Beta-read by Scribbles I, the tireless.

Healed and Hunted

Reality Check

Chapter Fifteen

Apacheduex

Lee

He was a little torn. Okay, more than a little. A lot of things were eating at him. He was sitting here, at a restaurant with Kat. They were having a grand time. She was telling him about her weekend trip. He wanted to hear it. Really, he did. But it was hard to focus on what she was saying when he was thinking about what to say.

He had to go help his uncle. That would take the rest of his trip, and he hated that. No, that was wrong. He knew it was the right thing to do. He had to take care of his family. His uncle was all he had, and his uncle wouldn't ask him to come down for no reason.

And that meant leaving the game on pause. That meant leaving her. When had the game become so important? It was because it had been a difficult first few dates. Had to be. He had been on the chase too long. It would be good to get away. There would be distance and cooled heads. A little soon for a long distance trial, but it would have to do.

Coming to the conclusion during a pause in her story, he threw himself back into listening. Kat resumed, but then stopped suddenly.

"What is it?" Lee wondered.

Kat shook her head. "I just remembered. Kyoshi says hello. She wanted me to give you this, but told me not to read it."

She reached in her bag and fished out an envelope made of note book paper. Lee saw his name written on it in child scribbles. She handed it to him, and he found more paper inside.

"Ah, she said don't read it in front of me," Kat sighed, "I don't know what's in there. Just... don't take her too seriously."

Lee laughed, "Alright, but no promises. I might tease you about it. I see hearts in there!"

She snatched it back from his hand and held it up to the light, "There better not be. I swear-"

"Hey, that's mine." He grabbed it back and hid it under the table cloth. She tsked and sighed.

He smiled and wondered what she wanted to talk about now.

"So, what's on your mind?" Kat sipped from her drink.

Lee blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Something's...bugging you." She nodded to affirm her statement.

He'd been caught. "I'm sorry. My uncle called me earlier today. He needs my help. And he lives three hours from here."

The smile on her face dissolved to concern. "Is he alright?"

"He's fine." He was taken aback by her interest. This was the first time, he thought, he had mentioned having family.

"Then what's the problem?" Kat didn't understand. Lee gave a small chuckle and looked down.

It was easy enough to sum up, "I'll be there until we have to go back to the University."

"That's only a week and a half, Lee. The thought of being around your uncle can't be so bad." She sounded very unhappy. She looked a little disappointed, even.

"No, no that's not it at all. I just won't see you in that space of time." He blinked and waited for her to understand.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, however will we survive?"

The plural made him smile. Because she was, subconsciously, implying that she was going to be missing him. He wondered how much.

"One day you will have to tell me what makes you so sad, Lee. Seeing you smile hurts," she said. And that, too, seemed like an odd thing for her to say. One second she was going to miss him, the next she didn't like seeing him smile.

"What?" he wondered, thinking perhaps she was a little crazy.

She blinked. "You seem... so sad, Lee. Your smile is tinged with it. Please, ignore me. I shouldn't have said anything."

"I could no sooner ignore you than I could breathing," he laughed. But, he knew he was serious as well. She was too interesting. That was that.

"That's amusing. You don't actually think about breathing." Kat was speaking to herself, smiling about some joke.

Lee disagreed, "Well, I'm a Fire-Inheritor. Breathing is really important."

Her eyes seemed a little too amused in the candle light. The fire danced in her pupils, making the blue deeper and more intense than normal. There was a gentleness there that shamed him.

"I'm a human being. Breathing's pretty important for me, too," she said, and laughed.

Lee laughed too. She made him remember someone he had thought all but forgotten. And yet, at the same time, she was not similar to that person at all. She smiled, she made jokes. He wasn't sure where the connection had been made. He shook it off and looked more closely.

"What do you do when you come home?" she wondered, seeming to realize something.

He answered simply, "Mostly just go to my uncle and work in his shop. He's not so young anymore, and needs all the help he can get. June handles things most of the time."

"Who's June?" Kat looked up at the waiter who refilled their drinks, asking if everything was alright. Lee noticed the way the man's eyes lingered a little too close to Kat's necklace.

"She's a family friend. Kind of an aunt." He shrugged. The waiter seemed to sense Lee's hostile glare and moved on.

She smiled and he thought something jumped a little inside.

