ONCE UPON A TIME
Chapter 1
(A/N) Hi, Thx for checking out the second chapter! J
After this one the plot will start to pick up I promise! WOW 5 reviews already J thx u guys! The more reviews I get the sooner I will update! _
Once a upon a time there was a queen in the land of eternal summer, with two children, but no longer.
Once a upon a time there was a family in the ice lands, who rejoiced in their shelter life that they were allowed to live, but no longer
Ursa POV
Ursa read her informants letter countless times, hoping in vein she had read something wrong. Her son, and the Avatars' waterbending master had been captured. This was unfortunately a very grave set up. She feared for her son greatly. According to her informant the date for his execution had not been decided, but it was only a matter of time. A knock roused her from her thoughts.
"Lady Ursa, my I come in?"
"Enter Hadaka." She said with some hesitancy. He would want to know what the letter said, and what wasn't. He would want to know as a parent what was in store for his daughter. It was a curse any loving parent was forced to bare. They want to know all the suffering their child was going through, as if them knowing it could lessen their pain some how.
"Any news from the capitol?" He was trying to sound milerterisic but desperation clung from every muscle in his face.
"Yes."
"Well?" He said impatiently.
"They are alive." She sad shortly. To her surprise there was no sigh of relief from Hakoda.
"But," He questioned her, of course there was a but, and he wouldn't be kept in the dark about the matters of this war and certainly not matters that concerned his daughter.
"They were captured by the Fire Lord's guards. They are now being held in the palace dungeons." Ursa took a breath and tried not to burst into tears. "Zuko is do to be executed publicly… but the date has yet to be decided."
Hakoda took a moment and simply looked at the woman. Right now she didn't look like the woman who had helped convince fire nation soldiers to defect, and started a resistance in Ba Sin Sa, right now she looked like a worried mother, whose only care in the world was seeing her child returned safely to her. He was also a worried parent and could relate to her much more than he would of liked to.
"What about Katara?" He asked urgentaly. If Ozia were heartless enough to execute his own son, surely he wouldn't give a moments hesitation to executing a girl from the Southern Water Tribe.
"It's not good Hakoda," Ursa paused; this subject was delicate to say the least. "With Azula insane and Zuko's execution pending, the Fire," She stopped herself, "Ozia is in need of a new heir. He seems to believe that if…"
Hakota POV
Hakoda cut her off, "he intends to make my daughter his personal toy?" His voice was quiet but you would have to be both blind and depth not to since the huge amount of rage that radiated off him. This was every decent father's worse nightmare. This could not be happening. He wanted Katara back, back with him and Sokka, where they could keep her safe. Not that she needed perfection; she was a master waterbender after all. The dred that had built up within him for the past three days had been fully realized; he found that he gained no comfort in the fact that his daughter was still alive. What awaited her has worse than the battlefield.
Katara had turned fifteen during their time together at the eastern air temple. If they had been together at the South Pole a bone fire would have been lit in her honor and suitors would quietly start approaching him and allowing their interest in her to be known officially for the first time. In the coming months they would have vied for her attention and his blessing in numerous ways. Not that Katara had ever needed any one to VI for her attention. Hakoda could easily tell from the short time that he was with them at the air temple that the avatar was quite taken with her. However the avatar was a child, and Katara was clearly a woman. He doubted any thing near a serious relationship could ever take place there.
Ursa POV
He clenched and unclenched his fist as Ursa studied him quietly. This was a lot to take in. He sighed before asking, "is there anything else of importance in the letter?" He was trying hard to sound like a warrior instead of a parent frightened for his child, but his voice came out shakily and betrayed his thoughts and his concern.
"Nothing else of consequence was in the letter my informant sent." Ursa replied almost dryly. She, unlike Hakoda had a history in politics, and there for had been forced to adapt a talent for masking her own emotion. On the outside she looked calm and collected, as if nothing in the world could possibly be wrong, but on the inside she was screaming with rage. For the first time in years, she was truly afraid, not for herself but for her children, not only for Zuko, but for Azula as well. In Azula's current state of mind, she was of no use to Ozia, and useless things did not fare well with Ozia, that is to say they never lasted long. She watched as he left the room silently, with his head held high. Sometimes, when your heart was breaking, that was all that you could do. Pseudo strength could at least give comfort to others when you could not comfort your self.
They were currently on a ship that had set a course for the Northern Water Tribe Earlier that day from a small coastal town in the northern most corner of the Earth Kingdom. Sokka, Suki and Toph had managed to stop the air fleet before it reached Ba Sin Sa but the Fire Lords' fleet still managed to cause a good bit of damage to the coast of the Earth Kingdom. Sokka's knee was almost completely blown. He could barely walk on it at all. His military career was over, at least for the moment. When their small band had returned he had commented that when Appa came back with Katara and Zuko, the first thing on the agenda was he knee. But a day past and they hadn't returned. Tension hung in the air. It was so thick you could almost feel it on the nape of your neck.
Everyone was so relieved when Appas' silhouette came into view the morning before. She had thought Zuko would have been on him. She had truly believed that she would see her son for the first time in years. She thought she would finally get the see the great man he had become in spite of his fathers' example and her untimely absence. But her Ursa's heart sunk and filled with dread as only the Avatar climbed off the beast.
Sokka's face had been stern. He was glad to see his friend was still alive, but you wouldn't have been able to tell. His concern for his sister far outweighed any form of relief he was feeling at the Avatars' sudden reappearance. Aang hadn't looked good; it was obvious that he had barely escaped with his life. He was just a child after all. However as young as the Avatar was, he truly carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. Ursa had watched with sad eyes and a heavy heart the short exchange between the Avatar and Sokka. There was a lot of shaking heads and slumping of shoulders. Ending only when Sokka finally simply walked away.
Ursa sighed she needed all the higher-ranking officials together, including Sokka, to strategize a plan to get the Katara and Zuko out of the fire nation. It would be best if that the young Avatar not be included in the briefing. There was no telling what rash actions the teenager might take if he learned the fate that was to befall his beloved. In fact it would probably be best if the child didn't even know about the meeting at all. The less the avatar knew about this matter the better.
Sokka would be livid to say the least. He would probably storm out of the room, but hopefully, being the mater strategist that he was, he would come back within the fallowing two hours with some sort of foolproof rescue plan that might actually work. As a mother, and a leader within the rebellion, those two teenagers were far too valuable of assets to be left to their fates. Zuko would be needed to assume the crown after Ozia was overthrown. And from what Ursa had heard about the waterbending master Katara, she was a very powerful speaker, not to mention her importance to the young avatar Aang.
(A/N) Be kind! REVIEW! Cuz I'll update more often if you do! More zuko/katara interaction in the next chapter.
