Sokka woke them up with a shout; "It's snowing!"

Katara stumbled into the room Zuko was sharing with Sokka, who had vacated early, and Toph was stomping right behind her.

"What is the need for all this yelling?" Toph grouched, hair askew.

"It's snowing out! It's snowing!" Sokka repeated, fanciful as a child.

"Respectfully, doesn't it snow...all the time?" Zuko asked as delicately as he could.

"Sure, but I haven't seen snow falling in months. Months," Sokka enunicated, "It's been forever! Spirits, it never gets old," He said, nudging Katara, "C'mon, you know you wanna just go and throw yourself in a fresh pile!"

Katara was beaming now, "Sokka's right! I'm sure you'll feel the same when you get to touch Earth Kingdom dirt again, Toph," She nudged her friend.

Toph shivered, "Awe man, I can feel it...mhh..." She agreed. Zuko turned to see Katara gone. He picked himself up, and found her in her room, hurriedly tugging on her parka.

"Get dressed, c'mon!" She said, face shining with excitement. Zuko watched as she very carefully arranged her new necklace to be visible underneath the neckline, and something warmed in him to see her take such care of his creation. He knew it was shoddy work, but she never made him feel lesser for not having the traditions perfect.

"Okay, okay," He laughed. He hadn't seen Katara so giddily happy in...well, Agni, he couldn't recall. A faraway memory, of Katara dancing in the rain, bobbed in his mind. But that, and everything that happened since, seemed like eons had passed.

He found his warm jacket. Though he was naturally warmed, he wasn't sure how it would hold up knee-deep in fresh snow.

The group of four stumbled out into the path of people moving toward the end of the crevice. While they couldn't go up top in a large mass, there was an area where the cracks widened to let the storm rain down upon them, and flurries of snowfall were already gathering.

Katara ran right into the center of it, throwing her arms in a circle and sticking her tongue out to catch the snowflakes. When she turned back to Zuko, he laughed, watching as snowflakes settled on her eyelashes, making her look like she'd dyed them white.

Bato was throwing kids into the gathering drifts, and Zuko watched as they 'poofed' below the snow, giggling and coming up with red cheeks. Mothers collected snow in buckets, and one man was pouring sweet cream over top of small piles, handing it off to children who greedily licked the bowls.

Toph was blinking fast as snowflakes hit her face, and she used her palms to wipe them away.

"Better or worse than rain?" Zuko asked.

"Dunno. The jury's still out."

Someone nudged him. Zuko turned to see Sokka, standing with a crafty smile, offering Zuko one of two little spheres made of snow. He stared at it, uncomprehendingly. Sokka sighed, making a covert throwing motion and then pointed from Zuko's ball to Katara.

"I can't," Zuko said, eyes wide.

"Oh...for the love of Agni..." Sokka rolled his eyes. He grabbed Zuko's snowball, wound his arm back, and flung it as hard as he could at Katara. It hit her back with a 'pfft' sound, breaking on her parka. She turned, eyes wide and startled, and Zuko mumbled helplessly as Sokka pointed at Zuko with an oh-so-innocent look.

He expected Katara to get angry. Instead, she grinned, grasping a pile of snow between her mittens, shaping it unevenly.

"Snowfall fight!" She yelled as she hurtled it back at Zuko.

The kids fell into position almost immediately. Zuko laughed out loud, realizing it hardly hurt either of them, not when the snow was so dry like this.

"No bending! It's not fair!" Sokka yelled above the clamor, pointing at Eva, who had begun to make perfectly rounded and evenly packed snowballs.

"Oh, no matter. I'll beat you both without it," Katara said with a loud bark of laughter, "Boys vs girls! C'mon, we can beat them."

"Yeah!" A little girl said, sticking her tongue out at her brother.

"Those are fighting, words, sis, but we have a secret weapon...Zuko!" Sokka said, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him, "He'll demolish you!"

"No firebending either, then," Toph said, "Can't have him melting snowballs mid-air!"

Zuko smiled, "Fine by me."

There would be songs and ballads written about the Great Snowball Fight. People would sacrifice themself, tragically throwing their bodies in front of stray snowballs to protect their team. It was a real push and pull, and heroes made themselves known early, fighting valiantly. Even Katara's parents joined in, Kya slinging particularly good spinning snowballs.

