Don't read if you haven't seen "The Boiling Rock", and it might help to read the second chapter of my story "Painful Memories" to understand what's going on. This story will be in two parts. Thanks to Summer Sweetheart for beta reading my story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.
While Sokka and Suki were off enjoying the picnic that Katara and Aang had organized for them, Aang was working on a very special carving. It had the symbols of all four nations with a heart-shaped diamond in the middle; all of which was set on a blue stone tied to a dark blue ribbon. Suddenly, he heard someone enter his room and he tried to hide the necklace. He turned back and saw Zuko, letting out a sigh of relief.
"Hey, what are you up to?" Zuko asked.
"Nothing much…" Aang replied.
"Nothing much…? So, you're not working on a betrothal necklace for your girlfriend?"
"What betrothal necklace?" Aang asked innocently.
"That thing that's hanging from you pocket."
"Oh right… that necklace!" Aang chuckled before stuffing the necklace more safely into his pocket. "Please Zuko, don't tell anyone about this; especially not Katara."
"Don't worry; your secret is safe with me." Zuko gave Aang a small bow. "So… can I take a look at it?"
"Sure, though it's not finished yet." Aang said while taking the necklace out of his pocket and showing it to Zuko.
"It's very nice, but it looks finished to me." Zuko said as he studied the design on the front. "What else do you need to do?"
"Oh, I thought it would be nice if I were to carve the symbol of her mother's necklace on the back. You know, to remind her of her mother." The Avatar said with a shrug as Zuko handed back the necklace and the airbender pocketed it.
"Speaking of which, I need to ask Katara something." He then went of to the lake, where he thought Katara would be.
"Hey, Katara, can I ask you something?" Aang asked as he approached the waterbender.
"Hello Aang. Of course; you can ask me anything. What is it?" Katara answered.
"Can I borrow your necklace for a little while?" he asked.
"Why, do you want to borrow it?" Katara asked suspiciously.
"Well…" Aang didn't know what to say without ruining the surprise. "It's sort of a surprise… for you…"
Katara still looked a little suspicious as she reached behind her and untied the necklace and handed it to Aang. "Okay, but please be careful with it."
"Don't worry." Aang said as he pocketed the necklace. "I'll take good care of it."
With that he returned to his room and began to carve the symbol from Katara's necklace onto the back of his own.
Later, as Aang worked on the necklace, he heard Appa land in the temple, meaning that Sokka and Suki must've returned.
"Hey, Sokka, hey, Suki," Aang said quietly as he made his way over to the couple.
"Hey, Aang!" they both said softly.
Suki went over to Aang and gave the airbender a friendly hug. "Thanks for giving Sokka and I time alone, Aang. I really appreciate what you did for us."
"No problem Suki. I can see that you two are meant to be together."
Suki smiled. "That's nice of you to say that."
Aang then turned to Sokka. "Oh, and Sokka, can I see you and your dad at sunrise tomorrow?"
"Alright, but why do you need to see us?"
"Um… I'll tell you tomorrow." Aang said with a smile. Sokka nodded.
"Well, I'm going to bed. You two should do the same." Aang said as he stretched out his arms and yawned
"Alright, good night Aang!" said Suki
"Good night buddy!" Sokka said.
As Aang made was way to his bedroom, he thought he saw a shadow dart by one of the bedrooms. Pushing the shadow to the back of his mind, Aang decided to go to Katara's room before going to sleep. He entered the room and saw the waterbender fast asleep.
He smiled as he placed a gentle kiss on her cheek and said, "Good night, my sweet Katara!"
The next morning:
"Good morning, sleepy head!" Aang said to Katara as she woke up and stretched out her arms.
"Good morning, Aang! What's up?" she asked.
"I've got to see your father in a couple minutes… But before I do…" he grinned at her, "how much did you hear?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." she answered innocently.
"Look, I know you were following me last night." Aang put one of his hands on hers. "But anyway, I get the feeling that something's bothering you. If there's anything wrong, you should come and talk to me, you know you can trust me."
"I know… it's just that, lately, you seemed a little distant; I mean, is there someone else? Is that it?" Katara looked into Aang's eyes as tears filled her own.
