Author's note: This story was inspired by the absolutely adorable fanart for Kataang Week 2022, Day 4: Drunk Kataang by Pottyospanna. Check out her Instagram, pottyospanna_art, for some of the most amazing Kataang art I've ever seen!

Everlasting

"I can't believe this is the last time we're all going to be together," Aang said, casting a wistful gaze around the table—or, technically, tables. Several rectangular tables at the Jasmine Dragon had been pushed together to form a much longer table to accommodate Aang, Iroh, and the rest of Team Avatar. Everyone had given up their Upper Ring finery for more comfortable traveling clothes. Happy chatter and the clinking of teacups filled the tea house, which Iroh had closed to customers so that Aang and his friends could enjoy one last gathering before they went their separate ways.

Katara laid her hand on his knee and gave him a gentle squeeze. "This won't be the last time, Aang. I'm sure we'll have many opportunities to get together again in the future."

Her words would have normally set him at ease, but Aang couldn't banish the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. "But after we say goodbye today, we don't know when we'll see each other again. It could be weeks, or months, or…" He swallowed against the queasy feeling in his stomach, but it only grew stronger. "…or even years."

But instead of trying to cheer him up again, she found his hand and threaded their fingers together. "I know this is a big deal for you," she said. "We're your family. And it's hard to see your family break up, even if it's for a happy reason."

Aang nodded, gratified that Katara always seemed to sense when something was bothering him.

"Suki is going back to Kyoshi Island, and Toph has been talking about setting up a metalbending school somewhere in the Earth Kingdom," Katara said, looking at each of their friends in turn. "Zuko is Fire Lord now, so he's taking an airship back to the Fire Nation, and Mai is going with him, of course.

"Sokka and I will be traveling with you, but it won't be the same," she continued. She was rubbing her thumb along his finger now, though it seemed like she was trying to soothe herself just as much as she was trying to comfort him. "I'm going to miss everyone, too," she said quietly.

Aang covered their clasped hands with his other hand and gave her a smile full of the strange mix of gratitude and bittersweet longing that roiled inside him. "But we'll be sure to get together again, won't we?" he said. Somehow, the tables had turned, and he found himself the one trying to console her.

Katara's mouth quirked into a small smile of her own. "That's right," she said softly, then leaned over to kiss him.

He turned his head to meet her kiss. It was a quick peck on the lips, a kiss that was over almost as soon as it had begun. They had only started dating mere days ago—a shiver went through him as he remembered the deep kiss they had shared on the balcony of this very tea house—and they never seemed to run out of excuses to be affectionate with each other. But their love was new enough, and they were still shy enough that both of them blushed, fully aware some of their friends were watching.

Still, Aang couldn't help gazing into his girlfriend's eyes, losing himself in their endless blue. His girlfriend. Part of him still had a hard time believing that after all this time of loving her and longing for her, that at long last, Katara had fully and truly given her heart to him.

Now, she had that half-lidded look that made his heart flutter, and she moved in for another kiss—a kiss he hoped would last a touch longer, this time—when a loud clanging noise interrupted them.

Iroh was rapping a pair of steel chopsticks against a sturdy cast iron teapot. "If I could have everyone's attention, I have an important announcement to make."

The hum of conversation fell to a hush, and all eyes turned to Iroh. Aang's heart leaped with irrational hope that the retired general was about to say something that would require everyone to stay in Ba Sing Se a day or two longer. But wishing for something like that was a bit too optimistic, even for Aang.

"What is it, uncle?" Zuko asked.

A wide grin spread across Iroh's face. "I have invented a new type of tea!" he declared.

The expectant look on Zuko's face faded into puzzled concern. "A new type of tea? Uncle, don't tell me you've been experimenting with strange plants again."

Instead of answering right away, Iroh walked over to another table to retrieve a tray holding several tall glasses. "Not a new type of tea, exactly," he explained as he placed a glass by each person. "More like a new kind of beverage. I discovered that adding fruit juice to tea can enhance its flavor and turn it into a completely different drink. If you add a splash of milk, the texture of the tea becomes delightfully creamy."

Sokka tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Fruit juice, you say? Sounds intriguing."

"But—but then it's not tea anymore!" Zuko protested.

Iroh raised an eyebrow. "Since when did you become such a purist about tea, nephew?"

