I Need to Find Myself
Song Inspired: I'm so into you by SWV
After a couple of days riding on the ship, Katara finally reached her destination. She was nervous and excited at the same time, "Dad, Sokka and Gran-Gran will be surprised to see me for sure" muttered Katara under her breath. The past couple of nights were especially rough on her sleep because all she could think about was trying to contemplate how she could've done things differently to keep Aang, but she tried her best to keep her composure and look forward to her reunion with her family. The ship stopped in the newly constructed dock by her small village and she disembarked it feeling elated; "Home", she whispered.
Katara observed her surroundings, she saw how much has changed and how many more babies were around, fully knowing that the return of the men to the small village sparked a sort of 'baby boom' surge. Katara blushed as she thought of what it took to make so many precious babies and toddlers, disappointed that she has yet to have that experience herself. Her thoughts quickly shifted as she observed how happy everyone was; the men were back to hunt and provide shelter, the women were busy caring for the children and keeping care of their homes and the kids were running around being mischievous. Katara giggled as she saw one particular kid hit an elder in his bottom as he bent down to reach for his freshly captured fish.
"Gyaaah, who did that?" shouted the elder.
By the time Katara went to see where the kid went, he was gone; well not quite, more like hiding behind an igloo chuckling with his friends. The kid spotted Katara as she raised her eyebrow to him. He got scared and ran away with his friends, Katara still chuckling.
As soon as the kids ran away she spotted someone familiar by the edge of the village, hanging animal fur on a string of wool.
"Gran-Gran" said Katara to herself. She looked at the old woman with loving eyes; she's seen her only a handful of times after the war ended since she's been constantly traveling to the North Pole, and with Aang. The thought of Aang sent a bolt of sadness through Katara and she immediately tossed it to the side. She took a deep breath as she ran up to her grandmother and stood behind her.
"Gran-Gran" said Katara enthusiastically.
The old woman turned around to meet this voice calling her by her beloved name. As she faced the person behind her, her eyes widened and filled with tears.
"Katara? Katara!" said Gran-Gran happily.
"Gran-Gran it's so good to see you! " said Katara as she lunged at her beloved grandmother to exchange hugs.
"It's so good to see you too, Katara." said Gran-Gran with a big grin on her face.
Gran-Gran left her animal skin to dry in the sun while she escorted Katara to the inside of the igloo.
"I haven't seen you in a while Katara." said Gran-Gran.
"Yeah, it's been several months at the least." said Katara disappointingly.
"It's ok Katara; I understand that you love to go to the North Pole." said Gran-Gran.
"Speaking of the North Pole, how are you and Pakku, he never really speaks of you while we're dueling." said Katara.
Gran-Gran chuckled, "Of course not child, if he's in the middle of a duel the only words that'll come out of his mouth is anything related to waterbending." smiled Gran-Gran.
Katara was sort of confused by her grandmother's relationship with her waterbending master, "I know he visits you often, but don't you ever get lonely at not having him here with you?" asked Katara sensitively.
Gran-Gran gave a peaceful look to Katara, "Of course not dear," said Gran-Gran, "I fully understand that his duties in the North Pole are very important; a lot of people count on him to teach waterbending and I am totally comfortable with it." Finished Gran-Gran.
"But don't you ever feel that if he's not with you he's going to..you know...find someone else?" asked Katara.
Katara gave a concerned look to Katara, "Oh no child, I'm fully comfortable in our relationship knowing that after all his duties are done he'll come back to me; if anything it strengthens our relationship. The last thing I want to do is push him away by demanding he be with me at all times." said Gran-Gran.
It soon hit Katara like millions of pieces of hail crashing down on her, "I smothered him", she thought to herself.
Gran-Gran noticed how distracted Katara looked and quickly tried to bring her back to earth.
"Katara, Katara?" said Gran-Gran, shaking Katara by the shoulder.
Katara snapped out of it, "Hhuh, wha?" babbled Katara.
"Are you alright?" asked Gran Gran.
