Author's Notes:

To me, one of the most beautiful ideas in ATLA is that friendship can survive more than one lifetime. I hope that Aang and Zuko are friends for many lives to come.

Disclaimer: ATLA is of course not mine. I'm just borrowing.


"I thought you said you didn't want an audience," Toph said, jumping down from Appa's saddle. "There are a lot of people here."

"This isn't an audience," Aang explained, getting ready to conveniently help the fanfiction writer. "These are old friends of ours. They've been working with me making plans for the Alchemy Project."

Zuko slid down from the bison's back and looked around. He'd never spent a lot of time at the Northern Air Temple, and though he recalled searching it for signs of the Avatar years ago, he couldn't remember personally attacking it. Still, he'd noticed scorch marks on the side of the temple while they were flying in, and that usually only meant one thing. Zuko looked warily at the crowd of people gathering to say hello to Aang. He didn't expect a warm reception from people who had been previously attacked by the Fire Nation.

A young man in a wheeled contraption zoomed up to them. "Aang!" he cried. "You're back!"

"Hi Teo!" Aang greeted the young man. "Where's your father?" Zuko was surprised. He had spent a few weeks with Teo back when he had first joined Aang's group at the Western Air Temple, but he wouldn't have recognized the kid now. His face had sharper angles, his hair was short and neat and he seemed taller, even in his wheelchair. A lot changed in five years.

A loud blast sounded behind them from somewhere inside the temple and Teo smiled sheepishly. "Probably wherever that came from," he said. Teo turned to the rest of the group. "Dad's really excited to have you all here. He's got all kinds of crazy ideas for you to try."

Teo greeted everyone individually after that, and when he turned to Zuko he bowed formally from his seated position, making Zuko feel uncomfortable. "Fire Lord Zuko," he said, "Dad is especially excited to have you here. Aang and Katara used to visit a lot after the war, and they tell the most amazing stories about things you've been up to. Is it true you've learned how to bend lightning? My father is especially interested in learning more about how that works."

Aang and Katara gave Zuko twin, satisfied looks, and Zuko wanted to throttle them both. Actually, he wanted to throttle Aang (who seemed to have recovered completely from his earlier bending trouble). Katara he wanted to do…other things with, though he was still of the opinion that it was a bad idea for him to entertain such thoughts. It had been a strange few days, he realized, thinking of the way they'd worked together before Aang had collapsed. They had a natural chemistry, and he gravitated toward Katara when they were with the rest of the group. Even when he wasn't standing next to her, he looked to her in conversation, angled his body toward her and paid attention to her more than to the others.

He would never have admitted it out loud, but he was also more protective of her than anyone else. It had been like this for a long time now – at least since he had gone with Katara to find Yon Rha when they were kids – but he had always guarded against mixing the deep respect and care he had for Katara as a friend with the feelings of physical attraction he had for her as a member of the opposite sex. Since when had he allowed those lines to cross? Why today was she someone who was physically attractive because of her ability to emotionally draw him in? Maybe the day had just been particularly draining?

She tilted her head at him. "Zuko?" she asked. He had been staring. Sokka snickered somewhere beyond him. Zuko shook his head, trying to snap out of it.

"Sorry," he said, not offering an explanation for his stupor. Her eyes held questions, but she didn't ask anything. Zuko turned back to Teo. "I'll tell him everything I know about it," he offered.

"Great!" Teo said, moving on to Toph, who had been standing to Zuko's left. Katara nudged Zuko with her elbow. He looked over at her, expecting her to ask him about the staring. Instead she widened her eyes and nodded almost imperceptibly toward Toph and Teo. Zuko followed her line of sight. Toph was blushing slightly at something Teo had said, and Teo had a goofy look on his face. Zuko looked back at Katara, and the irony of her pointing out an unspoken attraction was not lost on him. He rolled his eyes at her and she rolled hers back playfully at him, and he was thinking about her that way again, but what exactly was he supposed to do? Stop talking to her for the rest of the trip? Until he was a safe distance away again and could communicate via letters and second-hand communication? The thought made him blanch.

