#zutaradreams
Text
Songs of the Northern Prince of Fire
Hey guys! Sorry it’s been so long, but I just posted three new chapters to Songs of the Northern Prince of Fire on AO3. Hope you enjoy!
10 notes
·
View notes
Text
Day 7: Rec List Saturday
AMVs:
“Faded” by gracieon.
I just love the giffed cuts above, and the song + dialogue clips give me so many feels.
“Sorry” by Fandom.com
I’ve been listening to this one a lot while writing my longfic Lightning Sun. The song by Halsey dives into the psychology of someone who fundamentally believes they don’t deserve love and/or doesn’t understand or believe how other people could love them. I think with all her abandonment issues, Katara would probably vibe with this.
“Easier” by TeamHodgins
Another one for the longfic feels. At the beginning of Lightning Sun, Zuko is in prolonged recovery from Azula’s strike, thus the lyrics, “I’m stuck, I’m stuck, I’m stuck here in my skin.”
The story is told mostly through the pov of Katara, who’s on a journey of self-discovery to understand her own issues with abandonment and what they mean for her feelings towards Zuko; hence, “Tell me it gets easier, tell me it gets easier, tell me it gets easier, that I’ll figure it out.”
“I’d let you win” by quinn darley
Pretty self-explanatory for Zuko. “I’d let you in. I’d let you win my heart again.”
“killing me to love you” by exhalence
Not listening to it much recently. Real longfic vibes, especially with these lyrics:
I want to keep faith, but you're making it harder (but it’s killing me to love you)
I’m reaching out now, but you’re pulling me under (but it’s killing me to love you)
I give you my heart just to watch you waste it (but it’s killing me to love you)
And I can’t let go when you still need saving (but it’s killing me to love you)
In case you couldn’t tell, Lightning Sun is gonna be a slow-burn angst fic with a bittersweet ending. Sorry not sorry 😬👀
“you’re my home” by [17’s] kelly
Like previous entry, not listening to it as much recently but still lovely ❤️
“into you” by mavensinclair
Recent discovery. Makes me soft 🥺
Fanfics:
Before moving onto the fic recs, I just wanna make a quick note about my preferences. Most of the following will be rated M or above. I’ve been an honest-to-God adult for a few years now, so I like fics that deal with more mature themes and adult problems.
I’m also a slut for angst. You will find very little fluff ahead (though some of these have their moments). Proceed accordingly. And not to be a hipster about Zutara fic, but there are definitely some out there that don’t get enough love, namely my top three (listed in order).
What makes a fic really stand out for me? It’s pretty simple actually. It has to be something that’s a little different, a little off-the-wall, with vivid worldbuilding. But MOST importantly, it has to make me deeply feel something. If a scene sticks in my head even months afterwards due to a combination of vivid sensory detail and visceral emotional reactions, that fic will be on this list.
Two Worlds Collide by mangx3
My co-captain @antarcticasx and I welcome you aboard the TWC Supremacy. Fear not; though the voyage may at first prove daunting and ill-fated, rest assured that you’re in for an emotionally satisfying journey that promises to rip your heart out in all the best ways.
No, but seriously, this fic is so much better than it has any right to be. I will admit, the frame structure of the tale is not to my taste, and some plot points in the first act may seem contrived. But my god, do you go on a journey with this fic. Bc it was written over the course of four years, you actually get to witness mangx3 improve as a writer. By the end, the storytelling is 💋👌🏻 And if that’s not enough for you, at one point, Zuko refers to Katara—in her absence, mind—as both “my heart” and “my life.” I just... I die 💀
Each Other by jennibare
Aang is dead + the aftermath fic. The story is well balanced between both Zutara and the steambabies.
Love Thy Enemy by RedNovember
Kind of a soulmate au. Worldbuilding is top-notch. And the climax in the third act? My god, the imagery, the emotion, just... 😭
Rumour Has It by @fictionissocialinquiry
BluePaint bible. Constantly torn between wanting to read more Blue Spirit/Painted Lady fic and knowing that none will ever compare. (I say this as someone with a BluePaint outline in the works.) This is also like my go-to re-read, though I usually stop around chapter 73 bc of that scene *fans self* and also I can’t put myself through the partial heartbreak of the ending again. Waiting to start the sequel once it’s complete.
Strength by tini243
Fair warning: this fic is incomplete and abandoned. HOWEVER, it follows the story through most of the second act, so I still left feeling satisfied. It’s a soulmate au that ends with casually married Zutara revealing their relationship to the gaang, and there’s just something so delicious about that drama.
Hopeless by @zutaradreams
The structure of this story is so unique in the way it’s sandwiched between a prologue and epilogue told from a side character pov. Plus, it’s told out of order which makes it fun to put the pieces together. Zutara build a life in Ba Sing Se when all hell breaks loose. Also, steambaby! Another go-to re-read.
Gods & Monsters by wannabewonderbender (wannabend)
If you want BAMF Katara, this is the BAMF Katara fic. Ending is a little abrupt, but I enjoyed it all the same.
The Things We Hide by Lykegenia
The worldbuilding in this au is amazing. More BAMF Katara. And no spoilers, but the ending is exactly what I would want for Ursa.
The Fifth Column by chromeknickers
Be warned: this one is dark, with incredibly dubious consent. The final showdown kinda drags on a bit, but the worldbuilding is great. Ending sets up a sequel that’s never been started, so if that bothers you, probably avoid.
WIPs:
Our Desires series by @laadychat
With each update, Sab never fails to make me feel like I’mma spontaneously combustionbend. Absolutely adore ❤️
Smoke & Mirrors by @nellasera
Blutara that leads to capture!fic trope; or, everything I’m a slut for. Dying for the next update 😭😭😭
Those Who Do Not Learn... Are Doomed to Repeat by @homeagainrose
Time-travel established relationship/married Zutara in teenage bodies. Honestly, what more could you possibly want? Also dying for update.
47 notes
·
View notes
Text
Date
Well... as it turns out, it took a little over a year before I got a chance finish this one, but I got there eventually! @zutaradreams has probably forgotten all about this request by now, but I come bearing some very, very belated fluff.
AO3 | FFN
Prompt #18 from this list, originally Day 4 of Zutara Week 2010
When Katara takes a post as ambassador in the Fire Nation, Zuko wants to celebrate her and give their friends a proper sendoff. But their trip to the Equinox Festival doesn’t go quite as he planned.
⁂
"Well, I think that settles it." Katara plopped onto the bench next to him. "We've been ditched."
"Seems like it." Zuko's mouth was dry, and he scuffed his sweaty palms against his trousers.
This was not going according to plan. And technically, it was only half his plan anyway. So it wasn't really his fault that it was all going sideways.
It had been almost three years since they'd all been together in the Fire Nation. Almost three years since he'd had a chance to see Katara for more than a few days in a row, since he'd been able to talk to her outside of letters and political meetings. And the rest of his friends too. Of course he'd missed all of them.
But he would be lying to himself if he didn't admit that it was Katara who occupied his thoughts most often.
And now they were back together, all of them, and while the others were preparing to leave in a few days' time, Katara was here to stay. It had nothing to do with him personally. He knew that. The Southern Water Tribe needed an ambassador in the Fire Nation, and Katara was far and away the best candidate. That didn't mean that he wasn't excited to have her back. That certainly didn't mean that his feelings for her had gone away. He was only human, and he liked her very, very much.
It had been Zuko's idea for the group to spend some time together before Sokka and Suki left. It had not been Zuko's idea to go to the Equinox Festival. That had been Sokka's suggestion. More specifically, Sokka had suggested a double date at the festival.
Zuko had tried to protest the idea, he really had. He and Katara were not dating. This couldn't possibly be a date. He just wanted to see his friends again before they left. And spend time with Katara. Mostly spend time with Katara. But not on a date.
Not that he would mind dating Katara. In fact, Zuko would have been delighted to date Katara. But he was fairly certain that Katara didn't feel the same, and Zuko was working very hard to learn how to quit while he was ahead.
But then Sokka had talked a lot and very quickly, and somewhere along the way Zuko must have agreed to the plan because the next thing he knew, he was standing sheepishly outside Katara's door and inviting her to the festival.
He really needed to figure out how Sokka did that. It would make his most crotchety advisors so much easier to deal with.
To Zuko's surprise, Katara had agreed. She even seemed excited about it. And Zuko had begun to hope that the festival might still be the kind of celebration he had pictured. For all of them. But mostly for Katara.
Then Sokka and Suki had ditched them.
He snuck a glance at Katara. She'd taken to wearing deep blue Fire Nation silks sewn in traditional Water Tribe styles. The color, she had informed him, was reserved for warriors at the South Pole, and now that she had earned the right to wear it, she had no intention to ever wear another shade of blue again. Zuko couldn't blame her. She'd more than earned the honor.
But it was a bit of a problem too. She was luminous in her warrior's blue, and it made it exceptionally difficult for Zuko to look away.
"Since we're here anyway," he began, voice rough, "Maybe we should—" He gestured lamely at the festivities.
Agni, why was this so difficult? He spoke in front of his advisors every day, and they were much less pleasant than Katara.
She followed his gaze, then turned back, smiling. "You're right. We definitely should."
⁂
Katara was tempted to tease him. Zuko, the wise and beloved leader of the Fire Nation, who had an impeccable sense of direction honed by years at sea, was completely lost in the middle of a festival in his own city and getting more flustered by the minute.
"I just don't understand! The street performances should be in the theater district. It doesn't make sense to have them anywhere else!" He grew more and more animated, punctuating every point with a broad sweep of his arms.
The impulse won her over. "I don't know about that. I think it would make more sense to put them in the straw-hat district," she deadpanned.
"Why on earth would we put street performances in the—" Zuko met her eyes and stopped short. His brow furrowed, and he made a grumpy little sound. "You're trying to tease me, aren't you?"
Grinning, Katara took hold of his arm. "I'm pretty sure I'm succeeding."
Zuko made another grumpy noise. "For the record, we don't have a straw-hat district. This isn't Ba Sing Se. We're not big enough to be that organized."
"I'm glad," Katara answered, still holding his arm as she kept pace beside him. "It's going to take me enough time to learn my way around as it is."
Zuko's hand rested ever so lightly on top of hers. "I'll make sure you don't get lost."
Katara's heart fluttered. She'd missed him. Exchanging letters was nice, but it was nothing compared to being with him, being able to talk face-to-face. A few peace summits and meetings a year just wasn't enough. But she hadn't expected to find herself alone with him so soon. Not unless it was on official business of some sort.
She suspected that Sokka and Suki had ditched them deliberately, though she couldn't decide whether it was so Katara would be left alone with Zuko, or so that Sokka and Suki could spend some time alone. The latter made more sense, which was exactly why she suspected the former.
She felt her cheeks burn and looked forward. "Good. I wouldn't want to make the Fire Lord's personal guards search the city every time I step out of the palace."
"I'd look for you too if you got lost."
Katara looked up in time to see his warm golden eyes soften. Her grip on his arm tightened just a fraction, and Zuko looked away, clearing his throat.
"And—uh—of course the city makes a lot more sense when the theater district isn't full of koalasheep petting stalls."
Katara laughed. It did look a little odd to see children petting fluffy animals in front of ornate, gold-trimmed theaters, but as far as she could tell, the festival had overtaken the whole city.
"You really had your heart set on finding the street performances, didn't you?"
