Chapter 4

Coronation day, Autumn Equinox

Standing at his balcony overlooking the inner gardens, Zuko tried to wrap his mind around the changes that had taken over his life. It felt like days had passed since he'd gone from being an exiled and reviled Prince clinging to his father's orders to return with the Avatar or not at all, being declared a hero, than exiled again tobecome the Fire-bending Master for the Avatar and now in a few hours- Fire Lord.

Since they'd received Sokka's first, hastily scrawled note saying that they were all okay, Zuko had found himself buried in work as he tried come up with solutions to problems that would- and already had- come up with the war's final end. Some would and would have to be solved by consensus with the other nations at the Peace Treaty Summit that the Order of the Lotus had already announced would be in three months time at the Winter Solstice before turning the newly re-conquered Ba Sing Se back over to the Earth King Kuei who had been tracked down and returned to the city by June and her shirshu at Iroh's request.

There hadn't been enough hours in the day and he'd often worked himself to sleep in the room that he'd claimed as his private office. More than once Katara had found him there sleeping- snoring was her phrase for it- on top of reports and messenger scrolls. At first she'd seemed to understand why he was working so hard, but after finding him nodding bleary eyed and half asleep over a bowl of rice one morning she had thrown a fit.

Zuko snorted as he recalled the incident. He'd been up all night trying to come up with a solution about what to do with the century old colonies in the Earth Nation with no success. Already frustrated by his lack of success he hadn't reacted well when she'd asked in that maddeningly sweet voice of hers if he was trying to finish what his sister had started. Pointing out that at least I hadn't passed out probably wasn't the best idea I've ever had, which is saying something. He reflected ruefully. Every grain of rice in his bowl had suddenly pelleted him as hard as frozen pieces of hail before she'd curled her lip in a sneer and left the room in a huff. But not without causing the contents from several vases and a pot of tea to drench him to the bone in ice cold water.

She had barely spoken to him for days and had completely stopped checking up on him at night- something Zuko had been surprised to discover that he missed. Already irritated at Katara, his mood hadn't improved when he'd realized that the entire palace staff and the Palace guards had been amused by their fight. It hadn't taken him long to realize either that they were also in agreement with the Master Waterbender as suddenly his days were scheduled as strictly as an army regiment's.

When he'd protested to Col. Karo that the guards couldn't just barge into a meeting because it ran late with the excuse of "Your Highness, its your relaxation time" like he was a kid who needed a nap, the colonel had smiled blandly and said he'd speak to the men. Privately, Zuko had to admit that since his enforced afternoon "relaxation times" his stamina had improved remarkably and he'd been able to start training again faster than he'd expected. From what Katara and Sokka had said about Aang's injury, it'd been nearly a month before Aang had been recovered enough to seriously train. Not that I'm about to tell Katara that. She's already got the entire Palace on her side.

His mouth quirked in a bitter smile as he reflected on the reason why. He'd been horrified himself when Karo had described how he'd come to return to duty- Karo had retired the year after his father had become Fire Lord- and why. At his insistence, they been going to see the captain so he could see the damage himself when they'd heard shouting coming from the captain's room. Rushing inside, Zuko been shocked to see Katara unconscious in a guardsman's arms.

At the look on his face, the guard had rushed to explain. In a flurry of explanations from both the guard still holding Katara and the physician Zuko dimly remembered as being one of the ones who'd worked on him after the fateful Agni Ki with his father, it became obvious what had happened.

Katara had tried to heal the captain and overextended herself.

Too much major healing too close together was the doctor's diagnosis- like Azula, Katara was gifted and had no concept of pacing or limits to her bending. Shiro apologized profusely, admitting that he should have stopped the waterbender sooner, but the hope that she might be able to save the dying soldier had overridden his common sense and he hadn't considered how quickly Katara would end up tiring.

Shiro had proscribed a good night's sleep and no strenuous activity. From the pointed look the physician had leveled his way, Zuko had a feeling the doctor suspected that his feelings for Katara were more than that of friends. He'd assured the doctor that she'd be undisturbed and Shiro reluctantly allowed her to be returned to her rooms. Zuko refrained from informing the doctor that Katara had slept in his room the night before and simply directed the men to take her to the apartments closest to his.

It'd been his turn to watch over her. As he watched her sleep, Zuko had come to the realization that he was coming to care deeply for the waterbender- and had for some time. Once, Uncle had asked him when they'd first ran into June and hired her to track down the Avatar why he had kept the necklace that he'd found on the prison ship and Zuko hadn't been able to give him an answer then or later.

He hadn't even known her name when he'd found it on the deck of the ship- or how he'd been able to recognize it considering their brief encounters up until that point but he had and he as frustrated as he had been at the time, he hadn't been able throw it away or destroy it although he had no use for it and no reason to keep it at the time. She'd been nothing to him then, no more than a companion of the Avatar's. But he'd kept her necklace.

At some point and Zuko still wasn't sure when, that had changed. She'd gone from being an irritant to a challenge that he not only enjoyed testing himself against, but also sought to help if he could. Friends, yes- but more than that. A lot more. More than he'd ever felt for anyone else, even Mai.

The next morning Katara had been fully recovered and back to her usual bossy self, but Zuko had found that their relationship had changed- or maybe it was his new awareness of his feelings for her that had changed things and as always, he hadn't handled it well. Girls, how to act around them and relationships were completely foreign to him and he hadn't known how to tell her what he was feeling- so he'd buried himself in work. Agni knew there was more than enough to bury the entire fleet. That idea had gotten him soaked and even weeks later, he still wasn't sure how to deal with it. Since "the rice episode" as the guards had taken to calling it and Katara had started talking to him again, they'd been okay- not like before, but okay. Friends at least.

Katara had continued her healing sessions on Captain Shian, who'd made what Shiro declared was a miraculous recovery, as well as run the Palace household. Its not like you have the time or interest to keep up with how much rice is needed to feed the entire Palace, Zuko and I'm not going to let you work yourself to death trying to manage the Palace as well fix everything else. She'd said to him sternly and somehow that had also led to Katara being the one to organize and arrange for his coronation as Fire Lord.

Which I really should finish getting ready for- He thought, turning away from the balcony and picking up the formal robes he'd be crowned in. Hissing at the tightness that skated across his chest as muscles protested the still sore scar site- Katara said it'd take months before it was fully healed, and even then the scar tissue would probably give him trouble from time to time- he began to shrug into the m only to pause as he heard his door open.

"Need any help?"

Author's Note-

Thanks muchly for the kind reviews! I'm glad y'all are liking my version of How It Should Have Ended and hope you continue to enjoy it! Any and all reviews or critiques are welcome- even the bad ones. I use flames to keep my toes warm- (extra points to anyone who recognizes that reference btw :P)

Just wanted to add a quick word on the timing of events- the finale wrap up is pretty rushed- which is understandable-but if you think about it, it would've taken weeks to go between the battles and Zuko's coronation, much less the gathering at Iroh's.

So, going on the theory of a normal 12 month calendar with Summer Solstice in June and Souzin's Comet at "the end of summer" I loosely interrpret as being late August (I live in New England, and summer is definetly over by September 21st- usually by several weeks) so I've set Zuko's coronation on the autumn equinox and the party at Iroh's will be around the Winter Solstice.