AN: Happy Monday! Hope you all enjoyed the eclipse/invading the Fire Nation. I honestly didn't know if I would get this posted today (reason no. 1 why this chapter is terrible). So yay. OK big warning. This chapter contains heavy sexual and violent themes (not at the same time) and in general, the rest of the story will have a heavier and more violent tone than before. Just a heads up. In other news, thank you everyone for the lovely reviews (and follows and faves and general support). We are nearing the end of part one of this story, it has taken me a long time to get here but I'm so glad that I finally did. Also, I'm thinking about doing a one-shot about Yue and Sokka that would take place during this chapter. Let me know if you guys would enjoy that.
Chapter Eleven: The Wedding Part II
There was a grand feast. And out of all the grand feasts that Katara had seen, one of which had just been last week, this was by far the greatest and the biggest. Supposedly, the entire Capitol was celebrating the wedding, not that Katara would be let out of the palace to see for herself. But a royal wedding was cause for national celebration.
The feast was seemingly never ending. Katara thought she might pop right out of her dress. After every course, they would be interrupted with gifts or performances and occasionally dancing. But whenever she thought the celebration might be coming to an end another roast would be announced or they would be presented with a new kind of cake.
Zuko was trying to be a good sport about it, kind of. After all, there was only so much schmoozing and small talking with random nobles that he could handle in one day. But, it was Katara's wedding day, and so for her sake, he tried not to let his displeasure show too much.
A couple came towards them, dressed in expensive outfits and decorated in green jewels. They were obviously Earth Kingdom, and obviously rich.
"What do you think?" Katara whispered. "Friend of foe?" She asked. It had been a game they had come up with. Deciding which guests were here as friends of the Fire Nation crown, and which were here as enemies, trying to show good fortune. It was a tricky game, as the two were hard to discern from one another.
"Those are the Beifongs, they're the richest family in the Earth Kingdom." Zuko whispered.
"How do you know that?" Katara asked, she didn't imagine Zuko had experienced many run-ins with Earth Kingdom nobles.
"The flying boar emblem, the supply a lot to the Fire Nation, they're definitely friends." He said, moving away from Katara as they approached and straining to reattach the fake smile to his face.
"Princess Katara, Prince Zuko, may I introduce Lao and Poppy Beifong, from Gaoling."
"Thank you for coming this way, the Fire Nation owes your family many honors, and we are truly honored by your presence today." Zuko bowed, if he had to say the word "honor" to one more rich noble he thought his head might fall off. In truth, he didn't care if any of these people attended, in fact, he almost rather they didn't.
"Thank you Prince Zuko, we just wanted to offer our congratulations on your new bride." Lao and Poppy returned the bow. Katara was suddenly feeling much like a wall decoration, left out of the conversation as if she was an inanimate fixture.
"And of course, congratulations to you princess, the Water Tribe must be very proud of your bravery." Poppy Beifong, spoke up, reanimating Katara.
"Thank you, my family is proud."
"Well as friends to both the Tribes and the Fire Nation we just wanted to let you know that if you ever need anything from us, our vast resources are at your disposal. And if you are ever in Gaoling, do not hesitate to stop by the estate." Lao Beifong and his wife bid the pair goodbye and made their way away from the Bride and Groom. Katara and Zuko sat back down, soaking in the brief moment they had before the next guest would disturb them.
"So what do you think? Friends?" Katara asked.
"They want us to know that if there was ever an issue with the Earth Kingdom, they would ally themselves with us."
"How do you know that?"
"The Beifongs are all about self preservation, now that we're the most powerful entity in the world, they want to be on the winning side if anything were ever to happen." Katara lingered on that thought. Were they really the most powerful entity in the world. The whole point of their marriage was to bring together the Fire Nation and Water Tribes, but Katara never really put much thought into exactly how together they would become. A loose alliance, or a full blown merge, there was an ocean of difference between the two. Katara hoped it would fall somewhere in the middle. She may have become Fire Nation today, but her people wouldn't.
The next guests appeared, and Zuko saw Katara all but sigh from relief. She stood up and walked around the long table, in a hurried manner. Zuko followed her to the pair, a tall Water Tribe man, and a younger woman, with pale white hair and a huge smile on her face.
"Zuko, this is Chief Arnook and Princess Yue." Zuko bowed, and when he looked at the man who basically raised Katara, he expected to feel excitement, or something, but what he felt was anger, for keeping Katara from her bending for so long."
