Gran Gran had always told her death came in threes. The Hundred Years War had been too bloody for her to realize any pattern in the dying, but now as she sat beside the body of her father and her brother's broken boomerang - she wondered if her grandmother was right.

Ursa glided into the infirmary holding a blanket. Soundlessly, she approached Katara, and carefully placed a thick blanket over her slouched shoulders. Katara's body was going cold despite the summer heat. Ursa crouched next to the younger woman.

"Katara, I need you to drink this." She said in a soft voice, handing the waterbender a cup of tea. Katara just stared down at the light brown liquid but did not drink. All of this was too abrupt. It happened too suddenly. Her arms felt stuffed with stone. The older woman ran her hand comfortingly down Katara's dark hair. "I know it's hard, but I need you to try. You're going into shock."

The waterbender managed a nod and with much effort, brought the sweetened tea to her lips. It was hard to swallow the liquid against the thick ache already present in her throat. Yet, Katara pushed through the dull pain as she searched Hakoda's quiet face. His thin lips in an almost smile. His face was gaunt from the coma and pale from death. This isn't what he or Sokka would have wanted. Her sitting here pitifully mourning their deaths. She gulped down the rest of the tea.

"Thank you," Katara whispered handing the cup back to Ursa. "And I'm sorry for…"

"You haven't nothing to apologize for." The Ursa gently interjected placing a steady hand on the water bender's forearm. "I am here and Zuko is here if you need anything."

"Please, I don't want Zuko to see me like this. I don't want anyone to see me like this." Katara said her voice cracking, her gaze now on her hands that were beginning to gain warmth.

Ursa gently cupped her face and tilted it until their eyes met. Her's were also rimmed in tears. "Katara there is no shame in vulnerability, but I will respect your wishes."

The waterbender rubbed her wet eyes. The morning light shone through the windows and the polished, wooden floorboards gleamed. She had already lost so much time. "Ursa, could you bring me some parchment?"

The woman nodded and walked over to one of the many black cabinets along the wall. She pulled out a stack of paper and a vial of ink. Then handed it to Katara.

"Also, could my messenger hawk be sent for?" The waterbender asked. Her voice growing more steady as she actively repressed the grief down into her chest.

"Of course," Ursa kindly replied then left the room to call for a servant.

In the empty infirmary, Katara began to compose a letter to Bato. She informed him of the Chief's passing and her brother's murder. Then she wished him good fortune in his leadership of the tribe. She knew he would protest and ask her to step into the role of tribe's chief, but she never had any desire. Katara liked her work as a diplomat too much and valued the freedom it provided. She concluded the letter by stating the body of her father would be sent home for a proper burial. Then, as she clutched her stomach, wrote she would not be traveling back to the Southern Tribe for the ceremony. Along with an excuse about how she already held a small funeral in the Fire Nation and didn't want to go through the pain again.

Her chest tightened as she wrote the excuse, but she knew her pregnancy was about to look more obvious within the next month. Not only that but traveling would make her more vulnerable and the Southern Tribe still didn't have the forces to ward off a large attack. She finished the letter with Your Faithful Diplomat and Friend - Katara.

As she blew on the ink to help it dry, Ursa entered the infirmary once more.

"Your messenger hawk is ready."

"Thank you for your help," Katara said. Her joints cracked and crackled as she stood for the first time in hours. She told a deep breath and rolled her shoulders back. For the moment, she had to be done grieving.

—

Iroh poured more fragrant tea into Katara's cup before refilling his own. He then loudly took an inhale of the herby vapors and continued the retelling of events. "We followed the trail to the Foggy Swamp and that's where we found some of the assailants of the attack and the five prisoners. Including your brother."

Katara absentmindedly bent small droplets of tea out of her cup, and asked, "Did they say what they wanted? Once you caught up with them?"

"After the fight, we caught two of the rebels. They just repeated the same mantra over and over - I am nameless, I am nationless, I work for no man." Jeong, another White Lotus member, answered. Zuko's lips pressed into a thin line.

"That's what the prisoner said when Zuko and I visited. He said they would reveal their demands when the time was right. He's been silent since."

"I have no doubt this is a tactic meant to incite panic," Iroh said pouring the remaining tea into Zuko's cup. "The safety of all nations concerns me at this moment. The group is obviously of greater numbers and better organized than previously estimated. Their new technology is also incredibly difficult to beat in battle and incredibly deadly. It's what caused so many causalities during the attack."

"Not to mention, their anti-bender sentiment," Jeong added.

Katara considered this for a moment. "If they are truly 'anti-bender', do you think they would go after the reincarnation of the Avatar?"

"I wouldn't put it out of the realm of possibility," Iroh stated. "We've sent messages to all the nation's leaders that more attacks are likely, so hopefully the Water Tribes are preparing for such a thing."

