#zutara week 2023: home

[pink-concorde]

☾𖤓 Zutara Week 2023 – Home 𖤓☽

After the Agni Kai: With Katara in his arms, Zuko finally felt home.

[artsymephy]

I missed Zutara week 😩 Anyways have a sketchy sketch

[the-badger-mole]

Home

For years, Zuko had been desperate to go home. The first time he'd gotten his wish, it had been like putting on clothes that no longer fit. He couldn't move comfortably. Breathing was a struggle. He itched from all the eyes he felt watching him surreptitiously.

The months he'd spent on the run with Aang and the others was a better fit. Once he'd been accepted, he'd experienced more warmth and camaraderie than he'd ever experienced in his entire life. He had friends. He had someone who understood him, something he hadn't even felt with Uncle. For the first time, he had people he could protect. But it wasn't home. Not quite.

The next time he was back in the Fire Nation was better. He was the Fire Lord now. He was still watched too closely, and it felt for a long time that each new day just brought more trouble. But he loved his people, and he didn't think it was too much to do his best. Gradually, he broke his new robes in, and they even became comfortable (well, his every day robes. The ceremonial ones would always make him want to never wear clothes again). He took comfort in the way the fear drained out of his staff's faces when they saw him, and in the way the Fire Nation citizens began to talk out loud about how the new policies were taking the weight off of their shoulders. It wasn't home, but it was close enough.

Something was missing, and Zuko thought he'd have to go the rest of his life learning to ignore the feeling, like a pebble in a shoe he couldn't take off easily. Then the envoy from the Southern Water Tribe arrived. She stepped off the ship and smiled at him, and Zuko felt something slide into place.

[soopersara]

Home

Zutara Week 2023: Day 1

Read it on AO3 | @zutaraweek

A journey across the Earth Kingdom to find Zuko's mother comes to an end.

She can’t sleep.

It isn’t that she’s not tired. After several weeks of near-constant travel, this is the first night that they’ve had the luxury of leaving their tent packed away, the first night when she and Zuko have been able to rest without first scraping together a meal for themselves and all their friends. By all rights, they should both be exhausted, and this night of stillness and solitude should be a relief.

But she can sense Zuko lying awake beside her, staring up into the darkened rafters of the barn. Though he is quiet, though he is careful not to move too much, the tension alone is enough to keep her awake.

Her fingertips brush against his arm. “Zuko, you should try to sleep.”

He gives a start and turns to meet her eyes. “Oh! I—” There is a pause, and even in the dark, she can see him swallow. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to keep you awake.”

Katara almost wants to laugh. His restlessness has made it difficult to sleep, that much is true. But it isn’t so much that he’s been keeping her awake as it is that the stillness feels unnatural. Ordinarily, he is a quiet sleeper, but ordinarily, lying beside him doesn’t feel like lying next to a statue. If he weren’t trying so hard to keep from disturbing her, she might have drifted off a long time ago.

She nestles in against his shoulder and loops her hand idly around his. “I would have sworn that you were more tired than me.”

His head tilts in her direction. “Why would I be?”

“Why wouldn’t you?” she counters. “Today was—a lot.”

He grunts by way of acknowledgement. “I guess.” A small sigh, and though he seems to deflate a bit, the tension doesn’t leave. “I just have a lot on my mind. Don’t worry about it. You should sleep.”

She ignores that last part. She knows Zuko well enough to realize that despite what he might say, he’s never really expected their search to succeed. That after a few weeks of chasing fruitless leads around the Earth Kingdom, he’d practically resigned himself to returning home empty-handed. That splitting off from the others to follow their last few leads was less a matter of making their search more efficient than it was an effort to draw the journey to a close before he could succumb to guilt over wasting the others’ time.

But they’ve been away from the others less than a day, and already it feels like all of that has changed. Like maybe, just maybe, they’ve found his mother purely by accident.

“Do you really think we found her?”

“I know we did.” His voice, though soft, grows more intense. “Noriko is my mother. I would know her anywhere. I just—I didn’t think that she would have a new family.”

Katara raises her head just far enough to see his jaw tightening and traces her thumb softly along his jawline. “She has a new daughter, not a new family. No one is replacing you.”

They’ve both done the calculations by now. Kiyi is nearly eight years old, and Ursa has been gone for eight and a half years. If they’re right about Noriko and she really is Zuko’s mother in disguise, then Ursa was almost certainly pregnant before she left the palace behind. If they’re right, then Kiyi is almost certainly every bit as royal as he is.

