Chapter 8- Girl Talk
"I can't believe you actually said that to him!" Suki gasped, laughing excitedly. "And then what happened? Was he man enough to face you or he did he chicken out?"
"I had to provoke him a little more." Katara answered, happy to have a captivated audience, even if it was just one person. "But once i whipped some water in his head, it was on."
"And did you completely kick his butt and showed him where he belongs?"
"Not really. He was master, after all. I held my own for a while, but inevitably he got the better of me."
"Oh." Suki seemed disappointed.
"But that's the craziest part!" Katara quickly got her interest again. "Do you know that necklace I'm always wearing?" The Kyoshi Warrior nodded affirmatively. "Turns out, it's my grandmother's betrothal necklace. That he made for her!"
"Wait, 'he' as in Master Pakku!?"
"Yep."
"No way! But then, were they engaged?"
"Well, they were, but she ran away from the North Pole, and from Pakku, due to their oppressive customs."
"I love your grandmother already."
"She is the best." Katara gave a longing laugh, realizing she had not talked to her Gran Gran in almost a year now. "Anyway, it fell of me during the fight, and Master Pakku picked it up, revealing the whole thing to me. He must have realized that his bigoted ways did more harm than good to himself, and accepted to train both me and Aang. And that's how I become a waterbending master, and Aang's Sifu." She concluded, proudly.
"Wow… You guys had the best adventures." Suki mused. The two girls were sitting near a tree on Ember Island, the safe spot Zuko led them after the narrow escape from the Western Air Temple, and had spent the better part of the night finally taking the time to get to know each other a little better. For Katara, it couldn't have come at a better time. Ever since Zuko joined their group, Aang's training focus shifted almost entirely to firebending, leaving little time for the other elements, especially water, that the Avatar had pretty much mastered at this point. This is in part a good thing, since time away from Aang spares Katara from having to deal with the mess her head becomes whenever her best friend so much as smiles at her. She's dreading the moment where they will have to deal with whatever it is that their relationship has become, so Zuko's intense training routine has bought her some much-needed time.
But it's also a bad thing because it mostly leaves her with nothing to do for most of the day. However confusing things between her and Aang may be right now, Katara's undeniably at her happiest whenever she's spending time with him. Or at the very least, having to train him leaves her with something to focus her mind on. But lately she's been very much alone with her thoughts, and between the failed invasion, being again separated from her father and her recent confrontation with her mother's killer, her thoughts haven't been very cheery, to say the least.
So, when Suki asked if everyone wanted to take a break from watching the boy's firebending and take a walk, she gladly accepted, even though to be fair she wasn't exactly minding the view. Suki had initially addressed the whole group, but Sokka wanted to stay and watch and Toph hated walking. At first, Katara was afraid that things would be a little awkward between her and the Kyoshi Warrior, but they quickly found they had much in common, and the hours flew by as the girl's talked and traded stories.
"You know, Sokka never really told me any stories about the North Pole." Suki pondered. "He loves to tell me of your adventures, but whenever I ask him about the Siege, he just mumbles something about Aang becoming a giant blue monster and not killing Zuko. There's got to be more to it than that, right?"
"Uh…" Katara was at a loss what to say. If Sokka couldn't talk to his own girlfriend about his tragic love life, she wasn't going to be the one to do it. "It's just that it wasn't all heroics and bravado, the Siege. We were completely outnumbered, and a lot of good people died that day. People we felt responsible to protect." The waterbender felt this was a fair way of telling the truth without putting her brother in a difficult position. "If it wasn't for Aang, I don't know how we all would've survived."
"I see." Much to Katara's relief, her friend didn't seem to give much thought to her explanation. "Well, let's not focus on the bad things. You challenged the patriarchy and became a master waterbender! That's what I'm focusing on." Katara received the praise with a shy laugh. "You know, I'm really glad we finally got to talk, just us. It's been nice getting to know you, not only as my boyfriend's sister, but as you. It's crazy we never really spent time together before this."
"I know! I might regret saying this, but I'm really glad to have another girl in the group."
Suki chuckled.
"Why would you regret saying this?"
"Well, I said the same thing when Toph joined and, I mean, you know Toph. I love her, but she's not exactly what I had in mind when I said it." This made Suki laugh even harder.
