Chapter IV

The tall, arching mountains looked captivating under the late afternoon sun- bright green against vibrant blue. Did the clouds always look so unnaturally pink and yellow? They were soothing to look at. Aang felt like he was a thunderstorm, sitting on the roof of the house, invading the perfection and tranquility of the scene. But it was hard to care. What did he just see this morning? Katara talking with an un-known stranger! Maybe she was just… talking for fun? Maybe it wasn't even her? Aang mentally shook himself as he realized sadly that he saw her beloved necklace around her neck, as well as the familiar blue hair- clip fastened in her wavy, long hair.

It was her, and the guy she was talking to was smiling… That really set Aang off… Why would the guy be smiling? Maybe Katara was buying something and he was in a vibrant discussion about it? Could he be making offers for her? That meant that he liked her, which meant she had flirted! Aang didn't notice the frown that had resided on his face, and grew at the thought. What could she be buying at the store, anyway? It was filled with earth- nation made weapons and gadgets. She was flirting with him without a purpose, then! But maybe he started to talk and she would decline him?

Aang was hopelessly bombarded with thoughts, with the vision playing in his head like a broken record. It was maddening! He would just confront her himself and ask! Coincidentally, as he made to get up off the roof, Katara's voice drifted in through the window. "Hey, Aang! Did you enjoy your day at the festival?" She didn't sound sad or guilty in any way, and it made Aang go over the edge.

"Wouldn't you know-" He said, and hesitated to continue as he saw Katara's face drop down to a confused expression.

"What? You ran to the bowl like it was full of flying lemurs! I thought you wanted to have some fun, so I-"

"So you left and started flirting with a hunky guy?" Aang was barely repressing from shouting. He wanted to confront her, but the anger building up inside made him reckless. "I saw you talking to that- that- that big, tall guy at the store! Why would you do that, Katara?"

"I was buying your birthday present" Aang's heart fell as he saw tears form in her eyes and the neatly wrapped package in her hands. "I wanted it to be a surprise!" Katara threw it at him, and he barely managed to catch it with fingertips as her streaming hair vanished from view.

"Katara- please…" Aang was lost in mid- sentence as his own eyes started to sting. How could he have done that? How could he so easily be consumed by raw jealousy? He wanted to scream. He wanted to go and hug Katara and beg for forgiveness… He didn't deserve the package, whose colors matched that of the sky and clouds- blue and gold embroidery. He stared at the package and was at the brink of dropping it from the roof when curiosity caught him and made him unravel it.

What lay inside was very beautiful- a wooden, polished horn with a curling symbol engraved on top. It was an air symbol. Aang tried blowing through it, and was disappointed as nothing occurred. He took a closer look and saw that it was, in fact, a spy-glass! He held it up to his eye and looked through. What he expected to see was not what greeted him; instead of the bright green and blue landscape, there swam colors of all kind- darting, jumping, flying… He nearly gasped as he realized the darts were in the shape of animals! This showed the realm of the spirit world! He saw a heavily winged dragon spiral over mountains in the distance, a pure gold wolf- bear sitting cozily under a bowing tree… This must have been made by real air nomads! Only the wisest knew how to use glass and air to form the spirit- spy- glass. He couldn't hold the burning in his eyes and wished so much to thank Katara for the gift. It was beautiful, as well as innovative.

Leaping through the window, Aang raced down the hall and burst into his bedroom, where he knew by instinct Katara would be, sitting quietly on the bed. She was facing away from him, looking at the floor.

"Katara?" Aang said it in a pleading, hesitant voice, unsure of how to start."

He saw her jerk, buut she did not turn to face him. "Katara, I'm so, so sorry!" Aang felt like he was losing her by the second. "I- I didn't know what I was doing! I should have trusted you." Shame washed over him again as he realized how stupid he must have seemed.

"You hurt me." Katara said, still looking at the floor. "I just thought that what we had was… real." She said the last words as she looked at him. Aang saw she wasn't crying anymore, but the words hurt even more because of it.

