A/N: Thank you for the reviews and follows. I'm sorry for the delay on this chapter, but more reviews would certainly inspire some creativity. I'm not trying to be withholding. I need the criticism/encouragement. I know Mai dying is cheap, but 15 years have passed. Lots can happen in 15 years! Anyway, I still appreciate any reviews/advice you can offer. Enjoy this really long chapter!

The gardens where more beautiful than she remembered.

Again, her mind fell to the past.

One balmy evening, fifteen years ago, she and the Fire Lord lazed by the pond. She cupped a fire lily blossom between her fingers as she breathed in the clean sweet scent. The red petals danced in the wind. "I love these," She told him. "We don't have any flowers in the south pole, but these somehow smell like home." Zuko smiled at her sadly. "This could be your home," He said, he put his hand on her cheek. She smiled sadly, back at him, but let her protests die on her tongue as she kissed him. They lazed in a patch of soft grass under a tree near the pond.

But now, the patch was completely covered by the red fire lilies. They looked passionate and bright in their well groomed patch.

Did he have those planted? She wondered.

Iroh's kind voice called her back to the present. "Thank you for joining me, Master Katara." He gestured at the empty chair across from him.

"Just Katara is fine, Iroh." She smiled at him and took a seat. "Sorry I'm late." He waved off her apology kindly. "Not to worry. I have ways to keep the tea from getting cold," He winked at her. Iroh nodded at two servants who stood at the edge of the gardens under the palace's awning. They bowed and stepped inside, leaving the waterbender and the retired general alone. "Where is Sokka?" Katara began to worry that she had played right into one of the old man's tricks. "He agreed to catch up with me this evening instead," Iroh grinned mischievously. Katara huffed at him, defeated.

"I trust that you are living comfortably on Kyoshi." Iroh began his clever game. She knew enough of this man that she would not be able to keep up.

"We are. I am grateful for the Fire Nation's assistance, but I assure you, it is far too generous, as I have told you before." Katara tried not to betray anything more with her expressions.

"Yes," Iroh admitted, "You have mentioned that in your letters, but I trust that you have me confused with you actual benefactor. I have never sent you any money. Nor has the Fire Nation treasury. The assistance comes directly from the Fire Lord's personal accounts. I have no control over what he does wih his money."

Katara did not know how to counter that, so she opted to hide in her silence. She took another sip of her tea.

"Is he a bender?" Iroh persisted in conversation.

Katara kept her expression guarded, "Who wants to know?" she asked.

"Both of us," Iroh admitted. "You know he knows about the boy. Why are you still trying to hide it?"

"I'm not hiding him! I'm protecting him! There are a lot of things that I know from correspondence, but there's a lot that I don't know either. I didn't know about Mai dying until three weeks after, when my family received a funeral summons. I didn't know you even knew about Lee until he was three years old!"

Iroh's eye's fell to his tea cup, "I didn't know about Lee until he was three. I began to partake in the scrutiny of royal spending and noticed money missing from Zuko's accounts. He avoided my curiosity for weeks, and I began to assume the worst. Mai finally told me."

Katara sputtered her tea in surprise, "Mai knew?!"

Iroh nodded. "I do not know the specific details. Their marriage was a loveless one, but Zuko was a dutiful husband. They shared accounts, so it was only natural that she would notice the missing money and become as curious as I had. She kept his secret responsibly. She was an understanding woman, perhaps to a fault. From the outsider's perspective, she never held it against him."

Katara played with the hem of her napkin. She had no idea. Who else knew? She had gone through her whole life believing that only her family knew of Lee's parentage. Her family, and Zuko himself, of course. On Lee's first birthday, a gift arrived. Beautifully painted toy ships. Lee adored them, and marveled that they actually floated upright in his bathtub. And Katara received a bag of Fire Nation gold. No letter, no message. Only the Royal Fire Nation seal on the package.

There were rumors of course, but most simply assumed that his father had been a Water Tribesman. She told her friends that the war took Lee's father away from her, so many believed he was a fallen warrior. They never pressed the issue so as to respect her grief. It wasn't a lie though. The way the war ended took Zuko from her. She didn't fall for him until after their victory. But that victory put the crown on his head and demanded many things of his life. He didn't understand that at first. But she wouldn't let him throw it away for her.

