Chapter Eighteen
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Into the Fire
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By the time Katara and Sokka had entered the Bei Fong's banquet hall, the party was in full swing. Along one wall stood a buffet of the best Earth Kingdom dishes cooked by the best in the business. At the far end of it guests quickly found the open bar and indulged in the variety of available wines and brews and cocktails, then wandered away, drink in hand, to sit with their party or stand and mingle. A large space intended for dancing obligated couples to fill it as a small orchestra beckoned with a pleasant melody.
"This is kind of…huge," Katara uttered.
"Yeah," Sokka gulped. "I forgot how rich the Bei Fongs are."
"Come on, let's find Aang."
"Oh, uh, are you sure? Look, I think I see Iroh. Don't you want to go talk to Iroh?" Sokka pressed, trying to divert her from Aang and the date she didn't know he had.
"Um, sure, maybe later," she said over her shoulder as she walked away.
Sokka looked after her, worried, but the fragrance of cooked meat reached his nostrils, and he immediately headed for the buffet, obeying the call of the Sokka Stomach.
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Katara wandered through clutches of people, catching no glimpse of Aang, when someone grasped her hand as she passed. Startled, she turned to Haru smiling at her.
"Hello, Katara," he said.
"Hi, Haru!" Katara answered, matching his friendly smile with one of her own. "How are you doing?"
"I'm doing very well. And you? Did you just arrive?"
"Yes, I was, ah, held up by my brother," she said, leaving out the part about her mad search for the perfect dress.
"That dress is gorgeous," Haru said. "It really becomes you. Where did you buy it?"
"Oh, um, I don't even remember, it's been so long," she chuckled.
"More like a few hours ago," she thought with a wince.
"Have you seen Aang?" she asked suddenly, trying to leave the topic of her dress. She just wasn't comfortable lying to Haru—his eyes always seemed to suggest he knew exactly what she was thinking.
"No, I haven't actually. But everyone is talking about the Avatar, and I figured I would see him and his date at some point, but so far just you." He winked.
"Oh, I'm not Aang's date tonight," Katara blushed with a shy smile.
"Really? I assumed you guys were here together."
"Not tonight," Katara smiled. "But maybe next time."
With that, she gave Haru's arm an affectionate squeeze and went off in search of Aang again.
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Stonehenge approached Toph as she chatted with a gaggle of princely figures in pompous garb attempting to hold her attention for far longer than she could tolerate it.
"Excuse me, boys. Mind if I borrow her for a bit?" he said politely, stepping in.
"Actually—" one of them began, but Stonehenge flexed his arm muscles, which were, as always disconcertingly visible through his clothes, even formal attire.
"Thanks," he said curtly as the gaggle recoiled in fear and distaste.
"You're a barbarian, Pixieshit," Toph said as they left the rich young men behind.
"Anything for you, Sweetfeet," he replied, leading her onto the dance floor.
"Wait! I don't want to dance!" Toph said, pulling away. "Let go!"
"Come on, you're playing the part of princess for your parents so well. I'm sure they'd love it if you threw in a dance, too," he said, loosening his grip to appease her bid for freedom.
"Not if it's with you," Toph snapped.
"Not if it's with me," Stonehenge agreed.
Toph smirked. "Doing what my parents want, but not the way they want?" she said. "Sounds like a plan." And she placed her hand back in his and stepped out with him onto the dance floor.
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Sitting down at an empty table, Sokka chewed his way through two gooselamb legs. He couldn't lie, the Bei Fongs knew how to throw a party, but he still wanted to leave.
"Actually, I could," he considered.
"But no," he decided. "I need to be here if…when Katara needs me."
He ruminated on this point, chewing on a dinner roll.
"If every breakable thing in this place didn't cost more than my life, I could take advantage of the bar…"
Finally he decided that his party plan was to enjoy the buffet until Katara broke down, at which point they would make their exit and deal with whatever came next.
