a constellation of lovers

ch.1—
he was sunshine i was midnight rain

Sokka had not been the most accepting of Zuko when he joined their band of merry rebels. But over time, he began to notice things about the former crown prince.

He noticed the way Zuko worked to make his hairstyle seem like it effortlessly hung down in that messy shape that covered his scar. And he noticed the way Zuko took less food to make sure everyone else had enough, especially Toph. And he noticed the way Zuko’s mouth pulled up into an attractive smirk when he was amused. And he noticed the way Zuko tossed and shook in his sleep, and often woke up to go for a walk while the others snored.

It was one of those midnights that Sokka first followed him. At first it was suspicion (and the mildest curiosity) that carried his legs from bed to follow Zuko. After a while he realized he really was just aimlessly walking to avoid sleep, but it had been too long to announce himself so he just awkwardly kept on, until Zuko slowed his walking and eventually stopped—

“You’re really not all that quiet you know. You might want to work on that if you plan on stalking people often.”

Sokka’s scowl in response fell away when Zuko looked over his shoulder with that amused smirk. So Sokka took big strides to catch up to where Zuko was, and they silently continued on. “Why are you out here walking?” He could just barely see Zuko’s face in the light of the moon. “It’s better than laying on my mat just thinking.” Sokka rolled his eyes, only remembering when he was done that Zuko couldn’t see his face.

“I meant, why are you walking instead of sleeping.” Zuko let out a heavy breath, as if saying—I know that’s what you meant, I was sidestepping your question. And then for some reason, he gave Sokka an honest answer.

“Sometimes I can’t sleep. I dream of my agni kai, or of my imprisonment, or of my uncle’s imprisonment, or any other number of things. My mother, sometimes. And then when I wake, my thoughts are chaotic and disjointed and anxious. So I walk. It calms me down to be moving.” He glanced at Sokka, like he was ready to be laughed at or rebuked.

“Oh.” Sokka didn’t have a response that wasn’t a stupid joke, so instead he bumped Zuko’s shoulder with his own. At first Zuko tensed up, seeming to take it as a threat; when he realized it wasn’t one, he bumped Sokka’s shoulder back. Sokka was sure if anyone had been able to see him, he’d be as red as a fire nation banner.

They walked in companionable silence a while longer that night.

And from then on, anytime Sokka noticed Zuko getting up to walk he would get up too. After a while he found himself staying up waiting and watching Zuko sleep to see if he was turning restlessly, just in case it was a walking night. They started talking more during their walks—but

never about Zuko’s nightmares or the war. They talked about their childhoods, their favorite foods, things they would rather be doing.

On one such night walk, Sokka was feeling bold and teased Zuko about his hair. He playfully pushed it away from Zuko’s face,

“What, afraid I’ll muss up all your hard work?” Zuko stuttered a bit,

“I—I don’t—I do not do hard work on my hair,” he took in a deep breath to form more of an argument, but then the moonlight glinted on Sokka’s face and his playful look, the pinkness of his cheeks, caused his seriousness to deflate. Instead he mussed Sokka’s hair back, and quickly darted out of the reach of any payback.

“Takes a priss to know one!” He was far enough away as he taunted that Sokka saw only one possible action to take: he tackled Zuko to the ground. They wrestled for only a few moments, but long enough that Sokka felt his skin warm at Zuko’s touch, at their bodies so close together. They were laughing, and panting, and rolling in the dirt, and Zuko was clearly the victor, having pinned Sokka beneath him, though Sokka would never admit to it. Zuko rolled off and flopped on the ground beside him, their biceps still touching. They were just barely in contact with one another, but it felt like he was laying next to a bonfire his arm was so warm with the contact. He didn’t dare move and disrupt things.

“What do you think it will be like after?” Zuko’s voice was quiet and rough, barely more than a whisper.

“I don’t know really. As much as I think about it and try to make plans...until we get past the comet, we just don’t know enough to have any idea about what things will be like. Why, what do you want it to be like?” Sokka chanced turning his head to look at Zuko’s profile. But Zuko wasn’t looking up, he was staring at Sokka. And surprisingly enough to him, neither of them looked away. They shared eye contact, and it made the warmth in Sokka’s arm spread to his whole body. Zuko continued looking at him when he answered,

“I want it to be like this,” he looked at Sokka for another moment before turning his head to look at the stars, “but that’s impossible.”

Sokka’s heart clenched in his chest and he felt all the arguments for why Zuko was wrong building up in his throat. But that night he said none of them, he felt that it was too soon to say any of the things he was feeling. If only he’d known that any other time would be too late entirely.

...

There were only days left before the comet. Aang was barely sleeping and the tension was roped around their group like a viper-snake around it’s prey. Everyone was having trouble sleeping so it was almost morning when Zuko got up for a walk, followed a moment later by Sokka. They walked in silence for a long time, their arms brushing softly against one another as they walked.

They found a cliff that looked over a valley, and sat down on the overhang as the night sky began to fade.

“This will all be over soon,” Sokka said.

Zuko couldn’t tell if he was hopeful or disappointed.

