linnoya-writes

[linnoya-writes]

Aang actually *was* a Terrible Dad (and we should stop making excuses for him).

One thing I cannot get over is how people say that Aang actually wasn't that terrible of a father, and I keep hearing the same excuses to his behavior: he didn't grow up with conventional parents, he had to focus on bringing back his air-bending culture, Katara was already a natural parent and was totally okay being the housewife/mom who let Aang off the hook with most of the serious parenting duties... ugh....

Anyway, I have three points to give:

1) Aang may not have grown up with conventional family structure, but he certainly knew enough about the world (being a nomad his whole life pre-war) to understand what a healthy family dynamic looked like. He knew enough about Toph's dad and Zuko's dad to understand what a poor father figure looked like. Aang also spent time with Hakoda, in ATLA season 3, to see the characteristics of a good father -- and this doesn't even include the time he spent traveling with Sokka/Katara alone and noticing how their dad's absence was affecting them. I put a lot of emphasis on Katara, here, because she makes it very clear in Season 3 that her father leaving the family was devastating... and this girl would want a partner who understood those feelings and do absolutely everything to keep the family together. It's what she did throughout the entirety of ATLA-- Katara was the glue that kept everyone close -- and you would think Aang would pick up on those cues, rather than let history repeat itself after he had his family with Katara. Imagine how awful it must've been for Katara, watching the man she married ultimately go off with their air-bending son on these cultural excursions, and not even consider that their two other kids might want to learn about air bending culture anyway. They're a bi-cultural family, after all, right? Wouldn't that have been a prime example for the new world, showing a blended family being together and not separate? Just let that sink in for a moment.

2) Many people say that any misunderstood family dynamics between Kya, Bumi and Tenzin came to a peaceful conclusion in LOK season 2 with a happy family portrait. Here's the thing-- a posed, smiling family portrait doesn't necessarily indicate a healthy family unit. I'm also making note of LOK Season 3, when Bumi admits that he finally feels more connected to their father after he magically gets Airbending, and also that scene when Kya/Bumi arrive to the Northern Air Temple and the acolytes are shocked to hear that Avatar Aang had other children besides Tenzin. I mean... how much effort would it take, exactly, for Aang to just mention to the temple monks and acolytes that he had two other kids? Was he embarrassed to tell them they weren't air benders? Was he ashamed? In any case, he was the Avatar and he should've demonstrated pride for the children he had regardless of their bending ability or lack their-of. It goes without saying that, while Aang did grow up differently and had many priorities being the Avatar and the Last Airbender... he still made some conscious choices about how little of a "family man" he wanted to be. Aang clearly favored the air-bending life and didn't process that he was also raising a family that was part WaterTribe (perhaps because many of their customs clashed with his air-bending way of life... but that's another conversation.)

3) Yes, Bryke are notorious for writing examples of poor father figures (Ozai/Unalaq/BeiFong/Yakone/Hiroshi) and I'm also here to tell you that they're known for writing women who lose agency and turn devoted-doting-domestic-docile once they get with their man. Pema from LOK is a good example-- all we know about her is she literally gave her life to be an air-acolyte and carry Tenzin's children (the only backstory we get is Pema secretly pined for Tenzin until it became too much and she had to say something), and be the good housewife and mother to those air bending kids. We know nothing about this woman's individual wants or needs outside of motherhood. Another example is the backstory of Yakone and his unnamed wife who-- after giving this man two sons, completely disappears from the narrative and is not aware Yakone is abusing his kids. And she's still exists, because Amon refuses to go with Noatak so as to not abandon their mom. Their mother was so unnecessary as a character after she had the kids, she became this oblivious/silent character in the background who let her own kids get abused. Another example is Unalaq's wife-- again, about a father using his two kids like his henchmen and the mother isn't even in the picture. We know she exists because after Unalaq gets destroyed... Esna turns to Desca and says "what're we gonna tell Mother?"  It may have been written as a subtle joke... but the underlying sentiment is still there.

I'd say my favorite example is the fate of Fire Lady Ursa-- a woman once determined to protect her children that she was willing to commit murder and treason -- ends up choosing to forget those same children and instead wipes all her memories of them entirely to start a quiet domestic life with her childhood sweetheart, a man who very much knows the life Ursa left behind and has the power to decide what truths he wants to tell her about the world and live like there wasn't even a bloody war happening. (Don't even get me started on how The Search disappointed me. Oy).

Perhaps Aang and Katara -- even without intent -- might have fallen into that formulaic pattern when Bryke wrote out the first two seasons of LOK, because that was during the time The Promise, The Search and The Rift comics got published, and Katara's character was definitely becoming that unquestionably-loyal/no fuss/devoted girlfriend to Aang where she would go with everything he decided and sadly sit in a corner while Aang got all the praise and attention and never considering her feelings. Bryke picked up on these mistakes, however, because in the later comics like North & South and Imbalance, you can see them giving Katara some leadership moments (particularly when Aang isn't around) and Aang more of a mature, considerate approach with Katara, saying things like "I'm sorry I just left you to fight alone like that!" and "You're always asking me if I'm okay. Now it's my turn-- are you okay?"  The effort was definitely there to make Aang and Katara look somewhat more compatible than they let on. But things didn't really seem that promising in Legend of Korra... as Katara's character arc gets breadcrumbs of acknowledgement regarding what she did for the world outside of Aang's narrative.

It seems like Katara's badass individual characteristics were written second only to whatever she needed to be for Aang, including being the primary parent to his non-airbender kids while he focused on the air-bending culture.

In any case-- I'm almost certain Bryke will be bending over backwards to "fix" all of these flawed elements of Kataang and Aang as a father figure in the upcoming animated feature films, because if there's anything Bryke likes to do... it is "tell" us that Aang was a great guy and there absolutely was no other better person for Katara.

[linnoya-writes]

ZUKO: You were right about what Katara needed. Violence isn’t the answer.

AANG: It never is.

ZUKO: Then I have a question for you…

During the Invasion Plan, when you stormed into the Fire Nation palace to take down my father… you didn’t have your Avatar State to protect you. And my father and his fleet of Royal Guards were only going to be powerless for 10 minutes. What exactly were you planning to do to “take down” the Fire Lord and declare this war over, without getting yourself captured, tortured or killed… if not for the use of some kind of violence?

AANG: …. … ….

[linnoya-writes]

Who else is already making guesses to how Bryke will be framing a healthy, totally happy-partnership of adult Kataang in the upcoming ATLA feature film?

I, for one, can already see the opening scene as Avatar Aang and friends at Republic City, celebrating the launch of Katara's new healing clinic with a nice big statue of Katara and massive applause.

Sokka: "Unfortunately the statue might get a little obscured once we finish constructing Toph's police headquarters just down the street."

Katara: "It's alright, Sokka. It's the thought that counts. I love it, Aang!" (Katara and Aang hug and kiss tightly, right as the opening title sequence begins.

Or... It might be something more... subtle.

A pregnant-with-Bumi Katara busting the doors down of a dark airplane hangar with her waterbending, catching a group of shady fire-nation thugs dressed as Republic police in the middle of piling a truck full of scared non-bending Earth Kingdom refugees. The head thug, sitting casually with his feet up on a table full of cash, bending a fire-flame on his palm, smirks calmly at Katara.

Head Thug: "...and where is your husband?"

Katara: (smirks) "I'm not here on his behalf, if that's what your implying."

Head Thug: "Hmm. Interesting." (gets up with the flame still in his hand). "Well in any case, you caught us at a bad time, so I'd hate to see the Avatar's wife come back to him in reds and purples..." (gestures to her small belly) "...especially in her current condition."

Katara: (ignoring the sexism, she readies her waterbending stance) "Oh believe me, Sir. I won't be the one in reds and purples." (The fire-and-water bending fight ensues. The refugees cheer, and the opening credits appear.)

Let me know which kind of opening sequence you think it will be. 🤔

[linnoya-writes]

ATLA April Fool’s 2022

On this April Fool’s…

Let’s acknowledge the fools who declare that Kataang “won” just because these characters married and had kids together. 

…the fools who don’t bat an eye as they notice elderly Katara living a reclusive, quiet, practically purposeless existence in the South Pole…

…who don’t question Katara’s lack of contribution to the world (outside of being the Avatar’s wife, an on-call healer, and just-in-case-you-wondered-if she-ever-overcame-her-Bloodbending-trauma-oh-hmm-I-guess-not attempting to cease the practice of Bloodbending)…

…who turn a deaf ear to Katara and Aang’s said kids talking about how, as middle-aged adults, they still feel emotionally and culturally divided as a family.  

Sure.  In canon, Kataang won… but what did that win, exactly?

[linnoya-writes]

I can never understand people who see this moment as “just a hug.” 

Sure, it’s a nice symbolic way of showing a reconciliation between two people who, after almost a year expressing animosity and misunderstanding, finally are on the same side.

But… look at Katara.  

Think about how she didn’t hesitate to throw her whole body towards a person who’s not exactly used to that kind of physical contact.

Think about how tightly she’s hugging this person.  

Think about how she could’ve just approached him slowly, with fair warning and wrapped her arms lightly and amicably.  Just to show politeness.  Just to show no hard feelings between them from now on.

You can feel a deep, emotional demonstration in that hug.  

It’s like Katara doesn’t want to let this person go, and I don’t mean this just in the literal sense.  It’s almost like a transcendent… spiritual awakening that she’s realized within herself, hugging this person.  

I look at this image of Katara, and I see a character who, after a lifetime of internalizing so much rage, setting aside her emotional needs before others, always being everyone’s else’s voice of reason… everyone else’s beacon of hope… everyone else’s pillar of strength to carry on in the toughest times… this is Katara finally finding her pillar of strength.

This is Katara finding her Equal.  Her Partner.

This is Katara discovering the person she can lean on, whenever she has to remind herself that her thoughts, her needs, her feelings matter, too. 

And Zuko?  He wraps his arms around her, unafraid of this physical contact, accepting all of what Katara is… and he keeps that hug going for as long as Katara wants.

[linnoya-writes]

Zutara “Valentine’s Day” High School AU

February, Day 1

Katara and Sokka are young WaterTribe students who recently moved out of their homeland with their naval-commander father, to start fresh as a 9th grader and 10th grader at Fire Nation Academy after the recent death of their mother.  

Headmaster Iroh is aware of this sad news, and takes the liberty of assigning his nephew Zuko, a sullen-but-sharply-dressed 11th-grader, to show the new students around campus on their first day.  

This is right at the beginning of February, and while Sokka can’t stop asking Zuko questions about Mr. Mechanist’s engineering lab hours and Geography Club (”I do like expensive atlases!”)… Katara remains quiet.  She’s culture-shocked by the amount of pink, purple and red paper hearts bannered and dangling along the hallways of the school.  She’s also mesmerized by how Zuko’s face – that scar, dressing most of his left side – carries the same tones and hues of that school’s decor.  Unlike herself, Katara says nothing throughout that entire tour, holding her backpack straps tightly… and Zuko glances at her as they return to the headmaster’s office.

For the first time, Katara notices the rustic gold of his eyes.

Zuko frowns. “Any last questions?” His face moves to obscure his left side.

“Wh–”  Katara gestures to the hallway with her nose. “What’s with all the decorations?”

Zuko blinks, giving her this look that says ‘you’re kidding, right?’ and when he turns over to Sokka, it’s clear that these WaterTribe siblings have no idea what sappy Fire Nation tradition this is.  Zuko sighs, his eyes back on Katara. 

“Valentine’s Day,” he rasps, almost like a groan as he turns on his heel to finally bid them goodbye with his shoulder and quick wave of the hand.

Katara watches him leave, puzzled. 

February, Day 5

Throughout that first week, Katara finds herself making more friends with the teachers than the actual students, offering to help Mr. Piandao organize his library while discussing ancient military combat techniques, drinking tea with Mr. Jeong Jeong and talking about Eastern philosophies, and stopping by Ms. Ursa’s office to talk about poetry homework… but more just to say hello, because she’s so nice.  Katara has no idea how Sokka’s managed to make best-friends in the span of a few days, but there he is… laughing away with Chan and Rion Jon in the hallways, discussing boys’ volleyball practice.  Sokka’s never even played volleyball.  Who is this person?

There is one 9th-grader, Ty Lee, who seems sweet and willing to get to know Katara as a friend, but she wonders if it’s all to try to get closer to Sokka.

Because wow.

Katara can’t keep herself from chuckling by the handful of girls already looking for her brother’s affection.  Must be the eyes, Katara thinks, because if she had a copper piece for every time someone complimented her on her blue eyes, or her wavy hair, or the natural tan on her skin that first week of school…

Zuko hasn’t, strangely.  Not that she cares.

Occasionally, Katara sees him walk the hallways, holding hands with a girl with a matching gloomy face as they head to class together.  Katara thinks about her parents… how they used to hold hands like that… how they never looked gloomy when they did.  Katara shrugs.  Perhaps love is different with everyone.

When Katara attends a Student Council meeting that week, she finally understands what “Valentine’s Day” is, thanks to the Student Council President Azula.  The council has themed activities planned out for the entire week.  Katara has been assigned the Valentine’s Card Crafting Table before school, during lunch, study hall and after-school all throughout that week.  She feels slightly excited about this, as crafting was something she and her mother loved doing together.

But, glancing at the mountainous array of colorful glitter, gel-pens, markers, scissors, glue, construction paper and stickers all mixed around in these various plastic containers… Katara also understands why this was the assignment nobody had volunteered for.

