Chapter Text
Simple.
Katara observed her three children playing on the shore of Yue Bay. A comfortable evening breeze that smelled of autumn ruffled the curly hairs that had fallen from her braid, courtesy of motherhood. Her arms were crossed and a loose-fitting pale blue shawl was around her shoulders; she’d been perpetually chilly since Tenzin was born, despite her arctic upbringing. Still, a pleasant smile graced her cheeks, and the thought ran through her again: simple.
Bumi held his little brother’s hand while the two-year-old screeched, gripping onto the preteen’s leg as he tried to drag him into the too-cold-for-enjoyment water. Kya laughed and shifted waves over the sand, trying to convince Tenzin that it wasn’t that bad. They’d been out for well over an hour, though it was going on a half-hour past the two younger children’s bedtimes, but the matriarch of the family could only stand and watch them. Katara leaned against a pillar on the deck of the living area that had been built onto the temple shortly after her oldest son was born eleven years prior. Her children were lucky — to know only such simplicity as they did.
Sure, there were times when their father was gone for too long, fighting too hard, or simply too tired from it all. Their home had been attacked and they’d been threatened before — but, their childhood was, for the most part, as it should be.
Katara knew most parents wished a better life for their children than they grew up with; but in her case, she felt it was exceptionally true. All Katara really wanted was for her three babies to grow up as slowly as possible. So far, with life in the city and no looming threat of war — she felt they were meeting her goal.
And if that meant staying out a little past bedtime some days, she was happy to oblige.
“Mama!” Tenzin cried when Bumi tried to lift him up to get his feet wet. Katara rolled her eyes and smirked, pushing her back off of the railing and heading down to her favorite troublemakers.
Katara scooped up her youngest boy, lifting him up over her head as he whined. She rolled her eyes and cuddled him to her chest instead, swinging from side-to-side. “Should I just put you in bed, little man?”
“No!” Tenzin cried, pouting excessively.
The mother tickled his cheeks, trying to get him to show an emotion other than his standard misery. “Then smile, silly turtleduck! Bumi’s just trying to play with you.”
“No,” He nearly blubbered, “Get wet!”
“Ah, yes,” Katara sat down on the sandy surface of the shore. “How very wet the water is.” She kissed his cheeks as Bumi splashed around the tide and Kya started work on an elaborate sand castle — she had her father’ knack for art, thankfully, rather than her uncle’s. Tenzin clung to her shawl and once again the waterbender had to shake her head at him. “What are we going to do with you, Tenny?”
“Dunk him! Dunk him! Dunk him!” Kya chanted, giggling wickedly as Katara shot her an eyebrow and the two-year-old screeched his response.
“Be nice, please, or I’ll send you to bed with no camp out, too.”
Kya squished her face into a smile and rolled forward to lean against Katara’s arm, kissing her hand before forgetting her sand art and sprinting into the water with her big brother, laughing and screaming in delight as she got wet.
“Ten minutes,” Katara called, running her fingers through Tenzin’s thick locks. “Can I convince you to let momma take you into the water, hm?”
“No,” he grumbled, pushing off her and hiding behind her back before gasping and shouting, “Daddy!”
“Daddy’s on his way back from the—”
“No, mama! Daddy!”
Tenzin’s mood suddenly made a complete turn as he pointed up and off in the distance, shifting his weight excitedly from one foot to another. Katara grinned at the sight of Appa in the clouds. “Well, look at that. A day early, even. Good job, Aang,” She muttered. He always did his best to arrive as far in advance of his schedule as possible, desperate for more family time than he typically was allotted.
Kya and Bumi shrieked from the water, splashing up to the shore, all three kids bouncing as they eagerly awaited the descent of the familiar sky bison.
Katara stayed where she was, knowing that though Aang would greet their eager children first, her greeting would be the most amorous if she had the patience for it. (She couldn’t say that she’d never pushed her babies out of the way to be the first to hug their father, though.)
“Daddy! Daddy!” Tenzin cheered, reaching his arms up as Aang flipped off Appa and onto the sandy surface of the beach. “Daddy, I miss you!”
The airbender crouched down to scoop all three kids into a hug, Bumi on the right, Kya in the middle, and Tenzin at his left. They clung to him with giggles as he pressed a warm kiss to each of their cheeks. “I missed you too, bud.” He finally spoke, ruffling Tenzin’s mop of thick hair he’d inherited from his mother. “And Kya, and Bumi.”
The eldest of the three pulled out of the hug to start chattering away about the week that they’d been apart, while Kya tugged in his tunic so she could show him the waterbending move she’d been practicing, and Tenzin continued to cling to his side.
Aang made a gentle shushing noise and pried his youngest child’s hands off of him before wandering forward to meet his wife. Katara was about to push herself up for a proper hug, but found herself laughing as she was instead forced to fall all the way back in the sand while Aang climbed on top of her. “Aang!” She laughed as he kissed her cheeks, her forehead, between her eyes, the tip of her nose, and finally her lips.
Bumi made a fake gagging sound behind them while Tenzin whined over losing his turn for the attention and Kya cried, “Oogies!”
Katara ignored their behavior and hooked her hands over the back of Aang’s neck, smiling contentedly at him. “You know, unless there’s a crisis, you’re here for almost the next two months.”
He nuzzled his head under her chin, revealed by the fact. “Maybe you aught to take a vacation, then.”
“Nah,” She hugged him again, still tuning out the obnoxious cries of the three kids behind them. “I’d rather be home with all of us.”
All of them managed to pile on top of Katara when the children felt they weren’t being properly attended to as Aang hadn’t moved since greeting his wife. The mother laughed loudly as Kya and Bumi each curled into her sides, and Tenzin flopped on top of Aang in resentment. “Okay, okay!” She tired to laugh, but found her ribcage too tight from the weight. “Remember, we were going to have our camp-out tonight?"
The kids cheered and got up to run inside to get themselves ready while Aang sent her a pout, as he wanted to have her in their bed alone that evening. She shrugged, smirking. “Sorry, sweetie. I can’t disappoint the kids. I promised them if they could make it all day without getting into any wrestling matches that we’d sleep under the stars.”
“It’s okay,” Aang smiled. “So long as you hold me when I get cold.”
“All night,” She giggled, pecking his lips. “Come on, let’s get going.”
