The wind blew in soft gusts as the ocean waves caressed the sand. The sun was slowly melting in the horizon, and the sounds of night were peeking through the nooks and crannies of nature. In the mix of the beauty, a young girl dressed in a soft blue party dress watches her element with bright blue eyes.
She hears the bird calls better then slurred shouts of roaring party behind her which was taking place in the courtyard of a large airy house with yellow shutters. It seemed no one had noticed Katara slip out to the seaside, until a tall man emerged from the surrounding brush. He walked over slowly, making just enough noise to announce his presence without ruining her meditation.
Fire Lord Zuko sat on the warm sand and didn't speak. The one who rose with the sun would often sit with his friend of the moon while she worked out inner turmoil, and knew the best approach when she was so deeply melancholy.
"Today is the day" she said softly, her voice catching a little, " the day that I lost her ".
He waited, letting her breath. "Did you know that as a child, when ever I would cry, she would pick me up and swing me around and she would always sing in a whispery voice. She always made me feel better by telling me everything would be okay. Sometimes I pretended to cry, just so I could feel that wonderful sensation. An exciting mix of love and flying."
There were tears in her eyes, but the her good friend knew she was not done, and only handed her a handkerchief.
"On that day, when I returned to the house and found her there, I waited. I waited for her to whisper everything would be okay. I was so scared and confused, everyone was crying and talking fast and gran-gran was there and she was so upset. They wouldn't let me stay with her. I was shoved into my mother's friend's house. They all looked at me with sad eyes and kept giving me little sweets. Zuko, at that point in the war, sweets were virtually non-existent! They all thought me to young to understand, and a way, I was. I was eight years old! I know what death is, and it took a little while to sink in, but I knew. You can't hide something like that…"
A small salty drop rolled slowly down her browned cheek, and she let it. It hit the sand with a small splash, but to the two young benders, it sounded more like the roar of the tides. "Zuko…it's just…" she trailed of, tilting her head away and bending the pools of water that lay sleepily beside her. More tears fell silently, like the war bombs of yesterday.
"You know, when I was nine my mother thought it would be a good idea for me to learn to play an instrument. She let me pick it out, and being nine, I choose the biggest, coolest looking thing I could. Every day at two o'clock she made me practice a huge destructive monster of a musical instrument. I hated that stupid horn, but after she left, I kept practicing. It was a memory of her, something I could hold on to."
Katara looked up as he spoke, watching him as he laughed to himself, the memory playing back in his head. Being the day it was, it was almost a relief to Katara to speak of someone else.
"Zuko?" she asked in a quiet voice, not wanting to overstep the boundary, "What did she look like?"
The scarred man sat straighter and paused, not that he was uncomfortable with her question, but that no one had asked it before. He opened his mouth awkwardly, but no sound came out. After a moment, he realized his pause was from lack of memory and felt horrified.
How could he ever forget his own mother's face?
His own face betrayed this sentiment, and Katara flashed deep concern. She asked quickly, "Zuko! What's wrong? Are you alright?"
"I-I can't remember! I can't remember h-her face…" The bender beside him, finally knowing why the young fire lord was so troubled, let her heart take a moment to calm down. She sat on her knees and took his hands into hers, and the constant warmth felt wonderful compared to her soft, cold hands. "Zuko, you haven't seen your mother in a very long time. It very easy to forget someone after the years you had after.
"Sometimes, when I can't sleep, I try to remember my mother. It helps that tucked away, inner child part of yourself fall asleep at night. Some nights it takes me seconds, others minutes, while others still, hours. It's just a factor of the human trait, the trait of never being able to escape time." She looked deep into his eyes, willing the memory to show itself to her invaluable friend. After what seemed like eternity(in reality a minute), the royal set of golden eyes flashed from searching to recognition and he smiled excitedly. The Fire Lord sat up quickly, and began speaking with a childlike edge to his calm voice. "My mother's name was Ursa, and she was beautiful. She had long deep brown hair she always let fall behind her. Her eyes were…"
In the chaos of the party, an old woman sits beside a flowery bush. Her light yellow eyes watch lovingly, and posture comfortable against the plant as she smiles in remembrance of long ago memories. She takes one last long look before getting ready to fall into the crowd and leave, when she is stopped by a young girl's rough voice.
"He has a secret crush on her. Come on lady, you know it."