Girl's Day

By Mezzo-chan

"What is it?" Sokka flinched as he poked the squishy pink concoction.

"You don't think she'll like it?" Aang deflated a bit and looked down at what he held in his hands. It was pale pink and almost gelatinous, and a wet coldness seeped through the green leaf into his hands.

Every third day of the third month in the Earth Kingdom, girls were honored. They were given gifts and sweets, and young women would gather by the rivers with little paper dolls, and made wishes as they let them drift away to a cool and gently flowing future. Young couples would meet discreetly under the cherry trees and eat sugary cakes called sakura mochi made from rice and beans and the very flowers that would drift and fall into each other's hair.

It had occurred to Aang that Katara was a girl. And it being the third day of the third month, and as they were in the Earth Kingdom, it was only sensible that he keep up with native tradition. Although eating sakura mochi with Katara under a blooming cherry tree was an added perk Aang had not forgotten.

But now his heart fell as he stared at his poorly made sakura mochi. Sokka refused to eat it, which meant it held no chances of ever being consumed.

"Look, at least you tried, but the Water Tribe doesn't celebrate this Girl's Day stuff…" Sokka attempted, but to no avail.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Aang wandered off towards the stream, cursing the fact that he couldn't make mochi, and that Katara wouldn't know what it was for anyway, and that cherry blossoms couldn't drift into his hair because he didn't have any.

As he trudged along, squishing his poorly made cake in his fist, a voice stopped him.

"Aang, come see this!" It was Katara, bright blue against the green and pink landscape, and waving at him excitedly by the riverbank. He groaned inward, thinking of how he should have tried harder with his mochi, and how he'd ruined their chances of having a nice day.

Then he saw what Katara was pointing at.

Along the stream came hundreds, if not thousands, of little paper wish dolls. They would twirl and bend like dancers, some of them floating off the water for a moment, then landing down again to continue their journey. They looked like birds, or perhaps flowers, all spinning together in universal symmetry.

"Aang this is amazing! I've never seen anything like it!" Katara gasped, touching her chest as though the very sight was affecting her pulse, "It's breathtaking,"

Aang felt his heart skip as he reached up and pulled a cherry blossom from her hair, her blue eyes coming to meet his.

"Yeah…it is,"

End

Author's Note: Yes, Girl's Day is a real holiday celebrated on March 3rd in Japan and China. Sakura Mochi is a traditional treat on this holiday, which honors girls and springtime.