A half hour later, a pile of blankets was spread out, pillows at the ready, and a lean-too was built with a quick stomp of Aang’s foot on the earth. The children were in their pajamas and Aang had a fire roaring while Katara slid vegetarian potstickers on the edge of a pointed stick, turning them over the flames and her husband entertained the children by telling them of his pranks against the Fire Lord on his journey.
Bumi was howling in laughter, wiping tears from his eyes while Tenzin sat in Aang’s lap, mostly clueless. Kya had her arms folded, with a look of really? Katara simply shook her head, popping the vegetable filled noodles into bowls and passing them out.
“Mom, you’re the best!” Bumi cheered as he dug into his late-night snack enthusiastically.
“I try,” She responded dryly, forgoing any food for herself in favor of laying on her back with her hands tucked behind her head, staring up at the stars.
“What’s wrong, mama?” Kya questioned, pouting as she noted Katara suddenly acting off. Aang raised a brow, hoping she’d keep whatever was bothering her away from her children’s thoughts.
“Nothing, sweetie.” She raised a hand up to brush Kya’s dark locks behind her shoulder. “Sometimes mama just misses going on adventures with daddy is all.”
Aang frowned and Bumi spoke up. “We could all go together!”
“You need to go to school. Besides, my political life isn’t exactly the type of adventure that mama misses.”
Katara rolled over onto her stomach, tracing lines in the sand. “You’re still out saving the world, in one way or another. I love being here with my favorite kids,” She glanced up at each of her three with a sincere smile, “But, I miss getting to be the hero sometimes.”
“Mama, you’re my hero!” Kya insisted as she tossed one leg over Katara’s back and hugged her neck tightly, laying on top of her. “You’re the best.”
“Thanks, sweetie,” Katara craned her head as Kya swooped in for a kiss before rolling off and curling into her mother’s side.
An hour and a half later, all three kids were snoring or snoozing under their fort, and Aang was ready to confront Katara about her earlier confession.
“I don’t know how you couldn’t feel like a hero,” He mumbled into a kiss as she wound a hand around his upper arm. “Do you know how many human rights legislations you’ve drafted and had approved in the last ten years? Fifty-three, Katara. You have unlocked equality fifty-three separate times. That is pretty heroic. And how about all the emergency patients you’ve saved in the hospital? They couldn’t do that without you.”
“I know,” She sighed, still feeling down. “I have such a good time here, I really do. But listening to your stories, even the silly ones, makes me miss all the action. I just want to be a part of something really big again, you know?”
Aang rested his forehead against hers, pressing his lips together before pecking her nose. “I hope not,” He shrugged and she frowned. “Katara, I don’t want to be apart of something really big. I just want to live in the peace we’ve been creating. I know it may not always seem so exciting, but I’d rather be here, camped out with my kids on the beach, talking about gluing the Fire Lord’s hands to his throne room chair, then out fighting some battle.”
“I guess,” Katara stated. “It’s nice not dreading something awful.” She was lying to herself, but managed to paint a smile for her husband before pushing him gently back to their makeshift bed. “I’ll just have to enjoy the normalcy for a little bit.”
She turned her head as Kya let out a little cough in her sleep and Katara smiled. Normal things like watching her babies rest and feeding them breakfast every morning — it may have been simple, but Kya was right. She was a hero to her kids, and that mattered, too.
X
Katara tied a sash around her waist, moving rhythmically through a morning that was typical; aside from the lump that was still buried beneath a sheet on her bed. She couldn’t help but smile at the sight of Aang sleeping in. He was always up before her if he was lucky enough to be home, teaching an air nomad class, meditating, trapped in an early morning meeting…It was nice to see him still relaxing in bed; where they’d moved after a chilly breeze had woken all the kids at their camp out.
Stepping into the bathroom that joined the bedroom she shared with her husband, Katara washed her face and pulled back her hair, braiding it straight down her back, then twisting it into a bun at the back of her head. (Really – as she considered simplicity – it was the complex among it – such as the modern miracle of the indoor plumbing she hasd consistent access to for the first time in her life that was chief on her gratitude list.) Reaching into a cabinet, she pulled on a button-down jacket that all the healers at the hospital wore. She inspected it for any remnants of her last healing session, as she hadn’t had time to wash it between keeping up with the life of her children and political career while her husband was away. Finding no traces of another human’s blood, she deemed herself acceptable and moved onto rousing her children.
She walked into Kya’s room first, knowing that waking a young waterbender was always the most challenging move of her morning. Starting slow, she rubbed the girl’s back as she whined and curled into herself. Kissing her forehead, Katara whispered, “Good morning, sweetie. It’s time to wake up. I’m going to get your brothers and come back.”
Tenzin was next — he was always easy to rouse, but took time to get ready as he was still only two. He smiled right away when she stroked a gentle finger down his cheek. “Morning, buddy.”
“Mornin’ mama!” He sat up, rubbing an eye and reaching both arms for a hug, which she happily returned before rushing him to the bathroom so he’d make it to the toilet. He continued his happy expression as he washed his hands and blinked his sleepiness away. “I wear blue today,” Tenzin insisted as Katara flipped through his closet. She agreed with a little giggle — with his father’s complexion, he didn’t look spectacular in her traditional color, but she let him select his outfit the way he wanted. “Okay, buddy, see if you can get as much on by yourself as you can while I get Bumi up. I’ll be back to help if you need it.”
Moving through the hall, she knocked twice on Bumi’s door, something she decided to start doing as he was growing closer to puberty; she spent enough time traveling with teenage boys over the years to know better than to burst in on them behind a closed door at any time of day.
“I’m up, ma!” He called back, creaking the door open with a wide grin. Katara ruffled his hair through the space he created, giving him a good morning kiss to the top of his head before sending him back in to get a shirt on.
“I did it!” Tenzin called, appearing behind her with his shirt on, untied, and pants on backwards.
Katara knelt in front of him with her arms up. “You did it all by yourself! You’re becoming so independent, Tenzin!” She cheered, kissing his cheeks. “Can I help you get more comfy in it?”
He nodded and she quickly helped him adjust his pants and tie his shirt up. “There we go. You are looking very handsome in blue. Can you head into the kitchen and sit down for breakfast while I get Kya up?”
Nodding again, Katara sent him on his way as she returned to Kya’s room, a little less quiet and gentle the second time. “Come on, love, it’s time to eat some breakfast.”
Lifting her from the cozy bed, Katara propped the whiny five-year-old on her hip, where she nuzzled her face into her mother’s shoulder. “I know, I know. But you’ve got to go to school today.”
