Epilogue
She isn't here yet and it's making him feel slightly nervous.
The ceremony is already finished and dinner is about to start. He cranes his neck and peers at the crowd, trying to find the familiar curve of her smile. But she's not among the steady stream of people milling in and out of the court room. He sighs and slinks back into the corner, disappointed. He hopes that she's here. She told him that she would be.
After his fight with Azula, he had immediately written to her, telling her about what had happened and what he was planning to do. She wrote back to him, but her letters were short and brief and they were mostly filled with blurbs about either her little brother or her grandfather. His uncle told him not to take it personally—she was helping the Order sort everything out back in Ba Sing Se. He sent her an invitation to his coronation (and he sent three different ones too, just in case the first one doesn't get to her or something) and she had written back a relatively lengthier letter, telling him that she's excited and that she wouldn't miss his coronation for the world. She also told him that he shouldn't worry about their accommodations—she and her grandfather will be staying with one of his Pai Sho buddies.
He's been pretty excited. He already had his schedule mapped out so he would be free to show her around for a few days. He even had a couple of rooms prepared, just in case she and her grandfather change their minds and decide that they actually want to stay in the palace.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing here? This is a party!" Sokka suddenly says as he appears from his side and claps a hand on his shoulder. Aang, Katara, Suki and Toph follow after him and they all have smirks on their faces. Suki walks over to Sokka and kisses him on the cheek. Sokka smiles at her and wraps an arm around her shoulders.
"Come on, Fire Lord. Turn that frown upside down," Aang says as he pokes Zuko in between the ribs.
"He's waiting for someone," Toph states, her lips curving into a wicked grin.
Zuko flushes. He defensively says, "I am not."
"Oh, please. We can all see you looking around, Zuko," Sokka says.
"Who are you waiting for? Your girlfriend?" Katara asks as she gives him a mischievous grin.
"Um—''
"You know, you never bothered introducing us," Suki comments.
"Yeah. You've been moping about her since forever," Toph grumbles.
"Well, they must've figured things out. Zuko seemed pretty happy after disappearing off into the night," Sokka snickers as he shoots Zuko a meaningful look.
Zuko's face turns into an even deeper shade of red.
"Sokka! Not in front of Toph!" Katara waspishly says.
"Oh, shut up Sugar Queen. I know what sex is," Toph says. Everyone bursts out into laughter and Katara gives an annoyed huff. They then start talking about other things, dropping the subject of Jin altogether.
He's in the process of replying to a jab Sokka had made when he hears it.
"Gramps! Stop complaining!"
He can feel his stomach roll.
He turns around and finds her standing next to her grandfather and little brother by a pillar. His lips quirk into a smile when he sees what she is wearing. She's wearing a silk qipao in Earth Kingdom colors but there's a red, fire blossom pinned on the side of her head. Her hair is twisted into a pair of braids although she has opted not to pin her bangs back. Her brother is wearing a silk shirt and a pair of pants and a little cap. Zuko cringes when he sees her grandfather. His face is bruised and scarred and he is walking with a palpable limp. He knows that it isn't exactly his fault that her grandfather got captured and tortured by the Dai Li. But it wouldn't have happened if he didn't turn Ba Sing Se over to Azula in the first place.
"Pah! I can't believe that you made me wear this! And why is it so hot in here?" her grandfather grumbles.
She frowns at him. "That's because we're in the Fire Nation. And spirits, you are supposed to wear that! It's a coronation! We have to dress with dignity. And quit yammering. If you hadn't taken so long in taking a bath, we wouldn't have missed his coronation."
"It was a nice bath," her grandfather snippily replies. After a moment's pause, he says, "I'm thirsty. Go and get me some juice."
"But I still have to find Z—''
"Do your ears need cleaning? I thought I made myself perfectly clear. I'm thirsty and I need juice," he says.
"Sheesh. Fine. I'll get you your juice," she says. She tries to sound annoyed but Zuko can see that she's smiling.
