A/N: Hello! I'm a little nervous because I've never posted in this fandom before so sorry, ahead of time, for the long Author's Note! I don't know how many readers still patrol this fanfiction but I'm posting this anyway because I felt like I needed to write out what I wanted to happen after the finale - and some tweaks and changes were added in, of course. Anything I changed, I'll add here.

Two things I do want to mention right off the bat is this:

1) I'm going to pretend that the kiss between Katara and Aang never happened in the finale and Aang accepted her feelings and moved on. So, in this story, they are still best friends.

2) To keep this story from becoming too long and to ensure the fluid efficency to help me write easier, the character Mai will not really be mentioned - at all I think - and nor will Zuko and Mai be together at any point during this; nor will any previous relationship (romantic) between Mai and Zuko be mentioned. Mainly/basically because I wrote this and completely forgot to add her in and later didn't find any kind of role or scenario that 'fit' adding her in. Sorry.

I am going to pretend, for this story's sake on how I planned it, that Iroh did not re-open the Jasmine Dragon tea shop in Ba Sing Se but instead in whatever town the Fire Lord lives in, in the Fire Nation. This makes it a lot easier to write, and honestly, I love that this way I can include Iroh a lot more fluently. I will later mention that his shop in the FN is temporary.

So, now that you know that, I think it's safe to read this! Oh, and any misspellings or anything involving edits I am sorry for in advance - I did all the editing myself so I probably missed at least one thing.

Don't forget to review on your way out! I hope you enjoy and thank you for taking the time to view/read this far.

Disclaimer: No, I do not own or have any connection to Avatar: The Last Airbender or it's apparent franchise beyond being a fan/viewer. This is purely my own opinion expressed through writings.

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."

~ George Bernard Shaw

One month after (the finale)...

The day was perfect for what Sokka had wanted - there were just enough clouds in the sky to provide the occasional bout of shade and there was just enough wind for a cooling effect and to carry the Boomerang, which he was currently in the process of teaching his girlfriend, Suki, how to throw and perfect. Sokka stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms along hers, matching every movement and position of his own arms to hers as he literally moved her through the steps. "Now hold it like this..." Sokka bent her elbows and she glanced back, a soft smile aimed at him.

"Okay, got it. Now what?"

"Now, tip it like this..." She bent the boomerang down and back to match what his hands were doing - when Momo flew down from the sky and ripped it out of their hands, claiming his favorite stolen toy for himself.

"Dammit, Momo! Come back here!" Sokka took off running after the lemur that was now soaring it's little wings on the path to the inside the Fire Nation palace. Suki just stayed where she was and laughed at them. That lemur will be the death of my boyfriend yet!

Sokka raced around the corner of the wide hallway, his sandals sliding easily on the tile, gripping the columns carefully to keep his balance. Zuko may have torn down the previous Fire Lord palace and built a much less 'bloody centric' one - focusing on the other accenting colors of fire than just the color of blood - and, even though it was also much smaller, the hallways were still too long and complicated. An especially noticable trait - or rather flaw, from Sokka's opinion - when you're chasing a lemur.

Skidding to a stop, he narrowly missed seeing Momo go down one of the smaller branch-off hallway torwards the two story library. By the time Sokka caught up to him, Aang was standing there, holding the squirming Momo tightly.

"When is Momo ever going to learn that it's my boomerang?" Sokka said, frustrated, as he struggled to breath after the sudden adrenaline rush took hold of his lungs.

"Now, now Momo. Give it here." Aang let go of him and held out one hand. Momo made a low squeal sound at his master after a quick staredown but then dropped the boomerang in the waiting hands. He leaped off quietly and sulking down the hallway, making his best effort to draw the attention back to himself as he slowly scampered off.

"Here! Come on, let's go play!" Aang grinned as he held the weapon - which doubled as a possible toy - out to his closest friend.

"Sorry, Aang, but I was hanging out with Suki."

"Oh... hey!", he exclaimed as a thought occured to him," if you invite Suki, we can all play together!" Sokka debated Suki's reaction to including someone else in their 'us time', let alone it being in a more childish sense, before Aang added, "And then when I go to help Toph cater the party for next week, you can come and taste all the samples with me. You always did have the best sense of taste."

"I'll go get Suki; meet you in the courtyard!" Sokka practically yelled as he took off down the hall, not even noticing that he hadn't taken the boomerang with. The Avatar boy left alone in the hallway just laughed as he headed down the hall behind Sokka, twirling the boomerang excitedly. He tossed it up but instead of coming back down, it twisted around in the air and hit him on the forehead. Luckily, it was the blunt side, but he still lost his balance and fell backwards with a thud.

"Oomph. That's going to leave a mark.", Aang said as he rubbed his head and groaned.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

I'm looking at you through the glass...

Don't know how much time has passed,

Oh, god it feels like forever

But no one ever tells you that forever

Feels like home, sitting all alone inside your head.

