Looking into the ornate, golden mirror that hung on the wall of her guest room in the Fire Nation Palace, Katara surveyed her reflection. She had been spending the past couple of hours preparing for the celebration being held that night by the Fire Lord in honor of the newly named Republic City; the royal hairdresser, beautician, and seamstress had been sent for her with beautiful garments that were hand fitted to her and a large array of make ups and beauty tools. They had left her to get dressed on her own thirty minutes ago, and she had. Her flowing floor-length deep blue gown's material was thin enough to highlight her flat, toned stomach, her smooth, wide hips, and her perfectly round breasts. The dress was held up by thin straps, and its neckline dipped down low enough to reveal some of her cleavage. It was like nothing she would have ever encountered back home, but she was growing to enjoy Fire Nation fashion and not just because the oppressive heat left her with little choice. It suited her.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by a familiar knock at her open door. Without looking, she knew who it was, and smiled immediately.

"Hi," she said, turning to face him.

Aang's cheeks grew redder by the second as he surveyed the final result of the palace staff's work on her. She felt blood rushing to her own face as his eyes roved over her body, his lips parted slightly in amazement. At last, he seemed to realize himself, and his silver eyes snapped up to her own. Grinning sheepishly, he said, genuinely, "Sorry. That dress looks beautiful on you."

"You don't look too bad yourself," she teased, taking a seat on her vanity stool to slide on the pair of fancy slippers left for her by the seamstress. When she stood back up, he was still looking at her, his cheeks still flushed. However, he quickly recovered and smiled at her reassuringly, holding his arm out for her.

"Ready?" He asked.

"Ready," she confirmed, stepping forward to slip her arm into his. She pulled the door closed behind her as they left, and then they began to make their way through the long halls of the palace, towards the formal dining room where the banquet was being held.

"I was with Sokka while you were getting ready—Suki spent forever getting her hair and makeup done too. He thinks tonight is his big night," Aang informed her with a grin.

She glanced over at him, an eyebrow arched in confusion, before she realized that, of course, her brother would act like the night was about him because, though the celebration was more in honor of the idea rather than the new name itself, he had first come up with "Republic City" as a moniker for the new society formed out of the old colonies. "He's going to be disappointed when no one wants to hear from him," she joked.

"No one wants to hear from any of us," Aang pointed out, "They're all here for the influence and the food. At least Sokka didn't take their ruler's bending away and throw him in prison."

Katara sighed, reminded of the constant undercurrent of rancor that invaded the Fire Nation nobility, a bitterness that was beginning to spread through the other nations as well. Though the war had ended four years ago, the level of acrimony held by a world that had been ravaged by conflict for as long as any of its inhabitants had been alive was far-reaching. There were constant menacing messages, coming from more sources than they could ever track down or identify, threatening an attempt on either Zuko's or Aang's life. She knew that there were many people out there who hated them for the ways that they had changed the world, a hostility that reached even into Republic City and the undercurrents of tension between benders and nonbenders that permeated the city. Still, Republic City's political squabbles meant nothing to the old, rich fire nation upper class, and Zuko was the Fire Lord with Ozai still locked away, so the Fire Nation nobility ingratiated themselves with Zuko at these events despite their personal opinions of him. She tried not to think about it, most of the time.

Pressing past her negative thoughts, she smiled at him as they rounded a corner, responding, "Are you sure he was excited about the celebration? Or was he just thinking about the food?"

"That may have been it," Aang agreed, laughing along with her. Suddenly, he stopped, releasing her arm as he turned around suddenly.

"Aang?" Katara gasped.

"We're being followed," he said, his voice low and suspicious. Slowly, he crept back towards the corner they had just come from. Just as he was about to reach the end of the hallway, Toph jumped out and yelled in his face, causing him to stumble backwards in surprise.

"Toph!" Katara scolded, walking over to her two friends, one clutching his chest and glaring at the other, who was leaning against the wall for support, overtaken with laughter. "You scared us! You could've been— you could've been an assassin! Or an Ozai loyalist, or—"

"Calm down, Sugar Queen," Toph said, her laughter fading as she was lectured, "Everyone's fine. Anyway, I'm surprised you could feel me coming through those thick boots," she added with disdain.

Aang tried to hide the fear lingering in his expression, but Toph was able to feel his heart racing and punched him firmly in the shoulder before he could step out of the way, causing him to cringe. Katara glowered at her.

"Okay," Aang said, taking Katara's arm once again, "Let's just all head down together then, shall we?"

