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Letting off steam

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Everybody is quite tired because it's been a full on/stressful afternoon and the ride on Appa can be quite tiring. We've just dumped out bags in our rooms and left all the camping/communal gear in the lounge room. We will deal with it tomorrow when we've all had some sleep and there is more light. I'm going to just make a simple dinner of pickled fish and veggies and have a sleep because I don't feel like making anything too elaborate. Since I do all the cooking, the others will just have to eat it and like it.

-?-

Very eventful evening.

I made pickle fish and veggies. There were complaints and complaints lead to shenanigans. I think we all might have been a bit grumpy with each other as a result of being a bit tired/room competition/residue ill feeling from the earlier argument on Appa. The others were grumpy with me because of my little waterbending trick when we were all racing for the rooms. There was some bickering regarding rooms. Toph wanted a room on the ground floor, so she can see better and she's chosen what was an office/study/parlour/room of non-descript purposes and she wants the boys to hurry up and move a bed downstairs for her. She Toph-nagged them a bit about this.

Aang got the room two doors down from mine which apparently has a similar view (mine has the best though). All three rooms on that side of the house have a beach view. Aang flew to the balcony in order to claim the room and Sokka thinks this is cheating. Sokka thinks I am a cheater too and he thinks it's unfair that cheaters get the best rooms. Suki was the one who got the third room with a beach view and she asked if Sokka was implying that she was also a sneakier cheater. Frantic backpedalling from Sokka quickly occurred.

Zuko and Sokka have rooms on the other side of the stairs which have a nice view of the jungle. Sokka was complaining about how lame a jungle view was and how small their rooms were in comparison to the beach view rooms. Zuko told him that he was in Azula's old room and it has been good enough for her. I think he was just teasing, but now Sokka doesn't want to enter back into the room because it's been Azula-tainted (tainted with crazy-evil) and wants to swap with Zuko (none us beachsiders would give up our rooms). Zuko said there were other rooms he could pick on the other side of the house, but Sokka would probably get err…lonely on the other side of the house and didn't want to move so far away from us in case something happens and we have to move quickly. I don't get why he's making a big deal, Sokka will probably spend the night in Suki's room anyway. Anyway, there was a bit of room related bickering for a while -until Aang put a stop to it.

Aang piped up that we should all stop bickering and just forgive each other and accept our rooms. Sokka piped up that Aang had one of the best rooms so it was easy for him to accept that. Toph piped up that her room still didn't have a bed in it thanks to Zuko and Sokka's laziness so Sokka should stop complaining. Aang told them to shut it in his Aang way (Aang would never say shut up). He started going on about how he hates it when we fight and he had forgiven Toph from their argument earlier because forgiveness was the best thing to do. He said this with a pointed look in my direction.

I accidentally exploded the water jug.

And there was DRAMA!

I just felt this surge of powerful anger and there was nowhere for it to go. I've been trying not to get angry at Aang because he has so much to worry about as the Avatar and he doesn't need to worry about my anger and my feelings on top of it. But I was so tired and tense. Honestly, if I hear say the F word one more time I do believe that my head will explode. It's been ages since I accidentally bended just because I was feeling something really strongly. In that moment I was just so cross! Water just exploded out of that jug and glass chards went everywhere.

Thankfully everybody managed to cover their faces. Aang and Toph were closest to the jug and Aang had luckily covered Toph's face and his own, with his super speed. They were fine but Aang had glass cuts all over his forearm. I rushed over and healed them quickly and started apologizing because I did feel really badly about doing it. Then Aang said he forgave me in that tone of voice and I felt that angry moment again.

Aang, oh Aang. Must you? Really?

My head did not explode and thankfully there was no more water filled glassware in the near vicinity. Suki was thinking clearly. She took Zuko, because he knew where everything was and had gone into the kitchen to get a broom and another jug for me to bend the water off the floor -so it would be easier to sweep up. Suki started to sweep up all the glass. Zuko told Toph not to move because she had bare feet and there was a lot of broken glass on the floor. Toph made a small speech about how she was going to bed because we were all too cranky for her to deal with. Sokka reminded her that he and Zuko still hadn't had a chance to move the bed yet so she couldn't technically go to bed. She declared that she was going to her room anyway. She cajoled Zuko into carrying her to her room with her Toph wiles. As she does.

There was an awkward silence after they left in which me and Aang and Sokka gaped at eachother awkwardly.

Suki broke the silence and made a comment about dinner ending with a bang and chuckled to herself. Sokka lame-pun high fived her. There was another awkward silence. More awkward than the previous awkward silence. The old silence would shuffle away from this new silence in public and would feel embarrassed for it. That's how awkward it was.

Aang and Sokka were both looking at me weirdly. Sokka has witnessed the most of my accidental bending and he knew that I hadn't meant to do it. I'd never do anything like that on purpose. He asked me what the hell that was and I just didn't know. I was angry and guilty and embarrassed. So I did the sensible thing and had a small rant (about how I had a long day and it was an accident and I didn't appreciate his tone etc) and stormed off in high dudgeon. If in doubt, storm off-at least that's what I normally do.

