Summary: Fire Lord Zuko takes a vacation to Ember Island to get away from his council pressuring him to find a wife. If he doesn't come back with a wife, the council will choose for him. One day, Zuko hears beautiful singing and sees a siren. Zutara.
Pairing: Zuko x Katara, ZK, Zutara.
Beta: PeanutButter123
Disclaimer: I, Ocean x Sea, do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender. It belongs to its respective creators, and I do not, in any way, shape or form, profit from my writing of fanfiction about the animation Avatar: the Last Airbender.
Merrily we sailed along
Though the waves were plenty strong
Down the twisting river Rhine
Following a song...
Legend's faded storyline
Tried to warn us all
Oh, they called her "Loreley"
Careful or you'll fall...
Oh, the stories we were told
Quite a vision to behold
Mysteries of the seas in her eyes of gold...
Laying on the silver stone, such a lonely sight
Barnacles become a throne, my poor Loreley...
And the winds would cry, and many men would die
And all the waves would bow down to the Loreley...
-Loreley, Blackmore Night
Xx-Prologue-xX
The salty air from the sea came inland, towards the island. Its inhabitants breathed in the scent, basking in the cool breeze that seemed to carry their troubles away like rain did the fertile Earth. They rejoiced, basking in the warmth of the still-rising sun. Until mid-day, the villagers had made preparations for the day's festival of celebration. Blacksmiths and carpenters used their talents to make small offerings while the women were sewing. The maidens had been practicing their singing. The cords and synchronization could make any man, woman or child cry at the harmony of the lovely melodies and songs they sang.
A particular song they sang told of the journey of a young ruler who set out to sea and found love in a young water maiden.
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Fire Lord Zuko had gone out to the deck of his ship, and admired the view: endless blue surrounded a circular landscape covered in a barrier of trees that served as a shield from the outside view of life on the inside. Zuko, who had traveled yearly to this island as a small child, had known better. He knew of the extended culture of the Fire Nation on this small island. He smiled, remembering the old and run-down hut his family used to stay in.
As soon as they docked, Zuko got off, and started to move around, trying to get his land-legs back. He walked away from his ship and along the beach that Ember Island was famous for. While he walked, he saw many females laying out on the beach, some talking to their friends, and others playing volleyball. He could feel their lustful gazes on him as he walked. The entire point of him coming to Ember Island was to relax and get away from his council pressuring him to marry and have an heir conceived. As he winked at the women, who giggled in turn, he remembered the councilmen telling him if he didn't come back with a woman of his choosing, they would chose a noblewoman, meaning they would auction up their daughters for money and fame and an even higher position in his court, for him.
Like any red-blooded male who saw a pretty female who expressed interest in him, he started talking to them. The woman flocked to him, rubbed his newly-defined muscles, twirled their hair, blushed and made it obvious they wanted to be the one he chose as his wife and become Fire Lady, however, Zuko knew he wouldn't choose any of the women around him right now. He knew they only wanted him for one thing. As a boy, his mother always told him that his status would attract many females who wouldn't even give him the time of day had he gotten a job as a stable boy - she wasn't wrong.
"Oh Dear Agni, Fire Lord. You're so handsome!" Inwardly, Zuko scoffed. Many people, almost everyone he met, only saw his scar and not him. They didn't even try to get away from him. For so long, his scar became his identity, and most automatically knew him: the banished prince who got burned by his father at age thirteen.
"Ladies, please. I'm just here for a simple vacation not all this attention."
As time flirting and talking with the women grew, he began to hear a soft sound that carried through the wind. Interested, he began to follow the soft voice, which grew a little louder with each step he took. The women scoffed at being pushed aside so easily like a common woman, for the women of the nobility did, like a lot of people in power, think it was their mandate - and birth-right - to have that power and use it as they saw fit without caring about being fair or tyrannical. Most of these women were vain, something Zuko didn't like in any female, and thought of them stuck-up.
The singing voice led him to an area he wasn't familiar with. As a child, he'd been adventurous and traveled the island every chance he got, learning every stream, grain of sand and landform there was to know. Had he not been so enormed with the very alluring voice that very easily rivaled - and surpassed the voice of a mere maiden - he would've taken the time to notice a hidden cove that was covered by a waterfall. He wasn't even fazed when the water drenched his red and golden robes. He had to use his had to wipe his silken black locks out of his eyes. His one good eye widened at what he saw in front of him: a young woman the color of chocolate, which was a rare treat in the Fire Nation, was sitting upon a rock, cloths only covering her intimate places. The young woman looked up to revel eyes the color of the ocean surrounding the island. Or were they the color of the sky?
