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[markofthebrave]

[Katara is not doing well.

I know - I know I go back. I know I have something I need to finish. But how long is it going to be, Sokka? Other people, it seems like they go and come back all the time. And I can't help but wonder when it's going to be you and - and if it will ever be me."

"Sometimes I think it will never be me. But I can't do this without you."

But it had been him. It had been him, just like she'd been afraid it would be. And now the one person she had always known had her back was gone. She knew it wasn't fair, but she felt alone.

And angry. And helpless. And hurt. And angry.

"Sometimes I think it will never be me. But I can't do this without you."

She should have told him. She wasn't sure she could do this without him either.

Katara let Aang make the announcement. She didn't want to have to deal with his friends grief on top of her own. Maybe it was selfish, but maybe there was a time for that. There wasn't enough to do. She didn't really want to see anybody, but this wasn't like when she'd lost her mom. There were no emergencies. There was nothing to distract her.

But she couldn't stand being in the house Sokka had expanded, not after cleaning it from the second floor on down. If you're in the house, it's probably best not to get in her way.

Once that's done, there's still not enough to do. She goes out to practice bending by the river and takes her bo with her, just in case she wants to practice that too. But she mostly ends up sitting on a rock by the river, her feet dangling down and almost touching the water.]

Comments

[tea_lover64]

[Iroh approaches calmly, not hiding his presence at all and just sort of sits beside Katara. He gives her a bit of a concerned expression and just sits down. If she wanted to talk he'd be an open ear. He was no stranger to loss. He looks out at the water, he couldn't quantify the experience as he and his brother had never been particularly close. Sokka had been a good young man though, from the brief time they had known one another.]

[markofthebrave]

[Katara hears him coming, but doesn't turn around, not even when he sits next to her. She doesn't have anything she can possibly say.

Her heart hurts.]

[tea_lover64]

[He looks out to the water and breaths in and out deeply. Loss was always a difficult thing. Even though it meant he would be home, losing someone was hard to rationalize. He puts his hand on her shoulder reassuringly]

Its not much, but I'm here if you need me.

[savedtheworld]

[It hadn't been an easy month to be Aang - with his newfound fear of being around people keeping him from being as around as he usually was. At the least, he had been able to pin it down and communicate it to his friends by now. But now, with Sokka's loss, he knew he had to do what he could to fight this fear. Because he knew that there was only so much he could do to help Katara through this, and that he had to try at least that much.

He spent a good portion of the day outside, trying to prep himself to talk with her. He didn't feel anywhere near ready until the time he saw her practicing by the river. Aang quietly made his approach.]

[markofthebrave]

[There was no joy in Katara's practice, and it's a striking contrast. Waterbending was a practice depending on balance and fluidity, but there was a joy in Katara's movements that had always set them apart, made them art.

This is pain and anger. Raw emotions of grief and loneliness. And it's reflected in her bending.]

[savedtheworld]

[There is a fear that starts to creep in from approaching her, but beyond that, he's afraid just to see Katara bending like that. Without the art, without the life that he had been so used to seeing in her movements ever since they'd first met.

He stops some feet away and stiffens as he looks towards her. It hurts to see her like this. He's familiar with the value of letting things out and releasing pain, but there's still a line there. A line that once neared, you begin to lose yourself. Maybe she needed to release this pain, but maybe she also needed a reason not to give into it.

Aang manages to call to her in a soft tone.]

Katara.

[endgames]

[Barrier incompatibilities kind of suck. According to every medically inclined person he's seen lately, he's not sick, he just feels it. And has been feeling it for the better part of the month at that.

Barrier incompatibilities suck a lot, but for once he's not complaining. In light of Aang's announcement, it seems trivial. He stews on what to do for a while. Masaomi had a look earlier that gave Shikamaru no doubt where he was headed when he walked out the door. For certain, others will do the same. Too many people at the wrong time sounds suffocating to him; they'd all be better off waiting.

Only Katara and him have always thought differently on things like that.

Which is why with no one else around, and as much as barrier incompatibilities suck, Shikamaru finds himself sneaking out of his apartment to make the trek towards the Avatar House. On a whim, he skips the front door altogether to check the river behind the house, but as its later in the day verdict's out whether or not she's there.]

[markofthebrave]

[Shikamaru is in luck, such as it is. Katara has absolutely no desire to go back to the house. Even though it's getting cold out, she doesn't seem to notice. She's just sitting there.]

[endgames]

[He'd call out to her, but his voice is still pretty hoarse. Instead he makes no attempt to disguise the sound of his footsteps dragging through the frost-covered leaves as he comes closer, two thermoses in hand.]

[frost_jewel]

[Mia could pretend she wasn't intending to run into Katara today, but that kind of pretense was far outside her scope. Hearing the news from Aang sent her into a whirlpool of concern for her friends that would be hurting the most, and Katara was one of them. So this walk along the river of hers, staff in hand, is far from idle.

Seeing her friend there waterbending, watching the evident hurt in her motions, echoes with an ache in Mia's heart. She doesn't want to interrupt, though, and so she sits nearby, close to the water and fairly close to Katara, waiting for a break in the forms.]

[markofthebrave]

[Bending isn't making Katara feel any better. She stops with a movement of frustration and the water splashes hard to the ground.

Oh.]

Hello, Mia.

[frost_jewel]

Hello.