"We have rooms prepared for all of you," Teo was saying, and Zuko hoped he hadn't been staring again. "Come on. I'll show you the way."

Teo took them into the temple. Suki and Toph, who had never been to the Northern Air Temple, walked alongside Teo while he began giving a full tour. Zuko was interested in learning about the temple too, but he hung back with Katara, Aang and Sokka. A certain girl with a pixie haircut and a thick skin was laughing at Teo's jokes and not punching him, and he sensed competition for Teo's attention.

"This is where we store the gliders," Teo said, stopping them at what was apparently a highlight of the tour. "Do you guys want to try?"

Zuko flat-out refused, despite Aang's insistence that it would be fun. He wasn't afraid of heights, but jumping off a cliff on a flimsy glider wasn't the kind of thing a respectable Fire Lord did without proper provocation. Suki was excited to try. Of course, Zuko thought, he'd never seen that girl afraid of anything.

Toph, however, was reluctant.

"Earthbenders aren't meant to fly," she said stubbornly.

Teo wheeled around her in a dare-devil circle. "I'm from the Earth Kingdom," he said. "I fly."

Toph squared her stance as if there was some risk Teo could sweep her off her feet and into the air at any moment if she didn't stand firm. "I use my feet to see," Toph said. "In the air, I'm completely blind. And I don't need anyone to hear me screaming like a wild hog monkey."

Teo assessed her practically. "That's exactly the opposite of me," he said. "I can barely feel my legs, but when I'm in the air, I'm free to go anywhere. I can take you if you want," he offered.

"Oh Toph," Katara encouraged, putting her hands on Toph's shoulders. "You should try it! I did it once, and it was exhilarating."

Toph huffed and it appeared there was an inner battle going on: probably between the part of Toph that hated losing anything to Katara and the part of her that hated flying.

"Fine," Toph said, eventually. "If Sweet Cheeks can do it, I can too." Sweet Cheeks smirked triumphantly. Then she grinned at Zuko, like he had been in on her efforts to instigate. He crossed his arms but smiled back at her, ignoring the amused look Aang gave him. The group spent much of the remainder of the afternoon watching Toph lifted through the air, screaming very much like a wild hog monkey and clinging tight to Teo and the glider.

"Earth and air are opposite elements," Aang said, observing next to Zuko from the ground. "In some ways, they're even more opposed to each another than water and fire. Air and earth are always trying to get away from each other. While gravity pulls earth to the ground, air seeks escape into the sky. So an earthbender is grounded, and an airbender is hard to pin down."

"Are you saying we need to find you a really heavy girl to date?" Sokka joked.

"Sokka!" Katara admonished, but Aang chuckled.

"I don't know," he said. "But it's nice to see Toph swept up into the air for once." And it was true that Toph couldn't stop smiling.


Teo's father had done a lot of work on Aang's project. "It's a puzzle I'm happy to try to solve," the Mechanist said, leading them into his workshop later that afternoon. "Until recently, the idea of using more than one element in combination was taboo. But then, the Fire Nation withdrew its troops! Trade between the nations became the norm! Now everything is possible!" The Mechanist jumped around while he talked. It made Zuko slightly sea sick.

"I asked him to help me think of ways we could work together," Aang explained. "He's really smart."

The Mechanist bumbled around, gathering scrolls in his arms. "This guy was the one who came up with the idea for the airships?" Zuko muttered under his breath to Katara, who was standing next to him again. He wondered if he had been the one walking next to her this time, or if she had naturally found his side and why couldn't he stop thinking about these things? She laughed quietly.

"I have so many ideas!" the Mechanist said, oblivious to the sidebar. He laid the scrolls on a large table and opened one up. Sokka leaned over, excited to see.

"How does this work?" he asked, turning the scroll to view it from a different angle. "It looks like a sandbender, a firebender and a waterbender all working on a funnel of sand."

