howlingplayground | Arranged Marriage

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Arranged Marriage

It's a trope near and dear to our hearts. Arranged marriage.

Maybe it's for the family. Maybe it's for a friend. Maybe you know the person and have been expected to marry them for years. Maybe it's the wedding day and you have no clue who it is you'll be tied to for your natural life. Maybe you've been married a while, and you're just now starting your life, away from the expectations of others. Or maybe, the "others" are watching, waiting, making sure this marriage sticks.

Prompts for those who need them:

Reasons:

1. Station → You come from a royal, noble, or otherwise distinguished family who has chosen a suitable spouse for you.
2. Feud → You are being married to put an end to the bitter enmity between your two families.
3. Economics → Your economic state and/or your station will improve through the union, though one of you may be marrying down.
4. Empire → You and your spouse are merging your businesses and/or property to create something more influential or profitable.
6. Tribute → You have been offered as a gift or appeasement, alternately you're the spoils of war.
8. Bloodline → Carrying on your distinguished family name has fallen to you and the equally well-bred spouse of your family's selection.
7. Disapproval → Your marriage has been arranged to keep you away from the person with whom you truly wish to be.

Scenario:

1. First meeting → This is the very first time you're meeting your future spouse.
2. Courtship → To get to know each other and encourage affection, your family has approved of you going on dates.
3. Engagement party → Be it a huge, formal affair or a small, intimate get together, you're celebrating (or pretending).
4. Wedding day → The big day!
5. Reception → The big party!
6. Wedding night → Every meme needs a smut prompt, right?
7. Honeymoon → Where will you go with your new spouse and what will you do there?
8. Been at this a while → Just starting to get to know the other person

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Surprised, she scrambles to her feet to follow him. "Hey, I saw that!" she says, catching his grimace as he stood up. "Zuko!"

He can do that whole 'being a strong Fire Lord' routine all he wants for the people around here. But if he thinks he can get away with that with her, then he still doesn't know her very well.

He stops and turns to look at her. His scar is stark against his face. He holds up a hand. "Katara, we can't." He's not the political powerhouse some are, but he is savvy enough to know that him disrobing in front of his now betrothed is not a good idea. "It's unseemly."

He sighs and walks over to her. "I know you want to help. I wouldn't mind, but it wouldn't look good, and my position is tenuous enough, even with Aang's approval." He knows that too. Sure, there are a lot of people who want him to be Firelord, but Zuko is not convinced that he's cleared his advisors of his father's cronies. "Trust me, please." She needs to trust him in this, to know that he knows the politics around the palace complex.

She can't help a huff, her hands on her hips. "We haven't technically agreed to marry yet," she retorts. It was a flimsy excuse at best, though, and she doesn't press the issue. She understands that things are still rather tenuous, even with the war over. His position as Firelord, while well-deserved in her opinion, won't come easy to not only his own people, but the world over.

It was part of the reason why a union with another nation was suggested, she knows, to help put the minds of the other nations at ease. She understands...but she still wishes that they didn't have to be the ones to do it.

Glancing at their surroundings, she then asks, "Are they expecting an answer right away?"

This. This is why he likes Katara. She understands that she doesn't understand everything. And she trusts him enough to understand it for both of them. He sighs and rubs a hand on the back of his neck. Why is this so hard?! This is Katara! She... She's pretty, strong, resilient, and won't take the crap of the court. He knows that. But it's so awkward because she's seen him at his absolute worst.

And they're not the only ones to do it. King Keui is being encouraged to find someone in one of the other nations that he can tolerate. But Zuko can do more than tolerate Katara. But she's what? Fourteen? Fifteen? He's only sixteen, and they want the wedding to take place as soon as possible, just to calm some of the tensions.

"By tonight." He says, softly. "Not only the Fire Nation, but the Water Tribe." And the Order of the White Lotus. He knows that, too.

"Wow, no pressure or anything then," she says with another huff. She's not mad at Zuko, of course, but just all the pressure that's being placed on their shoulders. Zuko, especially, since the Fire Nation would be under constant scrutiny from now on. She can't imagine how that would be like, having to lead a nation that the rest of the world hardly trusted.

...or having to do that on his own.

She already knows what her decision is...but if they have until tonight, she doesn't mind putting it off in the meantime. Instead, she says, "Do you still have more meetings?"

He'd made his decision the minute he'd stepped out here and seen her feeding the turtleducks. That more than anything had made the decision in his heart. He would marry Katara. Not for the good of the nation, or for the world, but because she was all at once, sweet, gentle, caring, just, fierce, loyal and protective. For that he will marry her.

But only if she agrees.

He nods. "Putting things right, fixing everything my father and Axula did takes time. I'll have meetings until dinner." He thinks about it for a moment, and then steps up to her, taking her hand. "Have dinner with me?"

Her decision was also less about the future peace of the nations. Zuko was a friend, and a good person, with too much pressure and a heavy burden on his shoulders. He deserves someone who wouldn't just be an icon, but who could be there for him. And she cares too much about him to let him have anything less.

She's a little surprised when he takes her hand, but after a moment she nods. "Sure," she says. "Will that give us enough time to talk before giving them our decision?"