“Bumi doesn’t have to go,” She mumbled, trying to think of anything she could to stay in bed.
“No, but he’s got a early morning lesson with Master Piandao,” Katara promised her. “I’ll be there at three to pick you up.”
Kya slid down her mother’s front, pouting as she made her way to get her school uniform on. “Fine, mama. Whatever you say.”
“Good girl. I’ll be back in a little bit to make sure you’re not in bed again.”
Heading to the kitchen, Katara thanked Bumi for putting a pot over the stove and heating it so she could whip her children up a decent breakfast. Tenzin was waiting patiently at the table, all morning smiles at his mother while Bumi packed himself a snack for his sword fighting lesson. “I think Kya’s mad that she has to start school earlier than I do.”
“Yeah, well, you’re just lucky dad and I are letting you take this master course. Otherwise, you’d be sitting at a desk all morning, too.”
Kya came out with hair sticking in every direction, but dressed, which was all Katara had asked of her. As she scooped food onto each of their plates, the mother ran them through the schedule. “Tenzin, I’m dropping you off at daycare first — suck up that bottom lip, mister, we’re not doing this again today. Bumi, you’re next at the dojo, then Kya. I’ll be picking you both up from school at three, and Tenzin, as soon as they’re out, I will come get you. It’ll be right after nap time, and you will be absolutely fine, I promise. I’m working non-emergencies today, so I should be right on time. Kya, you’re not going to get sent to the office for waterbending in class today, Bumi, you will listen to Master Piandao and respect every command he gives, even if you think it’s silly, and you will not dilly-dally on your way to the academy after. Tenzin, you are going to be a very brave boy and not cry for Miss Jules all morning. Is that clear for everyone?”
The three children mumbled their understanding as they munched on breakfast. Katara bustled around the room, not bothering to eat anything herself as she spent ten precious minutes of time getting ready for the day. As time passed too quickly, she cleared breakfast away and tied Kya’s hair back into a thick ponytail at the top of her head. Her three favorite little people managed to be standing in the front walkway, with shoes on and knapsacks ready a whole thirty seconds before the ferry showed up at the island.
“We made it!” Kya cheered, having finally woken up. “Mama, where’s your bag?”
Katara widened her eyes for a moment before reaching to the hook behind her and tossing an old earth kingdom satchel over her shoulder. Thanking Kya with a squeeze of her shoulder, she lifted Tenzin to her side and gently pushed the older two out the door.
X
Katara liked dropping Kya off last for school. The two of them didn’t have nearly the amount of mother-daughter time that she’d have liked. When Katara thought too hard about all the time she missed out on with her own mother, it hurt to think she didn’t give it tenfold to her girl. The precious ten minutes spent with Kya as she settled down for the morning in her classroom was just enough to help remind the girl that she was intelligent and capable of doing anything. “See?” Kya showed her mother as she counted seven beans away from fifteen, then counted what remained. “Fifteen take away seven is eight!”
Katara kissed her temple and rubbed her back. “You’ve got it, sweetie. You’re a math pro! Alright, mama’s got to go. I will see you at three o’clock. Bumi will be waiting by your usual tree. I love you.”
The younger waterbender hooked her arms around Katara’s neck, not at all embarrassed about giving her mother a hug and kiss goodbye in front of her classmates. “Love you too, mama!”
Katara stood to leave, pausing in the doorway as Kya coughed into her elbow. Hoping it would pass over as fall allergies and not turn into something full-blown that traditional healing wouldn’t prevent, the mother made her way to the hospital for an casual shift.
As she trekked to the hospital, Katara lowered her eyebrows as she frowned. The usual group of protestors was in front of the healing center, holding signs and giving warnings to anyone who attempted to enter.
Did they not have jobs? She kicked at the ground before smirking at the sight of a puddle near the feet of the leader, Kin-Ha, a mother of six. When Katara began taking on shifts in the hospital, she also worked alongside the researchers to create cures for diseases that were rampant among large cities. The cures turned to prevention methods, and every child born in Republic City was inoculated with three simple serums to keep them from infectious diseases that could kill them in childhood. Kin-Ha claimed her six children were perfectly normal, delightful even, before Katara had ‘forced’ the vaccines on their family. She took a case to court, saying that the modern miracle had been a sham of a curse and turned her kids into poorly behaved mongrels with a biological inability to heed directions. When Katara had been called into court, she argued that perhaps an inability to discipline the children was the real problem, and Kin-Ha, losing the court case, had stood outside the hospital every day since.
Due to the popularity of the case, the fact that Katara was the controversial Avatar’s wife, and many having sided with the crazies, hundreds of children in Republic City were missing critical vaccines that could have potentially eliminated some infectious diseases all together if everyone had received them.
“Oh, look, it’s doctor death herself! Welcome to work, Healer Katara!” Kin-Ha shouted, holding her sign with the group’s symbol, faded from months of standing in the sun.
Ignoring her, Katara simply tilted her head, turning the puddle beneath her enemy to ice, causing the woman to slip. “Oh, goodness!” Katara feigned surprise, turning it back before anyone could notice, extending a hand to assist her political foe. “Are you alright, Kin-Ha? Would you like me to take you in for an evaluation?”
“Keep your hands away from me! I know what they did to my children! I’ll be damned if I let you touch me!”
When Katara entered the hospital, a trio of nurses that worked with her on rotations were howling in laughter, clapping their hands over her shoulders. She shrugged. “All in a day’s work.” Two men and one woman made up her team of assistants, with one of the men being the only other waterbender in the group. They were an excellent group of nurses to work with, and helped her days of sometimes tedious healing pass by quickly.
“What’s on the agenda today?”
“Clinic first,” Siv, her fellow waterbender groaned. “There’s some kind of nasty cough with a fever going around. Boss Lady’s hoping you can nip it.”
“Ugh,” Katara sighed, thinking of Kya. “Can’t people just accept that sometimes allergies and a little cold are not fun? There’s no point of a healing session for the sniffles. Uki really needs me to look at this?”
Uki, a Northern healer that was as highly regarded as Yagoda in their tribe, though nearly thirty years her younger, had come to Republic City upon its founding to help create the medical center. She’d been running the hospital since the day it opened. Katara had never had any intention of spending days at a time using her healing abilities as work, but Uki had come to her, desperate for help in the beginning as they founded the center. Katara had found herself pushing aside lesser-important political obligations and working twice a week at minimum as a healer ever since.
