A/N: This story is also on my tumblr if you prefer to follow there. Hope you enjoy!
Katara exhaled slowly after settling in the driver's seat of her car, letting out a long breath she didn't know she was holding. She let loose the bundle of hair that had been hastily twisted into a knot at the nape of her neck, and rested her head on the steering wheel.
Working as an emergency room physician at Republic City General Hospital was rewarding, but exhausting work. She'd spent her entire afternoon shift trying to heal the teenaged son of a nearby shopkeeper, who'd got on the wrong side of certain members that were part of the new Triple Threat Triad revival. He'd joined in a misguided attempt to protect his mother from extortion, but when he couldn't deliver, well…a well-aimed earthbending shot to the head certainly got the message across. It had taken every ounce of strength she could muster to keep him alive and stable, but it looked like he was going to pull through.
And despite it being one of the most grueling days she'd had in a long time, Suki still expected her to go on this blind date. Katara reached blindly for the cell phone that she'd thrust haphazardly into the passenger's seat and opened her most recent texts, in which she was on her last attempt to weasel her way out of the upcoming dinner:
But Suki! I can't even feel my arms. How am I supposed to eat dinner with dead arms?
No buts, Katara! You already agreed to this last week, and he's so excited to meet you. It'll be a good way to wind down! Just get a glass of wine, start up some conversation…it'll be great. Warrior's honor.
Katara started the engine and let out another sigh. No point in prolonging the inevitable.
"Are you sure this isn't too much?" Katara asked apprehensively, turning her face to and fro in the mirror. Katara was unaccustomed to wearing any makeup at all, and was unsure how she was going to make it the entire night without rubbing her eyes in exhaustion and end up looking like a pandelephant.
"Nonsense!" Suki insisted as she approached the mirror with a grin, and laid a hand on Katara's shoulder. "A little makeup never hurt anyone. Besides, you're already beautiful—it's really just icing on the cake."
At that, Katara offered a small smile to her future sister-in-law. She was one of the first people to embrace Katara when she'd moved with Sokka to Republic City three years ago. Sokka, who'd accepted a nomination to represent the Southern Water Tribe on the Republic City council, fell head-over-heels in love with the headstrong Earth Kingdom representative and Kyoshi warrior. She quickly became accepted as an adjunct member of their family, and Katara's close friend and confidante, for which she was eternally grateful—Katara had also moved to Republic City on an offer for a lucrative position at Republic City General, but long hours meant little time to relax, much less make friends.
Katara smoothed a wrinkle on her dress and turned to face Suki, who lifted another hand to Katara's other shoulder and bit her lip as if in deep thought.
"Katara, listen," Suki began, "I know this may be a little hard for you, especially since this is your first real date after…"
"Don't," Katara said sharply, and looked away. She knew Suki meant well, but she didn't want to have this conversation. Not now, maybe not ever.
Suki's eyes filled with sympathy, which she quickly replaced with an encouraging look. "Well, just give him a chance. He's an old friend I met in the Earth Kingdom, and a really sweet guy. And he's tall!"
Katara couldn't help but crack a smile at that. "Okay, Suki. But I'm only doing this for you," she reminded Suki with a huff.
"For you, for me, for whomever," the warrior said, with a wave of her hand. "Doesn't matter. All I want is for you to give yourself a chance to feel again."
Katara glanced at herself in the mirror again. She hardly recognized herself, donned in a slim, pale blue sheath dress with earrings that sparkled and elegantly curled hair that hung softly about her shoulders (with her traditional hair loopies, as she'd insisted)—certainly more effort than she would have put in if left to her own devices, and for what?
To feel again…was it worth it to even try?
Katara smiled at her dinner date over a sip of wine, actually having a nice time despite herself. She was nervous when the only identifiers of her blind date provided by Suki were "long brown hair, and he'll probably be wearing green," but in the end it hadn't been too hard to find him, standing in the waiting area and looking just as anxious as she felt.
