Chapter Text
Realistically, she knew it was a bad idea from the beginning.
This was a bad idea on a good day, let alone when she was intractably drunk.
Curses, in her experience, had a funny way of always backfiring in one way or another. They were like a tricksy jinni; the path between intent and fulfilment did not always align. There were any number of ways this could blow up in her face. It could do something unexpected like curse the wrong person, be too intense, or outright fail. Especially if cast around 3:00 am, the witching hour, when all spells were inherently stronger.
But, again, she was drunk and therefore did not care.
She flipped open her mother's dusty old grimoire with great gusto and began to look for the perfect curse for her lying, cheating, scumbag ex-boyfriend. Her Latin was rusty and her glyphs even rustier, but finally she stumbled upon the word 'flammam,' and even she could tell that meant fire.
Jet was a liar liar pants on fire. Their relationship went up in flames. He burned her heart to a crisp. Fire seemed more than appropriate for her needs at the moment. Yes, it was exactly what was called for in this situation.
Katara hastily scribbled out the glyphs from the page, lit a pair of red candles, and held her hands over the center of the grid. Her hands glowed blue, magic flowing from her fingertips and bleeding into the chalked-out symbols. Her magic swirled and intertwined around them, working its way towards imbuing them with her power.
Ignem voco, ab umbris venio
Fer flammam sicut servus meus
Dominus esto sub imperio meo
Hic et Nunc
(I call fire, I come from the shadows—
Bring the flame as my servant
Be the Lord under my command
Here and Now)
Her pronunciation was as sloppy as could be, clunky and burdensome on her tongue. Still, she repeated the incantation twice more with as much focused intent as she could muster in her haziness. With one final push, the glyphs sucked up the last bits of magic from her fingertips and pulsed blue like a starburst before dulling out.
Satisfied with her work, Katara stumbled into bed, which just so happened to be her couch tonight. Because her bed was much, much too far for her to successfully navigate towards.
Katara woke the next morning with a start and instantly regretted the jerky movement.
Her hands flew to her aching head, pressing on either side of her temples in an attempt to stabilize her vision and thoughts. If the room could stop spinning for just two damn seconds, she could sweep away the hangover. After what felt like ages, her world felt stable again, and she pressed her right palm to her forehead. She pushed her magic into herself and allowed it to wash over her like a wave, sweeping away any ills as it pushed back out to sea.
The relief was instant, and she sighed into the respite.
"A neat trick, Little One. But you must have remarkably strong mana at your core to have summoned me from the depths."
Katara yelped and practically jumped to the ceiling. She fumbled off her couch at the unfamiliar voice with her hands out in warning. It had been a long time since she'd had to use her magic to fight, but the body remembers, and she was ready to go in an instant.
There was a man (that she definitely did not know) in her living room, leaning against the wall next to the door as casual as could be.
He was painfully handsome, dressed in fancy black attire, adorned in reds and golds. He was tall with broad shoulders, proud chest, and an impressive build. His hair was in a topknot secured with a gold headpiece that looked sharp enough to cut; the rest of his hair flowed down his back. His eyes were golden and sharp, the left side of his face was marred by a large scar that seemed to center around his eye.
He stared at her, nonplussed.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" She shouted and he rolled his eyes.
"I could ask you the very same, Little One." He pushed off the wall and took a single step towards her. "Who are you and what am I doing here?" His voice was velvet, but his tone was hard.
Katara summoned a small stream of water and allowed it to glide around her arms until it slipped over her knuckles and she froze it thick and jagged. His eyes flicked down to her covered fists and he smirked. He seemed pleased by her hostility and raised a hand in return, palm up, and produced a small flame.
And suddenly she was absolutely horrified as it all slipped into place. Flammam. Fucking flammam.
"I am Zuko, Prince of Hell." He leveled her with a glare. "At your service and awaiting your command."
She hadn't cursed her stupid ex. She'd summoned a fucking demon.
Katara sat slumped on her couch with her head in her hands. She groaned long and loud.
She was the world's most massive, giant, stupendous, biggest, largest, hugest fuck up. Because on what fucking planet does she screw up a spell so spectacularly that not only did she mistake a curse for a summoning, but she also somehow, some way summoned a Prince of Hell. She apparently couldn't do anything by half measures. No, a simple demon wouldn't do. She had to summon a mega-demon.
