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Chapter Text

The frigid air nipped at their skin as the boat drifted with the current. His sister sat up in the prow, bone spear poised over the water, staring intently at the little flashes of silver just underneath the surface.

"It is not getting away from me," she muttered under her breath.

Katar sighed at her seriousness, leaning out a bit over the side. The fish were skittering around by the back of the canoe as well. Katar peeked back briefly at Sokki, but she was focused on her task. Nervous flutters pinged through him as he slipped one hand out from its thick fur mitten and extended it over the water.

There was a pull, a gentle tug, and then a wet pop as a small bubble of water, with a gleaming silver fish encased inside and swimming happily, burst from the surface.

Katar's heart leapt excitedly and he gave a whoop, both hands flailing, swirling around to try and keep the bubble together as he raised it above the boat.

"Sokki! Sokki I caught one!" he called. He turned with a grin to show her. "Look! I caught—"

Distracted, he didn't keep careful track of the bubble's path. As Sokki raised her spear to throw it, the end punctured the bubble's surface tension, dropping the contents onto her head. Katar heard her shrill gasp from behind him and by the time he'd finished swiveling towards the prow the fish and water bubble were gone and there was just Sokki, glaring at him with her hair dripping and her collar soaked.

"Oops," he said sheepishly.

Sokki shook out her arms, flinging droplets. "Why is it that every time you play with magic water, I get soaked?" she complained, setting her spear down and wringing out her hair.

"It's not magic it's waterbending," Katar corrected irritably. "And it's—"

"Yeah, yeah," Sokki cut off, "an ancient art unique to our culture blah blah blah." She rolled her eyes. "Look, I'm just saying that if I had weird powers I'd keep my weirdness," she emphasized, "to myself."

"You're calling me weird?" Katar said incredulously. He leaned back in the canoe, crossing his arms. "I'm not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection in the water."

Sokki had been leaning over the water, her sleeve pulled up, doing just that. She froze, flushing at having been caught doing something so unfeminine, and hastily yanked down her sleeve, rolling up and thwacking her brother's arm with her fist.

The canoe teetered with the motion, then all of a sudden seemed to bump against something in the water.

Thump!

The water tribe siblings grunted as they were jostled, then found themselves streaking along rapidly, caught in a fast current and no longer gently drifting.

The peaceful arctic ocean was now a deadly maze of ice.

Sokki grabbed up her oar, digging hard into the water to try to push them out of it. The canoe thumped and grinded against sharp ice floes they barely managed to dodge. Several appeared directly in their path and Sokki jabbed the water forcefully to avoid it and send the boat to the right, only to find more obstacles dead ahead.

Pulse beating nervously, Katar grabbed both sides of the boat and leaned over his sister's shoulder. "Go left!" he yelled. "Left!"

If she attempted to steer in that direction, he didn't see or feel it. The canoe hit the ice floe head on. Pushed by the strong current, the prow dipped under the water's surface and disappeared.

The rest of the canoe followed seconds later, taking on water as it capsized, spilling the siblings out onto another floe.

Katar hit the ice and slid, almost all the way to the far edge. He held in his breath and dug in his mittened hands as he stopped, just short, of an unpleasant dunk into the icy water. The tension in his body held for a moment, then relaxed as he slowly pushed back from the edge.

He sat up with a sour look at his sister. "You call that left?" he said.

She rolled herself upright, annoyed. "Oh, you don't like my steering? Well maybe you should have..." She made sloshing gestures with her hands. "...waterbended us out of the ice."

Katar fumed. She knew he hated it when she mocked his lack of skill at bending. "Water-impotence" she sometimes called it.

"So it's my fault?" he sputtered.

Sokki reached for her spear, the only thing that hadn't sunk with the boat. She was already dreading the long, treacherous journey home, empty-handed it looked like at this point, unless she could somehow manage to spear a fish or two along the way. The empty feeling gnawing at the pit of her stomach mingled with the quiet dread of explaining the lost canoe to their grandmother and the fatigue from the already too-long day. Maybe it wasn't fair to take it all out on her brother but she had already been in a bad mood before his little water bubble trick so she really, really didn't care.

"I knew I should've left you at home," she grumbled. "Leave it to a boy to screw things up!" She jabbed the tip of her spear into the floe in disgust. "Ugh! You guys are so useless!"

Katar felt himself reach the boiling point. Sokki had been snappish with him all day and he'd had enough of it. He stood up, fists clenched by his sides, quaking with indignation. "You," he snapped at Sokki hotly, "are the most man-hating, immature, nut-brained—" As he ranted his arms swung back angrily, sending the water spraying behind him in sharp bursts. "Ugh! I'm embarrassed to be related to you!"

A column of water hurled by Katar's ranting hit the base of a large iceberg behind them.

It gave a loud CRACK! as it fractured, a huge fissure splintering up the left side.

Sokki had been ignoring her brother's outburst, but upon hearing the crack, looked up, startled, and gaped at the huge gash in the mountain of ice.

Her eyes widened in alarm.

Katar didn't notice, continuing to air his grievances. His words spilled out like he was an over-full sand sack that had just been punctured. "Ever since mom died, I've been the one doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier," he vented, pointing at himself. "Pretending to be a warrior!" he spat.

The crack in the iceberg widened.

Sokki raised a timid hand. "Uh... Katar?" she squeaked, pointing fearfully.

"I do all the cooking, all the cleaning, I patch up all the nets—" Katar listed, smacking his right fingers into his left palm one by one for emphasis. "I even wash all the clothes!" His face soured at the reminder and his nose wrinkled, remembering something unpleasant. "Have you ever smelled your dirty socks?" he challenged her.

His fists clenched again.

"Not—" he snarled, "—pleasant!"

His agitated gestures were once again accompanied by an ominous crack splitting through the iceberg behind him.

Sokki sat up on her knees, frantically holding up her palms to placate him. "Katar, calm down!" she cried, watching the splintering ice in abject terror.

"No!" Katar shouted, still angry. "That's it! I'm done helping you! From now on, you're on your own!"

The words were punctuated by a final blast of water that shot back to collide with the iceberg.

There was a rending and glass-like shattering as hairline fractures spread through the entirety of the giant chunk of ice.

His sister's expression paled and Katar finally turned around and saw what she saw: a mountain of ice breaking apart and threatening to come down on top of them. He gasped and took a step back but it was already too late. The hairline fractures were coming apart, splitting open and dropping chunks of ice into the water.

With a final crackling the iceberg crumbled, toppling, displacing the water and sending a huge wave towards them.

Katar and Sokki both flattened, grabbing onto the edge of the floe, Sokki throwing an arm across his back to help him stay on as they were nearly upended by the wave. Katar felt his heart stop and worried for a moment they were going to flip over, and join their sunken canoe.

But the wave subsided, after pushing them quite a distance, and the floe slid back to a level position and bobbed up and down dizzyingly.

It took a few moments more for his breathing to steady.

Sokki was the first to find her voice again.

"Okay, you've gone from weird to freakish, Katar," she complained, uncurling from his side like he might be contagious.

Katar gaped at the conspicuous gap where the iceberg had been, at the choppy waves still subsiding. "You mean... I did that?" he said. All of that? he thought, astounded. That iceberg was like thirty feet high!

"Yep," Sokki confirmed. She sounded oddly... proud of him. "Congratulations," she teased, nudging him with her elbow and a giving him a smirk. "Guess you're not so impotent anymore, little bro."

He might have had a sour response to that but he didn't get the chance to dish it. A strange, bright blue glow had appeared in the water, just underneath them. Bubbles erupted from the surface, followed moments later by a large, florescent ball of ice.

The water it displaced shoved their floe back once again, and the siblings wobbled and tilted as they were rocked harshly by the waves.

They gasped up at the spherical ice chunk, bobbing up and down like some kind of giant fishing lure. It looked unnaturally formed, perfectly circular, and the eerie glow from within its center seemed to tingle in their hair, like the light itself was charged.

Slowly, Katar and Sokki got to their feet, mesmerized.

What is that? Katar wondered. How is it glowing?

He took a few steps towards the edge of the floe, trying to get a closer look without actually getting close.

There was something within the iceberg, silhouetted by the light. A large hulking mass, with horns and a wide tail. And a second, smaller figure just below.

It looked like... but it couldn't be.

Was there a person inside the ice?

Katar peered closer.

The figure certainly looked human... Small, with gentle feminine edges. Curled up in a lotus position. A child?

He squinted, starting to make out the figure's features. It was a girl, long hair falling softly behind her back. She was as still as death at first, which is why it sent a jolt through Katar's heart when she suddenly opened up her eyes.

They glowed shockingly white, which should have frightened him, but all Katar could think in that moment was, She'll suffocate in there!

"She's alive!" he exclaimed. He reached back towards his sister, grabbing her arm and pulling her forward so he could draw the club strapped on her back from its sheath. "We have to help her!"

He had the club out and was hopping over the floes towards the iceberg before Sokki could blink or even register his actions. "Katar!" she yelled in frustration, turning only to extricate her spear from the ice. "Get back here!" she shouted, running after him. "We don't know what that thing is!"

Katar wasn't listening, already swinging his sister's club into the side of the glowing ice orb.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

A hollow thud rang out with every strike. Katar put more force into it, using all his might. He had to get her out!

On the fifth blow, the head of the club broke through the ice's surface.

CRACK!

There was a terrible hiss as air burst forth from the gap, tossing both Katar and Sokki back. The iceberg began to split up its center. When the cracks reached the top, the whole dome fell apart, throwing up a huge beam of blue light.

The beam shot up, dazzling, blinding, stabbing the sky as if it was a physical thing too long contained in the ball of ice, and Katar and Sokki felt the tingle of its power even more strongly.

It was such an odd sensation. Like hairs were standing up all over his body. Katar shielded his eyes until he felt the light subside. For a few more seconds it burned against his retinas, until his eyes adjusted and he could see clearly again.

Sokki had attached herself to his arm sometime during the blast. Her fingers were tight around his bicep but relaxed slightly as they shared a glance. The light around the iceberg was fading fast. The mountain was now a mound, with an open-top crater. Katar pushed up with his palms and stood, dragging Sokki up with him.

Her grip tightened on his arm and she raised her spear, pointing it towards the top edge of the crater.

The figure that had floated so still in the ice was moving, staggering upright, coming over the crater's edge. The stilted, awkward movement, along with her strange arrow-shaped tattoos—creepily glowing white like her eyes—made her look... frightening. Like some kind of angry spirit awakened from slumber. It made Katar begin to regret his decision to break the iceberg open.

Sokki brandished her spear as the figure stood upright, her other arm shoving into Katar's chest, trying to move him behind her.

"Stop!" she threatened, ready to throw her spear at the first sign of violence.

But all that happened was that the light disappeared from the girl's eyes and arrow-markings and she swooned, groaning softly as she pitched forward.

Katar's apprehension and fear vanished and he gasped, pushing past Sokki to catch the girl's small, fragile form before she hit the ground.

For being frozen in the ice, her body was surprisingly warm.

He held his breath, gently uncurling from around her.

Her eyes were closed; soft, fluttery lashes speckled with bits of snow. She was still slightly pale and blue from the ice, her skin chilly to the touch. She was tiny—couldn't have been much older than twelve or thirteen—and so very light. He was almost afraid of breaking her.

The blunt end of Sokki's spear came into view as she cautiously poked the strange girl in the head.

Once. Twice. A couple more times in rapid succession.

"Cut it out!" Katar snapped, throwing up his arm to ward her off. She wasn't roadkill, for heaven's sake.

The girl in his arms gave a murmur, stirring. Katar turned back to her, anxious, very gently setting her down against the base of the crater.

Slowly, her eyes fluttered open. They were a pretty gray color, like stormclouds or the churning depths of the ocean. They widened and she gave a small gasp, looking up at him.

Katar felt some kind of warmth in his heart. No one had ever looked at him with such awe before. Like she was amazed to see him.

She spoke up, softly. "I need... to ask you something..." she whispered weakly.

"What?" Katar asked. She wasn't going to give him a last request and then die was she? That would just be awful.

Her next words did nothing to assuage his worries.

"Please... come closer..." she strained.

Cautiously he leaned down, offering a smile as he felt the strength of her breathing and how quickly she was already warming up. A little more reassured now, he asked her, "What is it?"

She was silent a moment. Then—

"Will you go penguin sledding with me?"

She lit up with a bright smile, eyes happy and hopeful, beaming at him.

Katar felt his heart give an unexpected dull thump and stutter, startled and caught off-guard. "Uh..." he stammered, feeling a slight burn in his cheeks and a weird queasy rolling in his stomach. "Sure? I—I guess?"

Was... she asking him on a date?

Chapter Text

Her name was Angka.

Not only was she an airbender—the first anyone had seen in a hundred years—but when the smoke belching iron Fire Nation ship cut a swath through the ice to their village, she had also revealed herself as the Avatar.

If he'd been a little awestruck about her before, he definitely was now.

The Avatar. Sokki would always roll her eyes and groan whenever he'd wanted to talk about it.

"It's just a myth, Katar. If he did exist he's probably long dead by now."

Sokki was right of course, it was irrational to keep hoping for some miracle savior out of legend, and some days it was hard even for him to keep believing. But he'd always held out hope that Avatar would return. Someday.

He'd been more than a little smug when he was proven right.

"So Sokki," he'd asked with a grin, right before they'd landed that morning, "is the Avatar a myth or isn't she?"

Exasperated, having been teased about it constantly since they'd left the Southern Water Tribe, Sokki just muttered, "You are never gonna let me live that down, are you?"

Katar's grin had cracked wider. "Nope!" he'd confirmed cheerfully.

"It's okay Sokki," Angka had encouraged, patting the girl's shoulder. "I wouldn't have believed in me either!" she'd chirped.

Sokki had grumbled something under her breath in reply and sulked right off to rinse her outer coat once they were back on the ground, refusing to speak to either of them ever since.

Katar peeked up at Angka, watching from across the camp as she played with her sky bison, Appa, untangling the snarls in his fur. She was so gentle with the animal, laughing and bumping her head against the bison's nose playfully.

Hard to believe just a couple days ago she'd been staring down an angry scarred Fire Nation commander and her squadron of troopers.

Katar had been shaking quietly in his boots the whole encounter, right from the moment Sokki had grabbed his wrist and pulled him into her guard tower.

"Come on, Katar!" she'd urged. "We have to be ready!"

He'd gulped, gripping the hilt of the spear awkwardly. He hadn't held a weapon—not even a toy one—in ages. Not since their mother had died. He didn't have the hands for it, or the stomach, or the nerve. How could he? He'd felt like a clown in the warpaint and armor as they waited on the wall for the Fire Nation to arrive.

They'd had their asses handed to them. Of course they had. Young though she might have been, the girl captain was quicker, stronger, ridiculously better-trained than either of them. Katar had been put down with one strike, Sokki's flailing over-eager swinging dodged easily.

"Pathetic," their opponent had hissed, standing over them with hands flaming, and for a moment Katar had been absolutely terrified.

But then a whirlwind had appeared, a streak of orange and yellow, and Angka slid into the fray on the back of a penguin—which seemed... so like her, really—spraying snow into the girl's scarred face, to exuberant cheers from the villagers.

She'd been completely fearless and calm, even as she'd willingly given herself up to save them.

Katar pulled himself from the memory, dropping his eyes and looking down at his hands.

She shouldn't have had to. He should have... should have done something. It had all worked out in the end but for that hour when he didn't know what had happened to her, whether the Fire Nation was taking her alive as a prisoner or summarily executing her at sea, he had felt and been so utterly useless and once again it had to be Sokki to drag him out of it.

He felt ashamed. He should have protected her. Like he should have protected the village. Like he should have protected...

The sunlight gleamed off the blue shell pendant laying across his palm. Katar gazed at it, wondering idly when he'd pulled it out. His thumb brushed across the smooth surface.

"What's that?"

Katar jumped, startled, looking up and coming face to face with Angka, leaning over him with her waist bent and her hands tucked behind her back and her long hair.

"Uh, nothing," he stammered. "I mean, well..." He took a deep breath to sort his brain out. "It was my mother's," he admitted.

"It's really pretty," she complimented. Straightening up, her expression grew serious. "You said it was hers... what happened to her? Or—" she quickly amended, seeing the look on Katar's face, "—would you rather not say?"

Katar folded the necklace in-between his hands soberly. "It's all right," he said, managing a weak smile. "She died when Sokki and I were little. The Fire Nation."

"Oh," said Angka softly. One foot curled around the other as sympathy shone from her face. "I'm sorry."

To change the subject, Katar glanced up and asked, "What about yours?"

"Oh, I don't really have parents," Angka said, looking embarrassed and rubbing behind her ear. "They often split us up by gender once we're weaned and we're raised by monks or nuns."

"Really?" Katar's face pinched, puzzled. He had heard some stories about the Air Nomads living in temples but hadn't heard that most of them were raised there too. "Weren't there ever any kids with actual families?" he asked.

Angka stuck her arms out, walking an imaginary tightrope. "Yeah, a few," she told him. "Temple life wasn't always for everyone." She grinned. "We're actually pretty close to one right now, we should drop in for a visit." She hopped up on a boulder, reaching to scratch Appa's side. "I'll bet they'll be real surprised to see me!"

"Uh, I'm not sure that's such a good—" Katar started to say, then stopped himself, and backtracked. Angka was still slowly realizing the changed world she'd awakened to. In her mind, she'd just left home a week ago. How was he supposed to explain that no one had seen airbenders in eons and thought they were all dead? He didn't want to sink her hopes if he could help it. Besides, maybe there were still a few of them around, just really good at hiding. "Never mind."

"Great!" She beamed and then wafted herself up into Appa's saddle. "Once we're done resting we'll head straight there!"

"Sure. Okay," he agreed.

She busied herself playing with Appa again and Katar clenched his mother's necklace a little tighter.

He was such a coward. What good was he if he couldn't even bring himself tell her a little bad news? Did he even deserve to come with her to the North Pole? He couldn't fight and he wasn't even that good a bender.

...Yet.

The optimistic little voice pinched through his self-depreciating thoughts. Sure, he might not be very skilled right now, but he'd cracked an iceberg in half hadn't he? And he hadn't even been trying.

It was in him. He knew it. He could feel it. All it needed was a focal point, something to push for, orient around.

His fingers loosened around the pendant as he brought it up to his eyes. Maybe he hadn't been strong enough then. But he'd get stronger. He'd learn to fight.

Because... she'd need him.

That's it, he decided, standing up from the log he'd been seated on. I'll become stronger.

And this time, things would be different.

He tucked his mother's necklace away, stowing it in his pocket. He'd put it back on later.

Right now, he needed to find some water to practice on.

Chapter Text

"Where is everybody?" Angka wondered, as she wandered through the empty temple hall. Her footsteps echoed, her thin-soled shoes muted on the dusty tile. The silence was all but complete otherwise.

Any moment she expected to round the corner and run into one of the elder monks, or hear the distant laughter of the boys playing. But so far the only one they'd seen had been the cute lemur she'd decided was her new pet. (Assuming she got to it before Sokki did.)

Where were they all hiding?

She paused, putting a hand to her chin and thinking a moment, then snapping her fingers.

"I know!"

It was just a little after noon, right? That meant it was time for the midday meditation. They were probably all at the prayer field!

She rushed off, her feet light on the ground as she ran. They had really let the place go in her hundred-year absence, there was crumbling stonework and untended gardens everywhere.

She pushed aside a dusty cloth curtain, sneezing lightly. A bright grin found its way onto her face as she finally caught a glimpse of familiar orange fabric, and she was about to call out a greeting, the words on the tip of her tongue.

She stopped dead, the words faltering, dying before she spoke them.

Red, pointed armor and white bones littered the ground at her feet. The bodies of Fire Nation soldiers.

H...How...? came the dull thought inside her, as she stared, uncomprehendingly, at the scene of the massacre.

There were... so many...

Numbly, Angka raised her eyes towards the far end of the room. There was another body there, leaning up against the wall.

The body of an airbender.

Her knees felt weak but she was frozen to the spot, her eyes stinging.

Dead... He was dead. One of her people. Someone she'd probably known. Killed by the Fire Nation.

They were here...she realized weakly.

"Got him!" came a distant shout from behind her. Angka didn't hear it over the rushing in her own ears.

She didn't turn around as Sokki entered, wrangling the lemur awkwardly as it scurried from one of her arms to the other.

"Slippery little guy, isn't he?" the Water Tribe girl quipped, grabbing the critter by the scruff with one hand as it ran across her shoulder. She looked up, and saw Angka standing still in the middle of the room, back turned towards her. Saying nothing.

Guiltily, she deposited the lemur into the crook of her elbow, holding it gently, her smile fading.

"Hey, you know I wasn't really gonna eat him, right?" she asked, as she came up to Angka. "I just said that to annoy..."

She trailed off, stopping next to Angka, seeing the dusty carnage.

"Oh... no..."

That... looked bad. A dozen or so Fire Nation corpses surrounded the skeleton of an airbender. There was no hiding it from her this time. Her brother's efforts to keep the truth from the little Air Nomad, however misguidedly noble, were over now.

...Was she okay?

Sokki looked to Angka, who was pale-looking, wavering slightly on her feet. She seemed in shock.

Her eyes were fixated on the body of the airbender, on the crest it wore. Memories were playing in her head, images of a warm, smiling face with a fuzzy white mustache, dark wrinkled skin that folded in soft ripples, a carefree chuckle, a gentle hand patting her head affectionately...

"It's... it's Monk Gyatso..." she whispered weakly. "I knew him... He was my friend... He was one of our strongest benders..."

She swayed heavily.

"If—if even he's—"

Her voice hitched, a breathless sound that broke Sokki's cynical heart.

"Angka..." she said, with genuine sympathy and pity. "I... I'm so sorry."

She reached out her free hand towards Angka's shoulder.

Some warning tingle in the air had her drawing it sharply back.

Angka's tattoos were glowing.

Sokki gasped, dropping her arms, the lemur scurrying off somewhere as a rush of strong wind began swirling throughout the room. "What in the world?" she yelled, the force of the gale pushing her back.

Angka's back was stiff, her fists clenched, the light from her eyes and arrows blinding. Air swirled all around her, forming a tightly-wound ball of energy. Sokki found herself flung back, her face smashing on the ground as she bounced once, twice, grabbed hold of a piece of broken wall to hang onto.

The earth rumbled beneath Sokki's feet. Bits and pieces of the walls and roof flew past her head, a veritable tornado surrounding Angka, who floated silently in the center of the maelstrom, her face blank, tears streaming from her eyes. Sokki clung to her handhold with tight fingers, her hair whipping into her face.

Suddenly she felt her brother at her side.

"What happened?" Katar yelled in concern, shouting over the sound of the rushing wind.

"I don't know!" she cried, both hands clinging to the wall piece. "She just found out firebenders killed a friend of hers and started glowing!"

"It's her Avatar spirit!" Katar said, looking towards the floating girl with worried eyes. "She must've triggered it!"

Sokki wanted to groan. Of course Katar knew exactly what had happened, Avatar fanboy that he was.

He was already gone from her side, fighting against the winds and heading towards Angka.

"Where are you going, lunkhead?!" Sokki demanded after him.

"I'm gonna try to calm her down!" Katar said, not looking back.

Sokki ducked her head, her arms grabbing tighter to her handhold. "Well, make it fast! Before she blows us off the mountain!"

She really hoped her brother knew what he was doing.

-ATLA-

There was a storm of air and energy crashing all around her, roaring in her ears, the faint sounds of yelling behind her, but Angka registered none of it. All she could feel was the hollow emptiness inside her, filled with pain.

Her glowing eyes stared out, unseeing. She couldn't feel her body. There was nothing in her thoughts, nothing at all except the horrible knowledge that what Katar and Sokki had been warning about must be true—that her people were all dead.

Faces passed in front of her eyes. Nun Choenyi, who had raised her like a daughter. Her friend Woten from the Northern Air Temple. Gyatso.

One by one, they seemed to vanish before her eyes, leaving only darkness.

Gone. All gone.

Every one of them.

The faces flashed faster and faster in her thoughts and her mind could only repeat, Gone... gone... gone...

The elders. Her playmates. The bison-keepers. Weird man Jiang who cleaned up the incense ashes with his pushbroom.

Everyone she knew.

Lost.

Her heart wrenched, tearing in two, and she wanted to curl up inside herself and never come out.

"Angka!"

From far away a voice seemed to call out to her. Angka stirred a little.

Katar...?

His face appeared in her mind, vivid. She saw him as she had when she first met him, awakening from a strange and lonely darkness, the sense of something missing, some great hole in her heart washing away as she opened her eyes to the most beautiful boy she'd ever seen.

Bright blue eyes. A face full of concern.

The same concern that shone in his voice now.

"Angka, I know you're upset," he was saying. "And I know how hard it is to lose the people you love." There was a pain in his words, a slight tremor to them. "I went through the same thing when I lost my mom."

That's right... she thought. Hadn't he just told her that the Fire Nation had been responsible for his losing his mom?

So, they had that in common... at least... in a way.

"The other airbenders may be gone, but you still have a family!" Katar was shouting above the wind. "Sokki and I... we're you're family now!"

The words made her want to cry, but for entirely different reasons than before. Some life was stirring in her broken heart again. She rather liked the idea of being a family with her new friends. Sokki was a little bit like a sister, wasn't she? And Katar... well she wasn't quite sure what he was yet, but the thought of staying by his side was very... comforting.

Almost before she realized it, her hands were unclenching, and her floating feet were descending towards the ground, the maelstrom around her subsiding. The wind died away. The ground settled. The storm within and without stilled.

She felt Sokki and Katar come up to flank her, and Katar's warm hand on her shoulder.

"Sokki and I aren't going to let anything happen to you," he told her, tenderly. "I promise."

He shot a look over Angka's shoulder at his sister.

"Uh, right! Right!" Sokki hastened to add, managing to smile genuinely nonetheless. "Nothing bad's happening to you on our watch, kid!" she promised.

With a soft sigh the glow faded from Angka's eyes. She felt all of sudden quite drained, her knees buckling softly under her.

Katar's arms were there to catch her. The rough texture of his fur-lined wool coat felt nice against her cheek, and he smelled of pitch and fish and oil. A strange scent, but one that seemed to suit him.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. She hadn't realized it before in the fog of her grief, but now she could see that the building she'd found the bodies in essentially no longer existed, reduced to rubble by the force of her pain. She could've hurt Sokki or Katar very easily in her blind anger and despair.

"It's okay," he reassured her. "It wasn't your fault."

"But you were right," she strained out. Her throat threatened to constrict again. "And if firebenders found this temple, then they found the other ones too."

Her eyes welled up thinking about it, imagining the fountains and courtyards of the Eastern Air Temple scorched to ruins, the bodies of everyone she'd grown up with left to rot, forgotten.

"I really am the last airbender..." she said.

Katar just wrapped his arms around her, holding her tighter, enveloping her in the smokey fragrance of his coat.

Angka gave a shuddering sigh.

For just a moment, while he hugged her, she felt like she was home.

Chapter Text

Warm, lazy sunlight beamed across her cheek. She rested her head on a soft lap, and gentle hands patted her hair.

Angka stared morosely at a little spotted leopard-beetle that was flitting around the cool green leaves of the mountain lily growing in a small vase on the table.

"Don't worry," a woman's voice crooned to her, reassuringly. "Monk Gyatso promised me he'd look after you."

"It's not that," Angka sighed, raising her head and sitting up. "What if... what if I'm no good?" she asked. She looked down at her toes. "What if I can't bend the other elements?" she mumbled.

"You will. You're the Avatar," Nun Choenyi encouraged. "It's in your very nature."

Angka slumped against the woman's side. "It'd be easier if you were with me."

Choenyi laughed lightly, wrapping an arm around the girl's shoulders. "My place is here sweat pea. And you will need to concentrate on your training. I'd just be a distraction."

Angka clung to her, both arms tight around the woman's waist. "But I'll miss you!" she strained, feeling wetness blur her eyes.

"Oh sweetie..." Choenyi cooed, taking Angka's face in her hands. "No matter where you go," she told her. "I'll always be with you."

"Promise?" Angka warbled.

"Promise."

Long, soft sleeves enveloped her, a heartbeat holding her close, a warm darkness that...

-ATLA-

...melted into chilly night air and the musty leather saddle on Appa's back.

Angka started, blinking in disorientation a moment. She was curled up on her side, the gentle motion of Appa's lumbering breath raising her gently up and down. The night sky was moonless, only twinkling stars illuminating the night.

She sat up, shivering, her limbs stiff. She wrapped her arms around her knees, staring off into space and trying to ignore the sudden ache in her chest, inhaling a shuddering breath.

"Are you okay?"

Angka gasped softly, startling. She looked over the side of the saddle. Katar was sitting up in his sleeping bag on the ground below, looking at her in concern.

She forced a smile to her face. "I'm all right!" she said, in an overenthusiastic happy chirp. With a swirling move of her arm and a puff of airbending she lifted herself from Appa's back and floated softly to the ground. "Just couldn't sleep is all," she shrugged. She pointed off with her thumb. "I think I'll just go for a walk."

Katar began to get up. "I'll come with you," he offered.

"No that's fine," she said quickly, the cheer in her voice starting to crack. "I'm not going far," she insisted.

He was already next to her, sky-blue eyes probing, like she was made of glass and he could see straight through her.

"It's okay to be sad," he told her. "You don't have to hide it."

"I'm not—" The false note and the denial caught halfway up her throat, which was suddenly tightening, choking her. Her lip trembled.

A quivering sob forced itself from her mouth and she looked down, her eyes brimming with tears.

Katar took her shoulders, pulling her in for a hug. She sniffled softly, wetting the front of his chest.

"Hey... hey, it's okay," he assured her. "I'm right here."

"You won't leave?" Angka sobbed, voice muffled against his shirt.

He smiled. "I'm not going anywhere," he said. "Promise."

She exhaled shakily, gratefully resting her head on his collar bone as the hollow space inside her sharpened.

Chapter Text

"Hey Katar?" asked Angka.

"What?" Katar grumbled irritably, not turning around or looking up from the dishes he was furiously scrubbing.

Angka thumbed over her shoulder, expression concerned. "Your sister's being really weird about that Kyoshi boy, Suko?" Her eyes crinkled. "You think we should be worried?"

Katar scrubbed even more furiously at a particularly stubborn grease stain. "It's fine, Angka," he said through gritted teeth. "Sokki can do what she wants."

Even if she wants to fawn all over a pretty boy just because he's good with a sword, his inner thoughts grumbled.

Reading his foul mood, Angka turned her concerned look on him.

"This isn't about your argument yesterday, is it?"

Katar's scowl deepened at the reminder.

-ATLA-

There was a nip in the air, a frigid chill that had Katar concerned, given Angka's plan to take a dip in the freezing water.

Sokki's only concern was moving on.

"Do we really have time for this?" she complained. "I thought we were going straight to the North Pole."

"Yeah but that's like, on the other side of the world right now," Angka pointed out, as she stripped down. Katar tried not to stare at her tattoos as her bare arms and legs were exposed. "We're here now and those koi are just begging to ridden!" she added with a grin.

Not swayed, Sokki crossed her arms sourly. "And the North Pole is going to stay on the other side of the world if we don't get moving," she pointed out.

"Oh lighten up, Sokki," Katar chided, whapping her with one of the bedrolls. He turned his eyes on Angka again, his voice softening. "Let her have a little fun."

"That's all we've been doing!" Sokki protested. "I say, we skip all this nonsense," she said as she reached down, trying to gather up Angka's shirt and slacks in order to hand them back to her, "and focus on our mission—getting to the North Pole." She emphasized the last part with not-so-hidden irritation.

Katar grabbed the clothes out of his sister's hands in aggravation. "Well, you're not the leader, I am," he said. He looked at Angka again, with a quiet swell of relief at how genuine her smile was, how undampened her excitement. There was no trace of the hollow emptiness behind her happy mask. He hadn't seen it disappear like this for days. "And I say we could use a little break," he added softly.

Sokki scoffed at him. "Since when are you the leader? Who decided that?"

Rounding to face her he argued, "Look, I've been taking care of practically the whole village for ages."

"Mending blankets, cooking and cleaning, and watching children!" Sokki exclaimed. "That's not leadership, that's babysitting!" she protested. "If dad had left me in charge then—"

"Then you would have made a mess of everything!" Katar interrupted hotly, actual anger behind his words now. He was in no mood to be lectured on manhood and leadership by his sister. "You're not a warrior, Sokki, so just stop pretending to be one!" he spat.

He almost regretted his words when he saw the pinched sting on Sokki's face, but didn't have time to apologize before she was angry too, and shouting her own harsh indictments at him.

"You're not a warrior either, Katar!" she yelled. "So don't get all high and mighty with me! At least I can fight!"

Katar avoided her eyes guiltily. "I can... fight..." he mumbled, flustered.

"You never fight! Not even when it matters! That's what's going to get people hurt!" Sokki yelled.

The weight of the unspoken meaning behind her words caused palpable tension in the air for a few seconds.

Angka had been looking awkwardly back and forth between the siblings for a while, sensing that there were more layers to this argument that just what had been said on the surface level, and quickly deciding she probably didn't want to know about it.

"IIIIIIII'm gonna go ride the koi now," she announced.

-ATLA-

Of course not long after that they had been ambushed by Suko and the Kyoshi warriors and Sokki had practically fallen all over herself at the idea of a boy who could fight, who was an elite warrior, not at all like her useless pansy wuss of a brother—Suko had been having a bizarre effect on his sister and her ability to hold a conversation; she rambled at a thousand miles an hour, babbling unceasingly, and hadn't taken much care to censor her unfavorable opinions about men.

Or more specifically, him.

Remembering that Angka had asked him a question, Katar resumed scrubbing and finally answered with a terse, "No."

"Okay, that's good!" Angka said, tone awkwardly light, like she knew whatever she said would be useless at helping him work through his foul mood. "I'm sure she doesn't really mean it, you know? I know plenty of guys who aren't fighters, and they're all great!"

"Good for you," slipped out of his mouth in a dry grumble before he could stop it. He understood what she was trying to do, he really did, but Angka couldn't understand the kind of culture he'd grown up in, the expectations and pressures a young man like him faced in a decidedly non-pacisfistic society. The expectations Sokki held for him, that he consistently failed to live up to, had been failing to live up to ever since...

He fell silent, focusing on the soft clink of dishes and the slosh of water.

Angka watched him for a few more moments before giving up and declaring, "Well, I'm gonna go. Koda and the boys are gonna show me around."

Oh, and then there was that.

Katar tried to keep his voice impassively disinterested as he said, "Fine."

"Bye!" Angka called, entirely too brightly and chipper for his liking.

Like any of them would even care if you weren't the Avatar or pay you the time of—

Katar stopped washing, leaning his hands on the edges of the basin with a long sigh.

This was ridiculous.

Sokki was right, much as he hated it. If he were stronger, tougher, like their father, he could have fought Suko and the others off when they'd gotten ambushed. He would be able to just walk right up to the group of clingy hangers-on that Angka had so recently acquired and tell them all to back off and leave—

Aaaaand he stopped his train of thought right there, before he could feel even more stupid. Spirits he was pathetic. Feeling insecure because of a bunch of kids fanboying their hero. It wasn't like he could blame them. Angka was pretty amazing. If he wasn't so busy stewing over Sokki dragging him in front of Kyoshi's esteemed warriors he might have joined in and just followed the group around as they toured the island.

Katar dropped his scrub brush into the basin and turned to head for the door. Dishes weren't helping anymore.

I need to go practice my bending or something, he thought.

-ATLA-

And yet, an hour later, here he was sitting on one of the wooden porches, still moping and feeling sorry for himself.

He sighed again. What was wrong with him?

He hadn't seen Angka or her fanboys in a while. Last he'd heard from them, Koda was tugging on her arm begging for a ride on Appa. Presumably they'd gone outside the village to do just that.

There were rustling footsteps in the grass just behind him.

"Uh... Hey Katar," came Sokki's voice, sounding reluctant to talk to him.

Katar pulled his legs up to his chest and hugged them. "Thought you were trying to play swords with the Kyoshi warriors," he said. Less snarkily, he asked, "Where've you been?"

Sokki's footfalls sounded on the wooden steps of the porch and then she was sitting down next to him, folding her skirt beneath her.

"I, uh... I made a fool of myself in front of Suko," she told him, cheeks flushing as she remembered the embarrassment. "I don't think he'll be eager to see me again."

Katar chuckled. "Couldn't take your self-taught Water Tribe techniques, huh?" he teased.

"No it's not—well okay yes, that too but—" Sokki conceded, stumbling over her words. She stared at a tuft of grass on the ground near the edge of the porch, Suko's chiding words echoing in her ears. She didn't even remember what she'd been saying, she was just babbling on about being the real warrior of their family—trying to make excuses for how miserably she'd failed to spar against him—and Suko had just suddenly come out with a harsh, "Why are you so hard on your brother? There's nothing wrong with a man who doesn't like fighting." He'd folded stern arms over his breastplate and said dismissively,"Maybe stop treating him with such contempt and I'll consider you worthy enough to teach."

It had made her insides sink, made her want to dig a hole and pile dirt overtop her head to hide from the shame. And she'd been dragging that guilt around since leaving the dojo.

She took a deep breath. "Look, I..." she began, looking at her brother. "I just wanna say... I'm sorry. I've been really harsh to you about the whole not-being-a-good-fighter thing."

"It's okay..." Katar mumbled, nose in his arms and avoiding her eyes.

"No, it really isn't. I've been a jerk," Sokki insisted. "You're right, I'm not the warrior I like to pretend I am. It isn't fair to make fun of you when I'm not any better."

Katar finally sidled a glance at her. "What brought this on?" he asked.

She shrugged, flushing again and finding the grass tuft very interesting. "Just something Suko said."

For a while the two siblings sat in silence. Then, Sokki straightened up.

She looked around. "So... where's Angka?"

"Haven't seen her." Katar drooped his head into his arms "She's probably still somewhere showing off for those boys."

His sister peered at him curiously, tilting her head. "Are you... jealous?"

"No," Katar denied at once.

"Of a bunch of ten-year-olds?" she asked incredulously.

"No!" Katar huffed and tightened his arms sourly and tried looking everywhere but at her. "That would be... stupid," he muttered.

Sokki grinned knowingly. "Yeah, it would be," she said.

Katar sighed. "I should probably go look for her though," he decided, uncurling and standing up. "See if she's all right."

He was halfway down the steps of the porch when he stopped and turned back to Sokki.

"You know... I bet Suko would give you another chance if you asked him nicely."

She wrinkled her face at that, uncertain. "You think?"

Katar smiled. "Just don't let your big ol' mean warrior ego get in the way," he teased.

"Right," she said, shrinking into her shoulders with embarrassment.

-ATLA-

It was lucky that he'd gone looking for Angka when he did. For some reason, she'd accepted a dare from one of the boys to go ride the Unagi—a nasty-tempered sea serpent that had rudely interrupted Angka's delightful water romp with the giant Kyoshi koi the other day.

The Unagi hadn't shown at first, prompting the bored boys to wander off, but all too soon after Katar had gotten to the scene showed its ugly face.

And then the Fire Nation had shown up too.

Heart in his throat, Katar clutched Angka tight to his chest as he waited for the rhino-mounted firebenders to move on. The clumping footsteps of the lumbering creatures slowly faded from hearing.

Letting out a shuddering breath, Katar uncurled Angka's body and laid her out flat. She'd taken a nasty hit from the Unagi's tail and didn't seem responsive. He tried not to panic, reaching a hand over her chest to check if she'd inhaled any water.

He could feel some responding to his grip. Carefully, he drew it out of her lungs and up her throat, relieved when Angka immediately coughed in response.

Her eyelids lifted and she blinked, blearily. "Katar..." she rasped. "Don't ride the Unagi. Not fun."

"I can imagine," he joked, smiling in spite of the close call. His nerves shuddered in relief, the frantic pace of his heart beginning to calm. He reached out to offer her his arms. "C'mon. That was Zuka's ship. She's probably on her way to the village right now."

Angka looked stricken at that, a horrified expression flashing across her face. She hurried to retrieve her clothes, tangling them in an effort to get them back on her body as quickly as possible. Katar had to come help straighten her shirt before they both took off running, heading back for the village as fast as they could.

Zuka was in the middle of the street, surrounded by tiny burning fires and temporarily downed Kyoshi warriors, when they arrived.

"Hiding like a scared little girl behind your bodyguards? Come out and fight, Avatar!" she shouted in challenge, her harsh gold eyes flashing with fury.

Katar shuddered, but Angka wasted no time in confronting the Fire Nation princess.

"I'm not hiding!" she declared. "I'm right here!"

Zuka looked almost relieved a moment, before her eyes hardened determinedly and she was sending fireballs sailing through the air towards the airbender.

He hated to stand by and watch Angka face the girl alone. But Koda and another boy were tugging fearfully at his clothes, cowering behind him. Katar turned around and scooped them both up, tucking low and bounding up the steps to one of the huts. He glanced back as he set the boys down.

He needn't have worried so much. No sooner had Angka gotten her hands on a pair of fans—one of the signature weapons of Kyoshi, an accessory to the light, aerodynamic swords they carried—then the fight was over. Zuka was blown comically into the side of a building by a gust of strong wind. The sight was so funny Katar forgot how intimidating the Fire Nation princess was.

"Get inside!" he whispered to the boys nonetheless, pushing them towards the open door and shelter, where a handful of other villagers were already hiding.

When he turned back again Angka was beside him, looking sadly at the smashed buildings and the fire licking up Avatar Kyoshi's brightly-painted statue, the Fire Nation soldiers further down the street, battling the Kyoshi warriors atop their rhinos.

"Look what I brought to this place," she said miserably.

"It's not your fault," Katar assured her.

She shook her head. "Yes it is," she insisted. Her eyes were full of despair. "These people got their town destroyed to protect me!"

Katar inhaled slowly, accepting the truth in her words, and said, "Then... let's get out of here. Zuka will leave Kyoshi to follow us."

Running instead of fighting. Again, came the thought, unbidden, to him.

He drowned it out by saying, "I know it feels wrong to run, but I think it's the only way," half trying to convince himself of it.

Angka seemed to agree with him, her shoulders slumping. "I'll call Appa," she said.

They shuffled out of sight of the main street, behind one of the buildings. The giant air bison came at once when Angka yelled for him, and with a quick boost up from Katar, she was quickly in the pilot's seat.

Katar scrambled up into the saddle a little awkwardly, then had a sudden panicked thought.

"Wait—!" he said, looking around frantically. "Where's Sokki?"

Angka peered over Appa's back, towards one of the rear porches. "I think that's her," she said, pointing.

Katar almost had to double-take. What he had thought were two Kyoshi warriors huddled together in conference were in fact Suko and his sister, and she was decked head to toe in the same green and gold as him, distinctive white facepaint plastered on her face. He was just pulling away from her; her hand was on her cheek and she was staring back at him as if stunned. He heard Suko ribbing her playfully to go, and with that, the boy disappeared around the corner.

Sokki stood, turning and climbing up Appa's tail, and Katar gawped at her once again.

"Sokki?" he said in disbelief.

"Yeah?" she said.

He couldn't help it. Katar covered his mouth to stifle a giggle.

"Are you... wearing a dress?" he asked.

Sokki flushed immediately bright red underneath her white makeup.

"Yes I'm wearing a dress!" she snapped defensively. "What's wrong with that?! I can wear dresses! I am a girl you know!" she practically screeched.

"It looks good, Sokki!" Angka chirruped helpfully, snapping the reins. "Appa, yip yip!"

Sokki staggered a moment as the air bison lurched beneath her, but took her seat with a hot face, shrinking into the silken shoulders of the Kyoshi warrior robes and pointedly avoiding looking at her brother.

"Sorry Sokki I just..." Katar chuckled again. "You do look nice." He took a seat next to her, curling his arms around his legs. "Soooo... I guess you smoothed things out with Suko, huh?" he teased.

Her hand drifted back up to her pale white cheek, rubbing the spot self-consciously. "He says I've got promise..." she murmured. "So thanks, you know," she said, ducking her head. "For the advice. And... sorry for being up your butt again."

Katar nodded to accept her apology. For now, it would be enough to mend the tension between them. "You're forgiven," he told her gently.

-ATLA-

Angka's heart warmed privately as she listened in on their conversation. Things had been off kilter in their trio ever since setting foot on the island. Part of her had wanted to get all the way down to the roots of the conflict between the two siblings—clearly a philosophical disagreement about the societal roles of men and women wasn't all of it—and part of her was just a little bit terrified that if she did, her new little found family would break apart at the seams. The past two days had been extraordinarily awkward for her, overthinking everything she said, feeling like she was walking on eggshells. Showing off for the other kids had been all too welcome a relief. Katar was not fun to be around when he was grouchy.

But now, she thought giddily... his smile was back. The tension was gone from his shoulders. Even when she'd abruptly rolled herself off Appa's head to drop into the water below, bring the Unagi to the surface to get it to spray water across the rooftops of the village, putting out the fires, he'd merely agreed with her calmly once she was back in the saddle that it had been a dangerous and reckless thing to do, before wrapping his arms around her in a surprise hug.

