A/N: I was thinking about home and what it means and then thought about the Avatar characters and what home would mean to each of them after the war. This little one shot is the result.
Home
Katara stood at the edge of the sea, the stark blue and white vista of the South Pole stretching out before and behind her. Ice floes drifted by, moved along by the ocean currents. She couldn't help but think of Aang and her heart ached just a little bit. She hated being separated from him, but sometimes it was necessary.
It was a special feeling, standing near the ocean, that huge body of water, her element, the one she had mastered with terrifying skill. It pulled at her, pulled at the deepest part of her. Smiling, she made an elegant sweeping motion with her arms and created a shimmering globe of water. She moved it playfully until dropping her blue sleeved arms and letting the water fall back into the sea.
Katara heard footsteps behind her and knew it was Sokka. He was visiting home with her, having left Suki back on Kyoshi Island for a few weeks. It was their first visit since the end of the war two months earlier. Nothing much had changed, but they along with Pakku and their grandmother, had plans to turn the tiny village into a smaller version of that great city of ice that sat atop the world.
"Thinking about Aang again?" Sokka asked, giving his sister a friendly nudge.
Katara turned blue eyes to her brother and just nodded.
"I miss Suki too," the young warrior sympathized.
They stood there, side by side, for a long time. Katara thought about how strong Sokka had become, how very smart and brave he was. He was a man now, in every sense of the word, and she was so very proud of him.
"We'll never all be together again, not like we were," she declared mournfully.
"No kidding, sis, the war is over. No more fireballs being hurled at us, well unless Zuko gets really angry, no more being hungry, no more wearing disguises and watching what we say, no more treks through the desert, no more cactus juice."
The waterbender laughed but her face became quickly serious.
"Don't you miss all of us together every day, though, training and making plans?"
"I love our friends but things have changed," Sokka replied simply with a shrug of his shoulders.
"I know," the waterbender sighed. "It's good to spend time with dad and grandma, though. We can be a family again."
"Come on, Katara. Let's walk back. I think Grandma's got some fresh stewed sea prunes and I'm starving."
Shaking her head in disbelief at the unending vastness of her brother's appetite, she took his arm and they began to saunter slowly back toward the village.
"You look down, honey," Hakoda observed as he and Katara cleared away dishes from the family dinner.
"No, I'm alright, Dad."
"Katara, you can't fool your father. I can read all your expressions. I know when you're sad."
"Oh, Dad, I'm so glad that you're okay and that Pakku and Grandma are married and that the war is finally over. But I'm not sure where I fit in now. When we were traveling around the world, I was Aang's teacher and I took care of everyone. Now, Sokka will be with Suki most of the time and Zuko will be with Mai in the Fire Nation and Toph will be somewhere in the Earth Kingdom. Iroh's in Ba Sing Se and Aang has so much he needs to do all over the world."
"What is it that you want, Katara? You helped save the world. I think you deserve a little time to enjoy yourself."
"I miss Aang," she answered and her eyes filled with tears.
Hakoda wrapped her in strong arms, pulling his daughter tight against his chest and stroking her back like he would when she cried for the loss of her mother.
"Perhaps your place is with Aang, then."
Sniffing, Katara nodded her head. "I'll miss you if I go to him."
Chuckling, the powerful warrior gave his daughter's braid a playful tug.
"You know that you can always come back home. This place will be here for you no matter what happens. And from what I've seen, you have a home with each of your friends too. Try to think of things like that. I know that all of you together will probably be a rare event, but you can visit your brother and Suki when you're longing for some of his great jokes. You can go to the Fire Nation and spend time with Zuko and Mai. You know that they would welcome you. Toph's tough but she'll want to see you too. You're very lucky. You have a large family, Katara."
"You're right, Dad," she acknowledged and smiled brightly. "How come you always have the right words?"
"I want you to be happy," he replied simply. "You are my daughter and I love you. You are my family."
"I hate to break up this heartfelt moment," Sokka interrupted, walking in from another room of the village's only building made of ice, "but I'm pretty sure I just saw Appa. Looks like Aang missed you too."
Suki and the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors, including the newest member, Ty Lee, practiced daily in the dojo. War or no war, their skills were important and needed constant honing. Ty Lee fit in well enough, though her over the top cheerfulness annoyed some of the girls some of the time. She tried hard, though, paid attention and was respectful of their traditions and ways. What more could they ask of her?
Everyone but Suki and Ty Lee had left one day to enjoy lunch with their families or friends. The leader of the Kyoshi Warriors had no family members left. Since she was a small child, the red head had been adopted by the entire community, moving from household to household, readily accepted and loved by each.
"Would you like to come back to my room for lunch?" Ty Lee offered hesitantly. "I don't know much about cooking but I think could figure something out."
"I'm not quite finished here," Suki replied. "You go ahead."
"Oh," the former circus performer said sadly.
She looked down, hiding her tear filled grey eyes from the other girl. Ty Lee was tired of having few or no friends. She wanted something more for herself. She wanted to really be a part of the Kyoshi Warriors, in every possible sense.
"Aren't you going?" Suki asked.
"No, I want to help you here and then make you lunch. I won't take no for an answer."
Suki was surprised by the girl's assertiveness. It was a good quality to have. Timidity in a warrior was useless. She flashed Ty Lee a brilliant smile.
"Alright then, roll up that mat over there and put it in the corner."
Ty Lee cart wheeled across the floor to the mat and did as she was asked. Suki shook her head and grinned.
