Aang and Katara - A Wedding Tale

Chapter 17: The Cave of Two Lovers Part 1

Authors note:
Get ready for some awkward fluffy stuff - remember first fanfic and first time writing solely fluffy stuff. It will be cringy, this is your warning.

Katara's Point of View
As the Earth kingdom soldier barged in informing us of a potential lead on the current Mr X investigation, I watched as Aang hit his head with the palm of his hand, and crumpled his face on impact. The soldier tilted his head and raised his eyebrow. Aang didn't notice.
"Aang, you alright?" I whispered, so the soldier couldn't hear.
"Yep. I'm good." He whispered hastily before sitting upright, looking more attentive, before going into full Avatar duty mode. "Thank you sir. I will gather my friends and look into this new information as soon as I can."

As the man bowed and left, Aang began nervously searching for something, meticulously flicking through the many pockets in his robe until he found the thing and breathed a sigh of relief. I gave him a small smile with a raised eyebrow.
"Sorry just uh, looking for my map. Look here it is." He added whilst whipping out the paper, and flattening it out onto the table, on top of our mountain of other papers. "Okay so the Kolau Mountain Range is not too far from here, on Appa we could get there in just an hour. If you get Suki and Sokka, I'll get Toph and Zuko and we can meet back here in 10 minutes? Unless ... Um... Did you want to get Toph and Zuko and I'll get-" he added, darting his hands about pointing in seemingly random places until they got tangled.

He was rambling. It was quite sweet: the way he fumbled over his words, and questioned himself. The kidnapping had really shook him. Of courses everyone seams on edge, with the Azula situation and everything else, but none more so than Aang. For all his responsibilities and power Aang could get quite nervous around sensitive situations - especially concerning his friends.

I reached for his hands, bringing them back down to the table and gave them a small squeeze. "Aang. Look at me." He took a short exhale before meeting my eyes. His beautiful sliver eyes flecked with black and white tinges, shone as he gave his signature crooked grin as he realised what he was doing. "Its okay Sweetie, I'll get Sokka and Suki, you get Toph and Zuko... On one condition." He cocked his head slightly to the side, looking bemused, "You get us all a quick round of tea when I beat you back before we set off. I have a feeling its going to be quite long and stressful trip." At that he laughed. It was a good, whole hearted laugh.
"Alright your on, but if I'm back first do you get the tea? Or am I getting it either way?"
"I'll leave that up to you Mr Avatar." I add with a wide grin, "but I doubt your gonna beat me."

I quickly draw water from a nearby glass, playfully chucking a snowball at his head and before he has time to react I make a dash for the door. "I'll take the Chi tea when you get back!" I yelled as I ran.

I reached Sokka and Suki's rooms quite quickly on foot, but not fast enough miss the shadow of the gliding airbender trace his path on the ground. I barged into the house yanking the pare out of their rooms on the promise that explanation and free food would follow if they just came with me. My brother didn't take much convincing, even going as far as to sprint ahead of us as we ran through the streets of the upper ring of the city. Suki just followed Sokka but chose to jog beside me, showing no effort in the exercise at all despite easily matching my sprinting pace. Racing through the streets we got a few weird looks, and a few ran to the cover of nearby shops or houses. I can't imagine how it looked: the friends of the Avatar, the worlds saviours, racing around the city for some tea.

Dashing into the tea shop, the bell above the door announcing our presence. A few customers looked disgruntled at the sight of three - well two Suki barely broke a sweat - panting teenagers entering such a classy tea shop. Iroh just smiled and went back to pouring tea. Someone was missing. "Aang, *gasp* isn't *gasp* here *gasp* yet." I added breathlessly, before taking a gulp and trying to look more presentable.
"So what are we doing here again?" Suki began.
"And when do I get the tea?" Sokka finished.
"'Kay. So Aang got a message about a potential supply route, Mr X is using to ferry stolen goods into Omashu. We made a bet see who could get everyone here the quickest, the loser buying the tea. Aang will be here with the others shortly."