The weak early morning sun reflected harshly off the great white expanse stretching as far as Katara could see, breaking only to plunge into the deep blue of an ocean. She brought up her hand in attempt to ward off the rays but to no avail, there was simply too much bright white. She dropped her hand in defeat and leaned against the snow drift behind her, closing her eyes.
It had been almost a year since she had returned home with Sokka after Zuko's coronation after their extended stay in the Fire Nation. Aang was still there, adjusting to his new job of the Avatar. Until now he had been so focused on defeating Fire Lord Ozai, now he was having to learn about what the Avatar's job was outside of battle. It included a surprising amount of paperwork. Katara still missed him, more and more each day.
They wrote, but between his demanding job, and her in charge of the reconstruction of the South Pole, the letters were few and far between.
Sokka and Suki were there, having been married six months after the war. Suki was now expecting their first child. Hakoda couldn't be more proud. Their presence alleviated some of Katara's loneliness, but as much as she tried to deny it there was just something missing. She should be happy, her brother was married and with child, the South Pole is almost restored to its former glory, and the war has been over. But everything was too… still.
She had been proclaimed a Waterbending Master by Master Pakku when she had arrived back in home, she still sparred against him, but he was getting on in years, it wasn't as much of a challenge as it used to be.
Sliding down the drift, Katara felt like some piece inside her was offset. There was something in her heart that wasn't quite right, and she had a sneaking suspicion that she knew what it was.
Aang wasn't the only thing she missed about the Fire Nation. There was something else there that wasn't in the South Pole. A certain bender with a firey temper and a matching passion for his nation. Zuko.
Oh, how she missed him. His determination to restore his nation to something good instead of the bully it had become during the war was unparalleled. His fierce loyalty to his uncle, and his incredible yearning for honor. She missed it all.
His letters amounted to even fewer than Aang's. And they were mostly official, asking how the rebuilding was going, and other political facts. He never mentioned anything personal, except to ask how she was, if she was doing well, or if she needed any help. Katara always returned in kind, telling him how the hospital was done, they were starting on the training facilities next, et cetera.
Once in awhile she mentioned a certain minor problem they were having with something like the trade of wood from the Earth Kingdom, the pirates along their routes were causing shortages.
The next delivery day each Earth Kingdom ship was being escorted by two Fire Nation ships each. Their captains simply said, "Just following orders, Master Katara."
The Earth Kingdom ships had mentioned in their reports that they hadn't seen any pirates at all, not even a whisper in the ports they docked in along the coast.
Katara longed to hear his voice, to see his brooding face as he stared into the flames on one of those quiet nights on the road. She would give anything to be able to simply sit with him, like they had so long ago. And she would give everything to see him smile, just once.
Katara sighed, opened her eyes and stood up. No use in sitting around when there's work to be done, and as one of the most efficient waterbenders in the South Pole, there was always plenty of work to be done.
Winding her way through the rows of homes towards the town center, she began to make a list of what had to be done today. She had promised Suki that she would perform the monthly check-up on mother and child, and that took priority. Katara would stop in their modest home a bit later when they were sure to be awake.
There was also the issue of several young waterbenders who were all in need of instruction. But there was simply not enough Masters to go around, Pakku was up to six students, and Katara herself taught two or three on regular occasion. The others were all similarly burdened. The aspiring students would need to go to the North Pole, but that would be expensive for both the tribe and their families. Not to mention, they would be losing a ship and some of their potential benders.
She would have to ask Hakoda if he had any ideas.
Katara arrived at the meetinghouse to find her father already there and reading over several scrolls.
"Katara? What are you doing up so early?" He looked up and saw her as she pushed open the flap covering the doorway.
"Morning, Dad. I couldn't sleep, too much on my mind." Katara shrugged and stepped around his desk to look at the message he was holding. A single line jumped out at her.
The Honorable Fire Lord Zuko has requested the presence of Southern Ambassador Hakoda for a celebration of peace occurring on the one-year mark of the end of the war.
"Zuko's throwing a party?" She asked.
"I wouldn't say a party, although I'm sure there will be plenty of drinking after dark. It's more of a memorial, for the fallen." Hakoda leaned back in his chair, seeming to consider her.
She crossed her arms, "What?"
He smiled, "Katara, I won't be going to Fire Lord Zuko's celebration."
"What?" She interrupted, "Dad! You can't just not go-"
He held his hand up, silencing her effectively. "Katara, please, let me finish." She nodded impatiently. "As I was saying, I will not be going to the celebration in the Fire Nation. You will."
She stared at him. Blinked once, then blinked again. "Huh?"
Hakoda smiled, "You will be acting as Ambassador of the Southern Watertribe, and will attend the Fire Lord's party in my place."
There was a beat of silence, then Katara threw her arms around her father's neck, "Thank you, Dad! I won't let you down!"
Hakoda laughed deep in his chest, "I know you won't, Katara. Now, go find your brother and his wife, and tell them the news. I assume they'll want to go with you, and I'm not about to tell Suki, 'no,' especially in her condition." He shuddered in pure horror. "I'd rather face a wolf-seal with nothing but my bare hands." Katara laughed at her father's obvious weakness for pregnant women.
She dashed out of the room, Hakoda's voice called after her, "The ship will be ready at dawn tomorrow!" She yelled back her thanks and went to locate her brother.