"Yeah, I can understand that. I mean, obviously I think Sokka is great, but I know he can be a real, uh, man sometimes."
"Tell me about it. You worked I miracle on him, I'll tell you that."
"I know." The girl smiled cockily. "But hey, know that whenever you need a girl talk, I am your girl."
"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." Before she could add that the other way around was true, they were interrupted by the sound of people desperately running behind them, laughing rascally. Katara could recognize these three sets of mischievous laughter anywhere. It haunted her dreams.
"SUKI!" Every time Sokka saw his girlfriend he would scream her name with the excitement of someone who just saw an oasis after being stranded in the desert for several days. It was undeniably adorable. Even while clearly exhausted from the running, he immediately ran to hug her.
"Hey!" Suki said, happily receiving his sweaty embrace. "What are you guys doing running around?"
"We pranked Zuko." Sokka answered, amid panting breaths.
"It was awesome." Toph added, collapsing on the floor behind Katara.
"And now he's super mad at us." Aang finished, not looking nearly as breathless as the other two, which is expected from an airbender, but still with that roguish smile plastered on his face.
Katara and Suki exchanged a knowing grin, wordlessly finding refuge in each other amid this crazy and boyish group.
"What do you mean you pranked Zuko?" The waterbender asked. "Should we be worried?"
Excitedly, the two boys explained what their masterclass of pranking was all about, while Toph gathered her energies on the ground. Though they were happy listeners, not much of it made much sense to the girls. All they could discern was that it involved Appa, a nest of wasps, peaches, and that Zuko absolutely had to be shirtless for it to work. Gradually, the storytelling fractured into Sokka talking to Suki and Aang talking to Katara, each man subconsciously focusing on the person they were the most eager to tell stories and trigger bursts of laugher. It contributed to the whole thing feeling all the more chaotic, but no one seemed to mind the nigh incomprehensible mix of voices talking over each other.
"Anyway, we should probably keep running, because Zuko really is angry, and I like my skin too much to see it burned off." Sokka leaned in and gave Suki a quick goodbye kiss before running off.
This immediately caused a massive wave of discomfort to rush over Katara and Aang. How were they supposed to say goodbye? Under normal circumstances this wouldn't be a problem, but their history together paralyzed both of them. All they could do was try to hide the uncontrollable reddening of their faces.
"Aang, quit standing around and let's go!" Sokka snaped both of them out of it.
"So, uh, I guess I should go." The airbender sheepishly said, avoiding all eye contact.
"Yes, I will see you around then." Katara tried to put as much formality in her voice as she could, which sounded terrible once said out loud.
"Right, because we are living together."
"That's correct."
"Not together as in you and me together, it's like, the whole group together."
"Yep. Friends. Living together."
"Yeah. I'll, uh, be going then. Uh, bye Suki." He said that last part as if just remembering that the Kyoshi Warrior was there, and ran away as fast as he could.
"Bye Aang." Suki had a bit of malice in the voice, for the girl was clearing enjoying the disaster going on in front of her. She waited a few seconds before turning around to her friend, who was watching the boys run away with the slightest of smiles on her face. "So, girl to girl. When are you going go to something about that?"
Katara did her best to look confused by the question, which almost worked. She was a great liar, after all.
"Do something about what?"
"Oh c'mon. There's obviously something going on between you and Aang."
"What? What makes you say that?" She was sounding less convincing by the second.
"Well for starters, it's pretty obvious. I've noticed the way you look at each other. And the way that you don't. Plus, whatever that just was." She waved to where he was just standing, referring to their very awkward goodbye. "And finally, Sokka already told me everything."
"Oh really?" Katara exaggerated her disdain. "What did Sokka tell you?"
"That you've been in love with him from the day you two met him."
Katara gasped, irritated.
"He said WHAT? That's ridiculous. I definitely did not fall in love with Aang the day I met him!"
"But you did, eventually, fall in love with him?" Suki raised her eyebrows suggestively.
"No. No!" The answer came alongside furious hair-braiding. "Look, I can guarantee you that there's nothing romantic going on between us! We're just friends!"
"That's a lie right there." Toph casually mentioned behind the girls, making both of them hug each other screaming.
