Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction ❯ Traditions of the Heart ❯ The Letters ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the last airbender

 

“We got mail, Sokka!” Katara yelled through the house. From the back Sokka came running towards Katara with a large smile plastered across his face.

 

“Is it from Suki?!” Sokka asked excitedly.

 

“No.” Katara said slowly opening the letter. Sokka's face fell but his smile came back as he thought of who else it could be from. Katara saw his mind working and decided to let him guess for a little while, so she laid the letter on the table.

 

“Well it must be from Dad.” Sokka said confidently. Katara smiled.

 

“Nope.”

 

“Toph?” Sokka tried again.

 

“Nope.”

 

“Aang” Sokka said scratching his chin thoughtfully. Katara just shook her head at her brother's forgetful silliness.

 

“Why would Aang write us a letter? He lives across the street.” Katara said picking up the letter and playfully whacking Sokka on the head with it. “I'll give you one more guess.”

 

“Ok….hmm. I got it! Is it from Zuko?”

 

“No. You were close though. It's from Iroh.” Katara said opening the letter and reading over its contents. Sokka scratched his head.

 

“Why would Iroh send us a letter? His house is only a ten minute walk from here.”

 

“That's because he didn't send it from his house. He sent it from the Fire Palace. Listen to this…” Katara said moving over to sit on a floor matt in the sitting room. Sokka followed and sat down next to her taking a side the letter to read along with her.

 

Dearest Friends,

I hope this letter finds you all in good health. I am writing on behalf of Fire Lord Zuko. There is a delicate matter in which we could use your help. As you may not be aware it is tradition for a Fire Lord to marry by their twenty third birthday. Lord Zuko's twenty-third birthday is eleven months from now. We all believed that Mai would become Fire Lady but since that is no longer the case we are desperate to find a woman to fill the position. Lord Zuko would like to expand the search to the other nations but we have run into some problems. All the noble families have declined our invitations to the Fire Nation because of fear for their daughters. Therefore; Lord Zuko has decided instead to travel to visit the families, who have agreed to accept us as guests. We wish you to join us on this journey. I can not go into anymore detail but if you will meet with me in three days at the Fire Palace I will explain further. I hope to see you all there.

Love,

Iroh

 

“That kind of sucks he is being forced to marry a stranger.” Sokka said taking the letter from Katara and reading it over again.

 

“Yeah, and it's only been a few weeks since the break up with Mai.” Katara said putting her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands.

 

“Well maybe news of this will shake her out of whatever caused her to break it off and she'll run back to him” Sokka said. He handed the letter back to Katara and stood up. “We should go see if Aang got a letter too.” Katara just nodded her head and followed Sokka out of the house. The cool morning air felt good but Katara knew it would be another deathly hot day by mid day. She could feel the humidity in the air like a heavy blanket. Another lovely day in Ba Sing Se. Sokka reached Aang's door and gave a hearty knock on the carved wood. The siblings knew Aang would most likely still be asleep this early and Sokka would be too if Katara didn't wake him every morning he thought as they waited for Aang to answer the door. Sokka was about to knock again when he heard noises from inside the house. A few minutes later a very groggy Aang answered the door.

 

“What time is..*YAWN* it” Aang said rubbing his eyes.

 

“It's seven am. I'm sorry we woke you up.” Katara said stepping forward to give Aang a kiss on the cheek. Aang smiled at her as his sleepiness left him slowly.

 

“It's all right I should get up early today any ways. I've got some packing to do.” Aang said looking over his shoulder into his house. When he turned back around he was met by slightly confused expressions.

 

“Where are you going?” Sokka asked before Katara could.

 

“Oh! Didn't you get a letter from Iroh? I got mine yesterday evening.” Aang said

 

“Yeah, we got ours this morning. How did you get yours last night?” Katara asked with a happy suspicious tone.

 

Aang just shrugged it off. “Yu, the postman, told me that the post office usually gets mail delivery in the evening then they distribute the letters to the public the next morning. But because I'm the Avatar they think every piece of mail I get is highly important so they run it out to me as soon as they get it. I've told them they don't have to do it but they don't stop.”

 

“Hn. Well it's a perk I guess.” Katara said raising an eyebrow and smiling. Aang moved aside to let his friends in. The house was minimalistic but well decorated with items the group had collected in their travels. Directly across from the front door a painting of the Sokka dubbed “Aang Gang” was hanging on the wall. The painting had been commissioned on the day of Zuko's coronation and everyone in the group had received one. Katara smiled every time she saw, it which was often since hers hung in her room just above the water sack she used during their travels all those years ago.

 

“So I guess you're going then.” Sokka said as if it weren't already established Aang was planning on it. Katara turned away from the painting still smiling.

 

“Yeah. Of course I'm going. What about you?” Aang asked looking between them. Sokka gave Katara a pleading look. Katara thought about it for a second, looking at Sokka, the painting, and then at Aang who gave her a heart melting smile.

 

“We're going too.” Katara said smiling brightly. “After all it's about time for a reunion.”

 

“Great! I'll start packing.” Sokka said running back to their house. As soon as Sokka was gone Katara walked up to Aang and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She looked up into his grey eyes before he leaned down to kiss her gently. It still amazed her how tall he had grown. Puberty had done them both well. She filled out into a curvy woman of twenty and he became tall and muscular man of eighteen. Her favorite part was how he didn't grow out of his baby face good looks. Girls flocked to him like flies but he was all hers. Katara beamed at this thought and kissed Aang again before laying her head on his firm chest.

 

“We should pack. I would like to leave by tomorrow morning.” Aang said nuzzling Katara's hair. She giggled at his affection but nodded in agreement.

 

“I'll go to the market to get food for the journey. Is there anything special you would like me to pick up?” Katara said. Aang thought for a second then kissed Katara again and said, “I'd like some prickly pears.”

 

“Ok. I'll get you some. I'll come over later to see if you need anything else.” Katara said accepting one more kiss from Aang. She slipped out their embrace and allowed her hand to slide down his arm as she walked toward the door. They held hands for a few seconds smiling at each other lovingly then Katara let go and headed back to her house to start packing.

 

 

I hope you enjoyed chapter one. Please review and feel free to give me suggestions for up coming chapters.