You've got advocaat to thank for this cracky idea. I drew some Zutara Halloween fanart and she was all "when I first glimpsed the picture I thought Katara had a massive peg leg and I lol'd when I realized it was her broom." Thus, Pegtara was born.
Be warned, there will be puns.
Stuck on a Limb
There is something to be said for not offending an all-powerful spirit with one leg and severe self-control issues. Katara realised now that she should have known better. After all, a panda had once kidnapped her brother, a giant owl had tried to trap her for eternity in a sandy prison (not to mention eat Momo), and whatever had been creating the spooky effects in the Foggy Swamp hadn't been too keen on inviting her for afternoon tea either.
But the fact remained that she had always managed to slither out of those tricky situations. This time, however, she just felt stuck out on a limb. Literally.
Katara pointed her finger accusingly at the spirit—er, woman, er, ox-dragon thing—and glared with all her might. "You give my leg back right now!"
Ox lady cackled and folded her wings behind her back, balancing her considerable bulk on one hairy hoof. "Foolish human. You have offended the great Chao! I will make you suffer for your rudeness!"
Katara jutted her chin. "Listen here, you just can't go around stealing people's legs!"
"Actually, I can," Chao said. "I can do whatever I like. I am the spirit of these mountains and you are just a silly girl."
"But—"
Chao held up one claw-tipped finger. Instantly, Katara found that she could not speak. A smile curled the spirit's scaly but decidedly human face. "I'm only going to say this once, Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, so listen closely."
Katara's eyes narrowed from where she sat on the ground, one-legged and mute.
"I don't like you," Chao continued. "You are a rude, nasty little girl who thinks you can do what you like because you're friends with the Avatar. Well, the little baldy isn't here to save you right now, and I think it's high time you learn your lesson." She clicked her fingers and a smooth, tanned leg hovered in the air.
"My leg!" Katara shouted … except, of course, no sound came out.
Chao leaned forward, almost poking Katara in the face with her horns. "Those who worship me live by the mantra that 'one is enough'. I have one leg because I am in no need of another; I am the balance in absence, becoming whole in my focus on the one." Her tail curled around Katara's neck, tightening just enough to put pressure on her windpipe. "But you, foolish little human, do not appreciate the power of my one-legged form. You called me a hobbling idiot with as much intelligence as my ability to stand on two legs."
Katara had the grace to blush. So maybe that comment had been a bit much, but Chao had started it! All Katara had wanted was to get some water (they had lost all of their supply when they were forced to flee the Western Air Temple). How was she to know that some cantankerous, one-legged spirit had taken up residence in the area and wasn't inclined to share?
"I could just kill you, of course," Chao mused, oblivious to Katara's thoughts, "but then where would be the fun in that? You'd be just another corpse to stink up my mountains, and then I'd have to deal with pest control (and I can tell you that having an infestation of fire termite-roaches is no joke; horrid little things get into everything). But that's not the point. The point is that you—" she pointed her finger at Katara "—need to learn some respect for one-legged creatures, so one-legged you shall be!"
Katara's eyes widened in horror and she opened and closed her mouth in silent protest. Chao just cackled and removed her tail from around Katara's throat, letting the waterbender slump to the ground.
"Farewell, brat!" Chao taunted, giving a clawed salute. "Give my regards to the Avatar."
The next thing Katara knew the spirit had vanished in a puff of smoke (with much cackling), leaving Katara alone in her now one-legged state. She just sat there for a moment in shock. Then, as if a switch had flipped in her mind, an aggravated scream escaped her throat and she slammed her fist against the ground. That horrible, hobbling spirit! She couldn't believe that Chao had stolen her leg! Her leg! Katara was furious! Even the realisation that she had her voice back couldn't comfort her.
"You won't get away with this, Chao!" Katara shouted to the surrounding trees.
There was no response. Chao had really left her, and Katara was really one-legged.
A lump formed in Katara's throat and her eyes began to sting. She stared at where her missing limb should be and sniffed, feeling fat tear drops slide down her cheeks. Anger was quickly turning to despair, and she might have sat there and cried for hours had a rustling in the bushes not sent a zap of adrenaline through her blood. Something was coming.
Katara summoned her water and waited with bated breath, watching for a sight of whatever was causing the dramatic rustling. A glimpse of red, pale skin, shaggy black hair. She groaned in frustration. Of course it had to be him.
"Zuko," she said flatly.
Said boy paused in mid-step. He gazed at her slumped figure and then his jaw dropped. "What in the—what happened to your leg?"
Katara scowled and folded her arms. "That's none of your business."
"But you only have one le—"
"A spirit stole it, alright!" she snapped. "I tried to get some water for the campsite, some weird, one-legged thing appeared and wouldn't let me, and I got angry, and—" She gestured dramatically at the space where her missing limb should have been. "Behold, the one-legged waterbender."
Zuko rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh … okay."
Katara's eyes flashed. "Okay. I tell you that a spirit stole one of my legs and all you can say is okay?"
He shrugged. "I once got forced to play 'I Spy' by a dragonmoose wearing a tiara. Spirits do weird things."
Katara had no response. Instead, she just gave Zuko her best 'you are an idiot, and I will maim you unless you stop making stupid comments' look. Thankfully, the prince took the hint and came over to assist her.
"Here," he said, extending his hand, "let me help you to your feet … uh, foot.
Her eyes narrowed. "You really want to go there, Zuko?"
