Author's Note: A few more to go! This was one of the easiest ones to write, so I hope it's all in character and you guys like it as much as I enjoyed writing it. ATLA is owned by MDD and BK.

After: Bitter Work

If the fate of the world hung upon his ability to defeat the Fire Lord using nothing but earthbending, Aang figured it would be faster to ride to the Fire Lord's palace and surrender right now. Never throughout his extensive training had he experienced such a unique challenge. After a tense run-in with a moose lion and an even tenser run-in with his Earthbending master, his skill level was progressing, but on the whole he would say that he did not take to Earthbending the way he had taken to Air and Water bending.

Much of his life had been spent under the tutelage of bending masters who were as good teachers as they were benders. Gyatso and Katara were much alike in their temperament as trainers, and Aang had flourished under their instruction. His two previous masters gave him a near constant stream of compliments and constructive criticism. They celebrated his successes as if the successes were their own, and gently reminded him that failure was inherent in learning.

Where Gyatso and Katara had been gentle and patient, Toph was loud and demanding. Where Gyatso and Katara praised leaps in learning and reaching new milestones, Toph acted as though this was expected. With Toph, meeting expectations wasn't worth praising- it was doing the bare minimum.

In order to keep up with his Earthbending master, he pushed himself harder in his training than he ever had before. He rose early every morning to practice stances and basic forms. He stayed up late to master the latest move Toph had told him he should already know. He sat in quiet meditation, away from the others, so that he could truly get a feel for 'waiting and listening'. When they weren't riding Appa, he was barefoot. When they weren't sleeping, he was training. He'd never dedicated so much of himself to a bending discipline.

As a result, every muscle in Aang's body was sore. Even his brain was sore. Although he was making progress in his Earthbending, it seemed as though it was coming at the expense of his body and mind. So when Katara offered to do a quick healing session in the cool water of a nearby river one evening, he leapt at the opportunity.

Stripping off his shirt and trousers, he slowly, gingerly, lowered himself to the bank of the river, careful of his sore muscles. His lower legs sunk into the clear water, and he reveled in the sensation as the water sped past him. Behind him, he heard the muffled thump of clothing dropping to the ground. Soft footsteps heralded Katara's approach, and she walked gracefully into the water, the white wrappings of her underclothes a stark contrast against her smooth, dark skin.

"Alright," she said, turning to him, arms moving sinuously to gather up water. "Where does it hurt the most?"

"Where doesn't it hurt?" he grumbled.

"A look of concern crossed her face, and she lowered her arms, dropping the bended water. "Aang," she said gently. "Are you alright? I'm impressed with how… thoroughly… you've dedicated yourself to learning Earthbending, but you're going to wear yourself out. You're not indestructible."

"I know," he answered, staring at his feet in the water. The way the water refracted light as it ran over him caused his feet to warp and shrink into strange shapes.

After a while, he took note of Katara's conspicuous silence and looked up at her. She was watching him thoughtfully, almost pityingly. He couldn't stand it.

"Look, I know you're worried about me. I appreciate it." He put his hand over his heart, as if to prove how genuine he felt. "I have to do this, though. Earthbending isn't like Air or Water. It's been… really challenging."

She waded through the water and knelt before him. "Aang, I know you feel like you have to do this perfectly from the start, but you don't, ok?" Her hand came to rest on his shoulder. "You've come so far in just over a week. If you keep running yourself into the ground, you're going to exhaust yourself. You won't be at your best. How can you learn if you're too exhausted?"

"What do you want me to do?" he asked. "I can't stop. The comet is only a few months away."

"I'm not saying stop. I'm saying give yourself a break. What if we slept in a bit tomorrow morning? What if you skipped the practice and we had a late breakfast?"

"Toph says that if I don't get my stances right, I might as well just give up right now," Aang countered tonelessly.

"Well, Toph can be patient and take a break just like the rest of us," Katara said firmly. Under her breath, she muttered, "She should have noticed that you're exhausted, anyway." Her hand went from his shoulder to his cheek. "Please, Aang. For me?"

