3. Fog
During her time on the ship, her dreams remained mostly the same. She still searched, Zuko still called for her, and she still couldn't find him before the thing she could never see - whatever it was - forced her out of the Spirit World. Whatever Zuko had done to answer her, she hoped he could do it again soon. She had a great deal to ask him.
A week into her voyage, she received a letter from Toph and Aang. They agreed to meet her in the port town of Ren-Chen, a small fishing town on the Northwest coast of the Earth Kingdom that was going through some changes. It had been a Fire Nation colony, once upon a time, which was the norm for most Earth Kingdom towns on the West coast, but after the war it had been given back to the Earth King and transformed into a port of trade between the two once at-odds nations. Aang wrote that he was there often, mediating disputes between former colonists and native Earth Kingdom inhabitants. Tensions weren't rare between those two groups, and it was the Avatar's job to keep the Avatar's peace. He also wrote that he was looking forward to seeing her. A great knot formed in her stomach. Toph's presence would probably be enough to keep things friendly, but she was worried all the same. She wished Sokka were with her.
Finally, the afternoon arrived, and the Pink Snapdragon pulled into its final port. It was a bright, clear day, and shouts echoed throughout the marketplace that clustered around the docks. Katara could see clothing from all four nations being peddled (though the orange of the Air Nomads was a bit dull), along with jewelry, art, scrolls, food, fish, furniture, and goods from around the world. There was even an apothecary stand from which she was able to purchase a sizable bag of herbs to help her sleep.
"A pinch of this stuff in your tea will knock you out in a quarter of a candle mark, guaranteed," said the plump, bearded merchant as he tied off her package.
"I hope so," she said, slipping it into her bag.
As she was getting her change, she heard someone shout, "Think fast!"
A great clod of earth was soaring right at her head. Katara whipped her arm back and pulled a wall of water out of the air. She sunk down low to the ground and just as the earth flew over her head, she caught it in a net of water and held it suspended in midair. Then, with a flick of her wrist, she turned the water into ice and shredded the projectile into a cloud of dirt and snow. The dustcloud enveloped the neighboring stalls. The man who had sold her the sleep herbs coughed while he threw a blanket over his merchandize.
"Sorry," she said, then leaped backwards as a jagged crack in the earth snaked its way between her legs. She took a deep breath and pulled more water from the surrounding air. Then she spun on her heels and ran the way the crack had come, gathering the water into two fat sleeves as she went. She did her best to avoid upsetting any stalls, but a greengrocer who had unwisely set up his pushcart in the middle of the foot path couldn't be spared. One of her water sleeves upset his entire cart. Mounds of fresh, leafy greens poured onto the muddy street.
"My cabbages!"
Her distant assailant was cackling now. Walls of earth sprung up in her path, trying to cut her off, but she made ice stairs and vaulted over the obstructions, firing ice knives with every leap. As she tore past the last stall, run by a red-robed woman peddling knives, the town opened up into a square with a decorative fountain set in it. She smirked.
"Never challenge a master waterbender when there's a fountain nearby," she said.
Toph, her black hair piled on top of her head and her shark-like smile firmly in place, jerked one clawed hand upward, and the fountain's spigot ceased functioning.
"You were saying?"
A chattering, soaring creature with batlike ears soared past Katara and landed on the shoulder of a very tall, very familiar orange-clad young man. The knot in Katara's stomach tied itself into a bow.
"Toph, are you sure you should be damaging public property like that?"
"Oh relax. I'll fix it when we're done."
"Catch!" Katara shouted, and threw her bag to Aang. In the time it took him to catch it, Katara made an ice slide and rode it to the basin of the fountain, then made a scooping motion with her arms and bent the water into a torrential wave. Toph stomped and chunks of stone rose out of the earth, breaking her ice slide and sending Katara flying into the sky like a tiger-cake during a festival. For a moment, Katara thought of the first time she'd flown with Aang, the bottomless feeling of climbing up and up, then the feeling of her insides being left behind as the earth yawned below her. Then she twisted in the air and threw her arms forward, pulling a thick curtain of water with her as big as a sail.
"Heads up!" she shouted.
She threw the wave onto Toph's head just as Toph tossed up her own earth shield to counter the oncoming downpour. The water froze as if captured in ink. Katara dove into it and swam to where Toph stood, held still in mid bending-stance. Katara took one of her wrists, intending to drag her friend out of the ice and pin her down until she gave in, when a great stone arm sent both of them tumbling onto what was left of the cobbled square. Her hold on the water faltered and it burst apart like a rotten barrel. Aang, holding Katara's bag above his head, was soaked to the waist. Momo screeched at the oncoming water and scrabbled to stay atop Aang's shoulders.
Katara and Toph lay panting on their backs, legs and arms sprawled.
"When did... you learn... facebending?" Katara gasped.
"Not... telling..." replied Toph.
A pair of slender, booted feet stopped near Katara's head. She looked up and saw Aang grinning down at her.
"Nice one," he said. "Katara seems to be on top. You owe me five gold pieces, Toph."
"No... way..." she panted. "Still... haven't lost..."
Katara wobbled to her feet. There was water everywhere. The pale cobblestones of the town square were black with water, and several irritable-looking old women were scowling in her direction. There was a trail of rocks and sundry debris littering the path she'd taken from the docks, not to mention a few holes that were now dangerously deceptive puddles. It was even money that Aang would have to do some damage control. This was probably not the time to have a rematch.
She wrung out her hair. "I'm willing to call it a stalemate if you are."
Toph blew her wet bangs out of her face, stood up, and stuck out her hand somewhere to Katara's left. "Only 'cause I'm hungry."
Katara took Toph's hand and pulled her into a very wet hug. "It's so good to see you."
"I'd say the same, but well, you know." Toph put both hands on her back and stretched until her bones cracked. Water dripped off the light green belt tied around her waist, a sign of her station as Master Earthbender of the Gaoling School, and the red rope she'd wound around it, a sign of her service to the Fire Nation.
"I kept your bag dry," Aang said. He held it out to her, and her hands closed over the strap.
"Aang," she said, her voice too high. "Hi."
"What, hi is all I get?" He half-smiled, half-scowled and put his hands on his hips. "Toph got a hug. She doesn't even like hugs."
"I can take 'em or leave 'em," Toph said.
Katara hesitated. While she wasn't sure she was ready for them to be best friends again, she had missed Aang, badly. She'd missed their easy camaraderie and the fun they'd had together. Then, they'd been able to touch each other without any implications that would make things so complicated later. Couldn't it be like that again?
She opened her arms. He grinned and scooped her into a bear-like embrace, then quite literally hung in the air as he spun her in a circle. Both she and Momo shrieked in surprise, one delighted, one offended enough to take flight.
"It's awesome to see you, Katara! I can't believe it's been a year already. A whole year! I missed you so much!" He set her down, his arms still loosely draped over her shoulders. There was a pink tinge to his cheeks. "You look great."
She smiled and gently pushed his hands away under the pretense of bending everyone's clothes dry. "It's nice to see you too, Aang," she said as she funneled the water into the empty fountain. "I wish it were under better circumstances."
