CH 32 | Healing and Hurting
The weeks following Zuko's revival would be the strangest in the lives of each member of the gang.
Everyone came to an independent realization that there was no going back to Yu Dao until Aang achieved some sort of resolution with Firelord Ozai. On this, only Toph seemed put out in any fashion, "they have such a good MatLab…" she lamented. The Water Tribe siblings seemed to have already committed themselves to a life's work of treason and sabotage, with Sokka proclaiming "I can transfer to Ba Sing Se and finish in a semester—after we destroy the Fire Nation, of course" and Katara obdurately insisting, "I won't learn from an institution built on racism and discrimination."
Sokka found himself in the not-so-surprise positions of Master Planner, Physical Trainer, and the Avatar's Manager.
He'd finally calendared their recruitment rendezvous and prison camp invasion dates. Solidifying the details became a logistical debate each night with the rest of the group—most notably Toph—who demanded in-depth gaming of every scenario they could think of. For each day he planned an obscenely packed schedule by which Aang could receive training by himself, Toph, and Katara.
Not being a morning person was almost a defining characteristic of Sokka, but it was the best place to wheedle himself into Aang's roster. To their credit, the entire gang joined these workouts—Sokka's personal mix of building, sword katas (adapted for performance with sticks, per Aang's request, "I won't use a lethal weapon. Period") and lifting-based cardio. The upside meant that he was usually greeted just before dawn to the smell of coffee and light breakfast courtesy of a cheery Katara who transitioned fluidly into the group's one-woman pep squad seemingly overnight.
"Good Morning Sokka, my-brother-who-is-awesome!" Katara sang as she poked her head into his earth tent. "Who are you and what have you done with my sister?" Sokka grumbled, but sat up, nevertheless. Katara made no reply but beamed while sipping her coffee. When Sokka joined the rest around the morning fire, he gratefully accepted a bowl of rice and a cup of coffee from Aang, who had likely already been up for several hours meditating.
"I'd ask what her secret is, but I'm pretty sure it's dick." Toph stated plainly, resulting in the other three choking, and spitting coffee in various directions. The only person who didn't react was Zuko. Still becoming accustomed to simply existing, he spoke very little and mostly observed from a tentative distance. The group gave him plenty of space during the days, and all four were encouraged when he quietly joined morning practice.
"Toph! What the hell!?" Katara complained.
"Am I wrong? I don't think my feet are wrong… and my feet say that you've been sneaking into Aang's tent every night…and even IF my feet are wrong, I'm definitely not deaf."
Katara struggled to find any way to deny the earthbender's accusations but came up short, glaring beseechingly at Aang for help. Aang, mouth stuffed with rice, was fixed on Sokka with a stuffed expression of mild horror.
"What?" Sokka asked, apathetically. "Are you staring at me like that because you're worried I'll stab you in the renal artery while you sleep, bleed you dry in the river and bury your body in a shallow grave with no remorse if you ever hurt my sister?"
Aang nodded, slightly green.
"Oh" said Sokka softly. "Good."
After training, Sokka would hand Aang off to Toph and get to work on Operation The-Avatar-Goes-Public, the first and most important act of which concerned addressing the Firelord directly with a series of demands and a request to meet on neutral grounds to mediate.
For Toph's part, she found herself most frustrated with Aang as she committed herself to the strange experience of training not only the Avatar, but an airbender Avatar with the most airbendy of proclivities. Her first unexpected task came at the beginning of his very first lesson—one of humility.
"Working with earth is, simply put, confrontational stances adapted into a bending style. The only way you're going to move something so strong and so unyielding is to tell it who's boss." Aang subconsciously wrinkled his nose at the suggestion. "It feels…strange to think of Mother Earth that way. It's like, what gives me the right to tell her what to do?" Aang argued politely. Toph performed a foot movement that introduced a blunted earth spike behind the Avatar, throwing him unceremoniously onto his face.