Zuko didn't know. His only thought was, She's beautiful. He then remembered the stories his mother told him as a boy. Stories of how beautiful women from the Water Tribes would lure men with their voices. They were called sirens. That's what the sailors, if they survived and came back, called them. Some said the women had sharps fangs like swords that could easily tear into human flesh. Some said they had tails, others said they had wings either from their heads or backs. But there was one thing all of the stories had in common: they were all beautiful women with beautiful voices. The woman was water tribe; he could tell from her skin that was tinted a few shades lighter than the soil of the Earth.
The world was separated into four nations: air, water, earth and fire.
Fire benders lived in the Fire Nation under a monarchy. Their 'king' was had the title Fire Lord and was a direct descendant of the Great Dragon Agni. Pale skin and black hair were common in the desert-temperature land to outsiders, who could easily be identified and targeted. The blazing temperatures took time to getting used to for some immigrants. The Water Tribe was the most diverse out of all the nations. The people had many shades of brown skin. Some were light, others dark, and a mixture of in-between. The people were split into two tribes: the Northern Water Tribe, which lived in the North Pole, and Southern Water Tribe, whose people lived in the South Pole. Not all people who lived within any of the two Water Tribes were Water benders, similar to how not everyone in the Fire Nation was a Fire bender.
The Earth kingdom lived in a class system, mixed with one of a monarchy, proud of their green and gold colors. The very first Earth Benders learned from the badger-moles, who were blind. They shaped and molded the Earth Kingdom and built a place called Omashu. Earth kingdom citizens were tan, compared to Fire Nation citizens, yet not as dark as Water Tribesmen. Finally, there were the Air Benders. Like the element they controlled, air, they moved freely like water and never stayed in one place. Their hearts told them to follow in what they believed in. They believed in peace and growing humanity's pure light. They weren't violet people - something that the world could use now more than ever. They didn't believe in eating meat, for they believed everything has a life. They dressed in light-weighing and orange clothing, wanting, needing to be free and following the wind's path.
Zuko wondered which Tribe the women in front of him belonged to. Their eyes met. Zuko's lips parted, but before he could get out any words, the young women jumped from her place on the rock and into the sea. The word, "Wait!" came out of his mouth quickly, like a thirsty man rushing towards an oasis in a desert. But it came too late. Zuko ran into the water after her, splashing and trying to find her. But for the life of him, he couldn't. The song ran through his mind, making him crazed to find her. The same young woman was only a few feet under him, watching, calculating her next move.
The young woman, now in the water, took on her true form as a siren. Her bindings diminished from her like paper deteriorating in water. Her chest became barren and she quickly covered it up as her legs squeezed shut together, morphing into a tail. As she hid behind a long seaweed plant she felt something come over her, possessing her to look up from the deep bottom of the ocean. It was a light blue at the top, and she could see a patch of the water glowing a whitish-yellow color. She made sure to stay away from that part incase the young man tried to use that to see her. She tilted her head, curious, before swimming home, thinking about the stranger. She opened her mouth and sang:
Imtheochaidh soir is siar
A dtainig ariamh
An ghealach is an ghrian
Fol lol the doh fol the day
Fol the doh fol the day
Imtheochaidh an ghealach's an ghrian
An Daoine og is a chail 'na dhiadh
Fol lol the doh fol the day
Fol the doh fol the day
Fol lol the doh fol the day
Fol the doh fol the day
Imtheochaidh a dtainig ariamh
An duine og is a chail ne dhiadh
Fol lol the doh fol the day
Fol the doh fol the day
A/N: Thank you for reading, and I really hope you like this story and review. I'm really interested with tales of the Siren and it seems like there isn't enough fanfiction about Katara being a siren, which really irks me because there are amazing writers on this website.
Songs of the chapter:
1. Loreley by Blackmore Night.
2. Harry's Game by Celtic Woman.
Translation:
I will go east and go west
(To the places) from whence came
The moon and the sun
The moon and the sun will go
And the young man
With his reputation behind him
I will go wherever he came from -
The young man with his reputation behind him