Chapter Text
Katara woke up with a nauseating feeling in her stomach. She carefully switched onto her left side to look for Aang. He had already left for the day though. She wasn't expecting to see him. She was always told that laying on her left could help with nausea, so she stayed laying in that position for a little while before deciding when to get up. She didn't have any obligations today until the evening, so she decided she was going to have a slow morning.
Katara hadn't been very vocal about it, but she had been trying to become pregnant for over two months now. She was a few days late from her cycle. Three days, to be exact. Now it wasn't abnormal for her to be slightly late or slightly early; her cycles often matched the phases of the moon, therefore she wasn't always exactly on time. But this time was different. Normally she would just get really irritable and crampy before her period. This time, her breasts were extremely sore and tender to the touch, she had odd food cravings and was recently disgusted by the thought of foods she used to love, the irritability was at an all time high and how could she forget the nausea...
She put a lot of pressure on herself to give Aang the family they both wanted. She knew how much it would mean to him if she could give him an airbender; more than one if the spirits allowed it. The thought of being the sole reason another airbender entered the world gave her so much hope, and honestly, made her feel ethereal. She smiled at the thought of it. Her hand found her way down to her lower abdomen. She could picture it now, her and Aang walking down the coast of the island, a small child in air nomad garb holding both of their hands between them, a few more children, a bit older than the one in the middle, running ahead of them, all in air nomad garb. A gust of air blowing her hair as they rushed by.
She finally decided to get up. Usually upon waking up, she would head straight to the bathroom to start her oral routine. However, a very beautiful blue dress draped over the vanity across the room caught her eye first. She walked over to it, noticing the note on the mirror.
Our friends at the boutique designed this dress just for you to wear tonight. I can't wait to see you in it. Love you!
Aang
She smiled down at the note. She observed the fabric of the dress before touching it. It looked like a silky material, charmeuse perhaps. There was definitely some draping with chiffon as well. Before she could reach forward to touch the fabric, a sudden and painful tinge struck her in her lower abdomen. She gasped, placing a hand there before rushing to the bathroom. Immediately, she discarded her undergarments, used the toilet, grabbed the toilet tissue and wiped. She glanced at the piece of tissue before discarding it. To her utter disgust, the entire cloth was covered in bright red blood. She couldn't tell if her hand was trembling or if it was the tears that filled her eyes distorting her vision.
She closed her eyes and flushed the toilet. She turned on the sink, bended water from the stream to clean between her thighs and stood up. She paused to look at herself in the mirror. She appeared paler than usual, even the color from her lips had faded a noticeable amount. She wiped the tears from her cheeks and simply stared at herself blankly for a moment. Then she buried her face in her hands and sobbed gently.
After a good cry in the bathroom and the use of proper hygienic products, it was time for her to truly get the day started. She headed out to the gardens to pick fresh fruit to have with her breakfast. It was late summertime, the melons in the garden were the best for picking. She grabbed her basket, put on her boots and got to it.
Aang had arrived home in the early afternoon. He announced his arrival upon entering through the main doors of them temple. Though to his surprise, their home appeared to be empty. He wandered through the halls, calling out his wife's name, but was not having much luck getting a response. It seemed strange. He knew she had the day off to herself. The kitchen, lounge, bedroom and bathroom were all empty. He placed his backpack and glider down beside the doorway to their bedroom and continued looking for Katara throughout the rest of the temple.
When all of her usual spots were empty he resorted to the meditation temple. Sometimes if he had meditated on her with enough concentration, he could sense where she was through an astro-teleportation technique. However, that wouldn't be necessary since his eyes fell upon her the second he opened the doors to the meditation temple. She sat in the center of the room, bucket of water nearby, sitting in a lotus position.
"Didn't expect to find you in here of all places," Aang said, there was a hint of relief in his voice.
He walked over to her and sat beside her, mirroring the same position.
"Had a bit of a slow start to the day and I decided to take a lot more time to myself," Katara told him, withholding a lot of detail. "Besides, it's nice to have some quiet time before a night that's going to be full of socializing and dancing."
Aang chuckled, "Very true. It's a good way to charge up the social battery."
Then silence fell between them. Aang didn't think anything of it. It felt natural. Instead, he figured he'd just meditate beside her. The calmer he became and upon each of his deep inhales, the temperature in the room began to rise. It was amazing how he had the ability to do that with just his breathing. He instructed Katara to breathe with him and she happily obliged.
