Katara pulled him along insistantly. He had taken up the eyepatch again to disguise himself, though he was no longer sure how well that trick would work, and followed her off the train platform into the maze of the Lower Ring. Her expression was set with intention and she knew exactly where to go. The civic center, a relatively towering building more tidy than elsewhere in the district, loomed before them. He remembered setting foot there trying to use her, abduct her or otherwise threaten her, whatever his half-formed plan would have amounted to, as a way to get to Aang, and his face was downcast in shame. Now he could hold her hand and she wasn't afraid of him in the least.

They paused outside the door and looked to an old man playing pai sho in the dirt by himself. He set the tile down for his final move before looking up. "You found her after all."

Zuko's heart throbbed in his throat. "Yeah," he said, his voice broken with emotion, "I did."

What she had been so insistant on, what he had never stopped to consider three years ago, were the sick and injured gathered there to await charity treatment. She greeted the workers like old friends and remarked, "This is great, there are a lot fewer now." To Zuko, the room seemed packed. Over a dozen people were lying in cots while two nurses tended them all, worked to the bones. Presented with a dish of water, Katara spared no time in setting to work. He took a seat, prepared to wait with her all day if necessary. I tried to take her away from everyone, all to please my father, a man who would never have been happy with me no matter what I did.

The kind-looking man from the office-front pulled up a chair to sit with him. He looked knowingly to his face, so Zuko removed the eyepatch and held it in his lap, hoping that his identity was not a contradiction there. The man made no comment but only watched Katara work, lovingly twisting a ring on his finger as if lost in memory of someone.

#

Aang held the teacup, watching the fragrant steam rise from the delicate celadon, and tried to think of what to say. He must have taken too long, as she was prompted to say, "It isn't poisoned this time."

"I know." He lifted it and tried a sip. It was exquisite in a way he'd never even had with Kuei, as money could not fully compensate for talent. "You're skilled at this. You could open a teashop, live a simple life. You're beautiful, so I'm sure you would have many customers."

She looked amused. "How quaint that would be." Azula pressed the cup to her lips.

"Don't you want to see your brother while he's in the city?"

"Not particularly, no."

"Why did you agree to see me, then?"

She set the cup down. "You said you enjoyed having tea together. Well, I enjoyed it, too."

"And you won't tell your brother anything?"

"No, not yet."

"I'll keep your secret," replied Aang, "but you really should tell him. He doesn't hate you."

She didn't have a reply to that. Maybe she didn't know whether he did or not. Aang had seen her at the height of her acting and knew the faces she made when she lied; conversely, he could recognize the subtle detail of vulnerability when she was being honest, and he wondered if she was aware of how open she already was towards him. Fate had not gone according to her plan and it was etched into her face with a subtle disappointment in life, a relaxing of her discipline, and, perhaps, she was beginning to consider what would come next. She and Toph had a lot of similarities.

Toph, of course, was not in the city, and no one could tell him where exactly she had gone.

#

As they would need to pass to the west anyway, Katara and Zuko rode with Aang in the bison's saddle, their purchases from the city bundled next to them, escorting the first party of settlers towards the library oasis. Their progress was slow and the only route was overland. Appa glided leisurely, able to graze for ten or twenty minutes at a time while the caravan of settlers caught up and progressed a bit further. Kuei was happy for the event, saying that, if some of the refugees could be placed, it would alleviate pressure from Ba Sing Se and the Earth Kingdom could begin to heal. Traders, artisans, students, researchers, academics, and the unemployed looking for better opportunities accompanied the settlers, bringing their own skillsets and seeking their own slice of the new territory. Zuko was leaving it to Aang to administer, as everyone thought the Avatar was the best mediator.

The desert was almost unrecognizeable. The tower of the library, petaled in copper sheltering the planetarium and beholding the sky, became a gathering place for stargazers and astronomers. Entry and exit were free to the library for all, and the foxes watched the new guests curiously, pacing to follow them, pawing at their legs for attention, and sniffing and digging through their luggage to pilfer anything tasty. They were officially declared as the sacred guardians of the library oasis.

Professor Zei, unable to walk without assistance and still in a state of anxiety, knelt on the floor of the library and wailed until the owl-spirit himself appeared before him, saying he had changed his mind and that he was allowed to read as much as he liked there and speak about it with anyone, and asked if he could please stop crying, that it hurt his ears to listen to.

"These are tears of happiness," Zei answered. Wan Shi Tong clacked his talons on the floor in exasperation, then kicked off, heading back to his seclusion in his den.

#

It was mid-Winter when they stopped off in Shu Jing. Suki's and Piandao's students had a mission in the new library oasis, but Suki and Sokka returned to the town to oversee the reconstruction of the academy mansion. It had been six months since its collapse and the construction was in its earliest stages. For the time being they were using Toph's stone castle and otherwise lodging in town. Toph and Aang had fixed much of the foundation, previously, but the ground was still permanently altered from the battle and the lava tunnels would never be the same again. Katara wandered to the bamboo grove, which alone remained undamaged. It was green and vibrant in a way she'd missed while in the desert, and she ran a hand along the leaves to appreciate them.

