A/N: A series of chapters on how they change from friends into something else. Please read and review.

Disclaimer: I do not own A:tLA


Her grandmother


It begins with a chair; a chair made out of ice. Zuko shivers slightly. In his mind, he wonders why he has to sit on such a thing when it chills his blood and makes his bottom feel like a giant piece of ice. The sound of Katara's voice as she enters the tent doesn't help much either.

"Gran Gran will be here in a few, want some stew?" Zuko looks at her with an odd look and then faces away when he catches a whiff of her cooking. It smells like his sweaty, sandy, sea-soaked socks after he's gone for a jog along the Ember Island beach. This most definitely isn't his idea of a nice warm stew.

"Come on Zuko", Katara's voice rings through his thoughts like the chimes at the Fire Sages' temple and he faces her again trying to avoid the stench that is so overpowering. "Just take a bite, it really isn't as bad as it seems". Katara is doing it again; she is trying to make him do something that he really doesn't want to.

"Katara, why do I have to meet your grandmother? To her I'm a monster from the land where people attack the innocent and eat their flesh with their salads or something. She'll probably see me as some kind of a threat", Zuko states matter-of-factly and that is when Katara pushes him away playfully.

"She's not that dumb Zuko", her finger moving from left to right making sure he got her point, or that he was hypnotized enough to face the elderly he had so viciously grabbed years ago.

"She knows you've changed. Plus, I've been living with you in the Fire Nation for years, I've met almost your whole family, and you can't pull yourself to meet my Gran Gran? Come on, be fun, we're best friends", she smiles widely, teeth showing and he groans. There is absolutely no way he is getting away. "I know you can't resist me, I'm your best friend", damn her, she smiles some more and he groans again.

Zuko rolls his eyes and reluctantly nods his head. There has always been something about her that makes him melt, like when they were back in the Fire Nation and he made him look through the whole Royal Library just so he could find her some butterfly love story she had so desperately wanted to read. Zuko groans again and gets a withering look from his old friend.

Zuko coughs slightly this air is really unbreathable, he doesn't care that there isn't even such a word because he is freezing and feels like pouting but can't because he has to be a man. Damn stereotypes and their effects on him.

All his life, he had to act all proper and formal just so that he wouldn't embarrass his father. And then he had to be in a smothering relationship with a nobleman's daughter; something about strengthening the Royal Family's political ties or something. He scoffs; Mai was never someone suitable for him. In fact he highly doubted any woman was suitable for him at all.

Katara forms another chair in front of him and sits down. He looks at her expressionlessly as she gobbles down the stew that was supposed to be his lunch. "What? You said you didn't want any", she answers dryly.

"Anyway", she continues before he has a chance to confirm if he had in fact said that he didn't want her stew. "Gran Gran's heard a lot about you, I've been writing to her you know. She knows that you hate rainy days and rises with the sun". Zuko rolls his eyes, is that really all she thinks is worth talking about?

"But Katara, I still don't get why I have to meet her, she still probably remembers me as the prince with that really bad hair day", his attempt at a joke falls flat as Katara doesn't even answer him. "I mean", he continues, desperately trying to recover from his embarrassing predicament "she hasn't seen me in years and what makes you think she even remembers who I am? She is old you know", he gets a hard smack on his head for that.

"Stop it with her age will you? She may be a little old but she still can handle men like you", Katara smirks when she sees Zuko shift slightly nervously in his chair. "And boy does she remember you. She calls you the yeren- wild man, it isn't that bad right? I mean you were really nasty to her you know. When you grabbed her and accused her of being a hundred years old." She reaches her hand to him and squeezes it gently for comfort.

Zuko's features go slightly pink but he writes it off as the cold getting to him. Damn Katara she's looking at him with those intent blue eyes. She's been doing that a lot lately especially when they were alone. Zuko swallows and looks back at her as intently as he can and then…

The tent opens suddenly and he hurriedly pulls his hand away. Katara turns away and clears her throat. "Gran Gran, this here is Zuko, my friend, you two have met before, he's the one you call yeren. He really isn't that wild though", Katara understands that she is rattling off but she doesn't care. This is her coping mechanism and she is trying desperately to control herself. For some reason Zuko making a good impression on her grandmother is something that matters a lot to her.

Zuko stands up from the ice chair he had been sitting on and realizes with slight amazement that he cannot feel his butt. And then he addresses the older woman. Kanna looks about the same as she did during their last meeting when he pulled her in front of the crowd and said that the avatar would be about her age.

Zuko cannot stand still partly because his butt is freezing and he needs to give it a bit of warmth by moving around and partly because Kanna is very intimidating despite her age. The elderly woman eyes him top to bottom and stares at him warily.

The young Fire Lord has the overwhelming urge to whisper to Katara about how strangely the older woman is looking at him and how he wished she would stop with her eyeing but he cannot because Katara is standing on her grandmother's side and eyeing him up as well.

He wonders why.

"Sit", is what the grandmother says and Zuko listens wordlessly and witlessly.

"You, I recognize you. You're the Fire Lord's son, your hair is different but I recognize your scar", she tells him and points at it. Zuko feels extremely uncomfortable, only Katara has touched his scar without him feeling uncomfortable. He tries not to back away and is thankful when she doesn't touch it. "Katara, why don't you go get us some tea?"

Katara eyes her grandmother knowingly, she knows exactly where this is going, but she doesn't object to her grandmother, instead, she heads out and gives Zuko a warning stare.

"Do you like my granddaughter?" Zuko nearly chokes.

"Yes of course, we're best friends", he tells her quite nervously and then swallows again.

"No young man, I mean do you like her?" she questions and this seems to make Zuko's eyes go wide and his throat itch. Like her? Well Zuko certainly liked Katara but to actually like her, Zuko hates that he is pondering the answer.

"Erm… no, no, I don't", he answers.

Outside, Katara listens to his words and collapses upon the snow.