Katara felt like she could breathe the further they got from the market. She was certain that her brother would be fine. He always was, and this time wouldn't be any different.

What she'd done was a good thing. She'd stolen something those thugs had stolen first. Something that belonged to her people. Something that could help them, help her. The further they got, the more the weight of the object she'd taken registered in her hands.

A step in the right direction.

A chance to finally close the gap she felt.

A chance to not be the useless little sister.

Ayaan would be okay. He was strong. He was always okay, no matter what happened. He never cried when he got wounds or bruises. After the funeral of their mother, he never let an ounce of weakness break through his high walls.

When she would look at his back, she saw the strength that she wished she had. An envious power to fight through anything and everything. Perseverance.

Night after night, he'd leave for a hunt and come back. Sometimes it would be a few days before he did. But he always did. He always sat with her through her self-training and indulged her whenever she asked for something.

He could be silent for days on end without so much as a single word to her, yes. Sometimes, she could almost forget what his voice sounded like before he spoke again. But he always listened, he always came back, and he was always there.

This time would be the same, just like every other time. He would be okay, and they would continue their journey together. She would learn from this, and she would finally catch up to him. To both of them.

This was her chance to finally start being more.

She didn't think about the consequences when she saw it. She didn't heed that small voice at the back of her head telling her to just tell her brother about it. She didn't listen to it say that she should voice her concerns to him.

All of her problems would be over if she could finally learn what she wanted.

If she could learn waterbending, then everything would be worth it.

And this wouldn't just be helping her, it would help Aang, and it would help her brother too. She didn't want to think about the fact that they would probably master whatever skills it had immediately.

This was her chance.

After deciding that they flew far enough away, Aang landed them safely on the ground. With Ayaan's training, he was more than strong enough to lift them properly through his airbending, but his glider could only take so much weight.

"Will Ayaan be okay...?" Aang gazed back at where they'd flown in from.

"I'm sure he is." Sokka stated, "He'll meet us at camp. He promised he would."

"Yeah," Katara agreed, ignoring the iffy feeling that swirled at the back of her mind, "He never breaks his promises if he can help it. Besides, those guys weren't anything compared to Ayaan."

"Yeah, I guess your right," Aang said, his worry easing at their confidence. Now that everything had relatively calmed down, they were left thinking, "You know, I used to kinda look up to pirates, but those guys were terrible."

"I know," Thinking that now was as good of a time as any, Katara pulled out what she'd been hiding: The Waterbending Scroll, "That's why I took this."

"No way!" Aang stared at the precious parchment, looking between her and the scroll in both awe and worry. "When did you manage to snag this?"

Sokka didn't share in his positivity, "No wonder they were trying to kill us! You stole their scroll!"

"I prefer to call it "high-risk trading"," She joked, but it wasn't funny at all to her brother.

"This isn't some joke, Katara!" Sokka was righteously angry, making Aang feel bad for finding the little joke to be a bit funny.

The aspiring warrior was mad for a multitude of reasons. This was their chance to prove that they were responsible human beings to Ayaan. This was their chance to prove to him that he didn't have to worry. They were doing so well, and he'd watched Ayaan ease slightly as their day went on.

They were doing something right. He was in the beginning stages of trusting them again!

Get in, get what they needed, get out. That was the plan. He wanted to stick to the plan. He'd told them the plan.

"Why would you do this, Katara?" He had to take a breath to reel in his rage, "Don't you understand what just happened? When Ayaan gets here, how are you going to explain this to him? Hm?"

At that, the smile she had vanished like a lie. Too proud of her act, she'd let herself forget why she'd been given that much freedom at the market in the first place.

Rebuilding trust.

Their goal was to rebuild Ayaan's trust in them, which was practically in tatters thanks to all of their mishaps on the journey.

And she... stole a waterbending scroll from pirates at a market Ayaan was always wary of visiting. One he was cautious of because of what those Phantoms guys had relayed to him through Fleet.

Her heart sank a bit, but she ignored it in indignant righteousness, "Sokka, where do you think they got it?" She spoke defensively, "They stole it from a waterbender! They shouldn't have had it in the first place!"

"Don't give me that," Sokka looked at her as if she was see-through glass, "You put all of our lives in danger just so you could learn some stupid, fancy splashes." Hearing a sound in the bushes, his alert gaze shifted to relief.

"Ayaan!" The group ran up to him, a group hug he was too distracted to prepare for. Though their presence eased him greatly as he hugged them all back. They were safe, and that was everything he wanted.

"Is anyone injured?" He checked them from head to toe, only stopping at Katara when he saw the glint of something he was sure she didn't buy.

'Katara had not picked up anything from the market, so what...'

It only took him three seconds to figure it out, and his relief shifted to an apathetic stare at her. "What did you do? What is that?"

"I... uh... um..." Sweat trickled down her face as Ayaan continued to patiently wait for her to explain what he was seeing.

This was not on Sokka for not convincing her otherwise.

