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#kyoshi is awesome!!

stairset · 2 months

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I do feel like the way Kyoshi was written in the Avatar reboot was lowkey influenced by the fandom's perception of her. Cause like in the original show she's really just portrayed as a pragmatist who's willing to kill if necessary. Like Aang is conflicted about killing the Fire Lord and she's like "well if I were in your position I'd do it but that's just me. Good luck." And then people started making memes where she's like a murderous psychopath who thinks extreme violence is always the solution. And it was funny at first cause it was just exaggerating for comedy but now everyone thinks she was actually like that in the show when she really wasn't. And then in the remake her introductory scene is her angrily yelling at this 12 year old that he needs to stop being a little pussy and be a ruthless warrior or whatever and the only explanation I can think of is that someone in the writer's room maybe looked at a few too many of those memes.

#she had an awesome fight scene though so there's that #disclaimer i own both the kyoshi books but haven't actually read them yet #so this is just going off how she was written in the original show #i'm working my way through all my books that i haven't read yet so i'll get to the avatar novels soon #but i gotta get through a couple more star wars books first lol #but yeah you know those spider-verse memes #where they take the scene where jefferson says ''spider-man why did you create that guy''#and they replace it with some funny dark shit like ''spider-man kill him and his family'' or ''spider-man fuck this guy's ass''#that's basically what people seem to think kyoshi is like #avatar the last airbender #avatar kyoshi #shut up tristan

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starlight-archer · 2 months

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You know what, the ATLA live action has a fair few flaws with some characterisation, pacing etc. , but I enjoyed it, it was fun to watch and I liked it a lot, I think the casting was really good and I'm excited for a season 2 and 3.

However I think that what would have fixed its pacing is if they had 10 episodes instead of only 8. They tried to rush through too much plot at once and squashed it together a little too much. The original season 1 is 20 episodes, meaning 10 would be like combining 2 episodes for each one, which I think would work much better than squishing 3 or 4 into one.

The devil is in the detail after all, and they lost a lot of detail trying to contain everything into only 8 episodes. I hope they have more episodes for season 2 and 3 because I think it would help a lot with the pacing and give more opportunity for character exploration and growth.

Also let Zuko be obsessed with his Honour, let Aang be more playful and actually learn waterbending and let Katara be angry and bold.

#Atla #la atla #Aang #Katara #Zuko #atla remake #Let aang ride the unagi 2k24 #I think specifically aang and zuko were the best casting for their roles #I also think katara would be awesome if she just put a bit more fire into the role and had the chance to laugh with aang more #After all in the cartoon he was always making her laugh especially in season 1 #Especially when teaming up to tease Sokka #“maybe you should ask SOKKA'S INSTINCTS” 😒 cue snickering #Also Sokka not being in full Kyoshi getup was a criminal offence

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victoriartdrawings · 2 months

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KYOSHI in a nutshell. It was brutal. I loved every second of it.

#kyoshi warriors #Kyoshi #avatar kyoshi #avatar the last airbender #THE MUSIC WAS DOPE #KYOSHI WAS AWESOME #I fucking loved this scene

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r0semultiverse · 2 months

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Okay so Avatar shrines are the exception. Still wild. Aang having weird gender feels after becoming & being possessed by a strong avatar lady is my headcanon now!

I know I’m overthinking it, but couldn’t they just make or find a small mobile avatar shrine & take it with them everywhere?? I mean we see something like that in Zuko’s ship in his room. 👀 I mean I’d rather see Aang figure out his power on his own & with his friends, but I figure I would bring that up again. Just carry around an emergency fuck you button basically. Lmao

#an emergency gtfo option would probably be pretty helpful #yes I’m absolutely overthinking it but when you put something like this in the world building/lore can you blame me?#might as well utilize it!#just go around collecting mini avatar shrines & keeping them in a sack on hand as a last resort scenario #or would getting possessed take a toll on Aang idk #you give me something not canon to the show & im going to run with it as far as I can #it’s a neat idea don’t get me wrong but very strange #i think they’re going to just not acknowledge the avatar state statues outside of the one on Kyoshi island #Netflix avatar is such a wild experience #the visual effects in the Kyoshi scene were super cool though & the Sokka & Suki fight was awesome #mine #op #natla #avatar live action #avatar the last airbender #atla #avatar

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thepublishingpress · 6 months

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HERE IT IS! kyoshi warrior!sokka :D most definitely inspired by @ultfreakme 's great art >:) his hands are god awful but lets ignore that- (i haaate hands lol as in)

#sokka #atla sokka #sokka avatar the last airbender #kyoshi #kyoshi warrior #kyoshi warrior sokka #atla #avatar fanart #my fanart #awesome art #i have test later #help #pls help #but anyway #sokka as a kyoshi warrior?!#yes please #yay

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justanotherghostwriter · 2 years

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NORTH STARS: PART II

PART I IS HERE

It’s one of the best days of the year! Today is @lizanthium 's birthday, which means that today is the reason we all get blessed by her presence, her art, her brain and her existence in general. Happy birthday, my dear twin. I offer you the ending of a story I’ve given you a beginning to, so that you can infer all the middle bits with no effort on my part. ;P In all seriousness: you sparkle so well, and it’s always a privilege to have some of your light in my life in whatever form it comes in. Here is to many more years blessed with growth and quiet moments and creativity and good family and friends.

Without a word, Katara padded to her brother’s side and sat beside him on the edge of the ice walkway. Even through her parka, the ice was chilly, but she made herself ignore the sensation in order to sit very still and watch the horizon. Sokka sighed beside her, and Katara watched from the corner of her eye as he turned a very misshapen carving of an otter seal over and over in his gloved fingers.

“Are you going to do it?” she asked, after a moment, still innocently studying the horizon like her heart wasn’t in her throat at the possibilities of what that evening could bring. Both potential outcomes made her on edge, but the emotions behind the quickened pulse were as different as the way the river could twist.

“I don’t know,” Sokka all but whispered, glum. “I don’t… Our tribe is counting on me. Dad and Bato are counting on me.” He glanced around a little theatrically. “Aang being able to stay hidden for a while longer and just… goof off and be a kid… The very tentative end to a hundred years of war… I could screw that all up by stopping that wedding. For a woman I’ve known for only three months. Three months, Katara.”

There were a hundred things Katara wanted to say to him, but some of them were tainted with frustration and hurt, and Katara was learning to keep those inside until their blades were dulled a little bit. Not every battle had to be fought with blood and wounds. A lesson that still sometimes tasted bitter. But, with hands that were learning how to heal people with the gift that thrummed like blood and breath inside of her, Katara clasped Sokka’s hand. And squeezed. He squeezed back, and she remembered that he was only sixteen, and she dropped her head onto his shoulder.

For a long moment, they were both quiet. Katara’s thoughts were on the Fire Nation ships that had come into the Northern waters that morning, and the handful of people clad in red who had been allowed to descend the gangplanks into the Northern Water Tribe. And her thoughts were on her father and Bato and the other select men and women from the South who had arrived the day before. And then she thought to Chief Arnook, and the Northern Tribe’s council of Elders, and all the arguments that could be made of all they’d done wrong and right during the war and during this situation. Would they be ruining hard-earned peace between the Water Tribes and the world, and the beginning of better relations between Water Tribes with their plan? Possibly. Was said plan only going to fulfil the selfish whims of four teenagers? Also possible.

But just as possible was finding the long-lost Avatar in an iceberg three months after a hundred years of war had ended because there was suddenly the desperate, hopeful chance she could learn Waterbending, and she’d already been eagerly practising. Just as possible was the fact that Yue was right, and the Spirits had organised things to happen this way, and some things were just destiny, and the adults just had to… be helped to see it. Or, if she couldn’t get her head around being that important to the Spirits, then she could at least hope for the fact that they were unimportant enough for destiny to still flow around them, even if they altered the course just slightly. Just slightly enough for four unimportant teenagers to be a little bit selfish.

