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Katara ends up giving Princess Zuko one of her parka-dresses, pants, gloves, and boots. She shows her how to put it all on, averting her gaze when appropriate, and the end result has the Princess looking like a very cute, very pale Water-Tribe girl.
Sokka had pulled her aside earlier this morning and told her of the Fire Nation girl’s secret royal lineage, and made her promise not to tell a soul. Katara had been furious at first, but all Sokka had to do was remind her of how horrible the burn scars had looked for her to reconcile with the idea that Princess Zuko was also a victim of the Fire Nation, regardless of her heritage.
Katara smiles at her open wonder at the Water-Tribe clothes. “Do you not have anything like this where you come from?”
“Oh…” The Princess blushes, seeming surprised that her interest was noticed. “No, it’s very hot in the Fire Nation. I’d never seen clothing with fur on it before I left. These in particular have a really nice look to them.”
Katara grins proudly and bumps their shoulders together. “That’s because everything we do is the coolest! Just ask Sokka, he’ll tell you all about it. Other nations don't know what they’re missing.”
She laughs a little. “I think he already said something similar yesterday.”
“Because it’s true.” Katara steps in front of her and takes her hands, glove in glove. “How old are you, Zuko? Can I just call you Zuko?”
“...Sure.” She ducks her head and squeezes Katara’s hands through the gloves. “I lost a bunch of hours when the ship crashed, but I think I should be fifteen today. What about you?”
Katara gapes at her. “It’s your birthday?! I’m thirteen, I already had my birthday a few months ago. Tui and La, what a terrible birthday, for you to be in a crash the day before and almost die of hypothermia. I thought my tenth was bad just because I got hit in the head by Sokka’s wooden boomerang.”
“Ouch.” Zuko winces in sympathy. “When we find my crew, maybe Uncle will let you join the party, to make up for your tenth.”
“That sounds amazing.” Katara feels her eyes get a little watery and looks away, blinking fast. She’s always wanted a friend outside of Sokka-- though admittedly, she hadn’t expected that friend to be from the Fire Nation. “Are you sure your crew won’t hurt anyone? The war… our mom was killed by a Fire Nation raid when Sokka and I were younger. It was really horrible, and it’s why all of the men left with all our ships to join the fight.”
Zuko looks horrified, somehow becoming even paler. “I-- I’m so sorry. It’s only recently that I’ve been learning of crimes my people are commiting upon the other nations. I know ignorance isn’t any kind of excuse, but--”
“It’s okay,” Katara reassures her, though not without difficulty. The truth is that she’d been ready to condemn every member of the Fire Nation, living and dead, but it’s not easy to hold onto that hatred with a hurting teenager in front of her-- even the daughter of the Firelord. “I doubt they would have let a Princess have much say, anyway.”
Zuko shudders and bows her head again. “It is true that my father… had a particular hatred for the things I had to say. I guess I always fit poorly into the Royal Family, even before I knew all of the wrong that we had been doing.”
Katara steps forward to embrace her briefly. “Fitting poorly with them just means you fit better with us. It must be pretty scary to have that kind of dad, though. Our dad always took care of us when he was here.” When she pulls away, there’s a painful kind of longing on Princess Zuko’s face.
“He had to leave with the rest of your men?”
“Yeah.” She nods. “Sometimes I get mad at him for it, but I want to avenge mom too, so it’s hard to stay angry.”
“Well, to answer your earlier question,” Zuko says, more steady now, “my crew will not hurt any of you unless they believe you wish to harm me. If we stick to the plan of having me scout ahead, we should be able to prevent any misunderstandings.”
This is when Sokka chooses to enter the igloo. “All decent in here?”
Katara scowls at him, standing in front of the Princess protectively. “Yes, but there’s no point in asking if you barge right in!”
“Oh, sorry.” He grins and rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. When Katara steps away, his eyes go wide. “Oh, wow, you look… I mean. Uh. Glad to see the clothes fit, Princess.”
Katara scrunches her nose in frustration. The last thing she wants is for Sokka to steal away her new friend for some epic teenage romance. “Yes, they fit. Can we get going now?”
“Geez, I guess someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” he mutters, leading the way out.
Zuko smiles at Katara behind his back, and she feels herself relax a little. “Sorry, Sokka. I guess I’m just worried about accidentally scaring Zuko’s crew into attacking us.”
“Oh, yeah.” He glances back at them briefly. “Once we get to the inlet, Princess Zuko can move ahead of us. Just make sure not to walk on any ice!”
“I’ve learned my lesson there,” Zuko grumbles. She kicks at a snowy hill as they walk by, watching the frozen powder fly. “These boots are really impressive, by the way. I can’t feel the cold at all.”
“They’re made from the fur of tiger-seals,” Sokka tells her proudly. There is something extremely gratifying about the foreign Princess’s appreciation for their craft, Katara has to admit. “They won’t make you invincible, though. It’s important to pay attention to your body’s signals when you’re far from the village. There’s no glory in dying to the freeze.”
