The wedding is short and sweet. Chief Arnook marries them in a large igloo filled with spirit statues, and only a few people attend. He says the words, and Sokka and Suki say a few vows, which make me tear up.
Then they kiss, and it's done.
They're married. They each take the other's marriage ribbons and tie them securely- Sokka around his left wrist, Suki around her right. And that's it- it's over. I don't know what we'll do now, probably go back to the South Pole.
I'm glad Zuko isn't there anymore, and it was a stroke of pure luck that Iroh couldn't leave Ba Sing Se.
I hate this constant hiding from them, but I have to protect Lia. I won't let them hurt her like they hurt me.
Sokka and Suki are almost to the door, and we're all standing, clapping and cheering, when a soft light fills the room. One of the statues is glowing.
I recognize her.
The Lady of Hope- the Spirit of Marriage.
In a moment she floats before us, beautiful and semi-transparent. Her bright green eyes don't go to the newly wedded couple, though.
They go to me.
She floats over to me, and everyone is staring, mouths open in shock and eyes wide.
The Lady of Hope takes my right hand, holding it up so that my sleeve falls back and my tattoo is revealed.
She touches it, and it is like fire in my veins, consuming everything inside me. It glows, brightly, and the spirit's soft, lilting voice fills the room.
"This is your destiny, Katara. Together you are strong. Apart, the world will be destroyed. Like the Sun and Moon, only by working together can harmony be reached."
"No! I hate him! He betrayed me!"
"He is your husband."
"HE LIED TO ME! I HATE HIM! I DON'T CARE, I DON'T-"
The two strands lift from my wrist, spinning around each other, real fire and real water, and grow, circling my ankles and reaching up my legs, circling both wrists and moving up my arms, down across my shoulders until both meet, and even though it's on my back and covered by my clothes I can still see it, somehow.
The way they join there, at my center, and the pure beauty of it.
The power of it.
The spirit's eyes stop glowing and she lets go of me, but the marks stay as she has made them.
"You must accept your destiny, Katara. Or the world will be torn apart."
And she is gone.
And I am nothing, as blackness descends on me and I welcome it with open arms.
**__**
Zuko tossed in his bed, moaning in his sleep. Then he sat up, fast, sweat pouring off him in waves, gasping.
A bright glow filled his room and he raised his left wrist, knowing even before he saw it what was happening.
The two strands of fire and water were moving, joining then separating, dancing to a song as old as the world itself. Then, slowly, they parted again, and when they settled on his wrist once more they were further apart then they had been before.
You are losing her, Zuko.
The voice was whispered in his mind, not his own yet still familiar.
And the Firelord bowed his head and cried.
_____
Poor Zuko! 0.o what did the spirit mean about the world being destroyed?! Uh oh... hehe
COMMENT and vote, five if you want an update (you know this already, lol) :)
-Tess
YOU ARE READING
Falling for the Enemy (Sun and Moon Book 1)
Fanfiction*A Zutara fanfic* Kara has been living in a little fishing village in the northern Earth Kingdom for as long as she can remember--literally. She woke up on its shores nearly six months ago, and she knows that if it hadn't been for Aki, she'd be dead...