"I'm fine" said Katara, knowing fully well she wasn't.
Gran-Gran gave Katara a concerned smile and placed her hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry about me, I'm fine; now let's talk about you and that airbender, eh?" said Gran-Gran slyly, giving a nudge to Katara's shoulder.
"I...uh...errrmmm well..." said Katara as she looked down with a sad expression on her face; fidgeting with her fingers.
Gran Gran observed worryingly as Katara tried to make up her sentence, but before she could ask Katara what was wrong, two visitors popped in the igloo; one ran right up to Katara and gave her a big hug while scrubbing his fist into her hair.
"Sis!" yelled Sokka.
Katara pushed him off, "Sokka, you know I hate it when you do that!" yelled Katara.
"Well I figured since you handle your own like a guy I might as well treat you like one" said Sokka annoyingly.
Katara couldn't help but smile and return a hug to her big brother whom she hasn't see in so many months. As she let go of Sokka, she noticed the second figure standing on the entrance of the igloo.
"Dad..." said Katara tearfully. She ran to her father and gave him a tight hug as he returned her embrace.
"Katara" said Hakoda in a caring tone. "It's good to see you again." finished Hakoda.
The whole family sat down by a fire and discussed their current events.
"So Suki's moving here with you?" asked Katara, as if implying that her brother wasn't good enough for anyone to move to the South Pole for him.
"Yes!" said Sokka in a cracked voice, "And for your information she's really thrilled about it" humphed Sokka.
Katara chuckled at Sokka, she knows perfectly well that Suki absolutely adores her brother, they've been traveling just to see eachother since the war ended, and her move to the South Pole is a big step that she knew Suki was willing to take if it meant being with her brother, for life.
"By the way, where's your loverboy?" asked Sokka as he gave Katara smooching gestures.
Katara stared sadly towards the fire, looking as if one thousand thoughts were passing by her mind per second. She didn't know if she should tell her family what happened between her and Aang, but she wasn't sure if she could hold everything in either.
Sokka looked at Katara with a discombobulated look on his face, "Whaaaa, it's not like he broke up with you or something." said Sokka, trying to lighten her up.
Sokka didn't realize his words really hit a nerve on her, and was oblivious to the turmoil etched on Katara's face.
"Sokka, stop it" ordered Hakoda and he observed his daughter's uncomfortable state, "Katara, is everything alright?" asked Hakoda as he observed a tear fall down Katara's cheek.
Sokka now caught up on Katara's melancholy and became concerned as he waited for his sister's reply.
"Does this have anything to do with Aang's meeting with the Nation Leaders?" asked Hakoda.
"H-Huh?" said Katara, confused by what her father just said.
"Aang, he has a meeting , tomorrow in fact, with the Leaders of all the Nations. They mentioned it was something very important." added Hakoda.
Katara looked at her father baffled, "Aang never mentioned anything" thought Katara to herself.
"Chief Arnook will be representing both the Northern and Southern Water Tribe in the meeting; they're perfectly aware that Aang has had a tendency to miss many meeting in the past, but this is incredibly important and is mandatory that he be there; they mentioned that the meeting is about him, but I'm not sure exactly how." explained Hakoda.
Katara didn't know what to say; Aang never mentioned any meeting to her and she knew why, "because all I'd do is get in the way" she thought to herself. Her hands began to tremble as she took in her father's words, colliding with her own thoughts, and knew she couldn't hold it in anymore. Tears came down her face as if someone opened the floodgates in her eyes.
"Dad...Aang...broke up with me." sobbed Katara.
Gran-Gran gasped and reached to hold Katara as she began to cry in her arms; Hakoda soon followed suit, shocked by the thought of Aang breaking up with his daughter during such an important time. And the worst thing of it all is that Hakoda knew exactly what they were going to ask of Aang; as Arnook spoke to him about it discretely, but refrained from telling his daughter knowing that furthering the information will only make her feel worse. "Maybe, somehow he knows?" said Hakoda to himself, quickly changing his thoughts, "No, there's no way he could know."