He connected their energies by wrapping his pinky with hers and guided her through the mediation. He noticed there was a little bit of tension after interlocking their fingers. However, he did his best to to level out the energy in the room.
After a long meditation together, Aang closed the ceremony with lighting a frankincense incense stick. He bended the smoke in beautiful swirling shapes as the smell smothered the temple amongst them. Then, he positioned himself in front of Katara, taking her hands in his.
"Everything okay, sweetie?" he wondered.
In light of the event ahead of them this evening, Katara decided it would be best to conceal her immense feeling of disappointment. Afterall, this was something that was out of either of their control. He had no idea what had been on her mind for over a few months. She'd heard about couples obsessing over getting pregnant, constantly voicing their frustrations and struggles, and figured that speaking it into existence might be a jinx.
"Yeah, I just had a slow start to the day," Katara answered.
Aang gave her a puzzling look. She'd already said that.
"What did you do today?" he asked, "Are you ready for tonight?"
"I picked out some fruit from the garden, made breakfast, practiced some bending and then wound up in here because I had some difficulty concentrating," she explained to him. "Did you want anything to eat or are you saving your appetite for tonight?"
He leaned forward, cupping her face in one hand. Then planted a kiss right to her lips. She received the kiss and gave it back.
"I wouldn't mind a small bite before we get ready," Aang said. He gave her a suggestive look, "And perhaps my appetite calls for a little more than food."
She couldn't help but chuckle at his comment. She place her hand to his cheek and gazed into his eyes with sorrow. "I'm just not really in the mood for that right now, sweetie. I'm sorry."
He took her hand into his and planted a kiss upon it, "Ah, that's all right. No sweat."
She smiled and thanked him. He jumped to his feet then assisted her to stand. She appreciated that he was always such a gentleman. It made her feel guilty for holding back her true feelings. But then again, with it being her first day in her cycle and her current state of mind, she genuinely had no interest in sex.
He lead her back into the main temple. He asked about what food they had that was easy and ready to prepare. After she laid out all the options and let him pick which he wanted, he wandered over to the kitchen island and took a seat at one of the bar stools. Katara began to put away the rest of the food that was still sitting out. Once that was done, she stayed in the kitchen, standing with her back against the sink, hands against the rim for support.
Aang told her about the plan for tonight. The council had a yearly ball at the end of summer every year. Guests from all over the world were to be in attendance. Although, it was mostly earth kingdom citizens, local governors and other varying ranks of officials. It was sort of unwritten that it was more of an Earth Kingdom celebration more than anything. But all were welcome. Many from other nations wouldn't be in attendance, including the firelord and lady.
The celebration started around 7pm, just before sunset. There were indoor and outdoor parts. Fireworks were scheduled at the end of the night. There was a beautiful garden to stroll through, multiple balconies and the celebration would take place mostly upstairs. The first level was more for checking in and coat check.
Sokka and Suki were expected to arrive at the temple so that they could all go together. The gala was much closer to Air Temple Island than Sokka and Suki's house, which was in the heart of the city. The couple arrived at Air Temple Island a little under an hour before they were expected to be there. They patiently waited in the lounge while the distant thudding of footsteps could be heard periodically pacing back and forth between the Avatar and the master waterbender's bedroom.
Katara sat in the vanity chair in front of the mirror in their bedroom. She was wearing nothing but her undergarments as she still had a lot to do in order to get ready for the gala. She laid a towel down on the bench as an extra layer between her menses and the vanity bench. Aang thought nothing of it; she'd often do this between the steps of getting ready. The suede finish on the bench was very delicate and she didn't want to risk getting it stained.
Aang stood behind her, in only his formal pants and nothing else. He was helping get her ready with whatever she asked of him. She was applying some topical products to her skin. Aang kept making passes at her to be both funny and romantic. But Katara was getting fed up. Between the stress of having to get ready and her overall irritability, she wasn't having any of it. So, he backed off and only jumped in upon request. Then, it came down to the process of her hair. She needed Aang's help; the third person perspective was so necessary. She had too much hair to do it all herself.
So, Aang was helping Katara with her hair. The dress he had custom made for her had thin straps and a shawl so they both agreed that an up-do would go best with it. She had her hair pulled up in a loose voluminous bun with a few pieces of shorter hair in the front, styled in various curl and wave styles. Aang used his fingers to create the waves and curls by using fire bending and air bending methods to heat up his hands.