“Are you going to do something even if I don’t?” Sokka asked her, and Katara smiled, fondly, at how well her brother knew her.

“Yes,” she told him, only a tiny bit unsure of her answer even though she and Zuko had taken a large chunk of the three months they’d known each other to even become friends. Her heart was just… sure. “I really think it’s worth it to try.”

Sokka laughed, not unkindly, and pulled away from her a little, making Katara have to lift her head. Once she was sitting upright, Sokka pulled off his glove, jabbed his thumb to his chest and then painted an invisible mark on her forehead. She knew he was painting the Mark of the Brave, even though she hadn’t been through her ice dodging ceremony just yet. She rolled her eyes at him, but there was fondness in her for the brother who was braver than he thought he was, and was probably about to find that all out for himself.

“Give your hand here,” she instructed instead of turning things as sappy as she wanted to, and she began to heal all the little cuts the carving knife had left on him.

***

There was no good moment to interrupt a marriage ceremony, Katara learned that day. But Sokka, brilliant as he was at strategy, somehow managed to crash in at the moment that almost made the most sense. Or, perhaps it wasn’t planning at all. Perhaps the words had just burst out of him in giddy adrenalin as Yue and Zuko were instructed to stand beside one another in the presence of their gathered witnesses.

“I am Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe!” Sokka yelled, cutting across Elder Anik’s grand speech in a squeaky, breathless rush. It was so unexpected that even Katara jumped in surprise. “And I — I — I do not condone this match!”

The second bit, at least, came out a little bit stronger. Katara heard her father inhale sharply behind her, and she quickly bent the ice under his feet slick, causing him to suddenly slip and have to cling onto Bato, who almost fell at the sudden, crashing weight. She’d apologise later. Right now, Sokka needed to be able to say his piece. Her brother caught her eye, and she nodded, and he squared his shoulders and turned back to the Northern Water Tribe Elders and Fire Lord Iroh and the four Fire Sages he’d brought with him, all who were staring at Sokka with varying degrees of quiet surprise.

“Boy,” one of the Elders boomed. “You do not—”

“I have every right to object!” Sokka fired back at him, head thrown back proudly. “The North has violated one of the very oldest promises between the sister tribes, and I, son of the current chief of the Southern Water Tribe, will not be silent and allow it to go grossly unaddressed for another year.”

Yue’s eyes were transfixed on Sokka as she reached out and gripped Zuko’s hand. Zuko, on the other hand, was warily alternating his gaze between the five Fire Nation representatives, the Northern Elders and the Southern representatives, entire body tense as though ready to fight. She realised, with a twist in her heart, that he expected somebody to attack Sokka for his interruption, and he was getting ready to intervene. To protect, like nobody had done for him. Once again, she was sad that Ozai hadn’t come to the North Pole so that she had no chance to accidentally drown the man.

“Sokka,” Hakoda said, almost sharper than Katara had ever heard him.

Elder Oki cut across her father. “The South is not truly independent,” he sneered. “The title of chief that your father holds gives him as much power as one of us Elders. If that.”

Instead of cowing Sokka, this only made him stand taller and take a step closer to the Elders. “Exactly. The Southern Water Tribes, plural, were always meant to be under the leadership and protection of the North. Protection. Where were you in the last hundred years? Where were you in the raids that stole our Waterbenders from us? The ones that killed my mother?” Oki’s mouth snapped shut, whatever he was going to say evidently getting knocked out of him. “If any of the Water Tribes deserve compensation from the Fire Nation, it is us.” The Fire Lord’s eyebrow raised, and he tilted his head to the side, as though agreeing. “The North, our great ‘big sister’, the seat where our Chief resides, did not even offer us that reparation. They simply asked for a few delegates to come and watch the wedding. Without discussion. Without apology for years of silence.”

There was certainly silence in the hall as Sokka took a pause, his chest heaving slightly. The same emotions that were clearly thrumming through him were in Katara’s chest, heavy and achingly hot. Some instinct made her glance at Zuko to find that his wary tracking had stopped and he was, instead, watching her. Okay? he mouthed at her, and some of the tension in her chest left as she gave him a small smile and a little nod.

Sokka didn’t let them stew for too long. “There is only one way to make reparations between North and South. Only one way to repair the brotherhood that has been broken here for so long. And that is the promise that should have been ours over generations: the good faith, unity, and celebration of marriage. That is what I am demanding on behalf of my people.”

The silence shattered to murmurs that rippled at different decibels across the room, people leaning in to whisper to one another. Only Sokka, Katara, Zuko and Yue stood perfectly still and perfectly upright.

“Sokka, son,” Chief Arnook said, and his gentle tone couldn’t quite cover the grief there. Katara noticed he was pointedly not looking or speaking to her father at all. “I… I understand your hurt. But there has been a war treaty signed between —”

“The treaty was signed to honour unity and to step forward into peace with good faith,” Zuko interrupted, voice clear and usual awkwardness completely gone. He stared Arnook head on, and only the way his free hand trembled gave away how much speaking up was costing him. “If I were still to marry Princess Yue, knowing all this that has been brought to light, it would be a violation of the very thing the marriage is supposed to stand for.”

“Prince Zuko,” the Fire Lord said, and nobody in the room could miss how Zuko flinched instinctively. In the too-long pause that followed, Yue did what Katara longed to do but could not and placed a subtle hand on the small of Zuko’s back, rubbing small circles there to try and soothe him. The Fire Lord very briefly closed his eyes in what Katara thought might have been sorrow at his nephew’s reaction. “And Warrior Sokka. What is it that you would both suggest?” The Elders started murmuring louder, so the Fire Lord turned a mild gaze to Chief Arnook. “It would be worthwhile to hear them out, I think, Chief?” he asked, with a little bow.

Chief Arnook, lips pressed together into a very thin line, waved his hand in agreement and in offer for Sokka to continue. Zuko looked over at Sokka, who suddenly looked very unsure. Alarmed, Katara started mentally willing him to scrape it back together.

“Well, um,” Sokka floundered.

“Princess Yue should be given to Warrior Sokka in marriage,” Zuko prompted him, giving him a long stare.

“Yes,” Sokka agreed, a little dumbly.

“So that you could become Chief of the North,” Elder Oki sneered, insinuation in every drip of his words.

And, luckily, his accusation woke Sokka back up. Scowling, he folded his arms. “Is there a better way for us to ensure the North continues to rule the South well, as they’re supposed to, than making a Southerner Chief?” he demanded.

A few eyebrows raised in what almost looked like concession, and Katara dared to hope that this wild, wild gamble would work.

“And you would leave the South without a chief? Are you not set to take over from your father?” an Elder whose name Katara didn’t know asked, sounding much more measured than Oki, as though he were genuine in his asking.

“I am. But Katara, my sister, has lived and trained and served as much as I have. She will make as good a chief as I ever would of the Southern Tribe. And they,” he said, very loudly, over the sudden growing protests, “would accept her as their chief without question.”

“Our laws and traditions clearly state —”

“Your laws and traditions,” Katara cut across Kiugak, finally unable to keep silent, “are only about the position of Chief. As has already been established in this court, there is only one Chief. The title held in the South is an honourary one. And there are no laws in the North about not having people on par with Elders who are women.” She gave them an overly sweet smile.

Pakku smirked without reservation at the blustering of some of the other Elders.

