Chapter 3 – A Long Ride
"Are we there yet?" Katara rolled her eyes into the back of her head.
"Aang, we only just left the Earth Kingdom, how could we be there already?" She looked into the Avatar's eyes and smiled. She loved how young he could be sometimes. It reminded her about when she found him in the iceberg. He turned to her slowly, pulling his eyes away from the surrounding ocean. Katara was starting to think that he was getting seasick, or maybe he was just bored.
"I know, but I really can't wait to see Zuko." His eyes smiled at mention of his friend. Since the end of the war, him and Zuko had had so many peace conferences that they had become much closer friends. "I've never met his daughter either; I hear she's kind of gloomy though."
"Well," Katara replied. "She is the child of Zuko and Mai, you kind of expect her to be angsty. And she's only two years old, how can they know that already?" Aang nodded and looked away. He'd been acting very strange, ever since they had left the temple. He probably just ate too many seaprunes.
"I'm going to go check on Toph." Katara said, leaving Aang on the starboard side of Sokka's boat. "The boat is made of wood, so she really is blind here. Thanks goodness she brought Huka along" Katara took one more look at Aang before going below deck. He was staring out at the sea with an expressionless face. She worried about him too much. Then she watched as Appa walked over and gave him a huge lick on the face. This made Aang laugh and Katara knew he was alrighr.
Once she went below deck, Katara heard voices. They had picked up their friends from the Earth Kingdom and they were on their way to the Fire Nation. It was a very special week in the fire nation. It was the Fire Lord's birthday and the whole world was celebrating. It had been Sokka's idea to travel and see Zuko and that was why he had appeared at the Air Temple about a week ago. Katara had been so excited to hang out with the old gang. She had been worried about Suki going on the boat, but Suki had assured her that she wouldn't get too seasick. She was getting used to ocean life. While they had been at the Air Temple, Sokka had sent out his messenger hawk to tell Toph of their plans. She had agreed, but only if she could bring her new friend Huka. Huka was an earthbender as well and he had been training to be a part of the Dai Li, until he was rejected for being too aggressive. Toph had met him in Iroh's teashop in Ba Sing Se. Iroh was the another person that they had picked up when they got Toph, he had been planning on going by Fire Nation ships, but he thought that traveling with the gang would be more fun.
"Yeah, so then I said 'Hey! Twinkletoes! What are you and Sugar Queen doing out there? Kissing?! I never realized that they actually were." Toph's voice was made Katara's ears ring. She smiled as she walked into the place where they all slept. The group was sitting around a table, excluding Sokka and Aang. Iroh and Huka were playing a long game of Pi Sho and Toph sat on Huko's lap. Suki was on the other side of the table behind Iroh, whispering about his next move. As Katara got closer, she saw that Suki was passing Iroh tiles under the table. Katara never knew that Iroh cheated, but she guessed it was just so that Suki would feel involved. Sokka had been unable to find anything for Suki to do, because of the baby and it was driving her crazy.
"Hey you guys" Katara said as she entered the room. "Aang's being a bit boring so I thought I'd come visit with you." Toph raised a hand and continued to say nothing and stare into nothing. The rest of them looked up to Katara smiling. Katara was so glad to have them all back together again. It was just like old times.
"How is Twinkletoes?" Toph was expressionless. Katara knew that she was hating being on a wooden boat. "He was acting kind of strange when you guys came to pick us up. Maybe he had some bad seaprunes?" Toph knew Aang so well and Katara knew she had picked up on his odd vibrations. Toph knew Aang almost better than Katara. He had spent a lot of time with her in the Earth Kingdom right after the war when he had been settling things between the Fire Nation and the other Nations. Katara had a sneaking suspicion that she was a little bitter because they hadn't visited in such a long time.
"Aang's okay." Katara lied. She didn't really want any of them to get worried about the Avatar. "He's excited to see Zuko after such a long time." At the mention of Zuko, Huka looked rather surprised. He stopped placing his Pi Sho tile and looked up at Katara.
