Chapter 4. Introspection
Aang smiled out at the water as his hand stroked Katara's cheek; she had fallen asleep in his lap not long after they had taken flight along with Sokka, Suki, Toph, and Momo who were all curled respectively in the saddle. He glanced down at her peaceful features as his mind wondered freely, like the wind over several different things, some trivial and some taking up more importance, slowly the most important one began tugging at his attention as he continued to gaze out at the beautiful sea below them.
'"So you too are sleeping together now?-" "-Just don't do anything stupid until your married…" He didn't even argue… not one peep even after breakfast… and he said."…Until your married…" Does that mean he approves of me? Of Katara and I marrying?' He looked over his shoulder towards the sounds of loud snoring. Sokka looked like he hadn't had much sleep in a while, even dead to the world he looked like his sleep was half-attempted as his body kept it's attentiveness towards his sleeping wife curled up beside him and under his eyes were deep bags.
Aang looked from Sokka's unconscious face to Suki's, then allowing his eye's to wonder to her stomach, he smiled as the small, hardly noticeable bump that signified a new life, seemed much more prominent then it had in the past few weeks but was still only starting to show. His eye's decided this moment to play tricks on him as Suki's face changed to Katara's, and it wasn't Sokka's body she was curled up against, but his own. His eye's slowly drifted back to that beautiful face, the one that was what made the sun rise and set for him, made his world turn, his lungs take in breath and his heart continue to beat. 'She'd be a beautiful mother… Would she ever want that? With me?' He pondered that as his hand went from tracing her cheek to bury itself in the thick folds of his orange robe, nestled deep, close to his chest was a thick leather strap. In the center of this band was a shimmering clear circular stone. He traced his fingers over the carvings he himself had placed with earth bending into the glittering diamond, as it was the traditional stone symbol of air, being clear and pristine with the right carving, which he had insured as he made the symbol, a cross between the air nomads, and water tribes.
He had finished packing before everyone else and couldn't resist the urge, he had to see if there were any left. 'There has to be! Even the fire nation couldn't locate ALL our secret hiding places!' With that thought in place, he had slipped into the deeper caverns of the Western temple, darting room to room until he came across a treasury room. Ecstatic he had immediately used his earth bending to sense out if they were here, his heart hummed to match each piece of earths personal song as each were uniquely different based on their type, texture, and created location. He left that room with disappointment as he realized it had been ransacked, what earth was left still sang a song of deep mourning for the lives lost on the temple grounds. 'No… not this one then…' Slightly sad he took off deeper into the temple's cliff, disappointment followed him everywhere and his heart began to fill with despair.
He was now deep within the canyon, far beyond normal temple grounds. Finally he caught out of the corner of his eye, a secret air symbol that adorned a torches post, the inscription so old it was nearly invisible. 'Aa Ha! FINALLY!' He jumped up in excitement as he used his air bending against the torch, The wall creaked and then shifted, opening up a narrow passage. Inside was as it had been left though musty from years of being untouched. All kinds of relics glittered back at him, and for a moment he lost himself in the feeling of history he sensed from this room. It was truly something left completely untouched by his people, he closed his eyes concentrating once more on the secret musical piece that all earth played to the ear that listened. It had taken him a while as he had not mastered this new ability Toph had introduced him to, and he had needed to find the perfect leather strap after finally locating the gem. Finally he stared down at his creation through the glow of the small fire he had sparked for light. It was a traditional Air-Nomad's engagement necklace, but the stone was anything but traditional as he had been sure to make it so. With a grin that could light up the room he was nearly skipping as he headed back out to where his friends were waiting, the necklace safely inside his robes where it would stay until he was ready to give it to Her.