“Right!” Sokka said, brightly, steering them back where he wanted them all to go. “I’ll marry Princess Yue, and govern the North. Katara will be Chief of the South. Together, we’ll ensure that the mistakes of the past are made into promises of the future.” That was completely Yue’s line; Katara saw her biting her lip to stop her smile of pleasure. “And if the Water Tribe Elders and the esteemed Fire Lord”— he paused to bow to Iroh —”still want to ensure the unity between the Water Tribes and Fire Nation after the terrible acts in the past… Well. There have been none promised to Katara in marriage.”

Later, Katara would freeze every one of his favourite socks for the way he let that be worded.

“You cannot just offer your sister up in marriage,” Hakoda snapped, really sounding angry, now, and Sokka turned with an apologetic grimace to his dad, hands up in surrender.

“Your sister, who is fourteen,” Chief Arnook said, also sounding vexed. “She’s not of marrying age, yet.”

“I’ll wait for her,” Zuko blurted out at once. In the stunned silence that followed that, the prince’s face blushed a colour very reminiscent of a cherry blossom.

Chief Arnook’s eyes narrowed. “What,” he said, very slowly, “is going on here?”

“Nephew?” the Fire Lord asked, in a tone that was dumbfounded but also delighted. Zuko was resolutely staring at the ground, growing a darker shade of red by the moment.

Katara caught her brother’s patent I’ve gotten myself into trouble and can’t get out; help, sis look and she turned around to finally face her bewildered looking father.

“Dad,” she said, loud and clear enough for the whole room to hear. “You’ve always promised me that I could choose the man I will marry. Do you still stand by that?”

Hakoda searched her face for a moment and then nodded, expression turning resolute. “Yes,” he vowed, to the room, clearly thinking he was refuting his son’s claims and willing to do it, anyway. Katara felt a rush of affection for him in that moment.

“Okay, great, thanks.” She pointed at Zuko. “I want that one.”

“Y—what?”

“And I’m kind of, sort of, really in love with your daughter, sir,” Sokka blurted to Chief Arnook, who shared the same utterly bewildered expression on Hakoda’s face a moment after Hakoda started wearing it. Yue, on the other hand, bloomed like a flower into a huge, beaming smile that she unleashed on Sokka in full force. “So if… uh… everybody’s okay with it, we’ll just…” Sokka made a tumbling motion in the air with his hands. “We’ll just switch things up a tiny little bit?”

“I’ll stay in the North until Katara comes of age,” Zuko piped up, finally no longer staring at the ice as though he wanted it to melt and suck him down with it. He looked from Arnook to his uncle. “I’ll… you can make me do whatever you want. Or I’ll go to the south to start learning. Or… whatever. You need. Whatever the treaty needs. Just…” He gave his uncle a giant, pleading look. “There must be a way to negotiate the treaty a little bit? Please?”

“What by Tui and La…” Elder Anik said, sounding a little bit faint.

“Chief Arnook.” The Fire Lord’s voice was grave enough that, if Katara hadn’t seen the way his eyes were sparkling, she would have thought him to be very displeased. “I think it may be prudent for us to discuss the treaty once more. Perhaps with Chief Hakoda present.”

“Dad,” Yue said, soft but with such deep yearning it spoke of the depths of the ocean. She gave her father a hopeful smile, one hand still gripping Zuko’s tightly. “Please?”

Arnook slumped as though whatever had been holding him up had just been cut. “I suppose we’d better,” he said, sounding utterly bewildered.

“I told you you should have curbed the habit when they were only bringing home abandoned otter penguin chicks,” Katara heard Bato mutter to her father, laughter in his voice. “You couldn’t say no to them then. Now look. It’s as good as done.”

Sokka and Katara shared a grin of pure, giddy hope.

***

It was the longest summer of Zuko’s life.

Granted, he’d spent the first two weeks spending every minute he possibly could in the sun, relishing in the heat that he’d last felt over two years ago. He’d eaten copious amounts of all the foods he’d missed and had visited all the places he’d dreamed about and then he’d… simply been ready to leave most of it behind, again, after a month. The Fire Nation, he discovered, now all felt like Ember Island to him: exciting to be at for the first while, full of nostalgia and great memories and wonderful people and experiences, but not home. He found himself missing aspects of Water Tribe culture, and thinking fondly of the mixed-nation cuisine that was starting to take over the cooking pots of the Southern Water Tribe. He thought about penguin sledding when he was climbing up volcano walls, wondered if komodo chicken could be made into jerky and walked along the ocean edge alone thinking of the people he wanted to share every experience with. Uncle and Lu Ten were both incredibly busy, and things were strange enough between him and Azula that hanging out with her, Mai and Ty Lee soon grew uncomfortable. Zuko missed his friends. Enough that he would willingly say goodbye to the sun again when it was time to leave, as much as that was the one thing his very soul yearned for.

(He may have cried, just a little bit, that first morning when the sun rose on him and soaked him in heat from above while the warming soil curled something like a hug through his bones from below. Two years was a long, long time to only set foot on a boat or on a land of ice.)

And so, in the end, what Zuko had worried might conflict him only served as another confirmation that he was making all the right decisions for probably the first time in his life. He was waiting in full Fire Nation royal robes, his Water Tribe beads hidden in his top knot, when the Northern Water Tribe ships arrived. Arnook had, respectfully, declined the invitation, but had sent his daughter and son-in-law as his representatives, along with Water Tribe finery as a gift to honour the new Fire Lord on his coronation day. Lu Ten received these gifts with polished grace, but Zuko could see the genuine delight over some of the things on his cousin’s face. Lu Ten had never been to either Water Tribe, but he’d badgered Zuko for information enough that Zuko had been able to easily hint to Sokka and Yue what things to bring.

“Fire Lord Iroh,” Sokka greeted, as he and Yue both did a very impressive Fire Nation bow that Zuko was very proud of. And with good reason.

“Not for much longer, Warrior Sokka,” Uncle beamed, bowing back. “Allow me to introduce you to my niece and brother.” Even Yue, who smiled at everybody, looked strained as she greeted Ozai. And she used a Water Tribe greeting very pointedly. Zuko didn’t know whether to be alarmed or amused. Uncle, true to his nature, simply pretended he hadn’t noticed a thing wrong. “Now that all the formal stuffy nonsense is over, come! Let us just be friends in one another’s presence.”

Yue immediately launched herself at Zuko with a cry of, “My fiancé!”

Cheeks flaming, Zuko nevertheless hugged her back, tightly, all the months of missing her crashing down on him at once. “You really have to let that joke go,” he complained, knowing she would not heed him in the slightest. She and Sokka were well-matched in humour, after all.

“Actually, you may have to, love,,” Sokka said, and Yue looked crestfallen. “If the engagement goes ahead, Katara gets full dibs on that title.”

“Oh, that’s fine! It will only be until they get married. And then I can use it again.” She grinned.

“Or you could just not,” Zuko offered. “It makes a lot of people really uncomfortable.”

There was a sudden glint in Yue’s smile. “I know,” she said, still perfectly innocently.

Zuko was still trying to formulate a response when Sokka swept him up in a hug, not even bothering with a first pretence of a bow or even a traditional Water Tribe arm clasp. And… he hugged Sokka back a little longer than necessary, too. He really had missed them, after years being in their company near-constantly. Ignoring his family’s varying looks at the sudden visual confirmation that Zuko had changed his thoughts on hugging, Zuko asked for permission to give Sokka and Yue a tour of the palace. He chose not to care what the servants and guards would whisper back to his Uncle, even after Sokka nearly broke a six-hundred-year-old heirloom jar with his antics.

At that point, if Lu Ten refused to allow the planned betrothal to take place, Zuko was going to let himself be willingly kidnapped back to the South Pole, diplomatic incidents be damned.

