LES: I realize that this is a little out of order, because Aang's voice was all ready starting to drop in the show. But this was mainly because his voice actor was getting older rather than Aang himself. So I'm having Aang's voice change at fourteen instead.

Chapter III: Voice

When Aang passed fourteen years of age, Katara suddenly realized that she had begun to look forward to those dull, boring political meetings a lot more. This was mainly because it gave her the chance to listen to Aang talk for hours on end.

When they were together, they rarely spoke with each other, and not for the reason you might think. It was because they had an innate understanding of each other. Words were often not necessary after a year of friendship and another year of dating; all they had to do was look into each other's eyes to know what the other was thinking.

Perhaps this explained why Katara never noticed his voice starting to creep down into a lower octave, transforming into a rich tenor that she could listen to for hours, which is exactly what she did during these meetings.

The actual meaning of what Aang was saying continually slipped her mind, something about the continued rehabilitation of the former Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom, and simply listened to the pitch of his voice.

A few months ago, his voice had been at its worst, just beginning the transition to a lower man's voice, and it broke several times a day. But now his voice had mostly settled and it only broke very occasionally. Katara was more pleased then anyone that Aang had made the transition relatively smoothly. Sokka's voice had broken almost constantly for a year before it settled.

Aang, however, was still mortified even though the transition was relatively painless for him. He hadn't experienced how bad it could get, so he was living in a personal hell every time his voice broke, especially in a meeting as a blush would creep up his face and his expression said everything: 'please don't point out that my voice just cracked up.'

No one ever did. Thankfully for Aang, a vast majority of the delegates at the meetings were men and, while they were a long time finished with puberty, they remembered how mortifying it was to be going through that stage in your life. They always pretended to not notice when the Avatar's voice cracked.

But those moments were now behind Aang. His voice was now glorious, rich and deep, though not as deep as Sokka's. But the best part of his voice was when he would lean close to her ear and whisper softly that he loved her. She had never doubted his love for her, but before he had inadvertently sounded like a child being over-dramatic with a crush. Now his deeper voice had changed the confession of love into a man expressing the depth of his feelings to the woman he loved. Those whispered words never failed to send a slight shiver down Katara's body these days.

Suddenly, Aang stopped speaking and the others began to gather their things and stand up. Katara jolted to alertness, realizing that the meeting was now over. She stared in shock at the position of the sun, and realized that she had been listening to the pitch of Aang's voice for over an hour without taking in a single word.

Feeling embarrassed at her massive lapse in concentration, Katara began to gather her things as well, but gasped in shock when her boyfriend suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Aang!"

"You're worse than I am in these meetings." Aang said playfully with his new deeper voice. "I get bored all the time, but I always manage to pay attention."

Katara blushed. "I don't know what you're..."

"Come now, Katara, your eyes were glazed over for the last hour of my speech. Your eyes always get unfocused when your mind is drifting to something else." Aang said.

Busted. Katara realized. "I'm so sorry, Aang. I never meant to not pay attention to your speech. I was just a little..." Katara swallowed thickly as he leaned closer to her from across the table. "... distracted."

"Distracted, huh?" Aang asked. "Well, I sometimes get distracted as well, but I can't let that stop me from paying attention in meetings."

"Oh, then I guess it was some other guy I saw yesterday drooling all over his notes when a certain Water Tribe girl gave her speech." Katara poked back playfully.

"I can drool and listen at the same time." Aang said. "Because I'm great like that." He paused, leaning even closer to her, making the blush deepen on her cheeks. "Just out of curiosity... just what do you find so distracting about me?"

"Your, um... your voice." Katara confessed.

"Oh..." Aang breathed slowly. "Then I guess I'm not the only one who is glad that it's finally stopped breaking every time I got excited. I was just starting to think that this whole voice-changing thing was a big cosmic joke made to make men look like idiots."

"Well, your voice doesn't make you come off as an idiot now." Katara said. "But you are right; you did look a little foolish every time your voice jumped up a few octaves."

Aang blushed. "You have to remind me of that?" He asked, a look of betrayal on his face.

"Hey, it doesn't matter now." Katara said, finally leaning closer into him. "Your new voice really suits you. It's really..." She paused, blushing.

"Just say it, Katara." Aang whispered, brushing his lips against hers, a small whine escaping her mouth at the brief contact.

"Sexy." Katara whispered, still blushing.

His lips were so close that Katara anticipated a breath-taking kiss. But she was shocked when, instead of a kiss, he pulled away from her, raised his hands in triumph, and yelled. "Yes! I've finally broken through the Ice Queen to the woman within!"

"Okay," Katara gave him a quick playful smack. "I take back what I said about you being sexy. You're still a child."

"But... Katara!"

"Sorry, but the Ice Queen has returned." Katara said, unable to stop a playful grin from forming on her face.

"Oh, really?" Aang asked, swiping her into his arms. "Because you know what I think?"

"What?"

Aang lowered his sexy voice just a little, now it was just slightly husky and even more sexy than normal. "I love you, Katara." He whispered seductively.

Katara melted at the sound of his voice. "I... take it back again... you are sexy." Aang grinned and finally pulled her into that breath-taking kiss that she had been waiting an hour for.

LES: It's short. Oh well.