Katara
I don't know if Zuko's dead or alive, but even without him showing up at every other village we stop at things are not going as smooth and easy as I had hoped.
At our first stop, some crazy general pretended to kill me to get Aang into the Avatar state, and Aang almost killed him as a result. We decided to leave pretty quickly after that.
Next, we had to follow this nomadic group into a cave system that Aang and I get lost in. While we're there, I find the story of Oma and Shu, the two lovers in the story the nomads told us. The story pulls at my heart, and as I read it, I put my hand to my mouth. Between the curse, the story, and the statues, I think the way out might involve kissing. And realize how much I want to be held and kissed.
My mind has a series of flashes, the way my father used to hold and kiss Mom by the fire. Sokka kissing Yue goodbye like it hurt his soul to leave her until the war ends. Kissing Haru on the cheek. The passionate Kiss Zuko and I shared on his ship. Jet kissing me when we were stargazing at the Treehouses.
That was the last time someone held me, and I hate that it was Jet. I look over to Aang. He wouldn't turn me down, would he? I'm pretty sure he likes me anyways. I think I'd rather the last person I've kissed be him than some Zealot jerk who targets civilians. My mind flashes to Zuko again, but I shake the thoughts away. Definitely better to kiss the Avatar than the Banished Prince.
To my surprise, Aang doesn't jump at the chance, which honestly hurts my feelings a bit. But we do end up kissing, and it's a nice and sweet kiss, but something just feels wrong about it. I don't have too much time to think about it before the crystals above us start glowing and we follow them out.
When we finally did get back to Omashu, we were devastated to find out it had been taken over by the Fire Nation. As we were helping the citizens escape by staging a plague, we sorta accidentally kidnapped the governor's son. During the negotiations of trying to trade him for Bumi, we meet Zuko's sister Azula, and her two friends. One of them is really skilled with knives, and one of them hit me in a way my chi was blocked and I couldn't bend. We got out of there pretty quick after that fight, but Aang said Bumi was waiting to strike back and he'd need to find a new teacher.
While we go in search of another Earthbending master, we cross through this creepy swamp. It shows up visions. I see Mom, Sokka sees Yue telling him she's still waiting for him, and Aang sees someone he hasn't met yet but will. It was hard going through that, made me miss my mother all the more.
We finally find Aang's Earthbending Master after hopping through a couple towns, a blind girl named Toph. She came from a wealthy but stifling family and left with us for Freedom. Funny how we found her, Aang first tried going to an Earth Bending Academy. When that didn't work out, we went to an underground Earthbending fight and that's where we found her. It took some convincing, but she decided to come. She said her parents allowed it, but I kinda doubt it. Normally I'd tell her to try and work it out with them, but as Aang really needs a teacher, I keep my mouth shut. The fate of the world is more important than her family drama.
Now that she's with us, we're one step closer to Aang finishing his training and being able to face the Fire Lord. But when the time comes, will he be able to deliver the final strike? As we tell our stories to Toph of our adventures, Aang doesn't seem to realize he killed people when we were at the North Pole by sinking those ships, even before he merged with the Ocean Spirit. If he finds out dozens, if not hundreds, people died at his hand I don't know how he'll react. However, He'll have to face it at some point. I just hope he doesn't break when he does.