She gasped happily, a dozen nameless thrills shooting through her. She closed her eyes, sighing in contentment until he eventually pulled away.

It was good to have Katar back. Even Sokki seemed to be less abrasive. Softer, somehow.

"You know," she was saying. "Suko taught me a few things... a few techniques I could show you... if you want."

"Really?" he said in surprise. "You'd teach me how to fight?"

She shrugged. "It's what we both want." She slung her arms on her knees casually, ruby-coated lips spreading in a grin. "Might as well do it together."

"You guys are so much more fun when you're not fighting," Angka commented as she headed back up to Appa's head to retake the reins. "Next stop, Omashu!"

A sense of satisfaction settled over her as she snapped the reins, steering Appa off into the sun.

Her family was back to normal.

Chapter Text

Flopsy was bouncing happily around the pen, giving licks to a giggling Angka. He watched nervously from the balcony, still not entirely sure the giant... whatever it was wasn't going to turn around and bite her head off.

Sokki was busy dunking her head in a bowl of water, complaining all the while about sugar rock particles stuck in her hair. And the old Earth King was just cackle-snorting and taking large bites out of leaves of lettuce.

...It had been a weird couple of days.

Katar rubbed the hand where the creeping crystal ring had been attached. Even though he and Sokki had apparently never actually been in any real danger, he couldn't shake the creepy feeling of having been helpless, again, unable to aid Angka as she faced the mad king's trials.

It was starting to become a bad habit. Katar had thought his waterbending skill would be progressing faster with all the work and effort he'd been throwing into it. But he still wasn't strong enough to be any good in a fight.

Katar peeked over at Bumi. He was wearing his robes again, hunched over, the silken fabric hiding the sinewy muscles beneath.

For an old man he was surprisingly cut.

"Are you staring at me, young man?"

Bumi's voice alerted Katar to the fact that he was gawking a little too obviously. Facing forward quickly, Katar blurted out a nervous, "No sir!"

"Well why not? I think I happen to be very interesting," demanded Bumi, in a tone of voice that made Katar very confused as to whether or not the man was joking.

"Uh..."

Bumi's wrinkled face broke into a grin and he let out one of his distinctive cackles. "Heh heh. You should see the look on your face."

One of the king's trim arms landed around Katar's shoulders, and Katar was almost bowled over by the strength of the gesture.

"Don't worry about it, kid. I know I'm funny-looking."

Katar gave a strained smile, uncomfortably glancing around to see if there was a way to extricate himself from this conversation.

The king's aids were standing silent off in the corners and Sokki was muttering as she wiped her mouth. No help there.

Angka was still playing with Flopsy. Katar swallowed as he watched her, sliding a look towards Bumi. His mind replayed the battle the Earth King had given her, how relentless and powerful his attacks were, how amazingly strong he'd revealed himself to be.

"So... you're pretty good at fighting," he said, and then immediately flinched at how awkward he sounded.

"Pretty good!" Bumi guffawed. His eyes sobered and he poked a stern finger into Katar's collar. "I'm one of the best, and don't you forget it!"

Clamping down on his nervousness at the man's intense stare, Katar pressed forward. "You wouldn't happen to have any advice for a novice self-taught waterbender-in-training would you?"

The grin returned to Bumi's face. "Nope!" he said. "'fraid not! Waterbending's not my area of expertise. I know someone though. A master at the North Pole." He turned away, stroking his beard, his eyes scrunching in confusion. "Now what was his name?" he wondered aloud.

"I just hoped... I mean... I'm trying to get better at..." Katar stumbled over his words for a moment or two, then just gave up and finished, "Never mind. It's not important." Clearing his throat, he put his hands on the rails and changed the subject. "I still can't believe you were friends with Angka a hundred years ago," he marveled. "Is she still pretty much the same as you remember or...?"

Bumi smiled fondly. "Hasn't changed a bit." He pulled another lettuce leaf out from his sleeve, waving it around as he spoke. "Oh the stories I could tell! Wild rascals we were, always getting up to something or another. You know she had quite the little crush on me when we were younger..."

Katar had a brief moment of irrational internal panic. "Uh... she did?" he squeaked.

"Kidding!" Bumi cackled, dissolving into a fresh burst of hacking laughter. "I'm just kidding! Nah, I was never her type. Thicker than thieves we were, but not much into that icky mushy stuff."

"Oh good..." Katar breathed to himself.

A hand fell on his shoulder and Katar found himself turned to face Bumi, the old king's expression stone-cold serious, burning with conviction.

"You take care of her now, you hear?" he said. "Angka's plenty capable of handling herself, but there's a lot of people out there that don't want it known that the Avatar has returned." The fingers tightened on his shoulder. "She's going to need friends she can count on these coming days. Friends she can trust. Can you be that for her, sonny?"

His nerves were fluttering, but he straightened up a bit and answered at once, "I will."

"That's the spirit!" Bumi crowed, grin stretching his face again. He offered something out to Katar. "Rock candy?"

Katar grimaced down at the greenish gem-like treat. "I'll pass."

Bumi shrugged. "Suit yourself," he said, biting off a large chunk and then whistling to Flopsy and tossing the pet the rest.

Chapter Text

"Seems a waste to spend such a nice day training," Angka commented lightly, stretching out her arms above her head.

Katar noted that her lean frame was getting rather toned, her long bare arms starting to show a bit of muscle definition. It was intensely distracting, and he had to shake himself before he could reply.

"Maybe, but we're moving back inland tomorrow, and there won't be as convenient a water source." He cracked his knuckles, working out the kinks in his limbs. "Besides," he added with a grin, "I learned some new moves the other day that I want to teach you."

That seemed to satisfy the Avatar, who began wading into the shallow waves on the edge of the beach.

"All right then," she said. She put her hands up and bowed respectfully. "Ready when you are, Sifu Katar."

A thrill shot through him and Katar privately delighted. He always loved it when Angka called him that.

He stepped into the water, following Angka until they were both about knee-deep in the crashing surf. Katar frowned when he noticed Angka wince and wobble from a bad step.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

She reached down into the water and pulled up a spiny-looking blob of a creature, showing it off and grinning.

"Pricklefish. I guess I disturbed him."

She carefully tossed the ball of spikes off behind her.

"There you go little guy," she cooed at it.

"They're not poisonous are they?" Katar asked in concern, suddenly worried.

She just readied herself, swirling a tendril of water up from between her feet and curling it around her arm. "Relax Katar," she chided lightly. "They're harmless. Honestly, what's been up with you lately? You've been on edge ever since we ran into those Fire Nation protesters in Yu Dao."

It had been weighing on him. But he knew she worried when he worried and if he let it fester between them it just spiraled into a mess of tension and anxiety so he brushed it off with an irreverent joke.

"I'm surprised you're not on edge," he said, rolling a ball of water in his hands. "You're the one they almost killed."

"Meh," she shrugged. "They tried their best. And their best was really boring."

Katar's hand drew back and he grinned. "Heads up!"

The orb streaked across the space between them, smacking Angka square in the face and bursting.

She sputtered, coughing up and wiping long wet strands from her eyes.

"Hey, cheap shot!" she complained, laughing.

She sent a barrage of ice spikes at him. He blocked with a thin wave immediately, freezing it in place, then melting it after the icicles pinged off the barrier harmlessly.

Without wasting any motion, he sent the wave back at her, watching her split it in two and part it around her.

They traded shots for a few minutes, him advancing one moment and retreating the next. Angka danced around his attacks with all the grace of an airbender, maddeningly elusive. It made him want to push harder, really unleash the waterbending fury, but he hesitated, reluctant to do anything that might actually hurt her.

After several minutes of easily sliding around his water whips and ice shards, Angka seemed to notice that.

"So I know you said you were gonna teach me some new tricks," she said conversationally, running along a slope of ice that sprang up to block her path. "But so far all I'm seeing is the same old waterbending." She flipped off the slope, hands swinging downwards to melt it back into the ocean before she lightly set foot on a protruding rock. "Wait..." She squinted, her face pinching in suspicion. "Are you holding back on me?"

Katar pushed a wet strand of hair away from his face, averting his eyes. "Maybe a little," he admitted sheepishly.

Angka grinned, standing with her feet apart and her hands on her hips. "C'mon Katar, I beat the Firelord," she said. "You're not gonna hurt me. I can handle whatever you can dish out." Her grin turned impish, teasing. "Or are you just afraid you're gonna get your butt kicked by a girl again?"

The words fanned the flame of competition inside him, turning it into a blaze. His brows flattened seriously over his eyes.

"Oh ho ho, it is on now," he chuckled darkly.

The water behind him frothed ominously.

-ATLA-

Columns of water erupted from the sea, twisting around and spewing in great gushes towards Angka, who squeaked as they inundated her, making her vanish from sight briefly.

A moment later she reappeared, balancing on a tightly-spinning air ball above the maelstrom.

Katar didn't let her have much of a reprieve. The swirling eddies followed her up, tossing her on the air ball like a floating lure.

She shrieked in delight, flailing about to keep her ball together.

The water suddenly dropped back down, returning to its place as Katar released it, and Angka yelped as she was suddenly dumped into the ocean, deeper out than they'd been sparring before.

Turning over a few times in the surf, Angka found the bottom and pushed up, breaking the surface.

She looked around for Katar, growing a bit frantic when she couldn't see him.

He made himself known quickly, though, his arms coming around her midsection as he pulled her back down into the water.

Her squeal was cut off as her head was dunked. Katar used his bending to propel them back to shore, the wave spilling them out onto the wet sand.

They rolled over and over until Katar emerged on top, pinning down her shoulders with a feverish grin, his eyes alight with triumph.

"Gotcha!" he declared.

She giggled. Both of them panted breathlessly for a moment, the excitement and exertion mingling in a heady cocktail within them. Angka could feel sand seeping into her hair, brought by the trickling waves splashing into her, but she didn't mind, Katar was happy, and she was happy to let him have a fair win.

All of a sudden he seemed to realize how close they were. His face blanked, his eyes going wide and a slight blush appearing on his cheeks.

He was absolutely adorable.

"Uh..." he stammered. His eyes glanced down towards their tangled legs, glanced back up to her face, lingering on the bare patches of skin she was showing.

He looked straight at her, his gaze locked with hers, holding there uncertainly.

With an impish grin, she reached up, wrapping both arms around his neck and pulling him down for a kiss.

He melted into her almost instantly, his mouth relaxing and fitting to hers with a practiced ease. His hands drifted up to cup her face, his sand-covered fingers on her skin and tangling in her hair.

She sighed in contentment, clutching him tighter, arms around his shoulders, feeling the warmth of his body against hers. His skin felt—

"Ahem!"

An annoyed little throat-clearing interrupted the moment. Angka and Katar broke apart, Katar quickly scooting off her, out of their compromising position.

Both of them looked up sheepishly at Sokki, who stood above them with hands on her hips and narrowed eyes.

"Am I interrupting something?" she asked flatly.

Angka popped herself off the sand with a casual hop, brushing grains off her front. "Hi Sokki! We were just training!" she said, grinning widely.

"In what, tonguebending?" Sokki muttered, turning aside to start picking up their clothes.

Katar sighed deeply, frustration in the lines of his face. "What do you want, Sokki?" he groaned.

"Oh, Zuka sent me," she answered lightly. "Something about the delegates from Omashu being ready. So we gotta go entertain them or something. I kinda wasn't paying attention."

Katar stubbed his toe into the sand. "Figures," he sighed.

Angka snapped her fingers dejectedly. "Rats," she agreed. Shrugging off her disappointment, she reached to take Katar's hand. "Guess you'll have to show me those new moves sometime else," she teased as she led him towards the path back up to the house. "C'mon, let's go."

She thoroughly enjoyed the scandalized look Sokki shot her as they passed.

Chapter Text

The chill sea breeze lifted tiny droplets onto his face.

Katar shivered slightly, looking out across the waves towards the brightening sun on the horizon. Black smoke from the ruined Fire Nation prison still billowed high into the air, as their escape ships sailed further and further away from the rig.

Adrenaline still ran excitedly through his veins. He couldn't believe the past few days had happened. They'd infiltrated a prison. They'd fought the Fire Nation.

They'd won.

Sokki had been by just a few moments ago, to congratulate him. Of course, she'd made it sound like he'd done it all to play the big strong hero in the eyes of their new friend Haruhi, teasing him about rescuing damsels in distress.

The words had prickled him, and not just because he was absolutely not interested in the earthbender that way.

He hadn't been trying to play the hero he was just... when he'd heard Haruhi had been taken... and it was his fault, again...

Shame had been his first motive. He was ashamed of not being there when it happened, ashamed of failing yet again to protect his friends. His impulse decision to fake earthbending in order to get arrested and sent to the same offshore prison as Haruhi was at first a desperate attempt to make up for the guilt that smothered him.

But then something had happened on the rig. Seeing all those once-proud earthbenders dejectedly accepting their imprisonment, beaten down and spirits broken had ignited something inside him. A passion he didn't know he was capable of.

It made him want to train all the harder, so that if—no, when—the next time came and the Fire Nation was threatening his friends again, threatening her, he would be able to fight by her side.

His gaze drifted, finding Angka at once, sitting atop Appa's head as the bison floated along beside the ship and playing happily with Momo, teasing the lemur with little circling air balls.

He still couldn't believe how good she was with animals. She was so gentle. So comfortable. She rubbed Momo's head like he was a loyal dog and the lemur chirred pleasantly at her touch. Her smile was warm. Beautiful.

He'd do anything to keep seeing it.

"That's her, isn't it?" asked a voice from his left.

Katar glanced up to see Haruhi, standing just a little ways behind him. Her long brown hair brushed her shoulders as she nodded towards Angka.

"The Avatar."

"Yeah..." Katar murmured, watching Angka giggle as Momo crawled into her lap and licked her face.

Haruhi grinned, leaning her arms on the railing. "I was going to ask you to come with us but..." she trailed off.

Katar was already shaking his head.

"You already have a mission don't you?" said Haruhi, answering her own question.

"Yeah," Katar repeated. He fiddled with the bracer on his wrist. "We have to get Angka to the North Pole."

So she could learn waterbending. So she could save the world.

Haruhi's smile faded and she looked down towards the waves, growing somber. "Thank you," she said, "for bringing my father back to me." She shook her head. "I never thought I'd see him again." She straightened, turning to the right to face him. Her eyes were sad as she said, "I only wish there was some way..."

She left the thought unfinished.

A twinge of pain clenched through his head. "I know," he said, his hand absently reaching towards his neck.

The twinge turned into a cold flash of panic as his fingers met with a terrifying nothingness. Katar gasped, eyes darting down.

"My mother's necklace!" he cried. "It's gone!"

Haruhi's eyes widened and Angka looked up at the sound of his distress.

-ATLA-

He looked everywhere.

Well, everywhere it was safe to look. He'd been up and down every inch of the ship, frantically searching every corner, every crevice, praying desperately it was somewhere here and not back on the rig.

Because if it was still at the prison it was as good as gone. They couldn't go back. The Fire Nation would be all over the place. He wouldn't risk Angka's safety just to retrieve a piece of jewelry, even one as precious a memento as his mother's necklace.

Still, it felt like a large chunk had been torn out of his heart, ripped from his chest and flung into the dirt.

The raw wound was still stinging when they made landfall, said goodbye to Haruhi and her father Tyro and the other liberated earthbenders, and started back on their way.

Sokki was unusually quiet, respectful of the loss. She trudged along beside him, carrying the heaviest pack, just clutching the shoulder straps tightly.

Angka was also silent, busy working something in her hands. Momo perched on her shoulder, batting at her hair, and Appa shuffled along in her wake, taking a break from carrying them.

They found a little rocky hollow, bathed orange by the darkening sunset and stopped for the evening. Sokki volunteered herself to go find some firewood, while Katar busied himself with setting out their bedrolls.

He worked numbly. Methodically. Trying not to think too much.

A sudden blur washed over his vision as he patted the bedroll straight. Katar started and blinked furiously, quickly reaching up an arm to wipe his eyes.

None of that. It was just a stupid necklace. He wasn't going to cry over it.

But the image came to him unbidden of a woman's warm face, caring and soft, a bright shine off the pendant at her neck and his vision blurred again, wet drops spilling out and trailing his cheeks.

He rubbed at his face harder now, his sleeve scraping on his skin.

"Hey, uh... Katar?" came Angka's voice, hesitantly.

Katar composed himself and looked up at her, trying for a smile that he could already feel looked forced. "Yes?"

Angka was looking down at her toes, rubbing one foot into the dirt. Her hands clasped something behind her.

"I'm really sorry about your mom's necklace," she said. "And—" She peeked up briefly, then quickly lowered her eyes again. "—and I know I can't ever replace it but..."

She brought her hands out to the front, holding something out to him in her palms.

Katar straightened, his eyes widening.

Angka had somehow found a very thin, very smooth-surfaced blue-white shell that she'd clumsily scratched the Water Tribe waves onto. The shell was threaded through on either side with tautly braided green leaves that trailed into thin knotted ends.

Her cheeks burned pink as she looked everywhere but at him.

"I thought..." she stammered, "...if I made you a new one it might... cheer you up a little?"

He marveled, reaching out a hand to take one of the braided strings and lift the pretty pendant off her hands. "You made this?" he asked. "For me?"

She rubbed a hand up through her hair sheepishly. "I couldn't really remember what the symbol on the front looked like so I kind of just took my best guess, and then I looked for leaves that were bluish but there weren't really any so—"

He interrupted her with arms flung around her small frame. He squeezed tightly, feeling like he would burst if he let her go for even a second.

"You're amazing," he whispered.

He could feel her squirming uncomfortably. "It's just a necklace," she muttered.

He laughed, his heart feeling just a little bit lighter.

"It's just what I needed," he assured her.

Chapter Text

Katar was still sleeping, slumped against the lintel frame of the village gate, the elder's cloak draped over his shoulders.

His face looked haggard. Worry was worn into every line. She wanted so desperately to reach out and touch him, grab his shoulder and shake him awake, let him know she was there, let him throw his arms around her and wrap her in his familiar scent.

Angka stretched out her hand, palm up, and sighed at her transparent blue fingers.

"What am I gonna do?" she moaned.

She had tried looking for Hei Bai again. Tried sitting down and meditating like the monks had showed her. Tried closing her eyes and just wishing to be corporeal again.

Nothing had worked. She was stuck. Stuck partway in the Spirit World where no one could see or hear her and she was all alone.

Sitting here by Katar was the only thing she had left. Even if he couldn't see her, she didn't want to leave him.

But I have to, her mind argued at her. I have to figure this out. I have to find a way to get back or...

She cast a despairing glance at him.

...or he'll have waited all night in vain.

She bit her lip. Summoning up a cheerful smile, she spoke.

"I'll figure this out, Katar, I promise. Like they said, I'm the bridge between worlds, right?"

The words felt hollow in her own ears. Last night's floundering had certainly proved what a failure of a mediator between spirits and people she was.

"All I have to do is... figure out what I have to do," she went on, hoping some of her encouragement was reaching him. Giving him hope. "But once I do that, no problem."

A rumbling huff sounded. For a moment her heart lifted.

"Appa!" she called. She stood up, using her staff to get to her feet. "Hey buddy, I'm right here!"

The bison had no reaction to Angka's call. He leaned down, blowing air into Katar's face.

Angka's eyes fell. "But I guess you can't see me either," she sighed, disappointed.

She watched as Katar woke, groggy eyes fixing on Appa, tired smile stretching his mouth.

"Hey," he greeted the bison, patting his nose. "Guess you didn't get much sleep either."

Appa gave a mournful moan.

"I know, I wish she was here too." His hands were soft as they brushed over Appa's face. "It's okay, Appa. Don't worry, I'm sure they're on their way back."

He straightened, getting up, rubbing under his eyes.

"C'mon, let's get some food and then let's go out and look for our girl, okay?"

Appa rumbled in agreement, shuffling after Katar as he trudged back towards the main house—one of the only ones still left standing after last night's rampage.

Angka's head was screaming in frustration. Katar passed so close to her and yet he was maddeningly far away, and he was going to leave to look for her but she was right there and she didn't know where to go and—

She smacked her staff against the ground.

"What am I supposed to do?" she cried. She looked towards the sky, eyes pleading. "Avatar Roku? Hello? Anyone? Please... please help me!"

Her breath caught. She heard something... something coming closer.

She peered into the dense forest, squinting.

A glowing light resolved into a winding shape. Rippling. Graceful.

A dragon.

Eyes widening, Angka took several frightened steps back, but couldn't bring herself to turn and run as the great beast came straight for her. She knew she couldn't airbend; she'd already tried long ago, a last-ditch effort to make herself known to Katar. Could she reason with it? Maybe it was more willing to listen than Hei Bai?

No more time to think about it. The dragon landed heavily in front of her, long neck towering over her head. Angka gave a fearful inhale, gripping her staff in her right hand tight, but standing her ground.

"H—hello?" she called timidly.

The dragon's keen eyes bored into her. It lowered its great head, the tendril of its mustache snaking out and reaching to tap her head, right between her eyes.

Her vision flashed suddenly with a vivid image. A man on a crimson dragon, bearded and ancient, with kind eyes and a golden crown.

She gasped with understanding as the contact broke.

"You're Avatar Roku's animal guide! Like Appa is to me!" she exclaimed. A thread of hope was beating in her heart again. Finally there was something, someone else with her in this waking void. Someone connected to the very person she wanted to talk to. "I need to save my friend, and I don't know how," she explained quickly. "Is there some way for me to talk to Roku?"

The dragon shifted, lowering its back, curling around her.

Relief shuddered through her. She clambered on, tripping over herself.

One last anxious look was paid towards the village, where Katar's back was slowly fading from view.

"I'll be back, Katar," she promised, her voice a whisper. "I'll find Sokki."

The dragon lifted off and took flight, leaving the village far behind.

-ATLA-

His eyes were beginning to burn from constantly straining towards the horizon. A thousand anxious thoughts danced around his head. And the ever-familiar guilt.

Here he was, waiting helplessly, while his sister and Angka were both gone.

He shook himself, his fist clenching, tightening the water spiral he'd been nervously curling and uncurling for hours.

With a sigh he let it drop into the dirt. Katar took a last look towards the setting sun, peering through the rays for some kind of glimpse of... something.

Reluctantly, he started to turn to go back inside.

Then his ears caught a sound. There was a flutter of something on the air.

Katar whipped back around, a sudden lightness shooting through his heart. He gasped as his straining eyes caught sight of a familiar floating air glider.

His feet were already moving, propelling him down the stairs and across the space towards her as she dropped to the ground.

His arms flung around her, drawing out a strained grunt.

"You're back!" he cried happily, enveloping her small frame in his arms like she was the most precious thing in the world to him.

She was safe. She was here. Things would be okay.

He almost never wanted to let her go, but after a moment his joy dimmed. He released her, stepping back as he realized she'd returned alone.

"Where's Sokki?" he asked, the worry creeping through his heart again.

Angka's face fell. "I... I'm still working on that," she said. "I'm not sure... yet."

Katar's chest panged but he pushed it down with an optimistic smile and a soft, quick touch to her cheek. "Well, I'm still glad you're okay. I took Appa out to search for you and you weren't anywhere."

Angka scratched at her cheek. "Yeeeaaah, I kinda got stuck in the Spirit World for a bit," she said sheepishly.

His brain latched onto that. "Do you think that's where Sokki and the other villagers are?"

She pursed her lips in thought. "Maybe." Her eyes lifted with conviction. "But I think I'm going to have to confront Hei Bai again to find out."

Katar sighed heavily, a million objections and anxieties chasing each other inside his skull.

Aloud he said only, "I was afraid of that."

-ATLA-

He hated this, he hated this, he absolutely hated this.

His hands gripped the edge of the windowsill, staring out after her as she waited, alone, for the spirit monster to reappear.

He'd wanted to go with her. Desperately. Feverishly.

But she'd insisted.

"I have an idea," she'd told him. "Someone I met in the Spirit World taught me a trick that might work."

Her eyes had borne into him, convicted.

"But if it doesn't work I..."

She'd swallowed, hesitating.

"...I don't want you to get taken too," she'd finished softly.

Katar was jolted from his memory by a sudden fearful crash! His heart spiked into his throat as he saw the black and white creature smashing through a building to Angka's side, bellowing its awful cry right in front of her.

For a split second the spirit monster wore pointed red armor and loomed over a female figure in blue and he was tiny and helpless and—

And then it was gone, as Angka pushed herself up into the air, launching towards the creature's head, palm outstretched.

Its skin glowed white where her hand made contact. And all of a sudden... it stopped.

Angka dropped to her feet in front of it. Her voice carried faintly across the distance. He couldn't hear what she was saying, but she drew something out of her pocket, placing it on the ground in front of the creature, who picked it up and looked at it quizzically.

The sight of it grew blurry.

Katar blinked and its form had changed. Now it seemed no more than a large, lumbering panda, placid smile on its face.

Hei Bai turned and padded out through the gates, bamboo springing up in his footsteps.

A moment or two later, people started wandering out from where he'd disappeared. And among them...

"Sokki!" he called, darting out from inside the building.

His sister looked dazed and very confused but unhurt. She even hugged him back a little when he flung his arms around her.

"What happened?" she asked.

Once again, Katar found it difficult to detach from his tight hold, so relieved that she was alive and well. He would never complain about her bad breath or insults again. "You were trapped in the Spirit World for twenty-four hours!" he explained breathlessly. "How are you feeling?"

Sokki got an uncomfortable look.

"...Like I seriously need to use the bathroom," she gawped, her eyes wide, quickly excusing herself.

Katar made a face as he watched her go, then turned to gaze in awe at Angka.

She stood in the midst of the returning villages, small but straight-backed. She looked almost as amazed by what she'd done as he was.

He walked over, reaching to put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm... I'm so proud of you Angka," he said, reverently. "You figured out what to do all on your own."

She turned her head aside with a smile. "Actually, I did have a little help." Her smile faded. "And... there's something else."

The way her tone turned sent tingles of apprehension through him.

"What is it?" he asked.

She scraped the dirt with the end of her glider. "I think I found a way to contact Roku," she said. "There's a crescent-shaped island, and if I go there on the solstice, I'll be able to speak with him."

Katar's eyes widened slightly. "That's... that's good!"

Her serious expression didn't change.

"Isn't it?" he added uncertainly.

"Creepy, but definitely great," Sokki piped in, walking up, having returned from the bathroom. She stopped, crossing her arms. Her eyes turned severe. "Except the solstice is tomorrow. Where exactly is this island?" she demanded.

Angka sighed heavily. "You're not gonna like it," she warned them.

-ATLA-

She was right. They didn't.

But they followed her into the borders of the Fire Nation nonetheless.

"All right, I think they're coming," Sokki said, peeling her ear away from the corner, around which they could hear the frantic footsteps of the other Fire Sages. "Hurry everyone! Get in position!"

Angka darted to the large door, lifting Momo up and letting the lemur crawl up through the brass pipes, making his way into the chamber beyond. Shyu waited anxiously to one side, ready to play his part in the ruse.

As Angka rushed back towards the pillars to find a good hiding spot, she slowed, skidding on her feet and stopping in front of Katar.

"If this works—and even if it doesn't—thank you," she told him. Her eyes shone with emotion. "For coming with me."

Katar nodded once, sharply. "I wasn't going to let you do this alone," he said. "We're with you to the end."

"That's a nice sentiment, Katar, but seriously—hurry!" Sokki hissed at him from her hiding place.

Angka and Katar broke apart. They quickly took up their hiding places.

The other Fire Sages piled into the chamber. Shyu pointed at the door, shouting about how the Avatar was inside. Momo's shadow creeping under the doorway reinforced the illusion and, just as planned, the Fire Sages lit up the pipes, unsealing the door for real themselves.

Katar sprang into action the moment they realized the ruse, leaping forward and yanking the nearest Sage's headdress panels over his face, putting him to the floor, holding him there.

Shyu called out to Angka once he and Sokki had subdued their own prisoners.

"Angka, now!"

There was no response.

A creeping anxiety scraped up the inside of his ribcage. Katar unstuck his throat, calling out.

"A-Angka, now's your chance!"

For half a second more there was still no movement from around her pillar.

And then she emerged, pushed into view by a familiar scarred face and royal armor.

His heart stuttered to a stop.

Zuka had hold both of the airbender's arms, keeping them pinned behind her back, almost doubling the smaller girl over. Her eyes were wild and fierce as she declared, "The Avatar's coming with me!" She shouted an order for the doors to be closed and started pushing Angka towards the nearby stairwell.

Katar couldn't hear past the roaring in his ears, barely registered the Fire Sage turning the tables on him and grabbing his arm, twisting it. All he saw was Angka. Angka in the grip of Zuka. Angka being taken away.

No no no no, repeated in his thoughts. Zuka was taking her. She was hurting her. Angka's face was screwed tightly, bravely. She was trying not to cry from the pain the pressure on her arms must have been putting her in.

Zuka was forcing her down the steps now. In a few moments Angka would be out of sight. Gone forever.

Just like—

A surge of adrenaline swelled through him. He slammed a hard elbow into the gut of the Fire Sage holding him and as his wrist was released used the same motion to lash his hand out, a lancing ribbon of water bursting from his hip canteen and snaking forward.

The tendril was messy, wobbling and breaking even as it stretched, but it was just enough, smacking Zuka across the back of her head, distracting her.

Her hold slipped for just a moment.

It was all Angka needed to slip her foot behind the princess's ankle and trip her up, send her toppling down the stairs as she shoved away.

Katar watched Angka run towards them, vaguely feeling hands on his shoulders, his back being shoved against the pillar.

"Go!" he shouted, as the pinch of a chain wound around him.

Angka checked herself, switching directions at once, frantically leaping on light feet and bursts of wind for the quickly-closing door.

Katar's heart screamed until he saw her slip through it just in time, the metal lock latching behind her.

He slumped against the pillar, sagging in the chains.

She was in. She was safe.

It didn't even matter what happened to him now.

"She made it," he breathed, exhaustion stealing the strength from his voice.

-ATLA-

The Fire Nation soldiers waited outside the chamber. Katar resisted the urge to scream and curse at them.

Leave her alone! he wanted to shout. After all their efforts he couldn't stand it if he had to watch her fall into the enemy's hands again.

The minutes stretched out, thick with tension. Nothing could be heard from the other side of the door, and Katar didn't know if that was a good or bad thing.

He wished their father were there.

The wind outside suddenly picked up. A rushing roar sounded and eerie light spilled from around the cracks of the door, near-blinding.

His heart was pounding. There was a familiar tingle on his arms. Spiritual energy was moving all around them. Even the Fire Nation soldiers gave pause.

The door cracked open.

For a moment all he could see was a pair of glowing white eyes.

"Ready..." barked the Fire Nation commander.

Katar's fear and panic nearly choked him. "No!" he cried. "Angka!"

"Fire!"

The soldiers spewed flames towards the gap and Katar watched in horror, wanting to turn away but unable to, his head shrieking. A memory threatened to press against his consciousness, echoes beginning to sound in his ears.

But then then flames swirled around and coalesced, then parted to reveal not the small form of an airbender, but the billowing red robes of an old man with a golden crown, and the breath in Katar was stolen away in awe.

Avatar Roku.

A casual motion of his hand sent the flames rolling back towards them and all of a sudden the chains were melting, and the soldiers were fleeing, and the ground was shaking, molten lava spewing up from the floor and Sokki shielding him with her arms.

Shyu telling them they had to escape.

"Not without Angka," he growled determinedly.

He strained his eyes.

The chaos quieted for a moment. The mists drew back, surrounding Roku, veiling him from sight and then vanishing around Angka's small frame as she tilted, weak-kneed, onto the floor.

His relief cooled through his whole body as he and Sokki ran up to take her arms and reclaim her.

She's safe, repeated in his head.

It would be okay.

Chapter Text

Her nerves were buzzing.

Nine months until the end of summer, she recited inside her head for the hundredth time. Nine months. I've already mastered airbending so there's just three more elements to master. Nine months, three elements. That's one element per three months. That's doable, right?

Oh spirits it had to be doable. Because the world was doomed otherwise.

Okay so, I completely master one element in three months, three times. That can't be too hard. I mean sure it's never been done before, the hysterical thought chased around in her tingling skull, and every other Avatar before me has taken years to master just one element but—Ohhhh... She gave a whimpering moan, her hands coming up over her ears. I can't do this! This is not possible!

She paced back and forth across Appa's back, anxiety driving her heart in a racing, erratic rhythm.

"What am I gonna do, what am I gonna do, what am I gonna do?" she whispered in panic.

"Oh for goodness sake..." Sokki groaned up from where she was steering Appa. "Sit down. We are going to hit a bump and you are going to go flying off!" she warned sternly.

"I can't do this!" she cried, her high and pitched, eyes pinching hopelessly. She spun in tight circles back and forth. "How am I supposed to master all four elements before that comet arrives?!"

Sokki waved a hand. "Well let's see, you've pretty much mastered airbending and that only took you 112 years... I'm sure you can master three more elements by next summer," she said, in what Angka hoped was an encouraging tone.

But the reminder of how little time she had sent her head spinning into dizzy circles again.

She whined, whirling around and beginning to pace again. "I haven't even started waterbending and we're still weeks away from the North Pole!" Her fingers raked into her hair, tangling, tugging on the roots. "What am I gonna do?!" she moaned again, almost breathlessly.

A steady hand grabbed her wrist.

Angka stopped.

She turned her head and looked down at Katar, who was sitting there serenely, a patient smile on his face.

With a gentle tug he urged her to sit.

"Calm down," he told her. "It's going to be okay."

He said it with such conviction, and the look in his eyes shone with so much faith...

Angka slowly took a deep breath, feeling the tinny ring in her ears fade away and the tension in her shoulders uncurl a bit.

She still felt wound-up, but the panic wasn't beating on her eardrums and clanging around the insides of her skull anymore, at least.

He'd pulled her hands into his, his fingers warm and soft. She stared down at her lap.

If... if Katar thinks things will be okay... maybe I can believe it too, she thought.

She exhaled, anxiety leaving her body and flying away.

His hands squeezed hers reassuringly.

"If you want, I can try and teach you some of the stuff I know," he offered.

She looked up. "You'd do that?" she asked, hopeful.

He nodded, smiling again. He turned to look towards the side, crawling to the edge of Appa's saddle, and Angka followed. "We'll need to find a good source of water first," he said, studying the ground far below.

Angka's shoulder brushed his as she joined him, looking for patches of water.

Chapter Text

He was useless.

Katar snarled in frustration as his wobbly half-formed water whip broke cohesion again, falling back down into the pond.

The water splashed and rippled, loud in the quiet-sounding night.

His fists curled at his sides and he slowly drew in a long breath.

He had to get this. Just once. He had to.

He tried again, moving his hands in a semblance of the motions depicted in the scroll.

Raise, curl back, shift balance—

Splut!

His grip slipped and the water splashed back down.

He wanted to scream. Angka had made this look so easy when she had done it earlier that afternoon.

Thinking of that brought a sharp stab of guilt into his chest. He had snapped at her, actually yelled in her face, angry at his inability to get this one simple-looking bending move and taking it out on her.

-ATLA-

"See Katar? You just gotta shift your weight through the stances," she was telling him, effortlessly performing the move with practiced perfection. "Keep your feet steady and—"

"I know what I'm doing!" he bit, suddenly and unexpectedly harsh. "I don't need your help!" Fuming hot, a red haze around his head, he continued, "If I can't even get one thing by myself without you having to hold my hand through it what good am I?!"

He stopped at the expression on her face. She looked stung, her eyes watering and her lip quivering as if he had slapped her.

The anger left him in a rush.

"Oh gosh..." he whispered, horrified. He held up his hands as if to reach for her. "Angka, I... I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you... I don't know what came over me..."

She wiped at her eyes with a sniffle. "It's okay," she told him, flashing a brave smile.

"No, no it's not," Katar countered, placing his hands on her shoulders, his face twisting when she flinched. "But I promise, it won't happen again." Urgently he let go and went over to the scroll and rolled it up, handing it to her quickly. "Here. This is yours. I don't want to have anything to do with it anymore."

-ATLA-

He'd made her cry. And he hadn't even kept his promise, sneaking the scroll out of her bag and sneaking off in the middle of the night to try again. (And again, and again.)

He was useless.

He let his hands fall to his side, exhaling in a long breath.

Calm down, he told himself. Focus.

He was about to try again when a strange metallic thud! sounded in the distance. Katar stopped, turning around, some warning sense tingling in the air around him.

He stepped over to the bushes, pushing aside several branches to see farther down the river.

His breath caught.

There was a Fire Nation cutter craft parked on the beach.

Immediately he thought of Angka and his sister, sleeping unknowingly back at the campsite, and backed away, turning to run, to go warn them.

He stopped suddenly, jerking back before he could smack face-first into the figure before him, tall and imposing, His fear spiked as he recognized one of the pirates they'd stolen the scroll from.

The man caught him by the wrist as he was trying to run, almost easily pulling him back.

"No!" Katar yelled, summoning a water tendril from the river, twisting it up to smack the pirate in the face. "Let go of me!"

He did, sputtering as the water hit his nose and chin. Katar stumbled away, his only thought to run, but he hadn't even made it more than a few steps before another tall figure loomed in front of him.

He gasped, his wrists caught again, squeezed in a crushingly strong grip, looking up in terror at golden eyes glaring out of a scarred visage at him.

"Don't worry about the pirates," a growling female voice threatened. Zuka's eyes were dangerous and narrow as she told him, "It's me you should be afraid of."

And he was. And he wished desperately that Angka was there.

-ATLA-

The fear wouldn't stop churning through his stomach, but he hid it well under a stubborn veneer of defiance.

He was surrounded by pirates and Fire Nation soldiers, his hands bound behind him around the trunk of a small tree. His only consolation was that they hadn't found Angka already. There was a chance he could still protect her, so long as he didn't tell them where she was.

He really hoped they weren't going to try torturing the information out of him.

Zuka was standing in front of him, her cold, even glare firmly in place. She crossed her arms.

"Tell me where she is, and I won't hurt you or your sister," she demanded.

Katar shot furious eyes at her.

"Go jump in the river," he growled.

Her mouth tightened. For half a second Katar wondered if she was going to get angry and hit him.

But then her face softened a little. She stepped towards him, her arms outstretching.

"Try to understand," she said. "I need to capture her to restore something I've lost."

"What's that, your skincare regimen?" Katar muttered, not looking at her.

"My honor," Zuka said through gritting teeth, her appeasing tone faltering a moment. It was back shortly as she said, "Perhaps in exchange I can restore something you've lost."

She drew something out from her sleeve with a flourish, brandishing it in front of his eyes.

"I'm sure your sister must be missing this."

Katar gasped, the moonlight catching on the blue pendant and reflecting in his eyes. "That's mine!" he cried, straining forward, the ropes twisting on his wrists. "Give it back!"

Zuka glanced between him and the necklace dangling in her fingers, confusion and something else—Chagrin? Disgust?—rearranging her expression.

"Yours?" she repeated disbelievingly, her tone laced with a faint hint of revulsion.

Katar glared. "It belonged to my mother," he said. "How did you get it?" he demanded.

"Well I didn't steal it," Zuka muttered, shoving it back out of sight. Her pleasantries were gone as she faced him again. "Tell me. Where she. Is," she emphasized, every word threatening.

Fat chance, he thought.

"No."

Zuka simmered, but now she had other things to worry about, as the pirate captain was stepping forward.

"Enough of this necklace garbage! You promised the scroll!"

Zuka produced it, holding it over a flaming hand. "I wonder how much this is worth," she mused, to the immediate protest of the pirates.

Katar's heart pulled down, sinking with guilt. That blasted scroll. The thing that had started all this. Because he just had to take it, just had to be good at something for once in his life and thought he needed it to help make him better.

And not only had it not done that, not provided the magical technique or wisdom that would break through his inadequacy and make him a better waterbender, but it had caused conflict between him and the very person he was trying to protect. And now it had even put her in danger.

He was going to hate himself for a long time for this one.

He slumped his head back against the tree, his eyes and mouth twisting as he watched the pirates trudge off to look for Angka and Sokki.

-ATLA-

It was agony seeing her in the hands of the pirates and knowing it was his fault she was there. So when things turned into chaos, the Fire Nation soldiers and pirates turning on each other for possession of the prize, his only thought—once Momo had bitten through the ropes holding him—was to get her and his sister out of there.

He rushed into the smoke, calling for them.

"Angka! Sokki! Where are you?"

"Over here!" Angka replied, her young voice carrying over the sounds of melee combat.

"Where?" Sokki yelled, sounding flustered. "I can't see a thing!"

"Follow my voice!" Angka told her.

Katar ran through the mist, ducking and dodging pirates and Fire Nation weapons until he spotted a glimpse of orange fluttering around in the haze. He reached out in relief, grabbing her wrist, pulling her away from the fight and towards safety.

His foot caught on something on the ground and he nearly faceplanted into the dirt.

"Ow!" came Sokki's indignant protest. She stood up from where Katar had almost tripped over her, crawling out of the smoke. "Would you watch where you're stepping?"

Katar rolled his eyes and grabbed her wrist as well. "Come on!" he urged.

They ran for the pirates' wooden junk, beached just a ways down the river. Katar dropped their hands, placing his palms on the prow.

"Help me get this boat in the water so we can get out of here!"

The two girls took up places on either side of him, pushing with all their might. All three of them struggled to budge the boat even an inch closer into the water.

Finally they gave up and stepped back, panting hard.

"We need a team of rhinos to budge this ship!" Sokki complained, rubbing splinters out of her palms.

Angka was looking pensively up at the boat.

"A team of rhinos..." she said.

She looked significantly at Katar.

"...or two waterbenders," she finished with a smile.

The words squeezed his heart with a warm thrill and his wide eyes almost watered.

She believed in him.

A swell of confidence and hope rose up in him. If Angka believed he could do it, then he certainly give it his all.

He took up position opposite her, and with a small nod, they slowly started raising the tide higher and higher.

The boat creaked and groaned as it lifted off the sand. Katar could hardly cover his elation.

It was working. He was bending.

He was a waterbender.

The ship slid into the water, and Katar almost whooped in victory. He straightened, motioning for the girls and Momo to follow.

"Everybody in!"

Chapter Text

Angka sat quietly, hands in her lap, fingers braiding thin strands of cord together. The campfire popped and snapped, the light chatter of the Freedom Fighters drifting around the circle.

She glanced up briefly, looking around the group. At least a dozen girls ranging in age from eighteen to eight, and one very short, very fierce-looking shaggy-haired boy with a painted face. Jet was at the head of the table, sipping casually from her drink cup. Katar was fidgeting next to her, his eyes averted bashfully.

Jet said something that made Katar look up, and the boy beamed widely, flashing a broad smile.

Angka felt a tiny prick in her heart and looked back down at her project.

Her hands stilled and she stared at the strands.

She wished she could make Katar smile like that.

Quickly, she shook her head, furiously braiding the cords again. They twisted between her fingers, rubbing against her skin, distracting her from the stray thoughts that had been creeping through her head more and more as the night went on.

She didn't know where they were coming from. Was there something wrong with her? Was she ill?

Yeah. That had to be it.

I better go get some water, wash my hands, she thought idly, getting up from her seat and hurrying off, looking for the group's water supply.

The cold water that she splashed across her face and neck didn't seem to do anything to cool the weird heat in her face. Angka gripped both sides of the water barrel and sighed at her reflection.

She straightened, wandering back through the trees. She didn't return to the table just yet, looking around for where Sokki had gotten to. The older girl had been extraordinarily sulky—well, more so than usual—and keeping to herself on the fringes of the firelight.

Angka found her momentarily, her back against the tree she leaned on, arms crossed and scowling out at the forest beyond.

"Hey Sokki," she greeted. She strode up to the Water Tribe girl with what she hoped was casual nonchalance. "So... what do you think? The Freedom Fighters are pretty cool, huh?"

Sokki huffed. "I'm trying not to think about them," she muttered.

"You're not still mad about Jet showing you up when she rescued us from those Fire Nation soldiers are you?" Angka asked.

"No." After a moment, Sokki corrected, "Okay, yes, but that's really not relevant."

Angka made a doubtful noise. "Nnnmm, it sort of is," she pointed out. "She did save our lives back there and, well..." She hesitated uncomfortably. "...you haven't exactly been grateful about it."

"Don't tell me you're taken in by her whole 'I'm so noble and amazing' act too," Sokki groaned.

She blinked. "What act?" she asked, genuinely confused.

Sokki uncurled her arms, gesturing agitatedly. "The way she's all charming and smooth-talking, like she's covering up something she doesn't want you to see." She shoved her arms back together, curling them tightly. "I'm telling you, there's something off about her."

Angka restrained herself from making a crack about Sokki's instincts or from arguing that Jet just seemed so nice. Sure her chest clenched every time Jet smiled at Katar and something in the pit of her stomach had felt weirdly sick for a while but that was because she was still jumpy from the ambush they had stumbled into that morning.

"Katar likes her," she pointed out, feeling that weird churn in her gut again as she said it.

Sokki's face twisted with chagrin. "Yeah I worry about that," she sighed. She looked across the clearing, watching her brother fumble all over himself as he tried to eat, sneaking glances at Jet. "I'm afraid he might be thinking with his little head on that one."