The gifts continued for the last fourteen years. Every birthday, Lee received something new. A fake sword, though it looked as expensive and intricate as a real one. A beautiful calligraphy set. Delicious teas and incense. For his ninth birthday, he got a bicycle. But as he grew older, he began to wonder where the gifts came from. Katara told him that he had an uncle who lived in the north pole and wasn't well enough to travel. She hoped she would be able to think up a better excuse by the time that he stopped believing he had a sick uncle. She hid the money from him, and prayed that the sensitive boy didn't know more than he was letting on.

Iroh finished his cup of tea and slowly stood from the table, "I think you should talk to Zuko, Master Katara." He set the cup back onto the table. She felt guilty under his gaze. She bowed her head to avoid his eyes.

"One more thing," Iroh asked, in a lighter tone.

Katara looked up at him.

"Is he a bender?" Iroh asked.

Katara smiled slowly, "Water" she admitted.

Iroh smiled back at her, "Of course." The old man turned to leave.

"But Iroh," he turned back to her. "He can heat it." The old man raised a bushy gray eyebrow at her.

"Isn't that interesting." He chuckled and took his leave.

Katara decided she would have to find that stout woman and let her know that she would be taking her supper in her room. She would say that she had a headache and was weary from travelling. It had been years since Katara had been anywhere but Kyoshi and the south pole but she knew her name still demanded respect. The maid would not question a woman of her status.

Katara arrived at the door to her room feeling emotionally drained. Hopefully the woman would be nearby. Katara didn't want to have to search for her. A guard bowed low and opened her door. She nodded respectfully before entering. Behind her, the door closed taking the light of the hall with it. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, as the sun had fully set outside.

Suddenly, all the sconces lit on the walls around her. She gasped in shock. A lone figure sat on the edge of her bed in the shadows of the still dim room. Even without the crown on his head, Katara could not mistake the Fire Lord who sat in her room.

"What are you doing here?!" She demanded. Perhaps a little to harshly she mused. She was, after all, a guest in his home. But not a willing one. He must know that.

As her eyes began to adjust to the darkness, she noticed him staring down to his hands fitted together nervously. He made no attempts to answer her question. She walked to the bathroom and poured herself a glass of water, chilling the liquid in her hands before filling the glass. She enter the bedroom again to find that he had not moved out of his pensive state. Just as Katara began to sit in the chair that Aang had sat only a few hours earlier, she thought maybe she should offer him some water.

"Do you want a glass of water?" She ventured. He looked up to meet her gaze for the first time since she stepped off of the ship hours ago.

"No," His voice was gruff. His hands fell to rest on either side of him on the bed. "No, thank you."

Katara felt the tension weigh on her like humidity. "Is there something you wanted, or did you just want to check up on me?" She asked, perhaps a note too condescendingly.

Zuko looked around the room, and cleared his throat awkwardly, "Yes, I wanted to..." He again struggled for a moment internally before again making eye contact with the waterbender, "I wanted to ask how Lee is."

They had never discussed their love child before. And Katara hadn't thought they ever would. She had no idea where to start. Her instinct told her to be angry. How dare he! He had made no efforts to contact her about him before and now she is called to negotiate her way through some mess he made with the Earth Kingdom, and he has the nerve to...

But they had agreed that the distance was for the best. But that was also before they knew she was pregnant. But he couldn't go reaching out to an ex when he had a nation the rule and a wife and children. And he did send all of those gifts and money. There was no doubt that he felt some kind of way about their situation.

Zuko waited patiently for Katara to sort out her thoughts, his gaze remaining on her.

"He, uh..." She started the sentence without knowing how to finish it. "He's good, Zuko" She said with as much composure as she could muster.

He sunk his face into his hands, frustrated. "I'm sorry," He said through his palms. "I shouldn't have come in here..." He threw his hands above his head with exasperation, "...I don't know what I was expecting. Ugh!" He stood and began to pace the floor. "I just have spent so long not knowing about... And now! Now you're here! I mean, I'm a grown man. A Fire Lord! And I can't even formulate a complete sentence about my son."

Katara was speechless. It was all out in the open as it had never been before. Her nurturing instinct told her to go to him, to comfort him. But what could she say 'It's okay Zuko'? It wasn't okay. It was a mess. A mess that they made, and then proceeded to ignore for fifteen years.

