The waterbender did not really know why she was here. After all, she had everything she had ever wanted. A loving boyfriend, her bending mastery, a caring family. So why was it that when Aang had gotten down on one knee and presented her that hand carved necklace, she had suddenly felt suffocated? Why had she been unable to say yes?
Katara tried to forget that for a moment, to set aside those nagging doubts and discontents. So why was she here at the village that the fortuneteller Aunt Wu called home? The blue-eyed girl supposed it was for old times' sake.
Of course, there was always the possibility that it was because this was where it had all started. Here in this simple town, a fortune had been read, and a prophecy had been given. "You will marry a powerful bender."
She wandered over to the scar in the earth by the village. She gazed out toward the wilderness. Katara could see him there, the angry orange light lending the airbender's youthful face a harsher, older look. There she was again, staring at his silhouette against the lava.
Realizing after her brother's words how strong Aang was, how gifted he was. Recalling Aunt Wu's words and considering the possibility of the airbender and her for the first time.
In the present, Katara shifted slightly, and the memory disappeared. Yes. The beginning of a beautiful love story.
Her azure eyes clouded with worry. Or so she had thought. But here she was, racked with indecision. The waterbender reached into her pouch and brought it out. The black velvet highlighted the carved white stone. The gem sparkled in the sun, glinting off the interwoven waves and winds on its surface.
She gazed at the necklace, flipped it over in her open palm. This was a big step. The twenty-year-old sighed heavily. She should be ready to take it! Six years of dating Aang were behind her. So why was she hesitating?
She looked up and out. She was the flames again, reaching hungry red fingers toward the sky. And among them a lone figure. Aang?
No. It wasn't the young Avatar.
The shoulders were too broad. The person was too tall for the twelve-year-old body that her boyfriend had had at the time.
The apparition approached, parting the flames.
The waterbender squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see who it was. She clenched her hands, knowing anyway who it was.
A sixteen-year-old prince with a permanent scowl. His fierce golden eyes hid a gentle, hurt soul. A scar that remembered the touch of her fingers stroking it.
"Katara?" the familiar voice jolted the girl back to the present.
The blue-clad girl turned, stuffing the betrothal necklace back into the pouch at her waist. "Aunt Wu," she greeted the elderly fortuneteller. "How did you know where I was?"
"I figured you would want to remember those days," Aunt Wu replied as she stood by the girl's side. Katara noticed that the older woman's hair was all grey now, and her face was showing her age more than it had back then.
"I was told you wanted to see me," Wu interrupted the waterbender's study of time's ravages.
"I was going to wait until tomorrow," the girl answered.
"Why? So you can ask me about every ridiculous detail for the next three days?"
Katara blushed at the memory Wu referred to. That had been rather foolish.
"I think not," the fortuneteller finished.
"I need some advice," the waterbender admitted wearily.
"Let's go to my place. You can explain it there."
The cobalt-eyed girl sipped her tea carefully.
"What's troubling you, child?" Wu asked.
"This." Katara placed the engagement necklace on the table between them.
"Oh my," the older woman breathed. "Is this what I think it is?"
"Yes," the waterbender confirmed, "it's a betrothal necklace."
"Oh my," the fortuneteller repeated. "Who gave it to you?"
"Aang."
"The Avatar. I see. Is it his position that troubles you?"
"No. I'm just—I'm not sure. Whether I'm ready for this, if he's the right one, if I'm making a mistake, if I'm crazy for thinking these things. I just need some guidance," Katara concluded.
"Would you like to do it the way I do?" the grey-haired woman grinned.
"Why not?" The tanned girl smiled.
Aunt Wu motioned the waterbender over to the reading room. The pair settled in around the fire. The waterbender selected a bone from a bowl and handed it to the fortuneteller. The woman tossed the bone into the heart of the fire.
