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Absolute Power	By : whirleeq Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > Het - Male/Female > Aang/Katara Views: 17985 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Disclaimer: Avatar is not mine; wish it was!
~*~
One Hundred and Three Years Ago…
Aang shifted his weight from one foot to the other, barely able to contain his excitement. It was the day of his tenth birthday. The morning had already been hectic, filled with his indoctrination ceremony, and now the young air bender was a full fledged monk. Afterwards, Gyasto had promised Aang that he would take him into the town – a privilege that wasn’t normally bestowed upon the initiates until they were fifteen; and then it was only bestowed so that the initiates could know something of the outside world when their time came to pledge themselves to the temple. This was mostly done so that there would be no regrets on the part of the initiate. Most acolytes still went through with their indoctrination after what was referred by the young teens as the ‘year of freedom’; however there were the occasional few who for whatever reason chose a life outside of the clergy – much like Shina had the year prior.
Because Aang had been indoctrinated at such an early age, he hadn’t been given the opportunity to go down into the town, see the markets and meet the people. Later, he would come to realize that he had been denied a choice in the matter, and it would spark a small seed of resentment against the monks who raised him. This seed would grow over the next year as he continued to meet the people of the world and make friends, thus learning a part of what he had been denied. His resentment would bloom fully on the day of his twelfth birthday; the day the monks would lay out all the toys from his childhood in front of him, telling him that that he was the Avatar and it was his destiny (and his alone) to save an entire world. The culmination of that knowledge would result in the high council’s attempt at separate him from Gyasto, who was ‘sheltering’ Aang in their eyes by encouraging him to have a childhood.
Then, in a fit of rebellious range, Aang - along with his faithful animal guide, Appa - would run away. The young avatar would lash out blindly, steering the bison over the turbulent waters of the sea, unmindful of the fierce storm surrounding them. Eventually, he’d lose control of his bison, sending them hurtling towards the icy waves below. The unforgiving sea would violently drag them under, knocking Aang unconscious in the process. They would then begin descending to what should have been a watery grave for both of them. But Aang was the Avatar, and so in an unconscious act of self preservation, his Avatar spirit would wake and form a glacier around the boy and his mount that would hold them in status in an icy prison of his own making for one hundred years, after which Aang would wake up to the clearest set of blue eyes he had ever seen.
But for now, the young monk was too excited to question why had not been given the requisite year of freedom. Instead, he was grinning from ear to ear – his grey eyes wide, and his expression eager. When Gyasto finally approached him with a smile all of his own, Aang clapped his hands in delight.
“Can we go now, Gyasto? Can we?” He asked with all of the enthusiasm of a small boy being given his favorite toy to play with.
The older monk looked at his ward and smiled. His smile was laced with sadness, but the expression went unnoticed by the younger monk as he was bouncing from foot to foot, eagerly awaiting his mentor’s response.
“Of course, Aang. But we do not have to walk – the council has a gift for you.”
“A gift? Really?” By this point, Aang was nearly bubbling over with his enthusiasm. He looked up at Gyasto brightly; his expression the picture of childish innocence
“Really.” Gyasto chuckled. He turned and walked towards the stables, smiling quietly to himself. He knew it would only be a matter of time before Aang made the connection, and realized exactly what the gift was that the council was –
“Are we going to the STABLES? WOW!” Aang shrieked; quickly bypassing the older monk as he nearly broke out into a run in order to be the first to get there. He couldn’t believe his good fortune! And indeed, when he reached the large, open air stables, the stable hands smiled at him and threw opened the huge doors.
Gyasto by now had caught up with his young charge. Somewhat out of breath, he laughed whole-heartedly.
“Now, now Aang. It isn’t nice to peek!”
But Aang didn’t even hear him. His attention was fixated on the great white beast that the stable hands were leading out to him. The bison was amazing, with two large horns on either side of its massive head, a large fluffy snout, six legs easily as thick as tree trunks, and a long, flat tail that helped the massive beast in its gliding. Laughing joyously, Aang rushed up to the animal and placed a soft kiss on his snout.
“I’m going to call you Appa,” Aang said softly. The animal snorted in response, and Aang took that as a sign of approval.
