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kolFic last updated Feb 16th (Read the original version here)
Summary: Kyoshi Island prepares for the Water Sages arrival, Sokka turns his back on his father, and Katara is trapped in the Water Sages vessel. How can hope exist in such dire times?
Disclaimer: I own nothing. <3
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Chapter Two: Cling to Hollow Hope
She’s been here all night, Suki realized, leaning against the pillars at the entrance. Squinting into the gloom, she could only just make out the petite girl flowing effortlessly through the shallow flyer defense, gestures seamless and graceful. Ishi was unaware of the eminent approach of the sun’s glare, focused entirely on her movements. So vivid her parry and low, sweeping block, it was easy to picture the enemies the girl fought.
“It isn’t polite to stare,” The still moving warrior’s voice was a sharp, solid as the toughest of rocks, coarse as her defensive steps were fair. Her black hair was pulled into a high bun, twin tendrils falling on either side of her rounded cheeks. They brushing against her cheeks with each movement, held from her eyes by the familiar Kyoshi headband.
“Your stance is too rooted,” Suki pointed out, shifting into the familiar role of instructor, knowing Ishi would accept no mollycoddling. “Glide from step to step, don’t rely on a stable foundation. In battle the ground is rarely even.”
Ishi completed the last step with a wide, slow smile. “Unless I makes it even.” With a flick of the wrist, Ishi collapsed both fans, tucking them into belt. Looking at the girl’s small shoulders, Suki could make out her adopted sister holding in a sharp chuckle.
“Is that why you were out practicing all night?” Suki asked, leaning forward in her worry. “I could have provided you with cover if you need to-”
“I went down to the village this afternoon,” Ishi interrupted, twisting away from Suki, her hands clenched tightly at her side. “Your father… he was speaking with the mayor, I couldn’t help but overhear. They’ve been keeping it secret between them. To keep the burden from you and the village. After the chaos of the last time…”
Suki’s face was frozen. It couldn’t be! The Sages had been here just three months past! “Burden me with what, Ishi?”
The girl’s head twisted to the side, a sharp grimace on her painted lips. “A watertribe vessel was spotted last week on the route to the South Pole. And it carried the banner of the Water Sages.”
Suki lowered her head. No one in their right minds liked the Water Sages— most every agreed theirs was a terrible quest, but few had to bare witness to the horrors those cruel beasts posing as wise men put their suspected Avatars through.
Yet it was impossible to fight them. “We must ready the village for the Sages.” Suki’s voice was dispassionate, her hands stiff at her side.
Ishi’s smile took on a nasty touch. “Just once I’d like to take one of those beats on. I bet we could take them all,” Ishi boasted, stepping neatly to Suki’s side. The two departed the sparring room, wordlessly returning to the barracks before anyone realized they were gone. No one was awake in the narrow room; it was the Lantern Festival, and every Kyoshi had the day off.
Watching her sister fall bonelessly into the bed and immediately begin snoring, Suki frowned, too worried to go back to sleep. I’ll have to watch her. We can’t afford another incident like last time. And I’ll keep this news from the other girls. No sense ruining their festival.
Because things never went well when Water Sages wandered the world. er warriors deserved this last day of freedom before the ice demons arrived on their shores.
------------------------------------------
Images revealed themselves that made Sokka doubt his conclusion. He had been outside? His eyes saw not the wall, but the corner where Katara’s sewing lay, scattered about the icy floor. Water Sages must have taken her while she was mending, Sokka’s thoughts floated, displaced from the chaos his eyes took in. Just as well. Katara never was good at mending.
A large fire threatened before him, yet he felt none of the heat. The colors of the flames are wrong, he thought sluggishly. Was this a vision? Snow Raven’s summoning? The lodge of the Frost Wolf?
His eyes cleared, revealing no spirit before him— the fire was a bundle of saffron and burgundy, clothes attached to a tall, lean man with curly black hair. An unmistakable blue arrow was etched into his pale forehead marked him as a monk, possibly from the nearby Southern Air Temple.
“What’s wrong with me?” Words came to Sokka, yet they struggled past his frozen throat; he choked on the effort.
