When Tagah wakes up and introduces everybody: Suki,Sokka,Katara, Zuko,and Toph. After they recount to him how things changed.
All his friends are overjoyed and happy that Aang found another airbender. After Tagah was healed,they start taking down the campsite to head off o n their journey.
"We got everything?" Katara called. Her hair swinging in the breeze and her moon cresent headpiece glinted in the sunlight.
"Just about!" Aang called back while he and Toph gathered the rest of the camping equipment.
"A metal sky bison?" Tagah said in awe,staring wide-eyed at the contraption.
"Pretty much!" Suki giggled at him. "You can ask this guy all about it." Suki gently nudged her Sokka's arm.
"Oh,well,I don't mean to brag." Sokka said coyly,waving the compliment away.
"Buuuuut I did make them with my friend,Sai! Our war balloon designs were basically a prototype. See,it started when me,my little sister,and Aang were kids. We were traveling to the Northern Air Temple-"
Suki rolled her eyes with a smile as her husband recounted the events of how the airship came to be.
"So,what do you think about him?" Aang slung a bag over his shoulder.
"Ya mean after he wasn't started by me?" She half-joked. "Seems alright." She shrugged,putting the folded blankets under her arm.
"I'm glad you think so." Aang said. "But I meant something else. Like, does he smell better than me?" He jested.
"Oh,Spirits. After five years together, don't tell me you're jealous." She teased.
"I don't know. Maybe I should be. Frozen men trapped in ice does seems to be your type." He quipped.
Toph chuckled. "Spirits. Since you're so insecure about it. No. He doesn't smell better than you."
"You better." He bumped his arm with hers.
She raised an eyebrow. "What would you done if I said you didn't?" She challenged, a smile teased at her lips.
"Oh,you know..."He shrugged. "Find a way to leave you stranded out here without anyone noticing."
Toph laughed. The effect of it shot straight into his heart and showed through his smile.
"You're such an asshole." She lightly shoved him and then he swatted her hand away.
On the way towards the airship,laughter was shared between them as they purposely bumped into each other a few times.
-
Katara and Zuko were laughing at what Suki told them about their four-year old niece:
Before they left,Yue II said that her, Sokka,and her two-year old sister, Nanurjuk, were master 'drawers'.
Since Hakoda needed to work twice as hard as them,she vowed to make Hakoda an expert by the time they returned home.
Sokka showed Tagah around the airship, explained the inner workings it, and how their technology made it fly.
Tagah was marveled at the vessel in awe until her caught a glimpse of green in the corner of his eyes.
Aang lead her onboard with his hand on her back.
The earthbender gently tugged on his sleeve,turning her face to the side. He leaned down to place a tender kiss on her cheek.
A flash of surprise crossed his face before he immediately schooled his features.
He's been friendly to all her other friends and Aang absolutelt adores him.
Aang is excited to have a new friend. He can finally have a mentor for him to explore more potential with his bending.
Although, sometimes the hairs on her neck rose as Toph felt him staring at her but Toph tries to keep her unease to herself.
She wanted to chalk it up to it being nothing.
But he's really starting to piss her off. He is willing to talk to everyone but her.
Even if he does,Toph can sense the contempt towards her beneath the lightjabs and supposed jokes.
Perhaps her gut feeling is right about this guy after all.
Zutara headcanons because I received another death threat
The more kataang sends me hate messages and death threats, the more I'm going to go back into the well.
Zuko and Katara felt the romantic tension post TSR. They just didn't do anything about it because ending the war was too important.
When Zuko became Fire Lord, he disbanded the Southern Raiders. Immediately.
Yon Rha died shortly after the war ended. The overwhelming stress and paranoia caused him to have a heart attack.
After the war, Katara wanted nothing more than to return to the SWT. Zuko ordered her to be escorted there in the biggest nicest ship the Fire Nation fleet had.
Zuko and Katara sent letters to each other frequently.
When Katara turned down Aang, he just did what he always did and ran away. At least the war is over now.
Zuko and Mai broke up. Mai left and Zuko...just kept being Fire Lord. He didn't miss her as much as he thought he would.
Zuko is constantly trying to improve his tea making skill. He's no Iroh, but he's getting there.
Sometimes when Zuko is bored or when he needs to think, he'll just sweep up or clean around his room or office. The servants freak the fuck out every time he does.
When Zuko and Katara first start dating for real, Katara wanted them to keep it a secret. It was kinda fun and exciting and even felt a little bit naughty.
Most people figure it out though. Zuko couldn't hide it.
Sokka was the one who found out...and he really wish he didn't.
Aang found out...and he ran away again. Because that's his answer to everything.