Sokka was in a state of shock; he couldn't believe that Aang would hurt his sister that way. Sure, he knew that Katara was a very demanding person and always required Aang's attention all the time, he knew this, but it was still his sister and it angered him to see her hurt this way, especially in light of the fact that Suki was about to move to the South Pole just to be with him. His anger soon took over and he balled his fists as he said, "I'm going to kill him".
Katara gasped, "No Sokka...please...this has nothing to do with you" implied a teary Katara.
"I don't care, no one hurts my sister and gets away with it" said Sokka angrily.
"Your sister is right Sokka, he is the Avatar; to be quite honest I don't think you'll be able to land a punch on him " said Hakoda. "And neither would I." he finished.
Sokka was still fully intent on hurting Aang when Katara reached her hand out to his shoulder, "Sokka, this is between us, please the last thing I need is for you or anyone else to get involved. I need to stand on my own two feet and learn from this." implied Katara.
Sokka's angry face turned to a face of relief, "You've always been the strong one Katara, even if I never admitted it." implied Sokka lovingly.
He was right, all of his sexist phrases and stereotypes really made Katara feel that he thought that women couldn't ever be as strong as a man. It sent her great comfort to hear her brother say this, "Thank you Sokka." said Katara, "I really don't mind you and Aang remaining friends." implied Katara.
"That's ok, I never really liked the kid" said Sokka boastfully; Katara fulling knowing that he didn't mean it.
"Seriously Sokka" implied Katara.
"Ok! ok! geesh, it's not like I see him much anyway" said Sokka as he crossed his arms.
Katara gave Sokka a weak smile as she reached to give him a hug; let go of his tight lock and hugged her in return.
"Katara, will you be ok?" asked Gran-Gran.
"I'll be fine Gran-Gran" said Katara, feeling better as she let go of her brother, "It's not going to be easy to move on, but maybe this is just what I need. I need to find myself so that I don't make the same mistakes again in my next relationship." said Katara, looking forward to her own future and now knowing what to expect.
Gran-Gran smiled and gave Katara an encouraging hug, "Katara, you can stay here for a while if you like; you know this home is always open for you" added Gran-Gran.
"Thanks Gran-Gran, but there's a whole world out there just waiting for me to explore it" said Katara excitedly, "And it wouldn't hurt to play the field a bit" said Katara quietly as she blushed.
Gran-Gran became a bit worried at Katara's indication, "Katara, I don't think you're ready to do that just yet." said Gran-Gran.
"I have to agree with your grandmother, Katara" said Hakoda, "You just got out of a relationship, and you need to sort your feelings out before you can become involved with someone else." preached Hakoda.
"Well, what do you think Sokka?" asked Katara.
Sokka gave a thinking face as he placed his index finger on his chin and his thumb on his cheek, "I say go for it" said Sokka.
Gran-Gran and Hakoda stared at him wide eyed.
"You only live once, well, unless you're the avatar in which case you live forever." said Sokka wittingly.
"Sokka, you're not helping" said Katara
"Hey, I'm being honest! But that's besides the point, take time for yourself to explore; it's a new life Katara, just reach out and grab it. " said Sokka encouragingly.
"Thanks Sokka" said Katara.
"And I'll remain friends with Aang if you really want me to, just, promise me that you'll be ok." said Sokka concerned.
"I'll be fine, I promise, this is something that I need to do for myself." said Katara.
"We support you every step of the way Katara." added Hakoda.
"We love you Katara." added Gran Gran.
They all reached for Katara for a group hug, and she was happy. They escorted her to the ship she arrived in and waved as she embarked on her new life.
"Do you really think she'll be ok?" asked Hakoda.
"Oh yeah, she'll be fine, I know she'll be" said Sokka.