"Where did you come from!?" Katara exclaimed.
"I never left here, dummy!" The earthbender answered, comfortably lying in the ground using her arms to support her head.
"Aren't you running from Zuko?" Suki asked. All she got as an answer was a dismissive "Pff". She then pushed Katara away and dramatically pointed her finger at her.
"And you! You lied to me! After all that time we spent bonding!"
"Well I didn't want to talk about it!"
"But I said I was your girl!" This got a laughter from Toph in the back.
"And because of that I have an obligation to telling you girly things?"
"Yes! That's how this works!"
Katara doubted that it worked like that, but she did not want to lose the respect of her new-found friend. Sighing in defeat, she prepared to say out loud things she had a hard time admitting to herself, things she had done her best to avoid thinking about at all cost for the past few weeks.
"Okay. There is something going on between me and Aang. But you have to promise me that you will not tell anyone about this. Especially my brother!"
"I promise." The two other girls said in unison.
Katara wasn't exactly talking to Toph, but it seemed she would have to accept the blind girl's presence, and subsequent mockery, as well.
"No, you have to really promise me. Swear on it!"
"Swear to what?" Suki asked, confused.
"I don't know, something big. Like Avatar Kyoshi's life."
The warrior raised a puzzled eyebrow at her friend.
"Katara, Avatar Kyoshi is already dead."
"You can swear on Aang's life." Toph suggested. "Same thing, really."
"Don't joke about that!" Katara chastised her.
"We don't have to swear!" Suki protested. "I promise I won't say anything, you can trust me."
"Fine." Again, trying her best to let Suki know that she was trusted, the waterbender conceded. She then turned to her other friend. "Toph?"
"My silence will come at a price, Sweetness. I will let you know what that price is in due time. Now spit it out."
"Okay…" Katara still felt like an idiot for agreeing to this in the first place. Every time her mind ventured to Aang and her feelings or him, it was a mess. It used to be so much simpler! Now, her thoughts are flashes of seemingly unrelated moments and sensations, like his convulsing body on the Ba-Sing-Se catacombs, his heroic pose after stopping the volcano on Wu's village, her father arms around her as she cried when Aang fled just after waking up, his tears falling on her hand during their hug in the desert. They went through so much together and Katara had no doubt that her feelings for him were intense, no matter their nature. Most of all, the image that most flashed in her head was of his smile, and she could almost hear his laughter just upon imagining it. Katara was afraid of what that could mean.
Realizing that her friends where still waiting expectantly on her words, and accepting that there was no way out of it now, the waterbender continued.
"On the day of the Invasion, we talked for a minute just before the attack. I told him I was proud of him and believed in him. He told me he was scared that he might not come back. And before I had a chance to tell him not to say these things, he kissed me. Right there and then."
"Oh!" Suki gasped. "And did you kiss him back?"
"I don't know. I think so?"
"What do you mean you think so?"
"I don't know! I closed my eyes and leaned into it. Does that count?"
"Yes! So you liked it?"
"I think I did, yeah." Katara could feel the red on her face.
"And do you like him?" Toph asked, incisively, though still surprisingly sensitive so far.
"I don't know."
Clearly tired of hearing "i don't know", Suki decided to ask an objective question.
"Was it your first kiss?"
"Uh, yes."
"That's a lie!" Toph sensed it and immediately called it, proudly.
Katara regretted more than anything doing this in front of Toph, of all people. Suki, on the other hand, seemed pretty satisfied.
"You're a very useful little earthbender, you know that?"
"Thank you." She then turned to Katara, with malice in her voice. "So, who is this mystery first lover? Is it that boy from Ba-Sing-Se? Uh, is it Haru!?"
"No! What? No! There's no first lover!"
"Who was your first kiss then?"
"It was… actually also with… Aang." She said this as if it caused her physical pain, her head falling down with embarrassment at each professed word.
"Wait, so there was another kiss!?" Suki asked.
"How long have you two been smooching in secret?" Toph mocked.
"We're not smooching in secret!" Katara exclaimed, flustered just by repeating the term. "It's not what you guys think. Suki, has Sokka ever told you about the Cave of Two Lovers?"