If they’re right, then Ursa has almost certainly stayed in hiding for fear of what the world might do to another little Fire Nation princess.

“Even if Kiyi is my sister, I don’t know if that means much,” he says. “Noriko didn’t remember me. How could my own mother forget if she still cared about her old family?”

Slowly, Katara rolls onto her back to stare into the rafters along with him. “What if she didn’t forget?”

“She didn’t recognize me. She would have said something if she did.”

A frown finds its way across Katara’s lips. She remembers the brief flashes of confused uncertainty on Noriko’s face when they arrived, guiding Kiyi back from where she’d gotten lost in the forest. Katara remembers the surprised delight in Kiyi’s eyes and voice when Noriko invited them to spend the night as repayment for guiding Kiyi back unharmed. And Katara remembers all the pauses after that when Noriko would watch Zuko, brows furrowed like she could almost recognize him.

It's hard to know whether Zuko missed all of those moments, or if he’s just too afraid to hope.

“I’m not so sure about that.” She clasps Zuko’s hand again and traces a thumb across his knuckles. “It’s been a long time, Zuko. Even if she remembers you, she might not know how to say it. And I’m sure you look—different now than you used to.”

“She’s never seen my scar before,” he concedes after a pause. “Maybe she doesn’t want anything to do with me because of that.”

Frowning, Katara pokes him in the ribs. “That’s not what I meant. You know that.”

“Then what did you mean?”

She takes a moment to find the proper words. “You’ve always told me that your mother did everything she could to protect you. That she took care of you when no one else would. So now—maybe she’s ashamed. She thought leaving would keep you safe, but it didn’t work out that way.”

Zuko is quiet for a while. Then, “I guess you could be right.”

“You don’t sound very sure about that.”

He sighs. “How can I be sure? I haven’t seen her in years. And since then—so much as changed.” For a few long seconds, he goes quiet again. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do if it turns out that my own mother doesn’t want me anymore.”

All Katara can really do is snuggle closer against his side. “I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think she’ll see how easy it is to love you just the way you are.” Her hand rests softly on his chest, just near enough to the scar at the base of his sternum to feel the ridges at its edge. “But no matter what happens, you’re not going to be alone. I’ll still be here. You’ll always have a family, I promise.”

Zuko’s chest shudders ever so slightly as he exhales, and he wraps an arm around her. Though he can’t seem to find any more words, his embrace speaks volumes all on its own.

⁂

It’s still early, just past sunrise, when the barn door creaks below them. Katara tenses, and Zuko edges toward the ladder, but before either of them can do more, a small head pokes up into the loft.

“I knew it. Mom told me not to wake you up too early, but I knew you’d already be awake.” Kiyi clambers up the last few rungs into the loft, then grins at them both. “I brought some tea.”

The pot in her hand isn’t steaming, and the cups balanced upside down on its lid are battered and chipped, but she settles in the middle of the floor, looking pleased with herself just the same.

“It might be a little old.” Kiyi bends over far enough to squint down the teapot’s spout. “But I think Mom just made it last night. That’s not so bad, right?”

Zuko cracks a smile and sits an arm’s length away from her. “I don’t think so. But I have an uncle who really likes tea, and he might try to disown me if he ever heard me say that.”

Kiyi cocks her head to the side, then thumps a cup in front of Zuko. “He sounds silly.” She thumps a second cup down next to Zuko’s and motions for Katara to sit as well. “This one is for you.”

There is something in her frankness that makes Katara smile. Though she still can’t be as certain as Zuko that Ursa and Noriko are one and the same, it’s impossible to deny the fact that Kiyi looks a great deal like Zuko. If she isn’t his little sister, then the universe has done an uncannily good job at replicating both his features and his mannerisms.

Though the tea that Kiyi pours them is cold, Zuko shows no hesitation in drinking it. Katara takes a more hesitant sip—the tea is slightly bitter, but not so much as to be especially unpleasant. Kiyi looks pleased with herself when they’ve both tasted the tea, and she settles back against a crate, happily cradling her own cup between her hands.

“Where is Noriko?” Katara asks. “If she told you not to wake us—”

“Oh, I think she’s still sleeping.” Kiyi takes a sip from her cup. “But last night, she told me a lot of stuff about good manners around guests. I think Mom thought I was going to make a lot of noise because we’ve never had guests before, but it’s not like I was going to say anything if you were still asleep.”

