A/N. I didn't forget about The Path after the Battle, but I want to finish writing it before posting it. It will be like 4 or 5 chapters! So for the moment, I will just post these chapters I had laying around!
I don't own Avatar the last Airbender
The next day, Aang was washing their bowls from lunch in the little lake when Katara walked over.
"Hey… We have some time before we have to get back to travelling… Would you like to do some waterbending? I had some ideas from the scrolls!" The waterbender suggested.
Aang just looked at her. He had been afraid that he had given away too much information about his knowledge of the water tribes. Could you imagine how embarrassing it would be if she figured out that he knew that necklaces were a gift for someone you love?
He wasn't even sure what he felt for her. Attraction? Sure! And she was just so sweet and nice… But love? Aang didn't even know what it was supposed to feel like. He had loved people, but in a friendly way. He loved Gyatso as a father. He had loved Kuzon, and he still loved Bumi. Aang loved Sokka. But what did he feel when looking at Katara? Yes, she was his friend. But it was not the same feeling he got when talking to Sokka…
"Aang?" Of course, he had to answer…
"Yeah! Sure! Where is Sokka?" the airbender asked, knowing that the water tribe boy often disappeared when they got to training.
"He went for a swim, but I believe he is just sleeping." She laughed, pointing to her brother in the lake, who lay on a leaf as big as himself, with Momo curled up on his chest. The waterbender walked to the edge of the water, then looked back at him.
"I would like to train in the water this time."
Immediately, Aang realized that they had never trained in the water. Most of the time, they would just stay on the edge, or, if they camped in a place without a lake, they would pass some water from her pouch. Before the North Pole, the water had been too cold to experiment in it. And at the North Pole, people didn't go for a swim for pleasure. But the beginning of spring was warm this year.
"Yeah… Of course! Only normal!" He said, pulling off his boots and getting ready to go in the water, when he saw something that made him stop breathing.
Katara was pulling off her dress… She never did that in front of him… When they had to bathe, she would make sure nobody could see her. And when they slept in the same room, or they camped, she would keep her clothes on… Spirits what was happening?
When the dress was off, she shimmered out of her leggings and boots. She had her back to him, but he could see so much… Long tanned legs, a flat stomach, slender arms… She finally pulled her hair loose and removed the beads from the two strings of hair that were fixed at either side of her face. Aang had not seen her with her hair loose since her battle with Pakku. He was seeing a Spirit… He had to. Katara, only standing in her bindings… That was the stuff of his dreams. Then she turned around.
He had been gaping. He had been lost for words, and for air. Ironic.
"W-well… You didn't think we would go to train with our clothes on, did y-you?" the waterbender said, while putting her arms around her waist. Bad choice, because it only made her chest stand out… He had to stop staring…
Luckily for him, the brain cells that still worked made him pull off his shirt, so that he only stood in his loose yellow pants.
"So… Waterbending!" He managed to croak. Spirits this was going to be awkward…
They did their usual routine, beginning with passing an orb of water between the two of them. Then, the two benders moved. Katara began by offensive moves they had learned before, and he had the defend himself against it. It didn't help that she had to move around to perform those attacks. Aang tried to concentrate, but every time she turned around, his eyes wandered over her. He knew he was being disrespectful towards her. But the airbender couldn't help it.
One of her ice daggers flew past him, making him concentrate on the task at hand. Like, not being impaled.
"Oh! This is a good moment to teach you the octopus!" Katara stated, while showing him how to do it. Aang tried to recreate the movement, but nothing came from it. Looking up, he saw her watching him thoughtfully.
"Your stance is wrong, you have to put your hands closer together… like… oh wait!"
Wait, what was she doing? She was moving towards him, past him, and then behind him. His breathing accelerated just a bit. How was Katara influencing his breathing? That never happened…
Her arms snaked around him, and Katara took his hands in hers, while putting her head just inches away from his shoulder. Aang could feel the blood rush to his face… and somewhere else. Thank the Spirits for loose pants.
Katara went back to her position, and threw several ice daggers to him, which he managed to deflect. Aang wanted to put an end to this training, he couldn't take it. But they had agreed to only stop if one of them got hurt, or if he managed to get past her defences. Bending a tendril of water inside the lake, he managed to get a grip around her ankle, after which she put a stop to the training.
"You make a fine octopus pupil Aang!" Katara shouted, and the airbender couldn't resist and pull more water towards him to recreate the animal around him. Who said training couldn't be fun? Well… Pakku said that.
Just then, he heard singing.
Don't fall in love with the travelling girl
She'll leave you broke and broken-hearted
Four people came to where Aang was standing in the river. Two women and two men. One of the guys was wearing flowers around his neck, and the same kind of flowers were braided into the hair of one of the women.
"Hey! River people!" The man said.
After they explained they were not river people, the man presented himself as Chong, a nomad, travelling with his wife and their friends.
"Nice underwear!" The man said to Sokka, who quickly fled to put on his clothes. Aang also turned to get his clothes and saw how Katara nearly flew to her dress. He tried not to look at the movements her body made. It was getting harder to not notice these things…
"So you are nomads? Where are you coming from?" He asked Chong, who laid next to Appa, without even raising an eyebrow at the Sky Bison.
