Aiga rushed out, grasping Katara up by her arms and nearly pulling her off the arena stage.

"You did it!"

"Did I?" Katara asked, unsure, "She just..."

"The Princess is an enigma and it's no use trying to reason with it. But, I doubt she would have let just anyone go on, you know that very well."

"I'm not sure she just 'let me go'," Katara said. "She always has a plan and Azula always lies."

"You need to shower," Aiga said, furrowing her brows, neither confirming nor denying what Katara had just stated.

"But-"

"Katara, you smell like a bad campfire and you're dirty. Shower," Aiga said firmly, shoving her into the bathroom.

Katara grumpily undressed. She caught sight of her face in the mirror. The paint on her face was smudged and wetted from her own perspiration. Blinking, she saw her past face in the mirror. Like a woman possessed, she dragged her fingers over the paint, pulling the color off with little lines like her spirit's ensemble.

The modern Painted Lady.

The Dark Water Spirit's voice echoed...

Running out the same circles...same paths...same...

As Katara heard the call of the announcer, she could not discern who Mai was fighting, but she did realize that she was a bit hungry and very curious to see the rest of the fights. It wasn't really until she was scrubbing at her skin that she laughed.

She was still in the competition. She wasn't going home, not today.

Maybe she and Zuko would have the time to fix things?

By the time she took a seat next to Suki and Toph, Mai's fight was already over. Katara was not surprised; once she let go of her anxiety and worry and let herself enjoy the warm water, she had lathered herself in the soap a bit longer than she probably needed to. Aiga sat behind Katara, as the other handmaids did with their respective ladies, and she tapped Katara's shoulder.

"Ooh, fantastic," Katara said as Aiga passed her a glass of juice and a bowl of rice.

"Mai won, shocker." Toph rolled her eyes.

"Against...?"

"Ozai," Suki said, which was a total surprise to Katara. She had been sure anyone who would go up against him would be sure to lose. Suki nodded, "I know, right? I mean, Ozai doesn't seem happy about anything, but he seemed to enjoy the fight against Mai. It was a little dirty - ew, not in that way-" she added with Toph snorted. "Like, they both seemed to be fine with bending usual sparring rules. I mean, I guess Mai grew up around Ozai. She knows his faults pretty well. Went the half-hour, like mine," Suki said.

"I'm sort of sad I missed that." Katara blinked.

"It was a sight. But yours! You spit in your hands!" Toph seemed ecstatic. "My little rebel heart has never been so happy! I think a dignitary over there nearly fainted when ya did that. You showed them!"

"What happened at the end?" Suki asked. Katara touched her neck gingerly. There probably wouldn't be a lasting scar, just a few days of irritation if anything. Not like her hands, which were still leathery from the first ball.

"I don't want to talk about it," Katara said, struggling to breathe a bit.

"Fair," Suki said and Toph pouted a bit.

The next contestant after Mai was Avizeh, who was set against Lu Ten. As she walked out, Suki's ex stood up and waved his arms like they weren't connected to his body and had been caught in a sudden wind. While there was polite clapping, this dude was just...overly excited.

"Oh, great," Suki groaned. "Someone catch-" She started to yell toward his section as he foamed profusely at the mouth and then promptly fainted. "-him."

"What just happened?" Toph asked, frowning.

"He foamed at the mouth like...a lot and dropped like a rock," Katara said, ignoring the surly glance Suki sent her way.

"Kinky. Did he do that in bed?" Toph asked.

Avizeh blew a kiss toward his section, winking. She would probably enjoy this sort of attention, Katara considered.

The announcer had hardly called the beginning of the fight before Avizeh was dramatically waving her white flag.

Fastest fight so far.

"Uhm...Lu Ten wins?" Even the announcer seemed unsure.

As Avizeh walked away, head held high and zero sense of regret to her actions, Katara hummed in thought. Katara had previously thought of Avizeh as cowardly to not even try, but there was some strength in knowing your limits and going out in a way people would remember.

"Three out, four in?" Katara counted off. "Wow, girls are really dropping fast." Considering it had felt like eons since someone had been cut from the competition, even three going home - and likely more before the day was up - would be an abrupt shake-up of the palace.

