The Fire Prince's Bride

Chapter 6

Katara lays in bed, she holds a pillow to her chest and sobs into it, she knew that her father and brother would leave her, but she didn't think it would be so soon, and she thought she would at least get to say goodbye.
Katara's tears are choking her, she sits up and wipes her cheek before getting out of bed, needing fresh air to compose herself.
By now, everyone in the palace should be in their beds, Katara creeps to the door and twists the knob, only to find the door locked. Katara didn't pay attention, she didn't notice how the door clicks once it is shut.
Katara doesn't even hesitate, she bends water from the bowl on her night stand into the the lock and freezes it against the tumblers, unlocking the door so she may stroll out into the midnight air.
Katara pads through the palace silently, passing may closed doors that she could easily open.
Now is not the time, Katara instead walks out to the gardens, where she it's by a pond under a willow tree.
"It's a beautiful night," a voice says, startling Katara so much that she almost bends water at the intruder.
The intruder turns out to be the Fire Lord's brother.
"General Iroh," Katara greets as the general sits by her side.
"You married my nephew, you may call me uncle," the old man says, pulling a pot of tea and two cups from his sleeve.
"I had an uncle," Katara says harshly, "he was taken from me."
"I am sorry," Iroh says sincerely as he pours tea.
"I would rather be alone," Katara says, declining the tea offered to her.
General Iroh bows to Katara, respecting her wishes, but he doesn't leave her side.
"My brother will not be pleased if he finds that you've left your room," he says softly, "you should return before his guard checks on you, princess."
Iroh them walks away, humming a soft tune.
Katara leaves the garden, avoiding all guards before shutting herself in her room.

Mai keeps Zuko up almost all night, and when he woke that morning, Mai wouldn't let him out of her arms, she kept him in bed even when he said he didn't want to.
"You're mine," Mai had said as she straddled his hips, "I'm going to make sure that everybody knows it."
She kissed his neck, biting hard on his tender skin and leaving it a pale purple colour.

When Zuko finally drags himself out of bed and to Katara's rooms, he finds her sitting at her mirror, brushing out her hair and humming to herself.
'She's beautiful,' it's the first thought that floods into Zuko's mind when he sees how the water tribe girl glows in the morning sun. But a thought of the deadly woman who is still lying in his bed intrudes in his mind and leaves a sour taste in his mouth.

