A/N:(edit: 7/1/07)OMG, I just want to say thanks to all my reviewers, you all are way too nice :) thank you so much! and sorry for such an awful cliffhanger, I literally wasn't trying to torture you guys, lol hopefully that won't happen for this chapter.
Book Two – Water and Air
Chapter Four – Half Way There
"Ma'am... Ma'am, are you alright?" A soft, soothing voice continued to repeat itself as Katara wearily opened her eyes and took a deep breath. Katara slowly opened her eyes further to see that... she was underwater? Katara gasped, suddenly noticing that she just breathed the cold, ocean water before she noticed, floating a few yards away what looked to be... a dolphin?
"Are you okay?" he asked softly as he swam over to her, "That was some fall, we all saw it and everything... man, I wish I could do that," the dolphin chuckled as he peered up to the far surface.
Katara, at this point, was utterly confused, she looked about her surroundings to see nice, white sand spread out and rippled along the amazing ocean floor, it was beautifully dotted with small shells. She was even more confused to see this strange dolphin talking to her like normal, as if she was one of his kind. Katara looked around in a bewildered state, letting her eyes focus on the strange world she has never seen like this, it was all so brilliantly colored, so amazingly vivid with creatures and life. Katara was almost certain this wasn't the ocean she used to know.
Katara attempted to re-adjust herself into a comfortable position other than lying down on the sand but she felt as if she couldn't, as if her arms and legs couldn't work.
"A long drop from the air like that must've put your body into shock or something, ow, and it looks like you have a cut on your left flipper." the dolphin said nonchalantly, Katara quickly looked up at the calm dolphin before her... did he just say flipper? Katara thought eagerly before she looked to her side to see a light gray, smooth, rubbery flipper. Her eyes widened as she did a small turn in the water, in order to see her backside, before there, clear in her view was a long, dolphin tail.
"I-I'm a dolphin! Oh my gosh, this is so exciting!" Katara said happily as she began to dart around in the water, the other dolphin stared at her in confusement, "This is nothing compared to the cheetah, o-or the dragon. Can you believe this! I'm a---" Katara stopped herself and stared at the confused dolphin a few yards away, he had that look in his eye as if he thought he was looking at an idiot. Katara coughed slightly and looked about plainly.
"I-I mean, psh, I knew that... I-I think I just hit the water too hard on the way down... or something," Katara said softly as she looked down, the other dolphin chuckled and swam over to her gracefully.
"That's okay, so, what pod are you from?" the dolphin asked as he looked about, "My family is over there... somewhere, GREAT, they probably left without me... again,"
"Pod?" Katara asked warily, the other dolphin gave her that look again; Katara sighed softly and looked down.
"You're not from around here, are you," he chuckled, Katara shook her head
"Actually, I need to get back to my friends," Katara said softly as she looked up to the surface water, "--but they're up--"
"No problem I can help you look. My name's Mialo, what's yours?" Mialo asked with a smile.
"Oh, I'm Katara." Katara said softly as she continued to look around, "I-I don't think it'll be too easy to find the creatures I'm looking for,"
"Why not, your family is dolphins, right?" Mialo chuckled as he looked at Katara.
"Well, n-no," Katara said bashfully, Mialo, once again, gave her that look. The one as if he was looking at a complete idiot.
"W-wha?" Mialo asked, baffled, "I-If they're sharks you're looking for, count me ou-"
"No, they're not sharks they're... humans," Katara smiled as she began to swim off, Mialo followed close behind her.
"So, you're related to humans," Mialo questioned as the two continued to swim, "Where are you going anyways?"
"How am I supposed to know, this is all new to me." Katara said softly before she noticed something a bit a ways. It looked as if it was Sokka, wading in the water not too far from the rocky cliffside. Katara smiled and eagerly began to swim over to him, "Come on I think I found them,"
- - -
"AANG, how do you know she fell in this area? What if you were hallucinating?" Sokka hollered as he squinted through the not so clear water. Aang shook his head quickly and attempted to peer through the water also, in desperate search for any sign of Katara's body.
"I wasn't hallucinating; I saw her jump off the cliff and everything!" Aang yelled to Sokka who was now swimming over to Aang, although Aang was confused once he saw Sokka freeze in his spot and tense up.
"What are you doing? Don't just sit there!" Aang hollered as he made his way into the water, Sokka shook his head.
