A/N: Hello hello hello! I know I said before that I was probably going to keep using work as an excuse for slow updates, and unfortunately right now that rings truer than ever - shit's kinda nuts at the moment, y'all. What weird times we're all living in. BUT as an apology (partly by accident) this chapter is basically twice as long as usual, and I think you're probably gonna like what's coming in it.

*Time for our guys to finally sit down and have a wee chat wooooooh*

*Under the influence of alcohol woooooohh*

*With Toph being a shit-stirring, sarcastic teenager WOOOOOH*

Restoration

It's strange, being back – somehow familiar and alien all at once, a life lifted out of the stasis imagined by distance only to discover that it's been going on without her this whole time.

Then again, that feels like a vaguely overdramatic way of framing it. And perhaps she's not giving herself quite enough credit; it's not as if Katara expected everything to be just the way it was before. It's not as if it's a revelation that everyone else has kept on growing and changing in her absence, that the rest of the world didn't stop turning just because she stepped back for a while. She's been reading their letters, meandering through their stories, listening from afar as their voices have evolved and developed... None of this has come as a surprise at all, really.

An old fleece, then. That feels more accurate. Something found tucked away in a corner and pulled out, pulled back on, not in any way outgrown but just different in the way that it fits now, novel for the time away despite its inherent familiarity. She's still getting used to the way it sits on her, the feel of it against her skin, the old scents ingrained in the fabric that have been overlaid by three years' worth of experiences and encounters.

It's a beguiling combination of renaissance and reconnaissance, seeing afresh whilst simultaneously seeing for the first time.

Throughout the afternoon, as everything's settling into its new rhythm, Katara keeps phasing between Then and Now. At any given moment she'll find herself back in a campfire-lit clearing under the stars, or the abandoned beach house of a looming dictator, before being sucked into the present again by something jarringly new demanding to be assimilated.

'You're cook-... Sokka, you're cooking?'

'Oh, loving the tone of surprise. Very supportive. Not.'

She splutters.

'I mean, can you blame me?'

Sokka smirks at her from his place in front of the stove, idly browning chunks of dark meat in a pan already sizzling with ginger and garlic.

'When did this happen? You didn't do any cooking whilst we were back home.'

'It was after you'd left.' He cocks his head, eyes fixed on the contents of the pan. 'Probably because you'd left, really. That, and Suki made the very persuasive point that if I knew how to cook then I could eat whatever and whenever I wanted.' He jerks an elbow at her. 'Come help.'

'I don't know, isn't it my turn to sit and watch whilst you do everything yourself?'

He shoots her a good-natured grimace even as she moves into the kitchen and starts kneading at the dumpling dough that Sokka's left sitting to the side. They work next to each other, and as she watches her brother's hands move easily across the countertop, Katara feels a perplexing sense of anxiety sweep over her.

The thing is, she always used to be pretty clear on what her place in the group was. As frightening and twisted as everything had become in that year, she'd always been sure of what part she had to play in this little pocket of people. And yes, perhaps it was more than a bit maternal, and perhaps she's wondering if that role exists anymore now that the others are older, or if she even wants it anymore now that she's older, or what other part she could possibly play if not the one that she held so unquestionably before and-

'You're doing it again, aren't you? The overthinking thing.'

Katara is lifted out of her deliberation to find the dough overworked and tough beneath her fingers. Sokka is watching her knowingly, his brow raised in an almost smug way that grates at her just as much as it always has, maturity be damned.

She huffs, short and frustrated – whether at the thoughts flying around her head, or being called out on them, she's not sure.

Probably both.

'No.' Then, before Sokka has the chance to get any more superior, 'Yes, fine, yes.'

'Katara-'

'I know, I know. You don't owe anything to anyone. I remember the lecture.'

'As you should, it was a very good one.'

'No need to be so modest.'

'What can I say, it's a virtue.'

The room falls quiet for a moment, and Katara fixes her eyes on the water that's roiling on the stovetop. Her fingers keep kneading mindlessly at the now inedible dough, pulling it into thin, fraying strands before weaving them back together again as she draws breath to speak.

'I'm trying.'

Sokka nods, the corners of his eyes crinkling in a way that reminds her of their father. He flicks a twist of herbs into his pan.

'I know. Can you add that water to this?'

A fragrant hiss of steam fills the room as the ingredients all come together into one bubbling, swirling fusion of spice and aromatics and umami. The stew laps at the inside of the pan as Sokka stirs, and Katara's eyes follow its movement.

