Little bit of back ground info:

-Aang was born about 6 years sooner in this universe, so he was 18 when the monks told him he was the Avatar. After they tell him that he would have to give up his attachment to Gyatsu, he ran away, and we all know the story after that.

Ages for all characters are:

18 - Aang and Suki

17 - Sokka and Zuko

15 - Katara and Toph (just so she isn't so many years younger then everyone else)

In the last chapter...

Aang visited the Earth Kingdom, Lee is still angry at Zuko.

This is a bit longer chapter, to make up for the last one's shortness. :D

Enjoy!

Chapter Five

Katara looked out over the set up in the court yard from the balcony of the Earth Kingdom's palace and couldn't help but feel envious of Suki. Upon hearing of Sokka and Suki's engagement, the Earth King had immediately seen to it that all of the preparations for the happy couple's big day were taken care of immediately, promising them a dream wedding on the afternoon of their last day in Ba Sing Se.

White and peach colored flowers filled vases placed at the base of every pillar in the court yard. The fountain in the center of it had been covered in streamers and ribbons and bows, the water littered with white rose petals. White carpets had been rolled out from all four entrances to the court yard, three of the four doorways closed and barred with white banners. Katara had never seen so much white in her entire life.

In the Earth Kindgom, the color white symbolized purity, much like in the Water Tribes. The lanterns that had yet to be lit floated around the petals in the fountain were the only things in the courtyard that were not either white, peach, or pale green but for the grass, and were instead blue, all but one. This one was white, with glass windows, and slightly bigger then the others. It floated less freely, and had a paper ball attached to it on the edge of the fountain that anchored it in place. From what Katara understood, Sokka and Suki would light the lantern with the large candle on the stand in front of the fountain, and it would be released into the sky at the end of their marriage ceremony to symbolize their future, as the sky was the limit to the possibilities of the future they had together. It was said to be good luck for who ever found the lantern after the flame burned out, a sign from the gods that they would marry or meet the one they were destined for shortly. Katara wasn't sure she believed that, though no one had ever said anything to argue against the claim.

"It's beautiful," Zuko said as he came to stand next to her on the balcony, startling her out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, Suki is lucky. She wouldn't have gotten this kind of wedding if they'd waited until they got back to the Southern Water Tribe. They'd have exchanged vows, received a few useful gifts, and been sent to their newly built hut where the women would have already stored enough food to get them through their first year of marriage, as well as a Yoda."

"What's that?" Zuko asked.

"A Yoda is a charm that is placed over the doorway of the home of a newly wed couple by the wife as they first enter the home. She has to have her husband lifting her up to hang it from the prepared hooks above the doorway. It is suppose to draw Tui to the home, to ask that he bless the couple with their first child soon, though I guess Sokka won't be needing that," Katara sighed.

"No, I suppose not. It sounds nice, though, your tribe's marriage custom. In the Fire Nation, more times then not, it is not encouraged for a couple to have their first child, or even consummate their marriage, for the first year. That's to ensure that the husband's family knows that the heir to family's fortunes is truly the husband's child. Often times, the marriage ceremony lasts well into the night, and the couple must be present before anyone else and not leave until after their last guest has been greeted and thanked as they leave the reception."

"Sounds uncomfortable."

"Yeah. My mom used to tell me about her wedding night. How it took from nearly sun up to well after sun down, closer to the next sun rise. My father informed me after she left, when he thought that I was old enough to start looking for a potential wife, of how he kept her up for nearly an additional day after the wedding ceremony, consummating the marriage so that she wouldn't run away."

"Your mom didn't want to marry your father?"

"She hated him. She only began to tolerate him after the royal physician diagnosed her pregnancy. She wanted for her children to have a happy family. My father would have forced more children on her if Azula's birth hadn't nearly killed her. She was told another pregnancy could kill her, so Father was not given all the heirs he wanted. To my knowledge, all of his concubines had trouble carrying a pregnancy to term. Very few of them gave birth, and most of the children died before their first birthday. The only two I know of who survived were both girls, non-benders."

"That's horrible," Katara sighed.

"It's the way things are. Many past Fire Lords have had concubines and illegitimate children. It's said that Agni will not allow the boys to live because they will jeopardize the royal family's crown. Many of the girls who survive have arranged marriages to noblemen. He grandfather had three women who's children I knew growing up who were my aunts. My grandfather held weddings for each of them in the palace, asking that they strengthen the blood of Agni in the Fire Nation nobles by having many children with golden eyes. That's a trait that promises that you have some relation to the royal family within few generations. Everyone I know of with gold eyes had a father, grand father, or great-grandfather who was a Fire Lord or a Prince of the Fire Nation. Mai's father is really pushing us to get married. They haven't had a golden-eyed member of their family in generations except their youngest son, Tom Tom."

"I remember him," Katara stated with a smile, "he was such a sweet boy. He got caught up in a crowd of escaping Earth Kingdom civilians as we evacuated them out of the town. It's odd that he'd have golden eyes when he doesn't have any relatives in the royal family. Unless... you don't think that Mai's mother had an affair with your father or grandfather, do you?"

Zuko shook his head.

"No. My grandfather has been dead too long to be his father, it would have to be my father. And no, there is no possible way for her to have had an affair with my father. She never came to the capitol with Mai and her father. She claimed that the traveling made her ill."

Katara nodded, thinking over what he had told her of the royal family's relations.

"Maybe they adopted him."

"It's possible, but why hide that they were raising the Fire Lord's son? It's an honor to have one of royal blood in your household as a foster child, especially since no male children have ever survived that I know of. It doesn't make sense. I suppose he'd just have received a recessive trait from farther back then is normal."

"I suppose so," Katara conceded.

Music suddenly filled the courtyard and Katara looked up, seeing that the sun was starting to lower over the tallest point surrounding the courtyard, which was when the wedding would begin.

"Come on, we have to get down their if we want to catch the first glimpsed of the bride," Katara said with a smile, taking Zuko's hand in hers.

But jumped apart as if burned when their fingers connected, shocked from some sort of electricity that had passed between them. Katara looked up at Zuko and shivered. He'd definitely felt it, too.

"Um, yeah, let's just... go," he grumbled, mood suddenly down cast as he turned and walked towards the stairwell to the courtyard.

Katara frowned, wondering what in the world had just passed between them.

R&R appreciated!