***

By the time Katara, representing Hakoda and the rest of the Southern Elders, arrived two days before the coronation with Aang in tow, Zuko had to admit he was a little nervous. Every time the two of them had reunited after a little time apart in the past two years, the niggling worry that she would have changed her mind about him while she’d been gone ate at the corners of his mind. And this time was no different. In fact, this time was almost worse, because he’d left for the Fire Nation the day after her sixteenth birthday, before they’d had any real time to just be alone and talk about the fact that she was finally sixteen, and the idea of marriage was no longer out of their grasps.

Katara had left the Southern Water Tribe a day or two after him with Aang, because Aang had said he was ready to quietly find a Master to teach him Earthbending, even though he still wanted to wait for a while until the world heard that the Avatar had returned. Zuko and Katara both agreed with his choices, even though they were both privately a little worried that, left to himself, Aang would simply find more good reasons to keep running for the rest of his life. Katara had promised Zuko she would get the Earthbending teacher in on the full situation once said teacher had proven themselves trustworthy. And she’d kept him abreast on the situation as best as she could from the back of a covertly flying bison, detailing their trip from the South Pole to Kyoshi Island, where Aang had wanted to look for a teacher first because of the connection to his past life. They hadn’t found any Earthbenders there, but they’d found some of the fabled Kyoshi Warriors, who had connected them with their sisters still in the Earth Kingdom helping with the war rebuilding efforts and the demilitarisation of villages across the land. Aang had gone to meet the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, who was dating an Earthbender that had apparently led his entire village on a riot that toppled a whole fleet of Fire Nation ships during the last days of the war, but Aang had had some kind of Spirit vision that told him to find a very specific teacher somewhere else in the Earth Kingdom. So off he and Katara had gone, following half a dream of Aang’s. And the letters had lessened, and then stopped.

It could mean nothing. But it could mean everything. And the approaching Water Tribe ship held no answers for Zuko as he stood and sweat next to his family, Lu Ten unknowingly making things worse by muttering teasing things to him as the ship docked. When Katara had been the one coming to Zuko on a ship before, she’d always grown impatient at its speed and had flung herself off the edge of the boat to Waterbend to the shore quicker, flinging herself into his arms. This time, she descended the gangplank in demure finery.

It could mean nothing. But it could mean everything.

Katara greeted Uncle, first, as she should, and then Lu Ten, Ozai and Azula. He had expected her to do things correctly, but now, with his heart in his throat, Zuko being excluded felt less like he was in the same boat as Yue and Sokka beside him and more like the first notes of a death march. Katara introduced Aang simply as a member of the Southern Water Tribe, and Zuko tried not to see every glance that Ozai threw the boy’s way as something sinister. There was very little chance that even Azula’s cunning would leap onto the truth that Aang was the Avatar unless the boy started Airbending, which he’d already sworn up and down he wouldn’t do. And that was a large part of the reason Katara had cut her arrival so close to the coronation: less time for Aang to accidentally break that promise and start some kind of chaos with the revelation that the Avatar was alive and well.

Zuko knew all of this, but he was still desperate for some kind of sign that she hadn’t come to some realisation as she travelled with Aang that she was better than the likes of him. He wouldn’t blame her for that realisation, really, but he wondered if it would be more loving to her to fight to prove his worth or to just let her go.

As he had with Yue and Sokka, Uncle called off the pomp and circumstance of the greeting, allowing Yue and Katara to embrace and to start chatting about Yue’s new hair pieces. Aang and Sokka greeted each other in a clownish fashion and Zuko just stood there, not knowing what to do with his arms at his sides or the size and weight of the heart in his throat. Lu Ten nudged him in the side. And then again, sharper, when Zuko didn’t move.

“Come on, little cousin. I’ll only tease you a tiny little bit, as is my due,” Lu Ten teased him, under his breath.

Zuko’s mouth was too dry to answer.

“Looks like the stories of your great and epic love have been exaggerated,” Azula piped up, dryly, a smirk twitching at the side of her mouth, and Zuko wanted to ask Aang if he knew enough Earthbending to just… bury him.

Sokka went in to hug Katara and Aang bounced over to Zuko, saw something on his face and changed the exuberance to a bow, looking confused at the stiff way that Zuko responded. The confusion gave way to concern, and he made some excuse to go and whisper to Yue. Yue looked over at Zuko, and her expression turned fond. She whispered to Aang, who nodded and then immediately launched into a very loud and very sudden story about riding the Unagi that captured everybody’s attention except Zuko’s. He instead watched Yue subtly lean over to Katara and whisper something very short. Katara’s eyes widened, and she immediately looked over at Zuko.

Caught in his staring, Zuko looked away sharply, trying not to flush. As Aang started making Uncle and Lu Ten laugh, Katara wove around the group like water until she was standing at his right side, still seemingly watching Aang. The familiar warmth of her fingers ghosted against his for a moment before she firmly clasped their hands together. And Zuko found that he could breathe. Katara squeezed, and he squeezed back.

“You idiot,” she breathed, almost too low for him to hear, even out of his right ear.

In response, all that he did was trail a thumb up to her pulse point, and Katara leaned closer almost instinctively. They let go of each other once the party made its way up into the Fire Nation palace, but Zuko was no longer anxious. Even another barb by Azula — this one with an edge of concern to the end of it, Zuko noted — didn’t pierce the insecurity back into him. Katara and he would talk, later, and then the uncertainty would be sorted out, one way or another.

Unluckily, Zuko’s occupied thoughts had kept him from hearing Aang and Uncle’s conversation until Aang made a suggestion that made Zuko suddenly very alarmed and very focused. He saw Katara stiffen and turn away from Sokka at around the same time.

“You’d… like to go where?” Uncle asked, blinking in surprise.

“To school, please, Fire Lord,” Aang repeated, eagerly, pushing his hair out his eyes. It was getting a little long, but Zuko couldn’t blame Katara for wanting to be sure it hid his forehead arrow. “I used to visit — eyahhhhhmean I’ve… heard… a lot about Fire Nation schools…” Katara and Zuko gave each other a look across the room. “And I’d love to be able to go for a day or two. I’ll blend in and I won’t cause any trouble.” Katara’s look intensified and Zuko scrunched his face up at her in response.

“Aang,” Katara said, soothingly. “Maybe this isn’t the best time.”

“I can ask my old tutor to give you a few lessons,” Zuko tagged on, also trying to be soothing and not panicking about the Avatar revealing himself in a Fire Nation school on some random afternoon.

“I think it could be arranged,” Uncle said, and Katara and Zuko shared another look.

“Uncle,” Zuko started. “There’s no need to bother —”

Uncle chuckled and waved a hand. “It won’t be a bother. I’ll simply explain to the teacher.”

Aang beamed. “Thank you so much!” he breathed.

Katara and Zuko looked at each other, helplessly.

They spent the entire day that Aang was at school waiting for some disastrous report to come and, as the sun set and there was still no sign of the younger boy, they began to seriously plan a quick search and rescue mission. Until Aang happily bounced up the pathway, shouting a greeting like he handn’t scared them half to death.

“Where were you?” Katara scolded. “We were worried! You can’t just — Aang. It’s your idea to keep it on the downlow. If you’re going to change that, then we have to do it properly. Not in a place that can cause confusion and panic!”

“I didn’t even do anything,” Aang pouted. “The fight wasn’t my fault.”

Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose. “What fight?” he groaned.

Slowly, in stops and starts and tangents, the story came out how Aang had invited some friends he’d made at school to the palace to see the gardens, and how he’d been stopped from doing so from the local bullies, who didn’t like all the attention he was gleaning. Zuko arranged for Aang’s new friends to come see the gardens the next day, telling his Uncle ten more than the number Aang gave him because he knew how quickly the kid accumulated friends.

