Warnings: Er, nothing much, unless you find penguin sledding abusive and grossly offensive
Disclaimer: Avatar ain't mine, man
Pairing: Kataang, kinda fluffy...
Author's Note: Gah, haven written anything in so long. If you want an explanation for my absence, check the bottom of my profile. I guess this was born out of the first episode, when Aang and Katara go penguin sledding. My brother didn't like it, since its mostly just description, but I liked it, and I hope you do to!
It was difficult, growing up in the Southern Water tribe. Most other children were too old or too young to play, or too wrapped up in chores, like Sokka always was. Her brother dutifully went about his tasks, as everyone did, all day, everyday. The same routine at the same time everyday of every year.
There were precious, secret, stolen moments of happiness, when that small world was more than just survival from day to day. Those days she ran, like she never could and never thought she would, and the child's old life dissolved away, replaced by an alien reality. Pounding, tiny feet; excited breaths; and white, pure unadulterated white, cliffs and valleys and miles of it, stretched out far beyond the borders of all she had ever known. A laugh, a wild and carefree shriek of bliss, rang in the silent landscape.
Years later, when that place is just as cold and lonely and secret as it always was, Katara comes back, she sleds. The very same joy, a fierce savage joy in newfound freedom, is with her again. The snow and ice and sea are as pure as always, a thousand shades of blue, green, and white. Above, from any available gap in the tunnel, light washes through, shifting and changing constantly, growing and dimming and brightening, as if seen beneath water, beneath the waves. She hears only the hiss of ice speeding past, only laughter, unbidden and unbridled, in this quiet, sacred place. Her heart pounds, and her blue eyes are wide with happiness and exhilaration and the cool, sharp air, and she wishes this would never end.
She sees Aang from the corner of her eye and knows that precious, stolen moments mean so much more when they are shared.
AU: It's great to be back!