Katara has missed a lot of things about the Fire Nation.

Like the weather. It's nice to see actual grass and not snow, for once. And the gardens. Katara has missed flowers.

She has also missed Fire Nation cuisine, as silly as that sounds, like dumplings and spicy noodles.

She has missed the color. Not that there isn't color in the Water Tribes, because there is. But the Fire Nation is tropical. There are plants and trees and beaches and fruit. Katara has really missed fresh fruit.

But in the end, Katara realizes that what she missed most about the Fire Nation were the people that she had left behind.

Katara huffs in irritation and tosses the lip brush down on top of her vanity with more force than necessary.

The paint on the tip smudges all over the countertop, making a mess. Katara sighs.

"Do you want me to do it?"

Frowning slightly, Katara turns away from the mirror and raises an eyebrow at the person sitting on her bed. Suddenly it feels as if she's fifteen again, hanging out in her room with her friend.

"If you wouldn't mind."

Azula gets up from Katara's bed and crosses over to her, taking the lip brush from the countertop. She dabs her finger against the brush's tip before leaning over Katara and sweeping her now color tainted finger along Katara's lips.

The entire time Azula is shaking her head. "You know, this really isn't that hard. Don't spea—"

"I'm just nervous, okay?"

"And now you've got red paint on your teeth. How special."

Katara's eyes widen in panic before she grumbles and runs her tongue over her teeth. "I'm nervous," she repeats, looking down at her lap.

She's yet to even make an attempt at putting on the dress Ursa has selected for this evening. It's quite revolting, but Katara didn't have the heart to say "no".

Azula resumes dabbing at Katara's lips. "I don't see why. It's just Zuko. And it's not like you're getting married tonight."

Katara nods slightly, deciding not to risk speaking again.

Azula finishes with Katara's lip paint and moves on to Katara's black paint without asking. This time she does use the brush, carefully swiping it above Katara's eyelashes.

Katara takes the moment to study the friend she hasn't seen in quite some time. There are bags underneath her eyes, but otherwise Azula looks fairly put together. She's wearing her armor and has a sword at her hip. Considering the dress that Katara will have to put on later, she's feeling pretty jealous of Azula's chosen attire.

There's something fiercely pretty about the Fire Nation princess. Her features are sharp, but Katara knew how they'd soften when something managed to make Azula smile.

It was a rare occasion, but still.

Katara straightens her shoulders and back. Tonight's plan had to work.

"There," Azula says briskly, lying own the black paint brush and moving back to sit on the edge of the bed. She stares at Katara's face for a moment, studying her handiwork. Nodding in satisfaction, she turns to what she had been doing before: inspecting her old arrows.

Letting out an explosive sigh, Katara turns and casts a distressed look at her dress hanging up near the dresser.

It's seriously dreadful.

She stares at the ceiling for a moment, gathers her courage, and stands up. The sooner she puts it on, the sooner she can show it to Ursa and then get out of it.

There's a slight hiss. Katara turns and catches Azula sticking a bloodied fingertip in her mouth.

"Arrows are still sharp," Azula explains. She sounds thrilled.

"I don't see what you're going to need arrows for," Katara mutters. "It's just an engagement party."

Azula gives her a somewhat sadistic look. "Well, Sokka's going to be here, isn't he?"

Azula is snickering. Continuously.

Katara has put on her dress like a champion. She has left the safety of her room. She is about to appear in front of dozens of people dressed in what can only be described as a peacock-flamingo suit. Yet she is acting admirably.

But Azula won't stop laughing.

Katara continues to put one foot in front of the other. "I don't see what is so funny."

"Then you must be blind."

Katara is about to turn around and snap at her friend when she hears two familiar male voices up ahead and around the corner. She grins.

Zuko and Sokka appear and they both freeze.

Zuko seems to have frozen because he sees what his fiancé is wearing. Sokka seems to have frozen because he sees the person standing behind his sister.

"Katara," Zuko finally addresses her before opening and closing his mouth several times, as if looking for something to say. "You…you look, um—"

Katara crosses her arms over her chest self-consciously. "Don't lie. It's awful. It has ruffles."

Zuko shakes his head. "I was going to say that everything looks beautiful when…it's on you…?"