Katara stared at the flames, waiting. She was reminded of amber eyes, hidden now behind closed eyelids. Fear gripped her heart, closed off her throat, and muddled her brain. Her water, glowing, encompassed her hands as she hovered over the "traitor" prince's body. Her mind screamed, "No! Don't go! Don't leave me!" as she healed him, praying she wasn't too late. Like she had been with Aang. A small part of her whispered of its hope that his heart would beat on but that his breathing would stop. So she could give him her breath to revive him, and in doing so, kiss those lips. To make sure she did not care for him in that way…
A crackle from the bone brought her attention back to the fortune, away from dying princes of six years ago. The bone cracked. The sound sent shivers down the waterbender's spine. It sounded like the prelude to that deadly lightning. Aimed at her unguarded heart. He was running, leaping in the way to protect her. His life for hers.
How is this fair? She recalled thinking as his body hit the courtyard.
The bone fractured again from the heat.
The blue-eyed girl thought of his frail, limp body in her arms. The eerie greenish glow from the crystals tinted his ashen face. His eyelashes kissed his cheeks; his tattoos no longer glowed.
She was holding the Avatar's dead body, her mind refusing to function, to accept this…
The bone crumbled. Aunt Wu nodded slightly as she studied the pattern.
"You're at an important crossroad. Be cautious and carefully consider your choices. What seems right may not be," the fortuneteller announced.
"What about love?" Katara asked, feeling foolish. Didn't she have Aang?
The older woman raised an eyebrow but looked again.
"I see two figures currently. They are fighting for your heart. One is an older flame, but still strong. The other is very close to you now."
Katara tried to hide her shock and disappointment. Two? How could it be? Is it possible to love two people at once? One was Aang; she didn't want to think about the other. This hadn't helped her as much as she had hoped.
"Thank you," Katara rose as she thanked Aunt Wu. The waterbender moved to the exit. She exited the building, barely remembering to retrieve Aang's necklace.
Before the girl had realized it, her feet had brought her back to the trench she had helped create six years ago. She sat on its edge, lost in thought.
Why had she managed to save the current Fire Lord before he passed on, but not the Avatar? Was it all to blame on timing? The waterbender hung her head, closing her azure eyes.
Why was this so hard? Hadn't she moved on from Zuko? Sure, she had found him disconcertingly sexy when he had whispered in her ear that night. And he had been so…vulnerable in the cave below Ba Sing Se. (Well, before he had turned on her.) The lengths he had taken to track down her mother's killer had been endearing. His choice of her to help him take down Azula had been sweet. But she had chosen.
She had chosen the airbender who took her on a ride through Omashu's postal service. The boy with the lively grey eyes who used his bending to play around more often than not. The Avatar who had made her a necklace when she had lost her mother's. The adolescent who had kissed her multiple times.
She had chosen. Hadn't she?
Then why couldn't she say yes to Aang? Why did she keep thinking of Zuko then?
The waterbender stood, still confused. If she couldn't decide, maybe she should let them decide for her. After all, if Zuko didn't want her, the problem was solved. It would leave her with one choice, the right one.
Katara stole away into the falling night, mind made up.
The waterbender arrived in the Fire Nation capital a couple weeks later. She was granted access to the palace, recognized as one of the Avatar's companions and a savior to the world.
Katara fiddle with her hair as she waited for Zuko in a parlor. She twirled the chocolate strand around her finger. Maybe this had been a bad idea. She should just go home and marry Aang, shouldn't she?
She bit her lower lip and worried it between her teeth. Her cerulean eyes filled with doubt. She began to pace.
The door opened and she turned. The Fire Lord strode in and shut the door behind him.
Katara couldn't breathe for a moment. His face had changed little with the passing of the years. His eyes were still the color of golden flames, and they still burned with determination. His hair was still the color of coal, although it was longer now.
"Katara," he spoke.
The waterbender's heart began to race, and she suddenly knew. She had to do this. It was something she needed to do in order to decide.
"Hey, Zuko. Long time no see," she answered with a smile.
She had last seen him at the Jasmine Dragon six years ago. Could it really have been so long ago?
