Katara remembered one of her favorite parkas from when she was a child had been purple. A nice soft purple, the color of lilacs. They were a flower, her mother said. She imagined that whenever her mother called her waterflower, one of her many nicknames, that she was a lilac growing somewhere in a field of green, reaching toward the sunlit sky. It was enough to keep her warm on some of the colder days in the South Pole—that and secrets and snuggles and storytime by the fire. Her mother's parka was purple, too.
She screamed the day that Gran Gran insisted she couldn't wear it anymore. "It's too small, dear… you'll freeze in that… you need to let it go." But what Katara heard was, "You need to let her go." She couldn't find that happy place anymore, the one with the field of flowers and the warmth of sunshine. It was just... cold. She had been given her brother's old parka to wear instead. A warrior's style. Perhaps it was time to stop daydreaming anyway. Perhaps it was time to start fighting.
When Katara stood in a fabric shop faced with endless possibilities, only one color caught her attention. Pick something for the Winter Solstice Festival, Iroh had said. It was perfect. But would it be too painful?
"That's a nice color," the store clerk told her. "Lilac is the shade. The flowers bloom in the Fire Nation in late spring."
They don't bloom in the South Pole at all, Katara thought.
When she put on the dress on the day of the Winter Solstice Festival, her friends, Suki and Song, spoke words of admiration and delight. Everything was muddled by emotion, though. Memories of cold winters made colder still by the pain of loss. A purple parka she would never see again—no, two purple parkas…
The weight on her heart only began to lift when she saw his face. Here in the Fire Nation, spring flowers announced the end of winter. Here in the Fire Nation, she had found warmth and love. And here in the Fire Nation, she bloomed.
Zuko wondered why Sokka had stopped mid-sentence, but when he turned his gaze toward the embassy steps, he knew he couldn't begin to form words either even if he tried. Somehow the eleven-year-old standing next to him managed.
"Wow," Arik said. "They look so beautiful."
"You can say that again." Zuko put his hands on the boy's shoulders. "Sorry, buddy. But they're all taken."
Arik shrugged. "So, do you have a girlfriend?"
By this point, the young women had joined their significant others in the courtyard. Sokka began fussing over Suki, fumbling over his words in an attempt to express himself. Finally he said, "Oh, fuck it," and just kissed her.
King Kuei shook his head at Sokka's antics, gently took Song's hand, and led her away for a more private declaration of his love and appreciation.
Zuko cleared his throat. "Katara, I'd like you to meet Arik." Zuko was somewhat grateful to have an introduction to make because adequate words to describe how beautiful she looked had escaped him at the moment. He hoped she could at least see it in his face.
Arik looked wide-eyed at Katara and then back at Zuko. "So this is your girlfriend?"
"Uhhhh…" Zuko didn't like the question, either the way it had been phrased or its implication.
"It's nice to meet you, too, Arik." Katara laughed, although she could sense Zuko's annoyance. It was going to be interesting to have someone Arik's age around the palace for sure.
"So, you're a waterbender?" the boy asked, his tone almost accusatory.
Katara put a hand on her hip. "So, you're a firebender?"
"Yup!" Arik beamed. "And Zuko's mom is going to teach me!"
"You mean, Fire Lord Zuko and Lady Ursa." A woman's voice entered the scene. "Arik, don't forget the formalities. Especially if you're going to be staying here at the palace for a while. You should always use your teacher's proper title even if you think you're on a first name basis with the Fire Lord."
Katara saw the boy deflate and felt Zuko tense up. "Don't worry, Arik. It took me a while to get used to it, too. And Lady Ursa won't mind a bit. She's very kind."
"I'm Lian, Arik's mother," the woman said.
Katara waited, but the woman didn't bow. So much for the formalities.
"I'm Katara," she said. Just Katara. But I could teach you a few things...
"You shouldn't give Arik too many liberties. I couldn't care less if he learns firebending while he's here. But if he learns to be well-behaved and respectful…"
She sent her son to the Fire Nation royal palace to learn how to behave? Has she heard about the last, oh, 100 years?
At that moment, a very flustered Iroh gestured frantically for everyone to make their way toward the Royal Plaza. It was time for the Winter Solstice Festival to begin.
Zuko took Katara's arm in his and leaned in to whisper in her ear. "You know I'm terrible with words, but you look amazing in that dress."
"Oh yeah, so you don't mind being seen in public with me?"
Zuko stopped dead in his tracks. They would be very public today, wouldn't they? Everyone at the royal palace knew about their relationship by now, but the Fire Sages had advised against any kind of national broadcast of the news. Not that it was newsworthy or anyone's business who Zuko dated anyway, he thought. Of course, the members of the royal court had implied otherwise. Things would only get worse after he turned eighteen. So undoubtedly, everyone would be talking about the pretty girl on his arm no matter who she was, and everyone was going to be the festival that day. So, this was it. They were officially "going public" unless they wanted to just pretend they weren't together at all…
Zuko tightened his grip on Katara's elbow. "There is no one else I would rather spend my birthday with than you."
