~A~

I Missed You

~A~

"Hey, Appa," Katara said, moving to sit near the newly-returned sky bison's head as he groaned at her in welcome. She smiled up at him. "I just wanted to come talk to you. I missed you while you were gone."

The bison nudged her gently with his nose and she laughed as she was almost pushed over. 'Gentle' was a relative term when dealing with a ten-ton sky bison. "I know." She paused, and then her smile faded a little, though it didn't disappear. "But even more than that, Aang missed you. He wasn't himself without you. I hated seeing him like that, but there wasn't anything I could do."

Lowering his head and growling a little Appa replied in his own fashion, and Katara nodded, now looking a little sad. "Yeah... I know you did. And that's part of why I came out here, too. I think Aang was so excited to see you that he didn't notice some of the scars you have. But some of them still hurt you, I could tell. So I wanted to heal you. Please? I hate to think of the things that must have happened for you to be hurt like that, and if I can help you I want to do it. Plus, I know Aang will just get really upset if he sees how badly you were hurt. I want to spare him that – he's got enough burdens to bury a thousand people already. He doesn't need any more, and we both know he'd blame himself for what you went through."

He lowed, and Katara waited patiently as he thought her offer over. When he nudged her again and then laid his head down, she grinned happily. "Thanks!" She immediately got up and moved slowly around her patient, using her water to coat her hands and then placing them gently against the many spots on his body she'd noted had been injured. It took a while but it was worth it, because she could feel the great animal's body relaxing as she worked, and she was extremely pleased that she could ease him in such a manner.

She really had missed him while he was gone, she just hadn't realized how much since she'd been pushing her own worry aside trying to help Aang through. A few tears leaked down her bronzed cheeks as she worked on one especially painful wound, focusing on the inside. The skin had healed over all his injuries, but that was just a superficial healing – the worst was what was left underneath, and so many of those wounds were still just barely beginning to heal. The fur around them was even shorter in many cases, letting her know just how bad some of the injuries had been. But at least she could do something about it, and that helped her feel better, too.

"How's that feel, Appa?" she asked as she focused more intently on the injury; this one was particularly deep, a piercing wound of some sort, and she just wanted to break down and sob with the story it told – or maybe track down the monsters who'd done this to him and teach them what it felt like. But she didn't allow herself to be distracted, and as her favorite animal friend groaned in answer again she nodded. "Good." She hesitated, then said, "I'm sorry this happened to you. We tried so hard to find you, and Aang was so desperate. Sometimes I wondered if he'd pull through... there were days when he just seemed to be fading away. And I... I prayed a lot, that we'd find you and you'd be safe."

That wound finished, she moved around to his other side and continued working, paying not the slightest bit of attention to the passing night. She'd be tired by the time she was done but he would be healed and she could always sleep later. It was more than worth it.

Finally, she finished with every last injury about three hours before dawn and slumped wearily next to his head. Appa looked comfortable and content once again, like he had before the whole ordeal he'd been through, and to Katara that was the best part. She petted his fur and leaned into him with a sigh and a smile. "I'm so glad you feel better now. And Aang will be happy, too."

Appa lowed again and turned his head, knocking her over on her back and proceeding to lick her affectionately as she giggled helplessly. When he finally pulled back she was pretty drenched, and she grimaced playfully at the bison and then laughed. "Yeah, I love you, too – but now I'm going to have to go take a bath before going to bed!"

Just for that he gave her one last, long, extra wet lick, and Katara went limp, laughing even harder as she lay on the ground. When she finally managed to peel herself off it, she hugged the great creature hard and pressed her lips to his nose in a happy kiss, which he returned by nuzzling into her embrace.

"Thanks for holding on until we could find you," she whispered, and Appa sighed and then nudged her away, pushing her back towards the house.

"I know... I'm ready for bed now. I'll see you later!" she bid him goodnight, much more cheerful than she had been when she'd gone out there. Now that he was back and in top shape, things were looking up. He was part of the family too, and without him there'd been a hollow, cold place inside her heart that was now filled once again with the warmth of his presence.

Katara slept better for the rest of that night than she had since he'd been gone, and woke feeling joyful and refreshed around midday.

And Appa? He was like a brand new bison, energetic and playful just like his companion, who was surprised and pleased by the change when he woke that morning...

In both himself and his oldest friend.

~A~

A/N: I haven't ever seen anything written much about Appa's relationship with the any of the gang, and I was especially surprised by the lack of anything about how his return from their separation in season two affected everyone. I kinda think Aang's feelings on the matter would be pretty clear, and so I decided to write about Katara's thoughts instead. Plus, Appa went through a hell of a lot while he was missing, and I thought this was something that would definitely have happened – she wouldn't have been able to stand knowing he was hurt and not doing something about it.