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Absolute Power	By : whirleeq Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > Het - Male/Female > Aang/Katara Views: 17984 -:- 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
- 5
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A/N: A big fangirly squee! goes out to Spleefmistress for her help with this chapter. Spleefmistress rocks... if you also like the Zutara pairing, check out her story 'Hot Water'. Oh, and I knew I said I was going to name this chapter 'heresy'... a girl is entitled to change her mind. C'mon people, one of you has to make the connection with the titles... first person who guesses it gets a drabble with a theme and pairing of their choice :)
I still recall the taste of my tears . echoing your voice just like the ringing in my ears . my favorite dreams of you still wash ashore . scraping through my head 'till I don't want to sleep anymore . come on tell me . make all this go away . you make all this go away . I'm down to just one thing and I'm starting to scare myself . make this all go away . you make this all go away . I just want something . I just want something I can never have
~*~
One Hundred and One Years Ago...
"Again, young Aang. Take a deep breath and focus. Air bending requires clarity of mind and heart."
The older monk frowned as he watched his young charge attempt -- and fail -- a simple whirl. He had known when he saw Aang at the temple that he should have intervened and sent him back to the monastery. The boy was just too young to understand.
With a sigh, he placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder, knowing that until the weight was lifted off of Aang’s heart, the practice was pointless.
Aang turned and looked to Gyasto, his brow furrowed in frustration. This was simple stuff! He shouldn’t have any problem with it. But, admittedly, his heart wasn’t in it. He kept thinking of Shina and young Sopa and of himself and of every other kid that was training at the temple to become a master air bender and monk.
Why did they live apart from the rest of the air nomads? Why aren’t there whole families at the temple? Whatever happened to his own family? He must have had one, once. All these questions and more kept cycling through his head, breaking his concentration and making the simple whirl that would normally require no more effort than a simple flick of his wrist nearly impossible.
"You have questions, young Aang. I can see them in your eyes." Gyasto said with a gentle smile.
Startled, Aang searched the older monk’s face. Gyasto was too perceptive by half, but that was part of the reason that he respected his mentor.
"It’s just... why can’t Shina and his wife stay here with Sopa anyway?" Aang asked, his eyes hopeful. Very rarely did Gyasto offer insight on the council’s ways, and so he wasn’t entirely sure the monk was going to even answer his question.
But to his surprise, Gyasto did.
"Look around you, Aang. What is the one thing that you do not see that surrounds you anyway?"
"Air." Aang answered automatically, his brows furrowed in confusion as he looked at his mentor. What did that have to do with anything? Gyasto was always so... cryptic.
"Aah, yes. Air differs from the other elements because it cannot be seen. Yet it is always around us, and we cannot survive without it. But air has no favorites, no great loves or foes. The element of air embraces all of us equally, and to master it we must first learn its ways. This is the way it has been for the monks of the temple of air since the birth of the first Avatar."
Gyasto paused, some emotion Aang couldn’t identify flickering through his eyes as he regarded his young ward.
"Mastering air bending also requires clarity of heart and mind."
"Yes, Monk Gyasto. You’ve said that already. I just don’t understand what that has to do with -"
"Patience, young Aang. My point is coming, fear not. You see, the reason why Shina did not become a monk was because of love. Not the love that you feel for your brethren, but a different type of love, one that is all consuming and clouds the mind. Such a strong love is not impartial, and goes against the ways of the air temple. Shina chose his love over a life long commitment to the element of air. There was nothing dishonorable in his choice at all, and now we have young Sopa who will train with us until he makes his own choice at age sixteen."
Aang’s brow furrowed even more.
"Okay... but why did they have to take Sopa away from him?"
Gyasto sighed.
"The council believes that the love of family is too strong, and would cloud the mind and the heart in much the same way as the love of a woman. Envy, love, fear, anger, even hate -- all are volatile emotions that you can feel if you hold someone in a higher or lower regard than everyone else. One cannot help but make a strong emotional attachment to family, and that is why the council feels it is necessary to sever that connection."
Aang nodded his head, but he didn’t really understand. It didn’t make any sense to him at all. Sure, Sopa probably won’t know the difference as he’s growing up, but certainly Shina would feel the pain from being apart from his son for the rest of his life.