When Katara saw the High Sage coming toward them, she returned Zuko's gesture with a vice grip of her own. Fire Sage Satoru had never really spoken to her directly, but she knew he sat on Zuko's advisory council, and had plenty to say about her. In essence, Zuko did not have time to play games with peasant girls, and he shouldn't dare think to "muddy the bloodline" with Water Tribe "barbarianism." Katara knew Zuko took great offense to the sage's advice and had poured into every text he could find to figure out a way to get rid of the man.
As it turns out, it's incredibly difficult to unseat a Fire Sage. They basically had to die in order to be replaced. Ozai had his underhanded ways of dealing with this, but of course, Zuko wouldn't resort to such methods. Ozai had also significantly reduced the authority of the Fire Sages, and while Zuko actually wanted to restore them to their traditional roles, the ongoing conflict with Satoru had dissuaded him from doing so.
Today, the High Sage apparently wanted to go ahead and seal his own death by the way he practically tore Katara from Zuko's arms. The young Fire Lord's fists flamed in response.
"Fire Lord Zuko, you are needed at the Royal Plaza tower to prepare for the ceremonial speeches," Satoru barked. "And you, young lady, are needed elsewhere."
"Take your hands off her," Zuko growled.
Katara jerked herself free, shot a glare at the Fire Sage, and then looked back at Zuko, trying to force a reassuring expression. "It's OK, Zuko. I'm overseeing the procession of the parade floats. I'll see you later."
Zuko lingered, uncertain. Katara then closed the gap between them, smirked at Satoru, and kissed her boyfriend on the cheek. "It's OK. I love you," she whispered.
When they parted ways, neither realized that Katara had been followed.
"You will keep proper appearances today, Waterbender," a gruff voice spoke suddenly.
Katara whirled around to face the Fire Sage, instantly regretting the fact that waterskins didn't make the best accessories for fancy dresses. She could sense his blood, though.
"How could you expect me to act proper if I'm such a barbarian?" Is it wise to play into his hands? Probably not…
"You should just go back where you belong if you know what's good for you," Satoru snarled.
"I will go where I please, thank you very much." Katara stood a little taller, thankful for the high-heeled shoes, at least.
"You are in the Fire Nation, peasant. And you will play by our rules."
"Last I checked, the Fire Lord made the rules, not you."
"The Fire Lord treads in dangerous water where you are concerned. If you care for him at all, you will stay away from him today. You can have your little fling in secret, but do nothing in public, or else pay the consequences."
"Is that a threat?"
"Can't stand the heat, snowflake? You and your delicate lilac self should go back to where you came from. There is no place for fragile little flowers here."
Katara felt the burn in the back of her throat and the tears begin to brim her eyes. She would not give this man the satisfaction of knowing that he had gotten to her. She was not delicate or fragile. But she had also forgotten that some people in the Fire Nation still felt this way about outsiders. It probably wasn't that much better of a response, but she turned on her heel and stormed off.
"That's right, little lilac. Wilt away," he called after her.
The tears flowed freely then. Don't lilacs grow natively in the Fire Nation? In fields of green under the sunlit sky? But lilacs had long sense given her any hope. Why should today be any different?
A/N: Yeah, so "lilac" does happen to be a Zutara Week 2016 prompt, but I'm way late for that. It's such a random one, too. It's a color and a flower, but how is it related to Zutara exactly? (People came up with cool stuff, of course, as they always do.) Oh well, I remembered when Katara went to the fabric store on Ember Island and had countless colors to chose from, so the idea expanded from there. It's a little sad, but I haven't explored much about Katara and her thoughts/memories of her mother.
So, the Fire Sages will play a role in this fic. Avatar Wiki is a little fuzzy on whether the leader is called the "Great Sage" or the "High Sage," so I'm going with the latter. I picked "Satoru" from a random list of Japanese names, and it means "enlightened, knowledgeable, persuasive, perceptive." In The Winter Solstice Part 2, this is the guy in the middle who does most of the talking (and looks pretty sinister). Not Shyu, mind you, the guy who helps Aang, Katara, and Sokka. He will make an appearance, too! And yes, there will be some tie-ins from events of that Winter Solstice to this one.
Oh, and Arik makes a reappearance in this chapter. To recap, Zuko meets Arik's family in Two Rivers and finds that the boy doesn't have access to firebending training as the son of a nonbender Fire Nation soldier and an earthbending mother who teaches his sister with likewise ability. The father petitions for Zuko to find someone to train Arik even if it means his son will have to move to the capital. Zuko knows that Arik's mother is not crazy about the idea, and he also knows that the stuffy instructors from the Academy won't be a good fit for Arik. At some point, after learning that his mother is a bender, he realizes that pairing Arik and Ursa together could work well for the both of them.