Aang carried Katara to their honeymoon tent. It was late at night in the Southern Water Tribe, and the full moon was out, making the ocean shimmer and dance. The shadows of the ice and the blue glow coming from within them lit up the tribe. This was 6 years after the war within the Fire Nation ended, and Aang and Katara stayed best friends, but their love blossomed into a deep unbreakable bond. Only when Aang thought it was the right time did he ask Katara to marry him. She reacted with a scream, and they leaned into their first, real, passionate kiss. That was a few months ago. Now, as he carried his wife, Aang smiled.
"What?" Katara asked, noticing him staring and smiling at her. "Oh, just thinkin' about you." He leaned into her, and they kissed again. This was the first real quiet time they'd had together all day, not to say that the wedding wasn't beautiful. And Katara and Aang were deeply in love. Everyone knew it. Everyone saw it. And as they said their vows and kissed, they knew their love would last forever.
Almost everyone they knew from fighting in the war had shown up. To start, Gran-Gran and Hakoda and Bato were there, Sokka and Toph, who grew a little closer everyday too, Zuko, who had changed sides and was now one of Aang's best friends, Bumi was there, and Jeong-Jeong, and Aunt Wu and Meng. Suki was there, and Master Pakku, Appa and Momo, Iroh, Haru and his father, Teo and the Mechanist, and so many more of the Gaang's friends that all helped them get to victory. Aang was dressed in blue and white robes, a white tunic, and white shoes. Katara was in her mother's wedding dress robe, with a light and long dress underneath. She was in all white, and for her and Aang to remember, she did her hair in the way she originally found Aang in the iceberg all of those years ago. If felt like it was just yesterday she had met him, him at age 12 (or 112) and her at age 14. Now, he was 18 and she was 20. And now he was taller than her. The other three had also grown up. Sokka was now 21, Zuko was 22, and Toph was 18. But at that moment, Aang and Katara both felt like young kids again.
He was still carrying her as he tried not to trip over the many tents set up for the guests who came. She got down. "Aang, let's just walk together," she said as she took his hand. They walked out of the tribe and, stopping in the middle of a tiny circle of ice boulders, Aang twirled Katara around suddenly, shocking her out of her dreaming, and he pulled her close. "Let's dance," he whispered, and as Katara and Aang slowly danced, the world around them disappeared.
It was nothing but their love.
She put her head on his chest and he breathed in her scent. He stroked her hair. They both closed their eyes and danced. Finally, Aang broke the trance. "You know, we've never danced together since I held that dance party in that cave in the Fire Nation. But this one is so much better." He smiled and parted from her. "You're so beautiful…" he sighed. Katara laughed softly. "Oh, is it because I finally got to put up my hair again, take a decent bath, and get all prettied up for this one day?"
"No," he said, chuckling, "because you're you!" He looked into her blue eyes; she looked back into his grey ones. They leaned into a kiss, and he took her hand. "Let's go," he said. They walked to their tent, where they would spend their first (an unbeknownst to them, their only one for a long time) night together, but the new couple didn't know that their lives would be changed forever- again- the next day. But they just worried about the night.
As they both got ready for bed, they knew what they were going to do their first night, but were each scared. Aang took his wedding clothes off and put on a light sleeping shirt and pants. Katara put on a light cloth and silk robe and undergarments. Then she and Aang stared at each other. They breathed in and out deeply, and their love suddenly overpowered them. Aang reached for Katara's face. She just kissed him passionately, as she reached for the robe rope around her waist. He found it first, and as he untied it, a wave of hormones swept over them. They were still kissing passionately, and as Aang took off her robe as fast as he could, she felt shivers all over, but she felt it as a good way. This is what true love was. Married couples should do this…
Both of them wanted to hold each other, to love each other, to touch each other. He had wanted to hold her in his arms since he first met her. He loved her with all of his heart. And she felt the same.
She started back at him as she unbuttoned his shirt, almost ripped it off him, and threw it on the floor. Since her undergarments were still on, and they wrapped around her, he found the place holding the pieces together, and unwound it from her as they were still kissing. Katara felt for Aang's rope belt on his pants, and she took them off. He finally got to her bra, and he stopped. He stopped kissing her. He was breathing heavily and sweating already, and so was she. He looked in her eyes and slowly went underneath her arms to reach the last strap holding it in place. She smiled, put her arms around his neck, and reached for his mouth to hers again. He unbuttoned it, but left it there as he reached for the strip around her waist. He unwound her and, kneeling down, took off her pants. He got back up as her eyes closed, and her head toward the ceiling. He reached for her bra, and took it off, still kissing her neck. There was no space between them, just skin on skin. He ran his hands down her sides, down her chest and around to her back. She did the same, but he winced and pulled away from their kiss as she touched the scar on his back; the one given to him by Azula all of those years ago. No matter how many times she had tried to heal it, the pain he received was somehow always there. "Sorry," she whispered, but he just grabbed her and started to kiss and caress her again. "I wouldn't- be- alive- if it weren't –for you." She smiled to his touch.
