Katara watched in silence as Aang wandered the Southern Air Temple grounds. His movements were cautious, carefully picking his way along the rubble-strewn path. His eyes never stayed in one spot but kept darting around. He was very quiet; his previous temper nowhere to be seen and his usual good mood subdued. Absently he would reach a hand up to his shoulder every now and then to pat Momo, the strange little animal they had found here.
Katara watched Aang's search and felt a swell of pity rise in her. This boy should not have had to be doing this. She hated to watch, hated to see his carefree innocence be tainted so. The Fire Nation ruined everything good in the world. Katara never thought she would meet someone who hand not been touched by them in some way. That was why Aang had been so special when she found him. He had lacked the weight of a long war on his shoulders, something so painfully evident in her village.
But now he had changed. She could see it in the way he stood, in how he walked, form the look in his eyes. Sure he wasn't as bad as some people she had met, but it was still there; the mark of war. Watching him searching for the remains of the dead made that mark clear to see.
"I found it!" he called suddenly.
Katara watched as he knelt and picked something off the ground. She walked over to him to see. in his hands was a necklace fitted with a large wooden carving of the Air Nomad symbol.
"This was Gyatso's," Aang said, a hint of sadness in his voice.
"It's beautiful, Aang," Katara replied. "Will you wear it?"
"No," Aang said after a moment. "I don't think I can do that yet. Does that make sense to you?"
He looked up at her and his eyes begged to be understood. She smiled gently. "Yes, it does."
Unconsciously, she laid a hand to her mother's necklace. It had taken her a while before she felt comfortable wearing it, like she wasn't worthy of it yet.
"Aang," she said quietly, breaking the silence that had fallen. "It- ...I can't say it gets better. But...it does get bearable."
Aang nodded, no expression on his face. He turned back to look at the necklace again. Katara wondered if she had said the right thing.
They were like that for a minute before Aang finally stood up. "We should get going," he said, and then he smiled. "I've still got so much to show you. We'll go to Omashu next, a great city. And then we'll go down to ride the Elephant Koi. And after that..."
Katara smiled with him as he spoke but in her heart she ached. His smile seemed forced to her. Eventually he would be truly happy to show her those things, but he wouldn't be the same; he would always bear the mark of war. The last innocent in the world was lost and for that the Fire Nation would pay.