OMG! I am soooo sorry for the long wait! I hate the holidays and break because every relative comes over and gets in my way. So now that that's over I can get going on the chapters. I'm gonna try to crank out at least 2 more chapters before school starts back up.

Avatar the Last Airbender belongs to Nickelodeon

Chapter 6

Many days had passed smoothly since the feast. Zuko and Katara began a routine of eating every meal together, walking the castle gardens often, and Zuko even tried to teach Katara how to ride a rhino properly. After she screamed for the hundredth time Katara decided that she would stick to penguin sledding from then on. Zuko had never been happier. Now he woke every morning without the worries of his people on his mind, but of what he was going to do with Katara that day. This morning was no different. Zuko got up and started getting ready for the day. " Lord Zuko!" The familiar voice of Uncle blasted through his suite. " Are you awake yet?"

" Yes Uncle." Zuko leaned on the doorframe to his bedroom.

" Good morning." Iroh held a cup of tea and sat down in a comfy chair. He grinned and looked around the room. " This would be a good room for lady Katara's wardrobe."

Zuko rolled his eyes while fixing his hair up in the usual topknot. He looked himself up and down in a large mirror and decided he was suitable for the day. " I'm not getting my hopes up Uncle." He said putting an end to that conversation. " We have a meeting with Rioko Seshibon today right?"

" Yes, he is having a problem with another land owner in his area. They are both claiming the same piece of property, the usual stuff feudal lords fight about." All enthusiasm was lost from Iroh's voice. They both hated having to deal with such trivial issues.

Zuko nodded. " I want the meeting over quickly."

Iroh chuckled at his nephew. He had become quite amused with the way Zuko and Katara were courting. " What are you and lady Katara doing today?"

Zuko smiled to himself " She asked me to teach her some fighting techniques. We are also going to have a little rematch today."

" During the day?" Iroh stroked his beard thinking if it would be a fair fight.

" We will be fighting in the indoor arena, and I had the floor completely flooded." Iroh nodded but held a worried look, he knew that even inside Zuko still had the power of the sun on his side. " No one will get hurt, Uncle."

" I certainly hope not." Iroh followed his nephew out of the suite. They continued through many halls heading for Katara's room.

Zuko turned to his uncle. " Have breakfast set up in the garden. It will be a nice change from being inside." Zuko started walking further.

Iroh smiled. " And where are you going?"

" To get her highness." Zuko said with a bit of annoyance. He knew his uncle was getting a kick out of all the romantic stuff going on. Iroh was no doubt involved in every romance that sprung up in the castle, he was such a meddling old man but tolerable. Zuko shook his head his uncle would always be important to him.

Zuko made his way to the entrance to Katara's suite and knocked on the door. He heard a rustling and a quick " Just a minute!" The door opened and Mira peered out. " Oh, my lord!" She bowed low and opened the door further. " Please come in, my lady is just about ready."

Zuko took the nearest seat and watched the handmaiden scamper off into the next room. He looked around the familiar room and sighed, this room used to be his mother's. He wondered why his father hadn't changed this room after her death. Had Ozai really cared about his mother, or did he not have the time to deal with castle matters? Zuko hadn't really thought about it much; the memories were almost too painful.

" I'm sorry to keep you waiting Zuko." Zuko came out of his trance and looked up at Katara. Her hair was unbound and wet and she wore a plain set of blue robes, no jewelry save her mother's necklace. She saw him staring at her. " I'm sorry is this appropriate for breakfast?" She looked down at her clothes. " I thought since we were going to do some training today."

" You look fine." He got up and took her hand. " Lets go get something to eat." He led her out the door and once it was closed he looked at her again. " You look very pretty."

She blushed and put her fingers through her hair. " We washed my hair this morning, that's why it took so long for me to get ready."

