oOo

It was nearing the end of yet another long day. Zuko tried to keep the boredom from his expression as two of his ministers bickered endlessly over a border dispute between their two districts, but it was hard to maintain a façade of interest when it was something he'd heard over and over again for the past six months. Finally he couldn't stand it any longer. "I've made a decision," he announced, coming to his feet as the other two fell respectfully silent. "I've decided to merge your two districts."

He was met with identical expressions of horror. "B-but, Fire Lord Zuko, that would be a disaster for the people of my district!" the first minister cried.

"Yes, a disaster!" the second minister echoed.

Zuko adopted a puzzled frown. "A disaster? Why? Your district," he said, addressing the first minister, "would gain valuable mineral deposits. And yours," he added, looking at the second minister, "would obtain water rights. It seems to me both sides would win. Of course, if you can think of a more equitable solution, I'm willing to hear it. Once. Otherwise my decision stands."

The two ministers glanced uncertainly at each other, then each gave a tiny nod and returned their full attention to him. "We will have a formal agreement over the border in place before the next Council Meeting," the first one said.

"Before the next Council Meeting," the second one agreed, bobbing his head in an agitated manner.

"Very well then," Zuko replied, remaining on his feet. "I hereby declare this meeting over." He swept his hand in a slashing motion, waiting for the bows of the Councilors as they left the room singly and in pairs, muttering amongst themselves.

"Well done, my boy; I see you've learned a lot over the past two years."

"Uncle!" Fire Lord Zuko was gone, replaced by a young man who hadn't seen his closest male relative in far too long. Iroh was leaning against the door, an approving look on his face.

A smile lit up Zuko's face as the two of them met in the middle of the room to exchange affectionate hugs. "I wasn't expecting you!"

Iroh's smile disappeared as he stepped back to study his nephew. "When I received word that my nephew's betrothal was cancelled, I closed up the tea shop and came as fast as I could. What happened, Zuko?"

Zuko ran a hand through his hair. "It was Mai's decision, Uncle."

"And what prompted her to make such a decision? It would have to be something truly momentous," his uncle replied shrewdly.

"It's a long story, Uncle," Zuko said with a sigh.

"And one I have plenty of time to listen to," was Iroh's response. He clapped a friendly hand on his nephew's shoulder. "Why don't you come with me to my rooms and tell me all about it?"

Before Zuko could respond one way or the other, the door flew open and Katara dashed into the room. "Zuko! Sokka and Suki are here! Oh, hello, Uncle!" She skidded to an embarrassed halt, not expecting to find anyone else in the room now that the Council Meeting was over.

"Something truly momentous, indeed," Iroh murmured as he saw the identical blushes staining their cheeks. "So, you two finally came to your senses." He beamed happily at them before turning back to Zuko. "I think I can figure out the 'long story' on my own, Nephew. I wish you both great happiness."

"Wait, where are you going?" Zuko demanded as his uncle headed for the door, pausing only to drop a kiss on the crown of Katara's head.

"To my rooms. I'll join you for dinner, then you'll have to tell me when the new wedding will take place so I can decide if I'm returning to the Earth Kingdom or staying for a while." Then he was gone, leaving the other two staring at each other in bemusement.

"He makes a lot of assumptions," Zuko said weakly.

"So he thought we'd get together all along," Katara mused as she continued into the room, threading her way past the cushions and around the low table to reach Zuko's side. "I wonder what he saw that no one else did."

"Obviously something I wasted a lot of time missing," Zuko replied, pulling her into his arms for a kiss.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!"

At the sound of that enraged yell, Zuko pushed Katara behind him, automatically going into a defensive posture, hands raised to deal with whatever this new threat was.

Sokka was standing in the doorway, staring at them in disbelief. "Aang goes on a tour of the Earth Kingdoms, and you make a move on my sister?" With a garbled scream of anger, the young Water Tribesman ran full tilt at Zuko, knocking him off his feet. Katara ducked hastily to one side, yelling at her brother to stop, but he wasn't listening, too enraged to even hear her voice.

Zuko fought back grimly, forcing himself not to use fire on Sokka no matter how tempted he was to do so.

The two of them struggled to get the upper hand, Sokka landing punches whenever he could, Zuko hampered by his desire not to hurt his (hopefully) future brother-in-law too badly. He kicked the younger man off him once, only to be shoved back to the floor. They rolled back and forth, Sokka yelling threats, Zuko grunting every time a blow landed, until suddenly they were separated by a huge wall of water that immediately formed into ice. Zuko scrambled to his feet, backing away, panting, while Sokka rolled to his side and immediately made to jump over the barrier his sister had erected.

Katara had raced out of the room as soon as she saw that her brother wasn't to be reasoned with, heading for the cleaning room immediately adjacent to the Council Chambers. Bending the water into a huge ball, she shoved it in front of her and raced back into the room to end this ridiculous battle before someone went too far.

The sound of running feet behind her caused her to spin and kick the door shut. "I'll take care of this!" she shouted, then turned back to turn some of the ice back into water, immediately freezing it around her brother's feet. He flailed his arms for a moment, but managed to remain upright, turning his glare on his sister. "Katara! Let me go! I'm defending your honor here!"

