It had been a month and a week since Katara had gone to be with her grandmother, so Aang decided it would be a nice opportunity to stop by the southern Water Tribe to see Hakoda and Sokka while visiting. Katara hadn't written to him in a couple weeks, but maybe Hakodate would know what was going on. The Cold crisp air surrounded Aang as he saw the tribe from above, seeing the people walking around and enjoying every day life.
"Come on Appa, lets land over there." He patted Appa pointing to the empty snow field in the middle of the village. As Appa landed, Aang hopped off as the little children ran up to Appa and started petting and playing with him. Momo was accompanying Appa as well. Aang saw Hakoda and Sokka were waiting for him, Hakoda pulling him in for a quick man hug and patting his back.
"Finally time my future son-in-law show up! How you been?" Hakoda said as Sokka patted Aang's back.
"Good. Came down for a quick visit, with Katara with her Grandmother, I have too much free time besides the peace meetings and all." He said as he stretched. Hakoda and Sokka looked to each other for a second and back at Aang. Sokka awkwardly coughed.
"Gram Gram passed 2 weeks ago. There was a funeral and everything. She didn't tell you about the thing?" Sokka asked. Aang raised his brow.
"What thing?" Aang asked. Hakoda rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
"The Chief's son, Joha, from the Northern Water Tribe is visiting. We are negotiating and he won't let go of this one thing, but we are doing our best to fix it." Sokka said. Aang clenched his fist.
"Where is Katara?" Aang asked. Hakoda sighed. He nudged his head to the left.
"In the snow Cottage over there. She has been staying there for the past 2 weeks." He said. Aang marched over there, his feet crunching in the snow every step he took. He pushed open the thick fur curtains to see Katara sitting on her bed. She looked up in shock.
"Aang? What are you doing here?" She asked. Aang kept his stern face and tense pose.
"Me? What about you?! Why didn't you tell me that your Grandmother died... 2 weeks ago!" He said. Katara looked down in shame.
"I'm so sorry Aang. I really am." She began to cry. Aang sighed as he sat down next to her and wrapped his arm around her.
"Why Katara?" He asked more calmly. Katara sighed.
"After Gram Gram died, Joha came down and started negotiating territory rights with my father. He is willing to call off his men that have been threatening to attack us if I will agree to something." She said fiddling with a lock of her hair.
"What is it?" He asked nudging her head slightly to face him. She let a few more tears fall.
"He wants my hand in marriage." She said. Aang stood up in shock.
"What?! No way!!" He exclaimed. Katara got up as well.
"Calm down Aang, it's not like I said yes." She said. Aang smoothed his hand over his head.
"Well, did you say no?" He asked holding her hands. Katara gulped.
"It was all so sudden, before I could say anything his father reminded us of his threat so I left." She said pacing around the room. Before Aang could reply, a tall young man walked in. He was tan, had baby blue eyes, and a half shaved head with slick black hair rising just above his shoulder.
"Hey Katara, I hope you thought more about my generous offer. Who is this?" He said. Aang furrowed his brows.
"You must be Joha." Aang stated bluntly. Joha smirked and walked over to Katara.
"This is Aang. The avatar." Katara said. Aang looked to her, questioning why she didn't mention their engagement to him.
"Oh the avatar! It is such an honor to meet you!" Joha said. Aang didn't react.
"Likewise." He said. Joha awkwardly coughed as Hakoda and the Northen chief, Dakkar walked in with his 2 guards. Katara stood next to Aang. Dakkar straightened his back.
"We need an answer. My son would make the perfect suitor. We need to establish a bond between our tribes, I would call off my men and we could evolve and live in peace." Dakkar said to Katara and Hakoda.
"Why can't we just live in peace now? I already said you could take the south east shipping port if we could have access to oil and fishing rights in your region. Why can't it just be left at that?" Hakoda stated. Dakkar raised his brow and looked to Joha. Joha stepped forward to Katara.
"Katara, think of what this could do for our tribes, we could bring them closer together. Me, the son of the Northern Chief and you, daughter of the Southern Chief. What could stand in our way?" He said. Katara backed away.
"Joha, I was scared before what you would do to my people. I'm afraid that I'm already engaged to someone else." She said as she took Aang's hand.
"I'm going to marry Aang." She said. Dakkar' face grew Dark as Joha gasped. Aang smirked as he pulled her closer to him. Hakoda smiled to himself.
"Well then, I guess we have no choice but to retaliate." Dakkar said as he, Joha and his two guards left. Katara left as well, followed by Aang and her father. They were greeted by 50 men, 20 archers and 30 warriors. Dakkar stood in front with Joha. Katara started to bend some water around her in an attack stance.
