Katara shot up in bed. Her eyes were wet with tears, but for a moment she couldn't remember why. Then the memory of the dream came flooding back and she had to choke back a sob. Beside her, her husband stirred in his sleep and turned to face her.

"T'sa matter?" he mumbled. Katara sniffed and tried to smile.

"It-it's nothing," she said. "Go back to sleep." He must have heard something her voice, because he woke up and propped himself up in his elbow. Nearly ten years of marriage had given him an innate sense of her moods.

"What's wrong?" He reached up and wiped the last of the tears from her cheek. Katara leaned into his hand, and then threw herself into his arms.

"I had a bad dream," she whispered. She looked up at him, kissed his chin, ran her hand down the scarred side of his face. The need to feel him and make sure he was real was overwhelming. "I dreamed that we weren't together. I had to live my entire life without you."

Zuko smirked at Katara, brushing stray hair away from her face.

"Must have been terribly boring," he said. "Don't worry. Even if we couldn't be together in this lifetime, I'd find you in the next life and the one after that, and..."

"So, you're going to hunt me down for eternity?" Katara chuckled. "Old habits, huh?" Zuko grinned.

"I'm a man who knows what I want. And that's you, forever and ever." Katara sat up and kissed Zuko properly on the lips. The movement caused a faint ache in her joints. She frowned at the odd sensation, but ignored it. She stared down at Zuko. There was a knot in her chest. Tears welled in her eyes, the memory of the dream still fresh (what if I lost him? What if I never had him?). She wasn't embarrassed though. Not with Zuko. Never with him.

"Do you promise?" she asked. Zuko's brow furrowed in confusion. "That you'll find me. In our next life. And the one after that." Zuko regarded his wife for a moment. Then he sat all the way up and pressed his forehead against hers.

"Always," he promised. He grinned devilishly. "You'll get sick of seeing me."

"I'm sure I will," Katara teased. Zuko kissed her again and lay down.

"Now get some sleep," he said. "We've got a lot of diplomats and other annoying people to see tomorrow." Katara smiled and settled into the blankets.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

The faint ache in her bones grew. It felt to Katara that all of her joints had locked up. She opened her mouth to cry out, but her voice came out thready and weak. She reached out for Zuko, but there were only empty sheets. She opened her eyes. There was a gnarled and knobby hand at her side. With a surge of horror Katara realized it was her own hand.

"Oh!" she cried. "Oh!" Her entire body hurt terribly, and Zuko wasn't there. Where was he? Two strangers, a man and a woman, rushed into the room. The woman moved her arms and water surrounded her hands. She was a water bender, like Katara. And a healer, Katara found out a moment later. The aching in Katara's joints dissipated enough that the pain was no longer agonizing. The woman looked down at her with concern.

"Are you okay, Mom?" Katara started. This woman had to be in her sixties at least. Katara wasn't old enough to be her mother...was she? Katara was having trouble concentrating. She couldn't remember how old she was. She questioned the woman in her strange high, thin voice. The woman looked close to tears.

"I'm Kya, Mom," she said. The man whispered something Katara couldn't hear. She frowned and looked over at him. He was bald and tattooed, and he had a grey beard. He looked familiar, but Katara couldn't remember his name.

"Where's my husband?" she asked. The two strangers exchanged a look.

"He-he's not here, Mom," the woman, Kya said. Katara sighed sadly.

"Busy as usual. He would be here if he could, though," she assured the pair. She looked at the man curiously. "Who are you?" He stepped forward with tears in his eyes.

"I'm your son," he reminded her gently. "Tenzin." Katara frowned and shook her head.

"No," she said. "I never had a son Tenzin. That was Aang's boy. An air bender, just like his father. Oh, he was so proud of that boy." Tenzin looked stricken. Kya sat at Katara's side.

"That's right," Kya said, taking Katara's hand gently in hers. "That's right, Mom. Tenzin is Aang's youngest son. I'm Aang's daughter. And we're your children, too."

"My children," Katara repeated,a bit dazedly. "My children, and Aang's..." She shook her head. "No, that's...that's not right...I'm married to..." Katara grew more agitated. She tried to pull her hand away from Kya.

"What's going on?" another man had entered. Kya looked over her shoulder.

"Mom's not having a great day."

"What's wrong?" he asked. The new man walked over to the bed. Katara recognized him immediately. She tried to get up and run over to him.

"Sokka!" she cried. The man blinked in surprise.

