Before Reading the Actual story:
I'm pretty impressed by how many people actually like this story...I actually thought that you guys would like my other story The second chance a lot better...maybe I should write a draft more often. Also...there are more people who put this story on their favorites than my first story...kind of creepy. You guys aren't using reverse psychology on me are you?
Anyways: This chapter can be confusing so let me break it up for you. One: the person says what do they tell Chang because they think Katara is crazy basically and (in a different chapter you will learn) can be very violent. IE-the incident. Two- YES Katara did make the decision to leave Aang for reasons unknown for now. Third- sorry about the depressed/weird Katara but if you left your best friend for some stupid reason and you had absolutely no one left, you would be depressed also.
Finally: THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT- I need someone to basically bug to see if an idea is good or not. Forgot to thank coolmac for letting me ask him questions for plot. Not all at once...lol. Seriously I can come up with a stupid idea and a great idea and I won't be able to tell the difference.
Sorry if this chapter isn't what you expected...I seriously had to make stuff up as I went. I didn't think I would get this far with the story. If you hate something- Review or pm me.
OKAY!- sorry for the deleted story but as timisnotmyname pointed out...it looked exactly like the Earth Kingdom Generals (you know with the big five council of five) I seriously didn't know I was copying the idea...creepy isn't it. Anyways I also made the leader of the southern water tribe an awsome guy instead of a bunch of idiots. YAY!
AND YES- Bao is actually from the Southern Water Tribe...
Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away from the almost scandalous meeting, the sun had just started to rise, bombarding the small southern water tribe with brilliant rays of light. Well…the water tribe wasn't exactly small anymore, ton of people had immigrated after the war and had constructed hundreds of buildings to accommodate the growing population. At the center of it all, a huge statue of the Avatar, carved completely out of ice. Behind this was the governmental building, much like their sister tribe's, it was made completely out of ice and had the water tribe symbol at the top. There were lots of steps, fifty-one to be exact, leading up to a huge gateway guarded by twenty watchmen. Even though the war was over, there were still trouble from the spirits and terrorists. If one could get past all of these defenses, one would see a huge chamber filled with hundreds of doors. Down at the end of the hall, was the most important room of them all, the meeting room. There they discussed changes, laws, taxes, etc. There was only one table, which was raised up so that the visitors would have to look up while the "important people" can look down at them.
Just at this moment, the Chief of the Southern water tribe was meeting with a messenger from the Fire Nation, who had just arrived minutes ago. Across the room was, what the messenger said, was an eelhound.
"Forgive my unannounced appearance Bao." The messenger said while bowing low.
"What is your name?" The tribe leader named Bao asked.
"Shan sir." Shan said, finally standing up.
"What is your business here?" Bao snapped, he had better things to do that converse with a messenger.
"I bring news from Chang, chief of the water tribes. He requests a favor."
"Go on." Bao rested his chin on his hands, this could work towards his advantage. After all it was a favor for a favor and a favor from the chief of both water tribes can come in handy.
"He asks that you send the girl named Katara to the Fire Nation."
'Well…there goes my favor…' Bao thought to himself. Even though he was elected for his cunning and intelligence by the people, even he couldn't get Katara out of the southern water tribe and he had known Katara since she was four.
"May I ask why?"
"Of course, she is wanted as help for the Avatar's quest."
'Quest? Who the hell says quest anymore?' Bao thought.
"Well…there is an implication in your little plan, N-"
"Listen…I'm sorry if it takes too much of your time doing this, but it is crucial for life itself! You will either convince or trick her into going to the Earth Kingdom. You will send her to this location and that is where she will be briefed for her mission and that is where she will be staying." Shang said while tossing a piece of paper up onto the table. With that, he bowed once again and turned to mount his eelhound. Without another word, he left with a dash.
Bao slowly opened the paper and, after reading the location, slammed it face down on the table with a thump. He kneaded the bridge of his nose, clearly stressed.
"What the hell am I going to do?" Bao said to himself.
--
"Good morning Aang." Katara said cheerfully, as she had done every day since the war had ended. She slowly opened her cerulean eyes and pushed the covers off of herself.
She sighed as she sat up from her bed and picked up the picture of Aang.
'If only you were real.' She thought as she ran a hand across the picture. She knew that she looked like an idiot talking to a picture, but she didn't care. She barely cared about anything anymore especially what others thought of her.
"Come on and get dressed Katara! You're going to be late!" Sokka yelled.
Katara rolled her eyes, ever since Katara fell into seclusion, Sokka had insisted in applying her for ever single job in the city. He silently hoped that work would help keep her mind off of whatever it was that was bothering her, but to his disappointment Katara failed to get the job especially after the incident. In fact, she wasn't allowed to even be interviewed after the incident. So the fact that someone came to Sokka early this morning, asking to interview Katara for a job was an opportunity he would not pass up. Being the ignorant fool he was, he didn't even ask himself why the interviewer would ask for a specific person when the applicant was suppose to come to them.
