Inspired by The Air I Breathe by aureath (link in my bio)
Anew
"So, where do we go first?" the mischievous look in Katara's eyes was one Aang could have seen everyday for the rest of his life and he would never have gotten tired of. She was leaning against the edge of Appa's saddle; arms draped over the sides and stretched into the wind, back slightly arched so he could admire her curves, hair floating around her face and those beautiful soft blue eyes, lit up by her amused, loving smile. Momo was curled up on her lap, asleep.
"I figure North is the best direction considering we just left the South pole. After that, who knows? We shall go wherever you desire Madame." He turned and mock bowed to her. Then, using the reigns sent Appa into a dive towards the cold blue-black sea so she slid down Appa's back towards him and had to put her arms around his neck to hang on while the lemur squawked in annoyance and flew off into the nearest cloud bank.
Not that she minded being close to him, shrieking his name, she laughed and planted a kiss on his cheek. This one was different than the ones that she'd given him when he was a boy, when they were just friends; it lingered and she kept her face close, closing her eyes and sighing as her nose nuzzled his cheek.
"Well," she said, back to business, turning her head to face the endless miles of sky and clouds in front of them "we'll have to visit Suki and Haru since they couldn't come to the wedding, what with the new baby and all."
He responded with an appreciative hmmm, admiring her ability to keep a clear head and to put the people they cared about first, it was one of those abilities that had drawn him to her in the first place. Now she'd be his forever. They'd gotten married only about 48 hours before and had had to postpone their departure for an extra day because Katara was worried about the amount of alcohol Sokka and Toph had consumed at the wedding. They were probably still sleeping it off in their tent.
It had taken them a while to get to a wedding at all; he was now twenty and it had taken 7 long years to make sure that diplomatic agreements between Zuko's new Fire Nation government and the new Earth Kingdom collaborative at Ba Sing Se worked out without kinks. It was worth it though, to see all those newly redone villages and Fire Nation soldiers working as builders instead of destroyers for once, to know that he'd finally done right by the world. Katara had been patient with him, and had done a lot of the work as well. She was a clear head in the storm of organization and they'd rebuilt the world together, side by side.
Now they could finally escape, explore leisurely instead of constantly running for their lives, discovering everything they hadn't had time to see on the last trip, and Aang suddenly spontaneously knew where he wanted to go first.
"Katara…I want to visit the Southern Air Temple," he blurted suddenly and as if he needed to explain himself he added "not for long, I just feel like I need to go there." He wasn't exactly sure why he'd asked nervously, or why he wanted to visit. The place held a lot of good old memories, but of course the more recent ones had been bad.
"Sure Aang," Katara answered sounding slightly surprised at his tone, she loosened her grip a little and leaned back looking at him quizzically wondering what brought on the sudden request, not that she had any objection to it, but she was worried about him. With all the things he had brought back into the world the Airbenders were still gone. She knew it bothered him, and they'd talked about it some, still, since no solution had magically appeared they had always turned their thoughts to more optimistic subjects. Every once in a while he'd wake from a nightmare where he'd have to watch them die, and she'd wrap her arms around him, kissing his forehead, and soothing him back to sleep. But the Southern Air Temple had been his home, so visiting it was definitely not a problem.
Two days later they arrived at the temple. The mountaintops emerged out of the mist suddenly making her stomach lurch slightly. Appa landed on the grassy edge of a cliff and they dismounted with Momo flapping off to explore. Everything was exactly the same as they'd left it 8 years before and the morbid look of the place caused Katara to shiver even though she was still wearing her parka, but she tried to keep a cheery attitude.
"So where are we going exactly?" she asked, grabbing his arm and looking up into his gray eyes. He'd passed her in height shortly after his fourteenth birthday and had kept growing.
"First the hall of the Avatar….then to visit Gyatso's statue." He knew he sounded grave but couldn't help but grind his teeth and wish that she could see the way it had been, full of life and laughter. She nodded, recognizing the look of pain in his eyes and kept quiet as they walked across the dusty stone floors till they reached the big wooden door.
