Waterbending: A Deadly Art

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

~A~

"So... Zuko told me about the fight with Azula. How you're the one that actually defeated her," Aang said as he sat down next to Katara and tried to meet her gaze. He wasn't successful; for some reason the young waterbender was avoiding his eyes. "But he said he's not sure how you did it because he was practically unconscious and didn't really see the end of the fight."

Katara reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and then shredded her last piece of bread to toss to the turtle-ducks. When she was finished with that her fingers began to shred the grass below her, her sudden nervousness increasing.

"Um... yeah, I guess," she said quietly, almost as though afraid to admit her win. Aang was surprised by this; normally Katara was proud of her skill with her element – and she should be. People underestimated her a lot, not paying attention to the true amount of power she wielded. Really, she was as much a prodigy as Toph, if not more of one – Toph had been training since she was little and had been taught directly by the badger-moles, and Katara had only been training for less than a year and done a good deal of it without a master at all.

In fact, after just the weeks they'd spent in the north pole with Master Pakku he had named her a master – and had talked proudly about how she learned the skills faster than anyone he'd ever known. It was stunning that she'd even held her own for as long as she had when she'd first battled the Northern tribe's Water Master – and she'd done it with no formal training at that point, just what little she'd managed to pick up in the few months since she'd cracked him out of that iceberg.

The bottom line was, Katara was no doubt the most powerful waterbender in the world at this point – she'd learned even more since that time in the north and was able to use waterbending moves that even Pakku didn't know. Hama had been smart even if vindictive, and for a waterbender to be able to pull water from thin air instead of having to carry it around everywhere was an awesome innovation that the young teen had taken to like a sky bison to air. Katara barely had to practice moves, either – she could watch someone else do them and figure them out from there on her own almost immediately. She was dedicated, however, and did practice – a lot. He had no doubts that as she got older and grew into her strength more she'd be one of the most powerful waterbenders to ever live. And that didn't even include her healing abilities.

Aang shook his head to clear it of his thoughts and looked back at a still fidgeting young woman with curiosity. "Well... how'd you do it?" he prompted, guiding them back to their conversation.

"Oh... it was an idea I came up with while we were at the Western Air Temple after the invasion. It took a little bit to perfect it, and I wasn't a hundred percent sure it was going to work the way I'd envisioned it, you know, since it really wasn't a move I could practice with someone." She smiled weakly at him and then looked away. "But it worked just like I thought it would..." her voice trailed off as she glanced back at him nervously. Seeing his head tilted in confusion, she sighed and continued. "Well, basically, when Azula stepped on the grating on the sides of the plaza that water runs through, I bent it up around both of us. But it's like I... thicken the water, I guess you could say, and you can't move inside it. So while she was stuck I kinda chained her to the grating and then bent the water back into its channel once she was secured," she shrugged, still seemingly uneasy.

Avatar senses tingling, Aang narrowed his gaze thoughtfully on her for just a second before wiping the expression off his face. That's not what's bothering her... "That sounds like a cool move, actually," he said with a smile breaking out on his face. "See? We didn't have to kill Ozai or Azula to win. I'm glad." He nudged her shoulder then, waiting for her to look at him again. "So... why do you seem so... I don't know... unsettled and nervous?"

Tensing for all of two seconds, Katara exhaled deeply and then slumped a little, her fingers still twitching uneasily in her lap. It looked like she was fighting with herself about something and he frowned quizzically, but then she seemed to come to some decision and looked at him, the intensity of her gaze startling him as her eyes darkened to an almost sapphire blue.

"After you disappeared from Ember Island we went searching for you, and when we couldn't find you we went after Iroh," she began. "I know Zuko told you about all that already, but anyway, when Iroh refused to try to fight Ozai in case you didn't return, we all gathered round and decided what we were going to do – you know, what part we'd be playing in the battle. At first I wanted to go with Suki, Sokka, and Toph, but then when Zuko asked who wanted to go with him to fight Azula, I changed my mind."

"Okayyyy," he replied as she paused, still not seeing what was wrong. "And...?" She screwed her face up at him and he put his hands up in sheepish surrender. "Sorry, sorry. Go ahead."

She shot a tense sort of glance at him and then continued with her story. "So, anyway," she stressed, "I told Zuko I'd go with him. I wanted to make sure he was going to be okay fighting her, but... more than that," she peeked over at him, going suddenly shy and blushing a little, though he thought it might be a guilty flush more than anything else as she slowed down in the pace of her story, seemingly reluctant to admit what the core problem was, "I... I wanted to get my hands on her... for what she'd done to you in Ba Sing Se."

Blinking a little wildly in surprise, Aang stared at her for a few moments, paying no attention to the turtle-ducks sidling up to him and tapping his leg with their beaks looking for handouts. But before he could really come up with anything to say she started speaking again, and he listened intently, captivated by her just as he always was no matter what she was doing or saying.

"The thing is," she said quietly, "I realized while I was immobilizing her something I'd never really thought about before... just how deadly waterbending could really be. I could have killed Azula in the blink of an eye, Aang. And it would have been so easy..." she trailed off.

