I don't own any of the Avatar Characters, although I think they are amazing.

It had been months since I had thought of him. After all, it was easier not to and life moved on. Sometimes his smile would sink into my memory, and I could see that boyish glint in his eyes as he moved steadily toward me, hand outstretched. And then it was us against the world again, him and me connected in a way that I was certain no one had ever been connected before. Sometimes it was his voice that swirled around my unconsciousness during sleep and wove itself into my soul.

But then, that was only sometimes, during my weak moments and I didn't have many of those. It had been five long years since Firelord Ozai had been defeated and the world had been restored to its former glory. Five long years since Sokka and I had returned to the Southern Water Tribe, determined to do all we could to help our fallen people. It had made sense at the time for us all the separate. After all, the Water Tribe needed Sokka and I, the Fire Nation needed Zuko, Toph's mother and father needed her, and the world needed Aang. How could any of us had known that it would be so long before we saw one another again?

In the beginning my eyes were constantly turning to the horizon, waiting and hoping to see Appa coming towards us on the wind, bringing to me the only missing part to my soul. But he never came, and I never asked him to. I was a woman now, no longer the child I had been when I had returned home, and I understood now. Aang was the Avatar. He had obligations to fill and none of those obligations had anything to do with the Southern Water Tribe.

Sokka and I heard from Toph and Zuko from time to time. Toph hadn't changed, only grown up and the last time I had seen her I was in awe at how beautiful she had become. Zuko was still Zuko. He had his responsibilities to the Fire Nation and its people, but he never stopped writing, never stopped asking Sokka and I to come home. I honestly didn't believe that Zuko would ever understand that the Fire Nation had never been home for us.

We had heard little of Aang. It seemed the Avatar moved on so quickly that it was impossible to pinpoint where he was at any exact moment. Sokka had been insulted in the beginning from Aang's lack of contact, as had I. But we understood now. Our friend couldn't spend his entire life simply being our friend when he had a job to fulfill.

It didn't dispel the memories though. Those beautiful memories that had suddenly become painful once we were separated.

I shook my head to stop the filter of thoughts sifting into my head, and pushed aside the animal hide that served as a door to mine and Gran Gran's tent. Sokka had his jobs in the tribe, and had become known as our best warrior, waterbender or not. I also had my own duties to fulfill, but the child in me liked to shirk them now and then. Like now.

I dashed around the side of the tent and trudged into the snow covered mountains beyond our village. As I walked, I rotated my hand in a circular motion sending a trail of snow floating into the air and following me as I beckoned. This gift was all I had now. This connection to the formlessness of water and the life it could bring. It healed me. Made me whole again.

I stopped when I felt I was far enough away from the village to not be discovered. I pushed one leg out and bended one knee, posed my hands into the proper position, and began. Snow swirled around me into a tiny tornado as I worked with my hands to create works of art in the sky. I willed the snow to melt and become liquid and it obeyed under my careful instruction. I felt the most alive whenever I practiced my waterbending. In the beginning, when I had first returned to the Southern Water Tribe, waterbending had been painful for me. I first learned to practice this art efficiently with Aang and it had been something he and I had shared. To begin waterbending alone every day has been almost physically strangling but I had pushed myself through it. And now, after five years it was a release again and brough peace over me.

I felt a small smile tug at the corners of my mouth as I sent a fountain of waves into the air and willing the showering droplets to turn to snowflakes and drift to the ground. When I succeeded I let out a gust of air and fell to my knees in exhaustion. I hadn't eaten enough that day, and waterbending wore me out now and then. When I began to focus I noticed Sokka to my right, clapping his hands. He had followed me. Again.

"Sokka!" I groaned, standing awkwardly.

My brother had grown into a very tall and strong young man. Though his hair was the same, and his eyes held the same mischievous glint they always had, he was stronger; Wiser; And quite the hot commodity among the women in the Southern Water Tribe.

"what?" he asked innocently. "it was good."

I glared and stomped towards him, spraying up snow around me in my frustration. "I've asked you repeatedly not to follow me."

Sokka smiled sheepishly. "I know. But this time it is for a reason, Katara."

I fought to control my temper, something I had always had a problem with. However, it simply never worked when it came to my meddling older brother. "What! What could possibly be so important that you have to interrupt my training time?" I asked, throwing my hands up in the air and dousing us with snow in the process.

Sokka brushed the mound of snow that had just settled there off of his shoulder. "Calm down. Your going to bury us in a snow drift."

I sighed. He was most likely right. "What, Sokka? What is it?" I asked, more calm now.

