Disclaimer: I, sadly, don't own Avatar the Last Airbender so I, also sadly, cannot make new episodes happen. But I can write a story! Which I'm doing!

So this is just another multi-chaptered kataang post-war story. Just another thing all us kataang fans need to keep the fire burning. Right now it's just fluffy and happy but let's get real people, peace never lasts. Atleast not for Aang and the gaang. Time off isn't in the job description for the Avatar. The plot will thicken and it'll be good. Well, atleast I hope you'll all like it. Anyway, on with the story!

Chapter One: Treaties and Tempers

The war was over but the world was hardly at peace. Sure, the stress of war was a lot to deal with, but compared to how things were now, Aang couldn't tell which was worse: the stress of war or the stress of rebuilding a divided nation. The fire nation was the most difficult nation. The gaang had been staying in the fire nation making sure there were no more attempts at ruling the world. The comet had passed, relieving some of the young avatar's worries, but it has been only several weeks since the Fire Lord was defeated so, naturally, the fire nation was in complete chaos. A lot of the nation never agreed with the war to begin with while another good proportion of citizens were living through the war. Many families depended on the income of its husbands and sons at war and with the sudden amount of people needing revenue, jobs became scarce, causing somewhat of an economic depression in the fire nation.

Zuko had become the new fire lord with Iroh at his side, directing the young leader when needing direction. Running a country was tough. Running a country when you've never had any experience running one especially one on the verge of civil war was the toughest thing Zuko had done in his life. Had it not been for the aid of his uncle and the avatar, Zuko knew he'd never be able to do it. He was constantly in meetings, trying to solve the economic crisis, doing everything in his power to help his people.

The water tribe and earth kingdom had their best troops at the fire nation to aid Aang in protecting Zuko against the approaching revolution. They liked not having the fire nation controlling their countries and were willing to do anything to keep it that way, even if it meant staying away from home just that much longer.

Katara, Sokka, Toph, Suki and Mai were all sitting by a turtle duck pond, carelessly throwing little pieces of bread into the small pool of water.

"Have any of you seen Aang?" Zuko said urgently entering and disrupting the calm nature of the scene before him. "We have a meeting, which you two," he said pointing at Sokka and Suki, "have to be at as well, but I can't find Aang. I've looked everywhere and he should have papers we need today. If he doesn't sh-"

"Zuko, relax." Katara said cutting him of before he went on another rampage about a missing necessary member of the council and Aang, being the avatar, was needed at every meeting. Sokka was a representative of the water tribe, Suki was a representative of the earth kingdom and Zuko was obviously the main representative of the fire nation. Katara had allowed Sokka the honor of representing the tribe over her because she knew how much it meant to Sokka to be involved in those sorts of associations. Toph was obviously offered a position in the peace council but reading long, complicated peace treaties and signing off on what she agreed with, wasn't really her thing so Suki took over instead.

"Have you looked by the beach?" Suki asked. "I've seen him out there a couple times."

"Like I've told you, I looked everywhere and I can't find him," Zuko said impatiently. He was always impatient and quick tempered, but with the stress of running a nation on his shoulders, he rarely seemed anything but irritated and swift tempered.

Katara got up slowly to help Zuko look for Aang; she always had this nag for knowing where to find him. She searched a little around the palace, checking mainly outdoor locations but decided that he was probably inside after seeing no trace of him anywhere outside. She headed for his room and softly knocked twice on the closed door to his room before opening the door and letting herself in. Sure enough Aang was sitting in his room at the small desk in the corner of the room which was profusely littered with papers. It was typical of Zuko to look over the idea that Aang might be in his own room. Aang was leaning over a pile of parchments with his head resting in his hands. Katara walked across the room and put a hand on Aang's back which caused him to jump so high he nearly fell out of his chair.

"What?! Katara – oh, hi. I didn't hear you come in," he said in a tired voice before turning back to the papers on the desk.

"Zuko's looking for you, are you ok?" she added in a concerned voice seeing how tired he really was.

"Huh? Oh, yea, I'm fine. What's Zuko want?" He asked, stress beginning to build as he figured it would be more papers he needed to read over and sign off on.

"He's trying to find you because the meeting's about to start," she said seeing him tense up at this news.

"What? It's about to start? What time is it?" he asked looking around the room before forcing himself to once again focus on the papers before him, grabbing certain papers and putting them in piles.

"Aang, are you sure you're ok?" Katara asked feeling more worried by the moment.

"No! I have to finish reading all these papers and sign off on all of these before the meeting starts," he said running his hands through his hair which had grown back during the past few weeks. Aang barely had time to breathe let alone take the time to shave. "And I don't even know what this means!" he added in frustration, slamming his hands down on the table, upsetting several papers, sending them falling to the ground.

