Thank you for the great reviews! Really encouraging for me to go on. Well, onto Chapter 2 of The Backyard Forest!
Chapter 2 Coincidence
"W…where did this come from?" Katara looked at Sokka through scared eyes and repeated her question out louder. "This can't be…I mean, where did it come from, Sokka?"
Sokka looked at her with bewildered eyes. "Why are you asking me? How am I supposed to know?"
"No, you don't understand! This can't be here, it's impossible!"
Sokka just stared at her. At last he asked hoarsely, "Katara? What's going on?"
But Katara couldn't answer.
All she could do was stare at the ring on her hand as the night spun black around her, as the memory of the dream came back again, echo by echo, scene by vivid scene.
Finally she took off the ring and with shaking fingers, held it up closer to the flashlight. She slowly fingered the ring around, staring at its perfection, the ruby that had been cut so smoothly and exactly into the shape ofa burningflame.
"Sokka…s-something happened when I fell and hit my head. I went unconscious…"
Katara spoke in an almost calm, monotone voice that scared Sokka badly. It was as if she were someone else, as if she were in a trance. Sokka slowly waved a hand in front of her face and looked into Katara's pale face.
"Uhh…Katara?"
Katara's eyes suddenly snapped back to normal and she raised a hand to her head.
"Sorry Sokka, just a headache."
Then she looked at him. "Sokka, something happened, someone came to help me after I woke up. I mean before you…"
Sokka gave his sister a confused look before he asked, "Who? Aunt Wu?"
"N…no." Katara spoke slowly, her brow furrowed in thought. "Look Sokka, this is going to sound crazy, but when I was unconscious, someone came and helped me. Someone not from our time. He knew me, I knew him and well…we were…in love with each other."
It sounded so stupid when she had said it out loud. Like she was making too big a deal out of something like this. But if Sokka had been there, he would have known that it had been real. Katara waited for him to laugh at her, but all he did was stare at her, mouth slightly apart.
Katara hesitated but then added, "It all seemed so real and natural. It was like I'd just stepped into a play where I knew all the lines. He came over…and…tried to get me up and back to his camp."
She broke off. Without warning, Zuko's golden eyes and handsome face filled her mind, gazing at her with the sorrow of impending death. Katara felt the sadness and she tried to push the image away.
Sokka was silent for a long time, a number of emotions flying over his face.
"Sokka, this wasn't just a dream." Katara said at last.
He rubbed at his forehead. "Well was he…you know…transparent or something?"
"If you mean like a ghost then no. He was as solid and real as you or me. He held me, Sokka. He was breathing and alive."
"But not really." Sokka seemed determined to make this point clear. "He seemed to be alive in your dream, but not really alive, right?"
Katara made a frustrated sound. "I told you I can't explain it. I know what you're trying to say, but yes – at the time, in the experience – he was real."
"You could have been hallucinating. You know, from the fall."
"But I wasn't. I remember calling for Sam. I remember how my head was pounding. I didn't imagine that. And anyway how else can you explain this?"
Katara looked down at the ring. Sokka said nothing.
"Zuko gave this to me right before we started towards camp."
"You mean he gave the other Katara a ring," Sokka corrected. "In the dream."
Katara rolled her eyes. Her brother's stubborn character really got annoying at times. She just ignored him.
"Zuko gave me this ring, Sokka. I've never seen this ring before tonight. If you're so sure this whole thing was some figment of my imagination, then how did this get on my hand Sokka?"
"Maybe you don't remember. Maybe you had temporary amnesia or something and found the ring on the ground and put it on. I've heard of that before – temporary amnesia. From trauma and stuff."
Katara gave him a look. "Even if it's coming from you that's pathetic."
"Okay," Sokka conceded. "Maybe not amnesia."
"Why are you arguing about this with me?"
"I'm not – "
"Yes you are! You always get like this when you're scared."
He scoffed at her. "Scared? I'm not the one who's freaked out about a dream and some stupid ring!" he said irritably, getting to his feet. "I'm tired, freezing my butt off and I'm just trying to figure stuff out."
"Well so am I!" Katara defended herself.
Katara gave a snort of laughter. "So what is this? A recarination? Time travel?"
"I don't know what I'm saying." Katara returned impatiently. "But this ring…" She brought it up again close to the flash light. "How could a ring have crossed over from one…what? – dimension? –into another one?"
Sokka just chewed his bottom lip and didn't answer. Instead, he took the ring from Katara and slid it onto her fourth finger.
A perfect fit.
Just as if it had been made for her.
A painful chill cut straight through Katara's heart. Sokka reached over and quickly took it off and put it into one pocket of his jeans.
"Hey Katara, hear is the best explanation yet. Are you listening to me?" he enunciated each word slowly. "You had a nightmare, Kat. Just leave it at that."
"I loved him Sokka.Whoever he was – whoever I was – loved him so much. How'd I get caught up in this?"
She heard her brother sight again. She could feel him gently chafing her arms, trying to warm her up.
"Come on Katara," he finally said. "It was just a dream. You had a nightmare. You're making way too much out of this – "
"How can you say that? You can't even explain how some strange ring ended up on my finger!"
Sokka's face suddenly lit up. "Maybe it was lodged in one of the branched of the bushes or something all these years. Maybe when you were climbing and fell, it came loose and got on your finger – "
"Oh Sokka come on!"
