Her voice comes to me in a dream. Katara's, but also my mother's.
"This water," she says, " is from the spirit oasis at the North Pole. It has special properties, so I've been saving it for something very important. I don't if it would work but... "
Her soft hand caresses my charred, grafted flesh, cooling the hot skin. Sensation returns to the skin around my eye for the first time in three years.
A flood of memories return with this sensation, like a bolt of my sister's lightning.
Screams of pain. Not mine; not really anyways. They belong to someone younger and more innocent, who died alone in the Fire Nation hospital the night of the Agni Kai. Black smoke rises from my face, carrying with it my dreams and lost honor. The smell of burning flesh fills the air. The throne room is laughing.
"I can heal your scar," she whispers, her voice breaking through the smoky memories.
Her hand lingers on the side of my face. Gentle. Cool. There's a shooting sensation in my face that has nothing to do with the touch.
I push her hand aside. "There's no way that will work."
