"…and nine months later a baby is born."
Gran-Gran looks down at her granddaughter expectedly.
Katara blinks. "Wait…"
Gran-Gran gives her an encouraging nod.
"He puts his what where?"
Sex literally sounds like the worst thing ever.
Katara is not thrilled.
Katara is not thrilled at all.
It doesn't make any sense.
She doesn't know why anyone would want to do that.
Just horrible.
Nukka is acting funny.
First, she disappears for a couple of nights. Normally this wouldn't concern Katara too much. Sometimes Nukka likes to go off by herself and Katara can understand that. But it is Nukka's behavior after these couple of nights that are so strange.
She eats a lot.
And gets moody.
And as the weeks wear on Nukka leaves during the day for a couple of hours.
Finally Katara follows her, and it is there that she discovers that Nukka is making a den.
When Katara finally puts two and two together she is beyond thrilled. They are going to have wolf pups!
She jumps up and down with excitement. The pups are going to be so cute! And fluffy! And of course she was going to get to name them all and help take care of them when they got older and—
She pauses as another thing clicks together.
"Nukka!" she scolds, somewhat horrified. "You had sex! Why would you do that?"
Katara is nearly dying of excitement as the ramp that will lead her off of the ship and onto the Fire Nation Capitol port is slowly being lowered.
If she leans over the railing she can see Zuko and his mother waiting for them at the dock, surrounded by their royal guard.
She's already waved to them so much that her wrist is starting to ache.
But she doesn't care.
She can't remember the last time she's felt this level of excitement.
She readjusts the bundle in her arms as the ramp finally touches down. Then she's sprinting down it, not bothering to listen to the shouts of her father or brother.
The royal guard steps aside as she barrels toward them, and Zuko and Ursa watch her with wide eyes as she slides to a halt in front of them.
Then she promptly places the bundle into Zuko's arms.
The older boy looks at her in confusion for a moment. Then, realizing what he's got in his arms, he holds up the wolf pup and appraises it with sheer happiness.
It's black with bright blue eyes. But that's not why Katara picked it out. She picked it out because out of all the other wolf pups, this one had the personality that was the most opposite from Zuko's. She thinks that will be good for the Fire Prince. It'll mix things up a little bit.
Suddenly Zuko is clutching the pup to his chest, and the little fluffy bundle squirms a bit so that it can start licking his face.
Katara thinks that this is the beginning of a very beautiful friendship.
"What're you going to call him?" Katara asks.
She's only been there one full day but Zuko and his wolf pup are already inseparable.
"I've thought of a few things," Zuko admits, "but not of them seem good enough." There's a slightly awkward pause before he clears his throat. "I was kind of hoping that he could have a Water Tribe name." He shoots her a hopeful look.
She breaks out into a smile before nodding eagerly. She can't help but feel a little honored.
"Well, what kind of name are you looking for? Like, what do you want his name to mean?"
Zuko taps his finger against his chin, thinking.
It's raining outside, so they're currently walking along the hallways of the palace. Zuko's pup is nipping at his heels, his little tail wagging.
Zuko laughs and scoops him up, scratching the pup behind his ears.
That's when Ozai and a couple of noblemen turn the corner and start walking toward them.
Zuko's whole demeanor changes, Katara notices.
He lowers his arms so that his pup isn't in his face. He shrinks back against the wall and begins to incline his head when Ozai starts to pass, but suddenly his father stops.
"What is that?"
"It's a wolf pup," Zuko answers, voice barely audible.
"Speak up, boy."
"It's a wolf pup," Zuko repeats, louder this time.
Ozai's eyes narrow before his gaze slides over to Katara.
Katara has always greatly disliked this man. Her father had told her that he hadn't been pleasant as a kid either. When Hakoda would visit the Fire Nation during his summers as a child he usually spent his time with Iroh.
Katara couldn't blame him. Her heart went out to Zuko, who was stuck with him as a dad. She couldn't imagine having such a scary father.
"Did you give him that thing?" Ozai snaps, and Katara flinches, feeling a slight prickle of fear.
She nods, not wanting to open her mouth.
"You should have the courtesy to speak to Prince Ozai when you are spoken to," one of the noblemen instructs haughtily.
Katara gulps, wanting nothing more than to leave, but Zuko speaks up for her. "Yes," he answers in her stead, "Katara gave him to me. He's a gift."
Ozai rolls his eyes before moving forward. "Don't mess that thing up," he calls out, not even bothering to look at his son over his shoulder, "like you do everything else."
Katara stares at her feet, too troubled to look at Zuko until his dad is out of sight.
When she does his face is paler then usual and his eyes look red.
"Zuko—"
"What's Water Tribe for 'strong'?" he asks, not quite looking her in the eye.