Aang bowed his head slightly. "Yeah. It's hard to believe that Zuko's..." he trailed off, shook his head. "I mean, he's Zuko. He broke into Zhao's fortress and got me out of my chains without bending. I never thought something as stupid a poisoned dart would take him down."
"Poison can't be fought off with a pair of swords," she said. "Besides. He's not down yet. Now that you're with me, I know we're going to find a way to bring him back."
He smiled and touched her shoulder. "Glad to see you still haven't stopped believing in me."
Toph cleared her throat. Aang dropped his hand and looked strangely guilty. "While I'm all for hashing out plans to rescue Sparky from the big, bad spirit monster, I think we should do it over dinner. Maybe at our house? Where there's food?"
Katara raised her eyebrows. "You have a house?"
Aang rolled his eyes and gestured to Toph. "We were going to camp like usual, but Prefect Jiang wanted to let us use his guest house after we got Mister Song his farm back. Toph wouldn't let me say no."
"You mean I put you in a headlock until you gave in," Toph sniffed.
"A-hem."
An accented, honed, and thoroughly irritated voice interrupted their conversation. Everyone with the exception of Toph, who was occupied with digging the wax out of her ears, turned to see a very old woman with an elaborate headdress glaring imperiously at them. She was flanked on both sides by the women who had been glaring at them earlier, all of whom looked intolerably smug.
"Lady Chen!" Aang said, standing up very straight. He gave what looked like an attempt at a charming smile, but came out looking like a guilty one. "Uh... what's up?"
"While the village appreciates the efforts you have gone to in order to solve the conflicts between its citizens, we remind the Avatar that his services did not include landscaping." She gestured to the holes in the road, one of which was being used as a new swimming-hole by a group of excited children. "No matter how quaint the results."
One exhausting, hole-filling, water siphoning hour later, Katara laid her bag down on the low table in the foyer of the guest house. The tatami floor was covered in cushions of many sizes, shapes, and colors, all clustered around a black-lacquer table. Momo swooped over her head and lighted on the table, where he immediately began to devour the contents of a bowl of lychee nuts.
"Finally," moaned Toph, flopping onto a pile of cushions. "If I had to pretend to be sorry for tearing one more hole in this stupid town I was going to earthbend that Chen woman into a volcano. And did you have to introduce Katara to every yokel who passed?"
Aang laced his fingers together and lifted them over his head, stretching as he spoke. "Remember how everyone wanted to meet us when we first got here?"
"Yeah. It was boring."
"It's like that," said Aang. "We don't have to like it, but we're symbols of what we accomplished during the war. Katara's a hero. I'm not going to say no if they want to meet her."
He rested his palm against Katara's back. She stiffened and jerked away a little too fast. She thought she saw a brief look of hurt flash over Aang's face, but he was smiling again before she could be sure.
"I'm going to go get dinner started," she said. "Be right back."
She practically ran. The kitchen was at the back of the house, sealed off by a huge green door. She shoved her way through, leaned against it, and covered her face with her hands. Her breath was hot against her fingers and cheeks.
"Relax," she muttered. "Everything's fine. Better than fine. That's good. That's what you were hoping for."
She lightly slapped her cheeks and lowered her hands. There was already something simmering over the fire pit in the middle of the floor. She picked up a hand towel and gingerly lifted the lid on the pot. A silky cloud of steam billowed out and the sweet, savory smell of curry filled the room. She leaned in and breathed. It had been a long time since she'd had Earth Kingdom curry. Now if she could find some rice, she'd have a complete meal. She set the lid down and scanned the room.
The door creaked behind her. She turned around to see Momo slink in through the crack, eyes round and hopeful. She put her hands on her hips.
"Sometimes I think the only words you understand are the ones that have to do with food."
Momo sat up on his hind paws and chattered at her.
"See? Point proven."
She bent to pick him up and caught a few words from the distant front room. As Momo clambered onto her shoulder, she went very still to listen.
"...being so touchy-feely. It's awkward for her too, and pawing at her isn't going to help things."
It was Toph. Katara held her breath.
"I know, I know, but I can't help it," said Aang. "It's like my hands have minds of their own. They want to touch her. It feels right to touch her."
"She's got enough to worry about without you playing touch ninja. It's been over a year, and in case you don't remember, you broke up. You can't just..."
Momo, apparently sick of waiting for his share of dinner, began loudly chattering in Katara's ear. She quickly shut the door. Her ears were hot and tingly, as if she'd just stepped out of a steam bath. It felt right to touch her? What did that mean? She supposed that she missed the intimacy that they'd once shared as well, before it changed and went sour and she couldn't kiss him goodbye without wiping any trace of him off her face, but that couldn't be willed back to life. She hoped very hard that he knew that. She was thankful, at least, that Toph seemed to understand.
Soon, she found a put full of warm, fluffy rice and a collection of bowls, clean and ready to be used. The curry, as far as she could tell, was entirely vegetarian, which was a relief. She didn't want to have to make something else to suit Aang after finding out she didn't have to cook after all.
It had been hard for him in the South Pole. As she scooped the rice into each bowl, she remembered how he would stand on shore during hunting season, hugging himself as he watched the canoes depart on their yearly whale hunt. She'd been able to give their share of the resulting meat to Sokka, but that hadn't stopped Aang from performing his own quiet ceremonies in honor of the life her tribe had taken. This wouldn't have caused trouble if Aang hadn't ignored her pleas to keep it private. She was lucky her father was the chief, because the implication that the Southern Water Tribe's own ceremony hadn't sufficiently honored the greatest of their prey was insulting enough to result in exile for anyone else. As it was, he was still the Avatar, and the tribe soon loved him again, despite his problems with meat. It had been that problem, in fact, that had resulted the increasing length of his absences, and one of the few fights of their entire relationship.
"I can't eat here!" Aang said. "You know that! I haveto go if I don't want to starve. I just don't understand why you won't come with me!"
"Because I have a life here! Dad's finally back home. We've only been here for a few months, Aang. This is the first time we've been able to be a family since he left to go fight the Fire Nation. I can't just abandon him to travel with you. Even Sokka's staying, and Suki went back to Kyoshi!"
"Don't we have fun, Katara? Don't you enjoy traveling with me? We could have that again if you'd just come with me."
"Not now, not right this second. If I had some time to be with my Dad for a while, I could, but I don't want to go yet. I'm not ready. We've been away so long; why can't you understand that?"
"Why don't you want to be with me?"
"Not everything is about you!"
She dropped the last spoon on the serving tray. Brown curry steamed from each bowl. That should be enough food for all of them. She'd even made some rice balls for Momo. She handed one to him and tried not to remember Aang's misery or her frustration. That was in the past. If they were going to be friends again, it was time to let those feelings go. She hefted the tray with both hands, Momo riding on her shoulder, and carried it to the sitting room.
"They made us curry!" she announced.
Aang jumped to his feet, looking as if he'd been caught in the act of doing something wrong. Toph sat without moving very near to where Aang had been when she'd arrived with the food.
"Smells great," said Toph. She snapped her fingers and held out her hand. "Gimme."
"Thanks Katara," said Aang, taking two bowls and two spoons from the tray.
