Disclaimer: Neither Avatar: the Last Airbender nor its characters belong to me, nor will they ever
The days came and went quickly. Katara busied herself getting her family settled and making them feel welcome. Others started to arrive, including various governors and wealthy nobles from around the Fire Nation and political heads from the Earth Kingdom and the Northern Water Tribe. The guests tended to segregate themselves automatically; you could see it when they gathered in the dining hall or a courtyard: groups of red or green or blue.
She guessed the most important guests, like Kings Bumi and Keui and Chief Arnook and Aang would not be arriving until right before the wedding. They did not have time to leave their duties to attend a wedding and a week's worth of celebratory festivities. No one did, really, but it seemed exceptions were being made. Aang had made it clear he didn't want to come at all. She realized this wedding was the first major peaceful gathering of all four nations since the war had ended. That year, there had been many celebrations, days of drinking and dancing and laughter, but people had to return to work. They had to return to rebuilding after the war. But this wedding was giving them an excuse to laugh and drink without thinking of politics. This wedding was providing the pretext to set those concerns aside.
For everyone, that is, except the bride and groom.
The wedding was a reprieve to all those not being forced into this union because of politics, and that fact escaped neither of them.
Katara and Zuko attended the parties thrown in their honor, walked through the parade in the happy city, wore smiles occasionally. They did their duty.
Internally, however, Katara was falling apart. As more people arrived, she saw less of Zuko everyday, and the small comfort she used to get from talking with him everyday—if only for a little while—dissipated as their communication did. When she wasn't entertaining guests, she was speaking with family. When she wasn't speaking with family, assuring them she was okay, she was looking over last-minute wedding details. She was being pulled into so many different directions at once, she was surprised she hadn't yet had a breakdown.
Maybe she was cut out to be Fire Lady after all.
One afternoon, she was leading Suki and Toph to the training rooms where Zuko and Sokka and Reike were sparring. She had requested that this afternoon be set aside so she could spend some time with her friends, and, fortunately, her request had been granted. How much Zuko had to do to make it so, she did not know.
"Hiya, guys!"
They were all startled by the loud voice, and Toph went so far as to rip a chunk of marble from the floor and pin the intruder to the wall.
The girl laughed. "I got you!" she squealed. "I knew I'd surprise you if I came in through the balcony and didn't walk on the floor!"
Katara exhaled, her heart rate on its way back down. "Ty Lee."
"Are you surprised?"
"Toph, let her go."
"I'm tempted to just leave her there," she growled.
"Aw, what fun would that be though?"
"Toph…."
"Ugh, fine." Toph dropped Ty Lee and returned the marble to the floor. "But if you do something like that to me again, I swear not even Sugar Queen will be able to sweet-talk me outta hurting you."
"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry about it. I'm just here for the party! Congratulations, future Fire Lady!" she said, hugging Katara tightly.
"Um, thanks Ty Lee," Katara said, patting Ty Lee's back.
"Oh, we're going to have so much fun this week! I haven't been back here in so long! Suki! I didn't even see you there!"
She pranced over to hug the other girl.
"Hi, Ty Lee."
"Now, where is that husband of yours? I'm sure you want me to block some of his chi for you. He's probably not in the best of moods right now—Oh! I have to see Zuko, too! Mai wanted me to tell him that she and Ruon-Jian won't be able to make it until the day of the wedding. She was really bummed that she would be missing all the festivities the week before—"
Toph slapped a hand over the Fire Nation girl's mouth. "Hold your dragonmoose, Circus. Too many words for one breath."
Ty Lee sighed and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry," she said, her voice muffled by Toph's hand.
Suki frowned. "Mai's coming? To the wedding?"
Katara looked to her sister-in-law.
"Yeah, of course. She's real excited. Or she might be. You know, sometimes I still can't tell. I think she is, though. She was going to come early, with me, but she said her husband had some work thing that couldn't wait—"
"Husband?" Toph nearly shouted. "You mean the knife-wielder is married?"
"Yeah. She got married last year. Where have you guys been? Anyway, I think I'm gonna go find Zuko…before my sisters get here and he gets angry and says, 'All Ty Lees out!' like he usually does," she said with a laugh. "See you guys later!"
"I didn't know Knife-wielder was married," Toph said as Ty Lee danced down the hall. "Did you know Knife-wielder was married?"
"Her name is Mai, and no, I didn't know."
"Hm, you're right: 'Knife-wielder' doesn't quite slip off the tongue just right."
