Calla watched the Fire Lord pace, her eyes tracking his movement, noting his expression, something between anger and fear and hopelessness. She took note of the other people in the room, too. Chief of Staff, Minister Hau was the only one she knew off hand. No one had been introduced, but the middle aged woman with the black hair was referred to as Yina. Calla looked at the difference between Yina's clothes and Hau's, and decided she couldn't be part of the nobility. She didn't have any emblems of office, either, so she probably wasn't one of the ministers or council members. Her eyes were sharp, though, and while the Fire Lord's eyes were elsewhere, Yina's watched Calla ceaselessly.

There were others in the close room, too, and these did wear emblems of office. Two senior level officials and a general, people close enough to the Fire Lord that he would trust them with this information. She willed the Fire Lord to say some names so she could give something concrete to the group. Calla tried to memorize solid descriptions. Inara had spent time trailing the Fire Lord, so perhaps she would recognize the people and put names to faces. As much as they were looking to gain the trust of the Fire Lord, they needed to know they could trust him, too. Him and all those who worked closely with him.

Long had sent a letter to the palace early that morning, meant for the eyes of the Fire Lord only, explaining that he'd heard of a plot to poison him with Witch's Breath. He'd been as specific as possible, saying that he was sending Calla over with a sample of the poison and an antidote, and that she was free to be questioned as he saw fit. She'd been surprised when he accepted so quickly, wondering if he didn't already have some inkling of this plot. If he did, that would make her job easier.

"You are absolutely sure?" the Fire Lord asked.

Calla nodded. "Yes. Our finding out about the plot was pure luck. We were in the right place at the right time to hear the exchange. Finding out the details, however, that was the work."

He studied her. They were all studying her, from all angles, looking for the slightest hint that she wasn't telling them the truth. Sweat rolled down her back and Calla cursed her body. Of course it would choose the one moment she couldn't move to do something stupid like that. If she'd known it would be like this—like stepping into a hive of buzzard wasps—she would have let someone else approach the Fire Lord.

There was a knock at the door, and for a moment she thought it would break the tension, but the only one who moved was Yina. Calla held the Fire Lord's gaze even though she desperately wanted to turn and see who'd come in. She didn't have to wait long, as a slight blind barefoot girl came into her field of vision. She stopped next to the Fire Lord.

"When will they try to poison me with the Witch's Breath?" he asked.

"At the state dinner next week. The plan is to poison the soup."

"Truth."

So the blind one was the infamous Blind Bandit, Toph Bei Fong, and the Avatar's earthbending teacher. Lie detector extraordinaire. Calla relaxed a bit. She had no lies to tell; at this point lies would get them nowhere.

"I have the antidote here," Calla said, pushing the larger of the two vials forward. "It takes a while to counteract the poison, and during that time, the patient should be monitored closely."

"You have the antidote to what?" He crossed his arms.

Calla looked around the room, not entirely sure why he should ask a simple question. It was quite clear they were talking about the Witch's Breath. She'd mentioned that earlier, and hadn't named any other poison.

"I asked you a question. Which poison did you bring the antidote to?"

"Witch's Breath. The one that's going to be used in the soup."

The Fire Lord looked at the little earthbender, and she nodded. Truth. Calla could have punched herself. Of course. Lie by omission; yes you bring the antidote, but you don't say what it's the antidote to. He was good. The questioning continued for the better part of an hour, Calla guessed, and she answered everything as truthfully as possible. In the Fire Lord's posture, she looked for little signs that he was relenting, maybe finally opening up to her, but she saw nothing. His gaze remained intense, he remained focused.

"How long before the antidote takes effect?"

"My lord, you can't be serious about this!" The short, nervous minister stood, wringing his hands and looking quite desperate. "You cannot allow yourself to be poisoned. You are the ruler of the Fire Nation. You are all that stands—"

"I never said I was planning to let myself be poisoned." The Fire Lord pinched the bridge of his nose.

"We could station guards in the kitchen, prevent the poison from ever being added to the soup," Minister Hau suggested.

Calla shook her head. "That would stop this particular attempt, if they plan to poison the soup while it's still in the kitchen, and I'm not sure they would. In any event, they'd try again, and we can't be sure we'd know about it a second time. I know the name of the shop where the poison was bought. There are others in town with me. We could go back there, sniff out the trail."

"Why should I trust you?"

