Katara's breath caught in her throat as she heard Aang's request. Move away from the South Pole? Her home? After all the work she'd done? All she'd built? "Aang, I…I…"

"I know, Katara. It's a lot to ask," Aang said and hung his head. "It's just, I thought it would be good for us. I wouldn't have to go away all the time, we'd be closer to all our friends—Sokka was even talking about heading north too."

"But Aang this is my home…"

"But we could make a new home—together." Aang looked up at her, a hopeful smile forming on his face. "Just think about it, we could really build something great together!" No doubt Aang had indulged in this fantasy many times before—of picking up and going to this new and exciting place, starting a life, starting a family…

Katara pursed her lips together, lowering her eyes. She understood where he was coming from but it was just too much to process right now. "Aang, I think…"

"Yes?" Aang asked hopefully.

"I think you should sleep in the other room tonight…"

Aang's face fell. "Oh. Yeah, ok then…" He sighed and pushed himself up, heading towards the door. Katara bit her lip and stood up, placing a hand on his cheek.

"I'm not mad at you for this. It's just…well, it's a lot to take in, I need to give it some thought. Alone," she said, hoping he would understand.

"Ok, I get it. Besides, what's another night alone?" Aang asked, smiling wanly. He had meant for that to sound light, but realised that it probably made things worse, so he decided it was time to go. "Goodnight, Katara," he said and slipped out of the room, leaving Katara standing there biting her lip and wondering what had just happened.

Somehow Aang managed to fall asleep sometime in the late hours of the night, but it was a troubled and restless sleep. That was probably why he woke easily when his bedsheets began to rustle. "What the…" he mumbled.

"Shh, it's me."

"Katara?" he asked groggily.

"No, it's Sokka. Of course it's me," Katara growled as she shuffled into the bed and huddled into him.

"So…does this mean you're not upset anymore?" Aang asked, still a bit dazed and confused, but he shifted himself over to make room for her regardless.

"Aang, honey, just shh," Katara said and planted a silencing kiss on his lips. "Let future Katara and Future Aang deal with that…issue. Can we forget about it for now and just sleep? Please?" she whispered into the dark.

Aang sighed in agreement, feeling some relief settle over him. It seemed they would be able to set aside their little argument until the morning. Aang was too tired to do anything else anyway.

"Alright, I can do that. Cummere." He slid his arm around her and she nuzzled into his chest, holding loosely onto his shirt.

It had been far too long for them to spend their first night together apart. Aang was glad that Katara had come back to him; he'd sleep better, that was for sure. He sighed and snuggled into her, quickly drifting off to sleep.

When Aang woke the next morning he was disappointed, but not altogether surprised, to find that he was alone. Part of him wondered if he was still in the Earth Kingdom and that his return was just a dream, but a freezing cold breeze reminded him that this was not the case.

Yawning and stretching, the Avatar lifted himself from bed and went about his morning routine. He did his morning meditation, then pulled his robes on and went to the bathroom to wash his face and shave. Recently he'd been toying with the idea of growing a beard, but that subject would probably have to be discussed with Katara first.

Finally, when he was ready, he walked down the hallway to the kitchen where he found Sokka and Chief Hakoda sitting around the table and Katara fixing up breakfast in the kitchen. Whatever she was making, it smelt nice.

"Greetings, Aang. I thought you were supposed to be the morning person of the group?" Sokka smirked.

"Heh, I must still be adjusting to the time difference," Aang said bashfully.

"Well, you're just in time for breakfast," Katara said as she ladled out porridge into bowls. Thanks to increased trade between the nations, the Southern Water Tribe was able to access more different kinds of food—much to Aang's relief. "Morning, sweetie," Katara said as she handed Aang his bowl.

"Oh, morning, uh, sweetie," Aang said, slightly perplexed. Honestly he'd been expecting a bit of a cold shoulder from Katara, but apparently she was keeping her true feelings well hidden. Perhaps for the sake of discretion in front of her father and brother.

