It takes a couple of years of Katara journeying through all the nations on her own, but eventually, inevitably, she and Aang are back together. Zuko doesn't need to see anything to know what's going on. The energy between them is like the hum before a lightening strike.
For Zuko, sex is a release, a pathway to sleep. It's almost a defeat.
He can't imagine the details, but with Aang and Katara it's like they've discovered some new form of bending. They're full of tight, secret smiles and a new focus and some hidden energy.
It's meditation, Toph explains, managing to simultaneously eat, nurse an infant, and converse with the Fire Lord in a low, offhand tone. Aang and Katara have missed dinner for a meeting or for... meditation.
Only Sokka is needed for it to be a true reunion.
Sokka and Zuko's uncle and that flying lemur creature and the threat of war and constantly running for their lives from his power-mad sister.
They meditate while having sex?
Something like that. I guess it's working for them.
Katara hasn't been meeting his eyes lately. When she walks past him now she greets him with a small nod, full of grace and power as if she is the queen and he is the peasant. Somehow it makes it even more impossible to get her out of his mind.
Toph is going on, telling him more than he wants to know. ...Aang still wants Katara to be the mother of his children. All of his children. I don't think Katara will ever be ready for that. Good for her she can control at least her own blood, she adds, chuckling.
Katara is a blood bender, of course. Without moving a muscle she can bend her own blood. Across a room, across a palace, she can bend his own. She could drag the blood down from his brain and hold it in his heart any moment she chose.
Careful, Sparky, or you'll give yourself away, Toph chides. At some point even Aang might notice your obsession.
Zuko scoffs. As if it matters.
I'm the Fire Lord. She's a water peasant.
Aang and Katara finally enter, calling out greetings and apologies. They're more discreet than they were years ago. Now they walk a half step apart with their hands barely touching, but they both exude that peace and that power.
Zuko continues his litany in his mind: I'm the Fire Lord and she's a water peasant and she's bending her blood with the Avatar.