"What are you doing here?" Zuko asked.
"A girl can't come to visit a good friend?" the waterbender avoided answering his question.
"I would prefer you wrote ahead instead of popping in like this," he answered with a bit of heat.
"I just needed to figure something out," the girl answered. "So. How're you?"
"Fine. You?" He looked at her with some suspicion.
"Not so great."
"How's Aang?" Zuko inquired with a smirk. "Anything happen between you two yet?"
Katara paused, unsure how to answer. Should she tell him or keep her mouth shut? She decided to tell him.
"He proposed to me," she answered, turning away from the Fire Lord.
"Congratulations," he said warmly. "When's the wedding?"
"Not going to happen." Katara took a breath for courage. "I never accepted it."
"Why not? Don't you like him? I mean you've been dating him for—what is it now?"
"Six years," she filled in quietly.
"Well, that's an awfully long time to be dating someone when you don't intend to marry them," Zuko pointed out.
"I know," the waterbender said bitterly. "I know that! You think I don't know that? You think I didn't try to tell myself that I was being stupid!?"
Zuko's eyes widened a little at her heated retort. The tanned girl gasped and clamped a hand over her mouth.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered, eyes filling with tears. "I didn't mean to—I didn't mean to snap at you like that." Her shoulders slumped and slowly walked over to a chair. Zuko watched her with worried eyes. The master waterbender collapsed into the chair and buried her face in her hands.
Zuko moved a little closer and sat down in another chair.
"It's just…I'm so tired of this."
"Of what?" he prodded gently.
"Of not knowing what to do. Of being so confused. Of chickening out of this. Of getting cold feet. Of—of EVERYTHING!" she shouted as she lifted her head, eyes flashing, to look at the firebender. Just as quickly as the fire in her eyes had appeared, it died. The girl dropped her head back into her hands, sobbing quietly.
"It's not wrong to be scared, Katara," Zuko began softly.
Katara glanced up at him, tears flowing freely down her cheeks. Suddenly, she remembered a day six years ago in a cave. She could hear the fire prince admitting that he had lost his mother also. She could see the gentleness in his amber eyes in the semi-darkness.
"Just don't rush things. Take your time," he continued.
"Hey. What do you think would have happened if you had joined us in the cave?" the waterbender asked abruptly. Her clear blue eyes locked with his.
The Fire Lord stared at her, shaken a little. "I don't know. Maybe I wouldn't have a scar anymore. Maybe Aang never would have nearly died. Lots of things might not have happened. Why do you ask?"
"I don't know. Just…remembering."
"What? A fourteen-year-old waterbender crying, telling a banished prince about her sob story?" the firebender grinned.
"You!" Katara snapped angrily, half-rising out of her chair.
"There's the Katara I know," Zuko stated with a smile.
She stared at him, mouth open. "You did that on purpose."
"You're a lot prettier when you're not crying. Plus it's a little disconcerting to see you frazzled. You were always so together. Even when you were mad, it wasn't a hot anger. It was cold, rather logical. You never lost it."
"Really?" Katara asked with a trembling smile.
"Yeah. I kind of admired you for that. It was so unlike me. I privately wished I could be like that."
"Well, if you have to know, I wanted to be more like you."
"Why?"
"It's so hard being the one who keeps it together. To stay calm when all you want is to fall apart into a thousand pieces. I envied your ability to show your pain and anger." Katara drew her feet up onto the chair and rested her chin on top of her knees. "I just stuffed my feelings in until I was at the brink of insanity. Then I would break. I always just wanted to be able to fall apart whenever I wanted."
"And you can't do that after dealing with a nutty brother and a child-like boyfriend and no father for years. You got used to being the strong one for everyone to lean on," Zuko guessed.
"Exactly!" she exclaimed, unwrapping her arms from around her legs. "So why is it that I always break around you?!"
"Because you know I'll understand?" he answered with a shrug.
