Chapter fifteen
The constant raining that had been going on for days finally stopped, and in its place the sun shone brightly instead. There was scarcely a single cloud in the sky, nothing to scare the people of the small and poor village into thinking that the storms would return. Though the town viewed the rain as a curse, a menace that closed most of their shops and forced them to stay inside all day, Team Avatar viewed it as the sole reason they managed to do everything they had to do without getting caught, and it was true – it did save them in the end.
Though that's not to say the element wasn't dangerous – Katara, a master Waterbender had developed a mild case of hypothermia from the often times most romanticized element of the four, and Aang and Suki had both been getting a small case of it when they were found. When they were found, Sokka, Toph, and Zuko had brought them to the only medical clinic in the village nearby, knowing that they couldn't go on without treatment for too long. It was a risk, but one they had to take so not to risk their friend's lives.
The three were lying down now in three beds spread across a small room, the best the place had to offer. The only light that entered from was a window on the opposite side of the beds, and there was just a small sheet of cloth between each bed to provide each patient with a sense of privacy. Their wet clothes had been removed, and instead they were now in white robes provided by the doctor, and they were simply resting.
Four intense days had passed, each day passed with the constant threat of a Fire Nation attack, and everyone knew it. The three that were awake would constantly switch shifts at night for watch duty within the clinic – refusing to separate from the three wounded friends. They would never leave their side for a moment, always one of them would be in the room, as if they thought an assassin would show up and try to kill the Avatar while he was weakened. Fortunately, that never happened, and on the fourth day Aang's eyes fluttered a little.
My head feels like it just got hit by a thousand pound moose lion... He thought to himself as his head pounded, it felt like something inside was constantly hitting his skull. He gritted his and turned over, and saw a white cloth that was hanging from the ceiling. He blinked a few times, Where am I? He turned away from it, feeling sore all over, and tried to organize his thoughts, he was dizzy, very dizzy.
He also felt his arm right arm was very stiff; he looked down at it and noticed immediately that it was being held in place by wood that was wrapped all around his hand – a makeshift cast. He blinked again, and that is when he noticed that he was only seeing from one eye, fearing the worst, he lifted his good hand up to feel his face, and sighed in relief when he felt only bandages wrapped around that eye, he vaguely remembered getting hit really hard right there.
"Aang?"
Aang looked down the length of his bed to see Zuko standing there looking down at him. He smiled weakly at his friend, "Hey Zuko."
"You're finally awake." Zuko said, allowing a small smile on his face, "You've been sleeping for days."
"Why?" Aang asked.
"You don't remember?"
"Sorry."
"Don't be, I wouldn't want to remember it either."
"So what happened?"
Zuko paused, and his smile dropped. He walked over to the side of Aang's bed and sat down on a small wooden stool that the doctor would use to check on her patients, "Do you truly not remember?"
"I remember… Landing in some ruins, coming to a village… Being with Suki…" He tried to think harder, and then his eyes widened, "I was captured."
"Yeah, by the Yu Yan Archers."
"They took me to that place with Suki, and they tortured us." His mouth was agape, "I was scarred really badly on the back…" He sat up, feeling a sting of pain, and reached back to touch the scars. He felt the sick twisting of flesh, and was surprised by how little pain he felt from it, "They beat me, but it was even worse when they would hurt Suki…"
"Do you remember how you escaped?"
Aang tried to think hard, "Not really, what happened?"
"You must have really been out of it." Zuko said shaking his head, "You were saved by Katara. She came disguised as the Blue Spirit and freed you guys."
"Katara?" Aang asked.
"Yeah, I would have gone, but she talked me out of it."
Aang nodded, "Is she all right then?"
"She's in better condition than you if that's any comfort."
Aang looked down, feeling both guilty and stupid, "I am such a moron, I got caught again, knowing what was going to happen. We never should have stopped here. I got everyone hurt… Wait, where's Toph and Sokka?"
"They're both fine. They left to go to town to get some supplies. They're working for the doctor right now." Zuko said when Aang was about to ask questions, "That's how they have the money."
"Is Suki all right then?"
"She's suffering from the same things as you but on a smaller scale. To be honest, I'm shocked that you woke up first out of everyone – must be the benefits of being an Avatar." He said that last part to try and get Aang to smile.
Aang didn't react to Zuko's joke; he only looked aside at the white cloth separating the beds from one another. Zuko noticed where his attention was, but didn't say anything. After a little bit Aang looked away and leaned back down in his bed, "Thank you Zuko."
"No problem." Zuko got up from the stool when Aang closed his eyes again, and he walked over to the corner where he could observe them all again. He had a small smile on his face, and he crossed his eyes as he sat down. Finally, after a few weeks of not seeing Aang he had, and all my doubts about him being my friend are gone. He felt lighter after that conversation, and the thought of him every betraying Aang repulsed him now like it hadn't for quite a while.
