A/N: OK, so as I told some of you in my review replies, I was really dissatisfied with that last chapter and I wanted to make it up somehow… SO! I've reposted it with a more beefed up fight scene and other small additions. I have, in no way, changed the flow of the storyline… but I do think that the chapter has much more presence and purpose now with the new and improved battle. So please…. REREAD THE LAST REVISED CHAPTER and let me know if you think it's better or worse or whatev… Thank you!!

Troubling Times

Katara slammed her office door behind her, wiping furiously at her watery eyes. She sighed heavily as she sank into the small chair, burying her head in her arms across the surface of her desk as she trying to calm her racing heart. The aching beat rattled raggedly in her chest with each breath, the air feeling cold and harsh as it entered her lungs.

Who was he to show up unannounced? Who was he to promise her a visit that was six years, three months, and twenty one days past due? Who was he to kiss her so softly all those years ago under a full moon, only to leave her behind to continue his adventures without her only three weeks later? Who was he?

Oh… Right…

He was the Avatar… that's who. The Savior of nations, Hero of the world, Conqueror of Ozai and Assembler of all people. He had a duty… a destiny to fulfill. One that was a hundred years overdue at that… Thousands of lives rested in those wonderful tattooed hands of his and he balanced the weight of the Four Nations vicariously on his broad muscular shoulders.

And just who was she? Who was she to expect him to leave behind his duty and runaway with her? Who was she to demand his deliverance of a promise they both knew he couldn't keep? Who was she to be so selfish?

Just who was she?

A Water Tribe peasant… that's who. A simple girl who had happened to run across a boy who had showed her the world. Without Aang, she'd have never been able to learn Waterbending, she'd have never left her small village, and the world would still be in turmoil. The year she and Sokka had spent with Aang on the back of his flying bison had been, so far, the peek of her existence. How depressing a realization, to reach one's pinnacle at the tender age of fourteen…

Katara groaned miserably, how had she let herself get so emotionally upset over something that was so incredibly out of her hands? She couldn't help the tears that were slipping past her feeble attempts of stoicism. With a huff of frustration, she let her hands fall against the wall in front of her desk, her head still bent over in her forearms.

She paused and looked up when she felt a scroll roll off the shelves beside her and clatter to the floor. Looking down at it disinterestedly, she stopped herself before kicking it under her desk to get it out of site. Her delicate handwriting was sprawled across the parchment, and a sudden realization hit her when she reached down to pick it up.

She swallowed hard against the lump in her throat as she fingered the worn edges of the one letter she had written but never sent…

Aang,

It's great that you've finally found where Azula and the Dei Lei are hiding out. Best of luck as you pursue her. I wish that I could be there with you. Please be careful. I, however, do not have good news to relay you from the Southern Water Tribe this time.

Gran Gran is dying. Every healer in the village is doing the best they can, including me, but at this point all we can do is keep her comfortable. She gets weaker every day, and her chi is diminishing with each breath. I don't know how much longer she can hold on. Sokka is with Toph in Gaoling and I've already sent word to him, though the next ferry back isn't for three days. As you already know, Dad and his crew left last week to meet you and your men as you take down Azula. I expect he'll probably find out after it's too late.

Aang, I'm so alone. I've never felt this helpless before. I've tried every thing I can think of to save Gran Gran, but she just gets worse and worse. I can't believe I'm even going to ask this, but if there's anyway you could be here with me while she passes… I can't even begin to believe that I'm asking this of you. I know that you've got so many things going on right now, especially since finding Azula. But can't your men take care of this one thing? Can't they handle it without you? You know that I would never ask this of you if I didn't have any other choice. Please come to be with me, Aang. Please. I just need a friend. I need you.

Your friend,

Katara

She had been crying when she wrote it. Not that she could remember that now, it had been three years ago and it all seemed so much like a blur. But some of the words were smeared with dried salty tears and the edges were crinkled badly as she had argued to herself relentlessly not to send the letter.

It had been a hard decision to rewrite the letter, telling Aang to take care in his battle with the banished Princess and send word as soon as he was safe. She could no longer fight the unshed tears any longer, and they spilt freely through thick wet lashes, falling to the parchment and blending with her heartfelt words.

It had been one of the hardest days in her life… Watching her grandmother die… She couldn't remember a time in her life that she had ever felt more incredibly alone and lost.

