Katara goes to bed last most days, all she can feel is that things are coming to a head and she feels sick. After confronting Yon Rha she leaves the camp fire first but she doesn't go to her room. She walks through the temple till she finds a pool of moonlight and the only noise she can hear is her own breathing. She meditates or, more accurately, dreams. She sees Kya and explains what's happened in her life (she hopes that Kya hears her from her seat in the heavens, orbiting with Tui, like all the members of the past Water Tribe).
But she falters when she thinks of the last few days. Pauses. Ignores the tears burning her eyes. Breathes. Then says, "Can you believe that I worked with the Fire Nation Prince, Zuko to find your killer? I hadn't realised that he could care or help me … well no I knew but I didn't want to. Your daughter has a good memory you know, mum. I hated him after the catacombs but I, I was wrong. He knew what losing a mother does to you."
She heaves a deep sigh and tries to feel the burden lift (the change is so miniscule that she can hardly notice it). The tears start to fall just a little quicker.
"I- I hope you're proud of me, mum. I miss you but I can't carry this hatred anymore. I did what's right, didn't I? Please answer me. Please. I miss you. So much. And Dad and Gran-Gran and everyone back home and everyone with you."
The tears running down her face stop her talking and she is so sick of being strong that she lets herself kneel on the floor. La dammit she is tired. She cries for all the things she lost, all the pain she's felt, all her fears for the future. She cries till she feels exhausted then she curls up and sleeps albeit, uncomfortably.
Unbeknownst to her, the Prince she has hated and since forgiven had searched for her. The bond formed beneath green crystals and a city of lies has only been strengthened during the last few days; lost mothers are both too common in a war and impossibly rare in the reactions they create. Zuko knows to back away when he hears her sobs but he returns with a pillow and a blanket which he drapes it over her, hoping that Katara has found some measure of peace.
(She wakes confused, her blanket embracing her and a pillow under her head. Dreams of her mother followed by dreams of golden eyes and all the shining emotions she has seen in them. Katara shuts this off but not for ever; she has always been governed by her feelings as the ocean is governed by the moon. It is inevitable that the two kindred souls, encased in blue and amber, will collide but they will have to wait till Ozai is gone. She is as patient as the sea, she can wait. He has lived as an ember before, he can wait too.)