I've gotten a few questions on Zuko and Katara's ages in this AU, so I might as well try to explain it here (though I didn't do, I confess, a lot of research on the Olympics for swimming). The retirement age is around forty, Zuko would have kept going on until he couldn't. I can assume he was training Mai afterwards, so...maybe, then, early fifties, really late forties? There is no minimum age requirement, really, but Katara has to be young-ish to get a start, so...hm...mid-twenties to thirty. (shrugs) I tried not to make Zuko too old for Katara, but I think when you're older adults, age really isn't a huge issue. Besides, our pair is very fit and attractive...they look younger than they are.

I got this idea from rereading Life of Pi. Truly amazing book; I fully recommend it.

9. Sublime

"All right, no! No, no, no."

Katara paused right in the middle, visibly annoyed as she shoved the goggles over her head. "What do you mean with your multiple nos?"

Zuko sighed and wrote something down on his clipboard. "Your form is really off."

"You could have just told me Katara, your form is off instead of bellowing at me!"

"I was not bellowing at you—"

"Oh, you were—"

"Okay, okay, that's enough!" Zuko groaned, nearly throwing his pen into the water. "No more arguing!"

Katara raised her eyebrows.

"For now," Zuko confirmed. He rolled his eyes. "We should waste no more time bickering. The point is this: your form had gotten sloppy. And you must correct it."

"My form has gotten me to Point A to Point B in better time than yesterday!" Katara countered. "What is this—swimming or figure skating?"

"The referee will notice that your form is shaky and unsatisfactory and will point it out." Zuko paced carefully along the pool's edge. "It will also, as you quoted: get you to Point A to Point B in a better time."

Katara glared at him, still treading water impatiently in the same spot.

"We need something that will get you to realize how important this is!" Her coach gestured passionately with his arms, his pen this time really falling into the water with a soft plop. He didn't notice. Katara watched it sink to the bottom as he continued. "You are obviously indifferent to this—thinking there is no need for his lesson. But I will show you with—"

"More excercise drills?" Katara dryly interrupted, though inwardly cringing in dismay.

"No." Zuko put his hand to his chin thoughtfully like the famous statue. He closed his eyes, then smiled slightly. Katara stared at it, wondering what was going on inside his sadistic mind. More laps around the parking lot until she conceded defeat? Hours of rotating her arms or holding them stiffly in an uncomfortable postion? A full day in the pool while he shouted what was wrong with her technique every five seconds? A...

"...Zoo?" Katara stared, open-mouthed at the subtle, but neat sign. "You're taking me to the zoo?" The sun was blazing down on her safari-looking hat, and sweat was already beading at her forehead.

Zuko nodded in all seriousness, binoculars around his neck and dressed in comfortable civilian clothes (a transparent tank top, and he was sweating) with sunglasses. Katara continued to gape when he paid the fee and opened the gate for her. No wonder he told me to wear sunscreen and a hat... She felt something stare at her backside as she bent over slightly to grab a pamphlet. Guess he didn't count on the shorts.

"Have you not been to a zoo before?" Zuko asked her, noticing her still-open mouth and bulging eyes as he selected a map. "Should I explain a few rules to you? For starters, do not feed—"

Katara snapped out of her daze. With animals, there were flies, so she better close her mouth..."Is this a joke? A field trip to the zoo? For my Olympic training?"

Zuko looked slightly annoyed, then was pushing her by her lower back to look at the diving seals into the cool, refreshing water. "No. I'm being serious."

"So, what are we going to do?" she answered sarcastically, sweeping her arm dramatically over the wide range of cages and fences. "Take notes on their habitats? Examine their diets? Or perhaps take notes on whether they walk on two legs or four?"

"Don't be ridiculous." Zuko scoffed, handing her the binoculars. She took them in startled hands, and he raised them to her eyes rather gently, despite his tightly clenched hands and tight frown. "For example, look at the seals. Watch as they slip into the water, with hardly a sound."

Katara hated to burst his bubble, but she did. "Humans aren't built like pinnipeds."

"What?"

"Seals," she explained, with a slight smirk. Zuko tried to secretly peek at the nearby sign, but the corner of her mouth quirked upwards. "It's not on there."

Zuko tried to once again take control of the "lesson." "See how it expertly dives into the water and smoothly swims—"

"Seals don't really worry about form. They have certain characteristics that help them swim they way they do. For example, their sleek and barrel-shaped bodies, flippers, conserving oxygen for two hours, perhaps their secretion of—"

He glared at her, which strongly resembled the wrinkled, grouchy walrus the next exhibit over. Giving up at the mere look at her readiness to counter with more of her knowledge of seal facts, he led her over to the fish stand to feed them. He scowled as she cheerfully tossed the small fish into their barking mouths. They were very hungry.

He tried the same thing, persistently, with the manatees, otters, penguins, small sharks, and even a squid. All resulted in Katara defeating his purpose with her vast knowledge of marine animals. This had him dangerously close to crushing his expensive binoculars as Katara calmly stood by, eating her strawberry-lemon ice, as he pointed furiously to the shallow pool made of gray rock and a small waterfall. She had already participated in the activity as Zuko had stood by like an angry bodyguard who doubled as a butler (he conceded to carrying her backpack).

"The stingray—"

"Spends all of its time in water. They swim by undulating their bodies like a wave or flapping their sides like wings. Unlike humans."

"Your girlfriend is very smart, young man," an older man commented as his child peered over the edge of the touch-tank to gently stroke said animal with two fingers.

Zuko went off, fuming, muttering words that were not appropriate for the small children in the area. Katara shook her head, throwing away her finished treat in the appropriate container.

"The lion—"

"Is not even a marine animal. Perhaps we should have visited an aquarium?"

Zuko slumped onto the nearest bench and cursed more. A grandmother nearby gave him a disapproving look and moved her grandchildren away from them.

"Forget it. Forget it. We should just have lunch in that cafe over there and go home."

Katara sighed. He really did look very disappointed. She sat down next to him and patted his shoulder. "I'm sorry I ruined your lesson plan."

This, for some reason, made him fist his dark hair in his hands and clench his jaw. "Katara..." Zuko looked up, his hooded eyes facing over her shoulder. She turned around.

"Those are flamigoes. Flamingoes—"

He groaned again. She shook her head. It was just too easy, like being sarcastic to Sokka (he always thought she was serious).

"Look, Zuko, I was kidding. Come on, you can show me the...lions."

"No!" Zuko hit his forehead multiple times with his hands. She was mildly alarmed by this. He never broke out of his calm facade. She began to stroke his arm, much like the petting of the stingyrays. "It really wasn't about the animals. Or your form. It's really gotten better."

This made her stop her hand in mid-pet. "What?"

"I..." Zuko was looking down at his shoes. "I know I've been harsh with you, and really infuriating. I wanted to take you out for some place nice, and I didn't think another lunch or gala was appropriate—"

He waited for a laugh. She was still staring at him in complete disbelief, mimicking the beginning scene when they first were approaching the zoo.

"And...I wanted to impress you. That was pretty stupid, I guess. But I wanted you to have a fun time—"

"Oh, I did—"

Zuko looked dismayed now. "Not like...that. Not making a mockery of me. Not by laughing at me. Not—"

She kissed him. For the first time in weeks, he was quiet.

Perfect.