AN: I'm going to attempt to do the 100 prompts Zutara challenge, honestly, I have no clue how this is going to go or how long it's going to take so bear with me. Of course I don't own ATLA, otherwise the pairings would have been different.
He was trapped and he knew it. Fire Lord Zuko was not one to give up. As a young teenager he had been set out to capture the Avatar, a mission that had been deemed a wild chase, but not once had he faltered. He had chased Aang and the rest of the group through the nations by boat, ostrich-horse, and on foot and battled various masters. Technically he had joined their group in the end but he did capture the Avatar as a life-long friend and, as he proudly liked to remind his children when they started talking about how cool their Uncle Aang was, he had managed to capture the Avatar's teacher, friend, and crush. Of course this proud claim usually ended in the children scrunching their faces up in disgust as their parents kissed or adopting confused looks at the possibility of their mother and Uncle Aang being together. The one thing that was consistent, besides Zuko's need to regain or talk about his honor, was that he never gave up.
Then he met his wife who slowly became the exception, and then his children had been born and he had decided that it must be some genetic thing she had passed on. He found himself giving up quite a bit after that. He gave up the majority of the bed which Katara seemed to dominate regardless of the largeness of the bed or her own small size. He usually ended up giving his desert to his children or Katara depending on which sweet treat it was. He couldn't even remember the last time he had said no to their requests; massages, piggy back rides, and even making fire figures to act out plays. Truthfully he wasn't even sure if he had said no, so it shouldn't have been a surprise when his eldest daughter asked him to tell them a bedtime story and he found himself unable to say no.
She had refused a story from the pile of books in her room; it didn't matter if they were gathered from all of nations she had already memorized all of them. No, Crown Princess Kira had demanded that her father tell her a new story, one that she hadn't heard before. Now this wasn't unheard of, when Iroh was around she practically followed him everywhere and even waited patiently while he made tea just to hear all of his new stories, even her Uncle Sokka had funny stories and for a while she had adored the stories Aunt Suki had and how they came with a performance or had the story painted on fans. When the others went back to their homes however and Kira grew tired of the stories she had already heard it was usually Katara that managed to make up new stories for her. Really Zuko had been quite lucky to have escaped for seven years; apparently his luck had run out.
He was ready to ask her if she wanted her mother who was tucking in her younger brother Ryuu to tell her a story but in her world that would clearly take far too long and was silly since Zuko was already there and could tell her a story. He was trapped and under her watchful golden gaze he knew he had no chance of escape. Unfortunately his daughter had managed to inherit her father's determination and her mother's stubborn ways; neither one had thought it possible but she had managed to surprise them with how dead set she was in her ways even at such a young age.
"Tell me about how you and mommy met."
He wasn't sure if this was a demand or she was simply taking pity on her poor father who had been piecing together a story about a turtle duck named Lee, he hadn't gotten very far in his story. Sitting up in her bed she adjusted herself and her polar bear dog toy, quite originally named Snow, and patted the spot usually reserved for the story teller on her bed. Now that he had a starting point he felt a bit more relieved, at least he wouldn't be forced to make up names, he would just have to figure out how to keep himself from sounding like the fool he had been.
"You thought Gran Gran was the Avatar because she was old? Daddy, did you know that was rude?"
Her eyes widened and he could see the ring of blue in her eyes surrounded by the gold, his own little blue fire. He quickly had to back peddle and explain that he hadn't been thinking properly at the time and had been a very angry young person. Quietly he hoped that his youthful anger had been solely due to his circumstances and wasn't a glimpse of what he had to expect when his own children became teenagers.
"You kidnapped Uncle Aang and then he escaped? But daddy, he's so easy to catch when we're playing tag; he's always by the sweets or picking fruits."
Now she looked offended at the idea that someone could beat her dad. Yes, Uncle Sokka was funnier and Uncle Aang could bend all four elements and had Appa but still, her dad was the Fire Lord and in her opinion one of the best people ever, even if his tea still wasn't that good. Once again a flustered Zuko tried to explain just how this had happened and that was complete with arms movements that would have suited Sokka better.
By the end of the story her arms were crossed across her chest and she was pouting in concentration that was pure Katara. All Zuko could do was wait as his daughter worked through the story he had told her, complete with pauses, explanations and odd acting outs of parts in which Snow and some of her other toys had been borrowed. He took the time she was deliberating to try and figure out if he had succeeded in not making himself look like a total fool, taking the voices he had adopted while acting out scenes with her stuffed animals into consideration he wasn't sure if he had.