"I won't let you hurt my people!" She yelled. Aang backed her up as Hakoda got some warriors to his aid. A couple of Dakkar's archers came forward as Katara attacked the first two men by blasting them with ice. Aang stepped in as 4 other warriors came in as he swept them with an air kick, bringing them to their backs before they could swing their swords at him. Hakoda came in, swinging his sword at some other men while Katara froze 5 other men, making Dakkar and Joha attack as well. An archer came behind Katara, an arrow dipped in poison, trying to get a good shot at Aang. While Aang was busy trying to knock down 4 other men, Katara saw the archer and ran towards him, lifting ice spikes pointing towards him. The archer, alarmed made a sloppy shot without aiming correctly.
"Ah!!!" Katara exclaimed as she dropped to her knees. Aang and Hakoda looked straight at her as Joha and Dakkar raised their hands, signaling to their men to cease fire. Katara collapsed, Aang running over to her. He held her waist to help turn her over but lifted his hand to see blood. Aang, horrified and engulfed with rage, started to slip into the avatar state. Soon, men were retreating back to the north at the fear of what he could do, but it didn't help Katara. Hakoda ran to her, picking her up.
"Someone get the village healer, now!" He yelled. Katara was starting to black out, all she could see was her father running with her in his arms, and Aang following behind them. She soon passed out.
"Katara...Katara?!" Katara heard Aang saying as she started to open her eyes slowly. She saw Aang, looking worried beyond belief but relieved a little. She tried to move but winced at the pain.
"Don't move too much, I'm just so happy you're awake. I couldn't imagine losing you." He said as he stroked Katara's cheek. He pressed his forehead to hers as she felt the bandages all around her abdomen. Aang sighed.
"You were shot with a poisoned arrow. They agreed to stand down thanks to your father." He said. Katara tried to sit up but winced, forgetting about the pain.
"Where is he? Where is my dad?" She asked looking around.
"He had to leave up to the Northern tribe, to help certify the final details of the treaty. He wished he could have stayed." He said. Katara rubbed her fingers on her bandages.
"You were out for 5 days straight. The village healer, Sari, was here but, I just needed to stay with you." He said. Katara pulled him in for a kiss, him holding her head when Sari came in.
"Katara, Aang. I'm I interrupting something?" She said smirking. Aang and Katara separated, blushing. Sari chuckled before coming over with a bowl of a blue-ish clear liquid.
"What's that for Sari?" She asked, Aang helping her to sit up better. She held Katara's arm out and pulled out a small blade.
"This will hurt a little." She put the blade in Katara's arm, making her and Aang cringe a little. She took the blade out as a little blood poured into the bowl. She bandages up her arm before mixing in a red powder into the bowl and stirring it a bit.
"I'm making sure you don't have something. It would be quite rare so I wouldn't worry." Sari said. Aang looked to Katara and lightly squeezed her hand. As Sari continued to stir, the liquid turned pitch black. Her face grew sullen.
"Katara. Dear oh dear." She muttered. Katara looked to Sari in worry and so did Aang.
"What is it Sari?!" She asked. Sari put her hand in her face and put her hand on Katara's shoulder.
"I'm so sorry. I did everything I could, I followed your grandmother's healing scrolls word for word. The archer must have used infected Walrus-squid ink from it's poison sack. The test came back positive, look." She held the pitch black bowl in front of Aang and Katara. They grew more and more nervous.
"The infected poison hit straight into your liver. I tried to remove all of it but I failed. I'm so sorry." She let a few tears fall. Katara look horrified.
"You now have Silver Moon disease. I'm 100% sure. I can give you some teas and herbs to help manage it better, but it can't be cured. I'm so sorry." She said. Katara started to cry.
"What is Silver Moon disease?!" Aang exclaimed in confusion. Katara looked at him.
"It's a rare disease people can develop if infected with certain poisons in parts of their bodies." She said. Aang's heart dropped.
"Symptoms include periods of weakens immune systems and fainting spells. It can be managed, for its different for some people. It might only occur every couple of months or so. When it takes affect, she will faint, sleep for a day or two, and be really sick for a bit. It should last for a couple days at a time but it is permanent. She will have this for the rest of her life." She said. She gave them some herbs and teas and packed her tools. She left them to be alone, Katara staying silent.
"For the rest of my life." She said to herself. Aang let a tear fall as he pulled her close.
"I will always be with you Katara. You don't have to be alone through this." He said kissing her head. She held him with one arm.
"I can't burden you with this, it's not fair." She said. He lifted her chin to face him.
"You are never a burden. We can get through this, we can manage this as best as we can. Nothing can change the way I feel about you." He said kissing her. She smiled as they separated.
"Your such the perfect guy. I don't know what I ever did to deserve someone as great as you." They both chuckled. They both held each other.