Author's Note: New cover image.

It was the year 98 AG, not that the spirits cared, when the Wolf was asked to keep an eye on Zuko and Yue.

It wasn't a necessary request. The Wolf watched over the pair constantly. Afterall, he had given them life and granted them the gift of transformation. If only the gift had truly been a gift. Then maybe it wouldn't make him feel so guilty. They were just pups. Not his pups but almost, in a sense. The Wolf wasn't an emotional being but his feelings surrounding the young prince and princess were crippling. He loved them almost as much as Tui, his master and mother.

It had been two years since Zuko and Yue had met and almost just as long since they'd learned to control their transformations. For so long, both of them had cursed it. They didn't fit in with the rest of the world. Until they'd met each other, they'd been incredibly alone. They were kind of cute friends though, the Wolf had to admit. Their friendship was beautiful and the Wolf thought that if he had to do it all over, he'd give them the curse of transformation again if it meant it could be friends again. Now, the spirits' touch felt like a gift.

Lately though, Yue had seemed kind of distant.

That was why Tui asked him to keep an eye on her beloved mortals. She could watch them herself but she preferred to stay in the koi pond, circling her husband. The Wolf spent time with them whenever he wasn't guiding the Mother of Faces through her migrational patterns or keeping the lesser spirits in line. Still, it was no trouble and it was helpful to know he wasn't just imagining the changes between them.

The two were almost inseparable. Zuko often trailed after Yue during the days she was stuck in the palace with princess duties, Yue usually tagged along to Zuko's nighttime training sessions, and the pair spent each full moon dancing in the moonlight over the ocean. Sure, there were a handful of meetings here and there that Zuko wasn't allowed to attend and sometimes Pakku shooed Yue away if Zuko's fire got too wild but these moments apart never caused their friendship to dwindle.

Zuko seemed as clueless about what could've caused this division as the Wolf so it had to be something that happened when Zuko was out of the palace. The Wolf really couldn't guess what though. He didn't understand human affairs all that well but he would try if it meant making Tui happy. However, his efforts weren't fruitful.

"Yue, you know you can tell me if there's something bothering you, right?" Zuko asked one day from where the two sat on the palace's roof. It was the first time they'd been alone in awhile. They weren't allowed up here but Zuko was a sneaky thing and knew Yue couldn't resist the chance to do something so rebellious. He reached out half heartedly, offering a hand of comfort to his friend but she remained closed off, curled up out of his reach.

"I know, Zuko," Yue whispered softly, eyes fixed on the horizon. She pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them, and offered Zuko her best smile. "I promise, everything's fine."

"Someone once told me that when a girl says everything's fine, everything's not really fine."

Yue laughed at that. Her voice was still light and soft as ever but the sadness in her eyes dimmed her spirit. "I promise nothing's wrong. I'll tell you when I'm ready."

Zuko nodded wordlessly, looking a bit unsure but it wasn't in his nature to press. The silence stretched for a few moments longer until Yue scooted over, closing the space between them, and the frown slid off Zuko's face. He smiled and offered an arm. "Oh, now you want to sit by me?"

"Master Pakku and I are the only ones who know you're a firebender and I really doubt he's going to take advantage of how warm you are," Yue joked, the sorrow briefly fading from her eyes as she leaned against him. She took one of his arms and put it around her. "If it really bothered you, you wouldn't have taken me up to sit on a big slab of ice."

Zuko laughed and the two began bickering once more but the Wolf didn't think this was the end of it. He still didn't know what was bothering Yue and there was still that slight bit of distance between them. They were still as close as could be but they were far from what they'd once been.

When he told Tui a month later, she'd been disappointed and the Wolf decided it was time to interfere a bit more directly.

The Wolf was a creature of the moon, even more so than Zuko and Yue. The full moon was a special time for him as well. It was the night he could howl at the great, glowing orb in the night sky and offer his beloved master his song. It was the greatest gift any wolf could offer. A wolf's voice was his most prized possession and a howl, a true howl that echoed deep in the wolf's chest before escaping for the world to hear, was something special. The Wolf loved sharing it with Tui and he knew she loved it just as much as he did but tonight he would have to break his habits.

On the night of the full moon, he padded out onto the open sea. It was peaceful here. Silent save the ocean winds whipping past him and the sound of a ship slicing through the waves. Normally, it would annoy him to have nature's tranquility disrupted by man but tonight that's what he was looking for.

