Katara/Zuko recs?

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I am possessed by the sudden desire to read good Zutara fic. It's the former-enemies-become-friends-and/or-lovers trope, it gets me every time!

The problem is that I have no interest in character-bashing, and so far the Zutara fics I've read have all turned Aang into a pod person. It's deeply frustrating to me. I just want Katara/Zuko in character, with everyone else in character too!

So... help?

Comments

[sholio]

I read a really fantastic Zuko/Katara in the Avatar Big Bang this year - Half Asleep. It's not my usual pairing, but I really loved this story's take on it, and there's a ton of teamy friendship with the whole cast as well.

[mercredigirl]

Basic Long Division, Jade_Sabre

Supplication, rebbe

Thirteen Things Katara Does Badly and Two She Does Right, magneticwave

My links are quite old as they're from bookmarks about 2 years ago, though.

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Oh, thank you -- I just read it and really really liked it!

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Thanks!

[deleonjh]

Try Thirteen Nights. The author is now a published fantasy writer, I'm currently reading her first book and it's pretty decent. Her name is on her LJ page. Actually, that comm is pretty good for finding Zutara fics, I think you can find recs from the tags. Here's what I wrote about the fic for my bookmark on AO3:

Zuko and Katara after the war and after their marriage is arranged by the victorious nations. A well-written Zutara fic from an author who is now a published fantasy writer (follow the links to find out who it is). The author describes the story as Porn Without Plot but that is mere modesty; yes, there is sex in the fic but the plot is interesting enough to be more than just a bare excuse for fucking. It would be more accurate to call it erotica: the sex and the story are deeply entwined. It is a story with sex and a story about sex - one cannot exist without the other.

Beyond that, Fighting From the Ruins is technically Zutara in that they're together but the focus is more on the what-if of there being no deus ex machina of a lion-turtle showing up and giving the exact bit of info for Aang not to compromise his black and white morality. There's also Enslaved, which is a major AU but still pretty good despite that. The Avatar world's cultures are portrayed more realistically, with the Water Tribes based heavily on the Cree or Pacific Coast Indians, the Air Nomads on wandering Buddhist monks, and so on. It's pretty good for those of us who've studied anthropology. Oh yeah, and it reverses the common enslavement trope of Zutara fics by having Zuko be the slave captured for Katara.