Who would win?

Well, the tribe would fight for weeks on which side came out on top, and everyone would tell you something different.

It didn't matter to Zuko.

All he could think was he couldn't think of the last time he'd had so much unbridled fun, and he knew Katara felt the same.

I want this, he thought, dodging snowballs hurdled his way, his chest hurting from laughing so much, I just want this for the rest of my life.

XXX

Ty Lee felt the force of air as she was shoved back at the point of contact. Aang dropped like a ragdoll, the sound of his body hitting the floor in perfect timing with the person who had darted forward to stop him, as the figure flew across the room and hit the wall with a sickening crunch.

Ty Lee blinked, taking in the room; chairs were destroyed, papers were strewn about, and the space was in general disarray. It was like a tornado had blown through just here.

"Great spirits!" Aden was coughing up bile on the floor. "He's a monster!"

"Kettle black, traitor!" someone from the doorway hissed, but Ty Lee was too frantic to turn to see who it was.

"He didn't mean it!" Ty Lee said, standing and trying to keep her balance. "He's angry and you…you sent thousands to their deaths!" she hissed, "How dare you be so hypocritical. How dare you-"

"Ty Lee, calm yourself!" Iroh said with a disappointed stare. "There is much emotion in this room. Perhaps too much. Cillia," he said, turning to see the crowd that had gathered, "Please take Aden to the jail. Watch him…until we decide our next steps. Find a healer to check if he's injured."

Cillia nodded sharply, grasping him up and pulling him out of the room.

If it were anyone else...Ty Lee was horrified by her own dark thoughts, her own wishes that maybe he could just...stumble off the edge of the Air Temples. But Cillia was a good soldier. She would follow commands to the letter, especially from a General. She wasn't the type to act out on her own, which is why Iroh had been so trusting of her lately.

As Cillia dragged Aden through the crowd, people moved slowly, like molasses, unwilling to budge until she pushed right through.

Ty Lee winced hard; she wondered how long the crowd had been there. What had they seen?

Aang groaned on the ground. She noticed his side, near his ribs, was starting to darken with blood and she bounded over, helping Aang to his feet. He swallowed hard, looking down, eyes widening.

"Someone stabbed me?" he sputtered, going to remove the knife, but Ty Lee stopped him. She felt a pit in her stomach; it was one of Mai's knives.

"Not me," Mai said, as though reading her mind. She was leaning on the inner wall. She tilted her head slightly to the figure picking himself up from the ground.

"Hahn?" Aang squinted, "You?" Ty Lee wasn't sure if Aang was surprised or angry or something else. His aura was all over the place right now, and she felt tuned out.

"Yeah, me!" Hahn threw up his hands, waving away Arrluk who tried to help him to his feet. "Someone had to stop you!" he said, jabbing an accusatory finger, "From leveling the whole damn temple!"

"And killing that kid," Arrluk added.

"That too."

"I…" Aang looked sickened. Ty Lee could feel his guilt. It wrapped around her head and it was thick and cloying. She felt like she would drown in it. "Killed?" he echoed. He sounded confused.

"Oh, it was someone else that had their hands around his neck, then?" Hahn threw up his hands. He took a step and cursed. "I think you broke my fucking rib!"

Aang shot Ty Lee a panicked, woozy look like he wasn't quite all there. Iroh seemed to pick up on his stress, coming to stand between the two teenagers.

"The situation is quite a sticky one, no doubt. Hahn, thank you for your…quick thinking. The White Lotus will talk about this in great length, be sure. How to proceed and what to do with Aden."

"He deserves to die," Rasra said, face darkened, "Kuzon was on the right path. Prince Zuko would agree with me."

"Zuko is not here," Iroh said, "And he would not be making such a decision himself-"

"I am loyal to the true Fire Lord," Rasra broke in, "It should be his decision."

"Yes, your fidelity is quite something," Pakku said dryly.

"We should be so glad," Jee said, with a raised eyebrow, "That there are people that are still behind Zuko with such… intensity."

The White Lotus members all exchanged looks. Ty Lee nearly missed it, but she caught the tail-end of one of Pakku's looks to Jeong-Jeong.

Was that a concern? That even if Zuko took the throne back, the masses would not follow after him?

