"La-dammit!" the boy shrieked.
His mother's hand whipped across his face not a beat after the curse left his lips. He turned back to meet her cold stare. "You will never speak to me that way again," she growled. The boy held her cerulean stare defiantly. But his mother was not a woman to break the eye-contact first. He was old enough to recognize that, at least. His golden gaze fell and he blinked at his shoes before he mumbled a weak apology.
"Apology accepted." She replied firmly, "This conversation is over."
The boy looked up to his mother again pleadingly.
"It will only be over when you finally finish it" his quavering voice was rising again with all of the righteous indignation that he had inherited from his mother.
"That day is not today," the fight was gone from her, just like that.
He realized that he was not going to get anywhere with her this time. He grumbled and stomped off to his room with all the surliness that only a fourteen year old could muster.
The mother sighed with exasperation. A knock sounded at the front door. "Come in," the woman called.
Suki swept inside, meekly. "Did I interrupt something?" she winced. Katara skook her head, "Where we that loud?"
"I heard you shouting from the road," Suki admitted. "Everything ok?"
Katara rolled her head, dramatically. "Come sit out back with me and we'll talk," she said as she looked at the recently slammed bedroom door.
Suki smiled weakly, "Point taken."
The garden behind the modest house was breath-taking. Flowers of every color danced in the wind, lighting up the world even on a cloudy day as it was. They grew in such a natural way, but they were well-groomed enough to betray their gardener's devotion. The master waterbender had a competitive edge where green thumbs were concerned. Where the ground was not covered in a leafy rainbow, a dirt path ran in no particular direction. And against the house's exterior, beautiful pots held fragrant herbs ranging in every use from teas to medicinal remedies to cooking spices. A small wooden table flanked by some matching chairs sat in the corner of the miniature forest. Katara set two cups down and filled them with an aromatic tea. Suki sat and took a sip. And raised an curious eyebrow at her sister-in-law. Katara huffed in response. "You have to tell him eventually," Suki ventured.
"I know I do." She shrugged. "But I can't. Not yet."
"Then when?" Suki pressed, not unkindly.
"He's still so young," Katara protested. "He's just a boy. And his life is still so simple. I don't want to complicate it yet."
Suki nodded sympathetically, "I understand what you mean. But he's not as young as you'd have him be. You were his age when you and his father met."
Katara bit her lip, unable to stop the flow of memories that flashed through her mind. She remembered fourteen. She remembered the horrors she saw. She remembered mothering Aang, Sokka, and Toph before she ever became a mother. She remembered what they all went through together, and how she tried to pretend she was strong to keep them together no matter what. And then she remembered the boy that she never pretended with. The boy who always saw her as she was.
She shook her head, pushing the images away. That naïve little girl was gone. A jaded woman took her place. And the boy that stole her heart was now a stone-faced man sitting on a throne far, far away.
"That's what's so terrifying," Katara confessed.
Suki reached across the table and placed a reassuring hand on Katara's. "Maybe you're underestimating him. I mean, think of all the things we handled at his age."
"That was a different story," Katara countered solemnly. "We were all robbed of our childhoods. We had to handle it. We had no choice. And we didn't handle it all very well. The best of us even died trying." Katara once again failed to block the images of her past. Aang's carefree smile. Toph's crude chuckle. They were too young to have to wield the great power they held. And too young to face all that the world had placed on them. And too young to die.
"I tell him when he's older."
"You told him that when he was a child." Suki reminded.
"He still is a child," Katara said defensively.
"On the edge of becoming a man, Katara. He's stronger than you give him credit for. And he's growing up faster than you're willing to realize. He will never stop wanting to know, and the more you keep it from him, the more resentful he will grow. Don't push him away." Suki knew her words were not what Katara wanted to hear, so she pleaded gently with her.
She was right, Katara knew. She had always known. But with her confession to her son came all the baggage that she had worked so long to bury. She would have to face that too, eventually. The thought terrified her. But she knew it was what she needed. Her excuse that Lee was too young was failing. And all the while, she too was growing older. He was almost a man now. His golden eyes were beginning to lose some of their childhood glee. And his unruly nest of brown curls now hung past his shoulders. The baby fat had fallen from his face, and Katara had politely not commented on the brown fuzz that he had yet to try to shave from his chin. He had his father's obstinate nature, that she knew for certain. And as it was with her father, she would only be able to refuse him for so long.
"Soon," Katara finally conceded.
Suki seemed to accept Katara's strained reply. She gracefully changed the subject, "So have you seen Kinu lately?" Suki pryed with a sly grin.
"Not this again," Katara rolled her eyes. Suki giggled, "Come on, Katara. You can't stay celibate forever! You're still young. And all the men on Kyoshi have taken note of that too!"
"I have not been celibate forever!" Katara protested.
"The awkward fling with Haru doesn't count," Suki joked. "And that was like four years ago!"
"Are you going to tell me why you came over in the first place?" Katara evaded.
"Fine," Suki smiled with concession, "Sokka will be back tomorrow, and I wanted your help preparing a nice dinner for when he arrives."
"Of course," Katara replied, "But Kinu isn't going to be there!"
"You're no fun," Suki laughed.