"We should send reinforcements to the South Pole since their forces are still small," Zuko said standing from his place at the desk. He walked over to the window that overlooked the garden.

"I sent a hawk to Bato this morning, but I can inform him of the offer to help in the next letter," Katara said looking down at her now empty cup. "I'm sure once they receive the news, they will want to seek retribution for the death of my father and brother."

The room fell quiet at the mention of their deaths. Katara's chest tightened. She was torn between wanting to seek justice for her family and Aang's teachings of forgiveness. The surrealness of the situation didn't help either. All three of them killed in such a short amount of time had knocked reality from under her - cracking the foundation of her life.

"Master Katara, would you like some of the members of the White Lotus to accompany you to the South Pole for the funeral?" Iroh asked thoughtfully.

"I won't be going," the waterbender's voice low with repressed grief.

Iroh and Jeong looked noticeably confused. Luckily Zuko stepped in. "Master Jeong would you leave the room for one moment?"

The man asked no questions. Just bowed slightly and exited the study. Zuko moved to stand beside Katara once the three of them were alone. The waterbender looked up to her friend and he gave her an encouraging nod.

"I'm pregnant," Katara said. The sadness she had repressed earlier that morning, threaten to boil up as she offered her secret to Iroh - realizing she had no family to raise the child with now. The older man's eyebrows shot up and his eyes shifted between Zuko and her. The waterbender cleared her throat and added. "With Aang's child."

Iroh let out a soft 'oh' then took Katara's hand into his soft one. His kind eyes ringed with a hint of sadness. "I offer you my congratulations and the protection of the White Lotus. I cannot imagine the burden you bear at this current moment."

"I appreciate it," Katara said looking down at her small hand in his. "We're hoping to keep it secret for the time being. For obvious reasons."

"Of course." the older man said. Then he turned his gaze on his nephew, "And you, treat her well."

Zuko nodded placing a warm hand on Katara's shoulder. Even in her sadness, a warmth bloomed in her chest knowing she had the support of the two firebenders and Ursa.

"I remember when your aunt was about to have Lu Ten. It was both a beautiful and difficult time." Iroh continued his eyes misting over. They stayed in silence until the Grand Lotus let out a breath. "I suppose we should let Jeong back in before he wonders what we are plotting."

—

After the meeting in the study, Katara went gone back to the infirmary to prepare her father's body. She said her own funeral prayers for him and her brother. Once complete, it was time to wrap the body, but it felt wrong to have him leave the world in plain, white linen. So Katara ran back to her room and retrieved the last blanket she owned from Gran Gran. The one she took everywhere when traveling. With the help of Ursa, the waterbender tucked and sewed the blue fabric around the corpse. She left the face for last - allowing herself one last moment to memorize her father's features.

Once the women finished, three soldiers and Zuko came into the infirmary to help move the body to a ship in the harbor. Katara went with them holding her brother's boomerang to her chest. After a 15 minute journey, they boarded the ship and took Hakoda's corpse down into the hold.

With Ursa and Zuko flanking her, Katara stared at the wrapped body. She then placed her brother's boomerang on her father's chest knowing it's what her brother would have wanted. She touched her mother's necklace out of habit. The smooth pendant was now the only thing she had left of her family. Taking a ragged breath, the waterbender then froze the corpse in a block of ice. It was morbid, but it was the only way to keep the body from deteriorating until it arrived in the South Pole.

Once done, she wordlessly departed the ship and stood in the harbor until Master Jeong and a small unit of Fire Nation soldiers set sail. The ship looked ominous under the full moon - becoming more ghost-like as it moved further away. The trio didn't leave the harbor until the ship was out of sight. Only then did they make their way back to the palace. When they arrived, Ursa offered Katara some tea and Zuko offered to play Pai Sho to take her mind off of everything, but she turned down both. She just wanted some time alone. Katara went to go to her bed-chamber, but as she passed the door to the palace gardens something drew her outside.

The moonlight bathed her in a soft glow as she walked to her usual spot next to the pond under the biggest tree. She looked out at the dark blue pond and felt so old. Katara had always felt like a teenager pretending to understand what she was doing - even at 26 years of age. But now, with her entire family gone, she felt like there was no more childishness in her. She was alone.

The tension in her chest snapped and Katara began to uncontrollably sob. She fell to the ground and pulled her knees up to her chest. Thoughts of Aang and Sokka and her dad filled her mind. Guilt crushed her as she thought everything else she could have done to save them. Her sides ached from crying and tears covered the front of her robe.

But after a small eternity, her sobs slowed down and her breathing grew more steady. Katara looked up into the sky with blurred vision. The stars twinkling in the darkness and the moon looked down on her. The waterbender could've sworn she heard Yue's voice, a sound she had almost forgotten saying she was watching after her brother and father. It was barely a whisper in the breeze, so Katara didn't know if she had made it up. Regardless, a soft smile appeared on her tear stained face.