Water takes the shape of the vessel that holds it. It adjusts to fit. It's taken too long for her to understand that she need not be quite so fluid, that she can hold her own form without agonising over whether or not she fits the spaces that other people need her to fill.

It's a work in progress.

So when she finds herself chastising Toph and Sokka the next day –

'You cannot just turn the gardens of the assembly halls into your own personal mud pit! It's completely disrespectful. We're here trying to build a relationship with this city and you're putting that at risk by destroying-...'

– and when Toph crows irreverently in response –

'I knew it wouldn't take long. Man, Sugar Queen, I've missed getting lectures from you.'

– and when Katara feels that churning frustration rising in her that she remembers from when they were younger, when it sends her marching tetchily away from Toph's laughter –

'Funny, because I haven't missed you guys acting like bratty children at all!'

– she doesn't worry that she's not changed enough, or that she's changed too much, or wonder if she's taking on her role in the group properly.

She does stomp into her room and throw the door closed in an entirely juvenile manner. She does spend more time than she's willing to acknowledge grumbling to herself under her breath as she spins droplets of water between her fingers.

And then she sinks into the feeling of being back with these people who know just how to get under her skin and pull her out of her own head.

And then – maybe – she smiles.


The party is Kuei's idea, a wholly unnecessary and probably ill-judged attempt at thanking them for their exposure of Liu Jun's duplicity.

It takes Aang and Suki two days to return to Yu Dao with the Earth King in tow, and he's already falling over himself apologising even before they all steer him around the city, showing him glimpses of the lives that wind through its streets. They stop to talk to vendors at their stalls, metalworkers on their way to the factories, parents and children, restaurant owners and innkeepers. Two elderly women bearing both red and green tokens drop into low bows in front of Kuei and Zuko, effusing over the novelty of seeing the nations' leaders visiting the city together.

And it's not all good – there are those who stare with open distaste at the group as they move through the city centre, menacing men and women whose wiry frames melt into the shadows as they pass – but Katara's almost glad for that. This was the whole point of Kuei's visit, after all, for him to see the city for what it really is rather than the stories that he's been fed until now. A rose-tinted view is the last thing he needs.

The sun is sinking low in the sky by the time they finish their tour and end up back at the assembly halls, and Kuei's face is weary and rueful, shoulders slumped as he turns back towards Zuko at the top of the front steps.

'I must say, I'm mortified. I can't believe I let this happen a second time. After the debacle with Long Feng... And it's you guys who have had to cover my error of judgement again...' He sighs despondently. 'I don't know what to say. How can I make this up to you?'

Toph lets out a bark of humourless laughter.

'Well, first off you could agree to discuss the proposal that Zuko's putting forward.'

Kuei's expression morphs into surprise.

'But of course. Honestly, from what I've seen today it looks like you're completely right about what this city needs – the people certainly seem far too integrated for any kind of separation to be appropriate, and it's obvious that business here relies on the combination of Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation influence. I'll clear my schedule for the next week and we'll talk through the details, but I really think you're onto something, here.'

He directs a confirmatory glance at Zuko, who nods in response, then continues speaking as his gaze sweeps back across the rest of the group.

'We'll get a plan in place for Yu Dao and consider adapting that for some of the other assimilated colonies, and Jun's currently being held for questioning as to his part in all this. But those are all things that I'd be doing anyway – I actually thought that perhaps there might be some way I could make things up to you guys personally.'

A moment of bemused silence passes as Kuei stares expectantly at them, clearly waiting for some kind of suggestion. When none comes, he deflates slightly, before almost immediately brightening as a thought seems to hit him.

'I know! We can-'

Which is how Katara finds herself sitting by the wall in Kuei's event space of choice, letting the small-talk of thirty-odd party guests wash over her as she nurses a cup of uisuki – a truly lethal creation born from the combined expertise of the city's Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom distillers.

It's no blessing, the alcohol, as much as it might have seemed it initially. It burns going down, abrasive against the back of her throat and hot in her stomach, and as much as she'd hoped it would dull her senses, it just... doesn't. Which is really, really inconvenient because-

Well, because he's here, isn't he?

For the last couple of days, Zuko's been almost completely absent, poring over notes and drafting plans in anticipation of Kuei's arrival. And frankly, as bad as it sounds, that has suited Katara fine.

