A/N: So this is an idea I got I think when I was supposed to sleeping. It's an alternate universe where the Hundred Year War never happened. But things are still the same. Zuko has a scar from a small fire bending accident. Somethings are different though, like Kya, Katara's mother is still alive. It might be a longish story, actually... I planned on it just being a one-shot. Woo for Zutara!
Laughter and dancers swirled around a young Katara as she looked at the Four Nations. GranGran walked ahead of Mama, who held Katara's hand tightly. Katara's mother hurried her along, intent on getting Katara to the Council on time. Her mother believed her to be the Avatar. She had been born not long after Avatar Aang died; as in minutes later. She and one other waterbender had been born that same day, within minutes of each other. A girl named Yue from the Northern Water Tribe. Katara had met her once and had felt lesser than the beautiful, moon-haired princess.
The Council of Nations met every year at the Festival of the Four Nations. They invited Yue and Katara to see who would need training to be the next Avatar. Katara felt nervous as she passed through the crowd. Then a little fire nation boy with a scar on his eye ran into her.
"Ow!" she cried as she was knocked onto the cobbles, her hands scraping as she went.
"Katara!" her mother said, picking her up and dusting her off, using water from her pouch to heal the small wounds.
"Sorry," the little boy said, looking at her mother. Kya smiled at him reassuringly, picking up her young daughter who buried herself into her mother's curls.
"Zuko! Do not run off from me anymore." A tall, regal looking lady walked over. She looked strict and soft at the same time, much like Kya at times.
"Yes, Mama..." he mumbled, looking at the ground.
"I'm sorry if your daughter was hurt, miss. My Zuko has no manners."
"I'm fine." Katara looked at the lady with fierce eyes from her mother's hair. The woman laughed and her mother gasped as a clock chimed the hour.
"I'm truly sorry, but we must go!" She hurried off, leaving the two standing there. She headed to the Council of the Nations' small meeting house. When they reached their destination, Kya set Katara down and backed away quickly, leaving Katara there feeling scared and alone, except for the princess next to her, a girl she barely knew. The four men that sat in front of them looked mean and scary and made Katara quiver on the inside, afraid to talk to these men who would decide her fate. Two guards walked out with a large, rolled, lumpy canvas. Setting it down gently, they unrolled it slowly to reveal a large amount of small toys. Yue was then called forward to pick out four toys of her choosing and set them on the table. The young girl with the white hair of an old woman stared at the toys for a long moment and picked four wooden toys at random and took them up to the old men, placing them on the simple wooden table.
They looked at the toys and shook their heads and sent Yue back to her mother. Her tiny shoulders slumped in disappointment as her mother carried her back out of the meeting hall. Next the Council called up Katara, after the four toys had been replaced. She stared at the toys warily, knowing the fate they just earned that girl. Her sapphire eyes wandered up and down the long canvas row of simple toys. First, her hands clutched a small, clay turtle. Then she found a pull-string propeller toy that made mer laugh. A small wooden monkey caught her eye and she placed it next to the turtle, thinking that the two could be friends. And finally, a wooden hand drum that made a sound that warmed her heart. In her arms, shecarried them up to the old, watchful members of the Council and with great care, placed the objects in front of them. The wizened men looked at each other, seeming to share thoughts with looks alone. A smile went from one old man to the next, spreading hope through Katara's deadened limbs. It as the Earth representee spoke, his voice sounding like dark, warm soil after rain.
"Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, you are the Avatar."