As the Fire Lord, Zuko is one of the most powerful people in the world. But he still calls Hakoda "sir" because that's the dad of the girl he likes.
Katara cooks. Zuko cleans.
Katara loves teasing Zuko. And he lets her because he knows better.
I know someone who, while discussing ATLA, asserted that Zuko jumping in front of Katara must be purely platonic to have any meaning. That was the first time I'd ever heard it and I didn't have any response because it made absolutely no sense to me. I literally didn't know where to begin.
I've since seen several variations of that repeated online. Because I'm a slow thinker I need time to organize my thoughts. I do try to sit with and understand the things people say. I think I've finally figured it out somewhat:
Friendship can be selfish, and romance can be selfless
I think there's an unspoken assumption at work here that romantic love is inherently self-serving and that platonic love is inherently selfless. So Zuko ending up in a romantic relationship with Katara after saving her life would have been self-serving, and he "gets nothing out of it" if they remain friends (as actually happened in the show) thus rendering the act truly selfless...even though that logic values friendship as worthless or something you get nothing out of.
If the assumption is that you engage in a romantic relationship because you enjoy the butterflies in your stomach, you enjoy how the other person makes you feel, because you want physical intimacy or companionship or someone to buy you dinner, then yes, that's self-serving.
That's also not actually romantic love. It gets called that by a lot of movies and TV shows and books, but a lot of people would rightly call that sort of "I love you because of what you do for me and what you make me feel" attitude by its true name of lust or affection or infatuation.
Romantic love can be perfectly selfless. Hopefully everyone has seen at least a couple of examples in their own life, whether from their partner, between their parents, their couple friends, or just strangers they saw once on the street.
I'd be sitting here all night if I had to list every story where the culmination of the romance is one of the romantic leads doing something self-sacrificial purely for the sake of the other, sometimes in the belief that they won't be able to be together after said sacrifice, but that's okay because this is selfless love without expectations or demands. It's an incredibly common story beat. Titanic and K-Pop Demon Hunters were just the first two big movies that jumped into my head and they just so happen to be two of the most popular movies of all time, if that says anything about how significant this trope is.
Likewise, just because no one's trying to get in the other person's pants, that doesn't render friendship more selfless. You can become friends with someone not because you like them for who they are, but because their house has a pool, or they have a console you want to play, or they'll get you a good grade if they're your partner in the group project. Aristotle classified "friendships of utility," where you're only friends because you find the friendship useful to you, as one of the main forms of friendship for a reason.
Friendship can be incredibly self-serving and toxic. If you are old enough to consume such media, check out not just Mean Girls but Jennifer's Body, Heathers and Trainspotting in the movie department and The Secret History, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, and Elena Ferrante's Neopolitan novels if you'd prefer reading.
Friendship and romance aren't diametrically opposed
A solid friendship is actually a great foundation for romance. These two modes of connecting with another person aren't diametrically opposed, they can and do enrich each other.
So, on that point, I do think Zuko is still doing better than A.ang. In the end, it feels like A.ang's friendship with Katara was just a box he had to check to get to a relationship with her--that was his ultimate objective from literally the first moment he opened his eyes in the first episode--which means he never had a true friendship with her (where his goal was simply to be her friend and nothing more), and therefore their friendship isn't a good foundation for romance. He's in fact guilty of acting out of romantically-inclined ulterior motives (*cough* rescuing her and giving up cosmic energy in the S2 finale *cough cough*), an apparently terrible, selfish thing that people claim Zuko would be guilty of if Katara and Zuko ever got together.
But there's no hint within the story that Zuko is just trying to be friends with Katara because he wants to date her. So don't they have a truer friendship than she ever had with A.ang? And wouldn't that true friendship be a better, healthier foundation for romance?
Zuko's first reaction to Katara wasn't love at first sight, he doesn't have a crush on her that permeates all their interactions, and he doesn't make important choices with the end goal of getting with her. A.ang does all of that. If romance as an ulterior motive invalidates a character's actions and makes them less-than-heroic, it's A.ang who's guilty of that, not Zuko.
Are you allowed to benefit from a good deed? Yes, actually
To hit another angle, there's something paradoxically impossible about setting the bar for doing a good thing as "must be absolutely selfless, meaning you get absolutely nothing out of it, for it to truly count."
First of all, Zuko does end up friends with Katara so he does in fact get something out of sacrificing himself for her--namely the life of his friend. Does that make it any less selfless? I say no: he wasn't acting out of concern for himself but rather for Katara, which is where the selflessness of the action lies.
Second of all, whether he'd get a friendly or romantic relationship following this self-sacrifice doesn't matter, there's no way around him benefitting personally from it. Or anyone who does a good deed, really. Because doing good things is good for you.