He put a bowl in Toph's outstretched hand and set a spoon on the table within her reach. Toph dug in immediately.
"Mmmm," said Toph, her mouth full of curry. She swallowed. "I love being the Avatar's bodyguard. This is way better than army food."
Aang gave her a skeptical look. "Toph, you haven't been in the army for two years now."
Toph shuddered. "The taste lingers. Hey, Sweetness." She pointed her spoon at Katara. "Next time you see Sparky, tell him if he wants to improve morale, he should recruit some chefs. By force if he has to."
"Do you think you'd ever go back to it if he did?" asked Katara. "What you did with the Rough Rhinos was pretty amazing, and there's still a lot of good you could do."
Toph shrugged. "I dunno. Once I got 'em to stop with the rampaging they got kind of dull. Good at parties, though," she added. "You remember Yeh-Lu, the guy with the bombs? Soprano."
Katara blinked. "I... um, I never would have guessed."
Aang leaned back in his chair, his hands behind his head. "Maybe instead of Toph joining the Fire Nation army again, we could all do a tour of it instead, after we save Zuko. We could make it a kind of cultural festival with Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom stuff. Like that dance we put on in the cave. Remember that?"
Katara stretched and wiggled her toes. "Yeah. Seeing those stiff kids loosen up and dance like that was amazing. You did a really good thing for them."
"I liked the music," said Toph. "Snoozles wasn't happy, though. Remember that stupid schedule he had?"
"Yeah," said Aang. "It sort of disappeared after we went to that river town, though. Wonder what happened to it?"
"Um... I definitely didn't waterbend it to the bottom of the river," said Katara.
"I knew you had something do with it," Toph said with relish.
Aang set his spoon into his empty bowl. "Remember our dance?"
Katara grinned and poked him in the arm. "Remember On Ji?"
Aang went pink and glanced at Toph. His shoulders, which had been relaxed, tensed slightly. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Um... it was a really great party. Everyone was so excited; I think if we didn't get caught we could have gone on all night. We should do it again. It'd be good for the Fire Nation's morale, don't you think?"
"It'd be fun, too," said Toph.
Aang relaxed, and that old grin slid onto his face. He leaned back in his chair. "I bet I could get you to dance."
"No chance in hell."
Aang began to argue with her, and they soon fell into a rhythm that felt familiar and comfortable, like a soft old obi or an aged pair of boots. She swallowed her last bit of curry and rice. There was a pinching feeling in her chest that had nothing to do with the food. Like when everyone had gone into their tents to share stories, and she was the one left to clean the firepit. It wasn't surprising that she would feel that way, considering that she hadn't spent any time with Aang or Toph in more than a year. But she found herself envious of their easy camaraderie. Hadn't she once had that with Aang? She wished, not for the first time, that she could forget things as easily as Aang seemed to.
"Tell you what," Toph was saying. "As soon as you can get Sparky to dance in public, I'll be the first one doing a jig on the table. What do you say?"
She stuck out her hand. Aang looked at Katara, and she shrugged as if to say 'go ahead, it's your funeral.' He slowly extended his own arm. Before he was halfway there, Toph groped for him, closed her fist on empty air, then leaned over and caught him. They shook on it.
"Excellent," said Toph. She cracked her knuckles. "Now all we have to do is get him out of the Spirit World and get Sparky so I can watch you fail. I like to see you squirm, Twinkle Toes."
Aang sighed. "Toph, you can't see anything."
She waggled her finger in his general direction. "Thought I had you that time."
"The Spirit World..." Aang leaned back in his chair, frowning. "People who get poisoned don't usually end up in the Spirit World. Well, they do if they die." He winced. "I should just leave my foot in my mouth all the time and save myself the trouble."
"I know what you meant," said Katara. She smiled encouragingly. "Go on."
"It's weird. I read your letter, and I don't really understand what the smell meant. But the creaking wood sounds like something's binding him. You remember Hei-Bai, right? He took Sokka and all those villagers to the Spirit World because his forest got burnt down. Zuko hasn't cut down any forests or poisoned any rivers lately, has he?"
"I... don't know?" she thought for a moment. "I think Iroh would have told me if he had. Probably not?"
"Huh," said Aang. His eyes were on his finger as he rubbed small circles on the table. "Don't you and Zuko write each other all the time, though?"
Zuko's last letter floated to the surface of Katara's thoughts.
You were right, you know. About everything. You can't build a house on a rocky foundation, much less a relationship. I wish... I don't know what I wish. I wish I could see you more often. You're free every winter, aren't you? Come and visit me then. It'll be summer here. We can talk about everything. I'll show you around the capitol. It'll be nice for you to see it when it's not on fire. Don't laugh.
Aang yelped, and Katara jerked back to reality. She looked up to see Toph with her arms folded across her chest and Aang nursing one of his shins.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"I know exactly what you were implying." Toph folded her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes. "Don't."
"Implying what?" asked Katara.
Toph smacked herself in the forehead. The gesture would have done Sokka proud.
"I was only saying," said Aang, glaring ineffectively at Toph as he rubbed his leg. "That you two are pretty close. If anyone would know what he was up to, you would. That's all."
The corners of Katara's mouth turned down just a little. "Well, we do, but... it's not like he tells me every detail what he does all day. He's Fire Lord. 'Today I raised taxes on imported iron' would be a really boring letter."
"Really?" said Aang, his voice high and strange. He stroked Momo, who had curled up after his meal and gone to sleep on the table. "So what do you two write about?"
Mai's back from Ba Sing Se. I don't know, something's different. She won't talk about it. She won't talk much at all. She just stares into her tea and asks me about politics, but things are so hectic that I've started dreaming about work...
Toph threw her hands in the air. "How is that even relevant?"
"I agree," said Katara. Heat rose in her cheeks. "I don't see how our letters any of your business, Aang."
Aang raised his hands in supplication. "Okay, okay, sorry. I'm just curious. You never let me read any of them when I was still in the South Pole."
"That's because they were my private correspondence," Katara retorted. "I never read any of your letters."
Toph wrapped her arms around her waist and snorted. "You are such a liar."
"What, were you there? Did you catch me reading them? No."
"When you put it that way, no, but you totally just adm-"
"Let's just drop it, okay?" said Aang. "It's not that big a deal."
"That's right," said Katara, seizing on the opportunity to change the subject. "There are more important things to focus on, like getting into the Spirit World. Aang, I know you can get there yourself. Can you bring me and Toph along somehow?"
He grimaced and scratched the back of his head. "If it were the equinox, maybe, but I don't think I could take both of you with me. You don't have a natural connection to it like I do."
"Wanna give it a try?" said Toph. "See how spiritual we are?"
"Yes. We should do that," said Katara. She lifted one finger and opened her mouth, then closed it, frowning. "Um. How do we do that?"
Toph smirked and drummed her fingers on the table. Katara valiantly ignored her.
"Come sit over here," said Aang, with a sliver of a smile. "Toph, you're fine where you are."
Katara scooted until she was shoulder-to-shoulder with Aang. He held out his hand, and when she took it, he used his other one to take hold of Toph's. He breathed in, held it, then slowly let it out.
