Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar…

The falling stars rain upon the earth,

As you held my hand in our rebirth.

Chapter One: The Peace Conference

The few months after the end of the war were a blur of happiness and color. Katara, at the tender age of fifteen, had helped to save the world along with her brother and good friends. Oh, and the avatar, of course.

She sighed as she leaned on the railing of the Earth Kingdom palace in Ba Sing Se. Life just could not get any better than this. Peace, happiness, and…

Glancing over at Aang, she blushed. Feeling her eyes on him, he turned to her and they locked gazes. He looked away, blushing as well.

She had a steady relationship, quite unmarked with hardship or heartbreak. Katara knew that she was lucky, other people would never find love like this, not in this lifetime or the next. She loved Aang, and if being with him meant standing a few stuffy council meetings, so be it.

The avatar came over to her and looked out on the city as she was doing. A smile kept tugging on his face, a smile that lately would not leave even when his lips were not smiling. As he looked out on the landscape, for the first time since being told he was the avatar, he was at peace. Remnants of the Fire Nation occupation remained, but were quickly being torn down and rebuilt into traditional Earth Kingdom architecture. The great wall, with its enormous hole built through it by Azula's drill, was fixed thanks to a couple of savvy earthbenders.

Yep, life was getting back on track. And dare he say it? The four nations were once again in harmony.

He looked at the girl next to him and felt his heart soar. Though they had not declared their love for each other yet, he knew that they would be together forever. She completed him and made him feel safe. Now there was nothing standing in the way and the two had shared a mutual kiss.

"It's amazing isn't it?" Katara said, her blue eyes still on the city.

Aang's soft gaze remained on her and replied, "Yea, it is."

She grinned at him, taking his hand, "It's almost as if there was no war. The world is healing itself so quickly."

"Well, I wouldn't say that. But it is healing," the avatar replied, thinking of the heated council meetings and the ambassadors who pressed him to push all blame on the Fire Nation and force reparations. He knew that was not the answer and would only create new problems, but some just wanted revenge and were blinded by it. It reminded him of the situation with Jet.

He looked at his companion again and felt a stab of guilt. The only thing keeping her here was him, she could have returned to the South Pole with her family and Suki, but instead chose to remain here with him. It had been three months since they both had last seen the Water Tribe ship sail off from port and Katara had continued to wave until the ship was part of the horizon.

"Katara?" he looked down on the ground, as she looked at him expectantly, "Don't you want to visit your family?"

He held his breath as he waited for her answer.

Katara felt her heart twinge in homesickness. It had been nearly a year since she had left the South Pole, and she had not returned since. Her brother, father, and Suki had gone, but she had chosen to remain behind. She looked at the young boy who was forcibly averting his gaze. She wasn't sure if he could do it alone. He needed her here, he seemed so small compared to everything he had to deal with.

"I don't know Aang. There's so much to do here, treaties to negotiate, people to meet. How could I leave it all to you?"

The avatar felt hot resentment in his chest. She thought he couldn't handle it? Was that the only reason why she was here? He wasn't a kid anymore, he had just saved the world for spirits' sake!

"Look," he said with more bite than he meant to, "I'm the avatar. This is what I'm supposed to do. If you're homesick, I have no right to keep you here."

She felt surprise at his response. Lately he had been insisting on going into meetings alone, even when she asked to accompany him. The boy she knew would have smiled happily and accepted her reasoning before, but now he looked up with steel in his eyes and she wondered what had brought this on.

"Are you sure Aang?" she hesitated, still feeling nervous about leaving him behind.

"Katara, I think you deserve to have a vacation after all that's happened. You never think about yourself," he responded in a gentler tone, "Please, I'll be fine."

Zuko rubbed his temples. Why had Azula coveted this job? It was the most insane thing in the world to be the Fire Lord…which would explain his sister and father. And basically his family tree. He sighed, taking a sip from the delicate china cup his uncle had sent to him as a coronation present.

"I think you'll be needing a nice cup of tea every once in a while," his uncle had said to him, handing him the gift.

It was a lovely cup, made in the Earth Kingdom by the finest potters as only earthbenders could. All the intricate details would have driven a normal person mad. He set it down on his desk and rested his forehead on it as well.

He felt a tightness in his chest as he did so, but ignored it in his moment of created peace. Concentrating only on the wooden paneling of the floor, he tried to make the papers stack high on his desk disappear. And for a few seconds, it did.

"Fire Lord Zuko, I've brought more treaties for you to look over," a voice interrupted his thoughts.

Groaning, he got up and looked to the man standing there with an amused expression on his face. His name was Rei, he believed, and had been hired recently as his valet. Zuko eyed the papers in his arms and cursed them. In the past few months there had been furious negotiations on how much the Fire Nation would have to pay for its deeds, the avatar of course had been a huge help in preventing the entire load being hefted on, but that did not stop the less wise from shouting out their demands.

