"Whoooo's ready for the festival?" Sokka half asked half announced with a huge grin on his face as he entered the apartment room shared by him and his friends.

On one side of the thinly furnished room lay Toph, absently picking at her toes and flicking a piece of gunk at the wall as Sokka entered. Nearby, Anila sat giggling as Momo crawled around her shoulders while she held a piece of fruit up playfully, just out of the lemur's reach. On the other end of the room Aang and Zuko sat facing each other, a number of tiles marked with elemental symbols lying on the table between them.

"Hey, Sokka," Aang greeted, looking up from the game while Zuko remained concentrated on the tiles, letting out a grunt of awareness at Sokka's arrival.

"Are you guys seriously just going to sit around until the festival starts? You're not even going to get ready?" Sokka asked in disbelief, sitting on the floor by the table and examining Aang and Zuko's game.

"Get ready for what?" Aang questioned curiously.

"Your move," Zuko spoke up, still focused on the game.

"Oh, sorry," Aang replied, laying a tile down absently before turning back to Sokka, "Get ready for what?"

"Huh? Oh!" Sokka exclaimed, looking up from the game and pulling a carefully wrapped parcel from his bag, "Check this out, compliments of Mayor Tong."

Unwrapping the package, Sokka held up an expensive looking robe with a grin.

"Oo, fancy," Aang complimented, "Nobody said the celebration party was going to be formal."

"It's going to be amazing," Sokka beamed, "There's going to be food, music, food, entertainment, food, and—oh oh, they're even going to reenact the battle with Fong and his men! Did I mention the food?"

"That sounds delicious-er, great!" Aang replied with a grin before looking back at the game, glancing at Zuko's impatient glare apologetically as he lay down another tile.

"I can't wait," Sokka said excitedly as he repacked his new robe, "Just thinking about all the food, all that meat..." he began again, holding his hands up and twiddling his fingers gleefully before speaking more seriously, "But do you know what the best part is?"

"Whats that?" Aang asked, turning from the game again.

"This will be the first time Suki and I get to do something together, you know, like a date," he said before sighing happily, "A juicy meat dinner is great and all, but it tastes that much better when you get to eat it with the girl of your dreams."

Zuko suppressed a fit of laughter with an abrupt grunt, causing Sokka to look at the firebender suspiciously. Aang however remained oblivious to his two friends, still dwelling on Sokka's words.

A date...with the girl of his dreams? This was the opportunity he'd been waiting for.

"Hey, Sokka," Aang spoke up quickly, catching the water tribesman's attention, "where did you say you got that robe?"

"Ji-Fu's clothing shop, its near the town square," Sokka replied, grinning broadly, "Thinking about getting one yourself?"

"Yeah," Aang replied quickly with excitement, "Now that I think about it I really should be getting ready for the party."

"Aang," Zuko interrupted, "Our game?"

"Oh, right," Aang chirped, spinning on his heel, grabbing a tile and laying it down, "I win."

Zuko stared at the final tile dumbfounded as Sokka watched Aang zip away with a grin.

Seeing Aang leave from across the room, Anila lifted Momo out of her lap, handing him the piece of fruit she had been teasing him with, and stood up to follow Aang, wanting help with her airbending.

"Aang, wait," Anila called as she caught up to him outside the apartment.

"Hey Anila, I'm kind of in a hurry so—"

Shoulders dropping as she exhaled heavily in frustration, Anila sighed, "But you said we'd train when you finished your game with Zuko."

"I, well, that was before..." Aang trailed off as he met her disappointed frown. "Okay, how about this," he began, spinning his arms around, forming a ball of contained wind, "The air scooter."

Anila's frown faded into amazement as she watched Aang set the spinning ball of air on the ground, leaping on top and balancing on the toe end of one foot.

"Wow, how do I—"

"Just do like I do," Aang interrupted, hopping off the ball as it dissipated beneath him and creating a new one in his hands.

Anila's first try resulted in a weak flurry of wind shooting in all directions, but on the second attempt she found herself cradling swirling orb of wind.

"Aang, I did it, I—"

"Great!" Aang exclaimed in genuine excitement, "Work on making it bigger and then try to balance yourself on it. I'll help you out more later.'

Anila stood watching as the Avatar bolted away in a cloud of dust, her ball of air breaking and disappearing as her arms fell to her side. Frowning again, she spun her hands violently to create another sphere of air to try the air scooter once more.