Sokka carried the conversation throughout breakfast, oftentimes talking with his mouth full, but Aang barely noticed. He ate his breakfast in relative silence, occasionally laughing a bit at Sokka's jokes. Most of his attention was really on Katara. He studied her face, trying to read it to get some clue as to what she might have been thinking or feeling, but she was a closed book. Finally they were all finished and Aang offered to do the washing up.

"Welp, when someone else offers to do the dishes, I won't be the guy who stops him," Sokka said happily.

"Lucky you, Sokka, you can get to work sooner," Hakoda grinned and pulled a squirming Sokka out the door with him, waving farewell to Aang and Katara.

The kitchen felt much emptier once the two men were gone, leaving Aang and Katara alone. Katara helped Aang collect up the plates and they headed outside to a tank of water where the washing up was done.

"It's going to be great when the entire city has indoor plumbing," Aang said conversationally.

"Mm," Katara hummed distractedly. She was looking around at their surroundings, clearly thinking.

Aang crouched down by the water tank and started soaping and washing the dishes. The water was, like everything else in the South Pole, freezing.

"So…have you thought about my, uh, proposition?" he finally asked.

Katara blinked and pulled herself from her thoughts. She settled her gaze on Aang, looking over his features.

Sometimes she still couldn't believe how much he'd changed over the years. His once smooth face had become more angular, all his edges more defined. He'd finally grown taller than her a few years ago, and his shoulders had become broad and strong. But the difference Katara noticed most was in his eyes.

He hadn't lost anything per se—the fun and innocence of the boy she had found in the ice was still there. But there was more. There was patience and thoughtfulness and kindness…and also heartache, maturity, and the responsibility for the entire world. Sometimes it was easy for Katara to forget this, but he wasn't an innocent kid anymore.

She sighed. "Yes," she said.

Aang dropped the dish he was working on into the water and looked up at her expectantly. "And…?" he prompted.

"I had a dream last night," she said vaguely.

"Um…ok. What was it about?" Aang asked, deciding to go along with wherever Katara was going with this.

"It was about us—but we were older. We had a beautiful house with a garden and a family, and—" she chuckled softly "—you had a beard…and then Momo and Appa started talking but that's besides the point," she said and shook her head. "Here's the thing though. In my dream…we weren't surrounded by ice and snow," she finished, biting her bottom lip.

Aang arched his eyebrows in interest. "Oh—really?" he asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.

Katara laughed shortly, shaking her head. "Yeah, really. Which is so strange because I've always pictured my future full of snow and glaciers. But instead everything was green and warm and, well, different…you didn't play some sort of Avatar mind trick on me?" she asked, quirking a sceptic eyebrow.

"No way, Avatar's honour," Aang swore solemnly. "So…was it a good kind of different? Did you like it?" he asked, toeing his luck.

Katara closed her eyes, picturing the images from her dream. She smiled and hugged herself loosely. "Yeah. Yeah, I did." She sighed and opened her eyes, coming back to reality. "Walk with me?" she asked Aang.

"Sure," Aang replied and he put the last dish out to dry. He straightened up and instinctively reached for Katara's hand.

"Aargh!" she grimaced, snapping her hand away.

"What? What is it?" Aang asked, shocked.

"Your hand's still wet, Aang!" Katara complained.

"Oops, sorry," Aang blushed. He quickly sent a blast of warm air over Katara's hand and then on his own before reaching for her hand again. "Mm. Toasty," he said and grinned.

Katara giggled and shook her head, squeezing his hand. "Come with me, I want to show you something." Aang nodded in agreement and allowed her to lead him away from the house and into the streets.

"You know, I always thought it was a bit selfish of me to choose this area to build the city of the South Pole. You know this is where my village was? Where I grew up?"

"Yes, I did know that," Aang said. He smiled to himself as he imagined a young Katara running around, laughing and playing amongst the beautiful houses and buildings that sprung up from the ground that had once been occupied by small makeshift huts.

"I mean, logically other locations could have been better. The city could be a little closer to the ocean so we could have better access to the ports. But…I guess I just wanted to make sure that my home wouldn't be forgotten."

Aang nodded in understanding. "That makes sense. Besides, it's beautiful here. If it were closer to the ports, we'd always be getting smoke and ash from the ships, and no one would get any sleep because the engines are so loud," he assured optimistically.