"Weren't you the one who taught me how to appreciate the aroma and the undertones in the flavor of tea? If you add juice—or spirits forbid, milk—then it's…it's…"

"It sounds delicious," Katara interjected. She flashed Iroh an encouraging smile as he set down an empty glass in front of her. "I would love to try some."

Iroh nodded his head at her in thanks. "Wonderful!" he said. "Katara, would you do me the favor of fetching the milk and the fruit juices from the icebox?"

"I'd be more than happy to," she replied. As she stood up, she tugged at Aang's hand, which was still folded within hers. "Come on, Aang. I'll need your help to carry everything."

Aang followed Katara as they made their way into the back room of the tea house. A few weeks ago, when Aang and his friends first arrived in Ba Sing Se, Iroh had presented a large metal box and asked Katara to create an "icebox" for him. After some experimentation—and a little help from Sokka to devise a way to insulate the box—she had figured out how to bend ice into the metal walls to keep the contraption cold for days at a time. At the time, Iroh had only mentioned that he wanted to keep food in the icebox so it wouldn't spoil as quickly. Now, the real reason for the icebox had become apparent.

The icebox sat on the floor of the back room, the same size and height as the barrels of water situated next to it. Katara grasped the long, vertical handle of the icebox and rotated it to the side, unlatching the mechanism that held the door tightly shut. Once the door was open, she bent down and rummaged around inside.

"Okay, let's see…ah, here they are. Mango, moon peach, guava, plum, watermelon," she said, handing glass bottles to Aang one at a time, each one containing vividly colored liquid ranging from orange to pink to purple.

As Aang accepted the bottles from her, he knew what Katara was really doing. She didn't actually need his help—he easily cradled the tall, narrow bottles of juice in one arm. Even if there was too much for one person to carry, she could have easily put them in a small sack. But he knew she didn't want him to be alone at the table with all their friends, leaving him to ruminate on how they were all about to say goodbye.

Then Katara straightened, holding a bottle of cloudy white juice in each hand. "Hmm. This one is lychee," she said, showing Aang the bottle and the label tied around the neck that read lychee juice. "But I'm not sure what this one is." She held out the other bottle, whose label was partly blotted out by water stains and only read juice.

Aang shrugged. "Why don't we take that one, too? It couldn't hurt. It's probably just an extra bottle of lychee juice."

Katara tucked the two bottles into her elbow and pulled out one last bottle filled with a solid white liquid. "And this one's the milk. I think we've got everything."

As she closed and latched the icebox, a row of jugs and bottles on a shelf above the water barrels caught Aang's eye. The labels read baijiu, lychee wine, highland barley wine, sake, wolfberry wine, soju, and osmanthus wine.

"I wonder why Iroh is keeping these back here," Aang mused. "Do you think he's going to try mixing tea and wine next?"

Katara only spared a disinterested glance at the shelf of alcoholic spirits. "Who knows? It doesn't matter, anyway. Let's get back to the others."

She was about to step past him when he stopped her with a hand on her elbow. "Wait," he said, and rose up on his toes to kiss her.

At first, she was taken off guard, but she quickly leaned in and softened into his kiss. Aang wished he didn't have his arms full. He longed to fold an arm around her waist and feel her hair between his fingers. But at least they were out of sight from prying eyes, and they could enjoy this moment alone.

Even when the kiss was over, they didn't part completely. They leaned their foreheads together and nudged their noses against one another, unwilling to bring their closeness to an end.

"Mmm…what was that for?" Katara whispered. The way her lips brushed against his when she spoke sent a tingle down his spine.

"I know you're trying to distract me and make me feel better," he said, his heart suddenly swelling with a gratitude that he could not put into words. So he settled for simply saying, "Thank you."

Aang felt her mouth widen into a smile. He barely heard her say, "You're welcome," before he was drawn into her kiss and lost himself in the lingering floral scent of her favorite soap and softness that was Katara.

When he tried to move closer, their arms bumped, jostling the bottles they carried with an alarming clink. Suddenly remembering the bottles of juice, they pulled back from each other.

"I guess we'd better get back to the others," he said sheepishly.

Katara breathed out a disappointed sigh. "You're right. We shouldn't keep them waiting."

When they returned to the main dining room, Sokka threw his arms wide upon their entrance. "There they are! What in the world took you so long?" he said loudly. "What were you doing in there?"