"His what?" asked Angka, eyes squinching.

The Water Tribe girl quickly waved her off, a mortified look crossing her face. "Uh, never mind! Anyway—" she said, straightening. "—we're not staying here any longer than we need to. Agreed?"

Angka scuffed the dirt with her toe. "Yeah... agreed."

The words pulled out of her reluctantly. She liked it here. The Freedom Fighters' secret base was really fun, and it was nice to find a place actively fighting back against the Fire Nation.

But...

Angka's fingers wrung together in front of her. Her gaze was on her feet, her chin hanging.

"Sokki?" she called timidly.

Sokki didn't reply, but Angka felt her shift and turn to acknowledge her.

Her cheeks were hot and her bangs drooped into her eyes.

"Do... do you think Jet is... prettier than me?" she asked quietly.

The older girl tilted her head curiously. "What do you mean?"

It sounded so stupid now that she'd said it. "I mean..." Angka continued, fidgeting, rubbing her thumb between her fingers. "...she's just so brave and confident and... grown-up..."

"Where's this coming from?"

"I dunno," Angka sighed, and she didn't, really, it was hard to articulate why she cared. "I guess... she's just been fighting the Fire Nation since she was little and now she's a leader who inspires others to join her cause while I was stuck sleeping in an iceberg and..." Her head dropped even lower. "...I guess I just feel kind of lame in comparison."

"Yeah she's inspiring a lot of that," Sokki muttered, almost inaudibly. Louder, she said, "Look, honest opinion? I don't trust her, and I especially don't trust her around my brother." She leaned a shoulder back against the tree trunk. "But I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt for now."

"Okay..." Angka inhaled slowly, raising her head. "Then... I guess I can too."

They wandered back to join the others, and Angka took her seat and tried not to look at how Katar's eyes shone at Jet or how his smile was so easy around her, busying herself with the braided cord.

-ATLA-

"Nice bracelet."

Katar started, his hands closing on the handmade shell pendant necklace that had replaced his mother's, looking up to see Jet shadowing the doorway of the hut. His heart stuttered at the sight of her, framed in pale golden light from the early morning, her long, frizzled brown hair like a halo around her head.

"Necklace, actually," he corrected. He held it up with a smile. "Angka made it for me," he told her.

"Mmm-hmm." Seemingly losing interest, Jet tilted her head over her shoulder. "C'mon, it's time to go," she urged.

Katar eagerly scrambled up, following Jet as she led him and Angka up to a ridge overlooking the valley. Angka trailed a few paces behind him the whole time, some uncertain expression on her face. Katar peered back at her in concern. He wanted to ask what was wrong.

"Almost there," Jet said, interrupting his thoughts.

Katar turned forward again, speaking up.

"Jet? I'm really sorry for how Sokki's been acting," he said, apologizing on behalf of his sister's paranoid outburst a day ago. She'd accused the girl of being a thug and a bully, attacking an innocent old man. It had sounded so cartoonishly evil that Katar had outright snorted at her, but she couldn't be dissuaded from her loud opinions and finally just stormed off.

Jet gave a nonchalant shrug. "No worries. She already apologized," she told them.

That made Angka startle behind him. "Really?" she said, surprise lacing her tone. "Sokki apologized?"

Jet swiveled around, one hand on her hip. "Yeah, I was surprised too," she quipped, grinning lazily. "I got the sense that maybe you talked to her or something?"

Katar frowned. "Yeah, I did."

She winked at him. "Guess something you said got through to her."

His pulse skipped, his trepidations vanishing.

Jet swept her arm around them, indicating the area. Steam was billowing up from several pocked cracks in the ground.

"All right, we're here," she announced. "Underground water is trying to escape from these vents. I need you guys to help it along."

Katar eyed the vents with doubt.

"I've never used bending on water I can't see," he said. His hand drifted up to touch his neck uncertainly. "I don't know..."

He felt Jet's hands on his shoulders suddenly, warm and encouraging, and she was smiling as she brought her face intimately close.

"Katar... you can do this," she said.

He looked down, his body thrilling, a blush creeping through his cheeks.

"What about me?" came a flat interruption from Angka. They both glanced up to see her staring at them, her arms crossed sourly.

Jet stepped back, extending a hand and her winsome smile out to Angka. "I know the Avatar can do this," she added smoothly.

Angka looked skeptical a moment or two more, but then accepted the words, moving to take up position next to one of the vents.

Wonder what that's about? Katar wondered as he stepped up opposite her.

-ATLA-

He was such an idiot.

Katar craned his head up towards the trees, struggling to keep Angka and Jet in view, as he ran along the ground after them.

How had not seen it? Was a charming smile and a well-timed compliment all it took to completely dazzle his sense?

Jet's veneer of heroic rebellion seemed paper-thin to him now. It had disappeared under the anger and hatred in her voice, the way she'd snarled when she grabbed Angka's glider away from her, attacked Angka to prevent her from warning the Earth Nation village she was about to drown. Jet had pleaded with him to understand, and all that repeated in his head was Liar, liar, lair, as he shoved her away with a tendril of water from his jug.

She had lied to him, she had used him, had probably done something terrible to his sister, and now she was going to hurt Angka.

Hot fury roiled within him. He pumped his arms and legs, rushing forward as he saw Angka take a hard hit from a tree branch and crumple to the ground, next to her ruined glider.

He saw red.

As Jet dropped down next to Angka's prone form, raising her hooked swords, Katar let loose, pulling wave after wave from the creek behind him and slamming them into Jet, pushing her back until she was pinned up against a tree trunk.

His anger channeling into calm determination, Katar blew out, concentrating. He'd never tried to freeze water since the South Pole, but he knew he could do it.

Slowly, the water still dripping down Jet's form solidified, heat sapping out and the liquid growing hard, turning into ice, creeping up her body until she was encased from neck to toe.

Katar exhaled, dropping his hands in grim satisfaction. Angka rose to her feet shakily, grabbing her glider and scurrying behind him, and he'd never felt more powerful.

Or more hurt.

-ATLA-

The ride away on Appa wasn't quite as awkward as it could have been. Sokki got her 'I told you so' out of the way quickly, Katar accepted it with a tired sigh but no protest, and Angka sat cuddled with Momo for a long while, before she got up and crossed over to Katar.

"I'm sorry about Jet," she said quietly. "I really wanted her to be our friend too."

Katar sighed. "No chance of that happening now," he muttered.

He met her eyes with a fiercely intense expression.

"She tried to hurt you. I'll never forgive her for that."

A funny little flip seemed to go through her heart. Angka tried to keep her face neutral. She really needed to figure out what was wrong with her, she was starting to worry a little.

She brushed her hair over her shoulder.

"At least Sokki's instincts were good for something," she quipped.

He grinned. "For once," he joked back.

"You guys know I can hear you," Sokki called from her position on Appa's head.

"We love you, Sokki!" Angka chirped in a teasing sing-song.

"Yeah yeah," she huffed. "Next time we don't let our goo-goo eyes distract us okay?"

That drew Katar into a heated debate with her about how much he was not remotely interested in Jet, which Angka enjoyed listening to for a moment before losing herself in her thoughts and the gentle sway of Appa's flight.

Chapter Text

These robes were killing her.

Angka tugged at the too tight stiff collar, wishing for the millionth time she could have worn Air Nomad clothes to this event. But Zuka had insisted that traditional Fire Nation ornamentation was required so here she was, stuck in a high-collared thick wool monstrosity that itched and pulled in all the wrong ways around her awkward growing body.

She yanked at the high-waisted sash again, trying to loosen the knot even just a little bit. Glancing around she sighed, watching a million different conversations take place around her.

Zuka was doing most of the talking, as per usual. She was so much better at this kind of politicking and hobnobbing with government officials, and Angka envied how calm and serene and collected the older girl seemed, at least outwardly, even though Angka knew Zuka was as much a roiling ball of insecurity and nerves as she was.

As if sensing her thoughts, Zuka glanced aside at her, giving her a nudge with her foot.

"You're doing fine."

"Really?" Angka questioned, voice flat and unconvinced. "Because I feel like I've barely said anything useful in like three hours."

"Half of these gatherings are just smiling and nodding politely while dignitaries prattle on and explain in intimate detail all the minutia of their health problems and family dramas," Zuka whispered in aside to her. "If you're asked your opinion about something, answer honestly. Otherwise, just give people space to talk."

Angka slouched in boredom, wilting.

Zuka turned to the next person approaching them, her stoic expression transforming seamlessly into a genial smile.

"Lietutentant Rho, it's been a while. How is your wife?" she asked.

After a moment she pointedly elbowed Angka in the side.

Startling to attention, Angka quickly piped up and added, "Uh yeah, and you have those two twin daughters too right? Li Li and Ling So? How old are they now?"

The Fire Nation officer launched into a proud speech about his girls, gushing over how lovely they were growing up and how accomplished they were. It seemed to make him happy, so Angka just listened and didn't interrupt.

She tuned out about halfway through, though, her eyes wandering around the room.

She suddenly perked to attention when a herald spoke up over the chatter. He'd been announcing the arrival of guests all evening but this time what he said was:

"The emissaries from the Southern Water Tribe, daughter and son of Chief Hakoda!"

Angka gasped, standing on her tiptoes, craning to see around and over the crowd.

She spotted them at once, a flush of blue in the sea of red. Sokki was a picture of elegant winter beauty in her fur-lined dress and Katar...

She blushed slightly, feeling her cheeks warm.

His padded ocean-blue jacket looked... really nice and sharp on him.

They made their way over to the Fire Lady and Avatar, quickly weaving their way through the crowd. The dignitaries parted respectfully for them, and even Lieutenant Rho finished up his conversation and bade them goodbye, to allow the friends to speak with each other.

Angka beamed. Forgoing all formality she hopped up, throwing her arms around Katar to hug him tightly.

"Katar! It's so good to see you!" she cried.

He grinned, wrapping his soft sleeves around her and folding her in an embrace of quilted silk and fur.

Zuka peered past them with a frown. "Where's Toph?"

Sokki shrugged. "Said he couldn't make it. Something about hay fever or coming down with swamp flu." A little bit conspiratorially she added, "You ask me I think just he ran off on that road trip with Haruhi and Téa he's been threatening."

"Fine time for a vacation," Zuka grumbled.

Angka finally pulled back from her hug with Katar, brushing a hand behind her ear. "You look good," she told him shyly.

"You do too," he said.

"Really?!" she squeaked, delight bubbling up in her.

Zuka cleared her throat sharply.

Angka quickly rearranged herself into a formal demeanor. "May I be excused for a moment, Your Majesty? The emissary from the Southern Water Tribe and I have something important to discuss."

Zuka sighed heavily. "Fine," she relented. "Fine. But be back here in time for the spark lighting."

She nodded. "Of course."

The formality dropped off her as she reached forward and grabbed Katar's hand, and he was already pulling her off to a secluded corner of the room, near the open-air balcony.

The Fire Nation ruler rubbed her face tiredly. "I swear, she absolutely loses her entire head around him."

Sokki chuckled. "Oh you should see how dumb Katar gets about her. It's like he doesn't even know how to use words anymore."

"I believe it," Zuka replied dryly.

-ATLA-

The chatter of the room was a little dimmer here, a light breeze blowing in from the veranda that lifted away the stuffy incense scent of the ballroom. Angka faced him excitedly, grinning from ear to ear.

"You would not believe how long this evening has been. I didn't think I could ever know so much about rheumatoid arthritis and herbal remedies for it in my life!"

"Welcome to politics," laughed Katar. "Ninety-percent meaningless small talk and maybe ten percent actual policy discussion. Dad always told us the relationship building was the more important part, letting people express themselves and feel important and listened to." He lowered his voice slightly. "But he did warn it it was usually really, really boring."

Angka giggled. "It's a little better now that you're here," she told him. "It's nice to see a friendly face."

"Zuka doesn't count?"

Angka seesawed a hand. "Eh."

He leaned back again, his eyes warm, the lights from the ballroom gleaming in them.

"You do look really beautiful, Angka. I mean it," he told her genuinely.

Suddenly she didn't feel awkward in her pinned up hair and heavy red robes anymore. Her spine went a little straighter and her heart swelled with some warm feeling.

She ducked her head, blushing again, touching one of the flower-shaped pins in her hair.

"Thanks..." she said quietly.

Katar glanced towards the crowded ballroom. "Can I hog you a little longer or do you need to go do some more polite Avatar smiling and nodding?"

Angka wove her fingers into his, squeezing gently.

"Just a little longer, okay?"

He smiled, letting her lean up against his arm as they turned to watch the stars for a moment.

"Okay."

Chapter Text

Angka rubbed grit out of her eyes, yawning again. She leaned around the stall, peeking at her reflection in a glass plate hung up to catch the sun.

She frowned.

She looked awful. Lines and dark circles lining her eyelids, hair frizzy. She sighed, slumping against the wooden support, wishing she could close her eyes for just a minute and have a good hour's sleep without seeing... everything that had been causing her haggard appearance.

She smeared a hand over her face.

The anniversary was coming up, wasn't it? Was that why she had been replaying things over and over in her head?

"You all right?" a voice broke into her thoughts.

Angka shook herself, forcing a smile for Sokki. "Yeah... just haven't been sleeping that well lately."

"So I've noticed," Sokki drawled. Her eyes softening with concern she came around, dropping an arm across Angka's shoulders. "Are you sure you don't wanna talk about it?" she asked the younger girl seriously.

Angka shook her head lightly. "Like, I told Katar this morning, I think I just need some rest."

"Hey," Sokki cautioned, taking both her shoulders and turning to face her. "Don't bottle things up. Katar can always tell and he's going to be super annoying about making sure you're okay."

"Is that a bad thing?" she asked, a confused expression on her face.

"It's—" Sokki shook herself. "Never mind," she dismissed, stepping back. "Come on, let's not get too far behind."

They trotted to catch up to Katar, who was busy carefully considering a melon he was shaking.

"I dunno if I like the sound of that swishing," he told the vendor uncertainly.

"Swishing means it's ripe!" she insisted. "It's the ripe juices swishing around, huh?"

"I think it's true, Katar," Angka piped up. She beamed broadly at him, projecting a practiced happiness. "Swishing means it's ripe."

He smiled back at her, then turned sheepishly to the vendor.

"I just realized we're out of money anyway," he said, putting the melon back.

She huffed in disgust, turning away from them and shooing them with her hands.

The three of them trudged off, Sokki grumbling about her empty stomach and Katar quietly apologizing to Angka..

-ATLA-

"Out of food and out of money," Sokki complained, when they stopped for a moment on the docks. "Now what are we supposed to do?"

"You could try using your womanly wiles on some poor sap," Katar suggested flatly. "Maybe flirt your way into getting us some food."

Sokki screwed up her face in disgust. "Ha ha wise guy, very funny, why don't you flirt your way into getting us some food?"

Katar shrugged, open-palmed. "You're the one complaining."

"I could do it!" Angka suggested brightly.

"No," Katar said at once, sternly.

She wilted slightly. "But—"

Their conversation petered off as a loud argument from behind them drew their attention. An old man and woman were squaring off, their voices carrying across the dock.

"You shouldn't go out there! Please! The fish can wait!" the old woman was saying. "There's going to be a terrible storm!"

Angka gave a little flinch, her eyes darting nervously up towards the wide blue sky. The old couple's argument continued but it was noise in her ears, her mind drifting back to images from her dream. The looming thundercloud. The lightning flashing way too close. The feeling of being utterly alone.

She didn't pull out of it until she heard Sokki unexpectedly volunteer herself as the man's replacement fish-hauler.

What? she thought in confusion.

The question must have showed on her face, for when Sokki looked back at her and Katar she said, "What? A job means money and money means food, I see this as a completely viable solution!"

Katar sighed. "I hate it when you're right," he grumbled.

Angka didn't reply, her gaze drifting back towards the clear horizon, small anxious flickers in her heart.

-ATLA-

The flickers had become an outright churning.

Gray clouds were gathering over the ocean, tall and ominous-looking. It made Angka jittery just looking at them.

"Sokki, maybe this isn't such a good idea..." she said, fidgeting as Sokki helped the old fisherman load up his boat. She waved a hand towards the stormclouds. "Look at the sky."

Sokki shook her head. "I said I was gonna do this job. I can't back out just because of some bad weather," she said, taking some folded nets down below.

Angka bit her lip harshly, wanting to argue. Wanting to describe how terrifying it was to be in the heart of a raging typhoon, at the mercy of the wind and waves, buffeted in every direction by merciless rain.

Her skin could almost feel the cold lashing drops even now...

"The girl with the tattoos has some sense," the old woman snorted from her safe position on the docks. "You should listen to her," she huffed. She stormed off, walking stiff-backed away from the pier where the fisherman's boat was docked.

The old man paused a moment, eyes scrunching. "Girl with tattoos..." he repeated, standing up and turning around.

Angka waved shyly at the scrutinizing look he sent her way.

"Airbender tattoos..." the fisherman said, face changing with realization. "Well, I'll be a hogmonkey's uncle." He stepped off the boat, coming up to her and Katar on the pier, wrinkled brows narrow and tired eyes strangely piercing. "You're the Avatar, ain't ya?" he declared.

She felt Katar fluff up beside her as he declared with pride, "That's right!"

Angka smiled, then immediately stopped when the man scolded her for it.

"Well don't be so smiley about it!" he snapped. "The Avatar disappeared for a hundred years!"

She wilted slightly, throat dry as he loomed over her, slow-burning anger on his face and in his voice and stiff posture.

He jabbed a harsh finger into her chest.

"Ya turned your back on the world!" he growled.

She gasped and flinched back but Katar was already there, slapping the man's hand away.

"Don't yell at her!" he scolded. "Angka would never turn her back on anyone!"

The old man rolled his eyes and grumped something about imagining the last hundred years of war and pain and death and Katar yelled back at him for it but it was all static in her ears.

"Angka... why did you disappear?"

The horrible guilt hitting her gullet. The way the corners of her eyes pulled.

"I didn't mean to..." she said quietly.

She took several steps backwards without realizing it, even the passion in Katar's voice as he defended her fading into gray noise.

I didn't mean to, repeated inside her head as she softly got out her glider.

A small whish! extended the fan folds.

I didn't mean to.

She took to the air, letting the warm currents and her airbending lift her off the ground, over the village rooftops, out over the mountains.

I'm sorry.

-ATLA-

Rain dripped off his clothes as he stepped through the cave entrance. Katar peered into the dim interior. Angka was a small ball curled up, her back to him, body posture morose and miserable.

"Angka?" he called.

She stirred a bit at the sound of his voice, though she didn't turn around.

"I'm sorry for running away..." she said quietly.

"It's okay," he jumped to reassure her. "That fisherman was a total jerk."

He waited to see her turn around, her face lighting up again, but all she did was continue sitting there.

"Actually... he was right," she told him.

Something stung in his heart at the thought of Angka believing the fisherman's harsh words about her. He stepped forward. "What do you mean?" he asked in concern.

She squeezed herself tighter, hugging her knees. "I don't wanna talk about it," she strained.

His chest wrenched. He made it to her side, coming around and kneeling down next to her, placing a hand gently on her shoulder.

"Does it have to do with your dream?" he asked.

She stayed quiet, her face gray and pinched.

His fingers squeezed a little tighter. "Come on.. talk to me," he urged.

She pulled her head up with a small sigh.

"Okay. It's kind of a long story though."

Katar glanced outside at the downpour. The once blue sky was now ashen gray, lashed with rain and flashing lightning. Appa and Momo both nosed their way into the cave, shaking themselves dry. "Well, we're not going anywhere for a while," he commented dryly.

The corners of her mouth twitched faintly at that, and she leaned contentedly into Appa's nose as the sky bison came up to nuzzle her.

Katar smiled and started to get up.

"I'm going to try to get a little fire going," he promised.

-ATLA-

When they were settled, a warm crackling fire heating their faces, damp clothes beginning to dry and Momo curled up comfortably in Angka's lap, Katar broached the subject again.

He poked sticks into the little blaze, glancing up at her. "So..." he began hesitantly, picking out what to say. "Why exactly do you think that old man was right when he said... what he said?" he asked. He tried not to add his scalding opinions about what, precisely, the man had said, which he was still steaming about.

Angka glanced up from stroking Momo's back.

"I'm honestly not sure where to begin," she told him, looking a bit sheepish.

He shrugged. "Try from the beginning?" he suggested.

She inhaled slowly.

"Okay... that would probably be the day they told me I was the Avatar."

-ATLA-

Giggles drifted up from their circle, as the girls huddled close together over something. Conspiratorial whispers drifted up from them.

"Okay okay!" Angka piped up. "On three."

The girls scrambled around, two of them skitting off to the side, one ducking behind another as she stood in nervously excited anticipation.

"One... two... three!" Angka counted, before sending a twisting burst of air into the standing girl's face.

They all squealed as the miniature whirlwind blasted back the girl's long hair, twisting it around and around before fizzling out.

She laughed, reaching a hand back to feel the twist.

"It's actually not half-bad!" she declared. She pulled it up flat against the back of her skull. "Look, I could totally pin it up just like this!"

Angka grinned broadly. "Do me next!" she said.

She reached for the band holding her long hair back and undid it, letting the brown locks spill down freely.

A voice called down to them from the bridge above, interrupting them.

"Angka?"

The girls parted, and Angka glanced up to see Nun Choenyi softly beckoning her to come.

"Can we talk for a minute, sweetie?" she asked.

Angka puzzled at the worried pinch in her guardian's expression, the tight concern in the nun's brown eyes. But she folded the hairband back around her hair dutifully.

"I'll be right back," she promised her friends.

She lifted herself up onto the bridge level with a puff of airbending. The bright smile on her faded a little as Choenyi merely motioned with her hand, already turning around.

"Come with me," she urged. "We have some visitors."

Angka puzzled even more at that. Visitors?

She followed Choenyi to a central courtyard. Her steps slowed as she saw the orange-clad group clustered on one side. Her heart began to beat quicker.

It was the Council of Monks from the Southern Air Temple. Angka had only seen them in person once or twice, at inter-temple Air Nomad celebrations, but from their bearing and high-ranking raiment, it could only be them.

Her feet rooted in place when their murmuring ceased, and they all turned heads to look at her.

"Am... I in trouble?" she asked nervously.

"Oh no!" Monk Gyatso rushed to assure her, his wrinkled face spreading with a smile. "Quite the opposite in fact."

The head elder nudged his way forward through the midst of them.

"Angka," he said. "We have something very important to tell you."

She tried to straighten a bit, look very attentive and polite. "Okay... What is it?"

He pinned her with a serious look.

"You are the next Avatar."

-ATLA-

Katar gaped in awe, his mouth open slightly.

"How did they know it was you?" he asked.

Angka fiddled with Momo's tail, running it through her fingers. "The toys I played with the most when I was little. I 'chose them out of thousands'," she explained, quoting what she'd been told. "They were relics that belonged to previous Avatars." She drew her legs up a little closer, careful not to squish the sleeping lemur in her lap. "Normally I'd have been told when I turned sixteen but..."

She bit her lip, remembering the dire words about rumors of war, trouble brewing on the horizon.

"Anyway," she dismissed. "After that... everything changed."

-ATLA-

Angka flicked her staff idly at the pink blossoms scattered across the floor, sending them spinning up into the air. They floated back down slowly and she flicked them again, the normally delightful exercise not seeming to have any effect on her mood today.

"Sweet pea?" Choenyi's voice called from just inside the courtyard.

Angka looked up quickly. Her guardian and the other nuns had been in conference with the high elders all afternoon, deciding the next course of action for her now that she was out as the Avatar.

She put away her staff, clasping it behind her in her hands as she came to attention.

"So... did they make a decision?" she asked anxiously.

Choenyi nodded. "They have." Her eyes lowered. "You'll be starting your Avatar training right away."

"Oh," she said, slumping a little. Her mind was still reeling with the whirlwind of it all. She tried to muster up a sliver of excitement at the prospect of learning waterbending, earthbending, all that, but her heart just didn't feel it. "I guess... I guess I thought I'd have more time to adjust."

"I know, honey," Choenyi said sympathetically, resting a hand on the girl's shoulder. "I thought we'd have more time too." Straightening, she folded her hands back into her sleeves. "You'd better get packed up. You leave in the morning."

The words sent a jolt of alarm through her.

"Wait, leave?" she repeated. Her eyes held tiny flickers of panic. "What am I leaving for? I thought I'd be doing my training here!"

Choenyi glanced to the side uncomfortably. "About that..."

Angka's hands gripped her staff a little tighter.

Shaking herself, Choenyi continued. "I know you were supposed to transfer to the Western temple for the summer but..." She shook her head. "The monks think it will be safer if... if you stayed with them. At the Southern temple."

Angka felt her insides sinking.

"What about all my friends?" she asked, softly. "My bison?"

"Appa will be going with you, of course," Choenyi rushed to assure her.

"But no one else will," Angka concluded.

A sad shake of the nun's head. "I'm afraid not."

Angka gave a long sigh, turning everything over in her head and her heart. Tumultuous emotion pulsed through her, and she recalled meditation lessons to calm her mind and put herself more at ease.

"All right..." she said. "I understand."

Choenyi wrapped her up in an unexpected hug.

"You're going to do great," she promised in a whisper.

It was all Angka could do to keep from crumbling.

-ATLA-

Angka stared morosely into the fire. Telling the story had brought up old buried feelings. Grief, for the people she'd lost and would never see again. Guilt, for leaving them when they'd needed her.

Katar was looking at her with sympathy. "It must've been hard," he said. "Leaving your home."

She shrugged idly. "It wasn't all bad," she said. "Monk Gyatso was always nice to me." A fond smile touched her lips. "Took me out of lessons to blast custard pies on people's heads," she chuckled.

The smile left her face.

"But I just never felt... normal after that."

-ATLA-

He found her sulking under a willow tree, curled up against the trunk with her arms crossed.

"What's the matter, Angka?" he asked kindly.

She slumped down further.

"The boys won't let me play," she complained. "They said I had an unfair advantage because I'm the Avatar."

"Oh nonsense!" Gyatso dismissed, waving his hand. He reached down to pull her up. "They're just afraid they'll get their hineys kicked by a girl."

That brought a brief smile to Angka's face, before she dropped her head again, standing in place.

She was always so acutely aware of the fact that she was the only girl there. She slept apart from the others. Bathed separately. Had her clothes segregated out from the pile come laundry day. The monks tried to treat her like everyone else in lessons and training but they could never stop the whispers among the initiates, the curious stares, the weird way everyone her age gave her more space than she needed. Everyone knew the situation wasn't normal, and pretend as they might, even when some of the boys tried to reach out to her, there was always a sense of apprehension, of guarded caution, of an emotional wall that fenced her out. It wasn't like anyone was unfriendly... but it made her miss her old friends all the more. She missed being treated like everyone else, no more important than any of them. She missed the normalcy, the carefree lack of worry.

The monks emphasized over and over again that she had a destiny to fulfill, a grave duty to the world, and she wanted to be helpful. She wanted to be a good Avatar. But...

She hated how isolated she felt.

"Now," Gyatso said, interrupting her solemn thoughts, "let's go have a few rounds of pai sho."

She followed along behind him as he led the way inside.

-ATLA-

Katar listened soberly. The events Angka was describing had happened over a hundred years ago and yet he felt the sharp acuteness of her hurt as it it was fresh from yesterday.

"It must've been hard..." he said quietly. "Being set apart from the others like that."

He'd intended it as a quiet comfort, a word of sympathy to try and soothe the ache she clearly still felt. But when he looked up at her he saw that her head was turned away, her eyes screwed tightly shut as if holding back tears.

His heart tightened.

"Angka?" he called, worry lacing every syllable.

She inhaled shakily, through unshed tears.

"I'm... I'm sorry I didn't... I didn't mean to disappear," she said, reaching up and rubbing furiously at her eyes. "I was just... I just felt... so alone."

-ATLA-

Gyatso wandered into her room, approaching softly, gently.

" Angka?" he called. "You missed the evening meal. Is there something —?"

His words cut off as he realized the room was empty.

Panic flared in his heart. His eyes jerked around, frantically searching. There was a scroll placed on the pillow of his ward's bed, and he snatched it up, ripping open the seal and unfurling it.

" I'm sorry," read the first line. "I know you're trying, but I'm just so homesick. I'll be back in a couple days."

The paper dropped from his hands as the quiet horror hit him.

-ATLA-

"You ran away?"

Katar's words held no judgment, just a grim acknowledgment of the facts.

She nodded.

"I did," she strained, her voice close to sobbing. "I just couldn't stand it anymore. I wanted to be home. With my friends. With Choenyi. Just for a couple days." Her breath hitched. "I was so lonely," she whispered thinly.

Her mind replayed the last few moments before waking up in Katar's arms; the sizzling lighting passing far too close to Appa's head, the lashing rain, blinding, stinging in her eyes so she couldn't see, booms of thunder peeling so loud she thought she'd go deaf.

A solid wall of ocean saltwater smacking her in the face as Appa fell from the sky, loosing her off the saddle, floating in utter darkness as the current spun her about, waters buffeting, couldn't see, couldn't breathe, her fingers numbing as they lost hold of the reins and she drifted and drifted —

She shook her head with a little gasp, furiously casting away the memories. Her heart stayed wrung tight for several moments until she felt like she could breathe normally again.

And rushing into the hollow space left behind was an overwhelming guilt. It was her fault her people were dead. She'd been so focused on her own misery and homesickness. If she had just forced herself through it. If she had only been there...

She took a shuddering breath. "And then the Fire Nation attacked the temple. Attacked all of us. And I wasn't there to help."

Katar was shaking his head. "You don't know what would have—"

"The world needed me and I wasn't there to help!" she cried, her guilt spiral sinking her down and down. She rested her chin on her knees glumly. "The fisherman was right," she moaned miserably. "I did turn my back on the world. I was selfish," she said, voice small. "I let everyone down."

"You're being too hard on yourself," Katar told her gently. "I think..." He hesitated a moment, then forged ahead. "I think it was meant to be. If you had stayed, you would have been killed along with all the other airbenders."

Part of her wished she had been. At least then they would have died together, fighting side by side as one. At least she wouldn't have proved herself a selfish coward, only able to think about how miserable she was and sparing no thought to the duty demanded of her.

"You don't know that," she mumbled into her arms.

When she chanced a glance up at Katar, she was surprised at the fire and conviction in his eyes, kindled by the firelight that shone in the blue depths.

"I know it was meant to be this way," he insisted quietly. "The world needs you now." His face spread with a soft smile, full of gentleness and faith. "You give people hope."

She managed to pull her head from her knees at that, her heart swelling, bursting with a strange emotion she couldn't identify. She felt warm all over, bolstered and encouraged, and sent a teary, grateful look over at her friend.

Katar didn't think she was a failure. He'd waited his whole life for her, he'd told her once, accepted her presence as a reward for his faith.

She was... his hope, she realized quietly. Because she was here, alive and present now, he believed that things could change. That the war could be won. That the world could be at peace again.

It made her want to never let him down.

A genuine smile spread across her cheeks.

If Katar believed in her... maybe she could do anything.

Even beat the Fire Lord.

Even save the world.

She rolled upright, conviction burning in her heart.

"The storm's getting pretty bad. Let's go find Sokki," she said, motioning for him to follow as she strode bravely out of the cave.

-ATLA-

She was floating again, floating in salty blackness, water pressing on all sides of her, screaming inside her head.

The roar of the current echoed in her ears, buffeting, tumultuous. The lack of oxygen was burning around her lungs, dulling out her thoughts and vision.

Her rapidly beating heart refused to let her black out, though.

Through blurred eyes she glimpsed the forms of her friends, Appa, and the old fisherman, clinging desperately to their handholds on Appa's saddle. They would drown if she didn't do something. She would drown. She would disappear again and leave the world hopeless.

She was the Avatar. She couldn't do that.

"You give people hope."

Determinedly, her hand grabbed out at the strap for Appa's reins.

And then something took over.

Her tattoos glowed, power and energy surging through her and it was like an outside force had control of her body and was moving her limbs for her, rushing along behind her one vague thought of what she wanted to do: save her friends.

She sat up on Appa's head and smashed her fists together. Air swirled around her this time, instead of ice, whirling tightly, forming a pocket of breathable space around them. She sensed more than heard Sokki and Katar and the old fisherman settling into the saddle behind her, but stayed concentrated on her task of keeping up the swirling bubble. It seemed so easy to do. Like she'd done it a thousand times before. She wasn't in control of it, but it seemed to just happen naturally.

And when they emerged from the stormy ocean, her Avatar glow fading out into a long startled breath, her mind seemed to break through the surface into open air too.

Angka shook herself, slightly dazed. That was the second (third?) time her Avatar spirit had triggered, taking over her body, almost making her an observer in her own consciousness. It was a weird feeling, and she wasn't sure if she liked it.

But, glancing back, and seeing with sheer shaky relief that Sokki and Katar were okay, a little wet and bedraggled but whole and alive...

She thought she didn't mind so much.

Chapter Text

Katar scrunched down tighter into his sleeping bag, shivering uncomfortably. The skin under his fur coat felt sweaty and sensitive, sore aches growing underneath the surface and working their way back and forth.

He was both too hot and too cold and his throat scratched irritably, painful coughing breaking from him every so often.

Sokki coughed next to him, wrapped up in her own sleeping bag.

"Water..." she rasped, weakly entreating him again.

Katar wanted to get up and comfort her, but he couldn't even roll himself over, too bogged down by fatigue. "Momo should be here soon," he muttered instead, in reassurance.

Sure enough, the little lemur scittered into their shelter moments later, chirruping and hopping up on Katar's stomach.

Unfortunately he had not brought back Katar's water canteen, plopping a dead mouse onto the boy's front instead.

Katar grimaced, making a face at the present, before chiding the lemur. "No Momo, water. Wa-ter!"

Momo's ears perked straight up and he hopped down again. Katar hoped he actually understood this time.

He watched the lemur go through bleary eyes, his heart crawling with a prickly feeling that had nothing to do with his fever.

"Angka... what in the world is taking you so long?" he wondered.

-ATLA-

He slept fitfully, drifting in and out. Momo roused him often with more useless retrievals—pottery and scrolls and even a couple pieces of furniture—Katar growing more and more frustrated until he finally stopped sending the lemur out. He pulled his sleeping back around himself, unable to stop shivering now that the sun was down.

That thought stuck in his fever-muddied head.

The sun was down and there was still no sign of Angka.

It's okay, he told himself. She's coming right back.

But what if she wasn't? What if something had happened to her out there? What if she was hurt or in trouble?

I can't... protect her like this... he thought glumly.

"Angka, where are you?" he whispered thinly.

"Who's this Angka you keep talking about?"

He ignored Sokki's nonsensical rambling behind him. He just had to focus on keeping his thoughts from traveling in circles down dark paths.

She's okay, he reassured himself. Stop worrying so much.

Gran-Gran always said he was too much of a chronic worrier for his own good.

She was probably right.

Before he realized it, he was replying to Sokki's delirious question.

"She's the Avatar, silly," he grunted, his throat horribly dry and strangling his words. "Remember? She popped out of an iceberg."

"That's dumb," Sokki countered. "Why was she in an iceberg? How could she breathe in there? How did she poop?"

Katar wrinkled his nose. "You're disgusting."

"What? It's an honest question!" Sokki protested, before breaking off into a long string of painful-sounding coughs.

"Just rest, Sokki," he told her, hunching further into his shoulders. "She'll be back soon."

I hope.

Sokki did not continue to protest, rasping only a quiet, "Okay." before falling silent behind him.

He didn't let himself relax until he could hear her soft breaths, falling and rising.

He closed his eyes and tried to sleep.

-ATLA-

He burned. His fever roiled over him in unbearable waves, sweat drenching his face. Delirium took him. He faded into half-formed thoughts and confusing images, drifting on a stream of consciousness that wandered, aimless, through black mist and memories.

"Mom... I'm scared!"

"Go find your dad, sweetie."

No... he couldn't leave her alone with that... that...

The Fire Nation soldier looked back at him, eyes burning with a cruel malice, but the face that peeked out through the helmet was Zuka's, and she had hold of Angka in the Fire Sages' temple and he couldn't do anything except watch, all he was good for was watching helplessly, Angka where are you? Why was everything so dark, why wasn't the sun coming up yet?

How long had this night already lasted?

He turned over restlessly, fitfully, calling out names in thin whispers and weak cries. A soft wet nose nuzzled against his face and he wanted to bat it away but it felt nice and he was so tired.

When was Angka coming back?

Hot... too hot, he thought, pulling his arms out of the sleeping bag. His face pinched. No... too cold, he corrected, pulling them back in.

Angka was probably cold out there wherever she was. He should bring her a blanket.

The weak effort he made to get up barely budged him.

Maybe in a few minutes... or an hour.

...Was that sunlight?

Drifting and drifting on vague thoughts, Katar passed the night in severe discomfort, worry raking over his heart and crawling through his head in-between the clunky nonsensical thought fragments and the echoes of the past.

Finally, soft footsteps sounded on the stones, and Katar unconsciously relaxed.

It was her. She was back. He'd know the sound of her feet anywhere.

A sense of her presence drifted in front of him, and Katar heard her speaking through muddled hearing.

"Suck on these," she instructed. "They'll make you feel better."

Something sweet and cold pushed into his mouth and Katar let it melt against his tongue, sighing with relief as he felt the aches in his body slowly beginning to subside and the pressure around his head ease.

"Angka," Sokki said around whatever was in her own mouth, "How was your trip? Did you make any friends?"

A long sigh.

"No. I don't think I did."

She sounded downcast. He would have to ask her about that... later, he decided, as his mind slowly went numb and cleared.

-ATLA-

He still couldn't get the taste of that stupid frog out of his mouth.

Katar swished water around through his teeth, rinsing his tongue for the fiftieth time before spitting it out onto the ground.

"Bluh," he muttered.

He was grateful to Angka for finding a treatment to his fever, he really was, it had worked so quickly and he barely even felt sore anymore.

He just really wished the method hadn't been so disgusting.

Sokki came up to him as he was wiping his mouth, furiously rubbing a cloth over his lips. She seemed unusually guarded, her hands holding her elbows, withdrawn into her shoulders.

"Hey," she called. "Are you okay?"

Katar rubbed one last time with the cloth, confused by the serious note in her voice. "Of course," he said. He tossed the cloth back into the pile of junk that Momo had brought them, and reached down to shuffle through it for his travel pack. "Why do you ask?" he asked absently.

"It's just..." Sokki grimaced uncomfortably. She glanced over towards the corner where Angka was still sitting, perched on the broken wall and rubble that used to be a window, making sure the other girl was out of earshot before she lowered her voice. "You were calling mom's name a lot last night," she told him.

Katar's hands stopped in midair.

"Oh," he said.

There was a long awkward silence between them for a moment.

Words refused to come to him. He didn't know what to say. Katar wrung the straps of his pack in his hands, feeling the weight of Sokki's words pressing down on him.

"And Angka's a lot too, weirdly," Sokki decided to add.

Katar's face flushed hotly, making him wonder for a moment if his fever was returning.

"You uh... you heard that, huh?" he asked, slightly mortified.

"Yep," Sokki confirmed.

Another long silence passed.

"Promise not to mention it if you promise to forget how I tried to fight off imaginary leopard-bears?" Sokki offered.

Katar jumped on that at once. "Deal," he agreed.

Mutual secrets assured, the two Water Tribe siblings set about breaking their camp.

Katar wandered over to Angka eventually, smiling at how she looked with the sun from outside framing her face. She was nursing her wrist, and as Katar got closer he frowned, spying something on the skin just peeking out from under her sleeve.

It looked red. Irritated. Almost like a...

...A bruise?

Katar stopped in his tracks, staring.

"What's that?" he asked, horrified.

Angka darted her head over to look at him, then followed his eyes down to her wrist.

She quickly pulled up her sleeve, dropping her hand.

"Nothing!" she said, a little too quickly, tone over-cheerful.

Katar's brows were furiously furrowing now; he stomped the last few steps and grabbed her sleeve, yanking it down.

His horror returned when he spied the marks on her skin, curling straight-line around her wrist, like she'd had a too-tight bracelet on.

"Oh my..." he breathed. "What happened?" he cried, unable to keep the shrill worry out of his voice.

Sokki glanced over with raised eyebrows as Angka grimaced and slid her legs down off the broken windowsill, standing up to face Katar with chagrin.

"So... I might have gotten myself a little captured last night while I was out getting the frogs," she confessed, rubbing a hand behind her head.

"What?!" Katar blurted. I knew it, I knew it! I knew she was taking way too long! His teeth ground inside his jaw. "By who?!" he demanded. "Was it Zuka?"

"No, actually, she..." Angka coughed uncomfortably and left that thought unfinished, shaking her head. "No, it was someone new. Some Fire Nation admiral named... Zheng? Zhou? Something like that." Angka waved both her hands placatingly, nervous smile wide on her face. "Anyway, he didn't have me very long. Couple of hours tops. No big deal," she dismissed.

"No big—Angka, that's completely a big deal!" Katar burst, sputtering.

"Ugh, here we go again," complained Sokki.

He shot a glare at her. "What does that mean?"

Sokki punctuated her words with wide sarcastic gestures. "You're gonna freak out, and you're gonna get all over-protective, even though there was literally nothing you could have done to help her, and you're gonna be all 'I'm never letting you leave my sight!' and it's gonna be so annoying!"

"Sokki, she was captured by the Fire Nation!" he all but screeched. "They could have taken her away. We would still be sick and she would be gone."

"Well she's here now. Clearly, she had it handled," Sokki argued back. "Come on, Katar, give the Avatar a little credit. She's not a helpless baby you know," she added, rolling her eyes.

Angka, meanwhile pressed the pads of her index fingers together shyly. "I did kind of need help getting out though," she admitted.

Katar gestured emphatically at her with a flat-palmed 'See?!' gesture as he made a face at Sokki.

Sokki sighed in defeat. "Guess we better get going then, in case Admiral Zhong or whoever decides to sweep the area," she grumbled.

"Thank you for understanding," Katar quipped back.

His sister just broke the camp down without comment.

Katar turned back to Angka in concern, putting hands on her shoulders and checking down her for any other injuries he could see.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" he asked anxiously.

She shook her head.

"I really am okay, Katar," she assured him. Her lips curled with a faint smile. "But I appreciate that you worry."

Something inside his chest stuttered at that. He found himself at a sudden loss for words.

"Well..." he trailed, rubbing a hand behind his neck. "I..."

Nope, the words weren't coming.

But then, how did you explain to someone that the thought of them ever coming to harm was unbearable to the point of physical pain?

Katar forcibly kickstarted his brain again.

"I just... want you to be safe," he mumbled quietly.

She beamed.

"With you around, how could I not be?" she said brightly.

And Katar's chest gave another half-giddy, half-agonized turn.

Chapter Text

Angka wasn't sure when the strange warmth in her heart had started. It seemed to have snuck up on her, all of a sudden, and yet she was certain she must have felt it before. Perhaps from the very beginning, ever since opening her eyes and seeing Katar looking down at her in soft, wide concern.

Katar...

Oh, whatever the feeling was, it was definitely centered around him. It was a tingling sort of nervousness, giddy and awkward, like nothing she said could come out right. It was an excitement to wake up and see him sitting there, smiling at her and wishing her good morning. He liked to touch her shoulders and arms and she got a little thrill in her stomach whenever he did.

So what was this feeling, exactly? Angka couldn't put a name to it.

She snuck glances at Katar as they both stood ankle-deep in the pond, wringing out the spare clothes they were washing. Sokki was further out, intensely chasing a glittering fat goldfish with a little net as it weaved in-between her legs.

"You're never going to catch it like that," Katar said aside to her, swishing his handful of laundry around.

"Right, like you know anything about fishing, mister laundry man," she grumbled. She tracked the fish with her eyes. "Anyway I wouldn't have needed to do it this way if Angka hadn't used all the fishing line to make that flower basket."

Angka tittered sheepishly, ducking her head. "Heh. Sorry about that."

Katar held up his clean shirt, inspecting it as it dripped. His eyes scanned it up and down. "I think this is pretty good-looking," he decided. He held it towards Angka. "What do you think?" he asked.

When she looked up at him her mind blanked, suddenly and inexplicably failing her. She felt that tingle moving through her body and wondered a bit nonsensically if his eyes had always been that blue.

"Which one, the shirt or you?" she heard herself saying. Her brain abruptly caught up with her words and gawped, heat rushing to her face, quietly mortified that she'd said that out loud.

Katar looked cutely confused and didn't seem to know how to react.

Sokki, on the other hand, lifted up the fish in her arms (she had given up on the net and just tackled the creature in a diving bear hug) and drawled at it in a conspiratorial knowing tone.

"Ooooooooh, someone's got a cruuuuuuuush!" she crowed, making kissy faces at the fish.

The fish did not appreciate that and whapped her solidly in the nose with his tail.

"Ow!"

Angka's blush deepened. She wished very much she knew earthbending so she could open up a hole in the ground beneath her feet, and became very hyper-aware of Katar standing next to her.

"Don't tease her," he was scolding his sister. "It's not like that." He placed a hand on her shoulder, and that little thrill went through her again, only to be quashed a moment later when Katar said, "We're just friends."