There's been plenty of research that shows that buying stuff or going on vacation provides fleeting happiness, but volunteering actually leads to longer-lasting happiness and fulfillment than spending money on yourself. Humans are pack animals! We're social creatures! We are built to thrive when we do things with and for each other.
Should you not hold the door open for the old lady because it'll make your heart happy when she smiles at you and says "Thank you?" You're getting something out of it so it's not actually a good deed, it's a selfish one. Should you do it anyway and wallow in your own wretchedness because you're selfishly holding doors open for the elderly for your own validation? Or, in order to be a truly good person, should you slam the door shut in her face?
There's no winning there. And, I hope, most people can see that this attitude doesn't cash out in the real world. It's a good thing for you to do selfless acts of love and kindness for your friends and your romantic partners, and the fact that doing so will make you a happier person who feels closer to the people you help is a feature, not a bug. It's the positive feedback loop that holds all of our (healthy) relationships together.
So, does it matter whether Zuko jumps in front of Katara because he's acting out of a friendly or a romantic feelings for her? No, not even a little bit. Both could have worked just fine, you could even have both working at the same time, and neither one undercuts his redemption arc.
Does it matter that he jumps in front of lightning because it's what's best for Katara without concern for what it might cost him? Yes, absolutely. Because that right there, whether borne out of friendship or romance, is the essence of selfless love.
There’s this Tagalog song called “Kung ‘Di Rin Lang Ikaw” by December Avenue ft. Moira Dela Torre…I’ve been listening to it again for the past few days and I can’t stop thinking about zutara when listening to it. It’s a VERY YEARNY song. Watch the music video to get the context of the song.
PLEASE PLEASE LISTEN TO IT
I love the pre-chorus 😩
I’m gonna suck at this but in my own translation of the second line of the pre-chorus would be like…
“My heart is having a hard time because it’s insisting on choosing you”
Or like “My heart is hurting because it’s insisting on choosing you”
(I translated it like this to expound it more)
Now I feel stupid trying to translate this:’)
but yeah thought I’d share and yes, i do beat zuko at the yearning wars, that guy has nothing on me.
zutara but it's "the parent trap" where zuko, the crown prince of the fire nation and katara, master waterbender, have an affair in the earth kingdom. katara gets pregnant with twins, but their differences force them go separate ways. they take one child with them to their respective homes, keeping the existence of the other sister in secret.
izumi is raised in the fire nation by her father, fire lord zuko.
kya is raised in wolf cove by her mother, ambassador katara
ten years later, izumi and kya meet during a summer camp at republic city and realize that, despite the difference of their clothes and eyes, they resemble each other and even share the same birthday.
this is where they act a plan to get their parents to cross paths again. each girl tries their best to impersonate the other: switching clothes, hairstyles, learning each other's gestures and learning about their lifestyles. everything has to be as perfect as possible.
kya travels to the fire nation and meets grandpa uncle iroh, their dragon druk, and zuko's apathetic fiancée.
izumi travels to wolf cove and meets her grandfather hakoda and uncle sokka.
distressed about zuko's future engagement, kya sends a letter to izumi in order to propose a location where their parents can find each other again. iroh, who has discovered the twin's swap and plans to aid them, proposes zuko to take his daughter with him to meet his future parents-in-law in omashu. what zuko doesn't know is that he's not going to omashu, but to ba sing se for the upcoming nation's summit.
zuko and katara eventually meet at king kuei's palace during the summit and realize that their daughters secretly changed identities. during dinner, they reminisce about their past and the decision to follow different careers. zuko learns about katara's dedication to politics, healing and bringing back the waterbending culture to the south pole; while katara discovers the reforms done in the fire nation under his reign, and his plans to marry for the nation's stability. although katara is disappointed by zuko's engagement, they ultimately decide not to resume their relationship despite their daughters' efforts at rekindling, but agree about shared custody.
after attending the summit, while everybody prepares to go home, the twins propose a family trip to republic city to spend time together one last time. it's during the trip that zuko and katara realize that they're still in love with each other.
days later, the four of them meet in the fire nation. zuko and katara promise to never let go of each other and pursue a life together dedicated to rebuilding the world.
Hi everyone! Currently going through a pretty bad emergency at the moment and need funds (the longer story is I got kicked out ha..)
I would really love to do Zutara / Yutamaki requests the most right now, but any fandoms are okay, even personal works!
Send me a message for more info! Semi-realism terms vary due to a longer lead time and difference in pricing. Chibi style icons have a faster turn around time and we can negotiate bundles.
🔸 Commissions can be done directly via DM or through my VGen.
