Greetings, avid readers!
I'd like to start with thanking all the reads, favs and follows in this story. Even if silent, your support means a lot. As for the ones that took their time to write a review, thank you as well!
Back in the punctuality wagon, what's up?! Again, sorry for skipping last time, but look at the bright side! I got my shit together again! Dommie, you didn't need to come knocking on my door to see if I was alive (or in this case spam the shit out of my discord with calls) but thank you for checking in on me.
My weekly obsession is... My cat! She's been a real bitch lately, but she still loves me and I love her. Wish I could give her all the riches and finest, but I can't. So she has to settle with dry food and a clean litter box. My heart is still out for Ms. LiAnne Kay, but Book 5 of Little Hope series is coming out in less than a month, and I shit you not, I had a hype attack last night.
Dommie, well, maybe this chapter will shed some light into why. If not, I'll further explain! And you're right, Zutara is coming!
Brain Fart, I'm glad you liked it!
This is my first try at a Avatar fanfiction. Go easy on me. Reviews and flames are always welcomed, for they keep my cat and I warm at night.
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar nor any of the characters. Such credit should go to Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. I do own a... certain amount of characters that will be recognized further into the story.
Thank you, and enjoy the chapter!
Chapter XVI: The Final Word
X—X
"...and a pinch of those, please." Ahria pointed at the bowl with red powder.
"May I advise this one instead?" the merchant pointed at a bowl with dark brown powder.
"What is the difference?"
"Well, this one is a bit spicier, so less quantity will need to be used."
"But is it still sweet? Or is it more acidic?"
"It falls more onto the acidic side."
"Then I still prefer the red one, please."
"Certainly, miss."
The merchant placed her order in a jar and joined it with everything else. Ahria looked over the products he sold, but nothing else sparked her interest. She turned to see Toph and Sokka in the middle of the square throwing pebbles at each other in a complicated dance. She giggled and turned back to the merchant, who had just finished bagging her purchase.
"Will that be all?"
"Yes, please." she smiled.
"I've added a little pinch of the black one, just for you to try."
"Oh, how much will that be?"
"On the house, miss."
"Ah, thank you, kind sir!" Ahria beamed and bowed her head. "Spirits bless you."
"Thank you, young lady." the merchant smiled.
Ahria paid the man and stored the items carefully in her bag, making sure they were all secured. She walked up to Toph and Sokka, gathering a handful of pebbles and throwing them at their heads. They complained and turned their glare in her direction, but she simply cocked her hip and raised an eyebrow. Sokka chuckled and Toph sighed.
"Damn, I can't even mess around anymore." Toph scoffed.
"You can mess around all you want, but we need to get going. Suki said she knew a shortcut to the palace."
"Yeah, they should be about done with it." Sokka nodded.
"Shall we then?"
The three walked away from the city center and followed Toph, who led them to where they were gathered. Suki had changed into common Fire Nation clothes that showed a lot more skin than her usual outfit. Katara had shed an outer layer too, enjoying the heat of the sun on her skin. Aang was down to his one-sleeved outfit.
Ahria clutched her bag closer to her back as her eyes longed on the accentuated muscled curves of his naked shoulder and arm. Sure, he was skinnier than Sokka, but the Avatar had a wonderful physique. She looked away when he caught her eyes, and helped Momo climb to her shoulder, wrapping his tail around her upper arm.
"Aren't you hot, Rea?" Katara asked.
"I guess a little bit."
She shed her one-sleeved kimono and carefully tucked it inside her bag. She apologized to Momo before tying her hair up in a bun atop her head. Toph frowned when she felt Suki's heart pick up. She turned her head and tried to understand what was happening. Fortunately for her, Katara ended up speaking and clearing everything up.
"Rea?"
"Yeah?"
"What happened to your shoulder?"
"Oh, that's..." she licked her lips. "It's an old one."
"How did you get this scar?" Aang stepped closer, running his finger over the delicate, lightening-thin lines that spread out over her shoulder blade.
"...poison." she gently pulled away.
"I've never seen it before."
"It's been hidden under the cloak so far." She raised her eyes to look into his. "It's old. Nothing you need to worry about."
"...can we go now?" Toph let out.
"Yes, please." she nodded and began walking.
They ended up walking for a few hours, deep into the city and always with carriages and people on horseback walking up and down the road. To the general public, it seemed like they were just a group of hitchhikers, but anyone who looked in their direction twice would see the different cultures of the people in the group. Toph walked alongside Ahria and Momo, as Katara and Aang led the way and Sokka and Suki flanked the group.
The two of them ended up getting involved in a massive discussion over different bending styles. Ahria brought up the examples she had seen all around the Air Dome, and a few bending fights she had witnessed during her travels. The most interesting benders were the ones that bended outside of their element, and, while Toph agreed, she believed that no matter how much one could diverge from their bending origin, there would always be traces of it. Ahria disagreed with her, saying she believed one could relearn an entire style and forget all initial forms.