She got off of her bed and opened up her closet. After choosing a random dress, she slipped out of her nightgown and slowly slid on a beautiful blue kimono. It was very much like the kimono she wore at the Earth King's party, except it was blue and was actually a 2-piece, held together securely by a silver silk belt. The designs on the dress were completely different and there were slits from her lower thigh down on both sides of her dress. Her hair flowed freely down past her shoulder, but she still had her hair loops. She slowly put on her white sandals and walked over to the mirror in the corner of the room.
In the mirror she saw a beautiful 20-year old woman staring back with piercing blue eyes. Katara sighed as she slowly pinched her stomach. She silently thought that she was too fat and had been fasting for the past few days, despite her brother's pleads for her to eat. In fact, she was too skinny, having almost no body fat. It looked as thought she was skin and bones only. Her curves had developed to that of a mature woman's, making her beauty unmatchable. Though six years of seclusion didn't help her skin, which had almost turned pale from lack of sunlight.
In fact, six years had changed Katara a lot. She no longer wanted company, instead she was more than happy to sit in her room and stare at the ceiling or sit outside under the stars. She, though she doesn't want to admit it, lost her waterbending a long time ago. Katara is not even able to perform the simplest of moves. She doesn't cook, much to Sokka's dismay, leaving it up to her brother to cook the meals and now recently she hasn't been eating. It was as though her mood dampened with every passing day.
Katara reluctantly stepped out of her room, not wanting to leave the comfort of her bed nor of her dreams.
"Come on sis! Breakfast! Then we got to go!"
Katara groaned silently, her brother was not known for being a cook.
"Actually Sokka, I'm not too hungry. I'll just go." Katara yelled while grabbing her parka and sprinted out of the igloo that she shared with her brother, hoping that Sokka wouldn't stop her. Unfortunately, before she could even step more than one foot outside, Sokka grabbed her wrists, preventing her from moving.
"Oh no you don't Katara! One, you should take a shower first. Being cooped up inside for a week doing nothing doesn't help with your smell. Two, I'm coming with you, the last time I let you go by yourself, you ran away and didn't come back until the next morning. And Three, eat your breakfast."
Katara cursed silently. It was ironic that not long ago, Katara would have said the same things to Sokka, it was as though the two had switched roles as the parental figure.
"Oh come on Sokka! I-I wouldn't run away…I-I'm not like that! Jeez, ever since Suki left to help with the spirit problem, you've been overprotective of me! And I DON'T SMELL!" Katara shouted while poking Sokka forcefully in the chest.
Sokka sighed; he was getting tired of the same arguments every day. Most of all he hated arguing with Katara, the person whom he cared for the most.
"I'm just worried about you, that's all. After the war ended you just…went flying into seclusion. I-…we all thought you would be happy that it had ended. I thought you would be happy by now at the very least. And what kills me most is that I don't know what in the world is bothering you." Sokka softly stated, while embracing her in a brother-sister hug.
Sokka could feel Katara tense up in his hands, then slowly relax into his embrace. Sokka made a mental note to give Katara more hugs, she had been deprived of human touch for almost six years. Though you couldn't really blame Sokka, between Suki and his job as ambassador, he had almost no time for his sister. That and the fact that Sokka isn't the compassionate kind of guy; he is more of the complaining, inspiring, planning guy.
'Spirits you're an idiot…you don't even hug your own sister, yet you try to help her by making her do something she doesn't want to do?!' He silently berated himself.
He felt Katara shudder, the pain clear from her eyes.
"I-I'm sorry…I just can't take it anymore…I just can't go on living like this…I just hate it! I HATE it! I hate this stupid feeling in my heart! I hate this guilt!" Katara yelled, tears streamed down her face and soaked the ice below, her eyes filled with sorrow and pain. She buried her head into Sokka's chest, pouring out all of her grief in the form of tears.
"I…I hate not waking up to my best friend. I hate the decision I made to leave him behind…" Katara whispered so quietly that Sokka had to strain himself to hear it.
'So this is what it is all about! Aang, it has to be him! Katara doesn't have any other guy best friends! When I get my…wait a second. Did she say she made the decision?!' Sokka thought as he hugged Katara harder as if Katara would just slip away if he let go. 'What the hell happened to my kind, caring, energetic sister?...Well at least that would explain why Aang never came to visit.'
"Uh…shhh…it-it's okay…d-don't worry." Sokka said hesitantly, he didn't know what else to say. He mentally raked his mind for any memory of his mother comforting him when he was hurt, but all he could come up with was memories of Katara comforting him. It hurt that he couldn't even remember his own mother, but he wasn't going to complain just yet. Katara needed him more than his already dead mother.
Sokka closed his eyes and imagined what Katara did to calm him, the words, the comforting hands, the soft-spoken whispers, and the hugs. The more he thought about it, the more he appreciated Katara and regretted that he had taken all of the care and compassion for granted. Absentmindedly, his right hand stroked Katara's cinnamon hair, his other hand ran small circles in the middle of Katara's back.
So brother and sister stood, comforting each other's regrets and pains.
REviEW! Plz!
Oh and a special thanks to coolmac for putting up w/ my idiotic ideas in Pains of Love!