“Yeah. I guess I’ll have to be the fire lord soon. And everyone else will go off and do their own things too.” Zuko knew how his voice sounded. Sad. A little bitter. Anxious. He felt Sokka shift, and thought he was leaving, but when he glanced over he saw Sokka looking at him expectantly with those big blue eyes.

“You have to? You don’t want to be firelord?” Those eyes hadn’t wavered, still large and shining in the pre-dawn light, and Zuko knew that he was going to disappoint this water tribe boy even if it was the last thing in the world he wanted to do.

“Who else can be fire lord?” he paused, “Azula?” he snort derisively. Sokka’s eyes narrowed just the slightest;

“I guess not. She’d probably be worse than your dad.”

“She would definitely be worse.”

“Hmm.” He saw that Sokka was still looking at him, his body angled towards Zuko, like it was waiting for the right moment. The right moment for what? Zuko didn’t know. He reached out and touched Sokka’s arm,

“I’m not fire lord yet.” He said it because he knew they both understood. That him becoming fire lord was inevitable, that Sokka’s fate would carry him to corners of the world far away from the fire nation, where Zuko would spend most of the days of the rest of his life. He knew, and Sokka knew, that all their midnights and all their walks and all their feelings, would be forced to end— regardless of what either of them wanted it to be like.

But he did want. And so when he saw Sokka leaning towards him, he didn’t pull away. He shifted his body ever so slightly towards him. Sokka’s hand reached his face just moments before his lips did. His fingers gripped the back of Zuko’s neck, his thumb brushed against Zuko’s cheek, his palm cupped Zuko’s jaw. And his lips, so slowly, met Zuko’s.

Zuko responded with a hitch in his breath, with a parting of his lips, with his face turning to better meet Sokka’s, with his arms moving to grab and hold Sokka wherever he could. And he felt Sokka’s response— deepening their kiss, pulling Zuko’s bottom lip between his, teasing Zuko with the softest brush of his tongue against his lips, against Zuko’s tongue.

Zuko’s heart was racing, and he was breathing hard when they pulled away, and Sokka still holding his face, rested their foreheads together. His hand moved further back, his fingers twirling into Zuko’s hair.

“better than I imagined,” Sokka was whispering, afraid to break the fragile moment they were sharing. Zuko saw that his eyes were closed, and that Sokka was having a rare moment of seriousness.

“Have you imagined playing with my hair a lot?” he teased. Sokka lifted his forehead off Zuko’s but didn’t move away. Their faces were close enough that Zuko could feel Sokka’s breath on his cheek. Sokka just looked at him, lifted his free hand to brush hair away from Zuko’s forehead and hold both sides of his face, and said,

“Yes.” Then he was kissing him again, and Zuko’s hands were on his biceps, feeling the muscles of his arms, and Zuko’s hands were sliding down Sokka’s sides and gripping his back, feeling the expanse of strength that he hadn’t imagined was there. And they kissed until the sun had risen high enough to stare them down, and they said nothing else. Why break the magical spell they had just been under?

Sokka slowly climbed out of his spot and held his hand out to pull Zuko up. Zuko took his hand and let himself be pulled back to standing. Pulled back to the world that was waiting to be changed. Zuko held his hand and looked at him, trying to memorize everything: how he felt, the softness of Sokka’s lips, the roughness of his hands, the colors of the sky, the angle of his cheekbones, the gleam in his eyes. Sokka, protective Sokka, strong Sokka, goofy Sokka, idiot Sokka, sweet Sokka—always looking at him expectantly with those beautiful eyes, Sokka.

Zuko let go and turned to walk back to camp, and when they got there Aang was gone, and the end of everything had just begun.

.....

(FIVE YEARS LATER)

Zuko lifts his face out of the water momentarily to gulp in a breath of air, while pulling his arm back for another broad stroke against the water. He’s taken to coming to the beach often lately, and swims every morning that he stays at the royal beach house. Swimming has become a compulsion, the closest he can get to the water tribe. As his advisors put it,

“The fire lord cannot possibly leave the seat of power just to visit friends! We couldn’t protect you during your travels without being seen as a threat by every other nation!”

So he swam.

The water caressing his skin soothed him like a lover’s touch. He knew this would be his last chance to swim for quite a while, so he relished it. He swam longer than normal, till his muscles ached from the weight of the water. Soon there would be no time for swimming at the beach, or relishing the smell of salt water or the way the cold reminded him of someone.

.....

On his way into the beach house he wondered how Mae was doing, and where she was right now. They hadn’t seen each other in almost a year. There marriage was more about politics than love, and he was grateful that if he had to be in a political marriage, it could be to a friend like Mae. She spent most of her time undoing prejudicial laws and practices around gender, teaching and organizing towns and villages, and overseeing acts of justice.

Zuko had spent much of the past five years doing work he hated—dealing with bureaucracy. Uncle Iroh had helped, but he still found himself highly irritable with the process of combing through the entire fire nation to ensure that it’s leadership was sound and just. There were so many hearings and re-appointments and the thing Zuko was worst at—people. He longed to be doing the work of training soldiers and building new infrastructure and starting new projects. But the final hearings and appointments finished weeks ago, and in three days leaders from every nation would gather to hear a proposal from the avatar and fire lord. Zuko would leave directly from the beach house and get there just a day before everyone else.

