Healing the Elements

Seraphim Earl

Author's notes:

This is my first ATLA story though I am a long time Avatar fanatic. This one will be Zutara and Taang because I love these pairings more, the rest of the canon pairings are still there, it's just those two are the main pairings. This one was supposed to be in Zuko's first POV, but when I saw how the draft went I knew that I suck in first person POV. So here I shifted again to third person.

Zutara is my fav pairing; Azula's my fav villain; the gang are my fav heroes; Iroh would be my fav uncle.

Standard Disclaimer applies and Reviews are as lovely and sweet as pies.

On with our story

Prologue: Four Years

Four years as a span of reconstructing the whole world was deemed not enough. Though the people lived as peacefully as peace itself, there was always darkness, for it is the shadow that light makes. Fire Lord Zuko learned of such fact a very long time ago. Four years have come and gone and still his work was never done, as he was now. He sat in his usual study groaning at how the stack of paperwork keeps on growing and it was still early morning. Four years have passed and the world was moving forward to a new state of oneness in a sense of something that isn't seen by the naked eye. Four years have passed and letters from a blind heir landed on his table and was read and replied as quickly as possible. Communications are vast, parties and meetings were made and a long term, wishfully forever peace was being established.

Four years.

Zuko groaned as he read through another file of something about the Southern villages of the Fire Nation and groaned again when he passed through some reports about rebellions from the east. The rebellions were unsuccessful of course, yet having such frightens the leaders of nations to having a war, civil it may be or not. At least the stack of paperwork was diminishing from its monstrous file and it was a sign of progress on his part. As he went by the paperwork, his mind was raging on arranging his mental schedule; he was to hold another meeting with his generals and meet the ambassadors from the Earth Kingdom and then hold court. A knock resounded on his door before another groan could be elicited from his lips and he immediately thanked the spirits for the distraction. He went and accepted the intruder, saving it as his Uncle Iroh with tea in his possession.

"Good morning Uncle." He said as he resumed his paperwork but still giving his uncle the required attention and respect he needs. "Is anything of the matter?"

"Nothing, I was just passing by and heard some horrifying sounds around here." Iroh said with a cheerful smile. He deemed it worthy that he leave Jasmine Dragon for a while until his nephew can do everything about being a Fire Lord alone, well maybe with his Lady as well. He wasn't worried the least though, he can still manage the tea shop as to how many branches were scattered all over the world. "Are you having problems about the paperwork again Zuko?"

"You know me too well uncle, so why ask?" he reasoned out as he turned his gaze to the file that was currently in his possession. Iroh observed his nephew as his golden eyes skimmed the file again and again, until his eyes widened and immediately excused himself, leaving such file behind. The old tea maker stood up in the study, alone, and slowly picked up the abandoned file. A frown made its way to his face yet as he finished reading, his own golden eyes were glittering sparkles.

Zuko,

I am in no official business and of no need of your Fire Lord status, this is of personal business. I'll be in the Fire Nation capital by the time you read this note, considering how stacked your files are and how slow your progress with them may be.

Katara

He let off a chuckle as he saw the all-too familiar signature and seal. He took the note and followed his nephew out knowing immediately where he might be. He let out another chuckle when he found the Fire Lord by the front door of the palace, overlooking the gate as it admitted a fire nation carriage inside its halls. Fire Nation carriage? Iroh doubted for a moment until it opened its doors and a swish of familiar blue came to their view.

Katara, Princess of the Water Tribes stood before them a few meters away and down the courtyard in her usual blue clothes that complimented her tan skin perfectly. She stood there talking to the driver of the carriage with a smile and then a bow as the carriage left her alone in the courtyard. The two Fire Nation royals saw her turn around to meet them with a smile, she seemed surprised to see them waiting for her and her smile turned into a challenging smirk. Iroh saw his nephew stood back from his leaning position by the railing and returned the smirk the princess gave him.

