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A/N: Prompt number one. Serendipity. (Serendipity: Discovering something nice while trying to find something else.)
The Western Air Temple was quiet, the only sound to be heard was the stomping of Katara's feet as she tracked down the firebender, a pair of his discarded pants trapped in her hands. Zuko had left an old pair of pants laying on his bed, and a certain Momo had decided to borrow them and drop them in the soup she had been making. The lemur in question had been given a proper scolding about pants and soup. Now it was time to yell at the firebender who owned the pants. Of course, it hadn't been Zuko's fault that Momo was a thief, but this detail was not going to stop the waterbender from yelling at him. He had probably done something evil and Zuko like when she hadn't been looking and deserved a scolding anyways.
Rounding the corner, Katara stopped at the sight that greeted her. Zuko was walking towards her, a slightly frustrated look over his facial features, while her brother was bouncing along side him with a wide grin. The two had wandered off earlier in what Sokka refereed to as a 'manly bonding experience.' Knowing her brother this involved something having to do with hunting, fishing, trapping, or meat in general. Knowing Zuko, the bonding experience turned into an awkward mess with failed fishing. Knowing the two of them, they caught nothing and probably scared all the animals away while goofing off. Katara's suspicions involving failed hunting/fishing/trapping were true when she noticed that the boys came back with nothing.
That wasn't necessarily true in Zuko's case though. Trailing in a single file line behind him, was a group of what appeared to be baby turtleducks. As they came closer, not noticing Katara's presence, Zuko would stop, turn around and glare at the lead turtleduck as if trying to scare it away. This plan failed, because the moment Zuko turned to look at them, the ducks would freeze and stare at him in awe. He would sigh, something told Katara that the ducks had heard this sigh many times while following him, continue walking, and the ducks would follow. It seemed this little dance had occurred multiple times on the way back, because each time Zuko stopped, Sokka stopped too and shock his head while grinning.
"Face it Mama Zuko," Sokka's grin was coming close to touching the edges of his ears, "they love you!"
"Did you just call me Mama Zuko?" The firebender raised an eyebrow. He shifted his gaze over at the tanned boy beside him.
"You are the one with little babies," Sokka responded shifting his gaze at the turtleducks before turning them back onto Zuko. "Nothing like little turtleducks to make you feel tough and manly."
"Was that sarcastic?" Zuko in pure confusion of the previous comment. Katara couldn't help but shake her head.
"Yes. Mommy." Sokka gave Zuko a playful shove at the end of his sentence. The turtleducks behind them started quacking loudly at the boy in response. "Look," Sokka seemed unfazed by the now angry turtleducks, "they're protecting their mommy. Wait until the others see this. Katara is going to flip. Oh, hi Katara!"
Zuko snapped his head up instantly from gazing at the ducks trying to protect him and looked apprehensively at Katara standing before them, his soup covered pants still in her hands. 'What is going on," she asked narrowing her eyes at the firebender in an intimidating glare. She, surprisingly, wasn't angry with the two boys at the moment; how can you be angry at someone who has a protective line of turtleducks behind them. But watching Zuko flinch under the glare was alright with Katara.
"We went to go manly bonding," Sokka defended, "and we scared all the fish-"
"And everything else for that matter," Zuko muttered under his breath. Sokka shot him a glare for interrupting but continued.
"-away when we fell into the river. But for some reason, these turtleducks took a liking to Zuko and followed us back here."
Katara could only stare wide eyed at the turtleducks who were now crowding around Zuko's feet to get a better look at what wa going on. She will emit, Zuko looked rather cute and pathetic with the turtleducks all climbing around his feet. They just looked up at him with these big black eyes, and their little faces seemed to smile at him. It was all a happy moment. Katara almost forgot the reason she had been looking for Zuko to begin with. But feeling the soaked fabric in her hands she remembered. Turtleducks or no turtleducks, she was going to yell at him for leaving his pants out for Momo to ruin dinner with. He was an accomplice to the soup ruining.
"Well while you were off playing mommy," Katara shifted her gaze from the ducks up at Zuko. A frown spread over his face at the word mommy. "Momo used your filthy pants to ruin dinner with. Now thanks to your inability to put your clothes away, we have no soup for tonight. And since neither of you caught something, all we'll have tonight is the white rice I packed before we left Camelion Bay."
"I can solve the dinner issue," Sokka raised his eyebrows before looking down at the turtleducks still glaring at him. "There are eleven of us here, and ten turtleducks. Aang doesn't eat meat so that leave on for each of us." Sokka made a move at the lead turtleduck, who Katara was sure was growling at him, but stopped whenever a pale hand slapped his away. Katara was about to protest her brothers turtleduck dinner idea, but someone beat her to it.
"You are not eating my turtleducks!' Zuko was very defensive about the ducks. He picked up the growling turtleduck, Katara was sure this one was the leader of the pack, and held him close to his chest. The turtleduck stopped growling at Sokka the moment in cuddle in Zuko's arms. "What is wrong with you? Turtleducks aren't meant to be eaten. They are meant to swim, be feed and occasionally one will let you let you pet and love on it. Who eats a turtleduck? That's like eating a human baby! Tell him Katara, he listens to you."
Katara wasn't sure how Zuko connected turtleducks to human babies, but she did agree with him on the no eating rule. She didn't know if it was the large eyes that stared at both her and Zuko in awe, or the lead turtleduck who was nuzzled up in Zuko's arm, that made her side so strongly. But she was against the now eating rule. "Zuko's right on this Sokka. We are not eating the turtleducks."
"Thank you," Zuko nodded at Katara before tilting his head back to the duck in his arms. "Lets get you and the others back to your river before your mommy comes and eats me. Alright Fender?" The turtleduck quacked once, the others at Zuko's feet quacked as well, before Fender laid his little yellow head on Zuko's elbow.
"Fender?" Katara and Sokka muttered together looking at the now named turtleduck Zuko was holding. The firebender didn't answer, just turned and walked back the way he had came with the ducks still following. Sokka chuckled quietly before running off the other way, most likely to tell either Toph or Aang about Zuko and his little turtleducks.
Katara stayed and watched Zuko's retreating figure. She couldn't help but smile at the way the ducks were all bouncing around his feet. All of her worried and fears of the firebender fell away as she watched the cute and pathetic party leaving. She couldn't help but smile.
-oOo-
The ended! Well... Happy Zutara Week! As usual I am unprepared and wrote this the morning of day one! Because that is how I role.
The one I was going to use didn't work quite right so I had to start over, and Mama Zuko was just too cute to pass up.
Day one of Zutara week down. Six more prompts to write for!
