A/N: Whoo! It's been so long since an update! Truthfully, there is no excuse for that. So I won't give one. :) Anyway! Here it is. In all it's glory. Also, I've been doing some art of my own for this fic... you can find it on deviantart under the artist name Crzy4Avatar ! Enjoy!
"You Could Be Happy"
3 Years Later
Being Fire Lord came with multiple unknown pressures. The most surprising to Zuko was how hard the Fire Sages were pushing him to marry. He had only turned twenty-two several months ago, and he had already been forcefully set up with eligible women. Eligible meaning they were of higher wealth and social standing, making a marriage more, as the sages put it 'appealing'. As if he didn't have enough on his plate with running a country. He always managed to find something wrong with each woman they set him up with. Zuko had no idea that the Sages were so worried about a Fire Lord's love life, and it was getting a bit creepy. He already had to worry about assassination attempts daily, he could barely show his face in public without a flaming arrow flying by his head. Finding a wife really wasn't a top priority for him.
He now sat across the table from a very pretty, but terribly boring woman. She was the daughter of one of his Admirals, and a 'perfect match' for him... He found himself resting his chin in his hand, watching her talk about how her fire ferret once got stuck in under her family's stove. His mind was drifting all over the place, from when his Uncle was going to visit again, all the way to what he would feed the turtle ducks tomorrow, lettuce or bread... He looked at her again, and watched her eat a dumpling in two very large bites. He had only ever seen one other person stuff her face like that in his presence, and she was hundreds of miles away in the South Pole, probably eating dinner with her husband or boyfriend or something.
Roulan, at least he thought that was her name, was speaking like a spoiled, self-concerned brat, who desperately wanted to be one of the most authoritative women in the world. He felt bad about it, but he had absolutely no desire to ever see her again. He knew he used to be like her; to proud of his nobility to care about people who happened to be less fortunate, but he had changed so much since he was sixteen. She clearly had no immediate intention to even try to understand those of a lower class. As he saw her about to open her mouth again, most likely to say something that would bore him even further; he stood, rather abruptly, and look down at her.
"I apologize, Roulan. But I just can't hear you talk anymore, not without losing part of my sanity. Tell your father I'm sorry that it didn't work out." Zuko said, a bit insincerely.
"Fire Lord Zuko..." Roulan whimpered.
"I have to go. I'll have one of my guards show you the way out." Zuko turned and left without another word. On the way back to his chambers, one of the Sages, who had been secretly watching the dinner, caught up with him.
"My Lord, couldn't you have been nicer to her? She is Admiral Yan's eldest daughter." the Sage said.
"I can't take anymore of this!" Zuko growled. "No more of this stupid match making! Not for a very long time, do you understand?"
"Yes, Fire Lord," the Sage nodded. "but..."
"Stay out of my personal life!" Zuko shouted, slamming the door to his chambers, right on the Fire Sage's nose.
Happy with the silence that followed, Zuko rubbed his forehead trying to calm himself. He walked across the room and stood in front of his window, overlooking the courtyard. The same place where he proposed to Katara... the place where she refused, and walked out of his life forever.
He slammed his head against the closest wall. It was foolish of him to be so unwilling to find someone else, it had been over three years since he last saw her, and he knew she wouldn't come back. She never answered any of his letters, or messages he relayed through Aang... A part of him hated himself for falling for the young Waterbender so quickly. They were young, maybe too young, but if it was just 'puppy love', then why did he still miss her so terribly? It didn't make any sense to fall for someone over the length of one Summer, and it was very unlike him.
His Uncle would know what to say, but Zuko didn't have the time to go see him in Ba Sing Se, not now with all the reports of people gathering together; people who were still loyal to his father, and the Fire Nation Sozin had created. He couldn't go around worried about his love life when his country's safety could be in danger.
He clenched his fist, his nails digging into his palm. His heart would have to wait.