He reddened. "I was looking forward to it. I heard from the palace staff that there was going to be an outdoor production of Love Amongst the Dragons."
She poked him in the elbow. "I seem to remember you complaining about having to watch that play."
His lips pressed together. "I complained about having to watch that play at Ember Island. It's a good play. The Ember Island Players are just bad."He paused briefly. "I guess we're not going to find out if this one is any good if I can't figure out where it is."
"Too bad you're in your fancy Fire Lord clothes. Otherwise you could climb up on one of these buildings to get a better view." She snuck a sideways glance at him. "Or does that only work when you have your mask with you?"
He scowled. "Very funny."
"You're grumpy," Katara observed, smiling.
He frowned. "I am not."
"Grumpy because we're missing a play."
"I'm not."
"You're the grumpiest."
She thought she saw the corner of his mouth twitch. "Stop."
"Fire Lord Grump."
He made a valiant effort at scowling but gave in when she laughed and hugged his arm.
"I'm not grumpy, Katara." The smile was evident in his voice, and when she looked up, the soft warmth was back in his eyes.
Her stomach did a pleasant little flip. "See, now I believe you." She let her head rest briefly against his shoulder. It felt good to be close to him again. Tugging him forward, she wound her way up the street, past a cluster of children ogling a pen full of moo-sows and the parents watching from a few steps back, past a tall woman giving another group of children an impassioned lecture about the gentle nature of komodo rhinos while holding one by the bridle.
Zuko fell in step beside her, following her lead, still wearing that small, soft smile whenever she glanced back at him.
Katara gave his arm a light squeeze. "Do they perform Love Amongst the Dragons very often? Maybe we could see it some other time." She motioned toward yet another petting stall. "When the theater district isn't full of moo-sows and koalasheep."
He reddened a little, but this time, it was softened by the warmth in his eyes, by the faintest hint of a smile on his lips. "I'm sure we could. If you want to."
She felt something warm inside her. "Deal."
⁂
Her hands stayed steady on his arm, a gentle line of connection between the two of them. He softened into it. He liked the contact with her, the sensation that felt almost like tenderness.
She was just making sure that they didn't get separated. Zuko knew that. That didn't make his heart beat any slower or his face feel any less warm.
He cleared his throat and looked ahead. He was a grown man. The Fire Lord. He shouldn't be blushing so much just from the sensation of Katara's hand looped around his arm.
They wound their way past the last of the animal pens and up to the next street, where a wave of aroma washed over them. Spices and cooking meat and sweets—every type of food he could think of mixed into a single, heady aroma.
Katara groaned, and her grip tightened on his arm.
He looked down at her. "Katara? Are you okay?"
She looked up at him, her lower lip jutting out a bit. For all that she'd grown, for all that she was more graceful and mature than he remembered, she could still manage the most adorable pout he'd ever seen.
"I just realized that I'm starving." She eyed the food stands ahead. "Possibly to death."
He couldn't hold back a snort. "Somehow I doubt that last part. I've seen you sneaking into the palace kitchens in the middle of the night.
A finger found its way into his ribs. "Only because you were sneaking around too. I'll have you know that I'm very sneaky about my midnight snacks."
He rolled his eyes and poked her arm back. "The sneakiest. That must be why I hear you walking past my door both ways every single time." He paused, turning his eyes down the street again. "Though you are a lot sneakier than Sokka, I'll give you that much."
"So generous." Her head swiveled from side to side, eyes wide as she examined all the carts and stalls and trays of fried snacks stacked into ornamental spires and pyramids and spirals. "What do you recommend? I don't even know what most of this stuff is."
Zuko gave his best thoughtful face. "Well, my favorite are always the fire flakes—" He cut off with a laugh when she jabbed her elbow into his side.
"Something I can eat. I'm a waterbender. I'm not supposed to breathe fire after I finish a snack."
"Wimp."
"Says the man who couldn't eat a pickled eel squid when he visited the South Pole last time." She smiled up at him, and Zuko's heart sped up. "I mean it. What's the best thing here that isn't so spicy that it'll burn me from the inside out?"
He considered. There were kabobs of different types of meat, all richly marinated, and several of them probably too spicy for Katara's liking. There were savory buns packed with spices, and dumplings smothered in peppery broth. And fire flakes, of course. She wouldn't like any of those. But everything else seemed equally likely. Stopping in place, he scanned the booths. There had to be something that would blow her away. Something more special than the cakes and pastries she was always stealing from the palace kitchens, sometimes to deliver to him, and sometimes not.
Something special enough to make up for the play she wouldn't get a chance to see tonight. Something special enough for her.
A smile crept over his face, and he cupped his hand over hers. "Wait here for just a minute. I think I know exactly what you'll like."
⁂
Katara waited. Not because she wanted to—she had her own money, and she was perfectly capable of picking out her own snacks. But Zuko had darted off through the crowd so quickly that she didn't really have a chance to stop him, and the crowd was so thick, so bustling, that she was a little afraid of getting lost if she moved too far from where he'd left her. Though she'd grown, she still wasn't tall enough to see over the crowd, and Zuko, though tall, wasn't so absurdly tall that he stood out from the rest of the crowd.
She was a tiny bit apprehensive. She trusted Zuko, of course, but he was almost too excited, and he really didn't understand how terribly spicy Fire Nation food could be. He didn't know that some of the milder treats that he'd sent along with his messages while she was still at the South Pole had given Gran-Gran an upset stomach or that Sokka had taken the spicier treats and challenged the rest of the warriors to an eating contest that left them all in tears. Of course, Katara's tolerance was considerably higher than Gran-Gran's, but she didn't want to accidentally make a fool of herself. She was enjoying her time with Zuko too much.
Only a few minutes passed before Zuko emerged from the crowd again, beaming, his eyes crinkled in joy and excitement. He held a small paper pouch between his hands and stopped a few steps away from her.
"Close your eyes."
Katara raised an eyebrow at him. "Why?"
"It's a surprise."
"I'm not sure I trust that smirk." She stretched upward, and Zuko raised the pouch so she couldn't see inside.
"Uh-uh. No peeking or you'll ruin the surprise. Eyes closed."
Katara made a face. "Fine. But if you're trying to feed me fire flakes, I will blow stinky spice-breath in your face."
"Noted. Now open your mouth."
She obeyed, and she felt Zuko come closer by the soft, ever-present heat radiating off of him. She wanted to lean even closer, to rest against his chest and get lost somewhere in his arms.
Zuko popped something small and dense onto her tongue. "Okay. Try it."
Almost the instant she closed her mouth, she was hit by a rush of salty, sour tang, and her eyes popped open. It was chewy, whatever it was, and the outside encrusted with a thin layer of crispiness. As she chewed, the sharpest edge of the flavor wore away, softening into a sweet, mild taste.
"What is this?" she asked, staring at Zuko, wide-eyed. It was a bit like some kind of dried fruit, but it wasn't a type of fruit that she recognized, and the slight hint of salt remained as she chewed, and she could have sworn that she knew the flavor from something, but it was just different enough that she couldn't place it.
"Do you like it?"
She nodded. Whatever that thing was, it was wonderful.
Zuko's smile grew. "Candied ocean kumquats. I remembered that your family ate them stewed when you were all in the Fire Nation, because—"
"Because they're just like sea prunes."
Zuko nodded. "I don't really get the appeal of stewing them, but the candied ones are pretty popular."
Katara couldn't keep her smile from growing wider and wider until it felt like her face would crack. The candied ocean kumquats tasted good enough on their own, but Zuko had chosen them just for her, and he knew her well enough to know that she'd like them, and he was right, and—she reached up and snatched the paper pouch from his hand. If she didn't do something quick, she was going to be in very real danger of kissing him.
"Just for that stewed sea prune blasphemy, I'm taking the whole bag."
"Hey!" he protested. "I didn't say they were bad. Just—slimy."
Grinning, Katara popped another little candied kumquat into her mouth and spun out of his reach. "I'm keeping them. All of them."
Zuko seemed to catch her teasing tone and caught up with her in just a few steps. "Give me one."
"Why should I?" She gave a little sniff and held the pouch out to the other side. "You called my favorite food slimy."
One of his long arms snaked around her, and Katara yelped, pulling the pouch in against her chest.
Laughing, she ducked under his arm and stepped back a few paces. "You'll have to fight me for them, Fire Lord." She folded the top of the pouch shut and dangled it out at arms' length.
"Are you sure you want to challenge me? I'm taller than you. I can reach wherever you try to hide them."
"You may be taller, but I'm hungry, and a very nice man just bought a snack for me." She opened the top of the pouch again, just enough to slip out another piece of candied kumquat between her fingertips.
Zuko took that as his chance to lunge, and caught her by the waist, lifting her off the ground.
Katara couldn't stop laughing. Through the irrepressible fits of giggling, she saw him laughing too. Her heart fluttered. How had she forgotten how wonderful his laugh was? It was rare, but every time she'd ever heard his laugh unweighted by stress, every fiber of her being lit up along with him. His arms around her waist were warm and strong, and being pressed against his chest was every bit as perfect as her imagination had suggested. She would be perfectly content to stay pressed up against him forever.
Smiling, he came to a halt, and holding her with one arm, grabbed the pouch with the other. "Got them," he said quietly, not pulling the pouch away from her.
His breath brushed against her cheek, and she realized anew how close he was, his face only inches away. In fact, with the way he was holding her, with her feet dangling a few inches from the ground, she was perfectly level with him. So close that if she just leaned in—
Her lips crashed into his, and she saw Zuko's eyes widen for the briefest moment before she closed her eyes. She'd kissed before. Not often, and not with many people, but this one felt different. There wasn't fluttering or uncertainty, there was no feeling that she was going to lift off the ground and float off into the sky. This felt like landing. This felt like reaching shore after weeks at sea, like her feet on solid ground after flying away from danger. This felt like home.
She only pulled away when Zuko's grip on her waist slackened enough that her feet touched the ground, and she stared up at him, breathless. Zuko's face had gone crimson—even his scar looked a shade darker than usual, and his eyes were wide.
"You—you just—"
"Did something I've been thinking about for a long time?"
"You did? You have?"
Katara smiled and pulled the pouch of candied ocean kumquats out of his loose grasp. "And I think I won these back." She dangled the pouch in front of him again.
Zuko kept gaping at her for a few seconds longer.
She looped her free hand through his. "Did I break the Fire Lord too?"
"Maybe." He looked down at her, and her heart fluttered in her chest. "Definitely a little bit."
"Hmm." She squeezed his hand and turned for the food stalls again. "In that case, I'm going to have to have you point out your favorite food in this whole place, and it'll be my treat."
"And if I say that it's fire flakes?"
She leaned a little closer to him as a cluster of people pressed past them down the path. "Then it might be a little while longer before I try that kissing thing again." She snuck a glance up at him through her lashes.
His mouth curled into a slight smile, and he returned the pressure on her hand. "Then I think I can handle finding another favorite."
29 notes
·
View notes
Note
Hi do you have any recomendations for zutara blogs, i want to find more zutara accounts to follow
Hi! Yeah, of course! Let me list you a few of my favorites. Enjoy!
