Chapter Text
Katara was tired.
She missed her friends. Sure, they exchanged letters. But she longed to physically see her brother, to spend a full winter with him and Suki on Kyoshi Island. She wanted to spend a summer in the Fire Nation, feeding turtleducks with Zuko. She wanted to see how Toph's new bending school was doing. She missed the icy tundra of her home.
But her boyfriend, the Avatar, was needed in so many places. He needed to help quell the uprisings in the colonies. He needed to help with the reparation meetings in Ba Sing Se. He needed to oversee the rebuilding of the Air Temples.
La forbid she try to help, too. Aang would tell her to stay back and let him handle it. That he had everything under control, and she wasn't needed.
That made her blood boil.
He would try to quell her rage with pandering compliments about how much HE loved and needed her, but now that the war was over she could do what she truly loved.
He apparently thought that was being a quiet, dutiful healer.
Their fights would end with her crying and bottling everything up. He would apologize for upsetting her, then he would kiss her goodnight and the cycle would continue in the morning.
She was so, so tired.
~~~
Zuko was tired.
Being the Fire Lord was hard work. Between endless meetings and assassination attempts, he still had to find time to meet with citizens about local concerns. Plus the uprisings in the colonies…
He sighed as he leaned back from his desk. He could feel another headache forming behind his eyes. He rubbed his temples, hoping that would soothe his brain.
"Shit." He was late for tea with Uncle. Hopefully he would understand. He was so busy. He had to have these proposals revised by the next meeting, which was tomorrow morning. Tea would have to wait.
He was so, so tired.
~~~
Katara felt a calling, aching in her bones. A desire to plant roots somewhere and let them grow down, down, until they were so deep they could never be uprooted.
She was sick of ignoring it, just to have it claw out of the dirt in the middle of the night, haunting her dreams. So one day, she stopped ignoring it.
"Aang, do you think after you're done at the Southern Air Temple, we could go to the Southern Water Tribe and spend the winter?"
Aang looked up from where he was tossing apple slices to Momo.
"Sure, Katara, we can visit. But for the whole winter? I don't think we can stay that long."
She felt her temper start to flare. "Why not? We've spent nearly the entire fall here."
Aang looked at his girlfriend quizzically. "Well, yeah, they needed my help with some of the architectural details that got lost because of the damage the Fire Nation caused. There were no blueprints, so I needed to tell them what it looked like. That took a while. You know that."
She stared at the young boy. "But why can't we spend just as long at home? They're still rebuilding from the Fire Nation, too."
"Didn't the Northern Water Tribe send waterbenders to help?"
"Yes. What's your point?"
"So they don't need us there, if they've already got waterbenders to help," Aang smiled at Katara, clearly thinking he was being the logical one, trying to talk sense into his naive girlfriend.
Katara's blood turned to ice. "They are Northern waterbenders. They don't know Southern architecture," she turned his words back on him. "So I think I should be there to help direct them."
Aang's smile faltered. "Um, okay, we can go there and stay for a bit to help. But if something more important comes up, we'll have to leave."
The glare in her blue eyes matched the ice in her veins. "You can leave. I'll be staying."
Aang's smile dropped off his face completely. "What do you mean? You don't want to come with me?"
Katara turned her back to him. "No. I do not."
Aang got up and crossed the room, attempting to take Katara's hands. She simply turned away from him again. Giving up, he said, "Katara, where is this coming from? I said we could go. What more do you want?"
She whirled to face him. "I have told you what I wanted. So many times. I'm so tired, Aang. I miss home, I miss my friends. I want to settle down. I want… I want to start a family. I want so many things, and I'm tired of settling for being the Avatar's girlfriend."
"Katara, I told you, we can visit your family until something comes up."
Her anger was overflowing. Months of suppressing her feelings let out all at once, and tears started flowing down her face. "No!! I have begged you before. I'm done. I'm leaving, Aang. Don't follow me."
She spun around and stormed out the door sobbing, leaving the Avatar standing with his hand outstretched.
~~~
Aang couldn't find Katara.
Sure, she said she was leaving, but she didn't mean like, /leaving/ leaving. She just needed space to calm down, then they could talk everything out like they always did.
At least that's what he thought, at first. But a few hours turned into a day, a day into two. Flying around on Appa, he couldn't locate her. Momo couldn't seem to find her, chirping sadly as he laid on her empty bedroll.
