Freedom

Chapter 42: The Wishful Thinking

When Sokka returned back to camp that evening, he was over the moon, rambling on about his day and everything they had done. He talked about the different techniques that Piandao had done with him, without ever picking up a sword. Zuko smiled as he listened, remembering the same techniques himself. But he did not want to spoil what came next for Sokka, so kept his lips sealed.

The next morning, they went and collected some space rock from the comet. His master had asked Sokka to begin thinking of some ideas for his own sword, because a sword master must know and understand his sword in its entirety. The only way to achieve that was making it.

It was another boring day without Sokka around. When he had finally arrived to camp last evening, they practically sprung on him like a pack of wolves, begging him to tell a joke or to say something. Sokka watched them with a confused expression on his face but inside, his heart beamed to know that his friends truly cared about him, and missed him when he wasn't around.

Katara decided to spend the day waterbending, something she couldn't do often as of late. They always had to keep their guard up. If Aang or Toph were caught earthbending, they had a plan. The colonies had all sorts of families with firebending and earthbending lineage. But a waterbender would give them away instantly. The people would know they were not from there, and who knows what would come next.

However, today she knew that they were far enough away from the town that nobody should come wandering towards her. She took full advantage of the opportunity.

She felt the water come up from the river. Her fingers curled causing the water to curl in on itself, forming a ball in the air. A bead of sweat formed on her brow.

"Whatcha got there?"

The voice startled her. She jumped, but sprung into action against the intruder, taking the ball of water and sending it towards the voice. Aang jumped out of the way, missing the water by inches.

Katara squeamishly shifted her weight, "Sorry..." she told him. But Aang waved her off, "No worries, I'm the one who snuck up on you..."

He glided over to her, in the way only airbenders did, "Mind if I join you?"

Katara smiled at him, nodding immediately. They moved into a group of fluent motions, repeating themselves again and again. They moved in snyc; if anyone had seen them, they would think they were dancing. But the water moved so clearly between them, trading places and weaving in and out. It was mindless to both of them, something they had done on many occasions.

"Katara?" Aang spoke softly, barely above a whisper. It was as if he was afraid that speaking would ruin the moment they had. Katara looked up, with a gentle smile, giving him the courage to continue.

Aang sighed before speaking, "After the war... after this is all over... if we succeed..." he tried to find the right words but fumbled on them. Katara watched him gingerly, before speaking, "Aang, we will get through this war... It may not seem like it but an end is coming..."

"I know, I know... it's not that... it's just that..." Aang paused for a moment, "What do you want to do after the war? When this is all over?"

Katara tilted her head, lost in her own thoughts for a moment. She opened her mouth to speak but closed it again, nothing coming to the surface.

She supposed she had never really thought of it. Everything she had done in the past few months were spur of the moment. She had to act quickly and couldn't think too hard about what came after. Fire Lord Ozai and the war were just one of those things.

"I'm not really sure..." she thought out loud, "I know I want to return home... see my father and Gran Gran... Try to pick up the pieces of our village"