Duketara
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The Duke didn't really remember his own mother. It'd been so long since the Fire Nation had taken his parents, it felt like the Freedom Fighters were the only family he'd ever had. The Fire Nation had taken them, too, in the end; first Sneers, then their forest. Jet had sent them all away to carry on the fight. It'd be too dangerous to stay in one place anymore after the dam. There'd been new friends later, like Haru and Teo, but he never felt that same sense of family again.
Except around her.
She was so strange, with her tanned skinned and blue clothes, but being around Katara made The Duke's chest ache. There was something about the tone of her voice that made him remember an... impression; of soothing words, of hugs, of a palm resting atop his head. That first night she showed off what waterbending she knew - pretty little, as he'd eventually realize in retrospect - but she let him touch her hands as she gently stirred water in a bowl. Her fingertips had been cold. For the rest of his life, The Duke wondered if his own mother's hands had really felt the same way or if he just wished they did.
After the dam, no one talked about the Avatar or his friends. It wasn't a rule or nothing. You just weren't supposed to. The Duke couldn't help but think of her, however, but he still kept quiet. It wasn't until it was him and Pipsqueak got recruited for the Black Sun invasion that he felt it was okay to say her name out loud. When he saw her again for the first time she was older and, if you squinted, carried herself a little like Jet. The Duke lost a piece of his heart to her that day, because here was someone who combined the two people in life that he'd most loved. He felt envious of the Avatar's earthbending teacher. Here was a kid not much older than him and she got to travel everywhere with the prettiest girl in the world.
The weeks afterward at the Western Air Temple were hard. Even with his new friends, he missed Pipsqueak. Katara watched out for him; made sure he ate, washed up, slept, asked him how he was feeling. She even hugged him - twice!
But the Fire Nation took that away, as always.
He didn't see Katara until after the war was over, and then only briefly. It was surreal being in the Fire Lord's home. Not only was it huuuuge, the Fire Lord had invited them as guests. The Duke wished more of his family than Pipsqueak could have been there to see the war end. Jet wouldn't have liked it one bit, but The Duke bet he wouldn't have caused any big trouble if he got to see Katara again.
