Chapter 6 Catching up
"I can't believe that you actually gave a speech to all of those world leaders Aang," Katara marveled, "I would have been sooo nervous."
"I was nervous," Aang replied, "I thought I was going to hurl," he laughed.
"Aang," Katara exclaimed
"What, it's true," he chuckled. Katara turned away from him slightly and gazed up dreamily at the pale blue sky.
"Well…you've succeeded," she sighed, "the nations are finally at peace," she slowly turned her eyes to the frozen ground beneath her feet, "It must have been quite a sight…all those leaders gathered together in the Fire nation palace."
Aang gazed at Katara as she slowly paced the snow covered ice, she had a far off expression upon her face, it seemed as if she were a thousand miles away even though she was standing right beside him. He reached to her suddenly grabbing hold of her hand and bringing her to a halt. She turned to him curiously, a small, almost sad smile forming across her face.
"You know Katara," he said softly, gazing into her deep blue eyes, "I couldn't have done any of it without you," he placed his hand lightly upon her face, "I only wish you could've been there to see it to the end."
"I wish I could've been there too Aang," she said smiling warmly at him. The two gazed at each other for a moment. Katara could feel her face flush slightly as he gazed at her and she quickly turned away, "Hey Aang where's Appa," she asked suddenly, "Is he far from here?"
"Well…uh…no he's not far," Aang answered a bit lost by the sudden change in subject, "just around the other side of that chunk of ice, though he is probably sleeping."
"Oh, can we go see him anyway," Katara asked giddily, "I've missed him almost as much as I missed Momo!"
"Gee thanks," Aang replied. Katara smiled at him jokingly.
"Oh, you already know that I missed you," Katara said reaching for his hand.
Aang smiled, "it doesn't hurt to be reminded every now and then."
"Oh okay, well then I want to hear how much you missed me every once in a while too," Katara replied.
"But Katara," Aang replied pulling her towards him and gazing into her sparkling eyes once more, "Words just can't describe how much I missed you." He suddenly flashed her a mischievous grin. Katara could not contain her laughter.
Aang nearly suffocated in the beautiful sound. It had been so very long since he had heard her laugh. He gazed at her lovingly her whole face was lit up. Without even a second thought Aang leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. Katara was completely taken by surprise; she raised her hand to her cheek and gazed at Aang curiously. Suddenly becoming aware of his actions, Aang immediately pulled back from her his face turning a light shade of red.
"Uh… ha, ha…um…so Appa is right over here," Aang said quickly walking in the direction of the bison he turned back to Katara. She was looking at him strangely, " are you coming?"
"Yeah," Katara said, slowly walking in his direction. She paused at his side turning to face him, "Aang, um….,"she smiled suddenly, "oh never mind, let's go see Appa."
Sure enough Appa was fast asleep. The two quietly crept up on the great beast.
"Oh look how cute he is when he's sleeping," Katara said. Aang looked at Appa and raised an eye brow curiously, the bison was snoring and drool was dripping from practically everywhere.
"That's cute?….I guess it's safe to say that I'm not your type then"
"AANG," Katara laughed. She tiptoed quietly up to Appa sat down on the snow beside him and pet him gently on the chin.
"You know what I missed the most Aang?"
"What's that," Aang asked sitting down beside her.
"I missed being able to fly, I miss us all piling up on Appa's saddle and taking off to some far away place," Katara gazed up at the sky sighing sadly, "it's always the same here, I miss all the different places and people."
Aang gazed at Katara as she spoke; he turned to Appa who was still snoring away. He sighed heavily, Appa was going to hate him for what he was about to do.
"Hey Katara," he said suddenly, "go for a ride with me."
Katara turned to him abruptly, "what…Aang I would but…well…what about Appa, he's so tired from your journey….."
"It will only be a quick ride, come on, Appa will be fine."
"But Aang I've been away from home all night…what if someone comes looking for me and…"
"So what if they do, it's not like your in any danger you have me to protect you."
"Alright," Katara said excitedly, "but only if Appa's up to it."
"Appa's fine he's had more then enough time to rest," Aang turned his attention to the bison. "Come on boy, time to get up," he leaned closer to the beasts ear, "come on boy, just do this one thing for me, and I swear I will let you sleep for a week." Appa groaned in annoyance. "Please boy," he turned and glanced at Katara for a moment, "this is my one chance to be alone with Katara before the whole village finds out I'm back." Appa yawned and reluctantly raised his head.
"Thanks boy, I'll pay you back I promise." He quickly air bended atop the bison's saddle. "Come on Katara," Aang called offering her his hand, Katara excitedly ran forward.
"Are you sure that Appa is rested, she asked looking to Aang with an inquisitive expression, "I wouldn't want to force him…"
"Appa's fine," Aang replied, he grabbed hold of Katara's hand and pulled her up ward to the saddle.
"Alright," Aang said as he sat atop Appa's head and grabbed hold of the reigns, "are we ready?" Katara quickly climbed on Appa's head and sat beside Aang, weaving her arm in his.
