“It is a big deal! I’m not camping in those woods! Not after what just happened!” “I told you, we should just grab our stuff and camp in the woods like we usually do. “We were staying at her inn, but there’s no way I’m spending another night there.” My instincts could tell something wasn’t right,” Sokka said. She was just a quiet old innkeeper who kept mostly to herself.” His words only reminded her-yet again-that she was a bloodbender.Ĭhinyu nodded. Katara wished he wouldn’t say it like that. “We’re just glad we stopped her before she could kidnap anymore villagers,” Aang said. Thank you for saving the people of our village from that witch, Hama.” When they reached the village, they found a short man with a white beard waiting for them. Aang walked next to her and interjected a few comments, but otherwise he didn’t say much. Katara hung behind and paid little attention to the conversation. Let’s go join the others.”Īs the four of them walked to town, Toph and Sokka debated about where to spend the night. “I just need…to get away from this place. The dark, hulking forms of the forest trees pressed in around them, and she felt like they were being watched by invisible eyes. She pressed her fingers to her temple to steady herself. “Uh, nothing.” She stood up a little too fast, and the world spun around her. The desire to see people, to see Aang, the way a bloodbender saw them sickened her and fascinated her at the same time. Her heart pounded as she realized how close she was to…not bloodbending, but something like it.
Katara jerked back with a gasp and pulled away from Aang. Would he feel it if she did? Would his blood look the same as Hama’s, or would his blood take different paths and weave different patterns? By looking inside of Aang, she would see him in a way that no one else ever could. With her hands resting on Aang’s back, it would be so easy for her to reach a little further, a little deeper, just to see. Until today, Katara never wondered what people looked like, under their skin. She was sure thoughts like these had never crossed Aang’s mind. Could airbenders feel the currents of breath the way she could feel currents of blood? Could they reach inside the lungs and steal a person’s breath? Or stop it completely? Katara shuddered. With her arms around him, Katara felt his chest expanding and relaxing with every breath. Her erratic breathing slowed until it matched the rhythm of Aang’s breathing. She rested her chin on his shoulder and tried to lose herself in the warmth of his arms and the sweet windblown scent that was uniquely Aang. He reached around with his other arm and pulled her close. Don’t leave me alone, she wanted to say, but the words wouldn’t come.īut Aang seemed to understand what she needed. She turned to see him kneeling beside her, watching her with concern. She didn’t deserve his support, but she couldn’t deal with the horror of what she had become, not alone. Panic flooded her brain as she realized that if Aang followed him, she would be completely alone. Toph was running over to them, and Sokka got up to meet her. She wondered if they would still try to comfort her if they knew what a monster she was. Together, Aang and her brother formed a circle around her, as if to protect her from the horror of what just happened. Katara was dimly aware of the others, of Aang with his arm around her shoulders and Sokka with his hand on her back. Having that kind of control over Hama filled her with wonder and revolted her at the same time. Katara felt certain that If she had reached just a bit further, she could have stopped her heart. She had even felt Hama’s heart beating, weak and irregular, pumping the lifeblood through her frail and shriveled body. Reaching inside, under the skin, through the veins, for the blood that pulsed through the cords and delicate webs of the old hag’s blood vessels. What have I done? She could still feel it, the popping joints and crackling ligaments when she bent Hama’s blood to her will. A sick feeling rose up from the pit of her stomach. The old woman’s cackling filled her ears. Katara dropped to her knees, hands over her mouth as she sobbed. If you want to become a premium subscriber to hear us discuss all seasons of Foundation, subscribe at Patreon.“Congratulations, Katara, you are a bloodbender.”
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Here's free access to the first podcast of our Premium Foundation season 1 coverage. And Dem is the FEDS, as well she should be! I also need New Brother Dawn to be less of a creeper. I'm dying to know what's up with the Vault and where Gaal has been. The genetic dynasty fascinates and scares me.