Author's epistle: Thanks and welcome back to my story. I will be updating Saturdays and Sundays. This story will be five chapters long. I appreciate everyone who is following and reading. Reviews welcome!
Katara took a deep breath of salty air and felt almost as if she were an airbender herself. Being in such beautiful surroundings with the man she loved made her feel like she was walking on a cloud. She was hand in hand with Aang and thought she might float away if he let her go.
They climbed high on one of the sand dunes, and Katara giggled when she realized that Aang was earthbending steps in the sand so that they could scale the dune more quickly than Suki and Sokka were doing down the beach.
"You're being bad," she murmured in his ear before kissing the lobe. "Sokka would be screeching if he knew."
"Can't expect the Avatar not to use some advantage," saig Aang, grinning at her. "But, in the interest of being fair …"
He made a wiping motion with his hand and the sand was smooth once again. They clutched each other and laughed as they were suddenly ankle deep in sand. Slowly, they made their way to the top, sliding and stumbling as they tried to get footholds in the dunes. By the time they reached the summit, they were both breathless and pink-cheeked.
"I take it back. I liked the stairs," said Katara, resting her head on Aang's shoulder. "But it was worth it. What a view!"
"Seriously!" said Aang admiringly. "Now I understand why this is such a popular vacation destination. Everywhere you look is beautiful."
Katara turned her head and saw Aang staring intently at her, a dreamy smile on his lips.
"Everywhere," he repeated softly, leaning toward her for a kiss.
Katara wound her arms around his neck and pressed herself as close to him as possible. She was wearing her bikini and Aang had thrown a sort of half-tunic over his red shorts so that he wasn't strolling down the beach showing off all the goods, but Katara was very well aware of the bulge in the loincloth-inspired swimwear and what she wanted to do with said bulge when she and Aang could be alone.
When they pulled away from each other, Aang gently kissed the tip of her nose and rested her forehead against hers.
"This was such a good idea, taking Zuko up on his invitation to come here. I'm so glad you convinced me. I needed a break after those Council talks." She could hear the frustration in his voice. "Yu Dao still isn't sure it wants to be part of an expanded Cranefish Town, and Earth King Kuei is seriously considering abdicating and making the Earth Kingdom a republic. All those meetings … ugh."
"Even the Avatar needs a vacation," said Katara, wishing she could throttle the people who were pulling her sweet Aang in so many different directions. Yes, he was the Avatar. He could move stone, but he wasn't made of it. Sometimes it seemed like it had been much longer than the five years since she had broken Aang and his flying bison Appa out of their iceberg prison. But those five years had flown and Aang had been moving nonstop for most of them. He needed rest, too, sometimes.
At 17 and a fully realized Avatar, he was growing into a man … and what a man! He'd shot up in height, had a chiseled physique, a beautiful face and kind, gray eyes. And, Katara thought with an inward grin, he was all hers in pretty much every way possible.
Katara gave Aang's waist a squeeze and kissed his collarbone. She'd been just as eager for the break. Not only did it give Aang a chance to escape from the politics that had engulfed Cranefish Town – the growing city at the edge of the Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom that she, Sokka, and Suki now called home – it allowed for all of them to live lavishly in the Fire Lord's beach house.
For Katara, that meant sharing a room with Aang without Sokka breathing down their necks. They'd been together for nearly five years now, but had not been truly … intimate. Now that they were older, Katara wished very much to change that and she thought a beautiful week at Zuko's beach villa would put them in the mood and give them the opportunity.
"Have you noticed Zuko's been acting a little strange?"
Katara pulled back and saw Aang looking thoughtful. The point of the arrow tattoo between his eyes was wrinkled in concentration.
"Actually, yes, bow that you mention it," said Katara slowly as she reluctantly removed herself from the circle of Aang's arms. "He's seemed preoccupied and a little annoyed. At least with me."
"Why would he be annoyed with you?"
Katara shrugged. "That's just the feeling I've been getting. Like today after breakfast, I was on the back patio stretching. He came out, saw me, mumbled something and then left so fast I could practically see sparks underneath his sandals."
Aang's forehead wrinkled again. "He has seemed a little on edge. Maybe he's just nervous about this reconciliation with Mai?"
"Oh, you know what, you might be right."
Katara glanced around. She knew that she and Aang were pretty much alone, but she still wanted to be sure there was no one to overhear. Things had settled down in the Fire Nation, but gossip about the Fire Lord was still at a premium and she didn't want to be the source of anything that might hurt her friends.
"Suki filled me in on a little palace gossip she picked up the last time she was in the rotation as Zuko's personal guard. This trip is sort of make or break for Mai and Zuko," said Katara in a low voice. "Zuko wants to marry Mai, but it's been more than two years that they've been apart. They're still a little shy around each other. The last time they spent any time together at all, it was during that whole kidnapping thing – and they were broken up then."
Aang shook his head. "I can't believe it's been so long already since the attack of the Kemurikage, or what we thought were the Kemurikage, on the capital. A lot's changed since then."
