A/N The tour got a bit too long and I didn't want to cut it, so the next chapter will have the party, sorry! Hope you still enjoy!
I do not own A:TLA or any of it's super cool characters.
I Didn't Want this Either! Chapter 4: A Battle and Another
Zuko POV
From where we left off.
Katara is the first person to make me laugh in what seems like ages, it wasn't even the most hilarious joke, or anything like that. It just felt like all this tension I've held in my chest was released when she became more at ease with me. Like the stress and worry that she may hate me due to the circumstances were washed away by the waterbender.
"So, friend Katara, what are you going to show me today?" I say walking up to her side, leaning in a little. As I lean in, I catch the soft scent of lotuses lingering by her. It's a soft and soothing scent. Her, probably not noticing my close proximity, turns in my direction to answer, but instead pauses as we're face to face. I can feel my face grow hot from her gaze, and a slight blush falls upon her cheeks as well. I stop leaning over, but the smell of the lotus flower lingers in my senses.
Clearing her throat she begins "Well, uhm, there are a few places I think would be interesting to visit" she looks anywhere but my eyes as she talks.
I nod my head "like what? I'm absolutely betting that one of them is the waterbending training grounds." I ask as she narrows her piercing blue eyes at me, but quickly opens them back super wide.
"So what of it?" She retorts "I helped design the place so I'm pretty proud of it." I smile down at her angry little self.
"Then lead the way friend Katara." I laugh as she huffs a bit.
She begins to note about all the changes that happened in the South, and how at first she was against so much change. "I just wanted a home, a home that only existed in the past. I was naive for thinking that a post-war Southern Water Tribe would be the same as the pre-war one I only heard about in stories from my mother and grandmother, who themselves only had heard about it as well." She sighs "we as a people have been divided even in our own tribe, that as time passed with the war, we split up into different smaller villages. I'm glad we're more united now, but it isn't how I always dreamed it would be." I look at her downcast face, and then to the surrounding, bustling city.
"It's beautiful here, but I agree. It isn't what I thought it would be either." I tell her, marveling at the ice city before me.
She looks at me incredulously "what do you mean 'what you thought it would be' what expectations did you have?" She cocks her head to the side as she asks her question.
"Well," I begin, "Iroh taught me a lot of things, from when I was banished, to even now. And I learned of the differences between the sister tribes, such as the gender equality of the South, versus the enforced gender roles of the North. Before the war damaged your tribe so heavily, your people lived in igloos, and had a more united front as you had mentioned before. But, what I expected was mostly your culture, not the Northern Water Tribe's distortion of it." I looked in her eyes as I spoke, and her bright blue eyes seemed to shimmer as I spoke. Like she really listened to me, and felt what I said.
"I do love it here" she says after a moment of silence "I know I said it seems more like an imitation of something else, but after a lot of fighting for it, and putting my foot down, there is still the beating heart and spirit that the Southern Water Tribe should have. I put work into being sure that, even though change and technological advancement are inevitable, we still should understand our roots. For, our culture is part of what makes us who we are."
There's a soft smile on her face as we continue our walk, now mostly in silence, but this time it's less awkward and more comforting. Every now and then she points to a certain thing and explains it with bright eyes, she is very proud of her home, even if it. I frown internally, I am the person who will be taking her away from the place she adores so much.
She breaks the silence. "We've worked really hard to rebuild and really make this place better, it's hard to believe but Sokka put in a lot of work in the outlines of the city, and even helped design our triple wall border. He becomes more like dad everyday." She looks proud, but there's a distance in her eyes I can't quite catch.
She's right to be proud, the design of the walls are even better than the defenses in the North, and are just as elegant. We may be in the city, but you can see one of the walls from here, which is the inner wall that surrounds the city itself, the outer ones are in the waters surrounding us. "Sokka has always had a unique talent for inventing." I say, I mean I wouldn't be surprised if he invented many things in his lifetime, he may be a dumbass, but he's a smart one.
