Chapter Text
"Well, that sounds like the biggest miscommunication that ever happened."
Aang pulls a face at Sokka's words. "No, it's not."
"You've ended up accidentally dating two girls." Toph pops a slice of fresh mango into her mouth. "Explain."
Aang reddens. "It's not like that! It's just...there was a misunderstanding!"
"Ooh, are we talking about Aang's girlfriends?" Suki asks with interest, arriving with a handful of fire-flakes.
"Shouldn't we be focussing on the happy couple?" Aang pleads, gesturing.
They look across the palace gardens. Across the lush lawns and neatly-tended flowerbeds, Fire Nation officials and royal guests are milling around, chatting easily and enjoying the mild warmth of early summer. Katara and Zuko are talking to Iroh and Ursa; every now and again, Katara grins and nudges Zuko or exchanges a mischievous look with him.
"Wish I had a wedding reception like this," Suki says, but her eyes are bright and her voice is teasing. Nevertheless, Sokka bristles.
"Yeah, he's a Fire Lord! He can afford all this," he says, waving a hand about. After a moment, however, he gives the nearby table of food a speculative look and grabs a handful of canapés. "It's pretty good, isn't it?" he says through a mouthful.
Aang glances around again. He can see Katara and Zuko approaching them, evidently both amused by something, whispering to each other in a conspiratorial manner. Zuko says something and Katara laughs.
"There's my favourite sister," Sokka announces, and Katara pulls a face at him.
"Your only sister. Quit eating all the food, it's for guests."
"I'm a guest!"
"Maybe I just revoked your invitation."
"Yeah? Well, maybe — "
"Congratulations! The ceremony was beautiful," Suki says loudly, and with that the rest of the group inundates Zuko and Katara with congratulations. Aang smiles along with everyone else, thinking how beautiful Katara looks. Her eyes are bright, her face flushed with happiness as she thanks everyone for their well-wishes.
"Group hug!" Toph announces, shoving everyone together, and for the next moment they're a confused but happy amalgamation of limbs and formal clothes.
"So, what were you guys talking about anyway?" Katara asks once everyone has managed to extract themselves. She lifts a hand to her hair, trying to readjust the three-pronged headpiece she's wearing. Zuko reaches over and carefully untangles a few strands of hair from it; she smiles at him and murmurs a thanks.
"Oh, we were just discussing Aang's love-life," Toph says mischievously.
"You were talking about his girlfriends?" Zuko asks. Aang's face blazes with heat.
"They're not plural!"
"Oh, did you break up with one?" Katara frowns. "I hope it wasn't Jia. She's so sweet..."
"And she puts up with a lot," Toph interjects. "Remember the incident at the lantern festival?"
"Can we not talk about this?" Aang mutters.
He's saved by Iroh and Ursa arriving, which sets off a fresh wave of congratulations and hugs and smiles, Ursa handing Katara an enormous bouquet of rare flowers as a gift. Aang has been watching Katara — she looks amazing, he thinks — but now he turns his attention to Zuko. He looks far better than he did four years ago, when he was seventeen years old and a newly-coronated Fire Lord. Gone are the shadows beneath his eyes, the thinness in his face. Now, he looks the best Aang has ever seen him.
Aang still feels a pang of sadness, sometimes — especially in moments like these, when he sees how close Zuko and Katara are, how they're always looking at each with little knowing expression and secret smiles, how they always tilt their faces slightly towards each other even when they're conversing with other people, how their hands are always brushing against each other. All the little casual touches, all the little glances. All the things that — once upon a time — could have been his.
But time has dulled the pain, like a river wearing a stone, softening the edges and smoothing away the roughness. The moments of sadness are far more infrequent now and are quick to pass by.
Iroh and Ursa turn to leave again, both wanting to talk to Hakoda. Everyone watches them leave; then Toph speaks, breaking Aang's reverie.
"Five gold pieces."
"You're on," Sokka says, crossing his arms. "Katara?"
"Nope." She shakes her head. "I'm with Toph on this one."
Zuko makes a noise of exasperation. "I'm telling you, they're just friends. They've been friends for years."