The igloo was a disaster, furs were everywhere, the sleeping mats looked like they had been thrown across the room, even the fire wood pile, that Katara usually kept so neat, was falling apart. And Katara stood in the middle of it all. She had spent the last two hours tearing their home apart looking for Riku's doll. Aang had given it to her for her second birthday, and she had been able to keep track of it for a year. Katara knew it would inevitably get lost and she would be the one stuck looking for it, and now here she was, looking for the damned thing like her life depended on it. It did, in a way, since she knew Roku would be unable to sleep without it.
The young waterbender slumped to the floor, thinking of one last place to look. She turned to the wooden chest she was leaning against and opened it. How Roku's doll would end up in a chest full of blankets and furs, she had no idea, but it couldn't hurt to look. One by one, she removed each blanket and shook it out, hoping to see her daughter's doll go flying across the room. One by one she was disappointed. Soon, only one blanket remained. She shook it vigorously, now annoyed beyond words at her inability to find the stupid doll. The sound of hollow wood hitting the floor suddenly caught her attention. Katara stood, finding what had fallen out of the blanket. It was a black wooden box with gold trimming. She bent over to pick it up, when something fell out. A flash of crimson ribbon made her heart jump. Now she knew why the box looked so familiar. She knelt down, and the picked the object up as if it was a fragile ice carving. Swallowing, she turned the object over in her hand. The dark red ribbon fell across her palm, revealing a beautifully carved Fire Opal pendent.
It was the betrothal necklace Zuko had made for her, telling her he wanted to do it the Water Tribe way, 'be traditional and all'.
Katara took in a shaky breath. She hadn't seen Zuko since the day she left him, leaving only a note behind. She had wanted to say yes, but it had been the same day she had found out about Roku. She had panicked, she had to keep her future child's life in mind. What if she had been a waterbender? Certainly the Fire Nation wouldn't like a waterbender as their heir... She couldn't see her daughter as the heir to the Fire Nation throne, even if she did end up being a fire bender. It wasn't clear yet what she would be. She was doing fine raising her alone anyways.
Not that it wasn't hard. Of course there was Sokka, Suki, and her father. Even Gran Gran helped when she could. But ultimately she was on her own. Every now and then, while Roku was watching other families in the village, she would ask Katara why she didn't have a family like that, why she didn't have a dad. Katara had readied a lie shortly after Roku's birth, that her father died before she was born, and he was from the Earth Kingdom. But how could she tell that to a girl who was clearly Fire Nation? So she told her a warped version of the truth. Her daddy lived in the Fire Nation, but wasn't ready to be a daddy. Roku responded that it wasn't fair, that she needed a daddy too, that her daddy was being selfish... It broke Katara's heart, because, deep down, she knew she was the one being selfish.
A soft sniffle came from behind her, and Katara was pulled from her thoughts. She tucked the necklace into her tunic's pocket as she turned, met with two pairs of young eyes. One dark blue, the other gold.
"Hi girls." Katara smiled at her niece and daughter. Roku's hair had grown long; straight, without the slightest curl. Her features where sharp and angled, taking after her father. Almost everything about her was Fire Nation, perhaps all but the color of her hair.
"Hi Auntie Katara!" Kya grinned. Roku stood there, hiding half her face inside her parka.
"Did you find her?" Roku asked, her voice was soft.
"No, sweetie, I haven't." Katara frowned.
"What are you looking for?" Kya asked.
"My doll." Roku said.
"Oh! I know where she is!" Kya grinned.
"Really?" Both Katara and Roku asked.
"Yeah, it's at my house!" she nodded.
"I asked Sokka..." Katara grumbled. "...He probably didn't even look!" She stomped out of the igloo, leaving Roku and Kya a little confused. She found Sokka sharpening his spear. She stood over him for several moments, blocking the sunlight.
"Can I help you, Katara?" Sokka asked.
"I asked you if you had seen Roku's doll, and you said no!" Katara growled.
"That's because I haven't seen it..." Sokka sighed.
"Did you even look!"
"I-" Sokka held up a finger, as if about to explain something.
"Don't lie to me, Sokka!"
"No."
"UGH! You are so lazy sometimes!"
"Auntie Katara, it's okay!" Kya pulled on her sleeve. "I found'ed it!" She lifted up the doll.
