Soundtrack: Toast to Tomorrow – Blackmore's Night

Traditions

Zuko had thought it was a good idea at first. He'd only wanted to show Katara that he loved her and respected her culture. If he could prove to Hakoda at the same time that he was indeed worthy of becoming the waterbender's husband, well, that was just an added bonus.

But that was before Zuko had known what he would be expected to do. In the Fire Nation, getting betrothed was a simple matter of making a request to the girl's parents, then approaching said female with an offering of a hair comb (to show that she was off-limits to other men), and voila: you're engaged. In the Southern Water Tribe, it was very, very different.

There had been a test of hunting prowess, in which Zuko had been forced to go with a few of the warriors to catch whatever wild animal he could find in the frozen snow plains. It had been stated very clearly that he was not allowed to use his firebending (instead, he had a spear and a jaw blade), but that was the least of the Fire Lord's worries. He could track people and animals with relative ease if he knew the signs, but that was on land not covered in snow. The terrain was completely different here, and he'd never had to bother about hunting while travelling through the poles during his banishment because he and his uncle had always just bought food at the ports or the crew would fish in the ocean using nets.

Needless to say, Zuko had not found the first test particularly easy. The warriors were there to make sure he came to no harm, but they were not allowed to assist him in any way (though Sokka had tried to give a few hints, all of which had been so cryptic that Zuko still couldn't work out if his friend had been trying to tell him to cover himself in honey or look for sticky patches on the sparse trees and rocks). There was also the fact that he would be judged according to what animal he caught; a snowy hare-owl, after all, would not provide as much meat as an arctic wolf-bat, and the whole point of this test was to prove that he could provide food for his family.

Eventually, it was what Toph fondly called the "Zuko Luck" that got the Fire Lord coming away from the ordeal triumphant. One moment he'd been searching for tracks in the snow—though without much enthusiasm—and then something large, hairy and smelly was charging at him, roaring and slashing with its claws in a way that suggested the creature rather liked the idea of having fresh firebender for dinner. A rather undignified struggle had ensued, but eventually Zuko had managed to kill the creature (even if he had just tripped, landed on his backside, and had somehow managed to spear the smelly thing in the process). Later, he had found out that his accidental prey had been a muskox-bear, the largest and most dangerous predator in the South Pole. Hakoda and Gran-Gran were most impressed, but that still had not allowed Zuko to escape the rest of the trials. A good husband, after all, had to be more than a hunter.

That was how Zuko had found himself on his knees in the snow, trying to build an igloo. It didn't matter that he and Katara would not be living in the South Pole or that his girlfriend was a waterbender and could make an ice hut for them in less than a minute. No, this was a tradition that could not be avoided, for a man was worth nothing in the eyes of the Southern Water Tribe if he couldn't even build a house for his future wife. Unfortunately, building had never been Zuko's forte, and having only a knife and lots of snow for his construction tools just made it that much more difficult.

"I could help you," Katara had offered, when it became obvious that Zuko's igloo was more like a house of cards that would just keep tumbling down again and again. "No one has to know."

But Zuko had refused her help. He said that he would do this properly or not do it at all. Needless to say, he hadn't come away from that task particularly successful. By the end, his igloo had looked more like a lopsided cave that would crumble at any minute. Hakoda hadn't even been able to stand upright inside the hut.

"Well, at least they won't go hungry," Gran-Gran observed, pursing her lips as she examined the 'igloo'.

Zuko rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, not sure if that meant he had failed in his task or not. Most likely failed, if Sokka's laughter was anything to go by, but there seemed to be an unspoken agreement between Gran-Gran and Hakoda to give the Fire Lord another chance to prove his worth. So he had been taken to the centre of the village, where he was told to strip down to his pants and get ready.

"Get ready for what" Zuko asked, glancing at the villagers, who now stood in a circle around him as if to box him into some kind of arena.

Gran-Gran pointed straight ahead, and his eyes widened when he saw Hakoda remove his chieftain furs and tunic and take up a fighting stance. Apparently, the Wolf Claw challenge meant that Zuko had to defeat Hakoda in hand-to-hand combat, proving to the man and the village that he had the strength to protect Katara. Piece of cake, right?

Wrong.

Zuko might be lithe and dangerous in a fight, but he had always relied on his dual dao swords or his bending to pull him through. Now he had no fire, no twin blades, and he soon realised that it was very different trying to bring down a man who was much taller and stronger than him with just his bare hands—especially since Hakoda was both skilled in hand-to-hand combat and turned out to be remarkably light on his feet for such a giant of a man.