-?-

I was sitting on the dock and just thinking. Thinking about why Aang going on about forgivness annoyed me the way it did. Thinking about how embarrassed I was about accidentally bending. I was feeling really guilty for hurting my friend. I was just a big old mess of emotions. Again! What is wrong with me lately? I just have all these pent up feelings. It surprises me how strong these feelings are. Toph said that yelling at Zuko was my stress release and now I couldn't even do that. Well I could, but I don't want to anymore.

I have a few ways of blowing off steam. Yelling at someone, moping and waterbending. I've yelled, I am moping and I will probably waterbend as well. I hardly get to really use my waterbending combatively at the moment because Aang needs to work of his firebending and earthbending more. Waterbending combatively used to be a great stress reliever for me. Now I just do ordinary household waterbending because Aang doesn't need my training as much. I miss it. Water whips and octopus forms. It just feels natural when I do it.

-?-

I'm making the small streams of water swirl in pretty patterns in the air until I feel better.

-?-

Aang probably wouldn't want to waterbend with me at the moment anyway with all this grumpiness between us. I just want us to be friends again. I don't want to be angry at him at all. I just want him to agree to disagree with me and stop forcing the forgiveness thing.

Because it upsets me.

-?-

Zuko found me a short while later. He'd been delayed because there have been some more shenanigans and room switching back at the house. I can only guess what they were. The others thought I just needed some time to cool off but he just wanted to check that I was okay. I told him I was fine and moved over so he could sit next to me.

We sat in silence for a bit. He got all awkward and asked if I wanted…to…you know…talk about it…or…something. That was all the prompting I needed. I just blaahed out all my various feelings. I just opened my mouth and went blaaah and words came out. I had a rant about feeling guilty and embarrassed and cross and all sorts of other things. Then I ranted about not water bending combatively much and what Toph had said and now I couldn't shout at him for stress relieving purposes.

He said I could shout at him if I wanted. I declined. I didn't feel like it and I didn't have anything to shout at him about. He said he'd eaten three times his recommended daily intake of fireflakes today and I could shout at him about that. Then he gave me a teasing poke. I appreciated the offer. There was a time when such a pronouncement would have left me in a towering rage and there would have been a rant about the many evils of fireflakes and Zuko's idiocy for enjoying them so much, but now I just sort of feel this sort of resigned tolerance for his fireflake addiction.

We sat for a bit and then Zuko said I have an idea in that excited way he does. His idea was that we spar because I haven't sparred with anyone in ages and Zuko thought that was contributing to my various frustrations (mostly because I had gone on (and on and on) about how it was contributing to my various frustrations). Zuko feels the same way about firebending. He says he goes a bit nuts if he can't firebend because he finds firebending a great way to channel and get rid of his anger about various things. He thought that us sparring would be a great way for me to let off some steam. That way I could get all my pent up frustration out with real proper combative water bending at a worthy opponent (meaning himself). I could combine my two stress relievers, fighting him and waterbending and feel frustrated no more.

And much fun would be had by all.

I agreed because it seemed worth a shot.

-?-

Zuko's plan is great in theory. Most of Zuko's ideas are great in theory. Zuko's ideas, when put in to practice, is another matter entirely. Lots of things are great in theory after all. The thing about Zuko's sparring plan was that we both forgot one tiny little detail. We are both super stubborn people who are …er… a little competitive. Neither of us likes to lose, really. We are both fairly evenly matched in terms of skill. So the fight lasted ages and ages.

It was still great fun! I almost forgot how much fun it could be.

There was water and fire going everywhere and it was awesome. I realized that I've watched Zuko firebend so much that I now know most of his signature moves. He knows most of my waterbending moves as well. We just kept deflecting each other's blows and chasing each other up and down the beach and it was brilliant. Brilliant and tiring. There was no way I was going to let Zuko win this one but I just couldn't quite get him to give in.

Gah, just give in already!

He said he never gave up without a fight and I replied that we'd been fighting for ages and he should just cede victory to me because it was getting late. He said I could just cede victory to him if I was feeling tired.

Never!

I had to think creatively if I was going to win.

I remember something he said when we were flying back on Appa from Whaletail Island. About his mum tickling him. Was he still ticklish? It was worth a shot. Nobody can bend when they are being tickled after all. He wouldn't be expecting it. I had the element of surprise of my side.

I dropped my water whip and tackled him to the sand. He was definitely surprised by this and made a noise like ahhergh when I did that. There was a bit of scuffling but I got on top of him and started tickling him. Zuko is officially ticklish everywhere! Wow, like everywhere. But especially on his stomach and under his arms. He struggled against the Great Tickling Offensive and flailed a fair bit but eventually he gave in.

I win again!

