Drowning Memories

Chapter 3 Swirling the Glass

All was blackness. She drifted, slowly, as if a current was pulling at her.

All was silence. She breathed, the air was thick and stagnant.

Katara planted her feet at the bottom of whatever current was dragging at her. She stared strait ahead, looking at nothing. Then a light. A warm light before her. Still in the distance, it came toward her. It was joined by a second then a third, and so on until you could no longer count the lights. They flickered and she recognized them to be flames. The legions of fire came closer still. Until Katara could discern that they were not just flames, they were the flames of Fire Nation soldiers. To many to count. The ground was black and the sky was like tar, where not even the stars dared to show themselves to this threatening army. Katara was not afraid though, she had water, plenty of water. She could even sense seven rivers filling her pool. Katara stood the water at waist height, to wait for the impending army.

The army approached and then, when Katara was sure they were going to walk right over her, they turned and marched to the east, away from her. The soldiers took no interest in the waterbender standing before them. This made her angry, how dare they ignore a waterbending master! Katara tried to yell but no sound came from her mouth. Fine then! She thought, I'll just waterbend to get their attention. She lifted her arms in a waterbending stance and let fly with the water-whip form. Nothing happened. Katara looked at her hands and saw that none of the water had followed her command. She tried again and again to give the water life, to let it dance in the air, but no matter what she did nothing worked. W-what's happening? Katara cupped her hands and lifted the water closer to her eyes, it was red with the firelight all around, Gods she wished there was sunlight!

Wait... Katara sniffed the water, it smelled sour and gut wrenching. She dipped one finger into the liquid around her and tasted it, a sharp, warm, metallic taste filled her mouth even from one drop. Katara dipped her hand in one more time watching the liquid course down her hand and drip back into the pool. She knew this liquid.

Blood

It was blood all around her, she was swimming in a lake of blood. Katara spun around heart pounding but still unable to scream. She had been mistaken before. There were not seven rivers, oh no, there were seven bodies, dead and broken, bleeding into her pool. Katara's eyes flipped from one to the next.

Aang.

Sokka.

Sukki.

Father.

Mother.

Toph.

And the last body, with his hand reaching out to her, was

Zuko.

Katara screamed.

She screamed over and over. Countless screams at the top of her voice. The shrieks echoed with feral cries of agony. They bounced around hurting even her own ears and yet she couldn't stop. It was as if she screamed enough the Gods would give them back to her. She begged the Lord of Fire and Lady of Water to destroy her. Her screams raged as if they had bodies of their own. Katara thrashed in the blood of her friends and tore at her hair. And still she screamed.

Zuko was working in his study, a small room just off the master bedroom of his apartments. This way he could be close to Katara if she needed anything but also let her keep her privacy. Zuko was looking at a peace agreement when he heard the first scream.

Zuko dropped the scroll and flat out ran into his bedroom. It sounded like Katara was being stabbed with a serrated blade! What could be happening? When he got there he saw Katara sitting strait up in bed eyes wide with fear and screaming.

"Katara! Katara!" Zuko grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her trying desperately to wake her up. He covered her mouth to keep her screams from being heard everywhere in the palace.

"Katara, it's me, Zuko. Wake up. Wake up!" he cried. It seemed the words finally penetrated and suddenly Katara started to shake and tears filled her eyes.

At that moment guards burst in the door.

"Your Majesty are you and Lady Katara all right?" the Captain of the Royal Guard said as they barged in.

"Yes, she just had a nightmare." Zuko said looking up from Katara who was trembling in his arms.

"Do you want me to call the Lady's family?" the Captain asked.

"No she's fine and there is no need to trouble them. Please leave us."

"Yes Lord." the guards departed.

Zuko turned to Katara.

"Z-Zuko? Is it really you?" Katara whimpered tears coursing down her face.

"Yes, it's me." Katara started touching his face and hair, checking if he was real or a figment of her imagination.

"I-it is you." she breathed and then hugged him tight.

"Oh Gods! Oh Gods oh Gods oh Gods!" she trembled harder in Zuko's arms.

"Shh. It's okay. It's alright. Shh shh. I'm here don't worry." he murmured to her as she cried. Eventually he managed to get Katara to tell him about the dream.

"Are those the dreams you were talking about? The ones that made you order the wine last night?"

"Yes." Katara said in hushed tones. "It's as if the Goddess of Dreams is angry with me for some reason, but I don't know why."

"I know that talking about dreams sometimes helps them go away. I would talk to Uncle all the time about dreams I'd have when I was... banished."

"I hope that works. I am so tired of these dreams. They frighten me so much."

There was silence for a moment.

"Do you remember what led up to you fainting on the floor? Did you just try to get up to get something or was there some sort of distraction?" Zuko asked. Katara thought for a moment then the memories of earlier came rushing back.

"Aang!" she said in a murderous voice. Zuko gave her a questioning look and she continued. "Aang came to my room when I was sleeping and wanted to talk to me. I came to the door, my liquor-sickness evident, and he said I looked terrible. Not the best way to greet me. So I yelled at him and slammed the door in his face. He called through the door saying he had to talk to me. I yelled back that if it was so important he could tell me through the door. Well he did. He said, as if he were my father, that he was worried about my relationship with you! The guy who just broke our relationship the other day!" Zuko's eyes widened then narrowed after hearing this, "I swear I wanted to kill him. Instead I gave him three seconds to get far away from me. I was so angry and humiliated. My head was pounding and I felt faint, I remember trying to close the door but after that..." she drifted off.

Zuko's hands balled into fists and his jaw clenched. Katara put a hand on his arm.

"Please don't get mad. He had my best interests at heart he just had them wrong. Maybe that's why he broke our courting, he could see we were drifting and just didn't want to get hurt."

"So he hurts you instead! How is that better?" Zuko's voice raised slightly. Katara lightly touched her temple,

"Zuko, I still have a bit of a headache please don't shout."

"Oh I'm sorry."

"You've got to remember he's still a child and a monk. Even as the Avatar there are some things he just doesn't understand."

"How are you so patient?"

"Believe me, I'm not. I just keep everything inside until I can let it out in my room." she gave a slight chuckle, "Can't have me screaming at those stuck up peace councils and nobles. Indeed, I'd be seen as a peasant or a mad woman."

"True they can be rather... critical. I'm just glad you're talking with them instead of Sokka." Zuko gave a rye smile, "Can you imagine? Meat everywhere and Sokka cracking his terrible jokes." Katara gave a light laugh.

"With his luck he'd start the war all over again."

"Probably."