"Good idea, Sokka," he congratulated himself, wiping off his mouth and returning to the buffet for seconds.
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"This isn't working," Katara grumbled to herself. She had covered the banquet hall twice now, and still she'd seen nothing of Aang. She had even asked people if they had seen the Avatar, but no one had a definite answer, only that he was "around."
"I'll try standing on the steps to get a better view and then wait until I see him," she thought.
She climbed a fair ways up the stairs, keeping to the side so as not to loom awkwardly over the banquet hall like some sort of vulturequail. Her vantage point was good; she could see everything and everyone in the hall. Several times she scanned the length of the hall, but still to no avail.
"Maybe he left early?" she wondered. "Maybe—no, wait! There he is!"
Aang suddenly appeared, red-faced and laughing, from a room adjoining the main hall, and in his hand was another person's hand, and mixed with his laugh, another person's laugh, and matching his red face, another person's red face.
"Who is she?"
Something took control of Katara. She descended the steps and began making her way through the crowd, heading for Aang. Trying to find Aang. She bumped into people she didn't feel, heard grunts of upset she didn't acknowledge.
Who is she?
"Aang," she said when she finally stood in front of him.
Aang nearly plowed into her, she startled him so much just suddenly jumping in front of him like that. He ground to a halt, though, and breathed, "Katara."
Her eyes were sad, hurt, confused. He instantly knew that she knew he was with someone else, and it suddenly occurred to him that maybe she didn't just want to be friends, maybe her plea for friendship was her frightened, apprehensive, conscientious way of asking him to love her again. They had been in love for years, and their friendship had lasted even longer; he couldn't always read her, but he did at this moment, and it killed him.
"Katara, I—"
She wanted to say something, to avoid a situation here, now, just to accept it and swallow it and move on, but…
She shook her head and made a break for it. She headed for the stairs and the exit and the outside air where maybe she could breathe again.
"Katara!" Aang started to go after her, but someone squeezed his hand.
Oh.
Meng.
He turned to look at her.
"Aang, please don't," she whispered, pleading.
She said his name again, fighting against what she knew was inevitable, and it tore at his insides to pull away from her, feel her fingers quivering in the air where his hand had been, and leave her standing there amongst a crowd of strangers.
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Sokka saw it all happen. As soon as Katara bolted, he abandoned his buffet table post and shot after her.
"She's heading for the stairs," he realized, and he cut across the dance floor to reach her as quickly as possible.
Toph felt him coming.
"Oh, God," she thought, panicking, trying to avoid a run-in with Sokka.
"Come over here," she said to Stone, pulling him off to the side.
She pulled a little too forcefully, however, and petite girl though she was, she managed to throw Stonehenge slightly off-balance. He quickly caught himself and her, and misinterpreting her unexpected tug as a flirtation, he drew her to him and murmured, "I thought you'd never ask."
Sokka ran past them just as Stonehenge lowered his lips to hers and kissed her.
And he saw.
And his brain stopped thinking.
But his feet kept running.
He slammed into one of the peacock feather-filled vases, and it toppled over and crashed to the floor, him landing on top of it all. The orchestra stopped, the dancers stopped, the party stopped. The world might as well have stopped. Guests turned to see what the problem was, and everyone around him stared, utterly wordless.
Then the conductor of the orchestra said, "Son, you're bleeding."
Come to think of it, his neck felt increasingly warm and wet…
And the world…the party…the dancers…the orchestra…
…Stonehenge…
…Toph…
…everything…darkened and became nothing.
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To be continued…
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A/N:
Woah. So yes, this would be one of the less funny chapters (minus Sokka running into a vase, but he would so do that, I think). o.O I don't want to ruin the effect of this one with a long and unnecessary Author's Note, so I'll simply end it as usual with a "please review, it means a lot."
Peace.
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P.S.
I do not own Avatar.
And if you should like to listen to the song I listened to while writing this, it is a beautifully heartrending song "Into the Fire" by Thirteen Senses.
Thank you.