Zuko stood by the door, simply leaning against the wall as he lazily watched flames dance on his fingertips and occasionally shot out tiny puffs of flame that died in the open air.
"If you will not fulfill your end, then I suggest you release me. I am a busy man and my patience grows thin."
"Ugh! What is my end?"
"That is what I would like to know. You called me forth as your servant, Little One." He summoned his flame in the shape of a man knelt at a woman's feet. "To do as you command."
"I command you to go back to Hell." she deadpanned. There. Simple as that, he should poof out of her life and she could forget how massively stupid she had been.
"I am bound to do as you command, not to go at your command." He narrowed his eyes at her and snuffed the flames in his hand by closing his fist. "You must first unbind me, then you may dismiss me."
"And how the hell do I do that?" She shouted at him, pure frustration leeching through her words.
"Fascinating." He cocked his head at her curiously. "A witch as powerful as you should not be nearly this clueless."
"What?"
"I cannot undo your work, Little One. This is all up to you." He waved a hand flippantly.
Katara shot up from the couch and paced the length of her living room. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the remnants of the stage she had set to cast the spell last night, red candles and whittled down white chalk. She wanted to flip the table. She wanted to strangle him. Although seeing as he was a demon - a Prince of Hell, that seemed inadvisable.
He called her powerful and clueless. She loathed to agree but couldn't deny it. Truthfully, Katara knew she was strong but that was with healing now. She was more of a healer than anything else. Once upon a time, in another life, she had used her magic in combat but she was beyond retired from all that.
She did not fight, she did not curse, hex, nor jinx (except when drunk apparently), she did not glamour, she did not read the stars, and she did not dabble in the spiritual and dark arts. Katara was content to focus on healing. She healed others and honed her elemental magic in conjunction with that sole function in mind. She favored water, though she could occasionally weave the other elements into her healing to boost the potency of whatever it was she was working on.
She didn't disagree that she was a powerful healer and she certainly wasn't clueless when it came to that. The problem was that she was clueless when it came to the spiritual and dark arts, which this most definitely fell under. And if she was naturally gifted at it but had neglected to nurture it...she was royally screwed.
Okay, breathe. She told herself. She was overthinking it. It was her magic that did this and she knew her magic well, she trusted it with her life on many an occasion. It was its own living, breathing thing just as much as it was a part of her. This was spiritual and dark art magic.
She supposed healing tapped into those arts every once in a while. How many times had she looked death in the face and violently wrenched a soul from his grasp? How many times did she submerge herself or another in crystal pools to heal them from the inside out? Her magic touched every part of the person she was working on.
That was all this was. All she needed to do was reach into herself and snap whatever thread her magic had woven to bind Zuko to herself.
Katara turned on her heel and ran to her bedroom hurriedly. She left Zuko in the dust, uncaring of what he may do unattended. He seemed harmless enough. Quickly, without thinking, she shed her clothes in a frenzy but stopped when she felt a strange tugging at her chest.
It was dragging her down...or maybe out? She couldn't tell but she felt a distinct pulling sensation. She clutched at her chest when she suddenly felt something snap and Zuko materialized in front of her. Instinctively, she shrieked and covered her chest protectively - she had been in the middle of reaching for her sarashi.
"What-" Zuko looked down at her but immediately turned away from her. "I do not mean to dishonor you." he walked away from her to the far end of her bedroom with his back turned to her all the while. "What did you do?"
"Nothing! I had an idea, the crystal pool in the backyard..." she trailed off. Her face was on fire; she could feel the tips of her ears burning.
"Right. I shall leave you to it." Zuko left her room, to where she did not know, but it wasn't long before she felt the tugging sensation again. Sure enough, Zuko popped into existence right in front of her. "Little One," he growled. "It appears you have bound me to your side."
Katara's eyes were locked on his intense stare. His eyes did not waver from hers even once and her heart rate calmed at this. He was not indecent or lecherous; he was not a danger to her in this moment - perhaps not at all. This was in no way ideal but she could make do.
Katara gestured for him to return to the far side of the room and he obeyed, his back facing her all the while. She wrapped herself sparingly because the more water that made direct contact with her skin, the better. She turned to find Zuko facing the wall with his arms crossed like a child sent to time out. She wanted to laugh but with great effort she managed to stifle the urge.
"Come, I have a crystal pool in my backyard. I chose this house specifically for it." Zuko followed her obediently, silently.