At that, Zuko looks a bit surprised. “You’ve never had guests before?”

“Nope. Ever since I was a baby, Mom said that our house was just for family. The garden is for friends, but it would be impolite to make people sleep in the garden.”

“I see.”

Katara feels Zuko glancing her way, and she allows her hand to brush against his. That sort of paranoia would certainly make sense coming from Ursa. Keeping both friends and strangers from the house makes perfect sense if she’s on the run from the Fire Nation. And since Zuko and Katara have been allowed to stay—albeit in the barn instead of the house—maybe Ursa really does recognize Zuko after all this time.

Kiyi leans forward conspiratorially. “Do you want to know a secret, though? Me and Mom don’t have any other family. I don’t think so anyway. When I was really little, I think she told me that I had a big brother and sister, but I never met them.” Briefly, she frowns, cocking her head to the side. “I wonder if Mom thinks you’re my brother.”

It isn’t a question, and judging by the look on Zuko’s face, he probably wouldn’t be able to answer if it were. Katara squeezes his hand, and after a few seconds’ pause, he regains his composure.

“I guess I don’t know what she thinks. It was nice of her to let us stay either way.”

If she notices his hesitance, Kiyi seems unbothered by it. So unbothered, in fact, that rather than continuing the topic, she launches into a series of cheerful stories about her life with her mother—about journeys that take the two of them on crisscrossing paths across the northern Earth Kingdom every year. About riding from town to town on a cart drawn by their ostrich horse, meeting people from far-flung places, and exploring distant mountains and forests for new plants to bring back home.

Noriko, it seems, has carved out a life for herself where travel is both normal and expected. Where her work as an herbalist and chemist takes her on regular journeys for new ingredients and seeds, for customers and colleagues. Where, if her old life ever reemerges to endanger herself and her daughter, their escape will draw no notice whatsoever.

“I thought I was really good at directions,” Kiyi says, sounding a little sheepish. “Me and Mom go lots of places together, and I’ve never been lost before. But I guess I don’t play in the woods here at home very much, otherwise I wouldn’t have got lost yesterday. I still feel kinda silly.”

Zuko shakes his head. “You don’t have to feel silly about that. Everybody gets a little lost sometimes.”

“Even if they travel a lot?”

“Even then. For a few years, I lived on a ship, and it’s still hard to find my way sometimes.” There is a steadiness to his voice, and judging by the way that Kiyi beams at him, the reassurance is welcome.

“Maybe I’ll learn how to draw maps someday,” she says. “Then I won’t get lost ever again. And maybe I can give you some of my maps too.”

Zuko seems ready to reply, but before any words make it out of his mouth, the door below them creaks again.

“Kiyi? Are you in here, sweetheart?”

“Up here, Mama!”

There is a relieved-sounding sigh, and Noriko emerges at the top of the ladder a few moments later. “I thought I told you to give our guests their privacy. Come on. We’ll go back to the house, and they can join us for breakfast when they’re ready.” She gives them both an apologetic nod, but it’s painfully obvious that Noriko is trying not to stare at Zuko.

“But they’re already awake, Mama. We’re having tea.”

Katara shoots a glance at Zuko, and as he inhales, his shoulders tense. Gently, she loops her hand through his and gives a reassuring squeeze.

Noriko climbs the last few steps into the loft. “I understand that. I’m glad you didn’t wake them, but it’s impolite to—”

After another slow breath, Zuko squeezes back and pushes carefully to his feet.

“Wait.” His voice is soft and hesitant, but Noriko freezes stone-still, eyes alight with nervous hope. “This might sound strange, but I’ve been meaning to ask you—was there ever a time when you went by the name Ursa?”

Noriko’s eyes widen, and for a moment, it looks like she might faint. But then, just as quickly, she steps forward. “It is you. Oh, my sweet boy.” Though Zuko stands a full head taller than his mother, she sweeps him up in an embrace like he’s still a little boy. “My little Zuko.”

It’s enough to make Katara’s eyes burn, and as she blinks away the prickling, Kiyi scoots sideways until their shoulders nearly brush.

“Was I right before?” Kiyi asks in a whisper after a few moments watching the reunion. “Do I have a big brother for real?”

