0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

decisions and discoveries.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Aang was sitting in the courtyard, in meditation pose, with candles and water and fruit in front of him. He was trying to unblock his chakra and, naturally, everyone was really interested in his progress. He had banished us all from the courtyard, because he needed peace and quiet and solitude to do...whatever he was doing.

Everyone was crowded in the kitchen trying to unobtrusively watch Aang through the window. I was dicing veggies for dinner. Suki was pretending to help me, but really she was just watching Aang with equal interest. She seemed to have almost recovered from her hangover and was look much more alert and less bleary. Sokka, Toph and Zuko were sitting on the counter and passing a packet of fireflakes between the three of them. Zuko and Sokka were offering a running commentary on Aang's progress, or lack there of, to Toph. Typical snippet of conversation went like this: It looks like nothing's happening...still looks like nothing's happening...does it always take this long for nothing to happen?... Well, I'm sure something will happen soon, prince impatient...

Then the candle flickered and Sokka thought that was a good sign. Apparently, Zuko's uncle had a joke about flickering candles, which he could not remember in full, upon being prompted. He could only remember the punchline, which was oh, you'll never fit that up there! There was a brief, silent pause. I could swear I heard crickets. Oh Zuko. What have me and Sokka told you about trying to make jokes? Toph asked gently. Zuko smiled ruefully and said I shouldn't. This is the right answer.

Sokka shushed them because the breeze was blowing extra fiercely though the trees and there was some discussion over whether this was Aang bending while meditating, or just the breeze. If it was Aang, surely this was a good sign for chakra unblocking. Sokka still thought Aang needed more fiber to fix his chakra problems. Not to mention all his other problems Toph said under her breath.

At that point Aang got most grumpy and said he could hear every word we were saying and we were all making it really difficult for him to unblock his chakra. Sokka helpfully suggested more fiber again. This suggestion was rather rudely rebuffed by Aang. Zuko said we were just trying to help and Aang said the best way for everybody to help would be to shut up and resumed meditating. Suki (rather harmlessly in my opinion) asked does he want us to shut up shut up, or just shut up about him trying to meditate? And that was the last straw for Aang, who declared that we were ruining his meditation! He gathered up his various meditation accoutrements and declared, I am going to figure this out on my own! Nobody disturb me! And stomped off up the stairs to his room.

Welly well well then!

-?-

Aang had refused to come down and join us for dinner. After everyone had eaten, I made him up a little plate and took it up to him. I knocked tentatively, because Aang has been rather grumpy with all of us all after noon. I'm feeling a bit grumpy with him too (various reasons for this – but it won't do to dwell on them), but I have managed to put my grumpy feelings aside.

I know that a lot of Aang's bad attitude comes from stress and I don't want to make things more stressful for him. My various grumpy feelings would only make things more stressful after all. And besides, Sozin's Comet is so soon. It's only a few days away and I don't want to hamper his progress at all, not at this stage of the game. No, I was going to put my best foot forward and try and be the supportive and encouraging friend I always have been. I didn't want Aang to misconstrue my attention in anyway, but at the same time, it is my habit to try and take care of him and that includes trying to make him eat.

There was no answer from inside, so I pushed the door open and went to go and put the plate on the dresser. I saw Aang on the balcony, not in any sort of meditation pose, but slumped over the railings and looking out at the sea. He looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Despite how mad I was at him, I felt that old maternal instinct rise in me.

I went out, just to see if he was okay and or if he needed any help. He barely acknowledged my presence and just have me a nod and a quiet greeting. I told him I had brought him some dinner and left in on his dresser and he said thanks. I asked how it was going and he said fine dejectedly. I knew he was trying to unblock his chakra and I knew that this chakra was meant to be blocked by his stupid crush on me. I asked if it would help if I went away, but Aang said no, stay! really suddenly. We were quiet for a few seconds and then I asked him if everything was alright. He sighed and slumped again and said no, and he let that hang in the air before adding. I don't think I can do it. Apparently Aang had been trying for hours, to unblock his chakra and enter the avatar state again, but it hadn't work.

Oh.

I tried to be encouraging and said maybe it would work, if he just gave it a bit more time but Aang denied this rather heatedly. He had already tried his hardest. He said he had been thinking, about a lot of things. About what Zuko and Toph said about him fighting without the avatar state, about the comet and about having to fight the firelord. He turned to me and asked if there was any reason why we had to fight the firelord before the comet and I said it was to prevent the firenation from winning the war, because the comet would give them all a big boost in power.

