Sometimes

"I miss him sometimes, you know."

"No" the young boy said, putting his hands over his sister's small shoulders. "I don't think we do."

- - -

"Where are the kids, Sokka?" the old woman asked, ducking under the tent flap and hobbling over to where the old man crouched by the fire.

"Oh," Sokka began, looking up at his sister and sticking his thumb in the opposite direction. "They were going fishing this morning- I must've forgotten to mention it."

"Fishing?" she asked, and her eyes got swimmy.

"Aw- jeez, Katara. You gotta forget him sometime."

"I think… I think I'll see if they'll let me go with them. You know, so we can have fish for dinner…"

Sokka shook his head- he was well aware of the real reason Katara wanted to go fishing with the kids. "Okay, fine." he said, but she was already halfway out of the tent. "Be careful! And if you're looking for the iceberg, don't go left!"

The air was soggy that day, and it seemed to weigh down all around her as Katara walked to the docking canal. She had the faint idea that maybe she should be running, but her old bones had experienced far too much of that in her younger years. Instead she walked at her measured pace, and breathed a sigh of relief when the children came into view.

Upon closer inspection she realized the kids were already off dock and paddling out father into the ocean. In a last bit of desperation Katara let out a feeble cry of "wait…" before stretching her withered arms back into use and bending herself an ice raft.

Thrusting her arms behind her the old Waterbender propelled forward at an alarming speed, and in the small canoe childish eyes widened (like his eyes used to) and mouths dropped.

Katara shot over toward the edge of the boat and leaped off the ice, landing in the canoe and rocking it violently. Plopping down in the middle of the boat she smiled, and gently inquired if, perhaps, may she come along on this journey, for it had been such a long time since she had been on one, and she really did miss the adventures so.

The boy was the first to speak. "Uh, we were actually just going fishing…"

Katara grinned. "Well how do you think me and Sokka's adventure started in the first place?"

On the way there things were mostly quiet, the small girl eyes wide and drinking everything in and the boy leaning back in skeptic thought (but he was really excited, Katara knew the type). No one dared break the spell.

Finally, when the pull was getting stronger on her heart, Katara stood; eyes closed, and let her bending lead the way. Through her eyelids things began glowing blue, and she knew her memory was telling her that this was the place. A gasp from the young girl confirmed her thoughts, and Katara open her eyes to be hit with a basketful of thick, heavy emotions. For a second she couldn't swallow, couldn't breathe, and only a small voice stopped her from dropping to her knees right there from the weight building up in her chest.

"Are we gonna find adventure today, Master Katara?"

"No…" there was a significant pause, and the boy noticed for the first time such deep pain in an old woman's eyes. "Today… I think we'll just visit an old one."

It was the boy who took the first step out of the canoe (partly because he was getting uncomfortable, and partly because he likes being first) and as he helped his sister out and they both took hesitant steps forward Katara felt like she was being hit with a moment straight out of their part. Their past.

For a long time Katara just stood in the boat while it rocked her back and forth, up and down, and watched the children, expressionless. Then, very slowly, with eyes wide like a newborn, she stepped onto the iceberg.

There was a tiny cry (that came from my mouth, Katara realized) and she closed her eyes as if in pain, but she didn't draw her foot back up. Instead she lowered the other one down, until she was standing completely on the iceberg. For the next few moments Master Katara's eyes were very far away, like she wasn't quite there, and she walked up to lay a hand on the slope of the ice.

Finally, a break in the silence, a crack in the ice, came in the form of one deep, weepy breath.

"I miss him sometimes, you know."

"No" the young boy said, putting his hands over his sister's small shoulders. "I don't think we do."