As he ran his hands down her body everywhere, she reached up and unbraided her hair, took down the bun, and took down her hair loops. Her hair was so long now that it covered both of them. Aang couldn't believe how good this was feeling. He kept running his arms over her whole body. Arms, legs, back, stomach. It was so smooth, her skin. Brown and smooth. Beautiful skin. Beautiful body. He had never noticed how fit and toned she really was. And Katara thought the same.
Aang had left after the war to finish all of his training. He had trained for four years, and came back not the scrawny, yet strong, round-faced young boy Katara knew, but as a muscular, strong young man who had grown to be taller than she was, not to mention a fully realized Avatar. When he stepped off of Appa, she barely recognized him, and he barely recognized her, the beautiful young woman she had grown to become. But they ran to each other and embraced like nothing could rip their friendship apart. Neither one realized how much the other had truly grown.
She thought of this now as her hands went over his muscular arms and down his hard chest. But she loved him no matter what he looked like. It was because of him that she received hope, love, and light back into her world.
As they moved toward their bed, he fell onto it and she slowly crawled in and lay on top of him. They were scared, but had made it this far. They continued to kiss as they each got closer. They were so close and on top of each other that they could feel their speeding pulses pounding in their stomachs. He slowly moved into her as she massaged his chest and arms, and down to where their bodies met. Katara just stayed on Aang the entire night, moving in waves against him, and he kept on kissing her everywhere, smiling. She could feel the Avatar State and his warmth within him, trying not to go, as he fought from being in the state with the power she knew he wanted to unleash on her.
The couple was still at it early in the morning, before dawn. They were breathing heavily, the tent was hot, and they were sweating, but it felt good against their own bodies. But suddenly a voice was heard outside their tent. "Excuse me, uh, Avatar Aang?" the voice said. Aang stopped kissing Katara and they both looked up. "I'm sorry to wake you, sir," the voice outside continued, "but we have very bad, horrifying news. Chief Hakoda wishes you and your wife to go meet him as soon as possible."
"Thank you, sir," Aang said as he relaxed his head. He kissed Katara. "Good morning," he said, yawning. "Good morning," she replied with a smile and a soft kiss. "I guess we'd better stop," she said as she got off of him. He got up and stretched. Katara could see his entire body (as husbands and wives see everything) and she traced the arrow from his head to under his arms down to his legs. The only flaw was that horrible scar. "You know, I still feel bad about that wound," she said as he put on his pants. He turned around. "To get into the Avatar state, I had to let you go," he replied. "I can let you go, and I also can be married to you and love you too. Other Avatars have married and have loved. Why can't I?" He suddenly jumped on top of her, making her yelp. "'Cause I can do this," he said, wrapping his arms around her and leaning into her mouth. They kissed and touched, and then he got up. "Well," he said, "We'd better both go find out what this bad and horrific news is." He slipped on a jacket and a pair of boots. Katara put on pants, a sweater, and her boots. They walked outside, hand in hand, toward Katara's father's tent.
"Chief Hakoda," Aang yelled from outside the tent, "are we allowed to come in?"
"Yes, Aang. And you can call me dad now," Hakoda said as they walked in. He winked at Katara. "Except for Avatar and World Matters." He turned away from them and looked at the map of the world. "We received a message from an Earth Kingdom city near Ba Sing Se that found out an awful truth about the Fire Nation. And it seems that even Zuko doesn't know of it—yet."
"What?" the couple said in unison.
"Well--,"
"What'd we miss?" Sokka said as he and Toph walked in. "Hello, Sokka, hello, Toph," Hakoda said in reply. "I was just telling Aang and Katara the bad news. Please, everyone, sit down and enjoy hot tea while we wait for Zuko." Everyone sat down around a small table, and Zuko walked in. "Zuko, please take a seat," Hakoda said. The now 22-year-old former prince sat between Sokka and Aang. He had loved traveling so much with the Gaang that he refused the throne as Firelord after the war, but instead gave it to Uncle Iroh. So Uncle was now Firelord Iroh. And the world was at peace, for now.
"As I started, we received a message by messenger hawk from this city near Ba Sing Se." He pointed to a dot on the map. "It seems that some spies still working against the evil part of the Fire Nation have claimed that—" he stopped.