And Sokka would be there. Sokka who he hadn’t seen in two years—since his wedding to Mae. Sokka who had surprised him with a kiss in the dark on one of many secret midnight walks they would take together in the days before confronting Ozai. Sokka who he had sought out the night of his coronation, who had comforted his anxieties about becoming fire lord, becoming his father, not measuring up. Sokka who looked at him pleadingly for the entire seven days of the wedding festivities. Sokka who had shown Zuko feelings he didn’t know could exist. Sokka who’s touch he wished for in place of the water he constantly sought out.

.....

After his shower he twisted his now clean hair that he had grown out, remembering the way Sokka had run his fingers through it, the way he had pushed it out of Zuko’s eyes. He’d be lying if he said that those memories had no bearing on his decision to keep it long. He shook himself out of his ruminations as he pulled it into a topknot and added the hairpin that announced his station to the world.

Once he was dressed he called out for the guard that his council insisted he keep with him constantly. After two years of dodging their appointed guards and warriors, they finally allowed him to choose his personal guard himself.

“Zhaca!” He called out from a sliding door that led towards the front of the house, away from the beach. Within a moment, a staggeringly tall woman was in the doorframe dressed in red leather armor, with blades strapped to every limb.

“Yes Fire Lord?” She was clearly annoyed with him.

“I’m ready to leave as soon as everything is prepared.”

“Yes sir, everything has been ready for you for about an hour.” Zuko rolled his eyes. Zhaca liked to remind him when he was careless with time, because of how many other people had to organize their time around his. Despite her almost constant annoyance with him, she had become a friend, and he was glad to have her around when he got into trouble.

“Alright let me grab my satchel.” Within an hour he was watching the coastline recede, and with every minute, there was a growing panic in his chest—whether for the success of his endeavors, or the sight of a certain warrior, he was unsure.

.....

The temporary palace centered around a large courtyard with a fountain in the center, a large east facing entrance and four stories of balcony around the entire interior perimeter of the courtyard. From the outside, it just looked like a huge, round wall, with lots and lots of little windows in it.

Directly across from the entrance stood a long hall littered with tables and chairs, and a stage with a podium. The ground floor of the palace also contained meeting rooms, kitchens, and a large dining hall. There were stairways on both sides of the main entrance of the courtyard that went up to the second, third, and fourth floors. Each floor had large suites with private bathrooms for the guests. The palace contained everything that a large gathering of world leaders could need for a ten day summit.

Zuko arrived just as the last team of earth bending builders was leaving, and the engineer leading their team was doing her last check of the palace. Toph, for reasons unknown to everyone but themself, was walking with the engineer talking about theoretically building with metal instead of stone.

“Toph! What are you doing here?” Zuko was surprised to see the young earth bending master in a place full of responsibilities when she had so acrobatically avoided any up to this point.

“What, I’m not important enough to be here, oh great lord flamio?” The engineer snorted but also looked abhorred at Toph’s disrespect.

“Of course not mud-eater, but we both know you go wherever you want even if you’re not supposed to be there.” Toph’s face broke into a grin, and she stepped forward to punch Zuko on his shoulder, which even after years he still wasn’t prepared for and still hurt. He rubbed his arm knowing there would probably be a bruise later.

“Are you staying for the meetings, or are you just here to bother my engineer?” Who was looking around like she wanted to escape. Zuko caught her eye and gave her head nod to let her know she could continue on without them. She sped away as fast as she could without breaking into a run.

“I’ll stay for a few days I think, for the reunion at least.” Zuko was confused, and it showed on his face.

“The reunion...?” Toph rolled her eyes with her whole body and put a finger to the spot between her brows like she was trying to massage away an oncoming migraine.

“Yes. Everyone is going to be here for the first time in years, and Katara arranged for us all to stay on the top floor together and have a dinner in two nights? How do you not know this, it was YOUR staff she had to arrange things with, don’t you read her letters?”

Zuko smiled sheepishly while rooting around in his satchel and pulling out a thin stack of unopened letters.

“I was planning on reading and responding to them tonight. I’ve been pretty busy. Although.. a few things that Kiru said are making more sense now.”

“You’re hopeless. Apparently Mae and Tai Lee and Suki are all coming too, in case you were unaware of that.” Toph rolled her eyes and started walking away.

“Nice to see you too, Toph!” Zuko laughed quietly to himself and went to find his own quarters that he now supposed would be on the fourth floor.

ch. 2—

though i speak with knives (could you love me while i hate myself?)

Katara was tired. She had been traveling constantly for months, and was looking forward to the ten day summit. For her, it was basically a vacation. Saving the world got her an invite, but it didn’t mean anyone would listen to her opinions. Checking on Azula and performing another healing session was her last task before flying to the summit.

The guards in Azula’s wing of the royal palace nodded as she passed; she’d been here enough in the past few years for them all to recognize her and know her purpose here. The guards were mostly ornamental. Everyone knew that if Azula wanted to escape she could. Even without her bending she was a formidable spy and warrior.

