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“How is she,” Aang asked his voice filled with concern. It’s been a couple days since their run in with Hama and Katara has been uneasy ever since. Of course she wouldn’t want to worry the others, so she’d hold her self with confidence as she walked and did daily tasks. To those around them they would think she could handle anything. However, she couldn’t fool those who were close to her.
Sokka sighed lightly, “She’s her usual self...spending her time watching out for us.” Sokka looked to his left where he knew she was. He could see she was busy making sure they had enough supplies. While at the same time organizing their food, probably trying to figure out what to make for them. She always took into account that Aang didn’t eat meat while Sokka loved meat. Thankfully, Toph’s gambling gave them enough money to have a variety of ingredients.
Sokka turned to face Aang and said, “Katara just needs some space; she’ll be back to her bossy self in no time.” He said this hoping to lighten the mood but it didn’t quite work the way he wanted it to. Sokka then smiled at Aang and placed his hand on his shoulder. He squeezed lightly, wanting it to feel comforting, and then walked away to look over the plans for the invasion.
Aang still felt uneasy with Katara’s behavior, and decided it wouldn’t hurt to try and get her to talk about it. Besides, the longer it was pushed away the more of a problem it would be down the road.
He then went up to Katara and asked, “Katara do you have a second?” She was currently leaning over a pot that had a mix of herbs and liquid that was boiling lightly.
She looked up at Aang and could tell from his tone and expression that this wouldn’t be a short chat. She nodded and then shouted, “Sokka watch the food for me.” The response she received was a grunt of disappointment. Regardless, Sokka started to get up and walk towards the pot.
After walking far enough out of earshot from the rest of the group, Aang sat down on the grass and patted the area next to him gesturing for Katara to join him. He had a small smile as she sat down beside him. Facing Aang, Katara says, “Alright, what do you want to talk about Aang”. Her voice sounded a bit tired but this was something he needed to tell her.
“You’ve been acting different lately,” he said calmly. He placed his hand on her arm and looked into her eyes. “I just wanted to make sure you’re doing ok... and to let you know that I’m here if you want to talk.” Katara shook her head and looked towards the grass.
“No offense Aang but I don’t think you’ll be able to help me here,” Katara said sounding defeated. She never wanted to learn how to make a person do something against their will. In her eyes it was a terrible ability and she was grateful that it wasn’t common knowledge. She didn’t want to think of how others could abuse that power like Hama did.
“I think I can understand the situation you’re going through right now.” Katara looked up at him with a bewildered expression. Noticing her confused expression, Aang held up a hand so he could explain. “We both have been forced to have abilities we didn’t want”. Aang paused before he continued to explain further to Katara. “You didn’t want to be able to bloodbend and I didn’t want to be the avatar.”
“That’s not the same, the avatar is meant to use their power to bring balance,” Katara raised her voice slightly. “Bloodbending is meant to control people, how is that similar to being the avatar,” Katara was yelling at this point and was panting slightly from it.
She then noticed Aang’s frown and started to apologize. However, Aang cut her off “It’s ok to be angry and upset,” he didn’t want her to think she had offended him in anyway. Aang then says, “The avatar is supposed to be bring balance, but that doesn’t mean my abilities can’t also be abused.” He looks down slightly ashamed, “When we lost Appa in the desert, I did things that I wouldn’t normally have done.”
“But you’ve always used your powers to help people,” Katara says trying to reassure Aang that his actions then shouldn’t be what he focused on. He smiled softly and nodded in understanding.
“There’s a big difference between how Hama used her bending and how you used it,” he glanced at Katara and could see she was starting to understand his point. “She used bloodbending to hurt people, such as me and Sokka.” Aang started to grin at Katara as he said, “But you used it to save us; the technique she tried to teach you may not be the most moral or humble but you used it in a way that aided others.”
“It’s like firebending, most firebenders are feared because of their bending and how they use it. But Jeong Jeong uses his firebending to help others,” Katara said understanding Aang’s reasoning. She smiled at him and then said gratefully, “Thank you, I think this talk helped me.” She then leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him. She then said, “We should probably be heading back now the food should be done by now.”
Aang nodded and began to stand up, offering his hand to Katara. She grabbed on and he began to pull her up. Once they were close to the rest of the gang they started to hear Sokka yelling. Fearing the worst both Aang and Katara ran towards their camp. After arriving in their camp, they both got into their fighting stances and looked around for any enemies. “Where’s the trouble,” Aang asked prepared for anything.
Toph then started to laugh and pointed in Sokka’s direction. “You know Sokka, I think it would be best to have you do dinner from now on,” Toph said sarcastically.
Both Aang and Katara took a closer look and could see that Sokka was kneeling over the pot that had their dinner in it. The area smelled like something was burning and they finally understood why Sokka had been yelling. Katara groaned as she asked, “Please tell me you didn’t burn our dinner Sokka.”
Sokka had tears in his eyes, “It smelled so good too.” Momo then jumped on Sokka and leaned in tasting the burned food. Momo continued to eat it, regardless of it being burned. Sokka groaned, “You’re just rubbing it in” he said to Momo.
Aang chuckled, “I guess we’ll have to eat something from in town.” Katara sighed as she went to lift Sokka up to get ready to leave to find some food. Toph and Aang were walking slowly ahead waiting for the siblings to catch up. Once Katara and Sokka reached them, both Aang and Toph were smiling. They started to walk together in hopes of finding dinner for the night.