"So this is the Prince eh? Well I'm sure you've already gotten this speech from Hakoda, but if I hear you're not treating my girl right I'll send our Navy to come and teach you a lesson." Arnook had a lighthearted tone to his voice, but it didn't prevent his promise from being any less threatening.
"I would never hurt her, besides, now that Katara has been allowed to access the full potential of her bending, she's more than capable of giving me a beating of her own if I make her mad." Katara may have gotten over the Northerner's pesky traditions, but Zuko had not. Yue laughed, causing everyone to stare at the outburst.
"Oh excuse me, it's just, I'm sure Katara doesn't need her bending to beat you up." Katara and Arnook stifled laughs. Zuko remembered all the times Katara had been mad at her, and just how terrified he had been at those moments, even before she had her bending. A servant rushed to them, whispering something in Zuko's ear. He perked up.
"You'll all have to excuse me, I have to take care of something." Zuko and the servant rushed off before Katara could interrogate him further. She gave an apologetic look to Yue and Arnook, expressing as she was just as confused at they were.
"Katara! There you are, look who I found." Azula, accompanied by Ty Lee, who had discarded of her circus attire for a clad formal dress, approached Katara and the Northerners.
"Katara congratulations!" Ty Lee squeaked, pulling Katara into an abrupt hug.
"Ty Lee, I'm so glad you could make it." Katara said to the overly friendly girl.
"Azula, Ty Lee, this is Chief Arnook and Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe."
"Chief Arnook, I was hoping I'd get to make your acquaintance, now that we have fortified the alliance between our two nations, I have a few ideas about how that alliance could be of use to both of us." Katara held in her urge to roll her eyes, Azula was always quick to get right to what she wanted. Arnook chuckled at the young girl's grit.
"Is that so, I'd love to hear them."
"Well, as I learned from Katara, many of your benders possess special healing abilities. There are many people in the Fire Nation who would benefit greatly from these women's gifts. If we set up an immigration system your healers could save the lives of millions." That explained why Azula had seemed so curious about Katara's healing.
"Well you're right, the wonders of our healers would be quite beneficial for anyone, but I don't see how giving you our healers would be beneficial to both of us."
"Well that, is up to you. The Fire Nation has many plentiful resources, money, military, food, whatever you need, after all, we are all family now." The way Azula said family made Katara's bones chill, reminding her just how much her marriage truly was for political gain.
Arnook didn't have time to consider Azula's offer, because Zuko came rushing back, announcing for the party to disperse to the edge of the room. A group of people entered behind him, all dressed in white and gold. Zuko slid along the walls until he was back to Katara.
"What's going on?" She asked, as the strangers in uniform organized themselves into a circle in the middle of the room.
"It's your wedding present." Music began and Katara recognized the song.
"Are these the Fire Dancers from the Solstice festival." The dance began, Katara realized only the women were moving, while the men stood still.
"Some of them." Fire whipped and sparked around them as the dancers spun and circled the room. And then, the fire turned towards the inner circle, seeming to head straight toward the men. But instead of the fire striking them, a great wave was expelled away from the men, crashing with the fire and creating a great puff of steam. The crowd was filled with gasps of shock. Katara's eyes widened, how had she not realized they were waterbenders? Where had all that water come from?
The dance transformed, the fast paced movements from the firebenders colliding with the steadiness of the waterbenders, creating a beautiful tug-of-war.
"Zuko how did you do this?" Katara asked over the music. How, when, she didn't know how he could have pulled any of this together, before today she and Aang had been the only waterbenders in the Fire Nation.
The dance continued and the waterbenders began to compile all the water in the center of the room, with the last beat of a drum they froze the water as the firebenders all shot flames into the air, ending the dance. The sculpture left by the water looked like two intertwining hearts, being enveloped by flame.
The audience was stunned, but then erupted into enormous applause. The dancers took their bows and made their exit, leaving the sculpture as the only evidence that they were ever there.
"Seriously Zuko how did you do that?" Katara asked him again.
"It's a secret, it wouldn't be as exciting if I told you." Zuko smiled and laughed.
After the dancers left, the celebration seemed to be making it's way towards an end. There was still dancing and music, but there was no more food or gifts. Zuko found himself being dragged away by distant relatives and Katara was left with Azula, Ty Lee and Yue.
