Aang gave himself one last look over in the bedroom mirror and adjusted his collar. At nineteen, he cut a striking figure in orange and yellow, having changed into somewhat dressier robes after flying home from that day's slate of meetings at the Republic City Council Hall. He straightened his posture, drawing himself up to his full, considerable height. He had a date.

He needed it. It had been a long few weeks for both him and Katara. She had been staying late night after night at the hospital, dealing with some complicated logistics around the training of new healers while also tending to her own patients. Several times recently, she had come home after he'd already gone to bed, and he had awoken in the middle of the night to find her clutching him tightly in her sleep. Aang suspected some of the patients she was seeing might not be doing as well as she hoped. For his part, Aang was encountering resistance over his push for a new air temple on an uninhabited island in the bay, sometimes with flagrantly prejudiced overtones, from a few of the more contrarian members of the Council. It was taking up an inordinate amount of his time and giving him a perpetual stress headache. In an attempt to cheer him up, Sokka had suggested some provocative ways of gradually undermining those Councilors, while Toph had laid out a more straightforward, boulder-to-the-face strategy. Aang and Katara had both agreed that they could use a distraction, a night on the town, just the two of them.

As it happened, the Capital Theater downtown was beginning a run of Songs of the Badgerfrog, which had just finished touring in the Fire Nation and came highly recommended by Zuko. It seemed as good an excuse to have an evening out as any. Aang would pick Katara up from the hospital, bringing her a change of clothes, and they would grab a quick dinner at their favorite bao place before catching the show. He was looking forward to it; he didn't have particularly strong feelings about the play itself but he enjoyed any chance to spruce up a bit, to feel the life of the city thrumming through its nighttime hustle and bustle, and, if he was being honest, to seduce Katara a little bit. It had been too long since they had been really intimate—the past few weeks had been so draining that it was starting to put a damper even on their youthful energy and their typically insatiable attraction to one another.

Although he knew he had shaved both his head and face that morning, he passed his palms briefly over both out of habit before turning away from the mirror. He grabbed his bag and descended the stairs to find Toph by the door, pulling on a pair of sole-less shoes. She had been staying for the past couple of days at the modest seaside cottage he and Katara lived in when they were in the city, on one of her frequent (and often unannounced) visits from her metalbending school just outside Yu Dao. She straightened up as he reached the ground floor and tilted her head.

"Hey Twinkletoes, what gives?"

"What? What's wrong?"

"You're walking like you're wearing fancy clothes."

"Oh," he snorted, "Katara and I are going to a show at the theater."

"How civilized. You gonna propose, finally?" she quipped.

"No, not just yet," Aang chuckled, though his face heated up slightly. He noticed suddenly that Toph looked different than normal, somehow. "Wait, why are you dressed up?"

Toph was clad in a form-fitting, pale green dress and her jet-black bangs were uncharacteristically pulled back from her face. Oh, and she was wearing shoes.

"Believe it or not, the world's most eligible metalbender has a date tonight."

"Oh! That's exciting. Have I met this person?" he asked.

"Nope. Well, see ya! Don't wait up." Toph opened the door and turned so that her profile was facing him. "Have a good time at the theater; give Sweetness a kiss from me."

"Really?" Aang said, surprised.

Toph let out a single loud ha! as she began to step out the door. "No, but you can punch her in the arm if you want."

Rolling his eyes, Aang went to collect his own boots. He heard a soft chittering noise and looked up to see Momo peering at him from around the sofa.

"I'll be back later tonight, Momo, don't worry. Hold down the fort for me, ok buddy?"

Momo chittered again and walked off toward the back of the house with his tail held in the air importantly.

Aang snatched his staff from its place by the door and made his way to the side of the house, where Appa's stable abutted the main building.

Bits of hay crackled under his feet as he approached his old friend. "Hey Appa, ready to go see Katara?" he murmured, scratching the bison's nose. Appa lowed excitedly. Aang smiled as the sound rumbled through him.

"I know, I saw her just this morning, but I miss her already, too."