"I mean, what are you thinking, Katara, because I have no idea how to handle this! I've gone this whole time, doing what I could for you, and keeping my distance. I never knew if it was the right thing to do, but I didn't know what else to do!" He sat down on the edge of the bed again and leaned on his hands behind him. He stared at her expectantly awaiting an answer.

"I don't know!" She shouted. "Do you think I had any idea what I was doing?! I don't know if I'm raising him right! I'm just doing all I can on my own!" She knew her disconnected thoughts were translating into disconnected sentences, "What do you want me to tell you? That I forgive you for letting me figure this out on my own?! That I understand your pain and confusion? I'm the one who had to raise a kid by herself! I'm the one who had to deal with him when he started asking me who his father is!"

Zuko's eyes went wide, "He asks about me?" He said softly.

Katara was caught off guard by the tender sincerity of his question. "He... yes. He started to ask when he was five." She replied, not unkindly.

"And..." Katara sensed that Zuko was about to ask a question he might not like the answer to, "And what do you tell him?" He finally mustered.

Katara felt suddenly ashamed. Though, she didn't know why. It wasn't as if she could have told Lee about Zuko. How could any woman tell a child that his father was a wealthy ruler in a far away land, a war hero, with a family all his own. It would've crushed Lee. But now she didn't know what to tell Zuko to keep him from being crushed. She couldn't lie to him though. In a strange way, Zuko had a right to know. And Iroh was right: after all these years, she owed Zuko some answers.

"I tell him that I lost his father from the war."

Zuko laughed without humor, "Clever. It's not the truth, but it's not a lie either."

"Yeah." Katara sighed. She thought again about what Aang and Iroh had told her. She steeled herself for what she was sure would be a difficult night. "What else do you want to know about him?"

Zuko looked at her, surprised. She could glean that he hadn't expected her to be so open about their child. He looked conflicted though, as if he knew how hard it must be for her to talk about it, but he still wanted to know.

He did not hesitate long, "What is he like?"

"He's very smart, too smart for his own good," Katara smiled despite herself. "He's so somber and serious, though. But still very sensitive. He can somehow always pick up on my emotions, whether I'm having a bad day or a good one, he notices. He actually..." Katara laughed to herself, "He'll make me tea when I'm sick. It tastes gods-awful, but if it isn't the sweetest thing in the world..."

Zuko smiled at her. "What else?"

They talked well into the night. Katara told him about Lee's kind spirit, his bending prowess, his discipline, and his eagerness to learn more, to always be better. She told Zuko about Lee's first birthday, and his second, and every birthday the father had missed. She told him about his infrequent attempts at humor. She told him about his hopelessness with girls. She told him about how handsome he was with his caramel skin, his wide golden eyes, and his wavy mass of dark brown hair.

Zuko laughed at Katara's funny stories. He teared up when she mentioned something that he felt he should have been there for. Katara spoke briefly about her fling with a Southern Watertribe warrior Kinu. She attempted to skim over it, but when she mentioned Lee and Kinu surfing together, Zuko pressed the issue. His curiosity made her uncomfortable, so she quickly shifted the conversation to another anecdote about their son.

They talked until light began to seep into the room, surreptitiously, and unwelcome. Zuko felt the dawn in his core, and quickly stood. "I need to get going. I should be in my room when the servants come to wake me."

Katara understood. She could only imagine how the discovery of their night together, though perfectly without romance, would implicate them. She stood to open the door for him. Zuko shook his head at her, "No, too risky." He opened the doors to the armoire that stood against the east wall of her quarters. He pushed aside the hanging robes and fiddled with something at the back of the wardrobe. Katara peered at him quizzically. "Trap door," He answered her silent question. "Security measure, in the event of an evacuation."

Katara wasn't sure whether to fascinated at the ingenuity or displeased that the Fire Lord had secret access to her quarters.

"Thank you, Katara," he said. She decided to figure out how she felt about it later. And let the Fire Lord know.

"Of course," she replied, shyly.

Before she knew it, he pulled her into a hug. "I hope we can talk more while you're here." He said without letting her go. "And... I'm sorry." He finally let her go. "Me too." She replied. And without another word, the Fire Lord disappeared into the darkness of the armoire. Katara stared at the open dresser a moment before shutting the doors.