Words that we couldn't say

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

The last thing she'd expected was to see him show up. Katara had been expecting a meeting with Sokka and Zuko and Toph and maybe Mai. She hadn't expected to see Aang, to have all of her family back again all in one swoop, and seeing him had made everything she'd been fearing take a quiet step back. It had taken all the strength she could muster to not hug him, and hold him close then and there, not when the Ohm had shown up and Aang had a job to do. THOSE memories came flooding back and she realized that Aang would always be looking out for the crew, much like she worried about them. So she trained quietly, remembering the intensity of the Ohm in every movement: the acid spit, the massive height, the sheer force behind the. These were the the things she needed to keep in mind, and because of that she concentrated, keeping all she'd been learning in her mind: Kang and Ronan's instruction, the teaching of Nanashi's sword fighting, the steady, deadly skill of the Bene Gesserit. For that reason Katara had come to the Sensorium, calming her mind. she had to remember that night without prejudice, keeping in mind the things she saw then. Always came that question of killing, of losing oneself to the feelings of anger that came when seeing what the Ohm could do: the decision of the Yeerk incident came in full vengeance, more so now that she knew there were Yeerk on the ship now. But she knew that those feelings were something to be dealt with, a trap that made people vicious, angry, fill with thoughts of retaliation.

Not that those feelings were lost on Katara, but she knew the path they led to. Rage always came with a price, and from what she'd seen, some people paid with their former selves. Darth Vader, for instance, was a vicious, cruel man not unlike the firelord, but his son was Luke, one of the wisest people she'd met on the ship, and his way of learning had made Arha want to learn about his path. Things like that made her wonder if maybe Arha had conflict about the sisterhood, if the way of the Jedi was somehow more peaceable, more matching to the type of person Arha was.

Which was the eternal crux of the ship: there were so many ways of learning, of knowing, of doubting what they knew. Katara had come to a grassy spot here, a homage to the world they had visited not too long ago. A breeze moved over her skin, calming her. She whispered into the wind, calling the name of the one she missed. She knew it fell on deaf ears.

But she hoped he would come anyway.

Comments

[notadamnangel.livejournal.com]

Somebody was wandering outside, singing Bon Jovi loudly, and more than a little drunk. Well maybe slightly. He can hold his liquor mostly.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara could definitely say she hadn't been expecting to hear someone blaring out the words to Dead or Alive, as she didn't know the song or understand why anyone would be singing quite so loudly unless they had an ear problem or had too much alcohol. That was answered instantly when she saw Dean, and her eyes widened.

"Dean? Are you drunk?!"

[notadamnangel.livejournal.com]

Dean gave a small grin, and shrugged, "Hey Katara? Me? Nahhh, just got a good buzz a-going. Takes waaaay more than this to get me shi...plastered." See, he's trying to be nice and watch his language a little around her.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Oh, she knew what you were going to say, but seeing as how the word didn't really exist in her world, she'll let it slide. The whole idea of a list of words that you couldn't say just seemed strange to her anyway.

"A buzz huh? I get that, but people with buzzes usually aren't singing at the top of their lungs, you know. What are you singing anyway?"

[notadamnangel.livejournal.com]

"Bon Jovi, man we gotta bring your music knowledge up to speed." Shocking how many people on board don't know the awesomeness of classic rock or hair metal.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara laughed. "Hey, that's hardly fair! I'm still learning abouta ll of the different kinds of music you guys listen to! Who knew it could be so varied?"

Music artists, differnt instruments: it made her head swim. "So where'd you get the alcohol, the beer tree or Kang's?"

[notadamnangel.livejournal.com]

"Beer tree, from the awesome metal beer tree that is." Another swig of his beer in hand.

"Yeah, well, stop by my car sometime or the Media Library and I'll show you some good tunes, all right?"

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I heard of that," Katara said. "I'm still trying to learn what it takes to make the stuff myself. I Not for ME to drink of course: I'm too young for that. But it would be fun to learn how to make a few different brews, don't you think?"

She nodded. "Sure, why not? Hey, I'm curious. What are you doing wandering around dr-I mean, all tipsy like?"

[notadamnangel.livejournal.com]

"Ask Kang about that." He knows how to drink it, not to brew it.

He swung his bottle, "Might as well. We're f-screwed against the Ohm. And even if we win, got no future anyway."

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

"In that case it looks like I'll have another favor to ask of Kang," Katara said, laughing a little. "It's bad enough I train with him, it looks like he'll have to show me how to make beer too!"

Here, Katara looked a little serious. "I KNOW what you were going to say, I've had people curse in front of me AND at me before. And what do you mean we have no future? Our future is whatever we make of it. You can't have a future if you don't believe you have a stake in what happens. You almost sound like you think we don't have a chance."

[notadamnangel.livejournal.com]

"Just saying since he owns the tavern. And yeah can ask him, why not?"

Dean gave a cold sad smile at that, "Never said anything about we on the no future part. And figuring how we got our asses spanked the last time we went up against them, and the planet was destroyed anyway. Yeah. Not seeing the silver lining here."