She thought about what they said seriously, especially what her father said, "You just got out of a relationship, and you need to sort your feelings out before you can become involved with someone else." She couldn't let them know of Aang's new 'friend', after all, they were still friends with him and she didn't want to say anything else that might jeopardize that, so she kept her mouth shut and let it go. As the ship set sail and she waved her last goodbye to her family, she couldn't help but feel a bit nervous about starting over. She didn't like the idea of traveling back to Ba Sing Se; after her breakup with Aang in the city, there seems to be some sort of anxiety that's settled in with her about that place. But, that's the place she really felt would be a great start to her new life, and being as she already knew someone who lived there, she should have no problem settling in. The cool breeze whistled as it hit the sails above. she thought to herself about what her father said, "You just got out of a relationship...you need to sort out your feelings out before you can become involved with someone else" Katara then thought of Aang's words, "You probably don't remember her...we talk, we laugh, we get along great, she's a great friend." Katara stared determinedly towards the ocean, she then humphed and said "If he can do it, then so can I".
The guardsman struggled as he dragged the helpless keymaster by the neck.
"Please...gyahh..can't...breathe..." pleaded the keymaster.
The guardsman chuckled, "Don't worry we're here." said the guardsman.
They stopped in a cell deep within the forbidden corridors of the prison and the guardsman let go of his grip on his hostage's neck, only to lock hold on his collar so he wouldn't escape.
The dark figure inside the cell shifted position and approached the prison bars.
"Is everything prepared for our departure" asked the mistress, shrouded in darkness .
"Yes, mistress; everything's ready for our leave" answered the guardsman, still holding the keymaster by his collar.
"Good, now release me at once" demanded the mistress.
"With pleasure, mistress." said the guardsman as he turned to face the keymaster, "RELEASE HER!" yelled the guardsman hoarsefully.
As he was tossed to the cell entrance, the keymaster nodded as he jingled his keys with his uncontrollable shake, and stuck one of his many keys into the lock. He then proceeded to open the heavy, metal door and release the prisoner; overtaken by extreme fear.
"Thank you for complying my good man" said the mistress.
The keymaster smiled at the mistress as she thanked him for his 'generosity'.
"And as a reward for all of your trouble...I shall give you a quick death." said the mistress menacingly.
The keymaster's eyes widened as he dropped his keys to the ground. He took a couple of steps back and tried to run away, his face enshrouded with terror, but the guardsman caught him by his collar.
"NO...PLEASE!...I SWEAR I WON'T TELL ANYONE, SPA-"
Before the keymaster could finish his plea, with a swift move of the guardsman's hands, he stuck a dagger deep in the back of the keymaster's neck; blood spewing in all directions. The guardsman twisted the dagger, still deep inside the keymaster's deep cervical vein and dropped his corpse onto the ground.
"Where must we go?" asked the mistress.
"There's a small canoe on the outskirts of the vicinity that I managed to steal from the equipment room. Once we get past the boiling water, we'll then bring the canoe to the outer skirt of the volcano and head east. This night will have fog, and we'll use it to our advantage to disguise us as we escape."
The mistress gave a wicked smile, "Very well then, let's leave" said the mistress.
The mistress and the guardsman escaped the monitored facility and made their way across the boiling water on the canoe. They then carried the canoe to the outer skirt of the volcano and placed it in the water.
"Please step inside mistress." said the guardsman politely.
The mistress hesitated, she then said "Hm...I'm so sorry, but this canoe doesn't seem to be able to sustain us both on such a long journey." She then shot a menacing glare at the guardsman.
"What? What are you talking about? There's more than enough room in there for the both of us!" said the guardsman. "We can travel far enough' it's solid oak!" stated the guardsman worryingly.
"*sigh*, I'm sorry, but this is when we part ways" said the mistress, almost saddened.
"You...you bitch!" yelled the guardsman.
With the agility of a feline, she stuck her hand inside the guardsman's mouth. She grinned at the terrified look on the guardsman's eyes as he tried to squirm free. She quickly made a motion inside of his mouth; flames ejecting from the back of his head. The guardsman's eyes rolled to the back of his head as he collapsed on her feet.