Katara looks at the fire prince's reflection in her mirror, from where she sits she can already see the irritation on his face and the purple bruising around his neck.
"Come on," he says with a deep growl on his voice.
"Not yet," Katara says, standing from her seat and gesturing for Prince Zuko to sit.
Zuko just frowns harder at the water tribe girl.
"When you refused to bed me on our wedding night, I thought it was because you thought I was ugly," she says, sighing as she pulls her hair over her shoulder, "when you didn't even look at my naked body, I thought it was because your taste was for the opposite sex..."
Zuko opens his mouth to stop the princesses guessing game.
"But now I see the truth," she says before the prince can say a word, "it's not that I'm ugly, it's that you're already in love with another..."
Zuko's mouth snaps shut.
"Another who has seen it appropriate to mark your neck with a collar of kisses," Katara finished, once again gesturing for Zuko to sit.
"I don't have time for this, I have a meeting," Zuko snarls.
"If you go into the meeting looking like that, you will be ridiculed beyond repair," Katara says, "you have time, now sit."
Zuko knows that the water tribe girl is right, so the prince hangs his head and steps further into her room.
The princess retrieves a small box from her belongings and then unlaced the front of Zuko's shirt.
"What are you doing?!" He gapes almost leaping right out of the chair.
"You don't want to go into your meeting with powder on your clothes," Katara chastises, "stop squirming."
Once Zuko's shirt is off of his shoulders, Katara sets to hiding the love bites left behind by the prince's mistress.
"Aren't you going to say something," Zuko asks uneasily after sitting in uncomfortable silence.
"What is there to say?" Katara asks, stoping in front of Zuko and raising an eyebrow.
Zuko shifts in the seat and looks down.
"Am I supposed to question you on your bed habits, husband? Or should I question if I am in danger from the woman's malicious intent?"
"She's not malicious," Zuko defends with heated cheeks.
"She gave you a collar, knowing that you'd see me, knowing that you couldn't hide them," Katara sighs as she continues to cover the bites, "she obviously kept you up all night, you look like shit, did she know about your meeting?"
Zuko remains silent, Mai did know about his meeting, he mentioned it several times during the night.
"But you're in love with her," Katara says, "and love makes you blind and forgiving."
Katara was hoping that she'd be the one to blind the fire prince, now that seems impossible.
So Katara cleans the exhausted fire prince up, she gives him hot tea and ties his hair up in a traditional style she's seen him wear and then walks with him to his meeting, remaining outside with his guard.
Katara picks at her nail beds, deep in thought while waiting in the halls. Katara has always loved love, as a child she would watch her parents with wide eyes when they would walk through the village hand in hand. She wanted a love like theirs, and now she's trapped in a loveless marriage to a man who won't ever consider the possibility of loving her because his heart belongs to another.
"Can I send a letter to my father?" Katara asks when Zuko comes out of his meeting.
Zuko stops in his tracks and turns to Katara, suspicion is written all over his face.
"I miss him terribly," Katara says sighing wistfully.
Zuko agreed to send a letter on behalf of his bride, but only after reading it himself. The letter is innocent enough, Katara writes about how she misses her family and how she is not yet used to the heat, Zuko deems the letter safe and hands it to the ambassador of the water tribe.
The next day, Zuko's schedule is clear, but instead of staying in bed all day like Mai begs him, he leaves and collects his bride ritually.
He goes to his training lessons, despite not needing to, and he keeps Katara close by. Katara doesn't know it yet, but when she helped Zuko yesterday, he was melting in her hands. When she ran her fingers through his hair, he turned to mush and he saw the water tribe girl in a new light.
"What's wrong?" Zuko asks, noticing his wife's crestfallen expression.
"Nothing," Katara says with a sigh, Zuko doesn't believe her for one second.
"Talk to me," he says, dismissing his teacher and siting by Katara's side.
"Should I talk to my father about an annulment?" She asks, her eyes wide.
Zuko's heart almost falls out of his chest.
"What?!" He stammers.
"You're already in love with someone else," Katara says, "you won't even take the chance to know me or pretend to care. I knew that by marrying you I would essentially be signing myself to be your prisoner, but I had hopped that the fire nation would at least pretend to treat me with... I don't know, respect and civility?"
"If you ask for annulment you may as well sign a declaration of war as well," Zuko says, his voice dark as smoke coils from his nostrils.
"What does it matter?" Katara sighs, "why do you care if we go to war? One would think you'd prefer it that way."
"We we're married in front of the entire nation, in front of the entire world, if you ask for an annulment, it will tell the whole world that the Fire Nation is incompetent and unable to keep their wives. My bed habits are not for you to worry about, you will shut your eyes and endure."
Zuko's anger rises, he stands and walks away from his wife, his hands clenched at his side as he returns to the woman in his bed.
In Zuko's anger he leaves Katara alone, his guard follows him and leaves Katara alone in the training room, unsupervised and unrestricted.
Katara stands, she dusks off her skirts and then walks out of the training room with her hands behind her back.
Katara's bare feet make no sound on the wooden floors as she walks about the palace. The servants who skitter about take no notice of her and she make sure that no palace guard or dignitary sees her as she slides into locked rooms.
Katara's eyes quickly scan through forgotten documents trying to find anything worthy to write to her father about. Her nimble hands are quick at unlocking doors and file cabinet, she finds more documents and reads quickly, knowing that she only has a few minutes in each room and that she must move quickly if she hopes to remain undetected.
Katara retreats back to her room, deciding to not push her luck by snooping for too long. When she returns she finds a letter from her father waiting for her.
The letter is mostly nostalgic drabble, but with the right decoder, the true message is loud and clear.
You see, when Katara sent her letter, it too was drabble, however the code she invented hid the true message, that Zuko was in love with another and the possibility of Katara winning his affections were slim.
Hakoda knows his daughter, he knows what she is truly saying. She thinks her chances are slim not because Zuko is in love with another, but because she does not want to come between or harm a loving relationship.
'It does not matter,' Hakoda has written back, 'his head will be on a spike soon enough, make him love you and do your duty.'
Katara sighs and folds the letter away, planning to burn it later that night.
Katara writes another letter, this one less filled with drabble and more filled with her concerns. She uses no code and plainly writes how she thinks an annulment may be necessary. This letter is not for her father, but for Zuko's father, who's soldiers will intercept and take to the Fire lord.