Disclaimer: Neither Avatar: the Last Airbender nor its characters belong to me, nor will they ever

Sorry! I promise I have not abandoned this story! I really love this story, but this chapter was a struggle to get through for me. Hope you enjoy!

A/N: I received some messages about the honeymoon/rating of this story...just know there will be a lot of mature themes throughout the tory, but never anything explicit. Hope that abates your fears/doesn't disappoint you too sorely

Zuko wasn't kidding. Greeting all of their guests took nearly four hours. Fortunately, they were permitted to sit—a second throne was placed next to Zuko's on the dais. One by one, or in couples or families, the guests from all around the world approached the dais. They bowed. Offered their congratulations and blessings. Some offered gifts. Fire Nation nobles brought baskets of spices and fine glass blown by Firebender artisans. Earth Kingdom nobles brought spools of silk and fine stoneware. One merchant even brought a life sized statue of them, but Katara didn't really see the likeness. Northern Water Tribe nobles brought armfuls of lush furs, although she didn't see much use for them in the heat of the Fire Nation. Katara followed Zuko's lead, thanked them without conversing much or really acknowledging anyone particularly. Normally, she would have thought this to be rude, but she didn't know or recognize most of them anyway. Those she did recognize, she had already seen, save for a few; she was surprised and pleased to see Haru, Pipsqueak, The Duke, and Smellerbee, Teo and his father among the guests she did recognize—they all looked so grown up. Mai was there, too, with her husband, parents and brother, and Katara couldn't believe how big Tom-Tom had gotten.

After they had greeted and thanked their last guest, they were swept away to change for the reception. Katara was shocked to see most of her things packed away, servants carrying multiple trunks down the hall to her new rooms. Jien and Aeza helped her undress as Qi Na and Kai laid out the one she was to wear next. It was just as pretty, but the material was lighter. She frowned. The time and place for a lighter weight dress had been the ceremony when she'd been standing in the heat. Nonetheless, she was grateful.

After Jien straightened her hair, Katara stepped into the hall just in time to meet Zuko. He had changed out of his ceremonial armor and was wearing royal robes, and though they were still more formal than she was used to, he looked far more comfortable.

His eyes traveled up and down her figure and she struggled not to look away. He hadn't done it to make her feel uncomfortable, but she wasn't used to that kind of attention. Not from Zuko. Not yet.

He placed her hand on his arm and escorted her back across the palace to the grand reception room. Horns were blowing to announce their arrival, and the great wooden doors were pushed open to allow their arrival. The hundreds of guests bowed as they entered, and when she and Zuko were seated at their table on a dais in the front of the room, some began to clap and cheer and whistle. Zuko waved his hand and tens of servants entered carrying huge ceramic jugs of wine, and they spread out across the room, filling up hundreds of wine goblets at each table. Long tables lined three walls of the room, and each table was overflowing with meats, breads, fruits, and pies of every kind. On the last wall, where their dais was situated, were also two smaller tables: to her right was her family, and to Zuko's left was a table featuring his uncle and what she assumed were either distant relatives or close council members. It occurred to her that she did not even know if Zuko had any family other than Uncle.

A large band was preparing to play in the corner of the room to her left, an soon the hall echoed with beautiful, elegant melodies, mingling with the sounds of the guests' laughter and conversations.

"Katara?"

She started at Zuko's touch on her arm and him yelling in her ear. "What?" she found herself yelling back over the din of the room. She hadn't realized it was so loud.

"I asked if you were hungry. Or thirsty. Are you?" Since she was looking right at him, he didn't have to yell, but his voice was still raised.

She shook her head but accepted the goblet of wine he offered anyway. She needed water, she realized, but wine would have to do. She realized she hadn't eaten since breakfast, and that she was hungry, but the ball of nerves in her stomach was telling her she wouldn't be able to hold food down.

More food was brought out each half hour, and the wine continued to flow, but with all the noise in the room, Katara gave up on trying to converse with her new husband. And since they were by themselves on the dais, there really wasn't much opportunity for anyone else.

Children, bored with their parents' conversations, began running about and dancing on the dance floor and soon adult couples were joining them, spinning in colorful circles to songs and dances she wasn't familiar with. Within a matter of minutes, the floor was half full with happy, drunk dancers. It made Katara smile, and when she looked over at Zuko, she saw a shade of a smile in his eyes, too. It was better than a frown or scowl.

He caught her looking and he leaned toward her, turning his mouth toward her ear. "This reception is more for our guests and the people, not so much us and our families. There's not a lot of ritual to it; it's more about making them feel…comfortable in our presence."

"How very…un-Fire Nation," she replied with a teasing smile.

The corner of his mouth twitched but he just finished his wine and fell silent again.

Another half hour or two passed—the desserts and dessert wine had long been brought out—when guests started banging their empty wine goblets on their tables all around the room.

Katara shifted, uncomfortable. "Are…are they out of wine?"

Zuko sighed and sat up. "No. They want us to…dance."