Katara loved when Aang would style her hair. He was really good at braiding it, had a very gentle touch and always checked in on her to make sure he wasn't hurting her. He was always so gentle and tender. This time however, Katara's scalp must have been sensitive. She was wincing a lot throughout the entire process even though Aang was extremely gentle with her. The only noises she'd made were from wincing. He was smoothing down any stray hairs and paused to glance at her in the mirror.
She truly looked stunning. Really though, when did she not look stunning? But on this night, with her hair styled in this way, she was truly breathtaking. Aang smiled at her in the mirror. When her beautiful blue eyes finally met his, he played with the front strands of her hair with his fingers, trying to read if she wanted them laid a different way. She smiled at him, but there was something that felt a little... off.
"Do you like it?" he asked her. "You look gorgeous, sweetie."
"I do," she replied. "I love it."
While maintaining eye contact, he leaned into the crook of her neck. He took a minute, inhaling the scent of her, then peppering her in kisses from her collarbone up to the back of her ear. She closed her eyes as his lips made their way to the shell of her ear.
"You're going to be the most beautiful woman in the room," he whispered to her. "Not that you aren't already always."
She opened her eyes slowly and smiled at him through the mirror. She twisted her neck to face him and gave him a kiss on the lips. He stepped to the side of the bench so that she didn't need to over-extend her body to kiss him. A few moments passed as the kiss became more passionate, but Katara halted it from going any further. After all, her brother and sister-in-law were just down the hall waiting for them. And Katara was doing everything in her power to not engage in any sexual relations on the first day of her cycle. She was too upset about her failure to conceive.
"Let's get you ready now," Katara said once she broke away from the kiss. She carefully scooted off of the vanity bench, opposite from the side Aang was standing by. She subtly glanced down at the seat, making sure she didn't bleed through to the fabric. She sighed of relief.
"You okay?" Aang asked her.
She smiled and nodded to the Avatar. She waved her hand over the bench for him to sit. Upon sitting down, he studied her carefully in the mirror. Her face was very serious as she tended to the skin on his face. She was a little rough with how she handled his head; tilting it back with a little more force than usual to apply moisturizer. She held it back as she looked at the small shadow of a beard he had growing on his face.
"Do you want to keep the beard?" she asked him, observing it closely.
He shrugged, "it was growing on me." He gave her a small grin after cracking the joke.
She rolled her eyes playfully at him. She tilted his head back down and studied the top of his head, making sure he hadn't missed any stubble when he shaved it earlier this morning. Then, she began to apply the product that gave the top of his head an extra shine.
She wasn't talking much the entire time. She had too many thoughts racing in her head it was almost difficult to concentrate. She studied the arrow on his head. She wondered what her life would look like if there were more people in her household with the same tattoos, sharing features of both hers and Aang's. She pictured how that pretty shade of blue would look on a complexion as dark as her, as opposed to Aang's fair skin. She imagined how messy it would be having to try and get a grip on a household full of children who were all air benders. Would there be any water benders amongst them too? After all, Aang was the Avatar. Maybe there would be an earth bender or a fire bender?
Her mind must've wandered for a while. Aang had to turn his head to look up at her, halting the current train of thought speeding down the tracks of her mind. The suddenness of his head movement made her pull her hands away, leaving them to just hover above him.
"You've gone over the same spot multiple times now, sweetie," he pointed out with an awkward chuckle. "I'll be so shiny, people will be able to spot me a mile away."
"Sorry, I must've just zoned out," Katara replied.
She awkwardly took the cloth she was using to shine his head away from him. Then she grabbed the bottle of product and took it back into the bathroom to put it away. She shut the door behind her and took a moment to freshen herself up and tend to what her body needed.
After that was taken care of, she took a moment to simply just stare at herself in the mirror. She was very satisfied with her appearance. Even still just being in her undergarments, her face and hair really looked beautiful. It was a shame she wasn't feeling the best. She wished she could be happier, but she couldn't force it. She wore a smile on her face, taking a deep breath through gritted teeth. Then, she finally gathered the willpower to go back into the bedroom and join her husband.
