ok, well... to all of you who followed my other Zutara story,"Of Oceans and Infernos" i am very sorry. my computer crashed and i lost everything and i just don't have the heart to start that one up again. i'm going to go back to writing drabbles and one shots now. this is the first of those. i started writing this today, just as a fun sort of thing, and it exploded and i really like it, and i hope you do too.

and yeah, there's going to be more than one chapter, but i already have it all written out. so it WILL get posted. i'm just doing more than one chapter because i like the way it flows. i'm a little busy this weekend, but it will be up by monday at the latest. knock on wood

so basically this is a post-battle story from Aang's perspective. he'll keep refering to 'they' and yes, 'they' are Zuko and Katara. i know i don't mention any names here, i just sort of like it this way.

i was beating myself up about whether to make the watcher Aang or Jet, but in the end i decided on Aang, cause Jet wouldn't be this passive.

I don't own avatar. or anything for that matter. you guys have totally failed on the Johnny Depp thing. i hear he's getting married now. T.T

The Watcher

All night, he watched them.

He watched, and he saw everything.

That look.

That laugh.

Her eyes.

His smile.

He saw everything, and it killed him.

He watched as they danced together and ate together.

He watched as they talked and joked.

He watched them, and they paid him no attention at all.

The Palace of the Fire Lord had served as many things over the last months: The home of a War Lord, a battle ground, a crypt, a hospital, a visual representation of the changes going on around the world, a symbol of hope, and now, every door was flung wide and delegates from all four Nations were invited into it's halls to celebrate the dawning of a new Era. Young and old, rich and poor, benders and not, warriors and farmers, princes and peasants were invited to the ball, and they came. They came from all over the world to celebrate everything that they could not celebrate for one hundred years. They came to celebrate the hope and peace that had for so long, eluded them.

All of them were there to see him.

All of them wanted to touch him and shake his hand.

All of them wanted to be with him.

All except for the two that he couldn't take his eyes off.

He wondered now, as he watched her brush his cheek with the tips of her long, tapered fingers, how he could have missed the chemistry between them for so long; he wondered why this was such a shock.

No one seemed to want to leave. Leaving would mean going back to the task that was before them; rebuilding. It was so much easier to just dance and talk and eat and drink, and so they did. The ball had started at mid-day; it was now midnight.

He saw him take her hand and whisper into her ear.

He saw her nod.

He saw them slip away from their group and move away from the main ball room.

He followed.

comments are my crack.

feed the addiction.

ciao!! Raven Heart