Katara fell silent as they continued down the hall. Suki and Toph carried on a conversation, but Katara wasn't paying any attention. Her stomach had tightened in apprehension, but she didn't know why. She, of course, had known Mai was coming to the wedding, but she hadn't given it much thought before. But when Suki had thrown her that strange look, doubt seeped into Katara's mind. Zuko had loved Mai, but he hadn't married her. Instead, he was marrying Katara. Now, she found herself wondering why.
From the balcony above the training room, she could see the blasts of fire and could hear the clanging of swords, and as they moved to the railing, she could see the men fighting below. Sokka lunged at Zuko. He was fighting with a Jian; it must have come from the armory, for as far as she knew, he had never replaced his own. Zuko blocked the attack easily, using dual Dao blades. She hadn't known he could fight with those. His fighting style looked somewhat familiar, but she didn't spend much time dwelling on it, for as soon as Zuko sent Sokka sprawling, he moved both blades to one hand and shot a fire stream at Reike. The young nobleman wasn't fighting with any weapons, but he blocked the onslaught with a fire stream of his own. The three men were fighting each other simultaneously, quickly switching from offense to defense and back again, using elements or weapons or hand-to-hand combat. For the most part, they seemed well matched. The dirt floor of the training room was scorched in places, as was the empty viewing area on the other side of the room.
"Wow," Suki said, looking down.
"Hopefully this friendly sparring match will help Sokka get some of his issues out."
Suki nodded. "He's better than when he first arrived. And he and Reike get along."
That was probably an understatement. She had been right: the two men were alike. After that awful first formal dinner, Reike had been invited to the more casual family meals, as Zuko's friend, and Reike and Sokka had immediately bonded over their love of meat…and then proceeded to get drunk together. It hadn't been a pretty sight but she was glad everyone seemed to be getting along. Some of Sokka's resentment toward Zuko had waned, especially after she'd expressed for the umpteenth time that if she didn't resent him, she felt that he shouldn't, either.
"Let's join 'em," Toph said suddenly. Lifting her hands high above her head, she picked up the piece of marble they were standing on and lowered them down to the training room floor. The men stopped fighting, lowering their weapons, and Zuko looked even more aggravated than usual.
"Will you please put my palace back when you're through with it?" he grit out.
"Yeah, yeah, you can cool it." She smiled suddenly. "Get it? 'Cool it'…that's funny, you know, 'cause you're the Fire Lord, a Firebender."
Zuko just rolled his eyes and sheathed his swords.
Katara noticed a big red gash across his side—blood was seeping onto his tunic—and gasped. "You're bleeding!"
"What? Oh. It's nothing."
She uncorked her water skin and tugged some water out. She reached for him. "Here, let me—"
He pushed her hand away. "I said I'm fine. Deal with Sokka, or Reike, first."
"I'm bleeding, Katara," Sokka said.
"Did you boys have fun?"
"Your husband's not a bad fighter," Reike said with a grin.
"You're not bad either…for a spoiled nobleman Firebender."
"I'd crush both of you, and you know it."
Sokka and Reike accepted Toph's challenge.
Katara healed a few scrapes along Sokka's arms and one on Reike's calf. Then she marched over to Zuko.
He tried to pull away. "I'll just wrap it up."
"Oh, don't be such a baby. I'll fix it up in no time and you won't have to worry about it."
"It's fine."
"You'll bleed through the bandages."
"It's—"
"It'll stain your clothes, and your councilmen and all their lovely wives who love to hover and fuss over you will notice," she said, hands on her hips.
He considered what she said before relenting. "Fine."
She motioned for him to sit and he did. She knelt beside him, and after he removed his shirt, she held her hand over the still-bleeding wound. She tried to keep her eyes on her task, but she couldn't help herself, and her eyes began to wander. She had not been this close to Zuko—let alone shirtless Zuko—in a long time, and he had changed a lot over the years, and those years had been good to him.
She swallowed. His build had transformed from that of a lanky teen to a powerful man. His skin was taut over the muscles of his chest and biceps, fair, but not pale. She could feel his heat, and she could see sweat beading at his collarbone. His black hair was free of its usual top-knot and stuck to his forehead and temple.
When she felt her heart skip a beat she averted her eyes, sure Toph picked up on it. She finished healing him quickly, and they ended up standing simultaneously, so that they were chest to chest. She lost her balance, and Zuko gripped her elbows to steady her.
"Sorry," she mumbled, embarrassed.
He just shrugged and released her.
As her eyes traveled from his face, she noticed a rather large scar on his chest. Her eyes grew wide as she studied it, and she reached out to touch it without thinking. "Spirits, Zuko! Wha-what happened?" As she ran her fingers over the rough, new skin, she remembered having her hands on this spot before. "Zuko, is this—is this from—"
He grabbed her wrists roughly and pushed her hands away.