"Oh..." He looked from Kya to Tenzin, and then sighed sadly. Katara struggled to sit up, reaching for the man.

"Sokka!" she wailed again. "Who are these people? They said they're my children, but... Where's Zuko?" The man recoiled.

"What?"

"Mom," Kya said gently, "that's not Uncle Sokka. That's Bumi. Your...my brother." Katara stared at Bumi in confusion. Kya piled pillows behind her. She dug in her bag for the herbal sedative she had gotten in town earlier and put it in her mother's teapot.

"Why is she asking for Zuko?" Bumi asked. He turned to Tenzin, but his younger brother was as lost as Bumi.

"I don't know," Tenzin said. "She was asking for Dad just a moment ago." Kya sighed and helped Katara drink some of the tea. To Kya's relief, Katara calmed down almost immediately.

"No," she corrected Tenzin absently. "She asked for her husband." Tenzin scowled at his sister.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded. "Dad was her husband." Kya just shrugged. The long days of caring for her mother were beginning to tell on her. She didn't feel up to an argument with Tenzin.

"Well, that's not what she's remembering right now," she sighed.

"Has she been like this all day?" Bumi asked. He walked over to the other side of Katara's bed and sat on the other chair. Someone-Tenzin, Bumi guessed- had brought in a bouquet of panda lilies. Katara watched him sleepily, but Bumi guessed that she wasn't really seeing him.

"She was doing well this morning," Kya said. "She knew everyone. She was happy to see her grandchildren. But she took a nap, and when she woke up..." Kya gestured at her mother helplessly.

"Can't you do something?" Tenzin asked. Kya scowled at him.

"Like what, Tenzin?" she snapped. "What more could I be doing?" Tenzin shrank back.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I know this is harder on you than anyone." Kya ran her hands over her face. She had been in charge of taking care of Katara for a little over a year. Ever since Korra had gone to visit her mentor and found her confused and bleeding from a head wound on the floor.

Kya was glad to do it and her brothers and Korra helped as much as they could. But Katara's mind had been slowly going. Her brothers hadn't had the experience with their mother's episodes that she had. She was grateful that Katara hadn't gotten angry. She also hadn't told her brothers that this wasn't the first time their mother had woken up asking for Zuko. It was a secret only she and Korra knew.

"Did she have a thing for him?" Korra asked when Katara called for him the first time.

"Not as far as I know," Kya said shaking her head. "She and my father had been together since they were teens. As far as I ever saw, they were happy together. Still..."

"Still?" Korra pressed. Kya frowned and stared into her teacup.

"I don't remember it, but she and Fire Lord Zuko were very close." Kya swirled her tea around idly. "Best friends for a long time, in fact, to hear my parents tell it. And you know they got close again before the Fire Lord died."

"Do you think it was more?" Kya looked up and frowned at Korra. Now in her mid-thirties, the Avatar had a slight dusting of grey in her dark brown hair, and laugh lines had begun to make their presence known around her eyes, but Kya still saw the same curious (nosey) girl she had met almost 20 years earlier.

"I think," she told Korra, in a terse measured tone, "that my mother is old and confused."

Korra had taken the hint and let the subject drop.

Katara had asked for Zuko twice more between that first time and now. Once she referred to him directly as her husband. Kya wanted to ask, during Katara's long stretches of lucidity, why she had asked for Zuko instead of Aang, but she couldn't. She didn't want to upset her mother...or to hear anything that would upset her.

Now, though, Tenzin and Bumi had witnessed one of Katara's worst episodes. They heard Katara ask for Zuko this time. Kya didn't believe for a moment that they wouldn't ask Katara about it. Especially not Tenzin, Aang's most loyal child.

Kya would hold them off as long as possible. They would leave soon. Tenzin still had air benders to train, and Bumi...well since he had retired from the military, he didn't have many obligations, but being in one spot too long made him antsy.

With any luck, they'll forget all about it once they leave, Kya tried unsuccessfully to convince herself.

"May I have more tea, dear?" Katara asked. She was looking at Kya with a blithe smile. There was still no recognition in Katara's eyes. Tenzin and Bumi were staring at their mother, hoping, praying for a sign that she remembered who they were. Kya poured some more of the medicinal tea into Katara's cup. A few moments later, the elderly woman began dozing again. There was a slight smile on her face. Kya motioned for her brothers to follow her out.