"Thank you, Kya." Katara calmed down quickly to thank her niece.
"I'm gonna go find Roku and give it back!" Kya grinned broadly, as she ran off to find her cousin. Katara smiled, watching her run off.
"See, problem solved." Sokka said suavely.
"Don't think I'm not still mad at you!" Katara whipped around to face her brother again, one of her hair loopies smacking her in the face. Katara, having satisfyingly made her brother hold his spear close to him for comfort, walked away. She heard crunching snow behind her, feet away from her home. She spun around angrily, thinking it was Sokka.
"Hey!" Hakoda put his hands up innocently when he saw the look on Katara's face. "What's the matter?" Every time he left for a little while, he would always come back to find out that Sokka had done something wrong. He had only been back for a few hours, but he had clearly done something wrong again.
"Sokka's impossible! I don't understand how Suki can put up with him!" Katara shouted. He had been right... again.
"He's a guy. We're hard to figure out." Hakoda mumbled jokingly. "I need to talk to you."
"Is everything okay?" Katara asked, noticing the worried tone in her father's voice. Hakoda didn't answer, but pulled her into her igloo. "Dad, you're scaring me."
"It's about Zuko." he said softly.
"Is he alright?" Katara asked.
"As far as I know... For now at least." Hakoda frowned. "There were rumors going around the village we stopped at to get supplies that there have been multiple attempts to kill him..."
"Kill him?" Katara inhaled sharply. "Who would—why?"
"We all knew there would be some resistance to him becoming Fire Lord. And now with the possible Civil War..." Hakoda paused. "Katara, what I'm saying is, you need to tell him."
"No." Katara said calmly.
"What if something does happen to him? What if he dies not knowing about Roku?"
"And what if these assassination attempts continue, and Roku become public knowledge? What could happen to her dad? Do you think those Ozai loyalists would spare her?"
"Katara." Hakoda frowned. "If I were him..."
"I'm not going to put her at risk!" Katara shook her head. Hakoda opened his mouth to speak, but shut it quickly. "You need to go dad. I have to clean up."
"Alright." Hakoda nodded. "Just... think about what I said."
"Sure." Katara waved a hand at him, telling him to leave.
Once Hakoda had left, Katara pulled the necklace out of her pocket. She smiled as she remembered Zuko apologizing for the red ribbon and gem, since blue ones were hard to come by in the Capital. She remembered the broken look in his eyes when she back away. The noise the box made when he threw it at the door she had run through. She couldn't understand why she went back to the courtyard that night and took the necklace and box from where it lay. Something to remember that summer by, maybe.
Roku didn't like it when the other children in the village didn't invite her to play. They invited Kya, she was good at playing games. But so was Roku, at least she thought she was. Her doll in her arms, she marched over to where everyone was playing, and walked right up to the boy who had organized the game. Her face was scrunched up into a scowl, frightening the boy, Harook. He was about two years older than her, so she had to look up a bit to meet his eyes.
"Roku?" she heard Kya say behind her. But the three year old was determined to make her point and paid all her attention to Harook.
"I can play games too." she growled at the older boy. "I'm good at them."
"But I don't want you to play." Harook said.
"Why not?" Roku felt her face getting hot.
"Cause... You're not normal."
"Hey, Roku, we van go play our own game!" Kya said, tugging at her cousin's parka.
"I wanna play with them! I am normal! I am!" Roku pulled away from Kya. "You're stupid, Harook!"
"What's going on here?" a booming voice startled most of the children, but Roku kept her eyes pinned on Harook.
"Papa!" Kya ran over to Hakoda, grabbing his hand. "Roku's angry at Harook!"
"Roku..." Hakoda's voice went soft. He could never catch a break with his daughter or granddaughter. "What's wrong?"
"Harook won't let me play because he says I'm not normal." Roku looked up at him, a fire burning in her eyes.
"Harook, why isn't Roku normal?" Hakoda got on his knees to better handle the situation.
"She doesn't look like us." Harook crossed his arms in front of his chest. Roku stomped her foot, and Hakoda saw the dying fire besides them gain life to its flames. "My mommy says her daddy isn't from here. That he's Fire Nation."
