Day 1: Mask

Title: A Break For Royalty

Zuko was exhausted after a long day of work. A long week of constant working. Luckily, there was a Fire Nation festival for the defeat of Ozai and Sozin's comet. There was no work in honor of those who fought. Zuko thought he could get out then, but later he learned that he was to be with suitors at the festival.

He didn't like the idea. It would just be useless, time wasting, and boring. Zuko was already in love with a certain Water Tribe Princess, but since she wasn't Fire Nation, they couldn't marry. Iroh was insisting he marry, so much that he even got a match maker to interview Zuko and suggest ladies.

"The Fire Nation needs a Fire Lady, Zuko! We are going to find one!" Uncle was always saying. Another reason the dating would be useless; all the girls just want to be Fire Lady. For the fame, the fortune, the jewels, power, just not for the Fire Lord. He just wasn't likeable enough because of his scar.

Katara was traveling to the Fire Nation to visit and see the festival. She could see the outline of it on the horizon, and wondered what she was going to do. It was hard for her to get the clearance to go over, let alone by herself. Her father was so insistent on he marrying, she'd been living in the Northern Water Tribe for 2 months now, trying to find suitors. The on;y one she couldn't have, The Fire Lord, would ever be the right one.

She had quickly fallen into a great depression, that not even Sokka could bring her out of. That's probably the reason why she was able to leave, so she could see Zuko and be happier. Katara had doubted that it would. In their frequent letters to each other, Zuko would sometimes comment about how many suitors he had seen that day or how one acted. It depressed her when he complimented one, but the letters were basically the only things that were keeping her from falling into pieces and not coming back together.

As the main island became more than a dot vision, she wondered if Zuko had missed her as much as she missed him.

Katara had arrived at Zuko's house, and all Zuko wanted to do was hug her and never let her go. But, he had to use self-control. He had a meeting with a suitor almost directly after welcoming her into his 'humble abode.' All he had time to do was say hi and shake her had before being whisked off.

Katara was in shock when Iroh told Zuko about his 'appointment', so then she was left alone. Luckily, she knew where her room was and where all the interesting things in the palace were, so she was good.

She started thinking about the festival when Iroh knocked on her door. He informed her that he found a nice, young man that would love to accompany her to the festival while Zuko was with his suitors. The young man would be here tomorrow at 6 to pick her up. Also, she needed to visit the dressmaker in the palace's library so she may be fitted for a dress and mask that she would be wearing tomorrow. Then he left, leaving her breathless and a little annoyed to have been told what to do.

Zuko was pissed off by the time that he got back to his room. His mood got worse when he was told that he couldn't go talk to Katara because she was getting fitted into a dress that she would wear tomorrow at the festival. Then his tailor came in, telling him that he needs to get his costume ready for the festival.

Once Zuko was out of his monkey suit and was alone in his room, he started thinking about how he was going to get out of his monkey suit and get rid of his dates. Pacing the floor, he heard someone in the hall. He threw himself into his closet, not wanting to be spoken to at the time. There, he landed on a pile of black clothes with a hard thing at the bottom. Lifting himself off the clothes and moving them, he found the offending item. He smiled, a plan running through his mind that would solve most of his problems.

After being shoved into dress after dress, many with corsets, Katara was more than happy to put on her pajamas. The costume she was to wear was a dark red, strapless dress that barely went past her knees with a black mask. She hated it. Not that it wasn't pretty or because it was red and black, she hated because she thought of what she would be doing in it. Well, what she wouldn't be doing in it. She wouldn't be with Zuko, be having a nice time, or even being happy.

Katara took a shower to wash away all the filth from traveling and the day. She dug around in her her trunk to find her comfy pajamas that she packed. Instead, she found something that would brighten her entire day, the next day.

Iroh got Zuko up at the ungodly hour of 7. Even though he was a firebender and was supposed to rise with the sun, today he said. "Screw the sun, I'm not getting up!" and hid underneath his covers until Uncle came. He needed to get ready because he had 5 dates after breakfast, 7 after lunch, then he needed to be ready in his costume at 6 to take the "lucky girl" out to the festival. Zuko would then return whenever he wanted to. He agreed to most of the schedule, just not the monkey suit/date part. There is where his own plan came in.