"They're melting the sand into glass, forming it into shapes and cooling it down," the Mechanist explained. "Instant glass tableware!"

"Brilliant!" Sokka enthused.

Katara leaned up closer to Zuko's ear. "Sokka has a little genius crush on the Mechanist," she whispered. Zuko stiffened. Her breath tickled his neck, and it made him want to shift his body weight toward her.

"It's more like a full-blown love affair," Suki lamented nearby. Zuko stiffened further.

Aang caught Zuko's eye and raised his eyebrows. "Zuko? You okay?" he asked.

Zuko cleared his throat. "Uh, yeah," he said. "Just thinking about the logistics of making tableware."

"Me too, Sparky," Toph said. "Sounds like a lot of work for you, me and Sugar Queen."

Katara glanced at him, scrunched up her nose and put her hands on her hips. "No," she said. "The Fire Lord didn't come all the way to the Northern Air Temple to make dishes. We'll find some artistically-minded firebenders to work on this project later. And some waterbenders too."

Zuko smirked at her use of his title. "Are you going to command them to volunteer, Lady Katara, or shall I?" he asked, looking warmly at her.

Katara's cheeks went pink and everyone else laughed. "Deputize her to do it for you," Aang said, elbowing Zuko in the side. The pink flush on Katara's face spread, making it impossible for Zuko to remove his eyes from her while she avoided his gaze.

"Maybe I should," he said lightly, wishing she would look back at him. "I could use the help."

"This one's genius!" Sokka cried, totally ignoring the conversation. He held up another scroll. "Look at this, guys! Metalbenders seal meat into metal cases, then sink them in running water. Waterbenders freeze over the cases. The meat freezes inside and stays preserved for weeks!"

"That's my guy," Suki said. "Keeping his priorities straight."

"Yeah," Sokka said happily. "Food above everything else!"

"Hey, this one really is interesting," Aang said. He had wondered over to the table and was looking at a third scroll. "Look, it requires air, water and fire."

The Mechanist clapped his hands together rapidly. "I was hoping you would like that idea! It's a turbo steam engine. I have a model set up in my laboratory. Come see!"

The Mechanist's laboratory turned out to be a large chamber with what looked like a lot of junk inside. Near the middle was a huge steam engine. The Mechanist positioned Katara and Zuko side-by-side in front of the engine and showed Aang to a platform above. Everyone else stood back.

"Katara," the Mechanist directed. "You keep directing water from this chamber into the one below the furnace. Lord Zuko, you keep the fire going in the furnace. That will heat up the water until it boils and steams. Then Aang," the Mechanist said to Aang above, "you use air to push the steam into these pipes." The Mechanist hopped over to a connected chamber. "The steam will build up here and drive forward this pump," the Mechanist pointed, "and that's connected to a gear that will turn-"

"This little tiny wheel?" Suki asked, pointing to a hamster bird wheel nearby from the sidelines. Her expression implied that she thought this was about as efficient as Zuko did.

"Yes!" the Mechanist answered.

"Amazing!" Sokka whooped. Suki planted her face in her palm and Toph patted her shoulder.

Zuko nudged Katara. "Want to put a bet on this thing exploding the minute we start bending?" he asked under his breath.

"Maybe we should just go easy with the bending," she replied, looking skeptically at the steam engine. The engine worked the first time they tried it, though and the wheel spun easily. The Mechanist was elated. Zuko shared a surprised look with Katara before they looked up at Aang. To their greater surprise, Aang looked upset.

"What's wrong, Aang?" Katara asked. "I thought you'd be excited to see some of these ideas in action. This one worked great."

"But I'm the only airbender," Aang said. "Stuff like this only works if there's an airbender."

