KATARA
SHE FINDS HER BROTHER UP ON THE DECK.
She didn't remember the dream that had woken her up; in fact, she wasn't even entirely sure it was the dream that had done the job. All she knew was that, one moment, she was asleep, and the next, she was awake. She was awake, and sitting up in bed, her hair a tangled mess falling like a heavy weight upon her shoulders and cascading down her back. Stray strands hung over her eyes, tickling her nose. She frowned, puffed them to the side. She rummaged through the bag hanging from the foot of her cot, pulling out a hair tie and pulling her hair from her eyes. She rubbed her eyes, watched as the world shifted from fuzzy and dark to just dark.
Around her, the world creaks and sways, the only sounds the rhythm and beat of a ship coming to life in the pre-dawn gloom. She closes her eyes, stretches out her awareness. She is trapped in a wooden box, but the further she reaches out, the less that seems to matter. There, just beyond the walls, right there, at the edge of her fingertips it seems, her element laps at the hull. She can feel every bit of it, if she tries hard enough. She can feel every drop and every swish and every movement. The sea rushes along, split by the prow, crashing together in the wake, and it feels like it's flowing through her very veins, beating in time with her heart. It's wonderful, glorious, even.
Which is when her mind finally notices that her brother's not there.
Her eyes snap open, doing a quick inventory of the room. Everything else is in place. On the cot across the room, Korra is still curled up in a ball, shoulders rising and falling, the tangled covers speaking of bad dreams and the ever-growing doubts that the girl refuses to talk about. All of their stuff is right where it should be, too, from Korra's scattered clothes to her own carefully organized belongings. Even Sokka's boots are there, right where he left them, lying beside his pack. Only…
Sokka's not anywhere near them…
Sokka's not in his bed…
Katara sighs. She's concerned, as well as a little bit annoyed, not least because she is not happy with the fact that her brother got up and walked out of the cabin in the middle of the night, and she didn't notice. Normally, she did. Her brother had barely slept a whole night through since the North, since Yue, since…
Since everything went wrong…
She shakes the thought away, rising from her bed and wrapping a blanket around her shoulders. She stops on the way to the door, leaning over Korra, reaching down to brush some hair from the girl's face. The face itself is blank, at peace. It's often hard for Katara to remember that the girl is only fifteen, and a newly-minted fifteen-year-old at that. But right now? When she's asleep, and not in the throes of some nightmare?
It's hard to believe she's older than ten…
Katara sighs. There she is, the Avatar, all of fifteen-years-old. The incipient smile dies, and suddenly, all Katara can see is a monster, tall as a mountain, pale and blue, its heart a teenage girl filled with rage, her humanity hidden behind glowing eyes the color of ice.
The Avatar…
I'd hate her, if I didn't love her so much.
With that, she slipped out the door, closing it gently behind her.