Hey everybody! First off, I'd like to thank my first 3 reviewers: effie's head, Arezal, and MysticWaterBender3. Thanks so much for your reviews guys! Well, I hope you like this next chapter! I worked really hard to get it to what I think is pretty good. Please review when you're done!
Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar so don't sue me!
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Part One
WIND ON THE RIVER
Chapter 3: Dreams and Discovery
Tears filled the girl's eyes. She knelt down in the cold snow, burying her face in her mother's damp parka, stifling her sobs.
The usually crisp clear sky overhead was streaked with black smoke. The air was filled with spurts of fire; hungry, bright orange and red tongues, lashing out. The blood stained ice was littered with crumpled bodies. Some were twitching, or reaching out for unseen help. Most were motionless, though. Sounds; horrible sounds raged throughout the small village. Heart wrenching screams and fierce cries carried on in an endless terrible unison. The piercing clank of metal striking metal and the slice of steel meeting flesh racked the morning. In a sudden rush, a nearby tent went up in cackling flames.
The girl risked a glance, her shimmering blue eyes swelling up. She watched in horror as a water tribe member was lit on fire by a sinister Fire Nation man in red and black uniform. The tribesman let out a hideous scream that tore through the girl's ears, forcing her heart to plummet into her stomach. He then collapsed to his knees; his entire body being consumed by flames, and fell forward, a smoldering cinder. The Fire Nation soldier spared a fleeting look at his work with grim satisfaction, and then turned his gaze. For a split second, his cold hazel eyes locked onto the girl's own sapphire orbs. She felt the color drain from her face, and her breathing become ragged. They stared at each other for a long moment, exchanging untold emotions, before the soldier seemed to shake something off, and a stern, hard look sunk into his face. He raised his hand to shoulder level, as if to send a fire burst hurtling towards her. The girl's very blood in her veins seemed to freeze. Then, a glimpse of uncertainty ran over the soldier's features. He lowered his arm slowly, and briskly turned on his heel and raced off, without even looking back. The girl's sunken heart began beating again. She closed her eyes tight, declining from looking at the blazing charred body of her fellow water tribesman. Instead, she turned back to face her dying mother.
"Mama…Mama…help me! Please!" she wept, squeezing her mother's icy hand.
A spark of hope leapt up in the girl's heart as her mother's hand shakily rose and latched onto her cheek. "Be brave, my sweet, be brave." The girl was bewildered by the weakness in her mother's shaky voice.
"Mama, what do I do?" she asked, her lower lip quivering.
"Find your brother and hide until they leave. Do you understand?" The girl nodded her head feebly.
"I love you, Mama."
Her mother's voice was now almost too quiet and cracked to hear, "I love you, Katara…" The ten-year-old Katara moaned in anguish as her mother's hand fell from her face and landed dully in the snow.
Katara's dream faded away and left her behind in a deep pool of empty loneliness as she woke. She could faintly feel dawn's first pale, frail rays of sunlight upon her face; somewhat reminding her of her mother's velvety touch four years ago. A bird's sweet chirping tune drifted through the forest; a soft echo of her mother's last gentle words. The continual trickling of the running stream at the side of their camp was a ghostly memory of her past heart broken sobs and tears. Appa's heavy breathing behind her morphed into a flashback of her pounding feet as she left her mother's body and dashed off to find Sokka. Then the tiny fragments of the memory washed away and the usual morning sounds and feelings resumed their temporarily stolen places.
That was when she noticed it.
Something soft and warm was up against her right side. She opened her eyes, and found herself staring into Aang's sleeping face, no more than five inches from her own. His lips were curved into a small smile that oozed with childish pleasure. Katara jolted upright in surprise, the effects of her dream gone in an instant. She stumbled backwards, dragging her sleeping bag with her.
Aang groaned in his slumber and attempted to snuggle closer to her. He breathed in deeply, and reached out for something. His small fingers closed on thin air. He sleepily groaned again, drawing his hand back in towards his body, and became still once more. The smile he'd been wearing up to this point disappeared, and in its place an unreadable, blank expression took shape. Katara just cocked her head, staring at Aang in stunned confusion.
Did he just roll over here in his sleep?
He'd never done that before, he was a pretty motionless sleeper. Katara eliminated it from her small list of possibilities.
Did he get cold during the night?
The perplexity in Katara softened into fondness towards the small monk curled up on the ground next to the spot she'd formerly been. Of course he had gotten cold in the night! Being his caring, sweet self, he'd probably woken, shivering, but restrained himself from waking her to relight the fire. So, instead, he must have quietly crawled over and laid next to her in a desperate effort to get warm. Yes, that must have been what happened. The poor little guy…Katara shook her head sympathetically, and smiled slightly. Sometimes Aang was just way too considerate for his own good.
Even as she began to fully accept her theory, however, the strong evidence that opposed it crawled into her mind: If warmth was the issue, why did he choose you over Appa's thick furry side? Katara pondered this a moment, before disregarding it without a second thought.
The golden sun was still barely peeking over the horizon, peppering the camp in pale light. Judging by the weak sunbeams, Katara figured neither Aang nor Sokka would be waking for at least another hour. Maybe longer for Aang if he had been up a long time during the night.
