#zkweek2018

Katara had had enough of watching the palace servants run around looking for Zuko. At first, she had laughed with the rest of the Gaang when the head servant rushed into the gardens and asked if they had seen his royal highness. Now after watching several people race around the golden halls crying, she decided to put them out of their misery.

There were panicked people in every hall as she headed to the Fire Lord's secret hideaway. The waterbender made sure to look as aloof as possible as she opened the familiar wooden door that lead into the kitchens. A few turns later past various dishes and spices, she was faced with Zuko bent attentively over a tea pot. He stared unblinkingly into flame without acknowledging her entry.

Katara rolled her eyes at the Fire Lord's antics before plopping down on the stool he'd left for her. For the past few weeks, the firebender had brewed several pots of tea hoping to make one that wasn't dirt flavored. She beared it with tight smiles and plenty of sweet cakes in between sips.

No matter what Zuko tried all the tea tasted the same-like dirty water. How the firebender wasn't aware of this fact completely baffled her.

The waterbender wished she could go back in time to stop Sokka from opening his big mouth. She'd expertly hidden how bad Zuko's tea was for a solid two months before her brother butted in.

The two benders were having their usual weekly tea in the main gardens when Sokka ran in claiming he was parched from sparring with Suki. The firebender being his dumb noble self offered her brother a cup. Katara had tried to signal behind the Fire Lord's back to tell her brother to not drink it, but he just rolled her eyes at her before taking a big chug.

The waterbender couldn't meet Zuko's gaze as Sokka went on a tangent on just how god awful the tea was. Secretly, she hoped the rant would dissuade him from brewing anymore tea.

The exact opposite happened.

Now, Katara was forced to drink more tea than ever. She made sure to smile brightly at the firebender and declare that he was improving everyday. Which wasn't true in the slightest, but he didn't need to know that.

She also made sure that Sokka never got any tea either.

The teapot let out a high pitched whistle, and Zuko hurried to pour her a cup. He also pulled out a tray laden with her favorite cakes, so that was something to look forward to.

She dodged the golden eyes trained on her by closing her own as she took a sip from the offered cup. They immediately snapped open, again. It wasn't dirt flavored.

The tea had a sweet almost flowery taste that made her taste buds sigh in relief. It also had a refreshing after taste that didn't have her immediately reaching for a snack.

Something must have shown on her face, because Zuko practically lit up (as much as the moody teen could light up). His soft half smile was a little wider than normal, and Katara swore the lantern flames jumped a little.

"So it's good?" He asked.

The waterbender responded by taking another longer sip. She darted her eyes around while drinking. Surely, Iroh was hiding behind a shelf or a pile of dishes. Finding no evidence of the older bender, she let her smile break through.

"This is really good. Can I have another cup?"

This made his smile grow larger. He quickly moved to oblige her request. The two chatted over tea and cakes for several minutes before Katara remembered why she came. She put her half-eaten sweet down before fixing the firebender with a stern look.

"Zuko the servants are going crazy looking for you with have to go, now."

He gave her a guilty have shrug before standing. She also stood, and the two made their way out of the castle kitchen. Right as two were about to exit out into the busy hallway, Zuko pulled the waterbender back by her foreman.

She turned back to look at him prepared to remind him that they had a country to rebuild, but stopped at the look on somewhat serious look on his face. He then gripped her shoulders and made sure they had direct eye contact.

"I know you really like the other tea, but I can't take the dirt taste anymore. So I'm glad you like this one more."

Then the Fire Lord stepped out into the hall leaving Katara to let her head slam into the adjacent wall.

~

~~ This almost didn't happen today. I'm glad I managed to write it all out for today's prompt. Ayeee only 4 more days left T-T.

The sun was unrelenting in the Fire Nation. Katara felt like it had a personal vendetta against her and wanted her to be as miserable as possible. She was already in a bad mood since Aang still wasn't back; of course, it had to be terribly humid and hot today too.

In a last ditch effort to enjoy the incredibly muggy day, she made her way to the Royal Family gardens. Zuko said there was a foutain and a pond with little birds whose name she couldn't remember. It was something with a T, and they were pretty harmless according to the firebender.

Maybe she'd remember their name when she saw them.

Servants gave her slight bows as she made her way down to the family chambers. Katara made sure to smile back at them and hoped her discomfort wasn't too apparent.

When she finally stepped out into the gardens, a cool breeze swept past the shady area under the entrance. The waterbender almost melted than and there, but she wanted to see the little pond animals.

The garden had many flowers, bushes, and trees lining a path that curved out of her sight. She walked past all the bright bursts of color dripping from every bush and branch. The water just beyond the curve called out for her. A dip in the pond would be a perfect way to cool down.

