"Your absence has gone through me like a thread through a needle. Everything I do is stitched with its color." - W.S. Merwin
"Hey there!" A woman's voice called out to Zuko as he trudged up the path to the Fire Lord's vacation residence. Stopping at the sound, he looked up to see what woman would dare interrupt this day, this one day that he took for himself.
Katara.
Ah.
She bounded down the long stairway between them, explanations pouring forth, "Hi! Hello. So. I was on my way to Ba Sing Se to see Toph, but I really needed to take a day off and rest up, and maybe find her a gift, and I realized I was so close to Ember Island, and—" she took a deep breath "—when I got here all of your staff were so friendly, and then they said you were coming, and I know I saw you last year at the Four Nations Festival, but it's so formal and we never get to talk and–" she reached his landing, where he stood waiting, arms crossed, and both golden eyes watching her closely, as she abruptly said "—come here. I missed you."
She closed the gap between them and wrapped her arms around his stiff frame. As he loosened enough to return the embrace, he whispered in her ear, "Missed you too."