7~

Zuko stayed for another two weeks after that, and Malu's opinion of him did seem to improve, from what Katara could tell. But because she herself didn't take pains to make nice with the elderly Airbender, it didn't happen, so her assessment was based on what Zuko and Aang told her. Things even seemed to be going well on the morning Zuko was scheduled to leave, which also happened to be the day the Southern Water Tribe's representatives arrived.

She was healing the wrist of an Airbender child who had tried out his older sister's glider before he was trained on it, so she missed their actual arrival and rushed down in time to catch the tail end of the greetings between Pakku, Sokka, and her father and Malu and the other elders.

"Ah, and Miss Katara I'm sure you know," Malu declared as Katara jogged up and stopped at Aang's side, winded from her sprint. "Katara, young Sokka must be a fine warrior, wouldn't you say? And handsome! And quite close to your age!"

Katara's jaw almost hit the dock when she realized that Malu was trying to set her up with Sokka. And she knew she was with Aang! Of all the nerve! But the confusion on Aang's face, the disbelief on Zuko and her father's faces, and the growing alarm on Sokka's face tempered her outrage and allowed her to very calmly say, "Yes, we are close in age. Unfortunately our mother couldn't manage twins."

Malu's face turned as white as her hair, the blue of her arrow almost purple in comparison, while everyone else burst out laughing, even Aang, who had clearly not gotten the implication. Zuko went so far as to hold onto Sokka's shoulder to keep from falling over, which was a lot, coming from him. Katara considered that a point in her favor. But she wasn't about to forgive, let alone forget, that Malu had actively taken steps to break her and Aang up.

The rest of her family's visit was comparatively uneventful (though Sokka made a very stupid game of pretending Katara was his fiance), as was the Earth King's visit two weeks after that, and after that things… well, they didn't get back to normal. But they started to figure out what normal was supposed to look like.

A/N

I'll be taking tomorrow off from posting, but on Sunday things will be getting TENSE. Till then!

All characters belong to Bryke, Nick, and Viacom

E.I. signing out