"Close your eyes," he said. "Breathe slowly and deeply. Try not to concentrate on anything. If you have a thought, let it pass through you, don't worry about forcing it away. Try to focus on your breathing."
Katara closed her eyes. A few minutes passed. Then a few more. Finally, Aang let out a noise of frustration and let go of her hand.
"Ugh! I keep getting close, but it's like you're too heavy. I can't get you through."
"That's okay, Aang," said Katara, though her heart clenched with disappointment. "What if we were somewhere else? Some place like the Spirit Oasis? Do you think you could do it then?"
"I don't know. Maybe." He groaned and hit the table with his forehead. "This would be so much easier if I could just do it by myself. I wish Guru Pathik were here."
"Guru Pathik?" asked Toph. She made a face. "The guy who made you drink all the onion-banana juice?"
"He taught me a lot about the Avatar state. If anyone knows how to get multiple people into the Spirit World, it's him."
"So let's go visit him," said Katara. "How far is the Eastern Air Temple from here?"
Aang thought for a moment. "A few days, if we take Appa."
"Then it's settled," said Katara, folding her arms across her chest. "We'll leave in the morning."
Toph mock-saluted her. "Sure thing, Captain."
Katara rolled her eyes and turned to Aang, ready to say something like, 'can you believe her?' At the look on his face, though, she paused. His eyes were unfocused, as if he were frowning at something only he could see.
"What's wrong, Aang?" she asked.
"Nothing," he said. He scratched Momo behind the ears. The lemur purred in his lap. "We're going to do this. We're going to get him back. This time, I'm going to save him."
Katara smiled, reached over the table, and squeezed Aang's hand. "That's right. And if I see him tonight, I'll tell him we're coming for him."
Aang stood up very suddenly. "It's getting late. I think we should go to bed. Momo, you coming?"
The sleepy lemur stretched and scampered up Aang's arm.
"I'm sleeping in the stable with Appa," he continued. "So you two can have the bedrooms."
"Sweet," said Toph. "Dibs on the master bed."
"I wish I had my sleeping bag with me," said Katara. "We could all sleep in the stable. It'd be like old times."
Aang cocked his head, and gave a soft, half-smile that Katara couldn't read. "Old times. Right. Goodnight, Katara. Toph."
"Yo," said Toph, just as Katara murmured, "Goodnight."
Toph helped her clear the dishes, which was a nice change from the way things used to be during the war. She handled the bowls and eating utensils and Toph took care of the cookware. When Katara complimented her on the job she'd done on the heavy iron pot, Toph laughed and said that she knew metal. This was close enough to modesty for Toph that Katara had to wonder whether Aang had been influencing her, and not the other way around as Toph claimed. She'd never thought it odd that Toph had agreed to travel with Aang after her she finished her service in the Fire Nation. Toph liked her freedom, and for all his obligations as the Avatar, Aang was as free as his element. She could never have predicted, though, that tough, unchanging Toph would ever adopt the mannerisms of someone as yielding as Aang. She supposed that spending enough time with one person would change anyone.
After the dishes were done, she brewed up a cup of the potent sleeping herbs, curled up in her very soft futon and fell asleep within minutes.
There was no fog in the swamp. Strange, she thought. She brushed her hair away from her neck and fished in her pocket for something to secure it with. Nothing. She let her hair drop and listened for the familiar sound of Zuko calling her name. She didn't begin to worry until it didn't come.
"Zuko?" she called, tentative. "Can you hear me?"
There was a sound like electricity behind her. She turned.
A sumptuous banquet had appeared. The black lacquer table sat low to the ground, cushions embroidered with gold and silver thread arranged around it. Every inch of its surface was covered in food of all kinds; suckling picken, stir-fried frogamander legs with vibrantly colored vegetables, candied fruit, spicy fish with coconut rice, piles of milk-soaked dumplings, saffron rice with almonds, thick, yellow curries and heavily spiced stews with eggplant and lentils, even cured seal meat, seaweed-wrapped salmon, and what she was sure was a bowl of sea prunes. Beside each plate sat a goblet of clear, powerfully aromatic wine. Her stomach grumbled. Surely whoever put the feast together wouldn't notice if she sampled a few things. Her fingers itched to take something, anything to calm the emptiness in her belly. She was kneeling on a cushion now. She didn't even notice she'd moved. It was so easy to reach into the bowl of sea prunes and take one of the salty, savory things and raise it to her lips.
"I wouldn't do that."
She looked up just before the pilfered sea prune met her mouth. A middle-aged man sat across from her. He wore his hair in a topknot, in the style of the Fire Nation, and the armor that adorned his body was antiquated. His hair was mostly dark brown, but there were streaks of grey in it that looked like recent additions. There was something strangely familiar about his smiling, gold eyes, and his gruff voice.
"Why?" she asked. Her voice echoed like his did not. "I'm hungry."
"The food of the Spirit World has too high a price for the living."
The sea prune's juice dribbled down her hand and dripped onto the wet earth. It smelled almost as intoxicating as the wine.
"Can't I just take one bite? It looks so good."
"If you do, you'll never stop," he inclined his head. "Look at them."
Tall, misshapen shadows crouched on the cushions that were not occupied by her and the stranger. The plates that had once been empty now held huge piles of food. With elongated, multi-jointed arms, the shadows shoved it into ugly gashes that must once have been mouths. The food fell through them, and landed on the beautiful cushions with ugly splats. Katara dropped the sea prune and shoved herself away from the table. The juice on her hand and arm itched where it touched. She scrambled away and plunged her arm into the swamp, scrubbing it with handfuls of grass and mud until it was clean.
The stranger's reflection appeared next to her own. She looked over her shoulder and saw that he had left the feast. The creatures at the table did not take notice of them; they ate steadily, and the feast quickly dwindled to nothing but peels and bones and piles of chewed food.
"What are they?" she asked.
"I do not know." He smiled at her. "They never answer my questions."
The last of the food fell onto the floor of the swamp, and the table vanished. The shadow-creatures began to eat the food on the ground. She turned away, shuddering.
"I am looking for my son," said the man. "Have you seen him?"
She shook her head. "You're the first person I've ever seen here. Other than them."
He cocked his head at her and rocked backwards on his heels. "I have seen many people since I came here. You're the first one who has spoken to me. Perhaps this means we are kindred Spirits!"
He laughed at his own joke. Something pulled in Katara's memory.
"Do I know you?" she asked.
"Perhaps. Perhaps not. Time is strange here. Sometimes I do not think it exists at all. I have heard someone calling for me, but I do not recognize his voice..." he trailed off, shook his head. "You are Water Tribe, yes?"
She stood. "Yes. The Southern Tribe. I'm looking for someone, too. Someone of your nation. My, um, my friend."
He raised both bushy eyebrows. The smile on his face grew wide. "Your 'friend' is very lucky to have someone as beautiful as you as his companion."
She folded her arms across her chest. "How do you know it's a he?"
"Love stories are the only stories that I know."
Heat rose in her cheeks. "I'm not- he's not- you've got the wrong idea. He's got a girlfriend!"
He patted her on the shoulder. "Then you have my sympathies."
