There are several stories written by several authors (including myself) trying to fill in the "gap" and explore how Aang and Katara got past the scene in Ember Island Players to the kiss in the final episode. I was intrigued by a scene in Rast's story, "The Price of Falling", where Zuko and Iroh work to help Katara and Aang realize their love for each other is mutual. This is another offering looking at that subject….

The Return

It was nearly evening, and a young man and young woman were sitting near the edge of an extinct volcano. There was smoke emanating from the center of the crater, but it wasn't the volcano which was causing it. There was a large palace and upper class homes in the bottom of the crater. The smoke was coming from several of the houses, which were still smoldering following a battle between the two young adults and a third who was presently residing in a special holding cell in the royal prison. As they sat watching the sky, the young man, whose visage was marred by a burn scar over the left half of his face, glanced toward the girl. Her hair was blowing gently in the wind, but her face seemed like the face of someone who bore a great heartache and burden.

"Katara, you seem pretty gloomy, almost as gloomy as Mai can be sometimes. I thought, what with us defeating Azula, you would be happy, at least a little bit. What's wrong?"

"Nothing much, except that, while I can hold my own in a fight, I seem to ruin the things that mean the most to me…I mean, he left, partly because we wouldn't…I wouldn't listen to him, and now he may never come back to me. I let him down and I never got to tell him I was sorry….and, now, I may never get to do it. He's trying to save the world, and he may not get to enjoy it. He may not come back…and the last things I said to him weren't the words of encouragement and concern he should have heard from me. They were words of anger and criticism…."

The Fire Prince, Zuko (for that is who the young man was), looked at her, the concern evident in his eyes.

"You're talking about Aang, aren't you?" he asked.

"Back on Ember Island, he asked me about how I felt about him. I told him I was confused. Then he kissed me," she said as if Zuko hadn't even spoken. "He kissed me," she whispered, "and do you know what I did?" she asked, louder this time, sobbing a little as she said it. "I got mad at him and ran off! He hasn't spoken to me directly since then. In fact, anytime he has to come near me, he acts almost like a koala-dog that someone has kicked." Here she broke down and cried a little bit more. "I could see it in his eyes. It wasn't just anyone who did that to him, it was me. The one he tried to tell that he loved. And I took his love and crumpled it up and just threw it on the ground. And do you know why, Zuko? It's because I was scared to death of losing him. I lost him in Ba Sing Se. It tore me apart. I couldn't bear to think of losing him again. And now, now he may never come back, and I never got the chance to tell him how much he means to me before I lost him, and I won't even have the memory of telling him I…that I - I love him!"

Zuko listened as Katara softly cried, wondering what support or advice he could offer. Several things passed through his mind, among them his own love life. The image of Mai's eyes through the portal of the interrogation cell as he closed the door on her, trying to protect her as much as to allow himself time to find Sokka, Suki, Hakoda, and Chit Sang. Then, the sight of her fighting off the guards who were cutting the gondola's cable. Did she still love him? It seemed she had some concern for him remaining, seeing as she had opposed Azula and her uncle to protect him.

He also wondered what his uncle would say. After all, Iroh was a fount of wisdom and could be counted on to give comfort and advice, even if it wasn't well understood at the time.

Finally, having seen how his uncle, Aang, Sokka, and the rest all supported one another, being a shoulder to lean upon, even going so far as to place themselves in danger for each other, Zuko felt the least he could do was to offer Katara what little encouragement he could.

As the tears continued to flow down Katara's face, a familiar raspy voice spoke up.

"I know what it's like to hurt someone you care about, someone you love." As Zuko said this, Katara looked up towards him, scrubbing her face with her sleeve.

"When I left the Fire Nation, there was one person, besides my uncle, who I really cared about. I tried to tell her what I was doing and why. I also tried to let her know that even though I cared for her deeply, I felt my destiny was to teach Aang firebending. Of course, I'm not the best at sharing my feelings, so I wrote it down and left her a letter. I saw her again at the Boiling Rock. She told me I had ripped her heart out. I tried to explain but didn't do too great a job, then I locked her into the cell and ran to join up with Sokka, Suki, and your dad."

