They are the last two left. Aang and Toph are gone for a time to the Earth Kingdom, Sokka and Suki are returning to Kyoshi for a stay (with Ty Lee in tow), the delegates from the visiting nations are en route back to their respective homes...

So now that just leaves her...and him.

She glances up. He looks as if he's aged over the past couple weeks. She figures its the mantle of responsibility finally set firmly upon his shoulders. She knows she probably appears the same; a teenager that's seen too much, been put through too much to ever wear the unblemished look of early adolescence again.

"So," he says.

"So," she answers.

"I guess this is it..."

"I guess it is."

They lapse into silence. What else is there to say, they both think in their own minds. Lots, they answer themselves. Lots to say and lots to discuss but no time to do it in.

The quiet between them is awkward and heavy and they both feel as if they're on a ledge and trying to talk themselves into jumping off, that the fall won't be as bad as they think it will.

...

He wants to ask about the Agni Kai.

You're on. He sealed his fate with those two words. Azula smiled. The crowd gasped. This battle for the throne would live on into history long after its participants had departed the earth.

What are you doing?! Her face was surprised. She's playing you!

He knew this, did she think he didn't? Azula stood suddenly from where she'd knelt before the people of the Fire Nation, who would have become her subjects once the crown of flames was placed in her hair. Her eyes were fever bright and she ripped the ceremonial cloak from her shoulders.

It was a hurried migration to the arena.

Those citizens that dared witness what would inevitably be a blood bath crowded into the walkways, not nearly far enough out of the way of the combatants.

You don't have to do this you know, Zuzu. The nickname still made his hackles raise. He had always hated it. Bow to me, swear fealty to me as Fire Lord, and all this mess can be avoided.

She wasn't offering him sanctuary, she was offering him defeat and-with it-humiliation. She knew this. It would be the final nail in his coffin, the banished Prince too cowardly to fight with honor for his birthright. Even should he ever succeed Azula on the throne (and he knew she would never let that happen) his subjects would never look to him as their leader.

Its too late for that, he responded. He flexed his arms, dug his feet into the arena sand. He knew that she was somewhere behind him, blue eyes watching as she and everyone else held their breaths for the first attack. He turned his thoughts from her; he had to focus, he had to be attentive. One wrong step on his part and the rest of his body would match the scar on his face.

Very well, brother. So be it.

Blue exploded and orange rushed to meet it. There was a pause, a moment of evaluation.

You've been practicing.

I have.

Father would be so proud.

Blue screamed towards him again and the Agni Kai began in earnest. From then on it was a steady blaze of heat upon him, rapid turns on his feet to stay one step ahead of his sister's attacks. He blocked and defended again and again and again. Azula bore down on him mercilessly. Their bending was fueled by the comet and more than a few surroundings were on fire within minutes.

The crowd started to hurriedly disperse as the Agni Kai grew fiercer and fiercer. A spectator accidentally fell into the arena in their haste to avoid being barbecued by the Prince or Princess. The man scrambled to his feet and fled for his life. It wasn't an overreaction; Azula's next strike wiped through the spot where the man had just been.

Give up Zuzu! There's still time.

He grunted as a powerful wall of flames surged past on his right; he responded with his own barrage.

Never.

Azula was suddenly mobile. She flew towards him, punching jets of blue straight ahead of herself. He countered and turned in a tight circle, keeping a wall of flames between him and the attacks that lacked his sister's trademark precision. They would still have wiped him off the face of the earth if they connected. He interrupted her path with a whip of fire and she lost her momentum.

Her body flew through the air and struck the ground. She rolled to the opposite end of the arena, almost like a rock being skipped across a pond. He thought she might have been rendered unconscious. She was crumpled in on herself, face down. But then one bruised and bloodied arm stretched out and planted its palm against the ground. Azula rose, unsteady on her feet but on them nevertheless. She laughed, her hair hanging unkempt and swirling around her face, freed from the thong that usually bound it.

