Disclaimer: Everything Avatar-related belongs to Bryke. I've just had the privilege of working with what they created and we love so much.
On that note, I'd like to say that while I adore Zutara (and this fanfic will have plenty of it along the way), I have a few very different perceptions of it than most fanfic writers I've seen. I'll break it down as simply as I can, so if you see something straight-away you completely disagree with, feel free to click away from this fic. Otherwise, I'd love to see you stick around and enjoy my rendering of this beautiful pair.
1) I think it's unfair to think Zuko should fall in love first.
2) I don't think either of them loved each other during the canon series. Attracted to each other, possibly. Discovered their soulmate, no.
3) I think real, true, lasting romance develops over time.
4) I don't think people fall in love at twelve. Or fourteen.
5) There is way more to the Avatar world than our ships.
In other words, expect this fanfic to have a sweeping plot that brings Zuko and Katara together over time, and it's set five years after the end of the canon series--which I'm keeping intact completely. I can only hope I still entertain you all. Please review if you read! I would love to hear from you all, love or hate it. And thus without further ado, I give you Summer Air.
Summer Air
Prologue
Sugar Queen,
I told the servant to address this note the right way or I'd bend him a nice, new hole in the ground to live in. There's some festival here at the capital on the day of the summer solstice. Snoozles and Suki are even coming to visit for it. You should too so I don't have to be stuck babysitting their brat while the lovebirds sneak off or something. And so we don't have to send Twinkletoes up there to make sure you're still alive.
Toph
Katara folded the note and set it aside with a sigh. The note she'd have to write in reply explaining why she wouldn't attend whatever festival would be tedious, but necessary.
As she reached for the pen in the inkpot nearby, the voice behind her stopped her dead in her tracks.
"Katara!"
In anticipation of the scolding already promised in those three syllables, she sheepishly withdrew her hand from the table altogether and turned around to meet Gran Gran's disapproving gaze. "Yes?"
"I know I didn't catch you just about to reject your friend's invitation, hm?"
Katara sighed. This argument would be even more tedious than any letter could ever be. "I don't have time--"
"Don't have time? You have all the time in the world and you're wasting it here! How long has it been since you saw your nephew?"
The young woman frowned. "You read my letter…" Of course, she didn't really expect anything else, and while it annoyed her, Gran Gran was also summarily forgiven. "It's been awhile," she finally admitted.
"Awhile? Try two years. Ever since you were there to help Suki with the birth, you've never gone back. In fact, you've never even left the North Pole!"
All she could do was sigh again. Her grandmother was right; she'd devoted all of her time and energy into nothing but training and teaching, in that order. Little else had been given any thought.
"Gran Gran, I--"
"Fine. If I can't convince you, maybe he can."
Katara immediately jumped to her feet. Someone was here? Already? Maybe Sokka had come… But that was unlikely, as she'd heard Suki was expecting again and he'd be hovering like a mother hen over his pregnant wife. Still, Toph could be convincing. That or--
But her speculation stopped when a familiar blue arrow popped into the door frame, followed by the Avatar himself.
"Aang?" she barely managed to ask, before he'd snatched her up in one of his still child-like hugs. Something about him would always be child-like, she realized all over again, though this time there wasn't nearly as much remorse as there had been the first time it had dawned upon her.
"Katara, you've been cooped up here with the Northern Water Tribe for ages! It's time to relax and restore your aura--"
Katara couldn't help but laugh as she drew away from the gangly seventeen-year-old airbender. It seemed Ty Lee had come to the Fire Nation capital for the summer solstice as well. "I've missed you. But my students here need me, and I haven't been to the Fire Nation in so long I'd just be a burden, plus I'd be worrying just as much over Suki's condition, and probably getting on Toph's nerves, and--"
"Are you mad at me?"
Katara stopped short in her list of more reasons she wouldn't be attending that festival at Aang's question, asked quietly and as solemnly as she'd ever seen him. "Of course not, Aang. Why would you think that?"
The boy shrugged. She'd also realized a long time ago she'd always think of him as something of a boy, no matter how tall he got. He was towering over her now--except Aang wasn't really one to tower.
"I just thought, maybe that's why you never came to visit. Because you were upset with me for…"
She quickly shook her head and sent him a reassuring smile. "Aang, don't be stupid. You're the Avatar. We both know you have a busy life to lead. It was only a matter of time before you had to be somewhere and help someone and, well, I wasn't ready to settle down back then anyway. Besides, I think we're both happier now that we can just be friends, right?"
For a few moments he didn't seem completely convinced, but then he broke into his usual grin. "Right. And that's why you should come to the capital, Katara. To see all your friends. It's been too long, and soon enough we'll all be too old to go on adventures anymore."