~'Through Glass', Stone Sour

"I'm gonna go see Iroh; he told me to stop by for some new concoction of jasmine tea and mint and I've been dying for it all day." Toph clanged the bowl down and slid into her sandals waiting in the doorway without any apologetic excuse.

"But I thought we were going to hang out today - a girl's day! You know, like the one we had in Ba Sing Se that one time." Katara objected.

The little earth bender stuck out her tongue in a teasing response before responding, "No offence but that sounds awful. I still haven't got over how that woman tried to give me a pedicure! But, if it means that much to you two, then we'll go tomorrow, I promise!" She glided out of the kitchen.

Katara sat there for a minute before shaking her head and taking the empty dishes to the Kitchen and handing them to one of the servants with a smile. What Toph didn't have in eyesight, she made up for in a strong backbone and will - not to mention an ability that could help her see everything in her own, unique way. Literally. Which only served to make her more rude, Katara thought with a small, contradictory smile.

She sighed as she wandered the halls. Sokka, Suki and herself wouldn't be leaving for the North Pole for another two weeks. They had a whole schedule worked out; for once. They would sail all the way up to the North Pole to visit Gran Gran, and then sail down to stay at the South Pole, visiting Dad and helping the village prepare for winter and Sokka also had some warrior demonstration he was going to participate in, before finally coming back to the Fire Nation some weeks later. Well, she'd be coming back.

Sokka, however, would be staying at the South Pole for a few months with Suki as he helped train a few youngsters in the art of being a swordsman. He'd been invited, originally, for a small demonstration but a week later they had sent another letter, asking if he would stay additionally in his home town and nation and help with the teaching. Sokka had accepted immediately, with a grin as soon as he had read it. She wouldn't think about talking him out of it, though, because he'd be hanging out with Dad a lot in that time and she knew how much it would mean to him for Sokka to be able to show Dad how strong, knowledgable and capable he had become. Katara had also missed her dad a lot since he left to go back to their village almost three weeks ago.

But they'd be together a lot while she was there and truthfully, as much as she wanted to go back to her little South Pole village and live there forever, she knew it wasn't meant to be. Katara had to come back to the Fire Nation after her trip. Aang had no where but here, now, and when he was done with his trip, he'd be returning here as well because it was the best place for him to stay at if he, as the Avatar, needed to be somewhere at a moment's notice. It was her responsibility to help him survive in this new world, and be the greatest Avatar he could be - a responsibility, she admitted, that she readily agreed to before realizing the full extent of the consequences. But she still accepted it and knew how much the idea excited her, consequences be damned.

Katara heard Sokka yell from far off down the halls and smiled. She was happy for her brother and Suki. Sure, Suki had found her Kyoshi warrior friends once again, but now that their region had been reuinted with their long-lost peace, she had officially retired from it. Katara always thought she'd made the right decision there and it was evident just when you watched them together for even a moment. It was cute - whether they knew you were in the room or not. They were in a world of each other constantly.

Walking down the cobblestone path leading to the meditation area out back, Katara stopped to lean on a tree. She slowly took in the peaceful sounds, the hot and humid air and the beautiful landscape around her. She spotted Zuko, sitting on a wooden bench a few yards away, feeding the turtle ducks that were padding around the pond avidly.

Everyone had seen him do this at one time or another ever since they agreed to stay at the new Fire Lord's palace - on a mostly temporary basis - instead of going to an Inn or Hotel. The only one who really planned on being there permaneantly, until something changed or could find her own place she actually deemed likable, was Toph. Her and Iroh were like two peas in a pod - if Katara was honest, she really didn't understand how they could talk about the depths, flavors and different types of tea so much. But that wasn't all they talked about so it balanced out, in a way; and, Katara was partly glad that Toph had fixated her attention on something like tea almost immediatly after they collectively ended the Great War. From what the girl had told them all, Toph's mind had been on earth bending for a long time, but, after having to use it for survival nearly every day when they were fighting to survive, it seemed that she admired it more and looked at it with a fascination less now.

Katara's mind slowly cleared as she allowed herself to study the lone firebender. She'd never really understood why he fed the turtle ducks all the time; it wasn't really that he did it, but that he did it alone and looked so pensive the entire time and that he always, religiously, took an hour off a day to do so. Iroh had just said that it had a personal meaning to him - and that it wasn't his right to tell the reasoning behind it. Whatever it was, Zuko definitely wasn't volunteering information to anyone. Not that she really cared... she didn't. But he always looked so darned... forlorn and like he was thinking so hard about something so sad that it and the emotions behind it alone would drill a hole to the center of the earth.

Shaking herself out of that train-of-thought, Katara hesitated before softly walked over to the bench. He didn't hear her approach and startled when she said, "Hey, this seat taken?"

