Disclaimer: Avatar the Last Airbender copyright Dante Dimartino, Brian Konietzko and Nickelodeon Studios.

Little more than a year ago, on a cold rainy hillside, pride and prejudice had cost him the woman he loved, leaving him with a gaping raw ache he'd thought he'd take to his grave.

Silhouetted in the early sunrise, that same woman now stood before him offering him the only thing he'd ever truly desired – her heart.

His hands shook as he caressed her cheek, part of him half convinced she was just the figment of yet another dream he would soon wake from; her eyes fluttered shut as he lowered his head, pressing a light kiss to her lips, with the promise of many more.