Author's note: This chapter is set at the Western Air Temple during the events of "The Boiling Rock" (S3 E14/15), when Sokka and Zuko leave the group to infiltrate a high-security Fire Nation prison on a rescue mission.
Chapter 2: Expectations
"…eight hop squat, nine hop squat, ten hop squat."
After finishing the last hop squat, Aang flopped onto his back, arms stretched out on either side. The rest of the group—minus Sokka and Zuko—sat off to one side of the courtyard, forming a small audience for Aang's firebending practice.
"Whew, Sifu Zuko is a tough master!" He rolled onto his side and sat up. "Time for a break. Whaddya say to some waterbending practice, Katara?"
Katara stiffened in surprise. Several days had passed since Aang and Zuko returned from the Sun Warrior ruins. Since their almost-but-not-quite kiss. Things had been awkward between them, and she didn't know how to act around Aang. So she'd been avoiding him.
Now he wanted to practice waterbending with her.
"But Zuko said to do twenty sets of fire fists after each set of hop squats," Katara said. Which was a perfectly reasonable response, because those were Zuko's instructions in the note he had left earlier that morning. Zuko and Sokka were out hunting and fishing, and they would be back in a few days. She didn't love the idea of her brother going out alone with Zuko. But then again, Sokka wasn't the Avatar, so Zuko would have nothing to gain by harming him. She hoped that was enough to keep him safe.
"But I've already done sixty sets of fire fists today!" Aang said in protest.
"I know, but you need to keep going if you're going to learn how to firebend."
"Katara's right, twinkle toes. You're supposed to be practicing firebending, not waterbending," Toph said. "You've been practicing waterbending since practically forever. You need to be ready for the next level of firebending when Zuko gets back."
Thank you, Toph.
Aang pouted. "Aw, man… You guys are no fun. I'm gonna go do some more exploring. There's a huge pool of water down on one of the lower levels that's fed by ten different spouts and three waterfalls. It even has a slide! Who needs waterbending when you've got a water park?"
He grabbed his staff and rapped it on the ground to release the wings of his glider. "Come on, Teo! Let's go check it out!"
Teo wheeled himself to his own glider, and Haru and the Duke helped him hoist his wheelchair into the struts.
"What about us?" the Duke asked. "Haru and I don't have gliders."
"No problem, I'll take turns carrying you down there," Aang said. "Come on Duke, I'll take you first."
"How many times do I have to tell you people? It's the Duke."
"All right, sorry, the Duke," Aang said with a laugh. "Jump on—let's go!"
As Aang and the Duke took off, Teo wheeled over to Haru. "If you hang on to the back of my wheelchair, I can take you, too. My glider was built to carry a lot more weight than just me."
Haru shook his head. "Nah, you guys go on ahead. I think I'm gonna stay here."
Teo just shrugged. "All right then. Just holler if you change your mind."
Irritation surged through Katara as she stood at the edge of the courtyard, watching the three boys fly off. What does Aang think he's doing? He needs to learn firebending. This isn't the time to slack off!
Toph stretched lazily and got to her feet. "Looks like bending practice is over. I'm gonna go take a nap. It's way too hot to do anything else."
The tiny earthbender padded over to the circle of sleeping bags in the anteroom adjacent to the courtyard. Haru remained outside with Katara, gazing in the direction that their friends had gone. "Aang really should be working on his firebending, shouldn't he?" he said, echoing Katara's thoughts.
Katara sighed. "Yes. He should. I don't know what's gotten into him."
But you do know, said an accusing voice in the back of her mind. But she didn't want to think about that. She couldn't afford to be distracted right now. Neither could Aang. None of them could.
"Do you think Aang will be ready to fight the Fire Lord?"
Haru's question caught Katara off guard. "What do you mean?"
"Sozin's Comet is arriving at the end of this month. That's only a few weeks away. Do you think he's going to master firebending in time?"
