CH 30 | The Cave of the Two Lovers
"Psssp! Katara."
Katara hadn't even started drowsing before she caught Aang's whisper outside her tent.
"Katara? Are you still awake?"
Torn between exhaustion and amusement, the waterbender sat up, gazing up at the towering young man rolling on the balls of his bare feet. "Yes, Aang." She responded with feigned exasperation and a half smirk. He returned it in his own lopsided fashion—an expression he performed often that she found both endearing and sexy.
"Are you up for a swim?"
Aang led her upstream and deeper into the woods. Now that the night was settling in, the chirps of insects and the hoots of owl toads echoed in the dense canyon. Katara was glad that Momo had chosen to sleep nuzzled under Appa's chin. "I wanted to show you something. It's the real reason I wanted us to camp here, to be honest. But it does take a bit of effort."
Katara raised a dubious eyebrow but let him lead the way. 100 more yards and they came to a brilliant waterfall cascading down into a series of pools that bled into the forest river. The reflected effect of the evening framed the ponds was as pure as liquid moons. Aang offered his hand to her as they shuffled sideways behind the falls and into a shallow cave.
Aang had to almost yell over the crashing water. "We have to dip in together, the first part has no lights!" He indicated, pointing over at yet another pool near the back of the cave. Katara looked at him like he was crazy, but still acquiesced. The pool was just wide enough for the two of them, forcing their bodies to brush and their hands to fumble awkwardly as they lowered down to their necks. Nose to nose, his smile was goofy again and she laughed. "What are we doing?" she yelled. "Trust me."
They bent bubble masks onto their faces and dipped into the inky depths. Aang made sure to keep hold on Katara's hand as he felt for the next opening on memory. They swam further down until the waterbender began to worry about the pressure she was beginning to feel on her ears and body. We must be deep.
Finally, Aang found the secret tunnel which expanded upwards and into a watery plateau beside a lazy underground river. It was only barely visible on account of a constellation of growing green crystals that adorned the ceiling of the churning chute. Katara simply had no words, but instead stood hand-in-hand with Aang, her mouth agape.
"I know, right?" He said, face full of joy. "Okay, one more dive, just across the river."
All Katara's exhaustion was now replaced with the thrill of newness, of wonder, and pure love of her element. She was much less tentative in the next dive, noting that the water was warmer the further they swam. When they resurfaced for the last time, it was pitch black. She clung to Aang's arm they scrambled over the ledge. "Can you light a fire? I can't see anything." She asked.
"Actually, no. It'll spoil our night vision. Just hang onto my hand and step down….here." She jolted in surprise when she saw the first flickers caused by his feet edging into their final pond. Electric blue ripples shimmered to life as they disturbed the water, which was as warm as a bath. Then she gasped aloud when the Avatar bent a stream to her, igniting it into an illuminating channel that circled around her and then spiraled up between them.
"moon plankton" she breathed. The nearly microscopic creatures who charged with bioluminescence when jostled. She bent her own whip, swirling it close to her eyes to regard the glow and she continued her finger movements, ensuring that the water never stilled. Water as bright as fire. "This is amazing. Aang. I've never…it's so beautiful."
His smile was ear to ear as he calmly pulled the water from his hand, circling it around his back and into her other awaiting palm. She returned his joy serenely, and basked in the glow of their waterplay, the lighting blue of the water glimmering as they passed it in their ordinary infinity circle warm-up dance.
"I meant what I said before we left" he murmured quietly, his strong yet soft features even more handsome when beset in the bioluminescent light. "I'll tell you anything and I will never lie to you, Katara."
Confident I the throes of joy, or perhaps emboldened by the water surrounding her, Katara responded immediately. "Azula said you blow through water tribe women faster than bubble gum." To this, Aang laughed. "Hyperbole and a half. I have dated two girls since I transferred to Yu Dao, and yes, they happened to be from the water tribes, north and south respectively. I wouldn't call that 'chewing gum' and honestly don't like the euphemism. The implication that anyone is "less pure" because they shared a connection with another human is still so strange to me. The Air Nomads always taught that human connections were an impossibly beautiful, and regrettably fleeting gift."
Instead of passing the glowing stream back to his hand, she curled it up towards the ceiling in a slow spiral. Aang followed suit, drafting up his own spire to helix around Katara's in a remarkable glowing tower that stretched on into the darkness.
"Would our time be fleeting?" Katara tried to keep her tone casual.
"I want to say no with all my being. Katara, if it were just my life and mine to give as I wished, the answer would be no in every language. But I don't know when I'll die, and there are quite a few who want me quite dead right now."
"I meant more like…are you always casual in your relationships?"
Aang's eyes locked on hers and his water arc began to dribble down at his side.
A courage burned in his chest he hadn't had when he met her. "I'm in love with you."
Katara sputtered a surprised gasp, her own water slipping from her control.
"I'm in love with you" Aang said again, as if he were just realizing it. "I don't want anything casual. I want you. I want all of you. But more so, I want to give you all of me. Katara, I want to be the person who holds you when you cry, who kisses you goodnight. I want to wake up in the mornings and feel you safe in my arms. I love you. And I have nothing to give you—I..I'm the Avatar. I don't get to have that; I don't get to have—"
"I love you too." Katara returned, tears cresting in her eyes, her smile trembling.
Aang's face was desperate and longing as he stumbled forward to close the gap between them. The glow of the water had just faded to darkness when her lips met his own. They moved there in the dark, shifting and tasting softly. Aang's arms cradled her with delicate, squeezing hands and Katara grasped his hips both with strength and building tension.
