If there were one thing to be said about the citizens of Republic City, it would be that everyone adored Avatar Aang.
Katara had always thought that he'd seemed nice enough; she'd never met him personally, but he was always present at town hall meetings, or throwing festivals, or making TV appearances. She'd been in his proximity a few times, but only just close enough to hear the clear sound of his laugh, or to feel a gust of wind as he crafted air scooters for eager children. Whenever out in public, he was almost never seen without a gaggle of people hovering about. It was as though he had his own gravitational pull—people just seemed to flock to him, like flowers that unconsciously turned to face the sun.
She'd wondered once if it ever bothered him, hardly being able to walk down the street without someone asking to take a picture with him, or to see an airbending trick, or to please whip some sense into a group of hoodlums. He never seemed to mind, though—easily pulling a silly face for someone's selfie, responding with an enthusiastic: "of course, check this out!" as he whipped up a mini tornado in the middle of the street, or nodding his head solemnly and ensuring that he'd take care of the young roughhousers.
Sokka and Suki had gotten to know the Avatar rather well over the course of their work on the council in Republic City, and often regaled Katara with stories of his antics. In fact, Sokka and Avatar Aang had become quite close, given their predilection for terrible jokes and mischievous scheming—he was to be best man at Sokka and Suki's wedding this year.
Katara had been invited to a number of council events by Sokka where she might have met Avatar Aang, but she'd turned nearly all of them down. How could she justify taking a day off when people were hurt and sick and dying every day? How could she enjoy fine dining and lively music while people lay alone in starched hospital beds drawing their last breaths?
And if she didn't act now, the Avatar may never draw another breath again.
Time both slowed and sped up as Katara felt her feet dashing forward of their own accord before her mind could catch up. Despite the panic around her, she was consumed by an eerie sense of calm. This was an emergency, just like any other that she handled on a daily basis. Someone was depending on her. She couldn't let them down.
First, handle any immediate threats.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw groups of people dashing out of the nearby burning building clothed in robes and pajamas, faces stricken, many clutching screaming infants or hauling out unconscious bodies. The fire was spreading rapidly to the neighboring buildings and consuming everything in its path. It would rage out of control soon if something wasn't done, making the entire street an unsafe place to be.
She needed a large water source; the small water pouch she kept in her purse wasn't going to cut it. But where on earth would she find that in the middle of a downtown street?
Then she spotted it—at the curb of the sidewalk, partially hidden by the overturned car, a fire hydrant. It was painted a sunny yellow, the color a stark contrast to the surrounding chaos and destruction.
Perfect.
"Are there any metalbenders here?" she yelled as she ran, looking around at the anxious bystanders. After a beat, a slim teenaged boy with scruffy hair tentatively raised his hand.
"Bend the cap off of that fire hydrant!" she commanded. "Do it, now!" The boy jumped, startled at the insistence in her voice, but shifted his weight toward the ground and placed his hands in front of him as if gripping something, then curled them outwards. The cap began to bend with a loud, grating protest, and then clattered to the ground, unleashing a rushing torrent of water that scattered several people to either side.
Katara directed her gaze at the hydrant and swung her arms above her head in a graceful arc. The onslaught of water followed, snaking through the air until it came to rest on the roof of the building, dousing the raging fire that had been burning freely only moments ago with an angry hiss. A plume of pale smoke billowed into the night air, and the collective sigh of relief from the building's inhabitants was almost palpable. She thrust a hand out and froze the opening of the hydrant with a large sheet of ice—that would have to do for now.
She continued forward, weaving through people until she was at the side of the Avatar, and then skidded to a halt and dropped to her knees. The pavement was cold under her hands, but it was nothing in comparison to the chill that crept its way up her spine when she saw the state Avatar Aang was in. He lay at an awkward angle on his side, skintight red suit nearly completely torn off at the waist to reveal an enormous, angry, oozing open wound on the center of his back. A quick once over informed Katara that he was otherwise relatively unharmed, but definitely not breathing.
"Avatar Aang!" she cried out anyway, shaking his shoulder as roughly as she dared, pressing a finger deep into the space underneath his clavicle to see if the pain would arouse him. No response.