Up in the air with Appa's reins in his hands, Aang closed his eyes briefly against the wind that caressed his face like a lover. He took a deep breath, inhaling the briny sea air that swirled and mixed with the more distinctively human smells of the city. The low angle of sun had set the buildings below him awash in pinks and golds along with the surrounding mountains. In the distance ahead, he could pick out the gray stone of the hospital. He waited, a little bubble of anticipation expanding gradually in his chest as the slow beating of Appa's tail brought him closer to his favorite person and this place she had poured so much of herself into. For Katara did not only work at the hospital whenever she was in the city; she was primarily responsible for its existence.

While Sokka and Aang's business in Republic City mostly revolved around the City Council, Katara had been focused on the establishment of a brand-new hospital. When they had started to spend more time here, she found the existing piecemeal health facilities to be sorely insufficient for the city's rapidly-growing population. She had consulted with administrators of hospitals in large cities like Ba Sing Se, as well as healers of a wide variety of disciplines, both bending and non-bending. After a tight thirty-minute presentation to the City Council, she had secured funding. Katara had been fortunate enough to find a small group of like-minded healing professionals living in the city who helped her keep the momentum going even during her frequent travels. Many a detailed logistical letter had been written from Appa's saddle, with one hand pinning down the sheet of paper to stop it from blowing away.

Once she had plans for how the hospital would operate, Sokka had gotten her in touch with a city architect, who drew up building plans and provided a scale model. Aang had observed Katara sitting in front of the model in their living room, unmoving, staring at it with a gleam in her eye on multiple occasions.

On one of Toph's visits to Republic City, Katara had enthusiastically relayed the building plans to her in great detail, showed her the scale model, and mentioned that she had already gotten quotes on pricing and timelines from some local builders. Toph asked to hear the figures. Katara told her. Toph laughed so hard she cried and had to be calmed down with a cup of jasmine tea. The next morning, an enormous stone and metal building had been erected on the site chosen for the hospital and the city's fledgling police department had received hundreds of overnight noise complaints. Once Katara had gotten over the initial shock, she had been beside herself with gratitude. She had even convinced Toph to accept a single, bone-crushing hug.

It took a bit more work to complete the facilities but Toph's guerrilla hospital construction had drastically accelerated the schedule. The hospital was now open and accepting patients. Katara was recruiting healers from across the world with the promise of cutting-edge technology and interdisciplinary healing collaborations. Aang could not have been more proud of her if he tried.

When Appa landed with a thwump by the front entrance of the hospital building, Aang was already floating to the ground. Katara wasn't there to greet him outside but she should have been done with her shift by now; she was probably waiting for him in the lobby. Aang could feel a dopey grin slipping onto his face as he pictured the heart-stopping smile she would flash for him when he entered. He would grab her hand and as soon as they were outside, he would lift her up by the waist and spin her around, then set her back down and kiss her soundly. You're in a good mood, she would laugh. Of course I am, I'm with you, he would tell her. Aang's grin widened as he took a few long strides across the cobblestones and pulled open the hospital doors, stepping inside.

The heavy doors swung closed behind him, cutting off most of the noise from the street. Aang looked around the room. It was quiet; a small fountain burbling in the center of the lobby provided a pleasant white noise. A receptionist sat behind a desk at the far side of the room, filling out paperwork. He saw a few people sitting in chairs along the wall, presumably waiting to be called in to be seen by a healer. Some of the older patients were dozing off, while a couple of children fidgeted beside their guardians. He saw Toph—well, a likeness of her, anyway, a rather dramatically-posed stone statue of her set into the wall at one side of the lobby. He scoffed almost unconsciously as his eyes passed over the larger-than-life sculpture of the earthbender. To nobody's surprise in retrospect, when Toph had put up the hospital building, she had added this statue as a finishing touch, or a form of compensation, depending on how one looked at it. When Aang had first seen it, he was prepared to build an even bigger one of Katara on the spot, but she had forbidden him. I'll be actually working here, Aang, Katara had hissed. It would be humiliating.