For a moment he had a rush of sadness for the girl she might have been. It was gone by the time she tried to take his head off with a flat wave of fire. It was then he noticed she hadn't used lightning once yet. He wondered if she was toying with him, letting him think he might win and then, when he would think he might succeed, pulling the crackling energy to her fingertips to remind him that she was born lucky and he was lucky to be born.

No lightning today? He called. He knew he shouldn't bait her like that. But she had lost the calculating edge she once held and he thought he might be able to slip her up enough to immobilize her. He didn't want to kill her; he didn't know if he could. But he wouldn't be able to outlast her forever. Firebending is fueled by powerful emotions and he knew that Azula, in this moment, was a well full of them.

You want lightning? I'll show you lightning!

Azula's body contorted as she started to bend her fear inspiring element into existence. It crackled and popped as it zigzagged between her hands. In a few seconds she had a snapping globe of it around herself. He readied his stance. In one arm, through the stomach, out the other arm. He repeated his Uncle's words like a mantra. They would, hopefully, save his life.

He knew something was wrong the minute Azula hesitated. His sister never waited to go in for the kill; she just did it. The Princesses's left arm snapped out but the pointer and index fingers weren't aimed at him. They were scanted a bit to the left and he knew, he knew, with absolute certainty where she had found her target. He didn't think, didn't consider, he just acted.

There was a blinding flash of unbelievable pain as he intercepted the lightning. It surged through him rattling his bones and teeth, bursting brightly inside his head. A metallic taste flooded his mouth. The breath left him in a strangled whoosh and he managed to throw one arm out before everything went black.

...

She knelt next to him, hands shaking in her fear. She repeated his name over and over again. The syllables melted together until the four letters weren't anything but a jumbled mess of sound. To her right the chained Princess screamed obscenities between piercing sobs, but she tuned Azula out. She needed to focus. Water pooled beneath her fingertips. The tears running from her eyes fell to mix with her element; she could only feel the slimmest river of life within him.

His chest was raw and burned and she wrinkled her nose reflexively at the smell of burnt flesh. She coaxed his blood through his veins, made his heart start to pump again, healed what things were within her power to heal. And then he groaned. He groaned and it was probably the best sound she'd ever heard. His eyes fluttered open-glazed gold staring up at her- and his mouth crooked into the smallest of smiles.

Thank you, he managed, his voice rasping and cracked. She couldn't stop herself. She leaned down to him and slipped her arms under him and held on tight.

It's me who should be thanking you , she spoke into his shoulder, words heavy with tears.

She wanted to laugh and sob and jump for joy all at once. Delayed shock, she realized as it washed over her. Delayed shock that she'd almost lost someone who'd become so important to her. Without thinking-or perhaps she was because she did what she'd been wanting to do for some time-she pressed her lips to his cheek in a kiss.

He stiffened in her embrace and she thought perhaps she'd gone too far. She went to pull away but his hands, palms laid flat against her back, stopped her progress. His head turned towards her and his eyes were no longer glazed. They were sharp and aware and wide with surprise but it wasn't a horrified kind of surprised...it was something else. And then very slowly he leaned in to her and she stayed still, barely breathing, as his lips came to meet hers.

He can't, of course, broach this, their kiss. He wants to with every nerve of his being. He at least had felt as if something has been budding between them for some time; the Agni Kai had simply acted as a catalyst.

But he knows emotions were running high after he almost died. Maybe it was a fluke. He doesn't want it to be a fluke though. He wants it to be honest.

But he doesn't know what the turnout would be. They each have their duties to fulfill, their obligations. And there are obstacles in their way that are far bigger than either of them can comprehend. He doesn't care about those though. He would find a way around them...or he would burn them from his path. He is nothing if not persistent.

She understands the secret parts of him better than anyone else, better, he suspects, than anyone ever will. But he doesn't know where she stands. They haven't spent enough time together on one hand, but on the other the moments they have spent together are the ones that truly count.

...

She wants to ask him about the last night the Gaang spent together, the last time they were able to pretend they were just a group of friends and not the heroes of a war that had spanned the lifetimes of so many people.