They were silent, a comfortable silence between friends. Katara remembered his patient silence as she threatened her mother's killer. He had never said a word, let her work it out for herself.
"So how is your brother?" Zuko asked, breaking the reverie.
"Wonderful. He and Suki just had their second and third kids," the waterbender replied.
"Second and third?" the firebender queried with a confused look.
"Twins," she laughed.
"I don't envy them."
"You can say that again." The girl returned to a normal sitting position. "What happened between you and Mai? You haven't mentioned her."
"We broke up."
"Oh," she said the word heavily. Silence crept in, not the comfortable kind of moments before. No, this was the ugly, awkward kind. "So…why did you split?"
"Both of us changed. It wasn't the same anymore. We both agreed it was better that we broke up," he stated it so blandly. Like he had never cared.
Had he? Katara suddenly wondered. Had he never cared for Mai? No. He had. Just wasn't true anymore.
"Well. That's…good," she said slowly.
"Would you like to meet someone?" he asked, standing abruptly.
"Um…sure?" she replied.
He led her from the room and down the hall.
Katara had never seen someone so beautiful. Her dark hair was like silk spilling down her back. Her eyes were a gentle gold.
Just like Zuko's, Katara thought absentmindedly.
"So you must be the infamous Katara of the Southern Water Tribes," Lady Ursa spoke, voice soft, as she approached the waterbender.
"Zuko, your description of her didn't do her justice," the Fire Lord's mother teased her son.
It was so hard for Katara to understand this. She was having trouble comprehending that this woman was Zuko's mother. This must be where he had gotten his gentle side from, Katara decided.
"He's told me so much about you, Katara."
"All good things, I hope," the blue-eyed girl joked.
"Well, I do believe he might have said something about being an annoying nag, among other things," the older woman replied with a smile.
"Mother!" Zuko said, voice tinged with panic.
"I'm just kidding, Zuko. He talked much more about how blue your eyes are," Ursa continued seriously.
"All right! That's enough!" the Fire Lord announced as he pushed his mother toward the door. Katara could have sworn she saw two spots of pink on his cheeks.
"Yeah." Zuko said after he had successfully ushered his mother out. "That's my mother."
He ran a hand across his neck ruefully.
"She seems very sweet," Katara pointed out after a few seconds. "She obviously loves you a lot. She just wants the best for you."
"She's as bad as Uncle sometimes," Zuko muttered. "With all the hints about marriage. All the little nudges when someone says your name—" he broke off, catching his mistake.
The waterbender glanced at him curiously, as he turned away from her. She could have sworn he was much more flustered than she recalled him being. She looked at his strong back as he paced.
She remembered a stupid play they had attended on Ember Island. A rather poor depiction of her was flirting with an incorrectly scarred prince Zuko on a stage. Alarmed glances exchanged between her and the real prince sitting beside her. A few teasing comments about the actors portraying them.
She remembered a distraught Aang asking if the actress's words were true, if she viewed him as a little brother. Her reply. That now wasn't the time for her to answer his declaration of love. His lips, desperate, on hers. Her anger, justified, that he had forced himself on her. She had left him out on the balcony.
Katara glanced at the man before her. How distant that all seemed now.
While that was distant memory, she relived some things almost daily. Every time she heard thunder and saw lightning now, she trembled and thought of a prince protecting her, of running and ducking through columns from a crazy firebending princess. She thought of a dead lover in her arms and of being alone… no one to save them.
Every time she healed, she thought of a dying prince, a dead savior. She remembered golden eyes fluttering open, a hoarse voice saying thank you. Her heart saying, "I did it! I wasn't too late. I didn't wait too long." Her voice cracking as she said, "I should be thanking you," as her heart began repeating the words, "He's okay." She recalled grey eyes opening, her wordless hug to assure herself that he was here and to assure him that she was here for him.
Whenever she saw the blue base to a fire, she thought of a crazed princess breathing blue flames, sobbing, struggling against her chains like an animal.
"Katara? You okay?" Zuko asked.
