#zkmc

[zkmythicalcreaturesweek]

2023 ZKMC Prompts

October 22nd - October 28th

Like last year, we have two prompts per day. The first is a monster/creature prompt and the second is a vibe/style prompt. You can use just one or both!

Thank you to everyone who voted! Prompts also listed below the cut.

Day 1: Magic Mirror --- Ancient

Day 2: Vampires and/or Werewolves --- Revenge

Day 3: Hunter/Monster --- Cure

Day 4: Angels & Demons --- Constellations

Day 5: Living Statues --- Sleep

Day 6: Talking Objects --- Asian Folklore

Day 7: Soul Eaters --- Disguise

#zutara #zkmythicalcreaturesweek #katara #zuko #zkmc #zutara event #zuko x katara #atla event #katara x zuko #prompts #2023 prompts #zkmc 2023 #mythical creatures #zk mythical creatures #zk #fanart #fanfic #atla fandom #zutara fandom

[badlucksav]

Trick or treat! 🧡💜

Hello friend! I spent entirely too long trying to decide what little treat I could give you. So here’s a little drabble for my Living Statues idea I’d had for @zkmythicalcreaturesweek I never got around to writing:

***

The statue was a gift from the Southern Water Tribe for his father, placed out in the garden by the turtleduck pond. It was a beautiful piece of craftsmanship, carved from some unfamiliar black stone that must have been native to the arctic south. Whom ever had carved it took their time to put in the fine details: the lines of the statue’s palms and each eyelash were carved delicately into the stone’s smooth surface.

It was of a young woman with flowing hair and round eyes that seemed to follow you wherever you went. Most of the Fire Nation court marveled over it for the first few weeks after its arrival (it had been on display during one of his father’s lavish parties to be admired), but for Zuko there was something about it he didn’t quite like, although he couldn’t place his finger on it.

Zuko was neither superstitious nor silly, but sometimes he felt as though somehow that statue was alive, that in the darkest hours of the night the girl would step off of her stone pedestal and creep through the empty halls of the palace, her stone feet scraping lightly as her round eyes roved, looking for him.

It was foolish and stupid, and Azula would have surely made fun of him if he had ever dared to voice that irrational fear. That’s what it was—irrational. Statues didn’t move. But it did not stop Zuko from hurrying away from that statue when the last traces of twilight fled the sky, his heart thundering in his chest as his skin prickled, fearful that one of those cold stone hands would wrap around his shoulder as he fled.

No, it wasn’t rational at all. Yet Zuko could not quite convince himself that the statue wasn’t some alive creature, waiting, biding its time, searching for the perfect moment to creep through the palace and murder him in his sleep.

***

Come trick or treat in my ask box!

#living statues #Zuko #Katara #Zutara #zkmc #Drabble #ask #Sav answers #trick or treat

[neva-borne]

Katara's spent the last year tracking down and systematically killing the men who attacked her and forever changed her life. She's hidden her true self from the world beneath long sleeves and the shadows of alleyways. She hasn't had a proper human interaction since she set off on her journey to seek revenge. And then she makes it to Ba Sing Se, and she's nearly killed when she makes a crucial mistake on a hunt. Now at the mercy of the man who saved her, Katara has to work through the aftermath of her attack that she's been avoiding since it happened, and try to trust and and care for someone other than herself. All she wanted was revenge, but Zuko's unexpected appearance in her life throws her for a loop, and she's not sure what she wants, or deserves, anymore.

My entry for @zkmythicalcreaturesweek day 2: Vampires and/or Werewolves // Revenge

Rated E

#zutara #zuko #katara #atla #avatar the last airbender #fanfic #fanfiction #angst #zuko x katara #zkmc 2023 #zkmc #werewolf #vampire

[perfectlypanda]

Zutara Mythical Creatures Week Day 3: Hunter/ Monster

Gotta catch 'em all!

To be honest, my knowledge of Pokemon is largely limited to that one magical summer where everyone was running around outside playing Pokemon Go!

I started this as a Halloween idea, but almost gave up on it because art is hard. Then I noticed the @zkmythicalcreaturesweek prompt hunter/ monster, and went "Pokemon stands for pocket monster. Pokemon trainers are basically monster hunters. Right? Perfect. Better keep working."