Katara walked through the winding snow pathways, trying to keep her footsteps under control while her thoughts were racing as fast as a platypus moose. The snow crunch under her boots in rhythm with her frantic heartbeat as she digested the information.
I'm going to the Fire Nation. I'm taking Sokka and Suki with me. Aang and Toph will have to be there, as the Avatar and the Earth Kingdom Ambassador. Zuko…
Katara stopped in her tracks. No. Don't think about Zuko. Don't think about how you'll be standing next to him as the Southern Watertribe Ambassador. Don't think about how he'll look in his Fire Nation robes. Draped in red and gold. NO! Don't think about him!
She shook her head, trying to clear her mind of the dangerous thoughts. But, the funny thing about thoughts are, the more you try not to think about something, the more it seems to get pushed to the front of your brain.
"Katara? What are you doing here? We weren't expecting you until after noon at least." Suki had come around the corner with a basket full of skins. The woman was about six months along, and she was definitely showing. Not that anyone would mention it to her, her fans were still just as deadly, as Sokka quickly learned.
"Oh! Suki, guess what?" Katara didn't wait for her to guess, "We're going to the Fire Nation!"
Suki's eyes widened, "What?"
"It's true! Dad just told me! I'm acting Ambassador from the Southern Watertribe! Zuko's having a celebration of peace, the first annual remembrance of the war, and we're all invited!" Katara was fairly bursting with excitement.
"Oh, Katara! That's fantastic! Sokka and I are going with you?" Suki threw her arms around her sister-in-law's neck, awkwardly with the bump and basket.
Katara pulled back, "I'd still like to check up on you, just to make sure you're clear to go."
"Thanks," Suki smiled, "Is now okay? Or would you like to start packing first?"
"Now's fine, since I'm already here, this way we can tell Sokka too." Katara took the basket from Suki and began walking, "Are these for the baby?"
"Yes, I just got back from Kana's, she's been so helpful with the baby's things."
Katara smiled knowingly, Kana had kept all of Katara's and Sokka's baby things to give to their respective families when they had some of their own.
They arrived at Sokka's and Suki's small hut, just as Sokka was pushing open the skins that hung in the doorway, "Suki! There you are! I was getting worried!"
Suki rolled her eyes, "Sokka, I was gone for twenty minutes."
"You shouldn't be walking around at all in your condition! Lay down!"
Suki put her hands on her rather large hips, "Sokka, you say one more word about 'my condition' and I'll show you that just because I don't have my face paint on doesn't mean I'm not still a warrior!"
Katara giggled, "Sokka, you should know better than to tell her what to do, although, Suki?" She turned to the still glaring woman, "It would be easier if you were lying down so I can check you out."
"Fine, but I'm doing it so you can examine me, not because he told me to!" Suki relented.
Katara thrust the basket of furs into Sokka's arms, "Here, make yourself useful and lay these out, they smell like you."
He sputtered, indignant. "Hey! That's-"
She cut him off with a stern look, "Out!" She uncorked her waterskin threateningly.
"Alright! Alright! I'm going!" He scuttled into the other room.
Katara turned to the pregnant woman and guided her to the raised bed covered in furs and conveniently close to the fire in the center of the room. "If you would please, lie down and pull up your tunic," Her voice purely professional.
While Suki was getting situated, Katara drew the water out of the skin strapped to her back and settled it like gloves on her hands. They began to glow blue as Katara placed them on Suki's bulging stomach. Breathing out her nose, she read the water in Suki's blood, and in the budding life's blood encased in Suki's stomach.
"Heartbeat's going strong, it's healthy!" Katara moved her hands in slow circles, getting a thorough read. "Everything seems to be developing normally, no complications, no extra toes." Katara smiled at the woman.
"Oh, well, good. No extra toes is good." Suki sighed.
Katara paused for a moment, "Do you want to know if it's a boy or girl?"
Suki stared, then said, "No, we want to be surprised. We already have the names picked out for either one, so I think we'll wait."
"Well, then, I think we're done here!" Katara let the blue fade and bended the water back into the skin.
With suspicious timing, Sokka pushed the divider off to the side and entered the room. "So Katara, what are you doing here so early?"
"Oh! I have good news!" Katara started.
"Is Nana making stewed sea prunes tonight?!" Asked Sokka excitedly.
Katara and Suki looked at eachother and rolled their eyes. Always trust Sokka to think with his stomach. "No! We had stewed sea prunes last night! But no, that's not it. We're going to the Fire Nation!" She finished in a rush before he could interrupt about food again.
"The Fire Nation? Why? I've had enough with that place for awhile. It's all too-" Sokka waved his hand through the air, "-red!"
Katara stared at him, "Really. The Fire Nation is red. Who would have guessed, Sokka?"
"Just be ready in the morning, alright? The ship leaves with or without you."
"Yeah, yeah. I'll be there, quit nagging me!"
She just shook her head and exited to walk back to her own, slightly smaller hut, to begin packing.
She reached her own, modest hut and began to pull things out of storage. She would need her formal blues along with several changes of her normal day to day wear. Oh, and she would throw in her sparring clothes too, the specially designed robes that allowed for free movement.
Her boots, both the nicer ones for the celebration and her almost worn out ones for travel, joined the rapidly growing pile.
She threw her extra waterskin in for good measure. Never hurts to be prepared.
She spent a good part of the rest of the day running around the town, preparing food and supplies for their journey, and finally, when it became too dark to see anything she collapsed onto her furs and fell into a deep sleep full of red robes and fire.