A/N: Hello! So this is my first attempt at a multi-chaptered Avatar fic. It's also a refreshed attempt at multi-chaptered stories in general.

This is an AU in which the 100 year war instigated by the Fire Nation in the show never happened, and the battle against Ozai didn't either. Instead, you will see a new set of wars have come and gone. My story is the aftermath and consequences. The history I have created will be known as the story progresses. Characters and some events from the show will still appear as though they took place, just altered slightly to fit my story line. Enjoy~

Thanks to my wonderful friend, Sarah, for being my beta and for sharing ideas!

Chapter 1

"The full moon is in a few days; I will return soon afterward."

Katara watched Himitsu's eyes brighten momentarily and crinkle into a smile at her declaration. The older lady reached over the table where the two sat and clasped Katara's hands between her own and gave a light squeeze. Katara smiled back.

"I am excited to see my family. I have not met my nephew yet. Sokka and Suki were so anxious about the pregnancy last time I was there."

Himitsu nodded, an understanding frown tugging at her lips. Katara felt pleasantly warm that Himitsu remembered and comprehended the months-old worry. Gisō certainly had not.

"Women miscarry, Katara. Children die."

Himitsu clucked and patted Katara's hand reassuringly. Katara realized she had been glaring at the tabletop. She shook her head. "His name is Tikaani—their little wolf."

Katara's friend nodded again, more rapidly than before. Her face carried an emotion that said the name was well-chosen. It was a strong name for an undoubtedly strong boy. At least, Katara hoped that's what Himitsu was conveying. Years of the woman's silence had taught Katara how to read her eyes and lips and gestures. Yet sometimes the young Fire Lady still feared she was simply making up what she wanted to hear from Himitsu.

Katara sighed. "I wish you could tell me not to worry."

Himitsu's eyes clouded, and Katara immediately recognized that emotion. She regretted her words and was about to say so, when Himitsu waved off her apologies. The latter continued patting Katara's hand.

"I'm leaving tomorrow. I wanted to tell you about my plans so you wouldn't miss me. Gisō isn't coming…"

Himitsu frowned again and shook her head. She was right, Katara thought. Best not mention sad things.

"I'll tell you all about Tikaani and the rest of the tribe," Katara continued, brightening as she thought of her family again. "I'll tell you about the feasts and the festivities. I heard that many traders come to the south now—even more than the last few times I've been home."

Himitsu stood, still nodding to indicate she was listening, and began clearing away the used tea things. Katara let her eyes sweep over the tiny kitchen of the palace infirmary as Himitsu bustled.

"My father might be even more excited than Sokka is, if you can believe that." Himitsu beamed as though to say, "What parent wouldn't be excited to see his child?"

"I'll speak to the healers there. I'll see if they have any information for your patients."

Again, Himitsu nodded. She grew serious in expression and pointed out the door to where Katara knew the patients lay. The nurse then pointed at her eyes and made trailing motions with her fingers. Katara knew what she meant.

"The blood tears?"

Himitsu nodded, grimacing.

"I will ask the healers what we can do."

They both remained silent. In Himitsu's case, she stood still, holding the teapot and staring off into space. Katara felt the heaviness of the moment in her limbs. She hadn't been able to do anything for Himitsu's charges either. They just bled randomly from the eyes. It hadn't been fatal yet, but Katara was worried.

As if she wished to throw the gravity of the silence from her skin, Himitsu gave herself a shake and continued cleaning. Katara inhaled and stood. "I guess I'll go now. I have to make sure my things are prepared. I'm leaving by airship in the morning."

Himitsu steered around the table and gathered Katara into her arms. The Fire Lady melted right into the embrace. They stood like that for a few moments until Himitsu let her go. Be good, she mouthed, grinning affectionately. Katara rolled her eyes like a teenager. Himitsu seemed to know what it could be like when siblings reunited.

"I will be. Take care. I'll bring you back luxurious and terribly expensive Water Tribe jewelry."

It was the nurse's turn to roll her eyes. She began shooing Katara out of the kitchen and the younger laughed.