"Katara, I've been trying to tell you how I feel for almost six months now. My love for you won't die, and if there were someone else, you know I can't lie to you; we have this deep connection together that makes you able to see right through any lie I tell. Just trust me." he said as he wiped the tears from the waterbender's cheeks. Leaning in, Aang kissed her gently on the lips.
"Well, come on and get ready! I have to talk with Sokka and your father, but after that, we're going somewhere together… just the two of us." The Avatar smiled at her, already walking towards the doorway. "I just figured that since we haven't done anything together lately, I thought it'd be nice to spend some time together. I'll be right back; this shouldn't take long." and with one final wave, Aang was out the door.
Aang didn't have to go far to find Sokka. When he arrived outside, he saw the young warrior sitting at the campfire, poking at the dying embers with a stick.
"Good morning Sokka!" Aang said.
"Good morning Aang, and thanks again for yesterday!" Sokka said with a cheerful smile.
"So, have you talked to your father? Is it alright if we go see him now?" Aang asked.
Sokka watched him with suspicion and said, "Yeah, he's waiting for us in his room."
"Great, just lead the way!" Aang said.
They went to Hakoda's room where the head chief of the Southern Water Tribe was sharpening his weapons. Aang followed Sokka into the room, and closed the door behind them.
"Hey dad," Sokka said.
"Hello Sokka, Aang." Hakoda replied before turning to the Avatar. "Sokka tells me you had something to talk to me about?"
"Uh, yeah," Aang hesitated, "but before I say anything, Sokka, I know you're going to want to interrupt, but please wait until I finished before you say anything, alright?"
"Ok, sure." the young warrior shrugged.
Aang kneeled before Hakoda and bowed his head slightly. "Chief Hakoda, Sokka, I'm here to ask you something that is very important to me. I'm here to ask you, not as the Avatar, not as the savior of the world, not as the last airbender, but as a humble citizen of this world… I would like to ask you for the hand of your daughter," he looked up and nodded at Hakoda, "and your sister," he nodded towards Sokka, "the hand of Katara in marriage. I know she's not yet of marrying age, but I plan asking her after the war is over."
The two Water Tribe warriors watched the young monk with surprise. Finally, after a few moments of a very awkward silence, Sokka coughed a little and spoke. "Well, it seems as though the shy bald monk I've come to know and love is long gone. Aang, I know I've been harsh with you when it comes to my sister, but you're my best buddy, and if Katara wants to spend the rest of her life with you, so be it."
"Aang, I would be happy to call you my son. I've seen you and Katara together, and I can tell, by the look of peace and pure happiness in her eyes, that you are perfect for her. You have our blessing, Aang."
"I can never thank you enough." Aang stood up and bowed to his future father-in-law. "She'll be fifteen in a few months, right? And sixteen's the marrying age, right?" Aang asked.
"If you were in the Northern Tribe, yes; sixteen is the marrying age." Sokka explained. "But in the Southern Tribe, fifteen is the marrying age. We do have some differences between our tribe and our sister tribe."
Aang smiled. "Thank you for the information, and thanks for you blessing." With one final bow, Aang left the two warriors.
"Are you okay, dad?" Sokka asked his father.
"Yes, I'm alright. It's just that, since I left, I missed both you and Katara growing up, and now, my little girl is getting married soon." Chief Hakoda replied with a tear rolling down his cheek.
"Don't worry, dad, you didn't miss that much. Before we met Aang, it was only sleep, eat, hunt, do chores, Katara would sometimes practice her waterbending… and then we'd start all over the next day." Sokka smiled. "If I know Aang like I think I do, he and Katara would probably be in the Fire Nation for the first couple of months to settle things like diplomatic issues between the Fire Nation and the rest of the world, and after that they'll probably be at the Southern Airtemple or back at the South Pole. And if you ever need to see her, just send along a message. She'll be more than happy to visit if she's away from home."
Meanwhile…
"Hey, Katara, are you ready?" Aang asked
"Sure am! So, what have you got planned for us today?" Katara asked.
"Well, it depends on what you want. Would you rather settle down or do you want to do some waterbending?"
Katara thought for a second. "A mix of the two wouldn't be that bad."
