A/N Hey y'all! I was reading through some of my earlier chapters and realized that my page breaks are not really working the way they should be. The website keeps editing them out. If anybody has any advice on how to fix that, please tell me! Until then, bear with me, I'm experimenting. I apologize if the pov changes or flashback scenes have been difficult to read up until now as a result of this oversight.
As Appa swoops in to land, there is an audible gasp from below. The small village is almost vacant, and the people who do appear are mostly women, children and older men. They look up at Appa in total disbelief.
There are a few younger and middle aged men, but they look very blank and distant. Some seem to have a permanent scowl and an air of suspicion on their faces. They show no reaction to the Sky Bison before them. Katara realizes they must veterans from the war.
The lucky ones who made it back.
A woman comes forth to meet them, looking shocked beyond words.
"Hello Ma'am. I'm Aang. The Avatar. The war is over, the Fire Lord has been defeated, and you don't have to fear our presence here." Aang floats down from Appa's back to land in front of the woman. He bows deeply to her.
"Is it...true that you're an Airbender by birth?" The woman asks, her voice a little breathless from the surprise of what she is seeing.
"I sure am! Wanna see?" Aang does a sort of flying leap into a flip, snaps a new glider salvaged from the Temple open and starts looping around in the sky. He lands lightly beside her and points to the Bison.
"This is Appa. And Momo is the little lemur sitting behind his horn there."
Momo peeks out and chitters. He spreads his wings and flies around the small assembled group, who oohs and ahhs over him appropriately.
"We've thought for so long that the Air Nomads were extinct. And their Bison. And that the Temples were gone." The lady says.
"Nope! The Temples are still there. I'm still here. And so is Appa." He rubs Appa's head.
"What brings the great Avatar to our humble village?" The lady asks.
"We're looking for people who might be interested in becoming Air Nomads. Now that the war's over, we need to restore balance, and part of that involves finding more Air Nomads and teaching new Airbenders."
"I see. Well, forgive my manners, it's been quite some time since we've had welcome visitors here in town. My name is Sela." She bows deeply. "Please do come with me. It gets chilly at night here in the late summer. You're all welcome to stay in my home while you're here. We'll bring some hay for your Sky Bison, though I doubt what we have will be much more than a snack for him."
"It's alright, Appa won't mind foraging for tonight. We wouldn't want to take your only hay for your livestock." Aang bows and motions for the others to follow him.
Katara slides down and Momo flies into her arms and makes his way to her shoulder. She catches Toph as the girl half jumps and half falls off the Bison's back.
Aang floats the saddle off of Appa's back and the Bison flies away to find food.
"Your saddle and supplies can stay in our barn." Sela offers. Aang floats everything into the building and comes bounding back.
Katara notices the extra space between them, but chooses not to say anything.
"Has the Fire Nation actually bothered to come this far up into your mountains?" Sokka asks, looking around and noticing some burnt out houses. "It doesn't look like there's anything of important value for them up here."
"Sokka!" Katara elbows him hard in the ribs.
"No, he's right. There's nothing here that the Fire Nation wants from us. They never did come this far. At least, not all of them." She opens the door to her house a little roughly, and steps aside to let them go in first. "There was a young man from there who happened by here once on an ostrich horse. He was dressed as Earth Kingdom and was just traveling. He helped us with our barn roof and frightened off some of the bullies from our town. But in the fight, he burnt our buildings."
She starts to build a fire in the stove as she speaks. "We told him to get lost and never come back. Not our best move, I suppose, but we didn't know what else to do. It was quite a shock, and he seemed quite proud of who he was. Then, he showed up here a few weeks ago, claiming to be looking for his mother. I don't recall giving him much information, but my son insisted on going with him to look for his brother. His father passed away recently, at the hands of some Fire Nation soldiers who didn't have anything better to do, so I thought maybe he just needed to get away for a while. Process things. The Firebender seemed to really only want to help."
She lays some plates and chopsticks on the table and motions for them to be seated. "I don't trust him, but I knew Lee would just sneak away if I told him no. I gave the Firebender a list of the missing from our village and told him to find them. Good riddance to him! Lee will come back to us when he gets lonely out there." She places a plate full of meat and a large bowl of salad on the table and sits down.