Surely not, right? Zuko was fair! He was just! He was the rightful Fire Lord!

"Well you'll be able to wait until Zuko returns," Pakku said, "Because you're to stay here now. We cannot allow this information to be leaked twice. You and Bahuo."

Rasra's face twisted, "I had imagined as much."

"Why don't you eat? I'm sure you're hungry from your travels. We will find you accommodations by nightfall." Iroh said, "And Ty Lee, please take Aang to your room. You should tend to that injury."

Aang hung his head low, eyebrows knit as he seemed to struggle through what had happened. As Ty Lee led him out, worry flitting around her like a bird, she heard a whisper from one of the handmaids.

"I thought Airbenders were pacifists."

Her friend huffed, hoisting her laundry on her hip as they passed, little concern that Aang may overhear. "Apparently, not anymore."

Aang flinched hard.

In their room - which now felt spacious and lonely - she helped Aang peel off his tunic. As she pressed a finger to the side of the wound, Aang winced sharply.

"Just get me some water, I'll heal it," he said.

She couldn't do much. All she could do was watch Aang use waterbending to stitch himself back together. Mai's knife lay on the table in front of him.

"Aang, please, what happened?"

Aang looked up. "I remember hearing about what Aden had done, and I was…angry. So angry. And after that…" He swallowed, "I was there, but I wasn't. Lots of Avatars were furious too…but there was a voice, something I don't know if it was me or not, and it wanted revenge."

"A voice?" Ty Lee tilted her head, trying to understand, "Like an Avatar speaking with you?"

"No…" Aang seemed agitated, "Different. Spiritual, still. Furious. Wanted…death," he said, his gray eyes storming as he looked up. "Hanh was right to do what he did. I wasn't in control. I just wasn't."

"Oh, Aang…" Ty Lee pulled him into a side hug, careful to avoid his wounded side. "I was angry too. Heartbroken…to think of all those that died that day, because he…he…" she trailed off, "I understand wanting to see him pay."

Some small part of herself wanted that as well, as terrible as it was to imagine such violence.

"I'm angry a lot, Ty," Aang admitted quietly, "Just every moment I wake up and I just have this…rage…" He stared at his hands. "Maybe because I let the airbenders down. Maybe because I couldn't be there when Azula launched her attack. Maybe because I…" He met her gaze. "I spent so long as Kuzon the Fire Nationer that sometimes I don't know where he begins and I end. And Kuzon was born into the fire; born into fury. I'm not sure Aang the Airbender still exists in here. But that handmaid was right; I should be better. I know I should be a guiding moral figure, but I don't know if I can be…" He curled up on his bed. "I just…feel a bit adrift lately, I guess."

"Thank you for telling me." Ty Lee curled up against his side. "We'll figure it out," she said brightly.

"I don't know." Aang's voice was monotone, "If I had killed him…" Aang swallowed hard, "I think that would have pushed my balance. And I'm afraid of what happens if someone isn't there to whack me the next time."

They lay in a quiet, pensive embrace. Ty Lee watched the lights change outside their room, going from light to an inky dusk.

Someone knocked on their door.

"Come to get your knife back?" Ty Lee asked. Mai let a tiny smile slip.

"Dinner. Iroh suggested I bring it to you two."

"Because I'm pretty hated right now?" Aang guessed dryly. Mai sat on Sokka's old bunk, inhaling hard.

"There are plenty who wish to see the person who told Zhao where the Airbenders were hiding dead. You're hardly hated. However…things are…fraught," Mai said honestly. That was something that Ty Lee could always depend on her for, at the very least.

"I don't know what would possess a person-" Ty Lee began, shaking her head, trying to imagine why someone would want the blood of such an event on their hands.

"Azula knew someone would know. She got to him. Blackmail. It's no excuse, but it is an explanation," Mai said. "Aden openly told us. We may not have Toph here, but his story matches logically."

"Did she try to get to Rasra or Bahuo? Should we worry they were compromised too?"

"No need; she just needed one to flip. Aden was the weakest link. He has younger brothers and a single mother. Lots to protect." Mai glanced away, "Perhaps there's a lesson in this war."

"I would hate to learn anything from Azula," Aang shuddered.

"Perhaps," Mai said dispassionately, "But Azula usually ends up on top for a reason."

