WRITING SOMETHING. FWAH.
Don't look at me like that. It's good practice.
Sokka squinted at his sister with scrutiny. He raised a hand, shielding his eyes from the midday sun that winked upon the surface of the water. He frowned. Cogs were whirring. They could come to no logical conclusion. The question must be asked.
"Why are you doing that?"
Katara fell silent. She stopped in the mid-wringing of her hair, staring at her brother lying in the water beneath her with a blank expression. Somewhere behind her Toph groaned in relief. Katara had been lecturing her on the benefits of hygiene for the last twenty minutes.
"Thank you!" growled Toph, reclining against her rock. She tucked her arms behind her head. "She's been at it for ages! Not to mention she's in a foul mood!" Toph snorted. "S'not like I was listing anyway."
Katara shot a loathing glance over her shoulder. When her attention returned to Sokka her expression had lost none of its fierceness. Sokka waved his hands apologetically.
"No, not that," he said hastily. "Keep at it, she could really use a bath-" At this, Toph objected rather loudly. "-I meant the other thing."
Katara frowned. "What other thing?" She finished drying her hair with a final twist.
"There!" She jumped violently when Sokka shrieked.
"What?" Katara said, alarmed.
"There, that!" declared Sokka triumphantly, splashing to his feet and pointing at her. Katara stared. Sokka rolled his eyes dramatically. "The hair-twisty thing! You know…" He performed a very crude mime that looked a lot more like he was trying to screw something into his ear than wringing invisible hair. Katara watched him blankly for a few moments.
"Drying my hair?" she suggested warily. Sokka nodded enthusiastically.
"Yes! Exactly! Why would you do that?"
"Gee Sokka, I don't know," Katara's hands dropped to her hips as she assumed a dry tone. "So it's not wet? Maybe?"
Sokka sighed in frustration. "But," he insisted. "You're a waterbender. Why do you always have to do it manually? Can't you just… Pull out the water?"
Katara blinked. Toph barked a laugh from above them.
"He's got you there, Sweetness!" Katara remained silent, but red began to creep into her cheeks. Sokka grinned and folded his arms in self-satisfaction.
"Well," spluttered Katara after a moment. "I don't see what you'd know about bending, Sokka-"
"Besides the point," scoffed her brother. "Admit it: you hadn't thought of it!" His smug expression quickly contorted into one of horror as a huge wave stretched into the sky, blocking the sunlight from his view. He squealed as it crashed back on top of him, flipping his legs into the air in a whirl of foam.
"Okay, Sokka," said Katara delicately, dusting off her hands as the embarrassed glare of her cheeks began to fade away. "I admit, you were right! Thanks for the tip."
Toph, who had been roaring with laughter the while, suddenly sobered when Katara wheeled to face her again. As the waterbender opened her mouth, Toph waved her hand dismissively.
"Whatever it is you have to say, I don't wanna hear it," she grumbled. "Water is not getting anywhere near me and neither are you and your stupid lectures." And with that, she promptly disappeared into a cocoon of earth.
Katara scowled.
"Toph!" she yelled. "Sometimes… Sometimes you can be so… So… So difficult!"
"Ooh," came Toph's muffled voice from beneath the rock. "Such harsh words! I think you hurt my feelings!"
"Why do you always have to be so stubborn?"
"Why do you always have to be so stubborn?"
Katara howled in frustration. "Fine!" she screeched. "Fine! I'll get you out of there myself!"
Toph laughed. "Good luck! It'll take a thousand years for you and your dribbles to get inside here!"
"Why don't I just ask Aang to crack open your little hidey-hole, huh?"
Katara smiled nastily as Toph fell silent. She continued. "Because… Oh yes, that's right! I nearly forgot! He can bend earth too, can't he?"
There was a lack of certainty in Toph's voice that was very uncharacteristic. "Oh yeah? Well, I'd like to see him try!"
"I bet you would," said Katara cooly. "Aang, would you come here a minute please?"
Silence.
Katara glanced over her shoulder, scanning the lake. Aang was nowhere in sight. "Aang?" She raised her voice a little. Still no response. She frowned.
"I guess he's sick of you too, Sugar Queen!" cackled Toph. "Looks like I'll be in here for a while!"
Katara ignored her. A little drizzle of fear began to fill the pit of her stomach as her eyes searched the surrounding area.
"Aang!"
"Katara, what are you yelling about now?" called Sokka grumpily, tapping water from his ear.
"Aang's not here," she said quickly, splashing onto shore. Sokka scoffed.