After the door had shut behind her, Katara let her smile drop. She began the long walk back to her chambers. Night was falling, and Gisō would be wondering where she was. The corridors were all but deserted. The stray servant or two would stop long enough to give a rushed bow before scurrying off to their appointed rooms.

The long, high-ceilinged halls grew darker until the nightly torches flared into life via a mechanism Katara thought Sokka would drool over. She blinked a few times to clear her vision of light spots and kept walking. The warm glow cast fluttering shadows of the tapestries lining the walls. Even in the din, Katara knew their stories by heart. The Epic of Gisō.

She didn't spare the rich embroidery a glance. She knew she should have been nervous with anticipation over her upcoming journey, but Katara found she could not stop thinking about Himitsu and how much she loved the woman.

Himitsu and her lifelong silence, Himitsu and her compassion for the sick and lonely, Himitsu with her simple red frocks and high laced collars—the only extravagance she allowed herself. Himitsu and her ability to be there for Katara without fail.

Katara stopped and wiped her eyes, irritated by the flames and smoke. She was happy in the Fire Nation. She truly was. She was simply lonely and had no one she could really talk to. It was a cruel twist of fate that her only friend couldn't talk back.

"Visiting Himitsu?"

Gisō did not look up from the scrolls he was poring over when Katara entered their chambers. He finished the page before carefully rolling the document up and placing it with identical ones on the great ebony desk. Only when they sat neatly did he give his wife true attention.

Katara hummed an affirmative. "She still can't figure out what is wrong with the people weeping blood."

Gisō's mouth set in a hard line. "It is most unfortunate," he intoned. "At least we can be thankful it isn't contagious."

Katara hummed again and stared into the fireplace. She was used to this sort of speech by her husband. Artfully contrived double-entendres were his specialty. It had taken Katara many years to master knowing them. In this moment he may have meant earnest gladness that the sickness had not spread. His sycophants would certainly assert this line of reasoning. But while the Fire Lady's first duty was to her husband and people, Katara thought her first duty was to know her husband and people. And she knew that his expression now was one of relief that she hadn't caught the blood tears or given it to him.

She barely moved when his hand slid around hers and his chin came to rest on her shoulder.

"What are you thinking about?" His breath raised gooseflesh on her neck. Gisō was romantic tonight.

"Tomorrow," she murmured.

"Ah, yes." He kissed the base of her ear and her skin prickled at the sensation. "I'm sorry I cannot accompany you." His hands slid down her arms to the ties at the back of her robes.

Katara gave a mumbled response. Romantic the Fire Lord may be, but honest he was not. She did not care that he didn't regret staying. Her robes dropped and his sweat-dampened palms began kneading at her lower back while his lips brushed over her shoulders. Her body was slow to awaken to the touches. It craved the touches…or at least wanted to.

Afterward in bed while she was wide awake on half-satisfied lust, she asked her dozing husband what his plans were while she was to be away.

"Just the same old diplomatic rigmarole, sweetling."

"Such as?"

"It is not overly important."

"I was just wondering."

Her tone seemed to antagonize him. He sighed and turned over to look at her. "I'm meeting with representatives from the Earth Kingdom about drawing new boarders. I'm going to dine with dignitaries from the Fire Nation colonies while sincerely apologizing that my much more astute hostess of a wife is not here. I'm going to listen to the Avatar's latest problems."

"Aang is coming?" She did not hide the interest she felt. "How is that not overly important?"

Gisō narrowed his eyes. "Your familiarity with the Avatar has never ceased to amaze me." His tone indicated an emotion much different from amazement, but Katara did not acknowledge it.

"A meeting with the Avatar seems pretty significant to me, Gisō. What does he want to talk to you about?"

"My dear, please do not worry yourself over this. You should be getting sleep. Your family will be concerned if you arrive tired and sick."

"If Aang needs help with something—"

"Aang can get all the help he needs from me and the other leaders. His problems are none of your concern." The Fire Lord flipped over and became silent.