I hear a quick shifting behind us, not similar to the usual bustle of a city, more of someone attempting to hide their presence.
"Katara, take my lead" I whisper down to her as I begin to weave my way through the city, down alleys, making random turns until I'm sure of it. Hearing the heavy footsteps behind us as we reach a dead end, I turn around. "Funny, it seems we reached a dead end, right honey?" I say as I grab Katara's waist and begin to walk forward. "Sorry gents, we need to pass through."
As I suspected, they're hostile, and two of the three men begin to pull out swords. Katara's eyes intensify as they look between my face and the men who ruined our tour. The one in the center, supposedly the leader of the group, laughs and spits on the icy ground. "You ain't gettin' past us, you dirty firebender." As he says that he begins to pull water out of a flask he held on his hip. I knew there would still be prejudice, but I am not sure they are aware that I'm not just any firebender.
As I am about to step up and stand my ground, Katara pulls her own water from her pouch. As she gets into stance, she looks back at me "don't get involved, it won't look good even if you're just defending yourself." Her eyes plead with mine, and I stand back, knowing she's right.
Katara POV
That moment
I don't waste anymore time waiting for Zuko's response. He shouldn't have to hear things like that when he's done so much for everyone. Even if I used to think things like that in the past, Zuko, as well as many other firebenders have paid their dues and changed.
Upon looking at the man's stance, it's clear he isn't properly trained, though it's not terrible, he's left himself open for attacks with little defense. He's the first to attack with a simple water whip, I dodge it quickly as I use his water's momentum against him to push him back a few feet. No matter how skilled I am, being cornered is never good, I can't let my confidence become a weakness.
I turn back to look at Zuko, making sure he's fine. I'm more than sure he could take these guys but it wouldn't be a good image for him. I'm also almost positive he's angry with me for not letting him fight. The two swordsmen swoop on me as the waterbender gets into a defensive stance. I easily knock both of them to the floor with a wave, pinning them into the ice. I step over them and whip their swords back behind me towards Zuko, so they can't do harm any further.
"So, do you know who I am?" I ask, twirling my water around myself as I walk towards the waterbending man, and out of the alley. There's almost a glint of recognition in his eyes, but it quickly leaves as he scowls at me.
"Doesn't matter who you are, you're protecting a firebender!" I sigh internally, I suppose he truly is unaware that he and his friends chose to fight two masters in their elements, one being the actual Fire Lord.
I decide to quickly end the battle, encasing his entire body in ice, and pointing ice shards around his face. I can see him struggle, and try to bend the ice around him, but my hold on it is more than he can handle. I walk closer to him, so my face is in better view for him to see. Moving the ice closer and closer to his skin as the full force of recognition truly hits him as he gasps "Katara, and oh shit. I tried to take on the Fire Lord."
Zuko begins to walk to my side as I release the man from his old, leaving him drenched falling to the floor. I turn away, meeting Zuko halfway, "what should we do with them?" He asks, his eyes not leaving the man on the floor.
I shrug "though I see potential in the bender, I can't let him free for trying to attack the first firebender he lays his eyes on." I pause before coming to a decision as I look at the other two men who tried to attack us. "We'll take him to Iroh and my dad." Zuko looks at me incredulously, and i simply respond "your uncle has a wonderful skill of helping lost souls, so maybe talking with him could help set them on the right path, even though they have to pay for what they tried to do." Zuko nods in understanding as we grab the men and take them to the Chief.
After we finish our business there and leave, it's around midday, and we decide to continue our adventure, with him now changed into a blue Water Tribe outfit, so he doesn't stick out as much. He actually looks really good in blue. I've only ever seen him in his usual Fire Nation attire, which of course he looks good in as well. He's stupidly handsome, he'd look good in probably anything. But, I really like him in blue. I hold back an embarrassed blush and fail at it.
"You alright Katara? You were staring at me and your face got all red." Zuko says, stopping in front of me, so we're face to face.
