Chapter Text
Katara’s stomach was in knots.
This couldn’t be happening.
It was as though the entire world was moving so quickly and she was frozen in place. Because this couldn’t be happening.
She wasn’t sure she was even processing anything that was being said.
“Can…can someone repeat that?” Katara said, interrupting the room around her. Her father, as well as other members of the tribe were arguing back and forth, even Aang seemed to be in a rage over it. Katara had just been sitting there, unable to take any of it in.
“Katara,” Her father said, voice soft but pleading. Maybe he didn’t want to hear what she had to say. Or he didn’t want to hear her argue.
“This matter revolves around me, right? I think I should be able to ask whatever I want,” she insisted.
One of the elders cleared their throats, the lines around her mouth thinned as she grimaced. “This isn’t something we’re asking.” Her voice was stern but still shook with age.
The meeting room was large, three times the size as the houses in the village, managing to fit a large table that currently sat twelve but Katara was sure it sat at least twenty. Everything was decorated in the water tribe blues, with furs scattered around. Although it was considered the hot season, the tribe still carried around furs for when the sea breeze kicked up.
At the moment, with so many judgemental eyes on her, Katara felt like it was the dead of winter.
Katara straightened her shoulders and looked to the elder with a glare. “I’m sorry, I was under the impression that I was asked to marry the Fire Lord to secure peace amongst the water and fire people. Am I wrong?”
“Katara,” Her father tried again.
Her attention didn’t waver from the group of elders. “Am I wrong?”
“No. You’re being asked to marry Fire Lord Zuko. He is also aware of this offer for peace. His side seems eager and willing for this alliance,” Her father reiterated. Katara took in a deep breath before the room started at it again.
“Zuko is our friend!” Aang interrupted for the first time, his brow furrowed in a way that usually made Katara giggle. Even though he had matured since their early teens, he hadn’t outgrown the adorable way he seemed to pout when mad.
“We’ve been told Zuko is not the one to suggest the match but has agreed to it if it is something we’re all interested in,” Her father rebutted. Katara wasn’t sure how to feel about that revelation. Did it mean anything or was she being hopeful that he wanted her consent for the whole thing?
“Katara, this is ultimately your decision, but they want our reply urgently. The hawk leaves at dawn tomorrow,” Sokka said, drawing her attention for the first time. Had he always been in the room? With the look he was giving her, it seemed as though he was the only one that was actually paying her any mind.
“I’ll give you my decision soon,” she said, her throat feeling like she had swallowed something sharp and it tore her open. She stood, almost feeling lightheaded but continued off to her own house.
“Katara, wait,” Aang said, his voice following after her.
Since the Sozin’s comet and the end of the war, life in the Southern water tribe had thrived. With no fear from the fire nation, many of their old practices were changed. Their homes were no longer made of just snow and ice, now the structures were built from timber and stone — practices that Katara had found from the earth kingdom. Travelling had its benefits, and turns out it was mainly infrastructure. It was a slow process, only a dozen buildings were ready since they started to change everything. Their main meeting building being the first of the changes, sitting in the middle of the village, with many of the elders getting the first homes that had been built. Katara and her family each had their own dwelling, and they were on the verge of starting the third phase for the next section of streets. The change from their previous homes was a struggle, but Katara liked feeling that everywhere she had travelled was somewhere in where she slept every night.
With her home being only a few buildings down from the meeting hall, they made it there quickly. Katara opened up the door and allowed Aang in first. Aang went inside, his hands clenched behind his back; he had been inside so many times, he would have felt at home in the small room.
Her home wasn’t much, a living room with a small kitchen to the side — somewhere she could eat, cook, and study different forms of waterbending — and her bedroom off to the back, hidden behind drapery. She kept it tidy and had a few portraits and mementos that hung from the walls. There was a longing in her for something else, but Katara could never place what it was exactly she was missing in her space.
Before Katara could do anything but shut the door, Aang was already pacing. The crease in his brow was still ever present before he finally turned to her and began his argument.
