Z is for Zeal

"Mako! Mako! Wake up!"

"Nng... I'm sleeping..."

"Stop being lazy and get up! It's snowing!"

The young firebender groaned, shifting to lie on his stomach and bury his head beneath his pillow. He could faintly hear Korra huff in annoyance at his actions just before her hands gripped at his shoulders as she began to shake him.

"Firebenders are supposed to rise with the sun, now, get up and let's go outside!"

"This firebender rises when he's good and ready," Mako's reply came out muffled from beneath his pillow.

Bottom lip protruding out in to a pout, Korra took hold of the pillow covering her boyfriend's head and threw it to the side, gaining an annoyed groan from the young man and a scowl shot in her direction. She grinned in accomplishment when he finally rose from their bed and lazily moved to the closet, swinging the two doors open and grabbing a pair of pants, a shirt, and a warm jacket.

"You got your way," he yawned, pulling his pants up to his waist. "But I'm not staying out there for long. It's freezing out there."

"You're a firebender, just heat yourself up," she teased, grin remaining. She waited until he pulled his jacket over his arms before grabbing his hand and pulling him toward the door to their apartment. "Come on, let's go have some fun!"

"For someone who grew up surrounded by snow every day of the year, you sure are enthusiastic about it."

"It's different in the city, especially since it doesn't get buried in it."

Korra stopped at the door after finishing her sentence and turned to face the still groggy firebender with a smile. "Besides," she began, taking his other hand in her own, "I get to share this with you, so that makes it better."

Fun Fact: I didn't like the way this came out after writing it; however, after reading it over later in the day, I'm failing to find what I thought made it so terrible. I've come to enjoy it!

On to the actual author's note, I'm sad to have finished this collection. It definitely was very fun to do, and I really appreciate each and every one of you that has stuck with this story from the beginning, found it recently, or have just found it now that the collection is finished! I also appreciate each and every review I have received on this collection. I enjoyed reading each one! They definitely were highlights of my day, and I will miss receiving them. I can't express enough how thankful I am that you all enjoyed this collection! I truly am thankful for all of you who have read the collection from letters A through Z (ha, puns!).

I'm not done with writing yet, though! While I will be taking a break for a bit, I do plan to get a (very) late start on Makorra Month. I haven't a clue when that will be published to the site, but, when it is, those of you who have me on your author alert list will be notified. If you don't want to miss that, or any of my future Makorra stories, please be sure to add me to your alerts! It will help you all keep up with my work. Or, you can always lurk the recently published stories, of course! Either way works out.

Again, I thank you all for reading and keeping up with this series. I truly hope you all enjoyed each and every chapter I had to offer. And with that, I leave you all until my next publishing to this site. Thank you all!