"If that's true," Ty Lee said, narrowing her eyes, "Who is our weak link?" It was what Mai was hinting at. Who was the most likely to flip if someone got to them?

"I haven't thought about it much," Mai said, but Ty Lee knew when she was being dishonest.

She had someone in mind.

Would Mai be so foolish to try and make sure the person couldn't talk before someone got to them?

"What will happen to Aden?" Aang asked.

"It's undecided," Mai said shortly, "The White Lotus cannot seem to agree. Right now, he is a prisoner of war." She stood. "They may still decide death, Avatar. Seems you might get your way after all."

As she slipped from the room, Ty Lee looked at Aang. Though she saw dismay on his face, she couldn't help but feel a slip, a feeling of vindication at that idea. Aang felt it too. He turned, face white.

"Spirits, something's wrong," Aang whispered, "What's going on, Ty Lee?"

Despite everything, she had no good answers.

XXX

Despite being born from the element of change, Katara knew a couple of uncomfortable truths about herself, the worst of which being that her stubbornness could rival any earthbender.

She was not used to being wrong, having always gotten the upper hand on Sokka as children or having been lauded in praise by her parents. Even when she was wrong, she wasn't very good at admitting it.

She wanted to end the fight with Zuko. She wanted it to wash away. She didn't want to have to wonder if they'd wake up angry, not since he proposed. And not since the snowball fight, where she'd seen him laugh with an abandon she had never seen from him before, and she fell for him all over again.

But Katara wasn't very good at walking back her anger.

She was trying, though. Great La, she was trying.

The proposal helped, Katara thought.

It showed that Zuko was serious. Not that he wasn't serious before, but wanting to marry someone in the safety of your palace home versus wanting to marry someone while running for your lives felt very different. Many couples that flourished and bloomed with little pressure would simply crack if they were put through the same trials.

So, that was something.

And Katara knew she should just apologize and get it over with, but she worried that would make it worse. It seemed like they were past it all, so dredging it up and pulling him through those tough days getting here seemed silly, right?

Oh, great Tui, how did anyone survive a relationship and not kill each other?

It was a miracle humans survived at all!

The South, desperate for some good news, had pulled together wedding celebrations swifter than Katara had ever seen. Then again, Bato was at the helm, and he seemed determined to make this whole affair go off within a moon, ignoring that sometimes betrothal periods could last years before a wedding.

"Why wait?" Toph had shrugged when Katara had begun to complain, "If you love each other, and with how shitty the world is, why?"

Katara found she didn't have a witty or intelligent response for that, so the wedding festivities continued full steam ahead.

Their engagement party had the entire town drunk, and then some past that. Katara watched her people, so festive and loose, and was at least grateful they could all still act like that.

Zuko came up beside Katara, chuckling. "You were right," he said, raising his glass, "This is much more palatable than the Pearl Algea."

"What do you have there?" Katara pulled his arm down, "Ah! The ale is a good choice. But you can get drunk, you know?" she said, tilting her head toward the stumbling, rancours people in front of her.

"Are you?"

She shook her head.

"I'm fine with being the only two sober ones here," Zuko nudged her, "Good people watching, right?"

Katara looked up, smiling at Zuko.

It felt easy right now.

Maybe it was all going to be alright, you know?

Someone stumbled towards the pair, groaning and clutching his stomach.

"Do you need some-" Katara began to ask, right as he pitched over. Zuko and Katara both reached for the man but got caught up and started going down with him. Katara reached out, grasping for something, and found fabric. Too late did she register that it was the tablecloth underneath the punch bowl, and sticky sweet non-alcoholic juice rained down upon Zuko and Katara like a hurricane.

"My head…" the man groaned.

Hakoda was striding over fast, having heard the crash no doubt.

"Are you okay?" he asked, eyes wide, "Oh, great La! I told Bato to go easy on the alcohol…" he muttered.

"Ugg, Dad?" Katara asked, flicking her wetness from her hands, "Can you help him back to his house? I think he partook a bit too much."

Katara wrinkled her nose, setting the punch bowl back on the table. She stood, feeling the liquid begin to crawl into her fabric and settle on her skin.

"Ew," she made a face but then raised her fingers and began to lift the liquid away from her clothes before dumping it in a snow pile behind her.

