Haru was in a better mood than anyone in the palace might have suspected. It had been a month since Zuko had reappeared from wherever he'd vanished to, and everyone knew that afterwards, the Dragon of the West had ordered the Iron Scorpion, as several had begun calling the earthbender, off the Dai Li hunt.

Ty Lee snuck up behind him (futile though she knew the gesture was, it was still fun to try) in the garden and slid her hands over his eyes. "Guess who."

"Even if I hadn't felt you coming, Ty Lee," the tall earthbender replied, "I can tell your voice easy."

"I know," she said, brightly.

He turned around and kissed her. "Happy birthday, love," he said when he pulled back.

"Thanks," she said, grinning.

Slipping his hands around her shoulders, Haru asked, "Anything special you want to do tonight?"

"Mm…" She considered for a long moment, then a small, somewhat sly smile spread across her face. "Actually, there was something I wanted to ask you."

"Really? What?" he asked, looking down at her.

"Well, I'm sixteen now…" She paused a moment, then knelt. "Will you marry me?"

Haru's jaw dropped open, and he stared at her in shock.

She shifted her weight a little, the look on his face making her rather nervous.

And then he started to laugh. Before she could get too mad, he managed to get out, "Not— laughing at— you—" He reached into his overshirt while trying to calm down, removing a gold armband. Inset in it was the emblem of the Fire Nation, picked out in rose quartz.

Her eyes widened a little. "You were planning to — " Then she started laughing, pulling out her own armband, the one she'd had made for him — an Earth Kingdom emblem, made of beryls, set in silver.

Haru pulled her back to him and kissed her deeply, a kiss she returned.

Several minutes later, Haru asked, "So, that's a yes on both parts, then?"

"I guess so."

"Just checking," and he kissed her again.

After several more long minutes of this, Ty Lee asked, "So, who do we want to tell first?"

Haru coughed. "Um. Maybe Sparky?"

She shook her head. "He's busy tonight, emergency meeting. Those floods, remember?"

"Ah, right. How about the General, then?"

"Okay!"

Haru did stop before they went to seek Iroh, gently fastening the bracer he'd had made for his now-fiancée around her wrist. She grinned up at him, and fastened the one she'd had made for him on his arm. After stealing another kiss, they made their way to Iroh's office together.

"Good evening," the old man said, smiling up at them. "You two seem very happy."

"Well, we have something to tell you, General," replied Haru.

"Oh?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.

"We got engaged!" Ty Lee bubbled.

The earthbender nodded, looping an arm around her shoulders and not-incidentally displaying the armband she'd made for him in the process.

"That's wonderful! Congratulations!"

"Thank you, sir," said Haru, smiling.

Ty Lee was grinning like an idiot. "Thank you."

"Any word on the citizenship yet, general?" the earthbender asked then. "I think the urgency just doubled." He smiled at his fiancée.

"It's being fast-tracked, but there's only so much red tape he can eliminate," Iroh said.

"Understood," said Haru cheerfully.

"With any luck, everything will be official by midwinter."

"Excellent. That will give us time to discuss the dates and everything." He considered. "Also to tell our parents."

"Hopefully dad won't flip out again," Ty Lee said, biting her lip.

"Well, since I'm marrying you now rather than being caught in bed with you…," Haru pointed out. But he, too, sounded uncertain.

"Zuzu will clear it up again," she finally said. "He managed to hold him back before…"

"We'll be fine, love," Haru said softly.

"'Course we will."

He kissed her softly, made his bows to the General, and led Ty Lee out.

"Now who do we tell?" she asked, eager to share her news.

"Song?" Haru suggested after a moment.

"Okay!" Ty Lee grabbed his hand and dragged him to find Zuko's girlfriend.

The young doctor was just coming off her shift in the infirmary when they found her.

"Song!" Ty Lee cried and promptly threw her arms around her friend. "Guesswhatguesswhatguesswhat?"

"What?" asked the older girl, laughing.

"We got engaged!"

"That's great!" cried Song, hugging Ty Lee tightly. "Congratulations!"

The younger girl laughed delightedly and hugged back. "We just got engaged like a half hour ago, first I proposed and then Haru had been planning to also, and then we were going to go tell Zuzu but those floods and so we couldn't get to him so we went to the General and now to you and—"

"Slow down, love," Haru said. "Breathe a bit."

"Right. Right, breathing is good."

Song giggled, then looked thoughtful. "I wonder if I could talk Zuko into a double-wedding… that'd be fun, don't you think?"

"Doesn't he have to officially propose first?" Ty Lee pointed out. She knew about the unofficial proposal — she was one of the few who did, given that it had never actually been announced.

"I live in hope," Song replied, sighing.

Ty Lee hugged her. "He will soon, I'm sure."

"Unless he keeps forgetting. Like he did with Kouji."

