Day Four: In Bloom

Dense pine forest covered the northwestern territory, great dark swathes interrupted only by the occasional silver ribbon as a river looped lazily through the trees. The sky was bright, clear blue, and served as the perfect backdrop for the jutting precipices of the region's many mountain ranges. The land they were passing over was some of the most beautiful and untamed in the Earth Kingdom. Katara, hunched over in Appa's saddle, noticed none of it.

She and Aang had been trapped in meetings with the Earth King for nine straight days, and before that they had spent three weeks in the Fire Nation colonies discussing strategies for implementing the Harmony Restoration Movement. Then last night as she was looking over a letter from General How Aang had told her that Chief Arnook was going to be discussing a trade agreement with the Fire Nation ambassador and wanted her and Aang to be there. And so the two had packed their bags and started journeying to the Northern Water Tribe the next morning.

She rubbed her red and stinging eyes, unaware of the worried look Aang sent in her direction from his usual perch on Appa's head. Staring blankly at the document in her hand, she indulged in a little self-pity for the briefest of moments as she pondered the fairness of expecting a fifteen-year-old and thirteen-year-old to be as politically savvy as adults who had years—sometimes even decades—more experience under their belts. Sudden chittering broke her concentration.

"Not now, Momo," she mumbled, but the lemur ignored her and jumped up onto her shoulders. She looked up at last, finally noticing her surroundings, only to frown in confusion. "Aang! Where are you going? We're heading too far west!"

Aang turned, a guilty look flashing across his face. "Uh, I forgot to tell you; we have to make a stop first."

"But Aang—"

"We're almost there!"

She frowned but remained silent. True to his word, he urged Appa into a descent less than ten minutes later, eventually landing in a large clearing. As soon as Appa's feet hit the ground she slid down his side and turned to confront Aang, who had used his airbending to leap from his perch as usual.

"Chief Arnook didn't really send for us, did he." It was more statement than question.

"Um, well, no." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "It's just—We've been working so hard lately, and you've been so tired, and I knew we needed a break from all of it, just for a couple of days. I didn't think you'd go along with it, but it was really stupid of me to make up something like that. I'm sorry for tricking yo—mmph." He was suddenly cut off as her lips met his. His eyes widened in surprise before drifting closed, one arm snugging around her waist while the other cradled her jaw. After a moment he pulled back a few inches, his gray eyes twinkling and a huge grin on his face. "Sooo, you're not mad at me?"

She rolled her own eyes, laughing. "I think you already know the answer to that."

"Good, because the surprise isn't quite over yet." He tightened his arm around her waist and flicked open his glider with the other hand, and she had just enough time grab hold of the contraption before he jumped up into the air. She felt the familiar rush as they soared over the treetops, but as she stared down at the surrounding landscape, she had a feeling that she recognized it, a feeling that solidified when they passed over a village. It was Makapu Village, where the fortuneteller Aunt Wu lived and where they had helped stop a volcano. Katara was confused, wondering why exactly Aang had chosen to come here.

Aang folded his glider as they gingerly landed on the rim of Mt. Makapu. The volcano had a crust of black soil, and it was clear that it was no longer active. To Katara's surprise, a small patch of flowers grew just inside the volcano's rim. She had never seen a flower like it before; they had long, delicate white-and-black petals. With a sweet smile, Aang carefully plucked one and held it out to her.

Mystified, Katara accepted the flower. "Aang, it's beautiful."

"It's a panda lily." His cheeks reddened. "They are supposed to represent love."

"Aang…" She felt moisture in her eyes as she embraced him. Pulling away, she smiled, wiping the few escaped tears. "How did you know they were here?"

"That's actually how I knew about the volcano. When we were here last year, I was climbing up here to get a panda lily for you when I saw the lava."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I was kinda trying to get your attention the entire time we were here." His voice was casual, but she knew how awful it must have been for her to completely ignore him like that. The few times other girls had tried to flirt with Aang had made her feel horribly jealous. She suddenly felt like thanking him for putting up with her. "I-I didn't notice…"

Aang shrugged. "Hey, at least you notice now!"

"True." She pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"So," he teased, "you wanna stop by and have Aunt Wu tell our fortunes, just for old times' sake?"

Katara smiled at this, but it was a little rueful. She remembered very well how much weight she had given the old woman's predictions, and she had to fight a blush when she recalled how obsessed she had been with finding out the future of her love life. She was quiet the entire flight back, but as they lay side by side that night, fingers intertwined, she decided that for one night at least, she could forget all of that and just focus on the present. As long as she had her best friend by her side, she figured the future could take care of itself.

Wow, this ended up longer than I expected. I just loved how Aunt Wu's prediction about Katara's love life ended up true, even the stuff she said about him being handsome and tall (If you've seen the Gaang poster from Comic Con you'll notice that Aang is actually THE tallest) :D I'm not entirely happy with the ending, but here it is. Today's is 1000 words.