Author's Note: So by now ya'll must realize that I'm kind of preoccupied with Aang's power and his bending abilities and his "natural giftedness" as Katara would call it. And I have to say that if it comes up at least once in each of my stories, I can't really apologize for it. That's just what I like. I hope it doesn't annoy anyone too much.

This story takes place during the episode "The Fortuneteller" during season one. It should be easy enough to catch on. Thanks to all of my loyal readers! The reviews that you guys leave always make me smile. If you like this one, too, let me know it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar. Unfortunately.

Musings

"Man, sometimes I forget what a powerful bender that kid is."

Katara nodded slightly, prepared to go along with what her brother was saying – whatever that may be – before she felt her eyes widen. She did a double take. "Wait a minute! What did you say?"

Sokka looked at her, startled. "Nothing. Just that Aang is one powerful bender."

Katara looked back at Aang. He was standing still before the erupting volcano, having just hardened an impressively high wall of lava with airbending. "I suppose he is," she murmured, and then swallowed thickly.

Actually, when she really thought about it, was there a more powerful bender than Aang at all? He was the Avatar, and as potential master of all four elements, there were none alive to match him. Or, as she'd always thought, to match his potential.

But how could she have neglected the fact that Aang, with his mastery of airbending and immediate success at waterbending, was already quite a powerful bender? He didn't need to master the four elements. He was already the most powerful bender Katara knew. And she knew, without a doubt, that he would come to master water, earth, and fire. It was only a matter of time.

As her brother had said, he was one powerful bender. That thought, more than anything, was what made Katara stare at Aang with something akin to awe.

For the next several days, Katara found herself watching Aang more closely than she would have otherwise. Often, when he was sitting on Appa's head, lazily flicking the reigns, she found herself examining the back of his head, the curve of his shoulders beneath his tunic. She remembered quite clearly the first time she had ever seen him without that tunic, and how blue arrows had curled gently around his body. She found herself staring, and forced herself to look away.

Aang is twelve, she had to remind herself. He's just a kid.

But there was strength in his limbs, courage in his heart, and power in the way that he moved. And the thing was, the more Katara thought about it, the more she realized he wasn't really twelve at all. Stuck in an iceberg for one hundred years, he was much older. And with the memories, thoughts, and experiences of all former Avatars sleeping in his subconscious, he was much, much older even than that. Aang was an old soul. He lived in a young body, granted, but he was an old soul all the same.

And part of that was what attracted her to him.

And with that thought, Katara inevitably stopped staring at the back of Aang's head and chided herself thoroughly. She was not attracted to Aang! Was she? She liked being around him, sure, and she worried about him when he was away. She was constantly alert for possible dangers and paranoid that something might happen to him. And her protectiveness for him bordered something quite fierce, something she was afraid to explore, even in her thoughts.

So maybe she was attracted to Aang. That didn't mean anything, not really, not when he was twelve and she just fourteen. And when he grinned at her so that her stomach fluttered, and she smiled at him and blinked her lashes so that he blushed bright red, that didn't mean anything either. When they practiced waterbending together, standing half-clothed in a stream or a lake, and she could feel the fine tremors of his movements, the heat of his body, the strength of his arms and legs, that didn't mean anything at all. Nor did it matter that Katara liked the sound of his voice, his laugh, even his occasional complaining. His big gray eyes were completely irrelevant, and the power, the pure, immense power, why, that was inconsequential.

So why couldn't she stop thinking about him? Him and that silly fortuneteller, with her predictions about marriage and powerful benders. It was all nonsense, anyway, according to Sokka. But it wasn't nonsense to Katara. It meant something, she was sure. Something big. Something that would change her life.

But for now, for now. Well, for now, Aang had a task to complete, and it was up to her to help him and, despite his own capability, protect him. She would see him through this, no matter what, and then after…

Well, after was a musing she could visit in her dreams.