Kind of OOC: my apologies.
Katara yawned as she woke up and stretched, before freezing and glancing around her bed.
This isn't Zuko's bedroom… Glancing around nervously, she saw that she was in her old home in the South Pole. Giggling nervously, she hit her head with the palm of her hand and muttered insults at herself.
"Silly Katara, that wasn't a dream! You really are home, you stupid ninny!" Laughing, she began dancing by herself in the cramped space, when she suddenly heard lots of shouting outside. Her face paled.
No freaking way… Dashing outside, she saw Zuko, Iroh, and several Fire Nation crewmembers walking up the ramp to their ship, their arms laden with several packages of food. Zuko's leaving?
Running to her rescuer, she looked up at him.
"What's going on? Where are you going?" she asked, panicking slightly. They had only just arrived! She was planning to show Zuko some of the most beautiful icebergs around, and…
Zuko smiled and set his stuff down on deck before returning to hug her tightly.
"We'll only be gone a month, Katara. And I promise, I'll find out why you're having nightmares. I'll save you. Promise," he said, and with that, gave her a final wave before ordering his crew to set sail.
The next fifteen minutes happened too fast for Katara to comprehend.
Zuko. Zuko was gone. And for a month, she'd have no news of the outside world.
Sinking to her knees, she realized just how much she had wanted Zuko to stay. Clawing mindlessly with one hand at the snow on the ground, she watched as the iron ship sailed over the horizon and left them, her world*, and herself.
Picking herself up, she ambled towards her bed in her igloo and crawled in, burrowing into the countless blankets and fur pelts, and went into a troubled sleep.
A cold voice cackled somewhere.
"Sweet dreams, … my Princess…"
* Her world: the South Pole, since that was her home and literally, her world before Aang, before the attacks, and before her mother's death. And even then, it was still her world, a safe haven. (I'm attempting to be dramatic, so bear with me, lol)
** "left them, her world, and herself": borrowed from J K Rowling's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, when Dumbledore dies.
A/N: Katara's just disoriented and shocked that Zuko left. She'll get better in the next chapters!
OH! and before I forget: Nah, Iroh didn't say "Sweet dreams," in the last chapter. That would be Hakoda, seeing as he had absolutely no idea that that may have been a mad thing to say, seeing as Zuko did not tell him of Katara's nightmares.
