Chapter 7
Zutara
"I've been thinking about going back to the ponytail look, what do you think?"
"That sounds like a great idea, Zuko! And while you're at it, why don't we just go get Aang and you can chase him around the palace for your honor?"
"Not funny, Katara."
Katara laughed. "Neither was the joke about your hair! That's the only reason I married you, you know."
Zuko, who had been tugging at a stand of hair now falling past his shoulders, abruptly froze and stared at his wife in the mirror. Katara had her back to him, folding her clothes into a neat pile for the laundress to take away and missed his temporary shock. His face melted into an amused smirk. "My hair, huh? Not my sparkling personality?"
"Nope!" She called over her shoulder. "Not even your sunny optimism!"
"I am a constant bundle of joy."
Katara looked over her shoulder at him and rolled her eyes. "Kairo said the same thing to me the other day."
Zuko sighed. "She is a bit of a handful, isn't she?"
Katara scoffed. "Right, I'm sure you were always sunshine and roses growing up with your Uncle."
He smiled. "Uncle would have loved her."
Sensing his wistful tone, Katara came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his middle. "I'm sure he's watching from somewhere, probably laughing and smiling at all of her antics."
He rested a hand on her clasped hands at his waist. "I'm sure you're right. I just wish he'd had a chance to meet her."
"I'm grateful that Gran Gran got to see her before she passed."
Zuko snorted. "I'm pretty sure Gran Gran just refused to let the spirits take her until she did."
Katara giggled. "Do you remember what she said when you came to the Southern Water Tribe?"
"Which time?"
She poked him in the stomach. "The second time, of course! The winter after Father made me go back home when the war was over. I was only gone for a few months before you decided you couldn't live without me and you took your little warship all the way down there to come get me."
He blushed. "I didn't go get you just because I missed you, we needed a healer and the colonies were rioting, and you've always had a knack for making great speeches…" he grumbled, but Katara just squeezed him affectionately.
"Admit it. You missed me."
"…Maybe just a little…"
"That's good, because I missed you, too."
Zuko coughed into his fist, pleased. "I was a little worried that you wouldn't want to leave your home to come back with me, truthfully. That's one of the only reasons I took so long to get you back."
She thought about that for a moment. "To be honest, it didn't really feel like home anymore. I mean, I'm not exactly born to be a nomad, like Aang; I need a home base. But after running around, exploring the world, helping people… I went back to my village and just felt so restless. It was great to see Gran Gran again and to spend some time with my father, and I guess I had enough to do with all the visiting Northern Water Tribe dignitaries. Though most of that was just keeping my father from losing his temper over how little they helped out their sister tribe in the war…" She sighed. "I don't know. I guess I just felt like there was somewhere else that needed me more, someplace where I could be in the middle of the action. Home never felt so… isolated before I left. But when I got back, nothing was really the same."
"Yeah, I know what you mean," murmured Zuko. He looked around. "This place never really felt like home to me. These halls were filled with too many memories to really make me feel at ease. But day-by-day, things felt a little warmer, especially with new memories of all of us running around trying to fix the entire world… After everyone left though, this place became cold and unfamiliar again."
"I'm sorry you felt that way. I hope I never made you feel like I was abandoning you—" Katara began, but Zuko quickly cut her off.
"No, no, I understood that your tribe needed you and you were anxious to go back home. I would never keep you away from that." He paused. "But after about six months of sulking, I realized that I was never going to get anything done until I had you back to support me and advise me and laugh with me whenever I got too serious…"
"Zuko? Serious? Never," she quipped. "My Father's favorite story about you is when you got off your warship with your little bodyguards looking so grim and nervous—"
"Can you blame me?! The entire Southern Water Tribe was fully armed and waiting for me when I got there!"
"I wasn't armed and waiting."
"I think I would have felt better if you were, though preferably unarmed, of course."
"I was busy teaching a group of little visiting Northern Tribe water benders outside of the village! But I came running as soon as I saw the smoke."