He sent urgent messages to everyone he could think of: Sokka & Suki, Hakoda, Toph, Zuko, even the Earth King. His girl was missing, and he desperately needed to find her.
He would make it up to her. They would go to her home, and stay for as long as they could. Once she calmed down, he knew she'd agree that she was being irrational and of course his duties as the Avatar were more important than repairing some buildings, especially when other people could handle it.
He would make sure she knew just how much he needed her, and how he couldn't handle traveling without her. He would miss her too much! They loved each other, and that would be enough.
He got a message at the end of the week.
~~~
Katara made it home by the end of the week. Having a master waterbender on board certainly helped the ship she chartered make good time.
She had cried for most of the trip. She thought she had cried all her tears out, but seeing her father's concerned look, she felt the tears stinging her eyes again.
She leapt off the gangplank into his arms, the tears leaking out.
"Katara," her father's deep voice rumbled. "I've missed you."
"I missed you too, Dad."
They pulled apart, and Katara noticed the concerned furrow of Hakoda's brows. "Dad? What's wrong?"
"I got an urgent messenger hawk from Aang," he said. Katara felt annoyance rise in her chest. "He says you disappeared."
"I told him I was leaving," she huffed. "Maybe he didn't realize what I meant."
Hakoda's eyebrows raised at his daughter's exasperated tone. "Perhaps not, but I'm still going to let him know you're safe."
Katara rolled her eyes. "Of course. But please make it clear that I don't want to see him."
Hakoda's eyebrows raised higher. "Very well, Katara."
Katara smiled a tired but grateful smile. "Thanks, dad. I just… need some time, that's all."
Hakoda smiled back at his daughter, and didn't press the issue.
The two made their way back to Gran-Gran's igloo, and Katara gave her a bone-crushing hug. Tears fell from her eyes again. "I've missed you so much!"
"And I've missed you, dear. How have you been?"
The walls keeping her feeling in collapsed in her grandmother's arms. She hadn't planned on telling them anything so soon, but she couldn't keep it in.
"I… I left. I just left him, and I don't feel guilty! I just feel relieved! Am I terrible?!"
Gran-Gran hugged her granddaughter closer. "Of course not, dear. A person can only take so much, until they can't anymore."
Hakoda stood in the doorway, observing his mother and daughter. He had always been wary of the Avatar's obsessive attachment to Katara, but had refrained from voicing his worries for fear of pushing his daughter away again.
Their interactions had always reminded him more of Kya interacting with Sokka than a girlfriend interacting with her boyfriend. Being someone's entire emotional support, and getting nothing back, had worn her down, it seemed. He watched Katara sobbing into her grandmother's arms, and approached slowly. He rubbed comforting circles into her back, offering silent support.
When she had seemingly cried all her tears for now, she looked up. "Can I go to bed? I'm so tired."
"Of course, dear. Your room is right how you left it."
The familiarity of her childhood bedroom made her want to weep again. The tapestries of deep blue with white accents displayed some of her favorite childhood stories. Her polar bear-dog rug brought back memories of Sokka wearing it like a cape, roaring and chasing her around the igloo.
She climbed into her bed and curled up under her blanket, and drifted off to a restless sleep.
~~~
It turned out the Northern waterbenders /didn't/ know Southern architecture. Katara made it her mission to help them restore the Southern Water Tribe to its former glory, before she was even born. She knew there were blueprints somewhere, so she sent a messenger hawk to the one person she thought might know where they were.
The hawk flew into Zuko's open office window with a squak, startling him awake. His heart skipped a beat when he saw the blue ribbon around the hawk's leg.
His first thought was that something happened to Katara again. He still remembered his panic when he got Aang's message that she was missing. Luckily he received a follow-up message that she was fine, just visiting home. He wondered why the first desperate message had come in at all, if she was just visiting family.
He opened the message and read it.
~~~
The blueprints arrived from the Fire Nation archives by the end of the month. Katara smiled at the thought that Zuko had rushed them to the tribe, just for her.
She and the other waterbenders spent the next three months pouring over the blueprints and working on the building blocks of the Southern Water Palace. She wanted to restore her tribe to how it used to be, and she had the drive to do it.
Work proceeded much faster when Sokka showed up, full of ideas to improve the constructions and make the work easier on the waterbenders.
