Sorry this took a while. Writers block. Again. This is the longest chapter so far kids, but I'm still very disappointed in myself and my writing. Oh well, I'll put more effort into the next chapter. All Katara's POV by the way.

Incidents In Town

Katara:

The flight to Ember Island from the palace wasn't long. After what I think was about an hour (I wasn't really keeping track of time while helping Aang steer Appa) it emerged on the horizon. Our old hideout stood on top of the hill near a secluded little beach.

"Thank goodness we're here!" Toph exclaimed before jumping off Appa and flopping down into the dirt happily.

I grinned and jumped down after her. "Let's go see inside Toph. It'll get us out of unpacking," I said, helping her up. We had left the doors locked just in case, but Toph easily metalbent them open.

Everything was covered in dust when we walked in and the air was stale and stuffy.

"Eew, what is that?" Toph asked, plugging her nose. The old air made my tongue dry.

"This house just hasn't been aired out in a year. It was like this when we got here last time, remember?" I said, walking across the room and opening all the windows.

"Yeah, but blech," Toph spat in disgust.

"Let's go see what shape the kitchen's in. Come on," I said, tugging her off down the hall.

It was as sparse as last time. There wasn't even any food. No one had thought to bring any, which meant I'd have to go into town. Did we even bring money? I frowned and looked in all the cupboards, knowing they'd be empty.

"We might have to look for the cooking pots again…" I said.

"I'm not going in the attic. No way," Toph protested, leaning on one hip and folding her arms.

"Well, I'll just—" I started to say when the front door slammed. Sokka said something incomprehensible, and Aang laughed. Zuko murmured something and another door opened, then closed.

"Hey Aang?" I called after a few seconds of silence.

"Yeah?" he shouted back from the other side of the house. Suddenly he was in the room, a gust of air stirred up all the dust on the table, which made Toph cough.

"Oh, uhm, I need to get the cooking pots from the attic, can you help?"

"Sure," he shrugged. "Where's the attic?" he added, glancing up at the ceiling.

"I'll show you. Come on," I said, grabbing his hand and running upstairs.

Half of the hallway was still burned from that…training accident. I lead Aang over to a small square in the ceiling and pointed.

"It's up there. I need you to give me a boost."

"Didn't you get up by yourself the last time?" Aang asked, cupping his hands in front of him. I grabbed his shoulders and put my foot in his hands.

"I used a chair," I admited, standing up and lifting the panel. Dust rained down on my hair, but I shoved it aside anyway and gripped the floor.

"What are you two doing?" Sokka's voice said. Aang yelped in shock and his hand disappeared from under my foot. I screamed and fell, hitting the floor painfully. Splinters tore into my hand where it had been holding the floor. My head rang and spun dizzily.

"Katara, are you okay?" Aang gasped, crouching next to me.

"Fine," I groaned, clutching my head and giving my brother a glare.

"What was that for, Sokka?" Aang asked, slipping his hand under my head gingerly and helping me sit up.

"Sorry kids. Toph and I were going to go into town and get stuff. Do you want to come with?"

"Sure. We need food. But did anyone bring money?" I said, combing dust out of my hair.

"I always have money, Katara," Toph said bluntly, emerging from behind Sokka.

"Okay," I said.

"I really like Ember Island now that the war's over," Aang remarked, looking around at the market.

"Yeah. It's nicer," I said. The sky was a mirror of the ocean—a tranquil plane of vivid blue. The sun gave the few whisps of cloud a cheery yellow highlight. My hand involuntarily slipped into Aang's and I stared up at the sky happily.

"And we don't have to wear disguises," Toph said, running her thumb over her summery green dress.

"Yeah, that's a—" Aang started to say, but was cut off by a high pitched scream.

"It's the Fire Lord and the Avatar!" a girl screamed, pointing at us. Zuko and Aang sighed and we were suddenly surrounded by people. They shoved each other and held out pieces of paper, shouting and clamoring and jostling. I pressed myself closer to Aang's side hesitantly.

"Will you sign this for me, Avatar?" someone asked.

"Ooh, you're cute. Are you single?" another girl asked.

"No!" I snapped, gripping Aang tighter.

"Avatar Aang, can you really unbend?"

"Aang…" I said nervously.

"I'm on it," Aang said, grinning. He suddenly scooped me up into his arms and jumped into the air, bending us over the crowd. I yelped when we landed and slid out of his grip. Part of the crowd (the part that wasn't still oggling over Zuko) turned and advanced on us.

"Run," Aang whispered, snatching my hand and darting foreword. I hurried along after him. We didn't stop until they were far behind us. Aang dived behind a market stall and we collapsed over each other, laughing.

"That was…does that happen often?" I asked through gasps of air. Aang nodded and wiped his eye off on the heel of his palm.

"What about Sokka and Toph and Zuko?" I said.

"We'll find them later," Aang shrugged, waving the comment away.

"Can I help you two?" an annoyed-looking woman asked.

"Do you sell hats?" Aang asked innocently.

"Gee, thanks for helping us shop guys," Toph said sarcastically, dropping her basket on the counter heavily.

I didn't know what to say to that, so I changed the subject. "Did you see Aang's new hat?"

"Oh, it looks greaton him," Toph said. Again with the sarcasm. I wondered if she knew how to roll her eyes.

"Thanks Toph. Now people won't recognize me when I go into town," Aang said cheerily, unphazed by Toph's sarcasm. I smiled at him and adjusted his hat.

"Feels like old times, doesn't it?" he asked, grinning back.

"You want to be reminded of old times?" Zuko asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, but it's nice to remember," he shrugged. My smile slipped. I didn't want to remember. The last time we were on Ember Island things didn't go so well between Aang and I. It had pretty much been my fault, really. But…

"Hey, now that we have our stuff can we have a beach party?" Sokka asked, a devilish smile on his face. Toph smirked evily and I wondered what she was thinking.

Yay, beach party scene next. And who doesn't like those? Yeah, I didn't put a lot of effort into this chapter, so it would be great if you could review and yell at me. Well, not really. Be nice kids or I'll be a sad panda. : (

See, I'm already sad.