That evening, the entire group had a large dinner in the dining room of their house, in celebration of Lady Ursa. Everyone sat around the table, filling her in on all that had happened since she had been banished. Ursa was filled with questions as well.

"So, if the Avatar defeated Ozai, then who is the new Fire Lord?" she asked, looking at the faces before her. Everyone looked over to Zuko, waiting for him to answer the question.

"I am." he replied, simply. Ursa gasped and threw her hand up to her mouth.

"My son is the Fire Lord? I never thought I'd see the day." Everyone smiled in her realization. Zuko beamed with pride. Katara, however, sat in silence as everyone shared stories. For a while, she played with the food on her plate, lost in her own thoughts. "You are all so kind, but I want to learn more about my son's heroine, over here." Katara looked up to see Ursa looking directly at her, with a motherly smile. Everyone else looked at Katara in question.

"You saved Zuko?" asked Sokka from the end of the table. Katara could feel her cheeks go red under the pressure.

"It was nothing." she said, trying to get the attention off herself.

"It was most deffinitely something, Katara." said Zuko from beside her. "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have found my mother, or be alive." Ursa giggled from across the table.

"This girl is far too modest. You were right, Zuzu. She is one of the kindest people I've known." Everyone snickered at the use of Zuko's family pet name. Through all this gratitude, Katara only felt worse. Why did her mother have to die? Why couldn't she have just been banished like Zuko's mom? Why couldn't Katara just be happy for him instead of feeling this stupid jealousy?

"Please excuse me. I'm going to bed, now." With that, Katara rose from her seat at the table and headed up the stairs. She didn't bother to listen to what the others had to say about her sudden exit. All she wanted was to crawl under her bed and hide there for the rest of her life. Not only was she jealous of Zuko's newfound family, but now, she had some appologizing to do. After shutting the door, Katara plopped herself onto her bed and hugged her knees up under her chin, creating a barrier between herself and the rest of the world. "I'm happy for them... I'm happy for them... I'm not jealous... I'm not jealous..." These thoughts echoed throughout her mind, causing confused tears to streak her face. Suddenly, there was a soft knock on the door.

"Katara? Is everything alright?" said Ursa from the other side of the door. Quickly regaining her composure, Katara wiped the tears from her face and answered.

"Yeah. I'm fine" she replied, trying to sound as fine as possible.

"Can I come in, please?" she asked. For a moment, Katara almost thought that it was her own mother standing outside her door. There was no fooling this woman.

"Yes." she answered. Ursa opened the door to see Katara balled up on her bed.

"Something is bothering you." Katara didn't say anything, but just nodded her head. Maybe it was the mother factor, but something told her that she could trust this woman more than any other. She sat down on the bed and continued. "Zuko told me everything." Katara's head jerked up in surprise.

"What did he tell you?" she asked, wiping another tear from he cheek.

"Oh, everything. Most of it was about you." She inspected her nails, a trait that Katara had observed on more than one occasion from Azula. "He loves you, you know?" Katara's face flushed slightly upon hearing this.

"Yeah, I know." she replied.

"He also told me about how you lost your mother." Katara's eyes went wide. She didn't mind Zuko knowing that story, but Ursa, someone she had just met, was a little much. More annoying tears slid down her face, but this time, the didn't go unnoticed. Ursa reached up and wiped them away with her fingers, just like Kaya had when Katara was little. "I just want you to know that I will always be here for you. I know I'm not your mother, but since you saved my son's life, I'd consider you one of the family." Katara sniffed, overwhelmed by the gentleness that Ursa showed towards her,almost as if she knew what she was going through.

"Thank you, Lady Ursa. I appreciate your compassion, even though I was so rude earlier." The older woman smiled and wrapped her arms around Katara, as if she were her own daughter. When they pulled away, they both had tears in their eyes. Katara giggled at the sight of them. "You just remind me so much of my mother. I've gotten over her death, but I still miss her every day." Ursa stood and made her way toward the door.

"You are like the daughter I never had. If there's anything you need, come and find me." Katara nodded and looked down at the bunched up hem of her dress. Shortly after Ursa left, there was another knock on the door.

