Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Katara couldn’t help but sigh as she slowly stirred the liquid in her glass with her waterbending, trying to think about anything other than just leaving.

It was her brother’s wedding and her best friend’s—she was happy for them!—but now, at the after party, she couldn’t help but be bored to death.

Everyone was dancing with their partners or friends.

At first, she was surprised to see her brother (who honestly was the worst dancer she had ever seen) dancing like a pro with his happy wife.

Maybe she’d be with them too, letting herself be carried away by the music after a few drinks.

But no, she was sitting alone in a corner, rotting away.

She grabbed her phone hoping to find a message saying she was urgently needed at the hospital for an emergency.

But the only thing she found was a system warning saying her battery was below 10%.

She let out a frustrated growl, put her phone away, and hid her face in her hands.

It was going to be a long and boring night.

On the other side of the room, Toph and Aang were at the table with the snacks.

At first, he was chatting happily with her. But at one point in the conversation, he completely stopped paying attention.

Toph noticed when he didn’t answer a question and quickly elbowed him in the arm.

"Hey!" Aang exclaimed, rubbing where his friend had hit him. "Why was that?"

— Tell me exactly what I was talking about before.

Aang blinked. "Uh, you were talking about… ehh…"

Both were silent for a moment, until Aang spoke again, embarrassed.

"I'm really sorry, Toph, I—"

Toph sighed and motioned for him to be quiet. "Relax, twinkle toes, I don’t need your apologies."

Aang just nodded, thinking the conversation would end there. So he wasn’t prepared when she spoke again.

"So, who’s the lucky girl you were looking at?" she said with a teasing smile.

Aang’s face practically turned as red as a fully ripe tomato.

Toph obviously couldn’t see his reaction, but she could feel how fast his heart was beating.

"And don’t give me lies or excuses," she exclaimed, stamping her foot slightly, reminding him she could tell if he was lying. She continued, "So answer, who is it? Because I swear every time we come to one of Sokka’s events you get like this. And let’s just say I can’t see where you’re looking, and I have to put up with the damn pounding of your heart going a thousand miles per hour. And it’s not fun, if you keep this up I’ll go deaf besides blind."

Aang sighed, scratched the back of his neck—he always did that when he was nervous—and answered Toph. "I think you already know her, I’ve seen you talk with her several times. It’s Katar—"

"KATARA? SUGAR QUEEN? SOKKA’S SISTER?"

Aang quickly covered her mouth as his blush returned to his cheeks out of embarrassment.

I knew I shouldn't have told Toph..

That was all he could think as he saw his friend trying to hold back laughter.

"Could you please… speak more quietly? The last thing I want now is for Sokka to find out I’m a bit interested in his sister on his wedding day. He’d definitely kill me in front of all the guests."

Toph nodded and answered, "Wow, you kept that well hidden. But don’t worry, I’ll keep quiet and not tell anyone…"

Aang frowned slightly as a teasing smile appeared again on his friend’s face.

But before he could open his mouth to question her, Toph went ahead.

"Why don’t you talk to her and ask her to dance?"

The airbender looked at her like she was totally crazy.

"We’ve only had a couple of conversations, conversations no, casual exchanges like: pass me the salt please. She probably doesn’t even remember my name!"

"You know what’s the only thing I heard? I heard that you’re scared."

Toph knew what she was saying — telling Aang he was scared of doing something made the airbender automatically do it, to show his friend she was totally wrong.

So she couldn’t help but smile triumphantly when Aang muttered "I’m going to do it" and went with determined steps toward Katara.

But the determination disappeared more and more as he got closer to her.

He took a deep breath when he was just a few steps away from her.

"Hi."

Katara looked up when she heard a voice, surprised to see Aang, her brother’s and Toph’s friend. "Hello," she greeted back while adjusting herself in the chair.

"Bored?" the boy said as he sat in the chair next to her.

She nodded slowly. She was surprised the first person to talk to her now was him instead of other acquaintances; they had barely had any conversations.

So she didn’t know what to say, there wasn’t much she could say.

So they stayed in awkward silence, with Aang scratching his neck and her moving her fingers clumsily.

Aang didn’t know what to say to continue the conversation, maybe he could ask her how she met Toph. Or maybe about her job…

"It’s weird to see Sokka dance like that."

Katara murmured quietly, but loud enough for him to hear. It was the only topic that came to her mind.

The boy looked at the dance floor where Sokka and Suki were still happily dancing.

