This is for a competition on DeviantArt, but i thought I'd post it here for you guys too. The prompt was that it had to be Zutara, and it had to have the season of Autumn.
Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA.
"Come on, leaves. Fall. Please? For me?"
The edge of frustration in her voice could've cut through mountains, but Katara tried not to show it in any other way. Even in her early twenties, the waterbender was still known for having quite the fiery temper, even though waterbending was not about anger. It was about flow, balance, pushing, and pulling. It was through patience that a river carved its way through a canyon, not through frantic attacks. If she remembered that, surely Katara could get it to work.
Rumor had it that not even the swamp waterbenders could bend the leaves off the trees when autumn came. After all, the leaves died and lost their water around that time, which is why they fell off to begin with. There was no reason to bend them off the branches, but just out of curiosity, it was apparent many had tried. None had succeeded.
But Katara couldn't let such a word as 'none' send her away. So, when the meeting with the Earth King had paused for a break, she had rushed outside to the garden where the leaves still clung persistently. Zuko followed, forever intrigued by the waterbender's activities, though the fact that watching Aang perform his marble trick was the only other option might have influenced his decision. And, ever the faithful uncle, Iroh would amble after his nephew with a warm pot of tea and a set of cups stowed within the voluminous sleeves of his robes.
"Why don't you just wait? They'll fall off eventually," Zuko pointed out from his spot beneath a stone room composed only of majestic arches for walls and a green-shingled cone on top for a roof. A wooden table standing low to the ground acted as his uncle's tea serving station. Only a fool would resist, so it was no surprise that Zuko had situated himself within an archway to tease the master bender instead.
Katara shot him a steely glare, teeth grinding against each other. "Why don't you just stop trying to bend lightning? It'll storm eventually," she shot back.
"Because there are no guarantees that anything will happen eventually. Because you can never succeed unless you try. Because watching things unfold is never quite the same as unfolding them yourself," Iroh responded as he poured out his tea.
Zuko looked over his shoulder at his uncle, who was now eying the steam as it wove its way up into the rafters. "How do you do it?"
"Do what? Say things that have double meanings without even having to think about it?" Iroh asked.
"No, how do you- there was a double meaning to that?" Zuko blinked as he tried to think over his uncle's words once more, but in the world of evaluation Zuko tended to flounder, so he came up empty.
Katara, on the other hand, giggled and went back to her work, muscular shoulders more relaxed than before as she continued her attempts, experimenting with different hand motions and expressions to coax the leaves from their wooden beds. Clearly she had gotten something from Iroh's words that Zuko had not, and the prince was now determined to discover it. So he set to work staring at her, though if asked he would've said it was analyzing. Not that anyone would be familiar with Zuko's interpretation of analyzing, as it seemed to involve tracing Katara's sky-blue tunic and how it hugged her tiny waist and her full hips, or carefully following every flick of her creamy brown arms, skin gliding over hard-earned muscles.
"Did you just come to ogle me, Your Majesty?" Katara teased without even turning to glance at him.
Zuko instantly straightened, pink leaping to his cheeks as he frantically adjusted his thick crimson robes and pretended the new color on his face was from the cooler weather. "I'm j-just trying to figure out what makes your leaf bending so hard," he stammered, losing his royal air in a matter of seconds.
Katara twisted to face him without shifting her feet, spinning one of her mahogany hair loops between her fingers as she arched a brow at him. "Really?" she asked, a secret tucked within corner of her lips that Zuko couldn't decipher. All he knew was that despite the cold he felt a flame growing inside of him.
"Yes," he insisted, stiffening his determined expression. "You can bloodbend people, can't you? Why not a couple measly leaves?"
The promise of trouble vanished from her face at the mention of bloodbending. Instantly Zuko was fumbling to fix his words. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it," he apologized, stumbling forward and reaching for her shoulders. She let him embrace her, resting her head on his chest to hide her smile.
"You apologize too much. So long as you don't turn into your father I'll forgive you. You've done enough redeeming. Start living won't you?" Katara proposed. She pulled away from him, resting a hand on his scar. "You've done good. This is a mark to show how strong you are. You know that right?"
Zuko smiled, settling a hand atop hers. "Yeah. You make sure to remind me," he reminded her.
"What good would a Fire Lord be if no one reminded him of how good he is?" Katara teased. "I just have to make sure in case General Iroh is too busy making tea to remind you. Though I'm sure he's doing a great job, right General Iroh?" the ambassador called to Iroh.
"How many times can I tell you to call me Uncle Iroh, Katara?" the elder called back.
Katara smiled before looking back at Zuko and nodded. Then she pushed away, turning back to the trees. "It's difficult because bending plants is made possible through the water that naturally is stored within plants. But when the leaves fall and die they become dry and lose the water, so there's less to find and control."
"Doesn't sound so bad, but I don't bend water," Zuko observed, shrugging as he watched her return to her previous position.
"It's no lightning, but still a little difficult. Now if you don't mind, I'm not quite sure what's gonna happen so... space?" Katara asked, glancing over at where Zuko stood beside her. He gave a nod and returned to stand within the small building once more and watch. Sending him an encouraging smile, Katara whirled around, closing her eyes and lifting her arms to call to the leaves once more.
"Uncle." It was barely enough of a whisper to carry on the wind, but Iroh heard it.
He cast an eye over at his nephew, hidden partially from his view by the teacup cradled in his gnarled fingers. "Yes, Zuko?"
Zuko wasn't even facing him, warm body still flush against the cool stone of the archway, golden eyes still looking out. Many might have said that the Fire Lord lacked manners, but Iroh knew it to be something different altogether. It was not that Zuko lacked something, but that he had regained something he had once lost.
Not that he would ever tell his beloved nephew that what Zuko had lost had not been his manners, his power, his throne, or his honor. Not something as simple as that.
But his heart.
He'd tried to tell him once before, but Zuko wouldn't hear anything of it. Iroh wasn't so sure he would deny it now; not now that he had it, could feel the emotions pumping through his body side by side with his blood; not now that his feelings sometimes left him frozen to the earth whenever she would turn from him, and other times had him melting into a puddle when her lips would twist into a smile.
Zuko still had yet to continue what he had been saying, the outside world calling for his full attention.
No. Not calling. If Iroh knew anything about the fickle heart and what the outside world contained it was that it never called.
It demanded.
So Iroh waited longer, watching as Zuko's eyes followed after the waterbender. Laughter spilled from her lips as she finally succeeded. Her upheld arms were finally calling forth the yellowing leaves from their branches. They danced around her as the chill wind blew, but it seemed her victory over the stubborn plants had warmed her spirits, and Katara let the wind push her through the clearing as well. She continued to laugh, a smile on her face so bright it glimmered even in her ocean eyes.
And then, when there was no more air within her, Katara simply breathed in the sight around her as the leaves fell because of her power, weaving patterns in the sky she couldn't possibly remember later.
"Uncle," Zuko began again, a laugh of his own escaping as he watched her and forming white clouds before his smiling face. Iroh didn't bother to verbally acknowledge him, instead arching a bushy eyebrow.
"I..."
The prince paused, eying the ambassador once more, and he felt an unexpected calm flow over him like cool water as a realization hit him.
"I'm a lot like those leaves."
Thank you for reading. Constructive criticism and reviews and favs are much appreciated.
Ezzy