Katara analyzes her reflection in the vanity. She's already gotten all prepped and dressed for breakfast and is just waiting for Zuko to arrive and walk with her to the dining hall. Until she tells the others, she's staying in another guest chamber to throw off suspicions. After her failure of a conversation with Aang the night before, she didn't exactly sleep well: the bags under the eyes are peering through the powder she applied just minutes ago. Her eyes shift downward and meet her betrothal necklace, sitting at the base of her neck and framed by the delicate strands of hair floating at her collarbone. She figures the best way to break the news is to simply walk in with the evidence plain to see. At this point she has no guarantee that she'll be able to manage the words to her friends and is depending on their deduction skills to put the pieces together like Aang did. How is everyone going to react? Katara doesn't even want to think about what her brother will have to say. He's very close to both Aang and Zuko, so she's sure he'll feel stuck in an awkward position and probably tighten the atmosphere with some attempt at a joke. She loves him dearly, but La does he know how to make things worse sometimes.

Her stream of anxious thoughts is interrupted by a knock at the chamber door. The moment the first knock hits her ear she jolts out of her seat and reaches for the ornate bronze handle. Zuko is standing in the hallway, a little taken aback at the speed of Katara's answer but still just as happy to see her. He smiles, extending a hand to the back of her neck and dragging her into a good-morning kiss. Short, sweet, and oh so beautiful. When they part, he traces down her arm until his hand reaches hers and he squeezes it delicately.

"Ready to go? I've been told they're all waiting for us in the dining hall."

"All of them?"

Zuko's smile falters. "Well, not exactly."

Katara nods, understanding exactly what he meant. "Alright."

"Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Let's just get this over with before I change my mind."

Katara pushes past him and begins walking down the corridor, glancing behind her to make sure Zuko isn't left behind. He closes the chamber door, careful not to snag his robes in the latch, and catches up to her pace. Although they are walking beside each other, wanting to touch, they are both just a little too nervous to do so. In what feels like hours, they finally make it to the dining hall. Their friends turn toward the archway at the sound of their approaching footsteps. Suki runs up to Katara first, hugging her.

"Good morning you guys. Zuko, the breakfast menu you made looks absolutely amazing, thank you." Suki smiles at Zuko, still laying her hand on Katara's shoulder. When she turns back to Katara, her eyes shift curiously to the new addition to Katara's neck. She lifts her other hand and gently toys with the pendant. "What is…"

Realization infests her face as her eyes flit between Zuko and the necklace. Her sudden silence catches Sokka's attention and he peers over to the source of her confusion. The room echoes with the sound of everything except voices, and Katara waits anxiously for the two to say something.

"Hello? Anyone wanna fill me in? Everyone's heart rate just doubled, so I'm obviously missing something. Might be because I'm blind. Just a random guess, though," Toph interjects, annoyed at being left out.

Sokka pushes past his wife to face Katara, his brotherly glare intimidating her. Normally, Katara would be more than willing to stand up to Sokka, tell him his opinions are outdated or ridiculous, but with something as important as Zuko she's not exactly sure her approach. All she knows is that she's expecting him to react dramatically and ruin it all. So when he calmly touches her arm and asks, "Are you happy?" she doesn't know what to say.

Small tears well in the corners of her eyes. "Yes," she assures, "Very happy," to which Sokka smiles and embraces her.

"Guys! I'm still here, and still blind!"

Katara lets out a choked chuckle at Toph's impatience. She pulls out of Sokka's embrace and walks over to Toph, grabbing her hand and guiding it to the metal pendant.

"Um, what are you doing?"

"It's a betrothal necklace. I'm engaged."

"What, did you and twinkletoes get back together?"

Zuko walks up to the pair and settles his hand on the small of Katara's back. "Well that'd be awkward for me if they did."

Toph's pale eyes widen. "Wait, you and hotpants? Seriously?"

The couple look at each other, Katara slight humored by Toph's classic nicknaming despite Zuko being the Fire Lord and them all being in the Fire Nation Royal Palace. Toph never gave any shits, and for that Katara held a bit of respect. Katara turns back to Toph. "Yes, seriously."

An enthusiastic expression beams from Toph's face. "Called it! I knew all that arguing way back when had to be for a reason. You guys totally had the hots for each other. I'm just glad you finally cut the sexual tension between you two, because that shit was palpable, let me just say."