Once they reached the pool Katara tied her hair up and wrapped it around itself to keep it out of her way. The water was clear, awaiting her command just as Zuko was. Yes, this made sense to her. Zuko received her magic much like the pool; all she had to do was tap into what she had poured out and bend it to her will. She held her hands above the water and waited for the telltale blue glow before she lowered herself in.
Katara never felt more connected to herself than when she was in the water. Like she left her physical presence behind in favor of becoming pure energy. It was out of body. She probed through herself looking for any changes. She felt the magic at her core, the love she held in her heart, the blood pumping through her veins, and on a deeper dive - there it was.
It was less a thread and more of a chain of some sort. It was ironclad and immovable. She could do nothing beyond acknowledge it was there, she couldn't alter it in any way and certainly couldn't cut it. She tried and tried to tug the magic back into herself with no luck, it just wouldn't budge.
Crap.
She breached the water's surface with a steady inhale. Zuko was sat beside the pool staring at her expectantly. He seemed to read her expression and released a long-suffering sigh. Katara knew exactly how he felt.
She needed reinforcements.
"A hex, Katara! What you were looking for would have been a hex!" Suki facepalmed, shaking her head while Toph continued to cackle in the background.
"Still, though," Toph said, wiping a tear from her eye. "Pretty impressive if you ask me."
"No one did." Katara deadpanned. She'd called Suki here for help and Toph purely to as a (major) power boost for however the hell she was supposed to fix this. Suki was more of a fighter but she was experienced and knowledgeable and Toph, also a fighter, was small but mighty.
"So...are you going to help me or what?" Katara batted her lashes coaxingly. "Pretty please?"
Suki wanted to strangle her boyfriend's sister. Katara was her friend, but when it came to ill-thought-out plans with a hint of recklessness, that was for sure a family trait. With a groan, Suki pinched the bridge of her nose before leveling Katara with a glare. "I can't."
"What do you mean you can't?"
"Sorry, Katara. This is out of my wheelhouse. You're going to have to call GranGran in on this one."
"I can not tell GranGran that I accidentally summoned a demon!" No. Just no. Involving her grandmother was absolutely not an option here.
Katara loved her and she was the most supportive woman in the world but she didn't want her to be disappointed in her for being so irresponsible. Even just the thought of GranGran being disappointed in her was like a dagger to her heart and made a thick fog of darkness settle over her. It was a risk she simply wasn't willing to take. Zuko could drag her down to hell before she'd even think about telling her grandmother.
"Prince of Hell, actually." Zuko interjected, finally deciding to make his presence known, appearing at her side in a hiss of black smoke.
Seeing as he was wholly unhelpful in all of this, useless really, she did not care for his title nor his tone nor his presence. His presence was the entire problem, actually. Katara was at her wits' end with him looming over her refusing to assist.
Suki's eyes widened as she took him in, her eyes raking over him from top to bottom. She raised an appreciative brow before turning her gaze back to Katara. She read the insinuation in her friend's eyes and it wasn't anything she hadn't already resigned herself to. The damn demon was eye candy. Delicious, mouth-watering, scrumptious eye candy.
Suki's eyes screamed at her Take a bite! And if Katara weren't freaking out and desperate to undo this mess she would absolutely most definitely take a big, satisfying bite out of him.
"Personally, I don't see the problem." Suki shrugged.
"Me either!" Toph chimed in.
"Shut up, Toph." Suki and Katara chimed in unison.
"What you have neglected to mention to your friend, Little One, is that you not only summoned me but have bound me physically." Zuko supplied unhelpfully. Suki shot her another long, knowing look and this time Toph joined in, cocking her head to the side.
"What he means to say is that we can't drift too far apart." Katara wanted to throttle him.
Their little trial and error held true that not only was he bound by her command, but he was also bound to stay near to her. They could only go but so far apart before they snapped back together like rubberbands.
If either of them went too far he would immediately materialize by her side - unnecessarily closely, might she add. He could poof in and out of existence, using the aether to contain himself but if he remained there too long, the same principle applied and he would materialize once more.
"I say you take him for a spin." Katara's thoughts dropped into the gutter. "Let him spark Jet up a little." Toph flicked her fingers like a lighter.
"And if he so happens to make Jet jealous then so be it." Suki chirped, unconstructively.
"Exactly. Bam! Problem solved." Toph mimicked an explosion with her hands.
"Problem not solved." Katara groaned. "I've tried giving him commands and nothing 'fulfills' his purpose or whatever."
