ZW 2008 Day 6: Stare

Powder Blue

Summary: Katara takes a moment to consider whether she should be honored by the fact that she can move Zuko to forget about his honor, if only briefly.

It's a fairly well-known fact around the palace that Master Katara always waits in the Fire Lord's office in the morning. Fire Lord Zuko has come to expect her presence (mostly so he can mutter about the council), and so a few of the servants take it upon themselves to straighten up his office and set out tea before she arrives. Naturally, one of them is always stationed at the door after Fire Lord Zuko arrives in case of any bending emergency (usually involving Katara bending tea over the Fire Lord's head, but occasionally he sets his curtains ablaze). Or to eavesdrop. Probably more to eavesdrop.

Katara is fairly well aware by now that Zuko's custom, when he arrives for their morning tea, is to turn immediately to his reports and petitions. The first thing he mutters to her is usually some objection to some nonsense some idiot thought was a good idea. It requires self control she didn't know she had, but Katara manages, most of the time, to silently agree with him (or, rarely, raise her eyebrow in that motherly way Sokka despises). Servants have big mouths, and as the Water Tribe Ambassador she can't go running her mouth about sensitive subjects. Or that's how Toph put it when agreeing with Zuko about Katara's public image in the Fire Nation, anyway.

At any rate, Katara has learned to tolerate the stifling environment of politics, if only because Zuko fretted that if she didn't control herself, Toph certainly couldn't be expected to, and Toph was doing damage to his reputation as it was. So, these days they reserve their arguments for notes passed in meetings (always under the table, naturally).

Thus, as is her custom, Katara drags herself out of bed shortly before dawn and sleeps through some servant or other trying to contain her hair, which is a vain effort at best and a disaster at worst. The servant gives up just after the glow of sunrise grows into the bright morning light (conveniently, just after Zuko has finished his morning firebending in the courtyard, which is just as conveniently placed under her window. That servant has a particular fondness for doing Katara's hair in front of said window). Still drowsy, Katara heaves herself out of the chair and shuffles to her closet, pulling out the first robe she touches (the servants started noticing she'd wear the same thing every day, so now they have an official schedule for rotating Master Katara's closet. She always goes for the middle).

By the time she's dressed and ready to wander down to Zuko's office, Katara has largely come to grips with the morning. It occurs to her on the way past her mirror and out the door that this particular robe seems a bit tight, but she can't imagine Zuko will notice. And even if he did he wouldn't have the nerve to tell her she's wearing clothes that don't fit. Speaking of Zuko, she muses as she perches on his desk with her cup of tea, he's stomping loudly this morning. The Fire Lord bursts through the door with steam billowing out of his nose.

"Ambassador Ben Dan wants the Fire Nation to hand over some of its land to the Earth Kingdom as reparations. Like an island country can afford to give them land!" This is an opportunity Katara uses to laugh (politics, Katara, politics. No discussion allowed). The servants report that Master Katara finds the Fire Lord's consternation amusing (and they report it in precisely those terms, because servants in the palace pride themselves on their education).

Her laughter brings Zuko out of his rage long enough to glance at her, which is nothing out of the ordinary. Less ordinary is the way his eyes slowly sweep up once and down once, but his face is blank, as if he's entirely unaware of the way he's looking at her. Briefly self-conscious, Katara's eyes flicker down, and it occurs to her that this robe really is rather tight, and probably not in a bad way. She forces her gaze back up to his face and waits for him to finish his perusal. A perusal that's actually rather dishonorable, if Zuko had given it any thought. She's almost positive this is a good time to be offended, but she has a strange feeling that she doesn't mind. If she's honest, she almost likes it (and that has to stop immediately. Before things get awkward).

Zuko recovers himself just before the silence becomes uncomfortable and continues mumbling as if he'd never stopped, and the day goes on as usual.

An elderly servant grins later, when Katara is overthinking things down in the kitchen, and she winks. "Powder blue is a good color on you, Master Katara. It brings out your eyes."

Toph snorts loudly from her seat in front of the fire flake jar. "He wasn't looking at your eyes, Sugar Queen. Not that I'd know." She waves a hand in front of her own eyes and cracks a smile. Katara sighs loudly and glares (not that Toph can see it).

Meanwhile, Zuko spends the next week wondering why all of his servants seem to be laughing at him.

AN: So it turns out that going back to college really kills a person's writing vibe. Also, organic chemistry II is even more painful than the first semester, so woe is me. Oh well. As always, hope you enjoyed this. I think it came out a little less angsty than the last two, and I really needed a break from these hooligans being miserable, so that's a good thing.