It's so cold... Katara awoke to find Zuko gone, and felt the absence keenly. Despite her resolve to hate their life together, she missed his warmth- and, although she didn't admit it to herself, his company. "...Zuko? You here?"

As she wandered the icy house, she felt panic welling up inside and did her best to ignore it.

Her best wasn't good enough.

What if Zuko had left in the night? Left without her? What if he didn't share her new... perspective? What if he never would? And what if-

A blast of heat and light sent her reeling back out of the courtyard. She slipped into the defensive stance she hadn't used for two years and for a terrible moment thought of Azula.

Then she realized the fire wasn't blue.

"Careful," Zuko chuckled. "You might get burned."

"Zuko!" Katara ran forward, ready to hug him, then realized that he hadn't seen how worried she was. She was determined to keep it that way.

"So... You're up early..." she tried to feign nonchalance and failed miserably.

"I'm always up early, Katara." He looked puzzled. Concerned. Spirits! Was she really so easy to see through?

"Right, right, you rise with the sun. Forgot."

She winced internally as she remembered too late the last time he'd used those words. Back when he was... not good. Zuko was never bad. Zuko could be frustrating sometimes, but after her time with him, Katara couldn't think of him that way anymore.

It annoyed her to no end.

"Katara? Katara, I said forget about it. Are you okay? Katara!" Zuko's voice snapped her back into reality.

"Oh, yeah, fine. I was just... thinking."

"About what?"

Really, he could be so nosy sometimes! "Umm... just... wondering what you were doing just then." Wow, Katara. Is that really the best you can come up with? "I thought you'd given up on attacking us." She smiled at her feeble joke, hoping it was a fair excuse.

"It wasn't intentional. Sorry about that. Just... bending. I haven't done it in so long... Being Fire Lord sort of takes up most of my time." He smiled lopsidedly and his expression reduced Katara to giggling girlishly. She smothered it quickly.

"Mind if I join you?" she managed after far too much time.

"Sure. I wouldn't mind a sparring partner." he replied evenly, despite the amused glimmer in his eyes.

Katara shifted from her defensive stance to an offensive one, and the battle began.

--

Aang packed his staff and a change of clothes. Before they arrived, he would swap his formal monk's attire for something more comfortable. He also packed a blue Water Tribe parka; he didn't want to attract attention on this visit, just relax with Katara somewhere she could be in her element- and more importantly, find her before she heard about his arrival. It was a surprise, after all.

One yip yip later, he and Appa were airborne. "Just like old times, buddy." he told his Sky Bison, patting him affectionately.

How wrong he was.

--

Fire and water danced across the courtyard, two titans, both necessary for survival and both destructive to no end, all the more deadly when they clashed.

The water flowed smoothly back and forth, push and pull. Water didn't advance as quickly, but it healed as well as destroyed, making up for its lack of speed with an unrivaled sense of balance.

The fire advanced ruthlessly, making unstoppable progress, but never looking back to the destruction in its wake. Fire never stopped to rest and made no exceptions, unforgiving to anyone who happened across its path.

The water was made more beautiful, lent an unearthly glow by the fire it dueled.

The fire was made more powerful, the steam of fallen water mingling with the smoke of raging flame.

They danced together in a blinding display of push and pull, life and death, good and evil, yin and yang.

Finally Zuko and Katara stopped, exhausted but deeply in love.

--

"Come on, buddy, just a little farther." The huge creature finished the last of his meal and relented, pushing off heavily from the precarious ice floe. He'd had two years of almost no flying, and was getting a little lazy- not to mention a little overweight. But he adored his human, and would help on any mission that was required of him.

Aang knew Appa was getting tired but urged him on, eager to reach the Pole before the full moon set. He knew Katara would be up. This was her favorite time of the month. And he wanted to be with her for her favorite moment.

"I'm coming for you, Katara." he whispered into the breeze Appa had whipped up as he picked up speed.

He didn't know that someone else had come first.