They waited as she ascended the steps patiently, her hair as auburn as chocolate shone as the sun met it and her eyes were as endless as the deepest of the oceans. She matured in aspects more than just of physical appearance, she was filled out in all the right places and she walked with an air of royalty and respect without losing the commoners' streak that Iroh admired with a smile. He watched as his nephew's face brightened up like the fire that he controlled, all the stress disappearing and all the depression vanishing in an instant. Any presence of anyone from the gang in the Fire Nation assures the occupants of the palace excitement that was outside such routine.

"Forgive me for such short notice my lord, though you surprised me with clearing your study table quick enough to see my note." Katara said with dripping sarcasm, yet her smile defies the sarcasm. Iroh quickly welcomed the waterbender with a fatherly hug that the lady quickly returned with the same radiating happiness. Zuko was standing there, watching the exchange as his mind raged with her possible motives of coming so urgently to the Fire Nation when she got no purpose of doing so. They wrote to each other of course, passing news and such as well as how every one of them is doing. She told him from her last letter weeks ago that she was busy with teaching young waterbenders in the arts of healing as well as fighting, so why was she here?

Katara turned to the Fire Lord and saw his creased forehead and smiled. He always tried to figure out things and its underlying meanings. She knew that she'll need to work hard if he will grant her the request she'll place to him. When she saw that Zuko decided to put away his mind battle for awhile and opened his arms for her, she quickly ran to it and gave him a hug. "What are you doing here Katara?"

"A very hard and unbelievable request." She answered his whisper with another. She pulled away and turned to the both of them with a serious expression, her eyes turning blank and as cold as ice. "However you refuse or do whatever you need to, I need to see someone. You can escort me with guards or yourself, you can make me go alone, but I will not leave the Fire Nation until you grant me my request of seeing her."

Zuko was confused, yet Iroh immediately got what she meant and nodded solemnly turning to his nephew. Katara continued her statement with in a hard and blank voice: "I need to see Azula as soon as possible."

Silence.

"What?" Zuko said in a disbelieving voice as everything that she said sank in. "Why?"

"As I said it is of personal business." Katara simply said as she folded her arms on her chest. "Zuko I need to see her."

"She's dangerous!" Zuko said as he waved a hand in defiance.

"Oh, and I'm not?" she replied with a raised brow. Her expression was still surprisingly blank, she was supposed to be fuming as Zuko is right now, Iroh thought as he watched his nephew slap a palm on his forehead. "I'll do anything just to see her."

"Why?" Zuko's tone was pleading; he was utterly confused at why she would suddenly want to see his mind crazed sister. He vowed since he saw the fear in Katara's eyes when Azula directed the lightning to her that he will never let anyone be hurt by her again, the only way was to isolate his sister. Katara simply looked away, her arms tightening around herself; Iroh slipped away leaving the Fire Lord to solve his recent strife by himself. Zuko can feel his patience slipping as Katara left his questions unanswered, he didn't like lashing out at her and he wanted to beg her to tell him so he could reason out that she should not see his sister. "I could not allow you to."

"Escort me with a horde of guards then, you can even come so yourself! I need to see her, I beg of you!" Katara said with begging azure eyes that Zuko was surprised, she was pleading and begging yet she would not tell him why.

"No." he turned and left as quickly as possible but his ears caught something of utmost importance. "Return home Katara."

"You don't trust her, as well as me."

Zuko's mind wasn't in anything he did and thrice in both of his meetings he tried to listen but Katara's words always drifted to his mind, as well as how she reacted at his defiance. She was reserved back there and it wasn't like an attitude the Katara he knew possessed. She should be the one lashing out at him because of his denial of permission, but her cold and evasive demeanor pushed him to his limit that he feared that he would hurt her, that's why he left. The happening was still too fresh in his mind that all he thought about was her reasons of wanting to see his sister. They were enemies for Agni's sake!

"I heard that the Water Princess arrived." He heard a voice said as he looked up from the throne that he was contemplating upon. "What does the peasant want?"

