The Sea of Ice (Sun and Moon Book 2)

Chapter 22 - Lies

Wow. So, I post the chapter, go to bed... and when I wake up, there are seven comments already. 0^0 you guys rock!! love y'all!!!

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Aang sat in an empty pavilion, his head thrown back and his arms and legs splayed around him. Though he appeared relaxed, his mind was whirring with a thousand thoughts.

His anger was fading, replaced by something he didn't understand. He had known, long ago, that Katara was no longer his. It wasn't THAT that angered him. It was... they'd lied.

Both of them. She said she didn't know who Lia's father was, she said she'd forgotten. He never mentioned her, never said a word though he KNEW she was alive. But the whole time, they'd been MARRIED. Allia was Zuko's daughter, and he and Katara had lied about it.

Aang supposed he should have seen the signs--they never spoke to each other, or about each other. Both had seemed depressed and kind of distant. But Aang had thought that was just Zuko's personality, and as for Katara...

She'd lost her memory. Why shouldn't she be a little confused and lost?

But looking back... looking back, it made perfect sense. And that was what hurt the worst. They were his friends, if nothing else, and they'd lied. They'd lied to everyone. How could he ever trust them again?

And this... what had happened between them? They had a daughter, they must have... have... Aang didn't want to finish that thought.

But if they'd.... then why... why did the Elders say they battled each other? What had happened to make them hate each other? Did Aang even WANT to fix it? How could he trust them? How could he help them, knowing what they'd done?

Aang didn't know what was right. He didn't know how to fix Katara and Zuko, even if he'd wanted to! He didn't even know what was WRONG in the first place! Not for the first time, Aang felt helpless. He felt left out, and he felt... alone. He felt very alone. He sat up and sighed, wrapping his arms around himself.

Sadness and regret and a sense of loss for something he hadn't realized he'd clung to, for Katara, rose inside him. Aang closed his eyes and tried to blank his mind. Tried to focus on something that would help him decide, would calm him and make him feel better. He tried remembering his friends from the air temples, his life before, his travels with Sokka... but nothing worked.

He kept coming back to her, to Katara. To her face and her laugh and those blue water-flames that danced beneath her eyes. Those blasted tattoos. Aang knew what they meant. And now he knew who they belonged to. Who SHE belonged to.

He shook his head and tried to keep from crying, tried to keep himself from breaking more than he already had.

And then, suddenly, a strange thing happened.

He thought of Toph. His earthbending teacher, with her harsh commands and tomboyish ways. Her blind eyes and amazing skills, her messy hair and the way she laughed in triumph when she won something.

They way she bickered with everyone, the sound of her voice calling him 'Twinkletoes'. The way she helped Iroh, with gentle hands and quiet, shy smiles. The way she looked when she was bending, so powerful and strong.

And as he thought of her, Aang's worries and fears melted away. They were replaced with a clear, sharp viewpoint, one he'd never really experienced before. And Aang knew, in that moment, exactly what he should do. What his duty was, as the Avatar. And how, as well as WHY, he would carry it out.

Aang stood and made his way back towards the Great Hall, his steps quiet and his thoughts completely in order, for once.

He turned a corner close to the giant domed building, that sense of calm clarity still with him. An image of her sightless grey-green eyes flashed in his mind and spurred him on.

Then, suddenly, a sickening jolt ripped through his stomach as he was lifted off his feet. The sensation was strange, as if a giant hand had grabbed the back of his tunic and lifted him into the air.

But he KNEW with utter certainty that nothing was there. He was lifted higher and higher, felt himself slipping away as something--someONE scrabbled at the edges of his consciousness.

He called her name in his mind, just as everything went black.

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0.o

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