"Hey, Toph," Sokka began, taking a seat next to the earthbender, "Looking forward to the festival tonight?"

"I guess," Toph replied in slight annoyance.

"You guess? It's going to be great! Suki and I are—"

"Yeah yeah, going together, its a date, blah blah blah, I heard you chatting up Twinkletoes," Toph interrupted in frustration, getting to her feet and walking to the door, "I'm going out.

Stunned and slightly confused by Toph's response, Sokka shouted after her, "Okay, make sure you're back in time for the food!"

"Right," the blind girl muttered under her breath, slamming the door behind her.

"Aang?" Katara questioned as a figure zipped past her leaving a trail of dust in it's wake.

Immediately the figure zoomed back, stopping abruptly in front of her.

"Hey, Katara!" Aang greeted with a grin.

Returning his smile, Katara laughed, "You're certainly in a hurry, where are you off to?

"Oh, uh, Ji-Fu's clothing shop," Aang replied, trying both to answer her question and figure out how he would go about asking her to festival, "I, er, I need something to wear tonight."

"Oh, Suki and I just finished getting our outfits," she replied, gesturing to carefully wrapped package in her hands.

"Where is Suki?" Aang asked, both out of curiosity and to buy time to think of how to ask her to go with him.

"She had to stay a little longer," Katara replied, averting her eyes to the ground, "She needed her the sleeve of her dress hemmed. You know, because of her arm."

Aang bit his lip, matching her gesture of sympathy for their friend. Standing in the street in a long, awkward silence, Aang finally spoke up, "So...the festival...are you...going? With anyone?"

Katara shot him a quizzical look, raising an eyebrow at the airbender, "What do you mean? I'm going with you guys, but—"

Aang's mind was a blur. 'Going with you guys' quickly translated to 'not going with anyone specific' which proceeded to 'I'm free to go with you'.

"Great!" Aang interrupted both her and his own thought process excitedly, "I'll see you later then, I have shopping to do!"

It was perfect. If she didn't get the clue now, Aang thought as he raced to the clothing shop, she certainly would when he swept her off her feet later that day.

Katara's mouth quirked open to reply, but quickly broke into a humored smile. Shaking her head in amusement, she turned to continue heading back to their apartment.

"I'm just saying," Sokka started again, for what Zuko felt was the hundredth time, "A guy like you should be taking a girl to this festival."

"And who am I going to take?" Zuko finally broke under the other boy's tirade after minutes of staring at the tile game Aang had won, still trying to figure out where he had gone wrong and trying to ignore Sokka.

"Oh, thats right..." Sokka trailed off victoriously, "I forgot that your girlfriend is still in the Fire Nation. What was her name? Moo?"

"Her name is Mai!" Zuko quickly defended before adding, "And she's not my girlfriend."

"Whatever you say," Sokka dismissed, "Its a shame though. You'd think the Fire Lord could at least get a date to a little Earth Kingdom town festival, especially when a lowly water tribesman like me—"

An idea sprang into Zuko's head and ready to say anything to get Sokka off his back he quickly blurted out, "I'm going with Katara."

Sokka stopped mid sentence, face frozen in an absurd expression before melting into a vehement, "What!?"

Folding his arms behind his head, Zuko leaned back on the couch they sat on, merely nodding with satisfaction at Sokka's reaction.

Face puffing up with disapproval, Sokka blurted out, "You're not taking Katara to the festival!"

"Who's not taking Katara to the festival?" Katara's voice sounded behind them.

Zuko's head shot up in shock and Sokka spun around with surprise to look over the back of the chair he sat in, both boys looking at Katara standing in the apartment entrance.

Sokka quickly spoke up, "Zuko says you're going to festival with him. With him, Katara. Like a date."

Katara's brow furrowed at the announcement and her eyes quickly darted from Sokka to Zuko. She noted the quick apologetic look on his face before he began nodding vigorously, pointing from her to himself, expression almost desperate looking.

"Oh...yeah..." Katara began hesitantly at first, keeping her eyes on Zuko to make sure she understood, "Zuko and I are definitely going together."

Sokka's eyes narrowed suspiciously as he stood up and walked to the door leading to an adjacent room.

"Katara, can we talk a minute?"

She had time to shoot Zuko another questioning glance, of which he could only reply with another apologetic one of his own, before she entered the room of Sokka's choice.

"Sokka, I'm back," Suki called as she appeared in the doorway, "You should see—"

"I'll be with you in a minute, Suki," Sokka replied shortly, sliding the door between rooms violently shut.

