The sun was high in the sky by the time they awoke the next morning. Zuko grinned to himself as he grew aware of his surroundings and realized that Katara was still tangled up in his arms, happy to have confirmation that the previous night had been real. Katara stirred and opened her eyes, smiling as her gaze met his.
"Hey you," she said happily.
"Good morning," Zuko replied, stretching and sitting up. "It's getting late."
Katara sat up as well, glancing out the window at the rising sun. They were scheduled to leave shortly after noon, and she guessed it was at least mid-morning. She sighed. "I guess I should get back to my room and pack then."
Zuko smirked as she sighed, knowing that they would both rather spend the day in bed together. But if they didn't get moving soon, someone would come looking for them. He leaned over and kissed her softly, letting his lips linger on hers for a moment before pulling back.
"We have all the time in the world to spend the day in bed; today is about our friends."
"You're right. Things are tense enough with Aang, and I don't want to stir things up even more. Speaking of which… should we… keep this quiet? Whatever this is?"
"Well, we should probably wait until we've figured it out ourselves, but after last night I think it's pretty safe to assume we want the same thing," Zuko said with a cheeky smirk. "We can talk later though, once we have a chance to be alone. For now we should get ready to go before the servants barge in to make sure I'm alive."
Katara laughed. "Fair point," she said, crawling out of bed. "Do you mind if I borrow your shirt? I don't want to change back into my gown just to take it off again."
Zuko stood and scooped his robe up off the floor where he had tossed it the night before, then held it out for her to slip into. "Take this too, hopefully it will be a little less conspicuous if you run into somebody."
Katara thanked him and tied the belt around her waist before gathering her things. She returned to Zuko and kissed him before heading to the door.
"See you in a bit," she said, slipping out into the hall and leaving him alone grinning madly.
She crept down the hallway towards the stairs, but the royal wing was blissfully empty. She found the guest wing to be equally abandoned, and was left to assume that most people were having a late morning after the festivities of the previous night. She had made it all the way to her bedroom door, elated that she had made it without getting caught, when she suddenly heard her name called. Katara spun around, nearly tripping over her feet, and saw Suki striding down the hall towards her wearing a grin.
"Suki! Um… good morning!" Katara stammered, unable to think of anything better to say.
Suki caught up to her and let her eyes travel once over Katara. "Nice robe," she said, suppressing a laugh. "Though it's a little large on you… almost like it was designed for a man…"
Katara shushed her soon to be sister-in-law, looking behind her for anyone who could overhear. She grabbed Suki's wrist then opened the bedroom door. "Just… come inside. I'll tell you everything," she said, pulling her through the doorway.
She shut the door behind them and then crossed over to her vanity table, setting the belt and armbands down on top of it. Her hairpin however seemed to be missing. She shook out her gown, checking to see if it had gotten caught in the fabric, but it was not there. Assuming she had left it in Zuko's room, she hung her dress and turned back to a patiently waiting Suki.
"Before your imagination runs wild, I can assure you that whatever assumption that is causing that grin is false," Katara started, smirking despite herself.
"So…. You didn't spend the night in Zuko's room?"
"Well… okay that is true, but nothing else happened. Well, not nothing…" Katara sighed, deciding that being evasive was too much trouble. "We kissed… a lot. And then we went to sleep."
Suki let out a joyous laugh. "Good! It's about damn time!"
Katara blushed, but grinned at her friend. "We still haven't exactly sorted out what this relationship is, but I at least know for sure he feels the same way I do. He's actually... far more romantic than I expected. It's sweet."
"I never thought he would be anything else. Zuko's a big softie," Suki replied with a snort of laughter. "Even though he tries to hide it."
Katara began packing her bag for their trip to Ember Island while Suki pressed her for details, and once she had finished she quickly changed and got ready for the day. She laid Zuko's tunic and robe over the chair on her vanity, resisting the urge to pack them too. Once she was ready, she and Suki headed downstairs to drop their bags off in the carriage that would bring them down to the harbour, and then met up with the rest of their friends for breakfast.
The moment they walked into the dining room, Katara's eyes met Zuko's and they both blushed; something that caused Suki to grin as she noticed. She gave Katara a sly look, then sat down between Sokka and Toph. Aang looked up sheepishly as Katara joined the rest of them at the table. She was honestly surprised to see him there, but was happy to see that he at least still intended on spending the day with them even after she had screamed at him.
"So, what are we doing first when we get to the Island? Should we go swimming? Or find a party to crash? Or comb the beach for treasure?" Ty Lee asked excitedly, bouncing in her chair.
