A Little Optimism
Disclaimer: "Avatar: the Last Airbender" is not mine. That is that.
Note: Set after "The Boiling Rock."
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He decided that he would take the risk. Sokka would be optimistic today.
After all, the universe was sending him many favorable signs. Looking around him, Sokka smiled with satisfaction.
The once abandoned and isolated Western Air Temple was now teeming with life. The place came alive with the hustle-bustle of its inhabitants, the Avatar and his allies, as they went about preparing for the coming campaign against the Fire Lord.
Despite their defeat on the Day of Black Sun, Sokka had not lost hope. The bitter disappointment of that day was now replaced with some level of confidence considering all that everyone had done to compensate for that defeat. In fact, looking at the strength of their forces today, he felt almost certain that they would succeed the next time around.
First of all, after Zuko's timely arrival, Aang had gained a firebending teacher and the young Avatar had now mastered all four elements. He trained diligently every day with all three of his masters, as well as Haru, Suki, Sokka, Chit Sang, and Hakoda. And much to everyone's joy and excitement, during training, Aang would easily defeat all of them without breaking a sweat. It seemed that this Avatar was finally living up to his reputation.
But Toph would not bear to be long outdone by Aang. She too constantly trained and perfected her earthbending, developing more amazing techniques and honing existing ones, especially her metalbending. With the incredible progress she was making in the latter category, it seemed that pretty soon, she would be able to destroy an entire Fire Navy ship all by herself. Indeed, no one would put it past her.
She also took Haru as her second protégé (next to Aang) and he proved to be a very apt pupil. Initially Haru had been skeptical about taking lessons from a small blind girl but when he recalled her feats of earthbending on the day of the eclipse and when he learned that she was the Avatar's earthbending master, he felt more than honored to be under Toph's tutelage. As for Toph, she enjoyed having someone else to torture with extreme earthbending training.
Although he was extremely proud of his children's amazing growth and development, Hakoda didn't want to be left out in the presence of the younger generation so he persevered in practicing his sword fighting skills and in training in martial arts. He also, of course, helped Sokka in brainstorming for creative and innovative techniques to attack the Fire Nation. With those two Water Tribe "geniuses" at work, nothing was bound to go wrong, right?
Teo, on the other hand, was a great help to Sokka and Hakoda when it came to making plans and inventing innovative weaponry for their coming attacks. It seemed that the young boy inherited his father's talent for mechanics and inventions and all his input was extremely helpful. He was able to build several interesting machines with only the scrap materials the others were able to gather for him.
Even the Duke, young though he was, tried to make himself useful in the group. Inspired by the wide variety of fighting techniques and bending, he tried to learn as much as he could from the others. They were all appreciative of his efforts and tried to impart as much knowledge as they could. He especially enjoyed training with Suki, who treated him like a younger brother.
Suki, of course, never faltered in her personal martial arts training. Brought up with such discipline, she did not find it hard to constantly practice and hone her skills. If she was able to do so when she was in prison, what more could she achieve when she was free? She never failed to practice and train every day but she also helped with the planning of the invasion and with the cooking. Now that there were more mouths to feed, Katara was more than glad of the help. It was getting more and more challenging for her to balance her waterbending training with cooking for people who, at the end of a long day of training, had huge appetites.
The other new arrival, Chit Sang, wasn't slacking off either. He had always been a formidable fighter even within the Boiling Rock and now that he was free from restraint, and fighting against the people who had put him in prison, he was showing just how powerful a firebender he was. He also enjoyed training with both Zuko and Aang. The two younger benders were impressed by the prowess of this older man as well as by his tough, street smart approach to life. Aang found that he was learning a different style of fighting from this "hardened criminal."
The young Water Tribe warrior surveyed the formidable group assembled and felt quite confident about success. He also realized that even without the support of the others, they still had two "secret" weapons whose prowess in battle and unflinching courage surpassed everyone else. These two both came a long way from what they used to be and their journeys and growth might even rival Aang's. Seeing them as they cross-trained together, Sokka was both impressed and frightened by their intensity.
Even the others admitted that there was something special going on between the two, considering their absolute harmony in battle and their amazing chemistry together. A few months ago, no one would have even imagined this possible but if there was anything Sokka learned from this journey, it was that miracles never cease. He figured that if there were any two people who were adequately demonstrating what their crusade was all about, it would be Zuko and Katara.
Nevertheless, at any given time during their acquaintance, there had always been tension in Zuko and Katara's relationship.