"I wouldn't call retrieving items from your top shelves or fetching your clothes commands, just rather demeaning tasks." Zuko's tone was almost amused. "It is hardly enough to satisfy your invocation, Little One."
"You made him do what?" Suki cut her a look that, again, spoke volumes. He could satisfy a lot more than your invocation, Katara.
Katara dragged a hand down her face in defeat. This was just her life now and she needed to accept that. There was no turning back. She summoned a demon Prince and there was nothing she could do about it.
"I believe you sought vengeance, may I suggest we try that?" he raised a flaming fist.
There was a devious glint in his eye that made Katara's stomach flip. He was at her complete and total command. If she asked him to avenge her she knew he would do it under the thrall of her magic, but that glint told her he would enjoy every second of it.
Katara had considered allowing him to fulfill her original, drunken intent and set Jet aflame...just a teensy bit. Or the bed she caught him cheating in. Or his precious car. But the longer she sat with the thought, the more it felt like a bad idea, and her cup was full to the brim with those right now.
Jet sucked. She was sad. But he wasn't worth the effort, let alone whatever a Prince of Hell could unleash upon him. For as messed up as this whole situation was, it helped her get over her breakup impressively quickly. Even thinking of Jet right now only brought disgust mixed with a tinge of pity.
"Shoot." Suki looked at her watch and cursed under her breath. "I have to meet Sokka, it's date night. C'mon Toph."
Katara scrunched up her nose at the mention of Suki going on a date with her brother (ick) and watched forlornly as her friends abandoned her with hurried goodbyes flung over their shoulders. Couldn't they see she was in crisis? They were leaving her alone with a mega-demon. She didn't want to be left alone with this thing hovering over her head, with him lingering beside her.
"You do realize neither of them are as powerful as you are, right?" Her back was turned to him and he leaned down to whisper in her ear. A shiver slid down her spine at his sudden closeness. A fraction of a centimeter closer or a sliver of movement on her part, and his lips would have brushed against the shell of her ear. "The small one comes close. She is very impressive, but her mana is different - stronger where your own is not, and no use for matters such as this."
"Why? Why is it you can dance around the issue and give me all this...this supplemental information but not help me fix it?"
He blinked at her, and a small smile spread across his lips. Her heart stopped. She prayed to all the Spirits that be for him to never grace her with the full thing, for her sanity. His smile was a little crooked and entirely too endearing for a demon to possess. He disappeared in a cloud of black smoke, but she knew he would be back shortly; escaping into the aether was not a loophole that could separate them.
Katara cozied up on her couch with her mother's grimoire in her lap. She took a long bath, donned her comfiest pajamas, braided her hair back, and brewed her favorite tea. She was prepared for a long, long night of studying.
She was ready to pore over every single word, symbol, punctuation mark, whatever. There had to be something in there to undo this. If it got her into this mess it sure as hell better be able to get her out. There was a light blue tab on the page with the spell she had used for her to reference quickly while she flipped back and forth through the pages.
In the light of day, she genuinely had no clue how she had ever thought that this spell would set Jet, or his stuff, on fire. Suki was completely right in that what she had meant to do was cast a hex on him - not a curse. But of all the curses her drunken self somehow chose the one that literally translated to 'Bring the flame as my servant...Be the Lord under my command'.
"It is a powerful spell, to be sure. An ordinary witch would not have been able to complete it without sacrificing her life, let alone summon me with it. I did not think it possible for a spell to render me incapable of breaking it myself." Zuko was by her side once more, this time sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of her. "I imagine your intent at the time you cast it may have a great deal to do with it."
Of course it did. Of course, this massive mistake may hinge on whatever the hell her very drunk mind had been thinking or feeling when she chose to do something this dumb. Even if she tried to recreate the circumstances and get totally bombed, there was no guarantee it would kickstart whatever she'd done that night.
"You really can't do it?" she whispered desperately. His eyes seemed to soften for less than a second. She blinked and was unsure she had seen correctly.
"Despite my best efforts, no I cannot.” he growled as though he was loath to admit it, which she supposed made sense. “In any case, I have work to get back to. I need you to release me."
"I'm trying! Can't you see that I'm trying?" she gestured wildly to the book in her lap, but Zuko's attention had already deviated from her. He was back to watching the flames dance along his fingertips.
