Katara, Sokka and Raven all sat rigid, silent for a moment, as the island disappeared from sight. Sokka kept peering over the saddle like he expected a Arzaya to crawl up and grab him. Raven was scowling at the quiet. She did not like to have time to think. But Aang was off in his own little world, grinning like he had a fresh bowl of ice cream in his hands and not Appa's reins.
He stared at the bright glittering water ahead another full minute, then finally exhaled so hard his cheeks puffed. "Ahhhhh," he let out, like he was announcing himself. "It's soooo good just to feel normal again."
Appa grumbled approvingly, which Aang took as agreement, giving him a quick pat.
Sokka shifted closer, voice lowered. "Normal huh, what's that?"
Katara didn't laugh, but her shoulders softened a fraction. "Oh, come on, Sokka, it's obviously... much better now," she confirmed, still sounding a bit like she was convincing herself.
Raven's eyes stayed forward, chin slightly lifted. "If you say so," she smirked.
Aang glanced at her. Then glanced away. Then glanced back, like he couldn't decide whether he was allowed to say the thing in his head without getting thrown off the saddle.
He tried anyway.
"I…" Aang started, then winced and restarted, because if he didn't do it now he would never do it. "I'm really glad you threw it."
Raven's brows rose. "Yeah," she offered without looking.
A pause, and Aang kept going, cheeks pinking. "I was… worried you wouldn't. Because it's yours and you're… you know… Arzayan."
Raven turned her head slowly, raised an eyebrow. "Thought I'd side with my closet goblin?"
Aang immediately flailed both hands like he was trying to airbend the words back into his mouth. "No! Not like that! Not like, 'oh you're evil,' I just mean you've been dealing with this your whole life and you're… you're used to it. And I'm not used to it. And I thought maybe you'd think it was normal to keep it around, like, I dunno!"
Raven's stare sharpened. "Uhhh..." she trailed off, possibly more offended than before.
Aang's panic escalated into full-body sincerity. "B-but! What I mean, is... you threw it away way faster than I would have! Like, right away, like it wasn't hard. I know she gets in your head, its not easy."
"Eh," Raven just rolled a shoulder, leaning back and looking away like she wasn't quite used to direct praise. "I just didn't think about it. I just did it." And she quietly laughed. "I don't think she's good at handling that."
Katara wound up with a poorly stifled smile. "Wait... you resisted Arzaya just by being impulsive?"
Raven just gave a "whoops" kind of shrug.
Sokka wasn't bothered. "Whatever works!" he cheered.
Katara's gaze dropped to Raven's surcoat, where a tear ran along the seam like a bite mark from the temple. And then Katara noticed her own tunic, too, the ugly rip where she'd hit the temple stone floor hard enough to drop two tiers in style ranking.
She huffed in dismay. "My tunic could fit an extra Katara." And she stuck a hand back around and through to prove it was feasible, at least.
"You could make her do the sewing too," Sokka leaned over, like he was letting her in on a clever secret. "Original Katara gets priority over the clones."
Katara gave him a look.
He immediately argued, "I could have said 'one is enough', and I didn't, that's almost violating sibling code."
"I can get that cut in your coat too, Raven," Katara breathed out, like she wanted to stay professional, and she was already tugging it up and off over her head. Her plain sleeveless top underneath was thankfully undamaged, so she quickly snatched up her kit and leaned over her mangled tunic. Just after it seemed she meant to simply ignore him, Katara eyed Sokka and said, "sibling code is rarely enforced anymore, anyway." Most miraculously, she managed not to crack a smile.
It took him a moment, but Sokka almost passed out he was so delighted at Katara actually playing along with his shenanigans. He made a weird strangled noise that would have to be interpreted as a laugh, more just out of appreciation. She wouldn't usually, but she still had that warm feeling he'd left her with in the temple, so at least for the rest of the day... he could have some wins.
"Ya know, I didn't want to be the one to say it, but I think you're right," Sokka chuckled along, smiling like a complete doofus at his sister.
Aang nearly flipped upside down to gather up his hammiest smug know-it-all face to condescend, "uhhh... guys, I think you're forgetting that sibling code is STRICTLY enforced in the Northern Water Tribe, so brush up on your handbooks."
Raven didn't even blink as the others laughed. She wasn't sure what she was feeling among the others being silly and goofing around, and felt almost trapped sitting there, like if she moved an inch it might shatter and fade away.
The laughter did fade, though, and there was a careful, "Raven...?" from Katara. She bit her lower lip.
Raven could guess why. Sibling jokes. Murdered sister... but...
The momentarily quiet noble girl let out a slightly trembling, hurt sigh, breathy and long, and oh-so clearly meant to be seen by the others. They all reeled, slightly, the 'catching on' spreading to Sokka, then Aang, who both gave non-committal "oohs" and "ohs". Finally, Raven looked up, brow furrowed and with the most convincing fake pout—she had a lot of practice—and she pleaded. "How come you guys didn't tell me about sibling code? I... I never even got a handbook!" And she held it for a solid five seconds.
