Ears, noses, eyelashes and lips
Water twines its way around me, blurring and muddling the images I could see through its body into disproportion. I move my arms gently through the air, feeling the weight of the slippery element pushing and pulling against me. But I no longer have to tame it; it is my ally, my companion, working with me, mirroring my movements and obeying my commands. I make it rise higher and higher above my head, it starts to lose control, dipping and dancing until I give up. I let my arms fall by my side and watch it fall with me, crash, splash, spatter, ripples…
And yet again, his face looms towards me whenever I close my eyes, even for just a split second. His newly grown tangles of dark hair punch through the darkness along with his legendary arrow, hidden only by a strip of cloth, the smallest thing hiding the largest mark of his identity. So strange how easily he can disguise himself, just by hiding his mark. To me, everything about him is so easy to recognize. I know every curve and contour of his face, every posture and pose from his bending, every chuckle and cry he's ever let loose in front of me. I remember every glance he's thrown my way, every compliment and every question. I've analyzed every change he's gone through since the rock of ice split and he fell towards me, his maturity, his sense of responsibility, his determination to help the people who need him most.
And how do I know all this?
Because I love him. I love him so much my heart has become too big for my chest; my world has stopped spinning until I can get him to say it back.
He has to say it back…
I sigh and sit in the water, feeling it support me without me even having to think about bending. I've become so instinctive over the past few months, barely two seasons have passed since I left my quiet little home and I've transformed nearly as much as him…
"Aang…" I breathe as I twiddle my fingertips and watch the smooth liquid react, mulling lazily underneath my spell. I have to do it tonight. I have to have him. I want to devour him. Every second I'm away from him, I miss him; I want him by my side so much it actually aches. Every night I lay awake so close, feeling him breathing and I want him. Not just him but the parts of him as well.
His fingers, his ears, his nose, his eyelashes, his lips… when will his lips and mine meet again, after the brief meeting in the cave of two lovers?
I have to do it tonight…tomorrow, whenever I next see him, whenever he next says my name the way he does, with the strong "Ka", the drawn out "Ta" and the curled and hopeful "Ra"…
"I love you…I love you…I love you…" I rehearsed again and again, announcing my love to the huddled trees around me, declaring my passion to the moon above, to the gentle snores of my friends…my family. I am their mother, their guardian. Would they survive without me if I don't make it through the war? Oh God…will I survive if they don't? Tears come to my eyes but without even thinking about it I flick them away with a twitch of my fingers. Slowly, I get up, banish the water that soaks my clothes from the oasis and walk towards camp. As I pass Aang I slow and watch him for a while, sleeping so peacefully, like a child. He looks so weak and young, but I know when he wakes, he will start training and imagine Ozai in front of him and I will watch his eyes turn to flame, his brow furrow and his nostrils flare. I want so badly to lie beside him and feel his arms cradle me, but what would happen if I did? Not yet…I cannot yet.
"Sleep well." I bless him, and move to my vacant spot in a daze as if I'm sleepwalking. I imagine his arms around me, his hot breath engulfing me with the heat of a thousand fire benders, his words with the passion of the earth kingdom, his kisses with gentleness of the water tribe and us… with the happiness of an air nomad. I shiver in pleasure and settle down to sleep.
After dizzy and rushing dreams of laughter and the ocean and a pair of glowing eyes I am woken up, by the sound of someone talking, far off, possibly near the oasis. I realize that it is still night time, the same night, but it has aged and day is close to breaking through the horizon. I recognize the voice as Aang's. I freeze but my body is lit in flame as I listen carefully, dying to hear his voice; his voice is my oxygen.
"Katara…" Explosions of anticipation and shock scatter and shoot inside of me, fizzling through to my fingertips as I hear my name escape through his lips, "I love you…I love you…god, I love you…"
And as he declares his love to the huddled trees and the moon above and his family behind him, he has no idea that his love is listening and understands the feelings that are racking his body, his mind, his soul, nor that she has rehearsed the very same thing only a few hours before.
And I smile, I smile as I see the life that is ahead of me, the life of laughter and kisses, rings and promises, fire and water, earth and air, fingers, ears, noses, eyelashes and our lips, reunited in a joyful occasion, and as they part they know they will meet again soon, and only after they whisper those three words that will follow us forever.
I…love…you.