Something inside her chest sank at that, wilting like a flower shriveling up under too much sun.

"Yeah," she heard herself agreeing in a disappointed squeak. "Heh heh. Friends."

The thought made her oddly sad. And as she was thinking about how weird that was it suddenly all clicked in her head.

Sokki's teasing words echoed in her ear and she snuck a peek at Katar, feeling her heartrate stutter and her cheeks warm.

Do... do I have a crush on Katar?

-ATLA-

It wasn't like she meant to eavesdrop.

Okay, so she did mean to eavesdrop. She was curious. What would Katar talk about with Aunt Wu? Sokki seemed convinced it would be boring stuff like how many children he'd have, how tall he'd grow up to be, things like that, but Angka found herself keening after those answers herself.

After all, if you could know your future, wouldn't you want to see if you had a future with the person you maybe liked?

At least that was the reasoning that circulated inside her head as she pressed her ear up to the door, straining to hear the voices inside.

"You seem nervous, dear," Aunt Wu was saying.

"Just a little," she heard Katar admit. "Okay, so... uh... how's this work exactly?"

"Well, let's see."

There was a pause and some shuffling, as Aunt Wu ostensibly took hold of Katar's wrist in order to read his palm.

"Ah, a nice long lifeline. You'll see many grandchildren born," Aunt Wu said.

"How many?" Katar asked.

Angka listened to Aunt Wu list them off, quietly thrilling at the idea of seeing generations of little airbenders, her people restored. She shook her head, dispelling the fantasy. How silly. Katar didn't even think about her that way.

Did he?

Aunt Wu was rambling something about Katar's leadership and courage now, how it would prove decisive in a coming battle, and Angka was growing disinterested. Maybe she should wander back to Sokki.

But Katar seemed uninterested in his battle prowess too, for he interrupted Aunt Wu with an anxious, "Okay, but what about my love life?"

Angka perked up, pressing her ear closer.

"Oh?" said Aunt Wu, surprised. "You want to know about girls?"

"Well... one girl in particular," Katar admitted.

Angka's heart thumped.

Aunt Wu seemed a little taken aback, but obliged. "Well all right..." After a moment or two of study she said, "I can tell you that she's a very powerful bender."

"Yes? And?" Katar pressed her anxiously.

"She's kind. Good with people. And very beautiful."

Angka's grin widened and widened with each word and she decided she'd heard plenty.

After all, who else was a more powerful bender than the Avatar herself?

She felt a giddy sort of spring in her step as she snuck her way back to Sokki.

-ATLA-

There wasn't a doubt about it in her mind now.

She felt happy when he was around. She was sad when he was sad. She wanted him not to worry about her, but secretly liked it that he did, and felt safe because of it. She wanted to protect him. Wanted to be the hope for the world he thought she was. He made her blush and tingle and stumble all over her words. She wanted to know about his future love life, and she wanted it to be about her.

There was only a single conclusion.

She liked Katar. Liked him... like that.

She felt the blush in her cheeks again, staring towards him as he watched Aunt Wu read the clouds, and decipher the signs in the sky.

Aunt Wu hadn't specifically seen love in her future—at least not at first—but maybe... maybe there room enough in her destiny for something between her and this boy?

She took a nervous inhale.

"Since I got you here," she started, clenching her fists by her side to gather her courage. "There's... there's something I want to tell you."

She lifted her head, trying to steady her voice and be bold, even as her heart fluttered out of her chest.

"I... I like you. But... more than normal," she confessed.

He didn't even hear her, oblivious to her attempt at telling him her feelings. He ran towards the stage amidst the cheering crowd, giving absolutely no indication he'd even heard her speak.

That wilting feeling hit her again.

"Never mind..." she sighed, quietly hurting.

Chapter Text

It was embarrassing really, that he'd asked Aunt Wu about his romance prospects. Sokki would have burst into laughter, if she had found out, and he'd been dreading her million and one probing questions to grill him, even though she supposedly didn't believe in "all this monkey-hogwash". He was quite relieved when she was immediately distracted by the fortuneteller's proclamation of her own fate.

"You will have chronic foot in mouth problems with all of your relationships," the woman had told his sister wearily. "And you will suffer much misfortune, most of it self-inflicted."

It had been hard to hold in a giggle at the way Sokki's face had turned fuming red at that.

He wasn't sure where she was now, probably off sulking in embarrassment, which was all the better for him. He was lingering outside Aunt Wu's doors again, wanting to ask her more questions.

About her. The girl she'd seen for him in his future. His potential future wife.

It was such a silly thing to be worried over. He knew that. But at the same time so many of Sokki's groaning, "Ugh, you're never going to get married!" complaints whenever she'd failed to teach him to use a weapon, the worried whispers from some of the women in the village about him... More than once he had wondered if he'd even make proper husband material at all.

So that was a relief at least, to know there would be someone for him.

He tried to picture her in his mind. The long hair framing her kind face. Soft eyes. Steady hands and confident smile. His mental picture looked a lot like Angka, actually.

A pang went through his heart at that.

Ah, Angka... he sighed inside his head.

She would have no trouble finding a husband. She was cheerful, fun to be around, really cute, actually, if he was honest with himself. They hadn't even been in town a day and she already had boys crushing on her; he had not failed to notice little Ming desperately waving his short arms to try to catch her attention in the crowd.

He sighed again, this time out loud.

He wasn't jealous. There was nothing to be jealous of. Angka was the Avatar. She was amazing and strong and wonderful and the embodiment of hope for the world... and she would never go for someone like him.

She deserved better, anyway.

His self-pity was interrupted by Angka herself, running up to him frantically with Sokki not far behind.

"Katar!" Angka called.

He pulled himself out of his own head, turning to Angka and his sister. "Where've you two been all morning?" he asked.

Puffing a bit as she made it up the steps, Sokki leaned forward on her knees a moment and then straightened once she'd caught her breath. "Aunt Wu was wrong about the volcano!" she said in distress.

Katar rolled his eyes. "I'm sure you'd love to believe that, Miss I-Will-Self-Sabotage-Every-Relationship-I'm-In."

"Would you shut up and just listen you big numbskull!" she snapped. "The village is in serious danger!"

Katar had a snarky comment ready, but a rumble and distant quaking from the peak had him snapping his eyes up towards the summit, blanching when he saw the putrid black smoke pouring from the volcano's apex.

"Oh no..." he breathed, his mind dissolving with horror.

-ATLA-

They didn't really have to talk about it. Angka knew that Katar was having the same kind of worries she was; that if Aunt Wu could be so devastatingly wrong about the volcano, how many other of her predictions were wrong?

At least... Angka hoped he was worrying about the same thing. It seemed the entirely wrong thing to focus on when they had a village to save.

But there it was, flitting through her head persistently nonetheless.

Angka was pretty convinced by now that Aunt Wu hadn't actually seen love in her future. She'd only said it to try and make Angka feel better. The thought of Katar's mysterious kind and beautiful powerful bender being someone else did make her heart clench a little bit. Would she really have to give up these feelings so soon after realizing she had them? Would he have to let her down gently, like she'd just let poor sweet Ming down? (And really that had blindsided her, she was still having trouble wrapping her head around the idea of someone having a crush on her, gangly awkward prepubescent body and all.)

In the end, she guessed it was okay. Katar was still her friend. She would still fight to protect him, to be the hope that burned in his heart. She could still inspire him and try to cheer him up whenever he was getting into one of his downward funks.

And, she thought, sneaking glances towards him as his arms flowed in graceful arcs, sending her a stream of cloud that she took with her own bending so very easily, their movements perfectly in sync, when they were alone together like this... comfortable, trusting, like it was the most natural thing in the world...

Maybe she could pretend.

Just a little. Just for a moment.

She thought she could be all right with that.

-ATLA-

His heart had gripped with paralyzing fear for a second when he'd realized Angka wasn't running behind them, away from the flowing lava.

But then he watched, amazed, as she called the wind into currents around her, practically floated above the burning maelstrom for a moment, sweeping the air in a wide arc that raised rivulets of lava above the lip of their ditch.

Another breath, another burst of air and the wind cooled the superheated rock into solid stone. A protective shell curled around the edges of the village, and the lava behind lapped up against it harmlessly.

Angka straightened as if the effort had cost her nothing, calmly returning her hands to a meditative position and exhaling softly.

Katar could do nothing but stare at her back in amazement.

Wow... he thought.

She really was something, wasn't she?

Could he even protect her at all, if this was what she was capable of without him?

Sokki stood at his shoulder, marveling as well. "Man," she said, shaking her head with wonder. "Sometimes I forget just how powerful she is."

"Yeah..." he agreed absently, and then his mind stood up and paid attention. "Wait—" he blurted, snapping his head towards his sister. "What did you just say?"

Sokki shrugged. "Nothing. Just that Angka is one powerful bender."

Katar's heart ticked with some strange excitement inside his chest. His eyes slowly returned to Angka, watching the ashen breeze lift her hair, rustle her clothes around her arms and shoulders.

There were dots connecting in his mind. A notion beginning to form.

Angka was a powerful bender.

His vague, formless idea of the girl Aunt Wu had seen in his future, the one that looked so much like her, started to take on more of her features.

Could it be?

His pulse stuttered and his cheeks dusted with pink.

Was it her?

Chapter Text

There had been something off about her the whole evening. Angka had gotten very shy and withdrawn, leaving quietly in the middle of his and Sokki's conversation with Bato, and that wasn't like her.

Truth be told, Katar wasn't exactly terribly comfortable around their old family friend either. Bato was like their father; towering and broad-shouldered and brave, fearless and steadfast.

Everything Katar wasn't.

"Is something wrong, Katar?" Bato asked, his calm, kind voice breaking into Katar's wandering thoughts.

Katar started a little. "Oh. N-no, it's nothing," he said. There was a concerned weight behind the older man's eyes that made Katar acutely aware of his tightening chest. Seizing upon the excuse, he began to shift his legs and get up. "I'm actually going to go check on Angka," he said.

Sokki glanced up from her bowl of stewed sea prunes at that. "Oh, she left?" Sokki blinked towards the blank spot where Angka had been quietly curled up moments ago. "Huh. I didn't even notice she was gone."

"I'll be back in a little bit," he promised, standing to his feet.

He wandered out into the cool moonlit night, shrouded blue overtaking his vision.

-ATLA-

It took him a while to find her. He searched up and down the abbey twice before plying one of the nuns, who told him the girl had wandered out through the gates.

An anxious worry started creeping through his chest at that. Had she run off? Run away? What could have made her so upset that she would even do that?

But as his mind flipped through the night's events the answer quickly came to him.

Feeling alone.

Angka had been practically an afterthought the whole dinner. Sokki had asked a million and one questions of Bato with eager excitement, not hearing Angka's attempts to join the conversation. No one had even made sure she had eaten, or had food to her liking to eat. And then hearing from Bato that their father was due to send a message to them soon, and how Sokki tripped over herself to talk about how much she missed him and wanted to see him...

Angka must have thought they didn't want to go the North Pole with her anymore.

He kept all those thoughts in mind as he trekked down to the beach, checking the first place he thought she might have gone.

Fortunately his instincts were correct.

A huddled figure in orange was perched atop the prow of the beached Water Tribe vessel, staring up at the moon.

She glanced up in surprise at the sound of his footsteps softly crunching through the sand.

Katar let his relief show in the smile on his face. "You had me worried," he told her, coming to a stop. "Are you okay?"

She leapt down lightly from the boat prow, plastering on a cheerful expression. "I'm fine!" she said. "Of course I'm fine, why wouldn't I be fine?"

Katar wrinkled his mouth. Well that didn't sound convincing.

"You aren't at all upset about Sokki ignoring you for Bato?" he probed carefully. "I know she can be a little bull-headed and insensitive."

"Why would I be upset about that?" she asked. "He was your dad's friend, of course you'd be excited to see him. I'm sure you both really miss your dad, I know if I had a dad I'd probably miss him—"

There it was. That hollow, empty smile. The bright facade that didn't reach the depths of her eyes.

"Hey," he interrupted, stopping her with both hands placed on her shoulders. Katar looked seriously into her face, eyes warm with concern. "You know that Sokki and I aren't going to abandon you, right?" he asked.

The facade cracked, her eyes pinching, a little tremble going through her lip.

"Because we aren't. Just because we miss dad doesn't mean we're going to leave," he assured her. "I'm staying right here, with you. And I'm going with you to the North Pole," he promised with quiet earnestness.

Her eyes glimmered, the moonlight catching the liquid gleam on the edges of her eyes. She inhaled a shaky breath, staring back at him like she was about to cry.

"...Please don't be mad," she said in a small voice.

Confused, Katar watched as she reached into the folds of her clothes and pulled out a crumpled piece of parchment, holding it out to him timidly.

He took it slowly, unwinding it and stretching it back out.

A small jolt went through him at the contents, the scrawled penmanship and the hasty message jotted on the side of the map.

He looked back up at Angka, his eyes slightly harder now, a slight beat of anger flickering inside him.

"What is this?"

She wouldn't look at him. "Messenger just brought it by," she said, digging her toe in the sand.

"Were you going to hide this from us?" he asked, a harsh note in his voice.

"I—" Angka looked so heartbreakingly ashamed, turning her face and rubbing furiously at her eyes. "I don't know," she said, almost sobbing.

His anger faded almost immediately. He lowered the map, reaching for her shoulder.

"This doesn't change anything," he said. "I'm still staying."

She did let out a sob at that, hastily wiping her face, practically mashing her sleeves on her cheeks. "What—" she started, before having to swallow around the emotion in her throat, "—what about Sokki?"

He smiled faintly at her. "We'll tell Sokki in the morning," he promised.

-ATLA-

Sokki wasn't happy.

She frowned down at the map held between her hands much like Katar had done the night before. Angka wrung her hands together in front of her nervously, peeking up every so often to keep checking the other girl's reaction. Bato was a little ways off, tying up his carry pack, ready to depart whenever the three of them decided what they were doing. Angka was starting to warm to the older warrior. His calm demeanor and his warm words of praise when he'd taken them on their little mock ice-dodging mini-adventure had really endeared the man to him, and she was a little sad to see him go.

Of course parting from him was a little bit contingent on the next few moments.

Sokki finally raised her eyes to look over the map's edge at Katar.

"And you didn't immediately come running to me with this because...?"

Angka flinched at the accusatory note in her voice, shrinking into her shoulders, as if making herself smaller would hide her guilt better.

Fortunately, Katar was calm and nonchalant as he explained, "I just thought you might want to sleep on things."

"Katar, this is a map to our father," Sokki burst with emotion, waving the parchment at him. "Don't you want to see Dad?"

There was an expression that flickered across Katar's face, something pained and almost frightened. Angka could have blinked and almost missed it, tilting her head a bit with slight curiosity as Katar's gaze averted from his sister.

"Of—of course I want to see Dad... eventually," he stammered.

"Eventually?!" Sokki repeated in disbelief. "What do you mean 'eventually'? What is wrong with you?" Her voice was rising, growing slightly louder. "Who knows when we're going to get another chance like this again!"

"I know, it's just—" Katar started, clearly flustered.

"Just what?" Sokki demanded.

Katar folded arms across his chest with defensive stiffness. "Just that I think it might be more important to prioritize getting Angka to the North Pole, so she can learn waterbending and, you know, stop the Fire Lord? Even if we had the time to travel out of our way to go see Dad, which we don't," he emphasized, "there's no guarantee he or any of the other warriors could help us."

"He does kind of have a point," Angka pointed out, raising a timid finger.

Sokki briefly rounded on her. "Stay out of this!"

Angka meeped and shrunk into her shoulders.

"This—This is literally the same thing I said back on Kyoshi," Sokki sputtered, plastering hands over her face. "I said, 'Hey, we need to get to the North Pole quickly' and you were the one that wanted to linger and dawdle!"

Katar put his fists on his hips. "Well, we didn't have a deadline back then!"

"Uggghhhh you're unbelievable!" Sokki complained, pacing away from him a moment in frustration. "See, this is why Dad should have left me in charge. There'd be none of this changing our minds, or lollygagging about, we'd just get in, do the thing, and get out," she said, punctuating the words with pointed slaps of the side of her hand to a palm.

Katar gave a tired sigh. "Sokki, you know why Dad didn't leave you in charge after you toddled out in full warrior makeup with an armful of weapons begging for him to take you with him," he groaned, grimacing as if the memory embarrassed him. "And you were practically in charge anyway with how much you bossed us all around so what are you even complaining about?"

"Look," she said, swiveling back to face him. "All I'm saying is that if the goal here is to protect Angka—which I'm assuming it is—"

"It is," Katar confirmed warily.

"—then I would trust Dad and a squadron of Water Tribe warriors far more than I'd trust you." Something hard was in Sokki's eyes now. "Because you can't protect anyone, and it's going to get her killed."

Angka gave a tiny little gasp, eyes snapping up and hand covering her mouth. Katar's expression looked as though he'd been slapped. Her head was already filling with a thousand and one assurances to tell him that it wasn't true but to her surprise—

"Sokki." It was Bato. All three of them looked up to find him gazing sternly down at her. "That's out of line," he said.

"But—" Sokki started to protest.

"Walk with me," Bato ordered, jerking his head over his shoulder.

Hesitantly, Sokki moved to his side, and followed him across the abbey courtyard, continuing through the main gate and out into the surrounding woods.

A rustle went through the air as the nuns stirred from their silent observation of the argument and quickly went back to their duties.

Angka watched them a brief moment. The abbey made her heart clench painfully, the soft simple garb of the nuns reminding her too much of home, too much of what she'd lost. She shook her head, focusing on Katar, who had gone much too quiet.

She came around to stand in front of him.

"For the record," she said, with warm encouragement, "I don't think there's anything you've done since I've met you that could have remotely gotten me killed." After a few seconds she amended, "Well, except for maybe stealing that waterbending scroll from the pirates."

He chuckled mirthlessly but his eyes did brighten a tad. "Yeah... that was dumb wasn't it?"

His face fell, in that quiet way that it did when something was wrong, and he picked timidly at the string of the necklace she'd made for him. Angka bit her lip, stepping a bit closer.

"Do you... want to talk about it?" she offered.

A firm headshake and a solid, "No."

Angka watched him silently for a couple seconds. Then she lit up with an idea.

Her entire demeanor at once dazzlingly sunny, she asked breathlessly, "Wanna go make some smelling salts?"

Her excitement made his head perk up.

"Uh... sure?" he answered.

He gawped as she grabbed his wrist and turned in the same motion, running with him across the courtyard.

-ATLA-

Sokki glowered at the ground as it passed under her feet.

Bato led them quite a ways up the path, only turning around and bringing them to a halt once they reached a wide clearing that overlooked the vale.

He folded stern arms across his chest.

"Why did you say that to your brother?"

Sokki's eyes stayed down, shame-faced as she scuffed the dirt with her toe. "Because..." she defended. "I'm not wrong. Since we met her he's had this... this hero complex and thinks he can keep her safe from every possible bad thing ever and he just can't and it's embarrassing to watch, frankly."

"Embarrassing that he cares about someone, and wants her not to get hurt?" Bato asked pointedly.

"He can't fight!" she argued, raising her head. She gestured sharply with one hand. "He flails around in nearly every scuffle we've been in and he's never once been able to actually protect Angka!"

"And whose fault is that?" Bato challenged calmly. His narrowed features were firm like stone, severe in their scrutiny. "He's had no one to teach him how to waterbend. Your father and all the other village warriors left. And it doesn't sound like you've been very helpful either."

Sokki felt the words drying up in her mouth, replaced by an uncomfortable bile. Her eyes slowly fell back down, her hands fisting quietly at her sides.

"I've... been trying to teach him a couple things lately," she mumbled. "He's getting... a little better," she forced herself to admit. "But he still can't hold a weapon without shaking."

Bato nodded, his expression softening. "Understandable. I'd have trouble holding a weapon again too. I know what happened with your mother," he said, voice full of sympathy.

Sokki's fists clenched tighter, knuckles whitening, and her jaw tensed. Hot emotion battered at the confines of her chest, raging to be let out, but she clamped it down, holding it in with belligerent stubbornness.

He had been right there. Why hadn't he just—

Her inner thoughts were interrupted as Bato placed a hand gently on her shoulder. "Your anger flows out of a deep-seated hurt," he said, so softly. His slanted eyes were warm blue pools, tranquil and shimmering. "But you can't take it out on your brother. It's not fair to him. He was only a child."

Her lip quivered a moment. Sokki inhaled shakily through her nose in a long indignant breath.

She turned her head away, her eyes prickling, crossing her arms tightly.

"Still doesn't change the fact that he's useless," she muttered.

"I have a feeling he'll get less so, as he gets better at waterbending," Bato offered diplomatically.

She let herself shrug and then sighed heavily. "All the more reason to hurry up to the North Pole I guess," she exhaled in defeat.

She lifted her eyes, her anger fading.

"Thanks, Bato. Sometimes I do let my mouth run away from me. It was nice to see you again. I do really miss Dad—" More than anything, she finished in her head. "—but helping Angka is where I'm needed the most."

Bato smiled, and slung an arm around her shoulders in a side hug. "Your father will understand," he said. "And I know he's proud of you."

Sokki sniffled loudly, close to tears. Her mind flashed back to that fateful day years ago, the last time she'd seen him.

-ATLA-

"I want to go with you!" she pleaded, her arms full of weapons and supplies and her face haphazardly painted like a warrior's.

He ruffled her hair and smiled, heedless of the whispers behind him. "Sokki..." he said gently. "You are so brave. But you need to stay here. You need to help your brother protect the village. He's the chief now. You need to be there for him."

Her eyes filled with shimmering tears. "But I don't understand!" she cried, flinging herself into his arms.

Her father's strong warm arms wrapped around her. "You will, someday," he promised, enveloping her with a powerful grip.

She sobbed openly, her tears soaking his shirt, ruining her warpaint.

-ATLA-

Sokki shuddered, simmering down, leaning into Bato's hug. "Thank you..." she said again.

He smiled and rubbed her arm, like her father would have done a long time ago, and it made her heart ache. She thought he was about to say something again when—

The trees rustled loudly, seconds before something burst from them. A huge animal, down on all fours, brown-furred and snuffling from its pink and spiky nose.

The creature barreled past them, forcing them to break apart to duck and cover, and Sokki blurted out an indignant,"Hey!" as it thundered down the path.

She glared after the wake of the creature and its passengers, smeary patches of color fading into the distance.

"Where were they off to in such a hurry?" she huffed.

A look of horror passed over Bato's face.

"The abbey!" he cried.

Sokki's brain caught up with her then, forming solid images out of the blurs she'd glimpsed, and she realized she knew who was on top of the animal.

She paled. "Oh no," she breathed, turning around and running hellbent back down the path.

-ATLA-

He wasn't sure what exactly Angka was doing with the disparate components she was mixing but she seemed happy so Katar was only too willing to leave her to it. The airbender was tossing dust and herbs in her concoction, pausing to stir it vigorously.

"Okay, now gimme a bit of saddleclaw root," she asked of the closest sister.

"Oh?" she inquired, tilting a head curiously but handing the vial over.

"We used a similar technique at the Eastern Air Temple. Makes it way more potent," Angka explained. She shook out several leaves into her palm and sprinkled them atop the liquid, then grabbed up the wooden spoon and furiously mixed them in.

Katar watched, somewhat fascinated by the process. Angka seemed completely absorbed in what she was doing, eager to share the technique with the nuns, who crowded around in fascination, enraptured by the lost Air Nomad recipe.

Angka set her spoon aside with a flourish, reaching for a vial and scooping up a glassful of the mixture, passing it around eagerly.

"See?" she said.

A few nuns took whiffs and hummed appreciatively. Grinning, Angka dipped another vial and held it out to him.

Katar took it to be polite and let its scent waft under his nose. Even that small intake sent tingling vitality through him, like a shot of adrenaline had been injected straight into his veins.

"Wow," he said. He looked down at the vial with some wonder. "Potent."

Angka grinned and Katar's heart did that funny flip inside him. "Just a little Air Nomad mixture," she dismissed, though she was clearly ecstatic to have been able to share it with him. She grabbed a cork off the counter and shoved it into the top of the vial, pressing it to his chest when she was done. "For you," she said.

Katar's chest clenched just a little bit, his hands closing around the vial like it was something priceless.

There was a commotion suddenly from outside.

Angka turned towards the shouts with confusion, starting to wander towards the door that led to the main courtyard. Katar froze a moment, then followed with wary trepidation, his heart pounding a little.

His feet crossed the threshold and then froze again.

Atop a huge furred animal, a beast comparable to Appa in size, was a very hideously familiar female figure with a scarred left side. Katar's insides panicked at the sight of her, barely even registering the middle aged woman with the whip or the gray-haired elder on either side of her.

Zuka, his thoughts registered, grounding to a halt otherwise.

The beast she was mounted on snuffled, its pink nose tendrils twitching, snuffling, zeroing in on him in particular it seemed.

"Huh," commented the woman mounted in front of the Fire Nation prince. "Well, I'll tell you one thing, your boyfriend has interesting taste in jewelry."

Katar's mouth ran dry as Zuka's golden eyes lighted on Angka with manic fervor. She straightened, sliding almost immediately off of the brown creature. "It's his mother's, apparently," she growled, and his heart sank to see the familiar dark blue band and bright blue shell of his mother's necklace wrapped around her wrist.

The creature's snuffling made a terrible sense now. It could track by smell.

And he'd led the Fire Nation princess right to Angka.

His mouth dry, Katar took a step forward, an arm jutting out to shield Angka, who looked very pale and concerned as she shied back behind him.

"Ah. Momma's boy," the strange woman commented, lazing back in her saddle. "That makes sense, Miss Daddy Issues."

Zuka paid the tease no mind, striding forward with hostile purpose.

"Hand over the Avatar," she demanded, dropping into a ready stance.

Katar swallowed, steeling himself, some cold determination stealing over him. His mental grip took hold of the water in his canteen, drawing it out in a long ribbon.

With a flick of his wrist he snapped it towards the Fire Nation princess, scoring a satisfying hit directly into her scarred face.

She stumbled back, and now Appa had entered the fray, barreling into the strange snuffling beast from the side and upending both its remaining passengers.

The creature didn't stay down for long, and neither did Zuka, who screamed at the female mercenary, shouting something about her pet being useless. This prompted a snap of the whip from her hand, and the snuffling creature jerked around from its face-off against Appa, whirling on them.

He and Angka both dove for cover as the creature charged them, Angka smacking its head to the side with a flat gust of air. The thing's flailing tongue lashed out, hitting Katar, who gasped as he felt his body seize up, felt his limbs freeze unnaturally and his body topple to the ground.

A glancing hit, but one that had paralyzed him. He watched, helpless from his prone position, as Angka continued to dodge and leap around attacks from the creature and blasts of fire from Zuka.

His every thought screamed at him to move but he was as useless as he was that day, when his trembling hands had last properly held a weapon, when his mother...

Infuriated, Katar willed himself to fight against the paralyzing toxin. The smelling salts... he thought dully, feeling the vial press against his side, still close to his body. The creature was busy striking Appa with multiple lashes from its horrible long tongue, and Katar could see that the bison was growing steadily weaker with each progressive strike. Angka was holding off well against Zuka, one firm sweep of her staff upending the older girl and sending her head over heels in a manner that might have been comical in other situations.

It was decidedly less comical a few moments later, when a lucky whip by the snuffling creature's tongue caught Angka in her calf. Katar's face twisted as she squeaked, stumbled, couldn't recover in time. Zuka stalked forward with terrible purpose, her gold eyes like cold embers, and Katar strained at his paralyzed limbs to bring the little glass vial closer to his face.

"Leave her alone!" he screamed impotently, his thoughts whiting out in rage and panic, watching Zuka bend down and scoop Angka up by her middle like she weighed nothing, Angka struggling valiantly in the older girl's grip, her paralyzed leg useless in the efforts.

No. No no no no no no... his thoughts screamed. The vial was so close to his face. Just a little... closer...

There came an unexpected war cry from the plaza entrance, and Katar jerked up his head in time to see his sister come in with a flying tackle to Zuka's side. She grunted, dropping Angka, the two girls rolled and rolled and Sokki was punching furiously, brawling with a fierce desperation he'd never seen out of her before.

Marveling, Katar almost missed when the nun rushed to his side, hands curling up under his armpits, hauling him away from the conflict.

"Wait!" he cried, even as he felt his feet dragging along the cobblestones, the vial clutched in the hand that was limp by his side. "No, don't! Get me back on my feet!" he ordered. "I have to help her!"

To their credit, the nuns tilted him upright once he was out of immediate danger, one of them prying the vial from his frozen fingers and bringing it to his nose.

The sharp scent invigorated him, surging adrenaline through his veins. He felt the numb sensation start fading away, rapidly fading, his limbs beginning to steady underneath him.

He had to stay leaning against the wall for several long, unbearable moments still, as the paralyzing toxin rushed through his bloodstream and slowly dissipated.

He watched the fight from afar, nervous and straining every minute. Zuka eventually flung Sokki off her, and spent the rest of the fight single-mindedly pursuing Angka, who struggled on her paralyzed leg to evade.

Bato, meanwhile, was an unexpected boon to the fight. He charged in and engaged the strange mercenary woman directly, and while it was clear the woman was no slouch when it came to combat, even the wounded Water Tribe warrior gave her a good fight, striking at her weak points, joints and neck and diaphragm, keeping her on her toes.

Sokki made her way over to him as his feet were starting to steady under him.

"What are you doing just standing there?!" she complained, grabbing at his arm. "C'mon, we gotta get Angka out of here!"

Katar groaned as he felt his knees wobble a moment before steadying. "That animal..." he said, shaking off the last of the numbness. "It's got a paralyzing tongue and it can track by smell," he explained.

"So it sees with its nose?" asked Sokki.

He knew that look in his sister's eye. The look that said she had an idea. "Yeah, I think so," he confirmed.

Sokki glanced towards the potted jugs of perfume.

"Let's give it something to look at."

-ATLA-

Angka had kept ahead of Zuka's flame blasts and fire streaks relatively well, considering her crippled mobility with her leg. The venom was starting to wear off, so Angka could afford to be more aggressive with her air strikes, blasting and blowing away at Zuka and just letting her have the full measure of Air Nomad offense.

She'd managed to hook her foot in the gap of Katar's mother's necklace, pulling it away from Zuka's wrist. As she flipped over she reached down for it, grabbing it up with her hand, fingers clutching tightly around the precious memento.

Her head filled with triumph as she tightened fingers around it, thrilling with a private victory.

She didn't have time to appreciate Zuka's embarrassing faceplant into the floor of the courtyard. The creature and the lady mercenary were closing in; Appa's running defense interference was failing with every striking glance of the creature's tongue. Her heart clenched in dismay when her beloved bison fell to the side, moaning with a mournful bellow.

Her heart ticked rapidly for a moment as she found herself caught against the wall.

Then suddenly her nose was filled with fragrant scents. She glanced behind; the nuns had tipped over several potted containers full of perfume, and Katar was swirling the stuff all around the courtyard, masking and obscuring her scent in so much olfactory white noise.

The snuffling creature grew distressed, pawing at its nose, flailing, its tongue whipping out with aimless recklessness, striking Zuka and the mercenary and the elder. At least Angka thought so. They toppled over, senseless and numb, onto the cobblestones, and the brown animal scratched at its poor nose before retreating from the temple, agitated and overwhelmed.

Her heart was still pounding in her ears for several long moments before she felt the frantic hands of Katar tugging at her arm, urging her away.

Dully, still in disbelief that they'd managed to escape again, she let herself be pulled up into Appa's saddle. Appa had recovered quickly from the venom's effects—not surprisingly, given just how large and resilient he was—and it wasn't even five minutes before they were all aboard, waving goodbye to Bato, fleeing quickly before the Fire Nation princess and her entourage recovered.

The first thing she did once her ears stopped ringing with adrenaline was throw her arms around Sokki.

"You came back!" she cried, happiness bursting from her.

Sokki patted her arms indulgently. "'course I came back, someone had to help Katar protect you." She looked over Angka's shoulder back at her brother. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier. You did... good."

Angka quickly pulled back so that she could check Katar's face for his reaction. He was looking down, so it was hard to read him, but his shoulders were shrugging and he mumbled casually, "You weren't so bad yourself I guess. That was a good idea, with the fragrances."

"Yeah, but you pulled it off." Sokki sighed. "I owe you some credit for that." She glanced aside at Angka with a rueful smile. "I owe you an apology too, for blowing you off last night."

Angka fidgeted, shifting on her knees. "So... you aren't leaving?" she asked, tone cautiously hopeful.

"You're our family too. And right now, you need us more."

It was probably the most genuine and sweet thing Sokki had ever said to her, and Angka couldn't help but throw herself into a hug again.

Sokki indulged this embrace a little less patiently, awkwardly raising her arms and after several seconds coughing and saying, "Okay, that's enough hugging. I'm good."

Angka giggled as she pulled back. "Oh!" she gasped, suddenly, remembering something. She dug in her clothes for the place where she'd stashed Katar's necklace. "By the way, I think I found something of yours," she said.

She drew it out and held it dangling triumphantly.

Katar glanced up and then double-took, his eyes going wide and delighted, so dazzlingly happy it made her dizzy. "Angka! How did you get that?" he cried, reaching forward at once to take it from her. He held it in his palms with wonder and awe, perhaps close to tears, and Angka's heart swelled at being able to return the precious item to him.

"Ah, you know," she dismissed casually, "found it on the ground somewhere, thought you'd like it."

His eyes shimmered at her as he looked up. "Thank you," he whispered tremulously.

Angka beamed, and then her face fell a little. "I guess you won't need mine now," she said, a bit sadly.

"No no, I'll just wear them both, see?" he said, quickly fastening the Water Tribe pendant around his neck so that it sat above Angka's handmade one.

Her shell and leaf creation actually complemented the blues of his mother's necklace quite well, she thought, before she quickly peeled her eyes away from gawking too long at his neck.

He looked at her with warm gratitude. "Thank you for bringing this back to me," he said again.

He shifted forward suddenly, and Angka felt her thoughts blanking out into firework sparks as he pressed warm soft lips against her cheek.

She warmed, her skin turning pink, heart thudding anxiously inside her chest as she blushed shyly and ducked her head.

He kissed me, was her dazed thought, her head reeling as Katar leaned back again, arguing something with his sister now that she couldn't hear.

On the cheek, but still.

She slipped off the saddle onto Appa's head, Momo curling into her lap as she took the reins, steering them away from the abbey and heading north into the orange-tinted sky.

Chapter Text

His fingers dipped the cloth into the frigid water, swirled it around with the ice in the bowl. He lifted it, wrung the cooling cloth out and carefully transferred it to the sweat-sheened forehead of his wife.

Angka looked up at him with a tired but bright smile, humming gratefully as the water trickled down into her hair.

Warmth thrumming in his chest, Katar returned the smile, stroking a hand down her cheek tenderly.

"How you feeling?" he asked.

She shifted on the fur-lined cot, thinking a moment. "Nervous and excited?" she guessed. Her left hand lay across her swollen round stomach, the baby bump almost overpowering on the slight frame of the Air Nomad woman. "I'm not in too much pain yet, but they're definitely growing closer together." She gave a little laugh, marveling. "I can't believe we're finally going to hold them," she breathed.

Katar beamed at her, at her excitement and anticipation. He let his hand settle across hers atop the baby bump. The little one inside wasn't extremely active, probably due to its steady course towards the exit. Angka had grimaced every so often as a contraction came, breathing slowly and steadily through it.

"You're doing great," he told her, speaking from experience. Gran-Gran had made sure that he knew how to deliver a baby, long before he'd even met Angka. He was impressed at her pain tolerance; by now most Southern Water Tribe women would be begging for numbing agents and sedatives.

Angka's hand closed around his. "Do you still think it's a boy?" she asked.

Katar's face scrunched. "I dunno..." he allowed. "There's an old Southern Water Tribe suspicion that if your strongest pregnancy craving towards the end is for sea prunes, you're carrying a girl." He looked towards her. "And you haven't stopped eating them since we got here."

She looked sheepish. "Heh," she chuckled. "You... wouldn't happen to have any right now, would you?" she asked hopefully. "I'm really hungry."

He patted her hand indulgently "The midwives said not to eat before labor," he reminded her.

She raised her other hand to snap dramatically. "Drat," she quipped.

From the doorway came a rustle of furs. The couple looked towards the entrance, spying two pairs of eyes looking in on them.

"You can come in the room, you know," Katar said flatly.

One of the visitors coughed as they both came in the room, the smaller Earthbender immediately crossing his arms and leaning against the wall in a bored fashion.

His sister, on the other hand, fidgeted as she came further into the room.

"So uh..." Sokki asked awkwardly, looking anywhere but directly at Angka. "Any uh... progress?"

Angka rested her head back on the cot. "My water broke two hours ago," she reported.

"That's... good, right?" Sokki strained. "Means it won't be that long?"

"Depends," the Earthbender said. "Some women labor for hours after water break." He turned his head with slight concern towards Sokki, milky sightless eyes pinching. "Are you okay? Your heartbeat's really fast."

Sokki flapped her hands in overcompensating gestures. "I'm fine! I'm totally fine, I can totally handle this." She looked desperately towards Angka. "Seriously, do you need anything?" she asked nervously. "A blanket? Ice? Incense?"

Angka waved the girl off. "I'm okay for now."

Katar pinned a worried look at his sister. "Sokki, you don't need to be in here if you're not up for it," he told her.

"I am one hundred percent up for this, don't even worry about it!" she insisted, though her blanching face and wide gestures said otherwise. "What kind of aunt would I be if I couldn't even be here for my niece or nephew's birth?"

"You're not gonna faint again like you did with that baby at the Serpent's Pass are you?" the Earthbender asked.

Sokki flushed briefly then rushed to defend herself.

"That was one time, I have helped deliver lots of babies since!"

Toph scoffed with affection, letting his lips play at a smile. "Sure you have, Miss Sensitive."

Angka sat up a bit, anxiously. "Is everyone here yet?" she asked, peering towards the doorway.

Toph flapped a lazy hand. "Re-lax, Twinkletoes, Zuka and Mao said they'd be by later."

The Airbender softened at that, sinking back into the cot.

True to Toph's words, the Fire Nation royal pair made their way into the healing hut shortly, Mao draped casually and affectionately over a fidgeting Zuka's arm. Zuka looked as though she felt extraordinarily out of place, eyes darting away not unlike Sokki's.

"You uh... you're okay right?" she asked awkwardly. "Not in any pain?"

"It's childbirth, Zuka," Mao reminded her patiently, his normal drawl softer and oddly affectionate. "Of course she's in pain." The Fire Nation regal pinned Angka with a serious stare, softened by his smile. "I'm here for whatever you need, okay?"

Angka beamed. "Thanks Mao," she said, grateful. She was so glad the frigid anti-social boy had blossomed into such a surprisingly caring and considerate, gentle man. Angka supposed she had Zuka to thank for that; Mao always seemed so much happier around his better half. They were an adorable couple and Angka thrilled for their understated marital bliss.

Small talk was exchanged for a while. Her friends caught each other up with what they'd been doing, and Angka drifted in and out of the conversation sleepily, fatigue dragging her down, weighing down her body despite the sharpening contractions in her gut. Suko came by at least once, she knew—Sokki's voice got very shrill and happy-sounding for a few moments—and various others wandered in and out, offering their congratulations. Angka didn't remember much, her exhaustion pulling her into a semi-delirious state for a long hour or two as the only sensation she registered was the sharp pain in her stomach, pulsing with rhythmic regularity, bringing her back from the edge of sleep every time.

She stirred suddenly, feeling a sense of foreboding, some kind of warning tingle. She couldn't tell what time it was, but the sunlight was streaming brightly through the hole in the ceiling so she guessed about midday.

Her contractions had been clustered close together for a long hour, sharply painful each time, seeming to drag on unbearably long as her muscles clamped and clenched. But now she also felt a strong urge, a feeling in her body like she needed to squeeze.

"Katar?"

He alerted, twitching forward in his seat. "Is it time?" he asked anxiously.

Through a pained grimace, Angka nodded, her jaw tense. "I need to start pushing," she told him.

Nerves dancing inside him like firepoppers going off, Katar quickly rose to his feet and took hold of Angka's arm to support her. Sokki darted forward as well, taking her sister-in-law's other arm, and together the Water Tribe siblings eased the young woman out of the cot, standing her carefully on her feet.

Zuka watched from the entrance, biting her nails. Toph stood next to her, alert but playing casual, leaning his shoulder on the wall and listening with some fascination.

"All right, here we go," Katar directed, beginning to steer his wife and sister towards the healing pool.

They went slowly, gingerly, as Angka hissed through her teeth and moaned softly.

"Owwww..." she whimpered. "Ow... ow..."

One bare foot slipped into the water. Mao snuck in from behind to help as well, sliding hands under Angka's armpits, whispering encouragement to her as the three of them maneuvered her into the water. Her short thin dress billowed out a bit as it slowly soaked through.

The pain of her contractions eased significantly the moment she was seated on the warm stone bottom, and Angka let out a breathy, relieved, "Oh..." as she leveled her arms on either side, flat on the rims.

Two pairs of hands left her, Sokki backing off and Katar getting room to maneuver as he extended his arms out over the pool to activate its healing properties and gently direct the water to slosh back and forth across her lower body. Mao remained behind the pool, steadying her head, hands under her neck and tangled hair.

"You're doing great," he assured her. "Just listen to your body. Let it tell you what needs to happen."

Angka melted into the words and the feel of the sloshing water as it mingled with the strong painful tightening of her abdomen. She groaned a little, closed-mouthed, raising her chest and head, curling her torso towards her middle and her knees towards her shoulders.

She concentrated on the feel of the large something in her lower gut, the stretched sensation in her nether regions. She rolled with the contraction, inhaling slowly and deeply but not relaxing until it had passed.

She slumped in the water, sloshing it against the sides, panting up towards the ceiling and laying her head on Mao's palms with a lazy smile.

"Ohhhh the healing pool makes it so much easier," she told them.

Katar grinned with pride. "I told you," he quipped at Sokki.

She rolled her eyes, letting Angka grab her hand and grip it tightly as she breathed heavily, waiting for the next contraction.

-ATLA-

It was a long forty minutes. Angka moaned and cried out with each contraction, pushing as hard as she could, yet felt like her progress was horribly slow, her body stretching so very slowly around the solid mass that was her baby's head. She panted and gasped, almost forgetting the rhythm of her breathing as she labored, squeezing Sokki's hand tight, arching her head into Mao's hands and thanking the spirits for her husband's patient and potent healing powers, sapping away the sharpness off her pain and helping her feel better, more in control.

She squirmed around in the pool, shifting this way and that. Being back down was starting to become uncomfortable; her face twisted and she hissed through her teeth.

"Angka?" Katar asked, worry tracing through his voice.

"I gotta turn over," she just said, letting go of Sokki's hand, lifting up and sloshing the water as she moved into a kneeling position. She needed a gravity assist. Air Nomad woman typically gave birth standing up, or leaning against a table. She didn't think her legs had that kind of strength or endurance but she had to move how her body wanted, and her body demanded her torso upright, half out of the water, clutching onto Mao's arms with desperate fever as she grunted and groaned, straining, pushing.

She arched her rear up, heaving, struggling against the pressure holding her baby in. She knew she almost had it. Just a little more. Just a little...

Her next contraction pulsed through her, starting from her stomach and moving down into her groin, and she tightened and tightened and pushed with a closed-mouthed wail.

"Mmmnnnnnggghh!" she cried. Almost... almost...

She relaxed for a moment, recovering, panting hard. Then she tightened again, straining and straining until she finally felt a loosening, a sudden ease of pressure, a feeling like something stuck in her was slipping free.

Katar dropped his hands and grabbed into the water, immediately bringing up the grimy precious bundle that was their child.

The little body gave a gurgle, then a cough, then an unhappy wail as its lungs expanded for the first time, cold and unpleasant, protesting all the new uncomfortable feelings.

Angka gasped in relief, shuddering, almost crying with joy as she heard her baby's crying. Grunge and gunk trickled into the healing pool, staining it red.

Sokki had been hovering close to Angka's back, trying to hold the girl's shoulders, but at the outpouring of blood and fluids felt her stomach become slightly ill. She clapped a hand over her mouth, trying to quell the rising nausea.

"Oh, nope," she declared through her fingers. "Nah-uh. I... I gotta..."

She cut herself off with a retch, flinging herself upright, running at a low keel towards the doorway. They could hear her heaving outside, muffled by the distance.

Toph grinned with smug cheekiness. "Wimp," he quipped.

"Just be glad you can't see it," Zuka said, half-covering her own eyes as she stayed against the wall, watching with horrified fascination.

Katar was rubbing their shrieking infant down with a towel, the baby's skin reddening under his attention, the little one still crying out in protest, a wonderful sound like bells in his heart.

It was a boy. He was gangly and lumpy and chunky.. and he was perfect.

Katar drew the knife from his pocket, severing the umbilical cord close to his son's stomach, letting the other end float in the water for now. They could tug out the afterbirth later. Right now he just wanted to hold his son tight to his chest and never let go.