Katara's concern instantly faded away, and she just shook her head in amused disbelief, but Aang and Sokka respectively burst out laughing and burst out with an "eyyyyy!" that on its own communicated 'hey, she gets it!'.
And Sokka went on to dismissively wave, over enunciating every word as he blathered, "Oh, don't even WORRY, we've been sharin' the same ratty ol' handbook between us this WHOOOLE time."
"Ow!" Katara suddenedly chirped. The corner of her mouth fled for her cheek. "See, this is why I don't usually mess around," she sighed as she held up her poked fingertip. It gleamed slightly in the sunlight before she sucked on it. "Hmm, doesn't hurt, at least." She went on as Sokka leaned in for an unnecessary inspection. "Oh, it's nothing," she shrugged, and looked up to Raven. "Hey, can I get your coat?"
Raven wasted no time escaping her surcoat—deep black with golden embroidery, and that same now even less fun to see spearhead as big as her head on the back. "Thanks, I have no idea how to sew."
"Lotsa servants and stuff, huh?" Sokka asked instantly, already getting a look from Katara like she might end his free win day early.
"Sure," Raven said, obviously not bothered. Sokka was instantly impressed, not by the servants, but by how little she cared. She mistook it for him not believing her. "I'm betrothed—whether I like it or not—to a prince. I don't just have servants, Sokka," she grinned and more than a little smugly asserted.
Sokka raised his hands. "Whoa, whoa! I believe you, your highness!"
"She's not literally a princess," Katara added in like Sokka ought to know better, but then glanced to Raven. "Wait, you're not literally a princess, are you?"
"No, haha," Raven scoffed. "Even if my family's closet goblin wants me to be, to restore her glorious dominion, or whatever."
"I am SO glad closet goblin is a thing now!" Sokka declared. "Aang you KILLED it with that."
"You're too kind, Sokka, too kind!" Aang said in cartoonish, gentlemanly fashion.
"But like, seriously, back home," Raven said, making sure to gather their attention again. And like it made her the new cool kid on the block, she got a bit of her haughty tone to say, "I can raise a fleet, command an army, order officers around, have people punished in hilarious waaaays—that sort of thing." But she faltered slightly. "Er... usually."
"But now you can't 'cause your dad grounded you." Sokka casually offered it, like everyone was on the same page.
"Yeah, that's—" Raven started, crinkled her nose, and sharply said. "Shut the fuck up." And she was unreadable.
Katara pursed her lips as she quickly pulled threads tight, handing the fancy coat back to her spicy majesty, and used it as a springboard to dare ask, "so, Aang? Did Avatar Roku say anything else, other than the comet? We sort of left in a weird hurry back there."
It seemed everyone was happy to just drop it.
Convinced Raven wasn't fuming, Aang offered, "Roku said we should prioritize Ozai," he announced, because he'd been vibrating with that information since he left the chamber. "Like deal with him, the comet. He said not to trust Arzaya, like don't help her, but just stay away I guess..." he trailed off, obviously not wildly enthusiastic about it.
Katara didn't look up from her sewing, but her voice was gentle. "He probably sees a bigger picture, right? Avatar Roku?"
Obviously conflicted, Aang mulled it over out loud. "He said… not to provoke her. Not to get in her way, and like, sure I don't want to have anything to do with her, but I don't know."
Sokka made a disappointed face. "Well, just don't open the goblin closet. Problem solved."
"Fucking... goblin closet...?" Raven, who was now curled up around her snack pack, whispered in high pitch as she tried not to laugh and spit her fire flakes all over the saddle.
Aang lolled his head aside miserably, weakly wobbling to keep looking back at everyone. "But she's sooooo going to be uuuuup to stuuuuff, like come oooon, closet goblins gonna closet goblin, right? She's been messing with things before even OPENING the goblin closet!"
Raven snorted and squealed.
Katara's needle flashed. Her work done, she smoothly slid it away in her little leatherbound kit. "I'm with Roku," she tersely said. "Let's stay far, far away from her."
Aang looked like he was struggling not to argue with Katara about it, so Raven recovered from goblin closet well enough to say, "she's definitely still scheming, sure, but I think she gave up on the whole 'borrow Aang' plan."
Aang's shoulders rose like the word borrow had poked him in the spine. "Good, I'm not for rent, I'm the Avatar..." he drawled out as he fell a bit limp, frustrated that even a closet goblin needed to have that made clear to her.
Sokka made a strangled sound. "So like, 'borrow' as you said before, like... his body."
"Pretty much." Aang murmured and grumbled. "She kinda did it before, I just... let her. AGH! Makes my SKIN crawl."
"Look, I'm just saying it out loud because if I keep it to myself my head will explode, or melt, or both!" Sokka said, then looked at Raven with real horror. "So you think she really wanted to… take him over?"
Raven's eyes flicked to Aang, then away. "I don't know for sure, seemed like it, but just to kill Ozai, if you actually believe her," she admitted. "Whatever it was, she failed. I think she knows now that Aang's never going to let her in."
Aang let out a long shuddering moan of discontent. "I sure hope you're right."
"Ah!" Katara hissed, jerking her hand up. "Ow!"
