markofthebrave | [ Action, Voice ] .038

[If you're passing by the Seventh Heaven after school today, you will see that once Katara has obtained her hot chocolate and window seat, she's busy flipping through her journal. At a certain point, she'll flip back and forth repeatedly with a poleaxed expression that finally fades into something pensive.

February 7th... and February 7th... it's been a year.

Huh.

At home, while making dinner, Katara will make a voice post.]

...does anyone else ever get the feeling here that time is really, really weird? I mean, we have the experiments every month and the seasons change, but - it's like things can just sneak up on you. Maybe it's because we know that time stands still at home?

[Later, Katara will leave dinner early. She's glad that Sokka and Suki have made up, but she really didn't need to see that. Or that. Or that. The light snowfall makes for a surreal Luceti landscape and a perfect night to practice. If you're passing by, you might notice that Katara's practice routine is different than normal. For one thing - she keeps stopping after doing a move instead of flowing seamlessly into the next. For another, there's a scroll she has propped up on a rock with a portable lantern.

Feel free to run into her at any time!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

...yes.

That's a really long time to be sick. Are you sure you should be out here? Have you gone to see a healer?

[Derek's voice is kind but weary.]

It's not the kind of sickness a healer can help, Katara. It can't even be cured on the world it comes from.

[There's that restless shifting again, like he's thinking of taking flight.]

[Katara remembers their conversation about what he does in his world, and tenses a little.]

...is it the kind of sickness you get with a scratch?

...Or a bite. Yes.

[He shifts back a few steps.]

I have to go.

[Well, she's not going to keep him if he thinks he has to go - she doesn't want to end up fighting him or anything, but...]

Derek? I know that you think there isn't a cure, and there might not be in your world, but... would you be willing to try something anyway?

[That nervous fidgeting vanishes, and now he's once again dead still, his eyes on her. There's a moment before he answers.]

...Maybe. Depends on what it is...and how it works.

[Slowly, so as not to startle him, Katara reaches up to the fine leather cord around her neck and brings out the small flask from where she always keeps it beneath what she's wearing.]

For Christmas, the Malnosso gave me this. It's water from the Spirit Oasis back home and it has... special properties. I'm not sure how it works, but when it's mixed with my healing abilities I've seen it do some pretty amazing things.

[Derek regards the vial like a drowning man contemplates a rope just out of reach.]

...you know that it's not just physical, right?

[No, she didn't. Katara lets the flask rest against the outside of her clothes, bringing her hand back down. Better to ask more questions than to just offer blind assurances.]

What else is it?

Demonic.

It eats the soul, kills the body, absorbs the memories, and then brings the body back for its own use. The soul of the person who used to be there is devoured, gone for good.

Which is probably why just healing the body doesn't work.

[Oh, Derek - that's horrible. Katara's features contort in sympathy - to know that this is happening to your own body and be unable to stop it...]

Oh... [And she takes a steadying breath, makes sure she thinks before she speaks, because she doesn't want to lie to him, but...] The way that my healing works, I manipulating a person's chi - that's their life-force. I don't know very much about souls. In my world, the only person who I know for sure is reincarnated is the Avatar...

And it's because of what happened with him that I think this might at least have a chance of helping. [A grieved shadow crosses her face.] Aang had been shot by lightning in the back, while he was in the middle of changing into the Avatar state. He wasn't... [breathing] I don't know exactly what happened. But I do know that when I took out the Spirit Water, I hardly had to do anything - it just pulled on my power and it was like I knew - and then he opened his eyes. When he regained consciousness [weeks later. Weeks.] he said...

[She's never told anyone this.] He said I brought him back.

{Derek listens to this quietly, thinking. Finally, he looked directly at her.]

...But it is all you have, here, right? [He says it quietly, carefully]

What if you end up needing it later for someone?

[She clasps it loosely, and her voice is quiet - she's telling a cherished secret now.]

...Ginko gave me some water from the Light River. That's the source of all life in his world... I've never used it, but it feels... like it has power as well. That's what I wore before the Malnosso gave me this.

[...and yes, she does keep it on at all times, that's not paranoid at all.]

[Derek listens. And he thinks.

And finally, he starts to back away, into the shadows.]

...I need to think. What you have...is too precious to risk wasting on me.

[You are dangerously close to ticking her off here, Derek, with that last line - but that won't be responded to with the full weight of her righteous fury just yet - she can understand wanting to think.]

If you want to think about it and get back to me, that's fine. But don't say it's too precious to risk on you - it's mine, and I think you're worth the risk.

[He seems to have that effect on females sometimes.

As it is, he'll look away, but not respond. He's not up for the kind of argument this might cause. As long as he can get away, at least for now, that's enough.

He'll nod his head and fade further into the dark and trees.]

Goodnight, Katara.

Good night, Derek.

[Do not think you've heard the end of this. She'll stand there and watch him until he fades, concern etched in every line of her face.

This isn't right.

...why is it that so few things were?]

[ Action, Voice ] .038

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