A/N: Theme #88: Pain.
This theme was inspired from the following scene:
Katara: (after hearing a wolf howl) That wolf sounds so sad...
Sokka: It's probably wounded.
Bato: No. It's been seperated from the pack. I understand that pain. It's how I felt when the Water Tribe Warriors had to leave me behind. They are my family and being apart from them is more painful than my wounds.
Just a little Bato angst. :( It makes me sad.
Bato rolled over onto his back, once again finding himself unable to sleep. It had refused to come easily to him since his injury nearly three months ago and the resulting healing time spent alone at the abbey. Though it was a reluctant decision that Hakoda had made, Bato still felt utterly depressed after being forced to stay with the nuns while the men continued their journey to Ba Sing Se. He had never in his life been separated from his tribe- much less Hakoda- for such a long period of time.
Hakoda had assured him that he would send a message back to the abbey each time the tribe set up camp so that, as soon as the nuns deemed him fit to travel, he could come and rejoin them. But that was not enough to dull the deep, throbbing pang in his chest at night. The healing process was taking way too long in his mind. The nuns, on the other hand, disagreed, stating that the warrior was fortunate to be breathing considering how close the blast had come to his heart.
Bato glanced down at his bandaged arm- the dressing would be changed again shortly after breakfast as it had everyday since he was brought here- and tried to will his arm to move, to just be able to flex his fingers. The digits barely twitched in response, earning a defeated sigh from the man. The nuns had also told him he was blessed to still have the arm intact and that he would be extremely lucky if he managed to regain full use of his arm again. The nerve-endings in his hand and arm had been burned away in the flame and the nuns told him to be glad he couldn't feel the agonizing pain that came with such a horrible burn.
There were moments, however, in which he wished he could have the physical pain and, in exchange, lose the tormenting mental and emotional anguish he felt on a daily basis. It was a horrible feeling to be separated from his tribe, his pack, his family, but the feeling was made worse when he realized he may never be able to use his left arm fully again, which would make it hard for him to scrimmage and fight. Unless he could regain full use of his arm, he would be an ineffective warrior and he would be a burden on his fellow warriors. That thought: the idea of being unable to aid his tribe- to aid Hakoda- pained him far worse than any burn in the world.