" I don't mind waiting." They made their way to the gardens and when Katara figured out where they were having breakfast she smiled. She walked ahead of him taking in all the beauty as she went. Zuko loved the way Katara would stop and observe the blooms along their path. He watched her touching and smelling the flowers along the path with her eyes wide in wonder. He was glad that such a simple thing could make her very happy.

She turned to him and smiled. " This is such a wonderful place. I really like these gardens, Zuko." Her smile faded a bit as she touched a large deep blue flower. " I will miss this place."

Zuko frowned, Katara and her entourage would be leaving for home in a few days, he didn't want her to leave. " Is there some way that I could convince you to stay? Maybe for a few more weeks?"

Katara smiled at him. " I would like to, but I have a responsibility to my men to get them home safely. I promised them we wouldn't be gone for more than two weeks." She fell silent for a moment. " If I had known why I was asked here I would have made arrangements for a longer stay." She looked him in the eyes " I do enjoy spending time with you."

" And I enjoy spending time with you." He came up to her and took her hands in his. She looked up at him and could feel the heat rising to her face. His hands were so warm and strong and he smelled like incense.

" We should get going, I'm sure your Uncle is waiting for us." She took her hands out of his and began down the path. Zuko nodded and followed her.

Iroh waved as they approached, he was seated under a small open pagoda with tea, bread, jam and eggs on the small square table. " Good morning my lady." Katara nodded to Iroh and sat down.

" Good morning sir." She reached for some bread and jam.

" You may call me Uncle Iroh your highness." He handed her the strawberry jam. " It's a lovely morning, no?"

" It is." She munched on her bread and looked around. " Especially in the gardens. Thank you for having breakfast out here today."

" Lord Zuko thought of that, not I." Iroh smiled into his tea as Katara's eyes widened.

She gave Zuko a warm smile, he never ceased to amaze her." Well then, thank you for the surprise Zuko."

Zuko smiled back at her trying to keep from blushing. " Your welcome, Katara." After that they ate in relative silence until a servant walked over to them.

" My lord." He bowed low. " A Lord Seshibon has arrived."

" Thank you. Have Lord Seshibon escorted to the negotiation room. I will be there shortly." Zuko and Iroh stood. " I'm sorry, but we have a meeting this morning. I will meet you in the training hall this afternoon." He bowed to her and turned to the servant. " Please escort Queen Katara wherever she wishes once she has finished."

Katara watched them leave and sighed. She quickly finished the rest of her breakfast and turned to the servant. " I would like to be escorted to the training hall. Have someone tell Avatar Aang to meet me there."

After the meeting was over Zuko and Iroh escorted their guest out assuring him that a compromise would be made and that everyone would come out happy. It had taken almost three hours to make the snooty, power hungry, Lord Seshibon happy. Zuko decided he would have to pay a visit to the eastern section of the Fire Nation in order to guarantee the negotiations between the feuding lords. " I have a feeling that we will be hearing more from Lord Seshibon." Iroh stroked his beard and faced away from the large entrance doors.

" So do I." Zuko frowned and scratched his head. Being Fire Lord was never going to be easy but truthfully his life had never been easy. He sighed. " I'm headed to the training grounds." Iroh nodded and followed. As they approached the indoor arena they could hear the sounds of battle. Zuko opened the door to the ground level and couldn't help but stare at what he saw.

Katara was battling Aang and moving at a fast pace. Their movements were fluid with each other, neither seemed to really be able to strike a blow. Aang would send an air blast at her and she would just dodge it. She would try to surround him in water and he would blast his way through it. The dance continued for quite a while until Katara froze Aang's feet to the ground he melted through them but she ran up and drew an ice blade to his throat. Aang began laughing. " Alright, Katara, you win this one." Katara smiled and let him go and the ice blade melted in her hands.

" That was a good one you guys." Sokka was lounging on a bench. " That only took you hours to finish."

" Sorry Sokka." Aang went over to him. " We just get really into fighting, that's all." He sat down on the bench.

