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Katara couldn’t sleep at all in her luxury suite within the Royal Palace of the Fire Nation. Despite the comfort of the silk sheets adorned on her queen sized bed, the lulls of sleep never claimed her. She was too preoccupied with prior events to even think about getting rest…
“Zuko…”
Her and the Fire lord were just sharing a nice moment alone, staring at the sunset from a balcony. How was Katara supposed to know it would escalate to the two of them liplocking like their lives depended on it? Katara knew she missed him since the get-together they and their friends all had back home, but not that much!
And to top it off, she had abruptly scurried off right afterwards. Katara and Zuko conveniently hadn’t seen each other for the rest of the day.
“He probably thinks I hate him… or worse he thinks I’m weird! Did I make it weird?! Oh spirits…. And I’m supposed to be here on a diplomacy mission for goodness sake!”
The current predicament already added more to what had been weighing on Katara’s mind.
Not to long after the end of the 100 year war, the fire nation and the water tribes were at odds over what to do with the dirty little secret that laid within the borders of the western war machine… the internment camps and prisons of abducted southern water tribe citizens.
Due to the indiscriminate nature of the captures, the southern raiders had accumulated well over hundreds of male and female water benders throughout their campaigns in the war. In fact, the shrinking spaces to hold them is what ultimately led to the kill orders during the late stages of the southern raids.
The coed nature of these camps ultimately led to a lot of children being conceived, and what better way to solve this problem than to indoctrinate them into the fire nation work force. The cruel reality at play meant that these kids lived in the shadows of fire nation society. The lucky ones were bought as servants to noble families, the not so lucky ones were sold as cheap laborers for engineering plants or agriculture companies.
And the worst part is that it led to generations of water tribe descendants that were either completely ignorant of their heritage and abilities or actively suppressing them in a land that actively oppresses these people.
In the several years since the end of the war, the infrastructure expansion plans in part served as way to provide homes to the returning captives who wanted to return home after years of captivity. The problem laid in that these returnees only account a little more than half of the total water tribesman within the fire nation. For a variety of reasons, a sizeable portion of this population opted to stay within the fire nation.
Some of it came down to them having families to entrenched into their current homes, other felt too far removed from their ancestral homes. Age was also a factor at play, given a lot of the ones who did return were the ones old enough to remember the homeland and/or not young enough to make a living within the fire nation after their captivity.
Regardless of the reason, the fire nation now has to find a way to properly provide for these people and who they are now responsible for, while also warding off growing discontent from some of its citizens who aren’t enthusiastic about these accommodations
Between her appointment as an ambassador to come sort out this issue, and seeing Zuko again… Sleep definitely wasn’t going to happen anytime soon for the master waterbender. Her mind still raced with thoughts of how things possibly went wrong.
There was, however, one thought that persisted throughout the noise… and the ramifications of it scared her the most.
It had been a while since Katara’s last (and only) relationship had ended. While many suitors had been lined up for her by her father Hakoda, both domestic and foreign, she just wasn’t eager to rush into the confines of another relationship.
Though if Katara was being honest, a big part of that had to do with none of her dates scratching that itch… You see, Katara’s current solitude gave her plenty of time to think about the type of relationship she would want. She was no longer concerned with abstract concepts like “what was meant to be” or what would make anyone but her happy.
…Which leads right back to her current predicament. Why had she leaped at an opportunity with Zuko so quickly? Why did he specifically excite Katara as opposed the idea of others in the past?
At this point it was clear that there was only one way to find out…
“Maybe he might still be up too…”
And as these words escaped her lips, Katara gingerly placed her robe over her scantily clad form and made way for the door, unsure of where her sleep deprived machinations will lead her but curious enough to commit to them.
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The empty halls of the fire nation capital served as the perfect place for Fire Lord Zuko to get a good walk when his troubled mind plagued him.
“This is dumb Zuko, she’s clearly asleep right now. And even if she wasn’t, this isn’t a good idea…”
Zuko’s conscience had scolded him as he took every step, but his sub-conscience and heart were partners in crime that gave him an offer he couldn’t refuse. The woman on his mind had become too big to ignore given earlier events…
If Zuko was being completely honest, it didn’t surprise him that things had escalated to this point. After the war, Zuko and Katara had to come to terms with what happened during the Agni-Kai with Azula.
It would have been very easy for them to write it off as them saving each other’s lives, as it’s something any friend would have done in that situation. But then the two of them would have to trivialize everything that led up to it, and how desperate they were to act without haste.
It had later dawned on Zuko that if he had just kept his cool, he would have used his flames to propel himself in front of Katara in an instant. He had already accomplished a similar feat of propelling himself in the air to dodge during the fire dual. Had he done so, he would have deflected Azula’s lightning without issue.
Wishful thinking or not, he just couldn’t deny that the only thing on his mind at the time was Katara. Not his own life, or the fate of the fire nation… just the girl he had gone to greater lengths to make amends with than was necessary…
Things just clicked with Katara in a way they never did for Zuko in his past experiences with girls, and as circumstances ended up having them getting to know each other better after the war… It just became harder and harder for Zuko to ignore.
As Zuko finally found himself in front of the door to Katara’s suite, he steeled up his resolve to pick up from where the two of them left off…
“Welp, I’m doing this.”
As Zuko whispered this to himself, he raised his hand to place a gentle knock at the door. Before his knuckles could make contact, the door suddenly swung open….
Suddenly, the pair of ocean blue eyes that had captivated his dreams were now locked on him. Zuko’s mouth hung in a stupor as he took in the sight before. Katara stood right in front of him and was equally as confused as he was.
The dark blue robe Katara wore struggled to contain her curves and cleavage. Her hair was undone in way that could best be described as untamed beauty. A symphony of flowing long locks served to compliment her face in an entirely new way that her normal braids or buns didn’t. A faint glimmer is present on her cheek from the moonlight that faintly illuminated her room.
Katara was the first to break out of their mutual shock, her expression changing from befuddlement to a deep seeded need that only Zuko could fill. It was a look that communicated so much that no amount of words could match it.
Zuko wordlessly closed the door behind them without taking his eyes off of her. He inched closer as Katara’s hands suddenly found their way onto his chest. A glimpse of Zuko’s upper torso peaked her curiosity as she gently peeled away the regal robe he wore.
What lay underneath looked a lot different from what she remembered from that day… sure she expected the boy who made it a point to be at peak physical shape at all times to grow into the shredded young man before her now. But what caught her off guard was the rather intricate sun tattoo over the area where lightning had seared his flesh.
Thanks to the best healing ailments the fire nation can produce, as well as repeated healing sessions from Katara, the area had regained half the color it previously had. But it was still red enough to where it now blended in with the tattoo to form a Red Sun.
Katara almost got lost in delicately tracing the details with her fingers when she noticed the smirk planted on Zuko’s face. Embarrassed at having felt him up, Katara’s hand had recoiled, but Zuko quickly caught it and placed it over his chest before he could even process what his actions could invite.
And as both of them locked eyes one more time, Katara and Zuko intuitively knew that no matter how nervous, or anxious, or worried they were… neither of them could hope to stop what would happen next.
And neither of them wanted to.
-fin