@zutara-stan @zustara @zutara-foreverx @zuzusexytiems @zutararights @zutaras-where-its-at @aclashofqueens @phatprog @steambends @zutaraverse @my-bated-breath @zukos-calming-tea @zutarasecrettunnel @bluelady-atla @zukoskataraa @itsfirelordazula @shipahipah @theblueeyedfirebender @wednesdaywildheart @zutaradreams @sapphirreandgoldzutara @zutara
40 notes
·
View notes
Text
1000 Follower Fic
When I reached 1000 followers, I decided to write a story based on one of the prompts for the latest Zutara month. This story features aged up characters, where Zuko is never banished and serves in the navy under Admiral Zhao. Katara and Sokka never find Aang and travel to the North Pole on their own. As requested, this is for Day 9: Shatter. Please enjoy! It will be up on AO3 soon!
@zutaramonth
The Healing Hut
He says a lot of things as the fever works through him. He curses every time he moves, when he feels the pain surge through his body. He thinks he talks to Mai. He calls for his mother at one point. He imagines his father, but never lets a plea for him leave his lips.
Through all the murmurs of a fevered man, the first thing he says consciously when he realizes he is not alone is: “My uncle?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know your uncle.” Then two cool hands massage his temples, and he falls back to sleep.
He hears a lot too. “I can’t leave. They’ll kill him.”
A man says, “The guards will make sure no one does.”
“The guards want to kill him.”
“They can’t. He’s worth more alive.”
“Not anymore,” the woman’s voice replies, the one the cool hands belong to. “He asked for an uncle.”
“That would be General Iroh.”
He wants to speak up, say “yes, did you find him”, but the air around him is so hot, and he feels like he can’t breathe.
“Ozai’s brother,” the man adds.
Ozai.
The air feels hotter and hotter. He moans in pain. The hands find him.
“That’s Ozai’s son you’re helping, Katara. And the whole tribe knows it.”
“And they know this is the man who killed Zhao.”
“Yeah, too late,” the man sneers abhorrently.
“He’s part of the reason I have my bending back.”
“Yue’s the reason you have your bending back!” he shouts.
“Look, I couldn’t just let him die out there. Especially not by Zhao’s hand.”
“So you’ll save his life, nurse him back to health, and then what?”
The woman, Katara, gives no answer. She prods at his neck, his shoulders, his chest. He wants to shout at her to stop touching him; it all hurts so much. But then she pulls her hands away, and he realizes he does not hurt as much as he did before.
“Good, your fever’s going down. Now how are those ribs?” Her hands trail down from his forehead to the center of his body. “Hmm, not as good as I want them to be. This might hurt a little.”
His chest seizes in pain immediately as she attempts to mend the shattered bones. He wishes he could stop her. He wishes he could burn her hands from his body. He wishes she would let him die.
“There. That’s better,” she says softly, and opens his mouth to bend water down his throat.
His fever breaks that night.
She’s not expecting to see his hazy eyes staring back at her when she enters the healing hut. It’s easier to heal Prince Zuko when his eyes are closed and he’s lying still. Now that he’s awake, now that his fever’s broken, now that his bones are on the mend, she wonders what to do with him.
“You,” he says in a deep, raspy voice, deeper from his illness. “You were at the oasis.”
“Yes.” She stood with Sokka and Yue, trying to protect the moon spirit from Zhao and his men.
“Katara.”
She wonders why he feels the need to call her by name. She’s surprised he even knows it.
“I should be dead.”
“You should.”
“The force of Zhao’s attack-”
“I was able to heal most of the burned skin with minimal scarring. The force of the blow shattered your ribs. I had to work quickly to stop the internal bleeding. You’ll have to stay in bed longer, though. You still have a lot of healing left.”
“My uncle?” he asks again.
“I don’t know.”
As far as she knows, every Fire Nation soldier drowned in La’s revenge...every single one except Zuko. Sokka tells her La spared him because he would have died from his injuries. Katara thinks La spared him out of gratitude, for delivering the fatal blow to the one who harmed Tui.
“Who would know?”
“I’ll ask around. Let me check on your ribs.”
Her hands are less steady now that golden eyes watch her every move.
As soon as he can sit, he starts making demands - for a ship, for parchment, for an audience with the Chief.
“Eat the food I brought you,” she says, rolling her eyes. She’s starting to prefer him unconscious. “The broth is delicious.”
“I need to let my father know I survived.”
“He knows,” she tells him. Chief Arnook sent word to the Fire Nation, hoping to settle on a ransom. “He knows you killed Admiral Zhao. You’ve been labeled a traitor to the Fire Nation.”
He hurls the bowl of soup at her. She bends it right back at him.
Sokka urges her not to heal him again, and she’s inclined to agree. She holds out for three days before she wonders how his ribs are faring.
He’s the only patient in this healing hut. He thinks he knows why. He’s a traitor to the land he’s from and a prisoner to the land he’s in.
“What will your people do with me?” he asks, while she soothes the bruises beneath his scarred skin, evidence that his bones are moving back where they belong.
“They’re not my people,” she reveals.
There’s nothing more absurd to him, that this young woman with hands cloaked in healing water, would not consider these people of the Northern Water Tribe hers.
“I’m from the South. I came here with my brother a few years ago to learn waterbending.”
“I didn’t realize the South had any waterbenders left.”
Her hands still.
“That’s thanks to your people.”
He doesn’t see her again for five days. His ribs ache.
“He’s a liability,” Chief Arnook says.
“Yeah, especially now that you told the Fire Lord we have him,” mentions Sokka critically. The relationship between the two of them suffers irreparably now that Yue can no longer keep the peace between her father and her husband.
Katara wonders if this means Sokka will consider leaving the North Pole now. Maybe she can convince him to come home, the way she had to convince him to leave all those years ago. But Sokka will never leave, not when he’s Arnook’s heir by marriage, not when he has a son he has to raise alone.
This may be her time to leave, however. “I can take him back to the South Pole,” she offers. “That way the threat’s away from here. The Fire Nation won’t attack the South Pole. There’s no need when they’ve already taken everything. The North, on the other hand, has too much to lose.”
“Katara-“ her brother begins. He doesn’t want them to be separated. He still stands by some promise he made to their dad that he would always look after her. But she’s grown up now. She’s a master waterbender. And it’s time to go home and wait for new waterbenders to be born. It’s time for her to teach them.
“My mind’s made up,” she says.
Prince Zuko will return to the South Pole with her, as a prisoner of the Southern Water Tribe.
He’ll trade one icy pole for another, it seems. When he hears the news, he wishes she had let him die.
“When do we leave?”
“As soon as I think you’re able,” she replies. “It will be a long journey. You’ll need your strength. How do you feel today?”
His body feels better, but nothing else. His mind is raging at the thought of spending the rest of his life in that plundered village of ice and snow. He’s seen it before, briefly when he was under Zhao’s command, as they searched for the Avatar. He never wants to see it again.
She helps support his weight when he begins walking again. His arm hangs around her shoulders, and though he’s working hard to keep the indignance plastered on his face, she can tell by the stride of his steps that he is eager to walk again.
They take laps around the hut until his breaths grow heavy, and then she helps him back into his bed. He eats his soup without protest.
A question persists on the tip of her tongue. It’s bothered her for weeks, and now she feels like he’s in a stable enough mood to answer it. “Why did you kill him?”
Zuko had attacked first, as soon as Zhao struck Tui, not the other way around. Zhao’s final blow, while intended fatally, had been in response to Zuko’s wave of fire. Even on the ground, with shattered bones and melted skin, Zuko rained fire down on Zhao until the admiral’s death.
She would have done it, had her bending not been taken from her. Sokka would have, if he could have gotten close enough without being burned. Zhao expected this from them, the enemy. He clearly didn’t expect it from Zuko. So she wants to know why he did it.
Why did it matter so much to you?
“The sky’s not supposed to be red,” he replies, reminding her of how it felt to have the moon plucked from the sky, how it felt to be without her bending. “He could have destroyed the whole world. Mortals have no business with the spirits. We can’t understand them.”
“Yeah, but La would have handled him, like he handled the rest. You didn’t have to.”
“I didn’t know what La was going to do. I just knew what I had to do.”
“What did you think the mission was here?”
“I was told that we were here in case the Northern Water Tribe was harboring the Avatar. I didn’t know Zhao had other plans until we got to the oasis. No one knew. All those soldiers died fighting blindly.”
“They’re all fighting blindly if they think this war is justified,” she returns.
He’s standing in the healing hut when she comes to check on him. He knows not to leave; there are four guards right outside in case the idea ever strikes him. His back is straight, and if he’s in pain, he hides it well.
Wordlessly, she sheathes her palms in water and presses them to his chest, searching for lingering damage to the bones. There’s barely any left.
“I hope you don’t get seasick.”
“I don’t.”
“We leave in a week,” she decides. A week is enough time to work out the details with Sokka, like where to avoid Fire Nation fleets and how much money she’ll be allowed to take with her, and which vessel she’ll be given. Sokka wants her to take a couple guards too, but she’s hesitant to add more stakes to the clandestine transport of the Fire Lord’s son.
He smirks. “You shouldn’t have healed me before we left.”
She’s seen what his hands can do. She won’t let that intimidate her. “You shouldn’t try anything. Not when I know exactly where you’re vulnerable.” Her hands can shatter as well as they can mend. He’ll learn that if he wants to survive the journey.
He could melt the shackles, but he doesn’t desire to have molten metal coating his wrists. This will be his last morning in the healing hut, and his first morning outside in weeks. Two guards grab him by each arm and force him forward, not that they need to. He has no qualms walking out on his own. He wants to leave this land as much as they want him to.
For a quick second, he pauses right outside the entrance of the hut, as soon as he feels the sun on his face.
He looks up to the sky. It isn’t red. It’s blue. He’s a traitor and a prisoner. But the sky is blue.
205 notes
·
View notes
Text
500 Follower Ficlet
I was so shocked and grateful to reach 500 followers that I wanted to do something special. I’ve toyed with adding on to this piece I wrote for Zutara month’s soulmate prompt. I finally did, and in honor of all of you, it is exactly 500 words. Thank you so much! Zutara forever!
“Oh, spirits. It’s happening. It’s happening!” Raijin clutched Zhi Nu’s arm.
“Quiet,” she hissed. “I can’t hear.”
Below, the first annual Peace Summit of Ba Sing Se was about to begin, and it was meet and greet time for the delegates. The spirits above watched their heroes with bated breath.
“Master Katara, may I introduce you to Fire Lord Zuko?” said the Earth Kingdom minister at Katara’s side.
Katara and Zuko both smiled.
“Ooooh, they’re smiling at each other.”
“They could be smiling to themselves,” noted Raava skeptically.
Yue turned to the group. “No, I think it was a shared smile.”
“QUIET!”
“Thank you, Minister Fu, but Fire Lord Zuko and I are already acquainted,” Katara informed him.
“Forgive me, I did not know.”
Zuko shrugged. “No harm done. It’s good to see you, Katara.”
“And you.”
“Okay, this Minister Fu guy needs to scram.”
Raijin rubbed his hands together. “Raava, I know you’ve had your doubts, but I think I’ve mastered the ability to strike a person with lightning without killing him-”
“No.”
“So, how did you two meet?”
Katara chuckled pleasantly. “It’s a bit of a long story. Really long.”
“Too long to finish before the peace summit begins,” Zuko added.
“I see. Well, I’ll go see if anyone else requires introductions.” Minister Fu bowed to both of them as he departed.
“So, is Mai back in the Fire Nation?”
“I don’t know where she is, to be honest with you. We broke up.”
