Sorry about these last two chapters, I realized they are a little bit of fillers. But, I'm just trying to drag this story out. It is a summer thing of mine, helping out with my Avatar hangover... Plus it's giving me some practice before I dive into writing my book. I'm having major writing blocks with it. Constructive criticism is always appreciated! And I love that you all are enjoying this story, I really didn't expect a reaction like this! Not sure when the next chapter is going up, I know I want to have something with the Serpent's Pass and a little bending excitement. Suggestions would be awesome, and I'll give a shout out to whoever suggested an idea for me!
But nonetheless, enjoy! :)
And I love all the reviews. They put a smile on my face!
"I…uhm. I was looking for the…restroom?" I say, my cheeks hot red in embarrassment.
"Hmph! That isn't the first time I've heard that one!" Meng grumps, her arms still angrily crossed at me. "Why are you really back here?"
I look down at my feet and sigh. "I guess I let curiosity get the best of me…I was eavesdropping."
"I figured. A lot of people are always nervous about what Aunt Wu will say to those they care about. What could you possibly be worried about?" She says, dropping her arms.
I just shrug my shoulders. "I guess I was just really interested in what his prediction will be." I say, nodding my head towards Aunt Wu's room.
"Aang's in there, isn't he?" She says, a hint of sadness in her voice.
"Yeah…he is." I quietly say, still looking down.
"Why are you worried about his prediction? I'm sure it'll be fine. Especially for you. I don't think he'd let some fortuneteller lady pull you both apart, whether Aunt Wu's prediction is right or wrong." She says, now leaning on the bamboo divider. I look up towards her.
"I don't know...maybe I am a little worried…" I say, putting my hands on my hips.
"What could you be worried about? You are perfect. And I can tell he really likes you. I could even tell when you guys were first here. He's completely head over heels for you. No one could ever change his mind." She says, her face falling. I put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"I know how you feel about Aang…and I know it's tough. But you'll find a guy who's perfect for you. And he'll be crazy for you." I say, giving her a small smile. Meng grins back and wipes a tear from her cheek.
"You really think so?" She asks, her voice hopeful.
"I know so." I say, nodding my head. She looks down in confusion.
"It's just weird. Aunt Wu predicted I'd marry a man with big ears. And I guess he was the first guy I saw with big ears. I always just assumed in the end it would be him. I guess Aunt Wu was wrong." She says.
I let out a small laugh and cross my arms over my chest. "Well, whoever you end up marrying, as long as you are happy, it doesn't matter if his ears are big or small."
She smiles up at me and stands up straight. "Thank you, Katara."
I giggle. "Aang really does have big ears though, does he?" She laughs along with me, punching me a little too hard for my likes on my shoulder.
"He really does!" She says, her voice still ringing with laughter. "I'm glad I got to talk with you Katara. I was wrong about you. You aren't a floozy." She continues, turning away. "But, you really aren't allowed back here, so I'm going to have to ask you to go back into the waiting room."
A floozy? I shake off her little snarky remark at me and give her a happy smile. "Of course, Meng. Sorry about everything." I say, sidling my way around her and back towards the cushions where everyone was still sitting.
"Aunt Wu will be with you in a little while, so be patient!" I hear Meng say behind me. I couldn't help but roll my eyes in annoyance.
"Sheesh, take any longer in the bathroom, Katara?" Sokka snickers, giving me a stupid look. I ignore him and take my seat on my cushion. I begin to play with my hair loopies, bored out of my mind.
Aang and Aunt Wu come out from behind the dividers, a goofy grin plastered on his face. He turns toward Aunt Wu and respectfully bows.
"Thank you for your wisdom Aunt Wu." He says. Aunt Wu grins and waves him off.
"Of course, Avatar." She politely says. She turns toward the rest of us. Before she has the chance to ask for someone to see her next, Toph springs up.
"I'll go!" She says, walking towards Aunt Wu. Aunt Wu shrugs her shoulders and has Toph follow her into the back room. Aang flops down next to me, our shoulders touching. I turn to face him, wondering about the sudden proximity. He smiles at me and grabs my hand, then, leans over and gives me a small but lingering kiss on the cheek.