In Kya's sitting room, she fixed another pot of tea. She toyed with the idea of dosing the three of them with Katara's tea, figuring they could all do with its relaxing properties. She brewed a pot of ginseng.

"What was that?" Tenzin asked as soon as Kya set the tea service down. She bowed her head in a short prayer for patience before she answered.

"What do you mean?" Tenzin sputtered and gestured madly towards Katara's room.

"What do I mean? She was calling for the Fire Lord instead of Dad!" Bumi took a sip of his tea and nodded.

"Yep, that was pretty weird, alright."

"Mom is old," she said, giving her younger brothers the same explanation she had come up with for Korra. "Her mind is going. I don't know why she asked for Zuko. I don't think she knows." Bumi seemed mollified by that explanation, but Tenzin eyed Kya suspiciously.

"Is that the first time she asked for him?" Kya just shrugged. Tenzin shook his head in confusion.

"You don't think...," Bumi hesitated, licked his lips. He tried again. "Do you think she had a thing for him?"

"WHAT?" Tenzin spun round on his brother so fast, he knocked his tea over. Kya pulled the tea out of her rug before it had a chance to stain. Bumi rolled his eyes at Tenzin's reaction.

"Would you calm down?" he sniffed. "I just wondered if Mom had a crush on the guy. I wasn't suggesting she had a torrid affair with the Fire Lord."

"I wouldn't blame her," Kya said, mostly to annoy Tenzin. He turned his steely glare on Kya. "I meant I wouldn't blame her for having a crush. Fire Lord Zuko was pretty hot back in the day. Pun intended." Kya grinned at Bumi and the two shared a laugh. Tenzin folded his arms, decidedly not amused

"Did you two really hate Dad that much?"

"What are you talking about?" Kya asked. She pinched the bridge of her nose. A headache was making itself known behind her left eye.

"Look, I get that Dad wasn't perfect," Tenzin's voice shook as he tried to stay calm. "He favored me occasionally and I understand that it left scars." Kya and Bumi exchanged a glance, but let Tenzin finish. "Dad loved all of us, though. And he adored Mom. To suggest she had feelings for another man...for one of his closest friends... That's just disrespectful to his memory. No amount of issues with him could justify it."

Kya and Bumi were quiet for a long moment. Tenzin turned away slightly, keeping his nose turned nobly upward. Finally, Bumi raised a hand to his mouth, and made a rude noise.

"Come off it, Tenzin," he said.

"No one doubts that Mom and Dad had a happy marriage," Kya assured her youngest brother. "Maybe she had feelings for Zuko, maybe not. It's ridiculous to argue over. Zuko took any secrets about it to his grave, and Mom is in no condition to be grilled about it." Kya looked at her brothers pointedly.

"It's ridiculous to think anyway," Tenzin muttered. "Mom and the Fire Lord. Give me a break."

"I think Mom would've made a terrific Fire Lady," Bumi said. He scratched his chin nonchalantly. Kya was convinced that he was just trying to stir up trouble, and Tenzin was determined to make an easy mark of himself. It was as if they had forgotten they were both old men and had turned into children again. She decided to remove herself. Pema and the kids would be home from the market soon, and Kya wanted to get as much of dinner prepared as possible before the inevitable noise disturbed her mother.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Katara wasn't alone. She could sense the presence of someone else in her room. But she didn't open her eyes just yet. She wanted to ground herself in reality.

My name is Katara, she reminded herself. I am staying with my daughter, Kya. I have two sons, Bumi and Tenzin. I am...Katara lifted her hands to her face. I am old...so old...

"Nearly a hundred, by my count." Katara dropped her hands and gasped. Zuko sat at the end of her bed, smiling slightly. He raised a hand and waved. "Hey."

"You can't be here!" Katara whispered. Zuko frowned at that.

"Why not?" he asked. Katara shook her head sadly.

"Because you're dead," she reminded him. "Going on two years now." Zuko shrugged.

"Stranger things have happened." Katara discovered she couldn't fault his logic.

He looked so different from her dreams. He's in his nineties now, instead of being a young man. His hair is far too thin and receded to hold the crown of the Fire Nation, but he had passed that along to Izumi long ago, anyway. He vaguely reminds Katara of Iroh. There wasn't another man on the planet as handsome as Zuko in her eyes.

"You keep calling me," Zuko told her. "Your children are beginning to wonder why."

"Well, maybe I'll escape to the spirit world before they start prying," Katara retorted drily. Zuko smirked.