They all sat around the food laden table. Sokka's eyes were huge as he inhaled mouthful after mouthful of the cuisine the Fire Lord's kitchens had prepared. Suki rolled her eyes affectionately at his table manners and then stared in shock as Toph let out a magnanimous belch. The pint sized earthbender reclined on her cushion with a satisfied smile.

Aang plied Momo with pieces of food. The lemur chattered happily where he perched on the bald airbender's shoulder. Sokka launched into a terrible joke that he'd told only a million times before. Everyone groaned but it was good natured because it felt so wonderful to be sitting around talking and not having to worry about what enemy might be following them or how they were going to defeat Ozai in the coming weeks.

She smiled from where she stood nearby on the balcony. She'd excused herself for a few minutes in favor of some fresh air. But the real reason was because she was weighing herself down with thoughts of what was going to happen now. The war was won but there was rebuilding to do and, with it, more responsibilities.

Are you alright?

She jumped when he came up beside her, but in truth she didn't know if he'd come upon her or if he'd been out here the entire time. The balcony beyond the dining room was large and cased liberally in shadow; it would be easy to stow away if need be. He was late for dinner anyways, official meetings and delegates to talk to; Fire Lord obligations.

I'm fine.

You don't look fine.

I'm just tired is all. She didn't look him in the eyes. He had developed an uncanny ability to call her on her insincerity since joining their side.

Alright, he agreed with a shrug.

He leaned forward on the balcony railing and stared out at the night. She leaned beside him after a moment. Their arms were close enough to feel each other's heat but not quite touching.

Sometimes she couldn't believe he was still there. When she would close her eyes at night, the memory of him taking lightning for her would come unbidden. She could still see the flash of white light, smell the scent of burned flesh, hear the finality in the solid thud of his body hitting the sands of the arena. She had been so sure he was dead, so sure that she had cost the Fire Nation its Crowned Prince and left it in the hands of the Mad Princess.

I'm alright, he said quietly. She jumped.

I didn't say you weren't.

You're thinking about it again.

Am not.

You get this expression on your face.

You don't know me.

I do.

She had nothing in reply to that because lying would've been pointless. He didn't know all of her, but he knew enough. He knew more than a lot of people did, more than some might ever learn. She sighed. She'd come to hate the color grey as of late because it'd come to define their relationship. The sides weren't clearly drawn, it wasn't black and white anymore.

She didn't know what was going on but she did know it probably couldn't be. They were from two different worlds and he needed to be gaining support, not risking it away because of her.

I went to see Azula this morning.

That did and didn't surprise her.

They keep her sedated most of the time. The healer said that if they don't she shouts threats at them and tries to breathe fire.

She didn't doubt that's how the Princess was reacting to confinement at all. She was frankly shocked that the publicly undisclosed tower where Azula was being kept still stood. Each day she had awoken in the Fire Nation since the Agni Kai she had been expecting Ozai's daughter to have broken free. No such luck for the Mad Princess yet...and Yue may no such luck every come her way.

We were all just kids once, he continued and his voice was melancholy. He looked out at the Fire Nation beyond the palace. Even Azula.

She didn't know how to respond to that. She could agree with him because the fact that everyone is a kid at one point was true. It's what happened after that part that shaped who the person eventually became. But imagining his sister as some harmless child was a hard feat to accomplish.

You're leaving tomorrow?

My dad and his men are sailing back to the South Pole.

You don't have to go with them.

Yeah...I do.

You could...stay?

I can't.

Why not?

We both know why not.

You'd make a good Ambassador for your people?

I'll keep that in mind.

They lapsed into silence. What else could they say? What else?! She could talk about the kiss they'd shared after the Agni Kai. He had, after all, kissed her back. But it felt like too much time had passed between then and now even though it hadn't. She wondered, not for the first time, why things couldn't just be clear between them.

Walk with me?

What?

To the gardens?

...Alright.

They stole away off the balcony. Their friends inside didn't even notice though she knew Toph probably felt their retreating footsteps. For whatever reason the loud mouthed earthbender suddenly decided to try out subtlety and they weren't discovered.

