"We have to leave already? But I was just getting comfortable!" Sokka whines, taking a bite out of his apple.
"Well…I have to meet with the Earth King in Ba Sing Se, along with Zuko to talk about the peace movement…" Aang says, walking over to the table, sitting next to me.
"Yeah but…you are the only one who really has to go!" Sokka says. I glare at him.
"Snoozles, I don't know if you've forgotten, but we're just as important as Mr. Fancypants Avatar over here." Toph says, patting Aang on the shoulder.
"Hmm…that is true. But shouldn't we get to at least relax for a little while?" Sokka says, picking up a piece of breakfast dumpling.
"We can relax in Ba Sing Se… at my Uncle's tea shop. We'll be there for a while, anyways." Zuko says, picking up empty plates.
"It'll be like old times! Nothing like the Dai Li and rules and regulations of a big city!" Toph sarcastically says, "I wonder if they ever fixed our nice house we got to stay in?"
Sokka snickers. "You destroyed that pretty bad…it's still probably under construction."
"Yeah, I did, didn't I?" Toph says, giving a quick laugh. "Good times…good times."
"Well, my Uncle's tea shop has an apartment with a few extra bedrooms above it. You guys can stay there if you'd like." Zuko offers, taking a seat next to Mai. He smiles and whispers something into her ear, making her laugh.
"It would be an honor, Zuko." Aang says, flashing him a smile.
I smile as well, looking down at my untouched plate of sliced mango. I pick up a slice and eat it, letting the sweet fruit satisfy my hunger that has been biting at me for the past few days.
"Mmm… I didn't realize how hungry I've been until now." I say, closing my eyes in pleasure.
"Well, maybe if you ate more last night…but, I understand. Something or, rather, someone else was on your mind." Toph says, smirking at me. I roll my eyes. Oh boy…here we go.
Aang stifles a particularly big yawn. He sighs and rubs his sleepy eyes. Sokka's eyebrows go up.
"Didn't sleep last night?" He asks, crossing his arms. Aang quickly moves his hands from his face and brings them to his side.
"I…uh…yeah. I didn't get too much sleep last night." Aang says, slightly biting his lip. Sokka glances at me for a few moments. I arch an eyebrow at him. He squints his eyes, as if to evaluate me.
"You look tired too…you didn't get any sleep last night, too!" He questions, his eyes going wide.
"I had a bad dream, Sokka. Couldn't sleep much after it." I calmly say, picking up another piece of mango.
"Uh huh…sure. I'm watching you two…" Sokka says, sitting up from the table. He leaves the patio we were eating at and walks inside.
"What's his deal?" Zuko asks, giving Aang and I an inquisitive look. I simply shrug my shoulders in response.
"It's Sokka, what do you expect?" I say, rolling my breakfast dumpling across my plate with my fork.
Toph laughs, making me jump.
"What's so funny?" I growl at her. This makes her laugh even harder.
"Oh nothing…I just love it when I'm right." She says, pretending to wipe a tear from her eye.
"Right about what? What is going on?" Zuko asks, crossing his arms over each other on the table. "Why am I always the last person to know things?"
Toph giggles even more, now standing up.
"I don't want to spill the big secret, if you even call it that. So, you'll just have to find out yourself, dancing dragon." She says, walking inside behind Sokka.
"Stop calling me that!" Zuko yells after her.
Suki sighs. "I swear, sometimes I wonder if Toph and Sokka are the same person." She grabs her plate and sits up as well.
"Oh, Zuko?" She asks, turning around before going inside through the drapes. "Is there enough room in your Uncle's apartment for me as well? I'd love to see Ba Sing Se…"
"Of course! There are…I think…four rooms. One for my Uncle, one for me and Mai, and one for you and…I'm assuming Sokka, right?" Zuko says, counting them on his hand.
She smiles. "Right."
"Well, there is a room that can fit three people…you and Sokka can have it, but who else would bunk with you guys?" Zuko asks, awkwardly looking at Aang and I.
"I…I…guess I could?" Aang says, shyly raising his arm. He puts a piece of bread in his mouth. Suki's laugh echoes through the halls of the patio.
"Oh, no! Toph can stay with us! Aang and Katara should get their own room. Together!" She says, clasping her hands together in excitement. And with that, Suki walks inside.
My face is warming up with slight embarrassment over the whole situation. Aang starts coughing, nearly choking on the food he just tried to eat.
"Oh, um…is that okay with you two?" Zuko asks, obviously embarrassed as well.
I give him a light-headed nod in response. Aang is still coughing, trying to muster out a response as well.
"Uh, yeah…t-that should be…uh…fine." He croaks, clearing his throat.
Zuko gives us a weak smile, and sits up from the table.
"Well, we should leave in a few hours then, so we can get there in three days. I'm assuming we're flying on Appa?" Zuko says, Mai standing up beside him.
"Yeah, it would be a lot faster than taking a ship. Plus, I'd rather not go through the Serpent's Pass again." Aang says, his voice finally clearing up. Still speechless, I nod in agreement.
"Alright good. Well…I, uh yeah. We'll go start packing." Zuko says, leaving an awkward rift in the air as he leaves the deck. Mai chuckles and follows him inside.
Aang and I sit in silence for a few moments. He suddenly laughs a little and I look at him, confused. I quickly smile and begin laughing along with him.
"That went…well." He says, taking another bite of his banana bread.
My chuckles turn into a groan, and I cover my face with my hands.