The Wolf took his time but by midnight he'd selected a target.

It wasn't a small ship but not a big one either. Not particularly special but still important. Important enough to have a fair sized crew out in the middle of the night. Not important enough to have defenses strong enough to resist the power of the Wolf.

With a simple swipe of his paw, he knocked a hole in the hull. Water began flooding in but no one seemed to notice until the Wolf asked La to kick up the current a bit.

To the alarm of the crew, the waves slowly became more and more violent. The water began kicking the ship, making it rock on the uneven surface. The crew didn't seem all that concerned at first, they knew how to handle a storm, but it quickly became known they were taking in water.

There was a waterbender on board. He did a good job keeping the ship afloat while the rest of the crew poured bucketfuls of water over the edge of the ship but it wasn't enough. They didn't have the power to get to shore and they were too far from the city to get help. They'd sink unless they had some outside help.

The Wolf didn't offer it. He could yet he couldn't. He didn't care for humans much but avoiding death was preferable. Zuko and Yue were his priority though. He'd let a shipful of men drown if it meant there was a chance he could figure out what was wrong between the two teenagers.

Still, he was worried they wouldn't show and it was a weight off his shoulders when they appeared.

It was truly a sight to behold: a massive, winding serpent rearing up from the water as a dragon dropped down from the sky, claws and wings outstretched, with the full moon behind them over the open ocean. Terrifying, the Wolf was sure, for the tribesmen on board the ship but he didn't care. The only thing that mattered to him was the wellbeing of the children he'd touched with the power of the moon.

The men screamed as Yue rose out of the water and wrapped her body around the hull of the ship. The wood creaked under the pressure, splintering from her strength, but stayed mostly intact atop the water. With her holding it up, it wouldn't sink for a while. She was still too far from the shore to successfully deposit the ship and crew on dry land though. That's where Zuko came in.

Zuko was not… gentle. He swooped down from the sky like a snake falcon, dive bombing the men on the deck. For a moment, the Wolf worried that neither spirit nor human was in control, that the dragon was just acting on predatory instinct. He snapped and snarled in frustration and anger, scaring the humans. The Wolf wondered if he's miscalculated.

But then Zuko managed to hook the hood of a parka in his teeth and he seemed to settle down a bit. Maybe it was just because his mouth was full but the rage seemed to roll off his scales. With a sharp beat of his wings, he took off towards the mainland. The Wolf didn't need to watch to know he was dropping him off to safety. When Zuko returned to pluck another fisherman off the boat, the Wolf took his leave.

His work for tonight was done. The morning would tell him if his efforts were worthwhile.

"Did you hear the news, Zuko?" one of Pakku's students asked the next morning.

Yue had come by to retrieve Zuko while Pakku hosted a training session. Both Yue and Zuko seemed faintly surprised at being addressed but managed to recover quickly enough. "No, what happened?"

"A ship almost sank last night," the student informed them. If the Wolf's eyes were any less sharp, he wouldn't have noticed how the princess and prince's backs went rigid. The student didn't though and went on. "They're saying Tui and La sent spirits down from the heavens to help. Two lovers, like them. My father told me one could swim and the other used the moonlight to fly."

Zuko looked mortified while Yue seemed to be choking on her laughter as she tried to hold it back. The student looked confused and lingered a moment before realizing he wasn't going to be getting a response. He bade them a brief goodbye and headed to Pakku's training ring.

Once they were alone, Yue burst into laughter and Zuko couldn't help but join her. The Wolf's tail curled in delight, like a polar bear puppy being told he's a good boy. It was oddly gratifying to have a direct role in the pups' happiness.

Zuko gasped for breath as his laughter died down, Yue still trying to stifle some giggles, and shot his friend a smile. "So, lovers, huh?"

Yue abruptly stopped laughing. Zuko panicked.

"I mean, they're wrong," he rambled quickly, trying to recover. "We're not like that. La didn't even spirit touch me, there's no reason that our spirits would, y'know, want to do that. And we're, like, fifteen so we really shouldn't even be thinking about that and even if we were older, you're my friend and, um… consent? Like there are two sides of a relationship and I don't- you don't-"

"I'm engaged!" Yue blurted out and Zuko promptly shut up.

"...What?"

"I'm engaged," Yue repeated, quieter this time. The Wolf's head spun. Zuko looked like he wanted to sit down. Yue was engaged? Since when? And why hadn't she said anything?