I avert my eyes and do a fake cough "it's just cold." I lie. Well, it is cold, but I live here, at the South Pole. I am far too used to said cold.
He rolls his eyes "come on, you looked at me, got red, and then now you won't look at me. I knew I wouldn't look right in a fluffy blue coat but you shouldn't make it so obvious."
He has got to be kidding, I look back up at him, and his eyes are serious. Oh my spirits. Without thinking of the words leaving my mouth I suddenly say "it's because you look good in it, it's different and you look handsome. It's distracting." I blush even more, realizing what I said. 'It's distracting'? Normally that's what people say when someone wears less clothes but I'm saying it about a man in no less than four extra layers.
Zuko's golden eyes go wide as his cheeks flush a bit. He can't not know that he's totally a pretty boy, right? Like he's prettier than I am. Finding his composure and his sense of attitude, he leans closer to my face and says "you think I'm handsome?" Obviously I mean he's handsome in like a purely platonic way. Friends who are getting forced to marry can appreciate uhm. I need to stop thinking about this. I try to walk away but he keeps getting in front of me.
"I'll take your avoidance as an embarrassed yes?" He laughs, with that same really nice laugh, before he leans into my ear and says "I think you look rather stunning today as well, if that makes you feel less nervous." I can feel the heat of his breath on my skin, but before I can react, he moves away and we continue our walk.
It's a few minutes before the silence is broken, as Zuko asks what we should do. I think for a second, "how about food? I know it won't quite measure up to your glorious palace food, but we have some pretty good restaurants here these days."
He smirks at what I said "yeah, your peasant food may never satisfy my royal palette, but I am in need of food."
I roll my eyes at his blatant sarcasm, and lead him into one of the restaurants me and Suki go to when she's here. We stop in front of an intricately carved ice building, with a sign that reads 'Southern Tundra' Zuko looks at me, "is the inside of the buildings all made of ice too?" I laugh a little, but he's dead serious.
"Just come on" I say, grabbing his hand and leading him inside.
Inside the building, it's made of a mixture of things. The floor is a stone brick, with animal fur rugs in some places. Metal beams holding the place together, and wooden seating areas, with some being closed off for private gatherings. Obviously the walls are mostly ice, with some wooden panels, but unlike what Zuko thought, the insides of most buildings here are now more structured, with the outside being ice.
We walk up to the front counter and I let the hostess know that we'd like a private dining area and she leads us to it right away. "Here you two go." She says, sliding the door open and placing the menus on the table. I nod "thank you" and we both sit at the table in the room. She then shuts the door and leaves us to look at the menu.
"So, I'm no expert on the Southern Water Tribe's cuisine, what would you recommend?" Zuko asks, as he flips through the menu. I lean over the table and point out a few dishes that may be the best start for someone not used to our foods, but he surprises me "but I wanna know what you like, not what is the most basic of foods, like fish and bread." He looks me in my eyes, and since I'm leaning over the table to try to help, we're quite close. I sit back and look at my own menu.
"Well, the seaweed noodles and sea prune stew are pretty good, but they're both a little intense at first, both Suki and Toph grew to like them, but Aang gags any time we mention them." We both laugh at the thought.
Zuko closes his menu and puts it on the table. "Then if everyone else has had them, and you like them, I'll of course try it. I mean, I wouldn't mind ordering a little bit of everything if that's what you wanted."
I laugh at what he says, "no need for that, but what do you mean by 'if that's what I wanted' isn't that dramatic?" I ask him this expecting some sort of snarky response, but he replies in a serious way. In a way that I really was not expecting.
He doesn't meet my eyes as he speaks "we are to be married soon, you are going to be the co-ruler of my country. My Fire Lady, my wife." He then looks up to meet my gaze "even if it is contractual, I want to make you happy. No, especially since it's contractual, I'll do anything in my power as your future husband to take care of you, and fulfill your desires, wants and needs." There's a softness in his gaze, gentle and kind.
