[ action ] taking place just before and just after 4th Wall

[markofthebrave]

[Katara has now had some time to adjust to this strange new place. She's stalked the people she supposedly knows. She's read back in the book. She's gone so far as to attempt the new technology that would take her to the ocean and back and found how truly trapped they were.

Now that everything was a little less raw, the crushing certainty that she was trapped here with people who claimed to know her, people who claimed to be her family, demanded a response.

She couldn't just run away. It was a failing of hers. The only reason she'd run was if it was to form a better plan of attack. But how could you attack when the threat was... being known? Or... being known enough. There were questions and she wanted answers.

So while Katara wasn't overtly looking for anyone who claimed to know her, she was willing to let herself be found, and wandered into places where that would be quite easy.]

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[markofthewise]

He held out his hand and was quiet. He wasn't sure how much he wanted to be her first experiment. But if he couldn't trust her with this, then what was the point?

[markofthebrave]

She didn't know how this worked, but what he was describing was somehow... using her bending to reach inside someone, not with blood, but with water, reaching for a person's energy to heal.

It wasn't long before it tugged at her and the water around her hand started to glow.

"How..."

[markofthewise]

Sokka had nearly flinched when she started, but he kept a brave face.

Once that familiar glow started to shimmer, he was able to smile.

"... you're doing it. You're a healer, Katara."

[markofthebrave]

"...I didn't even know something like this was possible. She never said--"

Then Katara stopped talking and concentrated on finishing the job.

You're a healer, Katara.

[markofthewise]

Sokka waited until she was done. The 'she never said' made him curious. He wanted to know. He had to know. But he knew better than to interrupt. His sister - his Katara, had driven that home. But more than that, he knew it wasn't the time.

When she was done, he turned his hand over to look at it.

"... thanks, that feels a lot better."

[markofthebrave]

She stared at his hand. How... strange. How amazing.

"I'm glad," she said quietly.

[markofthewise]

He offered his other hand in turn. He could see that although this was a big moment for her, that she wasn't reacting quite as exuberantly as he anticipated.

"I think I've gotten used to bring reckless be because you're always there to patch me up again."

[markofthebrave]

She got to work on his other hand. "I was... always able to heal you, then?"

[markofthewise]

"Not always. You first learned, back in our world. You actually discovered it on your own, by accident."

He realized, given her past, it was a story not wise to go into detail about. The Avatar burning her hands? Sokka had been livid and horrified when it happened. But having seen the burns on that little girl...

He quickly moved on. "Here in the village, there's a lot of people who come to you first when they're hurt. You even work in the clinic."

[bloodbending]

"I don't remember any of that," she said quietly. She'd learned, a long time ago, that shouting didn't do anything. It was far better to be quiet, to be a silent knife, a famine, a drought.

But hearing this felt like it was trying to ignite some old spark.

[markofthewise]

"I know." He knew it was hard hearing about a life she never experienced. But it's what she asked for. "But what you can do is pretty amazing. And you're doing it right now."

[bloodbending]

She released his hand. It had been easier the second time. There was so much she wanted, needed to know, it was absolutely ridiculous that her first question was, "Why are you being so kind to me?" but she couldn't stop herself.

[markofthewise]

He pulled back his hand and touched where the wound was. Of course, he would need to be careful with it. But it was much, much better. He kept his attention focused there as he answered.

"Because somewhere out there, a Sokka grew up without his little sister. And if he had a chance to see her again, he'd do all this and more."

[markofthebrave]

"You don't know that," she said quietly.

[markofthewise]

He began to reach out, to take her shoulder. But he hesitated and lowered his hand again. "I know me. I know, that even when I can be a real jerk- the absolute worst, that there's no one more important than family. So. I know him. Enough."

[markofthebrave]

If there was one thing Katara knew, it was that when something sounded too good to be true - it was. Everything had a price.

She was very still before turning to meet his eyes, "So. You grew up with her - with me, I mean?"

[markofthewise]

He nodded. "I did. In the South Pole. In our travels. Even here."

[markofthebrave]

"And what about..." our mom.

No. She would face this. She had to.

"What happened to Mom?"

[markofthewise]

He bowed his head. That, was probably, enough of an answer. But in a moment, he looked her in the eye as his heart wrenched.

"Gone. We lost her."