"Would you like some more tea, sir?" Rei asked, putting down the papers and producing a tea pot as if from thin air.

"Yes, I would, thank you," Zuko replied, not looking up as Rei took his cup and poured the hot liquid.

He had been drinking a lot of tea lately. Perhaps it was because it reminded him of his days with his Uncle, or perhaps because it helped to sooth the tightness in his chest from when Azula had shot him. Granted, the water bender had healed most of it, but there hadn't been time for a full repair. He would live, but with some complications, the doctors had told him. Zuko's eyes glazed as the steam rose from the cup and Rei retreated from the room. The smell called back days in the tea shop in Ba Sing Se, days when he had been so lost and confused. It also brought images of the forest where the avatar and his friends would merrily have dinner along with tea as an occasional treat. Those days seemed far off, even though it had only been months.

Perhaps he needed a vacation.

"Your Highness?" Rei had popped back in without his notice.

"Yes?"

The valet bowed, "A messenger hawk has just arrived, requesting your appearance at a peace conference in the South Pole."

The South Pole, where his path had twisted itself from his father. He smiled, thinking of the buffoon and his sister, it would be good to see them again.

"Call Mai, we leave at once."

"Yes, Fire Lord."

"This is so boring, all there is is ice and snow," Mai complained, shivering in her fur lined coat.

Zuko cocked a brow at her, "I thought you wanted to get out of the palace for a while."

"Yea, but somewhere nice where I can throw my knives. I can't even touch them right now because I'm afraid my fingers will break," his girlfriend replied with a tragic look.

He shrugged, being a fire bender had its advantages and one of those was staying warm in all climates. It was all a matter of raising his body temperature, but he still wore a coat so as not to invoke more of Mai's complaining.

"Isn't the South Pole the one with only a couple of igloos?" she asked, huddling close to him for warmth.

He smirked, remembering Sokka's pathetic excuse of a fortress, "I think they've been rebuilding since the war ended."

This was true, some water benders from the North had arrived to help. Zuko could only hope that there would be proper accommodations to please Mai's finicky tastes.

He put his arm around her and looked out the window to the icy landscape that was the South Pole. They had traveled for a week by the zeppelins and were quickly running out of supplies. The Fire Lord was just glad that they had made it without anything bad happening.

Looking at Mai's small form, he felt a grin spread on his face. She had saved him at the Boiling Rock, even after he had so abruptly left her in a selfish attempt to find himself. She had saved him, and she had stayed by him, for all his flaws. There was nothing more he could for, and the seventeen year old felt peace radiate in from his heart as he stroked her hair.

"Fire Lord Zuko! We are preparing to land!" the Captain Jee (who had returned to the military after Ozai's fall) voice came loudly through the speaker.

Mai sighed and got up while Zuko followed her. He was eager to see his former companions, even if Mai was not.

Seeing Zuko again was a better experience than Sokka would have ever thought possible. Truth be told, he was almost getting tired of his daily routine of negotiations and trade meetings with the North. His father was with him every step of the way, and Suki was also by his side, but Sokka had grown used to life with the avatar and it was a hard thing to adjust back to the normal life.

He never thought he'd be so happy to see old Scarface.

The young Fire Lord was as stoic as ever, formally bowing to him. Sokka decided to forgo protocol and lock the older boy in a headlock and gave him a noogie like none other. The look on Zuko's face was more priceless than a thousand boomerangs and space swords.

There was an unsaid camaraderie between them that had developed in the final moments of the war. Any guy who put himself between Azula's crazy lightning and his sister was all right in Sokka's book.

When Zuko regained himself, albeit hair severely out of place, he looked around and asked, "Where is the waterbender?"

Sokka scratched the back of his head, "Katara? Oh, she's back in Ba Sing Se with Aang. She decided not to come with us."

"Ah, I see," Zuko nodded, then looking around to a bustling hodgepodge of activity that was once a dying village he commented, "You've made great strides. I congratulate you."

"Well I don't mean to brag, but I have been kind of the architect of this whole thing. I call it, 'The Great Revival of the Southern Pole.' Suki thinks it's a cheesy name, but I like it," Sokka said with a smug expression on his face and flexed his meager biceps.

It was certainly a revival, Zuko thought, as the last time he had been here there had only been women and children around, protected only by Sokka's laughable wall that the avatar had broken through in an accident.

"Look, this is heartwarming and all, but can we get inside? I'm so cold that I think my face has gone numb," Mai shivered.

Sokka nodded, "Of course, come on guys. I'll show you the place where the Peace Conference is going to be held."

"I assume the avatar is going to be here," Zuko said, falling into step next to Sokka. Mai trailed after them, grumbling about the situation.