With that he leaned against the wall and continued to watch.
Later that night, Katara opened her eyes; she looked around, momentarily confused, before the memories of everything hit her again. She remembered hearing about Aang's capture, she remembered going to Pohuai Stronghold to free him, she remembered fighting possibly over a hundred men single-handedly, and she remembered going to sleep in the forest after she got done fighting a large group of those archers. However, out of all those things, one was the most prominent thought at the top of her mind.
"Aang." She croaked out, surprised by how dry her throat felt. Not again… She thought as she sat up, and allowed her eyes to adjust to the dark surroundings. She looked over to her right and saw the cloth divider, and then looked lower to a small night stand, Where's water? She fumbled around, reaching around trying to find any.
"Here," She looked up and saw Sokka at the edge of her bed holding out a cup of water to her. She quickly grabbed the cup and downed it immediately.
"Thank you." She said, feeling a little better.
Sokka just stared at his sister for a long moment, before he finally walked over to the side and gave his younger sister a hug, "You can be really stupid sometimes," He said gruffly, "You got hurt by Zhao the last time I saw you, then you went to free Aang while you were still hurt? Stupid, Katara."
She smiled, wrapping her arm around him tighter, "I love you too."
He let go and turned away from her to wipe his eyes, she smiled lightly, knowing he didn't want her to see him crying, "I can't believe you'd be so stupid though. You were in bad shape when we found you."
"I'm sorry."
He sighed, "Don't be, you did what had to be done."
She looked around the place again, "Where are we?"
"We're in the village close to the stronghold." He raised his hand to stop her outburst when her eyes widened and she opened her mouth, "Ah! Hold on, don't worry. They don't know we're here. As far as they know, we escaped as soon as we could."
"So we're safe?"
"For the time being anyway," He looked out the window at the darkened sky, "We've been switching off at night to watch, or feel in Toph's case, to make sure that they don't discover us here. So far we've been lucky."
"We need to get out of here soon."
"Yeah, but the doctor said you guys were too hurt to move. She was also furious when she learned what you've been doing, since you still have a fresh scar and your skin is still recovering from what Zhao did to you. She was wondering why you would do that to yourself."
"I was asking myself the same questions last night."
"Last night?" Sokka shook his head, "You've been here for four days Katara, do you how we found you?" She shook her head, and he sighed, pacing around her bed, "You were under this ice umbrella and you were freezing to death. You had a ton of cuts and bruises, and you also got a new scar on your shoulder where I am guessing an arrow hit you."
She pulled down her robe long enough to look at the scar, and saw that it was healing nicely. "It has seriously been three days?"
"Four." He corrected, "And yeah, the doctor says you'll have to stay here for another few days to make sure you recover well."
"But I feel fine."
"Famous last words." Sokka said grimly.
She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "Aang and Suki are ok, right?"
"Yeah, but they really didn't look good when they came in here."
"I know," Katara said, remembering how badly hurt both of them had been, "I was so shocked when I found them like that, that I started to breakdown, I thought Aang died." She paused for a moment, composing herself, "After that I was furious. I felt like I wanted to tear everyone around me down."
"From what I've heard, you did just that." Sokka laughed, "The town's in an uproar over the news that has been trickling in, and the Fire Nation has posted a wanted poster up for you – the Blue Spirit. I hope Zuko won't mind that you stole his disguise this time around."
"I don't think he will."
Katara was looking towards the cloth hanging between their beds, and Sokka rolled his eyes, "Do you want to see them?" He asked.
She nodded, not bothering to talk, and she pulled the blanket off of her and felt the ground with her feet. The room actually had a wooden floor that she was surprised by, and considering the state of the town she was in, she half expected to step in dirt or mud. Sokka came over and grabbed her shoulders to make sure she wouldn't fall or trip due to not walking for a while, it was a kind gesture, and she smiled towards him as he led her around the cloth to the first of the two beds.
The beds were set side by side, in the middle was Suki, Katara was on the bed to the furthest left, and Aang was in the right position. She got the bed closest to the doorway into the room, a fact she didn't really like, but she didn't bother to complain about it. She looked outside, and noted that it was very dark, but the moon provided enough light to see the town. She felt paranoid, feeling as if her hair was going to stand on its end.
She must have tensed up when they passed the window, because Sokka squeezed her shoulder during the time. She appreciated the action, and they moved towards Suki.
She looked a lot better than she had a few days ago, and Katara smiled upon seeing the sleeping girl. Even Sokka was quiet as he watched her sleep, "How've you been dealing with this?" Katara asked, nodding towards Suki.
