A/N. I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender
Opening her eyes, Katara's mind immediately went back to the conversation she had had with the airbender yesterday evening. Spirits had she really asked him all of that. The thought of having talked with Aang about how they saw relationships, and what they wanted, made her blush. Maybe it had been a good thing? Now at least, she knew that the rumours about the Air Nomads were not true. Most people thought that the airbenders had been a people who bedded anyone whom they could, and moved on, having many partners. At least, she had confirmation from the only reliable source that it was not like that.
Standing up, she could feel the ache in her back. Camping for so long was a bad idea. They hadn't had a good night sleep since the Fortress of General Fong, nearly two weeks ago… Looking around, she saw that, like always, Aang was gone for his morning meditation, while her brother was still snoring. Laughing quietly at the sight, she began to prepare breakfast. As they had discussed yesterday, they would go look for the Blind Bandit today.
Appa groaned, and Katara looked up. Aang was back.
Blushing, still with her head at the conversation they had yesterday, she handed him the bread. Quickly glancing at him she saw he was also blushing, and smiling weakly. Maybe there was something more indeed…
"So… Where should we start looking for her?" The waterbender asked, still not looking the boy in front of her in the eyes.
"I don't know… Goaling is the most populous town in the southern Earth Kingdom… There are nearly twenty thousand people here…" Aang stated, sighing.
Smiling, Katara heard the error. The airbender was still thinking in century old demographics…
"Aang… Goaling had more than sixty thousand inhabitants…" She said, knowing he wouldn't like the fact that he missed so much.
The airbender looked at her, with a mixture of frustration at himself, and something more…
"I should really do something about the gaps in my knowledge, don't I?" He sighed.
"Yeah… Maybe we can find a book or scroll with the most recent developments here? And I could teach you about the more recent history of the water tribes…" she suggested, knowing that maybe, they could spend even more time together…
"Spirits Katara, if you continue like this you'll be known as the schoolteacher of the Avatar." Sokka grumbled sitting down next to her. His hair was a mess, and he looked like always in the morning. Grumpy.
"At least I try to explain things that are useful. Not like you!" She bit back. Sokka laughed, while Aang became very interested in his boots.
"Oh Sis… I explain very important things to our friend the Avatar… Very important things…" He wiggled his eyebrows, and Katara realized just what Sokka had been telling Aang.
"Sokka! No!" She shrieked.
"Sokka! Yes!" Her brother answered still laughing.
After having frozen the water in her brother's drinking pouch, they set off to Goaling.
Where to start in a city? Well… The place where they heard about the tournament was a good place to begin looking. Entering the courtyard of Master Yu's Academy, Katara saw the two guys she had frozen to the wall, because of their… Not very nice comments about… Certain places of her body. Idiots.
At first, they seemed afraid, but at seeing Aang, their attention immediately shifted. Sounding impressed by the fact he "defeated" the Blind Bandit, the idiots were more willing to talk.
"The Blind Bandit is a mystery. She shows up to fight, and then disappears…" The one with the topknot said.
"You are not telling is everything… Speak." Katara threatened, not accepting their explanation.
"No, really! Nobody knows who she is!" The other boy answered. She could see the goosebumps on his arms. Good. He remembered being frozen.
"We are not asking the right questions! In my vision, the girl had a flying pet boar! Do you know anything remotely close to that?" Aang asked.
"A flying boar? That is the sigil of the Beifong family… But the head of the family, Lao, doesn't have children!" They pointed them towards the estate of the family, and quickly went away, probably afraid of having their balls frozen. Again.
While walking to the western part of the city, Sokka came next to her.
"So, are you going to tell me why those guys were pissing themselves seeing you?" He asked, smiling. Her brother probably knew, having been at the receiving end of her wrath more than once.
"Yesterday, when I asked, nicely, about the tournament… They made some disgusting suggestions. I taught them a lesson by freezing them to the wall." The waterbender explained, pursing her lips so that she wouldn't smile.
"Ha! I could have known! You're right, of course!" With that, Sokka chuckled and walked a bit further along.
Her brother had changed. At the South Pole, he had been a sexist immature moron. Now… She could only applaud the changes. Had it been that girl Suki? Or the impressions at the North Pole? Katara didn't know, but she liked her brother way more like this.
