Chapter Twenty

Katara's Deception

Aang sat up, stretched, rubbed his eyes, and looked around. Sokka and Toph were still asleep but Katara's bed roll was empty. He stood up and looked around the camp, but he saw no sign of her. "Sokka! Toph! Wake up! I can't find Katara!" he said.

Sokka and Toph both jumped up out of bed and looked around. "She can't have gone far Aang, Appa is still here," said Sokka, pointing at the large, white puff ball laying a few feet from them.

"Maybe she left because someone said we wouldn't need her!" said Toph, punching Sokka hard in the arm.

"Hey! How was I supposed to know she'd take off!?" Sokka said, now rubbing his arm.

"If you hadn't said that in the first place she'd still be here!" Toph said.

"Enough you two! Arguing isn't going to help us find her any faster!" Aang said. He turned and walked over to Appa. "I'm going on Appa to look for her," he said.

"Look for who?" came a voice from behind Appa.

Aang whirled around quickly. "Katara!" he yelled and ran to her, grabbing her and hugging her tightly. "We thought you left us!"

"No, I just got up early and went to the market that's nearby to pick up some food. I thought I'd be back before everyone woke up," Katara said. Aang was still hanging on tight to her.

"Well Toph, I think you owe someone an apology," Sokka said.

"You're right. I'm sorry Sokka," she paused.

"Than-"

"I'm sorry you are such a jerk," Toph finished.

"Hey!" Sokka said.

"Guys! Stop! I'm back now. Quit fighting," Katara said, walking over to the fire pit to attempt to start the fire. "I'm going to start breakfast," she said, building up some of the left over kindling and wood from the previous night. When it was done she began clicking some spark rocks together.

Aang walked over to Katara and sat down next to her. "Katara? Can we talk about last night?"

Katara, still attempting to light the fire, said nothing at first. Oh no... Had he heard me screaming last night? She said to herself. "What do you mean Aang?" she asked, acting like she had no idea what he meant.

"You know what I mean Katara. About what Sokka said last night and about Khundes," Aang said.

"There's nothing to talk about. I know Sokka didn't mean it and I know wanting to go after Khundes is out of the question to you guys," Katara said.

"I never said going after Khundes was out of the question. I just agreed that it wouldn't be safe to go after him right now," Aang said.

"If it were Sokka, Toph, or I you'd go rescue us without thinking twice. No matter how the situation was at the time," Katara said.

"It's different Katara," Aang said, rubbing the back of his head slightly and looking down to the ground.

"How is it different? Each one of us has saved each others neck more than once and Khundes did it in a really big way. Why can't we just go get him back?" Katara said, beginning to click the spark rocks together harder.

Aang looked from the ground to Katara's face. Tears were welling up in her eyes. He put his hand hers and she stopped clicking the rocks together. "None of us were being kept in the heart of the Fire Nation in a heavily guarded prison," he said.

The tears that had been welling in her eyes began streaming down her face. She turned and flung her arms around Aang. "What if he's being tortured Aang? I can't bear the thought of him being hurt on our account..." she trailed off.

"If he is being tortured, then he knew what he'd be going through by sacrificing himself for us," Aang said.

Katara pulled away and looked at Aang. "He didn't do it for us Aang. He did it for you. So you could save the world. I think you don't want him back because you are still scared to fire bend and that is exactly what he was going to teach you to do," she said.

"How could you say that Katara? I was going to start! I even did bend some fire!" Aang said.

Katara gave the spark rocks another hard click and wood in the fire pit lit up. "Breakfast will be ready in thirty minutes," she said, not looking at Aang now. "Go pass the message on to Sokka and Toph."

Aang realized that his attempt to comfort Katara was futile. "I'm sure he's ok," Aang said, standing and walking away from Katara.

The day slowly turned to night without another mention of Khundes. Aang had tried repeatedly to make Katara feel better throughout the day to no avail. His last attempt came just before bed that night. "Katara look. Khundes risked his life to save us. I don't think he'd want us to go after him. His sacrifice would have been in vain if we go to rescue him and get killed in the process," Aang said.

"Aang just stop. I understand that you think its suicide. I already told you that I'm not going. Give it a rest," Katara said.

"I'm not saying it would be suicide. What I'm trying to say is that it would be a poor way to repay Khundes," Aang said.

"Forget it Aang! I'm not going to do anything except go to bed! Good night," Katara said and stormed off to where he bed roll lay out.

Later that night, after she was sure everyone was asleep, Katara stood up quietly, filled a bag with a few supplies and walked quietly over to Appa, who opened his eyes and looked at her. "We are going to get Khundes back Appa," she said quietly to him.

"Not without me you aren't," came a voice from behind Katara.

Katara turned around. "No Toph. This is something that I need to do alone," she said.

"Katara you don't have a choice. Technically Khundes saved my butt twice. Besides, if you don't let me come I'll just wake up Aang and he'll stop you," Toph said, a sly smirk appearing on her face.

Katara sighed. "Fine. You can come," she said then smirked. "I might need someone who can metalbend."

"Glad to be of service!" Toph said and still smirking, she climbed into the saddle on Appa's back.

Katara climbed onto Appa's head and grabbed the reins. "Just so you know Toph, we might be in for one heck of a fight," Katara said.

Toph's smirk widened. "The more fight the better!"

Katara smiled. "Yip yip," she said and Appa took off up into the night sky.