"Yeah. You got stuck in this cave with some crazy annoying nomads, and he saved everyone by taming badgermoles." The waterbender rolled her eyes at her brother's self-centered version of the story. She could only wonder what some of their most glorious moments would look like in Sokka's hero fantasies.
"Badgermoles!?" Toph sat up, appearing to be interested in the conversation for the first time. "When did this happen again? I would have remembered badger moles, I love them!"
"You had not joined us yet." Katara explained.
"Oh, so the smooching has been going on for quite a while I see."
"Shut up. The thing about the Cave of Two Lovers is that me and Aang got separated from Sokka and the nomads. Inside, we found some writing about letting love lead the way or something." Katara could recite each and every word that was inscribed in those stone walls, but she wasn't about to let that slip. "We were desperate to get out, with our torch dying off. So, I suggested, as a way to save our lives, that we kissed. That's all. It doesn't count." She could tell by the look on her friends faces that she wasn't being very convincing. In fact, she was barely convincing herself.
"Yeah, right." Suki said sarcastically. "So you just casually suggested a make-out session inside the romantic Cave of Two Lovers."
"It wasn't a make-out session, it lasted two seconds!" The waterbender crossed her arms, annoyed. "And it certainly wasn't romantic."
"You're lying." Toph declared with a wry smile.
Katara breathed deeply. She had this under control.
"Ok, maybe it was a little romantic. But I just wanted to get out of there. I would've suggested the same thing if it was Zuko in there with me."
"Hah, lie!" She was clearing enjoying this.
"Leave me alone!" Katara was losing control. "Zuko was a dumb example. The point is, I wasn't hoping to kiss Aang down there!"
"Lie!"
"Argh! I was hoping to kiss Aang to get out of there! It's not like I think about kissing him all the time!"
"LIE!"
"TOPH I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" Screaming, Katara lunged at the earthbender, who was laughing uncontrollably. The two rolled around on the floor, fighting, while Suki looked simply dumbfounded.
"Wow." She managed to say once the other two calmed down, completely covered in dirt and breathing heavily. Toph, still in a fit of giggles, pushed the waterbender off of her using her feet.
"See, this is why I didn't want to talk about it!" Katara complained, trying unsuccessfully to clean some of the dirt off. "Now I'm more confused than ever!"
"I don't know, Sweetness. I'd call that progress. I mean, thinking about kissing him all the time? That's gold!" Toph could barely contain herself as she talked.
"Whatever." Katara crossed her arms, full of fluster and anger. "I'm not answering any more stupid questions."
The trio spent a few moments without saying a word to each other, the silence only undercut by Toph's constant giggling. But it wasn't long until they heard footsteps behind them, accompanied by an almost unbearable stench.
"What is that smell?' Suki asked, instinctively covering her nose with her hands.
"Uh oh." In an almost instant reaction, Toph bent the earth beneath her away, falling on the hole she created and then immediately covering the floor above her again, making a sort of grave that blended seamlessly with the surroundings. Before any of the girls could ask for an explanation, the answer was revealed to them: Zuko approached, shirtless and covered in some sort of yellow goo that seemed to be the source of the stench. He was visibly distraught with himself.
"What happened with you?" Katara asked. She knew it had something to do with the prank the boys pulled on him, but again, their description of it made no sense.
"I don't want to talk about it." Was Zuko's raspy answer. "What happened with you?" He gestured towards her body and clothes completely covered in dirt.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Fair enough. Have either of you seem Aang, Sokka or Toph?"
"Why do you want to know?" Suki asked.
"I want my clothes back." He answered as if that should explain everything.
The two girls shared a quick glance towards each other before Suki took the initiative.
"I saw Aang and Sokka going towards that direction." She pointed towards the direction where they actually went, which puzzled Katara. Was Suki really about to rat everyone out? "As for Toph, no sign of her, sorry."
"That's more than enough for me, thank you. I'll leave you girls to it." With a sigh, Zuko made his way towards Aang and Sokka's supposed location, and the two girls watched this weird, smelly figure disappear in the horizon. Once he did, Toph came out of her hiding spot.
"Oh man. Classic! Did he look super miserable?" She exclaimed, with devious excitement.
"For normal people standards, yeah. For Zuko standards, just a tad more than usual." Suki shrugged.
