Aang hadn't actually thought that far ahead when he enlisted Azula into his plot. All he knew is that if he had to admit that he hadn't even thought of another woman since Katara, then Sokka would be . . . disappointed? Pitying? Something bad, for sure. So Aang went to the only woman he thought of, which was incidentally the only woman who was on the island that he had talked to, which did raise a point for Sokka. Aang was probably over Katara though, seeing as it had been like four years ago.

At dinner, Sokka was trying to be as diplomatic as possible, but no one could mistake the anxiety found in almost every one of his muscles. "So how did you two crazy kids meet?"

"Are you as daft as you look? I was chasing after my brother (and Aang too) and I managed to find him-" Azula's mouth was pursed cold, but she seemed to be enjoying it.

"I know that, I was just-" Sokka wasn't understanding the humor, or maybe it was lost on him because he was still scared out of his mind.

"-and then you stole my friend's brother and tried to exchange him for a doddering old fool-" Azula was really getting into it, smiling in a very rabitwolf-ish way.

"-like after the whole war thing-" Sokka was backpedaling as fast as he could, but it was hard for him to keep the peace when it seemed like Azula was just itching for a fight.

"-and then a couple months later, we met each other in some caves, and I guess you could say we just had that spark, instantly." At this point, Aang was on the floor laughing, while Azula was managing (through some divine force of will) to keep her face even."

Sokka, as he rarely did, got very serious. "That's not funny, at all. You nearly killed him, you know that, right?" The mood that Aang had felt was broken. Suddenly, everything was uncomfortably cold. The silence had gone on a long time, with Azula and Sokka making unflinching eye contact. The only sound that Aang could hear was his own breathing, which was much too loud for breathing. Sokka kept going in. "Look at Aang, imagine how uncomfortable he is right now."

Azula did not look at Aang, she kept talking in the same low voice that Sokka had been. "Or maybe Aang and I have gone through this, together. You think Zuko would let me around if I were dangerous, if I were insane? You think Aang would love me if I weren't normal. Let me tell you, boy's don't like you if you're as crazy as I am." Aang was wondering why it was so warm outside if his blood was in fact ice. He was barely aware of what was going on around him.

"Were." Aang was met with faces of confusion as he spoke up. "As crazy as you were. 'Cause you're not, not crazy that is, not anymore. And any guy would be lucky to have you. Is lucky to have you. That's me, I'm any guy." Azula and him held a gaze, the same gaze they held a couple nights ago. Aang faced up to Sokka this time. "Besides, Zuko tried to kill me like a thousand times, and we don't hold that against him anymore." He bared his teeth again. People like teeth, right? That's how people calm down?

Suki butted in for Sokka, clearly better at keeping the peace. "We're sorry if we . . . implied anything. You have to understand how it was the last time we saw you, you were . . . unhinged. And Zuko tried, but it was easier to look past it, because he never got as close as you did. And we-" Suki elbowed Sokka under the table. "-will stop pestering, so let's have a nice dinner."

Azula performed a quick nod and lightened her expression a bit. "Of course Zuko never got that close, he wasn't nearly as good as me."

Aang thought it was weird how little malice he felt towards Azula. The old Azula was a bit of a monster, and more than that, she was dangerous to him. The new Azula, on the other hand, wasn't any more dangerous to him than Sokka or Suki, and was a fair bit nicer to look at. Time really does change people.

Suki started again, trying to make normal dinner conversation or something. "So how did you guys meet, and not the story we were all there for, the new one, after the war?"

Aang was trying to remember if he had gone through any backstory with Azula, for them to fake any form of relationship or anything. Without a pause though, Azula began to speak. "It couldn't have been more than a handful of months ago. Aang was visiting Zuko for some diplomatic reason, I wouldn't know. I'm not in the diplomatic scene anymore. Anyway, I had just gotten through a particularly effective form of soul searching the week before, and we got to talking over some old Fire Nation history, and one thing led to another . . . " Azula drew out her last words and stared at Aang with the same expression a mongoose lizard might give to a sheep.

