First, some replies:
Guest (Ashely Barbosa): I like your attitude!
Guest: Thank you! I hope you're seeing this.
kataang0508: I just couldn't ignore it, and i'm glad you seem to like my speculation fic. Also, the first?! Really? I feel kind of cool.
Second: Part Two unitentionally became split because it was such a large file on my Word document I figured I should give the readers some breathing room before continuing, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.
That night played in Aang's head, sneaking its way through a typical romantic dream; him making Katara blush and giggle, sweeping her off her feet with everything he did or said, warming her up to draw her in for a kiss, yet when moved to hold her there was nothing and his new sight was the scene of her being out of reach and distressed, and right when he held his hand out for her his senses were greeting the next morning.
As usual Aang was an early starter, but it was an unusually groggy start. Waking up felt incomplete without seeing Katara stare up at the sky or ceiling, irritated at being snored awake by Toph and Sokka before noticing him and asking what he wanted for breakfast with a smile. In fact when he looked over to her spot he was surprised the bedding was still unfolded and the sheet was crinkled, Katara's standard of messy.
She'd gone to bed early last night, right after dinner actually, so it made sense that she'd wake up much earlier today.
The logistics didn't make Aang worry any less.
A light knock on the bedroom door-frame broke his concentration and Aang sighed before he answered. The Air Acolytes meditation came first, feeling if he didn't approach today with a clear mind it would've been like no good had been achieved at all. He wanted to check on her, but he wanted to give her space. Katara always knew when he needed her and when she should give him space before checking up on him, so it was only fair Aang gave her the same courtesy.
No matter how conflicting it was, he had to wait to be by her side on this one.
There was only one restaurant with authentic water tribe food, so Katara rose early enough in the morning to feel like one of the grumpy workers currently forming their breakfast line, sat at the same table Nutha and Niyok had that day, and waited.
On the walk over she'd formed speech after speech in her mind, each one more pointed than the next. Phrases overlapped in her mind so constantly that she could imagine when Nutha actually appeared, how she would lay into her and how each opposition would be countered. She would think quickly and effectively get her point across.
But the longer she sat, the longer she imagined Nutha countering those counters and making her feel as small as last night until she ended up ordering three bowls of clam seal stew and staring at her milky reflection as the fourth bowl was brought to her.
All her life she had tried to be mature. Katara wanted to be someone others could feel like an adult around; if there was a meeting about the tribe she wanted to be involved, if her father and the other men were leaving she wanted to see them off, if a child was born she wanted to help with the delivery and if hunting had to be done she wanted to be on the same level as anyone else chosen to do it.
Being away from home so long made her realize how tiring that was. Yes, she still had it in her, it was who Katara was in her core, her ingrained personality was a care taker and a warrior and it was tiring.
She had stuck herself in a position at home and no one said anything about it, no one challenged how she saw things until that boy in the iceberg.
Aang woke up not seeing an adult, but another kid he could play with it and it startled her. The other people she'd grown up with were forming their lives just as she was going to, as the next healthy young adults next in line to make sure they survived another winter and sometimes… it was scary. Sometimes she wanted to be a kid again. Sometimes those penguins looked like they need to be sled upon and only when Aang was around did Katara really feel the final push to indulge in her age.
At times... It wasn't often, but sometimes the full moons at home made Katara feel like it actually understood her. It would make her bundle up in her parka, sneak out of their tiny dwelling and go far out enough to sit like a tiny ball underneath something greater.
Somewhere there was a great, big something, and when it felt like it was being pulled right to her Katara would stare imploringly at the moon with wet eyes and weep for her lost childhood.
Sometimes the Southern Water Tribe had felt like the loneliest place in the world to her.
"Katara!"
Niyok's voice broke her sullen concentration.
In what Katara guessed was her uniform, Niyok ran towards the table with a big smile.
Katara sighed in relief and embraced the girl's side hug prior to offering her a seat and her untouched bowl, both of which Niyok took with a humbling gratitude.
"So… "Katara feigned nonchalance, "where's Nutha?"
Niyok paused her inhaling of the stew, "She traded shifts with me so I didn't have to go in super early today. I'm so happy, but I practically had to force feed her some breakfast this morning, it was weird."
Katara replied with an uneasy chuckle, "Yeah. That does sound really weird."
Niyok downed the last of the bowl and sat back in satisfaction, "Thanks Katara. I can always count on you for a meal, huh?" She giggled, "She said you got to talk last night. I'm glad. She was down when you and Sokka left."
"Yeah, I bet."
"So what's been going on with you? I mean, besides the obvious of course. Still hate papaya? Is Sokka still a dunce? Ever find that dream guy?"
It suddenly occurred to Katara that even though it wasn't a secret, it wasn't as if the whole world automatically knew the Avatar had a girlfriend.
Unintentionally, Nutha had sparked some irritation in Katara that made her want to tell everyone.
"Yes to all three." A small grin, the first one all day stretched her lips and Niyok gasped.
"What?! You saved the world andmanaged to find a boyfriend? Lucky! Where is he? What's his name?"
Katara's eyes and her grin widened, and she let out a much needed laugh.
'Finally,' Katara thought with unsuspected happiness.
Between friends finding their affection 'oogie', friends congratulating them while having to add they knew it all along, and more friends thinking they were already together, Katara hadn't realized how happy it made her that someone else was excited for their relationship until someone actually wasexcited for their relationship.
