This merger had been a pain in her ass, but at least she didn't have to fly for this meeting. She was kicking herself for telling her father she would handle things this time around, but she had to get herself more established.

Sokka, her older brother, had handled these things while she was in grad school, but he really wanted to be in the labs, so she stepped in. She cursed that decision every time she had to go to a meeting in one city or another. Katara had been on a plane every other day for the past two months and she was sick of it, so when she had to go from Gaoling to Ba Sing Se she gladly moved the meetings back and booked a train ticket. She needed the time to unwind and seeing the countryside would be a nice change of pace.

She was surprised to find that the train was actually full and she was all the more happy that she'd had the forethought to get a sleeper car. When she arrived at the dining car she was told that they'd made a mistake with the reservations, and since she was dining alone the woman asked if she wouldn't mind sharing the table with someone who was doing the same.

Katara started to complain, but she stopped herself. She was hungry, and she really didn't want to eat in her room, so she agreed. As she followed the lady to the table she wondered who she'd be seated with. 'Knowing my luck it'll be some old, sweaty pervert who chews with his mouth open.' she groused to herself, but she couldn't be more wrong.

"I've got some company for you Baby." the woman said to the occupant of the table who had a laptop open and a tablet in hand concentrating over something.

At first all Katara could see was thick, wild, jet-black hair, but then he looked up and smiled at her "Hi. I'm Aang." he said happily, raising himself up as much as the booth would let him and extending his hand.

She couldn't help but smile as she put her hand in his to shake "Katara." she answered with a small bow of her head. He shook her hand firmly, not that weak handshake most men tried on her. She liked that.

"Nice to meet you." he let go of her hand and waited for her to be seated before he sat back down. "I'm sorry I'm not going to be very good company. I'm trying to get some work done. You're probably not all that excited to share a meal with some strange guy any way."

" Oh, that's okay." she said glancing down at the menu. She didn't mind at all, he was rather nice to look at, about her age, and he seemed to have manners. Katara was happy she decided to eat with him.

They put the order in for their drinks and Katara watched as Aang drew the stylus back and forth around the tablet, every once in a while smiling, or frowning at his screen. He finally put is down when the lady came back with their drinks, but only long enough to order his dinner and take a swig of the root beer he'd ordered, then he was back at his work.

Half way through her cola Katara finally said "That must be something very important you're working on."

"Only something that could make my whole future." he answered with a crooked smile and a shrug as he looked up at her through his eyelashes.

"Sounds stressful."

"Naw, it's not so bad." he held his head up and looked her in the eyes "See. I'm an artist. I've got a few little things under my belt, a few children's books I illustrated for a friend, a web comic I do, mostly for fun, but it's got a pretty good following." He looked at the tablet meaningfully "But this," he tapped the edge of the tablet "This could really get me established."

She smiled at his enthusiasm "I can tell you really like your work."

"I love it, but if I don't get this I'll have to get a" he held his hands up and made finger quotations "real job. You know something that'll turn me into a responsible stiff in a suit. Or I'll be flipping burgers somewhere, which would really suck seeing as how I'm a vegetarian." He looked at the polite look on her face "I'm sorry. I'm talking a lot, aren't I. So what about you? What do you do?"

Katara glanced down at her silver wear and drug her finger along the handle of the fork "I'm a responsible stiff in a suit."

He laughed a little "Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insult you."

She looked back up at him 'It's okay. No offence taken. So, where is this life changing job happening?"

"Ba Sing Se." he answered as she lifted her cup up to her lips "I'm pitching a new logos to the board of the Denali Group."

Katara's choked a bit on her drink at the sound of her family company's name.

"You okay?" Aang asked moving to stand and assist her.

She slapped herself on the chest a couple of times and held her hand up. "I'm fine. It just went down the wrong way." she cleared her throat "That's a pretty big company. You must be really talented."

"I hope so. My friend Toph set this chance up for me." he glanced down "I think I would be more confident about it is she wasn't blind."

Katara shook her head in disbelief and held her hands up "Wait. Toph? Like Toph Beifong. The author?"

"Yeah. You know her?"

"Yeah. I worked at this after-school program all through grad school. The little kids love her books. Especially Appa and Momo." he smiled hugely when she said the title "Hold on. Are you A. L. Gyatso?"

He rubbed the back of his head, obviously a nervous habit "Yeah. It's kind of a pen name though. It's just Aang Laghima. Gyatso is my dad."

She smiled at him "That's really nice. You must love your father a lot to put his name on your work."

"Yeah. I mean after he changed his whole life just so he could adopt me, that's the least I can do."

"That sounds like it's a wonderful story."

"It is. I was a ward of the nation, raised by monks, you know, and Gyatso was my main guardian. He trained me, taught me so much, but he also made sure I had fun, always treated me like a kid, ya' know." she nodded her head "When I was 12 the elders tried to separate us. They said the we were too close and I needed to concentrate on my training, so they were going to sent me away."

"That's horrible."

"It was, but the good thing was Gyatso wasn't going to let me go. He rescinded his vows when he found out that a monk was not allowed to adopt and a little court battle later I had a dad" a wistful look came over him "My very own family." he looked at her "It's just the two of us, but it's still pretty awesome."

"That's amazing."

"Okay. I've told you my abridged life story, what about yours."

She held her head down, playing with her fork again "Not much to tell. Its mw, my dad and my brother. Our mom died when we were kids. My grandmother helped him finish raising us. I got out of grad school a few months ago and now I work for my father. I'm on my way to Ba Sing Se to see some people." That was good, not the whole truth, but not a lie.

"Sorry about your mom."

She glanced out of the window "It was a long time ago."

"Doesn't mean it doesn't still hurt sometimes."

Her head turned back toward him and she smiled "Exactly."

"Okay you two, here you go." the nice woman said as she sat their dinner in front of them "Enjoy."

They both said "Thank you." and ate their meal. They spent the rest of the time talking about small things as they enjoyed their meals. When desert came Katara said "I'm so sorry. I've taken up all your time. You hardly got any work done."

"It's okay. This was nice. It's basically done. I'm just nitpicking now. I need this to be perfect."

"I'm sure it will be."

"I appreciate the distraction."

"We all need that sometime." Katara scooped up some brownie and ice cream and paused when she had an idea "Hey, you want to do this again tomorrow. Have breakfast I mean."

"That would be great."