Katara entered the probending ring. As she looked around, there was one thing that she noticed. Noise.
Katara and the rest of the GAang had accepted their invitation to the first pro-bending tournament to reunite after building the nations and their own families. Holding baby Tenzin close to her chest, she pushed through the crowd to the special box seats reserved for them. Aang wasn't far behind her, but he kept on getting distracted with "old friends." She sat down in her seat at the end of the empty row. She looked down the row of blue plush seats, and tried to figure out the seating arrangement. Suki and Sokka were coming, but they were running late. Aang was probably still talking to people. Toph was the honorary referee – she wouldn't be sitting with them-which left Zuko and Mai. As the crowds below slowly filtered in, Katara sighed and went back out again, looking for Aang. She walked to his animated form, getting ready to grab his hand and drag him away, she saw Zuko and Mai walking through the crowd, and she stopped. For just a moment, she slipped back into the time where anything and everything was possible, a time of hope and possibility. The memories of her and Zuko flashed behind her eyelids. The lightning, the cave, the pirates, Yon Rha, the North Pole. Inevitably, her mind went into the place she did not want to go. Aang forcing himself on her. Zuko giving her space and being there when she needed it but didn't ask. Aang criticizing her for wanting to go after her mother's killer. Zuko going along with her as moral support. Aang and Katara's dates, the awkward pauses, and the nights where she just needed for him to leave her alone. The nights where she laid in bed and wondered why she had chosen youth over passion. Zuko's eyes flitted to her as Tenzin snuggled against her breast. A rush of butterflies, but she did what she needed to do. She grabbed Aang's hand, put a smile on her face, and got ready to play her part, the Avatar's girl.