Author's Notes:

Thanks to those of you who are following this story, have marked it as a "favorite" or have left a review. I really appreciate all of those things!

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

Katara got a big group hug from everyone except Aang, who was driving the bison. Zuko climbed up after her and avoided the group hug. But when he sat down next to her on the saddle – much closer than normal – it did not escape her attention that Toph handed a sizable mound of coins over to Sokka and said: "I thought it would take another five chapters!"

Katara felt like there was steam rising from her ears, but Zuko leaned over slightly until his arm brushed hers. "She lost a bet with Sokka," he said. "Toph never loses a bet. Just enjoy the moment." He leaned back, crossed his arms and smirked.

"Someone's in a good mood," Aang said in a chipper voice from the reins, wagging his eyebrows up and down. "Guess you two must have made up."

"Or made out," Toph said under her breath, but loudly enough that everyone could hear. Sokka and Suki both snickered, and Katara's face became approximately the same shade as Zuko's robes.

Zuko just rested his neck on the edge of the saddle, looking totally at ease. "Where are we going now?" he asked. "We're obviously not going back to the Air Temple."

Sure enough, when Katara looked she could see the Northern Air Temple fading in the distance, and all their things were packed up and loaded again. It bothered her that whatever was going on with her and Zuko had thrown her off enough that she hadn't noticed the change in plans herself. "Yeah, what happened back there?" she asked, trying to recover. "Why are we leaving?"

"To answer your questions, first, we're going to that creepy abandoned Earth Kingdom village," Sokka said. "The one where Zuko's evil crazy sister tried to take us all out at once." He nodded to Zuko. "No offense, man."

Zuko raised his hands. "None taken. Your sister is perfectly capable of her own brand of evil."

"What!?" Katara yelped. She had thought they were getting closer. Where had that come from? Wait: was he flirting with her? His eyes were on her again, and they glinted like he was daring her to do something about it.

Sokka widened his eyes and said: "So I'm not the only one who's noticed?" and Suki, who was sitting on Katara's other side, laughed silently. Traitor, Katara thought.

She glowered at Zuko and he quickly switched to an innocent, imploring look, so she crossed her own arms, rested her own head back against the saddle like his and muttered: "I'll show you evil."

"Katara," Sokka said. "You know who you're talking to, right? Zuko? Fire Lord Zuko? As in the man-formerly-known-as-Prince-Zuko-the-Fire-Nation-guy-who-was-really-really-bad? His first girlfriend was that gloomy chick who threw razor-sharp daggers and yawned while she was doing it. Promising to show Zuko evil is as good as asking him out on a date."

Zuko laughed smugly and put his arms around the back of his head.

Katara blinked. She should ignore that, right? But Zuko was apparently fine with it, and she felt oddly lightened by his easy laugh. The whole thing flustered her. "Just get back to the questions, Sokka," she demanded. "What happened? And we better not find out you guys purposely cut us off from everyone."

"Of course not," Sokka said. "We only purposely didn't bother to come find you after everything went down. The rest of it's a big mystery."

Zuko groaned. "I will never understand how you guys evaded me for so long when we were kids."

"I can't believe you decided to leave us alone all night after an unexplained rock slide!" Katara said. "What if one of us had been hurt?"

"As if Zuko would let you get hurt," Sokka scoffed.

Katara glanced sideways at Zuko. He shrugged at her, and she was flustered again: this time by the endearing realization that he was so protective that her over-protective big brother had noticed. "So how did you guys escape?" she asked, trying desperately to get her mind on something other than Zuko. She had to get it together.

"Well obviously I tried to use earthbending to save us all from being crushed by rocks," Toph said. "I did okay for a while. But then my bending started to feel weak and the ground started shaking, so I couldn't see as well with my feet. I'm not sure we would have made it, except that Teo…"

"Pretty much swept her out from under her feet and carted her away," Suki finished. "Leaving me to save Sokka."

Sokka whimpered.

"Where was Aang?" Katara asked.