"You mean," He asked. "FIRE LORD Zuko?" Everyone nodded and Huka went almost white. "I never thought I'd ever get to meet the Fire Lord. This is going to be a great vacation Tophi." He said Toph's nickname with a dumb happy look on his face.
"I told you not to call me that in public!" Toph hissed with a grumpy expression on her face. Huka looked afraid and then he quickly covered his mistake.
"Sorry," His eyes darted around as though his brain was searching for a way out of this mess. "I won't say it again Tophi" Saying it a second time was not a very bright thing for him to do. Toph turned around and punched him right in the arm. He did not react and tried to look tough. Katara's impression of Huka was very interesting. She knew that he wasn't the brightest bulb, but at least he was a nice guy. He was a little short for a guy, but he was still a head taller than Toph, who had grown a lot in the past 8 years. Huka had very chiselled muscles, but he kept them hidden by a long-sleeve shirt. He wore metallic cuffs that Toph had metal bent for him. He wore shorts that Katara definitely thought were too short. Fortunately, he had nice legs, for a male earthbender. His hair was completely black and he let it get very shaggy. He also had a bit of a beard on the end of his chin, but rumour was that Toph really wanted him to shave it off.
Everyone in the room laughed at Huka's mistake and then Suki suddenly clutched at her stomach. She gasped and them smiled wildly.
"It kicked!" She exclaimed. "It barely ever kicks. Here come feel." Katara and Toph both reached out and put their hands on Suki's stomach. There was a soft push from the baby inside. Katara turned to Toph and she saw her smile for the first time since they got on the boat.
"Do you have any idea what it is?" Katara asked curiously. "Oh! Can I help you and Sokka name it? If it's a girl you should name her after Gran Gran. I'm sure Sokka would agree with me."
"You should name it something tough." Toph cut in. She had a malicious smile on her face. "Like Bumi! I love that old guy. Or Ando! He was this super huge wrestler that I met on the road." After her and Aang were finished in Ba Sing Se, Toph left and went on a spirit walk around her world. She met many interesting people and she got into a few too crazy bar fights. They didn't hear from her for three years and then she showed up with Huka. No one really knows where they met, but no one had bothered to ask. They were made for each other.
"Sokka wants to name it Yue if it's a girl," Suki said with a bit of a frown on face. "I'm just not a big fan of recycling names. I like being original. Although, I think Ando would be a good name for a son." Toph nodded in agreement and Huka smiled at her. Katara understood Suki's plight, but it was hard to change Sokka's mind once it was made. Maybe if they had a son he would agree with her.
"Ando sounds like a nice warrior name." Katara commented, trying to think of a good girl name. "OH! How about Ikoma? I always wanted that to be my name when I was little. Mom told me my name was beautiful, though." When Katara mentioned her mother she reached up for the necklace that was around her neck. It was her grandmother's betrothal necklace that her mother had given to her as a little girl. Katara knew that she would one day have to replace it with her own, but then she would pass it on to her daughter.
"Ikoma sounds beautiful," Iroh spoke for the first time. Then he took a long sip of jasmine tea. "Here everyone have some tea. I just warmed it." Katara felt so comfortable around Iroh, she couldn't believe that his nickname was "The Dragon of the West" He was so kind.
"Now you!" He said, thrusting his finger towards Huka, who looked incredibly surprised. "Let's return to our game so that I can win." Huka was confused about the statement at first and them he frowned at the board. The room went quiet and everyone watched as Iroh one the game. Huka's smarts were displayed very well in a game of Pi Sho. Iroh beat him in minutes. They all celebrated with a warm cup of his famous jasmine tea.