Katara grimaced. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“Aang and I broke up too,” she admitted. “It was a mutual thing.”
“Ours wasn’t as mutual. She’s the one who dumped me, but that was months ago. All in the past.”
“Of course. So, what have you been up to, Fire Lord?”
Zhi Nu fanned herself above.
Zuko sighed. “What haven’t I been up to? It seems like it never stops.”
“I don’t envy you.” Then a thought seemed to suddenly occur to her. “Maybe you just need more help.”
“I have plenty of help, just not much from people I can trust.”
“This is it,” Raava realized delightedly. “Cue Ambassador Katara. Cue meetings with ministers. Nights pouring over scrolls together. Discussion of how they can ever keep their romance hidden. Discussions of how they don’t want to keep their romance hidden anymore. Beautiful wedding. Who is ready for a Golden Age?”
Raijin, Zhi Nu, and Yue all raised their hands and returned to Zuko and Katara.
Katara’s eyes widened. “I know!” she exclaimed.
“What?”
“You should have Toph come to the Fire Nation with you. She could serve as one of the foreign dignitaries you’re required to have now. It’s perfect. She knows when people are lying, and you trust her.”
Zuko pursed his lips, mulling the idea over. “Huh, Toph. That could work. Thanks, Katara.”
“My pleasure. Well, I guess I better go take my seat. Catch you later.”
“Yep.”
The spirits groaned.
“Raijin?”
“Yes, Raava.”
“It may be time to revisit the inclement weather possibility.”
178 notes
·
View notes
Text
Hi, Friends!
I know it has been a while since I’ve logged in or posted any stories. As I’m sure a lot is going on with all of you, a lot is going on with me too. I’m currently not working since it conflicts so much with school, and I really need to finish my degree. I’m still working on my AO3 stories in addition to an original fantasy work. My husband’s encouraged me to start a Patreon, and I wanted to share that link here. Please do not feel like you have to donate, but I want to share the link and hopefully transition into becoming a real author. Any support is appreciated!
Love Always,
Charlotte
patreon.com/charlottewilliams
15 notes
·
View notes
Text
Excerpt from the latest update of Songs of the Northern Prince of Fire:
The Zoo
All week, Aang pesters him about the zoo he’s created in the middle of Ba Sing Se.
“He just made a zoo?” he asks Toph.
“Are you surprised?” she shoots back.
“You have to see it, Zuko!” Aang insists. “I want all of us to go.”
“On my day off,” he promises.
His day off comes, and Aang doesn’t forget. The five of them plan to spend the day at the zoo. Katara packs a basket for lunch. She even packs a sheet for them all to sit on.
“You’re going all out,” Zuko says as he helps her fold the sheet.
“Come on, this is the first thing he’s been excited about since Appa . Try to be a little more enthusiastic.”
“I guess he is happy about it.”
“Exactly, and we’re going to be happy with him. We’re his family.”
Family , he repeats to himself cautiously. He’s never thought of them as his family. Friends, of course, but family - family is such a strong word. But isn’t that what they are? Hasn’t Katara said the truth of it? He’ll sacrifice himself for any one of them here. He’ll live in Ba Sing Se under a fake name just to help them. He’ll listen to Sokka speak in haikus without punching him in the face. He’ll help Toph convince Sokka their house is haunted. He’ll fold a sheet if Katara asks him to just because a day at the zoo will make Aang happy.
“Is the family getting a new member?”
“What?” he asks, thrown out of his thoughts.
“Jin? You never told me how it went.”
“You never asked.”
“I just figured you would tell me.”
“I don’t think we’ll go out again,” he admits.
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
He shrugs. “Don’t be. I bought a mask.”
“A mask?”
“Yeah. It’s from a play. My mother’s favorite play.”
She smiles as she tucks the carefully folded sheet into the basket. “Can I see it?”
“Yeah.”
She thinks it’s beautiful. Her fingers trace the details as she stands in his room, holding it reverently.
“It’s not supposed to be beautiful. It’s the face of the Dark Water Spirit. It’s supposed to be menacing.”
“I still think it’s beautiful.”
“Zoo time!” Sokka shouts from the front door. “Lee! Katara! Let’s go already!”
“We’re coming!” they chorus back. Katara gently sets the mask back in the drawer he’d retrieved it from, and they walk to join the others together.
61 notes
·
View notes
Text
Day 29: Crown
(A whole month late, but I finally wrote it. This whole collection was so much fun to write)
Zuko and Katara finally marry.
@zutaramonth
The colors are her idea. She may be marrying the Fire Lord in the Fire Nation at the height of summer, but she is adamant that their wedding will not be a garish affair of red.
“Wait, how many robes did you say I’d have?”
“Three.”
“Three?” he exclaims.
“I’ll have three, too,” she protests in an attempt to make him feel better. “You’ll have one yellow, one blue, and one white.”
“And you?”
“One green, one red, one white. But my white one will have a full skirt with all the colors underneath, so you’ll see them when we dance.”
“How many noblemen are lying unconscious in my halls?”
She laughs and places the designs in front of him. “I know it’s not traditional, but I think it’s really important for our wedding to commemorate the peace we helped to build.”
“It is important,” he affirms, padding through the designs. “I think they’re perfect.”
They keep many of the traditional practices of a Fire Nation wedding, as well as the informal pre-wedding ceremonies of the Water Tribes. One tradition they keep is the separate transport of the bride and groom. They each take an open carriage from opposite sides of the city for the people to see them in the streets. He wears his yellow robes as he waves to the people gathered to see him.
The power of the summer solstice swells in his veins as Katara’s carriage approaches their altar in the Royal Plaza. She greets these future citizens of hers in green, wearing a crown yellow flowers woven through her hair.
She looks absolutely beautiful.
She is escorted to him, standing high on the altar with three Fire Sages, by the members of her family. Hakoda, Sokka, and Kanna wear the traditional blue dress of their tribe; Katara’s green dress stands out even more against them.
It is a Water Tribe tradition for the father of the bride to place the bride’s hand in the groom’s. Hakoda kisses her cheek, places her hand in his, and her family leaves them alone on the altar.
“Please kneel,” the head Fire Sage says.
She smiles as they kneel facing each other. The other two sages dress them in their second layer. For the formal wedding ceremony and Katara’s coronation, he will wear her colors, and she will wear his to signify their dedication to each other.
He hopes the ceremony will be short because it’s hot enough outside wearing one layer. She looks like she’s thinking similarly. He wonders if she can read his mind when he discreetly bends the sweat from his face. He’ll tease her later for this. These extra clothes had been her idea after all.
“Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, Fire Lord Zuko has offered you marriage. Do you accept?”
“Yes, I accept.”
“Do you understand that your marriage will appoint you as the First Lady of the Fire Nation?”
“Yes, I understand.”
“Do you solemnly promise to govern the people of the Fire Nation lawfully, justly, and mercifully?”
“Yes, I solemnly promise.”
“Do you promise to love this man to the end of your days?”
“Yes, I promise.”
The head Fire Sage dips his thumb in warmed oil and brushes it across Katara’s forehead.
“Fire Lord Zuko, do you wish to recant your offer of marriage?”
“No.”
“Do you promise to love this woman to the end of your days?”
“Yes, I promise.”
His eyes close as the warm oil seeps into the skin of his forehead.
“As Agni’s servant, I bind this man and this woman as husband and wife. You may seal your union with a kiss.”
All Zuko can muster through the glorious ringing in his ears is a gentle peck against Katara’s lips before the Head Sage asks Katara to kneel once again. He holds the crown of the Fire Lady high above Katara’s head for everyone in the Royal Plaza to see. He lowers it gingerly to the topknot in her hair.
A green dress beneath red robes. A blue necklace at her throat. Yellow flowers in her hair. And a golden crown shining beneath the sun.
The three sages exclaim: “All hail Fire Lord Zuko! All hail Fire Lady Katara!”
The crowd cheers below them. Later tonight fireworks will shoot off from the palace. Festivities will continue for another week. They’ll be shut up at the Ember Island house by then, finally alone. One more outfit change, one more party, and then they’ll be free from it all.
“All hail Fire Lord Zuko! All hail Fire Lady Katara!”
King and Queen of Peace.
134 notes
·
View notes
Text
Day 2: Momtara and Dadko
AO3
After a bitter end to her relationship with Aang, Katara comes to stay in the Fire Nation with Zuko and his daughter Izumi.
She’s watching the fireworks from his private balcony, hiding far away from everyone. She’s the only one with access to these rooms up here. He took her up once and she loved the view so much he invited her to it anytime she wished, so when she disappears from the party in the ballroom, he knows where to find her immediately.
Her back is to him. One hand grips the railing of his balcony. The other wraps tightly around the glass of her rice wine. He doesn’t have to see her face to know tears run down her cheeks.
“You’re not the one who should be hiding,” he tells her. His presence doesn’t even startle her.
She brings the glass up to her lips. “I used to love his way with people. He was so good at making everyone love him,” she laughs bitterly. “Now I hate it.”
“No one’s forgotten what he did to you.”
“It certainly seems like it.”
“If you think Toph doesn't advocate for you, or your brother doesn’t want to strangle him every time he shows up, or I don’t take every measure to avoid him, you’re mistaken.”
“How dare he!” She shouts, but who can hear her save him over the fireworks. Down below, it’s a celebration of peace, a tribute to the Avatar’s defeat of his father, a celebration of his reign. She should be celebrating down there. She should be praised for her part in all of it, but as great as Aang’s contributions to the people, he saved all his selfishness for Katara, so now she hides away up here with him.
“Did you see her?”
“Yeah, I saw her.”
She swallows the rest of her drink. He offers to take the glass from her, but she refuses. “Don’t look at me like that,” she tells him. “All pitifully, like I’m some sad, pathetic, pining-“
“I don’t think that at all, Katara. I’m angry with him too. My uncle told me the spirits will punish him. It is the greatest dishonor to them when a man shames his wife.”
“He seems to be doing just fine.” As an afterthought, she adds, “Besides I’m not his wife anymore. I’m a divorced woman. A divorced woman who needs another drink.”
He doesn’t stop her. In fact, he offers to share one with her. He has a bottle of fire whiskey hidden away in his personal bedroom, so he ushers them inside and takes the bottle out of its chest.
“Don’t you hate how the words follow you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Once you’re marked with one, that’s all they see you as - banished, divorced,” he throws in another one of his own, “widower.”
She pours her empty glass to the brim with whiskey and takes a long sip, grimacing as it goes down. “You were so handsome on your wedding day. So unbelievably handsome,” she says in response, giggling as she says it.
It is so different from the usual awkwardness that occurs when he mentions his late wife that he laughs in relief. “Thanks, I guess.”
“You’re so tall.”
“Am I?”
“Yes. And handsome.” Another firework shoots off in the distance, and she drinks some more. “And your daughter,” she pauses heavily, and Zuko suddenly remembers how hard it is for her to see Izumi and Lin and Sokka’s brood of children; yet, she loves them all more than anything. “Your daughter is so beautiful.”
“She gets that from Mai.”
“She gets that from both of you.” Another sip. Another tear on her cheek. She wipes it away hastily. He should tell her to take it easy with the whiskey, but the warning dies on his lips. Healing a nation is easier than healing a heart; he knows this personally.
“I propose a toast,” she says, “to Aang and his new whatever-she-is. Spirits help her if she has his child.”
