A/N: Hi everyone! Sorry it's been so long. I've known what I wanted to have happen in this chapter but I never sat down to write it. The good news is I know where I want this to go and how I want this to end and we're almost there.

Disclaimer: I don't own.

The next day dawned clear and bright, an excellent day for Zuko to make a fool of himself, he thought.

"What if I somehow pass these tests?" Zuko asked as he finished tying his belt. He had to try, he knew, but there was a part of him that did almost really want to pass. He had a pretty good idea as to why he wanted to, he just wasn't sure that it was a good idea.

Katara looked at his reflection in her vanity while she tied her hair back. "Well you're going to have to look like you tried whatever my dad tells you to do but that doesn't mean you really have to do anything."

"That's very vague." Zuko walked over to stand beside her. He began to pull his hair back into a top knot as he continued. "Do you know what I'll have to do?"

"Fail at things like hunting or providing shelter," Katara replied.

"I have a fully stocked kitchen and was the one who got our group a house before the comet."

"I know."

"I can't really fail at providing shelter-"

"So you can build a house?"

"I can find a cave if I have to."

She raised her eyebrow at him. "Really? You'd live in a cave?"

"I've done it once already and I found a cave in the North Pole."

"Now is not exactly the best time to bring that up."

"Oh, right." He stuck his crown in his top knot and looked down at her. "Let's get this over with."

"One thing first," she pulled him down for a quick kiss. "Now let's go."

He blinked at her. "I thought you said you were confused."

She felt her cheeks heat up. "I still not sure exactly how I feel about you but I wanted to kiss you."

"That's a start, I guess." He turned to leave.

Katara grabbed his arm. "Wait." She bit her lip. "How do you feel about me?"

"You're my best friend," he said.

"Anything else?" She asked, hating the hopeful feeling that welled up in her stomach.

Zuko wasn't entirely sure how to answer that. He wasn't entirely sure about how he felt as he was currently trying to break off his marriage to her. So he answered in the best way he could: "come on, we should go to breakfast." He tried not to notice how Katara's face fell. He helped her to her feet and tried not to look at her as they walked to breakfast.

Breakfast was tense. Iroh tried to lighten the mood with stories about Zuko's childhood trips to Ember Island but all that did was encourage Ty Lee to add her own stories. "As if I won't be humiliated enough later," Zuko muttered.

"It won't be that bad," Sokka offered. "Besides it's not like you haven't messed up before."

"Never on purpose!" Zuko shouted.

"Well just try to do what you think is right then. That always seems to work for you," Sokka said.

"He does have a point," Iroh said.

"Your first test of three," Hakoda said as he paced the training arena, "is for you to provide food for Katara." Sokka, Suki, Katara, and Iroh sat watching while Zuko stood in front of the path Hakoda was pacing.

"That's not hard," Zuko said, "I can just go down to the kitchens-"

"That you caught yourself." Iroh snickered.

"Uh, sure. No problem." Zuko looked around. "How long do I have?"

"Until midday."

Zuko nodded. "I'll have something by then." With that he left.

Hakoda turned to Karara. "He knows he's supposed to fail, right?"

"He does but he has to at least try, right?"

"He could just try to kill a turtleduck," Hakoda said.

"Trust me, Zuko can't hunt to save his life. Or fish for that matter," Iroh said. "The only fish he's ever caught was smaller than my thumb." Iroh played with his beard. "I think he's going to actually try."

"Why do you say that?" Hakoda asked.

"Zuko never gives up," Katara said with a sigh, "even when it's something he should fail at."

Zuko paced his office trying to figure out where he could possible go to find something to present to Hakoda. The turtleducks were out of the question as were the messenger hawks. There weren't that many other animals around here, unless he counted people's pets and that was out of the question. He could try fishing again...sadly that was his only option.

He grabbed a spear from one of his guards as he left. He marched down to the same beach he and Katara had their date on and waded into the water. He could catch something, something too small to be impressive but he could at least show he could catch something. Sokka had made fun of him enough after their one miserable hunting trip at the Western Air Temple.

He waded out until the water was up to his waist and waited. And waited and waited. Then he started cursing fish and any other sea life he could name. Which turned out to be different kinds of fish. Finally he started just stabbing at anything that moved. After two near misses of his feet he finally managed to spear a fish. It was about as long as his hand, not that impressive but better than last time.