Sure enough, Aang pitched up after his second, and his last, day of FIre Nation School with nearly thirty people in tow. They were all Fire Nation enough to behave perfectly when Zuko was in their midst, though, so things ran smoothly for the afternoon. Just as they were saying goodbye to all the kids to send them home, Katara cleared her throat pointedly. When Zuko glanced at her, she widened her eyes and inclined her head. Following her gaze, Zuko found Aang and a pretty young woman lingering together.

“I’ll write to you, I promise,” Aang was saying.

“Will you tell me all about the Southern Water Tribe?” the girl asked. She was blushing, prettily. “I’d love to hear about it.”

“Sure! Of course. Maybe… depending how big the messenger hawk is… I’ll send you some, um… things….”

“I’d really like that, Aang.”

“Okay,” Aang said, colouring deeply. He rocked on his heels. “So…”

“Yeah. I’d… I’d better go.” She made no move of going at all.

Zuko and Katara met each other’s eyes and they both grinned. “Hey, Aang?” Katara called, sounding far too innocent. “Prince Lu Ten’s coronation still needs some paper cranes folded. I said I’d help out, but Zuko just asked me to help him.” There were definitely enough paper cranes for the coronation ceremony. Zuko kept this completely to himself. Paper cranes, after all, were very easily accidentally burned. “So do you think you can fold them, please? I know it’s a lot of — Oh, hey! It’s On Ji, right?” The girl nodded, still flushed. “Do you have time to stay and help?”

“I’ll contact your parents personally for permission,” Zuko offered.

On Ji brightened, and tried desperately not to look as eager as she did. “I’d be honoured to help the royal family,” she said, and Katara disguised her laugh in a cough. “Thank you, highness.” She bowed to Zuko, and then to Katara.

“I’ll send them a message,” Zuko said, amused. “You two get folding.”

Once around the corner, he and Katara muffled giggles into each other’s shoulders. After they gained composure, they tiptoed on silent feet to peer around the corner and watch Aang and On Ji blush and fumble and grin and giggle around each other. The number of times their hands accidentally brushed as they reached for the origami paper was quite frankly ridiculous.

“Shall I see if she can somehow be invited around the day after the coronation?” Zuko whispered to Katara, hoping that the reason would be an engagement party.

Grinning up at him, fond happiness all over her face for her young friend, Katara nodded. They tiptoed away again hand-in-hand.

***

As was usually the case, it was Sokka’s idea, and Zuko somehow got talked into it despite his lingering reservations. It wasn’t a bad plan, which was typical of Sokka’s plans, but it also had the potential to go wrong, which was also typical of Sokka’s plans. And the fact remained that they weren’t in the Water Tribes any more. Things going wrong in the Fire Nation meant that Ozai was around to see them go wrong. And, despite having full confidence that Uncle and Lu Ten would do all they could to protect his friends from Ozai’s oily opportunism, there was also still a part of Zuko that watched his father’s gaze with wary anticipation every time one of his friends was in the same room as the man. Just in case.

“Prince Lu Ten!” Sokka said in his best commentator voice, arms spread wide and grin infectious. “We have called you to this courtyard on this, the afternoon before your coronation, for a very special gift! We ask you to be our special witness in a ritual old and honoured by the Water Tribes. When the emerging chief of our tribe has a suitor for their hand, the suitor must prove their worth in a battle, either of weapon or of element. Those witnessing will give their verdict on whether the match is advantageous for the chief and for the tribe!”

Lu Ten looked delighted to be given that much honour, and Yue clapped and cheered happily as she escorted Uncle and Lu Ten to a seat in the tree. Azula’s expression was complicated, and Ozai was very faintly sneering. Katara looked utterly lost. Sokka prompted them to meet in the middle of the courtyard to bow to one another, and she went, clearly trying to ask her brother for clarity as she did. Just go with it, Sokka mouthed to her.

“What is going on? There’s no such tradition?” Katara whispered in Zuko’s right ear as they bowed.

“Sokka wanted a show. And we thought we’d give you a chance to show off.” Katara blinked. Zuko smirked. “All the vegetation here is fair game, too, by the way.”

When she straightened again, Katara no longer looked confused. Instead, there was a very satisfied smile curling at her mouth and sparking in her eyes. “Showing off means I won’t go easy on you,” she taunted.

Zuko laughed. “I wouldn’t have it any other way, Waterbender.”

There was no slow start: Katara ripped water from one of the underground feeds into the palace as soon as Sokka yelled go, sending half a tsunami Zuko’s way. He was, luckily, used to sparring with her when they were absolutely surrounded by her element, and rolled out of the way with practised ease even as Uncle let out a surprised little shout. Before he even rose, Zuko kicked fire at Katara’s legs, and she broke her stance with a curse. Her retribution was swift, and he had to melt ice daggers as they sailed his way, wincing as one or two bit into his forearms and his shoulders.

Before she could launch the next lot of prepared ice his way, Zuko used a Waterbending move to knock her off balance again. She could have just let all the ice fall to the ground: he knew this. It was, in fact, the easiest way to disperse of the weapons while she regained her balance. Instead, the usually graceful Katara flailed instead of wove like an ocean current, and some of those ice daggers embedded themselves in the wall right above Ozai’s face. Zuko’s father went rather pale. Katara met Zuko’s eye and smiled like the wolf after a kill.

In the rest of the battle, Ozai accidentally nearly got impaled another twice, and got drenched once, and Zuko was torn between amusement at how much fun Katara was having and absolute, exasperated horror that this was what Sokka had evidently meant when he’d told Zuko Katara will want to show off for Azula and Ozai, especially. He was going to char every piece of meat in Sokka’s presence for the next month.

The sparring match ended in a usual fashion; Katara had an icicle to Zuko’s throat, and Zuko had one hand around the back of her neck and the other on her sternum. He could feel the fast beat of her heart through her skin and the thinner material of her blue tunic, and it became the focal point of his whole world until she tilted her head up and met his gaze with her fathomless, bottomless ocean eyes. Almost impossibly, Zuko’s panting breaths picked up speed even more. Katara bit her lip as she began to smile.

“And that’s a match! Both of you, disengage and step away from each other.”

Reluctantly, they disentangled as Sokka dictated, but there was still heat in the little gazes Katara kept throwing at him. Sokka was going on about their dance, and Tui and La, but Zuko wasn’t paying much attention. There was a bruise on the underside of Katara’s jaw, and he wanted the talking to be done so she could heal herself. And he very much also wanted to kiss the little triumphant smile she was trying and mostly failing to hide.

“What is the verdict of those watching about the match?” Sokka asked, and that was actually enough for Zuko to turn his attention back to the audience.

“It is blessed!” Yue cried at once.

“It is blessed,” Aang echoed, also grinning.

“An auspicious match indeed,” Uncle said, looking more delighted than Zuko thought he had any right to. After all, Uncle had been there when he and Katara had first admitted their feelings for each other very publicly, and he’d given his blessing to their intentions back then already.

“I do heartily concur,” Lu Ten said. He was grinning, but the smile he sent Zuko next was soft enough that Zuko’s chest warmed. “I’ve never seen you bend like that, cousin.”

Embarrassed, Zuko could think of nothing to do except bow to Lu Ten in thanks, which caused some soft laughter and made his blush grow. He didn’t expect Ozai or Azula to weigh in on anything, and Sokka didn’t prompt them for their opinions, but, very suddenly, Azula’s voice cut across the courtyard.

“It is blessed,” she said, as confident as she was about everything else.

Floored, Zuko looked at her. The siblings met each other’s gazes for a long moment, shocked to composed, and then Azula smiled, ever so slightly. It looked like the smiles of memory; of back when Mom was still alive. It was what Uncle had spent so long trying to coax back out of her since he’d become Fire Lord, even though Zuko had heard him confess, in heavy grief, that Ozai might have poisoned too deeply. Zuko smiled right back, and gave her a deeper bow than he’d given Lu Ten, the entire courtyard quiet as it held the moment for them.