My heart aches at his words, he has become a great man in these years. I almost hate myself for taking him away from a future woman that he would love with all his heart, and now he's being forced to marry me, and do things for me that he should do for someone else. I can feel myself frown at the thought. But he pulls me out of it. "Katara, I know what you're thinking, and you need to stop it. It's not healthy for you to be mad at yourself for something that isn't your fault, especially when I could say the same and think the same as you. Don't you think I feel terrible for taking you away from your home, your family?" His eyes are intense, but there's a softness in them as he speaks to me. And after hearing him talk to me like this today, Iroh certainly has left a mark on him, he's wiser than he used to be.
Before I can respond there's a knock on our room's door and a voice calls out "Im Lan, your waitress, if you're ready to order may I come in?" Zuko gives her the okay and we order our food. We both order seaweed noodles, baked fish, and sea prunes, him noticing that jasmine tea was on the menu, got us both a cup to drink. After she leaves, we're left in a heavy silence, and it stays that way until our food arrives.
As Zuko takes his first bite, his eyes widen for a moment, and I worry that he too won't like it, and then he takes another bite, with a small smile on his face. I smile inwardly as I begin to eat my food as well, realizing I got nervous that he'd hate it so I just sat there watching him. "You like it?" I ask him as he stops mid slurp, the seaweed noodles hanging from his mouth and held with his chopsticks. I let out a small giggle, "I'll take that as a yes." He quickly eats what's in his mouth and then wipes his face gracefully.
"Sorry, I think I forgot my manners. I haven't taken my meals on the ship the past day or two, I was just going through all the papers and lost time. But this really hits the spot, it's warm and comforting." I nod with a smile on my face at what he says, happy about it.
"I'm glad you like it, and I've eaten with my brother, you don't have to apologize. I have seen far worse." We both laugh as we both know how terrible his bottomless pit of a stomach is.
The rest of our meal goes by in a nice silence, and we leave our table with a tip for the waitress, and pay at the front desk.
"So, will you be taking me to the waterbending training grounds now? I've been itching to see you in your true element." Zuko says as we're walking outside and into the street.
"If seeing me in my element is what you want, how about a friendly sparring session once we get there?" I ask, with some confidence in my voice. It may only be a bit past noon, but the moon is already out, and full. It's like that here sometimes.
He doesn't hesitate before nodding his head in excitement "Katara, I haven't had a proper sparring session in a long time, I would die for that right now." Laughing, we head to where I spend most of my time, from training and meditating, to teaching my students. My favorite place in the Southern Water Tribe.
Zuko POV
As they arrive
Walking up the icy stairs towards the training grounds, I feel a fire burn in my chest. I've thought so much of sparring with Katara, especially after joining Team Avatar, we'd have friendly mini-matches, but that was normally in the context of training Aang. This time it will just be me and her.
She's a few paces ahead of me on the stairs, and I know it isn't okay to look, but the way her hips sway as she walks, and the flowing of her long dress along with it is mesmerizing, especially with her long dark hair lightly waving in the wind just above her hips. I quickly shake those thoughts from my mind as we reach the top of the stairs to the training grounds. I cannot be distracted.
For something with a name so simple, the place is extremely elegant. With multiple intricately carved fountains, pillars of ice with an overhang, and a waterfall in the back that separates into two rivers that flow down. There are a few separate arenas, but we are in the centermost one. I almost feel bad at the thought of my firebending ruining this area. Katara must notice this as she shrugs and says "we have redone the place numerous times due to different fights getting too extreme, don't worry about the fire, just try not to aim too close to the people training or relaxing nearby."
I nod my head as we both get into position, taking our respective stances as we smile with excitement. Knowing I'll get overheated during the fight, I take off my jacket and top layers, leaving just an undershirt. Katara quickly gets two large tendrils of water like an elongated part of her arms. I smile knowing well the ability of a seemingly simple maneuver. She whips one of them quickly in my direction, nearly getting my head, I ducked just in time. In turn, I launch two fireballs at her, them quickly being drowned out by a wall of water. A hissing sound rang through the arena.
