Meat and Sarcasm

Written by Shaun Garin

Sokka hated shopping.

The markets were always jam-packed in the Earth Kingdom, kids scampering about, the high prices and strangely enough, the high pitched exclamation of "MY CABBAGES!" punctuated the air every so often.

Sokka wondered if the Crazy Cabbage Guy kept stalking them.

So it was to his dismay that he stumbled into a side and fell through an open gate, landing with a heavy THUD on the ground. Wincing, he looked up into the quizzical eyes of a young man holding a broom, wearing an unfamiliar outfit of black.

The pair eyed each other and before Sokka could say anything, the boy looked up and hollered, "YUUKO! There's someone at the door!"

A rustle of skirts could be heard and suddenly the door slammed open and Sokka was swept into the cleavage of a woman who danced around with him gleefully. "You're here, you're here!" she cheered, whipping the boy around, delighted as a child on the first Winter Fest.

Sokka, made the urge to bubble out, "What are you DOING you crazy woman?!" in Yuuko's cleavage as Maru and Moro danced around with their owner, Mokona cheering and drinking.

The woman, Yuuko, set Sokka down finally and turned to Watanuki. "Watanuki, go and fetch some food. That sushi dish you were going to prepare tonight will be fine." Then, turning a brilliant smile at Sokka, she dragged the boy into the large house, leaving Sokka feeling like he had stepped into the proverbial twilight zone.

Setting him down on a plush couch, Yuuko opened a bottle of Sake with her teeth and flopped down, draping her long legs across Sokka's lap. "Have a drink," she said, pouring a glass and using an expression that broke no argument.

Sokka, realizing that the woman would not take no for an answer, took the cup. The rice wine burned down his throat and he coughed and gasped. "Tastes like Fire Water," he wheezed, remembering when he had snuck into his father's small cache of Fire Nation alcohol as a child. Katara never let him forget it since then.

"Oh poo, you can't hold nearly as much as your father could," said Yuuko, disappointed but she refilled her own glass and Sokka's. Mokona was on his seventh.

"You know my father?" heaved Sokka after quaffing his second cup, knowing it'd be rude to refuse more.

"Oh yes, Hakoda came here years ago with his own wish. Tell me, what do you know about your mother?"

"Only bits and pieces," said Sokka, his voice drifting into a slightly soft tenor. "She died a while back on a Fire Nation raid before my dad left to fight the war with the rest of the men."

"She was lovely," agreed Yuuko. "Hakoda came here with a wish to meet a wonderful young lady. I gave him that wish, and he paid the price for it."

"Price?" inquired Sokka, sipping his third cup. The wine burned but otherwise Sokka had gotten used to it by now. "What kind of price?"

"Every wish has a price," said Yuuko, suddenly looking serious. "He gave up equivalent years of happiness in order to be happy with the woman he loved. Equivalent Exchange, Sokka, it's what makes the world go round."

Sokka felt an irrational anger burn and he sat up straight. "You mean to tell me… that the price for my dad's happiness was my MOM'S DEATH?!"

The ferocity in Sokka's voice made Watanuki's tray rattle, startled. The young man waited at the door but Yuuko waved him in. When she looked up from snagging a salmon sushi, she said, "She was already destined to die, Sokka. When the time comes, everyone cannot escape the fact."

Sokka trembled angrily, quaffing his drink and pouring himself another. "You can't change the fact she died, Sokka," said Yuuko gently. "Even if you were to wish her back… it would be as horrible as if you killed her yourself."

Sokka heaved an enormous sigh and drank once more. "Tell me… you said you granted his wish. Does that mean you're going to grant mine?"

"What is it that you desire?" inquired Yuuko.

"I…" Sokka thought long and hard, the alcoholic haze clearing as he searched his memories. Memories of Yue, what he could have with the two girls he fancied but didn't want to get involved with because of Yue, his sister, Aang, the little brother he never had, Toph the tough talking lady…

"I don't know," answered Sokka honestly. "There's so much I want, but none of it seems to be manageable right now."

Yuuko smiled, a brilliant warm smile. "Then you know what you want after all. To know that you want so much and yet know that you are incapable of letting it just fall into place with a single wish… that is your wish; knowledge and perception beyond your years."

"I guess I never looked at it that way," said Sokka. "I've always been perceptive… a man of science in this day of bending and war…"

"You know, the gods gift people in different ways. You are but one of many who will guide your world to its full potential." Yuuko smiled and then held up a hand, palm up. "Payment in full."

"Huh?" Sokka blinked. "Payment? For what?"

"Advice of course!" giggled Yuuko. "I can't work without equal payment."

Sokka patted himself down and came out with ten sens. "Uh… can I owe you it?"

"Meat or Sarcasm," said Yuuko firmly and Sokka's jaw dropped, horrified. "You'll get it back someday when you have more to pay, but for now, one of those will do."

"But but but," sputtered Sokka, finding no way out. His precious meat or wonderful sarcasm."

That evening, Sokka rejoined his friends at the firepit. Aang looked up and said, "Hey Sokka, we missed you. Look; mmm, rabbit."

Sokka slumped to a sitting position and said, "Pass the fruit Aang… I think it's time I tried something new. For a while at least."