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Series: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Title: Musings
Author: Tiasha
Type: One-shot/Drabbles
Word Count: varies
Sadly, it was not the first time that Iroh wondered if his nephew would ever again grace the world with a genuinely bright smile.
Katara had often found herself staring at the sparkling canvas of the night sky, wondering who this "powerful bender" Aunt Wu had mentioned was; ultimately, the stars never outright answered her, but the barest glimpse of a hint winked unbeknownst to her.
Sokka hadn't told his sister that her affections to the Fire Nation toddler (brief as they were) had disturbed him greatly; it had felt too much like a glimpse of the future, and that severely worried him.
Her motives for becoming father's favorite were unknown to all, least that she knew of; the mother who should have doted on her daughter (who had excelled at nearly everything and a prized jewel in nearly everyone's eye) had doted on her son instead—a boy who was slow in the arts of bending and naïve to the harshness of the world around him, despite his affinity to the flame.
Occasionally, in the deepest of his sleep, he could remember a time when his family had been whole…for the most part; he and his sister had run through the grassy fields that were somewhat rare in fire country, while his mother, uncle and cousin had followed at a leisurely pace. His father had never been in the picture.
He was a product of an age that had been extinguished centuries ago in the Fire Nation, a product of an ideal that wanted coexistence and harmony with the other bending nations; she had always taken pleasure in dominating and surpassing others and was therefore a product of the current Fire Nation, the product of an age that craved absolute sovereignty and power. Zuko would never become what she had been born to be; "You'll never catch up," she whispered to him, a smirk on her young face as they sat on the floor next to their mother and father, knowing fully well that he thought she was referring solely to firebending.
She could still remember the day her mother had been taken by the Fire Nation; her last glimpse of her mother as she calmly and nonviolently followed the Fire Nation soldiers to their ship, was of her back—the back that most of her tribe believed she had turned on them. But Katara never believed it for a second.
She still was not sure if leaving her parents without even a good-bye had been the best idea, but she also knew that if she had even uttered the very thought of leaving them, her father would have placed her under complete house-arrest; looking in the direction she assumed the grinning boy who steered the flying animal was, she figured it had been the best decision she could have made. She only hoped that he would forgive her someday for having done what she believed she'd had to.