It's a lovely night for a walk. Why don't you join me? It would clear your head.

Or, just stay in your room and sit in the dark. Whatever makes you happy."

-Uncle Iroh

Then

Katara frowned at the mirror. "Why can't I wear my hair loopies?"

Suki gave her friend a little smile in the mirror. "Because this is a makeover, Katara. We want the way you look to be shocking, to be stunning."

Katara sighed. "Zuko has seen me dressed up before. And in my sarashi wraps and in the middle of battle. I really don't think anything you do is going to shock him."

Suki's hands stilled. This time, she stared into her friend's reflection, reading Katara's expression and coming up with an answer that had her shaking her head. "Katara, you do realize you are beautiful, right?"

Katara shrugged. "I'm pretty. Yeah, I know."

Suki sighed. They were not seeing the same person in that mirror. Suki edged around to sit hip-to-hip with her friend on the bench positioned in front of the vanity. "No, Katara. You're beautiful. Sokka is so full of himself and you're so…" Suki sighed, unable to make sense of the dichotomy in the siblings. "You're beautiful and Zuko and Aang have gotten used to that beauty so they don't trip over their tongues when you're around. They've...become accustomed to your face. We're going to remind them just how beautiful you are.

Uncomfortable with the high and intense praise, Katara chose to brush past it and think about it later. Besides, the waterbender still didn't believe making either young man trip over his tongue,or even remotely surprise them with her appearance, was possible. But also: "Why both of them?"

"Aang is just collateral damage," Suki said pragmatically. She patted Katara's hand before standing to resume her work. "But we need the Court to see Zuko see you and drop his tongue on the ground. Because when he starts courting you they won't have any trouble understanding how you suddenly went from war buddy to love interest."

"You talk like this is a battle strategy but what you're talking about is, is making Zuko think...I'm desirable. Sexy," Katara looked incredulously at Suki's reflection in the mirror. "He's the Fire Lord. They've been parading beautiful girls in front of him for months trying to get him to choose a bride."

"And none of them have made him look twice," Suki affirmed. "But you...well, when I'm finished here, he won't just be looking twice. Today this is our battle strategy. "

Katara closed her eyes on a groan and left Suki to do what Suki was gonna do.

She didn't look again until she was dressed and all of Suki's vision was thoroughly complete. And when she did? Spirits.

Suki, who'd only spent a handful of minutes on herself in comparison, stood by in a long green gown, her eyes shimmering bronze. "Well, Katara, what do you think?"

"I..I..don't know what to say. I don't even look like me." She passed a hand over the dark blue at her waist. The dress was, remarkably, red and blue, the blue bleeding up and down from her waist and into the red. The ends of the dress licked her legs like flames. Each bicep was adorned with a swirl of gold metal that could evoke fire or water, really. Suki had caught the front of her hair up but mostly let it cascade in thick curls and waves.

Suki was beautiful and poised, formal and elegant. Toph looked...Having eschewed a gown but giving in to the formality of the dinner, Toph was wearing a dress outfit fit for a male Beifong. (Which worked for Suki because no one was going to detract from Katara.) So Toph looked like Toph, only clean. But Katara was a vision, something wild and elemental. She didn't know what Suki had done with her makeup but her eyes were exotic and her lips shone and maybe she would surprise Zuko after all.

Putting a hand on her stomach, Katara drew in a long, steadying breath. "I look...I think I look…"

"You look great, Sugar Queen, let's eat," Toph said was a beat, then Katara and Suki gave a quick shout of laughter. It diffused Katara's nerves, anyway. Suki reached out and squeezed the waterbender's fingers. "You look exactly like you, who you are on the inside: Beautiful and fierce and wild."

Katara could have kissed her for that, for this, for all of it, but instead, she squared her shoulders. "Battle ready."

"Good. Now let's gooooo," Toph moaned again even though she knew the plan was for them to enter at the absolute last moment. Suki had orchestrated all of it with Iroh's full approval and cooperation.

In fact, Iroh met them in the hallway and asked Katara to wait, shooing Suki and Toph on. "I wanted to give you this," he said, holding a carved box out to Katara.

She had an impulse to hide her hands behind her back, but that would be rude. She also didn't know where the impulse came from. This was Iroh. Iroh. Taking the box and ignoring that weird feeling, Katara offered him a smile. Carefully, she opened the lid only to reveal a beautiful necklace that looked like a dragon eating its own tail. It had a single visible ruby eye.

"Iroh, I can't ...This is too …" She glanced around, leaning close to whisper, "This is all a ruse. I can't accept something like this."