"Not true!" the Mechanist said, jumping in. "Air is all around us, and it flows with a will of its own. We're learning how to use its natural path. One day, we might not need benders at all, for any of the elements. Just humans with brains who can figure out how to use the elements in their natural forms. There are also alternatives to using so many elements at once to create power." He looked at Zuko. "I've been experimenting with natural lightning-"

"You've been experimenting with what?" Zuko said, while Sokka punched his fist in the air and yelled, "Super awesome!"

"-and lightning is a form of energy that can be directed through many things. I can catch it in metal and run it through water, but I can't hold it. If only we could figure out how to harness all that energy…"

"Lightning is incredibly dangerous," Zuko said, wondering how many screws were loose in this guy's head.

"I know," the Mechanist said happily. "It's incredibly unpredictable. It takes more patience than I have to wait for a storm. But now that you're here…"

"You want me to bend lightning at you?" Zuko asked incredulously, trying to temper the anger he was feeling. The Mechanist looked eagerly at him.

"You cannot be serious," Katara said flatly, crossing her arms angrily next to Zuko.

"Guess the Fire Lord isn't here to shoot lightning at people either, huh Katara?" Toph snickered.

Katara scowled. "No." Zuko tried not to smile at her ferocity on his behalf. "He is not."

"But if I can just figure it out, we won't need airbenders," the Mechanist continued. "We can harness energy using water, lightning and metalbenders alone!"

"I don't think any of this is making me feel better," Aang said, looking pale.

"Well, Twinkletoes," Toph said, "if you want to make sure airbenders are involved, all you need is a wife and some flying kiddies."

Aang kicked the ground, and Zuko knew Toph was only making it worse. Sokka put his arm around Aang's shoulders. "Don't worry, sport! You're in good company here. Zuko needs heirs just as much as you do." Zuko cringed and glared at Sokka.

Aang shrugged Sokka's arm off his shoulders. "At least if Zuko never has kids, his whole race doesn't die off."

"Yeah, but Azula's kids end up inheriting the throne," Zuko said, trying very hard not to think of the conversation he'd had with Uncle before he'd left and definitely not looking at Katara this time.

"Azula!" the Mechanist said. "I've heard of her. Do you think she'd be interested in shooting lightning at me?"


That evening Zuko couldn't sleep. In the late hours of the night, he got up and wandered out into the temple yards. The moon was waning, but it was still bright in the sky, and it almost seemed as though the moon spirit were looking down on him. As a firebender, Zuko didn't have the same power under the light of the moon that he had in the sunlight, but as someone who had journeyed a long way to find his own destiny, he still found the moon a comforting spirit. There was something about the way she washed everything in gentle light. It softened things and made all the cracks and dents disappear into shadows. He walked through the air temple ruins, watching the glow cast an eerie light and listening to the whispers of seasons long past.

"She's not here."

Aang. He was meditating among the ruins. "I'm not looking for her," Zuko said, assuming without thinking that they were talking about the same girl. "And I found you." He sat down next to Aang. "So how are you?"

Aang cast a longing look around the ruins. "This is where the monks took us for history lessons," he said. "We would sit in the grass and listen to them tell stories of all the great air nomads and spiritual leaders. For me, it still feels like that was only a few years ago."

"Does it still bother you that the Mechanist rebuilt so much of this place?" Zuko asked.

Aang looked thoughtfully at Zuko. "You've renovated half of the Fire Palace. When you walk through its halls, do the memories of what it was still bother you?"

Zuko answered honestly. "Some of the memories fade slower than others." Sometimes he still saw ghosts he didn't want to see.

"Rebuilding memories is hard," Aang agreed. He sighed. "Zuko, are you doing okay?" he asked. "Sometimes I think you're struggling more than you let on."

Zuko's eyes popped out. "Me?" he said. "You're the one having trouble bending and worrying about 'heirs' even though you're only seventeen!"

Aang's lips formed a tight smile. "That's true," he said. "But I'm your friend, and as your friend I watch out for you too."

Zuko was silent.

"It's been good to have everyone back together again, hasn't it?" Aang continued. "We don't see each other as often as we used to. You must be lonely all by yourself in the Fire Palace."