"She'll fit in just fine," the warrior muttered under her breath.
"Ah!" Iroh exclaimed as he pushed open the doors of the Jasmine Dragon.
The tea maker surveyed the elegant shop and detected no obvious damage or theft. He stroked his beard and smiled contentedly, adjusting a chair here and straightening a picture there. The storeroom and kitchen were what interested him most, however. The former Fire Nation general and esteemed member of the Order of the White Lotus wandered to the back of the shop and inspected things. His supply of teas, amazing in its variety, was still there, although Iroh feared for its freshness. The kitchen was in order. All it would need was a quick washing and he could begin working again.
"Let's see," Iroh mused. "I'll need to buy fresh tea leaves and baking supplies. I should have some fliers made up announcing a grand reopening. Yes, that should do it."
Walking back out front, Iroh sat at one of the tables. The quiet was almost eerie. The huge and populous city of Ba Sing Se was just beginning to wake up after its takeover by the Fire Nation and its subsequent release thanks greatly to OWL. People were still confused and hesitant. After all, for many years, the Dai Li had kept a strong grip on any and all information that was accessible to the city's citizens. Talk of the war had been forbidden and some people were actually unaware of the battles that had raged beyond the massive walls, walls that made Ba Sing Se both an oasis and a prison.
The older man's life was different now. For years he had traveled with Zuko and had done his best to guide his troubled young nephew. The boy was now a fine young man, however, one who had found the right path and was determined to follow it through. He didn't need Iroh like he had before. As proud as he was of Fire Lord Zuko and as much as he loved him, the Fire Nation was home no longer.
Iroh felt a special kinship with Ba Sing Se, the city he laid siege to years earlier and was determined to conquer. Now, he just wanted to make the city a little bit more pleasant for everyone; a teashop was his way of doing that, his way of saying, 'This city is my home.'
Aang yawned and dropped like a dead weight on to the bed. His room was red, very red, with splashes of gold and black thrown in for contrast. Red was a lovely colour but a little bit smothering. The airbender longed to look at something blue, anything besides the sky that he found his eyes drawn to every time he left the confines of the Fire nation palace.
He and Zuko and Mai too were busy every day. There was hardly time to eat let alone relax. The Fire Nation needed to be stabilized; its citizens, used to wartime not peace, needed reassurance that everything would be alright. And the meetings, by Agni, they never ended. The demands and complaints from nations, big cities and even smaller ones kept pouring in.
Zuko needed people he could trust around him and as of now, he and Mai were it. Pakku and Piandao were helpful as well, but there was an awful lot of questioning from the old Fire Nation guard. Time would cure a lot of the unrest, but Aang was unsure just how much of it he wanted to spend in the Capitol City.
Sighing, he curled around his pillow and closed his grey eyes. He dreamed of something that he couldn't quite put his finger on; it made him feel warm and complete and full of longing. The colour of his dream was blue, like Katara's eyes, like her necklace, like her clothes. Blue and Katara fit together like the sun and the sky or the sea and the shore.
When he awoke, Aang realized what he had dreamed of; home. He hadn't had a real one, in the physical sense, for the past year. But in his absence from Katara, Aang realized that she had become his home. She was his place of refuge. And he needed to see her very badly.
Leaving a brief letter for Zuko, he ran out into the courtyard and then to the stall that housed Appa.
"C'mon buddy, we're going home."
"Stupid town, stupid house," Toph snarled as she entered Gaoling and mentally prepared herself for a confrontation with her parents.
She had put it off for weeks. Eventually, though, the mighty earthbender ran out of things to do (helping Zuko, spending time with Iroh) and decided to just get the reunion over with and then leave again as quickly as possible. Toph had no intention of ever living there again.
Her mother and father were glad to see her safe. But they could not or would not believe her part in the ending of the war.
"Surely you're exaggerating, Toph. You're blind. How could you possibly do all that?"
"But, but, you've seen me in action. How could you not believe me?"
"Now, Toph, settle down," her father chastised. "There's no need to be so excitable. I'm sure you were just very lucky when you fought those burly earthbenders."
"I escaped from the metal trap you sent for me. Remember that? Thanks so much by the way."
"Nonsense," her mother said.
The woman's voice may have been sweet and quiet but Toph knew there was no arguing.
"You know what?" she asked, blowing thick black bangs off her forehead. "I'm leaving."
"But you just arrived," her father protested. "Where are you going?"
"Somewhere people actually like me, somewhere I feel at home."
With that final statement, Toph left the house in Gaoling where she had spent twelve years. She never returned.
Mai and Zuko wandered through the palace hand in hand. There was no fear of running into Azula or Ozai or nasty sneering generals. It was theirs, all theirs. And it was home.
Pushing aside the thick curtains that led to the 'war' room, the couple softly discussed changes that they would make; ones that would help usher in this new era of peace and kindness. Leaving the room, they walked by the portraits of past Fire Lords. Zuko flinched. Eyes seemed to look down at him in judgment.
"You're in charge now," Mai stated reassuringly.
"Sometime I forget," Zuko confessed. "It all seems unreal."
"Well it's not," she smirked. "So get used to everything."
"Will you, will you stay with me tonight?" the newly crowned Fire Lord asked hesitantly, afraid to meet her eyes.
"I'm not going anywhere, ever," she replied with conviction.
Relieved, Zuko reached for Mai's hand and held on as if for dear life. The palace really was home now.