"It is the way of the temple, Aang." Gyasto continued with a sigh. "It is why initiates are given a choice... to devote their lives to mastering air bending, their minds and hearts must be clear of all else."
Absently Aang held his hand out again, and with a gentle flick of the wrist, a small whirl appeared in his palm. He could understand the need for clarity of thought to master the element of air. He really could.
But there was still one more thing that he didn’t quite understand, yet couldn’t bring himself to ask.
‘Why wasn’t I given that choice?’
~*~
Juri silently took to her feet; the officer by her side in a drugged sleep. It had only taken two minutes in his company to realize that he wasn’t the type who could be seduced into offering information. Still, he had served his purpose. If anything, she was grateful since it meant that she didn’t need to carry out this charade any longer than necessary.
He was, however, a man who deeply enjoyed the company of a woman, and one who had been at sea for far too long. In fact, the only useful tidbit of information she had garnered was that their ship rarely docks at any given port for longer than a day. Why, he would not say - but he did mention that he was grateful to have the full evening to enjoy her company.
Therefore, it was fairly easy for her to persuade him into pouring them both a drink from the bottle of Du Kang he had in his room before any services were performed, and even easier for her to slip a small amount of powder made from a particularly common forest mushroom into his glass. The popular fire nation drink burned a path down her throat, leaving her with a satisfying feeling of warmth. The burning sensation and spicy taste was most welcome, and helped clear the bitter taste left in her mouth from the officer’s toast ‘to Lord Ozai’s health’.
Afterwards, she only had to endure a few of his sloppy kisses before the powder took effect.
She adjusted her dress, and turned back to the soldier. With a deft hand, she sifted through his uniform, easily locating the small pouch of gold pieces that he had shown her earlier. After removing her pre-arranged fee, she placed the pouch in his hand. In the morning, when the officer woke, dizzy from the combined after-effects of both the powder and the potent beverage, he would likely assume that it had been an eventful evening and thus completely unaware that he had essentially been duped.
Finding her way around the fire nation vessel proved to be simple, given that it wasn’t a large ship and very similar to one that she’d spent far too much time on the past. The officer’s cabins were below deck by the stern, and differed from the others in that they were private. There were four such cabins on board the ship, the one that she had just come from being the smallest. Scarcely daring to breath, she made her way to each of the other three cabins in turn, carefully listening against the doors for any sounds from within. She could hear snoring coming from the cabin just across from the one she just exited, but nothing at all from the two largest.
Good. That meant that the Prince was still awake somewhere else on the ship, and most likely with his chief advisor. Narrowing her eyes in thought, she looked around her and considered. If she were to continue down the gangway towards the bow, the galley should be on the port side with the mess on the starboard at about the halfway point. It was possible that the prince was in the mess, but given the time, not likely. The bottom deck was used only for storage and the brig, and she couldn’t see why he’d be there, so she deduced that the prince and his advisor was most likely topside. That would make it difficult for her to remain out of sight, but not impossible, since there were several stacks that she could attempt to hide behind. It’d be risky, but could prove valuable.
True enough, the Prince and the old man that she had seen earlier in the day were leaning against the bulwark on the starboard side of the ship, looking out to the sea and apparently deep in conversation. With the stealth of a fox, she made her way past the bulkhead and from stack to stack unseen and managed to position herself within hearing range.
"...I don’t see why we should stay here another day, Uncle. He’s not here."
"You should not be so hasty, Prince Zuko. We have not yet searched the woods on this island. And besides, the crew is weary. This is a nice diversion for them."
She couldn’t see his face to know for sure, but given the tone of his next words, Juri assumed that the rather petulant prince was scowling.
"Do you honestly think that he’d be able to hide that animal of his in the woods, Uncle? No. I am not wasting anymore of our time. It’s been three days since we lost sight of him in that storm and he could be anywhere. We leave tomorrow."
The older man sighed.
"Very well, nephew. But I think that you should at least wait until early afternoon."
"Why?"
"We’ve been at sea a long time, Prince Zuko. Some of the men have company." The old man answered with an amused chuckle, earning an impatient growl from the younger prince.
"Fine."
Juri waited until the two went below decks, holding her breath and remaining perfectly still as they passed her. Somehow, she managed to stay unnoticed, and disembarked just in time to avoid a group of soldiers who were getting back onto the ship after a long night of drinking.