Upon opening it the sight on the other side still took her breath away; a nearly endless spiral of statues of past Avatars winding up the tower and away into the darkness. Silently they walked across the room until they came to the statue of Roku.
For a moment they stood still just looking at it; even as a statue the last Avatar cut an impressive figure.
"I never got to thank him. He helped me with everything, really, and I never thanked him enough." Aang whispered, remorse and guilt edged in his voice.
Slowly the Avatar sank to his knees before his predecessor and Katara settled herself next to him, arm around his shoulders as he bowed his head.
"Thank you, Avatar Roku, thank you for advising me on my journey and giving me the strength to right the wrongs inflicted on the world. I could never have done it without you." Then he rose to his feet and threw his head back, calling out to all the statues in the temple.
"Thank you all," he shouted "for giving me your endless wisdom and knowledge and helping me preserve everything we love." Tears streamed down his cheeks and Katara's as she stood and brought his lips to hers, the taste of each other's lips mixing with the taste of their tears. When they broke the embrace Aang squeezed her hand and then made his way to the door. She understood; he wanted to visit Gyatso alone.
Katara waited a moment by herself then spoke to the silent room, her voice barely audible.
"Thank you for keeping him alive and giving him the strength to do what he needed too," the words echoed even though they weren't loud and when they had finished reverberating she too was gone.
The couple met back where Appa had let them off and Katara immediately noticed that Aang's mood had lifted considerably. His smile still had some of its boyish quality, but it wasn't so innocent anymore; being in a war does that to a person. His eyes hadn't changed at all though and exuded excitement and fun.
"Come on, let's go for a ride!" he shouted running towards the bison and grabbing his glider off of Appa's back. Katara knew better than to wait for instruction and when he came near enough quickly wrapped her arms and legs around him before he leapt off of the cliff.
The misty mountaintops swayed around them when Katara finally decided to open her eyes. A sudden familiar screech drew their attention on the right and both Aang and Katara were delighted to see Momo…with another lemur! Soon the lemurs were swooping around the glider, chattering to each other and getting laughs from the humans for their antics.
Not being able to keep up his airbending and thus keep them air born, Aang spotted a field on a close by plateau and brought the glider in for a landing. Coming to a running halt Aang dropped the glider and promptly swung Katara around in a circle.
"They're back! I'm not sure how, but I don't really care!" he smiled the most hopeful smile she'd seen on his face all day.
"And now Momo has a girlfriend," Katara laughed as Aang placed her gently on the ground, pulling her close and waiting for his breath to start coming normally again.
With her eyes closed she relished in the feeling of his body pressed against hers, their chests rising and lowering in rhythm, she wanted to stay there, just like that, forever.
"I went to talk to Gyatso about this," he said quietly opening his eyes and staring into hers. "I wanted to tell him about us and about how I wish there was something I could do for the Airbenders. I promised him that I wouldn't give up."
"Well," Katara shrugged slightly shifting her eyes towards the mountain vista "There's always a possibility of a child of ours being an Airbender, you know."
She looked back at him, her eyes conveying the secret meaning to her words and Aang's heart rate picked up again.
"Katara…are you--are you trying to tell me we're going to have a baby?" She thought that his grin couldn't have gotten any wider before but she was wrong, it was radiating the most intoxicating warmth that traveled all across Katara's body.
"I, I think so," she was suddenly shy, like the first time they'd kissed, in that cave all those years ago, her cheeks getting red… Aang detached his hands from her waist and slowly removed her parka, letting it drop to the ground behind her, while the cool mountain air kissed her bare arms. He rested a hand lightly on her lower stomach, and indeed it was just the slightest bit larger than usual, and something inside him, perhaps it was his Avatar senses or just paternal-ness kicking in, confirmed what she said.
Katara sighed, the happiest, most content sigh possible and Aang drew her close again. It was perfect he thought, not knowing that her thoughts were mirroring his; that he should find out, in this place so devoid of life for 108 years; that life was beginning anew.
So there it is, my little fluffy one-shot, to help break the chaos that are Sozin's Comet spoilers. Please review!
Peace, Love,
Glitzy