Chapter 3: Chapter 3

Avatar: The Last Airbender

The entirety of Avatar: The Last Airbender is creation of Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and product of Nicktoons Network (Nickelodeon). This story is a unique fictional derivative of the original work written by an Avatar enthusiast.

Avatar Journeys

Chapter 3: The Reception

The reception party was glorious and teeming with delight. People were dancing before they arrived. The tsungi horn sounded as they stepped off the palanquin to cheers of a nation. Aang looked over the crowd spotting familiar faces in attendance. Once they sat to the table in the courtyard facing the crowd servers appeared from the corners of the courtyard and set platters before them. Zuko gave a toast to the Fire Nation and its esteemed guests and the courtyard was filled with servers and plates of assorted food.

Then the festivities began. Jeong Jeong and his votaries put together an impressive presentation for the new Fire Lord after which he declared his fealty to Zuko. King Bumi sent crystal statues of Zuko and Katara. After some dancing, an earthbender requested that the floor be cleared so he and his brothers could perform a Stomp Dance for the new Fire Lord (a sign of the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdoms good relations). Zuko obliged them. Toph was on the edge of her seat. They brought in drums and set up. The ground trembled and the air shook during their dance: a series of coordinated stomps, flips, martial arts and earthbending. Cheers went up and Zuko thanked the Earth Kingdom and its citizens for attending.

The party was more social from there and the afternoon waned to night. Gifts and declarations were still doled out but on a more personal basis. For this reason it was Zuko's, Katara's, the High Priest's and Aang's duty to stay put for the evening. There were many surprises that night. Somehow Iroh found Sokka's space-earth sword, he beamed the entire night. The Kiyoshi Warriors performed in the middle of assorted pockets of groups. Aunt Wu came with a milk stone necklace for Katara and, thankfully, no omens. She was looking for Iroh but once she June her jaw dropped. Iroh had to spend the majority of his night handling political matters since he would act as Lord-Hand while Zuko was on honeymoon. Zuko and Katara spent the night greeting families of the Fire Nation. And Aang spent the evening giving advice and conflict resolution. He was relieved when he saw the little airship float toward the courtyard.

The attendees began to flood out the courtyard into the street, gathering around the airship while Team Avatar filed out the back right corner to walk around the side. Aang noticed that the High Priest was walking in a different direction.

"Something wrong, Priest Kai?" Aang asked.

"Oh, no. I just have a surprise I have to go check on," he said gathering up his robes.

"Okay," Aang responded.

The Team was moving through the corner corridor talking excitedly. Their laughs and giggles echoed in the dim hall. Their shadows danced and collided on the walls. Aang smiled to himself remembering earlier days when they all were bumbling through misadventures. In some ways he wanted to return to those days. He eventually emerged outside under the night sky. The stars were beautiful. They always reminded him of Katara's eyes. He looked over at them. They were moving quickly along the wall toward the crowd saying their adieus and giving farewell hugs and well wishes. She's leaving.

The crowd was incredibly somber and bright, waiting to send off their Fire Lord and Embress. Priest Kai had gathered the children to sing a soft melody. They all held red candles waiting to send off their monarchs.

Zuko and Katara were making their way through the crowd toward the airship toward their honeymoon, stopped along the way with hugs and handshakes. Aang stood far behind the crowd watching them leave. They seemed to skip through the lights and the smiling faces, so full of joy. He looked at them, trying to see them as they were: two people that found each other and who were happy for that. She's happy. He found some comfort in that and managed a small smile. They boarded the airship, waving at their citizens and friends. He wished them the very best as the ship lifted off the ground and began to float into the sky with the lamps and fireworks. He noticed that Katara seemed move about the ship in search of something. He realized that she was looking for him. He hadn't seen her off. He had to do something now, while he had it in his heart to do so; now while he could tell her.

He closed his eyes and inhaled. His blood picked up a pace in his veins, prickling his skin cold. A buzz began in his bones and raced up to his skull, and his eyes began to heat up. He felt his body fall away and he stretched up toward the sky: he was in the Avatar State. Here, in the night blue cloths of the universe, among the stars, planets and their dances, he found Katara; she was like a blue gemstone in the river of life. He loved her and he would say it for the last time. He moved in the ways his heart commanded, every movement carried all his passion and hopes for her building up to the final statement: releasing all that he had and letting it go. Then he began to shrink and the shades of the universe began to fall away. The energy slowed down, his eyes cooled and the tingling in his skin gave way. He was back and able to see himself just what he'd done.

All over the street were little bulbs of bouncing lights: being chased, played with and held. Everyone was awed and clapped for the Avatar. Most of the lights were gathered around the ship like little sentries floating along the along the ship. He could see Katara had one in her hand. He hoped she understood. She was looking at him. He couldn't see her expression but he knew that she was smiling. He smiled back at her. Zuko came to her side and waved. He waved back. And they eased away on their journey, now and forever entwined.

