"Katara, I need to talk to you for a minute," came the gruff voice of her father from behind
She turned her head and smiled. "Sure Dad, just give me a minute." Katara stood and wiped her hands on a spare cloth. She called to Toph, who sat lazily against a pillar skipping pebbles across the floor. "Can you finish cooking this while I'm gone?"
Toph sat up straight and waved her hand in front of her sightless eyes. "And how exactly do you expect me to see what I'm cooking?"
Katara growled out her answer. "Toph, you are the only one here right now! Sokka and Suki went off to train, as did Aang and Zuko. And spirits only know where the other boys have wandered off to this morning." She tossed the rag at the earthbender's head before walking off toward her father. "You're a master, you'll figure something out."
Toph snatched the cloth out of the air and grumbled. "Just don't blame me when I burn the temple down around our heads."
Hakoda and Katara walked until they found a secluded alcove and sat. She looked up expectedly at her father, wondering why he had steered her here. "What did you need to talk to me about Dad?"
Hakoda looked at his daughter for a moment, appraising her before beginning. "You've grown into quite a young woman these past few years and this is the first chance I've had to talk to you about boys."
"Dad!" She cried out, a little flustered at the thought of having such a conversation with her dad. "Gran-Gran already told me everything about growing up and… and… well, I know, so we don't have to do this."
"Oh… right… good." Hakoda thanked his mother a thousand times over for saving him from that embarrassment. He took a deep breath, still not finished with what he needed her to know. "But I still need to talk to you about something. You've been traveling for a while now with boys as your only company and…"
Katara cut him off. "Toph's a girl! And anyway, I can take care of myself against them!"
"Yes, I know Toph is a girl, but she thinks and acts more like a guy. And I know you can take care of yourself, you're a great fighter. But young men of a certain age will see a girl like you and start to think certain things, and start to look at your differently."
"If any of those guys start looking at me differently I'll freeze their eyelids shut, " she shouted, trying once again to slam the door on the painful memory of Aang's kiss and hoping that no one had told her dad about it.
"It's not just the way they look at you," he continued, ignoring her outburst, "it's also the way you look at them. I've seen those hateful looks you send Zuko when you think no one else is watching."
"Zuko?" This conversation had gone from almost awkward to downright shocking in less than five minutes. "But I… and he…"
"Your mother used to give me those same looks just before she shoved my head in a snow bank," he further explained, chuckling at the memory.
"But you and Mom were always so happy." Katara sat astounded and wondered how many of her family memories were now questionable.
"Yes, but when she was your age, she thought I was a hateful, untrustworthy jerk. Eventually she came around, we started courting, and the rest you know."
He stood and put a comforting hand on his daughter's shoulder. She sat, staring at the void opposite her where her father had sat, too flabbergasted to move or speak. "I just want to know you have my full approval to date and marry him when the time comes," he informed her before heading off.
"Oh, and if Toph hasn't burnt lunch too badly, save me some – I'm not sure how long I'll be talking with Zuko."
All glory to Jakia's Bromance fic for setting my mind racing in this direction.
Dis: Characters are not mine but the rest is.