Katara knocked and called out before entering.

“Azula, it’s me, Katara. I’m coming in now. Hope your decent,” she didn’t hear a reply until she had walked several steps into the room.

“Oh don’t lie little water bender. We both know you dream of finding me indecent in here.” Azula was sitting on the floor beside her bed, swaddling herself in a large feather filled comforter, leaning against the bed.

“Oh Azula, we both know those are your dreams, not mine.” Katara replied sarcastically as she knelt down in front of Azula. Her hair looked dirty and hung around her face messily.

“Come on, let’s see how bad you look,” Katara teased as she pulled the blanket away from Azula’s head and face. Azula’s long hair looked a little matted on one side, and gross everywhere else, but she was still shockingly beautiful, here in her worst moments.

Thank the spirits that she wasn’t still trying to poke out Katara’s eyes and throw things and bite. The biting had truly been the worst few months of their relationship as healer and patient. Now she pushed some hair out of Azula’s face, her fingers grazing soft cheek as she did. She stood and held out her hand.

“Come, we’re getting you cleaned up, let’s go.” Defeat, despair, anger, resignation, and then the smallest spark all passed through Azula’s dark eyes before she reached out to take Katara’s hand. “I told you you wanted to get me indecent!” Katara chuckled and pulled her up. The blanket fell and a smell wafted up.

“Gross! La, you have to look after yourself when I’m not here.” Katara chided her.

“Why?” The question was barely a whisper, and while it pierced Katara, she didn’t answer.

They walked out of the door of Azula’s quarters and down the hall to her private bath house. As they passed a guard Katara asked them to get housekeeping to change the sheets and tidy up while they were gone. Azula said nothing, only looked at the ground as they walked, one of Katara’s hands in hers, one of Katara’s hands on her back.

.....

The two of them had done this enough that now it was a dance—Katara taking Azula to the edge of the tiled bath and turning on the water and then turning away to the cabinets to grab towels and soaps. Azula quickly stripping and sinking into the tub, pulling up her knees and wrapping her arms around them, a tightly wound ball. Katara taking a deep breath to still her facial expressions as she turns around, because she never knows what she’ll see this time.

This time—the expression she has to hold back is a smile. There are no bruises or cuts or scrapes. No evidence that Azula had found a way to hurt herself since the last time they did this, three weeks ago. She put the towels on the bench next to the bath, the soaps on the floor, and then got on her knees and rolled up her sleeves.

“You sure you don’t want to do this by yourself?” Katara always asked, but always ended up helping anyways.

“Why so you can just sit back and watch?” At least she’s still in a fiery mood, Katara thought. “Righhttttt, you’d rather my hands be all over your body.” Katara saw a slight blush on Azula’s cheeks and didn’t get a cutting reply. One point to Katara, she thought. Most of their verbal sparring came to a draw, so it was nice to win for once.

.....

Katara always started with her hair. She picked up a comb from somewhere, and some special spray she always had, and started at the end where her hair now touched near her shoulder blades. They had had to cut it all off close to the scalp, five years ago, because she wouldn’t stop ripping it out. She didn’t rip it out anymore, but she still couldn’t bring herself to maintain it properly. Azula loved the feeling of Katara’s gentle hands against her head, working through the tangles and matts. She had never known gentleness before Katara. Now, the comb was almost at the hairline on her forehead and she sighed, the next bit was her favorite but it also meant they were halfway through with her hair, and soon all her attention would have to be on controlling herself while Katara’s hands roamed over her body.

She heard the comb being placed back on the floor, and the soap being lathered in those gentle hands. And soon nimble fingers were massaging her scalp and a moan sat high in her throat, desperately fighting to make it past her teeth. She wouldn’t let it. Katara pulled the soap from her scalp to her ends over and over. There was a heavy sigh.

“I’m sorry but I’m going to have to wash it twice.” Katara sounded apologetic but Azula could barely contain her excitement.

“Lean your head back.” She did as she was told and contemplated how funny it was that a random girl from the water tribe was bossing her around, and she was allowing it. Enjoying it even. She did let out a quiet chuckle at that. Thankfully, all the noises she made in the bath were usually ignored by Katara.

There was more soap, more scalp massaging, then something called conditioning, which she had never heard of before Katara. Now came the most dreaded moments. Katara’s first touches were among the hardest to give no reaction to. She could feel Katara’s hands in the water by her side, wetting the washcloth and then sudsing it up. Two of Katara’s fingers brushed the back of her neck while pushing her hair aside. The other hand was holding the cloth, and then it was on her left shoulder, rubbing in circles, then going across to the right shoulder.

Katara was thorough, and washed her back, then her arms. Then she motioned for Azula to stand, and washed her legs and her ass. Then came the hardest part for Azula. Katara made her way across Azula’s hips, then abdomen, then her chest, and neck.

Usually, graciously, Katara looked at her work and not at Azula while she did this.

