A/N: Sooo I wrote this chapter mostly during class so I hope it's okay? I definitely hope it was worth the wait! And like always, thank you all so so so much for all the reviews, they honestly make my day! So, please leave more? :) And thank you again for reading and sticking with me!

Moments after Katara had waltzed out of the room, Zuko flopped onto his bed, running the palms of his hands across his face. He knew that he shouldn't be worrying, that Katara would work everything out. But really, what else could he do? After what'd happened last night between Hakoda and him, he had every reason to worry.

He sighed, sprawling his hands out beside his being. He was going to marry that girl, no matter what her damned father had to say about it. Or at least, as long as that's what Katara wanted as well.

It was odd; Zuko didn't need to worry about such matters before. He knew his uncle would approve of nearly any girl, and he didn't give a flying fuck about what his father thought. When he was twelve, he might've cared, but the thought of marriage at that point was so far beyond him.

The thought was completely cast from his mind once his thirteenth year came around. He had much bigger issues to worry about while he was trapped on that metal hunk of shit he called his home for nearly three years.

Of course he'd thought about girls, usually Mai. But marriage had never really crossed his mind then, and even after he was coronated he was much more worried about developing a lasting peace than his somewhat awkward relationship with Mai.

It really was odd. He'd gone from not paying much mind to such ordeals, to being absolutely sure about the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his days with.

Yet, perhaps, he'd always known. At least from that day in the crystal catacombs, all those months ago.

He was going to marry Katara. He was going to marry Katara.

He balled his fists up, the thought still sending a twist of nerves latching and clawing at his stomach. He had no doubts about the arrangements, but it was still complicated. Even if….when Hakoda gave his blessing, there was still the issue of the Royal Court. How exactly would the Fire Sages react to such a marriage? A marriage between the Fire Lord and a Southern Water Tribe women? It was surely unheard of; perhaps considered blasphemy to some. And, to add on to such matters, a woman who would either be pregnant or have given birth to their child. More than that, the child could very well be a waterbender.

Not that he gave a wolf rat's ass about what the Fire Sages thought of his love life. He was the Fire Lord, were they really going to tell him no? Even if they did, he'd do it anyway.

But, what he was truly worried about was the people's reactions to such a marriage. It'd only been about four months since the war had ended; a hundred year long war against the other three nations. Emotions were still raw, relations still tense. Were his people truly ready for such change?

He'd say he didn't care, but really, he did. Not enough to stop him, but he'd have to find a way to appease his citizens should they revolt against their new Fire Lady. To reassure them that their marriage wasn't some blasphemous act against his own nation.

He scowled up into the gold-tinted wall above him, muscles tensing as the blood rushed faster through his veins. They would accept Katara; what reason would they have not to? Just because of her heritage, her Water Tribe blood? Old traditions be damned, if it wasn't for her the world may have very well collapsed in on itself.

She was the one who'd beaten Azula, she was the one who helped the Avatar master waterbending. Hell, she was the one who freed Aang from the iceberg - at least from what he'd been told. Would his people really see past this, saying that they would have favored who knows how many more years of killing, as opposed to breaking old traditions? No, they wouldn't….

Would they?

Shaking his head slightly, he pushed himself from his billowing mattress, thumping onto the floor. Head racing with unwanted thoughts, both good and bad, he yanked the door open with a sigh. He blinked however, when his own eyes were met of those worn with age, crinkling with mischief and pleasure.

"Uncle," Zuko stated, taken aback. "I was just off to talk to…."

"The Fire Sages? You'd rather talk to those….wise old men when you can just talk to your silly old uncle?" He laughed, walking into the room as he made his way to the table placed at the far end of the bedchamber. Still blinking with shock, Zuko's legs moved stiffly over to join his uncle.

"You-how'd you know that I wanted to talk with the Fire Sages?"

He chuckled again, his shoulders shaking slightly as he started pouring tea into two porcelain cups; a tea set that Zuko hadn't even noticed he'd been carrying with him. Of course.