Her grandfather's smiling too and his eyes are twinkling. He feels as if the two of them are sharing an inside joke.
"Well, good," her grandfather says with a firm nod of his head.
Jin shakes her head and walks away but she's still smiling. Zuko clears his throat and says, "I have to go...do something."
"Wait. Has she arrived?" Sokka nosily asks. "Which one is she?"
Zuko ignores him and says, "I'll catch you guys later."
He walks away, ignoring their protests and questions. Jin is standing over the buffet table, trying to pick out the glass that has lemon juice in it, when she sees him. Her eyes widen in surprise and a nearby waiter who had been assisting her, upon seeing him, quickly gives a deep bow. Zuko politely waves his hand, signaling him to leave him and Jin alone for a moment and the waiter nods his head before scurrying off.
"Well. If it isn't Mr. Firelord," she says as she gives him a small smirk.
"You made it," he says.
She smiles at him and her voice sounds genuinely apologetic when she says, "I'm sorry I missed your coronation."
"It wasn't that exciting," he shrugs. "It would have been boring for you."
She shakes her head. "No. I don't think so. It was the most important day of your life and I missed it. I really hate myself right now."
He can feel his face flushing all over again.
"Well. At least you're here now," he mumbles. After an instant's pause he says, "So...how are you?"
"Oh, I'm fine." She folds her arms and smirks at him. "I'm still waiting for my apology though."
"Um...what?"
"For betraying everyone and turning Ba Sing Se into a hellhole," she states with a shrug. "You still haven't properly apologized."
Oh, so she's still mad at him.
He starts twiddling his thumbs together in discomfort, as he struggles to come up with a decent apology. "Look, Jin. I never really had the chance to explain about why I—''
She bursts out into laughter. He glares at her, annoyed. Can't she see that he's trying to apologize?
She shakes her head and laughingly says, "Relax. I'm just kidding."
He gives her a hesitant look. "So...you're not mad at me?"
She takes a step forward and out of instinct, his hand automatically finds its way to her right hip. She looks up at him from beneath her lashes. "No."
Catcalls and laughter suddenly erupt from one direction and the two of them turn to the side. He gives Jin an embarrassed look when he realizes that it his friends. His face glike things grows even redder when Sokka (not-so-discreetly) throws him a thumbs-up and a nod of approval.
"Is that the Avatar?" Jin excitedly says.
Zuko nods his head. "Yup."
"I've always wanted to have his autograph," she tells him.
"I'll introduce you to him later," he tells her.
"Can I bring Ro?" she eagerly asks him.
He nods his head and laughs when he sees how excited she looks. "Yes. Of course."
Her hands suddenly reach out to finger his collar. "I was worried about you."
He places his other hand on her other hip and pulls her in closer. "Yeah?"
"I heard that you were shot with lightning. Why didn't you tell me?" she asks.
"It wasn't important."
She frowns at him. "It's important to me."
He kisses her forehead and her lips curl into a smile. "I'm fine. Stop worrying."
He can feel everyone staring at them. He knows that it must be so strange to see their Fire Lord, being in such close proximity, with this strange girl from the Earth Kingdom. But he doesn't really care. He's the Fire Lord. He can do whatever he wants. And he's missed her and he just wants to spend time with her. Agni, damn them all.
He feels like things are finally looking up. The world is at peace and he and Aang are about to rebuild it together. There are no more lies that separate him and Jin. They can finally be together.
But then, his heart suddenly sinks when he realizes that after her trip here to the Fire Nation, she will probably be going back to the Earth Kingdom. His chest tightens as he thinks about the wide stretch of ocean that is keeping them apart.
"So..." He hates that he sounds so hesitant. "What...what are you planning to do? Like right after?"