They settled for dinner at the inn, as the cooking facilities at the academy's camping site were still rudimentary. The workers looked sheepishly at them and the owner appeared, a chubby man around sixty, to praise Zuko's actions as Firelord and reaffirm that he was not in the crowd who attacked them and had stayed home watching his wife knit that evening. Zuko glared in suspicion, and the owner retreated to his office, but soon after had sent the servers to bring them a round of drinks and dessert on the house. Piandao joked, "Our previous investment is still paying dividends, I see. If I recall correctly, I saw the owner's son in the mob outside the temporary walls screaming the loudest of all."

Zuko groaned. "I don't want to remember it. I'm just glad I can even hold chopsticks."

"Is Jeong Jeong treating you well?"

"Well, he's treating me, for sure," replied Zuko. "He's a genius at firebending but his tongue also happens to be made of fire."

"Perhaps you can give us a demonstration later of what you've learned. Has he taken you for the rite of visitation yet?" He nodded. "He trusts you a lot, then. Disregard his words and listen to his actions. Zhao, by the way, never had that privilege. Jeong Jeong must be quite impressed with you."

Zuko turned to Aang and said, "If you ask, he might take you as well. Surely he'll consent to training the Avatar."

His gaze downturned to the don gua and he gave it a stir with his spoon. "I wasn't planning to head to Caldera City, if that's okay. There's somewhere I want to go." He wouldn't elaborate further and they let the matter drop. "By the way, I had a letter for you." He took a slip of paper from his robes' inner pocket and passed it over the table to Zuko. It was from his sister. Katara wondered why Aang had it, but Zuko was too curious about her reply to ask.

Dear brother,

I had hoped you would be killed in that desert and I lament that you have survived. It is, however, pleasing to hear that Zhao was honest with me about his experience. I had suspected he might have been making it up this whole time.

—Sincerely, Azula

Zuko refrained from incinerating the letter and muttered a curse under his breath instead. "I'm going to ask the owl to eat her liver."

Katara replied, "He might get an upset stomach."

That night Piandao headed back to the academy while the rest of them took lodging at the inn. Sokka and Suki were given a large suite free of charge until the repairs were complete, and there was room enough for them all to meet in the sitting area of it for late evening tea. It was already dark outside and they had lanterns set up through the room and a pot of roasted barley tea between them, with plates of snacks provided gratis. Aang was preventing Momo from getting at the bao buns, muttering that he would get fat if he ate like that every day, and pinched his belly flab. "You'll have trouble flying soon." Momo looked abashed and chittered angrily.

Katara looked to Zuko meaningfully. He cleared his throat and began the announcement. "We had something important to tell everyone. Katara and I are going to be having a—" in that pause it seemed the air was sucked out of the room, and the other three all but dropped their teacups and leaned over the table with eyes like saucers, "—dragon."

"What?!" Came the unanimous screech. Suki collapsed on the table and Sokka set down his sword, which was halfway unsheathed. Aang looked dazed. Zuko and Katara looked to each other, not sure what was wrong.

Sokka cursed, then said, "You almost gave me a heart attack." Aang fell to his back on the floor and Momo escaped his hold, flying up to the windowsil and grooming his tummy fur flat. He had indeed put on a pound or two.

"Also," Zuko continued, "we're married now."

There was a second uproar. Sokka grabbed his collar and shouted, "You eloped with my sister?"

"We were already engaged, what does it matter?"

"You can't just run off and elope, you bastard!" He wrestled Zuko to the ground and tried to pin him with a wrestling move Katara recalled their father had taught them using Bato as a practice dummy when they'd both been drunk one evening. She watched with disapproval as they struggled with such ferocity that she was tempted to dump the tea out on them—as it happened, such did occur anyway without her intervention, as the pair of idiots upended the table and knocked the teapot onto themselves. Zuko, a firebender, had a certain level of immunity to hot objects, but Sokka howled and ripped his scalding clothes off, yelling, "Hot, hot!" and hopping around, while Suki hid her face with her hand.

Katara, sighing, took a stance and chilled the tea temperate to alleviate the burn. Cooled off, he settled down lying on the floor face-down and shirtless. She told her brother in a flat tone, "You and Suki eloped. Neither of your families were there for the wedding."

"I had you and Piandao and Aang as witnesses, and, for the record, we had three weddings. One in Shu Jing, one in the South Pole, and one on Kyoshi Island."

"When did you have time for all that?"

"While the students were gone, of course. Do you think we sat around here for six months camping?"

Suki, still sitting where she had been in a stunned state, held her teacup on her lap as the table was no longer standing on four legs, and commented, "So, a dragon? Like, a dragon dragon?"

Zuko picked himself up and wrung his clothing out. "You and Sokka will be the first to meet him when he hatches. I assure you, I will be thrilled for Sokka to meet him, very up close and personally."