She spends the rest of that Student Council meeting hour organizing all the materials to have them ready for the next week.  Nobody stays after the meeting to help her.  When Sokka’s Geography Club gets out and he finds her on the floor, alone, knelt with a pool of multi-colored construction paper that’s being organized by shade… Sokka approaches her sadly.  He doesn’t even open his mouth when she instantly holds a palm to him.  “Don’t say a word,” she says sharply, still looking down out at her mess.  “I just need a project.”

Sokka quietly puts down his schoolbag, kneels next to her, and assists.

February, Day 8

The table is all set up in the morning as students arrive.  Sokka is there helping her set up, but then immediately dodges Ty Lee’s advances when she shows up to support Katara’s first day behind the Valentine’s Day craft table.  "Who wants to make me a Valentiiiiine??” Ty Lee shouts in her bubbly song, and a couple of boys head over to the table a proceed to make a card for her.

Katara instructs them on how to best cut out a heart out of construction paper with crafting scissors.  They compliment her on her eyes.

She braces herself for the lunch period, and a few girls from Student Council stop by to make cards for each other and their own friends.  Katara chooses to not make hearts but instead a mixed-media card with little ice-huts and snow-men and penguins… which looks slightly ridiculous in the shades of pink and purple.  They love seeing Katara feel in her element with all of these crafting supplies, and tell her so, and the girl feels somewhat more comfortable behind that table.  Just as she’s about to ask them about fun things to do in the Fire Nation, the girls leave with their cards, and Katara remains alone at the table.

Just as she’s watching them all leave, she notices Zuko standing there at the doorway to the cafeteria, serious.  Katara’s face immediately winces down, back to her work.  But Zuko then approaches the very edge of the table.

“Did Azula make you do this?” he rasps. 

Katara shrugs, grinning to herself.  “I volunteered.”  In her salesman-type voice, she looks back up at him and says:  “Would you like to make a Valentine’s Day card for your Valentine?”

Zuko stares at her, and then at the array of crafting supplies on the table, and then at her mixed-media card of her Water Tribe home, and then back at her.

Saying nothing, he takes a seat at the table and grabs a piece of paper.

“Mai’s gonna love this,” is all he says, attempting to cut a symmetrical heart.  

‘Mai’ must be his girlfriend, Katara thought, but she notices the furrow in his eyes, the thinness of his mouth as he works quietly.  Perhaps love is different with everyone.

She returns to her own card.  In certain instances, she can feel Zuko looking at her.  After a quiet set of minutes, he asks her about what exactly she’s making on her card, and Katara tells him.  They spend the rest of that lunch hour talking, and crafting.

Zuko doesn’t compliment her on her eyes.

Not that she cares.

February, Day 9

“… and next thing we know, Sokka’s yelping like a baby seal and running from the wolf-pups… and he sprains his ankle and trips into this 20-foot ice-canyon.  My mom and I had to run to the neighboring village to help get him out.”

“Wow– all for some seal-jerky?”

“Dad told us to leave all the food back at camp!  Ugh– Sokka’s impossible.”

“I’d be happy to trade him for my sister— Hey, can you pass the stickers?”

“Sure– the pink hearts?”

“The white ones.  Mai hates pink.”

“I like the border you cut for the card.  You can add dots of glitter if you want, to  give it some character.”

“Maybe.  What are those swirls of green and yellow that you’re making?”

“Oh– it’s called the Southern Lights… when we were kids, Sokka and I would go swim to the closest iceberg to see them up-close.”

“You’d swim there?  Wouldn’t you freeze to death?”

“Haha!  We had thermal suits.  I’m actually thinking of joining the Girls’ Swim Team here, but they’re not fancy national champions, like the Boys’.  They sound like snobs.”

“They’re not all like that.”

“You know the whole team?”

“I’m on the team.”

“… … … oh.”

February, Day 10

“You’re staring at it again.”

“Wh–What? No, I wasn’t.”

”You were.”

“I wasn’t!  Your sister was passing by, and she gave me a weird look!”

“Whatever.”

“Fine– Don’t believe me.”

“ …Do you wanna know how I got it?”

“Um… only if it’s okay to ask.”

“It’s nothing crazy.  Azula and I snuck into our father’s fireworks supply for the Summer Solstice party at our house.  They were a surprise, but my sister always finds out about these things.  She loves fire.  She wanted to light some up in our backyard before it got dark.  She was only eight… my mother was tending to the party, and our father was supposed to be watching us, I guess.  I knew, the moment Azula lit one up, that she was standing way too close to it… so I pushed her out of the way, and it got me.

“I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay.  My parents split up, soon after that.  He didn’t fight for custody.”

“…Do you miss him?”

“No.  Sometimes.  I don’t know. –Where’s the glue?”

“Here.”

“Thanks.  Anyway… Uncle’s always been more of a father to me.”

“Iroh seems really great.”

“Yeah.  He tells the best jokes.  There’s this one, about tea leaves…”

February, Day 11

“She was always more my person, you know?  Not that Sokka wasn’t close to her, or anything, but… it was just different.  He still has Dad.”

“I know what you mean.  My mother and I have a closer thing, compared to Azula.  She doesn’t talk about it, but I can tell.”

“Yeah.  Hey, are you done with the silver gel pen?”

“Sure– here.”

“Thanks.  Anyway… I can’t talk about it, with them, at least… because I don’t want to make them feel like they have to watch out for me, here.”

“You seem like you can take care of yourself quite well.”

“Thanks– I mean, I have to.  Dad’s got work, and Sokka’s… you know… joining a bunch of clubs and playing volleyball, and making girlfriends– it’s not funny!–” 

“I wasn’t laughing.”

“You’re smirking!”

“..the scissors were jammed.”

“Ugh–whatever.  The point is– I can’t be anyone’s little girl anymore.  I have to grow up, keep all these feelings in, and just do what I can to keep us all going.”

“I get it.  It’s like you have to constantly hide a part of you to just survive each day.”

“It really does.  Do you feel that way, too?”

“Oh, constantly– By the way, I think these scissors are busted.”

“Here– I’ll trade you.”

“Thanks.  Anyway– after a while, you kind of stop seeing your life as your own, and you begin to accept whatever it is that people want from you.”

“Yeah.  Don’t worry, though.  I won’t go down that slippery slope.”

“Good.  I don’t think there’s a force of nature that can tackle your kind of strength, anyway.  Not even my sister.”

“Thanks, Zuko.  And… I hope it’s not too late for you.”

“What?”

“You know… to still turn things around? Figure out what you really want?”

“I– I don’t know.  Maybe there’s still time, I guess.”

“Good.” 

“Yeah. Um… so, what are those?  Icebergs?”

”…Yeah!  And this tiny thing is a canoe.  My brother and I would go out fishing in the mornings…”

February, Day 12

With it being the last day of school before “Valentine’s Day Weekend,” the craft table is more or less abandoned, and classmates are bee-lining along their lunch tables, passing around chocolates and carnations, cards and heart-shaped balloons.  

Devoted to her assigned task, Katara remains seated behind that table after school for fifteen minutes before she finally begins to pack up all of the materials and officially consider her shift complete.  She hears all the laughter and smiling faces of students closing their lockers for the day, reminding her of the Winter Solstice celebrations back at home… the way her tiny hands would be so eager to take that warm cup of cocoa from her mother’s palms…

“Need some help?”  

She blinks at the sound of Zuko’s voice, surprised to see him there with his messenger bag.  There’s nothing celebratory about his face or his dress – it’s his usual serious look – but Katara thought he’d be somewhere sharing chocolates with his girlfriend.  She decides not to bring that up, and just nods.

They pack up the materials appropriately into the plastic containers, making sure that the supplies don’t move about inside and thus become a mess for the next person who’s assigned Valentine’s Day Craft Duty next year.  Between the two of them, Zuko and Katara are able to carry all of the boxes into the school’s supply room in one single trip.

When Katara locks up the supply closet, she sighs a deep breath of relief, and Zuko chuckles.

“You know? This whole Valentine’s Day thing isn’t so bad,” she smiles at him.

Zuko just shrugs.  But in his hand, there’s a card with an envelope.  

The color of the envelope is an unfamiliar rustic gold – not like the shades of pink and white that Katara saw in her craft bins all week.  Zuko must’ve found this envelope on his own.

“What is that?” 

Katara mentally kicks herself when Zuko raises his brow.

“Your Valentine,” he says flatly, bringing it out to her.

“But…” she feels a lump in her throat, “… I didn’t make you anything.”

“It’s okay– just take it.” Zuko insists, his hand gesturing with the card.

Katara does.  She gazes at the envelope with both hands and proceeds to turn it over to slice it open.

“Not yet--” he rasps so suddenly, her hands flinch.  “You can’t open it until the Fourteenth.”

“Oh- so you’re superstitious, now?” Katara raises her brow, laughing.

Zuko groans, pinching his nose. “Forget it.  Open it, don’t open it.  Do what you want.”

They walk back out to the student hallways quietly, back to the noise of students and closing of lockers.  

“Are you doing anything special for Mai?” she asks him, out of courtesy.

He says nothing for a long second, and without turning to her, he speaks.  It comes out of him like invisible torture, of mumbling sounds and a syllables.

“We’re… um… we’re– not together– anymore.”  

Katara turns to him, over to the scarred side of his face as they walk.  It’s impossible to read what exactly he’s feeling by that almost-permanent frown, but she tries to, nonetheless.

“Oh.”  

That’s all that she says, and Katara kicks herself again.  As they walk, she can feel the words sitting idly in her throat, the I’m sorry and What happened? and Did she hurt you? and She doesn’t deserve you, you know that? and Sorry, do you want me to just stop talking?   

But before any of those words could come up, Zuko chimes in, turning his good side to her.

“See you around,” and there’s a tiny, almost secret grin that catches her eye as his face turns to leave for the parking lot.

“See you– thanks for your help!” she calls after him, and she can tell he heard her by the way he waves his hand.  

February, Day 14

She waits until the official stroke of midnight to finally open the envelope, and it feels like a bunch of paper-heart confetti that falls out of it.  

Five large pieces of confetti, to be exact.  

One card for each day of the week that Zuko had been sitting there at that table.  She sees the monochromic card from the first day, and the small patches of red, purple, and pink showing up on the cards the following days.  Nothing is written on them, but that is fine.  

That is still enough to make Katara smile.

And she sees a creme-colored folded piece of paper attached to the last card.  

She unfolds the paper nervously, fidgeting as to what kind of handwriting… what kind of words, what sappy poetry would be in store for her big blue eyes.

It reads:

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Katara.

I’m really sorry about your mother, but I hope that you will find something to call home here.  You should definitely join Student Council and try out for Swim Team; the girls could use more talent (I say that as a fellow swimmer – not as a rival, or anything).  Thanks for teaching me how to craft these cards - they’re actually not so bad.  

Would you want to keep talking, maybe?  At lunch? 

Anyway– I’ll be around, if you need me.

Zuko”

[linnoya-writes]

Zutara- teenage butterflies and slowburn intimacy

One of the biggest reasons why I adore Zutara so much is that you get to see these two most mature kids in the show finally experience the awkwardness of  being teenagers with tiny butterflies in their stomachs as they get to know each other as friends, finding themselves becoming more attracted to the other.

Of course, there’s all that emotional baggage from their previous encounters in Book 1 and Book 2, being on opposing sides, but if we imagine Zuko and Katara after “The Southern Raiders,” after they hug (tightly!) and are able to comfortably hang out and poke fun at each other’s quirks… and also teaming up as the roles of “mom and dad” to the group… the gradual shift between two friends’ innocent teasing to downright flirtation would be so beautifully valid and credible.

Considering Zuko is the more guarded one of the two, and isn’t as vocal about his feelings or physically affectionate as Katara, the development of their intimate moments before Sozin’s Comet would be such a “slowburn” but so ridiculously heartwarming. 

Examples:

-Zuko “rises with the sun” and is already in the kitchen preparing tea when Katara shows up to prepare breakfast. It’s his way of saying that he wants to help her in all the tasks she usually does as the “mom” of the team.

-Zuko helps hang up laundry every morning, but does a poor job at it (as he’s not used to chores). Katara lets her hands brush over his while she shows him how to properly clip the fabrics onto the lining.  

-Katara asks Zuko if he could train her in dao swords, as she feels it would be useful to learn non-bending combat.  Zuko gives her his swords to practice with, and hesitates as his body stands close behind her to demonstrate the proper stance.

-When everyone decides to have a beach party on Ember Island, Zuko plays the serious adult who doesn’t have time for fun.  When Katara approaches him, Zuko admits he feels self-conscious about removing clothes, as he is only used to it in front of his sister/Mai/TyLee or for bending/training purposes.  Katara encourages him to join the fun, and it’s only when he sees her swimming and laughing that Zuko feels compelled to jump into the water.

-Sokka and Suki encourage Zuko and Katara to get the groceries in the town center for once, rather than work around the beach house.  They get the food supplies pretty quickly and spend a good amount of the afternoon walking around the market, Zuko talking about typical FN cuisine and memories of Ember Island… even extending an arm to Katara (as if they were a couple) to hold off any suspicious eyes from people around them.

-Zuko meditates in the evenings on the beach house roof and Katara is compelled to finally learn to meditate and sits right next to him… so as to have some peace and quiet before the group meets together dinner. 

-Katara waterbends out in the water late into the evening, and Zuko, despite always feeling ready to call it a night after dinner… can’t help but stick around to watch her bend.  One night he is bold enough to approach her and ask if she would like to spar, and this becomes their evening, after-dinner ritual.

