Katara's Journey
Katara was old now, her sun-kissed skin was covered with wrinkles. Her end was near, and she accepted that. One doesn't live to be as old as she did, experience everything she has, and not accept destiny. What would've happened if her deceased husband, Avatar Aang, had not accepted his destiny? The world would be servants to the Fire Nation, all elements would be gone except fire bending. Thankfully, Aang in all his (one hundred and) twelve year old wisdom, accepted fate and fought Ozai. Katara lifted her hand, bending a slight bit of water from the Yue river. A glimmer of a shadow peaked at the edge of Katara's vision. She returned her attention to the water, continuing to shape it as she pleased. The shadow crept closer, causing a slightly grumpy Katara to flick her wrist behind her, throwing the water at the shadow. Just as the water left her grasp, she grew unreasonably cold. Her heart rate slowed, her fingers turned blue, and her breathing stilled. In all the ways Katara could've died, it had to be murder.
It was home. The first thing she saw was home, the southern water tribe as it was a long time ago. It was nothing more than a small village, with no waterbenders in sight. Adjusting her eyes to the sudden brightness of the sun on snow, Katara began walking slowly towards her old hut. Memories of her childhood flashed through her brain, causing emotions to swirl around inside of her. The death of her mother. Pain. The childish fights with her brother, Sokka. Annoyance. Meeting Aang for the first time. Hope. Her father leaving to fight the Fire nation just after her mom died. Confusion and rage. Katara slowed to a stop as she approached the dark blue blanket that served as a substitute for a door. Reaching her hand out, she lifted the blanket and entered the room.
"You've finally made it. I'm so proud," A familiar voice greeted as arms wrapped around her.
"Mom..?" Katara's voice was full of disbelief as she managed to speak. My mom is not alive, she was murdered. She thought to herself.
"Katara, oh my have you grown. I always knew you would," Kya took a step back to look at her daughter. "Katara, are you feeling alright?" Concern filled her voice as she moved a hair away from her daughter's eyes, which were extremely similar to her own bright blue eyes. Katara looked down to notice her skin was no longer wrinkled. What?
"Mom, what's going on? Why am I here? Why are you here? The southern water tribe isn't like this anymore. It's bigger, and beautiful just like our sister tribe," Katara realized her voice had changed too. It was the voice she had when she was 14, the voice that encouraged others, the voice that hid her pain, the voice that unleashed her rage when she allowed it.
"Oh..dear.." Kya frowned and pulled her into another embrace.
"I'm dead, aren't I?" Katara whispered against her mother's shoulder. Kya moved back slightly, pushing a strand of her daughter's hair behind her ear. She smiled softly and began asking questions of her life right before death. Struggling to remember, Katara attempted to answer each question.
"Katara?"
"Yes, mom?"
"Did it hurt? It didn't hurt me, that fire nation solider was just taking orders. I forgive him, as much as I hated him for taking me away from everyone," Her mother lifted a brush and began brushing Katara's hair. If it wasn't for him, we could've done this when I was a child. Katara sighed and ran her hands through her hair absently.
"I-I don't remember…Mom, how could you forgive him? He took you away from me, from Sokka, from GramGram, from Dad! Finding him and letting him live was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life but I never forgave him!" Her voice grew with the hidden rage that she suppressed. Kya sighed inwardly before twisting Katara's hair into old water tribe braids. Kya began telling her of the man's life after he left the water tribe. During most of the parts, Katara had to clench her fists in anger or disgust.
"…And after he met you, after you let him live, he didn't change. He served the Fire Lord, just as he always had. He served Fire Lord Zuko, and begged him for forgiveness. On his hands and knees, Zuko lifted him up and told him that he was forgiven only if he helped build a new world that Avatar Aang envisioned. The city you created was built by his effort. His will and determination moved so many to continue to build that city. Republic City and the Southern Water Tribe has him to thank, without him only a few fraction of fire benders would've truly want to build it. Lying on his death bed, he dreamed of finishing it. He dreamed a little water tribe girl would inhabit it, with her mother. He dreamed of us, Katara. You asked me how I could forgive him, it's time you ask yourself why you haven't done the same," Kya stood before her daughter with a mirror in her hand. Looking through the mirror, Katara didn't see herself but him. Tears slid down her face as she reached out to her mother, but she was gone. She suppressed her sudden feeling of distachment as she stepped outside. She drew a sharp breath in at the sight before her. Kya, her mother, was standing in front of what the Southern Water Tribe has become: a combination of huts, snow building and the small snow home.
"It's beautiful, Katara. Truly, it is, and never forget he's the reason this was made," The scene wavered from the tiny tribe she was born into from the city she created. Kya ran to embrace her daughter one last time. The scene finally stopped wavering as Katara wrapped her arms around her mother, causing the two to clash. The wind began softly blowing, and as Katara opened her eyes, Kya was fading away as snow in the wind.
"I'm so proud of you."
"No, mom, please don't leave me again!" She cried out to the snowy remains of her mother. After a moment of sudden sadness and pain, Katara started walking towards the river she used to fish at with Sokka. In the distance, patches of green stood before her vision.
"Grass…? In the South Pole?" Her baffled curiosity grew as she noticed a wooden boat floating in the river. It seemed to be unaffected by the current and waiting for her. Taking another unneeded breath, she stepped into the boat. As soon as Katara was sitting comfortably, the boat began moving towards the patches of grass.
"Katara, it is lovely to see you again, my child!" Katara froze at the sound of the familiarly wicked voice.
