A/N: Next update Monday morning. Thanks for reading.

Chapter Three

The Fire Nation Palace courtyard was alive with a bursting fireworks display and ribbons of colorful streamers in honor of the newly crowned Firelord. A grand banquet had been laid out to all in attendance, a perfect, culinary representation of the varying nations present. It was a celebration meant to foreshadow the Avatar and Firelord's intentions for the world: global peace and harmony.

Katara might have been moved by the display if she weren't so preoccupied with thoughts of Aang. She had spent two scrupulous hours formulating exactly what she would say to him. And then, if that weren't enough preparation, she went so far as to scribble the words on scroll parchment and practice the speech aloud. After much contemplation on the matter, Katara decided that simply blurting out her feelings would not do at all, especially given the last time they had discussed the state of their romantic relationship she had been less than receptive. This time, however, Katara had a plan and she was prepared.

She tried several different inflections, from somber and reserved to giddy and hyperventilating. She was quite beside herself about because, as far as Katara was concerned, this was probably going to be one of the most important speeches of her life. She wanted it to be perfect. Aang deserved nothing less than the best from her. After all, he had given her nothing less of himself.

Her plan was to begin by expressing to Aang how much his friendship meant to her and how, at one time, she had never imagined or even hoped for more. But her feelings had evolved without her even being fully aware of it. She never made the conscious decision that she would love him at all, but simply realized one day that it had happened. She loved him and now she knew it.

Yet, as she sought him out though the crowd of guests, she found herself suddenly tongue-tied and overwhelmed. It was much the way she'd felt when he had stood before the mixed crowd of Watertribe, Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation nationals that morning being hailed for the hero he was. Wanting to say the words and actually saying the words were two completely different things. However, while Katara had difficulty with the actual voicing of her feelings, she had a much easier time with displaying them. She didn't even think to hold back her smiles from Aang and took the opportunity to touch him whenever she could.

When she spotted him, she smiled to herself. He was talking with her brother, father and Suki. Sokka stood with his arm draped around Suki's shoulder while, apparently laughing at something Aang had said. Her father regarded them both with an indescribable expression on his head, shaking his head in obvious amusement. For Katara, it was almost like an omen seeing him standing there with her family. The familial scene helped to settle a big portion of the disquietude swelling in her chest.

"What did I miss?" she asked brightly when she reached them.

With her sudden approach, Aang's heart gave a reflexive lurch, the way it usually did whenever she was near to him. However, it made a sincere effort not to read too much into her warm smile or the fact that she was standing so unbelievably close to him that the backs of their hands brushed. He checked the impulse to lace his fingers with hers. "Sokka was just telling me that Suki's going to be going back home with you guys," he told her.

"She is?" Katara asked. She glanced over at Suki in a mixture of surprise and shock. "You are?"

"I hope you don't mind," Suki said.

"Of course, I don't mind!" Katara cried excitedly. "Being the only girl isn't all it's cracked up to be. I mean, there's Gran Gran, but well…she's Gran Gran," she finished in a disjointed grumble.

After the laughter over that died down a little, Sokka went on to explain, "Suki coming along was kind of a last minute thing. Since we're all going to be busy with the Reconstruction work now that the war is finally over, this is probably the most opportune time for Dad and Suki to get to know each other better."

"Get to know each other better, huh?" Katara repeated, bouncing a sly smile between her brother and Suki. "Now why would you want them to do that?"

"Well, Suki and I are dating," Sokka stressed.

"And?" Katara prodded.

"And what?" Sokka retorted with some annoyance.

"Just admit it, Sokka," his sister teased mercilessly. "You're in love. You're in love with Suki."

"That is none of your business," Sokka sniffed disdainfully.

"Sokka loves Suki, Sokka loves Suki," Katara sang in retort.

The young couple's cheeks bloomed with mutual color. "Cut it out, Katara," Sokka warned between clenched teeth.

"Come on, Sokka," she needled further. "Just say it. I want to hear you, Mr. Machismo Man himself, admit that he was brought to his knees by a female warrior who kicked his butt and stole his heart. Gran Gran's gonna die."

Largely ignoring the majority of Katara's ribbing, Sokka zoomed in on one, particular statement. "For the record, she did not kick my butt." He flashed a desperate look over at his father. "She didn't kick my butt."

"Excuse me?" Suki huffed confrontationally.

After some ineffectual stammering, Sokka finally settled with a murderous death glare at his sister and Aang who was quite unsuccessful at stifling his laughter. "I'm going to get you for this."

