Chapter 17: The Village

The village was bigger than it was when Katara, Sokka and Aang had left nearly three years ago. Some Northern Waterbenders had travelled south so that they could help their sister tribe. The village now, instead of living in tents, now had large igloo houses, very much like the ones in the Northern Water Tribe. Katara, Aang and Zuko were staring at the "new" Southern Water Tribe in awe for they were the only ones who had seen the village before it was refurnished. They kept on walking through the village until they reached a massive igloo hall, very much like the Great Hall in the Northern Water Tribe. It was slightly smaller with a huge arched doorway and the two Water Tribe symbols. They stopped at the door and two Waterbenders, who later Aang recognised as Master Pakku and one of his students, Waterbended the doors open. When the doors opened, Kanna led them into the massive hall with four long tables in the shape of a square and signalled for them to walk up to the head of the table and take a seat. There were three people sitting down at the head of the table on a little stage. As they walked, the three people turned into Sokka, Suki and Hakoda.

When Katara recognised them, she bolted out of Aang's arms and ran at them. She gripped Sokka into a huge grip and it took him most of his strength to unlatch her fingers.

"Katara? KATARA! I can't breathe" Sokka said when she finally unlatched her fingers and stepped away from him.

"Sorry Sokka, I just missed you so much! What have you been doing all this time, well since you left us in the Earth Kingdom?" she asked, before he could answer her eyes drifted to Suki and she hugged her tightly, although not as tight as she hugged Sokka.

"Hey Katara, didn't expect to see you here" Suki said as she patted Katara on the back. Aang and the group caught up with Katara and stood back to give them some space.

"We found some missing Water Tribe villages, with Waterbenders! They are currently building trails and expanding their villages to meet up with us," Sokka said proudly. Katara noticed her dad standing next to Suki and she felt a little bad that she didn't notice him sooner. She hugged Hakoda tightly and felt tears pouring over her eyes.

"I missed you dad" was all she could say without her voice cracking and letting them know that she was crying.

"I missed you too Katara, my beautiful daughter" Hakoda kissed his daughter's forehead before giving her another tight hug. They separated and Katara noticed a blue stone hanging from Suki's neck.

"Oh my Spirits is that a betrothal necklace!" Katara squealed and hugged both Sokka and Suki.

"That is not our mother's necklace!" Sokka yelled pointing to Katara's necklace. Katara and Aang just looked at each other awkwardly, this was not the plan on how to tell Sokka about their engagement.

"Okay, okay enough talking about who's engaged and who's not and let's eat" Kanna interrupted and she led the group to their seats. Some servants had started to place plates and bowls of food in front of them on the table. Luckily for Aang, they had many vegetarian meals prepared, not only for Aang, but also for the whole tribe to Sokka's disappointment.

After a while of eating, Hakoda stood up and tapped his glass for everybody's attention. They all became quiet and looked up to him, their full attention directed at him.

"I have a few messages for you. First off, I welcome back my son Sokka and the Kyoshi Warrior Suki to our village and I congratulate them on their very recent engagement" the whole crowd clapped and some wolf-whistled. Suki blushed uncontrollably as Sokka stood up and started bowing to the people. "I would also like to welcome back my daughter Katara and the Avatar and I believe that they have a very special announcement to make" Hakoda sat back down and winked at Aang as he and Katara stood up to address the crowd.

"Thank you Chief Hakoda, I would like to announce that on Katara's sixteenth birthday, I proposed to her to be my wife –"

"And I said yes, so we're engaged!" Katara cut Aang off, wanting to get this over and done with. The crowd clapped really loud once again and wolf-whistled. Hakoda stood back up and Aang and Katara sat back down.

"Congratulations, you two make a very cute couple" he paused "I welcome some guests to the village, we have Fire Lord Zuko and his soon-to-be Fire Lady Mai and Princess Ursa of the Fire Nation" the crowd clapped quieter than they did with the Katara and Aang but still had some energy in it. "I would also like to welcome Earthbending master Toph and Teo of the Earth Kingdom. I would like to celebrate with you the United Nations after the hundred-year war". Everyone clapped and whistled for a long time before it finally died down.

The gang was back together once again. United once again. But Aang's journey wasn't over yet. He may have found his friends, but he hasn't found the Airbenders yet. They still need to search the Southern Air Temple, Aang's old home…