Katara audibly gasped, and everyone's eyes landed on her. Her face went red with rage, and she could barely hold back all the profanities she wanted to scream at Nuka. Instead of lashing out, she turned and walked back into the palace at a swift pace.

Sokka was shocked, and he glanced at Aang quickly. He was pale and had a sad look on his face. Sokka knew that Katara wasn't the only one hurt by Nuka's suggestion. Aang had never stopped loving Katara, and even the "oblivious" Sokka knew they were meant to be together.

Sokka gave Aang a pat on his back as he followed Katara into the palace.

Hakoda wasn't sure how to respond to Nuka's request, but he saw Katara and Sokka leave. The looks on their faces told Hakoda that he wasn't in the position to give his daughter away without consulting her. "The South Pole doesn't typically do arranged marriages, but I'll see what I can do," was all he could reply. Then, he rushed up the stairs in search of his children.

Katara was frantically pacing around an empty room and ignoring everything Sokka had to say. When she saw her father, she halted and hissed, "Absolutely not!"

"Katara, let's talk about this civilly," Hakoda said with his palms facing her, trying to calm her down. An angry Katara is never a reasonable Katara.

With wide eyes and flapping arms, she demanded, "What is there to talk about? I can't- no I won't marry Nuka!"

Hakoda's brows knotted in the middle. "Well why not? He's handsome, a great hunter, and interested in the politics of this tribe." To him, Nuka was a reasonable, well-respected man. He'd be lucky to call him a son-in-law. He could even help Sokka lead the rtribe one day.

"He's narcissistic, immature, and creepy!" She knew she sounded like a child, but it was all she could think of in the moment. Her mind wasn't working with her mouth. Nothing was working. She was desperate to get her father to understand that she was not going to marry that man.

"Katara, that is no way to talk about someone that left their nation to come to ours," Hakoda scolded her. Where were her manners?

"Do you ever wonder why he left? And his parents?" That was something she had thought a lot about. They probably had to leave because no girl there would marry him, or they got kicked out because of his bad attitude. There were so many reasons she could think of- murder, divorce, guilt, etc. She didn't even know anything about the man. How could she marry him?

Her father shook his head. "No, I haven't given it much thought. But I assume it was because they wanted a fresh start, which I believe you got when you returned home."

"Dad, I can't marry Nuka," she pleaded with him as a single tear ran down her cheek and fell to the floor. This can't be happening, she thought to herself.

"Katara, he possibly just saved this tribe by taking down the biggest buffalo yak we've ever seen. He said he did it for you!"

Katara pulled at her hair on the sides of her head in frustration. "Nuka is not the hero here. Sokka, Aang, Mai, Zuko, and I are. We went into the mountains and forest, and we confronted the spirit! We learned what it wanted, and we told everyone else about it!"

Why was nothing she was saying working? Why couldn't she persuade him? And why was he considering it?

"Katara-" Sokka tried to intervene.

She glared at him with fire in her eyes. "Unless you are on my side, Sokka, I suggest you shut up."

"Katara!" Her father said in raised voice. "You are no longer a fourteen year old running around the world. You have duties to this tribe and to this family."

"Duties?" She shrieked. How dare he imply that getting married was a duty she had to fulfill? "And since when do those duties include getting married?" Her hands were in balls on her hips. Her knuckles were white, and her nails were biting into her palms.

"You are twenty-one years old. That is five years past the marrying age. All of your suitors are young, undesirable, or not marriage worthy. Nuka is marriage worthy."

Katara gawked at his backwards thinking. She could be thirty and unmarried, and that didn't make her any less of a woman or person. "This isn't your time anymore, Dad. People hardly get married at sixteen anymore. Sokka didn't get married until twenty-three."

"Well, he was busy traveling the world as a representative for this tribe."

"I was also traveling the world!"

"Yes, with a man you didn't marry. Then he dumped you and left you with hardly an explanation."

Her jaw dropped at his statement. How dare he bring that up? "He's the Avatar! We were fulfilling our duties to the rest of the world!"

He was the Avatar for Spirits sake! That should be marriage worthy. Her heart sank at the thought of Aang hearing a man ask her father for her hand in marriage. He was there to make things right with her, but now it seemed too late.

She didn't love Nuka. She loved Aang, and she couldn't deny it anymore.

"His duty!" Her father shouted back at her. He never approved her her flying around the globe with a man and putting herself in grave danger. "It's not your duty to bring balance."

She crossed her arms and gave him a pointed look. In a low voice, she murmured, "Maybe it's my destiny then."

"No, that destiny has broken your heart and almost broken you. Sokka and I have talked, and we believe that Nuka is the most potential suitor."

"Sokka?!" She shrieked and looked to her older brother. He wanted to marry her off too? Was she that big of burden to them?

Sokka's eyes widened at the mention of his name. Quickly, he tried to explain himself. "Katara, I-"

Hakoda cut him off by simply raising a hand. "Marrying Nuka would secure our ties to the North. Isn't that what a good princess should do?"

"I never wanted to be a princess!" She said in an exasperated voice. She thought her tribe was perfectly fine without a royal family. it made them different than the other nations. "I met a princess that traded love for security of her tribe, but she didn't love him. Your son fell in love with her! In the end, she traded her life for the world! For the safety of everyone!"

"Would you trade your life for the world? The safety of everyone? Because that's what's going to happen if you choose the Avatar."

Without any hesitation, Katara replied, "Yes, I would. I've done it before, and I would do it again." To her, that's what being a good princess meant.

