A/N : I'm back! So, a little slower chapter today, to get to the juicy parts of Kataang, Jet and all the action… For now, enjoy Spa day.
I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender
The days after the Earth King's party were… weird.
Katara had asked Sokka to go to Yangchen's Tavern, while Toph and herself would go to a bookshop, and Aang would go flying around on his glider. She had hoped to confuse the Dai Li, but to no avail. She and the earthbender had been followed, as had been her brother. Aang had been the only one left in peace, but when he landed, fake Jo Dee had appeared to remind him that flying was forbidden in the city.
Sokka had come back with bad news. The matron in the brothel was a different one. And when asked if she knew what happened to the old one, she had answered that she had worked as matron there for five years, at least.
So, their days were filled with evading Dai Li, training, and evading subjects of conversation that were much too personal. So, no talking about Suki, Yue or Toph's parents. No talking about her dad, or her grandmother. And for Aang… Well, it meant that for the two of them, they had to evade topics like the one they had discussed after the party…
Now, Katara was standing at the dawn of day at her door, quickly glancing from left to right. Moving her hand, feeling the airbender behind her move past her, exiting the bedroom to go to his own.
This had become the routine the last few days. Him, spending the night in the waterbender's room, and sneaking back to his own before the others were awake. She hated the fact they were sneaking around, but also, it gave a good feeling, to have something only for them two. Something the others weren't aware of.
They didn't tell Sokka, because, as much as she loved her brother, he was a bit weird when it came to these kinds of subjects. If it was about him, or about anyone, he would joke around, or be completely open about his feelings. When it came to her, her brother would be childish.
They didn't tell Toph, because… Well, they were not prepared for the teasing that would follow. Luckily for them, she had not noticed, because her vibration sense was out of balance on wooden floors. And if the blind girl teased them, they would be overheard by Dai Li.
When the door of the airbender's room fell close behind him, Katara moved to her own closet, pulling a clean dress from one of the drawers. Putting it on, she left her hair loose for the moment, and went to the kitchen. Momo was already awake, moving as quietly as possible to the fruit basket.
"Here. You know it is also for you." She smiled and handed the lemur a peach from the basket. She had seen how at night, the little animal left their home, only to come back at dawn, looking sad at dejected. Sokka had attributed it to springtime, and that he was looking for a mate.
Katara had another theory. She had seen Momo sit on Aang's shoulder, holding the Bison whistle in his little paw. They were all experiencing loss and sadness about Appa, but the lemur had always been close with the bison. So, she suspected he was looking for his friend at night.
As she was eating her own breakfast, with Momo sitting on the table, her brother entered the room.
"Morning." He said, sounding irritated. He had never been a morning person, but they had been trying to change their habits, so that the Dai Li would not remark a behaviour pattern. That meant, for Sokka, getting up early.
"Hey… Slept well?" She asked, seeing the bags under her brother's eyes.
"Meh… I spent most of the night writing to Suki… She hasn't responded to my last letter." Sokka answered, annoyed.
"Surely she is just busy with guard duty at Full Moon Bay. Don't worry, that girl is totally sold." Katara smiled. She knew that the Kyoshi Warrior liked her brother. And, if Aang was to be believed, Sokka was also very much liking the idea of Suki and him being together.
"You think so?" He asked her, looking up. She saw the little smile on Sokka's face.
"Yeah, don't worry about any of that. She likes you. And you like her."
Sokka smile grew wider, and he nodded. As much as she teased her brother, and how he made fun of her sometimes, she loved him. And wanted him to be happy.
"Alright, enough about that. Let's get ready to get to our usual business." He grinned. Making the Dai Li believe, they were just wasting their time had become a favourite past time of them. All the while, looking for Appa, and trying to find a way out of the dilemma called Long Feng.
Katara stood up, walking to the bathroom. On her way, she bumped into Aang, getting out of his room. He was only wearing his undergarment. Trying to keep her eyes on his face, she smiled.
"Good morning Aang! Slept well?" She knew how he had slept. But she asked for the Dai Li agent, listening from somewhere around the house. And for her brother, who stood behind her.
"Eh… oh! Yes! Very well! Thanks!" Aang blushed and smiled at her. Katara knew perfectly what that meant.
I slept well, with you.