Suki smiled, "That's so sweet! That's like . . . really sweet!"

A call from behind Aang interrupted from giving any real input to what was either a strangely specific prefabricated response or an off-the-cuff ad-lib. A familiar voice shrieked out in glee. "It's been a while, Twinkletoes! I thought I wasn't going to hear from you until someone took over Gaoling. Although, with me being there, the only person who could do that would be me."

"Toph! What are you doing here!?" Aang said as he turned around, walking towards her.

"Well, I was waiting for Sugar Queen over here to pick me up and come with me to the whole wedding shebang, when I realized I could just burrow over to where she was and pick her up ahead of time!" Toph said, gesturing to the tall Water Tribe woman at her side.

Katara . . .

(_o_)-(_o_)-(_o_)-(_o_)-(_o_)-(_o_)-(_o_)-(_o_)-(_o_)-(_o_)-(_o_)-(_o_)-(_o_)-(_o_)-(_o_)

Aang's mouth was dry for a while as he regained functioning in his head. Too long. It had been too long since he'd seen her. Not long enough though. All of the things he felt before, when he thought Azula and Sokka were going to fight, came back in force. Did people's hair on their skin puff up like a catowl's? Aang didn't know for sure, but it felt like that was what was happening to him. Little sparks made their way over his skin, crawling on his head and down his arms.

"Twinkletoes! You going to say anything? Or are you going to just say nothing like you have for the. Past. Ninety. Years." Toph threw up her hands in frustration, and Aang managed to snap out of his daze, into something more . . . active.

"Sifu Toph." Aang bowed down as low as he his eyes were on the ground, there was less of a chance that he'd make eye contact.

"Goddamn it Aang, that's how you're gonna act?" Toph stretched out with her lead foot and jerked her hands apart, leaving Aang's feet trapped by stone. Aang tried to bend them out, but Toph's hands were fists and the rock stayed firm. "And who do we have here? If it isn't Captain and Captainess Boomerang, and who's that sitting right in front of them?"

Azula spoke up before Toph could come up with a nickname or something. "Toph. It's been a while. You got . . . taller."

"Yeah, well you got less crazy."

Both women were grinning openly for some reason. "You noticed? It took me the whole dinner to convince these two." Aang was still trying to release his feet. He didn't really understand the dynamics in play here and he didn't really care. Anything to avoid Katara. And speaking of Katara . . .

"Sokka! Suki! It's been too long." She ran up to her brother and Suki, ignoring Aang. Or so he assumed. He was still staring at the floor, trying to eavesdrop on Azula and Toph's very loud, open conversation.

"So what're you doing here anyway, little miss sparky? You and the giant dork over there friends or something?"

"We are together. Romantically. Relationship-wise." Azula tilted her head to the side, as if questioning something.

"Hmm," Toph tilted her head back subconsciously, "Aang?"

"Sifu Toph." He clasped his hands together in respect and a deep desire to get his feet free.

"You and her?"

This was the moment he had been dreading. He had lied to her successfully in the past, but with Katara nearby and all the feelings in his body, he wasn't sure he could do it again. Breathe in, breathe out. Stop breathing for a few seconds so your heart can catch up. Breathe out again. No, wait, that was two outs? A breath in and then he got confused. "What? Can you let me out?"

She relaxed her fist and Aang yanked his whole body out of the ground. Landing on the ground, he rubbed his feet and turned to face Toph, who was already at his face, poking at his chest. "Don't think you can get away with running out of my life for the last four years, I'm still mad at you."

Aang should have kept his head down.

"But if you want to make it up to me, we're going to have breakfast tomorrow, Suki and Sokka and Katara and I, and you're going to join us." Toph's expression didn't soften, not even a little bit, until Azula butted in.

"Can I come as well? And the rest of everyone?" Azula and Toph shared a secret smile.

"Zuko and Mai? Sure." And then Toph turned away to catch up with everyone else, who were sitting at his table and eating his food.

Aang groaned and whispered at his achy feet. "Oh, joy."