"Probably not as lonely as you are by yourself on Appa all the time," Zuko countered. "You could visit more often, you know."

Aang's shoulders drooped. "I know," he said. "I really miss this. I bet you do too. It's nice to be with people who know you for your true self, not your title."

Zuko grunted an acknowledgment. "Honesty and authenticity are luxuries when you're in the public eye."

"Don't I know it," Aang said. He laughed. "Hey, do you remember getting stuck in that tar when we went to find the original firebenders?"

Zuko thought of their faces stuck between the bars of the grating that had imprisoned them in the Sun Warrior's tar pit. He had been so unsure then. Unsure of how they would get out, unsure of how he would learn to bend again, unsure of how they could possibly defeat his father.

"Remember the dance?" Aang asked.

"How could I forget?" Zuko replied.

"That was when we really became friends," Aang said.

Zuko glanced at the airbender again. "Are you sure you're okay, Aang?" he asked.

"I think friendship is the most important element to learn to bend," Aang continued seriously, ignoring the question. "Years go by, things change, people move on and out, and if you want to make sure you still have a place in the universe you have to figure out how to keep the friendships that matter to you."

"Aang, I don't think you and I have anything to worry about," Zuko said. "I know we don't get together as often as you'd like, but we'll be having these sessions when I'm 96 and on my deathbed."

Aang looked down. "Actually, I wasn't thinking about us," he said, and his voice had a haunted quality.

"You weren't?"

"No. I'll be there. When you're 98 and on your deathbed, and I'm still a sprightly 92." He glanced back up at Zuko and his big eyes were sincere and caring. "But I don't think I'm going to be the last person in the room with you."

Zuko didn't know what to say. He felt woefully bad at comforting his friend. Aang stood up.

"Zuko, are you going to make me spell this out for you?" Aang asked, smiling crookedly at him. "As long as you keep acting like you don't feel anything for her, she isn't going to acknowledge that she feels anything for you. She's sitting by the pools in the courtyard. Go talk to her. Don't screw this up."

Zuko stared at Aang. Sometimes he forgot Aang wasn't just any 17-year-old boy.


After that, his feet drifted toward the courtyard. He wasn't sure why, but maybe Aang was right. Maybe he was working so hard to protect his friendship with Katara that he wasn't looking at the bigger picture. Could he keep their friendship like this forever? A series of letters every few months? A brief visit every two years? It was loyal and supportive, but it was also a bit like the scar on his body where Azula's lightning had hit him: permanent but fading with time and distance. He thought of the close companionship he had shared with Katara over even the last few days. It had come back to him like breathing. The way he moved toward her when they were together was automatic. He had always assumed it to be part of a one-sided attraction. Aang and Sokka didn't seem to think it was so one-sided. What if they were right?

In any case, he found her easily again tonight. She was running her bare feet through water in the courtyard pool and humming something to herself. Her skin glowed in the bath of the moon's light. From where she sat, she would have been able to see him approach, but her eyes were shut and he walked quietly. So instead of announcing himself, he just stopped. For a moment, he watched her, and she looked so serene it almost made him hurt.

"Come on Zuko," she said unexpectedly. "Sit by me. The water's just right."

He moved toward her and sat down. "How did you know it was me?"

In response, she held her hands at her sides as if she was lifting something he couldn't see. He felt moisture in the air swirl around him. "It's even easier to do when the moon is completely full," she said. "It must be kind of like how Toph sees. I sense the water in everything."

"That's incredible," he said, awed.

She eyed him and winked. "Are you sure? Aren't you just afraid of me now?"

"Ahh," Zuko said. "You're referring to your ability to crush my bright, fiery soul now that the sun has gone down." He clutched his hand to his chest. "But the moon isn't completely full tonight."

"Don't tempt me to try, Lord Zuko," Katara teased, giving him a push with her hand. He pulled himself back toward her.

Then they stared into the pools of water together, watching the moon continue to rise.

"So what's keeping you up tonight?" she asked.

