A Match of Ice and Fire

Chapter 20: Zuko

"Yes." I answer without thinking, then I process the question. "Wait... what?" I bolt upright. "BUT WHY?"

Their is no tingling sensation anymore but the effects of the tea seem to rush to my head. "Why would you ask me to marry you?" My mind's submurged in tea and Kaya is currently stirring it up like a tea pot, so fast I think my brain might dissolve. "You won the Angi Kai. You set the terms. You don't have to marry me. Kaya..."

"What if I changed mind?" She asks but keeps her eyes down, refusing to meet my gaze. I have the irrational impulse to cup her face and tilt it up to mine, deciphering exactly what in the four nations is going through her head. Instead I settle for peaking up at Kaya ocean eye's from below, but all I see is icey flat calm.

"Kaya... if Chieftan Arnook is forcing you-" I start uneasily but she cuts me off.

"-He isn't."

"Or anyone else in the tribe is pressuring you in anyway-"

"No one is pressuring or forcing me to do anything!" The calm look in Kaya's eyes quickly evaporates.

I try to difuse the situation. "You know, I wasn't going to force you to marry me even if you'd lost..."

It doesn't help the situation. "Then why agree to the Angi Kai?!!"

"I'm the Firlord!" Now I'm the one losing my cool. It's impossible to keep a level head around Kaya as I try to explain, "It's the principle of it! I couldn't of exactly said no, Could I? " I gesticulate nearly knocking the other teapot of the bedside table in the process.

"Right..." Kaya puts out a hand to steady the pot as he cocks her head to one side pretending to contemplate my reasoning. "And how did that work out for you?"

Not particularly well. I grimace at the healing hut i ended up in.

Kaya only shakes her head, laughing. She really does have a beautiful laugh. Eventually, she meets my eyes and the calm returns. "It's my choice. Zuko. This is my desicion to go through with the enagement. But if you want to break it off, I understand, I wouldn't want to force..." Kaya catches herself before she trails off, "Just if you did want to marry me-"

"I do." I blink. "I mean, I do, still want to marry you that is..." I realise I've just repeated the exact same thing, but the words run away from me, pouring off my lips. "I don't want to break off the enagement. Kaya, you're beautifiul, you're funny, and you're kind -sometimes, and smart... and ruthless and determined and powerful..." there is  a new burning feeling in my chest, rising with every word, but this time the burning feels good, right. Destined. "Your everything a Firelady should be and more! I want you to be my wife! I want-"

"-Woah there, Fire boy!" Kaya places a cool stabilising agianst my chest. I hadn't realised I was falling off the bed until she catches me. Perhaps my head isn't as clear as i thought it was. I sway little, but Kaya propts me up. "Let's save the spontaneous proposal speeches for when your not completely off your face on Yoguda Special brew."

I start to laugh agian but hiccup. I concede Kaya might have a point. "We can talk details tomorrow."

Kaya nodds, then leans across to pour herself a cup of Yoguda Special brew and downs it one.

"What was that for?"

"Because i needed it." Kaya coughs and shallows as the tea scalds  her throat, Then sighs, rolling her neck and cracking her knuckles." "Okay, turn around."

I blink, rubbing at the sleep building behind eyes. "Kaya, the pain is gone. You already fixed me."

"Oh no..." Kaya chuckles darkly. "Oh no,  i imagine your still very much broken after the Bendathon we pulled today. And once that tea wears off, your muscles are going ache worse than a belly flopping Turtleseal, trust me..."