He did not, however, see the one person he was actually looking for. He peered down the hallway that led deeper into the building, hoping to spot her walking toward him; she wasn't there, either. He planted his heel into the ground and gave a cursory scan of the adjacent rooms with his seismic sense; no luck. Hmm. He approached the receptionist's desk.

The Avatar was a common enough sight around the hospital his girlfriend had founded, and around Republic City in general, that the city folk had become desensitized to his presence and he typically attracted only mild attention. The receptionist was no exception, a soft-spoken young man originally from the Northern Water Tribe with whom Aang had chatted in passing a few times.

"Hey, Panuk," Aang greeted him, resting his elbows on the high desk. "Do you know if Katara has gotten off her shift yet?"

"Evening, Avatar Aang," Panuk intoned, looking up from his paperwork.

Aang thought the receptionist looked a little nervous, and his brow furrowed minutely.

"Master Katara… no, apologies, she isn't off yet tonight."

"Oh," Aang frowned. "She should have been finished already, I thought? We have plans."

Panuk eyed Aang's formal robes and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He cleared his throat. "Um, you see… unfortunately there was an accident in the shipyard less than an hour ago. A steel bar fell off a crane and went clear through a man's shoulder." He winced. "Master Katara was the only experienced waterbending healer available at the time. She's still up in the room with him, and… it's likely to be a while longer before he's in a stable condition, I'm sorry."

Aang pushed himself back from the desk and blew out a breath. A steel bar through the shoulder; that sounded like it would hurt. The shimmering bubble that had been filling him up until just a minute ago had burst and left behind a sour taste of disappointment which he tried hard to keep from showing on his face.

"Oh man – that's awful," he grimaced. "Thank you for telling me, Panuk. I hope he's able to recover fully."

"He was in bad shape when he arrived, obviously," the receptionist said, "but he's lucky Master Katara was here. As you know, she is extremely skilled, and the healers are optimistic."

"Yes, I know that very well," Aang smiled, a little ruefully. "Can you let her know I'll be outside to fly her home when she's finished?"

Panuk hesitated. "I can… I really meant it when I said it would be a while longer," he warned, raising his eyebrows.

Aang tapped his fingers on the high desk a few times before turning to leave.

"Yeah, I got it," he muttered, with an absent wave.

He walked back out the hospital doors with much less of a spring in his step than when he had entered. Appa, who had been idly watching a couple of pigeon-rats tussle over a stray bread roll, gave a questioning grumble as Aang approached.

"No luck, Appa," Aang sighed. "There was a bad accident and Katara has to stay to heal someone."

Appa grunted.

"Yeah, it looks like the theater is out."

Aang launched himself up onto the saddle and flopped onto his back with a huff.

Uncharitable thoughts flitted through his mind, that this incident in the shipyard had inconvenienced him personally, had ruined the wonderful night out he was going to have with his girlfriend. He recognized these as deeply irrational. Of course, the accident was in reality a much greater inconvenience for the man with the metal bar lodged in his body, and Katara was the one who had to labor to bring him back from the edge. Even with her prodigious talent, such a traumatic injury would hardly be a quick fix. The man would have arrived at the hospital ghostly pale from blood loss and she would be working to re-set bones and repair layer upon layer of muscle, tendon, skin. Aang could picture, vividly, Katara bent over the healing table, eyes tightened in concentration, her hands coated in glowing water. Hands that had put his own broken pieces back together more times than he could count, in more ways than one.

Although after almost seven years he still had trouble forgiving himself for the manner in which she had first discovered her healing power, he was immensely grateful for it. He passed his hand over the side of his ribs. Only a couple of months ago they had been ambushed while traveling and one of the attackers had managed to get a single good hit in before being encased in ice. Katara had knit the deep gash together, teeth clenched and nostrils flared, until the thin pink line on his ribs was barely visible. Aang flexed his foot up and down. That one was his own fault—he had sprained his ankle recently while attempting a complex backflip off a roof at the Northern Air Temple. He had thought he could walk it off without her noticing but she had caught on instantly and had sat him down in front of everyone to work on the swelling.