-As he goes on a morning walk before breakfast, Zuko finds a seashell on the beach.  He hesitates but picks it up, and hands it to Katara when they meet to prepare breakfast.  She smiles and thanks him for the lovely gift.  Zuko blinks, and his face softens.  He ends up finding a few other seashells for her on his morning walks, and she decoratively places them along the railing of the beach house balcony.

-One day, while Aang is being trained by Toph, and Zuko is practicing his fire bending alone, Katara goes on a short hike with Sokka and Suki to talk about the Comet Battle plan and see the surrounding areas of the beach house. They stumble on some golden hibiscus flowers, and Sokka has no problem picking a few of them for Suki.  While they have a moment, Katara picks one for herself, placing it on her left ear as an accessory.  By the time they all return to the beach house, she brings the flower over to Zuko… saying she found this pretty flower that matched his eyes.  When she hands it to him, Zuko sweetly says “typically, it’s the guy who gives flowers to the girl,” and Katara shrugs, saying “well, we don’t really see flowers in the SWT, so I wouldn’t have known.” She offers it to him again, and Zuko receives it gently, and when she kisses him on the cheek, he carefully leans into it.

-On the last few days leading up to the Comet, they find themselves going on morning walks along the beach, or afternoon hikes after lunch, or doing chores together without necessarily having to do them together (but things get done faster with two people).  They talk more and more about things unrelated to the Comet Battle– their favorite foods, embarrassing childhood stories, things they’ve seen from their world-travelling… things they’re hoping to see in the world once the war is over.  There’s a slight heaviness in the air, though, because it’s become clear that whatever they’ve started to feel is strange, and good, and beautiful, and yet dangerous in the context of the battle they’re preparing for.  Quietly, they choose to maintain their boundaries, but their eyes remain soft to one another.

-At some point in these little moments, they find their hands brushing at the fingers as they walk, and the butterflies in their stomach begin to flutter.  Whenever they part, Katara places a hand on his shoulder, but it gradually moves down to his upper arm.  Zuko doesn’t flinch, despite the nerves being there, and finally… one night, he finds the courage to lift a hand to bring one of Katara’s hair loops behind her ear.  And the butterflies take flight.  And it’s hard to pinpoint when exactly the hand-holding begins, but it does.  It just does.  And it practically becomes a second-nature to them… something they don’t even realize they’re doing until Suki notices them returning from a walk together one night, and they quickly break apart.  They blush, and Katara starts blabbering something like the cold night giving her cold hands… but Suki just grins and says nothing (for the sake of privacy).

-When Aang storms off from the group regarding the killing of the Fire Lord, Katara is compelled to go after him, but she is held back by Zuko, like “dad” telling “mom” that this kid is old enough to sort this inner conflict on his own.  It’s after that moment when they finally stand in front of the balcony railing (all the seashells still on there) and talk about Aang like he’s their son, choosing to worry about him and be afraid for him together.  Katara finds herself leaning towards Zuko’s frame as they look at the ocean, and Zuko boldly brings a hand to Katara’s shoulder.  Katara finds his other hand at the railing, and their fingers entwine as they stand there, Zuko caressing her shoulder at some point, lightly kissing her hair for comfort.  They hold each other close for the dreadful morning that’s to come with the Comet’s arrival.  

[linnoya-writes]

Whenever I hear Bryke chatting in an interview about Kataang and trying to downplay Zutara's merits over their own canon-ship... I can only picture them as Joffrey in this scene from Game of Thrones.

[linnoya-writes]

ATLA SWT future in-laws AU

No, but seriously.  

Imagine Zuko and Suki, these delicate Spring and Summer children, practically sinking into their parkas’ to stay warm as they get to know the Southern Water Tribe for the first time, to celebrate the Winter’s Solstice with their significant others.  And they’re all sitting around an ice-fishing hole that evening, waiting patiently for tomorrow’s breakfast to get caught, the Southern Lights glowing above them…  Zuko huddling close to Katara, Suki holding gloves with Sokka, while Hakoda and Bato swap funny childhood stories and Gran Gran is giving a look like ‘kids these days have it so easy.’  Katara is giggling, Sokka is laughing, and Suki and Zuko are just… trying to stay warm in their parkas as they listen.  

Imagine Zuko and Suki exchanging this comical, silent, knowing look to each other that reads: how do people LIVE like this? 

But in a way, it feels nice to know there’s someone else who’s brave enough to tackle this subzero tundra and immerse themselves into their significant other’s culture– the things people do for love.  It feels good to have that solidarity, to know that someone is quietly rooting for them to stick it out for that kind of love and become a part of this wonderful SWT family.

[linnoya-writes]

Zutara secret scientists “The Bridges of Madison County” canon compliant AU (Rated R)

Katara married Aang and Zuko married Mai. The time Zuko and Katara get to spend together as friends is limited by all of their duty to their partner and their country. 

Zuko would look at Mai and sometimes admire her kind of devotion, sometimes feel sorry for her, knowing she loved a man so much she was willing to birth him a child and endure this regal, frivolous and boring life for him.

Aang is off in the temples with young 12yo Tenzin for most of the year. Kya’s 14yo tomboyish rebelliousness and apathy towards water-bending mastery is pushing Katara to the edge of her sanity with how much she reminds her of a certain snarky Earthbender, and so Hakoda’s agreed to take her to get some grandpa time in the SWT. Bumi is 19 and has been long gone for years, freshly graduated from Republic City’s naval academy and now off to basic training with Zuko’s naval fleet of the united Forces, and even though she misses that goofy-but-sensitive little non-bender, the kid who clung to her skirts and sought attention when Aang started flying off with Tenzin on those cultural excursions… Katara is glad that Bumi’s dependence on Mom has lessened over time… how military school has pushed him to clean his own room and wash his own clothes for once. 

For the first time, Katara feels like an empty nester, her only company being the air acolytes and attendants who keep Air Temple Island in good maintenance.  She spends her days visiting her healing clinics in Republic City, being stopped occasionally by a local for either a thank-you regarding her work services, or to express some city-related concern to relay back to the Avatar when he returns. More often than not, it’s the latter... and Katara has mastered a very specific, very polite smile for those moments.  She spends her days handling Aang’s correspondence, writing on behalf of him since his own scribe follows the Avatar everywhere and this task has helped her feel close to her husband when they’re apart.  She’s already learned to differentiate the mail that exudes serious business matters over the ones that are glorified love-letters dressed as serious business matters for the young, attractive Messiah of their world.  Those pinches of jealousy she first felt when reading these letters had long left her system, now replaced by little eye-rolls of amusement and weighed sighs of deep, deep sympathy.  Nevermind that this Messiah has been married for almost twenty years, with three children… yet Katara can’t blame them.

She knows what it’s like, to idolize something for such a long time that it becomes impossible to let go… or perhaps how, after so many years eclipsing the person behind the idea, letting go no longer feels like an option. 

She takes her meals alone, in the second floor balcony overlooking Republic City and reflects on her work, how she has become a renowned Healer, and gives herself the space and time to read the newest letter with the Fire Lord’s seal.  It’s correspondence that has arrived the last few years-- ever since they last reconnected in Republic City for the global peace summit, when Katara had stood aside when the council debated about the rise of bloodbending in the city. When the time came for Avatar Aang to announce the vote to outlaw it, Master Katara quietly rose her hand.  Zuko saw her removed face that came with that hand—  Aang did not. 

And during council recess, it was Zuko who approached her about the vote, and she confessed how this had been a long-pressing debate at home as much as in the city— Aang had every reason to want to outlaw it.  And when Zuko asks her if there were any potential reason to keep it, Katara’s eyes lit up… thinking about her healing him in the Agni Kai again Azula… that maybe there was a way to combine bloodbending with surgical techniques for healing.

She talks about this to Zuko, as if it had been in her mind for years and years. 

Zuko promises to help her in the effort, and so their correspondence began… trying to find various healing techniques that combined sophisticated efforts in the Fire Nation, the traditional holistic methods of Southern Water Tribe and the complex, controversial bloodbending to practice in Republic City.  They look at the possibility of invasive surgery methods with some kind of anesthesia … introducing bloodbending as long as it’s not hurtful and as long as patients can give consent to it.  All they need is herbal medicines to numb patients enough so as to not feel any pain.   

They talk about this for years, while bloodbending remains illegal and yet rampant in Republic City… and Aang notices the fire in Katara’s eyes at dinner, when she brings up her research on unconventional healing. She almost gives Sokka’s scientific brain a run for the money. 

In their letters, Zuko and Katara become partners in this research… and despite the correspondence being strictly professional, it becomes something of a refuge for the two friends… a little beating heart that keeps them sane from the everyday political, emotionally invisible parts of their lives.  They never talked about their growing children, or the rust taking shape in their respective marriages… they know better than to be so indiscreet in a written document. 

In his most recent letter, Fire Lord Zuko announces that his Minister of Agriculture is planning a summer research trip on the cultivation of holistic herbs in this small island of Hivaleya… and not only has funding been approved for it but there is an opening for a healing expert to assist with the project.  Without saying it, Katara can hear her friend inviting her to apply for the project that summer to the remote island, and... also without saying it… she has a feeling her friend would find his way there, too... even for a small time. 

It’s Zuko, after all. 

Her heart beats like thunder, and she has no idea if it’s good or bad.

At least, not yet.

Katara arrives to the island at the start of summer, leaving Republic City in good hands with Toph and Sokka and Suki, if only they knew. 

Zuko does shows up the following week after Katara's arrival, on a riveting Fire Nation cruiser with a small staff of attendants. When Zuko bows to her like a friend, she brings her arms to him tightly like a best friend… and he returns the favor. 

They spend an entire day on the island at work along other scientists, planting and testing out leaves of herbs with a local tree oil and getting closer and closer to a formula for anesthesia, which would be a breakthrough for surgical procedures.  They almost don't notice that it gets dark. When the attendants escort the Fire Lord to his assigned cabin, Zuko dismisses them, and he and Katara work through the night.

They barely get through any sleep as they work, talking and catching up… nothing but their most relaxed selves easing any tension. When Katara leans her laughing self to her best friend's frame, and looks up at him, she doesn't see the age lines of his brow or the peppering grays of hair covering his grin. It's like Zuko is once again the serious, stern boy she had taunted at the Western Air Temple. The golden sunrise of his eyes have returned, and Zuko says nothing but is only looking at her, carefully. Cautiously. And the two friends realize how, perhaps, underneath all of their professional, platonic demeanor since Azula’s Agni Kai… were feelings that never came to pass. 

It’s Katara who brings a gentle hand to Zuko’s face… the memories of a crystal-lit underground in Ba Sing Se returning to them mutually.  Their bodies tense up, but then they hear themselves breathing quietly, relaxing all the apprehension away…. And their present life— their research, their families, their duty, all honor as they know it— completely fades into the distance. 

It’s Zuko who then bravely leans into Katara, and she meets him... a kind of gravity they’d never experienced before. They kiss awkwardly… and then again, softly. And gently. And sweetly.  

They rediscover how to kiss as they hold each other, protectively, while the bonfire runs its course. In the dead of night, among the noise of so much unfamiliar wildlife... Katara invites Zuko to her designated cabin in the woods… and they remain there, discovering their bodies and fulfilling wishes their minds had entirely abandoned but their hearts had secretly kept safe.

When they kiss, it’s quiet; when they move… it’s gentle and giving, loud and reassuring, and oh, so sweet.  They can hear the tropical birds beginning to chirp outside as they stir awake, gloriously naked and in each others’ arms… the two of them living a selfish yet beautiful present, for once.  They quietly agree to get up before the research staffers arrive back to work, but neither Zuko nor Katara move from the bed but instead look over to the sunrise… a sun greeting an ocean. They smile lazily as they rest, as if they’d rested this way with each other forever. 

They make every second count during those remaining days, trying to focus on the work without stealing any smiles or glances or soft grazes of a hand.  They wait until all the staff have left for the night -all of them oblivious to what two middle-aged adult friends might be up to- to continue their precious little time together. 

Zuko watches Katara waterbend on the beach and invites himself to spar, already knowing he’s at a disadvantage but not caring about that at all.  When they chase each other along the beach at sunset, they look like restless children in their silhouettes… laughing as they fall into a wrestling heap in the sand… the sun and the ocean bearing witness to all of it.  The king struggles a walk in the sand as he carries his queen to his own cabin that night, but they laugh and steal kisses along the way. 

The second night comes more slowly for them as they kiss and undress… reinacting things from the night before, but with less of an urgency to it. They take their time, gradually discovering what they like… a language made up not so much of words as it is with touch, and eyes, and breath.  Zuko awakes with the sun, and when he passes the soft ridges of a wildflower along Katara’s back, she stirs her eyes open with a smile.

“Did I disrupt your dream?” he rasps.

She glances at him sweetly. “No.”

Zuko grins, and as the flower continues to graze her back, Katara can’t remember if she’d ever experienced playfulness like that before— not even from Aang. 

When Katara leans over to Zuko for their lips to touch… and touch, and touch and touch as a ‘thank you’, Zuko can’t remember if he’s ever experienced that kind of gentleness before… definitely not from Mai. 

It’s the third day that brings a hungry desperation back to them, forgetting themselves and moving through a sleepless night… biting, scratching and clutching... saying things they’d always meant to keep hidden in the deepest corners of their hearts.... recalling scars, and healing sessions, and council meetings, coronations, weddings, funerals, births.... things they had said in passing, recounting even the smallest details of what they were wearing… how a smile, or a laugh, or a single-met-glance had almost driven them mad, made them willing to risk it all for just one brush of their hand... and oh… declarations, loud enough for the stars to hear as they switch positions on Katara’s bed while barely breaking apart and moving some more… yet remaining together, moving feverishly as a unit in all of this unbelievable need. 

