Aang POV

"Aang, I love you," she quietly mumbled into my ear after we kissed each other softly on the lips. Her deep, blue eyes looked straight into mine as I smiled at her.
"I love you too," I whispered, kissing her forehead, then walking back inside The Jasmine Dragon to resume spending time with my loved ones. Katara still lingered back on the balcony, looking up at the sky.
"HEY, MOMO!" I heard Sokka shout loudly, echoing throughtout the room. "YOU RUINED MY PAINTING!"
Momo looked up at him with his innocent looking eyes, not sure what he had done wrong, then scampered off into the corner. Suki giggled softly whilst covering her mouth.
"I'm pretty sure he didn't mean to, Sokka," she said after feeling sympathetic toward Momo.

I honestly didn't care about what was going on, I felt so calm and relaxed about the thought of what just happened, it was almost overwhelming. I sat down on one of the comfortable chairs as Iroh set down some tea infront of me. I looked up at him smiling, saying thank you, without needing to say anything. He returned the smile and sat down on the chair next to me.
"So Aang," he started to speak, I looked up at him, showing that I was listening, "what's going to happen now?"
"What do you mean?" I chuckled, "We ended the war, you've got your teashop back, and pretty much everything else is falling into place! I suppose now we just live."
"Fair enough," he said. I could still hear many things going on around me but I chose to ignore them as I looked up at Katara, who turned around, still blushing. I quickly looked down at my tea again. Even though I loved her eyes so much, I chose to avoid contact.

"Zuko, can I talk to you in private?" said Mai quietly to him. Although they were on the other side of the room, I could still hear her voice.
"Of course, Mai," he replied calmly, walking behind her into the back room. They closed the door behind them, wishing to not be disturbed.

Zuko POV

"What would you like to speak about?" I asked curiously, completely clueless as to what she brought me in for.
"I heard you talked to your father the night before we left to visit your uncle, what for?" she replied, sitting down on the stool by the counter.
"It's a long story," I said, "I don't feel like talking about it now."
It's true, I didn't. I could tell Mai didn't like the way I was talking and started to get suspicious. I stayed quiet though.
"Zuko, please," Mai said, starting to get uneasy about this conversation. I could tell she didn't want to bring up a fight, but she wasn't going to stop until she found out.
"I asked about my mother," I replied softly, "I thought he might know where she is. I just needed to know."
"And what happened?" she said. She turned to face the wall on her right and crossed her arms. I wasn't trying to hide anything from her, I just really didn't want to think about it.
"After half an hour of him not saying anything, he said that he heard a year ago that she was in the Earth Kingdom on a remote island, trying to start a new life," I said, still avoiding to say that bad part.
"But how did he know if she was trying to hide her real identity?" she asked, looking up at me with her confused eyes.
"She was caught not long after she finally found a place she liked, I don't know how, but word spread quickly about her after she was thrown off the island on only a small wooden boat," I said, trying to hold back any sign of me being upset "Now no one really knows, I suppose."
"That's terrible, Zuko," she frowned, and then hugged me to try and make me feel better, which it did.
"It's fine, Mai," I smiled after taking her arms off me and putting them around my waist, and then caressed her cheek and kissed her lightly.

We walked outside to face the other members of our "gang". We came across a very loud and unsettling atmosphere.
"YOU KISSED?" Sokka shouted, being held back by Suki as Aang was being protected by Uncle Iroh.
"Please son, calm down!" Uncle Iroh said, raising his voice slightly, "I'm sure Aang didn't do it just because he felt like it!"
"What's going on?" I meddled in with their conversation. I noticed Katara sobbing frantically in the corner with Momo on her shoulder.
"Please Sokka, let me explain," Aang said, with slight hesitation in his voice, "I love Katara, we love each other! I'm sorry, this must be so hard for you, but please, Sokka, calm down!"
"Aang kissed my sister, that's what's going on!" he yelled, almost breaking down. Mai held my arm and pulled me to the nearest table to sit down, she obviously didn't want to be involved. Her dark fringe covered her hair as she drank some tea. I was still interested to see what was going on, but she didn't want me to. I could understand why.

