The only thing I own is the plot on your screen. If you plan to take my ideas and put them into your own fanfic, claiming to be your own mind that thought them up, get a hobby. Plagiarism is wrong, don't do it!
The preparations for the marriage ceremony took an entire month to make. Everything from the clothes that Katara and Zuko would wear to old traditions that would take place. Both teenagers had agreed to a simple wedding, but Iroh had insisted on making it a giant celebration. Unfortunately, because of lack of needed guests, the "giant" celebration would turn out to be the simple wedding that was originally wanted.
Thanks to several hours of persuasion, Prince Zuko agreed to postpone his Avatar pursuit until after the wedding so the boy could attend. Aang had not wanted to go, but he didn't have the heart to hurt Katara's feelings.
Katara had spent an entire day searching for the dress that would be worn by her on her wedding day. She had entered an old shop to find, according to Iroh, the perfect dress. It was a blood red kimono with a gold flower pattern and a brilliant gold trim. The small rope that tied her almost bare backside was also gold. A red blossom comb accompanied the dress and Iroh informed her that women placed that comb in their hair decoratively. When she first tried on the gown, Iroh's jaw dropped and Sokka crossed his arms in complete offense. "Red makes you look like a fire bender," he had said but in his mind he had agreed that she looked absolutely magnificent. "That braid won't do," the retired General said as he looked at her up and down. "We must find somebody who will do your hair nicely." Easer said than done. After another day's search, Katara found a humble villager woman to do her hair and face. The woman had asked Katara to buy some flowers that she would like placed in her hair and take extremely good care of them so they won't die the day of the wedding.
Prince Zuko had accompanied her the day that she had gone to the flower shop. After several hours of browsing, Zuko had lost his patience with Katara's fickleness and grabbed a handful of Daisies, burning them to the ground. "Just pick a flower and lets go," he yelled after Katara scolded him for being so impatient. The shop keeper had interfered just before Zuko burned any more flowers and patiently asked the two teens what they were looking for. Katara explained to her that her wedding was coming up and she needed flowers for her hair. The keeper showed the waterbender all sorts of flowers and their proposes. It was when the woman introduced to Katara the wonderful Orange Blossom, when things got a bit interesting. The woman had told Katara that this fragrant flower was used in weddings to ward off evil spirits, bad luck, and ill health. It also was a symbol of fertility. It was then that Zuko had paled and stammered, "fer-fertility?" Katara giggled and told the keeper that she wished to have a bundle of those beautiful flowers, considering that she did want to be in a lucky healthy marriage and would want children in the future. Prince Zuko, however, was still in shock and turned to face his future spouse with fear. "How many children do you want?" he asked, terrified of what her answer might be. Katara used this chance to prank her dear Zuko and answered with a simple, "Oh I don't know. Eight or Nine?" The poor man almost fainted with that response before Katara told him to calm down. She answered the question again by informing him that she just wanted one or two, but not until the war was over.
Prince Zuko had finished with his part of the wedding a week before the ceremony. According to his uncle, people in the military wore their uniforms when they married. "You also have to write a letter to the bride's father, in this case brother, and promise to him that you'll provide for and support her," Iroh informed while Zuko polished his armor. The Prince had rolled his eyes at this statement, thinking that anyone could take better care of Katara than her moron of a brother. Though, writing a letter seemed simple, it was not. It took Prince Zuko about a week to write the damn letter to Sokka, probably because he didn't want to sound too friendly or too serious with him. But this wasn't enough, Zuko didn't feel right to just write to Sokka, so he decided to write to the Avatar also. Why? Because his wonderful Katara had once told him that Aang was like another brother to her. This letter, unfortunately, took longer to write because it's hard to promise things to your enemy.
It was the night before the wedding and Katara laid awake on her bed, thinking about the next day. By this time tomorrow, I'll be with Zuko, she thought sweetly and smiled. She closed her eyes and tried to catch sleep but couldn't. Deciding after an hour that sleep won't come without some tea, she got up and left her bedroom. She walked down the long hallway and peeked inside Aang's room. His even breath indicated deep sleep and she closed the door, thanking the Gods that Zuko had been kind enough to let him stay on the ship until the wedding. Aang had protested at first but Katara had the gift of persuasion, and he soon gave up, claiming that he loved her too much. She continued to walk down the narrow passage and came upon Zuko's room. She stood there, hesitating on going in. In the end, she shook her head and went out onto the deck to get a nice whiff of fresh air. She was about to go into the kitchen when she noticed that someone was inside the Captain's Coop. "That's strange," she said to herself and shrugged. "Maybe it's the Captain checking on what course to take after we leave tomorrow." Curiosity eventually got the best of her, and she decided to go up to the Coop to see who was in there. After many flights of stairs, she reached the designated room and slowly opened the metal door.
