Aang, Katara, and Sokka were flying on Appa towards the Southern Air Temple, having just left the South Pole to begin their adventures together. As they soared through the clouds, they struck up a conversation about their ages.

"So," started Aang, "you all know how old I am. How about the two of you?"

Katara sat up a bit straighter to look as mature as possible before saying, "I'm 14. I had my birthday a few days ago."

"Really? Oh man, I missed it!"

Katara giggled. "You can come to the next one. It'll be nice having a friend there."

"What am I, chopped seal jerky?" Sokka gasped in mock offense.

His sister just rolled her eyes and carried on talking to Aang. "Gran-Gran says the year I was born, the full moon came right during the first week of winter, and that I just couldn't wait to see her. I was born that night."

As soon as Katara mentioned her birthday being in winter, Aang frowned a bit and looked confused. The siblings didn't notice as Sokka had decided to jump in to his sister's story.

"Yeah yeah, so you got all the freakish magic. I didn't even wait for winter; I was born in fall. I'm 15 now. Pretty much a man, as you can tell." Sokka flexed to illustrate his point. "What about you, Aang?"

"Well..." Aang began, "I'm 12, or I was, and as far as I can remember I was going to turn 13 in a couple months. But I was born in the autumn too, right around the equinox. And Katara says her birthday was a few days ago and that winter just started."

"Right, so?"

"Well... that means I have to wait almost a year for my birthday instead? I don't want to be 12 for almost 2 years!"

Sokka wrapped his arm around the airbender's shoulders in an effort to comfort him. "You know, if it helps.. you'd actually be 12 for like a hundred and two years."

Aang dramatically flopped backwards in the saddle, while Katara giggled at his antics and then tried a diplomatic approach. "Well, you may be 'only 12', but you said you'd traveled all over the world already! For us, this is the first time we're venturing out. So you'll still get to give us tips on being worldly." This did the trick in perking Aang up, and before long the new friends were happily chattering their way across the sky.

-time skip to the end of season 1-

Time had passed and the trio had managed to make it all the way to the North Pole, their ultimate destination when they set out months ago. Here both Aang and Katara spent time training waterbending - some a bit more studiously than others. And when the Fire Nation showed up, they were able to help the Northern Water Tribe defend against the attack, albeit not without some close calls and losses. After the siege, they spent a week or two with the tribe, helping them where they could. Katara came in use for both treating the wounded and rebuilding, and training when she had a spare moment. Sokka tried to busy himself networking with the tribe up here, not knowing when he'd next get to see their sister tribe in person. The recent events were weighing on Aang as much as Sokka, and Katara decided to try and cheer them both up a bit.

She pulled her brother aside. "Hey Sokka. I could really use your help."

"I'm listening." It wasn't often that his baby sister admitted needing help, though he gave it to her all the time anyway.

"Well, we're probably going to need to head out in a few days, and you're really the best one at both planning and shopping." Katara hoped she wasn't laying it on too thick.

"True and true." Obviously not too thick for Sokka.

"Okay, so it would just be so awesome if you could take Aang and you guys spend the day out shopping for the journey and making sure you load it up in Appa's saddle?"

"Sure Katara! We'll even get some extra snacks for the big fuzzball."

"Thanks, Sokka. You're the best. I'll see you this evening! And I'll even have food ready. Nothing fancy though."

"Food ready? Aw, now YOU'RE the best, sis!" And with that, Sokka was off, calling for the airbender as he went. "HEY AANG! Aang buddy, I've got a Very Important Task for us."

Once she was sure the two would be occupied for the next few hours, Katara got to work on the next phase of her plan.

Later that evening, after entirely too much shopping or not quite enough depending on who you asked, Aang and Sokka approached the house.

"I wonder what Katara made? She said there'd be food," Sokka said, already drooling.

Aang smiled, pretty sure that he'd be happy for whatever it was. Katara was good about making sure there was something meat-free for him.

As the boys walked in the door, Katara turned quickly to catch their reactions. Around the room were decorative lanterns, flickering festively. Over on the far wall was draped a banner spelling out Aang's name, with the russet and gold lettering carefully painted on the white pennants. A table was set up below, with some of Aang's favorite snacks, dishes of noodles that she knew he loved, and.. a cake, declaring "Happy Birthday."

"Katara?" Aang asked, his voice a reverent whisper.

She smiled. "I figured this was 'about a couple months' after we first found you, so it's around the time you would have been turning 13. Happy birthday, Aang."

Sokka eyed the food as he said "Happy birthday, I guess now you were only 12 for 101 years. Congrats."

Aang laughed and Katara picked up a bowl of noodles and handed it to her brother. "This one has arctic hen in it. You'll have to deal with meatless if you try to scam off ours."

The three teens settled in for a good meal, and then enjoyed cake to follow it. As they finished that up, Katara pulled a flat box out to hand to Aang. "And I got you a present. It's not much but-"

"I love it!"

Katara laughed. "Aang, you haven't even opened it."

The airbender grinned and, savoring the moment, took a breath before opening his gift. Lifting the lid, he saw a piece of folded blue cloth. Puzzled, he lifted it up. The long, light blue strip unfolded, revealing it to be a waist sash, adorned with dark blue embroidery on each end in the form of The Mark of the Trusted. Aang could only stare.

Katara started in nervously, "I don't want you to feel like you have to wear it. I definitely understand the importance of keeping loved ones' memories close in the items you wear." Here she touched her mother's necklace. "I just wanted to give you something that showed you're always a part of our water tribe family too, no matter what. And they don't have a lot of orange cloth up here." They all laughed. "I thought the light blue looked nice though, matching with your arrows..." She realized she was rambling at this point and trailed off, waiting on Aang.

"Katara, I don't even know what to say. This is.. perfect." He held it up to see how it would look, smiled, and then folded it carefully before stowing it with his things.

Sokka grinned. "Awww.. bring it in, you two. Water Tribe hug." Katara rolled mentally rolled her eyes as her brother played like he had a part in planning this party, but enjoyed the group hug nonetheless. "Okay, now that we've had food and present time.. let's do games!" Several rounds of Guess My Picture later, and all three of them had sides sore from laughter. Sokka insisted that clearly Aang and Katara had poor deduction skills, and that his artistic skills were fine. Better than fine even! This only served to set the two off on a fresh set of giggles.

As the evening wound down, Aang felt happier than he had in a long time. He knew that he had amazing friends who will always be there for him, and he was grateful for the love and support they have shown him. He thanked Katara and Sokka for the incredible party, and they shared one more "Water Tribe hug" before turning in, knowing that they had each others' backs no matter what.