Things had been easy when they were just writing to each other. Or rather, easier. Once she'd gotten past her low point – past that chest-stuttering anxiety that had filled her every time she thought about the part of her life that he'd inhabited – they'd managed to settle back into something comfortable, pleasant. An uncomplicated back-and-forth between two old friends who'd reconnected after a bit of a blip.

Which isn't to say that they were just-... that she didn't-... that the things she'd felt before had just disappeared. They'd still rested in the hollow of her throat, hard-edged and thorny, whenever she sat down to write her next letter to him, but at least whilst they'd been apart everything had soothed somewhat from the unrelenting, suffocating pull that had been there before. Over time and distance, it had calmed into something more theoretical, less aggressively present – a persistent but tolerable sense of something important being far enough out of reach that it wasn't even an option, not worth fixating on.

Now, though, he's here. He's right here, mere feet away from her, something real and tangible and breathing, closer than he has been in years and... It's like she doesn't know how to be around him anymore. She doesn't know how to talk to him outside of conversations made of paper and ink.

So, yes, part of her had thought that perhaps using Yu Dao's signature sedative to numb herself a little might help. What a fucking miscalculation.

Somehow, even as she can feel her thoughts turning hazy in her head, she's only becoming more and more sharply aware of everything he's doing. It's as if the liquor has given her mind free rein to go to all the places she's been refusing it, and now it is abusing that privilege in full force. No matter where she directs her attention, he's there, lingering at the peripheries of her thoughts.

Her chest feels resonant and fragile, the points where her pulse pounds in her temples all hollowed out so that her whole body echoes with the sound of it. There is too much space in her, and Katara has the distinct feeling that if she's not careful then she's going to try and fill it with something inadvisable; the sound of his voice, the pressure of his gaze, the warmth that he emanates when he's standing close-

Gods, shut up. Shut up.

'You look like you're thinking hard.'

Of course.

Because spirits forbid that she should be able to have a nice, quiet breakdown at the edge of a party without the very focus of her breakdown noticing that she's having a breakdown.

She tilts her head up to eye Zuko as he stands over her. He's taken advantage of the informality of the evening, opting for a slightly looser take on traditional Fire Nation dress than the official robes that he's been in so far. Her gaze sweeps quickly over him, pointedly ignoring all the spots where she might be inclined to linger, before landing back on a point somewhere in the air around his face.

'Yeah, probably too much. But I can assure you, I'm working on fixing that.'

His mouth crooks, and he meets the gesture she makes towards her cup with one of his own.

'Huh, wonder what my excuse is.'

And, despite herself, she laughs.

'You're the Fire Lord. I imagine any opportunity for stress relief is something you should take.'

'Perhaps. Mind if I sit here?'

Does he see it, the ridiculous, eager spike of alarm that flashes through her at the thought of trying to hold an honest-to-gods conversation with him? Avoidance has been the only thing keeping her above water so far, the awkwardness of their reunion still weighing heavy on her, and now he's asking-

'Sure. I mean, this is practically your city, I don't think you need to ask permission.'

Well, fine.

Zuko shoots her a funny look, his brow arching as he sinks to a sit in the chair next to her.

'Uh, thanks.'

A coarse, painful silence falls between them, and Katara stares resolutely forwards across the rest of the party, casting wildly about as though she might be able to pluck a conversation topic right out of the chatter that fills the room. Gods, she hates this. Since when has talking to him ever been this arduous?

'So-'

'I-'

They cut off simultaneously with identical laughs of discomfort. She chances a fleeting glance in Zuko's direction, just long enough to take in the grimace that tightens the edges of his mouth before turning quickly away again, and her voice comes rough past the knot in her throat that won't seem to clear.

'We, um... we seem to be doing that a lot.'

'Yeah.'

Silence again.

There's an awkward kind of energy running through her, the muscles in her legs tense and jumpy. Katara tugs the braided loops of her hair over her shoulder, twisting them restlessly between her fingers in an attempt to dispel it.

'What's that?'

'What?'

Zuko is frowning at a point south of her ear, at the stretch of skin on her neck that's just been newly bared to him. His hand is suspended in the space between them as if he's caught himself reaching out towards her.

'Oh.' Katara's own fingers find the uneven, raised strip of scar that adorns the curve where her neck runs into her shoulder. She pauses momentarily as the start of a smile works its way onto her lips. 'Funny you should ask, actually.'