Gyasto watched with a smile, indicating to the stable hands that they should mount the large black saddle on top of the great beast. No doubt Aang would like want to ride right behind the bison’s neck, but Gyasto, being older, had no such desire to subject his muscles to the pain that he’d feel afterwards from such a stunt.
Aang had already mounted Appa behind the neck; his hands gripping tightly to the reigns that helped guide the large bison. He flashed a wide grin towards Gyasto.
“Well, are you coming, or not?” Aang teased, his eyes filled with mirth.
“Just give this old man a moment…” Gyasto grumbled.
Aang was not fooled by Gyasto’s sudden gruff demeanor, since the older monk’s eyes fairly danced with amusement. He watched somewhat impatiently as his mentor summoned the wind to gracefully lift himself in the air. Gyasto landed gracefully in the middle of Appa’s saddle, and settled himself into the same cross-legged position he took when meditating. Aang turned to him and winked. It was the only warning Gyasto was given before the young boy pulled back on the bison’s reigns.
“Appa… yip yip!” Aang cried, laughing all the way as the large animal lifted them into the air and up through the open ceiling of the stable. He guided the beast through the air as he had been born to do it, and for the first time since he could remember, Aang felt completely free.
~*~
The sunlight that was filtering through the window and the cracks of the small hut warmed her face. The beams taunted her softly fluttering eyelids, gently encouraging her to wake. She sat up with a start, briefly wondering where she was, before the following nights events caught up with her. Absently, she wondered what time it was, considering that both Sokka and Aang still seemed to be asleep. Sokka could sleep all day - and before they joined Aang on his quest, he frequently had. Aang, however, usually was up at the crack of dawn in order to take Appa somewhere he could graze. The young monk often meditated at the same time; softly speaking the mantras the Air Temple monks had taught him long ago.
She had often wondered if the time he spent meditating in the morning helped give him peace. Katara knew Aang perhaps better than the Avatar knew himself, and so she could see how troubled the boy was – even if he hid his fears behind a cheerful façade.
Well, they all hid their fears to some extent – even Sokka. Her brother often acted like a fool, but he was very perceptive. She knew that underneath his goofy exterior, he was a formidable asset to their trio. She could always rely on Sokka in a pinch, and more often than not his ‘instincts’ helped them rectify some of the more dangerous situations they had found themselves a part of. The thought that Sokka’s ‘instincts’ more often than not got them in those situations in the first place didn’t even cross her mind.
She glanced over at her brother with a smile. He was curled up in a ball next to Momo, who had apparently for reasons unknown abandoned her some time during the night to sleep next to Sokka. A thin line of drool was hanging from Sokka’s bottom lip, and he was snoring loudly – occasionally muttering mostly incoherent words, such as ‘sukee’ and ‘cheesee’.
She furrowed her nose in distaste – deciding once and for all that she had absolutely no desire to ever ask Sokka about what he dreamed about at night. She tiptoed past him quietly, trying not to disturb him, and in the process accidentally stepped on a loose floor board. Katara winced at the resulting creak. Sokka shifted, burying his nose against Momo’s back and grumbled, but he did not wake.
“Mmm… Suki… you’re so furry…” He said sleepily before turning away from Momo to face the wall. Poor Momo, however, had been woken up most unpleasantly by Sokka’s sleepy nuzzling of his fur, and was looking kind of queasy. Katara smiled, and motioned for the traumatized animal to come to her. The little primate was more than happy to comply. With Momo perched on her shoulder, she continued her silent walk towards the door, only to pause when she reached Aang’s side.
Her eyes widened briefly in surprise. The beatific smile upon his sleeping face made him look like an angel. She’d never seen him look like this – like he was truly happy, and that he had not a care in the world. He looked as if he were a normal thirteen year old boy on the verge of becoming a young man, who was not burdened with the responsibility of saving an entire civilization. Unable to help herself, she knelt down besides him to get a better look at his face. She burned the image of him like this into her memory, absently wondering what he was dreaming about.
But of course as soon as she knelt by his side, Aang woke; blinking the sleep out of his eyes. “Katara?” He asked sleepily, before smiling that beatific smile again – but this time he was awake, and the smile was directed towards her.
