Y'all sorry but I'm gonna include swearing from now on because that's how I see my character and should probably help my writing feel a little more smooth. Kids, don't tell your mothers what you read. It's gonna be our little secret:)
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It's been about two days since we left the Southern Air Temple. Two days with my pain in the ass brother. Two days of chucking an apple core at his head, Katara trying to teach the sexist pig how to sew, and two days of complaining about wanting meat. The current one happening right now. And I'm just about to lose it.
"SOKKA! I SWEAR TO THE SPIRITS THAT IF YOU KEEP COMPLAINING ABOUT YOUR STUPID MEATS, I WILL PERSONALLY FEED YOU TO A TIGER SHARK!" I shot up out of my seat with my eyes blazing and a waterspout rising behind me ready to execute my threat. Katara and Aang gave each other semi terrified and amused looks while scooting away from the over grown man child over here. Sokka has his back up against Appa's saddle trying to put as much distance between ourselves.
"N-no-now come on sis...I-i was just trying to anno-y YOU!" The more he kept talking the more I raised the waterspout. By the end of his feeble attempt at calming me down I smoothly moved my arm and guided the spout to him. Drenched and shivering he glared at me the best he could. But being the best little sister I am, I bended the water off of his clothes and out of his hair, back into the water below. Aang got up from where he and Katara sat and turn to all of us.
"I think we should make a pit stop. Sokka, you can go get your dead anim-I mean meat, Katara you can get whatever supplies we need, and Kaia if you want you can show me a few moves." No annoying brother? Waterbending? No flying? I'm in!
"You had me at 'Sokka you can go'."
"Hey! Respect your elders!" As if Sokka counts as an elder.
"Maybe I will once you start acting mature." Growling and stomping off once we landed, my brother grabbed his dearly beloved boomerang and threw it at a tree in front of him. But of course the universe seems to favor me in the moment because the boomerang bounced off the trunk and hit him in the head.
Katara and I were holding each other up trying not to fall in a heap of laughter. Aang already sitting down clutching his stomach before choking on air. He took a huge gulp of air that I'm surprised he didn't explode. He released all the air and unfortunately caught Katara and I in the crosswinds. Hair messed up and pushed to the ground, Katara ended up following my brother into the market place near by.
"Sorry Katara! Hehe sorry Kaia." He shouted at my sisters retreating figure then down to me.
"It's okay, lets go down by the water so I can teach you a few things."
"Cool! What's first? Giant waterspout? Tsunami? 100 foot wave???" Boy this kid is too ambitious for his own good sometimes.
"How about that weapon snowball I did back at that temple?" Immediately his face perked up but dropped as I told him some information he needed to know.
"Aang, remember that these are real weapons and can cause significant damage for those on the receiving end. If you ever want to practice with sword training like I do then sure. But in a real battle you have to be careful." He took in the words of warning but then looked confused.
"Why do you sword train then? You're an amazing waterbender, why would you need a weapon?" Ah so he noticed that.
"You can't always rely on your bending. There are chi blockers on the rise and I knew that if I were to face one, that I'd also want to know how to kick their ass in a fight. Other ways than Waterbending. The ice sword is mainly for practice. If my chi is blocked then it just goes back to snow." Aang thought over what I said for a little bit, lips moving the slightest bit, brows furrowed, and slightly nodding to himself. He looked at me with excitement and determination dancing in his eyes. I'm somewhat surprised as what he asked me next.
"Can you teach me how to fight with a sword?" Confused at his question, I know how he grew up, so why would he want to sword fight?
"But didn't the monks teach you to be peaceful as possible? Not to resort to violence?" Nodding his head at my question, he cleared it up.
"They did, but right now I'm not strong enough to completely defeat someone with my bending. And I wouldn't have to hurt them. Just defend myself till I can use my bending again." Thinking it over I can see that he's being genuine, he doesn't want to hurt anybody but we both know that he still has to defend himself. He'll be okay.
"Alright, follow me, you're gonna make a pile of snow big enough for us to use okay?"
"Yeah! Come on Kaia!" Tugging my arm he headed down to the waterfall where we landed.