"Are you sure? I didn't want to interrupt anything," Toph teased, walking by his other side as they continued down the hall once more.

Katara leaned around Aang's tall form to glare at Toph. "What are you talking about?

"You guys are worse and worse every time we get together," she complained, oblivious to the way Aang tensed slightly at her comment, "And I really don't want to accidentally find you kissing."

"Toph, what are you talking about? Who's kissing anyone?" Katara asked impatiently.

"You're practically holding hands," she accused, her face still and stony as they kept walking.

"Are you jealous?" she replied, quirking an eyebrow that Toph would not be able to see. "Aang has two arms, Toph. You could have just asked—"

"Don't touch me," Toph warned Aang, flushing as he walked in place between then, not about to do anything of the sort. "I'm not interested in holding hands with Twinkletoes," she insisted. Aang had to agree; he had made the mistake of idly watching her pick her toes earlier that day and had no interest in touching her hands or even her arms, really.

"No one's holding hands or kissing anyone," Aang insisted before Katara could escalate the argument, as he could feel her blood boiling to his left. "We were talking about Sokka's big night."

"Sokka?" Toph replied in confusion, "What exactly did Sokka do?"

Before Aang could respond, an explanation already on his tongue, she continued, "Did Sokka's family create the foundation of Republic City's industry? Did Sokka—"

"Ugh," Katara groaned, sick of hearing the two indirectly argue about their opposing beliefs, "Please, let's not get into this again."

Toph paused for a minute, and the three were silent as they proceeded down the hall, the sound of Aang's boots and Katara's heels echoing down the stone hallway, sans Toph's silent bare feet. Finally, she instead responded, "It's because of the food, isn't it?"

Katara smiled, much more at Toph's willingness to let something go for the sake of a peaceful evening than at the stale jab at Sokka's appetite, while Aang laughed politely. "That's what Katara suggested just before we thought someone was about to attack us."

"Oh, come on, Twinkletoes," she complained, leaning over to punch him without missing a step. "Don't be a pussy."

He cringed, both at the pain ricocheting down his arm and her particular wording of her insult. Before he could say anything to try to diffuse the situation, Katara stopped; they weren't far from the main dining room now where everyone was gathering for the feast, and Aang stopped with her, just in case his presence was necessary to prevent the eruption of an all out war between the two. Toph huffed dramatically, spinning on her heel to face them, her head angled vaguely towards the ground. "Why are we stopping?"

"I hate when you use that word," Katara insisted, pulling her arm from Aang's to cross it with her other over her chest. Out of the corner of her vision, she noticed Aang's face flush as he surveyed her and blushed slightly herself. Toph patently ignored their subtle flirtation.

"Don't make me say it to you too," she threatened, crossing her arms as well.

Katara was about to reach for her waterskin when Sokka rounded the corner.

"I thought I heard you—" he began, stopping as he surveyed the situation. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Something probably best interrupted anyway," Aang reassured him, reaching hesitantly for Katara's arm once again. When she didn't react to his touch, he linked their arms. Sokka did the same with Toph, tugging her behind as he led them towards the dining room.

"Well, come on, Suki's inside already," he said excitedly.

Katara glanced at their arms, locked into one another, and turned to Aang with a raised eyebrow. He shook his head at her, and thankfully, she dropped it as they followed the pair into the main room. Inside, the large, round tables around the room were all covered with maroon cloth, candles lit in the center of each one. Dignified looking nobility were scattered across the room, some standing in conversation, some sitting together in groups, most with a glass of red wine in their hands.

"I think I need one of those," Katara muttered morosely, pulling her arm from his one final time to hunt down one of the servants roaming the room with trays of drinks. Aang watched her retreating form as he followed Sokka and Toph, weaving between tables to avoid the crowd in the center of the room as they made their way to the back of the massive room, where the head table sat, set for Fire Lord Zuko and his advisors and highest ranking officials. Suki was seated at the table closest, next to someone Aang didn't recognize.

"Look who I found!" Sokka called out as they approached the table, interrupting Suki's conversation. She looked up and surveyed Aang and Toph, her eyebrows furrowing.

"Where's Katara?" she asked in confusion.

"I've already driven her to drink," Toph said with a mischievous smile, pulling out the chair one seat from Suki's free side, leaving room for Sokka between them. As Sokka took his seat, Aang slid into the chair next to Toph, leaving an empty space between himself and the mystery man on his left.

