The Air of a Flame

*Aang’s POV*

Learning waterbending wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. Although I didn’t agree with Katara stealing the scroll at first, I decided to just leave it. We couldn’t change what happened now. And it did help out, a lot.

But even with learning waterbending, I couldn’t help but let my mind wander. My thoughts always involved Trinity. I constantly worried about her, hoping that she was okay. I missed her so much. The next opportunity I got, I would take her back from Zuko. As if she could ever care for someone like him. I didn’t believe what Katara said about them. I couldn’t. She is my sister, and I can’t imagine her being friends with him, or something more. The thought alone was enough to make me grimace.

I saw Katara practicing her waterbending, struggling to keep the water in a solid form and make it go where she wanted it to. I tried the move she was attempting and got it on my first try. So I proceeded to try and help her.

“Why can’t I get this move?” Katara exclaimed, frustrated at herself. I walked over to her and showed her how to do it.

“You just have to shift your weight more.” I told her, demonstrating the move to her. “See, the key to bending is-“

“Why don’t you just be quiet? Believe it or not, your infinite wisdom gets a little old sometimes! Why do you even need the scroll if you’re so naturally gifted?” She suddenly burst out, angry with me. I could feel the tears start to come to my eyes, as I looked down ashamed. On top of everything with Trinity, this had to happen. I was just trying to help.

Suddenly Katara came to her senses. “Oh my gosh. Aang I’m so sorry! I don’t know what came over me!” She began rolling up the scroll before handing it to me. “Here, you should keep it. I don’t want anything to do with it anymore.”

“It’s okay, Katara.” I told her. She smiled at me before walking away.

*Katara’s POV*

I can’t believe what I just did to Aang. He was only trying to help, but I let my jealousy get in the way. The way waterbending came to him so easily was unfair. I was supposed to be the teacher, not the other way around.

Night time came quickly. I was lying in my bed thinking about things. I knew Aang was constantly thinking of his sister. I could see it in his eyes; the worry he had for her. I was worried about her too, all of us were. But she was with Zuko, and no matter what I thought about him, I also knew she was safe. The way he was so protective of her in the temple really surprised me. I never would have expected it.

I guess her being with him constantly changed her view of him. I couldn’t deny that there was something between them, no matter how much Aang tries to convince himself there isn’t. But I couldn’t tell is it was a good or a bad thing, yet. But if they really did have something together, I couldn’t help but think about who she would pick if she had to pick between Zuko and Aang. I guessed that she would pick Aang, because he was her brother, but there was a nagging feeling that told me she might not.

I decided to stop thinking about these things. I was planning on taking the scroll back from Aang; the fact that I couldn’t do the simple move really bugged me. I quietly tiptoed to Aang’s bag. Luckily, I didn’t wake anyone up besides Momo. I quickly grabbed it, and headed off into the river to practice.

When I got there, I attempted the move that I failed to master earlier. It wasn’t working for me though.

“Come on water! Work with me here!” I said to the water. I was getting frustrated, so I decided to listen to what Aang had told me earlier.

“Okay, shift your weight Katara.” I told myself, doing the actions. However, the water still wouldn’t stay and collapsed. I let out a frustrated sigh.

All of a sudden, I hear a strange noise, like metal. Suddenly, I see a ship coming. Zuko’s ship I realized. I turned around to run, but someone blocked my way. It was one of the pirates from before that I had stolen the scroll from. He grabs at me, but I quickly use the water from the river to smack him away.

I turned to run again, but I ran into someone else. The person grabbed me, before I could see who it was. It took me a moment to realize it was Zuko. All of a sudden, I heard a girlish voice scream my name, worried and excited. I looked around to see who had said it. Standing right behind Zuko was Trinity.