Aang twirled his thumbs and said, well, I've been thinking – they kind of ...already... have won the war. He said, in a defeated sounding tone, that there was nothing left to conquer, because the firenation had basically won the war when they took Ba Sing Se and they couldn't really conquer it again now could they. This is true actually. Most coastal cities and Omashu and Ba Sing Se were now under firenation control. There was nowhere new to conquer, except the deep inland of the earth kingdom, the wide plains, the swamps and the desert. I couldn't see what the firenation would want with them, because they didn't produce anything worth conquering.

The thought that they might attack the water tribes flitted across my brain, but I dismissed it. Zuko had said (during one of Sokka's planning sessions) the navy were currently patrolling and settling small disputes and putting down small coastal rebellions and that after the decimation at the North Pole, the navy fleet still hadn't properly recovered to launch a full scale invasion of anywhere.

With most of the earth kingdom is under fire nation dominion at the moment and I couldn't imagine any leader, even Ozai, attacking his own people. They might use the comet to consolidate their colonies, but really, there was nowhere left for them to invade.

Aang started talking about how he had been thinking that it might be a better idea to wait until after the comet. Because he could have more time to master firebending (and earth bending as well, I wanted to add, but didn't. However I know Toph laments Aang's progress with earthbending to Zuko frequently). Because he wanted to be able to unlock his chakra and get into the avatar state at will before he faced Ozai. Because what was the point of trying to fight on the day of the comet, when Firebenders where at their most powerful. Because Aang just needed more time.

What he said made so much sense, suddenly. Why were we rushing and stressing over this comet – trying to get Aang ready in a few days. Just so we could fight with Aang woefully under-prepared and scared? We have all been so stressed about this comet, but maybe the answer is just to wait until after it has passed. I do not want to lose any of us. Fighting before the comet or during the comet seems like such an unnecessary risk. The world is not going to get anymore conquered if we give it a few more months. And in the meantime we could just go on together and prepare together and wait until Aang is good and ready and we can't possibly lose.

Aang seemed to grow more confident in his idea to wait, the more we talked about it. I could tell he was looking for my reassurance that he was making the right decision and I told him I completely agreed with him. As soon as I said that Aang visibly sighed in relief and brightened instantly and in a flash, the serious woe-is-me-the-world-is-on-my-shoulders-Aang from a few moments ago was gone. He was, once again, just the same goofy excitable kid I pulled out of the ice.

I wanted to go and announce to the others about Aang's decision, but Aang thought it would be better if he told them. He wanted to tell everybody individually. It was his idea and his decision and he thought it would sound better coming from him, and he wanted to know what everybody really thought about waiting. I agreed. This is Aang's choice, so if he wanted be the one to tell everybody, then he should, without any interference from me.

-?-

As I lay in bed that night, I felt a big wave of relief was over me. I didn't realize how tense I was, about the comet, until suddenly that big oppressive deadline had been lifted. It has been this constant worry, always niggling at the back of my brain and in my heart. I was so worried for all of us and now I feel like I can breathe again. Now that we wont be in the fight of our lives in a few days, we can just relax and enjoy ourselves and take things at our own pace. Waiting is a much better decision. Ozai is not going anywhere, so he can bloody well wait until Aang is ready to face him.

Aang said he needed more time, well so do I. Without the comet hanging over us, who knows what I could find time for. I always thought that I didn't have time for certain things, (like romance, like boys...well, just the one boy in particular). There's been so much I've been putting off, just because the final battle was so imminent and preparing for it and keeping everybody together and in a good frame of mind was so demanding.

I have time for anything now.

-?-

So this morning, Zuko woke Aang up ridiculously early for firebending practice and they have been at it since dawn. I slept in for a while and then got up and made myself breakfast and then went out to watch them. Slowly, the others trickled out and joined me. We were all lounging about on the front stairs and watching the firebending, while Zuko drilled Aang, very sternly, even for Zuko. He was even more uptight than usual about form and ferocity etc today. Aang's decision to wait seems to have had the opposite effect on Zuko than it has on everyone else. Everyone else is noticeably more relaxed. But Zuko is tense! Tense as a...a really tense thing.

We have time now, and Suki, Sokka, Toph and I are enjoying it! We have all been lounging and chilling and making plans for other things we can do during the day. Now that we are waiting, we wont have to spend all day - everyday training Aang. We can explore the island, go to the day spa again, find all the various hot springs that dot the landscape.

