"What's this?" she murmured, blowing the dust off something she had found buried deep inside one of her old trunks. She gasped quietly when she realized what the something was.
How long had it been since she had seen this?
She ran a gentle finger over it, feeling the tightly woven thread under her fingertips. Her hand stopped when she reached the flower in the center.
She sank to the floor, her long robes flowing out so she sat, it seemed, in a puddle of cloth.
The flower had wilted long, long ago, but held on by some unknown force, the dried, withered petals still clung to each other and remained fixed upon the necklace.
She held the necklace up, recalling with a small smile how he had woven it for her from her brothers fishing line. That was the same day they had their fortunes read by Aunt...what was it? Fu? No...Lu? No, that wasn't it...Wu! Yes! Aunt Wu. The fortuneteller had predicted she would marry a powerful bender, but who that bender was to be surprised everyone.
She felt a hot tear slide down her cheek.
And she had been so sure that it would be him...
She bit her lip hard and shut her eyes as more tears spilled from her ocean blue eyes and onto her dark cheeks. She gasped when she opened her eyes and realized her fingers had wrapped tightly around the old necklace, crushing the tiny flower completely. A muffled cry escaped her lips as she carefully opened her fingers and found the flower destroyed, its formerly full petals in crumbled bits and pieces in her hand. She stared wide-eyed at the fragments of the once beautiful flower, and watched as a breeze from the window blew them away from her hand and scattered them about her.
It was just like him.
She thought she had him, and then he slipped away from her, fading away, just like petals in the wind.
This thought caused a quiet sob from her, and she shook her head in an attempt to clear it.
It was no use thinking like this; he was gone, and he wasn't ever coming back.
She had a new life now.
"Mother?"
Katara looked over her shoulder at the young black haired, dark skinned girl in the doorway.
"Mother are you alright?" the girl asked, curiosity in her amber eyes.
Wiping away her tears with a single finger, she smiled for her daughter.
"I'm fine, darling."
She stood and brushed off the red robes she was wearing and cast a glance at the old time-worn necklace in her hands. After a moment of thinking, she tucked the necklace within the folds of her robes.
Katara walked to the door and took her daughters small hand in one of her own.
"A guard told me Daddy's meeting was finished..." the young girl mumbled, looking at the ground.
"Come then, let's see what your father is up to." Katara said kindly.
While Fire Lord Zuko was the last person she wanted to see at the moment, she knew her daughter greatly desired to see her father after his long meeting.
While one hand was busy guiding her small daughter through the palace corridors, Katara's other hand was deep in the folds of her robe, clutching the woven necklace; her last reminder of her old love.
- - -
Authors Note- So what do you think? Hopefully not your regular Kataang ficlet. I really liked writing this, however saddish it may be. I thought of the idea while re-watching (for the like 100th time) The Fortuneteller. Well, I'd love to hear your opinion, so review!
Much love,
Artemis