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Polar Nights

Chapter 10: Sibling Rivalry

Katara chuckled a bit as Zuko's hand trembled while he grabbed one handle of the wine goblet. It was heavier than he expected, made of moonstones and silver and the dark red wine was resting in crystal. The handles were shaped with bone, and each one wrapped around the side of the wineglass. They had made it through the initial oath of provision and caring, and now they had moved on to the real ceremony.

"Steady," she cautioned. "Drink slowly."

Kanna said something and lifted her right hand up; his turn to drink. He pulled the glass towards him a bit and drank a slow sip. The wine was dry and slightly bitter, a hint of pepper lingering on his tongue. Katara pulled the glass towards herself after Kanna lifted her left arm, and he loosened his, watching her take a sip.

The elderly woman reached forward, accepting the glass and saying, "May the spirits bless the union of man and wife, such that they are equal like the sun and the moon."

The spectators from the Water Tribe repeated it while the Fire Nation natives looked around suspiciously; they remained silent during traditional ceremonies. Audience participation was not looked highly upon.

"Repeat after me, Prince Zuko, Son of the Fire Nation," Kanna said, handing a bone dagger to him. Katara turned her palm upwards and held it over a bowl with what looked like tiny bones, feathers, a few dried herbs, and clay beads.

He took her hand in his and repeated the prayer as he made a small incision. "I, Prince Zuko, Son of the Fire Nation, do pray for the blessed union of our bloodline, and so promise my body to you until the sun rises from the west and sets in the east." He moved her hand slightly, letting a few droplets of blood spill into the bowl before handing her the dagger.

"Repeat after me, Lady Katara, Daughter of the Water Tribe," Kanna said next, as Katara took Zuko's palm in hers.

"I, Lady Katara, Daughter of the Water Tribe, do pray for the blessed union of our bloodline, and so promise my body to you until the sun rises from the west and sets in the east," her eyes flickered up to his for a moment and he could see a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. She thought it was funny.

After dripping some of his blood into the bowl, she grabbed his hand and placed it against her heart, then rested her cheek against the side of his other hand, just like they had over a week ago.

"We're almost done," Katara whispered faintly, only he could hear. "Just hang in there."

The rest of the wedding proceeded smoothly, with just a few hitches. The first being when Katara struggled to light her small fire after the candle had gone out, he picked up a stick and lit the end of it, handing it to her. She bowed her head a bit to thank him. The second was when he slipped on the ice while walking around the large fire. He quickly recovered his balance but he heard an all too familiar chuckle from the audience.

At the end, Kanna brought two bowls of paint and Katara got down on her knees in front of her grandmother. A small tug on his hand informed him to repeat the action.

"May the moon bless you with the wisdom of the Water Tribe, and we graciously accept you now as our son," Kanna said, pulling her index finger from the blue paint and drawing a crescent on his forehead. She placed the bowl down and picked up a new one, switching to her middle finger and looking at Katara. "May the sun bless you with the strength of the Fire Nation, as you are now their daughter," the elderly woman said, drawing a red sun on Katara's forehead.

"You are now married in the name of the spirits."

Zuko was ashamed to later admit he fainted.

"He's coming around," the familiar voice of a warrior said.

"Prince Zuko, is everything okay?" his uncle asked, pressing a warm, wet cloth to his cheeks.

"Everyone back up," Suki said.

His eyes flickered a bit and he kept blinking to refocus his vision. "What happened?"

"You, um, kind of fainted, Zuko," Katara answered. "I think it was from dehydration. Have you been drinking enough water?"

His face turned a bright shade of red and he immediately covered it with both hands. "I fainted? Great. Just perfect."

"It was kind of funny, actually; we thought your mouth was gonna start foaming. This one kid started crying and-" Sokka laughed a bit.

"Sokka, go eat something," Katara snapped at him.

"Hey, I was just trying to make him feel better!" he replied defensively.

The Kyoshi warrior grabbed her husband by his parka and dragged him away, grumbling at him for being inappropriate.

"I leave him in your capable hands, Princess Katara," Iroh smiled and handed her the cloth before rising and going towards his own son.

The waterbender smiled at him in return, then looked back at Zuko. "How's your head? You kinda hit the ice hard. No blood, just a hell of a knot right there," she touched the right side of his head gently.

"It's fine," he lied. "Was it really that bad?" Zuko asked, rubbing his eyes in shame.

"No, no," she said gently. "I mean, it's okay. You're just dehydrated and exhausted, that's all. And the polar nights tend to get to everyone, you know? Your sleeping schedule isn't entirely normal, but it'll get better. No more super early mornings and very late nights, you know?"

He snorted. "You're a terrible liar."

"You're pretty horrible yourself," she replied. "Your head is most definitely not okay."

"Well, I'm fine. I'll just sit here for a few. Go be with your friends and family, it's your wedding reception," Zuko said.

Katara shook her head. "It's our wedding reception. In the Water Tribe, we don't abandon our partners. We stick with them, until the sun rises from the west and sets in the east. Come on, let's see if you can stand."

She reached to loop her arms through his, helping him recover his balance and sit up.

"Well, well, well, poor little Zuzu can't even stand by himself."

The newlyweds turned around and looked into the golden eyes of a woman. She was petite, and adorned in black armor trimmed with gold. Her dark hair was pulled up into a topknot and adorned with a piece in the shape of a flame. Her eyes were seductive and intimidating, and her lips were painted red.

"Azula," Zuko grumbled a bit. "Nice to see you made it in one piece."

