Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender. The idea for this story is mine, but not the characters or the series.
Summary: Hahn was a typical, but ambitious teenager. We all have to grow up sometime.
CHAPTER ONE
Regardless of how he had spoken of Yue to Sokka, Hahn truly had cared for her. He had just been trying to bait Sokka, annoy him for showing Hahn up during the briefing on their upcoming mission against the Fire Nation Navy. Besides, girls might talk about feelings as a deep and meaningful concept, but warriors didn't.
Warriors also didn't admit when they were confused or intimidated.
When he first met Sokka's little sister, he was confused, because she didn't act like he would expect the daughter of a Water Tribe chief to act. Really, the only similarities between Katara and Yue was that they were both female, both pretty, and both had a great sense of responsibility.
For all that she was a princess, Yue was still a bit naïve, and often acted like the young girl that she was. Katara acted like a woman. She acted like a mother to the Avatar, which was just wrong, as Katara was probably the only one who didn't notice the Airbender's crush on her (which was actually kind of funny), and as a sort of stand-in matriarch for the entire group.
When she disagreed with the tradition of women benders only being taught to heal, she did something about it, and Hahn had decided that maintaining a safe distance (the courtyard wall, and out of sight, in case Master Pakku had the sense to make her prove herself against someone else) was more important than asking Chief Arnook if he could take Yue on a gondola ride. Hahn had been thoroughly intimidated, and had to wonder how the North had ever convinced their girls to stay in the Healing Huts, if the Southern ones could fight like Katara did.
Further proof of that came about later. Katara had advanced more quickly than any student Pakku had ever trained. Katara could win a fight against her classmates in less than a minute, and none of the male waterbenders would spar against her if they had a choice in the matter. When the Fire Nation tried to invade, Katara had protected the Avatar against the Fire Prince himself, and nearly defeated him.
Hahn would admit (in private only) that he had acted like an idiot during the invasion. Getting into a fist-fight with Sokka - who almost certainly told his sister about it afterward, if the glares were anything to go by - was something a kid would do. Yue had certainly thought as much when she found out, and said so. Who struck a pose and announced their intentions before attacking someone? Especially when that someone was a seasoned Navy Commander?
It wasn't until much later that he admitted to himself that he was hoping for a favourable report after the siege was over.
Hahn had been hoping that taking down the enemy leader and people talking about how heroic he had been would make up for fighting with Sokka, regardless of who had thrown the first punch, even a little.
It hadn't. Yue had become the Moon-Spirit by then, and Hahn knew better than that, even if he didn't know that La would have done something deeply unpleasant if he'd tried. Katara, who had been temporarily enlisted by Yagoda, along with everyone who knew even the slightest bit about healing, had outright called him an idiot and gone into great description on the multiple ways he could have been killed in even that short time.
Hahn had demanded to know, through chattering teeth, how she would know, and been treated to a humbling lecture on how the Southern Water Tribe had been subjected to raids for the past sixty years, one of which had taken her mother, and how the hubris of ignoring Sokka's advice and therefore risking himself and those he led in such a fashion was not a good sign in a potential future leader.
When Hahn eventually had the chance to sit and think it over, once his ears stopped ringing, he had admitted that she was right, and that if he was going to be a leader, it was time for him to start acting like one.
When Master Pakku had asked for volunteers to go South to help their Sister Tribe, Hahn had bitten his tongue about the kind of reception they would get, given that they had been ignoring such requests for decades, suggested that they bring extra supplies as a gesture of goodwill and in case the South was having a hard season, and signed himself up.
Katara didn't like Hahn, but she hadn't really had a chance to get to know him. All she really knew were from Sokka's rants, and since Hahn was a lot like Sokka before meeting the Kyoshi Warriors, just a bit more career-minded, she was going to take that with a pinch of salt. The bruises on both boys testified to the fist-fight, but Sokka hadn't said much beyond complaining about being pulled off each other.
Even so, Arnook wouldn't have betrothed Yue to a 'self-absorbed weasel without a soul' if he didn't think that there was something worthwhile in him, and like Sokka, Hahn was only seventeen. Gran-Gran said that boys don't grow up until they reach their twenties, unless something happens to give them a serious wake-up call.
A comment from Yagoda about 'headstrong boys' and 'younger sons always trying to prove themselves' had roused her curiosity. Gran-Gran always said that Katara needed to stop letting her curiosity get her into trouble.
Hahn was the youngest son of a merchant. In the Hierarchy of the Northern Water Tribe, which Katara was still trying to make sense of (and failing – common sense just wasn't common) this meant that Hahn was pretty much on his own when it came to forging his future, rather than being able to rely on inheriting something, as his older brother could. That certainly explained why he was so focussed on pleasing his superiors.
Perhaps Hahn improved upon knowing, like Master Pakku did. Maybe he had taken her yelling at him to heart, since he was joining Master Pakku's expedition to the South Pole, and had even shown signs of being considerate by suggesting that they bring extra supplies. Life at the poles was harsh, and it would be bad for the Tribe if they had to go short or make the guests go short because there wasn't enough to go around.
It was too bad she wouldn't have the chance to find out if Hahn was getting better, as she, Aang and Sokka were leaving for the Earth Kingdom tomorrow. Aang needed to master all of the elements before Sozin's Comet arrived, and for that, they needed to find an Earthbender.
Katara knew that she still had a lot to learn, but she did know enough to bring Aang up to at least proficiency in Waterbending, even if she had no idea how they were going to go about finding a Firebending teacher.
Well, one thing at a time. First, get Aang to master the elements and defeat the Fire Lord.
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A/N: Hey, if Katara could fall for Jet, she could try to think the best of Hahn, since she only knows that her brother thinks Hahn is a jerk and his competition for Princess Yue. Just a one-shot for now, but might turn into a longer, probably post-series, story if I get around to it.