"Katara, wha-I mean... what are you talking about?" the young avatar asked, thoroughly confused.

The water-tribe girl idly stuck her hand up and swirled it around in the air, and a small circle of grass at their feet immediately died, leaving her hand surrounded by a little whirl of water that she kept in motion, staring at it in an almost spellbound manner. "Do you see? All I'd have to do would be to bend the water out of someone's body. It wouldn't take but a second or two at the most – and they'd be dead so fast they'd never even see it coming and all that would be left would be a pile of dust. And there'd be nothing they could do to stop me, either. I'd never thought of waterbending as something really deadly like that before, you know? Even with everything that's happened since we left the South Pole, and worse Hama and her bloodbending, I just didn't really see it – until that moment."

Aang shook his head, a little surprised and definitely caught off-guard at what was upsetting her. He reached out with his own chi and took control of the water Katara was twirling and staring at so intently and sent it into the turtle-duck pond. "What made you even think of something like that?" he asked, his youthful voice serious and concerned.

Wincing, Katara glanced at him and then down at her lap as she let her hand fall back into her it. She tried to fight it, but after everything that had happened, all the hiding and traveling, the training and fighting and ending the war, and most especially feelings, she just couldn't hold it in anymore and her slender frame shook with a sob she fought very hard to subdue. "I... I hated Azula for what she did to you," she said obliquely, her cheeks now glistening wetly with the evidence of her upset. She brought an arm up and wiped at her eyes before continuing. "You... you died, Aang, and I... I don't know what I'd do if... if it happened again."

Putting a hand to the crying girl's back, the airbender smiled, a small blush tinting his cheeks at the emotion behind her words. "But you saved me, Katara. You always save me. Besides... any kind of bending can hurt or kill someone, you know that. I mean, you could kill someone with that immobilizing move, too – all you'd have to do would be to leave them inside it until they drowned. But you'd never do that and I know it, so you shouldn't be worried about those kinds of things."

Katara sighed, her tension easing a little as she looked over to meet his beautiful, soft gray eyes. "I know you're right about bending - mostly. But with this move... it's just different. It would take time for someone to drown with the one I used on Azula. There'd be a chance they could figure out a way to counter something like that. But the other one... it'd be too fast. There'd be no time for a person to even realize I was coming before they'd be... you know, nothing more than dust in the wind."

It was Aang's turn to sigh. "Did you want to do that... to Azula, I mean?" he asked softly, letting his hand slide down her arm to grip hers.

Her fingers tightened on his briefly. "Yes and no," she finally admitted in a low, somewhat conflicted tone. "Yes, because for every time I'd see you lying in my arms so lifeless after she killed you, my anger and fear would almost overwhelm me and I'd want to make her pay for that so much. But then, no because I'd remember what you said about revenge and how I was unable to kill Yon Rha for what he did to my mother, how I couldn't bring myself to let emptiness and hatred consume me. I don't want to be... Azula," she whispered.

He grinned suddenly, startling her. "See? I was right. You aren't like that, and so you actually using such a bending move isn't going to happen anyway. So what's the problem? You should be proud that you defeated Azula. None of the rest of us who've fought her have beat her, and you did it without killing her and without even injuring her."

At that Katara rolled her eyes and a small smile crept onto her face for a moment. "Not like I needed to try all that hard – she's totally crazy... but fast and powerful, I'll give her that. I really felt sorry for Zuko watching her lose it like she did, though. But it was totally satisfying to see her in chains, I have to admit."

Aang chuckled. "Yeah, I bet. And who knows... maybe someday she'll get better and be able to leave that place they're going to put her. Zuko told me about it," he added when she looked at him curiously. "She'll be kept restrained so that she can't hurt herself or anyone else and they'll have healers to try to help her." Squinting up at the sky, the avatar airbended himself to his feet and held out his hand to the beautiful girl with a smile. "Come on... Zuko's coronation is about to start and I need to get back inside. Are you going to find your father?"

Katara smiled in return and nodded as she was pulled gently to her feet. "Yeah. I guess I'll see you afterward." She pushed forward suddenly and wrapped her arms around him for a few seconds. "I'm so proud of you, Aang. You saved the world just like I always knew you would."

Tightening his arms around the young woman for a moment, he pulled away after a few seconds and shook his head. "No... I didn't save the world, Katara, we did. You, Sokka, Toph, Suki, Zuko, and me. Remember that. But most importantly, remember that I couldn't have done any of what I did do without you."

Eyes softening on the young monk as he grinned and waved and then hurried off to meet up with the Firelord-to-be, Katara let all the gooey, squishy feelings she had for him well up inside her for the first time since she'd realized they were there. She finally turned away with a small, rather besotted smile on her face when his lithe form disappeared back into the palace, and left to go join her father and brother.

She'd find some time in the coming days to grab her favorite avatar and drag him off for a nice, long talk.

Or maybe they didn't need to talk at all...

She'd always heard that actions speak louder than words, and maybe, just maybe, it was true.

fin