"You could be the link between our two tribes, and you could put an end to the tension and pressure we are facing with the North. It could potentially stop a Civil War from erupting."

"There has to be a South Pole for there to be a potential Civil War," she said in a deadpan tone. If they couldn't stop the spirit, then the South would be destroyed. That was the problem at hand, not her love life.

"Katara, I know this is sudden, but it's a good thing." Her father's voice was calmer, almost soothing. It was as if he was asking her to cook dinner or wash the dishes.

"No, it's not. I don't love Nuka. I could never love Nuka."

"You could learn."

"A week ago, I was dead. Shouldn't we be celebrating the fact that I am alive at all?" More tears ran down her face. Despite all of her pleading, this wasn't going in her favor. She had to use all of the excuses she had.

"That's another reason why getting married would be good for you. You'd have a family of your own to think about before you run head first into danger."

Katara suppressed a gag at the idea of having children with Nuka. She could never be intimate with him, and she wouldn't dare to bring children into a loveless marriage.

In a final attempt to persuade her father to stop this nonsense, she told him, "If you make me marry him, I'll run away like Gran Gran." It was a low blow, but she felt like it was necessary.

Her threat stuck a nerve. Offended, her father spat, "I have sources that would find you and bring you back here."

"Are you forgetting that I have traveled the world too?" She challenged him, finally feeling victorious in this stupid fight. "That I also have sources? I could leave and make sure you would never find me."

"This is ridiculous," he huffed and threw his hands up in the air. They were going around and around in circles.

"I'm glad we both agree," she teased in a bitter voice. Then, her tone became more serious. "Dad, I'm begging you. Don't do this to me."

Hakoda grunted at her request. "I wish your mother was here. She would be so much better at this than I am." His voice and eyes were mournful.

Katara was shocked by his admission. He hadn't talked about their mother since the war ended. It was like he wanted to leave it behind. Katara and Sokka always believed that it was too painful of a memory.

When Katara didn't snarkly reply to him, he continued. "She was very traditional. She would have liked for you to find someone and be a respected woman."

Katara always remembered her mother as a loving and caring person. No matter how "traditional" she was, she wouldn't force such a unwanted marriage on her daughter. Katara frowned at her dad. "She wouldn't force me to marry someone I don't love."

"Is there any other choice? He publicly asked for an arranged marriage. Denying him would make him deem him unmarriable to every other woman in this tribe. He will never be able to find a bride in this tribe because of this. What am I supposed to do?"

Katara was able to find her fire again. She crossed her arms and made her words as malicious as she could. "So you're stuck between making him a bachelor for forever or sending your daughter to a miserable life and marriage. Wow dad, that's a tough decision."

"She's in love with the Avatar, Dad," Sokka was finally able to get a word in. He couldn't stand there and do nothing any longer. "And I know he's in love with her too. He never stopped loving her. Maybe we can tell him that you've been promised to another."

"Nuka publicly asked to marry Katara," Hakoda repeated as if it was the only thing he knew for sure. "I highly doubt that the Avatar will be our escape route."

"I don't know about that," Sokka replied in a squeaky voice and with a shrug. "We could ask him."

"Sokka!" Katara roared at her brother. They couldn't just ask him to... what marry her? Propose? Declare that he somewhat loved her... No! That would be humiliating.

"Katara, I know it's embarrassing, but what other solution do you have? "

Katara was stunned. Since when was she a bargaining tool? Since when did they care if she married or not? All of a sudden, it felt like a life or death situation, and Katara was going to be slaughtered either way.

After a long silence, her father said in a low voice, "The feast is set for tomorrow night with the sacrifice taking place at the beginning. I'll have to give Nuka an answer by then." Without another word, he left.

Katara stood there in silence as she watched her father leave. Sokka felt like he should say something wise, but all of his words were escaping him. Eventually, he walked over to his sister and hugged her tightly.

Initially, Katara wanted to fight him off, but she decided against it. If she had to run away, she may never see her older brother again. She melted in his arms and let her tears run freely down her face. "I want to marry for love," she sobbed into his shoulder. She hadn't cried like this in front of someone in a long time... perhaps three years.

"I know," he gently told her as he patted her back. He knew that there was nothing he could say to make things better. He just had to be there for is baby sister.

In a whiny voice, she told him, "You got to marry the woman you love." That was all she wanted. She wanted to be in love and live the rest of her life with that person. She wanted babies- lots of babies. She couldn't even imagine having children with someone she didn't love!

"I know, Katara."

"What am I supposed to do?"

Sokka let out a long breath that he had been holding. He was trying not to get too emotional. That would scare Katara. He honestly didn't know what she was supposed to do. "Do you want to talk to the others?"

Katara pulled back and looked into his eyes with a wistful look. "How am I supposed to even look at Aang? What if he's already left?!"

Her question confused Sokka, so he asked, "Why would he leave?"

"He always runs when things get tough, even he knows that."

"Then we better go stop him." There was determination in his voice. Convinced he could save the day, he quickly turned and set out to find their friends.

Lucky for Sokka, the rest of their group was in the palace's foyer. Zuko was pacing back and forth and pulling on his long hair, Mai was picking at her nails with a knife unfazed, and Suki was sitting in chair wringing her hands together. Once they caught sight of a frantic Sokka, they gave him their full attention.

Sokka let out a sigh of relief when he saw them all waiting. "Thank the Spirits! We need you guys." Then, he quickly scanned them all again.

And again.

And a third time just to be sure.

Katara and his worst fear was confirmed. "Where's Aang?" He cried fearing that he already knew the answer.