A/N: This is my first fan-fic. Please Review. Thank you!
Katara shifted back her weight, glorifying in the water's motion as she bent it forward and back.
Forward and back, forward and back, she repeated in her mind. Forward and back. She tried to put her mind wholeheartedly into the bending, but it inexorably wandered.
Wandered to Aang.
It had been four years since the war; she knew it. He was the world's messiah, their one hope that prevailed over the Fire Nation. The Fire Nation, barely gathering their pieces together, stitched together by merely a man, by Zuko. Fire Lord Zuko, she thought. I won't ever get used to that.
She was eighteen, and she felt it. Her father wasn't forcing her into a marriage; he would let her choose. But with all the money and support that the Northern Water Tribe had lent hers, their customs were rubbing off. So, sure, he wasn't forcing her into anything, but she was of marrying age. It was expected, and soon.
With a sharp lunge forward, the water smashed against a tree, shearing leaves off. She sneered at it. Somehow she was angry; somehow, this wasn't fair. Tui and La forbid it - even Sokka had gotten married. Katara would be surprised if Suki wasn't already pregnant. Sokka. Pride of the Southern Water Tribe. The Chief's son, the boy who somehow managed to make it through alright without bending, the 'everyday people's hero.'
Katara got her hero worship too. At a mere age of fourteen she had travelled the world and defeated Azula with Fire Lord Zuko. Little girls saw her as a princess, as the one they wanted to be like. Katara saw them, waving their arms as if waterbending. She was eighteen now, though. Expected to settle down and continue the Southern waterbending tradition.
She shot another water whip at the helpless tree. Ha. Settle down. Katara loved her home, loved the ice, but she loved seeing things, seeing the world, meeting people.
People. Aang.
Waist-deep in water, she let the water she was bending splash into the pond.
He was sixteen now. He had shot up, was a good foot taller than her. His shoulders were broader, his eyes more worn with the weight of the world. Even so, they still lit up at penguins, at snow, at baby sparrowkeets or her native polar bear dogs. He was a happy person still, was always traveling to sort out one diplomatic problem or another.
Whenever he saw her, he'd hold her and laugh, laugh in happiness. He'd hug her, and, if the mood called for it, would kiss her. What in Yue's name was it all supposed to mean?
A flick of her hand, and the water roared up again. She spun it in a circle above her, then let it crash again.
"Katara?"
She spun around to see Sokka, running his hands through his hair.
"Look…. the elders are complaining… there's a lot of splashing."
How was he supposed to know anything? He loved Suki, it was an easy decision for him to marry her. It had always been easy for him to sort out his feelings.
"I'm just waterbending," she replied shortly.
"Really? I thought you were firebending."
Katara shot him a glare, and he raised his hands in defense. "Fine, fine, just keep on splashing around out here. Fine by me," he grumbled, walking away.
How was it so easy for Sokka to figure out that he loved Suki? What had he done?
Sokka had met Suki when he was younger, and even though they were apart sometimes, they had always just picked up right where they left off. They always smiled around each other.
Katara snorted. How Suki put up with him, she'd never know. His ego had only inflated more since Hakoda named him as the next Chief. He would've been anyway, but the publicity was good for the Tribe. Show the world that they were rebuilding. Suki still loved him, though, and that was a feat to be proud of.
How would she ever find someone to love her like that? To be objective and not get angry at her when she threw stuff, when she yelled and cried and bossed everyone around? Someone to cheer her up?
"Katara!"
She spun around, water whip out, ready to smack Sokka's stupid head back to wherever he came from. He couldn't just let her think for a few minutes. No one could anymore.
Aang broke into the clearing, dropping his staff on the ground.
Her face split into a giant grin, and he leapt into the air, plunging straight into the pond.
He resurfaced a second or two later, rubbing his tattoos.
"Not as deep as I thought it'd be," he grumbled.
"I thought you were with Zuko for the week!"
"Got back early," he said with a smile. "Appa wanted to see you again."
"Oh, Appa did?"
He nodded with mock seriousness. "Hakoda called a meeting, too."
"He didn't tell me about a meeting," she noted, voice rising an octave.
"It's about you, apparently," he said nonchalantly, bending a tiny tornado of air above his palm.
"Me? What for?"
"You're almost seventeen. Hakoda wants you to get engaged here soon. He told me that you didn't have to get married right away if you don't want to. Just engaged."
She circled the water around her lazily.
"You really should get engaged soon. I've had too many Earth Kingdom nobles ask me about you."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Are you alright, Katara?" Aang asked suddenly, noticing her downcast eyes.
"I don't want to marry some stuffy Earth Kingdom person," she grumbled.
Silence.
"I hear you guys got a fresh shipment of fruit pies," he said, nudging her side. "Wanna go see?"
She giggled with a nod, slowly traipsing toward the shoreline.
Katara stopped suddenly. She was laughing. Just a minute ago she had almost bitten Sokka's head off.
Aang made her happy, she realized.
"You okay?" he asked from behind her, a hand resting on her shoulder.
She looked at his hand, the blue tattoos on them. He was an airbender. An Air Nomad. Nomads, who moved around, but still had one place to call home.
Katara turned to face Aang, and his gray eyes were rife with concern. She threw herself into his arms, squeezing him tightly. He was the one who made her smile, the one who always was there for her. They always picked up right where they had left off, and she always knew when he was away, because something seemed absent.
"You won't let me marry those stuck-up jerks, would you, Aang?"
"Of course not," he said, rumbling with laughter.
She smiled. Maybe getting engaged wouldn't be such a horrible ordeal after all.