"True." Katara slipped her hand in his. "At least they captured Azula and her minions and put them away for good. They won't be terrorizing any little kids ever again. But Zuko and Mai still love each other, it's obvious to me. I guess Zuko just wants to make sure he does everything right this time."
"I can't blame him." Aang brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed it. "When you know the person you want to spend forever with, you don't want to take any chances."
Katara nearly swooned at the words and the touch of his lips. It was sometimes hard to believe that the short, bald, slightly goofy young boy who'd once told her he'd "rather kiss her than die" had grown into such a smooth talker. Maturity and puberty really were miracles!
"Maybe Zuko feels pressured to be a good host to all of us and he's worried he's not paying as much attention to Mai as he should," reasoned Katara. "We should probably give them some space. I know that Teo said there's a rock museum in the town center that has an exhibit tonight. Haru was definitely going, and I can probably convince Suki to give Sokka an incentive to go along, too. Maybe we can hint for Toph and Satoru to tag along. And as for us …"
"... Yeah?" Aang was definitely interested in the end of that sentence, Katara could tell.
"Well, I thought maybe we could stay out of the beach house for awhile and do some advanced waterbending."
She made her eyes large and innocent. That always drove him crazy. Katara held back a smirk when she saw Aang swallow hard and his cheeks glow bright red.
"What ... what exactly did you have in mind?"
"Well, there's this beautiful lagoon in back of the beach house … it's so pretty … we could be completely alone, and I could show you some interesting moves I've come up with."
His eyes darkened to a deep pewter and he licked his bottom lip.
"I get to be 'Pupil Aang' again?" There was a timber in his voice that made Katara shiver pleasantly. "Being taken firmly in hand by Sifu Katara?"
"In more ways than one. And maybe I'll need both hands." She gave the front of his shorts a pointed look, grinned and kissed his chin. "Up for it?"
Aang murmured something that sounded like 'I'm sure I will be,' which made Katara laugh. But then his face fell.
"Wait, do you mean the little gully in the back? No one's supposed to be back there. It's dangerous."
Katara frowned. "What? I don't understand."
"Well, it's not dangerous for a master waterbender and the Avatar," amended Aang. "But it's off limits. Zuko didn't tell you?"
She shook her head slowly. "He never said anything to me about it. I was out there yesterday … last night."
"You were?" Aang's eyebrows went up. "When?"
"Right before we sat down to dinner. I was a little hot from the beach earlier, so I decided to go back there to freshen up and work on some postures while Sokka was finishing up at the barbecue pit," she said. "It seems like just a quiet little gully. What's so dangerous about it?"
"Apparently, little kids have been sneaking back there fishing for things to sell in the Marketplace. Without anyone to watch them, they could slip in and get hurt," Aang explained. "There aren't exactly a lot of waterbenders on Ember Island and firebending won't really help you if you're underwater."
Katara shivered. "I had no idea. I don't even remember that little lagoon from when we were here during the war."
"It wasn't here then. Zuko said it sort of appeared one year after a big storm. He thought about filling it in, but decided to just leave it." Aang rubbed his chin. "This is strange. This morning, I heard Zuko tell the head of his guard detail to post some of his people at spots along the little walkway that leads to the lagoon so that no one goes back there. I just assumed everyone at the beach house knew."
"Oh no!" Katara groaned, letting her head fall on Aang's shoulder. "Now I think I know why Zuko's annoyed with me. One of the guards must have seen me go back there. They probably didn't know what to do, since I'm one of Zuko's guests, and so they went to him and he told them to leave me alone and just make sure the area is guarded. I feel horrible!"
"Horrible? Why should you feel horrible?" Aang seemed distressed at her distress. "You didn't do anything!"
"Well, not purposely," she acknowledged, "but that's not the point. Suki told me that Zuko is a stickler for making sure his guard details get rest and relaxation on a regular basis. He insists on it, since Ozai would make his guards serve him until they dropped from exhaustion or illness. For the Kyoshi Warriors who serve as his personal guard, he makes sure they all have at least a week off between rotations. He probably brought this guard detail out to enjoy Ember Island, and because of me, they have to work!"
"Sweetie, just by being here, the guards are working," Aang pointed out, reaching for one of her hands. "Plus, if Zuko didn't tell you not to go back there, then you can't blame yourself. I'll talk to him about it, and –"
"No." Katara lifted her head. "I'll do it. It was my mistake, even if unintentional. I'll just let him know I wasn't aware of the restrictions and apologize."
"... Okay. But probably it is a good idea to have someone guarding the area," said Aang. "This is the high season for Ember Island. There are tons of kids around, and better safe than sorry."
"You're probably right," acknowledged Katara. "But I can still clear the air with Zuko. I don't want him to think I knew about it and went back there anyway."
As she and Aang carefully made their way back down the dune, Katara was thoughtful. She'd been planning a moonlight seduction of Aang in the little gully and had imagined them both naked beneath the cool water and waterbending only as a warmup to other pleasant physical activities.
Her cheeks suddenly went hot. She supposed she should have been grateful that Zuko's guards had gone straight to the Fire Lord and had not confronted her. They would certainly have seen something that she would not have appreciated them seeing. She thanked the Spirits for that small miracle.