Chapter 3: Too Good To Last
Everything froze and the birds that could be heard singing outside the window no longer chirped. Everything is his world was turning a shade of gray as he processed the information over and over again. Slowly, everything regained its color when he made himself believe that his uncle had just played a really mean joke on him. He started laughing and Iroh looked at him like he was a lunatic.
"You're funny, uncle," he said, forcing himself to continue laughing and not strangle his uncle for almost giving him a heart attack.
"I wasn't trying to be funny, Zuko," said Iroh.
Zuko turned to his uncle. There was no hint of a prank on his face. Zuko was now solemn. He took a deep breath and contained himself from slamming his fist into the nearest object, in this case, his uncle.
"Are you sure?" he asked, his eyes closed in concentration as he continued to stay as calm as possible.
"Would you really doubt something like this from Zhao?" was Iroh's respond, who had walked over to the window.
"No, but... He was here just a couple of days ago! Maybe... Maybe you heard wrong."
"I'm sorry to disappoint you nephew, but what I just told you is the truth."
Zuko was furious and unable to contain himself any longer, he slammed his fist into his desk, which was immediately set on fire. Zhao had possibly just triggered what he had been avoiding in the years of being fire lord. Katara would not take well to the news...
"Katara!" He thought out loud. He turned to his uncle, who was looking at his curiously, and advanced on him, "Uncle, promise me that you won't mention a word about this to Katara."
"But Zuko----"
"No! I'd prefer if she doesn't know if she doesn't need to," he spoke without meeting his uncle's gaze.
Without another word, he stormed out of the study. He had to prepare his army and warn the nation of any future threats... All without letting it slip to Katara.
On his way to the docks, he was so caught up in his thoughts that he failed to see Katara in front of him and only noticed her when he ran into her. On instinct, is arms wrapped firmly around her waist before she fell. Before she could say a single word, he let her go and walked off.
"Zuko?" she said softly, blinking in confusion.
"Zuko!" She said once more, a bit louder, but Zuko still paid no attention.
She stood dumbfounded in the exact same spot where he had left her. She knew Zuko was a bit cold at times, but this went beyond his usual behavior. He never ignored her before, even in his fits of anger. She sighed in defeat, continuing of her way to the kitchens ("A girl has to eat."). Half way to her destination, however, she heard someone call out to her.
"Katara!"
She looked around and saw Iroh waving at her from the opposite end of the hall, his usual carefree expression in play. She stood in her place until Iroh finally made his way to her.
"Hello Iroh," she said, opening her arms to accept the embrace he offered.
"How are you today, my lady?"
"I'm fine, but..."
"Yes?"
"Is something bothering Zuko?"
Katara watched as Iroh's expression quickly changed. She tilted her head slightly, waiting for an answer. Finally, Iroh looked at her and smiled.
"Isn't something always wrong with the boy? Its just a mental health problem," he said, laughing at his own joke. He stopped when Katara didn't join in.
He placed a loving hand on her shoulder and said, "My dear, Zuko loves you very much, but as the ruler of this nation, he has issues to resolve."
"What kind of issues?"
I... I don't know myself."
She eyed him suspiciously, "You're lying to me, Iroh."
"I----"
"It's okay, you don't have to tell me. I'll just get it out of Zuko myself," she said in her normal, calm voice. She smiled, mischievously Iroh noticed, and gave him one last hug before continuing on her way to the kitchens, forgetting even if only for a minute about Zuko and that feeling that said he was hiding something very important from her.
Zuko was in their room, sitting on the bed with his head in his hands. All this talk about war was giving him a major headache and his temper was flaring, as was customary when he was under stress. He would have Zhao's head for causing all of this, and that was a promise. He got up and headed to the balcony. From there he got a perfect view of his nation. It was all so peaceful right now, but that wouldn't last long if he didn't do something about Zhao's little mistake.
As much as he wanted to incinerate something, he knew he couldn't risk it in the bedroom. If Katara came in and saw a pile of ashes where the dresser use to be she would get suspicious, or more if she wasn't already, and that was the last thing he wanted. She would probably try to drown him later for not telling her anything, but he reasoned that it was for the best.
He continued to enjoy the view from the balcony, having to wave occasionally at passing citizens. Everything was so calm. Too bad it wouldn't stay that way. From his current location he could see the harbor, all that served to remind him of what that he needed to prepare his fleet. He sighed, turning to walk into the bedroom.
"You really should tell Katara something. Otherwise you'll go crazy or she'll kill you when she finds out you hid this from her." Iroh was standing in the doorway, a cup of ginseng tea in his hand.
