Lion Turtle

It was never lost on Katara that Aang's greatest bending ability was taught to him by a lion turtle. Avatar Aang, the most powerful bender in the world and most important political figure in a hundred years, a pacifist. A boy who hid in a shell when he learned of his identity. A lion with a turtle's way of being. Even the avatar state held this contrast of power and vulnerability. She wondered if it was a balancing act unique to Aang, or if it was an Avatar thing. Either way, it was fitting that the ancient lion turtle taught him to temper those contradictions in a way that mirrored and solidified his own personality, and enabled him to step into himself as he grew to a man.

And he was, undoubtedly, a man. Katara realized this during some downtime while visiting Ba Sing Se for a council meeting two or three years after the war had ended. She was waiting in a courtyard for Aang to return from checking on Appa; bureaucratic roadblocks had caused their quick stop there to turn into an overnight stay, so they needed accommodations. She hadn't given much thought at first to his regard for animals, but she had grown to appreciate how it informed other aspects of his worldview, and how he was equally as concerned about Appa and Momo as any other family member.

By the time he found her at the courtyard, the sun was descending as the city quieted down, families turning in to prepare dinner. Appa and Momo would be staying in the outer city circle on some farm land. Picturing them floating around in the lush fields, she asked him what it was like to have sky bison everywhere growing up. His answer was just so Aang that she'd never forget it. He reminisced about baby Appa and talked about sharing barn chores with the other monk students. And then he marveled that they don't use any of their six limbs to hug each other, they use their necks "like everyone else". Katara thought this was an adorably silly observation. When she probed that he surely meant "like other animals", he playfully insisted that humans hug with their necks too.

He gave her a demonstration. First a normal hug to establish a baseline. Then, an awkward embrace where they both tried to wrap the other in their arms without their necks touching. It was decidedly stiff and discomfiting, but humorous. Finally, an "animal hug" without arms. Aang had gained a few inches over her by then, so he leaned down to bring his face near her neck. He paused before actually coming into contact; although he was confident in the point he was making, it was still an unusual gesture that he wanted to execute with the fullest effect. It was a brief pause, but in that anticipation Katara noticed that his energy had shifted from mirth to an unfamiliar sort of hunger. Suddenly, she could focus only on his body heat radiating onto her, and his warm breath exhaling near her ear. Finally, after that single breath that felt like an eternity, he touched his cheek to hers and chuckled softly at her jolt. He turned his face to nuzzle her jawline, traced his lips down her neck, then leaned further forward to press his neck to hers. She felt his pulse on her own, synchronized and compounding to a deafening beat. His chin was nearly wrapped around to the back of her neck, tickling her with his evening stubble.

"It isn't a hug if it doesn't leave you vulnerable. It's a sign of affection and mutual trust." She heard his words in the air and felt them rumble softly in his throat. By that moment, with his newly deepened voice echoing through her bones and his lean figure towering over her, Katara's romantic view of him leapt from a target of coy affection to a smoldering thrill. He was right, she felt a unique vulnerability that made her both nervous and excited. The sincerity and confidence she had always known from him was now concentrated on her so directly, it felt like he was pouring his energy over her like a thick fog, blinding her and creating a tantalizing suspense of what would emerge from it. She felt both chased and protected by him.

The fog cleared when they were summoned for dinner, but it was this experience that made Katara aware of just how much he had grown and how much he wanted her to notice. With the awareness of Aang's maturity came other realizations. For years, waterbending practice in minimal clothing was business as usual to Katara, but now she recognized that it hadn't been merely waterbending practice for some time. It was a loaded dance, so subtly indulged that she didn't know she was a participant until Aang shocked her into that paradigm shift in Ba Sing Se.