[Mia rises from the grass, coming close enough for Katara to reach but not reaching herself, yet.]

You can send me away, if you want to. [If you need to. Katara feels her losses in a depth beyond words.] I just...wanted you to know I'm here. For anything.

[Then she reaches, stepping forward for an embrace that will be quick if Katara pulls away, or turns away, but long if that is what she needs instead. She did this for Mia once, and it is Mia's hope that does as much good for Katara now as it did for her then.]

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[all7seas]

[Hopefully -- HOPEFULLY -- she's not bending anywhere near the Marauding Bridge.







If she IS, she might see a figure sashaying right toward her.]

action

[markofthebrave]

[Probably not, as Katara is no longer so much bending as she is sitting and staring at the river. Jack has a better than likely chance of sneaking up on her.]

action

[all7seas]

Katara, darling?

[His voice is subdued. He isn't going to do anything sneaky.]

[deathsdoctor]

[In the end, Law says nothing over the journals to Aang. There's nothing he can say to make it better and there's nothing that can ease the reality of it. Sokka is gone - he may be back, he may not, he may remember, he may not. It is what it is. Whether good or bad, the end is the same - painful for those left behind.

And now one of his children from the first Luceti Valley was gone. It aches somewhere deep and buried. Quietly. Sokka and him were never close, and after the Valley the distance had only widened.

But despite all this time, the imprint from the Valley had never completely left him. It would probably never leave him until he left Luceti.

So he goes looking for Katara. Not to talk if she doesn't want to. Just simply to be with her if she'll let him. They're family regardless.

And family is there for one another.]

[markofthebrave]

[Katara is sitting on a stone by the river. She has a knife in her hand, and her thumb is tracing the pommel in slow movements. She doesn't look up as Law approaches, doesn't say anything.]

[deathsdoctor]

[He purposely makes noise as he walks, stones clacking underfoot. He doesn't see the knife at first, not until he gets closer. Once he does, however, he frowns deeper, brow creasing. It looks from this angle like the knife he's seen her often carrying and he's doubly glad he's making his presence obvious now.

There's a rock next to hers and that's where he chooses to sit, looking at her before glancing out over the water. There's no good thing to say. I'm sorry seems trite. So does half a dozen other things. This was nothing to be glad over even if it was supposed to be a good thing.

There's no way to make it better. But he can be there. So he'll stay by her side as long as it's needed. Trying to break the ice might come later. But not now. Right now he'll let things simply be.]

[wise_maiden]

[Earlier, Raine left a plant at the house with Aang. She knows Katara will be harder to speak to - harder to comfort - and perhaps, in a state where she might not want it just yet.

But Raine knows the pain of having a sibling there with you - and then having them no longer with you. Even with knowing they're safe at home, it doesn't do anything to bridge the gap. In Luceti, time changes you, affects you, but with a sibling it was someone who had also known you, before, and were he ever to appear again, he would be so much younger, and one would be more reluctant to explain the experiences that had gone on in that gap of time, if he did not remember.

There's a note tucked into the plant, to this effect;

I don't want to crowd you, but if there's anything you need, if you just want to talk, or drink and sit quietly, or anything else - you know how to find me. I know this is difficult to endure, even if there is hope in it. Please be well. - Raine

And that's all. She doesn't know when - or if, even, it will be addressed, but she'll wait for Katara to come to her on her own terms.]

[markofthebrave]

[This... this was a good note. Katara stares at it for a while and initially doesn't feel anything, which is possibly a step up from blinding rage. She remembers when Raine's younger brother left. It had been shortly after Katara had arrived, one of the first home-goings that she remembered being sad about, because brothers and sisters shouldn't be separated like that. She remembered how she'd tried to comfort Raine... she felt the aching difference in her age and perspective. What could possibly be said or done? Nothing.

But... Raine had endured. She'd endured and she'd helped people. And...

Thank you, Raine.

Maybe she would be able to take Raine up on that offer someday. But right now, she was still just so... angry. She didn't feel able to push herself through this.]

[generalflirt]

[ Though he was pleased to run into Aang before he ran into her (because of the fear shift he was still working with) there's no way he could totally ignore her. Not sure if she'll be home or not, and honestly doubting she is, he knocks on her window. He knows she told him not to do that before but it's somehow less intimidating than the door. And if she isn't there, he'll leave a note...

God that's lame]

[markofthebrave]

[She is probably not there, honestly. If he means to leave a note, here is his chance.]

[generalflirt]

[ He... sort of expected that. And he's disgusted with the fact that he's relieved. His current fear shift disgusts him. Ugh.

But he does leave a note all the same. He slides between anywhere in the window he can and-]

I came to visit you, but I think I have some sort of fear going on, and I didn't know what to say anyway.

I'm sorry.

If you need anything from me, please call for me, and I'll be there.

I'll come for you when I won't be terrible company too.

- Masaomi Kida

[ Was that too tame? Was that too... not positive? Not emotional? But even if they are friends, being too emotional would be bad, given who they are, but . . . ]

[breezing]

[ Ikki won't get in the way for the cleaning. She'll even help out in her own way - or at least will try to get her room clean enough to pass muster - and will later trail after Katara when she leaves the house, a little cautiously.

She gets there when Katara's on the rock, and goes to plop down on the ground beside her, cross-legged. ]

Katara?

[markofthebrave]

[Katara does manage to stir herself to life a little for Ikki.]

Yes?