"Get someone to remind him, then," the younger girl suggested.

Song flushed. "Like who?"

"I dunno," Ty Lee said. The doctor sighed, a sound echoed by the acrobat. "How's he doing, by the way?" the younger girl asked then.

"Physically, he's completely recovered," Song answered. "Mentally… well, he worries about Kouji a lot."

Ty Lee nodded. "Yeah…"

"On the other hand, Kouji's sibs are here now. Ichiro's trying to get into the palace guard, since Iroh expressly forbade him to go with the party sent to arrest the parents." Song sounded uncertain; Ty Lee knew that her friend hadn't entirely agreed with Iroh's decision.

Haru sighed. "Ichiro won't get in the guard. He's certainly good enough for it, but…"

"Yeah," Ty Lee agreed. "Too risky. If one sibling was compromised…"

"I guess we'll see what happens," Song murmured, then hugged Ty Lee again.

"Yeah." Ty Lee hugged back. "Seriously, get someone to remind Zuzu about proposing officially. Or he will keep forgetting for weeks and weeks…"

"I could do it," Haru volunteered.

"Okay!"

"Nicely, Angelface," said Song quickly.

"Am I ever not nice to Lord Sparky?" Haru asked, the very picture of innocence.

Song lifted one eyebrow. "Yes."

"Only sometimes," Ty Lee said, leaping to her fiancé's defence.

Haru kissed the top of her head before grinning at the doctor. "I'll play nice, mommy."

Ty Lee rolled her eyes. "Of course he will."

Zuko was asleep at his desk.

This was not an unusual occurrence — he often worked late in the evenings, and simply passed out there. Unfortunately, this meant pain in the mornings, but he felt it was worth it. Pain didn't bother him.

Well, not much. It mostly got very irritating, having to fight through it constantly.

"You need to stop doing that." Kouji's voice cut through his sleep.

"Stop doing what?" he asked, groggy.

"Sleeping at your desk. It's bad for you."

Zuko stretched, and muttered something about not doing it on purpose, and Kouji simply stared at him.

"You're giving me that look again," the Firelord commented.

"Yes," was the calm reply.

"Why are you giving me that look again?"

"Because," Kouji said, "you only fall asleep at your desk accidentally because you refuse to go to bed at a normal hour."

"What you and Mom and Song call 'normal' is too early," the Firelord replied defensively.

"Not according to the rest of the world, Zuko."

"Yes, well, according to me."

"How in the world do you plan on having an heir if you work all the time?" Kouji demanded, though his face turned red at even the vaguest allusion to Adult Activities.

"I'll figure it out," Zuko shot back. "Once Song and—" He paused. "…I need to officially propose to her."

"…you haven't yet?"

"Well, I mean, I sort of asked her a while ago, I just never…y'know…"

"Zuko, it's been almost two months since you turned eighteen!" the boy exclaimed.

"I know that, I just…keep forgetting." Now he looked kind of sheepish.

Kouji stared at him again.

"I'll do it soon."

"Of course you will." The earthbender sounded as though he expected this to happen at some point the following century.

"I will! I just need to—" He broke off. "…I've never taken you to the Vault, have I."

Kouji looked confused. "The Vault?"

"Yes, the Vault." Zuko glanced at a timepiece, then at the mountain of paperwork on his desk, then sighed. "Come on, let's go."

Bewildered, the preteen followed.

The Firelord led him down through the palace, to a large metal door, which he opened. Inside was a vast collection of treasures of various sorts — gold, jewels, works of art, texts…

"Welcome to the Vault," he said. "Feel free to look around and pick something out, if any of it appeals to you." That being said, he went deeper in, seemingly looking for something specific.

Still confused, Kouji began rooting around, drawn to the variety of shiny things in there. After several minutes, he found a slim necklace with a pendant made of stone he didn't recognise and decided this would be what he took. Yui was sure to love it.

"Hah! Found it!" Zuko cried from the other side of the room.

"What did you find?" Kouji asked, making his way there.

"This." The teenager held up a beautiful box, of mahogany, with a mother-of-pearl panel on the lid, delicately carved to depict a willow tree.

Kouji's eyes went wide. "Wow…"

Zuko then opened the box, to reveal a set of magnificent pearl jewellery — four rings, six bracelets, two necklaces, and a headdress. "These were my grandmother's. I'm going to loan them to Song for her lifetime — they were left to me, but because of some stupid restriction in her will, they can't be owned by anyone not of her bloodline."

"They're beautiful," the boy breathed.

"D'you think they're appropriate? I mean, for the engagement? Or should I pick something else?"

Kouji glanced up at Zuko and decided not to point out that he was probably not the best judge of what was appropriate for one's fiancée. "Yeah, I think so."

Zuko almost smiled. "Perfect." He shut the box. "I'll give them to her this afternoon."

