A/N: Thanks to marinetteplztakeabreak for beta reading! And thanks to everyone who's stuck around through the end of this fic! This epilogue is from Mai and Toph's points of view, mostly wrapping up some stuff from the interlude chapters.

~it's lonely where you are, come back down~

Mai flinched as laughter echoed through the garden. She hurled the rest of her poppyseed roll into the pond, startling the few turtle ducks who'd been waiting for their evening snack. They fled to the further corners of the pond, behind fronds that waved in the gentle breeze.

She felt stupid for picking now of all moments to intercept him. Zuko normally came to the turtle duck pond alone, but of course "alone" wouldn't exclude Katara. Unlike Mai, she was always implied to belong.

She stood silently and moved to slip out the garden's back exit. But her dark hair and maroon robes stood out like an inkblot among the bright flowers.

The laughter cut off.

"Mai?"

And there he was, tall and regal in his formal robes. Zuko. The Fire Lord. Her boyfriend, technically. The man she'd let break her heart twice.

Katara stood a little ways back, half-hidden by swaying reeds. She looked like she couldn't decide if she should step forward or not. Hopefully she wouldn't. The pity on her face was bad enough at a distance. Couldn't she just look angry, or smug, or anything?

Not that it mattered. Irritated as Mai was, this wasn't about her. She turned to Zuko, and found him looking appropriately abashed, at least.

"Oh. You do recognize me," she deadpanned.

"Mai—I searched the whole palace for you! I wanted to…" His eyes darted back towards Katara. Was it just her, or did the gnarled tissue around his left eye look a little smoother? Maybe Katara had tried to heal it, and had just done a lousy job.

Whatever. It didn't matter.

"You've never come to the gardens before," he finished lamely.

Because they were boring. And because he always seemed so somber when he came here. This was the place he'd shared with his mother. Did Katara know that? She hadn't watched Zuko change over the years, from a coward ducking behind his mother's sleeve, to a hotheaded teenager throwing his life away for some peasants, to a young man with a temper so tight it could snap, to… whoever he was now.

She'd thought she had him figured out. Maybe that was her first mistake.

"We need to talk," she told him.

Katara seemed to get the point. She waited back while Mai strode back into the palace halls. Mai would've felt grateful for that, if she'd been able to feel anything at all.

Zuko followed, and Mai's shoulders relaxed. Finally, it was time to get this over with.

"Mai, I—"

She held up a hand to silence him.

"I'm breaking up with you." She said it with all the emotion of a stone, though the fire inside her wanted to melt it to magma. Because lashing out had worked so well for her last time.

No, she could be her parents' perfectly lifeless daughter, for one more day. She'd be on a boat to the Earth Kingdom in the morning. If Ty Lee didn't want to leave Kyoshi, maybe Mai would join the circus by herself. The irony threatened to choke her, but at least it wouldn't be boring. She could polish her knife-throwing skills without the Fire Nation royals squeezing the hilt.

She wouldn't be trapped. At this point, not much else mattered.

"You… oh."

She'd been so caught up in her thoughts that she nearly missed Zuko's soft voice. Stupid. She wasn't out of the woods yet. The royals had never let her escape easily. She'd always thought Zuko would be different, but she couldn't count on that assumption. Illusions had blinded her for too long.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I didn't want to hurt you."

"But you did."

He flinched, then nodded. "You hurt me, too."

She expected his hand to reach for the scar beneath his robes. It didn't.

"We're not good at this." It was obvious, not even worth saying, but the silence felt too crushing even for her.

He let out a little snort. "No. We're not."

"One less thing for you to worry about, then." Her voice was still cold. It wasn't like he deserved warmth from her, faked or otherwise. He'd have plenty of it waiting for him in the waterbender's arms.

"That's—" he cut off, looking down at the marble floor. What was he going to say? She was right, and he knew it.

Maybe that was why he looked so guilty.

She let him stew in it, half surprised that he hadn't exploded at her yet. He hadn't yelled at all. It was… weird.

Apparently love ended with a whisper, and not a blaze.

"That's it, then." She shrugged.

The past week had been spent wrapping her heart in steel. She could pretend that armor held. That she didn't have a million questions threatening to leak from her.

