rebuilding the world

Part 5

It took Katara and Iroh two weeks to convince Zuko to come to Ba Sing Se with them. Aang and Toph were already starting to take the walls down and the people were grateful. By the time the fire nation guests and Katara arrived at the city the only wall left was the outer one. They got off of the Komodo rhinos inside the city, right next to the wall itself and reunited with their friends. Suki was surprised to see Mai with them after Katara told her of the fight she has had with Zuko, but got over it quite quickly. The crowd cheered to the sight of their favorite tea maker coming to their city once again, and Iroh was happy to be back to his favorite city in the world. the wall came down quickly, and the gaang adjourned to the jasmine dragon for some tea and biscuits. Sokka insisted on drawing everyone, and received many complaints due to his poor drawing skills. Katara saw Aang going out to the balcony and followed him out, not noticing someone looking at her.

"is everything okay?" she put a hand on the avatar's shoulder.

"what do I do now? The war is over, my purpose is fulfilled"

"the people still need you Aang, you can help them go back to how things were before the war started, when you were travelling the world"

"things before the war were different because the air nomads worked with the avatar to ensure peace, but now I'm the only one" Aang turned to her, his eyes as sad as they were when he found the bodies of the air nomads, or discovered who took Appa, except without the anger that came with those times.

"Aang, I'm sure you can find more people who believe the same things as the air nomads, they can help you" Katara opened her hands for a hug, Aang kissed her instead. She immediately took a step back and held a hand to her lips, the sad look in Aang's eyes deepened.

"Aang, I'm sorry"

"do you not love me?"

"I do, just not that way" she should have told him that at the theater in ember island, or at the invasion. She should have said it earlier, at least to herself.

"I see" Aang took a few steps from her as she tried to approach him.

"Aang" she said sadly, watching him leave the tea house.

"well, isn't that sad" a voice behind Katara said. she turned to see a sad Zuko and a slightly happy Mai.

"gee, thanks Mai" Katara said, slightly angry.

"I'll go get him" Zuko let go of his girlfriend and followed the avatar. Mai joined Katara near the railings, they stood there in silence until Zuko and Aang came back a few minutes later.

"are you okay?" Katara approached Aang.

"yeah, I'll be fine" Aang forced a smile before running up the stairs and telling something to Sokka. Katara looked at Zuko.

"what did you tell him?"

"I promised him to help him find people with air nomad souls, it's going to be impossible, but I'm willing to try" Zuko's lips rounded in a fake smile.

"and the fact that you're the fire lord does not interfere with this promise?" Katara watched Zuko's smile disappear with her hands on her hips.

"right, forgot about that" he sighed.

"I guess I better tell him" he walked past Mai and Katara up the stairs.

"or I could go with him" Mai suddenly said. both Zuko and Katara looked at her.

"why would you do that?"

"I can see Ty-Lee again that way, and I always wanted to travel the world, chasing the avatar doesn't really count"

"it would also be a good way to repent for that chase" Katara mentioned.

"are you sure? We won't see each other for weeks" Zuko went down the stairs to hold his girlfriend's shoulders.

"I'm sure, we never really worked anyway, I was actually going to break up with you here" Mai shook his hand from her and climbed the stairs, leaving Zuko and Katara to look at each other.

"that's nice of her to help Aang, though the break up was a bit much" Katara remarked sadly.

"are you okay?" she asked. Zuko nodded his head to signify that he was, in fact, okay. He smiled at her and offered his hand, Katara sighed and pushed him a bit. He laughed and chased her up the stairs.