This feels right, their eyes say. This was what had always been meant to be.

Him, and her.  

They hold each other as they finally rest, Katara pressing her mouth to his shoulder… kissing everywhere she can to make him feel at home, and whole.  Zuko hums.

As loud as they had been all that night, the handful of words they exchange next come barely as whispers, caressing their closest arms for comfort. Zuko breaks the long silence.

“I’m sorry.”

“No. I wanted this.”

“Katara—“

“And if a baby happens, I’ll... take it.”

“Are you sure?” 

“Yes. Do you want a baby with me?” 

Zuko tears up. “I—I always have. I just couldn’t—“

“I know." Katara can only look away, ashamed. "Me too.”

“I wanted a life with you.”

Katara nods in agreement, tears down her cheeks, her body shaking.

 “But if all we can have is a child, I’ll fight for that." Zuko presses his forehead to hers. "I won’t run.”

“I know you won’t.”

And they kiss, with a newfound bravery underneath a careful sense of fear of what might occur. 

And yet… in their kisses, their exhausted and aged bodies… and in the tears that they wipe gently from their respective eyes, Zuko and Katara can already feel that a child will never come.

They know it without even exchanging any words about it. 

They know their story is not meant to leave the island, but still… they remain in that peace for the rest of those days, avoiding every angle of their harsh reality, and then wish each other well... and promise to stay in touch. 

On their final morning together, they take separate baths.  

When Zuko returns to the palace… Mai is there, sitting in the grand study reading as if she’d been on the same page for decades.  She obediently stands in the Fire Lord’s presence, but doesn’t go to Zuko because he asks, “Was there anything pressing that occurred while I was gone?” 

In an instant, she knows… but it seems her body had known for a much longer time by the way Mai feels her bones going heavy, her frame stiffening, her breath holding back. 

Mai smiles, but only with her mouth— it was easier that way.  “No— nothing.” And so it goes, for the rest of their life. 

Mai never mentions the way his eyes would light up at breakfast, whenever he got business correspondence from Air Temple Island with a Watertribe symbol on the wax seal.  Mai doesn’t mention it because she doesn’t let him go; she keeps Zuko for herself, even when his little smiles to her cease to exist, when he no longer pays a late-night visit to her bedchambers… when she, one night, is greeted in utter humiliation to a locked door to his… she loves him so much, she is willing to put up with all of it. 

Aang, on the other side of the world, lives his days obliviously to what is on Katara’s mind.  She serves him, as she always has, and doesn’t put up a fight for the things he wants… but his visions betray him.  The doubt creeps in like a poisonous rat-viper, but Aang doesn’t approach Katara about it— it’s not his nature to accuse. 

And anyway, she’s still with him; that has to count for something. 

But when they make love, not even the Great Bridge, the divine medium between both worlds could keep away the golden hues of the mere mortal king who consumed the waterbender’s thoughts… despite this king living a continent away.  In her sleep, Katara would mumble a name that wasn’t his… and Aang thought it to be his mind playing cruel tricks on him.  Aang never questioned his wife’s devotion, because she was always there, loving the Avatar. 

And even when her gaze would fall past him, Aang questioned nothing.  It was easier, this way.

Decades later, when Mai passes away... Zuko mourns alone in white to a woman who relentlessly stayed true to her love. He does not write Katara about the news, as this news must have already reached Air Temple Island.

There is a part of Katara who quietly, selfishly craves to go to her old friend when no one is looking. There’s a wince of her once-bold self that she sees, already packing her bags and sneaking out of the temple, taking the first boat towards the Fire Nation Capital.

But she doesn’t. 

Instead she writes to Zuko with tears in her eyes… “Fire Lord Zuko, I’m so sorry for your loss, and I wish could be there to comfort you in this grief.  Let’s support each other with the happiness we have in this life.  I’ll be there for you in the next one.”  

Zuko reads this with tears in his eyes, more of hope than of loss.

A few years later, after Avatar Aang uses his final breaths to ask his wife to guide the next Avatar into this role, Katara does not refuse. 

For the rest of their lives, Master Katara and Fire Lord Zuko serve the Avatar as allies... the yet the two friends remain at arms length through their letters regarding the progress of the first invasive surgical clinic at Republic City. 

The project is the closest thing that Katara and Zuko would ever make together, found by courage and dedication… a project that would outlive any child they may have ever had.

Decades later, when their times finally come, only a few days of each other… Bumi and Kya and Tenzin open the letter their mother had left them for her final burial wishes.

Izumi realizes that her father had written a similar letter to her, too

The letters were asking to let his ashes rest not in the fire tombs of the ancient lords, or hers in the deep crevices of the southern water tribe… but instead to be poured together onto the shores of this tiny, practically uncharted island called Hivaleya.

The children look at each other... puzzled from this news. Confused by the cryptic request. Angry from the implications of it… and sad, all the same.

It’s their children who light the candles and pour their remains, praying and hoping that their parents find each other in the afterlife.

[linnoya-writes]

Zutara v. Kataang “what should’ve occurred post-Sozin’s Comet” canon divergent AU.

After the AgniKai, and Azula’s arrest by the FireSages, Zuko finally lets Katara thoroughly address the wound.  

“I’m alright— errgh!” 

A hand covers the center of his bare chest as they walk, but one thing Zuko’s quickly learned about Katara is to not question her concerned eyes or her tenacious stamina.  

“Let me see…” she stops them both in that grand echoing corridor on their way to meet the high-Sage.  She shoves Zuko’s hand reluctantly aside to see the lightning mark still bruising raw just below the area to his heart.  

The wound is a deep purple – branching out like tiny veins –  and the girl’s eyes widen.

Katara had been holding so tightly to this relief that her very brief and impromptu healing session had gotten Zuko out of the worst possible outcome… but the truth was it had barely healed the wound.  His chest rises and falls uncomfortably as she studies the mark further with her ear, and hearing Zuko’s ragged breaths underneath all of that piled-up strength almost brings her to tears.  

How in the world can you be walking right now? she thinks, unable to imagine the young prince’s tolerance for pain.  

Katara looks up at him, the stern golden eyes returning her gaze and trying to convince her that he’s fine.  He was not.  She had used that excuse one too many times herself to know enough.

She summons a handful of water to soothe his wound while she speaks. 

“Azula mentioned a ‘family physician’— back when she was—“ Katara looks away, searching for the right words, but then decides against it and with a more determined face. “Where would the healing quarters be?” 

“It’s a medical wing,” he rasps. “It’s not far.” 

His head turns forward, to the right direction, and while Zuko can manage walking on his own… Katara quietly insists on having him lean on her. He doesn’t protest.  

Their walk involves very few words, and Katara finds comfort in Zuko’s breathing next to her.  

The medical wing is grand, pristine and decorative with regal drapery of gold and red everywhere. To Katara, it feels too clean and sterile to think that anyone injured would’ve ever set foot there.  Zuko, however, seems to know the place well enough, as he makes his way around the cabinets and drawers to find bottles of liquids, washcloths, rolls of bandages and a cutting knife.  He sits himself down with a grunt on the nearest bed— not a cot, but an actual bed— and seems to forget Katara is there while he proceeds to clean the wound himself with his hyper-focused eyes.  

Katara watches, mesmerized.  This place, these tools… they all feel so sophisticated to her, but it’s listening to Zuko’s ragged breaths that finally gets her to approach him.  

“Let me try my hand at it again, please.”  

“It’s not that serious, Katara— she just grazed it.” 

“’Just grazed it’!? Zuko… this is your heart!  If we don’t take a look at every possible area of damage now, you might get seriously hurt.”  

“I’ve dealt with injuries before— I know when it’s bad.” 

“Oh, so that makes you the expert on how to treat lighting injuries?” 

Zuko winces up at her, then, seeing her arms crossed and her blue eyes glistening angrily.  They hold him in place.  

“I’m sorry,” he rasps.  

She drops her hands and gives a deep sigh.  

“Can you just… please just let me help you?”  

He nods, not looking away.  

“Lay down,” she commands, and brings in the closest footstool to use as a makeshift seat while Zuko clears away the bandages and ointments from the bed.   Zuko lays his head carefully on the pillow, grunting under his breath, and. Katara makes note of where that came from. 

“Sounds like she may have grazed some abdominal muscles, too.”  

Zuko looks away from her, annoyed, but he lets out a small chuckle.  

It catches her off-guard, but Katara proceeds to hold her hair back and leans an ear to his chest.  His heartbeat is normal, thank the spirits, but his breathing is still muffled, and when she places two fingertips over the bruising mark, Zuko lets out his very first real bellow of pain.  It echoes the walls of the wing.  Katara flinches back in her seat, watching his body shiver in response, his eyes shut tightly, his chest heaving.   

“Whatever that was…” he rasps as his head hits the pillow, “…don’t do it again.”  

“Zuko— I think the lightning hit one of your ribs,” Katara brings herself closer.

“There’s a brace…” Zuko points with his nose, “in that cabinet over there.” 

Katara glances over at where he’s gesturing, and then looks to him— to the scar on his face, and to the many unseen injuries that must’ve dressed this body once upon a time.  Her eyes fight a glimmer. 

Quietly, Katara goes over to the cabinet and pulls out a mint-condition rhino-elephant boned chest brace.  The weight of it is surprising in her arms.  When she returns to her stool, she sees a bit of dampness in Zuko’s forehead.  His lips are parched.  

For a moment, she forgets how to breathe.

“Zuko… how bad does it hurt?” She approaches his face, worried. “Tell me.”  

His eyes are shut, as if he were trying to concentrate on deep breaths and nothing else. 

“I can’t.” His weak, broken rasps almost break her.  

“Yes, you can!  Zuko, you can tell me. I… I’m not going to hurt you, okay?  I never meant to hurt you, and I’m sorry I made you think I’d ever do something so horrible to you…  but I’m going to make you better.  I promise!”  Her voice is quivering and she’s wiping tears from her eyes.  She has no idea when her other hand decided to find Zuko’s closest wrist, but there it is, and there it stays.  “But we have to work together—do you understand?  I can’t… I can’t do this all by myself.  I need you to trust me.” 

“I trust you.“ 

“What?” She was too preoccupied with her tears, she didn’t hear him clearly.

“I trust you, Katara.” 

His eyes are glistening, moving in a gold that is curiosity and faithful assurance. 

All at once, Katara feels at ease, shy, lost for words… unsure where else to look if not for his eyes.  

Zuko shifts his eyes towards the wound:  “I just meant that… I can’t let anyone see me like this. Especially the Head Sage. They might contest my ability to rule.” 

“Why?” She says this almost too loudly. “You already won that stupid duel. What else do you have to prove to them?”

“It doesn’t matter— I was a banished prince. Most of the court doesn’t believe I deserve to be here, much less with a crown.” 

Katara stares at Zuko, appalled, moving her eyes to the small FireNation sigil that’s clipped on the draping canopy of this bed.  

“No offense, Zuko,” she returns to address the wound, summoning more water from her pouch, “but right  now your country is ruled by a bunch of sour old idiots.”  

“I know,” he says with a hint of teenage sarcasm only Katara could catch. She wonders how much of Sokka’s personality had rubbed off on him. “Hopefully we’ll change that.” 

“We?” She glances to him, oddly. 

“Yeah.” He glances back to her, just as oddly. “I meant… you, me, Aang— the avatar— everyone?” 

“Oh. Right.” 

Katara feels too ashamed to admit that she hadn’t even thought about Aang since before the Agni Kai.  She focuses sternly on the wound. 

“Wait—”  Zuko edges his face to her from the pillow.  “What did you think I meant?” 

“Nothing!  It’s fine.” 

“Are– are you serious!? You just asked me to trust you and now, you’re refusing to be open and honest with me?” 

Katara throws a glare at him, meeting Zuko’s very practiced glare and immediately knowing he’s right.  Still, she says nothing, and it’s a staring contest that Zuko does not have the energy to play. He scoffs.

“Forget it. Girls are crazy…” He quips, his head hitting the pillow again, his eyes looking at ceiling.  

“Fine! I’ll tell you—but it’s going to sound really really stupid so you can’t laugh.” Zuko turns to meet her pointed finger, both amused and disgusted. “You have to promise me you won’t laugh.” 

“Okay.”

“Promise!” She urges, sounding more and more bossy by the second.  

“Okay! Ugh—“ Zuko grunts under Katara’s healing water.  “I promise, alright?”  

“Good,” Katara takes a small breath, feeling her cheeks go warm.  “I— um, I thought you were talking about me… and you.”  

She’s too embarrassed to look Zuko in the eyes, particularly because she feels that warmth in her cheeks flood through her entire body.  

“…That’s what you imagined?” his raspy voice comes out shyly, and when Katara meets his eyes, she realizes he’s blushing too.  

She isn’t afraid to nod to him.  His eyes made her feel so at ease, so curious… and yet so vulnerable.   She wasn’t used to this.  

Katara breaks the eye contact to look at the water she’s bending for the healing session.  “Yeah. Like I said… stupid, right?”  

“I wouldn’t call it that, exactly…” Zuko returns to look at the ceiling, his voice coming in a thoughtful husk. “I just don’t know how it would work.”  

Katara laughs musically, avoiding his eyes.  “Yeah.  I don’t think I’m what anyone would consider Fire-Lady material… and I’m pretty sure we’d be at each others’ throats most of the time.  How would anything ever get done?”  

“We’d probably fight all the time.”  

“I mean, we were just fighting two seconds ago!”

