A/N: Well… for those 353 of you who have already read this chapter since I first posted it three days ago… I decided to do some pretty big revisions to the battle scene. After a very helpful review from ScorpioRed112 (much thanks), I realized why it was that I was so dissatisfied with this chapter! So I've "uped the anty" a little on this one and added some more meat to the fight scene. I've also added a little bulk in other parts of the chapter where I just thought that it needed something more, but rest assured that the story line has not changed in any form or fashion. :)
Avatar Demonstrations
Fourteen.
That's the number of Water-tribe ocean-colored eyes that were currently situated on him in eager anticipation. He smiled, scanning the training grounds with a skilled eye and feeling a warm sensation in his chest when he spotted the area where Katara had fainted the previous day. He sighed, straightening his posture and feeling himself naturally transform into what Zuko had jokingly dubbed his Lord Avatar Role. It was a role he had adopted after attending countless political affairs and celebrations. His shoulders heightened and his chin set as one such pair of eyes turned their attention to the group…
"Class, as I'm sure you've already noticed…" Katara began in natural teacher fashion, six mouths shutting abruptly and all incoherent whispering ceasing, "We have a very special guest with us today. We are very lucky to have him here and I want you all to give a warm welcome to Avatar Aang."
The whispering started again, Kya and Tantu seemingly in the middle of it all. Aang suppressed a grin as a few words stumbled to his ears… "Avatar"… "Training"… "Wedding"…
The majority of the class consisted of students between the ages of thirteen and sixteen expect, of course, for Kya and Tantu, whom Aang had learned earlier to both be eleven. It seemed their Waterbending prowess had surpassed that of the children their age, and they had rightfully been advanced to study with the older kids only a few weeks ago. As he approached the front of the class, he noticed a group of three older girls huddled together, giggling and blushing. One even went as far as winking and blowing a kiss at him.
Aang cleared his throat and diverted his attention from the girl as he spoke to the class, the whispers again dying off abruptly. "Thank you Master Katara," he addressed formally, feeling fully submerged in the Lord Avatar Role, despite the girls' best winks and blushes.
Katara smiled with a certain glint of surprise, seemingly startled with his sudden change in posture as he continued, "I have come to your class today on behalf of your instructor, Master Katara, to do a short demonstration…"
"Not the marble thing again!" Tantu groaned, pouting his lower lip out and kicking at the snow with his mukluks.
Katara sent a disproving frown at the young boy and Aang smiled light-heartedly. "No Tantu… I promise I won't do the marble trick again." Tantu sighed as the winking girl perked up.
"I wouldn't mind seeing your marble trick!"
Aang chuckled nervously before continuing, "Well thanks. But, actually… I want to start out with the training that I know you've been learning for the past few weeks. Would anyone like to volunteer to show me a move that they've learned this week?"
The winking girl didn't miss a beat. "I will!"
Aang's eyes widened, looking to Katara helplessly and missing the entertained grin slowly making its way across her face. "Uh, ok…" he started as the girl squealed excitedly and made her way to the front of the class to stand beside him. "And what's your name?" he asked, slowly resituating into his Lord Avatar Role.
"Rio," she replied eagerly.
"Ok Rio, why don't you show us something that you've learned recently?"
Rio beamed at him, staring longer than he felt comfortable with before she addressed the class. "This is what Master Katara went over with us yesterday and I've been working on it all night." She lifted her arms out in front of her steadily, drew a deep breath, and in one smooth movement, twirled around and glided her arms around her body to shoot a wall of ice up from the snow.
Aang nodded approvingly, "That's great Rio. That's a fantastic defensive maneuver, but how can you use that against an opponent?"
Rio pondered the question with a thoughtful expression before shrugging her shoulders.
Aang smiled at her briefly before fixing his eyes on the wall of ice and drawing his arms in large sweeping motions in front of him. In fluid movements, long thin sheets of sharp ice flew from the wall and crashed against the cliff face behind it, tiny shards of crystal ice showering to the snow from the impact.
Rio's eyes lit up and the class gasped excitedly, clapping enthusiastically. "Wow Avatar Aang," she exclaimed with extra emphasis on "Avatar"… and "Aang"… and "wow". She clasped her hands in front of her and batted her eyelashes flirtatiously, "That was amazing…"
Aang laughed rather nervously as he, again, sent a desperate uneasy look towards Katara.
Katara clamped a hand over her mouth to keep her laughter to herself. "The Avatar… defender of the world… afraid of a fangirl of all things…" she thought as Aang shifted his eyes uncomfortably.
He cleared his throat and quickly diverted his attention back to the class as Rio winked at him again, "Does anyone else have something they want to show?"
He was relieved when Tantu raised his hand eagerly, "I do!"
The next half hour went by quickly as each student showed off a move that they had perfected and Aang showed them how to advance their move to the next step. At the end of thirty minutes he had earned their respect, trust, and admiration easily. He'd also earned special attention from Rio and her two friends, which only served to entertain Katara even more with each eyelash batted and each kiss blown.