"Why don't you tell them the truth?" he suggested. Katara shook her head as emphatically as her stiff joints would allow.

"They loved their father," she said. "They would be heartbroken, especially Tenzin."

"I think they'd understand. After all, you loved Aang, too. No one could deny that." Katara fell silent. She dropped her eyes to the quilt covering her. She had loved Aang, but not enough. Otherwise, he'd be there instead of Zuko.

"Are you really here?" she asked the specter. "Or am I dreaming again? My mind plays so many cruel tricks on me anymore." Zuko gazed at her longingly.

"I'm not here," he admitted. "Not really. I'm a reminder." Katara tilted her head to the side.

"Oh? Of what?" Zuko stood up and shuffled around to her side. He leaned down to kiss her, and Katara could almost feel his lips on her forehead.

"That I'll be waiting for you on our next time around." Katara smiled up at him. Her eyes had blurred over with tears. She blinked them away, and then she was alone again. With a sigh, Katara settled into her sheets and fell into a dreamless sleep.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Katara remained more or less lucid for the rest of Tenzin's visit. He tried to broach the subject of her asking for Zuko and not Aang once, but Kya had come in just in time to hear the delicately and confusingly worded question and see the startled look on her mother's face. She promptly chased Tenzin from the room.

"She's old and confused!" she repeated. "Let her rest!"

"I just want to know why she's not asking for Dad!" Tenzin insisted.

"Why?" Kya put her hands on her hips, a move that so strenuously reminded Tenzin of his mother, he got tongue tied for a moment. "Why do you need to know? Our parents had a happy marriage. Between the two of us, we could count the number of serious fights they had over our entire lives and not use all of our fingers. So what if she's asking for Zuko now?"

Tenzin wasn't satisfied with his sister's answer, so she reminded him that Katara's stretches of lucidity were getting shorter, and if he upset her, he could trigger an episode. He spent the rest of his visit sulking, and sitting with his mother in relative quiet. Kya was grateful that Pema and the children supplied enough conversation to cover his silence.

Bumi was not nearly as curious as his younger brother. Kya was surprised at first. Bumi was never one to let a mystery go unsolved. But after thinking about it, Kya came to the conclusion that wanting to preserve his images of their parents was stronger than his need to know the answer to this particular mystery.

"If you have a nice tapestry that happens to have a loose thread, you don't go yanking on it," he said out of nowhere, one early morning after Tenzin and his family had gone. "It's not worth destroying the whole piece for a bit of thread that ain't hurting anybody." Kya didn't ask him what he was talking about. She muttered something in agreement and got up to wash the dishes.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Tenzin and Bumi had chipped in to hire a nurse to take some of the strain off of Kya while she was alone with Katara. She started after Bumi left. He was going to Ba Sing Se for an extended visit. Kya was grateful for the extra help, though she preferred having her home to herself.

Min Ju, however, was a fairly quiet young woman in her thirties, and also from Republic City. She was good with Katara, and knew when to engage Kya in conversation and when to sit quietly. She stayed during the day, allowing Kya to do her shopping or visit friends, and at night, Kya cared for Katara herself.

Katara seemed to like her, too, although she wasn't always sure who Min Ju was. Once she asked if that was Sokka's daughter.

"No, Mom," Kya corrected her. "Yue is in Kyoshi with her family." Katara frowned, trying to remember Yue's face. Kya held up a spoon of soup to Katara's lips, reminding her to eat.

One morning, Min Ju couldn't come in. Katara was having a good day, though, and Kya wasn't bothered. She helped Katara into her wheelchair and took her for a walk around the gardens. Katara smiled into the rays of the sun, and reached out to run her fingers over the petals of Kya's prized flowers. They stopped under the shade of an acacia tree for the breakfast Kya had packed for the two of them. Kya settled on the stone bench and unpacked. Katara's hands shook, but she insisted on feeding herself the mango and kiwi chunks.

"I never thought I'd live to see the day my children have to care for me like a child," she grumbled. Then, with a sigh, she reached out for Kya's hand. "I'm afraid I've become a burden to you, my little moon and stars." Tears sprang to Kya's eyes at her childhood nickname.

"Never that, Mom," she assured Katara, squeezing her frail hand gently. Katara wasn't convinced.

