Katara woke a few hours after sunrise and immediately went to work on her hangover. While in any other situation she would have felt some level of shame, the pounding in her head gave her no qualms about using the sacred water from the North Pole. It glowed in a cool and welcoming light as she bent the water around her head. She could feel the heat from her skin leap into the orbit of the water, draining with it the pain. With a happy sigh, Katara replaced the water before standing and getting herself something to drink.
After she had tended to herself, she worked on the still sleeping Toph and set about making her preparations. This way, by the time Toph pulled herself from the bedroom, it was well after midday and Katara had the rest of the rooms packed.
"Man, I feel great." Toph said as she walked, stretching, into the sitting room.
"You're welcome." Katara huffed as she locked a trunk. Toph took a seat at the kitchen table and listened to Katara move around the rooms.
"Are you really going to the Fire Nation?" Toph asked. Katara walked into the bedroom and started to pick up the loose clothing.
"Yeah. You want to come?" She called as she knelt down to start folding.
"Nah. I like Zuko and all, but I am really not a fan of that country of his." Toph called back. Katara pulled a face and shrugged, continuing to fold clothes.
"Have you eaten?" Katara suddenly heard Toph's voice behind her and she turned.
"Yes. Mr. Chang should still be serving lunch in the common room if you wanted to get something."
"That sounds like a good idea."
"Did you want company?"
"I think I can manage, thanks." Katara shrugged again and watched as Toph walked off. When she heard the door close, she let out a breath. Last night, she had had strange dreams. After meeting more sages while travelling with Aang, Katara would have normally spent some time in contemplation on them, but these were tainted with the alcohol she had consumed last night.
Still, as Katara got into the rhythm of folding, she allowed her thoughts to stray over the tangled mess of her dreams.
It had been all of them again, but as they had been. They had stood at the precipice of a high cliff. The rocks were jagged and held no luster, but were simply a dull gray. Coming at them was a large wave, miles high and rushing toward them. Katara had looked left down the line and saw Sokka right next to her. He smiled and held out his hand. She took it with a smile and looked past him. Aang didn't turn to her, but held out his glider as a staff. Past him, Toph pulled up a shield of rock that extended down to the rest of them, but she couldn't get it high enough.
Katara looked back at the wave. It was dark and roiling, moving like tentacles of a large beast. Lightning flashed behind, no, from within the belly of the great wave. As menacing as it looked, Katara felt no fear. Suddenly, she felt her brows knit together. She looked to her right and found Zuko standing there. He smiled, looking at her full in the face. He made no move to guard himself or to reach out to her. Katara could feel the wave about to crash down upon them and she opened her mouth to warn him.
And then she had woken up.
Katara smoothed down the fabric of a shirt with her hand and left it there for a moment. She wondered what it could have meant, if anything. Suki hadn't been there, nor any other of their friends and allies. And while Toph and Aang had been on guard against the wave, Katara, Sokka, and Zuko seemed to be unafraid.
The wave itself was foreboding, but Katara had no idea what it might portend. From that alone she wanted to dismiss it as the result of an overindulgent night, but it was so heavy that it lingered on her mind.
There was nothing left for them to fight. There was no drowning presence coming for them.
Katara stood and took up the pile of her clothes. She deposited them into the last trunk and was finally packed up. Making sure the latch was secure, Katara cast one look around the room before grabbing the small satchel she had already prepared. Slinging it over her shoulder, Katara left the apartment and locked the door.
She found Toph sitting at one of the long row tables, a bowl of stew in front of her. An empty bowl already sat at her right.
"Good stew?" Katara asked as she sat down.
"It's food." Toph said around a raised spoonful.
"Mistress Katara?" Katara turned and found Mrs. Chang, the landlord's mother, standing behind her.
"Oh, good day Mrs. Chang." Katara stood and bowed. Mrs. Chang clicked her tongue and ducked her head briefly.
"Your other missive has been sent out and the boat is ready to take you to the island. Did you need any of your luggage taken down?" The older woman questioned.
