Chapter Text
Katara didn’t have time to call Air Temple Island before bringing her daughter home. In a desperate flurry to leave the hospital with as much of her personal medical supplies as she could differentiate from what were city property, the waterbender simply hoped her boys were in bed and that her father was sleeping. She wanted to bring Kya to her office and set up shop with no questions to answer.
Unfortunately, she was met with mass chaos. Toph was on the island, wearing riot gear, which was doubling as a bio-suit. Her father had her sons tucked to his sides with Lin against his shoulders.
“Dad!” Katara cried as Appa swept his massive feet across the rocky shore. “What’s happening?”
Hakoda clutched at his grandson’s shoulders. “Burglars. In the living quarters — the boys were in bed, we were sleeping — I only just heard them leaving, they were in your office. Looks like they wiped the place clean. I’m so sorry, Katara—”
Ready to scream and cry, Katara could only swallow a thick lump of any hope that remained. Focusing on her goal, the mother simply waved Aang and her crew to follow her, Kya tucked securely in his hold.
“Katara?” Toph questioned. “What’s going on?”
“Follow me,” She instructed, the police chief complying as Katara made haste to her ransacked office, biting back a sob at the overturned sight. “Damn,” She whispered, finally letting out a cry. “Fuck!”
“Okay, wow, that’s a new one for you.” Toph could barely breathe as she’d certainly rarely heard Katara curse in their lifetime of friendship, and never the second word she’d nearly screeched. “Whatever is going on, tell me how I can help.”
The waterbender turned around, her eyes watering in anger and frustration. “Kya’s got it. The disease. Uki wouldn’t let me perform experimental treatments on any of our patients, and so when Kya came in, I figured I had my own consent to authorize experimental treatment for my own daughter. Uki refused to let me, so I...I said I’d bring her here...and...”
A connection suddenly fired off in Katara’s foggy, exhausted brain. “No...” She muttered, her eyes turning from misty to dark. “She did this. Toph, I don’t know what’s happening, or why, but Uki did this, I know she did!”
Toph nodded. “I am going to send a unit to investigate – try to track those bastards down right away. I’ll personally interrogate Uki. Is there anything I can have sent over for you that you need that the burglars have taken?”
Katara looked around helplessly with tears brimming against her lower lashes. “My...my entire lab is ruined. I had everything I would have needed. It’s all gone. If you could get me even the most basic chemistry kit from a university supplier, that would be a start.”
“Yes, pandemic boss.” Katara watched her approach Lin, kissing her cheek. “Stay tough for mama, and leave Auntie Katara alone. I love you, little stone.”
Wiping a stray tear off her cheek, Katara stared at her back before mumbling, “Mumik, Ila, could you go into the city and see what you can put together to us, too?”
“Sure. You and Aang get the room prepped for Kya as best you can. We will be back with what we’ve found in two hours so we can get started right away,” Mumik insisted, giving a respectful bow to his master healer before taking Ila’s elbow and leading her out.
Aang still hung near the doorway, probably feeling out of place, but in the exact one he needed to be in as he clutched Kya’s wheezing frame to him. “Katara – I’d…I’d go after the people who did this to us, or Uki but with what’s going on, I’m not sure if I can control myself from slipping into the Avatar state and doing something we’d all regret.”
“First order of business,” Katara mumbled ignoring his statement and anger at having her items stolen, spreading out a blanket on the floor, nodding Aang over. “Lay her down. I’m going to push fluids, Siv, make me some ice. Aang, get me one of the tubs from the laundry room, then I need you to bring in her bedroll and favorite blankets. We’re going to get her temperature down then let her get comfy before we get started.”
Aang responded to her requests, pausing to put a hand on each of his wife’s shoulders and look her desperately in the eye. He hadn’t said much since everything had started unfolding. Part of it, no doubt – was that he wanted to give Katara full control over the world that she thrived in; he was no healer. But Katara also suspected he was in a state of shock over not having the ability to do what it was his daughter needed of him. “I love you. I believe in you. If anyone can heal our daughter and figure out how to save all those other people, it’s you, Katara.”
She gave a watery breath of a chuckle. “No pressure,” She mumbled, nodding against his forehead. He pressed a tiny kiss to her mouth, neither of them much concerned about contact or contraction of the disease anymore.
“Okay,” Katara rolled up her sleeves and bent the water that was at her hip up and let it glow, pushing it into Kya’s veins, hoping to rehydrate her. “Kya, can you hear mommy?”