The other boy shrugged, "We don't know. Last time I heard, the Earth Kingdom was having some troubles with rogue Fire Nation soldiers and needed his help. We want him to be here, of course, but we can't always be nagging on him to make an appearance."

Zuko thought it odd that the avatar would not be present at a Peace Conference meant to represent the harmony of all four nations. There must have been something else going on in the Earth Kingdom much bigger than a couple of rogue soldiers.

"Tell me the truth Sokka, what's going on?" the Fire Lord demanded calmly. He had a right to know as the leader of his people.

Looking away Sokka replied, "There's been an assassination attempt on King Kuei by some former Dai Li. We think it has something to do with Azula."

The older boy stiffened at the mention of his sister. Though she had successfully been defeated and captured, she had broken free from her prison in the mental health facilities on Ember Island and had not been seen ever since.

"Are there any signs of her?"

"No, there is no evidence, but we can't come up with anyone else that would want to do that," Sokka replied, his face serious, "I'm going up there after the conference to help investigate. I think you should come too."

Zuko nodded, "Yes, I think that would be wise. Uncle can take over for me for a while."

Mai remained silent at the mention of her former friend. All she could think of was that Zuko would be leaving her again, but this time, she would be coming along as well. There was no way that she would be playing good little girlfriend ever again.

"And there's something else," Sokka continued in a grim voice, "They think my sister was in on it too."

Katara was dead tired as she stepped of the Earth Kingdom's trading vessel. She missed traveling on Appa, the fluffy air bison, going on a ship was just not the same. Thinking of Appa always connected with Aang and she pictured in her mind his grim face as she left.

"Be careful Katara," he had said, giving her a tight embrace, "Tell Sokka hi for me."

Something had happened in the few days before she left, but the entire palace had kept silent on it. Even Aang would not tell her what was going on, saying that it was between him and the Earth King. She felt a sting of hurt prick her mind that he could not include her in this. His reluctance to tell her created tension between them and it was a lucky thing that the Peace Conference was announced in the South Pole, giving her an excuse to leave.

"You too Aang, stay safe," she replied, truly praying for this even if he was being a butthead about the whole Earth King situation.

They had stood their awkwardly as merchants loaded their goods onto the ship, feeling as if they should do something more than hug. Aang quickly let go and put a grin on his face,

"Go penguin sledding for me!"

Katara rolled her eyes at the memory. In so many ways he growing up, yet he was still a child in many other respects.

She shook her head of those thoughts and looked around and marveled at the progress her brother and father had made in her old village. It was nothing like what she remembered. Truth be told, when Sokka had written to her the plans for the South Pole, she did not know what to expect. Now she could see for herself the fruits of their efforts and felt a swell of pride for her enterprising nation. It was nowhere near the splendor of the North, but it was a significant improvement from before.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw her brother running towards her, along with her dad walking calmly behind him with a smile on his face.

"Katara!!!" he tackled her in an enormous bear hug, "I came as soon as I heard!!"

"This is an unexpected surprise," Hakoda said, giving his daughter a hug as well.

"That's me, Katara the unexpected. Always spontaneous," she laughed, squeezing her big brother back with her arms.

Sokka scoffed, "Riiiiight."

Katara and spontaneous just did not go together.

"Hey!" she hit him on the shoulder, "I am plenty spontaneous!"

"Spontaneous like an iceberg! Mmmp!"

A snowball hit his face, courtesy of Katara's water bending. It was good to be home.

With an annoyed expression, the water tribe warrior wiped the snow off his face with one hand. She made her eyes wide and innocent and he gave her a silent warning with his.

"Anyways kids," Hakoda chuckled, glad that his children were getting along, "The Fire Lord is waiting for us back at the Conference building."

She stopped.

Fire Lord? As in Fire Lord Zuko? In the South Pole?

Sokka saw the look of surprise and shrugged, "Well what do you expect? He's the Fire Lord after all."

"I know that!" she yelled back in embarrassment, following her brother down the newly made street.

A fist slammed on the table by the Earth Kingdom ambassador, "We understand that now is the time of peace, but there must be reparations! The Fire Nation must pay for its crimes no matter who the Fire Lord is now!"

Chief Arnook frowned and responded, "I understand ambassador. We all felt the Fire Nation's ambition on our nations, but your terms are too stringent and will only cause more problems in the future. And must I remind you that this is a Peace Conference? This is a celebration, not a treaty negotiation."

The ambassador grumbled from his seat at the dining table and Zuko repressed the need to storm out of the room. His nation had done wrong, but it was the fault of the government, not the people. He gingerly picked at his tiger seal roast and breathed in and out in an attempt to calm himself. From his peripheral he could see Mai, pushing the food on her plate away in distaste. He had to admit that Water Nation cuisine was different, but he felt it rude of her to reject it completely. However, this was just Mai for you, always doing what she felt like without thought of others. He admired that about her and that was really what had attracted him to her, but now he could see it was not exactly winning him any friends at the table.