"It was a lot of trial and error, but I’m glad to see that after all my feet went through, now Suki can dance happily with him," Aang said proudly.

Katara glanced at him while raising an eyebrow at the boy’s words.

"Don’t tell me… you were the one who taught my brother to dance…?"

Aang nodded as a big smile formed on his face. "Bingo! Like I said before, my feet suffered a lot."

Katara let out a chuckle. "I understand, when we were younger my grandmother and I tried to teach him. We gave up after a few minutes."

"I had to be very patient while teaching him. But the seeds bore fruit, and I feel totally proud of him."

Katara took another sip of her drink while smiling softly. "I guess you’re a hero to Suki and her feet."

Aang laughed out loud and returned a smile to the other. "Yeah, I guess I am."

"My uncle Gyatso was the one who taught me to dance. At first, I thought it was silly because I thought dancing was just moving your feet to the rhythm of the music. But it became one of my favorite things to do when I realized it wasn’t that, but something so… beautiful and lovely. That’s why when Sokka told me he was a terrible dancer, I decided to help him."

They both went silent again. But this silence wasn’t like the first time, it was more comfortable and calm.

Katara was surprised at how well the conversation had flowed.

"I think I’m talking too much about myself," Aang suddenly murmured, a little embarrassed. "I don’t want to bore you."

Katara shook her head.

"Relax, you don’t bore me. In fact, you’re the most interesting thing that’s happened tonight," she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear shyly.

The boy couldn’t help blushing. He scratched his neck awkwardly, not knowing what to say or do, took a breath, and smiled shyly at Katara.

"Well…," he began carefully as he stood up from the chair. "I think tonight could get a lot better if you let me."

Katara looked at him with curiosity, not knowing what he meant.

Aang stood in front of her and gently extended his hand.

"Want to dance?"

The girl’s eyes widened at the invitation. She hesitated for a moment, unsure if she should accept or not, she didn’t consider herself a good dancer—but she was definitely much better than Sokka at it—

She thought about saying her shoes weren’t the best for dancing, or that she wasn’t sure how to do it.

But when she looked up and saw his gray eyes shining with excitement and determination, all her doubts disappeared from her mind.

"Sure."

Aang smiled broadly at her answer, smiled even more when she grabbed his hand and got up from the chair.

They walked still holding hands toward the lively dance floor. When they arrived, the boy shyly rested his hand on the lower part of her back, while she rested hers on his shoulder.

Their other hands intertwined softly and they started moving to the rhythm of the music playing in the background.

"You’re really good at this," Aang murmured as he spun her and gently pulled her back toward him, making her blush and look away.

"I guess you’re only saying that because I’m not stepping on your feet like Sokka did to you."

The boy chuckled and shook his head. "I mean it, you dance really well."

Katara felt she must look very red and nervous, took a breath, and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. For some reason, his gaze calmed her and they kept dancing with shy smiles.

They started another conversation; this time they didn’t have a fixed topic, they just talked about whatever came to mind.

They talked about their jobs. Katara said that lately work had been keeping her very busy, even from herself—although she was the one who accepted to stay late more hours to avoid facing reality—

Aang said he worked as a jeweler, and that’s where he met Sokka, when he went to buy a necklace for Suki when they had just started dating about six years ago.

The boy begged Sokka not to buy a silver necklace because it was obvious the girl loved gold—Aang said he said that because Sokka had shown him a picture of Suki where you could clearly see all the jewelry she wore was gold—

Katara couldn’t help laughing at that anecdote, joking that if Sokka had bought the silver necklace, they surely wouldn’t be dancing right now at Suki and Sokka’s wedding.

Every time they looked into each other’s eyes, they couldn’t help smiling, feeling safe and secure in each other’s gaze and touch. They wondered inside why it had taken them so long to finally start a conversation, why they felt like they couldn’t laugh again if the other wasn’t happy, but before they could dwell on that, they shook their heads and focused on the moment they were sharing. There would be time to think about that later.

After several songs, the after party finally came to an end, and they sadly parted ways.

Aang was next to Toph; he had promised to take her home so she wouldn’t get into any legal trouble for being so drunk.

When he was opening the car door to leave, he heard a voice saying his name.

He looked up and was surprised to see Katara quickly approaching him. She handed him a piece of paper with a phone number scribbled on it.