An awkward silence fell between them. Neither of them said it, but they both knew exactly what the other was thinking.
It would take a long time to heal the scars that the Fire Nation had left on the world. The smoke of a Fire Navy ship struck terror in the hearts of many for years to come after the war. Even Katara couldn't help the pang of fear in her heart at the sight of smoke rising from her village.
Zuko cleared this throat and continued the story. "Your father looked ready to kill me, and then your Gran Gran just walked up to me, grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me down to tell me, 'No mistakes this time.' Then she just pushed me down and walked away!"
Katara dissolved into laughter, the sound vibrating through his back and sending a feeling of warmth straight to his heart. "Gran Gran was quite a woman, wasn't she?" she said. "I know you were terrified of her—"
"I wasn't terrified."
"—but she was the one who made me realize that I was meant for bigger things than just settling down in the South Pole, especially after we all went through so much during the war. I wanted to be a part of rebuilding, and I wanted to help create a new, better world."
"Well, I'm glad you chose to rebuild it with me," he murmured softly, twisting around to put his arms at the small of her back. She braced her hands on his chest and gazed up at him with those impossibly large, cobalt eyes.
"You definitely needed the help, and I guess I'm a sucker for fixer-uppers."
Zuko flashed a smirk. "I guess I was a bit of a mess before you, wasn't I?"
"You just needed a little rehabilitation, that's all," Katara insisted.
"It's a good thing you have such a soft spot for difficult teenagers. Especially since we have two of our own now. One is trying to rule the place and the other trying to burn it down. I can't imagine what we would do with another one," he mused.
Katara's face suddenly turned grave. "Listen… Zuko, I have some news."
Immediately, his eyebrows pulled downward in concern, seriousness eradicating all signs of playfulness. Katara smiled softly and reached up to smooth the frown lines in her husband's face. "What's the matter?" He asked.
"I wasn't sure until just recently, I mean, it's been so long and I didn't expect…"
"Katara, quit beating around the bush and tell me," Zuko demanded, holding her hand against his ruined cheek.
Her eyes swam with emotion as she whispered, "I think I'm pregnant."
Before Zuko even had time to react, a frantic knock at the door sent them springing apart. Zuko cleared his throat. "Come in," he called, rather impressed that his voice didn't give out.
Izumi rushed into his parents' bedroom. "I can't find Kairo."
"What?" gasped Katara.
Zuko's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean you can't find her?"
"I went to her room to make sure she was alright and I found a bunch of her stuff missing and no Kairo. Then I found this on the ground in the courtyard," he said gravely, holding up a small Fire Nation crown.
Katara reached for it and spoke reasonably, "She's always leaving this thing around. Are you sure she's not just clearing her mind somewhere on the grounds?"
Izumi shook his head. "I checked with all of the guards, and one of them said he saw her running from the palace a few hours ago."
"It's not like her to run away after something like this. Where could she have gone?" Zuko mused.
His son grimaced. "The village patrol guards also reported seeing a masked man carrying a woman on his back into one of the nearby villages. The two scouts they sent after him are still unconscious. I'm starting to think this is more than just a tantrum."
Katara flung her hands upward in exasperation. "And you didn't START with this information? My daughter could be in the middle of a kidnapping right now and we're all just standing here?" She snatched up her Water Tribe flask and marched toward the door. "I'm going after her!"
Zuko grabbed her arm, gently, but firmly. "Hold it right there, Katara."
She whirled around and smacked his hand away. "Don't you dare try to tell me not to go find my daughter just because I'm—" she cut herself off with a sharp glance at Izumi, "just because it's dangerous. Need I remind you of the countless times I have saved your life over the years? I am perfectly capable of handling myself!" She said fiercely, face set and determined.
Zuko held his hands up in front of his chest in surrender. "I wasn't going to say that!" he insisted, voice a litter higher than usual. "I was going to tell you that I'm coming with you."