With a muted, weak nod, the five-year-old forced her fingers to twitch, clutching the fabric of Katara’s tunic. “Mama, heal me,” She managed the four syllables.
Katara didn’t want to stress the girl, but if she could still talk, perhaps she could describe anything that was out of the ordinary. Most of her patients were in the wheezing stage by the time she’d seen them and couldn’t give her any useful information.
“Sweetie, I want you to answer a few questions, if you can.” Kya gave another nod. “Do you remember doing anything different than usual in the last few days?”
Kya mumbled, “Papa…didn’t…let us leave.”
Pressing her lips together, Katara asked, “Did you eat anything from the city in the last few days since Papa’s had you here?”
Kya shrugged and closed her eyes.
“Wait, baby, don’t sleep on me yet, sweetie...did anyone come to the house besides papa?”
“Yes,” The girl whispered, but didn’t offer any additional information.
Katara gripped her upper arm – that didn’t seem right if they were on lockdown. “Who, sweetie, who came over? Kya? Kya!” With no response, Katara practically screamed, “I need that ice bath!”
Within the next minute, Kya was submerged in a freezing tub. Katara cringed at the thought of soaking in the discomforting cold,but hoped that maybe she’d snap awake long enough to tell her about who’d come to visit.
When she’d been floating in the bath for nearly five minutes and still wasn’t showing any sign of response, Katara let out a long puff of air before staring at her oddly-quiet husband who was lingering near her trashed desk. “I need my dad in here. And find a place to get the boys. Maybe he can take them on a boat to the South—”
“What if they come down with it while they’re in the South? Trust me Katara, I’ve thought through every option, but I think they may actually be safest here. That way if something happens and they get this awful sickness, you’re here for them.”
Ignoring his comment, Katara stated again when he still hadn’t left her side, “I need my dad in here.”
Hakoda entered with his son-in-law a few short minutes later, clearly about to apologize to his daughter again, but she beat him to it. “Who else was on this island in the last few days?”
The tribesman shrugged. “No one. It’s been the kids and I, with the acolytes. And occasionally your husband. But we’ve kept to your orders, tried to keep them inside, even. They were a little stir-crazy, but I’m telling you, we haven’t had any visitors.”
Katara raised a brow, one hand cupping the back of Kya’s head as she checked her internal temperature while continuing to disbelieve her father’s statement. “She said there was someone here.”
“Unless someone sneaked onto the island, I think that’s her fever talking. We had the ferry shut down. It’s been docked the entire time since I arrived. Unless someone swam the entire way over —”
Feeling a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, Katara mumbled, “Or waterbent their way over...”
“Katara?” Siv popped his head up from where he was creating makeshift vials for the blood samples he was going to draw from his five-year-old patient. “It sounds like you’re working a conspiracy here.”
She glared at him. “I’m simply trying to connect an awful lot of loose ends here, Siv. Listen, in the last two hours, we’ve learned that for some reason, Uki doesn’t want us to try any sort of experimental treatment when all traditional ones have failed. After she forbid me from treating my daughter, my home lab, my only other place to do that, was destroyed. My family has been in their own quarantine for four days, yet my daughter has come down with this sickness, and seems to be the only one who had contact with an unknown intruder. I refuse to believe in any more coincidences after all that we’ve been through in the last ten days. Something’s not right.”
Aang cringed. “Sweetie, I know you want answers, but I don’t know that blaming Uki is going to get them for you. Maybe you should just focus on treating Kya—”
Katara’s temper flared. “You don’t think that’s my goal? Damnit, Aang!” She wanted to cry as she pulled her daughter from the ice bath, toweling her off before placing her on the makeshift hospital bed that her husband prepared. “It would just be a whole lot easier to treat if I know how she got it in the first place! And if it means that Uki gave it to her, I’d know whose ass to kick to get some answers!”
Putting his hands up at her swear, the Avatar stood, backing away, surely refusing to engage his wife in an argument that he’d lose, even if he was more logical in his counter points. “Okay. I’m going to check on the boys, talk to them, see if they saw anyone suspicious. Let me know if I can get you anything.”
Watching him leave, Katara’s rage turned to guilt in a split second and she pulled both hands over her eyes. “Aang,” She called, not looking up to see if he was poking his head back in the room to listen. She knew he would. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” She heard. Daring to separate her fingers apart, the mother opened one miserable eye and looked Aang’s way with a pout as he said, “Do what you need to, sweetie. I’m going to talk to Bumi and Tenzin.”
