I'm a tad bit late with this update, sorry! I was trying to go heavy with the dialogue here, so it kind of went off into its own little direction. That's why the chapter is double the size of the others. Like I said, I was getting heavy with the practice here, so things may not fit together perfectly, especially some of the scene transitions. Know to watch out for those little shifts ahead of time. Well, as usual, comment, critique, and tell me what you think. I'm open to honesty. Enjoy.
The wind brushed happily across their faces as Appa soared through the morning air. The sun was just beginning to rise, illuminating the clouds in a soft orange hue. The warmth, radiance, and life that the sun emitted, began to spread across their skin.
As Aang felt the tickle of the sun upon his flesh, his mind began to wander to thoughts of firebending. The sun, the provider of life and energy, the source of firebending lead his mind to visions of Azula. All that he could imagine at this point was the troubled expression she wore in the infirmary. It disheartened him, forcing him to question his usefulness. Katara's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"I always miss this, flying on Appa. I forgot how beautiful it really is," she said as if flying for the first time. Aang looked back at her; it wasn't just her words that held that strange sense of wonder. Within her eyes, her expression, and her body language he could perceive a genuine air of amazement as if this was her first time being able to dance upon the sky. He saw within her deep blue eyes, a sense of freedom, a long forgotten sense of peace.
That was something he always liked about Katara. No matter how much a situation deteriorated into chaos, she would always remain optimistic, hopeful, and somewhat peaceful. The war brought a lot of things to many people, peace being one of them. The carefree expression of excitement that Katara gracefully wore now washed over most of the post war world.
However, there were those that the newfound peace didn't help. There were those like Azula. The Avatar looked away from the beautiful woman just behind him and focused once more on the direction of Appa's flight. A slight sadness rested upon his chest.
Katara's voice began to rouse his attention, "You know, if it wasn't for Zuko chasing us around, the war, and the threat of global domination from the Fire Nation, the whole world traveling thing wouldn't have been so bad. Now that I think about it, the experience was actually kind of fun in a certain light."
Katara paused, noticing the worried look on Aang's face as he nodded absentmindedly. Her smile melted into a small frown. Today was supposed to be a day where in which the pair could get away from it all.
"Aang," she said "Please, relax. I promise the world isn't going to change in one day without you."
He grimaced a bit, replying in a low whisper, "Let's hope so."
"Hey, smile. Just look around, it's a beautiful day and we finally have time to spend together. Promise me; just promise me that you'll have fun today, ok?"
With that, she deftly pecked Aang on the cheek.
The Avatar blushed; a small smile overtook his face.
"There we are," She said pleased with Aang's response, "that's what I like to see."
Arms gently wrapped around his neck from behind, and a slow, deliberate kiss was placed upon the top of his head. His smile grew wide, and he allowed himself to let go of everything that weighed down upon his mind.
She smiled, pressing her cheek upon his, while hugging him tighter. Aang almost melted with joy.
Seconds later one of her arms shot forward, index finger extended. "Look up!," Her anticipation was radiant and beautiful, "Up ahead, it's Ember Island!"
Aang guided the sky bison over the narrow land formation. The island was ripe and active with festivity. Multitudes of people ran and danced upon the sands of sparkling beaches. The waves fell and crashed upon the shores with a very natural and calming rhythm. A feeling of freedom seemed to emanate from the heart of the island. It was as if Ember Island was almost alive, speaking.
"This is wonderful," She whispered softly in his ear, "Thank you."
"So, what do you think? Should we go to the Zuko's beach house with the private beach, or do you think we can enjoy the public beach for a while?" She asked, hoping that he'd choose the former.
Aang twisted his mouth in a small pout, looking towards the clouds as he mulled over the question she presented him with. Another smile broke across his face as he began to speak.
"How about we try the social scene first? I mean, only if you want to. It could be fun, but if it gets a bit hairy, we'll go to the beach house. What do you think?"
He looked at her with a light hearted grin, something she hadn't seen from him in such a long time. She couldn't say no.
"Sounds good," She said almost instantly. She was eager to allow this trip to go as smoothly as possible; disagreeing on a choice of scenery would be counterproductive to her goal. She was a little off put by his decision, but she chose to honor it without a hint of animosity. Besides, he was right, it could be a good time.
"Alright, to the beach we go," Aang said with excitement. "Land here, buddy," he directed Appa.
The sky bison let out a deep rumble and began to descend upon the island.
It wasn't half a day later, that Aang found himself in the fire nation palace talking to Sokka.
"So, what exactly did you do?" Sokka asked curiously, looking at the young airbender who was slouched deeply into a comfortable looking cushioned chair.
Frowning, the Avatar looked upwards towards his friend and puffed, "I didn't do anything."
"Well, Suki and I wouldn't be here if you didn't. So, spill it, what happened out there?"
