Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender
Author's Note: Review responses are at the end, even if I already wrote you individually.
On Kyoshi Island
"How long should we stay here?" Katara wondered aloud as they began their descent to Kyoshi Island.
"I don't think we should stay anywhere longer than three days," Iroh advised. "No matter how safe you think it is."
"My sister has a very long arm," Zuko agreed.
They landed amid loud cheering. Almost the entire community seemed to be gathered to welcome them back.
"Sounds like you're kind of popular here," Toph observed. Aang grinned. Sokka had offered to hold the reins for a while, so Aang was riding on Appa's saddle with the rest of them.
"That's the life of the Avatar," Aang said modestly.
"Yeah, everyone who doesn't want to attack you just loves you," Sokka replied sarcastically from his perch atop Appa's head.
"Aangy!" squealed a little girl Katara recognized as Koko, leading a group of children up to the beast. As Aang leapt down to greet them, he was swarmed over.
"I forgot about them," Aang said, sending an apologetic glance backward as he tried to give himself some breathing room. Katara smiled indulgently as he raced around the gaggle on his air-scooter. Despite his protests, Aang was a natural with children. But then, he was little more than a child himself. Watching the chaos, Katara could envision in her mind's eye how Aang must have looked when playing with the other young airbenders, before destiny interfered. Her smile grew sad. The world expected so much of him. Yes, in some ways he was a child, but in other ways, he was much more. It was nice to see him behaving carefree for a change.
Suddenly, the image before her shifted. It was still definitely Aang, but he was taller and broader-shouldered. No longer a child, but a man, she realized. He was playing with some small children who, though they varied considerably in skin tone, shared his gray eyes. Katara blinked and shook her head to clear it. Had that been some sort of vision? No, she had never shown any talents in that direction. Surely it was only the workings of her overactive imagination.
"Katara? We could use some help." Her brother's voice interrupted her reverie. What was the matter with her lately? She helped unpack and gave Toph a hand climbing down to the ground, which she fell upon gratefully.
"I can see again!" Toph shouted joyfully.
"Um, where's Suki?" Sokka asked one of the elders in a too-casual tone.
Smooth, big brother, Katara thought, casting a teasing glance at him. Not that she blamed him, really, for wanting to see the female warrior again. Suki had taught Sokka a lot, and now that Yue was unreachable…well, who knew what might happen?
"She and the other warriors went off to fight," the elder answered. "They thought it was time to go out into the world and make a difference."
Sokka gave a short nod of understanding. Katara decided it was time to rescue Aang, and she waded through his band of followers.
"Aang's learned a few new tricks since the last time we were here," she told the kids. "We need a little time to settle in, though. Maybe you can watch our next waterbending lesson in…one hour?" She looked to Aang for confirmation. When he nodded his agreement, she said, "One hour it is, then."
One hour later, Katara and Aang went to the beach in their underclothes, where they were met by the Kyoshi children.
"Let's warm up with a series of the basic forms," Katara suggested. "Follow my lead."
Aang did so, mirroring her movements easily. They moved on to some slightly harder techniques. Katara raised a portion of water into the air and began moving it in a circle around the two of them. When it got to the middle of her right side, she'd let go and let Aang take over, then she took it back on her left. The circle went around and around, their abilities blending so well that it became difficult to tell where one person's bending left off and the other's began. It was almost like a dance.
In the next phase, she cast several attacks at him while he countered. Then, they switched so that he was on the offensive and she was defending. At last, Katara decided it was time for something new.
"Excellent work," she approved. "Now, for today's lesson. The idea is to create a large wave and bend it over your head. Then, you split it in two so that it crashes on either side, leaving you standing in the middle. You might all want to stand back."
Everyone complied, and she raised the water into a wall and brought it over herself just as she'd described. There were some "oohs" and "aahs" of appreciation from the onlookers. She called Aang back over.
"The actual movements to this one aren't that difficult," she explained. "It's the timing that's critical." They ran through the forms without the water until she was satisfied that he had it down.