Katara sighed, fighting unshed tears as she moved her healing hands across her grandmother's forehead. It seemed today Gran Gran had been especially weak, and her chi was dissipating rapidly before Katara's very hands. "Don't worry Gran Gran, I'm here," she reassured as a quiet moan escaped the old woman's cracked lips.

"Katara, you need rest," she argued softly, her voice weak and emaciated.

"Sh," Katara hushed her gently. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm not leaving your side." She felt her heart warm as Gran Gran smiled meekly.

"You are so much like your mother," she whispered hoarsely before coughing violently and closing her eyes solemnly. Just the act of coughing tired her greatly and made it difficult to breath. Her lungs struggled to sustain her breathing, and at times her chest barely seemed to move at all. Now and then, she would stop breathing all together, only to gasp for air several seconds later as if she were determined to hold on as long as she could. Her normally dark leathery skin was pale and ashy in her illness, and her lush full hair had become thin and brittle.

"Gran Gran?" Katara questioned, a slight panic evident in her voice after several seconds.

At the sound of her granddaughter's voice, the old woman opened her pale grey eyes. Over the course of her illness, they had completely lost their beautiful ocean blue Water Tribe vigor, but they still held the same light they always had. Though, Katara could easily tell that the light was fading with each passing day.

"Katara," Gran Gran began, her voice cracking and frail, "I am so very proud of you... You and Sokka both... I want you to tell him that."

"You can tell him yourself, Gran Gran," Katara pleaded. "He should be home tomorrow."

The old woman coughed faintly and shook her head, "Katara, please… Just listen…" she paused to catch her breath and continued after a few minutes, the pain evident in her eyes. "I know… that you will marry… a great man one day..."she whispered hoarsely between gasps.

"You've become… such a strong… beautiful woman… That boy… He'll be good… to you…" she said as she closed her eyes again, exhausted.

"Who, Gran Gran?" Katara asked through the tears that were now falling freely down her cheeks and running into her hairline as she smeared them across her face. "Who will be good to me?"

Gran Gran opened her eyes again, a dull lifeless glaze edging into her irises, "Katara… I love you…" She smiled weakly, and for one split second she looked like the grandmother that Katara grew up with, despite her frail appearance.

"I love you too Gran Gran," Katara replied hastily as the light left her grandmother's eyes completely…

"I miss you Gran Gran," Katara murmured as she crumpled the letter in between her hands. "I wish you and Mom were here to help me know what to do…" she sighed as she threw the ball of paper into the trashcan under her desk.

The rest of the day went by pretty uneventfully. Aang had tried to apologize on more than one occasion, and Katara had insisted through a sad frown that she was "fine". Though, the dull aspect in her words and downcast gaze of her eyes remained rather unconvincing of her argument. The beginner's class went by quickly as Aang demonstrated, on his own, several basic maneuvers… all the while silently contemplating how he would get Katara to forgive him. Or at least tell him why she was upset.

Dinner that night was torture for the young Avatar. With each intentional aversion of Katara's eyes her frown deepened and Aang's heart sunk further into the pit of his stomach. They're sullen expressions and lack of conversation did not go unnoticed by Sokka and Toph, and when Aang got up after dinner to announce he was going to go feed Appa, Sokka jumped at the chance to go with him to find out what was going on with the two friends.

The first few minutes passed in silence as Aang trudged through the snow beside him, his eyes fixated on the ground in front of him in deep thought. Sokka grumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets and trying to think up a way to start a conversation.

"So… how'd the uh… bending lessons go today?" he asked nonchalantly.

He was surprised when Aang only answered with a distant sigh as they neared Appa's earth tent.

Sokka cleared his throat, "Aang? Hello? Earth to Aang!"

Aang jumped when he realized Sokka was talking to him, "Huh? Oh… Sorry Sokka. Guess I was daydreaming."

Sokka chuckled shortly as Aang pulled down the front wall of the tent and sat down in the hay to feed Appa a few heads of cabbage. "I was just asking you how the bending lessons went today at the Academy. I know Katara's got some pretty crazy kids in those classes of hers."

Aang nodded his head solemnly, patting Appa affectionately on his snout as Momo landed on his shoulder, "It went…. Okay…"

Appa grunted loudly in protest and Sokka raised his eyebrows, unconvinced, as he leaned against the stone wall and crossed his arms across his chest disapprovingly. "Aang, that's about as truthful as me saying I don't like meat."