"Good enough! Thanks for throwing him out of my way."
"No problem." The Kyoshi Warrior then turned to Katara. "Look, clearly you're in a very weird place with your feelings towards Aang."
"Clearly." Toph laughed.
Before the two girls started fighting each other once again, Suki quickly called her attention back.
"So, let me help you clear these emotions out. I have an idea that I think you're going to like."
"Oh I doubt that." The waterbender complained, but Suki kept on anyway.
"I want you to think back to that moment when he kissed you before the invasion. Try to focus on everything you felt and thought at that very moment when you lips touched." So far, Suki was describing everything that Katara mostly tried, and failed, to avoid doing ever since that day. "Then, I'm going to say an emotion. You're going to tell me on a scale of one to ten how strongly you felt that emotion."
"And remember, I'll know if you're lying." Toph said with her trademark devilish smile. Katara shot her the most intimidating look she could, which obviously had no effect.
"What Toph meant is that she will be able to tell if you're being honest with yourself." Suki smoothed things over. "C'mon. You can stop midway if you start feeling uncomfortable."
With a small sigh, Katara looked at her friends.
"If I accept, you promise to never again ask me about any of this?"
"Yes." Suki promised.
"No." Toph quipped, but upon receiving a small nudge from the Kyoshi Warrior, dutifully promised as well with a snort.
"Fine." Katara accepted it.
"Okay." Suki started, excited. "Before we begin, is your mind there? Are you thinking about the exact moment where you two…"
"Smooched?" Toph completed for her.
"…Kissed?" Suki ignored her.
Suppressing every instinct inside her that told her not to, Katara for the first time allowed herself to truly go back to that weird, crazy, frustrating day. She smiled at how he blushed upon her saying she was proud of him. She thought about how in the first seconds of the kiss he absolutely caught her by surprise, and how she eventually melted into it, if only for a moment. She remembered watching him fly away heroically to face his destiny, leaving her head turned upside down, for what felt like hours. And overall, she mused on their relationship, how it evolved from that simple and fun friendship into this intense, complicated and absolutely indispensable bond.
"I'm ready. Go ahead."
"I'll start with an easy one." Suki said, carefully. "Surprised."
"I think an eight. I mean, I certainly wasn't expecting that right there and then, but it wasn't a total surprise. There were some signs."
Toph nodded that it was all true, and Suki carried on.
"Very well. Overwhelmed."
"Oh that's a solid 10. I clearly do not know how to handle this."
"Excited."
"I think another eight, too." She answered, timidly. "Like Toph was so kind to point out, I've definitely thought about it before."
"Angry."
"I'd say a six."
"You were angry at him?" Toph asked.
"Well, a little! He could have picked a better time to lay something like that on me."
"Fair enough."
Suki paused dramatically before saying the next emotion.
"Happy." She said, in a challenging tone.
Katara took a deep breath. This one was inevitable. She looked at Toph before answering, knowing that it was no use to try to lie to them, or to herself.
"…A nine. A ten or a nine, for sure."
Suki gave a very satisfied smile.
"Then I guess we have reached a conclusion, haven't we?"
"It's not that simple Suki."
"Of course it is! He kissed you, and you were happy. You like him."
"Oh yeah. So I should just ignore that we're in the middle of a war, escaping from the Fire Nation, preparing to face Ozai, and just run to him right now and tell him that I love him! Is that what you're saying?"
"You love him!?" This took Suki completely by surprise. "Yeah, if you love him, you should go tell him right now! Do you?"
"I don't know!" Katara lamented, defeatedly hugging her legs. "I mean, of course I love him. He's Aang. He's my best friend, and the best person I know. He knows me better than anyone. I love being around him, everything seems easier, more fun with him. I feel safe with him and i want to protect him. But does any of that mean that I love him in this deeper way? I have never loved anyone like that! How can he be so sure? We are both so young, and again, there is a war going on! I just feel like we shouldn't even be thinking about that." She turned to Toph. "Was any of that a lie?" Her tone did not carry a trace of sarcasm. It was a genuine question from someone who is completely lost.
"You don't think it is, at the very least." For once, Toph seemed sensible towards her friend's plight and was wholeheartedly trying to help. "Can I ask one last emotion?"