"It's ok, just calm down. How much more do you need to do?" Katara asked putting a comforting hand on his shoulder which seemed to slightly relax him.

"Uhm…just this," he said holding up a couple papers in one hand, "and this," he finished holding up several more in his other hand.

"Ok, let's see," she said taking the papers from him and setting them on her lap, "'All disputes which might arise in future on the subject of the boundaries of the said nations may be prevented; it is hereby agreed and declared, that –' hmm…I guess that just means each nation is agreeing to respect each others boundaries, that's agreeable," Katara noted while continuing to read out loud and translate into understandable words.

"Why can't they just say it like that to begin with," Aang said in an exasperated voice once they had finally finished the papers in half the time it would have taken him without Katara's help. Katara laughed and Aang cracked his first smile in days. "And thanks Katara," Aang added once her laughter had died. "You always know how to make me feel better."

Katara smiled and leaned over kissing him softly on the lips causing him to blush before he got up and headed to the door with her close behind. Aang had always loved Katara and had always showed obvious signs of his fondness towards her but only recently had Katara began to return the affection. She had always known deep down that she felt something more than just the feeling of friendship but in self defense, she had always pushed the idea out of her head and ignored the feelings she had for him. She had already lost her mother to the war and felt that if she let herself give into the idea of loving Aang, she'd only fall harder if he didn't come back from fighting Ozai.

Aang was still getting used to the fact that Katara actually liked him back. He often still blushed around her and acted clumsily but Katara just thought it was cute; it showed how much he really thought about her and cared about how he looked in front of her.

The two walked towards the fire lord's, or Zuko's, chamber where the meeting was about to begin. Aang entered through the drapes embroidered with the fire nation insignia while Katara waited in the courtyard for the meeting to be finished.

Inside the chamber, fuming earth bending high ranking generals fought over different ways in which the fire nation should pay for the destruction and pain it caused. Aside from the fire nation, the earth kingdom was probably the most aggressive people and it didn't help that even including the fire nation, they were the most proud of all the nations.

"We should take their land!" an angry General Makoto interjected, obviously unsatisfied with the arrangements the other nations had agreed on.

"No, that's just doing exactly what the past three fire lords have been doing to us," Hakota cut in. "It seems a little hypocritical to suggest the idea," he said rather harshly. They had been discussing the same thing for weeks and tempers were running high.

"Then how will we make them pay? The ones responsible for the last 100 years of suffering should receive punishment!" the general stated once again.

"But you don't understand! The people responsible for the war are paying for it. A lot of these people didn't want anything to do with the war and most of their soldiers were forced into the army. Taking away their land or their rights won't solve anything. It'll just worsen our problems." Aang yelled in frustration. He understood that the victims of war wouldn't want to quickly forgive their enemy but most of the other earth kingdom generals and all the water tribe warriors representing their tribes were able to at least understand where he was coming from.

Several hours and many arguments later the meeting was adjourned. The sky was darkening and the stars were beginning to pop up behind the clouds that partly covered the vast sky. Aang emerged from the chamber feeling exhausted but slightly relieved. Katara approached Aang asking how the meeting went.

"Better than usual I guess," he replied in an optimistic tone. "We might have gotten somewhere today. But at least I don't have any homework this time," he added smiling in a cheerful manner.

"Come on, let's go sit down somewhere and relax. You need it," she added remembering his near break down before the meeting. He smiled in response, relishing the idea of spending time with Katara and not talking about how to fix the damaged world.

The two began walking in no general direction. Katara grabbed Aang's hand causing him to smile and blush fiercely. Soon, their feet took them to the beach where they sat close together, enjoying each other's company. Due to Aang's status as the avatar, he was needed almost all the time by someone. He hardly had time for anything and he missed spending most of his time with Katara; this alone time was hard to come by and he couldn't help but thank the spirits for it: it was just what he needed.

Katara leaned her head on Aang's shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer. They sat in silence, listening to the breeze of the ocean and feeling the spray of the waves on the exposed parts of their skins. Katara lifted her head looking at Aang who looked back at her. He looked softly into the icy pools of blue that were her eyes, feeling his heart soften at the beautiful sight before him; he could look at her forever.

Mai waited outside the chamber for Zuko, watching general after general leave before finally Zuko, who was last to depart, exited through the curtains, greeting her with a tired smile.

"How long have you been waiting?" Zuko asked her, wondering how long the meeting actually had dragged on for.

"Not long, a couple minutes, 20 tops," she replied falling into step with him, following wherever Zuko was planning to go next.