Katara flipped through the grimoire until her eyes got blurry, but she came away with no real answers on what to do. The closest thing she could find was how to perform an exorcism, but it felt unsuitable.
An exorcism was to banish a demon, drive away a malevolent spirit. She didn't want to banish him...just release him. She felt like there was a distinct difference and they were not simply interchangeable terms. And Zuko was less than malevolent. He wasn't evil; he just simply was.
Zuko was very neutral. It appeared he had no qualms about wreaking havoc or causing harm but had no specific desire to do so. If offered the chance, like when Toph had mentioned vengeance, he would take it. But otherwise, he did not actively seek maliciousness. But he was still a demon, so she wondered what exactly his role was in Hell. Did he torture souls, collect them, boss around lesser demons?
Deciding she needed a break, she closed the grimoire soundly. This seemed to break Zuko out of the meditative state he had entered and he glared at her. If she could read his mind she didn't doubt he was cursing at her or demanding that she get back to work on finding a way to separate them.
She ignored his dagger eyes. It's not like he was helping at all. He could have a say if or when he pitched in. While she believed he couldn't break it, since he definitely would have done so by now, she couldn't bring herself to believe he didn't possess some secret, ancient knowledge that could get them out of this.
She could technically cast a spell to read his mind, she knew it by heart from years of childhood mischief. Unfortunately, she now found it incredibly invasive and couldn't bring herself to do it.
"Maybe you should." Zuko cocked a brow imperiously. "I have been meditating, trying to find answers to no avail. Perhaps an outside perspective looking into my mind would be of help."
"Can you...can you read my mind?" Katara asked, horrified.
"Of course, I can." he stared at her as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Your thoughts are extremely loud. You are a loud woman, Little One."
"So...you know I-"
"That you were once a fierce warrior, hold yourself in high regard as a healer, and think I am useless? Yes." She blew out a sigh of relief. At least he didn't know she, and Suki, had basically had a silent conversation about how gods forsakenly yummy he was. She would simply die of embarrassment. "No, I am well aware you find me attractive. It did not feel fitting to mention it, as it has little to do with our predicament."
"Get out of my head!"
"Think quieter." His smile was smug and she wanted to wipe it off of his face.
"Explore mens." (Explore the mind)
His eyes glowed blue and he remained still, completely entranced. She hadn't cast to read his mind (again, she found it incredibly intrusive) but his idea for her to search the caverns of his mind for a solution had been a good one. Plus, she needed him to shut up or she really would die of embarrassment.
Katara crossed her legs to sit beside him and with a deep breath she entered his mind.
For a second everything was silent and pitch black, a void. Then she felt a whoosh of air and was suddenly in the gardens of a sprawling palace made up of reds and golds.
She looked down to find she was wearing a red skirt and top, with gold bands secured around her arms, and gold bracelets on her wrists. Her hair was no longer confined in a braid but in a style similar to his. It was hot but her clothes were surprisingly breathable and the gardens offered a bit of shade. Judging by the palace and the climate, he was thinking of home. It was gorgeous.
"Impressive, Little One." His voice sounded from behind her suddenly and she startled, whipping around to face him. Once again, he was far too close but she could see with crystal clarity that his eyes shone with pride, amongst other things. "Could you feel that I tried to resist you?"
Katara shook her head. No, she felt no resistance at all.
Zuko tipped her chin up with his forefinger and searched her face. He was looking at her with a hint of awe, like she had truly impressed him in a way he had not expected. He was looking at her like she was a puzzle that he couldn't rest until he pieced it together. Spirits, what she wouldn't give for him to piece her together.
She shook her head free of her thoughts and away from his touch. He allowed her to step away from him but appeared to know exactly what she had just been thinking, which he almost surely did. His gaze flicked over her, this time to drink her in rather than size her up and she shivered. They didn't have time for this.
"I beg to differ. Time moves differently inside the mind." He circled her like a shark that smelled blood in the water. "We have all the time in the world."
Katara did not know what to make of this sudden change in demeanor. Where had his sense of urgency gone? He was just as hellbent as she was to hurry up and separate them. She eyed Zuko carefully. He definitely seemed different, but she couldn't place her finger on exactly how.
He looked and sounded the same...except right now he was staring at her like a man starved and she was a five-course meal, as if he were a sinner and she the answer to his prayers. The way he looked and sounded was nothing new but the way he was looking at her 100% was. If she squinted her eyes and tilted her head, he seemed to be more lax as well with his posture less rigid and his face unstoic.
