Iroh admitted to himself that it was a hard time for him. Zuko was his pride, but Azula, a girl he held the day she was born, left him hurting. It wasn't what Zuko had done that hurt; it was that he had no choice. She had forced Zuko's hand, and Iroh knew Katara was the better choice.

Avatar Szeto walked up next to him. "You're brooding, old man."

Iroh nodded. "It's been a hard life. Too many have died too young in this family."

"Agree to disagree. Lu Ten and your wife were the only deaths that grieved me. I was hopeful when your father died, and then you went and made my life harder. You have no idea how much you pissed me off when you let Ozai take the throne. I could have come out of isolation if you had become the Fire Lord. The whole world would have benefited."

"My son's death destroyed me."

Szeto rolled his eyes. "Pig-bull-shit, it broke your heart. It didn't destroy you. I heard you were the reason Zuko became the man he is."

Iroh cast his eyes to the side. "I couldn't save Azula."

"And Ozai? Could you have saved him?"

"No! Of course not! He has always been a-"

"So has Azula!" Szeto interrupted. "Stop looking to the past. The future looks pretty damn good to me."

"The past has my son."

Avatar Szeto nodded. "True. We lost a good man that day. You seem to have a way of raising good men, though."

"I'm proud of Zuko," Iroh admitted. "He managed to find his own path."

"And a good woman."

"Yeah, mostly that."

Szeto patted Iroh on the back. "I can finally come out of isolation. You should too. You live in his world, but you still keep to yourself. Soon you will have grandkids in everything but name. They will look to you for love. Learn to live."

Iroh smiled, "Katara wants to find me a sweet wife. One around my age that can be there for me. I'm going to live more."

"Well, she promised me a young wife, so I fared better. She wants me to give a woman a child that will be highly respected since the father is the Avatar. It will aid her even after I pass away." Szeto chuckled, "I'm looking forward to a young woman. I'm not depraved like Ozai, but I'm not entirely altruistic, either."

Zuko was more than a little frustrated when he walked up on Katara and Mai in the garden getting along. He had spent hours talking to his uncle about handling Mai properly. The problem was that none of the instructions included Katara getting along with her. He was terrified of taking a misstep and hurting Katara's feelings or the progress she had made with Mai.

He pivoted on his right foot. He could face his sister and his demon father, but not those two women together. He didn't feel embarrassed retreating.

If only Katara had let him.

"Zuko!" she called out.

He groaned and turned back around. "Yes, Katara, my love?" He didn't understand why her eyes darkened with lust. Mai flinched, but Zuko didn't notice. His eyes were still on Katara.

"Mai was telling me she sent the letter to your father about Azula's defeat."

Zuko didn't know how the hell to respond. He didn't want to offer words of comfort to Mai since he didn't want to act tender to her at all. He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. "Um, thank you for taking care of that. Father will believe it since it's coming from you."

Mai's mouth formed a tight line. "It sucked." He was confused when Katara laughed, and Mai's facial expression softened.

Katara bumped her shoulder against Mai, who shot her a dirty look. She didn't like to be touched. Katara said, "yeah, we were discussing Ozai. We don't expect much from him that won't piss us off."

"Why do you care?" Mai asked. "You wanted her dead."

Katara said, "I'm a daughter whose father disappointed her. I empathize with it all. He's not nearly as bad as Ozai, true, but it hurts. I don't want that for her, even though she's dead, and she won't know."

Mai turned and looked at her. "Thank you. And thank you for not celebrating her death. She wouldn't have shown you the same courtesy, but it matters to Ty Lee and me."

"It would have hurt Zuko too. He did what he felt he had to. He had no intention of actually killing her until she came after me. We had even discussed it ahead of time." Katara walked over to him and took his hand. "He wanted to reconcile with Azula, up to almost the very end. He has a huge heart, and she's his sister."

Mai hated that she teared up. "He's a good man."

"He is. And we talked about this. I respect you for what you're going through." Zuko squeezed Katara's hand; he wasn't sure what she was alluding to.

Katara was on her knees with Zuko's cock in her mouth the second the bedroom door closed. He had wanted privacy to ask her how things stood with Mai, and she had a very different reason for desiring privacy.

He wasn't arguing with her in the least. He carded his fingers through her silky hair and watched as she worked his cock with her mouth and her hands. He loved the lewd slurping noises she was making. She was also working him hard. She was almost wild, sucking his hard dick.

He got off on watching her slide his cock in and out of her mouth. Watching it disappear between her pink lips drove him crazy with lust.

She worked him up, and he pulled her off. "Ride me. I want to cum inside your cunt. You know how much that excites me."

They both stripped quickly, and she rode him. His hands were on her breast, and their eyes were locked on each other.

Katara said, moaning, "You called me your love from the beginning. You made sure she knew where your heart lay. It was so hot! I get it was awkward, but it made my heart swell in my chest."

"That got you this crazy?"

"You have no fucking idea!" She stopped and spun, facing away from him, and sheathed him again. She rode him reverse horse-cow-girl.

"I love your ass, Katara!"

"Spank it as I fuck you!" He did, and she screamed in pleasure. "Yes! … Fuck… Right there! … You're so hard!

"Zuko, you're mine and… Yes! So fucking good!" She was panting out for breath. "You make me feel so loved and respected. It makes me want your cock in me, making me scream in pleasure."

He was bucking his hips up to meet her, and he was so sexually stimulated. He loved watching her get pleasure from his cock.

When they both orgasmed, she laid down next to him. Panting, she said, "the way you handled her… It felt so good. You were respectful without being soft with her. It felt so good to have you treat me preferentially."

"I talked a lot with Uncle before. I will admit that."

"You're amazing, Zuko. One more thing, though."

"What?"

"We're going for another round before we leave this room."