"Don't just push it away, at least try some," he hissed under his breath.

The expression on her face did not change, but without looking at him she replied in another hiss, "I refuse to put this trash to my lips."

They quietly argued, unbeknownst to the others in the room. They had perfected the art of secret public conversation as part of the nobility where they often did not have any privacy in the public eye.

Finally he sighed, "Why did you come here, if you didn't want to?"

"Because you asked me to, idiot," she glared back, putting down her fork with a tad bit more force that to an outsider, would not have attracted any notice.

"Mai…"

The doors flew open and Sokka appeared, loud as always, "Sorry we're late everyone! Katara refused to show up unless she could do her hair all fancy!"

"Sokka, you know that I was in no state to appear at a formal dinner fresh off the boat!" an annoyed female voice complained behind him.

"Suki was ready way before you were!" he argued back.

The Kyoshi warrior rolled her eyes, "Sokka, I was already done when you came in. I had a head start!"

Katara nodded in agreement at the other female's response. Sokka had just sprung on her that they should go to the Peace Conference Dinner in her dirty traveling clothes and present herself to the ambassadors of the four nations like that! What an idiot!

Chief Arnook laughed heartily and approached the teenagers, "Why Master Katara! You seem to have grown more beautiful since the last time we met!"

Katara blushed and tugged the sleeve of her traditional Water Nation blue dress, lined with the white fur. Her hair was adorned with glass beads and she wore a pair of feather earrings she had bought on her travels that she had been saving for a special occasion.

"Thank you, Chief Arnook. It is good to see you too," she replied with a modest bow.

"And would you look at that, there's Zuko!" Sokka said in his loud voice, sitting down across from the young man.

Zuko raised a brow, "Sokka, do you find the need to point out the obvious every time?"

Smiling warmly to Zuko, Katara took the seat next to her brother, "Still as serious as ever, I see."

His expression softened at the sound of her voice. He had missed its warm tones, something not able to be captured in letters. The three of them together made it seem more like good times back then when they had tried to keep each others spirits up in the face of certain doom.

Katara smiled at the once banished prince, he had truly changed since they had first met. Now they were friends on the very land they had once fought. She looked to the girl beside him and remembered her as well, from their encounter as unexpected enemies and then to the more pleasant memory of the last place in which they were all together, Iroh's tea shop.

"Mai, it's good to see you again," Katara said politely. They were not the closest of friends, but she was sure that they were on friendly enough terms to exchange pleasantries.

The other girl looked to Katara with her signature expression of bored disinterest, it was the water peasant again. What was her name? She hadn't bothered to learn all of the names of Zuko's rag tag group of commoners and this one was certainly no exception.

"Hello," Mai finally said curtly. Zuko elbowed her side and she shot an irritated look at him. What had he expected?

The young Fire Lord sighed, she really did not care for what other people thought. He looked to the water bender again and engaged in a conversation,

"How is the avatar these days? I heard there was trouble with the Earth King."

"Yea, there was an assassination attempt, right?" Suki said, feeling the need to input on her home nation.

Katara froze, an assassination attempt? Aang had not told her that. How come Suki knew more than her?

Sokka nodded, completely in the know, "They think it was former Dai Li, but there are also rumors of Water Nation involvement. Which makes me mad, because no self-respecting water person would do that!"

"Why do they suspect the water tribe?" Katara asked, shocked at this new development.

Suki turned to her, "Katara, don't you know? Someone tried to drown him in his bed."

"Aang didn't tell me that," she whispered. Why hadn't he? What was going on here?

In a sober voice Sokka said to his sister, "Maybe because there are also rumors that it was…you Katara," he turned red and hastily added, "Which is stupid! There is no reason for you to do that AND it's an obvious setup!" He continued to rant and rave over the stupidity of gossip and the absolute quality of Katara's innocence.

Katara was unnaturally quiet and the Kyoshi warrior touched her shoulder, "Katara? Are you okay? You know that it's a stupid rumor, right? They even said that it could have been Azula."

She slowly nodded, but did not say anything. More than suspicion being lighted on her, it bothered her more that Aang was not the one to inform her of this. They were supposed to be part of a team, but lately it felt as if he was blocking her out. Something had changed that day after he defeated Ozai and it hadn't been the same ever since.

Zuko studied her silently, watching her shoulders slump in the revelation of this news. Was she letting this affect her so badly? He had thought her stronger than that. She was like a sieve that took in everything around her, absorbing it whether it was preposterous or not. He sighed,

"We're going to investigate this and make sure that Azula was not involved. Are you coming with us?"

The water bender looked up, her blue eyes locking with his gold. Sokka in the background announced his enthusiasm for this idea, but remained a muted source of noise as the two stared at each other from across the table.

Finally she nodded, "I'm in."

Edit: Fixed a couple of things, yay!