markofthebrave | [Action, Accidental to Purposeful Voice] .033

[Well, Sokka was his Avatar alternate again. That alone is enough to call for some alone time, but with the news he brought... she definitely needed some time to clear her head. Fortunately, there is a public service she can easily perform. If your house is still snowed in? There is a waterbender digging you out. For about half the day, she is her normal self.

...sometime around two, though, she starts feeling lightheaded. Realizing she'd unintentionally skipped lunch, she heads back towards the center of town. As she walks, she starts feeling heavier and heavier. Something's wrong. Katara reaches for her journal to call for help, but it's too little, too late. She falls face first into a snowbank, the journal falling opened beside her.

When she opens her eyes, her hair is blocking her vision. Longer and unbound... her clothes feel almost painfully tight across the chest and she gasps a little.]

What? Where am I? [A deep breath, and slightly louder, as if she's expecting a response:] Aang?

[Sitting up, she shakes her head, one hand going to her waterskin... and that's when she notices the wings. Her eyes go wide.]

Is this... I had dreams like this...

[Standing up, the picture shows her body at an angle. She's certainly grown. After glancing around a bit, she reaches down to pick up the journal.] I remember... this... feels too strange not to be real...

Hello? I'm not sure if I'm doing this right, but... I'm Katara. I think I remember this place... and a girl with reddish hair and... what were they called? Not oranges... something else. And there was someone - a man - with white hair and he went "Oooh?" a lot... and I remember... cigarettes and cooking and... [So many, many more. Fragments of a dream - a man who stretched his face, a skeleton playing music, a reindeer that danced... an ice dragon... green hair and white hair in front of a classroom and... shadows, dreams, fragments of things... flying people and conversations over tea and a wolfgirl and so, so much that only made sense in dreams...] And -- I don't know. Does this make any sense?

[But even as she's talking she's starting to walk. These clothes are too small - it looks like she's on a path. Let's see where it takes her.]

((OOC: Katara is now in her early twenties and from a happy canon projection. Tags post-transformation from

notatearbender. If you want to grab her before then, just indicate it in the tagline! XD))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Thanks. [She appreciates that he was careful with that as well. ...and she may be staring at his hair, just a bit. It's been a long time since she's seen hair a different color, and... even then, it was only in dreams.]

It might not feel like that, but too much exposure can still get to you. [Following along to the store.]

[He gives her a wry smile]

My core temperature is colder then the air; I'll be all right.

[If he notices the stare directed at his hair, he doesn't show it.]

There's either the general store, which might have some of your clothes from back home, or there's Shiki's place, where one of the residents makes clothing herself for everyone. Which one do you want to try?

[...his core temperature is colder than the air? How was that possible?

...but unlike her younger self, Katara's politeness overrides her curiosity.]

If there's anything from home... I'd like to see that.

General store first, then. Might be able to find clothes that fit anyway, even if they aren't yours.

[Derek nods his head to her and then sets off, headed for the right store.]

Been...awake here long?

No... maybe a half hour? But the more I'm here... [She points towards the Smithy.] The smithy is in that direction?

Yeah, it is. Library's that way...your younger self's home is down that road.

[One hand goes to her head.] This is all so strange...

I thought this place was a dream, but I'm walking on the street right now...

Some places believe that dreams are simply another world you go to when you go to sleep. Maybe if you think of it that way, it won't seem quite so strange.

[They reach the door, and Derek opens it, nodding for Katara to go in first.]

Maybe. [She smiles a little, ducking her head before raising it again.] But I'm very much awake right now.

[And entering the store, she modestly keeps his jacket zippered, even though the immediate temperature is far warmer, to the point of almost being uncomfortable. She glances around the store, but her thoughts are occupied with her son right now.]

Hmn.

[Derek follows her in, closing the door behind her.]

...Think the ladies section is this way, more or less.

And everything here is free?

Yeah. If you need it, take it. Something else will show up for others to use. Guess it's an attempt by the Malnosso to keep us 'happy'.

That's something, at least.

[She moves towards the ladies section, searching for something familiar... or in her size.]

[Derek will stay where he is, so that he isn't hovering. He leans against a convenient counter while she looks.]

...So...how did it work out for you? Are you having a good life?

[She looks up at him and smiles, actually happy to talk about it.] I have a son. His name is Tenzin. He's almost fourteen months now.

[That in turn makes him smile.]

Good. So there's some peace in your life.

[She laughs a little at that.]

You might say peace is my life. Aang and I have been traveling around the world, trying to help everyone learn to live together again for... a long time. Since before we were married.

Aang...[Derek knows the name, and possibly the voice, if not the face.]

Peace is a good thing to aim for.

After a hundred years of war? I'd say so.

Especially then.

It's just as hard, though, to build peace as it is to wage war. The Fire Nation is sharing its technology with the rest of the world as part of the peace agreement and reparations, so integrating that along trying to make sure it doesn't disturb the balance of nature is... challenging.

But worth it, right?

[A small smile forged of tempered optomism, resliant hope, and pain.] I believe so. And it's what Aang needs to do. I believe that if we keep at it, most people really want peace, they want to build a better world and live in harmony.

[And the ones who refuse to let go the ways of war... we show them that we haven't forgotten how to fight it either.]

Yeah, most people do just want to live their lives. Maybe not everyone, but the only way to get there is to fight for it, one way or the other.

...You'll make it.