A/N. A little bit of a nicer chapter after the depression of yesterday. I didn't forget about The Path after the Battle, but this chapter was actually nice and ready, without all the spelling errors! So, I'll post this today, and tomorrow, if I have the time, I'll post the chapter on the other fic.

This is the day before the episode The Blind Bandit

I don't own Avatar the Last airbender

Aang was rubbing the sides of his head. What. A. Week.

Not only had Bumi just said, go figure it out, and gone back into captivity. But then, he had spent two days in a swamp looking for Appa and Momo. And then, just to top it off, a whole village had wanted to kill him. Just a typical week! Like any other!

They had finally called for a break in their travels, all three tired and done with all the adventures. Sokka had asked to stop at the city of Goaling, one of the more important settlements in the southern Earth Kingdom. And now, they were shopping. Shopping…

Aang hated when Sokka got into that mood. They would go from store to store, each selling exactly the same stuff, and the water tribe boy would hesitate over each item. It was not like money was a problem at the moment. Arnook had given them a generous gift of gold, and this was actually the first time they had the chance to spend some.

"Aang! Maybe it's time to… you know, change clothes?" Katara said, standing next to her brother, who was looking at the third bag that day. The third. Just buy the first you like, and that's it!

The airbender was still wearing the clothes that had taken a toll during his… episode… at the fortress of General Fong. His left shoulder was bare, his trousers were cut in several places and one of his boots had lost half its sole. Yeah… It was time.

Sighing, Aang stood up from his place next to the door of the shop, and walked in. The shop owner, a middle-aged woman, smiled seeing him. Probably not because of his appearance, but rather because the bag around his shoulder sounded like it was filled with coins. Little did she know, he had just bought some kind of nuts for Momo. It was Katara who was holding the money poach, because the last time he had been in charge of it, the airbender had bought a rather cheap whistle for twice the price the vendor was asking…

Aang looked at the clothes, but every shirt or tunic was green or brown. Great to hide in the masses, but Aang didn't want that. Yellow and orange were the colours of his people. And in non-occupied Earth kingdom, he didn't need to hide his identity.

Walking over to the cloths, his eye fell on one saffron fabric. Touching it, he was surprised by its quality.

"How much for enough fabric to make a tunic? "He asked the lady.

"Oh, that! It is actually quite an exotic cloth! A merchant assured me that he had found it near Chameleon Bay and got it out of the hands of a man who claimed to have made it using the techniques of the Air people!" What she told was clearly a lie, as Aang sighted.

"Really? And how would he know how to make that? The only Temple that produced cloth was the Western one. Chameleon Bay is next to the Eastern." He countered.

"Well, who knows… Maybe he is one of them! But the cloth isn't cheap!"

"He isn't. You can be sure of that." Aang looked the cloth over again. Using that, he could probably make one or two tunics. Remembering how tunics for regular Air Nomads looked, a thought crossed mind. I wonder what Katara will think… Pushing the thought back, he nodded to the lady, who cut off enough fabric for two.

Aang quickly took some trousers of a rack, just simple black ones, and pulled some regular boots from a rack, checked the size, and added those to the counter.

"What are you going to do with that? It isn't a regular colour for people around here. But then again, you don't seem to mind your appearance…" The lady said, looking him over with clear disgust.

"An Air Nomad attire." He answered shortly. He didn't like her tone.

"Pff, why bother? Not like there are any left of that excuse of a people." The lady laughed, as if what she said was funny. From the corner of his eyes, Aang saw Katara move towards them, clearly irritated.

"Well, maybe it is just for fun. How much?" The airbender didn't want to stay any longer than necessary in the shop.

"Ten pieces of gold." She said, holding out a hand.

"Seriously? Ten pieces of gold. For this? The cloth is two. The boots maybe three. The trousers? One. You'll have six." The waterbender's voice rang.

"Excuse me young lady? The gentleman can surely make his own decision." The owner's voice sounded thin, irritated by the interruption.

"Five. For the insult against the Air Nomads" Katara sounded angry. Aang tried to say something, but the shop lady cut her off.

"And I need to listen to some water tribe savage about how to behave? Hah!"

"Well. This water tribe savage is going to pay five gold pieces for this."

"Katara, it doesn't mat-"He began, but was cut off by the shop lady.

"Listen to your boyfriend, dear. He has clearly more sense than you."

"Pardon? Don't speak to her like that!" Aang now stood defiantly next to Katara. Insults to himself, he could bear. No one insulted Katara.

"No, no, Aang, she is right." Katara said, surprising the airbender. What was she doing? "What do two water tribe savages and an Air degenerate know about the prices in Gaoling?" The waterbender said. Aang couldn't help but flinch at the insult. Air Nomads were called libertines, degenerates or errors of nature when he was young. But he had never heard Katara say that.

The eyes of the shoplady widened. Apparently, she had connected the dots. Two water tribe people and someone claiming to be an Air Nomad were surely not very common. And even here, they would have heard the rumours.

"Five it is then, young lady. And may I say, how good the colour matches the young gentleman eyes?"

They left, dragging Sokka behind then. The sun was already low, and the three decided to go back to their camp site.

When Sokka was gone, searching for a place to fish or hunt, Aang walked over to Appa's saddle, which he had taken from the Sky Bison that morning. Removing most of the bags from the back of the saddle, he finally found the wooden chest that he hadn't opened since before the iceberg. Picking it up, he walked over to a fallen tree, where he could sit down.

Putting the chest down, he looked over the woodwork. Air nomad symbols were edged on the ledge, and the sides were decorated with scenes of the Temple, or with sky bisons.

