What It Means To Care

Note: I haven't much to say, except that I've noticed that these often take a side-trip to focus only on Aang, and ever so often, just on Katara, and while I think of them as adding to the whole of the structure, I have to remind myself that they are supposed to be about the both of them. Not particularly any warnings this time, just a few sentences here and there that surprised even me, after I wrote them.

Delta

1: Air

He wielded the element with ease, never struggling with to tame it as he did with the other elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Katara.

2: Apples

He swung down from the tall tree, taking a sharp bite out of the cool flesh of the fruit he'd plucked from the top bough, and when she kissed him she could still taste the sweetness of the adventure.

3. Beginning

In the beginning, he was just a naïve little kid, but when she learned more of him in the years that passed, she discovered that he was infinitely more complex than anyone had ever imagined.

4: Bugs

He leapt from his guard perch the instant he heard her screaming, looking for fire-benders, or bandits, or anything but a bug that had taken up residence in a branch above her head.

5: Coffee

He preferred the subtleties of tea above the muck that she drank every morning, but he did have to admit that the invigorating smell was pleasant, if not entirely over-stimulating in of itself.

6: Dark

She adored the aesthetic juxtaposition of his ivory-pale skin to the tanned hue of hers whenever they touched.

7: Despair

He hated himself for failing in two key battles, having to make awful sacrifices for his continued freedom, and never being strong enough to just do what he knew had to be done, but she held him close and soothed his anger when he screamed obscenities and cried in frustrated fury ("It's not over yet…").

8: Doors

In his dreams, he stared at enormous doors, each with different symbols and locks, and he could only choose one, but he always chose the wrong one, and woke up screaming.

9: Drink

"Drink it," He whispered, attempting to coax her into accepting the oily, acrid liquid, and when she kept her mouth firmly shut, he took a sip and pressed his lips to hers, flooding her mouth with liquid fire.

10: Duty

He was determined to finish what he had started, what had been his destiny since before his birth, but still he feared that he would no longer have meaning once he had fulfilled those duties and restored peace.

11: Earth

When he lay out on the cool grass, feeling deep into the earth, he felt a kind of completion he had not thought possible, for he was at once separated and unified with it.

12: End

When it was over, there were so many differing opinions on what should happen now that the Avatar had died for the end of their war: some felt despair ("Who will see to it that the peace is maintained?"), others self-importance ("It was what he was born to do!"), but Katara felt hope and kept a careful eye on every Water Tribe baby born in the days afterward, looking for signs of Aang's reincarnation.

13: Fall

Just when Aang thought he couldn't fall any further in love with Katara, he took a single look at her and felt himself falling away from the world all over again.

14: Fire

Even from several feet away, Katara knew that there was more than just the campfire separating them; Aang was lost in thoughts and memories from over a century before, and the wistful look in his eyes told her that he ached for those days.

15: Flexible

It looked so effortless for him, the way he easily dodged any blow that came his way, keeping to the teachings of his people and refusing to accept any superfluous challenge that meant he would have to stand firm and fight back.

16: Flying

One day, he revealed that flying was only effortless so long as you didn't think about it, relinquished control to the wind, and accepted that flying was like flowing in the River of Life, and Katara thought she would never like flying if it had to be like that.

17: Food

Katara was horrorstruck when she realized that the reason Aang hadn't eaten with them for two days was that she had let Sokka collect food, and he couldn't let go of the monk's teachings, even when it meant going without.

18: Foot

He had come so far, and there was still so far for him to go before he could rest his weary heart.

19: Grave

His expression settled onto solemnity, and his voice was even and serious when he raised his voice so the whole of the area could hear his words, declaring that he was here to avenge the death and pain caused by a century of tyranny.

20: Green

It meant hope to him, the sprouting of new grass and flowers where once there were war-torn and burned forests, meadows, villages, and lives.

21: Head

She racked her mind, tugging on her braid and pacing in circles, wondering when he had fallen in love with her, and how she had not managed to notice it for so long.

22: Hollow

That look he gave her seemed to fill the void that had been left by the deaths of her parents, the war, all the pain she had ever felt, and somehow, she filled the empty parts of him.

23: Honor

He felt despair and anger, frustration and fury, all at once, knowing that his honor was being questioned around the world, and shame, fearing that he would never restore it enough to consider himself worthy of being an air-bender, a man, or just worthy.

24: Hope

In everything he did, he gave hope to everyone he encountered, never asking for anything in return, but she gave him everything she could, because she knew that deep down he wanted someone to give a little back.

25: Light (Hope, continued)

In her eyes, he found an abundant source of joy and strength that never seemed to dry up when he needed it, and she was glad to give it for him.

26: Lost

Somewhere in the recesses of his mind, he knew he had to surface eventually, had to finish what he had started, but he wandered lost for so long, following only the faint sound of her voice and the occasional whiff of something distinctly her until he finally woke up, disoriented and longing for something he was certain he had only imagined.

