Zuko sighed and ran a hand absently through his hair as he looked out through his window at the sunset. Ever since he had become Fire Lord, it seemed that he rarely had time for anything so frivolous as admiring the sunset. But tonight the flaming colors drew his eyes to the point that he could not concentrate on the paperwork he was supposed to be doing. The blaze of fire and color suddenly reminded him of his experience with the ancient firebending Masters—which in turn reminded him of the Avatar. He had seen Aang only a few weeks ago, but after a moment's thought he realized that he hadn't seen all the members of "Team Avatar"—as Sokka still persisted in calling them—since his coronation five years ago.
He started. Five years ago? Zuko succeeded in destroying whatever order there had been on his desk in his search for a calendar. When he finally found one and turned it to the proper page, he realized what he had forgotten up to now—the fifth anniversary of Aang's defeat of Zuko's power-hungry father, when the Avatar had finally restored balance to the world, was only three days away. Although a voice in the back of his mind reminded Zuko exactly how much work he still had to do, he refused to listen. He deserved a break—or at least, he needed one whether he deserved it or not—and his decision was made. The next morning he would begin the preparations for a celebration, where for the first time in five years the young heroes and heroines of the war could all be together again.
Aang read the invitation with interest. It was a sign of how much Zuko had changed, he thought, that the Fire Lord would actually admit that he wanted to see his friends. And Aang agreed completely. "I'll be there," he told the messenger with his trademark smile—the one thing that had not changed at all in the past five years.
Katara also promised to come. She was perfectly calm while the messenger was there, but as soon as he left she couldn't help blushing slightly as she looked over her invitation. She laughed weakly at herself, admitting ruefully how much she was looking forward to seeing everyone again—but especially Zuko.
Sokka grinned at the Fire Nation messenger's obvious discomfort in the cold South Pole, and he grinned wider when he read the invitation. "Tell Zuko I'll definitely come," he told the messenger with a degree of politeness that would have surprised even him five years ago. But privately, Sokka was most thrilled about all the feasting such a party would necessarily entail.
Suki smiled as she looked over the invitation and gave her answer in the affirmative. She was looking forward to seeing Katara and Zuko especially. As leader of the Kyoshi warriors, she had also had a lot of work to do and was glad for the excuse to take a break. But her smile faded as she thought of seeing Sokka again.
Toph listened to the message with no visible change in expression. Then she shrugged. "Sure, why not." She played idly with a strand of hair as she considered the prospect of seeing all her old companions again. She had not seen a single one of them in the past five years. Her old grin crept across her face. "Should be interesting."
Zuko had also sent invitations to several others, who were invited to a rather more public celebration a day later. Among those he invited were Mai, Ty Lee, Haru, Teo, and a few others. With two days left until the party, all he had left to do was wait. With a much less resigned sigh, he went back to his work.
At last the day of the party dawned, bright and clear as days rarely are when everyone wants them to be. Zuko grudgingly put on his formal robes, but the even the many layers of silks and brocades could not dampen his mood. For someone who once said "I'm never happy," he seemed quite cheerful at the thought of seeing his friends again. It was a shame, he thought, that they hadn't all been together in five years. He personally had seen quite a bit of Aang, of course—as leader of the once antagonistic Fire Nation, it was his duty as well as his pleasure to help the Avatar restore balance. He had seen Katara, too—mostly when she was with Aang, but he had seen her a few times since then as well. He had seen Sokka and Suki when he went to visit the South Pole—in fact, the only one he had not seen at all was Toph. She had been traveling, unwilling to settle in any one place. Zuko had been traveling, too, but the closest he had gotten to meeting her was arriving in the same place a day or two too late.
He was snapped out of his reverie by an enthusiastic knocking at the door to the comfortably large room Zuko had selected for the private party. He went to the door and met Aang, who greeted him with the enthusiastic smile he had had for as long as Zuko had known him. The rest of him, though, had changed a lot in five years. Now almost eighteen, Aang was only a few inches shorter than Zuko, although he was still much leaner. His eyes were a little wiser—and he had developed a more flirtatious version of his classic smile for use on "the ladies."
"Hey, Zuko!" the Avatar exclaimed happily. "Anyone else here?"
"Not yet," Zuko told him. "You're the first, but the others should get here soon."
"Okay, cool," Aang responded. "So, how are things going on the Southern—?"
Zuko shook his head. "Not now, please. I haven't had a chance to think about anything else for weeks."
"Oh." Aang thought for a moment. "I know! You should come ride the elephant koi with me! That will cheer you up!"
Zuko smiled weakly. Sometimes it felt like Aang had not aged a day since he'd gotten out of that iceberg.
Aang jumped as he heard another knock at the door. He rushed over to greet the newest arrival—and Zuko watched as his cheeks reddened and the smile disappeared from his face. "Hey, Katara," he said quietly. And although his smile returned almost immediately, it was obvious that Aang had still not recovered from his breakup with the waterbender. "Hey, Aang," she responded softly and then stepped into the room.
Katara had always been pretty, but now, aged nineteen, she was undeniably a beauty. She had grown tall and willowy—although she had the proper curves in all the right places—and though he had never met her, Zuko was sure she looked exactly like her mother. "Hi, Zuko," she said, smiling a little awkwardly. She blushed slightly as their eyes met, and Zuko felt a faint heat burning in his own cheeks as well. Ever since she had left Aang, both of them had been uncertain about what would happen next—and whether it would happen between them.
