Forenote: Okay, I will admit that you readers who said that the chapter 7 ending was too sudden have a very good point. Plus, Intertiatic is very right about what a mess Katara is in now. So, here it is - an epi.
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Epilogue (sighs... there's still a wedding chapter after this, by the way)
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Katara felt very queasy as Master Pakku's apprentices waterbended an iceberg for their group to step upon. Such was her state of nervousness that she missed a step as she climbed over the boat's side unto the berg. Fortunately, Aang, alert, caught her otherwise she would had fallen overboard into the freezing water.
"You all right, Katara?" asked Aang, to whom she was clutching to with both arms. He chuckled when she honestly replied, "No."
"You'll be fine," he said cheerfully, tempting Katara to push him into the frigid ocean as she sourly thought that it was easy for him to be so calm; he wasn't the one who just might end up married to Zuko.
As the apprentices increased the height of the berg to match that of the Fire Navy ship's height, Katara found herself reflecting on the surreal situation she was in. It was only yesterday that the ship had arrived within sight of the Southern Water Tribe, causing her to believe that Aang had been captured or killed. How glad she was that he was alive and safe, and how shocked she was to find out that he had in matter of speaking traded her to Zuko for the ship they were now boarding.
The ship, immense indeed, dwarfed the Southern Water Tribe village and was a good fourth the size of the Northern Water Tribe city. At first, no one, including Katara, would believe Aang when he informed them of the trade proposal. They simply couldn't believe that the FireLord would willingly give up such a behemoth of a ship for Katara's hand in marriage.
"It's not only a marriage," said Aang. "It will be the beginning of an alliance. Besides, it is a big ship, but it still needs a lot of work." He hadn't been joking; the ship was practically bare, just the skeleton and hull. It didn't even have an engine; Aang, by himself, had to move it solely by waterbending all the way from the Fire Nation to the South Pole.
Still, the possibilities of what the Water Tribes could do with such a vessel were numerous and beneficial enough to even silence Master Pakku's dislike of the idea of the FireLord marrying one of their own. After he, Bato and others had inspected the ship, it wasn't long before Katara's father and her Gran-Gran were saying to her that she would have to wed FireLord Zuko for the good of the tribes.
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Wed him? I barely know him! thought Katara furiously as she paced round the interior of the hut which she shared with her family during their visits to the South Pole. Reminded of her late husband, Katara found herself silently cursing his memory for dying and leaving her. An instant after, she regretted doing so and suddenly felt weary in every part of her being down to the marrow of her bones.
She had just let herself fall down to sit on the floor furs when Aang, outside, asked if he could enter.
"No," she immediately said. He was the very last person she wanted to see. With the way she was feeling right now, she'd rather see Zuko before him. As such, Katara was incredibly annoyed when Aang, instead of going away, poked his head through the door flaps.
"Aang, go away!" Her eyes narrowed with fury when he disobeyed, stepping inside. The next thing Aang knew, he was dodging ice shards.
"Katara, calm down."
"Don't tell me to calm down! Get out!"
"We just need to talk about this."
"I don't want to talk about this!" Much to her disgust, Aang was suddenly kneeling by her, holding her in loose embrace, his hands gently moving over her back and shoulders as though she was a frightened animal he needed to soothe.
At this, Katara felt the tiniest bit of amusement and in a very dry tone told him that she wasn't one of his riding animals only in turn to receive a very cheeky reply-
"Well... I wanted to kiss you but you'd probably hit-" he just barely avoided her fist.
"Aang, damn you. How could you do this to me?"
"You're talking about me getting you engaged to Zuko, right?"
"What else?"
"Uh huh... You see... technically speaking. It was Zuko's idea; I'm just going along with it."
Katara just stared at him, silently.
"You're thinking about 'us'. Aren't you, Katara?"
"... There was never an 'us', was there, Aang?" All of sudden, he leaned towards her and planted a kiss on her lips. Then, with his brow resting against hers, he told her gently, "Of course, there was an 'us' between us, Katara. There was always an 'us' even when you were with Sacha."
He could feel her frowning and in a blunt tone she said that she didn't understand. He chuckled softly before telling her that he had always loved her.
"As a friend, like a sister, then as a lover. What I feel for you is so many things, Katara, and I know I'll continue to love you even if we can't be together like this again. As long as you are happy, I'll be happy."
"... Aang, how can you be sure I'll be happy with Zuko?"
"A feeling. Plus, you did get very upset with me when I told you I wouldn't have minded if you had slept with him. You seemed like... you had regrets. Am I wrong?"
Katara didn't answer him and after too long a silence, Aang pulled slightly away from her, touched a finger to her nose and made her sneeze.
"Aang! Really! I hate it when you do that!"
"Admit it, Katara. You like Zuko, don't you?"
"... Maybe a little." Katara let out a large breath of frustration when Aang started laughing at her.
"But I barely know him, Aang. I don't want to marry someone I- I just know so little about. I don't even know what he likes eat, what's his favorite color, all those little things and big things you're supposed to know about a person before you marry them. Plus, I can't even have a conversation with him without feeling as though I'm completely wasting my time. And the twins, Aang. ... I'd want them to be with me, but father and Gran-Gran told me that they should stay here at the South Pole with them or with Sokka and Suki in Kyoshi." Once again, Katara found tears welling in her eyes at the thought of being separated from her children.
Aang reacted quickly, gently wiping her tears away. "I know, Katara. There are still a lot of details to work out, but we will find a way, and Zuko did promise me he'd be a good husband to you and a good father to the twins; otherwise, I would have never agreed to this."
"... How can you be so sure about Zuko, Aang?"
"Again, a feeling, Katara. Besides, even though he tried to hide it, he was definitely too happy when I agreed to his idea."
"... What do you mean?"
"Well... to the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes and to me, that ship is a BIG problem, but to the Fire Nation apparently, it's just one humongous piece of junk; however, Zuko refused to let me just tow it out to sea and sink it. He went on and on about what a waste it would be to just let it go down to the bottom of the ocean and then… he suggested that perhaps the Water Tribes may be able to make use of it."
"... Uh huh. Then what?"
"Then... he asked me what the Water Tribes could trade for it."
"... What did you answer?"
"Katara, what could you say the Water Tribes could trade for that monster?"
She remained silent.
"See? When he saw I was stumped, Iroh then suggested to him that they could always use a waterbender healer in the Fire Nation. Next thing I knew, they were discussing about which waterbender healer who wouldn't mind healing firebenders."
"Ah... I see."
"Of course, your name popped up, but I haggled, saying that you were worth a hundred times that derelict."
"Aww... you did? Why thank you, Aang."
"You're very welcome, Katara. Anyway, Zuko then out of the blue asked me - what if he married you."
"... And what did you say to that?"
"Mhmm... I told him I needed to think about it first."
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The End... (Anonde sighs and covers face in embarrassment) - Keep going unto the 'long' wedding chapter nine.
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Ficwriter's note: There you go, guys. I hope we're all happier now. Hope to see you all around the fandom and may Bumi be okay.