It was if she knew that she would get what she wanted if she phrased her question this way. Aang was putty in her capable hands. "Okay," he sighed.

He was rewarded with a warm smile. "Good. Now, who's ready for some healing?" she said, standing.

An hour later, Aang felt much better. The healing water had soothed his sore muscles, and allowing himself to relax and let Katara do her work had made a great improvement on his mood. He stood by the creek, letting the gentle breeze rush over him for a moment before pulling on his trousers and shirt.

"Do you feel better after your bath time, Twinkle-Toes?"

Aang jumped, suppressing a startled yelp. Toph stood a foot behind him.

"I do," he answered testily. "Thank you for asking."

"Katara told me you were feeling run down."

"….I guess I did. Is that a question?"

Toph shrugged. "I should have noticed you need more breaks than I do. I don't know why I thought you could dive right in to being a proficient Earthbender. I guess even the Avatar needs rest." Toph said all of this in a mildly disinterested tone, as if she were discussing the weather, instead of simultaneously apologizing and insulting him.

"Thank you," he said cautiously.

"You're welcome," she answered. Then, "Does Katara know you're in love with her?"

There was a long pause. Aang blinked incredulously. They had been talking about Earthbending two seconds ago.

All he could think to say was, "What?"

"Katara," Toph repeated, as if he were hard of hearing. "Does she know you're in love with her?"

Aang's heart started to pound. "I'm not- what makes you say… I'm not in love with her!"

"Twinkle-Toes," she sighed, exasperated, "I can hear your heartbeat, remember? Whenever she walks near you, or talks to you, or flutters her little eyelashes at you, or even breathes in your general direction, your heart sounds like a herd of stampeding ostrich-horses." Her face took on a smug expression. "You should have heard it while she was healing you. And it sounds like that right now, too."

Aang crossed his arms over his chest. Was he in love with Katara?

His feelings for Katara were intense and complex, that much he knew for certain, but he had never applied the word 'love' to them. The emotions he experienced when he thought of her were strong and deep-rooted; they existed almost independently of whatever word was used to describe them. It was just… her. They were part of being around her, but he knew she was so much more than what he felt about her. She was warm, and kind. Strong, and feminine. A powerful bender, with a powerful temper. Fiercely protective, and loyal to a fault.

Love seemed too mundane a word. He was enthralled, captivated.

If Gyatso were here, he knew that the monk would advise caution and reflection with regards to strong feelings like these. There had once been two young Airbenders who had fallen in love early in their training, around the ages of fifteen, and sought a union. Aang had thought it was sweet, but the Airbender monks had urged them to temper their love, to reflect and be patient. "They are young yet," Gyatso had said when Aang had asked him why, "and they cannot yet know what it is to feel with the complexity of their entire being.

But what else was loving with the whole of your being, other than accepting the other person, unconditionally? Did one have to be thirty years old to know that they are in love with someone? Aang wasn't thirty, but he was certain that he would never feel about someone else the way he felt about Katara.

"Okay," he answered finally. "Yea, I love Katara. And, no, she doesn't know. Are you going to tell her?"

"Why would I tell her?" Toph asked, picking her nose and flicking it at him.

Aang clenched his fists, frustrated. "I don't know. Why did you ask in the first place?"

"Oh, that," Toph said, laughing lightly. "I was making sure you didn't have a condition. Back home, one of the maid's heart rate would increase every time Lee, our gardener, used to come by to give my dad his monthly bill. I thought she was in love with him, but it turned out she was allergic to grass and he was always covered in clippings."

"Maybe I'm allergic to grass."

"Too late, you already admitted it." She laughed again. "This is so like you, though. How predictable of you to be in love with your Waterbending master."

"How would you know what's 'like me', Toph? It's been ten days since you joined us. You barely know me."

"I know you're in love with your Waterbending master," she answered in a sing-song voice.

"Would you rather I be in love with my Earthbending master?"

A horrified expression crossed Toph's face, and she made a gagging noise. "Don't even joke like that," she said, punching him in the arm.