Note: Don't take it literally. It's more of a metaphorical dance, 'kay?
Disclaimer: No go.
Dancing to the Rhythm of the Stars
They were born to dance.
Even in the beginning, the young Prince Zuko and Lady Katara were talented. He moved with the unpredictability yet passion of the fire, and she with the adaptability and fluidness of the water. And from the first time they met, saw each other move; fight, there was the attraction.
Perhaps it was merely the push and pull of the other; perhaps not.
Perhaps it was simply destiny.
But either way, it began to happen.
When Katara saw him the first time in a real, true fight with Aang, many, many weeks had past since their first meeting, she felt she should be terrified of his newly acquired talent. But the swiftness in the way he moved, the sharp spike of his jump—it was all so beautiful, in a terribly dangerous way.
And then, when they fought at the North Pole—the foot working, the intricate and elusive ways she moved her hands and the way he stepped in time with her movements—it was addicting. Katara felt to spend every moment fighting him, gliding in harmony with his every burning punch.
For Zuko, it was somewhat deeper, somewhat more hidden. To even think of a peasant such as she: ha! But at the fight in the north, he could not help but secretly agree that there was something alluring, something...tempting in the way she moved.
After a while in her presence, he could not help but move back.
It was just a few mismatched steps and the feelings to go along with them.
But it was a dance, and if the right music began to play—why, they might just find themselves gliding along.
It's so easy to be distracted by the other dancers in the hall, to momentarily find the perfect partner. But true dance is not so easy, so simple—you may find yourself subtly shifting towards limbs forbidden to touch and hands too delicate to cradle.
For a while, she thought it was be Aang. So light, so fluttery were his movements! Surely they could adjust in time to her own.
But Katara tried, and they could not.
Their limbs would entangle, or they would trip over their own two feet—or sometimes each others.
The dance could not flow.
Zuko, too, had found the perfect partner. Or so it seemed.
Mai, of course, barely had her own dance, and it was…different, to say the least. Emotionless and passive, she moved with the life of a corpse. Her movements came in sometimes swift and deadly to Zuko's, and others gentle and smooth.
But it lacked forever and always the essential spark.
It was clear as day to Zuko after only a few weeks in her presence.
The dance had no passion.
And so, they turned to each other.
Zuko saw her flow; he saw her twirl and spin. He saw her bend over backwards with the fluidness of water. He saw her adapt to every change, and when she had mastered a thousand steps and danced to a thousand songs, he saw her with the skill to do it all over again.
Katara saw him burn; she saw him leap from a raging passion to a quiet yet beautiful kindness. She saw him run with the swiftness of a fire bent on destruction. She saw him master the steps yet yearn for more, and when he had master a thousand steps and danced a thousand times, she saw him with the yearning to do it all once more.
Others watched as they drew closer and closer on the dance floor, intertwining hands and pressing together. They saw their bodies fit like pieces to a puzzle, and they saw the way their steps, still amazing even with the wrong partner, mesh together to form an intricate and perfect dance. They saw them master a thousand steps and dance a thousand times—with each other—and when they had finished, with the connection and passion to do it all again.
They saw them dance, and they saw them love it.
And perhaps their relationship wasn't perfect; perhaps their dance, too, had occasional flaws or missteps.
Perhaps their dance had found perfection long ago, but instead in the forms of a bouncing, light-footed boy and a talent yet passive woman.
But then again, perhaps the perfect partner had lain with each other all along.
Perhaps not. Does it ever really matter?
One thing, though, is certain: their destiny was foretold in the stars, and always has been.
How else could it be explained?
For even now, if you were to seek out Firelord Zuko and Firelady Katara on any give day, you'd find them dancing to the rhythm of the stars, as they will now and forever more.
Yay, Zutara fluff!
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