Sokka smacks his forehead with his palm and Azula scoffs. "My brother, the romantic."

Zuko flushes and grumbles under his breath before shuffling his feet awkwardly. It makes Katara smile.

And then Azula is turning around and walking away without a word. A moment later Sokka does the same, making an excuse about meeting up with the Avatar.

Katara whirls on Zuko. "Your plan is a disaster!"

Zuko looks appalled at her accusation. "My plan? You're the one who swore up and down that the two of them would work everything out when they finally saw each other again!"

Katara huffs. "They haven't seen each other in years! I thought that they would at least be civil to each other!"

"Well, they haven't been civil, and my best friend and sister are miserable."

Both of their expressions sober.

Katara wishes that she could make her brother and best friend be happy. But Katara knows that people can only be happy if they allow themselves to be.

She sniffs and bites her bottom lip. She doesn't think that tonight is going to be very much fun anymore.

"Amateurs. The both of you."

Both Zuko and Katara stiffen and turn their heads to see a young woman leaning against the wall near them. She's dressed in lovely green robes, has a long, slick black pony tail draped over one shoulder, and is munching on an apple. Her milky-green eyes are her most piercing feature.

Katara remembers her from Lu Ten's wedding.

Toph takes another bite of her apple, chews, then swallows. "What I'm gathering from the full minute of conversation that I overheard, you're trying to get two people to either get together or get back together. Probably the latter. Am I right?"

Zuko only nods so Katara speaks. "Yes…"

"'Course I'm right. I'm assuming you both already tried the calm approach where neither of you technically interfere? Did it work?"

"No…"

"You bet your ass it didn't, because people are stubborn and people are stupid. They have too much pride and won't admit it when they're wrong, or when they need to make up with someone. That's why you have to give people pushes."

Katara blinks in confusion. "Uh, I'm not sure—"

"Have you used the jealousy approach?"

Zuko answers out loud this time. "No."

"All you do is send someone in to mercilessly flirt with Person A and Person B will get jealous and then there will be a fight and then they'll air some dirty laundry and then sparks will fly, perhaps literally, and then the next thing you know Person A and Person B are trying to create a Person C in an abandoned broom closet. You know, this really isn't that difficult to figure out. Like I said, amateurs."

Toph takes another bite of her apple.

Zuko and Katara's mouths are hanging open.

"You know, when I provided you guys with my glorious intellect, I wasn't implying that you choose me to be your spy," Toph gripes, glaring at a spot around Katara's shoulder.

"Are you kidding me?" Zuko snaps back. "You practically volunteered."

"You keep telling yourself that, Princey."

Zuko, who had been fiddling with his sleeve, looks startled, then irritated. "Princey?"

But Katara puts a hand on each of her companion's shoulder and pushes them toward the ballroom. She can hear the rumble of people from where they're standing in the hallway.

"Come on. The sooner we get through this party the sooner I can get out of this dress."

Zuko takes a misstep, obviously distracted by a mental image, and Katara allows herself to feel smug for a brief moment.

The next few hours were going to be interesting.

Ursa is crying.

"You're just so beautiful," the Fire Princess proclaims, warm hands cupping Katara's face. "You're a vision to these sore eyes! My son is so very lucky to have you."

Katara decides that it feels weird to be fawned over like this.

"You just went and grew up when I wasn't looking," Ursa continues, gaze still misty. "Your mother would be so proud of who you've become."

Katara feels an overwhelming sense of gratitude wash over her. It makes her eyes burn and her throat feel tight. "You think so?" She can't help the hesitance in her voice.

Ursa smiles and pats her cheek. "I know so. She would've been so happy. She is happy."

And then both women start sniffling and suddenly Katara doesn't care so much about her dress.

"I'm going to call you Auntie Kat-Kat."

Zuko wasn't lying; Ke Ke really is adorable.

Katara tilts her head and looks down at the mischievous six year old princess. "Is that so?"

Ke Ke nods. "Yes. Because you're marrying Uncle Zukey, so you have to be an Auntie. And you and Uncle Zukey will get married and live happily ever after, because that's what happens when grownups get married and they love each other and stuff."

Ke Ke goes back to happily playing with her dolls, the dolls Katara and Zuko made what feels like a lifetime ago.