Aang didn't answer. His shoulders slumped and he let out an anguished moan. Katara wanted to say something, but didn't think she should. Aang always carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, and when he couldn't figure out what to do, he had a tendency to run away. In some ways, she'd felt compelled to stop traveling with Aang because it was like she was just helping him do what he always did: avoid settling down. He was a free spirit, but it also seemed like he was trying not to grow up.

"Aang thinks a dark spirit is after us," Sokka supplied when Aang didn't answer. "And he doesn't remember what happened. He didn't find us all again until after the dust had cleared."

"You don't remember anything, Aang?" Katara asked.

Sokka shushed her. "We asked him already. He's really upset and doesn't want to talk about it."

Zuko frowned. "What kind of dark spirit? What could it be after?"

"The kind that's following us and trying to take away our bending," Toph said. "Aang's bending especially."

"And it seems to be trying to separate everyone, especially from Aang," Suki said.

"So after we regrouped," Sokka continued, "we decided it was too dangerous for us to spend time where anyone else could get hurt. We packed up Appa, left the Northern Air Temple and came to pick you two up from your play date. We're going to that deserted place in the Earth Kingdom village." Sokka leaned back. "It'll be just like the first time. All of us versus the bad guy."

Katara slouched down in the saddle. "You mean minus General Iroh and Azula, plus Suki, with Zuko as our ally instead of our enemy and with no idea what the bad guy actually looks like? Yeah, that sounds exactly like the first time."

Zuko and Toph laughed.

"Fine! I get it! It won't be like old times," Sokka said. "But we can still pretend! The point is, we're going to the deserted Earth Kingdom village. Do you have any more questions?"

"Yeah," Zuko said. "Did anyone think to pack breakfast? Maybe next time you decide to 'purposely' leave Katara and I alone somewhere, it could be near a market or something. I'm starving."

"Hey, that's supposed to be my line!" Sokka said.

Zuko was worried about Aang. The bending problems Aang, and to a lesser extent everyone else was having concerned him. Aang refused to take help at the reins, and he seemed quieter than normal, rarely participating in the conversation, especially when Sokka wanted to talk strategy on isolating the bending problems. When they landed in the Earth Kingdom village late that afternoon, Aang only stuck around long enough to help unload the bison. Then he skirted off on his own.

In the meanwhile, Zuko was having a hard time focusing, and it had nothing to do with Aang and everything to do with Katara. The idea that she might reciprocate some of the feelings he harbored for her was new, raw and dangerous. It heightened his sense of every interaction he had with her. All she had to do was catch his eye and adrenaline shot through his body. He wanted to get her alone again, to find out if she was feeling the same way, but he still wasn't sure where any of this was going. The thought of having a "fling" with Katara was downright distasteful. His fear of losing her friendship made it absolutely necessary to take everything slowly and carefully. And she wasn't giving him a clear picture of what she wanted – if she even knew.

So they were dancing around each other, doing little things to test the other's boundaries. Light teasing. Touch that was gentler than normal and lasted a second longer. Getting caught staring. Helping each other in ways they had always been able to do but had never done before. Though Zuko knew Katara didn't need a hand down from Appa.

They were walking the edge of a cliff, but it was pleasant and it off-set the bad memories being in the Earth Kingdom village brought back for Zuko of a time when he had still felt lost and confused. Back then, he thought capturing the Avatar would restore his honor and it seemed like all his plans were blowing up in his face. He remembered the show-down with Azula here: how strange it was at the time to fight alongside Aang, Katara, Toph and Sokka; how he hadn't been able to stop Azula from targeting Uncle Iroh; how Uncle would never even have been there if Zuko hadn't selfishly tried to go off on his own. Zuko truly was grateful for his uncle's unconditional love and forgiveness, and for the friendships he had today.

Katara caught him looking at scorch marks on the side of one of the buildings. "It was a long time ago, Zuko," she said, and he appreciated that she didn't bother to ask what he was thinking about.

"Sometimes it's hard not to hate the person I was back then," he said. "Things would have been so different if I had just listened to my Uncle earlier."