The man leaned forward, eyes cheerful. “You were frozen, my young friend. It is good that I came when I did— your father chiseled you from the ice, but no air remained in your lungs. A simple matter to displace the foul, dead air with fresh breath.” His thin lips stretched so wide in a smile, Sokka swore the gray eyes were lost in the folds.
“What’s a Monk doing in the South Pole?” Sokka croaked, shivering violently, not convinced he wasn’t dead. Spirits, he remembered darkly, meant nothing to him after his mother’s death. Snow Raven was nothing to Sokka.
“No monk,” The man’s smile eased to less inhuman proportions, gesturing to his thick, curly hair. “Just a regular Air Nomad.”
Sokka didn’t believe him for a minute— he knew what those tattoos meant. “Why you are here? Why did you saved me?”
He tapped a finger to his pursed lips. “Such questions rarely have easy answers.” The man allowed, hands sneaking into saffron sleeves. “Enough that I am here, and you, Sokka, are safe.”
Sokka stared at the man suspiciously. “How did you know who I am?”
The man responded by pointing to the window with a wry smile. Just outside, the city’s waterbenders could be seen, rebuilding the missing section of the wall. None were younger than 17. But then, there weren’t many people left in the city who were.
“Soon it shall be as it once was. Stronger, perhaps. Steps must be taken to ensure this does not happen again. The Avatar must be found, all the nations agree, but not at this price. This is not the way.”
Sokka didn’t hear the man. His eyes were wide as he realized with a start it was daylight outside. “How much time was I out?”
“Oh, a few hours,” The man waved the time with his hand, as if it was nothing.
Sokka managed to struggle to his feet, muscles protesting the movement. “What are we waiting for? We have to go after the Sages! We have to save Katara!”
The man nodded, his eyes just beyond Sokka’s shoulder where Sokka was beginning to think his father stood. HE wasn’t going to turn around and acknowledge the coward.
“It is important we rescue the young waterbender. She plays an important role in the things that must come. Indeed, the fate of the world rests on her shoulders— and your own, Sokka.”
“I don’t think this is the time Rinchen-” His father was cut off by the man’s raising his hand. Sokka turned his head just far enough to see his father Hakota’s fists clench before the tall man left the room.
“It is precisely the time,” Rinchen walked up to Sokka, peering down his long nose at the teen. Nothing could have prepared Sokka for what came out of the man’s mouth next.
“The story of Avatar Aang you know is a lie.”
“What?” It was well known the story of the last Avatar— he had singlehandedly saved the world, storming the Fire Lord’s palace and swiftly laying waste to the man’s careful plan to take over the world. And the Avatar had done this at a stunning age of 12.
Sokka was three years older and still not a man— his vigil interrupted, status uncertain.
“Aang saved the world— differently. First, he failed. The Avatar was lost for a hundred years, saved by two members of your tribe. Just in time, for at the end of that summer, a comet would bring terrible powers to the firebenders, and nothing would stop them from taking over the world. Aang and his friends fought hard, but failed.”
“But-”
“Please, let me continue.” Rinchen held up a hand, face solemn. “As he stood defeated, Avatar Aang had no choice but to tap into the Avatar State, a last attempt to restore balance to the world. In giving himself freely to the power, a rare ability manifested itself, a terrible tool only the most desperate and worthy of Avatars may access. Facing the end of the world, Aang used this power to bend time itself.”
Sokka’s head ached. “You can’t just bend time!” He denied, hands flailing.
“Aang did, finding himself back 100 years in the past. And this time, he defeated the Fire Lord. This summer the comet returns, and without an Avatar…” Rinchen broke off, looking thoughtful before continuing. “There are certain people who are essential to keeping the peace. You and your sister are two of them.”
“So, let me get this straight,” Sokka rocked back on his heels, wincing at the chill still in his muscles. “The world as we know it is going to end this summer unless certain people fix things, even though the Avatar failed last time?”
“That’s one way of putting it,” The monk allowed. “With the arrival of the comet, firebenders will have considerable power. And without the next Avatar to stop them, many fear the Fire Nation could succeed where they once failed.”
“And somehow I’m suppose to stop it?”
Rinchen laughed. “Oh no, my young friend, you are only a part of the success. Every rice in the bowl is needed in this fight, which is why now that you are better, we must leave to rescue Katara.”
