ZW 2010 Day 2: Change
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Baby Steps
When the war ends, the Fire Nation must adjust to peace. Fire Lord Zuko is forced to balance the discontent of the people at home with the anger of the people abroad.
Katara glares frostily at the Earth King, and her tone is sickly sweet. "With all due respect, Your Majesty, I refuse to marry the Fire Lord."
Zuko glares at her. "Thanks, Katara."
Kuei looks back and forth between them and wrings his hands. "Please, just consider it. The Dai Li will have me deposed if I don't get this concession from the Fire Lord."
Katara jerks her hands up to her hips. "So I have to marry him just so you can sit on your throne and have parties with your bear?"
Zuko has had enough. "Shut up, Katara. You think I want to marry you?"
She ignores him. "And what if I don't want to leave the South Pole? What if I already have a fiancé waiting for me, huh?"
Zuko's eyes pop out of his head. "Do you?"
"Of course not!" She snaps, and she turns back to the Earth King. "But what if I did?!"
Kuei shrinks into himself and mutters meekly, "But you don't…"
"Ugh!" Katara spins on her heel and stomps out of the room, and the two men notice that the air is significantly colder.
"You think she'll do it?" Kuei whispers.
Zuko shrugs. "Maybe Uncle can talk her into it."
…
Uncle Iroh, fearsome general and Dragon of the West, proprietor of the greatest tea shop in Ba Sing Se and counsel to the Fire Lord himself, sips his tea quietly. Katara clutches her cup across the table, fuming.
"I know what you're going to say, but I'm not going to marry him."
Uncle takes another sip and raises his eyebrows.
"I'm not!"
"And why not?"
Katara huffs. "Because my Gran-Gran always taught me that I should marry for love, like she did."
"And she had the pleasure of doing it twice!" Uncle strokes his beard. "Perhaps I should make some lady friends of my own."
Katara sighs heavily. "Can't you just tell me what to do about Zuko?"
Uncle raises a single eyebrow and a smirk curls his lips. "I thought you had decided not to marry a man you didn't love."
Katara's cheeks flame, and Uncle laughs. "I don't love Zuko!"
"Of course not, my dear. More tea?"
Katara takes the tea.
…
Dear Zuko,
I'm not saying I love you, because I don't, and I'm not saying I'll marry you because I don't want to. But Dad and Sokka think I have to consider all my options, and Sokka wants to know if he'll get cool swords if he's the brother-in-law of the Fire Lord. I told him he'd have to fix his own pants because Fire Lords' wives are above that.
Your Friend,
Katara.
…
Dear Katara,
You don't have to marry me! I just really want you to. But not because I love you or anything just because the Earth King hates me and my people hate me, but they really like you (at least the Earth King does). So it would just be really nice if we could do that. Yeah.
His Excellency, Fire Lord Zuko
…
You're too pretentious for your own good, Fire Lord Frownyface (Sokka's idea, just for the record).
Katara
…
Shut up.
…
Hawky doesn't take very many letters back and forth before he perches on Sokka's arm one morning and vehemently shakes his head when Katara tries to send him back to the Fire Nation with a response to Zuko's scrap of paper. Which is a shame, considering she spent nearly three hours on a long-winded letter. However, the Earth King doesn't have the patience for a long courtship (Katara scoffs and informs him and his bear that her brief correspondence with the Fire Lord can hardly be considered a courtship). He shifts his weight on the ice uneasily, and his shivering bodyguards glare at her as if it's her fault they've been dragged down here. Too bad for them.
She doesn't speak to Zuko or the Earth King again for nearly eight months, but Sokka drags her to a summit in late summer. Aang has decided that a multicultural exchange of dances and food is the best way to maintain the peace. So, she makes a dress that's entirely blue, with enough Water Tribe emblems that if anybody doubts her heritage he must be as blind as Toph.
Aang walks up to her with a grin stretching across his face. "Hi Katara!"
She smiles. Even at sixteen, the Avatar still has the carefree chirp in his voice he had when he was twelve. Even if his voice has deepened a bit. "Hi, Aang."
"So I hear you and Zuko are getting married." He shoots her a sly smile and pulls her into a dance.
"Zuko and I are not getting married."
"Why, you miss me?" He's teasing her, and she's grateful. He had been so heartbroken at thirteen, and he swore he'd never get over her.
She sees an Air Acolyte watching them from across the floor, and she chuckles at him. "Just a little."
"I think Zuko has a crush on you," he whispers, loudly.
