A/N. I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender :

The following two weeks, they stayed at the camp, training earthbending nearly day and night. Toph woke him up several times some nights, just to walk around with a rock on his back. Then, at daybreak, the blind girl would make him feel around the vibrations of each living creature that was awakening. That was Aang's favourite part of the new ability. Through the earth, he could sense each animal living its life.

The rest of his training was different. Even though the airbender was now able to bend the rock, and make it move, Toph was still unyielding about the fact that he needed to feel the earth. He needed to make it listen to him. It was not brute force against brute force, as Aang had thought, but rather him trying to make to rock do what he wanted. It was so foreign to him, but he persevered. The third day, he was moving rocks. At the end of the first week, the airbender made tunnels in the earth. Now, around the middle of the second week, Aang was capable of forming shapes out of the rock.

But Toph was still demanding more. Each evening, his muscles ached and the bruises beneath the skin. He hadn't asked Katara to heal him since the first day. He hadn't much spoken to her actually since that day. Or rather, that night. When she had wished him good night. In his own language.

That word. He hadn't known why, but the hesitant voice of the waterbender, pronouncing a word in his own language, had made his heart ache. For what? He wasn't even that sure.

Toph had finally given him the day off, saying that she needed rest, because teaching was such a burden.

So, that morning, he had got up before the other, walked down to the little lake, and sat down. To finally think.

What he had felt that night, with Katara walking away, had been nothing short of awe. Awe for the waterbender, who had unrevealed the meaning of a word. How? He suspected that Katara had found that scroll from his common language lessons when he was six years old. Gyatso had given him a little fable to translate, and after a long week, Aang had given it to his mentor. It had been riddled with mistakes, but still, it had the first time the airbender had written anything that was not his own language.

But there had been something else in his heart. Not only awe, but also… A feeling of fullness, as if his heart would explode from the mere sight of her. That feeling had already been there before. It had been there when he kissed her. It had been there while they talked about Air Nomad customs. But… What he had felt that night, when she said that word? It had been ten times that. In the Cave, Aang had thought that his heart was telling him to love her. But in comparison, the feeling he had now was… overwhelming.

Aang knew he had been avoiding being alone with Katara. Waterbending was done with Sokka fishing close to them. That wasn't his fault. But their nighttime talks he had grown a bit accustomed to… Well, he had avoided those, going to sleep early because of the training with Toph. It wasn't false… it was just not the whole reason why he went to bed early.

So. Now that he had time. What did he feel?

Katara was… perfect. No other word. Yes, she was rash. Yes, she was motherly. Yes, she was a bit overbearing sometimes. But… Perfect. She was everything. She was fierce, Katara was gentle, kind, beautiful…

No. He had to concentrate. These were the feelings talking. What did he feel?

Unworthy of her? Unfit to be with her? Undeserving of any feeling she felt towards him?

Yes.

No. That was not it. Those were feeling he felt towards himself. Feelings that had crept up after learning what had happened in the century that he was gone.

But. What did he feel, really? What did his heart say about the waterbender?

Well, it was quite easy. When he got over his own insecurities and over the surface feelings, he found only one kind of emotion. If he wasn't mistaken, love.

But that scared him. He had asked Katara for time, and she had done the same. And now, he was sitting here, next to that nice lake, contemplating the fact that he might love her.

"Aang?" he heard behind him. Whipping his head around, he saw Sokka stand a few feet away. Thank the Spirits, it wasn't her.

"Oh… hey Sokka! How come you are up so early?" the airbender stood up, stretching his arms above his head.

"I was just up. How are you?" the water tribe boy looked at him, with an eyebrow raised.

"Fine… why?"

"Well, Toph has been torturing you and, just now, you looked quite conflicted." Sokka at down on a fallen tree, looking at him.

"Yeah… I am." Aang sighed, sitting down next to the boy. For everything people said about Sokka, he was actually a very good person to talk to if something bothered him. Well, after Katara that is.

"Want to talk about it?"

"Well… I don't know how. If I do, promise not to laugh or something? And to talk, not just tease?" Like to kill me for loving your sister?

"Of course. You know that these kinds of talks don't leave my confidence." Sokka nodded. It was true.

"Well… What did you feel for Yue?" Aang asked. Maybe not the smoothest way of talking about it. But Sokka was all he had at the moment.

The boy's jaw clenched.

"Well… I don't know. This is still about you, right?" He asked, and Aang nodded. "Well, I actually don't know. I wanted to be with her, constantly. She was the same. Saying we couldn't be together, but still coming to that Northern light thing we went to." Sokka smiled at the memory.

Well, Aang didn't smile. That had been something he had organized to get Katara alone with him, maybe… try something. But Sokka and Yue had come along. It had been a very awkward evening, with him and Katara sitting on the side while the other two went to town.

"Did you love her?" The airbender asked. As much as he wanted Sokka to talk about his feelings, and about his loss… He wanted to avoid the boy to figure out why he was asking it.

"Love her? No, I don't think so. It is rather… The lost potential, you know? I may have loved her one day, given time… But that time wasn't given. Love is something quite different. It is built over years and years of trust, of companionship. Love isn't just a feeling Aang. Or at least… I don't see it that way. Like my parents… Well, you know, I suspect Katara having told you everything about them." Sokka smiled.

"Actually… Not really…"

"What? But you two talk all the time! Well, let me tell you. My grandmother told it like this: my dad liked my mum from the first day she set foot in our village. She was from another village, you see? But my mum didn't like him, thinking he was just a big oof who was rather full of himself. But for some reason, she gave him a chance, and after becoming friends, they became… Lovers" Sokka shuddered at the thought.