“Really? Rescue her?” Sokka’s eyes brightened, but his joy faded with memory of how powerful the Water Sages had been. “But how? No offense, but I don’t see how an Airbender could take on all those Sages.”
“Alone? Never. But with allies, rescue is possible. We leave soon, our journey long and uncertain. This future is unwritten.”
Before Sokka respond, a heavy hand turned him around, a heavy pack thrust in his arms. “What is this?” Sokka asked suspiciously, not quite looking at his father.
“Go with Rinchen and save your sister.” Hakota held Sokka’s forearm gruffly as only men did, before engulfing his son in a rough hug. “I hope you… will understand why I acted as I did.”
Sokka wanted to say something, anything, but his mouth remained stubbornly shut. He couldn’t forgive his father for letting the Sages take his sister. Sokka wouldn’t have to go save her if his father had just stood his ground, fought for them! He turned away, eyes only for Rinchen. “Lets go.”
Sokka walked away, didn’t stop even as his father told him he loved him. He left his home without a second look back— it was time to save Katara.
Katara pushed back from the door, feeling her way back to the small bunk. Beneath her bare feet, the timbers were damp and slick, but she was at least secure against the crazed motion of the ship, obviously swept up in a vicious storm.
There was nothing more Katara could do but wait.
Two, perhaps three, days had passed since the Sages had taken her, and she hadn’t seen or heard from the five men since.
Perhaps it was a good thing the Sages were otherwise occupied, Katara grimly thought, sliding against the slick wall until her shaking knees hugged her chest. The thin fabric of her nightgown offered little protection against the drafty wood. They say few survive the initial torture.
The waiting was bad enough. Trapped in the darkness, battered by an uncontrollable ocean, left alone to her thoughts. How the Sages had declared her father willing, handing to her to them with no care. How her last vision of the city she so loved was her brother, slowly dying, encased in an icy tomb.
Katara was too strong to cry. She’d given in the first day, and all that had earned her was sore eyes. Hopes for rescue were slim— it was impossible to seal the Sages’ quarry, and none escaped once within the Sages’ grasps.
It had been two years of practicing her waterbending. Katara knew it had been a risk, but she had been so careful! It was impossible for her to deny the power inside her, any more than she could deny the air that gave her life. Bending was a part of Katara, and if she risked death for it? So be it.
Someone must have seen and sent notice to the Water Sages.
And Katara was going to take her revenge upon them. Because unlike the other victims of the Sages, Katara was going to escape. And, Katara thought, narrowing her eyes, put an end to these abductions. The Water Tribe will be free.
The vessel was beginning to settle within the water— which meant Katara had to quicken her plans. Calm seas would be the best chance for survival.
Her knees shook as she stood, returning to her post by the door, fingers tracing the slick walls of the cabin. If the Sages had been stupid enough to merely ice the door closed, Katara was confident she could have bended the water away. After years of abducting benders, the Sages had apparently learned their lesson— her door was locked with iron, and nothing she’d done had budged the door.
Without water, what could she do?
Her bare toes curled against the damp wooden floor, fingers tapping lightly against the iron barrier to her freedom, wishing her brother was there to surprise her with a plan.
And then it hit her. She was standing on damp wood. Dampness meant water. Water meant escape.
For the first time in days, Katara smiled, sensing for the first time the water within the wood that surrounded her. She raised her hands, assuming the familiar bending stance, and took a deep breath. She was going to escape—
The door to her cell crushed Katara’s body as it swung open. Stumbling backwards, Kara raised a hand to shield her eyes from the brilliant flare of a yellow lantern. A heavy hand yanked the hand away, pushing her forcefully further into the cell; the motion of the vessel sent Katara flying against the moldy linens on the aged bunk.
Katara tensed before turning her head to see her attacker. It was the shortest of the sages, a man distorted by his heavy bulk, muscles bulging intimidatingly from beneath his white parka. His face was lean and could be mistaken for handsome, save for the nasty snarl attached to thin lips. His was the face of the moon maddened wolf, fearsome in its unbending violence.