Placing a hand over her mouth to hide a yawn, Katara rose. Silently, she made her way over to the stream and knelt down before it. She dipped her hands into the moving water, filling them. With a flicking movement, the Waterbender splashed some of the liquid onto her face. A wistful sigh escaped her lips; the cool water set her at ease. She allowed the more obstinate drops that didn't drip away to cling to her dark skin for a moment or two. Then, she ran her sleeve over her face, drying them away. She let her hand sink to the water. Katara flexed her fingers, and five tiny columns of water rose up to meet each of the tips. She toyed with the pillars, lifting her hand and watching them lengthen and then lowering them back down till they almost merged back into the brook. She raised her hand up again, and this time, she went higher than ever and broke the frail connection. The five pillars splashed back into the stream.
The Waterbender stood up, smoothing her blue robes. Her brown braid was draped over her shoulder, and out of habit, she flipped it to her back. Feeling considerably freshened; she smiled to herself, and headed back towards their sleeping space.
As she was walking, a low grumble sounded from her stomach. She looked down, suddenly aware of how hungry she truly was. All she'd eaten over the past couple of days was crackers. A handful of thin crunchy, salty squares for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She'd suffered the empty feeling in her belly long enough…she was going to go find something to eat. Berries, even nuts, would be better than crackers again! Besides, she'd probably be back before the boys woke up. And she'd be their hero. Her and her bulging bag of food.
Katara slipped between a sleeping Aang, Sokka, and Momo over to their bags. She stuck her hand into the jumbled pile. After some crafty digging, she located an empty brown sack that had previously held an assortment of fruit. Pulling it from the heap victoriously, she sprang to her feet. Before she began her foraging trip, she unintentionally found herself tenderly looking back at Aang. Her eyes traced the blue arrow tattoo on his forehead, and she whispered, "Be back soon." Katara then strutted off into the trees.
She hadn't gone far before she blundered into a berry bush. The brief joy of her discovery quickly withered away, though. The berries were a dull purplish blue color, and only about the size of the tip of little finger. There weren't many on the scraggily plant, and sharp black thorns guarded them. Katara's fingers became speckled with bleeding red cuts, as she tried to weave her hand around the wicked thorns with no luck. She finally gave up after managing picking three without completely loosing her fingers. It wasn't worth it. Time to look somewhere else. She dropped her tiny prizes into the bag, and then carried onward, saddened by having fallen short of her expectations.
The light was becoming thicker and brighter, and a good portion of the sun was over the horizon. Katara had been desperately searching for a long time. All she had to show for her efforts were ten insignificant berries and three nuts. She fully admitted to herself that her scavenging had been a complete waste of time. She had to head back to the campsite mostly empty-handed, as much as she wanted to continue. Sokka and Aang would be worried if they woke up and she wasn't there. When she had started out, she had been so excited with the thought of being greeted by their huge smiles and remarks of admiration.
As she turned to make the trek back, something caught her eye. An enormous grin spread across her face as she rushed forward, pushing branches and leaves out of her path.
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"Aang?"
Aang's eyelids wavered at the sound.
"Aang, Wake up…"
"Wh-what?" Aang asked sleepily, Sokka coming into focus above him.
"Katara's gone."
Aang's eyes opened to their full extent in an instant. Panic shot through him, and the events of the night came flooding back to him. With a whooshing sound, he air-bent himself to his feet.
"Gone? What do you mean? What happened? Where is she?" he rattled off his questions with urgency, startling Sokka.
"Relax! I think she just went to find food or something. At least I hope she went to do that."
Aang rolled his eyes. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, pretty much. I mean, it's not like Zuko kidnapped her or anything. Unless he went blind since the last time we saw him and his mistook Katara for you." Sokka laughed, and Aang joined in weakly.
"I guess you're right, Sokka…"
"I hope she brings back something good."
Aang sighed.
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They were everywhere. Squat trees with glossy leaves, their branches weighted down by hundreds of huge purple fruits. They spread out in all directions for some distance, a sea of green and violet.
Katara laughed jubilantly, dashing to the nearest tree. She barely had to lift her arm to pluck one of the fruits from its branch. She brought it down, twirling it about in her hands, studying it closely. It was larger than an apple and the color of a perfectly ripe plum. She beamed at the fruit, before tossing it into her bag. The new weight filled Katara with glorious satisfaction. She grabbed another three of the fruits and dumped them in the sack with the first.
Aang and Sokka are going to be so happy! She thought with glee, skimming the branch for the biggest ones available. She jammed another five fruits into the expanding bag, and yanked a tenth from its attachment. The Waterbender gave the fruit a toothy grin before taking generous bite out of its side. Juices dribbled down Katara's chin, and she chewed ravenously. It had to be one the greatest things she'd ever tasted! It was sweet and moist and tangy and chewy, still with a slight crunch in the skin. Katara sloppily wiped the juice going down the front of her face with the back of her hand and finished off the fruit with a few more bites. She couldn't wait to get back to Aang and Sokka!
The bag was finally full. Overflowing, in fact. With tremendous remorse, Katara dumped a few of the fruits out and watched them roll over the forest floor and eventually come to a stop. She shared the sack's weight between her two hands and began sprinting back the way she had come.
Footsteps sounded behind her.
Katara stopped in a dead run, spinning around to face the maker of the sound.
Nothing was there.
I could've sworn I heard something…she began to think, just when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a bush shake and a dark shadow dart between the trees. Katara's stamina levels rose and her heartbeats doubled.
"Who's there?" she asked, careful not to let the fear leak into her voice, "Show yourself!"
Nothing.
Katara sighed shakily, deciding her imagination was playing tricks on her. She turned around slowly; ready to take up her run again.
Then, something grabbed her wrist.
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Ha ha! My first cliffhanger! So…what did you guys think of that chapter? And my version of Katara's mother's death? Please review everyone! I'm open for any comments and suggestions!