“Uki knows that you’re the best healer in the world, despite what you might believe about that,” Siv responded cheekily. Katara opened her mouth to argue, but he continued on with their day’s schedule. “We’ll do clinic duty for an hour or two. If you can’t get a good handle on the cough by then, we’re sending the patients to a quarantined area. No sense infecting half the hospital if we don’t know what it is.”
Katara raised a brow. “For a cough?”
Siv shrugged. “When half the city’s kids aren’t getting vaccinated, thanks to the psychos out front, we don’t want to risk exposing them to something that might not have affected them if they would get the treatment. Uki and I don’t want to punish them for their parents’ crazy choices.”
“Okay,” She sighed. “I’m not here for a twenty-four hour research party, though,” Katara insisted. “My husband is actually home and I might like to see him while he’s got a little bit of down time.”
“Fair enough,” Ila, one of the nonbenders stated with an understanding smile. She had three kids of her own and didn’t enjoy working overtime either. “We also have the regular pain management patients and the wrist surgery on old man Jabba this afternoon.”
Katara laughed, the ninety-eight-year-old dementia patient was one of her favorites. “Sounds like a full day. Well, let’s wash up and see what we can figure out with this mysterious cough.”
Walking through two sets of doors, the crew washed to their elbows and pulled on paper masks over their noses, a standard procedure for working in the clinic. The small waiting room was filled with a half-dozen patients, all looking nothing short of completely miserable. Their complexions were pale and each bore a hollow, sunken look to their eyes. “These are the ones with the cough?” Katara mumbled as she stared on in surprise — she had not anticipated such severity.
Siv nodded. “Uki didn’t even set up the exam rooms. She wants them all in here.”
Moving forward, Katara introduced herself to the four women and two men assembled before her. None of them so much had the energy to stand to bow before such a master, as the majority of patients did unnecessarily when they were not in the trauma unit. “I will be examining each of you with waterbending. I will do my best to come up with an answer and a course of treatment.”
She set to work as her assistants placed bowls of water around the first patient, a little odd given the place in the waiting area, but Katara had long ago learned to ‘go with the flow.’
Approaching the man, who couldn’t have been much older than herself, Katara asked for his basic information. “Sanji...twenty-two.”
Blinking, Katara tilted her head. Sanji looked at least ten years older than he was claiming to be. “I don’t,” He wheezed, seemingly unable to catch his breath, “Usually...look...like this.”
Biting the inside of her cheek, the healer nodded, thinking she ruled out allergies before even looking at him. She asked him a few questions about when his cough started, and when it started getting worse, but he was unable to physically answer her with how severe his shortness of breath was. Wanting to get to the bottom of the situation, Katara decided to go for the heal instead of hearing the story. “I’m going to push some water into your chi paths, see if I can get some answers about what’s going on here. It might feel a little funny, but if you hold still, it will be over before you know it.”
Lifting her hands and drawing water around them, she forced the aqua glow that was standard with healing. Pressing the liquid with one hand against the man’s chest and the other on his back, she began to flood his system.
Closing her eyes in concentration, Katara moved the water around, starting at her usual pace, but quickly seeing she needed to move much more slowly to spot any trouble areas within the patient. In under a minute, however, Sanji was having trouble simply breathing beneath her, and she pulled away, using a soothing voice in attempt to calm the man so his air intake would return to normal.
“There you go...alright, I guess I stressed your system a bit too much there. I’m going to see if I can find anything in this gentleman over here that might help me get some answers for you as well.”
Working the room, Katara soon found the same trend in the next two patients and didn’t bother to attempt examining the fourth. When nothing turned up, but everyone struggled to take in air, the healer turned to her nurses, asking the female to find another waterbender or traditional medicine doctor who might be able to give her a consult.
“It’s obvious to me that the six of you are not well enough to leave here in a safe condition. I’m going to have a unit set up for you, so that we can continue to examine you and hopefully come up with a course of treatment soon. In the meantime, just...relax. Not that you were planning on going anywhere.”
Katara was about to leave to put in the quarantine request when the patient closet to her began to sweat as he coughed profusely. Katara placed a gentle hand to his cheek, gasping at the heat that radiated from him. “Siv! I need an ice bath prepared in the infectious disease unit prepared immediately!”
Katara’s other male nurse commented, “Make that two!” As he ran forward to catch one of the female patients who was falling forward in fever.
Trying not to let herself grow anxious, Katara felt her brow furrowing. Something was going on in the waiting room — and whatever it was, the simple cough she’d jested about was certainly not the situation that was brewing.
X
Uki, a thunderingly large woman with salt-and-pepper hair, came storming into the quarantined area with nothing but a scowl on her face. “I was hoping you’d nip this before quarantine was necessary. Do you realize how much paperwork there is for a quarantine?”
Katara rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize the health and wellbeing of an entire city wasn’t worth the hand-cramp from holding a fountain pen for fifteen minutes. I’ll take that into consideration the next time a disease we’ve never encountered before has already infected six people.”
The older healer narrowed her eyes. “Watch it, Katara.”
“Hey, I can go,” She said with a shrug and a sassy pout. “My husband is home and I’d have no problem spending an afternoon with him alone before my kids got out of school.”
Uki slumped. “You might as well, actually. I’m going to have your nurses collect samples and send them to the lab to be tested. It’ll be at least twelve hours. Come back tomorrow morning and we’ll see what we’re dealing with. In the meantime, do you have natural or traditional remedy you might suggest for this?”
Katara was baffled by her usually-up-tight boss’s sudden shift in tone. “I’d say honey tea for the cough, continue on with ice baths if the fevers spike again. Keep cooling blankets in the ice boxes so they’re ready to go. Should I consider myself on-call, or can I be off-duty until the morning?”
“Off-duty. That way when I really need you, you can’t complain.”
Knowing that it was true and rare for Uki to show any kind of compassion to her staff, Katara nodded. “Thanks, Uki. I owe you one.”
“You’ll make up for it by the morning, don’t you worry. I’ll cancel Jabba’s surgery on account of fear of cross-contamination. Enjoy your day, dear.”
Nearly sprinting out of quarantine, Katara stripped down as soon as she hit the required shower room before leaving the area. Scrubbing every bit of her with a specially designed soap that was supposed to help ward off infection, the waterbender hurried as best she could, changing into a simple pair of cotton pants and matching top, knowing her outfit she’d worn in was likely not going to come back from the hospital wash.