"I don't know," she admitted. "Maybe he doesn't need to master firebending. He just needs to learn how to do it, how it works, so he can defend and counter against the Fire Lord. He's already a master airbender, and he knows how to waterbend and earthbend."
"But he hasn't mastered water or earth yet, has he?"
Katara's hackles rose. She didn't like how Haru was questioning Aang's abilities. "No, he hasn't. But he's made a lot of progress in a short period of time, and I'll have you know he's pretty close."
"Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to sound like I was putting him down," Haru said. "It's just that the fate of the world hinges on whether Aang wins or loses. Our futures depend on the success of one single person. It's scary to think about sometimes."
Cold fear gripped Katara's heart. Those kinds of thoughts were on her mind, lately—and on everyone's minds, she was sure, Aang included. But hearing Haru say it out loud made it feel more real. More terrifying.
Katara suddenly felt the need to sit down. Thankfully, the fountain was close by. She lowered herself onto its wide ledge, and Haru joined her.
After a moment, Haru said, "Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever see my dad again."
"Me too."
"I knew going into the invasion that I might lose my dad that day. But now that he's actually gone… It's hard to go through losing him again, for the second time."
"This is also the second time I've lost my dad to the war," Katara said. "When I was eleven, he left our village to lead the men of our tribe to fight the Fire Nation. I didn't see him again until a few months ago, after the Earth Kingdom fell. In between those times, while he was gone, I didn't know where he was or what he was doing, and I missed him so much. But at least he was free to do what he needed to do.
"This time, he's a prisoner of war, just like your dad. It's scary, isn't it? Having hope that he's still alive, that he can be rescued someday. But not knowing if it will ever happen."
"Yeah. We'll probably never see them again unless we win the war," Haru said.
There it was. Unless we win the war. Katara knew exactly what he meant. The only "we" left was their ragtag group, a bunch of kids who were talented fighters and benders, but they were still just kids. The Fire Nation had relentlessly swallowed up every defense, every resistance, like a red shadow consuming the land, until their only small group remained—the world's last fighting chance. It wasn't just Aang that the world depended on. It was also Toph, Sokka, Zuko, and Haru. The Duke and Teo. And Katara herself.
The hot summer air was now suffocating. Katara wanted to throw up. Breathe in and breath out, she told herself. Aang had once taught her to meditate as a way of calming herself. What was the breathing technique he had showed her? She took a deep breath in and immediately exhaled. She breathed in again, but she couldn't get enough air. Her breathing came faster and faster, shallow and frantic. Too fast. Her head was spinning, her vision started to black out, and the world began to tilt.
"Whoa!" Haru reached out to catch her as she toppled from the ledge of the fountain. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah," she said. She had collapsed into a heap against the side of the fountain. Her head rested against the curved stone basin, and she was grateful to have something solid to lean on. Her breathing still came in short gasps, but it was slowing down. "I don't know what came over me. It must have been the heat."
"We need to get you cooled off, then," Haru said, and helped her to her feet. "Let's go back inside."
Later that afternoon, Katara sought solace in waterbending. She stood in the same pool she had used when she was waiting for Aang and Zuko to return from the Sun Warrior ruins, the one that overlooked their campsite. She moved through exercises that focused on her form, and the repetitive, rhythmic movements helped calm her down and soothe her spirit. Meditation may be what worked for Aang, but waterbending was what Katara needed.
She couldn't stop thinking about what Haru had said. Aang had only mastered one element, and that was air, his natural element. He was pretty good at waterbending and earthbending, but at least he'd had several months—almost a year, with water—to become proficient. But firebending? He only had a few weeks.
Perhaps she wouldn't be so worried if she knew that Aang could use the Avatar state. But she remembered him saying something about Azula's lightning strike and his chakra being blocked. She didn't really understand what he was saying, and he didn't explain much more than that. The Avatar state was not something he liked to talk about. But she got the idea—Aang was completely cut off from the Avatar state.
