Disclaimer - I do not own any of the characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender. However, any new characters are my creations.

Chapter 1 - Revelations

On the morning of Aang and Katara's wedding, Katara awoke to a beautifully bright morning. When she opened the door to leave the room she found a small red box with a blue bow sitting on the floor.

She picked up the box and opened it with curiosity. Inside was a Water Tribe betrothal necklace with a half moon in the middle and an orb on either side. Katara was mystified because Aang had gotten her a ring, not wanting to replace her mothers necklace.

It was then that Katara noticed a note at the bottom of the box. She unfolded the paper and recognized the hand writing.

"My dearest friend, I know I have no right to give you this on the day of your wedding, but I could not live with myself if I simply let it sit in that box forever, untouched by your gentle hands, and unseen by your beautiful blue eyes. I should have presented this to you years ago, but I feared revealing my love. A love that started in the catacombs and grew over the years. I waited to long, now it is to late.

The only thing I can give you now, is the promise that I will protect the one you love with my very life. I could not bare to see you unhappy, so I will do everything I can to ensure he stays safe. And this small token of my love. I know you can never wear it, that I will never see it grace your neck.

Should you ever have a daughter, I hope you will hand it down to her, so that I may know you kept it and perhaps, even treasured it. I will always care for you, and I will always be the best friend of your husband. I hope one day you can forgive me for not telling you sooner.

I wish you every happiness,

Zuko."

Katara was holding the necklace as she read the note, and now she looked down at it with tears in her eyes. All those years he had loved her. And in the beginning she had loved him to. She had fallen in love with the banished prince in their weeks of traveling together after the eclipse, but had been to afraid to reveal her feelings to him.

She thought it was stupid, falling in love with the prince of the Fire Nation. She had convinced herself there could be no future between them, so why ruin the past by telling him how she felt. She had hidden her feelings well.

And when Aang, sweet, kind, caring Aang was persistent in his feelings for her, she realized that unlike with Zuko, she could have a future with Aang. She had pushed her feelings for Zuko to the back of her mind and heart, so she could embrace her feelings for Aang.

She truly did love Aang then, and she most certainly loved him now, but at first it was difficult to stop loving him like a member of her family. She had known Aang for a year, and in that year had come to care for him as a younger brother. Someone to take care of.

It had taken her several months to fully embrace their new relationship, but after that it became easier. And after a couple of years she realized she had fallen in love with him. Her heart and mind were split in two, half still loving someone she could never be with, and half loving someone who she could have a life with, and who loved her back unconditionally.

When Aang proposed six years later, her choice was clear. She loved Aang, and had accepted his proposal three months ago with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face.

Now, on the day of her wedding, she once again had tears in her eyes. But these were tears of sorrow, not joy. She clutched the necklace tight for several minutes. When she opend her hand she admired the beautifully simple design, and noticed a small inscription on the back of the half moon. It read, "You carry the moon, as you carry my heart."

Fresh tears welled up in her eyes, and spilled onto her cheeks. A knock on the door startled her and she almost dropped the necklace. She hastily put it back in the box and slid it under her pillow. The knock sounded again, with impatience this time, and then it flew open.

"Sugarqueen whats the big idea, your suppose to be...what's going on?", Toph demanded.

Katara had wiped away her tears as Toph entered, and now she cleared her voice, as if she had just awoken. "Nothing's going on, I just got up. What was I suppose to be doing exactly?", she said.

"Your suppose to be upstairs. Ty-Lee, Sukki, and Mai are going to be here any minute to help you get all girled up. Sukki sent me ahead to make sure you were awake and had eaten breakfast."

Katara slid out of bed and rushed over to her dresser, she got out her comb and began untangling her hair. "Thanks Toph. I haven't eaten yet, but there are some sweet buns in the kitchen, I can grab one of those before they get here. Would you like some?"

Toph was silent for a moment, her head tilted to the side a bit, as if she was listening to something that no one else could hear."No thanks, I already ate at the acadamy", Toph finally replied.

Katara stopped brushing and went into her closet to change out of her night dress, she called out from the little room, "I thought the acadamy would be closed today."

Toph shrugged, though Katara couldn't see her. "Just because the Avatar is getting married, that doesn't mean my acadamy has to come to a halt. I have the Dark One teaching a new group of lilylivers the basics."

"Oh", Katara responded. She came back out in a blue dress with an orange sash around her hips. She started wearing the sash once she moved to Air Temple Island, the island that Aang had created as his home in Republic City. Now it had been her home as well for the past year.

She walked over to her dresser and put her hair in it's usual loops, the rest of it hanging straight down her back.

Toph observed her in silence before saying, "Are you going to tell me what's wrong or not?"

Katara turned to look at her friend, Toph had her arms crossed and was looking almost directly at Katara's face. It was a little unnerving. "There's nothing wrong", Katara responded.

