Chapter Text
Zuko
For the fourth night this week, Fire Lord Zuko was awake past midnight, pacing his quarters. Back and forth in front of his four-poster bed, he could almost swear he saw tracks in the floor, the evidence of his repetitive footsteps.
His eyes darted to the desk in the corner of the room yet again, and he felt his stomach wrench as he glanced upon the scroll lying there. He’d read over it so many times in the past month that the text was practically burned on the inside of his eyelids.
He’d been Fire Lord for over a decade now, and the topic covered in that forsaken scroll had been brought up a few times throughout his reign. When he and Mai were dating, it had been left alone, with the advisors and council assuming the two of them would end up together.
After he and Mei broke up, it seemed that Zuko had been allowed a period of mourning before the first conversation occurred. When the advisors and council requested a joint meeting a year later, he’d panicked at first. Worried they were going to inform him of an uprising, a plague, or a declaration of war, Zuko didn’t sleep the night before, pacing his room much as he was doing now.
But when he’d sat down in his usual spot at the head of the table and saw their faces — viewed the bizarre mix of pity, optimism, and discomfort reflected there — he knew at once what topic the meeting would cover.
Marriage.
The word haunted Zuko. He felt bad saddling any poor girl with his awkward personality and scarred face, not to mention the pressures of being a Fire Lady, but a girl who hadn’t chosen him willingly? That was just cruel.
He managed to evade the request during the first meeting, noting that he needed to be focused on relationships with the other nations instead of his personal ones at that time. They were only a few years post-war, after all.
That excuse managed to last two years before the topic was brought up again. The second time, Zuko used his charity work as an excuse. He was busy establishing new firebending schools and orphanages for the children, as well as organizing help for the hospitals and elderly communities. The council agreed that his causes were noble and required much of Zuko’s free time.
But they didn’t stop the pressure. Once or twice a year for the next several years, the topic of marriage would be brought up again and again. Sometimes publicly in meetings, sometimes privately in conversations. Occasionally, Zuko was pressured by his advisors’ wives whenever he saw them at parties. The classic “when are you going to settle down?” spiel.
For one glorious year, he had an arrangement with one of the noblemen’s daughters. She was in love with one of the shopkeepers in the village, and her parents wouldn’t let them be together. To keep her parents appeased while she dated her love in secret, the woman would attend public events on Zuko’s arm. They went to parties, charity galas, visited schools and hospitals, and even had dinner together in the palace.
Though Zuko never felt anything for her romantically, their time together offered a great reprieve from the marriage talks. When she confessed to Zuko after a year that she was finally going to stand up to her parents and make her real relationship public, Zuko was supportive, if a little disappointed on his own behalf.
And now, he had no excuses left. When his council and advisors called a “marriage meeting” again a month ago and gave him a list of potential candidates for marriage, he couldn’t think of a single reason good enough to dissuade them from their mission.
After all, he would eventually need an heir to the throne. Having a Fire Lady would improve his public image. And if he was honest with himself at all, it would be nice to have someone living in the palace who wasn’t his subordinate. Someone he might be able to call a friend down the road.
Now, he was just hours away from the deadline to choose a candidate. Zuko crossed the room to the desk and opened the scroll, staring as if somehow he could make the text change entirely into something harmless, like a dessert menu or a letter from Sokka.
Over the past few weeks, Zuko had crossed names off the list one by one. He ruled out any women he’d grown up with here in the Fire Nation. A marriage with any of them (even a platonic one) would be uncomfortable. There were a few options from the Earth Kingdom that he considered for a couple of weeks. But after getting some correspondence with Toph, he ruled those ladies out as well.
Now, just one name remained.
Lying beside the scroll on the desk was a letter he’d received from Katara this afternoon.
See, that last name? It belonged to a woman from the Northern Water Tribe. Her parents were well-respected members of the chief’s inner circle. She was a waterbender, and a skilled one at that. Originally trained only to heal, when Katara had convinced Master Pakku to start letting girls do combat training, this young woman had caught up to the boys in her class with exceptional speed. She went on to be trained personally by Katara during many post-war visits to the Northern Water Tribe, and the two women were great friends, being roughly the same age. Word had it that she was also rather pretty.
All that information, save for the bit about her parentage, had come directly from Katara’s letter. Of course, Zuko couldn’t hide his reasoning for writing to Katara and asking about the Northern Water Tribe woman, meaning that there was also a lengthy paragraph at the bottom of the letter mentioning what a wonderful woman she was and how she’d make a lovely Fire Lady. Katara claimed that she and Zuko would get along splendidly.
With that glowing recommendation from Katara running through his mind, Zuko had nearly made his decision. At this point, only his guilt kept him chained and indecisive.
How could he ask this girl, whom he’d never met, to leave her homeland to help rule his? She was from a land his people had attacked during the war! Would she even be willing? Or would she agree simply so she could make his life a living nightmare? He probably deserved it, Zuko thought glumly. After all the atrocities he’d committed in the name of restoring his honor, there was no doubt that he had made enemies in every nation.
But unfortunately, he had to make a choice. He had to choose a woman from this list, and hers was the only name not scratched out.
The best he could hope for is that she’d be friendly. They could develop a camaraderie. Have quiet dinners together, discussing Fire Nation politics. They would sleep in separate chambers and have their own schedules, except for when they needed to present a public face. He would give her freedom and kindness.
It would be a platonic marriage. In name only.
Now, just to convince her that it was a good idea.