𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝑹𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒔

Chpter 18

"Welcome home, Katara."

Katara's eyes traced the Mistress's face. Not much had changed in the features of the Kyoshi leader during Katara's absence. But the things that had aged were much more apparent because of this: fine lines appeared around the eyes, the mouth, in the forehead. Up close, Katara could see how sometimes the white paint didn't fully cover these signs of aging—how old was the Mistress now? Fifty? Bordering sixty? Her husband had died around the same time Katara had left.

Sooner than later, it would fall to Sokka and Suki to lead Kyoshi on.

On into what, was the uncertain part.

The part that had been Katara's job to figure out. Or, more to the point, define, what with her world-changing mission. Which she had so conveniently failed to accomplish.

"You didn't kill him," the Mistress said.

Katara swallowed. Sokka and Suki were silent, still presences at her sides. It was the four of them in that dim room, the Mistress on one side of the low table and the three younger warriors on the other.

I remember this, Katara thought. I remember when we came in here, sat like this, and talked about me. Except it had been about my Waterbending, something that completely changed my life.

As this will.

"No, I didn't," Katara replied.

"But you brought him back alive," said the Mistress, calm brown eyes moving on to rest on Sokka's face. He gave a tiny, affirmative nod. "The Emperor of Fire. He is currently being held in one of our imprisonment houses, I expect?"

Sokka nodded again.

"Under maximum guard."

"Twenty warriors for the Emperor and the Fire Elites on day and night duty," said Sokka.

Katara didn't like Sokka sounding so subservient.

The Mistress said, "He'll be useful, I'm sure. Maybe you didn't fail this mission as spectacularly as I had originally thought, Katara."

All she could do was nod.

"We'll get all the information we can from him first," the Mistress said. "Then we'll try to ransom him back to his country. If they don't want him back—which I find highly unlikely—then we'll have to kill him. Either way, we win. We have the upper hand now.

"But seeing as it is your fault in the first place that we have to deal with this problem," the Mistress stared hard at Katara, "then it will be your job, and your punishment, to extract this information from the Emperor. If all else fails, then it will be your turn, yet again, to kill him."

All Katara could do was nod.

"I'm sure you won't fail this time," said the Mistress. "The mere fact that I'm offering you a second chance should be enough to impart upon you the importance of this decision."

Suki found Katara curled up on the beach, the rising tide lapping at the bottoms of her bare feet.
"Remember we used to practice here all the time?" Suki said, settling on the sand next to Katara, and putting the giggling Suyan down so she could crawl around and play. The Waterbender's face was tucked between her knees, hidden from the world. "You, and me, and Sokka."

Katara was silent.

"Such good memories," Suki sighed, and permitted herself a faint smile at her daughter's antics, who was picking up grubby fistfuls of sand before letting it drift away in the wind. "And you're home again. Aren't you happy to be home again?" She rested a hand on Katara's curled back.

No answer, and then: "You should hate me," Katara said flatly.

Suki drew her hand away. "Hate you for what? For saving our lives?"