Although she can't see for herself, Toph manages to turn everyone in the room a shade of bright red. Zuko tries to sputter out some sort of retort, meanwhile Katara is thankful that Aang decided not to attend breakfast this morning. She doesn't even want to look back and see how Sokka and Suki are reacting to Toph's audacious comment. When the silence overwhelms the room, Katara thanks the spirits that a palace workers decides to walk in and announce the arrival of the first course. Thankfully, once everyone has the topic of the food to discuss, the conversation quickly moves away from Zuko and Katara's apparent sexual tension when they were teenagers. The last course is finished with an exhausted sigh from the group, as they are now all stuffed to the brim.

"I never thought I'd feel so full off of breakfast," Sokka grumbles as he stands, "Zuko, how are you not fat? If I ate like this I'd get fat."

Zuko shrugs. "I guess it's just my genetics. Probably the only good thing I got from them."

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I could really go for some sightseeing," Suki says, "I've heard the Fire Nation Botanical Gardens recently got a new exhibit!"

"Oh, that must be the Air Nomad wing you're talking about," Katara comments, "I remember Aang talking about creating some sort of conservatory for the endangered plants they found in the air temple ruins. That way, they can re-plant some of the saplings when the temples are done their reconstruction."

"Cool, I can't wait to see them!" Toph exclaims sarcastically.

"Come on, Toph, it won't be so bad," Zuko says as he places a hand gently on her shoulder, "The aroma in the exhibit is great. You'll at least be able to experience that."

Toph raises a single eyebrow. "Since when have I ever stopped to smell the roses? Both figuratively and literally."

"Doesn't the fact that you're blind heighten your sense of smell or something?" Sokka interjects, "I'm pretty sure I heard that somewhere."

"Good question, Sokka. But, get this, I've always been blind, so how would I know if my smell is better?"

"Fair enough."

"Alright, I think we have our plans for the day. Follow me, I'll escort you all to the stables so we can take a carriage into the city."

As they all leave the dining hall, a large hand softly grabs Katara's arm and holds her back. She turns to see her brother looking at her with concerned eyes.

"Hey, can we talk for a sec?"

Katara looks forward to see Zuko, Suki, and Toph have paused. "You guys go ahead, we'll catch up in a little bit. I know where the stables are." Toph and Suki turn back around quicker than Zuko, who hesitantly eyes Katara before continuing down the corridor with the girls.

Sokka and Katara, noticing that the dining hall is now swarmed with palace workers cleaning up the breakfast mess, spy another doorway on the opposite side of the room that leads into a small lounge. They walk together, careful to stay out of the cleaners' way. The lounge, although smaller than most in the palace, is still quite large and grandiose. One wall is taken up by a stone fireplace flickering softly to light up the room, with another wall consisting of a window the height of a royal guard member. The yellow light from the fireplace against the white light of the outdoors intermingles and creates a comforting atmosphere. A round kotatsu sits directly in front of the burning logs, splayed with a maroon blanket. Sokka and Katara sit themselves next to each other, not even bothering to light the charcoal under the table due to the heat from the already-lit fire.

Sokka clears his throat. "So, um, I know we don't really talk about this type of stuff. I mean, that's what girlfriends are for, right? And I obviously am not that because I'm neither a girl nor a friend, I'm your brother. A brother who loves you very much, might I add. And an older brother, which means it's my responsibility to look after you."

Katara rolls her eyes as his rambling. "Sokka, get to the point," she teases.

"Okay, okay," Sokka says. He exhales before grabbing Katara's hand in his own. "I just… I'm happy for you and Zuko, really, I am. But Aang is also my friend."

Katara feels her heart anxiously flutter. "Yeah, and?"

"And I just, I don't know, wanna make sure I have this straight in my head. Did you… did you break up with Aang for Zuko?"

"That's… a complicated question," Katara says meekly, shying her eyes away from her brother.

"Alright, fair enough. Then answer me this: was there anything going on between you and Zuko while you were still with Aang?"

"No… I mean, kinda… Ugh, I don't see how this is any of your business," Katara says, getting suddenly defensive. "I didn't cheat on Aang, if that's what you're asking."

"Well then what did you mean by 'kinda'?"

"This is ridiculous," Katara grumbles as she goes to stand up, only to be interrupted by Sokka's hand tugging her down. She flicks her head to him defiantly and is met with a soft look of empathy. "Sokka, let me go."

"No. Not until you understand that I'm not judging you, for anything. Katara, you're my sister. Technically, you'll never not be my sister, just like I don't think you'll never not have me as not your brother."

"...Are you being purposely confusing in order to throw me off?"

"Maybe. But that's not the point," He responds, finally letting go of Katara's hand now that he knows she's not leaving just yet. "I'm not asking on behalf of Aang. I'm actually not planning on telling him anything that's said inside this room."

"Then why did you even ask?" Katara questions, crossing her arms. "You've never taken this much of an interest in my love life before."