Katara wasn't sure how she felt about that. Personally, she hated seeing Aang in the Avatar state, even though she knew it was an essential part of who he was. Everyone else wanted Aang to master the Avatar state—and he had—and be able to use it at will. They saw the Avatar state as their secret weapon, a straight shot to victory. But it wasn't that simple. Katara herself had witnessed that the Avatar state was no guarantee that they would win or that Aang would even survive. It was like the invasion on the Day of Black Sun—the solar eclipse was supposed to hand them an easy victory, but they had lost anyway.
How many more losses could they take? Katara had lost almost everyone who was important to her. Most of the people in her village—the other kids she had grown up with, the family friends who helped raise her, all of the waterbenders—had been killed or captured in Fire Nation raids. Her mother, murdered. Her father, who had left home to fight and was now imprisoned. And even Jet—he hadn't exactly been an important person in her life, and their relationship had been contentious, but he was also someone she had known and lost. All she had left was their small group, namely Sokka and Toph. And Aang, of course. If she lost them too, she would be completely alone.
The suffocating feeling was coming over her again. Breathe in. Katara took a deep breath and swept her arms out in in front of her. Two slender streams of water arced high up into the air, glittering in the sunlight. As the streams fell back into the pool, they showered fine droplets of water over her, cooling her skin and her feverish thoughts. Breathe out. She exhaled slowly through her mouth. She repeated the breathing and the movements again, and again, and again. Soon she was able to release her worries and fears and lose herself in the ritual of waterbending and breathing.
A splash behind her jolted her out of her rhythm. "Hey, Katara. Mind if I join you?"
Katara whirled around. It was Aang. A self-conscious blush spread across her cheeks. He was shirtless and barefoot, but at least he was wearing pants and not just his underwear. She was clad only in her undergarments—her chest wrap and shorts. They were wearing their usual waterbending attire, but for some reason she felt incredibly exposed. Things were different now that she knew how he felt about her. And he knew how she felt about him…sort of. To be honest, she wasn't entirely sure herself.
"Ah…how did you get up here?" How did she not see him and the other boys returning to camp? The pool provided her with a full view of their campsite, so she should have seen them come back. Unless they took a back way through the temple. She hadn't considered that possibility.
Aang gave her a puzzled look. "What do you mean? We got back from the pool just now, and Haru told me you were practicing waterbending up here. So I walked up, just like you did."
"Oh…ok." Her mind raced. Aang wanted to talk. Talking was what they did half the time when they practiced waterbending together. Waterbending practice was their space to sound ideas off each other or work through difficult problems. Sometimes they would chat about nothing in particular, simply enjoying each other's company. The times Katara spent waterbending with Aang were some of the times she felt closest to him. The last time they had practiced waterbending, with just the two of them, was almost two weeks ago. She missed talking with him, the back-and-forth of waterbending together, the closeness.
But things weren't like the way they were before, not anymore. Too much had changed between them. They couldn't go back to being just friends. There were expectations now. And talking about it was the last thing she wanted to do.
"Actually, I was just finishing up." Katara hopped out of the pool and gathered up her clothes. She tried to act casual and concentrated on not moving too quickly, when what she really wanted to do was to bolt out of there. But running away from Aang would be humiliating—and not to mention pointless, since he could easily outrun her without breaking a sweat.
Still, she started walking away, with her clothes slung over her shoulder, not wanting to waste time putting them back on. "See you back at camp?"
"I'll walk back with you," he said, and fell into step next to her.
They walked together, the awkwardness hanging thick in the air between them. Aang jammed his hands into his pockets and looked off to the side. Katara stared straight ahead, occasionally shifting her bundle of clothing higher up on her shoulder.
It was Aang who eventually broke the silence. "So I was wondering…" he started to say.
"I've been wondering something, too," Katara said quickly.
Aang whipped his head around and looked up at her. "Really? You have?"
Katara wasn't sure what to say next. But she knew she needed to drive the conversation, control it somehow, so it didn't go the wrong direction—such as talking about their feelings. Her feelings, specifically.