Aang sank deeper into the chair and grumbled softly, letting out an incomprehensible string of sounds.
Sokka poked at Aang, attempting to illicit a response; nothing. This time, instead of his arm, he poked at his head, from different angles; no response. He tried once more, using his friend's staff to jab at his chest. Aang returned Sokka's playful gestures with a disgruntled frown.
"Alright, buster, have it your way. Just know, if I only have to rely on Katara's version of events I might have to rough you up a bit," Sokka said shaking his fist comically in front of Aang's face. The smile Sokka wore quickly slid off of his face after failing yet again to get a response from Aang.
"Boy, it must have been bad, huh?" He asked in a low, inquisitive voice.
"No, well, at least not at first and that's the weird part," Aang blurted out, "It started out with a simple mistake that was entirely situational. I…look, just know that it wasn't really any fault of mine."
"Ok, I believe you, because Katara has the tendency to blow things out of proportion every now and then. I think we got enough of that over the past year." Sokka said as he plopped down in a seat adjacent to Aang's. "So, start at the beginning. You two were going to Ember Island for some nice R and R and then…"
"Then we decided to go to the beach." Aang said
"Ah, now that sounds fun, I don't see how that could have been a problem. The private beach at Zuko's water front property must have been nice." Sokka said.
"Er, Well, not that beach," Aang slowly explained as his eyes moved from Sokka and to the ceiling. "We went to one of the public beaches."
Sokka began laughing, "What? Why? Zuko has that nice beach house with all of the fancy doohickeys and servants. Why wouldn't you have gone there?"
"Well, she gave me the choice and I asked if she was sure. She said yes," Aang said almost pleading to the mocking expression that painted the face of the young man from the southern watertribe.
Caught mid laugh, Sokka continued to speak, "You're serious aren't you? How many people were there?"
Shying away and covering his face within his hands, Aang let out a muffled answer, "A lot."
"You guys must have been mobbed the second you set up your blanket!" Sokka said, still in the throes of laughter.
"No," Aang said from the sanctuary of his hands, "They were on us the second Appa landed."
"What did you think was going to happen? You think people would ignore the two ton flying bison and air nomad tattoos?"
"Look, I didn't know it would be that bad," He said, almost shrugging off Sokka's ridicule.
"So, is that it? If so, then she's definitely overacting. Sure, dealing with all of those people must have been pretty stressful, I get that, but if that's all then I say we forget about it and move on. Seriously, sometimes I wonder if my sister is wound up too tightly."
Aang sighed, "Well, that's not all."
Sokka raised his eyebrow and leaned forward in his seat.
"There were hundreds of people, all circling us. They were crowding around, screaming, and asking for me to sign this or kiss that."
Sokka face shifted into confusion.
"Yeah, people lose it around me, I'm not sure why," Aang said as he shrugged.
"Uh, Avatar. Duh." Sokka said, slacked jawed with his finger twirling to the side of his head. "So, what else did happen?"
Letting out another labored breath, Aang reluctantly began explaining, "I kind of, might have, accidentally grabbed the wrong girl."
Sokka's face betrayed no emotion. "What?" He asked in more of as statement than a question.
"I grabbed the wrong girl," Aang restated in an almost unsure shrug looking for a sympathetic laugh.
"No, I'm sure I heard you. I'm just going to need you to explain." Sokka said, with a harsher tone, definitely looking for some type of answer.
"Look, there were a lot of people. They were a mob, really. Things got a little too crowded a little too soon and I thought it was best that we got out of there. They were everywhere Sokka," Aang explained, wide eyed and expressively.
Sokka simply stared.
"Everywhere!" Aang blurted out, practically begging Sokka to understand.
"Uh huh." Sokka said.
"In the haste of things, I grabbed a girl near me. Katara was standing at that exact spot, I swear."
"Let me get this straight, you grabbed the wrong girl, hopped onto Appa's saddle, and realized it was the wrong girl." Sokka reasoned, attempting to place the pieces together.
"Almost…" Aang trailed off.
"Wait…" Sokka slowly said, his eyes and smile growing equally wider. "What else!"
"I grabbed her and jumped into Appa's saddle. At that point I flew off, but I turned right back around once I realized it." Aang revealed.
Sokka was consumed with laughter, "And you didn't hear Katara yelling for you?"
Aangs brow dipped and his hands shot up in the air, "There were a couple hundred people in a dense crowed shouting my name, how could I hear her?"
Sokka continued laughing, slapping his knee and doubling over.
The young air nomad attempted to slip in an additional piece of information to the story as Sokka seemed distracted enough for it to be casually missed, "The fire nation girl may have began showering me in kisses the second we were on Appa."
Sokka fell out of his chair in laughter, "You land on a public beach, you're mobbed by your adoring fans, you grab a girl who isn't Katara, she's pecking away at your head, and you ride off into the sunset romantically leaving Katara behind."