I begin to eye her intently, "I see you haven't gotten too rusty dear Katara" I shoot a flaming disk in her direction, this time it goes wide and she smirks, mouthing 'you missed' laughing. I point behind her as I twirl my other hand as the fire disk begins to sweep behind her.
Rolling out of the way, she bends one of her long tendrils towards my feet, and yanks my right foot from under me. As she gets up she releases the tendril from my leg, seeming pleased she knocked the Fire Lord on his ass.
I get back up with a twirl of fire, mostly for flare, but also to aim a flame towards her feet, to get her to back up a bit, and it works. Back on my feet I begin to circle her entirely, her now almost icy blue eyes squinting in my direction. I finish circling the waterbender, taking note of her dress, and how it could be uncomfortable to fight in. But who's to say, not me.
I stop in front of her with a smirk "I'll tell you what, I'll forgive you for putting me, the Fire Lord on the ground, if you concede. We can fight another day." I know she won't take the bait, but maybe I should push her a bit to see if she'll be serious with me. "I mean, you wouldn't wanna get that pretty dress all burnt, would you?"
Her eyes intensify, "even me wearing a dress in a fight, can't save you. I'll only concede after I win, and I will win." The way her voice sounds is cold, and harsh. I successfully taunted her, maybe I shouldn't have. I don't have enough time to think of what I should have done before she launches her next attack.
Pulling more water from behind her, she does a multi-attack with two water whips, but I quickly intercede with a wall of fire as the hissing sound of the water vaporizing as it hits the fire. Obviously thinking quickly she bends the steam back into water and whips it at me again, this time making connection with my leg, and freezing me from the thigh down.
I smirk at her retaliation, and I raise my body temperature, successfully melting the ice from my leg. I quickly jump to the side and fire two flaming disks in her direction, for them to cross and meet her in the middle. But, as expected of a master, she goes into the octopus stance and makes quick work of both, hissing at contact.
"I mean, teaching kids hasn't made you weak, that's good." I say to her as we stare each other down.
"Oh, thank you. I see spending most of your time behind a desk hasn't made you soft either Zuko." I like that she returns the remarks, I see her fighting spirit has only grown. Not a moment passes after that as Katara launches ice daggers towards me as I make my way to dodge, eventually making a fire shield above my head with a wave.
Then another wave of ice shards are thrown my way as I instead create two fire whips to swipe them out of the way, and begin to swipe at her as well. She recreates two water whips in turn and they clash in the center, both sizzling and fading out in the center at contact.
At this point a rather large crowd has gathered around the outside of the arena, at a safe distance. Most people are cheering for Katara, which makes sense, she is one of their own. Some kids are screaming for their master, I assume they're her students.
Looking back to Katara, she begins to make a dash in my direction, with water being formed into an icy sword in her right hand. This is new.
She makes a quick swipe in a downwards motion towards me but I quickly dodge out of the way. I'm genuinely surprised at this, she isn't a sword master by any means, but it's clear someone is training her with a sword, with there only being a few openings I could see.
"So you're taking up the sword now?" I ask, dodging another swipe.
She doesn't falter in attacks as she replies "yeah, Sokka and Suki have been teaching me swordplay and martial arts, thinking that if I was ever unable to bend, I could still defend myself."
I nod "that's kind of them, but you'd never beat me in a sword fight." Turning her sword back into water, she whips it around my waist and lifts me in the air,
"Good thing it's not a sword fight, huh?" She laughs as she freezes me against a pillar. What a familiar position, to be frozen by Katara again.
"Do you give up?" She asks innocently, but clearly she knows I won't back down yet.
I raise my body heat again and land on the ground as the ice melts. "Not a chance" I reply, making fire daggers in each of my hands.