Fortunately the awkward silence was broken by Sokka, who walked in only a few moments after Katara. "Sorry, guys, I had to make sure the ship was all right. No offense, Zuko, but I still don't really trust your Fire Navy." Zuko rolled his eyes. "Sometimes I'm not sure I do either." Sokka grinned, and this time the comparison was obvious—having seen Hakoda himself, Zuko could say with certainty that Sokka was the spitting image of his father. The only visible difference beside their age was a certain cockiness that Sokka had managed to carry with him into—his twenties, Zuko realized with surprise. Sokka's twentieth birthday couldn't have been long before.
"Well, now that I'm here, the party can really get started," Sokka said pompously—ruining the effect immediately by asking, "So where's the food?"
Zuko sighed and pointed resignedly to a table in the back corner of the room. He turned back to Aang and Katara with a wry smile. "I think we've seen the last of him for a while."
"I heard that!" Sokka shouted indignantly, but rather incomprehensibly, as it was spoken through a large mouthful of roast duck.
Katara laughed in embarrassment at her brother's antics. "I swear he hasn't changed at all!" she exclaimed.
"Believe me, he has," a new voice corrected. Suki stepped into the room, wearing a rather uncomfortable smile. "Hi, guys." Sokka paused for a moment in his eating and slowly turned to face the Kyoshi warrior.
"Hi, Suki," he said, his voice rougher and lower than the others remembered it.
For a moment Sokka and Suki stood staring at each other, both with mouths half open to say things that were not quite true but were not quite false either.
Aang and Katara looked uncomfortable, but not overly surprised, and Zuko realized that he was the only one who had not known that Sokka and Suki were no longer together. He thanked Agni—and Yue and La and all the other spirits he could think of—that he had not said anything to reveal his ignorance. Things were awkward enough as it was.
Katara suddenly stepped forward and hugged Suki. "I'm so glad to see you," she said, with forced lightness. "It feels like it's been forever!"
"Yes, I'm glad to see you too," Suki agreed. The tension in the room lightened somewhat, but there was still something almost painful in Sokka's eyes and in Suki's, although she did a better job of hiding it.
"Well, it looks like I'm one of the last ones here," she said after she had greeted everyone. "Are we waiting for anyone else?"
"Just Toph," Zuko answered.
"Oh, she is coming?" Katara asked, a little surprised. "I haven't seen her in—I haven't seen her at all in the past five years!"
"I think so," Zuko said uncertainly. "She said she was coming."
"And would I ever lie to you, Princess?" Everyone turned to the door at the unmistakable sound of Toph's voice.
"Hey, guys," she said with her own old smile—a cross between a smirk and a grin. But none of the men noticed her smile.
Toph was an early developer, and five years had been more than enough time to make some significant changes in her appearance, if not her personality. According to the simple philosophy of "If it works, why change it?" she was wearing something very similar to the Blind Bandit costume she had worn when she first joined the Avatar—although necessarily several sizes bigger, in order to keep it from being uncomfortably tight across her now extremely full breasts and wide hips.
Her grin widened as she caught the men—and the women, too, for that matter—staring. After several long moments, Zuko collected himself enough to say weakly, "Toph, you look... uh... different."
She took a step closer and clasped her hands behind her back as if to emphasize his point. "Surprised, Princess?" she asked with a smirk that had crossed far over the line from mischievous to devilish.
After another long pause, Katara once again tried to step in and fix matters. "Toph, it's been too long," she said half-heartedly as she tried to hug the younger woman—when Toph took a step back.
"Good to see you, too, Sugar Queen, but you're not allowed to touch either."
Katara and the others stood for a moment in shocked silence. Then Toph smiled—much closer to a real smile this time—and threw her arms around Katara. "Just kidding," she said, when she pulled out of the hug. "Damn, I missed you guys."
Sokka was the first to laugh, and in a minute everything seemed to be back to normal. With Toph back, it suddenly felt like the events of five years ago had happened only yesterday, and they were all still children naively promising to be friends forever.
Suki, Aang, and Sokka also came forward to hug Toph, but Zuko hung back uncertainly. He found himself looking down at the floor when suddenly she flung her arms around him and hugged him tightly. She grinned up at him. "If you won't give it, I'll take it," she informed him. He smiled.
"What have you been doing all this time?" he asked. "None of us have seen you in five years."
Toph shrugged. "Not much. Traveling. Teaching lousy earthbenders." She turned to Aang and rolled her eyes. "Some of them started out even more hopeless than you did."
Aang, the now teenaged, wise, and powerful Avatar, stuck his tongue out at her.
She laughed. "Seriously, though, I want to know what you guys have been up to."
"Well..." Sokka started self-importantly.
"Not now, Sokka," Toph said in exasperation. "I want to talk to all of you alone."
"Alone?" Sokka asked, surprised.
"Why?" Aang said curiously.
"Because," Toph explained, with a sidelong glance at Zuko, "I've gone five years without having the chance to go on a life-changing field trip. Now I've got five chances." She grinned. "And I would hate to waste them."