or if he was asking himself.
“I can’t believe I lied to her! I should’ve known this would happen. I’m not lucky enough to have everything work out the way I planned.” He stopped pacing and pulled his hands out of his hair, looking over to her. “You know, I finally got her to agree to let me train the Avatar.”
“Really,” Suki asked, the first thing she’d said since he’d asked her what her name was when she’d followed him here.
He nodded and sank down to the ground. “I couldn’t lie to her anymore. And so I’d been up since dawn just going over every possible way she’d answer and how I’d argue my point with her. The only thing I hadn’t expected was for her to actually say ‘yes’. Go figure, right?”
Suki opened her mouth to answer just as he jumped back to his feet and resumed his pacing. “She’s just so infuriating!”
Suki blinked.
“She’s so bossy and pigheaded.  And you want to know what the worst part is?  The worst part is the way she makes me feel like she’s right.  I can be up walking around feeling perfectly fine and then she’s there telling me I need to rest and suddenly I’m so tired I have to lay down right there.  I was just sitting in our garden once and she walked in, looked at me, and I practically fell asleep!  I don’t think that’s natural!
“And don’t even get me started on her invasion of personal space…” Suki listened as Zuko ranted on and on about Katara, personal space, and something about hair.
“I don’t know if I want to grab her and shake her or if I want to grab her and kiss her!”
Suki smiled at his shocked expression.  Then tried not to laugh as she said, “Either way, I’m sure she’d be quiet.”

Toph sat on the edge of the bed with Katara lying hopelessly across it, her face buried in her arms. “I just don’t know what to do, Toph. I thought I was helping him. I thought maybe we were even becoming friends. But he…he lied to me.  Again!” She wailed into the thin mattress, a fresh wave of tears soaking through the material. “I can’t believe I was stupid enough to trust him.”
Shifting slightly, Toph turned toward the sound of Katara’s crying.  She had never heard Katara in such hysteria.  “I don’t think he wanted to lie to you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’m just saying that, given the way he’s kind of been avoiding you, I don’t think he enjoyed it.”
Katara sat up, blinking and wiping away tears.  Then she sniffed.  “He’s been avoiding me?”
“Well, yeah.  He’s constantly aware of where you are in the temple and he tries to be on the other side when he can be.  Like when he practiced with Aang, they would both disappear to the gardens—”
“Wait, you knew? And you didn’t bother to tell me?”
“Well, I just figured you’d given him permission.”
There was a knock on the door. “Katara?”
Katara glared at it, picturing Zuko’s face on the other side. “I don’t socialize with liars, Zuko.”
She heard him sigh heavily and the soft thud as his forehead rested against the door. “What I did was wrong and I’m sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t cover it.”
“I know.”
She blinked at the door. Setting her face into a scowl, she marched to the door and swung it open. He was standing there, head down and shoulders slumped. He glanced up at her for a moment before looking back at the ground. She wasn’t sure what she’d been looking for but he looked so achingly remorseful that she felt herself reaching out to him.
Fisting her hands at her sides, she stepped around him and started down the hall.
“Katara, wait,” he exclaimed, grabbing her arm and spinning her around.
She glared at his hand briefly before pulling out of his grip and shouting, “No, you betrayed me! You taught Aang Firebending! But that’s not the worst part. You went behind my back to do it. You deliberately disobeyed my orders not to and started training him before you were ready!”
His eyes narrowed. “I was ready. You were just too blinded to see it. All you wanted was someone to look after, to take care of. Well, let me tell you, Katara, I’m nobody’s pet!”  He spoke harshly and angrily.  “And, for the record, I’m trying to help Aang!  You’ve been keeping the art of Bloodbending from him!”
The crack echoed through the halls as Katara slapped Zuko across the face. “How dare you? How dare you? I looked after you, yes, but if I hadn’t, you would still be in that Fire Nation prison, delusional and dying. I saved your pathetic life and, as thanks, you lied to me some more.”
Zuko watched her leave and rubbed his stinging cheek.  He hated this feeling, this feeling of guilt even though everything was now out in the open and he hated this feeling that told him everything was his fault.
Toph walked to the open door and leaned against the frame.  “You two are a mess.”