She kicked the corpse in front of her, "Ugh, I swear it's always 'me' 'me' 'me' with these kinds of people." said the mistress to herself, she immediately boarded the canoe and headed east.
"Wherever you are, I will find you, and I will obtain my revenge"
Aang woke up that morning feeling refreshed and ready to take on the day. Onji's guest bed was so comfortable that he didn't want to get up at all. He let out a relaxing sigh as he set his hands to the back of his head. It's been such a great couple of days with Onji, no arguments, just peaceful bliss. They went to see a play based off of his adventures during the war the night before; of course, it's been heavily modified since the last time he saw it. It seemed that time just flew by him when he enjoyed himself, and it did.
He took a deep breath, "Today's the day" said Aang to himself, "I'm wondering if this meeting's going to go as smoothly as I hope." He began to recall the times he arrived to the meetings late, if at all, and constantly get an earful from the Nation Leaders; including his own friend Zuko. He placed his left hand on his forehead and let out a slight groan, then relaxed and went to the bathroom. He quickly disrobed himself and placed a towel over himself as he ran the warm water in the tub. Aang then sat on the side of the tub to think about the events of the past week; he just couldn't help but think about Katara, wondering if she was ok. He quickly shifted his thoughts, "I'm sure she's fine now, besides I'm with Onji now; she's perfect and things couldn't be better for me". Before he could take off his towel to get in the tub, he was interrupted by an unexpected visitor.
"Hey Aang, I just wanted to know if you wanted some-"
Onji interrupted herself as she spotted Aang half naked in the bathroom, ready to take his towel off. Her eyes widened as she blushed at the incredible physique in front of her that was Aang. He was very toned, his muscles weren't huge, but perfect enough to suit his frame. "Perfect" she thought to herself. Aang, on the other hand, shocked by Onji's presence, held his towel tight so as not to expose his manhood.
"Yes, Onji?" asked Aang.
"I I I just wanttted to know if, if, if, " she ogled at Aang's physique.
Aang raised his eyebrow and began to chuckle, "Onji, speak clearly please" Aang said.
"H-Huh?" said Onji quickly, her face still beat-red.
Aang smiled, but at the same time a little weirded out that Onji was asking him this while he was half naked, "That's ok, I was actually thinking we go out for breakfast." said Aang.
"O-O-Ohh." stuttered Onji.
"Okseeyouwhenyou'redone!" shrieked Onji as she ran upstairs to wait for Aang to finish in the bathroom.
Aang chuckled as he got in the bathtub. "Onji's really something special, but she can't help but remind me of someone..." then it hit Aang, "No, no, no, it's just because we recently broke up, that's all." Aang blocked his thoughts and enjoyed the rest of his bath.
As Aang put on his traditional monk clothes and robe and left the bathroom, he met Onji upstairs.
"The meeting's not until this afternoon, why don't we go out on the town and explore a bit?" suggested Aang.
"Okay then." said Onji, smiling at Aang.
Aang exchanged the smile and moved closer to her. "Hey, I'm really glad that you respect my need to take this slow" said Aang, taking her hand in his.
Onji blushed, "Of course Aang, you know I'm perfectly ok with whatever makes you happy and comfortable." said Onji.
Aang reached to kiss Onji; their lips soon met. As he kissed Onji, a quick image of Katara sped through his mind, making him back away from her.
"Is there something wrong?" asked Onji, embarrassed by Aang's action.
"Huh, no no, I just, just have a headache." chuckled Aang nervously.
"Oh really, well, I know what can cure headaches" implied Onji in a sexual tone.
Aang widened his eyes as he blushed at the sexual connotation and remained silent, words unable to express his protest.
Onji giggled, "I'm just joking, come on let's get going!" she ran outside to the beach and waited for Aang to come out.
Aang was a little weirded out by her actions, but dismissed them and met her outside to go eat breakfast.
Aang and Onji enjoyed their breakfast and spent the rest of their afternoon exploring the Fire Nation. They spent the rest of the morning giggling about the circumstances of how they first met and how they reconnected.
