Avatar Katara

The Spirit World

"Those clouds look so soft, don't they?" Katara sighed as she looked over the edge of Sang's saddle. "Like you could just jump off and land in a soft, cottony heap?"

"I'll try it." Rina opened her glider and jumped off the side of Sang's saddle. She soared through the cloud before coming up on the other side, soaking wet. "Ok, so it turns out that clouds are made of water." Katara sighed and bent the water off her.

"Hey, what's that?" Sokka asked, pointing down to a large stretch of scorched land.

"It's like a scar," Rina breathed, looking down at the burned forest. Sang landed in the middle, and the friends disembarked, looking around the forest. "It's so quiet," she said softly. "It's like there's no life. Anywhere."

"Fire Nation," Sokka spat, suddenly furious. "Those evil savages make me sick! They have no respect for-"

"Sokka," Rina interrupted, pointing at Katara, who was slumped on the ground.

Instantly, Sokka's big brother instincts kicked in. "Katara? Are you ok?"

Katara was still looking around the ruined forest. "I'm the Avatar," she said quietly. "It's my duty to protect the world. How could I let this happen?"

"Katara, you didn't even learn you're the Avatar until a month ago. There's no way you could have prevented this."

"But it's my duty," she insisted. "I should've realized sooner."

"If it's your fault, then it's my fault too."

Katara was so surprised she stopped being guilty. "No it's not!"

Sokka looked away. "A few weeks before the raid, we got into a really bad fight." Katara nodded. Sokka tripped and spilled his bowl of sea prunes on her, and she took that personally. "You were screaming and throwing icicles at me and it was kind of terrifying. When mom and dad came to see what the fuss was about, and they sided with me, your eyes glowed blue. It was only for a second, but we all saw it. When I asked mom about it later, she said I'd just imagined it. But then I overheard her tell dad, 'what if she's the Avatar?' and then dad said, 'no one can know.' I should have told you about that."

"You were ten," Katara said. "You didn't know any better."

"But maybe if I'd told you-"

"How about this?" Rina interrupted. "It was just as much my fault. I could've found you earlier."

"How?" Katara asked.

"That's what I'm saying. There was nothing I could've done. There's nothing you could've done. There's nothing Sokka could have done if he'd told you, except get you killed by those raiders. None of us are to blame. All we can do is defeat the Fire Nation and stop more attacks like this. And that's why we're going to the North Pole, so you can find a teacher."

"A waterbending teacher," Katara said glumly. "There's no one that can teach me how to be an Avatar."

"Gran said that Aang would teach you."

"Aang's dead. He's been dead for fourteen years. He can't teach me anything. And until I learn how to be an Avatar, there's nothing I can do. There's no hope."

"Yes there is." Rina threw an acorn at Katara's head. "Ready to be cheered up?"

"How is this cheering me up?" Katara snapped.

"Cheered me up," Sokka called, and Rina threw another acorn at his head. "Ow! Ok, yeah, I probably deserved that."

"There's acorns everywhere," Rina explained. "That means the forest will grow back. If Tikaani doesn't eat them all." She shot a look at the chameleon wolf, who stopped digging the acorns. "But all these acorns will be trees some day, and then all the animals that lived here will return." She placed the acorn in Katara's palm. "Don't give up hope, ok?"