Freedom

Chapter 7: The Warrior

Katara went up to Aangs room, determined to speak to him. She wouldn't let him continue to shut her out. She walked up to his room with a tray of tea in hand. She knocked hard on the door and gave him a minute to respond but there was only silence.

"Aang I know you're angry" she told him, "And I know you just don't want people to think you failed. But we can do this together..."

"I know this is all really scary but if we do this, we can come back stronger... we can win this war..." she sighed, pausing for a moment, "Just please open this door..."

She turned the handle and felt it click open. She pushed open the door and looked around the room.

Aang was gone.

She dropped the tray of tea she had been holding and took off at a run.

She ran to the top deck, tears staining her cheeks. Bato and Hakoda stood at the front of the ship, discussing their course and the storm that was coming, quicker then they expected.

They turned at the sound of the girls running feet. They noticed the tears running down the girl's cheeks immediately, their expressions turning worrisome.

"I'll leave you two alone..." Bato spoke softly and made his way back to inside the ship. He had seen a discussion between his friend and his daughter coming, and he knew it was one they needed to have alone.

"What's wrong Katara?" Hakoda asked her, worry written in his features. Katara sobbed softly, "He left..." she told him.

Hakoda looked at her with concern and confusion, "What?", he asked her in disbelief.

"Aang..." she explained, "He just took his glider and disappeared. He has this ridiculous notion that he has to save the world alone... that it's all his responsibility"

Hakoda sighed, "Maybe that's his way of being brave..."

Katara shook her head, growing angry as she spoke, "It's not brave, it's selfish and stupid! We could be helping him!", she stopped for a moment to catch her breath. When she spoke again, her voice was quieter, softer, "I know the world needs him, but doesn't he know how much we need him too? How can he just leave us behind?"

She looked down at her hands as she wrung them together. Hakoda took a breath before he spoke, "You're talking about me too, aren't you?", he asked her quietly.

Katara paused as the tears began to pour down her cheeks, "How could you leave us Dad?", she desperately tried to wipe away the tears as she spoke, "I mean, I know we had Gran-Gran, and she loved us, but we were just so lost without you..."

Hakoda stepped to comfort her, but she turned away. She had spent so much time learning to comfort herself. She had to do it everyday after her father left. She had Sokka and they leaned on each other, but as the man of the tribe, they had no choice but to keep moving forward. She hasn't needed her father to comfort her for a very long time.

"I'm so sorry Katara..." it was all he could manage to say for the moment.

But at the end of the day, Katara was still a girl. She was only 16, about to be 17 this winter. She had so much learning to do. She had to grow up so fast and learn so much. But she was still 16. And 16 year old girls need their Dad.