The waterbender had almost rounded the bend when she heard the famaliar sound of splashing water. Peaking around the edge she saw the new Fire Lord absently feeding bread to the little animals.

Leaning forward provided her with a better view of the water birds. They looked incredibly soft except for the hard shell on their backs. The biggest one present let out a frustrated quack as Zuko slowed down his bread throwing.

Katara stopped looking at the adorable birds to take a closer look at the firebender. The Gaang hadn't seem him around much after the victory festival. He was always busy in some meeting with the various leaders of the world. The waterbender's father got to see the Zuko more than she did.

It stung a little after all the time they spent together. Countless hours flying past as they pushed one another to fight their best in prepration for their battle against Azula. They had worked through all the bitterness and betrayal to form something more beneficial for everyone. They were a team.

The perfect team.

Even if a certain firbender seemed to forget about that and rushed into the fight where he almost died for her. Katara fought back a shiver just thinking about that moment. She had prayed to every spirit she knew of to save the other teen from dying. Simultaneously, she cursed herself for undermining the benefits of healing.

When his eyes cracked open to meet hers, she was torn between beating him silly and making him swear to never EVER do anything like that EVER again. He wasn't allowed to die for her or to die in general.

Then everything blurred together as the world celebrated the end of the war.

All Katara's time was spent with her family, healing the wounded, and her new situation with Aang. He expected them to ride off in the sunset together, but she just couldn't. Not when there's so much work to be done. So in typically Aang fashion, he flew off to 'meditate' on it.

She was angry at first, but enventually realized that this was just how Aang was-how he always would be. Could she really learn to get use to that? To worrying about him nonstop as he traveled to La knows where without sending a single word to her.

A louder quack drew her out of her quickly spiraling thoughts and back to the boy sitting by the pond. The boy who she hadn't seen in a while, but she was too afraid to barge in and ruin whatever peace he found next to the water.

Except he wasn't by the pond anymore.

Blue eyes blinked rapidly as Katara whipped her head side to side looking for any sign of the firebender. She jumped out of her skin when two overly warm hands lightly touch her shoulders.

"You can feed the turtleducks with me instead of hiding in a bush."

Her first thought is that she finally knows the name of the cute birds floating in the pond. Her second one is full of concern for the firebender. Was the stress making him sick? She couldn't remember if he was normally this warm or not.

Just in case something was wrong, Katara turned around and placed her cool hand against his burning face.

"You need to relax more Zuko. You're a little too warm."

He frowned and pulled her hand away from his head.

"Firebenders are natural hot."

This was almost to easy. Katara lazily smirked up at him and puts her hands on her hips.

"Really? Well that's good to know."

In typical Zuko fashion, the boy glowed cherry red as a steady flush took over his entire face.

"That's not- I mean"

"I want to play with the turtleducks."

Katara grabbed the firebender's hand which ended his stammering, but did nothing to make him cooler. She'd give him five minutes to cool down before chucking him into the lake.

Aang is forgotten as the two threw bread to the eager animals, and Katara used her water tentacles to drag the still flustered Zuko into the lake. Hidden in another bush a few feet away from Katara's original hiding space, Sokka and Toph shoot a now soaked Zuko a thumbs up. He returns it with a glare before pulling the waterbender into the pond with him.

Operation-distract-Katara-from-Aang's-weirdness-with-adorable-animals (named by Sokka) was a complete success.

~

~

Continuation of Day 1, but like after the invasion and blah blah

They needed more supplies for the beach house, and somehow Katara and Zuko were picked to go into town. Never mind that fact that Zuko looked unbearably suspicous with his black hood, everyone else simply couldn't be bothered to alter their plans for the sake of the group.

If she and the firebender got captured, it'd serve them right.

She angrily marched all the way into town with a silent Zuko two steps behind her. When they made it there, she took several calming breathes before stepping into the village, then walked in at a calmer pace and an easy smile.

Getting supplies was a breeze, since the ex-prince didn't wine and complain like her brother usually did. He just held their shopping bags and followed behind her. Occasionally, he'd pause and pull his hood a little futher over his face, and Katara would fill a twinge of pity for him. Having such a distinct mark made hiding almost impossible.

The only one that could sort of relate was Aang, but he could just grow his hair out a little to hide the tatoo. Zuko's hair would have to be really long to cover his scar.

They were half-way done with the list when she saw the the table lined with color crystals. Walking closer, Katara could see that the crystals were actually attaches to string to form necklaces. One in particilar called out to her like water in the desert.

The gem was a familar glowy-green that made her heart race. She approached the vender, a middle-aged woman, with small stuttering steps.

"Where's this one from?" She asked pointing at the it.

