His Dark Desire
Chapter 1 "Wandering Thoughts"
"Oh, Zuko, the Avatar and his girlfriend are here." I looked up at the voice of the woman whom I had fallen in love with more than 3 years ago. After the Avatar had defeated my father 3 years ago, I had been crowned Firelord Zuko. A person who ruled all of the Fire Nation and would be looked upon with hatred and fear in the people of other countries eyes.
"Did they bring Appa with them?"I asked remembering the huge, flying bison that had carried so many of my memories with and of the Avatar Aang and his companions.
"I'm not sure, I can't see the beast." Mai hated Appa, she thought it was unhygienic and repulsive.
"Lets go down to meet them." I stood up and walked toward my girlfriend and gently pulled her away from the window where one could see the whole capital city. I led her to the Entrance Hall where Aang and a stunning woman were taking off their wrappings. It was winter, and unusually cold for the normally blistery Fire Nation.
"Zuko," Aang beamed at me, the airbender was always happy and constantly had a smile about him. "How are you? Mai as well, I hope you are not letting the Firelord work too hard." Aang's arrow tattoos along his arms, legs, and across his head looked almost alive in the firelight and seemed extra blue.
"Of course not, actually right now he is in the seat of luxury" Mai drawled her pleasantries with the world's most important man. Even though the Avatar was only 16 years old, he had experienced many things and therefore looked older and wiser than he was.
I finally looked and the woman Aang had brought with him, his 'girlfriend' Mai had said, though Katara was almost 2 years older than Aang. She was wearing blue, symbolizing her as a member of the Water tribes. I knew her to be from the South Pole and there it was always snowing. The blue she wore today though was different then any other robe I had seen her in. In was a deep, dark navy blue and brought out the highlights in her chocolate hair. Her eyes looked extremely relaxed. I immediately thought that she looked as if she had come home.
"Katara, where have you been? Aang was pining after you the entire festival last year, it was a little pathetic." I laughed and she rolled her eyes, "How are you?" I politely led her into small talk, which I knew she hated. Katara preferred to always go straight for the important stuff, things that interested her, things that she could sympathize with, things that she disliked.
Katara blushed and smiled, "I was in the Northern Water Tribe spending time with some of my friends from there, I've actually been appointed as the Intertribe Ambassador of sorts."
"I actually think I heard something about that." I thought back for a moment recalling a letter I had received from the King of the Water Tribes. He had said that he wanted better communication between the North and South Tribes and the rest of the world so Katara became the world-wide, waterbending messenger. "I guess he didn't give you much of a choice, am I right?" I knew the king to be somewhat demanding and always expected and answer to his liking.
"No, not really but, hey, I love the job and since I travel with Aang so much, I have always had plenty of news for how the world is getting along." Katara paused then looked into my eyes, "I'm glad that the Water Tribes have completely forgiven the Fire Nation, If they didn't, well, lets just say that the Fire Nation would have a little extra water this year." She laughed and walked past me to say 'hello' to Mai.
"Avatar Aang, come on and I'll show you to your chambers." I picked up the airbender's yellow coat and walked with him to the middle of the palace, where everything happened. The kitchens were directly off the corridor that led to Aang's rooms and as we passed, we took a long sniff of the amazing smells wafting around. I turned right through a large lobby sort of room that I explained to Aang would be sort of a commons room for any people that would come to talk to him. It had shimmering gold curtains that hung to the side of the ceiling-to-floor windows. The walls had pictures of past Avatars and some of their adventures, the latest of these was Avatar Aang's own story. There were 4 pictures connected together by elaborately carved iron vines.
The first picture was one of a large iceberg with the silhouette of a boy, the next was one of the Northern Water Tribe where he helped defeat the onslaught of Admiral Zhou. The third depicted a huge cavern where a woman was holding the Avatar in her arms and weeping. Finally, the fourth of Aang in the Avatar State, taking away my father's ability to firebend and ultimately ending the war that had gone on for a hundred years. I stared longer at the picture of Katara holding Aang, "I wonder if she is happy with him." Somewhere inside me shook and whispered in my mind "She could never fall in love with a man like him." I jumped at the feeling, and glanced at Aang whose eyes looked like they were far away. "Or somewhere a long time ago." I knew what he was thinking about.
"Aang, I have to show you the rest of the rooms." I gently elbowed the Avatar, who jumped and blinked a couple times.
"Of course," He glanced once more at the quartet of pictures and strode on.
His bedroom was a very comfortable one, the mattress was stuffed with feathers, and covered in silken room was like any other in the palace but it had something else in the feel of it that other rooms lacked. Power. Like the man who would be living in these rooms, it had hidden abilities, such as secret doors that led to almost any passage in the palace, except my quarters.
"Zuko, these rooms are amazing!" The airbender flew around the rooms looking at all the pictures and through the windows. Suddenly Aang stopped, turned around, and gasped, "Momo!" Aang ran back out the doors and towards the barns where we had a stable of sorts made just for Appa. I laughed and walked back to the rooms that Mai was supposed to be showing Katara.
Katara's were special. They were situated above the eastern gardens of the palace. The colors in the rooms were different than any other. There were flashes of blue mingled in with the usual red and gold. I had commissioned one of the palace's best weavers to create a large tapestry that had silvery images of villages, waterfalls and many beautiful lakes. One of the waterfalls was a bright blue and stood out among all the rest.
I found Katara looking at this tapestry when I knocked on her open door. She turned and looked at me with those burning blue eyes and I knew she was going to ask why I had done all of this for her.
"Zuko," She began, I held up my hand for her to stop.
"These will be your rooms whenever you are visiting the Fire Nation. I wanted you to be more comfortable without everything being red." I smiled and Katara gave me one of her half smiles. "I hope you like it."
With that she gave me a real smiled and it made her eyes shine. "She is gorgeous, and has a wonderful mind." I shook the idea out of my head and thought about how beautiful and wonderful my girlfriend was. That made me feel guilty.
Katara walked over to a dresser that had a large mirror hanging over it. The mirror had encrusted snowflakes with bits of sapphires in the middles. She sat down at the cushioned chair and turned to face me. "Yes, I think I will be quite comfortable." I acknowledged her with a nod of my head and walked back out.
Before I crossed the door frame, I looked back and saw her just sitting in front of the mirror. I could see myself in the reflection and my mind played a trick on me. It looked like I was holding her necklace in my hand and she had her own hand placed on mine in a loving caress. I left and shook my head wondering why I should start feeling this way when I had known her for so long.