A/N: Here is the first official chapter of Reunion. Thank you to the one person who reviewed this story.(you know who you are) :) This is my first ATLA fanfiction, so if you guys have any suggestions/comments/hateful messages you want to shoot at me go right ahead. I'm down with critique. Also, sorry for my horrible grammar/spelling issues with the prelude. I went back and hopefully fixed all of them.
Disclaimer: Any characters you recognize aren't mine. If I owned Avatar, then why would I be posting my work on a free website rather than using it to make money?
Katara
Katara helped her brother unload their things onto the familiar decks of the fire nation's port. She set down the wooden barrel that contained their changes of clothes and glanced up. A small, frail man stood in front of her. Clothed in obvious fire nation attire, his belt showed off the symbol of the Firelord. Katara straightened up. This movement put her at least a head above the messenger. She raised her eyebrow as if to inquire his purpose.
He complied in a rather high voice, "Hello. My name is Jin. My lord has sent me to assure that the honored heroes of Sozin's War are properly attended to. Now if you will follow me I will show you to the palace."
And with that being said, the man promptly strutted off towards the center of the capitol.
"Yeah, we've been here before," Sokka informed him, "Hey! Wait for us! Where do we put our stuff?" His voice rising as Jin continued to walk away.
"Servants will bring them to your rooms later, now please follow me," Jin said.
Katara, Sokka, and Suki shared a look. They said good bye to the ship and its crew members, for they would be returning in a few weeks when they were ready to depart for home, before catching up with him.
The hike up to the palace was lengthy and hot. Wearing southern water tribe clothing, they soon discovered, could be life threatening; and by the time they reached Zuko's house they were all drenched with sweat.
Jin, who seemed unfazed by the blistering heat, turned around said, "Wait here." and left.
Katara panted heavily, "Here, this should help" She lifted her arms and waterbended everyone dry. A chorus of thank yous replied.
The group heard the groaning of the hinges on the large doors to the palace as they swung open. Firelord Zuko strode out, clad in red robes. Silence ensued while the old friends took in each others presence...
"Zuko!" Sokka yelled, breaking the awkward entrance. He ran forward and embraced the Firelord in the ultimate bear hug.
Stunned, Zuko stayed frozen until he smiled and said, "Good to see you too Sokka."
Katara also smiled. Zuko hadn't changed one bit. His hair was fastened in the official topknot, and his clothes were definitely the finest. But he still looked some what out of place. Where a fearsome, dictating ruler should have stood, was a compassionate young man who just rarely let anyone know his true feelings. Her demeanor darkened when she realized that he looked exactly like he had at the end of the war. Her musings were halted by Zuko's voice.
"How are you Katara?" Zuko asked. Everyone turned to look at her; their faces mirroring each others with the same emotion. Concern. She could hear the double meaning in his words.
Her eyes narrowed just in the slightest, "I'm fine. Now can we see our rooms? We've had a long journey."
"Yes, of course," he replied.
Sokka and Suki followed directly behind Zuko, arms loosely hung around each others waists. Katara sighed, crossed her arms and followed the procession.
A tour was not really necessary since they had been there already, but being the good host that he was, Zuko gave them one anyways.
He showed them the war chamber lit by only a wall of fire. Seats surrounded a giant map of the four nations, previously used, Katara imagined, for plotting the fire nation's world domination. Now the map only depicted the fire nation's domestic troops and their embassies in the Earth kingdom and Northern Water Tribe. Zuko said that this was where they were going to be briefed later on in the week about the security for the celebration.
Immediately upon hearing this Sokka excitedly said, "Ya know if you need any help planning..."
"We don't," Zuko interrupted.
"Oh,"
The group was shown around the wings of the palace and where the main dining hall was.
"This is where the main feast will be," he said while gesturing to a large room. In the center was an ornate wooden table with plush seat cushions lining all the way down and all the way back up. Two were placed at the front reserved for the Firelord and Firlelady, "but if you want something prepared for you ask one of the servants and they will be glad to help you in any way."
"Speaking of servants," Sokka said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "you've got some real nice hospitable workers here. Like that one guy, Jin, he was REAL nice..."
"Oh, yeah, Jin," Zuko sheepishly scratched the back of his head, "Sorry about that. He's distantly related to Mai's mother's friend so it would have been dishonorable to not let him work here."
"Yes, of course. You wouldn't want to offend one little snobby man would you? I mean you're only the Firelord after all..." Suki rolled her eyes and smacked Sokka in the head with her hidden fan.
"You can continue with the tour now," she said smiling.
It was cut short when Zuko was called into an important meeting.
"Follow this hallway until it brings you outside. There should be two buildings, your rooms are in the building on the left. Oh, and Aang's in the building to the right in case you want to drop by," Zuko quickly said while being rushed by a very formal uptight woman.
"Aang's here?" Katara said. Her stomach did a flip when she said his name.
"Yes. Again, I'm sorry I can't continue but if you need any help, just call for a servant. I have a few assigned to your building," Zuko raised his voice as he disappeared around the corner.
They followed his directions and came upon a beautiful garden. Trees surrounding the buildings, a strange red colored ivy climbing up the walls of the traditional style housing, and there was even a small pond filled with gurgling baby turtle ducks.
"Appa!" Suki squealed drawing everyone's attention to the bungalow type barn next what Zuko said was Aang's building. Katara's smile reached her ears as she, Sokka, and Suki sprinted towards the furry animal. Appa stopped grazing on the hay next to him and growled, moving towards them until they collided. His tongue running over the span of their three bodies.
"It's so good to see you!" Katara said blissfully as she took his massive head in her arms and started caressing his soft fur.
"And have you gotten fatter?" Sokka said bluntly.
This resulted from a low roar from Appa as he moved to tackle Sokka for that snide remark.
"Just kidding! You look better than ever!" Sokka said, hands in the air anxiously backing away. Appa grumbled in reply.
After they said their hellos, Suki was starting to feel a little nauseous so they entered their building. Katara bid farewell to Sokka and Suki and headed into her own suite. Her room was average size, but was extensively decorated. Her bed was huge and despite the weather had a thick comforter made of silk. Murals covered the walls depicting the four nation's on each wall.
Just as Jin had said, her baggage was on the other side of the room. She sighed and plopped down on one of the many pillows, content to stay there for eternity. A slight knock on her door destroyed her peaceful moment. She strode across the room and opened the door with a little too much force.
A woman was standing outside. She said, "Hello. My name is Jae. I am your personal servant sent by the Firelord. If you need anything, I will be happy to oblige."
Katara's shoulder's dropped. She had gotten up for this? "Okay thank you Jae, but I'm fine for now so you can just leave..." Katara had started to close the door.
Jae raised her hand, "Wait! The Avatar told me to inform you that he wishes to have an audience with you immediately."
Katara's breathing only elevated slightly, "Umm... Okay, sure! I'll go and see him...immediately. Thank you." She shut the door on Jae's confused face and slid to the ground, her back against the door.
A/N: Okay, that's the end! (Of the chapter, not of the story) Hope that was worth waiting for because I blew off studying for a test to write this. When people's lives suck they go on Facebook, I go on fanfiction! Question: I was finishing writing the outline of this story and there are two paths that this story could take. Path 1: the ultamite fluff journey or Path 2: the ultimate plot journey? So that's my question. Do you want fluff or plot? The plot journey will have some fluff, but Path 1 is ALL FLUFF. I am leaning towards Path 2, but I don't have to decide until a few more chapters, so review/PMessage me as to what you want! One worded reviews are always accepted.
Reviews appreciated
-gretlcascade