He did not, though his mouth was suspiciously twitchy, like he was trying hard not to laugh. Katara resisted the urge to clobber him and instead gripped his hand, letting him pull her to a standing position. And then swayed. Having one less leg had thrown off her balance, and she found herself pressed against Zuko's chest as she lost her footing.
"You alright?" he asked, steadying her with warm hands on her waist.
Katara felt her cheeks heat. "I'm fine," she muttered, hopping away from him and holding her arms out like an acrobat to regain her balance. "Just finding it a little hard to adjust to—ahh!"
She toppled sideways and once again found herself sprawled against Zuko, and rather ungracefully at that. He sighed in a resigned sort of way and placed one arm under her legs—er, leg—and then, before she could even react, swept her up so that he was carrying her bridal-style. Katara's eyes widened as she became very conscious of his toned chest and how his arms were all around her, and—oh no, no, no! He was much, much too close. If her cheeks were hot before, they were positively on fire now.
"What are you—you just can't—" She spluttered a few more fragments of words that didn't make much sense, but Zuko ignored her protests.
"You have one leg, Katara," he said bluntly. "Unless you want to hop and stumble all the way back to camp, I suggest you let me carry you. It will be much faster."
Rather than admit he made a logical point, she chose to ease her frustration by raising her chin as haughtily as possible and maintaining a dignified silence. It didn't work. In truth, it was difficult to maintain a dignified anything while being carried by a boy you only reluctantly called an ally, and all because you lost a leg to some overgrown ox-woman thing. The only good thing about being rescued by Zuko was that he wasn't much of a conversationalist (their relationship, after all, was rather tense), and she wasn't in the mood for chit-chat, so their trip back to camp was pretty silent except for a few monosyllabic remarks. Unfortunately, she couldn't say the same for her brother.
Sokka was alarmed to discover that his baby sister had lost a leg to some grumpy spirit. However, in true Sokka fashion, he also wanted her to appreciate the funny side of the situation. Indeed, as soon as he got over his initial shock, he seemed to make it his mission to annoy her with his poor attempts at humour.
"Wait, wait, I've got another one!" Sokka declared, raising his finger to the air like a grand philosopher.
Everyone groaned.
Sokka grinned from ear to ear. "What do you call a one-legged waterbender?"
More groaning.
"A water hopper!"
Suki covered her ears. "Someone make it stop."
Katara flicked her wrist, hitting her brother upside the head with a water whip. "Would you quit it already?" she snapped. "Just because I had my leg stolen doesn't make me deaf."
"No," Sokka agreed, "but it does make you unstable." He laughed at his own joke and even had to wipe a tear from his eye. "Get it? She's unstable because she's got one leg, and—"
Katara narrowed her eyes. Sokka made an odd noise like 'meep' and closed his mouth. Even Toph, who had found the jokes funny at first, looked like she wanted to strangle the older boy. Only Zuko seemed unfazed by Sokka's quest to pun them all into oblivion; then again, the prince could only tell punchlines, so she didn't exactly rate his idea of humour as five-star material.
In short, life was not looking good for Katara. She had lost a leg, lost her dignity, and now she was being inflicted with bad puns and cheeky remarks, as if she really wanted to be told that her name should be changed to Ihop, or that she didn't have to worry about getting frostbite in both feet now.
So it was with great relief that she saw Aang swoop down on his glider to join the group. Finally, someone who would be actually useful! Katara wasted no time in explaining her predicament to Aang, with the help of the others. When she was finished, she stared at the airbender expectantly.
"So, is there anything you can do?" she asked.
Aang scratched his head. "Well, I can find Chao in the Spirit World and reason with her, but that's about all I can do. She'll have to be the one to give your leg back." He ducked his head, looking a bit sheepish that he couldn't help her more. "Sorry."
Katara clenched her hands into fists. This was a disaster! There was no saying when she would be able to get her leg back, and what was she supposed to do about getting around places for now? She could barely hop without wanting to fall over.
"I could always make you a peg leg," Sokka offered, when she stated as much.
"Like a pirate!" Aang exclaimed, grinning in enthusiasm. Then a crease formed on his brow. ""Though, to be honest, I haven't liked pirates half as much since they tried to kidnap me that one time."
"And they tried to kill me," Zuko added.
"You tried to kill all of us!" Katara retorted, pointing her finger at him.
"I didn't try to kill you," he explained, shaking his head. "I just wanted to capture the Avatar."
Toph picked her nose. "Yeah, and Combustion Man only wanted to invite us to tea."
Zuko had the grace to blush. "Okay, that wasn't my proudest moment."
Suki pursed her lips. "Nor was it when you tried to burn down my village."
He held his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay, so I've done bad things. How many more times do you want me to apologise?"
"Zuko's right," Sokka interjected, nodding his head as if he were spouting great words of wisdom. "We need to put the past behind us and focus on the here and now, and that is how do we help Katara not be stuck on a limb?"
Suki raised her eyebrow at her boyfriend. The judgement of that stare was real.
"Fine," Sokka sighed, slumping his shoulders. "No more puns."
"Thank you," Suki, Toph and Katara said in unison.
He straightened up again with a grin. "But if Katara does get a peg leg, I vote we call her Pegtara from now on."
Wordlessly, Toph and Suki punched him on either arm, making him yelp in pain. Katara just sighed. She really hoped she saw Chao again soon, because she was going to murder that spirit.