She blushed fiercely and turned her head away, suddenly embarrassed at being caught watching him sleep.
“I’m... er… I’m sorry Aang, I-I didn’t mean to wake you. I’m… uh… I’m going outside to check on Appa.” She said hastily, not waiting for Aang’s response as she swiftly rose to her feet and ran out the door – too flustered to be concerned about the heavy steps she was making in her haste.
Aang’s eyes widened momentarily when he realized she’d been watching him. This was followed by a wide grin. He felt inordinately pleased that she’d shown such… interest. It was a great start to a new day, filling Aang’s sleepy head with euphoria. So when Sokka woke and asked Aang to ‘please remove the trampling Komodo Rhinos from the hut; they were keeping him awake’, Aang absently agreed.
~*~
The first thing she saw when she walked out of the hut was Koru. He was standing near the fire pit on the other side of the camp along with a number of boys; all of them under the age of sixteen. Katara snorted to herself; wondering if they were what he had meant by ‘his men’. If so, then by all appearances her new acquaintance’s ego was unjustified. She idly looked at each of the boys in turn; noticing how they were all shabbily dressed and a little too thin. There was even one boy wearing fire nation clothing, the sight of which startled her – why would a citizen of the fire nation join a group of revolutionaries? But then the boy turned his head, revealing a burn scar which started just under his right ear and extended down his neck before disappearing under his tunic. A brief glance at the boy’s right hand showed that it was badly scarred as well. The boy glanced at her and she averted her eyes quickly, not wanting to be caught staring. Whatever his reasons for defecting, they were strong… and they were his own. Briefly she thought of the prince who had a similar burn scar on the side of his face – though not to the extreme that this boy did – and wondered how the people of the fire nation could be so cruel as to disfigure their youth.
“Good Morning, Katori.” The words were spoken in a high falsetto – far too cheerful for the hour, and Katara turned to see Juri approaching her, a sweet yet at the same time insincere smile upon her face.
“Katara,” She corrected through gritted teeth for perhaps the third time since she had met the other young woman, her own smile more than a bit forced.
“Whatever. I’m not good with names, never have been. Around these guys it doesn’t matter either – none of them really go by their given name anymore – well, except for myself, Jin, and Koru – but the others, they gave up their names as a rite of passage once they joined Koru’s little group.”
Katara frowned, looking at Juri in confusion.
“Why would they do that?”
Juri rolled her eyes as if the answer was obvious before lowering her voice to a near whisper.
“Don’t you see? It’s because none of them want to remember who they used to be. When they joined Koru, they were given a clean slate. And between you and me, they needed it.” Juri scoffed, and with her eyes she surreptitiously glanced over at the fire nation boy Katara had been looking at a moment before. “Scar there, for example. Don’t tell anyone you heard it from me, but he was the youngest son of one of King Ozai’s military advisors. Apparently he was a late bloomer, and had difficulties learning how to bend. When the boy was twelve, he was challenged by his father to an Agni Kai. His father thought it would ‘bring out his recessive talent’. As you can see, it didn’t work. Now he works for Koru as an informant.”
“Oh, that’s… terrible!”
“Yeah, well, that’s life. You see the tall boy next to Koru?” At Katara’s nod, Juri continued. “Well, that’s Jin. He was one of the first people to join Koru’s ranks. He is a trained earth nation assassin, but when both of his brothers - both trained military specialists - were captured in battle and publicly executed, his mother begged him to leave the military. She did not want to have to bury all three of her sons. Jin left the service for his mother as she requested, but it made no difference. When there was a fire nation raid on his town, all boys of age to be a military threat were brought forth and summarily imprisoned. When they came to Jin’s house, his mother threw herself on the soldier’s mercy in order to could keep her last surviving family member at home with her. They spat on her and laughed. When Jin tried to interfere, they killed her. It threw Jin into a rage; he took out nearly twenty fire nation soldiers before escaping. He swore a blood oath of revenge, and has been serving under Koru ever since.”
“By the spirits…” Katara whispered, near speechless with shock. That was just… so horrible. The fire nation was just… evil. Aang had to succeed, such horrors could not continue!