"Come in." This time, it was Zuko.

"I heard you guys talking." he said. Katara stood and crossed her arms playfully.

"So, you were eavesdropping?" she asked. His eyes grew wide with fright.

"No! I just thought I should come and talk to you. You seemed upset at dinner." Katara rubbed her arms and averted her gaze to her right, out the window. Was she that noticable?

"It was nothing. I was just... uh... look, you don't need to worry about it." she said, waving her hand dismissively. Unfortunately, Zuko never gave up without a fight, so this wasn't going to be easy. She watched him cross his arms over his chest.

"I think it is something I need to worry about. You told me a long time ago that we needed to be honest with each other." Katara jerked her eyes up at him with an accusing expression.

"I'll be honest with you if you'll be honest with me." she said, sitting down on the bed. He adopted a blank expression. Typical.

"I am honest with you." he exclaimed. More tears pricked at Katara's eyes, but these were angry tears. Did he think she was stupid.

"What were you talking about with Aang, Sokka, and Toph, yesterday. What was so bad that you couldn't tell me, Zuko?" To her horror, he had nothing else to say. He just looked to the ground, as if he were giving up.

"I'm sorry, Katara. I hate keeping things from you. It's like I told you before, sometimes, it makes things-" she cut him off.

"-makes things more interesting?" He let out a long sigh, then led her over to the bed and sat her down, while he stood before her.

"Yes... but maybe it's time you knew." Katara looked up at his handsome face, now baring a pained expression. She prepared for the worst possible news. "I can't be the Fire Lord anymore, Ozai escaped, Azula is on a revenge rampage for you, ... we're through." She had to block out that last one. He continued, calmly. "First, I need you to close your eyes." She didn't know what to think at this point. He noticed her unease. "Just trust me." Slowly, she closed her eyes and waited. Suddenly, there were a pair of lips pressed against hers. This kiss, however, was different from the others they had shared. This was longing, passionate, intense; just like him. She felt his hands reach up and go to either side of her neck. She, in turn, snaked her arms over his shoulders and intertwined her fingers in his hair. Slowly, to her dismay, he pulled away and smiled brilliantly. She had completely forgotten that she was supposed to have her eyes closed, but it mattered not. Zuko pulled a small mirror from behind his back and held it up to her face.

"Look." he commanded. Slowly, she glanced at her reflection. There was deffinitely something different about her, now.

"What is... this?" she asked, gazing at a beautiful necklace that had somehow snuck onto her neck. It's ribbon was a deep, rich purple, while the circle shaped pendant was sky-blue. At closer inspection, there was a thick, twisting column of water and fire in the center. In the background, was, what looked like, the Fire Nation and Water Tribe sybols combined. Her mouth dropped open as she beheld the masterpiece. Then, she looked at Zuko, who had dropped down to one knee.

"Katara, I want you to know that... I love you, and that I want to spend the rest of my life with you." He set the mirror down and took both her hands in his. For a spplit second, her heart stopped beating and she was floating. "Will you marry me?" For a moment, Katara felt as though she were going to faint on the spot. Common sense told her to say something, anything, but her brain didn't want to work for it. This wasn't an "I really like you, maybe we should hand out." It was a marriage proposal. Katara was still gazing at the beautiful necklace when she heard him speak again. "It's okay if you don't love me the way I love you. You don't have to-"

"Yes." she said, cutting him off. He stared at her wide-eyed, mouth agape. At this point, her brain was no londer in control. Her heart was doing all the talking. "Yes!" Her entheusiasm was increasing with each passing second. "I'll marry you. I... I'll marry you!"

Overwhelmed with unspeakable joy, Zuko threw his arms around her middle and hoisted her into the air, spinning her in circles. For a moment, the world around them stood still and let them bask in their newfound happiness. Nothing mattered except for the fact tha they loved each other and they were prepared to spend the rest of their lives with eachother, no matter what. After about three giddy spins, Zuko sat her down and let her catch her breath for a moment. Just when he thought nothing could ruin this moment, the door flew open. He had spoken too soon.