"Yes, but the Fire Nation isn't an enemy anymore. You know that."
"I don't like her." he said simply. "Her daddy doesn't want her, neither do we." Hakoda knew with those words, Harook was in a load of trouble, not just from him, but from his granddaughter who suddenly took it upon herself to tackle the boy to the ground and start hitting him.
"He wants me!" she shouted, tearing streaming from her eyes. "He does! He does!" Hakoda went to pull Roku off of Harook when he noticed Roku's swing at him had produced a small ribbon of flame, almost catching Harook's hair on fire. Thankfully it hit the snow above him. Hakoda scooped Roku up, and held onto her tight.
"She's crazy!" Harook shouted. "Did you see what she did!"
Hakoda didn't acknowledge the boy for the moment, deciding on having a talk with him later. Roku needed his attention right now.
"Papa, lemme go!" Roku squirmed. The tips of her mittens having burnt away, leaving the majority of what was left black and chard. He didn't put her down until they were at the igloo she and Katara called home.
"Roku, look at me." Hakoda stood her up in front of him, kneeling to her level. He lifted her chin with his hand. She looked at him, eyes red from tears. "Do you have a mommy and a Papa who love you?" She nodded silently. "And Uncle Sokka and Aunt Suki, do they love you?" Again she nodded.
"But Harook..."
"Harook doesn't know what he's talking about. You're different than everyone else, and that makes you special. You can take pride in your heritage, Roku. There is nothing wrong with that."
"Is being from the Fire Nation bad, Papa?" Roku asked.
"No. It's not bad." Hakoda sighed. He pulled off her chard mittens. "Roku, do you know what you almost did to Harook?" She simply shook her head.
"Should I tell him I'm sorry?" she looked at the ground.
"No. He was wrong. He should say sorry to you." Hakoda smiled.
"Dad?" Katara entered the igloo hurriedly. "What happened?"
"Roku, go find Auntie Suki. Help her make dinner." Hakoda said. Roku nodded, hugging him before she left.
"Dad?" Katara repeated.
"Don't worry. She just got into a little fight with Harook." he sighed.
"Harook again? I've spoken with his mother several times..." Katara began a rant, but Hakoda put a hand on her shoulder. "What's that look for? Did something else happen?"
"She firebended, Katara." Hakoda looked at her worriedly. "Right at Harook. I saw it."
"Oh no..." Katara put a hand up to her mouth.
"He's fine. It missed him. But looks like our worries came true." he frowned.
"Does she know what she did?"
"No. The only problem will be explaining it to everyone..." Hakoda grumbled. "I'm sure they'll accept it, in time. But she might be ostracized by the children for a little while."
"I was hoping she'd be a waterbender so we wouldn't have to worry about that." Katara said. She knew it was a possibility, considering she was born at the height of Summer. "It's okay." she inhaled deeply, letting out a calming breath. "I'll just explain it to her... She'll understand some of it at this age at least."
"Maybe we should have someone who firebends explain it to her..." Hakoda suggested.
"I'm not telling Zuko..." Katara rolled her eyes.
"I meant Aang." Hakoda clarified.
"Oh." Katara said. "I guess that would make sense..." He'd do that for her, surely. He hadn't visited the South Pole in while, he could make a visit out of...
"I'll see you at dinner." Hakoda hugged her.
"Thank you, dad. You have to be one of the most understanding fathers in the world." Katara laughed.
"My daughter had the Fire Lord's daughter, I had a feeling there would be chaos." Hakoda smiled as he left the igloo.
A/N: So, how was it? Review please! Aang in the next one! Whoo! Also, more detail on the possible Fire Nation Civil War. oooooooh! Roku has Zuko's temper, huh? And Harook, what an ass! The next chapter will be mostly the same year, but it will skip ahead a few near the end I think. Haven't written it yet. I've also decided to make Roku just a firebender. I was thinking about doing a 'dual-bender' thing, but I read a few fics about it, and decided against it. So, stay tuned! And review... did I already say that? :D