"I'm fine."
Katara looked at him with a raised eyebrow, clearly in disbelief.
"Ok, yeah, I feel a little guilty. I wish Toph and I hadn't gone off to try and scam people for money." He confessed.
"You were going to scam people?"
Sokka smiled, "Hah, yeah."
"We're supposed to be the good guys you know."
"We were out of money."
"You can earn it like normal people usually do!" She then paused, "Sorry, I went off topic."
"Nah, I deserved it." He said waving it off.
"I want to see Aang now." She said.
"You sure?" Sokka asked.
"Yeah." She said, steeling herself, knowing that if Sokka asked that of her it meant he wasn't in good condition.
The two walked over to the final bed, and upon looking, Katara winced, and would have taken a step back in shock if Sokka hadn't been holding her tightly. She took a deep breath, and walked forward again, Sokka letting her go and just watching from the end of the bed. Aang's left eye was covered in bandages, she looked lower to his exposed chest, and saw that his entire chest was wrapped in bandages, and on top was his arm being held by a long block of wood.
"His arm was broken?" She whispered in horror, unable to look away from it.
"He's fine now."
"But if I had gotten there sooner, maybe I could have-"
"There was nothing that you could do. If anything, it was my fault. If Toph and I had been with Aang when this happened, maybe we could have fought off the guys who caught him." He sighed, "Unfortunately we got captured and had our own problem to deal with."
"What happened?"
"Some guys Toph's parents hired captured her, and they used a coffin to do it."
"A coffin?"
"Yeah." He sighed, "It was really small and cramped too. Obviously Toph couldn't bend wood, and I couldn't reach my weapons to free us. We were trapped."
"I'm sorry." She suddenly said.
"Why?"
"I was scolding you earlier for trying to scam people. I thought the worst of you then, that maybe you had been goofing off when Aang and Suki were having trouble." She looked down guiltily, but that only brought her eyes towards Aang. It didn't matter what Sokka said – it had been her fault, she felt responsible… If only they had come sooner! A day could have made all the difference! She brought her hand up to her eyes and wiped quickly, not wanting to cry – not in front of Sokka anyway.
"You're upset; I can see why you'd think the least of me."
"No, don't make excuses." She said, a small sob sounding from her, betraying her want to not give away her emotions. Sokka crossed the distance between the two of them and held her tightly in a hug, and any chance she had of trying to regain her emotions collapses right there, and the floodgates opened. She hugged her brother back, burying her face into the side of his neck.
"It's ok." He said, not bothering to hold back his own tears, "We're all fine now, right?"
He felt her nod, and they just held each other for a few minutes.
After a few more minutes they parted, Katara rubbed the tears away and sniffling a little bit before turning back to Aang.
"There was nothing you could do." He repeated to her.
"You're right." She sighed, knowing she had to admit that to herself before she could even move on. She sighed, "So how did you escape?"
"What?"
"From the guys hired to capture Toph."
"Oh! Zuko came and rescued us with Appa."
"How did he find you guys?"
Sokka shrugged, "Not sure, you'll have to ask him."
"You didn't bother asking?"
"There's been a lot on my mind lately." He said seriously.
She nodded, "I guess so."
"You should get back to bed now."
"No!" She said, but realized how loud she said, "No, just let me stay here for now, please."
Sokka looked down towards Aang, "Are you going to try healing him?"
"Not now, I don't have water, and I'm too tired to do it anyway." She said, trying to lighten the mood.
"If you're that tired, then you should get some sleep."
"Sokka, please, just this once."
He wanted to say no, he wanted to drag her back to her bed, but he knew that wasn't the right thing to do. They had been separated for weeks now, and their separation had been difficult, and now the reunion wasn't any better. The very least he could do was to allow them to be near each other while they could. He finally sighed, "Fine, but only this once."
"Thank you." She said sincerely, giving him another quick hug, "You're the best brother I could have ever asked for."
"You're a good sister." Sokka said, patting her on the back lightly, feeling kind of awkward. He was never really good with overemotional women.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
They parted, and Katara went to sit next to Aang, and Sokka went out into the hallway. He closed to the door quietly, and walked through the darkened hall down to the bedroom the doctor was allowing them to use. His shift was over now, but he didn't look forward to waking Toph up and getting her prepared to do her share of the job. He sighed, as he went into the room to wake her up.
The next day passed slowly, they were unable to leave because flying atop Appa would be very unsafe for the hurt members, and traveling on Zuko's ship was simply out of the question especially with Azula there. Of course Iroh had dealt with the girl, and she was downright pissed that she had lost to their so-called weak uncle. She would connive and looked around darkly in the room she was tied in, not bothering to scream, not wanting to show weakness.