The words are met with an inquisitive narrowing of Zuko's eyes, and Katara feels herself relax a little into her chair, the smile catching on her face as she clarifies.

'It was a while ago now, whilst I was travelling through the Earth Kingdom. I stopped for a couple of nights at this little farming village in the foothills around Omashu, stayed with one of the elderly healers at the hospital there, helped out with patients during the day... On the second day, the mother of one of the girls who works there appeared at the door looking for some help with one of their family's ostrich horses. Said there'd been some kind of accident with the plough and-.'

A sudden, loud exclamation from across the room jerks their attention away from the story, each of them turning sharply towards the sound before loosening again when no threat makes itself known. Zuko's eyes come back to her as she goes on, his stare gilded by the light of the lanterns that hang around the room.

'Anyway, I said I'd go along with them and help out. And we got there, and this girl's dad was all over the place trying to keep the ostrich horse under control, but its leg was all twisted and torn up and it was obviously panicked so he wasn't really managing and- You know, this isn't really the important part. Long story short, we managed to get the ostrich horse calmed and healed, but it got a good bite in at me first. Something about the shape of their beaks just means that the scars don't heal up very nicely.'

Katara's fingers go back to playing across the pale zigzag of skin, and she watches from the corner of her eye as Zuko's attention dips to that spot on her neck.

'Why was it funny that I asked?'

The smile tugs again at the corners of her mouth, and Katara does her best, she fears unsuccessfully, to bite it back.

'Once we were done, the family thanked me for my help and explained that their ostrich horses were really valuable to them, more so than just your usual livestock. Said that a few years back they'd only had one, and then one night it was stolen by this boy who had taken refuge with them for a short while during the war. A boy with a scar over his eye. Sounded familiar.'

She angles her head towards Zuko, watching as the colour rises in his face, a muscle twitching slightly in his jaw.

'And then – and this was the bit that I thought was interesting – a year or so later, not too long after the war ended, three ostrich horses just appeared on their farm one day. Out of nowhere, as if they'd just been dropped there by some benevolent spirit. Funny how the universe finds a way to give back, isn't it?'

He's not meeting her eye anymore, instead focussing his gaze on the opposite wall of the room.

'Probably could've stood to give a bit more, really,' he mutters, and Katara feels the air around him turn heavy. She studies him for a few long seconds, momentarily relieved of the messiness in her mind by this new thread of thought.

'Hm.'

'What?'

'No, I-... Don't worry about it, it's-...'

She tries to dismiss it, she really does. A huge part of her is fervently protesting that they really aren't familiar enough with each other to have this kind of conversation anymore, but then something sweeping and compulsive takes over and she finds herself turning bodily towards him, the words blurting from her mouth before she's able to stop them.

'Okay, Zuko, when will you be done making amends? When do you think you're going to feel like you've apologised enough?' Zuko stiffens and twists to face her, a deep frown burrowing into his forehead. 'You've done so much already, and it's only been three years, you can't-'

'Only three years? Is that all?' All the breath seems to seep out of him as he slumps into his seat, sliding back in a somewhat undignified manner until he's staring at the dark slats of the ceiling. He takes a considerable draw of his uisuki that can't possibly feel good going down, and his face is suddenly lax with weariness. 'Feels like it's gone on and on.'

Something fractures around Katara as she looks at him, as her eyes probe at this man who's endlessly paying for debts that he can't see he no longer owes. She feels it crack, the wall that she's had up between herself and him, and the ease of its breaching – the delicacy with which it fissures – tells her everything she already knows as to how paltry a barrier it's been all along, just substantial enough to fog her vision and make things look more difficult than they ever needed to be. She exhales slow and deep, the rush of her breath enough to bring it down in its entirety, and lets her head tip back to sit on the backrest of her chair so that she's looking up at the ceiling alongside him.

The alcohol still swirls loosely in her mind, and it marries the soft glow of lantern-light against dark wood with the strangely faraway whispering of the rest of the party. Katara's almost reminded of a time when she and Zuko laid with the sounds of the sea washing over them, side-by-side under a different sky heavy with different expectations. Funny that she should find herself being taken back to a time when she was still just getting to know him.

'You're alone a lot, aren't you?'

She feels more than sees his answering shrug. He doesn't elaborate, and they sit in silence for a moment more before she breaks it again.

'I'm sorry.'

'You're sorry? Sorry for what?'

Yes, Katara, sorry for what, exactly?