She said, "My time is coming. And don't try to convince me it's not." Kya shut her mouth against the protest that sprang up almost involuntarily. The truth was, it was almost a miracle that Katara had lasted this long. Kya herself was an old woman. Now seventy, she had seen friends she had grown up with buried by their children, grandchildren, and sometimes great-grandchildren. Katara was ninety-four. The last of the original Gaang living. Even Toph had died nearly ten years earlier. Kya knew, although she'd never say it out loud, that her mother was ready to go, too.

"Have you been happy?" Kya asked instead. Katara smiled at her. Her blue eyes were as sharp as ever.

"I have been very happy," she replied. "I helped save the world, you know. Twice! And I got to watch my three wonderful children grow into astounding people. I couldn't ask for more."

"Not even..." Katara looked at Kya expectantly.

"Not even what?" Kya was silent. Katara snorted in exasperation. "Come on, Kya! I'm an old, old woman if there's something you want to ask, now's the time. Quick before my mind goes for good." Then Kya, despite her intentions and doing her best to keep her brothers from doing the very same thing, asked her mother the question that had been on her mind for a year.

"Why do you call for Zuko instead of Dad?" Katara blinked in surprise. Kya felt her cheeks heat up, and she hurried to explain. "Sometimes, during your...episodes, you wake up and ask for Zuko. Never Dad."

"Oh..." Katara lowered her gaze guiltily to the bowl of mango on her lap. Kya leaned forward and put her hand over Katara's.

"Did you and Zuko have...a thing?" she asked. "I promise, I won't judge. I just want to know." Katara shifted uncomfortably in her wheelchair and said nothing. For a long time, it looked like she was going to refuse Kya.

"I was never unfaithful to your father," she said at last. "Not in a way that most would consider unfaithful." Kya's brows furrowed in confusion. Katara sighed.

"Did you know that your father and I broke up once?" Kya's eyes widened. She had no idea. Katara nodded. "The summer I turned twenty. Being the girlfriend of the Avatar was a much different challenge than I thought it would be." Kya's face softened sympathetically.

"Too much expected of you?" she guessed.

"No, actually," Katara said. "Far too little. Almost nothing. I was a trophy in the eyes of the people. I, who had trained the Avatar in water bending. Who saved his life and the life of the Fire Lord many times. Who defeated Princess Azula. I was the Avatar's reward for saving the world!" Katara snorted in disgust, and Kya made a similar noise. Her mother had been far more in her life than merely the wife of the Avatar.

"I could have dealt with all of that," Katara continued. "All of it, except...well the world had forgotten that the Avatar didn't restore the balance alone, and after a while, it seemed he forgot, too." Katara sighed and shut her eyes against the midmorning sun passing through the gaps in the leaves. She was quiet for so long that Kya thought she had fallen asleep. But just as she was contemplating whether Katara back inside or let her nap beneath the tree, Katara opened her eyes and smiled sadly.

"I broke up with your father after six years because I didn't feel he respected me anymore. I wasn't very nice about it either. It's a testament to your father's persistence that we got back together again years later.

"What has any of this got to do with Zuko?" Kya asked. Katara waved a hand impatiently.

"I'm getting to that. Part of the reason I left Aang is because I got the opportunity to serve as an ambassador for the Water Tribes in the Fire Nation. I had the chance to do some real good again. Of course Aang didn't want me to take it. He didn't trust anyone else with his laundry, I guess." Kya was surprised at the bitterness in Katara's words. Katara didn't notice or care, because she kept on.

"That was when I realized that I had stopped being Aang's girlfriend, and had somehow become his mother. I don't really call what happened next an argument. Really, it was mostly me blowing up at him, and him looking hurt and confused. That's how he fought back. You could hardly ever work him up into a good shouting match. I didn't think I'd ever forgive him for that. I left him in Gao Ling a few days later and officially took over the position as ambassador a few weeks after that. That's when Zuko and I rekindled our friendship.

"It was innocent at first. He trusted my judgement and he consulted me not only on foreign policy, but on finance, social reform, and infrastructure, too. It was such a change from being with Aang." Katara sighed and shut her eyes again.

"Did you bring anything to drink, dear?" she asked Kya. "I'm terribly thirsty." Kya handed her a canteen of iced tea. Katara opened her eyes and took the canteen carefully, trying to keep her shaky hands still enough to guide the tea to her mouth. She handed it back when she'd had enough. Kya subtly bent away the tea that had spilled down Katara's front-it wasn't very much- and Katara pretended not to notice. It was easier on both of them that way.