Everyone was staring at them now, but Katara was not going to drop this. "Will you guys please excuse us for a minute? I need to talk with Zuko…alone."
Reike led the group away, and Katara could hear Toph and Sokka mumbling dejectedly, but she waited for the door to shut behind them before she turned back to Zuko.
"Katara, it's not a big deal," he said, shrugging his shirt on.
"This isn't just about the scar, Zuko. Although, had I known it had such difficulty healing, I could have helped, and it wouldn't have scarred so badly."
"I'm used to having ugly scars."
She stared up at him in shock, her mouth falling open. He had spoken so matter-of-factly, and he was looking at her with narrowed eyes, like he was gauging her reaction.
She took a deep breath and planted her hands on her hips. "I better not ever hear you say anything like that again…ever. You're more than your scars—either of them—and you know it."
He seemed to relax a little, but not entirely.
"I want to know why you're acting so strange."
"Me?"
"Yes. You're unreasonably short with me and more often than not you're brusque, and you act superior to us all—"
"I do not—"
"You do. We can't be like this around each other forever."
He looked down at her for a moment, studying her face. "Like what?'
"Awkward. Uncomfortable. And you can't be short with me. I understand that you might need to act a certain way—especially with me—especially around your council. I understand that. But when we're among friends, I expect you to let me heal you just as I would them. You can suck in your ego and deal with it."
He scowled. "I'm not a child, Katara. Just because you can heal every little scrape doesn't mean you should. I promise you that if I ever suffer a life-threatening injury, you have my permission to heal me. I've survived these four years without you just fine."
"But if I'm here, why can't I—"
"Because you don't need to. You don't have to. Are you going to heal every little paper cut, too? Get over yourself, Katara. I don't need anyone to take care of me. Now, you're ruining the lovely day you had planned with our friends, so just drop it and leave me be."
As he stormed from the room, Katara had to squelch the urge to follow him. She wanted to finish their conversation and maybe hurl a few ice discs at his big royal head. He was so infuriating! And difficult! Him leaving her on the sidelines like some porcelain doll would not help any; neither would walking out on their conversations.
She found him in one of the courtyards with the rest of the group, pretending nothing had transpired. Ty Lee had joined them and was showing off one of her Kyoshi-inspired circus acts, and her face lit up when she saw Katara.
"Great! Now that everyone's here, I can show you my new favorite trick!"
Katara seated herself in the grass next to Toph, far from Zuko, and she refused to look at him. Sokka had already devoured half of the picnic laid out before them, and Reike was sitting a little outside the semicircle, eyeing Ty Lee warily.
"How ya' doin', Sweetness?"
"I'm fine."
"Oh, ya, sure."
"Just leave it, Toph."
Toph just smiled. "Oh, these last few days are gonna be fun."
Ty Lee had moved from standing on her hands to hanging out of a tree when a rumbling broke her revere. She fell into the grass, laughing, as everyone else stood.
"I'd know that 'rawr' anywhere!" Toph shouted. "Twinkletoes is here!"
Sure enough, Appa flew over their heads that very moment and landed a few feet away, crushing some flowering bushes beneath him.
Katara held her breath and hung back as the group moved to greet the Avatar. She had not seen him for a long time now, and she hadn't heard from him since she'd written him, telling him she was marrying Zuko. She didn't know what kind of reaction to expect from him.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Zuko was watching her.
Still angry with him, she threw him a dirty look.
He scowled and made an "after you" gesture.
Arms folded tightly across her chest, she huffed and marched over to the sky bison's side. Aang was prying himself out of the enthusiastic acrobat's hold when he spotted Katara, Zuko close behind her.
"Katara!" he greeted with a huge grin.
"Hi, Aang."
He swept her up in a huge embrace, lifting her off the ground. In the past few years, the Airbender had shot up in statute; he was more than a foot taller than her now. His lanky build was the same though. Whenever she was around him, all she wanted to do was feed him. He always had brought out her motherly instincts.
She forced a smile on her face. "Look at you!" she said when he'd put her back down on the ground. "Is…is that hair on your face?"
The sixteen-year-old touched his stubbly jaw proudly. "Yeah," he said sheepishly. "I haven't stopped to camp for very long; I didn't have time to shave."
"Yeah, sure. Well, we'll show you to your room and you can get cleaned up." She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "And have a bath."
He just laughed. Then his mouth twisted into a sad smile and, looking down, he stepped away from her. The moment passed, however, and his smile returned as he greeted Zuko. "Zuko! Or do you prefer Fire Lord Zuko these days?"
They shook hands amiably. "Only if you insist on being called Avatar Aang."