She couldn’t help but shiver as his pale blue eyes latched onto her. He might not the leader of the Water Sages, but that didn’t make him any less a threat.
“Stay back!” Katara cried out, ducking her head away from him into the mold covered linens, gagging at the wretched smell. Tears sprang to her eyes, body shaking from terror. “Don’t touch me, please!” It was difficult to remember her courage facing this maddened man.
He laughed, the harsh, guttural sound thunder in the small cabin. “I don’t have to touch you to begin the tests, pet,” The man’s voice dropped to a terrifying pitch just as a crack of ice sounded sharply in the air. Katara flinched, earning her a laugh from the Sage, but dared not look upon him again.
“Could you be the missing Avatar?” Another crack of ice, fire biting into her back in answer. Katara cried out, digging her hands into blanket, eyes squeezed tightly shut from a war of shock and pain.
Pain was winning.
“The Avatar could stop this. A simple little trick, nice little state. Only way to stop the pain, pet.” He paused, and this time Katara stifled the cry the next lash of his ice whip brought. She bit down, hard, on her lip, only to gag as blood seeped into her parched mouth. It was the only liquid she’d tasted in days. “Can you stop me?”
The cries as the ice whip lit fire into her back were the only response Katara had to offer. She was not the one, couldn’t he see? But the testing continued, Katara’s hold on the bed slipping, until another came to take the cruel man’s place— this one armed with a hammer.
Before the man could deliver the first blow, the pain faded. Her mind succumbed to the gray void pressing down on the edges of her sight.
It would be a very long time before she awoke.
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Authors Note: Originally this chapter was over 5,000 words; last version got cut to 4,300, and this one is down around 2,900. I could probably drop more of Katara's scene, but I *like it.* Most of what I cut involved Suki-- gave too much of plot away. And cutting down on the exposition definitely helped with Sokka's section, slightly less boring now. :D
Chapter Two: Cling to Hollow Hope
Kyoshi Island
The sparring room might be dim, but as Suki made her careful progress up the hill, the soft padding of a barefood Kyoshi warrior pushing herself through a difficult routine broke the pre-dawn stillness. Ishi wasn’t an early riser, yet her bed was empty. She’s been here all night, Suki realized, leaning against the pillars at the entrance. Squinting into the gloom, she could only just make out the petite girl flowing effortlessly through the shallow flyer defense, gestures seamless and graceful. Ishi was unaware of the eminent approach of the sun’s glare, focused entirely on her movements. So vivid her parry and low, sweeping block, it was easy to picture the enemies the girl fought.
“It isn’t polite to stare,” The still moving warrior’s voice was a sharp, solid as the toughest of rocks, coarse as her defensive steps were fair. Her black hair was pulled into a high bun, twin tendrils falling on either side of her rounded cheeks. They brushing against her cheeks with each movement, held from her eyes by the familiar Kyoshi headband.
“Your stance is too rooted,” Suki pointed out, shifting into the familiar role of instructor, knowing Ishi would accept no mollycoddling. “Glide from step to step, don’t rely on a stable foundation. In battle the ground is rarely even.”
Ishi completed the last step with a wide, slow smile. “Unless I makes it even.” With a flick of the wrist, Ishi collapsed both fans, tucking them into belt. Looking at the girl’s small shoulders, Suki could make out her adopted sister holding in a sharp chuckle.
“Is that why you were out practicing all night?” Suki asked, leaning forward in her worry. “I could have provided you with cover if you need to-”
“I went down to the village this afternoon,” Ishi interrupted, twisting away from Suki, her hands clenched tightly at her side. “Your father… he was speaking with the mayor, I couldn’t help but overhear. They’ve been keeping it secret between them. To keep the burden from you and the village. After the chaos of the last time…”
Suki’s face was frozen. It couldn’t be! The Sages had been here just three months past! “Burden me with what, Ishi?”
The girl’s head twisted to the side, a sharp grimace on her painted lips. “A watertribe vessel was spotted last week on the route to the South Pole. And it carried the banner of the Water Sages.”
Suki lowered her head. No one in their right minds liked the Water Sages— most every agreed theirs was a terrible quest, but few had to bare witness to the horrors those cruel beasts posing as wise men put their suspected Avatars through.