The tearful young woman that sat by his side cradled one of his hands gently in her own. She raised large eyes swimming in tears to Katara, and ran a hand roughly across one that had escaped down her chin, sniffling. "They were—I ran—the boy—in the way—the Avatar jumped in front—got hit—someone called an ambulance—all my fault—" the woman stuttered, voice struggling over her quiet, choking sobs.
"It's okay," Katara said, hoping her voice had the right mix of the calm and soothing, yet commandeering nature she'd worked long to perfect. "I'm a doctor. Help me turn him on his back, quickly."
The two maneuvered the Avatar onto his back, his head lolling lifelessly to the side facing Katara, bearded jaw resting on the hard pavement. He looked almost peaceful, pale blue arrow ending at an unfurrowed brow and mouth slightly slack. For a second she wondered, stupidly, what color his eyes were.
Shaking off the momentary distraction, she made quick work of checking his pulses. Nothing.
She hastily shrugged her purse off of her shoulder and popped the top of the water pouch she kept at the bottom, filled with clean water that she replaced every day for emergencies like this.
The water coiled into the air and encased her hands with all of the familiarity of an old friend, and she began compressing the Avatar's chest, mending his ribs even as she snapped them in two with her thrusts, willing his damaged heart muscle to heal even as she forced it to beat.
The injury was severe; it was almost as though she could feel the anguish of the dying cells beneath her fingertips. The world around Katara fell away as she called on the moon spirit Yue and directed every iota of chi within her towards the young man beneath her, praying to all the spirits that she hadn't been too late.
After what may have been a minute or an eternity, the ambulance finally arrived, hurtling around the corner with sirens wailing. It eased its way along the road's shoulder next to the other cars that had backed up in the meantime, until it screeched to a halt some 20 feet away from the nearest bystander, prevented from advancing further by the fallen streetlight.
The EMTs thrust their doors open, one opening the rear of the ambulance to grab a stretcher and the other joining her on the other side of the Avatar, the sniffling woman standing up and stepping back to allow the EMT to reach him. Katara knew the EMT in front of her well—she saw them often in the emergency department as they brought in patient after patient—and exhaled shakily as she looked into her dark, freckled face.
"Nutha," Katara said urgently, never halting her compressions, "I don't know if he's going to make it, I don't know how long it's been since—"
Since his heart stopped, she couldn't say aloud. Nutha responded only with a knowing look as she quickly set up a defibrillator. Katara lifted her hands off of Avatar Aang's torso as Nutha slapped the leads on his chest, and the seconds felt like hours as she heard analyzing heart rhythm and then shock advised, Nutha following with a "clear the patient!" and then—
"He's got a pulse!"
Katara barely heard the scattered clapping and whoops from the crowd as she sat back on her heels, breathing heavily and massaging her sore arms with water-encased hands. The woman who was at the Avatar's side when Katara came to the scene let out a shaky, relieved laugh while Nutha and the other EMT, an earthbender named Gaolin, transferred the Avatar to a stretcher he'd prepared and made to load him in the ambulance.
Nutha turned around and placed a comforting hand on the exhausted waterbender's shoulder, offering a small smile. "You did great, Dr. Kuruk. We'll take good care of him."
Nutha stood and began to walk away when Katara pushed herself up and said, "I'm going too. I want to heal him on the way—I don't think he's out of the woods yet." Nutha nodded, joining Gaolin to lift the stretcher bearing the Avatar into the ambulance.
As Katara prepared to hop into the bed of the ambulance, she took a glance at the growing crowd around her. Some of the restaurant guests had apparently made their way outside to determine the source of the commotion, and among the faces she saw Haru, face unreadable. His eyes made contact with hers, and she mouthed an "I'm sorry" before lifting herself into the vehicle. She'd hardly expected to end her date in an ambulance, but she'd felt some uncontrollable pull to travel to the hospital with the Avatar. Something told her she'd be needed there.
The ride passed in a blur, Nutha starting an IV and prodding Avatar Aang here and there. Katara, however, never broke her contact with his chest, putting all of her effort into healing his damaged heart as much as possible.
She continued to search his face desperately for any signs of life. He was quite handsome this close, eyes shut peacefully and chiseled face relatively unmarred, although there was little Katara wouldn't have given to see a grimace, a flutter of his eyelids, a twitch of his arm—anything.
"Come on," she said quietly, although whether it was intended for him or herself, she couldn't say.
"Stay with me."
