Fic: Sunswamped: Beginnings
Oh, this has been stewing in the back of my head since I first saw this picture and its companion by Katsari-Chan on dev-art. It was finally brought to a boil during the recent Zutara meme run by a_twisted_vine, when someone requested background fic on the above. Additional inspiration was provided by this picture by Melimsah.
Title: Sunswamped: Beginnings
Rating: T
Word Count: ~2000
Genre: pre-ship, friend-shippy, IDK
Summary: Post war, Katara is studying with the Swamp Benders. Zuko is visiting the Sun Warriors. Zuko suggests Katara take a study break. (Look at the pictures above! Seriously!)
A/N: This takes place in an alternate geography where the Swamp Benders are right next to the Sun Warriors. (I totally forgot the Foggy Bottom Swamp was EK when I started this). Also, Iroh is playing Fire Lord for a few years. Otherwise, normal post-war fic. Also, I would love alt title suggestions.
******
Standing in the moonlight at the appointed spot, Katara felt something lifting her hair.
“I know you take these apprenticeships seriously, but did you have to bring half the swamp with you?”
She looked up the wall and saw Zuko poking at a bit of swamp weed. His voice was sarcastic, but the effect was spoiled by a slight quirk of his mouth.
“Are you teasing me?”
He dropped the muck so it landed on her head with a wet plop and her cheeks heated against her will. His grin grew slightly and he said, “Maybe.” He stood on wall where they had agreed to meet and he kept looking down on her with that small, secretive smile. Zuko looked more relaxed than she had ever seen before, even at Iroh’s coronation ceremony. She sighed. Iroh was right, in his letters. The Sun Warriors are doing him good. A light feeling bubbled up from within her, and Katara found herself smiling back.
“So why are we sneaking around in the middle of the night? What’s the big surprise?” she asked, pulling strands of swamp weed from her hair. “The whole point of you being here is to improve diplomatic relations with the Sun Warriors. I don’t think smuggling in a Waterbender is going to do much good.” Eww, she thought as she flicked away a bug. I did bring the swamp with me. Maybe the Sun Warriors have a free bath I could borrow.
“Chief Itzcoatl already knows you’re visiting.”
She paused in her grooming and looked up at him, taken aback. “What?”
He leaned over to pick out some weeds and then tossed them away. He was infuriatingly calm. “If the Lady Katara, Master Waterbender of the South, came on an official visit, the Chief would be socially obligated to greet you with an honor guard and throw a feast.” He wiped his hand off on the wall, leaving a green smear on the stone. “He thought this would be simpler and less likely to upset Ran and Sho.”
“You had me trudge a mile through the swamp in the middle of the night when I could have come in the front door?” She dipped and lifted her arms to summon a dripping globe of swamp sludge. “You want to explain that one, Fire Prince?”
Rather than backing away, Zuko surprised her by holding out a hand. “Come on, Katara. I’ll show you.”
He sounded sincere enough, but her ire remained. His letter had been annoyingly vague, only asking her to come and promising that it would be worth the trip. She had half a mind to turn around and go home. His expression finally convinced her, silently asking for something he couldn’t request out loud. Trust me. Decision made, she dropped the muck and slung her bag and waterskin over her shoulder. She grabbed his wrist; he took hers in a firm hold. She found a foothold on the rough wall, he pulled, and in a second she had clambered up and over the wall.
Katara found herself in a stone courtyard lit by torches. In the light, she could get a better look at him. The mussed hair and streaks of red paint gave him a wild look that conflicted with his ever-perfect posture. The heavy collar concealed his shoulders somewhat, but from his arms she could tell he was stronger than ever. For a moment, the healer in her took over--the scar on his abdomen had healed well and faded over the months. Then he breathed and muscles shifted just under his pale skin. She had to look away quickly or get caught staring.
Katara blushed all over again. He looked good. Really good. When had the air gotten so thick? It was just the humidity. Right? She glanced at his face. For the first time that night he looked uncertain, and maybe a bit stunned, though she couldn’t imagine why. They were on his territory and he had invited her-he had no reason to be nervous.
“So…” Zuko trailed off and cleared his throat. “Grab your water skin. It’s this way,” he said, gesturing for her to follow. “How’s the swamp bending?”
“It’s really good. The style is just so different. I think I’ll need at least another month to master it. I’m hoping I can start plant bending soon--Huu has promised to take me on a spirit walk once I get the hang of manipulating vines.”
Zuko’s voice was a strangely sharp as he asked, “Who’s Huu?”
“He’s one of the masters.” She thought about the funny, rotund Swampbender and Bato’s comment. “I just wish they would wear pants.” She let herself giggle. “He’s a guardian of the swamp, and he’ll disappear into it for weeks at a time. It’s made him a bit-“ she paused, considering her wording. “Well, back home we’d call him frost-addled. Too much time alone on the ice makes people a bit eccentric. He’s been protecting the swamp for ages.”
He seemed to be thinking these facts over. In the moment of quiet, she looked around. They were heading for a tall set of steps that were backlit by the full moon. It looked like quite a climb. He still seemed lost in his own head, so she tried to draw him out. “Things here must be going well, if the Chief is letting you bring in outsiders.”
“You’re a special case. Although,” he said a bit smugly, “They have been happy with the exchange. Their representatives are really enjoying the capital.”
