Scars and Ashes (Avatar: The Last Airbender Fanfic)

Katara

"Boring."

A fire crackled in the center of the abode as smoke swirled up to the ceiling. A smoky smell lingered in the pelts strewn across the icy floor, helping keep warmth in the room as an older lady sat on a pile of pelts so her old bones might settle into a sitting position on the hard, icy floor better. Despite their age, her fingers ran her knife swiftly across whalebone, carving the bone into an intricate item meant for a purpose only known to her.

Across the way, another sat, her knees pulled up, her arms wrapping around her legs as her bright blue eyes watched the old woman carving the whalebone. A sigh escaped right before the other in the room repeated what she'd said. "Boring."

"Patience, Katara. Your father and brother should be home soon."

"It's not fair that they're allowed to go out into the village, and I'm not," Katara said, continuing to lean into her arms, frustrated at her plight.

"Katara." The old woman clicked her tongue. "You know why."

"I know, I know. I'm the daughter of the head chieftain of the Southern Water tribe," Katara said, continuing to look on in boredom at the smoke winding up into the air. "I'm to be protected as if I'm some kind of fragile snowflake that will melt at the first interaction with the outside world."

"Katara." The old woman let out a deep sigh, setting aside her carving and frowning, placing her hands in her lap. "You know very well that going anywhere without your father, brother, or even your Uncle Bato is out of the question."

"I can take care of myself, Gran Gran!" Katara protested, her hand slamming down, resulting in the sound of ice cracking, drawing her from her train of thought. She quickly pulled back the pelts she sat on and swallowed, taking in the crack that formed.

"Yes, yes," Gran Gran chuckled. "We all know you're quite the capable Water Bender. But Katara..." The old woman slipped her warm gloves made from seal pelts off, rubbing her bony fingers. "But Katara, dear?" She touched her throat, resulting in Katara doing the same, touching the necklace at her throat—her mother's necklace. "You know why."

"Mother," Katara said, swallowing, before moving off the pelts she'd sat on, pulling them away from the cracked floor, taking a deep breath at the sight of the cracks in the floor, quickly waving her hand to repair the damage. She glanced over at her grandmother after she finished. "You won't tell father?"

After a moment of silence, Gran Gran frowned and said, "Katara, dear. Part of the reason you're not allowed to go out on you're own is you're not able to control that temper of yours, which in turn draws unnecessary attention to yourself, but we still don't know who murdered your mother that night."

"I overheard it was a Fire Nation merchant," Katara said.

"And where did you hear that rumor?" Gran Gran said.

"From Niyok and Nutha's new friends," Katara said.

"Niyok and Nutha?" Gran Gran sighed. "I've noticed you've not asked of late if Sokka would take you to see them."

Katara let out a sound of frustration, her arms wrapping around her legs again. "To do what?"

"I know you can't play some of the games you girls used to, such as playing hide and seek, given the fact you're not allowed out of the sight of Sokka or whoever else is escorting you when you outside of this abode, but surely there are other games you can play with them, right?"

Katara shook her head. "Their new friends—it's rather awkward making friends with them knowing I'm the daughter of the head chieftain, but I suspect..." Her mouth twisted into a slight grimace. "Some of them have a crush on Sokka." She took a deep breath. "Anyways, it's not right to expect them to drop whatever plans they've already made with their new friends just because Sokka or someone else is finally available to take me out."

"I'd say there's plenty to do here, but having something to do isn't the problem, is it?" Gran Gran said, setting her hands in her lap. "The problem is being able to do anything with others around your own age."

"I'm going for a walk," Katara said. "And I might work on my bending."

"Is that all?" Gran Gran asked.

Katara froze, turning to look at her Gran Gran, frowning. "It isn't as if I could walk past the men guarding the entrance to the head chieftain's home. They'd recognize me instantly, right?"

"Right," her grandmother said, watching Katara leave for one of the cooler parts of the dwelling, taking a deep breath as she walked the icy halls, passing by the entrance a few times, the guards in question waving at her and waving back.

Taking a deep breath, she muttered under her breath. "Yeah. That's not an option."

Resigned, Katara decided to practice her waterbending as she'd told her Gran Gran she would, heading to the inner pool where the family clothes were washed. A stream ran to and from the pond, bringing in fresh water and removing water, resulting in the pond never becoming stagnant. Fire pits were located near the fire pits on either side of the stream to dry the clothes and hang the rods.

When she arrived, she saw a familiar face. "Oh! Oyu!"

"Here to practice your waterbending?" the woman asked, smiling at Katara.

"You're washing Sokka's stinky robes again," Katara laughed.

"They aren't stinky when I finish with them Oyu said, pulling a robe out and hanging it up to dry.

An idea struck Katara at that moment, but to enact the plan, she needed to wait; she approached the pond herself, levitating an orb of water out of the air, practicing at keeping her emotions in check while watching Oyu, waiting for her to finish and leave, allowing the robes in question to dry.

When Oyu left, Katara lowered her orb back into the water and hurried over to the robes, eying one of Sokka's, and with her hands removed the water from the robes, quickly drying the robes out. She lifted the robe off the rod and hurried back to her room, changing into the plainer robes of her older brother, feeling slightly dwarfed by them before placing her robes with the rest of her own.

Taking a deep breath, she didn't approach the entrance of the dwelling of the head chieftain and instead approached a side. Lifting her hands, she dropped the ice wall and stepped outside, turning back after she'd escaped and lifting the wall back up, leaving none the wiser regarding her escape plan.

Gently, she pulled the hood over her head, letting out a sigh of relief. "I'm free. Free to—well, I don't know what, but I'm certainly not cooped up inside like a fragile snowflake."