Chapter Text
Katara sat at the table, her fingers thrumming against the dark wood. She was impatient. Katara wasn’t one who has been handed things in her life but she also wasn’t one to wait on others to get the job done. The Fire Lord was taking his time.
She had news about an hour ago that his ship had docked and Katara needed to prepare herself immediately. Not that she wasn’t already prepared. Being prepared was something she was known for. This made her competent at her job. The job she was willing to sacrifice in order of the name of peace. Which is why the Fire Lord taking his sweet time getting here was starting to piss her off.
“Katara-” Aang started breaking her thoughts up, “You’re going to start holes in the door if you glare any harder.” Sweet Aang, always trying to make her feel better.
Katara huffed and pushed herself away from the table. “Maybe if the colonizing bastard hadn’t bothered me I could have been halfway done with all the chores.” She cursed the name of the Fire Lord under her breath, earning a sigh from Aang.
Katara turned her gaze from the door and to the penguin seal pelts covering their windows, keeping out the bitter cold. She wondered if she was going to become a penguin seal pelt. Nothing but a pretty covering used to keep the bitterness outside. Katara began to pace in front of the fireplace. She was a prominent figure in her tribe and this was her duty. However, where was the line between duty and giving up her autonomy?
“Katara-” Aang reached out for her shoulders only to stop when a curt knock resonated into the sudden silence.
She froze, right to her spot. Her water pouch itched to be uncapped, wanting to water whip whoever was outside her door. For a few seconds, Katara wanted to pretend that the figures on the other side were not Fire Nation but her Gran Gran. Coming home early from the healers tent to bake them sea plum stew one last time.
Another set of knocks brought Katara out of her brief fantasy. Glancing at Aang, she sent him a silent message. Open it. Aang moved swiftly and opened the door, immediately leaning into a deep bow. Katara refused to bow until the bastard was at least in front of her.
One soldier entered the room, his trained eyes looking for something suspicious. Anything that would clue him into an ambush or surprise. Katara hated him already, this nameless soldier. His eyes were too sharp, noticing the weapons on the wall and the rim-rod position of Katara’s arrowlike spine.
“You were asked to put away any weapons upon the arrival of the Fire Lord, Lady Katara.” The soldier stepped forwards and looked down his nose at Katara.
She could feel heat travel up her back and into her soul. “I refuse to be left defenseless in my own home.” Katara snarled and stared back at the thin vizor of the soldier.
“You must follow the orders of your King.” The nameless man who dared talk down to her growled. Katara knew the deadliest thing in the room wasn’t the weapons.
“Li!” Barked out an older voice. “Stand down.” Immediately, the soldier was at attention, fist over his heart.
In walked a squat, fat, old man. Katara raised her brow at the procession of people. A nameless soldier and now an old man? She narrowed her eyes when she realized who was standing in her home, The Dragon of the West. General Iroh of the Fire Nation.
Katara still refused to bow, much to the annoyance of Li who scoffed at the brazen display. Her gaze traveled from the soldier, to the General, and to Aang who was still bent in his bow. The General smiled kindly at the younger man and tapped his shoulder. Aang slowly rose and smiled widely at the General.
“It is good to see you, my friend.” General Iroh pulled Aang into a bone crushing hug, causing Aang to laugh.
Katara knew Aang didn’t owe her any explanations considering they were really only political acquaintances. That didn’t mean it didn’t sting knowing Aang was close enough to someone from the Fire Nation to call them friends. Katara shifted uncomfortably in front of the fire and crossed her arms over her chest. Aang was ridiculously easy to get along with, this really shouldn’t surprise her.
“This beautiful fire lily must be the esteemed Lady Katara.” General Iroh had turned his attention onto her. Katara kept her arms crossed and stared at the General, waiting for his next response. “I see you are as stoic as your people are said to be.” He smiled at Katara. His voice was thick with a Fire Nation accent.
“Uncle” A voice whined from outside the door.
In walked Fire Lord Zuko. His scar maimed the side Katara could see as he walked in through the threshold of her space. She had heard he had been scared by his own father, what savages. The young Fire Lord looked exasperated as he walked in without a care in the world. Must be nice not happening to walk on eggshells in this cruel world.
Fire Lord Zuko turned and looked directly at Katara, who was already assessing him. He was well built, still lean and bony from his youth. She could tell he had the muscles of a well trained soldier and bender. His inky black hair was pulled up into his crown, half up and half down. He was in his official Fire Lord regalia. The points of his clothes look as if they would stab her eyes if she got close enough.
Then, the Fire Lord did something that surprised everyone in the room. He placed his fisted hand over his heart and bowed to Katara. Her jaw dropped open and her eyes went wide with shock. The room was suddenly hot, suffocating her slowly. When the Fire Lord was done with his bow, he motioned for Li to be at ease. Katara narrowed her eyes, trying to maintain face around the Fire Lord.
“Lady Katara. I’ve come to speak with you about my offer.” He stated, as if he hadn’t sent her a million letters begging her to leave her post in the South Pole. A million letters written in common tongue, not effort at learning her language. “Can we all sit?” He motioned to the table Katara had been abusing minutes earlier.