A splintering crash sounded in the distance, and a flock of thin black birds flew over their heads, calling out their alarm in hollow voices. The shadow creatures scattered. The Fire Nation man gripped Katara's forearm, hard.
"We do not have much time," he said. "Listen to me. Spirits do not lie, but they are not always honest. Do not eat the food. Do not make promises. Always accept gifts, but remember to offer something in return. A demon's heart is in its eye. And if you see my son, tell him I'm looking for him!"
Something splashed into the swamp and the sky went a bright, fiery blue edged with white.
Katara!
"Zuko!"
Katara sat bolt upright in bed and immediately clamped her hands over her mouth. Had she just shouted that? She could feel her entire face turning bright red. Toph was in the next room. If she heard that... she groaned and flopped back onto her pillows. If she knew Toph, and she knew Toph, she was going to hear about it in the morning. Mercilessly. She rolled onto her side and strained her ears, but didn't hear anything except chirping crickets and the murmur of trees in the late-night breeze. This either meant that Toph was asleep, or that Toph was awake and being very quiet. Neither option provided Katara with any comfort.
Slowly, like creeping syrup, memories of her dream edged into her thoughts. What had those shadow-creatures been? She shuddered to think that they'd once been human, like the Fire Nation man had implied. Maybe that was what happened to anyone who had spent too much time in the Spirit World. What had the man told her? All she could remember was to stay away from food... something about demons and telling the truth... it was too fuzzy. She hoped she could remember more later. She hoped she wouldn't run into the shadows again. She hoped the man had found his son.
From the position of the moon, she guessed that she'd only been asleep for a few hours. It was probably only a little past midnight. While it was annoying that she'd been woken up even earlier than she had become grudgingly accustomed to, it at least presented an opportunity for her to try to fall asleep again. She yawned, and her vision blurred, a probable side-effect of the herbs she'd drunk before bed. She settled back into her futon and tried to let them lull her back to sleep.
Warm, wet, green air blew in through her open window, carrying the scent of new leaves with it. It triggered a memory that she often returned to when she was falling asleep. She closed her eyes and let her thoughts carry her to the Fire Nation, on the last night of the Food Riots.
Summer, ASC 102, Year of the Dog
For two years after Fire Lord Ozai was deposed and stripped of his bending by Avatar Aang, the Fire Nation teetered on the brink of civil war. The Food Riots, brought on in part by a sharp, sudden rise in the price of rice in the suffering post-war nation, were what everyone was sure would push it over the edge. And for a short time, it nearly did. It was only the intervention of the Avatar and his friends that stopped the worst of it before it could explode into an all-out war.
The night after their apparent victory, Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Ty Lee, Suki, and all the Kyoshi warriors were invited to the palace to celebrate. Though it was too soon to tell if their work would have a permanent effect, the atmosphere of victory was intoxicating, and everyone was in the mood for a party.
Almost everyone, in any case. As soon as the dessert course arrived and Toph and Sokka dissolved into a rice wine-fueled insult contest, Zuko left. Once Katara finished her mango and sticky coconut rice, she followed.
"Hey," she said. She found him leaning against the balcony railing, staring into the garden. Without bothering to ask, she joined him. "I didn't notice you leaving."
He gestured to the dining room, where the happy shrieks of Aang, Toph, and Sokka could be heard as they engaged in a drunken game of lemurs and hogmonkeys, enthusiastically refereed by Ty Lee.
"Needed some air."
"What, the air in the dining room wasn't good enough for you?"
He lifted one corner of his mouth. "I don't see you enjoying it."
She grinned. "It wasn't good enough for me either."
"You're such a princess."
She stuck her nose in the air. "We are what we are born to."
She could still hear a few shrieks from the nearby dining room as her friends celebrated. Her brother and Suki were in one of their off periods, so she was happy that he was having fun, even if he was being a little loud. It was his own fault, really. He wanted Suki to move to the South Pole with him permanently, and wouldn't hear Suki out when she told him she didn't want to give up her life as head of the Kyoshi warriors. Every winter, like clockwork, they'd have their fight and break up, and every summer, they'd get back together again. She hoped they'd figure things out soon. She liked Suki very much, and she could tell that Sokka missed her when she was gone, though he always insisted he'd be just fine without her as he moodily made carving after terrible carving that depicted dead animals or hunters lost at sea. She hoped that they'd work something out on this mission, but Suki had declined Zuko's dinner invitation and retired with the rest of the Kyoshi to their rooms for the night. She seemed determined for Sokka to make the first move this time. Katara made a face. If she wanted that, she'd be waiting forever.
She slowly let out a long breath, letting the sound of it mingle with the distant noise of the sea. "So," she said.
"So," he said back.
She bit her lip, then released it. "How long has it been like this?"
"Like what?"
She waved her hand in the general direction of the capital city. It helped that it was all around them, so it wasn't as if she could miss. "The riots. The insurgency. All this. Last time we were here everything was fine. I mean, it wasn't perfect, but it wasn't this bad."
Zuko brushed his hair out of his eyes, but it fell back into place. "I'm not sure. Things weren't bad at first. People were hungry, but I had a lot of good programs going, so it wasn't as if they weren't happy. I mean, they didn't like the new histories, and they weren't thrilled about all the factories closing, but things weren't terrible. The riots didn't start until the Earth Kingdom Merchants' Guild decided to add another piece of gold onto the price of a bag of rice. Then the old soldiers got involved and they started organizing... I had some of the leaders arrested and things just exploded. I don't know how they got out of hand so fast. It was like I put out a fire only to find out that there was a volcano underneath it."
Katara crossed her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrow. If Sokka were there, he'd have called it her best skeptical mom look. "Was that around the time that your donation arrived?"
He pinched the bridge of his nose. "You weren't supposed to know that was from me."
"Dad told Sokka, and Sokka doesn't know how to keep a secret," she said, waving her hand. "And besides that, I would have found out anyway. That money was from your personal coffers, Zuko. You could have given that to your people."
Zuko slammed his fist onto the railing in front of them, nearly startling Katara out of her pose. "It's my money and I can use it however I damned well want!"
"Your first duty is to your people," she shouted back. "They're not going to understand if you give a thousand gold pieces to the people they were fighting two years ago. Especially the South Pole. Most of them still think we're savages."
The word was bitter in her mouth. That morning, when she'd hauled in the last of the rioters, he'd spat at her and called her something she'd never repeat to anyone. Something that meant to him, she was less than filth, because she wasn't Fire Nation.
"That's not true," he said. He was looking at her now. "They don't all think like that."
She shook her head. "Maybe some of them don't, but you can't fight a hundred years of propaganda."
"You can if you don't give up," he said. "And I won't. Change in this place starts with me. I'm going to make sure kids in the Fire Nation don't grow up thinking we defeated the Air Nomad armies or the Southern Armada. I'm going to make things right."
"Southern Armada?"
"You don't want to know."
There was a pause as she imagined the possibilities. Knowing the details would probably only make her angry. She decided that he was probably right. She didn't want to know. At least, not right away. She'd save that for after she got back to the South Pole. Surely Aang would remember the content of his Fire Nation schoolbooks.
"Still," she said. "You should have used the money for local relief efforts. And you should have written Aang! It really hurt his feelings that you didn't trust him to help with this."