Katara was grateful that her family were together again. She had missed spending time with her brother, who had spent most of the months after the war on Kyoshi Island with his beloved. Suki was still there, doing her duties as head of the Kyoshi Warriors.
Three more months passed without incident before Katara realized she hadn't thought of Aang. She had been so focused, so happy to be useful, she simply hadn't had time.
Hakoda and Sokka noticed the changes in her. She was happier, more vibrant. Now that she was no longer coddling her boyfriend, and sparing her feelings for the sake of his, her eyes sparkled with joy.
After a year of construction, the palace was finished. Katara moved on to other places she was needed.
There were rumors of a drought in the Earth Kingdom, so off she went. She would never let herself be 'not needed' again.
~~~
"Toph!!"
The blind earthbender turned her head in the direction of the person addressing her.
"What's up, Sparky?"
Zuko's tone of voice was both exasperated and amused.
"Was it really necessary to bury my advisors? It took an hour to dig them up."
"Well maybe if they weren't so thickheaded, I wouldn't have to get them out of my sight," she smirked.
"You can't see them."
"Out of my hearing, then. They just kept repeating themselves about the stupid bullshit legislation to give the army more money, even though I told them you'd allocated those funds for a new hospital."
Zuko sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, I didn't think they'd take that well. Thanks for… helping."
Toph grinned. "Anytime, Sparky!"
She was in the Fire Nation visiting Zuko while her students were on summer break. She hadn't seen him since the end of the war, so when she had the chance to go see him she jumped on it.
Even though she was blind, she wasn't stupid. She noticed how different he was. He took meals in his office. Uncle said he hadn't shared tea with him in months. He sounded tired all the time, like he was worn down. If he wasn't in a meeting, he was looking over paperwork for the next one. So Toph decided to step in and help by sitting in for him on some of his meetings. It wasn't going well.
She needed backup.
So she found Uncle amd had him draft a letter for her.
~~~
The messenger hawk found her in the Earth Kingdom.
Toph's note just said 'Come to the Fire Nation. Zuko needs you.'
She finished raising a new well for the small town, then started her journey.
~~~
"I heard the Avatar hasn't left the Southern Air Temple all year," a girl with long black hair said to her companion.
The gossip on the boat piqued her interest. Aang staying in one place for more than a month? She almost laughed aloud. They hadn't spoken since she stormed out over a year ago. He had sent her letters at first, but she ignored them all. Eventually they stopped.
She honestly hoped he was doing okay. She knew she had broken his heart, but there was no other way for her to be herself again while she was with him. Sometimes loving someone wasn't enough.
The more space she had from him, the more she realized her feelings for him weren't romantic. They were familial, like how she felt about Suki and Toph. She wished it hadn't taken her so long to realize.
"I think we're almost there," the girl from earlier said.
Katara looked to the bow of the ship, and sure enough, a strip of land belonging to the Fire Nation was visible on the horizon. She knew Toph wasn’t there anymore, and hoped Zuko was still interested in visitors.
Zuko. At the thought of him, she felt jittery in her stomach, goosebumps spreading down her exposed arms. Confused, she rubbed them to make them go away. Why was she so nervous?
Eventually, the boat made it into dock safely. Disembarking, Katara made her way into the heart of Caldera City, where the Fire Lord's palace was.
~~~
Zuko felt overheated, which was impressive for a firebender. But when Katara showed up on his doorstep, unannounced, his heart palpitations made his body heat skyrocket.
Now here she was, not far away in the Southern Water Tribe. She was here, in his office, drinking tea his Uncle prepared.
"Lady Katara, it is so nice to see you again. It has been far too long," Iroh said.
She smiled shyly. "I've been building the Southern Tribe back up to its former glory. With help, of course."
Iroh laughed. "Always so humble! You should give yourself more credit. I'm sure they never would have made it this far without your help."
Her shy smile broke into a huge grin. "Without Zuko's help, we would never have been able to get started!"
Zuko nearly choked on his tea. "My help- what did I do?"
Katara turned to him, blue eyes sparkling. "The blueprints, of course! Without them, we would have no reference for what the traditional Southern palace looked like!"
Zuko felt his face get hotter, if that was possible. He was blushing. "Oh, yeah… it was no problem. They belonged to your tribe, not the Fire Nation. I was only doing the right thing."
