The story continues! I'm not sure how long I'll be making this, though.
Probably a Chapter or two, not more? Hm.
Thank you for those who +followed! (And for the review I got.)
And without further ado…
Aang was making his way down one of Ba Sing Se's markets. It had a various selection of foods, materials and items. There never seemed to be a shortage. There also never seemed to be quiet at the market; crowded and noisy all day long. People all around the world came here to trade, sell or buy.
Momo chirped quietly and gawked around the market. The smells of fresh food was simply unresistable.
"So, what nuts should we get? The good old ones or should we try something new?" Aang asked his lemur friend, who simply chirped at the young boy.
They walked pass an old woman with a stand, featuring nuts of all sorts. Momo gave out a small screech and pointed towards the goods.
"Allright, allright," He chuckled, moving towards the woman.
"A-Avatar! Welcome to my humble stand. What can I get for you, your greatness?" the woman bowed and smiled.
"Heh, no need for any 'greatness's." Aang smiled, "My little friend here," he patted Momo, "has a very good appetite. Could you suggest something for us?"
"Oh, certainly!" the woman smiled back, searching around her available goods to find something impressive for the young Avatar.
"These nuts are from the beautiful Western meadows of the Earth Kingdom! They have a hint of salt in their taste." she pointed out the light-brown nuts on her right.
Aang analyzed them, and gave one for Momo to sniff.
"What do you think, buddy? Feel like eating something with a stronger taste?" he asked.
Momo sniffed the nut a bit, shaking it next to his ears, then shook his head.
"Ahh, I guess he wants something more…" Aang tried to think of the word.
"Subtle? Well, these nuts are from the higher mountains of the Earth Kingdom. They don't have much of a strong taste, but they store water," the woman pointed at the darker brown nuts on her left. "each bite releases a bit of fresh water. It's a rather unique kind of meal."
Aang picked one up and gave it to Momo to examine. The lemur was very intrigued by the smell already, starting to munch without hesitation.
The Avatar and the merchant shared a laugh.
"I guess we'll take these. One bag, please." Aang said, patting Momo on the head.
"T-They are a bit more expensive," the woman pointed out. "But for the Avatar, I'm willing to sell them for half the price!"
Aang shook his head and smiled, "No-no. I will still pay the original price." he insisted. He didn't want his title to make people think he should get treated like that.
The merchant wouldn't argue. "Very well. The price for one bag is 15 gold pieces."
The Avatar was taken back for a bit. Those are some expensive nuts.
"It's because you have to get them from the mountains, right?" he asked politely.
"Yes. I wish I could sell them for a cheaper price; not many people buy them." the woman said sadly.
Aang thought for a bit, looked at Momo's curious face, "I think we'll be buying more of them in the near future." he said smiling.
The woman's eyes filled with joy. "O-Oh, thank you! Avatar, sir! You're very kind."
The two shared another laugh. Aang gave the woman 15 gold pieces in exchange for those rare mountain nuts. Momo immediately trashed the bag and put a dozen in his mouth.
"Have a great afternoon, ma'am." Aang said, waving the merchant farewell.
"Thank you, Avatar! Have a good one, as well!" the woman waved happily.
A few moments after Aang had disappeared from sight, the woman was working around her stand. Suddenly, something bright and fuzzy caught her eye.
"Wha-..." she could barely get the word out of her mouth. She squinted her eyes and headed for one of the boxes that were on display. It had a small, white feather on it, getting blown away by the wind.
The woman stretched out to see infront of her stand, which had quite a few white feathers rolling around.
"Strange." the old merchant said to herself. "I didn't notice any feathers on that lemur…"
Aang had made his way to Iroh's Tea Shop's entrance. The doors were closed, for it was late and the customers had gone home.
He knocked on the door, scratching Momo's head as the lemur munched on some of the nuts. He seemed to be obsessed with the taste.
The door was opened. A sneaky head peeked out of it. Sokka.
"Oh, hey Aang." the young warrior smiled and let his friend in. They hugged.
"Hey, Sokka." Aang greeted back, walking in whilst Sokka closed the door behind him.
"Aren't you home a bit early? I thought you said you won't arrive until midnight or so." Sokka asked.
"The council allowed me to go home. I had been working pretty hard for the past two days. They said I deserved a rest, so they also gave me the next few days off." he said, smiling.
"Oh, I see." the Water Tribe boy locked the door and walked with the Avatar into the living room.
