Okay, I noticed a typo that could have led people to believe that the last chapter was the final chapter. In this intro thing I accidentally wrote that "A Great and Terrible Beauty" gave me the idea for the end of the fic. I meant to say the end of the chapter. Well, whatever. Thanks to all my reviewers, ur cool ppl.

Me no own Avatar.

Ch.9

Once Katara had left, Aang began to think about how he would practice.

"Squat and breathe… the only thing I learned was how to squat and breathe…" He started thinking about the waste of time and pain all that squatting and breathing caused.

"Well, I guess I'll just squat and breathe." He said to himself with a sigh. He remembered how he had practiced on a small mound sticking out of some water, so used his earthbending to make a small mound rise out of the stream. He positioned himself on the mound, squatted the way that he was taught, and began to focus on nothing but breathing. Aang got bored quickly. He thought that he had been there for at least an hour, but found it to be no more than 10 long minutes.

This is ridiculous. What does squatting and breathing have to do with making fire? Katara taught herself the basics of waterbending, maybe I could do the same with fire…

He held out his hand and tried to focus on heat, heat running through his body and into his hand. Then Aang realized what he was doing and quickly stopped.

Being impatient with my training is what got Katara hurt in the first place. I should do as I was taught and just squat and breathe.

He settled back into his squatting position on his mound and began to breathe.

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Katara was walking, looking for some fruit to eat with Aang. She had been using Sokka's boomerang to cut the bananas and coconuts down. I guess this boomerang's not just a stupid toy after all… She thought to herself as she looked at her brother's weapon.

"How'd this thing even end up next to the camp? It was never there before… And I don't think Sokka would have left it there without seeing us…" She stated her thoughts out loud. "How did any of us even end up on this stupid island? Aang and I only remember falling asleep. And how does that explain the fact that all our things are missing? And how come Aang and I ended up on the same part of the island when Sokka and Toph didn't? None of this makes sense…"

She looked back towards the campsite. "Before I left the Southern Water Tribe, Gran-Gran told me that my destiny and Aang's destiny were intertwined. Maybe we ended up on this island for a reason… Maybe that reason was so that we could tell each other how much we love each other…"

Katara hadn't noticed that she was still wandering about, looking for food. There must be hundreds or thousands of palm trees on this island, but apparently none of them have coconuts… That doesn't make sense, either…

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"Huh? Where are they?" Sokka had gotten back to the field full of panda-lilies to find that Aang and Katara had left.

"I told you they wouldn't do anything out here." Toph was slowly walking towards Sokka.

"I thought you were going to stay at the cave…"

"I told you, if I'm not there to hold you back, you'll decapitate Aang for holding Katara's hand."

"Decapitate him with what? My boomerang is still missing."

"When did you have it last?"

"I think it was last night, I was walking around looking for Aang and Katara, and I was going to make a mark on a tree with it so I could find my way back, that's when I had those, uhh… mental images… and I started to go back to the cave."

"Then you must have left it by the tree. Let's go find it. You need something to help you stop thinking about your sister."

"Uhhh, ok. Why are you suddenly acting so nice?"

"Because apparently yelling isn't enough to get through to you, Snoozles. Maybe being nice will help. I've never tried it before." Toph told him with a smirk.

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Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out… Aang was repeating this in his mind, trying to stay focused on his body heat. Breathe in, breath out. He could feel something in his chest. It was warm, like a campfire. He realized this was also the way he felt when he was with Katara. I guess it's a good thing… It does feel like fire… He let his arms drop to his side and he continued repeating the mantra in his head. Breathe in, breathe out.

"Oh my! Aang!" Katara had just gotten back from gathering fruit.

Aang opened his eyes. "Oh, hey Katara!"

"Aang… Your hands… Your arms…" Katara said, just above a whisper.

"Huh?" Aang pulled his hands up to his face. "Ahhh!" Aang jumped up and fell onto his mound. Both his hands had large flames coming out of them, engulfing them; rising up his arms and the sleeves of his shirt had been burnt off. He quickly jumped into the river to douse his hands.

"A-Aang… What was that? Were you just firebending?"

"I don't know… I didn't even feel the fire while I was squatting and breathing. In fact, it doesn't even feel like I got burnt." He looked at his burnt sleeves, and then at his arms, which were completely unharmed.

Katara started to walk towards him. "Wait! Don't come too close." Aang called out to her.

"Aang, I know you are worried about hurting me, but-."

"Just, hold on a second. I want to try something, don't get too close." He raised his right hand up and stared at it, concentrating once more on his breathing. Within seconds, a fire appeared in the palm of his hands. He clenched his hand into a fist, and punched downwards, towards the water. The fire shot forward, flying into the water, disappearing with a pffffft as steam rose out of the water.

"I- I just… fire shot from my… I just firebended…" Aang was still starring at his hand in awe.

Katara shouted in a gleeful tone. "See, Aang? I told you that you could do it!" She ran toward him, dropping their lunch, and she wrapped her arms around him in a warm embrace. Aang kissed her lightly and let go, walking towards their food, but she grabbed his arm as he walked away and gave him a strong punch.

"Owww! What the heck was that for?" he asked, rubbing his arm.

"That was for arguing with me when I told you to practice." She had somewhat of an annoyed expression on her face. "Good things happen when you listen to me." She added with a smirk.

He lightly kissed her again, and then kissed her once more, but more passionately this time. "You know I love you, right?"

She leaned in and kissed him back. "Yes, did you know that I love you?"

"I had a feeling that you did…" He said with his usual grin. He took a step back, but took her hands in his. "Let's eat lunch, and we'll go find Sokka when we finish."

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"Okay, I think it was right around here." Sokka and Toph were looking for the boomerang. "That's weird; here is the tree with the marking. Where's my boomerang?" Sokka started to look around the area for any signs as to where his boomerang might be. He saw a small stream and started to walk towards it, and then saw a tent made of palm tree branches.

"What the heck… Was that there last night?" Sokka moved a little closer to it to investigate, but then heard Aang and Katara's voices coming from the direction of the stream. He heard Katara shouting.

"(Distant) See, Aang? I told you that you could do it!" Sokka saw Katara run up to Aang and hug him, and then Aang gave her a small kiss.

"Grrrr…" Sokka started grumbling at the sight, but Toph put a hand on his shoulder, signaling him to calm down.

"Look, let's go back to the cave. If you got worked up by a small kiss, you won't want to be around if they start making out again."

Whew, I finished this chapter at the last minute. And I have maintained my updates to at east 1 per day for 10 chapters. w00t!

Rest in Peace, Mako Iwamatsu (Voice Actor for Uncle Iroh)