Woo! My new story! Here is chapter one. It's kinda long haha. And so are the other ones that I'm writing. I may have to split some in half and post them in two parts. But first let's see how this goes…
Chapter One: Anniversary of the New World
Zuko and Aang stood at the top of the steps of the courtyard of the Fire Nation Palace only to see burnt concrete and blackened rooftops. It had already been a year since the Avatar had defeated the previous Fire Lord, but in that time, people took time to rest and relax. Now the clean-up of the four nations began.
"So what else has to be done?" Aang asked.
"Hmm…well we have to rebuild the courtyard."
Zuko thought about why they had to rebuild the courtyard of the palace. He remembered the amazing battle that had taken place between him and Azula over who was going to be the next Fire Lord. Talk about ultimate sibling rivalry. Zuko placed a hand on his chest where he had been hit by lightning and sighed.
"Are you okay, Zuko?"
The Fire Lord nodded and removed his hand, making his way down the steps of the once battle field.
"Let's get to work."
--
Katara sighed in relief when her task was finally finished. She looked at the table in front of her, content at her work. It was the one year anniversary of the end of the war and that night there would be a huge celebration with the friends they had made over the year they had fought. So that day was spent cleaning up the rest of the Fire Nation palace from the burn marks and scarring from previous battles in the courtyard and setting up the ball room and eating area for a party.
Everyone was assigned tasks in order to get the palace into shape. Zuko and Aang worked on rebuilding the courtyard by fixing the roofs and scrubbing the burn marks off of the floor. Sokka had been ordered to go out and pick berries and fruits and go fishing to help get the food ready in which Suki and another chef would cook. Toph had been given the job of making earth decorations such as small sculptures and pots for plants and Katara had been assigned to decorate the ball room and eating area with the help of some of the palace servants.
The ball room and the dining area had been decorated in Fire Nation colors mainly since they were in the Fire Nation, but Katara made sure to bring out the colors of the other nations. She even included, for Aang's sake, the Air Nation. She had Toph make large stones with the different insignias on it to hang on the walls to symbolize that all were welcome here and that the war was over.
"Wow, it looks great in here, Katara!" Suki called, entering the dining area.
Katara turned her head momentarily to confirm her guest then returned her gaze to the colorful room.
"Thanks," she accepted. "I spent all day working on it. Toph finished up the stone sculptures and now all we need is the food and the guests!"
Suki happily nodded in agreement with her friend.
"I have all sorts of food ready and in the kitchen if you'd like to help me. I have three different meat plates, one from each nation except the Air Nation since they don't eat meat, I have deserts from each of the nations, and I have special recipes made up from the Air Nation. I pulled Aang aside to help me with that. He made these wonderful desserts called 'Air Cakes' that his friend helped him make. What was his name…?"
"Monk Gyatso?" Katara guessed.
"Yeah, that's right! They're pretty good! I snuck a taste of some of the batter."
Katara and Suki laughed then finished admiring the work.
"Well we'd better start getting that food on the tables. People will start arriving soon."
Katara agreed and the two set off for the kitchen. Once there they saw Aang, Zuko, Sokka, and Toph talking around one of the tables having tea. Katara and Suki folded their arms and stared at the four.
"And how come we weren't invited to this wonderful pre-party?" Katara asked smiling.
Aang grinned and walked over, handing Katara a glass of tea. Suki walked over to the table and stole Aang's seat next to Sokka.
"Sorry. We just all finished at once. Were you guys in the ball room?"
Katara nodded to Aang's question. "We were. How'd cleaning up the courtyard go?"
Aang just shrugged and sighed. "It wasn't exactly fun and it was tiring."
"You're not too tired to stay up tonight are you?"
The boy shook his head and smiled again. "Not if I'm with you."
Katara smiled and placed a kiss on the Airbender's cheek. Sokka groaned from disgust.
"If you guys are going to act all mushy, do it somewhere where I don't have to watch."
Katara and Aang's faces turned equal shades of red as the rest of the group laughed at their embarrassment. Katara looked around and found someone missing.
"Zuko, where's Mai?"
After sipping some of his tea, he responded. "She said she was going off to go meet Ty Lee at the port. She spent the day cleaning up the front of the palace where people were going to enter. I asked if she wanted me to go with her but she said that it would be better if I stayed here."
"I wonder if she's planning something." Toph thought.
"Who knows?"
"Well we should really get set up," Katara sighed. "That's what Suki and I came down here to do anyway. Anyone care to help?"
There was mumbling from the crowd and shuffling of feet until only Katara, Suki and Aang were left in the kitchen. Suki rolled her eyes.
"Of course…"
"I'll help out," Aang offered.
"Thanks! Let's go."
--
It took no time at all to get all of the prepared food out onto the tables and soon everything was set. Katara had said that she needed to clean up a little and darted off her. Now guests had started to arrive and Aang was waiting on the steps leading up to the bedrooms impatiently for the girl to return.
"Aang?"
The boy jumped a little at the sound of her voice. But he stood up and turned around quickly. Breathless, Aang looked at his girlfriend. She had left her hair in the same style, only brushing it a little to make it neater. But it wasn't that which dazzled him. It was her outfit.
Katara had on a dress that sparked her boyfriend's interest at first sight. It wasn't like her other Water Tribe clothing but kind of shimmery, like silk or sparkles. The dress fell over her body snug and had wide and open sleeves; much like the Earth Kingdom dress she had been given. Aang just stared without words.