"Nuts?" Aang asked, offering a small bag of his purchased goods to him. Sokka noticed Momo crunching on some quite rapidly, driving his appetite away.
"I think I'll pass this time."
They made it to the main room. It was awfully empty and quiet, however.
"Where is everybody?" Aang asked, looking around.
"Katara and Suki went shopping. They were planning on making some huge meal for when you come ba-..." Sokka stopped. "Oh, dang it. I wasn't supposed to tell you."
Momo took flight, grabbing the bag with his feet and landing on the couch, still enjoying the deliciousness.
Aang chuckled, "It's allright. I won't tell them you told me." They smiled at eachother.
The Avatar was very happy to hear that his friends wanted to do something special for his return. He wondered what the girls would possibly come up with, for their cooking was always something he loved.
"Zuko's been busy with meetings like you, and Toph, um…" Sokka added. "I think Toph's kicking some boulders around somewhere. I haven't seen her that much lately."
Aang walked around the room, looking at some of the paintings that his trusty friend had put up. They were quite… amateur, to say the least. He chuckled when he noticed how Appa was drawn, again.
"So, what are you going to do on your days off?" Sokka asked, noticing how Aang was laughing at his paintings that he worked hours on.
"Um, I guess I'll just keep training and meditating." he said, looking at his friend.
"Ahh," Sokka shook his head a bit. "Always with the Avatar stuff. Don't you want to do something else for a while, especially when you don't have to go to boring meetings?"
"Well, what else can I really do?" Aang asked, scratching his bald head.
"For starters, ask my sister out more. You guys have only been to ONE date!" Sokka pointed out.
Aang blushed and laughed lightly, "You're right. I've been so caught up with my Avatar duties…" he didn't really want to tell Sokka about the cuddling and kissing they do whenever he and Katara are alone. Oh the oogies Sokka would get if he knew.
"I'm just saying, loverboy." Sokka said. "Atleast bring her along when you go away for days. She's been a bit sad because you keep flying off all the time."
That's true. Aang's been busy with councils and all sorts of meetings and plans that he hasn't had much time for his girlfriend. He comes home late and shares an hour or so with her, but that's pretty much it.
He felt really bad for treating her like that.
'Maybe I should start asking for more days off…'
"Ahh," Aang sighed, feeling his back hurt all of a sudden.
"I'll ask her out tomorrow. Thank you for reminding me, Sokka." he smiled at him. "I'll make sure to spend lots of time with her now."
Sokka flinched, "H-Hey! Not too much time, okay? Oogies!" the warrior exclaimed in disgust.
Aang chuckled, then arched back all of a sudden.
"Ow!" the Avatar supported his back with his hand.
"You okay?" Sokka asked with a serious tone. He reached for his younger friend.
"I'm fine. My back just hurts for no reason." he explained.
"Hmm, I think the reason is that you've been working too hard. You should go to bed and get some rest." Sokka said, putting his hand on Aang's shoulder.
"Yeah, I'll do that." The Avatar replied, giving a small smile.
He started making way towards his bedroom, which was down the hall, at the very back. A shock of pain came again, making him wince, but he kept going.
"Good night, Sokka." Aang waved across the hall, entering his room and closing the door.
"Take it easy, champ." Sokka said, watching his friend disappear into his respective room. Sokka had made sure that his room was between Aang and Katara's. Just so that one of them won't try sneaking into the other's room without his notice.
"Now, off to make more art!" he said to himself, rushing to his table that was filled with paintings.
Aang headed for his bed, still a bit weary from the sudden jolts of pain from his back.
'I guess I really have been overworking. I should dedicate tomorrow to spending time with Katara, and just relax. Too much work can lead to stress and … yeah.'
He thought to himself, trying to find balance in his duties and free-time. He blushed at the thought of him going on another date with Katara.
'I hope she's not too upset the way I've treated her… I have to show her I truly love her.'
Aang took off his clothes and placed them on a chair next to his bed. He made sure to fold them correctly; after all, those were the clothes he went to meetings with.
"Augh!" he winced again, the pain from his back only getting worse by the minute.
The young Avatar sighed, sitting on his bed. After another annoying jolt of pain, he shifted the bedcovers and made his way under them. A few long breaths, and he was sleeping like a koala-bear during winter.
Sokka had spent about an hour alone, drawing endless amount of paintings. He seemed so into it, his brush making swift and quick turns, his face full of deep thinking and pride.
"WHAM!" The door of the teashop flew open violently, obviously caused by someone earthbending. Dust and small rocks flew around the place.
