A/N: Another week has been and gone. I hope everyone had a good time this week. See you next year!

The lights were already off when she walked into the nursery. She thought for a moment that they'd fallen asleep without her, but then a dark shadow shifted on the little girl's bed, and a whimper like a hurt animal rang out through the quiet.

"You guys still up?"

She lit a low flame, just enough to see inside without rousing them if they really weren't awake. What she found was the two children sitting on the girl's bed, their heads down. The girl wiped tears from her eyes, but the boy was too proud to admit they were there. His face was damp and would remain so. In an instant, the girl was off the bed and running. She wrapped her chubby arms around the sitter's legs with surprising strength, nearly knocking the young woman over.

"Hey, what's this about?" the sitter asked.

"I don't want you to go."

The little girl spoke so softly into the fabric of the sitter's pants, that she almost couldn't be heard. The sitter maneuvered one of her legs out of the girl's grasp, careful not to accidentally kick her in the face, and kneeled to take her in her arms.

"Come on, it's gonna be okay," said the sitter. "Your regular sitter is going to be back from her vacation tomorrow. Aren't you excited to see her again?"

"I guess so," said the little girl.

Footsteps shuffled in the shadows before them, the little boy's outline appearing faintly in the candlelight.

"She doesn't tell stories as good as you do," said the boy.

The sitter smirked. "I thought you didn't like my stories."

"Yeah, but you should hear how she tells them. At least you try to change your voice when someone is talking."

The sitter helped the two of them into bed. The girl struggled to push herself up through her tears, and the shaking of her shoulders impeded her efforts, until the sitter came and lifted her up by her waist. She took extra special care in tucking them in this time.

"How about I tell you guys a different kind of story tonight?"

"Is Zuko going to help Katara find her shoes?"

The sitter glared at the boy, but he just looked away unaffected.

"Actually, this is a true story."

The little girl gasped, and even the boy turned himself on his back so he could listen properly, though he continued to pout regardless.

"Now, keep in mind that I only know this story because it was told to me. I might have a few things wrong."

The little girl shook her head. "That's okay. Just do your best."

"And make it good," said the little boy.

"And no kissing."

"Right, no kissing."

The sitter gave a sigh and took her seat.

"Okay, I'll try to skip over the kissing parts." She paused to clear her throat. "So, once upon a time, Fire Lord Zuko threw a big party in the Fire Nation, and all the most important people in the world were there, including some of his old friends."

Zuko was the only one at the party not dancing. He wished he could say it was an exaggeration, but the dance floor was full to bursting, and he was getting full reign over the refreshment table, which was usually too pack to even sneak a biscuit off of. He swallowed a bite of his beef bowl and set the rest down for later, feeling less and less hungry with each passing second.

He went to take his place at the head of the largest table, where an ornate 'portable' throne had been set up by a dozen hardworking servants, whom he would probably have to give a bonus for indulging in the whims of the council on his behalf. Why they had wanted to throw a party this weekend of all times, he didn't know. Nothing was being celebrated as far as he was aware. The anniversary of the end of the hundred year war wasn't for five months, and nobody he knew of had a birthday coming up. He thought he heard news of a minor noblemen's wedding anniversary being around now, but if that was what this was all about, it seemed like far too big a fuss over a man whose name he didn't even know.

A young woman in deep red with her hair put into ringlets wandered over to timidly ask for a dance. She was the seventh girl so far to ask, and she was the seventh girl to be turned down. The truth was that Zuko didn't feel like dancing tonight. He didn't even feel like staying. Were he not the Fire Lord, he would've stolen away hours ago like he used to do as a boy, when Mother would drag him to boring parties and events with her. He could be out by the turtle duck pond right now, feeding them from his hand and then maybe practicing his stances for a while. Nowadays, he could hardly take a step without someone pulling him away to deal with some new problem that was arising (most of the time they resolved themselves without any intervention from him).

Alone again, Zuko played with his folded up napkin. The music had shifted from fast and heavy to slow and serene. Half the guests dispersed from the center of the ballroom, going to rest themselves and partake in some food. Within ten minutes, the servants were scrambling to replace empty trays that had been towered high with food moments ago. Zuko finished the last bite of his beef bowl. A server had it from him with expert timing. Zuko politely refused her offer of a refill, asking only for a drink, which was brought to him seconds later by a different person.

"You sure do command respect around here, don't you?"

Zuko froze in place. He knew that voice. He knew it very well indeed.

Turning around, he first caught a hint of Katara's dress and the way it hugged a body that was clearly no longer childish in any way. His throat closed up as blood flowed to places he wished it wouldn't flow to. He pulled his chair closer to the table, just in case.

"Hey Katara," he said. "Are you enjoying the party?"

She shrugged and sat down beside him.

"I guess I'm having fun." She slouched over the table with an elbow propping her head up. If Zuko's old manners tutor were alive to see it, she would've had a heart attack. "I've never been a big fan of parties, though."

"Yeah, join the club," said Zuko. "When it starts to die down a little, I might be able to make up some excuse to leave early. You want to come?"

"Only if you get them to put more of those riceballs out first," said Katara with a sly smile. "Those are delicious."

"I'm more partial to the spiced fish myself."

The many torches lining the room went dim on command, as the band started in on a tune even slower than the last. It was pretty in a sad kind of way, haunting was a good word for it. Zuko wasn't very poetic or musically inclined, but it made him feel something. Katara's presence might have helped.

A dozen couples remained on the floor, swaying so gracefully, like their feet weren't even moving.

"Oh, I love this song," said Katara.