“You don’t have to do this. I can’t believe they’re asking this. I’m sure Zuko will take it all back, we just have to tell him no,” he claimed, his hands going out wide, trying to encompass the magnitude of things going on. As if she didn’t know.
Katara took a breath, sitting down on the plush cushion and put her head in her hands.
“Aang, I think I do have to do this.” Her voice was quiet, but she was sure that Aang was listening intensely. He crouched down in front of her, taking her hands in his. Her gaze raised to his, the pleading in his eyes. This was going to hurt.
“Katara, no. We’re at peace now. I’m the avatar —”
“And the avatar can’t always be around. You were gone for a hundred years. What if something like that happens again? If I marry Zuko, it will be the first time the fire nation has allowed another nation to be a part of their royal family. My tribe, my people will forever be tied to them. That’s not something to turn down lightly, especially not over something like my feelings.” Katara clutched his fingers, trying to get him to understand what she was saying.
“So you’d throw away our relationship? Me? Your freedom? It doesn’t have to be you.”
“A true leader never asks of their people what they won’t ask of themselves. I refuse to force another woman into a marriage they hate, just so I don’t have to.”
And I wouldn’t hate it, she can’t help but think. Not if it was Zuko. Not if it was a friend.
Aang let go of her hands. “But… I thought we were happy?”
“Aang, I think we’ve been denying something for a while now,” she admitted, the unspoken conversation was finally being given voice.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” he asked, his hand wiping at his brow before going over the top of his crown. Katara stood, coming eye to eye with him and trying to make him actually understand what she was saying.
“And what? Be the girl who broke the avatar’s heart? Aang, I love you. I will always love you. But I don’t think I’m in love with you, and you deserve better.” Katara tilted her head, and for a few moments there was silence as the two maintained eye contact before Aang finally broke it with a scoff. The pair laughed silently together before Aang sighed and gave a weak smile back at Katara.
“Okay, so you’re dumping me. But that doesn’t mean you need to give up your freedom because we aren’t working out. Katara, we're talking about you getting married. To the Fire Lord.” He said it as though it was a bad thing.
“I know that, but just like you, I have responsibilities to my people.” She paused, before sighing. “I know we talked about it, about children… But I think I always knew I wasn’t the right person to give you that. I mean, saving all of airbending? I would’ve viewed it as a responsibility, a duty. Not because I wanted to,” she confessed. Katara had known for a while the responsibilities that fell onto Aang’s shoulders as the last of the airbenders, and in turn she knew those responsibilities that would lay on his partner to produce the next era of airbending. It was daunting, and something she knew she could do, but was it something she wanted to do?
“Oh, like how you want to marry Zuko? And have his children instead?” Aang replied, and there was the anger she was expecting. She winced, and Aang’s shoulders sagged. “It’s different, isn’t it? Because it’s for your people.”
It stung. For so long she’d viewed Aang’s problems and dreams as her own, but she couldn’t deny it was the truth. She nodded.
“I don’t want to do this on my own,” Aang confessed, his head hanging low. Katara reached up and took his cheeks in her hands. She lifted his head and smiled at him.
“I’ll always be there for you, but I can’t be your wife,” she said, her chest aching with the admission. She loved Aang, but it would always hurt to tell him she didn’t love him enough.
“I know,” he sighed, taking her hands from his face and kissing her fingertips.
“Always has to be us, huh?” she tried to joke.
“Hey, I’m the last airbender and the Avatar. You’re just tagging along,” Aang teased.
“Hey!” Katara smacked his shoulder and Aang laughed back with her. It was the only way to lighten what was happening.
“I know this isn’t about me, or us, but you really don’t have to do this. It’s some flimsy excuse for peace. I’m the avatar, we’ll have more peace because I’m around,” he said, trying to make sure there was a way out.
“Yes, but the hundred years you were gone hasn’t erased the harm that we’ve all suffered. The water tribes have been banished and slaughtered by the fire nation. To atone, and make sure the fire nation is seen as a peaceful force, I can see why they’d want the two people linked. A union between the Fire Lord and a water bender from the Southern tribe would work,” she explained and Aang nodded, also knowing all of this.
