Nightfall

Thirty Seven

The infirmary was still full of people who needed healing and taken care of. It had been four days since the battle -- four days since they defeated President Ozai. They weren't the only ones fighting, though. The rest of the White Lotus fought against the other Gamemasters and the guards that Ozai had sent out. It was a close call for all of them, but they had done it. They had begun creating the new, better world.

Well, Sokka had begun creating the new, better world. Katara wasn't in the meetings or whatever they were doing because she had been assigned to heal the hurt soldiers in the infirmary that they set up right outside the blown up palace. Since she was the only waterbender here in the Capital as of right now, she had to stay in the infirmary to help take care of the wounded men and women. In the next day or so, more waterbenders would be joining her, but, right now, she was all alone.

That was how she wanted it to be, though. She wanted to be alone, to let herself finally open up and feel the pain and grief and guilt fully. As long as she was alone, she wouldn't feel weak when she began to cry. She would just feel broken.

"Nurse!" a voice called out. Katara stood up suddenly and nearly fell over. Her head was still a fuzzy from the explosion. She had healed herself, but it still shook her to the core on how close she was to dying. "Nurse, I'm hungry!"

Katara rolled her eyes. She headed over to the bed closest to the corner and farthest away from all the other patients. She saw Toph leaning back on the bed with her feet kicked up on the footrest. Toph had gotten hurt in the explosion, and she was milking her injury to the full extent. It wasn't even that bad. Her feet had gotten burned in the explosion and her arm had broke in a few places when she landed. Katara healed her three days ago, but she insisted on staying until who knew when.

"You already ate an hour ago," Katara said, walking over to Toph. She stood next to her, glaring down at the small girl. "I don't think you need to eat again."

"You don't get to tell my stomach when it can be hungry," Toph snapped. She clapped her hands together, making Katara groan. "I want a lot of food, so get ready to write it down."

"I don't have anything to write on," Katara said, crossing her arms over her chest. "And you know that we only have soup here. As much as you want a five pound steak, you can't have it."

"But I want it!"

"We don't have any steak here!" Katara said angrily. "You are only allowed to eat soup because that is what we have." Katara took a deep breath, closing her eyes. She didn't want to start another fight with Toph again. "Do you want another bowl of soup?"

"No," Toph said with a frown. "I don't want soup." She waved her hand at Katara like she was a maid. "You can go now."

Katara turned around with a sigh. Most of the other patients were better than Toph was. They were more generous with her and thankful. Some were a bit weird, like the guy that got stabbed in the leg. He was a little grabby and tried to flirt with her. She didn't enjoy that at all, but he had left on the first day in the infirmary. 

Soon enough, it was time for Katara's break. She was so ready to sit down for ten minutes and relax. Plopping down in the seat, she let out a sigh. Her eyes fluttered shut, and she rubbed her forehead. A slight headache was forming behind her eyes, and she was not ready for it. The stress of helping all these people was slowly getting to her. Most of them weren't deathly injured, but they could die if she didn't take care of them. 

"Are you busy?"

Katara opened her eyes and saw Suki standing in front of her. She had a long scar that traveled down her arm because of the explosion. Katara had healed the cut that had formed because of the shrapnel, but that didn't stop it from scarring up. Otherwise, she hadn't been hurt as bad as Katara or Toph had. 

"No," Katara said with a sigh. "I'm on my break right now."

"Oh, I could come back if you want to relax a little," Suki said quickly. 

"No, no, it's fine." Katara shook her head and pointed to the seat next to her. Aang had been helping her a little with helping these people, but he got busy with helping Sokka and Iroh figure out the new government order. She hadn't seen him in at least two days. "I don't mind." Suki sat down next to her and crossed her legs. Her foot bounced up and down like she was nervous about something. "What's up?"

"How are you doing?" Suki asked suddenly.

"I'm fine."

"No, Katara. How are you really doing?"

Katara must not have been doing a good job putting up a façade. She thought that she had forced a happy look on her face, but it probably looked like she was permanently grimacing. Either that, or people could see through her disguise. It was probably her eyes that showed how she truly felt. They always were sad-looking and held all her pain.

"Not so good," Katara whispered. Tears filled her eyes, but she didn't let them fall. She didn't want to cry in front of Suki, let alone the rest of the patients in the infirmary. "But I'll be fine."

"You need to talk it out," Suki said, making Katara frown, "but I won't make you talk right now. Sokka told me some things, but not everything, so when you're ready, come to me." Suki smiled softly, and a nice feeling spread through Katara's bones. "I just wanted to let you know that you're the strongest girl I know. You've put up with so much trauma and pain from the past couple of years. I don't think I'd ever be as strong as you."

"I'm definitely not strong," Katara said with a small laugh. The tears in her eyes slowly dissipated, but her throat was still burning. "I haven't been happy in years."

Suki didn't say anything for a little bit. It looked like something was on her mind. Katara didn't want her to say what was on her mind, though, because she was tired of talking about her feelings right now. She was already exhausted from dealing with all this by herself; she didn't want any help, especially if she was going to run away soon.

"How has the search for Zuko, Ozai, and Azula been going?" Katara asked her instead. After the explosion, they couldn't find Ozai's body. Someone must have gotten him because he was knocked out when the palace exploded. Azula's body also went missing. Katara kept trying to tell them that she was dead, but they wanted to find her to make sure that she was actually dead. Zuko was still missing after he got struck by lightning. "Have you or the others found any leads yet?"

"Not yet," Suki answered. She looked a little disappointed that Katara had switched topics, but she didn't say anything about it. "The blood trail that we found where Azula had been led us to a dead end. We lost track of it once they went into the woods."

"I'm telling you that she died," Katara said. "I stabbed her in the chest. She couldn't possibly survive that."

"We want to make sure she's dead." Suki nodded firmly, which probably meant that she was done talking about Azula. "I should go. Your break is almost over and I need to get back to my group." She flashed her a small smile, standing up. "Bye, Katara."

"Bye, Suki."

Suki headed over to the exit and glanced back at Katara one last time with a soft smile on her face. It was strange having people care about her. She didn't think that anyone would care about her once they found out that she murdered two people and was the fault of two other people dying. Yet people did. She just wished they didn't because she would run away soon enough to die alone. That way, it would be easier for everyone.