Wolf Moon 11

“Wow”. Katara breathed it reverently. Yué steals a glance under her lashes at the expression on the younger girl’s face, drinking in the awe there.

She knew exactly what Katara was feeling. The air was different here. It was heavy with the unspoken sacred. They were quite close to the palace but the air swallowed up any sounds from outside the narrow entryway.

Yué had never been comfortable here.

‘This is where I die,’ Yué thought, not for the first time. It sent a chill up her spine. ‘If I don’t manage to change enough, I will die here. When? It can’t be long now.’

“This is a sacred place,” Aunna said, barely above a whisper. She hesitated at the entry. “This is really… Princess, I shouldn’t be here.” She looked ready to bolt back down the passageway hidden behind a circular door.

“Come in.” Yué gestured to both of them. Katara’s face was torn between longing and the kind of respectful reverence that makes your legs heavy. “It’s fine,” she lied, just a little. “I can invite you in here.” She walked further ahead of them. After a long second, quiet footsteps start up. “You’re sensing the reflective pool,” Yué explained in an undertone. She swallowed and lifted a hand made heavy by her draped sleeves. “There.”

“It…” Katara trails off.

“It looks like any other pond,” Yué agreed. “Look in the water.”

Aunna hung back, pale, but Katara burst forward like she’d been waiting for permission. She dropped to her knees at the edge and looked in.

Then she tilted her head. “There’s fish,” Katara said uncertainly. “Two fish. Is that what you want me to see?”

“That’s the balance.” Yué stepped up to join her. “Push and pull.” She felt her eyes glaze over a little as she watched the pattern of their eternal dance. Light glinted off white scales and sunk into the dark crevices between the black scales. “I…” Yué cleared her throat and looked up and away, breaking the connection. She needed to think clearly.

‘Maybe I should trust Katara. If she knew about the Moon spirit, she’d do anything to keep it safe.’

Her stomach twisted. Bringing them here was one thing. Technically, she could invite people into the spring. But telling them about the great spirits here… That would horrify her Father. It was the duty of the royal family to keep the spirits safe and hidden. It was their most important duty by far, even if no one ever knew about it.

Could she really do this? …Could she afford not to? Maybe things would never be so dire if anyone knew that the fish needed to be protected. The Fire Nation was going to come for them. She remembered that much, even if she was foggy on the details.

“Princess Yué?”

She blinked rapidly. From the expression on Katara’s face, she’d been lost in thought. “I’m sorry,” she apologized on reflex. “I…” Yué took a deep breath. “The fish aren’t fish.”

“...Princess?” Aunna’s voice was quiet.

“The Moon Spirit and the Ocean Spirit took physical forms.” And just like that, sacrilege. She inhaled shakily. “That’s why this place is so important. The water that they swim in is sacred, special.”

Katara withdrew her hand from the surface of the water. Yué could see her swallow. “That’s…” She wavered a little. “Princess Yue… These are the great spirits of our people?” Her eyes were wide.

“That’s right,” Yué said quietly. She took a step back. Katara mirrored it. “Keeping them safe is the most important duty of our people. Please don’t speak of them to anyone else.”

“Of course,” Aunna promised. Katara echoed her a split second later.

Yué nodded. “Good.” She swallowed again, forcing down nerves in her throat. “Thank you. Let’s go over there.” She gestured to the open space. Only then did she realize that maybe she’d made her task harder.

‘I want Katara to train Aunna, but it would be so awkward to ask now. How can I change the topic so abruptly?’

The three girls settled on the grass. There was a silence that Yué didn’t know how to break. She distracted herself by fiddling with her heaviest layer of clothing.

“It’s warm in here.” Katara broke the quiet.

Yué hummed agreement. “It always is.” She hesitated, searching for something else to say. “Have you encountered any spirits?”

Katara huffed out a humorless laugh. She wrapped her arms around her body protectively. “Yes. In fact, Sokka and Aang both went to the spirit world.”

Yué let her mouth drop open in shock.

Katara gave her a wry look that said she understood the feeling. “There was a misunderstood forest spirit. Hei Bai. He was hurt because his forest was hurt. He started carrying people away to the spirit world.”

‘That can happen? A spirit can take you away? And this happened to Sokka? He seems so grounded. I can’t reconcile him with a spiritual journey.’

She couldn’t suppress a shudder.

“Was everyone alright?” Thank the spirits that Aunna was able to speak. Yué was still struck silent.

“Oh, yes,” Katara reassured. “They’re all fine now. Aang got them back, after he reassured Hei Bai that the forest would come back.”

She made a strangled sound and then had to find something to say when the other two looked at her. “That’s good,” Yué tried. She took off her gloves just for something to do with her hands. She laid them on the grass by her hip. “That sounds… memorable.”

