Hunter's Moon

By Ronka87

Storm moon: (weather folklore) The moon which occurs during the shifting of the winds; also called worm moon, crow moon, moon of the snowblind

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Chapter 2: Storm Moon

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Spring, Katara had decided, was her least favourite season.

This decision, though abrupt, had not been made without some consideration. Spring, she reasoned, was a time of uneasy transitions, when everything changed suddenly, inelegantly. The still, frozen beauty of winter was torn away by the annual thaw, leaving behind a partially decayed wasteland. The melted snow exposed broken braches and other things that hadn't survived the winter, and black leaves that didn't have a chance to degrade before the first frost covered the ground like a rotting carpet.

Spring was a rainy season, which should have made her happy, but Katara had too much compassion for the villages that got washed out in flash floods and mudslides to care about a little more water. Besides, every drop was more evidence that the warm summer weather she'd never really accustomed to was arriving, and fast.

Of course, there were good things about spring, too. Many good things, in fact, but at the moment, Katara wasn't concerned with those: her head was too full reasons why spring was the most horrible time of the year. It wasn't rational, but Katara wasn't thinking rationally at the moment. There was one more reason, one tiny, insignificant reason, why spring had become the target of such dark thoughts: spring was the season Aang had decided to leave.

Because of the uncommon haste he'd been in to master the four elements, Aang's bending training had been somewhat incomplete. While his Air- and Water-bending were among the best, his skills with the two other elements weren't nearly so strong, and he hadn't had much time to hone them, what with helping to restore world peace. He'd spent most of the year after Ozai's defeat arranging peace treaties in the capitals of the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom, which not only ate up his time, but also left him out-of-touch to the plights of the common man. His connection to the people was waning, he felt, and to restore it, he needed to get back to his nomadic roots, to meet new faces and experience new things. A few months sating his wanderlust would help him understand the changing needs of the people, as well as truly master all four elements.

He'd told Katara about it one night, just before winter's end. They were in Ba Sing Se for another meeting with Earth Kingdom politicians, in the same house the Earth King had lent them on their first visit. Aang sat her down, took a place on the floor, and laid out his plans. He'd made the necessary arrangements, discussed it with officials from the three nations, and explained everything in detail to Katara. It was a win-win situation all around, and Katara had been onboard for it—until the revelation that he meant to go alone.

The last had come as a shock. She tried not to be angry, disappointed, hurt by the announcement, but her emotions got the better of her.

"It's idiotic!" she yelled, the evening that he'd told her. "How can you train with no one to train with? It's like training against a stone wall!"

"Actually, Toph makes me do that."

"For drills!" Katara hissed in frustration and rubbed her temples; speaking of dealing with brick walls… She took a breath and began again: "With no one to spar with you're never going to learn anything. You'll just be doing the same thing over and over and--"

"And isn't that what I do here anyway?" Aang rose from where he'd been sitting and wandered aimlessly about the room. "I can meet new people to train with, that's a non-issue. I already know the moves, Katara, I just need time to work on them-- and I can't do that here. There's always interruptions, some advisor who needs my opinion, which would be fine if it were ever something important, but lately it's just been questions about salt taxes and farmers with land disputes and the price of tea in Ba Sing Se. I just… need to get away, clear my head, get a fresh perspective on things."

"Alright, fine," she grudgingly relented. "I understand that—but what about going alone? You could get hurt."

"No I—"

"You always get hurt! It doesn't matter that we're at peace, there are still plenty of ways to injure yourself. Who'll take care of you when that happens? I don't want to lose you again."

Aang sighed. For minutes, neither of them spoke, until finally Aang walked over to her. She wasn't feeling especially cuddly, but when he drew his arms around her and rested his head atop hers, she couldn't help but lean in a little.

"I… I don't want to leave," he admitted after a moment. "I'm not doing this because I want to. I'm doing it because I need to. I got caught with my pants down last time; it was just an amazing fluke that I survived the fight with Ozai at all, let alone won. I can't risk relying on luck again. What I'm going on isn't just a training exercise—it's a mission of self-improvement." He paused, considering his words; Katara listened to his steady heartbeat. "I abandoned the world years ago, and then when I came back, I wasn't prepared to do my duty. I let millions of people down.

"We're at peace now, and for the moment it's solid. This is maybe my only chance to get the experiences I need to be a better Avatar. I owe it to the world to become better, to become the best, so I don't let anyone down again. I need to learn to stand on my own, because, when the world's in trouble, it's always going to be my duty to face it, alone. It's just… it's something I need to do by myself."