The grin seemed to be permanently etched onto Katara's face. "Well, we really appreciated it. Thank you, Zuko."
Zuko couldn't help but smile back. "You're welcome, Katara."
~~~
Zuko's hair had gotten longer in the year since the end of the war. It just brushed his shoulders, though he typically wore it in the traditional topknot. Katara liked it both up and down.
Katara noticed other changes in Zuko, however. She noticed the bags under his eyes, and how much paler he had gotten. She noticed him yawning and reaching for another cup of caffeinated tea, when it was much too late to be drinking it. She noticed how anxious he got when she asked about his latest meeting.
"It's about the new hospital I've been trying to build. My advisors think I'm nuts for diverting funds from the military. They still don't realize that we don't need to spend as much on the military as we were. We need to be spending way less, actually. Especially if we want to continue the reparations. The money needs to come from somewhere." Zuko let his head drop into his hands. "We need this hospital."
Katara looked at Zuko softly. "Why is this hospital so important to you?"
Zuko looked up at her. “It’s… it’s for Azula.” The look on his face softened. “I’m hoping better healthcare can help her… get better.”
Katara knew how much he cared for his little sister. “I understand, Zuko. If it was Sokka, I’d do the same thing.”
“Ozai messed up her mind so much, and I just… I miss my sister. The one before the corruption drove her mad.” Zuko’s eyes shone with unshed tears. Katara felt her own eyes water in response.
She made up her mind. “Zuko, I’ll help you get your hospital built. I promise.”
~~~
She started sitting in on meetings with Zuko. She thought it would be as much of a struggle to get the advisors and generals to listen to her as it was to get Pakku to teach her waterbending, but it wasn’t. Apparently when the Fire Lord introduces you as an Ambassador to the Southern Water Tribe, that’s enough to get people to listen to you.
Agreeing with you is another matter.
“This is a waste of time!”
“Lady Katara, please let General Xin finish. We always hear you out, let us award him the same treatment,” one of the advisors berated.
Katara huffed, rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms. “Very well. But this is a waste of time.”
General Xin looked mildly irritated. “As I was saying…” he continued his drawl again about why diverting even more funds from the army was a terrible idea, and why they actually needed to increase the budget back up to what it was during the war.
Zuko had heard it all before. They kept coming up with new ways to say the same thing. The younger advisors tended to agree with his own proposals, but slightly over majority were the older ones who clung to their old ways of thinking. Katara made the numbers even, at least. But he wasn’t sure how long she was staying.
He brought it up to her after the meeting.
“How long am I staying? I don’t know, really. I suppose until you don’t need me anymore.”
For some reason that made Zuko’s heart clench. It felt like it stopped beating in his chest. It reminded him of Azula’s lightning going through him, stopping his heart with raw power. What was stopping his heart now was the thought of Katara leaving.
Oh boy. He’d deal with the reasoning behind that another day.
He found it hard to sleep that night, cerulean eyes filling his dreams.
~~~
“How are Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors?”
Katara looked up from the couch in Zuko’s sitting room, where she was reading a green-colored letter from Suki. She read the implications behind his question.
“Mai is doing fine, Zuko. Why don’t you write her yourself? I’m sure she’d love to hear from you.”
Zuko blushed. “I don’t know what you mean. I do write to her.”
Katara rolled her eyes and leveled him with an incredulous look. “I mean more than status updates about Uncle and the Fire Nation. Ask her how she’s doing.”
Zuko matched her stare with a glare. “Can we talk about something else? How is Suki?”
Katara let it drop. “Suki is fine. She and Sokka are going to visit the Southern Water Tribe for the Winter Solstice.”
Zuko smiled. “That sounds lovely.”
Katara smiled back. “It is. We should go sometime.”
Zuko’s smile dropped. “Sure, if I can ever get some time off. I doubt it’ll be anytime soon.”
Katara’s brows knit in concern. “Zuko, I’ve been meaning to ask you… When was the last time you took a break? You’re working 7 days a week, you eat at your desk, and I can tell you barely sleep.”
Zuko shook his head. “I haven’t taken a break since I took over as Fire Lord.”
Katara’s jaw dropped and she covered her mouth with her hands as she gasped. “Zuko, that was over a year ago! No wonder you seem so worn out!”
Her hands dropped to her waist. “From now on, lunches and dinners with me. You will take Sundays off. And I’ll be tucking you into bed.”