Jin's eyes light up and she gives him an excited grin. "I'm going to the University. I'll study and get my degree. I'll be helping the Order on the side. I can't become a full-fledged member right away, of course, but Gramps thinks that if I keep at it and do a good job, I just might be in a couple of years."
He can feel his heart sink in disappointment when he hears the happy and ecstatic tone of her voice. Won't she miss him at all?
"Oh." He swallows in discomfort. It takes him a long time before he can muster up enough control to keep his voice casual and unaffected. "That's nice. Maybe...maybe you can use what you learned from your Political Science studies to actually knock some sense into Kuei."
"I don't think that I'm taking Political Science anymore. After the whole Long Feng thing, I realized that I just don't have what it takes to survive politics. They're actually offering this new course. They figured it would be useful, since the war just ended and all." She moves her hand and his pinky brushes against her thumb. "International Studies and Diplomacy. Basically, we learn about other cultures and the histories and laws of other nations. They're going to teach us how to be good ambassadors."
His lips curl into a smile and he feels his insides growing lighter. "Sounds like it will involve a lot of travelling."
She nods her head and steps even closer. Her forehead presses against his. "Yeah. Dr. Shu said that we will be travelling a lot. Especially to the Fire Nation."
He rubs warm circles on the sides of her hips. "That's good. I could teach you a lot of things about the Fire Nation."
She pretends to be offended with his innuendo but she's smiling. "Shut up."
"What are you going to do? After you graduate, I mean?" Zuko asks her.
"I don't know," she honestly tells him.
He hates how uncertain everything is.
"We're both very young," he tells her.
"We have the whole world under our feet."
"Your grandfather would never allow it."
"Your country needs you right now."
"But maybe..." He meets her eyes and gives her a serious look. "Maybe someday, when you graduate and the Fire Nation and the whole world will be okay again..."
"Yes." She nods her head. "Maybe. Someday."
"I'm not asking you anything."
"I'm not promising you anything either."
"Right."
"Right."
He cups her cheek. "I'm going to miss you.""
"It won't be so bad. It's not like we'll never see each other again. We'll write to each other. Every day. That's what messenger hawks are for," Jin says.
"And we'll see each other. When I go to Ba Sing Se to talk with Kuei and stuff." She fiddles with his collar. "And every summer...you can come over here. We can take vacations together in Ember Island."
"You better not cheat on me," she tells him as she pokes him in the chest.
"You better not be doing any research papers with other boys," he quickly retorts.
They both laugh.
He then takes her hand and she laces her fingers with his. He suddenly remembers the first time they both went to fountain. Her remembers her taking his hand and how firm and warm it had been. He remembers her tearing across the seats. He remembers thinking about how there was an uncanny way in the manner that she took her steps—he would later swear up and down that she had been dancing; that was the only possible explanation why she never needed to look backwards. And when he lit all of those lamps for her and saw the smile that had spread across her face, he remembers feeling, for the first time in a long time, hope.
He tells her, "There's no crime I'm waiting."
The words are certain but he says it hesitatingly—almost as if he is asking her a question.
She nods her head. "No, there isn't."
She's giving him a definite answer. His insides warm and the dam in his chest breaks.
He smiles at her before leaning in to kiss her.
THE END
Author's Note: A side note about the ending: I wanted Jin to go to the University first because I wanted her to do her own thing before shacking up with Zuko. I didn't want her to just live in the palace as his girlfriend or something. She's sixteen—she needs to explore and experience different things. She also still needs to attain all of her dreams. But it's still a happy ending :)
Thank you so much for sticking with this until the end. And to those who didn't, thank you as well (reading this fic, even you just read a portion of it, really, really makes me happy!). It's been a wonderful ride with you guys :)
To TheDivines: Thank you for never failing to review a single chapter! It's really sweet of you. I was always comforted knowing that come what may, at least there would be one person who'd review every chapter :) I should write you ficlet or something!
To everyone else who reviewed, read, followed and added this story to their favorites: THANK YOU VERY MUCH! :)))