Her head slowly breaks the surface of the water. Her skin is shiny and wet and her eyes are blue-too blue. She is unnatural and yet she is beautiful.
Zuko leans over the side of the boat. He should turn around and row himself back to his ship. He will not. Cannot.
"What's your name?" he asks, voice hoarse.
She tilts her head so that her mouth is above water. "Katara."
It is then that Zuko notices that she is naked down to her waist. She looks soft and so very touchable.
She slicks out a hand and slides her fingers along his jawline, humming a sweet tune in her throat. Zuko finds himself leaning in closer and closer, and the closer he leans the more Katara inches back into the water. Her hand slips into his hair and forms a tight grip.
Zuko does not care.
"I want you." She sounds possessive. Zuko can recall somewhere in the back of his mind the stories of what mermaids do to the men that they wish to keep. Perhaps he should listen to them.
Her lips disappear underneath the water, then her nose and soon her eyes. Zuko's face is but a breath away from the ocean and he can see a long tail stretching out from beneath Katara's waist, blue and lovely. The scales shimmer in the moonlight.
Zuko has never been wanted before. And because of this he tilts himself over his boat and follows this tempting creature into the sea.