trans_9 | Precision

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Precision

Retreating back to the hotel, Katara could feel those overwhelming feeling of despair and whys me's echoing in the back of her head, but they didn't play to the surface. So Will was back. So she knew Matt would be conflicted, would have to decide what he wanted to do. Well she had a decision too. She could let him go, or she could tell Matt something different. In any case, part of her tried to insist their world was theirs, and she had no say. But Katara had too much training to allow herself to give up like this: she was a fighter, and she cared for everything that made an impact to her: and that was why she decided what she would do before she started her exercises.

Here it was simply the pool water in the hotel, but real water was a bit more of a comfort than artificial water from the Sensoriums. She wanted to bend it, move it as it should: for her, water had always been her calming space and her anchor. No matter where she went, it would be the link to her people, distinguish her on the ship.

Katara of the Southern water Tribe.

She was so caught up in her quiet streaming she wouldn't even notice someone approaching.

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She has to notice Zuko, if only because he was waiting there for her to show up. And if only because he hasn't exactly been around for a while.

"Hey."

He stands in the corner of the room, arms crossed, looking, all things considered, pretty cranky, even though his voice is even.

"I thought I'd find you here."

And when he didn't, he waited.

She stopped. She had expected any of the Outsiders, Beastboy, Alex, to be here, but not Zuko. As far as she knew, Zuko was repodded, taken like her brother and thought to be sleeping. Here he was though, in defiance to that just as Luna had been.

And had she been in a more observing mind, remembering Zuko hadn't known about their past, she would have acknowledged him quietly.

Instead, seeing him, she ran across the room and launched a hug that was sure to knock him over. All she had known, for the last few weeks, was that she was the only person from her world, so seeing Zuko here was a miracle.

"Zuko!" She exclaimed. "You're back! I'm so glad to see you!"

Ah, great. Hugs. Zuko is so good at those when he's newly re-awoken and awkward . . . not.

He closes his arms around Katara and pats her back awkwardly. "I - same, I guess."

That's kind of short but he has serious things to let her know. He pushes her back by the shoulders so he can speak to her face-to-face.

"I don't know what they did to me while I was out, but I remember what happened after the eclipse now." He still looks bothered. "I don't know how they did it, or why or . . . I just wanted to make sure I told you."

Katara gave a quiet chuckle. Zuko had never really been good at this kind of thing, and she didn't blame him for being a little awkward at it, trying to shy away.

What she hadn't expected was what he mentioned though: that he had regained the memories after the eclipse. This was so startling she didn't even care about being pushed away so he could tell her that.

"You do?" Katara was doing her best to keep herself composed, but it was like a shining way had just been thrown to her. Zuko was BACK, AND he remembered everything?

Then...

"How much do you recall?"

"Everything." He pauses, still looking bothered, before adding, "At least, I think it's everything. I just need to know if it's all the truth."

Would the Daligig plant false memories in his head to encourage him to fight that much harder, to get the Four Nations back? Zuko is cynical as they come, and he wouldn't put it past them.

Besides -

"You and I . . . we fought Azula, and you took her down."

And then his crazy sister went . . . well, crazy. After all those years of him calling her insane, and believing it, still to see himself proven so drastically right . . .

"She . . . didn't take it well. That happened, right?"

She listened, and knew it: he HAD gotten all of those memories back. It made her really happy, more than she had felt in the days following Renne's podding. But as he talked, he was hitting upon a bittersweet memory: defeating Azula. It was one thing to remember beating the monster that had almost killed both Aang and Zuko, but it had been another to see what had happened when she was brought down.

"Yeah, that happened. I thought she'd killed you when she hit you with the lightning bolt, and you took that hit for me. It was a pretty intense battle, but I trapped her in the water and chained her down. I was glad I stopped her, but I still remember what happened to her when I won. She was in a lot of pain inside. I guess it would have been easier if she'd just said something snide and arrogant like she always did. But you probably knew that all of that aside, she was probably still a fragile girl in there. Being royalty in the Fire Nation takes its toll."

She'd learned that from him more than anything.

"I wonder why they took you away and brought you back WITH all those memories. Do you think Stacy had a reason?"

"I bet it was to make me fight harder to get it all back." His face is set in an angry line at being manipulated this way. "It feels like I didn't actually experience it. Like it was a dream they put me through in Podsleep -"

Did that mean they could have played with his mind, shown him lies, made him believe they were real?

"Maybe it's just because now that I'm here, I remember being here before that so clearly." But then again, maybe not.

He lets Katara's words about Azula wash over him, considering them carefully. A fragile girl. He never would have said that about his sister. He never would have even thought it.

They were both being played by the same person . . . and in the end, she was the one who lost everything to Ozai's poor parenting. Not him, as he'd believed he had for so long.

He's never liked his sister, but until now, he's never felt sorry for her either. It's a strange feeling. Like wearing a shirt that doesn't fit yet.

Even if Katara didn't know him so well, she could probably tell that the shock of this was finally settling in. Maybe it was reawaking on the ship. Maybe it was the unpleasant juxtaposition of his memories of here before, with his memories of a time he might not have even gotten to see . . . maybe it's a lot of things, but Zuko has too much to think about.

