Entwined

Chapter 14

An abrupt jolt brought Katara out of her slumber. Her opening eyes saw only a bright ball of light amidst the darkness of the night sky. Once her blue orbs focused, she saw that the bright light was a small flame that Zuko cradled in his palm.

Her drowsiness turned into awareness as the waterbender noticed the position of her body: cuddled up to the side of a certain firebender, her head resting lightly on his shoulder. The part of her that wanted to go back to sleep told her to stay put, as Zuko radiated warmth. However, the other part told her she better not risk making Zuko more annoyed that he probably already was. She listened to the latter.

After lifting her head off of him and scooting away to create some distance between them, Katara once again felt the saddle move and what felt like the huge creature descending in the air. Zuko's flame, which seemed to Katara to have become bigger and brighter, illuminated the saddle. Katara could see across to where Toph slept peacefully, completely unaware of the movement.

She turned to look questioningly at Zuko, but he merely shrugged. With a furrowed brow, Katara positioned herself on her knees and crawled to where Aang sat on Appa's head. "What's going on?" she quietly asked him. The previous day had been spent uneventfully traversing the open sea, but she knew by the way the ocean called to her from beneath the giant flying beast that they had not arrived at their destination yet.

Aang patted Appa on the head once, then dropped the reins to turn to Katara. Despite the darkness, she could see the grave expression that marred his usually cheerful face. "I received a messenger hawk from Kyoshi," he said with a frown. "The village has been attacked."

A loud gasp escaped Katara's lips. Her mind raced with thoughts of Suki, the warriors, and the villagers, and she said a silent prayer for their safety as the Avatar continued, "Toph and I are going to return to see what help we can be." At Katara's worried expression, he added, "I have some friends within the Southern Water tribe's navy. They will take you the rest of the way to the mainland."

"Oh, Aang," Katara exclaimed softly. "Thank you." She leaned in to hug him, and he returned the gesture earnestly.

Katara was almost brought to tears in that moment as she thought of the immense kindness that had been showed to her by many of the wonderful people she had met. She knew, now, that Grandmother had been so, so wrong about the people in this world. There were scoundrels, liars, and thieves, but there were also generous, goodhearted people who simply cared.

The waterbender heard a cough from behind her, and heard Zuko say, "If you don't stop this beast soon, Avatar, we're going to crush the ship beneath us."

Katara and Aang pulled away from each other, and Aang rubbed the back of his neck and sheepishly said, "Uh, right," and took the reins once more.

The waterbender left him to peer over the side of the saddle, where a large wooden ship slowly moved in the dark water. She heard the voices of men become louder as they descended.

Appa landed on the hard wooden deck, and a second later Aang hopped off. Katara watched as he spoke to an armored man who seemed to be in charge, and Katara was struck by his appearance, which was so similar to her own: brown skin and sky blue eyes. In fact, all the men on the ship looked just the same, and Katara felt a whisper of a sense of belonging.

The armored man walked away, and Aang turned to gesture to Katara and Zuko to come down. Carefully stepping over the saddle, they slid down the soft white fur and met the cold deck. The ship's crew had all stopped to watch the scene, and Katara noticed as Zuko stiffened next to her. Turning to Aang, Katara reiterated her sentiments from before, "Thank you so much, Aang."

The monk smiled. "We all deserve to live our dreams," he responded, and Katara grinned. She had told him the day before that she dreamed of seeing the southern lights, and he had supported her wholeheartedly. "My good friend Sokka is in charge of this ship; he'll take good care of you and make sure you reach the tribe safely within a few hours." He then procured a small trinket from his person and handed it to her. Katara examined the wooden object which looked like a tiny replica of Appa. "It's a bison whistle," Aang explained, "Appa can hear the vibrations from many miles away. Just blow it if you need us, or him, and he'll come."