She slipped her arm around his waist, and it was remarkable that she could still be his friend despite all the flirting. He gratefully put his arm around her shoulder, turning slightly toward her for a real hug, which she didn't resist. She held him close, while he clasped his arms around her back, and she patiently let him maintain the hug, not saying anything when he rested his head against hers. He vaguely identified this as part of what he couldn't stand to lose about her friendship, but when she pulled away, a part of him that desperately wanted to kiss her rose up and made him wonder if there was a world in which he could have both the deep friendship and the romance.

She caught him looking at her lips, raised an eyebrow and playfully pushed him back at the chest. "I need your help," she said. "Someone needs to find out where Aang went before it starts to get dark."

"Oh, I see," he said, also playfully. "So you really followed me over here because you need help tracking down some other guy."

"You're the expert, Zuko," she said. "Might as well make that dark history work for you. Anyway, I'm going with Suki to try to find somewhere we can hole up in for the evening. Do you mind?"

He shook his head and laughed. "I was just heading out to find him, dear." She rolled her eyes, and the flirting was back on full force, but Aang was on his mind too, so he did set off to track down the Avatar.

Zuko had a talent for finding him, and his instincts were right on cue. After a short search, he found Aang on top of the roof of a half-collapsed building. The building was tall and Aang had taken his glider to get up to the top. Zuko managed to swing up from the rafters and through a hole in the roof to join him.

"Hey," Aang said. He was sitting looking out away from the town and into the Earth Kingdom prairies. There was a warm breeze in the air and the grass rippled in waves.

"Hey," Zuko said. He sat down next to Aang. He didn't say anything else for a long time. Sometimes being a good friend meant just sitting in silence and waiting for the other person to talk.

"So things are going well with you and Katara, am I right?" Aang asked after a while, and it sounded like it was meant to be good-natured teasing, but Aang's voice fell flat.

Zuko turned to study Aang. His face was long and his eyes looked sad and empty. "I don't think we should talk about me and Katara," Zuko said. "I think we should talk about you. You don't seem okay."

Aang's chest heaved. "I wasn't there," he said. "Again."

"It's not your responsibility to look after everyone all of the time," Zuko said.

Aang groaned in frustration. "It is my responsibility, Zuko. It's my destiny to bring balance and peace to the world!"

That was hard to disagree with. Aang was the Avatar, and that put balance and peace directly into his purview. But Aang seemed so lost right now, and it didn't seem fair for a seventeen-year-old who had already saved the world to have to constantly be thinking about his destiny. Zuko imagined what Uncle would say if he were here. Something like: "It is impossible to fulfill your destiny when you do not know which way to point your feet." Yeah. That wasn't going to cut it. Zuko's advice had to be more tangible.

"Aang," he said, "I don't think you can bring balance and peace to the world when you can't find it in yourself."

"I know," Aang said. "But how am I supposed to do that? For so long it was my destiny to find the Fire Lord and defeat him. Then I did it, and now I don't know what I should do." Zuko thought of everything Aang had done over the last five years. The boy had traveled the world essentially looking for villages that needed help, and he'd done a lot of great things, but it was true that Aang was sort of a free agent. It was hard to say what one particular thing Aang was working on.

"You do have your alchemy project," Zuko thought out loud.

Aang rolled his eyes. "No one needs the Avatar for that," he said. "It's more like a hobby than a destiny."

"What about your work renovating all of the air temples? That's important."

Aang turned to him. "Zuko," he said, "You're not that good at this."

"Do you want me to get Katara?" Zuko asked, chagrined.

Aang shook his head. "No, I think that's part of the problem." Zuko raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. Aang continued. "Katara took care of me forever. Then she sort of figured out that she needed to do something other than take care of me. And I understood. I really did. I still do. She's a powerful, amazing bender and I can't spend the rest of my life letting her take care of me like she's my mother. But now that no one is taking care of me, I feel lost." He turned to Zuko. "How do you do it all the time? How do you run an entire nation? How did you do it when you were only sixteen?"