Katara didn't do particularly anything that day. She stayed in the library the entire time, except to go to eat. The seamstress told her that she needed her in the library at 5:30 to get her dress on, but Katara left at 5, to do her plan.

Back in her room, her Painted Lady outfit was lying on the bed, along with the make-up. She had kept the outfit for fun, but now it was an escape device. Quickly, she put the outfit on and was applying all of her make-up when she heard the doorbell ring. The clock said it was only 5:42. Her date had come early. As fast as she could, she finished her make-up and jumped out her window. Once she was outside, she heard a knock on her door. There was a pause, then the door opened, and she heard voices. One was Iroh's voice, the other was a voice she had never heard before. 'My date's' she thought. They walked over to the window, talking in low voices.

"I do hope that Katara hasn't run off. I wouldn't your night of fun to be ruined." Iroh said.

"It's fine really," the other voice said. "I'll just go by myself. I can't dance anyway."

Her window was shut and then Katara was on the move.

Zuko was left to get ready on his own. But instead of getting his monkey suit on, he took out the black clothes he landed on yesterday and his Blue Spirit mask. He slipped into them, threw the monkey suit under his bed, and ran into the servants quarters. They were all at the festival, so no one saw him slink out into the alleyway behind the palace.

Zuko ran out out of the alleyway and walked fearlessly into the crowd. It seemed to envelop him. There was fireworks being shot off in the distance, lights on strings were everywhere, and the square seemed to be bursting with people and activities. He'd only been to one festival before, but it wasn't as grand as this one.

Katara managed to trail behind a group of girls who seemed to be gossiping, behind their fans, about Zuko. They were saying how scandalous it was that he hadn't married, and rejected almost all of the Fire Nation's lady dignitaries. Soon, they would have to start putting commoners into his suitors.

'Huh,' Katara thought. 'If only Zuko could marry me, then people wouldn't get ridiculous ideas like that.' She had just walked in to the square, and was admiring the general splendor when a mask caught her eye. It was a Blue Spirit mask. The only person in the world that had that mask was Zuko. But didn't he have a date?

Zuko walked into the square and stopped. His jaw even dropped. Somehow, the square had turned from a place for buying overpriced items into a beautiful spectacle.

He felt as though someone was watching him, so he glanced around. There, the woman in the Pained Lady costume. But why is her skin so dark? 'Katara!' he thought. Zuko started moving in her direction the same time she moved towards him.

They met in the middle, at the edge of the dance floor. Neither could say anything, they were stunned. Then, Katara spoke up after a couple of moments.

"Don't you have a date with you?" There was a hint of venom in her voice.

"No, I snuck out. I've had enough of those self-centered gits today. Why are you here by yourself?"

"Iroh had a 'nice, young man' picked out to accompany me here, but I felt like going alone, so I wore this and jumped out my window."

"Well, since it's stupid for a girl to be wandering around here without anyone else, may I accompany you tonight?"

"Yes. Yes, you may."

They spent the rest of the evening laughing, talking, dancing, and eating. It was the most fun either of them had had in a long time. As the main fireworks show started, they picked a nice tree to sit under and watch.

Katara was picking at her dress, wanting so bad to tell Zuko her feelings, but not knowing how to put them into words, she couldn't. While unconsciously getting closer to Katara, Zuko was having the exact same problem.

Taking a deep breath, Zuko turned to Katara and said, "Katara, I have something to tell you."

Katara turned, a little startled about ow close they were, and replied, "What, Zuko?"

"I, um, just wanted to say that, uh, you look very pretty tonight." 'Dang!' Zuko thought. 'Wrong thing. I'll try again'

"Thank you, Zuko. You don't look too bad yourself."

"Katara there's something else. I want to tell you," he took a deep breath, "I really like you. A lot. Will you go out with me?"

There was a slight pause. "OMG OF COURSE!" Katara exclaimed and squealed.

Zuko grabbed Katara to stop her from bouncing, but ended up knocking them over because he was laughing too hard. Katara lifted up his mask enough that his lips were showing. Then she kissed him.