Taking a refreshing and refocusing breath, Katara shook her head and pressed a hand over Kya’s temples. If only she had a way to get into the girl’s head to see what information about the person who’d given her the contagion was stored there.
X
Katara felt a softness she hadn’t experienced in days as she groaned and rolled to her side, an arm over her eyes as they resisted opening. Realizing she was in her own room, the waterbender nearly snuggled against her mattress until she sat up in a snap of panic.
Fumbling out of the bed and not bothering to see if she was even presentable to leave the room, the mother ran to her home office, where her husband was sitting vigil at her daughter’s side, while two of her assistants ran labs with the equipment they’d brought back to the island with them.
“What’s going on?” She demanded to know. “Where’s Siv? Who let me sleep?”
Aang raised his hand. “You fell asleep, sweetie. No one knew how long it’d been since you’d last taken a nap, and I decided to move you to bed so you’d get a good sleep that would help your body. It’s only been about four hours. Kya’s symptoms haven’t changed. Siv’s napping now, too.”
Katara, refusing to believe that until she could examine the girl herself, sat down at her husband’s side. She took a deep breath and swallowed her misplaced angry feelings towards him. Drawing water from a basin behind her, the healer got to work, nodding when she was certain Kya’s condition hadn’t worsened in the four hours that she’d been asleep. “You’re right. Ila, how’re the cultures looking?”
The assistant offered a weak smile. “They’ll be ready for experimentation by noon, Katara. Mumik’s working on that remedy you suggested.”
“It’s coming along,” He assured her. “I’m separating the seeds from the Mink flower now. The ginger root is boiling.”
“Perfect,” Katara mumbled, looking up at her husband. “Where are the boys?”
“Hopefully still sleeping,” Aang eyed the time on the clock that hadn’t been ripped off Katara’s wall. “It’s only six. They’re good for another two hours.”
“In that case,” Katara yawned and rubbed at her eye. “I think I might catch those two hours with them. I need to talk to Bumi when he’s up, have him come wake me.”
“Sure, sweetie,” Aang pressed a kiss to her temple and she groaned slightly against him. “I’m glad you’re letting yourself get some rest. When Siv gets up to sit with her, I’ll join you.”
Nodding, the waterbender pushed herself back up, making her way slowly back to her bedroom. There wasn’t much she could do while the cultures grew and the ingredients to her theory were mixed together — nothing but prepare her body for intense healing sessions.
An hour later, Aang crawled into bed beside his wife, hooking an arm around her middle. She felt him enough to stir, snuggling into his back as he grumbled, “I told your dad to send Bumi to wake you in a bit.”
“Thanks,” Katara murmured sleepily, enjoying the Avatar’s mere presence as he put her life back into perspective. “Think Toph’s gotten anywhere with Uki?”
“She’ll let us know,” Aang yawned, just as tired as Katara was, as he’d been up with Kya even longer. Though he hadn’t been living at the hospital, trying to keep peace in a panic-stricken city surely hadn’t offered the Avatar much time to rest either. “Sleep, sweetie.”
X
Police Headquarters, Republic City
Toph gripped the metal edges of the table where she had Uki chained to. “You’re lying, you psychopath. I can read your body’s vibrations. Your heart skips a beat every damn time I ask you about the burglary. I will ask you again — what do you know about the attack on Katara’s home?”
“I was at the hospital!” The old woman quipped, rattling her handcuffs. Unfortunately, that wasn’t a lie. “Is this strictly necessary? There’s no water in this room. I can’t hurt you!”
“Do I look like I was born yesterday? There’s water everywhere! Unless you want me to put you in a room with dry air, I suggest you get talking.”
“I have nothing to say,” The head healer replied. “And you are holding me unfairly, with no charges and no evidence to bring any. Let me go, or I will be suing the city when we’re done here.”
“You don’t get to make the threats here,” Toph roared, standing and all but flipping the table. “You know something. While you think about it, I’m going to start talking to your little research pals my squad just brought in.” She smirked, giving the healer her famous blank stare of success. “Your heart skipped a beat again. Maybe your minions will be more cooperative than you are. Maybe they’ll even make a deal with me and avoid prison time or death!”
Uki kept her physical cool. “Go ahead and chat with them. They know nothing about Katara or her rotten daughter. In the meantime, every minute that you wrongly hold me here, there are people dying in the hospital that I was tasked with running. Unless you want the deaths of thirty or more Republic City citizens on your hands because you refused to let an innocent group of doctors and researchers go work on saving them, I suggest you let me go.”