"Spirits…look at you." Toph complained. Now she was the one wrinkling her nose. "Ow, what?" Aang whined, bending himself back to standing in a soft gust. "you're so…squishy…there's no muscle on you." Toph circled her new student, poking him hard in the shoulders, biceps, and chest. "Ow! Hey, I have muscles! Ow! Quit it, Toph. OW!" With each hard poke, Aang found himself stumbling back slightly in response to the Sifu's surprising strength.
"What the hell, Katara? Did you work him out at all? Look at this!" Toph hollered over to her while knocking Aang on his butt with a moderate jab to the plexus.
"I get it, I'm skinny. I'm still a top-knotch bender, though. I don't mean to brag but…" Aang dusted his shoulder smugly, "I basically mastered waterbending without trying." To this, Toph smiled wickedly. "Alright then. We'll start going through forms. Every time you fail to bend, you'll be doing a set. Every day is leg day from now on, you hear me?"
"Yes, Sifu!" Aang agreed obediently.
The gang would reconnect at dinner before Aang moved on to evening healing sessions and water training with Katara. After trying (and failing) to bend even a pebble, he was grumpy in the evenings. He would glare darkly over at his blind earthbending master who would chatter away happily with Sokka while he nursed his wounds—Aang suspected she was being especially abusive with him knowing that Katara could heal most surficial injuries.
Earthbending struggles aside, Aang's air and waterbending had never been more powerful. He was mired in purpose, motivated by cause, surrounded by family, and hopelessly in love. He had never felt more confident, more anchored.
Making the decision to accept his role was perhaps the hardest thing Aang had ever done. Yet he found that just like Iroh had predicted so many years ago, he felt as though accepting his duty brought him closer to peace than ever. Each morning he moved closer and closer to letting go his full burden of fears, guilts, and shames that wracked at him—the evidence of which was now expressed in clearer judgment during sparring, a quicker hand, and astonishing displays of weightlessness when he worked in his native element.
Aang took at least a moment each day to express gratitude at his most important life lesson learned to date—the Avatar must be anchored. It is the love of family and friends and the sacredness of life that motivates the ethereal being within him. When he first met Sokka, Aang had no idea that the petulant jokester would become his brother and his mentor. He had no idea that it would fold Toph into his world or, like a red string of fate, bind him to his Katara.
And she was his—just as he was so completely hers. Since the night in the cave, Aang and Katara's burgeoning connection only deepened. He would awake long before morning tangled in her hair and her breath needing to summon all his willpower to extricate himself from the comfort of her soft embrace, her aggressive warmth. Aang was a dutiful student and really did commit himself to the backbreaking training distributed by his talented found-family. But he and Katara unspokenly agreed to a secondary mission to steal every possible moment in between for themselves—flurries of fevered kisses, coquettish banter, and furtive gazes that built in their tension throughout the day.
At night, they would release.
After dinner, there were planning talks. There was some time each night for someone (usually Aang) to check in with Zuko and keep the communication open while the young man wobbled back into being. Katara usually spent some time working over Aang's various training injuries and strained muscles before leading him to the moonlit beach where they waded into training needing very few words between them.
Aang could read her body. He knew based on the length of a pause whether she intended to start shared forms, individual stances or follow-along moves. He knew the stances well enough now to recognize immediately once her legs settled into place. He also realized some time ago that they didn't need to remove so much clothing as they were now both fully capable of drying themselves. Their near nakedness was for the thrill of it, as it always had been.
Together, Aang and Katara's waterbending had exploded to historic proportions. Working together, the two could control the tide like a puppet on strings. They'd drawn clouds from thin air, they'd shaped cyclones on a whim. Aang always knew when practice was nearing the end because they'd move closer and closer in on each other until the need for physical contact overpowered them both. They'd make love, sometimes right there in the ocean, oftentimes in silent trysts within their tent, tangled in their blankets and sweat and flesh, trying to breathe softly as they came to bliss. It was an exhausting, heady, and wonderful time for the Avatar.
A/N: I have Zuko and Katara's perspectives coming up as well, but wanted to at least give you this portion tonight.