Aang met Sokka's eyes hesitantly, then sighed and resigned. "It… uh… well, let's just say it didn't go well."

Sokka nodded understandingly as Aang continued, "I don't know what I did. We were demonstrating a duel in front of the morning class and things sort of got out of hand. I think…" Aang shook his head and corrected himself, "No, I know she's mad at me about something. I just don't know what…" he sighed again as Momo chirped happily upon receiving a handful of litchi nuts. "You're welcome Momo…"

"Hm…" Sokka pulled at his goatee absentmindedly as he pondered the Avatar's predicament. Suddenly his face softened as he took a seat in the hay beside his Airbending friend.

"Aang… Katara's been through a lot in the past six years. Your absence has been harder on her than she lets on. She's had to do a lot on her own, and though she'd never admit it… none of it has been easy." Sokka put a reassuring hand on Aang's shoulder. "She's probably just processing everything."

"I know…" Aang replied his eyes falling to his lap, "It hasn't exactly been easy for me either." He laughed a little, lightening the mood dramatically, "Trust me, I'd have much rather been here hanging out with you guys than working on restoring peace to the world."

Sokka smiled, squeezing the Avatar's shoulder before letting his hand fall back to his side, "Well, you know the saying… Work before play…"

Aang sucked in a deep breath and nodded, grateful for the brotherly comradery he had missed so much from his older friend. "So what do I do now?"

"Good question," Sokka answered as he stood up, brushing the loose hay from his parka. "Well, when Toph is mad at me… it's usually because I've done something really stupid." Aang chuckled as Sokka pulled him to his feet. "Then I just apologize and kiss her or something to show her that I still care about her."

Aang cleared his throat nervously, "Well, I can't exactly kiss Katara…"

Sokka shook his head eagerly, "No… No you certainly can't…"

"But…" Aang's mind flashed back to the empty disheveled office that Katara had shown him that morning as a thought suddenly occurred to him, "I do know what I can do…"

Katara slipped out of her room that morning very quietly before anyone else was up. She somehow managed to not wake the sleeping Avatar in the living room as she made her way out the front door. Rubbing at the sleep in her eyes and disapproving of her pitiful night's rest the previous two nights she started towards the Academy.

The first night of Aang's return, she had been so excited with his presence in the next room it had been near impossible to fall asleep. However, it was for a completely different reason that she had only gotten a few hours of fitful sleep the previous night. Last night, her mind had not let her slumber as it constantly replayed the past six years in a continuous and sometimes painful loop. She'd cleaned up hastily after dinner and gotten in bed before Aang and Sokka returned from feeding Appa. Truthfully, she was rather surprised that neither of them had tried to talk to her or check on her.

Not that it matters, She thought to herself miserably as she pushed open the double doors to the Academy, noting airily the empty hallways and offices. She felt herself smiling at the simple beauty in the architecture of the building she had helped resurrect. The early morning sun's rays showered through the skylights above her and illuminated the school in a warm light, shining off the ice pristinely. She'd left her house extra early to avoid an awkward morning with Aang, and it had consequently gotten her to work a full hour before her first class.

A frown was still evident on her face as she entered her small cramped office, her eyes skimming the papers littering her desk and the crinkled letter lying in the trashcan underneath it. She sat down in her chair and was busy straightening scrolls and parchments, when a very familiar scent suddenly caught her attention.

She immediately stopped what she was doing and looked up to a beautiful vase of moonlillies and another type of flower she didn't recognize that was sitting on the window sill beside her desk. She gasped, drawing a hand to her mouth as she fingered the soft white and blue petals of the unknown species. How had she not noticed them before, she had no idea… But the full bouquet was breathtaking and beside it sat a note with very neat recognizable handwriting scribbled across it. She smiled, despite herself, as she read…

Katara,

When I first saw these flowers I thought they matched the blue of your eyes. I'm sorry about yesterday and I hope you have a better day today.

Aang

A/N: Yay! Sappiness! Lol. I know this chapter is way emotional and I'm sorry if Katara seems a little OOC and too emo towards the end. But everyone looses faith in something at some point in their life, and she's no exception. :)

Be forewarned, I probably won't post again until after my last final, which is next Monday the tenth… hope this tides you over for a while!