"Of course he is, he's probably just-"
"He's not answering, Sokka! He always answers me! Aang!" Sokka sighed, steeling his resolve not to slap his hysterical sister and joined her on the rocks.
"Well, he's probably just out of earshot-"
"It's a condensed space! He should be able to hear me!" Sokka dragged his fingers down his face as Katara scrambled along the beach, calling for the Avatar.
"Aang! Aang, answer me! Aang!"
"What if he's underwater?" suggested Sokka. Katara whirled on him, her face twisted in horror. "What are you looking at me like that- Oh, no, I didn't mean, c'mon, he can bend all the elements! There's no way he- Oh I give up…" Sokka slumped onto the beach folding his arms. He yelped when Katara's leg clipped his back in her hurry to get back into the lake, pushing aside great arcs of water with frantic sweeps of her arms.
"Aang!"
The more Sokka thought about it, the weirder it seemed. Everyone seemed to get annoyed with Katara at some point, enough not to answer her when she was in one of her moods. Well, everyone except Aang. Bright, happy, overly-enthusiastic Aang. Always at his sister's beck and call, wherever and whenever. Heck, he'd even been on the other side of the continent and heard her when she'd been in trouble, back in Ba Sing Se... Sokka quickly suppressed those memories. So why wasn't he answering her now?
Maybe, just maybe Aang was in trouble. Sokka frowned as he considered the possibility. Captured? They were in Fire Nation territory. It was possible. But they had been so careful, and Aang wouldn't have gone without a fight. What if he'd hurt himself? Hit his head? The kid could be bleeding somewhere… That thought was more awful than the first. No wonder Katara was panicking.
So Sokka got to his feet, and yelled above his sister's cries and the deafening splashing.
"Aang! Where are you, buddy?"
There was a loud rumble as Toph's rocky wall descended back into the black volcanic stone from whence it came.
"What's going on?" she asked. When she received no answer, Toph became impatient. "Hey! Sokka! What's happening? Are we leaving?"
Sokka stopped yelling Aang's name long enough to give Toph a serious look. "Hello?" she growled, folding her arms. "Speech required?"
"We can't find Aang," said Sokka gravely. "Katara thinks something could have happened to him." Toph sighed impatiently.
"Well he's out of ear-"
"Tried that."
"Okay, he's underwat-"
"That didn't help at all."
She hesitated, and Sokka watched as a twitch in the corner of her lips betrayed concern.
"Fine," she grunted.
"Aang!"
"Aang! C'mon, Katara's getting worried!"
"Oi, Twinkletoes, we're dying here!"
They searched for a little over an hour, without success. Then, suddenly, through all of everyone's yelling and splashing, there came a voice:
"Hey guys! Did you see-" The rest of Aang's question was cut off by a choked cry from Katara as she flung her arms around his neck. His eyes widened in surprise and his brow quirked curiously, but he returned the hug nonetheless.
Onshore Sokka and Toph breathed a mutual sigh of relief. Sokka cast a glance at the earthbender by his shoulder. Despite it all she had been concerned. That's a relief, he thought dryly, I was wondering if she had any feelings at all. Toph proceeded to smirk. Presumably some witty remark was about to be made-
The slap resounded, just like Katara had said, about the highly acoustic volcano core so clearly that even blind Toph had no difficulty in deciphering what had happened.
Sokka's jaw dropped.
Toph, despite her lack of sight, widened her eyes.
The only person who looked more surprised than the two onshore was Aang, his mouth half open and sporting an angry red mark on his cheek.
Katara glared at him. She was breathing heavily and her fingers had since curled themselves into tight little fists. Aang began to stammer an inquiry, looking for help in Sokka's direction.
"Look at me." Aang swallowed anxiously, and turned back to Katara. He started: she looked livid. He quickly dropped his gaze to his feet, somewhere in the cool blue water below his waist. "Look at me!" Aang's eyes shot up to meet hers on their own accord. "Don't you ever," continued Katara in a dangerously low voice. "Ever, ever do that again, do you understand me?" Aang opened and closed his mouth. "Aang!" He shook his head, mystified.
"Katara," he stammered. "That hurt, why did you… What did I do?" Katara's eyes popped, and on the sand Sokka and Toph winced in anticipation.
"Toph, Sokka and I," she continued in the same soft tone. Somehow it was worse than shouting. "Have been looking for you for an hour. An hour, Aang. Do you have any idea how worried we've been?" He paled in comprehension. The Avatar's brow creased guiltily and he opened his mouth to speak, but Katara continued, her eyes boring into his. "We're in the Fire Nation now. The Fire Nation! Do you have any idea how much danger you're in, whether you're in disguise or not?"