Zuko thrust his arms to the sky. "It wasn't about trust! It was about keeping my own house! Aang shouldn't have to deal with my mess along with the rest of the world when I should have been competent enough to take care of it on my own!"
"If he were here, he'd say that it's the Avatar's job to keep the Avatar's peace. Since he's not, though, I'll answer for myself." She fixed him with a glare. "I'm hurt that you didn't write me. Didn't you think I'd want to help the second I heard you were in trouble? Don't you think I'm capable of helping?"
"Of course you're capable! You're more than capable, you..." he seemed to struggle for a moment. "I didn't want to get you involved in my mistakes."
"What, because I'm Water Tribe?"
"No! Because you... you're my best friend and I..." He groaned and put his head in his hands. "I'm not going to win this, am I?"
"Nope," she said. She put her hands on her hips. "I'm very good at being right."
"You're telling me," he muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing." He sighed. "Maybe I did made a mistake. Maybe I should have waited until things here calmed down." He took a step toward her and looked down. She had to lift her chin a little to look him in the eyes. He'd gotten so tall since she saw him last. "But I'd do it again. It's not about honor or duty. It's about doing what's right. You taught me how important that is."
She lifted her hand and brushed his hair away from his face. Her fingers skated over the surface of his scar, and he went very still.
"Well," she said, her voice just above a whisper. "Good. Just... um, remember that the right thing is sometimes the stupid thing, too. So... think about it before you do it. Okay?"
He caught her hand in his and lowered it. "Okay."
"And you have to promise to start writing me letters more often." She gently stroked the back of his hand with her thumb. "I don't want to be shut out of your life because you have this weird idea about protecting me from it."
He nodded. "I promise. Detailed letters."
"With all the gory details. Because I'm not going to hold back in mine."
"All of them. Whatever you want."
She sighed and rested her forehead on his chest. They stood there for she didn't know how long, their linked hands pressed between them. She could hear him breathing. No, she realized, she could feel him breathing. It was strange. Not like bloodbending, where she was horribly aware of the way organs and blood vessels intertwined with one another and how she could stop them all with a single squeeze, but like the feel of a heartbeat under her hand, warm and alive. She liked it. She liked that she could feel something like that without using the horrible thing Hama had forced her to learn. Then, she heard Ty Lee shriek from the nearby dining room, and quickly jerked backwards.
"It's a nice night," she asked, tucking her hair behind her ears and trying to keep her voice light. "Isn't it?"
Zuko settled his hands on the railing. "Yeah," he said. "It's nice. Really warm." There was a short silence, and then, as if he couldn't contain himself, Zuko burst out, "You want to know where the money was from?"
She raised one eyebrow. "Um, sure."
"It was from Ozai's personal vaults. I thought it was appropriate to use it to help rebuild a place my family was so bent on destroying for so long."
She laughed. "I like that."
He smiled at her. "I thought you would."
They left around sunrise, after a breakfast of white rice and pickled vegetables that Katara ate half-awake. The sleep she'd gotten after her unwelcome awakening had been fitful and shallow. Even Appa's enthusiastic, slobbery greeting wasn't enough to penetrate her cloud of sleep-deprivation.
He was delighted to see Katara. He sniffed her thoroughly, grunting every time he noticed a particularly interesting smell. Momo glided in circles above them, chattering fretfully. Once Appa seemed satisfied with her, he delicately slipped a toe into Katara's shoulder bag, held it open, took a few investigative sniffs, then licked Katara on the cheek.
"Aw, he smells Sparky. Don't you, boy?" said Toph, slapping Appa's flank affectionately. Appa gave a great groan in response.
Katara pulled her drool-coated hand away from her face, twisted it, and bent Appa's spit into the ground. "Whatever he smells, I hope he doesn't smell it again. That's way too much spit."
Aang jumped down from Appa's saddle and held his hand out to her. "Give you a lift?" he asked, smiling.
She only hesitated for a few seconds this time.
Progress, she thought.
They discussed her dream between yawns. Aang didn't know what to make of the shadow-creatures. He did recall an Air Nomad legend about the dangers of eating Spirit World food, however, and told Katara that the creatures were probably the result of that particular indulgence.
"It's a good thing that Fire Nation guy was there," said Toph. "Old man probably saved your life. Wonder who he was."
"You know, it's the weirdest thing," said Katara. "He reminded me of Iroh. But that's impossible. He was at least fifteen years younger than Iroh is now. And I'm sure he would have said something by now."
"Not if he doesn't remember," said Toph.
Katara shook her head. "No. There's no way it could have been him. Could it?"
"Who knows?" said Aang with a shrug. "The monks always said that the Spirit World wasn't bound by normal rules. Maybe time is one of them."
Around midday, they stopped for a quick meal of fried food in a village that was apparently having a festival. By that time, she was feeling a bit more alert, and so Aang's hand on the small of her back as they walked back through the village to Appa was more than a little noticeable. She picked up her pace. She remembered what she'd overheard the previous night, how Aang had said that it felt right to touch her, that he couldn't help himself. She refused Aang's offer of his hand to get back into the saddle. He seemed to take it in his stride, not even breaking the pace of his conversation with Toph, but the gesture bothered her.
After that, at least for a little while, they fell into the easy camaraderie of their days during the war. Toph even cracked a few extremely filthy jokes to make up for Sokka's absence. Her repertoire was as extensive as it was perverted. More than once, Katara exclaimed, "Toph!" over Aang's rib-clutching guffaws, amazed that this eighteen-year-old girl knew so much about things even married couples had to pull out a book to reference. Toph shrugged and gave credit to the Earth Rumbles (of which she was now a five-time champion), her time in the Fire Nation Domestic Force, and her own inborn wisdom. Katara couldn't let that stand. She'd learned a few jokes herself during those long winter nights with the women her tribe. Her joke, however, though it drew an outright cackle and a slap on the back from Toph, left Aang rubbing the back of his neck and changing the subject.
It was a few hours after nightfall when they stopped in the shelter of a great thicket of trees. A cool mist swirled about their feet as they cleared a place to make a fire for the night. When they finally had a strong campfire going, Katara began to unpack the cookpot to start dinner. She was so intent on going through the inventory of their supplies in her head that she didn't notice when Aang gently slipped the cookpot out of her hands until he spoke.
"Go sit down with Toph," he said. "You spent all your time growing up taking care of us. Take a break for once. I can do this."
"He's not lying," Toph said from her prone position on the ground, her hands behind her head and legs crossed. "Twinkles can whip up a mean fruit pie."
Aang smiled. "No fruit pies tonight. But I can promise a good noodle soup."
It wasgood. The noodles were firm and the broth was spicy and interesting. Aang accepted his compliments from Katara gracefully, saying that it wasn't as good as something she could have made, but it was a good start.
"After traveling by myself for a while I got tired of eating rice every day. Cooking's fun." He shrugged but didn't lose his pleased smile. "If you want, tomorrow I could make you some Air Nomad food."
"That sounds great, Aang," said Katara. She set her empty bowl on the ground. "I'm glad you've been learning something new."
"Make sure you bring lots of water," said Toph in a dark tone of voice. "Air Nomad food is spicy."