"Nothing," Katara said defensively as her face reddened in a tell-tale blush.

Toph leaned back in her chair with her hands behind her head, her feet flat on the floor. Even though her head was turned toward the ground, Aang could tell her smirk was meant for him and Katara.

"Anyway, we got the juice Iroh was talking about," Aang said as he and Katara hurriedly distributed the bottles along the length of the table.

"Excellent," Iroh said, rubbing his hands together. "Why don't we start with lychee juice? Lychee pairs well with jasmine tea and brings out its natural sweetness."

Zuko once again took on the mantle of serving tea to his friends—probably for the last time, Aang thought with a pang of sadness—and poured each person a glass of jasmine tea. Once everyone was served, Katara bent the water in the tea until the steam disappeared and a light coating of frost appeared on the outside of each glass. "Fruit tea and milk tea taste best when served cold," Iroh had explained earlier.

Now it was time to add lychee juice to the tea. Katara and Suki each picked up a bottle of the white-colored juice and added a generous helping to their glasses before passing the bottle to the next person. Aang took the bottle from Katara, and when he was done creating his drink, he handed it to Zuko, who was seated beside him.

Once everyone had finished mixing their concoctions, Iroh raised his glass and said, "Drink up, everyone!"

At first, the room was quiet save for the sounds of cautious sipping. Then Toph said, "Wow, this is delicious! You really are a genius at making tea, Iroh!"

Suki and Sokka murmured noises of appreciation. "You've really outdone yourself, General Iroh," Suki said. "The tea is tart and sweet at the same time and so refreshing."

Aang smacked his lips as he wondered why his drink tasted nothing like what Suki was describing. Instead of being infused with the tart sweetness of lychee, his tea was only slightly sweet and, strangely, thicker than usual. He glanced over at Katara, who wore a tiny frown on her face and contorted her mouth as she tried to decipher the flavor of her own tea.

Zuko leaned over and whispered in his ear, "My tea tastes kind of weird. What about yours?"

Aang took another sip. Still just faintly sweet, the beverage seemed to coat the inside of his mouth. "It definitely doesn't taste like tea and lychee juice."

On the other side of Zuko, Mai reached for the bottle that Katara had passed down the table. The liquid inside was a pearly white, just like the bottle that Suki had passed around on her side of the table. "This was the bottle we used," she said, holding it up. "Are we sure this is lychee juice?"

Zuko peered at the label. "This only says 'juice.' The rest of the characters have been smudged out."

"It must be some kind of juice, then, but it's no juice that I've ever had before," Katara said.

Aang sipped his tea again. He had tried many different kinds of food in his travels, but he still couldn't place the flavor. "Me neither," he said.

A warm feeling began to creep into his muscles, and he suddenly felt relaxed and carefree. Why was he trying so hard to figure out what the mystery juice was? Why did it matter, anyway?

He looked over at Katara. She was wearing a short-sleeved blue tunic that he had seen many times over, but she had never looked more beautiful. "Did I ever tell you how much I love your eyes?"

Katara flushed at his compliment, and she ducked her head and peered at him shyly. "No, you haven't." She blinked, acting coy. "What do you love about them?"

"They're so…" Aang struggled to find the right word, but failed. Oh well. "They're so blue."

She covered her mouth with her hand and tittered. "Oh sweetie, you're so sweet." Then she put her hands on his shoulders—the one hand on his bare shoulder felt delightfully warm—and pulled him in for a long kiss.

As his mouth moved against hers, Aang vaguely wondered why he didn't feel even a twinge of self-consciousness, with him and Katara acting lovey-dovey in front of their friends and all.

"All right, all right, that's enough of that." A gagging sound and Sokka's irritated voice disturbed the very pleasant feelings that were coursing through Aang's body. "Don't think that I don't know you lovebirds were locking lips in the back room. But we don't need to see it out here, too."

Aang reluctantly pulled back from Katara, who seemed completely uninterested in what her brother had to say and clearly wanted to continue kissing. But even in the dreamy haze that clouded his mind, Aang knew he probably shouldn't annoy Sokka too much. They were going to be traveling together a lot, after all.

Toph made an exaggerated noise of disgust.

"What?" Aang said, confused. "Katara and I stopped kissing already."

Toph ignored him. "You too, Sparky and Gloomy Girl," she said.