"You fell in love with Zuko while you were the ambassador?" Kya asked, prompting Katara to finish her story. Her mother nodded.

"We didn't even realize it happened until we were both in too deep to turn back. I had been there nearly a year before we knew, but I think I fell for him long before that. He was my best friend. My soulmate.

Kya felt a sharp pain when Katara said that. Poor Dad, she thought. But she was eager to know now what had happened to keep Katara and Zuko apart. She urged her mother to continue her story.

"The timing couldn't have been worse," Katara said. She sighed sadly. "Zuko needed to get married. I was ready to volunteer, mind you, but quiet as we kept our relationship, his advisors suspected and let him know in no uncertain terms that they would fight our marriage.

"And that was enough to put him off?" Kya gawped. Righteous indignation welled in her chest.

"Not at all!" Katara said. "He told them in no uncertain terms that he planned to do as he pleased. He didn't confirm or deny that he had a relationship with me, but even so things became more difficult. The rumors that the Fire Lord was planning to marry a 'nobody from the Water Tribe' got out and the people weren't happy." Katara had to stop for a moment. Tears were threatening to overwhelm her. Kya gave her some more tea, and told her that she could stop, but to her relief, Katara insisted on continuing.

"I may never feel this talkative again." Katara paused and regarded Kya with concern. "Unless you don't want me to finish it. It can't be easy hearing about me being in love with someone other than your father." Kya dropped her gaze. She did feel bad for her father, but she didn't feel bad enough not to know the whole story.

"Please go on," Kya said. "I promised not to judge you. I'm not. I want to know the rest."

"Alright," Katara agreed. "There isn't too much more. Zuko was prepared to take the worst people could throw at us. I was, too. Until one day I saw for myself what us being together would mean.

Katara had heard of the United People's Party, of course. They were one of many Fire Nation nationalist parties that had cropped up during Zuko's reign. Most of the leaders had supported Ozai during the war, and were strenuously opposed to Zuko's policy of reparations to the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes, and of his social programs for the poor.

"Don't worry about them," Zuko had told Katara when she'd heard about a U.P.P. rally in the capital. "The Fire Nation citizens will see these idiots for what they are. Relics of a dead era."

For a while, Zuko seemed to be proven right. The U.P. couldn't find much traction among the young, the rising leaders in the country. But that all changed when the rumors about his relationship with Katara began to spread. Suddenly the topic of who the Fire Lord would and should marry was all anyone could talk about. To Zuko, it seemed like the perfect time to introduce Katara as his intended.

"If you want to, I mean," he added shyly. He held out a small velvet box holding a traditional Water Tribe betrothal necklace. Zuko had etched the design in the golden disk himself. Tui and La coiled into each other with a curved, slightly irregular dividing line between them. Tui had a small sapphire for an eye, while La's eye was a ruby. Katara clasped her hands over her heart. She couldn't stop the happy smile that spread over her face.

"Absolutely!" she said. Zuko let out a whoop of joy and hurried to put the necklace on Katara. She turned and, smiling at her husband to be, took his hand.

Since most of the Fire Nation didn't know the significance of the necklace, none of the high ranking officials knew about the engagement. Iroh gave the couple a significant look when Katara arrived at a meeting with the other ambassadors, but said nothing. Later he cornered them in the library and gave them his congratulations privately.

"This will not be easy," he warned them over a pot of tea. "But I'll support you, no matter what."

No matter what turned out to be the city square burning down.

Zuko and Katara had still not publicly announced their relationship when a few weeks after getting engaged, the U.P.P. held several rallies around the country, with the largest being in the capital city. On the power of the rumors of Zuko and Katara's impending marriage, the party had managed to round up a swell of support that stunned the young couple. Zuko sent troops to keep the peace, but some of the most radical of the protesters lit fires to distract the officers. Those small fires quickly became large ones in the turmoil. Before it was gotten under control, most of the shops and homes immediately surrounding the square had sustained at least some damage. Instead of blaming the protesters, however, many of those affected blamed Zuko, which they told him loudly and angrily when he arrived at the scene of the demonstrations.

Katara had stayed behind. It had been decided amongst her, Zuko and Iroh that her presence would hurt more than help at the time, so despite wanting to be there to support him, Katara let Zuko go face the crowds alone. Still, that didn't mean she didn't know what they were saying.