Zuko shook his head and turned back to the ducks, so she sat on the other end of it and tucked her legs underneath themselves.

"You really shouldn't walk around barefoot outside; besides the sneak factor-", he slightly smirked,"-you could always get bitten up pretty bad."

"I know," she plainly shrugged, "it's happened before." He just glanced at her in response.

The minutes ticked by slowly, much as they had since this sudden peace descended on everyone a week earlier with Ozai banished and the Great War stopped. It's amazing how shocking it was to realize how greatly her day-to-day life relied on saving the world, keeping the Avatar safe and taking down the Fire Nation to end the war and get revenge. The peace was... refreshing.

"Can I..?" Katara asked a moment later.

He responded to her gestured hand by tearing off half and placing the newly shaped hunk of bread into it.

"Thanks. So... why do you feed these turtle ducks?"

"Helps me think..." Zuko let the answer trail off.

Katara felt the curiosity swell inside of her but more than that, she felt a slight inkling of frustration at his stoic behavior. He still hadn't looked once her way and he didn't do anything to aleviate the awkwardness in the air from the lack of conversation and communication. It wasn't like they were on bad terms or anything; she'd forgiven him for all that he'd done after he had taken that lightning bolt for her when they fought with Azula, his sister.

Katara pushed away the shudder that threatened to arise at thinking of that day and instead continued trying to get him to open up. She didn't know why she wanted to, but she wanted to know why - out of all the areas he'd torn down in the old Fire Nation palace - he'd kept this small pond and it's inhabitants. "Oh. Iroh told us that it... had some kind of... personal meaning to you...so I just thought... I don't know, maybe you could tell me about it." She sighed.

He turned to look at her, his face completely passive. "It does." He paused before taking a deep breath. "Have I ever told you about my mother?"

She looked over at him as well and their eyes met. "I... I think so... but only briefly."

"Her name was Ursa. I was her favorite child", his lips quirked as she rolled her eyes at his starting point, "but that was fine with Azula. She was constantly praised by Father because of her ruthless skills in firebending. My mother... she was sweet, kind and warm, always friendly to everyone she met that she won the respect and hearts of a lot of the people. She was the complete opposite of my Father - but it was an arranged marriage, like everything in this nation seemed to be at that time."

Zuko curled his lips in brief disgust before continuing. "I was only 7... when she left... She was so sad when she came to... to say goodbye in my room... I later learned from Uncle that she saved my life by helping traitors get close to kill my grandfather Azulon, putting my Father in the position to be Fire Lord. She was then banished by my Father; who was the one that forced her to do those things and make that choice in the first place. Uncle didn't have to say it but it didn't matter, I found out by myself.

"I've never seen her since. I am trying to track her down, find some sort of trail... but... it was so long ago now." He glanced over to the ducks before relaxing his shoulders with a soft smile and leaning back. "We use to always play out here and when it was just us, I'd feed the turtle ducks with her. It was something she had loved to do - I think she even had names for them." Zuko chuckled quietly. "It was always so peaceful and calm here. It's one of my clearest memories." He wiped a lone tear that began a trail from his unscarred eye.

Katara felt overwhelmed by such an admission and felt guilty all at once for having practically pestered about it. He wouldn't of told you unless he wanted you to know, a voice inside her whispered. Or maybe that was her own?

"Why was your life in danger in the first place?" She heard herself project the thought outloud and flinched at not having asked him more about his mother, instead.

"Because my Father was cruel and unforgiving - as usual - and was plotting to become Fire Lord immediately after the death of Uncle's son, Lu Ten. Father wasn't the first born son but that didn't stop him from making loud claims that Uncle Iroh was ineligable for the throne so it should be given to him instead. Grandfather Azulon found out and told him to kill me as a punishment. To see the error of his ways against his only brother." He let out a short, humourless laugh. "Amazing, isn't it? Us firebenders - such a close knit family we encourage!" He looked back out at the turtle ducks, breaking their eye contact. He continued tossing more bread.

Katara took the silence for the next few minutes to think. Finally, deciding not to dwell on it and do something to comfort him, she dropped the chunk of bread she had left and reached her hand over, sliding it into Zuko's. It was a small assurance, a small comfort. He tensed a moment before coiling his fingers with hers. "I don't think all firebenders are so bad... definitely not you; and Iroh. And I'm sorry about your mother... I kind of know what you're going through, remember." She whispered softly.

Zuko continued to stare ahead, not daring to look into her big blue eyes. "Thanks; that means a lot.. coming from you. And... your mother always sounded special, too."

Katara remembered how much he had told he he was sorry for her mother's death, even remembered what happened that day he helped her track down the man who had personally killed her mother - even if it was a memory they promised to never tell anyone. This time, Zuko didn't hesitate as he held out the bread he still had left over to her. She smiled and picked at it with her free hand and gently tossed it to the ducks every moments as they quaked appreciatively.