"... I mean, who would've known that the goofy new kid in my class was the Avatar?" laughed Onji.
Aang laughed in return, "I know, and no one noticed, that's the funny part" said Aang.
Onji looked at Aang longingly, "When I saw you, after Zuko was declared Fire Lord, I just knew, knew that it was you." she said.
Aang looked at her curiously. "Then we just fatefully ran into eachother while I was doing some humanitarian work in the Fire Nation." said Aang, "Heh, it's funny how fate works that way, huh?" pointed out Aang.
Onji smiled, "I'm glad we did find eachother." she said. Aang then reached for her hand and walked with her around the market. He was about to buy her a stuffed platypus-bear when he realized that it was soon time for him to meet Zuko and the other nation leaders.
"Onji, I have to go." said Aang. Onji nodded. She reached to give him a kiss and soon after he was in the air heading for Fire Lord Zuko's palace.
"Where is he? He should've been here by now." said Chief Arnook, looking annoyed.
"Don't worry, this time he'll be here, he has to." said Fire Lord Zuko.
Just then, a gust of wind pushed the doors of the round table room open and revealed Aang walking in.
"Ahh, young Avatar, please sit." said Earthking Kuei.
Aang agreed and sat on the table. He was so happy to see Kuei regain his throne and be the Earthking again, a real Earthking this time. He explored his surroundings; Leaders and diplomats of all the Nations were all surrounding the table, "Man, I wonder what the occasion's for?" thought Aang to himself.
"Avatar Aang, the past couple of meetings weren't of absolute importance, and your presence wasn't absolutely needed to be attendant, although it would've been nice if it were." said Chief Arnook with an upset expression on his face.
Aang looked embarrassed as the chief pointed out Aang's careless.
"Aang, this roundtable is mainly to discuss a duty, an important duty that you must comply with, but first we must discuss a different matter before we get to that." said Kuei.
"We have received word from the Boiling Rock that it's most dangerous prisoner, Azula, has escaped last night." said Zuko.
Aang looked worried, "What must I do?" asked Aang readily.
"As we speak, we have the Fire Nation military searching for her; she's just too cunning to entrust such a search on simple town guardsmen." said Zuko.
"Our military is also on the case" said Kuei.
"As is our elite waterbenders" said Arnook.
Aang looked dumbfounded, "And where do I play a role in this?" asked Aang.
"Well, you don't really, you just need to keep your eyes and ears open for any information of Azula's whereabouts. " said Kuei.
Aang couldn't help but feel somewhat insulted. Do they really think that he can't handle it? "They probably think that I'm still 'distracted'", thought Aang to himself.
"Azula shouldn't really be much to handle; she's a single person and not a direct threat to the world so your assistance is not immediately needed for this mission." said Zuko.
Aang sighed, "Okay, then what's the real reason you need me here for?"
The Nation Leaders looked at Aang; Aang couldn't help but feel intimidated by all the eyes glaring at him from every corner.
"Avatar Aang, as you and all of us know the Airbenders have been an extinct peoples, with the exception of you of course. " said one of the diplomats hailing from the Earth Kingdom.
"I'm sure that the rest of the world is aware of this as well." said Aang in an annoyed, sarcastic voice.
"Then I'm sure that you know that the Avatar cycle will break if there are no Airbenders to continue the Avatar cycle." said the diplomat
Aang looked at the diplomat confused and afraid at what he was trying to imply. "Where are you getting at?" asked Aang, sweat starting to drip from his temple.
"Avatar Aang, you must continue the cycle of the Avatar; it is with your offspring that the Avatar cycle will be sustained. This is your ultimate duty to the world, Avatar, and it is one that must be completed by the winter of next year." finished the diplomat.
I seriously cannot comprehend how I'm still writing this story and balancing providing for my family, doing daily chores, and playing Black Ops. Eh, guess I'm a good multitasker (- -) Stay tuned...