Day Seven: Continued...

"Excuse me, I'm so sorry to bother you, but you're Master Katara, aren't you?"

Katara looked up to find the cloth seller whose wares she was perusing regarding her with excitement. She smiled and acknowledged that she was. Though it could be strange, she and her friends had all gotten used to being stopped every so often while they were out and about in Republic City. However, Katara had not been expecting the next question the woman asked.

"You're so lucky! What's it like being married to the Avatar?"

Taken aback, Katara's eyebrows rose nearly to her hairline. "Well, my husband and I are very happy together, if that's what you mean."

"But he's the most powerful bender in the world! Isn't that amazing?"

Despite her bemusement at the path the conversation had taken, she saw that the young woman had only eager curiosity. For the first time in a while she realized how those outside their circle of family and friends must have seen the Avatar. Though solemn was still rarely a word she would use to describe Aang, it was true that he had embraced his responsibilities with a dedication that would have been unknown to the boy who once ran from his duty. And so she simply smiled again and admitted, "Yes, yes it is."

Her mind was still on the conversation half an hour later as she stepped off the ferry onto Air Temple Island. She recalled the stories her grandmother had told her about the Avatar. Back then in her mind's eye the Avatar had been a strong, faceless figure, an unstoppable, unknowable being. She had clung to this vision with all her might, hoping and praying for it to be true. A smile crossed her face at the thought, and Katara had a feeling that her ten year old self would have had difficulty reconciling that image of the Avatar with the lanky, perpetually cheerful airbender who had saved the world at the age of twelve.

"Mom, Mom, Mom, look!" Katara was ambushed by her eldest son the moment she entered the house. "Dad helped us build a fort!"

Knowing her son, Katara merely laughed and followed as Bumi grabbed her hand and tugged her into the sitting room. Sure enough, a mess of blankets and strategically placed furniture formed a crude structure that took up nearly half of the room. She nodded appreciatively. "Wow, you guys built this?"

Bumi beamed and stuck out his chest proudly. "Yeah, it took us all morning!"

Through a breach in the blankets Katara could see Aang hunched over in the too-small space with Kya in his lap, obviously telling a story. Tenzin sat beside them, listening intently. Kya looked over, caught sight of her mother and waved frantically. "Join us, Mommy!"

Aang laughed. "Yeah, join us, Katara!"

Katara gamely crawled into the fort and crouched among her family in the cramped space, and as Aang casually linked their hands, she knew that she was indeed lucky, but not for the reasons the woman believed. She was lucky simply because she got to spend her life not with the immortal Avatar, but with Aang, her husband and best friend. Never had she been so happy a childhood hope proved false.

Day Seven, and Kataang Week is complete. I tried to have this come full circle, but only you can tell me if I succeeded. Thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, or followed this story :) 600 words.