"You're not real, are you?" she ventured. "You're Zuko, but you're not really here."
"Clever thing." he hummed. "Clever, strong, powerful, beautiful Little One. So very interesting."
Katara forced herself not to melt at the praise spilling from his lips. His voice was all smoke and velvet, hypnotizing her effortlessly. Still, it was interesting how smooth he was. Past that brooding, grumpy exterior, he was a decent flirt.
While she loved the ego boost that came with knowing he was attracted to her too, she had to focus. She could spend ages, literally, exploring every nook and cranny of his mind searching for answers. She could cast an honesty spell, it would be more potent spoken directly within his mind and would give her answers he might not even be actively aware of.
"Veritatem dic." (Speak the truth). "Where do I go from here?"
"You may go wherever you like. There are many paths laid before your feet." Okay, good to know but far too broad to actually mean anything.
"Can you take me down the path to answers? Show me how to fix this." There, she thought, a question and a command.
"I can take you a great many places and show you many great things, Little One." Great, he was a fucking sphinx now. Maybe if she asked him a yes or no question, how could he possibly turn that into a double entendre?
"Have you ever heard of this happening before?"
"No." He reached out to twirl a lock of her hair between his fingers. "You are extraordinary."
"How are you usually freed from a binding?"
"I fulfill the witch's request or release myself."
"Name someone who could help us."
"There is a powerful witch named Kanna, she may hold the answer." her blood ran cold.
"Signare mentem." (Seal the mind)
Katara came back to herself with a gasp. She shot up and gripped her head in frustration. Great, just great. She was mumbling to herself and wearing a trail into her floor. Zuko took a second to reorient himself but once he did he looked up at her with interest.
"Productive. I recall more clearly now." He tracked her pacing. "Many spirits tell tale of Kanna's feats. She is known to be capable of things that other witches are not, just like you, Little One. Do you know of her?"
"She's my grandmother."
GranGran opened the door before Katara had a chance to knock and gathered her into a tight hug. She kissed each of her granddaughters cheeks and waved them both into her home. Katara just had to rip off the band-aid or else she’d chicken out for sure.
“GranGran, I got drunk and summoned a demon. He’s-”
“A demon, dear?" Kanna's eyes drifted to Zuko, who nodded. She tutted and shrugged. "Well, I suppose anyone is better than that floppy-haired nonsense you brought home before."
"Jet, GranGran. His name was Jet." Katara said through gritted teeth. She could feel Zuko's eyes on her and knew without looking that he was smirking. "Can you help me? Please?"
Kanna rolled her eyes and shuffled towards Zuko, who bowed his head to her as she approached. When Jet met GranGran he had tried to fist bump her. Zuko just had to be hot and respectful of the elderly, because of course he did. Kanna bowed her head to him in return, then craned her neck to stare up at him appraisingly.
"Well, he's a demon of high rank that's for damn sure. Are you sure you don't want to keep him?" Zuko grinned down at her grandmother and Katara's heart seized in her chest.
No, absolutely not. He was forbidden from smiling ever again. If she thought the half-smile was dazzling, it didn't compare to the full thing. She distinctly remembered praying to the spirits that she never experience it and yet here they were.
"You are a delight, Kanna." Zuko was still grinning. Katara wanted to jump off the roof. “I am Zuko, Prince of Hell, and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.
"Any relation to Azula, by chance?"
"Yes, she is my sister. You know of her?"
Kanna was all laughter now. She laughed so hard she could barely stand and was forced to shuffle back to her chair. Zuko remained charmed by her grandmother and was watching her as if they shared some kind of inside joke.
“I summoned her once upon a time in a terrible fit of anger, but my goodness was she a wrathful little thing."
"Yes, I am summoned extremely rarely, but she even less so. Regardless, she is quite efficient."
Katara felt extremely hopeful because, if she had heard correctly, Kanna had summoned Zuko's sister before. Surely she would know exactly how to release Zuko. There was a light at the end of this tunnel and she was ready to zoom towards it.
"Ahem," Katara cleared her throat to interrupt their little chat. "Can we skip to the part where you tell me how to get rid of him? How did you get rid of Azula?"
GranGran winced. Katara's heart clenched and Zuko's pleased, easygoing disposition melted away.