"Okay, now try it with the water," Katara said. He nodded and did so as she stood back to watch. Unfortunately, his wave failed to split completely, with the result that it crashed fully on top of him and pulled him under. Katara reacted quickly, forcing the ocean to give up its prize and spill Aang back up onto the shore, where he sputtered and spat out seawater. Katara knelt beside him to make sure he was all right.
"That's harder than it looks," he informed her ruefully, sitting up.
"Of course. You're into some pretty advanced stuff now."
"Thanks for the save."
"Really, haven't we saved each other enough times that we're past all that?" she asked, trying to laugh it off despite the blush she felt creeping up her cheeks. "Besides, it wouldn't look very good for me to lose my first pupil."
He grinned back at her, and their eyes locked. His face gradually became serious as she felt her own smile fade. Her heart began beating inexplicably faster, and she felt short of breath. Those smoky depths were holding her, drawing her in.
It's hard to say what would have happened next if they hadn't had an audience. As it was, a chorus of "Ooooo," broke out, such as only a group of little girls can produce. Katara pulled back in confusion, seeing a blush form on Aang's face that had to mirror her own. Actually, she felt like the flush was spreading across all of her exposed skin, and she became acutely aware of how little they were wearing. An unfamiliar pulse of longing seemed to be emanating from her feminine core.
"So, should we try again?" Aang inquired after a pause, not looking at her.
"Why don't you catch your breath for a minute first?" she recommended, desperately trying to do that herself. "I feel a sudden urge to swim."
Without waiting for his response, Katara dove into the embrace of her element, willing the ocean's coolness to quench the fire that was flaring up inside her.
Sokka reclined lazily on the beach the next morning, staring at the sky, when his reverie was rudely interrupted by his sister stalking past him, muttering to herself.
"She's going about it all wrong!" Katara exploded at last. "Aang needs gentle correction and encouragement, not shouting and…and drilling!"
She said the last word as though it were a curse. Sokka sighed and sat up, resigning himself to the end of his solitude. Katara had been on another part of the island to watch as Toph commenced Aang's earthbending instruction. Iroh and Zuko were working on firebending somewhere else. Sokka had been quite happy to not have anything to do or anywhere to run for a little while, but Katara seemed incapable of relaxing. Even now, she was pacing back and forth, the surf bubbling a little with her agitation.
"Maybe I should just talk to her. You know, teacher to teacher?"
"I don't think you should interfere," Sokka said cautiously. "There might be more than one right way to teach, after all." Katara whirled on him, making him wince reflexively.
"Oh, so you're taking her side now?" she flared.
"No, I'm on Aang's side," he shot back, a little more forcefully than he'd intended. "Aren't you?"
At first, Katara seemed taken aback by this suggestion. Then she deflated, and her anger evaporated.
"Of course I am," she answered quietly. There was silence for several seconds.
"Katara, sit down." Sokka was somewhat surprised to see her obey almost immediately. He hadn't used the "big brother" tone on her in years, but it was gratifying to know that it still worked. He filed that away for future reference.
"All I'm saying is that earth is very different from water and air," he went on. "Maybe it needs to be taught a different way."
"I guess earth could be considered air's opposite, like fire is to water," Katara acknowledged grudgingly.
"Exactly. I've watched you and Aang a lot over the past few months, and the ways you move aren't really all that different. Air and water are kind of similar, when you think about it. They're both nearly always in motion, so all you guys are doing is redirecting that motion the way you want.
"Earth, though, is naturally solid and unmoving. An earthbender's focus has to be on getting something to move that doesn't really 'want' to."
"There are earthquakes," Katara pointed out, though she sounded rather half-hearted about it.
"Yeah, but those are rare," Sokka dismissed. He paused as he thought of something else. "You might even say that air and water complement each other. I mean, the water is full of air, and the air is full of water."
"Wait – did you just say the air is full of water?" Katara asked, perking up suddenly.
