The vegetation in the forest is like nothing Katara has ever seen. It looks like how she'd imagined the enchanted forests from the story books she read as a kid: all bright colors and towering trees, soft petals floating in the perpetual breeze that whispers through the massive trunks as they make their way deeper into the forest. It's almost surreal. The rest of the group must be just as mystified as she is, because none of them have made a sound since they've entered the forest. The canopy is thick with leaves of every color, but gentle sunlight still seeps through and dapples onto the soft forest floor. Little sprouts spring up from the ground, and she tries to be careful not to step on them if she can avoid it. This place feels almost sacred, and she doesn't think it wise to hurt anything in here that is considered alive. It reminds her of the swamp, but much brighter and kinder and far less creepy. There's a sense of connectedness that runs through the trees, an invisible force that holds everything together in an ethereal embrace.

Ty Lee leads the group, using her gift to follow the strange, shimmering aura that resides within the forest. It brings them deeper into the trees, and as the sunlight begins to fade, Katara starts to hear what sounds like bird calls. But the songs are just a little off— if she didn't know better, she would think that the birds are hitting two notes at the same time. It creates a haunting melody, the strange chords carrying a sense of the unreal through the air. The forest darkens at a snail's pace, much slower than she thinks it's supposed to for this time of year, and tiny glowing insects begin to float down from the canopy and drift along through the air. The bugs are smaller than her pinky nail; they'd probably fit comfortably on the head of a pin. They fly around in little clusters and mimic the stars, creating living constellations right in front of their eyes. As they land on the various flower petals dancing through the air, they leave a small glow in their wake that seems to absorb into the petals themselves and make them almost iridescent. Neon slugs crawl along the curves of rocks and various plants, leaving shimmering paths in their wake, and glowing, fuzzy moths flutter aimlessly around them.

"This place is incredible," Ty Lee coos, her voice wistful and airy.

"It's just a bunch of trees." Toph scoffs and blows at her bangs. Katara remembers with a wince that Toph can't actually see any of the strange colors or lights that surround them, and wonders if she'd be interested in having someone describe them to her.

"Well, there's gotta be more than just trees in here," Sokka mumbles and scratches his head. "What else can you see Toph?"

The girl crosses her arms over her chest and shrugs. "I already told you, just a bunch of trees in every direction. There's nothing else—" She stops short, and her arms fall to her sides as her eyes widen. "Woah."

"What? What is it?"

"It's some sort of animal," Toph whispers, a rare occurrence for her. "It feels like a deer, but bigger, and… different, somehow."

Just as Katara is about to ask where, the quiet crunching of fallen leaves brings all of their attention to their left. She doesn't know how they hadn't heard it; it does indeed look like a deer, but it's head hovers a foot above her brothers despite Sokka's impressive height. It's antlers stretch even taller, branching out into at least ten different points on each side, and they're glowing. It has four eyes, two stacked on each side of its face, and they glow a pale yellow just like the antlers. Its thick limbs look almost like tree trunks, the texture akin to rough bark, covered mostly with mossy fur except for its strange root-like hooves. Its coat looks to be a gradient of purple, speckled with various shades of shining pastel yellow, and it walks right up to them before stopping and leveling it's intense gaze on their group.

"Holy shit," Zuko murmurs beside her. They're all frozen in place, too stunned to move an inch. Which is why when Toph starts walking towards the creature, nobody tries to stop her.

"Toph!" Katara tries to raise her voice, but it doesn't grow much past a quiet hum. "What are you doing?"

"It's okay." Toph reaches the creature, and to Katara's astonishment, it lowers its head enough that Toph can place her hand on its mossy nose. The thing is so big that Toph's entire hand spans across just its muzzle. "It's calm. I think…" She rubs the creature's nose, and it presses its head gently into her hand. "I think it knows that we're supposed to be here."

"This is so freaky," Sokka mumbles. She hates to agree, but he has a good point. "Will it let us leave?"

At that, the creature raises its large head, lays another pondering gaze on them, and walks off into the forest. It disappears completely after walking behind a tree, with no trace of the bright glow of its eyes or antlers. Sokka shakes himself and walks towards the tree to peek behind it.

"It's gone. Like, totally gone." Sokka looks at each of them with wide eyes, and all Katara can do is shrug her shoulders. With no other options, they continue on, but Katara notices a small smile has made a home on Toph's face.

After that the forest darkens significantly; more glowing bugs descend upon them and provide a soft light, just enough for them to find their way to a clearing. Dragonflies of various sizes fly alongside them with glowing wings, some as big as her forearm. Their speed creates the illusion of blurred light carrying them along through the warm air. Crystalline structures that hadn't been viewable in the daylight (or maybe they hadn't been there at all) collect at the bases of the trees, sparkling and shining with ethereal brilliance. Some creep up the thick trunks, clinging to the bark like vines, slipping under in places where it peels from the boles.

