Arranged

Written for Probending Circuit (Round 4).

Team/Position: Red Sands Rabaroos/Earthbender
Prompts: (Color) Brown | (Location) North Pole | (Quote) "Fear is only as deep as the mind allows" - Japanese Proverb
Word Count: 1501

Note: This is written for the character Katara and the fear of Abandonment. Please enjoy!

Katara had one memory of her mother. The day she died.

She couldn't remember much of her mother from her own memories- though her father had plenty to tell- but she did know that on that day, Katara would have rather died than lose her mother. Only a few years later, she lost her father.

He didn't die, but he went off to war. For all Katara knew, he could have died only days after their departure. Of course, they would have gotten word about it, but Katara had no real idea until she saw him in flesh and blood.

It was his leaving for war that made her angry at him when he returned to them. Hakoda knew Katara and Sokka still mourned the loss of their mother, but had still decided to lead their people against the Fire Kingdom. Yes, the Southern Water Tribes needed Hakoda, but Katara and Sokka needed him too.

Now, Katara stood alone in the North Pole. Engaged to be wed to a man she did not know aside from how he looked and how he spoke. The only real comfort was that his skin held the same brown tone as her mother.

"You look beautiful," the old woman said to her, fixing her hair loops for her. "Aklaq's jaw will drop when he sees you."

"Thank you," she had mumbled quietly; her mind was more focused on the far future than the near future.

Katara enjoyed this memory. She had felt so afraid that day. Afraid she would not love Aklaq, afraid that she would disappoint her people, afraid that she would love Aklaq but he would leave her. Yet, the old woman, Naka, would not let her worry.

Naka gave her a gentle smile. "What's on your mind, my snowflake?" Her wrinkled hands clasped around Katara's; it was a startling contrast of her younger, darker skin to Naka's own which was lighter and aged.

"I never thought I would ever agree to an arranged marriage," she admitted. "It's not who I am. It's patriarchal! I know I'm here to join the tribes again, but there are so many things to go wrong."

A small laugh made Katara look up from their hands in astonishment. The waterbender couldn't believe Naka was laughing at her fears. "Fear is only as deep as the mind allows, Snowflake."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean they don't exist," she exasperated.

"So many things could go wrong when you wake up in the morning," she mused, turning around to adjust the knick-knacks on her table. "You could trip and fall. You could hit your head on the doorway. You could miss a bad penguin-otter egg and end up sick for the rest of the day. But does that normally happen?"

Katara shook her head.

"Who's to say all these bad things in your head will happen either?" Naka turned to her to stare her into the eyes. "Take this patriarchal concept and make it your own, Snowflake. Make it turn out right for yourself and crush your fears."

If only it were that simple, was what Katara was thinking. Still, she held onto Naka's words with all her life because that was all that was going to get her through this marriage.

Aklaq was a nice man. There was more to him than his soothing skin tone. He respected her, which was the most important part, and took the time to listen to her ideas on issues that arose. Aklaq was a romantic; once he and Katara had gotten comfortable with each other, he began to surprise her with gifts and dates.

He had taken her to a beautiful spot in the middle of nowhere in the North Pole. It was an hour's hike, but his cheerful tone kept Katara going. It was worth the walk and they camped there to look at the lights all night. That was the first time she fell asleep in his arms.

Katara got pregnant a year into their marriage. Consummation was important to the Water Tribes; their population had rapidly fallen during the war. But Katara waited until she felt comfortable enough to doing something so intimate with him. They had a beautiful baby girl who Katara named after her late mother: Kya.

Her father, though he lived in the South, had come often to see her through the first two years and Sokka moved from the North Pole to Kyoshi Island a few months after the baby was born. However, she had new friends, a child to raise, and a husband who she was best friends with, if she did not yet love him. It seemed Katara would not be so alone in the North Pole.

Katara knew when she had first realized she did love Aklaq. He was holding Kya, dancing with her around the living room, singing some silly song that had no rhythm or pattern. Kya had begun babbling along with his song, making him laugh. And when Katara heard the hearty sound and watched the love in his eyes, it made her realize her heart soared when she was near him.

And she wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

Aklaq was Yue's cousin. The next in line for Chief of the Water Tribes. Yue's father stepped down from his position early in life; his wife had died of an illness no one could stop and his grief and the workload was too much to bear for him. Katara encouraged Aklaq to accept the position early. Their son, Yuken, had just been born, but Katara was happy to see her husband succeed.

She helped often with his work, providing insight of her travels as a teenager and her good relations from her friends around the world she still wrote to. Aklaq never once doubted her advice.

The troubles didn't begin until their third child, Naka- named for the woman who had passed away that year-, was born. By then Kya had to begin her waterbending training. Aklaq, who had been raised in the Northern Water Tribe, insisted that she begin her training with the other girls in healing. Katara, who found fighting much more enjoyable than healing, wanted her daughter to learn simple fighting skills first. And she remembered Naka's words: that she should take this patriarchal concept and make it her own.

In the end, Kya was put in both classes- though she ended up a bit slower than the others-, but this created an odd rift between Katara and Aklaq that had never existed before. In a way, that rift had never been healed. There was always a tense air between the couple afterwards; it was as though it was the first time they had seen into each other's heads.

When the time to name an heir came, Katara believed the answer was simple: Kya. As first-born, she had her right.

Aklaq, on the other hand, took the more traditional approach. Yuken was their first-born son. It was always in order of the Chief's first-born son to first-born daughter to the nearest relative's first-born (once again, son was preferred). After all, Aklaq had an older sister despite him being named heir.

Katara wouldn't accept it. She couldn't. Kya was equally as capable of becoming Chief as Yuken was. Her lack of a penis should mean nothing. That was the second time Aklaq doubted her opinions and he did not accept them.

Aklaq changed for her which broke her heart because she did love him despite their differences. Aklaq no longer wanted to listen to her rants or stories and he no longer shared his own. Katara became an accessory of the house to him. Her husband was abandoning her in her own home.

No matter what Katara said, Aklaq would not listen to her. He had chosen the businessman over the family man.

Chief Aklaq of the Northern Water Tribe has a requested a separation from Master Katara of the Southern Water Tribe.

The scroll had been left at her door. Aklaq had not come home for a week and he had taken Yuken with him. The message made Katara tear up, but it was not too surprising for her. Since he had heirs, the divorce was already approved by the elders and all that was required was Katara's signature.

She did it before she could convince herself not to. She would not let her love distract her from having a purpose in life.

Except Katara did not realize what signing the document meant. Aklaq would get to keep the children and she was cast out of the Northern Water Tribe.

Those weeks passed by without Katara being aware. The trip back to her childhood home felt more like a trip to a prison. There was little to look forward too.

Sokka and Hakoda were no longer her family. They were people she loved but not people she feared would leave her.

Those people had already left. Katara was alone and abandoned.