As she stepped out of the hospital and into the sunlight that shone bright from above, Katara couldn’t stop smiling at the thought of what was about to be six hours alone with her husband. Though she felt a little guilty for leaving Tenzin in childcare when she wasn’t working, the notion of time truly alone with Aang outweighed the feeling of slight abandonment.
Back on the island in less than half an hour, the waterbender kicked off her shoes and set down her bag, trying not to dance around her family’s living section of the temple. Poking her head into the kitchen, she spotted her husband, shirtless, humming to himself as he prepared some sort of late breakfast.
Knowing she’d never be able to sneak up on him with his earthbending abilities, Katara greeted him with a simple, “Hey, sweetie.”
Aang whirled around in delighted surprise, his arms open as Katara flung herself into them, winding her hands around the back of his neck and leaning up for a long kiss. Aang only ended it to ask, “What brings you home at this time of day? Without a puking child, of course.”
Widening her eyes in hope that wasn’t something she’d have to deal with soon, Katara responded, “There’s a very nasty bug that I can’t identify at the hospital. Six patients — we quarantined them and took samples, but nothing’s going to be visible even with the cool research tools in the lab, at least until morning. Uki had enough kindness for the human condition in her to send me home to you.”
Kissing her again, Aang knew what Katara had thought back at the hospital and spoke it into the universe, “That’s just because she knows that she’s going to work you to the bone when the cultures grow.”
Shrugging, the healer reached around him to sneak a piece of his blueberry tart that he was creating. “Whatever it is, this bug is not pretty. These people looked half-dead and it’s so far only a cough and a fever — no other symptoms. Yet. We’ll see what tomorrow brings. Right now, though? It sounds terrible to say but...” Katara leaned forward and whispered, “I don’t really care.”
The Avatar forced himself not to laugh. “I think you’re entitled to leave work at work every now and again. I’m leaving the world to itself until at least tomorrow, you should too.”
Letting out an excited squeak, Katara reached her hands up to his cheeks, running her thumbs along his jaw. “To us, then. What shall we do with our time together first, Avatar Aang?”
An hour later, the couple was laying exhausted on the shore of the bay, out of breath but laughing over the perilous double victory they’d just sustained as they battled over absolutely nothing. Katara rolled herself onto his chest, not caring that both of them were soaked in sweat and salty water. She just wanted to be close.
Aang hooked his arm over her, kissing the top of her soaked hair. “I’ve missed this.”
Swallowing hard, his wife assured him that she was missing their alone time, too. “We’ve just got to make the time, that’s all.”
He tossed the wrist of his other arm over his eyes. “Well, let me know if you find a way to stop the sun from setting every day so that we have more of it.”
Katara shrugged. “We need to make you a schedule—”
“Because the world’s crises always line up with your careful planning? Come on, Katara—”
She sat up with a little pout, gently shaking his shoulder. “I meant for when you are home. Like how the schools are set up — every day, from this time to this time we have our meals, or this time to this time the kids are in school and when we are home Bumi gets four to six with you, or Tenzin gets tucked in every night by me — something more consistent so that we can consistently see and enjoy each other, too.”
Aang reached a hand up and threaded his fingers in between hers. “I like that. Can we start tonight?”
Nodding, the waterbender offered, “What if we have time with each of the kids, then all together for bed, in the den. We tuck them in — Bumi doesn’t have to go to sleep right away, but he does need to stay in his room. Then, you and I have the rest of the evening to come out here and bend or, you know, do other things.” She flushed, squeezing his hand.
“Could we enjoy other things right now?”
Wiggling her eyebrows, Katara glanced up at the house. “If we go inside, I’m sure we could. Can you imagine the headlines if we were caught doing anything remotely scandalous out here?”
“AVATAR SEEN KISSING WIFE WITH TONGUE DURING WORK DAY — WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE BALANCE AND FATE OF THE WORLD?” Aang mimicked an announcer voice before pulling Katara up to her feet as she chuckled and followed him in.
X
Katara watched Aang run his thumb absently over his knuckles as they were ready to greet the oldest of their brood when they would come out of the school building. Katara was patiently waiting on a bench under the tree she always picked her eldest two up near, though Aang was pacing with excitement — he’d only ever been able to pick his daughter up once from school since she’d started in the fall and no-doubt adored the small moment he was about to receive with her.
“Daddy!” She called, running towards her parents with open arms as she blasted out of the front doors of the academy. The couple hugged her with one arm each, Aang lifting her to his shoulders when she insisted.
“Where’s your brother?” Katara questioned out-loud, usually Bumi was sprinting out the door well ahead of his little sister, whooping in joy that he didn’t have to be cooped up for another moment.
“Sneak attack!” A screech came from above the mother, who only rolled her eyes and sent a blast of water into the tree, freezing Bumi mid-jump as he attempted to leap onto her lap.
He laughed and waved as Katara firmly stated, “A sneak attack is usually more effective if you don’t shout about it first.”
The eleven-year-old shrieked and punched himself out of the ice, flipping himself down onto the bench, his gangly limbs dangling at his sides. “What’s up?”
“Not you, anymore,” Katara finally broke a smile and ruffled his hair, before the boy stood, cracking his back before running in place.
“Hey dad! Can we go to the park tonight?”
Aang squeezed Kya’s legs and she responded by squishing his head. “I could probably make that happen for you. But let’s go get your little brother first.”
“Aww,” The tiny waterbender on Aang’s shoulders groaned. “Can’t we just leave him at daycare?”
“Sure,” Katara stood, reaching up to take Kya. “Only if we can leave you at school for the night, too.”
“No way!” She screeched, pushing out of Katara’s hold and hiding behind her big brother. “That’s harsh, mama.”
A new voice from behind them added, “It’s a harsh world, baby girl.”
“Toph!” Kya jumped from her place behind Bumi to run to her surrogate aunt, hugging her leg tightly. “Hey, Linny!”
A two-year-old was perched on the police chief’s hip as she bore a somewhat grim expression. “Katara, I need to borrow you.”
Pouting, the waterbender put a hand on Aang’s chest, kissing his cheek. So much for an evening with her whole family. At least she’d had a few hours with her husband. Katara reminded Aang, “Tenzin likes his power nap when you get back. But don’t let him sleep longer than an hour!”
“Alrighty — Toph, want me to take Lin for a little bit?”
The dark-haired little girl broke into a smile and reached for the Avatar, who mumbled something about taking care of dinner to his wife before shuffling the kids down the street as the metalbender called her thanks.
