XX. Fifth Interlude, Tresses and Oaths

(Zuko and Katara)

They were sitting on the bed, their naked bodies flickering under the light of the stove that irradiated warm from the middle of the room. She was hugging her knees, facing the stove and he was sitting behind her, braiding and unbraiding her hair. He loved to do that. He started doing it in the swamp. Over there it had been really hot, and her hair would get entangled everywhere, and pick up leaves and pieces of bark, depending on the location of their love making. The first time he saw her braiding her hair was at the Temple, before the end of the war. The first time she taught him how to do a braid was after the war, at his palace. The first time she let him braid her hair was at the swamp. She liked him doing that. Running his fingers though her hair, undoing his hard work, and then starting again.

"Sokka would say that this is not manly." He said casually.

"Suki would say that this is really sexy." She answered in the same tone.

He leaned over and placed his chin on her shoulder.

"Things may still turn out to be OK, you know?" She assented but bit her lip.

"I'm not mistress material." She said aloud. He let go of the tresses, and wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm not harem material either." He said. "I'm a person who fixates in one single thing. And that means one woman. You will never be my mistress."

She turned her face to him and kissed him in the cheek.

"It's going to be hard to explain that one to my dad, when the three of us move to the Fire Nation if we win this Contest."

"Let's talk to Chin. Let's find out if it's true about the annulment for seven copper pieces."

"It sounds awfully cheap."

"That's what I'm worried about. Besides, it's Chin giving the advice. That alone is a source of concern."

She chuckled.

"Where do you find these guys?" She asked.

He shrugged, still holding her. His chin in her shoulder, his eyes on the stove.

"Uncle. He's like a magnet for characters like that."

"It figures." She looked straight ahead again.

"So, did she really kiss Aang?"

"That's what she says. He has been acting like it was more than one kiss, though. Either that, or it was the most earth shattering kiss in the universe. She's a mean earthbender, it probably makes sense."

"She doesn't have the size for the amount of trouble she can get herself and my entire army into. Seriously. If she makes it to Earth Queen, she's going to be at war with every nation bordering the Earth Kingdom in six months."

Katara nodded.

"That's a scary thought. We're probably doing the world a favor by trying to make her Fire Lady." He started kissing her shoulder, going down her arm to the tip of her fingers.

"You're the only one who's going and should be Fire Lady." He said. She shuddered. The idea scared her, actually.

"Can you see me dressed like I'm carrying a pole on my back?" She asked while he was kissing finger by finger, putting them in his mouth. He stopped.

"You don't have to follow the Court's dress code. You'll be Fire Lady, you can establish your own style, you know, be a trendsetter. The Court will follow you."

"Yeah, like Mai is going to be all excited about wearing red midriff-baring outfits."

"Mai has been taught really well about the rules of society. She will keep her composure. Watch out for knives in your morning breakfast, though. We will need extra detail." She understood that he was not joking. He meant it. She turned to him half surprised, half annoyed.

"I still can't believe that you got engaged by accident. I know you told me because Toph threatened you, but I still can't believe it." He threw himself on the bed, looking at the ceiling. She thought for a moment that he was a beautiful sight, spread in her bed, naked.

"Mine was an accident. Yours was on purpose." He reminded her.

"Mine was a joint decision between you and me. Yours was you going freelance and stupid."

He nodded still looking at the ceiling.

"You have a point. And to round things up, earlier tonight we just got engaged to one of our best friends, simultaneously." He leaned on one elbow looking at her, suddenly serious. "Between the two of us, we have more engagements than people in this relationship."

She nodded gravely.

"That's why we will rule the world. Because we know no limits."

He sat on the bed, and she turned to face him. The only thing she was wearing was her mother's necklace and it was on purpose. He liked seeing her naked with the necklace. It was one of those things. He grabbed her hands.

"You know I mean it when I say that you will never be my mistress. You'll be my wife. You're my wife. Now."

"Bigamy will go very well with the Fire Sages, I just know it."

"Have faith."

"In what? I've been to the Spirit World, I've conversed with the Gods. Not sure if that is the best way to spur faith."

"In us. Things will always be hard for us. We need to fight for things, they don't come easy for the likes of you and me. That means, we value them more."

"We're hardcore."

"Yes." He leaned and kiss her, deeply. She opened her mouth and was about to put her arms around his neck and start making love to him again, when he broke the kiss.

"We should exchange our own vows. Now. In this room."

"You don't have a ring to give me."

"What token do you use in the Southern Water Tribes? I know the necklace is from the North."

"Men usually carve figurines as a gift, and then there are these marks the couple paint on their faces during the wedding ceremony. We used to have this really creepy custom of the groom painting his forehead with the virginity blood of the bride so everyone could see it the next morning, but Gran-Gran put an end to that. Anyway, it's not like we can do that now, the creepy golden opportunity was lost in that smelly swamp." He was thinking while looking at her. She knew his passionate nature.

"Don't even think about burning me, branding me or whatever. I'm not a hippo-cow. I don't like pain either." He frowned. She cut his other train of thought. "No, not cutting my arm and exchanging blood either. I'm telling you, all of those may sound romantic, but they are just disturbing."

"What about an oath?"

"I can do pledges, but don't try to seal it by spitting or anything like that." He was horrified.

"Where do you come up with these things?"

"Sokka."

"You know? Teaching your brother manners and the ways of a gentleman has been harder than finding my destiny. What am I saying? Harder than wooing you!"

"So, are you proposing or what? I'm dying to be fiancée number three."

"You sound like Toph."

"I know." He kissed her and looked into her eyes.