The cobalt eyes blinked and cleared as she realized the Fire Lord was beside her, eyes worried. "Yeah. I'm fine," she replied. "Just remembering."
"Oh. Good. You just--"
"Looked like Azula?" she whispered.
"A little," he admitted.
"I was just thinking of her. How is she?"
"The same as always. Stark raving mad."
"It's so sad. Has your mother seen her?"
"Yeah. Azula screamed when she saw Mother. She scrambled across her cell, shaking and sobbing in fear. Kept muttering something like, 'You're not here. She's not real.' Mother hasn't been to see her since," Zuko answered.
"Has anything helped her?" Katara inquired with the concern of a healer.
"No. She babbled about our childhood when Mai and Ty Lee visited her. Asked Mai if she liked me. Suggested they practice their cartwheels."
"Hmm. Did you take your dad to see her?" Katara asked.
"He refused to see her. He called her a broken disgrace. He said several other horrible things about her," the firebender informed her.
"Did I ever tell you your family is messed up?" the waterbender queried with a grin.
"No, I don't think you did. I believe you might have called me that once but I don't think you ever said that about my family," Zuko answered, smirking.
"Huh. Would've thought I would have told you that at some point.
"Your family has problems, no offense. I think you, your mom, and your uncle are the most normal ones. And frankly, your uncle concerns me sometimes. What he means when he gives those words of wisdom, I'll never know," Katara muttered with a shake of her head.
"Yeah. Uncle Iroh can be a little weird," Zuko chuckled.
"So what about marriage?" the waterbender posed the question innocently.
"I'd hoped you'd forgotten about that," he scowled. He sighed. "I'm waiting for the right girl to come along." He glanced at the slim figure beside him out of the corner of his eye. "One who makes me laugh, who makes me feel free."
"Oh." Katara tried to feign disinterest, and the side of the Fire Lord's mouth twitched upward. "I hope you find her."
Silence reigned for a little while.
"I'll head back to my room now," Katara announced as she turned towards the door. "I need to get some rest."
She left the firebender all alone in the room. As the door slid shut behind her, he smiled slightly. "I think I have," he whispered.
The waterbender sighed appreciatively as she sunk lower into the bathtub. The warm water silkily caressed her skin. She closed her eyes and relaxed.
She was somewhere else in her mind. She was in Zuko's embrace, letting the past go. Forgiving him for breaking her heart, betraying her trust, making her wish she had never offered to heal that scar.
But simultaneously, she was hugging the Avatar returned from destroying a Fire Nation fleet. Panting in his arms after a dance, feeling warm and tingly all over.
A warm body knocking her off her feet, out of the way of falling rocks. Rolling with a firebender, a living furnace, across the floor only to land on the bottom. His heat draping over her. Her mind screaming at her not to trust him, that she shouldn't stay under him. So she left him, and he just stayed there for a moment. Almost reached out to her, but let his hand fall. Let her go.
Let her run to join Aang, to help him fight his sister.
Katara opened her eyes then and was surprised to find tears on her cheeks. She was so confused. He had had Mai. So why had it always seemed like every time they were together, they touched, he had held a little longer? Why did it feel like he had always wanted her to stay but let her go? Put his feelings aside to let her leave with another guy? Was that the truth? That he had known how Aang felt and thought she felt the same so he had set his feelings aside. Purposefully pushed her away so Aang could have her. And if he had she was mad. Because he shouldn't have. He ought to have left the choice up to her!
She needed to talk to him. But not tonight. Tomorrow in the morning when it was acceptable to go barging into people's houses.
Katara woke up early the next morning and headed to the palace. After last night, she needed to ask him. A servant directed her out to the training grounds, offered to announce her. But she had declined.
Now the waterbender was very glad she had. Because if she had been announced, she never would have gotten to see this very welcome sight. Zuko was practicing his firebending. Sweat shining in the sun, making his skin glisten. A perfect six pack. Except for that scar from the lightning. But still.
