When Zuko and some of his court officials arrived, there was no stiff awkwardness of politeness and formality, but open armed hugs and joy at seeing one another again as Sokka greeted him first, going forwards in order to embrace as the good friends they were. We all took turns greeting one another after such a long time until only I was left. Zuko looked at me then smiled, already opening his arms as I stepped towards him in order to put my arms around him. "Kayo, you look like you've just woken up."

"I did just wake up. Being responsible for building up a city is exhausting. Why did I ever let you guys talk me into this." I joked as Aang laughed, reminding me that it was my idea in the first place. "Ugh, I have dumb ideas. Anyway, let's get this pomp and farce on the road shall we? We'll give you and the other officials the tour when they arrive, then we can all talk properly together before the official meeting tomorrow."

"Sounds good to me." Zuko agreed before noticing Bumi and going to get a proper look at him since he hadn't met him yet. Everything went according to plan and even the meeting went well, laws, regulations and everything else being laid down and we scheduled a celebration in the upcoming year for the anticipated finishing of the foundation of Republic City where everyone would come to join the festivities. Once it was all over, it gave us time to be together as a group, just like we used to. Aang and Sokka were still as lively as ever as Toph complained at them for making too much noise, telling them that it was after hours and that she'd arrest them for public disturbance if they weren't careful.

Both froze and stared at Toph's serious expression before she'd burst into a cackle of laughter, only messing with them. "Looks like our little rule breaker has started to enjoy enforcing laws around here." Katara joked as she joggled Bumi gently whilst patting his back.

"It gives her the chance to beat up bad guys and yell orders at people. That's Toph all over." I pointed out, making us laugh again before I offered to take Bumi for a while so that she could rest her arms for a while since she'd forgotten to pack the baby sling for him. Between all of us, there was never a tired pair of arms though Sokka went a little far throwing Bumi up and down into the air whilst Aang made him hover on an air ball. Bumi clearly was having the time of his life, screaming with laughter and wanting to play more, but Katara went totally nuts at them both, yelling at them that a baby wasn't a toy and smacked them both around the head before taking Bumi off them as Zuko just scared.

"Has Katara always been that scary?"

"Oh yeah, you should have seen her when she caught Sokka putting face paint on him and dressing him up as a Water Tribe warrior and giving him his boomerang. She water slapped him right out a window." I told him, making his face drop before we both laughed, walking together as we cruised through the city at night until we found our favourite restaurant for us all to eat in. After a hearty meal, Aang and Katara went back to their island since Bumi needed to go to sleep and Sokka went with Toph to go over some paperwork for the police station, leaving me with Zuko.

You know, I can't help but get the feeling they planned this on purpose. It felt too smooth, way too smooth so I rolled my eyes as Zuko stood beside me. "So…what now?"

"Well since our friends have clearly left us together on purpose, we might as well enjoy the peace and quiet. There's a walk I like around the park I usually take on my way home. You want to come with me?" I offered and Zuko accepted willingly, reaching up to brush some hair out of my face before removing some desert still stuck to the corner of my mouth as he chuckled.

"Still the same old Kayo."

"Alright flame brain, let's go." Clicking my tongue as I smiled to myself, I grabbed hold of his hand in order to pull him along until we were naturally walking side by side together. It didn't take long to get to the park which we had painstakingly cultivated from the ashes of the earth. Fresh grass was now growing across the scene with new trees having been planted in and they were already growing strong. Some of them would bud this year, though the younger ones still had a lot of growing to do. The full grown trees were ones that we had replanted from elsewhere, giving the park a greater sense of completion with the lake, the fountains and the gardens.

"What you've all accomplished here, it's amazing. It's more than I could have ever imagined in my head." Zuko said as he looked around, fascinated with a street light which was being powered by electricity, another new innovation that had been built into the city and I explained how it all worked. "I guess there's no denying it now. The old world is gone, and now we're in a new era. Everything's changed."

"Not everything." I found myself answering as I became deep in thought, hesitating a moment before I brushed my hand against his and gradually curled my fingers around his hand until he closed his grip as well, looking at me deeply as I focused forwards, doing my best to try and keep myself from blushing like a little girl. After a while I turned to continue walking and Zuko came with me, still holding hands as we walked.

