Chapter Thirty-Five
Kanna had told the family to let Katara sleep. Obviously, she was exhausted and Kanna decided to save her a plate if she got hungry later. The family eventually drifted off to their own rooms to sleep only to be startled awake by a small scream coming from Katara's room.
The nightmare had been so vivid, but then, they all had been... Every. Single. Night. Ever since Mai had come back and Katara had exiled herself from sleeping next to Zuko. The nightmares were always different, but like the ones she'd had in the past. Usually she could suppress the screams that tended to accompany her violent awakening, but when she found herself in a new environment, it took a little while before the nightmares subsided enough to keep her silent when she would bolt upright in a panicked sweat from the night terrors.
Panting, her eyes quickly took in her surroundings. It was a different room, but familiar enough to remind her she was safe, and she was home. She pushed sweat damp hair from her face as her brother came bursting through the pelt that acted as a curtain over her doorway. Sokka startled her as he ran in, brandishing his boomerang in just some sleep pants, his hair down and in disarray as he sleepily searched for the cause of his sister's distress. Her father came sweeping into the room, shortly after, looking to his daughter with concern.
"Katara, are you alright?"
Sokka lowered his boomerang, finding no immediate danger and looked to Katara, sitting up in bed looking disheveled.
"It was just a nightmare." Katara croaked, trying to reassure her father and brother. "Everything's fine. This is pretty normal actually." She said, shrugging to try to downplay it out of embarrassment.
Sokka slumped out of her room, too tired to argue after her meager excuses. Hakoda looked concerned and like he wanted to say something but was at a loss for words. Gran-Gran finally poked her head through the curtain.
"Katara, would you like some tea?"
Looking relieved that she had an excuse to not have to explain herself to her father, she tossed the furs off her and followed her grandmother to the kitchen where the cooking fire had been stoked and a pot of water was already steaming above it. She heard her father's footsteps recede back to his room.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Gran-Gran asked gently, as she began preparing the teapot as the water finished boiling.
"No." Katara said softly, watching her grandmother.
Her grandmother nodded and continued adding dried herbs to the teapot. "This should help you get back to sleep." She said, easily changing the subject. Kanna turned around with the teapot and a ladle and set the teapot on the table. She prepared to ladle the hot water into the teapot, but Katara beat her to it, easily bending the steaming water where it could begin steeping.
Kanna turned to beam at her granddaughter. "I've missed you. It's good to have you home."
Katara could feel the tears burn as they welled in her eyes. "It's good to be home too. So much has changed, but it's also kind of the same."
"Sokka can show you around tomorrow, get you reacquainted with the village." Gran-Gran said as she poured a cup and handing it over.
Katara nodded slowly, watching the tea swirl in her mug. "That would be nice."
Kanna reached out to pat her knee. "Drink your tea and try to get some sleep. I'm going to bed myself."
"Good night Gran-Gran. Thank you for the tea."
"Of course, darling. Good night."
Late that afternoon, Sokka had finished showing Katara around the new and improved village. They had started at the wall and the docks, despite his little sister's complaints that she had seen them just yesterday. He'd wanted her to really look at the wall and appreciate it, and it was quite impressive, especially compared to the last wall she remembered (built by Sokka). Then he had marched her to the marketplace, which she had seen briefly while trying to find her family. The marketplace was lined with stalls offering not only traditional Southern Water Tribe wares and foods but imported ingredients and items from the other nations.
The next place they visited was probably what Sokka had been the most excited to show her. It was The Lodge, or more accurately, it was the bar. Where Katara wasn't allowed. But Sokka was old enough to get in. He was sure to rub it in her face, going on and on about the variety of drinks they offered and the good times he had until Katara got bored and with a wave of her arm, Sokka caught a face full of snow. He turned doleful eyes on her before brushing the snow off himself and digging it out of the hood on his parka while Katara grinned at him.
With less enthusiasm, he then showed her the meeting hall, which once again, she had already seen. Sokka explained this is where the council met, where events were held and other general purposes. Just as enthusiastic with the introduction of the meeting hall, Sokka then led his sister to the schoolhouse where she marveled at it in curiosity. After pestering her brother for answers, he explained that the schoolhouse had several different rooms for different age groups of children and the teachers had come from the Northern Water Tribe and the Earth Kingdom and even one from the Fire Nation that was willing to brave the cold.