The girl murmured something about maybe meeting for lunch or something like that. Aang couldn’t help smiling and hugged her gently, saying he definitely wanted to do that—making them both blush awkwardly as they heard Toph yelling for them to stop kissing and that she wanted to get home quickly, while they shouted back that they weren’t doing that and Aang was going to get in the car right away—

They said goodbye with a smile, stared into each other’s eyes for a few seconds, but said nothing. Aang got into the car while she walked away to her own car.

The boy sighed as he started driving; he was about to thank Toph for giving him the courage to talk to her and invite Katara to dance.

But when he looked in the rearview mirror, he realized the earthbender was completely asleep in the back seat.

Aang let out a soft laugh as his gaze now focused on the paper Katara had given him, which now rested next to his phone.

I’ll write her as soon as I get home.

He told himself with a smile thinking about seeing Katara again.

Chapter Text

Katara sighed as she opened the door to enter her apartment. She took off her shoes, left her things on her bedroom bed, and went straight to the bathroom to take a shower.

It was very late at night, but she preferred to bathe now so she could have a bit more free time in the morning before having to go to the hospital to work and return to her exhausting routine.

She felt completely renewed when the water started falling on her. She took her time washing, enjoying the moment. When she finished, she stepped out of the shower and, somewhat clumsily, put on her pajamas. Then she grabbed her hair dryer and started drying her hair, although with a simple gesture she could control it with her waterbending and have it dry instantly. However, she preferred to use the machine: for her, it was much more relaxing.

While doing so, she couldn't help but replay what had happened that day, and unconsciously began to smile when she remembered Aang.

She had been sure she would be bored stiff in the event room chair until it was finally time to leave and she could finally rest from so much social interaction. But when Aang approached her to awkwardly try to start a conversation, and later when he asked her to dance, it made the decision to stay there and not leave with a vague excuse to go home totally worth it.

Katara had never been interested in getting to know him better if she was being completely honest. The little she knew about him was therefore only mentioned when talking with Sokka, Zuko, or Toph. And she had never had a conversation that lasted more than a few simple words, like asking for the salt.

To her, he was the boy who, for some strange reason, everyone (well, her few friends) knew and everyone got along with him.

But she had to admit that now she was looking forward to getting to know him better. It had been hard to decide whether to give him her number or ask for his when they finished dancing and the post-wedding party ended and all the guests were returning home—She wasn’t very good at this socializing thing!—. But when she saw him leave, she decided it was better if she gave it to him; she tore a piece of paper from her notebook and grabbed a pen she always kept in her purse in case she ever needed it and didn’t have one available at the moment.

She felt a bit flustered and very embarrassed when Toph started saying silly things from the back seat of Aang’s car about the two of them, making a small mental note to talk to her about it later so there would be no problem. For now, she focused on her hair, and when it was completely dry she unplugged the machine, grabbed a comb, and started brushing it carefully while taking her phone from her bag to set the alarms for the next day. Glancing at the notifications, she found a message from an unknown number, but from the profile picture she recognized who the owner was—although the content of the message also stated who it was—

Aang

For some reason, her heart skipped a beat, which she decided to ignore, and she began reading the message.

It was a simple «hello», and a little further down it asked if she had arrived home safely. Katara unconsciously smiled again, and her fingers moved quickly over the screen to reply.

Surprisingly, the conversation flowed through the messages they exchanged, talking about how the wedding had been and how happy they were for Suki and Sokka.
Without either of them noticing, absorbed in the conversation, forty minutes had already passed since they started texting. They only realized the time when Aang sent a message, and upon sending it, the date change appeared, indicating midnight.

The airbender sent another message apologizing, saying he was keeping her awake when she surely had to go to work very early at the hospital tomorrow—Well, actually it would be in a few hours because that “tomorrow” was today—

Katara told him not to worry, that they could continue talking later. Then she said goodbye with a «good night» and turned off her phone before putting it on charge.

Katara yawned and covered herself with the blanket on her bed before closing her eyes and surrendering to exhaustion.

On the other side, when Aang read Katara's message saying they could talk later, he smiled slightly. He replied with a simple «rest» and stayed for a few seconds staring at the screen, as if he didn’t want the conversation to end completely. Finally, he put the phone aside, his heart racing.

He could have screamed or rolled around like a complete idiot on the bed, but he didn’t when he remembered that his cat Momo and his dog Appa were sleeping next to him—well, not so peacefully if their owner kept doing this things—

He lay on his side, staring into space, recalling Katara’s message.

She wanted to keep talking to him.

Well, that was really obvious, for something she had previously given him her number and mentioned it in the message. But still, Aang was sure he would end up scaring her by saying something stupid!

