The prompt for this oneshot is the Avatar State, and I once again returned to Aang and Katara's relationship as adults. Thanks for taking the time to read and review!
The attacks described in the attached documents are consistent with bloodbending; however, the events occurred on nights other than that of the full moon. Because of this, further investigation is needed. If it is determined that bloodbending is implicated in these attacks, then regular police personnel may be unprepared to meet such a challenge, and special steps will be taken to ensure personnel safety. The Avatar State may be required.
Aang set the stack of papers down and rubbed his eyes. Toph had brought him the documents earlier that day, a compilation of her detectives' work trying to pin down Yakone. It was a pile of witness reports, victim testimony, and police bureaucracy. He stretched his arms above his head and glanced at the last line of the summary document again.
The Avatar State may be required.
When was the last time he used the Avatar State? He couldn't quite remember. Maybe when the earthquake shook Republic City, and he helped clear the rubble from the hardest hit areas. Or maybe to help with the drought in the Earth Kingdom. Some natural disaster, probably, he decided. He hadn't used it against a person in decades.
Although he might have to use it to defend himself against his wife tonight, he thought.
A knock sounded on his office door. "Come in," he called.
His brother-in-law stuck his head inside the office. "I'm heading out. Want to get some dinner before you have to catch the ferry?"
Aang gestured at the mountain of paperwork on the desk. "I've got to stay here and get through this mess."
Sokka frowned. "Katara won't like that."
"Trust me, I know," Aang sighed. "I got an earful this morning."
After three children and almost two decades of marriage, Aang accepted the inevitability of occasional arguments. But he still hated to see Katara looking at him with anger, to have her fury fall on him like hail.
"You've been gone too much, Aang!" she'd shouted that morning.
He tried to argue—unsuccessfully, of course—that now that he was back from his trip to the Southern Air Temple with Tenzin, he desperately needed to catch up on work. They were trying to catch Yakone. They were trying to keep people from suffering from the very type of bending she fought to make illegal. They were going to help people.
"I need help!" she rejoined. "And Kya. And Bumi. Do you know that your son's thinking about joining the United Forces? Or that Kya's going to start volunteering at the clinic? Plus, the house is a mess, and the Acolytes keep asking me questions I don't have the answers to, and I need help, Aang."
Her blue eyes pierced him, and he tried to hug her, but she pulled away. Then he had to leave, or he would have missed the ferry.
Aang picked up the stack of papers again. "Thanks for the invitation, Sokka, but I have to pass."
His brother-in-law nodded, then jerked his chin at the telephone sitting on the Avatar's desk. "Call Katara. I'll see you tomorrow, Aang." The door clicked closed behind him.
Aang looked from the phone to the papers. The candle on the desk burned low, and he waved his hand, coaxing it back to life again. The light flickered over the words as he paged through descriptions of horrific instances—people writhing in pain and bodies twisting in the air. The more he read, the deeper Aang frowned.
Perhaps the Avatar State would be needed after all.
He took a deep breath and reached for the telephone.
Once, it was an either-or choice: Katara or the Avatar State. The one time he didn't choose Katara, it cost him his life. His back still ached sometimes from the lightning wound, and feathery scars marked the skin around the blast.
"The only way is to let her go," Guru Pathik had insisted.
Aang shook his head as he spun the phone dial. No, the only reason he had control over the Avatar State now—the only reason he didn't have to choose anymore—was because of Katara.
The phone rang. And rang. And rang.
Finally, her voice flew across the cables to his ears. "Hello?"
"Hey," he said softly.
"Hi." She paused. "I'm sorry I yelled this morning. It was out of line."
He rested his chin in his palm and sighed. "I'm sorry too. I'll try to be home more often to help out with the kids and the house. We'll work it out somehow."
He could hear the relief in her voice. "Thanks, sweetie."
Calm descended upon him, the calm that came from talking with Katara, from mending the fences, the strength that even her voice kindled inside of him. It was the calm that enabled him to control the Avatar State without fear and to strive for balance in his life and the world. Because in the end, it didn't matter if they argued. He would always choose her, no matter what.
"I'll be here a little while longer tonight," Aang told her," but I should be home within the next hour."
"I'll have dinner waiting for you."
He grinned. "Sounds great. Love you, Katara."
"Love you too, Aang."
He hung up the phone, smiling to himself and looking forward to coming home to his beautiful family, especially his wonderful wife.
Thanks for reading! I wanted to explore how they would deal with arguing but still in a supportive and loving way. Let me know what you think by taking a moment to review!