Continuation of Day 13!
Day Sixteen
Love During War
Katara sighed audibly and pushed her hands up into her hair in frustration. This just wasn't working. Every plot idea she'd come up with so far was too silly for her readers to suspend disbelief. Maybe Suki was right. Writing romance was proving to be much harder than she'd thought.
A few feet away, Zuko took his eyes off Aang and Toph's earthball match to check in on her. "Still having trouble?"
Katara pushed the lap table she'd been using as a writing desk away from her so that she could stretch her legs. Today, she'd opted to take her writing outside, hoping the sunshine would help her find inspiration for her story. The former Team Avatar had all gathered in the garden for some outdoor fun and to all their delight even Zuko had managed to pull himself away from work to join them. He and Katara had opted to relax in the shade while their friends played by the pond.
"Yes," she admitted, her shoulders sagging. "No matter what I try, it always sounds dumb."
Zuko turned his face to the sky and hummed thoughtfully. After a moment, he said, "Well, maybe that's because your ideas are too niche? Taking your roommates idea for example, not many people will have had any experience with going to university. Why don't you try picking a premise that you know will resonate with a lot of people?"
Katara cocked an eyebrow at him. "Such as?"
Zuko averted his gaze from the sky to look at her. "I dunno. War?"
Katara considered this. It actually wasn't a bad idea. "Love during war," she muttered, her brain working on the idea. "It could work. Sort of like the story of Oma and Shu."
Zuko's brow crinkled in confusion. "Who?"
"Never mind," she brushed off his question with a wave of her hand. "I like the idea. Let's go with that."
Her decision made, she pulled the table back over her lap and picked up her brush.
oOo
Katara bit her lip nervously as Zuko read over what she'd written so far. She fiddled with her brush and occasionally glanced in his direction to get a glimpse of his reaction. Zuko was a fairly expressive reader and she watched his brow furrow at some lines and his eyes widen at others. She thought she could guess which parts he was at by his expression.
When he finally finished, he handed the draft back to her. Katara was quite pleased when he smiled and said, "It's actually really good. I like the tension. It was an interesting idea to put Kuzon and Kama on opposite sides of the war."
Katara grinned and inwardly did a little victory dance at receiving Zuko's approval. "You think so?"
He nodded. "You really get a sense of Kuzon's urgency and his need to prove himself to his captain. And Kama is a much more interesting protagonist than Su Yun. I really liked the part when she stood up to her grandfather for the right to leave her home. Not to mention her and Kuzon's instant animosity makes a lot more sense than Li Dao and Su Yun's did." He paused then, and when he spoke again, he said, "But I'm curious to know how Kuzon and Kama are going to work out their differences. I mean, you've made it clear that the attraction is there, but there's an awful lot of bad blood between them."
Katara blushed lightly at Zuko's question. She couldn't very well tell him that she planned to do it exactly the way Zuko had redeemed himself in the eyes of Team Avatar. That would mean admitting that he was the inspiration for Kuzon. "Well, Kuzon will have to realize what a bad guy his captain actually is and that'll cause him to have a change of heart. He'll decide he'd rather help Kama end the war."
Zuko raised his good eyebrow. "And I suppose Kama's luscious, kissable lips and firm bosoms will have something to do with this decision?"
Katara's blush deepened. "It is a romance scroll," she defended.
"Right," Zuko dragged out the word. "Carry on."
oOo
Sometime later, Katara had written a few more pages and Zuko was once again reading silently.
That silence was broken when Zuko abruptly looked up from the page he was on and said, "I'm Kuzon, aren't I?"
Katara started at Zuko's sudden statement. She turned to look at him guiltily. Curses. He'd figured it out. "Um…no?"
Zuko gave her a skeptical look and pointed to a line on the page. "Hello. Kuzon here," he read aloud slowly and deliberately. "I'm good now and I was thinking I should join your group." He stopped and looked at her blandly.
Katara smiled sheepishly. "I don't know what you're referring to."
Zuko didn't look at all like he was buying what she was selling. Raising a hand, he began ticking points off on his fingers. "Let's see. He sails around on a ship, he has an evil sister, he betrayed the Fire Nation to help end the war…"
"Pretty sure those are all just coincidences."
"…Right." Zuko handed her draft back to her.
Katara placed the draft back on her lap table and picked up her brush again to keep working.
Rather than going back to watching Toph and Aang's match, this time Zuko kept his attention on her. "So, what's going to happen now? Kuzon is already part of Kama's resistance but Kama's still seeing the resistance's leader. She's going to have to have a change of heart at some point, right? The romantic tension between her and Kuzon is so strong that I'm amazed she hasn't left the leader yet."
Katara nodded as she penned the next line on her paper. "Well, obviously that's because she's waiting for Kuzon to make the first move. She's not unhappy with Amokk, after all. She isn't going to leave him just because Kuzon might like her."
Zuko's brow screwed up in confusion. "Might like her? He definitely likes her. He wouldn't have run in front of his captain's fire blast for her if he didn't like her."
Katara stopped writing to raise a brow at him. "You don't think he did that just because he likes her as a person?"