Zuko came back, drained and defeated. He found Katara waiting for him on the roof of the palace. She could see part of the square from there, and she had spent the better part of the evening gazing out over the burnt out buildings and waiting for the man she loved to come home. But when he arrived, she couldn't turn to face him.

"They aren't going to let this happen, are they?" she asked. Zuko came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Katara leaned into him. They stayed like that for a long while. It was the last time they could take comfort in one another's embrace.

"We broke the engagement off that night," Katara told Kya. "It would've been selfish to stay together and risk the still shaky peace." Tears were streaming down her cheeks, but her voice was still steady. When the breeze picked up, Kya realized that she was also crying.

"I didn't know," Kya said. Katara gave her a weak smile.

"You weren't meant to," she said. She dabbed at her face with her sleeve. "I left my post as ambassador after that. I had been there for about two years by then and as far as anyone officially knew, I had simply finished my job. Only Iroh knew about our relationship and engagement. I never told anyone else. Not your father, not Sokka. As far as I know, Zuko never told anyone either."

"I'm so sorry, Mom," Kya whispered. "And…and Dad…he never suspected…?" Katara's brow furrowed.

"I honestly don't know," Katara admitted. "Your father was a very open man, but he knew how to keep his own counsel when he wanted. When he asked me to marry him, I couldn't answer him for a week. Zuko's marriage had already been arranged by then to someone less likely to cause riots, so it wasn't like I was waiting for him to come stop me, but I did hope…" Katara stared up at the leaves on the tree. "I knew it was impossible, but I had seen the impossible happen so many times. Finally, I said yes to your father, which you know, of course. It made things simpler. I could travel with him and continue doing my best for the world."

Kya stared down at her hands folded on her lap. Everything she thought she knew about her parents, their marriage, had crumbled. She had so many questions that now she wasn't sure she wanted answers to. Katara, though, seemed to have picked up on the most important one.

"I did love your father, you know," she said. "I wouldn't have married him otherwise. He wasn't my first choice, but he was a wonderful husband. He did a lot better by me when we got back together. He put a lot more stock in my judgement, and supported my projects as much as I supported his. I know you have some complaints about him as a father- you and Bumi- I couldn't have been as happy as I was with him if I thought he had done less than his best by you. I never had reason to regret our life together." Kya nodded silently. Her tears had mostly dried up by now, which made Katara happy.

"Now you know why I never put much pressure on you and Bumi to marry," she said. Kya nodded again. Katara added thoughtfully, "I dreamed about him. Zuko, I mean. All the time I was married to Aang. Our paths didn't cross often after we got married, but sometimes, I'd dream about what our lives could have been. I've been dreaming about him again, which is probably why I've been calling for him during my…Anyway that's the story. Are you sorry that you know?" Kya shook her head without really thinking about it.

"It doesn't feel great knowing that Dad was your second choice," Kya confessed. "But mostly, I'm just sad that you didn't get to be with Zuko. You sacrificed so much for the good of the world and I think it's horribly unfair that you weren't allowed at least that happiness. Bumi said that you would've made a great Fire Lady, and I think he's right. The Fire Nation really missed out."

"Don't be sad for me," Katara chided. "I've had a good life. So Fate cut short possibly the most epic romance since Oma and Shu. I'll get another chance. And as to me being Fire Lady, I doubt I could've done much better as Zuko's wife than I did as Aang's. I probably did better. As Fire Lady, my focus would've been almost entirely the Fire Nation. As Master Katara, the Avatar's advisor and wife, I had the freedom to do much more for all the nations." Kya couldn't deny that. It was her father's statue in Republic City, but her mother's name was on several hospitals, universities and public centers around the world. Katara wasn't finished speaking yet.

"And if I had married Zuko," she said, "I would've missed out on my three greatest gifts. You and your brothers have made me so proud." Kya smiled. She scooted to the end of the bench and leaned her head against her mother's shoulder.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Katara was tired, and that evening, Kya decided it would be a good idea for them both to turn in early for the night.

"I'm not a young woman anymore, either," she reminded her mother.

"But you'll always be my little girl," Katara teased her.

Kya, wound up sitting up for a few hours despite what she told her mother. There was now the question of how much, if anything, she should tell her brothers. When she asked Katara that afternoon if she cared if Kya told them, Katara had only shrugged and said,

"Do you think it's something it would be helpful for them to know?" Kya pondered that until late in the night without coming up with an answer.

