Decided

"Your tea."

"Thank you." She held it up to the light admiringly. "These are lovely cups."

A hint of a smile. "They're Uncle's new favorites." He sat down across from her with his own.

"I see why. The glaze is so smooth, and such a deep color."

"Are you admiring the cup to put off drinking my tea? I have been practicing, you know." But it's a tease, not a real question.

"I'm not putting it off!" A sip. "There, see? It's very... nice."

"You hate it." Ruefully. "Your face is an open scroll."

Her lips pressed into a smile. "Just keep practicing."

"Only if you're here to taste every failure." An utter fail at levity, as her silence and suddenly down-cast eyes showed.

"I've told you what I've decided, Zuko." None of the lightness of before.

"I know." Abruptly his throat was rough. "But I can try to talk you out of it."

"Even when you know it's not going to work? I told you before, this wasn't some agonizing choice between my feelings for the two of you. I know exactly what I feel. So do you. I've decided this anyway."

"But it's not fair!" A plea. A hopeless one, but he couldn't help it.

"You should know better than most that the world isn't fair, Zuko." Her voice was calm, her blue eyes steady. She knew just how unkind she was being. When she saw he couldn't reply she sighed and looked away. "I'm sorry. But arguing about this... it hurts, and it's not going to change anything."

He had to take a couple breaths before he could answer. The power of her simple decision, her simple rejection...! "Would you explain then?"

"I've told you-"

"Please." That brought her eyes back to him, at least. If nothing else.

But she looked away again before she spoke, and her tone was almost business-like. "He's suffered more than any of us can imagine. The loss of his people and culture, the guilt of going missing for a hundred years while the War rages, all the people he's failed since then... He deserves some kind of happiness."

"But he doesn't deserve you." It was nearly a snarl. "He deserves sympathy, and whatever help we can give, and whatever happiness he can find. Just like anyone. But you can't give you whole life for that. That's not fair to you, or to me, or even to him!" He paused to catch his breath, to unclench his fists, to soothe his inner fire. When he was calm, he went on: "And I don't believe that's why you're doing it."

She was staring at the cup of tea, couched between her hands. It wasn't steaming anymore. Her eyebrows were pulled in low, like she was concentrating hard on something. At last, she said, slowly, distinctly, "I am the only thing that will make him happy."

"So what!" It burst out of him like fire from his fist, like a dragon from its lair, like the last shred of hope from a withering heart. Again, more gently, "So what?"

She didn't answer, kept her eyes away from his, but he could still see the tears brimming at her lower lids.

"The real reason," he implored. "Don't I deserve that much?"

She swallowed, took a deep breath. Spread her hands flat on the table. Spoke. "A couple of months ago when he and Sokka and I were traveling in the Earth Kingdom, we were ambushed by a group of bandits, former soldiers who couldn't find work after the War ended, you know how big of a problem that's been." He acknowledged it with a grimace. "During the fight, one of the Earthbenders did that move to sink our legs into the ground so we couldn't fight. He got Sokka and me, and since I'd been facing the other way and didn't see it coming, I lost my balance and fell and broke my leg." Seeing Zuko's horror, she hastened to add, "Don't worry, it was a very clean break, I had it back to new in a couple of hours. But Aang... when he heard me scream, and saw what happened, he... it was like a candle had gone out. He was gone, and all that was left was the Avatar State. He went berserk, like I haven't seen in a long time. I always hated seeing him like that. It's..." Her shudder was eloquent. "I managed to calm him down, barely. And he had really hurt some of those men, and he accidentally almost got Sokka too. The bandits had given up as soon as they realized who Aang was, but he didn't care. I was the only one who could calm him down. I'm the only one who can ever calm him down. Do you see?" Her eyes begged him to understand, and the worst thing was that he did. but he just couldn't accept...

"Katara..."

"Before all that happened, I was going to choose you. I was so happy, thinking of all the wonderful changes we could bring to the Fire Nation, and the world. But after this I realized that the world needs a stable Avatar way more than it needs one happy Waterbending Master. Or even one happy Fire Lord." Her voice was low and even, as decisive as it was pained. "I love you, Zuko. And I'm going to accept Aang."

"So, this-us-" He gestured between them, to the tea neither of them drank, to the feelings that bound them invisibly together, to the history they'd never build now. "Us not being happy is..."

Her smile was full of grief. "Yes. This is how we save the world."

A/N: All these years and I'm still trying to rationalize... Pathetic? Maybe. Do I care? Not at all. :P

All characters are owned by Bryke, Nick, and Viacom (no matter how they mistreat them).

E.I. signing out