I know this was orginally finished, but I felt it deserved an epilogue. I apologize for the wait, school started.

The white marble was cool beneath his fingers and palms as he leaned against the balcony, his gaze drawn towards the palace garden

The white marble was cool beneath his fingers and palms as he leaned against the balcony, his gaze drawn towards the palace garden. The water of the fountain caught sunlight and the droplets sparkled, twinkling brightly in the daytime like tiny stars or flickering flames. Some of the best memories of his childhood were spent in the garden, running through the trees and picking flowers for his mother, blushing when she kissed his cheek and tucked a bright, vibrant flower in her hair. There were even good memories with Azula locked within his mind, back when she had been young and evil was a concept of their imagination, limited to Water Tribe scum and Earth Kingdom barbarians. It hurt to think his children had been robbed of the opportunity to play where every royal child of the Fire Nation had a right to be.

"Cut it out! Ah, Ursa, help!" Kaya sent a stream of water at Iroh and knocked him into the fountain with a splash, Iroh's hair and clothes were suddenly damp and sticking to his body like a second skin. Steam rose from his exposed bronze flesh as he attempted to dry himself with his bending, but Kaya and Anchee were relentless in their assault. The water in the fountain was frozen as Iroh stood and his feet were stuck in the clear ice. Zuko watched the "battle" unfold with a smile, trying to remain impartial when Ursa sent a fireball at her sister and tried in vain to pull Iroh from the ice. "It's too late, go on without me Ursa, you're young…" Iroh clutched his chest dramatically and fell back when the ice returned to water. He was reminded of similar games he'd played as a child, but where the one "dead" was always the child forced to be either Water Tribe or Earth Kingdom and often possessed minor burns from Azula's not entirely playful attacks.

There was a flash of orange and yellow and Kaya dove into the fountain beside Iroh to avoid the impressive flame Ursa had sent in her direction. One of Kaya's braids came undone and the hair on the right side of her face hung limp and wild, her red hair ribbon floating on the surface of the clear water. Iroh took advantage of Kaya's dilemma to steal her second hair ribbon, held them both tauntingly as she attempted to keep her hair somewhat controlled.

"Give those back." At fourteen Kaya's one vanity was her hair; it had to be perfect, done in flawless braids and hair loopies.

"No." Iroh taunted and burned them in a flicker of orange and a puff of grey smoke.

"Son of a bitch!" Kaya tackled her seventeen year old brother and Ursa's mouth fell open at the use of the profanity, her blue eyes big, round, astonished circles of blue.

"Kaya!" Kaya had inherited both his and Katara's tempers, as had all their children; it made their childhood fights things to be afraid of. Iroh and Kaya had come home from playing one day with burnt clothes and singed hair, skin crusted with ice and scratches from icicles.

"Sorry dad." Kaya let Iroh up and he tied her hair back himself with a strip of red cloth he ripped from his shirt. It was the first time his son had worn the color of his element, his children were finally free to choose and their clothing was a combination between Water Tribe blues and Fire Nation red and gold. He watched his children and the girl who was like his daughter bend for a few more moments before turning until his back was towards the garden and he leaned against the balcony for support.

"Hello Zuko." The familiar voice made his heart lurch painfully in his chest, because he hadn't heard the voice in years and hadn't thought about the person it belonged to in almost as long.

"Mei, it's good to see you, I thought they would have let you out of prison before now." Mei looked no different then she had years before, older and taller but still recognizably Mei.

"No, it turns out being related to the warden can only get a person so much." She smiled at him, a soft, reassuring smile that almost made him feel guilty. Guilty because he didn't love her and hadn't loved her but she thought he did.

"Being prince of the Fire Nation didn't make the last eighteen years of my life any easier." His life had been peaceful and quaint, a small house in the North with three children and a lovely woman, the simple life of a peasant, the opposite of what a prince's life should be. He found that he wouldn't trade the enjoyable existence for anything other then the lives of the millions who had perished and the lives of his friends. The fire was a tragedy of history, a vicious murder that killed millions in intense heat and burning flames, but had it not been for the fire, there was a chance his children would be nonexistent and his life would be empty.

"Your life is easy now." She leaned into kiss him and he moved his face so that her lips pressed to the skin of his left cheek. Her mouth was smooth and warm but little else, just a dull pressure against his lower jaw. "Zuko…" Mei's dark eyes shone bright with confusion and he turned her until she was gazing down at the garden.

"Those are my children. That's my son" He pointed a hand at Iroh, who was halfway through an advanced fire bending technique, blue eyes gleaming with concentration, his bronze skin glowing warmly in the sunlight. "my eldest daughter" Kaya waved up at them and smiled, golden eyes burning like suns, ebony hair back in braids. "and my youngest." Ursa blushed and covered her face, hiding water blue eyes and what was nearly Katara's face.

"Oh." Mei's expression was one of discontent and indifference. "They're beautiful." Mei's tone was thick with apathy, and he was glad once more that his children were half Katara rather than half Mei. "Well, I'll see you Zuko." He doubted that he would ever see her again and he found that he didn't care as much as he thought he should have.

Katara approached from behind, placed her hand over his, and he couldn't think of anywhere else he wanted to be.

"What happened with your father's body and Azula?" Katara asked softly as she curled closer to Zuko in bed. The red silk sheets felt like liquid against her skin.

"My father was burned and poured into the ocean." She understood without being Fire Nation that scattering Ozai's ashes into the sea was a sign of disgrace. It would be like a Water Tribe member being buried on land rather then sent to drift among the ocean or an Earth Kingdom citizen cremated instead of buried in their element.

"And your sister?" She gently kissed his bare, heated shoulder blade.

"In prison, Ursa burned the right side of her face; she's going to have a scar like mine." Zuko brought a hand up to touch at the burnt skin of his ear and eye and upper cheek. She stopped him before he could run his fingers over the flesh. She kissed his fingertips, she kissed his ear, she kissed his eye, she tried to kiss away each last bit of his old life. Their past had been eradicated by fire, burnt away, her brother and her friends and others she hadn't met and would never have the chance to meet turned to grey ash.

"We can't tell Ursa what she did."

"I know." Zuko tucked his head into the crook of her neck like their children had done when they were young and in need of comfort. She carded her fingers through his dark hair and ran her nails along his scalp soothingly, for the first time in years their life's purpose wasn't to defeat the Fire Lord. Now Zuko had a nation to rule, a nation that had hated him for nearly two decades, a nation that had once cheered when he was killed onstage in a simple, meaningless play.

"You're going to be a great Fire Lord. I believe in you." Everyone that mattered had once believed in Zuko, even those who were dead and in the spirit world had died believing he would bring the Fire Nation into a time of peace. "I do have some good news for you."

"What?" Zuko murmured into her neck, his breath moved hotly over her skin.

"I'm pregnant." She felt his smile against her flesh.

"We could name it after…."

"I think" She smoothed the back of his hair down with the palm of her hand. "we should come up with an original name."

Their lives had new purposes, and they were eager to begin.

Sorry if this chapter was worse then the others, it wasn't intended to be terribly exciting, more like a wrap-up. Please let me know what you thought. ;)