As the airbender was shaving his head, Sokka cut away that silly moustache he had grown for several days, and she fixed her hair strings with the beads in her neck, she realized that Toph was not yet up. The waterbender opened the bathroom door, walking to the blind girl's door. Knocking, long and loudly, because she didn't want to repeat what had happened after the Earth King's party, Katara entered.
Top was sprawled over the floor, only wearing a shirt and some short, loose pants. Her head was just a mass of hair, and well… It stank in the room. Sweat, dirt and… something that smelled like blood. Spirits, what was happening here when Toph was alone?
"Aren't you getting ready for the day?" The waterbender asked gently. The earthbender stirred, sat up and spat in a bowl on the floor. Then, standing up, she dusted a bit of sand from her clothes.
"I'm ready." Toph announced. She didn't look it. Normally, the girl looked perfectly capable of appearing clean. But now… Well, she was a mess.
"Are you going to wash up? You've got a bit of dirt… Well, everywhere…" Katara hated how sometimes, Toph refused to appear civilized.
"You call it dirt. I call it a healthy coating of earth." The eathbender scratched her stomach.
Yesterday, Jo Dee, or Fake Dee as Sokka had begun to call her, had talked about a spa, and how wonderful it would be for the ladies to go there.
Katara had not really liked that idea. It sounded too… High society for her. She hated to be pampered. In the water tribes, everyone had to work, and there was no one who slacked behind. Leaders worked harder than anyone, because of their roles. And Katara tried to keep that kind of behaviour. She suspected that the Earth Kingdom nobles appeared so… well, incompetent, for that exact reason. They were too rich for their own good.
"Well… let's go to a spa! It will be fun!" The waterbender suggested. Before Toph could protest, Katara quickly pinched the earthbender's arm. That was a signal they had developed to signal her that it was to throw off the Dai Li.
"Do I have to?" Toph asked dejectedly. Katara pinched the arm again.
"Alright…" The blind girl sighed. Katara knew she also hated to be pampered. But yeah… It couldn't hurt to be cleaned. And certainly not to have Toph cleaned up.
While Toph prepared, Katara went to the common room, where the airbender and her brother were communicating with the quill and paper system.
What do we do now? Her brother had written.
I go to the zoos in the Lower Ring, and you? She saw in Aang's handwriting.
I'll go and see if the students know anything.
Alright. Then Katara and Toph can try to distract the agents?
She waved in their direction, attracting their attention. She pointed to the last sentence and nodded. Aang smiled at her, while her brother began to put food in his bag.
"Come on Sugar Queen! We don't have all day to go to your spa thing. Spirits, I hate you sometimes." The blind girl stood next to the door, grumbling. Katara quickly waved goodbye to the others and joined the earthbender.
"Well, where is your stupid bathhouse thing?" Toph announced loudly when they stood on the street.
"Just a few blocks away." Katara declared, just as loudly. It was their task today to keep their unwanted chaperones busy. And for that, they had to attract their attention.
"Seriously, why did you choose this? You could have asked me to go to an underground fight ring, a platypus-bear fight, anything! But no, Sweet Sugar Queen wants the spa." Toph grumbled, quietly now. Here, they could be sure not to be overheard, in the open.
"Hey, Fake Dee suggested it. And it looks good if we follow her advice." The waterbender murmured back. She knew it was a stupid choice, but everything was better than spending another day with that weird lady.
"Sweetness, you have your own personal masseur! Why go to a spa?" the earthbender whispered back. Katara could feel a blush rush to her face.
"He doesn't… We… oh, just shut up for once about that. Nothing is happening."
"Yeah, except he spends the nights in your bedroom." Toph grinned.
The waterbender was horrified. She had thought the blind girl couldn't feel a thing on the wooden floors. How had she discovered it? And, more importantly… If she knew, how long would it take for Sokka to figure it out?
"How… We don't… Oh, you know what, I'm not even going into details. Not your business." Katara whispered back.
"Oh, it was just a guess. But thanks. That will be fun for me to threaten Twinkletoes with during training. Aang! Carry that rock or I will tell Sokka that you are doing his sister! Oh, just perfect." Toph's voice raised just a bit, but just loud enough to be heard by a couple of people on the other side of the road.
Shit.
"Toph! Shut up!" Katara whispered angrily. The blind girl realized her mistake.