"Katara-"
“I’m going to bed,” she decides. “I’m getting tired.”
“I’ll call a guard to escort you.”
“No, the people talk enough as it is. I don’t want anyone seeing the divorced woman leaving the widower's bedroom.”
He wants to hold her, or at least offer some of his uncle’s wise advice, but it’s all useless.
“Goodnight, Katara.”
“Goodnight, Zuko.” She turns to leave, but pauses just before she reaches his grand double doors. “Or…”
“Or?” He prompts.
“Or I could...stay.” Her hands reach for her robes. She loosens the sash but holds the beautiful pink silk tightly closed around her body.
He swallows hard. “You could.”
“Should I?”
“You should.”
“When do the servants come?”
“Sunrise.”
She lets the robes fall open, baring the sheerest layer of white silk that drives him absolutely wild. She doesn’t remove the robe from her shoulders. She saunters towards him. In one movement, he tugs it to the floor.
“I’ll be gone by then.”
And she is.
xxx
Usually, Zuko tucks Izumi into bed. With the party, and the whiskey, and Katara, one of her nursemaids tucked her in last night. Tonight, the honor is all his.
“Can we have a party like that all the time?”
He smiles and hands her the stuffed dolls she’s slept with since infancy. “I don’t think we can afford it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Izumi, I had two meetings today about the budget. I’m sure.”
She turns on her side and tucks her hands underneath her face, pouting at his answer. “Who was that lady with Uncle Aang last night, Daddy?” she asks innocently.
He sighs. “She’s Uncle Aang’s new girlfriend. Remember when Aunt Katara first came to stay with us here?”
“Mmm-hmm.”
“She came to stay with us because she isn’t married to Uncle Aang anymore.”
“Why not?”
“Well, Uncle Aang is the last airbender in the world, and he wants very badly to have kids because he hopes they’ll be airbenders like him. But your uncle doesn’t think Aunt Katara can have kids, so he asked her if they could break up, and she said yes.”
That’s the kid-friendly version, he supposes. The reality of it has him calling Aang a self-serving asshole several times. In the real-life version, Aang doesn’t want a divorce. He wants a hiatus, where he spends a year knocking up random girls to have his airbending children, and stays married to Katara because Aang just 'loves her so much'. In the real-life version, Katara throws her arms around his waist and begs him to let her stay since she’s too humiliated to go anywhere else.
But Izumi’s too young for that mess.
“Okay.”
“Did that answer your question?”
“Yeah. Is it story time now?”
He tickles the underneath of her chin. “Yeah. It’s story time. Which one do you want? Do you want Love Amongst the Dragons?”
She shakes her head. “I want Aunt Katara.”
“You don’t want Daddy’s stories?” He holds his hand theatrically to his heart, feigning heartbreak. “You don’t want Daddy?”
Izumi giggles and nestles her head more comfortably against her pillow. She might not make it through a whole story; her eyes are already heavy. “Aunt Katara tells the best stories.”
“Well, Aunt Katara isn’t here right now. You’re stuck with me, so it’s Love Amongst the Dragons or nothing. The choice is yours.”
“Can you get Aunt Katara?”
On a normal night, sure. The night after the night he fucked her three times in his bed and didn’t speak to her since she snuck out of his room before sunrise, less sure. A lot less sure.
“Another night, sweetheart. It might take a while to find Aunt Katara, and it’s already late.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow. She’ll tuck you in tomorrow.”
“I still want you to tuck me in. I just want her to tell me the story,” she clarifies.
“Oh, I’m sorry. My mistake. Now it’s time for your favorite story. Once upon a time, there lived a dragon emperor who was cursed by the dark water spirit…”
Izumi falls asleep before the emperor falls in love.
xxx
The kids all love to play together when they’re reunited. Sokka’s eldest is eight, and his youngest two are fourteen-month-old twins, and everyone else’s kids fall somewhere in the range. Katara loves to play with them. She has Toph’s two-year-old daughter, Lin, in her lap while Izumi and Kya spin around the garden, pretending to be water fairies.
“Careful with her. She’s going through a killer hair-pulling phase right now,” Toph comments.
“She’s fine.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you. She’s brutal, aren’t you, Lin? Just brutal. She bites too.”
Katara looks down at the seemingly innocent toddler in her lap. “No, not my Linny.” She kisses the top of the girl’s head.
“Soak it up, sweetness. Lin and I are leaving tomorrow.”
“So soon?”
“Yep. My metalbending students need me. They’re basically opposed to letting me have a vacation.”
“More like you’re opposed to taking one. You’ve been nonstop work since you were twelve.” She looks down at Lin. “Well, with a little bit of time for play.”
Toph laughs. “Believe me, that’s not play. She’s a piece of work, and her father was a piece of work.”
Katara smiles sadly. What she wouldn’t give to have her own piece of work.
“I can feel your self-pity radiating off you.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay. And it’s okay if you can’t have kids. What’s not okay is Aang calling a quits if you can’t. You should do what he’s doing. Find some tail of your own and see if you're really the problem. It could be him. 100 years in an iceberg - maybe it had some effect.”
She sends Lin from her lap towards Izumi and Kya. She doesn’t want Lin to overhear any of this conversation, even if she doesn’t quite understand it. “Can I tell you a secret?”
Toph’s eyebrows quirk in amusement. “Please.”
“You can’t tell anyone.”
“I won’t.”
It’s on the tip of her tongue. She wants so badly to say it. I slept with Zuko. Part of her still wonders if it even happened. If she tells someone, it makes it more real. But what if he doesn’t want anyone to know? What if he’s ashamed? He hasn’t even spoken to her since it happened.
“Come on, spit it out.”
I slept with Zuko. I slept with Zuko. I slept with Zuko.
“I’ll tell you some other time.”
“Oh, my god, you did not just do that to me! You fucking tease!”
“I know. I’m sorry!”
“Ugh, just when I thought I was going to get something juicy. Wait, where are you going? You can’t leave me alone. Only one of these kids is mine. I don’t take care of other people’s kids. I’m not crazy like you.”
Katara’s already walking out of earshot while Toph grumbles. She laughs. Toph can handle it. It’s just Izumi, Kya, and Lin. Sokka’s twins are napping, and Ahanu, the eldest, is with Sokka anyways. She’s watched all six by herself before. Usually, she loves it.
Now, she only wants to find Zuko.
xxx
There’s a knock on the door of his study. It instantly irritates him. Servants and cabinet members know not to disturb him in his study. He must be hearing things. Then he hears the knock again. He darts up from the chair at his desk and practically rips the door open. He’s ready to yell at whoever finds it upon themselves to interrupt his work when he realizes whoever is Katara.
“Is this a bad time?” she asks.
“Um, no.”
“You looked like you wanted to kill me for a second,” she says lightheartedly.
“You’re probably misreading me.”
“Probably. You’re not one to lose control of your emotions.” Then she crosses the floor and perches herself on the edge of his desk. She crosses one leg over the other and smirks at him.
“You don’t usually pay me visits in the middle of the day,” he remarks. “Must be important.”
“It’s not. Just killing time.”
“Oh yeah? Nothing on your mind at all?” She’s been all he can think about nonstop.
She’s quiet for a second and looks down at the floor, all of her enchanting bravado gone and replaced with quiet vulnerability. “Did you, um, have fun the other night?” she asks him.
He clears his throat. “Yeah, I did. I thought I made that clear.”
“Well, you did...then. And then yesterday I didn’t see you at all and I thought, maybe, that’s how you wanted it to be now.”
“That’s not how I want it to be at all.”
“Okay, great, I was just confused about it.”
“I’m sorry about that. I was avoiding you yesterday in case you wanted space. I know you’ve been going through a lot lately, and I didn’t want to add to it.”
“You don’t add to it, Zuko. You take it away.”
He smiles. He understands what she means. Since the other night, he’s felt lighter in a way he hasn’t been since he lost Mai. “Maybe I’ll see you tonight.”
“You will,” she pauses, and his heart beats excitedly. “Izumi asked me to help you tuck her in tonight, so you’ll see me then.” His face must show his disappointment because she fucking laughs at him. “Did you think I meant it another way?” she teases.
“Nope. I’ll see you tonight. Izumi’s bedroom, right after bathtime. Make sure you have a good story ready to go. She’s very critical these days.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” She jumps off his desk. “Well, I won’t keep you. Good talk.” And then before he knows what’s happening her lips are on his in a bruising kiss that sends his head reeling back to the other night when there were far less clothes between them, and before he can react and pull her closer, she’s gone, walking to the door. “See you tonight, Zuko.”
xxx
Along with being a self-serving asshole, Zuko realizes Aang is also a plain idiot.
Katara arches above him, bathed in candlelight. Her hands grip his shoulders as an anchor. Her knees rub against his silk sheets. Her moans are the most enchanting sound he’s ever heard. She’s so vocal in her pleasure, so open with how much she wants him. Every chance he gets, he presses open-mouthed kisses to her flushed skin. He sucks at the pointed peaks of her breasts and digs his own fingers into her alluring hips, guiding her, meeting her at a point of pure pleasure for the both of them.
She falls against him after she reaches her peak, and he holds her even tighter as he finds his own within her a few thrusts later. She hums contentedly against his neck and threads her fingers through his hair playfully.
Aang had this. He had this beautiful, hypnotizing, sensual woman as his wife, and he chose to walk away from her.
He catches her hand in his hair and holds it with his own. She’ll be gone before sunrise, like she always is, but he’ll make the most of his time with her. Only an idiot wouldn’t.
xxx
“That was a very good story. Best one all week.”
Katara laughs. “Well, it didn’t do its job. You should be asleep.”
Adds Zuko, “Yes, you should.”
“Can you tell me another one?”
“Izumi, it’s already late.”
“Daddy, please.”
Katara taps the little girl on the nose and smiles. “I know just the perfect one. Stop me if you’ve heard it before. It’s called Love Amongst the Dragons .”
“Good one,” Zuko whispers to her before they both kiss Izumi goodnight.
They hold hands as they sneak through the corridors to his private balcony. He kisses her senseless against the railing while she briefly realizes she hasn’t been sad in days.
xxx
As a personal friend of the Fire Lord, Katara has special privileges within the palace. One of them is the ability to take Izumi into the city, as long as they’re escorted by a couple of palace guards, of course.
Katara decides she and Izumi deserve a trip to Katara’s favorite shop near the harbor for some sweetened milk and tea cakes. Izumi reaches for Katara’s hand as they walk down the street. It’s something she’s started doing recently, even in the palace. She’s been a lot more affectionate with Katara recently. She’ll rest her head on Katara’s shoulder in the gardens, and she wants Katara at storytime every night now. Katara doesn’t mind. She hangs on to all of it. She’ll be seven years old soon, this light in her life. She squeezes her hand as they enter the shop.
Izumi picks the table, and the guards camp out at the table behind them. They wait for their tea cakes and sweetened milk. When the glasses arrive, they clink theirs together. She takes a sip, which turns into a gulp. Zuko doesn’t allow her to have many sweets.
“Is it good?”
“Mmm-hmm.”
Katara laughs. “Good.” When Izumi doesn’t stop drinking, she says, “Hey, save some to wash down the cake.”
“Can I have two?”
She clicks her tongue. “I don’t know. Your father wouldn’t like it.”
“Please, Aunt Katara.”