"Zuko doesn't have a crush on me, Aang."
"Okay Katara!" He spins her around and dips her as the music ends. "Whatever you say."
Katara thinks his smile has turned entirely too devious for her taste. Especially considering Zuko seems to be walking toward them.
"You never answered my letter."
"Hi Zuko, nice to see you too," Katara chirps. He scowls. "Besides, you call that a letter? It was a scrap of paper telling me to shut up."
He rubs the back of his neck. "I didn't mean it like that."
"Hmph!" She turns on her heel and stalks away, struggling to hide the smile fighting its way across her face.
…
They begin sending letters again, but by regular post after the messenger hawks begin boycotting the Fire Lord.
Dear Katara,
There are riots in the capitol again. I've tried bringing the colonists back, but they say the Earth Kingdom is their home. The Earth King would be willing to make them citizens, but the people don't want anything left of the colonies. The New Dai Li are pushing the Earth King to require me to marry-they want a minder-and he's trying to be firm about it, but it's the Earth King. I'm worried that if I don't do what he says there will be a coup, and then everything is worse. Please marry me, Katara. I know I'm not what you want, and I know you could do better. Just please think about it.
Your Friend,
Zuko.
Katara smiles. Time and experience have made him more determined, more serious. Still awkward, but that's Zuko.
Dear Zuko,
I'll think about marrying you. But I want a place to practice bending when I come to the Fire Nation.
Love,
Katara.
She sends the letter with a mixture of nerves and a strange, wild glee. It doesn't make sense to leave home, not when she was getting so comfortable there. But Zuko needs her, and maybe marrying him wouldn't be so bad.
Sokka says of course it will be so bad. Hakoda shakes his head. Gran Gran asks if that wasn't the boy who stormed into the village and started making demands. Katara waits for the third ship out of the Southern Water Tribe, to give Zuko enough time to reconfigure his turtle duck pond, and she goes.
Maybe it will be enough. And maybe she does kind of love him, in a friendly kind of way.
…
The people receive her tentatively, as if they know she's technically here to be a minder but they also hope she'll be impartial. Some of the riots die down after the wedding, but fringe groups begin protesting. The heir to the throne will be half-foreign, they shout, unacceptable for the purity of the royal line.
They're feeding the turtleducks when they receive the latest reports on the city. Zuko rolls his eyes. "They'll get over it, 'Tara."
"What if they don't?"
Zuko shrugs. "Your presence is mitigating the threat of massacres on the Earth Kingdom coast."
"Don't use your Fire Lord voice with me."
He blushes. "Sorry."
She smiles at her husband (husband is such a weird word to use with Zuko). "The Earth Kingdom people aren't going to kick the colonists out of their homes?"
Zuko sighs. "Aang wants to make the oldest colonies an international center. Most of the native people seem to feel better knowing that there's no chance of the Fire Nation owning their land. The colonists just want to stay. And everyone is more confident I won't do anything stupid with you keeping an eye on me."
"It can't be that simple."
He shrugs. "It's not, but it's better than it was. If Aang's plan works, maybe there will be peace."
"Baby steps," she muses.
"Yeah."
It's a start, and Katara thinks maybe marrying Zuko wasn't such a horrible idea. She's not sure she loves him, but she loves the world without war, and this seems to be keeping it together. She leans closer to him and kisses his cheek. "I'm going to get more bread."
Zuko nods. "Hurry back."
…
It takes nearly a year for things to come together, but Aang's plan works. Zuko walks her to bed after the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Republic City.
"I'm proud of you, Zuko," she whispers.
He rests his hands on her hips where they stand outside her bedroom. "Thank you, Katara. For everything."
She pulls him into a hug and holds him tightly. "Of course."
Zuko runs a hand through her hair, loosening her hairpiece and pulling curls loose. He trails one finger along her jaw and tilts her head up, looking at her for a beat before bending down and pressing his lips against hers. It's a little awkward, and they're both out of practice, but his lips are soft, and she kisses him back. Pulling away, he smiles a little, and steps back. "Goodnight, Katara." He tucks a curl behind her ear and kisses her forehead.
As he moves to turn away from her, she reaches out and grasps his arm. "Zuko," she breathes. "Don't go."
He stays.
…
A/N: I feel like romance is a bit lacking in this series (somewhat surprisingly, since it's centered around Zutara week, lol), so here's some actual romantic development for y'all. It was interesting to write; honestly I've not spent a lot of time writing Zuko and Katara actually falling in love, so I hope I did them justice. Reviews welcome!
