A/N: Because I had to get a quote to match an ocean painting in art and this came up:

"The irresistible sea is to separate us,
As for an hour carrying us diverse, yet cannot carry us diverse forever;
Be not impatient-a little space-know you I salute the air, the
ocean and the land,
Every day at sundown for your dear sake my love" –Out of the Rolling Ocean the Crowd by Walt Whitman.

Soundtrack for this chapter (because I love this song so much even though it doesn't relate to the chapter at all): "Friday I'm in Love" by the Cure. And just btw, I haven't watched Avatar in forever, so I cannot be held responsible for any OOC-ness or canon deviations that may occur (except for Zutara, but that is practically fandom canon anyway :D).

Chapter 1

Zuko couldn't sleep. It was the restless, tossing and turning haze that he knew he only succumbed to when he was immensely worried. Only he wasn't. Aang had defeated Ozai just a week ago and the world finally knew peace. So what was missing? He asked himself, Is it that everything is too perfect? After all, he was rarely lucky to actually be on the winning side for once. Not to mention he was the symbol of a whole new regime of Fire Nation rulers, the ones who didn't want to conquer everyone. So now he had luck and popularity on his side; two things he had always wanted, things he had unknowingly sought after all his life. Zuko put his head in his hands. Obviously he wasn't going to be getting to sleep anytime soon. With a harsh exhale, Zuko got up and quietly snuck out the door so he wouldn't wake Mai.

Katara stared up at the moon as she had been for what seemed like hours. How, she wondered can someone be kept up by their own mind? Thoughts rolled around in her head like marbles, each one bouncing off each other and clanking for attention. She sighed, clearly hours of thinking said annoying thoughts and waiting this period of restlessness out wasn't working. It was time for action. Waterbending was sure to calm her nerves. After all, literally making waves was a peaceful action and was certainly better than staring at practically nothing. Now, the only problem was finding a water source. As she was staying in the one of the many guest rooms in the Fire Lord's palace (who, she had trouble believing, was Zuko now not Ozai). Surely they would have a pool or something? Katara thought while roaming the dark hallways, searching for a courtyard, the most likely location of said pool. Being in the summer, it was much too hot for any sort of jacket. Finally Katara walked out an archway to an outside courtyard where the thick humidity hit her like heat from an oven. She spied a pond right in the middle, not quite a pool, but close enough. She stepped into it and the water was refreshingly cool. For a while, she amused herself by listening to the sounds of the crickets chirping merrily in the background and the rustling of leaves. Once she had made waves ripple across the pond close to one hundred million times, she decided it was time to get back to sleep. She knew she would regret this time in the morning, where being the Avatar's waterbending made the people treat her somewhat like a cross between a visiting diplomat and a celebrity. She tried to retrace her steps; everything seemed to have rearrange itself in the dark. She ended up walking in circles, going down hallways only to meet the courtyard again. Finally she sighed and really looked at the place she was in. It was a beautiful place to be stuck in, clearly there was a garden along with the small pond. Katara was sure it looked almost as beautiful in daylight as it did now, illuminated by the light of the full moon. Katara tore herself away from her admiration of the courtyard; she had to focus on finding her way and ended up bumping into something that was most definitely not a wall. Quickly, she bent a small amount of water into the beginnings of a water whip.

"Show yourself!" she said, her voice still charged with the fear of battle.

"It's me," Zuko said illuminating his face with a palm full of fire.

"Oh," Katara said, surprised. Now that he had moved out of the shadows she could see him. He was in pants…and nothing else. She had never really looked at Zuko shirtless; obviously it wasn't as if he pranced around without one all the time. He only really neglected to put on a shirt while bending and between the whole saving the world thing and hating Zuko's guts she had never really looked at him as…well a girl would look at a guy. But, to her dismay, she was now…and Zuko was, well, really muscular. In a way that would be incredibly handsome if she hadn't been chased around the world by him and fought alongside him on numerous occasions. She knew him too well to be fazed by this sort of thing.

"This is your time isn't it?" he said. It sounded like an attempt at a joke, but Katara was just confused. "You know you rise with the moon?"

"Oh, yes, right." Katara had yet to say an intelligent sentence and this irked her. So she added "Well, you know, I have to sleep." As an attempt to prove her brainpower it failed miserably, but at least it was more than three words. Somehow, even with his shirt on, Zuko made Katara feel decidedly awkward. What are you supposed to say to someone who saved your life? Plus, he never actually said much to her. In fact, Katara believed that this sentence was the most they'd spoken to each other since seeking out the Southern Raiders. Case in point, Zuko didn't respond to her rather generic statement, even with a "good night", he just stepped aside to let her pass. It increased Katara's awkwardness. What was she supposed to do with so much silence. "Okay, so see you tomorrow. I mean, well it's probably already tomorrow, so today. Sleep well. I probably won't, but whatever. I think too much. Good night." Katara rushed off before more meaningless chatter could tumble forth from her lips. Maybe Zuko has the right idea, she mused Silence definitely pays off.