A/N*Updated: The poem for this chapter is a quite simplistic haiku, yet I felt it was a perfect way to sum up the story. This story's mainly been about continuation – the cyles repeat, beginning and ending only to begin anew, bringing happiness and angst and happiness again, set to forever repeat in the Gaang's lives until their very end. And this story was only an intermediary showcase into their sorrows and triumphs.

*Updated - An epilogue is in the works but for now, with my own personal problems and the kinks I'm still working out with said epilogue, this will be the end of How Things Change. The epilogue will be posted as a separate story - sequel style.

Thank you so very much to everyone that has read this story and more importantly has read to this end; I hope you love it at least a smidgen as much as I loved writing it :3

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The spring sea rising

and falling, rising

and falling all day.

~'The spring sea rising', Yosa Buson

After Beik arrived and was introduced to everyone by a rambunctious Iroh, food was served and the conversation commenced somewhat haphazardly, people constantly splitting from one discussion and joining another, wandering casually between friends. Sokka was sitting off at a table with Toph, chatting away about something almost vehemently. Suki and Iroh were playing Pai Sho quietly, while Beik and Katara stood next to a table littered with used plates, getting to know each other quite well. Zuko was a few feet away from them, playing with Momo. Aang was in the kitchen, collecting a special treat for Momo that Iroh had managed to collect after scouring the produce markets.

Everyone was, of course, drinking from the practically endless supply of tea inside the Jasmine Dragon.

"Your move," Iroh informed his Kyoshi Warrior friend, moving a tile on the circular board after much contemplation. He was surprised at how good she was at this game; he didn't know she played it. Clearly, however, she not only played it but played it often, or had up until recently.

She turned her line of sight away from watching Toph and Sokka across the room. "What do you think they're talking about?" She asked, eyes sweeping across the board. Her eyebrows lifted. "You moved the orchid."

He only looked pleased with her observation, sipped from his steaming cup, and answered her question. "I overheard Sokka asking Toph about her academy."

Suki cautiously moved a tile with a secretive smile hovering. "He's gotten really good as a teacher – and he loves it."

"I can tell," Iroh commented, having observed that prideful sentiment in the South Pole boy with the boomerang several times since their reunion two hours earlier. Each of his nephew's friends seemed to be hitting their stride in life, finding their purposes and choosing the paths those purposes led down. It was an inspiring thought to know that they were all mastering their lives and shaping successful destinies from them.

She waited, propping her elbows on the table, as he calculated his next move. He knew he would have to sacrifice a tile for the longer game, but picking which one was a tricky process. One wrong move and the game was over in nearly a blink of an eye. "They look pretty serious."

He glanced over. "They do," he agreed after seeing Toph shrugging at Sokka's mini lecture – the boy had a distinct way of gesticulating when he was trying to convince one of something. "He does know her academy will be bending oriented, yes?" Iroh teased.

Suki opened her mouth to speak in confirmation but then she paused. "No, you don't think – well..."

He replied, picking up his next move's tile with a satisfied grin, "Maybe."

"That doesn't have anything to do with metal-bending."

"Yeah it does, it's about teaching. It's important to be centered before fighting, I teach that technique all the time," Sokka argued back.

"Who'd you get that from, Katara?"

He huffed derisively.

Toph held up her hands in an apologetic gesture before picking up a cream puff from her half-eaten plate. "Okay, too far. Come on, Sokka, I'll let you ride along with me and Aang to help out with the academy if you stop trying to give me advice on teaching."

He nodded in concession, still unconvinced. "You'll want my advice later."

"No, I won't."

"Yeah you will."

"I taught the Avatar earth-bending," she retorted smugly.

"He only got his break-through when you took Katara's advice," Sokka reminded.

She narrowed her grey eyes until they were only dangerously thin slits. "Oh, shut up."

He chuckled. "Too far, yeah yeah. I still have that invitation, right?"

"Not if you keep talking." Toph cradled the shallow tea cup in her hands, its warmth tingling through her hands. "You know, you haven't said how sweet it was of me to invent metal-bending in a while."

"I haven't?"

"Nope; and it totally saved your butt last year."

"Stupid me," he slapped his forehead. Her lips pulled back wide. "It's really sweet of you – metal-bending's the coolest element."

"Damn right it is."

"So – still have that invitation?" Sokka ventured to ask again.

She sipped her bitter black tea. "It's being considered."

"Hey," Aang called as he finally surfaced from the kitchen.

Zuko met him nearly halfway, disengaging himself from Katara and Beik's conversation that had slowly morphed from telling the Earth Kingdom citizen's life story to discussing the many faces of Ba Sing Se that existed in the three sections of the city. Momo casually lounged between his folded arms.

The Avatar pulled his arm out from where it was held behind his back, hand closed around something with a spherical shape. Momo's interest was caught, large eyes snapping to it as he was already well aware of where his friend had just come from. Aang turned his hand palm side up to reveal a moon peach inside. He didn't so much as give it to Momo as Momo took it from him greedily, immediately biting into the juicy fruit's flesh. Aang smiled.

Iroh was really great; he had, in anticipation of their visit, found a few moon peaches left at the market and saved them for the last living flying lemur. It was on the tail end of their growing season, their fruit-bearing bushes only grown in a few pockets around the Earth Kingdom, making the act all that kinder. They held a few bruises along the sides that Momo didn't even begin to notice, nor care about. He still cradled a rare moon peach in his paws.

Letting Momo float down to the ground, sitting on the rug as he munched his fruit happily, Zuko smiled at his human friend. "Are you planning on sticking around Yu Dao?"

Aang nodded. "I'm gonna help set up the new republic – I owe it to them, and I'm a great mediator."

