Disclaimer: I do not own A:TLA or any of its characters.
The morning dew
My name is Sokka, and this is how it started.
When dad left us, it was just me and Katara. She took it hard when mom died and this just broke her apart. Gran gran wanted us to live with her, but Katara wouldn't leave the house mom and dad made for us.
I remember sitting next to her on cold and lonely nights, holding her while she cried into my shoulder. I would hold her until morning came and the mask came on her face again. This is perhaps where we diverged from a normal sibling relationship.
She wouldn't open up to anyone but me anymore and no one but Gran gran noticed it. Sometimes I think she knew what would happen, but let it, as if it were the only way to survive.
The following days I started to feel the effects of dad leaving. I began to grow silent and started to train more and more. I wanted to become a warrior like dad, but didn't know how. All it did was make me more angry and sad.
But however closed off I became, never with Katara. She poured her heart out to me and I could not help but do the same. She would come and watch me train, never commenting on the wrong moves, but always smiling.
The reason I liked practicing with my boomerang was that every time I caught it, she would smile and clap. Sometimes, when I almost missed it and fell to the snow, she would laugh at me. It warmed my heart to hear her laugh, and I did everything in my power in those days to keep her happy. Still, I did not realize the things I was feeling were different from normal sibling love.
One morning Katara came in with a wound on her leg. She had been waterbending against Gran gran's wishes. We did not know why she didn't want it back then, but Katara couldn't resist practicing it. Trying to redirect some water, the ice she stood on broke and she cut her leg struggling back to the mainland. She couldn't go to Gran gran with this and so she came to the only person she trusted.
The only person she trusted. Was our bond supposed to be that strong? But this was not the most troubling that happened that day. When I was cleaning her wound, I softly rubbed the cloth against it, acting as if it might break at the slightest touch. Holding her leg I felt feelings I had never felt before, and they confused me. When I bandaged her up and looked up at her face, she looked at me and said it.
"I love you."
I stuttered, ruffled her hair and told her to go and do her chores, but it troubled me. Not because it didn't sound like a sibling love, not because the spirits look down upon it, not even because of the complications it would bring..
But because I felt the same.
Later that night she crawled up to me again, seeking comfort. But she didn't cry this night. She merely held me tight and looked in my eyes. I felt strange, like she was asking something of me, her eyes pleading for an answer. And then I realized.
"I love you too."
And at that her eyes softened, nearly tearing up and she closed the space between us. She kissed me as she had seen mom and dad do so long ago. I nearly pushed her away in shock, but my instinct, my love and my trust in her made me merely put my arms around her. She fell asleep in my arms that night, a smile upon her face as I hadn't seen in many years. I regret nothing, as all I want is for her to be happy, whether with me or with another.
The next day we met the avatar and everything changed. Traveling with him made us shyer around each other, although we still liked to hug, to touch, even if it were only a small moment.
And every morning the routine would be the same. I would meet her behind the tent and we would hold each other as lovers. I would put my hands through her hair and hold her until we shared a deep kiss.
"I love you, Sokka."
"I will always love you, Katara."
And it always made her smile, like the cold nights on moments far passed. Those are the moments I live for, the moments I protect. We promised to keep it secret, for his sake. But we would always have it, that single kiss in the morning dew.