“Right. We’re better off as allies.”  

Katara can feel the blush fading from her cheeks then, turning her gaze to him. 

“I think we’re a little more than that, though— I mean, with what happened back there.”  

Zuko meets her gaze again, curious.  “What would you call us, then?”  

Katara takes a moment.  

“We’re friends, Zuko.” She smiles, hopefully, returning to concentrate on the wound. “Friends who almost died trying to save one another.”  

“Friends.”  Zuko muses toward the ceiling. “It feels nice to say that.” 

“It does.” 

There’s a blush that passes over the two of them, but neither of them acknowledge it.  Instead, they talk about other things, letting the hours pass late into the night and early morning.  

***

By the time Sokka and Suki and Toph land over the Agni Kai arena on a commandeered Fire Nation airship, Katara knows that could only mean good news.  One look at Sokka’s limping leg in place of his missing sword and boomerang tells her enough, that her brother had given everything of himself to make sure mission to stop Ozai’s invasion had been successful…  and she quickly springs to action to get him and the girls to the medical wing.  

“Sparky!  You won!”  Toph runs immediately over to where she can hear Zuko’s breathing and laughter, throwing herself to her with an awkward side hug.  Sokka is too busy limping towards the opposite bed and close his eyes to say anything other than ‘We did good, buddy.’  It’s Suki who notices the brace and bandages over Zuko’s chest, the ointments and two cups of tea on his nightstand, the extra blankets and resting pillow at the foot of his bed… the warm, shy smile on his face as he’s listens to Toph talk about her ironclad suit on the airship.  It’s a kind of sweet, nurturing wholesomeness Suki had no idea existed in this usually-stern young man.  

When Katara’s voice pops up behind her, Suki flinches back to reality. 

“He took a pretty hard hit from Azula near the end…” Katara says quietly to her, holding some blankets intended for Sokka.  “…but he’s gonna be okay.”

Suki, like any girl her age, can sense from Katara’s voice that she’s choosing to leave out a major detail of what had happened during the Agni Kai… but the girl doesn’t pry.  

Only because she has something else to tell Katara.

“Aang’s on his way over.”

Katara stumbles in her words and almost drops her blankets.  Her eyes widen.  “.…Aang?”

“Yeah.  He had to meet with the White Lotus and arrest Ozai.  But he should be on his glider heading this way.”

“He came back.  He actually came back.”  Katara muses, clutching the blankets tightly to her frame.  She’s so happy, so relieved by this news; she can’t wait to see Aang again.  But when she glances over at Zuko’s tender smile, talking about the Agni Kai with Toph… Katara doesn’t know why there’s suddenly a heaviness in the pit of her stomach at the thought about seeing Aang’s face. They hadn’t exactly left things in the best terms before the battle… or rather… even before that. She thinks about their moment on the balcony of Ember Island, and shuts her eyes tightly. And breathes.

***

She sees him gracefully landing on on his glider outside the arena.

“Aang!”

His name is effortless and joyful when she says it, running to him and hugging him without waiting for any approval.  Katara can feel the extra inches of height on him, the young muscles of his arms hugging her back just as tightly.  You saved the world, she thinks, just as I knew you would.

“Are you okay?” is the second thing she says to him.

“I got the Avatar State back.”

“You did!?”

They’re still hugging.  Their answers come in muffled voices against their shoulders.  

“Yeah. It helped me defeat the FireLord.” 

“That’s wonderful!”  Katara lifts her head and kisses Aang on the cheek while they hug.  “I knew you could do it.”  

When Katara tries to part from him, then, Aang remains holding onto her close.  Her smile is still dressed on her face.

“And, well… that means the war is finally over!”  

Aang announces this so proudly, with such an indiscreet coat of anticipation and giddiness… it makes Katara want to crawl under her own skin as her smile feels all of a sudden fraudulent.  It’s only when Aang moves his face closer to hers that she finally, finally snaps out of it, and pushes herself fully out of his hug.  Her arms fold over her frame, and she still manages to look at him. 

“Katara?”

His voice quickly goes quiet and confused — and sad — and it takes every ounce of strength for Katara to not comfort him as she usually does, but also not look away in shame.

“Aang, I… I think we need to talk— no!  Please don’t run away.  Please.” 

She sees Aang stepping back and she hears her voice turning firm, and it kills her.  She knows it’s Aang’s turn to feel completely out of his own skin, feeling unexpectedly cornered, ready to take off on his glider the moment this person he trusted more than anyone is about to tell him something he doesn’t want to hear.  

“It’s — it’s okay,” Aang attempts, and she can hear the effort; how much he’s trying to sound like a man.  “We don’t have to talk about it now.  There’s still a lot we have to do. It can wait.”  

And Katara puts a hand over her eyes and groans.  Of course he would pull that, and she doesn’t blame him.  

“Aang— I’m trying to talk to you,” she coaxes. “Could you please listen to me?”

Aang carefully chooses his words, his innocent, childish lilt returning. 

“What do you want to talk about?” 

“About… this!”  Katara gestures wildly between herself and Aang multiple times. “About us… not sharing our feelings, and not being able to be open and honest with each other.”  

“What are you talking about? I’ve always been honest with you!” He freezes and then cowers sadly, rubbing his neck. “Actually— no. That’s not true. I never told about what happened when I met the Guru at the Eastern Air Temple.”  

“What do you mean?”

“Well— promise me you won’t get mad?” 

“Aang,” Katara’s voice lowers, concerned. “What happened?”  

He takes a breath, looking at the ground.

“I was about to open the last chakra and gain full control of the Avatar State, and then the Guru told me I had to let go of all my earthly attachments.  And that meant letting go of you. I couldn’t do it.  I almost did but then I had a vision of you in trouble.  So I ran away.” 

“You what?”  Katara gathers her words. “Wait— so you refused to gain control of the Avatar State…. because you thought I was in danger?”  

His eyes begin glisten nervously, but his stance turns defensive at her.  

“Yes. Yes Katara, I did!  I wasn’t gonna just stand by and not do anything if I saw you were in trouble.“  

“So, you were willing…” Katara could feel the rage rising in her throat, her words quivering, “to put the entire world as risk, and lose this war… … all because of me?” 

“I— I didn’t see it that way.”  

“Aang, that’s exactly what you did!”  Her eyes are a deep, exasperated blue and her hair moves wildly with every flail of her arms.  “You refused to control that power!  Thank the spirits I still had that water from the spirit oasis, to save you when Azula shot you, right? And thank the spirits that I can still get you out of that state whenever you get too emotional.  Thank your lucky stars that I’m still here… to get you out of any mess you can’t handle on your own.”

It hurts to almost look at him in that instant.  She feels herself speaking both to him and to herself.  

“Katara… no.”  Aang tries to ease her nerves, like a zookeeper trying to tame a wild moose-lion. “That’s not how I see us!  What I mean is… I was willing to put you first before anything that comes with being the Avatar. That’s the truth!”

She shakes her head. She wasn’t expecting the ‘us,’ but she can’t blame him for trying.

“That might be the truth for you, Aang, but you’re still the Avatar.  It’s your destiny, and kind of power is so… delicate… you have to put that first.”  

The few feet between them suddenly feels like miles and miles.  Aang brings a hand to his neck again, looking at the ground.

“I’m sorry— I didn’t mean to get you upset.” 

Katara sighs.  “I know Aang.  But… why would you choose me over your destiny like that?  That was so irresponsible.”

Deep down, she already knows the answer he’s going to give.  She needs to hear it anyway. 

“I did it because… “ Aang scrunches his face, his jaw shaking in nerves.  He didn’t want it to be like this, but she is asking it from him.  “… because I love you, and I thought…” 

“You thought what?” 

Her voice is firm, and quiet.  She already knows what he’s going to say, and she takes a deep breath to prepare for it. Her eyes are glistening. Deep down, she knows she’s responsible for the sad, desperate look in his eyes.

Aang can feel the moment slipping by, and he tries to not sound like a kid.

“I thought you loved me back— I was so sure of it!  Ever since you found me, I had this feeling we were always meant to be together.”  

There’s am uncomfortable weight holding down her shoulders, and Katara closes her eyes. How can she not feel like this was her fault?  Katara shakes her head, wiping a tear from her eye.

“Aang… we never even talked about it.  And, even if we did… you can’t run from your destiny.  Do you understand what I’m saying? You’re the Avatar.”  

He couldn’t find anything else to say.  The moment was now completely gone.

“I– I’m sorry.”  

“It’s okay. I haven’t really been that honest with you either.  The truth is… I… for a while now, I wanted to believe I could feel exactly what you felt.  And I thought I did.” 

“Katara…” 

“I want you to know I tried, okay?  You’re my friend…”  

“No.” Aang shakes his head, looking elsewhere, anywhere besides her.

“…and I did everything I could to see you as more than that, because you really are an amazing person, and you make me laugh, and you’re so sweet.”  

Small, childish sniffles come from his nose, and Aang holds a wrist over his eyes to grab the tears.  He hears everything, and yet they sound like they’re coming from someone other than Katara.  It cannot be real.  But when he looks at the girl in front of her, Aang notices she’s wiping tears as well.  And it’s real.

“Then… what’s the problem?” 

He can’t help but sound upset in that hopelessness, but Katara knows he doesn’t mean it.

She instead looks elsewhere for a moment, and shakes her head, shrugs her shoulders.

“I’m not sure if there even is a problem, Aang,” she gathers. “I mean… I’m not exactly an expert… but those kinds of feelings, they just—happen— you know?  You can’t force them into someone.” 

“So, why did you–” but Aang stops, and reconsiders his words.  “Why didn’t you ever tell me?” 

Katara sighs, exasperated, upset at herself that she hadn’t come up with these revelations sooner, but doing her absolute best to explain herself.

“I don’t know, Aang.  Maybe I was scared— that you’d get angry, and disappear again… and the world would be hopeless?” 

As crazy as it sounds, the possibility and accuracy of that makes Aang chuckle.

“Yeah. You’re probably right,” he says, wiping his tears again.

“And the last thing I wanted to do was hurt you, you know?” she adds. “You were my friend.”  

Aang rubs one of his elbow with a hand, awkardly, suddenly feeling so cold.

“Can I…um… can we still be friends?”  

Katara blinks.  “Of course! You’ll always be my friend, Aang. That won’t change.”  

“Okay. I can try and live with that.” 

“Good.”

It’s quiet again for a few moments.  They can hear the birds chirping around the ruined Agni Kai arena.  Aang looks around, trying to build the courage to look at Katara again, but feeling like it will hurt more.

“I should, um, see what Momo is up to.”  He turns on his heel to leave.

“Aang?” 

“Yeah?” 

“There’s still time,” she assures him, carefully, with a smile. “Focus on the important things. I know it doesn’t feel hopeful right now, but I promise… someday, you’ll find someone who’s going to change your world more than I ever could.”

A brave smile passes him.  “Thanks, Katara.”  

And he takes off on his glider.  

Katara smiles at that, just as bravely.  There is a knot of disappointment forming in her gut, at the fact that Aang leaves without saying “same to you.” But she doesn’t let it get to her.  Aang is still a kid… with his own innocent, twisted agenda… and she couldn’t blame him.  Letting go was a process.  She knew.  She could feel it happening with her, too.  

[linnoya-writes]

Kataang-eventual-Zutara “Maturity Gap” Modern AU (rated T)

When they met, Katara was fourteen.  

She had just finished 8th grade that summer, and was mentally preparing herself for high school and her dreams of working in human rights and immigration law, babysitting on the side to make a little extra money for law school.  Sokka had mentioned this wealthy, elderly gay couple that moved into the mansion at the edge of town, and they were looking for a baby-sitter for their quiet homesick little boy – mostly for the company, Sokka says, not so much the babysitting.  The couple is paying a lot of money for the gig, so Katara shrugs and takes up on the offer.  

When she meets Aang, she’s perplexed that he’s actually not as young as she imagined… not like what Sokka had described him to be.

Aang was twelve years old.  He loved recess and playing with his dog Appa and his cat Momo, and Katara was there, babysitting him, three times a week during the day and becoming his first friend in that new town, before he starts 7th grade.  They go on a lot of field trips together, volunteering at animal shelters, community soccer games, frisbee at the beach… and they have fun together… and it’’s so weird that this kid is technically someone Katara was hired to look after.  Katara sees how Aang’s elderly gay dads, Roku and Gyatso, definitely dote on this kid like a child, despite how he’s old enough to take care of himself — but Katara grows fond of Aang’s fun-loving nature.  Yes, he is a kid… someone so young at heart but with that otherworldly wisdom of an old soul.  

By the end of that summer, Katara and Aang hold hands, and they share their first kiss.  It’s weird for Sokka to walk into, since this was a kid his mature, motherly sister was babysitting… what Sokka calls “oogies”… but Katara doesn’t care.

They officially start dating when Katara enters her freshman year of HS and Aang is that 7th grader latching into carefree childhood antics.  He makes more friends on his own in middle school, feeling more confident as the “new kid” in town after Katara gave him an entire summer of friendship.   In high school, Katara focuses on her studies and brushes off the affection she gets from a few high school boys… Haru, Jet… boys who’re not exactly unattractive and who definitely give her attention every teenage girl wants.  Instead, she can only think about Aang… how is he?  Is he making new friends?  Do the teachers like him?  Are any kids bullying him because he’s vegetarian?

It’s weird.  She’s never had a real boyfriend before, but the feelings for Aang are very much there, and Katara doesn’t mind meeting Aang after school to play with his own friends.  When Aang starts playing soccer, and joins the middle-school jazz band, Katara is always there cheering for him, videotaping his performances.  Two years later… when she kisses Aang’s cheek at his middle-school graduation ceremony, and  Aang’s teachers say to her “how she must be so proud of her little brother…” Katara doesn’t care.

