When Katara, Princess of the Southern Water Tribe, who never believed in love crosses paths with Aang, Air Nomad and Avatar from the Southern Air Temple who never experienced love, their lives take a dramatic change.
During this time, an increase in...
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"𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮"
Baking was the princess' favourite way to pass the afternoon and was all she could think. She was in her own world when she was baking a cake, Aang swore he could see her building new worlds in her imagination as she whisked and measured.
"So tell me..." Aang spoke which caught the princess' attention. "What got you to like baking so much? I'd love to know more about you." He tells her while accidentally breaking an egg.
Princess Katara chuckled at the sight, "Baking cakes was a special occasion thing with my mother. It was a sign that a birthday was coming up or perhaps a festival. She loved baking." Katara says and on the other hand, Aang struggled to measure the right amount of flour as it falls over the surface. Katara snorts.
She didn't know how or why, but she felt like Aang put her at ease which drew her into liking him and wanting him to like her. He was the first person she could confide in.
Because he'd listen to her.
His face softened, "Your mother seemed like an awesome person with a kind soul." Aang expresses to her, "Tell me more about her."
The young woman wipes a tear that escaped her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. "She was so pure and gentle. When I recall the time we spent together I'd come to the kitchen and bake a cake, it makes me hold onto the memories."
Katara reaches for her necklace. Her mother held a special place in her heart, for her baking was an act of love, a way to show that her mom was extraordinary and worth remembering. "I've accepted she's gone. And though I dug her grave with Sokka and Dad, there's a part of me that holds the memory back."
Katara looks at Aang to see him staring and her heart skipped a beat. She shifts her gaze quickly to the ground without turning her head.
Aang walks around the counter, raises his hands to hold her face to make her look at him and gives her an encouraging smile. "You're such a strong person, Princess Katara. Both you and Sokka went through a painful loss but kept your head up and did not look back. I admire that from you."
Katara froze up momentarily then relaxed her shoulders. Words seemed lost to her as they locked eyes. He seemed to understand her.
She was certain no cake would be baked if they stayed there in the kitchen like this. "Aang?"
"Mh?"
"We should finish baking our cakes..."
"Oh! Er, yeah– Yes. Yeah. Yes, we should." Aang rubbed his hand over his face and hoped to wipe away anything that was left of his pensive trance which caused Katara to giggle.
She looks at the chaos Aang created on the massive kitchen counter and comprehended no cake could be made out of that. "We are going to need more flour and eggs if we want the cake to bake into an actual cake," Katara acknowledged with a laugh and Aang blushed. She takes out more flour and eggs while he fetched themselves an apron.
Katara was tall enough to reach the high cupboard with the help of a sieve but not quite. She takes a chair and climbed up high, this made the Avatar worry for her safety. "Please be careful."
"Don't worry, I've done this many times trying to steal cookies when I was little." She rolls her eyes playfully. "Get some fruit from over there, we could use them to decorate the cakes."
Aang reaches for the baskets filled with fruit as his eyes gleam at the variety of delicious fruits in front of him. As Katara climbed down carefully she notices Aang picking a small red fruit and popping the fruit into his mouth to try out its taste, her eyes widened. "Aang wait–"
Aang gives her a questionable look but immediately understood her facial expression when he chewed the fruit and learned its strong flavour when it turned hot.
"Oh Spirits..." His face flushed a deep colour of red and uses his hand to fan the front of his mouth to stave off the burning sensation.
"I was going to warn you but–" Katara bursts out of laughter while Aang's eyes water from the strong flavour. "This is priceless!"
Watching Aang unable to stand the heat anymore, Katara bends some water out of one of the many buckets filled with water in the kitchen and aims for Aang's mouth but Aang ended up soaking wet as result.
Katara almost fell onto the floor if she didn't hold onto the counter for balance as she clenched her stomach from laughing so hard. Aang turns away and exhaled flames from his mouth up into the air.
He airbends himself dry while Katara wiped away a tear of joy as they manage to cool down and compose themselves. She walks over the baskets filled with fruits, picks a yellow berry and slips it into his mouth. "There! That should be a sweet one." She giggled.
Aang munched the fruit thoughtfully as he memorized its taste and was taking satisfaction in it.
"How does it taste?" Katara asks and observing how Aang seemed to stare into space for a bit.
"It certainly is sweet, I like it." He responds to her question as Katara claps enthusiastically and Aang found that remarkably adorable from her.
"Come on I'll show you how to bake a cake, amateur." She grins at Aang's reaction as he feigns his pain from her statement and reaches for his heart.
Katara dips a cup into the sack of flour and counted two. Then she cracks three eggs, whisked them and tipped them into a well in the middle just like her mother and Gran Gran have shown her. She adds sugar and a cup of butter into the mixture. Aang attempts to follow and copy her every movement.
"Oh, I forgot to mention something. You've already met Momo but would you like to meet my buddy, Appa?" Aang raises a question and hoped she would say yes to his request.
She lifts a questionable brow. "Who?"
"Appa. He's a sky bison and I bet he would love to meet you, Princess Katara." Aang emphasised the 'love' part but it wasn't that that caught the princess' attention.
"You have a sky bison?! Why didn't you tell me sooner? I would love to meet him!" Katara exclaims excitedly and nudges his arm with her elbow.
"That's great!" The Avatar returns her excitement with his. "There's going to be a celebration ceremony in my honour tomorrow." He informs her.
Katara shrugs her shoulders, "I guess I saw it coming. Dad would want the kingdom to feel safe knowing the Avatar is here to protect them."
Aang's face fell which made Katara's heart ache for him. "It's okay. I'm alright with it. Actually, I'm glad you came to the Southern Water Tribe, I'd have no one to go penguin sledding with or bake cakes." She enlightens him which made the Avatar feel better about his presence in the kingdom.
"Really, Aang, thank you for doing this for the kingdom." She exhales deeply, "I truly hope that the rumours about the Fire Nation are false."
Aang looks downcast, "Me too."
After finalizing mixing the ingredients, they pour the cake batters they had made into cake pans and placed them into the oven to bake. And when they were done, they tried each other's cake it was noticeable that Katara's cake tasted better and Aang was fine with that.
What mattered to Aang was seeing her heartwarming smile and fulfilling the king's request to spend time with her to make her feel less anxious about the current situation that enveloped the world.
