Disclaimer: I do not own the Avatar characters, but Aya is mine.

We entered the Fire Nation Palace in an extremely nervous state. My mother kept taking sharp, rattling breaths as we passed slowly through the Entrance Hall and then into the Throne Room. We both bowed respectfully at the feet of the Fire Lord sitting behind his long wall of flames. It was the only light in the entire room and it cast long shadows against the walls. The only sound that I could hear was the crackling of fire and the patter of our footsteps.

"Don't look him in the eye, remember, Aya." My mother whispered quietly to me as we rose. I nodded my head in response not being able to trust myself to speak. I was extremely glad that I had not had much to eat that night. I had never been more nervous in my entire life. After a few moments of quiet waiting, the Fire Lord rose from his seat and beckoned us closer with a gesture of his arm. He spoke to me first.

"Lady Aya. My son has chosen you as his bride, the day before his seventeenth birthday. He has told me that you accept his proposal, which I am pleased to hear." He smiled but he didn't look too pleased at all. He then turned to my step-mother.

"Lady Ayame. My son has chosen your daughter and I have heard also that you accept this proposal from the royal family."

My step-mother nodded politely and bowed her head. Glancing quickly at the Fire Lord, I saw that he was looking at her with an expression that made my stomach turn. It seemed like admiration…but somehow his eyes looked a little too bright.

"I called you here to welcome you to the palace. Your husband is currently elsewhere in the Fire Nation, on my orders, searching for the Avatar. I am sending out several messengers to make sure he is notified of his family's change in status here. Tomorrow, the engagement between your daughter and my son will be publicly announced. Until the marriage, however, you will remain in your household."

He smiled in an almost pleasant way and raised his arm dismissively.

"I will send someone if any plans change. You may go."

We both bowed and walked quickly out of the room. As soon as the door was closed, my step-mother leaned heavily against me, breathing deeply. I held onto her for what seemed like hours until she regained her posture and smoothed out her hair.

"Sorry, Aya." She said with a slight smile. I nodded back and took a deep breath myself, just happy that the whole ordeal was over. Not that it appeared to be much of an ordeal. After another moment, we began to walk out of the palace and to our house. The whole way my mother kept spouting ideas about how Lord Ozai was going to announce my engagement.

I could still picture the Fire Lord, and the way he was staring at my step-mother.

"I want to talk to Lady Aya please."

Someone was at the door, but I was engrossed in a book that Prince Zuko had given me as a present. We met often now, at least once a day. His father had announced our wedding to be two weeks after the prince's birthday, and the palace had been extremely busy planning everything for the event. They were rebuilding the whole thing with significant quickness and it was turning out very beautifully.

I didn't raise my head until Kiku cleared her throat.

"Excuse me, lady, but someone is here to see you."

I marked my page and closed the book. Setting it on the tea table, I stood up slowly and let out a sigh

"Who?" I asked, trying not to sound to irritated. People had been visiting me for the past week after our engagement had been publicly announced. It got quite tiresome after a while but I could only imagine what Prince Zuko had to go through.

"Lady Natsumi." Kiku said in a nervous voice. As if her name had been a signal, Natsumi herself glided gracefully in and bowed with a humble smile. I was so shocked that my mouth dropped open and for a moment I couldn't think quite straight. Natsumi looked at me, and then when I couldn't say anything, around the room with an interested gaze. She spoke before I could.

"Lady Aya, I must say that your household is stunning."

This simple remark shook me and I found my voice.

"What are you doing here?" I said, acquiring a steely tone. Her eyes fell instantly upon me; she let out a tired sigh, and sat down heavily on a cushion placed around our table.

"Please, Aya, I must explain some things to you. You must understand-." I cut her off before she could finish.

"I don't need you to explain anything to me." I said in a curt voice. There was movement out of the corner of my eye and I turned. Kiku was standing by the kitchen door holding a pot of hot water and two tea mugs.

"There will be no need for that." I said harshly. "She will be leaving before long." Natsumi sighed again as Kiku left through the door.

"Please, just let me try." She said in a sincere voice while motioning to a cushion. "Please?"

I glanced at her and then slowly sat, not knowing exactly why. Natsumi smiled and placed her folded hands into her lap.

"Aya, you must know that what you saw in that room was not Yoko's fault." She began in a soft voice. I looked at my lap.

