Four Seasons
Disclaimer – ATLA does not belong to me. Damnit…
Word Count – 499 (total for all 4 drabbles)
Warnings – Zutara, with a hint of Kataang
First Version/Published May 2006, Revision/Final Edition September 2007
This was (originally) written near the beginning of Season 2 when it was aired, and I have edited it for better wording.
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It was in winter that they first came face to face and their attitudes towards eachother reflected the snow and ice that surrounded them.
To her he was a bastard Prince, a part of the faceless enemy that had affected her life so greatly. To him she was a stubborn peasant, one of a faceless multitude that he would rule over one day. They were obstacles to the other, obstacles in their goal for what they deemed their own happiness.
Both of them were cold to the other as they pursued their similar but separate goals, denying the thaw that would inevitably come around at the end of every season of cold.
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In the spring their love bloomed hesitantly, like the flowers that struggled through the thawing earth.
To her he was an enigma, a puzzle that would only make itself work for her only if she could figure out how to do so. To him, she was a promise, an assurance that he did deserve better and she would be the one to show him. Both were filled with mystery and hope for the other, and for their now shared quest.
Like the flowers, they did not forget the ice that once surrounded them. But they also looked to the warmth and the promise that the warmer days brought them.
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In the summer they sought relief from the heat, from both outside and inside, and found release within one another.
To her he was heat incarnate, everything she had sought for during the cold days of her childhood. To him she was cool, the soothing relief that he had been seeking for so long. Both knew that they were the perfect complement to their partner, cold and hot, tempering the other.
The days grew warmer as the end of summer approached and the element that belonged to the season only intensified.
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The anxiety that had increased as summer had gone on was now gone, and the cool days of autumn came to give him relief. He had moved through the inferno and survived – and now he was the Fire Lord.
To her, he was a pillar of strength – one that the seasons had only hardened and made more powerful, a man truly fit to rule a Nation. To him, she was the one who had given him strength – she had listened to him, gave him a soothing touch and encouragement, she had given him what he needed and more.
Like the leaves that whirled around the courtyard and the streets, she was blown around by the wind, and disappeared before he could grab onto her. The wind had carried her far, far away and even he, the mighty Fire Lord, could not command nor control the wind.
But the wind would die down, and winter would come. The seasons would go on as they always had, and when spring came around, the wind would carry her back. And this time, he would hold onto her.