Accepting Toph's explanation without pause, Suki turned to introduce the man on her right. "This is Yuzan, the head of the palace guards. We got to know each other when the girls and I were here," she explained.

"Really?" Sokka asked, leaning in, interested. "But you're so young."

Suki glared at him, but Yuzan just laughed politely. "I am, but Lord Zuko trusts me. We've managed to keep him alive so far," he joked, though his humor fell flat on the group of friends who had come much too close for comfort to countless assassination attempts before (including those ordered by Zuko himself prior to the war's end).

Despite her friends' lack of reactions, Suki smiled. "Well, you obviously have the guards in shape enough that myself and the Kyoshi Warriors were able to leave it to you, so I commend you for that," she said, then, turning to her friends, added, "I was just telling Yuzan about how we've been training officers in Republic City in chi blocking, and he told me that they've added a force of nonbender guards as well. Isn't that great? I offered to train them in chi blocking as well!"

"It's nice to see Zuko getting interested in Republic City's political issues," Katara said, having come up from behind Aang while Suki was talking. She slid neatly into the seat between Aang and their guest.

"Actually, we've been having issues with conflict between benders and nonbenders here as well," Yuzan explained, "It's been building ever since the end of the war and really surged after Fire Lord Zuko's wedding—it was a big deal for nonbenders across the Fire Nation to have a nonbender as the Fire Lady. That's part of why we've established a nonbender guard unit; there's a lot of push for more jobs for nonbenders."

"Has that been working?" Katara asked interestedly, setting her half empty glass of wine on the table. Judging by her heart rate and flushed cheeks, Aang assumed it was her second glass already, somehow.

"Sort of," he answered, "It's definitely helped change perceptions about nonbenders. They've done some good work and people are starting to see them as more capable."

"I've noticed that in Republic City too," she responded, leaning in excitedly. "My name is Katara, by the way."

Before Aang could open his mouth to introduce the rest of them, Yuzan mirrored Katara's movements, leaning into her as well, his eyelids dropping slightly, flirtatiously. "I know who you are, Master Katara. You're like a hero among the guards," he told her, and when she looked confused, he explained further, "For your victory against Azula."

Katara giggled, her cheeks turning redder, and Aang realized with a twinge of disgust that her flushed cheeks and fast heart rate had not been from the wine she'd been drinking but rather her attraction to the man sitting next to her. When Katara's voice lowered several octaves as she began to reply, Aang immediately turned his attention to Toph, who was sitting still, her head angled vaguely down towards the table. Apparently sensing his discomfort, she blew a gust of wind up to push her hair out of her eyes, a sign of her exasperation. "Welcome to my life. Fun, right?" she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Aang turned to look at Sokka and Suki and saw that their postures were almost identical to that of Katara's and the man she had just met and sunk slightly down into his seat in misery. "I don't know what you mean," he said, perfectly aware that she'd be able to tell he was lying. In return, she swung her arm around to punch him in the shoulder again, where he was still sensitive from earlier. Sighing, he stood up. "I think I'm going to go look for Zuko and go say hello to some of his advisors," he said, stepping away to push in his chair. When he looked up, all of his friends except for Toph were too engrossed in their conversations to notice what he had said. For her part, Toph blew a dismissive raspberry at him without lifting her head. Aang felt somewhat comforted by her own sort of commiseration.

The night passed by painfully slowly; Aang stood around with his hands tucked politely into his pockets, nodding as similar looking men, all members of the fire nation nobility with greedy little golden eyes, addressed him somewhat condescendingly and rambled more than he cared to muster the patience for about their local affairs. Eventually, he was able to find Zuko speaking with one such man. Aang slipped seamlessly in and feigned attention to their conversation. It seemed to go on and on before the man finally let Zuko end their discussion. Once he was out of earshot, Zuko sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I'm so glad you're here," he said, finally looking up at Aang, "I don't know how much more of this I can take. I may just have the kitchen send out the appetizers early soon."

"Ugh," Aang groaned in response, "Please don't make me go back to that table."

Zuko's eyes narrowed, taking in his friend's unusually sad expression. "What's going on?"

"The head of guards is all over Katara," he said sadly, looking down at the floor as his shoulders slumped slightly.

"Oh, Yuzan? He's a good guy; he does a great job with—" Zuko started, and then immediately stopped when he saw Aang glaring at him. "Nothing's going to happen between them. You all live too far away."