"Sure," Sokka shrugged, not sure where she was going with this. "We call it humidity, but it's really tiny drops of water suspended --"
He broke off when he saw that he had lost her. Frowning in concentration, Katara rose to her feet and stretched her hands above her head. She closed her eyes and began moving her arms around in a sort of whirling pattern. When she was done, a ball of water about the size of two fists hovered between her hands. Sokka raised his eyebrows.
"That could be useful," he commented, trying not to sound too impressed. Katara nodded.
"It takes a while, so it's not the best in a fight, but at least we know I don't necessarily need a body of water to work with," she said. "Maybe I'll get faster the more I practice. I wonder why I've never heard of anyone doing this before."
Sokka considered this.
"Well, most waterbenders historically live at the North or South Poles," he mused. "There isn't really any humidity to speak of there, so maybe it just never occurred to them."
"I guess," Katara said, playing with her new-found water. Then she brightened. "I can't wait to show Aang!"
Sokka smiled to himself. He was sure that Aang's first impulse on mastering an earthbending skill would be to show Katara.
"Is something funny?" Katara asked him. Sokka chided himself internally for allowing his amusement at the dance between his sister and Aang to show.
"Oh, just thinking about how similar you and Aang are sometimes," he said casually. Then, to deflect further questions, he continued his earlier dissertation. "Anyway, as I was saying, there's also the personal aspect to consider. Your relationship with Aang is completely different from Toph's."
"What do you mean?" Katara asked, just a little too quickly.
Got you, sis, Sokka thought. For the moment, however, he let it slide.
"I only mean that you and Aang were friends before you became his teacher," Sokka said aloud. "Toph specifically joined us to teach him." Then, because he simply couldn't resist any longer, he added, "Why? What did you think I meant?"
"Oh, nothing. Just that," she mumbled, but he noted the faint blush showing in her tan cheeks.
Of course, there's also the fact that Aang is in love with you and would do anything to please you, Sokka thought but did not voice. Personally, he felt that was the primary reason Aang was such a good student for Katara. Having a little experience in that vein himself, Sokka could well believe that receiving a smile from the girl in front of you could provide much more motivation than an abstract like destiny, or even a distant goal like facing the Fire Lord.
At least her embarrassment provided him with a little more quiet time as she practiced her new skill. A few hours later, however, Sokka's presumption about Aang proved correct when he came barreling down the beach.
"Katara!" Aang shouted, getting her attention. "Look what I can do!" He cast around for a moment, then walked up to a large rock sitting up the shore a ways, and moved it with earthbending.
"That's great!" Katara complimented, all concerns about Toph's teaching methods apparently forgotten. "I knew you could do it. I've learned something new, too." She proceeded to show him how she could pull water how of the air.
"Awesome!" Aang said, impressed. "Do you think I could learn to do that?"
"Maybe, but I really think you should focus on earthbending for the next few days."
That settles it; they're both hopeless, Sokka sighed inwardly. Still, he figured it was easier to deal with them in this awkward, blushy stage than to try and keep them out of each other's sleeping bags. He shuddered a little at that. He could observe that his sister was growing up, but he didn't have to like it.
Author's Note: Okay, that's about as T-rated as I'm likely to get. I made up the waterbending stuff introduced here. I just thought they sounded cool.
Review responses:
Azada: Thanks a lot. My view of romance is that it should be subtle hints, gradually growing the relationship. I hope this chapter didn't go too far for you. I kind of liked the idea of introducing a hormonal Katara.
Ataraia: See above. No, I will be skipping all the remaining canon episodes and doing things my own way. I included Blind Bandit because it made sense. I may use some of the information in other episodes, like details from Zuko's past, and you may see a recycled line of dialogue here and there, but the main plot events will not actually be occurring.
Abc…: Thanks, that was one of my favorite lines as well. It was partially inspired by a line in the book Guardians of the West by David Eddings.
denythefreshmaker: Okay, here's the next chapter. Next one in a week.
Ari-Griffin, MyrmidonGuy, loaned, Brix: No specific comments. Just thank you for reading, and I'm glad you're enjoying it.