"So you attacked mommy's village, Uncle Sokka insulted Aunt Suki, Aunt Toph beat Uncle Jae in a bending match, and Uncle Aang knocked over Aunt Kali while chasing after Momo, but you all got married."
Kira listed off the relationships and he nodded along while feeling a bit more foolish with every nod.
"I would never marry Jeong Lee and he just pulls on my hair."
She mentioned the son of one of the noble families that sometimes visited with his parents. Zuko had been quite proud of the fact that his daughter was a better bender than the little boy and had automatically disliked him; he hadn't exactly been fond of Jeong Lee's father when they had been growing up.
"Adults are weird. I really don't understand why any of you got married. Uncle Sokka didn't give mommy any of that cactus juice did he?"
She asked the last part carefully and raised an eyebrow in a way that would have made both Katara and Sokka proud. Zuko made a mental reminder to talk to his dear brother in law about what stories he happened to be telling his children. Flustered yet again, although really it seemed as if he simply happened to be going through different levels of being flustered instead of ever loosing that flustered state, he attempted to calm his daughter's worries and confusion.
"Remember when we went to visit mommy's home with you for the first time?"
Zuko questioned in return and was determined not to talk about the cactus juice or let his mind wander to what embarrassing stories about Sokka he might let slip, there were plenty to be sure. Kira nodded but didn't seem to know where this was going, then again that had been her opinion during most of his story.
"You didn't like it at first because it was cold and different and because the sun wasn't behaving as it normally does here."
She nodded again and he tried not to remember how she had grumbled and cried when she hadn't been able to produce her usual flames and hadn't been able to sleep as well because the sun had remained in the sky for longer than normal. Her grumpiness had made Katara feel even worse because at that time they had been juggling Kira and Ryuu who had been two at the time. Zuko hadn't exactly enjoyed the beginning of the trip either but had secretly been hoping that they would be able to leave sooner, he hadn't exactly been happy with the odd sun movements either and had been tempted to join his four year old daughter in pouting.
"Then you got used to the snow and when we had to leave you were sad because you had made friends and wanted to play in the snow more."
Kira was looking at him cautiously while he tried to pull out his inner Iroh, without all of the tea references.
"Our relationship was similar. At first we didn't like each other at all, but when we started to learn more about each other we found out we had a lot in common. We became allies, and then friends, and finally we found out that we liked each other as more than friends. So you see my little firecracker, it wasn't the beginning that was important, it was that we worked past it and didn't let our first opinion of each other keep us from actually learning about each other."
She didn't look confused or traumatized in any way; so far this was looking good. Kira seemed to think a bit more about what he had said and even pet Snow as she did so. Zuko watched her carefully and really hoped that he had made sense, too many of his Uncle's lessons had gone by unheeded and misunderstood due to odd comparisons and at the time dull stories. It really would have saved him a lot of time and pride if he had paid better attention at the time.
"Ok daddy, I understand."
He had taken part in ending a war, reclaimed the throne, led the Fire Nation to peace that hadn't existed in far too long, and everyday he managed to juggle his work and family all while retaining his sanity. At that moment though none of it mattered because the only thing that really mattered was that he hadn't messed up his Uncle Iroh influenced advice and hadn't scarred his daughter with the story of how he had first met her mother.
"But daddy, what about sea prunes? How come mommy makes me try them every time but you don't have to?"
She was looking up at him innocently but he was starting to worry about whatever politicians would be around during her reign, at least he had already surrendered to the fact that his children had him wrapped around their fingers. Sighing in defeat he helped her move back into a lying position and tucked her in with Snow.
"Sea prunes are like Jeong Lee, the first impression is the right one. I'll make sure you don't have to eat any more, promise."
She lit up at his words as she cuddled her polar bear dog toy. Tucking a strand of her dark brown hair behind her ear he smiled as well before placing a kiss on her forehead and receiving one in return on his cheek.
"Sleep well Princess. Do you want to extinguish the lights?"
He questioned as he made his way to the door and she nodded from her spot. Shifting slightly she blew in the direction of the last lamp that was working and easily extinguished the flame.
"Goodnight daddy."
She managed to call out before he closed the door behind him and started to head towards his own bedroom. His shoulders drooped slightly as he allowed himself to be affected by his long day. Hopefully this wasn't the beginning of his story telling career, it would be a painful and awkward one for him if it was. Then again it could get better as he had explained to his daughter; he could always tell his children and his niece and nephew when they came to visit about Sokka's reunion with Hawky. It would after all explain several things; why Sokka was cautious about growing facial hair, why he glared when he saw hawks, and just how he had received the scar above his lip. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all, as long as none of his children asked him about Ba Sing Se, or cactus juice.