Her eyes filled with tears as Katara briefly thought of her mother who she had lost in a fire nation attack, and her father who was heavens knew where. She turned her head away, so that Juri couldn’t see them as they fell.
“And the rest of their stories only get better – or worse, depending on how you look at it – from there on in.” Juri went on, oblivious to Katara’s sudden pain.
Katara, her eyes still wet with both sympathy and her own latent pain, turned back towards Juri.
“But how come–“
Juri cut her off with a harsh laugh. “I suppose you want to know what happened to Koru to make him hate the fire nation so much, is that it? Simple enough, really. When the fire nation invaded the small town where Koru grew up, all the men were taken away to work the mines, leaving the women and children to fend for themselves. Koru was only a young boy at the time with three sisters and a mother who had the coughing sickness. Without his father to work and provide money for his mother’s medicines, she soon died; leaving him to provide for his three sisters by himself. He found tough and grueling work as a military stable hand; cleaning up after the fire nation’s Khomodo Rhino mounts eleven hours a day. He was barely able to scrape by, making only enough money to provide the four of them with clean water and a rice bowl once a day. Yet he never complained – that is until one day when upon coming home found his three sisters missing.”
Juri paused for a breath, her dark eyes boring into Katara’s own, demanding her undivided attention.
“Frantically Koru searched the entire town for them, but couldn’t find them. When he showed up for work the next day, the soldiers taunted him – saying that his sisters had been good fun. You see, they had been seen by the fire nation’s soldiers and found attractive, even though only the eldest had had her first blood. It did not matter to those sick bastards that the other two were only children. You see, the three sisters were made into concubines for the soldiers stationed in Koru’s town. And when Koru demanded that the soldiers return his sisters to him, they laughed and said that perhaps if he worked long enough, he could buy them back. So Koru worked for three more years, building up the necessary funds to buy them all back, near starving himself in order to come up with the money quicker. When he approached the soldier who had told him of his sisters fate, the soldier laughed in his face and told them that they had fallen ill with the coughing sickness and had died the year prior. But if he was so willing to waste his money, he had a nice little concubine that he could loan to the boy for the night – for the entire sum that he had collected over the past three years, of course.”
“What did Koru do?”
“He gave the man the money to pay for a night with the man’s concubine – and they escaped together. You see Koru had failed to save his sisters… he knew he couldn’t bring them back, but at least he could do something to help the other girl.”
Juri took a deep shuddering breath before turning to Katara once more.
“And I’ve been by his side ever since.”
Katara didn’t know what to say, so she said nothing. The silence between grew until it was uncomfortable. Finally, Juri lowered her voice to a harsh whisper and grabbed Katara’s hand, squeezing it a bit too tightly as she spoke.
“You see, Koru is a great man who wants to do the right thing. But he has a couple of flaws – one, he tends to be a bit impetuous, and makes rash decisions without considering the consequences. And two, he has a soft spot for girls who he thinks are in distress. He wants to be their savior. He thinks that if he can somehow make them love him, it will help absolve him of his guilt.” The hold Juri had on Katara’s hand was cutting off the circulation to her fingers, and Juri’s nails were digging into the meat of her hand, causing Katara to wince.
When Katara sucked in a breath, Juri dropped her hand in order to turn Katara’s head to face her. Her chin held tightly in Juri’s fingers, she could not help but meet her gaze straight on. The other girls dark brown irises where near black in her intensity. Assured that she had Katara’s complete attention, she lowered her voice even further to almost a hiss.
“You see, Katara, the thing is… I will be the one to help him let go of that guilt – not you, nor anyone else for that matter. So if you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay away.” And then she released Katara’s chin so fast that the water bender jerked as if slapped.
Juri’s smile was full of malice as she regarded her one last time, giving Katara a cold look before turning and walking away without another word. She had said what she had come to say to the water tribe wench, and now she would be able to go on Koru’s little assignment without worrying about the other girl infringing on what belonged to her.
