Zutara Week: Mask

Zutara Week 2011
Day 1: Mask

Katara's eyes widened in shock as the Blue Spirit suddenly appeared on stage to save the Avatar from Commander Zhao's clutches.  She stared in disbelief at the sight of the mask.  It was exactly the same as the one she had seen reoccurring in her dreams since she was a little girl.

"My hero!"  The actress playing Aang proclaimed, jumping down and sitting on the overly large mask to be carried off of the stage.

The Actor playing the Blue Spirit called himself the "scourge of the Fire Nation," which piqued her interest, and he saved the Avatar.  She couldn't help but wonder why Aang hadn't ever mentioned it to them before.  She was about to ask when her thoughts were cut off by the wretched sound of the actress who played her, crying…

Later, during the first intermission and after Toph commented about the truthfulness of everyone's character portrayals, Katara remembered.  "I wonder who the Blue Spirit is," she mused out loud.

"What!?" both Aang and Zuko sputtered in unison, drawing everyone's attention to them.

"Well…" Katara began to say, a little put off by their reaction.  "If he's called the scourge of the Fire Nation, don't you think he could help us?"

Aang and Zuko exchanged a disconcerting glance.  "He's already helping…" they answered as one.

Katara's eyes narrowed and she studied them with scrutiny. "How do you know?"

"Well, he helped me once already," Aang replied before raising a hand to the back of his neck. "Though it wasn't anything like they depicted here…"

"Yeah," Zuko chimed in. "And I heard he was in Ba Sing Se helping… people…"

Oh really?  How did you hear about that?" Katara's stare seemed to bore holes through him.

"Well, you know…" Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Hey, guys. Come on, act two is about to start," Sokka interrupted and began to usher everyone back into the theater.

When the second act was just as disappointing as the first, everyone but Toph took it personal.  After Katara returned from her encounter with Aang, Toph couldn't help but to make a jeering comment about her sudden mood change.  "What's up Sweetness? Did your actress not tearbend enough in this last act for you?"

"You know Toph, why don't you just go bury yourself!"  Of course, she didn't really mean it.  Her discussion with Aang had left her irritated and in no mood to deal with Toph's banter.

Toph stood in a huff.  "Geez, you don't have to take everything so seriously.  I'm going to get some fire gummies," and with that, she took off down the stairs.

Katara slid down the wall where Toph had been, slumping in a heap at Zuko's side.

"So… uh… The Blue Spirit…" Zuko said after a moment of silence.

"What about him?" Katara had pulled her knees to her chest and buried her face there, which muffled her voice.

"… I could… give you information about him if you'd like… after the play."

She looked up at him, her expression seeming to brighten. "Really?"

"Sure," he nodded and studied her face. "But… may I ask why you're so interested?"

Katara tried to hide her look of surprise and averted her eyes to look past him.  "I already said…"

"And Toph told me that you were lying," he cut her off to say.  In truth, when Toph had confronted him about their previous conversation from the first intermission she had told him to cut the crap... that she knew all three of them hadn't been telling the whole truth.  She knew that something was off.  Thankfully Katara had returned before she could drill him for answers.

"What! When?" Katara's eyes returned to his.

"Just now, before you came back."

With a sigh, she rested her chin on her knees and clinched her arms tighter around her legs.  Of course… it was impossible to hide anything from the Blind Bandit.  "I… I've had dreams about that mask since I was a little girl."

"Oh?"

"I can't help but think it's somehow a part of my destiny."

"Oh…"

"Do you think he's a bender?" Katara turned her face to the side to ask.

"What?"  Zuko was hardly able to contain the shock in the sound of his voice.

Katara looked away again and stared off over the balcony to the floor below them.  "Because Aunt Wu said that I would marry a powerful bender."

"Oh…" Zuko tried to sound uninterested, but found his mind racing to process all of this information.  He stared out at her from under the hood of his cloak.  Was destiny trying to tell him something?

Fidgeting with the hem of her dress, Katara couldn't help but wonder if she wasn't about to unlock another part of her destiny.  "Yeah… So, uh… When should we meet after the play?"

"Tonight, when everyone's asleep… out in the court yard."

To Be Continued With Day 4 – Secret.