ultraviolence | avatar, the last airbender

08

KIARA SAT BY THE RIVERBANK, watching the sun set below the horizon. Katara and Sokka had finally been cured of their sickness and were back to walking around and not hallucinating. Kiara kept mostly to herself, which was noticed by the group. She didn't want to explain what had happened with her father, but Aang probably told the story to the water tribe siblings. She felt that it was nice she didn't have to explain it to the rest of them. It would have made it harder to act like she was okay. Kiara didn't really have an appetite, so she was always off somewhere by herself during meal times.

She began to think back to her father. Kiara didn't know why she thought it would be different with him. All the men in Kiara's life seemed to be self serving, controlling, and borderline abusive. Kiara started to think if there were any truly decent men out there, somewhere. She couldn't help but feel lonely. First it was Jet that betrayed her, and now her own father. Why did she keep trusting men who ultimately let her down? Though she knew Katara, Aang, and Sokka would listen to her problems, she didn't want to burden them. She wanted to be strong.

Kiara's idea of being strong was isolating herself. Aang and Sokka asked her numerous times if she was okay and she would either ignore them or get irritated. Kiara constantly told them that she was fine, even though she knew she wasn't. The only time Kiara could spend trying to heal was by herself. The rest of the group started to worry. After all that's happened to Kiara in the past couple of weeks, they knew she was hiding her true feelings.

"Here," She heard a soft voice say. Kiara was pulled from her thoughts. She turned and saw Katara, holding a couple sticky rice rolls in her hands.

"I'm not hungry," Kiara said, looking away. In her head, she pleaded for Katara to go away.

"You haven't eaten in a day and a half," Katara said. "This will give you some strength back."

Instead of fighting it, Kiara took the food from Katara. She took a bite of it and began to chew. Katara sat next to her in silence. Under normal circumstances, Kiara would be annoyed at Katara's hovering. However, Katara's presence was comforting to her. The way she sat close to her, not too close to suffocate but not too far to isolate her.

Kiara swallowed and took another bite. Though it was just plain rice and seaweed, it was a really kind gesture from Katara. Katara showed that she cared about her. The last time Kiara was shown this much warmth and compassion, it was from her mother. Kiara started to feel her eyes well up with tears. Before she knew it, tears were streaming down her face. Kiara tried to shove more of the food into her mouth but nothing seemed to stop her tears from falling. She started crying more loudly. She pulled her knees to her chest and buried her head into her legs, sobbing.

"Shh. It's okay," Katara consoled her. She wrapped her arm around Kiara's shoulder as she continued to cry. "You needed to let your emotions go. Have some more, you'll be alright," She encouraged, holding out another rice roll. Kiara looked up, wiping her eyes and taking it in her hands. She took a bite out of the rice, tears still streaming down her face.

☼

"I hate all men," Kiara declared. She walked over to where Katara was sitting, takng a seat next to her. As per Kiara's request, Katara agreed to not tell the rest of the group about Kiara's "emotional episode" as she called it. Kiara didn't want them to think any differently of her.

Sokka and Aang exchanged looks. "You don't mean all men, ri—" Sokka started.

Kiara shot him a deadly look. "You better choose your next words very carefully, Sokka," She said.

Sokka gulped. "I was going to say that all men suck too," He said sheepishly. Sokka suddenly caught a glimpse of a large fish that leapt out of the water. He quickly raced to grab his fishing rod. Sokka grumbled incoherent things and turned around. "Where is the fishing line?" He asked. "How can I fish without a fishing line?