She had completely forgotten to purchase more supplies, but it did not matter. The information she had garnered was far more valuable. Her mind was already at work calculating the many different ways that she could use it to her advantage.
~*~
It took about two minutes before he could fully process the scene in front of him.
Aang and Katara were... snuggling... together... in the same damn bed.
‘No.’
He blinked his eyes several times, hoping that somehow he was delusional and that what he was seeing was a product of his overactive imagination. For once, he was really, truly hoping that he had somehow caught another illness. He wouldn’t even mind sucking on another damned frog if it would make the blasphemous sight just... go away.
After coming to the horrifying conclusion that -- yes, that was very much what he was seeing and no, not delusional - he softly approached the two of them. Again, he told himself that nothing untoward could have happened between the two. Aang was a monk after all, and only thirteen - well, okay, one hundred and thirteen, but those one hundred years didn’t count. That, and Katara was his sister. It couldn’t be anything as lascivious as the images his mind supplied to him; it was most likely that Aang was having another one of his nightmares and they fell asleep while Katara was comforting him.
Yes, that had to be it.
Satisfied with his own explanation, he nodded to himself and placed a hand on Aang’s shoulder. Nightmare or not, he wasn’t going to let him stay there with her like that, it just wasn’t... proper.
Gently, he shook the young Avatar.
"Aang, wake up!" He whispered, trying to keep the volume of his voice low so he didn’t wake both of them.
The young avatar mumbled something, took a deep breath, and buried his head further into Katara’s chest.
It only took five seconds for Sokka to realize what the monk had mumbled was his sister’s name.
His next shake was not so gentle.
"GET UP, Aang."
Aang, for his part, did not want to wake. For the first time in a very long while, he truly felt safe and content. There were no nightmares plaguing him on this night, and the heavy mantle of obligation that he always wore to bed seemed somehow lighter. It had been a long time since he had felt such peace, if ever.
He wasn’t at all happy about being dragged out of it. In fact, when he did open his eyes just a little bit and saw the smooth expanse of Katara’s slender neck right above him, he instinctively leaned in and placed a small kiss right at the exposed junction of her neck and collarbone, before closing his eyes again.
Sokka, who up until this point had been extremely patient given the situation, just about lost it.
"That is IT! GET UP, MONK." He said, grabbing Aang with two hands in an attempt to pull him off of his sister.
Startled, Aang’s eyes shot open in sleepy confusion. Was he being attacked? He let go of Katara, who was amazingly still sleeping like a rock, and shot out of the bed like a whirlwind. A few quick hops had him on the other side of the hut, his glider-staff within reach. He flipped it over in his hand and turned around, ready to face his adversary -- only to find himself confronted by -
"Sokka?" Aang questioned, his sleep filled eyes awash with confusion. Slowly, he started to lower his glider-staff - that is, until he caught the hard look in the other boy’s cerulean eyes.
"Is... uh... what’s wrong?" Aang asked and then when Sokka only continued glaring, he lowered his voice to a conspirational whisper. "Are we being attacked?"
"No, Aang. Nobody’s being attacked," Sokka began through gritted teeth. "At least not yet. However, you and I are going to have a little talk... right now!"
Sokka informed him in a rather tense voice, the last two words punctuated by a sharp finger poke to Aang’s chest.
Aang opened his mouth to ask why, but the question was quickly replaced with a muffled ‘eep’ when Sokka abruptly grabbed the front of his tunic and started dragging him outside. Aang was too startled and confused to protest, so he let merely let him.
Sokka took him through the center of the huts, past the sleeping Appa and the curious lemur that had been curled up against him. The small animal perked up when they passed, his large eyes blinking several times in query before jumping on Aang’s shoulder and remaining there, even as Sokka not so gently dragged Aang through the ring of huts and a good ways into the forest. About five minutes in, they came across the natural spring that Koru and his group used. There was a fairly large rock with a flat surface at the edge of the spring, and Aang found himself unceremoniously dumped on it.
Sokka turned to look at the boy. The young avatar’s wide grey eyes were filled with bewilderment as he sat on the rock with his arms holding his legs against his chest, twitching his nose slightly. Momo was sitting on his right shoulder; his tail loosely dangling over Aang’s collarbone and looking at Sokka with the same bewilderment exhibited in his owner.
