The Dragon and The Ocean // Zutara

Shattered

Zuko's POV

It's unusual to wake up in the morning from darkness. As of recently I have always been waking up from a dream, or in most cases a nightmare. No matter what it is though, it's always colorful. But this morning, I didn't see color until I opened my eyes.

I had felt some movement from somewhere, which caused me to wake up. Turns out it was Katara moving on my arm. Well I guess it was more like she was slumping down on my arm. I groan as I try to blink the sleep out of my system. It just felt weird getting up from darkness. It felt off.

I turn to face the movement to find myself meeting Katara's eyes. Her eyes are so vibrantly blue for being this early in the morning. I know it's morning because the sunlight isn't violently streaming through the windows. It's either that, or it is cloudy out which is just as miserable.

"Good morning, my love." Katara whispers to me. A very small smile makes its way across her face, which I find myself appreciating more than one should. It's been a while since I've been able to wake up and just appreciate her smiles.

"Morning," I reply, the sleep still plaguing my voice. "How'd you sleep?"

"Fine. It's easy to fall asleep when you're right here." she says. I can almost always tell when she says something without thinking about it. She just blurts it out and she always avoids my eyes when she does so. The sight of it is always so cute that it never fails to bring a smile to my face.

I roll over on top of her to distract her from overthinking about what she just said. I make sure not to crush her, but still bring her as close to me as possible in a comforting way. I feel her wrap her arms around my neck to do the same.

Good. I know that when she does something like this with me, she won't be able to think as easily. Maybe she can forget, even if it's only for a bit, what we have to do today. I know that being this close to her will help me push away those thoughts, but at some point even that becomes impossible.

"We better start getting ready. We have a big day ahead of us." I tell her, when I can't get the thoughts out of my head anymore. She is probably dreading to hear that, just as much as I hated saying it, but I feel her nod her head slowly.

"I should go take a bath in my room," she says, "Meet you in the dining hall for breakfast?" I only reply with a nod, regretting saying anything after I realize that she is going to leave. Even though I know it's only for a little bit, on a day like this, I just want her to stay right next to me more than anything.

Regardless of that though, I have to face my duties as the Fire Lord and do what is best for the kingdom as well as what is best for Katara. I know that not clearing the confusion about my relationship with Katara to the kingdom is not the best thing for either of them. I need to fix this.

I don't say anything more to Katara before getting up to leave for my bathroom. I knew that if I were to say something, it would probably come out as something that would get Katara to stay in my room with me and we both would have regretted that later.

I head into my bathroom to wash up as well. Within that time, a servant should come in with the outfit that the public events advisor had picked out. In all honesty, I would be lost wardrobe wise without them because I've grown up my entire life with people to pick outfits for me. When they don't do it, Katara does, so I really have no sense of what to wear, especially when it comes to formal attire.

After a quick bath, I walk into my closet to find two servants holding the articles of clothing I would be wearing today. I have never seen them before, which means my advisor must've had it made specifically for today.