But Iroh simply lifted the necklace from the box. "Lift your hair, Katara."

She did as he directed but the protest was still on her lips, in her eyes, as he unhooked the tail and the mouth and moved the jewelry about her neck. He refastened it as she let her hair down; he admired the way it shone against her dark skin and her sharp collar bones. "There is much that will one day go to the Fire Lady, but I had this piece made for my late wife." He looked into Katara's eyes then. "I do not know who my nephew will pick, but I do know I want you to have this to keep, to remember me by, and as thanks for the sacrifices you have been willing to make not just for the world, but for my family."

With her eyes shining, Katara hugged Iroh hard. As emotion led to tears, she pulled back with no little horror, "My makeup, Suki will kill me."

But Iroh just laughed. "She is a Kiyoshi Warrior. She knows how to keep makeup from running. Come, niece." He winked along with the term, took the box and tucked it away, then tucked her hand in his arm. "We mustn't keep everyone waiting any longer."

On his arm, she felt a little more confident. With the necklace, tacit approval, she felt...something different. Something. Something….Before she could name it they were at the door. Heart thundering, Katara lifted her chin and walked into a room filled with Fire Nation First Families and dignitaries on the arm of the Dragon of the West.

Firebending was all about breath and control of that breath, but Zuko lost both the moment Katara walked in the room on his Uncle's arm. He'd never seen her look so….And the dragon on her neck, Uncle must have given it to her….and the….He was lucky they'd all been still standing because he'd probably have fallen out of his seat.

It was Iroh who broke the silence of 30 people staring at the Waterbender with awe. (Or sneaking glances at the Fire Lord's reaction to the Waterbender. Or to the Avatar whose jaw was slack and eyes wide.) "Fire Lord, our apologies. I met Master Katara in the hall and slowed her down to keep an old man company on his walk." Which was a lie. Uncle wasn't slow unless he wanted to be slow, but Zuko could only nod. "I would escort her to your side, but I'm afraid that would only delay us even longer."

Katara, her own cheeks warming to pink like the dusky inside of a fire-melon, patted Iroh's hand. "I made it across the world on a sky bison, I think I can make it to the end of the table on my own, General."

Iroh wasn't the only one to laugh as she escorted the General to his seat at the opposite end of the table as Zuko. "I have no doubt, Master Katara, but it would not be proper for us to allow you on yet another treacherous journey without an escort."

At the table, Aang began to shift, as if to escort her, but Toph stomped his foot. His distraction allowed time for Zuko—the crest of his cheeks as hot as his eyes—-to move fluidly from his place. "Uncle is right. You are an honored guest. Please, everyone, be seated. I'll be with you in a moment."

As everyone lowered to their seats they watched the Fire Lord walk to the Waterbender, the exchange of bows and the hesitant way their eyes flicked away, then back to one another.

"Master Katara, if I may?" Zuko offered his arm and Katara very gently curled her hand over his formally rather than looping it through the crook of his elbow in the casual way she'd done with Iroh. It seemed to fit the moment.

"Thank you, Fire Lord Zuko."

As they walked, the silence still profound else wise, he murmured, "You look...quite nice."

Katara's quick smile and the duck of her head were noted by many. "Thank you, Your Highness. So do you."

Zuko held her seat for her before taking his own. No one could eat before he was served, so he gestured for the waiters to begin while his stomach twisted in knots and his gaze kept sliding back to Katara on his left. Which meant everyone could see him looking because he wanted to see her with more than the limited vision his left eye afforded. Knowing everyone was watching didn't stop him from looking.

It wasn't until after dinner that Toph as close enough to Suki to murmur, "Guess she really does look different. I thought Zuko and Aang were going to need some healing after she came into the room."

Suki snickered. "Tell me if you ever need the advantage with your boyfriend, Toph; I can do the same for you."

Toph laughed and crossed her arms. "Trust me, I've always got the advantage."

Toph wasn't the only one whispering later about the Fire Lord's reaction. Or the Avatar's. By the next afternoon, the markets had the gossip which meant soon it would travel to the far corners of the world.

Now

Katara moved as fluidly as he remembered. It made it hard to concentrate because Zuko wanted to watch her go through her bending forms and she'd arranged herself on his left side.

He feasted on her when his forms had him facing her directly and it was only through decades of training that his body kept moving from one position to the next without him having to think consciously about it. He was thinking of other things like the softness of her skin, the way her hair had tickled his cheek last night and set his heart to racing. He was thinking of a man who could walk into a room and see her waiting and choose to run away instead of straight into her arms.