Aang cocked his head and Katara was irresistibly reminded of Momo. "Naan and yogurt are better for spicy stuff, actually."
"Unless Appa starts lactating soon I doubt we're going to find any yogurt."
Appa gave a great, offended-sounding groan.
"I'm not doubting your masculinity!" said Toph. "I'm just saying."
Katara laughed. "I guess we'll have to make do with bread, then." She stood up, brushed the dirt from her tunic, and began to gather the dishes.
"Don't get up!" Aang snatched the two bowls she'd managed to get from her hands. "Please. Sit down. I told you, you deserved some time off. I'll do the dishes."
He twisted his wrists in a circular pattern and the remaining dishes were whisked into a whirlwind that he spun over his head.
"Be right back," he said, and headed into the trees where Katara could feel a stream trickling some distance away.
"Wow," said Katara, as soon as he was out of earshot.
"Wow what?" said Toph.
She tucked a strand of hair behind one ear. "He never told me he could cook. He never even tried when we were in the South Pole."
"You mean, 'what's he overcompensating for?' Seriously, you should stop lying when I'm around. You know I can tell."
Katara groaned and flopped onto her back, imitating Toph. "Was I that obvious?"
Toph snorted. "Please. This is Twinkletoes we're talking about. You could shove him into a volcano while reciting the third act of The Boy in the Iceberg and he'd still pretend he didn't notice you did it." She paused to flick a bug into the grass. "Not that he needs to pretend in your case, seeing as he's still got all these issues about you."
Katara remembered the South Pole, and the way he raised a hand to his face, refusing to look at her, and the way he wouldn't talk above a whisper.
"He doesn't act like it," she said, frowning. "He acts like everything's fine."
"How horrible."
She rolled her eyes. "It's just weird, okay? Things should be awkward between us. Especially considering the last things we said to each other. If he'd just get angry or yell at me or something I'd be able to deal with it, but he's acting like everything's fine. It's not. Why does he have to act so... nice?"
She winced, and imagined confronting him about it. How would she bring it up? 'I'm sorry, Aang, but you've been really nice to me since I showed up and frankly, it's freaking me out?' Maybe, 'You know, you've really made me feel like we can be friends again. Stop it.'
Yes, Katara, she thought. Punish him for being a good person. That worked so well back in the South Pole.
She sighed. "There's no way to ask him about this without sounding like a huge jerk, is there?"
"So don't. Forget about it. Let him do what he wants to do and don't let it bother you."
She hugged herself. "But I feel like that's not honest. It does bother me."
"Oh for the love of..." Toph's hand hit her forehead with an audible smack. "You. Don't move." She stood up and stalked over to their nearby bags, ripped hers open and began to fumble through it.
"What we need," she said, "Is some social lubricant."
"I'm sorry?" Katara propped herself up on her elbow.
"I know you're not that naive, so quit pretending. Social lubricant. Distilled spirits. Booze. And it just so happens," she pulled a dark green bottle half full of clear liquid out of her bag, walked back to Katara, and thrust it at her. "That I have exactly what we need."
It sloshed threateningly as she took it. In ornate, archaic script, the label on the bottle read, 'Ogre Killer' kaoliang jiu, light fragrance. Bottled on the island of Matsu. 120 proof.
"Toph. Are you suggesting we get drunk?"
Toph dug a finger in her ear. "Not necessarily. Not per se. I'm only saying that we'll both need a few drinks if we want to get you to stop complaining that things are going so well."
"I am not complaining that things are going well!"
"Sure, sure. Hey, you got any cups in your bag? I didn't pack any and Twinkletoes has the other ones."
"No. Maybe Aang has some extras in his."
"Don't worry about it."
Toph pulled the cork out of the bottle with her teeth, spat it out, and drank directly from the bottle. She grimaced while swallowing and let out a huge, "Pah!" Then she held it out to Katara.
"Your turn, Sweetness. Drink up."
Katara sniffed the bottle and recoiled. "This smells like lamp oil."
"That means it's good," Toph said, a bit of Aang's patience in her voice.
Katara squeezed her eyes closed, held her breath, and took a swig. It stung her lips and sat hot on her tongue but was smooth as honeyed water. She swallowed. It was like choking on hot smoke.
"What's in this stuff?" she hacked, eyes watering.
Toph grinned held her hand out for the bottle. "Sorghum. Pure grain alcohol. Other secret ingredients. Good, huh?"
Katara was about to argue otherwise, but paused. A pleasant, light, delicate flavor almost like flowers lingered from her tongue to the corners of her jaw. "Hey. You're right. It is good."
Toph wiped her mouth and handed the bottle back to Katara. "Told ya."
"I'm back," announced Aang. The second he stepped into the firelight, he stopped, got a very strange look on his face, and sniffed the air. "Toph. Are you drinking again?"
"No. We're drinking. Pull up some ground and sit."
"How many times do I have to tell you I don't drink?" He plopped next to her and ruffled her hair.
She pushed him. "No, dummy, me and Katara are drinking. Sugar. Catch."
Toph threw the bottle at Katara without bothering to stick the cork in it. The baijiu fanned spectacularly from its neck, shining like liquid gold in the firelight. Katara bent the liquor still and then caught the bottle just before it hit the ground.
"Katara," he said as she funneled the booze back into its bottle. There was something different in his tone from the way he said Toph's name. "You're drinking?"
In response, she lifted one finger and bent a globule of of baijiu into her mouth. She coughed again, though her eyes watered a little less this time. "I'd offer you some, but I know you don't drink, so."
Aang's lips became a thin line, but he didn't say anything more. She'd seen that look before. It was the same one he gave the hunters as they divided their kills with the tribe and offered him his share. The same as the first time he discovered the extent to which the Northern Air Temple had changed since the days of the Air Nomads. Well. If it wasn't a big deal for Toph to drink, it shouldn't be a big deal for her either. She was two years older, after all. She drank from the bottle again and passed it back to Toph. It had been a while since she'd had time to drink, but she was sure that the burning in her ears and the web of warmth in her chest hadn't spread nearly as fast last time.
"Where'd you get this stuff?"
"Oh, this old thing? Had it since I got this," she pointed to the red cord of cloth she kept wound around her belt. "Sparky gave 'em to me when I quit the army."
"Why'd you quit, anyway? You seemed to really enjoy it. I didn't think you'd throw away wandering the Fire Nation with a horde of terrified underlings away so easily. Especially the fights. You love fighting."
Toph shuddered. "Need I remind you about the food again?"
"Oh. Right."
Toph took another drink and passed the bottle to Katara. "You have a point, though. It was really fun. I just wanted to try something new. Doing the same thing day in and day out gets boring after a while, you know?" She nudged Aang with her shoulder. "I know you do."
"Part of Air Nomad philosophy is the emphasis on little possessions in exchange for the freedom of detachment." He made a globe of air and spun it into the starry sky. "We are nomads, after all. Except for festival times and when we're being raised at the temples. There are actually a bunch of smaller temples all around the world where we used to stay during herding season."
"And we didn't stay at them during the war because...?"
