They record their lives in a series of notes, left behind and tacked to walls and slipped under pillows and, once, pinned into her hair. How he managed to do that without waking her up and subsequently dying painfully is one of her life's great mysteries.

Hey, the first one says, and then there's a large scribble that looks like it might say "thanks for last night. It was great to meet you" and if it does say that, then she will hunt him down and destroy him. After the scribble, in an untidy scrawl, it says: see you around. And before you think I'm a total ass, I got you a present. A little bird told me you like these.

Underneath the note, in a little box, is a fruit tart. With rose petals.

He falls to second on her kill list.

The next time he sees her, she blows his mind and steals away while he's asleep, just to screw with his head, he's sure. Her note is simple - and, he notes, with a little bitterness, she's a damn fine calligrapher, her handwriting is absolutely flawless - and all it says is your turn.

He smirks when he sees it.

The third time they meet, she's in the Fire Nation, celebrating the anniversary of the end of the war, bitter and angry and looking to make something hurt, watching Zuko spend the whole time dancing with other women and not even noticing her in the crowd and she knew it was over, she's known it for a long time now, but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. She spends the whole party downing cup after cup of wine, watched by a fretful Ty Lee, and she finds him near the banquet table, several magnitudes drunker than she.

"How's this sound?" he slurs, sneaking out of the party with her right behind him. "I don't ask why you're plastered, you don't ask why I am. Deal?"

"That's the best idea you've ever had," she replies.

The next morning, when she lurches out of bed, there's the now-standard note, painted with her ink onto her desk. It says, I couldn't find any paper. Sorry for leaving like this, but I hate this country and - he's scribbled the rest of it out.

He sees her in a bar, drinking with a(nother) gorgeous dark-haired woman he vaguely recognizes as a bounty hunter. She raises her glass to him.

"What's your problem with the Fire Nation?" she asks, when he makes his way over to her. He calls for a shot before glancing at her.

"What's yours?" he counters, and she takes his drink and knocks it back, wincing at the burn.

The next morning, the note she leaves says, I was born there, and he tears it to shreds.

It's a year before she sees him again, in Omashu this time, and he goes to such pains to ignore her that it might have hurt if she wasn't so used to being ignored already. She spends altogether too long at the market stall selling knives, until finally he gives up pretending and joins her.

"You don't have to say it," she says sharply, cutting him off before he can start. "I know you've got issues with the Fire Nation."

"Do you really?" he asks, and it's a challenge and a barb meant to cut her and a cry for help all at the same time. She merely shrugs.

"I'm sure you've got good reasons. I don't really care about them," she lies, and slips back into the crowd. She is so Fire Nation that it's frankly mind-boggling he didn't figure it out before, and no matter how she tries, she will never stop being a noblewoman at heart; she doubts he will ever be able to accept her.

She pretends it doesn't hurt.

When she finally returns to her room at the inn, there's a note stuck to her door with one of the knives she had been admiring. All it says is, I'm trying to get over it.

He decides that making his peace with his past will require making his peace with her. He hears from the bounty hunter woman that she's attending her best friend's wedding (and doesn't that sound like fun) on Kyoshi Island, and so makes his way there. She makes eye contact during the wedding itself, but it's not until halfway through the after-party that she swallows her pride and walks up to him.

"What are you doing here?" she asks, and it sounds more tired than anything else. She is, he notices, watching the Fire Lord with needle-sharp eyes. He pretends it doesn't hurt.

"Enjoying the lovely wedding of... I have no idea who to I think I saw him once," he replies, shrugging.

"Her name is Ty Lee," she says sardonically, but almost sounds amused. "Why are you here if you don't know the people getting married?"

"I heard there was gonna be an awesome party," he lies, sipping his drink. "Also, I saw it as an excellent opportunity to watch what happens when a Fire Nation noblewoman marries a poor Earth Kingdom peasant."

She twitches, and he hides a smirk behind his glass. "She's not a noblewoman anymore," she says, and he wonders if she's still talking about Ty Lee. "She gave it up years ago."

"Good for her," he says lightly. "What is she doing next?"

She smiles thinly. "We heard there was a treehouse somewhere on the mainland. It sounded interesting."

He grins.

It's Zuko who finds the note, tucked neatly underneath one of the platters on the banquet table, written in flawless calligraphy.

Found something more interesting, it says, I'll be seeing you.