"Well, it certainly isn't every day that the Fire Lord is betrothed to a woman outside of nobility, is it? Or a woman outside of high ranking, anyway…."

"But she's the daughter of a chief. That has to mean something, right?"

His uncle looked up to him, his eyebrow raised with a knowing smirk lit across his face.

"I don't think that you or I would disagree that her status is indeed admirable," he started. "But, I do think that the Fire Nation and the Water Tribe both have a differing definition of what "nobility" is. Well, in reality, it's mostly our people who would mostly agree that the Water Tribe, namely the Southern Tribe, do not possess nobility."

Zuko's good brow drew closer to his nose, lips peeling apart; before he could start his own monologue, Iroh put his hand up flat towards his face.

"Patience, Nephew," he took a sip of his tea, then set it down with a small grin. "Just because they don't view the Water Tribe as a nation of high society, it does not mean that they won't accept your wife-to-be, or that they won't come to accept her."

Zuko tugged at the collar of his robes, a steamy breath escaping his nostrils. "Come to accept her? Who? The people, or the Fire Sages?"

Iroh shrugged, hands wrapped around his teacup once again. He looked up at his nephew, still maintaining his smile. "That, I can only speculate on, but if your wise old uncle has learned anything from his years in the palace, I'd say that you're going to have more trouble with the Fire Sages; namely if that child happens to be a waterbender, which is just as likely as the child becoming a firebender, or even a non bender."

The Fire Lord sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he gazed down into his untouched tea. A non bender wouldn't be much of an issue; it wasn't an issue that might leave people in riots, anyway. It would still look poor on the nation, he supposed, but not as much if it were to be a waterbender. It wouldn't matter to Zuko himself, of course, and he hoped it wouldn't matter to the people.

And yet, he had a nagging, scratching feeling in his gut that it would indeed matter to his people.

Fuck.

He'd hope for reassurance from his uncle, but it seemed that he was just as unsure as Zuko was. And what had he expected, really? This was unknown territory, and more than that, unknown territory with tensions still strained and relationships still frail in the postwar high.

Zuko stood abruptly, banging his knees on the low table in the process. His uncle muttered something about spilled tea, but Zuko couldn't possibly understand how spilled tea could currently be on the top of the old man's worries when his nation might turn against him; all because of something as trivial as a marriage, because of stupid traditions.

A knock on the door stopped Zuko in his pacing, and when he gave a gruff "enter", he balled his fists, muscles springing to attention once his eyes glazed over the faces that waltzed into his bedchamber.

"Hey, Jerkbrother!" Sokka smirked, his space sword hanging loosely from his side. Aang stood next to him, trying to keep a neutral face, but it was a losing battle.

"What?" Zuko spat, inching closer to the duo. Sokka remained unfazed, but the anger drawn over Aang's face only amplified more. He couldn't help but notice how unfitting it was for the young monk.

"So while I was walking around and, y'know, not eavesdropping on the throne room-"

"You what?" Zuko growled, flames licking at his golden irises. It wasn't bad enough that the stupid Water Tribe warrior had gone and tattled on Katara to their dad, but now he was sneaking around the palace, listening in on royal conversations? The fucking kid, if he wasn't-

"Hey hey, calm down Hotman!" Sokka said, pulling Zuko out of his smoking thoughts. "What I came to say was that I heard those old hag Fire Sages talking about your uh, presumed marriage to my uh, sister, who may I remind you isn't done talking to my dad about-"

But Zuko didn't hear the last of the kid's sentence, for he was already rushing down the halls towards the throne room, mind wracking and spinning and fuck fuck fuck.

He didn't want the Fire Sages to hear about his marriage through rumors, and more than that, Zuko didn't want to hear about such matters from an overprotective brother.

After running through the corridors of the palace, receiving many strange looks from his servants and guards, he burst into the throne room; what he found was the Fire Sages and his advisors all standing around, murmuring amongst one another. Murmurs, that were obviously on the verge of growing much, much louder.