Gushing to someone felt so much better when they could she could see them being just as excited for the information.
So Katara relished in it. They ordered tea and she kept Niyok at bay with stories about her friends and their combined efforts in ending the war, making sure to subtly allude to stories about the ways her "dream guy" had showed her his kindness and affections, how she'd fallen for her best friend like the women in the tales they'd read as children, intentionally keeping the juiciest detail Niyok wanted hidden until the end.
Time passed and Katara felt like herself again, with Niyok pouting and wiggling her arm and insisting she had to hear his name before she left.
"Oh come on, I told you all that. Isn't it obvious by now?" Katara teased.
Niyok hummed and narrowed her eyes in concentration, the minutes passing until she held her hands up to her mouth and gasped.
"The Avatar?" She whispered like some sacred prayer, to which Katara shrugged shyly.
"Who'd a thought the one person we dreamed about was my "dream guy" all along?"
Niyok bounced in her chair and squealed, her exuberant personality startled the off duty workers and made Katara shake her head in embarrassment.
"Katara that's the cutest-I mean it's so roman-I'm so jealous!" Niyok's body language showed no malice though, she was sincerely happy that her old friend, once so stiff and hurt after the loss of her mother, had found someone that could fill her days with love.
In the midst of watching her cheeks redden however, Niyok came to a realization.
"My sister… You didn't tell her did you?"
Katara drew back from her teacup and nodded.
"… She didn't say anything stupid, did she?" Niyok's blunt question shocked Katara enough to look up at her.
Niyok was wearing a strange was the girl who had been offering her silly, romantic side and instead now sat as a worried friend who sighed when she didn't get a reply.
"Of course she did, this is my sister we're talking about."
"She respects Aang-"
"But not your choice to be with him, right?" Niyok cut her off, "Nutha… she means well, but sometimes she's just so single-minded."
Niyok's grip tightened around her cup, only relaxing when she felt Katara's hand surround it.
"Before, it was understandable," Niyok began the story after a few calming breaths, "We all hated the Fire Nation… but then, those little kids we'd taken care of were becoming these opinionated little tykes, and even though they'd never been spared the harsh details of our struggle, they looked passed it.
"They said they remembered seeing you go sledding with a bald kid a long time ago, a boy obviously not from our Tribe, and said if a stranger could make Auntie Katara so happy, there had to be strangers all over the world that were doing their best to one day make them happy. Their Mommy's and Daddy's were meeting strangers all the time and maybe they were working toward happiness at that very moment."
Niyok placed her free hand on her chest, "Can you believe after all that time, it was a bunch of twelve year old kids spouting out wisdom?" she joked, but her face was serene and her words were heartfelt, "Afterwards, it felt like the only thought in my mind was about going out into the world and working together with those strangers too, to have a small part in those kids' fantasy, and when Nutha had actually listened to me for once and even agreed to come with me to find work I was so proud."
Niyok's expression began to sour, "We worked a lot of places. Nutha always said the plan was to make enough money to be able to go home and effectively help our village, and when we found this place it was like all our hard work had paid off. I like it so much here Katara, I was going to suggest we make it a more permanent place. Nutha and I could make frequent trips back home to give what we had, and live our own lives. They haven't been the best lives, and there were times we didn't know where to go next or where our next meal would come from, but I always believed the good outweighed the bad."
Katara frowned as Niyok slumped into her chair, "I didn't know it was sobad to her. There were instances and incidents and a few guys… one time I even had a boyfriend too, if you can believe it. You should've seen how angry Nutha was when I introduced him, how she drove him off. I thought she was being the most over-protective sister in the world and I didn't talk to her for weeks… I never realized until now that after that, she never did have any good opinion of anyone except people we occasionally came across from the North. That pride of hers…"
Niyok quieted, shook her head and took a deep, slower breath.
She sat up and smiled gratefully at Katara before downing her tea, feeling much better after releasing all that tension coiled inside her.
She and Nutha had the same friends for the most part, and it was always difficult to be the only one at the table who really knew her sister's flaws.
"Feel better?" Katara asked, making Niyok laugh.
"Sorry to go off on such a tangent. I just wanted you to know whatever Nutha might have said that got you so down, I completely understand. I love my sister, but… know I'm on your side, okay?"
A huge weight felt completely lifted from both of them. It seemed like this new idea of sides Katara hadn't even considered until recent events was suddenly thrown at her again, and this time she was the leader.
A small waitress with a messy bun tying up her curly black hair approached their table to collect the cups, "Niyok you're going to be late if you don't hurry." She chided the girl, and Niyok's mood made an abrupt switch back to its chipper demeanor. She jumped up from the table and rummaged her pocket.
"This rounds on me!" Niyok dropped the total for their tea on the table, "As long as you promise me and my future, lucky dream guy a double date, deal?"
"Deal." Katara waved Niyok away while she and the waitress smiled apologetically at one another. She got up from the table and stretched, realizing she couldn't possibly just sit and wait at this table any longer, especially if Nutha was already working.
"Oh, and Katara!" Niyok shouted, running backwards momentarily, "I know you! Go home and figure out what you really want to say! We both get off late this afternoon, and we always eat here!"
With a final nod, Katara started to make her way back to their temporary house.
Niyok was right; the rehearsed jumble of speeches in her head wouldn't do against someone like Nutha.
A clear thought process and calm spirit is what this fight need and Katara would bring just that.