Yet it was impossible to fight them. “We must ready the village for the Sages.” Suki’s voice was dispassionate, her hands stiff at her side.
Ishi’s smile took on a nasty touch. “Just once I’d like to take one of those beats on. I bet we could take them all,” Ishi boasted, stepping neatly to Suki’s side. The two departed the sparring room, wordlessly returning to the barracks before anyone realized they were gone. No one was awake in the narrow room; it was the Lantern Festival, and every Kyoshi had the day off.
Watching her sister fall bonelessly into the bed and immediately begin snoring, Suki frowned, too worried to go back to sleep. I’ll have to watch her. We can’t afford another incident like last time. And I’ll keep this news from the other girls. No sense ruining their festival.
Because things never went well when Water Sages wandered the world. er warriors deserved this last day of freedom before the ice demons arrived on their shores.
------------------------------------------
Atka City, South Pole
If the dead can’t feel pain, and his whole body ached with it, then it meant only one thing: Sokka was alive. No fire in existence was hot enough to warm him. Even his eyeballs puckered from the chill, vision nothing but blurs. Images revealed themselves that made Sokka doubt his conclusion. He had been outside? His eyes saw not the wall, but the corner where Katara’s sewing lay, scattered about the icy floor. Water Sages must have taken her while she was mending, Sokka’s thoughts floated, displaced from the chaos his eyes took in. Just as well. Katara never was good at mending.
A large fire threatened before him, yet he felt none of the heat. The colors of the flames are wrong, he thought sluggishly. Was this a vision? Snow Raven’s summoning? The lodge of the Frost Wolf?
His eyes cleared, revealing no spirit before him— the fire was a bundle of saffron and burgundy, clothes attached to a tall, lean man with curly black hair. An unmistakable blue arrow was etched into his pale forehead marked him as a monk, possibly from the nearby Southern Air Temple.
“What’s wrong with me?” Words came to Sokka, yet they struggled past his frozen throat; he choked on the effort.
The man leaned forward, eyes cheerful. “You were frozen, my young friend. It is good that I came when I did— your father chiseled you from the ice, but no air remained in your lungs. A simple matter to displace the foul, dead air with fresh breath.” His thin lips stretched so wide in a smile, Sokka swore the gray eyes were lost in the folds.
“What’s a Monk doing in the South Pole?” Sokka croaked, shivering violently, not convinced he wasn’t dead. Spirits, he remembered darkly, meant nothing to him after his mother’s death. Snow Raven was nothing to Sokka.
“No monk,” The man’s smile eased to less inhuman proportions, gesturing to his thick, curly hair. “Just a regular Air Nomad.”
Sokka didn’t believe him for a minute— he knew what those tattoos meant. “Why you are here? Why did you saved me?”
He tapped a finger to his pursed lips. “Such questions rarely have easy answers.” The man allowed, hands sneaking into saffron sleeves. “Enough that I am here, and you, Sokka, are safe.”
Sokka stared at the man suspiciously. “How did you know who I am?”
The man responded by pointing to the window with a wry smile. Just outside, the city’s waterbenders could be seen, rebuilding the missing section of the wall. None were younger than 17. But then, there weren’t many people left in the city who were.
“Soon it shall be as it once was. Stronger, perhaps. Steps must be taken to ensure this does not happen again. The Avatar must be found, all the nations agree, but not at this price. This is not the way.”
Sokka didn’t hear the man. His eyes were wide as he realized with a start it was daylight outside. “How much time was I out?”
“Oh, a few hours,” The man waved the time with his hand, as if it was nothing.
Sokka managed to struggle to his feet, muscles protesting the movement. “What are we waiting for? We have to go after the Sages! We have to save Katara!”
The man nodded, his eyes just beyond Sokka’s shoulder where Sokka was beginning to think his father stood. HE wasn’t going to turn around and acknowledge the coward.
“It is important we rescue the young waterbender. She plays an important role in the things that must come. Indeed, the fate of the world rests on her shoulders— and your own, Sokka.”
“I don’t think this is the time Rinchen-” His father was cut off by the man’s raising his hand. Sokka turned his head just far enough to see his father Hakota’s fists clench before the tall man left the room.