Mai stood in front of him and he saw a small smile on her lips as she mentioned the word peasant, such irony her two statements were. Mai stood there with a raise brow, Katara and she made a bridge of trust that he himself can't figure out where they built it from. Mai sighed when she saw his confused expression and moved closer. They broke two years ago and she was the one to do it, giving each of them a chance to clear their minds and think their priorities. They were in friendly terms and she was one of his ambassadors and representatives in the Fire Nation, she seemed fine with her new position and never complained about the boredom. "Iroh told me what she wanted and believe me Zuko, knowing her she's as stubborn as you."

"What should I do?" he asked as he shoved his hand through his onyx hair, free from his crown as strands fell to the middle of his back. Mai looked at him with her blank gaze and turned to leave.

"I'm not your advisor. Go to training yard, you might find a solution there." He was left alone again. He sighed and raked his hair once again with his fingers thinking of what can be in the training yard that can solve his problems, it was late evening for Agni's sake! He groaned when he found no other valid option that can solve his problems, so he stood up and went to his room to change his heavy robes to lighter and thinner ones, a simple shirt and baggy pants did the job. He tied his hair with a red lace to a low ponytail and left the sanctity of his room. The cold air of the night seeped into his clothes and soothed his confused mind as he made his way to the training yard, what he saw surprised him like almost anything that happened the following nights after such incident.

It was Katara, she was wearing a blue linen dress that ends on her knees and her feet bare and her hair was unbounded by anything. Beads of sweat shone to the orange light of the lanterns around her, the moon nowhere in the sky and the fire was making her tanned skin glow like the ambers that glowed within the volcanoes of their lands, magma. She just stood there taking deep breaths as he watched with his golden eyes gleaming like those of a hunting wolf. That was when her hands made their magic. He had seen her waterbend many times before of course, some even directed to himself and he was entranced of how her hands moved much more hypnotizing this time around and she wasn't really bending water. She was doing hand movements and positions that he knew were of waterbending that was until water appeared from the very air that surrounds them. His eyes widened in surprise like it did when they went to the Southern Raiders and did that thing with the captain.

Her moves where slow, her arms flowing like water and her wrist flicking like the waves and her very fingers were moving like a tiny stream of water itself then she was like the very entity of the fiery oceans. She was flailing her arms and the water followed her will, it was like she was fighting an invisible enemy and she was losing. She moved with her brows furrowed her eyes flashing like blue fire and lightning. That was when he realized what exactly she was fighting; stress, anger, depression and his refusal. What she was doing was her outlet, her breathing came in sharp pants and he realized that he needed to give her a decision, whatever it might be. He just thought of a perfect way of deciding.

"I believe you should be waiting for me by the dinner table about my decision Katara?" he said as he emerged from the shadows that was concealing him. He met her blazing eyes and saw an expression of amusement as it flickered and died. "Why are you here?"

"Venting out." He nodded at her statement and approached her, his bangs shielding his golden eyes from her inquisitive view. He was watching her as she shifted her weight from one foot to another, a sign of anticipation and agitation. "You would not make it easy would it?"

"No. I prefer a match, whoever wins may have what he or she wants and the loser won't have anything to say about it. The decision is final, no rematches or anything of sorts." He said as he held his hand out, a bender's oath, she took it with a solemn face and shook it. Then she turned and walked to the other end of the field with sure paces. He did the same and turned to her as they switched to both of their respective stances. There was only the sound of the soft breeze and their breathing that seemed to howl to the absent moon. Then as the bird cried like a nightingale does, a great spectacle of colors came to the sky's view as he watched with nature as they were their only audience. Bothe fighters were bespectacled with how the other in a span of four years and wounds were gained and trails of sweat were produced, Katara continued to produce water from the very air yet she knows that too much will be to her disadvantage and that she needed to find another source. Zuko on the other hand was gaining on her, using his swordsman instincts and abilities and combined it with his firebending stunts that Katara was having a hard time evading them.

Katara did her best as she always do, but something about his moves set her off and she fell off balance and he surely took advantage of it as he pinned her arms behind her, firm yet gentle as to not hurt her. She inwardly laughed at the irony, she got wounds and bruises from their fight yet he does not want to break her bones. "Sorry Katara but you really must not see her."