Needless to say, there was much more undignified struggling on Zuko's part, and he may or may not have had his face mashed into the snow more than once. But Zuko was not one to give up, and while he was indeed outmatched in strength and height, he still had the edge when it came to speed. Combine that with the fact that he had always been known to fight a little dirty when he got desperate (Azula could attest to this; she had been the biter, but he had definitely been the hair-puller), and it was no wonder that the duel which had started out so formal soon regressed into something much more indecorous—complete with snow-wrestling, insults and, yes, hair-pulling.

"This is embarrassing," Katara muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose with her forefinger and thumb.

"This is hilarious!" Sokka corrected, and proceeded to make bets with Bato on who would win (Sokka went with Zuko; the Fire Lord clearly had the hair-pulling technique down, and that trick he had of spinning his legs round in a circle to break Hakoda's hold was rather effective).

As it turned out, however, neither Bato nor Sokka were able to claim their winnings. The fight dragged on and on, and then—after a particularly inelegant struggle, which consisted of much rolling in the snow and some hair-tugging on Hakoda's part—the two men simply flopped onto their backs and breathed heavily, looking utterly spent.

"Not bad," Zuko said, still trying to catch his breath. "At least, for an old guy."

"You're not bad yourself," Hakoda responded, "for a pampered Fire Lord."

There was a pause, and then they both looked at each other with identical grins. Nothing like undignified struggling and hair-pulling to bring two men together. In silent agreement they got to their feet and faced each other. Hakoda clasped the younger man's forearm and gave him a hearty slap on the back.

"Well done, Zuko. You've passed the Wolf Claw challenge." His smile took on a mischievous edge. "There is just one more thing you have to do to prove your worthiness for my daughter's hand in marriage."

Zuko frowned, brushing some of the snow out of his hair. "What's that?"

Next thing he knew he was sitting on the floor in the guest igloo, staring at the pale stone in his hands. The shape was not a perfect circle and the carvings that had been etched onto the front were wonky and didn't resemble much of anything. No woman in her right mind would want to wear such a thing. Zuko groaned and tossed the stone away from him, burying his face in his hands.

"I must have been an idiot to think that I could do this," he muttered.

"What makes you think that?"

He flinched and looked up, and his cheeks flushed with pink when he saw Katara standing in front of him, holding his poor attempt at a betrothal necklace in her hand. A smile curved her lips as she examined the pendant, and in that moment he wished he was an earthbender and could just sink right into the earth. At least then he wouldn't have to suffer this humiliation.

"Go ahead," he said, folding his arms and looking the other way. "Laugh and tell me it's the ugliest thing you've ever seen."

"But I don't think that."

A scowl twisted his features. "You don't need to coddle me. I know I have no skill with carving. Just like I can't build igloos, or hunt, or—"

"Zuko." Katara knelt down in front of him and placed her hand against his cheek, forcing him to meet her gaze. "Do you really think any of us expected you to complete the tasks perfectly?"

"Isn't that the point? To prove my worthiness through different skills."

"In some ways, yes, but the trials are more of a way to show your dedication and sincerity; to prove that you are willing to do whatever it takes to be a good husband, not because you are the best at hunting or carving, but because you care. You did that through your actions over these past few days. Maybe your igloo wasn't perfect, and maybe you only caught that muskox-bear by accident, but you still did it all on your own; you still tried, even though you're not from my tribe and no one expected you to do so." She took his hand in hers and placed the necklace on his palm. "That's why I don't think this pendant is ugly. Because even though it was difficult for you, I know that every cut, every pattern, was done with love."

Zuko stared at her suspiciously. "You're just saying that to make me feel better, aren't you?"

She laughed. "No, I'm not. I really mean it."

He gazed at her a moment longer and then he just sighed. "Maybe you're right, but that doesn't change the fact that the necklace is poorly crafted. You can't wear something like that; everyone would wonder if you had picked it up from a junkyard, and that's just embarrassing for the both of us."

Katara rolled her eyes. "Zuko, would you stop fretting over the necklace and just kiss me already? You're ruining the mood."

For once, he did not complain and leaned forward to oblige. Their lips met in a teasing caress, and as he took her into his arms and deepened the kiss, falling back with her against the furs, he found that he didn't much care that he had failed half of his tasks and barely scraped through the others. What mattered was that Katara was now officially his fiancée, and he was definitely looking forward to the wedding night.