Supermoon

Katara sat in Appa's saddle, her eyes glazed over. Her knees were drawn up to her chest against the chilly midnight air that kept penetrating her darkened clothing. Her fingers and toes were numb from the cold. Her mind and heart were numb from helplessness. She was so disappointed in herself. It had scared her that out of all of the things she could have done, her mind had so quickly decided bloodbending. She could have otherwise immobilized that man... she could have frozen him in place with water. Why did she choose to use the darkest part of her element—almost on an instinct? The dark power that the moon gave her was still running hotly through her veins, searing through capillaries and burning under her skin. Once, the full moon had been her friend. Once, she and the full moon had been innocent allies, fighting on the same side of good and evil. Now that she knew the truth of the moon's power, she had difficulty trusting herself with the moon's power, and difficulty trusting the moon giving her that power.

Zuko sat opposite her in the saddle, studying her cautiously. What he had witnessed, he neither understood nor disapproved of. He wouldn't go so far as to say that he was afraid of what Katara could do, but he wouldn't say that he was very comfortable with it either. He decided that she would tell him if she wanted to. As his eyes washed over her, they met her unseeing eyes and stopped cold. He had never see her eyes so empty before. "We'll find him," he said quietly, his voice rasping from the prolonged silence. He watched her eyes carefully, but they didn't show any response. "I promised you that I could do this—and I don't know if you'll believe this or not, but I'm a man of my word."

"Its the moon," she said, blinking slowly. "The moon tonight was the biggest and closest to earth as its ever been in my lifetime. I could be using this time to heal somebody."

"There's other kinds of healing other than physical. Look at me." She did. "I've healed as much as I can from this." She knew what he meant. "But I know—and you know—more than anyone, that the things that are hardest to heal from are inside. Physical pain... it goes away. But the kind of pain you're feeling right now, is the kind that can last forever. You're healing yourself on this adventure."

A long, unbearable silence passed between the two. They sat in each others presence, absorbing the words that had spilled into the air.

"Its called bloodbending," Katara started, her eyes flicking to Zuko's. "I learned it a month ago. I didn't want to but, I had no choice... Zuko... she was going to make them hurt each other." She broke off, biting her tongue to stop a shuddering breath from passing her lips. "I promised Aang and myself that I would never use it again. Because its wrong. It takes away people's freedom. No one should have the right to do that." Her voice trailed off, her mind reflecting.

"Hey," Zuko said softly. From across the saddle, he nudged her ankle with his foot. She looked up at him, surprised. "I won't tell."

"Hm," she sighed in a curt reply. More minutes passed in silence, then a very quiet, very timid "Thank you" fought its way through the air. Almost imperceptibly, Katara moved her leg, so that her ankle rested against his covered toes. His presence comforted her beyond belief—beyond what she ever thought that Zuko could. When she looked up at him to see if he'd noticed her shy contact, she found him looking up at the stars, and followed suit. They spent the rest of the night gazing up at the stars, their feet just barely touching, in utter silence.

O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.

In honor of the supermoon tonight... 'nuff said.

~She-Poe