"Okay, I don't know how it got there. I don't." Releasing her, Sokka stepped back and made a gesture of surrender. "I wanna believe that it's explainable. I wanna believe it's just some sort of weird coincidence, that is doesn't have anything to do with anything."
Her brother looked so frustrated that Katara had to smile.
"You're just trying to make me feel better."
"Well…yeah. Mostly anyway."
"But can't we find out?" Sniffling from the cold, Katara got up.
Sokka just crossed his arms. "From who? A 'dream specialist'? and why would you want to? Look at how upset you are – why make it any worse?"
"I-I don't know. I just feel that I need to know."
"Whatever, fine. Can we just go? I can't feel my legs any more."
Sheepishly Katara realized how cold he must be. She pulled off her white top jacket and he gratefully put it on. Together they walked back to their house, Sam leading the way so that they wouldn't be wandering around in the dark fog and getting lost.
Soon, to their relief, they set foot in their bright, warm kitchen. A sweatshirt lay wadded on the tabletop along with dirty dishes, a carton of milk next to the left over crumbs of eaten oreos, and mom's Friday night meatloaf sat cold and uneaten in a pan on the kitchen counter.
Rolling her eyes at Sokka's mess, Katara went straight to the cupboard to make hot chocolate.
"You really banged yourself up," Sokka noticed, pointing to the showing skin under her ripped jeans. "You'd better put something on those cuts."
Katara nodded glumly. Somehow bruises and scraped knees seemed unimportant in the general scheme of events. She sliced a slab of meat and nibbled at the edge, not really tasting it.
"I'm going to go to Aunt Wu's tomorrow to ask her some questions. I may be a little late."
Sokka stared at his sister. "You're gonna go to her for answers? Why? She's such an old fogie pretending to know all about the 'Avatar's time', bending the elements and telling the future. Ha, what a bunch of nonsense. It would be a waste of time going to her."
"This seemed like it happened a pretty long time ago. And Zuko – um, the guy from the dream – is whom I remember as, I think, the Prince Zuko from Avatar Aang's time. I can't be too sure, but I think that's right."
"A prince huh? Nice."
Katara shot him a look and finished the last piece of meatloaf.
"Whatever, I mean you never know."
She played with her fork before she looked up at her brother with a sly smile.
"So….Sokka. Speaking about 'loved ones', are you going to finally ask Yue to the school dance?"
Sokka turned his head towards her and blinked furiously. "W-what? Where did that come from?"
"Just changing the subject for a while. So? Are you?"
Sokka blushed a bright red, letting his guard down for a minute. "Katara, why would I ask Yue to the dance? Give me one good reason."
"Because she wantsyou to." Katara shot back at him without hesitation. "Because she's had a major crush on you, like, forever but is too stubborn to admit it. And I know that you like her too and the guys should always make the first move in a situation like this." Katara smiled at him, knowing that there was no way for him to escape. "And that's two reasons already. I'm sure that I can come up – "
"F-fine! Whatever, I'll ask Yue to that stupid dance to get you to shut up."
But Katara could see the faint smile on his lips. "Then do it now. I want to actually hear you ask her on the phone."
Without missing a beat, Sokka gestured toward the kitchen clock. "Right Katara – it's one' o clock in the morning!"
"It is?" Surprised, Katara glanced up at the clock and then back at her brother. She could see the triumph in Sokka's eyes and for a second she felt strangely disoriented. "That's funny…I feel like…" she put a hand to her temple and frowned. "I feel like it should be later. I fell like I've been gone for…"
"Years?" Sokka snickered.
The mood changed abruptly.
As Katara frowned at him, Sokka went quiet.
He reached into his picket, pulled out the ring and carefully placed it on the table. For a few minutes, they simply sat and stared at it. Katara could see the ruby flame flash from the light coming in through the window, making it dance around as if it were real.
It was Sokka who finally broke the silence. "You should take it back to the forest. And leave it there."
"No," Katara shook her head. "You take it. I don't ever want to look at it again."
Not giving him a chance to answer, she left the kitchen and walked upstairs.
She sat in the dark for a long, long time, unable to sleep. All she could do was peer from her window out into the menacing forest.
She tried desperately shut out her mind to the memories. They were all so clear and real. Not like those of a dream where you were uncertain of the details, and that was what really scared her. She shut her eyes to convince herself that Sokka was right. That what had happened to her tonight was nothing more than a bad fall, a bad headache, a bad nightmare.
As every scene played back to her in slow motion, she covered her face with her hands and tired to resist the emotions that accompanied them, but the dream…Zuko's face…refused to go away.
Katara rubbed a hand across her eyes, smelling the sweet lingering scent of bath powder. The shower she had taken had washed away all the dirt and blood, but not the sensation of Zuko's hand caressing her body. She could still feel his touch upon her bare skin…the heat of his lips.
Katara shivered and pulled her robe tight around her.
A ghost, Sokka had suggested. Zuko…a ghost.
She'd never believed in ghosts before, never thought much about them at all.
And she'd certainly never expected to fall in love with one.
Sorry folks if that was too fast. But it really starts up better in the next chapter…
Chapter 3 Unwanted Answers