Zuko's body started to tingle with the need to stand, and his mind formed words that came out of his mouth before his better judgment could think them through

"Do you want to dance?"

He might have taken it back right away, and was indeed getting ready to amend that she didn't have to if she didn't want to. But then her face broke out in a grin, and something deep within Zuko's conscious mind made a dramatic change. He liked the way she looked right now, sparkling with joy and happiness. He wouldn't mind seeing her like that every day.

He led her onto the dance floor, his childhood lessons flashing through his mind like a slide show. He placed his hand on Katara's back, not too high or too low. He distinctly recalled the stinging of a wooden ruler on his hands when he did the latter by mistake many years ago. He counted off the steps in his mind: one step this way, one step that, one step forward, one step back. Katara followed like an expert, but that didn't surprise Zuko. She was a fast learner, and this particular dance was not dissimilar from the motion of a master waterbender like her.

"How have you been lately?" he asked in the middle of the song.

"I'm good," she answered, glancing away for a brief moment. "I'm sorry about you and Mai."

Zuko shook his head. "It's been months. I've moved past it."

He couldn't tell if she believed him or not, but he hoped she did. What was strange was that it really was true for the first time. He hadn't thought about Mai once in the last couple of days since Katara arrived with Sokka and Suki for a visit. It was easier to get over her since she'd gone traveling with Ty Lee and wasn't around to avert her eyes from his in the street anymore.

"What about you and Aang?" he asked.

When Katara looked away this time, it was for much longer, and her hand in his tightened just a little.

"We… we decided not to try and make it work anymore," she answered, a sigh in her voice. "In the end, we just didn't have enough in common to last as a couple. We never really talked about things, it just… it was doomed from the start, I guess."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

They retreated to the balcony at the end of the dance. The band had kicked things up again, but neither of them was in the mood for that. So they left the jumping and the spins and the laughter to those who really wanted to be there. The sun had long since set and the moon was brilliant, hanging full in the sky like a big white gem. Katara inhaled deeply the chilly air.

"I love this place at night," she said.

Zuko looked out over the darkened homes and shops littering the square. It didn't look like anything special to him.

"I didn't think you would," he said quietly. "This place… it must carry a lot of bad memories."

'It does for me,' he wouldn't say. From the sympathetic frown she now wore, he could tell she knew it already.

"Maybe sometimes," Katara admitted, turning her eyes on Zuko. She had beautiful eyes, he thought to himself. It was a wonder he had never noticed before. "But I think, now that the war is over and we're making real progress towards peace, there can be a lot of good memories to be made that'll overshadow the bad."

She was standing very close to him. Had she always been this close?

Whether she had or she hadn't, Zuko closed the distance. He wanted to be close enough to feel, if not her body, than air around it. She smelled of lilies and mist. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life.

"I think so too," Zuko said, and he really, really meant it. "If I have someone to make them with."

If that was bold of him, brushing his fingers over hers was downright death-defying. He tried to still his racing heart before it ripped free of his chest, but then Katara laced her thumb around his pinky, and fireworks went off inside his stomach.

The world had whittled down to just this balcony, just the two of them together, not a Fire Lord or a master Waterbender. For one precious moment- the first of many to come- they were just Zuko and Katara, and all they had to do was be.

"And then there was kissing," the sitter said with feigned boredom. "And then Zuko and Katara got married and had a bunch of kids, and one of those kids had two kids of her own, and those kids really need to get some sleep right now, so I think I'll save you all the details about the kissing, which I can only assume happened a lot over the years. I know you guys don't want to hear about that."

"You got that right," said the little boy, while his sister nodded in agreement and made a face like she smelled something foul.

"No kissing ever!" she said.

The sitter could've burst out laughing right there. These two were just too adorable sometimes.

"You know, one day you guys might not mind kissing so much," said the sitter.

The boy scoffed. "Yeah right, that'll never happen."

He still said nothing when the sitter pressed her lips against his forehead. When she went to do the same to the girl, she was ambushed with a hug around her neck, the girl hanging off of her like a necklace.

"Will you still be here when we get up?" she asked in her wavering little voice.

The sitter smiled warmly and hugged her back.

"Yeah, I'll be here. The ship to Republic City doesn't leave until afternoon."

"And you'll come back someday, right?"

"Are you kidding? How could I leave you alone for long? We waterbenders have to stick together, don't we?"

"Yeah!" said the little girl, and if she'd had some water on her now, she might've tried to send some the sitter's way, just to watch her bend it in funny shapes before sending it out the window.

"What about us firebenders?" asked the boy.

The sitter turned to him and took the flame he summoned in his hand, bouncing it around a little for show, and then throwing it in the air to dissipate.

"Yeah, us firebenders too."

She had to initiate the hug this time. He was more receptive to it, and he squeezed her far tighter than his sister could've hoped to. Maybe one day, he'd be able to hug her on his own, once he grew out of this 'macho tough guy' phase of his.

"I love you guys," said the sitter.

"We love you too, Korra."

She left the room when the kids were both sleeping, or pretending well enough that she was fooled into leaving. She passed the private sitting room, where no one but the royal family and their honored guests were allowed to enter. The fireplace provided a warm, golden glow for the elderly man and woman who sat in front of it, watching her return to her room. The woman rested her hands in her lap and her head on the shoulder of her husband. His long hair tickled her cheek. He would never get it cut no matter what she said, or how long and grey it became.

"So what story do you think she told them tonight?" her husband asked.

The woman hummed and closed her eyes. The firelight felt so good tonight.

"I don't know," she answered, as he reached for her hand like he had that fateful night so many years ago. "Maybe she told them ours."