She just stood there staring at the bare-chested Fire Lord, enjoying this peep show.
Until he noticed her.
"Katara!" he gasped. Then realized what was dazzling her speechless and ran over to grab his robe.
She felt a little twinge of sadness that the show was over.
"What are you doing here?" he asked as he tied the robe on.
She focused then. What she need to know. "Did you let me go?"
"What?" Zuko stared at her like she had grown another head then eaten a live bird.
"Did you know how Aang felt about me before he confessed to me?" she asked.
"Just about everybody did, Katara," he replied with a smirk.
"Did you think I liked him?"
"Well, gee, you did follow him around like a puppy dog," he answered a little snarkily.
"Did you like me back then?" she fired back.
Zuko's eyes widened a little at that question. He didn't answer, just stared at her in shock.
She felt the frustration at herself, at him. At herself for not seeing this, for not being able to decide what she wanted. At him for not answering, for not letting her choose. "Answer me, Zuko!"
He turned away from her. "Yes."
"Then why'd you let me go? You had so many chances to say something! To show me something other than anger, to show me that you cared!" she shouted, tears gathering in her eyes. "Why didn't you give a chance to choose?"
"Yeah. I could totally do that," he answered bitterly. "You were my enemy. I couldn't just stop fighting you at the North Pole and go, 'Hey, Katara, truth is I think I'm falling for you.' And would you have cared? Would you have even believed me if I had?"
"I might have! If you had said something while I was tied to the tree, I probably would have believed you. I definitely would have believed you while we were under Ba Sing Se! But you never—you never said anything, never gave me the chance to love you, to make my own choice!" She knew she was crying. Could feel herself stretching, breaking, coming apart.
"You forced my hand. Forced me to choose Aang!" she screamed, letting herself fall to pieces, laid her heart on the line.
"What would you have had me do? Steal you away from someone you were so much better suited for?"
She blurted it out then. The guilt overwhelmed her. "I still haven't forgiven my mother's killer! I've even gone back several times with the intention of killing him!" She slumped to her knees. "I'm not suited to Aang. I'm a horrible person. He's forgiven everyone. But I… I can't forgive that man. He still loves everyone despite their actions. I can't let go of this hatred though. He deserves someone untainted. Someone better than me."
"Katara," Zuko began.
"We aren't suited at all. I've been lying to myself all this time," she whispered brokenly. "Why didn't you say anything when we met after Ba Sing Se? About how you felt?"
"Because I'd seen the way you looked Aang when Azula hit him. I knew I'd lost. So I moved on with Mai.
"Truth is, I lied. Mai and I broke up because I couldn't stop loving you." He joined her on the ground. "Guess we're both two liars."
"I liked you since you said you'd save me from the pirates," she confessed.
"I liked you since you boarded my ship to save Aang," he replied.
"That was like, the first time you met me," she pointed out.
"So I'm horribly cliché," Zuko retorted. "I fell for you at first sight. You were just… Aang's girl. Still are."
"I hoped you would stop breathing after Azula hit you so I could give you mouth to mouth."
"I didn't admit I liked you until you beat me twice at the North Pole."
"I've always had to work so hard to learn bending. At home, with no teacher. With the water whip and the scroll. At the North Pole, convincing all of them to let me bend," Katara admitted. "I always felt Aang was lucky. Being the Avatar, he picked up on everything so easily, always had generations of tutors. But I don't need luck. I—"
"Don't want it," Zuko finished. "I've always had to struggle and fight, and that's made me strong."
"How did you--?"
"You're not the only one," he answered shortly.
"You should've let me choose," she said quietly.
"Why?" the Fire Lord asked sourly.
"Because I might have surprised you." She brushed her lips across his. The lance of feeling that shot through her left her breathless. She pulled away slightly.
As the waterbender was about to withdraw completely, the firebender's mouth covered hers. His kiss was desperate as if he were afraid he was dreaming and she was going to disappear. She melted a little. This was heaven.