"Lee, that face was cute," she said, "You looked so... jealous."

"I wasn't jealous," he said.

And he was grateful, suddenly, for the week's absence.

LoTus

e

a

June

Lee arrived an hour or so later than he said he would. From the smirk on his face, it was another girl. June rolled her eyes, years tired of his antics. She had no children of her own, and Lee was the closest thing she'd ever come. Not really the ideal son.

"Welcome back," she said, scrubbing at the counter. It was shiny enough, but she needed to look busy. Couldn't let Lee think there was nothing to be done.

He smiled at her. "Hey, June."

"You're in a good mood," she said, scowling. She was getting ready to scold him again, as she had countless times before.

But he laughed, "I am."

"Lee-" she started.

He held up a hand. "It's not like that. Really."

June didn't believe him one bit. No, she felt like she'd heard that one before. Even if his face and voice were a little different this time, it still had to be a lie.

"Alright, I get it. You don't believe me," he said and shrugged. He looked up the stairs that led to the apartments. June smiled.

"He really just wanted to see you for a little bit," she said.

"I figured. Well, I guess I'll go on," he said.

June, as long as she had known the two, had never seen Lee so eager. Perhaps eager was the wrong word. Willing, maybe? He was up the stairs before she could make up her mind.

The bell on the door dinged, and June moved to deal with her next customer.

The Vineyard

Kat

She was having Kyoshi pull the grapes down using the water inside. It was high level stuff, but it was always easy to teach children. Kyoshi grasped the knowledge willingly. More than a few grapes burst and some shriveled. But it was good practice.

"Aunt Tara, can I do this to all plants?" Kyoshi asked, picking up a grape from the basket with her hands. She ate it and smiled at its taste.

"The living ones. Watch," Kat swung her arms in a circle, lifting the water out of the grass. Immediately it died, and turned brown. The lone flower in the spot fell dead on the ground.

Kyoshi blinked. "That's... so sad."

"I'm glad you think so. Life is precious, Kyoshi. Everything is connected. But if it comes down to it, Kyoshi, it's just grass." Kat had learned the lesson well. She put the memory aside.

The little girl looked up. "What about people?"

Her niece was too smart. In all her time training and running around, she had never once stopped to think about the water around her. Not until she met Hama. Kat knew her niece was waiting for an answer.

"We can. Can't we?" She sounded upset.

Kat sighed, "Yes. You have to promise you won't even try. It's dangerous."

The girl nodded vigorously. "I promise. Can you do it?"

The woman moved back to the grapes, a little tired of talking. She didn't want to admit she was a monster. Not to the little girl she was trying to teach. Not to a niece who looked up to her.

"Yes," she said simply. She waited for a reply.

Kyoshi seemed to reach a decision. "Then I won't do it."

"Good. Now, let's see who can get more grapes this time." Kat pointed to one row for her niece, and one row for herself. Kyoshi ran ahead, trying to get a head start.

The girl was excited, but she was willing to be quiet and focus. Kat was grateful to her, knowing how difficult it was to be silent. She had a lot of things to think about in the meantime.

She didn't know what she was going to do about Lee, first and foremost. He was likeable, certainly. They got along most of the time. And he was interesting.

She couldn't figure it out. She didn't trust him yet. Something felt off about him, like he was hiding something. Yet he had never shied away from a question or, as far as she could tell, lied about anything. Kat didn't know what her problem was.

She wondered what the point was to all of this. These dates with Lee, these nights out where she couldn't stop smiling. Was it too much to ask for a road map?

Left turn at interesting, sudden stop at blushing too much. Hard right at, why can't I stop grinning? And arrive where, she wondered.

"Aunt Kat, I won the race!" Kyoshi cried from the end of the row.

Kat laughed, "It wasn't a race! It was to see who could get the most grapes."

The little girl kicked at the dirt and sighed, "But you always win that one."

"And that's why we always play that game," Kat said, pulling herself off of her knees. Most of the dirt fell off of her pants, and she didn't bother brushing it off. By the end of today, the knees of her pants would be coated in moist earth and nearly worn out.

"Aunt Tara, do you like Lee?" The question seemed completely random.

Kat blinked. "What?"

