A/N: Chapter 7 ... And guys... I understand your views on what people would or wouldn't do... but that's why it's fan-fiction. The character becomes your puppet. -evil laugh-

Sokka's Instincts 2: I'm really not trying to get defensive here, because I appreciate your comments (I really do), but I sincerely and genuinely don't see the Azula in Katara during chapter 5. If you've seen 'The Beach', then you know for a fact that Azula couldn't be seductive to save her life. Also, Katara isn't trying to be cruel to Aang. She's trying to use her womanly ways to take advantage of him. She just wants to know what the hell is going on! And, as you know, Aang is kinda awkward around her, so he doesn't really know what to do. ;)

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of the characters within it.

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Iridescence

Once we had climbed aboard Appa, Aang crawled up behind me and placed a piece of cloth over my eyes.

"What's with the blindfold?" I asked, curiosity flowing from my every pore.

"So you can't see."

I felt the bison take off into the sky.

"Yeah, I got that part."

He laughed at me and the air became cooler.

"If you see, then it won't be a secret, will it?"

"Eh." I leaned back and rested my head on the saddle. "I guess not."

We flew in silence after that. The anticipation was giving me a headache and my thoughts were becoming lethal. It was killing me not to know things, but it hurt even more to know how paranoid I was being. I supposed it was stupid to be so controlling, but I just wanted things to go right.

After what seemed like an hour, Appa landed calmly on the ground with a 'thunk'.

I felt Aang's hand slip into mine as if to guide me off the large beast, my cheeks flushing at his touch. His other arm went under the back of my knees, and before I knew it I was being held by him. I clung desperately to his neck, and we went into the air, touching to the ground a few moments later.

He set my feet firmly back on the ground, put an arm around my waist, and the other on my shoulder. He was making sure I was pointed in the right direction.

At one point, I lost my balance, but he kept me from falling and we wandered onward.

"You alright?" he asked me, the first words since we were on Appa.

"Just peachy," I replied with a small laugh.

He squeezed my shoulder and slid his other hand down to my waist. It felt a little uncomfortable, with my newly discovered feelings, fished out only a week or so ago, but I didn't mind.

We walked into a unleveled area, with various twigs and rocks, but then into another that was flat and kind to my temporary blindness.

"It's good your not an earthbender," Aang said, laughing at his statement. "Toph would've taught you to see with vibrations, and then this wouldn't have been as good of a surprise."

I smiled at him, though I was sure he couldn't see it.

"Well, are we almost to this 'surprise' of yours?"

"Sure are."

A few more minutes of walking passed, my calves beginning to sting a bit.

"Alright," Aang proclaimed, letting me loose and fiddling with the cloth around my head. He pulled it away from my eyes and it took me a second to fully adjust to the light.

We were in an immense clearing, trees surrounding it in what seemed like a perfect circle. The vast area of land was filled with an assortment of flowers; a rainbow rooted to the Earth. We stood on a grassy trail leading straight across the circle from one end to the other. A gentle gush of wind swooped by, making the strands that were my hair dance around me. I'd only just realized how amazing it smelled, like a springtime breeze, which inhabited the field although spring was well over. A moderate sized pond was almost directly in the center of the preserve, a pristine blue in the midst of the prismatic aura surrounding it.

I stared in wonder at the flowers bowing and straightening in unison as the wind poked and prodded at them playfully.

"Aang..." I didn't even know what to say. There was no words to describe this. What this was, or what I felt. "This is... unbelievable."

He smiled contently at me. "You like it?"

Now, I felt so bad about torturing him earlier... well, that wouldn't stop me from doing it again, but I still felt bad.

"I love it."

He seemed to have a conversation of sorts with himself, but then grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the pond, sitting down as I copied. He burned deep into my eyes, and then looked at the ground.

"What?" I asked him, slightly worried.

"Oh," he replied, dodging my eyes, but looking back in my direction, "Wait here for a minute, okay?"

I nodded curtly and he jumped to his feet with a manipulation of the air.

He walked back into the trees, becoming only a beacon to my eyes, until his whole figure vanished from sight.