"I could ask the same about you," he countered.

"No, you couldn't. You know exactly why I'm up," she said, the tone of her voice smooth and low. "The moon is beautiful. It calls to me." She paused before she went on with a sigh: "But I guess there are other reasons too."

"Aang?" Zuko asked.

"Yes," Katara said, "and you." Her full honesty stunned him. It was strong and bold. But it shouldn't have been a surprise that she would be honest with him, Zuko thought. He'd never known her to be anything less than strong and bold, and he valued that honesty.

"Why?" Zuko asked before he could think not to say anything. He felt a strange twinge of irritation. "Why is everyone worried about me? Everything is going fine with me. My country is doing well. My people respect me. We're rebuilding step-by-step. Aang's the one who's having trouble bending."

Katara kept her eyes trained on their reflections in the water. "I keep thinking about those villagers, and how scared they were of you."

Zuko shrugged, embarrassed. "Those things happen sometimes," he said. "My reputation is changing slowly. So is the reputation of my nation. Things are a lot better than they were. It isn't a big deal."

"Are you sure?" Katara asked. "Because it can't be easy to deal with that all on your own." There was pain in her voice – for him. "Tonight I keep thinking what it must be like."

"You don't have to feel sorry for me," Zuko said, suddenly angry even though this was Katara.

Her mouth formed into a hard line. He became aware of the water in the pools levitating around them. Every drop rose, hovering above them until the water encased them in a great bubble of water. Then she touched his arm and for a brief moment he felt her take control of his blood. It was beautiful, actually, all the water falling around them, and her eyes carrying something fierce and even angry, but utterly ensconced in emotion. Then everything fell all at once, and she led the water back into the pools like it had never happened, letting go of her hold on him at the same time.

"Katara," Zuko said cautiously, "I don't understand. I know you're stronger than I am right now. And I know what you can do, and that you would never hurt someone you cared about."

"I know you know that, Zuko," Katara said. "That's not what I'm trying to show you." She sighed and splashed the water with her toes. "Look, I know what it's like to be strong, and to have to hold back because you don't want to hurt someone. The difference between you and me is that most people don't think of water as deadly. So I don't have to face the same looks people give you."

"Water is life," Zuko said. "Not death. It's cool and healing."

"Fire is life too," Katara said. "It's warm and comforting. And water can be death. It can rush in and destroy, wiping out everything it touches." She looked down. "Sorry about the blood bending. I just don't ever want you to think I pity you or feel bad for you, because I don't. But I might understand you better than you think. Maybe I always have."

Her skin was bronzed moonlight. Her hair was cascading waves. When she looked up again and met his eyes, he was mesmerized. The blue was deep like all the depths of all the seas, and his heart fluttered in his chest. Could she tell? He didn't care. He reached up slowly like he was moving through water and smoothed down a stray lock of her hair. His fingers brushed her skin and floated down from her temple to her cheek until he could just barely rest his palm at the side of her face. She closed her eyes and caught his wrist in her hand. Her fingers slid down the inside of his wrist and he breathed in silently at her touch. How was she so sure of herself? It was such a relief for him not to be the one in control for once. How had she taken that control from him? How was it that he didn't even want to be the one in control for once? He looked at her lips, closed around her teeth, and thought of leaning forward. She set his hand back down.

"If you…if we…" she stumbled. Time stretched out between them. "Not this way," she said finally, looking away.

He blinked, the spell broken.

She turned away like he was dismissed, so he got up to leave, wondering what that had meant. Had she just rejected him? What had he been planning to do? Would he have kissed her? Had she stopped him because she didn't want that? Why did he feel so drawn to her one minute and so sure the next that there would never be anything mutual between him and Katara? Maybe it would be wise to chalk up all the feelings he had for her to the simple spark that happens when opposites attract and forget about it. Maybe it was unwise to start thinking there was more – though there was so much more – than that.

Zuko never did get to sleep that night. There was just too much to think about.