♥ Please do not repost. If you like it and want to show people, share a link to this page instead. Thank you!

#zutara #zuko #katara #zkmythicalcreaturesweek #zkmc 2023 #atla #zuko/ katara #fire noodle #pokemon #druk #kya #steambaby #halloween #gave Katara cute high waist shorts and then the Squirtle shell covered the waist entirely whomp whomp #did some shading and then got tired #look I made a thing

[starartist]

Living Statues🐍

In this poignant moment, Katara, her eyes brimming with sorrow, tenderly embraces Zuko, who stands transformed into a lifeless statue. A fateful curse had once gripped her, bestowing upon her powers reminiscent of the mythical Medusa. In a cruel twist of fate, her cursed gaze inadvertently turned Zuko into stone. Their love, now frozen in time, serves as a powerful testament to the enduring bonds that even the harshest of circumstances cannot shatter.

@starartist - visit for more Zutara🌙

For: @zkmythicalcreaturesweek ✨️

#zutara #atla #katara #zuko #zuko x katara #atla zuko #atla katara #digital art #avatar #avatar last airbender #zkmc 2023 #zkmythicalcreaturesweek #atla fanart #fanfic

[the-badger-mole]

Magic Mirror Part 2

After a while, Zuko gave up calling for help. Some time after that, he quit pacing and thought. He couldn't get out the way he came in. That didn't mean there was no other way out. Zuko held his hand out and called up a flame, and sighed with relief when fire licked his fingertips. The darkness wasn't dispelled far, but he could now see a few feet ahead of him, and he realized that he was standing on a dark marble floor. He followed it cautiously, wary of what might be waiting outside his bubble of light. After a while of walking, his fire glinted off of something. He paused and stared the circular hole. His fire was reflecting back at him. Hesitating just a moment, he put it out and found himself looking out into a darkened room. A room he recognized. He was in one of the empty bedrooms in the summer palace. His father's if he recalled correctly. Zuko surged forward, pressing on the glass, but it didn't budge. He was in the summer palace, or at least in the mirrors. That was something. Zuko picked up running along the corridor again, stopping an looking out of different mirrors in the hallways, the bathrooms, the foyer. Finally, he came upon an occupied room.

Katara sat in the library, relishing in a rare moment alone. She'd found an old romance novel and was idly skimming it when the door opened. Zuko watched in horror as he walked in. What would this doppelganger do to her? He beat his fist on the glass and screamed Katara's name. He needed to get out of this prison! How could he make himself heard?

"Katara!" Zuko screamed. She frowned, and started to turn. She had heard him! Zuko doubled his efforts, screaming and banging his fists on the glass until he was certain it would break. But the other Zuko slipped between Katara and the mirror, and smooth as a serpent, sat down beside her. He sat down right beside her. Katara's attention was drawn away from looking for the source of the sound and was now nervously focused on the boy beside her.

The mirror creature was murmuring something to her. Zuko pressed himself against the glass, trying to hear what was going on, but the sounds were muffled and both Katara and the creature were speaking too low. Zuko watched in growing horror as the Mirror Zuko leaned closer to Katara and began playing idly with the end of her hair. Katara's face had gone red, and her eyes were wide with surprise, but she made no attempts to move away. Not even a few moments later when he got even closer, until their noses were almost touching. Katara's eyes fluttered, her lids lowering until they were almost shut. Zuko stopped breathing as the mirror creature leaned in to close the last little bit of space...

Katara's eyes flew wide open and she gasped. A moment later, the door of the library burst open, and suddenly Katara was on her feet with the sofa between her and the boy still leaning forward for a kiss. Sokka rushed in, shouting excitedly about his success in mastering a sword fighting technique. He wanted to show them in the courtyard, and asked Zuko to spar with him to show it off. Katara nearly ran after her brother, casting one last pondering glance at Zuko. The mirror creature waited until they were gone before his pleasant smile twisted into a dark scowl.

Zuko banged on the glass of his prison again, shouting for the creature's attention. At first, Zuko thought it couldn't hear him, but then it smirked, turning it's head slightly in Zuko's direction, but not looking directly at him.

"I can see why you like her," it said, it's voice muffled as if it were speaking through a closed window. "I think I will, too."