Because honestly, she's not sure. The words just kind of slipped out and now she's having trouble catching up with what they meant, everything working more slowly than it usually does except, it seems, for her mouth.

Is she apologising for the way things are?

For bringing it up in the first place?

Or is she sorry that she hasn't been there for him, guilty that she put herself first, regretful that she allowed the space to grow between them until she lost sight of his reality?

'I just-'

She turns her head, lifts it just a little in his direction so that she can meet his eye. They stay like that for a few moments, and even though she still doesn't quite know how to talk to him, how to finish the thought that she's started to voice, Zuko somehow seems to understand. His mouth curves, the corners lifted in tentative offering, and she feels herself mirroring him, able to see him clearly for the first time since they parted.


His laugh still feels like a prize, that much hasn't changed at all – warm, breathy, almost surprised, as if he never quite expects anyone to make him smile. He laughs, and all of a sudden she's reminded of that spot in her that the sound always seemed to hit head-on before, somewhere deep and triumphant and kind of exhilarating.

'No way. You didn't.'

'I did! The whole thing went over, it was a complete mess. It took ages to get all the bits of cabbage out of my hair afterwards.'

They've shifted slowly closer over the last half hour or so, not resting back in their seats anymore but bowed forwards, tilted towards each other, sipping from cups that somehow keep getting refilled without Katara noticing as they swap stories from the in-between that never quite made it into their letters.

'Sounds like you had a good time travelling.'

'You know, I really did.' She pauses, flicks a glance up at him, then straightens in her chair and lets her eyes narrow in an exaggerated show of contemplation. 'It did kind of feel like it was missing something, though.'

'Really?'

'Yeah, you know, it just didn't feel right without having some brooding firebender moaning about how the universe is against him and he can't get anything right and-'

The laughter that's been bubbling underneath her words spills over as he rolls his eyes, cuffing her lightly on the shoulder before coming back to rest with his elbows braced against his knees. His face is relaxed, alight in a way that seems to defy the flickering shadows cast by the lanterns overhead.

'Low blow. I thought you were better than that.'

'Well, I don't know what to tell you, clearly you've overestimated me.'

'Or time's been very unkind to you.' Katara lets out a sharp gust of breath, eyes widening in mock scandal, and she breaks into another bout of laughter at the horrified look that sweeps across Zuko's face as his words register. 'I mean... I didn't mean it like that, I-... You're looking great- Not great, you're looking good, but not in a bad way, I-... Ugh, okay, I'm just going to stop now.'

She snorts, every fibre of her will going into holding back the flush that's threatening to paint her pleasure, her weaknesses, right there on her face. Sarcasm, as seems to be the way of things tonight, is her redemption.

'Good thinking. You're eloquent as ever, I see. Do you ramble like that when you're at court?'

Zuko groans defeatedly, a self-conscious smile tilting at his mouth as he shifts in his chair and rubs a hand across his forehead.

'Only when I'm nervous.'

When his arm drops back down to rest on his thigh again, the two of them have inched closer together, just enough that now the backs of his knuckles brush against her knee.

He doesn't pull back, so neither does she, instead swallowing a smile with a sip of uisuki that runs hot over her tongue and leaves a sudden burst of sincerity in its wake.

'Really though, I... I've missed this.' Their eyes meet. 'I've missed you.'

'Me too.'

A moment of quiet – thick and heartfelt but somehow still bordering on shy – passes between them. Then-

'So tell me more about Sokka destroying your palace. I've only ever heard his side and I have to assume he left out some major details.'

'Oh, definitely.'

It feels like hours are passing, the rest of the world moving around them as they sit in place at the periphery of the party and continue to empty themselves of the tales they've stored up during their years apart.

Somewhere along the way, the fingers that are brushing at her knee start to trace light, tentative circles over the thin fabric of her leggings. There's a warmth soaking through Katara's mind that she knows is only partly because of the liquor, so when it brings her to stall mid-sentence so that she can examine the planes of his face as if they're suddenly fascinatingly unfamiliar, she's sure that at least some of the blame lies with him.

'What is it?'

'Nothing, it's just... You just look kind of different. Maybe it's the long hair.'

'Oh. Well, it's traditional. I always think it makes me look kind of like my father, actually.'

She cocks her head to the side, taking in the looseness of his jaw, the lack of tension in his posture. His fingers don't waver, drawing persistent, slow patterns across her knee that she knows would send her head spinning if she afforded them any significant part of her attention.