I run at her and swipe with the fire made weapons, as she dodges and is suddenly the one on the defensive. She tries to make a swipe upwards with water but I flip over it quickly and continue attacking. Swipe after swipe she blocks or dodges, it's fun to spar with Katara, being the opposite element, it's a mixed bag to see who will win. But I'm confident that I will.
Her blue eyes ever focused on the battle, and pink lips parted from heavy breathing, even in battle she's gorgeous. But that isn't what's important. She's skilled and challenging, it's the most thrilling match I've had in years. She matches me for every blow I throw at her.
After some time of continuing to match each other in power, we both take a moment, our breath ragged as we've fought for a while. I eye her again from a distance, her hair is no longer perfect, and there are indeed char marks on her dress, but she's magnificent, and I respect and admire her so much.
Katara, noticing an opening and a way to win, launches herself forward with a wave of water, and before I can even blink, I'm being straddled, and soaking wet. My wrists are both frozen in place and Katara is resting on my hips, holding an icy dagger up, in a way of saying that she won. There's a large smile on her face, and as much as part of me wants to let her win, I can't.
I quickly melt the ice and flip ourselves over, not truly worrying about the cold dagger she holds. It was simple enough to flip us over, and now that the roles are reversed, I win. I quickly grab ahold of both of her wrists and hold her down onto the ice. I get low and close to her ear and whisper "I win" making my breath hot against her skin.
"You did not! I had you pinned first." She almost yells out.
I laugh "Oh yeah, and who has who pinned last then?" Her face only reddens in response.
Upon seeing the blush spread across her cheeks, I become very aware of exactly what positions our bodies are in. Her hot body pressed against mine, both of us breathing heavily. I can feel my body burn against her, I need to get off of her, but part of me doesn't want to.
"Oh fine" she huffs after a moment, "you win, but get off," she leans into my ear "I'm a little uncomfortable in this position, with a large crowd."
I smirk at her and lean into her ear "just because of the large crowd? Then maybe we can be like this another time?" Her face grows even more red, and I get off of her and help her up, which she reluctantly accepts.
The whole crowd cheers as we get up. "Calm down Katara, I'm messing with you. Though you're cute when you're all red." I laugh as she covers her face. She did good, and if I wasn't spiteful and petty, she would have been the winner.
From the crowd comes uncle, and Chief Hakoda. I hope Katara's dad didn't see the end there, hopefully if I don't address it, he won't address it.
"Katara, Fire Lord Zuko" Chief Hakoda begins, "it's time for you to get ready for the party, Tara, and we need to speak with the Fire Lord, then you can get ready as well." Katara nods as she leaves, looking back at me with a smile before she runs off to get ready. I catch myself before I stare too much and give my attention to the two men.
"Is it urgent, did something happen?" I ask, hoping nothing bad has happened.
Iroh answers. "First, we wanted to let you know that the men who attacked will be held in cells for a couple years, and then will be doing community service. They showed great potential spiritually, and so I wanted to help them for the better." I nod in understanding, Iroh always wants to help where he can, and it pays off too.
"Next" starts the Chief "I want you to be my daughter's escort for the party, so you'll enter with her, and dance with her for at least the first dance as well. We are to be officially announcing your engagement as well. We know it would be more traditional to do so in the Fire Nation, but the council wants to go on with this as soon as possible, and we will also have an engagement party in the Fire Nation shortly."
He looks at me with a soft expression, his eyes not as deep as Katara's, but just as blue and kind. I can tell he's a good father, and he's just doing his best for his daughter. I agree to what he says, but add something else.
"Would it then be appropriate to give her this, then?" I say, pulling a betrothal necklace from one of my pants pockets. It's a black band, with a white jewel in the center, with a mix of Fire Nation and Water Tribe symbols. The carving is lined with gold.
The two men's eyes widen, Chief Hakoda looking especially touched. He then wraps his arms around me in a warm embrace. "She will love it" he says with a smile
A/N: I know it's not exactly what I promised last time, but the party is next I swear! Thank you for reading, even though this one was a bit longer.