With a sneer, Toph tilted her head, releasing Uki’s cuffs. “Don’t you even think about leaving town. Not that you can, since this disease you have failed to cure has forced everything to close. We will be seeing you again, old hag.”
“I don’t think you’ll be seeing me, chief. But we’ll be in touch through your functional senses, I’m sure.”
X
Air Temple Island
Katara felt a warm weight on her chest. Struggling against it for a moment, she relaxed at the sound of one of her favorite gruff little-boy voices. “Chill, ma, it’s just me!” Blinking one eye open, the mother couldn’t help but smirk as her oldest son continued, sitting on her hips with his arms crossed. “I’m Bumi, your eldest son? Thought you might have forgotten while you abandoned us for the last ten days.”
Katara pushed him playfully off of her before pulling him back up to lay between her and a still-sleeping Aang, embracing her boy fully, kissing between his eyes. “I’m sorry, Bumi. We weren’t...aren’t sure how the disease is spread. I thought coming home would mean contaminating you. But now I know that doesn’t really matter.”
“‘S’okay. You had savin’ people to do. Or at least trying. Gramps said that nothing seemed to be working. Sorry, ma. Don’t hold it against yourself. You’re an awesome healer. I can vouch for that.”
“Thanks, Bum.” Kissing him again, Katara sighed and absently stroked the long strands of tangled brown that sprouted out of his head in every direction. “I need you to take me seriously for a couple of minutes, son.”
Sitting up, the nonbender saluted, then smiled softly. “Okay. I will. Promise.” As he gave her a crooked smile, Katara could hardly believe that her husband had only been a year older than Bumi when they had to save the damn world.
Katara squeezed his hand and asked, “Do you know who Kya came into contact with on the island? She said that someone else was here.”
Bumi scratched his belly, pouting in concentration as he thought back to the last week. “Yeah - well, no. But she said that some lady came over and wanted to see you. Kya said she told the lady you moved to the hospital. By the time I came out to see what was going on, there was no one here. And there was no boat, either. So unless she waterbent her way over, I think Kya was imagining things.”
“Did you tell grandpa?”
“Nah. He was dealing with the cranky-butt. Tenzin has been a mess. On one hand I’d tell you to go tell him he’s fine and give him hugs, on the other, I don’t think you should reward him for being a whiny cry face.”
Katara managed to find a sound in her that was something between a sigh and a chuckle. “Thanks for the parenting advice, Bum. And thanks for checking out your sister’s story. You’re my favorite first born.”
“I’m your only first born,” He stuck out his tongue and giggled. “Want to come play outside with me?”
Sighing, the mother wiped a hand over her face. “Trust me Bum, there is nothing I’d rather be doing. But unfortunately, I’m going to say a quick good morning to Tenzin then get back to work on treating your sister.” Pulling on her most serious face, Katara explained, “Bumi, sweetie, it’s bad. Really, really bad. I’ve lost more patients in the last ten days than I have ten times over my entire career. If I don’t invent something in the next two, maybe three days, Kya’s...she’s not going to make it, sweetie. And I can’t let that happen.”
“No!” He shouted, reaching forward and gripping Katara’s shoulders. “You can’t be serious? Kya’s my baby sister! She’s too young to die!”
His eyes were sparkling with tears of panic that Katara had never seen in her son. Not letting them draw any more sadness from herself, Katara simply held him tight and kissed his cheeks. “I’m doing my absolute best. But I need you to help me out by staying out of the way, okay? Hopefully by this time next week, we can all get back to spending time together. But I need all my energy to go into helping Kya.”
Understanding, the boy scrambled from the bed as Katara rose to take a quick bath and eat something before setting out for a day of mixing together herbs and performing exploratory healing sessions.
X
A stamped rage stormed through the house. Katara glanced up from where she’d been carefully crushing Anamu plant leaves. Knowing the tirade that was about to enter the room, the healer only assumed Toph had bad news.
Aang stood, opening the door to Katara’s office before it could be slammed open by the angry metal bender. She handed him a piece of paper. “Order of appearance. Emergency session of the council in two hours. Katara, we need to talk. Aang, I need you to leave the room. You already can’t vote, but I want you to be as impartial as possible.” The airbender opened his mouth to argue but probably knew it would only be in vain. “And don’t talk to Sokka! He doesn’t know about Kya and I need to keep him in the dark until this session is over for him to be allowed to vote.”
He left with a shrug and Katara tapped her jar of leaves into a brown, bubbling liquid. “I take it your chat with Uki turned up nothing?”
