AN: This is my first fan fiction. I have read a lot of Avatar the Last Airbender fiction on this site, and I'm in awe of many of you great writers! I have avoided writing anything of my own, but then I thought about how I always like more Kataang stories. So I decided to contribute my own. This is an angsty reunion story, with heavy focus on culture.

This may not be canon compliant with all of the comics. But starts directly after the end of the cartoon series, with the characters aging quickly thereafter.

Chapter 1

Aang had quite literally been out of his body before; many times in fact, while traveling in the spirit world. But nothing felt so wholly like an out-of-body experience as that kiss with Katara on the balcony of Iroh's teashop. It was as though time really was an illusion, like it stood still and disappeared, like the earth dropped out from under him, leaving only this girl he loved wrapped tightly in his arms. His heart thumped faster than ever, but he didn't register it. She loved him. She loved him back! She finally wanted him like he had always wanted her. And life could not get better.

But reality hit sometime not long after that magical kiss. They were young, and the world was still barely awakening to the idea of life without constant war. Aang was suddenly thrust into a role of world-rebuilder that he was far too young and inexperienced for. Suddenly he seemed to be needed everywhere at once. His days of roaming the world as he pleased seemed to be gone.

With peace unfolding, people began to return to their homes. Chief Hakoda had to get back to his tribe, and he wanted his children with him. Katara, though old enough to fight battles all over the world during wartime, was still only 14 and in peacetime, that was deemed too young to live on her own. And admittedly part of her really was desperate to get back, to be with her family again at home. So she and Sokka retuned with their Dad to the South Pole. She told Aang it wouldn't be forever, just for a while, and that they would still be together, just apart for a little while. Aang visited as often as he could, but every time he did, he simply could not stay for long. The world had waited one hundred years for its Avatar's return, and now that he was back, he was needed to forge balance again.

Sometimes Katara had left the South Pole to travel with him. To Ba Sing Se, or the fire nation capital, or even back to the northern water tribe; but she would always ultimately return to the South Pole afterwards. Even though it was not as often as he would have liked, Aang loved when Katara would come with him in his travels. Being with Katara like that filled his heart with a completeness and a contentedness that he honestly had not felt since living with the monks at the Southern Air Temple as a child.

However one evening, shortly after Aang turned fifteen, Hakoda rounded a corner coming back home from the village center to find Katara pushed firmly up against a wall with the Avatar's body pressed tightly against her, kissing her passionately, their open mouths locked hungrily. Aang's hands had roamed all over her back and sides and in her hair while she folded both arms behind his neck, pulling him closer to her. Hakoda had stopped in his tracks, mouth open in surprise. And it was then that Hakoda changed his mind about letting Katara travel with Aang unaccompanied. That innocent twelve-year-old little boy had grown, and Hakoda didn't trust him alone with his daughter anymore.

So Hakoda had placed limitations on Katara's travels with Aang: not so frequent, not for so long, and no longer could they travel alone. Katara had balked and argued, but Hakoda had stood his ground; as stubborn as Katara could be, she got that trait strait from her father who could be just as immovable as she could when it came to what he felt was protecting his family. Sometimes Sokka had traveled with the two of them as chaperone, and once even Hakoda himself, but that had been awkward, with Aang on edge as Hakoda glared daggers into the back of his tattooed head while he steered Appa. So inevitably, with the inconvenience of these new rules, Katara just traveled less with Aang.

Although Hakoda was still civil with Aang, his warmth toward the boy had gradually plummeted to near freezing degrees. What Hakoda had once seen as a childhood fling between his daughter and the Avatar was clearly more serious than that, and he began to see all the ways the air bender could not give Katara what he wanted for her. Ultimately if Aang and Katara were to stay together, she would have to leave the South Pole. Aang's vegetarian diet alone required that nearly everything he ate while in the South Pole had to be imported. And feeding Appa, the 10-ton herbivore with 5 stomachs, solely on food brought with him, was not a long-term solution. Add to this his role as the world's Avatar? No, Aang simply could not settle down in the South Pole.