"After two years of being together, they married. Again, two years later, I was born. A year later, my sister. And all that time, their love changed, you see. First, it was something between youngsters, not really easy to define. Then, it became love for each other. After my birth, and Katara's, it became the love of our family. Do you follow?" Sokka asked,

"You say… Love can exist in different forms and develop." Aang nodded. He understood perfectly. And yet, it was unfamiliar for him. The monks always talked about that one love thing. Like it was one feeling, and if you felt it, you knew it. Maybe… They were wrong? Yes, the idea of only one love appealed to Aang. But how Sokka explained it… it was also very reasonable. A love that changed and developed. But then again, the water tribe people were known for their adaptability and capability of adjusting.

"Exactly! The foundation may be a feeling you have. But real love? That is built by experience. Or at least… That is like my mother explained it when I was little." Sokka looked away. Aang also looked in another direction. He had learned that when Sokka got emotional, it was best to do like you didn't notice. After a moment, the water tribe boy spoke up again.

"Is that what you wanted to know? What is love?"

"Well… yeah. I struggled with that idea for a while." Aang nodded.

"You? The I love all and everyone guy? Hah!" Sokka laughed, standing up. Aang saw that the other boy extended a hand, and the airbender took it. When he had been pulled up, Sokka beckoned him towards their camp.

Walking over there, Aang thought it over. It was quite clear. What he felt for Katara was love. Or at least… that foundation that Sokka spoke about.

When they arrived at their campsite, the airbender chuckled. It had been a right old mess since more than a week. Clothes were hanging to dry on a line, Toph had bent several earth tents, because each time, she wanted a bigger one. So, all around the campsite, small pyramids were sprouting from the earth. Appa's saddle had been empty for several days now, with their bags laying all around. Aang even saw his chest standing in a corner, next to the tent. Not that they were actually using that tent now, because it was far too warm at night for the thick water tribe tent.

Stepping over a bag, and then over a sleeping Momo, Aang sat down next to the fire pit. Sokka was searching through his bag and pulled out all the necessities for a bath.

"Hey, now that I'm awake before all the others, I'm going to make the most of it! See you in an hour!" The water tribe boy walked away.

Aang sat alone. The soft breathing coming from that mass of blankets and hair was probably Katara, still sleeping. The loud snoring coming from earth tent Seven was most definitely Toph. Momo had woken up, and was now walking past the airbender, clearly searching for something to eat. The lemur began picking up several nuts that lay around on the ground. Aang laughed quietly. He had eaten those nuts yesterday evening and had thrown away the empty shells. Poor Momo was going to be surprised.

An angry chitter suggested the lemur had just found out. One shell flew past Aang, and another hit him against the shoulder. Yeah, Momo knew very well who had done that.

"Ow! What the… Oh Momo! Why are you doing that…" A soft grumble came from the pile of blankets. Katara emerged from her fort and caught the lemur.

"He is angry that he found only empty nuts." He couldn't help but grin. Momo chittered even more angrily at that, moving his paws in little fists. Aang had noticed that the lemur was taking over several of their habits, like Sokka shaking his fist when he was irritated. It was adorable.

You shouldn't make him this angry this early." Katara muttered, standing up and walking over to him, with a blanket around her.

"I know. I just love to tease him." He said, and Katara just looked tiredly at the ashes of their fire.

"Sokka?"

"Oh, already awake, and taking a bath. So… don't go anywhere near the lake." Aang laughed.

"Not planning to"

"Katara… I want to say something." He had to, after the days he had spent avoiding her.

"When you said… That word, that night. I retreated inside myself. I don't know why. I didn't mean to. I just… did. You did a nice thing, and I ruined it by ignoring it. So… Thank you. Thank you for letting me hear my language once again." He said it quickly. Quietly. But clearly.

"I suspected as much. I didn't really worry. I knew you were avoiding talking about it, because it hurt." She said just as quietly.

"No. I avoided talking about it because it made me feel things I didn't understand." That was as much as he could say now.

"Well… I'm glad you figured it out." She smiled at him, and the pang he felt in his heart each time she did that was back. But only now, it was a twinge so strong it literally hurt him.

"Would… would you like to know how you pronounce it?" He asked shyly. Yes, he had sung that song in front of her. But never had he actually talked to her in his own language.

"Was it so bad?" the waterbender laughed.

"Oh, your accent was barbarous!" He teased, before speaking up again "Mitshum".

It was in a clear voice, and he felt the accent he used in the common language fall away. In its stead were the smooth and easy sounds of his childhood

"Well, yeah, that sounds different", Katara laughed, before turning a shade of red.

"Would you… teach me? Your language I mean. I know you can understand the dialect of the Southern Water Tribe. But… It seems unfair you are the only person capable of talking your own language."

His brain melted. What did she just ask? Did she… want to learn it?

"Y-yeah… of course!" Aang answered, but before he could even say another word, a loud rumble came from Earth Tent Seven. A rock flew towards them.

Moving quickly, he bent it out of the way.

"Toph! What in Spirit's name was that!" He shouted, seeing the grinning earthbender stand in the ruins of her tent.

"You thought you were having a day off? Really? Get in stance ten!"

Well, so it began again…

Answers :

Gabriela N. Gonzalez : Yeah, of course Katara would try to do something like that, I really like to put details like that in this story!

Ashley Barbosa : Why did you think I phrased it just like that lol? And yeah, Katara would have definitely followed him, but story wise, we would be stuck in an endless loop of Kataang chapters if I did that. So, after this chapter we are moving on… to the desert… Yep.