The next morning, there was a small breakfast held at the palace for the special guests and Council. Katara and Aang managed to avoid each other the whole time, but that didn't stop them from sneaking glances in the other's direction. When the breakfast was over, Hakoda and the other members of the Council wished the search group good luck. Then, they headed out to the stables to board Appa.

Once they reached the stables, they started to load Appa. That was when Nuka appeared. "Hey guys, I was wanting to let you know that I am still available to help you look for the spirit."

Sokka opened his mouth to tell Nuka that they didn't need any extra help, but Aang spoke too quickly. He said, "Well, we do have room for one more."

Quickly, Katara announced, "No you don't because I'm coming."

Sokka gawked at her. "Oh, no, you are not."

She rolled her eyes at her overprotective brother. "What if one of you gets injured and needs healing. I brought a vial of Spirit Water." Katara held up the very same necklace that once held the Spirit Water that saved Aang. It was a gift from Pakku that she kept from all those years ago.

"Katara," Aang started gently. "Are you well enough to fight?" In response to his question, Katara summoned a water whip and fiercely smacked him in the back of the head. "Ouch! I'll take that as a yes."

Then, she turned to glare at Sokka. "You've only been awake for one day. That might be too much for you."

"Then we'll use me as bait. We know that the spirit dislikes me."

"Then we'll have to spend all of our time protecting you!" As soon as he said the words, Sokka regretted them. The next thing he knew, he was frozen to a wall within the stables.

Mai let out a monotone chuckle. "I think she can protect herself."

"Katara! Put me down!" Sokka yelled to her.

Katara rolled her eyes again before melting the ice that encased her brother. She turned to Nuka. "Thanks for the offer, Nuka, but we got it covered."

Cocky as ever, Nuka couldn't resist saying, "I think I'd be more help than an injured woman."

"Okay... Nuka, was it?" Zuko said stepping in using his Firelord voice. "We will be fine without your help. Thank you. You are excused."

Nuka scuffed before taking a few steps towards Katara. "It's okay, Princess. I'll be here to lick your wounds when you get back."

Furious, Katara sent hundreds of sharp ice spears towards Nuka and suspended them in the air in front of him like she did when she confirmed the man who killed her mother. "Get out!" She hissed.

Terrified, Nuka finally followed her orders and left the tables.

Katara released the spears into water, and they fell to the floor with a splash! She turned to everyone else in the room. "Anyone else have an objection about my abilities?"

Unanimously, they all shook their heads no.

While Mai and Zuko climbed onto Appa, Katara and Sokka said their goodbyes to Suki. Once she had left, Katara walked over the Appa and handed her belongings to Zuko. Then, Sokka helped her up.


They had found nothing unusual by the time the sun had begun to set. They spotted their first herd of buffalo yak and decided to set up camp about a mile away. This way they could monitor the herd's surroundings without disrupting the animals. While it was amazing to ride on Appa again and soar through the skies, it felt even better to stand on the ground and stretch their legs.

Aang, Sokka, and Katara began to set up their individual tents while Mai started a fire with the wood they had brought along. Zuko set up a tent for the both of them. Dinner was cooked and served, and the group and settled down to tell stories of their old adventures.

While she had a relatively painless day on top of Appa, Katara immediately retired to her tent to heal herself and get some more rest.

After a few hours, Katara awoke from one of her favorite dreams. She was standing beneath a waterfall bathing, and a certain someone was helping her apply soap to the various parts of her body. Strangely enough, nothing like this had ever happened during their three years of dating, so Katara was alway unsure of why the dream kept showing up in her mind.

She tosses and turned for while before deciding that sleep was useless. It was a full moon after all. Instead, she pulled on her fur coat and unzipped her tent. The fire still had some glowing embers left, so Katara added a smaller log and proceeded to coax it back to life. It was small, but it was enough for one person.

As she sat there, Katara reflected on how much she had changed over the last three years. She was not the same girl that she was when she was dating Aang. She had matured and grown as a person, waterbending master, and princess. She was proud but humble. Kind but clever. Powerful but polite... most of the time. She had felt more alive in the last few years than she did her entire life... except for when she met Aang and traveled the world with him.

He told her that he wanted to talk about things, but what did they really have to talk about? He cheated on her, and it was all in the past now. They had both moved on, kind of... They hadn't seen, spoken, or written to each other in three years. What could they possibly have to talk about?

Katara sighed to herself as she smothered an ash that landed on her boot. The Aang she knew would undoubtedly ask for her forgiveness because he couldn't live with such a heavy burden on his conscious, but Katara didn't know if she could forgive him. While the past was in the past, she had always held a grudge against the Avatar for never making things right between them. Was that what he was here to do now?