“I know I said that they can pick anyone else, but Katara. Come on. You know why you’re chosen. You’re one of, if not the most, talented water benders there’s been for decades. You can water bend, ice bend, and blood bend. How many other people can say the same?”
“I know,” she sighed, and Aang brought her into a hug, holding her as tight as he could.
“You’re going to say yes, aren’t you?” he murmured into her hair. Katara pursed her lips together before nodding into his chest.
“I think I am,” she whispered her secret and Aang continued to hold her.
The rest of the day went by as a blur.
She told her dad, who told the elders, and somewhere in there Sokka also found out. He didn’t seem upset, more like concerned.
Katara sat at home, wondering what on earth was this day? When did things get like this?
They were talking about her marrying Zuko.
Zuko, who she had so much history with, and some of it was the hardest and most vulnerable moments she’s ever had with another person. And he was meant to be her husband?
When were they supposed to get married?
Would they have to live together?
What about where they’d live?
Or what her title would be?
How was she even supposed to answer any of these questions on her own?
Leaving her home, Katara began to walk the streets, feeling the cool afternoon air washing in from the ocean. Katara’s arms came around herself, bracing against the breeze that seemed to want to freeze her from the inside out. A throat cleared behind her, and for the first time all day, she saw what her brother was truly feeling. He scowled with his fingers playing over the edge of his boomerang.
Round two, she supposed.
Sighing, Katara continued on, trying to just take in her homeland and making sure she remembered it. When would be the next time she actually saw it like this?
“I know you’d wanna talk to your boyfriend about finding a different guy to be your husband, but I’d think you’d want to talk to your brother at least,” Sokka argued and Katara scoffed back a laugh.
“Sokka, can we not?” she asked — pleaded.
“You shouldn’t be doing this. It’s stupid and you’re not some prize to be given away,” he challenged, as though she wasn’t aware that she was more than just cattle. This felt like more than just some wedding to quell a long ended feud between two nations. It was deeper than that. She wished she could talk to Zuko easily to understand his thoughts on all this.
Hell, she would have liked it if he went to her first before it was given to all the elders. She felt like she was the last to know and had to make such a monumental decision. It didn’t feel fair that he went around her. It also wasn’t like him to leave this to others.
“I’ve made my decision,” she said, dismissing him. Sokka caught up to her and took her by the shoulders, scanning her face like he could identify a lie she may have been hiding.
“I think you’ve gone insane and I’ll let Zuko know that so he doesn’t marry you,” he reasoned and Katara snorted.
“Are you going to marry him then?”
Sokka shrugged. “Sure. I already know I look good in a dress, he won’t even notice the difference.”
“Shut up,” Katara laughed, shoving his shoulder and continued on her aimless path.
They walked past the streets of old and new homes, the further they walked in silence, the deeper into the past they went into. Part of Katara wanted to run, to just keep running over the ice until her mind cleared and she could truly understand what was going on. But there was never going to be a right time or the right answer. Everything was always going to be unknown.
“Why can’t we just work this out?” Sokka said softly, his cheek resting against the crown of her head. He didn’t get it; failed to understand that there was never going to be an answer that they liked. It was all or nothing, and no one could afford a no in the current circumstances.
“Because, Sokka, there’s nothing that needs to be sorted. I’ve made my decision,” she said, standing firm on her decision. He curled an arm around her back and held her as best as a brother could. They stood together, amongst lonely huts and tents, unoccupied save for when someone needed somewhere to stay after a long day of fishing. They were alone, but even with Sokka holding her and the decision made, Katara had never felt so alone in her life.
“Why does all water bending have to fall on your shoulders? The only reason you’re doing this is to make sure water bending is safe, right? That’s something you’d do.”
“Our tribe has been persecuted against for hundreds of years. We need to make peace with our past and have something to look forward to for the future. If an alliance between our two nations is what is needed, then I'll do anything for it,” she said firmly.