He cried a little as he wrapped the flailing limbs in a clean blanket. "It's a boy," he told Angka, his eyes shining with pride and love at her.

She laughed shortly from her position slumped on the head of the healing pool. She inhaled with thick breaths, hiccuping, tears and sweat streaming down her face as she turned herself over in the water, reaching for the bundle in her husband's arms.

"I want to hold him," she said.

Katar happily obliged, gingerly passing the wrapped bundle into her arms.

She marveled with affection at the tiny face, tucking the bundle against her bosom. The water of the healing pool was starting to feel cold and gross, her afterbirth slowly leaking out of her, but the baby against her side was nuzzling against her in contentment, recognizing mommy, and the joy pinging through her head was like heady wine, intoxicating and thrilling.

This warm pocket of perfection was all that mattered, nothing else taking her attention off the little perfect face and tiny body wrapped in its blanket. Elation pinged all through her. If she'd had her glider, she knew she could fly.

"Hi Bumi," she said, using the name they'd picked for a son. "It's nice to meet you."

Warm tears of joy trailed down her face as the tingling emotions rushed through her.

Chapter Text

It was afternoon nearing sunset, but the woods had been filled with warm golden light the whole day. It reminded Angka of a bright yellow fireplace—which she supposed was appropriate given how close they were to a Fire Nation colony city. Sokki had wanted to steer clear of it of course, especially after she'd seen the wanted posters hung up on the trail kiosk, but Angka's eyes had kept darting back to one of the other signs pinned to the board. As Katar encouraged and nudged Appa to follow him further off the path so they could set up camp, her gaze strayed back to the gilded paint and fancy calligraphy, the twisting gold and red dragon emblazoned across the top of the paper.

An advertisement for a Fire Festival. Angka had been to a couple before the war, as one of her temple's regular day trips. She had been very young but she remembered the event with a certain fondness. The lights and sparklers, the fried treats and gooey candies. It was something that had seemed almost magical. A place to put aside your differences and worries and have fun together.

Glancing aside at Katar, her heart twisting a little bit inside her, she made up her mind, and took the flyer down from the board.

Sneaking back into their hiding spot just off the path, far enough in so they wouldn't be seen from the road but not so far that they would lose it entirely, Angka felt nervous flutters dancing through her chest. She grabbed Momo up from the ground and began giving him scratches behind the ears for a distraction for her hands. The lemur protested a bit initially but then relaxed, chirring in contentment and leaning into the scritches.

She waited until Katar announced that he was going to go find some firewood and dismissed himself, waited until he was out of hearing range, before stirring and approaching Sokki. She let Momo scurry out of her arms and hop back to the ground as she walked up behind the other girl.

"Hey, uh... Sokki?" she called. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

Sokki didn't look up from rummaging in their packs for the last of their food. "What is it, Angka?" she asked.

Angka steeled herself with a deep breath, the flutters winding up again. "You... you know that... I care about your brother, right?" she began.

Sokki lifted her head, suddenly paying attention. "Yeah?" she prompted, a vague confusion and concern on her face.

"I care about him a lot," Angka emphasized, wishing her face wouldn't heat up like she could feel it starting to.

The other girl's confusion only grew. "Of course," she said, standing, brushing off her skirt.

Angka forced her words out in a hurry, already feeling her nerves failing her. "And you know that I'd never do anything to hurt him or put him in danger, right?"

"Where exactly are you going with this?"

Her foot curled and she dug a toe into the dirt. She forced herself to raise her face, taking out the flyer and showing it to Sokki. "There's this Fire Festival cultural event taking place tonight. There'll be exhibits, jugglers, benders, musicians, lots of food. I was..." She swallowed and peeked up hopefully at Sokki. "...kind of hoping we could go."

Sokki took a moment to scrutinize the flyer, reading over it with pinched brows. She straightened back up. "Sooooo you're asking my permission to..." The pinched-eyed bewildered expression was pinned on Angka now. "...take my brother on a date?" she asked, perplexed and in slight disbelief.

Angka felt her cheeks coloring instantly. "N-no!" she leapt to stay. "I just—I think it could be good for him!" Her hands wrung around a corner of her collar piece as she babbled. "He's been feeling so down lately since the Abby and I just thought something like this might cheer him up, you know? Plus it'd be a good opportunity for me to study some real firebending up close!" she added, the afterthought excuse coming to her as she was speaking.

"You mean you want to walk into a Fire Nation town," Sokki emphasized, "with my brother, to hang out and watch firebenders when they're all fired-up with their, you know... fire?"

"And eat some fried quailturkey legs, if they have them!" Angka said with undimmed excitement. Despite the extremely skeptical tone in Sokki's voice and the severe, suspicious frown, Angka thought the other girl might be cracking. Mentioning the food had probably helped. "I have to learn firebending at some point and this could be my only chance to watch a master up close," she also pointed out. "And it could be fun!"

Sokki leaned back her head, crossed her arms, screwed her face up and stayed that way for a long moment... and then gave a wheezing exhale through her nose.

"All right, fine, but I'm coming along to chaperone," she decided.

"But it's not a da—" Angka started to protest, mortified that Sokki was still drawing that conclusion.

"Ah-ba-ba! Just own it," Sokki interrupted, cutting off her argument before she could make it. "It'll be simpler that way."

"It really isn't like that..." Angka mumbled, cheeks burning, staring at her feet.

"Sure it isn't," Sokki huffed.

-ATLA-

She lost her nerve almost as soon as Katar was back, stammering through her explanation about the Fire Festival and how much fun she remembered having at the last one, trying not to get distracted by how soft and blue his eyes were, how he bit his lip in thought as he listened to her ramble.

"Anyway, I—I thought maybe since we're here we could go down and see it. Together," she finished.

Katar looked nervous... and excited. "You mean... like a date?" he asked, and it could have been her imagination—no it definitely was—but he sounded a little bit hopeful.

Hearing him say it made her heart give a funny leap, her overactive mind already wanting to dance along after the possibly that maybe he did like her Like That, the way she liked him. But that was silly. She was just a girl, not particularly beautiful or pretty, definitely not grown-up enough for him to notice in... that way. He liked her as a friend. That was all.

But she still found her runaway mouth initially replying, "Yeah!" She quickly verbally backtracked. "A... a friend date! With all three of us!" She tried for a bright, casual smile, pinning it on Katar and ignoring how Sokki was facepalming behind her brother.

Katar's expression was thoughtful, but a little concerned. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" He looked over his shoulder, checking with Sokki. "Won't there be Fire Nation soldiers crawling all over the place?"

"I mean obviously I still think it's a bad idea," Sokki told him. "But Angka's right, you've been mopey and could use some fun."

Angka and Katar both gawped at her a moment, not expecting her to take Angka's side at all. Angka quickly recovered though, bouncing a little on her feet. "We'll wear disguises, and if it looks like trouble, we'll leave," she promised.

Katar swiveled back around, eyes softly alight, smiling pulling at his lips. "Okay," he said. "Sure. It does sound like fun."

Appa gave a mournful bellow behind them.

Angka stepped over to pat the bison on his nose. "Sorry buddy. You and Momo are going to have to wait here for us. You're a bit conspicuous."

He blew air in her face with a huff, ruffling her hair, and she laughed and reached up to smooth it down, mind already skipping forward down into the vale below.

-ATLA-

There was a nervous moment right when they entered the little walled city in which Angka second-guessed herself, realizing the three of them were the only ones in the crowd with uncovered faces. But they had found themselves painted ceramic and fabric masks to blend in with soon enough.

They wove in and out of the crowd, red-robed bodies shifting and swirling all around them. Red lanterns lined cables strung along the streets as well, casting a low warm glow over the cobblestones. The smell of smoke and wood and hot, sizzling meats and fried food drifted over the whole plaza. It combined into a musky fragrance that tingled her senses.

Angka was glad the mask hid her blush, and her shy glances towards Katar. He walked beside her, his shoulders a bit tense, sweeping this way and that with his gaze. She wished she could gauge his reaction. Was he nervous? Fascinated?

Her eyes trailed down his arm to his loosely swinging hand, and she wondered, for a moment, if she could hold it.

Spotting something ahead of them, she settled for lightly grabbing his wrist and pulling him along to look.

"Flame dancers! I love these guys!" she exclaimed.

"Hey, slow down!" Sokki puffed behind them.

Katar hummed a bit in interest as they stopped in front of a low platform, where two bare-chested men were twirling wands alight at both ends in tightly-spinning loops.

They watched the dancers for a bit before ambling off, stopping at food pavilions (for something less potent than flaming fire flakes this time), observing puppet shows and art displays. Children ran by with glimmering sparklers. An embroidered dragon head trailed a body of silken scales behind it. Polite applause and 'oooh's of delight echoed around the square.

Angka nibbled on the sweet treat Katar had bought her, a little bit of molded candy on a stick, and felt strangely... safe. Fire Nation soldiers were scattered here and there but no one paid them any heed, and the calm, cheerful atmosphere of the festival made the war and the comet and the Fire Lord seem so, so very far away.

She could almost pretend she was normal.

And, sneeking a peek at Katar, it looked like the tension in his shoulders had relaxed away. He stayed right at her shoulder, walking casually and at ease. Like being by her side was the most comfortable thing in the world.

She bit into another piece and treasured the moment for as long as she could.

Chapter Text

Angka was fidgeting as she perched on the rock, staring down intently at the leaf in her hands, in which a tiny hole was burning slowly wider. Her brows were furrowed in concentration and a trace of annoyance. Katar could see the restless energy moving through her even from his position on the riverbank, watching the training session.

Jeong Jeong had left some time ago, called away by some urgent matter. Katar had wanted to help but the firebending master had rebuked him almost as soon as he'd twitched to stand.

Katar picked at the grass, mashing several blades in-between his fingers and slowly tearing them, resisting the urge to sigh in boredom. He could hear cricket-toads croaking from somewhere upstream, birds calling idly from tree to tree, and yet the silence seemed almost oppressive, heavy with a physical weight.

Angka gave a dissatisfied huff.

"This is taking too long," she declared. She whole-body squirmed in her sitting position, her hands tightening on the edges of the leaf as she fought to hold back the burning edges of the hole. "I know I'm ready for more, why is he treating me like a baby?" she complained.

Katar felt a flutter of amusement. He pulled another grass blade free and dropped it. "I'm sure there's a good reason," he encouraged. "He just wants you to be safe."

"But I can do so much more!" Angka insisted. Frustration flared up in her expression. She stared down at the leaf even more furiously, her brows furrowing.

It was a cute look, but Katar didn't have long to appreciate it, for a spark popped between Angka's hands, replacing the leaf with a brilliant ball of yellow flame that blossomed between her hands.

Her eyes lit up with excitement and she stood up out of her indian-crouch. "I did it!" she squealed happily. "I made fire!"

Katar felt a momentary twinge of pride... and then a rushing wave of subtle terror, his eyes fixating on the glowing ball with a far away stare.

The glowing light of it was almost mesmerizing, and his mouth felt suddenly dry and tight.

It was such a fragile, small thing, barely more than a pomegranate... but it made him nervous beyond words.

"Y—You should take it more slowly," he stammered, anxious pins and needles inside him propelling him to his feet.

He watched, horrified, as Angka began juggling the ball between her hands, the licking edges of the flames far too close to her fingers for comfort.

The rippling, dancing fire flickered in Katar's eyes, making the breath catch in his throat, making his veins freeze with ice and his heart pound unbearably loud inside his own head.

"S—Stop!" he cried. He took a step involuntarily further down the bank, frozen a moment before darting forward. "You'll hurt yourself!"

One foot splashed into the water and then he was on the rock with her, trying to grapple her arms, trying to force the flames smaller, more manageable.

Angka jerked at his intrusive touch. "Hey! Cut it out!" she protested, curling around her fireball protectively.

"You shouldn't be doing that!" he cried, his tone sterner and harsher than he'd meant, scolding.

"It's fine! I know what I'm doing!" she insisted.

"Angka please—" he begged, grabbing after her wrists, which she kept slipping away from him, the wobbling ball of flame flaring and puffing as they wrestled.

"I don't need your help!" she cried, angry now, her gray eyes flashing. "I can do this!"

"Just put it—" he insisted, reaching out with a hand.

"Kat-ar," she protested, elbowing him and keeping her precious flame out of his reach. "Just—"

Her frustration and annoyance reached a fever pitch and she flung her arms out to break his hold.

"STOP!"

Time slowed to a crawl as the flames reacted to Angka's agitated arm movements, flaring and flashing out far, far, more than she'd intended.

Katar's eyes widened as the licking flames rushed around her body, up around his hands, still hovering over her with concern.

His outstretched palms felt a growing heat...

And then pain, sharp and hot and burning. The fire licked around his fingers, scalding them, and Katar gave a wretched cry as he jerked himself back.

Angka's eyes grew wide with horror. She flailed her arms down, and the flames extinguished, dying out with her agitated gesture, but Katar, fumbling back with awkward steps to the river's edge, was already hit, already wounded by her outburst.

Katar gasped, the shock of the pain reverberating through him, and pressed his hands tight into his stomach, heaving at the horrible crackling sensation in his fingers, the burnt flesh smell invading his nose. He couldn't even think it hurt so much.

"Katar! I'm—I'm so sorry!" he heard Angka saying, sounding heartbroken and panicked. He managed to glance up to see her standing there, stiff with horror, face frozen with a look of anguish.

From their side came a sudden crash of bramble and brush. Sokki emerged from the forest edges, eyes furious, poised like she was ready to throw hands.

"What happened?!" she demanded, angry and bristling.

Angka's eyes welled up with tears. "I... I..." she stammered.

The tears overflowed and she burst into sobs, turning as she pressed hands against her eyes and fled the scene.

Sokki stayed wound for several moments, before her hands went to her sides and she walked up to her brother.

"What happened?" she asked again. "Are you okay?"

Through the pain, Katar gasped out, "It's not her fault. It—it was an accident."

Sokki snorted. "What did you do, you idiot?" she pressed, reaching his side, standing over him with hands on hips.

Katar blinked back tears. "She... made a fireball. I... I tried to stop her."

"Well what did you do that for?" Sokki knelt down, her shoulder brushing his. "She's never going to learn this stuff if you freak out like an overprotective sparrowhen every time she tries. Lemme see," she ordered, grabbing his left wrist and pulling his hand away from his stomach.

Even that small motion made him bite his lip and whimper, and Katar squeezed his eyes closed as pain blossomed along his palm and fingers.

Sokki winced, expression growing immediately sympathetic. She hissed slowly through her teeth.

"That looks... pretty bad," she said. "You'd better go soak those burns under running water," she suggested.

Katar nodded mutely and wobbled to his feet, pressing hands against his stomach again, darting off to an area downstream where the water ran more noisily.

-ATLA-

Nausea pressed on the back of his throat. Katar stumbled to his knees, resisting the urge to cry. His skin felt blistered and hot like it was boiling in volcanic water. His hands cried out for just the smallest of relief, and with that urge, he pulled his ruined hands reluctantly from his belly and thrust them into the running stream.

The water stung for an instant, then began cooling.

Katar sighed in relief, shuddering full-body, then pursed his lips as an odd sensation began. The cooling settled into his hands and then... expanded... warming almost. Katar blinked eyes open to watch the warming ignite into a soft blue glow, surrounding his hands in the water and tingling on his skin.

He stared down, bewildered, watching as his blistered skin grew smooth and whole, the burns disappearing as though they'd never been.

He drew his hands from the water and marveled. The glow tinted to white and faded away, leaving him staring at his own, unremarkable, and astonishingly unburnt hands. Not even scars remained. The pain lingered, but even that was rapidly fading, forgotten as if the injury had never happened.

Katar gawped in disbelief, trying to wrap his head around what had happened and if it had been real.

"You have healing abilities."

It was Jeong Jeong's gruff voice from behind that gave word to what Katar had just witnessed, had just, apparently, done. He looked up over his shoulder as the white-haired old master walked up, still wide-eyed and struggling to comprehend the firebender's declaration.

There was a glimmer of admiration and envy in the older man's eyes as he came and sat down stiffly by Katar.

"The great benders of the Water Tribe sometimes have this ability," he said in explanation, grunting as he folded himself

"I... I can heal?" Katar repeated in disbelief. He looked down at his healed palms, his heart beating rapidly, breath catching.

"I have always wished I were blessed like you," Jeong Jeong said wistfully, "free from this burning curse."

Katar was only half-paying attention, still staring wide-eyed down at his hands. Surging emotions were rushing through him, fragmented thoughts he almost couldn't comprehend.

He could heal. He had healing abilities. If someone he loved got hurt, he could help them, ease their pain, save them.

A swell of grief threatened to choke him for a horrible moment.

Why didn't he have this before? Why hadn't he known? Why... only now...?

Katar's throat became tight, strangling from the flood of conflicting sorrow and elation and terror and excitement. He was angry. He was glad. He wanted to scream. He wanted to cry.

"I..." he wavered, closing his hands into fists and dropping them into his lap. "I wish I had known..." His voice hitched, catching on his breath as he fumbled with his words. "I wish I could have had this when... when my mother..."

Jeong Jeong slanted a sympathetic gaze towards him, reaching to place a hand on his shoulder. "It only manifests after many months of intensive training," he said. "Your abilities would have been too fresh, too underdeveloped, to unlock such a technique," he continued, with a knowing wisdom that pierced to heart of Katar's unspoken trauma.

Katar's eyes swelled with tears and he gasped, reeling back with a choked sob, accepting and yet rejecting the master's reassurance. "But I could have saved her!" he cried.

"Perhaps. Perhaps not," Jeong Jeong shrugged. "It will do you no good to dwell on what could have been. You can only accept what is, and what you can do now."

The words reverberated inside his head and he thought immediately of Angka, and Sokki. The two most important women in his life. He felt a renewed resolve.

He could heal. He could undo grievous injuries. He would never have to witness someone he loved dying again.

The thought was like a thrilling, heady wine, making him dizzy with the revelation.

A spike of concern pierced through his elation. Angka. Oh no, Angka, he realized, a cold sinking pulling at him. She must feel so ashamed of herself right now. For hurting him, even accidentally. For being fidgety and impatient.

He needed to tell her it was okay.

He rose quickly to his feet.

"I gotta go," he said.

Jeong Jeong glanced up the stream and didn't argue, rising stiffly to his own feet. "Go get your friends and flee," he ordered, with a swipe of his hand. "Do not come back here or you will all be destroyed! Hurry!"

It wasn't his usual hyperbole. Katar could glimpse the Fire Nation landing craft coming up the river and with a spike of panic piercing his heart, he turned tail and ran, stumbling over brambles and roots and swiping aside branches as he rushed back towards the old master's hut.

-ATLA-

She hated herself.

Jeong Jeong had told her she wasn't ready, that she had no respect for the power and destructive capabilities of the element she wanted so desperately to learn to control.

Why hadn't she listened?

In her head, Angka heard echoes of the old master's voice, berating her, telling her she was a foolish child playing with power she could not comprehend. She was too weak. She had no patience.

Angka felt it like a firm lash across her shoulders; she teared up and blinked furiously, willing herself not to cry.

It was her fault. All her fault. Jeong Jeong was right. Fire was too wild for her to wield, too temperamental and uncontrollable. Why did she ever think it would come as easily to her as waterbending?

She had just been... so anxious... so eager to get it handled. To prove to herself that she was ready, she was a proper grown-up Avatar that could face the Fire Lord, could match him in power...

She was such a fool.

She wouldn't cry. She would accept this burning shame, but she wouldn't let it spill out onto her face. She was strong. She wasn't a silly little girl who would cry at the drop of a hat.

Her resolve was severely tested when she heard the tent flap rustle behind her, heard Katar's gentle, worried calling of her name.

"...Angka?"

Everything inside her wanted to break. She firmed her lips and hardened her heart, and her determination.

Iron. Steel. She wasn't a baby. She was strong.

She inhaled slowly.

"Jeong Jeong tried to tell me that I wasn't ready. I wouldn't listen," she confessed, the implied apology rushing out of her.

I'm sorry Katar, she said inside her own head. I'm so, so—

"I'm never going to firebend again," she declared firmly.

She shuddered silently at the confession, knowing that it flew in the face of what she had to do, what she had to become to accept her destiny. She didn't care. Firebending was a curse, just like Jeong Jeong had said. She should have listened to him.

"You'll have to eventually," Katar pointed out, sounding strangely unbothered.

She shook her head. "No," she insisted. "Never again." If she had to defeat the Fire Lord with only three elements mastered so be it. She wasn't risking the chance that she could hurt anyone... hurt him... ever again.

She hated firebending. She wished she had never been curious about it. She had hurt him. She had hurt the boy she—

"It's okay, Angka," Katar rushed to assure her. "I'm healed."

That hit like a flashbang on her mind, whiting out her thought processes. She turned around from her seat, flabbergasted. "What?" she blurted. "How?"

She scanned quickly down Katar and noted that his hands, though she had most definitely burned them in her carelessness, didn't show any signs of damage or hurt. She wondered and marveled about that for only a moment, before Katar breathlessly explained about Admiral Zhao and his forces showing up.

Then she was rising to her feet, hot determination in her blood, pumping through her veins, declaring firmly that she would help the old master, however she could.

She brushed past Katar, hurrying on to save the man who had only tried to warn her, tried to keep her from making surely the same mistakes he had, that she'd only just repeated in her haste.

Katar tried to hold her back, of course, but even his protective spirit couldn't break past her need to atone. To repay the man for all his lessons and teachings and warnings.

So she used Zhao's arrogance and impatience against him, knowing it would work, because it had worked on her, had caused her to damage things she shouldn't have, and it worked magnificently, Zhao torched his own boats in his rage.

Angka felt a thin satisfaction as she took up a place on Appa, Momo curling around one arm, and Katar tending to the other, demonstrating his impressive new healing skills.

Her heart still ached as she looked at him, ears ignoring Sokki's indignant complaints, knowing that if it weren't for his healing abilities Katar would have been permanently scarred by her carelessness, wounded and singed by her disrespect for fire and its fury.

She vowed to never take things frivolously again. People were counting on her. And she... she had to protect them.

No matter the personal cost.

Chapter Text

Angka leaned forward on her knees, eyes eager.

"Show me again."

Katar obliged, drawing out a tendril of water from their canteen. He curled the water carefully around his arm, focusing on the sensation of cold and soothing, and the tendril lit up with a soft glow.

"See?" he said, holding out the glowing water for Angka to see. "I just kind of... focus until the water looks like this." He pantomimed laying his hand palm down. "And then I touch whatever I want to heal, let the water flow and..."

The water billowed out around his hand.

Angka marveled, the glow of the healing effect glimmering in her eyes.

"Wow..." she breathed, as Katar let the magic fade and stowed the water back away. She turned her face up towards his. "That's amazing, Katar!" she said.

He ducked his eyes, pink flush dusting his cheeks.

"How does it work?" Angka asked, leaning so far forward she was almost toppling off her knees. "Can you teach me?"

"I'm not exactly sure how," Katar admitted. "I dunno if it's something that can be taught." His smile went wan, rueful. "I didn't even know it was possible to use waterbending for healing."

Angka withdrew a bit, tilting back onto her legs. Reading some kind of deep regret and sorrow in his tone, her eagerness dimmed.

"I... just thought since we're both waterbenders..." She pasted on a smile. "Two healers is better than one, right?"

Katar gave a short laugh. "Yeah, I suppose you're right." He slung the canteen back in its usual spot on his hip. "Next time we find another big body of water I'll see if I can teach you," he promised.

He stood, reaching out his hand to Angka.

"C'mon, let's go join Sokki at the storyteller's hollow."

-ATLA-

It was a pleasant evening, all things considered. The firelight flickered and danced across their faces. Sparks popped and crackled, adding percussion to the low winding reedy notes of the flute the storyteller's companion played.

Katar felt himself lulled by the warm air and the old man's soothing voice, and almost didn't notice how Angka was leaning her head quite comfortably against his arm.

Almost.

Glancing aside, his face blushing lightly, Katar wondered if she was aware of her proximity, if he should draw attention to it, and if he did, would that embarrass her? Or if he was overplaying things in his head and she was obviously just at ease with friends and he happened to make a convenient pillow.

Before he could decide how to approach the topic, the storyteller finished, and Angka leaned up to offer some polite applause, lifting her head from his shoulder.

Katar flushed and decided not to broach the topic, raising his hands to also give some appreciative claps.

Of course, their conversation with the old storyteller very rapidly shifted their attention and focus.

Katar put the lingering warmth of her on his arm out of mind as they rushed back to their campsite to pack up Appa.

-ATLA-

Angka found herself fading towards the back of the group as the Mechanist—(Did he have a name? Angka wasn't sure she'd caught it.)—chattered on, leading a sort of impromptu tour of his workshop and his... "improvements" to the temple.

She gazed up at the pipework and clanking gears with a quiet bewilderment. It was all so... odd. So loud and so metal and persistent and... not at all Air Nomad.

Her eyes pinched with dismay at the cracks in a painted wall fresco, bulging pipes crawling out of it like a long round bug. The color was faded from age and steam, the surface worn off in places.

She stared at it. A vague memory pulled at her mind. She knew what the painting was supposed to look like, she thought, but it had been so long ago that her memory was fuzzy. Was the elder's necklace supposed to be on the rightmost or center-right figure?

She couldn't recall.

Angka felt her insides shrinking, sagging down and pooling into her stomach. Her eyes tickled as she looked around what she thought was once a sacred inner space, burning around the brims.

At some point, the group got too far ahead of her, their voices fading around a corner. Angka didn't feel much like catching up to them... but she didn't really feel like wandering either.

She wound up sitting on a broken piece of masonry in the middle of another repurposed room, knees up, face pillowed sadly on her hands.

The mid-morning sun started to grow warm on her head. She traced the edges of the cobblestones and strained her mind after the illusive far-off memories.

"Angka?"

She startled at first, then relaxed at once when she realized it was only Katar, making his way through one of the archway doors, blue eyes radiating soft worry.

"Did you not want to see the bathhouse plans?" he asked.

Angka managed a weak smile. "No. Not really."

Katar came over and sat down on the side of the masonry next to her. "Guess this must all look pretty different from what you remember, huh?"

"I dunno," Angka sighed. "I grew up in the Eastern Air Temple, mostly, and we rotated out to the Western Air Temple in the summers. They moved me to the Southern Air Temple after they told me I was the Avatar. I've only ever been here once, I think." She lifted her chin, shifting her arms and legs so her hands draped off her knees and her face rested on her forearms. "When I was three or four. So I don't really remember what it was like... before."

She sighed heavily.

"It's sad though," she confessed. "It must have been really beautiful. Most of the Temples and outposts were."

Katar said nothing for a moment, then placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Gran-Gran tells me we used to have walls around the village—huge ice walls with a gate and a big watchtower and everything," he said, voice low and kind. "When all the waterbenders were... gone," he said carefully, and Ankga didn't miss how he couched his words, "no one left could maintain them and eventually... they just melted." He withdrew his hand, tucking it under his knees. "So I think I understand how you must feel."

A smile, sad but comforted, tweaked at her face as Ankga looked up at him, grateful for his compassion.

Abruptly he stood, brushing off his pants.

"Those gliders still looked pretty exciting," he said. He sent a grin towards her. "Think you can show me how they work?"

Amused, Angka asked, "You wanna learn how to fly a glider?"

"I'm teaching you how to waterbend and heal." Katar shrugged. "Only fair that you get to teach me something, right?"

Angka stood, beaming widely.

"Okay!" she said.

-ATLA-

Katar looked down over the ledge, gulping with trepidation.

"I've changed my mind. I can't do this," he squeaked nervously.

Beside him, the Mechanist's daughter, a girl named Téa, laughed. "Of course you can! Just trust the air and it will carry you."

He glanced anxiously aside at Angka, who smiled and hefted her own glider. "That's how it works," she assured him.

Téa rolled her chair in and reached up, briefly correcting Katar's grip on the glider. Sliding back she asked, "Are you ready?

"No," Katar warbled.

But he leaned out over the side and let his feet leave the solid stone of the ledge anyway.

A weightless sensation sent his stomach plummeting. He shrieked for a moment before the wafts of heat from the vents caught the thick canvas wings of his glider and lifted him, and the weightlessness became less falling and more rising, sending his insides back up towards his head in a giddy thrill.

His feet dangled behind him. Wind rushed past his face, whistling through his hair. His body felt lighter than a feather, twisting and lifting with the updrafts.

The air carried him, buoyant underneath the glider like an ice floe bobbing on top of the sea, drifting in the current.

As he angled to catch the strongest breeze he caught sight of Angka flying just behind him. Téa also joined them in the air, after she got someone to attach her glider to her chair, and she looked as exhilarated as Katar felt.

Angka moved through the air like a natural, weaving circles around him. Katar gripped the handles of his glider tightly, as he craned his head to look at her.

Breathless, he yelled over the wind.

"I can't believe I'm flying!"

He thought he spied her grinning. "Just make sure you keep your mouth closed so you don't swallow a bug!" she called back, helpfully.

He made a note of that as another updraft caught him, his thrilling flight continuing.

Chapter Text

Departing the Northern Air Temple was bittersweet.

Though they'd won quite the encouraging victory over the Fire Nation in the skirmish—hopefully one that meant they wouldn't be back to harass the new Temple dwellers—Angka found herself almost reluctant to leave.

Being around remnants of Air Nomad culture, even as modified and repurposed as it was, had been comforting, in a way. Téa had a gentle, free-spirited personality that made her think of her old friends. Even the Mechanist—(Seriously, he had to have an actual name, right?)—with his tinkering and his passionate enthusiasm, had something irresistibly magnetic about him, an unhindered kind of lightness and spark of airbender spirit.

But of course she couldn't stay. She couldn't lead Zuka or Zhao to these people, and she had a mission and a purpose she had to return to.

So after one last glider race around the mountain with Téa and many farewells, she, Sokki, Katar, and Momo loaded up on a well-supplied Appa and began making their way, inexorably, towards their goal.

-ATLA-

They struck the ocean around mid-afternoon and stopped briefly to rest, stretch, and take bathroom breaks.

"There'll be nowhere to land once we leave this shore," Sokki pointed out, tracing a finger across the map, slightly concerned.

"That's okay," Angka said, patting Appa's nose. "If Appa gets tired he can just float for a bit on the water."

"I meant there won't be anywhere convenient for us to stop if we... you know..." Sokki said, trailing off awkwardly.

Katar had already thought of that. With maybe a little more showboating and flair than was usual for him he demonstrated his ice-making skills, raising up a little floating iceberg with an enclosed space with his bending in the shallow arctic water before them.

"It's not much, but it'll give us some privacy," he said.

Sokki had already moved on to another logistical question. "And it looks like most of the food they packed us can be eaten unheated, so we won't need to make any campfires," she announced.

"Great!" Angka said brightly, twirling her staff a little. "Then let's get started!"

She flipped one more mouthful of grass into Appa's mouth with a swish of her staff and a puff of airbending.

"Eat up, buddy," she told her mount gently. "It's a long way and you need the energy."

Appa huffed into her face, large brown eyes seeming to smile.

In another few moments they were loaded back up. Appa kicked off and they turned their faces north.

-ATLA-

They navigated a bit of cloud cover for the first hour, and then the sky cleared up and there was nothing but frigid clear blue sky and sloshing ocean for a while.

A long while.

The sun crawled across the sky inch by inch, no warmth coming from it, only a steady haze of light. The waves sloshed and churned beneath them, an ever-shifting pattern of hills and valleys in the water.

A gull occasionally called.

Other than that, it was quiet.

The three of them fidgeted and idled for a bit. Momo ran in circles around the saddle.

Eventually there was an attempt at conversation, nothing too deep or dramatic, Katar just telling stories from growing up, with occasional interruptions from Sokki, Angka talking about the Air Nomads and how things used to be.

They got tired of sitting still after a while and she and Katar got up to practice bending, while Sokki took a turn on Appa's head to guide him.

"All right, so... what do I do again?" Angka asked, trying to form her hands with the same motions as Katar.

"Elbows in, curl your wrists just like so," he explained patiently, moving to demonstrate for her, a glob of water rising up from the waves below them and rolling into a wobbly levitating ball between his hands. "It doesn't need a big gesture."

Angka's eyes had been fixed on his arms as he showed her the move. Furrowing her eyes and biting her lip in concentration she mimicked the move.

She was rewarded with her own, slightly more wobbly, blob of water floating in front of her.

She grinned broadly at Katar, chest thrilling with pride, heart skipping slightly when he smiled and nodded in approval. She looked down at her stretching, rolling ball of captured water, adjusting her hands gently to keep hold of it. "It's like... holding an air ball except... squishier," she said.

That got a short laugh from Katar. "I guess it does feel a little squishy," he agreed.

With just the faintest tug, he pulled her ball towards his and merged them, then sent the water back in the form of a short tendril, curling towards her left side. Nervously, Angka reached out her hands and felt the telekinetic hold of her bending grasping onto the tendril, losing a little of it on the saddle but keeping most of it together and bringing it in front of her.

"Perfect!" Katar complimented. "Now pass it back to me."

Angka wasn't sure whether to extend her arms or curl them at first, send the water forward or to the side. Her hesitation lost her another drop or two. Eventually she swept the tendril right, in a slow arc that bent towards Katar's left side.

"See, I knew you could do it," Katar said, encouraging and proud.

She felt her cheeks warming to a faint pink. "Well I do have a great teacher," she replied shyly.

Katar didn't seem to have heard her, for he just passed her the water tendril again. And she passed it back.

Around and around and around it went, its path getting smoother and cleaner each time. The steady motion almost lulled her into a bit of trance. Push, pull. Tug, release. They were in sync, attuned to each other like swirling pools of energy.

The magic eventually wore off and they grew bored, switching to a few different techniques, Katar even pulling out the waterbending scroll for them to study. Sokki complained at them to pause and let her have a "rest stop"—she and Katar relieved themselves as well—and the sun slowly sank beneath the horizon and gave way to a chilly, moonlit night.

Sokki switched places with her, giving her the reins before curling up at the back of the saddle. Katar dropped off not too long afterwards.

Alone with her thoughts for a while in the blue darkness, Angka let her mind run in circles, considering the path ahead, the past, their mission, her friends sleeping behind her.

When she felt herself blinking upright more often, she leaned down, giving Appa's head a scratch.

"Hey, you gonna be okay on your own for a bit, buddy?" she asked. "I kind of need a little shut eye."

Appa gave a low bellow, huffing and reassurant, great golden eyes blinking slowly.

Angka smiled, stood and stretched, tied the ends of the reins off to one of Appa's horns, and then climbed up into the saddle with the others. Self-conscious, she peeked around as if someone could see her before settling herself close to Katar's side, curling up as close to him as she dared.

Her nose was level with his chin. She could feel his warmth, and it made her heart pound inside her chest, so loud she was sure he could hear it.

But he slept soundly, chest rising and falling with his soft breath, the fur on one of his gloves tickling his cheek, looking so serene. The faint moonlight outlined and softened his features and her heart clenched.

He's beautiful... she thought.

She lay there staring, achingly aware of him, before rolling over with heated cheeks so that her back was to him.

This was slightly less mortifying, and she found her drowsiness overtaking her and pulling her eyelids down.

Eventually, the sloshing ocean and gentle rocking of the saddle lulled her to sleep.

-ATLA-

Katar woke up a little stiff, and a bit embarrassed at the sleeping Ankga's proximity—she didn't stir when he carefully moved back from her, though, which relieved him—but refreshed. He took his turn at Appa's reins until the airbender woke, at which point she slid down to Appa's head, right next to him, smiling with a casual ease. He returned both the gesture and the reins, and climbed back up to take a center seat in the saddle.

And that was when Sokki woke up cranky. And while Katar was used to his sister's bad mood mornings, Angka was not, and the girls wound up getting a bit... snippy with each other.

Katar mediated as best he could, but as the sun dragged across the sky, turning to noontime and then afternoon again, even his patience was wearing thin.

"I'm not one to complain," Sokki said, and Katar had to hold back a snort, "but can't Appa fly any higher?"

The bison had been drifting lower and lower for the past hour, tired but soldiering on determinedly, not yet willing to dip his paws and fur into the frigid arctic water.

Angka turned around in her seat to shoot an annoyed look at the other girl. "I have an idea," she shot back, voice laced with irritation. "Why don't we all get on your back and you can fly us to the North Pole?"

Sokki waggled her rear sarcastically. "Fine by me! Everyone climb on!"

"Girls," Katar chided, tired and weary. "Let's not get at each other's throats. We're all just a little tired and cranky because we've been flying for two days straight."

Appa gave a low bellow of agreement and Momo chittered.

"See? Appa and Momo agree with me," Katar pointed out.

Sokki gave an exaggerated sigh, flopping arms over the back of the saddle. "And for what?" she moaned. "We can't even find the Northern Water Tribe. There's nothing up here."

This coming from the girl who had meticulously checked their map and direction before they had actually started off. Katar was ready to point that out to her, but then several things happened very suddenly all at once.

Spikes of ice erupted from the water. Angka jerked Appa's reins to turn him; he and Sokki were flung around the saddle and clung for dear life as the bison rolled and spun, flailing and startled from the ice obstacles. They hit the water, ice forming all around Appa's partially submerged body. And then—

Canoes paddling out to them from all sides. Sides painted in shades of blue and white, matching the parkas worn by those driving them.

Katar gasped, his heart beating with the thrill. "They're waterbenders!" he told the other two. "We found the Water Tribe!"

Angka raised her head with a glimmer of excitement, sharing a look with him.

Whatever happened now, at least they were finally safe.

The Fire Nation wouldn't dare attack a fortified city.

Chapter Text

A white wall of ice loomed before them, emblazoned with the symbol of the Northern Water Tribe, the swirling wave-shapes cutting gracefully into the frozen surface.

The three of them marveled, struck dumb with awe as they watched a section of the wall partition itself at the motion of the waterbenders on the skiffs to either side of them, sliding down into the water to reveal a long tunnel through.

Their escort gestured towards the tunnel, inviting them to enter.

Angka gently nudged Appa with the reins. The bison was only too happy to float lazily through the tunnel, the icy sides smooth and polished.

They emerged into what looked like a loch, as for a canal, which was quickly filled up with water by benders standing on the parapets above. Angka gasped at the display, thrilled.

Glancing back she saw that Katar was gaping just as excitedly at the other benders, and she couldn't help but be happy for him. These must have been the first other waterbenders he'd met. It must have been so wonderful to know he wasn't alone.

There was a small pang in her heart at that—that he could have this happiness and she could not—but she pushed it down, determined to be grateful and glad for him.

She owed him that, after all he'd done for her.

And the way his face was lit up, a light behind his eyes that was so full of joy and wonder, made her quickly forget any sorrows she might have dwelled on.

He was craning his neck in all directions, gawping, trying to take everything in at once.

She couldn't blame him. The elaborate blue-white walls of the city, the canals and bridges and fountains, the towering buildings, it was all so breathtaking. She felt like she could live there a thousand years and never get tired of experiencing it, exploring it.

"It's beautiful..." she heard Katar breathe.

Grinning, she looked over her shoulder to check on her Water Tribe companions. As expected, Katar's eyes were fixated with the benders gently steering them forward, watching their technique as they slowly guided Appa along the channels.

Sokki, meanwhile, was looking in the complete opposite direction, watching a small boat pass them by in another channel. There was a boy seated up at the prow. Rather pretty, if Angka had to give her opinion, white-haired and dressed in elaborate furs.

"Yeah..." the Water Tribe girl was saying absently, eyes following the boy as the boat he was on drifted further. "He is."

Angka giggled privately to herself, making a mental note to tease Sokki about her obvious crush later.

Two minutes here and already swooning over cute boys, she thought, amused.

Her heart clenched and nearly outed her for a hypocrite a moment later, as Katar saw fit to slide down out of the saddle and join her on Appa's head. Angka ducked her gaze, one hand rubbing up nervously by her ear, blushing at Katar's proximity.

"I can't believe how many waterbenders live up here!" he was telling her excitedly.

"Yeah," she agreed. "We'll find a master to teach us no problem."

She meant it as an encouraging statement, as a happy congratulatory kind of sentiment, but couldn't miss how Katar's face fell a little bit, his smile turning sad, dipping his chin as he sat next to her.

"I guess..." he started. "I guess you won't need me to teach you anymore," he finished, voice lined with regret.

Angka's heart wrenched, something in her breaking at how crestfallen he sounded. "No!" she blurted.

He looked up at her.

She scrambled for words. "I—I mean—" she stammered. "You can still teach me things! I'm sure there's lots of stuff I won't get right away and I'll need a waterbender who knows me to explain it to me in a way I'll understand." She was babbling, her tongue running far away from her. She grabbed onto Katar's wrist to let him know how serious she was. "Just because we'll both be learning from an actual master doesn't mean I don't want you to teach me!" she said, almost shouting the words, her voice louder than she'd meant it to be, more desperate.

Katar blinked, taken aback. "I... I just thought... since I'll be learning too that... that you'd want me to focus on that."

"I do!" She shook her head, vigorously, latching on to both of his hands and turning towards him on her knees. "I want you to become the amazing waterbender I know you are!" she told him. "I just... I don't want you to stop teaching me."

The fervent eye contact was proving too much for her. She blushed and turned her face aside, hands still gripping his.

"I like how you teach me," she confessed, softly. "I like learning from you."

Her heart pounded in her chest for several seconds, loud and painful-feeling. She waited with tense anticipation for Katar's reaction, fearing she'd said too much, given too much of her true feelings away.

From the corner of her eye, she caught him smiling, warm and affectionate.

"All right," he agreed, and her eyes darted back to him, seeing his breathtaking face and falling a little more in love with him all over again. "We'll both learn together. And I promise, anything you don't understand and need more help with, I'll help you, okay? And you do the same for me."

Her heart swelled. She felt like she was flying on her glider, a thousand yards above the earth.

"Okay..." she breathed, happy to agree, to be able to keep him next to her just a little longer, have an excuse to watch him move, watch him coach her so patiently through the forms and motions of waterbending that she was starting to feel like second nature thanks to him.

Reassured that he wasn't going to abandon her to study at the side of whoever their new waterbending teacher would be, that he would continue to help and instruct her even if they were both learning from someone far more competent, she released his hands, taking up the reins again with a flush, and turned her eyes hopefully forward, eager to begin her training in earnest.

Chapter Text

Toph picked up a change of vibrations in his earthbending echos, soft fleshy waves rather than smooth solid stone ones, and tilted his head slightly, listening to the heartbeat to see if he could identify them.

One-two, one-two, one-two, it sounded like it might be... Sokki?

Taking a chance at guessing it, Toph crossed his arms and nudged out with his foot, finding a shoe that felt very Water Tribe, all velvety leather and fur. "Sooo any particular reason you're being an obstacle on the floor, Sokki?" he asked.

There was a heavy sigh and then a smack of skin on skin like the girl had splayed hands over her face and was wearily smearing them down her cheeks.

"Katar and Angka are in there doing that thing again," she complained in a low grumble.

"What thing?" Toph asked, blinking and genuinely clueless.

"You know, that thing where they're all—" Displaced air swishes followed, and Sokki pitched her voice up a few levels higher in a heavily sarcastic mimic of the two. "Oh Ankga, I love you sooooo much!" Several wet kissing noises followed. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me!" More sloppy noises. "I just want to hold your hand and sit close to you and be yours forever!"

Sokki ended her tirade with an over-exaggerated gag of disgust.

"All that mushy stuff," she finished.

A beat.

"...So normal boyfriend-girlfriend things," Toph concluded flatly.

He could feel Sokki's full-body shudder.

"It gives me the oogies."

Bemused smile taking over his face, Toph turned his shoulder to lean on the same wall Sokki was pressed up against. "You know, they've been dating for a year," he pointed out. "You're going to have to get used to it at some point."

More displaced air with Sokki's sharp gestures. "It's my brother, and my best friend," she argued. "I am never going to get used to it."

Toph's grin widened. "Wait until they're ready to have babies."

He didn't need to see to picture the way Sokki's face curdled in disgust.

"Oh no no no, ewwwwww! Toph! Don't put that image in my head! Gross!" she complained, loudly.

Toph peeled away from the wall and cupped his hands around his mouth. "She's gonna start tracking her cycle and then wearing skimpy negligee!"

"Nooooooooooo!" Sokki wailed, clapping hands over her ears and shifting in Toph's earth sense, getting up.

Toph pursued the girl as she tried to flee down the hallway.

"She's gonna give him the come hither eyes and he's gonna go all braindead and melt into her arms!" he yelled after her.

"Shut up shut up shut up shut up!" Sokki cried as she tried to physically run away from the conversation.

He ran after her, passing by the open doorway to the room where Angka and Katar's heartbeats intertwined adorably around each other's indicating the two were snuggled up together on the divan.

"Then they're gonna get naked and bump uglies!" he shouted teasingly after Sokki, chasing her further down the hallway.

"Stoooooooooop!

Sokki was almost in tears as she pelted out of there.

Laughing, Toph ran after her.

-ATLA-

Angka glanced up in concern as she heard the ruckus behind them, craning her head over the top of the divan to see Toph chasing Sokki past the door.

"What's that about?" she wondered, settling back down comfortably into the crook of Katar's arm.