They left the city by the western gate, and after walking for more than an hour, arrived in front of a huge wall. At one of the entrances, a gilded flying boar was painted on the wall. This had to be the place!
"That is exactly like the animal from my vision! Come on!" Aang nearly jumped up and down.
With some help of the airbender, they managed to get over the wall. First, Aang himself jumped over, then bended Sokka over the structure. Katara could hear the thud at the other side of the wall, with a muffled "Sorry Sokka… Should have caught you." It sounded very amused. Then, it was her turn.
Her, the airbender caught without a problem. His hands closed on her waist when she was just a few feet from the ground, and put her down gently. Katara couldn't help but notice that his hands… lingered.
"Of course, catch her, but me? No! Me, I had the fall face down on the ground. Thanks Aang." Sokka grumbled.
"I already said I was sorry!" The airbender still sounded entertained. Still feeling his hands on her waist, she cleared her throat gently, and the pressure was immediately removed from her waist.
Katara looked around, and the first thing she noticed was the… unnatural feel of the garden. Each bush was beautifully trimmed in the form of geometrical shapes or animals. The pathways were very neat, and clean. The pool was… Too perfect. It seemed like everything was made to look like the ideal version of that element. Not even the grass was unevenly cut. Everything looked too good.
Before they could even move, they were thrown in the air. Not by Aang's airbending, during which she was always carried gently, but by something with brute force behind it. This was earthbending.
She landed on a bush in the form of some kind of fish. Beside her, she could hear one of the other fall on the ground, with a hard crash, and the other smash on another bush.
"What are you doing here Twinkletoes?" She recognized that voice. It was the voice from yesterday, at the tournament. The Blind Bandit!
But it wasn't her, it couldn't be! What Katara saw in front of her, was someone else. The girl, around Aang's age, was… Beautiful. She was wearing a white silk gown, with amazing green embroidery on it. Her jet-black hair was pulled in a neat bun at the base of her neck, without any strands hanging in front of her face. The only thing that was not perfect, were her eyes. They were cloudly, as if a thin mist hang in front of them. But beneath that, Katara could see pale green eyes that were looking passed them, towards the wall.
"How did you know it was me?" Aang sounded amazed. Why was he sounding like that? Katara couldn't help but feel… threatened? For some reason. She couldn't really place it.
"Don't answer to Twinkletoes! It's not manly!" Sokka protested. The waterbender sighed. Not like her brother hadn't called Aang Fancy Dancer since coming back from the tournament.
"Shut up Sokka. You're the guy with the matching belt and bag." She bit back.
"How did you find me?" The girl sounded angry. Even in her fancy clothes, Katara couldn't help but think of her as dangerous.
"Well, a crazy king told me I had to find the earthbender who listens to the earth! Then, I had a vision in a magic swamp…" Aang began, but Katara saw to doubt on the girl's face. No wonder. No one would believe that kind of weird story.
"What Aang means to say is that he is the Avatar! And that if he doesn't master earthbending soon, he won't be able to defeat the Fire Lord!"
They tried. Really! But she wouldn't hear them out. She called the guards. And they had to flee, back over the wall.
"Well! What now? He clearly doesn't want to teach him!" Sokka hissed, annoyed at having been tossed in the air for a third time that day. And for having crashed for the third time.
"I have an idea." Aang said, grinning wickedly. She had seen that grin once before. When they had first visited Omashu. Please, not Bonzu Pippinpaddleopsicopolis… the Third.
"If there is one thing rich people like, it is having something to brag about to the other rich people. So… Let's give them something to brag about!"
After that mysterious comment, Aang walked up to the guard at the gate of the mansion. Sokka looked at her, but she could only shrug. What was that airbender planning? Then he spoke. In a voice that she nearly didn't recognize. It sounded… mature. Silky, honeyed and charming. It was Aang. But yet again… it wasn't.
"Tell Master Lao that Avatar Aang is here to see him." The airbeneder spoke, completely confident.
"Ehm… Pardon? The avatar is an airbender…" One guard asked, seemingly not convinced.
Aang just bended the robes of the guard up.