"I don't know. I was just wondering. Can we go eat now? I'm hungry, and I don't want any more grapes." The girl offered the basket with disdain. Kat noticed how there weren't so many left. Maybe three bunches.

"Alright. I'm sure Aang will have finished the rest. He usually moves pretty quickly."

She took her niece inside, and was very much surprised at the atmosphere in the house. She was intuitive enough to know something was wrong. The lights in the kitchen were off, the house silent. The only source of artificial light in the house came from the living room.

"Hey, wash these off while I go see where everyone is," Kat said, placing her own basket on the kitchen table. Kyoshi nodded and went to scrubbing.

In the living room, Kat found Sokka and Suki sitting, staring at papers. One of Sokka's hands rubbed his temple, the other gripped at Suki's hand. They were nearly mirrors of dread. Suki was the only one who noticed Kat.

Before Kat could even ask, Suki gathered up the papers. Sokka jumped back and tried to smile. But something was wrong.

"What is it?" Kat demanded.

Suki had closed the papers in a brown file folder, and Kat couldn't see a thing.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it." Sokka was getting up. "Finished with the grapes?"

Kat pushed him back, preventing him from leaving. "What's going on?"

"Do you remember... oh, sometime last year, they were working on drugs that could strip Inheritors of their abilities?" Sokka asked, easing Kat into a chair, as if the news might make her fall.

Kat tried to think back. "Yeah, something about isolating the I-gene."

The Inheritor gene, the mutagen that caused people to become Inheritors.

"They did it," Suki said, eyes cutting to her husband. Kat thought she looked rather peeved that Sokka had been dissuaded so easily.

"Oh." Was all she said. What else was there to say? Why try and hid this? Sooner or later they were going to find it. They had found so many other things. Cancer, Parkinsons.

Sokka opened the file folder. "Kat, they're using it as a weapon."

"Oh." This was why.

Her brother looked to her, waiting.

"Can the process be reversed?" she asked.

Sokka rifled through a few papers. "They don't know. So far, no. It's permanent."

"How expensive is it to produce?" Kat reached for the papers of information.

Aang's voice came from behind her, "They can arm every police officer in the country within eight weeks."

"Is it legal yet?" Her voice tightened, because the way Aang had answered made her think it had already been.

"Just passed yesterday morning," Suki answered.

They stood together in silence. Kat's hysteric sob echoed in the living room. She had been worrying about dating when something like this was sitting in her brother's living room. She was an idiot. So quick to lose focus.

"Aang, what are we doing about this?" Kat looked to him, a quivering hand on the table. Because the answer was nothing. There was nothing they could do. It was legal. It was happening. And it was too late.

"They're offering the shot to anyone who will take it. Inheritors who want last names. Kids who are scared to end up in prison. Children who are afraid of their families finding out." Aang's eyes were like steel.

"Oh God," Kat said, realizing what this meant. They had finally solved the Inheritor problem. Anyone who didn't take the shot would be further exiled. Anyone who was given the shot unwillingly was welcomed back, the leper healed.

"Aunt Tara, I'm done with the grapes!" Kyoshi ran in the room, and Kat tried to remember how to smile.

"That was fast. Alright, let's go make something to eat. No grapes allowed," Kat said and made her way out of the living room.

She wanted to run away and scream.

It felt like a way of life was about to end, and she was powerless to stop it. How long, she wondered, until other countries caught on? Where would be the last safe place for Inheritors, and how long would that last?

Her phone vibrated, signaling a text. It was Lee, asking how she was, what she was up to.

Kat wanted to cry. How was she? Peachy keen. She said she was fine and making lunch for her family.

He asked what was on the menu.

She said she wasn't sure.

He begged her to save him, his uncle seemed to only have tea in the house.

And despite her horrid mood, she laughed. She laughed until her eyes watered. Eventually, the rest of the house laughed with her. It wasn't funny at all, but they had to laugh. It was how they dealt with things.

Before she went to bed that night, she prayed.

She hadn't prayed so hard in a very long while, and wasn't sure God was listening anymore. She asked for the safety of her niece and family. Before she said amen, she added Lee to that list. His future was no brighter than hers, she figured. It wouldn't hurt, anyways.

He sent her a message right as she finished, telling her good night, sleep tight. Remember, they were still looking at the same moon tonight.

She told him he was being cheesy.

Kat appreciated it all the same.