“I’m actually sorry, Katara.” Toph crossed her arms, her hip jutted out slightly to the side. “I hate to disrupt your family time – I know you probably really need it, but I really need your help. I’ve got a maximum security room booked up full of my own men right now. They were a part of a special task force last night, and they came back with a little cough, but now they can hardly move. I think they were poisoned.”
Katara felt her stomach lurch at the mention of the cough. “I don’t know about that, Toph. How many people have been in contact with them?”
“Just me and a couple of guards. You don’t think it’s poison?”
Swallowing, the healer shook her head as she walked on with her old friend. Keeping her voice low, she explained, “We had six people come into the hospital this morning with the same thing. It could be poison, I guess, but it was nothing I could detect. It seemed viral. We sent samples to the lab to be tested. We need to get the proper protective gear from the hospital and get your guys over there — but we need to be careful. I don’t want to start up a public health crisis if there isn’t one. Or wind up with one and have a bunch of false-positives due to hysterical symptoms.”
Toph raised a hand, not really caring either way — she likely just wanted her elite team in top shape. “Sugar Queen, you just tell me what to do.”
“There’s no sense in exposing anyone who hasn’t had contact with them. Assemble your fleet and a squad buggy, an enclosed one. I will meet you with the suits you need to wear to be in contact with the patients, after I make room for them on the isolated wing. How many?”
“Ten,” Toph mumbled. “Ten of my best benders, completely out of commission.”
Katara groaned internally, she wasn’t sure there was going to be enough space for the incoming victims. Making haste, she made her usual path to the hospital, first entering her superior's office on the top floor, a little winded from a dozen plus flights of stairs. “Uki, we’ve got a situation.”
“I’d say,” The elder waterbender shook her head as she sat up from her desk. “Katara, seventeen more patients have come in since I sent you home — identical symptoms.”
“I have another ten coming from the police station,” The Avatar’s wife whispered. “Have any cultures come back from the lab?”
“Not yet — a few more hours, and we should have at least something to work with. I’ve already begun redirecting maternity cases to the midtown center for deliveries, and any non-emergency patients are being sent to the South Side for treatment. Infectious disease is out of beds, I’ve also roped off the floor above for quarantine as well. Katara, this is bad.”
Feeling her heart thumping wildly in her chest, the waterbender bit the inside of her lip. “I’ll be able to get more of a timeline when I talk to the metalbenders and Toph. All I know is that they came back last night with a cough, and now they can’t even move.”
“That’s...eighteen hours,” Uki shook her head. “Whatever this is, it’s aggressive. I’m requiring an immuno-buster for anyone who is coming into contact with the quarantine. I’ve already had mine, and your staff has, too.” Opening a drawer, the hospital head removed a syringe, already to go. “Come here, dear.”
Katara rolled up her sleeve, not even wincing as the needle popped into her upper arm. “I’ve got to prep a buggy to take to the police station; I’m bringing the protective suits and masks. We will go out the back. If anyone from the media happens to see us, what is the cover story?”
“Doctor-Patient confidentiality,” Uki said with a snarky smirk. “None of their damn business.”
Katara nodded and turned around, unable to help but think, sure – it was none of their business…until they’re the next ones in a hospital bed.
X
Katara clutched at the tile wall of the quarantine showers, taking her fifth shower in twenty hours. She had not been home since Toph intercepted her the day before, and she was starting to think that it wasn’t worth risking her family’s health to do so.
Trying not to fall asleep standing up, the waterbender used the extremely powerful antiseptic wash with a new, coarse loofa, trying to way the pros and cons over the decision of visiting her husband and children. She’d been following all the precautions to reduce the chances of becoming infected and then some; but since the medical center’s research team wasn’t sure how it was spread, she decided to stay another night away from the island.
Dressing in fresh, hospital-provided clothing, the waterbender made her way to the lobby, collapsing onto a sofa as she drew a hand over her eyes to block out the fading sunset that was still peering through the window.
“Katara, you might as well get some rest. The cultures still aren’t growing. We’ll call the island if anything shows up.”
Sitting up, she pressed the palms of her hands against her knees, making very deliberate eye-contact with her superior. “And infect my entire family? I don’t think so.”
Uki rolled her eyes. “If you were ill, you would have been showing symptoms by now, dear. Go on.”
“We still don’t know how this works! I could be a carrier even if it doesn’t impact me!”
“Fine, then, go up to your office. Can’t have patients seeing my top healer in a heap in the lobby. That’s not going to reassure them that everything is fine.”
“Maybe that’s because everything is not fine,” Katara mumbled as Uki walked back up the stairs. Since admitting Toph’s top-notch team of investigators, the twenty hours that had passed had been grueling and emotional. Daring to step into her office after forcing herself up from the sofa, Katara stared hard at the roll parchment that she’d spread out on a wall, littered with notes. The column that disturbed her most, was not the gross number of patients they’d admitted with the same sickness, over a hundred now, but the list of those who’d already died from their symptoms.
Sixteen had already failed to survive, despite strong medicines and rigorous healing sessions from all different types of healers; different forms of waterbending and traditional methods were all proving completely worthless in the fight to stop the disease.
Katara, considered to be the lead healer, as everyone was coming to her with questions or ideas, was starting to take the entire situation personally.
Just as she tried to go over everything she knew about the case for the hundredth time that day, the telephone in her office began to chirp. Groaning, as it was probably another crisis call, the waterbender answered with a clipped, “Hello.”
“Hey, sweetie,” Aang’s voice was a welcome reprieve as Katara fell down into her desk chair, scooting it back to put her head in her arms as she listened to him. “How’s it going?”
“I’m really sorry that I haven’t called,” She stated into the speaker, biting her lip for a moment before saying, “Things unfortunately are not going well. I’m afraid to come home. I’m not showing any symptoms, but I am honestly petrified of exposing the kids to this — I think I did yesterday since I was here in the morning, and that’s scaring me beyond words.”
Before he could offer to come visit, Katara begged Aang, “Please don’t leave the island, don’t even send the kids to school tomorrow. It’s awful, Aang. We have over a hundred patients. Sixteen have already died in two days since this was first brought to our attention. The people have come from all different parts of the city — all the way to the Northern Heights. There’s no containing it now, just dealing with the disease and trying to find a cure. Toph has all her men disguised in their riot gear, when they really have quarantine outfits on underneath. The police and the council are the only people in the city who know the truth right now, but everyone will know by morning. We’re closing down all ports. All emergency goods will be airlifted in.”