Sokka, Yue and Aang brought attention back to them with talk about a pre-dinner snack, and Zuko left them to their planning with Uncle about which tea they should make that day — one for celebration, already, or one for victory, or perhaps one to help Lu Ten sleep well in the evening, even though Lu Ten stood beside them as they argued and laughingly insisted that he would sleep fine without any help. Instead, he gravitated toward Katara’s side.

“Let me see,” she said, at once, dropping her glowing hand from her own bruises to the cuts and marks on him. She winced at a particularly deep, bleeding gash on his arm. “Oh, love. I’m sorry.”

“We promised we wouldn’t be,” he reminded her, still fascinated by what her water could do as she touched the glow to his injuries. “If it wasn’t intentional, then there’s no apology necessary in a spar. Otherwise we’ll never really test one another.” He frowned at her, and pushed some loose hair back over her ear. “You’re usually fine with it. What’s wrong, this time?”

Instead of answering with words, Katara simply reached up with one hand and gently cupped his scarred cheek, running one thumb lovingly across the bottom of the puckered flesh. “I’m just… very conscious of who is watching, this time,” she explained, her expression fierce. “And I…”

He kissed her palm. “It’s not even close to that.”

“I know that, logically. But…”

But she noticed Ozai in similar ways that Zuko did. He loved her for it, and also wished that she could be free of that burden.

“Besides. You heal me every time.”

That made her smile and drop her hand again. “Yes. I am great like that.”

Zuko playfully scoffed, and she splashed some water at him, and they were giggling when Lu Ten reached them and broke the moment.

“I was just about to ask if I’d been lied to,” he said with a grin. “Everybody told me you were a healer.”

“Oh, I can definitely also heal,” Katara said, cheerfully, finishing with a split in Zuko’s lip with a slow pressure of her thumb that left him flushing. And then, a little more seriously, she turned and bowed to Lu Ten. “Thank you. For your blessing over us. Yours was the last one, and I know how important you are to Zuko, and now that we have it… It just makes it feel better, this way.”

Lu Ten’s grin turned to something soft. “To be honest, I wasn’t yet sure about you, even as you arrived,” he admitted. “I know what Dad said. But Zuko… Zuko deserves better than what the world has tried to give him.”

“Lu,” Zuko protested, weakly, feeling overwhelmed and embarrassed and a little choked up.

“And then I watched the two of you… Well. You call it sparring. But I’ve seen battles. And I’ve seen this nation learn how to dance, again, after years of it being banned. And I definitely know what that looked more like.” The grin came back, wicked sharp and laughing-eyed. “I knew you were the right one the first time my uncle nearly got impaled.”

“Lu,” Zuko hissed.

Katara almost preened. “If you ever need a little accident to happen once you’re Fire Lord, you know where to find me.”

“Kata— There are people who could be listening!” Zuko hissed, horrified.

Completely ignoring him, Katara and Lu Ten clasped hands in the Water Tribe way, both smirking knowingly.

“Dear Agni, dear Spirits,” Zuko said. “I think I’d like to detract my proposal.”

“I’m the one who proposed to you, technically,” Katara reminded him. Her smile was fond, but by no means less fierce. “And I’m not letting you go anywhere that isn’t by my side.”

It was formality and nothing more for Zuko to stick the hairpin into Katara’s hair two days later in front of the court and the visiting dignitaries and Aang’s friend On Ji, who Zuko had managed to smuggle into the second-coronation-party-slash-engagement-party that had been planned with all the coronation party leftovers. While he loved the way the blue gems clinked every time she moved, he’d been woven into her for a long time before then. It was equally unnecessary for her to braid a bead into a strand of his hair, but he let her while Sokka pretended not to cry.

“Now everybody else knows what is true,” she sang, softly, as she worked. “You belong to me, and I to you.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” he promised her in a whisper.

#ghostfic #as usual this turned out longer than planned without much plot lmao #welcome back to my silly little AU of Liz's amazing AU #zutara month 2022 #Arranged Marriage #Because it fits so why not :P #I really wanted to get more Haruki in here but please know they're off being awesome in the EK #The Kyoshi Warriors were instrumental in helping end the war #And Haru fell head over heels in love with Suki #so in love the mustache never made an appearance #this is all #Also in case it wasn't clear enough the Spirits told Aang to go find Toph #Who will be her usual gremlin self and become ZK's second adopted child after Aang #Taang Sibling Supremacy thanks very much #Zuko will still be asked to teach Aang Firebending #He'll be so touched by the ask and Aang will be so confused because of course he was going to ask his unofficial dad figure??? hello???#Zutara Month

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tamras-shieldmaiden · 2 years

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Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Avatar: Legend of Korra Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Korra (Avatar) & Original Female Character(s) Characters: Korra (Avatar), Original Female Character(s) Additional Tags: Post-Avatar: The Legend of Korra, Not Canon Compliant - The Legend of Korra, Original Character(s), Fun, First Meetings Summary:

When newcomer, Nergui, arrives in Ba Sing Se, she's met with a reality that is drastically different than the one she just left, back on Kyoshi Island. But after a chance (or was it?) meeting with the Avatar during the high-profile wedding of the President of the United Earth Provinces and the CEO of Future Industries, Nergui is left thinking that maybe life in Ba Sing Se won't be so bad after all.

#the legend of korra #legend of korra #tlok #korra #nergui #oc #kyoshi warriors #choices series #fanfiction #my first gift #and it's awesome

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sillyfudgemonkeys · 5 days

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*walks up to the mic* I may be working on another Rangi (prev one) themed trace animation (should I just call it a MAD? I feel like that's what it is but less words....wait wait I think the term is Handwritten MAD/手書きMAD specifically....... TT0TT).

But cool news.........I think....I might be having a break through on ways I wanna try coloring some of the Persona manga. So I might take another stab at this piece again once I'm done..... Anyway!

*drops mic, and then crab walks away*

#silly talks #i'm sorry about all the kyoshi/rangi/avatar stuff but......they're my lil brain worms atm #ok ok might be two animations #I did one frame of another one but that's on pause until further notice #the one I'm working on I have 4 frames done (and keep adding more TT0TT) I will make gremlin!Rangi a reality!#god i hope this breakthrough is the right track and it works out cause then I can do some other pieces in a similar style and-#-and that would just be awesome TT0TT #also return of White tank top!Rangi because fuck me i'm not killing myself with that god damn armor again TT0TT #maybe last post today........maybe one more who knows!

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frost-queen · 2 months

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My mortal flaw (Reader x Zuko)

Requested by: Anon Forever tag:@missmelodramatic, @merlin-dahlia, @alex--awesome--22, @elllie-does-the-posts, @floatlosers, @merlieve, @queen-of-books, @glimmering-darling-dolly @denkisclown, @wildieflower, @meyocoko, @bubblybrianna, @justanothercoco, @subjecta13-thefangirl, @m-rae23, @harleyquinnswifeyfrfr, @swampthing07, @melsunshine, @panhoeofmanyfandoms, @venomsvl, @the-uncoordinated-house-cat, @rosecentury, @imagines-by-her, @evilcr0ne, @vviolynn, @iixchloee, @cherrysxuya

Summary: Reader is a watertribe princess, intended to marry Prince Zuko as an offering of peace between the nations. Zuko never wanted you as his wife and finds you a weakness. A weakness he never saw coming. Upon the discovery of the Avatar, you try to sneak away, only to be discovered by Zuko leading to an arguement. At Kyoshi island you find an escape with Sokka and Katara which makes Zuko derranged and furious. Doing anything in his power to get you back. Finally realizing he might love you. [ part 2 & part 3 & part 4 ]

There were loud knocks on the door to your cabin. It made you lift your head up. You didn’t respond immediate as the next following knocks turned into banging. – “Gentle, gentle.” – you heard a muffled voice speak from the other side. There was a deep sigh, followed by a gentle knock. Almost too gentle. – “Yes.” – you responded having kind of clue of who was at the other side.

