When they finally docked around dawn, Katara drank in her new home for all it had to offer. The Spring weather was perfect and it allowed her to wear a short sleeved top and have the sun shine on her bronze skin. The breeze was calming unlike the brutal winds of the South Pole which felt like someone was slapping you in the face with a freezing cold towel. The smell of the vegetation was just as she remembered it back in Ba Sing Se 10 years ago.

She was then struck by how industrial Republic City was. Since the end of the war, technological advancement progressed rather quickly across all of the nations thanks to the Fire Nation no longer trying to rule the world. The Southern Water Tribe grew considerably thanks to Katara, Pakku, and other members of the Northern Water Tribe. It still wasn't anything compared to their sister tribe, but after decades of being oppressed by the Fire Nation, the improvements were monumental.

As much as the Southern Water Tribe had grown, it still had the communal aspect of a small village. Republic City on the other hand was the opposite. From the massive factories to the busy streets, it seemed like everyone Katara saw had somewhere to be and were in a hurry to get there.

As the cultural epicenter of the world, Republic City was filled with people with all sorts of backgrounds. While people from different nations had visited the Southern Water Tribe and some had even made it their permanent residence, it didn't come close to the diversity she saw here.

"Excuse me, are you Master Katara?" a petite woman with brown hair and olive-green eyes asked as she approached her.

"That's me, and just Katara is fine," she responded unsure of who the woman was. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Great!" the woman said excitedly. "Actually, I am here to help you. My name Jin and I have been assigned to escort you to your new home and get you situated while you adjust. Are those all the bags you have?" Jin asked pointing to the two medium size bags Katara had hunched over her shoulder.

"Oh cool, that will be lovely. Uh yes, this is all I have. Not much is it?" Katara chuckled. She came across as more of a tourist with such little belongings rather than someone that was making Republic City their permanent residence.

"Well our carriage is waiting for us. I can show you around a bit and we can drop off your bags into your new home afterwards. And the best restaurant in the city offered us a free meal in honor of your arrival!" Jin exclaimed with a twinkle in her eyes.

Katara was a bit taken back by all of this hospitality, but she wasn't about to complain about it either. "Sounds good to me. Lets go."

Jin was as good of a tour guide as Katara could have hoped for. She pointed Katara to the places she would frequently visit such as restaurants, shops, etc, and gave her a better understanding of the ins and outs of the city. What impressed Katara the most though was Jin's knowledge of the Southern Water Tribe. She was able to describe in great detail how her routines would change compared to what she was used to. After a few hours of traveling around, they finally arrived at their destination.

"Well this is it," Jin said as they approached Katara's new home. Instead of a humble, cozy apartment like she was expecting, they entered a luxurious gated community with about 20 different units. The units themselves were bigger than most homes they had passed through the city.

Katara was completely dumbfounded. "Wow, this seems…"

"A bit much," Jin interrupted with a tight grin as the carriage stopped in front of the house. "It might be too big for one person, but if you ever have family or friends that need a place to stay at least you have them covered. If I remember correctly, these units all come with four bedrooms and bathrooms and plenty of space to entertain guests. This is a very new structure so you are actually one of the first residents in it. As our newest council member, the city wanted to make sure you are well taken care of. Do you need help bringing your bags in?"

"No thanks. I'm just going to drop them off and be right out. I'm starving," Katara said as she hopped out of the carriage and grabbed her bags.

As she got closer to the door, she heard something inside. Fearing it could be an intruder, she dropped her bags and opened her water pouch that was always slung around her shoulder. She slowly crept towards the door and pushed her ear against it and confirmed there was in fact someone or something inside. She burst through the door ready to attack but was instead greeted by a horrifying image.

"WHAT THE FU – "

"Katara!" her brother shouted as he untangled himself from the auburn haired girl he had been making out with on the couch. "This isn't what it looks like! Well actually it is. Um, I thought your arrival wasn't due till tonight?" he said nervously with an uneasy smile.

"What are you doing in my house?!" she roared.

"Well you see," Sokka started as he scratched the top of his head. "I wanted to surprise you and tidy the place up before you got here. I went into town to get a few things and I met Suki here."

"Hi. Nice to meet you," Suki said with a nervous wave of her hand.

"Anyways," Sokka continued, "she volunteered to help me make this place a little homier with her feminine touch."