She could remember a time when any attention Aang got from other girls would cause her insides to twist as she shrugged off any snide comments from her brother. One such moment from the night of Aang's dance party still stood vividly in her mind.
But now, for some reason she didn't understand, she found a corrupt pleasure in his uneasiness as the girls giggled, hanging on his every word and touching his arms at every chance they got. It seemed that he almost deserved his discomfort as he made awkward small talk with the three girls. However, his several helpless 'save me' glances did not go unnoticed, and after she thought he had had enough torture she decided it was time to bring the class to an end.
But before she could speak up, Tantu interrupted her, his wirery prepubescent voice reaching her ears above all others. "Hey Avatar! I bet Master Katara could probably beat you in a duel!"
"Tantu, I don't think the Avatar is concerned about beating me in a duel anytime soon," Katara interjected nonchalantly.
Aang laughed as he stepped around Rio's group and walked over to where Katara and Tantu were standing, three very dejected frowns following his path. "I don't doubt that for a second Tantu, but your Sifu is way above childish duels with the Avatar." Aang grinned smugly at Katara, a familiar playful tease dancing in his eyes.
Katara crossed her arms across her chest good-naturedly. "And just what is that supposed to mean?" she asked, eyebrows raised.
Aang threw his hands up defensively, "Nothing… I'm just saying. Even if you did want to, you have much more important things to do…"
Katara huffed, smiling through her challenge, "Well, Avatar… I never said that I didn't want to." She grinned mischievously as she took her place beside him in front of the class, "It would do my students some good to see some real bending. I'm up for it if you are! Unless of course… you're scared…" she raised her eyebrows at him again letting him know that she was mostly teasing. Mostly…
Several "ooo's" came from the students as Aang matched her expression, accepting her challenge, "Well, in that case," he turned back to the class as the students gathered around them, "I suggest you all take notes."
Katara rolled her eyes lightheartedly as she lowered into a fighting stance, drawing a weave of water from the canteen at her hip. Aang grinned as he matched her stance, "And just to be fair, I'll only use Waterbending."
Katara chuckled, bending the water around her arms, "I'm not sure I'd call that fair, but it's your call."
Aang narrowed his eyes at her slyly, "Are you ready?"
Katara answered with a well-timed water whip. Aang dodged the attack, though not in typical nimble-Aang-fashion without his signature Airbending. He smirked at her after steadying his feet. "I guess that's a yes," he said as he quickly used his bending to send several ice daggers hurling towards Katara.
Katara used the move Rio had demonstrated earlier to send a wall of ice in the daggers' path. Several "oo's" and "ah's" rose from the students as they watched their lessons being used in a "real battle".
Aang found it most enjoyable when Katara then used his earlier advice to launch a few blades of ice at him. He couldn't help but grin as he easily dodged the projectiles. "Could it be that I've taught my old Sifu something new today?"
Katara laughed with a friendly smile. "Don't kid yourself," she replied as she drew a wall of water from the snow and hurled it at Aang. "That was originally my lesson for today. It seems that we have similar battle strategies after all!"
Aang grinned, parting the water and allowing it to crash down on either side of him, "You know what they say," he replied as he diverted the flow of water back at her, "Great minds think alike!"
For some reason she couldn't explain, Katara could feel her nerves pinching in her fingertips and her heart rate increasing prematurely as she froze the water in an arch of ice in front of her. She suddenly felt very annoyed by the smugly satisfied glint in Aang's eyes as he stared back at her, awaiting her retaliation.
Katara drew a deep breath, feeling her competitive nature taking a tone in her stance.
She ran up the arch of ice and slid down the tail end while simultaneously trying to freeze the snow under Aang's feet.
She managed to get one foot frozen to the snow before he realized what she was doing and caused the arch of ice to melt to water, sending Katara sprawling towards the snow. She regained her balance and landed on her feet easily.
Out of habit, Aang began warming up his hands to melt the ice boot attaching him to ground before Katara interjected.
"Uh uh uh! Remember… no Firebending!" she yelled teasingly.
Aang smiled in typical Aang-fashion, "Oh yeah… Oops!"
"We wouldn't want this fight to be unfair, now would we?" Katara smirked as she drew a rush of water from the snow around her and began launching it towards Aang.
He diverted the flow of water around his shoulders easily and sent it back towards Katara. It apparently caught her off-guard, because she barely had time to send the wave crashing to the snow before it crashed into her.
"Careful Sifu Katara!" he joked mockingly.
Katara's eyes turned to silver and blue slits as she shoved a few loose strands of hair behind her ears. With each attack, her anger seemed to grow, filling her mind with sudden thoughts of betrayal, loneliness, and the unmistakable feeling of being left behind. It was unnerving how calm the Avatar remained with each exchange, as if Aang hadn't noticed the six years of solitude he had shoved upon her unwillingly that night he broke his promise to her… How dare he break his promise to her…
As Aang busied himself with unfreezing the ice boot still holding him to the ground, Katara answered back with a set of water whips, suddenly feeling very set on wiping that uncharacteristically proud smirk off the Avatar's face. "I didn't know that you had spent so much time perfecting your Waterbending, Avatar," she replied with more edge apparent in her voice than she realized. "I guess you must have left that part out of your letters!"