I suggested hot spring finding to Zuko this morning, when they took a quick break, (wet and sweaty Zuko, mmmhhhh). Not as a date or anything, but I thought it was something fun that the two of us could do. He just gave me the most perplexed look and asked if I was feeling alright, which was not the reaction I was hoping for. Boo!

I can't believe he is still so tense. I have decided to make it my mission to relax him in the coming weeks. Zuko will take it easy and chill out (heh, chill out, I crack me up!), even if I have to use all my wiliness to achieve this incredible feat.

However right now, I was just using my melons.

I had made them some thirsty quenching delicious melon juice, which Aang was most enthusiastic for. He ran towards the melons I was proffering up, temptingly (was trying to tempt the other bender, but one out of two isn't bad). Zuko grabbed Aang by the back of his robes (as is his habit) and told him (sternly, as usual) that his lesson wasn't over yet. Suki said what we were all thinking. What's the big deal, just take a break etc and Zuko relinquished Aang, said a few comments about how lazy we all were, for just lounging around like snail sloths all day and stomped off.

I was tempted to go after him and see what the problem was, but he is in such a perplexing mood at the moment. I thought he'd be pleased. Just yesterday he said that Aang would get slaughtered if he faced his father now. He wasn't stomping off to mope (that's a different stomp and normally comes with a guilty dance preceding it). It seemed more like he was stomping off to go do Very Difficult Sums or some other such appealing activity. I thought I'd give him a bit of time to cool down and then I'd go and talk to him and find out what was bothering him so much.

Also Sokka suggested a beach party and I was totally ready to get amongst that!

It is surprising how little time we've spent at the beach, considering the beach is right in front of the house. The beach was yet another thing I didn't have much time for with the comet hanging over us, but now I'm so there!

-?-

I made my ice surfboard and took to the waves. Spirits, I love surfing. I love the exhilarating feel of the waves moving under me and carrying me along. I love feeling so surrounded by my element. I love the adrenaline rush that comes from doing jumps and tricks. I have been practicing some more specialized jumps and waterbending to help me along. I was bending for the sheer joy of it and not for any other purpose and it was a lovely feeling.

Suki was trying to sunbake, while Sokka piled sand next to her. He started to decorate his sand blob with bits of seaweed etc and appeared to be very engrossed in his task. Aang was building what looked like a giant sandy version of Appa while Toph watched, and presumably made sassy remarks as she always does, I was just a bit too far away to hear. Everyone seemed to be doing fine, so I headed further out to where the better waves were. I did the best trick (triple heli with a half barrel) and I turned to see if anybody else had noticed it.

I cannot leave them alone for five minutes!

Somehow in the time it had taken to catch my wave, chaos had descended on my beach. Fire was going everywhere and all was confusion and I raced towards the beach, using my bending to speed my iceboard along the water. As I got closer I saw that Zuko was bending ferociously at Aang, who was running away. The giant sand Appa exploded and Aang lept away up a cliff and Zuko threw a few fireballs after him before he followed him, scaling the cliff in two seconds.

What the hell?

Also, on a completely shallow note, I got a great view of Zuko's arse as he climbed up that cliff after Aang. Mmmhhhh.

Anyway...

I reached the others and asked them what was going on. Sokka said Zuko had gone crazy and ruined his sand sculpture of Suki. So that's what that was. Oh and he's attacking Aang, he added almost as an afterthought. We ran back up to the house after them, but none of us are as quick as those two. We got up to the house just in time to see Zuko and a massive airblast knock through the second story west wall. He hit a tree and landed with a loud oof on the ground.

I had a fair idea of what was going on. I remembered talking with Zuko that day in the hammocks, about the firenation practice of attacking students to measure their progress. But just knowing what was going on didn't make me happy about it. I think it is a very barbaric and counter productive teaching method, because all it would be accomplished is either a hurt or a scared Aang. Zuko had agreed not to do it! He told me he wouldn't.

He was groaning as he got up and I felt a twinge of sympathy for him, but I pushed it down because I was cranky at him. On the whole it is very easy to express my grumpiness with Zuko (perhaps because I've had so much practice at it). I shouted What wrong with you? You could've hurt Aang! And he turned around and said What's wrong with me? What's wrong with all of you? How can you sit around having beach parties when Sozin's comet is only three days away? with some surprise and indignation.

Oh.