Calla shrunk back in her chair. He was what? Twenty-one? She had some years on him, and she'd had a hard life full of people glaring at her like that, so why did he unnerve her so? She looked past him at the surrounding people, not wanting to mention Chem's name in front of the others. She didn't know how much he told them, and it wouldn't do to get the Fire Lord in trouble with his council members since they were trying to gain his trust.

"He does not rule us all as he thinks he does," she said.

"Toph, Hau, and Yina stay. Everyone else is dismissed."

The others filed out of the room, though not without a few grumbles, but Calla didn't miss that those grumbles were concern for his safety, not only being in a room with her, but over the poison plot, too. Either he'd chosen his allies wisely, or people just cared that much about him as a Fire Lord. Not that the two had to be taken separately. It was just…unusual. If Chem thought he was going to waltz into the capitol and start drumming up support for his manic ideas, he had another thing coming to him. The Fire Lord sat in a chair opposite her and gestured for her to speak.

"The way things happened at the prison… It changed a lot of our minds." She didn't miss the pained look that crossed his face, the way he turned away from her, and she grit her teeth, cursing Chem's blindness. That was remorse on his face. Remorse for needless deaths. "We don't blame you. We can't blame you for trying to protect yourself and Master Katara. We blame Chem. He betrayed us. We stand with Long and Inara, now."

His head snapped up. "Inara? The bounty hunter?"

Calla nodded slowly, gestured toward Hau. "Chem got lucky there, too. Inara's good at what she does, which is undoubtedly why she caught your attention. He was also unlucky in that Inara and he don't see eye to eye."

"So what you're saying is that your boss man isn't as much of a boss as he thinks," the earthbender said. "So where is he? Why haven't you overthrown him yet?"

"We lost touch with him after the riots in Ba Sing Se, and that's when Long and Inara made their move with the coup. While Chem and his lackeys were holed up in the city, those of us who've had enough gathered. If he had listened to Inara before we went in there… Twice we could have met you on neutral ground. Hell, before that, so many times. But Chem… He's so caught up in his ideas, and I understand he's had to live on rumors, and rumors aren't always kind, but he takes things to a whole new level of ignorant. Chem..."

Calla clamped her mouth shut. She had good friends that died that day at the prison, and Chem gave his eulogy talking about soldiers and war. They weren't naïve, and they understood that sometimes just a little more fighting was needed, but they hadn't wanted combat like that. She'd looked around and saw open anger on the faces of the gathered. That fight had been a wakeup call. Never before had they lost numbers like that, and despite what Chem was determined to have them believe, many of those deaths were needless.

"What about Chem?" the Fire Lord prompted quietly, halfway lost in his own thoughts.

Maybe there was no better way to convince the Fire Lord that they were trustworthy than to spill forward all her dislike for that man and the way he manipulated them.

"No offense, but I don't even know how your mother looks. I could have passed her a thousand times in my travels, and not known her from some other Fire Nation woman."

Everyone's heads snapped up at this, and Calla saw her chance to discredit Chem.

"Most of the people in his army aren't loyal to your mother. They've never met her. They're loyal to Chem."

.O.

Katara was exhausted. How two groups could spend three hours arguing over the price of two buildings was beyond her. And she still didn't think they'd come to an agreement. Some general noises were made that sounded something like agreement, but nothing was written down, and no secretaries called for. She rubbed her eyes, figuring she'd catch a quick nap, then grab a late lunch at the Jasmine Dragon.

"Hey, Katara."

She turned around, and there was Zuko, walking toward her. She studied his face, looking for any disturbance, but couldn't find anything. He didn't seem to be too upset about that letter he got at breakfast, even though he'd been nearly invisible since then.

"How did your meeting go?" she asked as they fell in step.

"Fruitful. Enlightening. Confirmed some things. Stirred up some guilt. Gave me some leads on questioning Fu and his friends." He shrugged. "The usual."

They walked quietly down the hall, and her hand brushed his, and she nearly keeled over when he grabbed her hand and held it. He smiled down at her, squeezing her hand, and she couldn't help but smile because there were people in the hallway. People who were looking at them, noting their holding hands and their smiles. And nothing was exploding.

"I've got a few names that I'd like to give you in connection with my mom," he said quietly. "They're women from her past who I think are most likely to help her."

"You asked Uncle about Lily of the Valley?" she asked, nearly stopping.