She was mid-pout, realizing that it had left a reddish color behind on a dress that Eva had lent her since packing party clothes was low on her thoughts when she'd left. She hoped her GranGran knew how to take out particularly tough stains, or maybe if she did a different combination of waterbending…

She heard a drop splatter on the snow and turned to see Zuko still wet. He was using a very, very tiny flame to dry himself, almost laughably small.

"Oh…Zuko…let me help," she said, "Sorry about that."

She went to lift the punch from his robes, but he jerked back. It was such a fast, jarring motion that Katara felt her fingers clench up, startled by it.

"I'm fine!"

"Okay…but…I mean, you don't have to be afraid about burning down the camp, you know? You can use something bigger."

Zuko locked his jaw. "I know, Katara," he muttered tersely, his sudden change in behavior confusing.

"Sure…right…" Katara struggled through his sharp words, "But, well, that flame won't get you dry fast, and maybe you don't have to worry about catching a chill or maybe you do but-"

"Just…just let me do it!" Zuko snapped, cutting her off. "I can manage just fine without your help!"

Then, he spun on his heels, stalking over toward the direction of one of the unfinished buildings, swearing and using his fingers, barely dotted with flames, to run along his parka.

"Aww, someone beat me to it, huh?" Sokka asked, crossing paths with Zuko.

"Beat you to what?" Katara asked, still trying to riddle out what had happened.

"Punch-dumping! Why do you think we made it such a vibrant color? Why aren't you wet?" he asked, scratching his chin.

"Waterbender! Duh!" Toph appeared with Sokka.

"Oh, shit!" Sokka slapped his forehead, "But why is he still wet then too? Isn't he a firebender?"

"That's what I'm going to find out…" Katara muttered, pushing herself through the crowd after him.

"You know, Sugar Queen, poking the bear may not be a great idea-" Toph started to say, but the sound of everyone else drowned her out as Katara picked up her pace to follow Zuko.

She found him in the middle of the unfinished house, dragging his hands frantically over his robes, "Please, please, please-" he muttered, sounding desperate and tired.

"What's going on?" Katara asked.

Zuko turned, eyes wide.

"Look, Katara, just…go…go away-" he said, swallowing hard. "I'm fine. Whatever. Go enjoy the party."

"Our party. For our wedding…" Katara knit her eyebrows. "Agni, Zuko, what's going on?" When it looked like Zuko was going to clam back up, she stalked over to him, grasping his hands.

They were barely hot, where usually, she would have feared burning herself right after he was firebending.

"Nothing," he insisted, but his voice cracked as her fingers fluttered across his palm.

"Don't start this marriage off with lies. Please," Katara begged. He was still dripping with punch. It almost looked like blood; like he'd washed himself in a pool of it, and each plink on the stone floor sounded louder and louder until it was like screams in her head.

No time could have passed or it could have been hours of time between them. But finally, his lips quivering, he spat out, "I'm a failure, Katara. That's what's happening. You're marrying the most pathetic almost-Fire Lord that ever lived."

"Why would you ever say that?" Katara asked, holding him closer, not allowing him to go anywhere else.

"Because I am!" Zuko snapped, "See?" He unfurled his free hand and a flame, hardly bigger than a mousefly, ignited on his palm and sat there, eerily.

"I don't…understand…"

"I can't firebend anymore!" Zuko said, aghast, "It's gone."

"Since coming here? Is it the snow?" she asked, horrified. What had she done to him? "And you mean you can't do more-"

"Than this, yes," Zuko said. "And it's not here. I mean, it's not…helping but…" He swallowed hard, looking past Katara, "Since…my father."

Since you used Firebending to kill him?

Katara felt a wash of emotions crash over her. Horror, guilt, sadness, agony, and hurt all mixed in her mind.

"Why…didn't you tell me?" she asked softly.

"Because you'd act like that. Like I'd stabbed you in the back by not telling you," Zuko said furiously. "It's my problem and mine alone!"

"Stop it!" Katara felt tears on the edges of her eyes. "It's not! You killed him because of me - or partially - and we're…engaged, Zuko. We're meant to help each other! And of course, I'm upset you didn't tell me, I'm your fiancée! Not just your 'good friend'. What can I do to get you to open up to me?"