Zuko strode triumphantly back into the arena, fish in hand. "I found food," Zuko said as he held out the fish to Hakoda.

"Can you cook it?" Zuko smirked and sent a blast of fire at the fish. "You didn't even clean it."

"But it's cooked," he insisted.

"I wouldn't eat it."

"But-"

"Your next task," Hakoda continued, "is to provide shelter for Katara."

Zuko pointed behind him to the palace. "She can live there."

Hakoda rubbed his forehead. "Build her one Zuko, try to build her one."

"Can I find her a cave?" Sokka smacked his forehead. "So I can't get her a cave. Uncle how do I build something?"

"You have to figure that out or you could give up," Iroh said.

"Why would I give up? I have to-"

"Zuko, think about what you're doing."

"But I can't figure out how to build a shelter! I can't pass-oh right." Zuko turned and bowed to Hakoda. "I can't provide shelter for Katara, I don't know how to build one."

"Very well. For your last test you have to defeat one of our most skilled warriors." Sokka stood and stretched. "Katara."

"Hey!" Sokka said. "I can take Zuko!"

"I'm sure you can but I think Katara might like to do this."

Katara smiled and stepped forward. "Ready Zuko?" She asked as she drew water out of her waterskin.

"Always," he said. He waited for her to attack first. She rolled her eyes and sent a whip at his feet. He quickly dodged and sent a series of fireballs at her. She jumped and sent an ice dagger at him. He easily melted the dagger with a blast. "Are you going easy on me?" He asked.

"Just warming up," Katara said sweetly. She sent a wave at him that knocked him off his feet. "See?"

"Then I'll stop going easy as well." He kicked fire at her as he jumped up to his feet. She dodged and summoned up fog. Zuko started punching fire in the direction Katara had been. He started moving forward slowly, hoping to hear something or see some hint of blue.

"Wrong direction," she said. He turned, face to face with her. She smirked and quickly encased him in ice. "I think I win." She dismissed the fog, and everyone clapped.

"Really? You know I can melt this," Zuko said as he began to warm his hands and feet to melt the ice.

"Zuko you lost," Hakoda quickly said. "You aren't fit to marry Katara in the Southern Water Tribe."

Zuko finished melting the ice as Hakoda made his pronouncement. He bowed to Hakoda. "Thank you for taking the time to test me." He walked away and everyone stared at him.

"Didn't he want to fail?" Sokka asked.

"That's what I thought," Suki said.

"He just doesn't like it," Ty Lee added.

Katara kept quiet, thinking about what she asked Zuko this morning and tried not think of what it might mean if he'd actually wanted to pass these tests.

"We can sit out here for the rest of the day or we can go inside," Iroh said as he stood.

"We do need to eat lunch," Sokka said. Everyone groaned.

"I brought you tea," Iroh said. Zuko looked up from the paperwork in front of him as Iroh closed the door. "And sake for your wounded pride."

"I don't need either," Zuko said.

"You do and maybe you can tell me why you're upset." Iroh sat across from Zuko and poured the sake first, knowing that would help Zuko talk more than anything else. "And if you don't I can always encourage Ty Lee to talk to you."

"Please don't. She'll tell me my aura is murky and then try to guess what's wrong until she pries it out of me." Zuko downed his whole cup before continuing. "At least with you I can avoid some of that." Iroh raised an eyebrow. "Fine. It's just strange."

"What is?"

"Knowing that I'm unfit for Katara according to her traditions."

"So you'd like to stay married to her?" Iroh asked.

Zuko shook his head. "No."

"Then why are you-"

"Because maybe it wouldn't be so bad to date her."

"I see now. Well how exactly do you feel about Katara?"

"She's my best friend," Zuko replied quickly.

"Anything else?"

"I value her opinion. She's one of the few people who teases me and I don't mind. She cares about people and tries to make everyone else do the right thing. She's pushy and stubborn."

"She's pretty," Iroh said.

"Well obviously," Zuko replied. "I thought that since I first saw her with her hair down."

Iroh poured tea into their cups. "If I didn't know better I'd say you were falling in love with her."

Zuko snorted. "I can't fall in love with her. Beside," he took a sip of tea, "I promised I'd sign out annulment papers."

"Well I'd say you have until then to figure out how you feel."

"Things were easier when I was angry all the time."

"Not for me."

"Any advice?"

"Sometimes the hardest question has the easiest answer."

Zuko tried not to roll his eyes. "There's the proverb I was waiting for."

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