Disclaimer: Don't own.
A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and put this story or me on alert! I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter. There is another author's note at the end.
"Gran Gran you wanted to see me?" Katara asked as she walked into her grandmother's hut. It was unusual for Gran Gran to ask to specifically see Katara but she guessed it was because she had been spending most of her time showing Zuko around.
"Yes, please sit." Katara felt like she had as a kid when she was in trouble.
Kanna sat across from Katara and studied her granddaughter. She looked so much like her mother; she had grown so much since she left with Aang to help save the world. She thought the girl had gained some sense along the way but considering her recent announcement, Kanna thought otherwise.
"You're serious about that Fire Nation boy?" Kanna asked.
"If you mean Zuko, who happens to be the Fire Lord, then yes, I'd say I'm pretty serious as I've accepted his proposal and right now he's working on a better necklace for me." The first attempt had looked even worse than Sokka's first attempt at a betrothal necklace for Suki.
"Katara I want you to think about this. Longer than you may want to. I'm not sure if this is the right decision."
"Why wouldn't it be? I love him Gran Gran and he loves me. He makes me happy," she lowered her head, "I thought you wanted that for me."
"I do, my little penguin, but he's Fire Nation. I don't think he's the best there is for you."
Katara looked up and Kanna saw her granddaughter's eyes harden. "What?" Katara spat.
"He's Fire Nation and not just any Fire Nation but the Fire Lord. Katara look what they did to your Tribe. They took away all our benders, locked them up from what I've learned. It was horrible, Katara. They sent the raid that killed your mother, they've tried to take over the world and we've lost too many warriors fighting them," Kanna was just beginning. "You're Water Tribe. You'll wither there. You need a good Water Tribe husband not some firebender who'll only burn you. "
"He won't! Gran he's different than what you think. He took me to find who killed Mom-"
"Do you know how dangerous that was? You could have died!"
"And going off with Aang was different how?"
"He's the Avatar, he would protect you. Don't forget that Zuko was the cause of danger before. Katara listen," Kanna spoke softly as she moved next to her seething granddaughter. She sat in front of her and looked directly into Katara's eyes. "You are the last hope of the South. Your waterbending was the first in a decade and brought hope to everyone. Leaving for the Fire Nation would be letting them take that hope away again."
"Gran Gran," Katara answered softly, "I know there are more waterbenders now. I'm not the last one."
"Who will teach them? Pakku isn't going to live forever, no matter how hard he tries. But you can teach them; we need you to be our Master. Think about teaching your own little penguins to waterbend here. Do you think he would let you waterbend in the Fire Nation? Do you think you'll even have waterbenders there? And what if you have waterbenders? He's not going to want them, he'll want firebenders. He'll look down on them and cast them out-"
"DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT ABOUT ZUKO!" Katara jumped to her feet and glared down at her grandmother. "Say anything else you like about how the Fire Nation is full of horrible people, how I'll just die there, and how they only know how to conquer and kill rather than love and anything else you've been told without even thinking of them as people but don't ever say that Zuko would do that to one of his children. He knows what having a bad father is like and we've talked about this. He's going to try his hardest and I'm going to be there to help him. Our children will be loved by both their parents whether they bend fire or water or nothing at all." She turned and stomped out of hut. Kanna heard a thump as half her door way was covered in snow from Katara's bending.
A moment later Pakku walked in after clearing the entrance. "I see that went well. I heard her outside."
"She's being terribly unreasonable and I'm just trying to protect her from those monsters."
"Kanna have you even talked to the boy? His uncle vouches for him and from everything I've heard the boy is doing the best he can to keep his nation under control and bring peace to the world," Pakku tried to reason with her.
"That doesn't change the fact that he's Fire Nation." Pakku knew exactly where Katara got her stubborn streak.
"And she's your granddaughter. She's going to do what she wants and she believe in him. Maybe you should give him a chance. I'm not saying that we should trust the boy but it is her decision and she's going to do what she wants whether you like it or not. Put aside whatever prejudices you have for one moment and just watch how they interact." Pakku really couldn't believe he was defending Zuko but Iroh had asked him to. Pakku had made sure that Zuko respected his favorite pupil though. The boy did and Pakku blessed the union as much as he could. He did hope they had at least one waterbender, Katara deserved to have little waterbenders of her own.
"Fine, I'll watch them together."
"That's all I'm asking dear."
That night Kanna watched the way Zuko and Katara interacted and saw how different he was than she expected. He seemed almost shy at times and made sure to keep a respectable distance from Katara. He asked about tribal customs and said he'd try his best to work some of them into the Fire Nation wedding ceremony. Finally Kanna had to admit that, though she hated the Fire Nation for what they did, Zuko wasn't like the boy that invaded the village and he wasn't forcing Katara into anything. Maybe everything she knew about the Fire Nation was wrong.
A/N2: I know a lot of fics have Kanna being all ok with Zuko and the Fire Nation hating Katara but I wanted to do something different. Considering everything Kanna has lived through I can see her having a huge fear and hatred of the Fire Nation and would see Katara wanting to marry Zuko as the Fire Nation stealing the last waterbender again. Hence this. I'm not sure if I liked how it turned out but I've gone through about three drafts of it now. And really x is an annoying letter.