Suki glanced around the empty room with the exception of Zuko.

"Is something going on?" she asked worriedly.

Holding his head in one hand, Sokka began with a frustrated sigh, "You know, I expected better from you Katara."

"Better from me?" Katara questioned, looking at her brother questioningly, a spark of indignation in her tone.

"You know what I'm talking about," Sokka insisted, "You and Zuko going to the festival isn't a good idea at all."

"And why's that?" Katara asked with a sarcastic smirk.

"It's not that I have anything against Zuko," Sokka quickly waved off, "He's a great guy, but I don't think he's right for you. In fact, I don't know any guy that is right for you. And wouldn't you rather go to the festival alone? I mean, I would, but Suki...and...yeah. But wouldn't you much rather go alone?"

"Sokka, you've got to be kidding me."

"This is serious, and I'm only looking out for your best interest. Now I know something has been going on between you and Zuko, and—"

"You know what, Sokka, you're right," Katara interrupted sarcastically, "Zuko and I have been secretly meeting in the forest at night to express our undying love for each other since before the war ended. Happy?"

"Not funny, Katara. Not funny."

Zuko and Suki sat in the room over, sitting at either ends of the couch boardering the wall between the main room and where Sokka and Katara were arguing. Neither were eaves dropping, but it was hard not to hearthe yelling in the other room.

They looked at each other awkwardly and Suki spoke up, "He's a little over protective."

"Yeah, just a little," Zuko replied sarcastically, "how do you put up with it?"

"It's his only fault, if you can call it that. He's a warrior, it's in his nature to protect others," Suki answered with a smile, then laughed, "It just doesn't work out when he's trying to protect other warriors like his sister."

"Yes, can I help you?"

"Oh, no, I'm looking for something to wear to the festival tonight," Aang explained to the questioning shopkeeper.

"Isn't everybody," the woman sighed before exclaiming, "Oh! You're the Avatar! Please, come right this way, theres a much better selection."

"Anything will do fine," Aang began as the woman pushed him toward the other side of the store, "I'm just a simple monk, really, nothing...too...fancy..." He trailed off as his eyes took in the numerous extravagant robes of varying color before him.

"Nonsense," the woman spoke up again, "Only the best for the Avatar."

"Well, alright," Aang grinned, picking up the nearest, most fancy looking garment, "I guess it wouldn't hurt to indulge myself a little."

"You're not the boss of me, and if I want to go with Zuko, I'm going with Zuko," Katara stated firmly, staring her brother down.

Frowning, Sokka turned wordlessly, unwilling to admit he lost the argument with his sister.

As he reentered the other room, Suki spoke up, holding up her festival dress, "Sokka, look at what I bought, isn't it—"

"Ugh, Suki!" Sokka whined with frustration, "This doesn't match my outfit at all!"

"Oh...sorry," she began before Sokka interrupted again.

"It's not your fault, but now I have to go get a new one," Sokka pouted, taking her by the hand, "Come on, you're helping me pick something out."

"See you guys later," Suki waved to Zuko and Katara, both standing in the middle of the room as Sokka lead Suki out the door.

Turning, glaring once more at his sister, Sokka slammed the door behind them.

"Will you explain—" Katara began as Zuko simultaneously blurted out, "I'm sorry."

As Katara looked at Zuko expectantly, the firebender explained, "Sokka was annoying me about not having a date to the festival and I had to say something. You were the first person that came to mind. Sorry."

"Great, so you got me involved to save yourself some discomfort?" Katara growled peevishly.

"I'm sorry," Zuko apologized genuinely, "I didn't think he'd take it so seriously."

"It doesn't matter now," Katara shook her head, "Theres no way I'm going to let Sokka think he's won. We're going to together."

"Really?" Zuko questioned in astonishment, "Because if you don't want to, its okay, I understand. I mean, I only said it to get Sokka off my back..."

A mischievous smile creeping onto her face, Katara asked, "What do you say to giving Sokka a bit of his own medicine?"

"That does sound appealing" Zuko replied with a smirk, "What are you suggesting?"

"Oh, nothing Sokka hasn't already imagined us doing. He's been pretty enthusiastic about the festival events so far, I'm sure teasing his wild imagination will be an event he won't want to miss either."

Author's Note: Bit shorter than usual. Thanks fuzzytomato for the help editing this into shape, and thanks readers for sticking with this painfully slow updating story.