After that the doors were just thrown open, and they were accosted by rows of servants. Each of them tried to hand Aang something, which he just nicely refused.
"Ehm… Is this how the Avatar is treated in the Earth Kingdom?" Her brother whispered, while they followed the airbender inside.
"It seems like it… It is not really… his style, is it?" Katara watched as a serving girl scrambled to hand Aang a bowl filled with nuts. The airbender just took a few, thanked the girl, and walked along. Yet… he seemed perfectly at ease in this environment.
A man was standing in front of the gates of the mansion. The first thing she noticed, was that the clothes and the man didn't match. His garments looked expensive, but his face looked weak. Like someone could just tell him what to do. And he would do it.
"Avatar Aang! I am most humbled by your presence! Please, accept an invitation to dine with my family and other guests this evening." The man went to his knees, bowing deeply for Aang.
"Please… Don't." the airbender quickly threw off the air of importance he had given himself and was back to normal. Humble and nice. Like that, he was normal. In her eyes at least. Aang took the man's arm and helped him up.
"I believe you are Lao Beifong?" the airbender asked, gently.
"Indeed. And who are they?" Lao's voice was not as nice with them as he had been with Aang.
"Those are my friends! Sokka and Katara!" the airbender replied, smiling.
"Oh… Well, of course, friends of the Avatar are also welcome at my table… Water tribe, I presume?" He sounded nice, but Katara could see the clear disgust in his eyes.
"Yes. Chief Hakoda of the Southern Water tribe's children." Sokka answered. He sounded angry. Looking at her brother, the waterbender saw that he had probably noticed the same thing as she had had.
"Oh! Then you are more than welcome!" The man said, now with much more respect.
Servants directed them to some rooms where they could prepare for dinner. Aang and Sokka were taken by Lao to a room, while a richly dressed woman, who introduced herself as Poppy Beifong, led Katara to another area.
Entering the room, Poppy said she would come back.
Katara looked around and was surprised by the presence of the girl from the garden. She was looking in the direction where the waterbender stood.
"So. Really the Avatar heh." The blind girl said, standing up.
"I'm Katara. I'm the one who taught the Avatar waterbending." She presented herself. With some satisfaction, Katara could see the milky eyes go a bit wider. So, they had heard about her.
"Oh, you're the one screwing the Avatar!" The cackle sounded out of place. It sounded like something you would hear in a tavern, or at the campsite. Not in a golden mansion.
"What? No! No! I don't screw Aang!" Katara could feel a blush come up. Spirits, were those the rumours?
"Oh, of course, you don't sound like someone who fucks. You sound like someone who makes love with the Avatar." The laughing continued.
"No, I do not! He and I are friends!" This was not what Katara had expected from the perfectly manicured girl. Spirits, she sounded like the guys back in Gaoling.
"Lie." The girl said, clearly enjoying herself.
"No!"
"Lie."
"I have never done anything with Aang!"
"Lie."
Spirits, how was she doing this?
"I have never done anything remotely close to… screwing the Avatar."
"Truth. Heh, what do you know!" the Blind Bandit said. Katara didn't like this one bit. Were these the rumours?
"Why did you think… That we were doing… that?" She asked.
"Oh, I didn't know Sweetness. I just guessed, by the way you were standing so close to him in the garden. The only thing we heard about Master Katara here in Gaoling, is that she is a force of nature. And a good friend of the Avatar. But thank for all the information. Time for dinner!"
The girl took off, and Katara was standing in the room, punching herself mentally. Who was this girl?
Answers :
Gabriela N. Gonzalez : Yeah, I liked the ending! At first, that was a part of another chapter, that took place before Earth Rumble Six, but I didn't have enough material to go on, so I put it in this one, and threw the rest in the garbage.
CoyoteLemon : Happy you liked it!
Jjsmith103 : Just to show that they are slowly getting closer to a point of no return lol/
Ashley Barbosa : I hope I did Toph justice in this chapter! I really like the idea that she makes the other uncomfortable, so I put just some in this chapter!
RunescapePlayer0 : It depends on the person I believe. Some wouldn't, but others would most definitely be way too obvious about their feelings. And in the comics, he is confident because of all the things he had gone through, which have not yet happened. Thanks for your review!
Needname : Thank you very much!