The Warrior's Gambit (Zutara)

XXXV

Suki pulled Katara into the room. On the table was a gossip rag, something Katara usually gave little to no attention to. They were always horribly inaccurate and usually were just making things up.

However, there was usually a kernel of truth within the words, even though often it was very minuscule. A broken clock was still right twice a day though, right?

What more? All the girls around her were reading it, fingers clutching the paper.

She felt her chest tighten and herd the sound of each footstep as she approached was like a drumbeat in her ear. She was terrified that it would be announcing Toph was alive or that someone knew where Aang or Ty Lee was. She was paralyzed with fear at the thought of it doing a nasty exposé on her brother. She didn't want to pick it up to see Iroh's good name smeared callously.

She should have seen how Suki looked at her, with such pity. At that moment she realized that Suki was not crying for herself...she was crying for Katara. Katara shouldn't have been worried for others, she should have been afraid of what it said about her.

"Former Choice Favorite Tells All in Journal Entries..." Katara read out loud, and she felt faint. Very much so. The world fuzzed above her as she realized why so many girls were looking at her with a sense of distrust or anger.

She spun to Suki, who just gave a hard-pressed frown.

"I understand we hardly knew each other. I'm not mad. Just..." She sighed. Just sad, Katara understood and frustrated about the entire circumstance of it.

"That's your handwriting, isn't it?" On Ji asked, pointing to the hand-drawn picture, "You wrote those things."

"I...." Katara remembered the seal leather-bound journal her mother had gifted her, brought here to feel close to home in those first few weeks. She recalled how she thought it would be a fantastic idea to write in it about her experiences here. She remembered the Equalist attack and how her room had been trashed and she'd never found the journal, assuming it had been burned or ripped or destroyed.

But someone had grabbed it.

And now, they were publishing it for all to see.

She was so caught off guard that she didn't even fathom the idea of pointing out that anyone could copy her handwriting, and could say what they wanted it to say. This came belatedly, but unfortunately, her aspirated vowel told the truth more than anything else could.

Everyone knew that yes, the journal that was being recreated was indeed Katara's.

The timing of it was...frustrating. No, not just frustrating, pointed. It was a clear attack. She was at her most vulnerable with Sokka's situation fueling such poor opinions of her that taking Katara down now just needed one good move.

This could possibly be the fuse that led to her leaving.

"All the Fire Nation girls feel haughtier and superior?" On Ji read quietly, and Katara winced, not recalling her exact wording, but something close. "They act like they're all already victors."

"You see, I'd only know you for a short time. Hardly anything," Katara said softly, hoping that she could smooth the hurt, but this was never meant to be seen by anyone other than her own people.

"You said that I was a spitfire but I don't know how to be quiet," Ratana said, touching the place where there was still a red mark on her face, "Guess that opinion hasn't changed." Her eyes burned with anger.

"Apparently, I'm the commoner version of Yue." On Ji said, eyes narrowed.

"That's a compliment," Katara blubbered, but immediately knew that was the wrong thing to say. She was glad Yue wasn't there...she did wish Zuko was here to oh... she didn't know, burn all the copies immediately? She hoped he would run into' Yue soon so he could be summoned to the Ladies' Room. Great Tui, Zuko was really going to have her head now.