"Well that was certainly some display." Azula commented.
"It's funny, those men who were dancing, they're all part of our ship's crew, but they never mentioned anything about it, nor would I ever believed you could have gotten any of those guys to dance until I saw it with my own eyes." Yue mentioned, she was just as confused as Katara as to how Prince Zuko had gotten choreography to waterbending soldiers.
"Well I'm sure he paid them handsomely. With your wedding night coming up, he probably wants to make you as happy as possible beforehand."
"Oh please, my brother doesn't have to impress Katara with expensive gifts, she's been dying to get in his pants since the moment she got here." Azula scoffed.
"Azula! That is not true." Katara scolded her for lying, although no one really believed it was a lie.
"Oh come on Katara, you're telling me you haven't even thought about your wedding night once since you've been here?" Yue questioned. It wasn't that she knew Katara to particularly fixate the subject, but Yue had seen the Prince and after all she had just married him, and it was only the natural progression of thought.
"Don't be ridiculous guys, I haven't even given it any thought." That was a lie, she had given the subject quite a bit of thought. Especially when she and Zuko had been sparring all those late nights.
"Well maybe you should." Ty Lee piped up. "I hear it's good to be prepared for these kinds of things."
"Ty Lee's right, you don't think we went to all that spa trouble just so guests could stare at you from ten feet away did you?" Azula reminded Katara of all the exfoliating, and washing, and oiling she had been through that day.
"Well, I didn't really think about it." Katara shrugged, they were making her nervous.
"Don't worry Kat, Prince Zuko knows you haven't lost your virtue, he won't be expecting much." Yue attempted to calm her nerves. Katara's eyes nearly popped out.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well it's just that virgins don't typically know what they're doing, they just kind of lie there and wait for it to happen. But that's not exactly what boys want." Ty Lee added in. Katara had the suspicion that she was the only one in the conversation who might actually had any experience in the matter.
"It's all about confidence Katara, you just have to make him think that you're in control and know exactly what you're doing. It shouldn't be hard, boys are stupid." Azula added, not noticing the group of men approaching them now.
"Boys are what now?" Sokka asked, hooking his arm around his sister's shoulders.
"Nothing Sokka, we were just talking about girl things." Katara said innocently. Zuko came up on her other side, along with two other Water Tribe men. Soon, they noticed the music come to an end and some of the guests had trickled out. Princess Ursa, and an entourage of servants made their way towards Zuko and Katara. Ty Lee, apparently recognizing what was about to happen, perked up.
"It's time!" Ty Lee squeaked, grabbing Katara's hand and jumping.
"It's time for what?" Katara asked, noticing the mischievous glint in Ty Lee's eyes.
"Oh! It's time." She suddenly felt so nervous she thought she was going to puke.
"I took the liberty of having the servants move both of your things to the new room, everything should be ready for you now." Ursa smiled.
"Thank you Ursa." Katara said, although the idea of someone moving all her stuff without her permission didn't exactly make her feel great.
"Shall I announce the start of the burning ceremony." Azula asked.
"Absolutely not." Zuko grabbed Katara's arm.
"But Zuzu it's tradition."
"What's the burning ceremony."
"All the guest follow us to our room and then we take off our clothes and they burn them." Zuko whispered in Katara's ear.
"Oh." Katara suddenly wished she had chosen the Water Tribe's tradition instead.
"Azula, we are not commoners, and we will not disrespect our new princess in such an act of defilement." Ursa scolded.
"Of course not." Azula sighed.
"Come on, let's go before Azula get's any more bad ideas."
Zuko grabbed Katara and slipped through the crowd and out of the garden. They walked through the palace to the royal quarters. Two guards were perched at each side of the double doors.
"They're here to confirm that we actually, ya know." Zuko whispered as the guards opened the doors. Katara walked into the room, it was nearly three times the size of her previous one. Everything about the room was overly extravagant, with gold ornaments on the walls and furniture. In addition to the bed there were also two desks and several cabinets. There was also a daybed and a small table for tea ceremonies. Opposite of the bed was a large waterfall fountain running against the wall. To the side there was a large washroom, complete with a large bath, big enough for four people at least.
"There's a lot of water in here."
"I know, I told them to put it in, I thought you'd like it." Zuko sat down on the bed.
"I do." Katara was becoming painfully aware of the situation, and what was about to happen. She stood frozen, not sure if she should go to the bed, or wait for him to ask her to come.