Zuko shrugged. "Whatever you guys want to do; we will only have a couple of guards to keep watch over the estate and one servant on hand to cook and clean, so we're pretty much free to do whatever we want. I've ensured that we will have some quality time alone."
"I'd like to go swimming," Suki said, causing Ty Lee to nod enthusiastically in agreement.
"Well I'm not particularly fond of water… but I'll come and sit on the beach with you guys," Toph said. "Maybe I'll read a book."
Six pairs of eyes fixed themselves on Toph, and a momentary silence fell over them. Then Toph cracked a grin. Sokka and Ty Lee burst into laughter, but the rest merely rolled their eyes at their friend's self-deprecating humour.
"Well why don't we spend the day on the public beach then? There are usually food vendors and such in the area. Then once it gets dark we can head back to the estate's private beach and have a bonfire?" Zuko suggested.
Everyone agreed to the plan, and even Aang seemed to be looking forward to the suggestion. Once they had finished eating, they all headed out to the carriages. Once they and all of their bags were loaded, they took off down the Caldera towards the harbour.
In no time they were loaded onto a small ship with their luggage, the Capital shrinking into the distance as they made their way towards Ember Island. The trip itself was short and uneventful, and the seven of them spent the journey lounging on the top deck in the bright sunshine, chatting excitedly about the events of the ball the previous night. It took all of Katara and Zuko's collective willpower not to steal coy glances at one another, but their desire to keep their newfound relationship quiet until they had sorted it out for themselves kept them from being too obvious. Suki however kept smirking at the two of them knowingly, causing Katara to frequently shoot her annoyed looks.
They arrived on Ember Island in the early afternoon and were escorted from the main harbour towards a less populated area of the island where Zuko's family had a vacation home. Zuko hadn't been lying about being low on staff; they had exactly two guards who accompanied them to the house, and when they arrived they were met by one middle-aged woman who introduced herself as the caretaker, then promptly disappeared again. The guards made a quick sweep of the property, then vanished as quickly as the caretaker had. Katara was surprised that they were so willing to leave them alone, but as their group consisted of the Avatar, the Fire Lord, two Master Benders, and three extremely skilled warriors, she imagined the guards assumed they were quite able to take care of themselves if any trouble arose. She began to wonder if the constant guard in the Capital was more for show than protection.
Once they had all dumped their things in their rooms and changed into their swimsuits, the seven of them met out front before heading down the path towards the main village and public beach. The day was quite hot and they could see as they approached that the beach was already quite crowded, but Zuko counted this as a blessing, saying they were far less likely to be recognized in a crowd, especially as they weren't dressed up in fine robes or armour. His theory seemed to hold true as they found an empty spot on the sand and laid out a large blanket and their towels.
Ty Lee lounged out on her towel once they were set up, attracting the attention of several nearby boys who turned to gawk at her. Toph settled herself in the sand, laying back with closed eyes and soaking up the hot rays.
"I'm getting in the water. Who's coming with me?" Katara asked, flashing Zuko a smile.
He grinned at her in return, resisting the urge to let his eyes wander over her exposed skin. "I'll come. It will be nice to cool off," he replied.
"I'm going to go check out the food stands," Sokka said, waving at them as he wandered off towards the shaded stalls at the edge of the beach.
Suki shook her head. "Well I'll come and swim with you guys."
To Katara's surprise, Aang decided to come along as well, so the four of them walked across the hot sand towards the water. Katara sighed happily as she waded into the softly lapping waves; the water was warm, but the current was just cool enough to make it refreshing. She dove under the waves and swam out as far as she could before running out of breath, then kicked back up to the surface several meters away from the shore. She spotted her friends still standing waist deep in the water and waved to them before diving under again, enjoying the cool current against her skin.
When she surfaced again she saw that Suki and Aang had started a splash fight, but she couldn't spot Zuko. She floated on the surface, her eyes scanning the area for him when suddenly something grabbed her ankle and pulled her under the water. She spun gracefully under the waves to see what had caught her, and saw a smirking Zuko just under the surface of the water. She kicked back up above the waves, Zuko surfacing next to her.
"You're lucky my first instinct wasn't to attack you," she said grinning.
"I figured you would know it was me," Zuko replied with a chuckle.
Katara splashed him playfully. "That doesn't mean I won't attack you."
Zuko smirked, splashing her back. His eyes fixed on her and for a moment he merely appreciated how beautiful she looked in the water.
