The Prince's Choice (Zutara)

XIX

"Princess Azula." Aang's eyes narrowed and he moved, almost protectively, in front of Katara. She wondered if his years living here had taught him how to deal with her?

"Princess Katara." Azula didn't even look at Aang. "Shall we?" she said, forcefully taking Katara's hand to the dance floor. Girls did dance with girls, that wasn't anything strange - in fact, Yue and Saoirse were dancing this one together as friends, laughing and having a good time. It was strange, however, for the princess of the Fire Nation to be asking Katara.

Across the room, Zuko saw and almost leapt toward Katara. Azula saw his motion and scoffed.

"What does he think I'm going to do? Kill you in the middle of the dance floor?" She rolled her eyes. "He wears his heart on his sleeve entirely too much. To show one's weakness can be such a danger for them."

"Your threats are growing tiresome, Princess Azula," Katara, on the inside, was terrified. But she wasn't going to let Azula see that, "To both me and him."

"Somehow, I doubt that," Azula said, holding up Katara's quivering hand. "But, this is a festive time. I'm not looking to stage a coup tonight," she said, as though she'd considered it at one point, "You and Master Kuzon seemed cozy?"

"Me and him?" Katara almost recoiled. "What? No. He's just a friend. Looking for ways to get rid of me, hmm?" Katara raised an eyebrow.

"Well, you can't blame a girl. I just want what's best for my older brother. I hear you have an older brother, too. Wouldn't you do anything for him?" Azula asked, tilting her head.

"What's best for him, yeah. Somehow, I doubt that's what you want for Prince Zuko," Katara replied back, wincing as Azula's fingernails dug into her skin as they swirled in the circles this dance required. It was a dizzying dance; maybe Azula had wanted that.

"I'm just looking after him, trying to suss out the competitors." Azula's eyes widened innocently. "Pluck the weak from the meek, to the real contendors."

"You'd like a meek girl. Someone you can manipulate," Katara said.

"On the contrary, too meek and it's just pitiful. Blubbering messes, like that girl, the mousy one...Sara? Sigh?"

"Saya?" Katara frowned. "What did you do to her?" she demanded, clenching her teeth. God, how she truly abhorred Azula.

"I've never seen a girl cry so fast," Azula continued, "And I didn't do much. There's a certain fire to this competition." Katara winced as Azula's palm clenched around hers grew extremely hot. "And if you can't stand it? You shouldn't be here," she said. It was now burning, like Katara was sticking her hand on hot coals. Katara resisted the urge to cry, blinking back tears. It hurt so badly, but Katara held her ground.

Using her free thumb, she crept her water around Azula's hands, freezing them. Katara flexed her knuckles, making a bracelet perfectly molded to her wrist. She hoped it was was as freezing cold. She also had the ring sharp and the more she flexed, the more it began to dig into Azula's wrists, leaving little red circles of blood mixing with the ice water. The gauntlet crept up on Azula's hand like a glove, but drew blood at any point Katara could make it. Katara would have been more than thrilled to freeze Azula's hand off. Azula watched it with a interest that Katara hadn't seen her exhibit yet.

"Touche." Azula's eyebrow raised and she lessened the heat on Katara's hands. She waited for Katara to do the same. Katara gave a bark of laughter.

"You hardly play fair, why should I?" Katara asked. She was not for a second going to give Azula a truce, not when she knew the girl would just as quickly turn and stab her in the back with it.