They shifted there in the dark, jostling up occasional burst of light at their movements as they aligned, tangled, re-aligned all while searching for purchase. Aang ran reverent hands over Katara's hip, sliding his palm along tight curves and under her wet t-shirt. They sighed in unison and sank down into the water, just deep enough to submerge to their shoulders. Trembling hands aglow with fiery bioluminescence, he roamed her legging-clad thighs and higher. Heart thrumming, Katara pushed back in the water just enough to peel the shirt up and over her head. The brief glow of the water illuminated the hardness of her nipples, perked and pink and aching. "You're so beautiful." He breathed. She caught sight of the desire smoldering in his eyes just before the cave faded to black once more. "Is this okay?" She breathed, routing her fingers in between his own. "Yes. Can I touch you?"
There was no hesitancy on Aang's part when she guided his hand to her naked breasts. If any shyness remained between them, it was stolen by the inky blackness. Hot breaths to her nipple, she felt his tongue lapping with firm, wide motions that massaged her tip with each pass. Katara's head fell back as she gave herself to a full-throated moan, and slid her legs around his waist, barely brushing his groin as they floated in the shimmering pond. He was huffing now, fully aroused by her nearness, her envelopment of him. More arousing than her moan, her soft breast, was the knowledge that this physical experience was being shared by someone who was present, who loved him. Her gentle hands, her irreverent whispers in his ear, he panted at the utter intimacy of it.
Beneath the water, Aang's first touch was tentative, explorative. Slipping beneath her leggings, he found no underwear between his fingers and her hot sex. Katara melted against him, her fingernails digging into his forearms, urging. The act caused him to stutter to a pause, biting his lip nervously as he worried about telling her. "Okay?" She whispered, checking in. "Softer please?" he asked. "I'm not ready, I need—" he tried to explain. Katara delivered reassuring kisses to his eyelids. "I love you. I'll take care of you."
They moved once more, parsing more electric blue waves that illuminated the cave and their deepening kisses. Cradling the softest part of her, Aang slowly broached her with fingers sinking into the snug, moist depths of her body. They both hissed with the sensation. Her need intensified as she convulsed around his finger, rolling her hips against his hand at the mounting pleasure. He listened to her body carefully as they floated, stretching here, curling there, as he guided his hand in and out in a patient rhythm. Katara whimpered in pleasure with each penetration, the space between them glowing with Aang's ministrations. She breathed his name and he throbbed, groaning into her breast and lapping at a nipple once more. She trembled and cried out, pulsating, and gushing against him. She wanted more of him. She wanted to be filled by him.
Hands still trembling amidst her decelerating orgasm, Katara splashed between them to reach down to grasp at thick length. Aang groaned, pushing away his shorts as she began stroking him with firm tugs. "Softer, softer." he whispered in her hair. He withdrew his hand from between her legs and guided her to him as he leaned against the stone edge. With a building trust in his lover, he curled her hand around his so she could feel his pace and gentle grasp. "Can you do this?" he sighed, guiding her hand in languid strokes. He released her hand and nuzzled her forehead as she complied eagerly, leaning into him. "Oh Katara, ohhhnn" he couldn't help but moan, being felt, being given to in way he'd never experienced.
Her caress was loving and hot and too slow in a way that kept him on the delicious edge. His shorts were completely divested at some point, though neither would remember how, and he was gritting his teeth as he bucked into her hand in search of more. Sensing he might not be able to break himself from his throes, she gave him a final, lingering pump before letting go.
He lost her in the dark for a moment until the illuminated water churned around her as she too removed her bottoms. He moved to her instinctively, winding his hands to her back, leaning down to cup her luscious bottom and to eek out sloppy, breathy kisses. When she braced against him all arms, legs, and trembling knees she looked to where his eyes glittered in the dark. "Will you finish in me? I want to feel you inside of me. I want, I need you Aang." She said it against his lips and he could feel the quivering desire in the air of her exhale. "Yes. I want to feel you, Katara. I want to give you all of me."
"You have me too. I'm here with you. Come with me?"
"I love you, Katara. I ahh..Kata—" his word hitched as she sank down his length, enveloping him in her arms, between her legs, and deep within her body. She clung to him like a flustered cat in a tree, overstimulated and crying out at the fullness within her heart equally as her throbbing sex.
Aang too, felt the connection and squeezed to her, supporting her rear easily as she moved buoyantly beneath the water. His other hand raised gooseflesh up her back and settled, stroking her hair and neck affectionately.
Forehead to forehead, nose to nose, the breathed each other's air as she maintained cadence and he helped guide her up and down and around his awesome cock. They were re-united puzzle pieces, they were a cloud of air and water, they were push and pull.
And they pushed, and they pulled, whispering desperate and loving affirmations in each other's ears, Katara stroking and kissing his jawline, Aang fingering her hair and lapping her neck. When she began to open her legs wider in search of a deeper thrust, his fingers fell down from her hair and drew electric blue light around her clit once more, as he circled her and pressed her in the flickering haze. They were moaning each other's names and tensing together as she climbed. Without removing himself from her or her nub, he leaned her forward, driving into her with deeper, ovular strokes that matched their fevering pitch.
Weightless atop the water, yet firm against his thrusts she cried out at the top of her surge, bending the water like a firm hold behind her back, giving him the purchase he needed to drive deep and come into her as deep as he could go. They unraveled together, intertwined and wet and sweating as he pulsed and continued decelerating thrusts to guide her down with him back to their bodies. In a sandy shallow, in the cave of two lovers, they slept intertwined.