"If you forget, I'll kick you," Kouji promised him.

"I'll keep that in mind," the Firelord said, wryly.

Song turned out to be very hard to track down that afternoon. The first place Zuko checked was the turtleduck pond, since they always met there, but Song was not there. He checked the infirmary next, only to discover that she'd gone to see Yì Suì. Heading to the room she shared with the young man provided only a curious dragonet and a comment from the guard there that Song had gone off in the direction of the library, which was where he finally found her looking at some medical scrolls.

"Song?" he said, coming up behind her.

Carefully, she put the scroll back, then turned to smile at him. "Hello, Zuko."

He was holding the box behind his back. "How's your day been?"

"Interesting," Song said with a sigh. "Yì Suì has another cold. He's sick far too much."

"Is he going to be all right?" the Firelord asked, briefly sidetracked.

She nodded. "It is only a cold," she pointed out. "I was just trying to see if there were other conditions that the constant illnesses might be heralding."

"Ah. Well, I wouldn't know." He frowned a little. "Maybe you could ask Mom?"

"I probably will," she sighed.

Zuko nodded. "All right."

Song ran a hand through her hair — she'd very recently taken to wearing it loose when she wasn't working — and sighed, then smiled at him again. "Did you need something?"

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh? What about?"

Here he hesitated, the speech he'd had planned for months flying out of his head.

She blinked. "Zuko?"

"I…" He trailed off. "…I completely forgot the way I was going to say this."

She kissed him. "So improvise." An impish smile: "You're good at that."

He flushed. "Well…I mean, I want to make sure I do this right."

Song laughed lightly. "I think you're already making a good start."

He coloured a little further. "Um. Well, what I wanted to ask was… I… My grandmother left me these. And I can't give them to you, her will says they have to be owned by someone in her bloodline, but… I mean… if you were… I could loan them to you. For your lifetime. Which really amounts to the same thing, it's just wording it differently. But — "

"What are they?" was the soft question that cut through his babbling.

"Oh, right." He pulled the box out from behind his back and held it out to her.

Curious, Song accepted it, her brown eyes wide. The box itself was certainly worth almost as much as her home back in the Earth Kingdom. On opening it to see the array of jewellery inside, her jaw dropped.

"If you marry me, they're yours," he whispered.

Very carefully, Song closed the box and set it on a shelf. As she slipped her arms around him, she said, "I'd marry you even without them," before kissing him.

He relaxed, and kissed back. After a few moments, Zuko pulled back. "I think we should announce tonight." Because if we wait I might get blown up again and then we won't for another two months.

Song nodded. "All right." And then she paused. "How are these things announced, anyway?"

"I actually don't know," Zuko admitted after a pause. "I need to ask Mom or Uncle about that. I never really paid much attention when they tried to teach me protocol."

The young doctor slipped her hand in his. "Maybe we should ask them together."

"All right," he agreed.

Song smiled up at him. "Would you rather ask General Iroh, or Lady Ursa?"

He considered. "Depends. Who do you think we should tell first?"

"I don't know," the girl answered softly.

"Me, neither."

"Well, who's closer?"

"Dunno, depends where Mom is right now."

"Then let's start to look," replied Song.

"All right," he said. squeezing her hand lightly.

She squeezed back, carefully taking the box of pearls in her other arm, and led Zuko out of the library. They found Ursa not long after, in her storeroom.

"Lady Ursa?" Song asked, slightly nervous.

She looked up. "Hello," she said, smiling.

The doctor glanced up at her fiancé, uncertain how to word this.

"We…um…well, we need to know how to…announce."

"Yes," Song agreed.

"…Announce what?" Judging by the look on the dowager princess's face, she knew exactly what, but was waiting for explicit confirmation.

"We got engaged," Zuko replied.

Song smiled happily, leaning into the Firelord.

Ursa smiled just as wide. "That's wonderful!"

"But neither of us really know how to announce it," the doctor said.

"Ah, right. Well, when were you planning on announcing?"

"Tonight, if at all possible," Zuko answered.

"We figured it was best to do it very soon," Song added.

Ursa nodded. "No reason to put it off." She then gave them a brief overview of the protocol involved. Both Song and Zuko paid strict attention, one perhaps more so than the other.

"Thanks, Mom," Zuko said, when she was done.

"No problem."

Song snuck a kiss from her fiancé, then mused, "We ought to let the General know before the official announcement."

"Yeah, probably," he agreed.

"Oh, but before we go—" Song turned back to Ursa and explained her worry about Yì Suì.

Ursa frowned. "I can't think of anything off the top of my head…"

"You'll let me know if you do?"

"Of course."

"Thank you," Song said, relieved.

