The Forgiven (Zutara)

New Beginnings

Authors Note
Hi! Hello! Okay I know it's been a good couple months, and you probably forgot I even exist, but yeah I'm here, and this story is ongoing. I haven't given up on it yet...Well I did for a while, but I'm here now, which I didn't realize how much I missed until I began typing this authors note. Also I'm thinking about getting an editor for these. It's so much easier to simply type it and not have to worry about going through and checking every word, or sentence for little grammatical things. Anyways, yeah, this is more of a filler chapter but it's an update so don't give up on me yet! I really appreciate you guys more than you know and I'm so grateful there are still people reading this despite me not at all sticking to my upload schedule. Thank you very much.

Bklvr out✌🏻❤️

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Zukos POV
Katara had insisted that we kept moving, but I wanted to be sure that we wouldn't make her wound any worse. We finally decided to find a nice village for new found family to live in. Katara had Freya change into a polar bear dog and lifted both of my younger siblings onto Freya with her so they weren't having to walk through village after village while we searched. When we finally got somewhere I deemed okay enough for my family, and they genuinely liked, we found a nice house, big enough for all of them and bought it for them, having them fill out all information and deeds.

"I'll have some better furniture, display and decor sent over when Katara and I get back to the palace." I told my mom.

"Zuko don't worry about that, we'll be just fine." Mom insisted but I shook my head.

"No I want to do it." I answered giving her a small smile. "I hate to leave here, but we need to get Katara back to a real place where she can get some help and rest." I told her.

"Zuko I'm fine. Spend time with your mom, you just got her back. I'll have Freya fly me to the Northern Water Tribe and have the healers over there work on me if it gets bad." Katara said. My eyes widened and my heart dropped to my feet.

"Wait you're leaving?" I asked.

"Uh- Yeah but I can give you a ride back to palace, it's just...I did what I came here to do and I don't think it's appropriate for me to stay any longer." She said. I thought of every excuse for her to stay. I wasn't ready to let her leave yet. I wanted her to stay.

"But you're not well enough to go all the way to the Northern Water Tribe." I said.

"I'll stop along the way, rest and regain my strength." Katara reassured me. I sighed and shook my head.

"Will you stay just until you're better?" I pleaded. She looked between me and my mother.

"Yes but only so you can stop worrying about me and focus on your family. I'll give you guys some alone time." Katara said then walked out of the house. I turned back to my family and shook my head.

"Sorry, her and I...We've got a long history and a lot to talk about." I said awkwardly.

"I don't really know her but I see the way you two are with each other. Whatever happened you need to fix it. You two need each other, I see it." Mom said. I sighed and nodded.

"I don't know that I can. We were together for about a year, but a couple months before I became Firelord, she said with how unstable the fire nation would be she didn't want to add to it by putting a water bender on the throne." I explained. "She figured we would be targeted more for it, and any kids that we had would be as well."

"Why? The water tribes didn't get involved till the end of the war." She pointed out. I nodded.

"Yes but the entire fire nation thinks I'm trying to weaken us by pushing our borders back to where they once were. She thinks that if there isn't a full blooded fire nation family next in line for the throne they'll see that as a weak bloodline and try to kill them off and pick a different successor." I explained her train of thought trying to express her concerns in a way that my mom would understand and sympathize for.