"I'm ready," she smiled.
"YIP YIP!" Appa took off just barely clearing the water but eventually he was soaring high above the clouds.
Katara's heart lightened as the cold wind blew through her long dark hair, for the first time in two years she felt completely happy, and free. She closed her eyes and leaned back upon her elbows sighing happily in content. Aang just gazed at her.
"What," Katara said suddenly. Aang was taken by surprise.
"Huh, what do you mean?"
"You're staring at me," she smirked.
"No I wasn't," he denied, "and how would you know your eyes were closed."
"I thought you said you weren't staring."
"I wasn't"
"Then how'd you know my eyes were closed."
"What?"
Katara sat up laughing, "relax Aang I'm just teasing you."
"I knew that!"
"Sure you did," Katara mocked
She gently lay back down upon Appa's soft fur crossing her arms behind her head and staring upwards toward the puffy white clouds. She breathed in the cool rushing air. How she wished that they could stay up here forever and never return to her village again. Katara silently scolded herself for once again rejecting her village. She sighed heavily it's not that she didn't love her village she just felt so out of place there. She didn't feel anything like she did now; she was more happy flying around on Appa with Aang then she had ever been in the two years she had been home. It's not like there was anyone at home who could understand how she felt either, except for maybe Sokka, or Gran Gran; but Gran Gran was gone now and Sokka wasn't exactly a talk about my feelings kind of guy. Katara rolled to her side, leaned upon her elbow and gazed up at Aang for a moment. She began to think, "Maybe we don't have to go home right away, maybe…"
"Hey Aang," she said suddenly, "lets go somewhere."
"What…where?" he asked glancing at her curiously"
"I don't know…," Katara paused, "there really isn't any other villages close by… but I just don't want to go home yet… I'm so tired of looking at snow and ice."
"Well…what about your family Katara, I mean…the closest place is a day's journey and they will surely worry if you take that long to come back."
"You're right," Katara sighed in annoyance. She silently lay back down upon Appa turning her eyes back to the heavens. Aang gazed at her. A subtle hint of that dreamy far off expression displayed upon her face once more.
"Well...what if we left them a note," Aang stated suddenly. Katara turned to Aang abruptly and shot him a questioning look.
"A note?"
"Yeah, Aang smiled, "we can write a note to Sokka and your father explaining to them where we are and then we can give it to Momo to take to them." Katara sat up excitedly.
"Oh my gosh, Aang, are you serious?" Aang smiled at her reaction.
"Sure," he said nonchalantly.
"Aang you're the best," Katara cried happily throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly, nearly cutting off his air supply.
"Air Katara," Aang choked, "need air."
"Oh," she released him, "do you have any paper or ink around here,"
"Yeah there is some paper and a few pieces of slate in that carry on over there," Aang said pointing toward Appa's saddle. She quickly made her way over to the carry on, opening and grabbing a few sheets of paper but she could not find a piece of slate, she lifted the bag to her eye level and began searching for something to write with, her eyes suddenly caught a glimpse of a small piece of slate at the very bottom of the bag.
"Ah ha," she cried. She reached in and pulled it out but as she did so a wrinkled up piece of paper fell out with the movement of her hand. She grabbed hold of it and was about to stuff it back into the bag when she suddenly noticed the words that were scrawled across the top of the page.
"Dear Katara", she whispered to herself in curiosity, she turned to Aang who had his back to her. She brought her eyes back to the letter.
"Did you find everything you needed," Aang called.
"Huh, oh…uh yeah," Katara quickly stuffed the letter into her pocket and headed back to where Aang was sitting, "right here," she said casually sitting down beside him.
"Okay Aang said so when you're done writing the note I'll have Appa fly by the village and then we'll send Momo after Sokka."
"Right," Katara replied.
She hurriedly finished the note and rolled it up into a scroll, she then pulled one of the ribbons from her braid and tied the scroll closed.
"Come here Momo," she called. The little lemur quickly came to Katara, "now Momo I want you to take this note to Sokka, you remember Sokka don't you boy?"
Aang steered Appa in the direction of the village till they could just see it at the edge of the glacier, "Alright we're good."
"Okay Momo go find Sokka", Katara said, Momo squeaked and then took off toward the village.
"I sure hope he doesn't run into any distractions," Aang chuckled, "you know Momo."
"Don't remind me," Katara sighed, gazing in the little lemur's direction. She turned to Aang and smiled, "so Aang where are we headed?"
"Well the closest place is Bok Choy it's really rather small, but its nice. It's still cold but there isn't as much snow and ice."
"Sounds like heaven, are there water benders there?"
"Well yeah, but it's actually a newly settled island, so there are many different benders, there too."
"I can't wait," Katara sighed weaving her arm with Aang's once more, "It's going to be like old times again, just you and me and…well it will be slightly quieter then old times since Sokka's not here," she chuckled, "you know I almost feel kinda bad sending him that note, he's going to feel so left out."
