Author's Note: This is the first time I've been in the Avatar fandom but I've always loved the Zutara pairing. Not sure if I can actually bring justice to it, since this was just something I randomly wrote in math class and then typed up whimsically using a crappy word processor that doesn't even have spell check. Just please review, or follow, or something. Thank you.
-oOo-
CHAPTER1
Houses and fields seemed to launch past her as she maintained her line of vision out the smudged glass. The rapid streaks were slowly decomposing her ability to focus on each individual form, but she could still decipher the changes that had taken place since she left the place she had once called home. As if going through a time warp of some sort, the roads grew less distinct, the buildings less tall, the structures less crowded. She couldn't help but note that the place from which she had departed was different, so completely polar from her destination that she could barely imagine what it would look like.
Her mind retreated to its familar memories, playing out flashes of tall, glassy edifices that stretched out to kiss the sky. The way that they had sparkled and reflected the incoming sunlight reminded her of ice. As a child, her mother would tease her and tell her that they were going home to their palace of ice and snow; perhaps that was why she still could not believe that they were leaving that place that had played host to many of her earliest and final memories of her mother. The land of frozen love and affection was forever barred to her, she had thought as her father told them of their forced eviction from her beloved "ice-palace."
But with the inherent optimism that had always blessed her character, Katara embraced the thoughts of a foreign environment made of straw and wood instead of clinging to the glass and metal she had grown so attached to for her sixteen years. It was all but a facade, she knew, but after her mother had died she could only feign strength if only for her father and brother's sakes.
Blue eyes wearily traced equally blue skies, revealing the true turmoil under the smiles and cheer she had painted upon her caramel skin. But when she sensed a light tap on her shoulder, Katara's mask was on once more.
"Are you sure you're okay, Katara?" the boyish voice of her companion was tinged in concern.
She averted her face from the rapidly changing scenery that could be seen through the car window to properly answer her friend.
He was small in stature, but his lack of height belied his large capacity for love and empathy. Aang, her best friend, was a boy with a warm heart and wide curious gray eyes. If she were forced to describe him with three words, they would be good, honest, and kind. He embodied many of humanity's most valued traits, earning him the respect and love from everyone he encountered. She had never seen him lose his temper or his impartiality; to her, he was a being that seemed otherworldly, like some enlightened spirit stuck in the human world. Too good to be true, she had thought when he comforted her in times of her deepest sorrows. Even now, Aang remained her pillar of strength as she traversed the unknown.
She flicked a strand of dark hair away from her face, careful not to reveal too much of her melancholy. "I'm fine, Aang. Just sort of worried about feeding all the guys."
Exchanging smiles, they both peered behind their seats and out the back window of the car they rode together. A tired looking Suki waved back from the driver's seat of the van following behind them and Katara could see the rowdiness of the occupants in the vehicle. She made a mental note to recompensate Suki for all the trouble she probably had to put up with from all her tag-alongs.
"You'd better be prepared, little sister. Forget about all those kids, I'm probably going to eat an entire horse after getting there!" Sokka chimed in from the front where he haphazardly steered the car with one tanned hand. In his other hand was a mostly consumed sandwich.
His sister simply snorted, "You just woke up a few hours ago and ate the entire store of bacon I was saving for breakfast for everyone (well, except for Aang). While everyone else was piling your stuff into the moving truck, you were sitting in your car doing crossword puzzles! And that's your fifth sandwich, anyway!"
Sokka waved away her accusations with an extremely dismissive gesture. "Little things, little things! Life lesson – you should brush away these minute details."
Aang, with the strangely anachronistic sageness he possessed, cut in. "But it's the little things that create the bigger happenings of life, Sokka. Without them, nothing would ever just happen."
A sensation chilled through Katara's blood, like icy cold water trickling through her veins. Aang's statement was somehow more than what it seemed... Like a foreboding prophecy, or something. But her lapse was quickly forgotten when there was a sudden swerve and she found herself with an armful of Aang.
Sokka quickly regained control of his car and she noticed that his sandwich was gone.
Figures that he'd lose control of the wheel because he was busy stuffing food into his mouth.
