The first rays of morning light would be shining through the red curtained window of the Fire Palace's guest room soon, but Katara had no time for enjoying the luxury of sleep. The piercing sound of Elsa's wail woke her out of her slumber, and she wearily made her way out of the comfort of bed over to the crying infant. Katara had come to realise this was one of the joys of motherhood, being robbed of any sleep. She shushed the baby as she rocked it gently in her arms, but the crying didn't cease. She hoped Elsa wasn't hungry, she'd used up the last of the Cow-Hippo milk she'd brought with her to the fire nation last night. She knew she'd be able to get more in the kitchens, but she couldn't carry a crying baby through the halls of the palace while everyone was sure the still be asleep. She couldn't leave Elsa here, either, she'd just keep wailing and they'd face the same problem as the latter.

Unfortunately, she didn't have much time to think about this issue as the guest room door swung open to reveal a girl with jet-black hair and an annoyed expression plastered on her usually emotionless face. Oh, and a mortified Zuko drifting behind her.
"Why in Agni's name can I hea- Katara!?" If Mai was anyone else, her irritated manner would have changed to one of pure surprise. But she was Mai, so the look on her face hardly changed at all. Katara smiled sheepishly.

"Hi, Mai." She said as casually as she could. The two girls had never really got along, but they'd always been tolerant of each other for Zuko's sake. The waterbender was determined to make today no different.

"When did you get here?" Mai asked slowly, and then turned to Zuko. "Did you know she was here?"

"She got here last night." The shaggy-haired boy said, and then tried to explain. "You were asleep and I didn't want to wake you."

"It's true. I thought my ship would arrive in the afternoon, but it didn't. Obviously." Katara added. Awkward moments really weren't her thing, and this was one of them. The older girl seemed unconvinced, but didn't pry further.

"Is that yours?" She asked, nodding towards the tiny baby in Katara's arms. The younger girl didn't trust herself to answer, so she just stayed silent. "Who's is it? It couldn't be Aangs...?"

Katara almost burst out laughing at the suggestion of this. What, did Mai really think she'd have sex with a twelve-year-old? Though it was true that as far as Mai knew, there was no-one else to be the baby's father. Katara and Aang had dated for a short period of time after the war; instigated by their kiss in Ba Sing Se, but it didn't take long for her to realise she felt too motherly towards him for there to be any sort of romance in their future. But there had never been anyone else, except Zuko. There was no way Mai was going to find out about that one.

"Just a hook-up..." She mumbled, not able to bring herself to make eye-contact. Mai almost looked shocked; while she never particularly liked her, she'd always thought Katara to be somewhat sensible. Getting knocked up by a stranger was certainly not the definition of sensible.

"Jet? I'd always thought you'd get back with him again." Mai guessed. Courtesy of Toph, nearly the whole world knew about that little episode. Of course she hadn't been there at the time it had happened, but she'd heard more than about it from Sokka and Aang. Zuko groaned at the mention of the name, Jet's little fling with Katara was just one of many things on his list of reasons to hate the guy.

"Jet died in Lake Laogai." Katara said through gritted teeth; she hated talking about him. He'd been killed so soon after they'd made up, it was just painful to think about him.

"Really?" Zuko asked, speaking for the second time. He hadn't been there at the time of Jet's passing, and no-one had ever brought it up.

"Yeah, don't you remember it from the play on Ember Island?"

"That was really unclear..."

"Yeah, well, he did."

"So if Jet isn't the father, who is?" Mai asked, more curious than Katara had ever seen her. She wished the older girl would shut up though, she was running out of excuses to give her. Normally Mai wouldn't care one way or the other, it was almost as though she could sense there was something being hidden from her.

"I told you, a hook-up. I don't even remember." Katara lied, cringing as she spoke. She knew she was making herself out to be a huge floozy, but it was the only way she could think of to protect her and Zuko's secret. Then she noticed Elsa had stopped crying. It was the perfect subject changer. "Look, she's gone back to sleep now. Why don't you two go back to your room and we can talk again in the morning."

Mai nodded, seeming to agree with this idea. Without another word she left, leaving Zuko and Katara alone in the room together. For a second there was an awkward moment of silence.

"Look -" They both said in unison, and then paused, followed by another silence. Finally, Zuko spoke. "You first."

"We really need to make up a story for this... and a plan." The waterbender declared, setting Elsa down in a cot. Zuko chuckled slightly.

"That's not the first time I've heard you say that." He said, and Katara smiled. In all truth, she missed their days together during the war. Not the war itself, she could never miss that. But she did miss spending time with him. She'd never realised it while she'd been home in the Souther Water-Tribe, she'd always been too busy with healing or her pregnancy. Their evenings together on Ember Island's beach were ones she'd never forget. In that moment, she'd have given anything to have those nights back. It was silly for her to miss them this much, but she really did.

"I'm serious!" She giggled, feeling a little like her younger self. "We really do, and I have so much to tell you.."

"Do you think it can wait until the morning? If I'm too much longer, Mai's going to come looking for me." He said, glancing in the direction of the door slightly. Katara sighed. For a brief, pleasant moment, she'd forgotten Zuko was with Mai. But reality always had a way of sneaking back into her mind.

"You're right. Good night, Zuko."

"Night, Katara."

-o-

The next afternoon Katara sat on the verandah over looking the palace courtyard. It was a beautiful day, typical Fire Nation weather. The sun shone radiantly in a pure blue sky, and the air around her was fresh and clear. A servant girl had kindly offered to take Elsa for a stroll for an hour to give Katara time to herself, and so she was taking this opportunity to write to Sokka. She'd promised she'd write to him when she arrived in the Fire Nation. He knew about Elsa and who's she was, although for a while he'd been fed the same lie as Mai. Katara had managed to hold up this lie for almost eight months, but she'd been unable to think up a plausible reason for her travel to the Fire Nation. After all, there was no reason why it was Zuko in particular she was visiting and not Toph and Aang. At first Sokka was furious, but after a while he seemed to calm down a bit. He and Zuko had become close friends during and after the war, and he didn't really want to end their friendship so abruptly.