Smiling, Katara wipes her eyes and nods. “Yes. Are you okay with that?”

For a few seconds, Kiyi frowns, apparently deep in thought. Then, “If he’s my brother, are you gonna be my sister someday?”

“I think there’s a pretty good chance of that.”

A grin breaks across Kiyi’s face. “Then this is the best day ever!”

[nothing-is-relevent-but-it-is]

Zutara Week 2023

Day 1: Home

"You stayed..."

"Of course I did. I always will."

|| PLEASE DO NOT REPOST ||

So, in this au Katara actually tends to Zuko's wounds for a lot longer and stays with him through the healing process. I love the au where she heals him with bloodbending because yeah. He was burned from the inside out, there's probably a lot more work to be done there, so that's what's taken place before this moment, when he wakes up the next day. I took the prompt here to mean that they've found home in each other.

[pethfics]

ZUTARA WEEK 2023, Day One: Home

Title: A Warm Welcome

Summary: The Fire Nation was where he was born. But it was his quest to find the Avatar that made him the man he had become.

Read on FF.NET

@zutaraweek

[azehearts]

Zutara Week 2023 | Day 1: Home

🎵Dito ka sa piling ko

O dito ka lang, dito ka lang

Bumabagal ang ikot ng mundo

Kapag ika'y nariyan

O aking tahanan🎵

-Tahanan by Adie

[eilishy]

Zutara Week 2023: Home

**Please DON’T use my art without my permission. *** DON’T repost my art

[addictofreading]

@zutaraweek Day 1: Home

Happy Zutara Week 2023, Everyone!!

(I'm still in the midst of a stubborn art block, but I didn't want to let that stop me from participating in the most beloved of fan weeks. I fought myself a lot in making this comic and I'm not sure I won, (I swear it was cooler in my head) but I'm tired of staring at it and at this point, I'd rather have it done than perfect. (making it perfect would involve starting over, so.))

I hope you all enjoy the fluffiness and have a wonderful Zutara Week filled with glorious fics and art and general bliss! <3

[parkiebearr]

Zutara Week 2023

Day 1: Home

[beealexageek]

Zutara Week 2023

Day 1

Prompt: Home

(1/3)

[ID: This situation could have happened before or after they started their relationship… or both, you decide. Personally, I like to think that before starting their relationship, Zuko screamed internally like a fangirl when he had the slightest physical contact with Katara, even if she only praised him. Because obviously he was the one who fell in love first. I have no proof but no doubt either.]

@zutaraweek

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[sokkastyles]

Zutara Week 2023 Day One: Home

The night was stretching thin, and the popcorn bowl was down to kernels. Everyone was too tired to take the initiative to make another bag by the time the credits rolled across the screen in Sokka and Katara's living room. Aang finished off his soda bottle and stood up when Suki switched off the television.

"Well, I'd better get home," he said. "Gyatso is expecting me for temple in the morning."

"I'd better go, too," Suki said, disentangling herself from Sokka's goodbye kiss. He made a small whining sound as she left his arms, but Katara made a face at her brother to remind him of dad's rules in the house. She loved Suki, but sometimes she thought it would be a blessing when the lovebirds went to college.

"Hey," Toph said, pointing a little to the left of the couch where a lumpy shape was sprawled out beneath a blanket. "Zuko fell asleep!"

"He missed the part where the Emulsifier emulsified the soldiers who were trying to prevent him from going back to his home planet!" said Sokka, put out. "That was the coolest part!"

"Well, Toph said, standing up and stretching her arms above her head with a yawn. "I'm not waking him. Mr. Grouchy Pants can stay there."

Katara wondered if they should wake him. Zuko didn't usually stay this late, even on movie nights. But she also knew that Zuko didn't sleep much. He always seemed to be awake whenever she would text him in the middle of the night with whatever stray thought was keeping her awake. He spent a lot of his time sleeping in class, too, to the consternation of their teachers.

"Let him sleep," Hakoda said, coming into the room and helping Katara pick up the popcorn and soda bottles.

Katara bit her lip. "But his dad..."

"I'll talk to Ozai in the morning," her dad said gently. "Let the boy be for now. I might be wrong, but I don't think he gets much sleep at home."

Katara was the last to leave the living room, lighting a small nightlight so that Zuko could find his way in the dark if he woke during the night. She took one last look at his peaceful, sleeping form on the couch before heading up the stairs to her own bedroom. If she woke in the night, she wouldn't wake him, but it would be a comfort to know that he was there in the living room, home with her.