--

Zuko rolled over in an attempt to make the icy floor more comfortable when he noticed she was gone. He didn't panic the way she had.

Like the warrior he was, he listened.

There it was. A light, soothing swish. A gentle sound, like the tide rolling in but without the thunder. Not many waves roiling out in the limitless expanses of the sea, but one.

The sound of a Waterbender.

"May I join you?"

Katara whirled around, startled to see Zuko in the doorway.

Then she smiled.

"You here for a rematch?"

Zuko's cocky grin let her know he didn't mind she was stealing his line. "Trust me Katara, it won't be much of a match."

It was funny, she reflected as she let the full moon guide her movements. She had never seen Zuko like this before. It was something hard to describe. For some reason, her thoughts flew to the first time she'd visited this place: to the moment she'd seen the Spirit Oasis. The way Aang had described it. Tranquil. Yes, that was the perfect word. Zuko was tranquil.

"You know," Zuko called to her over the roar of flames and rush of water. "It's so weird. I feel like a kid again!"

"You still are a kid!" she laughed back.

He must be so peaceful because the world is out of the picture now. She thought as she mulled over the new Zuko. It's just him... and me. Katara felt herself blushing now, and was glad Zuko hadn't heard the realization.

Zuko was much stronger than the last time they'd dueled here. He was confident now, and didn't put all of his force into any one strike. He didn't need to. Even when he'd offered to teach Aang Firebending, he wasn't a total master of his element. But Katara had only realized that in reflection, seeing how much better he'd become.

"Hey, I thought you said you hadn't done any bending in a while!" she protested after one particularly powerful blast.

"What's the matter, can't handle the heat?"

"You've been training so you could beat me, haven't you? You really didn't like losing to a girl, huh?"

"Maybe a little." he admitted. "But hey, you snooze you loose, Katara. Not my fault you've been lazy." He found time in between strikes to shrug casually, making her laugh again.

"Hey! Speaking of snoozing, isn't this supposed to be my time of day? Why aren't you off to bed?"

He halted his attack, more serious now. "I... wanted to be with you, I guess."

--

Aang was above the North Pole now. He'd let Appa rest on an ice floe nearby and used his glider instead- he was a little harder to recognize that way. He scanned the city from the air, looking for the silver glint of water in the moonlight. There was a lot of that around here, he noted with some amusement. He was in a great mood right now.

A flash of light drew his attention to a huge courtyard. Absently he wondered whose house that was- he'd never seen one so big, with the exception of the Chief's own palace. The flash was gone now, but the glint of water remained. He swooped down low to make sure. Was there someone in the shadows? The Avatar paused. No, he was just imagining. But the Waterbender was real. Katara!

--

She returned the water to her bending pouch. She couldn't help hoping his tone of voice meant what she thought it did.

"Katara..."

She put a finger to his lips. Suddenly it seemed very important to let him know something. "Zuko, I don't hate you."

He wasn't sure how to feel. He hadn't known she hated him in the first place. The last time someone had said that to him... He thought he'd felt the same way about Mai. But now he knew. And he knew that Katara was the one he really loved.

"Umm... I don't hate you too?" he offered.

She laughed, softly this time, stroked his scarred cheek. Then their eyes met, only for a moment, and she pressed her lips to his as they melted into their first heartfelt kiss.

A strong wind swirled around them, and the lovers were engulfed in an unearthly silver light. Katara felt another presence, a sense of unbearable pain and rage.

The Avatar had arrived.

zuko: oh, the agony!
me: what?
zuko: you're going to put me through a world of pain now that aang's showed up, and we've only got two reviews! that's hardly worth it for my part. i reserve the right to quit, you know.
me: come on, we all know you liked making out with katara. and you know what, zuko?
zuko: what?
me: i'm going to make you stop talking now, because these poor readers are probably in enough agony from my attempt at being poetic for your duel, and they don't need to endure the fact that i talk to imaginary benders when i'm lonely.
zuko: clearly you're in no fit state to talk to any other human beings right now, so i'll just ask them to R&R for you.
me: thanks for that.