A/N: Hey, sorry this took so long, but it's here now. :) Hope everyone had a great spring break, I know I did! Thank you guys for all the reviews, and sorry for that awkward phrasing in the last chapter's A/N. (special thanks to...) I was going to add the names in later but I never did and then I posted it so, yeah. To Shahrezad1, posiexox, Animus of Masada, and aang'sbestbuddy(thanks for your faith in me) your reviews helped me so much, I cannot thank you enough!
Disclaimer: If I have a disclaimer, then I probably don't have to explain to you that I don't own ATLA.
Katara
Mai's comforting words were fresh in her mind as Katara passed portrait after portrait of previous members of the royal family on her way to the dining hall. The smell of expertly made dishes caused her mouth to water; she was starving. As she rounded the corner she heard the familiar tenor of her brother's loud voice.
"...and I've gotta say, the shopping here in the Fire Nation is much better than the South Pole- oh, hey Katara!" he said as she walked into the room.
Sokka and Suki turned to greet her. Her eyes scanned over yet another lavishly decorated room and paused on a new face tilted down towards her tray.
"Toph!," she exclaimed, "It's so good to see you!"
Toph's smile reached her unseeing eyes as she stood up and went to embrace Katara, "You too! Well, ya know, not really see so much as feel, but anyways how've you been?"
She chuckled, rolled her eyes, and pulled out of the hug before answering, "Well, I've been good. I have some new waterbending students but it hasn't been that exciting. How about you? Are you keeping the Earth King on his toes?"
"You could say that," Toph said with a mischievous grin on her face, "Can you believe that there are some dunderheaded agents that still follow Long Feng's ways? Even though he's gone? I swear some guys have boulders in their heads or something, but I had a good time knocking some sense into them."
"Geez, when will those guys learn that their leader is a psycho?" Sokka added flipping his hand around in the air.
Katara and Toph took their seats as the group started to catch up some more. Toph still had the same hairstyle, Katara doubted she would ever change it, and had only grown a couple inches; she had however developed subtle curves.
"You actually just missed Aang, Katara. He was here looking for-" Sokka continued on until Suki nonchalantly nudged him and gave him a meaningful look, but Katara noticed anyways.
"Yeah, yeah Twinkletoes was here, now can we eat already? I'm starving!" Toph said, catching on to the mood in the room.
"Yes please. I'm hungry too and the food here looks delicious," Suki said, her eyes savoring the look of the foreign, spicy food.
Katara felt like the odd one out as her friends devoured their meals. Sokka and Toph's usual behavior were something to be expected but with Suki's new found appetite she was the only one in the room without her face stuffed with food.
The conversation flowed as easily as it had 2 years ago. Reminiscing about their old adventures, the telling of new ones, and making fun of Jin were just some of the many things that dominated their talk. They eventually got around to the topic of future events that they were to expect in the upcoming week. Sokka was particularly exciting about tonight's meeting.
"It's the one about security, the one Zuko mentioned earlier," Sokka explained with his mouth open, "I can't wait for some actual excitement around here."
"It's probably just going to be a bunch of old, sweaty guys arguing about how many royal guards they deserve to have protecting them at all times," Toph said leaning back.
"That's not true! This not only has to do with the safety of the city and respectability of the fire nation, but this also involves the safety of the Avatar," Sokka disagreed. The two of them continued to argue over what the meeting was going to be like while Katara thought to herself.
A meeting? With Aang? In the same room... Her heart fluttered at the thought and her palms became clammy. Grr.. she thought to did he affect her this way? Just thinking about him made her entire body quiver, ready to break at the slightest touch. It was over, after the war he didn't come with her to the South Pole, he didn't try to stay in touch, he didn't even bother to explain why. She should be over this by now, moving on with her life not stuck on something in the past. She couldn't understand it... But she did, she knew. Deep down inside of her, she knew the answer to her self induced question but was scared to voice her theory because she was afraid she might be right...
"Katara are you coming?" Suki's question aroused her from her daze. Everyone else had gotten up and was headed towards one of the many exits; servants were beginning to clear the table.