Prince Zuko looked over the parchment that he was reading and smiled when he saw Katara slowly step into the room. "Couldn't sleep?" he asked and rolled up the short piece of paper, tying an orange ribbon around it.
Katara smiled and looked at the scroll. "Nope. You?"
"Same." He set the scroll down next to another that she had not noticed. The difference between the other scroll was that it was tied with a blue ribbon instead of an orange one. "I got tired of laying awake, so decided to come up here and re-read some letters."
"Letters?" she asked confusedly and sat opposite of the Prince. The waterbender grabbed the scalding hot teapot and slid it towards her before it burned her. "To whom? …Pass me a cup."
Zuko nodded and handed her a tea cup. "One letter is for your brother and the other is for the Avatar boy." He watched Katara amusedly as she used her water bending to pour the clear tea into her cup. "Show off," he muttered.
"It's better than lifting that hot pot," Katara laughed and sipped her tea. "Mmm. So good," she whispered to herself and closed her eyes as the warm sweet liquid ran down her throat. "Why did you write them letters?"
"I'm supposed to," he said and smiled when Katara gave him a questioning look. "The letter promises to your brother and the Avatar that I will take good care of you no matter what. It's like a contract."
Katara frowned at the word 'contract'. She didn't like to think that she was being bought or traded. "Who told you that you had to write them a letter?" she asked, feeling a little dumb for doing so. Who else would tell him to do such a thing? His uncle, of course. His lovely old-fashioned uncle.
"Uncle Iroh," Prince Zuko responded. He suddenly felt stupid for writing a letter to Sokka and Aang, but soon shrugged it off. "Why did you come up here?"
"Just snooping around," she answered and smiled sweetly at Zuko. "I saw the light coming from this room from the deck, so I came to see who was up here. I was lucky enough to come upon my Prince Charming." She slowly got to her feet and walked over to Prince Zuko. After sitting down next to him, she hooked her arm with his and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I love you," she whispered and closed her eyes. She was so happy to be sitting next to the love of her life. To be able to tell somebody that you love them and have that person feel the same way about you, is incredible. It's too bad only a few have been able to feel such ecstasy.
"I love you too," he whispered and unhooked his arm so he could wrap it around her. Zuko smiled as he felt the warmth of her body radiate off of her. He had missed having her so close to him. "Want to sleep in my room tonight?" he asked quietly and rubbed her arm. He didn't know what imposed him to ask such a forward question, but he didn't regret doing it.
Katara gasped at the sudden query, Zuko had never been quite so bold with her. But she sensed where it was coming from. She wanted to go to his room too, but a gut feeling told her that if they were alone in his bedroom, they would do anything but sleep. She knew it was OK to miss each other's company, but it wasn't OK to act upon it so daringly. "I want to but we should wait until tomorrow. We shouldn't give temptation a chance to take over," she said serenely and snuggled more into his body. He was so warm and so tempting.
"Temptation sounds very good about now," he whispered and laughed softly at his own joke. "I miss sleeping next to you. I miss waking up and seeing your face."
"I miss that too Zuko, but wait until tomorrow. We have the rest of our lives to sleep next to each other and to wake up together." She pulled away and looked into his eyes. "We're getting married tomorrow, remember?" Katara placed her hand on his scarred cheek.
Prince Zuko smiled and reached up to grab her hand. He stroked the back of it before bringing it up to his lips, kissing it gently. "Of course I remember." He wrapped his arms around her small waist and leaned closer to her face after she placed her arms around his neck. "It will be the happiest day of my life," he paused and gave her a short kiss on the lips, "next to the day that you bear my children."
Katara blushed and slightly pulled away from him. "Children?" she asked quietly and remembered the flower shop's incident. "So, you want children now?"
Prince Zuko nodded. "I never said I didn't. I just don't want them right now." He tightened his grip on Katara's waist. "We're too young."
