Aang and Katara travel all over the Earth Kingdom, spending most of their time in the colonies working to quell discontent among the citizens and keep the Avatar's peace. It isn't always easy, and it doesn't always work. Not everyone is charmed by Aang's playful demeanor, and some of the wounds between the nations go so deep that she isn't sure they can ever be healed. The first year is hard and their failures are many. But she maintains the hope that the people can work out their differences, for Aang's sake as well as Zuko's.
Along the way, Aang insists on showing her the sights that he enjoyed a hundred years ago as well as exploring things that are new to them both. He doesn't have to kiss her by surprise anymore, and she has come to find comfort and even happiness in his closeness. During the next summer, they spend a great deal of time in Ba Sing Se at the Earth King's request. Sometimes when Aang is in meetings she takes her time and visits familiar places in and around the city. She is no stranger to the Jasmine Dragon, and Iroh helps her improve her pai sho strategies. When the Upper Ring starts to feel too pretentious, she takes refuge in Ba Sing Se University's library or takes the train to the edge of the city and spends hours walking along the outer walls.
They send and receive letters from their friends, and Zuko's hawks seem particularly skilled in finding her no matter how often she changes location. His notes are brief and focus primarily on politics; he often asks for her opinion and she is happy to provide him with an outside perspective. She muses in one letter that she feels like an unofficial foreign advisor, and that he should consider himself lucky that she doesn't charge him for her services. She can't help but laugh when she receives a small chest filled with gold pieces along with his next letter. She returns it, explaining that she can't take his money but she hopes that at least sometimes he takes her advice.
For two years, she and Aang travel together, eat vegetarian food, laugh over shared memories, and spar. They visit Toph whenever they are nearby and attend Earth Rumble tournaments. Except for their stay in Ba Sing Se, they rarely stay in one place for more than a few days. For two years, it seems like this is where her destiny lies.
But while Aang is at home in the air, Katara can't help but yearn for solid ground and the sound of the tides. The topic of settling down starts weave its way into their conversations more and more, and eventually these conversations turn into arguments. She grows fed up with shouting after him as he soars into the sky with his glider, and sometime before the three year anniversary of the war's end she buys passage at the nearest port for a ship headed south.
Her father welcomes her home, and there is a particular joy in being back at the South Pole, surrounded by her element and her people. She is stunned at how much the tribe has grown in such a short period of time. With her grandfather's influence, families from the North have taken residence and new families have begun or been reunited since the men have returned from war. There are children again, playing in the snow and helping with the chores; some of them are even waterbenders, and she delights in helping with their training.
She keeps contact with Aang, who searches for airbenders while trying to keep the peace. Though they are fewer now, there are still riots from time to time, and she knows that he does his best to keep things under control. On rare occasion, he even visits. She is always happy to see him, but she declines his requests to join him again on his travels. She knows what he wants, and she knows that he cannot help that the world needs him, but she knows she wants too. So she stays in the South Pole and indulges him when he wishes to kiss her goodbye.
Zuko's messenger hawks arrive with regularity, and despite the time that has passed and the typically dry content of his letters, she can't help but feel her pulse quicken when she sees the hawks with red ribbons coming down from the sky. These messages she saves for the evenings when she has time to be alone, and only opens them near the comfort of the fire.
When she breaks the seal on one letter that arrives during the winter, she discovers a long black strand of hair caught in the red wax. At first she dismisses it as Mai's; she knows through her communications with Iroh that they have been maintaining an uneasy relationship. She grimaces and almost tosses it aside. But something makes her examine it more closely, and on second thought she decides it is far too short to belong to the noblewoman.
She has to read his letter more than once before she comprehends the contents, and it takes her longer than usual to write out her reply. Her thoughts keep drifting back to that strand of hair and what she imagines he must look like. Despite his requests to visit, she has not once been back to feed the turtleducks. But her curiosity might change her mind.
TBC...