Katara still wanted to heal that gash on Sokka's stomach, but she wasn't sure he'd let her. She wasn't sure of many things, at the moment, and the rush of people and yelling wasn't helping.

Standing in the currently empty engine room, the chugging and humming of the generators filling the silence, she stood, leaning against a worktable with one hand and rubbing the bridge of her nose with the other.

After waking and getting ready for the day and disbursing, Katara had made sure Aang ate well--since she knew he was suffering for the lack of vegetables--then brought some food up to Jim's room, wary as she made her way through the hallways.

Knockknockknock. "It's me."

It was oddly dark as Katara made her way up the hall. And quiet.

Unnervingly quiet.

She opened the door to she and Sokka's room and made her way in. Sokka was sitting up against the wall, his notepad next to him.

"Is it just me or is everyone quiet tonight? I didn't see anybody in the common room," she said, closing the turn and turning to him.

He was as silent as the halls and the night outside.

"Sokka?"

Maybe he'd fallen asleep sitting up? He'd been working so hard lately.

Smiling, Katara stepped over and put a hand on his shoulder to wake him up and tease him into sleeping in his bedroll. His hair was hanging in his face.

"Sokka," she whispered, trying to wake him gently, "you're falling asleep sitting up--I think your doodles can wait until tomorr..."

His skin was cold.

"...Sokka?"

Shaking now, she dropped to her knees and pushed his hair out of the way of his face, and...and his eyes were wide open and blank and his lips were white-blue, and she looked to his neck and saw, and saw...

She SCREAMED, and tears sprang up and started pouring down her face before she even realized they were coming.

"No! Nonononononono!"

She fumbled for her waterskin--it couldn't be too late, it couldn't!

"Sokka, stay with me, please, please stay with me, she begged, her words as shaky and frantic as her movements, "I can fix this, I can fix this--"

She tried to fix it. She tried SO hard, she kept trying, but he wouldn't heal and there was no pulse and no matter how hard she willed it, what she wanted wouldn't happen.

And then she was shaking rocking him in her arms, hands wet, wailing wordlessly, screaming out her pain as loud as she could, just rocking, rocking...

After saying good evening to Jim, Katara wandered back to she and Sokka's room looking windswept, somewhat content, but also partly troubled. Not in an OMG ANGST WOE kind of way, but rather as if there was a puzzle she couldn't quite solve.

She was also sunburned, which made no frickin' sense at all, considering her skin was so dark. It'd had to have been some really, really strong sun.

When she came in and plopped down on her bed-roll, she turned to Sokka and started to say something, and then stopped and just staaaared at him, raising an eyebrow.

Katara was sitting in she and Sokka's room, trying to read the Chinese primer Natalie had given her for practice.

It did not help that she couldn't read the English parts either.

It was early that Katara woke up, dressed, and started gathering up her things.

Too early. That's probably what woke Sokka up, even though there was still hardly any light in the room.

It's so dead here.