One year later
"Enough! Aang, I can't take this anymore!" Katara cried at the top of her lungs. Aang halted, and turned to her with a puzzled look on his face.
"What do you mean, Katara? You can't take what anymore?"
"Don't. Aang, you can't pretend anymore. This isn't working anymore. We aren't working anymore. This isn't a relationship- we aren't even friends anymore! You don't consult me on anything, you no longer respect my opinions or my talents as a waterbender. I'm done."
Aang stared at Katara, eyes huge. "No! Katara, you can't do this to me. I love you! I thought you loved me… And of course I respect you. I always have, and always will, I swear!"
Katara's eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry, Aang. I do love you, I promise. But you know we're both miserable. I've tried to stay with you, tried to pretend I'm happy. But I'm not willing to give up my happiness anymore. I deserve to be happy, and so do you. And I don't think it can happen if we're together. I just don't do anything anymore- I could be doing so much more for the people in this world, and you never let me do anything."
Aang shook his head. "That's not true! How can you even say that! Why, just yesterday you made a cool tree out of the water. All those little kids thought it was great. And it distracted them while I saved their village from that Fire demon!" He smile encouragingly at Katara, willing her to smile back. But she did not. She gazed at him with tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Aang. I can't stay. I need to figure out just who it is I really am. And I can't do that here." She wove her hands through the air in a complicated but brief dance. Her form became transparent, then she merged into the sky as a column of water, disappearing into the sky in an instant.
Aang let out a cry of grief, and leapt into the air after her. But she was gone, even beyond the reach of his own talents. She'd been practicing on her own time, and had been able to discover skills she never knew she could have.