"Sokka? Are... you going to tell me what’s wrong?" Aang asked. His voice was quiet and meek and filled with concern, and it suddenly occurred to Sokka that the young Avatar had absolutely no idea why he was dragged into the forest at this time of night. His ire rapidly evaporated and he sighed, running one hand over his scalp and back into his band of hair. Now that he was calm enough to look at the situation objectively, he wasn’t even sure how to say what needed to be said.
"Look Aang, you’re a good kid," he began, pacing back and forth with his arms behind his back. Had he been looking at Aang, he would have noticed a flash go through the Avatar’s eyes at that. "But... I’m not going to jump to any conclusions or anything." ‘Yeah, like you already didn’t do that.’ He added silently before continuing. "Just... tell me why I found you and Katara sleeping together." And even as the words fell from his lips, he thought of the other, less innocent connotations of that term and he felt his cheeks flush with heat. Whether it was due to anger, embarrassment or the desire to be anywhere else than right here, he did not know.
When the young monk didn’t answer right away, Sokka stopped pacing and turned to him, his expression guarded. To his dismay, Aang had turned his head to the side in a silent refusal to meet his eyes, and even in the dark he could see that the boy’s normally pale cheeks were now tinted with a rosy hue.
"Aang?"
"Uh... we just kinda fell asleep that way." Aang finally answered, the words mumbled so low that Sokka could hardly hear him.
Sokka sighed, realizing that he would have to take a different approach. He didn’t really want to interrogate the young monk because... well, because he was Aang, and Aang was supposed to be just a goofy kid that they’d been traveling with for nearly a year. Not someone that could be a threat to his sister’s virtue. Plus, the boy was under so much stress as it was, he honestly didn’t want to heap on more. But it was his sister involved here, and he had to at lay some ground rules at the very least. And to do that, he needed to get Aang to talk to him.
He leaned against the rock next to Aang, and turned to the boy. The monk was fidgeting so much that the lemur finally jumped off of him and scampered down onto the forest floor, presumably to search for nuts.
Aang didn’t even seem to notice.
"Look... Aang... its okay if, uh, if you like her." Sokka said after a while, hoping that the words would prompt Aang to speak up a bit.
A few quite moments passed. The young monk finally turned and met his eyes, his expression hopeful.
"Really?"
"Yeah... really. I guess... I guess I kinda saw this coming, I was just hoping it wouldn’t be, well, so soon." Sokka replied, and even as the words fell from his mouth, he knew that he believed them. "It’s just... look, the way I found you two is not okay. Are we clear?"
There! He got it out, finally got it off his chest and thus fulfilled his responsibilities as Katara’s big brother. He breathed a big sigh of relief. That wasn’t as painful as he thought it was going to be. He didn’t even blush, which would have been pathetic. Now they could finally head back to the hut and get some sleep and -
"Uh... Why?"
Startled out of his train of thought, Sokka looked at the boy incredulously.
"Huh?"
"Um... why is it not okay?"
And despite himself, Sokka’s cheeks reddened deeply. Flustered, he turned once again to Aang, who was now looking at him with genuine curiosity. He really wanted to know. How could he not know? It should be obvious why it wasn’t okay -
With a feeling of encroaching dread, he chose to answer Aang’s question with a far more telling one of his own.
"Aang, did the monks teach you anything about... uh... men and women?"
Aang looked at him blankly.
"What do you mean?"
Sokka’s face flushed a bright red.
"Damn those monks! You’d think that if they took the responsibility of raising him, they’d at least ... aaaauuugggghhhhh..." The words were mumbled under his breath as he resumed his pacing, the realization that it was going to be up to him to educate the young Avatar about certain things hitting him hard. On the list of things he’d rather eat a bucket of eel-worms than do, giving Aang ‘the talk’ was probably damn near close to the top of the list.
Finally, he took a deep breath and paused for a minute. Maybe... maybe if he just glazed over it and laid a few ground rules, that’d be enough for now.
He hoped.
"Sokka?"
‘Damned monks.’
"Look... Aang. Girls like Katara... especially Katara... are supposed to remain chaste until marriage, which in Katara’s case isn’t going to happen for another ten years. So, no sharing a bed, and keep the mushy stuff to a minimum. There, I said it... let’s go back to camp." Sokka replied, pushing off from the rock and pacing nervously. After a moment, he turned and looked at Aang, silently praying to every god that was listening that the young Avatar would just leave it at that.