The party continued after the airship became a dot of light in the sky. Uncle Iroh gave his final speech and left the citizens of the Fire Nation to celebrate as long they wished: no curfew. Cheers went up at that. The Fire Nation was up all night. Seemed natural to Aang considering how suppressed they were over the past century. The celebration broke up into individual pockets over the capital. Some stores, tea shops, bars and eateries opened up to accommodate the cheerful spirits. Aang finally had the opportunity to break away and be alone. He sat on the uppermost beam of the courtyard and observed the capital. Fireballs were blasted into the atmosphere. Occasionally a dragon would dance over a building or over a group of trees. Lights were everywhere. He looked up at the stars, his mind recalling the vision of seeing the sky dance. The air was cool tonight despite all the firebending. And finally he was alone.

THUM.

At least he was alone. He sighed.

"Hey, I was wondering where you were. What are you doing up here, Twinkle toes?" said Toph atop a pillar of stone.

"Relaxing," he said wondering if that would check out since it wasn't completely untrue.

"Uh huh," she said crossing her arms, "why do you bother lying to me, Aang? You're not even good at it."

"I don't really feel like getting into it, Toph," he said miffed, "I just need some time to be alone. It's been a very long day and I'm-"

"Depressed," she said.

"Tired. I did a lot today," he ended, getting up and walking away.

"Yeah, giving away the love of your life is tiring especially when you have to smile about it," she said.

"WHA'D'YOU KNOW ABOUT IT?" he shouted, his eyes two sockets of light and fire.

Toph tilted her head slightly and looked at him unfazed and said, "I know everything about it Aang: I've been in love with Sokka for years."

The lights dimmed, replaced by his grey eyes. "What?" he asked.

Toph said nothing but looked at the sky.

"Since when?" he asked confused.

"I guess being caught up in your Avatarial duties of maintaining balance in the world can make you oblivious to some details," she said hopping on the beam, "Being caught in your own romantic adventures can do that too," she said walking toward Aang, "or maybe the fact I wasn't as obvious about as you were is the reason you didn't notice," she smirking. She sat on the beam and let her feet dangle. That's rare, Aang thought and followed suit.

"It was so long ago and so hectic and I was so cautious about it, that if you didn't see it I can't point it out to you. But there were moments all throughout our journey where I slipped and revealed how I felt about Sokka. Sokka himself and Katara are well aware. Especially, Katara. Suki thinks it was just a crush and as far as I know you and Zuko were too busy to be bothered. But I did, Twinkle Toes. I did love him. Honestly, I still do."

Aang listened stunned at this new revelation. He tried to recall any such instance but kept coming up blank. He always thought it was just a brother-sister relationship on both parts. He never knew that Toph was in love him. But that knowledge prompted a question.

"How?" he said, brow furrowed.

"Katara asked me the same question," she smirking, "I don't know really. Maybe it was because he's incredibly funny. Maybe it was because in this group of benders the one non-bender always put himself to the fray. Maybe it was how big his heart is. Or the way he laughed. I could say a thousand things but none of them individually were it. It was all of it together: it was just Sokka being Sokka was how I went from crush to love. A lot happened over the past couple of years apart from one another, too."

Aang ingested the information. Then it was time to ask the obvious, "What happened?"

"I'm bad with details," she began (Yeah, right, though Aang), "so I'll keep it short. He and Suki were having a rough patch while we all were doing some investigations into Lake Laogai. Suki went off for a while leaving me and Sokka time to get close. Only I was the only one that got close. One day when Suki comes back Sokka shows me a wedding necklace he was having made for her and told me he was planning to marry her. I blurted out my feelings only be shot down. You know me, Aang. Helping Katara plan her brother's wedding was no cake walk. And Suki always wanted me around, ugh," she said laughing, Aang smiled, "She thought I was so cute (Aang laughed).It was terrible... She asked me to build the altar they were married in," she stiffly, "Their wedding day was one my worst days. I wore padded shoes so I wouldn't have to see it. Too bad I didn't have earplugs," she sighed.

Silence hung between for a moment. Then Toph said, "Thank goodness for Katara. I would have ruined our friendship on my own," she reclined back on her elbows, "At least she had some feelings for you, Twinkle Toes, and appreciated them. Sokka looked at me like I had just offered him a frog for breakfast," she laughed. Aang smiled at the image of Sokka's shocked face. He looked at her with a smirk on her face and wondered, how does she smile?

"Because I let him go," she said.

"I didn't-" he began.

"You didn't have to," she said.

"You can read minds now?" he said flippantly.

"No, I just know what you're going through, Aang," she said, "I told you I know."

"Hmp," he said looking out at the capital with all the magic in the sky, "so...it gets better?"

"Yeah," she said sitting up, "not that you won't wish sometimes because you'll always love them. It just won't sting as much."

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth but didn't form. He wasn't there just yet: in a place where he could laugh about it. But he was relieved to know that it wouldn't always be this way. After sometime in silence Toph sighed and said "Well there are a dozen parties all over the capital tonight," she said standing up, "I'm gonna go have a good time. We earthbenders are having a dance under the East courtyard if you're feeling up to it. If not, see ya in the morning, Twinkle toes," she said stepping on the slab, stomping and descended.

THUM.

Eventually he saw her walk out of the courtyard heard another THUM and disappeared underground. The sky was still filled with fireballs, dragons and stars and he was still filled with thoughts of Katara but the air was cool and there would be time without this pain.

Next: Chapter 4: What's Next?

Thank you to the creaters of Avatar: The Last Airbender

for creating a world I never dreamed of.

Thank you for reading,

Uitori.