Katara laughed dryly. “You would not believe the things that have happened since I left the South Pole.” She leaned back on her hands. “I got captured by pirates once,” she said offhand.

Yué choked on nothing.

“But it got worse,” Katara continued mercilessly. “Because then Prince Zuko…” she wrinkled her nose. “I suppose I have to say that he saved me.” She did not seem at all happy about that.

Yué felt her heart skip a beat.

There was a prince involved? …Katara knew a prince, and she hadn't told Yué? Was he handsome? Was he their age?

'And he saved her from pirates!'

Yué pressed her fingertips to her chest, trying to control the fluttering there. It didn't work. Her imagination ran away from her too fast. She wanted to meet a prince. She wanted to have adventures and be rescued. How exciting!

She thought about the earth Kingdom poetry and about love notes smuggled between courtiers on Fire Nation fans.

Her face was red. She could feel it. Yué turned away from Katara to hide the blush.

“You know a prince?” Aunna was the one to ask.

Katara grunted acknowledgment and crossed one ankle over her knee. “Yes, he’s awful,” she complained. “He’s been chasing us ever since we left the South Pole. He wants to capture Aang and take him to the Fire Nation.”

Ah. Fire Nation royalty. That punctured her daydreams of meeting a prince. It would be politically… not very easy. Her Father would have a heart attack.

'Wait. He's trying to capture the Avatar? So, they've been fighting.'

Thoughts of twisting the conversation to find out more about other royalty fell to the wayside. She saw another chance.

“Is he a good bender?” Yué asked innocently.

Katara wrinkled her nose again. “Yes,” she said, reluctantly. “Yes, he’s a good firebender. And he’s a terrible jerk. But I think I might be a better bender now.” A mean little smile stole across her face. “He’s going to be so surprised when he sees what I can do now.”

'He can't be so terrible,' Yué thought doggedly. 'Not if he saved her.'

“What can you do now?” Aunna asked lightly.

Yué stole a glance at her oldest friend. She had noticed that Aunna was jealous of Katara’s training. But at this moment, there was no hint of that churning underneath Aunna’s beautiful eyes.

Katara brightened. “Let me show you ‘walk the polar dog’!” She jumped to her feet.

“I think I know how that one starts,” Aunna said hastily. “Left hand up, right foot forward and to the side?”

‘She had the same idea. Or she realized why I took us here.’

Yué leaned back.

“That’s right,” Katara agreed eagerly. “Do you think you can do it?”

“Oh…” Aunna hesitated theatrically. She glanced towards the entry- empty. No one had followed them here. “I feel like I can, but I really shouldn’t…”

“Come on,” Katara cajoled. Her eyes glittered. “I won’t tell anyone. I want to see what you can do.”

“Well…” Aunna looked at Yué for permission.

“Of course,” she said, blinking up at the other two girls. “I won’t tell. It’s just… It’s just interesting, right?” She injected unease into her voice. “It isn’t hurting anyone.”

“That’s right,” Katara enthused. Her grin stretched wide. “Show me your stance!”

And just like that, Aunna had her first combat waterbending lesson. Yué could tell that Katara was surprised by how much Aunna already knew, but Yué wasn’t shocked.

“She’s watched a lot of demonstrations and matches,” Yué explained idly. “There’s no chance to practice against someone else, but she can do the poses.” She was drifting off, lulled to complacency by the warmth and cheerful splashing. “But she always leaves that left side a bit too thick, it will move slower than the rest.” Her eyes were closed. She didn’t pay attention to just how long it took for anyone to respond.

“You’re right about that,” Katara said, confused.

Yué hummed. She didn’t think much about the exchange.

The girls came back the next day, and the day after that. Aunna moved on from katas to trying to keep pace with Katara, manipulating the same stream of water.

“It’s tricky when it’s far away,” Aunna panted. ”Is there a way to make it easier?”

Yué hummed into her embroidery project. “It’s the opposite of healing,” she pointed out. “You always waterbend when your hand is immersed in the water. Of course you need to build confidence without that. You’ve trained yourself the opposite way.”

“I didn’t know that,” Katara said. She sounded perturbed. “It mean, I remember that Healer Yugoda uses water directly on the patient, but I hadn’t thought about the actual difference between the disciplines.”

“It’s working with the water versus manipulating it from the outside,” Aunna agreed. “There's a whole philosophy about how the differences between men and women make us unsuited for the other style."

Katara snorted rudely. "Ridiculous," she said archly. She did something that churned water quite loudly. "I'm as feminine as they come and I'm great at kicking butt."

Yué felt her smile turn a little fixed. She avoided Aunna's eyes.

She absolutely could not agree with Katara. Yué wasn't a liar. She struggled to find something to say that wouldn't hurt Katara's feelings, and settled with "Hmm."