ANYTHING BUT ORDINARY

PART I

Katara can't figure out how it happened, but almost half a year has passed since she last saw Fire Lord Zuko. She expressed a longing to see him, but the rest of her friends were too busy to take a vacation as promptly as she intended. Soon she packed her bags and bought a ticket on a ship to take her from the Earthen Fire Refinery on Aang's sacred Air Nomad lands to the capitol city of the Fire Nation unaccompanied. The trip across the salty ocean took a few days, giving her enough time to send a letter to Zuko's uncle Iroh about her surprise visit.

She had grown a lot since the Hundred Year War ended two years ago. Taking after her late mother, she was average in height and probably would not grow much taller. But her body still had changes under construction, widening her hips and burgeoning her breasts. She was too preoccupied with her duties to watch her growth, so it would catch her off guard from time to time. A passing compliment, a change in clothing size.

Her almond-shaped eyes were the color of glaciers, highlighted by her warm copper complexion. She tied her long dark hair back in a bun as the Fire Nation was made up of a tropical archipelago of volcanic islands. To further acclimate to the sultry weather, she dressed herself in a breathable teal kimono and bamboo sandals. She would never be seen without her late mother's betrothal necklace. Finally, she arrived at the Fire Nation dock.

Waving farewell to the captain and crew, she exited down the slip to greet general Iroh.

"The sun and I bid you a warm welcome, Katara." Said the elderly man as they bowed to each other. "It has been too long since the Fire Lord has had a social visit."

"How are things?" Katara asked him to elaborate when she joined him in the palanquin.

"Though the situation with Yu Dao has been resolved politically, my nephew is still recovering from exhaustion." sighed general Iroh. "It doesn't help that there are many more towns with Yu Dao's situation."

"Has he collapsed again?" she asked with concern.

He shook his head, "Zuko tends to neglect himself when he's stressed. It's worse when he's left on his own. But, I can always read the health of his mind by how much he eats."

Katara agreed, "He works himself into the earth. Anything that needs his attention gets all of it."

"Oh, I do expect your surprise visit to perk him up," general Iroh said pleasantly. He handed her a package from inside his flowy sleeves when she exited the palanquin at the royal palace. "Here, see to it that he eats these."

Katara peeked inside, finding a dozen mochis decorated like dragons in a rainbow assortment of colors. She beamed at the general, nodded, and they bowed to each other as Zuko approached. She was not the only one who had changed over the last six months. He was still taller and lankier than ever, but his face was only a few pounds away from gaunt. His cheekbones jutted out and his complexion had always been fair.

But now there were gray undertones in the skin beneath his molten-gold eyes. But his hair was still lustrous and black as a raven. Fire Lord Ozai had disfigured the left side of Zuko's handsome face with fire, for merely pointed out the moral failure of Ozai's commanders. Katara knew that if his face were symmetrical, it would be impossible for him to still be single. She had enough admirers to compete with as it is.

"I couldn't believe my uncle when he said you were at the dock!" Zuko beamed down at her. "It's so good to see you. I missed you."

"I missed you, too!" Katara simpered.

When they embraced, she felt his spine beneath the layers of his ornate crimson silks. His jaw felt sharp against her shoulder.

Katara playfully complained, "How can I still be hardly taller than your shoulder?!"

Zuko shrugged, "I eat my Komodo-dragon meat."

Judging by his thinner frame, Katara doubted he ate more than that. She presented general Iroh's homemade sweets with a cheeky smile. Zuko chuckled, glancing over at his uncle riding away in the palanquin. Katara quietly sighed that his face didn't round out when he smiled anymore. He met Katara's eyes, who smiled again, and they laughed some more.

He held the package in one hand and offered his arm for her to hold as he led her through his palace to the turtle-duck garden.

"My uncle spoils me," Zuko took one of the dragon mochis, admiring the craftsmanship. "He should add sweets to the Jasmine Dragon menu."

Katara bit the head off her mochi and moaned with pleasure, "So good!"

He popped one in his mouth and nodded in agreement, raising his eyebrow. Katara tried not to panic over his dramatic weight loss. It was in her nature to overprotect the people she cared about and strangers who needed help. But she did not want to patronize Zuko. He was almost eighteen years old, practically an adult man.

"How have you been?" she asked, fixing the skirt of her dress around where she sat.

Zuko shook his head, "There are more towns like Yu Dao in the Earth Kingdom. Negotiating the future of the colonials with king Kuei and his 'ancient theories of government' academic' is ongoing." He sighed, "For one hundred years, our economy has had largely to do with the war. Building war ships, tanks, weapons, drills …. Consequently, our coal mining has hurt the environment. Polluting the rivers, thinning our forests, entire ecosystems are going extinct. I agree with the protestors to ban coal mining and transfer those employees to working at factories that make use of water and air for energy. The sun has so much untapped potential." Zuko continued tiredly, "But now there's conflict there. People have constructed their whole lives around metalworking. People refuse the change. Maybe it's too much for them, too soon –"

"I asked how you are doing, Zuko." She interrupted his rhetoric, "Not the world."

"Me?" Zuko shrugged, "… Nothing to report."

"I think you need a break." She said after a pause, laying her hand on top of Zuko's. He met her eyes and she smiled sympathetically, "Let me treat you to dinner."

Zuko stammered, "You don't want to eat inside the palace?"

"Wouldn't it be nice to revel in the country you care so much about?" she laughed at his reaction. "You need to get out. Be a regular seventeen-year-old … without the world on his shoulders."

"I hope you're not expecting anonymity." He indicated his facial disfigurement.

There was little to no chance that Zuko would go unrecognized. But Katara would make sure that he was not bothered.

He thought for a long moment, so Katara added, "For me?"

Zuko finally met her pleading eyes and agreed, "It's a date."