She could escape, she knew she could, it was merely cloth that was tied, holding her to the bed like a common prisoner. She wanted to destroy her uncle, and kill Zuko both quickly, but she knew they worked with the Avatar. She knew that he'd eventually go back to the Avatar, and she would strike then, to take Aang and kill Zuko and Iroh. She smiled at the plan, yes, she would allow Zuko to feel strong for now, but soon she would one up him, and show him that he was a pawn in her game the entire time.
Outside Zuko was walking around town with his uncle, wearing a large and ridiculous looking hat he had bought so people wouldn't see his scar due to it shadowing his face, or if they did notice it, the hat would throw them off.
Iroh couldn't help but laugh every time he saw the thing atop Zuko's head, and he snickered every time he looked at it, much to the annoyance of Zuko.
"It can't be that funny anymore."
"O- Of course Prince Zuko."
"Urgh, seriously uncle?"
"You couldn't have thought people wouldn't react like this."
"I suppose not." He sighed, looking around at several children who were running around in the streets laughing hysterically at him. He sighed, wishing he could be anywhere but there right now. The sun was shining very brightly on his back, making it feel like it was on fire, and his clothes felt wet due to how humid it was. Oddly enough, Iroh didn't seem to care that much about the weather.
"Do you know where the fruit vendor is?"
"Somewhere around here." Zuko said, lifting up the small bag of coins.
"Too bad that storm destroyed all of your friend's supplies," Iroh sighed, "It was quite a bit they had carrying around with them."
Zuko shrugged, "They'll manage. We faced much worse situations before."
"I suppose you have."
They walked in silence for a little more, looking for the fruits before Zuko let out a huge sigh, and Iroh couldn't help but groan and roll his eyes, knowing exactly where this was going.
"What are you thinking holding Azula like that alive?"
"Do you think I would be able to kill my dearest niece?"
"She can escape any time she wants. She could easily burn herself free."
"Zuko." Iroh turned to look his nephew dead in the eyes, "You've talked to me about this dozens of times over the past few days, and let me tell you what I told you each and every other time since then: I will not kill her. She has been corrupted by my brother, and I intend to free her."
"That's not possible!" Zuko tried not to shout, but that didn't stop some children from turning around and looking at the man with the funny hate arguing with his uncle.
"I know, you've told me quite a bit already."
"She's going to kill you when she gets the chance."
"So I've heard."
"She's loyal to Ozai. She won't turn her back on him."
"There's always a way to show someone the good in the world, I did it with you before, right?" He smiled as his nephew's eye began to twitch.
Zuko turned away from his uncle, and they continued down the road, taking a right and heading further in to the town. After a small bit, his shoulder relaxed, and he blew out quite a bit of air, "I was different. Father gave you a chance to do that with me. I doubt that will ever happen with Azula, he would never order her death like he would mine. He wouldn't even hurt her – he needs an heir no matter what, she became Fire Lord if you forgot."
"I think I'll be able to find a way." Iroh said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"You're insane." Zuko finally settled on, "You're an insane old delusional man."
"Why, you're too kind." Iroh said, smiling at his nephew.
Zuko groaned, knowing it was pointless to try and continue this argument. It would eventually devolve into him shouting at his uncle and his uncle calmly explaining why he is doing what he feels he must… again.
They eventually reached several carts filled with all kinds of fruit, and Zuko looked on in surprise. For such a poor town, they certainly had quite a selection to choose from. As they were looking at them, they heard shouting coming from behind one of the nearby carts of fruit, surprising them, they looked up to see a big tough looking man looking furious around.
"FRUIT VENDOR! Your cart is still in our way! We will give you one more hour to move it from our area. Do not test our patience anymore!"
Iroh and Zuko glanced at each other, not sure what to make of the display as the tough man went back into his shop which the cart was in front of. Iroh glanced up at the shop, and stroked his beard, "A leatherworking shop? Now if only I had some extra money I would go and buy myself some new shoes…"
"Shoes?" Zuko asked.
"Yes, my feet have been extremely sore as of late, and I think it's because of my shoes."
Zuko rolled his eyes, "Let's just buy some fruit and get out of here."
Iroh obliged, though not before enticing the elderly woman who owned the fruit cart to give them a discount. Even with his adult mind, Zuko still couldn't help but roll his eyes at the display of what his carefree uncle was doing. After getting a basket full of fruits and even some vegetables the vendor had on hand, they went back to the clinic where their friends were working and hiding out at.
