A. N. : I have bad news. The headband arc will be longer than planned. Though only by one chapter. The good news is that I'm going to write a lot of girls, starting right now. Katara is so much fun ! So many emotions !

Katara cannot believe this.

She can't – Aang got called to the headmaster's office. He got called to the headmaster's office for hitting someone. Aang doesn't hit people, this is stupid and if she wasn't supposed to be a Fire Nation colon, Katara would freeze that headmaster – and that hideous liar of a boy, she's not forgetting him, oh no – freeze him to the ceiling !

Aang got called to the headmaster's office with his parents, which means of course Sokka and her are playing the part, since no one else could safely do it. She has Lin in her arms to perfect her character – Zuko made her promise at least ten times to keep Lin safe, and he didn't threaten her but it was probably close.

Definitely a mother turtle-seal.

The headmaster is talking about coal mines now, and Katara thinks of Haru and his father and all these people and she is furious. She smiles the best she can and focuses on Sokka to avoid breaking this man's face – calm down, no matter how satisfying, this would only bring trouble to everyone, especially Aang, and can't risk this, can't risk everyone's hope like that.

Oh, and Zuko probably wouldn't appreciate her endangering Lin.

Sokka threatens Aang, and the headmaster looks so satisfied it's disgusting. Dad never treated them like that, not even when Sokka got himself tangled in a fishing net and they had to cut it to free him, wasting hours of work – Dad never talked like Sokka does right now, and the fact that the headmaster seems to think it's normal makes Katara want to puke.

The again, this is the same man who said a coal mine would educate Aang and – ugh, if she thinks about this anymore she will scream.

The finally leave and Katara breathes.

In – and out – and again –

Katara looks at Aang, who seems more pensive than anything – not angry, not outraged, just thinking. It's… sort of impressive, really, the way he always accepts things as they come, the way almost nothing fazes him. The way he goes with the flow, like a river coursing around rocks, never stopping, always moving forward at its own pace.

Though, sometimes getting angry is worth it. But not right now, right now there is no Master Pakku to convince, there is only a cover to keep up until they leave. She can keep her anger all bottled up inside for later, when the time will come to fight for the fate of the world, fight for what's right against people like the Fire Lord or Zuko's sister or that horrible headmaster.

Aang starts waving at someone, then stops abruptly and bows in a weird way. The woman in the hallway raises an eyebrow before bowing in turn – the same way, maybe it's a Fire Nation thing ? She steps forward and greets them – oh, she is Aang's teacher, the one who gave the whole class a surprise text today because Aang didn't know some oath.

Katara decides she doesn't like her.

Aang's teacher stares them down like their existence annoys her to no end, but she still asks if they are Kuzon's parents and Katara is so not ready for another round of this, so when the teacher says she wants to talk to them, Katara pretexts having to feed Lin – this is bullshit, Lin is playing with Katara's hair and she won't be hungry before a few hours at least and the teacher arches an eyebrow that says she doesn't believe this –

Katara doesn't care and leaves.

She wants to leave this town entirely but first she has to leave the school before she slips and punches someone. Spirits, she is so tired.

She goes back to the cave before Aang and Sokka – she can't even see them behind her, that's how fast she walked – and hands Lin back to Zuko. Maybe she should go through katas for an hour longer than usual tonight, to avoid feeling useless again. She can't wait to leave this place.

That headmaster really annoyed her.

So when the boys come back and Aang says he'll throw a dance party for his school mates, Katara almost chokes. Almost agrees with Sokka.

But then Aang explains that the kids here aren't free and that he wants to give them a taste of freedom – Jet's eyes light up and Katara could swear she sees the various plots of rebellion and revolution and manipulation take shape in his mind, and really, ew – and Katara thinks of that headmaster and his coal mines and his smirk when Sokka threatened Aang –

This man would hate the idea of dancing. This man would loathe the idea of his students having fun.

And Katara looks at Jet, looks at his sharp smile – the same he had when telling tales of messing with the Fire Nation army – and she knows they're thinking of the same thing. She tries not to think about what that says about her.

This dance party will happen, and it will be the best party ever.