Zuko thought about it. "I feel lonely a lot. But I'm never completely alone, I guess. I always have Uncle. I rely on my friends. You. Sokka. Katara. Even Toph. You've all been there for me in different ways, and I've learned to let you be there. It's only hard when I wish I had people I trusted like you guys closer to me all the time."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Zuko admitted. "It's hard for me to let people in."

Aang snickered. "You think?" he said, and they both laughed.

"So I have to learn how to rely on my friends but in a long-distance kind of way?" Aang asked. "That doesn't seem a lot different from what I'm doing now."

"I don't know," Zuko said. "Maybe there's another solution. I don't think any man can stand on his own, without people to support him, though. You have to figure something out."

A grunt interrupted them and Zuko saw a hand reach up over the roof. "Bros!" a voice called. It was Sokka, his voice strained and pitching high while he struggled to get up on the roof. Aang grinned at Zuko. "A little help?"

Zuko sighed, but grabbed Sokka's wrist and pulled him up. "Finally," Sokka said. He sat down next to Zuko and Aang, stuck a pipe in his mouth and kicked out his feet. "Okay, let the bro talk continue."

"Uh…" Aang said.

"Hey," Sokka said. "Sokka's here to help. What do you two jerks need? Advice about war? Advice about love? You know I'm better at both than either of you."

Zuko made a face. Sokka was kind of right, though. Zuko often called on Sokka for help planning delicate operations, such as that incident involving the stand-off with the cabbage man in the southern region of the Fire Nation and that time the news people liked to call "the Northern Water Crisis" when he'd narrowly escaped another war via Sokka's advice. As far as love went: Sokka had all the girls. His first girlfriend was the moon spirit. Ty Lee still had a crush on him. It was rumored that even Toph had been into him at some point. Suki – presumably the girl Sokka was going to marry – was the kind of girl who could out-run, out-fight and out-maneuver any man. So maybe Sokka did know something he and Aang didn't know.

"Okay, do you have any advice on how to bring balance and peace to the entire world?" Aang asked.

"Cactus juice," Sokka said, puffing on his pipe (which, as far as Zuko could tell, had nothing in it). "Makes everyone friendly."

"How about figuring out what your destiny is?"

"Nah," Sokka said. "Just stop worrying so much. In my experience, destiny comes to you, not the other way around."

"Girls?" Aang asked. "Like how to get Katara to go out with Zuko?"

Zuko huffed. "It's more complicated than that."

Sokka nodded and put his arm around Zuko. Zuko said "no" and shrugged him off. Sokka, however, didn't look too pained. "Zuko," he said, "As your future brother-in-law-"

"I haven't even kissed her!" Zuko shot back.

Sokka brushed the comment off like it didn't matter. "Picky picky!" he said. "I saw that hug action earlier. Sokka sees all. And as Katara's actual brother, I can tell you one thing with absolute certainty. She likes you." Sokka widened his eyes and spoke slowly: "th-at wa-ay." Zuko gritted his teeth, but Sokka continued. "Seriously, Zuko, Katara doesn't look at anyone the way she looks at you. Never has, really. You just have to stay cool long enough for her to come to you."

"Is that what you did with Suki?" Aang asked, in the way only someone as good and innocent as Aang could possibly have done.

"That's exactly what I did," Sokka said.

Zuko gave Sokka a cold stare. "Yeah right." He tried to imagine Sokka acting "cool" ever. It was impossible. "You are definitely not cooler than Suki."

"Hey," Sokka said, "I speak the truth." He looked like he was about to go on, but his efforts to defend himself were interrupted when another hand appeared. The guys all stared.

"Twinkletoes! Boomerang Man! Sparky!" Toph's voice came. "Someone give me a lift!" Sokka pulled her up onto the roof. The spirited blind girl crawled over and sat next to them. "Thanks."

"How did you get up here?" Aang asked at the same time Zuko asked: "What are you doing up here?"

Toph shrugged. "Hey! I heard some guy talk going on, and I wanted to be a part." She elbowed Sokka. "I am one of the guys, right?"

The guys looked at each other and then back at Toph. Zuko considered the comment. Toph did sort of seem like one of the guys. She could definitely spit farther than anyone in the group and she was regularly coated in a layer of dirt.