Katara is very much the committed girlfriend, and feeling Aang’s hand holding hers is enough to let her know he would do exactly the same.  

Katara and Aang spend another perfect summer together…. walking along the beach, stargazing at night, taking hikes on the nearby forest preserves. and Katara works around her first official summer job as a lifeguard, trying not to get too distracted by Aang’s antics with his middle-school friends at the pool.  It’s weird, having to be authoritative and assertive in front of her own boyfriend… and seeing Aang react jokingly – sometimes dismissively, sometimes appallingly – by her voice of discipline… but Katara doesn’t pay any mind to it.

By the time she starts her junior year of high school, Katara is on the varsity swim team, member of debate team and studying for SATs and Aang is the freshman “golden-boy…” just enjoying life, making more friends and going off to do fun things with them on the weekends.  While Katara needs to study and look at colleges, Aang always asks her to join in on his antics.  Although it does affect Katara’s focus and her grades slightly, she doesn’t mind, and she pretends to not be annoyed by Aang’s natural knack for stellar grades but less-than-impressive work ethic. 

Anyway, they’re joint at the hip, dubbed the “it couple” by faculty and students alike… although more than once, Katara has had to correct people that “um, yeah I’m actually more than just Aang’s girlfriend, thanks.”  

When he starts sophomore year, Aang’s wealthy gay dads celebrate his sweet- sixteen with a new car, now that he’s old enough to drive… and Aang loves taking his girlfriend places on his fashionable set of wheels. Katara rolls her eyes about it, but she has to admit, she kind of likes being pampered by Aang’s spoiled upbringing, entering fancy restaurants for dates with his entitlement.  

As a sophomore, Aang is a star soccer player and jazz band flautist while Katara is a senior, student council treasurer, captain of debate team, captain of the swim team and getting ready for college.  She applies to her dream school in Washington DC and Aang support this, despite being it so far away and promising he’ll follow her there when he finishes high school.  Katara asks Aang to her senior prom, and of course he accepts and they dance the night away as the “it couple” they are, their peers circling around them in awe and clapping along as they dance perfectly-choreographed routines.  It’s magical.  They later sneak off into Aang’s mansion that night, and lose their virginities there, in Aang’s childhood room.  It’s strange for Katara…  being among Aang’s stuffed animals and soccer trophies and movie posters, and realizing how much this body in front of her is no longer the kid she once babysat… but that of a young man. For Aang, seeing Katara’s body is like a dream; he’s nervous but giddy at the fact that she’s become more womanly from when he’d first had a crush on her.  

Their night together is sweet, quiet… slightly awkward… and while Aang holds her tightly like a belt in his peaceful slumber, Katara doesn’t sleep at all that night. Because she is smiling.  She is in love.  

She knows now: This is how it feels to find a soulmate.  

Katara does get accepted into her dream school, but makes that last-minute bold choice to enroll in a local community college instead… to avoid a long-distant relationship with her true love as he finishes high school.  

While Aang starts his junior year and effortlessly is acing his exams… being voted class president and class clown, winning varsity soccer games…. Katara goes to community college, volunteers at a homeless shelter and works part-time at a health clinic. For the next two years, things seem okay, despite only being able to see each other after-school, after-work, on the weekends.

Aang asks her to his senior prom, and of course Katara accepts. 

Only this time… their dance feels a lot less “it couple”y… more like an adult-chaperone-awkwardly-dancing-with-the-golden-boy-student.  It’s weird.  

Aang is smiling happily, obliviously, but Katara tries to ignore the look on Principal Iroh, that look of disappointment.  She tries to ignore the looks on Aang’s female classmates… their annoyed eyes, their pursed lips.  

And she fully averts her eyes from the faces of her old teachers… Tyro, Pakku, Yugoda, Jiang… how by their looks, they seem to feel sorry for her, how their frowns silently ask “Why are you here?” “We saw your determination, your passion, your drive; what happened to them?” 

“Where did your ambition go?” 

Nevertheless, Aang is crowned Prom King, he gets his prom photo with Katara, and once again they spend prom night together… this time, in Katara’s studio apartment.  It’s less quiet than the first time, because it’s now been two years of Aang sneaking out of his place to spend regular nights with Katara in that bed, their bodies now accustomed to each other.  Aang can’t help but feel like a true king that night… and Katara, well… she tries to feel like a queen, but it’s hard.

She fights that sting of feeling like a trophy– a peasant girl, next to this supposed king…her body desperately hanging onto something she believes still exists… something that isn’t slipping away.   

Aang holds Katara as he sleeps peacefully, but she doesn’t sleep.  She just stares at the ceiling, ignoring the tears streaming down her cheeks.  

Since they still managed to make it through those last two years and Aang also got into Katara’s dream school in Washington DC… she is hoping this means she can finally transfer there with Aang.  They can officially start a life together, like grownups do.  

So when Katara notices how indecisive Aang is about what he wants to study (philosophy? physical education? humanities? animal sciences?) and how some of his soccer friends are joining the Peace Corps to travel the world before officially starting college… and how Roku and Gyatso are financially going to support that idea… Katara doesn’t know what to say.  So Aang speaks more.  It would be another two years, he says, but it would be amazing if Katara could join him… and they could travel the world together: “I mean, it can’t be that hard to put a temporary halt on your college studies, right?  All those classes you took were just GenEds, anyway.”  

Katara says nothing, still.  She just looks at him.  At Aang.  This person she had practically grown up with… the person she thought completely understood her… and how much she wanted to study in Washington DC, be at the center for change, and fight for immigration and human rights law.  Who was this person, staring back at her with those big, doting, silver eyes? 

She finally speaks.  She speaks loudly.

Katara says how, for two years, she was “waiting for him” in a local college she didn’t even want to go to, just so they could have quality time… assuming they’d eventually attend the same college and start their life together as young world changers, like they always talked about.  She says how it’s now very clear he is still a kid, thinking about his needs and only considering hers if it benefits his own, still assuming she’ll go with what he wants… support what he decides.  

She tells him all of this, and asks Aang, once again, to come to Washington DC with her, like he had once supported.  But Aang gets upset; he says he’s not ready to settle down in one place… that he wants to experience the world as a nomad for a little while.  Katara lowers her eyes, because it’s clear they are no longer on the same page.  

When Aang tells her he loves her, it comes out in that desperate, boyish sound of a child wanting to hold onto his favorite toy.  Katara fights that urge to give Aang the same, almost automatic response she’d always given him all those years, ever since that first prom night they spent together.  

“I’m sorry, Aang.”  

Katara closes her eyes, tears falling quietly down her cheeks.  This can’t be a soulmate, she thinks, this person who doesn’t see all of her.  She sees her friend, though, and it makes her truth come out more painfully than she could imagine.  Aang says nothing, and leaves with a weep in his voice.

They spend that summer apart.  Katara mails him back his things.  

He doesn’t speak to her, or write to her all throughout that summer… and while Katara catches herself remembering certain things, like the way his laugh would always make her smile… she doesn’t write to him, either.  She can imagine how much this breakup hurts Aang, too. Because he thought she was his soulmate, too… and this must all feel like a betrayal.  Katara knows this is hard for him, trying to see his ex-girlfriend as just a friend, trying to see that as enough…  so this quiet distance is probably for the best.  

It’s devastating to think Aang is no longer a part of her regular life the way he had been those last six years… and Katara cries so many nights that summer while she packs up to leave for Washington DC, alone, feeling like a third of her young life has just vanished.  

When she moves in to her residence hall, Katara is a little reserved, but she does get to know her roommate Suki, and eventually makes more friends.  She joins a few pre-law study groups and volunteers at an immigration center, and does go on the occasional college party, the occasional date.  

Some of the college boys do get a second and third date, and one lucky guy gets to share his bed with her for a couple months… but eventually things fade, and Katara persists with her studies.  

By the end of her first year as a transfer student, Katara feels at home in DC, remembering why she is there, embracing who she is.  That summer. before her final year, she believes she is headed to a spectacular graduation… interning at a public defendant’s office, working part-time at the immigration center, applying to law schools.  She’s single, but she has plenty of time for love, so she doesn’t worry about that.

It isn’t until the first day of that final spring semester… when she proudly walks into the graduate-level Human Rights Law and Justice class she fought so hard with her advisor to get into… that she notices a graduate student reading quietly, sitting right across from her at the table.  A young man and a scar that she’d seen one too many times when her passionate, headstrong self went up against his assertive, superior, oftentimes smug persona in debate tournaments between their rivaling high-schools. 

She studies his face, now – how, despite its seriousness, it no longer looks as angry or smug as it once did.  How there’s a softness to his brow, a kindness to his eyes.  

Zuko feels the weight of someone staring at him, and looks up to see who it is, and blinks. 

He recognizes her.  He certainly remembers her.  

In that small distance, while other students filter in and find seats at the same round table, Katara and Zuko say nothing. But oh, the smiles they exchange?  It’s enough for them to know that this semester will be very, very interesting.

[linnoya-writes]

With Zutara, Katara and Aang can still be friends. But with Kataang... ?

What I can’t get over is how in Zutara fanfiction, writers are willing to still acknowledge the bond between Katara and Aang; they remain close friends.  

Being with Zuko doesn’t keep Katara from having a friendship with Aang. She gets to have her own friends and inside jokes, because wouldn’t you know… a relationship isn’t meant to be socially exclusive.  In fanfiction, Zuko and Katara don’t just spend all their time establishing or defending their relationship to others.  What they do, instead, is have a relationship.  It’s mature, and playful, and sweet, but it comes with its share of arguments, and it’s also awkward, and completely open and honest.  They get to be themselves while together, but also have their own individual goals and friendships with others.

Meanwhile, in the canon-verse, Bryke did all but break into song to indicate that Kataang was a firmly-established relationship in the 2012-2014 comics.  Look how much PDA they have!  Look how often they call each other “sweetie.” Look how Katara doesn’t talk to anyone other than Aang!  Look how Katara admires Aang from the sidelines and waits her turn to talk to him while he makes tons of new friends.  Look how they’re already thinking about marriage/babies at the ripe old age of 13/15.  Look how Katara explains why she loves Aang, just in case readers had doubts, as if true love were a pancake recipe or something.  

And… after 2014, with the implications that Aang was a poor father-figure and a lousy husband in Season 2′s Legend of Korra… Bryke doubled-down in the comics to show how, contrary to popular belief, Kataang was very Healthy:  Look how Aang asks Katara if it’s okay to kiss her.  Look how Hakoda talks to Katara about love, real selfless love, as if she’s already found it in Aang.  Look how Katara can still enjoy her meat on a stick.  Look how Aang gobbles down that WaterTribe food.  Look how Katara sweetly spoon-feeds Aang his steamed tofu.  Look how Katara can chat with her never-before-mentioned SWT friends as long as Aang doesn’t need her comfort.  Look how Aang finally shows consideration for Katara and asks if she’s okay (after, what, three canon-years together?).  Look how Katara defends her relationship with Aang to Azula, saying how happy she and Aang are.  Look how Katara says “this town needs you” and how considerate Aang is as he firmly takes her hand and says “this town needs US.”  

I mean– yeah.  The effort was definitely there, but none of those moments indicated that the relationship between Aang and Katara was a real relationship, with occasional arguments and deep conversation and mutual understanding and selfless compromise.  

And Bryke did absolutely everything they could to keep Katara and Zuko from exchanging two words to each other, both in the comics and in Legend of Korra.  It really paints a picture as to how uncomfortable Bryke felt about building a friendship between Katara and Zuko in the post-ATLA canon, despite the fact that these two practically laid down their lives for each other in the Agni Kai finale.

It’s funny, how Zutara fanfic writers have no problem keeping a friendship between Katara and Aang valid, but in the canon-verse, despite Aang and Katara being Very Much An Item… Bryke couldn’t give us even the slightest hint of a Zutara friendship.   

If Bryke truly believed that Katara and Aang’s relationship in canon was healthy and credible enough to stand the test of time…then building a friendship between Katara and Zuko would’ve not been a problem.  

But I guess that Zutara chemistry was practically oozing off the pages, eh?

[linnoya-writes]

Zutara “unexpected father-in-law” canon-compliant AU

It’s interesting how, in the ATLA finale, there’s no real indication that Katara actually got to see Ozai before he gets imprisoned for war crimes.  

In the finale, everyone, including Toph, gets to throw their own personal jab at Ozai.  Not Katara. And part of me likes to believe that she chooses not to see him intentionally.  Because it’s her rough spot.  Not just because this was a man who waged war and destruction for years… but also because she has a hard time processing that the young Fire Lord she finds herself falling in love with is the son of this horrible, cruel man.  

She doesn’t want that to be true. 

She doesn’t want to accept that Ozai and Zuko are the same blood. And it takes years…. decades… for Katara to finally come to terms with that hard truth, and she pays a visit to her now elderly father-in-law in his prison cell.  

His face is gaunt and hollow at first sight, but when he looks up to her, the flaming, brilliant golden eyes are very much Zuko… and she holds her breath.

Ozai is also speechless, and only manages a grin to mask that curiosity.