Maybe, she thought as she finally drifted towards sleep, Maybe I'll wait until they bring it up. That decided, sleep claimed her.

That night, Kya dreamed about Zuko and Katara. It was a peaceful spring day and the couple had set up a picnic at the edge of a river Kya didn't recognize. They looked very young. Katara couldn't have been more than twenty-two. Zuko was wearing a very simple tunic and pants, a strange sight for Kya who had only ever seen him in the robes of the Fire Lord. They were deep in conversation and didn't see Kya hanging back at the edge of the trees at first. Then Katara threw her head back and laughed at something Zuko had said, he grinned at her as if he had just made the sun rise. Kya smiled with them. She had seen her mother happy- she was hardly ever not happy- but this was something rarer. This was joy.

Katara noticed Kya then, and for a moment Kya was afraid that her mother wouldn't know her, but Katara leapt to her feet and ran to embrace her elderly daughter.

"I'm so glad you're here," she said. Kya smiled, but her heart ached.

"I can't stay long." She hadn't meant to say that, but she knew it was true as the words left her mouth. Katara nodded. There were tears in her eyes. She pushed Kya's bangs back.

"I know. But it's alright. I'll see you again. I love you, my little moon and stars." Katara kissed Kya's cheek and went back to Zuko and their picnic.

"Good-bye," Kya whispered.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Katara's children gathered at Kya's home once more to say good bye less than two months after they had left her with Kya. As Katara's only water bending child, it was supposed to be Kya's responsibility to make the ice coffin to lay their mother in and set her adrift on the ocean, but at the last minute, Tenzin and Bumi talked her into burying Katara with Aang instead. Kya hesitated, but decided that Katara wouldn't have minded.

Tenzin's children (Kya winced at the thought. Jinnora, the oldest of the four, was 31 with children of her own, and Rohan, the youngest was 17 and leaving for University soon) helped Kya and her brothers sort through Katara's things in the days after the funeral. It began silently and somberly, but soon, they were reminiscing on Katara's life and laughing through well worn family stories.

"What's this?" Ikki held up a velvet box. Inside was a gold pendant with Tui and La circling one another. There was a small sapphire in Tui's eye and a ruby in La's. Kya froze with Katara's best seal-otter parka in her hands. Pema looked over and let out a low whistle.

"That," she said, "looks like a very expensive betrothal necklace."

"Did Dad give that to Mom?" Bumi asked. He scratched his grey head. "I don't remember ever seeing her wear it. The one Dad gave her had -what was it?- a cyclone carved into it. You remember. He said it was because it was the only thing he could actually carve himself."

"Maybe it isn't a betrothal necklace," Tenzin suggested, peering over Ikki's shoulder. "Maybe it's something else." Kya's hands tightened around the parka. She hoped no one noticed her hands shaking. She started to agree with Tenzin, but, Meelo, who was studying Water Tribe cultures and history, took the box from his sister and shook his head.

"Nope!" he pronounced. "That there's a betrothal necklace, alright. Strange that it's gold, though. They're traditionally made from colored ivory. Like Gramma's."

"Let me see it?" Jinorra requested. Meelo took the pendant from the box and passed it to her. Jinorra examined it, turning it over in her hand. "There's an inscription on the back. 'To Katara, the flame of my heart. Love forever and always. Zuko'"

A heavy silence settled over the room. Kya closed her eyes. She hadn't realized that Katara had kept Zuko's betrothal necklace. It hadn't even occurred to her to ask. Her brothers recovered their voices at the same time.

"What Agni's court?" Bumi gasped.

"Impossible!" Tenzin shouted. He reached over and snatched the pendant from Jinorra. "That can't be what it says!" He read it, and reread it until the words swam in his eyes.

"Gramma and the Fire Lord?" Meelo took the pendant back from his father. "When did that happen? Weren't Gramma and Grampa together for…like ever?"

"It must have been recent," Ikki said. "Remember, Gramma and Fire Lord Zuko were awful close around the time he died."

"Well, she never said anything about it," Bumi mused, scratching his head. "I mean, I guess that's possible. But why keep it a secret?" He, and then Tenzin looked to Kya. She sighed and set the parka down.

"That is...a very long story."

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Real talk, I don't think this is my best work. I wrote this story over a weekend, and it's honestly my way of processing watching my grandmother's battle with dementia. I do hope you enjoyed it, though!

Please leave a review.

Love, peace and whatnot,

Ladyhawk89