A New Mission (cont.)
1.2
They walked towards the patio door together, still hand in hand, and she smiled as the setting sun continued to warm her back. Right now, Katara just felt so… what was the word? ... Content. She congratulated herself for choosing the perfect expression for her current emotions. Weeks ago, they had taken down the greatest threat to the entire world, and now she was surrounded by all of her closest friends, ready to return to them after just kissing someone she cared about very much. Katara grinned again. She was very content. And comfortable. That sounded like a very good word, too.
Her mind suddenly snapped out of her reverie as she watched Aang reach for the handle of the patio door with their hands still locked together.
“Wait!” Katara whispered fiercely as she pulled Aang to the side of the door where the others couldn’t see them. “We can’t go in there like this!”
Aang smiled nervously. “What, are you ashamed of me?” He was joking, but real fear hid underneath those words.
“What? No!” she whispered, giving him an apologetic smile. “It’s not that. It’s just that… well, first off, I don’t want Sokka making a big scene or telling any stupid jokes about us…”
Aang looked up and seemed to consider this. “Well, Sokka does like to create drama. And his jokes are pretty stupid…”
“Right,” Katara nodded. “And it’s also because… um, I don’t know if this makes any sense to you, but… this,” she pointed between herself and Aang, “just happened, and… well, um… I’d like to keep it for myself a little bit.” She looked up shyly. “Do you understand?”
He looked at her with unbridled joy and enthusiasm. “Uh huh! Of course I do. Don’t worry, Katara. It won’t be a problem!”
“Good,” Katara sighed. She looked back up at the bouncing boy in front of her, and his broad grin was so infectious that she couldn’t help smiling as they walked inside through the patio doors together.
The loud peals of laughter and excited conversations were going just as strong as when they had all just arrived and everyone had seen each other for the first time in weeks. Although it had been nice to go back to the South Pole and spend some time with her dad and Gran Gran, she was so excited to be back together with her other family again. She giggled as she watched Toph still pointing at and mocking Sokka’s awful drawings, whereas it seemed Ty Lee was trying to give him some constructive criticism. (Wow… Katara never realized how scary Suki could be when she was giving her death stare…)
Katara stood in the center of the room next to Aang and smiled warmly. She loved all these people so much. She shifted to her right slightly and thought that she glimpsed, out of the corner of her eye, Zuko looking over at her. Katara turned to smile and walk over to him, but he was looking into his teacup instead. Her smile slipped a little bit. She was about to go over and find out what was wrong with the young Fire Lord when Mai popped up out of nowhere and proceeded to drape herself over Zuko like he was some kind of throw pillow. Katara’s smile fell off her face altogether. She could see the heavy-lidded girl whispering something into his ear (probably more sarcastic comments about her friends), but whatever she said seemed to have no effect on the sulking man. Katara raised her nose haughtily and turned away from the both of them.
‘Fine,’ she thought as she walked back towards Aang, ‘I’ll just talk to some of my friends who’ll actually look at me.’
She began to say something to Aang when there seemed to be a simultaneous lull in all of the conversations, and the room quieted. She looked back at Aang. “So, um…,” she began lamely.
“ME AND KATARA ARE TOGETHER!”
“AANG!” Katara screamed shrilly and stared at the boy in shock.
The room was so still you could hear a dragonbeetle sneeze. Everyone stared expressionlessly at the pair in the center of the tea room (well, except for Zuko). And then the wave of nosy questions crashed over Katara like an ocean storm.
“WHAT?! KATARA? AANG?!! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO MY LITTLE SISTER?!”
“Ha! Good going, Twinkle Toes! I knew you’d pull it off eventually.”
“Awwww! That’s so great! You guys are sooooo cute together! Do you think you’ll get married soon? Oh, I hope I find a guy that cute and shiny!”
“Wow. Well… At least she’ll never be bored.” Mai grinned over to her boyfriend, but he had already turned away from her and was walking up the stairs.
“I’m going to train in my room for awhile. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Mai scowled.
*******
Aang look around happily at all his friends cheering for him and Katara (except for Sokka, of course, who still sat flabbergasted on the floor with his eye spasming occasionally). But then he glanced over into his girlfriend’s eyes, and the floor fell out from under him.
“Aang,” she whispered sadly, her eyes shining with tears. “How could you?”
And then she was gone.