“I love you, sweetie, but I don’t want to be on the Fire Lord’s bad side.”
“Please, please, please.”
“Fine, you can have one more glass of the darn milk, as long as you promise not to tell on me. Deal?”
Izumi nods and finishes all of her first glass. “Aunt Katara?”
“Yeah, sweetie?”
“Can you be my mom?”
She forgets how to breathe. “What?”
“I don’t have a mom,” Izumi states.
“Yes, you do. She just isn’t with us anymore. She would have loved you so much. Your mom was such a wonderful woman.” But Izumi doesn’t know that, Katara realizes. As much as Katara holds onto the image of her mother, as much as Katara commits to memory the sound of her voice, Izumi never met Mai. Izumi never got the chance to know her.
“I want a real mom, and Daddy told me you wanted a baby.”
Katara remembers missing her mom, longing for the love and comfort specially given by the woman who brought her into the world. Zuko is an amazing father, but Izumi deserves the chance to have the unconditional love of more than one person.
They make a perfect pair, a motherless child and a childless woman. It doesn’t hurt that Katara loves her so much, ever since the first time she came to stay when Mai died and Zuko was a clueless wreck who fumbled when placing Izumi in her arms, repeating again and again that he didn’t know what to do. She and Zuko are always there for each other. The two of them make another perfect pair.
“I love you so much. I would be honored to be your mom. You don’t have to call me your mom, but I’ll be here for you always.”
"I want to call you mommy."
She’d left the first time she stayed, once Zuko got a handle on things. She and Aang had only recently been married, and he was so insistent on her return. He needed her help rebuilding the air temples. They needed to be ready for the return of the airbenders. Yeah, right.
"Then you can call me mommy."
The next glass of sweet milk arrives for Izumi, and the young girl takes Katara’s advice. She eats the tea cake first, and then she washes it down with the milk. Katara hands her a napkin to wipe the milk from her top lip.
They stop at a few shops on the way back. Katara learns they both like to window shop. At one of the outdoor booths, Izumi spies a dark water spirit mask sold alongside others.
“Daddy would love that!”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Love Amongst the Dragons is the only story he knows. It’s his favorite.”
Katara tugs her to the booth giddily. “Then we have to get it for him.” She pays a few coins to the vendor and gives it to Izumi to keep safe for Daddy. Keeping it safe to Izumi is wearing it herself.
There’s nothing pulling her away anymore, like there was when Izumi was born. Now this golden-eyed girl is an anchor.
And so is her father.
xxx
“I don’t want to go back to my room.”
“It’s almost sunrise.”
She pouts at him, as if he controls the sun. He wishes he did. He’d never let it rise. “I don’t want you to go either.”
Her hand is on the knob of the door, but she’s still facing him. She always waits for a minute before she leaves him, like she’s waiting for him to call her back. As much as he wants to, he can’t. A Fire Lord isn’t expected to be celibate, but if the servants ever see him with the Avatar’s ex-wife, the whole nation would know the gossip in a week.
Already, there are rumors. They aren’t exactly discrete. They take every meal together. They tuck Izumi in together. She’s the only one allowed in his private study. They just make sure no one catches them touching. As long as they aren’t touching, the rumors stay rumors.
“I’ll see you at breakfast,” she says.
“It’s not that far away.”
He tries to be optimistic. But she leaves, and it’s hard. Breakfast is very far away.
xxx
“You’re not wearing your mask.”
“Izumi, I can’t wear it to official meetings as Fire Lord. There’s a protocol.”
But his six-year-old crosses her arms in front of her. “I’m telling Mommy.”
Did he just hear her right? “You’re telling who?” he asks.
“Mommy. Aunt Katara’s my mommy now,” she answers plainly as if delivering old news.
“Does she know?”
“Yeah, I asked her if she could be my mom, and she said yes.”
This is definitely not old news to him. “When did this happen?”
Izumi shrugs. “Forever ago.”
xxx
Katara,
You have no idea how much I’ve missed you, or how deeply I regret my behavior. I was so, so stupid. No one compares to you. No one connects with me like you do. We were perfect together, and I will always be angry with myself for ruining that. Please find it in your heart to forgive me. I want our life together back, the way it was always supposed to be.
Love always,
Aang
She burns the letter.
xxx
“I’ve never felt like this before,” she mentions to him one night in the afterglow, caressing the scar on his face.
“I know what you mean.”
She’s never felt such a pull to someone. She’s never felt as understood or appreciated or cherished. Aang never stopped saying he loved her; Zuko never stops proving it.
“When Mai died, I couldn’t imagine sharing what I shared with her with someone else. But that’s not what this is. It’s not the same. I’m different now. You’re different. Our relationship is different.”
He’s taken a step forward by confessing this. She’s bold enough to take another. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
She pulls away from him, but he holds her tighter. “Zuko, I’ve got to go. It’s almost sunrise.”
“Stay,” he mutters sleepily against her ear.
“Zuko, it’s hard enough to leave you as it is.”
“Stay. Stay forever. If I need to write up some official announcement, or bribe some servants, I’ll do it, but I don’t want to spend another morning without you.” He kisses the shell of her ear, and her resolve shatters completely.
They fall back asleep. The servants wake them. Funny enough, the sky doesn’t fall. The day goes on as normal, and surely the gossip is raging behind her back, but she doesn’t care like she thought she would. She doesn’t care about it the way she cared when they talked about her and Aang.
She sees the sunrise with Zuko that morning. She sees the colors break through the sky in the most glorious shades of pink and blue, while Zuko’s hair is pulled into his topknot and his ceremonial armor is secured. Zuko, Izumi, and her life with them - that’s all she cares about.
193 notes
·
View notes
Text
Happy Easter Everyone
Posted a new chapter of Hopeless on AO3.
Also, please enjoy this little Zutara snippet of a plot bunny of mine without a working title, just a general premise and a very loose outline.
Summary: His name’s Zuko. His best friend is the moon. He doesn’t bend very well, and his father’s the Fire Lord. Also, Master Pakku is going to be so mad if Zuko runs away to join the Avatar.
“So how did someone from the Fire Nation end up as a warrior of the Northern Water Tribe?” asked Katara.
Zuko shrugged. “My mother sent me here.”
“Why?”
“To protect me.”
Katara smiled, absentmindedly touching the pendant at her neck. “Mothers do anything to protect their kids.”
“Yeah, they do.”
She tapped her feet together impatiently, sitting beside him outside the spirit oasis. “How long are Sokka and Yue going to be?”
“I don’t know, but I can’t wait out here all night. Tell your brother to hurry up.”
“My brother? Tell your princess to get out here. She’s the one who organized this whole thing. It’s her fault we’re out here, waiting in the cold.”
He bent a small flame in the palm of his hand. “Here,” he said. “It’s not much, but it’s something.”
“You’re a firebender?”
“Well, yeah. Not a good one.”
“No one told me you were a firebender.”
“No one likes to remember. I look different, but I’ve been here so long they can look past that. They just don’t like it when I bend.”
She probably wouldn’t like him now either. He was starting to think that nobody liked firebenders.
“I know what it’s like to hide that part of you. I wasn’t allowed to waterbend back home.”
“Really? But you’re from the Southern Water Tribe.”
“All their waterbenders are gone. The Fire Nation captured them all. That’s why I wasn’t allowed to.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
No, it was just his father’s, and his grandfather’s, and his great-grandfather’s.
Mom, I see why you hid me up here.
84 notes
·
View notes
Text
Day 28: Ancient
I know I’m really late on the Zutara month entries, but now the current state of the world leaves me with some free time to write. This is a companion piece to a one-shot I wrote a while back, but it can be read on its own.
Zuko and Katara take a tour of his family’s vault.
@zutaramonth
“Zuko, it’s beautiful.”
“Hold it to the light,” he instructs and carefully grasps her hand in his own. Together, they shine the beautiful ruby comb into the sun.
Her breath catches. “Wow.”
“It was my mother’s.”
“Are you sure you want to give it to me?”
“Who better to wear it than the Fire Lady?”
She can’t argue with that logic, though it feels incredibly intimate to wear his mother’s comb in her hair.
Zuko is rummaging through other ancient treasures in the vault, and she takes this moment to study him secretly. He will be her husband, this old enemy and old friend. She can’t let the intimacy scare her, though it comes with awkwardness too. They still tiptoe around each other as their wedding date looms closer, though there are moments like this one when she’s overwhelmed with the most pleasant fluttering in her stomach.
“You look like you’re looking for something specific,” she notices.
“I am. It’s supposed to be right--oh, here it is.” He pulls out a box engraved with the Fire Nation insignia and delicately opens it. He hesitates for a moment and stares at whatever treasure lurks inside. The anticipation is too much for Katara, and she steps closer to peer over his shoulder.
“Spirits,” she whispers.
“This was the ring given from the first Fire Lord to his wife. It’s been worn by every Fire Lady. I understand if you don’t want to wear it, since it was worn by Sozin’s wife and Azulon’s wife…” he trails off there, holding the ring out to her for her inspection. The band is solid gold, but it is the lovely jade jewel at the center that catches her attention. She traces her finger along the square edges and marvels at the green stone.
“No, I want to wear it,” she insists.
“Are you sure?”
She’s sure. Though it was worn by the women married to the instigators of the world destruction she’d inherited, she thinks it is a symbol of progress since. When Azulon reigned, no one would ever imagine a waterbender from the Southern Water Tribe would ever rule beside his grandson.
She will. She’ll rule beside him. She’ll wear his mother’s comb in her hair because she can tell it’s important to him. She’ll wear this ancient ring because it’s important to her.
“Yes,” she slides it onto the third finger of her right hand and looks down on it admiringly.
“Uh, it actually goes on the left hand, on the fourth finger.”
She pinches her face at him. “It has its own spot?”
“Another ancient belief, for men who give women rings,” he explains while carefully reaching for her left hand to switch the ring’s placement.
“What’s the belief?” she asks.
His cheeks darken, and he nervously fiddles with his hair. It makes her smile. “It’s said that, um, there’s a vein in that finger that runs directly to the heart.”
“Oh.”
She wonders if he can feel her pulse quicken as he slides the ring into its new place. She wonders if he has to touch her so tenderly.
“So, I have a meeting that I need to be getting to…”
“Right, of course!” she replies, a little too loudly to her own ears. It may be because she can feel her own heartbeat inside them. “Thanks for taking me here, and giving me the jewelry. They’re absolutely beautiful.”
“I’m glad you like them.”
They walk out of the vault together, and the firebending guards tip their heads in deference as the two of them pass. When they arrive back at the courtyard of the palace, she supposes it is time for them to part their ways.
“I guess I’ll see you at dinner.”
He smiles. “Yep. See you then.”
When he finally passes, she exhales a deep breath and wills herself to calm down already. Spirits, she hopes when they marry, the tension will finally dissipate.
102 notes
·
View notes
Text
Day 16: Intimacy
Toph experiences a new stage of life. Intimate situations ensue.
Read on AO3 here
@zutaramonth
As soon as Aang saw the spot on Toph’s pants, Katara should’ve known she was in for it. Already, under the heat of the blazing sun, and without any time to swim, Katara was done with the day. Aang was frustrated with training. Zuko was frustrated with teaching. Katara had tried her best to mediate, and Toph had been grumpy all day. Katara attributed it to the heat, but then…
“Toph, are you okay! You’re bleeding!”