"What?" they all cried.
He started to whisper after he sighed heavily.
"Ozai and Azula survived." At this news, Sokka, Zuko, and Aang spit out the tea they were drinking onto the girls sitting across from them.
"What?" they all said again.
Hakoda sighed. "We thought that we had defeated them six years ago. But they recovered from the battle, and went on to create an even bigger army. It seems that the army is big enough to capture every city, town, and village in the world, out to permanently take over the nations. These killers are much worse, too. They will stop at nothing now to take over. If you so much as walk the wrong way, they will kill you."
The group stared at Hakoda with wide eyes. "That's not possible!" Zuko cried. "I killed my sister!"
"I agree!" Aang said. "I killed Ozai! I was there!"
"No," Hakoda said. "The spies say that they had planned it all along. For you to attack, and they made you think they were dead. All they suffered were some injuries which took a few months to heal, and now they're back. The spies said they are planning a world war battle on one of their most powerful days in history, but we do not know when that is. No spies have figured it out. But we soon will, if the world is to survive another attack." He made his voice firm. "The world needs you all to fight again. And you need to lead us, Avatar Aang."
Katara looked at her new husband. Suddenly the love they made last night seemed like ages ago. He tried to keep his emotions in, but she knew him. In his eyes he looked so stern, sad, and angry.
Then he lowered his eyes and spoke. "I will leave this afternoon for the Earth Kingdom." Katara's eyes widened as she looked at him. He looked at her, and then to Hakoda. "Start gathering the troops. Send messages to all surrounding areas. Summon everyone you can. I'm leaving to rally the Earth Kingdom troops in Ba Sing Se. Zuko, I need you to get to the Fire Nation as quickly and as quietly as you can. I need you to round up the revolutionaries that are with you and your Uncle in your own nation. Toph, I need you to round up surrounding troops in the Earth Kingdom, minus Ba Sing Se and the surrounding area. Sokka, I need you to go to the Northern Water Tribe and gather those troops. Hakoda, I need you to get the troops from this area together and send all of the wedding guests back home to spread the word. I can drop off Zuko and Toph, but Sokka, I'm sorry, you'll have to take another way to the Northern Water Tribe."
"Sure," Sokka replied. "I'll take my Polar Eagle." (the polar eagles were believed to be extinct until someone found a few remaining ones frozen in an ice cap. Waterbenders melted them and now had fast and reliable friends for life.)
"Alright," Aang said. "We meet back here in two hours. Once we leave, we will return in three months for a report." He looked sadly at Katara as he got up to leave. "Wait, Aang…" she said as she followed him out.
"My poor sister," Sokka said, shaking his head as she left. "Aang picked a bad time to ask for her hand, and she picked a bad time to marry him."
"Aang, wait!" Katara said as she ran to catch up to him. She grabbed his arm. "You don't have to go! You can't leave me, not now!" Tears fell down her face. "We just got married. I love you. I thought we would spend our lives together. I would always be with you. I would be your comfort, and I would be there to protect you. I am a waterbending master. I am not afraid of anything, but the one thing I am afraid of is losing you." She looked at him, who didn't look at her back. "Say something, Aang, please." She turned his head with her hand and looked into his eyes, who didn't stare back. "I'm going with you. Wherever you go, I will follow."
"No," he said as he spun around and grabbed her by her shoulders. He held her tight and stared deeply into her eyes. "The one thing I couldn't bear when we were kids was the thought of losing you, Sokka, or Toph because of my mistakes. Now you mean so much more to me, and if anything happened, it would kill me inside. I must leave to once again bring balance to the world. You must stay here, in your element, where you can defend yourself the most. I promise I'll be back. I promise you." He let her go and walked to their tent, leaving her there in the middle of the tribe as it started to snow. She shivered and held herself in her arms. She heard snow crunching behind her. Toph stood next to her. "You okay?" she asked. Katara sighed. "No."
"Hey, I'm usually not the type to get all mushy and stuff, but I have softened a bit," Toph started. "But you're strong, Katara, strong and brave. Aang'll be fine. He's the Avatar. He loves you, you love him, so there's nothing to worry about." She sighed as she twirled her hair, which she had started to let down because her ears and neck were always freezing in the South Pole. "But don't you think I worry about you guys, especially Snoozles? He's not the goofy teenager who loved sarcasm and meat anymore, he's a handsome grown young man who is still goofy and stupid a lot of the time, and still loves meat and sarcasm. I love your brother, Katara, but I don't know if he loves me back. But I don't care about that now. He and I are parting and going our separate ways. I don't know if I'll ever see him again after this. He loves Suki. But if he's happy, then I'm happy. Katara, Aang's love for you will always be there. You just have to know it."
