AVATAR
Fire of the Heart
Aang breathed a sigh of relief as the early morning sunlight awakened him from his nightmares. He had been having a lot of them for the past couple of days, what with everything that was going on. The people he needed to help rescue soon, and the upcoming war against the Fire Nation that was sure to follow. He decided he would need to get up early and practice some firebending. Which he had just learned thanks to a bit of much-needed help from an unexpected friend. Except that friend had apparentely gone out with Sokka to hunt for some meat. So with him gone, Aang would have no Firebending teacher for the time being. Not wanting to wake the girls, he got up quietly. He had taken two steps when he stopped and looked towards his sleeping friend Katara. His heart skipped a beat. As it usually did when he looked at her. She looked terribly beautiful, breathing silently in her peaceful sleep. As he tore his eyes away from her and began walking, he heard a voice.
"Going somewhere, Twinkle-toes?" Aang turned around fast and noticed his friend Toph was awake. "She must've felt the earth effects from my footsteps." he thought. "Shhh, don't wake Katara! I uh...I'm going to fly around on my glider. I need some fresh air." he hissed. But Toph wasn't so easily fooled. "I can tell you're lying, you know. You're practically making an earthquake with those vibrations." she teased cutely. "Ok fine, I'm going out for an hour or two to practice my firebending." grumbled Aang. "If I'm going to face the FireLord I need to be better prepared than this. If Katara asks, tell her I'm...er...off to fetch some water or something." The blind earthbender was silent, but she nodded understandably. With that, Aang took off on his glider. Katara heard the whisp of the wind from Aang's glider and stirred in her sleep.
Around fifteen minutes later, she and Toph were awake and sitting around a cooking fire. "Where's Aang?" she asked. "Um...he uh, he went to fetch some water. He'll be back soon." Toph replied, slightly stammering. Katara's gaze peered toward her canteens. Each of them were filled to the brim with water. "He didn't need to do that, we have plenty of water in those containers!" she protested. "Boy the uh...fire sure is warm, huh?" Toph stated quickly, trying to change the subject. Katara grew suspicious. "Toph, she said sternly. Are you telling me the truth? Did Aang really go out to fetch water?"
Eventually Toph gave in. "...Ok fine. He went out to practice firebending. But I think he'd rather be alone while he's doing it, he didn't want me to tell you." Katara was outraged. "What? Why?" she cried out. "What does he think he's trying to do? Shouldn't he at least have someone watching him?Last time I checked, he wasn't exactly a firebending master! What if he hurt himself?"
"Why do you think he's going out to practice? Besides, he's the Avatar. I think he can take care of himself." Toph exclaimed. But Katara was still angry. "I just don't understand why he wouldn't want to tell me he had gone." she fumed. "Something's on his mind. Which way did he go anyway? And tell me the truth Toph, its in your best interests."
"I dunno, I'm BLIND remember?!" yelled Toph.
Feeling silly for forgetting, Katara jumped on top of Appa. "Yip-yip!" she commanded. With a low roar, Appa took flight and they were off in search of Aang.
Aang was out in a clearing of the forests. He was a good distance away from their camp at the Western Air Temple. Taking a deep breath, he readied himself in the stance that Zuko had showed him. It was still crazy to think that Zuko had been his teacher. Seeing as only recently they were arch-enemies. What was talking him and Sokka so long anyway? Shaking his head, he got back into focus. After a few seconds, he rapidly threw his fists forward one at a time and flames erupted from his hands. His body was a flurry of motions as he threw punches left and right, launching deadly flames all around him. Jumping up, he launched fire from a series of furious ariel kicks. He landed, satisfied with his own performance. "I'm getting pretty good at this!" He said to himself. Then he frowned in confusion as he heard the crackling of fire behind him. Without realizing it, he had set fire to some of the surrounding trees! Panicking, he searched desperately for some water to bend and put out the fire, which was growing beyond his control. But the immediate area held nothing but more trees and dry earth. Then out of nowhere, Aang saw a great wave of water wash over the burning trees. The fire went out instantly. Aang turned to his right and saw Katara and Appa standing not too far away. Katara bent the water back into her canteens and glared at Aang furiously. "Off to fetch some water, are we?" she said vehementely.