Katara looked around the house and noticed that part of Sokka's story was true. He did in fact get some things to help make this place look "homier" as he described it. However, all of those things were scattered across the floor and the place was a complete mess.

"How does a make out session on my couch contribute to tidying up the place?" she asked with her fists clenched and veins popping out of her forehead.

"Excuse me for trying to do something nice for my little sister!" Sokka hissed.

There was an extremely uncomfortable silence that followed. Katara took a few deep breaths which helped lower the urge to freeze Sokka to the ceiling. Suki gave Sokka a look that silently asked if she should try to slip out while Katara wasn't paying attention to her. He simply shrugged in response as he was no stranger to being on the brunt end of Katara's fury.

Finally, Katara spoke up. "I'll be back in an hour or so. I'm going to grab something to eat." She turned around, grabbed her bags, and placed them inside before she continued. "Why don't you make yourself useful and actually do what you set out to do in the first place."

"Wait –" before he had a chance to finish Katara slammed the door shut and walked back to the carriage where Jin was waiting.

"Is everything ok?" Jin asked noticing the scowl on Katara's face.

"Everything is just great," Katara muttered while climbing back into the carriage.

The restaurant they went to was rather fancy and it was easy for Katara to understand why this was considered the best place to eat in the entire city. The name "Republic City's Finest" was a bit on the nose, but she was eager to find out if the food was actually the "finest" in the city. It was packed to the brim with what looked like rather eloquent guests. Katara felt a bit underdressed with her standard Watertribe attire, but she wasn't one to make a big deal out of something like that. The two girls were escorted to their reserved table and given menus.

The restaurant had an incredibly diverse menu with options from all of the different nations which even included authentic Air Nomad dishes. As much as she wanted to try something new, she couldn't pass up her favorite meal: steamed sea prunes.

When their food was brought out to them, she discovered it was probably the best she has had, not counting her Gran Gran's of course. Other than the delicious meal, Katara was also enjoying the company. Conversing with Jin came quite naturally and the two young women were becoming fast friends.

"Before I met my husband, I actually went on a date with Firelord Zuko," Jin said with a cute grin that seemed infectious.

"Really? When was this?" Katara asked curiously. She knew that Firelord Zuko got married to his wife Mai a few years after the war ended when they were both rather young.

"It was back when I was living in Ba Sing during the war. He must have been in disguise or something because he looked like an Earth Kingdom refugee. He was so adorably awkward. I did my best to send him not so subtle hints that I was into him but I think he thought I was spy or something that was trying to rat him out."

With that, both girls erupted in laughter. Katara had only met Zuko once briefly when he was on the outskirts of Ba Sing Se shortly before he faced his sister during Sozin's Comet. Even during that short time she was with him, she could tell he wasn't exactly a social butterfly and could easily picture his awkwardness around Jin.

"Anyways," Jin continued, "I asked him out and before he could embarrass himself, his uncle agreed for him. The look on his face was priceless! I thought that maybe once we were actually on the date, he would lighten up. Unfortunately that wasn't the case."

"How so?" Katara asked and was at this point completely engrossed into Jin's story. "You are a pretty girl and are easy to talk to. I imagine you would be able to ease his nerves a bit."

"Well I certainly tried," Jin chuckled. "I tried breaking the ice by asking him what he liked to do for fun and he just responded with nothing. And then when we were eating, he tried to break the ice by telling me I ate a lot for a girl."

"Sounds like he was quite the gentleman," Katara smirked.

"It gets better," Jin said fighting back laughter. "He told me he was from a traveling circus where he was a juggler. When I asked for a demonstration, he totally botched it and things spilled everywhere. I understand now that he couldn't reveal he was the banished Fire Nation prince who was aiding the Avatar in ending the 100 Year War, but you would think he would have a better cover story than that!"

"If I were in your shoes, I probably would have saved us both from the awkwardness and made up some excuse to end the date."

"It certainly crossed my mind, but beneath his awkwardness, I could tell he was enjoying himself at least a little bit and I found his uneasiness cute. I decided to take him to my favorite spot in the city. It's pretty romantic and I even tried to kiss him!" Jin said excitedly.

"I'm assuming that didn't turn out well."

"At first no," Jin laughed remembering the encounter. "I leaned in and he interrupted the moment by putting a coupon in front of my face and told me it was a gift."

