Have I really been gone that long?! Anyway, I hope you haven't given up on me! Thanks so much for reading...and uh...I hope you like this one too!

And yes, I too hope to be updating soon, because I did promise 100, right?

Oooh, and please forgive my grammatical errors (if there are any, which I hope there isn't...but yeah...)

This one goes with IF ONLY...so yeah, allons-y!

"What are you doing love?" Kanna's voice knocks her out of her musings and Katara makes quick work of wiping away the tears that had been flowing insistently for the past—how long has she been here? –

"I was um…I was tending the fire." Katara said holding up the poker as further proof to show her grandmother that she had not been crying. And her Gran Gran having that natural instinct to detect when she was being fooled only let out a heavy sigh as she extended a hand and ran her finger through her grand-daughter thick hair. There were a few minutes of silence as both water tribe women gazed at the fire and then her Gran Gran gave out a heavy sigh and gently turned her granddaughter's chin to face her, not missing the few stray tears that escaped her eyes.

"What I meant to say was what are you doing here Katara?" and then Katara's brows furrow in confusion as she processes her Gran's question.

"What do you mean, do you need some help in the kitchen, I keep forgetting this place grew and noise doesn't travel very far." She makes a half attempt to smile, but it doesn't reach her eyes.

"No Katara, that's not it. Love, why are you here, why are you not…" Kanna trails off then, too scared to mention anything that might cause her grand-daughter anymore pain.

And Katara closes her eyes, tightly as she tries to not think of him and with a low sigh she opens her eyes again, "Because…because I'm engaged to the Avatar, haven't you heard Gran? I'll be the Avatar's proud wife in less than four mont-hs" she chokes on the last word and curses herself inside her head.

"I've heard," her Gran replies back, her tone one of sad disappointment, "and I've seen how you've been acting since the announcement…and all I can say Katara," she sighs deeply then, "is what the hell are you thinking? Why are you going to marry a boy, and yes I know he is a lovely boy with great morals and an amazing personality, but why marry a boy that you don't love."

"I love him."

"Katara,"

"I love him…but I'm not…" and at that her throat tightens and she feels pathetic and disgusted with herself, because really, who is she to wallow about marrying someone like Aang, someone as amazing and as loving as him. "Because Gran, I couldn't be a burden to him any longer, I couldn't live in his palace as a guest any longer, I had stayed there every summer since the end of the war then stayed there for half a year as an honored guest…I couldn't…" I couldn't tell Aang no, and I didn't dare ask Zuko to choose for me…I couldn't…wouldn't make him beg…and I couldn't stay there any longer knowing how I felt...she thinks but doesn't say it aloud.

"Yes you could Katara, and you still can, Aang he's—"

"No Gran, it's not that simple, Aang is so easily hurt…and, and …oh Gran Gran, I miss him so much, and her, I actually miss Azula, I miss them so much that I ache. And the pain never stops, it's always there. It dulls sometimes but then I hear someone say his name, mention his nation and it comes back ten times more intense, and I must sound so pathetic." She says with a small laugh that holds no humor only sadness.

"I think that you sound like someone in love Katara." Kanna says, giving her granddaughter a small smile that her granddaughter returns weakly and through watery eyes.

"Yes, I just didn't fall in love with the right one, or at the right time."

"What makes you say that?"

"Gran, he wouldn't have proposed, not while he knew how Aang felt about me…I told him that I loved him, but he didn't even try to stop me, and now, now I doubt he'll even spare me a second glance, which is the right thing to do right? I mean I'll be married, to one of his best friends, but still knowing that he'll treat me like any other "guest" that hurts."

"Oh love." Her Gran Gran says as she resumes stroking her granddaughter hair and after a while Katara finds her eyes closing, lulled by her Gran's steady stroking, "but know this Katara," and then her eyes are opening once more, knowing that what her grandmother is about to say will hold importance, "if you find yourself regretting this twenty – or even thirty years from now, then you will only have yourself to blame, for your sadness as well as the sadness of Zuko and Toph."

"Toph, what does…" and then her eyes fully open, understanding now completely why her best friend looked so saddened when Aang had announced their engagement, and now that she thought about it, now that she really thought about it, seeing through the fog of her own sadness she realized that Aang hadn't seemed so enthusiastic about the engagement. But he needs to show the council that he is serious, they have asked him to produce an heir in four years, marriage in two, and really to get that type of deal at his twentieth birthday, it's nice isn't it, eight years of freedom? Sokka had whispered in her ear half a year earlier. "Oh…Toph…"

"And really Katara, if you two really love each other then you must know that love always finds a way, trust me." Her Gran finishes her speech as Katara's head spins with the forgotten (and newly acquired) knowledge. And then just as suddenly she's standing rubbing her eyes with determination and marching to the narrow hallway that leads to her room.

"Katara what's you doing?" Kanna asks as she sees Katara packing her many belonging in a small suitcase.

"I need to go to Kyoshi Island, I um…I need to ask my dad if he has a ship set to go in that direction or if I have to waterbend there."
"But why?"
"I have a wedding to call off, right? And then I have Azula to get back to, and a boy…Zuko to scold after that."

"Really, well that's a relief, I thought you would be less than happy for the rest your life." Pakku's voice carries easily down the hall and so does her father's laughter.

"Well did you get all that dad?" Katara calls, feeling more herself by the minute, even letting a smile spread through her face as her father answers with a grunt.

"But I," her Gran begins as Hakoda pokes his head inside his daughter room, giving her a warm smile as he takes her suitcase from her.

"Well seeing as there's no way I'm missing my daughter scolding the Lord of the Fire Nation I'll be seeing you in about two weeks." He winks at his mother, giving her a peck on the cheek as he makes his way outside.

"But you,"

"Thanks Gran Gran, so much." Katara says giving her Gran a tight hug and then a peck of her own before she's chasing after her father, calling a good-bye to her "Grampakku" who only grumbles in return and then there's silence through the hut.

"But Katara I made steamed sea prunes…" Kanna can't help but stomp her foot childishly in frustration, and then she hears her husband laughing loudly down the hall.

"So true love always finds a way, eh Kanna?"

"Oh, Shut-Up Pakku." She grumbles.