"I wondered what that was." Katara's voice came from the side. Looking up, Aang saw her stand next to a big pile of firewood, staring at him.

"You didn't think I left the Temple with only the clothes on my back, did you?" The airbender opened the chest. Inside, he saw the things that he had kept away from the eyes of the others. Candles, incense cones and the little mediation rug. Things that hadn't been used for several months…

Next to those ceremonial items, he had stashed several things. His sewing kit, the shears to trim Appa's fur and several other items.

Taking the sewing kit, he sat down with the cloth, and began to cut what he needed. While the airbender worked, he saw Katara shuffle towards the chest.

"You can look Katara." Aang said, without looking up from his work.

"You're sure? It seems… Kind of personal?"

"It is. But yes, you can look."

Katara moved to the chest, and began to remove each item, looking at them. When she held the candles, he spoke up again.

"Those were used for the rituals. Each month we would have a feast for someone. It could be an ancient Air Nomad, or a current one who had done something especially good for the community. Once a year, we would have a day for Yangchen, the Air Nomad Avatar before me. It would have been several weeks ago."

Katara looked up, confused.

"But… You didn't do anything with all this… For how long?"

"Since the iceberg, I haven't celebrated the holy days, or the done the rituals." He explained.

"Why not?"

"For most… You need more than one airbender…" Aang sighed. He wanted to celebrate them. But how could he when he was all alone?

"Why not… change the rituals a bit, so you can do them alone? It would mean you celebrate the days that are important to you, even if it is not like you were used to…" Katara smiled at him. The airbender had vowed, to himself, that he would honour those he had loved, by talking about it… to her.

She was right.

"There will be a holy day in two weeks' time. I… I will try." Aang said, and Katara nodded, putting the candles away in the chest. Then, she walked over to the airbender and sat down next to him.

"You know, you are the first man I ever met who can sew. In the water tribes… Well, it is a woman's work." The tone in her voice made him think of that moment they had shared, more than a week ago… How just after kissing him, her voice had sounded different. Higher, with some hesitation. Now, that tone was back.

"My needlework is not very good. Gyatso used to help me with the stitching." Aang smiled, remembering the jokes that his mentor used to tell during those rainy autumn days.

"Have you ever seen Sokka do some sewing? At least you try." She laughed, and the sound made his heart swell. They had not talked about what had happened in the tunnels, but for some reason, he believed that the atmosphere around them was different. It was still friendly, like always… But now, it was charged with something more. That each time, they would just gravitate towards each other. Every time Sokka was gone, they would sit closer than necessary. None of them spoke about it, but he knew it changed their friendship into something different.

Katara patted his knee and got up to build the stack of wood into a fire. As she walked away, Aang looked at her back. He didn't mean to, but his eyes kind of wandered… Lower. Sighing, he closed his eyes, which was a very bad idea, because as soon as it went dark, his imagination took over. Quickly shaking his head, the airbender returned to the matter at hand, which was making himself some presentable clothes.

When Sokka returned, with two fish he had caught in the stream a bit further up in the forest, Aang got up. He had nearly finished the tunic and was actually quite pleased by his work. It wasn't as nice as the monk's robes in the Temples, but it looked like something an air nomad living in the valleys near the temples could have worn. Hanging it on a low tree branch, the airbender walked over to the fire, where the fish were cooking, and a bowl of rice had been put apart for him.

"Ehm… Aang? Your new clothes… Aren't you missing like… Half of your tunic?" Sokka asked, raising his eyebrows at the piece of yellow cloth.

"No, that is what Air Nomads used to wear in the spring and summer!" Aang laughed.

"So, just some fabric across half your chest and on your back. Half your torse naked and two third of your arms exposed. Yeah, not like we should try to hide your identity or something…" Sokka laughed along

"And imagine the looks you will get from the girls!" The water tribe boy pushed his elbow against Aang, who smiled shyly.

"Not likely Sokka. Next to you, I'm just some scrawny little kid. You'll have that department all to yourself." Aang responded, casting a quick glance at Katara, who was smiling timidly next to them.

"For the moment! Have you seen all those earthbenders? Those guys are all muscle and biceps. When we've found you a teacher, you are going to attract attention." Sokka continued his jokes, but Aang still looked towards Katara, who became very interested in the fish that were cooking above the fire. Her face was cast in a red glow from the fire, but if he wasn't mistaken… There was also some red that wasn't from the fire…

"Hey Katara! What do you think? How much longer before we'll have to run away from Fire Nation soldiers and Avatar fan girls who will want to get our young Airhead in their beds?"

Why Sokka? Why ask that?

"W-what!?" The watebender exclaimed, visibly shocked by the idea.

"Well, Aang is kind of a catch. Young, not too bad looking, and the Avatar for La's sake. Before long, there will be girls interested…" Sokka explained. Aang couldn't help but groan. Why was the water tribe boy doing this, just when he was trying to talk to Katara just about the one girl that interested him. Her.

"T-that won't be tonight! Come on, let's stop this stupid thing, and eat!" Katara's voice sounded like an octave higher than normal, but Sokka didn't argue.

They ate in silence.

Answers :

Gabriela N. Gonzalez : Indeed ! In the series, Aang was of course made into a likeable character, without too many heavy baggage, but in fics, with an older version, I can do so much more with that part of his story!

CoyoteLemon : Thank you very much! This is so much fun to write, because I can just add and add to canon, without going to far away from the story!

Bay45220 : Yeah, and it is not finished for Aang lol! I like to think the same thing, he tried to keep Air Nomad culture alive through Tenzin, but would have been really depressed knowing his people were actually gone.

Ashley Barbosa: Thank you for the reviews! Here, and on the other fic! I really appreciate them!