AN: Hello there! I would like to welcome you to my newest Fanfic! This is the first ATLA Fanfic I've written, and I'm super excited to be writing about one of my favorite pairings – Zutara! This is going to be several chapters with a plot and a bit of conflict, as well as pretty fluffy in some parts. Nothing too bad though, I have no desire to write that sort of stuff. Here we go with chapter 1!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything that you recognize. I'm just borrowing it for the purposes of letting my creative juices flow.

Chapter 1: The Lonely Heart, the Broken Heart

Watching the sunrise at the South Pole is really nice, but there's nothing more beautiful than sunrises in the Fire Nation.

This is what I was thinking of as I stood at the bow of the ship taking me to the Fire Nation so I could be with my old friend, Fire Lord Zuko. His love, Mai, had died recently and he was devastated. He'd requested my presence for the funeral, but we both knew I'd be there longer to comfort him and such. That's what I do. That's what I used to do, back when we traveled the world on Appa's back so Aang could master the four elements. I didn't mind. Healing was in my nature, and I was more than happy to help Zuko put his life back together.

"Master Waterbender!" I turned at the sound of the captain's voice, a faint smile twitched at the corners of my mouth.

"Good morning Captain Zhong. And I believe I have told you, you really can call me Katara. I don't mind." He nodded sheepishly, then continued. He wasn't much older then me, this captain, but he insisted that I be treated like royalty. When I tried to protest, he insisted, on account of the fact that I had been the one to defeat Princess Azula, not to mention that I had been the Avatar's waterbending teacher. I had reluctantly agreed, but I was speaking with Zuko about this, no doubt.

"My apologies, Master Katara. I wanted to point out to you the harbor of the Capital City." He pointed off to the left, and I turned. For the first time, and feeling rather foolish for not seeing it earlier, I noticed the great Gates of Azulon, which guard the harbor. I grinned, memories of the invasion on the day of the eclipse flooding back. The smile slipped off my face as I remembered my father being captured while our little gang plus Haru, Teo, and the Duke fled to the Western Air Temple. That was one of the most heartbreaking days of my life.

The boat pulled past the gates and docked in the harbor barely 20 minutes later. Though I was a waterbender, I did miss solid ground sometimes. Especially when all your friends were on solid ground.

My luggage was brought up from below decks by two of the sailors, much to my annoyance. They carried the bags down the gangplank and set them in the carriage that was waiting for me there. I said goodbye to all of the sailors, who were very surprised, for the most part, when I called each by name.

I got into the carriage, and after settling myself, I tapped on the front panel to let the driver know I was ready to leave. I felt the carriage start moving immediately, being pulled by two Komodo rhinos. I was rather amused by the stares the carriage got as we moved through the city. Apparently, Zuko didn't bring a lot of people directly from the docks to the palace by carriage. Well, didn't that make me feel special.

It was probably only a few minutes, but it felt like it took hours to get to the palace. I felt the carriage pause a moment, then continue. I figured that we must have just passed through the gates, and realized that it would only be a moment before I would finally get to see Zuko again, not to mention the rest of Team Avatar.

Sokka was the only member I saw on a regular basis, with us being siblings and all. I saw Aang every few months, but it wasn't very often and never for very long. The whole world needed him, not just me. That's why I ended our relationship. I felt bad, after seeing his crushed expression, but I knew it was the right thing to do. What I felt for Aang was too similar to how I felt about Sokka – sibling love. Toph I saw once or twice a year, maybe. It had been almost four years since the defeat of Phoenix King Ozai, four years I had spent trying to help the Southern Water Tribe regain its footing. Our sister tribe had sent us plenty of Waterbenders, and together with Sokka they had built up the Tribe so it was coming along to the size of the Northern Water Tribe. I trained the young Waterbenders with Master Pakku, my grandfather, or helped build, much to the annoyance of the male benders. They were annoyed because I was so much better than them.

The carriage jerked to a halt, and a moment later, the door swung open. I hopped easily down the steps, wearing my old Fire Nation disguise. It had been Aang's idea, wearing the clothes we used to wear while on the run. I thought it was a great idea, like everyone else. So I now stood before the royal palace in a midriff-bearing shirt and leggings with my hair tied up in a Fire Nation style instead of my usual Water Tribe loopies.

The palace was as beautiful as I remembered from the time I had spent here after the war. The sweeping, graceful design was less intimidating than I remembered; apparently, Zuko had done a bit of renovating during the time I'd been gone. There was less of a military air now, with more focus on culture and peace. It was very soothing after the hectic building going on at home.

Three servants appeared, with two taking my bags while the other bowed. Still looking at the ground, he spoke to me.

