Title: Punishment
Summary: Zuko and Katara are married, but they haven't exactly reached their happily ever after.
A/N: Another attempt at Zutara. If you've read my fic: "Heaven, Earth, and Hell" then this is what Zuko and Katara are going through. I don't know if I'll be able to add it to the fic--but I felt that it had to be told so voila.
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Zuko woke up to an empty bed to find his wife nearby, kneeling on the floor with lit candles. She was praying again. Zuko gazed at her form sadly and slowly got up from bed. He walked to her and joined her in prayer.
Lately this seemed to be the routine, day and night.
Later that night, after praying once again Zuko found his wife crying. He gathered her in his arms, trying to calm her. "Try to be happy," he said quietly, knowing nothing he said could cheer her up. "It's almost our anniversary. Try not to think about it."
"I don't know what to do anymore Zuko," she clung to him. "We've tried everything and anything."
"Maybe it's just too soon for us. I'm sure we'll be able to, when we are deemed ready."
"I've asked the spirits to grant me this, I ask why they do not grant me this and I receive no answer." Katara had prayed to the moon, then resulted to praying to Agni as well; then that soon led to praying to the earth and wind spirits. She would beg the earth--for Mother Nature to grant her a child, if not for her, for her husband and his country. However her prayers have fallen on deaf ears. "They're punishing me..."
Zuko stroked her hair ruefully, "Don't say that."
"But they are. Yue has given me no answers and I must've done something wrong..."
"Never," he insisted. "They're not punishing you. How can they punish someone so kind?"
"I'm horrible...I haven't been able to give an heir--the Fire Nation is so disappointed in me. I've failed to produce an heir that will one day succeed you." Katara, as the wife of the heir to the throne, had been given the duty to make sure Zuko had an heir. True, he was yet to be Fire Lord because Iroh was still in great health, but no one lived forever. Nothing much was expected of her, just bear a child for her husband so that the bloodline would not be lost.
"Oh come on. Hope isn't lost," Zuko caressed her cheek. "Azula is heir presumptive. I'm sure she will marry and provide an heir."
Dear gods, Azula's child ascending the throne...
"I'm sorry," Katara wept. "I've angered the gods and you've been caught--"
"Stop. They're not punishing you." He was the one who aided in killing his father, right? Disrespecting ones parent is always a sin. "They're punishing me."
