Zutara: Our Bond Grows Deeper Still

The slow walk through the gardens was always Katara’s favorite part of the day, but that day it didn’t hold the same joy and pleasure as it had before. That day she was leaving for home. And as much as it pained her to leave the Fire Nation palace, she knew it was what she wanted most. She missed her Gran-Gran, she missed her friends, and she missed the snow-covered terrain that she called her own. It was where she grew up, where she lived, where she belonged. And that day, it was time to return there.

Looking over at her companion, she knew his feelings were mirroring hers. It was a sad day, a day she wished were already over, and yet she dared not wish this time away for it was a time she would not soon have again. And yet she could not help but wish the time had already passed. She wanted the pain of their goodbyes to be over, the tears she would soon cry to be done falling, and the love in her heart to fade to a memory. Katara had known that this relationship between a Water Tribe peasant and the Firelord could have never worked out, and yet she still pursued it, she still clung to hope, she still desired to be with him. And it was that feeling that would be the hardest to ignore.

“Katara,” Zuko said as he turned to face her, coming to a stop near the most blazing red fire lilies in the garden.

The simple waterbender looked up into the Firelord’s sun-kissed eyes, longing for that last gaze into his soul. “Yes, dear Zuko?”

“There is something I wish to ask you.”

Katara’s eyes filled with tears as she took her hands out of Zuko’s and stepped backwards. “No, Zuko, no. This cannot be. We are far too young. We’ve already discussed this. You are the Firelord, yes, but I am only fifteen years old, and you a mere seventeen. It is not possible. We cannot marry.” A single tear slipped down Katara’s cheek as she whispered once more, “We are too young, my Lord, far too young.”

“Katara,” Zuko soothed her with his gentle tone as he stepped closer to her, taking hold of her trembling hands, “That is not what I was going to ask. I understand that we are too young. You are right. It is too early for a wedding ceremony, but it is not too early for you to join me on the Fire Nation council.”

The tears stopped forming in Katara’s eyes and instead were replaced with a puzzled expression. “The Fire Nation council? Zuko, I am not of the Fire Nation. How can I possibly join you?”

A smile suddenly lit up Zuko’s handsome face. “As Water Tribe Ambassador…for the Fire Nation.”

The young woman’s eyes grew wide at this suggestion. The thought of staying amidst the Fire Nation people had occurred to her as a possibility, but she had shunned it. But here, standing before the man she loved, she was being offered a chance to live among his people, and more importantly, to live near him. “Zuko...”

“Katara, I know it sounds a little odd. I mean, you are only fifteen, as you’ve clearly reminded me every day,” Katara smiled at Zuko’s teasing, “but I’ve already brought this before the other members of the council, even my Uncle Iroh, and they all agree that you would be the perfect representative for the Water Tribes. You’ve traveled the world. You understand the destruction this war has brought, you understand the pain it has reaped among your own people, and it is clear that you are destined to be a great leader amongst them.”

Zuko’s eyes softened as he continued, “And, my dear Katara, you would be with me. We would travel the world together, visiting every nation and village, showing them that the Fire Nation is no longer to be feared. With you by my side, the negotiations for peace would come easily, the balance of the world would be restored quickly, and our love would continue to grow stronger till the day you would answer the one question that still burns within me.”

Zuko leaned closer to Katara and within seconds he had captured her lips with his. She did not protest but only tilted her head higher while bringing their entwined hands down to rest at their sides. When Zuko broke the kiss, his eyes looked longingly into hers as he said the words that always made her heart skip a beat. “I love you, Katara. Please, stay with me.”

Staring up into the golden eyes that never ceased to entrance her, Katara longed to repeat the sentiment, yearned to commit to his offer of becoming a Water Tribe Ambassador, but as much as it pained her heart to leave, she knew it had to be done. “Zuko,” she quietly spoke his name, lifting her hand to place upon his unmoving scar, “I…I can’t. I must go. I hope you can understand. I must leave with my father and brother. I must return home. It is where I’m needed, where I feel called to go.”

The sadness in Zuko’s expression brought tears into Katara’s eyes, and she could not bear to look up at him any longer. She had to leave, it was her duty. And so before the Firelord could say a word in protest, she turned and ran down the garden pathway, through the fire lily flower beds, and past the firestone archways that lead into the palace courtyards while Zuko stood gazing after her, a hand placed upon his scarred face.

*******
“Where is Firelord Zuko? I thought he was going to meet us at the dock before we left,” Sokka said while standing at the helm, staring off into the village for any sign of the firebender.

“I guess he’s not coming. We should get going,” Katara replied.

“But I thought you would want to say goodbye to him? He is, after all, your boyfriend.”