"I-I think something touched me..." Sokka said shakily as he stared at Aang, fear filling his eyes, "Aang, save yourself, don't come out here," Sokka said in a whiny tone, he shook his head and slowly peered about himself, "Don't eat me, I'm not appetizing I tell you,"
"Sokka, just get out of the water! Don't just sit there!" Aang yelled, getting more and more frustrated, for one, Sokka was making a poor decision to just sit in the water and tremble and for two, Katara was no where to be found. Aang was now furious.
"SOKKA" Aang hollered loudly, "Get out!"
"AH! Aang, it touched me again!" Sokka squealed as he fidgeted slightly when suddenly, a long, sharp dorsal fin eerily rose from the murky water and at this, Sokka could feel his stomach gather in his throat. Sokka's eyes followed the simple movement of the large, silver fin as it gracefully began to circle Sokka in the water.
"S-Sokka, just move away...real slowly," Aang said softly as he too began to tremble, and just as Sokka was about to move, the large creature suddenly rose from the water and squirt Sokka in the face with the water in it's mouth. At this point, the two boys knew it was a dolphin but had no idea it was Katara...that is until she started laughing.
"Oh my gosh! I-I couldn't resist, you should've seen the look on your face!" Katara began to laugh all over again as the two boys just stared at her and at this, Katara began to feel uneasy, "...What?"
"Katara?!" Sokka squealed, Katara quickly looked at Sokka.
"Yeah" Katara asked plainly
"You're in another Vyntresser form!" Aang said happily, "You're not dead and... you're a dolphin!"
"Yeah, although it takes sometime getting used to no legs." Katara chuckled as she peered down into the water, "Oh guys, there's someone I want you to meet." Just as Katara finished her sentence, another gray dolphin swam up and sat beside her.
"Aang, Sokka, this is Mialo" Katara introduced with a small smile, "Mialo, this is Aang and Sokka." Mialo smiled at the two before he took a wary, deep breath.
"H-hi," Mialo said shakily as he stared at the two humans. Aang and Sokka didn't even seem to acknowledge that Mialo even said anything and at this, Katara grew confused.
"Guys," Katara whispered loudly, "Say hi back, that's rude,"
"W-what? He said something?" Sokka questioned as he made his way to a near by rock to sit on, Katara sighed softly as her and Mialo swam over to them
"Yeah... he said hi," Katara said, getting slightly annoyed, but she was somewhat delighted to see Aang instantly wave and say a pleasant 'hello'
"The dolphin didn't say anything!" Sokka hollered.
"Yes I did," Mialo said to Sokka
"See?!" Katara whined, Sokka shook his head quickly
"What?!" Sokka squealed as he glanced back and forth between Aang and Mialo.
"You're deaf!" Katara hollered with a small laugh.
"Am not!" Sokka argued loudly
"Then HOW COME y--"
"GUYS, quit it, Katara, Sokka and I can't understand Mialo, I mean come one he's a dolphin!" Aang said as he gestured towards the gray dolphin floating next to her, Katara sighed softly and turned to Mialo
"Sorry Mialo, I-I guess I'm the only one who can understand you." Katara said softly, Mialo smiled
"That's okay, I have to get going anyways, I don't want my family leaving me too far behind." Mialo said with a small smile, "Bye Katara," he said happily
"Bye," Katara frowned as Mialo quickly dove down into the water and disappeared into the murkiness of everything. Katara sighed softly and looked up at the two boys just staring at her.
"How come you two couldn't understand what he was saying? He was speaking perfect English if you ask me!" Katara said loudly, Sokka shrugged and shook his head.
"How am I supposed to know? It was all a bunch of little clicks and squeaks, like I can understand THAT," Sokka laughed as he gestured towards the water.
"Well, she's already a dolphin, she can just understand other dolphins...we're humans, it wouldn't make sense for us to talk to dolphins." Aang said with a small smile, "O-or, maybe it's a Vyntresser thing. Did you let Mialo know that you were the Vyntresser?" Aang questioned Katara, she pondered for a moments before she happily looked up at Aang
"I'll be right back," Katara smiled before she quickly dove back into the water in search for Mialo. She smiled eagerly before she suddenly came to something dark.