Hakoda had other concerns beyond Aang taking his daughter away from the South. The air nomad culture was so foreign, and so ambiguously understood, that Hakoda had major concerns about their long-term compatibility. Aang had been raised by monks, after all, not in any semblance of a traditional family. What exactly did he have in mind with Hakoda's daughter? Did he even plan to marry her? Almost all common knowledge of air nomad culture and traditions was gone, and Hakoda began to see more and more places where their backgrounds would come into conflict. As a nomad seeking un-attachment to worldly possessions, Aang was unlikely to provide a stable home for Katara; add that to his role as the Avatar, and instability, coupled with danger, multiplied. Hakoda respected the boy, and was ever grateful to him for his role in ending the war, but that in no way negated his concerns about him being what he considered a poor match for his daughter.

Hakoda began to mention some of his concerns to Katara. Just small comments here and there, most of which, Katara defended against adamantly with all her teenage indigence. But during the long stretches of Aang's absences, some of her dad's worries began to take seed in the back of her mind.

Katara herself first doubted their future together when Aang, somewhat casually, mentioned that the Air Nomad's had no marriage rites at all, as they didn't get married. Coming from a tribe of fiercely close family ties, she had been shocked to hear Aang drop that comment without a second thought. She could not imagine a culture without families, and at that moment as she looked at him, he felt so foreign to her.

Sure she had always known that Aang had been raised by monks at a temple monastery. But it was difficult for her to fathom that he was okay with never knowing his mother, and even more, that his mother was somehow okay with giving him away to be raised by the community. No marriage ceremonies. No families. No official earthy ties. She could not relate to that. And what about her? What did this mean for her future with him? She knew she wanted a husband and a family. Before she had met Aang she had always imagined being married to a water tribe man, gathering her family close around her wrapped in furs by the fire on the long dark nights in the South Pole, telling stories and singing lullabies her own mother had sung to her. It was harder to picture this future with Aang.

And once this doubt had entered her mind, she began to notice more ways she would have to choose between her culture, her tribe, and being with Aang. Most all of the tribe's biggest celebrations and festivals centered around annual hunts: from ice fishing for seal-tigers, to the great open ocean walrus-whale hunt, to the three week long hunt into the arctic for Cari-moose and giant polar bear-wolves. Aang would clearly not participate in the hunting nor the feasting that came as a result of them. But these traditions were sacred and important to her people. Would Aang approve of his children one day participating? Or would she end up loosing her culture for herself, and one day for her children also?

And although they never talked about it, Katara was also aware of the burden Aang carried as the last of his kind. One day he would need to have air bender children. And they would need to carry forward the whole of Air Nomad culture. Was she okay with the pressure that would place on her to mother these children? And would Aang's culture always need to trump her own, since their children would be the only living representatives of the lost fourth nation? As a child of water, she was adaptable. But would she ultimately end up adapting right out of her heritage?

Still, she tried not dwell on these worries often. She was too happy and in love. Only occasionally would these worried prick her with doubt. These concerns were reserved only for long nights alone when sleep evaded her. Not for when she was with Aang. Whenever he was there, these concerns were always far, far away. When they were together she just basked in his playful antics and ready laugh, soaking up the way he looked at her with unadulterated adoration, thrilling in the exultant vibrations that being close to him sent through her. He loved her, and she loved him, and the rest would work itself out. Right?

However, over the years other complications from being involved in a long-distance relationship had occasionally arisen. There had been more than one boy to show more than casual interest in Katara. She didn't always know what to do with this attention. It was no secret she was in a relationship with the Avatar, but this did not seem to deter some of the bolder ones. Hakoda was at least impartial with his protectiveness – it wasn't just the Avatar he wanted to keep distance from his daughter. So all of these boys were given the same cold reception from both her father and her older brother; Sokka going so far as to actually make one unlucky fellow his boomerang target practice when he caught the boy leaning in too close (in his opinion) to Katara while they talked at the village center fountain. And Katara could take care of herself. But still, sometimes it was awkward to always site a boyfriend who was next to never there. It could be lonely. And sometimes she really did just need a friend.

