It was a quiet morning. Katara was running through her waterbending drills by the pond. She lifted a globe of water, warped it, formed it into a ring, sent smaller globes through it -- it was nothing she hadn't done before a million times, but it was good to keep up with the basics. It would be easy to get lazy, in this peaceful, postwar world -- Toph certainly had, the little earthbender was off somewhere napping.
"Why do I need to practice when I'm already the strongest Earthbender of all time?" she'd scoffed when Katara had pointed out that daily drills were just as important as a healthy diet, regular baths, and brushing your teeth. Katara had to admit -- Toph was probably right. Still, Aang was the Avatar, and he practiced every day, discovering new secrets and subtleties in the interplay of earth, water, fire, air, and spirit.
Oh, well. Toph would never change. Sighing, Katara lifted another globe of water --
Suddenly, the world went dark.
Disoriented, Katara's eyes strained against the blackness. She picked herself up -- she'd fallen over somehow -- and put her hands to her face, expecting to find something covering her eyes. There was nothing. Had darkness fallen so quickly and so totally? No -- that was impossible, it was almost noon! She could feel the sun on her face and arms.
Something was wrong with her eyes. She placed her hands over them, calling upon her powers of healing, and that's when she received an even greater shock.
Her bending was gone! She couldn't sense the water. She reached out for the pond, couldn't find it, reached for her waterskin, it was gone -- what on earth was going on.
Putting one foot carefully in front of the other, holding her arms out in front of herself, she tried to make it back to the house. After some time and several stumbles, her fingers found a row a posts which she remembered seeing. Somehow, she'd ended up on the other side of the house entirely! She worked her way to the front stoop and crawled inside.
In the kitchen, she found a jug of water and attempted to lift it, to take it in her hands and mold the liquid. She felt nothing. The connection had been severed completely. The water was as lifeless as stone.
Katara felt tears -- horrible, dead, wrong tears -- rolling down her cheeks. She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt this frightened and helpless.
"Help!" she cried out. "Sokka? Aang? Anyone? Please, help me!" She managed to choke out a final word. "Please."
Heavy footsteps came running, and in seconds she heard the welcome sound of Sokka's voice, accompanied by the grate of metal on hide as he drew his sword from its scabbard. "What's going on? Where are they?"
"It's.. it's not that," Katara sobbed. "Sokka... Sokka... there's something wrong with me."
"What is it?" His voice was sharp and worried.
Katara groped her way across the room to him. She gulped. "I'm blind."
To her astonished dismay, he burst out laughing. "Oh my god -- good one! Okay, I'll admit it, you got me. I seriously thought Azula was hiding in the cupboard or someth--"
"It's not funny!" Katara wailed. "And it's not a joke. I can't... can't see anything!"
"Well, uh, okay, that's true... and that's a problem?" He paused. "Wait, you don't mean there's something wrong with your bending?"
"That too! I can't sense the connection. I can't sense anything anymore. I don't know what's wrong with me or--"
"Shh. Calm down, Toph, it'll be okay. Uh, guess we should find Aang, or maybe an experienced earthbender."
"Did you just call me Toph?" Katara snapped. "Because I don't think that's funny at all."
"Was it supposed to be?" Sokka sounded puzzled. "Look, Toph, I don't know what to tell you--"
"Stop calling me Toph!" she screeched. "Your own sister is crippled, and all you can do is crack jokes about it!"
"All right, Toph, joke's over. You're kinda freaking me out here."
"I'm Katara!" But even as she said this, a horrible suspicion came over her. She ran her hands over her hair, her clothes, her figure -- he was telling the truth. Her body wasn't hers anymore -- it was Toph's.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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