"You… don't look happy," Zuko commented. Yue nodded ever so slightly.

"It's why I've been… weird around you," Yue admitted. "Everyone thinks… We're close. When we were younger, it was okay but at this age, when a boy and girl are close, everyone thinks they're in love. Or falling in love. I don't want the court or my father to think I'm going to be disloyal because I have feelings for you."

"Do you?" Zuko prompted almost automatically. Yue looked alarmed and Zuko quickly backtracked. "I mean, how do you feel? About your fiancé?"

"I haven't met him," Yue told him. She laughed but it was empty. "He's from a good family and he's an excellent warrior. They- my father and his advisors- want him to be the next chief."

"That's komodo rhino shit," Zuko said bluntly in a rare moment of articulacy. Yue looked surprised at the foul language but Zuko didn't slow down. "You're amazing. You should be the one leading the tribe, not this asshole. You'd do a better job than him. At the very least, you should be able to pick who you end up with."

"I don't think they'd take too kindly to a water tribe queen with a foreigner at her side," Yue responded so softly that the Wolf thought his ears were playing tricks on him. A melting pot of emotions of emotions washed over his face but Yue put up a hand before hope could be one of them. "Don't look surprised. If this was the Earth Kingdom or the Fire Nation, you'd be an advisor or a king. You're one of my few friends, there are few others I'd trust in that position."

Zuko looked frustrated. "You sound like a political… political… strategy-"

"Political strategy? That's not what it's called."

"Shut up. You sound like a book," Zuko said. He looked at her pleadingly. "How do you feel?"

"What do you want me to say? That I love you?"

"No! Yes. No. Well, yes if you mean it. I want you to be honest. I want you… I want you to choose who you marry. Or choose who you don't marry. I don't want you marrying some guy who will make you miserable."

"I won't be miserable. I'd be serving my tribe."

Zuko looked hopeless. "What happened, Yue? This isn't… you. Normally you're so happy and fun and- And you're always the first to shove snow in my coat and you worry about me during the midnight sun and you like sneaking around to eavesdrop on the guards and-"

"You only see Yue your friend," she snapped, turning away. "To my tribe, I'm Princess Yue. That's the real me. I can't be happy and fun all the time, Zuko. I'm a princess, that's not the kind of person I'm meant to be. I'm supposed to listen to court meetings and show up to festivals on big- big- What are those carrier things called?"

"A chariot?"

"No."

"Litter?"

"What? No."

"I think they're called litters."

"No they're not Zuko."

"Palanquin?"

"No…"

"They might just be called carriers."

"Whatever," Yue sighed. "I'm- I'm just supposed to be a figurehead. Sit still and look pretty. Let my husband lead the tribe. I love my tribe, Zuko. It's not a sacrifice to- to-"

"You can't even say it," Zuko spoke softly. "In the Fire Nation-"

"This isn't the Fire Nation, Zuko. You can't talk about that here."

"In the Fire Nation," Zuko continued, ignoring her with a thick swallow, "one of the princes married for love. He was- he is kind and cares about his people. The other one had an arranged marriage. He married for politics and power. He's… cruel. He doesn't- he doesn't-"

"Zuko? Are you okay?"

Zuko pushed forward. "He made his wife's life miserable. And she disappeared. And he hurt his kid...s. Yue, I don't want you to have a life like that."

"I won't," she told him. "The Northern Water Tribe isn't at war. I'll still have you as a friend to keep me from losing myself. Zuko, it will be okay. I want this."

"You want this?"

"Well, maybe not like that prince who fell in love with his wife," Yue admitted, "but I want what's right for my tribe. And I truly believe this is it. So can we just forget it? Can you forget it? For me?"

Zuko was stiff, still stubborn and not quite ready to give in. "When are you getting married?"

"Not for awhile. I think the court wants to wait until we're older."

"Okay," Zuko relented.

"Okay?"

"Okay," Zuko said firmly. "I won't bother you about it as long as you stop this nonsense about me getting between you and this guy. You know I wouldn't do that to you."

Yue brightened a bit and teased, "How bold of you to think you have any hope of catching a princess's attention, peasant."

Zuko laughed and any tension vanished away. The Wolf turned away, sensing a change in atmosphere. Some of the weight on his heart lifted. He'd done good. It didn't make up for what he'd done all those years ago but he still found some solace in his actions. He wasn't needed here anymore. Zuko and Yue were bickering and laughing as always. They would be okay without him for a while.