She nodded in agreement. He was right, they were too young. All of the sudden, something popped into Katara's head. Something that she hadn't thought of before. "Uh…Zuko," she began and stopped. She didn't know how to approach the subject. It was too…personal.
"Hmm?" he hummed and looked into her eyes.
"I uh…well, you see…of course you know where babies come from, right?" Katara asked nervously and hoped with all her might that Prince Zuko knew where she was headed.
Zuko laughed and looked at her strangely. "Of course," he whispered sensually.
"Well, um…" The shy waterbender hesitated. She knew she had to ask but it felt so weird talking to a man about things that involved sex. She let go of him and he did the same, feeling that whatever she had to say was probably serious. "Tomorrow night…how are we suppose to," she paused and looked at him uneasily. "I don't want to get pregnant," she said at last, avoiding his gaze. Just kill me now…
"Oh," breathed the Prince. That statement was completely unexpected but he understood where her worry was coming from. A few days before, his uncle had awkwardly approached him about the subject, and explained to Prince Zuko the "ways" to prevent such things from happening. "Don't worry about that Katara. I got it figured out." He mentally kicked himself for sounding so sure of himself.
Katara raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Really? How?"
The teenage boy nodded. "Men have ways to prevent that from happening."
"Like?" Katara crossed her arms. Please don't be making this up. I really don't want to get pregnant.
"Katara, just believe me," he insisted. "I know why I'm telling you this. Don't worry." Prince Zuko smiled and sipped a bit of his tea. He felt extremely uncomfortable and wanted to leave the subject alone. It was hard enough with his uncle, who's like a father to him, he really didn't need this from Katara. A woman could never understand his discomfort.
"Alright, but if I get pregnant…I'm blaming you," she said angrily and stood up. Then, she felt a strong hand pull her back down. She furrowed her brow at the man who kept her from leaving and sighed.
"Fine," Zuko huffed and turned to face her. He looked straight into her blue eyes and held her hands with his. "I'll tell you but you must promise me not to overreact like I expect you to."
"OK, I promise."
There was a long silence before Prince Zuko spoke again. He needed to find the right words to explain to Katara the kind of protection that he was going to use. But everything he thought of saying, sounded wrong and strange. And if he explained it to her like Iroh had, she wouldn't understand and ask more questions…just like he did. Just be blunt about it and stop thinking so much or else you'll change your mind. Zuko took a giant breath and frowned. This is was so damn difficult. Talk about it from a different point of view. Use examples! Finally, a good idea. "When a man interacts with a woman, he uses a special barrier to prevent the woman from getting pregnant." He frowned when he saw a confused look in Katara's eyes. "A man ties a sort of cloth around his…" he trailed off, not wanting to use the actually term.
Katara filled in the blank in her mind and smiled, telling him that she knew what he had meant. "What kind of cloth are we talking about here?" she asked, realizing that Zuko had finished explaining his special method of birth control.
The banished Prince blushed momentarily. He had hoped that she wouldn't have asked that. When his uncle had told him, he was disgusted by it. He couldn't imagine Katara's reaction. She probably won't care, she's from a Tribe. They probably use that tissue for all kinds of things, he thought trying to soothe his mind with a least bit of comfort. Who am I kidding? She's going to be disgusted by it. "Uh…you might not like what I'm going to say, so I won't."
Katara crossed her arms and looked at Prince Zuko sternly. "Tell me."
He sighed, getting frustrated with her constant interrogation. "Animal entrails," he whispered and took a quick sip of his tea, as though if he did, she'll forget everything.
Katara felt her eyes widen significantly. Horror completely covered her face as she practically yelled: "What!" She couldn't believe what she had just heard. "Where did you hear such barbaric nonsense?"
Prince Zuko furrowed his brow. It was disgusting, he agreed…but barbaric? No, it was not. If it prevented pregnancy, there was nothing barbaric about it. "My uncle," he answered. "And it works because he's done it," he added before Katara had a chance to defy the invention.
Katara didn't say anything more. If Prince Zuko believed this "cloth" to work, then OK. But something began to bother her. "If this is true, then how come, when Zhao took advantage of me I didn't see any of that junk?"
"Katara, you think Zhao cares if you get pregnant or not? No, he doesn't. If I hadn't stopped him, you probably would be carrying his child right now." Prince Zuko shuddered at the thought. Katara and Zhao's baby…that was frightening.
