Chapter 2

After Suki went back inside, Aang and Katara briefly stared at each other, remaining silent after the awkward moment passed. Then Aang spoke.

"We should head back inside before they wonder where we've been" he said, gesturing with his thumb towards the house.

"Hm? Oh, sure" Katara agreed, snapping awake from her thoughts.

"Besides, I have a few things I wanted to discuss with everyone" Aang said.

Aang and Katara walked inside the house, to find Sokka asleep on a couch with "Paint Me" written in ink on his forehead. Mai and Zuko were standing by him, laughing softly.

"It's a good color on him!" Zuko muttered softly.

"Hey guys, can I talk to you all for a moment?" Aang asked.

In tacit agreement, everyone sat down in chairs. Suki walked over to the couch and knelt down, gently shaking Sokka's shoulder in an attempt to wake him up.

"Morning already?" Sokka asked groggily.

"No, not yet." Suki replied. "Aang just wants to talk to everyone right now."

"Oh. Okay." Sokka complied. He rubbed his eyes, his fist just brushing his forehead. When he looked at his hands, they were smudged with ink.

"Ah! Where did that come from?" He put his hand on his forehead and then looked at it. It was covered in ink.

"Aaah!! I'm leaking ink!" Sokka screamed. Mai held out a mirror to him.

"Does this help?" she asked. Sokka looked in the mirror to see the remains of "Paint Me" on his forehead.

"Oh...so who decided to turn me into a human canvas?" he asked, obviously a little annoyed. He looked to see Zuko, not hiding his "crime" well, with his hand over his mouth, trying to hold back laughter.

"You?" Sokka asked.

"Uh-huh." Zuko answered.

"Alright then." Sokka said rather calmly. He then wiped his forehead while standing up, and then wiped the ink off on Zuko's cheek.

"Hey!" Zuko yelped.

"Excellent work, my friend!" Sokka said sarcastically.

"Alright, enough. Aang wanted to talk to us about something." Katara said, holding apart the two boys just as they were about to go at each other.

Sokka and Zuko moved away from each other and sat back down. Sokka plopped down onto the couch next to Suki, put his arm around her, and glared at Zuko, who was sitting in a chair in between Mai and his uncle. Toph was seated on the floor. Katara sat down next to her and looked up at Aang, who was standing in the middle of the room.

"Alright." he began. "A lot has been going on lately. Two days ago, Zuko was proclaimed Fire Lord, and Suki has caught up with the Kyoshi Warriors again. It's only been three days since the war ended, and already we've been bombarded with our own jobs. What I'm trying to say is that I think the time has come to..."

He paused and looked around at his friends. They were listening to him rather intently, with a new look of respect on their faces for being in the presence of a newly successful Avatar.

"To...?" Toph asked impatiently.

Aang sighed, hesitating, and then spoke. "To go our own ways." he finished.

No one said a word. Then Katara.

"But we've just gotten back to spending time with one another." she said, with a tone that clearly showed she was upset.

"I think he's right." Iroh said. "We've all been called back to our original destinies. They aren't all the same. This day was going to come eventually." he finished, then took a sip of his tea.

"Where are we supposed to go?" Toph asked hesitantly.

"Well, I don't know." Aang said, sitting down next to Katara. "I guess that's for all of us to figure out on our own." he admitted.

"I still don't think I'm ready to go back to my parents." Toph sighed and rested her head on her right hand.

"I have to get back to Kyoshi Island to teach the warriors." Suki explained. "But what about you, Sokka? There's no way I can leave you yet."

"I guess I can come with you." Sokka told her. "Maybe I can train some of the younger guys on the island!" he said, excited by his new idea. "Toph, if you're not ready to see your parents yet, you could come with us." he continued.

"Really? Thanks." Toph replied.

"I have to go back to the Fire Nation, obviously. Mai, are you coming with me?" Zuko asked.

"Yeah, of course. I guess I can go back there." she replied, jokingly acting upset about. Then she smiled at Zuko.

"Uncle, what about you?" Zuko asked him.

"I'm staying here to run my tea shop. I have to get to work hiring some new employees." Iroh answered.

"So that just leaves you two." Sokka said, gesturing at Katara and Aang. "Where are you guys off to?" he asked.

Katara looked to her left at Aang, who was already looking at her.

"I guess I can go with you where you have to go. My big responsibility is for the most part finished." he said, scratching the back of his head, blushing.

"I should probably go back to the Southern Water Tribe. You know, to see Gran Gran and start rebuilding down there." she said. "You can come with me."

"So then that's everyone." Aang said. "We can meet in Ba Sing Se again at some point." he said.

"Does one month work?" Zuko asked.

"I guess so." Aang replied. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Alright then. So when are we all leaving?" Sokka asked.

"I guess we should head off tomorrow." Suki said. "I have to get back to Kyoshi as soon as possible."

Though reluctant to leave that soon, Sokka nodded, and so did everyone else.

"Ok. Tomorrow." Katara said, looking at Aang for consent.

Aang nodded. Then Sokka yawned, stretching his arms.

"Man, I'm sleepy." he said

"You just took a nap!" Suki said.

"Naps make me sleepy!" Sokka replied.

"You say that with such a straight face!" Mai said.

"I'm being serious!" Sokka said to her.

"Alright. We should all get some sleep. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow." Katara said.

Everyone stood up and started getting ready for bed.

Some time passed and Aang was woken up by a sudden hunger. "Man, It's way to late to be hungry." he said quietly to himself. He tried to fall back asleep only to hear Momo screeching in the living room. Aang got up and walked out of the room.

When he got into the living room, he saw Momo lying on the table, his eyes open. Aang walked over to him and pet his head, and Momo purred.

"Go back to sleep, buddy." Aang said quietly.

He walked around the table when something caught the corner of his eye. He saw Katara, asleep on the couch. She didn't go into her own bed? Man, she must've been exhausted Aang thought to himself. He knelt by the couch and kissed her forehead lightly. Then she stirred. Oops! I woke her up!

Her eyes opened. Even in the dark, Aang could still see her bright blue eyes.

"Hi." she said groggily, managing a smile.

"Hi. I'm sorry. Go back to sleep." Aang said quietly. He put his hand around her cheek and kissed her lips softly.

"Okay." Katara whispered. "Night."

"Goodnight." Aang replied.

As he walked away, he noticed the hunger in his stomach was gone.