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

"Well, if he doesn't have better things to do, why not? I got a few ingredients from the planet we vacationed on the last time. I'm sure I could make something out of that."

She shook her head. "I wouldn't say we got spanked. I mean, you saw the footage of what happens hen the Ohm usually attack: everyone dies, no one gets out alive unless they get saved, and that's only maybe a handful. We made the Ohm pause, and we took down a few of them. Not only that, we got to see how they fight up close. We would be crazy to think that we would have just beaten them on the first try: we've never fought them before. But now we'll know better, and they will too. We have to get stronger, and that's exactly what I plan to do."

[notadamnangel.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, have fun with that," He had another swig of his beer. "Maybe we'll take them down with the Power of Rock while we're at it."

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara put her hand on the beer a moment. "None of this is fun. People getting hurt, almost killed, isn't FUN, and neither is losing my world. You told me once that you felt like all your work had been for nothing, since everything you knew and loved was destroyed. You're not the only one. Since I was born up until I was fourteen, I haven't known a day of peace. The fire nation in my world had destroyed most of the cities of my people and imprisoned our waterbenders. When we stopped the war, I thought we had finally achieved peace. You can imagine how I felt when I was dragged here, you felt it yourself."

She looked into the distance a moment. "Dean, with everything you've seen, I'm curious: do you believe in destiny?"

[notadamnangel.livejournal.com]

"Never said it was fun. Used to think hunting things and saving people was though."

Dean's face immediately darkened at that, thinking briefly of Michael, of Lucifer, "Believe in it? No. And getting damn fed up with the destiny bullshit. Tired of being in the middle of it."

[jesushasayak.livejournal.com]

There was the sneaking first. Sneak sneak sneak. Then he swooped in and arms wrapped around her from behind, as Aang knelt there, hudding her.

"Katara, there are better ways to get my attention than saying my name to an empty room," he pointed out.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

With all of the training, she still wasn't able to tell when Aang was sneaking up on her until he actually did. Then that familiar smell came to her nose, and that playful aura gave him away, though the arms around her made her want to melt. Who ELSE but Aang had that presence?

And she was leaning into the hug, her cheeks reddening and her smile lingering before she quietly shook herself out of it, trying to compose herself. She remembered all too well the last time something like this had happened where they ended up.

"I know," she said, "but I still wanted to see if you would come. You could say I'm flirting with danger a little, but I wanted to see you alone."

[jesushasayak.livejournal.com]

"We're just hugging," he said, burying his face against the back of her neck, affectionately. "I think we're okay if it's just hugging."

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

She smiled, returning the hug, her hand caressing his neck. "Good. I don't think it would be fair if we couldn't do even that. I've really missed you Aang."

And the hugging, even with just being that, was enough. It was as if all of the time she'd spent without him had disappeared. Now that he was here, she didn't have to go through the ship acting like she was completely happy when she wasn't. No more lying in the dark by herself wondering if Aang had been stuck on the planet when the Ohm attacked, no more cursing herself for not taking advantage of being with him more when they were traveling.

"So what do you have planned, now that you're back from GLADOS?"

[jesushasayak.livejournal.com]

Aang let go and flopped in the grass next to her, so he could look up at her. He put his hands behind his head.

"Lots of things," he said with a smile.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

She reddened a little, seeing what he was doing, but couldn't hide the bashful smile he was managing to bring to her every time he looked at her. Being older than her and him still being Aang was a killer combination, and she couldn't help but notice that Aang looked REALLY good.

Hugging. Yes. Just hugging.

"I have an idea!" She said brightly. "Why don't we recreate one of the air temples and do some flying? I always feel so tranquil there, but you have a better memory of it than I do."

[jesushasayak.livejournal.com]

"That's a great idea! I can give you a better tour than I got to before." he said, sitting up, and his smile broadened. "And you could fly with me, even. I bet we can program the Sensoriums to do that."

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

"Already ahead of you! You throw the background on, I'll change!"

Yes, thanks to Nura, Katara had taken a VERY big interest in clothing now. Katara went from her usual watertribe outfit to something that would look more like what Aang wore. She'd actually tried the outfit out once, but now she was going to show it to Aang. She hope he liked it.

"What do you think?"

[jesushasayak.livejournal.com]

Aang looked a touch punk-drunk.

"I think I like it."

Katara got a wide smile.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara was happy to hear that: it had actually taken her a long time to recreate the airbender attire, she had wanted it to be perfect. As for the backdrop, Katara knew that she wasn't able to airbend like Aang, so the best solution was, of course, The Southern Air temple, where they first met Teo and his father. There was still smoke coming from one of the spires, and in the distance you could see the distant figures of some of the gliders, reminding them of how it was when Aang saw it after his hundred years in the iceberg. For a moment, it made Katara sad, to think that they might not ever see it again, but then, looking at Aang at that smile, it was as if she were reminded of the place all over again.

It was here, after all, where she first was able to fly all her own without Appa's help. She took Aang's hand, smiling warmly.

"We can use the gliders again, if you want. The last time I did this it was all my own, but I'd like to do it with you close now."