After restoring Earth King Kuei to his throne, each of us members of Team Avatar went in our own directions to do our best to restore the world to what it should be. That meant that I chose to follow Zuko back to the Fire Nation, and while I kept in regular contact with my parents through messenger hawk in the South Pole, I returned for their wedding and spent several weeks with them before going back in order to help Zuko with his administrations. He'd found it difficult, taking on the role and responsibilities of Fire Lord and a great number of the ministers put pressure on him to do things he knew were not exactly ideal.

In fact, some of them even tried to persuade him to demand the colonies remain Fire Nation territory, using fancy words and long debates of how this was vital to our nation, Zuko had to weigh what the Fire Nation needed and what was best for the entire world. That's where I came in. Basically, I'd tell him that those old men were greedy and selfish and that they needed to be retired. Immediately. "I mean, it's so obvious they think you're some kind of puppet because you're still so young, so they think they can control you and basically take power for themselves." I ranted as I paced back and forth in his room, the both of us having retired for the day after a long session with the council.

"I can't just retire them Kayo, they have a great deal of authority and influence I need to help persuade others that this is the right thing to do." Zuko said to me as he took off his regalia and hairpiece in order to allow his hair to come loose, falling in a messy mop of black which made me smile at him momentarily before I resumed my rant.

"Then they need to learn that you're not going to be manipulated like some ignorant boy. Maybe we should ask uncle to come stay for a while. They'll listen to him since he's a respectable general and your uncle." I suggested but Zuko shook his head as he took off his robe and finally allowed himself to sit down and relax as I stood with my arms folded.

"Uncle is happy in the Earth Kingdom with his teashop and helping King Kuei regain power from the ministers. I need to find a way to solve this without his help. I can't rely on him forever."

"It's not shameful to need advice from other people, Zuko. Why the heck do you let me stick around if you're never going to listen to me?" I reasoned with him as I rubbed the back of my neck. This place was stifling, I feel like we need to go out and just have some fun, maybe go visit a market and get up to some kind of nonsensical trouble just for the hell of it.

"You're different, I know you're here to help me for the greater good. Besides, you learned from Uncle Iroh himself, so it's pretty much the same as him being here when you open your mouth and speak." He reasoned before Zuko laughed. "I'll never forget Minister Fei's face when you called him a crusty old sea prune and pointed out his calculations were wrong. That made the entire meeting worth going to."

"Well, I'm glad to know I'm helpful in some way." Rolling my eyes lightly I lay down on the couch for a moment in order to let the blood rush to my head and help me think. "Now that I think about it, I get the feeling Uncle Iroh had been preparing me for this since the moment we met, like he knew someday I was going to be helping you consolidate authority and keep these ministers in line. Do you think he knew?"

"Uncle did used to say that us meeting was not chance, but destiny entwining our fates." Zuko reminded me so I hummed with a slight shrug. Every day had been so busy that we barely had time to actually talk like this. I missed the old days, and part of me wanted to take a break from it all even though we'd barely even begun. "We'll have to meet with the Earth King soon to begin negotiations."

"That'll be fun. Has Aang sent word?"

"Not yet, but it'll be here any day now. I have a feeling King Kuei isn't going to be all that happy to meet me. Not many people have a good opinion of the Fire Nation right now." Opening my eyes I looked over at Zuko, seeing him rubbing his face and looking exhausted so I swung my legs over to stand up, walking around his seat in order to place my hands against his head and started to massage the stress away.

"In that case, we had better start preparing. I think we should take a minimal escort of guards, that way we'll appear less threatening. We won't have to worry about being attacked since we'll be there and so will Aang, so there's no chance of an ambush. Of course some of the ministers will have to come along as well since this is a negotiation, but if you want to leave a good impression on the Earth King, then we should bring some gifts too. Things like food, fabrics, novelty gifts, things like that. I can have a talk with Master Lu Dao and the treasury to see what we can come up with, but if you really want to get on King Kuei's good side, then we should bring a tribute act."

"Tribute act?" Zuko frowned, tilting his head to look up at me as I continued to massage his head.