“She was lying to me, the entire time. And not well, I might add. We had a few of her researchers get real jittery and admit that they heard that some of their partners were instructed to raid your office. They wouldn’t give any names, but it was enough for us to pick Uki up again. She’s all ‘you’re going to let people die by holding me,’ but I politely reminded her that people are dying under her watch either way. We have a warrant to search the hospital, but we’re waiting until after the council session. If they declare a criminal public health emergency, we can use whatever means necessary to get information from Uki on how to end this. Including truth serum. Or Aang could always threaten to take away her bending.”
Katara could hardly keep up with Toph’s rattling — when she was in the heat of her job, nothing else mattered. “A criminal public health emergency? And do you honestly think that Aang would ever threaten to do that to anyone?”
Toph snorted, “His daughter’s life is in the balance, so yeah, I’d hope that he’d not be a pacifist for once. Your brother had the foresight to project people making use of advancing technologies to purposefully cause public health crisis. It’s a real tiny piece of legislation we have never had to act on, but it’s worded something like, ‘In the event of a public health crisis, the council has the ability to give the investigators whatever power necessary to obtain information about the spread and cure of the illness.’ Sokka’s brilliant and deserves a metal. We’re going to ride this bitch straight into crazy town when we’re done with her.”
“In the meantime...” Katara put a hot mitt over her hand before lifting the boiling liquid and tipping it into a syringe. “Thankfully, Uki’s people were not aware that I keep my herbs and chemicals in my bedroom instead of the office. I’ve come up with an immune booster that should ward off some of the more severe side effects and reduce fever in patients, which will also reduce the coma and delirium. Siv’s got something cooking for the seizures while Ila and Aang are trying to figure out how we can get air flowing better so that breathing is easier for the patients. It might just be Kya, since we’re thinking of making a mask that is powered by airbending during particularly brutal coughing fits, but at least it’s something.”
“Well, I don’t understand half of what you’re talking about, but good work. We’re going to have Uki wrapped up and delivered to you personally by the end of the day. You’ll need to know how and what she used to get this bug into the public.”
Toph collapsed into a chair next to the makeshift lab. “You’ve got an awful lot of supplies here. Glad we were able to scour the city and threaten people to give it all up.”
Katara chuckled as she flicked the syringe and took her homemade vaccine towards her daughter, knowing the ingredients wouldn’t cause any more harm than already had been done. Lifting up the sleeve on the girl’s upper arm, she injected the liquid.
As she absently stroked her daughter’s messy, sweat-soaked bangs, after just a few minutes, she hardly noticed the faint gasp of, “Mama?” That rasped from the girl’s throat.
“Kya?” Katara whispered, stroking a finger over the five-year-old’s cheekbones. “Sweetie, you’re awake! Aang!” She shouted.
He came tearing into the room to see Kya offer him a weak smile. “Did you give her the vaccine?”
“It’s just an immune booster, not a cure, but,” She squeezed Kya’s hand. “It was less than five minutes and she woke up. We’ve got time now...and, maybe some answers. Kya, sweetie - baby, you said, before you went to sleep last, that someone came to the island. Can you tell me about that?”
Kya opened her mouth, then tilted her head back. “Water?”
Katara agreed, “Of course, sweetie. Hold on, mommy will be right back.”
Aang sat behind her, propping her head up slightly on his lap. “You’re lucky that you’ve got such an amazing mommy, little girl.”
“I know,” Kya coughed loudly, desperate to catch her breath as the spurt carried on through Katara returning. The waterbender sat down next to her only girl, rubbing her back as she supported her more upright.
Aang bit his lip before asking, “Can I try...?” He didn’t need to finish his thought and Katara nodded, unafraid of her husband doing anything to risk the limited health their daughter had.
He lifted a hand and swirled a small current in his palm before pressing it gently to Kya’s face, forcing the air into her lungs when she wheezed in. Controlling the movement even within her, he forced the organ to expand, then contract, allowing a regular airflow pattern to form and the painful, strained coughing to cease.
Katara offered a genuine smile of gratitude as she squeezed Kya’s hand. “That’s it, sweetie.”
“Thanks, daddy,” The tiny waterbender breathed as she felt her chest cavity return to normal functioning. “And mommy.”
Sweeping her still-soaked hair back, Katara offered her the glass of cold water, which she drank greedily before answering the question finally. “A lady came. She said she needed to talk to you. I said you were at the hospital but I’d get gramps. ‘Cept he was busy, so I got Bumi. And then she was gone.”