Katara quickly scanned what was in front of her to see a large, eerie, dark field of seaweed, creepily swaying in the water with the ocean tide. Katara swallowed hard and stared at the large moving mass of underwater leafage before she apprehensively made her way into it without second thoughts, although she had to admit, she was a little worried about straying into a clumped seaweed field.
She slowly swam around, the seaweed was compacted and it brushed close to her in a delicate manner as it fluctuated with the gentle tides, although she began to grow more and more worried as she felt as if every second she was swimming into deeper, darker water.
"M-Mialo?" Katara called out nervously as she heard distant ocean sounds of far off whales and seals, "Are you in here?" Katara asked shakily before, all at once, her tail fin got tangled in a tall stalk of seaweed. Katara turned her head and quickly tried to wriggle free, only causing herself to get more tangled. Katara let out a soft gasp of worry as she continued to struggle, but the more she struggled, the more tangled she got.
"AH! Mialo!" Katara hollered as she desperately struggled to get free from the unforgiving grip the seaweed supplied, it was as if it didn't want to let her go, it continued to drag her down further and tangle her into a whole mess of the stalks of eerie, dark seaweed. Katara suddenly felt fear strike her heart and at that, she could feel something coming. Something so familiar, she knew this feeling and she wasn't going to let it take over her body at over fifty feet under the water.
Katara let a small whimper full of worry escape her mouth as she suddenly attempted to dart forward, only causing more chaos and at that, she could feel the fear in her heart rise. It raised just enough to suddenly change her back into human. She knew it. Fear instantly changed her back into human, from whatever form she was in.
Not here, not now,Katara thought, she remembered thinking that the couple minutes before she even got into the dolphin form. Katara attempted to take a deep breath only to find that she couldn't breathe underwater. Katara instantly clutched her throat and peered up to the now blurred ocean surface. Katara then turned and quickly untangled both her feet from the complicated seaweed before she agilely darted upwards in hopes that she wouldn't run out of air before she reached the far above surface with the clean, fresh, breathable air above.
After a couple seconds, Katara bursted through the water and took a deep breath of the cool, ocean air. She then suddenly began to choke on some of the salty water that had gone down the wrong way.
"Katara!" Aang said in a worried tone as he immediately made his way into the water over to the waterbender choking on her own element, he gently took her in his loving arms, "Are you okay?" he asked in a caring manner as Katara quickly wrapped her arms around Aang's neck and continued to choke, at this, Aang began to pat her back in hopes of helping her out a little.
After a few minutes, Katara stopped her large coughing fit; she still had her arms fastened around Aang's neck as Aang slowly moved the both of them out of the water, onto a large rock Sokka was sitting on. He gently set Katara down only to find that she wouldn't let go of her gentle grip around his neck.
"She's back to normal?" Sokka asked softly as he stared at the two, Aang nodded slowly with a small frown as he gently encircled Katara in his warm arms.
"You were scared, weren't you," Aang asked her softly in her ear and at this, Katara tightened her grip around Aang and nodded slowly before she gently buried her face into Aang's shoulder.
"What happened?" Sokka asked, Aang shook his head and looked down
"W-we'll talk about it later," Aang suggested, figuring Katara wasn't in the mood to explain to the two boys as to what happened in the dark seaweed field and at this, Katara nodded again in agreement to Aang.
In no time, the three headed through shallow water in order to reach the other side of the rocky cliff where there was a sandy beach. They figured they had spent a tiring, somewhat stressful day on the island so they decided to pick up and find another destination, another place and whatever life threw at them next.
Once in the air, Aang and Sokka talked some on the back of Appa's saddle, Katara sat on Appa's head, taking in all the life threatening things that had happened to her during the day. Memories of the night before suddenly came flooding back.
The way Aang held her so close in the cool ocean air, his soft and gentle voice, his kiss. Katara almost felt overwhelmed at the fact that he had done this to her. He was hurting her without even trying and she knew she couldn't blame him for anything. He was a great guy and she knew he'd never do anything hurtful on purpose. He was just showing her love, although the outcome was painful at times, Katara felt as if she truly enjoyed the rush.
She smiled into the day, wondering what else was going to happen to her in this crazy life of hers. She sighed softly and tried to get her mind off of the almost drowning incident that had happened earlier so she instantly flooded her thoughts with the airbender she knew most.