Aang lunged at the opportunity as Katara inhaled shakily.
"Of course I do, I wasn't-"
"Firstly," Katara charged onwards. "You fly off in the middle of a storm over open waters without telling anyone. You could have died! Then you wander off in the centre of that first town we visited. We were looking all day, I was worried sick, and where were you? You were playing hide and go seek?"
"Hide and explode, actually-"
"We thought you'd been captured! And then you vanish on us again today! With all of your tattoos visible! This isn't a joke, Aang! Do you know what would happen if they found you?
"Of course, of course I do, can I just-"
"You're the Avatar! What do you think they'll do to you if they capture you? Give you a rap across the knuckles and send you on your way? The Fire Nation is ruthless! Think of Azula and her cronies! What about Zuko? Isn't he just as cute and cuddly as a baby tiger seal? And Ozai, huh? Are you expecting to be best buddies? Or do I need to remind of what they've done. What they 've done to my mother?" Sokka made a strange gasping noise, but was silenced by an elbow in the ribs from Toph. "Don't you remember what they did to your people-"
"Of course I do!"
The final syllable of Aang's remark echoed through the volcano. Aang and Katara were glaring at each other, each ready to knock the teeth out of the other.
Toph let out a low whistle. Beside her Sokka remained stiff and coiled like a spring, ready to intervene. Not that he could do much, anyway.
It was the first time that Sokka and Toph had ever seen Aang yell at Katara. Not that she hadn't had it coming, thought Toph, she was way out of line. Katara seemed a little surprised too.
Aang shook his head in disbelief, and appeared to deflate a little.
"How could you say something like that?"
Katara paled. How could she have said something like that? How could he ever forget? But she couldn't bring herself to say a word.
After a few moments Aang dropped his gaze. "You know what?" he muttered. "Forget it." Aang parted the water before him with a violent thrust that caused both Toph and Sokka to leap backwards. Aang stomped across the wet stone, whirling around to face a still speechless Katara when he reached the rocks. "I'm just getting out now, if that's okay with you!" Without waiting for an answer he dropped his arms and let the waters slam back upon themselves.
"Well," muttered Sokka as the Avatar stomped past him. "So much for a relaxing afternoon in the sun."
To say that the remainder of the day was tense would have been a severe understatement.
Toph and Sokka had to keep up a falsely cheery conversation between themselves, something which they had little experience in. Not that they didn't get on well, it was just that they'd never been in a situation where they weren't the members of a social blowout.
"I don't think I've ever seen them fight before," said Toph slowly. "Ever!"
"Tell me about it," said Sokka absently, flicking at a pebble beside his knee into the water. He watched the ripples slowly, lazily expand, until a distant voice screamed his name, followed by various criticisms.
"Sheesh," he muttered. "Touchy much? A few ripples and I'm accused of 'disturbing her meditation'."
"I wonder if she realizes she picked up those little meditation habits from Aang?" asked Toph.
Sokka pondered this.
"Probably not best to mention it," he said carefully. Toph grunted in agreement.
While Katara haunted the darkest corners of the lakes Sokka wisely came to the conclusion that swimming might not be the best thing to do. Toph didn't have any objections to this, since she couldn't swim anyway. She flatly refused Sokka's suggestion that he teach her. Besides, she told him, Katara had already promised to.
"Really?" asked Sokka, genuinely surprised. "And you're fine with that?"
Toph grimaced. "It was either that, she said, or you'd teach me. If I ever face water again, I want to live."
They didn't speak for a bit after that.
After a little while they discovered the whereabouts of Aang. He had managed to find the highest, pointiest pinnacle of rock possible, perched precariously atop in the lotus position. His back was to them, and his head was bowed.
They agreed to let him wallow in angst for a little.
"He seems to do that a lot, at any rate," mumbled Sokka.
"No kidding… Makes sense, I suppose. I mean, most of the time he's just so… Happy. It's not natural."
"That's true."
Since Appa and Momo had decided that they would side with Aang on this occasion, curling up under the said pinnacle and refusing to budge, Sokka and Toph simply sat. Sokka's few attempts at teaching Toph games had proved a total failure. Finally he grew impatient.
"Fine," he snapped. "I spy, with my little-"
"You're kidding, right."
"Oh- Never mind."
At last, after what seemed like an age, the sun began to set. Toph and Sokka stood on the shoreline, calling out across a pane of glassy water. Initially, with little success.