Katara considered his words. After a moment, she added, "And you think I'd drag you down."

He actually laughed; Katara frowned. "Nooooo," he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice. He drew back and grinned into her eyes. "I think you'll start doing my job for me. You're always ready to fight the bad guys, protect the weak, solve people's problems… By the time you've finished, I've got nothing left to do. An Avatar's got to learn to save the world on his own. Besides," and his tone become more serious, "relations between the countries are still pretty tight. The big cities still need someone to watch out for them and keep them protected, and there's no one I trust more to do it than you."

And that, really, was that. She couldn't sway him; his decision was as firm as an Earthbender's stance. In the coming weeks, Aang prepared for his journey, sending messages out that he'd been wandering the earth for the next few months. He was a seasoned traveller, from both before and during the war, and got together what little gear he planned to take with little effort and great expediency. In what seemed like no time at all, he and Katara were standing on the outskirts of Ba Sing Se, saying goodbye.

The weather was close; the air was heavy with humidity and hot. Dark clouds were rolling in, but Aang was determined to leave; if he didn't go now, he said, he never would. Katara half-wished it.

"I'll start out by heading north," he said as he checked Appa's straps. Katara stood to the side, watching him work. "I might stop by the Eastern Air Temple, talk to the Guru if he's still around, then I plan on visiting the northern peninsula; from there, who knows." He finished his inspection and turned to Katara; when he approached, she drew him into a hug.

She wasn't crying, but she felt terrible. There was stone in her stomach that was slowly easing its way into her throat. To counter it, she held Aang tighter. "I'll really miss you," she said.

"I know you will," he said, resting his cheek on her head, "'cause I'm gonna miss you just as much."

She smiled against his shoulder, then drew back a bit. In her strictest, most serious voice, she said: "Be careful."

"I will," he promised. "I don't plan on doing anything really dangerous."

"No wolf-shark baiting?"

"No."

"No wolverinephant riding?"

"No."

"No giant bloodthirsty armadillo bear wrestling?"

"Yes. Wait, I mean no." She gave him her best That's not really funny you know look and he smiled back at her. "Really, I'll be—"

"Don't get into fights with more people than you can handle. And always make sure there's a healer around when you're sparring with someone new. And don't be afraid to ask people for help, but don't trust them too much, 'cause you never know what strangers are like and what their agendas are and—"

"Katara," he laughed, "I'll be fine! You don't have to worry."

"I can't help but worry," she snapped. "I love you."

Aang stared down at her, still smiling, his face perfectly still. "I love you, too," he said softly, and leaned forward; she met him halfway.

With enormous effort, they parted, and Aang hopped on his bison. Appa seemed to wait for Katara to join him, but when she did not, let out a low rumble; she rubbed his nose in consolation. The two teenagers exchanged a few more tender words, promises to take care and not worry, and finally, goodbyes. With an unenthusiastic Yip yip, Appa was off, floating through the sky as he'd done so many times before. She watched them leave.

It wasn't so bad, she supposed. It wasn't like he was going off to get stuck in an iceberg again; he'd still be around if anything truly terrible happened. Zuko and the Earth King were both keen to uphold the peace treaties, so there wouldn't be any trouble on that front. There might be some skirmishes with highwaymen and pirates, but those weren't large problems, really. Actually, she thought, the worst of it was going to be missing him. They hadn't spent more than a few days away from each other for over two years, so being apart for a few months was going to be difficult. Still, she'd preserver; she always had in the past. Change happened, like the shifting of the seasons, and all you could do was cope.

As her mind drifted, the figures in the sky drew rapidly away. Appa, so huge up close, was still retreating to the east, shrinking until he was the size of a spider-fly; Aang's orange shirt was barely discernable. At length, when Appa was the size of a gnat and Aang was imperceptible, she turned to walk back to the house.

She heard the crackle of thunder in the distance, and hoped the storm wasn't in the direction Aang was headed. A few drops of rain dripped onto her head, and then, suddenly, it came down in sheets. Sighing, she made a bubble over her head. She ignored the stares from passers-by and marched through the puddles forming in the street.

Of course, this wasn't exactly what she wanted, but it was what needed to be done. If Aang had to do this by himself, she had to let him. She consoled herself by repeating, over and over, that he'd be back. It was only a few months. He would be fine.

The muddy water soaked through her shoes, staining them. Perfect; another reason to hate the spring. Still, it would be over eventually. It was only a few months.

What's the worst that could happen in a couple of months?

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Continued…