Katara's smile only grew once she saw Aang slowly take a seat next to her on Appa's head; he had a big smile plastered on his face although it almost looked apologetic. Katara just smiled back and scoot closer to him.
"You okay? You know, from earlier?" Aang questioned softly with a smile.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Katara said with a small frown, at this, Aang knew she was still bothered by something.
"You don't sound so sure," Aang said softly as he scoot closer to Katara, "Tell me,"
Katara took a deep breath softly and shrugged before she gazed out to the beautiful, yellow sun drenched sky.
"I-it wasn't THAT traumatic, I just got tangled in some seaweed is all...and I got scared" Katara explained softly, "It isn't a big deal."
"Well, I would be scared too if I was stuck under the water, tangled and not able to get free." Aang said reassuringly.
"I know I just... I've been thinking." Katara stated softly before she broke off and heaved a long sigh, Aang patiently waited for her to continue, "This whole Vyntresser thing. I change into an animal through love but...then I get out of it through fear," Katara said with a frown, "...It hurts getting from form to form, Aang,"
"It hurts?" Aang worried softly, Katara nodded
"Yeah I mean, think about it. You're changing into a whole different being, it's not normal and... Maybe my body just isn't used to it or something, but...still, it hurts my arms, my legs, everything, and...One part of me is saying that this is a whole, great new change, but another is saying that...you're hurting me without even trying, Aang,"
The two were silent. It was true, Aang was oblivious to the fact that a simple kiss one day leads to pains and struggles for Katara the next day, and although the pain only lasted for a little while, it was still there.
Aang, at this point felt guiltier than ever. He was hurting the one he loved by giving her kisses, he felt as if it wasn't fair, it wasn't the way it was supposed to be. Aang was almost feeling sorry for himself; I find the love of my life and what happens? I accidentally turn her into the long lost Vyntresser and cause her pain Aang thought with a frown. He then suddenly remembered something.
"W-well, this won't go on for much longer, right?" Aang questioned as Katara looked at him, eyes full of worry.
"I hope not." Katara said shakily, Aang frowned and pondered knowing that the Vyntresser had only six animal forms.
"I think you'll only have to go through slight pain only three more times," Aang said with a reassuring smile as he looked into Katara's eyes.
"Three?" Katara asked softly
"Yeah, I mean the Vyntresser only has six animal forms right?" Aang asked with a small smile, Katara nodded and looked down before she fiddled her fingers, Aang continued, "Well, you've gotten through the first three forms, the cheetah, dragon and now the dolphin...which is earth fire and water, so now, all you have to get through is air and...Oh, we still don't know the last two forms, huh," Aang said softly with a small chuckle, Katara looked up at him and smiled.
"Yeah, I wonder." Katara pondered, Aang shook his head slowly with a smile
"The only way we'll get there is through love...fear...pain," Aang said softly as he stared at Katara, "It's all apart of life, but we just gotta stick together, get through it," At this, Katara heaved a long sigh and looked at Aang square in the eyes.
"Thanks Aang," Katara smiled softly
"For what?"
"I-I don't know, that just...helped, it was comforting," Katara said as she peered out to the afternoon sky with a smile. Aang smiled as he did the same.
"Oh, you're welcome," Aang said sympathetically before his small smile turned into a frown, he took a deep breath and let it out before his gentle gaze fell down to his lap, "I-I'm sorry for putting you through all this pain, Katara," At this, Katara slowly turned her head and stared at Aang for a moment.
"Aang, it's... it's not all your fault, you're not doing this on purpose, I mean... why would you, that's not like you at all." Katara reassured softly
Even though Aang was kind of the cause of Katara's agony, he wasn't kissing her just to see her miserable and in pain the next day, he loved her for her. He even thought back to the night before, when they had shared that kiss, the only things he thought of was Katara and the fabulous kiss and nothing but those things. He wasn't thinking of what the next day might bring, what next animal form this kiss could lead to, he was obliviously causing her pain, although the two knew they'd have to just get through the next two forms, through love, fear and pain. That cycle never seemed to stop going full circle.
"Just three more to go," Aang started softly before he gave Katara a reassuring smile, "We're half way there."
A/N: So yeah, there's the update everyone wanted! chapter 5 should be up sometime soon but I don't know, when school starts you all are going to have to expect longer time periods before I update...Or not, you never know :) Please R&R!
- Katara -
Mohalo ;)