"You're welcome," Ursa said with a small smile, and Zuko and Song made their way to the general's office. Iroh was clearly delighted to hear their news, which relieved Song. She knew the old man well by now, but there had been a small, doubting part of her that wondered if the fabled Dragon of the West would consider a peasant doctor from the Earth Kingdom good enough for his nephew.

"Congratulations," he said, grinning. "You're announcing tonight?"

Zuko nodded. "Didn't want to risk waiting."

"Best to do it now, before something urgent comes up," Song commented.

Iroh nodded, and gave his nephew a searching look. Zuko shrugged. "It'll be a surprise, I don't think we need to worry. But go ahead, better safe than sorry."

"Yes," agreed his fiancée, stealing another kiss from him.

Zuko was more than happy to kiss her back.

That evening, in a highly unusual occurrence, both Zuko and Song dined with the court. Zuko being there was an unusual enough event, but for the foreign doctor to join him there? Finally, after he felt the tension had gotten plenty high enough, Zuko rose from his seat to make his announcement.

For a moment, there was stunned silence.

Then a girl sitting near the back of the hall, the Lady Zhan, who was a mite obsessed with her Firelord, ran out. And then the dam broke.

Worried, Song looked up at Zuko, ignoring the chatter for the time being. He squeezed her hand, trying to let her know not to worry. It was a little late for that, but she managed a smile for him anyway — a smile that widened slightly when she overheard one of Zuko's guards muttering, "You'd think they'd remember that if it wasn't for her, he'd be dead."

"Not the kind of thing they remember. Besides, half of them think I'm unkillable," Zuko muttered back.

"Ingrates," was the answer. "I know for a fact that a full third of them have either been treated by her, or had children treated by her."

"I know."

The guard fell silent after that, and Song shook her head. "I was expecting this," she told Zuko.

"So was I. But I was hoping they'd be a little more mature," muttered the Firelord.

The chatty guard — Li Shang, Song remembered, that was his name — snorted.

"I know, I know, I shouldn't've," Zuko said, a little wryly.

"Never would have pegged you for an optimist, my lord," was the smart reply.

"True, it's new for me. I'm not sure I like it."

Song laughed. "I like it." She smiled up at Zuko.

He almost-smiled back at her. "All right then."

The fallout over the next several days was not pretty — the noble houses, particularly Lady Zhan's, were furious that Zuko had not chosen a bride from among them, and the Firelord spent most of his time dealing with it. As a result of this, he had almost no time to spend with his fiancée, and was once again going dangerously short on food and sleep.

Kouji did what he could to alleviate Zuko's lack of food, at least, catching the Firelord several times a day and talking him into eating at least a few bites of whatever he was carrying with him.

The fallout being mostly dealt with, they then had to turn to planning the wedding itself.

This, too, was an enormous task. It was the first truly magnificent event since the end of the war, to say nothing of Zuko's near-legendary status, and the fact that he was marrying a woman from the Earth Kingdom.

Nobody was truly surprised when Kouji, by now promoted to Zuko's personal assistant, wound up becoming involved with the plans, along with Song and Ty Lee, as the women still hoped for a double-wedding. Zuko wasn't going to object — he tried to help out with the plans as often as possible, cutting back a few more hours of sleep to do so.

Haru tried to help once or twice, but found himself in over his head. It didn't help that he wasn't looking forward to the reaction from Ty Lee's family once people got past Zuko's engagement.

The reaction, when it came, was… not quite as explosive as he'd feared, given her father's reaction to learning of their involvement in the first place. Haru was faced with cold disapproval from her older sisters, avid interest from her younger sisters, tightly-reined anger from her father, and very little reaction from her mother, who seemed to have entirely given up on her middle daughter becoming Respectable.

Much to the earthbender's relief, his parents arrived in the Fire Nation not long after, and both of them, at least, seemed to approve — both of his choice in bride, and his choice to remain there. Ty Lee was very polite with his parents, nervous about resentment carried over from the war.

What little there was (on the part of Haru's mother) vanished very quickly when she saw how happy her son was with the little acrobat. His father, Tyro, seemed very amused, and even commented in her hearing that it was a relief to know Haru would marry someone able to keep him in line.

Upon hearing that, the young noblewoman relaxed and threw herself even more eagerly into the plans, which were progressing nicely with aid from Kouji.

Finally, in the morning of the day when the seasons changed from spring to summer, Song and Zuko and Ty Lee and Haru were wed.

The ceremony itself was brief. The reception was endless.

Somehow, Haru and Ty Lee managed to sneak away after a mere two hours. Song and Zuko were not so lucky. After five hours, Qiang helpfully caused a distraction to enable the royal couple to flee. Song had even, after much argument, persuaded Zuko to go away for a couple days for a honeymoon.

She'd also managed to find all the paperwork he tried to sneak along and passed it to Ursa to replace in his study.

He didn't even notice it was gone.