"Hmm... That's weird," muttered her older brother as he peered through his wind shield and saw where they were. "I guess we've arrived?"
Turning off his car, he got out and walked up to the stone walls and curved roof. It looked like a set of large red doors with giant golden knockers that looked a bit like dragons in the distance, but Katara could see that it was meant to be a gate leading to the inner grounds of the estate. Looking at her brother piteously, who was now struggling to pull the greenish bronze handles to open the doors, Katara took a deep breath in preparation. This was her new home...
She got out of her brother's car with Aang in tow, carefully observing the landmarks around the house. Obviously, it had once been a splendid dwelling of some rich lord, but its magnificence was diminished by the ravages of time and neglect. Bamboo and trees were artfully assembled along the wall, and she noticed that the moss climbing the stone and wood was fresh. It had rained recently, but she hadn't noticed the precipitation on her way to the manor at all. Strange as this realization was, Katara waved it away when she heard the tires of another car crush twigs and gravel behind her.
"Nice place," commented a jolly voice, further expressing his admiration with a low whistle. "Some rich guy must've had a real nice life here."
"...And now we're stuck with moving Sokka's dirty laundry into the leftovers of aforementioned rich guy's house," a girl said sourly.
The first speaker didn't really have a retort to add, but the young man standing behind him only snickered at the girl's comment.
"I don't even understand how I was even roped into this anyway," the girl continued, her pale face taking in the faded glory of the chipped crimson doors with stoicness that rivaled a rock. "I was supposed to be at target practice today, Bolin."
"Don't be a downer, Mai!" the brown haired boy said, bending down to put a small bundle of reddish fur onto the stone ground. With a light caress and some encouraging chattering, the thing unfurled, revealing a long-tailed creature striped with white. Its wide little eyes looked up searchingly at its owner and its new surroundings. "Me and Mako skipped training, too. Well, actually Mako asked for permission later... but point is, we're both here to help a mutual friend, right?"
Mako, who was standing behind his younger brother, readjusted his red scarf when the little red-panda scrambled up his body to his shoulder. "Technically, Katara's your classmate... I'm just here because –"
" – you like her homemade tamagoyaki," Bolin interrupted cheerfully. "As do I. And I can never turn down an opportunity to eat something so spectacular for free!"
Mai gave him a look of disdain before a flash of pink caught her arm.
"Mai won't admit it, but she really enjoys Katara's odango!" Ty Lee, Mai's self-appointed best friend, announced. "As for me, I prefer her azuki bean dishes, but that could be just me."
"So is everyone here just bribed by her food?" a sarcastic voice broke in.
All heads turned, including Katara's, when the sharp words rang out into the air. No one had expected the class's loner and quasi-bully, to have accepted Katara's invitation to help out with her moving. Azula was a rare breed of contradictions, all had agreed. With exotic regality and thickly lashed golden eyes, she instantly became popular with the class but her tendency to look down upon others and refusal to associate with her classmates permanently isolated her from them. It was only recently that she had begun to integrate into the ranks of the school through a civil relationship with Katara, the girl that everyone liked. It was an unlikely alliance, but somehow expected as Katara had always been equally kind to all she encountered, no matter how standoffish their personalities.
Azula gracefully slid out of the van like a princess disembarking from her palaquin, her carefully ironed school uniform blowing perfectly in the light breeze. She took her time walking to the red doors, which Sokka was still trying to wrestle open, and briskly took hold of one of the ringed handles. It seemed so easy when she managed to get it open by pushing – Sokka gave a sheepish look – and through that one opening into the estate, everyone could see the buildings that lay behind the gate. With a demeaning look shot at Sokka, Azula strode in confidently as if she herself were the owner of the home.
Everyone else followed through the gate, happy that their legs could finally receive a good stretching after hours of driving in cramped quarters. The more rowdy, outspoken population of the group oohed and aahed at the majestic looking house with the sloped roof and grand pillars, at the small well-house located to the left of the main building, at the guest-house located a bit further away, at the outhouse...