"Nothing," Zuko said briskly, "It's not you. It's never you. It's me. But that's who I am, Katara. An angry, father-killing firebender with no firepower. But that's good, huh? That I won't burn down your village, pillage, like I'm supposed to?"

"Supposed to-" Katara began, "Agni, Zuko, this is…deeper than just this, you know?" she said, trying to make sense of it, "You hold all this anger inside of you and I just don't know how to help."

"You see me for who I am, now, huh?" Zuko asked, "And how could you love someone like this?"

"If you don't think I'm dark inside too sometimes…" Katara licked her lips. "Don't you know that I know that as soon as we found my family, we should have left? The universe is at war out there and I just can't…I can't let them go again, not so soon. Don't you think I don't wake up conflicted every single day knowing I should go back to help Aang? Why don't you think I haven't brought up leaving?" she asked, "What kind of person does that make me? A coward? A deserter? Sometimes I want to just stay here forever, knowing I can protect my family!"

"Oh, darling, of course not!"

Katara and Zuko spun to see Kya, Hakoda, Bato, Sokka, and Toph at the doorway.

Zuko's eyes went wild. "How much did you hear?" he asked, his voice trailing off in a horrified, smoking whisper.

Hakoda and Kya shared guilty looks.

"Great La," Katara shook her head, "This isn't what it's supposed to be like. It's our engagement party, Zuko. How can we…be married if it's like this?"

"You can't cancel the wedding!" Toph squawked, "Look, I know this seems bad, Sugar Queen, but things are never like that-"

"I'm not saying that," Katara quickly corrected, "Of course I want to marry Zuko. But I'm worried that neither of us are good as partners."

"I don't think it's any of your fault," Hakoda said quietly, "It's a difficult time you're living in right now. Impossible, even. War is at our doorsteps…I doubt anyone here isn't without guilt or anger or secrets or bitterness."

"That's it!" Bato snapped his fingers, "We need to hold a Holiday of Guilts!"

"A…what?" Sokka echoed.

Zuko looked at Katara for explanation, but she too was equally as confused, tilting her head and squinting at Bato.

"It's been years," Kya said thoughtfully.

"Which is why all the better!" Bato insisted, "It's an old Southern tradition. It's not a recurring holiday like it may suggest - only something you do when you need it. I think all of us could benefit from it. Everyone's had a tough couple of years, and probably some guilt that lingers."

"Can someone please explain for the non-Water Tribers?" Toph asked, raising a hand.

"It's a ceremony, or a festival, of change and rebirth. It's all about waves; letting a feeling overtake you, and then letting it go just as a wave returns to the sea. It focuses on allowing the space to be honest and real and to be angry or sad or confused, but then realizing that no one is alone here. That we do best as a community knitted together." Bato said, linking his fingers.

"Great…still doesn't explain," Toph said.

Katara sent her a warning hiss, despite not knowing what it consisted of herself. But Toph could stand to be a bit kinder about their histories!

"We all have things that are haunting us. In this festival, we allow ourselves to feel these things, usually with food and drink. And then, we write our guilts down. After, you talk about your guilt with a member of the Tribe. After, we do a ceremony where we release our anger, guilt, or regret into the world, with the intent of letting it go and moving on," Kya said kindly.

"Yeah…I don't know how I feel about telling a random Water Triber that I can't firebend anymore…seems pretty pathetic…"

"It's a place of no judgment. You have no idea what your partner might tell you. And maybe they have a solution."

Zuko snorted, "Right…not to be rude, but do you really think a non-bending water elemental citizen knows how to fix matters of firebending?"

Bato shrugged, unruffled. "We don't know until you ask."

Zuko looked ready to argue. But he'd been holding this secret for months now, letting it burrow deeper and deeper into his heart, sinking its claws into him and whispering in his ear.

He was exhausted. Katara felt foolish for not seeing it before. This was pulling him under, threatening to drown him.

Not just his inability to firebend, and how strange and uncomfortable that must feel, but the start of it. Zuko had killed his father in pursuit of peace and it hadn't done anything other than make things worse.

How does one move on from that?

He was desperate…or beaten down. Either way, he seemed ready to try.

"Okay," Zuko said quietly, "I'm…sorry, Katara."

"I understand why you felt like you couldn't say anything," Katara whispered gently, taking his hand, "I don't need apologies."