Zuko looked scared as hell. Then he looked appalled. “Tucking me in?! I don’t think so!”
Katara glared at him with ice in her eyes. “Yes, I will. And if you try to stop me, I’ll kick your ass.”
Zuko held his hands up in surrender. “Fine. Do what you want.”
~~~
Sometimes she falls asleep sitting next to his bed, waiting for him to sleep. He loves it when she does.
Her beautiful brunette curls cascade down her neck, fanning out over the bedspread. She sleeps in simple light blue pajamas, with a deep red silk robe tied around her. Her tan skin melts into the dark reds of his duvet. The moonlight hits her skin and she seems to glow under Yue’s light. She looks like a spirit, or a goddess.
Zuko stares in awe that this woman cares enough about him to tuck him into bed to make sure he gets enough sleep. It’s like lightning is stopping his heart again, when he looks at her like this, like the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen in his life.
He can’t resist, and falls asleep with his hands tangled in her hair, or holding her hand.
~~~
His first Sunday off, he doesn’t know what to do. So when Katara finds him, he’s stretching by the turtleduck pond.
“What are you doing?” she asks.
“Oh, I was going to practice firebending. It’s honestly been a few months since I practiced, that being the last assassination attempt,” Zuko replied.
“The last WHAT?!” Katara sputters, nearly dropping the canteen she was drinking from.
“Oh, I routinely get assassination attempts. There’s one particular group, the New Ozais, that sends the most.”
She puts the canteen down. “What do you MEAN you routinely get assassination attempts?!” she growls, grabbing Zuko’s arm.
Zuko chuckles. “I’m fine, Katara. I promise. And now I have a Master waterbender here as my bodyguard.” He ruffles her hair affectionately.
Katara looks around as if there’s an assassin hiding behind one of the trees. “Damn right I am.”
Zuko shrugs her off and takes his robe off as he stands. Standing behind him, Katara notices how much he’s grown in the last year. He’s a bit taller, and more muscular than the last time she saw him shirtless.
“I would’ve thought you’d’ve lost some muscle, not gained it,” she teases.
Zuko jumps and turns to face her. “I, uh, I work out.” A beautiful red starts staining his cheeks, and Katara can’t help but grin. “It helped keep me sane, through all the meetings.”
“I can see that. I’m glad you had something to help you when I wasn’t here.”
Zuko smiles back at her. “I’m glad you’re here now.”
Katara looks around. The garden is fairly big, definitely big enough for her plans. “Want to spar?”
Zuko stands, faces her, and bows. “I would love to, Master Katara.”
~~~
She beats him. He is far more out of practice than she is. He ends up sweaty and soaking. She ends barely breaking a sweat, perfectly dry.
They start dueling every Sunday.
She wins all the time at first. But after a month, she starts finding it harder to win. After two, she loses for the first time. She’s pinned to the ground, him leaning over her with a victorious look on his face and a fist in hers. She grins.
“Good job! See, you do still have a spark in you!”
Zuko grins. “I guess I do. Thanks, Katara. I guess I needed you more than I realized.”
He helps her stand. She stands a bit too fast, tripping, and ends up with her hands on his chest. His arms encircle her, to help keep her standing on unsteady feet. They’re both dripping in sweat.
Katara can’t seem to breathe. She’s so close to his face, she can see his scar up close, like back in the Crystal Catacombs of Ba Sing Se. She slowly raises her hand, brushing the scar just like she did back then.
Zuko is staring in her eyes, gold melting into blue. He feels like he’s drowning, but he doesn’t care. He starts leaning towards her.
“Fire Lord! Fire Lord!!”
The servant turns the corner, and finds the Fire Lord and Lady Katara standing several feet apart, blushing furiously.
“Fire Lord! Your Uncle sent me to find you, he says it’s urgent.”
~~~
“I am sorry to interrupt your day off, my nephew, but there is urgent news from the colonies. A sect of New Ozai has attacked the old factory that used to make tanks, the one that’s making air balloons for the Earth Kingdom now. They are holding the workers hostage and demanding freedom from both the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom. They are claiming they want to be their own nation.”
Zuko rubs his temples. “Great. And I assume the Earth King got a similar letter?”
“I believe it is safe to assume so. You should head down there as soon as possible.”
“I will leave immediately.”
“WE will,” a voice behind them loudly stated.
