A Different Destiny

Chapter 31

The world came back to Katara in blurry, incoherent bits and pieces. She was dimly aware of the ongoing flurry of activity happening around her. Crewmen running here and there. Soldiers barking orders.

She hoped that they didn't hurt any of the crewmen they had been so kind to. She wished she could just get up and do something to help. But the pain in her arm was blinding, it had instantly brought her to her knees. She would've screamed if she could get enough air in her lungs.

Katara laid there as the world continued to spin around her. And in spite of the pain and everything happening her mind briefly flashed to Zuko. For a moment she wished he was here to just hold her like he had back in the catacombs.

She thought back to that moment, the glowing jade gave the entire scene a surreal feeling. Not to mention the person who had been her greatest enemy for days on end, the one who chased her through all of her longest days and darkest dreams was now looking at her with a tenderness that would've made her pull away in shock in any other situation...

Wait, why was she thinking of Zuko at a time like this. She needed to stay focused on what was going on.

She slowly tried to move into a sitting position but instantly regretted the decision as white hot pain shot through her body.

Her mouth began to fill with a metallic taste and she realized she had bitten a deep gash into her tongue when the pain had hit her. She managed to spit some of it out, dripping blood down the side of her mouth. She had to escape this, it felt like she was drowning. In the back of her mind, in a faraway place, she logically knew this wasn't happening but that did nothing for her panic at that very moment.

The space directly in front of her darkened, and through blurred vision she could tell someone was standing in front of her.

It was Gua.

"Oh Katara." He said with a deep sadness she didn't understand. "I'm sorry it had to be this way."

What was he talking about? They had been attacked. She wanted to ask but she couldn't get her body to respond to even the simplest of commands.

Gua dropped to the floor beside her and grabbed something behind him. He fumbled behind himself for a moment before Katara felt the cool edge of a cup touch her lips. She tried to turn her head away, spitting out a little more blood. She would surely drown in the taste of her own blood and whatever was in this cup if she tried.

"Shhh. It's going to be okay." Gua said gently cupping the back of her head. He was sitting cross legged next to her and reached over slowly to pull him onto her lap, like Zuko had done once before.

He slowly guided her into an included position and pressed the cup back to her lips tipping it backwards. Without making the decision to she slowly let herself drink. She wasn't sure what it wasn't, definitely not water. It tasted sweet like honey with a soft burning after sensation. Seconds later her eyes began to feel heavy and although she knew she needed to get up, she needed to do something, she gave in to the darkness.

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By all accounts it should've been a peaceful morning in the little hut on the cliff by the sea. The midmorning sun had just begun to peak out above the trees in the east and the entire area was alive with the sounds of the forest. Birds sang their morning greetings from the branches of the tall trees. Gophers and squirrel possums chittered in the grass around the house, scavenging for food to take back to their nest.If Zuko had been outside he may have even noticed fox deer that had wandered into the clearing near the houses just a bit ago.