Too soon they were closing their forms, Katara saying good night to Yue as he finished his good morning to the Sun.

"That felt good," she said, breaking the silence and turning to him with a smile. Apparently, she'd been unbothered by their close proximity.

Zuko nodded his agreement, stole a glance up at the still quiet house. He felt...awkward. Like a teenager. Feeling that also made him think about how this would have gone down in the past in that it wouldn't. He'd never have gotten this much time alone with Katara. Frankly, despite their ages, he still was surprised Aang hadn't joined them.

Katara followed his frowning look. "He's not your pupil anymore; if he wants to sleep in, he's allowed."

"What? I wasn't..of course, he is." Zuko shook his head. "I was surprised. He used to never leave us alone for more than a minute."

Katara's smile knew things Zuko couldn't begin to comprehend. "People grow up, Zuko. Are you hungry? I could make us some breakfast."

"Or we could take a walk?"

Again she was still and he wasn't certain what she was thinking. Eventually, she turned parallel to the wash of the tide and away from the house. "Let's walk."

Then

Sokka didn't find any of it funny. In fact, he couldn't stop whisper-yelling at Suki for doing too good a job. "He asked her to walk in the gardens, Suki!"

"That's kind of the point, Sokka." She responded, brushing out her hair while he paced behind her. "I worked really hard to make him remember she's beautiful."

"Did you see the way he looked at her all through dinner?" Sokka asked, ignoring Suki's words entirely.

"Yes." She paused a beat, then shot her boyfriend a look in the mirror. "And so did everyone else. Which, again, kinda the point."

"But, he's not really supposed to—"

Suki shot up off her dressing bench and planted a kiss on her boyfriend's big mouth. When he slid his arms around her, she whispered, "The walls might have ears, Sokka. It's just a ruse. Nothing to worry about." She added in a purring tone, only slightly louder than her admonishment, " Now, take me to bed and stop talking about your sister."

As Sokka obliged his girlfriend, Katara curled her fingers together in front of her and strolled through a night-blooming garden.

"This is my mother's favorite garden. She had it planted so that when she couldn't sleep, she'd have somewhere beautiful to be awake," Zuko offered.

Katara couldn't help but smile, glancing sideways at a friend who suddenly felt a little unfamiliar. "Would you mind if I used it while I'm here? The fountain...it would be a lovely place to practice my bending in the evenings."

Zuko nodded. "Of course, Katara."

They didn't say much after that but walked through winding paths for another quarter of an hour before Zuko turned them to her rooms. He walked her all the way to the door where they both paused, looking off to the side, uncertain of what came next.

"I, uh, do my bending early. Usually. In the morning."

Katara nodded, stroked a hand over the waterfall of chocolate curls in a nervous gesture. "I know."

"If..we could…" Zuko looked pained, floundering as he was, but he persisted. "We could spar, in the morning, before breakfast. If you wanted." He ended, looking as if he was confused by his own words.

Katara smiled, always more at ease when Zuko was not. "That's such a good idea."

Her praise made him straighten his shoulders and ask, before thinking, "It is?"

She nodded, her eyes sparkling up at him, and that smile still on her mouth. "It really is. I'll see you at sunrise, Zuko." She turned to go but he reached out and grabbed her. She paused, looking down at his elegant hand curled around her arm, then turned halfway back so she could meet his gaze with a questioning lift of her brows.

"I'll come for you. Since you don't know where I practice."

Katara nodded. "That's perfect. Good night, Zuko." And then she ducked into her room, feeling as if he'd scorched her skin where he'd held her arm to stall her. She didn't say it out loud, but as she readied for bed that night she kept thinking to herself: "It's a ruse. It's a ruse. It's a ruse."

In the morning, Zuko was at her door and so was, "Aang. I wasn't expecting you this morning."

The Airbender looked a little uncomfortable as he shrugged. "I went to see if Zuko wanted to practice and he told me he was on his way here. I can go…"

Katara shook her head. "Of course not. We can take turns sparring."

"Or I can just chase you both around," Zuko offered. "For old time's sake."

Katara laughed at the quip as she pulled the door closed behind her. Her hair, this morning, was again different. Zuko kept looking at her sideways. She'd taken the mass of it and bundled it back in a heavy braid but bits and pieces curled out around her face and neck. His fingers itched to brush them away from her face. He accidentally caught Aang's eyes and both of them looked away, embarrassed to have been caught staring without fully thinking about how they'd caught the other at the same thing.

