A Different Destiny

Chapter 33

She stared at him with her mouth open for several minutes. Not willing to believe what she had just heard,

Gua read her reaction so he said it again but more clearly this time, "The soldiers that killed my little sister and attacked me were from the Northern Watertribe,"

"No...no...hat can't be true," she stammered, shaking her head. "Maybe the Fire Nation or some other type of bandits had stolen the flag of a captured Water Tribe vessel, so then it only LOOKED like-"

He shook his head sadly like he didn't want to believe what he was saying either. "There's no question," he whispered. The boat they were on was a canoe not forged of metal, and they shot projectiles made of icy rocks rather than flames,

She shook her head again but she knew there was no use fighting it, what he said was true. She knew from the first time that she had met him there had been something different about him, something that made it hard for Katara to feel like she could fully trust him (other than the flying boulder incident). How she understood what that was.

If you had asked her a year ago to describe or even name what this was, she would've been at an utter loss for words. Yes, losing her mother at a young age was pain like she could've never even dreamed of. But after traveling the 4 nations, and especially seeing the consequences of the war, she understood what it meant to truly have nothing. To have everything you once loved and cared for torn away from you in an away you know it'll never be the same.

Katara had always what the Gaang had affectionately referred to (and had occasionally teased) as their eternal optimist. And while she could do with less jokes about her being motherly and overoptimistic in general, she knew it was out of jest and love that they did it. So it really didn't bother her that much.

But after seeing the scale of death and destruction that has touched some peoples lives, she understood why some people wouldn't- couldn't ever be the same.

Sometimes after such a complete tragedy there are no pieces of your former life or self to pick back up- or at least no one to help you do it.

Gua wasn't an inherently evil person, he wasn't like Azula who laughed at other people' s pain. Katara had always wanted to believe in the concept of fate, of being in charge of her own life and having destiny in the palm of her hand. But it was undeniable the life bestowed on Gua was through no fault of her own. Despite the ongoing throbbing pain in her arm, she wondered just where his culpability began?

After all, especially after all she and Zuko had been through, she was starting to realize that growing up in a world void of most love and happiness and instead filled with violence, hatefulness, and every last bitter emotion. She could start to understand what Gua had meant before by saying his decision had been set long before they had met.

Katara was saved having to respond to the loud grinding and twisting sound of metal rubbing against itself, startled as she looked to the corner of the room and the only door had swung open. There were several people that filed in, a tall and stern looking man led the small procession. She assumed he was in charge, not only because he entered first but because of the way he was dressed, his gear clearly of better quality and design than the three men that followed after.

"Why are you in here with the prisoner?" the man's eyes flashed over Katara laying in Gua's lap and a look of disgust crossed his face. "And why in the world are you doing that?"

Gua looked shocked at the interruption and started stuttering an excuse. But with a wave of his hand the man cut him off, "stop I actually don't want to hear your excuses. Guards." He motioned towards the two on the floor and the soldiers advanced. Katara resisted the urge to scream watching the soldiers reach for her. Ignoring the pain in her arm she tried to twist away from the soldier that had grabbed her as she watched the other two drag Gua to the far side of the room.