"Yeah, it's likely we'll be invited to a banquet in the name of peace, so we should bring something along to provide entertainment as a gesture of goodwill. I suggest my troupe, the Golden Dragon Birds. They're already in the city and have both fire benders, earth benders and non-benders dancing together in harmony. It would be the perfect way to display the fact that peace and cooperation is feasible, and I hear the king's pet bear Bosco loves that kind of stuff. I can always perform too, throwing a water bender into the mix can't hurt, then everything should feel less awkward and strained."

"That's actually…not a bad idea. Can you contact your people and ask if they'll join our envoy?"

"Sure, I know they'll be glad to help." I assured him, leaning against the back of the seat in order to lean down beside Zuko, who turned his face towards me with a warm expression. "You sure have it tough, I'm glad you didn't take me up on my offer to be Fire Lord."

"You'd probably do a better job than me right now. You don't let anybody talk down on you, I tolerate them because I can't afford to lose their support right now."

"That's why you have me. Don't worry Zuko, I'll be your backbone and if anybody stars stirring up trouble, I'll just freeze their head to a wall somewhere so they can't make trouble." I giggled as I started stroking his hair nonchalantly. "Though I'm still waiting on that title."

"Isn't Royal Adviser enough?" He arched an eyebrow at me as I groaned jokingly.

"When I said 'reward me with a title for all my hard work', that didn't mean I wanted you to give me more hard work. I thought you'd just give me an honorary title, like Lady or maybe make me into a noble or something." Flicking him on the nose with a smile, I moved a little closer as I then moved my hand away. "You just want to make sure I can never leave, don't you?"

"That's right. As Fire Lord, I can make that happen." Zuko murmured back, also smirking teasingly as our eyes began to close naturally. Our lips met in a heartfelt kiss, drawing on the comfort of one another as my pulse quickened instinctively, feeling the thrill of Zuko's tenderness towards me as our kiss deepened. His hand started to rise towards my head in order to pull me in but then he stopped, suddenly drawing away and I blinked in a daze, trying to regain my senses as he looked down solemnly. "I'm sorry, I can't." Not this again.

"It's okay." I lied, giving him reassurance even though I felt lousy to hear him rejecting me again. "I understand Zuko, you don't have to feel bad about it."

"Kayo, you know that I…"

"I know." I cut him off before he could say it, knowing that if he actually said those words out loud, I'd probably find it even harder to tolerate this stalemate we'd found ourselves in. After we got back from Ba Sing Se the first time, I'd confronted Zuko after I couldn't stand the torment of not knowing, asking him about what Mai told me about one of the reasons he broke up with her was because of me. At first Zuko had been too shocked to answer, but then he admitted that he couldn't be with Mai when all the time he was with her, he only thought of me and he knew that what he felt for me was far more than whatever he felt towards Mai.

At first I had been overwhelmed that he'd just come out with it like that, then I'd been overjoyed and started to tell him that I felt the same way when he'd continued, crushing everything by saying that he'd only kept quiet because he felt like now wasn't the time to be thinking about being with someone since he had too many obligations elsewhere. I'd clamped my mouth shut, almost broke down in tears but somehow managed to bluff my way through with a forced smile, telling him that it was okay and that I'd wait for a proper confession before I gave any answer.

But then, after that day, things just got more complicated. Both of us knew how we felt about each other, and knew the other person knew, but neither of us spoke about it out loud. Sometimes those feelings would build up and we'd kiss each other just like now, but then Zuko would always stop himself and pull back, saying that he couldn't. "It's just, I have to put being Fire Lord first, otherwise it's not fair on you."

"Zuko I know, I get it. You don't have to explain yourself to me." Brushing back his hair in order to try and settle him before he could get all worked up with guilt and worry, I reassured him that I was fine. "Besides, kissing somebody can help relieve stress and make you feel better, and I think you need all the help you can get right now just to relax. You feel better, right?"

"Yeah, I always feel better when you're near me." That smooth talking son of a…hmph. If he wasn't so darn adorable, I'd have probably stormed away weeks ago. It was okay though, I can manage this. I just have to keep my own feelings in check until Zuko was ready to realise his own, then maybe we could actually sit down and talk about this. I mean, did he want to get together? Should we make some kind of plan? Did we need a trial period? I have a lot of questions here, but no. All I could do was keep them bottled up and save them for later. Damn it. I can't wait to see Iroh again, then I can get this all off my chest then I'll feel a little better.