“Are you done staying inside?” – It was Prince Zuko speaking at the other end. – “No.” – you responded hearing Zuko barely loose his temper on the other end. – “Calm, calm now nephew.” – you recognized it was Iroh’s voice, soothing the prince’s temper.

You heard some movements till Zuko’s temper took over. – “Then perish inside!” – he yelled at the door as you saw the light of flames through the cracks. Jumping up you went up to the door. – “I will!” – you shouted back in frustration. There was a loud groan with a hard stomp against your door. Startling you away from the door.

Footsteps died out It made you near the door again, holding your ear against it. Once the storm had passed, you exhaled deep. You knew you couldn’t stay in your cabin. It wasn’t deliberately, but you sometimes wanted to avoid Zuko.

Almost at every occasion were you forced together in close proximity. The waterbending princess promised to him. A peace treaty between nations. Honestly you didn’t know what possessed Fire lord Ozai to accept your father’s proposition of simply handing you over on a silver platter to his son.

Being on Zuko’s ship for almost four years now, you had a bit of a clue. Perhaps the fire lord accepted it, to taunt Zuko more. A way of shaming him further against his nation. Water and fire weren’t meant to be together. It was an extra nudge to keep Zuko out of the fire nation. If he wasn’t so bad tempered you might feel sympathy for him.

Opening the door, you decided to head out. Probably the first in days. You missed the ocean breeze, the salty water, the cold, the moon. You missed everything that felt close to you. Looking cautiously around for Zuko, you snuck your way up to the deck. Feeling the breeze on your skin, you inhaled deep. Composed you went to the railing, holding tight to it. Feeling the rocking of the ship on the water, you leaned back to take it in.

With a satisfying breath, you looked up to the moon. The deck was mostly empty. Most soldiers below deck. Playing some cards or drinking. It was a bit too quiet as you missed the buzzing life of your village. Leaning with your chin on your arms by the railing, you stared into the water. Wondering how your tribe was doing without your presence.

“What are you doing here?” – A loud voice raged. You jumped up, startled to bone. Turning your posture a bit, you saw Zuko braising as he came your way. You rolled your eyes at him. – “Make up your mind where you want me.” – you replied raising your voice a bit as well. Zuko puffed up his chest with anger, standing face to face with you. His hands radiating heat. His gaze scanning yours. He hated how vulnerable your gaze was. Soft and mesmerizing as the moon.

A wind picked up from the east as it made you shiver. Zuko noticed it, observing you. – “Fetch the princess a blanket!” – he yelled without a glance away from you. From behind Zuko at the other side, you saw a soldier rush to get you a blanket. You tilted your head a bit. – “Your uncle isn’t looking.” – you told him.

Knowing he only showed kindness when his uncle forced him to be civil. – “I know.” – Zuko responded with a soft glare. The soldier returned with a blanket as Zuko snatched it from his hands. He rose his hands, intending to place the blanket over your shoulders as he stopped himself. He caught himself being nice. Showing a weakness, he couldn’t afford.

He brought his hands back to his chest, throwing the blanket at you. You caught it when it hit your chest. – “How gentle of you.” – you said sarcastic, putting the blanket over your shoulders. Zuko huffed loud as he staid in your presence. Close as it made you uncertain at this point. What was he still doing around you? He never staid this long around you. Not if it wasn’t forced on him.

There was a rumble in the sky followed by a strong gush of air. It knocked you right against Zuko’s chest. His hand subtle on your back as the wind kept blazing through. Zuko’s eyes lit up, lowering his hand on you. From the corner of your eye, you saw a bright blue light.

Making you turn around to bestow upon the beam of light in the sky. – “What is that?” – you asked a bit nervous and frightened. Unconsciously you leaned back, coming in touch with Zuko’s chest. Zuko stepped back as you felt the loss of touch. He started ordering commands to his crew to set coarse to the beam of light. It might be a clue for his search for the Avatar.

The ship neared the village of the southern water tribe. It cracked the ice open when it steered frontal through it. The village nearing. Zuko stood on deck. Uncle Iroh a step behind him to the side. You stood beside Zuko, your fiancé. With worry, you looked up to him. – “Stay on the ship.” – he said firm, keeping his hands behind his back. – “but…” – you started. – “Stay here!” – Zuko yelled at you, making you gulp nervously. – “Zuko!” – Iroh called out.

“Show the princess some kindness.” – he told him with a soft glare. Zuko breathed with a scoff. He lowered himself a bit to speak to you like a he would do to a little child. – “That’s an order from your prince.” – he made clear. Something you caught in his eyes, made you see a smidge of desperation in him. Did he perhaps think you’d stay here with the people of your own kind?

That once you left the ship, they’d see you as a prisoner and claim you as theirs? Before you could think of it more, had Zuko turned away. Zuko accepted his helmet from one of his men, following them. Iroh came joining your side as you watched Zuko and his men descend onto the ice. – “Best to stay out of a fight, princess.” – he said to you.

Being on the ship was boring. You hardly had any sight of what was happening down at the village. You saw flashes of fire as you hoped Zuko wouldn’t burn down the village. It was small. Smaller than any village you had known. You had lost sight of Iroh. He was probably up on the high deck to overlook the happening. A gush of wind made you bring your hands up to protect your face. – “An airbender?” – you questioned.

Hadn’t they gone instinct? For over a hundred years there haven’t been an airbender. – “The Avatar!” – you heard the soldiers shout in unison. – “The Avatar.” – you gasped in shock. Looking up, you knew Iroh’s eye was on Zuko. As it always was. You duck down, rushing to the railing. Below the ice had cracked where the ship had broken through.

Grabbing the railing, you jumped over it, swaying your hand up. A trail of water spiralled up, flowing around you as it slowed your descend. Your feet hit the ice as the water splashed on the ice. Ignoring Zuko’s order, you needed to see it for yourself. Keeping yourself low to avoid Iroh spotting you, you snuck up in haste to the village.

You neared the entrance of the village, eyes wide with shock of what you saw. People running around. The soldiers causing fires to scare them into handing over the Avatar. You snuck into the village trying to look for the Avatar. A deranged fire blast went your way as it hit an igloo near you. The impact made you duck down, receiving some exploded ice on your back.

“It isn’t save here!” – A boy called out, taking your hand as he pulled you away from the burning igloo. He came to a stop, taking a moment to fully look at you. – “Who are you?” – he asked, still holding your hand. You panicked pulling your hand out of his and taking a run for it. – “Hey!” – the boy called out coming after you.

He knew everyone from his village, yet you were unfamiliar. He got stopped in his tracks by fire. Looking over his shoulder, he saw his sister. – “Katara hide!” – he shouted with a wave of his arm. You came to a stop seeing the Avatar in the air. Never did you think you’d see the Avatar.

Your gaze got pulled away by a hard pull on your wrist. Forcing you to look another way. Zuko’s way. – “You ignored my order!” – Zuko shouted at you, tugging hard on your wrist. You tried pulling your wrist out of his grip as he held it tight. – “I’m not your soldier!” – you yelled back at him. Zuko glared at you. – “Get back to the ship!” – he ordered with anger. – “I will stay!” – you stood your ground, not wanting to leave. – “Y/n! Get. To. The. Ship.” – he repeated trying to compose himself.

Feeling himself boil with anger over you. Angry that you deliberately ignored his order. You pulled your wrist out of his grip with force. – “I didn’t sign up for this!” – you replied with fury. – “For what?” – Zuko fired back. – “These are my people Zuko!” – you told him. – “I just want the Avatar!” – he responded. In the corner of his eye, he saw a spear heading your way. Zuko tensed his jaw, grabbing you as he tackled you to the ground. Rolling over in the snow as the spear flew over your heads.

