12 Days Of Shipmas (A Multi Fandom Compilation)

Five Gold Rings (Zutara from Avatar: The Last Airbender)

   The four nations of the world had been at peace for several years now, and life, on the whole, was tranquil and prosperous. Katara had seen many towns and cities rise up from the ashes of war before returning home with her brother, Sokka, and together they were helping the people of the Southern Water Tribe recover after so many harsh years.

Today was one of her favourite kind of days, she mused as she sat out near the open waters of the sea, mentoring the handful or so of children who had exhibited bending abilities in the past few years. She tried her best to tutor them all together at least once a week, and popped by their homes as often as she could to offer personal tips and advice.

But today was a group day, with the wind in their hair as they all worked together on the Butterfly move, which sort of looked like a figure of eight. The older ones were starting to get the hang of it quite nicely, but for her babies it was enough that they were able to swirl the water up by themselves at all.

"That's it Makita!" Katara cried excitedly as her littlest student managed to sweep the water from their small pool up into the formation they'd been studying. The other kids cheered and clapped as the girl gritted her teeth to hold the shape for a few more seconds, before it collapsed into a puddle, splashing chilly droplets over the small class.

Katara laughed as Makita grimaced apologetically at the other shrieking kids. "Okay, okay," she said, siphoning off the water with a flick of her wrist. "Let's not make a fuss. Makita you did a good job!"

"Thank you Katara," said the young girl shyly, hugging herself. "Do you think one day I'll be a master, like you?"

"Of course," Katara replied without hesitation, but Benko, one of the older boys, drowned her out.

"Katara's the best waterbender in all the nations!" he boasted proudly. "She helped the Avatar defeat the Firelord!"

"Tell us about the Avatar, please!" another of the boys begged, and soon all of her half a dozen students were all chirping questions.

"Yeah, tell us about Avatar Aang!"

"Are you really the best ever waterbender?"

"Was the war really very scary?"

"Did you see the new Firelord already today?"

Katara's head snapped around to Makita, who had last spoken. "Wait, what?" she said, and poor little Makita instantly looked guilty, like she'd said something wrong. "It's okay," Katara said, shaking off her own shock. "I just didn't know – did you say the Firelord was here? In our village...today?"

She knew the Firelord – Zuko – was touring the nations, it was all anyone could talk about. It was all to do with assuring the world that the war years were truly behind them, and that his was now a peaceful nation. All the traders that came through the tribe talked about was how handsome the prince was, and what a wise and admirable leader he had become. But Katara herself had not seen or spoken to her old friend in many years.

Little Makita nodded. "My momma said he was getting here at noon, that she heard he made a detour. She said it's because we're special."

"I bet he's here to see Katara!" insisted Benko, and her throat instantly went dry and her stomach flipped. Which was ridiculous, why wouldn't she want to see Zuko?

"Now, now," she said, calming the kids down. "He'll be here to see all of us. How about we work on something to show him if we get the chance – a little display perhaps?"