"Make it yourself!"
"Katara, if you don't make dinner, Sokka will have to and we'll all die!"
"Hey, I'm a good cook!"
"Fine, I'm coming."
Sokka sighed. "I hate you, Toph," he muttered.
"Hey," she said, slapping him so hard on the shoulder his knees buckled. "Thanks to me you get to fill that warrior's stomach of yours. Hate me not."
If Sokka had any hopes that dinner would cause the hostilities to subside, they had been in vain. Conversation was as absent as Mai's sense of humour. About halfway through the meal Aang appeared by the fireside like a ghost, causing the party to jump violently. Without a word he drifted towards the pot, slapped his bowl full of soup and floated back to the furthest corner of the circle. The silence was eerie. Not a soul dared to slurp.
Toph slammed her empty bowl onto the black rock with a resounding smack.
"Alright," she said gruffly. "I've had enough of this!" Everyone stared at her. Toph scowled, fixing her hands on her hips in a very Katara-like manner. She pointed at Katara. "You're being thick and you know it. Apologise!" Katara glared. After clearing his throat, Sokka tugged on Toph's sleeve.
"Toph, I don't think-"
"Back off, Sokka. They're obviously too hopeless to do this by themselves. Katara, apologise to Aang. Now."
Katara gaped furiously, casting a glance at Aang, who was looking intently at his feet.
"And while I'm at it," added Toph. "Twinkletoes? Grow a pair. Just because Sugar Queen here gets a knot in her knickers doesn't mean you have to sulk all day! I've been taking her crap since-"
"I don't see why I have to apologise to him," sniffed Katara, folding her arms. "He had me worried sick, he ought to apologise to me!"
"Katara," interjected Sokka. "Be reasonable, you said some awful things to Aang and he deserves an apology-"
"He disappeared again! Don't tell me you two weren't worried too!"
"Hey, Katara, this isn't about that it's about what you said to Aang! You've been in a foul mood all day, and I'm sick of it!"
"Toph, you're not making this any easier!"
"Back off, Sokka!"
"I'm not apologising!"
"Oh, that's it! Your butt is mine, Sweetness!"
"Toph, stop it!"
"Go ahead, see how easily I rub your face into the dirt!"
"I thought you were trying to get me clean! Sokka, get off of me!"
"Katara, sit down!"
"Okay, I'm sorry!"
The scene froze. Every eye was fixed upon Aang, now standing.
"Come again?" spluttered Sokka.
"I said I'm sorry," said Aang, averting his gaze, and rubbing the back of his neck. "I shouldn't run off like that. We've got so much at stake with this invasion plan, and I'm putting it all at risk by running off, in disguise or not. We should stick together, and from now on, I'll let you know where I'm going, if I have to go anywhere at all. I didn't mean to upset any of you, I know you're all just trying to look out for me. I'm sorry, Katara." He looked up hopefully at the stunned Katara, who was rooted to the spot. "So, is everything… Are we… Are we friends again?"
Suddenly, Aang looked panicked. Katara appeared to be on the verge of tears. Toph rolled her eyes.
"Wait, don't cry!" he said quickly. As she furiously brushed the first onslaught from her eyes Aang swayed awkwardly where he stood, unsure of whether or not he should comfort her or not. In the end he patted her on the shoulder, if not a bit uncomfortably. "Katara, what's wrong?" Katara bobbed her head up and down. Aang stared. "Uhh, Katara?" As the bobbing increased it evolved into ferocious nodding. "You're… You're nodding. Why are you- Oh!" Aang had the air knocked out of him as Katara pulled him into a rib-cracking embrace.
"Of course we're friends," murmured Katara into his shoulder. "I'm so sorry I said all… All those horrible things to you! I didn't mean a word of it, I just said it because I was worried… I was so scared that something might have happened to you, and I just couldn't… Couldn't…"
Aang was a little startled as he realized the level on which Katara cared for him, but nonetheless extremely pleased. His ears turned a very bright shade of pink, and he was glad for the darkness.
Half an hour later when the fire had been put out and everyone had unrolled their sleeping rolls, Air Bison and earth tents, Toph whispered into the darkness.
"Sheesh, talk about an emotional roller coaster. Can you believe those two? It's like travelling with an opera! So much drama…"
"Tell me about it," Sokka whispered back. "I can't wait till Katara hits puberty…"
"She hasn't hit puberty yet?" hissed Toph.
"Goodnight, Toph."
"I am so going to have nightmares…"