ARC 2: A War Divides Their People
DAY 12: Frozen
"Come on," he says, "You and I could use a bath."
He leads her out of the tent that has been her prison for weeks. Katara leans against him, weak and fragile (Zuko's enthusiasm in bed has certainly not helped recovery much). The large tent, which she has confirmed as his commanding tent, is empty. An ornate, dragon clawed tub rests near the fire pit. It's filled with what looks like slushy water (Katara represses a sigh).
"You had your men lug that all the way out here?" she says.
Zuko has the decency to look embarrassed. "It's my uncle's." he admits.
Katara hmpfs, but argues no further (a bath is a bath, she reasons, even if that damn suppressant makes it impossible to escape using said bathwater). She sheds her clothing and forces herself to plop right into the freezing water.
"Hold on." Zuko says, working at his own belt.
He sticks a hand into the water and the temperature instantly begins to rise. Katara is hit with a sudden realization; she finally sees the light (this is what the Fire Nation was talking about when they meant spreading greatness—a Firebender in every tub!). She sighs in relief.
"I change my mind," she groans, "Keep me, I am your willing slave."
Zuko snorts, but slaps imaginary cuffs around her proffered wrists anyway.
"Too late," he says, shedding his own clothing, "I've already seduced you and stolen your will away."
It's Katara's turn to snort, which she does, and then pulls him into the tub with her. It takes a little adjusting and wiggling, but before long she's resting on his chest and just about dying from the luxury of a hot bath. She sighs again and admits that she's going to need Firebending bath servants (Zuko growls and proves that he's the only bath servant she's ever going to need).
They don't say I love you for a lot of reasons. Sleeping with someone for a few weeks is far too short a time to be "in love." Besides, they're fire and water and they've been over this a dozen times. She doesn't love him and he can't love her.
Instead, Katara whispers to him, I don't hate you, and he kisses the top of her head in return.
After various water acrobatics, they migrate back to their smaller tent—warm, clean, and ready to snuggle. Katara finds herself telling a silly story about a pair of nomads she once met near Omashu (she doesn't tell him that this was a year ago, when she led a force of warriors and benders that would eventually topple the occupation in the city and deal a serious blow to the Fire Nation).
"There was this song they sang about these two lovers," she says, "Who eventually became the first Earthbenders, Oma and Shu."
Belting the song out proves to be far funnier, although it has the unintended side effect of prompting Zuko to make ridiculous tunnel innuendos…that unfortunately work, because she succumbs to his awkward charms and sleeps with him against her better judgment. Much later, when the fire is low again and the afterglow has faded, he asks her to tell the whole story.
"Are you sure?" she asks.
"Yes." He says, voice serious and quiet.
She stares at the thick walls of their tent for a long time. So long, she thinks Zuko must have fallen asleep. But he prompts her again and she reluctantly begins.
The two lovers met on top of the mountain that divided their villages, she says, the two villages were enemies, so they could not be together.
But their love was strong and they found a way.
The two lovers learned Earthbending from the badgermoles and became the first Earthbenders. They built elaborate tunnels so they could meet secretly. Anyone who tried to follow them would be lost forever in their labyrinth.
One day, the man didn't come. He'd died in the war between the two villages.
Devastated, the woman unleashed a terrible display of her earthbending powers. She could have destroyed them all, but instead she declared the war over. Both villages helped her build a new city together, where they could all live in peace.
The woman's name was Oma and the man's name was Shu.
The great city was named Omashu as a monument to their love.
After a pause, Katara adds her own part of the story.
"When I visited the ruins, buried deep within a mountain pass, I found a statue of a man and woman kissing. There was an inscription below it that said Love is brightest in the dark."
"I don't think there are any monuments in our future." Zuko says, voice low and bitter.
Katara grows still in his arms, heart frozen in her chest. She knows, just as he does, that there will not be a happy ending to their story. It's something she tries not to think about, but that hurts all the same. And because she cannot tell him anything else, cannot promise what she cannot give, she whispers I don't hate you and chokes back tears.
Zuko, who cannot offer any more comforts than she can, says nothing. He kisses away her reluctant tears and holds her until they sleep.
They don't bring up the subject again, but it's already too late.
It's been too late for a long time.
[a/n]: Unfortunately, I've been rather vague in this story. When it's finished, I hope to go back and re-write/edit/fix many of the errors that plague this draft (Zutara months and daily life don't really give me much time to run a comb through my writing). Until then, here's an fyi: Zuko has been banished. Readers have decided there will be a steambaby, but I can't tell you when/where it will happen, and Zuko's force is currently stationed in the mountains. They've been snowed in for weeks, but good planning means everybody has warm tents and food, instead of dying of starvation (aka, Zuko plans well for the mountains).