Suki coughed as she opened her eyes wide, and upon seeing an unfamiliar setting began to panic, she shot up, and felt all sorts of sores covering her as she twisted around and fumbled out of bed, and fell to the floor. It was then that she noticed that she was wearing a white robe, and that she had been in a very comfortable bed – much more so than the wooden floor she had fallen to. Feeling slightly humiliated for her overreaction, she reached up and grabbed the edge of the bed, pulling herself to her feet and truly looking around.
"If Aang and Katara weren't sleeping, I would have been laughing so hard from that."
Suki groaned, "Toph?"
"Right here klutz."
"I'm sorry for freaking out for a second there! All I remember is being held prisoner and then –"
"Katara saved you."
"Yeah, she did, didn't she?" She mumbled, still holding onto the bed for support, "Wow, it feels like it was all a dream."
"Nope, it was all real."
She rubbed her head, "I feel like crap."
"I bet you look like crap too." Toph chuckled, "There's water on the nightstand next to your bed if you want some water."
Suki nodded gratefully before turning towards the table, realizing then that there were two pieces of cloth hanging on either side of her bed. She knew immediately what it meant, and for a moment water was completely forgotten as she reached out and touched the fabric separating the beds apart, "Are they ok?"
"They're fine." Toph said, "You seem like you're able to walk though."
"I feel a little sore," She admitted, "But I think I can move around without worrying about anything."
"Good, Sokka has been worried sick over you. If the doctor didn't need his help right now he probably would have been by your bed when you woke up."
She crossed her arms and frowned, "I wouldn't have minded seeing him first thing, I might not have been so frightened at first."
"I think I would be if he was the first thing I saw." Toph chuckled, "Anyway, you should get back to bed and rest a little bit. Doctor will have a fit if you're out of bed and moving around."
"No, I want to see Sokka, please."
Toph paused for a moment, "You promise that you're not about to collapse?"
"I promise."
Toph shrugged, "Ok, come with me." She started walking towards the door, and Suki smiled as she saw Katara for the first time just sleeping there. She looked all right. Suki then looked up, wishing she could see Aang's condition – yet, then again, she'd probably rather not have to look at him.
Toph held the door open for Suki, and led her down a small hallway, and then through another door to what Suki assumed was the front of the clinic. The doorway to the outside was right in front of a counter, and on top of the counter were all sorts of creams, bandages, antidotes, and other things clearly meant to clean wounds. Suki looked at them for only a moment before her attention turned to the middle aged woman sitting behind the counter.
"You!" She screeched, "What are you doing up!"
Suki covered her ears, "I came out to see Sokka."
"You should be in bed resting! Wasn't someone there to stop you from-" She then glanced at Toph, "You, you should have stopped her!"
Toph shrugged, "She seemed fine to me."
"Well I am going to have to check your eyesight after this!" The woman said, before turning her attention away from Toph. She was wearing clothes that were slightly nicer than the rags that the other villagers were wearing, and she had her hair tied back into a knot. The only thing on her that indicated that she was marginally richer than the other villagers was a pair of glasses. She glared at Suki with her dark green eyes, "You should really get back to bed now."
"It's ok, really, Doctor -"
"Shou. Doctor Shou! Now, you need to get back to bed!"
"Can I at least see Sokka first?"
"Is someone calling for me?" Sokka said, walking in through the doorway carrying a small crate filled with herbs and other flowers, "Who are-" He paused upon seeing Suki up and about, and Suki paused seeing him. "Suki?" He said, he walked up to the counter and put the crate there before turning toward her.
She didn't even say anything, she just threw her arms around him, and he did the same. Toph just walked out the door, not wanting to disturb the moment, and the doctor watched, slightly amused if her smile was anything to go by.
"Well, Sokka, can you please take your girlfriend back to her bed then?"
"Of course!" Sokka said as they parted, "Come on!"
Suki allowed him to pull her into the room, and when he closed the door behind him, he looked back at her, "I'm so glad you're ok." He said.
Suki could feel her heart beating in her chest as she looked at him. She never knew that she could have missed someone this much, but after being tortured, and feeling hopeless for a few days, she had felt that she would never see him again. Seeing him again brought a huge wave of emotions through her, she just looked him straight in the eyes, her breath speeding up just being in his presence again, and she could feel hot tears coming, and she grabbed him again, hugging him to her tighter than before.
"Are you ok Suki?" He asked, not entirely sure why she was acting the way she was.
"Yeah," She whispered.
"You need to get to bed, come on."
"No, just stay like this with me for a little while."
"I would love to, but I have to help Shou, she-"
"Please..."
Sokka felt his protest die in his mouth. He wondered what had gotten into her, but he just held her, knowing that if something had shaken her up this badly, then he wouldn't leave her, even if it meant their money to buy food for their journey. In the middle of the room they stood, both of them just enjoying each other's company.