[geotheraider]

Zutara Week 2023 - Day 1: Home

Her fingertips brush gently across the smooth carved oak surface of the armoire. Each perfectly chosen chisel stroke contributes to the comforting flow of her room. Her eyes drift through the rest of the space; the woodwork meanders like water, curving, ebbing, and eddying throughout the artistry of each piece of furniture. A wardrobe of similar craft sits next to the window. Thick dark curtains are pulled back to let in the evening’s moonlight. Atop luxurious surfaces live small paintings, snapshots of moments in time. The sight of her father, brother, and grandmother’s images ignite her smile. She lets out a contented sigh as her eyes fall on the final frame, a depiction of her husband and two children in front of a beach house. 

A stack of carelessly thrown, yet still organized sun hats rest on the corner chair next to the dressing mirror. A light nightgown hangs from there, perched beside its reflection, discarded until its duty is next called. Her smile diminishes marginally as her eyes pan through the rest of the space, realizing the empty feeling in the room filled with things.

Journeying out from the room, she is surrounded by ornamental purple silks mingled with reds and some blues decorating the walls. Adopting a leisurely pace while traversing the halls, she recalls the recently changed aesthetic. Gone is the darkness and overbearing decoration, in favor of more open space, room to breathe. The hallways are more well-lit and brighter, such a change from the dark overbearing presence the place held when she first arrived.

Stopping before a large set of doors, she thinks back. She’s called many places around the world temporary houses, from the South and North Poles, to the back of Appa, to a house in the upper ring of the Earth Kingdom. She frowns at the lack of permanence any of them held.

Pushing the doors open, she is greeted by streams of cool moonlight filtering through the yet unblossomed fruit trees of the gardens. Walking out toward the glistening pool that houses her husband’s favorite small animal friends, she hears laughter and giggling floating across the garden. The sound is contagious, and she finds herself smiling as she rounds the corner. 

The familiar voice of her love calls out to her, “Katara?”

It is followed quickly by excited yelps and screeches as her children cry out “Mom!”

She feels her cheek muscles stretch and begin to hurt as her kids rush over and hug her. She closes her eyes and takes in the feeling, drinking it in as if it would disappear the next moment. 

The strong arms of the Fire Lord embrace her as he looks at her questioningly. “Weren’t you supposed to be in Ba Sing Se until next week?”

She gazes back into his golden eyes and leans into his hug. “We finished up business early.” Giving only a momentary pause, she places a loving peck on his lips. “Besides, I missed all of you. I missed this place. I missed home.”

If you like my writing, check out my other works over on AO3!

@zutaraweek

[soopersara]

Solstice

Zutara Week 2023: Day 2

Read it on AO3 | @zutaraweek

After her mother dies, the Southern Tribe's celebrations lose some of their appeal for Katara. But the spirits still have something to show her.

On the longest night of the year, it’s said, the spirits paint messages in the sky.

Katara can’t believe that. In all her years watching ribbons of color dancing through the air, she’s seen nothing of the kind. The aurora casts rainbows over the snow, and the lights, the music, the dancing that carry through the interminable night seem magic enough for her.

Katara, after all, is nearly ten years old. Surely now she is too old to believe a story just because Gran-Gran tells it well.

Surely in a world where mothers can die, there can be no magic.

⁂

She isn’t supposed to take the canoe out tonight. The solstice festival begins early tomorrow, and if she ventures too far now, Gran-Gran says, the spirits might take her away.

Katara knows that isn’t true. Even if the stories were real, the spirits would have no quarrel with her.  No, at midwinter, it’s the winds and the ice that Gran-Gran fears.

But Katara is a waterbender, and with Dad at war and Sokka not yet returned from hunting, someone needs to collect the lobster-clams from their traps.

Under the light of a growing aurora, Katara pushes the canoe from shore.

⁂

The village is behind her. Katara knows the ice fields well enough that she can’t be lost so close to home.

Still, faint firelight flickers ahead, and she steers the canoe into the bank.

“Hello? Is somebody lost?”

No answer comes at first, but when she climbs from her canoe and rounds an icy spire, she finds a boy huddled close by a small, sputtering flame. His clothes are thin and dark, not remotely suited to the cold, and yet he seems okay.

His eyes meet hers, and her feet refuse to move.