"I'm afraid I can't help you, dear. I summoned Azula with a specific command spoken into my incantation. She fulfilled my request and vanished. Can you remember what desire you called upon him to fill?" Katara's cheeks flamed and she avoided eye contact with him at all costs, choosing instead to focus on a fascinating spot on the ceiling.
"I um...I didn't ask for anything. I just copied exactly what was in mom's grimoire. There was no specific command attached."
"Sweet girl, you're supposed to add that part in yourself. Well, your mother was bold but she was not reckless. She was very intentional, so there must be a reversal in there somewhere." Katara sighed in relief. "Of course, that's if she finished it before she passed."
Katara facepalmed.
“I pored over it and couldn’t find anything! All I dug up was instructions for an exorcism.”
“Tsk. Come, I will examine the both of you.”
Kanna led them into her greenhouse where she had a large pond that she used for healing. The lighting in the greenhouse was dim but Kanna dimmed it even lower, nearly thrusting them into darkness with no source of light beyond the glow of the pool.
She gestured at the water pointedly and patiently waited for Zuko and Katara to get in.
Katara dragged her hand down her face and prayed. Please, please, please don’t let him-
Zuko shed his top and neatly folded it off to the side. Katara averted her eyes more strictly than she had ever done before and shed her own top. She slid into the pond with her eyes shut tight. A few moments later she felt Zuko slide in beside her and take her hand in his.
Fuck.
Katara tried to keep her mind on something else, literally anything else, to no avail. All she could do to distract herself was throw some of her focus into opening herself up to GranGran.
She felt her grandmother's magic swirl around her, embracing her in another hug. She was warm, especially where her palm touched Zuko’s. GranGran’s magic dove into her, heading straight for her core.
Once it reached her core she felt GranGran run the same assessments Katara had run on herself. She felt it when she came upon the chain binding them together. Her grandmother poked and prodded it relentlessly before moving on to slide through her veins into her heart.
Kanna slowly pulled back her magic. Once Katara felt it had fully retreated she disentangled her hand from Zuko’s and sat up, looking at her GranGran expectantly.
“You performed an empty summoning, dear." GranGran said plainly. "The spell allowed your mana to choose who to call upon for itself and it chose Zuko. As such, he is bound to your blood, anchored to your soul, and held fast by your mana.”
“How and why did it choose him?” Her grandmother smiled sagely but did not answer.
“Would a blood ritual be strong enough to sever the ties?” Zuko suggested as casually as one would ask what was for dinner. Katara went pale at the thought, she hated blood rituals, but Kanna shook her head.
“Right now, the two of you are as one. You cannot use your magic alone to undo what it chose for itself. To break the spell you will need a boost from nature's magic. When the earth aligns perfectly between the sun and the moon you will have the balance to wrench yourselves free.”
“The next Blood Moon is three months away. Please, there has to be another way.”
“Can you go back in time and not perform a summoning spell during the witching hour?”
“Touché.”
“All will be well. In the meantime, you are welcome to test out anything you’d like to try and get rid of him. Although looking like that I don’t know why you’d want to.” GranGran smiled. “Sanguine magic won’t work, but may I suggest intimacy rites? Perhaps coital magic may be strong enough."
“Ugh! Siccum. (Dry)” Katara yanked her shirt on and stomped her way out of the greenhouse feeling like the universe was against her.
When they arrived back to her house Katara was fully drained. It was late and she had work in the morning. She had no idea what she was going to do with Zuko while she worked but her brain was so fried she decided it was a problem for Future Katara. All she wanted to concern herself with at the moment was taking a shower and climbing into bed.
"Do demons sleep?"
"We can." he watched her run the water and wait for it to warm up. "For pleasure, or to recharge after particularly taxing work. But it is not strictly necessary, no."
"There's a guest bedroom down the hall from mine. You can stay in there." Zuko nodded and left the bathroom, presumably to find the guest bedroom.
Katara showered as quickly as possible, dreaming of her bed the whole time. She should close the shop tomorrow, given how wrung out she was feeling she was unsure whether she would be any help to anybody. She dried and clothed herself using her magic and stumbled to her bed clumsily. Maybe after a good night's rest she would wake up and find this was all just a really bad, really specific dream.
"Doubtful." Katara groaned at the sound of his voice. He hadn't gone to the guest room, he was leaning by her door like he had been when she first saw him. "We will try again in the morning. Good night, Little One."
Katara mumbled her thanks and was out like a light within seconds of her head hitting the pillow.