Aang threw up his forearm to stop one of the water whips, while allowing the other one to wrap up his other arm, "I've just been working on a few moves, that's all," he answered as he pulled the whip from her grasp as the last bit of ice from the boot melded with the snow.
Katara felt a growl emitting from the back of her throat as she redirected the other whip out of Aang's grip, "Well, I guess a lot has happened in the past six years, huh?"
Aang shrugged. "I guess I've just learned a lot in the past few years Katara," he said with a confused expression setting in his brow and jaw-line, sending unnoticed nervous glances at the Master Sifu. "Are you feeling okay?"
"Well, maybe I would have known that if you'd have visited once or twice," Katara answered back as she came at him again with the water whip, her voice rising with each syllable. "But I guess the Avatar has much more important things to do than visit his peasant friends in the Southern Water Tribe village, huh?"
A look of realization crossed over Aang's features before he dodged her whip, though not effectively… as it slashed through the fabric of his parka, leaving a long hole of splintered fibers in its wake.
He groaned as he ran his fingers along the edge of the slit. "Katara, you know that's not true!" he answered as Katara assembled a spinning vortex of water to encircle them, separating them from the on-looking throng of students. "I never meant to hurt you!"
She drew her face into a frown, her brow creased in strong emotion, as the wall of water continued to spin around them. "It's fine! I'm fine! We're all fine!" she answered forcefully and rather hysterically.
Aang was speechless as the water around them began spinning violently. He drew a deep breath and froze the vortex so that it created a large ice dome over the two of them. The unshed tears in Katara's eyes didn't go unnoticed as he approached her, holding his hands out in front of him so that she knew he meant no harm. "Katara, I'm sorry… I didn't mean to leave you!"
Katara melted the ice dome around them, holding a long stream of water in her hand, ready for another water whip if needed. "I said I'm fine Aang…" she said bitterly, trying to hide the shaky uneasiness in her voice behind a façade of competitive anger. "You did what you had to…"
"But Katara…" Aang started, unsure of what he was going to say. He trailed off blankly as she drew a deep breath and unleashed her whip on him.
Aang retaliated with one of his own, intending to use his as a shield from her attack. "Katara… I…." he tried to finish his sentence with something suave and thoughtful that would let her know how hard it had been to stay away from her for so long, but his mind went blank as his whip connected with her stomach and sent her sprawling to the ground.
The students, and Aang, and Katara stared with blank expressions. It seemed that Master Katara, perhaps the strongest Bender in the Southern Village, had finally been defeated. She didn't know if it had been her unexpected emotional upset or the sudden whispers from the students that had distracted her, but she didn't anticipate the reciprocal attack that ended with her on her back in the snow. She grunted in frustration as she pounded a frustrated fist into the ground.
Aang was at her side in seconds as the students gasped in unison, "Katara, I'm so sorry! Are you alright?"
Katara sighed, exhaling a forced breath and tucking a few loose strands of hair behind her ears. "I'm fine," she repeated for a third time, fully aware of the vehement quality in her tone.
Aang opened his mouth to apologize again, but Katara turned to address her students before he could say anything, "Class is dismissed!" She ignored the groaning and moaning from her pupils, as well as Aang's outstretched hand to help her up. "Work on your ice walls for tomorrow's check off!" she said to the pouting class as they dispersed back up the hill towards the main building.
"Katara, I…"
"Aang, I have some parents I have to meet with during my lunch break," she lied as she got to her feet, brushing the snow from her parka and refilling the canteen on her hip as she suddenly couldn't wait to be alone. The tears in the corners of her eyes were dangerously close to being on her cheeks. "I'll meet you back here for the beginners' class in about an hour."
Aang watched helplessly as she turned and walked back towards the main building, never meeting his gaze. ""Katara, wait!" Aang called after her to no avail as she disappeared over the hill. He ran up to the top of the rift, watching her stomp through the snow in the direction of the main building. "I'm sorry…" he murmured to himself, "I just wish I could make you understand…"
A/N: RedScorpio112 also pointed out my overlooking of the fact that "Rio" is actually Spanish for "river". (My apologies to my readers for not foreseeing the cultural confusion, obvsiouly the Water Tribe is in no stretch of the imagination of Hispanic or Spanish origin). And yes, I am culturally competent and I do know enough Spanish to know that "Rio" is "river", but it just simply didn't dawn on my when I thought up the name for her. The only reason I didn't change her name when I revised the chap, was for those select few who decide to not reread this chapter. I don't know if I will use Rio again in a future chapter… but just in case, I didn't want to confuse anyone with a different name for her!
In conclusion! (gosh.. this is a long A/N!) …in order for those of you who already reviewed this chap to review again, I decided to reactivate the Private Message capabilities on my account. So, if you wish to leave another review for this chap… please see my profile and PM me! As always, I promise to answer back!