Zuko smirked slightly at that, as he usually did – of course Aang was a great mediator, he was the Avatar; that was his job, for all intents and purposes. "If you need anythi-"

"I'll let you know." Zuko would always offer and Aang would always remember – it was almost a routine – because the fire-bender would always feel that smidgen of residual guilt and the air-bender would in return always understand that and be patient enough to reassure his friend. He walked a few steps over to the table set with tea; the Fire Lord followed him. A small laugh breathed through his lips. "Do you know how much a country relies on a name?"

"All of it does," Zuko responded swiftly.

The air-bender paused, freshly poured cup of tea poised inches from his lips. A bright smile rested on his face. "Okay, so you'd know that."

He only smirked in response.

"I was thinking about something... blended."

"Blended? You mean for the name?"

"Yeah," Aang agreed. "Something that represents how the republic is a place to bring everyone in the world together in harmony. Something united."

Zuko gestured, tipping his cup towards his friend. "I think you have the name right there."

The Avatar stared at the ground, brows furrowed, thinking on a mental plane not conscious of his surroundings, something that was revealed when Katara walked over. "Hey, what're you guys talking about?"

"The new republic," Zuko volunteered as her free hand slid into hi. He looked expectantly to Aang, only to find him still staring off into space.

"Uh, Aang?" Katara cast her gaze back and forth between the two. "Is he okay?" She asked with an underlying worried tone.

The Fire Lord groaned mildly, unsure how to respond to that. Aang was find only a second ago.

"The United Republic!" Aang exclaimed suddenly. He looked to Zuko delightfully. "You're right, it's perfect. The United Republic – of Nations. It could represent everybody, like the peacekeeper where the Avatar can't be, where I can't be. That's great, Zuko!"

"Hey, you thought of it," he quickly corrected, eyes smiling as he spoke. "And you're right, it is perfect."

"You guys named the republic?" Katara clapped her hands together joyfully. "That's great, Aang!"

Aang rolled his shoulders. "It's not set but yeah, I think we just did. I'm getting so many ideas in my head just thinking about it; it's like I can see the whole puzzle coming together..."

Zuko rested a hand on the other's shoulder proudly.

Toph laughed as Momo whined, leaping around the small, spinning air ball. "You're so easy to tease, Momo."

Aang agreed with a chortle, shifting the air-bended ball around once more, directing Momo near Toph's side of the table.

"Hey, uh, guys?" Katara called out to them warily, standing up from the chair she had occupied for the past half hour at a table, in the corner, with Zuko.

"We have an announcement," Zuko confessed, standing too.

Toph propped her jaw on the knuckles of her hand. "You're engaged?" She threw out.

"What?!" Sokka immediately asked, voice a pitch higher than it should be and therefore quietly cracking. "And I'm only just hearing about this?"

"Sokka, we don't even know if it's true," Suki shushed.

Zuko shifted on his feet but stayed standing next to their mutual water-bending friend. "Actually-"

"Called it!" Toph punched her hand in the air. It was nice to have confirmation that she wasn't seeing – well, metaphorically – things that are not there. For a while, she had thought she was only wishing for Zuko and Katara to date; but then it did happen. As strange as most people found it, or could find it, she was very observant. It was the little things she picked up on, collecting their details like stones used to build a road. Once she had all the pieces, picking up on the last thought-inconsequential fact, the road immediately formed in her mind.

"Toph," Aang began, shaking his head. She imagined he was smiling by the slight inflection in his tone.

She pulled her arm down and leaned back in the chair. "It's true."

"Wha-wha-" Sokka stuttered, his perplexed reaction at the peripheral of everyone's attention except Suki, who was rubbing his arm, confused regarding how to comfort him as he processed both the information and quick exchange simultaneously.

"How did you know?" Katara asked, basically admitting to it, still caught completely off-guard.

Toph shrugged. "You're wearing something new; Aang told me it was a necklace. You've touched it a lot tonight and I keep hearing it; it jangles weird." She scrunched up her nose. "It's got a lot of hanging stuff on it, doesn't it? It's a weird noise, just saying."

"But how di-"

"That part was easy. Your mother's necklace is a betrothal one, you told all of us that. You normally touch that constantly – your nails usually scrape across the carved stone," she informed them matter-of-factly. That was a given for her, while everyone else was still processing that she even heard that minute sound. "But tonight you'd only touch the new one. Why would you do that if it isn't special? So someone gave you it; obviously that was Zuko. If it's a necklace, and you're touching it a lot, it's a betrothal necklace. Duh. Zuko proposed."

Silence descended upon the room.

Sokka broke the ice by whistling a high note. "Wow; that's genius, Toph. You should get an award for that; we all need to make you an award. Anyone else a little bit scared by her genius-ness, too? Or is that just me?"

"Don't make it weird, Sokka," his sister was quick to chastise, normalcy descending again.

"It's already weird; the Fire Lord marrying the only South Pole water-bender is just weird." He snorted. "And you're also my sister – did you ask for our dad's blessing first, Zuko?" His tone was carefully neutral, though all of them could decipher that it was at least a teensy bit threatening.

"Sokka!" Suki interjected with her own warning tone.

"It is a valid point."

"Uncle!" Zuko objected with a clearly flustered tone and likely flushed face to accompany it.

"It was too easy an opening," Iroh responded by way of apology.

Katara sighed in an exasperated way, making Toph think that she was definitely rolling her eyes right now. "Toph, your influence is making Iroh sarcastic like you."

Sokka and Zuko burst out laughing at the strangeness of her comment, Zuko trying to hide it horribly behind a clasped hand, only making Sokka laugh harder as the sounds turned from chuckles to blubbering snickers. Suki made a strangely confused squeaking noise with her vocal cords at the same time Iroh argued against Katara's comment.

Toph simply giggled. "I love you guys."

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