Zuko frowned and crossed his arms. "Well…maybe. But people don't usually do something so impulsive and dangerous for someone unless that person is really important to them."
Katara's eyes widened a touch. Just what was Zuko implying? Her eyes flicked briefly downward to looked at his abdomen where Azula's lightning scar was hidden beneath his royal robes. When her eyes returned from their wandering she found Zuko looking at her.
She felt heat creep up her cheeks again. He wasn't alluding to what she thought he was alluding to, was he? Hesitantly, she said, "Alright. If you're certain Kuzon likes Kama so much, then how do you think the situation should be resolved?"
Zuko tilted his head but his eyes didn't leave hers. It appeared he didn't need to think long about the question because after only a short pause he answered, "Well, first, Kama needs to decide for herself what's most important to her. Kuzon thinks she's happy with Amokk. He isn't going to intrude on that."
Katara's eyebrows shot up high and then furrowed in confusion. She shook her head to demonstrate her puzzlement. "But she's given him plenty of signals that she's interested in him."
Zuko didn't look convinced. "Sure, she's given him signals, but you made Kuzon dumb as a doormat when it comes to picking up on them."
Katara recoiled briefly in offense before leaning deliberately forward and quirking an eyebrow at him. "Maybe that's because he is dumb as a doormat."
If the eyes are windows to the soul, Katara could see Zuko's thought-processes grind to a halt through his pale gold irises. "…What?"
She rolled her eyes and straightened so that she was in line with her writing surface again. "Forget it." She picked up her abandoned brush again and dipped it into the pot of ink beside her draft. "Now, if you'll excuse me, Kuzon's got a future girlfriend to woo. Perhaps his initiative will inspire one of my readers to take the plunge and tell a girl he might like about his feelings."
Though she made a show of fixing her attention on her story, out of the corner of her eye, she watched Zuko frown. He was still looking at her and the downward curve of his mouth suggested that he was thinking very hard about something. Good, she thought with some satisfaction. Surely even Zuko wasn't dumb enough to miss a signal that strong.
The earthball was in his court. What he chose to do with it was up to him.
oOo
"Wow, Katara. I'll admit I'm impressed."
Katara's chest swelled with pride. She'd done it. She'd written a story good enough for Suki. Sure, it had perhaps been an eency bit more difficult than she'd originally thought, but she'd still proven to Suki that even someone with just about zero writing experience like her could write a romance scroll worth reading.
She placed her hands on her hips and gave Suki a smug grin. "Thank you. Now, I believe you owe me some Red Lion almond cakes."
To her confusion, Suki's expression turned apologetic. The Kyoshi captain reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder. Katara wasn't at all prepared when she said, "Sorry, Katara. It was a pretty good story, but I'm afraid the Red Lion is already sold out of cakes for the week."
Katara stared at her. When it became clear that Suki wasn't joking, her whole posture deflated. "You're kidding."
Suki retracted her hand and shook her head. "Nope. Apparently some high profile customer came in and bought out their whole supply. I'm afraid you're gonna have to wait."
Katara groaned and took a few steps backward to slump into one of the library's cushioned chairs. This couldn't be happening. She was slated to return to the South Pole at the end of the week. If the teashop wasn't going to have any more cakes, then she wasn't going to get to try one until her next visit to the Fire Nation.
"Don't worry. I'll pick up some of those lava candies you like instead. I know it's not the same, but I still owe you something for writing a whole romance scroll."
Katara didn't even look up as Suki walked out of the library. She didn't think she'd ever felt so disappointed.
She still didn't look up when the library door opened again and familiar footsteps approached the place where she was sitting. She was too full of misery and woe to entertain any company right at that moment.
Despite her conviction to shut out her visitor, she was forced to acknowledge him when a box was set on the small table beside her chair. Curious, she looked first at the box and then at the person who'd brought it. Zuko looked back at her with an expression that was difficult to read. It was almost impassive.
"What's this?" she asked, returning her attention to the box sitting innocuously beside her.
Zuko's expression didn't change. He simply pointed at the box and said, "Initiative." Then he turned on his heel and walked away.
Katara's eyebrows rose up her forehead in confusion. Her curiosity rising, she picked the box up off the table and placed it in her lap. Using both hands, she untied the decorative cord, broke the fancy wax seal, and lifted the lid off the box.
What she found inside caused her jaw to drop in surprise. There, sitting in two neat rows, were six immaculately shaped, perfectly golden almond cakes.
Katara could do nothing to stop the squeal of absolute delight that burst out of her at having the long-coveted cakes in her grasp at last. Not wasting any time, she dipped a hand into the box to liberate one of the scrumptious confections. That was when her eye caught a small rectangular piece of paper fastened to the side of the box. Her curiosity returning, she plucked the paper from its place and turned it over in her hand. On the back was a single line written in Zuko's tidy scrawl.
Join me for dinner?
Katara's eyes widened. So, this was what he'd meant by initiative. At once, a grin split her face.
The earthball was back in her court, it seemed.
oO0Oo
El fin.
Whew! I had to scramble to finish this before the start of the tumblr blackout. If the ending seemed rushed, that's why. I hope you enjoyed it anyway!