"Aww, there's no shame in being whipped, Sokka," she teased further. "Accept it."

"Dad! Make her stop!" Sokka whined.

"Katara, quit aggravating your brother," Hakoda scolded obligingly. "You'd do well to follow his example," he went on in a judicious tone, spurring Sokka to direct a "ha ha" face at his sister, "I've been wondering when you would arrange time for Aang and I to get to know one another better."

His pointed insinuation that something romantic was evolving between them left both Katara and Aang blushing wildly, sputtering for excuses and nervously avoiding each other's eyes. Sokka, on the other hand, had little difficulty speaking up on the matter. "Why do you need to get to know him better?" he wondered aloud. "He's just Aang, a goofy, bald kid with arrows who saved the world. What you see is what you get, Dad."

"Thank you, Sokka," Katara intoned with stiff derision, "for that wise assessment."

Her brother grinned wolfishly. "No problem, little sis."

"Katara said you might be coming back home with us as well, Aang," Hakoda remarked.

Now it was Aang's turn to be put on the spot and he blushed even harder than before. "I…I…well…"

"Dad!" Katara screeched in a low, exasperated tone. "I told you he's thinking about it. Don't pressure him."

"I'm not pressuring him," Hakoda denied. "Aang, do you feel pressure?"

"No," Aang squeaked, though the subtle twitching of his left eye told a different story. "I don't feel any pressure. None at all."

"You see?" her father crowed triumphantly.

"He's too nice to tell you you're bullying him," Katara declared.

"I'm just saying that if he wants to come, then he should," Hakoda replied magnanimously. "I'm quite interested in knowing what his intentions are towards you."

While Sokka burst into noisy laughter over that, Katara sputtered in affront. "Oh…oh…well, that's it! We're leaving!" she announced, placing her hands firmly on Aang's shoulders and nudging him through the crowd, away from her family. When they had gained some modicum of privacy on the fringes of the crowd, Katara wasted no time in apologizing for her father's presumptuousness. "I hope he didn't embarrass you."

"I'm fine," Aang replied. "I'm just wondering if it was more embarrassing for you."

"Well, I'm not exactly ready to talk about it with them," Katara admitted nervously. "I haven't even really talked about it with you yet." She paused to inhale a deep, fortifying breath. "Which kind of brings me around to the real reason I pulled you over here…"

Aang was suddenly encompassed with a looming sense of dread. This is it, he thought frantically, this is the moment when she tells me she only wants to be friends. Theoretically, Aang felt like he was ready to hear it and move on. At least then he would know where he stood. Emotionally, however, he was nowhere even close to that. What he faced now was the prospect of plummeting from an absolute high to an abysmal low. He was not quite ready to let go of the good feeling inside him. There was an undeniable part of him that wanted to run, that wanted to pretend for just a while longer that they had a chance together.

Yet, he didn't run. He stood in place and waited for her to say her piece. He had promised to give her the opportunity to do that, to sort her feelings and make up her mind. And now, apparently, she had done that. Aang supposed the least he owed her was to stand there and listen.

"It's been a crazy year, hasn't it?" Katara remarked with a gentle smile.

"Pretty crazy," Aang agreed tightly.

"Whoever thought when I freed you from that iceberg that we'd eventually find ourselves in this place, this moment…" she went on nostalgically. Nope, Aang mused inwardly, not looking too good for the home team. "I…I don't think I can possibly put into words how much you mean to me, Aang," Katara continued emotionally, "and how much I value our friendship."

"I value it too, Katara," he murmured softly.

"I know you do," she whispered. "I just want you to understand why it's been so hard for me to come to terms with the fact our friendship was changing.

"The day of the Invasion, when you kissed me…you turned everything upside down, Aang," she recalled candidly. "I felt shaken and chaotic and scared. I mean…we had this good thing, this good, perfect, wonderful thing and I felt like you were jeopardizing that. I honestly couldn't imagine how we could possibly improve on the amazing thing we already had and, honestly, I didn't want to try. What we had was too precious to me to complicate. I didn't want to lose that. I've been really afraid of losing that, of losing us."

Aang swallowed deeply, managing to choke out past the forming lump in his throat, "What are you trying to tell me, Katara?"

"I'm trying to tell you that—,"

"—I need to talk to you, Aang," Zuko suddenly broke in breathlessly. However, he was immediately alerted to his abysmal timing when Aang practically wilted on his feet and Katara shot him a quelling death glare. "Did I interrupt something important?" he asked carefully.