"Huh?" she asked, "Oh, yeah of course." Katara got up and followed them out of the room.
The group spent the rest of the day enjoying Sokka's favorite pastime: shopping. Bright, colorful swaths of fabric filled their vision as they walked down the streets of the capitol. Deciding against having the royal guard accompany them, the group easily maneuvered through the masses of people selling, buying, begging, and performing. Fanfare filled the streets and provided Toph with sensory overload.
The shops were plentiful and diversified, not one like another; and by the end of the day, everyone had found their own souvenirs: for Suki a handmade wooden baby rattle, for Katara a unique blue shawl, and for Sokka a collection of 15 different kinds of meat. Even Toph found an interesting piece of green colored metal. The market places of Fire Nation were exquisite and cultural but one could only take so much of it, so, in the shadow of the late afternoon sun, they made their way back to prepare for the meeting, passing suspicious characters hidden in the depths of the alleyway.
Katara bid her temporary farewells to the others and made her way to her room. Twisting the cool metal doorknob with her hand, she opened the door, sunlight still filtered through the open blinds; there was a pile of clothes and a note left on her bed. She climbed onto the mattress, slipping off her sandals, and rolled out the parchment.
Dear Lady Katara,
I apologize that I am not able to be here personally but I was detained. Anyways, these are some clothes that I thought you might need for the gathering pertaining to security tonight. Also, I wish to inform you that Avatar Aang told me to tell you not to worry about seeing him before the meeting, he will simply meet with you afterward.
-Jae
Mixed emotions swarmed like a rushing river pushing, trying to burst through. She didn't know how to feel: annoyance? For Jae's persistence in handling her, relief? For no longer having to worry about her appearance in front of Fire Nation dignitaries, or nervousness? For Aang's tenacity in pursuing her attention...
With a huff she pushed her feelings aside, she just couldn't bear to deal with it now. Flopping down flat on her back, her arms spread out wide, her eyes drooped until she willingly slipped into unconsciousness.
Pounding on her door woke Katara from her light sleep, it was now dusk and only a dim light filled the empty space.
"Katara! Katara! Are you ready yet? The thing is like in ten minutes," Sokka's voice awoke her and any drowsiness left from her nap was quickly eradicated; flustered she sat up from her sprawled position and ripped her clothes off, quickly replacing them with the ones left for her.
"Uhh, yeah. Coming!" she called. A few minutes later, a slightly ruffled Katara stumbled down the hallway to catch up with Suki and her brother.
Despite Katara's tardiness, they arrived early. Groups of individual leaders were scattered around the large room, a low murmur was consistent throughout. Other people drifted in from the other exits. They soon joined Toph and started conversing.
"Guess neither of you were right. It seems pretty calm and there are no old, sweaty guys," Suki started.
"Yeah, I've gotta admit, it's kind of a disappointment," Toph replied her arms crossed as she tapped her foot on the ground.
"Well it is interesting seeing you in a dress Toph. You haven't looked that presentable since Ba Sing Se," her brother joked.
"You better watch it or I'll make sure this meeting has a lot more excitement..."Toph narrowed her eyes.
The group meandered over to the table where name tags marked their places relatively close to the Fire Lord. Katara mechanically followed as she continued to observe the rest of the room.
Not being able to help herself, she automatically compared it to Southern Water Tribe gatherings. Other than the fact that there weren't ice walls or fur seating mats, they looked similar; the only main difference being the size accounting for more citizens in the Fire Nation.
Suddenly a pair of once closed doors opened and two guards announced the arrival of Fire Lord Zuko. Everyone in the room stood up and watched as he sat down in his elevated chair at the head of the table, low walls of fire were kept dimly lit as a sign of respect for tradition. Everyone took their seats and although there were some empty places one in particular stood out the most.
The space across from us, at the right hand of Zuko, stayed empty; the metallic name plate claimed it to be reserved for Avatar Aang.
Her stomach twisted and turned. He wasn't here. Desparity and relief washed through her, she may not even have to see him during the celebration!