Over the years, he’d only been lucky to catch glimpses of his aging brother before his passing and been visited occasionally by Azula.  Zuko, however ironically, had been the one to visit the former FireLord the most frequently… promptly at the first of every month.  It became Ozai’s personal passage of time.  At first his son had come with tea, and as the months went by… he came with news: about reconstruction of their FireNation governments, the peaceful republic of Earth Kingdom colonies encouraged by Avatar Aang, the new alliances and trade agreements made with the Southern WaterTribe.  Zuko mentioned all of this to him not as an insecure boy seeking advice, but as a learned man – one who’d risen from countless mistakes and had eventually found his own diplomatic resolve.    

It was a kind of confidence Ozai had no idea existed within his son, and it was in this way that Zuko announced in that cell that this young Fire Lord would finally be married. 

“Who is she?” 

“Her name is Katara, of the Southern Water Tribe.” 

“A Water Tribe peasant,” Ozai muttered, amused.  Appalled.  

“Oh, if you knew even half the things that woman has done for this world, you wouldn’t think the FireNation even deserved her.” Zuko glances down, a shy smile forming. “She is unbelievable.  You’d be lucky enough to meet her.  I hope she’ll come around.”  

And Zuko leaves before Ozai can say anything regarding a tainted mark or brittle branch that will result of this marriage within Fire Nation royal history.  

Over the years, Ozai hears about this marriage, the political alliance that formed from it, the mixed daughters birthed between a peasant and a prince.  When Ozai asks the guards if his granddaughters were borne firebenders, the prisoner doesn’t receive an answer.  Instead, he receives a visit from the children themselves in their royal garb, along with their father.  Ozai sees the familiar golden flame in the girls’ eyes, despite the tanned complexion of their WaterTribe mother.  

The girls take a fire-bending stance, and the old man gets hopeful.  

But it’s when ribbons of blue begin to dance around the girls alongside the fire-bending movements that Ozai’s smile disappears.  

The blue he sees is not Azula’s Fire.  It’s actually not fire at all.  

And when the girls end their routine and smile at their grandfather, Ozai turns his back away from them.  Confused and sad, the girls turn to Zuko and ask if they did anything wrong, and their father kneels down to their level, hugging them tightly… and assures them they did not.  

Zuko’s visits become less frequent after that, only coming in to disclose important decrees and updated policies to the former sovereign.  Ozai hears about his granddaughters through Zuko, year after year, learning about their favorite foods and colors… their interests beyond bending, their worldly education fueled by their parents’ influence as well as the youthful, progressive Avatar.  

When the girls become teenagers, they finally visit their grandfather again– this time, on their own… and ask Ozai about the war… if their family was indeed responsible for it. 

They ask about it not in an accusatory way, but more an assertive way… wanting to understand for their own sake, their future, and how the world might see them as either a blessing or a threat. How delicate their position truly is.

Over time, Ozai grows accustomed to the water he sees and the stories about the WaterTribe he hears with each of his granddaughters’ later visits.  They become women before his eyes, esteemed princesses of two cultures… and when they leave the palace independently, Ozai hears through news of the guards how these girls- much like their parents before them- are making a difference, changing the world, falling in love outside of their borders.  

It brings the old man to tears.  

The days become quieter, shorter over time.  Nobody visits him anymore, and even Fire Lord Zuko has dedicated his time more to other important matters.  Time runs glacially, erratically.  Ozai combs his now silvery mane of hair with lanky fingers to pass the days, and the last thing he expects is a new visitor approaching his cell.  

Sandwiched between two palace guards is this petite, middle-aged woman he’d never seen before, wearing royal red and blue garb.  He recognizes her face instantly, from the ones of his granddaughters.  

An old grin passes his face.  “I’m impressed the heat of our country never compelled you to flee, highness.” 

Katara grins firmly, finding her breath.  Her eyes are glistening. 

“I can handle the sun, thank you.” 

Despite having spent most of her life adapting to royal Fire Nation courts, Ozai can still hear this woman’s humble origins.  

He looks away in his cell, straightening up in only the way a former Royal can. 

Katara nods to the guards, reassuring that she’s okay and they turn on their heels to give her some time alone with the prisoner.  

Slowly, she pours the old man some Ginger tea in the same delicate way Uncle Iroh had taught her.  She doesn’t hand him the cup, but rather places it down past the rails, which he takes, and watching her then pour a cup for herself. She’s just beginning to graze her fifties, he thinks, noticing the sternness to her brow, the overworked draping to her lids… and yet, it’s the blue of her eyes that makes this woman seem timeless.  

It’s a patient, firm, kind and tranquil blue that Ozai doesn’t understand, but the old man can already sense he will spend his last decade feeling both eased and haunted by it.  

It’s quiet for a long time, sipping their tea.  

Ozai shifts uncomfortably in his sitting. “To what do I owe this honor? Are you here for some kind of absolution?” 

“No. It’s pointless to do that now.” 

Ozai stares at her. “Hmm. Then I suppose you found the urge to gloat over the irony of all this, how the tables turned so beautifully for your people.  I can imagine the spirits of your ancestors are celebrating some kind of victory, is that right?”  

Katara looks at him. “I can see how you’d think that, but no.” 

Ozai stares again.  “Are you waiting for me to beg for forgiveness?” 

Katara shakes her head even before he finishes asking. 

Ozai can only look at her, then.  Katara waits a long moment and gives him a look that could’ve made any instinct of his prepare for battle forty years earlier.  

It’s in that moment where Ozai remembers the advanced, lethal Waterbending technique he’d heard talked about in the palace halls— how it had returned after so many years of outlaw and imprisonment of waterbenders, thanks to women like her sitting in front of him.  Ozai heard that this same woman had managed to master the technique for healing purposes… but looking at her face now, Ozai wondered if she wasn’t against making an exception.  

“Are you here to kill me?” 

He asks this not afraid, exactly, but rather…. tired, alone.

Defeated.  

Her look only lasts a moment, and he sees the woman take a long, deep breath from her center.  She sets down her tea and says “no” looking at him square in the eye, and in her softest voice. 

It leaves Ozai uncomfortably impatient.  “Then, why are you here?”  

Katara looks away, then shrugs, feeling the old skin of a naive, stubborn teenager stir beneath her as she looks back to him.

“Because I love your son.  And… that makes you my family.” 

Ozai hums incredulously, looking out past Katara’s presence for a long quiet moment, and laughs on the way an old man only can.  

She chuckles as well, because it’s funny.  It’s messed up.  But it’s funny.

The room becomes quiet again as they sip their tea.  Katara pours her father-in-law another cup, gently handing it to him through the cell bars.  Ozai receives it.

And that’s how their long-overdue conversations begin.

[linnoya-writes]

Zutara sleepover “borrowed friends/borrowed books” Modern AU

Zuko, Haru, Teo and Sokka met when they were 11-13 years old, on a summer camping trip with their local Boy Scout troupe.  

Jet was the tall, charming, model scout leader on that two-week-long expedition in the Canadian Rockies, and Zuko and Sokka immediately bonded over their mutual dislike of the guy.  After that trip – before September officially drives his friends away to their respective schools – Sokka invites the boys to his backyard for an impromptu camping trip.  

11-year-old Katara had gone on a trip that summer as well, volunteering with Habitat for Humanity for two weeks.  She had no problem making friends with her bunkmates: Suki and Yue and little tough-nut Toph after talking about the trip leader’s son, Aang.  It was annoying but cute, seeing how this 9-year-old kid had been trying to charm his way into Katara’s heart while not doing squat on the actual trip.  When Aang surprises her with a kiss one day on her morning walk, Katara is stunned.  She immediately goes to tell Yue about this: her first kiss.  How it felt kind of… wrong... and dry… desperate, and childish…and Yue comforts her, saying how it’s okay to feel this way, how Aang should’ve asked her if she wanted to be kissed, and how first kisses aren’t usually perfect, anyway.  Suki steps into the conversation, agreeing, saying how she still gets nightmares about saliva after her own kiss last summer.  And Toph chimes in, her 9-year-old mind grossed out at the thought of kissing anyone.  The girls laugh, and Katara feels happy, like she’s made some life-long friends over a mediocre first-kiss experience.  

She invites the girls to her house for a slumber party before summer ends.

And as it turns out… it’s the same weekend as her brother Sokka’s backyard camping trip.  

Katara and Sokka protest this to their dad, and Hakoda says that it wouldn’t be fair to cancel someone’s plans over another’s.  

“Fine,” Katara side-eyes her brother, “but leave me and my friends alone.  No funny business!”  

“Fine by me,” Sokka mutters. “We’ll just be in the backyard.”  

When the boys arrive for the that sleepover, Haru is the first one to take a notice of the girls arriving in their cars one-by-one and greeting Katara at the porch.

“What’s going on?” Teo asks as he unloads his arm-crutches. 

“My sister’s having a… slumber party.” Sokka crinkles his nose in disgust.

“We should invite them to camp with us!” Haru suggests, already waving to the girls, but Zuko – who was too busy unloading the giant tent box from his uncle’s car to pay any mind to the girls – frowns.  

“My sister has slumber parties all the time,” he rasps cautiously.  “We should stay away– unless you want to wake up with a face full of makeup”  

Sokka slaps Zuko on the back, glad that they see the same way.  

It’s only when Yue shows up that Sokka suddenly forgets what they were talking about.  

“Hey!  What’s this I hear?” Toph’s squeaky voice perks up from the patio.  “Are there boys in front of this house?” 

Katara scoffs, “Yes… but don’t worry. They won’t be bothering us.” 

She expects her brother to snap back at her, but to her surprise it’s the sullen boy with the scar who jumps in.  

“Oh— we don’t plan to,” Zuko quips to her, easily. “Enjoy your fancy makeover, Princess.”  

The last thing Katara expects is that unfamiliar, husky voice to come full swing at her, on her own patio, and Katara’s practically lost for words.  

It’s Suki who chimes in.  “Excuse me– who’re you calling a princess, Prince Pouty?”  

Zuko doesn’t back down, looking annoyed.  “Isn’t that what slumber parties are for? For princesses?”  

Yue stands next to Katara, almost protectively as she says “for your information, we’re doing a lot more than makeovers.” 

Sokka still says nothing to ease the tension; he is practically drooling over Yue, to the point where Haru elbows him. 

Teo attempts a smile, “um… well… if you guys want to roast marshmallows with us, I brought plenty!” 

Toph raises her hand instantly.  And that’s when Katara speaks.

“Toph— no! We had a whole night of activities planned.” 

“So what?”  Toph exclaims. “They seem fun!” 

“And they brought a volleyball net,” Suki mutters. “I have an idea–” 

Katara braces herself.

“Hey, Pouty!”  Suki shouts, loud and proud to the boy with the scar. “How about some boy-girl three-on-three volleyball action?” 

Zuko stares at the girl’s stance, incredulously.

“Forget it; this was meant to be a boys’ night.”  

It’s when her friend gets thrown off by Zuko’s quip that Katara finally rolls up her emotional sleeves and throws back.  

“Oh come on, Mister Stuck-up Snob.” Katara smirks. “Are you scared to play against some spoiled, dainty little princesses?”  

Toph, Haru and Teo laugh.  Sokka eventually does, too.

Zuko’s brow rises.  He feels his heart racing, and immediately starts to wonder if being Sokka’s friend is worth having to deal with this annoying girl.  Zuko can already see his sister becoming the bane of his existence.  

And Katara feeds that brewing, competitive fire.  “Loser makes the winners s’mores?”  

He clicks his jaw.  “You’re on.”  

Katara wasn’t expecting that determined look to show up on his face– it catches her off-guard.  She almost misses the high five Suki gives her.  It’s then that she decides this new friend of Sokka’s will is the bane of her existence.  

Of course, Katara, Suki and Yue easily crush the boys in volleyball.  Zuko and Sokka argue like old ladies about who should’ve spiked the ball when. They’re both so red faced and Haru just tries to keep them together in his shy, awkward demeanor.  Teo and Toph seem to hit it off easily on the sidelines, forgetting that they should be monitoring the game for points.  

Zuko sneers at Katara’s winning smirk, but when she puts her hand out for “good game” he holds it firmly… but then, the hold goes soft.  It just happens.  Why, they’re not sure.  But she notices his face, how close Zuko suddenly is to her.  She sees the lining of his scar.  He sees the tiny freckles on her nose.  

It’s awkward. She hates that. He hates that, too.  

Haru then says something to Katara, and her hand flinches out of Zuko’s.  Toph then punches Zuko’s arm affectionately- “How does it feel to get your ass handed to you by some girls?” 

He mutters “girls are crazy” and returns to setting up the tent.  

When Hakoda pops out saying that he’s going to order pizza for the girls, it’s Sokka who looks at Yue and bravely says “how about we all just eat out here?” 

Zuko and Katara whip their heads in unison to Sokka, with a resounding “what?!”  

Suki joins in. “Yeah! It’s too nice of an afternoon to be cooped up inside a house all day.”  

“But… what about the movie night?” Katara attempts meekly. “And manicures? And facials?”  

Toph laughs. “Can’t we do that out here? Maybe give the guys a complimentary facial?” 

Teo raises his hand instantly. “I volunteer!”  

“And  um…” Sokka looks at Yue as he speaks, “we have a projector we can set up to play the movie.”  

“That would be nice!” Yue beams, but Katara frowns. 

“Sokka— it’s a romcom. You hate romcoms” 

“Whaaat?” His eyes bulge, nervously, playfully over to Yue. “That’s not true.”  

“And if the movie gets too lame,” Teo turns to Toph, “I brought my guitar. We can sing in front of the campfire.” 

Suki smiles, “You play guitar?” 

But Toph punches her without warning. “Back off— I got dibs on him!”  

Everyone seems to be laughing and enjoying the idea of a joint camping/slumber party.  Everyone except Katara and Zuko.  But being outnumbered, they swallow that bitterness and just roll with the night barely exchanging any words to each other. 

