RonaldM40196867: Happy Election Day to all who celebrated, although I don't because I'm not American. I hope you used your vote well, although it's not my place to say what that entails. As for your question, I'm not sure if any characters are truly overrated. There are some ships that I absolutely don't understand the popularity of, but individual characters no.
Matheus Bezerra de Lima: I've corrected that, thanks.
As Always, Please Review, and we rejoin our story immediately after the end of the last chapter...
Katara sat disconsolately on the steps of one of the port offices, surrounded by her friends. The water glittered serenely in the bay; it had finally stopped moving.
"Are you sure?" she asked again.
"I... hope he's there," Zuko said after a while.
"So you're not sure."
"He's not here, clearly!" Sokka pointed out. "Look, we've already had this discussion."
"Six times," Mai added.
There was a noise behind them, and they turned to see a palanquin making its way towards them. It processed leisurely down the wide boulevard that stretched from the city to the sea, until it stopped in front of the group. The palanquin bearers set it down, the curtains rustled, and Toph emerged, stumbling slightly.
Immediately, Sokka and Zuko jumped up to help her, but she waved them off as soon as she heard them approaching.
"I'm fine, I'm fine! Your uncle told me about Aang and I came as quickly as I could."
She stumbled over to where the steps were and felt her way down into a sitting position.
"I hate not having seismic sense. I hate not being able to bend."
A thought then occurred to her. "Wait, where is Aang? Have you found him?"
"No," Katara replied.
"We think we know where he is," Sokka added.
"You think?" Toph's voice rose dramatically on that last word.
"We didn't find him, so we think he's finally found the Lion Turtle."
"Or the Turtle has found him," Suki pointed out.
"That too," Sokka conceded. "It's like the day before Sozin's Comet when he went missing and then turned up in time to fight the Firelord."
"So what do we do?" Toph asked.
"We wait."
"Great," Toph sighed. "I've done nothing but wait since Cranefish Town. It's really boring."
"Hopefully there's not long now," Zuko said.
"There had better not be."
They continued sitting on that step in silence for what seemed like an eternity. The sun had long since set, and the stars twinkled in the sky above as the light of the moon lit up the waves. Sokka stared at it intensely.
Finally, Toph spoke up again. "Where's Azula?"
"Gone," Zuko said simply. "She zapped Aang and jumped out of the window."
"And you let her go?"
"What were we supposed to do?" Mai asked. "Aang needed our help!"
Toph looked like she was about to argue, but then stopped. "Yes," she conceded. "He did."
"We did send guards after her though," Zuko pointed out.
"Like they will do anything," Toph scoffed.
"I have faith in my men."
"This is Azula we're dealing with."
Zuko paused. "Good point."
They lapsed into silence again.
"Come on Aang..." Katara whispered under her breath. "Come back to me."
Aang looked up at the Lion Turtle, which regarded him with eyes that were impossible to read.
"IT IS VERY RARE FOR ANYONE TO SEE US," the Turtle rumbled. It didn't speak as such, its mouth did not move and it made no sound except the gentle splashes of the water against its body, but Aang heard it all the same. "LET ALONE THE SAME PERSON TWICE. YOU HAVE BEEN SEEKING ME, AVATAR AANG."
Aang nodded. "I'm sorry, I would not have come were it not an emergency."
"I AM WELL AWARE. SINCE MY BRETHREN GAVE THE POWER OF THE ELEMENTS TO THE FIRST OF YOU, NONE HAVE LOST IT. UNTIL YOU."
"I'm sorry!" Aang called. "I was ambushed!"
"THAT DOES NOT CONCERN ME," The Lion Turtle cut through his explanation. "THE WORLD FALLS ONCE AGAIN INEXORABLY INTO CHAOS. YOUR EFFORTS TO STOP IT WITHOUT YOUR BENDING HAVE BEEN ADMIRABLE, BUT YOU HAVE ONLY DELAYED THE INEVITABLE."
"Then help me stop it!"
The creature seemed almost to sigh.
"VERY WELL. BUT BE MORE CAREFUL THIS TIME."
