Hello readers! Apparently I'm a lazy butt on Sundays... But good-ish news :] We are very close to the end here. I am excited!
Disclaimer: I don't own Avater/characters because I can't draw any of them :(
Katara's eyes opened and what she saw made her close them again. It was actually a mixture of what she had woken up to and what she wished she could wake up to. In a four poster bed with silk sheets and Ember-goose feather pillows, with the sun's rays streaming through the windows, in the Fire Nation. Instead there was ice, cold and blue sparkling all around her. Her face dug deeper into her pillow and she groaned at the idea of going through the same thing tomorrow morning. "Katara, are you awake?" asked a soft voice from the entrance of the ice hut. She had grown up sleeping in a turtle-seal skin tent, but now with Sokka having grown and her dad and Gran Gran, the tent was claustrophobic. It was easy to bend up a simple, sturdy hut, and despite it being made out of ice, it kept her insulated.
"Yes, Gran Gran, I'm awake," she mumbled loudly into her pillow.
"Oh good," said her grandmother, "because I wanted to get started with a few things. Don't want to waste any time." And so it began. The life she had left over a year ago had resumed as if she had never left. Leave it to Gran Gran.
The first order of business for reconstruction was to repair what already was. Tents that had been torn, battered, and uprooted all had to be mended. This was more of a job for Sokka, but Katara lingered to lend help where it was needed. All the empty time however allowed her to get lost in her thoughts: Zuko, the way they had kissed, where things might have been going for them, how comfortable she felt around him now. It all played out in her head, the memories went by, but then she would fantasize about what could have happened next. If they had never left that island, if that attendant never interrupted to tell them her father was waiting. There was so much, but she couldn't regret anything, nothing she could have done would have changed her returning to the South Pole.
The fire lord however could have done something. Katara forced herself to keep a little pinch of faith in Zuko. He would come for her soon. She just had to wait. These things took time to figure out.
The fire lord was once again found pacing in his office. He would stop only to look out the windows as if a bought of inspiration would be waiting for him out there. There were two problems here. First the obvious one where he didn't know how to get Katara back to him, and the second, which was developing into an enormous distraction: every time he tried to focus on something for their predicament, his mind would automatically wander off to countless thoughts of the waterbender. The times they've had together, all the things that could one day be, and sometimes even just the waves of her hair.
Zuko rolled his eyes, exasperated and exited the room, his heavy robes flourishing behind him. He forced himself to stop thinking about everything and made his way to the throne room. Maybe some of his advisors had found something, though it was doubtful. He was in the Hall of Portraits where all of the previous fire lords hung on the wall where he had stopped and turned to face the huge portrait of his father. That face, his face, before the scar at least. The scar turned out to be a positive experience, on a few levels.
As his mind wandered over the history of the end of the war, Zuko began to hone in on one specific element. "Uncle," he whispered. There was no one better to ask for advice of any sort. Uncle Iroh should have been the first person he called for, at least after he had realized he couldn't do it himself.
The fire lord rushed out of the hall and back to his office. He unintentionally slammed the door shut behind him and grabbed for a piece of paper and a brush. He didn't go into detail in the letter, just that he needed help and that it was of great importance, enough that Iroh's presence was required in the palace.
In a little over three week Katara and a few of the other water benders from the North Pole had succeeded in creating a great big central building out of ice. Pakku had drawn out the structure, having had the most experience, and after that they all worked together freezing water into large blocks and then assembling them according to the layout. Every day during the construction Katara would go to her bed unable to lift her arms. She wiggled to get under the blankets and immediately fell asleep. Her dreams consisted of two major themes: ice buildings and Zuko in the fire nation. The buildings were usually crumbling or melting or falling over. With Zuko it was always different, but the setting was always in the Palace Gardens or on the beach on that island.
Now almost two months had passed and Katara was sitting with Pakku in a corner of the central building. "Grandpa, we have made this one," she gestured around them, "The food storage, and are about done with five rows of ice huts. What more do we need?" Katara was not happy.
Pakku frowned at her, "Reconstruction is a long process Katara. Now that there is peace, hope has allowed the southern tribe to open their minds to new things." Katara had to admit that everyone here was a lot livelier. They were eager and excited about the prospect of buildings they never before could dream of having in the community.
"Okay grandpa. I see what you mean." She felt defeated. He was right and now she felt guilty. "I'm going to go for a walk. Maybe I'll think of something then." Pakku's earlier frown turned upside down. He nodded and watched her leave with endearing eyes.
Katara managed to reach the outskirts of the village, which was farther out now, before someone stopped her. It was Sokka, of course. The two of them could not stay mad at each other for such a long time. He had uncharacteristically made the first motion to apologize and since then, the third day back, Katara had her brother back. He however did not have his sister, not the whole of her at least. She was often wide-eyed and staring off into the distance and anything he said would not register. "Where are you going?" he asked suspiciously.
"I'm just walking Sokka," she replied slightly irritated.
"Need some company?" her brother said with a small smile.
There was the guilt again. Her tone softened, "Um, I'd rather be alone on this one."
"Fine," Sokka shrugged nonchalantly. "Just don't go out too far."
Katara nodded that she wouldn't and continued taking careful, absentminded steps away from the village. She did want to do some thinking on this stroll, but not about ice or water or snow. She didn't even want to think of the fire nation, all she wanted to focus about was Zuko. He had made a promise to her to come back. Two months were gone and there was no sign whatsoever that he was doing such things. She was getting tired of waiting. Of course it was good that she was there to help rebuild her home, but with every passing day without word from him was one more shade her faith in him faded.
Katara was not able to keep mind and body in the same place. Her mind would not stop wandering to thoughts of fire. It eventually made her believe that she was too different to belong around the water tribe anymore. Her easy going social skills disappeared making life increasingly lonely. Only Sokka and grandpa Pakku could get her to be somewhat herself. And her father, she could see he was getting worried about her.
Katara brought the mental isolation upon herself as she wouldn't allow others into her head, but she couldn't help it. Zuko was the only one who could save her now, save her from the loneliness before it suffocated her.
Very melodramatic no? Well, sometimes we make life a little more exaggerated to keep it intense and beautiful. Review? Yes! Thanks! You get a giant slice of chocolate cake!
Thanks for reading!