Caecillia came out next; she was holding her body taut. Everything about her seemed pulled-back and stern-looking. Her hair was slicked into a bun, her clothes were reminiscent of a Fire Nation military uniform, and her chin was held high. Before her contender walked out, she bowed to Ursa, sitting in the place of Fire Nation Royalty. Then, she turned, bowing to someone else in the crowd. Katara followed her gaze and found what she assumed to be Cillia's family. There was her mother, her father, a brother or a cousin, and a woman that could be an aunt or a grandma. They were all sitting stoically, frowning. There were no warm calls or encouragement. They were wearing worn finery. It reminded Katara of Ratana's parents; though there was an important distinction. Ratana's mother and father wore the remains of nicer things because they cared more about their people. Cillia's parents were desperately hanging onto a thread of connection to the Royal Family, even if those styles had gone out when Aang was born. They looked like a knock-off version of the Royal Family, or a family that a circus manager might hire to pass off as Zuko and his kin.

"Can't be all Fire Nation, or else how'd their hair get so auburn?" Maiha whispered to Kilee.

"Probably best," Yue broke in, "Inbreeding and all."

Cillia was facing Aang, who walked out and tugged nervously on both his bandana and fingerless gloves. Katara bit her lip. Beside her, Toph lessened her jibes too, stiffening at Aang's name announced overhead. While he'd been parading around with the Royal Family for years, that hardly meant that this was a good idea. In fact, this could be catastrophic.

Sure he'd fought one fight with Saoirse, but there hadn't been much of a chance Saoirse could win, or reveal something accidentally. There was no telling with someone much more seasoned, like Cillia.

Their fight was surely interesting. Katara had never seen the Fire Nation Militia in proper formation, but she had to assume it was close to what Cillia was exhibiting. She was reserved and methodical, brutally so, almost like Lu Ten had been fighting. Aang was no master in Fire Nation form. He was trying hard not to make his technique seem like airbending moves as Iroh had done, and he was the least trained in the military-style, despite his short stint in classes.

Katara had thought that Aang may have the upper-hand, being that his element was one of change. The winds changed as the tide did; a fire was more aggressive, harder to move once it began, but there was strength in Cillia's way. It was like they were both running a race. Cillia was so steadfast that it seemed silly that she would not win out, not compared to Aang who was just trying to keep his head above water.

Or, rather, he was trying not to fight her too hard. He was entirely on defense, only batting away Cilla's attacks and doing less to fight against her. If someone walked in unaware of the entire purpose of the fights, they may think Aang was the one who had something to prove and Cillia was the 'master'.

Katara wondered if this would drag into another half-an-hour fight. Cillia was starting to show signs of faltering and exhaustion. A stray sprig of ginger hair came from her tightly coiled bun.

From the stands, Katara saw her father scowl. Cillia did not miss this either and seemed even more determined to end it.

They had to be nearing the end of this fight. Aang ducked from a fire-flare, brushing past Cillia as he aimed just at her feet. Cillia grappled forward, grabbing Aang's headband as she fell, tugging it. Not enough to take it with her, but enough so that both fell into the ground.

"She's good, she's worthy!" Aang said from the ground so quickly. Katara wondered if, in the applause for Cillia, anyone noticed how hard Aang was breathing, harder than someone who had been dancing away from the fight compared to someone giving it their all. He was low to the ground and did not move an inch until his headband was tied tightly back onto his head.

As he lifted his gaze, catching Katara across the arena, they both felt how close that could have been to a truly terrible reveal.

"Good match," Cillia said, offering a hand to Aang to help him stand.

"Uhm, yeah." Aang was distracted. "You really got me there."

Cillia looked about to say something else, perhaps express her confusion over the end of it, but she was being encouraged out of the arena. Plus, Aang turned and hurried back to where Zuko stood rigid in the shadow of their side of the arena.

Katara felt her interest lag a bit. In all honesty, she watched the next couple fights with only a hint of her attention, otherwise, she was listening in to Toph, who was grumping.

"Ozai finally decides to do an event that I would like, ya know, and I can't even watch it? I'm pretty sure that's discrimination right there," she said to Suki and Smellerbee. "Because you all suck at describing things. None of you should ever consider publishing any written work. It would be awful."