"Ok, then," Aang smiled. "We can leave after we have some breakfast."
Katara and Aang joined Toph, Sokka, and all of the other new additions to their group for breakfast. As they ate, Aang asked Suki, for about the tenth time, how Sokka and Zuko managed to free her and Hakoda from the Boiling Rock prison. Katara noticed that Aang seemed to be much more enthusiastic than he had been earlier that day. The waterbender smiled. Aang was happy, and that made her happy. A couple minutes later, Aang turned to Zuko. "Hey, Zuko, is it okay if we skip the firebending lessons for today?"
"Why is that?" Zuko asked.
"I'm taking Katara on a little trip." Aang answered.
"Well, if that's the case, I would first like to have a short lesson with you, Aang. It's really useful, and it shouldn't take long."
Aang looked over at Katara, silently asking if she minded. Katara nodded her consent. Aang smiled at her before turning to Zuko. "Sure, why not? This could be interesting."
After quickly finishing their breakfast, Katara followed Aang to his lesson with Zuko.
"I will teach you how to redirect lightning." Zuko started. "My uncle made up this move by studying the waterbenders. He said that it's important to draw wisdom from many different places."
"He made up a move by studying the waterbenders?" Katara asked. Zuko nodded
"Wow. Your uncle knows a lot more firebending than I thought." Aang said.
"Well, I obviously won't go through the waterbending basics, since you're both masters, so we'll just move on then."
Zuko taught them the way his uncle taught him—minus the jokes, of course. It took them about an hour. When they had finished, Zuko said, "If you ever stumble on Azula you'll be able to protect yourselves."
"Thanks a lot, Zuko!" Katara said.
With that, they went to Appa.
"Do you remember the place where you took Sokka and Suki yesterday?" Aang asked the giant beast, who roared, which the Avatar took as a 'yes'. After they climbed onto the giant bison, they took off into the sky, leaving Aang and Katara time to cuddle and enjoy the flight.
"You're taking me at the same place you send Sokka and Suki?" Katara asked.
"Well, yes and no. I don't think they went into the forest, because it's very dense, but, I know this forest very well. Gyatso and I came here a very long time ago, and I had some time to explore the area with him."
After a few minutes, they arrived at the lake where Suki and Sokka were the previous day.
"Wow! This is beautiful!" Katara said, amazed.
"Wait, this is just the beginning. Follow me!" Aang said as he took her by the hand. They walked for about ten minutes before stumbling on a similar lake, with the same clear blue water and a river coming in, but the view was blocked by trees.
"It's incredible!" Katara gasped. "Who would've thought there would be such beautiful lakes around here?" she then turned to Aang. "So, do you have any moves you want to practice?" she asked, returning to reality.
"Well, I thought we could work on some duo waterbending moves; the ones it takes two people to perform." he said with a smile.
They worked on waterbending all morning, before taking a break at noon. They searched for food on a few of the many fruit trees in the area. After a quick lunch of fruits, they worked again on waterbending for a few more hours. In the mid-afternoon, Aang suggested that they settled down for the rest of the day.
"Come with me." he said as he took her to the river. When they passed a couple of trees blocking the view, they saw a small river, and a small stream of water right above it, coming down in steadily and spilling into the river. Aang entered the little pool and saw Katara still standing there, waiting to get in. "You coming?" Aang asked her.
"Uh, what …? Oh, yeah… sorry!" she said with an embarrassed chuckle as she stepped into the pool. "So," she asked, "what now?"
"Now, this." and Aang heated the water with firebending. They both sighed together as they cuddled.
"So, what's that surprise you're working on?" Katara asked.
"I can't tell you. It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you, now would it?" he replied with his eyes closed and a smile on his face, enjoying the closeness of his love.
"I guess you're right. And what about that word you had with my father and Sokka?" she continued with her questions.
"That's also part of the surprise." Aang smiled. "Please, enough about the surprise I'm planning for you. You'll know what it is when you get it."
They stayed in the bath for the rest of the day, each enjoying the closeness of each other.
Read and review. Thanks to Summer Sweetheart for beta reading my story and thanks to Vanille Strawberry for the inspiration of this first part of the story.