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

[As if it wasn't bad enough that she'd been spending the day before doing one of her least favorite chores from back - dressing and tanning game - Luceti had decided to play a little trick on Katara and turn her wings blood red. And then the sun didn't rise - or when it did... solar eclipses weren't supposed to last this long. They'd planned their attack to be in a eight minute window! All throughout the day, Katara kept glancing up at the sun, waiting for the shadow to leave, but it never did.

And when the moon rose...

She was red as blood as well. It twisted something inside her to see the moon like this again - even if it wasn't truly her moon, Katara couldn't help but feel connected to it and - and everything was going so, so wrong now. She'd always known that this was bad, that this was really really bad, and that they were stuck in a place entirely out of their control, but there was nothing like the natural order of things breaking down in front of her to drive that point home.

She's scared. She's really scared, and she can't show it. But when she slips out that night, not going far from the house at all, for the her evening practice routine, she hesitates for a long moment. Routine. Routine is how they'll get through this. Focusing on the things that they can do in the face of what they can't.

...just like she can't quite bring herself to test and see if her bending is still there. The last time the moon went red like this...

So she delays the inevitable, because she knows she can't live with herself until she tries, and makes a voice entry.]

I spent most of yesterday dressing a deer - that's one good thing, anyway, we don't have to worry about running out of food with all the game in the forest and the river. At home, we learn how to use every part of an animal so that nothing goes to waste, in order to respect the life we took to sustain our own. It's messy and gross, and I haven't missed it at all, but if anyone wants to learn how, I'll be happy to teach you.

[A pause, and she glances up at the moon. She really doesn't want to face things just yet.]

...does anyone know any good stories? It seems like a good night for it.


[Feel free to wander by and remark on the waterbender who should be practicing, but isn't.]

[After having to push herself to heal and volunteering to help build the barrier with her bending, Katara is tired of not knowing for sure just how strong her bending is in this place. So sometime after the sun has gone down and the moon has risen high, she is going to quietly leave the Avatar house and travel to one of the closer lakes. She's not being overly sneaky about it, just quiet enough to be 'considerate,' if one of her housemates catches her in the act.

She'll be bringing her journal with her in case someone needs her or she needs to get a hold of someone quickly. She's still not exactly sure how this journal system works, so the chances are good that it will open on its own, and if it does all that will be heard is the sound of water moving and falling ice.

While she's there, she'll also be trying to contact the water spirit that she read about in the guide.

Pausing for a second, she stares at the half-moon] I wonder...

[Shaking herself, Katara resumes her forms.]