After all, he always did that with the people he loves.

The boy just wanted to shout with happiness, although he didn’t want to because surely his neighbors would file a noise complaint.

So he simply smiled like a complete idiot. If Toph saw him—well, she couldn’t see him because she’s blind, so would she feel it with her earthbending? Although the floor is wooden, so she couldn’t do that…—well, she would simply tease him, saying Katara had him totally in love.

Aang shook his head for a moment; she couldn’t know he was in love with the waterbender. They were barely getting to know each other properly.

Was he interested in her? Obviously, yes!

He felt much admiration for Katara due to everything Sokka talked about her—he loved talking about his sister and her achievements, always saying how proud he was of her. Although he never said it when she was present.

She is a talented waterbender for healing and fighting, supposedly a very good cook, also she has a very strong determination and will always protect and care for those who need it!

For him, Katara is a magnificent person, and he had to admit she was very attractive; he was simply somewhat drawn to her.

Clearly, yes…

He closed his eyes to try to stop thinking about the whole situation and let the tiredness take him, finally falling asleep.

Several days had passed since Sokka and Suki’s wedding, but the memories of laughter and anecdotes along with the dance they shared still lingered in both their minds.

They kept in touch in the following days with simple messages, asking how the other had woken up, if they had already had lunch. The usual, but for them it was everything.
Katara glanced at her phone from time to time at work when she could, hoping there would be a message from the boy with stormy gray eyes among her phone notifications. Aang did the same when no customers appeared in his jewelry store.

Unconsciously, this had become a daily routine between them; they felt a bit strange when they didn’t talk for a while—but neither wanted to seem too pushy texting all the time!—

Aang was tidying up some things in the jewelry store while thinking about whether he should write to Katara, but when he heard the store door open, he pushed those questions from his mind and focused on attending the customer who had come in.

He looked over his shoulder and couldn’t help smiling when he recognized who it was.

"¡Flameo, Hotman!"

Aang and Kuzon said in unison as they approached and hugged tightly, laughing as a greeting.—although the fact that saying "Flameo, Hotman" was already a greeting—
The firebender was definitely one of his best childhood friends along with Aang’s Bumi; the trio spent their time causing chaos wherever they went, giving the people who had to take care of them hair full of gray hair due to stress.

Kuzon hadn’t changed much since the last time Aang had seen him. His black hair was a bit longer, and his tan skin definitely matched the red tones of his clothing.

"Why are you here in Republic City? I thought you wouldn’t be back for a few more months with Bumi",  asked Aang with a smile while inviting his friend to come behind the counter.

The firebender passed by him, replying, "Well, let’s just say some things happened that brought me here. But I’d like to catch up with you before explaining it."

That was all he said before they started chatting animatedly about what they had been doing with their lives—the pets of Aang, work, mutual friends—. After all, they only saw each other occasionally because Kuzon lived in the Fire Nation and Bumi in the Earth Kingdom, and rarely came to Republic City to visit Aang, or he went to visit them.
When they caught up, Kuzon finally explained why he was there.

It turned out that the firebender, along with his band "The Flamey-Os",  had come to play music representing the culture of the Fire Nation for the "Roots of a World" festival—it was a festival held once a year in Republic City to remember and revive traditions from the four nations over the years.—

Aang always knew his friend had a band since he had seen them countless times when traveling to the Fire Nation with Bumi.

They didn’t play any popular music genres. They played traditional Fire Nation music that was hundreds of years old, making them completely unique. They used traditional instruments from there, for example, Kuzon played the Tsungi horn among all the instruments he knew how to play; he was practically like an Avatar, but instead of bending all elements, he could play all the instruments!

And the people playing with him were also incredible! Of those he knew best was On Ji, she was kind and very talented. Although he didn’t like to think much about her, later he felt a bit bad thinking about what had happened between them.

Returning to the topic, the airbender congratulated his best friend on the achievement of being able to perform at the festival, as they rarely had the opportunity to play on a stage.

"I’m really excited, but also a bit nervous. We want people to feel and understand the melodies we’re going to play. After all, it’s part of our culture and who we are in the Fire Nation," Kuzon finally said after a comfortable silence while the other started arranging and tidying some things in the jewelry store again. He opened his mouth and added:

"It’s like reliving a part of our history."

Aang put a hand on his friend’s shoulder, offering an encouraging smile, "I’m sure people will love you all and what you’re going to play."