Around the time of Katara's eighteenth birthday, she began spending time with a new friend, an older Water Tribe bender from the North named Urik. She had become good friends with Urik's younger sister, Alikka, while doing some post-war ambassador work with Aang at the North Pole. While Aang met with Chief Arnook, Katara had taught a few lessons to Allika's all-girl waterbending class as a visiting master instructor. The two girls had hit it off, becoming fast friends. Alikka was a short, tenacious girl who was already a talented healer prior to Katara's infamous bending battle with Master Pakku. Once Pakku started allowing other girls to learn more than just healing, Alikka was one of the first to eagerly sign up to learn waterbending. Even though girls and boys were still taught separately (once there was more than just one girl to teach), Katara felt proud to have been a part of the progress made for female waterbenders in the North.

Some time later, upon returning from a conference she had attended with Aang and Sokka in Ba Sing Sei (although Aang himself couldn't return with her at that time), Katara was happy to find that Alikka's family had moved to the South Pole on Pakku's request, to help with reconstruction. It was then that Katara had met Allika's older brother, Urik. The three of them spend time together working on waterbending projects to rebuild the village, often going out together afterward in the evenings. Sometimes Sokka would join them, and it felt nice to have friends to hang out with like a normal teenager.

She knew that Urik was attractive, although she thought of him as just a friend, a good sparring partner, and a great listening ear. She knew he liked her, and she was flattered, but had been clear about her relationship with Aang (although lately, with all the time spent apart from each other, she had felt less sure about what that relationship really was). Urik was charming, but respectful, and even though she didn't always know what to do with his occasional coy comments and casual flirtations, she enjoyed his company. She wasn't flirting back, now was she? Just spending time with a friend who helped her improve her bending, and to forget for short periods of time how much she missed Aang. Urik was a lot of fun and a very good friend, so so what if she liked his attention? It beat pining away in loneliness during Aang's long absences.

Aang also had plenty of experience rebuffing the advances of other girls. It was never a question of loyalty, since for him, Katara was always his one and only. But it didn't stop young ladies (and their aspiring families) from trying to discretely push their way into romantic favor with him. Awkward and stuttering, he eventually managed to evade these compromising situations (even if it meant hiding up in the rafters or perhaps behind Zuko's chair). But after he turned sixteen years old, it seemed that these encounters only increased in frequency and blatancy.

Until one evening, Aang was caught kissing General How's youngest daughter in the middle of a solstice celebration banquet. It was a known fact that Aang loved to dance, and so shamelessly showing off on the dance floor was not unlike him. And what was that drink they had served at dinner? He wasn't sure, but he felt a bit giddy and even lighter on his feet that usual. However when one of his dance partners, the general's pretty daughter, pulled him laughing into a heated kiss, he hardly knew what was even happening before the gossip had spread like wildfire.

Variations and bloated versions of the scandal began circulating, including talk of a betrothal. Other deviations claimed that he had left the party with her shortly afterward, even implying that perhaps the world would be graced with a new airbender before the year was up. Others inferred that the General's daughter was not the only one to fall for the Avatar's charms. Eventually these stories made their way down to the South Pole.

Katara first overheard the story of the Avatar's 'latest fling' while shopping in the village square. Two trade boats had just arrived that morning from the Earth Kingdom with new goods and fresh gossip. How much of these stories were based in truth? How much was blown out of proportion? Well Katara didn't know, and even though she couldn't believe some of the more outrageous accusations, it became clear to her that the "understanding" she and Aang had had was no longer understood by both of them.