"Sure."
"Scared." The earthbender said, and let the word linger in the air.
Katara gulped.
"Ten. Definitely a ten." The look on Toph's face indicated that she was expecting this answer.
Suki, on the other hand, was surprised.
"What are you scared of, Katara?"
"I'm scared that we might be ruining a perfect friendship. I'm scared that we might be jumping too quickly into feelings we don't understand and ruin something special. But most of all, I'm scared because we are in a losing war. I just can't lose him again."
"Again with the war thing!" Suki exclaimed, a little annoyed. "You keep coming back to this! So do you think that your brother and I should not be dating, too?"
"It's very different, Suki." Katara said, losing her temper.
"How is it different? Aren't we all on the same side?"
"Suki…" Toph tried to warn her and deescalate, but it was too late.
"It's different, Suki, because Sokka isn't destined to face the most powerful man in the world in just a few weeks!" Katara snapped. "It's different because you do not know what it's like to hold his dead body in your arms! It's different because you did not spent weeks trying to bring him back to life, hoping that some miracle would happen, having to face what your life is without him! Let me tell you, it's not pretty! So I'm sorry if I'm not ready to leap into his arms like you are! Trust me, I wish I was!"
Toph was already accustomed to Katara's sudden fits of rage, especially since she was the cause for most of them. Suki on the other hand, never expected that from the otherwise sweet and put together waterbender.
"I'm sorry." Suki started, trying to be very careful with her words. "I was just trying to help. I didn't know that…"
"It's okay." Katara cut her off, still rolled up like a sad, defeated ball. "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have said those things. I just really wanted to be like you. Like both of you."
"What do you mean?"
"You guys just know what you want! Suki, you always knew you liked Sokka, and Toph, I'm sure that if Aang or someone else just kissed you out of the blue, you'd know exactly how to react! I don't! I'm just paralyzed. I just know that whatever it is that I tell Aang right now, it won't be fair. What if tell him that I love him, but then later I figure out it wasn't like that, and I end up hurting him? Or what if I tell him that I don't, and It turns out I'm missing something amazing just out of fear?" Both of her friends knew exactly what she should tell Aang, but decided to respect her rant. "And the worst part is, I know he's probably agonizing every day waiting for my answer, an answer that I'm just too much of a mess to give to him. And each day that I don't, I can feel our friendship growing more distant."
There. At last, Katara felt like she had put out there all of the things she was internalizing ever since the Eclipse. Actually, scratch that, ever since the Cave of Two Lovers. Actually, ever since Aunt Wu's village… The point is, the feelings she would refuse to acknowledge, rationalizing that she had more important things to worry about.
"I understand now. It's more complicated than I thought." Suki said, sensibly. "I'm sorry I didn't understand it earlier."
"It's okay, really."
"Can I offer you one last piece of advice? If you don't want it, it's okay." Without hesitation, Katara nodded affirmatively, and Suki kept on. "You shouldn't put pressure on yourself to give him an answer right now. Before you can say anything to him, I think you should deal with your fear of losing him, of losing people in general." She squeezed Katara's hand as she said that last part, knowing it was a very sensitive subject. "I think that once you do, you'll be ready to give him a definitive answer."
"Yeah, I'm with Kyoshi girl on this one." Toph added. "It's like you said, it would be unfair to him to say something just because he's expecting you to, when you're not actually ready to commit to anything."
"But what if he confronts me about it?" Katara asked, worried, but so far on board with the solution her friends were offering. "I mean, he has a right to want to know."
"Then, you explain to him that you're not ready." Suki stated, simply. "You make it very clear how important he is to you, and that you want to be as honest as possible both with him, and yourself." Just a few days later, at a balcony during an intermission of a terrible play, Katara would try to say just that to Aang, and fail spectacularly at expressing herself. But for now, it sounded like great advice.
"And don't worry about losing his friendship, Sugar Queen." Toph punched her arm playfully. "The guy adores you. He wouldn't trade you for anything in this world." None of them knew how accurate that statement actually is.
For the first time since they started talking about this subject, a genuine smile formed on Katara's face. She opened her mouth to thank her friends, but was interrupted by Toph, saying "Oh no!" and going underground again.
