Warmth
For #85: Fresh Rain
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The way the wind ran soft fingers through her hair, lifting up the edges and twirling them into precious curls made a cold shiver run down her spine.
She pulled the shawl closer around her. She'd been born in the far south on a pole where the winters are harsh and the wind even worse. Cold, freezing, icy, she had known them all before she knew the words to call them. No, the cold wasn't something that had ever bothered Katara.
That was before she knew heat. Not the heat from a fire or a warm blanket, but the innocent warmth of a hug. The pure gesture of holding hands to warm the fingers and tossing aside a blanket to let the soft animals of your bodies curl around each other on cool Northern Earth Kingdom nights.
She'd learned what true warmth was then, and that only made it harder to let it go.
Katara cringed as the shawl ran across one of her old wounds. She half thought droplets of blood would start seeping through the edges of the phantom bandage.
It had been four years to the day since the warmth she'd come to love had been brutally torn away from her in a clash of elements and spirit. In that time all she allowed herself to know was the cold of loss. She'd decided that that cold was the worst of all.
She had refused to look at any one else the way she had him. Countless men came asking for her hand, but she turned them all down with haunted eyes and sad face. She had been but a shell of the person she used to be.
Bending hadn't even fascinated her.
Sokka had tried to help her. He wanted her to find someone, to get over her love like he was forced to get over Yue. He wanted to tell her everything he knew about the cold and how to find new warmth in unexpected places. He wanted to help his baby sister walk through the darkness, but Iroh stopped him with a look.
He knew she had to walk her path alone, and find the warmth herself.
The wind lifted her undone, smoothed down hair off her shoulders. It made it dance, pulling at the little loops still left behind. Katara smiled softly as the cold shiver ran down her back again. The smile grew as the wind picked up her shawl and danced it out of her reach, letting the slight bump on her abdomen shine through.
A soft rain began to fall. She swore she could taste his warm tears in the drops and his voice in the wind whispering that he couldn't be happier.
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Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you had a good one! Sorry I didn't update yesterday, but I was gone most of the time. And, on sad note, I've beaten Twilight Princess now and it's just sad when you beat a good game. But oh well, more time for writing.
This piece is happy……ish. Well, I hope you like it anyway. I worked hard on it. :D
Love ya's,
mycrazylife