"Thanks, Toph," Katara said as Toph hugged her. "You'd better go pack," she said, drying her tears. Katara then turned to go to Appa's stall. He was munching seaweed, but stopped as Katara walked up. She patted him and he nuzzled her. "You take good care of Aang," she told him. "He needs you more than he knows. Make sure he gets home safely." Appa groaned and Katara laughed. "And you get home safely too." She kissed his nose and went to her tent.
Aang was almost packed. She went to her bag of belongings and took out a small silk bag. She put it in her pocket and walked out. Aang stared after her.
A while later, everyone was ready. Zuko hugged Katara, and she gave him a small kiss on his cheek. They had become close friends over the years too. "Stay safe," Katara whispered in his ear. He smiled and looked at her. "You too," he said. He grabbed his things and climbed up on Appa. Toph came up to her and punched her in the arm. "Sugar Queen, kick butt!" she said as she hugged Katara. Katara laughed, rubbing her sore arm. "You too!" She smiled. She watched as Toph walked over to Sokka.
He was trying to look everywhere but at her, and even through the ice, Toph could feel his heart racing. She smiled. "See ya, Snoozles," she said as she hugged him and gave him a soft punch. She turned to get on Appa. And Katara then saw her brother do something that he hadn't done in a long time. He watched Toph leave, but started to run after her. "Toph!" he cried.
She turned around and suddenly he grabbed her face and kissed her. She grabbed him and kissed him back. He held her in a tight hug as they continued to kiss. They were breathing heavily as they parted, but still held on to each other.
"I didn't know if you loved me or not," he whispered in her ear. "But now I do. Toph, I've loved you for so long, and I wanted to make it the right time." He kissed her again. "We're both leaving, but when we meet again, I plan to marry you, if you'll have me," he said, smiling. Toph blushed. "Yes! Oh, yes! But you love me? What about Suki?"
"She and I are just friends now. She fell in love with someone else. I know you a lot better than her, and I love you. Come back soon and safe," he said, as they embraced one last time. She got on Appa.
The silence was unbearable as everyone waited for the Avatar. He came out in his old airbender clothing, walking with his glider and Momo perched on his shoulder. People bowed to him as he walked past, and he stopped and gave Sokka a hug. He said a few words to his best friend and moved on. And Katara was the last one before Appa.
She bowed. "Avatar," she said. He looked at her, and grabbed her and kissed her. She put her arms around his neck as Momo jumped off and he dropped his staff. She never wanted to let go. They did, and she pulled the silk bag out of her pocket. "I was saving this for you for the right time," she said as she placed it in his hand, and closed his palm with her hand. "So you'll have a piece of me with you always." She smiled as tears welled in her eyes. "Don't open it until you're on Appa." He hugged her hard, and she just held on back. Then he left to go to Appa, but she ran after him.
"Aang!" she yelled as she jumped onto him, knocking him down in the snow and she kissed and caressed his face. He grabbed her and kissed her all over her face, and they looked at each other. He put his hand against her cheek, and she leaned into it, putting her hand on top. Her tears fell onto his chest and clothes, but she got off him and helped him up. They hugged again. "Keep your view to the skies," he whispered. "I will be back. I promise you. I love you, more than anything."
"I will," she said. "I love you too." She let go of him and he looked deep into her eyes. He smiled and picked up his staff and airbended himself onto Appa. Zuko took the reins as Aang climbed next to Toph and opened his palm. The deep blue silk shimmered like Katara's eyes. He opened the bag and spilled the contents onto his hand. It was a long blue cord, and attached to it was—
"Katara's pendant!" he whispered as he fingered the design. It was the only thing she had left on last night. He looked up and looked at her. She smiled. He opened his mouth to speak, but Zuko yelled, "Yip, yip!" Appa took off, leaving him speechless. He said nothing though as he put the cord around his neck and into his robe. It was near his heart, almost like she was with him there. He sighed as he wished he would be home soon.
Katara watched as the bison flew away and Sokka came and put his arm around his sister. "Walk me to the barn?" he asked. She nodded. They walked hand in hand silently to where Sokka's polar eagle, Storm, was laying, ready for a trip. He hugged his sister. "This is the first time we've been apart in a long time," he said as his tears tried hard not to fall. He couldn't help it though. "Stay safe," he said as she kissed his cheek. "You too," she said as he climbed onto the saddle. "Come home soon," she said as he smiled. He nudged Storm. "Come on, girl!" he yelled as Storm spread her gigantic wings far apart. She leapt into the sky, with Sokka waving to Katara. She walked back to the tent to start her chores.