For her part, Katara felt Very Aware of herself and she didn't particularly like the feeling. At least, she felt that way until they started bending. After they'd all warmed up and started to spar, she forgot she was supposed to be the sultry vixen who was stealing the Fire Lord's heart. When she froze his hand to the ground, she chortled. "Got you now, ponytail."

"I don't have a ponytail anymore," Zuko muttered, making Aang laugh. So he melted the ice and flipped over, kicking fire at the Airbender. They'd decided on a three-way free-for-all, after all.

Katara stumbled as Aang shot the ground up around them, caging and corralling her and Zuko. Then he shot a water whip and a stream of fire at the two and a quick, speaking glance ended the free-for-all. It was time to get Aang.

In the end, they were all three sweaty, tired, and laughing as they sprawled out on the training ground. Sunrise was long past and Zuko was due in meetings, but he liked the way the baked earth felt on his mostly bareback and the way Katara would occasionally chuckle audibly.

But he was the Fire Lord. He had responsibilities. Pushing to a seated position, he dusted his hands and crossed his legs. "I have to be getting cleaned up. I have meetings."

Aang made Aangles in the dirt, sweeping his robed arms up and down. "I guess that means me too."

Katara looked between the two reluctant boys and gave a roll of her eyes. She quickly came to her feet and offered a hand to Zuko. "And you need a third healing session. You moved well but…"

Zuko curled his hand in hers, prepared now for the lightning strike, and let her help pull him to his feet. "I don't think it bled any."

Katara arched a brow, still holding his dusty hand with her own. "If it had, I'd have stopped the match."

"You do realize I'm the Fire Lord and you're staying in the Fire Lord's palace, right?" His tone a little sharp, his hand warm on hers, and his eyes narrowed on her upturned face.

Katara laughed, dismissing his assertion as utterly unimportant. Dropping his hand, she dusted her bottom off while turning to walk away. "Come on, ponytail, let's get you cleaned up."

Zuko didn't realize he had a slightly besotted half-smile on his face as he followed, calling out, "I don't have a ponytail anymore!" But the Avatar noticed the look and so did the other spectators that had gathered over the course of the practice.

Once they were safely closeted in his rooms, Zuko told her: "My body man and personal maid have been vetted by Toph. Uncle and I had chosen them carefully but," he shrugged as if to say, it couldn't hurt to check again. "Now we're sure its safe in here to talk about anything."

Katara nodded absently as they moved towards the washroom. Inside, they found a steaming bath waiting for him. Of course there was. He was the Fire Lord. People did that kind of thing for him. Her cheeks pinked. "I...I can..wait while you...do that."

"You don't want to change the bandage first?" Zuko frowned at her.

Katara nodded, purposefully not looking at the bath. "No, yes. I do. I just..um..do you mind if I just.." She lifted her hands, bending the water up from the tub. "Instead of you getting in...all the way…"

"Oh, yeah, uh..should I.." His cheeks warmed as he too suddenly saw her dilemma. He and his bandages were filthy from sparring. But if he got in the tub, well, he didn't usually do that fully dressed.

"Just, um, stand still?" She squeaked slightly on the uptick of the question.

He nodded, then closed his eyes and let her work even though her work was washing him, pushing and pulling the water across him. It wasn't cool like her healing, instead, the water and the stroke of it warmed him. Because it was soothing and with her, he felt completely safe, he lost track of time. Relaxed into the ebb and flow, the warmth, the steady way she breathed. He was so relaxed that he flinched when her fingers touched him instead of the water.

"Sorry," she glanced up. "You still..you still need a bath just..now if there's ...we won't risk getting your wound quite so…"

"Right." He lifted his arms so Katara could once again cut away the bandage, peel it from him. It felt different this time, her warm breath on his skin, her arms sliding around his torso. The washing had brought his guard down, made him ache a little, with wanting, and now she was even closer, moving her body around him instead of her water. Zuko tipped his head, watching as she lifted a hand, gloved in steaming water, to his side.

When she glanced up, there was a hint of a smile on her mouth. "I think we'll be able to leave the bandage off after this. It is so much better."

She worked and he watched, breathing in the smell of her. Even sweaty she smelled good. How was that possible? He tried not to think of how he smelled but he did think about it and wanted to burst immediately into flames and turn to ash. Her hair tickled his underarm as she got closer, the tip of her braid brushed his ribs as it lay over her shoulder. He was gross, too gross for her to be this close to him. And she smelled good and even though it was the water touching him and not Katara herself it felt, he felt heavy and warm and heady with it.