"Oh."

"I hate dancing."

That didn't really surprise her but since she was unfamiliar with Fire Nation song and dance, she was not all that eager to dance either. "Well, do we have to—"

"It's a bad prescient if we don't." He stood and reached for her had. "Come. Just one."

She took his hand and stood, and the banging of the goblets turned into loud cheers and hollering. She held her head high and smiled as she stepped off the dais and followed him onto the dance floor, but she whispered, "I don't know any of your dances."

"They're not hard. Just follow my lead. It's a short one."

In the center of the room, he bowed to her and she followed with a curtsy, as was custom. He then stepped forward, taking her waist in one hand, her hand in the other. She swallowed as he pulled her against his hard chest gently.

Right as the music was about to start, he noticed her apprehension.

"Are you all right?" he whispered, somehow retaining his smile.

She bit her bottom lip and looked up at him. She nodded, but then shook her head.

He squeezed her hand reassuringly. "Just follow my lead."

The dance was relatively easy, even if she managed to trip a few times.

Zuko noticed her grip on his hand grow increasingly tighter as the dance wore on.

Finally, it ended, the room applauded, and Katara let herself smile in relief.

"See? Not that bad," he said as he led her back to their seats and the dance floor once again filled with people.

"Yes," she sighed.

At midnight, their families came to lead them from the hall. The celebration would continue well into the night, Zuko had told her, but it was tradition for the bride and groom to leave at midnight. She said goodbye to her father and grandmother and brother, and it was really only knowing that she would see them all in the morning before they left for their honeymoon that kept her from crying.

As they made their way across the room, some guests bowed respectfully, others began to hoot and whistle, and Katara could feel her face growing hot.

Some select councilmen and their wives were waiting for them in the hall, and the doors to the room were shut behind them, but they did not eliminate the cheering of the guests completely. She didn't understand the need to be escorted. Zuko knew the palace just fine, and she wasn't going to run away or anything like that. Zuko told her it was an old tradition that stemmed from the practice of marrying captured women, who were prone to run away on their wedding nights. Yet another archaic practice that remained for no real purpose. The party escorting them consisted of nobles she didn't recognized who served as official witnesses for the bedding ceremony. Finally, they were in the royal residence and at Zuko's doors. They were quickly ushered inside, the doors closed behind them, and they were finally out of the prying eyes of their family, friends, and guests. Katara had expected to feel relieved, but instead she was suddenly seized by a fit of panic. She and Zuko were alone.

Then, she was surprised by a knock at the door. After Zuko's gave his permission to enter, Jien and a manservant stepped into the room.

"I'm here to help you undress, my lady."

Zuko's dismissed the manservant and stepped behind a partition while Jien led a grateful Katara behind a partition on the opposite side of the room. She helped her slip out of her dress and the other layers of clothing and pull out the pins and knots in her hair. She set Katara's new crown in a velvet-lined box on a vanity and closed it before handing Katara a nightdress and robe. It was silky and white and much too revealing for Katara's taste, but she put it on anyway.

"Is there anything else I can do for you, my lady?"

Katara shook her head slowly. "No, thank you, Jien."

Jien gave her a comforting smile, bowed, and left the room quietly.

She looked around the room. Her new room. Her and Zuko's room. It was twice the size of her old rooms, and even the furniture, though sparse, was larger. The sitting room's lounges were in a u-shape around a large tea table, and the Earth Kingdom rug spanned across the entire room. In the bedroom, there were two dark wood armoires on each sidewall, and two side tables framed the massive four-poster bed that sat in the center of the bedroom. There was also a vanity on the left side of the room, next to a door, and curtains lined the back wall, separating the room from a balcony, she supposed.

She looked at the red gauzy fabric draped over the four-poster bed and the matching curtains and bed linens. "Why do these look new?" she asked, tired of the silence.

Zuko was peeling off layer after layer of clothes. "They are."

She spun around to look at him. "You got new drapes?" For me? she wanted to ask.

He only looked embarrassed for a moment. "Uncle made me. Before…they were very…black. This whole room was. Actually, his words were 'menacing-looking' and 'depressing.'" He shrugged.

"Oh."

"I figured…change would be good."

"Why was it black?"

He looked uncomfortable, and for a moment she didn't think he would answer. Then he shrugged. "I just hadn't changed things. I've only been back four years, and, at the time, it seemed like there were more important things to be doing than…redecorating. Besides, I don't really spend that much time in here. I just…sleep."

Katara swallowed and looked at the bed that was nearly bigger than her room back in the South Pole. Sleep. Right. She clutched her dress at the neck and shifted her weight from foot to foot. She didn't know what she was supposed to do, what was expected of her—what he expected from her.

Her heart was pounding in her chest. Of course she knew what was expected; it was her wedding night—their wedding night—after all. She wasn't ignorant. And she also knew had she been forced into marriage with anyone else, he would have taken her by now. But this was Zuko. He was her friend. So were the expectations different? She didn't know and almost wished he'd just tell her.