"Are you excited for the wedding?" Katara asks, gently running her fingers through the girl's silky black hair.

Ke Ke grins and nods eagerly. "Uncle Zukey says that I get to hold the flowers and that, and that I get to hand you the flowers, Auntie Kat-Kat."

Katara has no idea what this means but pretends as if she understands anyway.

"But, but do you want to know what I'm really excited for?"

"What are you excited for?"

Ke Ke bounces in enthusiasm. "Uncle Zukey says that my dolls can finally play kissy face!"

"Avatar Aang, what an, um, interesting headpiece!" At this point Katara is just trying to be polite.

Avatar Aang is wearing a preposterous hat. There are dozens of bells glued onto it and the Avatar's head jingles whenever he moves it.

The Avatar grins. "Isn't it delightful? Princess Ke Ke made it for me especially for this evening. I think it's quite festive."

"It's orange. And purple."

"A splendid color combination, don't you think?"

Katara nods, determined not to lie out loud.

"Might I say, young Katara, that your dress is absolutely extraordinary? I find myself dazzled by it."

"You and many others." Katara has to look at the Avatar's shoulder. If she looks at his head she'll giggle.

She glances around the open room that's packed full of people—most of them she doesn't even know. She hasn't seen Zuko in awhile, and she has no idea where her brother or Azula are.

"Avatar Aang, I was wondering if you knew where Sokka was?"

The Avatar taps his chin in thought. "A thought I saw him a little bit ago. He was drowning his sorrows over by the punch bowl. Refused to partake in singing a Fire Nation folk song with me and Fire Lord Iroh."

There's a loud crash and a stream of curses. Katara cringes.

Avatar Aang shakes his head and beams. His head tinkles. "One of my favorite things about young Sokka is that I never have to actively search for him! He always finds ways to make himself known."

"Katara—hiccup—did you know that someone spiked this punch?"

Sokka is drunk. So is Toph.

"I knew it was spiked!" the earthbender proclaims, swaying on her feet and clutching a half full cup of punch in one hand. "Because I'm the one who spiked it!"

Katara stares at them, growing angrier and angrier by the second. She grabs Toph by the elbow and jerks her to the side.

"What happened to making Azula jealous?"

"Yeah…about that…I don't know where she is. And Mister Sarcasm was getting mopey, so I decided to spice up the evening. I think that she might be around though, since I caught his heartbeat speeding up a couple of times."

"You can feel heartbeats?" Katara asks curiously, her anger temporarily forgotten.

"I'm awesome like that," Toph slurs.

Sokka grabs them both and spins them back around to face them. "Guys, guys…I feel like singing! Where's the Avatar and Fire Lord Iroh?"

Katara groans and then notices that someone has set Sokka's pant leg on fire.

Not much later Katara finds Zuko in the gardens, leaning up against a tree.

"Have you been out here this whole time?"

Her fiancé jumps at her tone, before he relaxes and shakes his head. Katara notices that he looks frazzled. "I just escaped," he says sheepishly before pushing off from the tree and making his way over to her.

"Me too," Katara says, moving forward and wrapping her arms around his waist, burying her face in his chest. "I had to deal with a drunken Sokka and your crying mother, although I didn't mind the latter all that much."

"Lu Ten and I got cornered by politicians and nobleman and they wouldn't stop harassing us." His voice rumbles in his chest, vibrating against Katara's cheek.

She tilts her head up and smiles at him. "That stinks." She leans up and presses a soft kiss on his mouth.

They're alone, so things escalate fairly quickly.

Soon Katara's back is against the grass and Zuko is propped up on an elbow at her side, kissing her shoulder and trailing a hand down to her hip.

Katara is certain she'll never not feel excited by the way he touches her. She's certain that he'll always make her feel like she's burning. She's certain that there's no way that she could give this up twice.

She's certain that this is right.

"Love you," she whispers, and feels him still for a moment before renewing his movements with fervor.

"Love you too," he whispers back, breath ghosting over her skin. Katara turns her head, kisses him, smiles into his lips.

They don't speak any more after that, but they still manage to make promises that drift into the night sky.

Katara awakens to sunlight on her face.

It's too warm and she doesn't like it. Groaning, she rolls over and grumbles into the grass and dirt.