But driving the conversation wasn't something she was good at. Think, she said to herself. Who do I know is a good talker?
Jet—of course. He was the smoothest talker she knew, and he could steer the conversation like no one else. That was why his gang had been so loyal to him and would do anything he asked, without question. That was how he had manipulated her and Aang to set his barbaric plan in motion. I need to think like Jet. What would he say if he was in my shoes?
Aang looked so hopeful that Katara felt a pang of guilt. She turned her head away and trained her gaze on a statue at the far end of the hallway. I'm not trying to manipulate him. I'm just…taking the conversation in a different direction.
"Yeah," she said. "I was wondering why Zuko wants you to practice so many fire fists. I know it seems like a lot, but I'm sure it's important for building the foundation for firebending."
"Yeah…you're probably right," Aang said, without much enthusiasm. That wasn't what he had wanted to talk about.
Build him up. Give him something he wants. "You know what, I'd really like to watch you practice firebending. I could…give you some feedback." Even though I don't know the first thing about firebending. "Let you know what looks good and what doesn't look so good."
Aang's face lit up. "That's a great idea! Maybe I can practice with you over there." He pointed at a large, empty terrace up ahead.
"Uh, actually, it might be a better idea to practice in front of the group," Katara said. "You know, the more feedback, the better."
"Oh, okay. I guess." He sounded disappointed again.
"Just wait until Zuko gets back. He'll be totally amazed at how much progress you've made!" Katara tried her best to keep her tone upbeat. Driving the conversation was harder than she thought. Jet had made it look so effortless.
Aang didn't say anything, and they walked in silence for a while.
At length, he spoke up again. "Sometimes I wonder what life will be like after the war."
His comment took Katara by surprise. "You mean after we win?"
"Yeah."
After we win… Katara wanted to win, hoped that they would win. Or rather, hoped they wouldn't lose. It struck her that the idea of actually winning the war was a completely foreign concept to her. For all her life, the only thing she knew was war and surviving the war. Making it through each day, each month, each year. Hanging onto the hope that she would see her dad again someday. Fearful of losing someone else she loved to the Fire Nation. Surviving the war was a way of life.
Moments like this reminded her that Aang really was from a different time. A time when the four nations lived in peace and harmony, when the people of the world lived amongst each other without fear or hostility. A time with no war. She couldn't even begin to imagine it. Aang, however, knew what peace looked like, and it was something he could look forward to and hope for.
But not Katara. She didn't dare dream of—let alone expect—peace. Not right now. It was dangerous to dwell on thoughts like that when the stakes were so high and lives were in the balance. Distracting. She had to focus on survival. They had to survive the next few weeks, and they had to survive the upcoming battle with Ozai and the Fire Nation forces. Aang had to survive.
"Just think, we can go anywhere we want instead of running from the Fire Nation all the time," Aang said. "There are so many places I want to see, and so many things I want to show you."
"We haven't won yet, Aang."
"I know." He gave her a look that was full of meaning. "But it helps to have something to fight for."
"Yes, it does," she said, pretending to not understand. "That's why we have to train as hard as we can before the upcoming battle. You need to learn as much firebending as possible."
Aang's shoulders slumped. "Yeah, I know."
Katara immediately regretted her words. Aang put a lot of pressure on himself, she knew, and she didn't need to make it worse.
She put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Aang. I know you have a lot on your plate. I guess I worry too much, sometimes. But I want you to know that I believe in you."
Katara meant it. She wasn't talking him up, this time.
Aang smiled at her. "Thanks, Katara."
She saw him glance at her hand, which still rested on his shoulder. She drew her hand back—a little too quickly, perhaps—and flipped her hair over her shoulder. Everything between them was so awkward and uncomfortable now. Neither of them could do or say anything without the other person reading too much into it. She hated it. Things were just fine the way they were before. Why did he have to go and kiss her on the submarine?