Aang closed his eyes in frustration. As much as he knew that, it didn't mean that it was any more tolerable to watch them right now. However, he hadn't expected any sympathy from Zuko, who, always a busy, rather unempathetic man, was currently overloaded with an ongoing event and a very pregnant wife. "Let's just get this night over with," he said, sighing.

"That's the spirit," Zuko said, grabbing a glass of red wine from a passing waiter as he threw his other arm around Aang's shoulder, now the same height as his own. As they began walking, he threw the entire glass of wine back at once, causing Aang to laugh at him, and then laugh even harder when he choked slightly on the burn of an entire glass of wine going down his throat. "Okay," he said once he had recovered, "That's better. Are you sure you don't—"

"No," he insisted, shaking his head slightly as they neared the head of the ballroom. "Especially not a good idea right now," he added, grinning at Zuko's vastly different attitude regarding drinking.

"I disagree," he said, raising his empty glass to Aang before setting it down on another waiter's tray, "But have it your way."

Back at the table, even Sokka was beginning to side eye Katara for flirting with the fire bender she had just met. Toph had her arms crossed, an empty wine glass sat on the table in front of her. With a feeling close to being punched in the gut, he sat back down in his seat, sighing to let Toph know that his conversation with Zuko had not helped. Katara was leaning in close, speaking quietly with Yuzan, her hair forming a curtain around her shoulders to shield her from her nosey brother. Aang felt the knot in his stomach tighten when she pulled nervously at her hair with a blush on her cheeks, and he looked down, closing his eyes as he tried to will the image out of his head.

The waiters came around with the appetizers, as Zuko had said, shortly after, and the meal went by painfully slowly, an awkward sort of tension filling the air between the rest of them as Katara spoke obliviously to the guard, picking at each dish as it was brought out, her attention primarily on her new acquaintance. As each course was brought out, Aang became more and more miserable, sinking into his seat in his wallowing. When everyone was finishing up the main course, Katara got up to use the restroom, and Yuzan stood up to greet her with a kiss on the cheek upon her return. He had seen many men flirt with Katara; he knew that she was incredibly attractive, of course, and single and nothing stopped her from having fun with men her age. However, he'd never seen her let anyone kiss her like that, accepting the gesture with a pleased flush. That was the breaking point for Aang, and he weighed his options silently, poking at the royal chefs' best attempts at a vegetarian dish. He had no interest in eating, and he had no interest in watching Katara flirt with someone else with only a sulking Toph for company. As the waiters came around to collect their plates, Yuzan and Katara stood and headed for another table, and he watched him introduce her to a group of guards, who all clearly flattered her just as much as he had based on her flushed reaction. Eventually, he determined that his best option would probably be to tell the others he was sick and leave the event early; after all, he had already spoken to almost everyone there before the meal had started.

Clearing his throat to get everyone's attention, he smiled thankfully at Suki and Sokka as they looked at him. "I'm not feeling well," he said, "I think I'm just going to turn in early."

"Are you okay?" Suki asked, sounding mildly concerned.

"Yeah," he responded right away, pushing his chair out to stand, "I think I'm just tired."

"Feel better," Sokka told him before turning back to Suki.

"Twinkletoes," Toph said in a commanding voice.

"What?" he asked, more than ready to leave.

"Come here," she insisted without lifting her head. When Aang leaned down, she reached over and punched him in the shoulder for a third time.

"Glad I didn't forget that," he responded sarcastically, his response bitter enough that he registered mild surprise in Toph's usually expressionless face. "Sorry," he added, "I'm just upset about—"

"I know," she said, sounding mildly annoyed. "Just go. It'll be over tomorrow, at least," she reassured him somewhat uncharacteristically, shooting him a small smile. He thanked her and left quickly, before Katara could return to the table with her new companion.

Out in the empty hallways of the palace, Aang walked morosely back to his room, the only place he could be certain of his privacy. He knew that he had no business getting upset with her for enjoying the attention of an attractive man and found that he wasn't upset with her; he was just sad. It was easy to forget how much it hurt, sometimes, when she spent all of her time with him, focused all of her attention on him and their shared goals, but it only hit that much harder when he received such explicit, blatant reminders that she did not feel the same way he did, regardless of their flirting, regardless of the fact that she did love him, in a different sort of way. His heart throbbed painfully in his chest as he thought of the way she'd smiled at him when he'd shown up in her doorway earlier, the way she'd blushed when he'd told her how gorgeous she looked in her dress, the way she'd held his arm as they'd walked to dinner. He knew that she didn't owe him anything, but part of him wanted her to stop playing with him if she really did just see him like the little brother she had claimed so many years ago; another part of him wanted any scrap of her that he could get.