He led her down onto a soft bed of finely cared for grass. A low wind rose and coasted over them both. She shivered but it wasn't one of cold, rather of pleasure; it was a balmy night and she enjoyed the feel of the agreeable weather.

They walked together, feet whispering through the grass as they matched their strides. He brought them to a stop at the edge of a small pond. The moon that had risen high above the Fire Nation was reflected in the still waters and she tipped her head back to look at the pale orb. Hello Yue, she thought.

When she felt his eyes upon her, she brought her gaze to meet his. He didn't try and cover his stare, didn't turn his head quickly at the last second so as to give the illusion he had been doing something else this entire time. Instead golden irises found her blue ones in the dark of the night and she didn't know why she suddenly felt so much like crying.

I...

Yes?

Never mind. He turned away from her and she closed her eyes briefly. Her own throat closed up as surely as his had before his aborted confession, for she was sure that was what had been about to spill from his lips.

My mother would bring me out here to feed the turtle-ducks, he said softly. She loved it here.

I can see why. The gardens, she was sure, were gorgeous in the day time. But they had an unmatched serenity at night. They were enchanting, the trees and the bushes and the flowers seeming to weave a spell over any visitors. Speak, the spell seemed to urge. Speak, do it now.

I...

Yes?

...Never mind.

She cursed herself for being a coward. Where was she to begin? And what purpose would it gain them? She might have saved his life in the Agni Kai but that didn't mean his people would welcome her with open arms. She was fine enough as his friend, as the Master Waterbender who had helped end the war, but as anything of importance to their nation they would not tolerate.

He would dig himself a hole he would never climb out of. And she, being the person she was, couldn't let that happen, couldn't be selfish enough to drag him to his ruin. No, better for them both to bite their tongues and bear it. After all, she knew war brought on strong emotions. She could chalk it up to that. Except you don't feel anything like this for Aang, her conscious chided. You were with him far longer and through a lot more. She told her conscious to shut up.

It was a few minutes more before he suggested-reluctantly-that they go back inside before they were missed. They turned as one and walked back across the grass, back toward their friends who would never know what was passing between them, back to the lives they would have to lead now that the war was over.

At some point between the garden and the balcony his hand sought out hers and she let their fingers intertwine, the touch linking them together.

"Master Katara?"

She turns. A servant stands a few feet behind her.

"The Water Tribe ships are preparing to set sail."

"Thank you. I'll be there presently."

The servant bows and disappears on quiet tread. She looks back to him. His gaze is unreadable but she recognizes a flicker of panic shoot through it because it is the same emotion that fills her chest and makes it a little harder to breathe. This is it.

"The gates of the Fire Nation are always open to you," he says for clear lack of anything else. His voice is hoarse and sounds as if he is forcing it from a place deep inside.

"Thank you. The South Pole would be honored by a visit from the Fire Lord."

He bows his head shortly. Wait, her mind screams. Wait, his echoes. Wait, just a few more minutes. But the formalities of parting are in motion.

"Safe travels," he rasps, voice nearly giving out. He seems about to take a step towards her, to close the small distance between them a little further. But evidently he thinks better of it. His hands fist at his sides, almost hidden in the folds of his robe.

"Thank you," she says.

There are no more words between them though both open their mouths twice more and then look away from the other, unable to put voice behind thought. Finally she bows in the way of her people. She feels more than sees him stiffen but he responds in kind, one hand fisted at the base of the open palm of the other.

Then she turns from him. She has gone no more than ten paces before her feet stick stubbornly to the floor. Her chest tightens and she screws her eyes shut against a sudden familiar sting. Her throat closes up. She takes a breath and it shudders as it passes into her lungs. It all feels so wrong to leave like this, to leave in this way after everything.

She spins on her heel. He watches her warily but his eyes widen in surprise-and hope-as she faces him once more. She takes two running steps and flings her arms around him. Fire Lord or no, he is not above a hug and she buries her face in his shoulder. It takes him a second but his hands slide across her back and he presses her to him, engulfing her with his heat.

"Take care of yourself, Zuko," she whispers into his ear.

"You too, Katara."