An awkward second passed when we all looked at each other and then looked at Zuko. So Aang had told everybody but Zuko. That explained so much. Why he was still so tense, why he'd attacked Aang, why he'd been so utterly perplexed by my offer of hot spring-age. The pause got noticeably more awkward and Zuko seemed to recognize that he was missing something here. Why are you all looking at me like I'm crazy? he asked with some trepidation.

Aang broke the awkward silence with some hesitation. Eeerrrr...about Sozin's comet he began. I crossed my arms and made an unhappy face at him, that he didn't notice. I couldn't help but think, while Aang explained about not being ready, that Aang is not very honest sometimes. Well he's not dishonest, but he's not a very direct person either. Which is no surprise, I guess, because he's an airbender...but it is still very inconvenient. I can't believe he told everyone but Zuko. What the hell! I knew we should've just done a group announcement, rather than telling everybody except one person. Aang finished by saying that he needed more time to master firebending, which is something he knew Zuko would agree with and Toph (who must have her say) piped up that his earthbending could still use some work.

A hurt expression flickered across Zuko's face for a second and he asked if we had all known that Aang was going to wait. Sokka nodded at him and said apologetically that if Aang fought the firelord now, he would lose. Aang made a face at Sokka and then Sokka added no offense (apologetically again) in Aang's general direction.

I stepped forward towards Zuko and tried to smooth things over and tried to explain Aang's reasoning (seen as though it didn't look like Aang was going to explain it himself). I told him about how there was no point in fighting on the day of the comet because the firenation had already won when it conquered Ba Sing Se. things couldn't get any worse.

Zuko said You're wrong and turned away from us and said things were about to get worse than we could possibly imagine. He explained about how, on his last day in the firenation, the day before the eclipse, he'd attended an important war meeting. During the war meeting, because Zuko was the only person in the room who'd ever spoken to an earthkingdom commoner, he was asked if he thought transferring more firenation troops into the earth kingdom would stop the earthkingdom from rebelling against the firenation. Zuko said it wouldn't because earth kingdom people are strong and proud and can endure anything as long as they have hope. He glanced at Toph and she nodded proudly.

Zuko looked incredibly sad for a second and then continued with his story. He said that he meant that it would be futile to try and conquer the earthkingdom entirely, but his father had misunderstood him and decided that the answer was instead to crush their hope. Azula agreed and said that they should burn all the hope and all the lands to the ground. And his Dad had been all over that idea. By the end of the meeting, he'd talked himself into an excited frenzy about using the comet and all the airships and burning the Entire Earth Kingdom to the ground. Ozai wanted to be the supreme ruler of everything.

Holy crap!

Zuko finished by giving us all an apologetic look and saying that he was ashamed that he hadn't spoken out against the crazy plan, even though he'd wanted too. He added, by way of explanation, that he'd always wanted his father's acceptance but in that moment, he realized he had to lose himself to get it.

It felt like all the air had been sucked out of the day. I felt completely shocked. I said I couldn't believe it, but unfortunately and horrifyingly, in the back of my mind, I could. From everything I knew about Ozai and the look on Zuko's face, I knew what he was saying was true. Ozai was more that capable of doing something that cruel and crazy. I felt myself go weak at the knees with the giant wave of nausea that hit me when I realized the full implications of what Zuko said. I gave into the feeling and sank to the ground.

The entire earth kingdom… all those people… burned to a crisp.

Sokka said what we were all thinking. He'd always thought the firelord was a bad guy, but his plan was just plain evil. Aang said what am I going to do? with no small amount of fear in his voice. Zuko got up and went over to him and said gently, that he knew Aang was scared and wasn't ready to save the world...but if Aang didn't defeat the firelord before the comet came, there wouldn't be a world to save anymore.

Aang recoiled from this blunt statement and asked angrily why Zuko hadn't told him about his dad's crazy plan sooner. Zuko got a bit stroppy and said rather defensively that he didn't think he had to, because he had thought we were all still planning on fighting before the comet and no one had told him we'd decided to wait. Aang had a small panic attack and ran away a short distance before sinking to his knees and saying this is bad, this is really bad over and over again. From the looks of it, he was about to start hyperventilating.