"You stay away from her!" Zuko shouted, pummeling the glass again. "You stay away from all of them!" The creature just chuckled and left the room, shutting the door behind him.

Zuko ran down the dark corridor, frantically looking through mirrors for a glimpse of his friends. They must have been outside, because he couldn't find them in any of the rooms. His throat was growing sore from screaming for anyone who could hear him, and his body was sore from sprinting the hall and beating on the glass. He slumped against a wall, allowing exhaustion to catch up with him. Despair, he thought, would come any minute, but to his distant surprise, it hadn't. After all, this was par for the course for him. Perhaps he never considered his fate might be exactly this- trapped in some horrible mirror world while he watched his doppelganger take his place among his new friends, and make moves on the girl he...- it was still not surprising to him that just when he thought his life had taken a turn for the better, something terrible would happen. At least he wouldn't have to wait long for death, he reasoned. He was already hungry and thirsty. He figured dehydration would kill him a few days. He just hoped he would have a chance to warn his friends about the imposter before he went.

"You won't die here."

Adrenaline surged through Zuko's body like a bolt of his sister's lightning. Every hair on his body was standing on end, and he instinctively fell into a defensive crouch, facing the direction the voice had come from. At first, he saw nothing, but he expansive darkness, but then he noticed a figure- tall and pale- approaching him from the pitch dark. He was glowing, Zuko realized with a start. The man had long white hair and a carefully sculpted beard. His hair had been pulled into a top knot with a small flame securing it. Through the shrouding of ethereal light, Zuko recognized that he wore the formal robes of Fire Nation nobility.

"It is so good to meet you, my grandson," the man said smiling. "I am Avatar Roku." Zuko gasped and stumbled backwards. He saw the resemblance now. Roku had the same nose as his granddaughter Ursa. The same mouth. The same slant to his eyes. The features Zuko had inherited. He could only gape at the older man- no, the spirit.

"A-am I dead?" he asked. Roku chuckled and shook his head.

"Thankfully, no," he said. "And you won't die here. It'll be uncomfortable for you, but you're essentially immortal here, although you'll still feel hunger and thirst and such. But none of that matters, because we are going to get you out of here."

"What is this place?" Zuko asked.

"You're in..." Roku paused and looked around thoughtfully. "Let's call it an annex of the spirit world. You see mirrors can serve as a sort of gateway, if you know how to use them. "

"How do I get out?" Zuko "I'm not even sure how I got in!"

"You got caught by a lesser spirit," Roku explained. "Some of them are nasty buggers, but mostly harmless. Unfortunately, your grandfather, Azulon was attempting to recruit spirits to fight for him, and foolishly didn't see to it that all the portals he tried to open were sealed."

"Of course," Zuko groaned, rolling his eyes. "It's not enough that I pay for my own sins, I still have to deal with my family's, too?"

"That is, unfortunately, what comes with the territory," Roku sighed sadly. "You will one day be the Fire Lord, and it will be your duty to make amends for the sins of your forebearers. But compared to untangling the mess of the spirit world, that'll be a cake-walk. Especially, if you keep the right people by your sides." Zuko stared at Roku, mystified.

"Are you sure you're related to me on my mother's side?" he asked. "Because you sound just like my uncle." Roku chuckled and shook his head.

"I know of your uncle Iroh, and I respect him a great deal," he said. "I'd be happy to claim him as a grandson, but no. The only connection I have to that side of your family was my friendship with your great-great-grandfather. Now, to get you out of here."

Zuko was waiting once night fell and everyone began to turn in for the night. Roku had gone some time ago, wishing his grandson luck, and Zuko was alone. Finally, the door to the bedroom swung open and Katara entered. He waited until she had shut the door and lit her lamp to begin banging on the mirror and shouting her name. This time, Katara heard him immediately. She looked over at the mirror in confusion and gasped.

"Zuko?" Her mouth hung open in shock.

"Please! Don't freak out," Zuko begged her. Katara stood rooted to the spot, gaping at him. She looked over her shoulder, towards where she had just said good night to her friends, Zuko among them. Then back towards her mirror in confusion.

"What?" she whispered, taking a cautious step forward. Zuko slumped against the glass in relief.

"It's me Katara," Zuko told her.

