Disclaimer: Still not mine.
Chapter 4: The Firelord's Unpossessed Virtue
Patience had never been a virtue Zuko possessed.
As a child his mother and Uncle Iroh were the only ones who tried to instill that virtue into his character, but, being royalty, he never had to wait or work in order to get what he wanted. Everything was simply handed to him on a silver platter because everyone seemed to think that the way to get close to the firelord was through the heir, so by the time he'd turned eight Zuko had a fuse short enough to rival his father's, and his family knew their attempts were wasted. Thankfully, over time Zuko managed to find constructive ways to deal with his severe lack of patience, so it only became an issue on rare occasions.
This was one of those occasions.
For the past hour Zuko had been pacing. Walking the 32 steps (yes, he counted) required to get from one side of his office to the other and back enough times to wear a path in the carpet, but, in all honesty, he had a fairly good reason for his impatience. The staff and himself had spent nearly eighteen hours total preparing for Katara's arrival, and after sending a carriage, pulled by his fastest ostrich-horses, to retrieve his friend from the docks almost two hours ago Katara still wasn't here.
Zuko made it across the room again wearing his path even deeper into the lush carpet.
He checked the clock.
3:36. Now it had been exactly two hours since he sent out the carriage, he was now officially in worried, freak out mode.
All the horrible scenarios of what could be causing the delay started running through his mind. What if the boat sank? Zuko thought, then quickly pushed that worry aside. He was firelord, if a ship had gone down on the way to the Fire Nation he would have been the first to know...well, besides the passengers. Also, Katara was a master waterbender, if her ship had gone down she was more than capable of taking care of herself. What if the carriage had broke down and never even made it to the docks? What if Katara had fallen deathly ill, and instead of bringing her to the palace she had to be rushed to a medic? What if Katara had been kidnapped by a crazy citizen? What if the carriage didn't make it to the docks in time to pick Katara up, and now she was wandering hopelessly lost through the streets? Or worse... Zuko's pacing and frenzied thoughts came to and abrupt halt, what if Katara decided not to stay with him after all?
His heart dropped at the thought, and a sudden sense of loss overwhelmed him before he continued his pacing scoffing at himself. The thought was completely ludicrous. Katara would never just change her mind without at least letting him know first. She was too honorable for that. But then again...
Zuko stopped mid-step. People do change, and it had been a while since him and Katara had really talked, maybe she wasn't like he remembered her. He took a moment to consider this before shaking his head, and picking up his pacing where he'd left off. It was true people did change- he was proof of that-, but if he knew one thing about Katara it was this. If she said she was going to do something she did it.
With that nonsensical worry out of the way the young firebender was free to come up with even more insane, dimwitted theories about where Katara could possibly be. Zuko had finally worked himself into such a tizzy that he was contemplating sending a whole fleet of the royal palace guards after them, when Hiu entered the office.
It was all the poor servant could do to hide his amusement at his master's frazzled appearance as he delivered his message, "Firelord Zuko." He said trying, in vain, to catch the firelord's attention, so he tried again. "Firelord Zuko." Nothing, Zuko was still pacing back and forth mumbling about kidnappings under his breath. "FIRELORD ZUKO!"
Zuko tripped over his own robes as he came to a halt. Startled he looked up to find Hiu standing just within his office door. "What is it Hiu?"
Hiu stood a little straighter, "I was told to inform you that the carriage which you sent out to retrieve Lady Katara has just entered through the main gate, and should be arriving at the entrance hall within 7 minutes."
Hiu had barely gotten the words out of his mouth before Zuko barreled past him, tripping over his own feet as he tried to run in his inhibiting firelord robes. The entrance hall was roughly five minutes from the firelord's office...Zuko made it there in one. He bent over his knees panting from the sudden exertion. Note to self, Zuko thought when he'd finally caught his breath, take a break from all the paperwork, and get back in shape.
Straightening back up to his full height, he managed to collect himself, but when voices from outside reached his ears he started panicking again. As quickly as possible he started going through his physical preparation checklist.
Pits? He sniffed. Check. Crown? He reached up and adjusted it till it sat perfectly straight on his head. Check. Breath? Zuko breathed into his hand and sniffed, suddenly wishing he hadn't had that garlic and basil firefish sandwich for lunch. He dug through the deep, hidden pockets of his robes until he produced a mint leaf which he quickly popped into his mouth. Breath, check. Casual pose that screams confidence? The golden eyed man leaned casually against the nearest wall trying to look as cool as possible. Check.