" My goodness I'm tired." Katara plopped on the ground in front of them. " Hand me the water skin." Sokka handed it to her and she drank deeply from it then proceeded to heal a few bruises she received. She looked up from her task hearing footsteps coming toward them. " Hello Iroh, Zuko." Zuko fixed his gaze on her and nodded.

" That was an excellent display of bending, too bad we didn't see all of it." Iroh began, he came closer and sat on the bench next to Sokka. " You both look very tired."

" Just a bit." Aang rose and stretched his muscles. " We could use a little rest."

Zuko sat next to Katara. " What about you?" Katara noticed how his voice held that distinct edge of concern.

She turned to him and smiled. " I'm okay, don't worry were still going to have our match." She stood and stretched a bit. " Now, show me some of the fire nation's martial arts techniques."

Zuko nodded and stood. He took off his shirt and tossed it on the bench. Katara stared at his hard muscles and blushed, he was very attractive and she knew she would be easily distracted during a fight with him. Zuko made his way to the center of the arena Katara followed. " Okay, I'm going teach you some of the basics first. Our martial arts are all based on control of the breath." He inhaled through his nose and exhaled through his mouth. " Like that." She imitated his breathing. " Very good, try to breathe like that the whole time."

Zuko showed her several moves and techniques, she learned them quickly being a seasoned warrior herself. After a while Katara deemed she was ready to duel the Fire Lord.

" You're sure you don't want to rest?" He said taking a battle stance on the platform. To either side of him was water about two feet deep, more than enough water for Katara's bending needs.

" Positive." She took her stance about ten feet from him, relaxing her muscles and breathing deeply.

Aang stood between them with a hand held up. " Begin!" His arm dropped and he jumped to the side.

Zuko took the first strike and sent a fireball towards Katara. She quickly blocked it and was caught slightly off guard as Zuko approached at full speed. She bent water onto the plat form and started to freeze his feet not to stop him but to slow him down. The ice was melting as quickly as it was freezing and Zuko nearly lost his balance. He melted his feet completely free and kicked a wave of flames at her she dispelled it with a wall of water and when the two met steam erupted from the contact point.

Katara smiled at him daring him to be more challenging. He smiled back in a way that said alright, I'll give you what you want. Katara raised her hands over her head and bent two pillars of water behind Zuko. He looked behind him and was nearly hit by a dragon made of water, he dodged the first a little haphazardly but couldn't avoid the second. He shot a blast of fire at the second destroying the water dragon. He turned to her as the sound of the evaporating dragon died. " The entertainers gave me a new trick to play with. I think I mastered it fairly well, don't you?" She smiled as the first dragon circled around her in a dance all the while it grew larger collecting more water from around the platform. " I hope your ready for this."

He smirked at her. " Always ready." She launched the dragon at him. Zuko erupted into flames where he stood and quickly created a very large fire dragon. The two dragons speed toward each other and when they came together the explosion rocked the arena. Zuko and Katara were shot back and landed against opposite walls.

" KATARA!" Aang ran quickly over to her. She was beginning to stand up and Aang thought she was crying by the way her shoulders were shaking.

" I'm okay, Aang." She kept giggling and was holding her side from where she struck the wall. " That was fun." She looked over to where Zuko had landed; Iroh was tending to him. She smiled at him and she could see him smiling back. She and Aang made their way over to Zuko.

" Are you alright?" Zuko stood with the help of Iroh and dusted himself off.

" Just fine." She was trying hard not to giggle at the way his hair was messy and coming out of his topknot.

" Well I think that's enough training for one day." Iroh turned and started walking away. " Dinner is in a few hours so you should both get ready."

" Mmm dinner." Sokka said rubbing his tummy in anticipation. " At least the Fire Nation knows how to cook a good meal." Katara smiled she was glad that Sokka had found something he liked about the fire nation, even if it was food.

Well did you love it? Hate it? Wish I were dead? Lemme know! Please R&R it helps make the story better! Luv u all!