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Kataang Week 2021: Healing

Summary:

Another year, another summer, another week of prompts celebrating our favorite couple. Kataang Week 2021 Day 5: Healing. Healing and all the ways it incorporated itself into Katara and Aang’s relationship.

Notes:

A/N: Day 5! Sorry this is a bit late. I was originally going to go with another idea but it quickly became way too long to finish in time, so I wrote this last minute. Short and sweet :) Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own ATLA.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

Healing.

It was such a vital tenet of the element they shared, water, and yet it remained such an enigma for them.

Katara hadn't even known of healing being possible until that fateful day after they had met Jeong Jeong, and for Aang, healing was easily one of his weak points. Perhaps it was because healing relied on the movement of energy in the body, and the last Water Tribe Avatar, Kuruk, had his energy corrupted by dark spirits, but for whatever reason, the skill didn't come as naturally to him as he would've liked.

Nevertheless, the two were able to learn it relatively quickly during their visit at the Northern Water Tribe, and it ended up having a profound impact on both their livelihoods and relationship.

Healing was how Katara was able to heal Aang after the battle in the crystal catacombs beneath Ba Sing Se. Otherwise, Aang surely would've died in her arms there on Appa up in the sky, and they never would've built their beautiful life and family together.

It was an event the airbender frequently reminded her of when her thoughts were consumed by the darker sides of waterbending- bloodbending. He cited it as evidence of her good heart. Every time she'd wince looking at the scar Azula's lightning had left behind, he'd remind her that it was because of her that it was just a scar and not worse, that her hands brought love and restoration into the world, not death or destruction.

Healing made Katara known as one of, if not the, greatest waterbenders in the world, a title she wore with pride after years of being referred to as simply "the Avatar's girlfriend." Whenever they were announced at formal events, Aang made sure to gently correct the other officials there that she was not a mere noblewoman or a trophy wife, but the talented Master Katara of the Southern Water Tribe and deserved to be addressed as such.

It brought the two much amusement seeing the nobles stumble over themselves and become spluttering messes every time, as Aang never failed to add, "Her skills transcend mine by lifetimes." ("Oh, no, Avatar Aang, surely you don't mean that." "Oh I very much do. I can only aspire to one day possess her talent." "...")

Healing was how they passed on their waterbending knowledge to their children, specifically Kya. The girl, very much her father's daughter, had minimal interest in learning to fight, having more pacifist tendencies with the true spirit of an airbender.

However, with Katara's guidance and Aang's encouragement to pursue her passion of mending the world and all its people, she too went on to be known for her incredible gift, and the skill served her well especially with her family.

It was rare for a week to go by where someone in their household didn't get an injury somehow. Between four incredibly powerful benders, two children that shared their father's energy and rambunctiousness, a boy with a boomerang that he was not afraid to use, and a small group of flying lemurs often flying and chittering up a storm around the temple, there was usually always some scratch or nick to be healed up.

Bumi and Aang were by far the most accident-prone, and one would often hear Katara swearing under her breath that the combination of the two would give her gray hairs by the time she was 30.

Though Katara was the one doing the healing more often than not, Aang had his moments as well. If Katara ever nicked herself with the kitchen knife while chopping up vegetables, or even slid her finger across a piece of paper in just the wrong way, Aang would insist on healing the cut and always kissed the spot afterwards, no matter how minor.

It became an unspoken act of intimacy between the two, and no matter what was going on in their lives, whether everything was peaceful or they were in a rough patch, it was something they kept doing, letting them know that they were going to be okay.

"Healing sessions," as Aang and Katara called it, were often their way to get away from the world and enjoy each other's presence. If they needed some time alone for a bit, they'd often lock themselves in the healing room just to blow their other engagements off.

At some point, they even moved a small loveseat into the room, just in case one of them had to closely monitor the other's injury. Totally not for cuddling purposes. That would just be crazy.

Healing. A bit of a mystery and yet something so central to their dynamic with one another.

It was one of the many things that drew the couple together, one of the many things that had an unspoken thanks for, and it was one of the many things that gave them lasting memories for years to come.

Notes:

A/N: Hope that wasn’t too unsatisfying of an ending and that you enjoyed!

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