"He's wanted so much to see the Air Temples, meet the Avatar. His father used to tell him and his brother all about the Air Nomads, and stories of the stars. Filled their heads with nonsense." She smiles a little nostalgically. "But I suppose that's why I fell in love with the man." She says through a sigh. "Always the optimist, always the dreamer. His parents were like that too. His side of the family was always rather odd. Sensu turned out alright, but I suppose Lee takes more after his father." She shakes her head and lets out a sad little laugh.
"How long ago were they here?" Katara asks. It would be good to see Zuko, and the lady's son seems to be the type that Aang wants to recruit.
"Oh, a few weeks ago. I'm not sure where they were headed. But there are only two directions off this mountain, and I believe they went the opposite way that the young man came from. Gao Ling is the closest large town, otherwise they might have gone to Chin Village, or Kyoshi Island. But then they would have gone the other way."
"We're headed that way anyway. To Gao Ling." Toph interrupts.
"We are?" Sokka reaches for his map. Suki smiles a little and grabs his hand.
"We are. I have to talk to my family. If we can meet up with Zuko along the way, we can find out how things in the Fire Nation are going. And his buddy might be interested in joining our group, since he wants to see the Air Temples so badly." Toph points out.
"That sounds like a good idea. We can go through the swamp like we'd planned, and then head for Gao Ling, meet up with Zuko, and head back to the Fire Nation for a bit. Then we can split up to make the load lighter on Appa. Some of us can go with Aang back to the Southern Air Temple with whoever we can bring along, and some of us can go help Zuko find his mom and the villagers." Katara agrees. She Bends water from a bucket in the corner of the room to everyone's glasses as she speaks.
"Wait, you know this Zuko? What would you have to do with him? He's the enemy!" Sela says, agitated.
"Was the enemy." Aang gently corrects. "He switched sides. He was my Firebending Master."
"I see." She seems less than pleased. Katara can certainly understand where she's coming from.
"Do you know of anyone who was looking for a way to Ba Sing Se? Anyone who might have been a Fire Nation refugee?" Katara asks.
"There was a woman who came through here a few years ago, just after Sensu left for the war. I told her that from what my son had said, it looked very likely that there would be a siege on the city and that it was likely surrounded. I asked her if she knew any trades, and she said she really only knew basic cooking and sewing and theater arts. I told her she might try to go to the mountains in the Far East. I told her to cross just south of Chameleon Bay, preferably at night. It was dangerous, but not as dangerous as trying to get into the city itself with all the soldiers surrounding it. We never saw her again. I don't know if she really was from the colonial area or if she was actually Fire Nation. She was good with the children though. They all seemed to love her. I don't know if she ever made it to the mountains or not. Chameleon Bay was a busy area back then, bringing in troops and supplies. But if she had gone North, she would have run into more colonies." Sela shakes her head. "Poor woman. She didn't seem like Fire Nation to me."
"She wasn't. If she was disowned by the Fire Nation, then she was a refugee. A Nomad. And if she really was Zuko's mom, we have to everything we can to find her." Aang states.
"We should probably get to bed now. We have a long day ahead of us." Katara says. She lifts Momo gently from where he's sleeping on her lap, and carries him to her bedroll.
"Thank you, Ma'am, for allowing us to stay with you and for giving us dinner. Your cooking was wonderful." She hears Aang say to Sela, as her eyes drift closed.
"If my son were here... He's actually about you age. I'm sure you two would be fantastic friends. He was always exploring and asking crazy questions. Just like his father. I honestly still can't believe I'm speaking to an Air Nomad myself. And I didn't believe in the Sky Bison at all until you flew in today. I've always thought they were myths! Like the dragons."
"Oh, the dragons are real too. They taught me and my Firebending teacher. Their names are Ran and Shaw. One's blue and one's red. They live out by the Western Air Temple, with the Sun Warriors." Aang's voice is way too excited for this time of night, and Katara briefly wonders if he'll talk all night to this lady.
"Bison, Dragons, Air Temples, the Avatar, an Air Nomad. I think my entire world has changed! I feel like I'm living a fairy tale." Sela exclaims.
"Your world has changed. There is no more war. There won't be again for a very long time, hopefully forever. That's what I'm here for." Aang's voice takes on a soft, serious tone.
"Thank you, Avatar Aang. You've given me hope." Katara hears something like a hug from where she lies.
"And that is also what I'm here for." He says quietly.
And, Katara realizes, that is the truth. Aang gave everyone hope, from Zuko to her and Sokka, to Iroh. And to the whole world.
She drifts off to sleep, more confused than ever.