Aang scrunched up his face in frustration. "How did you find me?" he cried. "Do I even need to say it? Its not too difficult to spot smoke and burning trees when you're up in the air!" Katara shouted. "I'm sorry but can you please just leave? Aang asked bluntly. Katara's responding expression made her look as though she would slap him. "I really need to practice this and I can't have you here right now." Aang pleaded. "Why not? she spat. "What made you want to keep this little excursion a secret from me? Are you nervous about me watching or something? What made you think it was a good idea to just leave us and go off on your own in this strange area? Doing bending that you CLEARLY haven't gotten totally right yet? Didn't it occur to you that I would have undoubtedly noticed you were gone? That I would've figured something out? Let me remind you that we are on the run here! You cannot just go off on your own! You're taking a huge risk with this-" "KATARA! bellowed Aang. "PLEASE JUST TRY TO UNDERSTAND THIS!"
Katara was taken aback. She hadn't expected him to lash out at her like that. She was silent as she looked at Aang and waited for him to speak. "I was going to come back eventually, first of all." He began irritably. "But the reason I left without telling you is because...I still feel guilty from that time I burnt you. I was so careless back then. I didn't want to have to relive that moment or have another accident like that again so I left to practice far away from you. Katara, hurting you like that was easily the biggest mistake of my life. I'm not risking it again so please...leave."
He turned his back to her and went to rest on a nearby log. He was holding his head in shame. Katara, her mood and expression softer, went to sit with the Avatar to comfort him. "Aang, she said in her soothing, motherly tone that he loved most. "That means a lot to me, it really does. But you need to remember that I care about you just as much as you do for me. I'm not going to hold a grudge on you like that for an honest mistake you made. I know you never meant to do it on purpose and I've long-since forgiven you for it." She smiled sincerely at him as she waited for his answer. Which was this; "Thank you Katara, but I'm afraid I can't forgive myself."
At these words, the young waterbender touched his arm comfortingly. Aang felt a shiver down his spine from her touch. "Nobody is perfect Aang, we've all done things that we regret. But its things like that which make us stronger in the end, because we strive to do better and to improve ourselves. Ok you may have left without telling us. But the main reason I was upset is because it reminded me of that time when we were escaping the Earth Kingdom on those Fire Nation ships. You...left us, thinking you had to take down the FireLord by yourself. We found you and you came back to us, thankfully. But I felt terrible when I learned you were gone, Aang." Aang felt guilty when he heard this. "I'm sorry I left without telling you." he apologized. "If I had known how I made you feel when I left the first time I would never have-" But Katara calmy interrupted. "I understand now you left the camp because you cared for my safety. As I said before, that means a lot to me. It always will."
Aang heaved a sigh as he fought back minor tears. Katara wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug and kissed him swiftly on the cheek. Aang felt his body grow warm and it certainly wasn't from the firebending. "Just don't think about it too much." she implied. "I'll let you get back to your practicing, that's what matters most right now anyway. But please, next time just tell us when you'd rather be alone. Preferably before you actually leave, ok?" Aang nodded and thanked her again with an honourable bow. To which she returned. As she mounted Appa she turned to him again. "Also, Aang, she added, tossing him a canteen of water. "Try not to set the trees on fire again, ok? Come back soon. Yip-yip!" She and Appa took off back to Toph and the others. Aang watched her leave. The girl he loved more than his own life. He hadn't shown it really, but knowning that she'd forgiven him made him feel free. Stronger even, just like she said he would feel.
And so, regaining focus, and assuming the traditional stance, he returned to his firebending.