Sokka remembered thinking, when Zuko first joined the group, that friendship between the firebender and Katara would be virtually impossible. Although Sokka, Aang, and the others had the same basic grudges and biases against Zuko (except for Toph although he burned her feet), the Water Tribe Warrior didn't seem to hate the firebender. He was angry at Zuko at first but then, the guy turned out okay. However, Katara had felt differently. She had remained cold and uncivil to Zuko even after Aang had proclaimed his trust in the ex-prince. She seemed to hold a particular grudge against him that even he couldn't seem to atone for. All Sokka knew was that it had something to do with what happened in Ba Sing Se.
So the earlier part of Zuko and Katara's interaction was characterized by fierce hostility on Katara's part, constant bickering, and many a heated (literally and figuratively) argument.
But ever since he and Zuko returned from the Boiling Rock, bringing with them Suki, Chit Sang, and Hakoda, Katara's feelings towards the firebender began to change – favorably. With the liberation of her father came the realization that perhaps Zuko had some good in him after all. She felt extremely grateful to him for all his help. And she began to see (or let herself see) a different side of Zuko which she found, much to her discomfort and surprise, that she liked very much. This new set of feelings had confused her to no end and she was quite unaware of how to deal with them.
Zuko, on the other hand, was not ignorant of the change in Katara's dealings with him. He had noticed that she no longer made snide remarks to him and no longer glared at him for no reason. In fact, she seemed rather nervous around him and she had difficulty looking him in the eye. He tried to ask her about it but she only gave incoherent statements and stammered inaudible excuses.
Although this development had been a little weird for Zuko, he found this new, gentler side to Katara was rather endearing. He was relieved that she didn't seem to hate him anymore but he was also glad that they could finally be friends. However, he also found that he missed some aspects of the "old" Katara, the tough, determined, and opinionated Katara who constantly fought for what she believed in. It seemed that he had learned a lot about Katara from their previous interactions and he was already able to judge her moods and recognize her mannerisms. To his surprise and discomfort, Zuko found himself thinking more and more about Katara as the days passed and soon, neither of them were able to look each other in the eye as they passed each other along the halls of the temple.
And so this next chapter of Zuko and Katara's relationship was characterized by silence, awkwardness, and a palpable tension.
The others, of course, had been well aware of the growing tensions between the former foes. They were all amused by the drastic change in Katara's treatment of Zuko as well as his uncertain way of talking to Katara. In fact, they all tried to get the two to confront each other about it but no one really succeeded in convincing either Zuko or Katara to do so. The members of the older generation, Chit Sang and Hakoda, simply contented themselves by watching from the sidelines. They had lived long enough to have had enough experience in these matters but they knew better than to interfere. Instead, they wanted to let things take their not so smooth course.
And then after a while, the constant denial on both parties soon got to Toph's nerves. Finally, she suggested that Zuko and Katara should train together to combine their techniques and act as a team. Aang furthered the suggestion by saying that it would be good for two opposite elements to achieve harmony with each other.
Little did the Avatar know that this "harmony" would go far beyond the mere blending of the elements. Suffice to say that after a few cross-training sessions, the tension between Zuko and Katara was more than resolved and that Hakoda was glad to see that aside from Suki, he would have another addition to the family.
And because of this newfound understanding between them, Zuko and Katara began to show advancement in their bending that surpassed their former already formidable abilities. Sokka didn't know if it was inspiration or passion or love but whatever it was, it was really effective. Those two began exhibiting powers that even Aang found impressive. And in spite of the fighting expertise of all the other warriors in the group, Sokka felt that the two most powerful benders next to Aang were Zuko and Katara. Toph was amazing, but even she was astonished by Zuko and Katara's incredible power when they worked together.
Watching them in action now, Sokka smiled. Zuko and Katara were fighting back to back, in perfect coordination, and in perfect harmony. The waterbender's brother watched as Zuko and Katara managed to defeat another army of soldiers created by Toph and Haru. The two earthbenders were getting rather frustrated at the constant "defeat" of their armies but they never seemed to get the better of the combined forces of water and fire.
From the corner of his eye, Sokka could see Teo approaching him, probably to verify one of the plans again or to propose a new invention. It seemed that the time for quiet reflection was coming to an end. Nevertheless, Sokka had enjoyed this little survey of the troops. It had given him a rare opportunity to assess their strengths and weaknesses. And seeing everyone hard at work, he couldn't help but be biased. He couldn't see any weaknesses at the moment and he found that such a frame of mind was not wholly unpleasant.
"We don't have an army of thousands," Sokka thought with satisfaction, "but with power like that, we're practically invincible."
Giving a final glance at the fighters of the Western Air Temple, Sokka smiled smugly. A little optimism never hurt every once in a while.