She then moved out of the room, past her friend and into the kitchen. Toph followed silently behind. There was a basket of freshly baked sweet buns on the counter, courtesy of the Air Acolytes. She grabed one and started nibbling as she leaned against the counter.

"It's useless to lie to me Katara, and you know it. I can feel and hear your heart beating twice as fast as normal", Toph said as she stopped in the doorway.

"Wedding nerves I suppose", Katara said.

Toph laughed and when Katara asked her what was so funny she laughed even harder. After a couple of minutes Katara couldn't take it any more and stomped out of the room out onto the covered porch.

Toph followed right behind her. "Sorry sugarqueen, but that was to funny. Wedding nerves? That was the biggest lie I've ever felt, and believe me I've felt some pretty large lies. So tell me, what's going on with you?"

Katara hesitated, she wasn't sure she should tell anyone. Not even Toph. If Aang were to find out, he would be devestated. And she would be even more heartbroken.

Toph sighed and said in a gentle voice she rarely used, "Look, whatever is eating at you must be pretty bad, otherwise you'd be a sarcastic drama queen right now like you always are when somethings not going right."

Katara glared at her. "Alright", Toph said, "You don't always use sarcasm, but you do always let the people closest to you know what's going on."

They were both quiet for a moment. Toph was the one to break the silence again. "If it's something you don't want Aang to know, your safe. He never really picked up on my lie detecting. And I'm sure everyone else will buy that wedding nerves thing. I'm the only one who can tell your freaking out about something. I promise I won't repeat a thing if that's what you want."

Katara sighed, Toph knew her to well. "That's what I want," she said.

Toph's face lit up with a huge grin, "Alright, now get to the good stuff, the others will be here soon."

"Okay, let's go back inside, I don't want any of the Air Acolytes to overhear", Katara said. She led her friend back into the kitchen, and they sat at the small table. Katara told her friend about the box she received earlier, she retrieved the necklace and described it. And finally she read the letter aloud. When she was finished Toph had a shocked look on her face.

"So sparky's been in love with you all this time? I always knew his heartbeat sped up when you were around, but since every other guy's heart has done the same for years I figured it was a normal reaction. Why didn't he tell you sooner?", Toph demanded.

Katara's eyes widened in surprise. She hadn't realized how many men had found her attractive, she always thought their kindness and manners to her were because of her legendary reputation as a Master Waterbender, and her relationship with the Avatar.

But she knew that only two men besides her brother and father held any real affection for her...

Katara shook her head. "He was afraid. I suppose he was worried I wouldn't feel the same, that I would turn him away. He knew how Aang felt about me, you all did. It was obvious. Maybe he thought I had already choosen."

Toph had no answer. Katara took the letter back to her room and hid it with the box in her closet. When she went back to the kitchen she was stopped by the look on Toph's face. There was shock, like before, but now there was also amazement and realization.

"What's...", Katara began, but was silenced by Toph holding up her hand.

"I can't belive this", said Toph. "All this time and I didn't "see" it. I always connected those strange heartbeats to other things. I never put it together."

"I know, I had no idea he felt that way about me", said Katara.

"Not him Katara. You!", Toph exclaimed. "All this time you've been in love with him. Your an even bigger lier then he is. Does Aang know how you feel? Does he know your in love with somebody else?"

Katara was not surprised that Toph realized how she felt about Zuko, but she gasped in shock when her honesty to Aang was questioned.

"Toph, I have never lied to Aang. I love him! I would never deceve him", Katara defended herself.

Toph shook her head, "I know that you love him Katara, if you didn't I would have been able to tell years ago. But your also in love with Zuko, I just didn't realize it until now."

They were silent for several mintues before Toph said, "I can feel the others coming, they just got off the dock."

Katara turned her head to see out the window. Mai and Ty-Lee each had an arm around a very pregnant Sukki, helping her up the hill.

She moved to leave the room and get the door, but then stopped and turned back toward Toph. "Aang doesn't know. I've thought about telling him a hundred times over the years, but I couldn't bare to break his heart. And mine. I love him, there's nothing that's going to change that, not even that necklace and note. I love him now, and I'll love him always. There's no going back."

Toph nodded, and got up. She walked over to Katara, and hugged her. Katara was in shock at the unexpected hug, it was so rare that Toph ever showed emotion by physical contact other then punches to the arm. After a second she hugged Toph back.

"They're almost to the door", Toph said as she released her friend.

Katara nodded and moved toward the door, but Toph stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "I won't tell Aang. I promise. It's not your fault you love two people. But I have to know, if you could go back to before you fell in love with Aang, would you?"

Katara's eyes filled with tears again. She wiped them away as quickly as they came.

"I don't know, Toph," she said, "I don't know." And went to answer the door.