Then, of course, there was the fact that when he shifted on the saddle he could feel the fabric of his robes moving against his back everywhere but in one small spot, right at the very center. He hardly noticed the numbness anymore, unless he really concentrated on it. Aside from a flash of blinding pain, his memory was blank between opening his final chakra in the caverns deep under Ba Sing Se and waking up in a panic on the commandeered Fire Nation vessel, but he had heard enough from Sokka and Toph that he could fill in the pieces. Pulling him back from the jaws of death, then keeping him alive by a thread while he lingered, unconscious, for weeks on end, had taken a toll on Katara both emotionally and physically. She still didn't like to talk about it.

Aang felt a sudden, acute pang of yearning for her to be here with him so he could hold her close. But she was inside the hospital, for who knew how many more hours, saving someone else's life. He sat with the gravity of that for a moment, and allowed it to settle into his bones.

Katara, in the hospital she had willed into being, performing what most people would call a miracle. Spirits, she was amazing. He was perpetually finding himself blown away by her talent, her work ethic, and her generosity. Katara did so much for complete strangers and asked nothing in return, not because the responsibility had been thrust upon her but because that was simply who she was. As she got older, her drive to help people who needed her had only become stronger and more focused. And Aang loved her for it. Loved her so deeply, so overwhelmingly, he sometimes wasn't sure his corporeal form could contain the feeling.

His hand brushed a tiny, hard object on the floor of the saddle. He trapped it between his thumb and forefinger and brought it to his face to examine it, although he already knew what it was. A pouch of Katara's spare hair beads had spilled in Appa's saddle a while ago and, improbably, they were still finding the things rolling around every now and then. Aang sat up, staring at the glinting blue bead in his palm. He closed his fist around it and looked up at the first few stars that had appeared in the waning light.

All things considered, he could live with a derailed date night once in a while.

…..

When Katara finally exited the hospital more than four hours later, rubbing her eyes, it was to find Aang lounging on Appa's head, hands behind his head and his legs stretched out in front of him, trying to keep a leaf perfectly still above his face with just his breath. Nobody ever believed him that it was harder than it looked. He jumped up when he spotted her and waved brightly.

"Hey, Katara!" he yelled as he brought himself down off the bison on a current of air, rapidly closing the distance between them.

Katara's face had perked up when she saw him, but as he neared, she frowned and her shoulders slumped dejectedly.

"I am so sorry, Aang," she sighed. He gathered her to him, her arms limp at her sides, and pressed his lips to the top of her head. Just a hint of her jasmine shampoo remained under the smell of antiseptic. "I was so looking forward to going out with you tonight but I just couldn't leave—there was a serious emergency, and they needed me here. Right before I was about to wrap up, a young man was brought in who—"

"I know, Panuk told me. Shipyard accident. It's alright, Katara, really," he murmured, loosening the grip of his arms around her and tipping her chin up with one index finger so he could look into her doleful blue eyes.

He searched her face for an indication of how the patient had fared in the end. She looked, primarily, exhausted.

"How did it go?" he asked.

"He'll be ok," Katara said. "It was pretty touch and go when he first came in, but… yeah, he'll be ok." She nodded, mostly to herself.

"I'm glad. You did such a great job." Aang wrapped his arms around her again and this time felt her hands slide up his back beneath his outer cloak to rest on his shoulder blades, securing herself in his embrace.

They stood like that for a few moments, each taking in the warmth of the other. Aang gave Katara an extra squeeze before releasing her. "Let's go home," he said, turning to guide her back to Appa with his hand in hers.

"You look good," Katara said, surveying him out of the side of her vision as they made their way over to the sky bison.

