VII Do Tell

Aang paced nervously in the hallway, trying to contemplate what he could say to make things better with Katara. But it turns out that Tiao had gained everybody's trust in the past day, and now she had been invited to stay in the same room as his girlfriend.

Which made getting her alone alot harder than he had anticipated.

But that wasn't why he was rubbing his hands together, almost starting a fire, about. In the past year, since the Gaang officially split up with the departure of Toph, he had been struggling with keeping his love life together.

A year ago he would've risked life and limb to be in the same room as her, now he just bends to Hakoda's whim and obediently retreats to his own room when instructed. And every-time he tried to get close to her, it only seems like she's pushing him away.

Now it just felt like it had before the end of the hundred year war. Him trying to win her affection without any signs telling him he was going in the right direction. But he wasn't giving up.

He stopped in front of the carved door, the water insignia stared at him, almost asking if he was willing to proceed. He raised a hand to knock, but quickly lowered it again. The voices coming from behind the door had stopped, and now only the shuffling of feet could be heard.

The flickering light emitting from the cracks near the floor dimmed and he could only guess they were getting ready to settle in. Finally.

He raised a hand again, preparing to knock for a second time. Just as he anticipated the collission between his skin and the splintery surface it opened.

He was startled, and almost found his head hitting the roof. The person, or people rather, were equally stunned as they watched Aang retreat to the opposite wall.

"Aang....what are you doing outside Katara's door?"

Suki held a hand out for him to grab. Tiao was holding in a snigger from behind her.

He straightened himself before the giggling ladies and brushed off imaginary dust from his clothes. "I was actually looking for Katara. Is she in?" he said looking as composed as he could, though he was nervous as hell to confront any upset female (experience courtesy of Toph).

"Actually, she's just fallen asleep. Me and Tiao promised we'd keep her company until she did. She was really upset, what did you say to her?"

Aang's face fell. He hadn't meant to make her upset, and he hung his head shamefully."Oh...that's okay, I can tell her in the morning."

Tiao exchanged a look of pity with Suki and they nodded silently.

"Well, Suki was just going to take me back to my igloo. Do you want to come?"

Aang looked up at the offer, almost considering it, but quickly shook his head. "No, you shouldn't have to go back into the cold. You can have my room."

Tiao's eyes widened at the sudden act of kindness to her. They hadn't even spoken much and now he was offering his room to her. Even Suki looked at him skeptically.

"Oh, well, that's kind of you, but I'm really only visiting anyway. I'm sure once we get to the earth kingdom I'll be out of your hair....ummm, fuzz."

Aang rubbed his scalp with an open palm. With all the excitement in the past few days he had forgotten to shave, and now sported and thin layer of dark fuzz on his head. They all broke into a quiet fit of giggles, mostly trying to rid the air of the feeling of depression that had developed while Aang was alone in the hallway.

"How about we compromise." said Tiao thoughtfully. "You can have your room, and I'll just sleep on the floor. Its still better than the igloo."

He stopped laughing and pondered the thought. After a while he finally shrugged and nodded in agreement.

"I'm a good listener, maybe you can tell me what's on your mind." she said lunging forward and grabbing his arm, leading him back to his room. She waved over her shoulder as Suki departed the opposite way down the corridor.

Aang's room was nothing like Katara's. While Aang's had a warm cosy feeling, Katara's was designed with a royal flare. It was larger with a more permanent fireplace. This one had a small pyre in the middle of the room that looked like it had been placed at the last second.

But there was plenty of floor space, so Tiao was happy. She carefully placed a parka that Katara had lent her on the floor and lay down on it.

"So...you're an airbender right?"

The question was unexpected and Aang had no idea how to respond. He merely stared stupidly at her before she rolled a hand in anticipation.

"Y-Yea, I am."

"I knew it, there's only one nation that tattoo's arrows on their head. My friend Jingfei would always tell me how close she was to getting some, but every year she'd come back arrow-less."

Aang took this all in in a heartbeat, now suddenly very interested in the conversation. "You knew an airbender?!"

He zipped over and sat next to her, crossing his legs like a child eagerly awaiting the end of a story.

Tiao smiled and lit the small fireplace. The flame flickered green in her palm, but as soon as it caught to the singed logs it changed to its natural yellow.

"Yeah, she came from the Western air temple. She'd come around every year for a visit with Qiu." Tiao seemed to drift off as she reached the end of her sentence, reliving her memories.

Aang had a look of intrigue, surprise and also confusing and Tiao quickly caught it once she had snapped back.

"Qiu was her sky bison. Jingfei told me the last time I visited her that Qiu was going to have calves. I was so happy, she said I could have one."

Aang's unusually large smile slowly started to fade away. "That was nearly a year ago, I hope she's had them." Tiao said excitedly. But Aang was slowly coming to the realisation that his brain had blocked out since the mentioning of airbenders. There was none left. He had looked. But as Tiao looked back at hi, searching for a reaction, he put on the best fake smile he could. She must of bought it because she smiled back.

Wanting to escape the topic Aang stretched his arms high above his heard and imitated a yawn. "Well, I'm tired, and we've got a long day ahead of us. We should get some sleep."

Tiao agreed silently and wrapped the parka around herself like a cocoon. To her the sleep came fast and easy, almost like an infant, and Aang was jealous. He knew he probably wouldn't catch a wink. He'd be worrying too much about Katara and what was going to happen. But at least he got something out of the night. He managed to learn that Tiao was indeed from his time, or even before him. To distract his mind, he began to pre-think of questions he could ask Tiao while Toph was around.

Aang rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly and sighed, before flicking his wrist. In an instant, the lively flame that was lighting the room, was gone.

I'd like to thank EmiieRoxs for her wonderfully helpful review 3 3

And anymore like hers are greatly appreciated. You can dish it out, I wouldn't ask for criticism and then criticise about it being too harsh...like some :P