"Shit! Their heartbeats accelerated. They definitely knew those names… or at least, Twinkletoes…" Toph murmured quietly, "Sorry…"
"Well, that will or be the rumour of the Upper Ring, or information for Long Feng. While it is false." Katara sighed. Now they had a problem.
"Well, at least it will teach you to shut up once in a while. Seriously, do you need to tease me?" The waterbender continued. She had enough of it. What Aang and she did was none of the blind girl's business.
"That how I express myself, but I'm sorry about this. Let's just hope that those two people were not very important nobles or something. If they were just servants, they won't be believed."
They arrived at the spa. Well, from now on, they had to put on their acting faces. But after, Katara would talk to the earthbender about boundaries.
"Are you ready for some serious pampering?" She asked Toph, loudly and cheerfully.
"Sure Katara…" The earthbender answered, unsure. Well, that sounded very genuine. But the waterbender suspected there was no acting on the part of the blind girl.
They entered and were quickly ushered to a luxurious room to change when they said their names. Well, Katara suspected it was rather because of Toph's family name, but still.
"So, how does this work actually?" Katara asked the girl, who seemed to know what to do.
"Just undress, put that robe on and follow me. I have some experience with these establishments…" Toph sighed.
Undress?
"Calm down Sugar. I already know what you look like naked. And not like I could see you or something." The earthbender actually smiled, kindly.
"What?" Katara answered in a small voice.
"Well, I feel people through earthbending. That means… Everything of everyone."
"Oh… Spirits, that must be… awkward." The waterbender tried to imagine how it would be to see everyone naked. That would just be weird.
"Meh, not really. Kind of used to." Toph shrugged her shoulders, undressing. Katara quickly turned her back. The blind girl may be used to it, but she wasn't. And she wasn't planning on seeing her naked. Undressing, the waterbender felt kind of self-conscious, which she hated. Why feel like that, with only one person, a friend, there to see? A blind friend at that.
But she did. It was so against her own upbringing to just walk around naked. On the South Pole, you never did that, except if you wanted frostbite. And during their travels, she had always bathed when no one was there, or when there was a lock on the door. So, this was a first.
Quickly pulling the robe around her, she followed Toph to the next room.
It was actually… nice?
Sure, the first room was foot rubbing and such things, and Katara had to calm down the earthbender after a woman touched her feet and went flying. But after that, the mud bath was nice, and Toph's bending made for some funny moments.
What Katara loved the most, was the sauna. It combined all four elements, with the fire warming the rocks, and the water on the hot stones creating air and steam. It was… exhilarating.
At the end, when they were dressed again, the spa lady proposed a face paint, offered by the house, in honour of the guests of the Cultural Ministry. While one lady was putting it on her face, the waterbender was looking in a mirror.
"Well, your boyfriend is a lucky man." The lady said, but Katara heard the manner in which she said it. As if she said it a hundred times a day, and it had just become a habit to say that.
"Well, I don't have one, so I'll just be a lucky lady, all by myself." Katara answered. She didn't like how here, people thought women had to be pretty, just to please someone. It had been the same in the water tribes. And, from what she heard, it was also like this in the Fire Nation. But from what Aang had told, that was something from more recent years. The airbender had told her that the Fire Nation had actually been quite advanced in their views on rights and so on. But apparently, during Aang's childhood, Sozin had introduced laws against same-sex relationships and women's rights.
The only people that didn't judge looks or thought that women belonged in the healing huts or in some sort of golden cage, had been the Air Nomads…
Maybe that was one of the reasons she… loved… Aang? He had never judged her, was always supportive and never thought she was incapable of doing something, just because she was a woman.
"Ahem." The lady scraped her throat. "Well?"
Katara looked at herself. The face paint was a bit… much? But it was quite interesting to see herself like this. At least it would be a good laugh.
She found Toph standing at the entrance of the Spa, with a similar look as she had. While they walked back, Toph actually smiled.
"I'm usually not into that stuff… But that was fun!" The earthbender smiled at her,
"I'm glad. It's about time we did something fun together." Katara put a hand on the girl's shoulder, and squeezed. They crossed a little bridge, passing a group of high-class women. Three girls, and one older woman, who was walking several yards behind the group. So the chaperone.
"Great make up." One said. Katara had seen the mean look. She tried to ignore it, but Toph had probably not felt the stare.