"You should like this one." Sokka said, jerking a gloved thumb at the next building he was going to show her. "This is the healing hut," Katara's eyes bugged out and she barely heard the rest of her brother's mutterings. "But I think this is too big to be considered a hut really..." Sokka was saying as he examined the building and rubbed his chin.
"Can we go in?" Katara asked eagerly tugging on her brother's sleeve.
He smirked down at her. "Sure."
Katara eagerly pushed aside the heavy pelt that hung in the doorway and marveled at the inside. There were several recessed pools of water for easy healing and Katara recognized the healing human model in the pool furthest from the door. Katara could see several rooms branching off the main room that contained all the pools of water. These were small, individual rooms for patients that would need to stay longer or to accommodate women giving birth, which was a common occurrence after the long war had finally ended. Katara explored the whole building, running into the woman who ran the healing hut, Mina. Sokka had introduced them and Katara had eagerly offered her services.
Mina was older and had come from the North Pole, so she recognized Katara and Sokka as royalty, despite that was not how things worked in the South Pole. Mina had gushed and fawned over Katara, making it seem like her precious time would be wasted here and that there were plenty of capable healers available. Katara had tried to hide her disappointment, at least until they were out of sight of the healing hut.
"Try not to take it so hard. Your healing isn't as rare here as it was in the Fire Nation. Besides, Mina old school and thinks we're royal, so just enjoy the special treatment and relax." Sokka waved off her anger.
"Dad's not a King or anything!" Katara spluttered, waving her hands in frustration in her brother's direction.
"I know, and technically they know, but sometimes the perks are nice."
"You're just saying that because a lot of vendors give you free food."
Sokka patted his stomach. "Like I said, perks."
Katara took a breath, ready to argue with her brother some more, but he headed her off my suddenly tugging on her parka. "One last thing! I think you'll like this one too!"
Katara swallowed her response and followed curiously as her brother tugged her along. On the edge of the village, on an open expanse of snow and ice was a training arena. Men were scattered across the vast space sparring hand to hand, using spears, boomerangs and the like and there were even a few water benders on the field. It was incredible and Katara couldn't wait to get down there and burn off some energy.
"Look! There's Gran-Pakku!" Sokka exclaimed, pointing excitedly at their new grandfather who was teaching a class of young benders; much to Katara's pleasure the class included some girls as well. "I think Bato is working on weapons training today too…" Sokka shaded his eyes as he scanned the arena.
Katara walked around, talking to villagers and catching up with familiar faces. A small crowd had gathered, recognizing that Sokka and Katara, war heroes and infamous water tribe warriors were in their midst. Katara eagerly arranged several sparring matches for tomorrow, Sokka accepted a couple as well, but seemed to prefer gathering bets and giving out odds for his sister's upcoming fights.
The siblings walked home, joking and laughing about the day as they headed home for the day. Sokka wanted to make sure Katara got a good meal and plenty of rest as he schemingly rubbed his hands together, muttering to himself before disappearing into his room.
Katara was able to fall asleep beneath her luxurious furs, but as always, after a few restless hours, she was ripped to wakefulness by yet another nightmare. To her embarrassment, a small scream had torn from her throat once again. Sokka stumbled in once again, hair in disarray, barely conscious and heavily armed.
"Sokka, it's fine. I'm sorry I woke you up. Go to bed."
Sokka turned wide, blinking eyes on her, the words slow through his sleep muddled mind.
"It was just a bad dream."
He grunted and slouched out of her room. There was a light knock and her father tentatively stepped into the room.
"Sorry dad. Just another bad dream. Everything's fine. Go back to bed."
"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked, looking unsure.
"No. I'm fine."
He hesitated a bit longer. "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure. This will stop soon enough on its own." She told him soothingly and intentionally leaving out where she had been referring to the screaming, not the nightmares and insomnia that came with them. "I'm just going to get a cup of tea." She climbed out of her bed and gently ushered her father into the hall and back into his room. She was rubbing her face as she scuffed into the kitchen to discover her grandmother pulling the kettle from the kitchen fire and pouring it into the teapot on the countertop.
"Gran-Gran… you don't have to do this…"
"I want to. Making you tea is the least I can do to ease you."
Katara embraced her grandmother and held her tightly until Kanna was gently patting her on the back. The two women drank their tea at this ridiculous hour in what would become their new routine for when Katara would wake from her nightmares.
Sarahplainntall here! It's hard to write these slower chapters... I want to skip the slow scenes, but alas, I CAN'T for story flow... Please enjoy and I thoroughly enjoy all comments! Thanks!