After a small while Sokka felt her breathing slow down on his neck, and he saw that her eyes were closed. "Suki?" He whispered, but she just nudged closer to him at the sound of his voice. He grinned at that, and in a quick but fluid motion he lifted her off the ground, slowly brought her back to her bed, and put her back in. Sure that she was asleep, he sat next to her, just watching her calming sleep. He let out a content sigh, feeling better than he had been for days.
It had now been a full week since the daring attack on Pohuai Stronghold. The town was still oblivious to the Avatar staying right within their midst, and because of no rumors about the Avatar being harbored, the Fire Nation hadn't come to investigate. Sokka had also planned ahead and hid Appa within the ruins far away from the town. It was quite a far walk, but they had the whistle, which hopefully would bring him to them when they needed to leave, otherwise… Well, there would probably be a lot of complaining about it.
Doctor Shou finally allowed them all to move around on the seventh day of them being in her care, and for that Suki and Katara were grateful. Aang had woken up for a few minutes at a time, but he always had to stay in bed, and due to his exhaustion, and the wounds that covered his sore body, it was never that difficult for him to fall back asleep again.
He did awake though on the seventh day, and saw that everyone else was standing around his bed – all of them were talking, and didn't seem to notice him. He tried to listen to their words, but couldn't hear anything; it felt like water was clogging his ears.
He groaned, and sat up, making sure not to hurt his broken arm, and four of five of the others talking above him stopped and looked towards him.
"You're awake." Sokka sighed, "Finally."
Suki smacked him on the shoulder with her hand, "How are you doing Aang?"
"I feel tired." He admitted.
"Then you should go back to sleep."
"No." He said shaking his head, "We have to start leaving, there are so many things we need to do right now."
"My thoughts exactly!" Sokka said, again getting hit by both Katara and Suki this time.
"We have plenty of time, we told this to Zuko before – just go back to sleep." Katara said, looking down at him with both concern and love.
Aang smiled lightly under the adoring look, wondering why she was giving it to him, but he again decided against it, and pulled the sheet covering him off, "I have to get ready. The Avatar can't be viewed as weak for the people, can someone help me up?"
Zuko walked forward and grabbed under his shoulder, helping the younger boy get to his feet, and then holding onto him tightly, just in case if he fell.
"Are you positive that you can walk?" Katara asked.
"He's fine Katara, stop trying to baby him." Toph said.
"Well! I'm sorry I'm a little concerned for my boyfriend!" She huffed.
"Blah blah," Toph said.
"Anyway!" Sokka cut in before that became the dominate conversation, "Walk around for a little bit, get used to moving again, and then meet us up in the back room."
"Where is that?"
"I'll show him." Katara volunteered.
"Good." Sokka said, "hurry up though, there's a lot we need to be discussed, and a lot of things we need to plan from here on out."
Sokka, Suki, Zuko, and Toph all left the room, though Toph made sure to make sucking sounds with her lips and pretend to be holding onto someone.
"Get out of here Toph!" Katara said, really not in the mood for her antics.
Toph laughed out loud as the door shut behind her, leaving both Aang and Katara alone. Aang walked around a little bit, before he jumped a few times. "I feel really sore, and it hurts when I move too much, but I think I can handle moving for a little while."
"Do you want me to heal you with my Waterbending?" She asked, motioning to her pouch of water.
"Yeah, but not now. We have to get to Sokka."
After he said that he just stood in place, and she did as well, both of them knew what they wanted to talk to each other about, but both were unsure how to begin. Aang had his back to her, and he was facing the door, yet he didn't move from his spot.
"Katara," He croaked.
"Yes?" She said, her heart suddenly beating very fast in her chest.
"I'm so glad you're ok." He turned around and wrapped his good arm around her, hugging her, "I was so worried when I had to leave you behind."
She hugged him back, being mindful on the new scars that now adorned his back, "I missed you too." She said gruffly, feeling the hot tears coming, "I'm just glad you didn't die when I went to save you… I would have never forgiven myself."
"It's all in the past now." He said.
"Don't make them seem like they're not much. I'm a healer, I knew the moment I saw you that you were not in good condition, I knew that I had to get you out of there fast; otherwise you'd have died before the execution. If only I hadn't been so stupid…"
"You did everything you co-"
"No!" She cried, letting go of him and pacing frantically around the room, "I waited on Zuko's ship for two days because of the constant downpour! We could have come to this place days earlier, and I could have saved you the night you were captured, before you were horribly beaten, and scarred."
He cracked a small smile, and wiped his eyes from his earlier crying from relief, "I needed a new scar to replace the old one I had in the other time."