Thankfully, before he could become an even bigger bundle of nerves than he already was, the doors opened. The light was nearly blinding as Zuko squinted into it, and as his eyes slowly adjusted all he could see was a woman's silhouette with light surrounding her. The contrast of light with dark made her look like an angel returning from the Spirit World. The doors closed almost as quickly as they opened, and Zuko laid his eyes on Katara for the first time in over a year.
He inhaled sharply as his heart did a funny little dance in his chest.
Now Katara had always been a pretty girl. Even while he was trying to capture the Avatar, it had been one of the first things he'd noticed about her. But over the years as Katara changed from a teenager to a woman the word "pretty" just didn't seem to cut it anymore. Zuko remembered that whenever the subject of Katara would come up between his uncle and himself, Iroh would always refer to the young lady as "incandescent", then with a wink he'd offer Zuko more tea before the young firebender could question him further. Zuko never really understood what his uncle meant about a person being incandescent...he didn't think it was possible. But at that moment, as his eyes traveled over Katara he could think of no other word to describe her.
Her hair loopies and ever present braid were gone, replaced, instead by a long wavy ponytail that fell over her shoulder, and the hair that would normally be contained in the loopies was curly, framing her face. She wore a dress that was such a deep shade of blue it could almost be considered violet- the color was wonderful on her since it drew attention to her caramel colored skin. The dress came down just past her knees and was off the shoulder- a style that was quickly becoming popular among the women of the Fire Nation, and one that Zuko had never really appreciated until now-, but the factor about the dress that really caught Zuko's attention was the leather belt that was positioned strategically at her waist. It drew attention to how trim the waterbender was, and caused the dress to cling slightly to her upper legs before flowing back out, showing off enough to peak someone's interest, but at the same time leaving plenty to the imagination.
His uncle was definitely right. Katara was incandescent.
Beautiful blue eyes the color of the ocean met his own gold ones, and he felt a smile slowly creep onto his face as he saw the obvious joy light up Katara's features.
"Katara." Zuko said in a voice barely above a whisper, as he relished the way the syllables rolled off his tongue.
Next thing he knew Katara had her face buried into his chest as his arms wrapped around her, holding her tightly to himself. The top of Katara's head just barely reached the bottom of his chin, and Zuko couldn't help, but notice how perfectly Katara seemed to fit into his arms.
"I missed you Zuko." Katara mumbled her head buried in his chest.
Zuko chuckled, and hugged her tighter, "I missed you too Katara." You have no idea how much.
Zuko didn't know how long they stood there embracing, but all to soon for his taste she started to pull away from him, and he had to let her go. After all, she was the Avatar's girl.
As she stepped back their eyes met again, and once more he had to catch his breath. You can't think about her that way, He scolded himself, you're her best friend. They stood in silence just staring at each other. Zuko, thanks to his guilty conscience, was the first to look away. There was so much he wanted to say. So much he wanted to apologize for, but he didn't know how.
"Zuko?"
His head snapped back up his eyes meeting Katara's once again. She smiled at him, and Zuko knew that no words were needed...she understood, like she always did.
Katara tucked a piece of dark brown hair behind her ear, and, with a twinkle in her big blue eyes, grinned. "So, are we just gonna stand here and stare at each other? Because if that's the case I might as well head back to the boat!" Katara said teasingly.
Zuko fought back a smile, and put on his most serious face, "I don't know, after what happened last time you were here the staff might just insist on making you sleep out in the gardens."
The smile fell off of the waterbender's face as she mock glared at him, "That was a accident, and you know it! If anyone should be getting blamed here it should be you! You were the one to throw the peas first."
"Oh really? That's not how I remember it!"
Katara scoffed, "Well I think you've taken too many of Toph's dirt balls to the head. You definitely started it."
Zuko didn't even bother hiding his smile anymore, "Now that you mention it," He said tapping his chin as if in deep thought, "I do recall my spoon...slipping." One of her eyebrows rose as she glared at him. Zuko just smiled bigger, and wrapped an arm around Katara's shoulders, "Come on, I better take you to your corner of the gardens. I even had the staff set up a nice little hut for you to keep you dry when it rains."
Katara rolled her eyes as she attempted to fake annoyance, but Zuko could see the corner of her mouth quirk up. "Next thing you know you'll be throwing the table scraps into my dish, and making me wear a collar."
The golden eyed man frowned, and knit his black eyebrows together. "The collar was supposed to be a a surprise for tonight! How did you know?"
Author's Note:
Haha! Okay I know that Zuko was OOC in this chapter, but I always see him as being a little bit of an internal spaz. Maybe it's just me...oh well! And as for the collar...I thought someone out there might appreciate it ;). Thanks for reading, reviewing, and favoriting! It means so much to me! Keep the reviews coming, and I'll keep the chapters flowing! Questions and constructive criticism are always welcome!