Katara, of the Fire Nation

Chapter 25

Zuko finds Katara pacing in his room, their room.

"Sorry," Katara breathes as Zuko walks in, "I'm sorry I just left like that. He... he got to me."

"It's alright," Zuko says, he pulls Katara into his chest and then holds her tight, "I understand."

"Do you think he was right?" Katara asks, she looks up to Zuko, her chin resting on Zuko's collarbone, "Do you think we're in over our heads?"

"What?" Zuko asks, his eyebrow raising as he steps back.

"This-" Katara gestures between her and Zuko for effect, "-us, could we really do this? Your nation won't accept me, we're too different."

"Different?" Zuko frowns, "Katara, you can't listen to my father."

Katara takes a deep breath as her chest fills with doubt.

"We can't rewrite the stars," she breathes, she frowns and looks to her feet.

"We can," Zuko says, taking her hands in his, he presses her hands to his chest and adds, "Katara, this heart belongs to you, my heart belongs to you, I will rewrite all the stars, I would defy all the gods and spirits just to keep you here, nothing will keep us apart."

Katara looks to Zuko, tears well in her eyes, she smiles at him and he caresses her cheek.

"I love you, Kat," Zuko breathes, his chest tight at the thought of losing her, "Let's make our own destiny."

Katara laughs and then leaps into Zuko's arms, forgetting Ozai's words as she relaxes in her lover's embrace.

Zuko awakens the next morning with Katara still fast asleep on his chest, her arm draped over him and a small smile plays in the corner of her lips.

Zuko looks down at Katara and his heart races, his cheeks flush red as he thinks of how lucky he is to have her by his side.

"I am so in love with you," Zuko breathes, whispering softly as he watches Katara dream.

A soft knock on the door has Katara's eyebrows knitting together as she groans in annoyance.

"It's alright," Zuko whispers as Katara rolls over and settles back into sleep, Zuko kisses Katara's cheek and then rolls out of bed, he pulls his robe around his shoulders and then answers his door.

Zuko finds one of his guards on the other side, he has a grave look on his face and Zuko steps out into the hall.

"What is it?" he asks, he closes the door behind him and waits for the guard to answer.

"We searched where you told us to," he explains, "But we found nothing."

Zuko trusted his guards to go through his father's belongings, trying to find the letters Ozai referenced to when he was talking to Katara.

Zuko grumbles under his breath and then goes back into his room, he gets dressed and then leaves Katara asleep in his bed.

Zuko storms back into the prison, but before he can confront his father, Azula calls out from her cell.

"Missing something, brother?" Azula calls, her voice a soft purr, making Zuko angrier as he stops in front of his sister's cell.

"Where are they?"

Azula manages to persuade her brother to let her out so that she could take him right to where she hid the letters.

Zuko has Azula restrained and then taken to her old rooms, still untouched since she had been taken into custody. Azula, in true Azula style, managed to get free of her restraints and she burnt the letters, claiming that she had memorised them all and that she wanted to go with Zuko, to find their mother together, unbounded and with dignity.