"Of course I would make it; I wouldn't miss little Zuzu's wedding for the entire world," her eyes flickered over to Katara. "Very plain. Suits you, brother."

He rolled his eyes. "Don't you have people to go suck the life from elsewhere since you can't make friends?"

"Oh, such hostility," Azula sneered, looking at her fingernails. "I have to admit, the wedding ceremony was even more barbaric than I thought it was going to be."

His eyes flashed. "Go away, Azula."

Her lips curled into a smile and she twirled her finger around her bangs. "Or what?" Zuko stood silently, staring at her. His heart was pounding and he could feel his blood boiling. One more comment and he would be breathing fire.

She shrugged after a moment, then turned around, "You and your simpleton wife are beginning to bore. See you later, Zuzu."

"That's your sister?" Katara asked as they watched the young woman walk away.

"Yep. Pride and joy of the family, at least when Father was around," Zuko said faintly.

The waterbender shook her head. "I know we just got married, but I've heard this thing about it being frowned upon for Fire Nation men to hit women. So since we're married, I thought I'd let you know I'll be happy to clean her clock anytime you like."

"That won't be necessary; she's just here to antagonize me. Don't take anything she says personally. It's more for you than against me," he replied.

Zuko didn't want to admit the truth to Katara, he could see the look in her eye as distinctly disapproving of his relative. But the waterbender wouldn't understand, and sometimes he himself didn't understand. Then Azula would look at him, and he would soften because she just looked so much like his mother.

"Katara, can I talk to you for a minute?" Aang asked shyly, looking down.

The waterbender looked at him, then to the firebender, then back at him and nodded. "Uh, sure, Aang. If you'll excuse me," she lowered her head then stepped away.

"She's very nice," Lu Ten said after a moment. "I heard you had a rocky start, Zuko."

"Yeah, something like that," Zuko replied absently, watching Katara walk away with the young Air Nomad.

Iroh chuckled. "She's very spirited. Reminds me of your mother, Lu Ten. Ah, Mei Zhen was such a firework," he said fondly. "I knew she was the one for me when she rejected my advances despite knowing me as the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation."

"So I've heard you say before, Father," Lu Ten remarked.

Zuko nodded at Iroh as well, having heard the elderly firebender say something along the same lines before.

"I received your letter about having a traditional Fire Nation ceremony as well," Lu Ten said. "And I think it's a good idea. It will reinforce, and we can invite members of the Northern Tribe to the ceremony to reinforce our treaty."

"Great," Zuko nodded again, still the corner Aang and Katara had disappeared behind. They had been talking for quite a while; what were they talking about?

The Fire Lord then said, "Meanwhile in Ba Sing Se, rebel armies of flying lemurs have invaded the palace and are now imposing martial law."

"I agree," the prince replied absently.

"Prince Zuko," Iroh placed a hand on his nephew's shoulder. "Are you listening?"

"Huh? I'm sorry, I spaced out for a moment." Zuko returned his focus to his family.

"Hadn't noticed," Lu Ten quipped. "Why don't you go check on your wife?"

"I'll do that," the firebender said, going to walk towards the direction his wife and her friend had gone. He heard his uncle say something about matches made by spirits, and Lu Ten laugh, but decided not to pay any mind to it.

He finally heard voices when he neared the corner.

"Aang," she sighed. "I don't know what to say."

"Don't you love me too?" he asked, his voice cracking.

Another sigh. "Yes," Zuko felt a bit of anger at her admission. "But I can't do anything about it. I have responsibilities."

"We'll find another arrangement! There are other people who can marry Zuko; why do you have to do it?" he said.

"Because who else would be worth the same to the Fire Nation as me? They can't just marry him off to a fisherman's daughter; the Fire Nation barely considered me acceptable, and I'm the spiritual leader. They might as well have-"

"But I love you!" he cut in, sounding like he had started to cry.

She grew silent. "And I love you, too, Aang; I always will. But I can't annul my marriage to Zuko; there's too many things at stake."

"You dont have to keep sacrificing yourself like this," Aang protested.

"If I don't, who will? I lost my mother to this war, at the hands of Ozai himself. I'm married to the son of the man who killed my own mother in front of me. Sokka lost Yue; he held her as she died in his arms. Do you know what kind of disarray he was in when I found him, covered in her blood? I won't have someone suffer the way we did, not anymore. If anyone would understand self-sacrifice, I thought it would have been you, Aang," she almost shouted.

"I'm sorry," he said weakly.

"Me, too. I didn't mean to yell," Katara apologized.

After a few moments of silence, Zuko walked back towards his family, speechless.

"Is everything alright, Prince Zuko?" Iroh asked.

"Yeah," he lied. "Everything's perfect."

"Are you sure?" his uncle pressed.

"Yes; do me a favor and give this back to Katara when you see her. I'm going to go for a walk," he shoved his hand in his pocket and handled a necklace to his uncle before walking off silently.

It seemed he would never stop being the son of a horrible man.

Posted: 06/24/2012

A/N: Last few chapters have been a bit more serious in nature, but there's a lot of serious baggage attached to the marriage so c'est la vie. I promise some more lightheartedness will be upcoming in the future. Also, thank you all! I have over 100 reviews on this, and that's awesome. :) Keep sending in your thoughts, I'm enjoying reading them.

dreadfuldelights: No he has not; in an earlier chapter, Sokka told him to take it slow. The Water Tribe is aware that this is not a tradition practiced by the Fire Nation, ergo Zuko has no experience with carving betrothal necklaces. You will know when he gives her his betrothal necklace :)

Avain26: She did indeed die of consumption. Good going. ;)