But then she saw Aang's face on the balcony as she stormed inside to the play. She broke away from Zuko with a strangled sob. The firebender almost fell on his face but caught himself. She scrambled to her feet.
"I'm sorry. I can't," she apologized. Then she ran. She couldn't. She couldn't do this to Aang. Zuko had chosen. She had chosen even if it was forced. They couldn't go back now. What was done was done. It was too late to change her mind.
Katara left that day. Didn't say good-bye. Just ran. Because she couldn't risk being alone with him. She went back to her home.
Aang hugged her when they met again. She had lied, saying she had needed to think for a little while. Wanted to relive the glory days. And as her heart broke inside her, accepted his proposal. Because that's what she was supposed to do.
Which was why she was staring at her reflection in the mirror now. A bridal Katara. The waterbender stared at the mirror, at the white robed vision of herself. And felt that twinge of guilt, of pain. She shouldn't be wearing this dress. She wasn't pure enough for it.
"Ready?" Toph asked as she entered the room.
"Yes," Katara answered, lowering her veil. Pushed her tears back, buried her true feelings deeper.
As she waited outside the chapel, she breathed deeply. She couldn't turn back. She had to keep going down the road she was on. The doors opened wide, and she saw all her friends and family stand and looked at her. She focused on the man at the end of the aisle, the Avatar. Her dad guided her down.
The waterbender walked all the way down fighting tears. As she neared the end she willed them away. Aang's smiling face was like another stab to her heart. But she endured it. Because she made a choice and she would see it through.
The ritual began and she did it distractedly.
"I liked you since you boarded my ship."
Don't let him die!
A kiss, a good-bye.
Open your eyes!
He let you go.
Why'd you have to try and save me?
"I'll save you from the pirates."
Because he loves you.
"Do you take this man to be your husband?"
"I do," she answered softly.
"Do you take this woman to be your wife?"
"I do," Aang said, beaming. All his dreams were coming true.
But what about mine?
Katara closed her eyes in an effort to shut away that thought and the pain it brought her.
"If anyone has any reason why these two should not be married, let him speak now, or forever hold his peace."
"I do."
Her eyes flew open then. It couldn't be. Why was Zuko doing this? She'd made the choice.
"I'm in love with Katara," he spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. "I've been in love with her since the first time I met her. And even though I've probably blown my shot with her, I want to give her the choice I should have given her from the start."
The waterbender threw her veil back. The tears she'd been keeping back for months spilled over. Did he want to ruin his friendship with Aang? Didn't he know what he was doing?
"Because I don't think this is what you really want, Katara," the Fire Lord said quietly, looking into her eyes.
"Katara?" Aang asked bewilderedly. "What's wrong?" He took her hand and she began to sob in earnest.
"Aang, I—I'm so sorry. I… I can't marry you," she answered, pulling her hand away from his. "I—I've been lying to you all this time. I…I gave my heart away a long time ago. And I—I never really got it back."
"Zuko?" the Avatar asked quietly. His face was stricken.
"I'm sorry. But believe me, when I say you deserve better than me. And we… we were never meant to be more than friends."
"Finally," Sokka said from his place by Aang. "Took you long enough to admit it!"
"What?" Katara gasped.
"Everybody else knew you two liked each other," Sokka groaned. "We aren't idiots, you know?"
"Does everybody else know my love life except for me?" she asked in exasperation.
"Katara," Zuko interrupted.
"I'll save you from the pirates."
"The Fire Nation stole my mother too."
"You rise with the moon; I rise with the sun."
"I don't need luck. I don't want it."
"Because you know I'll understand."
"You still haven't given me an answer. I told you how I feel. What's your answer?"
"I lost my heart to a firebender one night. And even though he broke it time and time again, I never stopped loving him. Because we complete each other. You rise with the sun. But I rise with the moon." Katara ran to the firebender and threw her arms around him. "Like yin and yang."
Then they were kissing and nothing else mattered.