"Now the first rule with bending snow or ice is what?" I know I could just show him, but it would be more beneficial to know what he's working with and how to make it easier.
"You gotta be sharp and cold, to match what you're bending." Satisfied with his answer, I threw another question.
"What part of your body do you use to strengthen the ice?" He looked confused. 'Got him.'
"Uhhh...your hands?" Smirking at his lost face, I correct him.
"Nope. It was a trick question. The second key to bending ice is to let the cold energy run through your entire body. Starting from the bottom of your feet, to your head, and out through your hands. The motions of bending itself is clean and sharp, but the energy flowing through you couldn't be further from that. The root of water bending. Feeling the flow of energy running from pool to pool of your body. Now. Ready your stance...go!" Watching him take every word I said and absorbing the information shot a beam of pride through my chest. Proud to help the Avatar. And proud to see the move I created being so perfectly displayed. Seeing he's starting to form the cool white orb I let out the next instruction.
"Good! Now each rotation of your arm you need to rise with it and form the weapon you want. Perfect! Now form the icicle and shoot it off center so it doesn't shatter the sword." Aang listens to my instructions and follows without any fail or any hint of uncertainty. He was gonna master waterbending easily. Seeing the sword fall out of the air into his hands made me cringe. Why? The young boy has never handled a sword and almost shattered it on the ground. He looked at me with a sheepish smile when he saw my slapping my hand to my face. Breathing in and out I bended the snow into a circle around my body, speeding it up with every rotation. After gaining the speed I want, I split the snow-now ice- into two perfect half's of a sword. Closing my eyes I moved the halves above my head with my palms touching. The ice was positioned like tip to hilt. Practically on top of each other but only the side touching. With a swift movement I led my hands in front of my chest, moving the odd looking shaped swords with them. Then with a sharp jolt I shifted my left hand down, middle finger touching the base of my right palm. The movement caused the sword to click together as one whole, a slice resonating through the area. Grabbing the hilt of the magnificent sword I got into a battle stance. Ready to deflect Aangs strike. Without any knowledge of sword fighting he would never know that the person who strikes first tends to lose too.
Aang is looking at me with complete awh and fascination, the tip of his sword just grazing the ground. Snapping out of it when I crouch down, him copying my moves. I see him studying me trying to find a place to strike. I lower my hands to open up the area of my throat, trying to give him false hope of the perfect opportunity. With a scream he probably would have called a battle cry, he charged forwards. Swinging his sword aimlessly. 'He really has no idea what to do. Might as well enjoy this while it lasts. I end up toying with him. Stepping out of he strike with ease, blocking his swings without effort, and striking with him barely having time to deflect the blows. After a few minutes of dancing around twinkle toes over here I see that he needs a break.
"Awh tired already twinkle toes?" I smirked at him mockingly, mischief swirling in my eyes and on my face. Aang is hunched over, panting, and sweating an insane amount. While as I'm used to this, I'm not bothered one bit. He takes notice and is looking at me like I betrayed him.
"Ho-how're yo-y-you not...tiRED!" Just like my brother earlier, I didn't let him finish what he was gonna say before I delivered the final blow. My arm swung the icy weapon over and under his respective sword, launched it out of his hands and into the air. I then pointed mine to his throat a good 6 inches away, and caught his in my free hand. And just to scare the poor boy I raised both swords behind my head and sunk them into the tree he backed into, willing the ice to fall back into the snow.
Breathing heavy, but much lighter than he is, I look into his eyes and saw a plethora of emotions running around. Admiration, respect, care, excitement, and a twinge of fear. Laughing as I noticed he was slightly scared of me I apologized.
"Sorry about that last trick, I have a bit of a thing for dramatics. But just to teach you a small lesson." Turning away walking to the waterfall with a small smile on my face as I heard him blubbering behind me.
"THAT was a lesson??? For what?! Not to duel you in a sword fight? No need to teach me that! You're terrifying!" Letting put a snort at his confession I took off my layers to reveal my bindings. I didn't pay any mind to the gapping fish behind me, and I sunk into the side of the bank, loving the water. I turn to see him pick his jaw off the floor and rub his eyes.