Aang didn’t answer right away. He pursed his lips as if in deep thought, something unreadable flashing through his eyes. Chaste. He knew that word... he had heard it before.
Made a promise. Took a vow.
Something very like fear gripped his heart, making his chest burn and his nostrils flared because all of a sudden he couldn’t get enough air.
"Sokka?" Aang started to ask in a soft and shaky voice laced with a hint of something akin to panic, "Could... could you please tell me what that means? To... to be chaste?"
Sokka felt all the color drain from his face.
"Aang! Listen, man... this isn’t... look, can we talk about this at some other point?" Sokka responded, mentally adding ‘Like maybe never...’
"Please, Sokka."
Aang had jumped off the rock and was looking at him now, a pleading -- almost desperate expression on the monk’s young face. Sokka’s embarrassment of the situation was pushed away by a touch of sadness for the young monk and anger once again at the ones who raised him.
Who else did Aang have to ask about these kinds of things but him? He had initially brought the monk out here because he felt he was doing his duty as Katara’s brother. But in light of their conversation, he had finally realized that the young monk was the one that really needed a brother right now. And so with a soft, defeated sigh, he nodded his head and leaned against the rock.
"You see Aang, it’s like this..."
~*~
Later, but not much later, Sokka walked back to camp with reddened cheeks, Momo now on his shoulder, and Aang trailing behind him.
The young monk hadn’t said a single word during their ‘talk’, and he wondered what was going through Aang’s mind. Out of curiosity, he glanced behind him at the boy. The young monk’s cheeks were reddened as well.
But by the way he was clenching his fists and grinding his teeth, Sokka didn’t think it was from embarrassment.
~*~
Aang couldn’t sleep. All he could think about was the vow he had made and how he wasn’t even given a choice, like the others. Looking back, he knew that it was because he was the Avatar, and as such, needed to master not only air bending but everything else. The monks effectively ensured that nothing, or rather no one would come between him and his responsibility as the Avatar.
He wasn’t given a choice.
It wasn’t fair.
He looked over at Katara. She was so beautiful in her sleep, it made his heart ache.
It wasn’t fair.
It had been the most amazing thing he’d ever felt, her soft body flush against his while he was kissing her like that. It had stirred something deep; something primal within him and he wanted more. But he wasn’t supposed to kiss her like that, couldn't have more, wasn’t even supposed to love her like he did because he made a vow and IT WASN’T FAIR.
Wasn’t it enough that he had the fate of the whole world on his shoulders? Wasn’t it enough that he needed to master all four elements and soon to bring down a ruthless tyrant, knowing that he could very well lose his life in the process? Wasn’t he allowed to have one small piece of happiness for himself?
To his side, Katara sighed softly and turned, mumbling something soft in her sleep. It sounded very like his name and his breath caught in his throat.
He had made a vow.
That meant that someone else would be the one to kiss Katara, to marry her, to make her happy. Someone, not him.
The thought of anyone else kissing her... he thought of Koru, and absently clenched his teeth so hard that he bit down on his tongue.
It wasn’t fair.
He loved her. He knew that he loved her, he would always love her, and he decided right there and then that no one was going to tell him otherwise; especially not a council of monks that have been dead for nearly a century.
Aang glanced over at Sokka, who was still tossing around on his sleeping roll, one eye opening every so often to look over at Aang, probably to ensure that he remained exactly where he was. Aang waited silently, feigning sleep until Sokka’s breathing eventually evened out. After the young water tribe warrior began to snore, he quietly stepped out of his sleeping roll and made his way back over to Katara’s bed. He wasn’t worried about Sokka, because once Sokka was asleep, there was no waking him. And besides, he’d be up and awake long before the older boy even began to stir.
With a deep sigh, he got in besides her, tossing his arms around her waist in much the same way that they were before Sokka dragged him out of the hut earlier. He placed a soft kiss on her cheek, and when she smiled in her sleep, he smiled too.
~*~
Du Kang - This is an ancient Chinese alcohol made from millet and yeast. Nasty, nasty, really strong stuff that will put hair on your chest, regardless of your sex-- shivers
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Absolute Power