"Thanks." The earthbender answered.
"For a clown."
The waterbender knew these kinds of girls. Always mean, and always trying to undermine people. She was not having it.
"Come on Toph, no need to listen to them." She whispered.
"I think she looks cute. Like the time we put a sweater o your pet poodle monkey." Another of the girls said, arrogantly. The whole group laughed, while the chaperone looked alarmed.
"Lady Hei… You shouldn't-" But the woman was cut off by the cackle from the mouth of the blind girl.
"It was a good one. You know what is also a good one?" And with that, Toph stomped her foot against the ground. Making the bridge disappear under the girl's feet. The chaperone just looked at it, without intervening.
"You're right. That was funny." Katara said, while looking at the girls. And maybe she bent a little wave to transport them further along the canal. Like, a mile further.
The chaperone, smiling, bowed to them, and walked away. Katara also bowed, but when she turned, she saw Toph walking quickly towards the street with their house. Catching up, she saw how the blind girl was trying to hold back her tears.
"Hey, those girls don't know what they're talking about." She tried to reassure her, but to no avail.
"It's alright. One of the good things of being blind is that I don't have to waste my time worrying about appearances. I don't care what I look like. I don't want anyone's approval. I know who I am."
Katara saw a tear roll across the earthbender's face. Well, she may say that, but the waterbender saw it reality. Toph had never heard a compliment. Or felt validated. As much as Katara thought how right the blind girl was about not needing anyone's approval, she also knew that everybody needed a gentle word or a compliment from time to time.
"That is what I admire about you, Toph. You are so strong and confident. And self-assured. And I know that it doesn't matter, or should, but you are really pretty." Katara gently lay a hand around the girl's shoulders, and she didn't shrug her off.
"Really?" the voice sounded small.
"Really. You can tell if I'm lying."
At that, the earthbender smiled.
"I would return the compliment… But yeah, as I said. I just feel the shapes. I have no idea what you look like. Colour of your skin, of your eyes… nothing." Toph stated. At that, Katara pulled her to a bench in front of their home. Sitting down, she took the earthbenders hand.
"Your skin is very light. Like Aang's. It is the opposite of what you see I suppose. My own skin is darker, but not the same colour of what you see. Then, your eyes are like… well, grass, but a smidgen lighter. And your hair is long and dark. We would call it jet black." Katara explained. Toph smiled, but did not speak. So, the waterbender continued.
"My own eyes are the colour of the ocean I am told. Sokka's eyes are the same shade as ice, which is lighter than the sea. Aang has eyes the colour of the sky on a rainy day. So, now you know. It may not help much, but as least, you will know."
"Thanks Katara. For what it's worth… I know you are pretty. Most men all have the same reaction around you… A much warmer temperature around their… groin." Toph shuddered. As did Katara. That was disturbing.
"Except Aang. He does it too sometimes, but most of the time, it is just his heart beating like a maniac. It is quite clear that he is different from the others. He likes you a lot, maybe even more than that. That's why I tease. He is shy, as are you in this situation." The blind girl whispered, just loud enough for Katara to hear.
She smiled at those words. She knew he was different. Toph was right.
Just then, the airbender came zooming past on his air scooter.
"I build a zoo! It's so cool!" He shouted when he passed them, looping around the house.
"But what you see in the idiot, I don't want to know."
Answers :
TheLastSoulBender : Yeah, that's why I aged up the characters! They would still behave generally the same, but in a more mature way! Or with more shenanigans !
Gabriela N. Gonzalez : Yeah, I thought chapter 28 was one of the best I have written so far! I loved to write the part in his own language. I wanted to show hos Air Nomads are just so much more tolerant and easier with feelings than the water tribes.
CoyoteLemon: It wasn't me! It was the Dai Li agent!
Ollidon : Thanks!
Dividedbyzero-0 : Oh, book 3 is coming after this one, don't worry about that! Book 1 will depend, But the story after this one will be a sequel to this one.
Jjsmith103 : Thanks a lot! I feel like they wouldn't want to say the things they want now that they knew the Dai Li is spying on them!
Ashley Barbosa : Yeah, those episodes were really so well written and put together it hurts everytime I watch them. Because I know where it is going now… And yeah… Jet is coming. Why do you think I left that one to Aang's POV… lol.