"I have one perfect example of you!" Toph exclaimed.
"Oh yeah, who?"
"Zuko!"
"The Fire Lord?"
"Yes! He relearned his entire bending style, but he still kept some original movements!" Toph licked her lips. "There's no way someone could just… forget everything they learned and learn it again with different bases and not remember and use what they first learned!"
"No one taught you metalbending."
"Because I invented it!"
"You bend differently from all the earthbenders."
"Because I was taught this way!"
"Oh." Ahria let out. "Really?"
"Yap. Badger moles taught me how to bend." Toph grinned.
"Oh, that's cool." The airbender nodded. "What were they like?"
"Pretty cool."
"Wait, so Fire Lord Zuko bends outside of his element?"
"Don't tell him I said this, but Sifu Hotman is one of the most powerful benders I ever went up against. Seriously, the guy still manages to pull a fast one on me after all these years!"
"But I thought he… you know. After the whole shitshow with that… ah what was her name?"
"Who?" Katara frowned.
"Miss a-rock-has-a-bigger-emotional-range-than-me." Ahria nibbled on her lip.
"Mai?" the waterbender asked as Toph and Sokka fell apart in laughter.
"Yes!" She exclaimed. "Mai!"
"What shitshow with Mai?" Suki asked.
"You guys didn't hear? Oh, it was the talk of the month here in the Fire Nation!" Ahria clapped "Okay so apparently, Miss paper-sheet-for-face outright told the Fire Lord that she didn't want him firebending anymore because he was supposed to be focused on ruling his country and bringing the Fire Nation to its glory once more."
"What? Zuko never told me anything of the sort." Sokka frowned.
"Oh yeah, it was the talk of the palace for weeks." Ahria waved him off. "A friend of mine, whose father works as a cook in the palace, told me all about it. And when Miss one-expression-only told him to basically stop bending, the Fire Lord hosted a ball in her honor celebrating the dragons and element of fire."
"Oh my La." Katara let out.
"Daamn," Toph smirked.
"Wow."
"Yeah, say what you will about the Fire Lord, he's the backhand king." Ahria giggled. "Nothing says 'fuck you' louder than a ball in your honor where you celebrate the exact thing you are so against."
"How long after that did they break up?" Toph let out.
"Wait, Mai and Zuko broke up?" Suki gasped.
"Oh yeah, like… a year ago?" the airbender nodded. "Rumor has it that the Fire Lord is in his own shenanigans with this girl, but no one knows who she is. But then again, there are also rumors flying around that the Fire Lord is secretly married to some childhood love, and that's why he won't pick a Fire Lady…"
"Rumor for all kinds of people then." Aang let out.
"Pretty much."
It was not long before Sokka complained that he had been too long without eating, and the group found a small secluded area to sit down and eat some lunch before getting back on the road. Ahria shared her portion of the meal with Momo, claiming she was not that hungry. The lemur ate with gusto, even liked her fingers clean, and the young woman took it upon herself to wash the dishes given that Katata had done all the cooking.
The afternoon was spent quietly walking, with a few snippets of conversation shared. Ahria took it upon herself to flank the group this time, sometimes sided by either Suki or even Katara. When the sun began to set, Toph was the first to pull away from the group to find them a good place to set up camp. Once they were settled, the earthbender took off and Katara began preparing their meal.
"Ahria."
"Master Avatar."
"Spar with me."
"I am sure you can find someone else to help you with that." She turned her attention back to what she was doing.
"Katara is starting on dinner, Sokka and Suki are sparing, and Toph is… spirits know where." He smirked. "Spar with me."
She sighed. "Fine."
She got up and brushed the dirt off her clothes, walking away from the camp. Aang followed her dutifully and once they found themselves in a large, open area, the young woman fell into a defensive stance. The avatar followed suit and the two locked eyes. He gulped, seeing the conformed and almost icy look on her face.
"Why are you so angry with me?"
"We're here to fight, not to talk." She declared, bringing up a handful of pebbles. "If you seek counseling, Katara or the Spirit World are sure to be a more fitting choice."
"Very well."
Aang fell into a stance but did not have much time to prepare before Ahria attacked. The Avatar moved onto the defensive, the last thing he wanted was to hurt Ahria, but unfortunately, she did not seem to have the same reservation for him. She attacked, sometimes violently so, and Aang saw in the fight an opportunity to let out some built-up frustration.
Their sparring match turned into an all-out fight. Air blades, small tornadoes, rock throwing, sizzling flames, lashing water whips, everything was on the table for the two of them. And Aang found out that Ahria had always held back whenever she sparred with him. She fought him the same way he had seen her fight against Toph, holding nothing back and having fun using her strength because she knew her opponent could take it.