Sokka let her go, standing in front of her with his hands on his hips, one hand still grasping the boomerang. He sighed, looking her up and down, as though he wasn’t seeing his little sister anymore, but someone far different.
“If you need me at all, you need me to ride in and storm that house and steal you away, just one letter and I’ll be there. I don’t care that Zuko is my friend. You got me?” he said, framing it like a question, but knowing it was a demand. Katara smiled, moving in to hug her brother in earnest before nodding into his chest.
Sokka left her along the shoreline, and Katara stared off to the distance, not knowing how to process this all.
How could she be feeling like the only person in the world right now with thousands of others around her? It didn’t make sense to her. And at the same time, it felt as though she was pushing everyone away — she knew she could rely on them, but instead, she knew this was something she had to shoulder on her own.
All Katara wanted was for one person to tell her she was making the right choice.
It was an obligation, so her father and the elders thought it was right.
Aang and Sokka thought it was a horrible decision.
But no one thought that what Katara was doing was the right thing in the long run — there was always an addendum to it, and something that had to be talked into.
She thought of one person that trusted her more than anyone else, and wished she could speak with her. Time, instead of war, had taken that from her, the way only time could.
Maybe it was why Katara was out, late at night, alone and with the sea.
“Gran Gran, tell me I’m doing the right thing,” she spoke softly, waiting for the words to come back to her. She hoped, wished, for anything to be said. Instead, a cool wind whispered over her skin, blowing her hair from her face until she had to close her eyes.
She could swear she heard a soft voice say yes in her ear.
But she was being too hopeful for any of that.
~*~*~
Katara felt like she was a puff of fur in this outfit.
Travelling to the fire nation proved that the hot season was well under way, because every mile they travelled, it got hotter and hotter. And the traditional furs that were worn for weddings were making her sweat.
It wasn’t as though they were getting married that day.
After they agreed to the proposal, all of the information came out — it would be held in a grand ceremony in the fire nation, with a month-long procession to bring in different diplomats to the pair and give them their blessings. Katara and her people had two weeks to prepare her for her travel and stay within the fire nation. They were a very chaotic and busy few weeks. The voyage was just another layer of chaos she had only just gotten over as they made their way through the streets of the nation.
From the Southern Water Tribe’s perspective, they were giving Katara away to the fire nation. And so, she wore the furs.
But this outfit she wore, it felt way too much, especially with the way the fire nation looked at her.
Her outer layer was that of the furs, a long dragging cloak with thick fur lining the inside and a deep southern tribe blue on the outer fabric. Her hair was pinned as it normally was, with a heavy headpiece of jewels and bones. The headpiece rested at her hairline, a silver piece with moon phases etched into the exposed metal. As it moved into her hair and tied with ribbon in the back, there were strands that adorned the piece, framing her face. The bones and jewels were unique to every bride — each given and made by friends and family.
She had bones that were carved into different shapes and creatures by her brother and father, each from hunts they had gone on together. Her father’s carvings were far better than Sokka’s and were more present at the front of the piece, Sokka’s were hidden towards her ears. Then, there were rocks and gems that were forged by Toph and Aang, beautiful sparkling things that were crafted with affection, even if some felt bittersweet.
There was a part of Katara that had imagined this head piece being far different than what she was currently wearing. She had imagined a wedding with Aang and jewels from all her friends from all the nations — receiving something from Zuko that would be put front and centre amongst her gifts. She had always imagined it that way, and it wasn’t until now, where his gift wouldn’t be amongst her headdress that she realised she wanted his specific emblem in front, before anyone else's.
They continued to walk up the stairs of the palace and Katara felt like she was a fountain leaking water from every surface of her being. Through it all, she had to appear regal and refined, which felt so stupid when she was dragging around dead animals on her shoulders.
Her dress was something that was gifted to her by her future husband — or his people anyhow — as it was made with the finest silks that the fire nation had to offer. It was a mix of blue and red tones, layered on top of each other to show unity, to create a shimmering purple hue with each distinctive colour appearing as she walked. Her waist was cinched in by a fur wrap, uniting the outer layer of furs from her tribe to the fire nation silks.
