Chapter 2: Forever Dare to Hope
Katara ran through the forest as fast as she could. Her shoulder was bleeding again and her arms were burned from Azula, but a driving force kept her going. Fire Nation soldiers were hot on her heels, threats and shouts flying free. Tears streamed down her face as the thoughts of her friends weighed heavy on her mind. Fire blasts exploded into trees next to her, the heat rolled over her like a ceaseless wave. A shot of flame decimated in front of her, showering her in embers and flame.
Little did Katara notice, she was running back towards the spring and the soldiers that tipped her off in the first place. The hiding Fire Nation Soldiers fired at her after jumping from the ground. The destructive blasts missed the young girl, but the heat was still close enough to sear her skin. The flame burned, but the rain was becoming too cold to notice that pain as it poured down in sheets, the morning air was already cold and the free falling water only made it worse.
Katara ran through the denser parts of the forest. Small branches and shrubs tore at her burned arms and her soaking robes. The thin material was ripped and torn with every branch that caught a good hold. The ever-pursuing soldiers would not give up; they simply blasted their way through the shrubs. Her breathing came in short ragged gasps. Katara didn't know how she was still running, but she didn't stop to ponder it. The muscles in her legs begged for mercy, but worked without fail. The branches slapped at her face, and she couldn't see several feet in front of her through the trees and blinding rain.
Suddenly Katara's view opened up into a storm ridden sky, she felt the sense of weightlessness, the open air, then realized she had just run herself off of a gorge.
Katara opened her eyes in horror and with a scream fell down the steep slanted hill and rolled into the small river at the bottom with a splash. The young girl got to her hands and knees groggily. Her wet dark hair hung down around her face. Being freed from the signature braid Katara's hair circled her face like a cage of her guilt. She looked up the hill to find the Fire Nation soldiers peering down at her. The firebenders shot there hands forward igniting the air with their cruel fire. Katara hadn't the strength to bend. She tried to duck under the surface of the shallow water and cover herself with as much of the freezing water as her tired soul could muster.
The fire exploded along the river's surface. The heat and flame licked through. Katara felt the flame seared the back of her robes and burned into her back. It felt someone left a shield over the fire and was now pressing it against her body. Katara came to the surface with a pained scream and soon as she could she was running again. She was an easy target in the open and explosions of fire erupted all around her.
The embers tore at her skin, and the smoke clouded her eyes and lungs. The cold rain came down upon her hard, every drop another arrow of pain. Katara soon staggered out of range from the tortuous fire blasts, her hair hung down wet and tangled around her burnt shoulders and face.
The soldiers turned and headed back to their encampment.
Katara staggered on, taking a step or two and nearly losing her balance when she would take another step and repeat the process all over again. Her eyes where glazed and her mind was drifting. She was beyond pain, her shoulder was stained crimson, her body; especially her back was covered in burn marks. Her whole body ached, the freezing rain came down in sheets, each drop was like a small ice ball and it stabbed at her fair skin with every fall. Like millions of small arrows launched from the opposing force was trying to see her to fail. The poor girl was beyond freezing, she was numb.
Her soaking robes clung to her skin making it harder for her to move. The rain was coming down so hard that Katara couldn't see even ten feet in front of her, even though she didn't care. The girl walked a little farther, and then her mind and body seemed to shut down.
Katara's world went black.
She didn't even see the ground coming up to meet her.
A figure walked silently through the rain, keeping his cloak tight about him to ward off the cold rain. The howling wind grabbed at the thick cloak, but it was held tight against its unending assault. He had heard deep commotions coming from the east, but they were farther than he thought. The traveler had thought about turning back a few times telling himself it wasn't worth it.
"Incredible storm. This time of day, and this time of year; it's unheard of" the cloaked being muttered as it swept across the muddy ground.
Something kept telling him to go on just a little farther, despite his other thoughts. His dark cloak billowed about him in the wind but he kept his hood on with a hand, making his features unreadable in the dark and rain. He continued to walk a little farther when something changed in his limited range of sight. A black silhouette outlined itself on the path ahead.
He cautiously walked closer until he realized it was a person. Running up to the figure he found it to be a woman, a young girl in fact. She was badly wounded; her battle scars were extremely extensive. He was surprised to find her still breathing. She wore blue robes, a waterbender? Not taking the time to ponder that particular detail he quickly took off his gloves and began to pick her up when she moaned and grimaced. The stranger realized what made her screw her face in pain right after she moaned. Tilting her towards him he peered at the source although he already knew what it was; her badly burnt back. Putting an arm under her legs and he cradled her shoulder and head as if he was holding a baby. Covering her with as much of his cloak as he could he quickly began to carry her back the way he came.
