Water and Wind || Kataang

Chapter 9: Yearning

Katara
A lot has happend in the past 3 years. After Aang left, I stayed in Ba Sing Se for a while. Even after everyone else was starting to leave, I decided I wanted to stay. I wasn't ready to leave just yet. I did all kinds of things to pass time and keep me occupied. I wanted to be occupied as not to think of him. Whenever I thought about him, I got sad. I still missed him a lot.

In the time I spent in Ba Sing Se, I got closer to Jet. He was annoying at first but eventually I could stand being around him more. After a few months we began going out. We were together for about a year. It was nice at first. We travelled around the earth kingdom and he came with me to the Southern water tribe. He didn't like the cold but it was nice. He got to meet my family. Dad wasn't too happy but I don't think he would ever be with any boyfriend I would have, except maybe one particular boy.

After almost a year of being with him, he began to change. We went back to the earth kingdom and visited the town he was originally from. All of the sudden he didn't want to leave it though. I was fine with that, at first. Eventually he began to forbid me to leave the town. He was really insecure and always thought I was flirting with other boys. It caused a few major arguments between us.

The last straw was when we were fighting again and I finally told him I was done with him. I began walking out but he stopped me and took my arm. He held it tight. I told him to stop because it hurt but he wouldn't listen. He told me he wouldn't let me leave and I tried to fight him. He pushed me to the ground. I got up and froze him in ice just like the first time I froze him in ice.

I finally left him and the Earth kingdom. I was getting sick of all the earth. I decided to visit Zuko in the fire nation. I hadn't been there in a while. I arrived after a few days and was warmly greeted by him. He informed me that I had just missed Aang by a few days. He was here. I just barely missed him. It made me sad how things changed. We used to be so close. I missed that so much.

I decided to try to enjoy my stay there and went to ember island. Mai came too but Zuko was too busy, apparently. It was fun with Mai though. She met some old friends and they were hosting a party that night. They invited us and we gladly accepted.
The party was fun and I met some new people. I didn't think I would ever be friends with fire nation citizens let alone fire benders. I've come a long way.

At the party, I also met a boy named Shaiko. He was a firebender and a bit older than me. We spent a lot of time together in the fire nation. He was nice. I had felt so lost after breaking up with Jet and told him all of my worries. He comforted me when I needed it and after a few weeks we started dating too.

I did feel like I was taking things a bit fast but being with him felt right, for some time. I decided to stay in the fire nation with him. It was great at first. He showed me around everywhere and I could still spend time with Mai and sometimes Zuko. But after a few months, I got really depressed there. It was always hot and I didn't have any friends except Mai. His friends all hated me. I overheard them talking bad about me because I was a waterbender. They said I didn't belong here.

Shaiko was there too. He agreed and laughed. I felt tears running down my cheeks as I ran off. He heard me and ran after me. He told me he didn't mean it but things had been bad between us for a while. He got agitated really easily. He hated when I water bended and when I wore my water tribe clothes. For some time I believed what he told me and wore fire nation clothes and stopped water bending. I didn't realize how unhappy I was with that until now.

He caught up to me and began making up excuses. We were at the beach on ember island. It was dark out.

‚Come on, Katara. We were just joking. Lighten up.' That made me even more angry.