AU: Alright, Finialy getting some new Zutara stuff out for you guys. This one isnt my best, but its different, and I needed to update. So enjoy!
The pond was calm and the flocks were as stunning as the day heaven opened to create them. Flowers danced with a breeze that cooled the hot firenation lands while daffodils and snapdragons stood sturdy against the soothing wind. The sun gave energy to those who soaked it, and the pools that collected within the miniature garden lapped from the underground spring fed by the cooling glaciers of its sister lands. Cherry blossoms were beginning to fall, causing the grass to have a light blanket of sakura petals and gave the garden a most pleasant scent.
It was here, that katara was most happy.
Zuko knew this.
The boy could care less of the beauty that the earth begot, and yet he found himself here everyday, sitting next to the pond soaking in a beauty of his own.
She would always waterbend just enough to make her happy, just enough for her to feel at home.
Zuko would just watch. Sometimes, he would ask questions, but mostly it was katara that did the talking. The young woman always seemed to have such a gorgeous array of thoughts locked up within the tightly held braid.
The prince would just soak her in, as she did the water.
Many days he wished she would sit closer to him. To lay her head on his shoulder and ask that he stay with her here forever.
It was a day that would never come, but of what he always hoped.
These moments were his little wonders.
Like when she would ask him small bits about his past, And when she would cry as he told her.
Then one day, he met her in the garden while she cried over his pools of glacier water.
" Whats wrong?" He asked, rushing to her side, ready to sweep the girl off her feet.
She turned to him, eyes drowning in their own pool of dilute. " Im so sad for you Zuko" Katara would say, wiping a tear from her cheek. " I think of the stories you've told me. Of your past, of your mother. And I just think of how you are now. So unlike your upbringing and I wonder why."
He would pause, not knowing what to say, not knowing what to do.
Sighing, the prince looked down and saw her hand, placed on the grass, the other rubbing her neck. Picking up his own palm, he placed his on hers.
" Im not sure why I am the way I am, but I think of what my life is, how its shaped and all I can think of are these moments, right here."
Pausing, Katara turned to him, eyes brimming with a new set of tears.
" I don't like to think of what happened, because It hurts. But you hurt for me, don't you Katara?"
She said nothing
Leaning closer, Zuko then did something he never thought he would have the courage to do. Placing his head in her lap, he looked up at her with uncertain eyes, which were greeted by the tears he saw clearly, matching the smile that spread slowly, and softly, across her features.
Reaching up, Katara placed her hand over his scar, a long deep breath escaping her. Zuko met her touch, grasping her small hand in his own.
" These moments wash everything away somehow. Im not happy often, or I didn't used to be, but now, you're my little wonder"
Katara kept her calm, collected demeanor and whispered softly "The hardest part it over."
And with that she leaned forward and kissed him gently on the forehead.
Another Little twist and turn of fate. Another little Wonder.