After a while he pulled his hand out of his robe and once again resumed tracing his personal goddesses face, as his mind wondered on. 'I wonder if she will accept? I can't blame her if she doesn't… I mean traveling as my girlfriend is one thing, but becoming the Avatars wife? Is that too much to ask of her?' his smile faulted as he couldn't seem to chase the thought from his mind. "Would that be too much to ask…?" He whispered. No one answered him but the wind as it danced along his skin. It worked well enough though as he felt comforted by the love he felt for and from it, as he was reassured that no matter what, the possibilities were endless with this situation his mind followed the wind down his other important train of thought, 'My people.'
Sokka was awake, he wasn't sure if anyone knew this as he kept his eyes shut. But he couldn't fall back asleep no matter how hard he tried once he had woken up about an hour ago, his mind plaguing him with too many thoughts. Suki was suffering in her pregnancy, a pregnancy that was his fault. Sure she didn't say anything like that, she even said she was excited about having his child. But he knew the sacrifices she was making, and would make. Having a child would mean she'd be unable to fight anymore, yeah she could still defend. But becoming a mother would take precedence over traveling with their companions, or even going and training with her fellow Kyoshi warriors. It also meant that they would both finally have to make a decision on where they would call home… 'Home…?' He thought over all the fond memories he had of the Southern water tribe, of helping it survive every day by providing food, and helping with shelter. He remembered being a kid and playing with Katara in the snow, even if he usually ended up wet whenever she accidently used water bending.
He peeked open one of his eyes, everyone was still apparently asleep except Aang who was seemingly meditating though Sokka couldn't be sure. He looked over at Suki's peaceful features, as of late this was the only time she looked peaceful. A soft but sad smile crossed his face as he thought of the past two years with her, of how hard they had been trying to conceive a child, but how at the same time they had hoped it wouldn't happen yet. His blue eyes were on her stomach, the small baby bump was very much noticeable to him, he was sure that was due to his extensive knowledge of her anatomy. 'Will I be a good dad to you? Will I make you proud of me… I promise I'll do everything I can to keep you safe. I'll be the best dad I know how to be… But I hope you will forgive me when I'm unsure, or mess up… I hope I'll be able to help make you strong, brave, and caring… ' he looked back up at his precious wife's face. 'No, the Southern water tribe isn't home… not for you, and not for our child… even if it once felt like that for me.'
His eye's shifted to the blue line climbing up the back of Aang's neck and head, he considered the complicated yet oddly safe world his child would be born into as he thought over how many powerful friends he actually had. 'Boy or Girl, you would have the coolest family ever!', A sword skilled father, a Fan wielding warrior mother, A crazy Avatar Uncle, and a caring strong Aunt water bender. Not to mention a tough Aunt earth bender, and A fire bending family too. 'They would really get the best of both worlds… ' His heart warmed as he thought about these things. And if by chance this child of his and Suki's turned out to be a bender, they had the best teachers in the entire world, right here. He smiled at last as realization dawned on him, he knew where Suki and he would raise this family, She would have to love the idea, especially once he explained his reasoning… There wasn't any way she couldn't love it!
"Twinkletoes, I'm hungry… " "Yeah! Me too Aang!" Sokka replied after Toph as he rubbed his obnoxiously growling stomach."Hey there's the shore line about twenty clicks east of us, Aang why don't we head down there for some stretching and food? I bet there's a town!" Suki spoke up her eye on the horizon as she petted Momo's soft fur, he was sitting up in her lap, looking out at the direction she had pointed in with a happy gaggle of noise. Aang looked to Katara and she nodded in agreement. "It would be nice to stretch and I'm sure Appa wants a small break…" At the mention of his name, the Air bison let out a loud "Arrrran!" in agreement, with a soft laugh Aang directed his flying friend down to the shoreline that was distinctly fire-nation territory. "ok, ok. We can stop for some food! But not too long…" Everyone spoke up excitedly as Appa slowly lowered them to the beach.
"Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Fire Flakes!" Sokka chanted as he paid for his bag full of the spicy treats, Suki was shaking her head. "I don't know how you eat those… my mouth would be on fire!" On queue he let out a loud burp that sparked a small flame as he left. "oh yeahhh…" He said in an almost orgasmic manner. "ew." Was all his wife replied, though she did laugh as they walked side by side towards a clothing vender. "Ou ou ou! Lets get some close for the baby!" "Sokka, haha, we don't even know if it's a boy or girl!" "I know! But still… look at this! Isn't it soooo cute!" he held up a little fire nation dress, his eye's getting large as he made a goo goo face at Suki's stomach. "You'd be such a pretty little girl in this! OR this!"He had discarded the dress and pulled up a small boy's kimono. "Oh oh you'd be such a stud!" Suki rolled her eyes but just smiled as she enjoyed the moment for what it was. 'You will be such a good father Sokka… no child would be luckier then to have you for a dad…' Her eyes misted up at the thoughts. Sokka noticed the tear's before they fell and dropped the kimono fumbling to see what he had done wrong.
"Are you ok? Are you hurt? Suki, what's the matter? What did I do?" He asked in a pained voice. She just shook her head, a smile on her face. "Nothing, you did nothing wrong Sokka!" She threw her arms around his neck and slammed her lips against his. He froze in shock for a moment as he felt tears fall from her eye's but he quickly fixed himself, wrapping his arms tenderly around her growing waist as he kissed back just as hard. Her tong darted out, tracing his lips briefly before she pulled his bottom lip into her mouth and suckled it. "uh hum!" a loud cough brought them out of the moment as Sokka glared at the Store owner. "Can't you do that… um… somewhere else? There are children!" Suki blushed, her husband only deepened his glare. "No! I see nothing wrong with showing my wife some affection! We were only kissing!" Before the owner could retort Suki had dragged him out the door with an apologetic wave.
"Why'd you do that for?" Sokka asked with a pout as they continued down the shopping strip. "Well, he had a point… I don't think it's appropriate for children to see our kind of kissing…" Her blush came back, "No… I meant why did you kiss me like that to begin with? I'm confused… you were crying?" He scratched the back of his head as his other hand held hers gently. "I was crying because I was thinking about how amazing a father you will be…" He stopped walking, locking his eye's to hers. "You really think I'll be a good dad?" Suki just laughed and pulled him a bit to make him move again. "Of course! How could you not be?" Sokka smiled. "Thanks Suki, that means a lot." She just laughed again.
Toph was walking with Aang and Katara, though very much in her own world as she held only the briefest of attention to make sure she didn't lose the two in the town. 'All of this couple crap is really getting annoying… I wish I was back at the Jasmine Dragon with Iroh… he never made me feel so out of place… ' Her blind eye's looked up unseeingly at the sky, wondering absently what it looked like, she had always been told it's features, but no matter how hard she tried, using the images she already had from earth bending never did quite match what was said of the sky. There was one image that wouldn't leave her mind though, one that reminded her of the sky but of earth too. 'Teo… I wonder how your doing?' He had been the only one who ever really understood her, being unable to walk was just as bad as being unable to see… This common ground had always made the earth bender fond of the Glider using young man. Without realizing it, Toph had began to smile as she reflected over the memories she had of him.
Momo made her jump when he landed on her shoulder, "oh. Hey Momo!" She said nonchalantly, pretending he hadn't caught her off guard. "Hey Katara, Let me know if you find anything that might look ok on me? I'm out growing these cloths again…" Katara smiled as she looked behind her. "Ok Toph, We will hit the clothing racks as soon as I can finish helping Aang get a few supplies." The Earth Bender nodded and she turned back to face her favorite Air-nomad. He was haggling with the Store clerk over their food. "Come on fellow Hotman! I know this is worth less than ten silver… What say you drop it to five?" "No. Nine…" "Did you say Four?" Aang replied with a mischievous grin as he danced the four silver pieces along his fingers.
"Oh Fine. I'll sell all of this to you for Six Silver and three copper." The store owner seemed quite annoyed, "You've got yourself a deal!" Aang grinned as he exchanged the coins for the sack full of fruit and bread. "You know Sokka's going to be upset about no meat…" Aang stuck out his tong. "He can buy that himself… " Katara laughed shaking her head, how she ever managed have a brother with an obsession for meat, and a boyfriend who refused to eat it, she'd never know.
