paradisalost | keeping promises.

Entry tags:

jet,
katara

keeping promises.

who: jet (

rappelle) and katara (

kyasdaughter).
what: checking in after the expedition. :|a
when: monday, november 21st, noon-ish.
where: katara's room.
rating: pg.

Knock knock.

Overall, Jet was lucky, during the expedition. There hadn't been anything he couldn't handle, the people he'd gotten stuck with had been generally alright, and even the train crash hadn't left him very much worse for wear. Some cuts, bruises, a few deep scrapes. He's had worse, and will probably get worse in the future.

He'll think about the things he saw, the things he learned, and whatever went down last night later. For now, he's checking in, because Katara had asked him to, and he's working on the 'actually keeping his promises' thing. He's a little later than he said he'd be, but he's sure she won't begrudge him the time he took to throw on a change of clothes. He's here, like he promised.

Besides, he's curious to see what eight year old Katara looks like.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Pretending not to hear half of what I say. Are you trying to protect me from something? If you are, you need to stop."

"What? No! I was just trying to explain Toph before I explained anything else. That's all." And, also - reminding him of his own mortality? It's hard to do. She tries to dance around it.

Well, he doesn't very much want to be reminded of it either. But it's either face the fact that it happened -- or is going to happen, whatever -- or ignore it. And he's not going to be a coward about it. He won't let himself.

"Well, I remember her now. Short kid, black hair."

Katara nods at that, hesitating - before she takes another deep breath and continues. "The Fire Nation got control of Ba Sing Se. Aang, Toph, Sokka, and I went to the Fire Nation to try to take down the Fire Lord during an invasion that was launched on the Day of the Black Sun - it was a solar eclipse, and the firebenders lost all their powers."

She leans back in her seat.

"But we weren't able to do it. Zuko - Prince Zuko - he defected. He came to help Aang, and taught him how to firebend. And then we defeated the Firelord."

Katara watches him.

"Good enough?"

He heard and ingested all of it, of course, but one part hits him in particular. It's obvious as he begins to bring the cup to his mouth, and then sets it back down hard.

"Prince Zuko?"

Oh.

Crap.

"--yes. He's Ozai's son."

"That guy is the Prince of the Fire Nation?"

He stands, abruptly. It had been bad enough, back in Ba Sing Se, knowing that he was a firebender, hiding in plain sight, among all those people. But he was royalty? The son of the guy at the head of the Fire Nation?

And Katara stands too, nearly spilling her tea as she does.

"He was exiled from the Fire Nation, Jet. We've got enemies here, and he's not one of them, so don't go charging off to do something stupid!"

"He's not exiled anymore, is he?" He pauses, as something comes to him. "In fact, if Ozai's out of the picture, then he's the Fire Lord, isn't he?"

"No. No. In the time he's from? He's still in Ba Sing Se. In hiding. He doesn't even know he becomes Fire Lord - so don't tell him."

"Yeah, let's just protect him from knowing that he gets to continue to family traditions from a place of even more power, when he's done hiding like a coward."

He starts for the door.

"Will you just quit it? Wait for a minute, Jet! Just - hold on, okay?"

He continues for a few more steps, but then stops, only to round on her.

"Why didn't you tell me before? Why do you keep protecting him?"

"Because it's not important! So what if he's the stupid prince? He's on the run - he's been exiled by his family, and guess what: if you told him he returns to the Fire Nation right now, he won't believe you!"

She's clearly riled, upset.

"Why are you so determined to cause trouble with him? What are you hoping to accomplish here?"

If anything, that makes him angrier. There is also the fact that he doesn't want to tell Zuko anything. He's not sure what he wants to do. It just makes him so livid. He'd asked Zuko -- Lee -- to be a Freedom Fighter.

"The war might be over for you, Katara, but it's not like that for all of us!"

"It might not be over for you, but right now? It's definitely on hold. There's no one to fight here, Jet! It's futile, okay? Dragging this war out to the castle - it's not going to do anything but cause pain!"

But she stops, stands there to stare at him awkwardly.

"--I just want you see it how I do."

He looks down at her, not bothering to mask the harshness in his voice.

"I can't. Not now. I don't drag the war anywhere. I wasn't planning to take it to Ba Sing Se-- it just... came."

She flinches away a little from his tone, but her shoulders tense, too.

"If it comes to Paradisa, then you're the one who brought it here."

His tone is incredulous, almost defensive.

"Don't be ridiculous. If I wasn't here, that wouldn't change what the Fire Nation did to my family, to Sneers', to Smellerbee's, to Longshot's, to yours. Are you asking me to forget all of that? It'll never happen."

"Listen to yourself! It's what the Fire Nation did - not what he did! He's not the nation! He didn't make those decisions. He wasn't the one in charge - what was he supposed to do about it? He was a kid, Jet!"

Katara's words, while obviously logical, just bounce back. To be honest, he's not even really talking about Zuko now.

"And does that make you feel better?"

"I don't need anything to make me feel better."

Her hands ball into tiny fists.

"I told you, Jet: he's my friend."

"Yeah? Are you his friend?"

Her voice is unwavering, but her expression falters.

"Yes."

His expression becomes sardonic.

"Yeah. I thought so."

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