Then, for a wild moment, he thought she was going to kiss the pucker of scar that now looked like it had been healing for months instead of days. He actually held his breath, waiting for the brush of her lips. She jerked back suddenly, turning quickly away from him as she flung the water into the sink. He was an idiot. Had she realized he'd gotten...or that he was hoping she'd…? Agni.

"Yep. All good. I think, um, we should just let your body keep healing. I'll go so you can get that bath. I'll see you later, Zuko." Embarrassment scaled him as she rushed out. She could probably tell he'd been thinking about her in a, not at all just friends way. And he hadn't even said thank you.

She'd wanted to kiss his scar! To kiss his scar and his shoulder and his cheek! To kiss her way right up to his lips. One day of playing pretend and she'd gotten so caught up she'd actually thought about licking a bead of water she'd left near his chest, near his nipple!

Katara wanted to drown. To just bury herself at the bottom of the ocean. Maybe she could bring up the ocean and then Toph could bury her in the ocean floor and then Katar'd let the water drop back down on her. That, that would be far enough away from the thing she had almost done, that if she had done she would never, ever live down.

Now

The sun kept rising and they walked, almost brushing but not quite. Silences with Katara were lovely and full somehow. Enough on their own. Except Zuko had this one question that had been nagging him since last night and if he didn't ask her while they were alone, he wouldn't ask her at all. "Is what Sokka said true?"

Katara glanced up at the firebender, stilled her fingers where they'd been playing with the edge of the ocean by bending it up and skipping it along the sand. "Sokka says a lot of things. You'll have to be more specific."

Zuko's mouth curled slightly. "He does." The Fire Lord took a long breath. "What he said about you and dating. About people being...intimidated...by your past."

"Oh, that." She flicked water carelessly high and watched it splash back down. "Yes. But, honestly, if they're that intimidated it would never work out anyway."

Zuko nodded. "That's true. Uncle would definitely say they don't deserve you."

Katara's laugh was unexpected; she looked at Zuko speculatively from under her lashes. "He did say exactly that."

"When did you and Uncle talk?"

"I visited him in Ba Sing Se about six months ago. Right after the not-date with Runs-Away-Before-Saying-Hi." She shrugged. "I needed a break after that."

And who better to take a break with than Uncle? That, Zuko understood perfectly. "He didn't tell me he'd seen you."

"I asked him not to tell anyone where I was." She laughed, tucked hair behind her ear. "That sounds melodramatic. Like anyone would have cared where I was or what I was doing."

"A lot of people care, Katara."

She sighed. "I didn't mean it like that. I meant…" She shrugged. It was too complicated to explain and how could he understand anyway?

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Sure," she chirped too quickly, too brightly. He knew sarcasm was coming. "Tell the world we were only courting as a farce to force out your detractors and neither of us rejected each other. So I've only dated the Avatar and not the Fire Lord." She gave him big eyes and a false smile, but he looked at her so steadily with his amber-gold gaze that she finally dropped it all and looked away.

"That's not entirely true though. Is it?"

Guilt poured over her like fast summer rain. Katara touched the tips of her fingers to Zuko's arm and they stopped walking, half-turned towards one another. "No. No that's not true at all." For a breath they simply looked into one another's eyes, acknowledging a truth of the past they never spoke about with anyone. But she had to bring them back to here and now. "Thank you for being worried about me, but I'm really okay on my own."

Zuko's brows pulled together. His low, raspy voice was too kind, too knowing when he said, "No, you aren't." Her hand pulled back sharply, so he caught it before she could take off. "That's nothing to be ashamed of. I'm not judging you."

"I don't need..whatever this is."

"This is what we do. Team Avatar. We talk to each other."

When her eyes came up he could see hurt and shadows in their usually bright depths. "Don't. Don't pretend it's that simple or that it has been that simple in years. Not between us. Not when there's noone to pretend for. I don't want to talk to you about how I date or don't date or how I want children and I don't think I'll ever have them any more than you want to hear about it, Zuko.

"Unless I'm wrong and you're totally over everything now." She pulled her hand away as she said the last, curled it against her belly. "In which case, let me be crystal clear about it: I'm not. I'm not over everything, everything is not okay. Besides! It isn't like you shared your love life with us last night. You've been out of mourning for three years. Who have the Fire Sages lined up for you this time? Or do you get to choose for yourself?" She didn't wait for an answer, turning and springing forward, away from him.

"I'm not coming to this wedding, so make sure you give me time to have a really solid excuse like...like a plague or having a limb chewed off by a polar bear dog, okay?"