He gave a clueless and noncommittal 'I dunno' kind of noise and shrug, and pulled her closer to him, enjoying the warmth of her body as they cuddled together.

The afternoon sun slanted warmly into the room to illuminate them as they leaned into each other's sides.

Chapter Text

Sunrise glittered on the white steps of the palace, sparkling in the snow, mimicking the excitement inside Katar's heart as he and Angka approached the open plaza.

"This is really happening," he breathed.

"I know!" Angka gushed beside him.

Practically vibrating, Katar went on. "I've waited for this day my whole life," he said, only slightly exaggerating. "I finally get to learn from a real waterbending master!" There was a glimmer shining in his eyes as he looked aside at her, and her smile was bright and open, the chill air wafting in her hair.

I'm finally going to be able to protect you, was the unspoken thought and hope and prayer he held inside his heart.

No more straining to decipher faded scrolls, no more fumbling with his arms until he lucked into a movement that did something.

No more standing by helplessly.

He was almost quivering out of his skin when they made it to Master Pakku's class. The waterbending elder was already at work, warming up with an exercise that saw him molding a blob of water into a variety of abstract shapes. His other students were gathered around the edges of the plaza, practicing their own forms diligently.

Huh. That was odd. There didn't seem to be any other girls in the class. Angka was the only one.

Katar wiped that stray thought aside as he and Angka stopped, Angka cupping a hand around her mouth to call out, before she waved a hand vigorously.

"Good morning, Master Pakku!"

Pakku's shoulders stiffened and his water lost cohesion and dropped, his hands still extended in vague irritation.

"No, please, march right in. I'm not concentrating or anything," Katar heard the man mutter, grumbling to himself.

He turned towards them as they walked up, expression neutral, steely eyes guarded.

Slightly intimidated by his even stern stare, Angka gestured to Katar at her side, "Uhhh ... This is my friend, Katar. The one I told you about?" she prompted.

Katar thrilled slightly at the thought that Angka had been talking about him to the waterbending master. He put his hands behind him and dipped at the waist, respectfully.

Pakku's eyes slid from Angka to him.

"Hmm. A bit scrawny for a waterbender," he appraised. Crossing his arms he asked, "What sort of training have you had?"

"Not very much," Katar admitted. "I've been studying from a scroll of forms and mostly just figuring things out on my own."

"It takes humility to admit our shortcomings," Pakku said. He nodded. "Very well. I will take you through some basic stances. Show me what you have."

Nervously, Katar began demonstrating what he knew.

Master Pakku observed for a while with a pensive look, one knuckle pressed to his lips. He didn't speak, didn't really move, leaned back on one hip as he watched.

Katar felt self-conscious under the man's gaze, and fumbled more than once out of nerves. He tried not to look at Pakku but he could still feel the weight of the master's appraisal.

Eventually, he sensed the older man walking over, heard the scritch of his boots on the snow.

"Your feet are turned too inward," he corrected. "Move your toes about an inch to the left and right, for a stronger stance."

Katar adjusted himself, checking back up for approval.

Pakku nodded. Bending into a stance himself, he extended arms, water rising up at once at his command. "Now draw your elbows back," he instructed, "and... push!"

The water streaked outward like spray from a gushing hose, hitting the distant wall and freezing on impact, creating a jagged, icy shape.

Katar inhaled shakily, and mimicked the move.

His own water tendril broke apart inches from the wall, splattering like paint dots on a canvas.

"Sloppy," Pakku chided. "Again!"

The boy attempted again, having no greater luck in reaching the target.

"Whenever you're ready to take this seriously, Southerner," came Pakku's withering voice behind him.

Firming his mouth, Katar glanced right towards Angka, standing and watching him with tense anticipation, biting her nails.

He relaxed, his breath misting as he let it out, and recalled the gentle tug and pull of their water tendril as they had practiced atop Appa. His arms seemed to float as he brought his elbows back and then pushed.

The water reached the wall and froze, sharp edges narrow and precise.

"That's it!" Pakku exclaimed, and Katar warmed from the hint of an approving tone, from the suggestion of praise. The waterbending master was almost smiling faintly as he pulled up a new water tendril and rolled it back and forth, passing it from one hand to the next. "It's not about power. It's about letting the energy flow freely through your body," he explained, and the other students and Angka leaned in to listen as well, ooh-ing as Pakku melded the water like a sleeve around his arm. "You are its conduit, its vessel. You control it by letting it wash over you."

He drew the water away and Katar marveled at how his sleeve wasn't even wet.

Pakku's faint maybe-smile was gone but his eyes still had a gleam in them, looking Katar up and down.

"You have a lot of unrefined natural talent," he complimented. "With training and practice," he emphasized, "you'll become a true waterbender quickly."

Katar's heart almost stuttered at that. Those were words he had longed to hear from someone, anyone, since the voyage had began.

Pakku's stern, no-nonsense frown returned. "Playtime's over!" he barked, startling his other students back to their places. "I want all of you practicing your advanced moves for the next thirty minutes, is that understood?"

"Yes Master Pakku!" chorused the assortment of boys.

"Katar, I will be demonstrating a few of the stances I promised to you. I want you to do them in sequence, one right after another, until they come naturally."

"Yes sir!" he jumped to comply, trying to hide a grin.

-ATLA-

For a solid half-hour, he drilled the forms, practicing over and over again. The exercise felt good, the exertion drained his energy and breath in a pleasant way, and of course every time he heard Angka shout an encouragement he wanted to try one more time, do one more set, get it closer and closer to perfection.

He finally seemed to perform the set to Master Pakku's satisfaction.

"Excellent," the man said, and Katar looked up, startled, at the compliment. The vague smile was back, Pakku's hands clasped stately behind him in an approving fashion. "Good progress," the man said. His eyes narrowed and he sidled a grouchy look towards the rest of his class. "If my other students were such quick studies," he drawled flatly, "they would be masters by now."

He swiveled in place towards them, making them stand up a little straighter.

"I expect all of you to be putting as much effort as Katar is from this point out," Pakku said. "Am I understood?"

A round of dejected, "Yes, Master Pakku"s rang out from the rest of the class.

Light clapping came from Angka, from where she sat on the wall of one of the water troughs. She'd been watching him in awe the whole time, and the shine in her eyes both warmed and tore something in Katar's heart. Once more he felt the weight of the task ahead of him, the task he'd set for himself.

Protect her. Keep her safe. Fight by her side.

Never let her get hurt.

Throat suddenly very tight and dry, he took a step towards the waterbending master, raising a mittened hand.

"Master Pakku?" he asked. "When... when do we learn how to heal?"

The man darted an odd, startled look at him.

"Pardon?" he asked.

Katar futzed with his fingers, playing with a loose string in his mitten. "On our journey up here," he explained, "I discovered I have healing abilities. Jeong Jeong said the great benders of the Water Tribe sometimes have this power." Swallowing down the lump of emotion in his throat, Katar put his hands down and straightened with purpose. "Is it possible—I mean—Can... can you teach me that too?" he asked hopefully.

Pakku's nose was wrinkled like he was smelling something disgusting.

"You want to learn healing?" the master asked, tone one of disbelief.

Unwavering, Katar replied, "I do."

Something about the boy's soft conviction seemed to make the master pause. But then Pakku composed himself. "Healing is a woman's task, Katar," he dismissed, waving a hand flippantly. "It's a waste of your talents."

"Please?" Katar pressed, begging just a little bit, eyes pinching earnestly. "I need to see if—if I'm any good at it."

Pakku studied him a long moment.

"This is important to you?" he asked, tone neutral and unreadable.

Katar let his eyes fall, looking down at his hands, flexing his fingers. "If... something bad happened to someone you loved... if they got hurt... if—if you knew you had the power to heal them, protect them... wouldn't you?" he asked. "Wouldn't you want to do everything you could?"

His eyes tilted back up and he steeled them, looking Pakku square in the face.

The man stared back.

"Very well," he said with a sniff. "Yagoda has a beginner's class going on right now. You might be able to convince her to let you join. But when you're ready to return and fight like a real bender, I expect you back here next morning at eight o'clock sharp."

Despite the master's condescending tone, Katar lit up softly.

"Yes sir!" he promised eagerly, folding his hands and bending at the waist to bow respectfully.

Straightening, Katar turned from the plaza and rushed off, ice scraping under the tap tap of his boots.

-ATLA-

Angka stood up from the low wall of the trough, watching Katar go with a warm feeling in her heart. He was finally getting to live his dream. She was so happy for him, and mentally wished him well as she turned towards Master Pakku.

He seemed... not to notice her, his back to her already, addressing his other students instead.

"All right, let's see if any of your practice has taken. Form pairs."

Uncertain, Angka hung back, not sure if he'd meant for her to join in or not. The boys had even pairs anyway and it didn't seem right to butt in and intrude.

...She felt suddenly a keen pang, remembering how she used to watch the Air Nomad boys at the Southern Air Temple play games without her.

She pushed down that old hurt, letting it pass through her with an exhale. Focus. She was here to learn waterbending.

But Pakku kept on talking to his students, dealing with them. He chided one and corrected another, watching them practice with clinical appraisal.

A bit irritated, Angka waited and tried not to fidget.

-ATLA-

Katar stepped through the circular archway and paused, hesitant.

It looked like he was in the right spot; there was a cloth dummy with prominent lines across its chi paths laying raised in the center, where a woman was demonstrating with glowing blue water that lit up specific parts.

But the half-dozen faces of little Water Tribe girls gawking at him in curiosity made him pause.

The woman kneeling by the dummy—Yagoda, he presumed—looked over at him with a kind, if somewhat confused, smile.

"Can I help you, young man?" she asked politely.

Awkwardly, Katar stepped further into the room, feeling out of place. "I'm... here for the healing lesson?"

Whispers immediately rang out from the circle of little girls and Yagoda looked taken aback.

"Oh? You want to heal?"

Katar's insides were scraping under a sense of judgment he wasn't sure was real or imagined but he hastened to defend himself. "I have the skill for it!" he blurted, defensive even though Yagoda's pleasant demeanor had not faltered. "I found out when I healed some burns on my hands."

"Really?" asked Yagoda, eyes keening with interest now. "On your first try? What kind of burns were they?"

"Um..." Katar spared a glance towards the circle of girls and decided not to go into much detail, even though Angka wasn't in the room to feel guilty. "Some fire burns."

More whispering, a small impressed murmur from one corner.

Yagoda seemed to be amazed. "Well!" she said, leaning back briefly and brushing her hands off. "We can't waste a talent like that!" She beckoned him with one mittened hand. "Come in, dear, come in!" she invited.

A bit more reassured, Katar approached the circle, taking a place between a little pigtailed girl and her heavily furred chubbier companion, and sitting down carefully.

He glanced aside at his "classmates" and smiled as the little pigtailed one meeped and hid in her collar, blushing.

-ATLA-

Angka tapped her foot impatiently. Pakku was almost finished with his lesson and had yet to even turn and look at her. She'd been telling herself that he was clearing up things with the others so he could give her more one-on-one instruction but she was starting to have severe doubts about that theory.

Having other students hadn't stopped him from taking time out to teach Katar, after all.

Arms crossed, Angka tried to keep her annoyance from showing. It wouldn't do to be rude and impolite to her waterbending teacher. Her impatience had cost her the last time. Jeong Jeong had warned her she lacked discipline, and she hadn't listened, and had burned Katar's hands, so surely she could handle being made to wait a bit longer before being addressed.

"You, girl!"

Angka startled to attention, surprised that thinking of what she wanted had seemed to conjure it. She smiled immediately, looking eager.

"Yes?" she asked Pakku with anticipation.

An empty wooden bucket was dumped at her feet. Angka squeaked and curled one foot a bit, nose wrinkling as the smell of dried sea prunes met her face.

"Be a dear and fetch us another bushel of those from the supply room," Pakku said. "The class will be breaking for lunch soon."

And then he turned back around again.

Angka simmered, feeling heat under her sternum. She stared down at the bucket and the dregs of its smelly content, incredulous, then glanced up and watched Pakku send his class through yet another regimen, bristling and every hackle raising.

Breathe in through the nose, she heard Choenyi instructing her lightly in her head.

With effort, Angka forced herself to keep the irritation out of her voice.

"Uh, Master Pakku?" she called.

He didn't turn around.

A bit more testily, Angka called again. "Excuse me? Hel-lo?"

Pakku looked over his shoulder. "Did I stutter, girl? Or is it that you didn't understand me?"

She ignored that. "When are you gonna teach me waterbending?" she complained. She put her hands on her hips indignantly. "I've just been standing here waiting for hours!"

Infuriatingly, Pakku just inclined an eyebrow. "And?" he challenged.

Steaming, Angka let Choenyi's wise words and patience exercises completely evaporate. "I'm the Avatar! You promised Chief Arnook you'd teach me!"

"Oh?" Now Pakku was facing her, but Angka didn't like the way he was standing, all-crossed armed and tall and intimidating. "And being the Avatar means you can dictate to me, your waterbending master, how I can conduct my class?" he accused, sharp edge to his tone.

Immediately nervous and contrite Angka shrank, timidly stammering, "N-No, I—I didn't mean it like—"

"But you're right," Pakku conceded, unexpectedly. "I've kept you waiting long enough. You want to learn waterbending?" A sly smirk flickered across his face. "Then let's get started... now!"

A deluge of water from the trough responded to Master Pakku's arm motions, hitting her square in the chest and face like a hard wall, smacking the breath out of her, and knocking her flat.

Thump!

Angka lay on her back dazed for a pregnant moment, then gargled out the water with a whole-body stomach curl and flinch. She coughed harshly as she peeled herself from the snow and ice and leaned up on her elbows, throat stinging, chest hurting by the time she got her breath back.

Spirits but the water was cold!

"What's the matter, Avatar?" asked Pakku nonchalantly. "I thought you said you were ready."

The other boys snickered behind him.

Angka gave a nervous little laugh, grimacing in chagrin, as she pushed a soggy bang out of her face.

Oh boy, she thought, what have I gotten myself into?

-ATLA-

Giggling followed behind the rest of Yagoda's class as the girls filed out, sneaking peeks back at him.

Embarrassed, Katar cleared his throat and turned to the healer.

"Thanks for the lesson," he said genuinely, cupping hands together in front of himself.

She nodded. "Thank you. We don't get many boys interested in healing. Much less having your level of natural talent for it," she complimented, but her eyes were captured by something; she wasn't looking at his face. "That necklace..." she started, hesitant, like she wasn't sure how to phrase things. "...is it your... sister's? Or...?"

Katar raised a hand to his neck, at first feeling out the hand-carved shell that Angka had gifted him, before letting his hand drift higher.

"Oh... this?" he asked, touching the choker. "It was my mother's, actually. My grandmother gave it to her. After she..." His throat got suddenly tight and he couldn't finish. He coughed. "Anyway, I've been keeping it in her memory since then," he explained.

"Ah." Yagoda put her hands in her fur muff primly. "Well, someone should probably tell you... it's a betrothal necklace."

Katar stared blankly a moment.

"What?"

Patiently, Yagoda elaborated.

"It's a tradition for men of the Northern Water Tribe to make necklaces like those and give them to women as a sign of engagement."

The comprehension crashing over him, Katar blushed, full-face red, and hastened to unfasten his mother's necklace.

"Oh!" he exclaimed. "Oh no, no no I'm definitely not getting married!" he said, the heat in his face making his skin prickle. "Not yet anyway," he mumbled, remembering the Fortunteller's words as he stared down at his mother's necklace in his mittened palm and wondered again about the "powerful bender" in his future that might be Angka.

Yagoda was leaning in, peering at the little carved circle. She gasped suddenly.

"I recognize this carving!" she said. Marveling at Katar, she shook her head in wonder. "I don't know why I didn't realize sooner; you're the spitting image of Kanna!" she declared.

That threw him for a loop.

"You... How do you know my Gran-Gran's name?" he asked.

Yagoda smiled, eyes full of warm reminiscence. "When I was about your age," she said, "I was friends with Kanna. She was born here, in the Northern Water Tribe."

Feeling like the floor was unsteady beneath him, Katar let his eyes fall down across the pendant's innocent blue shine, seeing it suddenly in a new, confusing light.

"She... never told me..." he said thinly.

Yagoda's eyes were full of sympathy. "Your grandmother had an arranged marriage with a young waterbender," she explained. "He carved that necklace for her."

His stomach reeled, his head was dizzy with the information. He tried to reconcile the image of his grandmother with Yagoda's account, tried to picture Kanna as a young woman with an eager young man betrothed to her, handing her the necklace with innocent hope.

"But if Gran-Gran was engaged..." he wondered aloud, blankly.

He looked up at Yagoda, a burning question in his eyes.

"...why did she leave?"

-ATLA-

Angka's cheek smacked the ground hard as the water tendril around her ankle yanked her feet out from underneath her.

The tendril dissipated.

Angka groaned, raising her head, pushing off her palms. She resisted the urge to shiver violently; she was soaked through to the bone and freezing, hadn't even had a minute to breathe or get herself dry.

Shakily, she began to get to her feet. Her knees wobbled as she stood, trying to drop into one of the stances she'd seen Katar perfect earlier, raising shaking hands.

"Well I've give you one thing," Pakku commented, tone dry and withering. "You don't know when to quit."

Angka breathed in heavily, firming her brow and jaw. "I'll never quit," she determined.

There were too many people counting on her. She couldn't let them down.

"You should," Pakku urged.

With a seemingly effortless wave of his hands he sent another wave surging towards her. Angka managed to freeze some of it but the rest flooded around her barrier, soaking her again and spilling her back onto the ground.

It felt like she'd spent more time here than standing.

"Look at you," Pakku sneered. "Do you think a tiny whisper of a little girl like you can stand against the Firelord? You're an embarrassment. We'd be better off dead than putting our hopes in you." He pulled himself to full, preening height. "So if you're finished wasting my time," he said, tone cold, "I would like continue training real warriors, so that maybe we'll have a sliver of a chance in this war."

The words cut straight through her, harsher than any of Pakku's water attacks. Angka rolled up to a sitting position, looking up and up into the harsh master's face, feeling the weight of his disapproving scowl on her shoulders. Her heart sank.

"L—Let me try again," she begged. "Please. I can get it this time, I can!"

Pakku sniffed derisively. "I don't think so," he said. "You may be the Avatar, but you're also just a girl." He turned away. "And a girl cannot fight the Firelord and win."

Her fingers curled into the ice underneath her, trembling. Her lip quivered, but she couldn't cry, not in front of all those boys, not in front of her teacher.

She had to be brave.

"I have to try..." she warbled, praying for strength.

"Then get used to being a glutton for punishment," Pakku said lightly, voice full of black humor.

He prepared to send another attack her way and Angka just closed her mouth and braced for it.

He wouldn't break her. He couldn't break...

She wasn't sure which was water dripping down her face and which was tears as she was knocked down again.

Chapter Text

Angka wrung the lingering water out of her hair, twisting until she physically couldn't anymore. A couple more freezing drops fell to the ice floor, beading on the surface.

Hearing footsteps coming, she frantically tried to put her her hair aright, blowing out with her arms so a burst of very frigid—but dry—wind ruffled up through her clothes and the damp locks.

She quickly wound her hairband back around the ends of her hair, patting herself down and managing to straighten up and look nonchalant as Katar entered their guest quarters.

"Hey Katar!" she greeted, a bit over-friendly. "How was the healing lesson?"

"Great," he said, absently. Angka noticed his hand was extended at his side; he was looking down at his mother's necklace with a distracted look. "Have you seen Sokki anywhere?"

Angka thumbed over her shoulder. "Oh, she's in the other room."

"No she isn't," Sokki said, coming out from the opposite door. She crossed the room straight to the vanity mirror on the wall. "She is going out, and will not be back in until late tonight, if all goes well."

Angka and Katar both squinted at her, puzzled.

"Where are you going out?" asked Katar.

"Are you wearing make-up?"

Sokki gawped. "No!" she said, a little too defensively. "And nowhere in... particular."

Katar crossed his arms, sly looking coming over his face. "Waaaaait, you're not going out to meet Prince Yuan are you? To 'do an activity'?"

Sokki turned around, mortified and pointing an accusatory finger. "That's none of your business."

"Awwww," cooed Angka. "That's so sweet, Sokki. I hope it goes well."

Katar grinned, then remembered what he'd been intending to ask after. "Hey, did Gran Gran ever talk about the North Pole?"

"Not that I remember," grumped Sokki, sneaking one last furtive glance at herself in the mirror and futzing with her hair. "Why?"

"Apparently she's from here," Katar told her. "She ran away from her engagement."

Eyes widening, Sokki was paying full attention now. "Really?" she exclaimed.

Katar nodded, confirming. "Yagoda told me this was her betrothal necklace."

"That... explains a lot of the weird looks I saw people giving you on our way in," Sokki said.

"Yeah," Katar agreed, grimacing. He wrapped the necklace bands around his wrist, tucking the item under his sleeve. "I wonder why she never said anything."

His sister shrugged. "Who knows? Gran Gran never liked to dwell on the past. Said it made her ankles sore."

"Hmm," Katar considered. He put that mystery to the side for a moment. "Oh, Angka! I almost forgot to ask, how was Pakku's lesson?"

Halfway through the archway to the other room, Angka flinched, cursing that she'd been caught before she could slip out. She swung around.

"It was great!" she squeaked. "Really great! Learned so much, no time to even talk about it! I'm—" Her words fumbled, as she gestured vaguely over her shoulder. "—gonna go dry my hair. See you tomorrow!" she chirped, fleeing through the door before Katar could ask about her soaked clothes and wet hair and her shivering.

Flushing with shame, she pressed hands over her cheeks, biting her lip and blinking back the heat in her eyes.

This was going to be worth it. She and Katar mastering waterbending was going to be worth it.

-ATLA-

Katar frowned after Angka's retreat. That was her familiar over-cheerful, plastic fake smile. The one she put on when she was pretending everything was fine.

He turned to Sokki.

"Did she seem okay to you?"

Sokki straightened the fur collar of her coat. "Don't know, don't talk to me, I gotta go," she said dismissively, as she sauntered out the other door.

Katar was left alone, frustrated, and with a million-and-one questions.

"I don't understand girls..." he sighed, kicking open his bedroll to unfurl it.

-ATLA-

He didn't see either of the girls again until the next morning.

He walked out of the washroom, nearly tripping over his sister, who was lying face-down across her bedroll, arms wrapped around her head miserably.

"How'd your 'activity' with the prince go?" he asked.

She buried her face even deeper into the fur pillow. "I don't... wanna... talk about it..." she muttered through grit teeth.

Katar felt a twinge of sympathy but also a deep chuckle ticking the bottom of his stomach, remembering Aunt Wu's prediction about Sokki having chronic foot-in-mouth problems with her relationships.

He stepped over her and made his way to Angka, curled up tight in her sleeping bag, knees drawn up by her chest. Kneeling down he gently shook her shoulder.

"C'mon Angka," he urged. "You're gonna be late for your training with Pakku."

The Air Nomad groaned, but reluctantly unpeeled herself from her warm confines. "You aren't coming?" she asked anxiously, face tight.

"I thought I would go to Yagoda's healing lesson again today," he told her. A slight trace of worry twinged through him as he studied her expression. Angka looked greenish around the gills, like she was queasy or anxious.

"Can I go with you?" she asked hopefully.

He smiled faintly but shook his head. "You need to focus on mastering basic waterbending," he reminded her. "You can worry about more specialized abilities once you've done that."

Her face fell slightly. "Yeah, you're right," she sighed.

She pulled herself up to her feet and brushed off her pants.

"Well, I better not keep Master Pakku waiting. He hates that," she said, giving a shudder.

Katar's grin widened and he patted her shoulder, before they set off, leaving Sokki to her wallowing.

-ATLA-

The next couple days were much the same. He and Angka would wake up early. He would go to Yagoda's healing lesson, she would go train with Master Pakku. Sokki was in and out and they didn't see much of her. Katar liked to think she had patched up whatever misunderstanding she'd had with Yuan; she seemed happy at least whenever they did manage to run into her. Maybe a bit fussier and more anxious about how she looked—he did have to reassure her once that her hair was fine—but happy. So he wasn't too worried about her.

Angka, on the other hand...

She was getting twitchier and more nervous. Evasive. It almost seemed like she was avoiding him.

His concern grew enough that he ducked out early from one of Yagoda's lessons and sought her out.

He found her sitting on the steps below the plaza, nursing one of her arms.

"Hey."

She startled, jumping up with wide eyes, quickly hiding her arm behind her and giving her fake "Nothing is wrong" smile.

"Katar!" she strained. "What... uh... are you doing here?" she asked nervously.

He raised an eyebrow, but didn't answer the question and turned his attention instead to her arm. "Lemme see," he said.

Reluctantly, she pulled her arm in front of her. Her sleeve was rolled up, an impressive red welt across her forearm.

Katar hissed in sympathy. Pulling some water from his canteen he wrapped it around his hand, just like Yagoda had showed him, and let the cool healing energy flow into it.

"What happened?"

Angka rubbed her other hand behind her head in a sheepish motion. "Smacked myself with a water whip. Pretty dumb huh?"

Katar pressed his palm to her welt, the glowing water immediately soothing. "Done it plenty of times myself, trust me," he chuckled. "You'll get the hang of it," he assured her.

"You think so?" she asked hopefully.

He smiled. "I know you will."

Her arm healed, he stepped away. Angka marveled at his work, looking over clean fresh skin.

Serious now, Katar tugged once at her sleeve. "Hey," he said, "I don't want you to think I'm abandoning you or anything." He glanced down at his hand, the glow from the healing water fading. "It's just... learning I can do this has been everything to me. It comes so naturally. I don't have to struggle or fight with it or anything."

"It's okay," she told him, looking down at the ice and shrugging. "I understand."

"That's not what I—" Somehow he felt like he'd said the wrong thing. Katar shook his head, trying for a smile. "Anyway, I've been neglecting my own waterbending lessons so I'll be here with you tomorrow, okay?" he said, voice warm.

To his surprise she looked panicked at that.

"You don't have to do that!" she blurted, holding up her hands palms out.

Confused, Katar's head tilted to the side. "Um, yes I do? That was the whole point of us coming here? So that we could both master waterbending?" he reminded her.

"I—I mean—!" Angka stammered. "You said you were having such a good time getting better at healing, don't you want to finish that first?" she asked.

"Yagoda says I've pretty much got things down," he shrugged. "There's not much else she can teach me." Pinning her with concern Katar asked, "Angka, is something wrong?"

And there was her hollow smile again, empty, the cheerfulness false and like a thin facade.

"No, of course not!" she insisted, even though the smile didn't touch her eyes. "I just don't think—I mean it's not a good—You wouldn't really—"

She stopped herself, lowering her hands and seeming to wilt.

"Okay..." she said softly.

She looked so dejected he couldn't help but put hands on her shoulders.

"C'mon, I'm sure you'll be great!" he gushed.

Her laugh was strained, nervous. "Y-yeah."

"A-hem!" came a stern cough from above.

Both kids looked up to see Pakku standing at the top of the staircase with folded arms, glowering down sternly.

"While we're young, Avatar, if you please," he snipped.

Angka grimaced. "I gotta go," she said, stepping away from Katar and hurrying up the stairs.

Katar stared after her until she disappeared over the edge, frowning.

-ATLA-

They showed up to the lesson in the bright, crisp morning.

"Look who decided to join us," Pakku commented, though under his snarky tone there was a bit of pleased happiness. The man raised eyebrows at him, corner of his mouth wry. "Get tired of playing around with the little girls did you?" came the tease.

"I'm a quick study," Katar said evenly. He kept his face neutral, for now, his eyes briefly sweeping the plaza and once again noting the lack of girls in Pakku's class. "And Yagoda's a great teacher."

Pakku didn't acknowledge Katar's defense of the healer, merely barking to call everyone to attention.

He did sidle a look from the corner of his eye at the boy.

"Ready to get back to real bending?" he asked.

This time Katar was the one who didn't reply, silently calling up some water from the trough like the others.

-ATLA-

As the lesson continued, Katar's unease grew. Angka was sitting to the side of the plaza, not participating in the lesson, head turned aside, chin slumped on her hand, elbow resting on the low wall of an ice partition.

Watching the rest of them glumly.

Is she waiting her turn? Katar wondered, stealing glances at her as he trained. He tried to catch her eye, get her to look at him.

"Don't get distracted!" Pakku snapped at him.

Katar startled, focusing back on task at once.

"On the battlefield, distraction is lethal," the waterbending master warned sternly.

Katar gulped and tried to concentrate, but Angka's exclusion and glum mood was an ever-present itch and question at the back of his mind.

It wasn't until the lesson was winding down that Pakku finally addressed her.

"I haven't forgotten about you, Avatar," he said, and Katar's senses tweaked at something in the man's tone, something snide and patronizing. The waterbending master swiveled to face towards her, with a faint smile that seemed too sharp, too unfriendly. "Ready to prove you've been paying attention?" he challenged.

Angka gave a heavy, clearly reluctant sigh and grimaced again, uncurling, getting to her feet. The entire lesson seemed to pause as they watched her step over to the plaza with the rest of them, feet soft in the ice and snow, the only sound in the open space, and Katar's concern and apprehension continued to grow.

The Air Nomad girl took up a spot silently, lifting her hands and bringing water up from the troughs with a liquid slosh, beginning to move and shape the water exactly as he and the other students had been practicing.

It looked effortless to Katar, her motions smooth and elegant, fluidly changing into each other, and his heart warmed with pride. She was so naturally talented at it; all she needed was a little concentration and focus and—

"Oh, now you start actually trying," Pakku's voice bit dryly next to him, "now that there's a boy you can potentially impress."

Katar looked askance at Pakku, prickles of some uncertain alarm tracing across his spine.

Angka, for her part, ignored Pakku's comment, determinedly tightening her brow and concentrating harder on what she was doing.

The water molded into more complex shapes, partially freezing and then melting again. Angka's face screwed in effort, pinching as she watched the water and carefully melded it from shape to shape.

So focused was she that she didn't see how Pakku stepped up behind her, the quiet crunch of his shoes in the snow an ominous sound.

Katar watched with apprehension, some kind of foreboding in his heart, as Pakku scrutinized Angka's form.

It turned to alarm as the older man lashed out unexpectedly with a water whip, the end smacking across Angka's rear.

She eep-ed as she startled and dropped her water formation... right over her head.

The water drenched her, soaking her from head to toe and plastering her clothes to her small, slight frame. Angka stood blinking in shock, and Katar's heart gave an almost audible lurch as he beheld her.

"Lost our focus a bit there, did we?" came Pakku's withering comment, tone dripping with mockery.

A couple derisive snickers rose up from the other boys, and Katar whipped his head in horror at the waterbending master, at how he didn't silence the laughter, seemed to revel and be bolstered by it.

"Maybe next time think less about looking good and more about actually doing the job," the man bit.

But she was! Katar wanted to argue. She had been doing fine, there was literally no reason to—

For a moment he thought Angka would turn around and snap at her master, but she just exhaled, her shoulders shuddering, and quietly started gathering loose water back up.

She had barely even formed a ball the size of a melon before Pakku's water whip struck again, slapping her hand, in almost the exact spot Katar had healed her welt yesterday.

Angka yelped. Her water dissolved again.

"Oops," Pakku commented in a sing-song. "I did say something important about distraction costing you, didn't I?" he mused aloud, fingers to his chin and eyes skyward. "It seems you need another reminder."

His arms were drawing back, raising a huge tendril like a wave from the troughs.

He was aiming it towards her.

From the way her head shrank into her shoulders, she knew it was coming.

Katar's mind flashed with clarity—she always seemed to be damp when she came back from Pakku's class—and he was moving before he realized it, a hot ember sparking his limbs into action.

He took hold of the water tendril and yanked back, breaking its cohesion, scattering it into droplets.

"Hey!" he shouted indignantly.

Pakku whipped around with a look of shock, and several of the boys gasped. One of them covered his mouth.

They all stared at him, aghast at his audacity.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

It was so quiet he could hear snowflakes hitting the ice.

Pakku recovered after a moment, his brows narrowing harshly, his frown severe.

"Conducting a lesson, if you don't mind," he said, tone sharp, a stern warning.

"Embarrassing her isn't helping her learn waterbending!" Katar shot back, ignoring the implied warning. He gestured towards the still petering water droplets, throwing an arm out. "This isn't teaching, this is bullying!" he complained.

The man had taken up his favorite infuriating hands-behind-him pose, pulled to full height and formal like he was flaunting his prestige. "In our tribe it is forbidden for women to learn waterbending," he explained tersely. "She's lucky I'm even making an exception."

Several more things clicked in his head. The microaggressive comments about "real" bending. The healing class full of little girls. Angka's offhand mentions of Pakku's churlish temperament.

He burned with anger, hands clenching into fists.

"That doesn't mean you can treat her like that!" he shouted.

"Like what? A little girl?" Pakku shot back.

Katar's teeth ground. "Angka is stronger and more capable than you give her credit for!" he defended.

He looked towards her, and she was mortified, her face crinkling, waving her hands at him to stop.

"Katar, please, you don't have to—" she was begging.

Pakku interrupted her, stalking to stand in front of Katar, some kind of macho intimidation tactic, making Katar look up at his scowling face.

"I'm not going to be lectured about my teaching methods by a boy who'd rather play healer with the women," he said, sneering.

Katar stood his ground, meeting the master glare for glare.

"And I'm not going to stand for you treating my friend like this!" he declared.

Pakku snorted.

"What are you going to do? Tattle on me to the chief?" he challenged.

"That's exactly what I'm going to do!"

Horrified whispers went up from the other boys. Angka balked and squeaked, "He didn't mean that, Master Pakku! I'm sure he's just—"

"No, Angka," he said, cutting her off. "He's being a jerk and he's going to answer for it."

Pakku's anger was a stormy chill, the temperature around him seeming to have dropped several degrees.

"...You're playing a dangerous game, boy. I'm not someone you want as your enemy," he warned, burning cold eyes on Katar.

"I don't care. I'm not letting you hurt her," he growled back, brows narrowed like a knife.

The thick tension paused for a terminally long time.

"Have it your way," Pakku sniffed, turning and stalking off the plaza.

-ATLA-

Katar expected to cause a ruckus with their little expedition to the grand council chamber, him stiffly following behind Pakku, Angka creeping after them, several of the boys from the class trailing after, wanting to see the end of the drama.

He did not expect to interrupt a session where the Chief and his councilors would be in the middle of lecturing his sister about brawling with a councilor's daughter.

"Sokki, what are you doing getting into fistfights with other girls?" he groaned.

Sokki clenched her crossed arms tighter, looking away with a scowl. "Bimbo had it coming," she defended, muttering. "You should've heard how she was talking about Yuan. Like he was some meal ticket for her, some kind of status symbol."

A slice of pity went through Katar. Given what he'd learned about the social structure of the Northern Water Tribe, he almost couldn't fault the girl for trying to grab onto whatever kind of prestige or power or status and value she could.

Almost. He had heard how some of the girls in the palace talked about Yuan and yeah, it was disgusting. The words 'gold-digger' came to mind.

Chief Arnook looked exasperated as he addressed the two Water Tribe siblings. "I invite you in as honored guests and this is how you repay me? Fighting my councilors' daughters in the streets and upsetting my most prestigious waterbending master?" he bemoaned.

Angka brushed past them to take responsibility, folding her hands and head in a bow. "I am so sorry about my friends, Chief Arnook!" she said, full-face cringing.

"I dunno," piped Prince Yuan up from where he knelt by his father's side. A faint smile was on his handsome face, directed softly towards Sokki. "Seeing Hahni fly ankles over heels like that was a little funny."

The chief paid his son a brief look of parental warning. Sokki, meanwhile, flushed bashfully.

Pakku was less amused.

"And what of the disrespect shown to me?" he demanded. "To my teachings? To our entire culture?"

"Just because you don't normally teach girls doesn't mean you have to be an ass about teaching her!" Katar shot, his voice echoing loudly in the spacious hall.

"What Katar means," Angka hastened to say, face apologetic, making small gestures with tight shoulders, "is that he thinks Master Pakku's teaching methods are not very... constructive. For me."

"He dumps water on her head instead of teaching her and humiliates her in front of the class," Katar corrected with a growl.

Chief Arnook absorbed that with a grave expression. He turned to Pakku.

"Is this true?" he asked quietly.

"She is a lost cause, Arnook!" Pakku defended. "You know it, I know it. Look at her! This girl can never hope to defeat the Firelord!"

"So you won't even let her try?!"

Pakku's narrowed eyes landed on Katar. "She can no more fight him than you can fight me."

"Wanna bet?" Katar said through his teeth, clenching fists.

A quiet jolt of shock tingled through the room.

"Excuse me?" said Pakku, deadly serious.

"You heard me. Why don't you prove you're not just a bully and a sour old man?" he challenged. "I'll be outside if you're man enough to face me."

With that bold declaration, Katar turned on his heel, stomping out and generating furtive frantic whispers behind him.

-ATLA-

Angka turned to face the council of elders with a mortified horror.

"I'm sure he didn't mean that," she strained, voice small.

Sokki was looking after her brother's wake with something akin to admiration. "Actually..."she said, marveling slightly, "...I think he did."

-ATLA-

The blood pounded loud and hot in his ears as he stalked down the steps, moving with purpose, more sure of himself than he'd ever been.

He barely even noticed it when his sister and Angka caught up with him.

"You know you can't win this fight, right?" Sokki told him.

Katar bunched up the hem of his parka, yanking it up and over his head, tossing it haphazardly behind him into Sokki's arms.

"I don't care," he growled, the fire hot in his veins, throbbing in his head. "I'm fighting him anyway."

"Katar, you don't have to do this for me," Angka was begging. "I can handle Master Pakku's methods."

His head screamed in outrage at her timid words, remembering the way she shrunk under Pakku's criticism, accepted it with numb posture and blank face.

She shouldn't have to accept that! She was the Avatar! She was all of their hopes for a brighter tomorrow, their only chance at defeating the Firelord and ending the hundred years of war!

"He can't treat you like you're nothing!" he snapped. "Like you're worthless. Someone has to slap some sense into that guy! I'm going to make him see how important you are."

To me, he finished inside his head. To everyone. To the whole world.

He stopped at the base of the stairs and waited.

After a tense moment or two Pakku appeared at the top of the stairs.

Katar gripped his fists. "So you decide to show up?" he threw at the man, watching him descend the staircase.

Pakku came down the last few steps... and then walked straight past Katar.

Infuriated, the boy shouted at the man's back. "Aren't you going to fight?!" he cried.

The man didn't even turn around.

"Go back to the healing huts with the women, since you enjoy that so much," he said, witheringly.

Katar burned with anger and outrage as he watched Pakku's receding back. Almost instinctively, almost without even thinking about it, he conjured a water tendril from the icy floor and sent it flying towards Pakku.

It smacked him across the neck, harshly.

Pakku flinched briefly, then recovered.

"Fine," he snapped, turning around with a haughty glare. "You want to fight so bad?" A manic light was in his eyes. "Study closely!"

With that, it was on.

Pakku immediately called up water from the two open pools in the courtyard, winding them around himself like a protective shield.

Katar charged in, streaking straight for the waterbending master. But quick as a flash the water was a solid tendril that smacked him in the face, upending him off his feet.

He managed to recover in time to land on his haunches, one palm on the ice, looking up.

The same water tendril had expanded and was now swirling around both him and Pakku, encircling them in a barrier. Katar glanced nervously at its swift-moving current, then struck out with a motion from his arm.

The water was smacked away, flying off into the crowd of onlookers.

(Sokki had the misfortune of catching it and went sailing away with an indignant, "Ow!")

Katar charged again, a small tendril of water clutched at his right side like a whip.

Pakku blocked him by raising up a water wall and freezing it.

It was just the right curvature for him to run up its surface though. His feet slid, and as he flew off the top he was able to angle himself to land on the top of one of the pillars at the base of the great stairs.

A little bit shocked at the skillful move, Katar turned around in his crouch, whipping his head back towards his opponent.

Pakku melted the whole water wall and sent it gushing towards him, crashing like an ocean wave.

Katar stood, turned, dug his feet into the snow of the pillar and anchored them by freezing them in place. As the wave crashed around him, he redirected it and let it fade into nothing, petering out into mist and droplets.

He straightened up, glaring across the distance at Pakku.

"Apologize to her!" he shouted.

The waterbending master was a stone statue, expression cold. "No," he said.

Katar detached one foot from the ice in order to stomp it stubbornly. "Apologize!" he demanded again.

"All this over a girl, Katar?" sneered Pakku, bringing up another ice shield. "Surely you're better than that."

"Angka will defeat the Firelord!" he declared, jumping down from the pillar, fists clenched tightly. "She's going to save the world!"

He could hear cheers from the crowd behind him, and when he glanced back he though Angka might be blushing.

"I won't hold my breath," Pakku said, witheringly, drawing Katar's attention and wrath again.

Katar ran forward, one quick chopping motion melting Pakku's shield. He got into very close range, throwing punches now, forgetting waterbending entirely.

That was a mistake, for Pakku nonchalantly blocked or side-stepped his wild blows and raised him up off the ground in a bubble of water that he promptly dunked into one of the pools.

Katar sputtered as he came up, coughing. The freezing water made his clothes cling to him, made him shiver, but the encouraging shouts from the crowd bolstered him, Angka had her hands cupped around her mouth and was shouting, "Go Katar!"

Invigorated, he froze the water in front of him, forming a pillar as a defensive barrier, and began skimming ice discs off the top of it, thin and sharp.

Pakku dodged all of them, but Katar was meanly satisfied at how worried he looked, when one of the discs shaved just a hair too closely.

Out of the pool now, adrenaline chasing away the cold, Katar attacked again, swirling a glut of water in a tight circle and sending it towards Pakku.

He caught it with very little effort, taking control of it from him. The water spun around Pakku, raising up behind him in a tall tornado.

Heedless, Katar charged, getting swept away for his efforts. He was turned head over heels and deposited flat, raising up quickly to his hands and knees.

The cold was soaking into him now, almost painful and burning. He could feel his hair starting to come loose from its ties, bangs fraying in front of his face.

His anger wasn't working. He needed to focus.

Katar took in a frigid breath of air... and breathed it out slowly in a white misty puff.

Composed, he leapt to his feet, raising his hands.

The ice pillars on either side of Pakku broke apart and started crumbling onto him.

With a thrust of his hands, Pakku dissolved the chunks into mist.

Things paused for a moment. Katar breathed heavily with exertion, his damp clothes itching and uncomfortable against his front and back, hands clenched loosely by his sides.

Pakku let the mist clear, looking... begrudgingly impressed.

"You are an excellent waterbender," he admitted. "You could have been my best student. It's a shame you lack the motivation," he tutted.

"I have plenty of motivation!" Katar argued back hotly. "You're just a lousy teacher!" Katar smirked as he thought of something that would really piss the man off. "Yagoda taught me better than you ever could," he taunted.

"Good for her," Pakku snapped, dry and withering. "But she can't teach you everything." He dropped into a stance, poised and ready. "Well? Do you want to fight like a man or heal like a woman, Katar?"

Katar's fists gripped a little tighter.

"If you ever had to watch someone you love die because you couldn't do either..." he said, voice unnaturally quiet and chilling, "...you'd understand why I want to learn to do both!"

The last word was punctuated with a rolling carpet of snow streaking across the plaza floor towards Pakku, stopped by the pillar of ice he rode up to avoid it. The waterbending master melted the pillar and surfed atop its crest, heading for Katar.

Katar sent a wave, but his own water was frozen in place; Pakku closed the distance and knocked him over with a harsh blow.

Dazed, Katar pushed himself off the ice.

While he was still rising, he found himself stuck in a forest of sharp icicles, the points digging in all around him, a last haughty attack from Pakku. Momentarily pinned, Katar strained against the ice's hold.

It wouldn't budge.

Frustrated, Katar yelled at Pakku, who was nonchalantly walking away now, apparently satisfied with his victory.

"Come back here!" he shouted. "I'm not finished yet!"

"Yes. You are," Pakku told him.

Katar grit his teeth and prepared to break out of the icicles forcibly, but then Pakku stopped in his tracks, attention captured by something.

The man bent down, picking something up off the ice and Katar's throat hitched.

His mother's necklace. He hadn't even noticed it had been knocked off.

Pakku holding it scalded him with outrage for a moment before the man said something completely unexpected.

"This is my necklace..."

Shocked, Katar went still. "No it's not," he argued, but his words had no bite to them anymore, a slow-dawning realization coming over him. "It's mine. Give it back."

"Iiiiiiit's our mother's," Sokki hastened to interject, running over to quickly add the clarification. "She got it from our grandmother. Who..." Sokki rubbed the back of her head. "...might have been from here? We think?"

Pakku was holding the tiny shell pendant like it was a precious jewel, staring at it with sadness.

"Was her name Kanna?" he asked, tone broken, like that of a beaten man.

The ice dissolved from around him. Katar wasn't sure if he'd done it or if Pakku had released him.

His hands dropped to his sides, in either case.

"She was supposed to marry you, wasn't she?" he guessed.

Pakku nodded, solemn. "I carved this necklace for your grandmother when we got engaged. I thought we would have a long, happy life together." His head bowed, his words soft. "I loved her."