He merely nodded in reply. He was exhausted and tense but glad Mai had waited for him. She was always his source of relaxation. She complimented every element of him as he did for her. When he was hot headed and angry, her calm, composed nature always balanced and lulled his rage and when she was careless, his temperament gave her the passion to show emotion.

The couple found its way to the turtle duck pond which Mai was keenly fond of. She asked the question that Zuko knew was coming: "So, how'd it go?"

"It's frustrating representing the nation that everyone hates," he replied shortly. "All that the earth kingdom generals are concerned about is what way to punish the fire nation. How am I supposed to convince these people that they can trust us? I'm not my father's son. I have no desire to take over the world! I don't even like running one country!" he shouted in frustration, scarring several newly hatched turtle ducks away to hide behind their mother.

Mai scooted closer to Zuko, putting her hand on his shoulder to calm him. "It's just going to take time for people to get used to the idea of peace. Trust is hard to come by but you'll earn it one step at a time. You're a great leader, Zuko, don't start to doubt yourself."

He looked up, meeting her gaze and smiling at the support and comfort Mai was possible of giving him. He knew he could do anything with her at his side.

Suki left the chamber closely followed by Sokka. She yawned and stretched, walking along side Sokka who followed suit.

"Rough meeting," she said passively.

"Yea, I know," Sokka agreed before whipping his hand up to his face, covering the side of his mouth so only Suki could see his lips and hear what he had to say, "You know, your nation has some mean guys, I mean that General Makoto guy looked about ready to take over the fire nation himself."

Suki laughed softly and rolled her eyes. It was possible that the general was feeling more personally hurt by the fire nation due to the fact that he had recently lost his son in the war. It was true that other people too were affected by death, but time had allowed said persons a bit more healing time than the angry general. They knew he would calm down eventually.

The pair headed towards the wing of the palace where their rooms were. They stopped outside of Suki's room and Sokka bade her a swift goodnight kiss and turned quickly before giving into the urge of following Suki into her room. But before he took two steps, Suki grabbed the collar of his shirt and he was quickly sucked into the room and the door was slammed behind them, leaving the hallway quite empty.

Toph sat alone in the darkness of her room. She felt Sokka and Suki approaching and starting to go their separate ways until Suki decided otherwise. She got up and flung herself carelessly onto her bed. She didn't care to know what else they would be doing by now. She felt frustrated and angry but she didn't know why. She always seemed so independent and careless around the others, caring only about herself and what had to do with her. She rarely acted concerned in others' affairs and whenever she actually cared to hear what someone had to say, she knew how to sound convincingly indifferent. She never felt like she needed anyone before so why was she now becoming so upset by Sokka's affairs.

She turned over, laying on her stomach, holding her pillow while hot, frustrated tears stained the yellow pillow case she was hiding her face in. She seemed to be the only one left who was without a significant other these days although that part didn't bother her; she was just angry with the fact that Sokka was happy with or without her. She felt alone and forgotten.

The sky was getting darker by the minute and the moon was slowly encasing the world in her soft bluish glow. Aang and Katara were looking contently into each others eyes, smiling and blushing slightly. Katara moved forward slowly, closing most of the small gap left between them, before Aang finished the job, meeting her lips with his own. She brought up her hands to rest on his face while he held her close, wrapping his arms warmly around her waist and drawing her closer to him. They continued this way while seconds rolled into minutes. Katara broke the kiss to catch her breath when they both realized upon opening their eyes that it was getting rather late.

"It's getting late and you need to rest," Katara said while getting up and helping Aang to his feet as well who answered with a simple "ok" and only remembering how tired he really was once Katara mentioned the idea of rest and how welcoming it sounded.

The happy couple walked quietly back to the palace holding hands. They weren't sure how late it was or who was up. They walked past the turtle duck pond which Zuko and Mai were sitting together at, deep in conversation so they hurried past not wanting to intrude or ruin the moment. They reached the deserted hall and after reaching the door to her room, Katara turned to face Aang, hoping she'd get a kiss goodnight which she graciously received almost immediately. Aang retreated, leaving her wanting more. He smiled at her, satisfied with her reaction, and turned to head to his own room which was conveniently located next door to Katara's. He reached his room and entered it soundlessly. The desk and floor around it were strewn with papers and important documents. He quickly organized the papers, smiling fondly at the memory of Katara patiently helping him through the frustrating work, before settling into bed and being lulled softly off to sleep by the thought of Katara.

So that was the first chapter! Please please review. All you writters out there know how motivating it is to recieve reviews so if you liked it, please say so! If you didn't, please say so nicely! haha :)

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