The lady smiled at her warmly before holding the neckalce in her hand, letting the crystal dangle down.

"It's from the Catacombs of the new territory in Ba Sing Se."

She could feel herself blushing at the mere mention of the catacombs.

"I see, thankyou."

Katara hightailed it from the table without checking to see if Zuko was behind her. He knew his way around town just fine and didn't need her to lead him around. She got the rest of the supplies as quickly as she could, while steadily beating down the memories of warm hands and rough scar tissue beneath her palms.

If she thought of those little things, she'd inevitably think of the one big thing that happened down there. The thing she had steadily refused to mention under any circumstances. Thankfully, Zuko didn't bring it up either, or the waterbender might have hid at the bottom of the ocean.

The firebender in question met her outside of town with the rest of the supplies, and the two made their way back to the beach house. Katara was too embarrassed to have a straight conversation, so she idely rambled about what to make for dinner and missing the her blue clothes. He didn't seem to mind, and she found it was nice to be the one talking rather than being the listener. The other three always got to go on and on and on about how boring everything was or how hungry they were. Katara, Zuko, and Suki were always stuck nodding along pretending to listen.

That made her hesistate. Maybe Zuko was as tired as listening as she was and wanted to talk to? She looked over at him and forced her whatever down long enough to formulate a question.

"So Zuko, how do you like being here."

He tripped. He actually tripped over nothing before steading himself and leveling her with a small glare. It didn't stop her from laughing at him.

They continued walking in silence for a while, before Zuko slowly started talking about his day. He mentioned how Aang was progressing, and how he had spent some time with Toph messing around in the sand.

Katara listened with a soft smile and laughed at some of his more awkward encounters with Sokka and Aang. Something about being menly men.

When they finally arrived back at the house, the green crystal was long forgotten, and she was teasing Zuko about his so called 'manly strut'.

Sokka almost ran them over to get the food with Toph and Aang right behind him. Suki came in at a slower pace and gave Katara a sympathetic look. The waterbender waved it off as she handed out some fruit and jerky for the three to eat. They happily munched away on their respective foods while she started making dinner. Suki helped Katara out by cutting the vegetables and seasoning the meat.

Dinner was finished a little while later, but Zuko was no where in sight. Thinking back to their earlier conversation, Katara excused herself to go grab him. She figured he'd be on the beach.

As she expected, the firebender was sitting in the sand facing the ocean. Why'd he have to go brood at her element? He should have made a bone-fire to mope at instead. She came to a stop a little behind him and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Zuko, food's ready, so no more pouting."

He leaped up into a fighting stance, but slumped over when he saw it was just her and not Azula or whoever would attack someone from behind.

"I do not pout." He pouted as he sank back into the ground.

She rolled her eyes before coming over to stand next to him.

"Pouting or not pouting. You need to come eat."

"Now who's pouting."

"Zuko, don't make me bring you in a bubble."

Golden eyes shoot her a dry look before the firebender stood up again. Katara smirked as she turned to go back into the house.

"Wait." He called out.

She paused and moved to turn around; however, Zuko pushed her back in place to face the house. The waterbender was about to fumble out a sarcastic remark about how this reminded her of a certain tree incident, but a small weight being drapped around her neck made it freeze in her throat. The firebender stepped back into her line of sight, and Katara looked down to see the crystal from the market gleaming up at her.

"We should..uh talk about it-when you're not confused anymore." Zuko stammered out while raking a hand through his hair.

She wanted to implode into nothingness. How dare he bring up two of the most awkward and embarassing moments of her life up at the same to. How did he even hear her say that to Aang?

Katara took several deep breathes before looking up at the firebender. She didn't see any signs of him teasing her or even pushing her for anything. He also said that they should talk about it-not would or must or any other command like word. She sighed as all her pent up aggression evaporated.

The crystal necklace was long enough to hide in her shirt, and she tucked it underneath her top layer with gentle hands.

"Yeah we'll talk about it." She pushed past her nerves and smiled lopsidely at him. "After we kick Azula's butt."

He returned the smile with one of his own, and Katara figured everything was back to normal. Later after everyone finished eating and disbursed, she pulled out the crystal and watched it slowly start to glow in the darkness. With the green tint of the crystal surrounding her room, she conceded that things were probably better than normal.

Tag: @zutaraweek

Day 1: First Kiss - “One Messy Milestone”

Day 2: Letters - “Corresponding Conspirators”

Day 3: Tea - “Unexpected Exper-tea-se”

Day 4: Turtleduck - “The Secluded Pond”

Day 5: Crystals - “Through the Dream’s Guiding Glow”

Day 6: Bloodbending - “Darker Impulses”

Day 7: Element Swap - “Reinvented Folklore”

@zutaraweek 2018