(no subject)

[kyasdaughter]

[ this is a conversation she's tried and failed to start every night for about a week now. honestly? she's getting a little frustrated, though it's more with herself than anything else. it's with a sigh that she folds her legs beneath her and seats herself across from zuko at the small table in the guest house they've been given in the town they've stopped at.

she pushes a warm cup of tea across the tabletop to him, and hopes that she isn't as transparently nervous as she feels. ]

So, Zuko...

[ katara clears her throat and takes a sip of her own tea, wincing as she affirms that yes, it is in fact still a little too hot. ]

The people here seem pretty receptive to you.

[ horrible, stilted smalltalk. but she can't just launch into this, can she?? ]

Comments

[sizzle]

[ She probably is, but the good news for her is that Zuko's been too distracted to notice. After all the damage his family has wrecked on this land there's so much Zuko has to do to make up for everything, so much he has to do to try and fix it. And he knows that he won't be able to fix everything, certainly not immediately, but he wants to so badly it almost hurts.

It's hard to sit still at night like this, even though he knows he needs to. Patience has never been one of Zuko's virtues, and it's good he has a friend here with him to help distract him from his own thoughts.

Just... maybe not as good that it happens to be his most distracting friend.

It's not that it's Katara's fault exactly. It's not like it's anyone's fault. Maybe it's Zuko's? He's not sure, but there are times when he really should be focusing more on the speeches people are pushing on him, or memorizing information about the area they're visiting, but he's a little too busy watching Katara talk to the local kids, or the way her face lights up when a village elder thanks her for her help.

Still, overly distracting or not, he's glad she's here with him, and he forces a small smile as he takes the drink from her, completely missing how stilted the start of the conversation is.

Then again, he's the master of awkward and stilted, so it takes something pretty serious for it smack him in the face. ]

This village wasn't directly under Fire Nation control, they don't have a reason to hate me as much as some of the others do.

[ Cheerful. And look at him being gravely serious while Katara tries to sweetly start a chat with him. ]