"I vow to you that I am yours for the rest of our lives. And that I'll always honor you and love you. This I pledge, on my honor"

"I vow to you that I am yours for the rest of our lives."

They kissed again.

"You'll marry me." He asserted. She shrugged.

"Hopefully, doing the right thing will mean the right thing for us." She ruffled his hair. "Where's your topknot? You look great with your topknot."

"I got rid of it when we got back together. You kept messing up my hair in those closets, so it was either the topknot or the closets. The topknot had to go."

"You keep messing up mine." He got hold of a long lock and started braiding it again.

"I don't, I make you beautiful." She looked back at the stove.

"What does nu-er mean?"

"It's an old word for daughter in law. Where did you hear it?"

"Your mother always calls me that when you're not around." He stopped.

"Do you think my mom knows about us?" He asked in surprise. She was still looking at the stove.

"She and Gran-Gran cornered us today to give us the facts of life. The only one interested in the topic was Toph." She adverted her gaze and looked him in the eye. "I think your mom knows about us."

He seemed weirdly happy.

"She may as well. You're not going anywhere, I'm not going anywhere. We just exchanged vows and soon we will exchange rings, figurines, bracelets, necklaces, whatever you can come up with."

"You need to get rid of the other two fiancées."

"You still have your fiancé."

"Ah," she said, "but you're my número uno."

He started kissing her again and suddenly stopped.

"Toph was interested in the conversation?"

"Yes, why?"

"Do you think there's a possibility that she and Aang … you know, the kiss?"

She thought about it, and then denied it vehemently.

"No way. He's not interested in stuff like that."

It was his turn to be surprised.

"Whatever makes you say that? He's interested. I remember where my brain was when I was 17 and you weren't giving me the time of the day. And anyway, I've been having conversations with him. He is interested."

"Naahh. He's not like you. He doesn't seem to be that … concerned."

"I'm not complaining and I'm not asking for details, but maybe, just maybe, he's not as clueless as you think he is. I mean, interest generates interest. There's no getting off kissing a wooden doll."

"Are you calling me a wooden doll?"

"Of course not. At least not with me. If you were wood, you will be on fire right now."

"You've a high opinion of yourself!"

"I do not. In a minute you're going to start asking me to heat the tips of my fingers, or anything else you can think of, and make me play you all over. If you were wood, you would caught fire. Is that simple."

"In a minute you're going to start asking me to bloodbend you and to keeping bloodbending you until you see stars."

"You see? Interest generates interest. You and I can't avoid it. It's all over us." He stopped and thought for a moment. "Now that I think about it, most of my relationships have been because she was interested in me first, and then by default, I became interested."

"I wasn't."

"You were the exception. I was the one interested first, I just didn't know why or how. I thought I wanted to be your friend. I definitively wanted to earn your trust and respect. So I wonder, how did it happen? Friendship, attraction, love? Is that the order?"

"Most of the time is like Suki and Sokka: Attraction, love, friendship."

"But the attraction, the interest, can become mutual if there's a spark." He grabbed another lock of hair. "Maybe Aang is interested because she is. You are not interested in him that way and that creates insecurities. We, men, are very insecure creatures."

"I'm not sure if kissing Toph is the best way to develop security. I mean, do you think that she slaps him senseless or something?"

He was serious out of a sudden.

"You would be surprised how sweet she can be." She looked at him quizzically. And then, nodded.

"I'm not asking for details, but I know what you mean. She can be really tender sometimes."

"Maybe that's what he needs. She tells him horrible things and then she makes him laugh. I don't know anyone else who can get away with the things she gets away with. Not only with him. With all of us. She's made of pure backbone, and sometimes he needs one."

"Maybe you're saying all of this because it would be a relief to your honor and guilt if he's interested in someone else."

"To you too. And yes, he's my friend. It's not honorable to go behind a friend's back. It's honorable to wish for a friend's happiness, though."

"The really silly thing here is that you and I thought that we were doing the right thing by him when we broke up after the swamp. We shouldn't have done it. I've been miserable. I didn't know how bad it was until I was here, without you, thinking about you all the time. There's no way to deny chocolate."

"I beg you pardon?"

"Not important. Are you heating your finger tips or not?"

"Are you asking for Public Displays of Affection?"

"Public and Private." He laid her down on her back in the bed and started showering kisses all over her body, starting with her neck and reaching down to her toes, stopping in all the spots in between. When he was kissing her navel, he stopped, a sparkle in his eye.

"Is there a way to get fresh bananas in the South Pole?"

She gasped, and then giggled.

"Don't think so. Anyway, I'm not sure I want to clean the mess. Last time we had the swamp water, but these are furs! Bananas and fur don't mix."

"When we're in the Fire Nation I'll show you how well bananas and silk mix."

"Yeah right. I'm still recovering from your banana-flambé."

He seemed hurt.

"You said it was the best dessert of your life. You asked for seconds!"

"Dessert, right. Is that how you call it now?" He smirked and kissed her mouth soundly and fully. When she was able to breathe again, she said:

"You need to tell me that you love me."

"I was miserable too, by the way, every minute since we came back from the swamp. And you kept writing and making it harder." He stopped. "And why do I need to tell you that I love you?"

"You're always miserable, it's not like you were trying something new. And anyway, you need to tell me because you took your sweet time before saying it the first time. Now you need to overcompensate."

"I love you." He started to trace her body again with kisses. "And every inch of you." He kept going south. She smiled. He raised his head to look at her, enraptured. "You're always complaining about my lack of Public Displays of Affection but you should know by now that I'm always touching your body with my mind."