"You think this festival is going to be an adventure?" That caused her to laugh just a little.
He took the mirth to be a very good sign. "Sure is. Well, maybe. Okay, maybe not an adventure, but it'll be fun and I meant what I said. Even a Master Waterbender needs to take a break sometimes!"
When he adopted those puppy-dog eyes of his, she knew she was done for. "Well, I'd have to prepare, and--"
"Oh, I already took care of that for you!" piped up her grandmother, who had been listening at the door the entire time and now peeked inside with a mischievous smile dancing across her lips. "And your trunks are already loaded up on the bison, too."
Katara felt that same stirring of annoyance at everything being so neatly planned without her input, but was able to temper it with the knowledge that they all wanted her to enjoy herself for once. Even she could admit it had been awhile since she'd taken any time for herself. "Fine. I guess I can go. But only for a few days."
"A week," Aang corrected.
"Two weeks," Gran Gran threw in for good measure.
The young woman growled, but there was still something musing in the sound. "Whatever. I'm going for this festival and when I've had a chance to catch up with everyone, I'll be heading back here."
At least both of them knew better than to argue. They'd already won this battle; she knew they were silently congratulating themselves. For now she was happy to leave them in their smug victory. She was already preoccupied thinking about what her grandmother must have thrown into those trunks and if she even dared to peek inside before they set off.
In the end, she had taken thorough stock of what had been packed for her and found it - surprisingly - to her satisfaction. It didn't seem as if she'd be tortured, which was a small blessing. She could forgive them their plotting against her as a result.
Gran Gran and Pakku both were there to see her off, with a hug and a kiss on the cheek from each. When the latter was about to tell her to 'take it easy,' a swift elbow in the ribs from Kanna set him straight. Thankfully, Katara's thoughts were already elsewhere and she didn't notice.
It had been five years since the war had ended, five years since she'd stepped foot in Fire Country, much less the capital city. First there had been the journey home with her father and the warriors, the tearful but joyous reunions, the renewal of a relationship between her grandmother and her bending teacher, Sokka and Suki's betrothal and wedding plans. She'd been on Kyoshi Island for most of that, meeting Suki's family and slowly growing aware that she wanted more for her life than just marriage and kids and settling down in a nice village. Thus she shipped off to the North Pole, resuming her training and even taking it upon herself to teach some of the young female waterbenders more of their craft. It was rewarding, she told herself. It was her calling.
But somewhere along the way she'd fallen out of touch with everyone she'd cared so dearly about.
Perhaps it started with Aang. He'd been so sweet and devoted at first, eager to experience life. But soon enough people had needed the Avatar's help and he was gone more and more until Katara realized that they were friends, not lovers. She cared about him, yes, but her happiness didn't depend on him. For some reason she always figured the man she loved would be someone she needed in her life in order to be happy.
And then it was Toph, now an ambassador in the Fire Nation for the Earth Kingdom. Her letters got fewer, Katara's replies grew even scarcer, and sooner than she knew she hadn't seen or heard from the blossoming young woman in over a year.
Finally, it was her brother and his wife. Katara had been there for the birth of their firstborn, a boy they'd named Satoru. Things had gone so smoothly, however, and the new mother was so strong and stubborn she was out of bed and tending after her family again in no time. Katara eventually felt out of place and feared overstaying her welcome. She left for the North Pole and never looked back.
Five years, she reflected as they soared so effortlessly through the sky on Appa's back. It was a small thing she didn't even know she'd missed until she had the opportunity to do it again. I wonder how much everyone has changed.
Aang was more than happy to answer her unspoken question as he chattered on, excited at the prospect of having all his friends together in one place. His estimation of Sokka was that he'd gotten "a little wider" but that Suki still kicked his butt enough to keep him in shape. Satoru "will be a bender" Aang said with great certainty, but when Katara pressed him about whether she'd be able to train her little nephew one day, he wouldn't say anymore. Toph "looks like a girl sometimes," he'd told her instead, with an appropriate blush to add to it. And Zuko? "He takes being Fire Lord too seriously," the airbender had told her a bit sadly. The way he looked at her as he said it gave her the distinct impression he thought they were two peas to a pod, both working themselves so hard they were in desperate need of a vacation.
Yet when she asked him about herself, about whether she'd changed since he'd seen her last, he looked at her blankly. "You're still Katara," he said simply, and that was the end of it.
While she didn't press him for more of an explanation, she wasn't completely happy with that answer. Was she still just the same as she'd ever been? Maybe so. It might actually be for the best, because then it wouldn't be incredibly awkward when she saw them all again--or so she could hope.
In the meantime, it was just like old times with Appa gliding through the air beneath her and Aang's excited voice telling her all about his latest escapades. She could believe this whole vacation thing just might work.