"Thank you for helping with the breakfast, dear." Sela says, as Katara hands her a basket of vegetables.
"Of course! I'm usually the one cooking for everyone, and it just doesn't feel right to sit back and relax while someone else works." Katara replies. She glances out the kitchen window at the predawn darkness. There is a hint of light on the horizon, barely noticeable.
"So, you're the Avatar's betrothed, I take it?"
"Yeah, but we're having a few issues right now." Katara takes a knife and starts cutting up some carrots.
"All good relationships do. Even my husband and I would argue sometimes. I'm sure you'll figure everything out in the end." Sela says, as she stirs a pot and pours in the potatoes Katara has cut earlier.
"My grandmother says that Aang and I need to wait until we're older, and that because we're both still growing up and finding what we believe in and were raised in different cultures, we might have conflicting views. And she said we might just have too many different opinions to make things work out." Katara Bends some water to rinse the carrots, then hands them to Sela to put into the stew.
"And what do you think?"
"Well, Aang was frozen for a hundred years, so not only were we raised in different cultures, we were brought up in different time periods. The world is a completely different place from a hundred years ago! Even without the war going on, the times have changed, people have changed. I know we have some differing views. He believes in total pacifism, except in defense. I can agree with that, but what about when you know there will be trouble and there isn't any way out but to fight? He always waits for the first strike. The first strike could also be the last. And on forgiveness. I want to forgive everyone, I really do, but some things just can't be forgiven or forgotten. Yon Rha, a soldier from the Fire Nation, killed my mother. I confronted him. I wanted to kill him. I let him go because he was just some old man who was miserable and poor in some forgotten Fire Nation farm community once all was said and done. Aang immediately assumed I'd forgiven him. I haven't, and I probably never will."
"What does Aang say about the genocide of his people? Does he hate the men who did it?"
"Not that I know of. He definitely misses his mentor, and he blamed himself in a way for what happened, but I don't think he hated them. He certainly didn't hate anyone in the Fire Nation when we hid out there before the day of the Solar Eclipse. He even wanted to attend a Fire Nation school! He almost blew our cover. And out of all of us, he was trying to befriend Zuko back when he was trying to hunt him down. We've never really talked about it, but I don't think he does hate any of them."
"I would ask him what he would do if he met a man from the Fire Nation who'd been alive then, and at the battle. I'm sure there has to be at least one around somewhere! At least ask him about it."
"It just seems like such a sensitive topic. I don't want to hurt him."
"Is that really it? Or are you just afraid of the answer?"
"I don't think so. But I guess my question is: how many things will we disagree on? What about when we have kids? What beliefs are we going to give them? His or mine? A combination? Is that even possible?"
"How long have you known this boy, my dear?"
"About a year. A little less."
Sela makes a thoughtful sound.
"Perhaps you need to have more conversations with him on these matters. You'll never know how compatible or incompatible you both are until you know each other better. Between dodging enemies, fighting attackers, and traveling the world, you haven't had enough time to get to know each other."
"But we've been like brother and sister! Other than the little thing where we love each other romantically, that is. We've told stories around the fire, been through some crazy adventures together, talked a bit about right and wrong."
"But you two still don't know enough of each other's opinions on the world and don't have an ability to compromise without that knowledge. My advice? You need more time. My dear Gansu and I dated for three years before we married, and we'd known each other for almost our whole lives before that!" She avoids Katara's eyes, as her voice gets very quiet and sad.
"I'm so sorry for your loss. Are you doing all right?" Katara reaches for Sela's hand. Sela squeezes it back gratefully.
"Well, I guess I don't really know what to do. I've cried about all I can cry about it, there isn't anything for me to do but go on the way that I always have and hope that Lee comes home in one piece, maybe even bringing Sensu with him." The resignation in her voice does nothing to mask the resolve on her face.
"We'll keep an eye out for Sensu while we travel." Katara promises.
"Thank you, dear."
Their conversation is ended by the sound of the others getting up.
Katara glances out the window as the sun rises over the mountain ridges around them.
A/N Sorry it was a long wait for a short chapter. I've been working on a side story for one of the other characters in this, and it hasn't been working the way that I want it to. Also, Katara is the most difficult character for me to write so far. Not sure why... On another note: I was browsing online and it mentions on one of the trivia pages that Katara was the only ATLA character not to have an onscreen interaction with Ozai. I'm looking for suggestions on what such an encounter might look like, just in case it becomes useful. :)