"I came from everywhere! And nowhere!" He said, while tuning his instrument. The younger girl, who was around Aang's age, smiled at him and explained, in a much clearer way.
"We just came from Yu Dao, and now we travel to Omashu. They say the king there is a fan of music, so we are hoping to perform for him!" She explained, while putting a hand on the airbender arm. Since that disastrous time he had asked Sokka for flirting advice, Aang had made it his business to get to know the signs. And if he wasn't mistaken, the fluttering eyelids, the big smile and the touching were clear signs. Spirits help…
He quickly lay next to Chong, who began explaining how his instrument, a pipa, was played. His wife, Lily, was braiding Katara hair and whispering in her ear. Aang didn't know what they were talking about, but the red face of Katara seemed to suggest it wasn't totally innocent. He felt a pang of something in his gut, and the airbender sensed it wasn't a nice feeling. It felt like… anger? No, more like irritation mixed with sadness. It felt like jealousy… He wanted to know what could make Katara look like that. Without sounding creepy, of course.
Sokka came walking over, fully dressed now. Chong had been talking about the places he had visited.
"Hey Sokka! Listen to this! These guys have been everywhere!" The airbender said.
"Well… not everywhere, but where we have not been, we have heard stories about!" Chong alleged, smiling a bit too widely for Aang's taste. He began to suspect that guy had found the secret cactus juice stash of Monk Ochi. He shuffled a bit away from Chong.
"Well, I hate to be the wet blanket, but Katara is busy. We. Need. To. Go. To. Omashu. No sidetracks!" Sokka stated, clearly irritated.
"Omashu… Hey… We are also going there!" Chong seemed in a world of his own while he said it.
Aang stood up, and pulled the flower crown from his head… Where did that come from? The answer was simple. The girl. She had flowers in her hand, and was waving at him, while putting two in Katara's braid. The waterbender seemed to eye the girl suspiciously. Would she… be jealous? Please Spirits, let that be true…
The nomads stood a bit apart while Sokka was pulling the braids out of Appa's fur. Aang shuffled from their bags towards Katara. Spirits, she was beautiful with that braid, and those flowers… They reminded him a bit of panda lilies.
"So! What is your name actually?" The girl was back….
"Oh! Ehm… Aang! That's my name!" He answered quickly. The airbender just wanted to get to Katara, and say she looked good.
"Weird name! Never heard it. It isn't very Earth Kingdom!" The young girl answered. Aang looked over to Katara, who was also staring in their direction with a frown on her face.
"Yeah… I'm not from the Earth Kingdom…" They had agreed to avoid giving their origins as much as possible. Aang had seen some weird looks from people who saw his tattoos, and the water tribe siblings attracted the attention with their darker skins.
"Whale Tail Island! We went there once, and people have the same complexion! But what are these?" She grasped his hand and pulled him closer to her. Spirits, from up close, she was pretty….
"Ehm… tattoos," Aang managed to say, trying not to look down, and fixing his eyes on Appa, who looked at him curiously.
"That's so cool! Mum and Dad said I could get some once we found a good artist!" The girl, whose name he still didn't know, responded. Her parents? Wait… Were Chong and Lily her parents? Spirits, he had to get away from the crazy folk.
"I can only advise you to take some good painkillers before. This took days. And it hurt." He didn't want to discuss Air Nomad tattoos ceremonies with her.
He quickly left her, waving as a goodbye. Climbing on Appa, the airbender saw that Sokka climbed on the Sky Bison's head. So, first shift was for the water tribe boy. Maybe he could talk a bit with Katara.
"So, how was your girlfriend?" Sokka laughed, while calling Appa to begin the flight.
"She wasn't my girlfriend! I barely know the girl! I don't even know her name!" He defended himself, but Sokka just laughed. Turning around, Aang saw Katara get the flowers out of her braid, looking away. Walking over to her, he sat down behind her and began helping her. Pulling one flower out of her hair, he looked at it, and put in back in.
"Aang. I need to get those out. It looks stupid." She murmured, still not looking and him.
"No, it does not. You look pretty with flowers in your hair…" He felt a blush creep up, but he didn't care.
The waterbender's eyes turned to him and looked directly in his. After a moment, she smiled, and put her and down. Leaving two flowers in the braid.
"Just this once. Because it's you." She said, pulling a bag towards her and beginning to look inside. Aang got to Momo and began to search for some treats. This was the beginning of a good trip.
Answers :
CoyoteLemon : I read a story once where the secret tunnel was something else entirely lol. I didn't do that here. But I changed it a little bit. You will find out the coming chapters!
Gabriela N. Gonzalez : I loved to put the dialects in. I got the idea from a fic on AO3 I read a while ago and wanted to explore that more deeply! I will do so in upcoming chapters (and more so when Toph joins them)
Jjsmith103 : Yeah, that will come back to bite someone in the *ss
Ashley Barbosa : Yeah, logically speaking not everyone would speak exactly the same language. And yeah, Fong is the worst!