Well, she thought to herself. He's three years too late. No, she didn't mean that. He was a hundred years too late to stopping the war, but he was able to make things right in the end. It even lead to them meeting. So, maybe he's not three years too late. Maybe he's just in time.

She heard a tent unzip to her left. It was Aang's. While he didn't usually sleep in tents, it was winter in the South Pole, and the temperatures were way below what an airbender or firebender could handle. He and Zuko were wearing heavy coats to shield them from tundra.

And that's what he was wearing now. Aang stepped out of his tent wearing a typical blue coat minus the fur. Katara had to admit to herself that he looked good in her tribe's clothes and colors. When he saw her standing there, he said, "I thought I heard someone out here," with a friendly smile.

Katara stared at him for a moment before returning her gaze to the fire. Aang carefully took a seat beside her but not too close.

They sat in silence for a several minutes before Aang spoke again, "Um...Do you mind if we have that talk now?"

Katara kept her eyes on the fire. She should have known that Aang would be awake because of the full moon. "What is there to talk about?" She said keeping her voice emotionless.

Aang took a deep breath and released it slowly. He knew this was going to be hard, but he figured it would be less difficult after last night. Why was she suddenly giving him the cold shoulder again? "I know that you probably hate me, but-"

She quickly cut him off. "I don't hate you," she mumbled.

"Well then, you strongly dislike me."

Katara tore her eyes away from the fire to meet Aang's. They were tired and sadder than before. "Hating or 'strongly disliking' you doesn't change what happened." That was something Katara had thought about for a while. Nothing she felt for him would change what he did to her. She couldn't have loved him more, and she couldn't have hated him less now. It was history.

"I suppose you're right," he told her with melancholy in her voice. "I am sorry about what happened."

Katara looked away from him again. This was too much, and tears threatened her to spill down her cheeks. "Me too."

Confused, he asked, "What do you have to be sorry for?"

"If one thing had been different, like me stopping you from going out, then none of this would have happened."

Aang was silent for a moment as he processed her words. While that was more than likely true, it was something they would never know. "Don't think like that. It wasn't your fault. It was mine."

Katara nodded at the truth behind his words. "You just... left. You never came back, and you never wrote."

"I didn't think you wanted to hear from me after what I did to you. It might be the Air Nomad in me, but I thought I had to stay away."

Katara scoffed. "You're nineteen years old and still using that excuse."

Aang looked surprised at her boldness. So much for niceties, he thought in his head. "It's my nature to run, flee."

"It's a choice," Katara said firmly. "You made a choice to leave and never come back."

"I'm here now," he offered weakly.

Katara looked at suddenly with tears gathering in her bitter eyes. "You're here for the tribe, not me."

Aang swallowed hard. Although he didn't know that Katara was injured, part of him was excited to see her again when he received Sokka's letter. "I'm here for you too, Katara. I was hoping I could make things right between us."

A single tear escaped her right eye, and she quickly wiped it away along with the others blurring her vision. "How?"

Her response shocked him, but then again, Katara had always been full of surprises. He expected her to challenge him or make him work for it. Instead, she simply wanted to know how he was going to fix things. Finally, he answered, "First, I'm going to take care of the spirit that hurt you. Then, I hope to earn your forgiveness and win back your trust."

"How long are you going to stay?"

Again, her question stumped him. He decided to answer her honestly. "Well, the world is doing fine at the moment, and the Air Alycotes are adjusting well. I can stay for as long as it takes."

His answer made her heart swell and break at the same time. She was happy to hear that he was willing to stay in the South Pole for her. Then, she was saddened by the loss of his people once again. She had heard about the Air Alycotes through gossip, and her heart hurt knowing that it would be the closest thing he would ever have to his people.

Wanting to make the conversation lighter, Katara teased, "What about your girlfriend? Won't she miss you?" Her own words made her heart pound in anticipation. Did she really want to know the answer? What if he had moved on?

Aang let out a forced chuckle and responded with, "No, there's no girlfriend." Katara's heart soared and a tiny smile graced her lips. "What about your boyfriend? He won't mind having me around?"

The smile was replaced with a confused look as Katara's brow became knitted. Boyfriend? "Nope, no boyfriend."

"Not that Nuka kid?"

Katara had to stop herself from laughing loudly. If she had responded the way she wanted to, she would have woken the rest of their camp. "No," she giggled so hard it made her wounds hurt. "Not without many, many attempts though."