Ozai was up against Kilee next. It was truly cruel, and Kilee seemed to realize that this wasn't going to end well. It was quick, mercifully.

The fight was maybe four minutes (longer than Katara anticipated, honestly) but a lot of it was Kilee running around like a mouse in the arena, trying to avoid Ozai, who was not letting up an inch despite the fact that this girl was clearly no warrior. It was finally when his flames burned her ankle that she broke down crying, tapping herself out of the competition.

Some in the crowd seemed to like the practically sociopathic way Ozai had toyed with her, some looked disgusted with his games. Either way, Ozai didn't acknowledge anyone and walked back with his head held high as though he'd just won a great war.

The next fight was Zuko against Jin. Katara was interested solely because this was Zuko's first fight of the day, but she cared less if Jin was leaving or staying.

She wondered what Zuko was going to do. At least, from the last time they'd discussed his opinions of the girls, Katara knew that he cared a great deal for Jin. Katara thought she was nice but couldn't see it, but still, Zuko had a soft spot for her, more than a brotherly feeling.

It was one thing for Aang to sort of edge along and not really try to kick a girl out, but would Zuko have to be as sadistic as his father for Ozai to not claim that Zuko was trying to sway the outcome to how he liked? Could he go soft on Jin at all without being told he wasn't fighting fair? Perhaps it was wrong to ask Zuko to even participate; this event was already so out of his hands that perhaps the kind thing would be to remove any sense of control of it.

And Katara could see his inner conflict. It was clear as he faced her, his eyes softening and his fingers twitching. Jin gave him a sad smile, one that said wordlessly that she knew how this would go.

It felt worse. Maybe there was something to her that Katara had missed, something gracious and soft-spoken. And, if Zuko had such high opinions of her, perhaps she was more like Katara than she'd realized. Or maybe Jin was everything Katara wasn't and that's why Zuko liked her so?

He was kind about it, at the very least. Even though he could not go 'easy' on her - and Katara did know that he was trying hard not to flub his fight with her - he was gentle. He allowed her a fighting chance, but there hadn't been much hope to begin with.

As Jin accepted the fact that she couldn't beat Zuko and rescinded her place in the competition, there was a heavy sadness that clung to Zuko's shoulders. Even as Katara was someone who felt strong things for him, she couldn't help but feel his sorrow too. She certainly felt like she had no greater right to be here compared to Jin, but Katara was staying and Jin was not.

And sometimes, most obvious right now, life was not fair.

Alcina was up next, and Katara wondered if her choice to wear orange and yellow and pastel beige was specific. Even so, she was up against Iroh and Katara was truly curious to see how the famed Dragon of the West fought, now that she could properly see the fight.

Iroh came close to Alcina, bowing. She saw his lips move, but couldn't tell what he said. Alcina seemed confused but the announcer rang his bell and neither Alcina nor Katara had time to wonder about those passed words.

It was grueling, but not in a horrific way. It was the sort of fight where Katara could tell that Iroh had an incredible handle on his own powers, and to a greater extent, on Alcina's too. It would seem silly that someone could control the powers of another, but yet Iroh was doing so in the way that he pushed her...pushed her harder than perhaps she'd been pushed to fight in her life (and Katara could tell by the sweat dripping from her face and the way she panted) but he also was not giving her anything she could not handle.

It was a line between too much and just enough that Katara still needed to learn. She had often forced herself into workouts or practice sessions too hard for her own body and felt the effects later, either by fainting or spending the next three days feeling like her body was on fire in a really bad way, not the good sort of burn.

Whenever Katara was sure that it was going to be over and Alcina seemed ready to tap out, Iroh let up. He gave her a second to breathe or allowed her to gain a minor edge, one that Katara knew had to be fake. There was no way someone like Iroh was letting Alcina get the drop on him.

Whereas it had seemed he had been making an effort to fight a true fight against Anaselma, this fight was different. If anything, Katara would say that it was similar to Aang's - he wasn't trying to win. Sure, he was doing a better job of masking it, but if he actually wanted...this fight could have been over a long time ago.

Alcina never let up. She was determined, Katara knew this, but even Katara was unsure if she could take the constant battling of wills.

