Zuko looked around the crowd of Water Tribesman and felt a little bit of irony. Last time he was here, he had assaulted an old lady and had been hunting the Avatar. Now he was here to help the Avatar, welcomed by everyone. What a change.
"I'm sorry I couldn't bring more people. This is the last airship we had. All the others were destroyed during the attack over the summer. I believe Sokka, Suki and Toph are responsible for that?" He said to them with a small grin on his face, entertained that Sokka was in on that. Sokka puffed his chest out as if he was very proud, causing Suki to giggle and his dad to pat him on the back. He looked around, most were unfamiliar faces, but yet all seemed welcoming to him and his advice.
"This attack is being led by an unknown group." He said simply. We just know they are getting a large following and are headed this way full steam."
"What are we up against Zuko?" He asked him. He answered with a shrug. "There's at least ten ships, and since some of the others have lost touch, I'm guessing that more have joined them. The Fire Nation navy is on the way, but they won't be here until either late tomorrow or the day after, and that's only a handful of them, the closest I could muster." He explained.
"Thank you Zuko." Hakoda responded. He was in charge, there was no disputing this. "We are still working on the same strategy, but with Iroh, Zuko and Toph, we have a bit more to work with. I'm sure we can take care of things, especially with the Avatar here." All eyes went to Aang who blushed a little but said nothing.
"Meeting adjourned." Zuko left the meeting, feeling his broadswords hitting the armor on his leg. This wasn't the first place he had wanted to travel, not to fight against his own people, he wanted to find his mother. His father had no idea where she was, that he believed, and he couldn't abuse his entire nation's fleet for that purpose, but it was hard to hit nothing on it.
"Zuko, thank you for coming." Katara's voice rang out interrupting his thoughts. He looked back, seeing Aang a good five feet behind her, waiting. She gave him a hug which he returned. "I still have retribution. I figure I helped mess this place up a little when I first got here, might as well make up for it now." He said with a smile. She returned it and ran to join Aang. Tomorrow would be a new day, and yet another battle.
Aang, Pakku and Katara stood at the water's edge, looking at each other. This is the way they would be coming. Together they moved the ice, the wall becoming taller and taller, thicker and thicker. It was pure white and covered only a third of the space they needed. They moved over and bent again, the same technique again and again, building the wall that they needed to help the defenses. Once it was done, they all were sitting behind it.
"Well that was the easy part." Pakku said breaking the silence. He looked over to Katara who was looking at her hands. Aang had flown to the other side, saying he wanted to bend the water tribe symbol to the front. "Katara, listen. I have lived through many battles, and with what I have seen you do, and what I have heard you have done, you shouldn't be worried." He said to her. "We don't have the moon on our side this time, seeing it will be new this time of month, but we do have Aang, who is a fully realized Avatar now. Just believe in him, as you always have, and we will pull through." Katara looked up to him, tears on her cheeks and hugged the old man.
"Thank you grandpa." She said. He smiled and patted her back gently. "Of course Katara." He said, watching as Aang returned to them. "Wanna see it?" He asked looking proud of himself. They chuckled together. "Sure, let's go see."
Across the water tribe Kanna gently rapped on Bedisa's door, worried about the woman. "Bedisa, are you alright? After Aang returned you ran off." There was silence for a few moments and the old lady began to leave before the door opened. Her face was tear stained and she was holding a drawing that was facing towards the distressed woman. "I need to confess something to you, and I just hope you won't look at me differently after I do." Kanna's kind eyes looked at her for a moment.
"Let's talk Bedisa, you seem to really need it. She entered the house as Bedisa moved aside, closing the door behind the two of them.
"Should I do the face make up or the headdress?" Sokka asked Suki, lifting up the wolf which he had worn more recently, and the black and gray makeup he had worn in the past. Suki leaned back on Sokka's bed with a smile. "Well you could always do both." She said looking at him as he turned away. "Ugh, I don't know." He said looking in the ice mirror that he had. Suki interrupted his thoughts.
"How about you come over here and relax huh?" She said to him. He turned and smiled at her, laying down next to her on the bed. She moved close into him and his arms went around her. "You will know when the time is right, but for me, I'm not wearing a dress in this weather, that I know." She joked slightly with him.
"Well that's okay." Sokka said with a small grin. "You'll look stunning in water blue." He gently kissed her, one of his hand reaching up to hold her cheek.
"I think that is what I needed." Sokka said looking at her after the kiss chuckling. She smacked his arm playfully and said nothing, simply kissing him again.
Dinner was a large affair that night, almost everyone fitting around the small table in Hakoda's house. Zuko's fire bending made cooking really easy on them, and Kanna's skills were greatly enjoyed. She made a dish called sinigang, which really warmed the group up. It was no quiet affair to be sure. Momo had tried to steal some bites of his own, leading to Aang making a ball of wind to entertain him, tricking the lemur outside. He returned with a long white beard causing everyone to laugh. Iroh made some delicious oolong tea for after dinner, which everyone drank. To their pleasant surprise, he also was more up to date with jokes than Zuko was, even though Zuko could be funny in his own way without trying. As night came the nervousness returned to them. Tomorrow they would be attacked, it would not be an easy day. Zuko and Iroh were the first to leave. They had some tents to set up and ground to thaw. Toph was going to stay with Appa in the igloo because she was feeling lazy, while Suki and Sokka had slipped away before they finished tea. Katara and Aang were left at the table, sitting together. Her head was gently leaning on his shoulder, as he laid soft kisses in her hair. "Everything will be alright tomorrow, I promise." He told her closing his eyes. If only he could make that a promise instead of empty words.
No one slept well that night. By dawn everything was prepared. Katara had extra water satchels filled up, Sokka received a sword from his father, and Zuko was testing the balloon and Aang was out scouting. Everything was set, but no one was speaking. Suki came forward with Appa following, and Toph broke the silence. "Let's kick some rebel Fire Nation butt!" She yelled. It went silent though, no one responded. Her attempt at helping had failed. She shrugged. "It was worth a try." She climbed back in the balloon with Iroh and Zuko, ready to go.
"Everyone to your positions!" Hakoda cried out after Aang landed next to him. It didn't seem like this was going to go as smoothly as he had hoped. There were at least a dozen ships, all heavily armed. Pakku shot to the top of the wall while Sokka and Suki leapt on Appa, Katara went to join her old master and Aang grabbed her sleeve.
"Wait, I need to talk to you." He said, looking at her seriously.
Appa took off into the air and they were once again alone.
"What is it Aang?" She asked nervously.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. This was harder than he had hoped. "I know we are both young. I know that our lives together have been nothing but filled with war and our lives were only sometimes guaranteed."
"But Katara, there is one thing I'm sure of, and it is that I love you. I have loved you since you saved me from the iceberg." From his robe he pulled out a medallion. From his hand twisted a blue and orange cord that hung a pendant which spun in it's metal holding, one side blue, with the water tribe symbol, the other grey with the air nomad's symbol. "Marry me Katara."