"It's official," Sokka said. "You're a double agent."

"Great!" Toph said, apparently satisfied with her status. "So everyone needs girl advice, huh?"

"I don't need girl advice," Sokka said.

Toph laughed. "Puh-lease. You need girl advice just as much as Twinkletoes and Sparky."

Sokka crossed his arms smugly. "My relationship is just fine, thank you very much. But if you have something to say – say it."

Toph crossed her feet and leaned back on her elbows. "I will, Sokka," she said. "See, your relationship might be fine, but you're making a time-honored mistake."

"Which is?"

"Waiting too long. It is time."

"Time for what?" Sokka asked. Zuko had the funny feeling that Sokka was playing around with Toph.

"Time to get married, stupid," Toph said. "Suki's an awesome girl and she's got everything going on. She's not going to wait around forever."

Zuko punched Sokka on the shoulder. "Better get a move on buddy," he said. Sokka puffed on his empty pipe and rolled his eyes, smiling.

"Well, Toph," Sokka laughed. "I'll give you one thing: you're right that Suki's amazing. Probably the most amazing woman I've ever met. And I do love her. I will take your advice under consideration."

Aang looked eagerly at Toph. "What's your girl advice for me?"

Sokka nudged Zuko. "This oughta be good," he said. "Aang's never even had a real girlfriend."

"Aang," Toph said, ignoring them. "My advice for you is more about the where than the who. If you can't stay somewhere for more than a few weeks, you're never going to find a home. If you can't find a home, you won't find someone who wants to share a home with you."

"Airbenders are nomadic by nature, Toph," Aang argued. "I'm not supposed to have a permanent home."

"Okay, so you think you're going to find the right girl and – what – invite her for a nice romantic ride on Appa?" Toph asked.

"That works surprisingly well," Sokka commented.

Aang scowled, his face taking on a stormy look. "I don't know," he said. "It's not like I can go back to the Southern Air Temple where I grew up."

He looked upset, and the topic was uncomfortable. Even Zuko felt the tension in the air. He turned back to Toph, who had started picking her toes. "Hey Toph," he said. "What about me?"

Toph's face lit back up. "Sparky! I've been saving you for last." She paused. "But I don't really have advice for you."

"You don't?" Zuko asked surprised.

"No," she said. "Because based on what I've observed over the last few days, I think your heart is already in the right place. I just don't understand what's taking you so long with Katara."

Zuko felt his blood heat up. "Did it ever occur to you people that maybe Katara and I don't want to date?"

Sokka, Aang and Toph all started laughing. "Oh-" Toph said, rolling around on her back. "Lord Zuko, you have a lot to learn. I think maybe you need someone to light a fire under your ass. I should tell you about this conversation I once had with The Duke about Jet."

"About Jet?" Zuko asked. "That angsty guy who tried to fight me and died in Ba Sing Se?"

"Katara kind of had a thing with him," Aang said grumpily.

"That's one way of putting it," Sokka said, equally grumpily. "What did The Duke have to say, Toph?"

Toph grinned. "Okay. So Jet told Pipsqueak who told The Duke that kissing Katara is just like drinking honey nectar. Apparently Sugar Queen is that sweet."

Aang flinched and everyone looked at him.

"Spit it out, Twinkletoes," Toph said.

Aang wouldn't meet Zuko's glance. "Erm," he said, "it is kind of like that. Cool and refreshing."

Zuko glared at Aang.

"It was forever ago!"

"So," Toph said, deflecting Zuko's glare from Aang. "Do you want to weigh in on what it's like? Maybe tell us what happened last night?"

"No!" Zuko said.

Really. Aang needed to find higher rooftops to sulk on.

Katara hated spending time in places like this. Everywhere she looked there was an empty house, a door that had been torn down, a wall of bricks that was half-collapsed, a whole building burned to the ground. If she stopped and listened, she thought she could almost hear the sounds of the people who had lived here: crying, laughing, working, sweating and bleeding.

"This is depressing," Suki said, as they unpacked their things in an old inn. She trailed her finger along a table and a line appeared in the dust. "How long ago do you think anyone lived here?"