Iroh let the timer run to thirty. Katara was absolutely sure of this, and when Alcina was allowed to pass, she of course seemed pleased, but still shaken.

Of course, after she returned to the stands, all the girls were toppling over her to ask what Iroh had said to her.

"Iroh didn't say anything to me," Anaselma pouted.

"It was really nothing," Alcina said, "He just wished me luck."

Most of the girls accepted this. Katara, Suki, and interestingly, Nadhari all seemed dubious of her claims, but no one could bother her about it now. Toph bit out a frustrated sigh; they were sitting on wood, and therefore she could not tell Katara if Alcina was lying or not.

There had to be more to it, though, right?

Katara hoped that they had a good enough friendship that perhaps Alcina would share with her later.

Maiha was up next against Ozai. Katara felt like the Fire Sages were going out of their way to pair Ozai with the two most pitiful fighters, though apparently, it was random. Maiha didn't even make it out to the arena. She had just made it past the shadow of the tunnel, saw her opponent, and that was it.

She barfed right there and fainted.

Maiha was declared to be out.

Ozai did look a tad put off. He'd probably hoped to have been up against better opponents like Mai had been. It was some cosmic justice that he was forced to go up against two girls who wouldn't let him really fight, not in any satisfying way. Sure, he could toy with them, but only so much.

"How many is that now? I'm losing count...that hall's gonna feel empty," Smellerbee said, and there was a hint of sadness there. Maybe even Smellerbee had become accustomed to the sisterly feel of all the girls together. Maybe she was clinging to this other sense of community, now that Jet had kicked her out of the freedom fighters. There were quite a few that would be leaving tomorrow...

This meant that Katara and Zuko would be closer to having to really fix their issues and decide how to move forward.

"Hey Kat!"

Katara turned and saw that Sokka had found a seat right next to the contestants' row. He was holding up what looked like some sort of jerky, and Katara went to sit next to him.

"Some fights, eh? Thought I should get a good view of Toph's fight. I was hoping she'd fight Ozai, ya know, really show that asshole," Sokka said with a punching motion.

"I think she was hoping, too. Maybe she'll get Azula. That would be fun too," Katara pointed out. If there was one person who could really and honestly mess up one of the Royal Family members, it would be Toph. She was, perhaps tied with Suki, the best fighter. Katara really thought this. She could acknowledge too that Mai was terrifying, but Suki was trained to do this and Toph? Toph was just a force of nature, honest to Tui.

Toph looked pleased to be on dirt, finally. She figured out who she was fighting before the announcer even said it out loud.

"Twinkletoes!" she cried out, whooping and she slapped her hands together and rubbed them deviously. "You ready to eat dirt?"

"Lady Bei Fong," Aang moaned. Katara stiffened, hoping that Toph's need to be seen as a good fighter did not overshadow the risk of Aang out there, as had nearly happened with Cillia.

"Someone start the clock now, I'm gonna finish this fight in record time. Well, for a fight that people actually wanted to be in," she added, turning back and looking at the stands, probably thinking of Avizeh or Maiha, who both had their fights clocking in at mere seconds.

"You think?" Aang snickered, and Katara was glad to see a sense of competition blossom between them, and almost joy. This hadn't been fun for him, but if he was going to enjoy any of these fights, it might as well be Toph's.

"She's gonna whoop him," Sokka said decisively.

"Kuzon's not a spring fighter, you know," Katara said. He was, of course, the Avatar, even if he could not fight like he was.

Their fight did not last seconds. It lasted a minute and thirty-two seconds, much to Toph's great frustration. If he was airbending, Aang likely could have won, but he was grounded. Therein lay the issue. She didn't just bend the ground underneath them to trap them, she pulled one of the metal doors of the arena off the hinges, dragging it obnoxiously out and using that to literally trap him in a cage that formed perfectly to his body, and didn't even let him out after he choked out a 'she's good', but rather gloated, standing on top of the door for a minute or two, bowing and making a spectacle of her win.

Ozai seemed rather put off about his now-mangled door. Toph looked like she was having the time of her life.

It did reflect her power, as the whispers began. It was clear that this tiny thing was a big ball of fight, they said, which Toph would be repeating gleefully for days.

As