Haru, mystery man in question, finished the story he'd been recounting about the time he'd accidentally destroyed the large boulder preventing a vicious cobra-scorpion from exiting its cave while earthbending with his father as a kid.
"It chased us for miles!" he said emphatically, "and, just when we almost got away, I tripped over a rock. A rock! My father never let me live it down." Haru cleared his throat and began speaking in a comically low voice: "Haru, how does an earthbender trip over a rock? 500 more boulder squats for you!"
Katara laughed as he continued, "and just to rub salt in the wound, the stupid thing caught up to us and stung me. I still have the scar." He pushed up a sleeve and displayed a raised, uneven scar that wrapped around his left bicep.
This really isn't so bad, Katara mused. She wasn't expecting fireworks—and he really wasn't even that tall—but he was nice and wholesome. That was as good a place to start as any.
"You think that was bad," Katara began as she swirled the dark liquid in her glass idly, "you should hear about my first waterbending practice with—"
Suddenly, a deafening crack shot through the air, and an immediate thunderous rumble followed. Katara dropper her wine glass in shock, while Haru let out a small yelp and dropped his fork. The heads of all of the restaurant's guests whipped back and forth, mumbling and searching for the source of the noise. Katara watched as the restaurant's doorman cautiously opened the door and peered outside.
Finding no apparent cause, he allowed the door to fall closed—only to have it thrust back open into his face a minute later by a frantic, round-faced woman grasping the hand of a small, frightened-looking child.
"Are there any doctors or waterbenders in here?!" the woman cried out desperately. The customers all stared blankly at her, including Katara, who took a beat to realize what had just been said. She pulled her napkin off of her lap and stood with purse in hand, throwing an apologetic glance to Haru and hoping he'd understand. There was no possible way that she could ignore a cry for help; hopefully, the woman was just overreacting to some minor problem with her kid.
"I'm a doctor," she announced as she approached the woman, putting on an air of composure. "Is something wrong with your child?"
"No, thank the Spirits, no, not him—" the woman managed, and seemed unable to say any more. "Please," she suddenly grasped Katara's hand, "just come with me!" And the woman promptly dragged both Katara and her son out of the restaurant.
"Wait, ma'am—" Katara huffed as they ran out of the restaurant and down the dark street, "what's wrong? Is someone hurt?" Even through her concern, Katara found herself wishing she'd had time to take her shoes off—being forced to run in heels was no easy feat.
"Yes! He was trying to protect my son from those awful, awful Triple Threat whatever people—oh Spirits, please let him be okay…" The woman appeared to be consumed with anguish, even as she huffed and dashed across the pavement. "He was hit in the back—one of the firebenders—they shot him, they shot him with lightning!"
That explained the resounding crack she'd heard in the restaurant. She spared a worried glance toward the woman's aforementioned child, but despite residual terror in his eyes and his heavy panting in his attempts to keep up with his mother, he appeared to be unharmed.
"They said…they said he didn't have a pulse," the woman gasped between breaths. "There are some people there now, but none of them can help him—there's not even a waterbender in sight!" Her son tripped over his feet and nearly fell as they dashed around a corner. The trio stopped briefly to right him, and began running once again. "I ran…to the restaurant because it was the closest building still open, and—"
"Ma'am, who is 'he'?" Katara interrupted breathlessly. "Is he a police officer, or…?"
"No!" the woman cried, coming to an abrupt halt as the three of them approached a chaotic scene of people.
A nearby rooftop was aflame, and a streetlight had been severed at the base and lay in pieces on the pavement. A car lay on its side with its windows shattered, and about 15 people were standing and walking around in various states of panic. A petite woman partially obscured a crumpled body that lay in the center of the crowd. He appeared to be a young man, bald head, very pale—
—And he bore the unmistakable arrow tattoos of the airbenders of old.
"'He's' the Avatar," the woman whispered to Katara in awestruck horror.