The Dragon and The Ocean // Zutara

Painting

Katara's POV

When I agreed to become one of Zuko's royal advisors, I didn't think this is what it would look like. If I would've known then I would've stayed out of it for Zuko's sake and even the sake of the Fire Nation.

Maybe if we hadn't just come off a war, things would be different. Maybe the crowd wouldn't be as worked up as they are now. Or maybe I'm just trying to come up with any excuse to try and convince myself that the riots breaking out in front of me aren't completely and entirely my fault.

It was loud. We were in a volcano, however, it didn't erupt with lava. It erupted with the sounds of angry people. I've never heard a place like this get that loud this fast. The only thing I could make out was that the crowd was pressing forward, but it was almost too chaotic and overwhelming to do that.

The stairs that led up to the balcony where Zuko and I were standing weren't heavily guarded. It wasn't guarded for the situation at hand. There were four guards at the base of the stairs and about 10 posted evenly going up the stairs. That makes 24 guards from what I counted.

Those guards weren't ready to hold back a group maybe triple their size. It was unexpected and the group wasn't holding back. Before I could even glance down at them to get a better look as to what exactly they were doing, I was being pulled by the hand in the opposite direction, through the large double doors.

It was when they closed behind me that I regained some senses. Everything was muffled. I couldn't hear through what felt like stuffed ears. I couldn't see through foggy vision, my eyes clouding up with what felt like uncalled for tears. I couldn't feel anything, but now it was all coming back to me slowly.

"-tara." I hear something. Someone speaking. It's coming from behind me but it's very faint. Who's talking?

"-atara!" Are they saying my name? Why can't I turn my head to look at them?

Suddenly I was brought out of whatever state I was in from banging at the door. It's loud and frequent.

"Katara! We need to go! Snap out of it!" It was Zuko. He was shouting at me. I finally turn my head to look at him. His eyes are scared. His pretty golden eyes are filled with fear. He is gripping my hand tightly and trying to gesture to me to start moving away from the door.

" Let's go!" he says one more time and we start running.

I follow his lead down the hallway, not sure what we are running to. The only thing that I'm registering is that countless amounts of guards are running in the opposite direction of us, toward the doors. Zuko is saying something to them, but I can't hear it very well over the rush.

After a few turns and many more guards I finally see a familiar face. It's Uncle. He is standing outside a door that he is holding open. Zuko pulls us into the room and Uncle closes the door behind us. Once all the noise from outside is gone, I can finally register that it is Zuko's room.

Zuko pulls us into the sitting area, out of sight of the door before wrapping me in one of the tightest embraces I've ever been in. I don't resist in the slightest and place my head on his shoulder so that my face is facing the crook of his neck.

Both of us are out of breath. His chest is moving up and down quickly in an attempt to try and regain it back but it takes a while. I hear Uncle sit on the couch next to where we are standing after making sure that the door was locked and that the windows and blinds were closed.

I feel Zuko place a hand on the back of my head to bring me closer to him. Even through all of the chaos I can feel the comfort that the gesture was supposed to bring me. It fills my chilled body with an unexplainable warmth.