Prologue: Two Months Ago

"I wish I could come with you," Aang said to Katara as she got ready to leave for Kyoshi Island. "Tell Sokka and Suki I say hello."

"Of course, and they'll understand. You have to make sure these negotiations in Ba Sing Se go well."

The Earth King had been struggling with complaints of government officials abusing their authority from the middle and lower rings. If Aang couldn't work out the problem soon, then he was afraid the people would start rioting.

"Maybe next time," he said as he went to kiss her goodbye. Before he could deepen the kiss, she broke away.

"I have to run. Bye," she said as she pecked him on the cheek, grabbing her bag and running aboard.

He, Appa, and Momo waited for the ship to depart and waived goodbye to the waterbender before heading back to their room. Aang had another negotiation for which he had to prepare

Kyoshi Island

Sokka picked up his sister from the port and took her to the warriors' house where she would be staying. "How have you been?" he asked her as she hugged him.

"Great. Ba Sing Se is nice," well the upper ring is nice. She found the rest of it gross.

"Too bad Aang couldn't come with you."

"Yeah, he's always working." The young avatar had to grow up quickly. After all of the post-war celebrations, the real work began and Aang was determined not to let the world descend into war again, so he buckled down and got a tutor to learn politics and the subtleties of negotiation.

Katara was greeted with a hug from Suki when she got to the house and made herself at home. This was her third visit in the past six months, so she was quite familiar with the house.

The house was large, but with all of the residents in it, there was not much room for privacy. Girls were always running in and out of every room, which was often to Sokka's chagrin when he wanted alone time with Suki.

The house was also messy. Dishes everywhere, random clothes lying around. Katara was not there to clean, so she just pushed the mess into a corner.

When the girls returned home, Katara exchanged stories with them about what happened since she had last visited. Ty Lee had gone through yet another boyfriend. Rai had some ongoing drama with one of the store owners who kept selling alcohol to underage teens, and Katara shared her plans to return to the Northern Water Tribe in the fall and teach waterbending.

Katara kept gazing outside the window. So much so that Sokka asked her what she was looking at. "Oh nothing, I just like the view."

"Isn't it lovely," Ty Lee added.

After dinner, some of the girls stayed up to drink. Katara only stayed for a little bit. "It's been a long day, so I'm going up to turn in. Good night."

She waited by her window, but it wasn't for another two hours when she finally heard a small rock hit the glass. She had already stuffed some pillows into the bed and pulled up the blanket to cover them. She listened and when she didn't hear any of the other girls, she climbed out the trellis and found herself being grabbed by a familiar set of arms.

"I've missed you," he said as his lips hit her neck.

"Took you long enough." She had expected him to arrive much earlier.

"My boat got delayed."

"Let's go somewhere we can be alone."