"No, thank you Mrs. Chang. That can all wait till next month." Katara answered.
"Well, it will certainly be, quiet, without you and the Avatar." Katara blushed and lowered her eyes.
"Yes. Thank you Mrs. Chang." She said and bowed again. She heard the woman walk away and she sat down again.
"She was nice." Toph remarked as she began to scrape the bottom of the bowl. Katara sighed and leaned her back against the tabletop.
"She actually is. I think Aang and I were just straining her patience."
"So where are you taking the boat?"
"Oh, I need to make a quick trip to Air Temple Island."
"Gonna say goodbye to Twinkle Toes?"
"Absolutely not. I just need to borrow an Air Bison."
"Borrow?"
"I am allowed to use a Bison to travel." Katara chewed on her lip and looked away from Toph. "I just normally travel with Aang."
"I guess being the Avatar's girlfriend has some perks."
"Ugh." Katara dragged out the guttural noise as she threw her head back. She stared up at the ceiling as she thought. "I need to be able to move quickly."
"Hey, there's no judgement here." Katara sat back up and looked at Toph.
"Are you sure you don't want to come with?"
"Ask me that again and I'm telling Aang where you went."
"Fine, fine." Katara pushed herself up and stretched. "Well, I'm off."
"Bye Sugar Queen."
"See you later Toph." Katara picked up her satchel and walked toward the front door. She glanced over and saw the landlord and his mother watching her. Katara only nodded as she slid open the door and stepped out into the bright afternoon light. She made her way quickly through the garden and slipped out of the large front gate, feeling her heart suddenly beating faster.
Katara had always known what to do. Ever since her mother's death, she has always felt the need to know. If things were left up to chance, if there wasn't a clear path, she often felt that same binding presence on her chest as she did when she pushed into the igloo she had called home for so many years. Sokka had coped in much the same way, but was able to make plans on the fly.
During their time with Aang, Katara had learned to relax a little more. Still, she could never shake the feeling of panic when things suddenly derailed from the prescribed plan. Her temper never helped things along.
The contradictory thing was how she bristled at the expectations set up by others. The expectation that she would follow Aang until their deaths, that she would bear children as soon as possible to repopulate the lost Air nomads, and that somehow she would be content with leaving the Water Tribe.
Katara squeezed her fingers around the strap of her satchel. No one had seemed to recognize that the Water Tribe had been decimated, and that she was in fact their most powerful, and only female, Waterbender. Where was the need to repopulate her people? And even if it was left to the relatively intact Northern Water Tribe, was it just destiny to let her home wither and be absorbed into the aristocratic culture of the North? Katara felt her face flush and her eyes water, so she sniffed and bounced her satchel higher onto her shoulder.
She found her way down to a small dock fairly quickly and was able to find someone with a boat who was willing to ferry her across. Of course, he wouldn't accept money from one of the Great Heroes, so while he relayed what he was doing during the Fire Nation invasion, Katara used her bending to push the boat along.
A few Air Temple disciples saw her coming and greeted her as the boat drifted into the dock. Two men pulled her up and the boatman saluted her before turning his craft around and started to row. Katara let out a breath and faced the two disciples.
"Lady Katara, it is a pleasure to see you." The man on the left said as they both bowed.
"I was wondering if I might contract one of the bison for a small trip." Katara said and shifted uneasily on her feet.
"Of course, we have Dawa here for you." The same man replied and Katara relaxed a little. Dawa was an Air Nomad name for the moon, and while the bison only life-bonded with an Air Bender, Katara had felt a kinship for the smaller animal.
"That would be wonderful. May I go to her now?" She asked.
"Would you not like to see the Avatar first?" The other man blurted out. Katara flinched, but seized more as she saw how quickly the other man turned to quiet his friend.
"The Avatar is in private instruction. We will leave a message with him that you were here if you like." The first man said. Katara's heart fluttered and she felt a weight in her gut that started to twist.