Oh. Zuko and Mai were wrapped around each other like a pair of pentapi. At Toph's insistent prodding, they disentangled themselves and surfaced for air, both of them looking somewhat disheveled.

"What's gotten into you guys?" Suki said with her eyebrows pinched together, perplexed. "Your faces are flushed, and you're acting giggly and making out with each other in public like it's no big deal. It's almost like you've had a few drinks or something."

Sokka's eyes went wide. "Wait a minute…" He snatched up the bottle of mystery juice that was sitting on the table in front of Mai and studied the smudged-out label with a frown. "The four of you put this juice in your drinks, didn't you?"

"Yeah, we did," Aang replied. "Katara and I found that bottle in the ice box. I can't tell what the label says, but it's some kind of juice, and we figured it must be an extra bottle of lychee juice."

Sokka gave the open bottle a suspicious sniff. He took a swig, then promptly spit the contents of his mouth all over Toph.

"Hey, watch it, Snoozles!" Toph exclaimed, fruitlessly trying to wipe herself off with her bare hands.

"This isn't lychee juice," Sokka said with growing horror in his voice. "This is cactus juice!"

Zuko just shrugged and took a generous swill of his cactus-juice-and-tea drink. "Whatever it is, it's not bad."

"Not another gulp!" Sokka yelled, leaning over the table to snatch the glass out of Zuko's hand.

"Hey, I wasn't done with that!"

After he had divested Zuko of his drink, Sokka leaped out of his chair to collect the rest of the glasses on Aang's side of the table. But when he got to Mai, she slapped his hand away.

"Keep your paws off my tea," she growled, staring daggers at him.

"Listen, it's for your own good. Unless you want to end up on the ground trying to wiggle your way across the floor like a centipede-inchworm."

"Or lick the mucus off a slime-covered tunnel," Aang said before dissolving into a fit of unhinged giggles.

"We don't need to talk about that," Sokka said stiffly as he poured out the contents of all four glasses into an empty bucket.

"Oh, but I think we do," Katara said with an evil smirk. "You were hallucinating out of your mind."

"Just be glad I got the cactus juice away from you before you began to understand Momo-speak."

As if on cue, the winged lemur scurried up Aang's chair and settled onto his shoulder, letting out an inquisitive chirp. Aang patted the lemur's head, running his hand over Momo's long ears. "Don't worry, Momo, I won't let Sokka say anything bad about you."

"See?!" Sokka cried. "It's already starting!"

"Sokka, calm down," Zuko said. "Aang always talks to Momo like that. It's nothing new." Then he rubbed Momo's head affectionately and, in a high-pitched cutesy voice, he said, "We won't let anyone say anything bad about you, wittle guy. Don't you wowwy, my sweet wittle coochy-coo."

Aang watched, unfazed, as the newly-minted Fire Lord squeezed the hapless lemur against his face and talked to him in a baby voice.

Sokka whirled on Iroh. "With all due respect, General Iroh, why in La's name are you making tea with cactus juice?"

Iroh blinked, nonplussed. "The grocer told me that cactus juice is a rare item that can only be found in the Si Wong Desert. She didn't tell me it had mind-altering properties. I was going to figure out which tea to pair it with, but I never got around to it." He paused to watch his nephew chitter and coo at Momo. "Looks like it was a good thing I didn't."

"I love you, Momo," Zuko said, his voice warbling with emotion as he stroked the lemur's furry face. He was holding Momo so tightly that the lemur's already-large eyes looked like they were about to bulge out of their sockets. "I'm going to miss you so much." Then he suddenly released Momo and threw his arms around Aang's neck. "I love you, man," he said, sobbing into the side of Aang's head. "I don't know what I'm going to do without you."

"I love you too, Zuko," Aang said, circling his arms around his friend's back. A sudden wave of sadness washed over him, and he held Zuko more tightly. Even though his feelings were heightened by the cactus juice, the effects were wearing off, and his sorrow was genuine. "I'm really going to miss you."

Another pair of arms wound their way around Aang's waist. Katara. She leaned against his back and rested her cheek on his ear. "We're like one big family," she said. "I wish we didn't have to say goodbye."

Before long, Aang was surrounded by his friends, everyone hugging and crying and murmuring about how no one wanted to leave. There was not a single dry eye in the room.