Katara tilted her head. “What can you tell me about her?”
Toph moved herself from the mini-lab to the foot of Kya’s makeshift bed as the five-year-old continued. “I think she was young. Not old, but not a kid...and, she had brown hair and blue eyes, I think. She had on a necklace that had tags. She was wearing a white coat. That’s all I ‘member.” The sick child yawned, snuggling against Katara’s lap.
The police chief went into interrogation mode. “Do you recall her identifying herself, or...saying who she was?”
Kya shook her head.
“Do you remember if she had anything with her?”
“A bag,” The girl answered, yawning again. “It was like Uncle Sokka’s purse, kind of. It looked like it had soup containers in it.”
“Can you describe them? Tell me what they looked like, what you saw?”
Kya shrugged. “They looked tall and round. And silver. Like for soup.”
“Okay,” Toph grinned and gripped the girl’s knee before eyeing Katara. “Could have been the disease. In liquid, do you think?”
“More likely, it would be easier to spread through the air. Maybe it was pressurized? I don’t know. I do know,” Katara’s eyes darkened, “That I’d like to get into an interrogation unit with Uki.”
“That’s the name, the lady said,” Kya suddenly remembered, “She said she worked for Uki, the lady who runs the hospital mommy works at.”
Aang shared a look with his wife as Toph stood. “Aang, maybe we ought to head over to the council right now. Good luck, Katara. Call the hall if anything changes, I’ll send Aang right back over.”
The mother nodded, alone with her conscious daughter after Aang kissed both of the most important women in his life goodbye. Katara pressed a cheek to her warm cheek. “You’re not nearly as hot anymore. That’s good. I had a feeling this combination would do the trick in reducing the symptoms. What about a nice cool bath, huh? I bet that would help you feel even more better.”
“Maybe a hug?” Kya shrugged sheepishly, lifting a weak arm up. Katara turned to mush as she raised her daughter into her arms, cradling her body to her chest, elated to have her breathing easier.
X
City Council
Sokka wiped a hand over his forehead as the meeting adjourned and Toph quickly turned to speak with a group of her officers that was outside waiting for her order. Aang stood to greet his brother-in-law while the councilman simply shook his head. “Man, this thing is ridiculous! Can you believe the nerve of that woman? I can’t believe my sister works for her. Or should I say – worked, because that nut is never working in medicine again. Nor should she be around people! And my sister is people!”
Aang swallowed, “Yeah. And it’s become personal.”
Sokka blinked, his eyebrows narrowing as he got serious again, his tone shifting as he recognized the seriousness in Aang’s features. “What’s going on?”
“The little girl whose consented for the experimental treatment, and Uki refused? That’s my little girl. Kya’s got Talikpa. After the argument, Katara told Uki she’d be taking Kya home and treating her personally. Well, by the time we safely had her relocated, our home was broken into and all of Katara’s medical equipment from her office was stolen. Uki sent her people over to take it.”
“Kya!” The warrior was suddenly sick to his stomach. “Where is she now? I want to see her!”
“She’s at home. She’s actually doing better already,” Aang lowered his voice, “Katara’s invented an injectable to enhance the immune system. It’s not a cure, but it takes away some of the side effects, which is giving us more time to get answers out of Uki and for Katara to work on treating it permanently.”
X
Air Temple Island
The two men entered the island home as fast as Aang could fly them there, sounds of chaos coming from down the hall. Immediately, Sokka and Aang stood in the doorway of Katara’s office, waiting for orders of ways they could help.
Aang’s wife was nearly screeching as she barked instructions to her team, who frantically moved around her. Over their hunched bodies, he witnessed his daughter’s body shaking violently.
“She’s not getting air, she’s not —”
Katara suddenly became aware of Aang’s presence in the room, and in a desperate, brilliant display of silent communication, the husband and wife worked as one instantly.
Ila, Siv and Mumik stepped back as Aang slipped in behind Kya’s vibrating head, a ball of air in his palm, waiting for a cue. Katara bit her lip as her brow furrowed. She’d always been trained not to try and stop a seizure — that it needed to run its course; simply ensure the airway was clear and try to get a soft landing for the head.
But all her training was already thrown out the window — she didn’t have time to stop and think about anything but saving her daughter. Pulling a hand up, she drew a fistful of water and pressed firmly against Kya’s forehead, closing her eyes as she concentrated. She tried not to gasp as she detected the source of the electrical misconduct in her daughter’s head was near the brainstem. It suddenly made sense that most of their patients lost all motor function shortly after their seizures — that was the region where coordination organized from. Processing that in a millisecond, Katara wrapped healing water around the affected neurons, a process that involved such precision of her bending that one breath could alter the life of her only girl forever. Feeling sweat trickle down her back, she moved her thumb and forefinger together, breathing out and lifting the healing power away.