When we came to my favourite fountain, I brightened and pointed at it, leading Zuko towards it. "Look at this, I'm going to show you something." Letting go of his hands as I hurried up to the water, I exhaled to focus myself before I began to move the water. It bent to my will, the fountain turning on so that the figure at the top had water falling like clear ribbons out of their hands, one raised higher than the other as I turned the pedestal with the water, making it turn slowly before it gradually began to speed up the faster the water swirled until it looked like the statue was dancing.

"It's you." Zuko realised, blinking up at the statue as I grinned with laughter.

"Yup. Toph and Sokka were putting up statues of themselves, so I decided I wanted one too. There's a few more around the cit. One at the dance school I opened and have been teaching at in my spare time, another one at the city hall along with the others', one down by the pier and another one at the university and library I helped cofound. Toph made most of them since she can make the most life like replicas out of stone and metal, I think she just had fun putting our faces up all over the place. A couple of times she'd just make a statue of herself whenever we built a new road or crossing, and for a long time we didn't have the guts to tell her to stop."

The lights had come on at the fountain now that it was dark enough, fireflies also dancing around the place as the fountain continued to dance and twirl by itself, water spouts spraying water upwards as I sat down in order to take a break. "I see you're water bending again. How long has it been since…?"

"A few years now. I came back slowly at first, but then I got really mad at Sokka this one time because he'd lost all the notes I'd written down for an upcoming meeting. We happened to be inspecting the harbour at the time, and I was so angry that the water just exploded behind me when I shouted at him. I'll never forget the look on his face, he thought I was going to wash him out to sea." Giggling at the memory, Zuko came and sat down next to me placing his arm around my shoulders so that I could lean against him for a while. "You should come visit more often."

"Unfortunately, being Fire Lord doesn't allow a lot of vacation time, but if you start to find more free time on your hands, you know you're always welcome back home."

"Hm, my dad would love that. You know he still hasn't actually said your name in seven years, even when our name comes up?"

"He's still mad?"

"Oh yeah, but that's just how he is. He doesn't like it when anybody gets close to me these days. He even started suspecting Sokka for a while until I told him about Suki." We were in such a weird place right now, like limbo. We weren't together, but we were still more than friends. It literally felt like we'd gone right back to the beginning, and I started to feel like maybe I should be planning what I wanted to do after we finished with the foundations of the city before we could just let things handle themselves. What did I want from life now? I have to admit, seeing Katara and Aang the way they were, I was sometimes jealous.

"Kayo?" Seeing the pensive look on my face, Zuko brushed the back of his hand against my face. "What's wrong? Did you eat too much again? I told you to go easy on those crab cakes."

"No!" I scoffed, pushing at him lightly out of offense. "It's not that, I was just thinking." He arched an eyebrow at me expectantly so I sighed. "Soon enough the city's not going to need all of us here to manage it since we're already establishing a self sustaining council board, as well as magistrates to keep things in check, and Toph is here to make sure the law is being obeyed and to deal with any trouble makers…so what do I do after that?"

"What do you want to do? You could just live here with your parents, or go back to the South Pole, or start travelling again. You can do whatever you want, Kayo." Zuko said to me, putting his arm around me again as I clicked my tongue against my teeth.

"I guess I still have time to think about it, but it's been bugging me. Everyone seems to have settled into their new life so easily. Sokka is head of the council, Toph Chief of Police, Aang and Katara have each other and Bumi whilst they focus on rebuilding the air nation, but I have no clue what I want to do. Apart from taking an extended vacation where I don't have to look at another piece of paperwork for the rest of my life, I'm at a total loss."

"It'll come to you, life has a way of guiding people to where they're supposed to be. You just have to let it happen." Zuko counselled, making me smile before I teased him for turning into such a serious faced man. Rolling his eyes at me Zuko then smiled and turned his face into my head, pressing his nose into my hair as he breathed in lightly. I didn't know what was going to happen in the future, but right now, all that mattered that here, leaning against Zuko with his arm around me and our heads resting against one another, I was happy.