Today was not so gracious. Katara looked directly into Azula’s eyes while the washcloth traveled between her breasts and over her collarbones and then around each breast in turn. She felt the warmth in her cheeks and that her nipples were hard now, and a great many other things too. Before she could stop herself she reached out her hand towards Katara’s face.

Katara flinched. It had been almost four years since Azula finally came out of her (mania? make up a name? idonno) state and stopped trying to attack everyone constantly. Not enough years to stop scaring Katara apparently though. She dropped her hand before it touched the cheek it was reaching for, and the moment was broken. Katara was turning on the rain water, Azula was turning around under it to rinse off. She stood with her back to Katara a long time.

Katara pulled the drain on the tub while she stood there, and then eventually turned off the water.

“Here, I have your towel.” Her voice was so soft, yet another gentle thing Azula had to get used to. She held out her hand for the towel, not turning around to face Katara yet. She wrapped the towel around herself, still dripping.

“Azula, I’m sorry. I just didn’t know what you were doing. I didn’t mean to flinch.” She must really feel bad, because she knew how Azula hated apologies and she almost never gave them. “It’s fine. Do you have my robe?”

“Yes.” Katara’s voice took on it’s most resigned tone—the tone that meant she wouldn’t try to reach out emotionally again for a while. That upset Azula more than the flinch. So she turned around. Katara was holding her robe open for her, cheeks flushed and eyes shining. She stepped out and into the robe, one arm after the other.

And for once, she did something new. She tried again.

She moved so, so slowly, her hand reaching up and touching Katara’s cheek, a soft, lingering touch from her cheekbone to her jaw. Katara’s hand met hers, looking at her curiously, cheeks more flushed than they were before. There was a knock at the door, and the tension between them eased as a guard called out that Azula’s quarters were cleaned and dinner had been brought up for them.

.....

Katara wished that she hadn’t already cleaned up while Azula stood under the water. She wished there was some reason she could send Azula ahead without her—but she couldn’t. Azula still wasn’t steady on her own feet. She probably never would be, but she still refused to use the cane or rolling chair that Sokka had made her, and refused to let anyone but Katara help her.

So Katara held out her arm, which Azula took, and neither of them looked at each other in the eye for a while. Back in Azula’s quarters, the windows were open, the bed was made, and it was generally much tidier than when they left. She deposited Azula in her large wingback chair at the table, and went to dressing room attached to Azula’s bedroom. There were several connecting rooms in her quarters, but the bedroom was the only room she currently used. In the dressing room she mindlessly grabbed clean clothes for Azula to put on later, having memorized Azula’s favorites after many long, long games of “This one?” a few years ago.

She threw the change of clothes on the end of the bed and went to the table.

“Are you going to let me braid your hair today so it stays nice for a while longer?”

“Idonno. I guess. When will you be back?” Even though Katara was asking, she had already started again combing and splitting up Azula’s thick hair to braid it in a new style she had learned.

“I’ll be back right after the summit. So in about two weeks.” The braid she was doing was an intricate interpretation of a simple crown braid that wraps all the way around the head and pulls all the hair up into braids. This version included smaller braids to be done first so that the final product was more secure and looked like weaving. It took a while and Azula sat still the whole time, which was a new development. When she had tied off the final braid, and a single plait hung down Azula’s back, she walked to the other chair at the table and sunk into it. She leaned her head back, closed her eyes, and sighed deeply.

“Damn. Should’ve given you a bath too while we were in there. Let’s go back, I’ll bathe you this time.” The teasing in Azula’s voice was clear, but there was something else there too. It sounded a little like desperation, but Katara was too tired to think on it. She felt the corner of her mouth quirk up. She had always found Azula’s quips amusing, sometimes outright hilarious.

“Do I look that terrible? I feel terrible.” What she felt was that she could fall asleep right here in this chair. She barely heard Azula, her voice was so quiet when she said,

“No. You never look terrible. Although I never liked those hair loopies you used to wear.” Katara’s face felt hot, but she smiled fully this time.

“Everyone’s always hating on my hair loopies. I was a teenager! Not everyone can be as fashionable and cool as the crown princess of the fire nation.” She heard Azula snort at that.

“Come on, eat something. You’ll feel better.”

“Ugh but that means I have to sit up and be awake and alive.”

“I know. It’s unfortunate being forced to stay alive.” At that remark, Katara opened her eyes, to see Azula deadpanning with the smallest twitch at her mouth. They both laughed, and then they ate, and things were normal again. That she even had a version of ‘normal’ with Azula was still insane to think about, but she did.

This was their normal: she came as often as she could, helped right Azula back to as close to a functioning person as she could be right now, and they ate. While they ate, they often jokingly teased one another, she told Azula about her travels, and they avoided talking about sore subjects. Unless it was a drinking night, then maybe, they talked about the war, or zuko, or aang, or the current state of the world, or Azula’s feelings. And then either after dinner, or the next morning, Azula would sit on the edge of her chair or lie flat across her newly made bed, and Katara would use her water bending to ease her pain and her symptoms.

Tonight, when they finished eating, Katara looked at Azula with mischief.

“I’ve brought you something.”

“Is it a drinking night?!” This was as excited as Azula got, her voice gone up a pitch, leaning her whole body forward in anticipation.