"Well Sokka can come next time," Aang said grinning in her direction.
"Is there going to be a next time?"
"Sure, I mean I understand that you wanted me all to yourself this time, but next time we can take the whole village if you want." Aang smiled at her mischievously.
"I must say Aang," Katara smiled, "Sokka is going to be quite jealous when he discovers that your ego is now twenty times larger then his."
"Oh…Katara…Ouch," Aang grasped his chest as if in sudden pain. Katara began to laugh.
"Oh come on Aang you walked into that one," she giggled.
"Really," he smirked, "You know, you're just lucky I have to focus all my attention on steering Appa, cause otherwise… you'd be in trouble."
"Is that right," Katara smirked.
Aang raised and eyebrow to her in both surprise and amusement.
"That's it, Appa autopilot," Aang dropped the reigns. Katara ripped her arm away from him and scrambled onto Appa's saddle laughing the entire way. Aang stood and turned to her and slowly walked in her direction.
"Aang come on no messing around while we're in the air that was one of the rules wasn't it." Aang paused, she was right of course, as always.
"You're lucky, for now, but just wait till we land," he smiled and turned back to the reigns. Suddenly he was hit in the back with an ice cold water whip.
"The Water Whip," he sighed under his breath, "always the water whip," he turned abruptly to see Katara giggling.
"I'm sorry," she said, "really…I just couldn't resist the moment was too perfect."
"You just broke your own rule," Aang cried trying desperately to keep from laughing.
"Aang…"
"No, no, all bets are off now Katara." Katara's expression changed from one of amusement to one of panic as her eyes moved past Aang.
"Aang," Katara cried as she pointed past him. Aang whirled around immediately. Directly in front of them was a gigantic ice berg and they were headed right for it.
"Katara get down," he yelled. He leapt to Appa's head, took the reigns and pulled back on them harshly, the bison didn't respond
"Appa come on," Aang cried, "YIP YIP," he suddenly heard the bison making a strange noise, "oh don't even tell me," Aang muttered to himself.
"Aang what's that noise," Katara yelled, "is Appa…"
"Snoring," Aang finished her sentence, "he's asleep and he won't wake up."
"Are you kidding me, I thought you said he was rested!"
"Well he was for a quick flight but you wanted to get away from the village."
"Are you blaming me for this?"
"No I'm not blaming you Katara, I'm just…okay look we really don't have time to argue about this right now, we're about to crash into an ice berg just sit down and hold on.
"No!"
"Katara!"
"No way am I going to just sit here and let you have all the fun," Katara smiled.
"Alright on three," Aang yelled. Katara nodded. They both got into position.
"One…Two…Three"
Simultaneously the two focused their energy on the giant block of ice in front of them. Slowly it began to crack; the bison got closer, closer they weren't bending fast enough. Pieces of ice began to break off of the berg but not enough.
"Katara this is taking to long," Aang cried, "we're moving toward it too fast."
"What do we do Aang?"
"Stand back," Aang yelled. Suddenly he punched into the air with a swift quick movement that sent a powerful blast of fire toward the berg instantly blasting it away. Appa safely passed over the newly melted ice berg.
Aang fell to his knees out of breath. Katara crawled over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She sat back and gazed upon him. "I almost forgot you were a fire bender," she said softly.
"It comes in handy every once in a while," he smiled as he climbed back over to the reigns, "by the way I'm sorry I yelled at you."
"Well you didn't have a choice I was being rather difficult," she responded coming up and sitting beside him.
"No you were being honest, all of this was my fault, I just about forced Appa into the air when I knew he needed to rest, I should've known better."
"Aang, why would you do that…poor Appa is probably exhausted."
"You wanted to go flying," he sighed, "you were saying how much you missed it… I just wanted to take you."
"But Aang we could have gone anytime."
"I know," Aang sighed, "but I just wanted it to be me and you, and you know that once the village knew I was back, everyone would be asking me about my travels and all the little kids would be wanting me to take them for rides and show them air and fire bending tricks and people will be coming to me for advice and stuff," he frowned slightly and glanced over in her direction, "not that I mind doing all that stuff, but I just have really been looking forward to spending time with you Katara, I really miss our time together."
"Well Aang," she smiled that's really sweet of you and I appreciate it, but…poor Appa."
Just then Appa yawned
"Hey boy," Aang sighed patting him affectionately on the head, "I'm really sorry I made you fly, do you forgive me," the giant bison groaned, "Do you think you can make it to Bok Choy Appa?" The bison let out another deep groan. Aang turned his attention to Katara.
"Well," he sighed, "what do you think Katara, Bok Choy is only a few short hours away, Appa's awake now, and I don't see any more ice bergs on the horizon." Aang grinned at her and raised his eyebrows in hopefulness.
"How can anyone resist that face," Katara replied reaching over and pinching his cheek.
"Great," Aang laughed "Bok Choy it is, Yip Yip Appa."
To be continued