"Before I even knew that Yoko had feelings for you, he was the object of my affection for a couple of years."

My head shot up. Natsumi had liked Yoko? She was avoiding my intense stare and my head began to swim. What if what I saw really was a mistake? And I had agreed to marry the Prince of the Fire Nation…I shook my head in disbelief.

"This was when we were much younger, hardly just out of childhood. But I had loved him. I followed him everywhere, like a pet that he never knew about. Soon, however, I noticed that he was showing his affection in a more public manner to someone else: you."

She looked up at me and her eyes were glassy. I was still trying to process what Natsumi was telling me.

"He loved you, Aya. More than he would have ever loved me and that hurt me so much; knowing that he would never feel the same about me as I did about him. So I told him about how I felt and realized that what I had done was a big mistake. He let me down gently, of course, but I could never recover from what I had now confirmed was true. Since that moment, I did everything in my power to win him back. Nothing was grand or very obvious, mostly small things; telling him that I loved him while passing by, writing letters while he was away, little things that I thought might sway him."

She was crying quietly now and all I could do was stare at her with a blank look on my face. All of this was hard to comprehend when all I had expected was an apology. She was letting her love for someone that had broken both of our hearts pour out without a second thought. And I couldn't believe I didn't know that she had loved him.

"But when I heard that he had spoken to you about a marriage proposal, I was desperate. I thought that if I could just meet him in private, I could convince him that I loved him more than you ever could. But I was wrong. So wrong in fact that he actually called to meet me. I was so excited when he told me. I thought that he as going to propose to me instead and then exclaim his love for me in that moment. But he came in with a grim face and told me that I needed to stop. I had to stop everything that I was doing so you would not get suspicious of him. I couldn't believe what he was saying and so…"

She trailed off and, for the first time, looked me directly in the eye.

"I tried to convince him how much I really cared for him. And that was when you walked in. I was too stunned to do anything, but Yoko ran after you. And that is when it really made me realize that he would never love me like he loved you."

Natsumi stopped and her watery eyes gazed deeply into mine. I could hardly breathe. Everything, everything I had seen was not real. It was a mistake and I felt like such a stupid fool for it. Here, I had thought that Yoko had cheated on me and it had turned out that it was a complete misunderstanding.

"Aya, I am so sorry. I know we didn't get along, but I really never meant to hurt you this bad."

"I think you need to leave." I whispered. Standing up slowly, I turned on her and walked away, upstairs to my room. Behind me, I could hear the faint sound of a door opening and closing as Natsumi left. I sat on my bed and stared into my lap, my mind whirling like a hurricane.

So, it all had been a mistake. And I was already engaged to Prince Zuko. I couldn't break off our engagement; the Fire Lord's anger would be out of control and who knew what he would do. But if Yoko still loved me…I couldn't even begin to imagine how he must be feeling. I had ignored him for over a week now and he most certainly and not tried to come back to talk to me. I put my head in my hands and took in a deep breath. I felt as if I was about to cry, but I had done enough crying for now.

There was a knock on the door and Kiku slowly walked in.

"Lady?"

I looked up and she stared at me worriedly.

"Lady, are you alright?" She asked softly, gently placed a hand on my shoulder. I stared to nod, and then shook my head violently.

"No. I will never be alright again I think. Please Kiku; I just need to be alone for a moment." Kiku glanced at me one last time, and then left, quietly shutting the door behind her. I sat on my bed until the sky became dark, turning over every event that had happened in the last two weeks. I had been, at first, only just normal…and blissfully happy. And now, things had become complicated and confusing. I lay down, not feeling at all hungry for dinner and was about to fall asleep when I realized that I should forget about everything. I should just push all things aside and just…be. I would wake up in the morning and warmly greet my step-mother. I would dress and go into the palace to sped time with Prince Zuko. I would show him that everything would be okay. I would show everyone that everything would be okay.

That night I dreamed of the Avatar. He smiled at me, so young, and held out his hand. Hesitantly, I took it and he showed me to a spring, water running down from the top of a large rock. Red, orange, and pink flowers were growing beside it. Someone was picking them and weaving them into a crown, a constant steady motion. The Avatar motioned to me and I knelt next to the silent person. She turned towards me and I saw the face of my mother.