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Tweak says, "For my prince."

Katara of the Southern Water Tribe (k_waterbender) wrote in mirage_rpg,
@ 2008-11-01 19:06:00

Entry tags:

complete, day 21, katara, toph bei fong, zuko

Day Twenty-One
Who: Katara, Toph Bei Fong, and Zuko
When: Day 21 ; Late Morning
What: Confronting Zuko once again
Where: Building E first, then to the meadow
Rating: PG-13
Status: Complete

Katara had been so upset and so bone weary the day before that she’d gone straight to her room to do some relaxing yoga positions before sleeping. She didn’t even eat dinner that night, and she definitely hadn’t gone to Toph with the information she learned about Zuko’s sudden loss of memory. She figured it could wait until she could better collect her thoughts.

She had dreamed about the confrontation between herself and Zuko over and over in a loop in her mind. Each time it was a little more distressed, a little more desperate, a little more insane. Sometimes his fire blast had singed her hair, and sometimes the candles exploded around her, burning her flesh. Other times she had to freeze him to the wall, and still others her voice would suddenly become high pitched and difficult to understand. Other times it all seemed to move in super slow motion, and she felt heavy like she was trying to walk through mud. The entire thing was so absurd that she could completely understand Zuko’s unwillingness to believe her, even if she knew she was right. He thought he was right, too, after all.

Katara didn’t awaken until mid-morning, and the waterbender was still upset about the entire ordeal when she regained consciousness. She went through some relaxing exercises, and they helped to calm her. By late morning, she knew Toph would be waking soon, so she bathed and dressed in her Water Tribe battle attire. She had taken to wearing this ever since the kidnappings occurred, and she wasn’t about to let her guard down, especially not now. She was also sure to strap two full water skins to her back as well before she left her room to cross the hall to Toph’s door. Her fists rapped upon the wood, and she waited for her earthbender friend to answer.

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k_waterbender
2008-11-03 05:06 pm UTC (link)

Katara only smiled a smile that her friend could not see and shook her head. This place must have taken a while for the earthbender to get used to with the way things randomly appeared, but Toph already seemed accustomed to the whole thing while the waterbender, who had been there a while longer, was still jumpy about things randomly appearing. Perhaps it was a testament to Toph’s easy going nature, or perhaps it was only a result of the effects of the battle she had faced when Giselle and King Aragorn had been kidnapped.

The Water Tribe femme didn’t mention just how much worse it could have gone if Zuko was more like his father or his sister. Instead she said, “Well, it’s only going to go better from here.” It was said as if she had no doubts, but she was mostly hoping the words could be a prophecy that would come true. Battles between benders had a tendency to become quite intense and often deadly, but she hoped that none would be so bad as the one between Toph and Zuko yesterday had been. The Blind Bandit had been lucky to have gotten off so easily, but, then again, she was incredibly skilled, too, while Zuko was not only suffering from having been poisoned, but he was also suffering from only knowing the events of his life up to the age of sixteen. Katara couldn’t help but wonder if that meant his firebending had regressed back to that time, too.

The waterbender knew just how Toph must feel at the thought that Iroh might be dead. Katara remembered the pain that she had felt and the tears that had welled in her eyes when Zuko told her. By all rights, Iroh might not be dead. He was definitely a fighter, and he was one of the greatest firebenders in the world. He was a great master, and he had the entire Order of the White Lotus to back him up. It was unlikely he was dead, but if he was, it meant that Ozai and/or the Dai Lee had terminated his life.

Katara felt a good measure of relief wash over her, despite her adamant thoughts that he couldn’t be dead, when Toph confided that she and Sokka had seen him a few days before she’d been taken. They must have passed through Ba Sing Se on their way to Gaoling where Toph’s parents lived. Katara knew she would make excuses to go to visit the older man’s tea shop even if it was out of the way, and no one ever really protested unless it was urgent that they get to where they were going.

A lot could happen over the course of a few days. How long had it taken the Dai Lee to kidnap and brainwash Zuko? How long had it taken them to escape prison in the first place?

“Well, yes, but I tried that with Zuko and he wasn’t buying it. I’m not one hundred percent on this, but I think that poison had something to do with his brainwashing. I think the extent that they messed with Zuko’s mind is a lot more than the extent they messed with Jet‘s. It’s going to take longer to get through to Zuko than it did to get through to Jet, that’s for sure. At least Jet considered us his friends. Zuko counts us as his enemies.”

She heard the tone of Toph’s voice. Katara had offended her friend by accident. She had just gotten so used to how hard headed the earthbender could be that she sometimes forgot how reasonable she could be when it counted. Besides, she hadn’t been sure how friendly Toph would feel toward Zuko after their battle, and she definitely wasn’t sure how the firebender would react when Katara showed up with Toph at her side. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way.” The waterbender apologized to her friend.

When they finished eating, she stood. “We should go find him now.”

When they left their residential building, Katara could see a golem approaching them. A simple thought had brought the creature them. Despite not liking the idea that the Planet knew her every whim, she couldn’t deny the convenience of its abilities. Patience may have been a virtue, but it seemed she only needed it while working with Zuko. The Planet made sure to have everything for its inhabitants in a timely manner.

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