"Yeah, you kind of did," Katara snapped impatiently. "You can run along now, Zuko." It had taken her days to work up the courage to tell Aang how she felt and she didn't want to chance losing her nerve now.

"Actually, there's something I need to discuss with Aang," Zuko insisted, checking the urge to wince under Katara's withering glare. "I'm sorry," he blew out in a frustrated huff. "It can't wait!"

"Katara, it's okay. What's going on, Zuko?" Aang asked, as relieved by the reprieve Zuko's arrival had caused as he was frustrated.

Though whatever he wanted to discuss seemed rather urgent Zuko made a point of sliding a meaning look over towards Katara. "What?" she demanded, her annoyance increasing with each passing second. "Do you want me to leave or something?"

"Would you mind?"

His answer was abundantly clear in her militant expression as well as thinning of her lips, but rather voicing the rant that was tripping at the edge of her tongue, Katara swallowed down her ire with a stiff nod. "Fine! Talk to him!" she grated, raking Zuko with yet another contemptuous glare. "But just so you know, he tells me everything anyway!" She turned to Aang, her features softening abruptly when she looked at him. "I won't go far, okay?"

"Okay."

He and Zuko watched as she flounced away before turning to regard one another again. "I'm sorry about that," Zuko said.

"You did me a favor," Aang sighed, "Believe me. What's going on?"

"I just received some disturbing news," Zuko told him. "My father's top general, Gang Huo, has eluded capture. He was my father's right hand, second only to Azula. He is a very dangerous man, Aang. I'm afraid if he's not apprehended, he may try to raise a rebellion in my father's name."

"And you want me to go after him?" Aang concluded.

"I know it's a lot to ask considering…" Zuko said. "But I want this handled as quickly, quietly and as peacefully as possible. I can't think of a better person for the job than you, Aang."

"Do you have any ideas where he might have gone?"

"My guess is he's going to go underground," Zuko replied. "But in order to do that, he's going to need help and a lot of it. Gang Huo has a very visible face here in the Fire Nation. He also has a number of contacts. I would start with them. One of them is bound to know where he's gone and what his plans are."

"What makes you think any of them will talk to me?" Aang asked.

"I'm sending you with my seal so that people will know you're acting on my authority. Anyone who doesn't cooperate with you will be committing treason."

"That seems severe," Aang considered, frowning.

"I have to be," Zuko replied. "Despite what you see here today, not everyone in the Fire Nation accepts me as the new Firelord, Aang. I have to make my authority certain or the peace we both want is never going to happen. It has to start here, with the unification of my people."

"I don't know, Zuko…"

"All I'm asking is that you bring Gang Huo back here to me," Zuko told him. "That's all. I will be the one to deal with him after that."

"Okay," Aang agreed. "I'll make preparations to leave immediately."

"Thank you," Zuko murmured. "I wish there was another way. I didn't want to spoil your good time."

Aang shrugged. "It comes with the job."

However, his dry humor fell flat with Zuko who didn't so much as crack a smile. In fact, his expression became even gloomier. "It's just so frustrating," he bit out. "No matter what we do, it never seems to end, does it?"

Sighing in commiseration, Aang clamped a hand on Zuko's shoulder. "We've got a hundred years of damage to repair," he said. "I think we both know it's not going to happen overnight."

"Yeah, I guess not," Zuko considered grimly. "I'll see you then. Take a messenger hawk to keep in touch."

"I will."

As he was swallowed back into his throng of guests, Katara materialized from the shadows and chirped, "How soon do you want to leave?"

Aang lurched around at her sudden reappearance. "Wow…you're pretty shameless about it, aren't you?" he remarked wryly.

Though she made no effort to deny that she had been eavesdropping on his conversation with Zuko, Katara's shamelessness on the matter was brought into question when her cheeks bloomed with bright red color over Aang's mild censure. "I know it was wrong," she whispered, "but I can't be sorry."

"You shouldn't go," Aang said before she could even begin to make her argument. "I want you to stay here."

It was both a lie and the truth, an act of cowardice and an act of wisdom. He didn't…no, he couldn't be near her when he knew she didn't feel about him the way he felt about her. She wanted their friendship, which in her mind was too perfect to be expounded upon, while there was no denying any longer that he wanted more. The prospect was too painful. He needed to be away from her, at least so that he could get a grasp on it emotionally and mentally. And then he would be okay. If he just had a little time alone, Aang knew he could be okay.