"I need to Zuko. You need to trust me now more than ever!" she said as she panted and wiped the sweat from her brow. "Please reconsider!"

"A deal is a deal Katara, please do not do anything rash, you are free to stay here for as long as you like." He said as he stood up and left her sitting in the middle of the yard. "I'm really sorry but I will stand firm to my decision."

"Bender's oath." He heard her mumble before he left.

"Nephew, do you know about the tale of the Painted Lady?" Iroh said the next morning with a meaningful smile, Katara decided that she would go to the marketplace to look for some souvenirs and certain necessities and his nephew was left alone again with his paperwork.

"Why do you ask?"

"A way of entertaining you from your gruesome task." Iroh said with a smile when his nephew simply nodded in contemplation as he signed yet again another approval to a proposal or something. He turned to him and simply shook his head with a questioning and suspicious gaze.

"The Painted Lady is a spirit to one of our very own villages by the north." Iroh started as he took a sip of his Jasmine tea. "She is said to be of fair beauty with eyes as deep blue as the deepest trench in the oceans and her hair was as shiny as an onyx diamond. She was a healer and a warrior, and she uses water even though she wielded fire, the exact opposite of the Water Tribes' Blue Spirit."

"What do you mean about the Blue Spirit?" the statement surely took his attention and interest because he looked at him with bewildered eyes. He knew that the Blue Spirit was an enemy of the Fire Nation yet he never knew that such enemy will be of Water Tribe origin. Iroh continued his tale and he watched as his nephew listened with keen ears, he knew that his listening was all he needed for now.

"The Blue Spirit is the spirit patron of the Southern Water Tribe, having them more as descendants of his father La. The ones in the Northern Water Tribe are of Tui's favor, but his mother after his confrontation favored the Southerners as well. Everything was then balanced with the Water Tribes. The Blue Spirit was a warrior of the highest and greatest honor and skills any warrior can have. He was a warrior, a prince and a leader by right and skills and the people who managed to see him looked up to him in greatest ardor and respect, until a day when a fair skinned woman came to his domain. Of course he was surprised since he was visited by a spirit outside his family, especially a spirit of opposite element. The Painted Lady stood before him in her white silk garbs with her head bowed low that he knew something was wrong. He reassured her that he would try to help her at any way he can, until he heard her plight he was unsure of what to do.

'I wish naught of dull importance but to learn the ways of your land, since I am a spirit of a relative element as yours.'

'Why do you wish such thing? You are born with the blood of fire rushing in your veins yet you wish to acquire something of utmost opposite?'

'I cannot tell you of the purpose yet I can only share to you a fair trade.'

Thus, there was a time where the Painted Lady healed the sick with water and the Blue Spirit fought with dual swords of blazing fire. They were famous to their own domains, until the time where a death caused internal ruckus to the Spirit World, it was unknown of who or what but ever since the Blue Spirit was confirmed as an enemy of the Fire Lands." Iroh took another sip to his jasmine tea and watched the slightest reaction of confusion and surprise cross his nephew's countenance.

"What of the Painted Lady then?" he asked, "I believed we strayed off the topic far enough Uncle." He said as he turned to him with a small smile.

"She was a spirit hailed as darkness to his light, she was a reincarnation of Yin." Then they were disturbed by continuous knocks. A messenger came in hurriedly as he showed a letter, from Toph, written probably by Aang. Zuko nodded at the messenger as thanks and he immediately ripped the letter open, not paying attention to the messenger as he leave the two royals alone.

Sparky,

I heard that Sugar Queen's there, so she did what she was really planning. We know what it is but we promised not to tell anyone the reason why, she's still your sister Zuko, it'll be nice for her to experience how brotherly you are when you acted like one to me.

Let her see her Zuko.

Toph and Aang

Zuko growled as he read the letter again and something made him groan again.

She'll do anything, you know how stubborn she is.

Yet for the following days, he didn't listened to the nagging feeling that Toph was right.

-TBC-

First chapter, standard disclaimer applies and I love reviews like they are pies.