Unfortunately her cloak was so large and cumbersome that it covered up the beautiful dress she appreciated.
Once they reached the top of the steps, Katara gave her bow — her hands coming together in front of her face, cloak concealing everything but her eyes and bowed at the waist. She rested there until she was given her cue to stand back up; which wasn’t until her betrothed spoke to her. It all felt so embarrassing to do in front of someone she called a friend, who was also supposed to be her husband in a month.
“Ugh, do I have to be wearing this?” Katara groaned to her father who had been standing beside her the entire procession into the city, with Sokka only a few feet behind them.
“It is traditional regalia,” her father reminded. She didn’t need to hear it; it was pretty obvious. But the why of it all was still there. It wasn’t as though she was getting married then and there.
“I feel like an idiot,” she huffed.
“You look beautiful,” Zuko said, his voice sounding so much smoother than it had as children, but there was still a richness in the tone. She snapped upright — something that wasn’t correct betrothal behaviour, but she was shocked that he was so close. Their eyes met, and Katara’s breath caught in her chest. “Katara,” Zuko greeted with a soft bow and smiled.
He had filled out since their youth — shoulders had become broader and filled out his own regalia in a way that seemed as though it was deliberately too tight. He was the same boy she once knew, but with added difference that made him a whole new man. One new difference was his hair. It was longer — she could tell — but he wore it short, with his fire lord hair piece picking up the strands and tying it all up until it sat neatly at the top of his hair, only a few pieces falling from the back.
“Zuko,” she breathed out her greeting. A throat cleared sharply beside Zuko and Katara made eye contact with a stern-faced man; he didn’t seem too pleased with this new development, or the disrespect she had shown him. “Fire Lord,” she corrected herself.
“There’s no need for that,” Zuko huffed, waving his hand. Even with his shoulders looking so still and unimposing, there was an ease to him that there wasn’t when he had first stepped into the fire lord role.
His garments looked similar to all his other fire lord adornments, but with some added touches. His vest was far more cinched at the waist with a blue ribbon woven amongst the gold, and his jacket was the classic deep red but with wave detailing over the collar that hadn’t been there in the past. It seemed, to make the water tribes happy, they had incorporated them into Zuko’s attire as well.
Katara cleared her throat as she tried her best to give back an easy smile. “Your chamberlain was giving me the dirtiest look just now,” she confessed in a whisper. Zuko leaned in and Katara’s breath hitched once more.
“He gives me the same looks,” he said with a smile. The ease with which Zuko seemed to smile was strange; his teenage years seemed to be filled with scowls and grunts. Adult Zuko had relaxed even with the pressure.
Was he really being playful?
“I don’t know what we’re supposed to do now,” she confessed and he cleared his throat, standing to his full height and straightening out his broad shoulders.
“Chamberlain. Deal with any correspondence for the rest of the day, I need to get reacquainted with my fiancee,” he said, as though they were partnered together for longer than a few weeks.
“But, Fire Lord,” The chamberlain started to argue but Zuko turned to him sharply, all of his easy attitude from a moment ago gone.
“Was I asking?”
The chamberlain gave a bow, not daring to meet Zuko’s eye as he replied. “No, Fire Lord.”
Zuko extended his arm off to the side and Katara looked to her father. He gave a nod to Katara and the pair walked side by side. Katara leaned a little closer to Zuko as they began their walk through the stunning halls.
“Show off,” she whispered and Zuko chuckled.
The pair remained quiet for some time, trying to avoid areas that were populated by anyone.
Once they reached a private spot, Zuko stopped and looked her over. Zuko rested against a nearby walk and raised his scarred brow. Katara frowned back at him.
“Do you want to get out of this thick cloak?” he asked. Katara was about to argue back and say things were alright, but Zuko shook his head before she could utter a thing. “Don’t say you’re fine, you’re practically melting,” he said, trying to conceal a laugh but failing.