“What?” screeched Toph, who Katara never knew could reach a pitch so high. “Where?”
“Like on the back of your legs.”
“Aang,” Katara began, not quite sure how to break it to them, catching Zuko’s nervous eye from across the room. Of course Sokka and Suki picked the perfect time to go on an adventure. “It’s fine. Toph, come with me.”
“I’m bleeding?”
“Just come with me. We need to talk. Aang, stay with Zuko. Zuko’s going to talk to you.”
“No, I’m not,” protested the firebender.
Katara smiled cruelly. “I have Toph. You get Aang.”
“I’m not telling him about...that.”
“Well, I’m not. Come on, Toph.”
She sat Toph down in the closest bathroom in the Ember Island house. “Did your mom ever tell you about your...monthly bleeding?”
“My what?”
“I’m gonna take that as a no.” Katara sighed, thinking about the best way to explain it in medical terms. If she was going to finish her training to be a healer, she would have to get used to these kinds of intimate situations. This was just practice. She tried to imagine Toph was in need of healing. It helped a little.
“Okay, so what this means is that you can now have a baby.”
“Excuse me? I’m twelve.”
“I know! I’m not saying have one now, just that you could, in theory. This is your body preparing for womanhood. Every month your body bleeds as a symptom of it.”
“For how long?” Toph wondered.
“It doesn’t stop for a while.”
“Well, I don’t like it.”
Katara smiled in sympathy. “Nobody does. You just kind of deal.”
Color rose to Toph’s cheeks. “So wait, now everyone knows I’m bleeding...from there.”
“It’s okay. It happens to every girl. It’s natural. It happened to me when I was your age.”
“Is this why my stomach’s been hurting?”
“Yeah, that’s exactly why.”
“How long does it last?”
Katara shrugged. “Mine’s typically a week. Every girl’s different.”
“Well, how come no one ever says anything about you bleeding?” she demanded furiously.
“I sew special cloth into my undergarments. I’ll start sewing them in yours so we don’t have to have a situation like this again.”
“Ugh, fine.” Toph hunched her arms over her knees, sinking into herself. “This is ridiculous.”
“It’s natural,” Katara told her as gently as she could.
“It sucks.”
“Why don’t you rest for a little bit? Leave your laundry outside your room, and I’ll take care of it later. I’m gonna go check on the guys.” She remembered when she first started bleeding, and everything was explained to her. It was all a shock, and she had only wanted to be left alone.
She stumbled upon a curious Avatar and an increasingly flustered prince. It was too good to interrupt.
“So Suki bleeds every month?”
“Yes, every girl from a certain age bleeds like that every month. It’s not that hard a concept to grasp.”
“Katara?”
“Every girl,” Zuko repeated. “It used to symbolize the time a girl could marry in the Ancient days, but we don’t often marry that young anymore.”
“And they bleed because it means they can have babies?”
“Yes.”
“So Katara, Suki, and Toph can have babies right now.”
“Well, not by themselves.”
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing. Nevermind. I’m done. Talk dismissed. Go do fire squats or something.”
“But wait, Zuko--”
“No! No more questions!”
Zuko huffed and stomped away from Aang. It was a small mercy Aang didn’t pursue him. She followed Zuko inside to the little downstairs kitchen area and openly laughed at him as he poured himself a glass of water from the pitcher.
“This is your fault,” he told her after a sip.
Katara smiled. “I think you handled it very well… with all the yelling.”
“You’re the one who left it up to me. That’s what he gets. Now please keep him away from me for the rest of the day. Send him to Sokka if he has any more questions.”
“Will do, though I feel like that situation has the potential to be even worse.” Katara plucked the pitcher from the space in front of him and bent some water into a glass for herself. She took a long sip, hoping the water would cool the heat of her cheeks. When it didn’t work, she fanned herself with one of her hands.
“Hot?” Zuko asked.
“Miserably.”
“We might be due for a swim.”
Katara’s face lit up. “But you never take breaks. You’re always train, train, train, I’m a brooding prince, fire squats.”
“Someone has to make up for it’s okay, Aang. You’re doing great. You’re the best Avatar in the whole world.”
“I don’t sound like that.”
“Sure you don’t. How’s Toph?”
“Disturbed.”
“Understandably. I tried to tell Aang not to mention anything to her, but the message may have gotten lost.”
“It’s possible. That happens with Aang.”
“Yeah, so fair warning: he may ask you about your ability to have a baby.”
“Great,” she muttered drily. “If he does, I’ll sic him back on you.”
His eyes narrowed, but his lips curled up in a small smile. “You wouldn’t.”
She hid a smirk behind the rim of her glass. “We’ll see.”
In the back of her mind, her Gran Gran was telling her to change the subject, to leave the room, to forget Zuko wasn’t wearing a shirt right now. Don’t go to the beach with him, her Gran Gran was saying. You can’t be alone with him. Intimate situations between unmarried men and women are terribly improper.
“So, swim?”
“Yeah,” she agreed, a bit breathlessly.
But, Spirits, were they fun.
133 notes
·
View notes
Text
Day 7: Soulmates
@zutaramonth
AO3
I am terrible at soulmate AUs so I wrote something a little different, from the perspective of the spirits.
“Hey, um, are you guys seeing this?” asked Zhi Nu to her fellow spirits.
“We’re a little busy celebrating the end of the mortals’ Hundred Years’ War,” replied Raijin.
“Yeah, yeah...Avatar Aang defeated Fire Lord Ozai...but look closer.”
She directed Raijin and Yue to the scene on the balcony in Ba Sing Se. There stood Avatar Aang with his lips pressed against his waterbending teacher’s.
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Was that in the design?”
Yue shook her head. “I may be new here, but I don’t think so.”
“Someone call Raava over here!”
“Hey, Raava, come check this out! Is Katara supposed to be kissing Avatar Aang?”
Raava, the Spirit of Peace and Light, peered closer and subsequently spit out his tea. “No. Oh no. Where did it go wrong?”
“So it’s not just us right?”
“Absolutely not. Her soul is bonded to Fire Lord Zuko’s soul. She’s supposed to be the Fire Lady of the Golden Age.”
“So what should we do? Do you want me to strike Aang with lightning?” asked Raijin.
“Absolutely not!”
“You can’t just kill the Avatar!”
“Why not? He reincarnates. A quick bolt, and Katara’s free.”
“Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Look closer!” Yue commanded.
The other three peered back at the mortal world, where Fire Lord Zuko had joined Aang and Katara on the balcony...with his arm around another girl.
“Zhi Nu, you’re the Spirit of Love. Explain how things got this out of hand.”
“They are still young, Raava. They will still find each other. Zuko and Katara will be the leaders of the Golden Age, as they have been in all of their incarnations.”
“Looks to me like they need a push,” mentioned Raijin, who already had his hands primed to shoot lightning.
“No lightning! No deaths! Do you hear me, Raijin?”
The Spirit of Storms pouted. “Yes, Raava.”
“You are right, though. They do need a push. Yue, what do you think?”
“W-what?” stammered Yue, who had lost track of the conversation ever since Sokka and Suki walked out to the balcony. He had hurt himself in battle, it looked like, and she was helping him stand. She smiled sadly. They seemed good for each other.
“What do you propose we do about this?”
“I think we should wait, like Zhi Nu said. They’re soulmates, aren’t they? Won’t they find each other?”
“We need them to find each other yesterday,” stressed Raijin. “The future of the world depends on it. It is their destiny.”
“Okay, hear me out. We’ll give them six mortal months. If nothing’s done, we’ll call Avatar Aang to the Spirit World. We’ll tell him he needs to take some kind of “enlightenment journey”. Meanwhile, we call Iroh. We tell him that his nephew needs to come to Ba Sing Se ASAP.”
“How are we going to get Katara to Ba Sing Se?”
“I’m. Working. On. It.” Raava huffed. “Okay, new plan-”
“Wait, go back to the old plan! Zuko and Katara are both going to be in Ba Sing Se at the same time next year for a peace council!” remembered Yue.
“Perfect! Okay, so we’ll call Aang to the Spirit World right around then.”
“If he’s even still with Katara at that point, and I mean...look at them. That’s not gonna last,” mentioned Zhi Nu. Then she shouted at Katara, “HE’S ON YOUR LEFT! HUNKY FIRE LORD ON YOUR LEFT, GIRLFRIEND! SPIRITS, WHAT IS AANG, TWO FEET TALL? Uh, she can’t hear me.”
“Do we all agree on the plan?”
“Can I create inclement weather, so they’re stuck together for an immeasurable amount of time at this peace council? You know, for bonding purposes.”
“They’re soulmates. How much more bonded does it get?”
“Just please, Raava, can I?”
Raava sighed. “Only if the two of them aren’t making progress on their own.”
All four studied the teenagers on the balcony one last time. Zuko and Mai. Aang and Katara. It was painful for them, but they had to be patient. Raava recalled another time their past incarnations were reluctant to find each other, until their fateful meeting on top of a mountain. From there, it was only a matter of time before they were carving tunnels together and professing their love. Peace came from them then, and peace would come from them now. Unfortunately, there was only so much intervention allowed by the spirits.
But one year from today, if they hadn’t figured it out for themselves, Zuko and Katara were going to get the push of their lives.
119 notes
·
View notes
Text
Day 25: Forced to Share a Hotel Room
With her connecting flight canceled, Katara heads over to a nearby hotel and tries to make the best of her situation. It doesn’t hurt that the hotel owner’s son is there too.
@zutaramonth
This was so not how Katara had planned to spend her holidays. Back in the South, her house was filled with her family members. Right about now, her dad would be lighting a fire, her mom would be cooking a delicious sea prune stew, and Gran Gran would be badgering Sokka about setting the table. It had been the family get-together she’d been looking forward to all year long.
But of course, she had gotten stuck in a blizzard, and flights out were canceled for the next two days. That hadn’t left her much of a choice other than taking a cab over to the nearest hotel and begging for a room.
“You mean you don’t have any availability?”
The concierge at the counter looked over her computer in sympathy. “Well, we do have the penthouse suite, but that’s usually reserved for-”
“Cut her a break, Toph. It’s the holidays. The chances of him actually showing up are slim to none.”
Toph shrugged her shoulders. “Okay, but if he does show up, you’re the one who has to tell him we put someone in the penthouse.”
The other concierge, a boy who looked fresh out of high school named Aang, accepted this fate and called a bellhop over to help Katara with her bags.
She had to admit the room was absolutely gorgeous, like take your breath away gorgeous. The tables and counters were all made from marble, and accents across the suite were the loveliest shade of gold. From what she could tell, there were four bedrooms, fit for an entire family, and when she stepped into the master bathroom and saw the most inviting Jacuzzi tub ever, she thought maybe this wasn’t such an awful turn of events after all.
Her bags were stacked in the corner of the sitting room when she hurled herself on top of the red silk sheets on the master bed. She had never laid on such a comfortable bed before. She could take a nap right there, after the stressful day she had, waiting and waiting for a flight that kept getting pushed back until it was finally canceled altogether.
Outside, she could see the snow surrounding the city, but inside, she was toasty as could be. She got up to put the kettle on for a relaxing cup of tea and threw on some flannel pajamas. A nap didn’t sound like such a bad idea after all.
xx
“Hey, Toph. Hey, Aang.”
Usually his friends at the hotel smiled at him when he visited, but today their eyes widened and their bodies stilled.