27: Metal

The cold chains stung her freezing flesh, bolting her to the walls like Azula's other prisoners, and she contemplated if she would ever find strength enough to detach herself from hope that Aang would come, and die as the others had.

28: New

After living with her for so long, Aang didn't exactly know how to live without her.

29: Old

Most things are better, Katara had been told, after they've had time to learn, grow, and develop, and she found that relationships were no different.

30: Peace

Even after the end of the war, the only peace Aang ever got was when he was with Katara: hand to hand, eye to eye, lip to lip, heart to heart.

31: Poison

Aang knew his life would be corrupted and diverted from the path he had sworn to a century before, but he felt that it was best to choose his poisons wisely for the sanctity of his soul, ignoring all mortal temptations except the ones Katara innocently presented.

32: Pretty

Like all other girls her age, Katara agonized over whether she was pretty enough, but when she asked him if he thought she was, he didn't look at her like the others did (wide-eyed, mouths gaping), and it took her a long time to realize that the look he gave her was not because he didn't think she was, but because he thought she was so much more than just "pretty".

33: Rain

It came when he cried, diluting the salty streams and making it hard to tell to anyone but her whether he was gazing heavenward in prayer or hiding his tears; whenever she saw him like that, she came and cried with him.

34: Regret

With every breath he took, every step he took, she saw it haunting him, a ghost of guilt and regret, and he looked sometimes as though he would collapse under the weight of its taunting.

35: Roses

Wherever he stepped, the world looked brighter in his wake, and brightest in the frame of his aura; flowers found their truest hue, the sky was bluer, the grass was greener, and Katara seemed happier.

36: Secret

He whispered it into her ear because, like the touches and kisses they exchanged when no one was looking, it was something they were not ready to share with the rest of the world.

37: Snakes

The thoughts crept into his mind while he slept, invading his dreams, and then his every waking moment, until, in his guilt, he was convinced that everything he touched would turn to dust and fall away from him forever.

38: Snow

She woke in the middle of the night, during the dark, winter months, to find Aang outside, watching fresh snow fall, wrapped in a blanket that he didn't seem to notice was sliding off his shoulders, and stood, captivated, with him, arms loosely wrapped around his hips.

39: Solid

Even at twelve, Aang had spent much of his time honing his skills, leaving him with a physique that never left him, but it was still years before Katara really paused and looked at him as anything but a kid, and was shocked to discover how had grown.

40: Spring

Every winter, Katara and Aang mourned the deaths of those they had known, and the first buds symbolized the end of their dark months, and the beginning of new hope.

41: Stable

He was everything she envied about people: mostly even-tempered, kind, unassuming, unselfish, self-sacrificing, and she wished she could be more like him, but settled to be around the stability of his presence as much as she could.

42: Strange

Perhaps most people thought their match was enigmatic, unexpected, and unorthodox, but neither of them found that they cared when they paused to think about it.

43: Summer

When spring turned to summer, she saw the tension begin to build inside him, and tried every year to help him release it before it got too bad, but she could only ever watch as he grew increasingly more tense as summer's end, and the anniversary of the most monstrous thing he had ever had to do, approached.

44: Taboo

She protested weakly on the behalf of his air-bender oaths when the kisses became steadily more heated, fearing eternal damnation and dishonor if they did what she thought they were about to, but he reassured her with a knowing smile, which she returned with a nod of assent, and pressed on.

45: Ugly

Whenever he looked at them, together, jealousy welled up in his heart and hoped it would just be another miserable failure, but knew that even if it did, all he would ever be allowed to do was comfort her in the aftermath, stewing in his jealousy and cowardice.

46: War

It turned enemies to lovers, brothers to foes, caused good people to do horrifying things and evil people to do astounding good, and Aang wasn't sure he would ever understand it, except to know that it had caused him and most everyone he knew great misery, and that was enough for him to fight it.

47: Water

When the battle was over, Katara ran from person to person, indiscriminate to the side they had fought in, delivering the one thing they were all crying for, but when she found Aang, burned and barely able to breathe the word, her hands shook too hard to bend it.

48: Welcome

When he had woke from his stasis, her eyes were the welcome to the future he received, and it was fitting that they were later the welcome he received every morning for the rest of his life.

49: Winter

The snow and ice that accompanied that particular season made her painfully nostalgic for home, so when he reassembled her old tent in the middle of a field of snow one day, she felt tears of gratitude form in the corners of her eyes, and an emotion she did not immediately recognize flood her heart warmly.

50: Wood

He dodged trees easily, running faster than the wind howling around him, and he hardly knew whether or not that wind was the creation of his overflowing emotions or not, but he didn't dare to stop, so long as there was hope he would make it in time.