"I don't know where they are." He shrugged. "I wasn't old enough to herd when I-" he paused, scratched the back of his head, looked away. "Back then. It'd be really neat to find them, though."
Katara laid on her side, her head propped on one elbow. Her whole face was warm and tingly now, her favorite part of intoxication. "Yeah. I bet you could find a lot of cultural stuff there that could help when you start rebuilding your society."
Aang leaned against his hands and looked at the sky. "That'd be nice. There are a lot of things I'm hoping to find if we go there. More lemurs, maybe, or sky bison. Air Nomads," he added in a small voice.
Toph wrapped herself around one of Aang's arms. "If you want a girlfriend that badly we can just find you one."
Aang seemed to blush, but in the firelight, Katara couldn't be sure. "I, uh-"
"Relax, Twinkletoes. I was messing with you," said Toph, but she didn't disengage herself from Aang's arm.
"Do you really think there are Air Nomads out there somewhere?" Katara asked.
"How do we know there aren't? You didn't know about the Swampbenders, and Toph didn't know about the Sandbenders, and Zuko thought the Warriors of the Sun were extinct, so there's at least the possibility, right?"
"I guess," Katara said. "The world's a pretty big place. It just doesn't seem really likely. You should be focusing on other things, teaching Airbender philosophy, or repopulating the temples yourself."
Aang raised one eyebrow. "I kind of gave up on that last option after we broke up."
Toph cackled. Katara could feel her already flushed cheeks going redder.
"There- there might be other ways!" she stuttered over Toph's laughter.
"Relax," said Aang, smiling in an eerie imitation of Toph. "It was a joke."
Once she finished laughing, Toph clapped him on the back. "Nice one. A little below the belt, but eh, you're still learning."
Aang shrugged and didn't protest when Toph settled her head in his lap. "I try."
Katara glared at them and took another drunk out of the bottle. She coughed a bit, and as she set the it between her and Toph she said, "I'm glad you don't teach at my school. Teaching kids how to be delinquents."
"How's the Academy doing?" asked Aang.
"Great!" She exclaimed, happy for a change in subject. "We just finished for the winter. Second term starts up in a month. I can't wait to start them on the pentapus form. The kids really liked that last year, and Master Pakku's just joined the faculty so that should bring in some more teachers from the North and then we can really expand. Dad's even started having meetings in the Great Hall. It's almost like Chief Arnook's palace! I'm really proud to have been a part of it."
"Does Suki ever have training sessions there?"
"Only during the summer and fall." She laid on her back and watched as the stars gently swum in a slow circle. "I wish they'd stay in the South Pole all year, but this seems like the only way they can make things work. They haven't broken up in like two years. I really miss them. Dad does, too, but he never says anything."
"What do those two do in Kyoshi, anyway?" grumbled Toph.
"Well, Suki has the Kyoshi warriors and Sokka's really busy with inventing things at his weird workshop. He came up with this whole new way of designing canals so they can be redirected without waterbending."
"They could at least come visit once in a while. Last time I hung out with them was at the Dedication, and they sure weren't too busy to show up, get drunk and make out in front of everyone."
Aang covered his eyes. "An image that can never be burned from my brain."
Katara giggled. The world swayed a little. "So glad I missed that."
"You and Sparky both."
"Where were you two, anyway?" asked Aang.
She shrugged. "I dunno. Hey, when do you think we'll get to the Eastern Air Temple? We're making good time, right?"
"...uh, probably tomorrow night if we keep getting good tailwinds."
"Good. That's good. I hope Guru Pathik can help us out. He's a nice monk. He knows about chakras. Oh!" Her hand shot up in the air, as if she were answering a question. "I know! I bet he can help you make more Airbenders!"
"...maybe you should let me have the bottle."
"No! It's helping me. I don't know how to act around you and it makes things easier." She paused. "Pretend I didn't say that."
Aang tilted his head, a concerned look on his face. "Why don't you know how to act around me?"
"Because we broke up! We had a really big fight and now everything's weird and awkward. And you're being so nice and I don't know how to deal with that." She winced and began to massage her temples. "Oh please someone shut me up."
"Shut up," said Toph.
"Thanks."
"Should I be mean?" asked Aang, bewildered.
Katara sat up and waved her arms in emphasis. "If it helps stuff get resolved, then yes!"
"Didn't I tell you to shut up?" said Toph, head still in Aang's lap.
"What's there left to resolve?" asked Aang, in his calm, I'm the Avatar and I'm wise voice.
"How about the fact that you left me yelling at you to come back and didn't talk to me for a year? You can't do that to someone and just ignore it." Her head swam. She really had drunk too much. Was the bottle really empty already? She was so tired. "I really missed you."
Aang gently slipped out from under Toph, who made a small noise of protest before resting her head on the ground. He half-crawled to Katara. Much to her bewilderment, he took her hand in his.
"Maybe we shouldn't have broken up to begin with."
Katara was so taken aback that she didn't have time to reply before Toph sat up and laughed. "You wanna say that again, Twinkletoes? 'Cause it sounded to me like you just made a really stupid joke."
Aang looked over his shoulder. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me. Are you stupid? You were miserable together. You probably shouldn't have even dated to begin with."
When Aang spoke, his voice was cool. "What exactly do you mean?"
She stood up, fists clenched, and glared down at him. "What I mean is that you should never. Have. Dated. You nearly ruined your friendship, and for what? So you could live out your little crush on the first girl you ever saw? You're not twelve anymore! You still haven't accepted that you both changed!"
Aang stood up. Katara was surprised to see how much taller he was than Toph. She only came up to his nose. "Katara didn't change. She's still as good and caring as the day I met her!"
"See! That's exactly what I mean!"
Katara's head swam and her stomach hurt. All she wanted to do was lie down and go to sleep. "I changed. I changed and you didn't notice."
Aang looked stricken. "Katara, I'm so sorry, I-"
"Leave her alone! You guys aren't dating anymore, but I don't think you've noticed that either!"
"Is this about the touching thing?"
Toph's voice rose several octaves. "What the hell do you think we're arguing about, genius! And you!" She rounded on Katara. "Aang's not a little kid anymore! He hasn't been one for five years! Stop-"
"Don't attack her!"
Aang was yelling now. Their voices blended together like shouts in a crowd. Katara could no longer keep track of who was saying what. She supposed, deep in her drunken daze, that if she were sober she'd be yelling along with them, but she was so tired. And she felt weird. The stars were moving much faster than they were a few minutes ago. And everything around her was getting darker. Even the fire. She wished Zuko were there. He'd be able to fix the fire. He'd probably carry her to bed, too, and tuck her in. Like last time. It had been so long since they'd talked in person. She missed the way he looked at her when she spoke, like everything she said was important, no matter what she was talking about. She laid back down, Toph's and Aang's shouts washing through her consciousness like waves. She really shouldn't have drunk so much.
The last thing she saw before she passed out was Toph, her hair down from its elaborate bun, shining black-gold in the firelight, her face screwed up in anger. Aang was trying to grab her hand, but she slapped him back and stomped away from the fire. Aang ran after her.
A/N: baijiu is a real beverage. It is potent. I like to imagine that Toph's family supports a lot of breweries, and that she carries around the good stuff for herself.