"I mean it was actually a lesson that will help you if you want to get better at sword fighting. Try to always let the other person strike first. They'll be more impatient and clumsy, eager to attack. But you should always wait, study a persons face, their eyes, and body language. The way they hold their sword, the way they step, and especially how they analyze you. They see the mistakes you're making that you're not aware of. If you understand what they see, it makes you that much harder to defeat." Looking to Aang who is now seated next to me blushing out of embarrassment. We sat in silence for a few minutes. I knew he was thinking about every move he did wrong and every move I did right. He picked his head up at me and smiled.
"Thank you master Kaia, I know what to do the next time I duel with someone." Aang stood in the water in front of me and bowed. Bowed? I'm not a master?
"Aang what are you bowing for? I'm not a master waterbender? I only taught you two moves if you count what I did?" Seeing the confusion on my face he smiled, sitting down by me again.
"You may not be a master waterbender Kaia, but you sure are a master swordsman. You taught me a good battle strategy that I could use in any situation. And taught me an important lesson when it comes to bending ice. So thank you." My cheeks flared into a deep red at his words. 'Master swordsman? Me? I only know what my father taught me and what else I taught myself.' Tossing the thoughts aside I just looked at Aang, who was looking right back at me. I didn't even notice how close we were and didn't notice that the distance between us growing smaller and smaller. Just as we could feel each other's breath on our faces were heard two voices bickering just past the tree line. Katara and Sokka. Aang and I looked at the forest and back at each other, both of us blazing red and avoiding eye contact. My siblings came into view and I saw bundles of food and supplies in their arms. Sokka ran down to us with an excited smile.
"Look! MEAT!" Screaming in our faces while accidentally slapping me in the face with a large sausage package. My glowering eyes burned into the side of his face. Clearly he felt it too because he ran as fast as he could from the water.
"Sokka? You're lucky there aren't any tiger sharks in here." He his behind Katara who just rolled her eyes and pushed him away from her. I just walked away to put on my clothes after I dried myself off.
"Come on guys! Pit stops over, gotta pack up and go! Aang?"
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THIRD PERSON POV:
"...Aang?"
Aang heard Kataras voice but he didn't turn away to answer. Why? He was watching the most beautiful girl he has ever seen use her powers to dry off her hair. It was now let down from her usual double braids and flowing gorgeous down her back. Watching her redress set a fire to his face. But he still couldn't look away. He was in complete awe with the gorgeous waterbender in front of him. He didn't even notice the girls sister walk up behind him.
"Uh Aang?" The voice of Katara pulled him away from admiring the youngest water tribe sibling. Turning to Kataras amused eyes caused him to blush even more. He knew what she was about to say.
"She likes the moon." Confused about her statement had his head spinning. What good would that information do? 'She likes the moon?' He kept repeating in his head over and over again. 'Oh...maybe I should get her something nice.' He thought about getting Kaia a necklace just like the one Katara wears. He just didn't know about the Water Tribe tradition the betrothal necklaces.
"Come on Aang! You said that you wanted to take us somewhere to go ride elephant koi!" Peeking up at the sound of the voice that secretly has his heart, he hopped up on Appas head with an affectionate rub. Looking the see the gorgeous face of Kaia before they flew away from the pit stop before Kyoshi Island.
Kaia looked down towards the young Avatar and was met with his light grey eyes already staring into her. She gave him a small smile that tugged at his heart strings, while he gave her a large, happy one of his own. Making it feel like her heart stopped all together, even if it was for a second. The two were so enchanted with each other they didn't hear the two siblings behind them making a bet on when the younger benders would finally get together. Aang faced the front again, calling out to Appa to go, thinking about that Kaia might just be his Katana.
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Okay so I loved writing this chapter because it demonstrated how badass Kaia really is. She's a waterbending, sword wielding, all powerful ancient spirit. Even if she doesn't know it yet. And I liked to develop her an Aangs relationship a little bit more. Thank you for reading and feel free to help point out simple spelling errors and grammar mistakes, I absolutely hate reading those so I try to make sure y'all don't go through the same torture.