Sokka replied, "Why does that sound like a threat?"

"Because you're not as stupid as I thought you were," said Zuko, and he put his dried clothing back on with a dignified expression only to be pelted in the back of the head with a curry-filled bao. He scowled and went to wash off while Momo descended to clean the bao fragments up and Aang shook his head helplessly.

Katara reached into her pocket and took out a small package. "While he's washing his hair, Aang, this is for you. We found it at the South Pole last summer but didn't have time to give it to you until now. We had Iroh mail it down to Shu Jing by courier."

He took the object and unfolded the fabric wrapping. It was an agate bison whistle. He turned it over in his hand looking at the detail, then remarked, "This was made by the air nomads. It must be ancient." He placed it inside his robes with a smile. "You're the one who was married. I should be giving you a present."

"Well, we haven't had the official wedding yet. We're not sure how to explain the circumstance to the council yet and were going to ask Iroh's advice." She explained the events for them, by which time Zuko had returned, his hair dripping wet and still mildly fragrant with curry spices, and took his seat grumpily. "Other than Song, you're the first to know."

"Still, those conditions sound strict," said Suki. "There's no way to know where you two will be reincarnated."

"It's just like Aang's reincarnation cycle," explained Katara. "We're not concerned."

Aang said, "There's a lot about spirits that even I don't know."

Sokka shrugged. "Maybe there's a book on it in the library. We'll have to go out there sometime and check it out. Shame it's so far away."

"We have time," replied Suki. She took a handkerchief and wiped the remaining tea off his face while he scrunched his nose.

#

They made their return, just the two of them, by ship to Caldera City that winter. Upon seeing them, both Kiyi and Yuze screamed in delight and ran to them, jumping around in celebration. "Where did you go, where did you go?" Kiyi pestered, pulling at his arm while their mother tried to calm her down.

"A library."

"You were gone five months and all you did was read books?" she said in horror.

"Well, we did a little more than that," he replied. Zuko picked her up and spun her in the air. "Now, the question is whether you've been good while we were gone." She screamed as she twirled, and as he set her down dizzy Yuze tugged at him wanting his own turn. They had decided not to tell the children about the dragon egg just yet, not until they could ensure safety for the species, as there was no way the two could keep something that interesting a secret. "Where is Jeong Jeong?"

"In town," Iroh answered. "He has a lady friend he's been seeing. It is an interesting story, really—she'd been a childhood friend of his and was widowed a few years ago. It turns out she had always had a crush on him and, in his youth, he was quite a lady's man. I'll tell him you've—oh, there he is now." He pointed to a black shape sneaking into the sitting room. A nanny took the children to play while they caught up. "I was just telling Zuko here that you're enjoying your golden years with an old flame."

"That's hardly something the boy needs to know." He kept his face in a mask, but his tone of voice gave away his embarrassment. "I hope you've been keeping up with your training while you were off on your vacation."

Zuko didn't know how to explain that a giant owl-spirit would have eaten him if he had. "Of course. By the way, Mother, Uncle, there's something we have to tell you." He took Katara's hand beside him as they began. Distracted with that story, Jeong Jeong relaxed, interested to hear about spirits, and Zuko would have a few hours to come up with a good excuse.

Their practice resumed the next morning. He tried to put his back into it and cover up the lack of practice while Jeong Jeong inspected him with a suspicious eye. Kiyi and Yuze were playing nearby. The younger boy tried to imitate their katas and stumbled through a sequence, poorly, enough so that Kiyi tried to correct him. "No, it went like this," she insisted, and demonstrated the steps as Yuze watched. At the end of her sequence, in sync with Zuko's own repetition, as he produced a puff of fire, she surprised them with her own spark. Zuko internally celebrated that something took Jeong Jeong's attention off of him.

She was nine. Zuko had been a late bloomer, but he couldn't recall hearing of a case coming on that late. "Oh, no," she said. "Mom is going to be mad."

"Kiyi, is this the first time?"

"I never thought about trying before. I just wanted to play along with you because it looked fun."

Mother won't be happy. Now she has two young firebenders to handle. It's Azula and I all over again. "Well, luckily we have a good teacher here. You can practice with Yuze now." She looked down at her hands, fascinated by her new ability. Neither of her parents were firebenders and she probably had not expected it. She repeated the movement and watched the flames expand from her small fist, vivid orange, uncertain, in the dry cold of the late winter air.

#

a/n:

I've literally dreamed about the library foxes, I love them so much. The gesture Wan Shi Tong made over Song and Teo was a sort of protection charm, which Aang could sense. He didn't tell anyone about it. WST is an Oma & Shu nerd. He wanted to make figures of them but wings are not conducive to craft and the foxes kept chewing the wood.

Kiyi is canonically a firebender per the comics and figures it out by copying Zuko.

Song: From Inside, Say the Word

On AO3 this is being posted as a series. This is the conclusion of part 4. Part 5, the remaining arc, will be darker, 11 chapters, and the final part of the story.