At first she was angry. But after the initial shock wore off, her anger gave way to embarrassment and pain. Aang had grown into a striking young man, charismatic and handsome. Of course women would be attracted to him. And here she was, tucked away in the Southern tip of the world, while Aang was socializing everyday with other girls. She ducked her head and hurried away from the small clusters of people discussing the scandal behind their hands with furtive glances her way. Katara found her stomach gripped with jealousy, and afterwards, just plain hurt. She hurried to get away from the village market as the tears welled in her eyes.

Just as she hastily rounded a corner, she bumped right into Urik. She looked up at him in surprise as her tears began to fall.

"Katara, what's wrong?!"

But she found her throat choked on the answer, so instead she just walked into his comforting embrace. Urik held her while she cried, and softly stroked her hair. "Its okay Katara, I'm here for you." And he was.

There was a marked change in her interactions with Urik after that. She no longer decidedly declined his small advances. His flirtations were subtly returned in like kind. The next week, when they found themselves alone, he had grabbed her hand. And she didn't take it back. However that evening, she had been riddled with conflict, feeling that she had broken Aang's trust. Until the thought made her temper flared hot again, reminding her of his betrayals first. Still, after that day, she tried again to distance herself a bit from Urik.

But Urik was her friend, and he was persistent. And frankly he was there, when Aang was not.

One evening about a month after the devastating rumor of Aang's fling with the General's daughter had crushed Katara's heart, she and Urik were out practicing waterbending together on the ice planes just outside the village. Katara was showing him an advanced technique that involved creating an ice track while simultaneously skating across it. He didn't have trouble making the track, but was having difficulty banking the turns properly to accommodate increased speeds of travel. The air was crisp and clear, and the sun was just setting over the horizon, washing the sky and ocean with rich hues of reds, yellows and orange.

"It's more like this," Katara instructed as she demonstrated again how to use the water to propel herself forward with more speed. She circled both arms up and in front of her chest, pushing one palm forward, the other one back as she lunged, skating a perfect small track and rounding back to where Urik stood. Urik's eyes followed her graceful body until she arrived in front of him. "Beautiful," he murmured, without taking his eyes from hers. Katara blushed at his gaze, and looked shyly to the side. "Urik…" she timidly cautioned, tucking her hair loopy behind her ear. But he took one step toward her, grabbing her hand and gently pulling her closer to him.

"No, I mean it. You're beautiful, Katara." Then he leaned down and caught her lips in a tender kiss. She froze. Her breath caught in her chest. Next thing she knew she found that she was kissing him back.

…..

"We're almost there, Appa!"

The sun was setting painting the sky a beautiful crimson orange as Aang flew Appa towards the South Pole; the village he considered home just coming into view. It had been nearly six months since Aang's last visit; almost half a year since he had seen Katara, and he ached to be with her again. Aang detested the long separations, but until he could finally marry Katara and whisk her away with him permanently, he had few options but to sneak away back to the pole as often as he could. However he found to his great frustration that he could not get away nearly as often as he wanted to. The South Pole was practically the end of the earth; certainly not a centralized location for convenient travel to and from.

Aang inhaled a great breath of the cold arctic air. Felt like home. Because wherever she was, was home to him. And he could feel that she was close! Aang gave Appa's reins a quick flick. "Lets pick up the pace, Buddy! I can't wait to see her!"

Down below, Aang spotted a pair outside the village limits practicing waterbending. Looks like they were skating ice paths. He strained to see more clearly. Yup, definitely Katara! No one could skate an ice path as gracefully as she did. Aang urged Appa into a descent.

But as they flew closer, Aang began to notice more closely what was happening below. He knew Katara had not been alone, but he just now noticed she was out there with a man. Urik. Aang knew him and his sister, and knew that they were good friends of Katara. Aang's eyes narrowed. What were they doing? Why was he standing so close to Katara?