"Dinner is ready!" Sokka entered the room with his usual flair. "You guys had better hurry up before Appa gets a wiff of it. He will eat it all before you can say Sky Bison." Everyone stood up at the same time. Katara took Toph's arm to help her up to the deck. Huka and Iroh bowed to each other to symbolize a good game. Suki stood swiftly on her own and gave Sokka a warm kiss on the cheek before following him up to the top deck. When they got up to the top deck there were lights strung so that they could see what they were eating. There were two long tables set up that had some of the nice Earth Kingdom food on it. The crew and the passengers all sat down at the two tables. Aang came to Katara and gave her a surprising kiss on the cheek. She blinked and smiled at him as they sat down at the table, next to Toph and Huka.
The dinner was magical. Katara had a wonderful time. Sokka spent the whole dinner telling his terrible Appa jokes and Suki and the crew were the only people who laughed. Toph and Huka were talking about the dual earth bending championship that they won while they were traveling around the Earth Kingdom. Iroh was continually walking around to the two tables refilling everyone's tea. They were so happy together. Katara looked around her and noticed that Aang was silent. He was smiling at everyone's else's stories, but he was usually the center of attention. Even Momo, who was sitting in the center of the table eating fruit, was more of an attraction.
"Are you alright?" Katara said softly, so that only Aang could hear her. "You seem much too quiet for the Avatar." Aang looked at Katara with a giant smile on his face. She looked into his grey eyes and saw that he was still happy, just quiet.
"I'll talk to you about it later." He whispered back. Then he turned to Suki on his right. "Did I ever tell you about some of Monk Gyatso's favourite pranks?" This began one of Aang's loudest stories ever told. Katara was glad to see a change in him, so she returned to her meal.
The dinner seemed to last hours. The moon was clear overhead by the time they had finished and the crew had moved the dishes away. They continued to sit at the table and tell their favourite stories while the ship moved on into warm territory. Once the dinner died down, Katara noticed that Aang had left the table and he was standing on the starboard side of the boat again patting Appa on the head. She looked at the other sitting around her and decided that now was the time to talk to Aang. As she got up from the table she felt a few of the others look at her, but they all knew where she was going, except for Huka, but he kept his mouth shut. Aang looked at Katara as she walked over. He had almost a look of pain on his face. She didn't really understand what he was trying to do. As she reached him his smile widened.
"Katara, I…" What he was going to say was cut off from Katara giving him a huge hug. She pulled away and gave him a kiss upon the cheek. Aang seemed shocked, but also happy. She looked up into his eyes and put her hand on his face. She hoped that what he had to say was important.
"I just wanted to say…" Aang looked away from her for a moment, as though he was trying to find the right words. "I…well... Katara, we've been together for a long time. Every minute that I am with you I…I…" Katara thought that she saw him blushing and sweating. Appa made a loud grunting noise behind them and she laughed a little bit. Aang looked at him as though it was his fault that he couldn't find the right words.
"Aang," Katara started, but her words were silenced by Aang's kiss. Katara felt her heart flutter in her chest and she thought that she would never want it to end. Aang had never kissed her so passionately before. When she pulled away she felt that her face was red hot. She was a little bit out of breath.
"What is it you wanted to say?" Katara said breathily. Aang's grey eyes danced in front of her and she pulled her hand away from his face. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it gently.
"Katara, I love you." He said without any hesitation. Katara hugged him again and happily looked up into his face. Then Katara realized that it was a little bit too quiet. She noticed that Aang realized the same thing that she had and they both turned to look at the table. Everyone, who had been looking at them, suddenly burst into loud conversations. Katara was sure that she heard Sokka saying, "Blah blah blah blah!" and noticed that Huka was still looking at them, too stupid to notice. Her and Aang laughed and he awkwardness of the moment vanished. Suki gave Katara a big smile and Katara knew it had been her idea to listen. That sneaky Kyoshi warrior.
Suddenly, Katara and Aang felt something big and wet hit her from behind. They were lifted on their feet before being dropped on the ground covered in Appa slobber. Everyone laughed and Katara bended the water from the ocean to wash them off. Them she bended the water out of their clothes and back in the ocean. Katara and Aang both turned to Appa again and gave him a big hug.
"I love you too, buddy" Katara heard Aang whisper.