When they stop for the night, they set up their tents in a circle as usual. Katara is hesitant about making a fire— this palace feels almost sanctified, blessed by a force too vast for them to ever understand. If they were to take a piece of it and destroy it for their own gain… even thinking about it makes her want to gag.

"I just feel like it's a bad idea." She defends her anxiety when it's met with opposition from her brother.

"But what if more creepy giant deer find us and try to eat us?" She scoffs at Sokka's insistence.

"That… thing wasn't even violent. It seemed pretty calm to me. Back me up here, Toph."

"Yeah, it was chill." Toph flicks whatever she's found in her ear off into the distance, and Katara catches Azula grimace.

"See? I don't think we have anything to worry about."

"I mean," Ty Lee pipes up from her place on the ground. "All these funky bugs are giving off plenty of light. And it's warm enough that we don't need the fire for heat. I think Katara's right."

"But what about when we need to cook?" Sokka throws his arms out to the side. "Bugs can't heat up our food for us!"

"No, but I can," Zuko declares as he puts his hand on the small of Katara's back.

Sokka groans and lets his hands drop dramatically to his sides in defeat. "Fine, no fire. See if I care." It's very obvious that he does care as he practically stomps back towards the tent he shares with Suki before ducking inside, all while grumbling to himself.

"I think you made the right choice Katara," Aang says as he takes a seat next to Ty Lee. "Something about this forest is special. I think it'll be best if we damage it as little as possible."

"Thank you. I thought so too." She smiles to herself and leans her head against Zuko's shoulder.

The rest of the group eventually files off into their tents, leaving Katara and Zuko alone in the balmy night air. There are no stars to look at, so instead they lay on their backs and watch the glowing bugs float around like little specks of dust. Shining galaxies form and shift before their eyes, alive and bright. She shuffles closer to him and turns so that she can rest her head in the crook of his shoulder, his heat comforting even with the pleasant weather.

"Are you nervous?" Her warm breath catches in the collar of his shirt.

Zuko turns his head and presses a light kiss to her hair. "A little, yeah." His other arm moves down to rest on her waist. "Are you?"

"A little." It's a lie— she's incredibly nervous. Not only for the upcoming fight (even though she's utterly convinced that they're going to lose someone in the struggle), but even just to go to sleep. Before she loses her nerve, she whispers, "I haven't told anyone about Hama." Zuko adjusts the arm that pillows her head so that he can hold her properly.

"You don't have to tell anyone until you're ready." She knows that he's trying to look into her eyes, but she hides her face in his shoulder.

"I know that, but…" She takes a deep breath. "I'm worried about the nightmares." Her lips ghost along his shirt, and she can hear her eyelashes brush against the fabric. "I don't want anyone to hear me and ask questions that I'm not ready to answer."

"Oh, Katara." Zuko turns toward her and pulls her into his chest, and that's all it takes for the tears to fall. "It's okay. I'll be right next to you, and you know how light of a sleeper I am. I'll wake you up before…" he trails off, but she knows what he was going to say. Before you start screaming.

"It never gets easier, does it?" She pulls away to look into Zuko's eyes; she craves the warmth she finds there, the homecoming held behind glowing gold.

"It'll get easier Katara." He brushes a strand of hair behind her ear. "It takes time, but I promise, it doesn't feel like this forever."

She looks at him, sees the affection in his eyes, the worry written into the lines on his forehead, and she knows that no matter where she goes, her home will always be in his arms.

"Zuko..." She gazes into his eyes, bound by a force stronger than she can describe, and forces the words past the lump of doubt in her throat. "I love you."

Immediately there's a change in him. It's almost like he's melting— every hard line and sharp angle in his body has gone soft. He rests his calloused hand on her cheek, the sun's warm rays on a cold winter day.

"I love you too." The words fall like petals from his lips despite his rasping tone. It's a quiet confession, but their faces are so close that she has no trouble hearing it. "Katara, I love you so much that it scares me. I don't…" He huffs out an incredulous breath. "I almost don't want all of this to be over. I don't want to just walk away from you and try to forget about all of this. I can't." There's tears gathering in his eyes— she catches one with her thumb as it tries to tumble down his face.

"Whatever happens after this, we'll be together." She brushes her thumb against his bottom lip, feels the ridges carved into it from years of biting. The hot breath that blows out from his mouth sends a shudder down her spine. "Always."

Xx

The next week consists of more walking through the incredible, unbelievable forest. The gargantuan trees paint a mythical picture, and Katara simply can't get over the strange beauty of this place. Dogwood blossoms dance in the air, a perpetual waltz to a silent song. Lavender pokes through the ground at random increments, small clusters here and there nestled among the brightly colored mushrooms that they've started to see around the base of most trees. There's some kind of magic in this place; there always seems to be birds chirping with their strange dual toned songs, some even showing themselves to the group before disappearing back into the canopy. They're the strangest things she's ever seen— then again, it feels like each new animal or flower in this place is stranger than the last. A large hawk-like bird had landed on Sokka's shoulder at one point, with oil slick feathers and glowing green eyes, and even though Sokka had screeched in fear and flapped his arm like a madman, the thing had stuck around for an entire day before flying off again. Little songbirds gravitate towards Aang and Ty Lee as they walk hand in hand, chubby little things that tweet and trill and send Ty Lee into a fit of giggles.

As they trudge through the trees, it seems that the flora and fauna are getting even more out of the ordinary. Birds of paradise grow almost as tall as Katara out of the ground, sunflowers stretch up to skim the rainbow canopy overhead. Roses trail along the ground as if they've grown on a vine, iridescent and aromatic. Various ivies crawl up the gargantuan tree trunks and make a home for the smallest of animals. Chipmunks with striped green and orange fur scurry all over the vines, munching on the fingernail-sized flowers that bud along them. Glowing, sky blue rabbits run alongside them; luminous crystals protrude from their bodies at various intervals, and she's sure she isn't crazy when she sees the air shimmer behind them as they scamper past her. At one point a large creature that closely resembled a tiger had walked out of the trees; it's coat was inky black, so dark that it confused her eyes, with a few neon orange stripes along its face and back. Six glowing pink eyes had stared at the group as the animal had crossed in front of them before disappearing into the trees again.

Suffice to say that Katara is feeling a little strange by the end of their first week in the forest. On top of all the unbelievable scenery, a gnawing fear has latched onto her and refuses to let go. The anxiety is a leech on her back, in just the right place so that she can't reach it, and it's swelling by the day. She wants her fear to be unfounded— wouldn't it be nice if she could just pass it off as simple nerves? But it's more powerful than that, and it grows evermore as it trails her like a too-large shadow.

After Hama, Katara's mind has adopted a new fear of death. Not her own death, but the death of her friends and family. How would she even manage to go on if she lost one of them? Would she be able to? Or would grief take hold of her ankles and drag her so far under that she'd forget that she'd ever seen the sun? She doesn't say anything about it, not even to Zuko. She knows that he'll worry about her even more than he already does, and she doesn't want him to think she's crazy. But she's positive that one of them isn't going to make it out of this fight. Maybe it's intuition, or maybe it's The Source telling her to prepare, but the closer they get, the more she can feel death breathing down her neck. As the pull in her chest gets stronger, so does the fear— they increase in tandem with each step forward.

"Hey, look at that!" Sokka's shout gets her attention, but she doesn't need to follow his pointed finger to see what he's talking about.

Before them lies a beautiful lake with water so clear that she can see down to the bottom. The large body draws her in, and before she knows it, she's stripped down to her undergarments and is jumping into the water. It's just cool enough to be refreshing, and it's exactly what she needs right now.

"Katara!" Sokka calls to her. "We don't have time for this! We have to keep going!"

"Oh, come on, Sokka!" Aang nudges him with a pointy elbow as he pulls his shirt over his head. "Lighten up!"

Soon she's not the only person in the water; the only ones left ashore are Mai and Azula. Azula promptly sits down and cracks open her well loved book, and Mai finds a comfortable spot to sit and twirl her blades around. Zuko swims over to Katara where she floats on the far side of the lake. The sight of him ignites a steady heat within her; she sees the same heat mirrored in his eyes. But before she can act on it, he's grabbing her waist and pulling her below the surface. Their limbs tangle in a playful embrace, Zuko's skin smooth as it trails under her finger tips. The water is clear enough that she can open her eyes and see him with only a little blur in her vision. He's surrounded by deep purple lotuses that stand proud from their roots in the bed of the lake, and his visage strikes a remarkable picture. Pale skin stands out against the dark blues and purples of the flowers, refracted light warm against his cool toned skin. His eyes are open— searching for hers— and with his glowing gold gaze and his hair splayed out around his head, he almost looks like one of those heroes from the fairytales Gran Gran had read her when she was young. If only I could breathe underwater…

They break the surface at the same time, gasping and dripping and wearing matching smiles. Katara's arms move around her in circles as she treads water, but despite the disturbance, fish of all sorts come swimming up to them. Bright blue and red koi swirl around their legs in figure eights, sure of their path even though her and Zuko's legs are moving steadily to keep them in place. Little schools of shimmering pink minnows move past them, their shining scales catching the sunlight, beaming through the water to create shifting rainbows. Strange orange and deep green ferns shoot up from the bottom of the lake to tickle her legs with each swirl. Pastel pads glide along the water's glassy surface, cupping iridescent lilies in a soft embrace. For the first time since they've entered the forest, Katara feels herself relax. The shadow that's been tailing her has been left at the shore, worries stripped away and piled with her clothes on dry land.

"Feeling better?" Zuko gets closer to her and lays a soft kiss on her cheek.

"Yeah," she replies with a smile so wide that it makes her face hurt. "I am."

"Good." He runs his thumb along her cheekbone, and she leans into the touch. "Everything's going to be okay. No matter what happens, we'll be together."

She nods into his hand and sighs. She still doesn't believe him— deep in her gut she knows that something bad is going to happen once they reach The Source— but it's easy to indulge him while she's surrounded by the calm of her element.

They don't stay at the lake for very long. Once they've all gotten their fill and Katara's drawn the water out of their hair and clothes, they bid the sparkling water and strange aquatic creatures goodbye. Her eyes stick to the lake as they depart; if only they could stay there forever, in the safety of the forest, shielded from life and all its horrors. A gurgling river winds off through the trees, and they use it as their new guide. Brightly colored fish leap out of the water at regular intervals, and a few large, bear-like animals wander along the opposite river bank and wade in to snatch fish out of the air. The water itself flows swift and clear, a rippling lens for them to view the smooth, iridescent rocks that cover the bed. She's compelled to reach out and draw a smooth ribbon from the river; the unnaturally sparkly water feels light in her hands, and she swears she can feel a tiny pulse within it, almost like a heartbeat. This whole forest is alive.

"The water carries that sparkling aura more powerfully than anything else in here," Ty Lee explains. "I think it'll lead us right to The Source!"

A squirming anticipation permeates the group, the unknown hanging just out of reach, answers to the questions they've been seeking lurking around every corner.

Xx

"If we keep up this pace, we should get to The Source in a few days." She trusts Sokka's examination of the map, but even if she didn't, she knows they're getting close. The supernatural tugging in Katara's chest has been getting stronger by the day, and at this point it's an almost uncomfortable pressure straining against her ribs.

"What are we going to do once we get there?" Toph speaks around a full mouth as they eat dinner. "Are we gonna just wing it and hope for the best?"

"We have to figure out how to defend it against the army," Suki replies. "But how can we do that when we don't even know what it is?"

"That's a good point." Sokka swallows audibly and brandishes his spoon in the air. "For all we know it's just a statue. Or maybe it's a well. Oh! Or maybe it's-"

"It doesn't matter what it is." Azula cuts him off, and Sokka narrows his eyes. "We have to come up with some sort of plan."

"Well, if it's just a singular item…" Sokka continues, but Katara shuts the entire conversation out.

Guilt gnaws at her as her friends continue planning; she should be listening, paying rapt attention to the matter at hand. But that persistent fear is back, slithering up her spine and whispering in her ear. No matter the comfort of Zuko's hand in hers, no matter the presence of her friends and family around her, dread burrows under her skin and makes a home in the very marrow of her bones. What would she do if she ever lost Sokka? He's been the only one consistently by her side since she was born. They grew up together, best friends, hand in hand as the years dragged on. He mourned with her after their mother was killed, held her through the nightmares and tears and confusion. He's her best friend, her protector, her biggest advocate. Could she even go on without him?

And what if she lost Zuko? What he means to her is unnamable. He brought the sun into her home with his glowing eyes, had led her out of her cramped little village shrouded in grey and into the bright technicolor world. Katara hadn't known love before Zuko came into her life, and she had been beginning to fear that she never would. They had said they'd be together after this is over, after the dust settles and the blood dries and sinks into the ground, and she wants it more than anything. But what if he's not around when all is said and done? What if she has to leave him here, cold and still and lifeless beneath the loamy forest floor? A vice clamps down around her heart, and she tightens her grip on the bowl she's supposed to be eating from. Stay in the moment Katara.

Zuko's warm hand on her shoulder drags her back to her body, pulling her consciousness out of the trap of her mind and back into the present. She glances at him from the corner of her eye, and sees the subtle worry shining within the glowing gold of his irises. Somehow she manages to force a small smile onto her face, but it probably looks more like a grimace. Zuko's hand moves down to the small of her back as he leans over to kiss her temple; she does her best to stifle her wobbly sigh.

"So, it's settled." Sokka's voice brings her attention back to the group. "All you elemental Othered will stay on the perimeter to take the brunt of the army, and the rest of us will hang out closer to The Source to take care of any stragglers. Any objections?"

Katara's heart lurches, the upcoming battle feeling all the more real the more they speak of it. But, as much as she wants to, she has no objections; the plan is as solid as they'll get it. She just hopes that it will be enough to save them.