As they descended, the scene below came into perfect focus. What was Urik doing with his hands on Katara? How dare he pull her against him like that?! And then… Aang's heart and breath stopped. He gulped, eyes wide and betrayed as he watched Katara kissing Urik.

For a moment Aang felt light-headed, even squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head to clear the traitorous image, believing that when he opened his eyes again, it would have all been an illusion.

But it wasn't. When he looked again, there they were, wrapped around each other kissing like they had no reason not to; like she wasn't right now stabbing him in the back by being with another man! Jealously like red-hot anger flared in his young heart. He didn't even wait for Appa to land, but launched himself off of the bison's head plummeting toward the tête-à-tête below.

Aang landed heavily in a crouch on the ice a mere ten feet from the pair, rocking the ground in an angry wave that radiated out from him. Katara and Urik broke apart in surprise and in an effort to stay upright on the shifting ground.

Aang stood up, gripping his staff, shoulders still hunched forward in a predatory stance, glaring at the two of them. "Katara! What are you doing?! What's happening here!"

For a moment Katara just stood there, mouth open in a gape and eyes wide staring at Aang. Then she blinked a few times, shaking her head as if shaking off some spell. She looked over at Urik, who looked just as surprised as she felt. One hand drifted up and gently touched her lips, like she wasn't sure what had just happened.

But Aang was not feeling patient. Shutting his eyes tight, he turned his head in an effort to keep his Avatar wrath in check; he had learned to control the Avatar State long ago, but it had been a while since he had felt this kind of visceral reaction. His Avatar spirit writhed within him, but he stamped down the surge of power and rage struggling to leap forward.

Stomping two angry steps forward, he pointed his staff at her demanding again "What are you doing kissing Urik, Katara?!"

Urik was the first to find his voice. "It was me, Aang. I kissed her."

That was enough. The usually gentle and peace-loving airbender, felt a bitter jealousy snap inside him. Who did he think he was?! Aang had lost everything: his whole nation, his childhood, everyone he had ever known and loved; he already had so little to claim as his own. Was it too much to want the love of this one girl to be for him alone? Who was Urik to take her away from him?!

Aang turned on Urik with rage, circling the bottom half of his staff he bent up a low swirling whirlwind that sucked Urik up by the legs and tossed him into the air. Then swinging the bottom end of his staff over his head and slamming it down, the winds followed suit, slamming Urik into the snow blow with a thud. Aang breathed hard with righteous indignation, not even feeling any guilt at the sound Urik's body made as it collided with the ground.

Urik lifted himself up, wiping his lip where it had busted open. And before Aang knew it, Urik was up and throwing water punches at the Avatar. From left and right, water shot up in punishing streams from the snow, attempting to pummel the Avatar. Aang barely managed to wave off the water as he stepped back, and then back again, warding off Urik's attack. He brought up an ice shield just in time to block the ice shards that Urik sent his way. Then planning himself, he pushed the shield forward in an offensive attach, but Urik melted it into water parting on both sides of him. Urik bent the parted water back around and launched it heavily at Aang, which he barely dodged. That was it! Aang's anger flared anew as he spun unto the air and commanded the winds to once again to pull Urik off his feet, then slam him into the ice; once, twice, and as he had him up and ready to slam him down a third time, he felt something grab his ankle and yank him back heavily to the ground. He looked down to see Katara's waterwhip wrapped around his leg. Then he felt a stinging slap in the face from the whip in her other hand.

Aang sat stunned on the ice, bringing his hand up to his face to where Katara had whipped him. He felt blood on his cheek. What?! How had it come to this?

"How dare you, Aang?!" Katara seethed.

"Wha..? What do you mean?! How dare you go around behind my back like this? How long have you been cheating with this piece of scum?!" Aang spat as he gestured at Urik's prone body. Anger still roared behind his ears, rational thought taking a back seat to the pain and betrayal he felt.

"Urik is not scum. And you're one to talk!" She shot back angrily.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, I wonder! Maybe about General How's hussy of a daughter and how eager you were to get all over her in Ba Sing Se!"