She brings her bare legs up to her chest. Then with a jolt of realization that her legs and other body parts are bare Katara quickly sits up, blinking.

Zuko is sitting against the tree, eating some grapes and watching her with contentment. Katara notices that he's at least wearing pants.

She glances down at herself. Someone has very kindly draped her dress from last night over her upper body, concealing all of her necessary bits.

She glowers at Zuko. "Why didn't you wake me up once you saw that I was essentially naked?"

Instead of answering, Zuko smirks devilishly at her and pops another grape into his mouth.

Days pass.

Katara thinks that maybe time goes faster now, and she's sure that's because she wishes it were going slower.

She thinks it's because she's happy.

She thinks it's because most everyone is happy.

Most everyone except for two certain people.

Katara knows her brother better then she knows most everyone. And it's not just because they're related. Katara knows that you can share blood with someone and still not know them. No, Katara thinks it's because they actually talk and listen to each other.

So when Sokka tells his sister that he's leaving the Fire Nation to continue his travels with the Avatar, Katara knows that something is wrong.

Katara has only seen her brother cry a handful of times. Once at their mother's funeral. Once when he got a fishhook stuck in his thumb. Once when he found out that Zuko's father had burned off half of his son's face. Once when he pulled his arm out of its socket while hunting. Once when she'd told him she was engaged.

And now.

"When's the wedding?" he asks, voice thick. He wipes at his eyes. Katara's pretty sure that he's not crying because he's leaving. They've both left the other plenty of times before.

"Sometime soon. I'll send you an invitation," she says, voice soft. Her eyes start to water against her will. When he brother cries, she cries.

He gives her a hug, and when he pulls away she bites her lip. "Sokka…"

He meets her gaze. "Maybe you're not supposed to be with person you thought you'd be with. That's what the Avatar said. Maybe you're supposed to find something else, and maybe it won't be better. In fact, it probably won't be better, but maybe it'll be just as good."

Katara takes a deep breath and it comes out shaky. "You'll find something better."

"Maybe."

"What's this?"

"Katara. It's an arrow."

"I know that, but what are you giving me one of your arrows for?"

"…"

"…"

"Fine. I want you to send it to your brother."

"Oh. But why can't you send—"

"Just do it."

"…fine. Any message to go with it?"

"Just the arrow."

"It'll be blank—"

"Just the arrow."

"Okay, Azula. Okay."

"…"

"…"

"Your brother, he'll understand."

Katara is reading a scroll, Tomkin's massive head in her lap.

Zuko is sitting not far from her, scratching Sang behind the ears and occasionally inspecting the necklace she carved for him. He'd opted to get rid of the ribbon and put the pendant on a chain. They both agreed that it looked better.

They're in the library. Katara decides to break the quiet. "Zuko…"

"Hmm?"

"Do you think that, maybe, if I hadn't of shown up at the air temple, if we hadn't sorted everything out, do you think…do you think we would have eventually found other people?"

He gives her a surprised look. "Why are you asking?"

Katara shrugs. "It's just something that's been on my mind because of…things."

Zuko nods in understanding. "I think," he begins, eyes narrowing in thought, "that maybe we would have found the path that was best for us. Well, best for us if we couldn't have each other."

Katara places the scroll down at her side. "Do you think that that other path would have made us just as happy?"

Zuko stares at her for a long moment, hesitant to answer. "Who's to say," he finally responds, swallowing.

Katara lets out a deep breath, her head falling back against the wall.

But then Zuko smiles. "I'm pretty happy that we're both on this path though."

Katara returns his smile. "Agreed."

A/N:

This chapter is kind of short and sort of pointless? I still think I like it? Yeah.

First off, to everyone who left a review last chapter, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am extremely lucky to have readers as awesome as you guys, because seriously, y'all put up with a lot from me and I really appreciate your patience. I know some of you were, ahem, disgruntled with me because of the last author's note, but still, I'm thankful that you left reviews anyway. Even if they were kind of unpleasant.

I suspect we only have three more installments to go *lip wobbles*. I'm hoping to have this wrapped up by the end of the year.

Also, Toph? Yes, no, maybe so? I had missed her, so I snuck her in.

Hope everyone enjoyed and let me know what you think! :D