"What are you so happy about?" I ask, angry that I could know myself if Meng didn't catch me eavesdropping. He contently sighs.
"Mmm, nothing…I just really liked my fortune."
"Oh, did you now? Well, good. I'm glad." I mumble. He moves his face even closer.
"Do you…want to know what Aunt Wu told me?" He whispers into my ear, his lips brushing them slightly. I ignore the intimacy of this moment and shrug.
"Eh, maybe later." I say, trying not to giggle, since his breath was tickling me. He pulls away, an innocent and confused look on his face.
"Oh. Okay then." He says, his eyes looking down at our hands nervously. Sokka groans next to me.
"Ugh, get a room!"
"Oh, shut up Sokka." I growl, not really in the mood to hear him complain about Aang and me.
Toph walks back in with a bored look on her face. Suki sits up and walks behind the dividers, now her turn to see Aunt Wu.
I begin anxiously biting the inside of my cheek. Okay, so I lied. I really want to know what Aunt Wu told Aang. I bring my other hand up to my mouth and begin to bite my nails as well.
"You…alright?" Aang wearily says, obviously aware of my growing anxiety.
I sigh and shake my hand out of Aang's. I swiftly get up, standing over Aang.
"Can I talk to you outside for a few moments?" I ask, crossing my arms. He looks up at me, confused. He nods and then airbends himself up, following me towards the door.
"Hey! Where are you two going?" Sokka questions. He looks up at us and glares.
"Out. For a walk." I mumble, reaching for the circular sliding door.
"This was your idea Katara! Come back he-."
I slam the door shut, silencing Sokka's annoying voice. I grab Aang's hand and stomp over to the side of the building. I lean on the wall, crossing my arms. The sun was low in the sky, colors of orange and pink slinking below Mt. Makapu.
"So…what's on your mind?" Aang asks, looking at me with a worried expression.
"Nothing…I'm just curious…" I begin, looking down at my crossed arms. "What did Aunt Wu tell you back there?"
Aang gives me a seemingly happy sigh and walks toward me, pulling my arms out of their crossed positions. He grabs both of my hands, his face not too far from mine.
"Well, last time, Aunt Wu told me my destiny of being the Avatar; something I obviously already knew. I was upset that she said nothing about…well…love. She then proceeded to tell me to 'trust my heart and you will be with the one you love.' I know she made it up just to make me happy, but I realized that it was somewhat true. So, when I saw her today and asked if she could see any love in my future, she actually said no." Aang says, not releasing his gaze on me. I feel my face fall.
"No? What does that mean?" I say, my voice quiet.
"That's what I said. But she ignored me and then asked if I remembered what she told me about love last time I was here. I said yes, and she laughed. I was pretty confused to be honest." He continues, his face very close to mine now.
"She said to me, 'I see you trusted your heart. I'm assuming you sorted things out with the young waterbender.' I said, yeah, I finally told her how I felt. And that you felt the same way."
I give him a small smile, now snaking my arms around his neck.
"So, when she told me that she couldn't see any love in my future, I was very puzzled. She then told me that she doesn't see any love in my future because I found the only source of love already. You." He says, moving closer to kiss me on the cheek. I chuckle at the gesture and lean back to get a better look at him. I feel my cheeks burn in embarrassment about what I'm going to tell him.
"I have a confession to make…when you went back with Aunt Wu, I kind of followed you and tried to eavesdrop." I say, my eyes darting across his face. Aang raises his eyebrows in amusement.
"I was curious and nervous…but I didn't hear what Aunt Wu had to say because Meng sort of caught me listening in. It was very awkward. And I think she called me a 'floozy.'" I say.
To my surprise, Aang begins laughing, and bends over, clutching his stomach from his growing hysterics.
"What's so funny?" I say, raising my voice over his laughter, which is slowly turning to small chuckles. He puts his arms around my waist and pulls me close, or noses touching.
"I have a confession to make myself. When we were first here, I sort of eavesdropped on your conversation with Aunt Wu. I jumped around the hallway when she mentioned you marrying a powerful bender." Aang says, giving me a guilty smile.
I let out a laugh, and pull him closer, our lips meeting just briefly. I break away from him, still chuckling.