She thinks for a moment. There are only three members of their tribe who can speak the Old Language fluently, but she, along with most of the other Water Tribe children, knows a lot of the vocabulary.
"Um… I believe it's 'sangilak'."
"Sangilak…" Zuko repeats, testing out the word. "Okay." He puts his pup back down on the ground before starting to walk onward again.
"Sang," he calls out. The wolf pups ears tip forward.
Katara is feeling frustrated with Zuko.
He's already taught Sang how to 'sit' and is already working on 'come'.
But you just don't train wolves!
You just don't.
Wolves are supposed to be wild and they're supposed to choose to obey you when they want to. It's a symbol of trust.
Katara certainly hasn't taught Nukka how to sit.
Nukka sits whenever she feels like it.
But Zuko just shakes his head at her when she tells him this.
"I want him to be trained," he says firmly.
Katara's mouth falls open.
Boys.
Never listening to reason.
"Hey Katara, how about you close your trap before something flies in it!" she hears Sokka shout.
Her eyes narrow and she whirls around. "Shut up!" she shouts, but Sokka is already halfway across the garden, laughing hysterically. She then proceeds to chase her brother out of the garden and through the palace, shouting at him the whole time.
Sokka has grown a lot in the past year, but that's made him gangly and more prone to stumble. She's shorter and more petite; therefore she should have been able to catch him.
He cheats by running into his bedroom and then locking the door.
She pounds her fists against his door for a moment, furious.
Then she stops because she can't remember why she chased him in the first place.
When she gets back to the garden Zuko is already teaching Sang how to 'stay'.
Katara and Azula are currently comparing notes.
They both now know the mysteries of what sex is, after all.
Katara is not surprised to find that Azula is just as horrified by the concept as she is.
But then, while both girls are discussing just how strange and totally gross (but yet sort of interesting) it is, Azula says something that shocks Katara.
"Why you'd want the whole thing in I'll never know—"
"You mean just the tip," Katara corrects, already feeling wary.
Azula shakes her head. "No, it's the whole thing. That's what my mom said."
"All of it?"Katara is shocked. And appalled.
"Yeah huh. Then she said something about how the boy tries to be 'gentle' or whatever, but still—"
"That sounds awful!" Katara's mind has been blown and in the worst way.
"I know!" Azula is nodding in understanding.
"But why would anyone want to do that?"
Azula shakes her head, disgusted. "I have no idea."
Katara can technically sleep just fine in her Fire Nation palace bedroom.
The nightmares about her mother's death are extremely rare now, and she hasn't had one in months.
And yet she still wants to sneak out of her room and into Zuko's.
So she does.
When she opens up his bedroom door he doesn't look the least bit surprised to see her. He puts a finger to his lips and points to a pile of pillows on his bedroom floor. Sang is curled up on top of them, sound asleep.
She smiles and nods in understanding, silently closing his bedroom door behind her and then climbing up onto his bed.
She has left Nukka behind in the South Pole this summer because Nukka has to continue raising the rest of her pups. Nukka's absence is highly noticeably as Katara settles on the other side of Zuko's bed.
There is suddenly no barrier between her and Zuko.
He seems to notice at the same time she does. His face and neck flush red. He mumbles something before clearing his throat and getting under the silky covers.
She does the same, attempting to keep her distant.
Zuko makes a simple hand movement and the light from the one candle he had lit snuffs out.
They lay there for a while, neither moving.
Zuko breaks the silence. "Thank you for giving me Sang."
She smiles into the darkness before turning toward him slightly. "I promised you that I'd bring you a wolf pup one day, didn't I? So that'd you'd have a friend when I'm not here."
"Yeah," she hears him whisper. "I remember that. But thank you anyway."
"You're welcome."
She feels him move a bit closer, so she does the same.
She realizes she feels a bit bolder in the dark, when she can't see his face.
She finally asks him something that has been bothering her a little bit.
"Zuko…"
"Yeah?"
"Your dad…he doesn't do anything bad to you, does he?"
"What do you mean?" She can hear a bit of defensiveness in his voice.
"I mean, he doesn't, like…you know…hurt you or anything, does he?"
"No. He doesn't," he whispers. She was half expecting him to snap at her. She is surprised that he doesn't.
She bites her lip. "Do you think he will?"
There is a long moment of silence. "Sometimes. He's angry a lot," he answers honestly.
She reaches out under the covers for his hand. When she finally finds it she gives it a gentle squeeze. "You can tell me anything, you know."
There is another long silence, so long that she thinks he might've fallen asleep.
Her eyes begin to drift shut. She suddenly feels so tired.
"I know."
She smiles into her pillow.
They fall asleep holding hands.
A/N:
D'aaww.
Katara and Azula's reactions to sex may or may not have been based off of my personal reactions to sex as a ten year old.
May or may not.
Review!