Kuzon simply sighed and smiled at the airbender’s support. He stretched a bit until he suddenly seemed to remember something, quickly searching in his pocket.

When he found what he was looking for, he extended his hand where there were two somewhat crumpled tickets. "I came here to give you this, mainly one for you and one for Bumi. But he won’t be able to come as he’s very busy in Omashu."

Aang received the tickets delicately and stored them in a drawer of the counter, "Thank you very much, Kuzon."

"The second one you could give to someone to accompany you. Maybe you could invite a girl", said Kuzon with a playful look; Aang’s face turned scarlet as he let out a soft nervous laugh.

The firebender raised an eyebrow at his friend’s blush and looked at him with curiosity, "There’s someone, right?"

Aang scratched the back of his neck and tried to answer, "No…?"

Kuzon pointed at him accusingly, "You always scratch your neck when you lie or are very nervous! Who’s the lucky one?"

Aang’s blush intensified even more at his friend’s accusation, quickly shaking his hands in front of him, "It’s nothing, really!"

The firebender simply ignored his friend’s silly attempts to deny his accusation.

“¡I knew there was someone! Tell me who! What’s her name? What does she do? Can she control any element, or is she a non-bender? She’s a woman, right?” he insisted with a mischievous smile, “I mean, if not, it’s fine. We’ll always support you! Although… that means Bumi won the bet we made a couple of years ago…”

Aang didn’t look him in the eyes. Instead, he diverted his gaze, looking around for something to distract him and calm the blush rising to his face from embarrassment. He was clearly uncomfortable with what his friend was saying, “I’m telling the truth, there’s no one right now… And I won’t have to pay Bumi anything. I’m straight. I can’t believe you two are still doubting that knowing I’ve casually gone out with some girls…”

But his discomfort gave him away. His friend burst into laughter, ignoring Aang’s serious tone.

“Well, then I’ll have to find out who this person is when you bring her to the festival. I’ll surely see her in the crowd, next to you.”

The airbender’s eyes widened, shaking his head, almost stumbling over his own words. “No, no, and no! That’s not going to happen! I don’t even know if she’d want to come with me…”

Aang froze for a moment, realizing he had given himself away. The words had simply come out without any filter.

“So there is someone. And you plan to invite her…”, Kuzon said, raising his eyebrows with a mischievous smile while crossing his arms, clearly enjoying every second of his friend’s discomfort.

“You’re impossible”, murmured Aang, bringing both hands to his face in an attempt to hide his expression, letting out a long sigh of frustration. He knew he was lost, Kuzon wasn’t going to give up easily, and the more he tried to dodge the topic, the more insistent his friend became.

—

Aang finally mustered the courage to invite Katara… right after Kuzon left the jewelry store. Well, actually, it was more like Kuzon practically forced him to send that message to the waterbender. And once Aang did, his friend just turned around and left, as if his work there was done.

He did it while Katara was still working at the hospital. The phone rang when the notification arrived, but she was on the other side of the room, reviewing the documents of a patient.

She would have to do the same with the next one, and then the one after that. So she left the phone forgotten on the desk, fully concentrating on her shift. She knew she would stay very late, but if she worked quickly and accurately, there was a small chance of finishing early and returning to her apartment a bit sooner.

And that’s why she didn’t see Aang’s message.

And that was a total hell for him.

She must be very busy at the hospital attending her patients, after all

He told himself as night fell and he still hadn’t received a response from her.

Or she could have read it from the notifications and maybe she’s scared by my proposal to go to the festival together, so she decided not to respond because she doesn’t know how to reject the invitation without making me feel bad…

Aang yelled into his pillow; the doubt wasn’t killing him, it was slowly torturing him and making him suffer like never before.

Appa and Momo just looked at their human with indifference, who was about to explode. They were a little startled when the airbender got up from the bed with a sudden movement, leaving the phone right there. He walked around the house to the kitchen in search of a glass of water.

As the glass filled under the tap, he tried to calm himself. Each sip helped a little, as if the water could stop the whirlwind of treacherous thoughts in his mind. When the glass was full, he drank it slowly.

He left the kitchen and began pacing around the house, walking in circles and overthinking the situation. He felt like a complete idiot; he didn’t understand why he was so terrified of Katara rejecting his invitation and stopping talking to him, after all, they were barely getting to know each other, and he wasn’t even in love with her… Or maybe he felt even more stupid when he heard the sound of a notification coming from his room and ran at full speed, tripping over some things along the way.