Sokka was shocked by the sudden explosion, flinging his brush across one of his paintings, ruining it.
"Toph, do you even know the definition of 'knocking'?" a female voice asked, coughing from the dust.
"Well excuuuuse me, Sugar Queen." a younger girl said, mockingly. "If you two hadn't spent more hours on the market, I wouldn't have felt like destroying something."
Sokka ran to the entrance, shocked and angry. Once he was there, he was even more shocked and angry. The door was indeed destroyed.
"Tooooph!" he exclaimed, gripping onto his head.
"Oh, Sokka, we'll get it fixed. It's not the first time this has happened, anyway." Suki said, giggling.
Katara and she were carrying large baskets filled with food (well, everything that was not meat), making their way to the kitchen. Toph had an annoyed and dusty face on her. Clearly she was more than done with the two older girls wasting extra hours shopping while she had to tag along.
"THAT'S NOT THE PROBLEM." Sokka shouted, flailing his arms around.
He pulled out his most recent painting, "Now my beautiful and hard work has been ruined!"
The girls couldn't help but to laugh. As always, the characters on his 'paintings' were too humorous to even look at anymore, and the big fat line of black paint across it only added more hilarity.
Momo noticed the girls' presence and flew off the couch, greeting them, jumping on each of them and licking their faces.
The girls chuckled, "Hey there, Momo." Katara patted the lemur.
"So excited from seeing us, aren't you?" Suki cooed, scratching his head.
"He smells like," Toph said. "nuts?"
Katara looked at Sokka, "I thought you said you were staying here tonight? Why did you go to the market instead of just telling us to get Momo some snacks?"
Sokka had been too busy crying over his 'masterpiece'. He wiped away his tears and stood up.
"Oh, uhm…" he looked around suspiciously, then got closer to the girls and whispered, "Aang came back home."
The three froze. They thought their little surprise for the young Avatar was now ruined.
"Why? Wasn't he-" Katara asked but got cut off.
"Shhhhh! He's sleeping!" Sokka whispered a bit louder, pointing at the hall.
"He said that the council allowed him to relax for a few days. He was exhausted." he added.
"Awh, poor Aang. I hope he's allright." Suki said, starting to quietly put the food in her basket into the cupboards. "He must've been working really hard."
Toph yawned and laid down on the couch, starting to munch on the nuts that were supposedly Momo's.
"You didn't tell him anything about our surprise, did you?" Katara asked sternly.
"N-No! No, not at all!" Sokka said, shaking his head rapidly. He hoped he was convincing enough.
His sibling took his word and helped Suki unpack.
"Looks like we'll have to get up earlier so that we could actually surprise him." Katara pointed out.
"But he's a morning-person. Who knows how early he will wake up?" Sokka asked.
"He's probably going to sleep longer tonight. Atleast, I hope." she answered.
Sokka knew how badly Katara wanted to surprise Aang after his return from two days of seperation. He really wishes he hadn't told Aang unintentionally about their little plan.
He put a hand on her shoulder, "Hey, I'll help out. Two cooks are better than one, right?" he assured her, smiling.
'I think I'd do better without Sokka, honestly. A lot less accidents, but… I can't say no.' Katara thought before smiling back at her brother.
"I'll help out too. I'm used to waking up early." Suki said, finishing unpacking the food.
"Thank you," Katara said. She felt a bit sad for not being at home when Aang arrived, but it was for the best. If he had arrived just now, the surprise might've been completely ruined.
Toph gave out a loud burp, finishing the last of the nuts with Momo.
"You're helping out too, Toph." Sokka ordered.
"Ugh!" the young earthbender whined. "...fine."
After everyone had finished relaxing in the main room and Toph had earthbended a large stone wall as the entrance door, Sokka announced;
"Allright everyone! Tomorrow, Aang shall taste the greatest salad-"
"It's a meal, Sokka." Katara interrupted.
"...non-meat meal," he continued, earning a sigh from his sister. "that he has ever tasted! We have all the ingredients and a fresh, oblivious Avatar, ready to be served! Let's do this!"
Suki gave a small applause and a kiss on the cheek, "Very leader-like, hun."
'I don't see why Sokka's making such a big deal out of it. He's not even doing anything. He didn't even go to the market-... Ugh, nevermind.' Katara thought to herself.
She wanted to go and see the young Avatar, but knew that she might wake him up. He's been away for two days and working hard, so she won't disturb his sleep.