“If I could,” she reluctantly sighed, her voice soft and unsure. Zuko, with a steadiness in his shoulders that she remembered from their youth but more confidence that came with age, moved around her back and undid the clasps. He dragged the heavy material from her shoulders and tossed it over his arm.
Katara patted down her dress, making sure there wasn’t a wrinkle in sight as she finally felt like she could breathe. Zuko looked her over, and for the first time, Katara wondered if she actually looked good in the dress. Did he have any say in its design? Did he want her to wear these silks or was it something the fire nation cooked up? Katara touched the neckline of the dress, feeling how it dipped over her breasts and just how thin the material was. She chuckled nervously, feeling the beads of her headdress floating around her temples.
With a sigh, Zuko finally spoke. “You may rise with the moon but you’re as radiant as the sun.”
He smirked, moving off the wall and walking off without her. Katara scoffed, moving to walk beside him.
“Did you learn to make ladies swoon by becoming the fire lord?” she joked.
“No, it just comes naturally when you’re around,” Zuko teased back. At least she thought it was teasing. It couldn’t be that he was serious. Right?
“Stop it,” she said, turning to conceal a blush that crept over her cheeks.
“This way, there’s a private garden that we can speak casually,” he said, voice low and commanding. Katara felt the flush run over the back of her neck and wished to be swallowed up by water right about now. Maybe it was the only way to save her.
Finally they made it the garden, it was a wide expanse of greenery, a pond that wove its way around the outer perimeter of the grounds, with a beautifully kept bridge over it. The centre of the garden was mainly grass, but it still had small pockets of wonderful plants and flowers, sparking colour amongst the mass of green. It was a fantastic surprise.
They didn’t say a word, Zuko allowing Katara to take it all in before they stopped on the bridge and listened to the peaceful silence they found in the garden. Zuko leaned on the railing, letting her cloak rest on the wooden beam. Katara leaned down, resting her cheek on her balled up hand. Zuko frowned at her before he chuckled at her pout.
“So, future husband,” she said, and Zuko shook his head.
“Future wife,” he regarded, nodding his head in a mock bow. Katara rose back up, a hand resting on the railing so she’d be able to look at him. Zuko took in a breath, as though he was bracing himself for something that was bound to be said. “I didn’t ask for this, you know. Chamberlain was the one that put it forward. I tried to get it shut down but so many people were in favour of it.”
“Same with my side,” she confessed. Zuko looked down at his hands as they gripped the railing. The breaths he was taking were measured and almost unsure.
“Is uh…is Aang ok? I can just shut this all down if he doesn’t want this. Say the word,” he spoke, the first time all day he seemed unsure. He had been the picture of confidence all day, but the minute that Aang was brought up, Zuko was stuttering.
Katara played with the gem that Aang had given her on her headdress before letting it go. It swung in her peripheral vision, trying not to notice it and the way that Zuko was now looking at her. “He and I aren’t together anymore. It was time.”
“Because of the marriage?” he asked timidly. With no reply, Zuko straightened and shook his head. “Katara, let me just put this to rest. We don’t need to do this, I —”
“Aang and I have been together since we were children, but we’re not anymore. There’s so much more to adulthood that neither of us were ready for when we started to be together. This marriage was just what needed to happen in order for us to realise that. You and I make sense. For peace.”
Katara stood by her decision, not daring to look at Zuko in fear of what would be asked if he read into her words. There were lies hidden away in between things she didn’t say, and all Zuko had to do was find the right threads to pull. Katara was so worn down with all the questions, she wasn’t sure how much more convincing she’d have to do.
Zuko continued to look at her for a few more seconds before he too turned away and sighed.
“This is really happening,” he said, almost in a whisper, like he couldn’t believe what they were doing either.
“I suppose so.”
“At least I won’t be alone through this whole thing,” he said, looking over the pond. Katara’s hand hovered over the surface, finger dipping to bend the water to ripple. No physical touch was made, but it warped the surface just the same as if she had.
“At least we have each other,” she said, turning to face Zuko and smiling at him.
She hoped that Zuko thought this was the right decision.
She hoped this was the right decision for the both of them.