As he reached his guest room in the palace and was enveloped in its darkness, he found himself wishing he had somewhere else to go, somewhere that wasn't a stagnant tomb of his loneliness. Making his way over to the window, he opened its glass doors, letting the moonlight into the room. As he stared out at the courtyard below, Momo suddenly came flying through the window. He chittered noisily as he landed on Aang's dresser, where a wooden bowl filled with lychee nuts sat, a snack set out just for the lemur.

Aang moved over to him, taking in his disheveled appearance, from his ruffled fur to a small scratch on his nose. Gently, he reached out to pet Momo's head, giving him time when he recoiled in surprise at the touch. Slowly, he began to stroke behind his large ears until he relaxed, purring as he stuffed his face with lychee nuts.

"It looks like you had just as rough of a night as I did, buddy," he sighed, leaning against the dresser as he scratched Momo's head. Grabbing a few more lychee nuts, the lemur scrambled up his arm and over his shoulder, perching along his neck with a satisfied purr as he finished his snack. Together, they basked in the brisk breeze that blew through the open windows, red velvet curtains fluttering in the wind. He closed his eyes against the night air, taking in a deep breath. Though he knew he was being dramatic—he was grateful for all that he had and the struggles that he, as the Avatar, would never know—he couldn't help but feel that everything he wanted was so painfully out of reach. Nuzzling into Aang's head against the cool wind, he chittered sympathetically, two beings who were the last of their kind, lonely to their cores despite the empty comfort of being surrounded by their native element.

As the whistling of the wind died down, Aang stared out the open window at the courtyard below, watching a few people milling about, the first to leave beginning to trickle out of the palace. The scene below began to grow darker, fading to dusk as Momo curled against his neck and fell asleep, purring softly in his sleep now and then. Slowly, the crowd out in the palace courtyard grew as more people took their leave, indicating that the evening was finally coming to a close. It took a while for Aang to realize he was watching for her below, listening for her (solitary) return to her room next door to his. When it occurred to him what he had absently been doing, he shook his head, upset with himself for so absently invading her privacy. His eyebrows wrinkled as he tried to clear his head. Momo was disturbed by his movements and growled as he flew over to the bed, curling up at its foot in a neat, tired circle.

"Maybe you have the right idea, buddy," Aang said with a sigh, sitting next to him to remove his boots. Once he was undressed, he climbed under the covers, Momo cuddled up to his legs, and buried his head face down into the pillows. At least there he could not feel each person walking down the hallway outside and could not absently watch for her through the stone floors. He tried to tune out the occasional sound of footsteps outside his door, tried desperately not to think so deeply about her when she was not his and had made that clear for years. He just had managed to even his breathing and clear his mind and had even begun to fall asleep when a light rap at his bedroom door caused his muscles to freeze.

"Aang?" Katara called softly, "Are you in there?"

Opening his eyes, he surveyed the dark room and realized he must have been out for a while, long enough for the sun to finish setting and twilight to roll in. All at once, he remembered that he had promised her that they could fly down to the water and bend for a while; she had (correctly) predicted that it would be a stressful night and that they would both need a way to relax afterward. He'd forgotten in his moping about their agreement, as she had hardly spoken to him all night. Immediately, it occurred to him that it was hours after dinner then. Closing his eyes against the wave of jealous images that threatened to rock him, he sighed deeply, quietly.

Again, her knuckles banged against the door lightly as she tried once more, "Aang?"

Leaning over the bedside, he pressed a hand to the stone floor as Momo squawked in protest at the shifting of the mattress. He could feel her outside, leaning against the door to listen for a sign of him within. His heart ached to ignore her, but he didn't think it was the best idea to spend so much time alone with her right now. He was upset, but it wasn't her problem, and he didn't want to take it out on her unfairly or even burden her with it. Keeping his hand on the floor until she began to finally walk away, images of her gorgeous form outside his door in her beautiful blue gown flooded his mind unbidden in colorful detail he was unable to receive from her vibrations. With a sigh, he slumped back against the bed. The guilt he had been feeling before came rushing back to his once clear mind, his heart seizing in his chest at the memory of her flushed face leaning in with such interest to someone else. Much to Momo's displeasure, Aang tossed and turned for quite a while longer before he was able to fall asleep that night.