Katara could see that whoever had lived in this house before had obviously taken great pains to match the architecture and land with the rules of fengshui. Water was always facing north and on the left of the viewer, the paths leading up to the houses were always curved, and all the shapes that fell to the eye were regular. She could practically feel the energy that swirled peacefully through the structures, following the paths of wind and water. As dumpy as the formerly abandoned mansion seemed at first, she could appreciate the efforts of one long past.
She watched as her brother scrambled up the stairs of the main house, clutching a rolled up piece of paper in his hands. He coughed for everyone's attention and when no one noticed – or purposely ignored his signals – he began singing with all the great passion and tone-deafness he could muster into one:
"SECRET TUNNEL! SECRET TUNNEL! THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN! SECRET SECRET SECRET SECRET TUNNELLLLL!"
As soon as his final note was struck (and slaughtered), Katara could only try to hide her shame by lowering her face behind her hand. Everyone else seemed relatively in shock. Obviously, they had never had such exposure to such a lack of musical talent before. She watched as Aang remained relatively calm, for his own singing was less than stellar despite his special affinity for dance and rhythm.
Sokka took the opportunity to declare his plans to his companions, who were still trying to muffle out the uncomfortable ringing in their inner ears.
"AHEM!" he added redundantly, his chest still puffing out proudly after his lovely performance. "I'll be doing a role-call so once I call your name, please state your presence! And then, I'll assign you all jobs so we can get done and get the partaay started!"
No one responded to this announcement, but he was undeterred.
"Aang!" he shouted even though the crowd was four or five feet away from him.
Everyone winced except for the ever-jubilant boy, who raised his hand enthusiastically.
"Azula!"
The girl did not look up from her assessment of her perfectly manicured nails. But Sokka took note anyway.
"Bolin!"
"Here, buddy!"
"Mako!"
A rough grunt.
"Ty Lee!"
"Right here, cutie!"
He ignored her greeting when he felt the burn of another girl's glare.
"Suki!"
"Present."
"Mai!"
"Just stop your screeching before I throw a knife at you –"
"Jet and your cronies!"
"HEY, we ain't his cronies!" Smellerbee, the questionably female member of Jet's posse spoke up.
Jet himself simply chewed his stalk of dried grass, playing it cool while still sneaking covert glances at Katara.
"Shaddap! You aren't gonna be fed anyway," Sokka waved them off, glaring at Jet.
"Katara and I are here for sure, so check and check."
He flipped the papers over so an agenda was etched on the white surface before his eyes. He paired up the entire group with as much tact as his diplomatic self could, matching personalities and suited tasks to each. In short, he was making sure that his sister ended up with only girls and possibly Aang. When he voiced his decisions to the population, he received their compliments for his talents.
"WHAT THE FU-! I AM NOT WORKING WITH HIM –"
"But I wanna work with you, Sokka-poo – "
" – I am not cleaning the outhouse – "
" – There is no way in HELL I'm touching YOUR underwear!"
As usual, Katara had to break up the impending rebellion on their hands. Only Sokka could inflame such a passionate argument amongst their friends, she thought as she quickly corrected the task-assignments and partnerships.
Everyone was soon satisfied (or as content as they could be) with the changes and set off to work in different wings of the mansion. This soon only left Aang, Azula, Sokka, and Katara herself at the stone front steps. She bid them farewell and good luck, hoping that Aang's gentle disposition and natural understanding of the human psyche would allow Azula to communicate with him more easily. Sokka, on the other hand, had been trying to weasel out of his own duties so she made him go clean the outhouse instead.
This left her to shift through her personal item-boxes and explore the kitchen of her new house. She knew she'd have to spend hours there preparing the pay-off all her classmates had expected in return for their physical labor... It wasn't as if they used her just for her culinary skills, but why else would they have journeyed so far into this obscure corner of the country to re-scatter stagnant dust and lift heavy boxes? Her friends truly loved her, she knew, but bribery could only make things better on both sides.
Sighing with exasperated anticipation for her task, Katara rolled up her sleeves and entered her new home, pondering over which dishes to serve to her companions.
-oOo-