but her eyes saved his life
There are no words for how much I love that when Katara was faced with the threat of being confined to a narrow definition of ‘acceptable’ and denied the opportunity to learn anything but healing, she went off and proved that she should be taught combative techniques and proved herself worthy and fought that double standard- and then, because it was useful and necessary and a good idea, she went and learned healing as well anyway.
That’s just such a perfect character detail IMO. She didn’t learn combative waterbending and dismiss the healing as holding her back. She learned both.