The group hug broke up after a while, but people milled around Aang and Zuko, wanting to savor the last bit of closeness among friends before they had to split up and go their separate ways later that evening.

Iroh stepped away and reappeared with a tray of steaming teacups filled with jasmine tea. "It seems that cactus juice, in small quantities, has similar properties as wine," he said as he handed each person a cup. "So I would like to propose a toast. There is no juice of any kind in this tea, but the spirit remains the same."

He raised his cup, and everyone else did likewise. "To Avatar Aang, who returned in our greatest time of need and brought peace to the world by defeating Fire Lord Ozai while remaining true to himself and his people."

Aang rubbed the back of his neck and wanted to protest that he couldn't have done it alone, but the solemn air as his friends honored him kept him quiet.

After everyone took a sip, Iroh raised his teacup again. "To Fire Lord Zuko, who learned to follow his own path to restore his honor, and who will lead the Fire Nation into a new future."

Everyone took a turn giving a toast, recognizing each person in the room for their deeds and the sacrifices they had made during the war. Even Momo received a toast from an emotional and tearful Zuko. Perhaps the cactus juice hadn't entirely worn off, after all.

When everyone had received an opportunity to be celebrated, Aang lifted his cup for one more toast. "I would like to say something, something that has been on my mind for a long time," he said, fighting back the tears that threatened to mar his attempt at speaking. "I have lost my family. I have lost my entire people and everyone who I have ever known. But everyone here…" His gazed passed over Zuko and Mai, who held Momo between them like the lemur was their child; Sokka and Suki, who stood with their arms around each other; Iroh and Toph, who looked like they could very well be uncle and niece; and, finally, Katara. Katara, who was his harbor in the storm, and who made him feel like he had come home. She slipped her arm around his waist. Her unswerving closeness gave him the courage to continue.

"Everyone here has given that back to me. Not my friends or my people from the life I had before I was frozen in the iceberg—nothing can ever bring them back. But everyone here is my family now. And..."

His voice choked up. And I don't want to lose you, he wanted to say.

He cleared his throat. "And I don't want to say goodbye," he said instead.

The room fell silent, heavy with the weight of Aang's words and the mourning of the end of an era of friendship. For even though their friendships would continue on, without them constantly being near each other or a regular part of each other's lives, it wouldn't be the same. He would grow closer to some of them, like Sokka and Katara, but he would drift away from the others. It wasn't a question of whether or not Zuko or Mai or Toph or Suki or Iroh would become distant to him, but rather how distant they would become. Aang fervently hoped that the years would not stretch their bonds to the point that he could no longer feel them.

Iroh matched Aang, holding his own teacup in the air. "Aang, do you know the reason why friends share a cup when they gather together?"

Aang shook his head.

"Sharing a cup, like sharing a meal, symbolizes the bond of friendship," Iroh explained. "When we come together over food and drink, we recall the memories we've made, we delight in the bond that is already there, and we strengthen the ties between us for the future. And friendship, true friendship, does not end with distance and time. Everlasting friendship remains constant through the ages."

Iroh's words sparked something in Aang, like the stirring of a long-forgotten memory.

"To everlasting friendship, then," Aang said, commanding his voice to remain steady as his eyes misted with tears. Everyone else mirrored him, holding their teacups high. "To friendships that remain strong over a lifetime…"

As he looked around, he imagined he could see the ephemeral figures of Gyatso, Kuzon, and other Air Nomads and people from the past standing amongst his friends in the room.

"…and last beyond lifetimes."

Cultural notes:

- The beverages of fruit tea and milk tea that Iroh invented are based on popular drinks by the same names that originated in Asia.

- The types of fruit juices and alcoholic spirits in Iroh's tea house are commonly found in Asian countries (except for moon peach, of course).

- In Chinese culture, the act of serving tea is a sign of respect. So when Zuko (and Iroh) serves tea to his friends, he is not only reprising his role as a server in an Earth Kingdom tea house, but he is also showing respect to his friends.

- Even though no actual alcohol was used in the toast at the end of the story, drinking wine or alcohol at festive gatherings has great cultural importance in China. Part of the reason for this is that in Chinese, the word for wine/alcohol, 酒 (jǐu), sounds exactly the same as the word for long-lasting, 久(jǐu). Alcohol at celebrations is symbolic of many things, such as longevity and everlasting bonds between friends and family.