"I agree with Zuko," Suki adds. "He's known them the longest, anyway. If he thinks they're just friends, I'll agree."
"Oh, please. Zuko has trouble noticing when I've got a new haircut, let alone the subtle signs of romance," Katara says. Zuko glares at her and she laughs. "Don't look at me like that, it's true."
"Katara has a point." Mai has arrived, a wineglass in one hand. "Zuko wouldn't notice even if they were kissing in front of him."
Zuko groans. "I do not need that mental image! This is my mother and uncle we're talking about!"
"Whatever, they're only in-laws," Sokka says dismissively. "In the Water Tribe, cousins were fair game."
"Anyway," Kataraa intervenes loudly, "it's looks like it's a fifty-fifty chance. Three say yes, three say no."
"Wait a minute," Suki says, "Aang hasn't picked a side yet."
They all turn and look expectantly at him.
"Well," he says after a long moment, "who knows? Anything's possible. I'll...I'll say yes."
Katara and Toph look triumphant; Zuko and Sokka swap skeptical looks.
"I hate optimists," Sokka says.
Toph grins. "I'll drink to that."
* * *
Later on, after most of the official guests have left and the shadows of the day have lengthened into late afternoon, the group retreats to the gardens near the turtleducks. Sokka and Suki sit beneath a weeping willow, talking and laughing quietly with each other; Mai and Toph sit on a stone bench nearby, discussing the profitable business of Toph's earthbending school; and Zuko and Katara sit by the edge of the stream. Aang, sitting near Mai and Toph, half-listens to their conversation while he watches Zuko and Katara. They're not speaking, he thinks, just gazing into the stream, watching the turtleducks paddle past. The bouquet of flowers — the gift from Ursa — is lying beside Katara and Aang thinks little of it until Katara looks down and picks a flower from it.
A white rose, Aang sees. She lifts the flower high for a moment and he thinks it would make a beautiful contrast, the crisp white petals against the cloudless blue sky.
She stares at it for a long moment, then places the flower gently in her lap. She bows her head and Aang frowns, worried.
But Zuko turns to her and says something, his voice far too soft for Aang to hear any words. Then he reaches out and cups Katara's face; she lifts her head and murmurs something before leaning towards him. They kiss, and Aang looks away.
"...and you should see the special advanced metalbending class Toph's leading!" Sokka is saying, and Aang realises that some point, Sokka and Suki have joined Mai and Toph on the stone bench. "She's an amazing teacher."
"Of course I am," Toph says, but her cheeks turn pink at Sokka's compliment. "It's so crazy...I never thought I'd be doing this. If you asked me when I was still at my parents' estate in Gaoling, sitting around sipping tea and looking pretty...If you asked me back then what I'd be doing with my life..." Toph shakes her head and laughs.
"I don't think any of us could've predicted our future," Sokka says. "I mean, I was just some kid — "
"What do you mean, was?" Suki teases, and Sokka pulls a face at her.
"Anyway. I'd spent my whole life at the South Pole...I never dreamed I'd travel the world." He glances across to the stream, where Katara and Zuko are sitting. "And Katara..." He grins. "Well, she always reckoned marriage was a waste of time. She'd never get married, thanks very much..."
Toph puts her hands on her hips. "Oh, like that's all she's done with her future. What about all her work with prison reformation, you jerk?"
"She's spent the last three years transforming the justice system," Mai adds.
Sokka looks meek. "Yes, of course," he says. "I was just saying...people change, that's all. I guess she met someone who changed her mind."
Toph looks slightly pacified and Sokka, perhaps sensing a narrow escape, quickly changes the subject to a new type of trajectory gadget invented by Teo's father.
Aang listens to his friends talk idly, content just to be there, just to listen to the lilt of their voices and the sound of the stream nearby. A slight breeze stirs the leaves of the trees, sending patterns of light and shadow dappling across the grass, and Aang can hear the soft flutter of a bird taking flight.
One day I'll be happy for you, he'd told Katara.
Well, it's taken three years, but that one day feels like it's finally here.
Yes, he thinks. People change.
He smiles and looks overhead into the azure sky.