But spirits, how she wanted to see his face again. To have him smile at her and hold her, perhaps even share a kiss with her again. Ever since War's ended, Aang's been busy with meetings and all sorts of plans and orders with the council, that they only managed to go on one date.
'Sure, it was amazing but… If there hadn't been so many fangirls following him around, it would've been much better.' She remembered the day, trying not to focus too much on the negative parts.
Her face turned light pink, as she remembered holding hands and staring at the beautiful night sky with Aang. How it made her heart flutter.
'Maybe now that he has a couple of free days, it's my chance to ask him.'
"Welp," Toph broke the short silence, standing up and heading towards her room. "I'm going to bed. Let me know whenever Twinkle Toes is supposed to wake up." They knew Toph can't actually help out with cooking. So she'll just join them when they wake Aang up.
"G'night." she said, yawning. "Night, Toph." they said, soon going to their bedrooms aswell.
The blind earthbender's room was the one opposite to Aang's; at the very end of the hallway. She stumbled sleepily to her room, when suddenly, she felt something soft under her foot.
"Hmmm…" she picked it up. "A feather?" she touched it, to see the figure of it. It was extremely soft and light.
"Ugh," she stood up and crushed the feather into dust. "Sokka has got to stop eating so much pigchicken." continuing her way to her room.
Sun was rising on Ba Sing Se city. Warm morning breeze flew over the land, the smell of arriving fall.
As the first ray of sunlight hit Iroh's Teashop, the young Avatar started to wake up. Even for a morning person, he was up very early.
The young boy felt his bed being a lot warmer than usual. He presumed it was because he was away for so long, forgetting the sensation. But really, it felt a lot warmer and softer than what he remembers.
He moved his hand around the bed, feeling something really soft and tender brush over his fingers. Now that's something he didn't remember.
Aang grunted, as he tried to open his eyes.
His vision was blurry but he noticed the whiteness of everything.
The pain in his back was gone, and instead he felt something big and warm embrace him from his back. All over his sides and spine.
He grunted a bit more, opening his eyes again, but his vision was still blurry.
'So… warm… and fluffy...wait...' he said to himself in his mind.
The boy noticed his blanket was on the floor, as if it was tossed there without care.
'Wait, then… how do I feel so warm and… is someone… cuddling me? No...' his head was dizzy.
Suddenly he imagined Katara in his bed, having had tossed his blanket aside and replaced it with herself, hugging him.
His cheeks turned bright red, making his heart race. That helped him wake up better.
Aang tried to stretch his shoulders, but felt whatever was behind him move along with them. He froze. That was certainly not another blanket or a pillow, or even another person.
He felt as if he was… bigger. It was a very odd feeling, so he tried to experiment more while he was still semi-asleep.
Aang breathed in slowly, then pulled himself together with all of his muscles.
Giant white wings appeared infront of his face, covering him with soft feathers. He froze again.
A few tries of slowly breathing in and out, he noticed the wings corresponded to his movements.
After a few moments, he felt like he was completely awake. His head felt a bit dizzy, but he saw clearly what around him.
The young Avatar tried to sit up, noticing how the giant wings expanded and held onto his back… as if they were…
'Wait, wait… No, this can't be… I must be dreaming!' Aang tried to convince himself, but ended up panicking, as the wings would start to respond to his back-muscles more and more, almost completely under Aang's control.
'What is going on?! I-I have… ' he stood up, crouching, looking behind him. Yep, those wings were totally glued to his back. He observed them a bit more, but extremely confused and frightened.
Feathers. Feathers everywhere scattered around his room.
'I have… wings?!'
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
Everyone in the house shot up, all recognising the agonizing scream of the young Avatar.
'Damn it, he woke up before we did.' Sokka told himself, running out of his room in his underwear.
Aang's door flew open. All of the feathers in the room floated around. It was like an entire flock of pigchicken had ravaged his bedroom.
Way too many questions were being asked in their minds.
The window had been destroyed, and Aang seemed to have gone out of it. The four friends stormed outside to look for the young boy.
"Aang!" Katara called him once she noticed his figure out on the yard.
He was thrashing around, flopping his giant white wings and running around, screaming and shouting, obviously in panic and fear.
This was too much for poor Sokka, "H-He… has… w-w-w-wings!" was all he could say before passing out.
That's the end of this chapter! Hope you enjoyed it!
Please leave a review to let me know what you think. ;v; Thank you for reading!~