"Is he in 'private instruction' with Emry?" She hissed. Both men coughed and avoided her eye. "No, I have no message to leave for the Avatar. Wouldn't want to disturb him."
"I will take you to Dawa then." The first man said and turned. Katara followed him and glared at the other disciple as she passed. He had the decency to look sheepish before turning his gaze to the ground.
Katara focused on releasing her anger as she crossed the grounds behind the Air disciple. The Air Bison were sensitive to people they had not bonded with and she didn't want her anger to impede her. Thankfully, the Temple was built to promote training and meditation, so the space was open and landscaped in a pleasing manner. Open fields of grass rolled gently as if they were waves, crashing over the spiral shapes of the bricked courtyards. There were only a few disciples out at the moment, attending to various chores.
A wind off the bay picked up and Katara could smell the scent of bison fur and hay.
"Katty!" Katara squeezed her eyes shut and her body slumped, but she still smiled. She reopened her eyes just as a plump woman in the fluttering bright orange and red robes ran up to her.
"Good afternoon Tinlee." She said and embraced the smaller woman.
"Didja see, I finally got my husband to let me shave my head!" Tinley said and Katara laughed as the woman rubbed her bald head. Tinlee was in her early fifties, mother of four and grandmother of two, but she moved around with the energy of a child.
"You look great Tinlee." Katara replied and Tinlee waved her away.
"You'll be taking out Dawa then?"
"If she's available."
"For you Katty, of course." The pair of women walked over the lush grass that acted as the official bison grazing grounds. Warned probably by scent, Katara saw Dawa's head roll lazily above the herd. At the sight of the Water Bender, Dawa floated up and moved over the bison grazing, choosing to take the quickest route over.
"I'll go get her saddle while you two have a minute." Tinlee said before striding briskly away. Katara dropped her satchel just as Dawa dropped to the ground in front of her.
Dawa was one of the new species Aang had discovered just a few years ago. She was substantially smaller than Appa – though mostly from age rather than species differentiation, with thinner stripes crossing her back, and a darker hue to her fur. Katara moved forward and embraced the hairy tree trunk of a foreleg.
"Hello Dawa." She murmured as she squeezed her arms around the mass. Dawa reciprocated by nuzzling Katara's head and blowing a gust of hot air down over her. "Ready to go on an adventure?"
"Alright Lady Katara." Katara stepped away as four disciples struggled forward in front of Tinlee, each carrying a corner of the large saddle. This was an action that was normally done by Aang, with the assistance of airbending.
"Allow me." Katara widened her stance and let out a solid breath as she pushed her hands out. With a gentle pull, she began to Bend water out of the bison's drinking pool.
This would be a lot easier with Aang.
Who's in "private instruction" with that twice cursed Emry.
Emry.
Katara gripped her hands into fists and pulled, hard. The water came in a heavy rush, hitting the four disciples in a column of water. It then caught the saddle and erupted out of their hands, heading toward Dawa. By then, Katara realized what was happening and managed to gently settle the saddle onto the beast's back. With a sharp flick of her hands, the water rushed back to the pool, including the unwanted liquid that had half drowned the acolytes.
"Sorry about that." Katara said and coughed. The four Air Acolytes stood, dazed and silent, and Tinlee pushed her way through them.
"Did you need anything for your trip Katty?"
"No, I should be alright. It's a short trip."
"Where are you headed?"
"You'll forgive me if I don't tell you Tin." Tinlee nodded and Katara felt a pang of guilt.
"Can't say what I don't know."
"Thank you Tinlee." Katara embraced the acolyte but broke away quickly. She felt the need to get off the island as soon as possible. "Sorry I can't stay for longer."
"It's alright. Have a good trip Katty." Katara nodded and clambered up Dawa's massive foreleg. She hiked herself up over the edge of the saddle and layed down her satchel before moving to the front where the reigns were.
"Thanks again Tinlee."
"Anytime Katara." They shared a smile and Katara snapped the reigns.
"Yip-yip Dawa." As Dawa pushed away from the earth, Katara kept her eyes on the sky. She felt a phantom grasp on her hand.