"Zuko?" She got closer, inspecting the mirror. She looked behind it to see if there was a door or something she hadn't noticed before, but the mirror was attached to the dressing table, leaving a gap of several inches between the back of the mirror and the wall. She moved in front of the mirror and frowned when she saw her reflection in front of Zuko. "How are you doing this?"

"I'm trapped!" Zuko told her. "That-that thing out there, it isn't me. I was in the woods, and there was this huge mirror, and when I looked into it, that thing grabbed me and trapped me in here. You have to believe me! That isn't me out there!" Katara stared at him for a long moment before shutting her eyes and taking a deep, shaky breath.

"I believe you," she said. Zuko hadn't been expecting that. He had planned a whole list of proof of what he was saying, but it all flew out of his head.

"You do?"

"I knew something was off when he came back," Katara explained. "He was acting weird, and he didn't know where the dining room was. And then later he almost...I saw him close up and I realized his scar was on the wrong side."

"What?" Zuko gasped. He hadn't noticed. He hadn't even paid attention to that.

"I thought I was crazy," Katara said. "No one else said anything, so I thought maybe I was wrong, but..." Her eyes swept over his face and she nodded slightly. "I was right."

"Thank Agni," Zuko sighed. He leaned forward, resting his forehead against the glass. His throat closed around a sob and he thought for a moment he would weep with relief.

"How do we get you out?" Katara asked, pulling Zuko's focus back.

"He needs to look in a mirror," Zuko explained quickly. "He's part of this world- the spirit world- so any mirror will do to bring him back in." Zuko was glad when Roku told him that although the spirit needed Zuko to look in that specific mirror in the woods, he didn't need the spirit to go back there. He didn't think he could guide any of his friends to the right spot, let alone trick a spirit who had no inclination to go back there.

"I don't know how to get him to look, though," Zuko said. "He purposely avoided looking in the one in the library.

"Y-you were in the library?" Katara's face went suddenly red, and then Zuko's face flushed, too.

"I-I was just looking for a way out," he said. "I wasn't spying." Katara dropped her gaze and shifted on her feet.

"It's..." she huffed and shook her head. "Whatever. It doesn't matter. I have an idea. Just wait here for me. Don't move, okay?"

"Alright," Zuko said. Then Katara grabbed one of the tarps that had been covering the furniture when they arrived, and threw it over the dressing table. Zuko was plunged into darkness. His pulse quickened, but he swallowed hard and forced himself not to panic. He could trust Katara.

A few minutes later, he heard the door open again. There were low voices and some giggling that sounded like Katara.

"We have to be quiet," Katara was saying. "If my brother catches you in here, he'll kill you."

"Oh?" Zuko heard his doppelganger chuckle. "Don't worry, love, I can keep a secret." They stopped talking for a long, uncomfortable stretch. Zuko tried to peer through the tarp, but it was too thick. He heard footsteps stumbling across the room.

"No," Katara said sharply. "Not the bed. We're not quite there yet."

"Whatever the lady wishes," the mirror creature purred. There was another stretch of quiet. The footsteps stumbled closer and Zuko heard them bump against the dressing table. Then suddenly the tarp fell away and Zuko saw himself and Katara locked in a passionate embrace for a split second before the mirror creature glanced up and found himself staring into Zuko's scowling face. He only had moments to act. Zuko felt the moment he connected with the spirit, and he reached through the mirror- now as liquid as when he was pulled through- and grabbed the creature's throat with both hands. Then the yanked him forward and pulled him through.

On this side of the mirror, the creature no longer looked like him. It was a small, shadowy figure cowering before Zuko. Remembering Roku's instructions, Zuko didn't hesitate. He called up a ball of fire a hot as he could manage and incinerated the creature. It wasn't dead, Roku had warned him, but it would be a long while before it would be able to pull itself together. That done, Zuko launched himself at the glass, landing in a heap at Katara's feet. She reached down and hauled him to his feet, studying his face carefully.

"It's you, right?" she said.

"It's me," Zuko assured her. Katara still looked dubious.

"What did I offer you in the caverns beneath Ba Sing Se?" she asked. Zuko winced, remembering that day.

"To heal my scar with the spirit water," he replied. Katara melted in relief.

"I mentioned that day to the mirror thing," she said. "And he had no idea what I was talking about. He thought we'd had some kind of tryst. I figured it was as good a reason as any to get him into my room."

