Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender, it's owned by its creators Michael Dante DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko and Nickelodeon.

Since Katara had learned most of the customs and history of the Fire Nation from Fire Sage Shyu, she and Zuko would spend less time at the palace and more time traveling and meeting his people. Since the New Ozai group had been quashed, it had been peaceful and there weren't any uprisings. They finally accepted that Ursa was back and Zuko was their Fire Lord. They also accepted that Katara was the Fire Lord's girlfriend.

One of the trips they made was to Jang Hui. The people remembered Katara and welcomed her.

"Here," said a boy as he offered a fish to Katara. "It's to thank you for helping me and my mother."

Katara smiled and accepted the fish.

"I don't know what this place was like when you came the last time, but it seems really nice," said Zuko.

"I remember you," said Doc/Xu. "You're the waterbender who pretended to be the Painted Lady and destroyed the Fire Nation Army's factory."

"Did you do that?" Zuko asked Katara.

Katara looked away. "Yeah," said Katara.

Zuko looked at the water.

"We cleaned the river afterwards. It was polluted by the factory," Katara explained.

"The people seemed happier too?" Zuko asked.

"Yes," said Katara as she looked up at him.

"Then I'd say you did the right thing," said Zuko. "I've gotten some laws put in place to prevent and stop pollution."

"That's good," said Katara.

Zuko and Katara walked around the village.

They stood in front of the statue of the Painted Lady.

"So you pretended to be her?" Zuko asked.

"Uh, yeah," Katara replied. "After the river was clean, I saw a vision of her."

"You must have a strong connection with the spirits," said Zuko.

Meanwhile, Aang and Xing Ying had made all the preparations.

The wedding date and location was set. Aang and Xing Ying worked together with some Air Acolytes to build Air Temple Island, which is where they decided to have their wedding.

"I just got a reply from the Earth King," said Aang.

"You invited the Earth King?" Xing Ying asked.

"Uh, yeah," said Aang.

"How big is this going to be? Will there be enough room for everyone?" Xing Ying asked.

"The Earth King said he won't be able to make it. There are a few others who won't be coming as well," said Aang. "It won't be as small as you would like, but it will still be our day."

"I was surprised that Katara is coming," said Xing Ying.

Aang was unsure of what to say, so he said nothing for a moment.

"I am too," said Aang.

"Do you think you two will be able to mend your friendship before the wedding?" Xing Ying asked.

"I don't know," said Aang. "She's probably going to come with Zuko. He's pretty busy being the Fire Lord so they probably won't be here until right before the wedding."

"That's true," said Xing Ying.

Later that day...

Zuko had given a lot of thought about his relationship with Katara. They had been through a lot. They were enemies, and then they became friends. Katara admitted that she believed she was in love with him, but he wondered if that was really true. He cared about what she thought of him since he joined the Avatar's side, after all, she had threatened his life if he hurt Aang, and he worked hard to earn her forgiveness. He had worked out thing with Mai, and although they weren't a couple anymore, he learned a lot from that relationship. He wanted his next relationship to be his last. He wanted real love; someone he could be himself with and he could open up to and who could open up to him. He let Katara pose as his fiance because he trusted her, but now he was beginning to wonder if he did the right thing when she told him she thought she was falling in love. They went on a date, and they had spent a lot of time together. They were going to go to Aang's wedding together. Zuko wondered again if he was doing the right thing. He was glad that the people here had accepted Katara, and he felt confident that more people will accept her.

She saw him sitting at the dock, lost in thought. She wondered what he was thinking about it. Then she realized that he had never really replied to her confession. He asked her on a date, and they went on one. She had a nice time, and they had spent more time together recently, but it felt like he was keeping some distance like he was afraid.

"Zuko," Katara called out to him. He was so lost in his thoughts that when she called him he jerked forward and fell in the water. He sunk for a few minutes then started to swim toward the surface. Katara used waterbending to draw him up and out of the water faster. After he surfaced, she asked, "Are you okay?"

Zuko used firebending to dry off. "I'm fine."

"I guess I shouldn't have snuck up on you. I didn't think you would fall in," said Katara.

"It was my own fault. I was just thinking," said Zuko.

"I see," said Katara.

"You aren't going to ask me what I was thinking about?" Zuko asked about.

"No, if you want to talk about you will," Katara replied. She started to walk away to leave Zuko with his thoughts, but he took her hand.

"I'm afraid," Zuko whispered to Katara. Katara waited patiently. "Mai was my first love. I guess first loves don't work out."

"At least she didn't betray you," said Katara. Zuko looked at Katara. "I'm not talking about Aang."

Zuko raised his eyebrow surprised.

Katara continued, "It was Jet."

"Jet?" Zuko replied surprised.

"I fell for him, hard. Then he tried to use me and Aang to destroy a village that had a few Fire Nation soldiers," said Katara.

"I knew Jet, too," said Zuko.

"You did?" Katara replied surprised.

"My uncle and I were traveling to Ba Sing Se as refugees. We were on the same ferry. We managed to commandeer decent food. Then he asked me to join his gang of Freedom Fighters. He didn't know I was a firebender until my uncle heated his tea with firebending. After that he became obsessed with proving that we were firebenders. He was captured and drug away by the Dai Li," said Zuko.

"So you did steal? After all that looking down on me about the Waterbending Scroll. Jet was obsessed with getting back at the Fire Nation for what they did to his family. That explains why he was taken by the Dai Li. After he was taken they brainwashed him. I helped him remember the truth. Then he helped us fight Long Feng. Unfortunately, he was injured; I tried to heal him, but it was too late. He said he would be fine, but Toph said he was lying. I don't know what happened after that. We left," said Katara.

"I see," said Zuko.

"You weren't the first person to betray me. Jet was," said Katara. "You weren't the last either."

Zuko waited.

"I guess I'm not a good judge of character. We met this nice old lady named Hama. She was an inn keeper in the Fire Nation. She seemed nice enough at first. Then we found out she was the Last Waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe before me. She taught me bloodbending," Katara said as she shivered. "It's what I did to that Captain of the Southern Raiders," Katara said with regret.

"You made a mistake," said Zuko in a gentle tone.

"Yes," said Katara. "It seems we have moved away from what was on your mind."

"Fear," said Zuko. "I don't want to ruin my friendship with you, Katara. You told me you love me, but I'm not sure how I feel about you. I mean, I know I care about you, but..."

"You don't know if it's love," said Katara as she understood. "Before Aang and I officially became a couple, that's how I felt. I needed time to figure out what my feelings were. Fear was one of the reasons I didn't tell Aang my feelings right away."

"I don't want to hurt you," said Zuko.

Katara put one hand on Zuko's shoulder and her other hand on his face. "You won't hurt me."

Zuko looked at Katara. "How can you be sure?"

"Because, you've changed," said Katara as she rubbed her hand on his chin. He took her hand in his.

"Only because when I finally got what I had wanted, I realized I wasn't me," said Zuko.

"Not you?" Katara asked confused.

"I was trying to please my father," said Zuko.

"Oh," said Katara.

"I realized that the son my father always wanted wasn't me. I wanted him to love me," said Zuko admitted. He let go of Katara's hand and moved away from her. "I want you to be happy. I don't know that I'll be able to give you the happiness you deserve."

"Zuko, I decide what my happiness is. I want to be with you. I admit that love is scary, but it's worth it," said Katara.

"What about the future?" Zuko asked.

"I don't know, but we can face it together," said Katara.

Stay tuned...