*
Aang looked out of his cell watched as a soldier came into the onboard prison only to tell the guard something and left. The boy sat in misery and thought. Where was Katara? Had she escaped? Was she hurt? Was she somewhere on the ship? Aang's mind rolled with all these questions. Sokka sat in the cell next to him. He hadn't said a word since he was brought in to the cell. He just sat with his arms crossed and an angered expression on his face. Toph was sitting in a hanging cage made from wood that was tightly bound together by rope. She had been shouting at the soldiers and making all sorts of threats, but she stopped soon after. The young girl just sat in the cage with her head down not looking up. Steel slammed against steel as doors banged opened and Princess Azula stalked in with the sheerest of confidences. Aang's chains jingled as he came to the front of the cage and stared into the cold eyes of his captor.
"Where's Katara?!" he demanded.
"Your little friend is gone and most likely dead" the princess smiled.
"What!?" shouted Sokka coming at of his position. "What happened to my sister? What did you do to her?!"
"Your waterbending friend fought but was quickly overpowered and ran; she was chased by my soldiers, getting badly injured in the process. Then jumped off of a small cliff and was seen running away in the freezing rain, she's probably quite dead."
Azula's laughter was the wickedest cackle ever heard. Sokka couldn't retort, he slumped back down and stared at the floor of his cell in horror. Azula continued, enjoying the desperate and horrified looks on her captives' faces.
"Your little waterbender put up a better fight then your earthbender!" Azula cackled facing the young earthbender. Toph winced but said nothing. Aang's fury was growing to an unbearable point. How could she do this to them? How could someone be so cruel?
Azula stared at Toph with interest. Not letting her last statement sink in to far she continued.
"Nothing? Not even a come-back? I heard you down hear yelling at my guards when we brought you here, but now you sit there without a peep. Hah, I guess it's true, when you put a blindfold over a captured animal it becomes quiet and doesn't fight. We just had to the same thing to you."
With that last statement the wicked woman kicked Toph's cage, making it rock and hit the wall. "Hey!" Toph shouted steadying herself in the cage but that was all that came out of her.
"What was that for?" shouted Aang, fury in his silver eyes, but Azula just left the room laughing. Toph curled into a ball, her black hair falling around her shoulders hiding her face and she then began to cry softly. Aang anger was to the breaking point. But he softened as he looked at his earthbending teacher. Watching Toph he moved as close as he could to try and comfort the girl.
*
Katara was barely conscious of her thoughts but the small bit of her self-conscious could feel warmth entering her body. She still couldn't open her eyes, and she slipped back into unconsciousness.
The stranger looked at the girl as she stirred. But that is all the reaction he had gotten from her. He had covered her with thick fur blankets and covered her head with a towel. But her temperature was not coming back to normal. He knew what he had to do.
First he left the cave that was his campsite and ventured through the rain to a tree where he stripped off the bark and collected the green sap from it. Mumbling something about hating the rain when it was supposed to be noon, he moved quickly back to his campsite and scraped the sap into a bowl. Then he put the bark next to the fire in the center of the cave to dry. Moving over to the unconscious girl the still cloaked figure produced bandages, a knife, the bowl of green sap, and various other herbs and tools from a bag.
He uncovered her frail body and quickly scanned her external injuries. One problem he knew he would have; her robes. The fabrics were hardly staying together. The thin robes had so many cuts, it looked like expensive rags. Her clothing was hardly proper, but the biggest problem was her burns. Her robes where actually burned into her skin on the edges, while everything in the center was burnt away completely.
He retrieved an orange colored fruit from his bag and pried it open, then squeezing it until the clear juices trickled into a wooden bowl. Katara's savior took some small leaves and added it to the juice and stirred gently with a coiled rag.
When he was done he began using his knife to cut away any part of her robes that was not attached to her. He worked quickly and efficiently to keep from giving her another cut to add to her skin. Finished, he had quite a few circles of the burned clothing. Looking over her he found a multitude cuts and burns covering her whole body. Another main problem; her breast bindings where burnt into her back. Some hung down, from branches cutting them loose, but most where completely burned away on her back except for the circular shape that where melted into her fair skin. He thought her back would be the worst of it so he would start there.
Carefully placing her on her front he dabbed the earlier mixture with a rag and began to lightly dab and rub the juice on and around the burned robes. The burn was a serious wound. Judging from the way she had laid on the ground she had moved form the spot where she was originally hit by the flame. Firebenders. Dishonorable killing machines. The burn was large, easily the size of a dinner plate and maybe a little longer. She was barely bleeding, because the flame sealed most of the blood vessels that had been struck.
'Better not touch this stuff; this will make my fingers numb for an hour.' He thought switching his thoughts back to the task at hand and the wet cloth in his hands.