"Katara?"
"I just- I need a minute." She ran to the washroom, shutting the door as fast as she could. Her heart was racing and she could barely catch her breath. She looked across at the mirror, noticing how decorated her face was. She grabbed a cloth and began to wipe away the makeup. Looking at her now bare face she still didn't quite feel clean enough. She took off the top of her dress, setting it on a stool and began to scrub her hands and arms. She did the same with her legs. She eyed the large bathtub. It was hardly the time for a bath, she thought. But she didn't care. She pulled off the rest of her dress until she was stripped bare, and then she lowered herself into the large metal tub. The water was fresh and cold, it reminded her of home. She submerged her head under the water, feeling her element surround her as she latched onto it. Slowly she felt her control creep back to her. She finally came up for air. She grabbed the soap bar and began to scrub every inch of herself until she was sure she was clean.
Stepping out of the bath she bent the water off herself, letting it splash back into the tub. She looked to her discarded dress, dreading having to put it on. She noticed a set of black robes hanging in the corner. She pulled on the smaller of the two and went to open the door.
Zuko waited on the edge of the bed, fiddling with his cufflink. He could hear splashing from the washroom and wondered if Katara had decided to take an impromptu bending session. Finally, the door to the washroom cracked open and Katara peaked out of it. He noticed that she had changed, instead of her gown, she was wearing a black silk robe. Her face was plain and the braids were gone from her hair.
"You're back, I was starting to wonder if you got lost in there." She laughed, sitting on the edge of the bed next to him.
"Sorry, I wasn't quite ready." She still looked tense and rigid as she held herself as close to the edge of the bed as possible.
"And you're ready now?" Zuko asked with skepticism. "Katara we don't have to."
"But what about the guards?"
"They don't matter, no one's going to question it." Nor would they care, they had signed the documents, for their family's purposes, that was all they needed from Zuko and Katara's marriage.
"Do you not want to?" Katara remembered what Azula had told her, Azula, who by the way, had no real experience with the subject, that the key was in her confidence. But right now, Katara was definitely not acting confident.
"Are you kidding? Katara have you seen you. Agni, every guy in the world would kill just to be in the same room as you. Of course I want to." They both turned an unapologetic shade of crimson.
"But I want you to want to too, and not just because you feel like you have some sort of duty to me or whoever else." Katara didn't know what she wanted. On one hand, she spent all her life listening to older women gossip and giggle about it, and she was eager to find out what all the fuss was about. But on the other hand, she couldn't help but think about all the things she could do wrong. She was almost certain Zuko had already had his first, and the thought that she wouldn't be able to live up to Mai, or whoever else there was, made her want to crawl in a whole and hide.
Before she could make a decision, Zuko jumped off the bed. He shuffled through a large chest that had been put in the corner of the room, and when he came back, he held a bundle of cards.
"You know how to play right?" He dropped them all on the bed, Katara looked between the cards and Zuko, and if Zuko didn't know any better, it looked as if she had just seen him sprout another head.
"Wait? You want to play cards?"
"Why not? It's our wedding night, isn't it? That means we can do whatever we want." And since what Zuko really wanted to do wasn't in the cards, they might as well find out what was in the cards. Katara shrugged, and scooted onto the bed, making room for him, and began to set the game up. She had played many times before and was no stranger to the game, but she was quite out of practice and Zuko had to refresh her on all the rules.
They began to play and Katara's anxiety began to melt away to the back of her mind. They must have let the game go on for at least an hour, until finally, Zuko revealed a winning set. He placed his cards in front of her with a satisfied grin. Katara's face changed from confusion, to shock, she looked over her own cards, reaffirming that she had in fact lost. In defeat, she threw her own cards down. Zuko laughed at Katara's frustration, she had been so adamant that she was winning.
"You cheated!" She squealed
"You're just jealous that I'm better at something than you." She wanted to wipe the smugness right off his face.
"Well Zuko, I guess there had to be something you were good at." She smirked, resting into a smugness of her own.
"Actually Katara, there are a lot of things I'm good at." The pitch in his voice dropped, almost as if he was trying to suggest something specific.
"Oh really, like what?" She crossed her arms, displaying her disbelief, as well as displaying how little her robe covered.