Katara smiled as she was reminded once again that Aang would always remind her of the silver lining of things. "I suppose that's true."

They continued walking together, heading towards the centre of the city. The city was very neatly organised. It was designed to resemble a ripple in a pool, with rings of buildings echoing out from the centre. At the centre was a beautiful water fountain, which Katara had designed herself. The fountain was carved out of marble, by none other than Toph, the greatest earthbender in the world. As they continued walking inwards, Aang could only assume that this was where they were headed. But why, he wondered.

At last they reached the centre of the the middle was a grand fountain which was surrounded by street lamps that were lit in the evening. At night, the flames flickered off the ice and water of the fountain spectacularly—it was truly a sight to behold.

"Here we are," announced Katara.

"Indeed. What is it you wanted to show me?" asked Aang.

"Not many people know this—in fact, only the people from my original village would know—but here is where my family's hut used to be. Right where the fountain is," she said with a nostalgic smile. "I know, I know. How narcissistic of me to build a giant fountain in the spot where I grew up, right?"

"No, I wasn't thinking that all."

Katara looked up at Aang to find nothing but sincerity in his eyes, which gave her the resolution to go on. "So you see…leaving here, leaving this—for good? It's kind of a big deal for me."

"I understand. This place is kind of your baby, isn't it?" Aang asked. Katara definitely had a deep-seated maternal instinct, and it had certainly latched itself onto the city.

Katara laughed. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. I have become rather fond of it here. I guess it's been a little while since I've been on an adventure. I'm a little… scared," she admitted reluctantly.

"Ah, so that's it, is it? You're scared?" Aang asked.

Katara shrugged, blushing. "I'm comfortable here. It's familiar," she insisted.

"Ooh, I think you've gotten soft, Katara," Aang teased, nudging her playfully. "Come on, Katara, you're a waterbender! You can adapt to anything!"

Katara laughed and sighed. "Yeah. I am a waterbender. I can adapt to anything. I do kind of miss having adventures. New places, new people…all that jazz," she admitted with a shrug.

"And you know where there are plenty of those? Up north!" Aang insisted and grinned.

"I suppose we'll find out about that," Katara said and returned his grin. "I don't know why I was so upset about the whole idea last night. You did kind of spring it on me," she said and gave him a reprimanding look.

"Sorry about that," Aang grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's just, it had been in the back of my mind the whole time away and…well, it just sort of slipped out. I'm just really excited about it. You should see it there, Katara. It's breathtaking," he said, letting out a sigh of awe.

"I'll believe that when I see it," Katara laughed. She looked around the town circle and all the people walking through it. She couldn't believe that she would be leaving it all soon. "I'm really going to miss it…. what about my jobs? My responsibilities? Not to brag or anything, but I'm kind of a big deal around here," she said proudly.

Aang chuckled. "I know, I brag about you all the time. So now you're kind of a big deal everywhere."

"Really?" she asked, her eyes shining.

"Yup. Well, even more than before when you were 'Katara of the Gaang'. Now you're not only that, you're 'Katara: the girl who reunited the Southern Water Tribe'."

"Wow," Katara breathed.

"And don't worry about your responsibilities. I mean, we're not leaving tomorrow or anything. There will be time to organise everything," Aang assured her.

"Ok. Alright. Great." Katara's head was spinning…but in a good way. With each passing moment she could feel her fear and apprehension slipping away and quickly being replaced by excitement and curiosity. "What's it going to be like?"

Aang beamed at her. "Well that's the point, isn't it? We don't know! "

Katara smiled and nodded, accepting her boyfriend's answer. She couldn't believe it. Soon enough, she would be jumping on a flying bison with the man she loved, off to a new world of possibilities and adventure—just like she had done all those years ago. It usually felt so long ago, but today Katara felt more like that young girl than she had in a long time.

OoOoOo

^_^ hurrah, onwards to adventure~~ or something.

Reviews are always appreciated~ I'm finding it a bit hard to get Katara's character just right, so if you have any suggestions I'd be more than happy to hear them.

I'll be updating fairly soon, so watch this space!