The canoe rocked gently against the waves and rifts of the ocean. It took a moment for Katara to place where she was, or why she was huddled shivering against a wooden oar. A headache pounded against her temples, an emotional hangover from the overemotional drunkenness hours before.

She moaned as she rubbed her eyes, trying to recall what had transpired. As the details slowly crawled back, Katara wished she really had a bottle of rice wine to forget everything again. Katara remembered losing it in front of the council of Elders, destroying the government building that she and Pakku had worked so hard to construct, screaming at Aang and – Katara pressed a hand to her throbbing head. Did she really break up with Aang, steal her father's canoe and propel it a couple of miles towards the Earth Kingdom?

She was crazy. Stark-raving mad. Katara of the Southern Water Tribe had finally snapped, she decided. She needed to go back and beg everyone for forgiveness. How could she be so stupid?

Katara rose to her feet unsteadily and reached out to pull at the water around her. She turned around and nearly knocked the canoe over in surprise. Aang was there.

He looked like he had just recently fallen asleep, his head nodding deeper and deeper to his chest, and even in the dark twilight his brilliant blue arrow glowed slight and pointed down at himself as if saying, 'here is the answer'. Katara had the feeling the arrow was right.

He had come for her. Tears began to form in Katara's eyes as she moved forward to kneel in front of him. Gently, as to not startle him, she kissed him awake.

Aang blinked rapidly to remove the sleep from his eyes. He saw the lovely blue eyes, dark cheeks and the trademark hair loops of his beloved and he sighed. "Katara." He reached forward and pulled her against him, kissing her until she couldn't move even if she wanted.

Suddenly, Aang tensed. He pushed her away from him, he gray eyes huge and slightly horrified. "We broke up!"

Katara blushed and turned her head away. "Aang, about that –"

Aang scrambled away from her.

"Aang, stop." Katara took a deep breath. Her voice was contrite, and she crossed her arms in front of herself for comfort. "Look, about earlier. You know how much I hate admitting that I was wrong, but… I was wrong. Very wrong. It wasn't fair what I said back there. It's not your fault that I can't come with you. But I think –" Katara paused, trying to organize her thoughts. "I think I have to learn to accept that you're the Avatar, and sometimes you'll be needed where I can't go. And that hurts and frustrates me, being left behind and feeling useless."

Aang opened his mouth but Katara put a hand up. She breathed again, struggling against this realization she had to make. "I love you. I will always love you. And even though I can't expect you to forgive me, I still want and need to be with you. And –" Katara bit her lip. "And if that means waiting for you for years, then I would do it. I would do it for us because I love you." Katara blushed and finally turned to meet his eyes.

Aang reached out and pulled her into his arms. Katara sighed as he held her, and the tension began to leave her body. "I love you, Katara," Aang said. "And I never want to leave you again."

Katara smiled and pressed her cheek against his warm one. "I know." She leaned back and stood up, stretching out her fingers to manipulate the water around you. "Come on, let's get back so you can go save the world again."

"Actually," Aang said, a mischievous smile playing across his lips. "I told Sokka to take Appa and meet us at Kyoshi Island. I was thinking if we dropped off Suki there, we could all fit on Appa for our trip to the North Pole. But I mean, if you don't want to go anymore –"

Aang didn't get the chance to finish before Katara was kissing him again.

"Well, enough talking," Aang said when they finally broke apart. "We've got a long way to go. We should alternate so one of us can rest and sleep while the other keeps going. I can go first."

"No, I'll go first. Sit," she ordered. Katara rolled back her sleeves briskly and then they were on their way.

The system they had only worked for two hours before both of them were too exhausted to move. They lay at the front of the boat, Katara in Aang's arms, and studied the stars.

"We call that one the Big Dipper," Aang explained as he pointed out a formation in the sky. "And that one's the Little Dipper."

"In Water Tribe lore we call those the Big Seal Bear and the Little Seal Bear. And over there, that's the scorpion-fish constellation."