A couple minutes earlier...

Sokka POV

"Hey, Sokka," Aang walked up to me, winking and giving me a big smile.
"Hey Aang," I replied, still paying most attention to my new painting. Obviously my last capture of the moment was ruined by Momo, so I had to start all over again. Poor me, always having to do the work. I put most of the detail into Aangs robes and Suki's fan, I could tell this was going to be a masterpiece. My tongue was half hanging out my mouth and I squinted.
"So Sokka.." he said awkwardly, whilst scratching his neck and looked away from me. I looked up at him with confusion. I scratched my chin, examining his movement. He was hiding something.
"What's going on.." I said, with my eyebrows furrowed. I put my painting brush aside. He just smiled with his noticably big teeth.
"Well, the truth is Sokka, before you do anything," he stammered, "I need you to know that I really, really love her."
"Do you love Suki?" I asked with confusion, scratching my forehead. He responded with waving his hands and he started to break a sweat.
"No! NO!" he replied, trying to stop any confusion. "The truth is.. I kissed Katara."
I stayed silent for a few moments, trying to let the information sink in. Rage started building up inside me. How could he kiss my sister? One of my best friends, kissing my sister? What is wrong with him? How could he do this? To Katara? My SISTER? My nostrils started flaring and I leaned my elbows on the table with my hands holding my head, still so confused.
"Please Sokka, I-I really love Katara," he said. Now he LOVES HER? How could he? I started to tear up. My LITTLE sister.

Katara POV

I heard Sokka's screaming after I told Aang to talk to him, and I stood up as soon as I saw him standing up, it looked as though he was about to hit Aang, which I knew he would never do, but you never know. Suki held him back and tried to calm him down whilst Iroh stood before Aang as soon as he stood up. I loved Aang, and I didn't want Sokka to make this hard for us, even though I knew how hard it must be. I started to cry a bit, trying to say something but being choked up by my tears was so very annoying. I sat in the corner as Momo sat on my shoulder and said something that I obviously couldn't understand.
"It's okay, Momo," I said, and it was the only words I could say in between my neverending hysterics. I started crying again, burrying my eyes into my hands. At that moment I saw Zuko and Mai walk in.
"YOU KISSED?" were the words Sokka said, that were the words that really stood out. The words that made me sure that he was so angry because we love each other. I really love him, I don't know what to do. After a few more words were said, Sokka just stormed out onto the balcony, and I calmed down a bit after Suki was there to comfort me a bit.
"I think I should talk to Sokka," I said, wiping my eyes to get rid of any remaining tears.
"Whatever you think is best," Suki replied, and smiled at me, at patted my back. I stood up and walked outside, seeing him leaning against the edge of the balcony.
"Sokka.." I said a few feet behind him, "Please, calm down, I know this is hard for you, but you need to understand, I really do love Aang."
"It really is hard for me Katara. Aang is meant to be like, my best friend, and he really let me down," he sighed. I walked up to him and pushed his shoulder back so he was facing me, and hugged him.
"I really don't want to change anything between you, but I can't imagine Aang hurting me, if that's what you're worried about," I said. He felt slightly calmer, like he was just feeling protective of me, and wasn't sure if Aang would hurt me. After all, Aang was the person who I had my first ever kiss with. Of course I did have a slight crush on Jet the first time I met him, so he wasn't my first crush. Aang was more than just a crush though. I understand what Sokka means though, Jet really hurt me.

It's the same as Zuko, I started to feel sympathetic toward him in Ba Sing Se, and I felt like I really started to care about him, and I could relate to him. Yet again, he betrayed me, and went off with Azula. Now he's good again, just like Jet was, but it took a lot for me to start to trust him again.
"You know what Katara," he started to speak, "I'll be okay, with all this I mean."
I smiled so much, and hugged him even tighter than before, a single glistening teardrop fell down my cheek as I felt so thankful.
"Thank you, Sokka," I said, and walked back inside whilst holding his hand, so I knew he was following me, and I sat down with the rest of the gang, and we carried on normally. I really hoped this would be okay now.

End of Chapter 1