"It is real!" Aang was purely desperate now- he would rather lose his bending now than her… "I… I just can't lose you." He looked at her, and she at him. Blue eyes stared into bluer, and even though the moment was only a moment, it stretched into oblivion. Katara's eyes, which looked so sad so recently, were now filled with love and kindness. Aang tried his best to show her- to send to her through his eyes-how much he loved her. She came over to him, and they kissed. It was a sweet kiss, honest and kind. The spy- glass was completely forgotten as Aang was overwhelmed with relief and joy. Katara still loves him! After the kiss was over, they stared at each other for a moment longer before Katara said, "Let's go join the others. I think Sokka won his contest." Aang couldn't help but laugh. He walked down the hall and into the crowded streets holding her hand, smiling as he walked.

"There you are! You missed the part where I caught the flaming baton and a cabbage at the same time!" Sokka hurried towards Aang, Katara, Toph, Zuko, and Mai, holding a repellant stuffed monkey In his arms.

"Who's your friend?" Toph tried to sound genuinely interested, but stifled a laugh quickly.

"Gang, meet Fluzzy. He's the newest member of the team! It's my birthday present to you, Aang" Sokka gave a big grin, shoving the stuffed monkey towards him. "Um, th- that's okay, Sokka, Momo doesn't need a playmate." Aang tried to refuse the monkey, seeing it had something gooey on its ear, but took it when he saw Sokka's stricken face.

"Wow, Sokka, your present almost beat mine!" Zuko smirked a little, and then turned to Aang. "Here- I got you a fire-bending scroll. You could to better with practice." He handed Aang a brown parcel, and, besides its unflattering covering, Aang ripped it open to see the scroll. It had deep red paper on one side, with gold flames etched around boarder. On the other side, dark figures displaying positions and procedures covered the page. It was intense.

"Gee, thanks, Zuko!" Aang grinned, "I'll try to do the spinning one when I get home!" Zuko nodded, looking rather bored.

"Well, I got you-" Toph pushed aside everyone to face Aang, "a rock!" She held out a large lump in her hand, looking pleased with herself.

"A rock?" Katara raised an eyebrow. "Just what will Aang do with a rock?"

"For your info," Toph said, looking offended, "It's magical. Look at it closer!" Aang took the rock gingerly and held it to his face. No way it could be a spy-glass or something. But the rock did seem to glow as he looked at it, emitting a warm, bronze glow.

"What is this?" Aang said, turning the grapefruit sized rock in his hand.

"It's some metal from the blimps we destroyed, mixed with some of that lava stuff I found while you were with the Loser Lord. Yah- it's malleable and impermeable! You can make weapons out of it!"

"Ah, cool! Let me try it!" Aang prepared himself, and made the metal steadily longer, smoother, and sharper. "Look- it's a metallic stick!" Everyone laughed, because it did look like one- smooth, but wavy and bent.

"Gee- thanks, Toph!" Aang hugged her, and she slapped his back hard. "Ouch."

Suki stepped into the group rather shyly. Her hands were behind her back and she was looking apologetic. "Sorry, Aang, but I didn't get you a present-" she then took her hands from behind her, and added, "Hope this will do, though "Ooh!" Half the gang sighed as Aang took a detailed pendant in his hand.

"It's the insignia of the Kio-shee Warriors," Suki said proudly. "It's not as good as traditional ones, since I made it." Aang hung the round sickle around his neck and hugged Suki, mumbling a 'thanks'.

"Hmmm, who are we missing?" Sokka said pretentuously. "Momo, give Aang his gift!" Momo flew into view and dropped on Aang's shoulders and held out some nuts. Everyone laughed, looking at how ecxited Momo was.

"Oh, yah, Oppa! Come here!" Aang yelled, and was soon joined by the big sky bison, who, following tradition, bucked the whole group so that they fell under his mass. Everything that was bad in the world seemed to disappear. But then-

"Down with the king! Down with the king! Down with the king…" Many voices could be heard on neaarby streets. Faint light flickered and pacing feet could be heard, out an angry vibrating sensation.

Aang knew this was trouble. He had to see the white lotus