"I'm going to need to keep a tab on how many times I have to get Toph back. She has like…five strikes." I say, my voice muffled behind my hands.
He laughs some more and reaches for my hands, pulling them off my face.
"To be honest, I don't think Zuko had much of a clue. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure Mai did." He says, entwining his fingers with mine. I give him a light chuckle.
"Yeah, Mai accused me of being jealous last night. And she thought we've been together for a lot longer than we are." I say.
I pondered that thought for a moment. I wonder…how long did she think Aang and I were together? Did we ever appear like a couple to others that weren't necessarily in our group of friends? If I were to look in an outsider's point of view, I would have to say sometime after our fall in Ba Sing Se, Aang and I looked more like a couple than just friends. Were we even together? I furrow my eyebrows in thought when Aang's laugh brings me back.
"I don't think we looked much like a couple…you?" He asks, eying me carefully. I sigh.
"I don't know…to each other and to Sokka and Toph, no. But…I can't help but to wonder what other people thought of us." I say, trying to collect my thoughts.
"What do you mean?" Aang asks, a puzzled look on his face.
"I mean we were always directly next to each other… every second of the day. The way we danced during that secret dance party you threw. I don't know…we hugged a lot." I say. I suddenly think back to all the times we touched. I shuddered at the thought. We touched a whole lot, or…I touched him. I couldn't even count the number of times I held him close to me in fear, or brought my hand up to his face. I even kissed him on cheek multiple times. I turned to him and smiled weakly.
"I did…touch you a lot." I quietly say, biting my lip, embarrassed. He shyly smiles, and lets out a shaky laugh.
"That may be a little true…but who said I minded?" He says, his cheeks turning pink. I hum in thought. The sun was shining brightly, not a cloud in the sky. This is a beautiful day for flying on Appa. If we leave early enough, we might be able to make it across the ocean to the end of the Earth Kingdom by the end of today. Then we could probably make it just past the Serpent's Pass the next day. It'll be nice to just camp out like old times.
I think back to our ordeal on the Serpent's Pass. It was not a time I like to really remember. When Aang was so emotionally damaged about losing Appa in the desert. Then, when we finally made it through the pass, he became hopeful again. That conversation we had right after baby Hope was born still makes my heart surge. His words flow back to me.
"Seeing this family together, so full of happiness and love…reminded me how I feel about Appa. And how I feel about you."
I suddenly gasp.
"Aang?" I say, my eyes wide. He has been holding my hand the entire time, enjoying the sunlight while I was reminiscing.
"Hmm?" He says, very relaxed.
"Remember the Serpent's Pass…and how we had that small conversation outside of the tent that family was in?" I ask, still slowly putting the pieces together.
"Of course." He says, now turning to face me. He raises his eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"
"Well…I remembered something that you said to me. Something that I can't believe I didn't understand until now." I say, taking his other hand in my free one. His face was still puzzled.
"You admitted your feelings for me, even way back then. It took me this long to finally realize it. Aang…I am so sorry. Sokka was right. I really have been oblivious." I say, my voice getting quiet. Aang laughs and brings my hands up to his chest.
"I don't think you were oblivious, Katara." He says, our faces close. "And even if you were, it doesn't really matter now, does it?"
I smile back at him. "No. I don't think it does. And I've been doing a lot of thinking. I don't think I was necessarily oblivious. I think I was just afraid. If it means anything now, I think my way of telling you I felt the same way was not necessarily saying it. I guess all the touching was my own subconscious mind trying to convey my feelings to you because my own conscious mind was too stubborn to do so." I say, looking off into the distance. I was too engrossed into thinking about this conversation, that I didn't notice that Aang was not even an inch away from my face. I blush when I realize this.
"You talk too much." He says, leaning in to kiss me. Our lips meet briefly when he pulls away. He airbends himself up and pulls me up as well.
"Shall we go pack our things then?" He says, picking up our empty plates.
"We better get started, we've been siting out here for a while…me and my emotional speeches…" I say, rolling my eyes in mock of myself.
"I'll have you know, I love those preachy, emotional speeches you give. They work on me." He says, squeezing my hand.
"Well, you sure have a way with words, Mr. Avatar." I say, leaning down slightly to kiss him on the cheek. "Now, if only you could grow just a little bit."
He gives me a playful scowl. "Just watch, one day I'll be so tall, you'll need a step stool just to kiss me."
"Mmm, I don't think I'll have to try that hard to get a kiss from you." I tease, letting go of his hand to walk in my room.
"That's most likely true…" He sighs, standing outside my door.
"Yeah, that's what I thought." I mumble, leaning on the side of my door.
"Well, see you in a little bit." He says, still standing outside my room.
"Yup. See you." I say back, swaying on my toes.
"Okay. I'm gonna go now." He says, still not budging.
"Okay, Bye Aang." I say back, trying to hold back my growing laughter building up inside.
"Uh, yeah…Bye." Aang says, looking down at his feet. I roll my eyes and kiss him lightly on the lips.
"Bye." I say, a small chuckle coming out of mu mouth. He grins and bounds away from me, sending a whirl of air behind him that tousles my hair. I giggle and close the door. I lean my back on the closed door and sigh, smoothing my hair back. I stand like that for a while, thinking about the conversation I had with Aang a few moments ago. I smile to myself and come back to Earth, realizing I have yet to begin packing.
These next few days of travelling will be ones to remember.
