liara and aang flew to ba sing se alone after leaving toph, katara and sokka by toph's metalbending school with appa.
the two of them cuddled in diki's jasmine-lined saddle for a good while, just talking and enjoying each other's company after you dao.
now, they were brainstorming about their future together, like most couples. they had been together for a year now.
"oh, and we'll definitely live near the beach or a lake so that we can have beach parties whenever we can." aang suggested and Liara nodded with a grin.
"and well have a watermelon patch and a fruit garden, just like at the temples." the girl stated, thinking of home.
"and we'll have a meditation room with a balcony to feel the breeze and hear the lemurs chirping." aang smiled.
diki groaned underneath the two airbenders, signalling that they had arrived at ba sing se.
Liara petted the bison's head, "find a safe face to sleep, okay girly?" the bison groaned.
she and aang then took their gliders and flew down to land in the city.
their yellow and orange attire stood out against the usual green and brown, but they didn't care.
"now we have to find somewhere to spend the night." aang said.
"I'm sure iroh has a spare room," liara replied, taking aang's hand. "do you remember how to get to the tea shop?" the boy asked his girlfriend, who nodded, "yup its-"
she was cut off by squeals. "is it, like, really you?" turning around, the airbenders saw two girls with paintings of aang's face stuck to their dresses.
Liara clicked her head to the side, how pequliar.
"I can't, like, believe it! is it really you? with your flying lemur and everything?" the girl said.
liara looked around, not seeing Momo. did the girl think liara was a lemur?? liara looked down at herself, noting how she didn't look like a tiny mammal with wings.
the girl continued," I had this, like, reoccurring dream that you'd just show up and be here magically and stuff,"
wow, she really needed to widen her vocabulary, liara thought to herself with a deadpan.
"no! bad liara! no judging!" she heard yao's voice in her head and huffed to herself. ever since yao discovered that he could contact her without meditation, he'd been abusing his power exponentially.
dumb monkey.
"rude."
Liara turned her attention back to the girl, who was still talking.
for some reason, her voice irritated the airbender a lot, but liara kept her pose, holding a neutral face. she was definitely tuning out of this one.
"did you hear that? they started a fan club for me!" aang smiled at his girlfriend. liara gave him a small, obviously forced, smile. "really? that's crazy."
crazy weird. and a little bit creepy. they don't even know Aang!
Liara was definitely getting irritated, but she took a breath and calmed herself. "someone's jealous!"
shut up, monkey man!
aang bowed at the two girls, "I'm aang, and my lemur is Momo." aang said as Momo climbed out of his shirt and perched on his shoulder.
that explained a lot.
Liara cleared her throat. "oh and this is Liara," aang gestured to her. she cleared her throat again, "my girlfriend." he smiled brightly
the two girls bowed at liara, and the airbender returned the favour. maybe this wasn't so bad.
"it is such a, like, pleasure to meet the avatar's first girlfriend."
spirits. nevermind.
"first?" she questioned, her pupils constricting with irritation. she knew exactly what they meant, she just needed confirmation.
the second girl looked up at her with a sly smirk.
"looks like you have your first comtetition, airhead."
Liara almost sighed.
"it's getting late," she said, hooking her arm with aang's. "let's go find a place-" "oh? you guys, like, need a place to stay?" one of the girls interrupted.
oh, for the love of-
"yeah!" aang replied chipperly. "it'd be, like, sooo amazing if you guys stayed at our clubhouse!"
Liara was, like, sooo over this already.
~
"you said it was modeled after the western air temple?" aang questioned. "yup,"
liara stared at the run-down little building, barely controlling her facial expressions.
the disrespect.
the clubhouse was decorated with upside-down umbrellas, and a semi-sloppily drawn air nomad emblem on paper was shown next to the door. the western air temple was much more majestic than this.
"stop judging, liara."
not judging, comparing.
"why not model the clubhouse after the southern temple? I mean, that's where aang is from." liara said to the girls, her light jabs seeming to get to them.
they couldn't defend against her statement without disrespecting aang. liara, one; little girls, zero.
"well, there is more information on the western air temple than the south." another girl said. she seemed calm and collected unlike the others.
"yeah, like, won-yee, like, did all the decorating and stuff, like, to make it upside-down and everything like the real temple is." the talker stated.
"do you like, like it?"
Liara deadpanned, out of six 'like's, only two could have been used in both of those sentences.
"i love it," aang bowed to them.
Liara followed his lead as not to seem disrespectful although she was thoroughly disrespecting them in her head.
"yeah you are."
go away, yao.
"no thanks, this is, like sooo entertaining." the spirit mimicked the talker's voice and Liara rolled her eyes at him.
Liara was snapped back to reality by her boyfriend, who grappled her arm and began pulling her into the clubhouse. "come on, liara, let's check it out!"
liara? what happened to honey?
~
they were now inside of the clubhouse the next morning, with liara drinking her litchi juice in the corner while watching aang's how off to the girls.
she seemed nonchalant but she was tearing those girls apart in her mind, slandering everything they did and said relentlessly, that would probably make them cry if they heard what she said.
"now, now, liara. I know you're jealous, but remember that you're a monk, and you should stay pure of heart."
Liara took a breath. yao was right. she felt guilty now for the things she said about them in her head.
it would be better for her mind to join in on the fun and just be happy instead of letting jealousy control her actions.
"wow, an airbender's fluite? monk gyatso used to have one just like this." aang marvelled and Liara smiled, remembering how he loved playing when they were younger.
aang turned to her, "what song should I play?" he asked, happy to see her smiling. "what about... the one about the traveling girl... what was it again... ?"
aang played a few notes, knowing exactly what she meant. "yes! that one!" she beamed brightly.
"sing and I'll play? Just like old times." he grinned and Liara nodded,
ohhh
don't fall in love with the travelling girl,
she'll leave you broken, broken hearted!
laughter and joy filled the room as the girls danced to the music. it was almost as if aang and Liara were back home again, playing music to the children in the nurseries, and dancing with them.
once the song ended, liara smiled at the girls. "sorry girls, but we really have to meet with the earth King, but we'll stop by next time we come to town," she said, and it finally clicked with aang that they had to leave.
they walked out of the little house and Liara whistled, using her sound bending to make it the same frequency that only bison could hear, much like aang's bison whistle.
diki landed next to her just a minute later, and the girls stared at the giant animal in awe. aang and Liara sat on diki's head, aang's arm around liara's shoulder as they waved to the girls.
"yip-yip."