This was not on Aang for having a bit too much fun.

This was on Katara, thinking with her heart and not her brain. Ayaan was not stupid. Oblivious, yes, but that was for an entirely different reason that won't stay that way for much longer. What caused this situation wasn't that hard to piece together if you knew Katara enough.

She was always very vocal about her want to learn their element. It was no secret that she was eager, much more so than Aang, to get to the North to finally learn. It wasn't lost on him that she, in a moment of anger, threatened to leave home with him to find herself a teacher.

Ayaan is not someone that forgets. Sometimes, that is a blessing. Most times, he hates that he vividly remembers things. Like now, he could recall every moment of his encounter with that pirate, from his voice to his stature.

He could recall the deep-rooted discomfort he had. The anger he felt. The disgust that ran through his blood in his presence. And all of that probably wouldn't have happened had Katara not taken the thing in her hands right now.

So yeah, even if he figured out why, he wanted her to say it. With words. To his very livid face. Katara was far from dumb, but sometimes she did things and said things that proved she did not often think them through.

"What. Is. This."

Her uneasy gaze shifted to Sokka, but he wasn't giving her the time of day. 'This is all on you.' His eyes said. And he was right. Sokka even held back Aang from saying anything, though the boy was more than willing to try and play peacemaker.

This wasn't the time for it, though.

Ayaan had given each of them a chance.

Sokka had proven that he understood. Aang, while eager to explore, had also done his best not to do anything to get them in trouble.

And what did Katara do?

He let his guard down to trust them again. He wanted to trust them again. He wanted what Sokka had said to be true, and he wanted to trust the strength and wit they'd attained through their ordeals.

This is what he got for that.

Ayaan wasn't happy.

After a long period of uncomfortable silence, the air shifted into something cold. "Please explain this, Katara."

Shuffling on her feet, she took out the scroll and opened it fully for him to see. She watched for a moment as his eyes trailed each form, widening for a moment before settling into that familiar glare once again.

"These are real waterbending forms." She whispered, greatly subdued by his stare, "You know how crucial it is for Aang to learn waterbending. And this gives us a starting line. Real moves, not something we have to figure out, but true forms made by a master of the form. This... there was no way I could let them keep this."

Now, believe it or not, Katara was being very honest with her feelings. When she took the scroll, she thought about how much it would help them. Aang could learn, she could learn, and Ayaan could learn too. Everything that they were worrying about with Aang's teaching could be slightly curbed by this scroll.

They were still a very long way from the North. At this time, they couldn't just be learning nothing. The war was too brutal for them to be stagnant in their efforts.

"Both you and I know that is not the only reason you took it." Just like Sokka, Ayaan wasn't blind to the thoughts she had. He knew that she worked hard, and he could proudly say that she had improved greatly in their training.

But somewhere along that line, her pure intentions transformed from how she could help them to how she'd be helping herself. They shifted from helping them to gaining her own strength.

There was nothing wrong with her wanting to be stronger. Ayaan was happy to know that she wanted to do so. Gaining strength would never be a reason he'd be upset with her. Gaining that strength at the expense of those around her, however, was.

"I can't believe you would do something so risky despite everything we have to lose." He stated calmly. Maybe it was because he was calm that it was so terrifying to her. No, all of them could feel the pressure of his repressed rage.

But he did not act on it. No, he was much too stressed to even think about her blunder. He closed his eyes, letting out a breathy sigh. He wasn't going to waste his time trying to change her mind because he had worse things on his.

"There was an Asrani among those pirates. I fought him briefly."

"What?!" For a moment, the scroll was forgotten. Now, it was their turn to check him. Thankfully, he had no injuries aside from the utter discomfort his scar brought him. "What happened?"

"I found one I found one I found one IfoundoneIfoundoneIfoundone..."

Ayaan honestly felt a bit sick as he recalled everything. Unlike his siblings, he would not hide an incident that bothered him. This situation would also put them in danger, and they needed to know about it.

"He..." It felt so wrong to say that the person he met was even human. He felt put off by him. A cardinal wrong had been committed, and something in him could recognize it, "It... That thing was strong."

It was so unnatural it made his skin crawl. He felt light-headed with rage and illness, and had to catch himself from stumbling as he walked away. Shaking away the feeling as he turned toward his sister, "You stealing that scroll led up to this. Though I assume that this encounter would have happened either way."

That thing kept going on about a scent. It kept smelling the air, and its mask was wet with its incessant drool, dripping from the fabric. It was like the Asrani was addicted to the scent. Given the confusion on his comrades' faces, he hadn't been acting like that until their encounter.

He hadn't acted like that until he'd met him.

'A trigger?'

He wasn't sure, and he didn't want to find out, either. He wanted to stay as far away from that thing as possible.

"Well," Aang said, pulling a subdued Katara along as they followed Ayaan to their camp, "We have it. We might as well learn from it."