“It is precisely the time,” Rinchen walked up to Sokka, peering down his long nose at the teen. Nothing could have prepared Sokka for what came out of the man’s mouth next.
“The story of Avatar Aang you know is a lie.”
“What?” It was well known the story of the last Avatar— he had singlehandedly saved the world, storming the Fire Lord’s palace and swiftly laying waste to the man’s careful plan to take over the world. And the Avatar had done this at a stunning age of 12.
Sokka was three years older and still not a man— his vigil interrupted, status uncertain.
“Aang saved the world— differently. First, he failed. The Avatar was lost for a hundred years, saved by two members of your tribe. Just in time, for at the end of that summer, a comet would bring terrible powers to the firebenders, and nothing would stop them from taking over the world. Aang and his friends fought hard, but failed.”
“But-”
“Please, let me continue.” Rinchen held up a hand, face solemn. “As he stood defeated, Avatar Aang had no choice but to tap into the Avatar State, a last attempt to restore balance to the world. In giving himself freely to the power, a rare ability manifested itself, a terrible tool only the most desperate and worthy of Avatars may access. Facing the end of the world, Aang used this power to bend time itself.”
Sokka’s head ached. “You can’t just bend time!” He denied, hands flailing.
“Aang did, finding himself back 100 years in the past. And this time, he defeated the Fire Lord. This summer the comet returns, and without an Avatar…” Rinchen broke off, looking thoughtful before continuing. “There are certain people who are essential to keeping the peace. You and your sister are two of them.”
“So, let me get this straight,” Sokka rocked back on his heels, wincing at the chill still in his muscles. “The world as we know it is going to end this summer unless certain people fix things, even though the Avatar failed last time?”
“That’s one way of putting it,” The monk allowed. “With the arrival of the comet, firebenders will have considerable power. And without the next Avatar to stop them, many fear the Fire Nation could succeed where they once failed.”
“And somehow I’m suppose to stop it?”
Rinchen laughed. “Oh no, my young friend, you are only a part of the success. Every rice in the bowl is needed in this fight, which is why now that you are better, we must leave to rescue Katara.”
“Really? Rescue her?” Sokka’s eyes brightened, but his joy faded with memory of how powerful the Water Sages had been. “But how? No offense, but I don’t see how an Airbender could take on all those Sages.”
“Alone? Never. But with allies, rescue is possible. We leave soon, our journey long and uncertain. This future is unwritten.”
Before Sokka respond, a heavy hand turned him around, a heavy pack thrust in his arms. “What is this?” Sokka asked suspiciously, not quite looking at his father.
“Go with Rinchen and save your sister.” Hakota held Sokka’s forearm gruffly as only men did, before engulfing his son in a rough hug. “I hope you… will understand why I acted as I did.”
Sokka wanted to say something, anything, but his mouth remained stubbornly shut. He couldn’t forgive his father for letting the Sages take his sister. Sokka wouldn’t have to go save her if his father had just stood his ground, fought for them! He turned away, eyes only for Rinchen. “Lets go.”
Sokka walked away, didn’t stop even as his father told him he loved him. He left his home without a second look back— it was time to save Katara.
3 Days Later, The Southern Ocean
A ship the size of the Water Sages’ should be swarming with men. Yet Katara could hear no human noises outside her cabin’s door, no matter how tightly she squeezed her ear to the rough timber. The ocean roared, heavy splashes following rough rises and falls from terrifying heights, and the ship’s wood groaned and creaked with movement. But there was no trace of human sound.Katara pushed back from the door, feeling her way back to the small bunk. Beneath her bare feet, the timbers were damp and slick, but she was at least secure against the crazed motion of the ship, obviously swept up in a vicious storm.
There was nothing more Katara could do but wait.
Two, perhaps three, days had passed since the Sages had taken her, and she hadn’t seen or heard from the five men since.
Perhaps it was a good thing the Sages were otherwise occupied, Katara grimly thought, sliding against the slick wall until her shaking knees hugged her chest. The thin fabric of her nightgown offered little protection against the drafty wood. They say few survive the initial torture.