"Do you like it? I made it out of some cloth that I picked up at the Northern Water Tribe a few months ago. When we decided to have a party, I thought it would be nice to have a dress for it."
"It…it's yeah," Aang stumbled. "Nice. I mean…you look…gorgeous."
Katara blushed at the compliment. "Thanks. I'm glad you like it."
Katara and Aang finished making their way down the stairs and into the ball room.
"Katara! Aang!"
The couple turned around to see a familiar person coming towards them. Katara leaned down with opened her arms and granted their old friend a hug.
"Teo it's so nice to see you again!"
"It's great to see you guys too!"
Aang bowed to Teo who gladly returned the gesture. The boy looked to his friend and saw their hands intertwined and chuckled.
"I thought I heard rumors of you two dating."
The three laughed.
"Yeah, you heard right," Aang replied. "Well this is great, seeing all of these people here. Katara isn't your dad supposed to be here?"
Katara's eyes lit up. "Oh yeah! I should go find Sokka and see if he knows where Dad is. Well it's good to see you again, Teo. And tell you father I say hello!"
"You too, I will."
Katara gripped Aang's hand tighter as they made their way through the crowd of people, some they didn't even know. A lot of the guests were old friends of Zuko from around the Fire Nation and some were diplomats and respectable figures from the three nations. It made Aang wish that Monk Gyatso could be here to witness this. It was incredible. But before the two could reach Sokka, Zuko with Mai standing behind him blocked their path.
"Hey, Zuko," Aang greeted. "The party sure is going great, isn't it?"
Zuko nodded. "That isn't why I stopped you, though." The Fire Lord handed Katara a scroll with a Water Tribe insignia on it. "It's from your family."
Bewildered, Katara opened the scroll and read it. As the words were transferred from the paper to her mind, her heart sank and her face told her emotion. Aang picked up on her sudden sadness rather quickly.
"What's wrong, Katara? Did something happen?"
The girl sighed. "It's from Pakku. There was a snow storm. My dad couldn't make it here."
Katara's arms dropped to her sides.
"Is that all?"
She kept reading the paper. "Pakku says that he needs our help in the Southern Water Tribe. He wants us to help with the rest of the rebuilding of the village. He says that a lot has changed but two more sets
of Waterbending hands would be appreciated." Katara looked up to Aang from the paper. "Looks like I'm headed home."
"I'm sorry to hear that you father couldn't make it," Zuko gestured. "Tomorrow I'll help you guys get supplies ready for your trip. You can use a Fire Nation ship for your travels. We're sending one out that way for trade anyway."
"Thanks, Zuko. I should probably go find my brother now. I'm sure he'd like to know about or trip."
--
As the night settled in, the guests left, it seemed, couple by couple. Aang, Katara, and Zuko stood by the doors as people left and thanked them for coming and wished their friends safe travels back home. Once the last of the party members had gone, the gang stood in the ball room facing a messy clean up ahead of them.
"Look," Zuko started, "you guys have a big journey ahead of you. So you'd better all get some sleep for the night. I'll clean up tonight with some of the servants."
"But what about you and Mai?" Toph asked.
"I think we need to stay here to help out with some clean up of the city," Mai responded. "Besides, I'm sure the five of you are just dying to get out of the heat of the Fire Nation. I know I am."
Zuko gave a soft glare to his girlfriend then smiled at his other friends.
"You really should get some rest, though."
"Well I'm not complaining about that," Sokka said yawning. "Sleep sounds nice."
"Great. I'll meet you guys by the ship in the morning with supplies."
After the exchanges of goodnights, everyone went upstairs. Aang walked down the hall of the upper floor to his room later that night and noticed that Katara's bedroom lamp was light. Curious, he stopped in front of her door and lightly tapped on the wood with his fist and entered.
"Katara?"
The room was empty. Aang looked around and noticed the balcony door open. Aang smiled and walked onto the floating porch and leaned on the rail next to Katara.
"You're up late."
Katara laughed. "You're one to talk."
Aang rolled his eyes as Katara leaned up against him.
"What brings you out here?" he asked.
"Oh I don't know. I guess I'm just too excited to sleep. I haven't been home in two years. And my home has been totally rebuilt. It probably looks a lot like the Northern Water Tribe now. I'm getting anxious."
"Are you scared?"
Katara looked at Aang. "No. Why would I be?"
"Well you've changed," Aang noted. "A lot. You're taller, wiser, more powerful, you're drop dead gorgeous-."
"And so what was I before?" Katara interrupted, jokingly. "Not attractive?"
Aang looked from the sky and into Katara's blue eyes.
"No, you were attractive," he admitted. "You were really pretty then, but now, you're prettier. It's part of growing up, sorry."
The two laughed and Katara snuggled her head into Aang's chest. He had also grown, she noticed. He was now her height, maybe a little taller, and he had filled out a lot more. And he was very, very handsome in her eyes. Katara yawned.
"You should get some sleep. We're waking up early."
Katara nodded, sleepily.
"You should, too."
Aang agreed with Katara and kissed her forehead before leaving her on the balcony and heading back to his room. Katara took one last glance of the moon before she went back to bed. Aang was right, she had changed. But she hoped it was for the better. And she secretly hoped that when she got back to the Southern Water Tribe everything would look exactly the same as it did when she left.
A/N: And there ya have it! Just like the preview said…only with added detail haha. Don't forget to preview the other chapters on my profile! Chapters 1-10 are being previewed right now. After I post up chapter 10, I'll show you the preview chapters 11-19.
Hey see that button down there by the box that says submit review? I dare you to press it.
