As she retold him all of the heroic, romantic, and tragic parts of her strange dream, Aang's mouth was agape with awe. And by the time Katara finished her tale, Aang had almost fallen over from shock and awe. When he did fall over on his side, she too leaned over and looked into his eyes. "What's wrong?" She asked as she noted the different emotions in his eyes. His eyes held happiness, sadness, awe, and embarresement all at once. When he finally got the courage to speak, it was no more than a few mumbled words here and there.
Aang picked himself off the ground, 'What a wierd dream she had! It must have been all those sea prunes she ate while we where in the North. She seemed a little out-of-whack since then." He told himself as he gathered up his glider in his hands. When he made to walk down the path that led to a cliff, Katara stopped him. "Can we talk?" She asked in a quite whisper, her words trembled as she spoke. She looked like she was on the verge of tears, and it was extremely hard to keep them back.
Aang grabbed her by the hand and slowly led her down the path that he was going to travel by himself, and when they where
far enough from Sokka, so he could not even have the chance to eaves-drop, he stopped. Looking out onto the horizon,
Aang spoke: "What are you so concerned about? You look like you are about to cry." He said in a tender voice as he turned
his head to face the waterbender. Before she could even mutter a word, her knees buckeled and she fell to the ground. She
stopped herself from hitting the ground with her hands.
Aang got scared seeing her like this, when he came to her, he bent down and took her in his arms. "What's wrong? Please, tell me..." He said as he held her tight to his muscular chest. Katara heaved a contented sigh, signaling that she was ready to talk. "It's hard for me to ask this- " She left off as she stopped herself before she went to far. She could feel his burning gaze upon her back, burning a whole into her soul so he could see her true emotions.
"Do you know, in the Water Tribes, we have a way of telling fortune, matching people toghter. By the compatiblity of their elements.
I don't mean the one's that they bend, but the element that fills thier soul. Every member of our tribe has one of the five element's;
Fire, Earth, Wood, Metal, and Water. Most people have a good balance of fire and earth, making them compatible with a lover
of the same balance. I was told, when I was about 11 years old that I had great amounts of water in me. That can be a good thing,
and a bad thing. In this case, the one I was to marry, had too much metal in him. We where not such a good match..." She trailed
as she studied the sky, which was now turning from blue to a luminescent blue-grey with a pink sheen.
"What element do I have?" Aang asked enthusiatically. Katara slowly turned her head to face him, looking deeply in his eyes. "You have an very nice eye colour, a pretty grey-brown. What year where you born?" She asked as she took his hand and placed her plam on his to compare the size of their hands. His hands where large and smoothe, hers where small, bony, and delicate. Aang loved the feeling of her hand on his. He thought that her skin resembled the most delicate and thin silk, and that if he was to hard with her, that he would tear her, hurt her. So he was slow and gental as he wrapped his fingers with hers.
"I was born in the year of the phoenix, in the month of ha-nul. My mother was from the Western Air Temple, my father from the Eastern.
I was born in the city of Kong-gi, and my full name is Aang Ko-gwi-han. My father was Pul-myol-ui Ko-gwi, and my mother U-mi Han"
He said as he looked to the ground, his cheek's burning with embaressment that he had told that much about his past to the girl he
loved. "Phoenix... Graceful, Patient, Noble, Free. Ha-nul... Sky, Freedom, Future. Your number is 2. You should avoide fire at all
costs. Your element is earth... Strong, stable, and defensive." Katara said as she reveled that he had entrusted her with his most
personal information.
"My birth year is the year of the dragon, I was born on the month of pa-da. My mom, Ko-un I-ri, and my dad, Kut-sen Yu-haeng. My proper name is Katarian I-ri-haeng. My place of birth is Kwan-jo Nol-i Pa-da." Katara said all of this so fast, as if she had said it all with just one breath. "Wow! You come from a notable liniege. Your mother was the High Priestess of Kwan-jo Nol-i Pa-da, or am I wrong?" He asked, not baring to look at her. "Yea! How did you know that!" She squealed as she squeazed his hand tight and gave him a smile that lite up his night.
"Sokka said something about you two being taught in Water Tribe fortune telling, once. Since then, I've always wanted to ask you what you where taught." He said as he looked at her face. She was smiling at him, a nice warm smile, the kind that always made a bad day a good one. "Yes, I know a little about lucky numbers, which animal you are, and what element is in your soul. But that's not enough to make you a priestess..." She sighed as she slipped into day dreams of following in her mother's foot steps of brieng a priestess.
"Wait, weren't we here to talk about something else?" Aang asked as he was suddenly brought back to harsh reality. Katara sat up
from her lying postion and staired him square in the eyes. "Yea, now that you mention it, we are..." She said as she took his hands
in her's again. "As I was saying, the high priest told me that I would find no suitble match within our own borders. Mabey even the next
nation. For alot of water means that you slip through life unnoticed, life a streaming going downhill to the ocean. But he also told me,
water can be taken and molded into what ever place it settles too. And that water is only compatible with one other element. Can you
tell me what that element might be?"
To Be Continued...