Katara studied the back of his black head. The jet curls encircled his ears becomingly. He had always preferred wearing his hair shorter than most Fire Lords before him. No one batted an eyelash at this slight breach in tradition. Katara had found it quite dashing when they married.

Four years felt like an extremely long time. Married life hadn't been all that enlightening for Katara if you did not count all the changes that came with becoming Fire Lady. She didn't feel like she had really changed as a person. If anything she had just become less willing. Less willing to argue, less willing to try.

It had happened within the second year. At first she had been shy and happy around Gisō. Happy to touch him, happy to listen, happy to see two warring empires finally rest easy and shake each other's hands. Maybe she had changed a lot after all.

Even with her exhaustion at the prospect of fighting, she couldn't stop herself from saying, "Aang is my friend, and I think I am entitled to hear his problems and help him."

The broad shoulders and brawny back went rigid and she could hear Gisō straining to remain calm. He never, ever shouted at her.

Indeed, when he spoke next, his voice was perfectly measured. "I know that you are close to Aang, my turtleduck. He brought us and our nations together." Gisō turned back over and ran a gentle finger over her arm. "I care about his problems, too."

It wasn't an answer. Once again the Fire Lord was skillfully dancing around the issue. Katara blinked twice before nodding. If he wasn't snapping out at her about Aang's dilemma, then Gisō had no idea what it was, which meant Aang had found it too pressing to put in a letter. Something was brewing and Gisō knew it. And it was daunting enough to leave the abnormally cool firebender agitated.

"I know you do," Katara whispered. "I'm just worried about leaving for such a long time. What if you need me?"

Gisō smiled at her, and Katara felt the girl in her titter gleefully. He had a dimple in his left cheek that made him look years younger and so charming. "I will always need you, Katara. But as much as I need you, you need your family and the ocean. Do not let this week's political woes keep you from matters important to you. Everyone needs to step away at some point."

"Everyone except you."

"I find time, occasionally."

Because you never step up in the first place.

Katara smiled back, sleepily. She allowed herself to be pulled against him, and the two fell asleep just like it was three years ago.

It was just before dawn when Katara and Gisō woke. She was scheduled to leave in another hour or so in order to make it to the Southern Water Tribe by shortly after sunset. Even travel by the high speed airship would put the trip at ten or twelve hours. Katara was not worried about flying. Sokka had had a hand in creating the ships after the peace treaty had been signed. She was going to be travelling in safety if not in style.

She grinned at the thought while her maid brushed her hair. Sokka was so practical sometimes. She was sure that everything but comfort had gone into his plans for the ship. The kitchen was sure to be well prepared, however.

The rush of affection and anticipation that she did not feel yesterday surged through her now. She missed Sokka and Suki and her father greatly. She missed the frigid temperatures of her native home after months of the dry heat offered by the volcanic environment here. She missed the otter-penguins and the screaming, ecstatic children who rode them. She missed waterbending entire waves and playing with the tides. She missed the connection with the moon. She missed her people.

It had taken some time after her marriage for Katara to recognize the Fire Nation inhabitants as her people. She felt connected to them now; felt responsible for them. For a while she had felt like they were someone else's children and she was babysitting. Of course she wouldn't let anything happen to them if she could help it…but she was glad to get away from them and back to her own.

She knew she would miss them when she left, but the prospect of seeing her brother and tribe again stifled the sensation.

Once she was finished with her morning toiletries, Katara assumed picking out appropriate attire. She settled on a lovely, but simple, scarlet dress with minimal embroidery and ornament. Black panrilla skin slippers slid onto her feet like a second skin, and she topped the assemble off with a black travelling cloak of fine linen. In her trunk were her Water Tribe garments. She would enter as a Fire Lady, but stay as a Tribesman.

Accoutrements donned, she set about making sure the lower domestic staff knew to keep her private rooms prepared for any special dignitaries or statesmen's wives who needed housing. She was not against providing the best for her guests, even if she was not there to receive them. The maids and footmen nodded solemnly and promised prime service. Her personal maid kept fussing with her hair and smoothing out any wrinkles that appeared on the cloak.