"Wow, Zuko, that must have really gone over well," Katara said, a small smirk evident as she continued to wipe her tearstained face.

"Yeah," Zuko snorted. "The next time I saw her was when the guards were cutting the cable of the gondola we were on. She was fighting them to protect us. I guess she still loves me, in spite of my hurting her so much...Now, I have to decide what I'm going to do to let her know she has always been in my mind and my heart."

Hearing this, Katara began asking herself what she could do to let Aang know he had always been in her mind and her heart as well.

Zuko was a bit surprised as a rather teary-eyed waterbender threw herself at him, hugging him around the neck with a smile and several sniffled "thank you's".

"You're welcome, whatever it was I did," he replied. As Katara hugged him, he wondered if this was what Uncle Iroh felt like. He didn't really know what specifically, but something he said had helped the weeping girl next to him.

"I know what I have to do, now," Katara said to herself, a rather watery smile upon her face. "I have to let Aang know how much he means to me, how much my life truly revolves around him." The only problem was, would he still feel the same?

With these thoughts in mind, Katara moved apart from Zuko a little and sat down with her knees drawn up to her chin and her arms wrapped around her knees. With her eyes ever on the horizon, she considered her need to let Aang know that she loved him back, that she wasn't confused and never had been. "Come back to me, Aang, please come back." she said softly to herself as she watched the sky.

oooOooo

Meanwhile, in the Wu Long Forest, a tired but exuberant group was loading the last of the Fire Nation troops into the hold of the lone remaining airship. Two young women were ushering them into the ship, while a single Water Tribe warrior, his leg swathed in bandages made from torn clothing and blankets and a makeshift splint, was directing them.

One of the two women, a Kyoshi warrior, called out, "Sokka, what do you want to do with the Fire, er, 'Loser Lord'?" as she pointed to a prone figure with his face planted in a puddle of his own drool.

"Hmmmm," the Water Tribe warrior winced as he shifted his injured leg, "we can't very well put him in with the rest of the troops…"

"Actually," said the other girl, who would almost pass for a life-sized porcelain doll (that is, until one took in her dirt encrusted feet), "that would be poetic justice. Let them all see who they've been following all this time."

As this discussion about what to do with the former Firelord was going on, a solitary figure was standing apart, taking in all the devastation which had occurred. What might have passed as a small cat with extra-large ears was perched on his shoulder. As the boy surveyed the damaged countryside, a frown appeared on his face, followed by a single tear that blazed a trail down his cheek. It seemed, now that he had overcome Ozai, the damaged land he saw reflected his personal life. How could he have been so stupid as to try to kiss her? How could he expect her to accept him when she could obviously have any man in the world? He'd thought she understood his feelings…hadn't she returned his kiss on the Day of Black Sun? Yet, when he tried to talk to her - and, like a fool, kissed her again at that theater on Ember Island - she had thrown it back at him and run away. Was he that hideous? Was he that unlovable? These were all thoughts swirling through his head as he stood there, pondering the devastation a single bad decision could cause.

"Aang, we're ready to go. Where is he?" Sokka queried as they finished loading the airship.

"He's over there," answered Toph, pointing to where the young Avatar stood by himself. "I'm not sure what he's doing, but he said he had to be alone for a bit."

"I'll get him," Suki said as she went to him at a lope.

"Aang, we're ready to leave… Are you ok?" she asked, the concern evident in her voice as he turned towards her, unable to hide the additional tears which had found their way down his face.

"No. I'm just wondering why…No, I mean, yeah, I-I'm ok. I'll be there in a second."

With that he turned around and, wiping his face, said, rather quietly, "Come on, Momo, it's time to go."

Suki, meanwhile, returned to Sokka and Toph, a troubled frown on her face. Sokka noticed it and started to ask her about it, but Toph beat him to it.

"Hey, Fan Girl, what's with Twinkle-Toes? I can feel from the way you're walking that something is wrong."

"I don't know, Toph. All I know for sure is that something is bothering him. He seemed so forlorn, like he'd lost something really important to him. He wasn't smiling at all. His eyes were so sad." Suki glanced back at the Airbender in question in time to see him slowly turn around and begin walking towards them, his usual light footsteps gone. In their place was a heavy tread, as if each foot weighed a ton.