The Awakening (SpawnofSatan)

Healing

~Aang~

When Aang woke up, he was in his room. Jey, Na li and Katara were all seated at the foot of his bed, staring at him. Katara sat in a chair to Na li's left, looking both concerned and confused. Jey sat in another chair on Na li's right, her arms crossed, glaring at him with phoenix eyes. Na li was perched comfortably on the foot of the bed, her blue eyes shining. She looked like she wanted to cry, slap him, hug him, yell at him, none of the above or all of the above.

"Umm..." Aang was at a loss for words.

"Could you guys give us a minute alone, please?" Na li asked the two girls calmly. Jey looked like she wanted to protest, but one look from Katara and both girls were gone within seconds. Once they left, Na li crawled up to Aang's side and sat next to him, her legs pulled up underneath her. "Look," she said, keeping that strange air of calmness to her voice, "I know how you're feeling about all this. Trust me, I'm scared too. But that doesn't mean I won't go through with this."

"Why?" Aang asked suddenly. "Why go through with it? This wasn't even planned! I don't even remember getting you pregnant."

Na li nodded, as if she had little memory of the event herself. "I'm betting my father had something to do with it."

"Shrikanya?" Aang asked. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, we never would have done this on our own," Na li said, then here eyes widened and she looked away from Aang, running a hand through her disheveled brown hair. Aang would never admit it to her, but he thought it was cute how her cheeks would flush blue instead of red and her eyes couldn't decide whether to stay circles or turn to slits. "I-I mean...maybe not...you know, not now but....m-maybe in....you know...i-in time...l-later..."

"Hey, it's okay." Aang had to fight to keep a small smirk from crossing his lips as he pulled Na li into a hug. She curled up next to him, returning the hug as she laid her head on his shoulder. "We'll figure it out eventually."

Na li didn't say anything back, just nodded in agreement. The two Avatars stayed in their cuddle for a few minutes before Na li pulled away and went over to sit on the floor. Aang watched as she pulled a bucket of water over to her and began to bend it. The water moved up Na li's arms and around to her back, where it swirled around the place her scar would be, were it not covered by bandages. The water began to glow a light blue, the color of healing water.

Aang's eyes widened in surprise. "You can heal?!" he exclaimed.

"Kinda," Na li replied with a slight shrug of her shoulders. "Why do you think I refuse to let Katara manage my healing sessions? I'd been working on this skill since we left the Northern Water Tribe, and I think I've been doing pretty well at it, at least on myself."

"Now I can start avoiding Katara," Aang said with a sly smile. "She's really been getting on my nerves lately. I think she's a little too overprotective."

"Oh gee, ya think? She's such a manistriye sometimes."

"How about all the time?"

Na li smiled, then went back to her self-healing session while Aang got some much-needed sleep. About a half hour later, when Na li was about to put the water away, Aang rolled over so he faced Na li and opened his eyes. The discomfort in his back was starting to grow into pain, and he didn't want it to carry over to her.

Of course, that didn't work. Na li noticed Aang move and looked over at him. "You okay?"

"Fine," Aang lied, hoping she couldn't see the real answer in his eyes. "Just can't sleep." That last one wasn't a total lie.