He looked down and rubbed his elbow, a nervous gesture. "So, um—"
Somewhere nearby, a badger frog croaked, a low, raspy sound that echoed down the hallway.
Katara was grateful for the interruption. "Didn't Zuko say to do hop squats and fire fists whenever you hear a badger frog croak?" She smiled at Aang. "Guess it's just you and me this time. The group will have to wait."
Aang gave her a broad grin. "Yeah, sure! Let's go over there," he said, pointing to a wide courtyard just off to the side of the hallway.
"Why don't you go on ahead? I'll be right behind you. You owe me twenty sets of fire fists anyway, on top of your new sets of hop squats and fire fists." At this point, she was thankful for anything that would keep Aang busy so they wouldn't have to talk about…them. The more time she could buy, the more time she had to think of other ways to stall until they rejoined the group.
"Okay," he said, cheerfully oblivious to her plan.
Aang trotted on ahead of her. Katara started to follow, but she stopped in her tracks. The sight of the scar on his bare back took her breath away—an angry, twisted thing that puckered the skin around it, a rupture in the smooth lines of the blue arrow going down his back. She had seen his scar many times before, even studied it as she attempted to heal him in the weeks that he lay unconscious. Although she could never look at it without feeling a twinge of pain, she had gotten used to it over time. The scar was a part of him now.
But this was the first time she had seen his scar since the invasion. Now it served as a stark reminder that they had failed in fighting the Fire Nation. Not just once, but twice. And that Aang dying was not only a possibility, but it had actually happened before. Only this time, as they headed into the pivotal battle against the Fire Lord, they had no spirit water to save them, no Avatar state to pull them through. If they failed again, there would be no second chance.
The hallway was suddenly too small and narrow, and the walls started to close in on her. The air was hot and thick and hard to breathe. Katara hunched over and braced her hands on her knees, gasping. She couldn't get enough air. Her breathing came faster and faster, and she felt lightheaded and numb all over. She couldn't see—everything was blurry. The floor began to spin, and she could no longer tell which way was up.
She fell for what seemed like forever, but she never hit the ground. When her breathing slowed, when everything finally stopped spinning, she opened her eyes and blinked several times to clear her vision.
Aang's face hovered above her, his eyebrows knit together in concern. "Are you all right? What happened?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. It must be the heat," she said, although it was clear to her now that it wasn't the heat at all.
Then Katara figured out why she never hit the ground when she fell. Aang must have seen her struggling, and he had caught her just in time. Now he held her across his lap, with one arm cradling her legs behind the knees and the other one around her back. Her head rested against his chest, just below his shoulder.
They had never been this physically close before. She was conscious of the way she lay against Aang, their bare skin touching, his warm arms holding her almost in an embrace. If she wanted to, she could pull his head down and kiss him. There was no reason why she couldn't. He certainly wasn't going to stop her. And part of her wanted to do it.
But she was still reeling from her recent moment of panic. That was the name for what was happening to her—panic—when her mind shut down and she struggled to breathe. She had to find a way to avoid triggering these attacks. She had to stop thinking about the future. About how there would be no future if they lost—if Aang lost. Because him losing against the Fire Lord meant she would lose everyone she loved. She would lose Aang.
Katara's breathing quickened as panic started to well up in her again. The sensation of everything closing in on her was overwhelming. She needed space. Pushing herself away from Aang, she rolled to sit on her knees and leaned forward with her hands on her thighs.
"Katara…?"
"Water… I need water," she gasped.
Aang searched her pile of clothes and found the water skin that contained her bending water. He undid the stopper and held it out to her. Katara took the skin from him, but instead of drinking, she poured the water into her hand, where it hovered as a liquid globe. With her other hand, she pulled on the globe until it became an elongated tendril between her hands. She wove her hands back and forth, and the tendril of water danced and swirled with her movements. She breathed in and out in a slow, measured tempo that matched the calming rhythm of her hands.