Katara's jaw dropped. That thought never crossed her mind. Never. And now, it frightened her to know that if Zuko had not heard her, Zhao would've impregnated her and leave her with child. "Oh my gosh," she whispered and placed a hand over her racing heart. "You're right." Her sleeping fear began to awaken and she shook her head. No more horrible memories, please.
Prince Zuko saw a flicker of panic in her eyes and he knew that she was beginning to remember things. The hate for Zhao started to rush through his veins and he pulled Katara close to him. Embracing her, he felt her calm down. He knew that Katara will never be able to forget what Zhao did to her. Those memories will continue to haunt her for the rest of her mortal life. He tightened the hug and heard her yawn in his arms. "You're safe with me," he whispered and rubbed her back softly. "I love you." Several minutes later, her breath evened out and she fell asleep. "Nobody will ever hurt you again." He lifted her up and carried her out of the room, down the stairs, and out onto the deck. She shifted in his arms, when the cold air hit her face. He smiled down at her sleeping body and walked down the long hallway.
As Prince Zuko was about to pass the Avatar's room, the door opened and a groggy boy stepped out. He rubbed his eyes and smiled dreamily at a figure standing in the darkness. After realizing that the form was Zuko, he frowned and looked at Katara. "Is she OK?" the young boy whispered worriedly and walked closer to Zuko, so he could take a better look of Katara.
"Yes. She just fell asleep while we were talking." For a long moment, the Prince looked down at the Avatar with sad eyes. The ticket back home was standing right in front of him. No weapons and unaware. Zuko could very well drop Katara and capture the boy. Then, he could return back home and be happy again. He shook his head and looked down at Katara. What am I talking about? I am happy, he thought and smiled. "Well, I'll go drop off Sleeping Beauty."
Aang looked at Zuko strangely and suppressed a giggle. "I can't believe the Prince of the Fire Nation just used Sleeping Beauty in an actual conversation. You must really love her." He smiled at Zuko and walked past him. "G'night."
Prince Zuko could've slapped himself in the face for sounding so…weak, but he would be risking dropping Katara. Instead, he continued to walk down to the end of the hallway and carefully tried to open the door to the water bender's room without waking her. Succeeding in the task, he set her down on her temporary bed and kissed her softly on the lips. "Good night," he whispered in her ear and headed out the door. It was then when something bright caught his eye. He turned his head and noticed a red dress hanging on the wall. The Prince looked over to see if Katara had awakened, and noticing that she hadn't, he walked closer to the dress. He smiled at the dark metallic red and at the gold flowers decorating it. He passed his hands over the silk and imagined Katara in the gown. Beautiful…Simply beautiful.
He took one last glance at the dress and left her bedroom. Aang saw him depart from the Water Tribe girl's room and gave the Prince a tired wave before retreating to his own. Zuko smiled at the boy for a moment, but shook it off when he realized what he was doing. "I won't become friends with the enemy and risk losing my home forever."
A/N- This chapter was OK, it's not my best work but I thought that some subjects had to be covered, before the wedding…which is tomorrow! WOOHOO! Before I leave you, I'm going to answer some questions that I know will be asked.
What time frame does Avatar: The Last Airbender take place in?
I believe around late 1400s to late 1500s. Why? The mask that Prince Zuko used in "The Blue Spirit" was used in Japanese No Theatre, which was invented in the 1400s. Also, Prince Zuko's ship is a steam engine ship and the first steam engine ship was invented in the 1500s.
Is Katara a virgin? How come she's not going to wear white on her wedding?
The traditional white dress is about 150 years old, after their time. In the olden olden days, brides (including virgins) used festive colors. Like red, orange, yellow…etc.
Were animal intestines really used as CONDOMS back then?
Yes! Isn't that nasty or what? But it's true, the man would place the animal part over his penis and tie it. Incredibly enough, it was sufficient to protect the woman from getting pregnant. I say we all stop and thank the man who invented latex condoms.
Is it true that the groom had to write a letter to the father of the bride?
Yep, it is. Usually the bride's family would give money, goods, or an estate to the future husband and in return the husband would pay a "price" for her and write a letter to the father of the bride, promising to support her. But I skipped the whole trading thing because Katara's poor, and I made Zuko write the letter anyways. Haha
Why did Aang leave his room in the middle of the night?
He had to go to the restroom. LOL