He sounds a lot like their father. Princess Zuko looks intrigued. “Please forgive if my words cause offense, but it seems as though there are no resources at all down here. I have yet to see any trees, which I had previously believed to be crucial to survival in cold climates. How does the Southern Water Tribe prosper?”
“You’re really well-spoken,” Katara tells her. She ducks her head away from the compliment, which seems to be a bad habit of hers. “You put sentences together like jigsaw pieces joining into a perfect picture.”
Zuko grins with pink cheeks and an averted gaze. “What you just said there is called a simile. Comparing something to something else, alongside the word ‘like’ or ‘as’.”
“Boringggg!” Sokka complains loudly. “To actually answer your question, Princess Zuko, there are a lot of resources at the south pole. You just have to know where to look for them. There’s furs and hides and bones and meat from tiger-seals, otter-penguins, and sometimes arctic hippos. There’s also scales from fish and shells from crabs and other shellfish in the sea, with seaweed and sea prunes for veggies. There’s stone, clay, and gravel beneath the snow, and even the snow and ice itself is a resource; we can build with it and even eat it with flavoring for a hydrating snack!”
“That’s amazing,” Zuko breathes, attention successfully drawn back to him. Katara pouts and resists the urge to snap at them unfairly. “I never would have thought to see this land as inhabitable; many people could stand to learn from this knowledge.”
“Yeah, well…” Sokka trails off when they crest over the hill to see the inlet. “Man, seeing you down there was so scary. I really thought I was about to watch a girl die.”
Princess Zuko also stares down at it. “I don’t remember much of it… but I do remember not really being able to feel my body, and wondering why the morning sun looked so cold and distant.”
“I’m glad Sokka saved you,” Katara says, taking her gloved hand again. “Nobody deserves to die like that.”
“I just have to hope that none of my crew did.” The Princess’s face is grim. “It’s more likely than not, so I need to prepare myself for the possibility.”
“Let’s not give up hope yet.” Sokka takes her other hand. “If you’re resilient enough to survive all of that, I bet your friends are too.”
Katara decides not to mention their previous plan of having Princess Zuko scout ahead as they all head down the hill linked together. It doesn’t seem like Sokka wants to let go, either.
They work their way around the inlet carefully. The area has a lot of steep hills, and every time they crest one, the Princess looks around hopefully.
“It should be a big metal ship by the name of The Little Lady,” she tells them. “There are thirty-seven members of my crew, not counting myself. Among them is my Uncle.”
“There’s other royalty here?!” Sokka gives her a panicked look and straightens his posture. “What if he thinks we’re lame?”
Zuko huffs out a little laugh. “I don’t think Uncle thinks of people that way. He’s really nice, and he never hits me-- even when I’m being a nightmare.”
They all stop. “What even… Who hits you?” Sokka looks angrier than Katara has ever seen before. “That’s not normal.”
“I mean…” Zuko cringes away from them, but doesn’t let go. “I was a really bad kid, back at the Palace. It was unfortunate for everyone that my dad had to deal with me.”
“It was your dad?” Katara wants to throw up. She doesn’t even know what she would do if their father started hitting Sokka. “That’s horrible, Zuko. Is that why you ran away?”
Princess Zuko’s jaw tenses and she stares at the ground. “Can we just keep moving? I want to find my crew.”
“...Okay.” Sokka shoots Katara a look that says he’s not about to forget about this any time soon. “We’ll find your crew and see if this Uncle is up to par.”
Katara laughs. “Yeah! We’ll see if he’s lame!”
Princess Zuko gives them a tiny, sad smile. “He’s not lame. He likes tea and pai sho, and he’s a good fighter. He makes everyone in my crew happy when they’re going through difficult times.”
“He sounds wonderful.” Katara reassures her, and they all start moving again. They crest a few more hills, and that’s when they see it: several small plumes of smoke.
Zuko breaks free of their hold and rushes forward, causing Sokka to yelp and almost fall down the hill. “Hey!”
They follow her stumbling dash over another hill to see a massive Fire Nation warship crashed into the coastline with such brutality that it’s practically embedded into the wintry landscape. There’s a swarm of soldiers moving around the frozen beach where they’re not huddled around little campfires.
Zuko throws back her hood and starts slip-sliding down the hill in her effort to get to them. “Uncle! Watanabe! Jee! It’s me, it’s Zuko!”
Katara and Sokka approach more cautiously, wary of triggering an attack from the terrifying number of soldiers. Their uniforms look almost exactly like those that had been worn by the invaders who killed their mother and ransacked their village.
The sickening fear mixes strangely with the sweetness of seeing the Princess run up to an old man and throw herself into his arms, crying with relief. She’s quickly surrounded by her people, with one woman rubbing her back and pressing her nose to the Princess’s braided hair.
One of them points to where Sokka and Katara are standing hand-in-hand, frozen in place. The Princess leaps back and starts gesturing between them, clearly trying to explain the situation. The old man nods and strokes his beard consideringly.