Katara, on the other hand, having come to the very edge of speaking aloud her heart to him, was crushed by the idea that he apparently didn't want her with him. "You don't want me to go with you, Aang?" she surmised in a heartbroken little voice. "Why?"

"It's not about wanting you to go or not wanting you to go," Aang explained gently. "But you've only just been reunited with your father. I know how much having your family altogether means to you. I don't want to break that up, Katara."

"But you're my family too, Aang," she argued. "If you're not here, my family still isn't together."

"It's not the same," he mumbled.

"It's the same for me," she volleyed back. "And I can guarantee it will be the same for Sokka and Toph and Suki. I speak for all of them when I say you shouldn't go alone."

"I don't anticipate being gone for very long," Aang said. "I'll be there with you in the South Pole before you know it."

"Why are you being so stubborn about this?" Katara cried. "Why are you suddenly insisting on doing this all by yourself?"

"It's not sudden, Katara," Aang replied. "I need to stand on my own sometimes. Please try to understand. I need to do this by myself."

"But…but we haven't even had the chance to talk," Katara sputtered. "There's still so much we haven't said to each other, Aang, so much I haven't told you, that I need to tell you…"

"Save it for the next time we see each other again," he told her. "I promise we won't leave anything unspoken."

It was evident that she was unhappy with the prospect, but something in his eyes kept her from giving into her overwhelming instinct to talk him out of it. Obviously, Aang needed to do this alone, for whatever his reasons, and while Katara didn't like the idea in the least bit, she knew she had to respect his decision. "Okay…okay," she finally relented thickly. "Do this by yourself if you need to. But you don't just use that hawk to keep in touch with Zuko. I expect to hear from you too, Aang."

"Deal," he agreed with a ready smile.

However, he barely had time to sigh with relief over her acquiesce before Katara was throwing off his emotional equilibrium once again. Without warning, she threw her arms around him and hugged him fiercely, her face burrowed in the curve of his shoulder. "Be safe, Aang," she whispered warmly into his neck.

He hugged her back, because it was impossible to have Katara in his arms and not hug her back, and for Aang those few, precious seconds were Nirvana. "I'll be safe," he told her, "and I'll come back. I promise."

****

The scene with Katara was repeated no less than two more times, first when he said goodbye to Sokka and then again with Suki. It was evident that Katara was reluctant to let him go. Surprisingly, Toph had remained strangely silent and accommodating about his decision to go alone. Aang found out the reason why when he trekked out to the royal stables with the messenger hawk Zuko had insisted he take and found Toph seated patiently atop of Appa with Momo perched neatly on her shoulder.

"What do you think you're doing?" he demanded crossly.

"Maybe I'm not the only one who's blind here," Toph quipped derisively in rejoinder. "I'm going with you. Duh."

"No, you're not," Aang refuted as he closed the distance between him and Appa. "Get down, Toph."

"I'm not budging from here," Toph declared implacably. "If you want me to get down, you're going to have to come up here and make me." Aang regarded her with narrowed eyes, biting back his frustrated retort. As if sensing his simmering anger, Toph decided to stoke it. She beckoned him closer in obvious challenge. "Bring it, Air boy."

"Ugh…why do I even bother," Aang growled under his breath as he airbended himself up onto Appa's head. "This is a real mission, Toph! I'm not going to play around."

"I know that already! Geez, what climbed up your butt?"

"Nothing climbed up my butt!" Aang snapped back. "I had a plan and you're wrecking my plan."

"Oh, I'm tagging along thus throwing off the delicate balance between you, a flying bison, a lemur and a hawk! The horror! Have you ever considered that two pairs of eyes are better than one, Aang?"

"Toph, you're blind."

"Okay, fine," she huffed. "Two earthbenders are better than one then. There! You happy?"

He snapped an irritated glance back at her. "Why do you even want to go in the first place?" he whined petulantly. "I thought you wanted a vacation! Besides, you hate flying!"

"What else am I going to do?" Toph retorted. "Go to the South Pole with Sokka and Katara? I wasn't invited…well, yeah I was, but it felt like a pity invite so I said no." While Aang emitted a groaning, serrated sigh over that, Toph plodded on. "I could stay here in the Fire Nation, but then I'd be subjected to Zuko angsting over his new position as Firelord every ten seconds. Um, no. I don't hold hands. So…that just leaves you, Twinkle Toes."

"Me?"

"Yeah," she confirmed with a wide, toothy smile. "After all, us loners need to stick together."