"What?" Katara asked, a blush creeping across her cheeks.
"Nothing, I'm just admiring you."
Katara laughed and splashed him again, and then spun to float on her back, lazily paddling back towards the shore. Zuko mirrored her actions and together they drifted back towards their friends in a happy silence. When they reached the shallows where Aang and Suki were, they spotted Sokka running across the beach towards them, carrying what looked to be a poster of some sort. "Guys! You'll never believe it!" he shouted, drawing the attention of half the beach.
They all gathered back were Toph and Ty Lee were lounging just as Sokka approached, panting. With a flourish he held out the poster for them to see, grinning widely. The front of the poster depicted a detailed painting of a young Aang flying on Appa, with a young Zuko standing on the bow of a ship below. It read:
The Ember Island Players present:
The Last Airbender
A tale of a disgraced price, a long-lost Avatar,
and the epic journey that united the Nations.
Tickets available now!
Aang immediately groaned, but Suki burst into laughter. Toph furrowed her brow in annoyance, then stood up and waved her hand in front of her eyes.
"Uh, guys?"
"Oh, right! Sorry Toph," Sokka said. "It's a poster for a new play about us! By the same people who did the last one. This one looks like it might be closer to the truth though."
"What?! "Toph exclaimed. "That's fantastic! We HAVE to go see it."
"Do we though?" Aang asked in exasperation.
"It could be fun to see what they've changed since the last one," Katara mused.
"They haven't changed much," Zuko interjected. "It's basically the exact same play, except they changed the ending."
"You've seen it?" Katara asked with a bemused smile.
Zuko shrugged. "The Ember Island Players sent me an invite to their opening night a few weeks ago. I figured I would go."
"Am I still played by a girl?" Aang asked with a pout.
"Do you really want me to answer that?"
Aang sighed. "No. That answers my question."
Ty Lee frowned at his sour expression, then smiled brightly. "I think we should go! I never saw the old one, and it would be fun to see it!"
"I'd like to see how they changed the ending," Suki agreed.
"I just want to see if I'm still played by a big dude," Toph said with a grin.
Aang's face fell as his friends agreed to attend the play, but in the end he agreed to go as well. It was decided that they would go that evening, and postpone their private beach fire until the following night. So once they had had their fill of the public beach, the seven of them wandered back to the beach house to have dinner and change before the play.
With the exception of Zuko, none of them had been to a show by the Ember Island Players since before the defeat of Ozai, so it was quite a change of pace to stroll right up to the front entrance and purchase tickets instead of having to sneak in unnoticed. The woman at the box office was thrilled that Zuko had come back to see it a second time, and even more so that Aang and his friends were in attendance. She arranged a private box for them, and called over an usher to personally escort them to their seats. The box had two rows of four seats, and was high enough that they could see the whole stage and most of the audience if they stood and looked out over the railing, but gave them privacy from the other patrons while seated.
Sokka, Suki, Aang, and Ty Lee took the front four seats, leaving Zuko, Katara, and Toph to take the back. It suited them all well; Toph could only listen to the play anyway, and it gave Zuko and Katara the privacy to exchange coy, flirtatious smiles. Feeling bold, Katara shuffled close to Zuko and laced her fingers in his, just as the house lights went out and the play began.
As Zuko had said, the play was almost identical to the one they had seen before; it detailed how Aang was found in the iceberg, how Zuko was exiled and began his search for the Avatar, and grossly exaggerated their many adventures. However Katara noticed two major differences. The ending was completely different; in fact a large portion of the last act was dedicated to the final battle with Ozai and his eventual defeat. She was surprised to see just how accurate the depiction was too, and couldn't help but be impressed that the Ember Island Players at least managed to get the most important part of the story correct.
However the other major difference made her feel more awkward than impressed. Whereas in the previous play they had played off Aang and Katara's relationship as more of a sibling relationship, this version of the play highlighted romantic moments between the two of them, which eventually led to a grand romantic kiss at the end of the play that made both she and Aang extremely uncomfortable. But even worse was the fact that they had left in the parts where she and Zuko had a supposed romance as well, allowing the play to have a major love triangle plot running throughout all three acts. Several times Suki glanced over her shoulder at a furiously blushing Katara, giving her clearly amused looks. Katara wished she could melt into the floor and disappear. She understood why they had added the romance between her and Aang, as they had actually dated, but nobody except Suki knew there was anything between her and Zuko, and she couldn't fathom why the play would include it, especially considering the two of them hadn't even seen each other in years prior to now.