"Thanks. So do you," he replied. Katara glanced down at herself, covered in drying sweat and only mostly washed-out blood, strands of hair loose from her braid hanging around her face. She sighed heavily, but then smiled up at him a little begrudgingly, as if she had been about to argue and then thought better of it. Coming from anyone else the comment might have been sarcastic, but Aang really meant it. She looked like someone who had just done something important.

Aang boosted Katara up onto the bison's head and took his place beside her, picking up the reins. She leaned into him and closed her eyes.

From above, the scattered street lanterns of the city seemed to mimic the tapestry of stars set into the inky sky overhead. As Aang looked up, taking note of the positions of the constellations out of habit, a faint streak of silver appeared and then vanished just as quickly.

"I just saw a shooting star!" he nudged Katara, who sat up straighter and tried to blink herself into wakefulness. "That's, what, four hundred and thirty-seven for me? And you're still at… two hundred fifty-two?"

"Ugh," Katara grumbled, "That time you were flying overnight during a meteor shower does not count."

"Agree to disagree," he said, plastering his most insufferable grin onto his face until her glower softened and she shook her head in mild exasperation. Aang leaned over to sneak a quick peck to her now slightly-upturned lips. Katara hummed, and when he pulled away she snaked an arm around his waist.

"You… you weren't waiting out there the whole time, were you? After my shift was supposed to be over?" she asked, looking up at him with some concern.

"Nah, I took Appa for some exercise around the bay," Aang reassured her, "And I stopped at… hold on…"

He disentangled himself from the reins and from Katara and stood, reaching over the edge of the saddle to grab the paper bag sitting in the corner. Sitting back down, he held it up to her triumphantly, displaying the logo stamped on the brown paper: Yao's Bao.

Katara gasped. "You're the best, Aang."

He handed her the bag, and she reached in to take a bun out of it. "Thank you so much, sweetie, I'm starving," she exclaimed, taking a large bite of bao and chewing with her eyes closed in satisfaction, briefly reminding Aang a little of Sokka.

Aang smiled at her affectionately. "I've already eaten some, so have whatever you want."

Katara nodded, eyes still shut, fully absorbed in the task at hand.

They sat in silence for a minute.

"Shooting star. Four thirty-eight." He nudged her again. She growled.

Once Katara had had her fill, she settled herself back against Aang's side with a yawn. He set down the reins and draped an arm across her shoulders, rubbing his palm absently up and down her upper arm. Appa knew the way, anyway.

"I think I did ok," Aang heard Katara mutter, quietly.

"What was that, sweetie?" Aang asked, though he realized she probably wasn't really talking to him.

"Oh… I think I did ok, with the skin. I—I hope he won't scar too badly," she said, looking down at her hands, which were fidgeting slightly.

Aang felt a familiar twinge in his heart, and he frowned. "Katara…" he started, gently, his hand stilling on her arm, "that man is alive because of you. He gets to go home to his family and his friends. He'll be thankful no matter what."

Katara was studying her nails. "I know it's mostly cosmetic… but I'm trying to get better at it so people don't have to live with the reminders."

She glanced sideways at his chest with unfocused eyes, as if she were seeing through him to the other side of his body. Aang sighed. He was not surprised that her mind was running this well-worn groove, but it made him sad all the same. He thought about telling her, for probably the ten-thousandth time, that the twisted scar on his back didn't matter to him in the slightest. Of all the things the war had taken from him, this small physical detail barely registered on the list. For a brief time the scar had been a reminder of his failure to prevent the Earth Kingdom from falling during the war, but now, if anything, it was proof of how powerful Katara was, and how much she cared for him. He had come to understand over the years, though, that his indifference mattered less than how much the memory bothered her. So instead, he murmured: "You're so kind, and so strong, Katara. I love you." He squeezed her shoulder to add, I'm here.

...

Author's Note: So sorry about the trap I set with my previous story; this one will be happier, I promise. Second half is in progress. Does it have a plot? Is it just going to be 10k words of Aang being desperately in love with Katara? Am I physically capable of writing anything shorter than this? Who can say?

Title from 'House Of My Soul (You Light The Rooms)' by Langhorne Slim