"like, uh, um." Zuko gulped and his face flushed red. He had been trying very hard all night to pretend like he wasn't completely distracted by the thought of pushing her down on the bed and truly making her his. He thought with all the restraint he was showing she could at least have the courtesy not to taunt him. Katara let out a laugh, which turned into a series of laughter.
"Zuko if you're going to seduce me you should try not to get distracted so easy." Zuko, who didn't think he could get any redder, blushed even deeper.
"I wasn't trying to seduce you." He quipped defensively. For a moment Katara believed him. She was filled with a sensation of self-doubt, as if to say of course he wasn't, why would he want to do that? But before she could start to feel embarrassed, he leaned toward her, becoming too close for comfort.
"Trust me, If I was trying to seduce you, you'd know." She could feel his breath on her ear and sending a shiver down her spine. Her fears didn't leave her, in fact they were bigger than before, but she was overtaken other desires. Mainly, the desire to prove that she could be just as intimidating as he was. She grabbed his shoulders, pushing him away from her, and giving her the chance to sit up so that she was the same height as him. With her hands on his shoulders she stared into his glowing amber eyes, frozen, both of them caught of guard and scared to be the first to move. It was almost like being locked in combat Katara thought. There were a thousand things should could say, but her mind came up blank. So, clutching his shirt in fists, she made the decision that actions speak louder than words.
This time when she kissed him she didn't have to wait for him to kiss her back, his mouth was on hers as soon as she had pulled him towards her. His hands went to her waist, pulling her as close to him as he could, but he wanted her closer. One of his hands slid up to her back, while the other reached out to catch them as he pushed them both onto the bed. His hands went everywhere, his mouth went to her neck. It was as if the elastic that had been holding him back and keeping him restrained had finally snapped. His mind couldn't think about anything else but Katara.
His hand grazed the knot that was holding her robe in place and he suddenly froze, remembering Katara's hesitancy earlier.
"Can I?" He looked up at her, his eyes were begging her, and he was praying to the spirits that she wouldn't stop him. She was flustered and hadn't managed to remember how to speak just yet, but she nodded yes.
"Are you sure? We don't have to do this, if you're not ready?"
"Zuko just take it off already." Her voice came out louder and harsher than either have them expected, but Zuko wasted no time following her orders. He yanked his own shirt off before reattaching his lips to hers, getting more lost in her than before.
It wasn't anything like Katara had expected. It didn't hurt as much as she thought it would, they had to go slow in the beginning, but the pain was manageable at its worst. Mostly it felt real, not life shattering or nearly mythical as it had been described. There was plenty of stopping and starting and things falling out of where they were supposed to be. And there was a lot of being asked if she was okay and alright, which she always was. And by the time Katara felt like she was finally getting the hang of what was going on, it was all over.
"Wow that was…" Katara tried to think of the right word, but the only one she could think of was demystifying. So she changed her question. "Is it always like that?" Zuko half laughed, half snorted.
"No, the first time is always the worst for girls, at least that's what-" Zuko stopped himself from saying Mai's name. "That's what I've heard." Katara didn't want to ask him where he heard that from, she could guess well enough, and that was all she wanted to hear about it.
"I didn't say it was bad!" Katara quickly retorted.
"Neither did I, just that it's going to get better." In fact, if she waited a few more minutes, he was sure they could make plenty of progress before morning. At least, that had been his plan, but before he knew it, he found himself fading into sleep.
A banging on the door caused both Zuko and Katara's eyes to snap open, neither of them had remembered falling asleep or even register that it was morning now. Zuko had the kind of dreamless sleeps where he woke up feeling as if no time had passed. He jumped out of the bed at the continued banging, and Katara pulled her robe back on, trailing behind him. He opened the door to see a terrified servant.
"What do you want?" He harped at the servant, who recoiled.
"I'm terribly sorry Prince Zuko, I was told to summon you and the Princess immediately."
"Why?"
"The Avatar is dead."
AN: Dun Dun Dun. I wish I could add in random AN's throughout the story as commentaries for what I was thinking during the writing of this chapter, but I think that might be slightly obnoxious and hindering on the experience. *sigh* I was so close to writing Toph in. SO CLOSE. But it's not time (I remembered that Toph's parents pretended she didn't exist), yet. Soon… Also shout Out to LAX for having chargers in all the seats and enabling me writing this. I hope the not-quite-sex-scene wasn't too cheeseball-y, I felt pretty dorky writing it. Anyway, let me know in that review of yours.