Zuko could sense her embarrassment and gave her hand frequent squeezes, trying to comfort her. He found it all to be amusing, but he understood why it would be less so for her.
Once the play had concluded and the lights went up, Toph stood up with a stretch. "That was even better than the first one!"
"It was even worse than the first one," Aang muttered to himself, shooting Zuko and Katara a suspicious look as they stood awkwardly next to each other.
Suki caught the look on Aang's face and followed his gaze, supressing laughter when she realized how desperately Zuko and Katara were trying to look innocent.
"I thought it was fantastic!" Ty Lee exclaimed, wrapping an arm around a pouting Aang. "They made you so heroic!"
"The actor who played me did my jokes waaaaaay better this time," Sokka said with a satisfied smirk, oblivious to everything else.
Suki shook her head at her fiancé and then looped her arm through Katara's, leading the group out of the private box and down into the lobby. They had turned many heads upon their arrival to the theatre, but now every head in the room turned towards them as they made their way through the crowd, whispering to each other excitedly. Katara saw several people pointing between her and Zuko, and she was suddenly thankful that Suki had taken her arm. She had a feeling her soon to be sister-in-law had anticipated this and had purposefully dragged her away from Zuko to look less suspicious.
It had grown quite late by the time they got back to the beach house. Aang took off to his room almost immediately, giving them a stiff "goodnight" before disappearing. Suki and Sokka also wished them a good night and headed off towards their room, much to Ty Lee's disappointment. She had been trying to convince everyone to go for a midnight swim, but they were all too exhausted. She reluctantly gave up and headed off to her room to settle in, leaving Katara and Zuko alone with Toph.
After a moment of silence in which Toph listened to make sure Ty Lee's bedroom door was shut with her inside, she turned to the pair.
"You two are more obvious than that play. You might want to tell Aang before somebody else does," she said bluntly, the hint of a smirk on her face.
Katara stared at her dumfounded. "Uh… what…. I don't…"
"Come on, Sugar Queen. You haven't forgotten that I can sense your heartbeats, have you? I thought it was bad before, but now it's downright distracting. Something has changed with you two, and I can only assume that you two idiots have finally figured out that you're crazy about each other."
Both Katara and Zuko blushed a furious crimson, giving each other sheepish grins. Toph took their silence as her answer, and her smirk grew. "I'll leave you two alone. Good niiiight!"
Toph brushed past them and disappeared down the hallway, leaving Katara and Zuko standing alone by the entrance. Zuko looked over at her and shrugged. "Guess it's not so secret now."
"Yeaah… Suki knows too. I guess it's only a matter of time before everyone else figures it out."
"Speaking of 'figuring it out'… we still need to figure out what 'it' is," Zuko replied. "Do you want to go sit outside? We can talk more privately than in here."
Katara nodded, and together they left the house and strolled down towards the beach. They walked along in silence for a few minutes, both of them peeling off their shoes and walking along the sand barefoot. Neither of them quite knew how to start, but when Zuko reached over and took her hand in his, Katara decided to just start with a question that had been on her mind since the previous night.
"So… when did things change for you? Your feelings for me, I mean?"
Zuko smiled down at his feet and shrugged. "I think it's been changing for a while, to be honest. I think I knew for sure that things had changed that night you feel asleep in my room, but by the time I realized how I felt… well… I was in it pretty deep I guess. So I'm not really sure when it happened."
"I know what you mean. Though to be perfectly honest…" Katara stopped and turned to face him, looking slightly guilty. "I think it started as far back as the time we were trapped under Lake Laogai. I think that is part of the reason I was so deeply hurt when you sided with your sister, because I had felt something shift between us in that moment and there was this… glimmer of something more."
Zuko contemplated this, allowing his memories to drift back to that day. It wasn't a day he liked to remember, considering the deep shame it brought him, but he allowed his thoughts to settle on the brief moments before they had been rescued from the cavern under the lake. How Katara had touched his face so tenderly. He remembered feeling a connection to her then, but his heart had been so full of anguish and confusion that he couldn't be sure.
"I mean… you have intrigued me since our fight at the Northern Water Tribe, so it's hard to be sure when that intrigue turned to genuine attraction. Though once I joined up with you guys, I do remember being particularly determined to win you over."
Katara snorted. "That's just because I was so horrible to you."
"No, I deserved your anger. I wanted to make up for it because I couldn't stand to have you hate me. And when we finally did become friends… well, I felt a connection to you then that I've never felt with anyone before. I was comfortable around you, and I thought of you often. Obviously we had more important things going on, so I never really dwelt on it, and then after the war you were with Aang, so I sort of… put it out of my head I guess."
