it's a harmony, a miracle, being able to breathe and live at all

[For the past almost two weeks, Katara has been struggling to regain her balance - even struggling to want to regain her balance. Aang's second return home hit her hard, on top of Zuko's mallynapping and Toph's return... Toph who doesn't remember. It's good to see her, but it's terrible as well. Now more of them are trapped in this horrible place. And she still hasn't been able get back to wearing her regular clothes because the 'phasing' keeps happening, as randomly and as annoyingly as ever.

It's been almost two weeks since she's returned and her shoulder hasn't been in any pain in days. The experience of having her bending completely taken away in the Malnosso facility was one that's almost beyond words, and now that she's back where she can feel even just half herself again, the desire, the need to bend has been growing under her skin like an itch.

She can't take it anymore. So Katara goes out just after dinner to one of her favorite practicing spots between her house and the barracks, and begins by doing very simple forms that don't require a lot of movement. She pauses when Momo finds her and sits down to take a break.

It's not long before she begins talking to the lemur about their adventures. It feels good - to talk to someone about home, to talk about all the things that happened, to remember who she really was, despite what this place wanted to make her. She doesn't notice when Momo knocks the journal opened when he moves to chase after what could be a fallen nut. He might not be the best listener ever.]

--Sokka sent Aang in to steal the book. Remember riding on top of Appa's back so Aang and I could shape the clouds? It was too bad that we had to go through all that just to get them to listen to us. So after we made the skull in the sky, we dragged out Aunt Wu to see it - the sign for volcanic doom. Then the villagers listened. All the earthbenders worked to dig trenches and everyone else grabbed shovels to help out as best as we could.

And then when volcano exploded, we got back as far as we could, but it flowed right through--

[There's some excited chatter by the book, and suddenly the picture is filled with this face. It flickers from voice to video and back again.]

Momo, what are you doing? Get away from that!

[The video shows Katara shooing Momo away from her journal and then automatically shutting it. She gets back to her practicing, but will open up the journal later and see that it accidentally recorded. Way to go, Momo.]

[For no very specific reason at all, Katara is happy this late afternoon. The air is getting colder, and the very fact that it's nipping at her face is enough to make her smile. Add to that the glorious storm of yesterday, that it is still drizzling...

It's started drizzling as she runs her errands in town, and she puts a hand up to bend an 'umbrella' above her head as she walks along. She forgets herself, though, as she comes to some large puddles in the road, and dropping her hand, stares at them for half a beat.

Well, she's already wet.

So she jumps in. Not bending at all, simply splashing about in the puddles along her way.

Feel free to catch her in this rare display of immaturity and glee - or even join her! Hopefully she won't catch a cold.

Much later, as she prepares dinner for her house, she makes a voice post.]

Anyone else looking forward to the change in the weather?


[OOC: I know notifs are so so down. Please ping me on AIM if it's been a while and I haven't tagged!]

Hey, Caesar! Do you mind if I stop by this afternoon? [Because mind or not, she is coming. But before she gets there, if you asked after her while she had eye-mushi and she hasn't spoken to you yet, she's looking for you. She will be all about town, since she doesn't know where some of you live. She also plans on checking in with Sokka and the rest of the Gaang at some point today.]

[And later in the evening, after dinner and far past when she is usually fast asleep, you can find Katara practicing not far from her house. Since Ginko died she's been robbed of her rest - combine that with the draft list being posted and she's decided to cope the only way she knows how - by using the time to find some peace. For that purpose, she is doing a special form. She runs through the first without doing any bending at all. When she repeats it, she bends thin tendrils of water up and around and over, following the movements of her hands - and when one catches her eye she freezes it in place, creating a small practice area of frozen arches and swirls.

They won't last long, especially not in the heat of a summer night. That's not the point. That's not the point at all.]

[Utter doom has managed to hold itself off for the past week, and so today is Katara's first day of school! She's excited and a little nervous, since she's never been to any sort of school before. While preparing and lecturing herself she jostles her journal.]

--vous about. It's going to be just fine. Now where did I put that -- oh. [Someone's just noticed her journal's opened.] Man. I'll be late! [And she shuts the book quickly, not noticing what was recorded and starts on her way.

Of course, her nerves aren't helped by the fact that she hardly slept at all last night. Her room still smells faintly of ash, and the memories that scent triggers aren't pleasant. The nightmares are old ones, and the one she had last night one that she remembered. It had her up in the middle of the night, practicing in their back yard until exhausted.

She's almost tempted to just stay in bed all day, but she told Raine she'd be trying to go to school soon and doesn't want to go back on that. So there she goes, to and from school. So if you're at the school today? Expect a wide-eyed new girl. And if you're anywhere in the center of town after that, expect a slightly dazed one, trying to remember what she has to pick up in the grocery store.]