Finally, Princess Zuko trudges all the way back over to them, an embarrassed smile on her face. “I’m sorry about that. I told them about your village and how you helped me, so it should be safe to come over.”
“Are you sure?” Katara asks, worried, but Sokka is already following Zuko back over, and she doesn’t want to be left behind. She catches up to them quickly.
When they’re within range, all of the soldiers bow deeply at the waist. Zuko grins and goes to stand next to her Uncle in parade rest. “Tribesman Sokka and Tribeswoman Katara: by declaration of the Royal Family, you are hereby declared honored ambassadors of the Southern Water Tribe. This position grants you political immunity in our lands, the ability to petition the Royal Family for aid, and amnesty from any political crimes previously done against our people.”
Sokka’s jaw drops. For once in his life, he seems to be at a loss for words, so Katara takes over. “Th-thank you, Princess Zuko,” she squeaks. “Sokka and I are honored.”
“It is we who are honored,” the Princess’s Uncle assures them. “You saved my niece from certain death. I do not know what I would have done without her.”
“Tribespeople.” A woman with pin-straight shoulder-length black hair steps forward. “We will soon run out of resources if we do not ally with the Southern Water Tribe. We have no intention of encroaching on your lands beyond the borders of this beach, but wish to petition for some kind of trade between our two peoples, so that we do not perish. May we speak with whomever is in charge?”
“That’s me,” Sokka says, finally regaining his voice. He sounds hoarse. “I’m… I’m the only man still here. My father was the Chieftain, before he left to lead our ships.”
“So you are a prince,” Zuko mumbles, then flushes pink when everyone looks at her. “Sorry.”
“We don’t have princes or kings in the Tribes,” Sokka explains quietly. “The position of Chieftain is voted on, not passed through bloodline.”
“Will you allow us to trade with your people, then?” The soldier-woman looks unaffected by this new knowledge that the closest thing the Southern Water Tribe has to a leader is a fifteen-year-old boy. “Do we have your agreement?”
“I mean… sure!” Sokka rubs the back of his neck and glances over to Katara, who just shrugs. She can’t think of a reason not to. “It would be pretty cruel to let you guys starve out here. We’ll definitely need to get you some better clothes, but it will take a while to make enough for all of you.”
“From the looks of things,” Princess Zuko says, gesturing towards her ship, “we’re going to be here for quite a while. We’ll have to figure out how to repair our ship without access to any of our regular resources.”
“Well, we can’t help with that, but we can definitely keep you alive.” Katara gives her a small smile. “It may take some effort, but we don’t mind if it’s you, Princess Zuko.”
The Uncle throws an arm around the Princess’s shoulders, surprising her into a yelp. “Do you see now? I told you you’d make friends your own age someday.”
She scowls and tries to shove him away. “Release me, Uncle!” The old man just grins and holds her closer like a giant teddy bear.
“We thank you for agreeing to aid us,” the soldier-woman informs them while the Princess and her Uncle scuffle. “If there is anything we may provide in return, such as manual labor, please do not hesitate to ask.”
“Oh!” Sokka brightens. “If you want to help us make igloos for all of you, that would probably speed things up a lot.”
“...Igloos?” She seems confused. “I am not familiar with this word.”
“Oh, yeah, the Princess didn’t know either. They’re houses made out of packed snow and ice. They’ll protect you from exposure if you do it right.”
“That is extremely interesting,” she remarks, eyebrows raised. “If you provide us with the means to stay warmer, such as the clothes you have so generously granted to Princess Zuko, I am certain none here would protest to helping in your efforts to shelter us.”
“Great! It’s actually kind of fun, once you get into it.” Sokka grins. “You can even make snow-people to decorate! The right kind of snow holds its shape really well.”
“Sokka…” Katara elbows him, embarrassed. “I doubt Zuko’s soldiers want to build snowmen with us.”
“There are a few in the crew who may appreciate such an opportunity,” the soldier-woman tells them with a shadow of a smile. “When things have settled down more, you may ask our Carpenter Hamamoto and our Chaplain Takahashi if they are interested. And Princess Zuko, of course.”
“Really?” Katara asks, excited. “Are they our age?”
“Priestess Takahashi is fifteen, but there are no other children on the ship.”
“Wow, a priestess…” Katara imagines a girl in white flowing robes with eyes like the moon. “We’ll definitely ask!”
“Good. If you’ll excuse me, I need to inform the others of these ‘igloos’.” She about-faces and walks away.
Sokka leans over to whisper to her. “Am I crazy, or is this kind of awesome? I had no idea Fire Nation people could be so nice!”
“Well, I don’t know about the rest of them,” Katara responds primly, “but Princess Zuko and her friends are definitely the good ones.”
They look over to where the Princess has stopped scrapping and is hugging her Uncle.
“Yeah,” Sokka agrees wistfully. “The good ones.”