"I'm not going to say it was right for Stacy to do it," Katara said, who felt torn by hearing it. "I wanted you to know about all we'd been through, but I wanted you to live through it, not just sort of remember it. I'm not going to lie though: its been lonely, not having you and Sokka and the others around. I might not see the others until after the war, but knowing you're here will at least be a comfort."

She had no idea about Sokka being back for the moment, but it was good to see Zuko.

"I know Alex wil be happy you;re here, and that boy I keep hearing about but only saw that one time, Hiccup. It must be aggravating, to be brought back here in such a strange place, but I'm glad you can see now that you were missed when you were gone, and not just by me."

Of course, then came the next question.

"Now what?"

"You know, every time I see you, you look like someone just kicked a puppy." Eva leans against the hotel wall. "It's a nice show, though."

At this, Katara kinda gave a sad laugh. "I sort of been feeling like the kicked puppy. But its a little better this time. I'm starting to see that if I really want things to be better, I'd better work toward what I want. Just being sad about the things that upset me isn't going to help anyone."

She brought the water up in an overhead arc and froze it temporarily before bringing it down again. "It's more than a show, but I know what you mean. Waterbending can be a powerful weapon of offense if you know what you're doing, but its nature has always been more as a defensive art. It's a shame that things like war have to make it something to fight with, but in the end, it will be necessary. A little while again, I had the option to just be a healer, but I made the decision to fight, and I stand by it."

"You're right, it doesn't. You have to be able to set these things aside when other duties call." She nods, then sort of rolls her eyes at herself. "Sorry, that sounds really dry and obvious."

She watches the water with a measured amount of awe. "You use the resources at your disposal. You have your waterbending, I had my body. War likes to get its sticky filthy fingers into just about everything," she sighs.

She nodded, but it was a little more than that. "Well, what I mean is that if I want something bad enough, that I know will make me happy, I'm going to go for it. Stacy makes enough bad things happen to me, but I'm the one that chooses what it does to me."

Katara moved her legs in tandem with the flow of the water and they seemed one at that moment: they moved similarly, slow at first, then faster. Katara bobbed and weaved, shifting the stances and adjusting herself accordingly.

When she stopped, she smiled. There. She was moving as fast as she knew she could again: she had been a little disappointed with how she'd fought in that Ohm simulation.

"War did that to all of the benders, unfortunately. I think because of that a lot of adults rushed to have power through their bending and went for intimidation. Children who weren't learning about bending to have power over people tended to be stronger, and that worked in our favor."

"You really believe that? That our reactions are our choosing even if the environment isn't?" Eva's voice isn't derisive, but there is hesitance in it. It's not something she totally believes, even if she'd like to.

"I take it that was impressive," she says as the smile returns to her face. "So it's not something you can force. Intimidation has its positives, though. Not in direct combat, but it's a valuable asset."

"Yes. I haven't for awhile, because its in my nature to be affected by things, by connections I have with people that get frayed. But I had a teacher on the ship who was repodded, and she taught me that what happens is affected by what I choose to do. There will always be bad things happening, and still are, but if I let them get to me every time, it'll end with me feeling more and more disconnected with people and the ship."

And she knew that led to thinking she was trying to avoid: that she had no power on the ship, that Stacy alone was the master of her fate.

"I know it does," Katara said, "but people in my world almost always use intimidation as a way of bullying others. Used in that way, it usually leads to corruption and violence, and scars the people in a bad way. I know I've used intimidation myself: sometimes it was ok, and sometimes it really wasn't called for. I guess it really depends on who uses it."

Towards bending though, she had a different view. "Forcing bending can work, but it tends to weaken you in other ways. A good bender that doesn't use force will see through that."

She specifically though of Commander Zhao in this respect.

"Well, naturally, we'd like to think our reactions have a wider impact, if we're proud of our actions, that is. But I'm not so sure there aren't some things you can't help but let get to you, even if you turn that angry and sad energy into more useful outlets."

She tilts her head. "I think it's less who than how and for what purpose. Saying it's 'who' seems to imply that people only have one agenda, and it's always either for or against you. Someone evil can be used for good if their incentives are tweaked."

"I'm not saying they won't get to me," Katara said. "I mean, you could already tell that I was feeling hurt, right? There's nothing I can do about that. What I can do is try and find a way more constructive for me to deal with that pain: meditation, being with friends, training. Those are the kinds of things I can do to shape how I deal with my pain, and what I can do when someone is trying to make me feel emotions that can overpower me. It was how I was able to deal with Big Zero."

Where was she anyway?

"I say 'who' because most of the time, I've seen people who can't be swayed from what they want to do, even if it will harm others and make them suffer. As for evil being used for good, I had a teacher who believed as you do, but it was something she and I never saw eye to eye on. I know it can be helpful, but its still something that can be warped for bad things. I should know: I think I told you about bloodbending."

"Ah. Then I guess we're disagreeing about the fact that we agree." Eva laughs a bit. "Yeah, when it comes to dealing with Big Zero, I should probably shut my mouth and hope nobody else remembers it."

"But you can rearrange the circumstances around what they want to do so that it's working in your favor. Finding mutual interests, leverage, all that. And you did, briefly. It sounded like something out of a bad horror movie featuring pagans." Despite the wry tone, her face darkens. "But shouldn't the greater good always take precedent over our moral purity?"

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