Dear Sokka,

I've arrived in the Fire Nation safely. Zuko knows about Elsa, he reacted much better than expected. I'm going to stay here for a few weeks to give him time to spend with her and to make some sort of agreement. We both agreed Mai can't know, the fewer people who find out about this the better. That includes Toph, Aang and Suki. I know you want to tell them... but I'm not ready yet. Even if they're not unbelievably angry with me (which I expect they will be), I don't think I will be able to deal with all the teasing and statements of 'I told you they were together!' that are sure to follow.

Katara smiled affectionately as she wrote this, her friends had always been on her back about Zuko. Ever since they started disappearing together on Ember Island, there had been suspicions. Especially from Toph and Suki. She knew the only reason Suki wanted them to be together was because she secretly thought Zuko was hot. She'd found this out one day while overhearing the warrior girl describe Zuko's appearance to Toph. The way she'd described him had definitely not been the way you'd describe someone unattractive, or even ordinary. Of course, she'd never be unfaithful to Sokka, though. Katara knew the older girl was certainly no floozy and besides, who could blame her for thinking Zuko had a great body? He did.

Speaking of those three, be sure to tell them to write to me if you see them while in the Earth Kingdom. I'm dying to know how rebuilding and such is going on. I really wish I could be there and part of it all, but healing duties do call... well, and other duties too. I hope I taught you a lesson here, Sokka, always have safe sex! Well, not that you even have any time for that with all the distance between you and Suki. Don't worry, aren't you leaving to visit her soon?

Even though they had still been desperate to keep their relationship together, Sokka and Suki hadn't been able to figure out a way to live in the same place. Sokka needed to return to the water tribes to prepare for Hakoda handing Chief duties over to him, and the Kyoshi Warriors had been offered a position as the Earth King's bodyguards. The two were still trying to make their relationship work though, and had organised for Sokka to take regular trips to the Earth Kingdom to visit. Suki would also try to visit the water-tribes when time allowed.

I'm sure Zuko's kept you updated on all things Fire Nation, so I won't bother to tell you how he is. Not that I even know myself yet, my ship only arrived last night. Do you think you'll be able to make a stop here on the way back from the Earth Kingdom? Zuko wouldn't mind seeing you, and I miss you already.

Write back soon.

Love, Katara.

Katara rolled the parchment up and tied it safely to the ankle of a messenger hawk with a blue ribbon. As the bird took off into the sky, she watched, stretching back in her chair. She was enjoying the warmth, it wasn't something she had very often back home. All she needed now to complete the picture was a nice cup of jasmine tea.


Author's Note: If you continued up to Chapter Two with this story, I thank you heaps! I'm quite proud of myself for sticking to my schedule of updating on the weekend, hopefully that's something I'll be able to keep up with for the rest of this.

EMAGINX: "I am not going to lie, the name Elsa seems very out of place within the Avatar world and the characters" Thank you for your comment, and I totally agree with you! Most of the names in the Avatar universe are from either an Inuit or Asian origin, and I think Elsa is Swedish? I had almost been going to name the baby a cross between Inuit and Japanese (If I could find such a name), but then I read the tumblr theory and thought it was wonderful! Also, I think that standing out can be a good thing if you look at it in a certain perspective. Again, thank you for your review!

In this chapter we learned a little about what's been going on in the world after the war. I'd just like to go over that now; there were a few points I found difficult to write into the actual story. In my head-canon, here is what's happening: Katara and Sokka are residing in the Southern Water- Tribe. Katara is learning to be a master healer from Yugoda, and Sokka is preparing for the day Hakoda will hand over being Chief to him. With Hakoda as current Chief, it would be customary for Sokka to be next in line, and I'm not sure the people of the water-tribe would be particularly happy with that if Sokka was constantly floating around in other areas of the world. Sokka and Suki are still a couple, but are living in different areas. They try to keep their relationship working, and plan frequent trips between the Earth Kingdom and Water-Tribes to visit each other.

Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors have been invited by the Earth King to be his personal bodyguards. After the Dai Li betrayed the Earth Kingdom, the King would be in need of another group to protect him and Ba Sing Se, and I think Suki's group could work fine for this. She was particularly happy with this as it allowed her to be close to Aang and Toph, who are also in Ba Sing Se at the current point in time.

As the Avatar, Aang would be expecting to take part in peace and rebuilding meetings. I think a lot of these would happen in the Earth Kingdom; the region the war affected the most. While she'd always write to them, I don't think Toph would be keen to return to her parents immediately after the war, so she's helping Aang and the peace committee out. Her earth-bending skills would come in handy for rebuilding. Also, while I don't (currently) have any plans for this, I think Taang is absolutely the most adorable ship!

As far as other relationships are concerned, Zuko is with Mai and Katara is single. Zuko might or might not be happy with Mai, but has made no plans for a wedding. (Much to her displeasure). I think that in the back of their minds, Katara and Zuko still have tiny feelings for each other. But we'll see.

I strongly suggest you readers search up When The Day Met The Night (Panic! At The Disco) and Dirty Little Secret (The All-American Rejects), because they are my two favourite Zutara songs at the moment! Dirty Little Secret is actually going to be my song for the prequel to this story. Look them up!

Next chapter, we'll see a little chat between Katara and Mai, and other fun and games!