We rushed over to him and I said, as reassuringly and encouragingly as I could, that Aang wasn't in this alone. Toph added that with her usual boldness, that if we all took on the firelord together, we'd have a shot at taking him down. Aang took a deep breath and seemed to take comfort in our words. He got up and brushed him off and said that facing the firelord together would be the hardest thing we've ever done, but he wouldn't wanted it any other way. Sokka was gleeful and claimed that Team avatar was back in business and by our powers combined, we'd be able to accomplish anything! Aang smiled and opened his arms for a group hug. We all crowded around him. Except for Zuko, who stood back a little bit.

Zuko's not fond of group hugs/snuggles in general and is more of a one-on-one cuddler. I am the person who hugs him the most and I didn't want him to be left out of the group hug. I think he was already feeling a bit left out of the group anyway, because he was the only one who hadn't known about Aang's plan to wait. I leaned out of the hug and held out my arm and told him to get over here and being part of the group also meant being part of group hugs. He signed and rolled his eyes, but gave me a slight smile and came over. I wrapped an arm around him and smushed him into Toph. He winced slightly as I gave him a squeeze. I felt a flash of concern as I felt his side.

Then Appa and Momo tried to join in the group hug and there was no time/room for concern. Appa landed on top of us and knocked everybody flat on their arses and proceeded to try and lick us all to death. There was great deal of inelegant struggling as we all tried to get out from under Appa's giant and overly-affectionate self and escape his squishy and determined tongue.

-?-

We adjourned to the lounge to make plans together (Sokka went off to the library to get a big supply of paper). I declared that me and Zuko were going to make tea for everybody and grabbed his hand and pulled him with me into the kitchen. Making tea together had been our old code word for a healing session and I knew he needed one. He'd cracked three ribs on his left side, presumably from when he got blasted by Aang from the second floor into the tree. That had been a nasty fall. I'd felt it in the group hug. I wouldn't have known, if I hadn't felt him up...errr….I mean invited him to join the group hug. He's good at hiding it when he's hurt.

I told him I knew he needed a healing session and he said he felt fine. I crossed my arms and gave him A Look. My Look worked. Zuko sighed and said fine, his left side hurt a bit. I said that didn't surprise me, because to me it felt like he'd cracked three ribs and if he wanted me to fix them for him, then he should take of his shirt. He complied.

Mmmmmmmhhhhh.

I may have had a just little stare but I snapped out of it when Zuko said eerr..Katara? Are you okay? Yes! Yes I am...what was I doing again? Oh yes, healing. I was doing that! Not staring at shirtless Zuko and getting distracted.

I went over to him and got some water from the sink and placed my hands on his chest. We were standing so close together and there was this undercurrent of just ...something unidentifiable. Not lust. But something else a lot like it. He looked down at me and I looked up at him and our eyes me and I just felt all squishy and churny in my stomach.

This was ridiculous! Now that attacking before Sozin's comet was back on, all those things I wanted to make time for, all those feelings I wanted to act on, were regulated to the back burner again. This was war and we had just found out how devastating the consequences of not defeating Ozai before the comet were. I should be worried about that. I shouldn't have been thinking...the thoughts I was thinking. Zuko shouldn't have this effect on me when we, once again, have a huge battle coming up in a few days. I should be concentrating on that, on winning the war and not Zuko's perfect abs (no matter how much appreciation I have for said perfect abs.) I think I must have been having a similar effect on Zuko to the one he was having on me, because his heart was racing as I ran my hands over his chest. He gulped and I blushed and ran my hands further up.

We didn't speak much and after I was done, We set about making tea together, seen as though that is what we had told everyone else we were doing in here. Zuko looked a little sad. I asked him what was wrong and he said nothing and I gave him A Look again. He said fine, he was a little put out that we hadn't told him about how Aang decided to wait, because he thought we trusted him. I said we all did, I definitely did and Aang had only decided to wait last night and he had wanted to tell everybody individually. He had probably had wanted to tell Zuko and just chickened out. Zuko asked why would telling me be so scary? I raised my eyebrow at him in incredulity. Surely Zuko must know how he... reacts to things. Surely he hadn't forgotten about their fight yesterday and all that swearing and stomping off. I tried to communicate all this in my expression and Zuko said point taken.

I said he shouldn't be too cross at Aang. We all could be a bit unforthcoming with information we knew would people wouldn't like. Some people kept tidbits to themselves that they really should have shared with the group... like crazy earth kingdom burning plans... just for a random example. Zuko looked a little shamefaced and said he was sorry, he'd hoped that, because we were fighting Ozai before the comet, we'd never have to know about the crazy plan. I said he really should have told us anyway. He said he'd been embarrassed and ashamed of not speaking out in the war meeting.