Focus, Katara.

'I can see the resemblance. But it's not something that bothers you, is it? Not anymore, at least. I saw the way you were when Jun said what he said – you didn't even flinch.'

Zuko dips his head in acknowledgement.

'Yeah. It took a while, but... I just got to the point where I realised that I can't help being his son, and there are always going to be people who try to compare me to him. All I can do is push to be the best leader I can be – make sure that the comparison is a positive one.'

'You know, confidence is a good look on you.'

Gods, is she flirting? And he-

'Thanks.'

He is looking entirely too amused for her liking, and she swipes half-heartedly at his arm which, really, only seems to make things worse. Hard back-pedal.

'Okay, hold on, I just mean- Ugh, I just mean that you seem to be handling it well! All that regalia and authority, you know.' She stops, considers for a moment. 'Although, if I'm being totally honest, I think this version of you is my favourite.'

Zuko casts a glance down at himself, bemusement making its way across his face.

'What version is that?'

'I don't know, somewhere in between Fire Lord and repentant banished prince on the run?'

He grins – not the wry smile that she's used to seeing on him, but a real, broad, teasing grin that knocks the breath right out of her.

'Oh, so not the version where I'm relentlessly following you across the world and trying to imprison you and your loved ones?'

And La, she comes embarrassingly close – pathetically close – to saying that she'd be more than okay with him following her across the world again now. But giving that kind of voice to the things that they've only been saying in undertones so far... That would just take them down a road that she's absolutely certain ends in nothing good. Far better to leave it unnamed. Superficial. Harmless.

So she swallows down her less prudent thoughts and blames them on the uisuki, instead keeping things light, playing into his joke.

'I mean, it's a tough one, but I think this-' She reaches out to prod him on the shoulder affectionately. '-just wins it.'

He chuckles.

'Well-'

'Hey guys!'

Katara turns in her seat to find a whirl of green making its way towards them through the crowd of party guests, moving with a sense of gleeful purpose that feels distinctly ill-omened.

'Uh-oh.'

'Heard that. And you know what else I heard?'

Zuko leans in towards her until she can feel his breath on her neck as he speaks, his voice a low mutter in her ear.

'Why do I feel like this is going to end badly for one of us?'

'Experience. What did you hear, Toph?'

'I heard that you became quite the heartbreaker whilst you were away, Sweetness.'

Katara balks. Zuko's fingers still on her knee, and it's completely ridiculous that all of a sudden she can't even look at him but she can't, so instead she focusses on the grinning earthbender standing in front of her and does everything she can to stay composed.

'Right, first off, that is none of your business, and I am going to kill Sokka because I can only assume that you heard it from him. And secondly, you're making it sound like a regular thing. It was one- It only happened- It was once!'

Composure: check. Great work, Katara, you really nailed that one.

Spirits, why does she feel guilty?

'I'm missing something here, aren't I?'

Zuko's voice has changed, not in any way cold, but undeniably probing and just that bit stiffer than before.

'I-' Katara huffs in exasperation and shoots a cutting look at Toph that she hopes the other girl can feel right through her blindness. Then she takes a deep breath in and out before dropping her tone to something more deliberate, more measured. Factual. 'Whilst I was in the North Pole, there was this... guy. Kallik. One of the soldiers who returned after the end of the war. We got to know each other pretty well, I guess, and then a couple of months in he asked me to marry him. I said no, and that's it.'

Zuko's face is unreadable. The air itself feels tight around her, something that Toph is undoubtedly aware of but seemingly all too happy to ignore.

'Great story, Sugar Queen, nice detail. Come on, what was wrong with the guy?'

Katara lets out a heavy, yielding sigh. Her head is spinning with a combination of alcohol and discomfort, and she's nowhere near sharp enough to push back against the earthbender's grilling right now.

Besides, it's not as if she has anything to hide, right?

'Nothing. Nothing was wrong with him. He was... nice. Funny. Definitely not unattractive.' She shrugs. 'I liked spending time with him.'

'What happened?'

This time, the question doesn't come from Toph. Katara redirects her gaze back towards Zuko, struggling for a moment to find the words to answer him.

'It just...' Didn't feel the same. '...didn't work out.'

'Ah. Guess that happens.'