This side of the waterbending master threw Katar. Gone was the proud, snarky, harsh old man. The man who'd replaced him was sad, and hurting, worn down by the years.

Lonely.

Katar found, in that moment, that he pitied him.

"But she didn't love you," he guessed. "It was an arranged marriage."

From the slump in Pakku's shoulders, Katar knew he'd hit upon the truth.

"That's why she left," Katar realized. "She didn't want her life to be defined by your tribe's rules and customs. She wanted more."

Pakku sighed fondly, holding the necklace close to his chest. "Such a spitfire, my Kanna," he said wistfully. "You remind me of her. You have the same spirit."

He turned around, holding the pendant out reverently.

Katar stepped forward and took it, gently, looking up at Pakku and seeing a strange fondness in his eyes.

"I'm glad she found some happiness, in the end," the master admitted, stepping back.

"Even if it wasn't with you?" Katar asked, and underneath the question were a thousand more, heavy with unspoken thoughts.

Do you forgive her? Do you still love her? Are you willing to let go of that bitterness and resentment? Are you willing to think better of the fairer sex now? Will you still teach me? Will you still teach her?

They all crowded at the forefront of his thoughts, but he didn't voice them.

Pakku's mouth twitched at the corners. "Well, as you say, I can be a bit of an ass," he quipped.

The tension in the air seemed to dissipate. There were murmurs from the gathered crowd, curious whispers. Onlookers glanced towards each other, bewildered.

Pakku composed himself, speaking louder.

"Avatar!" he called.

Angka stiffened at his summons, quickly pushing forward through the crowd and coming down the stairs within range.

"Y-yes Master Pakku?" she stammered, nervous.

Clasping his hands behind him, Pakku bent slightly at the waist, lowering his chin. "I... apologize. I have been unfair to you, and harsher on you than I should have been. I would like to continue teaching you, if you will have me. But I understand if you don't want to."

Angka darted a glance towards Katar, as if checking if it was okay.

Katar nodded, softly.

Angka looked back, taking a deep breath.

"I need the best teacher I can get if I'm going to defeat the Firelord," she said. Her toe scuffed into the ice and she looked down, soberly. "I know I'm not really strong, or powerful, or brave..." she said, tracing circles with her shoe. "Not like the warriors you're used to training." Visibly swallowing, she looked up again, earnestly. "But I promise to do my absolute best!" she declared. "It's my destiny to restore balance, so..."

She dropped her head again, blushing.

"...that's what I'm going to do."

A pregnant moment passed, and then Pakku smiled softly and put a patronizingly affectionate hand on her bowed head.

"Well... let's get to work then," he said.

Katar breathed out, something inside him loosening and unwinding, a light feeling like he was weightless filling his stomach.

-ATLA-

"Again!" Pakku barked.

Angka furrowed her brows in concentration and tightened her water ball, compressing it. She held it for a moment before swirling it into a neat stream, away from her, shooting off to the side.

Pakku nodded. "Not bad. You've almost as much raw talent as Katar," he complimented, nodding towards the boy as he was running up the stairs, late from attending Yagoda's healing lesson. "Who would be much further along in his own training if he could bother to prioritize," he called sharply, as the boy made it up the stairs and heaved.

Katar breathed heavily, hands on his knees, for a moment before straitening.

"Sorry I'm late, master," he apologized respectfully.

Pakku's eyes were light with mirth.

"Just don't let it happen again," he quipped. "You want to protect her don't you?" he teased.

Katar laughed awkwardly and blushed, dropping into a stance and preparing for his lesson.

Chapter Text

The frigid air nipped at her ears and nose as she and Katar crossed a wide ice bridge in the center of the city.

Pakku's lesson had ended early today—their progress had apparently put him in a good mood—and he'd dismissed them to spend the rest of the morning as they saw fit. They were just wandering now, exploring. Angka balanced on top of the wall of the bridge, hands out as she walked, enjoying the dizzying height and the fresh winter breeze. Momo scampered along the wall behind her, chittering noisily

"Man, I ache everywhere!" she complained, nevertheless grinning.

Katar laughed, rubbing out kinks in his own limbs. "Yeah, he pushed us pretty hard today didn't he? But you were amazing," he said, shining a gaze of admiration at her. "You've gotten so much better at controlling the water whip."

Angka hopped down from the bridge wall with a little laugh, walking next to him now. "Just wish my progress didn't have to come with frozen fingers." She held hers out for emphasis, wiggling them. "I swear they haven't stopped being numb since we got here."

"Well here," Katar offered, reaching for her hands. "Let me try something."

He folded her hands inside his mittened palms and blew on them gently, tenderly.

He'd seen Yuan do this with Sokki, when they were coming back one morning from 'doing an activity' and made note of it because it had made his sister quite braindead; she had been unable to do anything but babble incoherently the rest of the day.

Peeking up, it seemed to be having a similar effect on Angka. Her eyes were wide and her cheeks were cutely pink. She looked a little dazed.

He started to smile, then realized...

...their faces were very close.

Almost as soon as the thought crossed his mind he felt awkward. He could feel his own cheeks flushing and wanted to break eye contact but was frozen, heart sputtering inside his chest.

Momo landed heavily on Angka's shoulder, hopping up from the wall, annoyed at the lack of attention.

The spell broke as if by some unseen signal. Both of them cleared their throats and looked away.

Angka's thoughts cast about for a topic of conversation, trying to muffle and slow her rapid heartbeat, which sounded loud enough to be audible, as she patted Momo's head and gave him scritches under his ears and chin.

"Sooooo... are you hungry?" she asked.

"Famished," Katar replied, still not looking at her.

Angka scanned the city down below from their high vantage point on the bridge, and spotted their favorite street vendor.

"Hey, Kapu is already out!" she exclaimed. She grabbed Katar's wrist, choosing to pretend that wonderful embarrassing whatever-that-was moment hadn't happened and move on, dragging Katar along behind her.

-ATLA-

The vendor seemed pleased to see them when they walked up.

"Hello Avatar!" he greeted with a big smile. "The usual?"

Angka grinned. "You know me," she said.

The man handed both of them skewers, Katar one with dripping juicy seal meat, Angka one with wrapped fried seaweed. Thanking him politely they wandered over to the fountain in the little square.

Momo hopped down from her shoulder and began to groom himself. They both leaned on the fountain wall and just talked, mostly about training, slowly munching on their skewers until they were naught but thin balsa sticks.

Katar reached to take Angka's, so he could dispose of both of them, but suddenly caught sight of something floating on the breeze.

Whatever lighthearted comment he'd been about to make died, as a dark flake dropped onto the back of his mitten.

Staring, quietly uncomprehending for a moment, Katar looked up as gasps started to reverberate around the little square.

He gaped in mute horror.

The snow was... black. Ashen particles were coming down, drifting like dark snowflakes from the sky.

It took Katar's mind immediately back to the past, to one horrible day etched into his childhood like a searing iron poker. Once again he was looking up at the gray sky, watching soot mixed with snow raining down on him.

The blood in his heart ran cold.

"Oh no..." he whispered.

The whole mood of the city changed. Whispers and murmurs echoed in his ears. The fountain started to darken and turn black from the soot falling from the sky.

From far away he could hear Angka calling out to him.

"Katar? What's wrong?"

Before he could answer, a familiar bellow came from the sky. Katar whipped his head around to spot a rapidly descending Appa, Sokki at the reins and Prince Yuan seated in the saddle behind him.

Heedless of the crowd, Sokki brought the bison in for a landing in the most open part of the square. People and snow scattered as Appa's big feet set down, and Sokki was already leaping from his head, running up to him.

"Katar!" she yelled.

He nodded, all serious. "I know. The Fire Nation is coming."

Sokki returned the grim nod. "We have to warn the chief."

-ATLA-

There was something in the air, some kind of tension, some kind of silent rolling thunder.

The black smoke cloud on the horizon grew bigger and bigger, blotting out the sky to the south. The ash and snow continued to fall with surprising gentleness, fluttering softly with a pat pat to the ground.

Her nerves were buzzing. Her pulse was fluttering, anxious, and she only grew more restless the longer the oppressive quiet went on.

Angka darted eyes back to Katar. The red lines of the warrior facepaint on his forehead stood out in contrast to the white snow, but he hadn't yet taken up his post defending the front ramparts. He'd surprised her when he'd been one of the first to volunteer. Advancing in skill as a waterbender under Pakku's tutelage had apparently been just the boost of confidence he'd needed.

As for her...

Her thoughts kept wandering back to her people. Wondering. Had the attack on them been like this? Full of waiting and dread and black soot falling like rain? Did they have time to recognize the signs and send the children to evacuate? Did they have any time to flee at all?

Had they been afraid?

She took in a shaky breath. It was horrible to think about. She couldn't stop from seeing Gyatso's skeleton in her mind's eye, surrounded by fallen Fire Nation bodies, cornered and trapped in a dead end and last stand.

A scritch of boots on ice and Chief Arnook was walking up next to the short pillar on which she perched.

"The stillness before battle is unbearable. Such a quiet dread," he said, voicing her exact thoughts.

He spoke with a serene kind of wisdom, and Angka caught the steel glint of resolve in his eyes. She was reminded of her first impression of Jet, of the kind of firm, determined leader she most decidedly wasn't.

She inhaled slowly, thoughts taking shape and hardening inside her.

"I wasn't there when the Fire Nation attacked my people," she told Arnook, voice tinged in regret.

Her brows firmed.

"I'm going to make a difference this time," she determined, standing up with staff in hand, looking up towards the billowing smoke.

-ATLA-

The attack came with a herald of noise and fire, and it didn't let up until well into the evening. Fireballs were flung from trebuchets, punching holes in the outer walls, dropping into the city. Icy blasts hissed and steamed as they intercepted shots, benders brought water up by the gallon to seal back over the breaches and repair the walls as fast as the Fire Nation was tearing at them.

He lost track of Angka during the battle; she flew too far out over the Fire Navy ships for him to glimpse her, but he tried not to worry, tried to keep focused on the task at hand, and that was doing his best to help stave off the advance.

The sun was almost under the horizon when the ships dropped anchor, trebuchets falling silent.

Angka flew back to the city, both her and Appa exhausted, sliding down wearily to the ground.

His relief at seeing her dimmed at how tired she looked, at her despairing whispers of, "So many... there are just so many... I can't do it..."

He helped her up and escorted her back to the palace, to rest, get some water, and regain some energy.

"You can do it, Angka," he encouraged her, his voice softly warm. "You're the Avatar."

She shook her head. "I'm just one kid," she wavered.

-ATLA-

Sokki fidgeted, tapping the edge of her boomerang against her thigh.

There hadn't been much for her to do, really, during the battle. She wasn't a bender and her weapons were limited, so she had mostly occupied herself with hauling giant water tubs to and from the front lines, trying to be useful in some small fashion.

She was almost antsy for the Fire Nation to breach the walls and come charging in so she could at least bash some heads.

Instead, they were stuck waiting. Again. With the moon high above them, the Fire Nation had paused the attack, ending things—for the moment—in a stalemate.

It was so frustrating she wanted to scream.

Yuan didn't seem that calm either, fumbling with his grip on the spear he held. He stamped his feet, moving the spear in small pantomimes, practicing a set in place but with arms held way too close to his chest, movements nervous, eyes down and full of reluctance.

Sokki's tapping grew louder as her own nerves strained. It was too, too quiet. Even Angka and Katar were whispering, sitting tucked in a corner next to the moonlit balcony.

Yuan suddenly raised eyes to look at her.

Sokki ceased tapping immediately, self-conscious.

"Sorry," she said.

A grim smile touched Yuan's lips and he stopped fiddling with his spear. "Have you been in many battles?" he asked her.

"Couple skirmishes," she shrugged. Her insides shuddered, grateful to have something to distract her, break the silence. "A bit of a siege attempt on an old Air Temple." She held her elbows. "You?"

His expression grew grimmer still.

"This is my first time." He looked down at the hilt of the spear in his mittens. "I've... never actually held a real weapon before," he admitted quietly.

That drew Katar's attention, and he leaned up from his seat on the edge of the balcony. "Really?" he asked.

"What? No, that can't be right," Sokki denied, confused. "I know I've seen you holding swords or something before."

"Wooden training blades, ceremonial weapons... never an actual sharp one," Yuan told her. He shrugged, leaning his spear on the ground. "I never really had the stomach for fighting anyway."

Sokki stood there flabbergasted.

"But... you're the crown prince," she protested.

A sad little smile touched his lips. "We don't all have the freedom to choose our role in life, Sokki."

A significant look was paid towards Angka, an expression of quiet sympathy and understanding. Sokki felt a bit chastened, and quietly slipped her boomerang back into her belt.

Yuan sniffed, his tone growing lighter. "And besides," he went on, giving the spear a little toss and twirl, "there hadn't been a major offensive against the North for decades. We were safe here. Or so we thought." He peered out across the city curiously, squinting through the bright moonlight. "It's strange that they came at the time of month when the moon was full, though."

"How so?" asked Angka, chiming in to the conversation from where she was slumped, back on the wall under the balcony.

Yuan looked up at the silver-white orb in the sky. "The legends say the moon was the first waterbender, Our ancestors saw how it pushed and pulled the tides and learned how to do it themselves."

Enraptured, Katar nodded, as if that made perfect sense to him. "I've always noticed my waterbending is stronger at night," he said.

"Our strength comes from the spirit of the moon. Our life comes from the spirit of the ocean. They work together to keep balance." Yuan spoke with reverence, as if telling old cultural stories, and in spite of herself Sokki was a bit fascinated and wanted to know more.

Of course that was when Angka got an idea.

"The spirits!" she exclaimed, brightening up suddenly from her funk. She stood up. "Maybe I can find them and get their help!"

Yuan seemed surprised that that was possible. "How can you do that?" he asked.

Sokki was about to explain but her brother, never missing an opportunity to brag about Angka of course, beat her to it.

"The Avatar is the bridge between our world and the Spirit World! Angka can talk to them!" he said excitedly.

Glimmers of hope hit Yuan's eyes.

"Maybe they'll give you the wisdom to win this battle!" he said.

"Or," Sokki interjected, riding their enthusiasm, "maybe they'll unleash a crazy amazing spirit attack on the Fire Nation!"

Her suggestion was met with an odd, awkward silence and stares from the others.

Sokki's ears burned a bit pink. "Ooooor wisdom," she amended. "That—that's good, too."

Katar turned to Angka. "The only problem is, last time you got to the Spirit World by accident. How are you going to get there this time?" he asked, worried.

"I have an idea," Yuan said. He gestured, pointing with the tip of his spear. "Follow me."

-ATLA-

They slipped like furtive shadows through the city. The streets were dimmed, lit by only the occasional brazier or torch; they didn't want to be presenting clear targets if the bombardment resumed again. The only people out were benders and military, the women and children and male civilians were all huddled inside, sheltering.

No one stopped them as they made their way. No one spoke to them. The group was quiet all the way to the palace, only the scrunch of shoes on the snow and the pop of torches echoing in their ears.

Yuan led them to the rear of the palace, out a back entrance. There was a long wall in front of them. It didn't appear to be ice, but stone, and there was a significant little doorway with a perfectly round door, made of wood, set into the side.

Angka walked up curiously. "So, is this the way to the Spirit World?" she asked.

Yuan laughed. "No. You'll have to get there on your own." He leaned forward to open the little door. "But I can take you to the most spiritual place in the entire North Pole."

With a quiet gesture, he ushered Angka inside. She ducked her head down and crouched, stepping through the small round portal, disappearing without so much of a whisper.

Katar followed close behind, but Yuan paused a moment.

"Are you coming?" he asked Sokki, looking back at her.

Sokki chewed her lip, reluctant. "You go on ahead," she decided, shaking her head. "IIIIII don't exactly have the best experience with the Spirit World."

"All right," he said, giving a warm smile. "Be safe."

"You too."

His white hair slipped under the lip of the doorway and then he was gone.

And she was back to waiting in the quiet.

Again.

"Great," she sighed, crossing her arms and leaning on the wall and trying not to fidget too much.

Chapter Text

She was sitting so utterly still he thought for a moment she might not be breathing.

Katar checked the soft movement of her chest and forced himself to calm down.

Yuan apparently had the same concerns as him, for the prince gripped his spear shaft a fraction tighter, apprehensive with fear. "Is she okay?" he warbled.

He watched the tranquil movement of her collar for a few long moments, relaxing, slightly awed now at how smooth the transition had been for her.

She was progressing so fast with her abilities.

She was becoming a true Avatar.

Warm pride filled his heart as he beheld her. He watched her sit and meditate a second longer, before stirring and answering, "She's crossing into the Spirit World." He took in a long slow breath, his worries releasing into the ether. "She'll be fine as long as we don't move her body." He glanced up at Yuan with a reassuring smile. "That's her way back to the physical world," he explained.

Yaun bit his lip, glancing at Angka doubtfully.

"Maybe we should get some help?" he suggested.

Katar wondered if Yuan was worried Chief Arnook wouldn't approve of their plan; if he thought the head of the Northern Water Tribe would question the wisdom of arguably their most powerful player on the field taking a detour to summon help even greater than she.

Or maybe Yuan just worried about her, like he did.

Smiling, Katar put on a confident brave face.

"No," he said. "She'll be okay. If trouble comes..." A determined fist clenched at his side. "I'm perfectly capable of protecting her now."

He had made so much progress with Pakku. He almost felt like he could take on Zuka herself and win.

As if his thoughts had summoned her, he suddenly heard the bone-chilling sound of her voice.

"Well. Aren't you finally manning up."

Cold dread pooled in his stomach. He whipped around to see her crossing over one of the bridges of the oasis, her normal armor eschewed for pale thermal cloth, white as bone.

"No..." he breathed in disbelief.

His mind screamed in denial. How was she here?! How had she penetrated the city's defenses?!

A moment later anger seeped hot like burning coals into him. His clenched fists gripped tighter as he and Yuan whirled to face her. The prince pointed his spear but it was wavering, his hands were shaking on his weapon, his eyes wide with fear. Katar paid a brief sympathetic glance back at him.

Stiff-limbed. Bald terror. Freezing up at the sight of the threat and unable to will himself to action.

Katar knew how he felt. Intimately.

Flashes of that day came back to him, how utterly helpless he was and felt before the tall looming Fire Nation soldier.

Katar stirred, a somber little smile on his face as he prepared to make the same decision as his mother.

He took a breath.

"Yuan." His voice was surprisingly firm and calm, all fear banished, tucked away in some far corner of his being. "Go. Go get Sokki," he ordered.

Yuan's eyes darted briefly to him, then back to Zuka, trembling.

"But—" he started to protest.

"Go," Katar repeated, with fervent emphasis. "I've got this." He raised his hands, falling into a much-practiced waterbending stance as he faced Zuka and squared off. "I'm not a helpless kid anymore," he declared.

Yuan hesitated a fraction longer before tucking up and running, disappearing towards the exit.

Katar moved his attention to his target, limbs coiled in preparation.

Zuka seemed unimpressed, shaking her head, her topknot ponytail flicking with the movement. "That was an unwise choice, sending away your backup," she scolded. Her scowl was harsh with the moonlight framing her scarred face. "Hand her over and I won't have to hurt you," she demanded.

He narrowed eyes, mouth twisting. "I don't need backup," he growled. "I can take you on myself."

"So confident," Zuka mocked. "Let's see how far that gets you," she snarled, posing to strike.

He was ready as she leapt up with a high kick, flames darting from the sole of her foot. She followed up with two sharp punches, all of which were blocked as Katar summoned water as a moving shield to absorb them.

At a brief pause in the onslaught, he struck.

His water blast knocked the Fire Nation princess off her feet, slamming her to the ground in an embarrassingly easy fashion.

Katar kept his eyes firmly on her as she got up, sputtering about how she didn't come this far to lose to him, and felt a brief flash of mean satisfaction in his gut. He didn't look back, but he was acutely aware of Angka's presence behind him, still and defenseless.

"Leave her alone," he growled with protective anger.

He pushed Zuka back, catching her off-guard, putting her on the backfoot as his water stream hit her, sending her stumbling into the river and freezing her feet in place with a thought.

The bright white light of the full moon in the sky above was invigorating. Katar could feel it in his veins, surging with power and strength.

His arms began moving rapidfire, slicing the air as the water rose up around Zuka, surrounded her, enveloped her, froze in place trapping her inside an ice bubble.

Droplets misted past his eyes as he smirked.

He'd left Zuka enough room to breathe and she used it to snarl at him.

"You little peasant!" she spat. "You've found a master, haven't you?"

The ice began glowing orange around her as she summoned some kind of inner heat. Katar stepped a fraction closer to Angka as steam rose off the ice ball.

The glow intensified and then burst, ice shards flying everywhere as Zuka freed herself from her prison.

But Katar was already sending water blasts her way, faster and faster as she moved in closer.

One flame-covered hand seemed to come straight for his face. He flinched a bit but ducked it neatly, relying on instinct honed by Pakku's rigorous training.

He straightened up and exchanged close blows with her for a couples moments, heart beating fast from adrenaline.

She kicked up a fireblast and it briefly blinded him, briefly obscured his vision.

When his eyes cleared she was no longer in front of him. She had slipped around behind him somehow.

He whipped around in time to catch her reaching for Angka's collar.

Red crept into his vision, inflaming him with anger; his body was moving almost before he could think, reacting with pure righteous fury.

"Don't touch her!" he screamed as his water tendril slammed into Zuka, knocking her immediately far away from her target, into the ice wall on the other side of the oasis.

Zuka crumpled in place but Katar wasn't done, grunting as he dipped into a form that sent water streaming up from the oasis river, flowing against Zuka and dragging her up against the wall.

The rapid current blasted her for several potent seconds as Katar forced it to flow up, then quickly solidified as his thoughts cooled, crystalizing rapidly, water turning once again into ice.

She hung there, limply, hands loose and useless, eyes closed.

Vigor flowed through him. The moonlight resonated inside his body, tingling, sweet with the thrill of victory.

He straightened up from his stance. He looked over his work, giving a stiff nod.

He had neutralized the threat.

The knowledge beat loud against the insides of his head.

Angka was safe. He had protected her.

His heart thrummed warm around the heavy pounding still moving through him.

I did it, Mom, he thought, nerves alight and vibrating, This time I saved you.

He reveled in the feeling a moment more.

Chapter Text

It was...quiet.

The silence surprised him. He hadn't known the aftermath of a major battle would be so still and calm. Peaceful. Like nothing had even happened.

But looking out over the vista of the city, from their high perch above it all, Katar could clearly see the scars of the battle all over.

Melted structures. Damaged walls. Burnt ice covered in soot.

No signs remained of the Fire Nation though. Angka had seen to that.

Katar's heart panged with painful memory; his lip trembled as he recalled how close he'd come to losing her.

-ATLA-

Zuka had caught him off guard for only just a second, only a second.

But that was all she needed to send him slamming into one of the wooden posts of the Spirit Oasis gateway.

The sun had risen. The moon's power was still tingling in his veins and somehow he'd missed how bright the little vale was getting. She'd broken free from her icy prison and sent a wall of flames at him that he could only barely counter.

Pain crashed into his head. All was a black void for a moment and then his sister was shaking him, her voice and movements frantic.

His eyes snapped open and the horrified realization crashed over him.

"No..." he whispered.

The pit of his stomach twisted. His chest tightened with painful pressure.

He'd failed. She was gone. He'd lost another woman he cared about because he wasn't strong enough, wasn't man enough, wasn't—

"Katar!"

His sister's shrill call shook the panic off of him.

"C'mon, get it together!"

Inhaling shakily, Katar forced himself to focus.

"She's gone..." he breathed, the words wheezing through him like something alien and foreign. "Zuka took her." His eyes welled up against his will, filling with bitter tears. "She took her right out from under me!" he cried, dismay in every syllable.

After everything, all his progress, all his training...

Why wasn't he good enough?

"You did everything you could," his sister said encouragingly, without a hint of sarcasm or begrudging praise. He looked up to see Sokki's eyes burning fiercely. "Now we need to do everything we can to get her back," she said. "Zuka can't have gotten far." The look she paid him was so sympathetic and kind. "We'll find her. Angka's gonna be fine."

Katar inhaled shakily, accepting the reassurance and trying to calm himself.

He would get her back. He would. This wouldn't be another moment of failure for him.

This time he would save her.

-ATLA-

Almost aimlessly, he wandered the city, helping out where he could. He somehow found himself in the royal plaza, outside the palace, where he'd fought Pakku what felt like so very long ago, now.

The man himself was talking to a few of the palace guards, their voices low and murmuring.

Katar caught a few snatches here and there.

"—cleanup for at least seven weeks—"

"Not sure if—"

"—No, we're certain. There's no trace of her. She must've—"

As he walked up behind his master, Pakku seemed to realize he was listening. The old waterbender held up a hand and quietly dismissed the guards, turning to face his student with grim expression, hands clasped behind him.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news," he relayed, sounding unusually sober. "The Fire Nation princess-"

"She got away," Katar interrupted, already having suspected. When they'd searched Appa's saddle for her and found only severed rope he'd panicked, but Zuka hadn't been seen since that whole scene in the oasis with Zhao. With the slain moon spirit and with... well...

Pakku nodded solemnly. "I'm afraid so," he confirmed.

Katar held his arms softly, the air frigid as he slowly breathed it in.

He didn't know how to feel about it. She was gone for now. Probably off tending her hurt pride. But she was still out there. Still obsessed with hunting down Angka. Dragging her off in chains to the Fire Nation, to her father the Fire Lord, who Katar dreaded to think of having the little airbender in his clutches even more than Zhao.

Bitter gall hit his stomach, as he stewed about how they could have been rid of her for good.

-ATLA-

Sokki was right. Zuka hadn't gotten far.

The driving wind and biting cold had stalled her not even a few miles out from the oasis, and the white-blue shooting star that was Angka's spirit returning to her body had pinpointed their location like a signal beacon.

There was no sunlight to save her this time; the day had gone by incredibly quick, and the full power of night coursed through Katar's veins as he finished their "rematch" before it had even began.

With victory still tingling through him, it had been Sokki that had rushed to free Angka and untie her.

That should have been the end of it. He climbed back up into the saddle and Angka hopped up onto Appa's head and took his reins as his sister clambered back up the bison's side.

But Angka had hesitated, looking back.

Katar recognized the look in her eyes, the sad, sympathetic pity she paid to the limp Fire Nation princess face down in the snow. And he burned with silent outrage.

Leave her, he wanted to shout at Angka. All she'll do is hurt you. She isn't worth this.

But Angka's kind heart won out, leading her to declare, "We can't just leave her here. She'll die."

And as angry as he was about Zuka taking Angka, as much as he wanted to shove her deeper into the snow pile and leave her to freeze, Katar begrudgingly accepted the Avatar's decision. Maybe some part of him was weak too, willing to at least let the girl face a fair trial at a Northern Water Tribe tribunal, willing to give her a chance because Angka believed some part of her deserved to live.

Maybe he wasn't as heartless as he felt like being, in retaliation for what she'd taken from him, the humiliation of making him fail once again.

He honestly didn't know why he'd held his tongue as Angka fished Zuka out of the snow and pulled her limp, cold form onto the saddle.

-ATLA-

Now he wished they'd left her there. But...

There was nothing he could do about that now.

He would just have to be ready. For the next time. For when he had to protect Angka again.

"Thank you," he found himself saying aloud, unexpectedly. His eyes shimmered a bit at Pakku, gratitude shining in them. "For teaching me. For helping me to be strong," he said.

The man looked rueful, gazing at Katar with a strange melancholy. "You were already strong," he said, pride and warmth in his voice. "You just needed proper focus and discipline." There was something so affectionate in his eyes, a soft fondness that felt foreign on the man's face. "I was..." he started, and then had to stop and swallow back a sudden lump. "...very honored to be your teacher. You were the finest of all my students."

The affirmation wrenched at something inside Katar's heart, something long ignored and untended that sprouted up like strangling weeds wrapping around his throat and making him unable to speak for a long, pregnant moment.

Pakku turned from him, seemingly shying away from the moment of genuine sentiment he'd just expressed.

The old master looked out over the city, eyes scanning the horizon.

"I've decided to go to the South Pole," he said, the declaration firm and final. "Some other benders and healers want to join me. It's time we helped rebuild our sister tribe."

That surprised Katar only a little. Apparently he wasn't the only one inspired and changed by the other's influence.

Still, a nagging worry wormed its way into his stomach.

"What about Angka?" he asked. His heart beat rapidly as he searched the city and located her by her bright orange clothes, fairly close by, actually, standing a short distance apart and gazing out towards the skyline like he had a moment ago.

He swallowed down the swell of feelings that rose up upon seeing her.

"She still needs to learn waterbending," he said, trying not to whisper as he looked at her with reverence.

She had been... amazing today. He didn't even have words to describe it.

Pakku angled back towards him, drawing the boy's attention. With a knowing, playful smile he quipped, "Well, then she'd better get used to calling you Master Katar."

His heart swelled from the display of faith in his talents, in his teaching ability, in him. Katar tried not to tear up—Pakku would have said that was a foolish sentiment—but he felt higher than the moon for a moment as he shared the old master's gaze.

He didn't miss when the old man's eyes pinched with concern, darkened with worry.

"How is your sister?" he asked softly.

Katar's heart panged.

Sokki...

She had taken the worst blow of all, he thought. He hadn't seen much of her since the oasis but he knew she was somewhere, curled up in a corner and grieving.

His mind replayed the scene in his head, unbidden.

-ATLA-

Iroh desperately returned the koi fish to its pond, placing the spirit reverently into the water.

No use. The ugly black scar across its body remained. It was lifeless. Cold.

"It's too late," Katar heard his own voice warble, full of so much sorrow for a being he'd only known for a short time. The hurt still stung in his heart, sharp and painful. The entity who was his whole strength, his very god, had suffered a blow too grievous and sinful to conceive. "It's dead," he pronounced, hopelessness choking him.

Without the moon... how would they even go on?

The Fire Nation general he should have hated bowed his head in anguish, and Katar felt for a moment connected to the man, bound by shared sympathy. At least this one was honorable, he thought, as he looked at the lifeless body of the poor koi fish and mourned, feeling a trace of the anger that must have been coursing through the combined Angka and Ocean Spirit now, as it raged and lashed out.

He felt Yuan quivering beside him, eyes clamped shut in turmoil, and wanted to grasp the other boy's hands, give him some measure of comfort.

Instead, the Water Tribe prince raised his chin with determination.

"No," he said, softly, with conviction. "I can save it. It gave me life... maybe I can give it back."

His sister wailed, clutching on to Yuan's mittened hand like a desperate lifeline.

"No!" she cried. "Please Yuan, you don't have to do that!"

The smile he sent back at her was bitterly grim, already full of apology.

"We don't all have the freedom to choose our role in life, Sokki," he said, repeating his own words sadly. "This is mine. This is what I was born for, saved for. This is my duty."

He pulled his hand softly from hers and placed it on the body of the koi fish, which General Iroh had pulled back out of the water.

Katar watched his sister freeze up with inaction, helplessly watching, and his soul reached out to hers in knowing sympathy as they watched Yuan will his own life force into the Moon Spirit, into the lifeless body of Tui.

All held in tension for a moment.

Yuan exhaled and collapsed, the breath leaving him. Sokki's arms rushed to collect him, her eyes already overflowing with uncharacteristic tears. Katar wished he could go to her, comfort her, but the body of the koi fish and Yuan's were already both shining, a shimmering miracle occurring before their eyes as their life essences merged and Yuan's body faded from existence, the oasis water glowing with soft pale white.

-ATLA-

Katar pulled himself painfully from the memory, his eyes scanning and seeking out his sister, even though she was nowhere to be seen right now.

Spirits, he wish he could have protected her. From her grief. From suffering a loss like that. He wished he could take away the bone-deep pain he knew she must be feeling, that he was old friends with, the pain of losing what was most precious to you, what you loved, without being able to do anything about it.

But Yuan had made his choice.

Just like their mother.

That old ache rose up in him again, fresh from the rollercoaster of their triumphs and tragedies the past two days and nights.

Realizing Pakku was still waiting for an answer, Katar dropped his eyes.

"I don't know..." he confessed.

A hand on his shoulder made him raise his gaze again. Pakku's face held soft concern.

"Broken hearts are not easily mended," he said, speaking from experience. "She'll need her brother in the days ahead."

Katar nodded. He had already decided to his best in that regard. He would be there for Sokki, whatever she needed.

"Yes, Master Pakku."

-ATLA-

The waterbending master took his leave.

Katar wasn't sure where to go at first. Angka was still staring out across the city and didn't seem to be going anywhere.

So when his feet eventually stirred, he found himself wandering back up to look for Sokki.

He found her pretty quickly. She was sitting on a step in a little alcove of the palace, arms draped around her curled-up knees.

Her eyes had a thousand-yard stare, weary with sorrow.

Katar's throat tightened at seeing her and for a moment he was afraid the old bitterness would return, the prickle of resentment she always seemed to carry around for him, like she couldn't stand his existence sometimes, and not in the normal way that siblings usually hated each other.

Still, he pushed past his hesitation.

"Hey," he called, softly.

She stirred a bit, face dropping, arms shifting around her knees, but didn't say anything.

Katar carefully leaned down and sat next to her, joining her on the step.

The silence stretched out. Now that he was here, Katar was at a loss for words.

Instead they watched the waterbenders pick up debris in the city below, douse still-burning flames. The chill wind shifted around them, wafting with a vaguely sharp edge.

"Do you think..." Sokki said abruptly. Her lips squeezed together a moment before she continued. "Do you think this is how dad felt? After mom died?" she said, quieter.

A bit startled by her bringing up their mother so casually, Katar tapped hands on his knees. He opened and closed his mouth, trying to figure out what to say.

"I don't know," he confessed. "Probably."

Sokki huffed, breath misting in the morning chill. "No wonder he jumped at the chance to leave for the war," she muttered. Louder, she declared, "We should go too. We don't want to wait around for the Fire Nation to send another siege force. Angka has less than five months now to finish mastering water, earth, and fire."

She moved, suddenly. She made an exaggerated show of standing up and brushing herself off. Katar had to crane his head up at her.

"C'mon. I can't stand being here," she said.

She didn't make eye contact as she started walking off.

Katar watched her stiff back and clenched fists and had a sudden, vivid memory of an argument they'd had years ago when they were younger, him complaining about Sokki constantly taking off to go hunting and leaving him with all the work to do around the village.

...He saw that argument in an entirely different light now.

Sokki hadn't been being lazy. She'd just been trying to get away from all the reminders and memories.

Like she was now.

A deep well of pity and understanding pooled inside him. He got up as well, silently walking up behind his sister and placing a hand on her shoulder.

She paused, squeezing her eyes closed, her lip trembling.

No words were spoken. She paid him a sad, grateful smile once she'd collected herself.

The moment of understanding over, they wandered back through the city together, wandered back up to the plaza.

"Arnook will want to send us off properly," he told her, as they came back to the overlook above the city. "Give us supplies, food, all that."

"Yeah..." Sokki looked aside at him. "Is Pakku coming?"

Katar shook his head. "He's going with some other waterbenders to rebuild the South."

"Really?" she said in surprise, tilting her head. "Then who's gonna teach Angka?"

"I will," Katar told her.

Sokki visibly bit back the comment she wanted to make and held it in instead. "Okay well..." She awkwardly patted his back. "Good luck to you, I know she can lose focus pretty easily."

Katar almost chuckled. This felt normal. Easy.

Maybe things would be okay.

They stopped at a distance. Angka was still there watching the cleanup. Katar's heart clenched a bit again, at the sight of her.

With how serenely she was standing... the faint wind wafting through her brown hair, blowing it softly around her face... she was beautiful.

He never wanted to lose sight of her.

He stood there and gazed at her in awe and silent adoration.

After a long moment she seemed to sense his eyes, turning softly, brushing her still blowing bangs out of her face.

Gray met blue and for a frozen moment in time it was just the two of them, standing on the icy battlefield, nothing around them but white sky and snow.

He wasn't sure who reached for who first but the distance between them disappeared and then his arms were around her small, slender frame, and her face was tucked into his shoulder and he could smell the water in her hair.

She breathed against him, content, and his eyes dipped closed as he savored the tender moment for as long as he could.

A little chirrup came from somewhere at their feet.

Katar opened his eyes and looked down to see the little lemur looking up at them with big green eyes and drooping ears.

He chuckled softly. That creature was always interrupting them wasn't he?

"You too Momo," he said, inviting the lemur up.

Angka grinned as she pulled back from the hug. "Come here."

She held out her arm and Momo scrambled up, perching on her shoulder comfortably.

Sokki placed a supportive hand on Angka's other shoulder, smiling faintly.

The three of them looked to the horizon as Appa's bellows sounded, the bison floating up to join them.

Chapter Text

The night air was chilly and crisp as she stepped out onto the balcony.

Angka shivered slightly, pulling her thin shawl closer around her shoulders. Her bare feet tapped almost silently on the cold stone as she stepped to the railing.

For a moment, she stared down at the sea, watching the crashing waves and surf below her. The new coastal Air Temple had been built a few miles closer to sea level than the old Eastern one. She was facing the wrong direction but if she was on the other side of the tower and squinted, she could still see the spires of her old home rising up above the clouds, on the crests of the mountains that defined this island archipelago.

Leaning her arms on the balcony railing, she tipped her head up, towards the three-quarter moon in the sky, beaming soft white in the gray-black haze of the sky.

For a while she just stood there, absorbing the night atmosphere.

She inhaled slowly.

"Hey Yuan," she called up, with a timid smile. "I know you're probably busy with moon stuff." She shifted position on her feet, leaning on the other leg now. "I won't keep you long, just wanted to keep you updated. Um..."

She bit her lip, now a bit uncertain where to begin.

"We discovered six new acolytes with airbending affinity over the summer. They're all getting trained at the new temples. One girl was really snooty about the fact that boys and girls are separated but..." She shrugged. "I think she'll come around."

She relaxed in her stance.

"Finally got that trade treaty signed between the swampbenders and the Earth Kingdom. As long as the caravans stay on the designated roads, the swampbenders won't try to hunt and eat their cattle-horses."

She flicked a dry leaf off the railing with her fingers.

"And Iroh's decided he's going to expand his tea shop into a franchise. He wants to open two new shops, one in the lower levels of Ba Sing Se, and one in the Fire Nation capitol. The Amber Dragon and The Pearl Dragon he's calling them. You know, keeping with the gemstone theme."

Angka paused for a moment and then sighed.

"I really wish Katar was here. These politicians are driving me crazy with their arguing and I don't see a solution. I could really use his advice." She tugged at the edge of her shawl. "I'm normally pretty good about finding compromises everyone could be happy with but with this... It just feels like every time I solve one problem another one crops up. I'm exhausted."

The moon didn't change, but Angka imagined it was turning a sympathetic face on her.

"It's been hard on us lately, getting pulled in all directions and never having time for ourselves. Feels like I haven't seen him in forever. I miss him." Both hands grabbed the hem of her shawl, as a sudden light breeze off the sea chilled her. "He's been my strength and my best support and I feel like I'm falling apart without him."

She exhaled wistfully.

"I know planning for the expansion of Wolf Cove takes enormous precedence over being here to listen to me complain but..."

She bit her lip, lost in thought a moment.

"I should write to him," she decided. "But... how do I explain that I just want him to drop everything for a moment and come take me away from all this for a bit?"

"You could just tell me," a voice came from behind her.

Angka gasped and whirled around, to see a very handsome and familiar face. Katar leaned on the doorframe back into her room, and grinned a bit as she gaped at him.

"Katar!" She boggled, looking him up and down in disbelief. "You're—When did you—How did you—?" Suddenly embarrassed she rubbed a hand behind her head. "Er... how much of that did you hear?"

"I could stand to hear more," he joked, leaning up and then coming to take her shoulders softly and give her a kiss on the forehead, right on the top of her arrow. "Don't worry. I talk to Yuan too sometimes," he assured her. "He doesn't answer but it makes me feel better anyway. I guess it does the same for you."

Still in shock, Angka slid forward until she was tucked in his arms, her ear pressing on his collar. "Yeah..." she murmured.

Katar wrapped arms around her, rubbing her back comfortingly.

"In all honesty, I came because I was missing you too," he confessed. "And it seems we had the exact same idea about taking a vacation."

"We need one," Angka moaned.

"We do," Katar agreed, nodding. "So how about this? I help you wrap up with everybody first thing tomorrow, then I tell Téa to handle all your mail and paperwork and we take a trip out to Whaletail Island and spend a week just absorbing the sand and surf."

Angka laughed into his chest, almost out of hysterical relief. He knew her so well. He had already been thinking of her, already been planning to rescue her from the tedium of Avatar duties and her loneliness.

"Man, what did I do to deserve you?" she wondered aloud.

"Mmm, besides be amazing?" teased Katar.

"Stop!" she said, blushing and giggling.

His grin widened. "So what do you say, Forever Girl? You want to get out of here and—" He winked cheekily up at the moon. "—'do an activity'?"

Angka swore she heard the vaguest sound of vexation from somewhere very far away for a moment.

She pulled back with a laugh, holding her hand out, pinky extended.

"It's a deal!" she declared.

He caught her finger with his and looked at her with affection and Angka's heart skipped a beat at the moonlight shine in his eyes.

His demeanor turned at once fretting and anxious. "All right, now that that's settled it's time for you to get back inside and get some rest."

She sighed, half-happy, half in surrender.

"Yes dear."

He took her shoulder and steered her back inside, out of the cold night and into the warmth of her bedroom.

Chapter Text

The Southern Air Temple grounds were shrouded with mist. Clouds wheeled overhead, pushed by fast-moving wind.

It seemed... too quiet.

The rushing wind was the only sound in her ears, save her the scuff of her footsteps. Angka stepped across the courtyard, wandering.

She came to a curtain partition and pushed it aside gently.

Inside was a little room she thought she recognized, but it looked too empty, only a small sitting figure in orange at the far end. Too short to be an elder, had to be one of the junior trainee monks.

She was about to call out to the boy, when he turned his head and Angka startled to realize it was her . There was an alien coldness in her expression and her eyes and tattoos were glowing bright white.

No sooner had the other her laid eyes upon her than there was a gust of wind as if from nowhere, bellowing around her and almost blowing her over.

Angka cast eyes around once she was able to lower her hands. In a different corner she saw herself again, her back facing the curtain, a tight ball of moving air whipping around her. Sokki and Katar were huddled on the floor somewhere near her feet.

There was a clap, a bright flash, a blast of air that knocked her over.

The floor she landed on was not gray stone, but alabaster marble, illuminated crimson under lanterns.

The door to the inner chamber of the Fire Sages temple was before her, and unwound of its own volition, cracking open to reveal white light within.

It was her inside again. The angry her, the one locked in the Avatar State, wrapped in a ball of glowing swirling power.

Her heart gave flickering thumps of fear.

Her face looked so angry. Like a glowering statue.

It... it didn't look like her.

Her Avatar State mirror glared at her, then suddenly pinwheeled her arms, chopping with a hard slicing motion.

The floor split apart like paper and the ground disappeared from underneath her. Her chest clenched breathlessly as she fell into the black but a moment later she landed hard on a steel surface.

Grimacing as her tailbone stung, she looked up.

She recognized the top deck of a Fire Nation navy ship.

And then she saw her again, stalking forward calmly, her movements echoed by the fish-like creature formed around her, with her as the heart, suspended in water and air, the blue Spirit light of La in every crevice of the water-made body

Angka could feel the crackling anger in the koi monster, the hatred that moved through her mirror's body as if she was nothing but a hollow shell, a vessel for the power and wrath contained within.

She only had time to pinch her eyes fearfully as she looked up at the hulking kaiju. Her Avatar State self repeated the horrible chopping motion from before and white light exploded across her vision, her chest lancing with pain—

-ATLA-

She sat up with a gasp.

Her skin pinpricked with sweat and goosebumps, as the panic gripping her slowly dimmed away, eased by the gentle rock back and forth of the boat they were on.

The fur hammock tilted beneath her, and the moonlight fell into the ship's hold from the latter leading up to the deck.

It was quiet, but a warm quiet. A soothing quiet. Safe feeling, instead of eerie and abandoned.

Angka mashed hands over her face, flashing images from her nightmare playing before her eyes, fresh in her memory.

Her body already felt too agitated to relax and lay back down.

A bit frustrated, she left the softness of the hammock and set foot upon the ladder.

-ATLA-

Katar found her standing at the starboard railing moments later, having alerted to her leaving her bed and growing concerned after she ignored his call.

She was staring out towards the darkened sea, arms leaned on the wood.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

"No. Just a nightmare," she said. She continued even though she claimed she didn't want to talk about it, and Katar was grateful she wasn't shuttering, wasn't shutting him out. "I was in the Avatar State, but I was outside my body watching myself," she explained. Her eyes were somber. The breeze flitted through her clothes and hair. "It was scary," she said quietly. "I was scary."

Katar breathed in carefully. The sight of Agnka enveloped in the spirit koi had been awful, in both senses of the word. Inspiring awe and amazement. And frightening.

He reached to put a hand on her shoulder.

"Anything I can do?" he asked. "Do you want to try to go back to sleep?"