Kya’s body stopped moving and Aang leapt into action when Katara opened her eyes and forced her mouth open. Aang gently rushed the current of air into her throat and deep into her lungs. Katara assisted the up and down movement of Kya’s chest with one hand, using the other to detect a heartbeat.
When the five-year-old sputtered a gasp and Katara rolled her hastily to her side, where the little one threw up mucus. Katara began to sob as Kya’s eyes fluttered and she whined before closing them again, surely in an unimaginable amount of pain.
Aang pressed a heavy hand to Katara’s mid-back, kissing her cheek as he stroked Kya’s hair. He had nothing to say with words, his look of pure gratitude said more than enough.
The healer covered her mouth and stood, trembling from the incredible amount of intensity she’d just displayed in her bending. “Check her vitals,” The mother managed to command her team, who were standing, dumbstruck, to the side. “Then give her a very light tea mix of Valerian root.”
Sokka was still in the doorway, his eyes wide as saucers as he watched his little sister stumble towards him. She looked up, her lip quivering in depressed exhaustion as she fell into his open arms. Aang closed her in from behind; the two most important men in her life holding her tight as if to make what she’d just performed easier to understand.
The pressure and safety she experienced from their embrace managed to make the burdening feeling ease. Katara lifted her chin and loosened up a bit, slumping so that she was resting more against Aang’s chest. Sokka put his arms down and stroked her cheek fondly. “You’re amazing.”
“She’s stable,” Siv said loudly from behind the trio.
Katara nodded. “I’m...I’m going to step outside. Aang?”
He gripped her hand and Sokka assured her, “I’ll stay here with my niece.”
The girl’s father offered quiet thanks as his wife led him down the hall and to the front door, forgetting shoes and trotting down the cobblestone path of the front walk, and finally to the shore.
Katara collapsed against the sand, sitting with her knees drawn to her chest as she began to cry once again. Aang placed himself directly behind her, drawing himself around her body, kissing above her ear, not saying anything. He knew she didn’t want to talk until she initiated it.
Almost ten minutes of silence passed. Katara finally wiped at her eyes with her sleeve, turning halfway to rest her temple above her husband’s heart. He cupped her head.
“I want to talk to my mom,” She whispered, her voice but a rasp in a breath.
Aang swallowed, resting his forehead to hers. “I’m sorry, sweetie. That’s the only thing I have never been able to give to you.”
“‘S’not your fault,” Katara murmured, her eyes down, staring at multi-hued grains of sand.
“Can...will you tell me about what you just did, for Kya?” Aang questioned when another long stretch of silence passed between them.
“Hopefully, allowed her to keep her motor functioning when I finally figure this damn thing out.” Katara breathed out long. “I always thought that seizures were located at the front of the brain. This one was near her brainstem. Based on where patients have had brain damage and what they’re like after, a few of the researchers and I have hypothesized that coordination is located near there. But usually with a seizure, there’s more of a language problem than anything. The patients of this disease have had motor impairments after. No one has ever stopped a seizure before. It was just one tiny, microscopic part of her brain that was flaring up. I’ve never had to do bending that intricately before. It was just....really, really overwhelming, to have that much power.”
Aang squeezed her, “I understand that. But, Katara...that power just saved our daughter’s life. And, maybe gave you another key to solving this.”
“I think it did,” Katara agreed. “I know what part of the brain it’s affecting. And thinking that it’s an air-based disease...I’ve got an idea. But I’m going to need to confirm it with Uki before I try an experiment on Kya.”
Aang nodded. “Well, Toph picked her up again when we were leaving council. She’s probably ready for you, if you want a go at her.”
Katara felt her blood pressure soared again. Though she was almost too tired to function, the resumed pounding in her ears of anger and desperation was going to allow her to go back into the city and demand answers.
Another wave of silence passed a beat between them. Katara finally looked up, making eye contact with a blazing blue gaze. “Would you judge me harshly if I used my newfound micro-bending abilities in an interrogation technique?”
Aang swallowed, clearly considering it with the seriousness that his position required before deciding, practically, “It’s not illegal yet. And I won’t judge you.”
“Promise?” Katara whispered, needing to know that her husband was okay with her violating someone in such a major way with the spiritual nature of bending.
