Yeah! Zutara week! I know I'm a week late and not even done with this thing but I really wanted to participate in Zutara week this year. Hope it gets read and liked and I make someone's Zutara week even better than it's already been. Woo!

God it feels good to write about them again.

Reflections on a Felicitous Occasion

1: Serendipity

I am in love with love. I've been in love with it all my life. It is my first memory, and I hope to make it my last! What man doesn't dream of that? Ha ha ha! Oh, I've been saving that one.

I joke only a little. Love really is my first memory. You don't believe me? Pah. There is no use for that kind of skepticism here! Be kind and listen to this old man for a moment. We have some time before the party really begins. Did I tell you I ordered exotic dancers?

Stop! It was only a little joke. Sheesh! I ordered acrobats.

Such ill humor! You really are high-strung today. Please, sit. Have some calming jasmine tea. Are you comfortable? Would you like some rice cakes? The bean paste inside is very fine. I ordered it especially for this occasion. Red is for luck and joy, you see. Joy is for the delight you young people show in one another, and luck is to keep your hardships at bay. You've gone through enough of those since you first met to last a lifetime!

Where was I? Oh, I remember. I was going to tell you about love. Don't be afraid to sample the noodles while I talk. The purple rice is also very good. Another auspicious color!

All right, all right. I'll begin.

The first thing I remember is my nursemaid's lap. She was a woman of warm humor and ample character. Very ample. Every night, I would sit snuggled up to her chest as she told me stories. It was the best part of my day, and the worst. For one blissful hour, there was nothing in the world to me but the sound of her voice and the comfort of her heartbeat as she stroked my back. Then I would be cruelly ripped away from her and placed in my cold bed, alone. How I would cry! How difficult it was to be apart from her! The other maids would attempt to console me, but no one else would do for me but her. No one compared. I was sure there was no other woman in the world as kind and funny and soft as her.

It couldn't last, of course. You remember your grandfather. He was a hard man who never had time for love. I told him one day that I wanted to marry my nursemaid, so he had her transferred to the Winter Palace. Then he had our family stay in the capitol all winter. It was a difficult time for me. I thought my young heart would never heal!

You could say that my first lesson was that new love unguarded is easily broken by the envious. It was a hard lesson to learn for one so young! I thought I'd never be worthy of it again.

That was before I met my second love, a girl from the kitchens. Her hips were exquisite, and her hands! Her hands were so skilled that her puff pastries were like clouds. I can still feel the way she'd place them on my tongue. Then there was my mother's chambermaid, a lithe and flirtatious woman who introduced me to the thrill of whispering secrets in the dark. And after her, a girl from the stables with strong legs and a stronger back taught me how to ride. She also got me onto my first komodo rhino!

Don't look like that. You would be making quite a different face if you knew her when I did!

Every season, one love would leave to make way for another. Heartbreak followed love, and love followed heartbreak. In wartime, people do not often stay together for long. But I remember them all. Their names, their dreams, their favorite colors, their favorite places to visit… ah. I grew up very lucky in love, nephew. I'm glad that these walls can't talk, or I would have to swear them to secrecy! Ha ha ha!

Have some more tea. There, now. You see? Love really was my first memory. One could say by and large that it's my only memory! It is, at least, the one I prefer to remember best.

Have I ever told you about your aunt?

Don't worry! I won't go into too much detail. If you're curious, though, I'd be happy to give you some advice that will be sure to please your-

Ha ha ha! Settle down! I won't tell you if you aren't ready to hear it yet. It can wait. Seriously though, I'm always here if you have any questions. Curiosity in that area is only healthy, and with enough curiosity your health will be vigorous indeed!

Are you feeling all right?

There, now. Don't let your nerves get the better of you. You'll need them for later tonight. Your wife will be upset with you if you are not as eager as she is. Why, when I married your Aunt, I drank so much rice wine at the reception that I fell asleep before we even got to our marital bed! Her anger the next morning could have flattened the entire caldera! It certainly made me run for cover. I spent our entire marriage having to show her just how much I regretted that particular blunder.

Not that I minded. Your Aunt was a very passionate woman.

I nearly missed my chance with her, you know. We married late, and did not have long together before she passed. I could have been married to her at your age if I had not been stubborn about it. I thought I was too young for marriage, and that she was too disagreeable to make a good wife. She pushed me into a fountain once when I brought Li and Lo with me to her father's birthday party. And she was never fond of Pai Sho. I was still too young to see that your partner's interests do not always have to align with yours, and that conflict can sometimes be a mask for passion. When we did marry, wow! Talk about sparks!

You are much luckier than me in that respect, my nephew. Life brought you to your bride again and again. You tried to put each other aside for the sake of others, but you couldn't ignore the calling of your hearts. And when you finally started listening, you didn't let anything stand in your way. Not distance, not envy, not time, not passing fancy, and not hardship. Instead you took it all and you turned it into strength.

Love is tried by hardship, Zuko, but when it comes through, it is not burned, but tempered. The love you and Miss Katara have for one another is strong as one of Piandao's finest swords. I'm in love with your love, as much as I have ever been in love with mine. I can't tell you how proud I am of you. Of both of you.

I've taken up too much of your time. You should be getting ready, not listening to an old man carry on about feelings! Finish your rice cakes. When you're done, I'll help you into your wedding clothes. Red and black, of course. Excellent colors for a wedding. I hear Miss Katara's going to wear blue.