"Really? That's our Lemur!" Aang laughed. "What about that one?" Aang asked, pointing out an hourglass shaped constellation with three stars across the middle.

"That's the Avatar," Katara said quietly.

"The same. I guess I really do span and connect cultures, don't I?"

"Keeper of the world and night sky," Katara teased. "We should get some rest. Goodnight, Avatar."

Aang gave her a quick kiss. "Goodnight, Forever Girl."

It only took them two and a half days to get to Kyoshi Island. Both of them were so ocean weary that they were snapping at each other until the appearance of land.

"Finally!" Katara said. "I am going to give Appa a big kiss when I see him."

"How does anyone get around without sky bison again?" Aang finished his turn and waterbended the sweat from his body, tossing it overboard. "It takes forever!"

"Come on, if we work together for this last stretch we're get there twice as fast."

Aang moaned but he moved back to the back of the boat. "You're just lazy and don't want to do it anymore."

Katara just grinned. "You ready?" she said, taking the water bending position. "And go!"

Katara was right, and before long they were stumbling out of the canoe and onto the rocky shore of Kyoshi Island. An Elephant Koi fish jumped in the distance, a splash of orange against the horizon. Aang took a step towards it, anticipation in his eyes.

"Later," she said, pulling Aang towards the village.

When they reached the bottom of the village, a girl of about twelve ran up to Aang and threw her arms around his neck. "Aangy!"

"Koko?" Aang looked taken aback by the young girl in his arms. "Wow, it's been so long!"

Katara didn't look happy. "Koko, is my brother and Suki here?"

"Yeah, they arrived yesterday. Come on, I'll take you to them!" Koko reached for Aang's hand, but then she saw Katara's face. In a quick decision of self-preservation, Koko dropped Aang's hand and skipped ahead.

Katara took the newly abandoned hand and started leading the bewildered boy up the incline of the village. "Look! They're still taking care of Kyoshi's statue!"

People from both sides of the main street began to stream out of the wooden houses that lined the way. Soon a crowd began to follow them, waving and smiling, and one guy even began foaming at the mouth before fainting.

The three of them spotted Suki and Sokka. Sokka was hopping around on one foot, unused to the custom of removing one's shoes before entering a building. He had a rolled up parchment in one hand as he struggled to take off his other boot.

"Sokka!" Katara cried and ran up to hug her brother. The two of them teetered at the slight imbalance, but managed to stay upright.

"Katara! I'm so –"

"Sokka. I know what you're going to say." Katara played with her braid. "And I want to say that I'm so sorry for all the worry that I've caused."

Sokka nodded and managed to fit his boot back on. "That's great and all, Katara, but at this point I'm just glad that you're safe, and that now we have you here for reinforcements. Look." He pressed the paper into her hands.

Katara unrolled it and skimmed. Her hand pressed against her heart. "No."

"What is it?" Aang asked as he walked up the wooden stairs. He snatched the paper from Katara as the color drained from her face.

"The Bei Fongs have been arrested by the rebels, and now they are being held for trial?" He scanned down for the details, his eyes stopping once at the central sketch of Chenlu on the page. "They managed to arrest Toph?"Aang crumpled the paper in his hand and threw it to the ground.

"Hey, careful with that!" Sokka picked up the paper delicately with two fingers and gently smoothed out the wrinkles. "It has Chenlu's picture on it." Sokka said with a dreamy smile.

Suki tore the paper out of Sokka's hand and smacked him over the head with it. "Anyway. It gets worse, Aang," Suki continued, looking grim. "All of the aristocrats that have gone on trial have been declared guilty."

"Well, we can bust Toph and her parents out of jail," Katara said, a determined expression blossoming on her face. "We've done it before, and we can do it again."

"I don't think you understand, Katara." Sokka placed a hand on his sister's arm. "All of those who are guilty are sentenced to death."