When they'd noticed that their Lord had entered among them, however, their chatter came to a screeching halt as they all turned to face Zuko.

It was quiet for a moment, sheepish looks strewn across the room. All except Zuko, who'd taken up a look of fire instead.

Eventually, one of the sages cleared his throat, stepping closer to the Fire Lord as he sank into a low bow.

"F-Fire Lord Zuko," he muttered, voice strained and shaking. "We've heard word of your, betrothment to Master Katara."

Zuko merely offered a stiff nod. The sage gulped, and continued.

"While Master Katara is certainly an honorable young maiden, we find your choice of a wife to be rather...well odd, to say the least."

Zuko was struggling now to keep somewhat of a cool head, and it was quite obvious, for the sage was shaking and scorching under the Fire Lord's burning gaze. Good.

But before the man's lips could tremble open again, a different sage stepped forward; one with a much greater frown and an even greater air of hubris. Zuko's eyes narrowed.

"To get to the point, we seem to agree that it'd be a much wiser decision that in such uneasy times for our nation, that you'd abide by tradition and find a noblewoman to wed."

Zuko, now, was long gone from trying to control his rage. Such a task seemed impossible.

"Uneasy times?" Zuko growled, towering over the sage who, to his lack of shock, did not back down. "By ending the war, I've saved our nation countless lives; mothers, fathers, parents, brothers. You call this uneasy times? Should I've just kept the war going, a vanity war started by my great grandfather? It was pointless then and it's pointless now!"

The sage in front of him swallowed hard, but his glare never ceased. "I can't argue that it was in the best interest of the soldiers to end the war, perhaps, but have you not considered the pride of our nation? The others see us as weak now; a weak nation with no pride, no honor. And now, for our new Fire Lady to be wed to a Southern peasant? Have you not thought of how people will react? How there are still many powerful supporters of...of her! Does your love life mean more than a civil war?"

Zuko tried to control his boiling blood and shaking bones; his screaming muscles and raging mind. He tried, he really did.

But Zuko had never really been good at controlling his anger.

With a harsh scream, he lunged onto the Fire Sage, tackling him to the ground. The others backed up with a gasp, shooting each other wary looks. But Zuko was paying no mind to them, for he was only concerned with wrangling the man beneath him; the man who seemed to have the same goal in mind.

He was surprisingly strong for being a Fire Sage, though he was also surprisingly young. Zuko jabbed at the man, but the sage only swung back, just as forceful. He tried to flip Zuko over, and nearly succeeded. But, just as Zuko had begun to pin the man to the floor, the door of the throne room swung open, revealing a shocked airbender, a red faced blue-clad man, a wary Kyoshi warrior, and a very much smirking earthbender.

"Do my guards do nothing in this palace?!" he exclaimed, exasperated.

But it was only when he saw a large man and a smaller girl, both with stark blue eyes, that he removed himself from the Fire Sage. The sage began to dust himself off with a huff, but Zuko's attention had shifted, for it was now consumed by the waterbender stalking towards him. A waterbender who's ocean eyes were quickly rising to a boil.

"What are you doing?" Katara hissed once she was in earshot. "I thought you were trying to get these people on our side!"

"Yeah, Sparky," Toph snickered, her and the rest of the gang now standing beside Katara. "I'm no Fire Lord, but beating up a Fire Sage? Doesn't seem very uh, royal."

Zuko merely shot her a useless glare; but just as he managed to peel back his sputtering lips, the Fire Sage cleared his throat.

"Ah, Master Katara, how lovely of you to join us," he stated, sizing up the scene. "The Fire Lord and I were just….discussing that perhaps it would be wise for him to wed someone nobility, and not someone of….peasantry."

Katara's jaw slacked as Zuko's tightened. But, before he could even draw in enough air to rebuttal, Toph had socked the Fire Sage right across the jaw.