"Sometimes, in our fear, we need to not look down. To not look back." The wind and the chill in the air caused Katara's eyes to tear up.
As Dawa pulled above the clouds, Katara settled back for the rest of the trip. This was a flight that many of the Sky Bison had made repeatedly in training, so she trusted in Dawa's navigation. Shimmying further into her clothes, Katara focused on feeling the cold. Because the air was thinner up here, the temperature also dipped, but it was something that she had long since gotten used to. Even so, despite the ease of travel it afforded, Katara did not love flying. It seemed that the other three nations were obsessed with it, and it was something she could not understand. While the Air Nomads obviously made sense, the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom had scrambled to build functional airships as quickly as possible when the technology became available.
Only the Water Tribes had stuck with the turbulence of the water.
Suki had said once that she would sometimes have dreams where she was flying. Zuko too admitted it. Both described moving in ways even an Airbender couldn't maneuver in the skies.
"It's actually a pretty common dream Katara," Aang had said. "Flying is the utmost expression of freedom."
But Katara never dreamed of flying.
In her dreams, she slid into the waters of her home and her furs became a second skin to protect her from the frigid cold. She wouldn't need to come up for air, so she would spend an eternity dreaming that she was exploring the crystal blue sea. The water was endless in every direction and there were no boundaries, only an empty vastness.
Gran-Gran had told her an old story about the elements. She said that before there ever was an Avatar, humans were simply the physical bodies of the combined elements. Earth made them, Fire drove them, and Air gave them their minds. But Water was what sustained them. Without Earth, humans were no different than the ethereal spirits. No Fire and they were mere constructs. No Air and they were no better than the animals. But no Water and there was no Life.
Katara looked over the side of the saddle and watched the thick patches of cloud pass underneath. Even here there was water.
"But don't go and get a big head." Gran-Gran warned as she pulled a brush through a younger Katara's hair. "Humans have always needed all four in harmony to survive as they are. No one element is more important than the others."
Reality, however, did not support that philosophy as well as either of them would have liked. firebending had killed her mother, because she had been marked as a Waterbender. So Katara's bending was held close to her heart, even now.
Yet she hadn't been able to study in months. There was no "private instruction" with the Avatar for her.
"What could he possibly be teaching a non-Bender?" She let out a guttural sigh in exasperation and rubbed her palms into her eyes. Katara wasn't dumb, she understood what it meant, she only wished that he wouldn't make it so obvious.
She wished she had brought a book to read.
When Dawa began her descent, Katara let go of the clouds she had been manipulating. It had kept her awake, though the thin air made her extremely tired. Taking the reins again, Katara yawned as she directed the Sky Bison to land in a small courtyard, tiled in a similar manner to the areas at Air Temple Island.
There was already a group of guards waiting for her.
"Lady Katara, it is a pleasure to see you." Katara stayed silent as she climbed down off of Dawa, taking the time to try and remember the Master of the Guard's name.
"General Fujita, it's been too long." He bowed as she approached and Katara mirrored it.
"The Fire Lord is waiting for you in the main courtyard."
"Is it urgent?" Fujita's brows pulled together and Katara shrugged. "I had thought to go to my room first. If it was ready."
"Well, yes Lady Katara, your rooms are ready. Only, the Fire Lord thought you had something urgent to discuss due to the, er, nature of your letter." Katara remembered her drunken night and pulled her mouth into a thin line.
"Oh. Yes. I would like to see the Fire Lord as soon as possible." Katara stayed silent as she walked behind the General and into the palace. The other three guards, it seemed, were to move Dawa into the grazing area.
"How is Zuko?" She asked once they finally made it inside. Fujita sighed and Katara saw his shoulders sag for a second.
"He has been, out of sorts, since Lady Mai left." Katara felt her chest tighten for a brief moment. She had forgotten that Mai had taken up residency in the palace after Zuko's coronation.
"Will she be returning soon?"
"I should hope not." Fujita muttered quickly. Katara cast her eyes away and said nothing.