You laid in the snow, feeling Zuko half on top of you. His hand protective on your head. He pulled you up as he created fire, bending it towards the tribe member who threw the spear at you. – “Zuko!” – you called out, pushing his arm down. – “The ship now!” – Zuko yelled with a rage unlike you had ever seen. Before you knew it, grabbed two of his men you by the arms. Dragging you out of the village back to the ship.

“Stay with the princess!” – Zuko ordered one of his men. They bowed as a response. – “Don’t let her out of your sight.” – he added tracking up the hill. Iroh right behind him. You followed in line as Zuko lead the expedition to capture the Avatar. Having been spotted on Kyoshi island. – “The Avatar is mine.” – Zuko said out loud.

Up on the hill was a bright blue light shining. Hinting the Avatar was up there. Up ahead you saw a water tribe girl take a stand as defence. She let her arms sway, letting a whip of water splash at Zuko’s feet. Zuko stopped, pulling his foot up to see the wetness on his shoes. – “Pathetic.” – he called out.

The girl furrowed her brows at the sight of you. – “Stand aside girl.” – Zuko ordered. The girl moved her hands up. – “You’ll have to go through me.” – she replied. Zuko laughed. – “That won’t be a problem.” – he answered preparing himself. He fired at her as she fell backwards onto the grass. A sudden gush of wind made you all look away. Zuko’s eyes widened when Avatar Kyoshi landed in front of them. With one wave of her fan, were you all pushed back by air. Falling back.

“Protect the princess!” – Zuko shouted as he tried to get back up. The soldier enlisted to keep you save, pulled you up by your arm. Dragging you away from the others. He led you down the hill through the woods. You had little time to stand still and think about what was happening. Soon you neared the town as the soldier kept a grip on you, looking constantly over his shoulder. You froze when a fan flashed at him, hitting him in the head. It knocked him down.

Your gaze met up with a young girl looking a lot like Avatar Kyoshi with her make-up. The same boy from the water tribe at her side. – “Hey I know you!” – he said with a confused point at you. – “You were at my tribe too.” – he stated with furrowed brows. You turned around taking a run for it. – “Hey wait!” – Sokka called out, coming after you with Suki. You stopped, brought your hands up your face, then you pushed them forwards. The crackling of ice sounding. Sokka and Suki looked down, their feet slippery on ice.

“She can bend.” – Suki told Sokka out of breath. Suki grabbed Sokka by his shirt, pulling him off the ice. They went back in pursuit. In the woods, you couldn’t tell the direction apart. Not knowing where it might lead you. – “Hey wait!” – Sokka shouted to get your attention. Panting you tried to stay ahead of them. You screamed when you nearly bumped into the girl that came out of nowhere. You fell back, caught off guard. – “Katara get her.” – Sokka called out, out of breath.

Katara took a stand, ready to whip you with water if you dared to move. – “Why are you with the fire nation?” – she asked rudely. Suki extended her hand to you as you accepted it, letting her help you up. – “Are you their prisoner?” – Sokka questioned as you remained silent. – “There’s no need to be scared.” – Suki spoke rubbing her hand on your back, soothingly. – “We’ll save you.” – Sokka responded proudly. Before you knew it, were you dragged along with them.

Zuko was panting, taking a look around. – “Where is the princess?” – he asked loud. All his men looked at each other uncertain. Zuko felt himself grow angrier. – “Where is Y/n!” – he shouted unleashing fire from his fists. – “Don’t worry Zuko, we’ll find her.” – Iroh said to sooth him. – “Find her!” – Zuko ordered to his men. – “Burn this entire island down if you must to find her!” – he moved his fist forward, a blast of fire hitting a tree as it set it on fire. His men scattered away in search of you. – “We’ll find her Zuko…” – Iroh spoke placing a hand on Zuko’s shoulder. Zuko brushed his hand harshly off. He was panting. Braising with anger that he had lost sight of you.

If this would’ve happened years ago, he would just leave, being glad to be rid of you. Now, he felt like he couldn’t. You weren’t around him for a few moments and he already missed the argues with you. He missed your presence, more than he would ever admit. It wasn’t easy being forced on this mission with someone you were signed up to marry. Yet you were there. Day in and out. You were there at every step of the way. The water tribe princess he learned to admire… in secret.

Admitting it to himself that he actually… cared was scary. You were a weakness. You still are a weakness to him. One he didn’t intended on. Zuko called it out, burning the trees nearby. A tree’s trunk cracked. The top bush falling to the side. Zuko narrowed his eyes when he saw something familiar blue trotting up the hill. Instead of one, he recognized three. Taking in deep breaths, he bald his hands into fists.

He called it out as the fire coming out of him startled Iroh. It was blazing hot. Iroh saw it now as well, swallowing nervously. – “Zuko…” – he started moving his hand forwards. Before he could reach Zuko, had Zuko ran off. Huffing and puffing with anger to get you back. The grass catching fire from where he passed. His wrath waiting to be unleashed.

“So why were you with the fire nation?” – Katara asked as she pushed you up the hill. – “It’s complicated.” – you answered. – “How is it complicated?” – Sokka asked scratching the back of his head. – “It’s…” – you started cut off by loud shouting. You leaped aside when a fire blast went your way. Looking back at the trail, you saw Zuko panting with anger. His fist out where the fire blast had come from.

“He’s back!” – Sokka called out, helping his sister back up. Sokka then rushed over to you, helping you up. – “We have to go.” – he told you. Zuko fired once more, preventing them from going further up the hill. – “You are not going anywhere with her!” – he made clear. Sokka pulled you behind him. – “She’s not your prisoner!” – Sokka shouted at Zuko.

“No.” – Zuko replied composing himself a bit. – “She’s my intended.” – he said out loud making Sokka’s jaw drop, gawking at Zuko. – “Now hands off before I burn you!” – Zuko threatened. Sokka immediately pulled his hands off you, having no intention to die. Zuko’s gaze met up with yours, softening as he extending his hand to you. – “Please…” – he asked.

The sincereness from him made you realize he’d truly cared for you. For long you didn’t think it was possible. But here he was burning bridges to get to you. You took a deep breath, making the intention to reach your hand out to him when a gush of wind knocked him back. The Avatar landed soundless between Zuko and you. – “Leave my friends alone!” – Aang called out.

Zuko pressed his fist into the ground, groaning in anger. He got up firing at Aang. Aang deflected his fire with a defence of his own. Aang swayed his stick, knocking Zuko further back down the hill. Zuko got back up, going with all his might against Aang. Using all his power against the Avatar in order to get you back. – “Wait!” – you called out loud. Aang and Zuko stopped.

Aang looking confused at you. – “Don’t hurt him.” – you told Aang. Aang stared dumbfound at you. Zuko slowly got up as you ran up to him. Slamming yourself against his chest when he had gotten up. Your arms around him. Zuko moved his arms around you as well, lowering his head on your shoulder to feel your embrace deeper.

“I need you Y/n.” – Zuko whispered to you. You hugged him tighter as a response. – “Can someone explain to me what is happening?” – Aang said out loud, looking back at his friends. Sokka and Katara could only stare in shock at the two of you. – “They’re intended.” – Sokka said finding it hard to believe and finding it odd that he was saying it out loud. – “Huh?” – Aang responded.

“We should probably leave.” – Katara whispered to her brother. – “Good idea.” – he whispered back, slowly backing away. The three of them ran off. Zuko and you stopped embracing. He smiled at you, touching your cheek. You brought his hand down, keeping it in yours. Holding hands, you went back down the hill with Zuko.

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