Katara’s eyes were wide and she was breathing fast. She was utterly and completely shocked by what had just transpired. Juri had caught her completely off guard and now she wanted to run; somehow feeling ashamed even though she hadn’t done anything to warrant Juri’s harsh words. In fact, she was so beside herself that she didn’t even notice that Aang had come up behind her until a soft hand was placed on her shoulder.
Katara turned around shocked, and found herself nearly face to face with Aang. Her emotions were in utter turmoil, and she opened her mouth for a few moments in stunned surprise. She tried to catch her breath, wanted to fall into his arms and cry, wanted to ask him how much he had heard, but when her mouth opened, none of that managed to come out.
“Gee, Aang, you’ve really gotten taller in the past few months.”
The inane and unrelated words eventually fell from her lips in a shaky, broken voice as her eyes glistened with unshed tears. She was shaking, as her emotions warred within herself. In the course of twenty seconds, she went through probably all of them. The thoughts that went through her head were erratic. Never had another person made her feel so… dirty. Juri’s words had cut her like a knife, even though her rational mind was telling her repeatedly that she had done nothing to deserve them.
And so when Aang’s arms opened, she fell into them gratefully. She sobbed into his shoulder, taking deep, shuddery breaths. He whispered soothing words to her and gently led her away from the circle of huts, so that no one could hear or see her in such distress. When they stopped walking, her knees gave out and she fell to the forest floor, taking Aang with her. Not fully aware of what she was doing, she buried herself as deep into his comforting arms as she could get, absently noting that his heart seemed to beat almost in time with hers. She felt something fluttery and soft on her forehead, and pulled back to see Aang looking at her intensely.
“Are you… okay now?” He asked. There was an undercurrent of something dark in his voice, and when she looked into his eyes she noticed that there was a hard glint in them that hadn’t been there before. Confused, she pulled back and attempted to compose herself, sniffling a couple times before nodding. She really wasn’t okay, but this was something she needed to deal with on her own… she needed some time to think it all out. And as she sat there the shock and shame gradually decreased, only to be replaced by anger. The nerve of that girl! If she thinks that she’s going to be able to bully her into not talking to Koru, well, then she has another thing coming! It wasn’t as if she was trying to take his affections from her… who did she think she was, intimidating her like that?
“Katara?”
“Huh? Oh… I’m… I’m fine, Aang… I’m… uh… sorry.”
Aang’s eyes narrowed. Katara was far from fine – in fact, he had seen a whole litany of emotions play out on her face in just the past thirty seconds. That girl… she’d obviously said something to upset Katara very badly. A rush of fierce protectiveness welled within him and he instinctively pulled Katara back to him in almost a bruising hug, remembering how last night that girl had joked about killing his Katara. Aang grit his teeth, and all around them, the wind swept the pine needles off the forest floor, where they then seemed to hover in the air of their own volition.
And then Katara raised her hand, brushing it gently across his scalp. Aang’s eyes snapped back to Katara, and as they did, the pine needles fell.
“It… its okay, Aang... I really am fine; you don’t need to get upset.” She stammered, nervous again. But this time, her nerves stemmed from Aang’s bizarrely protective reaction. She kept her eyes locked on his until his cleared and he smiled slightly, taking in a deep breath.
“Okay. It’s just not everyday that you break down on my shoulder, you know. You’re my strong girl – my water bender. And I know it takes a lot to upset you like that. What did that girl say to you anyway?”
Katara shivered… since when did Aang refer to her as ‘my strong girl’, and ‘my water bender’? They weren’t necessarily words of endearment… it’s just that he sounded so… possessive. She looked at him suspiciously, but his cheerful expression put her at ease. He was just probably trying to make her feel better. He always did that when she was unhappy.
Shaking off her suspicions, she smiled at him gratefully. She even felt comfortable enough to lean her head up against his chest, absently noticing how his breath hitched as he did so. She felt Aang’s hand idly playing with the long braid that fell down her back and sighed.
“She just… made some insinuations about me and Koru… which weren’t true.” ‘And she threatened me.’ Katara silently added. For some reason, the way Aang was acting towards her made her hesitant to offer up that additional bit of information. She didn’t want Aang to do anything… rash.
The hand playing with her braid suddenly stilled for a moment before continuing.