Katara wrote her name in the dust on the table. "A long time," she said. Then she sneezed violently.

"Ooch," Suki said, waving her hand in the air to wave away a mini cloud of dust. "Maybe we should make a campfire outside and cook over that. I don't think all this dust is good for us."

They walked outside to scope out the town. It looked like it had been a mining area. There weren't a lot of buildings to begin with, but they all seemed to line one street, which lead to a tall water tower. It was empty, but they found a few working wells. "So at least we won't need to use up our supply of water," Katara said. They kept walking until they stopped at what looked like a decaying corral. Suki jumped up onto the wooden fencing. Katara leaned against a different section while Suki balanced gracefully on the edge of the fencing like an acrobat.

"I'm going to miss this," she said, hopping an entire section and landing on her feet nearby.

"The wild wild west?" Katara asked. "I'm not! I hope we don't stay long at all."

Suki jumped back over and sat down by Katara. "No," she said, "I meant I'm going to miss practicing like this with all of my girls."

Katara was puzzled. "What do you mean? You'll be back with them soon, right?"

Suki shook her head. "Sokka said I could tell you," she said. "You'll be the first to know. We've decided to get married."

Katara jumped up in surprise. "Really?" she asked, grabbing Suki's shoulders. "When? Where?"

Suki nodded. "Really," she said. She pulled down her collar and revealed a beautifully carved blue engagement pendant dangling from a piece of green silk. "He gave it to me last night, in the air temples. He said he'd been waiting for the right time."

"And my brother figured that the night after a spirit-induced avalanche was the right time?" Katara asked sarcastically.

Suki smiled. "I think it was nice, Katara." She tucked the pendant away again. "He said he was tired of being afraid of losing me before he'd even asked me to marry him."

Katara smiled back. "I guess he's not always a big dumb lug." Then she frowned, thinking back to what Suki had said to start the conversation. "But Suki, does this mean you're leaving the Kyoshi Warriors?"

Suki sighed. "We want to build a home, and we have to live somewhere. I'm going to get too old to be part of the Kyoshi Warriors eventually. But Sokka's going to get too old not to be at home, taking his place as a real leader in your tribe."

"So you're moving to the South Pole?"

"I think we should after we get married," Suki said. "We haven't really talked a lot about it yet, but I don't think there's any other way."

Katara took Suki's hands and held them tight. "Suki, I'm so excited to have you as a sister. You'll eventually love the South Pole. I promise. But you have to promise me something."

Suki squeezed back. "What is it Katara?"

"That no matter where you go, you'll always be a Kyoshi Warrior. Even if that means you have to start teaching the lugs at the South Pole how to fight."

Suki gave Katara a big hug. "I promise Katara." She stepped back and winked. "So," she asked. "Are you going to tell me what's up with you and Zuko? You seemed cozy today. Did you decide to find out if that story Ty Lee told was true?"

Katara looked away. "No." She blushed. "I don't know what to do about Zuko. I'm so afraid of making a big mistake with him."

Suki laughed. "Katara, I don't want you to do something you'll regret later, but I don't think it would be a mistake for you to admit you have feelings for Zuko and have a little fun with him."

Katara leaned over the wooden corral. "What if I want more than fun with him? And what if that's all he wants?"

"Well if you want to find out, you're at least going to have to work up the nerve to see for yourself how he kisses," Suki said. "Worst case scenario, you get to make out with the Fire Lord. Best case scenario you end up marrying him."

"Worst case scenario he breaks my heart," Katara said. "Or what would be even worse is if I break his."

"If that happens, you'll both get over it. You got over the thing with Aang, right?"

Katara nodded uneasily. "Yes, but we were kids. This feels like it has higher stakes."

"It does," Suki said. "Which is why you owe it to yourself – and to Zuko – to find out what you really have together." Suki nodded toward town. They could see Sokka, Toph, Aang and Zuko walking back toward them together. Aang seemed to be joking with Zuko, and it looked like they were having a good time. "How can you be afraid of that?" she asked. She definitely had a point.