Zuko turned to face her. “Katara, I would love it if you would accompany me. I could use your help.”
Her heart pounded. He needed her, and she would be there.
~~~
He pulled her aside in the hallway. “Bring black clothes, like the ones we wore when you confronted Yon Rha.”
She looked at him, confused. “Okay, but why?”
“Because we’re going to free those hostages, my way.”
~~~
They arrived in the colonies within three days. Katara helped the ship along a bit.
~~~
“Aang never told you I was the Blue Spirit?”
Katara examined the mask in her hands. “No, he failed to mention that.” Zuko had snuck into her room that night and handed her a mask, one that matched his. It was a blue water demon. “Where did you get this?”
“Um, it was my mother’s. It’s a set of four, from a play. I, um, lost one of them in Ba Sing Se, so I only have three now…”
“It’s beautiful,” Katara breathed. She slipped the mask over her head. She could still see through the slits in its eyes. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”
~~~
They moved in perfect harmony.
Just like when they boarded the Southern Raider’s ship, they silently took out the guards. Water whips and dao swords worked together like Yue and La. The factory had a similar layout to the one Katara had destroyed when she took up the mantle of the Painted Lady, so she had a vague idea of where to go. Now though, instead of a Fire Nation spirit, she was a Water Tribe one.
They found the hostages in the breakroom. The terrified workers followed the signals of the two demons that had materialized out of nowhere, and slowly they began their escape.
They had to pause a few times, Katara at the head and Zuko taking up the back. Some of the workers were older, and could not move as fast or quietly. But Katara was vigilant, and managed to get them out unseen.
When the workers who had been trapped for 4 days saw the streaks of moonlight, they nearly started crying. Quietly sneaking out the window Zuko held open, they hit the ground running for the nearby town where most of them lived.
After the workers were all freed, Katara exited the factory with Zuko. They glanced at each other, and started giggling as they race into the forest.
“That was amazing! You were amazing! I missed doing things like this!” Katara laughed.
Zuko grinned. “Sometimes, on really bad days, I’ll go out in Caldera and take out my frustrations on some lowlife.”
“I never got to do anything close to this with Aang!” Katara almost freezes. She hasn’t talked about Aang in so long. Never with Zuko. But something about tonight has her dropping her guard. “You can ask, you know.”
Zuko removes his mask. “What happened with you two?”
“He wouldn’t listen to me. I got sick of it. So I left,” she sighed. “He wanted me to be his quiet, dutiful healer, and I didn’t want that. He made me feel unneeded to everyone but him.”
“So, if-if someone else needed you, what would you do?” Zuko spoke so low and shyly it was almost a whisper.
Katara analyzed him from behind her mask. “It depends on who it was, I suppose. If it was someone who made me feel like I needed them too, then that would be okay. Especially if we were also improving each other’s lives.”
Zuko’s heart was pounding out of his chest. He slowly walked to where Katara was leaning on a tree. Invading her personal space, he circled his arms around her like he had before. She welcomed the invasion by wrapping her arms around his neck. He couldn’t see her expression behind her mask, but slowly, slowly lifted his hand towards it.
“Do you want to know what I told Aang the night I left?”
Zuko freezes. Curiously, he nods.
“I told him I want to settle down. I want to plant roots. I want… I told him I wanted a family. And he brushed me off like he always did. I didn’t realize until I said it out loud, but I didn’t want a family with him. He was like my family already, like a little brother,” her voice cracks. “I want it with you, though.”
Zuko lifts her mask up and holds it behind her back while he kisses her. A fire lights itself in Katara’s chest, growing until her whole body is superheated. Zuko tastes like fire flakes and smoke, ash and his country. Katara has never tasted anything so good.
Their lips move across each other, kissing like the war isn’t over and they might not make it to the next sunrise. Lightning has once again stopped Zuko’s heart, but this time the lightning is from Katara. Her lips electrify his body and make him feel like he’s vibrating.
They break apart out of necessity, both gasping for breath. Zuko grins, hugging Katara close. Katara giggles into his chest, hugging him back.
Rays of sunlight start cresting the hill by the time they start heading back, both of their lips bruised from kissing.
~~~
Zuko’s not sure how they’re going to quell this new uprising, or if they’ll get the new hospital built in a reasonable amount of time, but he knows with Katara on his side, he’s got much better luck.