Katara (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
markofthebrave) wrote2013-07-05 06:34 pm
markofthebrave) wrote2013-07-05 06:34 pm
[ action ] .067
[July 5th. Katara's 18th birthday.
This wasn't as much of a big deal as it could be; for the Water Tribes, the age of maturity is sixteen. So it was a birthday, but she had already come into her adulthood two years ago... and it was her first birthday that Sokka had missed.
He was still on his mission. He'd stayed gone as if she didn't matter at all.
Or maybe he would come back today - maybe he would, and then what? His leaving right after they had spoken was enough of an answer. She didn't feel much like celebrating at all.
But she was still here, she was still alive, and there were people whose memories she needed to honor today, whose lives were worth celebrating. Life was worth celebrating. She had to believe that, she had to, or Sokka was right, and it was better not to feel, not to hurt, and not to care.
She rose early, which was unusual, and decided not to go back to bed. She slipped out of bed and for the first time that summer used the teleporter to go to the ocean. She found a private spot, away from the dwellings that had been raised there and stepped into the ocean just as the sun's light hit the waves. She parted the water on either side of her and walked along the ocean floor until the water reached her shoulders on either side, then she dropped her hands and dived in to the water.
The push and pull of the tide felt like home, and she wept. She wept for Sokka, for her father and Gran-Gran, she wept for her knowledge of the future, and for Aang and for Ikki, she wept for the children she'd have whose names she already knew, she wept for her mother, and for Ginko, she wept for Nami and Sanji and Luffy and Brooke and Chouji and Shikamaru and Masaomi and Chopper and Roku and Michael, she wept for Alexis and Katie and San and Bepo and Sigmund and Capell and Usopp and Zoro, and she wept for Zuko, for all the memories they had built together and lost, and for Suki for much the same reason.
And when she was done crying, Katara dove into the waves. She dove and dove again until all her tears were washed away and she was flushed with effort. Then she rose up with a stream of water propelling her and dropped in a crouch on the ground. She performed a basic peace form on the wet part of the sand, leaving the water dripping off her. Then in one fluid movement she bent it all way, turned to go home and face the day.
Today was a day to celebrate life.
After breakfast and kissing Ikki, Katara would take whoever wanted to come with her up to Nami's orchards. It had been Nami's birthday two days ago, and she wanted to check on the mikans. She left a small pinwheel at the foot of one of the trees.
It wasn't too warm today and she felt something different, so she actually stopped in the clothing shop to change out of her sari into a knee-length dress very similar to a style Nami had helped pick out for her shortly after she had arrived in Luceti. She still wore her belt around it, more to keep the knife that Sokka had made for her close and to have something to string her waterskin around than because she was actually expecting trouble.
She hasn't really been into the Seventh Heaven since Sanji left, though she had been a regular presence before, stopping in at least once a day to say hi. Today, she came in with a vase full of beautiful blue hydrangeas. She may even be persuaded to take lunch there.
Afterwards, depending on how much time she had left before whatever Aang and Ikki had planned, Katara could be found helping out for a little while in the Welcome Center, and then stopping in on Luceti's newest stores, the coffee shop and the convenience shop Shikamaru had set up.]
This wasn't as much of a big deal as it could be; for the Water Tribes, the age of maturity is sixteen. So it was a birthday, but she had already come into her adulthood two years ago... and it was her first birthday that Sokka had missed.
He was still on his mission. He'd stayed gone as if she didn't matter at all.
Or maybe he would come back today - maybe he would, and then what? His leaving right after they had spoken was enough of an answer. She didn't feel much like celebrating at all.
But she was still here, she was still alive, and there were people whose memories she needed to honor today, whose lives were worth celebrating. Life was worth celebrating. She had to believe that, she had to, or Sokka was right, and it was better not to feel, not to hurt, and not to care.
She rose early, which was unusual, and decided not to go back to bed. She slipped out of bed and for the first time that summer used the teleporter to go to the ocean. She found a private spot, away from the dwellings that had been raised there and stepped into the ocean just as the sun's light hit the waves. She parted the water on either side of her and walked along the ocean floor until the water reached her shoulders on either side, then she dropped her hands and dived in to the water.
