Morning rays of sunshine slashed against Katara's skin. She murmured in drunken annoyance, sitting up and grabbing her head, giving a little sigh to the cool morning air in the room. She reached out and smacked Zuko on the bare belly. "Zuko. Zuko, get up," she grumbled tiredly.

"Ugh," Zuko grunted from his sprawled position in the Firelord's bed. He eventually forced himself into a sitting position and brushed his fingers along Katara's shoulder, with a warm smile. "You look amazing …" he muttered against her skin.

"You're drunk," Katara smirked, swinging her feet to the side and putting them to the floor, "and you have a meeting to get to," she reminded him.

Zuko grasped his own black locks and shook his head, "How come you always remember stuff like that and I don't?" he queried thoughtfully.

With a slow smile, Katara rose to her feet and walked, naked as she was, to the pile of clothes near the door to the balcony. "Because I know you won't. Come on; if you sleep in too late one of those maids will come to get you up, and see me here. And we can't have that," she gave a snort of a laugh that was half humored and half skeptic.

Zuko sighed, hating that little passive aggressive snort she gave every time she thought about their secret affair. "Why won't you go public with me? If this clandestine romance isn't what you want, let me make you my Firelady," he suggested; it was the twelfth time the topic had come up since they'd been together like this.

They'd been together for two years behind closed doors, and the twenty-four-year old Firelord was ready to settle down - the problem being that he only wished to settle with his secret lover; the last Water Tribe Princess. From where she stood away from him, she sighed and turned to face him, wrapping her under-wrappings over her chest and blinking in the sunlight.

"You know why I can't let you do that," Katara shook her head and tied the final knot on her upper wrappings. "It's been seven years since the war ended, and people are still trying to kill you in your sleep. The only way for that to stop is if you marry someone the people love," and then she spat acidly, "like your fiancée."

Zuko got up and approached her where she wrapped her underwear around her curving, feminine hips, and he ran his hands along her lithe frame, lifting her hair from her neck to kiss it lovingly. "I want to marry someone I love," he whispered into her skin, one hand sliding around her waist to rest on her toned belly, "this is where I want my children to grow."

Katara sighed a sorrowful smile. "Come on," she murmured sadly, "get dressed." She knotted her undergarments and grabbed her blue dress tunic from the chair, pulling away from him to pull her clothes on so she could sneak out before anyone even knew she'd been here.

Zuko pulled on his nightwear again - his Firelord robes needed three servants' help to get on, and they all came to his room at the same time to groom him for the day at seven o' candle. When he was as dressed as he needed to be, he lifted his gaze to see Katara approaching the balcony door, completely dressed and looking perfect. "When will I see you again?"

Katara turned her head to look over her shoulder, "This evening; as the quiet, obedient Water Tribe princess," she smiled wanly, "My father is coming to make better peace arrangements now that we're no longer dependent on the north," she explained reaching up and securing her hair loops together at the back of her head.

Zuko recalled that women weren't supposed to be involved in politics in the Water Tribes, but he didn't question this; he knew for fact that she was extremely knowledgeable when it came to peace agreements. "Until then," he put his hands together in the traditional Fire Nation way and bowed low.

Katara smiled and answered with a bow of her own, and slipped out the balcony door, expertly swinging herself over the balcony rail and disappearing from his view. Zuko watched her vanish, and then he moved back to the bed to minimize suspicion for when the servants came to dress him.

This, he mused, was the best-kept secret in Fire Nation history.