"Yeah, that makes sense. I felt the same way… I was too preoccupied with the war to worry about romance. And after the war, we ended up on different paths. I guess there was really only one time back then that I can recall genuinely acknowledging the feelings between us."
Zuko gave her a curious look. "Oh? When was that?"
"When you saved me from Azula's lightning," Katara answered with a smile. "The moment I saw you go down, I was terrified. I knew my heart would break if I had lost you. When you opened your eyes and looked at me, and I knew you were going to be okay, I don't think I have ever felt so relieved."
"Admittedly, I feel like an idiot for not realizing it then. Because when you healed me, every fiber of my being was telling me to kiss you. But, like an idiot, I ignored that urge. Mostly because I didn't want to ruin the friendship we had gained, but I think the fact that we weren't alone didn't help."
Katara laughed and shook her head. "I had the same urge. At the time I thought it was just the adrenaline from the fight or something, but obviously I was wrong."
"So basically we are both idiots, because we have been attracted to each other for years and didn't even realise it?"
"I guess so," Katara said with another laugh. "That would explain why I always felt a bit guilty about our letters when I was with Aang, like I was somehow doing something wrong."
Zuko reached out and grasped both of her hands in his, moving closer to her. "The moment I saw you get off that boat, I knew I was in trouble. I tried to deny it, but you are impossible to resist."
He leaned in and kissed her, releasing his hands to bring them up to her waist. She smiled against his lips, wrapping her arms around him and returning the kiss eagerly. After a few moments Katara pulled away slightly and looked up at him with a playful smirk.
"So does this mean I am your girlfriend now?"
Zuko smiled warmly and replied, "I would very much like you to be."
"Good, that's settled then."
"Well…" Zuko started, his smile turning to a slight frown, "I do want you to be sure that you actually want everything that comes with me."
"What do you mean?" Katara asked, furrowing her brow.
"I'm the Fire Lord, and I have to put my people and my nation first. I don't want you to end up feeling trapped and overshadowed with me like you were with Aang."
"Oh…" Katara thought for a long moment before continuing. "When I was with Aang, he never made time for me unless he had nothing else to do. We could be in a crowd of people, and I would feel utterly alone because he would wander off with whichever new friends he had made and leave me standing on my own. He never introduced me to people; he never tried to involve me… I felt like I was nothing more than his shadow. Not to sound egotistical, but I have a lot to offer too, but I often felt useless. You, on the other hand, have always made time for me, even if it was just writing a reply to my letters.
You may not make friends as easily or quickly as Aang does, but you care deeply about the friends you have. And in the five years I have known you, I have often seen you go out of your way to be there for any one of us when we need you. I know you have duties and obligations, and I would never ask you to put them aside. But I also have faith that you will not let them consume you like Aang does, because I have already seen you do quite the opposite."
Zuko reached up and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, his expression full of appreciation and affection. "You really do know me better than I know myself, don't you?"
Katara laughed. "I probably do. You always underestimate yourself."
"There's one other thing though. I can't really… leave the Fire Nation. So… what happens to us when this trip is over?"
"Well…" Katara frowned. "I mean, we could still write letters, and I could visit. It's not like I have many obligations in the South anymore; my top students are capable of teaching the novices now."
Zuko nodded. "We could make that work. It would be hard to be away from you so often, but you are worth it."
"Alternatively… and I don't want to be presumptuous, but I could always… relocate. Like I said, I'm not tied to the South Pole right now, and I could always busy myself by helping Ty Lee set up her Kyoshi Warriors here in the capitol, or I could put my healing skills to use. I could be far more useful here that I was cooped up alone in an abandoned Air Temple."
Zuko grinned at her, causing her to raise an eyebrow questioningly. "I didn't want to assume you would just… move here for me, so I didn't want to ask. I'm glad you suggested it.
Katara laughed and rolled her eyes. "Honestly, I have considered it anyway. It's so different than it was the last time I spent time here, and it's been so great to see how much has changed. The people are so happy and friendly, and I feel like I could really fit in. So I'm not just moving here for you, though that is certainly part of it. I want to be here, because I like it here."
Her reply made Zuko's heart swell, and he couldn't help but lean in and kiss her again. They stood on the beach for a while, kissing and laughing, until the moon was high in the sky and they had both grown quite sleepy. Finally Zuko suggested they head back, and together they wandered back up the beach towards the house, hand in hand and grinning like fools.