“What? Is there something on my face?”
Toph nudged Aang forcefully. He cleared his throat and said, “Zuko, we weren’t expecting you. We thought you’d be at the Ember Island Resort with your family for the holidays.”
Zuko folded his sunglasses into the breast pocket of his collared shirt. “That was the plan, but even the family jet wouldn’t take me any further in this weather. It was lucky we were able to land here. Can you get Jet to bring my bags up to my room?”
“Um, Zuko, about your room...” Toph began.
“What about it?” he looked between the two of them suspiciously. “Did one of the maids ruin the floors again?”
“No, that’s not it,” said Aang. “Just go on up. You’re in for a little surprise.”
“I hate surprises,” he muttered to himself, but he was so tired from the jet that he didn’t have the patience to entertain Aang’s silly notions any further. He did notice Toph smirking out of the corner of his eye, which made him uneasy for a second before he entered the familiar elevator. He and Azula used to visit every floor when they were kids, looking for something to do.
He kept his key to the penthouse on him at all times. In one lazy motion, he plucked the card from his wallet, swiped it, and unlocked the door. Immediately, however, he noticed something was off in his favorite home. A few things, actually. For one, there was luggage right beside his door that definitely did not belong to him. The kettle was on the stove, an abandoned mug on the counter. Most notably, upon further inspection, there was a whole entire woman sleeping in the master bedroom.
“How did you get in here?” he shouted, effectively startling her out of a peaceful slumber.
It took a second for her eyes to adjust, but when they did, she jumped up from the bed. “Who are you, and what are you doing in my room?” she screamed.
“Who are you, and what are you doing in my room?”
“Your room?” she exclaimed. “I reserved it first, fair and square.”
“This room can’t be reserved. It’s my personal home when I’m in the area.”
“What do you, like, own the hotel or something?”
“No, but my father does.”
The girl’s manner towards him changed immediately. “Look, I’m sorry. They didn’t tell me any of that downstairs. They said I could stay here. I’m waiting for the snow to clear, so I can go home to my family for the holidays.”
Some of his anger subsided. He was still going to strangle Toph and Aang later. He knew they were the ones behind this mess. “Me too.”
“I’m pretty sure this is the only room available in the area too. I don’t know what I’m going to do. Every flight out is canceled for the next two days.”
She sounded so desperate, and he felt kind of sorry for yelling at her the way he did. “Hey, um, it’s a pretty big suite. You can stay here in one of the spare bedrooms until you get something worked out.”
Her whole face broke out into an adorably wide grin, and the sadness in her eyes began to fade. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Thank you so much! I’ll be a really good suitemate, I promise. You won’t regret this. Do you want any tea? I know I put the kettle on before I went to bed. It may still be warm.”
She was pretty, he realized. She was pretty, bubbly, and looked adorable in her blue flannel pajamas. They brought out the lovely blue of her eyes. He was in so much trouble.
“Sure. Tea sounds great.”
It was going to be a long two days.
95 notes
·
View notes
Text
Day 22: Blood Moon
Zuko follows the signs to Katara.
@zutaramonth
He had thought of her as the rain poured down around his home and brought in the fresh scent of fire lilies. Mai had long left him for a less depressing life. Suki had left to marry Sokka; Ty Lee led the Kyoshi warriors now. Aang visited him at peace summits every year. Toph visited much more often. One day he realized he hadn’t heard any news about Katara in ages, and it left him feeling hollow. Just when he toyed with the idea of writing to her, the heavens opened up and her element unexpectedly inundated his capital city.
He got the message from the universe loud and clear - write Katara.
So he wrote her, and she wrote back. Scroll after scroll passed between them, some short, some long, all of them cherished. While having tea with his uncle, he accepted a letter from Katara and read it right at the table.
“I’ve never known a piece of parchment to make a man smile so much,” his uncle commented with a raised eyebrow.
Zuko laughed nervously. Okay, so he had a crush on a waterbender worlds away. His uncle knew. His staff may have even suspected. “Katara sends her warmest regards. I told her you were visiting,” he replied.
“When are you going to invite her to the Fire Nation, my nephew?”
“Never.”
“That is no way to woo a young lady.”
“I’m not trying to woo her.”
“You should be. She is very extraordinary.”
“I know that.”
“And you like her. Don’t bother denying it, I know you do.”
Zuko said nothing. His silence was enough of an answer. He skimmed over his most recent letter from Katara, hoping to see anything that hinted at something more than friendship. They did flirt every once in a while - at least he thought it was flirting. Was it flirting if she said on her coldest nights she thought about the summer she spent with him? Or what about the time she joked, “Asking for my advice again, Fire Lord Zuko? Next time you better send me a necklace,” and he had replied, “I’ll make it my top priority to learn how to carve.”
Would she be receptive to staying in the Fire Nation? Would he even be able to see her much during her stay? He was always so busy. She was too. The waterbending school she’d worked tirelessly on was opening at the end of the week. Was the Fire Lord even allowed to take a break? Things had calmed down since he first took the throne, but they weren’t nearly calm enough.
“Let’s talk about something else.”
“Very well, but sleep on the matter. An intimate friend is the hardest to find. You and Katara always seemed to understand each other so well. Do not keep her away because you’re afraid of your feelings for her.”
He slept on it, as his uncle suggested, and dreamed of the house on Ember Island. He was standing at the water’s edge, staring out at the sea. Behind him, he heard laughter. He didn’t have to see the woman to know whose laughter it was.
When he woke, his mind was made up. He was going to invite Katara to spend a week with him at the Ember Island house. They both needed a vacation. Her reply was prompt as always, and his heart sped faster and faster as he broke the seal. He was already thinking of ways to draft an apology when he read the line, “Yes, please! I can’t think of anything better than a beach trip.”
Now how was he going to tell her she was the only one he invited?
He decided the best thing to do would be to leave it up to her. He asked if she wanted to pass the invitation along to any of their friends. She replied that everyone else was too busy to go. His mind dueled between two thoughts: Hmm. Busy. Sure they are...and...Maybe they actually are. They lead complex lives.
Even his staff was not accompanying him to the house. They had orders to stay at the palace and wait on his uncle, who was acting as Fire Lord in his place. It would just be him and Katara. It would be perfect. Now if he could just get his palms to stop sweating.
“Zuko!”
He smiled fondly. “Katara.”
They both made the decision to embrace each other at the same time. It was the happiest he’d felt in months.
“It’s so good to see you,” she said. “Letters are one thing, but to actually visit…”
“I know. We’re overdue for some catching up.”
“We are.”
It was such a large house for two people. It didn’t take Katara long to unpack the items she’d brought and pour herself a cool drink. She jumped onto one of the sitting room’s benches and rested her legs comfortably along the arm. As she relaxed, Zuko was able to appreciate just how beautiful she was.
She closed her eyes. “I can’t tell you how much I needed to get away.”
“I’ll drink to that.”
“Are we going down to the beach soon?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “It’ll be dark soon.”
She opened her eyes and smiled at him. “Even better. I can’t wait to see what the moon’s going to look like tonight.”
“Why do you say that?”
She looked down at her hands. “My bending’s felt a little different all day.”
His eyebrows raised. “So has mine.”
“Really? Like weaker?”
“No, it’s been stronger.”
“But my bending’s been stronger,” she told him.
“Huh. That’s strange. We draw from opposite sources.”
She jumped off the bench. “Well now we have to go to the beach,” she said.
They walked out onto the sand with two blankets and laid them side by side. She sat on one, and he sat on the other. The sun was setting in the sky, in an array of reds and oranges he didn’t get to appreciate nearly as much when he was acting as the Fire Lord.
“I’m so glad we’re writing to each other now,” she told him.
“Me too.”
“What made you write that first letter?” she wondered.
He turned to her. Her blue eyes looked even prettier out in the fleeting daylight. “It’s going to sound stupid.”
“I won’t think it’s stupid. I promise.”
“Okay, so it rained in the capital. It poured for a whole day nonstop, and before I had been thinking about how you were the only one I hadn’t heard from since...well since I was crowned. I don’t know. I guess I took it as a sign that I needed to talk to you.”
“What if it hadn’t rained?”
“But it did rain. I’m just saying that-“
“You only decided to write me because of the weather.”
He couldn’t believe she was getting angry about this. “Ugh, don’t you believe in signs?”
“Not as much as you apparently.”
“Please, you believe in fortune tellers, and destiny, and all that.”
“Not anymore!” She protested. “Turns out those fortunes were wrong, and my destiny was wrong.”
He hoped she wasn’t referring to Aang. He had thought the two of them parted amicably, much more amicably than he had with Mai.
“I would have written you even if it hadn’t rained,” he assured her.
And if he hadn’t, he would have regretted it because even if she was harping on him, he was with her on a beach and enjoying every second.
“Good.”
“You could have written me too,” he pointed out. “Why’d you wait for me?”
“I don’t know. You just seemed busy.”
“I am, but not too busy for my friends. I enjoy your letters.”
She smiled at him. The light was fading more now, and the air was getting cooler. “I enjoy yours too.” She laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing.” But she kept laughing. It made him self-conscious.
“Seriously, what?”
“Just thinking about Sokka. Whenever a letter comes from you, he usually gets it first and he always says ‘here’s another letter from your boyfriend.’”
He laughed nervously. “That is funny. Yeah, um, Uncle teases me too.”
“Really?”
“But I always correct him. I tell him we’re just friends.”
“Yeah.”
“I mean, we just exchange letters.”
“Yep, but those letters have really rekindled our friendship, and they mean a lot to me…”
“They mean a lot to me too,” he insisted. “I save them.”
Her eyes widened. “You do?”
He could feel his whole face going red. Was there a platonic way to say he kept them in a locked chest beside his bed? “Yeah.”
Her whole face brightened. “I save yours too.” Then he saw her shiver.
Without thinking, he stood up and shook out the blanket from beneath him. He draped it over Katara’s shoulders and she wrapped herself in the fabric. She smiled up at him gratefully and patted the space beside her on the blanket she’d been sitting on. When he sat down, his leg was pressed against hers. He decided to lean back all the way and cradle his head in his hands. She did the same. He felt the warmth of her body laying beside his.
“Zuko, look!” she exclaimed.
His eyes followed her outstretched hand, all the way to the moon, which had turned crimson in the matter of minutes.
“What in the world?” he asked.
“That’s what’s affecting our bending!”
“I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
“Doesn’t it look amazing?”
“Yes. Is it an eclipse?”
“I think so, but it’s making us stronger instead of weaker.”
“I wonder why that is,” he said, more to himself than her.
She turned on her side towards him, staring at his face. He met her gaze. “Do you think it’s a sign?” she said teasingly.
“Yes.”
She rolled her eyes at him, but then he pushed closer and wrapped an arm across her shoulder. His fingers played with her hair. He could hear her breath catch, even over the thrum of his pulse in his ears. If there was ever a sign that he was meant to be with her, this red moon, this manifestation of their elements reigning the sky together, was it. He pressed his lips to hers and felt the exhilarating bliss of the moment that would change his life forever. When they finally pulled away from each other, hours later with earnest smiles and no intention of spending the night apart, the moon had already returned to its pallor.
Katara could never mock him for his superstitions again.
88 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
technope
tech, no!
tertain-the-original
Tertain
aleswiftgron
☆Alec☆
esoftcast
esoftcast
picturesquepalette
PicturesquePalette