Do you still love me, even a little?

Did you ever?

"Do you have… plans?" he asked awkwardly. "A place to go, or…"

She turned her back to him. It was a little easier that way. "It's not your business anymore. But yes."

"Good. I'm glad."

"No need to draw this out, Zuko. I'll be fine."

She would. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of being anything else.

"I… right. Is there anything else I… nevermind. Goodbye, Mai."

He sounded so sincere. Like he actually wanted her to feel cared for, even as he tossed her aside. Hopefully it wasn't a ruse to keep her loyalty, in case he ever got bored and wanted her back.

It didn't matter. That wasn't going to happen.

"Goodbye, Zuko."

Her footsteps echoed in the long hallway as she left. She didn't look back.

XXX One Year Later XXX

A cool breeze splashed saltwater at Toph's face. Her eyes stung, but it wasn't like she needed them to kick Twinkletoes' butt. She just had to focus and feel the wind in her hair. Tune out Katara's laughter, Sokka's rambling about the science of balloons, and…

POP!

She grinned at the sound of success. One more miss with her sand darts, and she would've lost the bet.

"Told you I could do it, Twinkletoes. Pay up." She stretched out her hand, and Aang gave an exaggerated groan.

"Suki, did you hide dirt in my balloon?"

The warrior laughed. "Sorry, Aang. Toph beat you fair and square."

Toph wasn't above cheating at her and Aang's games, but this time, Suki was right. After traveling with him for so long, she could tell the difference between a natural breeze and one of Aang's flurries. The second had a playful feel to it, like it was dancing in time with his movements, but it also moved in a more controlled pattern. Toph had paced down the beach until she'd felt his tiny flurry hold the balloon aloft, and the rest was cake.

"Awwww, monkeyfeathers." Aang's words were disappointed, but he couldn't hide the smile in his voice. He passed over today's prize: the last cup of watermelon juice.

Toph downed it in one gulp. It washed away the dregs of salt that had been stuck in her throat, replacing them with sweetness.

"Ah. Refreshing."

Then a wave smacked her over sideways.

She spluttered, forcing down her panic as she thrust an arm upward, bending the sand to meet her feet. It flowed over her ankles and held her securely in place as she coughed up salt.

"Toph, are you—?" Aang started to say.

"You're gonna pay for that, Twinkletoes!"

"Wait, no, he didn't—"

Toph had already covered Aang in a glob of sand before Suki's voice reached her. Katara and Zuko's laughter sounded from the water behind.

Dang it. She'd made a stupid mistake again, hadn't she.

"Sorry, Toph. Sorry, Aang." That was Katara's abashed voice this time. "Splash fight with Zuko got a little out of hand…"

Aang spit sand out of his mouth. "Hey, look at me! I'm a sandmonster!"

Toph felt him wiggling the sand like tentacles and laughed. He always knew how to blow over her miscommunications without making her seem stupid. She wished she had some more watermelon juice to share with him for that.

Since she didn't, she bent the sand up to cover herself, too.

"Come on, Twinkletoes! I think two tough earthbenders can take a few splashes!"

Sand-tentacles waving, Toph and Aang chased Zuko and Katara across the beach. Her and Aang's footsteps pounded in sync, and every few seconds they lobbed sandy projectiles from their tentacles with practiced precision. Katara's small waves occasionally washed some of her protective sand-covering away, but Toph easily collected enough to replace it.

"Is that all you've got?" Aang taunted. At first Toph thought he was challenging her to keep up, but then he continued. "I know we're tough, but you're Sifu Katara! You don't have to go easy on us!"

Katara giggled. "Well, since you asked…"

Toph heard a jet of water roar over her head. It crashed down somewhere on top of Aang, washing him across the beach. She heard his laughter get farther and farther away until he swirled back up on his noisy air scooter.

"Want a lift?" He asked her. "You can keep the sand connecting you to the ground, but I can zoom us around any of Katara's waves."

She grinned. "Not a bad idea, Twinkletoes."

She thrust her arms down, spearing her sand-tentacles into the ground. Then she gracelessly scrambled onto Aang's back. It was always a little nerve-wracking to let her feet dangle free, but she could still feel the earth through the tendrils of sand streaming behind her. Aang wouldn't go fast enough to leave them behind.