“Oh?” Aang asked; his voice low and casual. “What kind of insinuations?”
Katara snorted and burrowed further into Aang, enjoying his warmth. He was such a good friend to her.
“She thinks… oh I don’t know what she thinks. I just think that she’s jealous. You know, I really don’t want to talk about it. Can we go check on Appa? I… didn’t get that far yet.”
He didn’t answer her, but after a moment she felt a moist warmth brush over her forehead very faintly before Aang jumped to his feet, bringing Katara up with him. She looked at him questioningly – did he just kiss her? – But he didn’t meet her eyes; instead, he was blushing slightly.
“C’mon Katara.” Aang said, squeezing her hand slightly. She noticed that he didn’t let it go and she raised an eyebrow in a silent question that he ignored, as he turned and led her back into the camp.
The handful of people that were still sitting by the fire with Koru – Juri was not among them, she noticed with relief. - watched them curiously. In fact, she could almost feel their eyes upon her, but she paid them no mind. Instead, she let Aang lead her by the hand, only pulling her hand away from him when they reached Appa’s side to find Sokka there already. But it was too late – the damage had been done. He’d seen the two of them holding hands and snickered.
“Awww… isn’t that sweet... but please, take the lovey dovey stuff elsewhere. We don’t want to make Appa anymore sick than he already is.”
Katara’s “Shut up, Sokka,” was simultaneous with Aang’s: “Appa’s still sick?”
Fortunately for Katara’s nerves, since she’d had quite a trying morning already, Sokka opted to answer Aang instead of further taunting her.
In fact, now that she really looked at her brother, she noticed his eyes were drawn and he looked… worried.
“Yeah… it appears the big guy took the storm a little harder than the rest of us. I don’t think we’ll be flying anywhere today.”
And then she really looked at Appa; noticing that his eyes were watery and the white fur on the top of his forefeet was now a crusty yellow - probably from Appa using them to wipe his nose.
Aang walked over and hugged Appa’s snout, looking worried and a little scared.
“Don’t worry Appa… we’ll take care of you. You’ll be better in no time, you’ll see.”
Katara felt a small pain in her chest as she watched him – Aang loved the air bison like a family member! She walked over to Aang and placed a comforting hand on his back.
“Yes, it looks like he has a case of the rain sickness… it will probably pass in a week or two,” came a voice from behind them. All three of them turned to see Koru approaching.
Aang pulled away from Appa and glared at Koru.
“What do you know about it?” He spat out, earning him odd looks from both Katara and Sokka.
Koru only smiled patiently as he answered Aang in an oddly pacifying voice reminiscent of a parent gently correcting a young child, which only served to aggravate Aang further.
I know that there is an animal healer in the nearby port city of Kaffa, and I know that Juri will be heading there tomorrow on an assignment for me. I also know that this particular healer should be able to provide you with the herbs you need to help expedite your bison’s return to health. I know if it were my animal, I’d—“
”Alright… you’ve made your point.” Aang cut in, shooting Koru a dark look.
Katara had had enough strife for the morning. She positioned herself between Koru and the Avatar, sending Aang a pleading look and mouthing ‘let me handle this’ before turning to Koru with a small smile.
“That sounds fine, Koru. Sokka will follow Juri to the city tomorrow and get the medicine he needs.”
“I will?” Sokka asked bemused, to which Katara answered with a look that broke for no further argument on the subject. “I guess I will, then…” He said resignedly, smiling a little at the sympathetic glance he received from Aang.
“Excellent! In the meantime, why don’t I introduce you – and your companions, of course – to everyone else?” He proposed, and started to walk away, expecting them to follow as if they’d already agreed.
Katara turned and looked at Aang and Sokka both in turn before smiling weakly.
“Just a few more days, and we’ll be on our way!” She said brightly.
She wasn’t too surprised when neither of the boys shared in her enthusiasm.
~*~
A/N: Okay, we probably won’t see another chapter for a week or so, since I really have to update one of my other stories now that my muse has returned. Hope everyone likes how the story is progressing. It’s going to be a slow burn… Oh, and 10 points to the first person who guesses the pattern with the chapter titles.
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Absolute Power