Surprise crossed his face, before his eyebrows pulled tight in irritation. Vaguely he was aware of people gathering from the village.

"Is that what you think?!" He turned from her in disgust. "Your more disloyal than I thought if you so easily believe every idle lie that makes its way down to this god-forsaken block of ice."

Affronted by his personal jab at both her character and her home, Katara's eyes hardened. "So are you denying it?!"

"Why should I? It sounds like the all-knowing gossip chain has already convinced you of my treachery. And you…" Aang swallowed hard, blinking back angry tears. "You so easily believed it to be true."

"Well what do you expect me to believe? When you abandon me down here!… leaving me for months at a time…" Then much quieter, but still in a biting tone Katara muttered something that sounded like "Air nomads… 'no earthly attachments'… more like no grasp of loyalty…"

"What?!" Aang turned back to her roaring. "You slander my people when not five minute ago I caught you making out with another man?! You're the one who knows nothing of loyalty! Fickle water tribe: adapting your way from one man to another without so much as a backward glance!"

Katara let out a growl, which morphed into a strangled sob. She furiously grabbed a huge wave of water from the ice and hurled it at Aang with all her might. He was knocked flat, soaking and dazed by the freezing assault. Without thinking he spun up and around, swinging his staff like a bat. The resulting air current knocked Katara ten feet backward as she fell hard on her side, skidding to the feet of the gathering crowd.

Aang stood frozen, dumb-founded. He couldn't believe what he had just done. His hands dropped his staff in disbelief. The clatter of his staff on the ice loud in his ears as everything else went silent.

Aang and Katara had sparred countless times before, battling to improve their bending and skills. Sometimes they got pretty competitive, but there had always been an underlying feeling of affection, even playfulness between them. This was the first time Aang had ever struck her in anger. And he was appalled with himself. Shame and regret like nothing he had ever tasted before rising in his mouth.

Just then Hakoda pushed his way from the back of the crowd, Sokka right beside him.

Aang jerkily stumbled a few steps towards Katara, hands out stretched in front of him as if in supplication. "Katara, I…"

But Sokka was on top of him tackling him to the ground before he knew what was happening. One fist punched his jaw, hard. "Aang?!" Sokka spat, "what the hell is wrong with you?! How dare you strike my sister!"

Aang rubbed his jaw painfully, but looked right past Sokka, to Katara as she struggled to get up, her face wincing in pain, Hakoda gently grabbing her arms to help her stand. Her blue eyes looked at him with a stinging jolt of betrayal.

Again Aang struggled to get out from under Sokka, to get up and move toward her. "Katara! Oh spirits, what have I done?!"

But Hakoda protectively moved in front of his daughter, his striking blue eyes piercing Aang where he stood. His voice was icy as he commanded, "Get out! I want you out of here, Avatar. And don't come back. You are no longer welcome in the South Pole."

Sokka stepped back, letting Aang stumble to his feet. Aang's shoulders slumped forward, hands outstretched as if begging. "Please… you don't understand…"

"I know what I saw," Hakoda spoke with absolute finality, "and I want you to turn around, get on your bison, and get out of here. I don't care where you go, but you are to stay away from my daughter, do you understand, boy?"

For a brief moment Aang's eyes locked with Katara's; she was crying freely, her lower lip trembling uncontrollably. Her eyes radiated regret and betrayal, and something else… was it possible she could still have love in her eyes? Oh spirits, that almost made this worse…

Sokka picked up Aang's staff and handed it to him, his blue eyes flinty. But the pleading look Aang gave him softened his gaze perceptively. Sokka whispered as he turned him around by his shoulders, "You better go, Buddy."

On dead legs, Aang stumbled back to Appa, the banishing glares of all of the Southern Water Tribe on his back. And as he leadenly climbed onto Appa and turned to go, he was sure that he would never regret anything as much as he regretted this.

What had he done?!