Given what I know about Zuko's track record with war meetings and what happened the last time he spoke out in one, I am inclined to give him a pass on that one. However we are not discussing that unless Zuko brings it up, so I just said he didn't have to be embarrassed or ashamed gently. Zuko disagreed with me and said he was anyway...he looked off for a second and then busied himself pouring out the different cups for everybody and said (mostly to the teapot in his hands) than man... is my father... What does that say about me?

Oh.

I took the teapot from him and put in down on the bench and then took his hands in mine. It says that you are very brave I said softly. Zuko nodded and gave my hands a squeeze before dropping them and saying in an entirely different voice (trying to change the subject) We've been gone for a while, we should probably get tea out to everybody before they think that we're like... making out in here or something. Did Zuko just say that? I didn't just imagine it, did I? It took a second and then he also realized what he had just said and his eyes boggled a little bit...and it was awkward. He was awkward and I was awkward and he blushed and I blushed.

And he started trying to "make it better" and said I mean not that they would think we were making out ...because why would anyone think that about us and I certainly don't think about that. Shit...umm...I mean ... I cut him off and said I knew what he meant. I took the tea tray from him and walked out into the living room. We had an avatar to prepare, a firelord to fight and a world to save. There simply wasn't time for us to stand about, making out in a kitchen. Or not making out, but just blushing awkwardly at each other.

That would have to wait for later.

-?-

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Rambly Authors notes!

So this will be my last chapter before Nepal! I hope you guys liked liked decisions and discoveries. Now we are up to the start of my Sozin's comet arc and I hope you guys are ready for some serious shenanigans to come. Mad love and giant thanks to my wonderful reviewers - especially all the really insightful posts I got about the last chapter! You guys raise some amazing points! Thanks so much for your feedback!

So this is my take on the giant communication fail that is the start of ep 1 of sozin's comet. I found it a bit jarring that suddenly the gang, who has previously been great at communicating honestly with each other (for the most part) would suddenly keep something as big as waiting for the comet to pass from Zuko. It just does my head in thinking about it, so this is my fanwank to fix it. I made it so they only decided the night before, to make it more palatable to myself and hopefully you guys.

Anyway this chapter was dealing with Aang's decision to wait and the crazy plan bombshell. I think it is fairly well established in canon that Aang is a major confrontation-avoider. He avoids most things he finds unpleasant. I think it is both more empowering for Aang and well within his character for it to be entirely his decision to wait until after the comet. If not for the crazy plan, waiting until after the comet does make a great deal of sense. in the show, Aang is mostly re-active and not pro-active in situations and he seems to rely on others to make the plans and hard decisions for him. I wanted to tweak that a bit, because it bothers me that Aang is not shown to have any initiative of his own, but is supposedly this great hero. I want Aang to have some say in his own fate. He makes a decision for himself here, even though it is a decision to put off fighting til later – because I think Aang has to start making his own choices.

I think Aang would have tried to unblock his chakra (esp after last chapter) but would have been unsuccessful, and this would have prompted his decision to wait. It is an airbender characteristic to think of alternative ways of tackling a problem. Aang begins to think that it makes much more sense to wait and on the whole it really does. But he worries about telling the others because he fears how they will react. I think that because the avatar state has been psychosomatically blocked, Aang only accesses it again after his primal, survival instinct takes over, which overrides all of the voices in Aang's head that tell him he can't do it.

But naturally YMMV.

He confides in Katara first, not just because she comes to him with dinner, but because I think she is ultimately his mother figure. (I think Aang also feels a maternal bond with her, but just can't differential between that and romantic love). For such a big decision he wants the support of his mummy figure. Also out of the whole Gaang, Katara is the most likely to agree with him and her support gives him a big confidence boost in his idea.

So Katara is still trying to be a nice and very supportive friend in this chapter, despite how cranky she is at Aang over various things. I think she always would be hesitate to burden Aang with her crankiness at him (esp with Sozin's comet so soon) and instead she pushes it aside. I think Katara would be reluctant to show her cranky side to Aang because he just doesn't understand/approve of that side of her personality. Southern raiders anyone?