"It wasn't even close to dusk, it was late morning, but yeah that's the gist of it," he said, sheltering his face within his hands once more.
Still lying on the floor, Sokka tilted his head back to look at Aang's upside down figure.
"Man you're in trouble," he said with a grin.
"Yeah, tell me about it," Aang sighed as he slumped into the chair once more. "But that's not all…"
Sokka's blue eyes lit up in anticipation.
Elsewhere in the palace, a conversation pertaining to the same series of events was underway.
Katara's face appeared to be twisted into a permanent scowl. For all of the time that Suki spent with Katara, she had never witnessed her quite as upset as she was now.
"Well, he did come back," Suki stated timidly with a slight cringe.
Katara's glassy eyes shot towards her direction and seemed to bore into her skull.
Suki, raising her hands in front of herself while making nervous waves, quickly rescinded her previous comment, "Ok, so it was kind of bad. You can't blame him though; it sounded like it was a circus down there."
Katara didn't respond, but Suki could feel her body trembling through the bed that they both sat upon. She reached out to comfort her, "Katara it's alright."
"No, no it's not," Katara responded, voice breaking. "He made a dumb decision. We got stuck in a situation, and I overacted. We had another fight. I think I took it too far. Things were said, by both of us, and I just don't know."
Suki looked into Katara's tear filled eyes and then down to the ground before being hit with an idea to help console the sorrowful water bender. "Well, I'm sure whatever was said can be forgiven. So, chin up."
Katara placed her face within her hands and sighed heavily, "Suki, how? Is it going to get any better? I wanted to talk to you because I needed to know. How did you and Sokka fit together so perfectly without incident after the months of separation?"
Suki's features scrunched together in thought, but a smile over took her face as she placed her hand on Katara's shoulder, "We allowed it to work. There was nothing easy about it. We made time and we put in the effort. You're just getting over separation anxiety, mixed with this post war environment. Our situation wasn't easy, and I'm not going to lie, yours will be a little more difficult. You're dealing with rebuilding nations while tip toeing through the first stages of a relationship that probably had been bubbling beneath the surface for over a year. I know you and Aang are busy, preoccupied with changing the world for the better, but don't forget to put in the time for one another…oh, and make sure you don't sweat the little stuff."
"Right, the little stuff…" Katara repeated with a hint of sadness in her voice while looking away from Suki.
"What's wrong?" Suki asked, now a little more concerned about the situation.
Katara 's deep blue eyes slowly looked towards Suki.
In one of the longue rooms of the palace, Sokka's blue eyes gazed up at Aang from the floor.
"So, what happened?" The young man from the watertribe asked with an excitement he could barely contain.
"Nothing good, Sokka. We had a fight." Aang said, stealing the smile from Sokka's face. "It was bad, and things were said."
"How bad?" Sokka asked with a true sense of concern in his voice as he slowly sat upright.
Aang stared towards him for a moment without answering, and then sighed. "She was being so quiet on the way to the beach house while I was apologizing, and then she just went off on me. She just started nagging to the point where I told her that she wasn't being rational. I told her she was being overbearing and that it was hard to be around her when she's like that. You know what I mean, right?"
Sokka nodded his head, eyebrow cocked as if he were privileged to some type of expert knowledge.
"Well, that was the wrong choice of words," Aang said.
"You better believe it," Sokka interjected.
"Everything soured from that point on. She shot back, and hard. She said something to the effect of 'If I'm so unbearable, then why don't disappear for a while and come back to this when you're ready. You have a record at being good at that.' It kind of hurt hearing that, especially coming out of her mouth."
"What did you say to her?" Sokka reluctantly asked.
"There was nothing I could say that wouldn't make the situation worse. I simply asked if she still wanted to go to Zuko's beach house. She obviously didn't."
In one of the palace bedrooms Katara and Suki sat in discussion.
"After that we decided to head back to the palace. I was still so angry, I wouldn't even allow myself to look at him, let alone talk to him. In the silence he said that he didn't think that any of this would turn out like it did. In my anger, I told him that maybe we needed to reconsider what this was. He told me that I never bothered to make it clear what this was. He said that at times, he might as well have been fumbling in the dark. I told him that I didn't know and didn't care," Katara confessed almost choking on her words.
Suki looked at Katara, not really know what to say to calm her friend.
Katara whispered, not wanting to hear the truth flow forth from her own mouth, "Suki, I don't know how to fix this. I just don't know."
Ok, that was fun...kind of. I know this is getting kind of old. I promise that more Azula is on the way. I can't just throw an unlikely pairing together without setting the ground work for it; that would be…weird (which I am guilty of to certain extent, but I'm trying to slow it down to make it as plausible as possible while balancing with pacing issues). Rest assured that the skeleton is almost set and that the hull is almost ready for construction. This ship will eventually sail. Thanks for your continued reading.