Aang smiled at her reaction. It was exactly what he wanted to hear. "Good because I didn't like him very much."

"I don't like him either," she giggled again while clutching her side in pain.

"Are you okay?" He was making that concerned look again that gave Katara's stomach butterflies.

"I'm fine," she said brushing him off. It felt good to be laughing with him again.

"You know," he started. "I heard many rumors about you getting betrothed, and when I saw you two dancing, I assumed it was him."

Katara rolled her eyes at Aang's hint of jealousy and decided to play with him a little. "I've gotten a couple proposals... Well, a lot actually."

Aang's eyes narrowed slightly, but she still caught it. "Why haven't you accepted one?"

Katara shrugged her shoulders. "None of them have been the right guy."

"How do you know? Surely there was once man that made a remarkable impression," Aang asked her thinking two can play at that game.

Katara's smugness disappeared as she remembered the only other man besides Aang that made her feel something. She knew that he wanted her to tell him that he was meant to be with her, but she wasn't ready to admit it yet. She opted to tell him the truth instead. "There was this one man that Mai set me up with. He was a Fire Nation nobleman's son. On our third date, he pulled out a betrothal necklace. Before he could ask me, he was killed in a surprise attack by Ozai supporters."

In a solemn voice, Aang asked her, "Would you have said yes?"

"No," she answered quickly. It was something she had thought a lot about. "I don't think I would have."

"Why not?" Aang asked trying to mask the happiness in his voice.

Katara met Aang's gaze and replied, "When we visited Aunt Wu's village, she gave me a fortune that I never forgot." She briefly paused to debate whether she should tell him or not. She hadn't told anyone before. "She told me I was going to marry a very powerful bender. Ling was not a bender."

Aang's pulse quickened at the mention of her fortune. He remembered eavesdropping on her session. At the time, he assumed it would be him. Like who could be more powerful than the Avatar? But after that fateful night, he reconsidered. He ruined that destiny, and he knew it.

Silence engulfed the pair until Katara let out a small gasp. Again, her side was throbbing.

Suddenly, an idea came to Aang. "Hey Katara, do you want me to give you a healing session?"

His question threw her for a second. She gave him bewildered expression. "You want to heal me? The last time I remember teaching you to heal, you weren't very good at it."

Her comment made him laugh. "Yes, well patience is not my strong suit, but I had an idea. Since your accident was caused by a spirit and Spirit Water brought you back to life, do you think I, the bridge between the two worlds, could fully heal you?"

Katara opened her mouth to respond, but nothing came out. She hadn't thought of that. "I don't know, Aang. Besides, we only have a little bit of Spirit Water. We shouldn't waste it on me."

"I wouldn't need the Spirit Water," he told her with enthusiasm. "I could use the Avatar State! I can even ask a healer for help."

She thought about it for a second and came to the conclusion that it couldn't hurt to try. "Sure, let's try it."

Aang could hardly contain his excitement as he followed Katara back to her tent. He felt like this would be a big step in gaining her forgiveness. If he could heal her, maybe she would hate- or dislike- him less.

Aang's smile dropped as she watched her remove her coat. In order to heal her, Katara was going to have to expose her injury... and expose her skin to him. Aang gulped when he realized what that being that close to Katara's bare skin could do to him. Luckily, Katara was still wearing her white wrappings, but they left little to the imagination.

As she removed the bandages around her abdomen, Aang braced himself for a gruesome sight. He was rather surprised when all he was greeted with were three large bruises. They were purple and ugly, but Aang didn't mind. Nothing could take Katara's beauty away.

Katara was equally as nervous as Aang. She was reminded of the first time Aang had ever seen her naked. That was the night they made love for the first time. She quickly coughed to clear her dirty mind.

Aang had also heard her cough and took it as a signal to get the healing session started. He closed his eyes and entered the Avatar state, calling upon a particular afterlife.

After a few seconds, the air in the tent began to swirl. Aang's body was replaced with a woman wearing vintage water tribe robes. She had two large hair loopies on each side of her head. Slowly, she gathered snow from outside the tent and melted it to cover her hands. It began to glow.

The healing process was surprisingly soothing once Katara had calmed down from the appearance of her healer. It was so calming, it lulled her to sleep.

When the healing Avatar was done, Aang transformed back into his own body. He didn't know how long he was gone, but Katara was sleeping peacefully in front of him. He beamed at the sight of her perfect skin free of the bruises. Slowly, Aang rose. His body was sore from the position he was in for so long, but he didn't care. He gently covered her with blanket and made his way back to his own tent. There, he fell asleep without a problem.