The Dragon and The Ocean // Zutara

Untangling

Katara's POV

"Healing session?" Zuko asks as we walk inside. 

"I'm afraid to say it, but yes. We have some serious work to do." I reply. He nods and sits down on his bed, unting the sash around his shirt. He pulls it off with ease and then takes off his bandage.

"You are going to want to lie down for this one." I say, so he does. 

I decide to get fresh water, instead of using the water that I have used before. I don't bother finding a container for it though. I just bend it from out of the faucet and into the air. Before I start healing though, I explain to Zuko about what I'm about to do.

"So remember yesterday when I started untangling you Chi?" I start. 

"Yeah." he replies. 

"Well I'm going to do that now, but, unlike yesterday, it will be very painful. If I don't untangle the knots in your Chi, then soon you'll be sent into a spirit coma." I continue.

"Well, what's that?" he asks, a small pout forming on his face. 

"It's basically where you are put into a coma except you can never wake up, and you're stuck in this space between the spirit world and the physical world. You can't go to the spirit world, but you can't return to the physical world, you are just stuck in between." I say.

"So I would die." he asks. 

"No, it is much worse then death. Imagine feeling everything that is happening to your physical body, you can feel, but you can't see. And then imagine being able to see everything in the spirit world, but not being able to feel any of it. That's what it would be like." I continue, trying to keep my voice steady.

If I couldn't save Zuko, and he were to go into a spirit coma, then I would never be able to forgive myself. I would put him in so much misery in the long run. That's why I have to untangle his Chi, no matter how much pain it puts him in.

When I see that he doesn't have any more questions, I start healing. I don't need two hands to untangle his Chi. Plus it is more comfortable for him if I just use one. With my free hand, I grab his. This is going to be one of the worst experiences of my life.

Zuko's POV

To be honest, I am nervous for this healing session. I don't know much about being in a spirit coma besides what Katara just told me, but I have heard Uncle mention it a few times. I remember him mentioning how it is a miserable place to be.

I don't want to be in that place. I will be willing to risk almost everything. But I remember last time Katara tried to untangle my Chi. I remember how weird it felt, and then how painful it was. I would compare it to the pain of getting struck by lightning, but honestly, I don't really remember the pain of that exact moment.

I feel the feeling of Katara sticking her energy created hand into my wound. It isn't painful yet, just uncomfortable. But I do know that the pain is going to come really soon and that I will have to face it. There is no way around this one.

I'm not really an anxious or nervous person. Usually I don't mind pain, or I can ignore it. I have plenty of scars and wounds, but I know that this pain is going to be different. It is going to hurt in a different way, a more inward way. 

I feel Katara move her hands around in my wound, searching for the knots in my Chi. Occasionally I feel her tug lightly on something, which I assume is a knot. I know that she is trying to find the smallest one possible.

"I found the smallest knot that I could find." Katara says after a few more minutes of searching. "Are you ready?" I nod and match my breathing to hers, like I always do. It helps me to gain control of the situation. Though, I can tell that Katara's breathing is a bit faster then usual.