"...Yes." Ayaan was of the same thoughts. As pissed as he was, it was in their possession now. They should use it to their benefit. "It will take a while to organize everything we got from the market onto Appa's saddle. After we leave, we can take a look at that."

"It's a real waterbending scroll..." Katara grumbled before realizing what he'd said. "Wait, leave?"

He rose his brow, showcasing his rising confusion, "This place won't be safe for very long with pirates after us." He said, heading right for Appa. The magical beast licked him immediately, and Ayaan bent the liquid from his clothes in both disgust and delight. "I understand that scroll is real, but if you thought that fact changed anything about our situation, you were wrong. We are leaving."

"But Ayaan," Katara exclaimed. "we—"

"This place is not safe!" Ayaan turned, his voice rising enough to shut her up. His expression was far from pleasant, and he was losing his fragile grip on his rampant emotions.

This place wasn't safe.

Everything was off.

She just didn't listen. It was like she was only hearing what she wanted to hear. Why couldn't she see?

Ayaan was scared for them.

His eyes were an icy hue as he went on. "No, it was never safe in the first place. What part of this aren't you understanding? We were never staying here longer than a set amount of time, and that?" He pointed to her and that scroll she held, "This stunt shortened it completely."

They were just chased out of a market by pirates. They were near fire nation waters. While their camp was far off from the market port, it wasn't nearly far enough for Ayaan to feel at ease. He'd met with an Asrani that was strong enough to take a hit from him and not be hurt at all.

Ayaan could punch through a tree if he was serious.

And that thing had taken such a blow without batting an eye.

"No." She said. She wasn't going to let this opportunity pass by. "We can't just leave yet. When will we have a chance to rest like this by an ample water source?"

What part of this wasn't she getting?

Was he speaking some language she didn't understand?

"You... Where is this rashness coming from?"

"I'm not being rash—"

"Bullshit." Ayaan wasn't having any of her nonsense. "Stealing from a dangerous market isn't rash? What were you thinking? Where was your thinking?"

At that, she hesitated. She remembered him asking those same questions before.

Trying to teach them only to look like an idiot? Almost getting killed on the rig because she wasn't skilled enough? Losing over and over again because no matter how much she practiced, no matter how hard she worked, it would never be quite enough?

The fact that this weakness is what made her lose her necklace in the first place?

Katara was thinking of many things when she took it. So many, that she couldn't say them all.

Seeing the distress in her eyes, he let her be. He knew that she was going through a lot in the absence of their mother's necklace. He knew how much it meant to her. It was the same as Sokka's boomerang or his spear, without them, it just didn't feel right.

But that would not excuse her behavior. Trust? That was going to take a lot more time to rebuild. No matter what troubles she was experiencing, she put them all in danger.

That type of thinking... he wasn't just going to gloss over something like that. "You were a fool to pick that up." He whispered.

'Why would she risk that just to learn a few moves?'

Ayaan did not care for waterbending the same way Katara did. No, it wasn't that he didn't care for it, it was that he felt completely different about it than she did. For him... it was a piece of him that he didn't have. It wasn't complete. Fractured, or missing, he wasn't sure what to call it, but something wasn't there. Sure, he could move the water, but something felt off, something felt wrong.

He could hear the lullaby on the wind trying to soothe him. It promised that everything would be okay, that home was getting closer and closer every day.

It was hard for him to believe those sweet words.

He decided to put the problem on the back burner. Why struggle at something that you knew wouldn't get better by doing so? He needed information, which he was steadily getting from the Asrar allies he'd made.

That didn't mean he couldn't understand, just a bit, what was going on. He understood that time was of the essence. He knew that Aang was worried about being able to learn the elements before the War got even more devastating.

But he would never, ever, do something that would risk them. He never put them in situations like that if he could help it.

'If I did, then he wouldn't be me. That would be someone else entirely, someone I would never recognize as myself.'

So why would she risk this...? He couldn't understand it.

This was most likely the first time he was ever truly upset. He... wasn't sure what to do with himself. He didn't want to say another word to Katara.

"Do whatever you want, I must load the saddle anyway." With that, Ayaan decided to just walk away. He'd made sure to grab the stuff they bought before all of that happened. He set it off in a secure location before they went back to do whatever.

Sokka could only sigh, giving a glare at his sister before rushing to catch up to Ayaan.

"Are you... okay?" He asked. The question made Ayaan halt a half step before continuing. Sokka noticed this, too. His brother's skin was a shade paler than it normally is, and his hands, though he tried to hide it, trembled as he held his spear.

Ayaan... whatever happened, however brief it was, had shaken him up. Badly. That fact alone terrified Sokka. But he couldn't let that show, he couldn't be the one always being protected.

He'd promised himself to do better.

So he gently laid a hand on his brother's shoulder, a notion of complete understanding. When he felt Ayaan relax, he knew he'd done the right thing.

Ayaan let himself be comforted just a bit. His family was fine. Everything was going to be okay. He wanted to let himself believe it.

But the ache in his scar told him not to.

Neither would his anger.

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