The Avatar nodded, offering her a gentle smile, then kissed her lips. “I promise.”
Katara shifted, resting her head against his shoulder, rubbing a hand over her eyes. “I think I might have to take a quick nap before I go kick ass.”
Aang chuckled, “‘Come on, then. I’ll wake you up in an hour and a half.”
X
Katara didn’t need her husband to help her out of bed. Her own subconscious woke her with a dramatic startle that had her heart racing. In wicked fear of losing her daughter, the barefooted waterbender charged down the hall to her office, a palm over her chest and a weak smile in place when she saw the girl propped up in Aang’s lap, the father helping her down one of his airbender fruit-laced beverages.
He was muttering nothing to her, talking about the spirit world, describing little yellow creatures with leaves for ears. She was attentive, though her eyes were half-lidded, as she ate the pureed mixture. Siv stood from the research hub in the corner of the room, gently elbowing her side. "She woke up, and when I asked if she was hungry, she said no, but that she wanted her daddy to make her something special. Figured the smoothie was our best bet. Plenty of nutrients, easy to digest. She didn’t have the strength to take it herself, but she’s managing it alright.”
Katara nodded. “How’s the sample responding to the treatment?”
Siv shrugged. “No dramatic change yet, but it hasn’t made it worse. It’s only been four hours. Let’s see what it looks like when you get back from tearing Uki apart.”
The master healer pressed her lips together. “If it were going to work, you’d have started seeing change by now. Try the next two treatments on my list of hypothesized cures. We have nothing to lose, except time. Get them going right away. I’ll see if I can’t crank any answers out of that old goat. Are Ila and Mumik sleeping?” Her assistant nodded. “Good. Where’d my brother go?”
“In Aang’s office. He’s tinkering with some old airbending instruments. He’s trying to see if he can figure out how we could get a vaccine into an air-based container. Since it’s on such a large scale, we wonder if releasing a spray would be more effective than delivering shots to the entire population. Just an idea, but—”
“A brilliant one.” Katara stepped forward, uncrossing her arms and squatting in front of her daughter and husband. “Hey, sweetie,” She placed a gentle hand over Kya’s shoulder. “Mama’s got to go for a little bit. Siv’s going to take care of you. Daddy will be here, and Uncle Sokka is just upstairs.”
Kya nodded, reaching a weak hand over for a squeeze. Katara kissed the girl’s palm then eyed Aang. “If she starts wheezing, do the same technique you did before. We just need to make this as easy as we can on her body. Hopefully we will have answers in an hour.”
The airbender nodded. “Take Appa. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Katara left the room with a longing look at her daughter, vowing to get the answers that would save her.
“Katara,” The mother heard as she laced up a brown, leather ankle boot. Tilting her head, she spotted her father, her youngest son on his hip. Feeling her stomach bubble with a wicked sensation of regret, she stood up straight and reached her arms out, taking Tenzin into a long embrace.
“I’m so sorry, baby boy.” The two-year-old nestled into her side and Katara rocked him back and forth, kissing his cheek repeatedly. “I’ve got to get sissy better. Then I can spend all the time with you that you want, I promise.”
She tried to pass him back to Hakoda, but he screeched and clung to her for life. Feeling the guilt pile on, she forced him off, keeping her own tears at bay. “Sorry, dad. Thank you.”
“Do what you have to, Katara.”
Nodding with forced bravery, the mother hurried out to the stable, climbing on Appa with renewed urgency.
Landing on top of the police building, Katara found Toph waiting for her in the center office. “What the hell took you so long, sweetness? We’ve been waiting for an hour!”
“I’m sorry,” The mother explained. “Kya had a seizure, a bad one. I...might have invented a new form of healing to stop it.”
“Well, damn,” Toph slugged her in the side. “Just when I was going to harass you about being overbearing, you go and invent a new subset of bending. Any chance you can use it against Uki?”
Katara smirked, crossing her arms. “I have every intention of it.”
Toph cleared her throat. “Perfect. Plan is, you and I go in together. She’s cuffed at the ankles and wrists. Full metal bands. I am thinking about bending her into a chair, too. I’m going to stand at the door. Interrogation observation equipment is off. You’ve been given the full permission of the council to do whatever it is you need to do to get answers out of this woman. We have truth serum, but you and I both know how accurate that can be. Final resort is threatening to have Aang take away her bending. You can convince her that he will, even if he won’t.”
Nodding, the healer patted her water skins on each side of her hip. “Let’s do this, Toph.”