"My honor doesn't require defending, and if you'd just let us explain instead of jumping to conclusions, none of this would have happened!" She traded him glare for glare, then walked over to Zuko, examining his face. "That'll leave a nasty bruise," she murmured ruefully as she traced gentle fingers around his unscarred eye.

"Yeah, well, I hope it hurts," Sokka snarled, but there was a hint of uncertainty in his voice and eyes as he tried to wrap his mind around what he was seeing. "Katara, what's going on? Why did you let him kiss you like that? How could you do this to Aang? And Mai?" he added belatedly.

Katara turned back to him, hands on hips. "We're not doing anything to Aang and Mai," she retorted, moving closer and jabbing a finger at his chest. Sokka automatically flinched back, nearly losing his balance again. Katara sighed. "If you promise not to go after Zuko again, I'll let you go."

"I promise," he muttered, giving the other man a dark glance. Katara freed him, the Bent all the water and ice into a huge ball before sending it out the window. A startled yelp from below told them someone had just been giving a drenching, but they had other things to worry about now.

"Sit down," Katara said, pointing to one of the dry cushions. Sokka did so, muttering to himself about bossy girls, then folded his arms and looked at her expectantly. She sat in the cushion next to his, pulling her knees up to her chin and wrapping her arms around them. She regarded him silently for a moment. "Zuko and Mai aren't betrothed any more, and Aang broke up with me a few weeks ago."

"Aang? Broke up? With you?" Sokka goggled at her, at a complete loss for words. "No way!"

"It's a really long story, and I'd rather not tell it a million times," Katara sighed. "Just meet us for dinner and we'll explain it to you and Suki and Uncle Iroh all at once." She looked over at Zuko for approval.

He nodded, wincing at the pain in his jaw. A sudden pounding at the door reminded them all that his guards had been alerted by the sound of combat, and that Katara's assurances wouldn't keep them out forever. "I'm fine!" Zuko yelled. The door opened, and one guard poked his head in the room, hands at the ready in case the Fire Lord was being held hostage. Seeing no one there but Zuko and his two Water Tribe friends, he bowed in acceptance of Zuko's word, giving a puzzled shrug to the rest of the guards waiting outside before closing the door once more behind him.

"Well, all right, I guess," was Sokka's reluctant response.

Katara nudged him with one foot. "Don't you have anything else to say?" she asked, giving Zuko a pointed look.

Sokka frowned. "I'm sorry I jumped to the wrong conclusion," he mumbled, red-faced.

Zuko gave a curt nod. "We'll see you at dinner." With that he turned and strode out of the room, tugging irritably at his ripped sleeve.

Sokka started to say something, but Katara shushed him with a raised hand and an expression like a thundercloud. "Don't. I can't believe you'd think that I would cheat on Aang, or anyone else for that matter. And what exactly did you think Zuko was doing, forcing me against my will? Is that how little you think of him?"

"Yeesh, Katara, don't make such a big deal out of it," Sokka replied. "I made a mistake, no harm done. Well," he smirked, "maybe a little bit to Zuko." He puffed out his chest.

"The only reason you don't look worse than him is because he was pulling his punches," Katara retorted, fully deflating his ego. "It wasn't just a mistake; someone could have been seriously hurt! And I mean you," she added sternly. "Attacking the Fire Lord in his own palace? How stupid can you be?"

Sokka scratched his head in embarrassment. "Gee, I never thought of it that way," he confessed. "Actually, I wasn't thinking at all."

"Typical," his sister muttered, putting a hand to her forehead and closing her eyes. "I'm going to go lie down for a while. We'll see you at dinner. Make sure Suki gets enough rest," she opened her eyes to add, unable to resist ordering him around one last time before leaving.

"She promised she would." Distracted by the thought of his wife, Sokka waved a quick good-bye and hurried out the door. Katara watched him go, then headed down the hall to the residential section of the palace.

Zuko was waiting just outside her door. He'd changed out of his torn robes and was dressed in a simple tunic and trousers, leaning against the wall, hands clasped behind his back. "How badly did you yell at him?" he asked with a wry grin.

"As badly as he deserved," she replied, rubbing a hand on her forehead. "I'm sorry, Zuko."

"Don't be; I don't blame him."

"Well I do," Katara snapped. "He should know better, know us better, after all this time!"

"He knows you as well as he ever did; it was me he doubted," Zuko pointed out quietly. "And I still don't blame him."

"Zuko, any reason he has to question your actions is so far in the past I can barely see it anymore," Katara replied, frustrated that Sokka still seemed to have doubts about Zuko. The man she loved.

"Not that far in the past," Zuko disagreed, the pushed away from the wall. "Anyway, I'm not going to hold it against him. We both knew this was going to be hard."

"Yeah, but I never thought my own brother would attack you!" Katara protested.

Zuko pressed a quick kiss against her lips, taking her hands in his before stepping away. "I have another stupid meeting with the Finance Minister in a half-hour. It'll probably take up most of the afternoon. I'll see you at dinner."

"Me and everyone else," Katara replied with a wry grin, offering a quick kiss of her own before he left. She watched as he disappeared down the hall, then opened her door and entered her room, rehearsing exactly what she would say at dinner tonight.

She wasn't looking forward to this particular meal at all.