“I got that message this evening, I wasn’t sure if you’d heard.” He sighed, probably rubbing the tip of his arrow. “Do you want me to put the kids on Appa and see if we can get Suki to take them all out of here until we get a handle on this?”
Katara let out a little puff of air. “Yeah, she’d love that but, we’ll wait until morning and see if there are any answers. We’re waiting for a few more cultures to grow that have forty-eight-hour incubation periods. I know that doesn’t mean much to you, but we have a small ray of hope that we might have an answer in the morning. If not, we will decide then. There’s plenty of food on the island, so even if you wind up staying there, you should be okay. Is Lin still with you?”
“Sleeping in Tenzin’s crib as we speak.”
Swallowing hard, missing her kids, the waterbender dared to ask about them. “How’re they holding up? Surely they suspect something?”
Practically feeling him shrug, Katara felt the ease in Aang’s voice, which made her relieved. “They’re fine. Kya went to bed a little early tonight, she said she was tired, but I think she was just trying to get out of playing with Lin for any longer.”
Katara chuckled sleepily. “Okay. I should to catch a quick nap before the next round of patients comes flooding in. I love you.”
“I love you too. Take care of yourself, Katara.”
X
Waking up to an obnoxiously loud alarm, Katara bolted up from her makeshift bed on her office sofa. Sprinting through the halls, she arrived at the quarantine unit just as her fellow staff mates were pulling on their protective gear. Following suit, she listened as Uki bellowed out orders.
“Our patients who’ve been here the longest are seizing — six of them, all from the police unit. It’s been almost five minutes since the first one started. Please be ready to tend to symptoms when they finish seizing, we want to do anything we can to reduce their temperatures once more so we can prevent more seizures! Brain damage can set in after just one.”
Katara raised a brow. There were no known ways to end a seizure, but Katara was fairly sure that just dealing with the temperatures of the men was not going to help. “Shouldn’t we proactively work on healing the patients instead of being reactive to each new symptom?”
Opening her mouth to speak, Uki pointed a firm finger at Katara. “Don’t argue with me. We don’t want to try aggravating their systems any further!”
“Yes but lowering the temperature doesn’t stop the problem from reoccurring—”
“Do you not remember what happened to the last patient you insisted would benefit from a healing session?”
Katara swallowed a thick lump in her throat. The power of the bending within one of Toph’s men had been far too much of a shock for his body to handle in the fragile state he was in. Toph didn’t blame her, but Katara did, as she usually did upon losing a patient. But it also did something else. Failing in such a gruesome way fueled her to keep fighting.
“Losing one patient isn’t going to stop me from trying to save the others, Uki. For all we know the, seizure isn’t linked to the actual disease. It could be the body trying to defend itself from something else.”
“Just treat the patients as instructed,” Uki hissed, directing the rest of her staff. “Everyone protected?”
Masks were adjusted, gloves snapped into place and twenty non-bending doctors, nurses, and healers were ready to hopefully, save lives.
“Let’s begin.”
Katara felt like she was swimming inside of a synchronized performance within her own mind. Her hands were moving of their own accord as she administered medication and fought the symptoms of a rampaging disease for another four hours before being told she was moving to a lower ward, where nearly three dozen new patients had been brought in over their course of treatment on the second quarantine zone.
Wiping a hand over her brow, Katara hurried to the decontamination center, bathing and changing into fresh scrubs before re-gearing up to set up the newest victims of what was clearly becoming an epidemic.
X
Standing in the morgue, Katara could hardly keep her composure as she was surrounded by such decay. Since the cultures had come back with no useful information nearly four days earlier, the entirety of their original group of patients had died.
It had been nearly a week since she’d seen her children, though living in the hospital was causing her to lose track of time. She thought in shifts — sleeping far less than she should have.
They’d named the unknown disease TALIKPA, an ancient Water Tribe word that meant hidden, as the nature of the illness remained disguised from even the best healers in the world. The course was the same in each patient — a fever, cough, that developed into a wheeze, inability to digest, complete loss of energy, loss of motor function, seizures, followed by internal organs shutting down, ending with the heart.
One of their nurses, though not one of her own, had developed the disease, despite immuno-busters, decontamination showers, and protective gear. Katara was starting to fear the worse for the fate of herself as well.
Aang, needing to get back to work in the city, had called Katara’s retired father in from the South to help with the kids on the island. Hakoda was happy to help, but nervous for the fate of his daughter as he uncovered more about the dire situation.
The public was growing restless, and Katara wasn’t sure that keeping them uninformed of the full details of the epidemic was helping matters. Citizens had been instructed to stay inside when at all possible, wearing protective masks when entering the public. All businesses were ordered closed, with only essential services running. In a city of nearly a three-quarter million, initiating the law had been difficult. Though only a small percentage of the population had been affected by the disease, every hospital and its many corresponding medical centers throughout the city was filled to capacity. Thousands had wound up sick, with no end or results in sight.
Katara was beginning to lose her nerve for treating the disease. Everything she had done had only sustained lives, not saved them. Her job was bleak, keeping people within their human shell despite its rotting course, was exhausting.
She wanted answers, not patronage.
There were only two conclusions that she’d drawn from her limited ability to research, given she was stuck in the treatment facilities, not the labs where a desperate attempt at a cure to an unknown disease was being made.
So far, Katara knew that only seventeen children out of the thousands of cases they’d had brought in, had been affected. The only thing those children had in common? They hadn’t received the vaccinations she implemented five years prior.
Therefore, the waterbender was starting to think that what they were experiencing was some mutated strain of one of the three major killer diseases they injected tiny doses of into small children so they’d have the antibodies to fight them off if they ever came in contact with them. But none of the cultures or cures were proving that true.
Still, Katara had a hunch. And as she stormed into Uki’s office on day seven of their quarantine, Katara demanded to be set free of her obligation to treatment and transferred to the lab.
“Katara, don’t be stupid. You’re contaminated. I cannot have you entering a lab where they’re trying to find a cure!” The old healer explained harshly, slamming her fist against the smooth oak of her desktop.
“I can’t keep doing this. I won’t.” Katara’s temper was flaring as she shouted, “You constantly tell me I’m the most proficient healer in the world. I have come up with numerous cures and preventative healing methods in that lab, why would this be any different?”