The push and pull of the tide felt like home, and she wept. She wept for Sokka, for her father and Gran-Gran, she wept for her knowledge of the future, and for Aang and for Ikki, she wept for the children she'd have whose names she already knew, she wept for her mother, and for Ginko, she wept for Nami and Sanji and Luffy and Brooke and Chouji and Shikamaru and Masaomi and Chopper and Roku and Michael, she wept for Alexis and Katie and San and Bepo and Sigmund and Capell and Usopp and Zoro, and she wept for Zuko, for all the memories they had built together and lost, and for Suki for much the same reason.
And when she was done crying, Katara dove into the waves. She dove and dove again until all her tears were washed away and she was flushed with effort. Then she rose up with a stream of water propelling her and dropped in a crouch on the ground. She performed a basic peace form on the wet part of the sand, leaving the water dripping off her. Then in one fluid movement she bent it all way, turned to go home and face the day.
Today was a day to celebrate life.
After breakfast and kissing Ikki, Katara would take whoever wanted to come with her up to Nami's orchards. It had been Nami's birthday two days ago, and she wanted to check on the mikans. She left a small pinwheel at the foot of one of the trees.
It wasn't too warm today and she felt something different, so she actually stopped in the clothing shop to change out of her sari into a knee-length dress very similar to a style Nami had helped pick out for her shortly after she had arrived in Luceti. She still wore her belt around it, more to keep the knife that Sokka had made for her close and to have something to string her waterskin around than because she was actually expecting trouble.
She hasn't really been into the Seventh Heaven since Sanji left, though she had been a regular presence before, stopping in at least once a day to say hi. Today, she came in with a vase full of beautiful blue hydrangeas. She may even be persuaded to take lunch there.
Afterwards, depending on how much time she had left before whatever Aang and Ikki had planned, Katara could be found helping out for a little while in the Welcome Center, and then stopping in on Luceti's newest stores, the coffee shop and the convenience shop Shikamaru had set up.]
[action]
[action]
[Not as fast as when Sanji was here, but Katara was trying to embrace that pain, see the missing of the ones she loved as good, and to a certain extent it was working.]
[action]
[This table, right here beside her, looks inviting. Rather, the chair does.]
I think I'll sit down, though. If you don't mind.
[action]
No, I was just dropping off the flowers, but I'd love to say to eat and hear how your time was. Why don't you sit there and I'll go place your order? What do you want, something with a lot of protein?
[action]
Actually, I would prefer something...cold. Anything cold. Since you're the one doing the ordering, I think I'm at your mercy otherwise.
[action]
Here you go.
[action]
[action]
[action]
[There are people she might not be so direct with.]
[action]
What kind of help?
[action]
[It's a long story that she clips sort - a regular mission destination for the village, too, but their actual medical personnel had met with attack and they were very shorthanded.
It also rained a lot.]
[action]
[There are many questions in that one question, including how Mia was feeling about it and the state of what had happened out there.]
[action]
[action]
Did it work out?
[action]
[There are all these hints around that Katara is trying to have a good day, and she doesn't want to bring suffering into it. Instead, she tries a tired smile. Some people got out of it better off than others, yes - that's part of fighting. Mia turns her hand enough to be able to hold on in return.]
[action]
Katara squeezes Mia's hand once, and then moves to serve them both.]
I'm glad you're back alright.
[action]
It looks delicious. Thank you. And I'm glad I'm back all right, too.
[She eats a little bit before unleashing her next question - she's famished and almost bone-dry of Psynergy and just wants to savor something, for a minute.]
Are you meeting someone later?
[action]
[action]
[She's going to feel terrible when she finds out.]
Re: [action]
[Don't you dare feel bad, Mia]
[action]
[action]
Thank you, Mia. It means a lot to have you here. We'll have to pick a day to celebrate later, if you like.
[You know, once you've gotten some rest.]
[action]
[action]
[That was, she hoped, why Sokka wasn't here.]
[action]