Katara paid no attention to her brother’s jests, instead she stared down into the water as it rushed up against the boat’s edge. How she longed to be rid of this place, to put these memories behind her, to return to snow and ice. It was all that she wanted.

“Katara?” Sokka called for her. “Katara? Katara!”

“What, Sokka? I’m not in the mood, okay, so whatever it is that you need, just ask Dad,” she yelled back at him before focusing her attention back on the water.

But Sokka was not going to let her off that easily. Being the gentleman that he was, Sokka walked over to his sister’s side and leaned over the ship’s railing with her, shoving himself right up against her and making her stare at him intensely. “Why are you in such a soar mood? We’re heading home. You should be happy.”

“I am happy!” Katara slapped a big grin on her face as she looked at her brother. “See!” She pointed to her smile before dropping the act and staring down at her fidgeting hands.

“And I’m supposed to be convinced? Come on, Katara, what’s really bothering you? Missing your boyfriend already?” Sokka teased.

“Ach!” Katara stepped away from the boat’s edge and walked towards the cabin quarter’s entrance. But before she could even put a foot on the first step, her father opened the door and came to stand in front of her.

“Katara, what’s wrong?” Hakoda asked, seeing the distraught look on his daughter’s face.

“Nothing, Dad,” she answered, looking away from his knowing gaze.

“Katara, I know that with you it is never nothing. Tell me, what’s wrong?” He asked again, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder and leading her towards the boat’s edge.

“Dad, you wouldn’t understand. It’s too complicated. It would never work. Zuko…Dad, it would never work.”

“So, this is about the Firelord?”

Katara looked up at her father and let out a long sigh. “Dad, he asked me to stay with him in the Fire Nation. I said no.”

Hakoda looked down at his daughter with a questioning gaze. “He asked you to stay with him? I thought you wanted to stay in the Fire Nation. Just days ago you were asking me if it would be alright for you to stay, and now when he asks you, you say no? Why, Katara? I thought it was what you wanted.”

“So did I, Dad, but it would never work out between us. We’re from two different nations, two different cultures. You said it yourself that it would be a long, hard road to travel, that it would raise a lot of questions, and that it might not be accepted in the world. Dad, it is too much pressure. It is better that we just leave things alone, live our separate lives, just forget this ever happened.” Katara leaned over the ship’s railing, gazing out to sea. “Dad, I just want to go home.”

Hakoda looked back at his son who was standing only a few feet away with his arms crossed, his eyes rolling, and his head shaking in disagreement. The older man found that he agreed with Sokka. His daughter was making a huge mistake. Turning his gaze back onto his daughter, Hakoda asked her, “Katara, is home where you really want to be? Is that what will truly make you happy?”

Katara’s shoulders slumped as she sighed once more. “Dad, he didn’t just ask me to stay in the Fire Nation with him. He asked me to be the Water Tribe Ambassador for the Fire Nation.” Katara turned to face her father. “I would be traveling the world with him, visiting every nation, every city and village, even our own villages at home.”

“Katara, that sounds like a great opportunity. You could help with restoring balance to the world. You would be a great tool to ending this war and bringing peace to every nation. Why would you not want that, my child?”

Tears formed in Katara’s eyes as she spoke, “Because, Dad, I would never see you again. It would be a long time at least before I would, and if I stayed with Zuko…I would eventually marry him, I just know it. But then I would forever be a part of the Fire Nation. I’d never be able to live with you and Gran-Gran again.”

“And me,” Sokka interjected, waving his hand.

Hakoda looked back at Sokka and shook his head. “Katara,” he addressed his daughter once again, “I know you would be leaving the Southern Water Tribe, and I know you would no longer be with us. But, daughter, even if you returned home, the time would eventually come when you would move away from us and find your own destiny in life. We can’t remain in one spot forever, we must always keep moving on. Things will never stop changing and shifting. The unexpected will always come our way, but it is what we decide to do in those moments that define who we will be in the future.”

Her father opened his arms for Katara to enter, and she flung herself into his comforting embrace, letting the tears roll down her cheeks over the coming loss of his presence in her life. “My dear child, you know where your heart truly lies, and it is not with the Southern Water Tribe any longer. It is here, in the Fire Nation. This is where you belong, Katara. This is where your destiny begins.”

The warmth of her father’s embrace soothed her sorrow over his departure from her life. She knew that living in the Fire Nation with Zuko was what she truly wanted, and although it pained her to say goodbye, she needed to find her own way, start on a new path, fulfill her destiny. She longed to return home, but she longed to be with Zuko more, and so she hugged her father more tightly than she ever had before. She knew she would see him again, but when she did, things would be different and she would be changed.