"Smart," Zuko mumbled. He looked down at his feet, trying to let go of the sudden pang of anger in his stomach.

"I'm glad you're okay," Katara said, hugging Zuko. He relaxed into her embrace. But gradually, as the fear from his ordeal receded, a new realization dawned on him. Katara hadn't known the mirror creature had taken his place in the library, and she hadn't been opposed to a kiss from him. That thought chased away what lingered of his jealousy, and hope sprang up in it's place. Maybe, he chuckled to himself, the mirror creature had done him a favor after all.

The next day, he would take his friends and destroy his grandfather's spirit portal. Then he would find the pond he'd been looking for and take Katara there. It would be the perfect spot to confess his feelings.

Part 1

@zkmythicalcreaturesweek

Prompt Day 3: Cure

#atla #zutara #zkmc week 2023 #zkmythicalcreaturesweek #zk mythical creatures week #prompt: cure #magic mirror part 2 #THE YEAR OF CONTENT!!!!

[stardust948]

There's a rumor going around Republic City's high school that a vampire is in the midst. Most believe it's the emo new kid from the Fire Nation. They couldn't be further from the truth.

ZKMC 2023 prompt

Day 2: Vampire and/or werewolf

@zkmythicalcreaturesweek

(Katara doesn't always have blood eyes and fangs. She shifted just to spook Chan. Afterall, who's gonna believe him over the most popular girl in school?)

#atla #zuko #katara #chan #vampire katara #zutara #zkmc week #zkmc week 2023 #colored sketch #star's art #outfits from pintrest #emo zuko

[night-heron-writes]

My late submission for ZKMC Day 4: Witch.

Today’s submission was inspired by Cellblock Tango from Chicago. The ATLA ladies deserve to murder a little, as a treat. This is a very loose interpretation of the prompt, which, if you know me, is not surprising.

Rating: M

Warnings: Major Character Death, Graphic Depictions of Violence

Summary: The Blue Spirit has his orders. He's supposed to retrieve a prisoner from the depths of Lake Laogai Maximum Security Prison. It should be simple: in and out in under an hour. But of course it's not that simple. It never is. He might know who he's here to collect, but nobody ever told him about the rest of the prisoners...

@zkmythicalcreaturesweek

#zutara #atla #zkmc 2022 #cellblock tango au

[homeagainrose]

Muwhahaha. I am on time!

Katara is a selkie, one of the last of her kind in addition to being the last waterbender. She has spent most of the war keeping such a secret - even from some of their friends.

Somehow Hahn knows, and worse, he plans to leverage that knowledge to demand she marries him as part of the treaty with the Northern Water Tribe. Katara refuses.

Zuko knows Katara is in trouble. He's not quite sure why yet, but Sokka did trust him with the knowledge of Katara's secret. He'll help her in whatever way he can.

ZK Mythical Creatures Week: Prompt #3 - "Sirens/Mermaids"

@zkmythicalcreaturesweek

#zutara #fanfic #zuko x katara #zkmc 2022 #zkmythicalcreatures

[hiraethwritings]

@zkmythicalcreaturesweek

Prompt 2 for Zutara Mythical Creatures Week: Phoenix/Transformation

Words: 235

Nothing but tooth-rotting fluff. Enjoy!

#zkmc 2022 #zuataramythicalcreaturesweek #fanfic #fanfiction #ao3 #fan fiction #hiraethwriting #writing #ao3feed #avatar the last airbender

[zkmythicalcreaturesweek]

2023 Prompt Voting

Hey all, prompt voting for this year's event is now OPEN!

Voting will CLOSE at 1159pm EST October 1st so we have time to release the selected prompts before the event begins!

Please vote and spread the word!

#zutara #zkmythicalcreaturesweek #katara #zuko #zkmc #zutara event #zuko x katara #atla event #zkmc 2023 #katara x zuko #prompt voting #prompts

[badlucksav]

Dragon Hunter

Written for Day 1 of @zkmythicalcreaturesweek for the prompt Dragons.

Chapters: 1/?