“Close. It’s a similar affect to drinking night, but a different way to get there.” Azula looked confused now, and waited for the big reveal Katara was clearly building up to. Her bag sat near the door and she walked to it and pulled out a stick and a jar of what looked like smushed grass, and said,

“TaDa!!”

“Katara. That is a stick. I will not be playing fetch with you.” Katara didn’t laugh at the joke.

“It isn’t a stick, smart ass.” She came back to the table and sat down.

“This is a called a pipe. I discovered it in a village I went to last week. There was a man there who was healing people with plants! This is one he said he prescribes to people who have consistent pain problems. It also makes you feel a little silly sometimes.” While she was explaining she also was taking the weird grass from the jar and putting it in a little bowl at the end of the stick. She raised her eyebrows and then lifted the other end of the stick to her mouth. Then she raised a match and lit the weird grass on fire. Azula shot back into her chair, away from the fire, but then it was out, just some embers at the end. Katara was sucking on the stick and then a moment later, blew smoke out of her mouth and coughed.

“What are you doing? Are you insane now too?” Katara did laugh at that joke.

“No, I swear it’s better than it looks. It’s fun. Just try it.” She held out the stick contraption to Azula and Azula eventually took it. Close up she could see that the stick was hollow. The wood the pipe was made out of was smooth and polished. The weird grass still glowed a little from the fire, and she put the end to her mouth and pulled. She immediately coughed, hard.

“Now just wait a few moments.” Katara said with a calm smile.

.....

An hour later they were laying on their backs on top of the made bed, giggling out of their minds. Neither of them could have told anyone what they were giggling about, either. They finally stopped to take a breath, and then Azula said,

“Katara, I still don’t have any clothes on.” And they were in fits of laughter again.

“Well, put them on then,” giggling more, “I already got them out for you.”

“I can’t. You’ll have to help me.” more giggles.

“Are you being,” giggles, “Serious right now?”

“So serious. As serious as Zuko’s honor.” Howling giggles at that. Finally a deep sigh.

“Okay I’ll help you, come on.” They sat up. Katara slid off the bed and rounded the end to grab the clothes, and came to Azula’s side where Azula was sitting already waiting, still softly giggling a little. Katara smiled at her.

“You’re gonna have to stand up, you know.” Azula pretended her body was going limp and slid herself off the bed too, then threw herself towards Katara and said,

“Hold me up, I’m jelly!” And laughed more. Katara didn’t laugh, probably worried that they’d both fall. She held Azula’s forearms tightly and just looked at her. Azula stood up straight. They stood there, just looking at one another for a minute longer than either of them thought they should. Then suddenly, Azula undid the tie of her robe and rolled her shoulders back. It dropped to the floor. The towel around her had come loose some time ago, and it too had fallen to the floor.

They still only looked in each others eyes. Then Katara sat the pile of clothes on the bed beside them, and started with the pants. She shook them out and then lowered the waist of them to the ground so Azula could easily step in. Azula had to hold onto her shoulder to maintain her balance. Katara just said, “hold please,” after pulling them all the way up. On each side there were ties to tighten the fit, and she did one side then the other as Azula held up the front of her pants. The sides of the pants were split all the way down—Azula liked airflow—and had ties at the ankles to create the pants shape, rather than a very suggestive skirt. Katara bent down and did the ties at the ankles, tight but not too tight like Azula liked them. When she stood up her head rushed a little, and she had to stand, just staring at Azula again for a moment.

“just the top shirt this time,” Azula whispered, “please.”

So Katara grabbed the next piece, balled it up, and tossed it back into the dressing room. The top shirt was cropped shorter, and came up above the top of her pants, and just below her breasts. It was a long sleeved shirt that Azula had asked Katara to cut the sleeves off of a year ago. Now she helped Azula put it on. When she was done, Azula turned and crawled back on top of the bed. When Katara didn’t immediately follow, she lifted her head up to look and said,

“Well? Are you gonna get your weird stick out again?” They fell into more laughter, and she did in fact get the stick out again.

.....

It’s that stick that she curses as she wakes up the next morning still in Azula’s bed. Maybe she should have cursed the bed too, because it was unfathomably comfortable, or maybe she should have cursed Azula for enticing her to lay back down on the bed to smoke again. But she hadn’t seen Azula ever look so alive, or laugh so much. She worried about whatever had begun to pass between them last night, but had too much to do today to think about it.

Azula apparently slept curled into a ball, and so the only part of Azula touching Katara was her ass pushing against Katara’s side. She tried not to think about it as she slid out of the bed as quietly as she could. She looked at Azula sleeping for a moment, and then grabbed her bag and headed to the bath.

.....

Soon she was back on her balloon, flying towards the earth kingdom. She had checked on Azula one more time, and found she was still sleeping, so she left her a note. She had to get on her way to the summit and check that everything was in order for their reunion. Tonight it would probably be just her and Zuko, as everyone else was set to arrive in the next two days. Thankfully Aang was supposed to arrive just as the summit began; she couldn’t stand anymore of his sad, pathetic, longing looks in her direction, or him trying to corner her to talk about his feelings again. They had had a children’s relationship, and they weren’t children anymore.