"Yeah, well before it was because you were with Aang. You'd spent months going through a literal war before actually dating, and it seemed like you guys were going to last forever, so I guess I just saw it coming and didn't question it."

"What, so now you're trying to guilt me about breaking up with him because you think he's my soulmate?"

"Katara, that's not at all what I'm saying," Sokka explains as his voice becomes slightly more serious. "Relationships don't last forever. I get that. I'm only mentioning that because, from the outside, it seemed so… I don't know, perfect, I guess. Like you were meant for each other. So I guess I'm just asking what happened, especially now that you've become engaged again so soon."

Katara sighs. Of course this would look messy from the outside. Sokka was right, she and Aang had been through so much together. A lot of Aang's development during the war was because Katara was there for him to lean on, so it's no wonder that his infatuation became a reality. But what people didn't see were the things she purposely kept hidden: her dissatisfaction, Aang's emotional neglect, not to mention her brewing feelings for someone else.

"There's a lot of things about my relationship with Aang that you don't know about," Katara begins, "That's kind of why it's called a 'private life.' No one really understands what's going on under the surface besides the two people involved. Truth be told, I wasn't happy being with Aang. Sure, I love him. I'll always have a special place in my heart for the boy we found in the iceberg. But, although he's a good friend and a great bender, he's not exactly a great partner. You know me, Sokka. I'm stubborn, I'm independent, and I want to be listened to."

"Tell me about it," Sokka mumbles semi-sarcastically.

"Then you'll get it when I say that Aang just isn't for me. He cares about me, yes, but not as an equal. I sometimes wonder if he ever saw me as more than just the matriarch of the future generation of airbenders."

"Now, you know that's not true," Sokka interjects.

"Yes, I do, but what does it say when that's how I feel based on the way he treats me? Trust me, Sokka, I didn't want to hurt Aang like this. But when he proposed, it was kind of like a now-or-never situation. If I didn't end things when I did, I would have been trapped, and that wouldn't have been fair to either of us."

Sokka looks at her with sympathetic eyes. "I guess you're right. But I still don't see how Zuko plays into this whole situation. Where did that even come from?"

"See, that's where it gets… tricky," Katara says, nervously running her fingers through the hair on the top of her head. She'd recently begun wearing her hair down, not having the patience to fix her half-updo every time she 'exercised.' "You see, years ago… Well, Zuko basically confessed his feelings for me."

"I'm sorry, what? How many years ago was this?"

"Oh, I don't even remember, really," Katara lies, "It's not like it matters. He kept his distance and respected my relationship. But it planted a seed in my head, you know? And as time went on and we got closer as friends, I noticed that feelings of my own, feelings I didn't even realize I had, kept sitting in the back of my mind. So when the time came to decide if I really wanted to be with Aang, it essentially became a choice of either Aang or Zuko, and, well, you know the outcome of that decision."

"So… just to be clear, you never kissed Zuko while with Aang?"

"No," Katara confirms, starting to get annoyed with Sokka's accusations, "After I broke things off with Aang, I came here, to the Fire Nation. That was when I first kissed Zuko."

"And you're not feeling pressured into this marriage or anything, right? Because I don't care if Zuko's the Fire Lord, I'll still kick his ass like we did during the war. That's kind of what brothers are for."

Katara giggles and grabs Sokka's hand. "No. I'm not feeling pressured. In fact, he did as much as he could to prevent that." She hesitates, biting her lip anxiously before continuing. "I love him, Sokka."

"Well, yeah, I would assume that based on the fact that you're engaged to the guy!" Sokka teases, "But for real, Katara, as long as you're happy, I support you. And don't worry, I'll help Aang through this. Have you told him?"

"Yes," Katara says sadly, "Last night. He didn't take it too well."

"Huh, that explains why he missed breakfast. You know, he was kind of expecting you two to get back together when you got back from your little hiatus from the world."

Katara rubs her hands down her face as she groans. "I found that out when I talked to him. I thought I made it clear when I returned his necklace that… ugh."

"Hey, listen. It'll all be fine. You just have to give him time to warm up to the idea. Get it? 'Warm up?' Because we're in the Fire Nation?"

"Yes, Sokka, very funny," Katara says flatly as she pushes herself up to her feet, "We should head for the stables, we've been keeping them all waiting."

"Race you there!" Sokka yells as he leaps up from the velvet cushion. He begins running through the dining hall, skidding as he swerves to avoid the busy palace workers. They jolt away from Sokka when he gets just a little too close as he pushes through them, opting for the shortest route through the room.

"Sokka, we're not kids anymore!" Katara shouts after him. When she sees that he's not listening, she smirks and kicks herself into a sprint, knowing she can beat him easily.