Chapter Text
--1 year later--
Azula had really thought that Katara would be a better gardener.
“Don’t you dare pull that out, you idiot, that’s a sunrose.”
“But it’s all brown!”
“It’s a perennial, it’ll come back in mid- to late-fall, as long as no one yanks it out by the roots.”
Katara huffed and sat back on her heels.
“Why even ask for my help if you don’t want it?” she asked, scowling. Azula crawled over to her and put her face directly in front of Katara’s.
“Hey,” she said. Katara looked away, still scowling. “Hey,” Azula said again. “Hey, hey, h—”
“Alright!” Katara shouted and kissed her full on the mouth. Azula grinned into the kiss and felt Katara’s lips curving upward as well. She opened her mouth, ran her tongue lightly over Katara’s lips, and felt Katara’s mouth open in response.
A while later, they lay side by side in the grass.
“I love gardening,” Katara said dreamily, tracing a finger along Azula’s bare collarbone. Azula laughed.
“I love you,” she said, and Katara beamed at her.
Azula reached over to where her tunic lay, tumbled on the grass. “No,” Katara whined. “Clothes already?”
“Nope,” Azula said, withdrawing her hand from the tunic. It was wrapped around the small box that she had been carrying with her for weeks now, waiting for the right moment.
This was definitely the right moment.
She turned on her side so that she was facing Katara, still lying in the grass. Katara’s eyes widened when she saw the box, and her gaze flickered up to Azula’s face.
“Is that what I think it is?” she asked quietly. Azula pretended to think.
“That depends,” she said slowly, “on what you’re thinking.”
She flipped it open.
Inside, the pale shell of the betrothal necklace shone against midnight blue velvet. The late afternoon sun gleamed on the lighter blue silk ribbon; the carved waves seemed almost to move beneath the carved sun in splendor.
Katara’s mouth opened but no sound came out. Slowly, reverently, her hand came up and traced the waves lightly. She took a breath, then another.
Azula bit her lip. “Do you like it?” she asked, suddenly worried. “Sokka helped me decide on the pattern and everything, he said it symbolized constancy and hope, but we can get a different one, or rings, or whatever you want, I –”
Katara lifted her face. Her eyes were shining.
“I love it,” she said, with feeling. “It’s perfect. Azula, I –” She swallowed again, visibly struggling to compose herself. “I love it,” she repeated simply.
They were sitting up now, and Azula was taking the necklace out of the box when she was struck with a horrible thought.
“You said you like it,” she confirmed. “Does that mean you’re saying...yes?”
Katara snorted, then put her chin in her hand. “Hmm,” she said, dragging out the m. “I’m not sure...can I think about it?”
Azula’s hand holding the necklace burst into flame.
“I thought about it,” Katara said, laughing and crying in equal measure, smiling hugely through her tears. “It’s a yes.”
Azula was laughing too, her own eyes stinging.
“You better not have ruined my necklace,” Katara said, as the flames disappeared as quickly as they had come.
Azula scoffed. “Who do you take me for? Zuko?”
“Definitely not,” Katara said, and turned so that Azula could tie the ribbon around her neck. She turned back and Azula caught her breath. “How does it look?”
“Perfect,” Azula said. She leaned forward and kissed her betrothed. “Perfect.”
They stayed like that in the garden, on the grass together, as the world darkened around them like a theater at the end of a play, or at the beginning of a play.