There's something not particularly casual, or perhaps too casual, about the way he says it, and with that the atmosphere seems to change, suddenly charged with a different kind of tension that feels simultaneously better and more dangerous than a few moments prior. She feels her heart rate pick up, feels the heady thrill of it sweep through her.

'I guess it does. You know what I heard?' She places her empty cup on the windowsill next to her, and then leans in towards him. 'I heard that all the Fire Nation nobles have gotten themselves worked up into a state because their Lord-' In a rush of boldness, she takes Zuko's cup, still half-full, out of his hand, settling back in her chair to survey him. '-refuses to choose a Lady.'

She's not sure what makes her say it – whether she's just trying to take the attention off her own history, or whether it's something that she's been looking for an excuse to bring up since Kuei mentioned it to her earlier in the evening – but Zuko barely hesitates, taking it in stride without blinking.

'That's accurate.'

She releases a laugh in a sharp burst of air, then raises his cup to her lips, keeping her eyes on him over its rim as she drinks. The burn barely even registers anymore, so heated is the very breath that rises up from her chest when she speaks.

'Well, what do you know? Someone so driven by honour, shirking his royal duties.'

'Not shirking, exactly. I've gone along with all the introductions that the Fire Sages keep springing on me, been a picture of courtesy...' He plucks the cup back out of her grasp, eyes glinting, and raises it slightly as if toasting her. '...attended every miai they've arranged...'

The pause stretches on just a little too long, until something in her gives and she can't hold back from prompting him.

'But?'

He takes a long draw from the cup, then fixes her with a scorching smirk as he fires her own words back at her.

'It just hasn't worked out.'

And she's about to – about to what, call him out on the sheer audacity of it? Then Kuei's voice reaches them from across the room. Katara twists away from Zuko towards the sound, and by the time she realises that he's being beckoned over, he's already on his feet behind her.

'Well, duty calls.'

She turns back to him to find the bartered cup of uisuki hovering in front of her face, held out towards her in something midway between an offering and a challenge. Their fingers brush as she takes it from him, narrowing her eyes at the hint of a smile that still plays on his lips, and then he's walking away, leaving her to stare, wordless, after him as he disappears into the party.

'What was that?'

She hadn't forgotten that Toph was standing there, exactly, but the girl's gloating words still make her jump, sparking her back into regular speed.

'What?'

Toph snorts.

'That! You and Lord Sunshine over there making googly eyes at each other. I mean, I know I can't see googly eyes, but I can sure as hell hear them.'

Katara shakes her head, entrenching herself as deeply as she can in every shred of denial she's able to muster.

'I don't know what you're talking about.'

'Liar. Gods, it's like being back before the war ended, just at, like, a whole new level of shameless.'

'You've been drinking. Your judgement's off.'

'Please, it'd take more than a few drinks for me to miss something that spit-in-your-face obvious.' She claps a hand on Katara's shoulder, a gesture that feels flippant and supportive in equal parts, before backing away towards the table of food that sits a few feet from them. 'Look, just do me a favour and get on with it. If I have to listen to much more of that I think I might hurl.'

And with that, Katara is left alone to try and unpick the last few minutes until they make some kind of sense.

She sits motionless for a moment, then gives her head a sharp shake, blows out a hard breath, and downs what's left of the uisuki in one.

Well, that was... something.

A/N: I may have cackled to myself more than once whilst writing this. I really wanted to explore how they might interact when they're both a little looser and bolder, and they definitely needed a push to get past the awkward 'hello again after three years' crap, so this seemed like the right opportunity for it.

I did think about splitting this into two chapters and then posting them in quick succession, but then I figured I've made you guys wait long enough. You deserve some headway with the Zutara. We're really going to be getting into the crux of their interactions over the next few chapters, so buckle in! Plus Toph's field trip is imminent (I love Toph so much, can you tell?).

Also, I've been re-working the structure of where this is all going, and I think the reason I've felt as thought it didn't progress smoothly enough is because I've been seeing it as one work when really it's two. So FiF will be wrapping up faaaiiiirrrlly soon, then the second half of the story will come in a sequel AND THEN if my energy holds out it will potentially at some point in the future become a trilogy (I have huge plans for the third one with lots of in-world myth-building and some character work that feels kind of intimidating, so it really depends on whether or not I feel as though I can make that happen in a way I'm happy with). Will keep everyone updated about what to expect as we go!

Love to all, and hope you're staying home, staying healthy, staying safe. Support your key workers by listening to isolation advice.