“Oh. I guess I did hear someone.”

⁂

“My name is Katara.”

“I’m Zuko.”

Wrapped in the spare furs from the bottom of her canoe, he looks smaller than he did at first. Or maybe she just thinks that because now, the red of his clothes is hidden.

“How did you get here without freezing?”

Zuko shrugs. “I don’t think I did. I went to bed, and when I opened my eyes again—there was snow everywhere.”

The spirits, she thinks, but still, she can’t believe it. They’re supposed to write messages in the sky, not kidnap firebending boys.

“Well, then—maybe you should come home with me.”

⁂

“Why are you out here alone?”

It’s hard not to stare at him as they sit face to face. And under the intensity of his eyes, it’s even harder to lie.

“Someone had to empty the lobster-clam traps.”

“Liar.”

She scowls at him, but this time, her tongue betrays her. “I don’t want to go to the solstice festival.”

“How come?”

“Because it’s no fun without my mom.”

By the way that Zuko looks at her, she thinks he understands. His hands are cold when they find hers, but he doesn’t seem to care. “Maybe you don’t have to go.”

⁂

Side by side, they lie at the bottom of the canoe, drifting as ribbons of pink and green skate across the sky.

“Do you have any idea how I got here?” Zuko asks her.

She finds that she can’t lie to him. “Probably the spirits. They’re supposed to send us messages on the solstice. Just—usually not people.”

“Oh. So—do you think I’ll go back home when the sun rises?”

Katara looks his way. “The sun won’t rise for a few more weeks.”

To her surprise, Zuko smiles. “Good. I don’t think I’m ready to go back home yet.”

[gemgirl28]

How do you make friends in zutara fandom? It’s been really hard for me because I seem to find myself in bigger discords where it feels like everyone is in a clique and it’s hard to connect, and they talk so badly about people they don’t like to the point I’m afraid to say anything because I don’t want them to do that to me too. I don’t know if it’s gotten worse lately or if I’m just looking in the wrong place

Hello anon! First off I'm sorry you've struggled to connect with other people in the fandom. It definitely can be difficult when we are all interacting with each other online, but I hope you do make some genuine connections 🫂

I will say, making fandom friends in 2023 feels VERY different from 2020/2021 when I first got into fandom, and that is very much due to shutdown vs things opening back up. When I started engaging with the zutara fandom in August/September 2020 I was working full time from home doing a job that was often dead (read: I was online during working hours) and a part time job on the weekends that was soooo slow it allowed the brainrot to really sink in as I daydreamed about zk while working. Now I work in office a minimum of 3 days a week and while we are in our slower season, we still have a ton of work to do to prep for our busy season.

And that's just me! I know people who are engaging in other fandoms, have also had work ramp back up, have had family stuff that pulls them offline, etc. It's a different space than it was when I was first making connections with people (and I would be curious to see if anyone who was already online pre-Covid has written a dissertation about the waves of online engagement due to shutdown).

Also, I do struggle to make connections in larger servers, mostly because I get overwhelmed at the nonstop activity and end up muting them. I do think they are great places to keep up with fandom activity, like events, fanart, fanfics, etc, but for initially making friends I find it tough.

So all that to say, here is my personal method for making fandom friends (results may vary):

Engage with the same person over and over. Like their posts, comment on them, reblog with commentary/additional tags, just over and over engage with them.

They slowly start to engage back (liking your posts, responding to comments, reblogging your reblogs, etc.).

Slide into their dms and ask them how they are doing, then tell them what about them made you slide into their dms (I legit messaged someone that their vibes seemed nice and it worked).

Talk about fandom stuff but also about your interests outside of fandom (IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: DON'T SHARE IDENTIFYING INFO. I'm talking about things like fave foods and music, not where you live or your mother's maiden name).

Be friends forever.

Now that I'm reading that back it sort of reads like instructions for getting to know someone on a dating app. But also, if you aren't trying to fall a little in love with all your mutuals, what's the point?

tl;dr: It can be tricky making friends now that real life has ramped back up, but if you give it a little time and effort, you can make some great connections in fandom.

[pethfics]

ZUTARA WEEK 2023, Day Four: Jewel

Title: By a Wondrous Compass Steered

Summary: Caught in a vicious storm, Katara realizes that a precious gift might just be a way to lead her back home to the one she loves.

Read on FF.NET

@zutaraweek