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Chapter I

Let Her Go

Katara ached. Her knees. Her back. Her heart. Here she was, sitting in front of a marriage altar, as an elderly Fire Sage drones on about Agni's journey into the spirit world with his chosen bride. She heard a rustle of fabric next to her and a warm hand clasped her own beneath the low ceremonial table.

Bile rose in her throat as she jerked her hand from the warm calloused fingers, which had entrapped her. She felt his eyes boring into the side of her head. Saw the question in those golden orbs, but kept her eyes firmly fixed on tracing the grains in the mahogany table in front of her.

She hated him. He brought her here. Back to this hellhole, where she would die, never to set foot outside of the gilded cage that he called home.

Zuko had come back, claiming his right to her as his bride, as promised by the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe. Her dead father, were the unspoken words. He'd looked at her after saying that, longing and desperation evident in his gaze. She'd torn her eyes away, choosing to gaze at the wall across from her.

The argument had gone on for days; Sokka had spent hours in the council room with his advisors, poring through the scrolls, looking for a way to relieve Katara from having to pay the price for that bastard and his decision to marry her off to Zuko.

But there are some things that cannot be erased. In this matter, the law was clear. While the marriage was part of an armistice between the Tribe and the Fire Nation, Chief Hakoda had arranged Katara's marriage as a father, and her father's last wish must be honored as is tradition when the Chief of the tribe passes on.

So, she was forced to go, leaving with Zuko and his entourage the next week. As the ship pulled away from the harbor, she'd let a tear fall for the home she never had.

He'd seen it though and had pulled her to him, warming her through her cloak and dress. She'd broken out of his embrace though and glared at him and he hesitantly reached to take her hand.

"Katara, I-" He paused, gauging her stance. Her eyes had turned to ice and in a freezing tone said, "I hate you."

She walked off then, leaving him ashamed and brokenhearted on the deck of the ship.