Katara laughed. “Oh, I’m sure Firelord Iroh is having a grand time entertaining his very special guests. It gives him an excuse to throw parties every night. The Chief will be lucky if he ever get his men back.” She clapped a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Get comfortable, Zuko. They may hold you hostage,” she teased.
Zuko’s low chuckle was gratifying. He glanced behind them, at the glowing buildings in the distance. She could just make out the ornate architecture from here. “You know,” he said wistfully, “I might not mind that so much-for a while, at least.”
“Tell me,” Katara said as they reached the base of the steps. “You must be learning so much. What you and Aang achieved here in a day was amazing; I can’t imagine what you’ve learned in a month.”
“It’s not all firebending. There have been a lot of discussions about cultural exchange, access, protocol--even some negotiations. But I have managed to pick up a few things.”
She was glad she had turned around the conversation and forced Zuko to talk. The climb was wearing her out; she’d probably be gasping for breath if she had to carry the conversation at the same time. She prodded him with questions, and he slowly elaborated on the philosophy of the Sun Warriors, their techniques for chi flow, and their fighting styles. It was informative, but also hard to visualize. It was an element she couldn’t bend and a style she’d never properly seen before. There was only one solution.
“You realize you’re going to have to show me.”
He gave her that secretive smile again as they reached the summit. It was some sort of bridge between two mountains. He pointed to a spot in the middle of the platform that looked no different from anywhere else. “Stand there,” he ordered, “and don’t wander off.”
“I do not wander off,” she growled.
His eyes opened wider and he started ticking locations off his fingers. “The river near that seedy Earth Kingdom port. Jang Hui.” The Painted Lady’s village? He wasn’t even around then-oh, Katara realized, Toph talks way too much. Zuko, meanwhile, continued with his list. “The woods on Ember Island. The market in the Capital-“
“I did not wander off that time. Your directions to the theater were terrible!”
“They were not-“ he paused and seemed to think better of it. “Fine,” he conceded with a smirk. “The other time in the market. When you were supposed to meet me and Sokka for lunch?”
She glared.
He waited.
She broke first. “Okay. I won’t move.”
“Have your water ready, and when I signal, make snow or something…” he waved vaguely before concluding, “…impressive.”
Oh, I’ll show you impressive, jerkbender, she thought, but stayed silent and uncorked her waterskin.
Several yards away, Zuko dropped into a guard position. A moment to breathe, and he lunged forward into firebending kata she’d never seen before. The series of forms was graceful, but it was different from the flow of waterbending. He wound up his chi by shifting his weight back on his feet, began to release it with a lunge, and then he turned the lunge into a forward roll, redirecting the energy at the last moment. Momentum was built up, conserved, and applied in an entire new direction.
It was a powerful display, and even pretty. The flames shot forward and then curled in on themselves before unfurling again. His gold arm bands and collar glinted red and orange and…green? She looked more closely. His fire would occasionally flare with other colors. One punch had a cast of blue, a kick would burn violet and red. The hues grew stronger, brighter, until his firebending ranged across the spectrum.
Katara began to reevaluate her definition of impressive.
She could feel that the demonstration was coming to a close, and he finished by spinning his back to her, falling into a crouch, and kicking out a line of multicolored flame to encircle the pair of them.
“Now, Katara!”
She had no idea why he was asking her to bend impressively when he was facing away from her, but she sensed this was a bad time for questions. She sent all her water into the sky and bent more from the low-hanging fog. She turned so they were back to back and circled her arms around to form a wide ring of water that was slightly larger than Zuko’s. Pushing to the sides and snapping her palms outward to froze the water crystal clear. The ice picked up every color of Zuko’s fire so it glowed like an ever-shifting rainbow. The frosted curtain kept trying to melt and fall apart on her, but she held every drop in place.
It wasn’t the most complex bending she’d ever done, but it complemented Zuko’s display perfectly. Also, the water really didn’t want to stay solid that close to the fire. “Is that good enough?” she whispered.
“Perfect,” he said. The circle of fire went out. She pulled her hands into her chest and then pushed down gently, twitching her fingers a bit to shred the ice. The snow quickly melted and rained down on their heads.
She took a deep breath of the humid air, and turned to face Zuko. He was still facing away from her, looking towards a dark tunnel she hadn’t noticed. Before she could even form a question, something blue and huge shot out of the tunnel towards them. There was an answering rush of wind behind her, and she spun to see another something-this one red-racing from the other direction. She could make out teeth and scales and they were going to die-and then red one was past her. The blue one rushed by on the other side and turned to make another pass.
She backed up-right into Zuko. He caught her by the shoulders and in her terror she almost fought him. He didn’t release her, instead pulling her against his chest. His voice was breathy and warm as he whispered into her ear, “That’s the big surprise.” Dragons. She let him hold her up; without his support, she might have fallen over. With a bone-shaking impact the massive pair landed on the sides of the platform. Zuko held her close so she stayed, even when every other instinct told her to run or duck or something.
She reached up and across with her right hand, fumbling until she caught his left. Their fingers laced together as the dragons breathed multicolored fire around them. The flames were the purest, brightest hues she’d ever seen. The terror in her blood dissolved into awe and tears filled her eyes, blurring the wash of colors.
As quickly as they had begun, the dragons finished their display. They circled the pair slowly, but she wasn’t afraid anymore. Zuko’s hands were still steady on her shoulders. “Thank you,” she whispered, though Katara herself wasn’t sure if it was to the dragons, Zuko, or both. “Thank you.”