"How can you joke about this?" She asked, through her tears, "I could have lost you…"
Aang had dealt with Katara on her warpath to a complete breakdown, and he knew that is where this was heading and fast. She was speaking fast, she was crying, she was pacing. If he didn't stop it now she would breakdown completely and cry uncontrollably. It had happened when her Gran died, and it happened when she had her first kill, and it was going to happen now when she almost lost him.
"I could've told Zuko to go that day – he probably would have listened! If Azula wasn't there maybe we would have gone? Maybe I could have snuck off the ship?" She continued on and on.
He reached an arm out to stop her pacing, and she looked back at him through her tear filled eyes, "Please, don't cry. I'm all right."
"But I could have made it so you were never hurt!"
"Katara," He said sternly, "I was hurt, that's true, but it is not your fault. You didn't know it was going to happen. You have got to stop beating yourself up over this, please. If we lived life only regretting not doing something faster, or earlier, or wishing we'd done something else, then we'd always be miserable. You need to let go of your guilt, and understand that you couldn't have been faster unless if you were psychic. Do you understand?"
"I know!" She cried out, "It's just, oh Aang…" She wrapped her arms around her and cried into the crook of his neck, and he just held her tightly.
This must have really been eating her up. He thought sadly as he watched her continue to cry.
They held onto each other, the onslaught of emotion one another felt was almost overpowering. It had been weeks since they had held each other like this, and to them that was far too long to be parted from one another. Aang felt like he was supposed to naturally be like this – to be a part of her, to never have to let go. Katara loved the feeling of him in her arms; it just felt right for her, she never thought that holding him would bring out these emotions within her, she felt the guilt begin to fade away, and just knowing that he was alive and well was all she needed.
They locked eyes then, and slowly they leaned towards each other and their lips touched. She savored the feeling, the taste, the smell, everything was just right, but she needed more – a confirmation that he would never leave. Her hands wandered across the back of his robe, detailing his scars, being sure not to incite harm to Aang, and he didn't seem to mind – doing the same on the back of her blue clothes, feeling the scar she had suffered.
She wanted more – needed more. She leaned forward, and backed Aang towards the edge of the bed, much to his surprise. She wanted to be with him now, she leaned her body as close to his body as she could, the moment was provocative, and she could tell Aang was enjoying it.
"Katara," He squeaked out, "Don't forget where we are."
Her fading mind grasped the words, and it took her mind a full minute to comprehend them. Where they were – the clinic where no one else was. Where they were –the Earth kingdom. Where they were – the past. Her mind suddenly sprang back from the hue of erotic thoughts, and she suddenly blushed profoundly, a fourteen year old girl should not be doing this!
"Oh, spirits, Aang, I forgot that we were-"
"Yeah, I know. I wish we weren't kids right now either." Aang said, "Can you get off me though?"
She noticed that she was still leaning atop him, forcing him to lie on the bed, she hopped off, feeling even more embarrassed than before, a healthy blush covered her cheek, "I'm sorry. I was just so glad that you're here and…" She stopped, hoping he understood.
"I'm glad that you're ok too." He said smiling widely.
She cursed her younger body in her mind, before she turned to Aang, who was evening out his robe, "We need to get to Sokka." She said.
"Oh yeah," He mumbled, "How long have we been back here?"
"Ten minutes?"
"You don't think they knew that you'd do that?"
She blushed at the thought, "Knowing them, and especially Sokka, they did."
"Do you think Toph, uh, felt it?"
She paused at that, "The floor's made out of wood… She can't see through it quite as good as Earth." She said, but she didn't feel very confident, Please spirits not let her have seen it! She combed down some of her hair that had gotten a little messed up, and once they looked somewhat presentable, Aang followed Katara through the building, leaving through the door from that room, going through the front, and heading into the back storage room.
"Why are we meeting in here?" Aang asked as they entered.
"Because Sokka's paranoid." Katara answered.
"I think paranoia is NOT a bad thing." Sokka scolded her, having heard what she said, "It has saved us a lot of times!"
Katara rolled her eyes, "Whatever, what are the plans?"
"We had a lot of time to talk while you were 'helping' Aang in there." Toph said.
Oh no. Katara said, trying her best not to let her oncoming blush be too obvious. Aang on the other hand was coughing, and looking away from everyone else.
The others apparently didn't care, or didn't notice, because Sokka started to talk almost immediately, "Ok, it's obvious now that for some reason things are going exactly how they were before. There are some differences, sure, but other than that, things have been pretty much right on track."
"What we've been doing this entire time," Suki picked up, "is trying to go against it. We try to change things too much, either to save people, spare villages from the wrath of the Fire Nation, trying to do things earlier, or generally do short cuts. Now though, fate has really punished us by trying to do so much to go against it, and it proved to us that things are going to go the same no matter what, even if it will happen earlier, at the same time, or maybe even happen later on in the future."
