Katu, Son of the Avatar – Chapter 5

A/N: I'm so sorry for the slow update, but I had a big presentation to prepare, and university in general has done a good job in keeping me busy.

A cookie to anyone who can tell what I am paying homage to in the last scene.

Disclaimer: 'Avatar' does not belong to me.


The lonely fire danced around merrily, bathing the small forest clearing in a warm light. Erratic shadows flickered against the trees behind the two figured huddled together. Katu pulled the blanket tighter around himself. "I miss dad. And I miss Kya and Tenko." His mother sighed and pulled him close. "I know, I miss them as well."

They had been traveling for a year now, ever since they had returned to the Earth Kingdom. She hadn't seen Aang or her older children in all this time, and was frantically searching the world for them, following frail clues and unclear rumors, only to find that each trail ended in a dead end, or split up into many possibilities, each one as uncertain as the others. Aang and her hadn't been separated for this long ever since she had found him in that iceberg, and she had had to force herself more than once to calm down and push her worries aside. Their home had been abandoned, and there had been no sign of Aang or her children anywhere, but she took it as a good sign, hoping that they were still alive somewhere.

Katu could feel the heavy dread hanging above them, weighing the mood down as they sat by the campfire. Trying to distract himself, he looked up and concentrated on discerning the trees on the opposite side of the clearing, but the darkness of the night and the almost new moon made his task difficult. Giving up, he whispered, as if to assure himself: "They'll be fine. We will find them." Then, almost as an afterthought, he turned his gaze back to his mother. "Right?"

Katara stayed silent, admiring the strength and hope her son had, hope like the one that she had once carried for the return of the Avatar so long ago. The thought made her smile. "Yes, yes we will." And spurred on by the surge of optimism, she continued. "Have I ever told you the story of how I met your father?"

* * * * *

Katu opened his eyes and blinked several times, trying to orientate himself. He was lying in a soft bed, covered with a red silken blanket, in a dark room. He turned his head and saw his mother lying next to him, asleep, with a strained look on her face. He had never before seen this expression on her while she was sleeping.

He sat up and slipped out of the bed, careful not to wake his mother. A soft carpet greeted his bare feet, keeping them relatively warm in the cool night, and muffling his steps as he moved about. He didn't know where he was going, but he felt like he had to move around. He had been lying in bed for a week now, and remembered his mother trying to nurse him up to health. Looking around the dark room, he tried to discern his surroundings, and eventually sat down in a big, plushy chair.

The cushions drew him in, and and Katu's thoughts went back to his father and his siblings. He had dreamt of them the past few days, when sleep had claimed him so often. His father's gentle laugh, his stories of his travels, of the friends he seemed to have all over the world. In his eyes, his father was the greatest man in the world, though he was always modest and kept saying that there are better people than him. Katu did not yet understand what his father being the Avatar actually meant, though he also didn't know that his parents consciously talking too much on the subject.

He didn't feel tired, but the cold air persuaded him to move back to the bed and crawl under the blankets again. As he moved, his mother stirred, and opened her eyes. Her expression softened when she realized what had woken her up. "Katu! You're awake!" He eyed his mother warily, not quite sure what to expect for waking her up. But a tired smile appeared on her face, and she sat up slightly, pulling him into a hug. "I'm so glad you're okay."

"I'm sorry I woke you up, mommy." Katu's whisper sounded like it didn't belong into this dark room. Katara placed a kiss on his cheek. "It's okay, you're doing better now, that's all that matters." Slowly, Katu raised his arms and hugged her back.

* * * * *

Katara was walking on a sea of clouds towards a figure in the distance. She had the nagging feeling that she should know who that was, and that finding out would be terrible, but she pressed on anyway, like in a trance. She walked for hours, and was finally close enough to see Aang waiting for her, eyes closed, and that nagging, and that nagging voice got louder but she pushed it aside and approached Aang.

He opened his eyes and was smiling, smiling at her, but something was amiss. "Where are our children, Aang?" And he kept smiling and came up to her and put his arms around her. "They are always with us." And his voice was soft and cutting and his touch was warm and burning and something was amiss as he leaned down to kiss her. And it was like she was watching herself from outside her own body and seeing a woman who looked exactly like her kiss Aang and something wrong, so WRONG, and the nagging voice in her head got LOUDER and she wanted to scream stop! STOP! but they kept going and she wanted to tear them apart but she was paralyzed, and something was WRONG but she couldn't say WHAT or why that voice was now SCREAMING in her head, and then a strong wind picked up and the two lovers dissolved into mist, and the clouds were blown away to reveal a darkening night sky, and then there was only blackness.