Zuko gently tugged her, nodding. "It was fruitful, enlightening, confirmed some things, stirred up some guilt, gave me some leads on finding her, made me angry. The usual. She got the name Lily of the Valley because she's a master of poisons. Also, I guess, because people thought she was poison to the royal family."

"What? Your mother?" Now there was a shocker.

"Go figure, right? She worked with Uncle and my aunt to keep Ozai away from the throne, but things backfired when Uncle let his anger get the best of him… There was an Agni Kai."

Zuko stopped abruptly. Katara watched as he closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths before opening his eyes again.

"Zuko?" Katara gave his hand a firm squeeze, noticing that it was getting warmer.

"I…um…" He shook his head, and his temperature began returning to normal. "Bad things happened after the Agni Kai. Ozai was furious when he found out Mom betrayed him. Then some worse stuff…"

"Like—"

"Anyway, she ended up earning Azulon's respect."

Katara's eyes widened appreciatively. "Wow. Your mom's pretty cool."

"I know." Zuko smiled again. "You were going to your room, right?"

She nodded. Katara was glad that he was smiling again. He had such a nice smile, and they could talk about the bad things later if he wanted. She knew when to push and when to wait for him to tell her. They'd reached the residential floors, and there weren't as many people here during the middle of the day, but the servants moving about noticed them holding hands, and sometimes their eyes lingered a little longer than they usually would. A few of the ministers from the outer islands who were staying in the capitol were around, too, which made her nervous. She knew that if they found even the slightest thing wrong with her and Zuko, they'd give him hell. Or at least attempt to do so. Their success rates would be questionable.

Zuko asked about the reconstruction of the South, and Katara was all too happy to oblige, telling him about the new houses, Sokka's architecture, her leading an army of waterbending builders, a reconvening of the council, of which her father resumed his place as chief. The booming population. Zuko listened intently as they walked. By the time they reached her door, her heart was pounding because she knew he was up to something.

"Sounds like you've been busy," Zuko said, standing in front of her.

"There's been a lot to do. It's good to keep busy."

He sighed. "Hau says we should let people know that we're in love," he said quietly, "which means being public about some parts of our relationship. I've been horrible to you lately—"

"You already explained yourself," Katara said, hoping to stop another self depreciating speech. "I know—"

He was kissing her. He was kissing her. In the hallway. And there were people around. They were watching. Her heart was beating furiously, and it felt like their first kiss again—the first real kiss, not the accidental surprise kiss while sparring, which hadn't been bad—and his lips were so soft it was sinful. His hands were on her waist and he pulled her closer, and she cupped his face, caressing his cheeks. She sighed into the kiss and willed it to never end. She was on fire, and she bit back that obscene noise she usually made when his mouth was on other parts of her body, but she didn't fight the shiver when he trailed his hands lightly up her spine.

The only reason she pulled away was because inappropriate things might happen in the hallway, and she didn't think either one of them were willing to go that far just yet. Already, she could taste the ashes on his tongue, and she knew he was just as excited and thrilled as she was. When they parted, he sighed and licked his lips as if savouring everything that was her.

"So, yeah. I guess I don't see the problem in being open about some things," he practically whispered, his chest heaving.

She grabbed his shirt in her fist and yanked him to her so hard that he had to slam his hands against her door to keep from bashing his head. She captured his lips and took him hostage, refusing to relinquish her delicious prisoner. The bang of his hands against her door had drawn a bit more attention, and Katara deepened the kiss, stroking his tongue with hers, and he growled deep in his throat, one of his hands sliding down to cup her bottom and give it a squeeze as he pressed her firmly back against the door. She caressed his scarred cheek, and with her actions made this declaration to those stupid, stuffy noblewomen watching:

Mine.


Yay for celebratory updates! This story finally has an ending! Now I just have to go back and do some editing, and then I'll be done, and all I'll have to do is post :D I think this is a great celebratory chapter. Little tidbits about Lily of the Valley will be dropped throughout the story. Zutara kiss! To be honest, at this point, I don't think the world would explode if Zuko and Katara got together. Sure, there will always be people who have a problem with it, but I think the majority of the people in the Fire Nation-the middle and lower classes-just couldn't care less. What would matter more is competency; can their leaders do what they're supposed to do, and can they do it efficiently and effectively. If anyone's going to have a problem with it, I think it would be the nobility. Those who're looking to position their daughters into greater power would resent this match. Plus, a marriage for love when the Fire Nation generally marries for politics is a sure sign of a new era :D