The Dragon and The Ocean // Zutara

Garden

Katara's POV

I stand up first, so that I can help Zuko do the same. It's much easier than this morning, I must say. He is getting stronger and stronger after every healing session. Plus the amount of times that he is in pain keep shrinking as well. 

Instead of pulling his arm around my shoulder, I just grab his hand, entwining my fingers in his, like they were before. I rest my head on his shoulder again and we start to walk. I can tell Zuko is trying his best not to limp, but it is very hard for him. I don't mind it though. I think that it is proof of how far he has come in just a day.

We start to walk toward the doors, but before we get there, Zuko takes a right and I can see that he is heading toward a magnificent display of flowers. We stop a few feet in front of it and I can see that it is much more beautiful and intricate then it looked from far away.

"It's beautiful." I whisper under my breath. 

"Not as beautiful as you." He replies. I smile softly. Zuko always knows exactly what to say to make me smile.

"What is it called?" I ask him, louder than a whisper.

"Uh, it doesn't have a name." He says, hesitantly. 

"A beautiful piece of art such as this must have a name." I say, quite shocked. 

"Well then, why don't you name it?" He says kissing the top of my head. 

I look up at the masterpiece. On the bottom, there are beautiful flowers of a dark red color. Above that is a subtle pink color that blends into an orange. And above that, there is an intricate layer of bright yellow flowers that look exactly like the sun. This sculpture is a huge flame, made out of wonderfully colored and brilliantly woven flowers.

"It reminds me of you." I say.

"What does?" He asks with his goofy smile. 

This is a smile that I have grown to love. Before I realized my feelings for Zuko, I used to think that his smile was fake and that's why it looked so lopsided. Now I think that it is cute.  

"The sculpture, silly." I say, laughing.

"What are you talking about?" He says, giving me a confused look. Obviously he doesn't see what I see. Then again art can be very perceptive. 

"I know what to name it." I say to him after a few more moments of thinking.

"And what is that my love?" He asks. 

"The Dragon's Flame. One, because a beautiful flame such as this, could only belong to a dragon. And two, it will always remind me of how much I love you, my dragon." I say, looking up at him.

He doesn't say anything about the name. At first I think that he doesn't like it. All he does is stare into my eyes. I'm still not too comfortable with the thought of someone doing this in a romantic way. It reminds me of when Aang used to look into my eyes, before he told me that he had a crush on me.

However, after a while, Zuko smiles, which takes my mind off of Aang and back on naming this amazing piece of art. 

"I love it, my ocean." He says kissing my forehead again. 

"Ocean?" I ask him in a sarcastic way. 

"Like the color of your eyes." He replies.

He wraps his arm around me, pulling me close. I keep my head rested on his shoulder and we continue to take in this magnificent piece of art. The moment is perfect, but I need to ask Zuko something very important.

"I have to ask you something." I say to him, which grabs his attention. He doesn't say anything, but I know he is listening. 

"What are we going to do about Sokka?" I ask him. 

"Do we have to think about that now?" He says to me. 

"I mean, we don't have to, but it has been nagging me. I mean, he's my brother. I can't lie to him." I reply, shrugging my shoulders.

Zuko doesn't say anything, so I don't bring up the topic anymore. We continue to walk around the gardens. There are very pretty pools of water all around that range from different sizes. And the trees that grow here are so much more interesting then snow and ice that we see outside at the South Pole.

As we are walking past the turtle duck pond again, something causes Zuko to wince and grimace in pain. I decided that we should go inside for another healing session. He agrees and we go through the doors that lead back into the palace and walk through the hallway to Zuko's room. 

It's the title! This was one of the first parts of the story I had written and so this is where I drew my title from. I have read a few Zutara pieces and those authors have used nicknames too. I didn't want to use any that I had seen before, which is where "dragon" and "ocean" came from. 

Sorry for the wait on this one! I know it wasn't long, but hopefully it will suffice for now. I didn't realize how fast I was posting and so when I looked at all of my prewritten stuff, I saw that I didn't have much left. Anyway I had to write some more wait releasing another part. If all goes well, another part will be out tomorrow soooo, ya, look out for that. 

Thanks for reading!