“Because,” Uki snarled, “It’s as I’ve just said: you are contaminated. You have had too much exposure with the disease to work with samples. I will not allow it. The guards have been instructed not to allow you access to the laboratories, and if you sneak in, I will have you arrested.”
Katara was near tears of frustration. “Then let me set up a makeshift lab, with the patients. Let me have some who will consent to experimental treatments—”
“We are not taking that route. Patients aren’t cognizant enough to consent!”
“If their life is in danger either way! Either they die with us curbing their symptoms and making them comfortable, or they die trying to fight off the TALIKPA disease with medicine or traditional healing! Please, please, Uki, let me try something other than reducing fevers and cough suppressants! It’s not working and —”
“ENOUGH!” The older woman roared. “You are not to experiment on any patient. If I catch a whiff of you messing around with your bending, I’ll have you jailed and banned from practicing healing for the rest of your life!”
Katara crossed her arms, an eyebrow raised. “Do you seriously think that Toph would throw me in a cell? Do you think that my brother, the city councilman, would stand for me not practicing medicine?”
Uki laughed. “How nice to have such influence, Katara. I think that public pressure would put you away just as well. You have already got a crusade outside these walls marching against you and your radical ideas every day.”
“I hardly call Kin-Ha and her band of anti-vaccination misfits an army. I’ve done way more good than harm during my time at this hospital, which you roped me into, if you will recall. I was perfectly happy with my political career. You came to me, begging me, to use my power here when you were desperate. And I helped you then. I can’t believe you wouldn’t want my help now!”
Turning around to carry on with her plan anyway, Katara was about to slam the door open when a sight she didn’t want to see caused her heart to stop beating for a moment.
“Aang?” She breathed, knowing that he was smarter than to show up unless he was in danger. “You-you shouldn’t be here, it’s—”
“Katara,” He took her hand, tears flowing freely from his eyes. “It’s Kya. Katara, she’s-she’s got it. She just had that little tickle, last week. You said, it was allergies...but this afternoon, it got worse, and now, she can hardly move.”
Without even thinking, the mother placed her hand on her husband’s shoulder, turning to look behind her with a scathing expression towards the hospital’s head healer. “I give consent to treat my daughter with any experimental treatments necessary to cure her illness.”
Hardly thirty minutes later, Katara prepared to step into the unit where her daughter was being prepped by only her three trusted nurses. Aang had originally placed her in Siv’s arms, as the man understood that she was to be treated with the utmost care. Kya had been too exhausted to even know that he’d left her side.
She gave Aang one of the same protective coverings that the healers and doctors wore, not caring about protocol as she took her husband in to see their daughter. Not knowing what she was going to do yet, Katara decided to surprise her daughter with a gentle greeting instead of a worried exam right away.
Kya was propped up in a sterile, white bed, her complexion, generally closer to her mother’s, unnaturally pale. Her eyes were open in slits as Siv tried to keep her comfortable.
Katara held back tears and swallowed a sob as she strode to the five-year-old’s side. Forcing a wide smile so that her eyes would sparkle behind the clear glasses she wore, she sat at the edge, taking Kya’s hand in her gloved one. “Hey, sweetheart.”
“Mama,” Kya managed to speak, wheezing as she blinked, painfully slow.
“Shh, it’s okay, sweetie,” Katara tried to convince herself as she gently rubbed the girl’s leg. “I’m sorry that I have been away for so long. I couldn’t leave the hospital. So many people were getting sick...It looks like you’re sick now, too. I’m so sorry I wasn’t home to help you.”
“‘S okay, mama,” The little one whispered, her head rolling to the side.
Biting her lip, Katara nodded. “I’m going to get you better, Kya. I promise.”
Kya didn’t respond as she drifted to sleep once again and Katara whirled around to look desperately at Siv. “I need the usual samples, but don’t let them leave this room. I will be doing what is necessary to cure this illness, and if this room becomes a lab, so be it.”
“Not on my property.”
Katara swirled around with a flame of anger burning with growing frustration inside of her. Uki stood in the doorway of Kya’s room, arms crossed, brow furrowed. “I gave you an answer about performing experimental treatment on hospital property. I gave you instructions about what you are to do during this emergency.”
“That was before my daughter was infected! I was willing to lay down and answer to you before, but that time has passed. If you think I won’t do everything in my power to save my child, you—”
“So your five-year-old’s life is more important to you than that of the city’s elite metalbending teams? Or university professors? Or—”
“Shut up!” Katara roared, a basin of healing water shifting behind her. Aang bit his lip, raising a hand over the container to apparently keep his wife from doing something she’d regret with it. “That’s different. Kya is my child! I shouldn’t have to justify my actions and beliefs to you! What’s wrong with wanting to cure this illness, at whatever stakes that may take? If you were a true healer, you’d be in here trying to solve this with me!”
Uki uncapped her water pouch that sat proudly on her hip. “Don’t you make accusations about my healing! If you might recall, Yagoda appointed me chief healer just before she died. That makes me the best healer in the world. If you want to start something with me, you will regret it.”
Katara opened her mouth to rage on, but a pathetic, cracking cough from behind her brought her focus back to life. “I’m not wasting one more second. Aang, take Kya. If I’m not treating her here, I will treat her at home. We’ll set up a clean room. Siv, Ila, Mumik, will you come with me?”
Her assistants didn’t hesitate to nod and quickly began packing up.
“Not so fast! That is hospital property. I forbid you to leave the premises with it!”
“Forget it,” Katara shouted, “I’ve got my own devices at home. Let’s move, quickly.”
Not bothering to take off her suit or take a decontamination shower, Katara marched past Uki with nothing but raw anger guiding her footsteps. Aang followed, the other healers bringing up the rear.
X
Restricted Office, Republic City General Hospital
“You’re going to regret this! All of you!” Uki shouted, glowering before running as fast as her aging body could take her up two flights of stairs and into what appeared to be a supply closet.
Moving a cabinet with a puff of breath, the healer stood before a metal seal. Urging water from her pouch, she poured it into the pattern that was designed, and the seal cracked, revealing a wooden handle. Turning it open, she stepped into a frigid room, which had the appearance of a laboratory. Six men and two women stopped what they were doing at high tables and gave her their full attention.
Uki’s shoulders heaved as she expressed her deep concern. “Katara is onto me. The damn Avatar brought his daughter in, and Katara is taking her home to perform experimental treatments on her. As soon as she gets a good look at the blood makeup, she’s going to know what we have done. Trash her lab. Take away any access to resources that she has. She cannot know that this is not a contagion!”