But more importantly, I think, with regards to the interpersonal relationships of the Gaang, she's a pick your battles kind of girl and unless something deeply affects her or challenges her, she is mostly likely to put her issues aside and try and work for the common good. So Katara tells herself that her feelings don't matter as much as Aang's and she doesn't want to upset/burden Aang with them -so close to the final battle. Katara cuts Aang a lot of slack, purely because he is the Avatar and she thinks Aang can save the world. I have, throughout the fic, had her repressing her "negative feelings" around Aang and not expressing them, solely because Aang is the Avatar and she has to try and keep his spirits up and not upset him. but she is becoming more aware of the fact that she is doing this.

There is an argument in support of Kataang that says that the reason why Katara does not act on her romantic feelings (for Aang in this case) is because she is preoccupied by the war. This is the reason she gives Aang on the balcony scene of awkward. I think this argument can be equally applied to any passing love interest in the show and has just as much validity for Zutara. Katara would want to focus on winning the war first and think she shouldn't be concerned about romance etc while there is so much drama happening. But as soon as she feels unburdened by the Sozin's comet deadline, she starts to entertain ideas of what she could do with this new found time. She asks Zuko whether he wants to do an activity together. (and a wet and steamy activity at that!) Zuko, bless his cotton socks, misunderstands. I think Zuko's powers of cockblocking are so powerful, he even blocks himself! He also thinks they are meant to be fighting the firelord in two days at this point and is a bit unsure about when they are meant to fit in their activity (snuggle.)

In the show, Katara gets a bit grumpy at Zuko for attacking Aang, but she doesn't really fly of the handle like I expected her too. In canon, it's only been a few episodes since she seriously threatened him if he ever stepped out of line, so her more low key reaction to Zuko's attack leads me to believe she must have at least a little bit of an idea what was going on. That's why I had Zuko explain the firenation custom of attacking students all those chapters ago. Katara puts two and two together, because she's wily. She is cranky not only because he could have hurt Aang, but because he did it even though he agree with her that it was a bad idea.

But then when she realized he didn't know about the plan to wait and it all makes a bit more sense to her. It's just a small thing, but in the show, when Aang says about sozin's comet…. Katara (in the background) crosses her arms and makes a grumpy face at Aang. So she's not pleased that he didn't tell Zuko. It makes sense that he didn't tell Zuko. Aang is a conflict avoider and he and Zuko had a pretty big argument yesterday and out of all the Gaang he fears Zuko's reaction the most, so he puts it off. But Katara doesn't like that he was left out. You can tell by Zuko's tone that he's a little hurt that the Gaang didn't tell him/ kept something like this from him. He thought they were all friends and they trusted eachother, but I think this little exchange would make him feel like a bit of an outsider again. Everybody knew, except for him.

Zuko also has an annoucemnt of his own, but it is one that nobody knows except for him. I am also a bit surprised that Zuko would keep something like this to himself. I dunno, I just find this whole sequence a bit jarring in the show. But I have tried to explain it away as best I can. I have put it down to shame and embarrassment for himself, for not speaking out, and for Ozai for being a terrible human being. If the Gaang attacks before the comet, the crazy plan will never come into effect and the Gaang will never have to know what a crazy evil motherpucker his dad is. I think that Zuko would feel deeply ashamed of Ozai and would worry that it says something about him that he has that kind of person as a father. He is very private about all that sort of family stuff anyway. So that is how I justify Zuko being tight lipped about the crazy plan.

I think it is a nice juxtaposition having Zuko ashamed of OZai here, when all throughout the first season he only wanted to make Ozai proud. I think it is a good way of showing the 180 that has occurred in Zuko's attitude and how he sees the world.

So they have a bit of group hug and Zuko is a bit reluctant, for two reasons. Firstly, he's not a big group hugger and secondly – that fall looked nasty! When Aang blasts him through the wall, he goes straight into a tree and then straight down. That had to hurt and I think it would not be unreasonable to think he would have been injured after a fall like that. So I have given him cracked ribs, which also makes him reluctant to be squished in a group hug. But Katara beguiles him and he can't ever say no to her.

I re-introduce their old code word of 'making tea' for a healing session, and they have a delightfully awkward scene in the kitchen. They are honest, they communicate well with each other and comfort each other and then Zuko just has to ruin it with his giant dork moment. I actually think that the OTP of Avatar…the one that we can all agree on…the one everybody ships…. is Zuko/Dorkiness. Come on, you know you love it!

YMMV on everything lovelies! Next chapter there will be all and sundry schmozzles related to Sozin's comet! But alas, you will have to wait a little longer than usual for that! See you all in three weeks! Be good! Get into shenanigans while I'm gone!