He sighs. "Maybe?" He's not sure though. "But it will give us time to talk without people listening." He can tell the servants are lurking. At dinner, he can banish them out of the room, and just enjoy a quiet meal with Katara.

"If I know Uncle, he'll be listening." And he does know his uncle. He's probably far more invested in this than Zuko is. Not that he's not invested but it's very difficult to just go from 'we're friends, former enemies' to 'yes we're going to be married now'.

And then there was Aang. Zuko hadn't said anything, but he knows the boy has a crush on Katara. He doesn't know if it's reciprocated or not. That's something they can discuss this evening, he guesses.

She nods. "That'll have to do, I guess." She may not known his servants as well as he did, but she could imagine that gossip is already spreading. So having some time to talk privately would be nice.

The mention of his uncle reminds her that she still has to talk to Pakku again. She isn't sure if this suggestion for an inter-nation marriage was their suggestion, or if they're just going along with it, but she still has words with her step-grandfather regardless.

And Aang...she knows she's going to have to speak with him as well. While she had been made aware of his feelings for her recently, she'd been uncertain about her own. Now though...it doesn't really matter.

"I'll see you tonight, then," she finally says. Hopefully that would be enough time for her to talk to everyone she needs to.

He nods, squeezes her hand and turns for the chamber, where his advisors are waiting. He knows, very well, that he's being watched. Everyone is watching to see what he does, what happens, what becomes of him while he navigates the murky waters of being Fire Lord, as well as a teenager.

There's also something else he'd like to do: find his mother. He doesn't believe she's dead. Lost, perhaps, but not dead. There are a lot of people displaced by the war, and in hiding. If he could, he'd hire that one bounty hunter again, June, to see if she could find Ursa, but he's not ready yet. The nation isn't ready yet.

His meetings are long, arduous, and boring. But they have to be done. He forestalls any talk of military action that doesn't involve helping. He's not going to send troops out, but bringing them back is just as hard. He doesn't want to leave a vacuum where petty thieves and pirates can take over. He wants the hand over to be lawful, and with the least amount of disruption for the people. He assures his advisors that he's aware he's going to lose citizens/soldiers. But he's prepared for that.

After his final meeting, he wants to get the hell out of the palace. But, there is one more, important, meeting to see to: Katara. Stepping into his rooms, he goes to the balcony. He can hear the servants setting up the dinner table behind him. He turns to see their progress. Seeing them done and simply waiting, he orders them out. He and Katara are quite capable of feeding themselves. Time to wait for her.

While Zuko attends to his business, Katara has a few meetings of her own to deal with. And while she doesn't have the stress of dealing with politics (at least, not yet), the discussions she has are no less difficult and painful.

The most difficult talk had been with Aang, of course. Whatever their relationship was, or is, or might have been had effectively come to a halt. And while he had understood eventually - as long as that had taken to reason with him - it had still hurt them both more than Katara thought it would.

But what's done is done. Now there's nothing left but to finalize the decision, as she's lead to where Zuko is waiting for her.

When the door opens, he doesn't turn around. "You can go." He says, to the servant. When they go to protest, he snorts. "I'm sure Lady Katara is quite capable of defending her own honor. You can go." The servant bows and closes the door behind themself.

He hasn't moved from the balcony, just watching the people move around far below. Some of them look up and bow, but then go on about their business. He likes that. He likes that people haven't changed so fundamentally from what he has learned. The deep honor of the Earth Kingdom, the proud fierceness of the Water Tribes. That is comforting to know.

He doesn't know what to say to her, so stays where he is. "This room was mine as a child." He decides on. "I've missed it." If they marry, however, they'll move down the hall to where his parents had lived.

She waits until the servant leaves before letting a smile cross her face. They both knew quite well that she's more than capable of protecting herself, but sometimes it's just nice to hear it said.

As she steps further inside, she glances around. "It feels like you," she comments idly. Everything straightened out to be presented as best as possible, but still with some personal touches that it isn't too empty.

Eventually she joins him onto the balcony, looking at the land stretched out before them. A nation that would have been so foreign, so unfamiliar to her only just a year ago, but she had spent some time traveling through and learning about since then.

But would it be enough, she wonders, to ever really call it home?

She comes to stand next to him and he wonders what she's thinking. He wonders what's going through her mind. He's tense and unsure of how to go about this. But she's Katara. And his advisors, the White Lotus, and apparently, her Grandmother, all want him to marry her. He sighs.

"Did you speak to Sokka?" He asks, softly. He's not sure what her older brother would say about her marrying him. Sokka had never been his biggest fan, but since rescuing Suki and Hagoda from Black Rock... Hell, he doesn't know. But he wants to know. He wants to know what she's thinking, what she wants to do.

He leaves his hands on the railing but thinks about turning to look at her. He decides against it.

“I did,” she says with a nod. Sokka has been as upset as she had when she’d first heard, even after the explanation regarding the reasoning from Piandao. Luckily his anger, like hers, wasn’t directed at Zuko. Sokka hadn’t had many male friend after most of the men went to fight in the war - too young to help, but older than all the other boys in the tribe. So he had come to appreciate and value Zuko’s friendship.