He only dabbing around a small area for fear of it wearing off before he got around. After a small area was finished he picked up the knife and ever-so-delicately began to cut away the robe. When Katara would begin to bleed; he dabbed it up. After he was finished he put a temporary bandage and looked at her back. With a sigh he removed his cloak and laid it aside. His features where still masked by the shadows that the fire behind him played on the walls.
An hour later the surgeon was done removing the wraps robes from her back. Still laying on her front he quickly began to cover her wounds with a blue substance he produced from a jar. Then he bandaged the areas that he had fixed. Carefully, he rolled the unconscious girl over onto her back keeping the bandages secure. The numbing agent would keep the burn from hurting as she lay, and the gel would keep her from feeling pain afterwards and help heal.
*
Katara's mind became slightly aware of her surroundings. She was standing in a smoking field. Strom clouds hung menacingly overhead. Firenation soldiers where surrounding her, then Azula's form appeared behind her. Azula was waist high at the ground as if Katara was standing on a table. The vile creature's eyes glowed red and her laugh rolled over the field like thunder. The princesses' huge form towered over the girl with glowing eyes of fury. Her arms rapped around Katara with a knife that drove itself into the defenseless girls back. The horrified girl tried to cry out but nothing issued forth, and she was lost in the darkness.
*
Katara stirred and tightened her face and then relaxed again. Her savior could see she was in internal torment. He sighed and looked at her again. He gently took the edges of the cold and wet wraps that he cut away from her back. He gently tugged to make sure they weren't still attached somewhere.
The cold garments came loose to reveal her perfectly formed chest. He barely cared but he noticed she was covered in millions of small bumps from the cold. He realized he had to work quicker, she was getting colder and hypothermia was already probably setting in.
Looking at her shoulder he noticed this wasn't a burn wound. She had been stabbed with something. Looking closely he saw something protruding from the dried blood. A tree branch? He thought a moment. The only tree that had this kind of wood was a Spearbark. It would grow large spikes of wood on the outside of the trunk. Turning her slightly he could see the larger end of the spike in the back of her shoulder. Blowing into the air in a thoughtful huff, he took the clear juice that was mixed with leaves and dripped it on both sides of the wound.
Waiting a moment for the effect to happed he took small tweezers from the assortment of tools and took hold. A light twist and tug it came loose quite nicely. To his relief, Katara's doctor began to treat and bandage the wound. Finished with her shoulder he began to work on her arms cutting her arm guard cloths free through the same process as before.
Then quickly he began cleaning and bandaging the smaller burns and the very wide assortment of cuts and bruises. He had to cut away most of her pants to get to the burns on her legs. The wraps she tied around her thighs were unsalvageable. He had to work carefully around her legs, a slip with a knife, and she probably wouldn't walk for a few days. Using the same method as her back he worked fast taking little notice of anything but her wounds.
The whole process took nearly four hours. Katara was becoming very cold and he knew he had to do something. Her lips were turning blue and her skin was alarmingly cold to the touch. He looked at her near completely nude body, except for the necessary bandages on her wounds. The doctor was at a slight loss, so he quickly covered her back up in the blankets and fueled the fire.
A few minutes later Katara suddenly began to sweat and breathe heavily. The stranger leaned over her with his hands up in defeat, then he realized what was wrong; hyper ventilation. She had become too cold and hyperthermia had set in, her body was reacting. She could enter cardiac arrest if her didn't do something fast.
Quickly he uncovered her and the young man stood over her and stretched his hands out over her frail body while he closed his eyes. Breathing in strongly he searched his soul for the strength to perform the task he so dearly desired. Finding the tiny spark in the depths of his spirit; his hands began to glow with a slight bluish light. The stranger placed his hands very close; nearly touching her skin. Opening his eyes the stranger began to glide his hands across Katara's small, naked and broken body. The glow from his hands began to cleanse her body of the cold.
Katara began feeling into the inner reaches of her mind. She could feel warmth growing from deep down in her body. The man began moving his hands across her frail body until he reached her abdomen. Concentrating energy at his hands he pressed down on her lower stomach. With a slight grunt and a flash of light he flooded Katara's cold body with life giving heat. It penetrated every muscle and tissue and did not stop until it washed over all of her bones and soaked in.
Katara stopped breathing heavily, took a deep breath and came to consciousness, but was still as if in a very deep sleep. She almost smiled in her sleep, but it was clear she was fine and comforted. With a relieved sigh, Katara's healer covered her in the thick blankets once again and sat down by the fire staring into the flames. Looking at the fire he leaned over and pulled a small piece of dried meat form a sloth wrap and walked to the mouth of the cave. Looking out into the storm ridden sky, he thought of the young girl he just saved. Where did she come from? Who was she? So many questions, so many thoughts.
Katara began to cough from within the cave. The wanderer took another bite of the jerky and walked back into the cavern. He wasn't going to get much sleep tonight.