He grabbed the phone, managed to unlock it even with hands that were, for some reason, trembling… and there it was. Katara’s message shone on the screen.

«I’m sorry for responding so late, and of course I’d like to go with you. Tell me a bit about this festival, I’ve never heard of it before :)»

Aang let out a sigh, releasing the air he hadn’t realized he was holding since he sent the invitation to go out. A smile appeared on his face as he bent down to pick up Momo, who was innocently walking by at that moment. He lifted him and spun him around, unable to contain his excitement.

Appa watched him with a judgmental look from afar, staying out of whatever was happening, clearly determined not to share the same fate as poor Momo.

Aang’s heart raced as he reread Katara’s message for the third time.

Finally, he responded with a quick summary about what the festival was about. They exchanged a few more messages, talking a bit about the event, until they agreed that Aang would pick her up at her house—although Katara insisted they could meet directly at the location.—

After exchanging a few words and wishing each other good night, both turned off their phones to go to sleep. But as Aang’s screen went dark, his mind remained completely awake and didn’t seem ready to rest. So he just stayed lying down, staring at the ceiling, feeling the thoughts invading his head nonstop.
In the end, he could only sigh and close his eyes, hoping to get some rest.

Finally, Sunday had arrived, and the waterbender stood in front of her wardrobe, carefully looking for decent clothes for her date with Aang. Her hand paused as she scolded herself for thinking of it as a «date»—they never even said it was that. Why was she even thinking that?

He simply invited me to go with him to the festival; it’s just a friends’ outing.

She sighed, telling herself it was best to stop thinking about it. When she glanced one last time among her clothes, she found a dress she picked up delicately with her hands to inspect it.

It was a beautiful dark blue tone, with a square neckline, short sleeves, and a hem decorated with ruffles. It wasn’t too short nor too long, just right; also, it was comfortable enough to fight in—although clearly, she wasn’t going to fight anyone! But one must always be prepared for anything, right?—

Katara smiled to herself, yes, that dress she was going to wear. Although now that she thought about it, it would be better to put something over it so she wouldn’t end up freezing, after all, the festival was outdoors according to what Aang had told her, and lately, it had been colder than usual.

So she decided to wear a black leather jacket over it. She didn’t zip it up, letting the dress still be visible underneath. She approached her mirror and looked at herself, tucking some rebellious hair strands behind her ear.

She stared at herself for a moment, feeling strange. Maybe years ago she would have felt confident seeing herself in the mirror, maybe she would leave with confidence, maybe she could start conversations with people.

But of course, that was years ago. Now she was older; her face showed large dark circles from not sleeping properly due to her work shifts, and she had practically become antisocial to the point of not even speaking to her own brother for weeks.

Most of the time she went out, it was because others practically forced her; so the fact that she was going out by her own choice and preparing for it made her feel completely strange.

She sighed and grabbed some of the few makeup products she had and applied them calmly in front of the mirror to try to clear those thoughts that had come to her mind. What she did was nothing too elaborate; something simple and natural. She had never been a fan of makeup anyway.

The waterbender was about to put on short black boots, which had always been the most comfortable among the ones she had, until she heard a soft knock on the door.

Toc, toc, toc

Katara straightened up immediately, knowing perfectly well who was knocking. She took a deep breath to calm the nerves that had appeared, smoothed the dress with her hands, and hurried to finish adjusting her boots.

“¡I’m coming!”, Katara said out loud as she approached the dresser where she had previously taken the makeup to open a drawer. Inside was a small box that looked a bit worn.

She opened it carefully and smiled seeing her mother’s necklace. It was one of the few items from her home in the South Pole she had brought with her to Republic City years ago with Sokka. She previously only used it for special occasions, but lately she had been wearing it more frequently; it gave her a sense of calm and security.

She swore she could feel her mother Kya hugging her neck, giving her a soft kiss on the cheek to tell her how proud she was of her every time she wore it.

Katara wiped the tears she knew would appear in her eyes just by remembering her mother, put the necklace carefully around her neck, and looked in the mirror one last time before finally leaving the room and going to the front door where that airbender was waiting for her.

Her steps were quick as she grabbed her purse hanging on the coat rack near the door. She took a breath before finally deciding to open it.

She pushed the door open and saw Aang looking up at her action. He had apparently been focused on something before she finally came out because he was a little surprised to see her.

“Hello,” they both murmured at the same time, their nerves calming as they looked into each other’s eyes.