"I know, but that's why she won't find anything out," Zuko said confidently, trying to ignore the flutter he felt in his stomach.
"Find out what?" Katara was standing behind Iroh, who in surprise, had dropped his cup of tea. She moved to pick up the shattered tea cup but was stopped by Iroh, who shook her head, telling her that it would get taken care of later.
She walked into the room and straight up to Zuko. He noticed that she didn't seem to be in a very good mood, and that wasn't a good thing... Especially for him.
"What am I not suppose to find out, Zuko?"
"Uh... Uh.. That you're pregnant!" He mentally kicked himself for such a stupid remark.
"I've been knowing that for 4 months now, love." she said matter-of-factly, her voice carrying hints of impatience. "What are you hiding from me?"
Zuko looked over Katara at Iroh and pleaded for help. But he wasn't much help since all he did was shake his head. Katara saw Iroh out of the corner of her eye, and catching on to Zuko's plan, turned to him, "Iroh, could you please leave us along?"
Iroh bowed politely and smiled, "Certainly, my lady." He winked at Zuko, who glared, before exiting.
Katara closed the doors after him, turning to Zuko once she was sure he was out of hearing range. Zuko gulped loudly, seeing she was not too happy.
"We are not leaving this room until you tell me what's going on... Even it takes all night," she said calmly, much too calmly, in fact.
"Katara, it really shouldn't bother you. It's just nation stuff."
"Have you forgotten that I am also the ruler of this nation? Anything that has to do with it is my concern as well."
He couldn't argue, since she did have a point. But even so, he just stayed quiet, staring into her now fiery eyes.
"Zuko!"
"What do you want to know?"
"I want to know what's going on! Does this have anything to do with the Earth Kingdom?"
"Well... Yes."
"Go on."
"Zhao attacked them and now they're ready to start a war."
Katara's eyes widen in horror at the news, "And you didn't tell me this before! Zuko, this is serious! What are we going to?"
"We are going to do nothing. I'm going to handle this."
"But----"
"No Katara, you are not getting involved."
"Don't do this Zuko, don't shut me out, not now." She took his hands in hers and rubbed them fondly against her cheek.
He caressed her cheek and a for a minute she thought she had gotten through to him, but she knew she had been wrong when he pulled away, "I'm sorry. I have no choice."
He left before he could see the tear that slipped down her cheek. He didn't turn once as he walked off.
That night, before Zuko returned from who knows where, Katara decided to sleep in one of the guest rooms. She needed her space and apparently so did Zuko. She sniffled into the pillow as she thought that maybe she wasn't cut out to be the fire lord's wife.
When Zuko finally returned, he found the room dark and gloomy. He lit the lamp on the nightstand and saw that Katara wasn't there. He tracked down one of the servants and asked if they had seen her. He was informed that she was in the guestroom on the west wing and that was where he hound her. She was sound asleep when he entered, a small, content, smile playing on her lips.
Slowly, he lifted her up and carried her to their bedroom. The last time this had happened was a year ago, but that had been newlyweds back then. Being careful not to drop her, he opened the door to their room. Once inside, he leaned against the door to close it. He walked over to the bed and tried to set Katara down without waking her. But that didn't go according to plan. He set her down too roughly and she awoke with a soft gasp. Her eyes searched around for the cause of her sudden departure from the realm of the sleeping. When her eyes got use to the darkness, her eyes came to rest on Zuko's form and he could see her relaxing.
"Zuko," she said softly. She shivered slightly as the cool wing entered through the open balcony doors.
He got up to close them. Then he got rid of all the access clothing and climbed into bed with a pair of comfortable pants on. He felt around until he felt Katara. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.
"I'm sorry about earlier," he whispered, his warm breath tickling her neck.
"It's okay," she said, laying her head on his chest.
He closed his eyes, willing sleep to take over. He could hear Katara's soft breathing indicating that she was once more sleeping. He shifted around a bit, finding a comfortable position before slowly falling asleep.
Everything was well that night. They didn't know how long the calmness would last, but they would enjoy, or try to enjoy it, for as long as possible.
Finally, chapter 3! I would like to thank all those wonderful people who gave beautiful reviews and I'm sorry I took so long. Every time I wanted to update, I would start to type the chapter up, and one of my friends would IM me and distract me and I never got anything done. So you can blame them (lol). Okay, that's pretty much all I wanted to say. Keep those reviews coming and I'll give you chapter 4 soon enough. By the way, I got a new pen name! I got tired of the other one.