Zuko seemed to sense her discomfort. He looked away.

"Look, we don't have to…to do this tonight," he said.

She looked up at him. Was she that obvious?

He rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean…I'm not going to force you…."

She tried to keep her voice steady. "You—you wouldn't be—" She hugged herself. "It is our wedding night…."

His hand dropped. "Yeah, well—"

"I can wait though…if you can…will…."

"We can wait," he agreed. He saw her shoulders sag with relief. "Till you're ready…we're ready, that is."

She looked up at him, and in her eyes he could see fear clear as day.

He was struck with a thought and had to fight his own rising panic.

"Katara, you have…? You have…haven't you?"

The longest moment of his life passed before she finally shook her head no.

He struggled to control his voice. "But…I assumed—I thought…you and Aang…you never—"

"No," she interrupted, her tone tense.

"Oh."

She looked away, her intricate braid falling over her shoulder.

"It's fine—"

"Water Tribe culture…is different."

They spoke simultaneously.

"A woman is punished if she is not…whole for her husband," Katara went on to explain, still not meeting his eye.

"I understand…. I shouldn't have assumed…. I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for."

He cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable. "Are you all right? Do you need anything? I know the day was long and tiring…."

"Actually, would you mind if I bathed?" she asked quietly. "I'm not used to the…climate. And my dress was very…hot."

He shook his head. "Of course not." He crossed the room swiftly, lighting torches in the previously dark adjoining room. "This is the bathroom. There are soaps, towels…. I can ring a servant to pump the water and heat—"

"Thank you," she said, interrupting his hurried speech, "but I don't mind pumping the water myself. Thank you, Zuko." She stepped past him into the bathroom.

He nodded. "Of course. Let me know if you need anything."

"I will, I promise."

He nodded again and closed the bathroom door behind him.

Katara released a great breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. The peace of just being alone for the first time in what felt like forever was a relief in itself. Her heart was pounding in her chest; she hadn't realized how nervous she was. As she began pumping water into the bath, she sat on the edge of the tub, letting her head fall wearily. Despite her relief, she felt somewhat ashamed that she wasn't ready to fulfill her duty as wife. She should have been ready; she had told herself it would probably happen.

But, after all these years, Zuko still had his honor.

She took her time bathing, soaking in the large tub until the water became lukewarm. Slipping into a silk robe, she emerged from the bathroom, but she found the bedroom empty.

"Zuko?" she called hesitantly.

"Out here," he said, his voice wafting from the other side of heavy curtains. She stepped through them and onto a balcony much like the one she'd had in her old rooms. Zuko was standing on the balcony, looking out over the city. He wore plain cotton pants and was shirtless. She went to stand beside him.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

The city was practically glowing. There were lights and fires everywhere, and occasionally a firework would shoot into the night sky, bursting above the rooftops. It was beautiful—a different kind of beauty than she was used to in the South Pole, but beautiful nonetheless.

"Zuko, what are those on your arms?"

He looked down at the thin metal bands nearly digging into his biceps. "I may not wear a ring on my finger, but I wanted something…they're my reminders that I am not my own man. I belong to my people and my nation." He turned toward her, leaning against the paling. "And now I belong to you. As much as, by law, you belong to me, I belong to you in the same sense. Not everyone interprets marriage in that way, but I do. We're equal. I did not enter this marriage lightly. I meant it when I said I'd be faithful to you, and honor you."

She smiled softly. "I know."

"That reminds me." He pulled something out of his pocket and held out his hand to her. "I had this made for you."

She opened her palm and watched him drop a small, gold circlet into it. A ring. She compared it to the one on her left hand and noted it was different.

"It's a signet ring. It has my emblem on it; your emblem now, too. It gives you power to rule equal to mine. It's just…you're more than just…a wife, Katara. You're the Fire Lady. And…I would like you to reign with me…be more that a royal consort. But it's your decision. You don't have to if you don't want to."

Katara studied the ring for a moment—it was a simple gold band with the Fire Lord's emblem on a raised edge; nothing fancy or overly ornate—before slipping it on the pointer finger of her right hand. "I would really like that," she told him quietly.

He nodded, obviously pleased. Silence settled between them, but before too long, Zuko reached to cup Katara's cheek, running his thumb across the dark circle under her eyes, and his eyes searched her face. She looked up at him expectantly.

"You look tired. You should get some sleep."

Sleep sounded wonderful, but her stomach knotted at the thought of sharing that giant bed with him.

As if he read her mind, he said, "Don't worry. I'm not going to try anything."

"I—I wasn't," she lied. "We shared the same campsites for quite a while, remember?"

The corner of his mouth lifted. "Yeah, I do. Get some sleep, Katara. We've got another early morning and busy day tomorrow."

"You're…you're not coming?"

"I'll be there in a minute. I'm just going to meditate for a bit."

"Okay. Goodnight, Zuko."

"Goodnight, Katara."