It was great. I was relentless. He was doing this really adorable cheeky laugh and trying to swat me away but I was an immovable force of tickling! I was the unstoppable tickle monster of doom! He tried to reason with me between giggles and said that tickling was just plain cheating. You cannot reason with the tickle monster. Then he tried to retaliatory tickle! But I am only ticklish in one place and he does not know where that is and I will never tell him. Ha! I told him he'd have to say that I won and he refused between laughs. I tickled him some more. I tickled him until he did this really weird (but really hilarious) snorty laugh. After we reached snorty laugh stage, he relented and said that I won. I got off him and I did my happy dance.

And the water tribe is victorious over the firenation! Go me!

Zuko said the only reason I won was because I had cheated. Cheating scmeating! He never said I couldn't tickle him. Zuko could not find fault with this logic. He hadn't said tickling was against the rules. I told him to accept defeat with honor and he made a rather sarcastic comment about my underhanded tactics and I tickled him again (only lightly) in retaliation as we walked back to the house. I am quite glad to know this ticklish secret about Zuko.

Next time he annoys me I am just going to tickle him until he does the snorty laugh again.

It was so much fun and I am feeling much better and less frustrated now. He asked me if I wanted to let off steam again tomorrow night and I have agreed. I can think of worse ways to pass an evening. It's weird but Zuko has really cheered me up. Or maybe I'm feeling so good right now because I won.

That always cheers me up!

-?-

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Authors note: long and rambly once more

Hello lovely wonderful readers! You have let off some steam! (high five if you love lame puns.) Congratulations and I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. I just wanted something a little on the fluffy side and for our dynamic duo to spend some quality time together.

It would have been a stressful afternoon for the Gaang so they are a little bit grumpy with each other at the start of this chapter. This happens at a few points in the series and I think it is quite realistic. It happens all the time. People bicker and over-react and fight and make up and the Gaang is no exception. I thought it was vital that Katara finds another outlet for her stress and anger now that she's not yelling at Zuko a lot. So I have them fighting but in a nice way.

Aang and forgiveness: I'm not trying to hate on Aang (because I love him), but he is single minded about his beliefs and understandably so. He wants all his friends to understand air nomad culture, customs and beliefs because for him that helps keep the air nomad spirit alive. He's living a nomadic life with the Gaang and I think he wants to pass on his knowledge of his culture. He is passionate about what he believes in and that is lovely, however it lacks perspective.

In my imagination, Aang is still worried about Katara as a result of the F-word related shenanigans in the Southern Raiders. He thinks she is his lobster and he wants her to understand his beliefs most of all. He crushes on her and if they are to have a long term future, Katara would have to embrace Air nomad ways a bit more. But she is very resistant, especially to the notion of forgiveness for someone like Yon Rha. Aang is not subtle, he hopes that he can show her by example. He thinks if he forgives and mention forgiveness a lot, she is going to catch on and agree with him. And in this episode, when she's a bit tired and cranky, she snaps.

I think Katara feels quite maternal towards Aang and would be reluctant to confront him outright about the F-word because she does not want to belittle his beliefs (which are so important to him) while at the same time he's been driving her bananas for a few days now. So she explodes something. I wanted a visual symbol of Katara's anger that couldn't be overlooked by Aang.

For Katara, I think 'accidentally' bending would be embarrassing because she's meant to be at master level and have more control. She used to bend accidentally back at the South Pole when she got angry. She would just have felt this powerful surge of anger and been unable to help herself. I think her bending was a subconscious reaction because she's getting to the end of her tether in regards to the f-word.

Bending in general strikes me as very much linked to the personality and emotions of the bender. I think it probably would have been a great stress reliever. Katara doesn't train much with Aang after the mid-point in season three because he has a more pressing need to learn firebending. In Sozin's comet Aang is still learning firebending and earthbending but feels pretty confident with water. I think Katara would feel the loss of a sparring partner greatly. Water relies on turning your opponent's moves back on themselves, and while she could practice alone, waterbending strikes me as something that is better practiced with a partner. So Zuko volunteers.

I do think Katara and Zuko are pretty evenly matched in terms of skill and I didn't want either of them to beat the other with bending. But they are both exceptionally stubborn people who wouldn't be prone to giving in to each other. I think had their fight continued Katara would have eventually won because its night time and she draws power from the moon but she decides to end it quicker by cheating. Bless her cotton socks. Katara's not opposed to cheating (just a little) if it helps her win. Zuko mentioned being tickled many chapters ago and I wanted to show that Katara is listening to him and remembering the things he says. I also just love the idea of her being a tickle monster and the mental image of the great tickling offensive. I think it has been many years since somebody tickled Zuko so he is taken completely aback by this turn of events (but he kind of enjoys this turn of events). They both thoroughly enjoyed letting off some steam together and I think it's something they both needed.

YMMV on everything!

They will let of some steam in the future, but our next chapter will focus on the Gaang exploring the town and preparations for Katara's birthday.

Til then lovely readers.