"It is an honor to meet you, Master Katara. Fire Lord Zuko sent me to apologize for not being here to meet you himself. A meeting was called by the Earth Kingdom ambassadors at the last moment, and the Fire Lord was obliged to go for the sake of peace. He requested that I bring you wherever you should wish to go. Would you like to see you rooms? Or I can bring you to the kitchen to get something to eat. Or the practice arena, if you should wish." I blinked at the list of suggestions. Seems like Zuko was determined to make me feel comfortable, even if he wasn't there to greet me himself.

"I think that I'd like to go to the arena, if it's not too much trouble," I decided. The servant nodded.

"It's no trouble at all, Master. Please, this way," he said with a gesture of his hand. I followed him into the palace. We traveled through several hallways lined with artwork of all nations, a fact that didn't escape me. It seemed that Zuko was determined to make it clear that all he wanted was inter-nation unity. I, for one, was pleased.

Several minutes later, we exited the palace. We were standing in a large, stone arena. It reminded me eerily of the place where Zuko and Azula had fought their Agni Kai on the day of Sozin's Comet. I suppressed a shudder at the memory. I could still clearly picture Zuko leaping in front of me and taking a bolt of lightning meant to kill me. I'd never asked him why, I realized. It had been a topic to avoid each time we saw each other, unless it was a healing session.

"Here we are Master, the training arena. Fire Lord Zuko had those large water troughs brought out so you would be able to practice. If you need anything, just yell for a servant."

"What name should I call, if I'm looking for someone?" The servant looked startled.

"My name is Chan," the servant told me. "I suppose you could call my name if you were looking for me specifically. Otherwise, just call out the word servant. Someone will come." I nodded, and Chan bowed then left.

I turned to examine the water troughs. It seemed that Zuko knew what he was doing, or had consulted a waterbender, because the two troughs were more than sufficient. Each held several gallons of water, more than enough for any of my usual combat moves. I would only need this much water if I was trying to make a tidal wave big enough to destroy the entire arena, plus a bit of the palace. I grinned, and started bending.

I started with a water whip, a technique that I had once struggled with, but now was natural as breathing. I easily flowed into more and more complicated techniques, until I was using the ones I had learned mere weeks ago with Master Pakku. I don't know how long I bended, but once my vision got a little weird, I decided it was time to stop. I let the ice disks I'd been using to attack a pillar dissolve back into water, which I returned to the trough. Thankfully, the Fire Nation clothes were nowhere near as warm as my usual cold-weather outfit, which allowed me to sweat more freely, thus keeping me cooler. I walked drunkenly to the trough, where I took a nice, long drink. I sighed contentedly as the water slid down my throat. Suddenly, lonely applause broke out in one corner of the arena.

I whipped around, and saw Fire Lord Zuko leaning casually against a pole in the corner, clapping. He was wearing the outfit I remembered from when he had joined our group, just before the defeat of Ozai. His hair was flopping down in his face instead of up in the hideous topknot that most Fire Nation nobles seemed to wear. When he saw that I'd noticed him, he stood up properly and walked over.

"Impressive as usual Katara. And here I was thinking that you might have actually slowed down the frantic pace at which you learn Waterbending. It would seem not," he said with a smirk.

I felt my whole face light up at the sight of Zuko, and when I heard him speak to me like we were back at Ember Island, before the defeat of Ozai. I leaped over to him and threw my arms around him with unrestrained joy. He burst out laughing and hugged me back, tightly. I pulled away after a moment, and looked into his face. I saw the happiness in his eyes, which I assumed was because of me. But there was a shadow across his face, which made him look old, tired, and impossibly sad. I gently put a hand on his scar, and he smiled sadly, putting his hand on mine.

"You're the only one other than Mai who'll touch my scar you know," he said sadly. "Everyone else, even the others from Team Avatar, just look at it funny. Some of them try to pretend it's not there. That's always entertaining." A tiny, real smile had appeared on his lips. I smiled too.

"Well, I think we both remember when we were trapped in the Crystal Catacombs of Ba Sing Se. I am a healer, so few injuries are too gruesome for me. Speaking of injuries, how's that wound from Azula's lightning doing?"

"Once a healer, always a healer, I suppose," he said with a laugh. "I'll let you check it out later, okay? But for now, we're going to go greet everyone else. And you're not going to worry about it."

"Is that an order from the Fire Lord?" I asked with a teasing tone.

"It very well could be," he threatened. He offered an arm, which I readily took, laughing.

Oh yeah, I thought. It's good to be back with my friends.

AN: Well, what did you think? Believable? Stupid? Strange? Engaging? That little button down there, the one that says review on it seems to be asking for your opinion…. Why don't you oblige!