Summary: When Katara hears of a dragon terrorizing the locals, she jumps at the opportunity to earn the reward if the beast is slayed. But when she reaches the dragon's lair, she's surprised to find a man there instead. Undeterred, she continues her hunt for the dragon, but her search brings her back to Zuko again. Before long, she begins to piece things together, but nothing can prepare her for the full truth.

“…guards have posted a reward if someone slays the beast,” one of them was saying. “It’s been menacing the farms, slayin’ the livestock and such. Won’t be long until it kills a person.”

“What’s the reward?” the second patron inquired.

“¥1000 yuan and a commemoration from the Fire Lord himself,” the first one said. “If it expands its territory it’ll hit the Caldera. He wants the dragon slain.”

“Agni forbid the blasted thing damages any of the farms that feeds the nobles,” the second snorted derisively.

“O’ course not.”

Katara had heard enough. She turned towards them and asked, “Where’s this beast at?”

They looked up at her, clearly unimpressed by her appearance. “What, you think you’re gonna slay the dragon?” the second one snorted.

“I might,” Katara said defensively. She was used to ridicule—she knew she didn't like the average dragon slayer. But she was a blade for hire, and there was very little that she would back down from.

“Highkeep Peak,” the second man said. “Up in the Calderan Mountains, couple days north of here. I wouldn’t bother, little lady. That beast’ll gobble you up and be hungry for seconds.”

Katara took a swig off of her drink. “We’ll see about that.”

#zkmc 2022 #zutaramythicalcreaturesweek #Zutara #zuko x katara #atla #sav’s scribbles

[neva-borne]

For @zkmythicalcreaturesweek Day 6: Dark Fairie Court

I experimented a lot with style here (and I swear I will never draw armor again, my god) and I like it but I think I like having lineart too. Anyway, please enjoy me jumping around from style to style like a lunatic

#zkmc 2022 #zutara #zkmc #zutara mythical creatures week #zuko #katara #zuko x katara #zutara fanart #zutara art #fanart #art #atla #avatar #avatar the last airbender #digital art #fairies #dark fairie court #there's 100 layers on this bitch

[perfectlypanda]

Zutara Mythical Creatures Week Day 3: Merfolk ​

Tried a new coloring technique. Not sure how I feel about it, but it was fun to experiment. This actually isn’t the first time I’ve done ZK mermaids - I made one back when I first started and was still doing image manipulations. I don’t much care for all of the manips I made, but I do have a soft spot for that one.

♥ Please do not repost. If you like it and want to show people, share a link to this page instead. Thank you! 

( @zkmythicalcreaturesweek )

#zutara #zkmythicalcreaturesweek #zkmc 2022 #zuko #katara #mermaids #merfolk #atla #I need to work on line consistency... #look I made a thing

[starartist]

Angels & Demons

Is it possible that such an unexpected transformation occurred – the fallen angel Zuko, notorious for his immense anger, discovering love and happiness in the angelic presence of Katara, renowned for her boundless kindness and joy✨️? What transpired was the story of the ex-demon Zuko, who, through his profound love for Katara, renounced his tumultuous past and illuminated the world with the timeless truth that love knows no bounds.❤️‍🔥

@starartist - visit profile for more Zutara🌙

This is a drawing intended for:

@zkmythicalcreaturesweek 🔥

#zutara #atla #katara #zuko #zuko x katara #atla zuko #avatar #atla katara #digital art #avatar last airbender #atla fanart #fanfic #fanart #zkmythicalcreaturesweek #zkmc 2023

[the-badger-mole]

Magic Mirror

There were certain things one got used to travelling with the Avatar. Supernatural happenings were surprisingly rare, but memorable. This was what Sokka told Zuko during his first days with the group. Zuko heard him, believed him, even. He processed this new information and thought he had come to terms with it, but now, he was staring out at the world from the other side of a glass prison, and he didn't know how to escape.

"This place is beautiful," Katara said, looking the thick trees and brush leading down to the beach. Zuko's mouth twisted ruefully as he surveyed the landscape. These had once been well cultivated gardens, abundant with fruit and flowers and medicinal herbs. Now it seemed the wild nature of the grounds had reasserted itself, and he struggled to see beauty in the tangled mess. But, he reflected, he and Katara had only been on good terms for a few days. It would behoove him to stay there.

"I guess," he mumbled in reply. "It used to look a lot nicer. But there aren't any gardeners anymore."