"Is Iroh back yet?"
"No, but he should be coming back in the next few weeks."
"That's a shame, I was hoping to see him."
"Are you not staying long?"
"Only a few days General." Fujita stopped to slide open an ornately decorated door. Katara stepped down onto the lush grass of the inner courtyard.
"Katara." Katara smiled as she watched Zuko stride up to her. He wore a tailored white sleeveless shirt and red pants, looking casual and relaxed. She wondered how "out of sorts" he really was.
"Hello Zuko." The pair hugged and Katara noticed that he had grown again; her cheek fell lightly on his chest and she could hear the faint thud of his pulse.
"You look a lot better than I expected." He said as they pulled apart.
"And what's that supposed to mean!" Zuko laughed and ran a hand through the length of his hair.
"Do you have any idea what kind of letter you sent?"
"It couldn't possibly be that bad." Zuko held up a hand as he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. He flicked it out to unfold it and cleared his throat.
"Dear Fire Guy, I'm coming. Be ready. Also Fire Wine. Also, and here I'm quoting directly, the Avatar is an idiot and I don't want to have babies." Zuko folded the paper back and slipped it into his pocket, looking at Katara with a closed lipped smile. Katara did not find things to be as humorous.
"So Toph and I got a little drunk."
"Oh Toph was involved. Then I understand completely." Katara eyed him, trying to see if he was being sarcastic or not, but the young Fire Lord kept his face calm save for a small smile.
"It's good to see you Zuko. I'm sorry I didn't come by for the coronation." Zuko shrugged and looked around the courtyard.
"You guys were there for the fancy celebration, what with the Avatar crowning me and everything. The official coronation was more of a coming of age thing. A shifting of power from my uncle to me."
"Still." Katara drifted and silence settled over them.
"So. What did he do this time?" Katara started and looked at Zuko, wide-eyed.
"What do you mean?"
"You're supposed to be in Republic City with Aang on your vacation. You're here instead and without him. So what did he do?" Katara scowled.
"What happened with Mai?" She asked in return. Zuko winced and nodded.
"Fair." Katara sighed, put one hand on her hip and the other squeezed the back of her neck.
"I'm just tired Zuko."
"That I can understand." He paused, turned and brought up his arm in an inviting gesture. Katara took it, smiled warmly, and they began to walk.
"I have a few more minor meetings this afternoon, but I can free up the evening for such a distinguished guest. How about you take a nap in the meantime?" They entered a small outbuilding of the palace, and Katara could feel warmth emanating from the walls. Katara held onto Zuko's arm lightly, but she was still aware of the personal heat that he produced. Firebenders were just so warm.
"You know, even after all these years, I still can't get used to you being so nice and calm."
"If it would make you feel better, I can yell and chase you to bed." Katara shot him a look and his whole face suddenly turned bright red. "I did not mean it that way."
"Don't ever change Zuko."
"I feel like I do, but everytime I see you again, I fall to pieces." Katara scoffed and slapped his arm.
"Hey. I am not that intimidating." She said, with a very real irritation.
"Oh no, of course not. You're just the most powerful Waterbender in living memory who I watched move with absolute precision in accomplishing a somewhat vengeful goal. Meanwhile, I needed the Avatar to help me unseat my mentally unhinged fourteen-year-old sister." Zuko said lightly. Thinking back to that, Katara felt herself withdraw and go cold. Then, there was that warmth again, as Zuko put his hand on hers.
"There is still nothing wrong with what you did that day, and your ultimate choice is what makes you the most amazing person I have met. Second only to Uncle." Katara looked away and stared at the wall as they passed.
"I don't know why I'm being so mercurial recently." Katara muttered.
"You have been busy. Haven't you been paying attention to the sky?" Zuko said and tugged her gently so that they turned around a corner.
"What do you mean?"
"I'll show you tonight. But there's probably a lunar reason why you're being crazy."
"You're a jerk Zuko."
"Yes, but I'm a nice and calm jerk."