Sokka's head snapped around. "What happened?"
"Why?!" Katara glared at the needle like it had personally betrayed her. "I poked my finger again..."
"Didn't you put that away?" Raven blinked, genuinely confused.
Katara tilted a bit sideways, defeated. "I started fiddling with it again," she admitted like she knew that was it for her.
Sokka watched in disbelief as Katara twirled the needle a bit again between her fingers. "Just put it away," he flatly said.
"I know! Ahh!" Katara threw up her hands, causing Sokka to scoot back from the needle's tip, and she fussed and fumbled to put her sewing kit away for real this time. And she sat up straight on her knees, holding a finger up to Sokka's face when it looked like he wasn't going to drop it, and she smiled cutely to say, "so, Raven. We met your friend Mai?"
Raven's head snapped toward her. "You what. Fucking WHEN?"
"At Omashu. Crazy, right?" Katara clarified quickly. "She was there with… your dad." She hesitated, choosing the words carefully. "She seemed genuinely worried about you, is all I wanted, um, to say."
Raven's expression flickered. Something complicated and old. Then she puffed it away with a breath, before croaking, "that's so weird." Eyes darted to Katara's. "That you met her."
Katara smiled a little. "It was really strange. But… it's nice to think of someone thinking about me like that."
"You are too precious," Raven leaned across the saddle with a hurt expression to give Katara's shoulder a quick shake, all while the waterbender just turned a bit red in the face and tolerated it. But she smirked a she sat back. "And I miss Mai. Wish we could have stayed close..."
Sokka nodded like this was deeply logical. "But she seemed so easy to talk to," he said with zero confidence.
Raven rolled her eyes. "Mai's very chill, we were close. But... ugh," she admitted, but something soured. "She got obsessed with getting some high up particular job, royal spymaster or whatever, but for torchface's bitch sister, who sucks almost as much as him."
Katara frowned. "Like, the princess?"
"Yes," Raven said with feeling. "Azula. She's insufferable. I kinda just... dropped Mai, to avoid her." She rattled off, slowing down, and finally muttering with emotion. "Great, now I feel like an asshole again." And she shrank with her knees held up against her chest.
There was a painful pause, but Katara's eyes softened. "That sounds lonely. I kinda thought just I was isolated, like, between us."
Raven shrugged hard enough to lift back out of her shrunken pose. "I still have my friend Ty Lee," she said, then immediately added, like she regretted saying it, "unfortunately, maybe..."
Sokka blinked. "Who?"
Raven waved a hand like the explanation wasn't worth the oxygen. "She's like... I can't tell if she's an evil genius or a lucky idiot, and I don't know which is worse."
"You sound exhausted by her already," Katara started to laugh.
"She started doing this thing with my dad, so embarrassing, I could just die—wha?!" Raven began, almost like she regretted her words before saying them but then suddenly jerked to look behind them, rising to her feet to see clearly.
Aang was right there with her, airbending to stand right beside her.
"Uhh..." Sokka tried.
Aang and Raven went stiff at the exact same time, then gazed intently at each other.
"Oh, come ON!" Aang bellowed at the wind.
Raven's jaw dropped at the same time. "Already?!"
"There's no mistake, right?" Aang urged.
"Nooo... it's real," Raven's face drained of color that she didn't have to spare. "You have GOT to be KIDDING me."
"Uhhhh?" Katara gave it a shot, adding a smile for encouragement.
Aang slumped forward, limply flailing his hand behind them, to wear he and Raven saw an orange glow pulsing. "Someone's using Arzayanagi."
It was Katara's turn. "Already?!" She clicked her dropped jaw shut. "Noooo..." she childishly whined. Justified. It was so unfair.
"Hoooow did they even geeeet it?!" Raven growled, just utterly done.
"I'm NOT going back, we're banning travel to the goblin closet!" Aang declared rancorously, raising his fist in the air like anyone was going to challenge him.
Sokka stared between them, landing on Aang. "Uhh... yeah, sure."
Aang faltered, his fist easing at the silence. "Raven? Katara?" he tested.
Katara pointed at herself. "What? Oh, screw that! I don't wanna go back there! We have stuff to do. Avatar Roku said so! Right?"
Everyone looked at Raven, who looked very guilty. They instantly drained of all spirit, before she said a word.
"I want to agree, but my poor dumb crew are going to blunder right into whatever is happening." Raven's shoulders clenched as she said it. "I know we were going to just come back for them when the fleet left, but... they're not cut out for closet goblin problems." She saw the looks of despair on everyone's faces, and deflated a bit. "Uhh, I mean, they're adults. We can... just go?" she weakly tried.
Aang trudged over to Appa, and everyone's hearts stopped as he sat down in place, then suddenly yanked on the reins. Everyone knew what that meant.
"It's the curse of the closet goblin," Sokka moaned, tearfully.
"Are you sure?" Katara hung over the saddle by Aang's ear to damn near beg.
"I don't wanna go baaaack, Katara," Aang wailed like his life was over, and like he was fit only for suffering, he admitted, "but I'm the Avatar, I can't just let the closet goblin eat people..."