When she was back to herself again, she returned the water into the skin and exhaled as she moved her hands downward into resting position, palms flat and facing the ground. Then she noticed Aang watching her with a look of wonder on his face. He gave her a warm smile. "Wow," he said. "That was kind of like waterbending meditation, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, it was," Katara said, suddenly feeling vulnerable. This new method of waterbending she had come up with—waterbending meditation, as he called it—was something private, not something intended for an audience. But this was Aang, and she didn't mind being vulnerable around him. In fact, it felt good. It felt a little like the way things were before.
"It helps me when I am…not feeling so good." Then she blushed, feeling a little shy. "I learned some of it from you, actually. The breathing part."
Aang looked pleased. "I guess that means I'm a good teacher." Then his eyes lit up. "Does this mean you're going to call me Sifu Aang?"
Katara drew a handful of water from the water skin and threw it at him, splashing him. "In your dreams," she said with a grin.
Before she could react, Aang pulled the rest of the water out from the skin. "Don't forget I'm a waterbender, too," he said. She yelped as he splashed her back with considerably more than just a handful of water.
"Oh yeah?" Katara was soaked from head to toe, but that was no problem. She stood up and drew out all the water covering her body and launched several streams of water at him. "Let's see just how good you are, Pupil Aang!"
Aang easily dodged her attack. But she snuck a tendril behind him, circled his ankle, and yanked. He yelled out in surprise and started to fall, but not before he redirected a stream of water around her knee and pulled her leg out from under her.
Katara shrieked with laughter as they vied for control of the water, trying to pull each other off their feet, slipping and sliding on the wet tiles. For the first time in a long while, she felt like a kid again, living in the moment and just having fun.
Aang wrapped a tendril of water around each of her ankles and yanked her off her feet, and she started to fall backwards. Trying to grab onto something to break her fall, she circled a stream of water around his waist and pulled, hard. But her momentum was too strong, and he flew into her and they both fell together. She braced herself for the impact, but she didn't slam against the floor like she expected to. Instead, she slowly drifted downward until she came to rest on her back. Aang had cushioned her fall with airbending. He also had one arm around her back and a hand behind her head to protect her from striking the hard stone tiles. She had the suspicion that he never really intended for her to fall.
As they lay on the floor together, he gazed at her with such unguarded longing that an involuntary shiver went through her. He loves me, Katara realized. I think he really loves me.
Both of them were breathing hard from the water fight. Katara had thrown her arms around him when she fell, and she was very aware of how close they were. Aang hovered just inches above her, straddling her body with his elbows and knees on either side.
Her heart pounded in her chest. She wanted him closer, and she wanted to kiss him. She didn't want to think about how it wasn't fair to kiss him if she didn't feel the same way he did. The only thing she wanted right now was to feel his lips pressing against hers.
Katara tightened her arms around him, and her hands moved across the scar on his back. The flesh beneath her fingers was knotted and twisted and stiff, and the wrongness of it made her gasp. All of the pain and despair she had felt after Aang was struck down in Ba Sing Se came back to her in a rush. She pulled him closer, careful to avoid touching his scar again, but instead of kissing him, she leaned her cheek against his ear. She held him tight and closed her eyes. Hot tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes and trailed down her temples and into her hair.
Aang seemed to sense that something had changed. He held Katara for as long she held onto him. When the tears stopped coming and the intensity of her emotions dulled into something more bearable, she loosened her arms. She stirred under him, and he helped her sit up.
"Are you okay?" he asked, peering at her with a worried look.
Katara wiped at the tears on her face. "I'll be okay," she said.
"What happened?"
"It was…" she started to explain, but shook her head. She didn't want to talk about it. The memory was too painful, and she felt drained. "Let's get back to camp. I think I just need some rest."
The next morning found Katara wandering the halls of the Western Air Temple. The others were in the courtyard by their campsite, with Aang doing hop squats and fire fists under Toph's watchful eye—or feet, rather. Katara just needed to get away, needed some space.