"Nah, Aang's fine. Oh, watch out—"
Zuko stepped out of the way just in time to avoid Appa's wet tongue. The sky bison groaned sadly. The Firebender grimaced but reached to pat the animal's head once. "Hi, Appa," he said, feeling more than a little ridiculous for talking to an animal.
"So, are you two ready?"
Both Katara and Zuko looked at Aang for a moment.
"What?
"For your big day? For the big day!"
A moment of silence passed before Katara answered, "Getting there. Would…would you like to be shown to your room?"
"Maybe later. I wanted to unsaddle Appa and get him and Momo something to eat. Is there room in the stables?"
"Of course. I made room for him in the main stable and had the hands stock up on…sky bison food. You could go now, if you'd like."
"Thanks, Zuko."
"Aang, you wouldn't believe all the toys Zuko has in his new training room. And the food—so much meat—"
"That's nice, Sokka, but you know I don't eat meat."
"Yeah, but there's plenty of non-meat and vegetarian-y foods, too."
"Great. I'm gonna take Appa to the stables, and then you can tell me all about it." He jumped into the saddle and took off with his two animal companions, leaving the rest of them in the gardens.
As soon as the Airbender was out of sight, Toph grinned, but somewhat dejectedly she said, "That wasn't nearly as awkward as I expected it to be."
Katara slapped her forehead.
With the arrival of the Avatar, things became more chaotic, and Katara saw even less of Zuko than she did before. Everyone seemed to need the Fire Lord and the Avatar for some political crisis or another. Zuko, she knew, could handle the pressure, but she was surprised to see how apt the sixteen-year-old had become with handling like issues. He adopted a totally mature persona—very un-Aang like—but he pulled it off. Of course, as soon as he was finished, he reverted to his old carefree, spontaneous self, and things seemed normal again.
That night, another big feast was thrown in the Avatar's honor, as well as to welcome more foreign dignitaries that had arrived. There was every kind of food imaginable, delicacies from all four nations. Servants refilled cup after cup of wine, and spirits were high for the most part.
Katara looked at Aang and could not help but feel a little guilty. Although they had broken things off more than two years ago—she had broken things off—she could still see the boy's pained expression clear as day. She hadn't wanted to hurt him, but she had made the break quick and clean, to minimize damage and pain, and, as she knew he would, Aang had recovered and things were mostly normal. But the news of her marriage—especially to Zuko—couldn't have been easy to hear.
Her eyes traveled to Zuko. Her guilt didn't recede much. He was engaged in conversation with Uncle and a few other nobles, looking only mildly interested. She wondered if he even realized how often he scowled.
This arrangement wasn't fair, for either of them. He deserved to be happy. So did she, but at least she had some idea as to what this union would mean for her. She didn't think he really knew. He was just doing "good" for his country.
"How you holding up?"
At the sound of Reike's voice, Katara started. She hadn't noticed his approach. Sokka and Suki were with him.
"Sorry," he apologized sheepishly.
She shook her head. "It's fine. Are you all enjoying the party?"
Sokka smiled a little too widely, and she noticed the empty cup of wine in his hand. "You have the best parties, Katara. And the best food. It's really not fair."
"Thanks, Sokka."
"We're helping Reike avoid Ty Lee and her sisters. He dated one of them but can't remember which one."
"Oh. That's…nice."
"Yeah. It's harder than it looks, 'cause there's a lotta them. And they're fast."
"Ah, I see."
"How are you holding up, Katara?" Suki asked, her concern evident.
She managed a small smile. "I'm fine. Really. I'm just…starting to remember how difficult Zuko can be."
"Oh, go easy on him," the Fire Nation noble petitioned. "This wedding's put him in a foul mood; it'll pass once all the hullabaloo dies down."
"'Hullabaloo'?" Sokka looked skeptical. "And you think I'm drunk."
"Are you sure it's the wedding and not just the marriage in general?"
"Yes. If you can believe it, when your marriage was announced, he tried to nix the wedding altogether and asked if you two could have a private, civil ceremony. Both nations would hear nothing of it, but he tried…."
Katara stared up at him, her eyes wide. "Really?"
"Yes. He said it would make it an easier transition for you if you were permitted to jump into your new role as Fire Lady as quickly as possible, without having the additional stress of a wedding. They still wouldn't agree to it."
"Wow. I—I didn't know that."
"I know he can be a pain sometimes, and I know you've known him for some time now, but I think there's still a lot you don't know about Zuko."
Her eyes traveled across the room and stopped on her husband-to-be, who, she saw, was staring at her openly and unashamed. "I'm beginning to realize that," she said quietly.