"Not everything has to be in order to be beautiful." Katara shrugged. She reached up into the low branches of a nearby tree and plucked a ripe mangonut. "We can't just go and pick food from trees at home. The wilderness is beautiful there, too, but it's not nearly as giving." Zuko cast another dubious gaze, but this time his eyes lingered on the crawling vines of yellow summer melon and the medicinal silver wort growing in the shade of the mangonut tree. Spoils like this would've been heavenly in his days on the run with his uncle. From that angle, he could see how the mess that had once been one of his favorite gardens was beautiful.

"I'm going to get started on dinner," Katara announced a few moments later. "Any requests?"

"Whatever is fine with me," Zuko said. Katara turned and went inside, calling to her other friends that dinner would be ready within an hour.

Zuko lingered at the edge of the trees. There was a small pond with a waterfall dropping into it. He remembered swimming in it as a child, preferring the clear, cool water to the crashing briny waves of the ocean some days. He would tell Katara about it later. She would appreciate it more than anyone else there. First, though, Zuko would have to remember where it was. When he'd gone before, his cousin, Lu Ten had always led the way. He thought he remembered roughly the direction, though.

After half an hour of walking, Zuko had still not found the pond. He didn't remember the grounds of the summer palace being quite this extensive. Was he even still on the grounds, he wondered. The vegetation was growing thicker around him. He had to pull out a sword and cut a path for himself. If he didn't find the pond in the next ten minutes, he told himself, he would turn back. As it was, he would be late for dinner regardless, but he was loathe to give up.

He was about to make good on turning back when something caught his eye just a few yards ahead. Something was glinting between the trees up ahead. It wasn't the pond, he was certain, but he couldn't think of what else it could be. He pushed through the trees and found himself in a small clearing. This wasn't here before, he thought. Then he spotted what had caught his attention in the first place.

The mirror was large and ornate. There was no way one person could have carried it alone, even back when there were actually paths through the forest. It towered above the leaf littered ground, and the frame was solid tea-oak. What was strangest of all, though, was the condition it was in. The polished wood gleamed, as if a fresh coat of lacquer had been applied that day. The glass was clear, and unbroken and clean. Zuko and the others had been in the summer palace for nearly two weeks at this point, and Zuko was certain that if anyone else had been on the grounds, they would've noticed by then. Then again, the grounds were also much bigger than he recalled. But who would've done so much work upkeeping this mirror when they could've been squatting in the palace?

Zuko stepped forward to inspect the mirror. He pushed at it, but it was just as heavy as he thought it would be. Too heavy to be standing without a wall to support it, in fact. He bent low and inspected the base. The mirror was held in place by equally heavy looking feet that the mirror slotted into, but strangely, the wooden feet seemed to be stuck in the ground. As if they had been carved there. As if they had grown there. Frowning, Zuko circled the mirror, looking for what he wasn't sure, but he ran his hand along the edges and the back as high as he could reach (the mirror stood a good three feet taller than him). There was nothing unusual about the mirror though, except for it being in the woods. He went around to the front of it and looked at the glass. There was nothing unusual there either. Until he looked at his reflection.

The Zuko in the glass was grinning at him in the most unsettling way. Zuko, gasped and tried to stumble back, but the mirror Zuko's hand shot out through the glass and grabbed Zuko's arm. Instead of shattering, the glass rippled as if it were made of liquid. Then Zuko felt himself falling forward. He passed through something cold. When he looked up, he was in some nebulous dark space. The forest was gone. Then he heard the sound of knuckles on glass and he spun around. The mirror Zuko peered in at him from the forest where the mirror stood. His malicious grin widened and he waved good bye before disappearing from view. Zuko rushed forward, ready to break through the glass and stop whatever that...that thing was. He slammed into the pane and ricocheted off of it. Zuko stared up at the glass in disbelief. Cautiously, he stood up and pressed his hands against the now unyielding glass.

"Hey!" he shouted. He scanned the clearing as far as he could see looking for the thing that looked like him. "Hey! Let me out!"

For @zkmythicalcreaturesweek

Day 1: Magic Mirror

Part 2

#atla #zutara #zkmc week 2023 #prompt: magic mirror #zkmythicalcreaturesweek #THE YEAR OF CONTENT!!!!