A great clawed hand rose out of the water, and stopped in front of Aang. One claw rested delicately on his forehead, and the other on his chest. There was a moment where nothing happened.
And then power surged through Aang's body, a power he had not felt for a long time, and his vision went white.
The night had begun to give way to the first light of dawn, and Katara paced nervously up and down the water's edge. Sokka, Suki and Toph had fallen into an uneasy sleep in a huddle on the floor, and the Royal couple watched the waterbender carefully, worry evident in both their faces.
"Where is he?" She said eventually, frustration in her voice. "Surely it doesn't take this long!"
"It took a day last time. Give him time."
Katara stopped and considered this for a second, and then shook her head. "I can't take this any more. I need to do something."
"Like what?"
"I'm going to find Azula," Katara stated. "She needs to go down."
"Not that I disagree, but alone?" Zuko asked.
"I did it before, I'll do it again. Besides, you're welcome to join me."
Katara had moved away from the water's edge, and was just about to push her way past them when Mai caught her arm.
"What?" Katara whirled to face her.
In response, Mai just pointed towards the sea.
The water was clearly boiling, the water bubbling madly. And below it, deep below the surface and moving upwards very quickly, something was glowing. The white light burst out of the water with a tremendous crash, waking Sokka, Suki and Toph up with a start before hovering in the air as the wind picked up around it. The three of them had to grab on to a nearby pillar to prevent being blown over, as Katara squinted at the source of the light. It looked humanoid, and as it came closer her heart swelled as she recognised that it looked like one particular human. Behind it floated a larger furry shape. This one wasn't glowing.
The Avatar came in to land in front of them, set Appa down gently, and then the white glare abruptly shut off. Suddenly, just Aang was stood in front of them.
He gave an awkward wave. "Hey guys, I met the lion turtle!"
"That's it?" Katara demanded. "You get shot down, crash land in the sea, we can't find you, you worry me sick all night and you turn up now and all you can think to say is hey guys?"
Aang looked like he was about to say something, but was interrupted when Katara flung herself at him and engulfed him in a great hug.
"I'm just glad you're ok," she told him.
Aang returned the hug for a few seconds, and then locked eyes with Zuko over her shoulder.
"By the way, did I mention I got my bending back?"
Zuko's eyes widened, but before he could say anything Sokka arrived, declared a group hug, and everyone piled in.
"We're glad you're back," Suki said from somewhere inside the hug.
"Of course I'm back," Aang told them. "I'm not just going to leave like that." He gave the group a squeeze, and then wriggled his way out from the middle of them.
"Zuko!" He called, and the Firelord looked up from his position in the outskirts of the huddle, confused as to how he had escaped.
"Stand here!" He commanded. Zuko looked around, and complied, moving to stand in front of his friend.
Aang took a deep breath, and placed one thumb on Zuko's forehead and one on his chest.
"Aang, what are you-"
Another brilliant white light filled the air, and Zuko gasped. The light faded, and the Firelord stumbled for a second. He righted himself, flexed his fingers, and then swung his arm through the air. A trail of fire followed it in a long arc around his body. He grinned happily, and then turned back to Aang with flames coming out of his nostrils with each breath.
"My bending's back!" He said. "It worked!"
"Your bending's back?" Toph called. "Wait, do me next!"
Toph stood in front of Aang as Zuko had done, and again Aang put his thumb on her head and chest. There was another flash of white light and-
Toph cried out as her seismic sense flooded back, overloading her for a moment. She felt Aang step towards her in concern and waved him off. "I'm fine," she said. "I'm more than fine!" She nearly ripped a large section of the pavement up in celebration, but stopped herself in case she accidentally hurt someone. She celebrated instead by quickly hugging Aang, whispering "thank you" in his ear and quickly breaking away again. The Avatar grinned at her. "You're welcome," he replied.
Aang felt relief wash over him. For the first time since that night in Ba Sing Se when he had lost his bending, he felt truly at peace. There was still work to be done; the world still had to be made aware of the fact he had his bending back so that things could truly calm down, but he got the sense, as he watched his friends with enormous smiles on their faces, that it was over.