She had made the mistake of breaking things off right before Mae and Zuko’s wedding two years ago, and then had a horrible seven days of trying to avoid Aang’s constantly tear filled eyes.

She hoped against hope that maybe he had finally let it go or moved on, and that they could be friends again. It had been too long since she had seen all of her friends; she truly had been too busy. She was still learning to not say yes to every opportunity and challenge that came her way. Many leaders called on her for her healing gifts, or her mediation skills. The white lotus had adopted her as one of their own after she had finally beat Master Paku at their game, and she occasionally did missions for them, solving problems in small rural localities. And of course there were her water bending students—anyone who displayed water bending skill anywhere outside of the northern water kingdom, either had to go to the northern water kingdom to learn, or hope that Katara would take them on as a student at some point. And then there was Azula, the greatest challenge Katara had ever taken on.

She was exhausted. It was these thoughts that drove her from her balloon that she landed outside of the temporary palace for the summit, and straight up the stairs, avoiding any of the staff for the event, and directly onto one of the fourth floor couches where she promptly took a nap.

.....

It was evening, the last light of day fading from the sky when she woke up on the couch in an uncomfortable position. Through the fading sleepiness in her eyes she saw Zuko sitting in a chair across from her, reading some files and taking notes.

“Hey sleepy. I saw you run up here but before I could catch you, you had passed out. Been running all over the world too much?” He leaned his head sideways, looking at her like he was trying to examine her aura and energy patterns. It was a weird habit he picked up from his Uncle in the past few years.

“Yeah. I’m looking forward to taking a break during the summit.” She sat up and leaned against the back of the couch, her feet just barely touching the floor now.

“I wouldn’t hope for too much rest—there’s a good chance people are gonna get a bit riled up; maybe even some injuries that will need to be treated.” He looked worried, “But after the summit you should take a vacation and stay in the palace a while. If your students need to see you we can have them travel to the palace for lessons. You need to rest.” Now his worry was very clearly pointed at her.

“Yes mother, thank you.” She rolled her eyes, and he rolled his eyes, and they both laughed a little.

“I have become a bit of a mother hen, haven’t I?” His eyes sparkled a little, and she couldn’t remember him looking so peaceful or beautiful when they were younger.

“Speaking of mothering, have any of your recent travels been to see Azula?” He looked back down at his files, as if he was nonchalant and didn’t really care what the answer was.

“Yes. That’s where I just came from. But I think you already knew that, because I see my letter peeking out of your satchel.” His face got red, and he looked up suddenly, directly into her eyes. “I just want to know how she’s doing, please.” The fire lord was begging her to tell him something.

“You know that one of the agreements she forced me to make if she allowed me to work with her was to not tell you anything.”

“Yes well one of the agreements was also that no one but you could see her. Me and Uncle are worried. We just wanna know if she’s getting better or worse or the same.” He looked so forlorn over the fate of his sister.

“Don’t ask me to do this for you Zuko. I can’t break her trust.”

“I know, I ju—“

“She laughed last night. And when I helped her with her bath she had no new injuries. I won’t tell you anymore than that.” There were tears gathering in his eyes and he quickly wiped his face.

“She laughed? I haven’t heard her laugh in so long.” For a moment, just among friends, the fire lord let himself be unraveled, look unkempt, and confused and hurt.

“It’s a beautiful sound to hear. I hope you hear it again someday.” He looked up at Katara with an odd look, the look of someone trying to do their math problems.

“Anyways. Toph is here, and is bringing food up in a bit. They wanted to wake you an hour ago but I made them wait.”

“Thanks, I really needed the rest.” She ran her hands through her short hair and took a deep breath. “Food sounds good though. When will everyone else get here?”

“According to all these letters that I definitely read the moment they arrived at the palace— everyone but Aang and Sokka will get here tomorrow. The two of them will get here the day after, right before the opening ceremony of the summit.”

Both Zuko and Katara breathed out a deep breath, a heavy sigh at that same moment. They looked at each other and each chuckled, Katara’s a throaty sound, and Zuko’s a snort almost exactly like Azulas.

“Scared to see my brother huh?” She teased him.

“You don’t want to tease me water girl. I have so much ammunition on you right now. Don’t think I didn’t notice your lilting voice talking about my sisters laugh.” He raised his good eyebrow at her. She responded the only way she could: more teasing.

“So are you more scared of him kissing you again, or punching you this time?” Zuko’s face went totally red right as Toph walked in.

“Ugh! Katara! You weren’t supposed to wake up and start making fun of Lord Flamio without me! What did I miss?” They set a large tray of food down on the table in the center of the room, and Katara and Zuko immediately moved to join them at the table.

“Don’t stampede me! Damn have the two of you been starved or something?”

“Yesh, egshacly, shtarveng,” Katara said around a mouthful of food. They all got settled at the table and settled down.

“So who exactly is Zuko afraid of kissing?” The fire lord let out a loud groan.

“Can’t you just forget about it Toph? It’s bad enough that Katara knows my secrets.”