Aang was in the middle of getting his formal tunic on when Katara walked back into the room. He immediately paused in the middle of buttoning the top two clasps of his tunic to look at his beautiful wife. Katara swore his eyes were sparkling. She favored him with a sheepish grin. She crossed the distance between them and place her hands on his strong chest. She rose up on her toes to give him a kiss on his chin, then upon his lips. He pulled her in close and returned the kiss.
When they pulled apart, they stood there gazing into each others eyes, smiling at each other. Aang pulled her in close again and simply just held her.
"You take my breath away," he whispered in her ear. "You're just so beautiful."
Tears welled up in her eyes. She very subtly twirled her index finger to carefully draw them out of her eyes and flicked away the moisture behind Aang's back. She let out an awkward chuckle, hoping it didn't sound like she had been crying, before expressing to him how much she loved him.
After a moment of intimacy, Aang was the first to pull away this time. He insisted that she go and put on her dress. After all, there were guests in the house waiting for them. Katara agreed and stepped over to the other side of the room to finish getting ready.
She watched herself in the mirror as she stepped into the dress, shimmied it up over her hips, slid her arms into the straps and made a poor attempt to start zipping it up in the back. She held the dress up with her hands at the chest line and scurried over to Aang in tiny but frantic little steps, giggling at how ridiculous she must've looked. Without saying a word, she simply turned her back to him and used one hand to point to the zipper in the back.
He chuckled at her silliness. He zipped it up with ease then took a moment to admire his gorgeous wife. The gown was in a beautiful silky shade of cerulean blue with pale blue chiffon draped diagonally across the torso and flowing off to the side once it met the hips. There was a modest slit on the leg, opposite side of the draped fabric. There were small silvered jeweled detailing at the top of the dress and in the center. It was a beautiful gown, hand-crafted by personal friends of the couple. There was even a matching pair of gloves and shawl resting on the vanity.
Aang pulled Katara close to him, her backside still facing him. He traced his hands down her back, following the dip of her waist, then down to her hips. He grabbed onto them and pulled her in close against his body. Hugging her from behind, he snaked his arms around to the front of her, gently slipping by her breast and giving them a gentle squeeze. He leaned in to plant a kiss behind her ear.
"They feel extra nice today," he commented to her.
She let out an awkward chuckle. "They're very sore... But y--your hands feel so good."
"I want nothing more than to rip this dress off of you right now," he paused to plant more kisses up her neck. "And throw you down on the bed and completely ravish you."
She leaned her head back against his shoulder, indulging in the bliss of his hands running up and down her body, the warmth of his breath tickling the sensitive spot behind her ear sending those sweet tingles down her back, the feel of his arousal on her backside, the familiar pulling feeling between her thighs as a result of her own arousal. His hands made their way back down to her waist, her hips, and then he was fumbling with the back of her dress in what she knew was an attempt to go up. Suddenly she pulled out of his embrace with a gasp.
His eyes went wide with the suddenness of it all. He drew in a sharp breath, took a step back and began to apologize. But there was also confusion in his tone.
"Aang, we can't," she insisted.
He averted his eyes from her. He simply just nodded, taking a second to gather his thoughts. This was not the first or second time today she rejected his advances. Not that he was trying to keep track, but it certainly was unusual. He blinked at her a few times.
"Is there something going on?" he finally asked. "I don't mean to be crude. But you've been rejecting me all day long and it makes me feel... like I'm creeping you out?"
She folded her arms across her chest and turned slightly away from him. She shook her head. Truthfully, she was fighting back tears. She wanted to just release the flood gates and tell him everything that was going on but she had a face full of make up, guests waiting for them out in the lounge and there was more to it than what he was even aware of. It was simply too much. She took a deep breath before she turned to face him directly.
"Aang-- My-- Sokka and Suki are waiting for us," she deflected. "We've already been in here for a while. We should get going so we're not late."
The presence of guests in their house--related or not-- had never stopped them before. Aang wasn't about to argue that with her, especially now when she was seemingly extra sensitive. But there was clearly something bothering her that she continued to dodge. He wanted to know what was truly bothering her.
She'd spun on her heel to turn away from him. She started gathering the final pieces for her look; bracelets, rings, shoes. She took a quick seat on the vanity bench to fasten the heels onto her feet. When she stood up again, jewelry in hand, she made her way to the door, walking while fastening the extra few bits of silvery jewelry.
"Are you sure that's what it really is?" Aang asked her, causing her to stop in her tracks. "You're just worried we'll be late?"
