Zuko had invited Katara to the palace for dinner and tea afterwards, and he hoped tonight would be the right night. He hand his hand deep in his pocket cletching a necklace that he had carved for her after asking Sokka how he should propose. It was kind of lame to ask Sokka, seeing as it took almost the whole day to get him to stop laughing about it, but he didn't know the water tribe customs and didn't want to ask Katara. Anyways, Katara and him had been dating for a few months now, and now, the day of the winter solstace, he felt was the perfect time.
Katara arrived around the late afternoon and Zuko came out himself to greet her, and she flung her arms around him kissing his cheek. He simply smiled and hugged her back before turning to lead her inside.
Tonight was going to be different all right, Zuko had prepared a nice candlelit dinner like he always did, but instead of eating in the confined royal dining room, he had made a nice spot under the tree in the courtyard where he and his mother had once sat feeding turtle-ducks.
He lead Katara out from behind with his hands lightly covering her deep blue eyes. He smiled as she chuckled and asked her question. "Zuko where are we going?" She asked playfully. "You will see." He said calmly and removed one of his hands from her eyes and whispered in her ear. "Keep your eyes closed" He said before kissing her ear and removed his other hand from her eyes.
Pulling the necklace from his pocket he went infront of her and knelt down holding the necklace out for her. "Katara... will you marry me?" He asked, nerviously awaiting the answer. As soon as the question had left his mouth her eyes flew open and saw him kneeling there holding the necklace. She didn't answer as first but threw herself at him. "Yes... Yes. Zuko."
After dinner they sat there near the pond looking into the sky, admiring the now bright glowing stars. Katara looked at him then leaned over against him and closed her eyes. "You've finnally shed your mask." And hearing this he looked at her confused. "What?" He asked quietly, trying to sound more curious then mad. She looked at him. "The mask that I saw in you since the day we first saw each other in the south pole." She placed her hand lightly on the side of his face. "I can finally see the boy behind those eyes. The boy you were born to be." She smiled and kissed him. He had become the perfect man, he had changed.