Work Text:
Zuko does not expect to find Katara in the kitchen, but there she is, hunched over a basket of flour.
“What are you doing?” he asks.
“Making yuanxiao.”
“You…do know that’s the chef’s job, right?”
She tosses her head. “I haven’t cooked for myself in far too long. Thought I’d make sure I still knew how.”
Zuko understands that. Despite living here most of his life, he no longer feels fully comfortable ordering the servants around, having people wait on him. Three years away changed him somehow. He can only imagine what it must be like for Katara, who had never gone a day in her life without doing chores before she moved in with him last month.
“Where did you learn how to make those?” Yuanxiao might be a staple of Earth and Fire Nation new year festivities, but the Water Tribe customs are completely different. Zuko was invited to celebrate with them a few months ago. There were a lot of games and plenty of meat, but no rice balls.
“Ba Sing Se.”
That makes sense. She did stay there for a while, back when they were stil negotiating peace treaties. “You need any help?” he asks.
She turns. Her hands are streaked with flour. “No, not really. Are the palace lanterns up?”
“…I don’t know.” Normally they would be up by now, but this year Uncle insisted on writing all the riddles himself. “I’ll go check.”
“They have to be up before sunset.” She returns to the yunaxiao and doesn’t say anything more to him. He gets the message, and leaves.
The night sky is alight with lanterns. Some hanging from strings and others rising in the air like smaller war balloons. They cast a warm light on Katara’s face, making her look even more beautiful than usual. She isn’t looking at the lanterns, or even at the dragon dance processing through the streets. Instead, her eyes are fixed on the moon.
”I always thought it was strange,” she says, “how your whole culture is based around the sun, and yet you still celebrate new year around the full moon.”
“Like you can talk. Doesn’t Water Tribe new year happen on the first sunrise?” He sighs. “Uncle told me once that all the nations are connected. That we can learn from each other.”
“Aang said something similar. ‘The greatest illusion is the illusion of separation.’ Told me he learned it from the guru.”
He’s been friends with the Avatar for a while, and this is the first time Zuko has heard about any guru. “What?”
Katara laughs. She begins telling the story of what happened in Ba Sing Se—the first time they’d been there, when the war was raging and Zuko was serving tea. Her tale is interrupted by the start of tonight’s fireworks. But he can’t look at them. He can’t pull his eyes away from her.
The fireworks continue to pop. One by one, all of the fears and anxieties plaguing him slowly drop away. He no longer feels like an overworked world leader trying to hold his nation together. He’s just a teenage boy enjoying the new year’s celebration with his girlfriend. (A girlfriend who is far too good for him, he might add.) It’s…nice. Even if he knows the stress will be back tomorrow.
She leans in and kisses him. That’s nice, too.