Her relationship with Aang was getting complicated. Sometimes they were just friends, and sometimes they were…more than friends. Ever since the kiss during the invasion, they were becoming less like friends and more like the other thing. Everything between them was changing and escalating so fast that Katara felt like she was being swept away in a tidal wave, and it was all she could do to keep her head above water.
Katara wished that Aang had never kissed her on the submarine. No, that wasn't entirely true. Because she had also liked it. Really liked it. Liked it enough to want to kiss him again. And she almost had, several times. But each time, something held her back. She had the feeling that if she kissed him again, she would be diving into something much deeper than what was already happening between them. And she was already in over her head.
It wasn't until yesterday, during their water fight, that she realized what made her hesitate. When Aang caught her as she fell, she saw clearly for the first time how much he loved her. It was more than a simple crush, or infatuation, or attraction. What he felt for her was much more profound. Looking back, she could see it in the things he did and said, the little things, even before he kissed her. She could tell from the look in his eyes that he had loved her for a long time.
Now that Katara knew this about Aang, she was at even more of a loss than before. Knowing how much he loved her frightened her. She was close enough to Aang to know that he did not feel things lightly, and his love for her was no exception. But she still wasn't sure exactly how she felt about him. If she wasn't in love with him after all, he would be devastated. Even if she was in love with him, how could she possibly return a love as deep as his? In either case, their friendship—their precious friendship, the way it was before the invasion—would be lost. If she was honest with herself, it already was.
But she didn't have time to figure out whether or not she was in love with Aang, and now was not the time for Aang to be pursuing her. They had bigger things to worry about. Aang was the Avatar, and he was going to have to fight Ozai soon. Nothing that either of them said or did was going to matter if he didn't win.
Katara was physically and emotionally exhausted from the events of the previous day. If yesterday was a preview of how things were going to be between them, there was no way she and Aang were going to be prepared to fight the Fire Lord and the Fire Nation forces before the arrival of Sozin's Comet. They couldn't afford any more distractions.
Which meant she had to find a way to end the constant dance that she and Aang were doing around each other. He had to focus on learning firebending. She had to take control of the situation to keep everyone on task, including herself. But how was she going to do that?
Katara was passing by a large balcony when she noticed Aang sitting in the middle of the balcony, the bright yellow and orange of his clothing standing out against the dull, weathered stone. She stopped walking in mid-step. He was sitting with his back to her, and he seemed to be doodling in the dirt with a stick. She was a bit surprised that he hadn't noticed her yet. But it would only be a matter of time before he did. He had unusually good hearing, which he once said had something to do with being attuned to the air currents around him.
She couldn't help but feel a little annoyed, too. What is he doing, goofing off when he's supposed to be practicing firebending?
Aang still didn't seem to realize she was there, which struck her as very odd, but she shrugged it off. If I'm going to take control of the situation, I need to start now, she thought. This is my chance. Drive the conversation. Think like Jet.
Katara removed the stopper of one of her water skins and drew out a ball of water. Holding the ball behind her back, she walked onto the balcony. "Hey Aang, what are you doing out here?"
Aang turned around, and his face brightened when he saw her. "Oh hi, Katara!"
"I thought you were practicing firebending with Toph and the others."
He shrugged. "We're taking a break, that's all."
She wanted to say, How many breaks do you really need? But she bit her tongue. Instead, she said, "You know, I've been thinking… There's something important I need to tell you."
"Really? I've been wanting to talk, too—"
"Look out!" she said, and whipped the ball of water at him.
The water splashed Aang in the face, and he looked so dumbfounded that Katara couldn't help laughing.
"What…?" he began to say, but Katara had another water ball ready to go.
Get the upper hand. Keep him off guard. "You'd better stay on your toes, or you'll get another one in the kisser!" she said, and launched the water ball into the air.
Then she blushed when she realized her slip. Kisser? Why in the world did I say that?
Instead of throwing the second water ball directly at Aang, she aimed it high above him and let it fall on his head, completely drenching him.
