Sea and Sky

Chapter 6: An Offer to Consider

Sea and Sky

Chapter 6: An Offer to Consider

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His patience with her absence was starting to falter. It'd been three whole days since he'd last seen her, had last heard the soft lilt of her laugh, had last seen the deep blue of her eyes. Evidence of her presence was every where, surrounding him with constant reminders that she was no longer near him.

The room they shared was littered with small things that haunted him. The sheets still smelled of the cloyingly sweet jasmine soap she used, a pair of her boots lay neatly stacked in a corner. On the dressing table next to the bed was one of the many whale bone combs she owned, along with a few hair carved hair pins and a few scattered vials of cosmetics.

Normally Aang wouldn't have paid any mind to the things she left strewn about the room, but not that she was gone, the randomly placed items seemed to stick out to him like a sore thumb. Typically Katara was rather neat and meticulous about how she stored her stuff, she wasn't one to leave her belongings scattered about. The reality of how rushed she must have been when she left fell over him like a large weight.

The fact that she'd left not only the necklace he'd given her, but hadn't taken care to properly store it pricked at his heart. Aang let out a deep sighed as he left the room. With a quick whistle, he summoned the lemur that'd been watching him from the carved wooden beams of the ceiling above.

With a shriek, Momo glided down towards him and landed on Aang's outstretched arm. Aang frowned as he gently scratched behind the lemur's large ears. The lemur coiled it's long tail over Aang's shoulders.

"I miss her too, buddy."

The hall was empty and devoid of human life as he slowly made his way towards the palace's dining hall. It was midday, and his group of friends would more than likely be enjoying a meal while they discussed their potential plans for the night. While they had all tried to keep up a facade of normalcy since Katara's departure, Aang could see through their thinly veiled attempts. They wanted to keep him distracted.

Aang wasn't sure if he wanted to be distracted. Part of him wanted nothing more than to run after her and pull her back, but an ever larger part of him knew that if he did bring her back, the chances that she might leave again would be high. He knew she needed time to explore and to be on her own. This he would give her, he thought as he hefted open the large doors to the dining hall.

Greeted by a large spread of food and drink, Aang was shocked silent as he felt all eyes on him as he entered the room. At the head of the massive oak table sat an Earth Kingdom General. Massive in stature, the man was easily six and a half heads tall, with sturdy shoulders and a thick graying beard. The man's bright green eyes bore into Aang's grey ones. A feeling of unease overtook Aang as he silently moved to sit in an empty chair at the direct opposite end of the table.

Zuko cleared his throat before speaking. "Aang, this is General Kuyu. He... is offering you a gift." Zuko emphasized the word gift in a strange tone that made Aang's mind whirl with confusion.

Aang's eyebrows furled in confusion. "A gift?" His tone was slightly incredulous, untrusting of the large man at the end of the table.

Before anyone could speak, the General stood from the table, the feet of his chair scrapping the wooden floor under him as he moved. Wordlessly, Kuyu headed towards Aang and tossed a large, dusty tome onto the table top. As the tome made contact with the table, a plume of dust older than the Avatar himself wafted from it's ancient pages.

"The General brings a book. How... thoughtful. Thank you." Aang said dismissively as he pushed the dusty book from him. Normally Aang wouldn't be so curt with a guest of the General's standing, but his patience was quickly wearing thin with his friend's odd behavior and the strange man next to him.