She shook her head. "Nah. I'm okay." She turned around, resting the small of her back on the rail. "You can go back inside though. I'm just going to be getting some fresh air."

"Okay," he said, starting to draw back. "If you're sure."

"I'm sure."

-ATLA-

He left shortly, leaving her alone with her thoughts again. Angka sighed and swiveled back towards the ocean, looking at the boat slicing through the surf below her.

She picked at the root of what was bothering her the most.

When she'd tried to fight off the Fire Nation siege with her own power, she grew quickly exhausted and overwhelmed with the effort. She had only mastered one element, was nowhere close to being a full Avatar. And time was running out for her to become one. The daunting task of learning three new bending disciplines, faster than any Avatar before her had done, loomed like a spire of rock her ship was heading straight forward to crash into.

She had only managed to save the Northern Water Tribe by bonding with the Ocean Spirit while in the Avatar State.

She was pretty sure she wouldn't have a powerful spirit's help when it was time for her to face the Fire Lord.

She was in over her head and so far behind where she needed to be, a hundred years late to a war that should never have had a chance to start.

She was drowning without a life raft in sight.

Sighing heavily again, she mused on the journey ahead dismally. She hoped with all his experience it would be an easy and simple matter for Bumi to help her master earthbending.

...Then again her old friend never made things simple.

Maybe she would go back to bed. There was no use standing out here and worrying over everything.

She slipped back down into the hold, curling back up into the hammock silently.

She drifted off into a light sleep moments later.

Chapter Text

Another deep rumble resounded through the fortress.

Katar hugged his knees tighter, trying to bite down the concern gnawing at him. Nearby, Momo stirred from his nap, giving a little chirrup.

The lemur's round eyes searched him curiously, as if Katar had the answer as to what had disturbed him.

Katar leaned his chin on his arms.

"Wonder what crazy thing they're trying now," he muttered.

Momo seemed satisfied by that answer and curled back up again, closing his eyes.

The rumbling came again, rattling the ceiling above him, and Katar bit his lip. Unbidden, his mind called up a memory of Pakku's early bullying, of how he'd sent relentless unprovoked attacks at Angka to humiliate her.

It sounded uncomfortably like it was happening again, out there.

That was the concern he'd brought to her last night, earlier on the balcony.

-ATLA-

"They're pushing you too hard," he said.

She gave a frustrated sigh, turning to face him.

"No, I'm not pushing myself hard enough ," she argued. "I'm already one hundred years late. Defeating the Fire Lord is the only way to stop this war. I have to try it!"

Katar tried another tack. "I'm not saying the Avatar State doesn't have incredible—and helpful—power..." His eyes pinched tight, remembering the nightmare Angka had been complaining about only just yesterday. "But you have to understand ... for the people who love you, watching you throw yourself at a wall and run yourself ragged is hard to watch." His arms came up around his biceps, shivering from some unseen chill. "And you're not... you anymore when you're in the Avatar State. You're in so much rage and pain." He turned his head aside, voice going quieter. "It's scary."

Angka simmered down, dropping her eyes.

"Yeah. It is scary," she agreed. "But people are dying, Katar. Every day, more and more people die." She opened her hands helplessly. "What else am I supposed to do?"

Katar had no answer for her. Deflecting, he said, "Maybe I can talk to General Fong, make him ease up at least."

"Please don't," she begged, her eyes pinched. "Look, I appreciate how you stood up for me with Pakku, but you can't keep rushing in to rescue me whenever things get hard." She wrapped arms around herself, withdrawing inward timidly. "I need to be able to handle things myself," she said quietly.

That warred with Katar's protective instincts for a long moment, but eventually he backed down.

"All right. If you're sure that's what you want."

"I'm sure," she nodded.

"Guess I'll see you tomorrow then," he said, turning away sadly. "Good night."

"Good night."

-ATLA-

It wasn't how he had wanted to leave the conversation, but Angka had been so distressed over it that he hadn't wanted to fight her.

Still, he'd removed himself from the temptation of wanting to confront the General by simply not being present when Angka went to report in again. He knew he wouldn't have been able to help himself if he was in the room with her.

Now though, with the commotion outside, he found himself falling into familiar worry.

He looked up at the ceiling as it rattled again, chewing on his lip.

"Maybe I should just check to make sure Angka's okay," he decided, getting up from the bed.

-ATLA-

The scene he emerged to was utter chaos. Great carved circles of rock were rolling everywhere, being sent directly at the small orange figure in the courtyard by the General's green-clad earthbenders. Katar rushed down the stairs, alarmed by the sight.

His sister emerged from coming down the opposite staircase almost the same moment he did, expression furious.

"What's going on?!" he cried.

"The General's gone crazy!" she yelled, indignant and outraged. "He's trying to force Angka into the Avatar State!"

She grabbed the boomerang from her back and hurled it, force in her swing.

The righteous anger spread to Katar immediately. As Sokki's boomerang did damage along the perimeter, knocking into earthbender heads, he went straight for the General himself, mentally kicking at rocks for not being there sooner, for letting Angka go see the man without him.

The only water he had was in his canteen but it snaked out readily at his summons, sharpened into a stinging whip.

The end lashed across the back of the General's head, making him startle and flinch. He turned around, holding his neck and glaring with ire.

Katar hastened to further draw his attention, planning to run past the man to put himself between him and Angka. Another tendril surged across the courtyard.

Columns of dirt and sand rose up from the courtyard's surface to meet his attack, absorbing the water and sinking back down to the pavement, nullifying his efforts.

Katar grit his teeth and kept charging forward anyway.

...Until his feet quite literally sank into the ground beneath him.

-ATLA-

Angka's heart went straight into her throat, a fresh layer of panic and fear compiling on top of her desperation to survive the friendly fire assault.

"Don't hurt him!" she cried.

She stopped running, planting her feet and unleashing a blast of air.

A wall of earth stopped it before it could make contact.

Katar was shouting furiously behind the General, spitting invective even as he sunk further, up to his thighs.

"Fight me on even ground you yellow-bellied chicken-cow!"

Angka looked around frantically for a source of help. Sokki had taken a hard hit from a flung boulder and lay sprawled on the ground, awkward-limbed and so still Angka was afraid she was hurt.

Realizing it was going to have to be her that did something, that she would have to handle this herself—and she didn't enjoy the irony of that thought—she tried to run past General Fong to Katar. Sure she didn't really know any earthbending yet but maybe she could still do... something.

With that desperate thought she squeezed around a giant rolling earth coin.

The circle suddenly changed directions to block her way, and her momentum couldn't be stopped.

She smacked straight into it, bouncing off with head ringing and stars speckled in her vision.

Before she could shake off the blow, a grasping hand grabbed at her scalp, pulling her up by the hair.

Angka gasped in pain, hands clutching at General Fong's. He stood her up, towering over her with a disapproving glare.

"You could save him if you were in the Avatar State!" he yelled at her.

Her eyes welled up, overwhelmed with stress and fear and frustration as she strained within herself to try and kickstart the glow, searching hard for that familiar swell of power.

"I'm trying!" she cried. "I'm trying!"

"Get your hands off her you—" Katar shrieked from his position, now half-buried in the courtyard ground.

General Fong twitched his free hand and interrupted him by sinking him a few more inches.

"I don't see glowing," the man growled, a taunting sing-song in his voice.

"I..." Angka warbled, throat tight, no rush of power coming to her in her time of need. "I..."

"I'm waiting, little girl!"

Tears streamed freely down her face now as she grabbed at his wrist, trying in vain to wrest her hair from his grasp. Her scalp hurt and her lungs hurt and her heart was going to burst out of her chest from the sheer emotional stress.

"Please!" she begged, clogged eyes looking towards where just Katar's head remained in breathable air. "You don't have to do this!"

The General sneered down at her.

"Apparently," he said, "I do."

He released her hair and let her fall flat onto her backside, then relaxed his other hand, loosening his grip on the earth.

Angka rolled up to her feet with a cry and lunged for him, only for her hands to grasp at nothing but the smooth courtyard floor as his final furious curse was swallowed up by the earth and he disappeared beneath it.

She sat in stunned and silent anguish for a moment and then—

And then. Then was when she felt it.

Her Avatar State rushing into her.

A sound like multiple angry voice screaming inside her head in outrage, joining her mental voice in a chorus.

The blocks released on her abilities, a hundred and one iterations of airbending lessons she'd already mastered coming back to her in an instant.

When she scowled back over her shoulder at the General her eyes were cold with burning white fury.

-ATLA-

Katar inhaled a great gulp of air as he was pulled up.

He gasped, recovering on hands and knees, barely able to hear General Fong over the roar of the wind. Sand blew into his face, stinging his eyes.

When he was able to look up, his heart sank.

Angka was floating on top of the maelstrom. Or... something that looked like Angka anyway. There was an inhuman wrath on her face.

She was terrifying.

She struck out at everything in the courtyard in a blind rage. Earth upended, dust clouds blew into the walls, buildings cracked.

Katar ducked into a curled position, covering his head. He squeezed his eyes shut and prayed for it to be over, prayed to be small enough to avoid the debris. He felt as helpless as a seal-lion in a raging typhoon, cowed before the raw elemental storm that Angka was unleashing.

The stray thought flickered through him that he understood now why Angka kept having nightmares about this.

It seemed to go on forever. The storm. The noise of the wind. The rending of stone and wood.

But then it quieted.

Katar chanced uncovering his head, to see that the wind had finally died down. The courtyard was ruined, littered with debris, the earth coins that had earlier been rolling freely stuck at odd impossible angles into the fortress walls.

Angka was a still small orange ball sitting miserably in the center, arms clutched around her knees.

Katar got up carefully, then trotted over to her.

She reached up to clutch at him the moment he embraced her.

"I'm sorry, Katar," she whispered, squeezing her eyes closed against the horror she'd caused.

"It wasn't your fault," he told her, impulsively stroking fingers through the tangled back of her hair.

"It was," she insisted. "I hope you never have to see me like that again."

Looking around the courtyard fearfully, Katar hoped that too, even as he held her tighter to comfort her.

Chapter Text

It had been an eventful day.

Angka was still wrapping her head around all of the morning's events, everything that had led up to her and Katar alone together exploring a secret lovers tomb by warm orange torchlight.

It seemed like the universe was outright conspiring against her with painful reminders of her feelings for the boy.

First there had been their waterbending practice in the sunken pools, in which Katar's shirtless torso was... incredibly distracting. (He wasn't particularly muscular but still pleasantly toned; his waterbending training with Pakku had been paying off.) When he'd come over to correct her octopus stance, Angka had felt like she might faint, certain her heart was pounding loud enough for him to hear. And then he'd placed hands on her forearms, getting so close she could feel his breath, the warm skin of his chest against her nearly bare back and, well...

She was glad her only reaction was a bright cute blush.

And then the traveling hippies had come and Angka laughed and stammered and deflected Lily's curious questions and insinuations about her and Katar, as the gentle, slightly loopy woman braided flowers into her hair.

(Katar had told her they looked nice, and Angka had tried to keep them in, despite their misadventures today.)

Then they'd gotten all but chased into the caverns of the two lovers, separated from the main group by a freak cave-in, wandered around in the dark with nothing but their torches to guide them, and somehow stumbled across the most amazing historical discovery in probably the history of the Earth Kingdom.

The founders of the city of Omashu. And a pair of lovers so determined to be together that they learned earthbending from the badgermoles in order to literally carve tunnels into the mountain that separated them and their warring villages.

Something about the soft torchlight and Katar's voice as he read the story inscribed on the walls, the dusty tombs sitting in solemn silence, was actually incredibly romantic. If they weren't trapped in here with no way out and a single dying torch, it would have actually made for a really fun date scenario.

You know, minus the errant wolf-bats.

So she could, perhaps, be forgiven for having her brain completely and utterly fail her when Katar suggested they kiss as a way to get out of the caves.

All that was repeating in her head was a long string of, He wants to kiss me! Wait, does he want to kiss me? I think he wants to kiss me! Oh gosh, do I want to kiss him? Ohhhh I definitely do want to kiss him. But does he really want to kiss me?

A lot of useless mush like that, really.

-ATLA-

Katar started to get more and more nervous the longer Angka stared at him in stunned silence.

Oh no, she hates it. She thinks I'm a total creep, came his anxious thought. Had she noticed his gawking when they were practicing the octopus form?

He hadn't meant to check her out but, well... He'd only ever once seen her without her customary Air Nomad tunic and shawl covering her up, and the flat yellow bandeau that preserved her modesty wasn't actually flat anymore; there was a soft, subtle roundness and small curve to the thin fabric now. And being a perfectly normal warm-blooded teenage boy Katar had...

Well, he had Noticed.

And—up 'til now at least—he'd thought she might have been flirting with him? She'd been doing that thing where she would lean her head on his shoulder for no particular reason again, and more often. And once she'd outright plopped in his actual lap to sit down, didn't call attention to it or anything and was completely casual about the whole thing but he swore she could see how flustered it made him.

But now he was starting to think he'd misread all of those signs as something maybe he wanted.

Because the truth of it was, he'd kind of been wanting to kiss Angka for a while.

Apparently she hadn't remotely considered that though.

"See, I told you it was a crazy idea," he said, turning away in embarrassment, his insides cringing.

"No no, say it again, I wanna make sure I heard right," Angka said. "You think, in order to get out of the secret love cave... we should kiss?"

Well it sounded really dumb and stupid now that she'd summed it up out loud.

He laughed anxiously, to try to cover up the nerves dancing inside his stomach. "Like that could possibly work, right?" he joked. "What was I thinking?"

"I dunno, I mean, I don't think kissing you would be the worst thing in the world," she babbled with a shrug.

...Katar didn't quite know how to take that.

"Oh. Well..." he trailed, unsure how to respond for a moment. "What... what would be the worst thing in the world then?" he asked. Angka hadn't set an upper boundary on the (purely theoretical) idea of kissing him but knowing the lower boundary was "not the worst thing in the world" was making him a little crestfallen.

"I just mean that if it was a choice between kissing you and dying—" Angka seemed to realize what she was saying as soon it left her mouth and immediately looked mortified. "Wait! That came out wrong!" she scrambled. "I mean... I would much rather kiss you than die? No!" she cried, looking even more horrified at herself now. "No, that's not what I meant!"

She choked and up and was quite unable to explain what she did mean, so Katar was left with a very vague sense of disappointment and a very clear sense that this conversation was a complete disaster.

He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Okay, uh... thanks. I guess."

She was trying to let him down easy right? Trying to find a way to say she didn't want to kiss him without hurting his feelings.

That was... fine. It was fine. It was okay.

Really.

The silence stretched out awkwardly, him holding his arms and looking towards the cave ceiling and Angka covering her face with her hands miserably.

A long beat.

"Can we pretend this conversation never happened?" Angka begged through her fingers.

"Yes," Katar said immediately. "Absolutely. I've already forgotten whatever I said."

He would be running through this conversation over and over again in his stress nightmares, who was he kidding?

Relieved, Angka uncovered her face and inhaled a large gulp of air to steady herself.

"Okay," she breathed. "So let's just keep going. There's gotta be another door out of here."

She started to wander off, around the chamber past the sarcophagi and over to the far side, and Appa lumbered after her faithfully.

Katar lingered by the wall a moment more before reluctantly following. The disappointment stayed as a heavy layer at the bottom of his stomach.

He really shouldn't have been surprised. Of course she didn't want to kiss him. Hadn't he said himself they were just friends, only a few months ago?

But... he'd be lying if he said his feelings hadn't started to change.

-ATLA-

It took a long while before her face stopped flaming and she was glad of the low lighting and the shadows that hid her.

Angka bemoaned her verbal fumbling inside her head. That might have been her best chance of telling Katar she was interested and she'd bungled it all to the Spirit Realm.

How could she have been so stupid?

I'd rather kiss you than die, yeah, way to go you idiot, that's real romantic.

She tried to think of another way to start the conversation again.

Nothing sounded right in her head.

The silence that stretched between them was unbearably awkward, nothing but their scuffing footsteps and Appa's heaving steps and breathing.

She reached back and patted her bison's nose sweetly.

You would have known what to say. You know, if you could talk, she thought.

They trekked through tunnel after tunnel, seemingly never-ending. At some point Katar handed her the torch in order to push some boulders aside and then just never took it back, and Angka held it with growing dismay as the little flame got closer and closer to puffing out.

She was getting a little scared. And normally when she got scared she could just tell Katar and he would wrap his arms around her—his strong, safe, very toned arms, she had to mentally add to herself—and tell her something comforting or uplifting, something that would make her forget her fear, just for a moment.

But what if she'd made him hate her forever? What if she could never salvage their friendship again? What if they died here trapped in this cave and she never got to tell him how she felt?

She tried to push down her anxieties, but it wasn't easy with the torch dwindling down.

Eventually, she decided she would have to call Katar's attention to it. At the very least.

"We're gonna run out of light soon," she said.

Her voice echoed hollowly in the corridor. Katar turned, grim expression on his face as he acknowledged her.

"Yeah, I guess so."

Her eyes strained with worry as she looked to him for guidance. "What are we gonna do?" she warbled, the fear in her making itself known.

The look he fixed her with was something she'd never seen before, a mix of quiet determination and guarded hope and some kind of... she could only describe it as desire.

It made her cheeks warm again and the butterflies flicker through her heart.

"What else can we do?" he asked her softly, approaching.

His hand placed atop hers around the base of the dying torch. Comfortably. Tenderly.

Heart beating warmly, Angka glanced up, eyes shining. She met his solemnly determined gaze with a smile, hoping it conveyed all the hidden feelings in her heart.

Her apology for before. Her affection. Her desire to kiss him back.

The pulse thrummed inside her as he leaned in, closing his eyes.

She held her breath with anticipation as the torch sputtered out, the light fading, plunging them into darkness.

There was a moment where all was quiet, nothing but black in front of her, nothing but her breath and his, warm on her face, so so close.

She felt his lips, dry on the surface, but soft when they pressed against hers.

Her heart flipped, palpitating loud in her ears.

She closed her eyes, a thrill and exploding pop-crackers sparking inside her chest.

She felt transcendent, floating in the dark, connected to Katar through the warmth of their kiss. She swore that twinkling stars were lighting up the caverns.

...Wait a minute.

She opened her eyes, pulling back from the kiss, and both of them gaped up in wonder as the ceiling came alive, aburst with a blue-white glow from thousands of tiny sparkling shards of glass.

"Woah!" she breathed.

The cave was illuminated again, the light made by the glittering trail of twinkling blue pieces brighter than even their torch, filling all the crevasses of the cave. The shining gemstones were grouped together like the cobblestones of a stone street, leading off down one of the tunnels prominently.

"It's made of some kind of crystals!" Angka said, craning her neck up to look at the display. "They must only light up in the dark!"

Katar turned to her excitedly. "That's how the two lovers must have found each other!" he said.

He was holding her hand, his fingers entwined with hers.

When had that happened?, she wondered in a daze.

Seemingly obliviously, Katar slipped his hand out from hers to wave towards the glowing trail.

"They just put out their lights and followed the crystals," he continued.

Love is brightest in the dark. Ha. It was a riddle, she realized. That's clever.

Her cheeks were warming again, blush almost invisible in the blue crystal light.

"So..." she started, trailing off as she realized she had no idea how to start the next conversation.

So we kind of, sort of, just kissed and it was magical and amazing and I really want to do it again but I don't know if you only did it because you thought it would get us out of the cave or if you did it because you feel the same way about me that I do about you, and that worries me because I think I love you and I don't want this to ruin our friendship and—

Her rapidfire thoughts were interrupted as Katar took her hand again, pointing off down the tunnel and beginning to run.

"That must be the way out! C'mon!" he said.

He pulled her along, and Appa shuffled quickly behind them, and Angka's heart thumped rapidly as she looked at their locked hands, blushing again.

Okay. So maybe they wouldn't talk about it right now.

They had time. It was still a ways to Omashu.

-ATLA-

Katar followed the trail of crystals with thrumming pulse, as if he ran fast enough he could escape the cartwheels his heart was doing inside him.

He'd kissed Angka. He'd kissed her and it wasn't so bad and it was actually kind of wonderful?

Would it be rude to ask if they could do it again?

No, no that was too forward. He was sure she'd only kissed him in order to get out of the caves.

But... it had still been nice, you know?

Sunlight glimmered up ahead. They followed the tunnel until they burst out into it, glorious warm yellow on their heads after hours of darkness.

They blinked in it and laughed, and Appa moaned happily as he flopped himself belly up on the ground, basking in it. Katar grinned at the bison, feeling the same relief at being out of the cave.

Though it hadn't all been bad, granted, he thought, glancing towards Angka.

Was she looking at him? He'd thought he caught a glimpse of her eyes but her face was turned away when he checked.

He felt his cheeks and chest warming and looked down at his hands, replaying the moment when their lips had touched in the dark over again in his head.

Even if she hadn't really wanted to kiss him... he was still happy that she had. That she was still his best friend and that wouldn't change. Even his feelings for her had started to.

He was lost in a thousand absent thoughts about it, about the nature of his care for the young Air Nomad and how they'd grown closer, and how this fun misadventure had shifted something between them that he wasn't quite sure he could define. He was still distracted even when the wall of the mountain opened up on either side of the exit tunnel and two great giant brown badgermoles came shuffling out, bearing Momo and his sister and the rest of the nomads.

Sokki slid down the side of her mount and practically flung herself on him.

"You would not be-lieve the ordeal I've had!" she said, wearily.

His grin widened. "You wouldn't believe ours either," he told her, thinking about all the times she'd teased him for never having a girlfriend. He blinked, smile dropping in confusion. "Why's your forehead all red?"

Sokki didn't answer for a moment, simmering, but Chong popped in from the side to barge into their conversation.

"Nobody react to what I'm about to tell you," he half-whispered, looking grave as sin and very serious. "But I think that girl might be the Avatar!" he exclaimed with wide eyes, thumbing back at Angka.

Katar had to stifle a laugh as Sokki's palm met her forehead firmly.

It had been an eventful day indeed, he thought, as he gazed once again at Angka, adoringly.

Chapter Text

"You're kidding, right?" Sokki groaned.

Angka shook her head. "Nope. That's what Bumi said."

Sokki leaned her head back in aggravation, ignoring the baby in her arms trying to pull on her hair. "You mean to tell me we came all this way through a creepy secret love cave where we almost got trapped forever, went through all this nonsense to try to break into the Fire Nation occupied city and set your weird earthbender king friend free, only for him to say you have to get a different earthbending master to teach you because he's waiting for some nebulous 'right moment' to break himself out?" she asked, just to be sure she had the full summation of the situation.

"That about says it," Angka sighed.

"Unbelievable. I know I said this already when were last here..." Sokki hefted the Fire Nation infant on her hip a little higher, tugging at the strand of hair he had clutched in his little fingers. "...but your friend is really good wasting at our time!"

Angka rubbed behind her head with chagrin. "Yeah... he does that," she agreed wearily.

Katar listened to the argument silently, rubbing his wrist with the other hand in sober reflection.

He wasn't thinking of Bumi's cryptic instructions, not really. His mind was preoccupied with images of the fight against those three Fire Nation boys. Their faces flashed in his head.

The knife-wielding one. The Firebender. And the creepy chipper one with the fast fists, who did something to his bending to make it not work for a couple terrifying seconds.

He didn't understand what the boy had done at first. The sharp jabs seemed very specifically directed, and the impact points stung with a feeling like pins and needles. His arms had numbed strangely and the controlled hold he'd had on the water whip disintegrated.

And then the water refused to respond to him when he tried to lift it again.

A thousand horrible thoughts had crowded his head in the moments right after. Fortunately Sokki had swooped in on Appa in short order, and the numbness faded, and his bending came back after a while.

But for a moment he'd felt powerless again and he hated it.

After all the work he'd put in, in order to never feel like that again, it kind of stung.

"Well now what do we do?" Sokki grumbled. "Because I'm telling you right now, I am not changing any diapers," she said, finally extracting her hair from the baby in her arms.

Angka popped open the wings of her glider. "I'll just go back and drop him back off really quick, no problem," she decided.

Katar stirred at once.

"Angka, no," he said. "It's too dangerous."

He didn't want her anywhere near that city. Anywhere near those boys. He hadn't missed how the dark-haired one had called the firebender Prince Azul.

They already had enough trouble with the princess, now the Fire Nation's other royal heir was after them?

Angka was undeterred. She gestured with the tip of the stick towards the baby. "We can't keep him. We still need to return him to his family," she insisted.

Sparing a glance at the cute little chubby face, Katar conceded the point. "At least take someone with you and go on Appa," he argued.

"I'll be quicker on the glider," she argued back, bristling a little. "They won't see me as easily. I can be in and out, and back in no time."

"The last time you stepped out for a quick errand you got captured!" Katar snapped. "I'm not letting that happen again!"

She turned to Sokki.

"Sokki, come on," she said. "I don't need a babysitter."

To Katar's surprise, his sister bit her lip, hesitating to agree.

"I think... I'd feel more comfortable if you took Appa," Sokki eventually said, voice quiet.

Angka gaped, throwing up her hands. "I don't believe this!" she cried. "You of all people I thought would be on my side!"

"Look, I hate to agree with Katar on anything—"

"Hey," Katar objected, hands on his hips.

"—but those boys were no joke and I just don't want anything bad to happen to you," Sokki said. "Not after..."

She trailed off, a prominent gap of silence with unspoken meaning in her words.

"Actually—"

The three kids turned as one towards Yung, who was coughing into his fist and looking very awkward about interrupting their disagreement.

"Well, our scouts just reported that the prince and his two cohorts just departed the city," the man finished.

Angka stabbed a hand triumphantly as she faced the other two. "There, see!" she said. "I'll be fine."

Sokki looked to Katar, as if for guidance, and Katar grumpily folded his hands across his chest.

"That does make me feel a little better," he admitted.

With that implicit permission, Sokki moved the baby from one hip to the other as she crossed over to Angka, who lifted and readied her glider again.

Sokki helped Angka dip her head through the handle of the sling, tucked the little Fire Nation youngster inside, and bundled him up securely.

Lifting her eyes, Sokki fixed Angka with a fearsome look of angry warning.

"If you're not back here in ten minutes, we are storming the city to find you," she cautioned.

Rolling her eyes, Angka made sure the baby was settled comfortably at her chest and hefted her glider with a small huff. "Yeah yeah," she dismissed, sending a puff of airbending beneath herself to lift her into the air.

She left them with a burst of wind.

Katar's breath caught for a moment as she soared, weightless, above them, before disappearing out of their sight into the night.

Some silent strain threatened to break, as he and his sister both looked after her in worry, in concern, in shared apprehension for the risk she was taking.

For a long time they stared towards the place where she had disappeared, watching with worry, fretting inside their individual heads.

Katar eventually peeled his eyes from the sky, almost the same moment Sokki did.

They shared a long moment looking at each other, shared with mutual concern, before deciding to pace back and forth until Angka returned.

Chapter Text

Angka did not like this place.

It wasn't enough that the swamp had sucked them in with a tornado, that it smelled weird, that it was super creepy, and that the eerie feeling of being watched never left her, no, the worst part was that now she had been separated from everyone, even Sokki and Katar, and now she was all alone in it.

The fog was thick and dense and the air smelled wet and muggy and strange sounds echoed out from all around her.

Also her shoes were muddy.

"This stinks," she pronounced, sitting down for a moment on a log.

She curled up there for a prolonged moment, trying not to think about how pathetic she must look—a scared little girl in the middle of the trees, lost, far from her home and friends.

If she were a better Avatar, an older one, she'd be braver. Be able to shake off her fears and loneliness and be able to figure a way forward, she thought miserably.

It was strange though... for some reason the way the swamp vibrated around her felt full of good portents. Mysterious and unknown portents but good ones, in a way.

She didn't know how to explain it, even to herself. The weird resonance she could sense. It just felt like she was meant to be here.

She heaved in a long breath.

Well, she decided, slowly bringing herself out of her pity party, if she was meant to be here, that was an encouraging thought wasn't it? She wasn't going to find out why she was supposed to be here by sitting around though.

Maybe it was time to be a big girl.

Slowly, she pulled herself up to her feet and dusted herself off.

She studied her surroundings.

Let's see... if the vines were dragging me this way, then my friends must be...

She turned a full one-eighty degrees to face into the deeper mist.

That way.

She struck off in that direction. The strange sounds kept echoing and that creepy feeling of being watched was still there, but she shuddered and just kept moving forward. Whatever happened, she would try to keep her head high. The swamp wanted her here. She needed to cling to that thought with everything she had.

...She thought she heard faint male giggling from somewhere in the distant unseen ahead.

-ATLA-

Katar wiped his eyes, embarrassingly snot-nosed after his breakdown.

It hadn't been fair. Hadn't been fair at all for the illusion he'd just encountered to take the form of his mother.

Stupid swamp.

His heart ached with the pain of missing her, freshly sharp after his false encounter. His guts felt like rocks were in them, churning, grinding.

He allowed himself another moment to finish crying, the knocking in his heart from the mood whiplash slowly calming down into something more settled.

Then he dried his hands off and inhaled slowly.

All right.

Time to focus.

Shuddering, Katar gripped his elbows self-protectively as he scanned his surroundings.

Trees and vines everywhere, thick and choking. Sunlight beamed from somewhere high above onto the broken piece of log that had tricked him. Katar thought at least he should get out of the shallow pool he was wading in, so he picked the direction that looked like it had more solid ground ahead.

In a few moments his shoes were thankfully stepping on soft mushy dirt instead of through tepid swampy mudwater. Grimacing, Katar leaned against a tree and bent the dirty water out of his soles and pants hems, tossing it back in the pool once he'd wrung it all out.

He'd gotten horribly turned around in his wanderings, but he felt confident of the direction he'd seen Angka disappearing into, so that's where he went, too.

Sokki he wasn't worried about. She had her blade and her wits. She'd always been the tougher one of them. And, as she'd loudly proclaimed just the previous night, she had a healthy dose of skepticism about the swamp's seemingly supernatural elements.

Sokki wouldn't have thought a broken piece of wood was their mother for a moment, he thought sourly, mad at himself now for being fooled into thinking, even for a second, that his mother was back from the dead.

But Angka...

He needed to find her quickly. He couldn't bear the thought of her being alone in a place like this.

Hang on, Angka, I'm coming.

He pushed through the moss and starting climbing up the giant tree roots, trying to get to higher ground, looking for flashes of orange in the sea of endless green.

-ATLA-

She really hated this swamp.

Sokki grumbled to herself, annoyed at how shaken up the place was making her. It was just a swamp! Just a nasty, dirty, ugly swamp. There was no reason to feel jumpy or anxious at all.

Everything had a perfectly rational explanation.

The spooky eyes? Swamp creatures, probably, startled from her presence.

The apparition of her dead boyfriend? Trick of the light plus lack of sleep.

The sensation on her head of being pulled through the trees, deeper into the swamp? Well that was just her natural sense of direction.

And it did look like she was actually getting somewhere by following the unspoken weird urge. She'd finally found a slightly drier area of the swamp, the tree roots were lifting her higher...

She might actually get to a good vantage point if she could figure out how to climb one of the massive, smooth-barked trunks.

Of course, almost as soon as she thought that, she was put on edge again by the sound of startled shouting. She raised her Water Tribe blade stiffly, tensing in every limb and heart pounding until she realized that the tone and pitch of the shouting sounded very familiar—

CRASH!

And then she was bowled over by the screaming figures of her brother and Angka.

All three of the landed on the curve of a tree root a little further down, and through the fresh aches now reverberating through her body, Sokki felt an immense sensation of mingled outrage and relief.

She popped up, throwing her arms out in agitation.

"Where have you two been?!" she yelled, shrill, practically screeching. "I've been looking all over for you!"

Katar rubbed his head as he glared back, annoyed. "Well I've been wandering around looking for you!" he defended.

Sokki huffed in some mild disbelief. Yeah right, she thought. Angka would have been his first priority, he knew she could take cafe of herself.

Speaking of Angka though, the Avatar looked a little confused and sheepish, as she wafted herself up to her feet gently.

"I was chasing some boy," she admitted.

Katar immediately pinned attention on her. "What boy?" he asked, and Sokki didn't miss the suspicious—maybe jealous—note in his tone.

Angka shrugged, reaching down a hand to offer him. "I don't know," she confessed. "I heard some laughing and I saw some boy in a fancy suit."

Out of all the ridiculous and strange things that had happened to them that day, that was the most unbelievable. Anyone who could possibly live here long-term probably wore bark and moss and stuff, not a full formal getup.

Sokki snorted and crossed her arms. "Well there must be a tea party here and we just didn't get our invitations," she droned sarcastically.

Katar was unusually sober, not even cracking a grin or getting heated to protect Angka's feelings. He looked down and said quietly:

"I though I saw mom."

The candid confession unsettled her. Something uneasy churned in her stomach for a few seconds, before she shook herself and scrambled to justify the weird coincidence that all of them had seen someone, improbably, in the middle of this creepy isolated swamp.

"Look," she said. "We were all just scared and hungry and our minds were playing tricks on us. That's why we all saw things out here."

Katar jolted and double took. "You saw something too?!" he asked, wide-eyed.

Sokki went very quiet. Her face fell. Her bangs shadowed her eyes for a moment.

She turned aside, crossing her arms tightly in front of herself, clutching her elbows.

"...I thought I saw Yuan," she said.

The heaviness in the silence that followed spoke volumes. She didn't turn around but she could feel the pitying looks Angka and her brother were giving her.

"But," Sokki deflected, swiveling back around defensively, "that doesn't prove anything! Look I..." She paused for a sad sigh. "...I think about him all the time and..." She looked to Katar. "...you saw mom, someone you miss a lot."

And I do too, was an addition she left unspoken.

"What about me? I didn't know the boy I saw," Angka said pointing out the obvious flaw in her reasoning.

Sokki bit her lip, annoyed that she couldn't account for that.

Angka looked around them, to the expanse of trees in the canopy. "And all our visions led us right here."

"Okay, so... where's here?" asked Katar, standing up and brushing himself off. "The middle of the swamp?"

The Avatar was looking contemplatively upwards. Sokki followed her gaze and saw that she was looking at a positively massive tree, the roots of which they were standing on, a tree the dwarfed all the others she'd seen in the swamp so far.

Angka's eyes were widening, a keen shimmer of understanding shining in them.

"Yeah. The center."

She turned back towards them excitedly.

"It's the heart of the swamp! It's been calling us here!"

Her voice lowered to a whisper, tone vindicated.

"I knew it."

Sokki's chest clenched with a tiny bit of panic. Things were getting into freaky Avatar and Spirit World stuff and the last time she had dealt with that was still raw and fresh in her mind, like an open scab.

She jumped straight into denial mode.

"It's just a tree!" she insisted. "It can't call anyone! For the last time," she pleaded with the other two, eyes pinched and plaintive like she was half trying to convince herself. "There's nothing after us. And there's nothing magical happening here."

-ATLA-

Of course the water had erupted as soon as she'd said that with some kind of freaky vine creature that proceeded to attack them.

Of course it had.

But it was fine, turned out it was just waterbenders who lived the swamp. Swampbenders. They were a bit smelly and not particularly... mannered she would say, but they were just normal, ordinary people.

Still, the whole experience had shaken Sokki to the core. Brought to the front the recent grief that she was still processing, new fresh grief that had torn a hole open in an older one.

Some light and clarity was shining through that hole now. She looked at her brother, who didn't even seem too shaken up by his recent self-professed vision of their dead mother, and saw as if for the first time the weight of his grief and guilt and sorrow about their loss.

The bitter anger that had burned under her sternum, festering and poisonous for so so long... somehow its fire had gone out, sputtered and died along with Yuan.

As Angka politely tried to decline the speared meat on a stick Tho was offering her, Sokki unwound her arms from around her legs and stood up from the log, softly making her way over to Katar.

He was sitting tensed, slightly forward and watching Angka as if ready to spring forward and intervene. But he glanced up in surprise when she approached him, the firelight gleaming yellow in his blue eyes.

"Can we talk?" she asked, soberly.

He nodded, carefully, expression wary.

Sokki plopped herself down next to him and stared into the cooking fire.

For a long moment, she didn't say anything.

The words finally began putting themselves together inside her head. She heaved out a long, tired breath, and began.

"I'm sorry. For the longest time... I hated you for not saving mom," she confessed, her voice beginning to shake and waver. "For freezing up and then running away, when you were right there and could have done something."

Katar stirred, starting to object. "Sokki—"

"Let me finish," she interrupted, holding up a hand. "I tried so hard to be the warrior I thought you weren't. Tried to be so much braver, and stronger, and more skilled, more decisive." The shake in her voice was stronger now; her throat was clogged and tight. "But when Yuan..."

Her voice cut off with a strangled gasp, and heat stung her eyes, welling with wet embarrassment and sorrow.

"When he... I... I couldn't do anything!" she said, strangled. "I froze up, and I had to just watch him sacrifice himself."

She dropped her eyes, shadowing her face with a hand to hide her tears.

"So... I get it now, I think." Her breath shuddered through her. "And I'm sorry. I've been... so unfair to you, all these years."

Katar took a careful breath next to her, processing that.

"Okay..." he said.

That was all he had in response.

They sat there, the silence between them slightly uncomfortable but... refreshing somehow, like years worth of dust and cobwebs had finally been brushed free.

Sokki inhaled slowly, and composed herself.

"So let's keep her safe this time, okay?" she said.

She didn't need to clarify. Katar's eyes darted immediately towards Angka, laughing brightly at something Huu said, one hand behind her hair, beaming and radiant, beautiful in the firelight.

His eyes flicked back. He nodded, solemnly, intense gaze burning into hers.

"We'll protect her together," he promised.

He held a hand out for her, palm down.

Sokki glanced at his hand only briefly before moving her own on top of his, in a sworn promise. "Together," she agreed.

The sparks from the fire flickered up behind them into deep starlight.

Chapter Text

Angka pushed some withered brown leaves out of her way, forging ahead into the odd, murky, orange-drenched landscape.

"Couldn't have been in one of the nicer parts of the Spirit World," she grumbled. "Noooo it had to run off into this area."

She cast her eyes around, and though she saw plenty of floating lights and animal-like noses and eyes peeking up from trees and hollow stumps, there was no sign of her quarry.

She was looking for a troublesome fire sprite. The rabbit-like creature had been causing problems in the outlying islands of the Fire Nation that were stirring up old rivalries and family conflicts. This house claimed the mischief was the rival son's doing, that house blamed the servants of the other. It was a big diplomatic mess for such a little trickster spirit and of course it fell to Angka to deal with it.

She slipped a bit, traversing a rotted log across the swampy pools, and her foot sank into the water, ankle deep. She yelped at the shock of cold, and wearily pulled her soaked shoe out of the water. Mud dripped off the sole.

She sighed heavily. "Faaaantastic," she withered.

Avatar...!

Angka gasped and whirled around.

"Who said that?" she called out, frightened by the sudden voice.

Nothing but eerie spirit chitters answered her, and the oppressive silence of the bog.

Angka looked around, uneasy. The hairs were pricked all up and down her arms; though she couldn't see anything she felt like everything was watching her.

She coiled her legs and leapt up to a higher perch, crouching, looking around warily.

The whisper came again.

Avatar... beware... he is coming...

The whisper on the breeze was joined by an unpleasant skitter and tap of claws on wood, like the steps of a giant insect.

Angka muffled a groan, recognizing the creeping sound. She carefully schooled her features into an expressionless blank mask, more annoyed by than afraid of the interruption, and turned her back to the creature.

"Not now, Koh, I'm not here for you," she dismissed.

The giant centipede... thing that was the face-stealing spirit made himself known then, crawling out from behind one of the giant trees now that he'd lost the chance to surprise her.

"You never are these days," he complained. His blinking eye was some dour old man, sallow and withered, wrinkles drooping with feigned sadness. He blinked back to his favorite chalk white kabuki head. "You still owe me a face you know."

"No thanks. I'm kind of attached to this one," Angka said, tone light even though no hint of humor touched her features. She looked ahead, searching the marsh for signs of the fire sprite's little bursts of flames and sparks. "What are you doing out of the tree anyway?" she asked absently, as her eyes scanned. "Aren't you outside of your normal boundary?"

Angka could hear keratin pincers clacking, like Koh was gesturing in an almost human-like fashion with them. "Even spirits need a change of scenery every once in a while," he said, voice nonchalant.

She suppressed a shudder, leaping up a few more times to gain a jutting spire of rock that rose above the low treeline, hoping for a better vantage point.

"Well, good luck with that," she told Koh, still keeping her face firmly turned away from him to maximize her chances of keeping it. "I gotta go, busy with Avatar stuff. As usual."

Koh slithered up the incline after her, tailing coiling behind him like a serpent's.

"You are seeking the fire sprite," he guessed. "I could tell you where it went."

Angka felt irritation tugging at her that she had to tramp down on, feeling it tug at her eyes and mouth. "Look," she said. "We both know how this goes. You play at being helpful and trying to distract me enough to steal my face, I keep my emotions in check and thwart your efforts." She stood in place as he came around to face her, expression professionally flat and serene, not a crack to be found. "I know all your tricks Koh. You can't fool me," she let herself brag.

Koh just circled her, switching faces every so often, languidly.

"You're no fun," he huffed. He blinked through a few faces she hadn't seen, trying to find something that would get a reaction out of her. "At least give me a physical fight like Kuruk did. You always keep running away from our encounters."

Angka bristled internally, but didn't let it show. Let Koh think she was a coward. That wasn't an insult she shrank under anymore. And if there was any problem that was best solved by turning tail, Koh was one of them. She didn't even think the spirit could be killed even if she tried it.

"Although..." Koh mused, coming to a stop, hovering somewhere behind her with his great round head. "...that does bring back some fond memories. It gets tedious, you know. The long years of biding my time and waiting for fools to cross my path. When I took Ummi's face and Kuruk came after me for revenge... how exciting that was!" he gushed, breathless, some unsettling eager hunger in his tone.

She didn't like where this conversation was going. She kept her eyes on the ground, letting her bangs fall in front of her face to shadow it.

"Perhaps I should cross over to the mortal realm once more. It's been a long time." His breath was close, too close, ticking against her ear.

Her fists gripped silently.

"That water tribe boy you're always with..." Koh murmured, voice silken. "...he has such a pretty fa—"

The earth moved in an instant behind her. One quick thought and a spoke of earthbending beaned Koh right in the underside of his segmented, insect-like belly. The blow hurled him up and back an impressive distance, and the face-stealer gave a satisfying and quite undignified screech of shock and outrage as he was sent crashing into the marsh below.

Angka let out her breath, shaking as her fists unclenched.

She spared one glance down and behind, to see the black coil of Koh's body twisting about as the creature skulked off, and then she was hoofing it very quickly in the opposite direction.

That was too close, she thought, unnerved and anxious. She didn't care to stay to see the fallout of her attack on the spirit.

She had to find that troublesome fire sprite and get out of here.

….And probably warn Katar to stay away from Spirit World entrances for a while. She knew he hovered close to her body to make sure she was safe; that was a habit she might need him to cut out for a little bit.

At least until she figured out how to deal with the Koh situation.

A blue-clad figure melted out of one of the trees she passed, floating alongside her, keeping up with her.

"Don't worry, I can help you with that," Kuruk promised her, her past life looking grim and grave-faced as Angka finally felt safe enough to slow down.

Panting, she stopped, turned and matched the past Avatar's furrowed brows and determined frown. "You think it's time for a rematch?" she asked him.

"Not today, but yes," he answered, nodding. Kuruk looked off into the trees. "He stole my beloved Ummi from me." Pained sorrow was in his voice, and Angka remembered with a pang the woman's face with the flowing beautiful brown hair that Koh kept, one trophy among many. "I sealed him away once, bound him to that tree. I can do it again," he continued.

Angka straightened her shoulders bravely. "We'll do it again," she vowed. "He's not gonna take anyone else away from us." Katar's image flashed before her mind. She lifted her chin. "I'm going to make sure."

Kuruk stood at her side, a spectral hand on her shoulder in solidarity for a moment. He smiled when she met his gaze, and there was something fatherly and warm in his face, something that made her miss Gyatso for a moment.

"I think the little bugger is right over there," Kuruk pointed out.

Angka whipped around and spotted the cluster of sparks and firetrails that followed the fire sprite's wake.

She pounced on it immediately, and it squeaked and squealed as she wrestled it into the water of the marsh, dousing its flames and rending it a very wet miserable bundle of stiff fur and ears.

"Gotcha!" she said in triumph. She held up the little spirit by its scruff, and scolded it like a naughty puppy. "You made a big ol' mess back in the Fire Nation buddy, and you are coming with me to apologize and fix it!"

It warbled in sad disappointment, beady eyes wibbling, ears drooping. But it allowed Angka to tuck it under her arm and carry it, as she turned around. She wasn't surprised that the vision of Kuruk had melted away into the trees and brambles.

She forged back towards the wood gate that signified the entrance to the mortal world, already planning for her next visit in her head.

It was thankless work sometimes, mediating between spirits and people, keeping both parties in check so they didn't hurt each other, keeping dangerous spirits like Koh from roaming free, but it was her duty as Avatar and for the world's sake—for Katar's sake—she would keep doing it.

The spirits whispered amongst themselves as she made her way home.