"Hama…" She slowly turned her head to look at the old woman. She was just as she remembered her to be. Hama was short in comparison to Katara, and still wore her long dark grey hair down. Only one thing was different to her memory, instead of wearing Fire nation clothing, Hama had the same water tribe clothing her mother was just wearing.
"I noticed you made blood bending illegal in that city of yours," Hama began bending the water underneath them in slow, steady motions.
"I did, because it's wrong. It's a violation of another person's will. I'm guessing I don't need to explain how Amon took away more than half of Republic City's bending. All the destruction, all of the pain and suffering was caused by blood bending," She glanced away for a moment, then back to a laughing Hama.
"Oh Katara, you're so innocent. The fire benders tore families apart, nearly killed off Southern Water Tribe benders for good, and yet you continue to support them. Your husband took away Amon's father's bending which caused him to go into lifetime of rage. He raised his children to blood bend to reclaim that he thought was rightfully his. Blood bending is important to water benders, you simply cannot ignore it. It's a part of you, Katara. Did you notice we appear to be moving but we're not? You accept the lie that you tell yourself, and that prevents you from moving forward," Hama leaned against the side of the boat, a twisted smile playing at her lips. Suddenly the memories with Hama began crashing into her brain. The cave filled with fire nation citizens. Hama water bending the water out of the flowers, then the fight against Hama on the night of the full moon. Hama blood bending Aang and Sokka. The blade of Sokka's sword almost piercing Aang's chest. Finally, the scream escaping Hama as Katara bent her blood to save them.
"My work is done. Congratulations, Katara. You're a bloodbender"
"I can't move forward? What about you?! You spent your entire life hurting the innocent firebenders! You violated everyone's will just because of some childhood pain! You have NO right to bloodbend! It might be a part of me, but so is evil. Guess what? I did give into my pain and suffering or take it out on others! YOU'RE NO BETTER THE THE SOLIDERS THAT MURDERED THE SOUTHERN WATER TRIBE. Actually, I'm wrong. You are WORSE than them!" Katara lashed out on the older woman. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Hama flicked her wrist, sending a vial to land in Katara's lap.
"It's a shame you will never learn. Oh well, I did my part again and we've arrived. Goodbye Katara, do say hello to Aang for me," Her voice felt like venom in Katara's brain. A gust of air lifting Katara out of the boat prevented her from replying to the old woman. She wrapped her hands around the vial as she landed safely into a flow garden. She was at the Southern Air Temple but something wasn't right. There were airbenders playing and teaching. Actual airbenders were alive around her, not even noticing her. A gasp escaped her at the sight of her husband's old airbending teacher, Monk Gyatso.
"It feels right to see them all again. They told me they are proud of me, and that they never blamed me for leaving that night. My destiny wasn't with them, but with you," Aang smiled at her as he appeared by her side. Katara laughed as she ran into his arms to hug him.
"Aang, it's really you isn't it? And they are really airbenders?" Joy and wonder filled her voice. Aang nodded to her before giving her a circlet of dark blue flowers. She inclined her head slightly to allow him to put it on her head. Aang continued smiling at her as he told her everything about each airbender on the temple. After he was finished, they began remising of the childhood they spent together saving the world to the adulthood they made together. Katara twirled the vial in her hand as he talked.
"What are you playing with?" He finally asked her.
"Oh, I don't actually know. Hama gave it to me as soon as we got here," She lifted to the vial into his view and dropped it into his hand.
"I'm kind of jealous she was the one to give this to you, not me. Inside of this bottle is something to allow you to bend again. It allows you to shape your personal paradise spiritually," Aang put the vial back into her hands and closed his around hers.
"I can drink it whenever?"
"You need to learn something from me before you can, silly." Aang smiled at her.
"What have you got to teach me, Sifu Aang?" She asked in a royal accent.
"Everything. Katara, before you met me here, who did you meet and what'd they say? Tell me everything," Aang looked at her with a serious expression. Katara told him about her mother and Hama, leaving no detail out.
"Your mother wants you to forgive him, and Hama wants you to accept the evil that you're capable of to move on. It seems they have a common goal. That's odd, for me it was different lessons I had to learn. Anyways, they've both been watching over you for a very long time. They know what you struggle to do, you struggle to have peace of mind…" Aang picked a flower from the ground to play with it as he spoke. "Kya saw the good in his heart, and Hama would have you murder him to get even. Why do you think you met such polar opposites? From the goodness in your heart or the evil that dwells within, you are the only one to choose what you think is right. I know you, and I know that you would jump in front of a flying icicle for anyone. You saved an entire town on your own, Katara. You became the greatest healer to live, you rebuilt the Southern Water Tribe, you helped me build Republic City. You have proven your capability more than once, so why can't Yon Rha?" He appeared suddenly in front of them, looking like a slave to his thoughts.
"Katara, it's time to choose." He held out a hand to help Katara up. After being lifted up, her ice blue eyes clashed with Rha's golden embers.
"I-," Yon Rha tried beginning but Katara held a hand up to stop him.
"No, you don't need to say anything yet. I hate what you did, and I will never forget what you did, ever. But, I can forgive you. My mother told me about the things you did after I spared your life that day. It was the hardest thing ever to turn around and walk away but it would've been harder living my life knowing I became what you were. Yon Rha, you were a spineless coward but you changed. I can forgive you, finally."
"Thank you, master Katara…" Yon Rha kneeled before her. After a moment of continuously saying thank you, Yon stood again not as the old miserable man but a young healthy man in modern fire nation clothes. Katara and Aang watched as Yon Rha vanished, dust in the wind.
"Aang…I think it's time," She glanced into his grey eyes as she lifted the bottle close to her lips. I was given wisdom and forgiveness. I wonder what I can give back.