markofthebrave | [Voice, Action... of a sort] .010

Aang didn't come out for breakfast today. When I went in his room to check on him, all his stuff was gone. ...I guess this means he went home, right?

And all the stuff in the kitchen is different - does anyone know how they're supposed to work? ~~Or how they got in here without waking us up, because -- seriously, creepy.~~

[Filtered to Longshot 60%]
Hey - haven't seen you around in a while. How are you doing?

[Filtered to Erza 62%, OPEN to Gaang members]
Hi, Erza! I've got a few questions about magic, and you're the only one I know here who does it. Do you mind?

[Filtered to the Green Lantern 62%]
John Stewart, the Green Lantern. I spoke about it with my brother, and we decided that we were more comfortable if you didn't bring us up.

[As for action? Katara is not going very far today. In fact, she is stuck inside, doing healing sessions with the invalid and making sure he stays in bed, and trying to figure out how all this crazy new stuff works. If you think she'd open the door for you and let you in, feel free to stop by and give the girl ~~something else do~~ a helping hand!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Katara takes a deep breath.] A few months later we were in the Earth Kingdom capital of Ba Sing Se. Appa had been kidnapped in the desert, and we were looking for him... and when I was by myself in the city, Jet came up to me.

[Pause. She remembers just how angry she'd been.] I attacked him. I told him to leave us alone. [I would have hurt him if he wouldn't.] But insisted - he had changed. I didn't believe him.

[Tell it to some other girl, Jet!] Then Aang and the others showed up - and Jet told us that he had some information about Appa... and they decided that we had to give it a shot.

I don't blame you. [Softly. Trying hard not to interrupt the flow, but ... she'd have done the same, she thinks.]

Was he on the level?

[Katara sighs, and shifts in her chair.] In a way. It turns out that the whole thing was a trap set up by Long Feng, the head of the Dai Li. He'd been using the Earth King like a puppet, somehow making sure that no one in the city knew about the war... he didn't want us to interfere.

So he brainwashed Jet. He used him to get us to go to an abandoned stable and try to send us halfway across the world to get Appa back. And we would have gone too, if Jet hadn't run into some of his freedom fighters in the city... they remembered what happened to him differently. I tried to use my bending to help jog his real memories and it worked, a little. He was able to take us to the Dai Li's underground headquarters.

But while we were down there, we were separated. Aang and Jet were off by themselves... and Long Feng 'activated' Jet, turned him against Aang... [And now Katara looks away.] But Jet found a way to overcome it. In the end, he turned against Long Feng and fought by Aang's side...

...and that's how it happened. I didn't see it. I got there too late. But I saw the rock that had slid towards him - it was twice his size, and he must have connected with it pretty fast... his insides were all mashed up, and the Dai Li were closing in...

[She's not quite crying now, but she wishes she was, because this band in her chest is tight and her eyes feel hot and it hurts to breathe.] He said he'd be fine.

[She's quiet for a long moment, watching Katara struggle with it. How does one respond to a story like that? The fact that Jet lied is obvious, but why he'd lie to someone who could ...

...]

...could you have helped him?

...Not with the time we had. If I'd stayed... if I'd tried... if I had more time...

["It seems to me like what you can do is very different than what you think you should do."]

...no. I don't think so. I guess I'll never know for sure.

[I walked away and I let him die. And at that thought, Katara's hand goes up to cover her mouth and her shoulders hunch as she starts to cry - shuddering, impolite sobs.]

[...so therefore he told her he was fine so that she would leave. And get away safely? It's a guess. But there's no real time to consider that further. Nami is a pushy sort, and she doesn't give a damn about personal space in a situation like this.

The moment Katara's hand goes up to her mouth, she shifts from her own seat silently and crosses to the couch in one quick move, arms wrapping around the other girl tightly without a word.]

[And so Katara cries, because the reality of it is crashing down on her, because she can feel it tightening in her stomach, she can remember his life in her hands and she wonders - if he hadn't betrayed her, if he hadn't gone after innocent people, would she have made the same choice?

And she cries because she wasn't strong enough to save him, because Longshot had to lose another friend, because the whole war was stupid and pointless and the Earth Kingdom should have been their allies, a place of safety and instead Aang had - been hurt - Jet had died, everything had just gone wrong, and now it didn't even matter because they weren't even in the same world anymore...

And eventually the sobs will stop and the tears will dry and Katara will wish that she could have kept on crying, because she really doesn't want to have to deal with what happens next.]

[Nami isn't going to move. In some ways, it's easy for her to offer comfort like this - but it's the only thing she can do, not knowing Katara or her world as well as she might like. Which means when Katara finally starts to exhaust herself, she's at a loss ... because she wants to help. But Nami has no idea how, apart from just being there.

She'll wait for the physical cue; when Katara starts to pull back of her own accord, Nami will let go and sit back. But before then, I'm afraid you're still caught in a hug, Katara.]

[That's all right. Hugs are good. Katara likes hugs. And she'll just sit there a few moments more before shifting away.]

I guess I knew that it had to have happened. But I still hoped...

[So many people have died. And I never got to apologize. ...or even decide if he deserved it.]

[Confirmation brings it home, though.

She's not saying that. Or anything else that sounds like a platitude, because what good will it do? Instead, she'll lean down to collect Katara's mug from the table, offering it back to her with a small smile.]

Here.

[If you weren't 15, she'd offer to make it stronger. But the tea, at least, is still warm.]

Thanks, Nami. [And she's not just talking about the tea. She will take a sip.]

Any time. [Flippant. Sincere, though. She'll rescue her own tea, now.]

[Voice, Action... of a sort] .010

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