Aang finally seemed to snap out of it and understand what was happening. He shifted into an earthbending stance and encased himself in a protective pyramid of stones.
"Come on, Aang," Katara said. "That's a great defensive earthbending move, but you're supposed to be practicing firebending right now!"
"Katara, what's gotten into you?" Aang's voice sounded muffled under all that rock, but she could still make him out. "I thought you finally wanted to talk about what happened during the invasion."
I'm sure he wants to talk about everything else after that, too. "That's not what we should be worrying about right now," she said. Wait. If she wanted to avoid talking about them, she wasn't doing a great job. She should probably start by not talking about them. "I mean, I don't know what you're talking about. I can't hear you too well in there. This is no time to play hide and seek, Aang! You need to be preparing to fight the Fire Lord!"
"Are you sure you're not the one who's hiding, Katara?"
This wasn't going the way she had hoped. Aang wasn't letting her redirect the conversation, and control of the situation was somehow shifting over to him.
"This isn't about us," she said. "I mean, it's not about me. It's not about you, either. Well, it is about you—it's about you getting ready to face Fire Lord Ozai. We don't have time to play games!" Preparing to battle the Fire Lord was more important than anything else. Why couldn't he see that?
"I don't know, Katara. I don't think I'm the one playing games around here," he said.
Frustrated, Katara flung several spikes of ice at the rock pyramid. If he was going to confront her, he could at least do it without hiding behind a pile of rocks. "Come on, show me some fire! Bring on the heat!" she yelled.
"I don't think you can handle the heat!"
What…? A flush spread across her face. Did he really just call her out on the times they would have kissed if she hadn't backed out?
Now Katara was embarrassed as well as irritated. She launched more ice spikes at the rocky mound that surrounded Aang, even though she knew it was a pointless attack. It was more to take her anger out on him than anything else. "Oh yeah? I bet I can handle it better than you can! Bring on the fire!"
"Bring on the fire, huh? I'll show you fire!"
The top half of the rock pyramid started to glow orange, then bright red. Then all of a sudden, a large plume of fire shot out from the top, and the pyramid erupted.
Katara spun away from the explosion and threw a shield of ice around herself just in time. Red-hot fragments of rock showered all around her, some of them sizzling as they struck her shield.
Aang leaped out of the rubble of the pyramid and ran over to her. "Oh no, are you okay?" he said, with an edge of panic to his voice. "I'm so sorry, Katara, I didn't mean to hurt you!"
She dropped the ice shield. "I'm fine, Aang," she said. The explosion was unexpected, but it presented an opportunity. She had pushed him into firebending in a way that was unlike anything she had ever seen before, and far more advanced than just fire fists.
Hmm…maybe I can motivate him to practice more firebending. "That volcano move was really impressive! Combining earthbending with firebending…that was genius! Come on, let's practice it again so you can show Zuko when he gets back. He's going to be amazed when he sees what you came up with!"
But Aang turned around without saying anything and started to walk away.
No matter how hard she tried to take back control of the situation, Katara felt like she kept on saying the wrong thing. "Aang, where are you going? Are you afraid you're going to burn me again?"
Aang scuffed his foot several times at a spot on the ground. He muttered something under his breath, and she thought she heard him say, "I'm afraid that I'm going to be the one who gets burned."
Still not looking at her, he walked out of the balcony, turned the corner in the hallway, and was soon out of sight.
Now alone on the balcony, Katara hugged her arms to her chest. She couldn't shake the feeling that something had broken between her and Aang. But if putting distance between them meant that they stopped their awkward circling around each other, then maybe it was worth it. They could concentrate on what really mattered, which was preparing to fight the Fire Nation and winning the war.
At least, that's what she told herself.
Author's note 2: The last scene of this chapter is loosely based on the comic, "Love is a Battlefield," which is told from Aang's point of view and also takes place during the episode, "The Boiling Rock." The comic can be found in a collection of comics titled The Lost Adventures and Team Avatar Tales.