Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender or the song 'Name' by the Good Goo dolls.
A/N: Updating. Just to clear it up, in the last chapter Katara-four, Zuko-six. Now, after a two year interval as with all the other upcoming chapters, Katara-six, Zuko-eight. Kinda bored right now. Enjoy.
-
And scars are souvenirs
You never lose
The past is never far
Did you lose yourself?
Somewhere out there
Did you get to be a star?
And don't it make you sad
To know that life
Is more than who we are…
"Gran-gran! Look what I made!"
Katara ran into her grandmother's tent, seeing the plump elderly woman sewing a pattern on a big piece of cloth. She looked up from her patchwork, the corners of her eyes crinkling as she smiled.
"What is it, Katara?"
"See this!" She proudly held up a chain of shiroi crystals, one of the only kinds of flowers that could grow in the cold climate of the Pole. They were striking little blossoms with small, fragile petals that shimmered when the light shone on it, almost translucent, hence being called crystals.
"Why, that's beautiful, Katara! Will you make one for me?" Gran-gran asked, eyes twinkling.
Katara brightened, her six-year-old's innocence emancipated by it. "Can I make them here? I'll just go back outside to get more!" She didn't really give her time to respond as she ran back through the flaps of the tent.
Minutes later, she returned, flushed and breathless. Gran-gran patted the space beside her.
"Sit over here, Katara. We can work together; I'll sew, while you make crystal chains. Alright?"
"Yup!" She piped as she began threading a blue-green stem through the middle of another flower. They worked silently, and soon after Katara finished making a chain for Gran-gran, she was called back by her father to go home.
"How was your stay at Gran-gran's?" Her father inquired. Her mother had been visiting a friend of hers tonight, so it was her father's job to put her to bed.
"It was great. I made her a crystal chain!"
"That sounds nice, Katara. Will you make one for me tomorrow?"
"Sure! And I'll also make one for Aunt Fae and Uncle Dred, and cousin Jericho, and my best friends Salene and Nevasa, and…" She continued to recite all her acquaintances as she became drowsier, and her father's beard tickled her forehead as he gave her a goodnight kiss.
She was still making flower chains in dreamland, and a while later she already had a bracelet, a necklace, and started on a tiara.
"Hey, what're you doing?"
She caught a glimpse of the firebender, whose dreams intertwined with hers whenever she had one. They had been friends ever since that first meeting, though they didn't really know each other's names. Anyway, in a place like this, identities didn't really matter.
He sat beside her.
"I'm making a crystal chain." She said without looking at him.
"What's that?"
That caught her attention as she gaped at him disbelievingly. "You're telling me you've never seen a shiroi crystal before?"
He seemed to be scrutinizing what she held in her hands, then wrinkled his nose. "It smells weird. Like flowers and herbs."
"It is a flower, dummy!" She giggled.
"Then I don't like it. Flowers are for girls."
She frowned. "Papa asked me to make him a chain earlier, so it must be okay for boys too!"
He looked skeptical. "Really?"
"Yeah! I'll show you!"
Her fingers were already nimble and deft as she endlessly threaded one flower after another, but his hands were clumsier, and she cackled at his attempts to complete even one ring of blossoms.
"Don't laugh!" He accused. "It's not funny!"
"Fine, fine." She regained her composure. "Here, you can have mine."
With that, she gingerly placed the crown on his head, beaming tenderly at him.
He incredulously touched the petals that adorned his hair.
"Flowers? On me? But… I'll look like a girl! And I'm a boy, in case you haven't noticed…"
"Well, you know what my Gran-gran said?"
"No, what did she say?"
She beckoned him closer with a finger, then murmured, "The really cute boys look cute as girls."
"Seriously?"
"Yup."
His face twisted into a mischievous grin. "Well, I don't buy it! Liar, lair, pants on fire!"
"It's true!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah!"
"Prove it!"
"How?"
"Tell me I'm cute!"
She wrinkled her nose in distaste. "But we're still children! I can't marry you yet!" She threw up her hands in frustration.
"Why do I have to marry you?" He seemed clueless.
"Because if I tell you you're cute, that means I like you. And if I like you, and you like me, then we'd be ENGAGED!"
"It doesn't work that way… doesn't it?"
"But my Gran-gran said…"
"Do you actually listen to everything your Gran-gran says?"
"Well, kinda. She is Gran-gran, and she's old and wrinkly, and that means she knows everything."
"Well, my Uncle Iroh says somethin' different."
"Like what?"
"Well, in my country, we have arranged marriages."
"What's that?"
"I'm not really sure, but it's like you get engaged when you're not even born yet. Uncle says I'm betrothed to someone already, so I can't marry you."
"Really? Is she pretty?"
"I don't know. I haven't met her yet."
"But that's awful! You can't marry someone who's not your one true love!"
"Well, I can't really do anything about it."
"Oh. That's too bad."
"Why?"
"'Cause, if we were in my country, we could get married someday…"
"But you said you had to like me and I had to like you first before we get engaged!"
"Well…" She twirled her short brown hair between her fingers.
His smile became teasing. "You like me!"
"Do not!"
"It's okay, you can admit it, 'cause…
"I like you too."
But if you could hide beside me
Maybe for a while
And I won't tell
No one your name
And I won't tell them
Your name…
-
A/N: Please review. I might not update if you don't. Once again,
REVIEW!