"So, that's why you were paying absolutely no attention to me when I was telling everyone about my fortune in there earlier." I say.
"Well, I was paying very close attention actually. A lot of children? That's uh…well…" Aang says, blushing. I chuckle and kiss him again on the cheek.
"That isn't very specific." Aang continues. I pull away and give him a questioning look.
"Why? Did Aunt Wu say something to you about the…subject?" I ask, my heart fluttering a little too much for my liking. This conversation was getting a little too awkward for me. We are still kids, after all. Plus, I wasn't even sure Aang and I would be together for that long.
"Well… I sort of asked her. She said I'd have three children…but that's all I wanted to know." Aang says, sticking out his tongue. "It's a little too much info for me now."
I give him a nervous laugh. "Yeah, no kidding. But, three? Hmm…" I ponder, keeping my eyes fixed on his arrow. I wonder if they'll be airbenders? Oh, I hope so. The thought of a bunch of small Aang-like monks swirling around on air scooters made my heart swell. All of them possessing his same laugh and goofy smile, all three of them having either twinkling grey eyes like his or azure blue ones, like mine…
Aang clears his throat, brining me back from my daydream. I blush when I realize where my train of thought went. I look up into his soothing eyes and lean forward to kiss him again, this time lasting a lot longer than before. Our lips move together sweetly, and after a while, we pull away.
"We should be getting back…I'm sure they'll be wondering exactly where we disappeared off to." I say, grabbing Aang's hand and leading us back towards Aunt Wu's. The sun has long ago sunk under the mountains, the sky dark. It was getting late, and we still had a bit more ground to cover before the day ended.
We walk back inside, hand in hand, our faces still flushed from minutes ago. I sit down in my original spot, combing out my messy hair with my fingers.
"Nice of you two to join us." Zuko says, snapping his fingers to create little puffs of fire in boredom.
"Mai is inside…then it's your turn Katara, and we can finally leave." Sokka mumbles, pulling a loose string out of his shirt.
"You're just mad that Aunt Wu told you the same thing she said to you last time." Toph snickers.
I chuckle a little. "So, your life is still going to be full of anguish and struggle? Even after the war ended?" I say. Sokka just scowls at me.
"I'll say it again. My life will be just fantastic. It'll be so joyful, you won't even know what happened!" Sokka growls. Suki rolls her eyes and rests a hand on his shoulder.
Mai walks in, Aunt Wu following her. Aunt Wu turns to me and nods her head.
"Come young waterbender. Time for your reading."
I shake my head, putting my arms up in refusal. "No thank you, Aunt Wu. What you told me last time I was here is enough for me. Thank you so much for your hospitality, but we all really should be heading out." I say. I hear Sokka squeak in anger behind me. Aunt Wu gives me a small smile and bows.
"Always my pleasure. Please, take some fruits for your journey." Aunt Wu says, pointing towards Meng, who was carrying a fruit basket. "Have a safe trip young Avatar, and best of luck to all of you." And with that, she disappears behind the dividers, back towards her room.
Meng walks over and hands Aang the fruit basket.
"It was very nice seeing you again Aang…I hope I'll see you again." She says, her cheeks turning red. I roll my eyes and stick out my tongue.
"Oh, uh…yeah. You too." Aang stutters, still gripping my hand tightly.
We all make our way out of Aunt Wu's house and walk down the cobblestone pathway towards Appa, Momo sleeping on one of his horns.
Aang airbends me onto Appa's head, himself quickly following behind, while everyone else climbs into the saddle.
"I can't believe you made us come down here to visit Aunt Wu, only to be the only one who didn't have a fortune read, Katara." Sokka mumbles, reaching for the fruit basket.
I lean my head onto Aang's shoulder and sigh. "I guess I realized I didn't need to rely on fortunes anymore. I'm perfectly content with the way things are turning out."
Aang looks down and smiles at me, grabbing onto Appa's reins.
"Ugh, whatever. No more side trips!" Sokka growls, take a bite out of a piece of mango.
"Appa, yip yip!" Aang says, and we quickly soar into the sky. Aang reaches for my hand and laces his fingers with mine. I smile as the cool wind hits my face, closing my eyes in contentment, letting sleep swiftly over come me.