"Wait, so you actually believe in fate guiding the events along?" Katara asked, clearly unimpressed.
"That's exactly what we're saying." Sokka said.
"I think it's true," Zuko said.
"Same here," Aang said, sending Katara an apologetic glance.
Toph shrugged, "It might be true."
Katara knew that she was outnumbered then, "All right." She sighed, "So if fate is really true, then how can we stop it?"
"We don't." Sokka said.
"What?" Zuko and Aang asked at the same time.
"We need to go along with it," Suki explained, "In our first life, none of us were badly hurt until spring, when Aang got hurt and I got captured, but our injuries never were that serious. Since we've been tampering with fate so much, we've been making things a lot harder for ourselves."
"So wait," Katara said, remembering her conversation with Sokka on the first day here, "We're not only going to not make any changes, we're going to go along with the timeline and do nothing about it? You do know that we LOST the first time right?"
"I know!" Sokka said, "Remember what I said though? Make only little changes? We've been doing too much! We liberated that concentration camp, and freed a lot of men, women, children, and Suki. The changes from that are that she travels with us now, giving us more manpower, and that there are more soldiers in the war right now! Things have to balance out though from that big change – we have to get hurt – Katara was badly injured, then Aang, and Suki."
"So what you're saying is that every good change is going to give a bad change in return?" Katara summarized.
"That's what we think." Suki said.
"Think about it! Zuko is now on our side, so instead of him chasing us all over, it's Zhao. Kyoshi Island wasn't attacked by Zuko, but Zhao. When we took over the concentration camp, Katara got injured at our next location. We subdued Azula and made Jet realize that he was wrong, so Aang and Suki got hurt really badly! Don't you guys see a pattern?"
"That seems far-fetched." Zuko admitted, "But… It might be likely."
"Hold on," Aang said, "Subdued Azula?"
"She came on Zuko's ship and Iroh took care of her." Sokka waved off.
"What?"
"Yeah," Toph laughed, "That was my reaction too."
"Anyway," Suki said, shoving aside Aang's questioning, "That leads us to the next point: We're never separating for anything anymore. We constantly move into different groups, and it always gets us into a fight, or even worse. When we were on the metal prison, we separated and Katara got hurt, we separated in this town and that got us captured whereas we could have fought them off if we were together."
"I have to go back onto my ship though," Zuko said.
"We know," Sokka acknowledged, "This is a rule for when you do end up coming around with us, whenever that will be. For the rest of us, we're not going to go our separate ways unless if the situation desperately calls for it, got it?"
Toph shrugged, Aang nodded, and Katara agreed to it as well.
"Ok," Sokka then said, "We're heading to the Northern Air Temple next Zuko, so make your way there."
Zuko let out a sigh, happy to finally be getting some direction on where to go.
"So remember, go along with fate, never get separated, and we're going to the Northern Air Temple next, ok?" Sokka said, and everyone nodded, "Oh, and Katara, can you start healing Aang today? We need him able to fight as soon as possible."
"I can, but it will take a few weeks before he can use his arm safely." She answered.
"Is that the best it can be?"
"Would you rather wait weeks or months?" She asked.
"Fine, fine," He then looked around, "Do you guys have anything else you want to say?"
A short silence later he said, "Good, you're dismissed." He was getting fully into his position as group strategist. The others just nodded though, so used to him talking like that from where they came that it became a habit to just let him do it, "We're leaving today, so be sure to talk to the doctor to get whatever medical supplies you need. Oh, and by the way, we have enough food for quite a while, so don't worry about that!"
Aang and Katara both were heading back to the room so she could begin healing him with her Waterbending. He went into the room and he sat upright on his bed with his back turned to Katara, who was sitting behind him on his bed as well.
"You might feel a little uncomfortable," She said, eyeing the still raw scars and cuts that ran all across his body, "But after this you should feel a lot better. Once I'm done with your back I'll start working on your arm." With that she began, bending water out and using her healing ability to begin to heal his back.
"Thank you Katara," He said, closing his eyes as he felt the soothing water rub against his back.
"You're welcome," she answered, smiling as she watched his head lean forward a little as he began to doze off.
Chapter fifteen – End
A/N – There you go, finally some Kataang. Something we've all been missing for… What was it? Five? Maybe six chapters? Whatever, I hope you enjoyed it!
Also, an important note: I am going on a temporary hiatus for the rest of July, and I will continue to update in August. I'm suffering a mild case of story writing burn out since I have been updating this every 3-4 days for over a month now, and I just need a small break from writing this story. I will continue to work on the outline occasionally during this time.
So until then, have a great July!