He pushed her against a rock he pulled out of the earth. Ahria tried to move away from it, but Aang was quick to slam her against it once more, locking her in place with one hand on either side of her head. He took a step closer, taking full advantage of their height difference to tower over her, glaring down at the petite airbender.
"Talk to me!" Aang shouted, punching the rock behind her. "You've never had this problem before. I need to know, Ahria, was it something I did?!"
"Avatar…" she looked away.
"No!" he cradled her face and looked into her shiny eyes. "Please, Ahria. Talk to me, please. I'm begging you. I… I hate this. I hate being this far apart from you. Please, Ahria."
"… I'm trying to pull away from you. I'm just here to help you get everyone and take you back to the Air Dome. I'm simply convoy."
"You have never been a convoy, and there's nothing simple about you." He declared. "What did I do? Why are you trying to pull away from me?"
"…because you lied to me."
"I-how? I didn't! I promise."
"You're married, Aang." She pushed him off her and stepped away. "And I've… I don't know. I've allowed myself to care for you in a matter that one shouldn't with a married man."
"…I'm not married." He frowned.
"Don't lie to me!" she exclaimed, looking at him. "The proof is right in front of my eyes, Avatar!"
"I'm not!" he stepped closer to her. "Why do you…? What makes you think I'm married?"
"The betrothal necklace around Katara's neck." She glared. "Water Tribe custom, you told me that yourself!"
"Oh." Aang smiled. "That."
"Why are you smiling?" she glared.
"That betrothal necklace isn't Katara's."
"What?"
"That necklace…" he took her hand gently. "Belongs to Katara's mother. She passed away when Katara was a child, and she held onto it as a last memory of her mother."
"So… you and Katara are not…?"
"No. Katara and I are not married. Not even engaged."
"But you're together."
"It's… complicated."
"No, it's not. You're either with her or you're not. Which is it?" she crossed her arms. "Aang."
He bit his lip. "We're… growing apart. I think she's in love with someone else. Has been for a while now."
"And you?"
"I… care for her. A lot."
"I see." Her shoulders dropped, and she looked away.
"But not the way I used to." He cupped her face and brushed away the tears that threatened to fall. "And the Spirits don't have an answer for me."
–X–
Night had fallen a long time ago. Aang poked at the dying fire as he waited up for Katara to finish her late-night practice. The young woman had taken up the habit of exercising her bending muscles before going to bed and, while at first it bothered him that she did not let him join her, he learned to accept it.
He looked up when she walked back to camp. Ahria, Sokka, Suki, and Toph had long fallen asleep, and Katara was expecting Aang to have followed suit. But he stood there, waiting for her, and she felt a little guilty. Mainly because she had spent the entirety of her time bending while thinking how she was going to face a certain Fire Lord, and how she was going to solve this situation with Aang.
"Hey." He walked to her. "Good practice?"
"As good as it gets, this close to the Capital." She smiled. "I thought you were already asleep."
"Yeah, but… I guess I wanted to give you a proper goodnight?"
"…you know I'm only sleeping with the girls, right? And that you'll see me tomorrow?" Katara raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I know. Still…" He took her hand and tugged her closer. "…proper goodnights are due."
Katara frowned when Aang's eyes did not leave their joint hands. She was not sure where this need for affirmation was coming from – if it even was affirmation and not something else. She saw nervousness in his eyes, the kind that came from fear and not from happiness. She let him pull her closer and tried to decipher what was happening behind the sad turmoil in his eyes.
But Aang simply cupped her cheek and kissed her. Katara gasped, but let her eyes fall shut, letting the kiss happen. It was not the first time she let herself be kissed by the Avatar while she felt nothing. It had been like this for a while now, years even. It was truly her luck that Aang was not fond of heavy PDA, only when they were alone, otherwise, she would have been in trouble a lot sooner.
However, it was indeed the first time that Aang himself felt unsure of his actions. He always kissed her with certainty, with an almost joy in his hold. Tonight, there was nothing of the sort, a simple resignation and perhaps acceptance of something. The kiss was short, lasting no more than five seconds, and when Aang pulled away, he did so with a frown.
"Aang?" Katara let out, opening her eyes.
"I'm sorry, I…" He gulped. "Goodnight, Katara."
"Goodnight Aang."
The waterbender watched as the Avatar ran off into the forest with an uncertain feeling in her heart. Had the young man finally realized what she had been too weak to tell him?
A/N: Welcome to longer chapters! I'm sorry, I had to divide things or I would get monster chapters and too much development in one! I got to the point of no return where I can't drop the story... but still. Keep in mind, I'll keep this story up or drop it depending on your feedback.
Thank you in advance for taking the time to review if you want, or if you don't, I hope you liked it!
First to review gets a cookie!
Lots of love from this weirdo,
LoneeWolf :)