She didn't answer at first. In fact, she had to make a great effort to not shake her head. In attempt to cover it up, she dipped her head to the side, quickly glancing at Aang from there before avoiding his gaze again. She had something she wanted to say, which she knew wasn't even true, just to beat around the bush--otherwise known as the truth. But she knew that would completely destroy Aang and ruin the entire vibe for the rest of the evening.
"Aang, now is not the time," she doubled down.
He brought both of his hands up to the sides of his head, fingers pressed into his temples. "I just don't understand..."
She was about to ignore him and continue walking out of the room. Her hand was nearing the door handle when he noticed and dashed over to her to stop her. Had anyone else been in there with them, it would look like he nearly tackled her. The commotion caught her off guard and she ended up yelling at him.
"What's wrong with you?" she shouted, a little too loudly.
"I'm sorry, Katara!" he apologized. He took a moment to verify that he hadn't hurt her. Thankfully, she confirmed that she was not hurt, just alarmed. "I don't want you leaving this room until you tell me what's truly bothering you."
Katara's eyes squeezed shut. She placed her hands over her face, carefully, and shook her head from side to side. She couldn't tell him without sobbing and ruining the hour of effort put in to make her look so good tonight. She could see Aang's concern and confusion in-between the gaps of her fingers, which only hurt her more.
"I'm fine!" she snapped back, a little too harsh. Her hands fell back down to her sides and she straightened her posture. When she spoke again, it was much softer, "I think I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. That's all."
Aang took a moment to absorb what she said. He wanted to believe it. In fact, he did. But there was more to it. He could just feel it. But, after the small outburst, he was done bringing it up. He readjusted his face, softening it. He nodded at his wife. He wanted to give her a gentle pat on the shoulder, but was scared she was going to react negatively again. He told her that she could go out ahead of him. He was going to double check if they forgot anything. She obliged.
When she left the room, she closed the door halfway behind her. On her way down the hall, she noticed Sokka scurrying away from the direction their room was in. She scoffed and verbally reprimanded her brother for eavesdropping on a private conversation.
During Aang's final scan on their room, he stopped to look at himself in the mirror. He did a full spin, making sure he looked okay. He tried his best to hide his disappointment. He hoped his confusion wasn't as prominent on his face as it was on his mind. Nevertheless, it was time to zone in and be the friendly, easy-going, highly praised Avatar the public deemed him to be.
Just as he was about to leave the room, he noticed the pair of gloves matching Katara's dress were still on the vanity. He grabbed them, stuffed them into an inner pocket of his tunic before stepping out into the hallway and shutting the bedroom door behind him. His quiet footsteps walked down into the kitchen, where his wife and in-laws were dead silent and avoiding each others' gazes.
"Hey guys," Aang greeted everyone, putting in extra effort to sound like everything was A-okay. "We ready to go?"
Everyone's eyes darted around, taking turns looking at each other. No one spoke for a few seconds. Suki and Sokka exchanged an odd look amongst each other until the Kyoshi Warrior finally spoke up.
"I think so!"
Aang smiled and clasped his hands together, "Perfect."
There was another awkward silence. The other three were circled around the kitchen island, still avoiding each others gazes. Aang walked up to them, peering around on the countertop. He placed a hand behind Katara's back as he reached in front of her to grab Appa's bison whistle, prompting a strange look that could have easily been interpreted as a glare. He smiled nervously at her before holding up the whistle in his hand.
He left out of the side door and blew the whistle to call for his sky bison. There was a giant roar in the distance. Aang walked out into the open courtyard so that Appa could see where he was expected to land. Katara started to walk towards the door.
"Okay, why is Aang acting like we came in here to demand all of his money?" Sokka asked, prompting Suki to give him a smack on the arm. "Ouch!"
"Shut. Up." Suki said very quietly through gritted teeth.
Suki shuffled her husband out of the door to join the rest of them to ascend upon Appa. They each helped each other climb into the saddle on the massive beast. Aang situated himself on the beast's massive head. He patted the open space beside him for Katara, but she made up some excuse to stay in the saddle--something about her hair and dress blowing around... The rest of the ride was quite awkward. Sokka seemed to only say the wrong things and Suki tried her best effort to make conversation about everything but Katara's feelings.
A few minutes in and it was simply just silence for the rest of the ride. Good thing there was only roughly five hours of their eventful night left to go.