“I never forget anything. So who is it?” They had the biggest shit eating grin on their face, swiveling their head between Katara and Zuko to see who would break first. It was of course, Katara. Toph was the other sibling, the non-boy, slightly less gross, sibling that she had always wanted, and she loved being in on things with Toph.

So she leaned over and whispered in Toph’s ear.

“It’s Sokka, they’re in love and too stupid to figure it out.”

Both Toph and Katara burst into raucous laughter as Zuko just covered his face in embarrassment.

“I’m the fire lord you know. I’m very powerful. You should be more afraid of enraging me.” There was no fire in his voice, only jokes. And shame.

“Oh no whatever shall we do? It’s almost like we defeated the scariest fire lord to ever exist and everyone knows that you’re actually just a ball of fluff with a fancy hairpin.” Toph waved their hands around in mock fear.

Of all the configurations of their old friends getting together, this was one of her favorites. Other than her literal actual brother, Zuko and Toph were the closest she’d ever have to siblings. And anytime Zuko and Sokka were in the room together, the tension and vibes were definitively not sibling vibes. Their little slow burn bullshit ruined all the fun of it. Except for when she got to tease them mercilessly, like right now.

“Wait, I think I heard Sokka’s voice, did he get here early?” She got up to look over the balcony, never letting anything but confusion show on her face.

“WHAT?! No he isn’t. Is he really there? I have to go shower. No wait, I need to..”

Katara’s laughter was so loud that some of the people still on the first floor looked up to see what was happening.

“He’s not really here at all is he.” Zuko wiped his face and fell back into a heap on the floor pillows near the table. “That, was almost evil. You’ve learned too much from Azula.”

“Ah, but it was funny too. You should’ve seen your face! You’ve got to get ahold of yourself man.” She laughed more. Toph was also still chuckling, between trying the different cheeses that were laid out.

“You guys have to try more of these cheeses. This one is smoked with bacon! It’s sooo goooddd.” They all laughed and settled in for the night, teasing one another, and eating, until finally they all fell asleep in pile on the floor like they did when they were just kids.

ch. 3—

say yes to heaven, say yes to me (yes to heaven)

focusing on sokka/ zuko, big reveal abt sokka and the water tribe’s involvement with zukos cultural exchange; aang is confused why zukos upset; the reunion dinner where everyone is together; sooka n zuko fight, they give in to their chemistry, they fukk, they pillow talk

—you’re not who you are to anyone (good looking)

another very special reunion episode; the last night of the summit, everyone’s eating dinner together again, talking about where they’re going/ what they’re going to do

mini chapter about aangs exploits and everyone sleeping w him, + a reveal to zokka abt aangs exploits in which they are thoroughly disgusted with the members of their party who tasted of aangs waters; the members in question just shrug and say “he IS the avatar, had to at least try it out to see what it was all about” (this includes Katara, Zhaca, Tai lee, & Toph)

—in the night hours (war of hearts)

Katara visiting Azula at night, light flirtation, heavy angst

—as the mourning doves sing a song for us (mourning doves)

flashback to the night/ morning after zukos coronation

pining, slow burn drivel as Sokka and Zuko continue to flirt and be sexy but not talk about their feelings and also as they continue to work together

Aang & Toph are also in Caldera,

—the fool with the slowest heart (gilded lily)

Sokka is building a boat as a distraction (he never learned the proper southern way to build a boat bc war yada yada) and Sokka has feelings about sneaking around with Zuko and the feelings are that he hates sneaking and hiding and lying (unless it’s for a prank or a surprise)

flashback to Zuko and Mais wedding where sokka and zuko have their falling out, sokka pouts the entire fucking time, toph just laughs at him, katara shakes her head, everyone else thinks zuko and mai are in love, katara tells sokka to get his head out of his ass, he doesn’t of course.

Katara talks to Sokka while he works on his boat and tells him AGAIN to get his head out of his ass—he does not.

—If I’m all that you desire, I promise there’ll be fire (Say it first)

Zuko finds sokka building his boat and they have the “boyfriends” and the “love” talk

—turns out I’m not real (what was I made for)

Azula’s turning point, realizing she was built to be used, but the man who built her did it all wrong, and she wants to rebuild herself.

—all that you ever wanted from me (sweet nothing)

focusing on Zuko and Sokka; Zuko is under a lot of pressure ok, he just wants a soft boyfriend hug; there is a contingent of the fire nation that doesn’t like the fire lords new direction, reparations, or the cultural exchange, and it’s causing him a lot of stress

—roses, and roses, and roses, and roses, and roses (I wish you roses)

Azulas new story: she kisses Katara, who is too stunned to speak, she makes amends with Zuko, also too stunned to speak, she infiltrates the uprising and causes internal turmoil in their group and gives the gaang insider info to squash them once and for all;

big fight/ take down with the “”

Azula says “I’m going now, I don’t know when I’ll be back.” And invites Katara to come with her, and Katara leaves EVERYONE speechless when she says yes. Azula and Katara take a long, long vacation and do vigilante shit. (That would be a great series of one shots)

notes:

canon divergence: