Her own screams ripped her from her sleep, and she hurled herself forward before she had the chance to open her eyes. Sweat was pouring down her face as she struggled for a steady breath. Katara threw her gaze about in a frenzy, her mind still locked in her nightmare. She sprang out of bed and ran into the corridor in time to hear a voice calling for her.
"Katara?!" cried the Fire Lord.
She bolted down the hallway and almost crashed into him. Zuko grabbed her arms and kept her upright. "Katara, are you okay?" he asked in a panic.
She gaped wildly at him as vivid memories from the nightmare still clouded her perception, and her mind struggled to process what her eyes could plainly see. Zuko held her gaze steadily as he waited for her to gather herself. "Me?!" she gasped. "What about you? You were—I thought you were in trouble!"
"No, I thought you were in trouble," he replied. "You started screaming. I came running down to make sure you were okay."
Finally, Katara's head cleared, and as she stared at the Fire Lord, who was bleary-eyed and tense but otherwise unharmed, she became giddy with relief. She threw her arms around him and laughed, as if in momentary delirium. "I—I had the most terrible dream," she confessed, pulling back and meeting his eyes. "There was another attack and..." Tears stung her eyes as the memories rushed back. Katara hastily shoved them away and continued softly, "I couldn't save you."
At that, several footsteps came storming down the corridor, and three guards surrounded Zuko protectively. "Is everything all right, Fire Lord?" one of them asked in a rumbling voice.
Zuko exchanged a glance with Katara before moving in front of her to face the head guard. "Everything's fine, Gan. I just had a bad dream."
The guard slid his eyes from Zuko to Katara, who was still a bit visibly stressed and gave an awkward grin.
The Fire Lord cleared his throat. "Thank you, Gan," he said strongly. "You may return to your post."
The guard's eyes snapped back to Zuko, and he bowed. "As you wish." He waved for the others to follow, and they disappeared down the corridor.
Katara heaved a shaky sigh. "Thanks for not letting me embarrass myself more than I already have," she said sheepishly.
Zuko patted her shoulder. "It's okay. They're used to me having nightmares."
Katara was finally clearing her head of her own nightmare, but now couldn't stop wondering about the guard. "Why was that guy staring at me?" she murmured.
The firebender shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe he was getting the wrong idea or something. You know you can't trust us teenagers," he finished with a smirk.
Katara chuckled weakly, though she still couldn't shake her discomfort. She leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. She could feel Zuko's concerned gaze on her. "You should go back to bed," he murmured. "It's late."
The waterbender shook her head. "I'm going to stay up for a bit." There was no way she would go back to sleep and risk returning to her nightmare.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah." When she saw a glint of worry in his eyes, she added with a small smile, "I'll be fine, Zuko. Go back to sleep. We'll talk in the morning."
"All right." Zuko gripped her shoulder comfortingly before turning down the hall. "Good night, Katara."
"Good night," she called after him.
She made her way through the parlour and past the boardroom. Katara opened an iron door, took a blazing torch, and descended the steps into the dim library. She hovered near a chair against the back wall and placed the torch in a nearby holder before approaching a bookcase and selecting a few items at random. She returned to her seat, read off the titles, and cracked open the first, The Lion-Turtle, the Sage, and the Closet. After the first few pages, tedium set in, and Katara's mind numbed to the words on the page. But still she sat, staring mindlessly at the open book, if only because it provided her refuge from her dreams.
Suddenly, soft footsteps and rustling robes stirred her awake. She didn't remember closing her eyes, but now they flew open, and she leapt out of the chair. Firelight descended the stone steps, and she recognised the glowing wrinkled face before the voice. "You look like you could use some company."
Katara gave a sigh of relief. "General Iroh."
His smile was apologetic and kind as he replied, "I'm sorry if I scared you." The elderly firebender made his way to a chair opposite hers, and extinguished the flame he held. "Just call me 'Iroh.' My general days are long behind me." His words echoed with a certain peaceful melancholy. Then he frowned at her. "What are you still doing up? It's way past midnight."
Katara sighed as she fell back into her chair. "I couldn't sleep."
"Bad dream?" he surmised.
"Yeah."
Iroh set aside the tome he had brought and looked at her patiently. "Anything you need to talk about?"
Katara studied him for several seconds, debating whether she wanted to get into it. "I guess so." She took a deep breath, steadying herself before reaching into her memory. "I...I dreamt that there was another attack," Katara began. "The bloodbenders came back, and Zuko couldn't firebend. I did what I could, but they were stronger. They had us in their total control. They got ahold of Zuko, and..." Katara's breath shortened, and she started to tremble as she relived her nightmare. She took in a sharp gasp, and the rest of the words tumbled out of her mouth uncontrollably. "They got him, and I couldn't save him and I—I lost him," she finished with a sob, burying her face in her hands. Katara's heart felt like it was suffocating as she recalled the helplessness and devastation she felt watching Zuko die beside her. The feelings were so fresh and strong that she struggled to remind herself it wasn't real. It took her many moments to rein herself in and pull her mind out of her nightmare. Finally, she lifted her eyes and met Iroh's sympathetic gaze.
"What are you feeling right now?" the old firebender asked gently, furrowing his brows with concern.
Katara swallowed hard. "Terrified," she murmured shakily. "It felt so real and I have to keep reminding myself that it wasn't. I remember how..." She grappled for the right word to describe the intense ruin she felt. "...how destroyed I was in the dream, like I would be nothing without him." The description suddenly hit her hard, and a realisation lit up in her mind. Katara froze as she absorbed what she had said: I would be nothing without him. She closed her eyes and put her head back, breathing deeply as the words floated in her mind. Katara realised in that moment how close she had become to Zuko, how much he meant to her, and how truly heartbroken she was when she thought he might be gone.
The realisations visibly working through Katara's mind reminded him so much of what Zuko had gone through the previous morning. Iroh secretly delighted in finding all the same emotions in her face as he had in Zuko's: the bewilderment, the anxiety, the relief when they had assembled their emotional puzzle and the new confusion it created. Iroh held his hand out towards the torch mounted on the wall and willed its flame to grow, casting a wider light across Katara's face. He couldn't find the rosy tint in her cheeks or the certain gleam in her eyes; instead, he found soft wrinkles carved by anguish and conflict, and deep circles under her eyes from lack of rest. Her face was tired and her eyes were desperate and sorrowful. Her breathing had begun to deepen with the threat of sleep, and Iroh bent and dimmed the firelight. The old firebender debated whether to remain with her or leave her be. Something told him that the last thing the young Water Tribe woman needed was to be alone. Iroh grabbed his tome, leaned back, and turned the page.