“Oh, come on, Sis, we’ll see each other again. It’s not like it will be forever. It will just be for a couple months, maybe years, hmmm…maybe we won’t see each other again,” Sokka teased after Katara had pulled away from her father’s embrace.

“Sokka, you…” Katara beckoned for him to come closer. “Come here!” The two siblings wrapped their arms around each other in a tender hug. “I’ll miss you, Sokka.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll miss you, too,” he said, all the while hugging her tighter.

After saying her tearful goodbyes to her father, her brother, Bato, and the rest of the crew, she slung the few belongings she had over her back and made haste for the Fire Nation palace.

*******
“My lord, there is someone here to see you. She says it is urgent.”

“Well, please send her in,” Zuko waved to his attendant.

The man hesitated with his next statement. “I’m…I’m sorry, sir, but she requested…that you meet her in the gardens.”

Zuko’s eyebrow lifted, and he began to wonder who this mysterious woman could be. He dared not let his heart long for it to be the masterful waterbender he had come to love, but he could not help but hope. Had she changed her mind? Standing to his feet, the Firelord followed the young man out the door and then left him there as he hurriedly walked through the many corridors of the palace, out one of the side entrances, and along the garden pathway to the turtleduck pond. If it was Katara, she would be sitting under the tree where he first told her the story of his mother.

As he followed the stone pathway, Zuko could not calm his breathing. He told himself over and over not to hope, but he couldn’t help the skipping of his heart and his step as he walked under each garden archway that led towards the pond. If she had truly changed her mind, oh, his heart could only hope so much.

Passing under the last archway, Zuko entered the tranquil setting, breathing in the simple aromas that reminded him of his mother. Taking a deep breath, Zuko continued forward until he came to stand around the other side of the large tree. There was no one there. Scanning the surroundings, Zuko didn’t see a single soul. Not even a palace servant was around. He had hoped for nothing. She wasn’t there. She had gone home.

Zuko fell back against the smooth wood of the dragonfire tree and slid down to the ground, staring off into the pond’s still waters. Whoever had beckoned him, he no longer cared to meet. His heart was too weary with the thought of losing Katara. He should have met them at the docks. He should have said goodbye. He should have told her one last time just how much his heart ached for her to be near. Maybe if he had just met her there, he could have convinced her to stay. But it was too late. It would be years before he saw her again. Closing his eyes, he let his thoughts wander to the time when she had saved his life from Azula, the first time he had confessed his love. The beauty of that moment never ceased to amaze him, and he let his mind wander among the memories.

Because he was lost in his thoughts, Zuko didn’t hear the quiet pitter-patter of feet that were moving towards the tree, walking around its trunk, and stopping just to the side of him. It was only at the sweet sound of her voice calling his name that made him abandon his thoughts and quickly rise to his feet. “Katara! You came back! And you’re…you’re…”

“Dressed and ready to fulfill my duty as Water Tribe Ambassador for the Fire Nation, my lord,” she said as she bowed, the emblazoned blue and red robes bending to her form.

Zuko didn’t care what she was wearing or about what she just said. All he could do was wrap his arms around her waist and bring his lips to hers in a sudden display of his love and passion for her. Katara gladly obliged and swung her arms around his neck, kissing him with as much passion and fire in return. The joy that Zuko found in her return was so overwhelming that he lifted her up in the air and spun her around him before bringing her back into his embrace with a gentle kiss. “Oh, Katara, I can’t believe you came back,” he finally spoke while looking longingly into her eyes, wanting to taste more of her sweet lips. “What made you change your mind?”

Katara unraveled her arms around Zuko’s neck and brought her hands up to frame his face. “My dear, sweet, Zuko, I just couldn’t leave you. I was fooling myself by saying that I wanted to return home rather than be with you. I want nothing more than to stay here in the Fire Nation, to serve as Ambassador of the Water Tribe, and to eventually be your wife.”

Zuko had never smiled wider. “So, your answer is yes then?”

“Yes! To all of the above!” she proclaimed, lifting her hands into the air and then bringing them back down to rest upon Zuko’s chest. “But,” she said with a mischievous glint in her eyes, “I must remind you once more, I am only—”

“Fifteen. Yes, I know,” he finished for her, rolling his eyes. “Don’t worry, Katara, we’ll wait.”

“Really?” she questioned him, lifting her eyebrows.

“Yes, we shall. There is much work to be done, and once we complete it and return here, we shall marry.”

Katara smiled at the thought of marrying this man. It was the only thing her heart longed for. And as she wrapped her arms around his neck once more, capturing his lips with hers, she couldn’t help but be amazed at the joy they had unexpectedly found in each other. His Uncle had once told her that destiny is a funny thing, and she had never expected that the man who had once attacked her village would one day be holding her in his arms, keeping her captive with a kiss.