"Really, Lana," Katara laughed. "That will do."

Lana tutted like it would not do at all. She did not think Katara was splendid enough for her departure.

Katara took one last look in the wall mirror and sighed happily. She reached for Gisō's pro-offered arm, stepping close to his side. He grinned down at her. "You look lovely in this light, my dear."

Katara scoffed. "You can barely see me in this light, my dear."

Her husband snickered and kissed her temple. "I'm teasing. You are radiant as any Fire Lady or Chieftain's daughter could possibly be. More radiant even, the sun could not do you justice, the stars—"

Katara laughed as his free arm swept overhead and his voice began to boom into the dawn. "Alright, alright! I do not think the upper towers heard you."

Gisō chuckled and tightened his hold on her arm. "I will miss you, Katara. I hope that you return refreshed and relaxed and ready to face the day."

They had reached the hanging wall dock along the postern wall of the palace. The airship hovered, ready to receive her. The captain of the craft bowed deeply, placing a fist to the heel of his hand. This obeisance was followed by his men and women.

"My Lord, my Lady. Captain Long at your service. I have just finished my third and final inspection of the ship and personally guarantee its reliability and readiness for our journey. My Lady, you will of course be sailing with the Fire Nation's finest crew and soldiers personally selected by your Lord husband and myself. We should make excellent time according to international weather reports. Do you have any inquiries?"

Katara doubted even her father, the renowned Southern Water Tribe Chief and par-excellence military commander, would find fault with Captain Long and his ship and staff. She smiled widely at the man and shook her head. "Everything appears magnificent, Captain. You may ready the engines."

Captain Long looked to the Fire Lord, whom nodded. He bowed once more to both of them before saying, "I will dispatch two messenger hawks to you, my Lord. Once when we are approximately halfway to the Southern Water Tribe and once more when we arrive so you can rest easy." With that, he signaled his crew and they climbed aboard. Lana and one foot soldier hovered nearby to assist Katara.

The Fire Lady turned to her Lord. "Please, if you need anything from me, write to me?"

Gisō looked down at her and smiled softly. "I will write to you as much as I can, turtleduck. And you must write me about all your adventures."

Katara's mouth twitched. She knew neither of them would write the other.

"Tell me if there is an emergency regarding Aang."

Gisō's amber eyes left her blue ones and his face seemed to harden infinitesimally. "I will make sure there are no emergencies worth the parchment."

"Good-bye, love."

"Good-bye, Katara." He planted a quick kiss on her cheek and stepped back a pace.

She let the hurt she felt pass over her face for only a second. Then she turned and gestured for Lana and the soldier to follow her onto the airship. The soldier appeared a trifle green.

"Your name, sir?" She asked as they climbed.

The boy, for he was barely nineteen by the looks of it, paled under his greenish hue. "Cale, my Lady."

"Are you an Earthbender, by chance?"

Cale looked sheepish. "Is my fear of this contraption that evident?"

Katara patted his arm as he aided her final steps onboard. "It will be fine, my good man. You are flying with a healer, after all."

Cale blushed a bit, but looked better nonetheless. "Thank you, Lady Katara. I will serve you loyally."

Katara looked over the swarming crew. "I'm certain of that, Cale."

Once they were aboard, a cry went up and the gangplanks were pulled in. All flying ropes were pulled up or untied from the docking posts, and several men with long poles reached over the side and helped push the flying machine away from the wall. The Fire Nation and Southern Water Tribe flags were hoisted.

The gust of wind that resulted whipped Katara's cloak about her. Her hair remained in place thanks to Lana's stern ministrations earlier. The girl in question looked smug as she surveyed the coif.

Katara had eyes only for Gisō, however. The crew ran to and fro, Lana was trying her hardest to get Katara to go below decks.

"The air is bound to get worse, my Lady."

But Katara heard none of it. Gisō was turning around and striding back inside.

He had not waved.