"Of course he did," Katara said, bringing her palms to her face while feeling second hand embarrassment.

"I told him I had a gift for him as well and I requested he close his eyes. This time, I leaned in and our lips touched. He quickly backed off, but he leaned back in shortly afterwards. It only lasted a few seconds before he said he had to go and sped away. While it certainly wasn't the most romantic date, it at least provided me with a pretty good story!"

"You can say that again. I've been on some pretty interesting dates but I do my best to scrub them from my memory." The two girls once again erupted in laughter.

"So what about you?" Jin asked. "Is there a special someone in your life?"

"Nope," Katara sighed looking down at the table. "There isn't."

"Oh." Jin paused for a moment before continuing, "Well you aren't going to find a bigger mix of potential options than here in Republic City. Are you looking for a relationship?"

"No, not really," Katara shrugged. "Being on the council is going to fill up quite a bit of my time and between that and adjusting to life here in the city, I'm not sure how a relationship fits in the mix."

While that statement had truth in it, she could easily see herself in a relationship. However, she didn't want to get her hopes up. At 24, many of her friends back in the Southern Water Tribe were already married and many even already had children. Unfortunately for her, love wasn't easy to find back home. In fact, it was impossible.

She'd be lying to herself if she said that dating her was a walk in the park. Her stubbornness and temper were well known across the tribe. Some of her dates and short-lived boyfriends weren't exactly shy about expressing it and it scared off a lot of would be suitors.

Then of course was the fact she was a master waterbender. Some of the men in her tribe simply could not accept the fact that a woman was more badass than them. Katara pitied these types of guys that were so insecure about their masculinity. She didn't want or need someone to protect her, she wanted someone that made her happy. If they were unable to cope with the fact that she could destroy them in a bending match, then they probably wouldn't have been the right fit for her anyway.

While she would never admit it, she couldn't help but feel jealous when she saw one of her friends with their significant other basking in each other's company. She didn't need to be in a relationship to be happy, but it would be nice. Despite her protests, her father often tried to be her wingman. Unfortunately, he was terrible at it and either scared men off by being too forward or was completely oblivious he was trying to woo guys she had zero interest in.

At least she had her grandmother who had been a great influence on her when it came to romance. Katara was well versed on Gran Gran's failed marriage with Pakku. Even though eventually reconciled, it was on her terms. Kanna made it very clear to Katara that she shouldn't marry someone simply because she felt pressured to do so.

As much as Katara didn't mind being single, there were nights where she longed to share her heart with someone. Her past relationships never really had a chance of going anywhere and she was just going through the motions before she broke it off. She never felt that spark that so many people described when they were talking about their significant other.

Jin was right though. There are a lot of people in Republic City with all sorts of backgrounds and personalities. If there was any place that she had a chance to find her special someone, there would be no better place than here. But she was in no rush.

Jin dropped Katara back off to her home after their dinner and Katara thanked her for everything. They even made plans to have dinner again the following week. As she approached the door, her good mood was interrupted when she remembered what Sokka had been doing when she arrived earlier. She opened the door and was relieved to see that Sokka had put in some work as he promised.

As she moved further into the house, she heard voices coming from the dining room where she noticed another girl with her brother and Suki. They were all sitting at the dining room table drinking wine. The other girl was an average sized woman with pale green eyes, a muscular frame, and jet black hair tied in a bun with the bangs covering her forehead.

"What's going on here?" Katara demanded from her brother as she marched towards him. "Why do you think you can bring random people into my home? I haven't even gotten a chance to unpack my things yet and you've practically !"

"Actually, they came here," her brother responded and glanced at the other woman in the room. "And this is Toph Bei Fong by the way, the Chief of Police." Toph acknowledged her introduction with a simple grunt.

Katara recognized her from the name and understood that she was an important person in the city and was revered as the greatest earthbender in the world. However, at this point, she wasn't in the mood to entertain guests. It was an exhausting day and her brother's antics were the last thing she wanted to deal with.

"Nice to meet you Toph, but no offense, whose idea was it to have this little get together here?" Katara asked with her voice booming throughout the whole house.

"It was mine," a male voice said calmly from the other corner of the house. He appeared to have just come from the bathroom. "I hope that's ok?"

As he approached everyone, Katara finally got a good look at him and her jaw dropped. "Oh of course it is," she said quickly. "Hello Avatar Aang."