Wordlessly, Katata made her way to the head of the table with Aang to her left where he belonged. The Fire Lord stiffened at this. Which means he knows enough about Water Tribe culture to know that the left hand belonged to the second highest in the room. Katara wanted Fire Lord Zuko to know he was beneath everyone in this room, including a nameless Monk. Katara motioned for General Iroh and his family to sit at the table.
“Lady Katara-” The Fire Lord started, only to be silenced with a simple raise of Katara’s hand.
She made a point to make eye contact with everyone in the room, including the soldier Li. “I will make it clear that I don’t agree with your plan. I think taking women from their posts and their homes to attend some sex slavery camp is disgusting” She could see Li flinch, his hand going to his sword. The General hissed at him to relax.
“Sex slavery camp?!” Fire Lord Zuko looked bewildered, “Concubines are not sex slaves. We would be training you on becoming a proper lady of Fire Nation standards!” The room's temperature continued to increase. The fire behind Katara surging with new life.
“What you don’t seem to understand, Fire Lord Zuko, is that I will not become anything other than what I already am. I do not need to be groomed into becoming a proper Fire Nation wife.” Katara leaned forward onto her hands, cusping her chin. She dared to stare right into the eyes of the Fire Lord.
“No-You won’t-that’s not-” He seemed flustered by something. He was floundering.
General Iroh lets out a warm sigh and claps his nephew on the shoulder. As if to say let me take it from here. “What my nephew is trying to say, Lady Katara, is concubines hold a lot of power in the palace. My nephew wants to put you in a position to help your people from the inside. No sex involved.” The old man snorts, “Unless you want to.”
Katara felt an icky shiver run down her spine. She watched the men next to her and then to Aang at her left. He was nervous, picking at his cuticles and staring holes into the table. Katara wasn’t stupid, she knew Aang had a crush on her. She was too busy with the troubles of being leader of the Southern Water Tribe to even consider marriage or courtship right now. Least of all, sex.
“So, you intend to trap me in a women’s only palace intended to keep your bed warm. Is that not correct?” Katara turned her gaze to the Fire Lord. He froze at her piercing gaze, he had never seen eyes so blue. “It’s almost as if my body is a commodity to be sold and passed around.”
“No!” Stammered the Fire Lord. His face heated up with a blush that turned his ears red. “I mean, yes, but not anymore!”
His uncle, General Iroh, sighed next to his nephew. He rubbed his eyes and finally spoke, “What my Nephew wants is to change the Fire Nation. Decolonize the nations as we call it. While your official title will be concubine, eventually it will be Master and you will sit on a council free to do whatever you please. You could return home to be leader of your Tribe or remain at the palace to become a figurehead for the Southern Water Tribe.”
Katara pondered for a moment, her eyes bouncing between the two Fire Nation men. Fire Lord Zuko cast his gaze down at the table, much like the Monk next to her. Only General Iroh held her scrutinizing gaze. The house was usually barely warm but with the presence of three firebenders, it was unbearably hot. Katara could feel the sweat trickle down the back of her neck and between her breasts. She wanted them out of here. She wanted this suffocating feeling to go away.
“So, I act like a pretty little Fire Nation whore until it’s time to do some actual work? How will you guarantee my people will be taken care of during my absence? How will I know that you will keep my interests protected?” The questions were really for General Iroh, who seemed to be more a diplomat than his Nephew.
Much to Katara’s surprise, the scarred man before her spoke instead. “I will not allow the women who stay with me to be hurt, if that’s what you’re wondering. I have spoken to your brother, he agreed to come with and be in my guard outside of the rear palace. He will be with you until you either feel safe enough or are able to return to the Southern Water Tribe. Your father has also agreed to take over temporarily until either you or Lord Sokka return.”
Katara felt anger rear its angry head inside of her. It heated her from the core and brought the itch to water whip the Fire Lord. She could hear the whooshing of his blood being pumped through his body, she could easily break him right now. “You asked permission from the men in my life before speaking to me directly. You went behind my back?!”
“It was to ensure we had our bases covered, Lady Katara.”
“So, you intended to trap me here with no way out?!”
“No! Lady Katara, we need to get the Fire Nation out of the colonies and restore power to the other Nations. I can’t do it without major changes to our political system!” Fire Lord Zuko held the fiery gaze being thrown at him. Apparently, when you back him into a corner he bites back like a rabid mole mouse. Interesting. Katara seated herself and steeled her facial expressions.
Katara breathed in the humid air of the meeting room and let it back out, an attempt to calm her storms. “Draw up a contract. I want everything that has been promised in this room written down for my protection. I give you a year to see real change, Fire Lord Zuko, or else I will leave you to flounder about like a fish out of water. Alone.”
The Fire Lord stood up and bowed, his hand pressed above his heart. “I’ll see to it, Lady Katara.”
(Sorry, I don't know how to add notes without it being on every chapter when I first post lol. I hope you enjoy and please comment and give Kudos! What do you think will happen? I had been sitting on this story for a while now and I have the time to share it with you all! Also, Age Appropriate Zuko being leaked made me want to publish this! Thank you for reading!)