Aang smiled as he walked beside Katara towards a trinket store they had promised to meet Sokka and Suki at. "I wonder if we will get any time to explore more of the Fire nation while were here this time…?" Katara looked up at him, a matching smile on her face as she enjoyed this perfectly normal moment. "I hope so. We haven't really ever gotten a chance to just wonder the fire nation…" He nodded as they both reflected over how many times they had visited yet never had the opportunity to enjoy it. "I mean, last time we were dealing with the Earth Rumblers… the time before that Azula had escaped…" "Oh man… that one was bad… " Aang cringed as he remembered how hectic things had gotten.
Azula had managed to escape from the Asylum, running around burning parts of towns for weeks, though she had always been too quick for them to catch her. Then finally, in her insanity she fought her way into the prison where Ozai was, had even gotten him out of his cell. But the group had been already ready and waiting for her so they had been able to get her back into restraints and Ozai was put into a different cell with far more guards, it was almost as if Ozai had gone insane too. The situation was overall creepy when the ex-fire lord calmly went to his new prison saying nothing but laughing randomly as if he found something extremely funny.
"Yeah… but the Earth Rumblers were a scary lot too…" "Yeah but Toph pretty much handled them on her own… that only took a week's worth of hunting them down too… not nearly a month like it did for Azula…" "I guess your right…" Katara nodded, looking back as she smiled fondly at her blind friend, Toph was staring off into space with that cute smile on her face again. The water bender couldn't help but wonder what could make someone so tough as Toph smile like that. She nudged Aang and he turned to see a small glimpse of it before Toph realized they were looking at her. "What?" She demanded, Katara giggled, "Nothing, nothing…" A small blush touched the earth benders cheeks as she crossed her arms and turned away. "Humph!" Aang shook his head as he gave his lover a questioning look that seemed to say, What-was-that-all-about? She smiled and shrugged her shoulders.
"Hey guys!" Sokka called with a grin as he poured the last of his third round of fire flakes into his mouth, holding a sack of meat in his other hand. "Oh good, I'm glad you got the meat, Aang wasn't going to get any…" Katara said as she quietly thanked whoever spirit reminded her brother to get his own meat and thus prevented a possible bad situation. "Suki, Toph and I want to hit the clothing racks… you want to join us?" The Kyoshi warrior grinned as she released her husband's hand and strode to stand by Toph. "I'm down!" "uh!" Sokka mocked hurt. "Oh you can get over it! Besides it's going to take your meat a while to cook! Spirits only understand how a man can eat meat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!" Aang, Toph, and Katara busted out laughing at this as the Avatar walked over to his full on pouting male friend. "Come on! Let's just let the girls have some fun, it's not like we don't have the money for them to get a few things…" He gave his trade mark grin as he slapped Sokka's back and started heading the opposite direction of the girls. "See you in a bit!" He called over his shoulder as Sokka struggled to catch up, and the girls waved bye.
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Well there's chapter four... Yes I fixed Sokka's name... and Mai will have her name right for now on as well, sorry for the misspellings I'd go back and fix the others but I haven't quite figured out how to yet... anyway. Revewing would be awesome! =) It makes me feel like you really like it, which then pumps me up to write more.
Chapter 5 should be up tonight... but that depends on how long it takes me to write it!
Nightlightofhappieness =D I was intending something like that... it will be a bit before they are "married" but as you can see, The wheels are in motion... ;) Like I'd have a KatAang fic without them getting married! Thank you for the awesome review! Here's your next chapter, and I'll have one more out possibly tonight =) Hope to hear from you again!
FinalFantasy564 =D Glad you like it! I will. Promise! 3
I'll respond to reviews like this mostly, so I hope to get more! =D 3 Thanks to everyone who's faved it, or added it to your watch list! I hope you keep reading!
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