On the cookout, Zuko handles the burger flipping, and gives Katara hers medium rare as she requested, doing all he can to avoid any more quippy things from her.  She says nothing to him anyway.  Not that he cares.

During the impromptu facials, Haru nervously tries and fails to secure a wet mask onto Katara’s face and she sneezes from the cloth… and when she turns her eyes to Zuko for a moment, she can see him glancing away.  

It sounded like he had been laughing. Chuckling, really.  But it must’ve been her imagination.  This guy didn’t seem the type to smile… much less laugh. 

By the time sun has disappeared and the projector has successfully beamed up for the movie, everyone is exhausted but still willing to payi attention to whatever is happening between these Lara Jean Covey and Peter Kavinsky characters.  

“Booo!— he’s too preppy!”  Sokka teases while he, Haru and Zuko finally complete their assembly line of s’more-making for everyone.  

Katara takes a s’more without looking at Zuko, fully engaged with the movie. Sokka and Yue snuggle closely as they look at the projector screen.  Haru is trying to keep his eyes open.  Meanwhile, Teo and Suki are quietly teaching Toph how to play guitar with her nervous fingers.  

As the movie continues, Katara can’t help but notice how Zuko stares at the screen sternly, and she finally grunts: “Okay. It’s stupid. I know.” 

Zuko turns over to her, and just shrugs. “It’s not as bad as Twilight.”  

And Katara perks up, not even missing a beat. 

“Oh my god– nothing is as bad as Twilight!  That whole dynamic– that complete and utter devotion to each other— is so toxic!” 

“How that whole thing became the staple for teenage romance is beyond me.”

Katara laughs.  “How do you even know about Twilight?” 

“My sister read the books, and then my mom. I couldn’t get away from it.”

 “Ugh– I’m so sorry.” 

“Doesn’t matter.” Zuko shifts his weight more comfortably on the ground.  “This isn’t so bad. The Peter guy isn’t obsessive. And he has a life.” 

“Yeah. And Lara Jean gets to be herself. She does things outside the relationship!”  

Zuko raises his brow. “You mean, the fake-relationship?” 

And Katara feels the grin on her face. “Oh. Right. You haven’t read the books—never mind.” 

Zuko stares at her.  “You’re telling me they actually become a thing?” 

“Not saying anything!”

By the end of the movie, Katara has already made the trip to her room and brought down her copies of the books for Zuko to read, in case he wanted to. 

He says nothing, but takes the books with a small smile. 

With Haru already passed out after the movie, it seems it’s time for the girls and boys to part ways.  Zuko puts out the campfire to give Sokka and Yue some final time, and he sneers in disgust over at Katara’s direction while she and Suki clean up their facial/manicure things.  Toph makes a fist-bump with Teo, promising more guitar lessons in the future before he goes to his tent, and she and Suki head inside to Katara’s room to hit their sleeping bags. Yue plants a kiss on Sokka’s cheek before leaving, and Sokka looks so smitten and blushed he escapes into his tent.  

Zuko and Katara are the ones to stay behind and finish cleaning.  It doesn’t take too long, and with the only light now coming from heated coals in the campfire, they can barely make out each other’s faces.  

Still, they stay.  Zuko squints as he flips through the first book Katara gave him, quoting parts of it with a weak attempt at a teenage girl voice.  It makes Katara laugh and punch him, and he fakes a weep.  

“Alright– “ she starts. “What kind of books do you like to read, Mr. Stuck Up Snob?” 

Zuko puts a blanket over his shoulders, looking up at the sky.  “I just finished the last Percy Jackson book, about Greek demigods and monsters.  Now, I’m trying to get through War and Peace, with my uncle.” 

Katara blinks. She doesn’t laugh.  After a moment, she speaks quietly.

“I’ve been trying to get through Pride and Prejudice for years.” 

“Hmm. Never heard of it.” 

“Shut up.” 

He chuckles. Not only is this a revelation for her– hearing the boy actually laugh, knowing she hadn’t imagined it earlier… but it’s also strange.  It feels like she’s already gotten a grasp of his sarcasm. 

They stay out there in the darkness, laying out on blankets… talking about their time at Scout Camp, at Habitat for Humanity… how annoying it is to have a perfect little sister, a know-it-all older brother… and, after a long quiet moment looking at the sky and hearing a chorus of distant crickets… they get to the other things.  

How she lost her mother, how he got his scar.  

How their families fell apart.  How they’ve managed, since.  

It’s too dark to notice, but their frames slowly shift towards each other at arm’s length as they talk.  They fall asleep out there, under the stars and blankets in the backyard.  

Then, at the crack of dawn, birds chirping, Katara opens her eyes to Zuko fast asleep, so peacefully next to her… and without moving, she studies him.  His dark hair. His frown, softened. His nose twitching by a light breeze that passes by.  

And then she realizes how this looks, a boy and a girl… the two of them sleeping like this, outside, together.  She panics, heart drumming against her chest.  Katara frantically heads inside the house… thanking the gods that Suki, Yue, and Toph are still fast asleep.  Katara quietly sneaks under her own untouched bedcovers.  

Zuko wakes up alone, to the ice cold rush of water thrown on him by Sokka and Haru. 

“Enjoying the slumber, sleeping beauty?” Sokka quips. “It’s breakfast time!” 

Zuko rubs his eyes; he had not had such a peaceful sleep in forever… and for a moment, he’s convinced that it was all a dream, being out there with a Sokka’s sister, talking through the dead of night.  But when he looks up at Katara’s window— the girls are all gathering and gossiping as they awake up in sleepy faces.  And Katara glances over to him through the window, just for a second as she makes her bed… and that’s how Zuko knows: it was not a dream.  

He pinches his nose, wiping the cold water from under his eyes.  

He wonders what the girls are talking about, what Katara is telling them; if she’s saying anything about staying out all night.  With him.  Probably not. 

But Zuko doesn’t frown at that, exactly. 

Hakoda makes enough scrambled eggs, pancakes, bacon and toast for the eight kids… and while the boys and girls talk about volleyball and good songs for beginner’s guitar, Zuko and Katara only say a few words to the table; nothing directly to each other.  They steal a few glances, though, and it’s Hakoda who notices.  When Sokka hears that Zuko got on the waitlist for the newest Zelda game, he perks up and says “Hey, Dad!” with a mouthful of egg. “Can we do a video game night next month?” 

“Heck yes!” Suki says happily. “I will most delightfully enjoy kicking all of your butts.” 

Sokka gives Suki a puzzled look. 

Hakoda laughs. “Alright— Katara, how would feel about that?” 

She looks up, unprepared. “Oh… I mean, it’s not really my thing, but sure.”

Zuko looks over at Katara, and she grins, but they say nothing.  

When they all pack up to go home, Zuko barely looks over Katara’s direction, and it’s only when he leaves that he manages to face her.  

“Not the worst slumber party I’ve been to,” Zuko mumbles, hands in his pockets.  

Katara tries not to laugh at that, holding her arms to her frame. 

“Yeah. Um. Let me know what you think. About the books, I mean.” 

“Sure.  I might not even read them.”  

Katara rolls her eyes. “You want to. Just admit it.” 

He frowns dismissively, watching the car pull up. “Whatever.” 

“Fine. Just bring them back to me, okay?”  

Zuko scoffs. “I promise I won’t use them as doormats, Princess.” 

She jabs him, and Zuko ignores it.

He heads straight to his uncle’s car, waving to Hakoda.  “Thanks for having us over, Mr. Kuruk.”   

“It’s Hakoda, son.”  

“Okay. Bye Sokka.” 

“See you soon, buddy!”  

In the car Zuko is quiet while his uncle pulls out of the driveway. 

“Did you have fun?” his uncle asks. 

Zuko just nods, sternly, looking down at the stack of books on his lap.  

Iroh notices those books as well, wondering what’s inspired Zuko to suddenly read the things Azula likes… but not questioning it. 

Instead he says “I’m glad that you’re finally making friends.”  

Zuko just shrugs, and carefully opens the first borrowed book to begin reading.  

When the car rolls out, Hakoda notices Katara, looking out to the car almost as if she were in deep thought.  

“He’s cool, right?” Sokka says to their dad. 

“Yeah.” Hakoda agrees. “He seems like a good kid.” 

Katara shakes her head, arms folded in. “He’s weird.”  

Sokka and Hakoda turn to her direction, oddly, and all Katara does is go straight to her room and falls asleep as her head sinks into the pillow.  

Her brows furrow as she sleeps… trying to think of anything other than a certain boy’s raspy voice, stern face, warm hands.  

And that’s how it starts.  

A month later, during the big video game night, only Zuko, Teo and Suki show up… but Katara and Yue are knee-deep in a science project for Mr. Pakku that they only run downstairs to grab a quick snack from the pantry.  As they does so, Sokka greets Yue sweetly asking about the project.  

“Who’s winning?” Yue asks. 

“I am,” Suki chimes in proudly. 

“But not by much,” Zuko mutters, and Suki laughs which makes Katara turn to see them playing together.  Suki is edging her shoulder teasing against Sokka’s, rather than Zuko’s, and something about that eases a knot in Katara’s stomach.  

It’s only then that she notices all of her three borrowed books returned, as promised… stacked neatly on top of each other at the kitchen table.  

Zuko glances over Katara’s direction and acknowledges her with a nod. 

It’s not enough to say whether or not he indeed read all the books… and Katara decides she doesn’t want to know. At least, not then. 

Before a blush crosses her cheeks, she grabs a bag of chips and apple with one hand and quickly waves a hello to Zuko as she heads back up the stairs.  

His heart skips a beat. He wasn’t ready for it.  Her smile.  

At the end of that night, when Sokka says they should play video games again, Zuko nods in agreement.  But in his mind, only the face of a certain girl passes by.  He sees her competitive smirk, her kind eyes, her soft hands.  It’s not much, really… but it’s enough for Zuko to wonder just how much of him was excited to go back to Sokka’s house to actually play video games.  

The next time he comes over, Katara isn’t studying. 

She has managed to join in on Super Smash Bros brawl, patient with Sokka’s instructions on how to play, despite how much she says the activity seems “mindless… just a bunch of digital characters throwing punches at each other.” 

Zuko fights back a chuckle from that, and his jaw clenches when she throws him a competitive stare… but he stays focused on the game.  He wins, and the look on Katara’s face says she’ll look forward to playing him again.  He doesn’t mind.  

It’s not until the third time he comes over for video games that he and Katara go to the kitchen to grab water together… and they finally, finally talk about the books.  

And school.  

And other things besides the fact that they’d once stayed out all night, talking in the backyard.

A year later, when Sokka gets a smartphone, Zuko happily accepts his Instagram invitation and “Boy Scout” group chat invitations… and he chuckles whenever Katara steals her brother’s phone to text Zuko a quick greeting from cyberspace.  

Another year later, when Katara finally gets her own smartphone… the girl doesn’t wait a minute before accepting her best friend’s Instagram invitation and they text each other at their respective schools throughout the day, almost every day.  

Another year later, and they call each other… almost every night.  

Another year later, and it’s on exceptionally rough days that Zuko finds himself showing up to the house.  It’s alright.  Hakoda has already welcomed him.  It starts with watching some after-school SciFi thing with Sokka, happily eating a snack that Hakoda may offer him, and then… it’s her.  

Katara feels the smile form on her face when she sees him.  

The rough day may be about her, or him (they tend to be interchangeable, at that age), but in any case, the day always ends with them together.  Doing homework quietly on the kitchen table… sitting on the patio chairs, talking  about things… laying out in the backyard just to look up at the evening sky.

And it’s on one of these days when, without words, Zuko bravely asks his best friend if he can kiss her.  Without words… she says yes.

And that’s how it starts.

[linnoya-writes]

I have a feeling that part of the reason Bryke cannot stand Zutara — and continue to label Zuko as the “bad boy” to this day in the shipping war, despite his monumental character development and redemption arc — is that Bryke cannot get over how this sub-villain they didn’t initially come up with in the show bible ended up becoming just as popular of a hero as their self-insert sweet carefree “golden retriever” protagonist, Aang. It must’ve felt like salt to their wish-fulfillment wound that fans were even rooting for Zuko to end up with Katara instead of Aang… so Bryke doubled down on making sure Kataang would be endgame, no matter how rushed or forced it looked or how short a straw Katara’s character got for that relationship to work. Having Katara just see Aang as a friend (and seeing herself grow closer to Zuko) by the end of ATLA show would’ve made much more sense and would’ve been so much better for all their characters. 😓

Bryke confirming that Katara loves Aang like a "babysitter" or a "younger brother" is fucking killing me. Kataang shippers are always screaming about how if you think Kataang have a sibling-like dynamic then you are delusional but even the creators viewed their bond like that.

[linnoya-writes]

ATLA April Fool’s 2022

On this April Fool’s…

Let’s acknowledge the fools who declare that Kataang “won” just because these characters married and had kids together. 

…the fools who don’t bat an eye as they notice elderly Katara living a reclusive, quiet, practically purposeless existence in the South Pole…

…who don’t question Katara’s lack of contribution to the world (outside of being the Avatar’s wife, an on-call healer, and just-in-case-you-wondered-if she-ever-overcame-her-Bloodbending-trauma-oh-hmm-I-guess-not attempting to cease the practice of Bloodbending)…

…who turn a deaf ear to Katara and Aang’s said kids talking about how, as middle-aged adults, they still feel emotionally and culturally divided as a family.  

Sure.  In canon, Kataang won… but what did that win, exactly?