Chapter 7 Suggestions from Sokka

"Morning sunshine," Mrs. Don teased.

Katara glowered and scuffed across the kitchen floor, sniffing disinterestedly at a plate of doughnuts while she poured herself a cup of strong coffee. She took a chair opposite her mother and refocused her scowl on the newspaper lying between them.

"I hate mornings," she grumbled. "I hate Sundays. I hate knowing I have to go back to school tomorrow." She hesitated, then narrowed her eyes. "How come you're so happy?"

Mrs. Don looked amused. She rested both elbows on the table and regarded her daughter thoughtfully.

"I'm always happy when I get to spend time with my favorite daughter. And since you're in such a wonderful mood, do you have any idea where Sokka went off to?"

"Huh? You mean he was up and gone before noon? That's a first."

Mrs. Don laughed. "Well, he did say something about that backyard forest or something. To investigate and think about something."

"What!" Sokka's probably there and nosing around there as we speak. Why?

The sudden realization made her angry. She threw on some clothes and hurried back downstairs, ignoring her mother's bewildered stare.

"Katara – what on earth – "

"Mom, I'll be out for a while. Bye!"

She slammed the door, not giving her mother a chance to answer. Damn it Sokka! Why do you keep interfering! She jumped over the logs and ran into the forest.

Sokka wasn't outside anywhere. Katara checked all around the old clearing but didn't see the faintest sign of life anywhere.

"Sokka? Sokka come out here right now!"

Her voice echoed back to her in the silence. It trembled in the air for several moments, and then it faded and died. Katara crossed her arms angrily and leaned against a nearby tree.

"Sokka you'd better come out now – I'm not in the mood for jokes!"

But her brother didn't answer. No one did. Katara felt the sudden shock of smallness and aloneness and she back slowly in the direction of her house. "Sokka?"

Her voice was softer now, not nearly as angry nor as brave. She was so sure he'd be here –yet the forest had that vast feeling of emptiness, as though no presence – not even her own – had entered here in many, many years.

A cold prickling crept along the back of her neck. Had the shadows stirred in that corner? Restless and uneasy? She heard a mournful sigh, felt a rush of cold air, as though the entire forest was settling around her.

"Zuko?" she whispered. "Is that you?"

"No," the voice answered softly. "He's not here right now – can I take a message?"

"Sokka!"

Furiously Katara spun around. She was shaking all over, both from rage and from fear. Shoving past Sokka, she stomped out of the clearing. She could hear him shouting at her, but she refused to listen. Only when the cell phone sailed past her shoulder did she stop and turn around.

"Nice shot!" she yelled at him. "You could have hit me you jerk!"

Sokka was lugging his heavy jacket at a leisurely pace. He shrugged off her anger and laughed.

"There are worse ways to die and death by phone, Katara. Aren't you gonna thank me for finding your ring?"

"You…"

"Yeah I especially woke up early this Saturday morning to find this for you." Sokka reached into his pocket and tossed it to her. Katara barely had time to see the shimmering of the golden ring before she reached out to catch it.

"Okay, now you wanna tell me what happened yesterday? You were gone all day you know."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Katara angrily replied.

Sokka did a mincing imitation of his sister's voice. "Zuko! Oh, Zuko my love! Come to me and we'll –"

"Shut up Sokka!"

Sokka stepped back and gave a snort. "Calm down it was only a joke."

"Not a funny one; like most of your jokes."

Sokka made a valiant effort to look solemn. "Okay, what do you want me to do? Hire a psychic? Call a priest? Have an exorcism?"

"You know, you almost had be believing you were serious about this. In case you've forgotten, two innocent people were murdered and burned to death! And one of them supposedly looked like me and had my name. Call me crazy, but hey! - it bothers me!"

"Okay. It bothers me too. I said it, are you happy?"

"So I was right, you are as scared as I am."

Sokka made a scrunched up face and did a wishy-washy movement with his hand. "Well, I wouldn't say scared exactly. I mean scared is such a strong word. Concerned it better, I'm concerned but anyway, not like anything's gonna happen."

"But it was more than a dream Sokka, how many times do I have to tell you?" Katara turned around and started walking again, leaving Sokka to follow and mutter behind her."

"You look like her, you even have the same names. So what?"

"It's been five hundred years. What if a hundred years later this happens to another girl named Katara?"

"What's done is done," Sokka stated firmly. "You can't go back and change the past…you can't go back and rewrite history. And even if we did figure out what happened, it wouldn't really matter now would it?"

"I just feel so sad for Zuko and Katara. I mean their love was so deep, romantic, real. I've never known two people in love like that." A smile brushed her lips, and her voice grew soft. "I've never been loved like that before. Before now, I couldn't even imagine how it feels."

"Be fore now?" Sokka snorted. "But now you can?"

Katara froze in her tracks. A rush of color flooded her cheeks, not just from embarrassment but from the shock of unexpected desire.

"Hey, what's wrong with your face? You look like a lobster."

"Oh leave me alone." Shaking him off, Katara hurried toward the fence. She could hear him shouting after her, but she pretended not to notice. She heard the swift approach of Sokka's footsteps and he caught her by the arm just before she reached the fence.

"Wait Katara, wait."

She didn't want to talk to him. She didn't want to talk to anyone, but very gently Sokka turned her around.

"Look, I don't understand any of this." Sokka sighed. "But what if I went back and spent the night at the clearing, see what happens."

Surprised, Katara stepped back and gave out a weak laugh. "Thanks for the suggestion though. Sokka you're as crazy as I am."

Sokka laughed and backed away a bit. "Well, do you know why he's here? I mean something must have happened for him to show up here."

"You mean except for the fact that I look just like his girlfriend, that she and I are the same age and have the same name, and that I ended up in the clearing where she and Zuko last parted?"

Sokka shook his head. "Something's missing. There's no…motive."

"Motive?"

"Well, ghosts don't just come back to be sociable, do they? I mean, don't they usually come back because they want something? Or they left something unfinished?"

Katara quietly considered this. "Or they're emotionally tied to something or someone. Or they don't realize that they're dead."

"But if that were true, wouldn't he have been hanging around long before now? We've lived here for over four years. So why'd he choose this particular weekend for a surprise visit?"

"Because it's almost the 500 hundred year anniversary of our – their – death."

Sokka didn't reply. His he jumped over the logs and helped Katara over also, hesitated, then leaned his hands against the bark of the fallen tree. His eyes grew pensive as he shot her a narrow glance.

"Or maybe we're overlooking the obvious," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"You said that you – Katara – was still alive when the fire was closing in."

Katara nodded silently. Sokka's expression grew more serious.

"But Zuko – Zuko right? – had that stab wound; he'd lost a lot of blood. He was practically dead already when Katara found him."

Again, she nodded.

"Heat from that fire would've been incredible. With all of the trees, the forest would've gone up in a matter of minutes, especially because everything was dry from the summer heat. Nobody could've survived a fire like that. At least…that's what everyone would think."

Katara's eyes began to widen. "Then you're saying –"

"I'm saying, what if Katara got out alive?"


Cliffie! Sort of...Ohhh something to think about huh? Well what do you think? I've pretty much got the story line down, but any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks for reading! P.S, Katara had told Sokka of what had happened in the forest last night, I just skipped that part in the writing. K?

AU: Empress Katara will be updated soon, most likely this weekend!