Recovery & Doubt go Hand in Hand

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The next morning Aang still wasn't awake, and it was only me and Toph that we're awake. "So how'd you convince the northerners to let Zuko in?" She asked. I shook my head.

"Not me. Him. He talked to them, proved he could be the leader the fire nation and the world needs right now." I replied.

"So how are you two doing?" Toph asked. I shrugged. "If you don't want to talk about it you don't have to."

"There's just....I don't know that there's anything to talk about. I've been thinking, and I just don't know if him and I should be together." I replied.

"What happens if you guys are together after the war? With him already making such huge changes to the fire nation army, will they accept him as fire lord?" She asked.

"They have to. It's his birthright. He will convince them and show them that he's just doing what's best for them." I replied.

"But with you as his bride? A water nation girl? The exact opposite of everything they are? What if they decide that by doing that he's committing treason and try to asassinate  or overthrow him?" She asked. My eyes went wide.

"Or your children? If they decide since they are not pure blood fire nation they have no right to the throne? And they try to do those things to them?" She continued.

"Toph! Stop, please! What the hell got into you?" I asked. "Why are you telling me these things?" I asked.

"Because I care Katara. I care about him, I care about you. I care about your future. If there's a way to prevent that from happening, don't you want to?" Toph asked turning towards me. "Think of all the uncertainty he'll be dealing with within the world about him, not even mentioning the uncertainty about him in his own nation. Some people will hate him. Some will love him. But those that hate him might go to drastic ends just to make him suffer. And those that hate him feel that way cause they wanted to dominate the world. They wanted the world to feel like it was less than them. Do you're children, you as his wife, think of the uncertainty that'll cause." Toph reminded. She was right. As much as I hate it, she was so unbelievably right. We couldn't be together. Despite the obstacles in our way now, even after we pass those, we couldn't be together. Not just for our safety but for the children we'd have.

"Can I be alone for a while?" I asked.

"Whatever I'm going back to bed anyways." She shrugged and walked off. I sat on the ground, curling into a ball, silently crying. As soon as everyone was awake, we took off walking. Aang was being unusually quiet, and staying a fair distance away from me which was also unusual. I tried pushing things from my mind and just focusing on getting back. Sokka walked over to me wrapping an arm around my shoulder.

"What is it?" Sokka asked. "You're obviously thinking about something." He confronted. I shook my head.

"I'd rather not talk about it." I said. "How do you feel? Hurting anywhere?" I asked.

"Yeah I'm a little sore, but I'll be okay." He reassured. "Well you know your family is here whenever want me, okay?" He gently pat my back removing his arm.

"So where are we going?" He asked after a long moment of silence.

"I was thinking Kyoshi island. Try to get some help there." I said.

"How are we going to get there?" He asked.

"Well if we can get a boat, by this afternoon we can get there just before dark. We'll rest there then we will head to the Northern water tribe, but that in itself will be an entire days journey." I explained. "I think for now it'll be best for us to move small distances at a time. All of us need a little bit of recovery. Don't worry about how we'll get back, okay? Just let me manage that." I gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder. We did exactly what I said we'd do. We moved small distances at once, taking breaks in between, but we were still on track for Kyoshi island as far as I was concerned. We'd reached something that was less of a village more of a docking area, and Iroh bought us passage to Kyoshi island. The ride there was almost awkwardly silent. What was going on?

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