Clearing his throat, Zuko stood up and started his speech in his usual deep, raspy voice, "Hello, thank you for coming. This is a meeting pertaining to the safety for the celebration of the two year anniversary of the end of Sozin's War. Not only will we be responsible for the security of you all and foreign leaders such as the Earth King who is expected to be arriving in the next day or two, but we also need to assure the safety of every Fire Nation citizen. Now, General Rhea will be presenting, General." Zuko ended and sat down.
"Thank you Fire Lord," General Rhea nodded his head. All heads turned to the middle of the table where a man with a long black beard stood up, striding towards the back of the room, he pulled a map out of a bag near a slab of concrete and hung it up. It was a layout of the palace and the surrounding structures.
The general took a stance, hands behind his back before proceeding, "As some of you may or may not know, Fire Nation has been receiving multiple rebel attacks from groups since the end of the war. Their numbers are slowly increasing pulling forces mainly from former Fire Nation soldiers but are even receiving recruits from radical Earth Kingdom and Water Tribesmen," he paused and Katara swore she saw the general glance towards Sokka and her before continuing, "for the most part these attacks seem to be informal and unorganized though are becoming more of a problem..."
He was interrupted when a guard strode in up to Zuko and whispered in his ear, Zuko then nodded and rose.
"Excuse me General, but Avatar Aang has just arrived, he was detained by his advisers and told me to continue without him but he was able to make the meeting after all," he raised his hand motioning towards the same door he came through.
There were creaks in the floorboards and ruffling of robes as they stood, heads tilted so as to see a first glimpse of the young Avatar. Soon his large shadow was visible in the doorway growing smaller as he came closer.
Frightening anxiety overwhelmed Katara. Her heart pounded in her chest so hard that she was sure everyone could hear it's beating. Shortened breaths escaped her suddenly dry mouth and her body began to shake like a withered leaf. Soon he would be right in front of her; soon she would see him for the first time in two years...
Thump, thump, thump. She could hear the pounding of his padded foot steps as she rounded the corner, her chest beginning to rip in two. It was too much, she couldn't take it. Slowly she backed away from the table gaining speed as she raced towards an alternative exit. Pushing open the heavy door, she could just hear the guard announcing Aang's arrival.
The sound of deep breaths filled the hallway as she caught her breath and her ears stopped ringing. She bent over, placing her hands on her knees as she caught her breath. Pressure on her right shoulder alerted her to someone else's presence and she whipped around, hands up in a basic stance.
"Chill out! It's only me," Sokka said in a soft empathetic tone.
"Oh," Katara said as she relaxed her muscles.
Pointed silence filled the room neither of them dared to speak, both of them wanting the other to break it. Sokka shuffled side-to-side.
"Um... I don't feel well" Katara said lamely trying to prevent tears from spilling over.
Sokka sported a sad smile and nodded his head, "Okay, I understand." He reached out and patted her arm before turning around to head back to the meeting.
Katara let out a shaky breath and lead herself through the barely lit hallway. No one passed her on her way back, and for that she was grateful. She couldn't even imagine what a mess she looked like. When she did reach her room, she had no energy left to perform any customary cleansing procedures. Shutting the wooden door, she stumbled in the dark until her knees hit the bed, forcing her to fall. Tears streaming down her face was the last thing she remembered.
She was once again woken, but this time by a gentle knocking.
Her eyes remained shut as she demanded her voice thick, "What?"
Why couldn't Sokka or Jae or whoever it was just leave her alone to suffer in peace?
Groaning, the door was timidly opened. "Katara?" A shy voice asked.
Her eyes ripped open. She was suddenly very awake. Cautiously, being careful not to move too quickly, she turned around and was met with the familiar gray-brown eyes she had used to love and know so well staring at her from across the room.
"Aang?"
A/N: Yay! Aang is finally back :) How will Katara react? You will see next chapter. Again sorry for updating so late, and as far as vocab/grammar is concerned I'm pretty sure this is the worst chapter so far, and seeing as it is so early in the morning and I just spent the last 2 ½ hours working on this I'm too tired to double check... I do believe though that this is the longest chapter I have ever written so, WOOHOO! (2,423 words) Reviews appreciated.
-gretlcascade