But he still wasn’t happy about the arranged marriage. Like Aang, Sokka understood, but it had taken a lot of convincing.

She sighs, resting her elbows on the railing as she rests her chin in her palm. “This whole thing is a mess.”

He lets out a bark of laughter reminiscent of the old Zuko, the one that had chased the Avatar around the world. He leans on his elbows next to her, still watching the people below. "That's a polite way of putting it."

He's been thinking, trying to think, of anything that could get her out of it. His marriage is going to be arranged. Mai would have been a good choice, being as she was already a Fire Nation noble, but he's known that he doesn't get to really choose his wife. His father hadn't, and neither had his mother.

"You can refuse." He says, finally, softly. "Uncle said that if you were to refuse, then my heartbrokenness would serve a purpose too." But, he's not sure he could pull off the heartbroken teenager. He's a lot of things, but openly emotional about personal things is not one of them.

Folding her arms on the railing, she fixes him a look. “I think you know me better than that,” she retorts. Even if he doesn’t know her true reasons, he had spent the better part of a year chasing her, analyzing her, watching for her every move along with Aang, that he would have a good idea how she thinks.

And he would know that marrying him would give her a chance to help people. Help the people of the world rebuild, help his nation learn to become part of the world...help him through it all.

And she never turns her back on people who need her.

He does. He does know her better. He knows that she would never turn her back. But, he has to offer her the out. He has to offer her the chance to not be caught in this web of politics that has surrounded the pair of them now.

But he's still Zuko at times. "I could marry Toph." Toph would kill him. He knows that too, but she's nobility from the Earth Kingdom, so that does carry some weight amongst political circles.

But he's not being serious. His advisors would go for it, but the girl herself would lock him in an earth prison with his hands captured and pummel him with rocks. If she was feeling nice and didn't just cackle her way out of town.

She bites her bottom lip, trying to keep from laughing. "I don't think Toph would really go for that," she says as nicely as possible. The image of Zuko marrying Toph was kind of hilarious.

More than that, though, Toph is even younger than they are. Rushing her into marriage is even worse. She couldn't imagine the Earthbender wanting to settle down just yet.

Zuko glances at her, then nudges her with an arm. "I give you permission to laugh." He says, with a small smile. But his attention soon finds its way back to the people. "I thought I was going to marry Mai. She's rather scary about it." He says, softly. "But she left. And my advisors, and possibly uncle came up with this crazy plan. And dragged you into it."

That's the part that bothers Zuko the most: they'd dragged in a friend. That friend had seen him at his worst and his best and is still his friend.

Honestly, he's more than a little lost. Oh, the politics make sense to him. Even the manuevering makes sense to him. What doesn't make sense is why now, so soon after the war has ended, so soon after he's been made Fire Lord?

This time she gives a rather unladylike snort. "Like I need your permission," she teases.

Her mirth fades some at Zuko's revelation, and she glances at him. "Mai broke up with you?" she asks softly. She realized that their relationship would need to end for this to proceed, like hers and Aang's, but it sounded like she had broken up with him before this.

His smile disappears as she repeats what he'd told her. He rubs the back of his neck, uncomfortable. "She doesn't like the scrutiny." He says, softly. "She doesn't like being the center of attention like that. She doesn't like that she'd only be my partner, not an entity in her own right."

Which, she could have become one. She could have. Somehow, he would have made it so, but she'd decided that leaving was easier. And he couldn't fault her for it. It would be like living under her parents again. She'd hate it.

"I wouldn't have asked it of her. I wouldn't ask it of anyone." He admits, softly. "I want a partner, but someone who will stand with me and against me, when necessary."

She places a hand on his arm. “I’m sorry,” she says softly. Part of her wonders if things would be different if Mai had stayed. If Mai had stayed, would the idea for her to marry Zuko still have come up?

There was no way to know for sure now. But it was just one more thing that he had lost thanks to all this.

“You need that,” she agrees. “But also someone who will be as fair to you and your people as possible. Someone who won’t try to make you feel guilty for the Fire Nation’s past, in order to push the needs of their own home nation first.”

That’s what she had been worried about. If she had turned down the proposal, and someone else had been chosen chosen to marry him, she was worried that the other person would try to guilt Zuko into fixing their home, at the expense of his own.

She looks out at the land just beyond the palace walls. “Your people are a lot like you, Zuko,” she says softly. “Stubborn, strong...a little lost but ultimately a good people. You’ll be a good leader for them, because you can understand what they’ll be going through.” She turns to him. “And you need someone who understands you.”

She touches him and he wonders at it. She's free with a gentle touch. He's found that out. A gentle touch, a kind word, but she has absolutely no problem handing him his ass when he needs it - and a few times he doesn't know he needs it.

He touches her hand with sword-callused fingers. "A little lost?" He asks, just curious. He's very lost. He's feeling his way through most things and unable to tell if any of them are right. "I feel like I'm very lost."

She gives his hand a gentles squeeze. “But you keep going. You keep trying, until you find your way. And you find the path that’s best for you. And I know you’ll do the same for your own people. You just need someone who can help you.”

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