Inspired by Short One Shot Drabble Scattered Swarm by lz0291 over at DeviantArt site
In the span of only about a year Katara had gone from novice waterbender to a master waterbender. She was not was not even normal one at that as she was probably the only other known person in the world to have the ability to bloodbend in addition to being able bend her own sweat.
Currently she stood on small platform in the middle of small body of water in the South Pole. She showed just how skilled she was with bending water as she went though countless complex motions that could only come from someone that had mastered their craft
Looking on at what could only be called poetry in motion was a master artisan that was tasked with making a statue of Katara to sit in the middle of the new city that was being constructed. There had been a flow of people that had left the Northern Tribe or those that had been captive were just happy they could finally returning home. With all these new arrival along with those that just wanted to be in the place where the waterbending teacher of the Avatar called home. The relatively small village was overwhelm thus plans to expand were put into motion to make them similar to their sister tribe in the North Pole. Of course the original village and villagers that lived there before Katara became world famous was still there. Kanna or as she better known around the world know as Gran Gran became go to person about stories of Katara's and Sokka's childhood and as well Pakku her second husband.
However as the artisan stood there watching her he felt that this herculean task was something that he would never be able to accomplish in his lifetime as he felt no one was skilled enough to do justice to Katara and make a statue worthy of her.
He felt that even if Toph (one of the greatest earthbender alive today and possibly ever along with Bumi) had her sight along with his skills as an artisan earthbender that it would be a impossible task to do.
Hybrid Pigs would fly before anything human or spirit could capture the beauty and detail of Katara waterbending as statue.
Katara was starting to wonder if what she was doing was too complex for the artisan as she was simply told to do her best as he wanted to see her just what she was capable of so he could get grasp of just how this statue of her was going to look. So when she began and noticed that he was not saying anything at all after while having lose herself in showing off her skills. She was about to when she felt that something had worked it way pass her water and stung right in the neck.
That when it happened the sight that was poetry in motion was no longer in motion as everything just stopped around Katara including the water she was currently bending at the moment. The master waterbender herself show only small signs of even being aware of this even happening as her eyes which were closed and completely focus on her controlling the water. Were now open and staring directly at him with her mouth open like she was about to ask something yet the words were never able to leave her mouth before time froze around her.
For the artisan time as well seem to stand still as he was completely caught off guard by what he could only claim was miracle granted by the spirits themselves.
However this 'miracle of the spirits' would soon show that it was not over when he noticed what happened next as Katara started losing her color as well everything around that been frozen in time. Soon what stood before him was not a master waterbender in the middle of showing off her mastery over waterbending.
No what stood before him now was the statue he thought would have been impossible to make in regards of the skills anyone in this world or the spirit world had.
As if in a trance or daydream they wonder over to the stone Katara and gently ran their hand across her stone face amazed at the detail and smoothness of the stone. Everything down to the smallest detail was visible in this statue with the expectation of her eyes which were now just blank orbs but even they were perfectly done. Beyond her face everything else was perfect as the smallest detail. From the individual strains of hair 'craved' in the solid mass her hair had become down to the her aspect of her clothing was visible and stone as well. In addition the hardest part beyond the sheer detail in her petrified face and hair was that of the water which almost look like solid ice it was so perfect.
Quickly grabbing a team of Polar Bear Dog he had the statue loaded up onto a sled and then took it off to his workshop where he marveled at stone bender for hours. Though before he did that he found out what had made the impossible possible in almost a instant. A small bug like creature that apparently stung Katara in her neck and was about to die before he managed to save its life.
After marveling over the statue it had created the artisan came to decision this statue crafted from life itself (since it was Katara turned to stone after all) would serve as his gift to the South Water Tribe as their promised statue of Katara. Of course by this time he no longer care that by doing this Katara would be stuck as a statue but she was now a masterpiece of a sculpture and to turn her back would be crime against art itself in his book.
So he covered up her disappearance just saying she had vanished after showing off her skills for him. That the statue he promised the Southern Water Tribe would go to her village and not the city as he returned the money. He had something far more important then money and to accepted that money would be something he felt Katara would not have wanted (nor did she know about since WAS the statue after all) and would harm his pride as an artisan even more then it already was. He was already taking the credit for this miracle of miracles created by strange bug that now follow his command. To take the money on top of that would just full him with a guilty that he did not want to bare. Rather strange considering what he allow to happen to Katara though.
Thus a year later the statue Katara had become was placed in the middle of the Southern Water Tribe Village she grew up in as monument to what she accomplished in her short lifetime before vanishing into thin air never to be seen again. Little was anyone other then the artisan aware she was seen and admired everyday by those that saw her standing in the middle of her hometown, a monument to herself for herself