"What are they doing…?" Zuko asked from a ways down the beach.

"Less talking, more running!" Katara said.

Then Aang zoomed towards them. Toph let out a happy shriek at the wind in her face, which was pretty exhilarating once you got used to it.

Once Zuko and Katara's panting breaths were in range, Toph started lobbing balls of sand again. Aang swerved them away from Katara's waves. Though she hated to admit it, it was much easier than listening for the attacks herself.

Okay, maybe it wasn't so bad to admit it. They made a really good team.

"A little help here, Zuko!" Katara called when another one of her shots missed.

"What do you want me to do? Melt their sand around them?"

"No! I don't know, grab a bucket or something!"

"...A bucket." Zuko stopped running. Toph used the pause to chunk a fist-sized glob of sand at the back of his head. "On second thought, throwing some fire doesn't sound like a bad idea…"

"I'd like to see you try," Toph taunted, because she knew he wouldn't. For all the times he'd apparently tried to kill Aang in the past, the Fire Lord was all too careful with his bending. He'd be more likely to spar with his wicked awesome swords than throw flames.

Footsteps pounded across the sand behind her.

"SNEAK ATTACK!" Sokka shouted, tossing what was probably a bucket of water at her back. It barely washed away any sand.

Toph and Aang turned on him.

"That… worked out a lot better in my head." Sokka took off running, with Aang zooming after.

Toph just laughed and hopped off of Aang's back, feeling the sand squish comfortingly between her toes. Two awesome earthbenders against one Sokka wouldn't be fair.

"Should we go rescue him?" Katara asked.

"Nah," Toph and Zuko answered at the same time.

"Suki's got it covered," Zuko continued. "She's sneaking up behind Aang. Actually sneaking, not… whatever Sokka was doing. And now she's using her fans to blow off Aang's sand." He and Katara both laughed.

"She blew most of it into Sokka's face," Katara explained. "He's getting into the water now. I bet the three of them will end up having their own splash fight."

"How did you end up getting in a splash fight with Sugarqueen, anyway?" Toph asked Zuko. "You just like losing that bad?"

"It's okay. I go easy on him, too."

Toph heard the slightly squelchy sound of a kiss. Gross. They thought because she couldn't see, it was okay to be all mushy in public. Either that or they were just always like this, like Sokka and Suki had been when they first got engaged.

"Every time you two smooch in front of me, I'm tacking another day onto the field trip Zuko owes me."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Zuko dug his knuckles into Toph's messy hair.

"So you're finally going to take me? I thought you'd be too busy with Sugarqueen." She said it jokingly, but she meant it. Zuko was, well, Fire Lord. This was the first time he'd spent time with Katara in months. Of course, it was the first time Toph had spent time with him in months, too.

"I'm never too busy for my favorite cousin."

"Except the last time we were here," she pointed out.

"That was the day before the comet, and Aang was missing," Katara said. "It wasn't exactly a fun time for anyone."

"But the world isn't ending now, so I promise, you're getting the full Zuko field trip experience. So, what secure location are we breaking into this time?"

Katara choked, but Toph just grinned.

"So, since you never brought me back a souvenir from the North Pole—"

"Toph—" Katara began, but she kept talking.

"I was thinking we could go somewhere with lots of cool souvenirs. Like the royal vault. That would be hard to break into, right?"

Zuko was silent for a moment. He wasn't mad at her joke, was he? ...She was mostly joking, anyway.

"It would be. Except I'm the Fire Lord now, so I can just, kind of, walk in." He sounded embarrassed by that.

"Is there anywhere you can't just walk into as the Fire Lord?" Toph huffed. What was the fun of breaking into somewhere you were allowed into?

Zuko and Katara were both quiet. Probably saying things with their faces. Ugh.

"I've got a funny story about that," he finally said. "I'll tell you on our field trip. To somewhere completely legal, where I will not ruin the first peace in a hundred years by entering."

That was… oddly specific.

"Okay, fine. But it better be a really good story."

"Trust me." Katara sounded like she was smiling. "It is."