"Not for that." He swallowed hard. "Call me an old romantic, but I always imagined my wedding to be the happiest time of both my and my bride's life. I looked forward to the grandeur of it, to the joy. And I've gone and ruined our engagement dinner and made a mess of everything. I wish I could give you this moment, detached from what's going on when it could just be about us."

Katara almost reflectively said, I am happy, but that would have been a lie. Mere minutes ago, she was furious with him, and she'd been swinging in and out of feelings all day.

No, it was worse to try and settle him with untruths.

"What matters is that we're both trying and apologizing," she insisted. "That's all one can ask for."

"You have much more figured out than when I married your father," Kya said with a quiet chuckle, "I think you'll both do alright."

"Really?" Katara asked, turning. "But you're both so…you seem…"

"Any couple that says they don't have their ups and downs is lying. And relationships are hard; don't let anyone tell you otherwise. But it's also the most wonderful thing about living," Hakoda said, kissing Kya's hand. "You figured out the secret early; it's you and him against the world. If you wake up and choose to try and be better than the day before for his sake, you eventually make it so."

"What about the engagement party?" Toph asked, startling Katara to the fact she and Sokka were still standing there, "Because I was really getting my party on before…"

"I have no intention of stopping that!" Bato gave a great laugh. "This is good for everyone. We'll make the announcement about the Holiday of Guilts tomorrow. We should all return and enjoy what we can."

Katara felt Zuko stiffen beside her.

"You all go on," Katara said. Though this party was for them, it didn't feel like it was theirs. "We'll be there in a moment."

"Enjoying the party might mean making an early escape," Kya said with a wink. "You know, it's a clear night up above," she said, pointing upwards, through the glaciers. Since arriving down, neither Katara nor Zuko had gone above ground again.

"I'll make a distraction," Toph said, eyes shining.

"Oh no-" Hakoda had barely gotten out before Toph was stumbling out into the party.

"Who wants to try to beat me in a drinking contest? C'mon, any takers?"

"That's your cue," Sokka said, nudging them both. "Shoo, shoo!" He gave a wink, before running out to catch up with Toph.

"C'mon," Katara said, taking Zuko's hand.

The cacophony of the party faded away as they skirted through the darkened down, taking the steps two at a time until they were in the cold, biting wind of the tundra.

Zuko gasped; above them, the sky was lit with shimmering, wispy colors. Though Katara had seen the aurora lights many times, it still took her breath away every single time. It was green and blue and pink tonight.

"Agni…I've never seen something so beautiful…" he whispered, "What is it?"

"We say it's the spirits carrying torches to guide those to the next," Katara said. "I like to think that it's my grandfather and all my people up there…" She tilted her head. "It can be those you love and miss, too."

They settled into a snowbank, staring up, silent as they watched the colors dance and sway around them.

After what felt like an eternity, Zuko sighed, "What if…I never get my bending back, not properly?"

Katara didn't know how to answer. Once again, giving empty platitudes felt wrong. She respected Zuko more than giving him false hope.

They could ask Aang if they ever returned, but part of Katara knew deep down that it wasn't a matter of a switch having turned the wrong way, but something deeper. Something Zuko would need to work through himself.

And if he never did…?

In her lack of an answer, Zuko kept talking, almost half-way to himself.

"Maybe…maybe it would be okay," he sighed, "Because if I never get it back, I won't be a danger to your tribe. And I could just…" he swallowed, "Stay here. Make a deal with Azula; banish myself to the South, live out my days just…existing here. Help your mother dry herbs, help your father build houses, hunt with Bato…"

Katara felt something rise up her throat. A homesickness, despite being here, in the South. The knowledge that she'd be leaving, one day, and have to say goodbye all over again. At least, that's the path she'd assumed.

To never have to leave her people, to stay here…it almost…was too good.

"Is that what you want?" Katara asked, voice quivering.

Zuko tilted his head, focusing on the aurora. He did not seem as troubled as before, and when he answered, he didn't seem upset or bothered. For the first time, he seemed…settled. His tone was almost bittersweet, as though already preparing himself for a breakage from the Fire Nation. There was also a casualness about it, as though Katara had asked him if he'd prefer fish or whale for dinner, instead of questioning the very trajectory of their involvement in the war.

"I don't know."

It was the most honest Zuko had been with Katara in a very long time.