"We have a visiter!" He said excitedly. He looked again like the boy he had been when we returned. Barely a man, and already he had seen battle. Hard to believe he could maintain such innocence still.

When my mind wrapped around his words, my heart soared. Had Aang finally come? I was speechless, could hardly bring myself to ask and be disappointed.

Sokka was waiting for my answer, but I simply couldn't bring myself to give it to him.

"Okay." He finally said, sounding confused. "He wants to see you, Katara."

"He?" I croaked, my throat tightening. Could it really be him? The years stretched out before me, so long and never ending they had been for me. How wretched it had been to never see his face, hear the musical chime of his voice.

Sokka smiled. "Hurry!" he yelled as he dashed in the direction of the village, pulling me with him. I couldn't help but smile at his child like enthusiasm. We reached Gran Gran's tent in minutes and I gazed in shock at the Fire Nation ship before me. What had once brought fear and left pain in its wake now just brought a sense of joy. I darted into the tent, barely able to contain myself. I prayed and prayed that it would be him, wondering for a moment if I would even recognize the man he would be now.

The cold slithered over my entire body, causing a shiver that began inside my chest and raked out over all my limbs. I hadn't felt such biting cold in so long and my body didn't welcome it. I clapped my hands together and shuffled my feet, trying to bring as much warmth to my frozen body as I could. The sound of feet sloshing through the wet snow could be heard outside the tent, and I immediately straightened my back, and placed my arms at my sides.

Could I face them? Of course they had once all been friends, but that was long ago. Had loyalties changed? Had they changed? I pushed both those thoughts and the cold from my mind, concentrating on the tent flap just as it began to open.

Sokka rushed through first, pulling someone behind him. I nearly smiled at the same boyishly excited look that painted his features, even after all these years. He was nearly as tall as I was now, and that caught me by surprise. Sokka had grown up.

"Zuko?" Katara was standing next to him and it took me moment to realize it. She was different now. I couldn't place how, but she was. She wore the same blue Water Tribe clothes I remembered, and her mother's betrothal necklace rested at her throat. I shivered as I remembered when I had once used the necklace to track her down like a dog. Amazing that they had welcomed me five years ago, and amazing that they welcomed me now.

I stepped forward and allowed myself to smile slightly. I couldn't believe how she had grown. She was a woman now and confidence radiated from her. Her hair was as dark and long as it had always been, only now she wore it braided over her right shoulder, with blue beads strung throughout the dark tresses. Her eyes were the same, although less innocent.

"Zuko!" Sokka interrupting my thoughts, clapped me on the back. "Tell us everything. Literally everything, my friend."

I was pushed into a sitting position next to the fire that rested in the center of the tent. Katara and Sokka sat down themselves, both of them watching me as though I was going to disappear any second. What to tell them? They would be bored with Fire Nation business and it seemed that was all he had to attend to these days. Of course, he had five years of things to fall back on.

"How is Toph?" Katara asked, suddenly.

"Oh…Toph is fine. She returned to the Fire Nation a few years ago." I stammered.

"Toph came back?" Katara asked in astonishment.

I nodded. "With her mother and father."

Sokka leaned forward. "What else?"

"Oh Sokka, just ask if you want to ask." Katara snapped.

Sokka glowered at her and I realized their relationship was one thing that hadn't changed a bit.

"What about Aang?" Sokka finally asked.

I inwardly winced. I should have known where this line of questioning would go. I wasn't the only one who had heard the way Aang had abandoned Katara after the defeat of my father. Sure, she had made her decision to return home for awhile for her people and for her grandmother, but it was well known that in five years, Aang hadn't seen her or spoken to her. I really didn't want to be caught in the middle, but that's what being in this group had always been. They all got way too involved in each other's lives.

"Zuko, please tell us. He's all right, isn't he?" Katara whispered.

I nodded instantly. "Of course, he's all right!" They both sighed in relief.

I mumbled something quickly and then stood up. "All right, I'm ready to eat!" I patted my belly loudly.

Katara jumped up in a movement far too graceful. She really had changed. "Wait, what did you just say?" she demanded.

"Me?" I looked around innocently.

"Aang is in the Fire Nation?" Sokka asked, quietly.

Damn my mumbling. Apparently I whispered like an elephant. "Uhh…yes. Yes, he is."

Katara was suddenly in front of me, her eyes glinting and very close to my own. "Why are you really here?"

I sighed. This was probably Aang's worst idea in a long, long time. Literally. "I've come to bring you back." I paused at their wide eyed stares before I hurried on. "Aang asked me to bring you back."