The waiting was bad enough. Trapped in the darkness, battered by an uncontrollable ocean, left alone to her thoughts. How the Sages had declared her father willing, handing to her to them with no care. How her last vision of the city she so loved was her brother, slowly dying, encased in an icy tomb.
Katara was too strong to cry. She’d given in the first day, and all that had earned her was sore eyes. Hopes for rescue were slim— it was impossible to seal the Sages’ quarry, and none escaped once within the Sages’ grasps.
It had been two years of practicing her waterbending. Katara knew it had been a risk, but she had been so careful! It was impossible for her to deny the power inside her, any more than she could deny the air that gave her life. Bending was a part of Katara, and if she risked death for it? So be it.
Someone must have seen and sent notice to the Water Sages.
And Katara was going to take her revenge upon them. Because unlike the other victims of the Sages, Katara was going to escape. And, Katara thought, narrowing her eyes, put an end to these abductions. The Water Tribe will be free.
The vessel was beginning to settle within the water— which meant Katara had to quicken her plans. Calm seas would be the best chance for survival.
Her knees shook as she stood, returning to her post by the door, fingers tracing the slick walls of the cabin. If the Sages had been stupid enough to merely ice the door closed, Katara was confident she could have bended the water away. After years of abducting benders, the Sages had apparently learned their lesson— her door was locked with iron, and nothing she’d done had budged the door.
Without water, what could she do?
Her bare toes curled against the damp wooden floor, fingers tapping lightly against the iron barrier to her freedom, wishing her brother was there to surprise her with a plan.
And then it hit her. She was standing on damp wood. Dampness meant water. Water meant escape.
For the first time in days, Katara smiled, sensing for the first time the water within the wood that surrounded her. She raised her hands, assuming the familiar bending stance, and took a deep breath. She was going to escape—
The door to her cell crushed Katara’s body as it swung open. Stumbling backwards, Kara raised a hand to shield her eyes from the brilliant flare of a yellow lantern. A heavy hand yanked the hand away, pushing her forcefully further into the cell; the motion of the vessel sent Katara flying against the moldy linens on the aged bunk.
Katara tensed before turning her head to see her attacker. It was the shortest of the sages, a man distorted by his heavy bulk, muscles bulging intimidatingly from beneath his white parka. His face was lean and could be mistaken for handsome, save for the nasty snarl attached to thin lips. His was the face of the moon maddened wolf, fearsome in its unbending violence.
She couldn’t help but shiver as his pale blue eyes latched onto her. He might not the leader of the Water Sages, but that didn’t make him any less a threat.
“Stay back!” Katara cried out, ducking her head away from him into the mold covered linens, gagging at the wretched smell. Tears sprang to her eyes, body shaking from terror. “Don’t touch me, please!” It was difficult to remember her courage facing this maddened man.
He laughed, the harsh, guttural sound thunder in the small cabin. “I don’t have to touch you to begin the tests, pet,” The man’s voice dropped to a terrifying pitch just as a crack of ice sounded sharply in the air. Katara flinched, earning her a laugh from the Sage, but dared not look upon him again.
“Could you be the missing Avatar?” Another crack of ice, fire biting into her back in answer. Katara cried out, digging her hands into blanket, eyes squeezed tightly shut from a war of shock and pain.
Pain was winning.
“The Avatar could stop this. A simple little trick, nice little state. Only way to stop the pain, pet.” He paused, and this time Katara stifled the cry the next lash of his ice whip brought. She bit down, hard, on her lip, only to gag as blood seeped into her parched mouth. It was the only liquid she’d tasted in days. “Can you stop me?”
The cries as the ice whip lit fire into her back were the only response Katara had to offer. She was not the one, couldn’t he see? But the testing continued, Katara’s hold on the bed slipping, until another came to take the cruel man’s place— this one armed with a hammer.
Before the man could deliver the first blow, the pain faded. Her mind succumbed to the gray void pressing down on the edges of her sight.
It would be a very long time before she awoke.
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Authors Note: Originally this chapter was over 5,000 words; last version got cut to 4,300, and this one is down around 2,900. I could probably drop more of Katara's scene, but I *like it.* Most of what I cut involved Suki-- gave too much of plot away. And cutting down on the exposition definitely helped with Sokka's section, slightly less boring now. :D