Thinking they knew what to expect, Katara and Suki looked at the direction they had sent Zuko away a few minutes ago, but were again confused by what they saw.
The Fire Prince walked in large, angry steps. He had his clothes back, but was also completely soaking wet. The water mixed with the mysterious yellow goo gave his walking a sticky, gross feel. Aang and Sokka accompanied him a little farther behind, with satisfied smiles. He seemed both completely aware of their presence and out of energy to confront them.
"So, did you find your clothes?" Katara mocked him.
"I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!" Zuko shouted, accelerating his pace and quickly leaving the laughing group of teenagers behind, while Sokka was quick to run to Suki and explain how that was actually phase two of their prank, that had apparently five stages.
Despite their earlier awkwardness, Katara was disappointed to note that Aang wasn't talking to her. Instead, the airbender was curiously examining the spot where Toph had hidden. Her location imperceptible to the naked eye, but Aang, as her student, had other ways to find her. Upon noticing Katara's glare on him, Aang pointed towards the spot on the ground he was examining and made a pitch perfect impression of Toph's face and body language, all without making a sound. He was asking Katara for confirmation that Toph was actually there. Holding a muffled laugh, the waterbender confirmed it, nodding. With a smirk, Aang took a few steps back and got into an earthbending pose. In a split second, a hole opened on the ground and out of it came Toph flying away,landing on her back.
"Twinkle Toes!" She immediately shouted, her tone indicating more excitement and amusement than anger. "How did you know I was there?"
"I guess you taught me well." Aang answered, winking at Katara, making her simultaneously laugh and blush.
"I'd be mad if I wasn't impressed." The earthbending sifu got up, grinning. "But now, you must pay!" She launched a rock at Aang, who easily dodged it, mocking her while running away. Katara was watching the two silly friends go at each other when Sokka appeared behind her.
"Toph got in your nerves again?" He asked, wiping away some dirt accumulated in her shoulder.
"Something like that." She answered, not as annoyed as her brother expected she would be. Katara then turned to him with a look on her face he had seem a thousand times before. "Look, I know it's fun and all, but you guys should go a little easier on Zuko. He's already stressed out enough as it is."
"Oh, so you are telling us to go easy on Zuko? That's just lovely." He quipped, and she rolled her eyes. "Speaking of lovely, I couldn't help but notice you and my girlfriend spent the entire evening talking."
"We did, but don't worry. I chose not to share any embarrassing childhood stories yet. I'll give you a few months of her believing you're actually as cool as you make yourself out to be."
"Ah, thanks for that. But that wasn't what I was worried about, actually."
Katara shot him a puzzled look. Was this about Yue?
"Is there something to worry about?" She tested the waters.
"Well, I was just wondering if you liked her." Though nothing in his tone indicated it, Katara immediately picked up on the underlying insecurity and even vulnerability in her brother's question. He would never admit how much her opinion mattered to him.
"I really like her, Sokka. She's great." Katara reassured him, and she could feel him lighten up. "I'm really happy for you."
"Thanks. And hey, I'm sure you'll eventually find a guy that tolerates you!" Just like that, his annoying big brother persona was back. "If you're really lucky, he might even like you!" Katara blew a raspberry to him, secretly wondering how much he actually knew. As if to confirm her fears, he soon added. "But if you weren't talking about me and how muscular I am, what where you talking about?"
"Oh, you know, just girl talk." She quickly answered, knowing this would throw him off.
"Ah, I see." He mumbled, looking a bit uncomfortable. Sokka was notably terrible at these things. "Was it uh, nice?"
Katara shot a longing look at Aang, who was joyously running in circles around Toph with his air scooter, while the girl tried in vain to hit him with increasingly larger rocks. That familiar sensation on her chest that showed up whenever she looked at Aang settled in. Besides her, Suki was looking at her with a knowing grin. She allowed herself to smile at this.
"Yeah. It was actually really nice."
End
Author's Notes Today, in things i wrote about because we got too little of in canon: Katara/Suki friendship, with a little Toph on the side because i can't help myself, and Flustered! Katara, which is always a joy. Next Week: Aang and Katara have a very important conversation, takes place about 6 years after the show.