Sukka Week, 2014
Day 2: Myth
"Can you count to six thousand?"
The question caught Sokka totally off guard one night while playing a game of Pai Sho with his favorite girl in the whole world. He gave Suki a puzzled look, and thought maybe this was a tactic she was using to make him lose his focus, but her furrowed eye brows and pursed lips convinced him otherwise.
"What?"
"Six thousand," She repeated without looking up from the table. "Can you count that high?"
He didn't know how to respond. What on earth was she talking about? The question still didn't make any sense to Sokka, but answered her anyway. "Umm...yeah..."
All the sudden her face lit up and she smiled at him, seemingly forgetting that it was her turn. She then began talking wildly about a mountain on the other side of Kyoshi Island, where he had come to visit her for a few weeks, but that's when Sokka started to tune himself out. She started talking so fast and so excitedly that he had close to no idea what she was saying.
All he could make out were the words stairs, old couple, six thousand, and tomorrow. He slowly started putting the words together in an effort to understand just what it was his girlfriend was talking about. According to Suki, there was an old couple who lived on top of the mountain.
However, in order to get up the mountain, there were stairs.
Six thousand of them.
And they were going tomorrow.
After he had finally comprehended what she had said, Suki didn't even give him a second to protest. Instead, she immediately hurried him off to bed, stating that he'll need lots of rest to climb the mountain tomorrow morning. Reluctantly, he decided to let his girlfriend do as she pleased, and she followed her instructions by going to bed earlier than he would've preferred. It's only a little hiking, He thought to himself as his head hit the pillow of his bed. How hard could it be?
..
"Want me to tell you a story while we climb?"
"Oh no. Let my gasps for oxygen just fill your ears and appease you, my cherry blossom."
The sound of her laugh only made him wheeze harder. Suki had woken him up at the break of dawn and dragged him out across the entire island while he was half asleep. And just as he was finally awake, she showed him the "mountain". Yeah, right. He thought to himself. More like a whole other nation built on a hill.
When she told him that they were going to climb the mountain, he expected a hike that only lasted a few hours, and the stairs were just part of her favorite trail, but of course the universe wouldn't make his life that easy. There were actually stairs embedded into the mountainside, and they went all the way to the top. But that was the least of Sokka's problems. The fact that he had to climb them all made him want to pass out.
And the counting-oh, the counting!- drove him insane. Every step she made, she counted aloud of what number of stair that had been.
"I'll take that as a yes." She said, satisfied, still looking to the horizon as she hiked up the steps confidently. "This is the story of a couple named Xu and Liu..."
And yet she still counted.
Every other few minutes or so, she would update him on the latest number of steps they had climbed, and it only made him want to drop dead right then and there. 337, she would say, 872, she would say again. And the cycle repeated the entire day.
She'd only allowed them to take a break twice; once for lunch and
It wasn't until one hundred steps later did Sokka actually began to listen to her story, and he had to admit, it wasn't horrible.
"...And Liu was only six years old when he stood outside of the church where the wedding was being held. Legend has it, that it's good luck for children who've lost their baby teeth to have a bride-to-be touch the inside of their mouth, and so he went inside and bit the bride's finger," She told him.
Step Number 983
"That beautiful, sixteen year old bride was Xu. She was getting married to the richest man the in whole village. From that day on, Liu vowed that he would marry a girl like that someday. Sadly, Xu's husband died ten years later, leaving her a widow with her four children struggling to survive. They lived off mushrooms from this very mountainside, and Xu made a living by making sandals and selling them in the marketplace."
She'd only allowed them to take a break twice; once for lunch and then again by a riverside. He watched as Suki plopped down into the grass, and he collapsed right next to her. She ran her hand through the water and smiled dreamily and Sokka thought she must have been remembering something. Her eyes didn't leave the babbling brook while she continued to tell her story, and even balanced on a few of the stones while she continued.
"One night, Xu went to get water from a nearby river, with her youngest child riding on her back. Because it was so dark, Xu and her child had slipped and fell into the river. Liu just happened to be walking by when they fell in, and dived in to save them. He saved Xu's life, but unfortunately the child didn't make it, much to her despair."
Suki wobbled when she mistakenly stepped on an unsteady rock, and Sokka jumped to catch her, but she eventually regained her balance and gave him a reassuring look. She hopped back over to the grass and Sokka let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding. From then on, they started back up the mountain.
Step Number 1,743
Sokka looked behind him again and his eyes lingered over the running water one more time. "That was the river," He said aloud. "The river where they met. Wasn't it?"
Suki didn't answer him, but only nodded in response.
"Liu had always admired Xu from afar, and now this was his chance to get to know her. During this hard time, Liu helped the family out with everything he was able to; he helped them with all the things Xu and her kids had a hard time doing, and he and Xu grew closer. But being in a relationship with a man ten years younger than you was scandalous, and Xu became the victim of many, vicious rumors. It became too much for Xu, that she even asked to never see Liu again. That night, however, Liu snuck into her house and proposed. The next morning, Xu, her children, and Liu were gone from the village without a trace."
2,682
Sokka soon found himself being engulfed in the sound of her voice and entranced by her story. It surprised him that he was so interested, and had totally forgotten about his shortness of breath and the burning feeling in his legs. In fact, he would skip up the steps a little faster than usual just so he could hear her better.
4,021
"Xu and Liu escaped to their mountain life in a small, abandoned hut made of straw. They grew their own crops, fished in the river, and built a sturdier home out of clay and mud from the mountain. They did everything by themselves, even went through childbirth without any medical assistance.
"Xu had seven children all together; four of Liu's kids and three from her previous marriage. As their children grew up, and settled down in the outside world, Xu and Liu still remained attached to their private, mountain life. And the only bridge between their secluded kingdom and the world below was a narrow, steep, dangerous path down the side of the mountain.
"Because of this dangerous trail, Liu worried for his wife's safety when traveling back to the village. He began hand-carving a stairway into the mountain side for her to walk down." Sokka looked below him, and at the step his foot was currently resting on. His eyes widened a fraction, and he finally understand the reason for her telling this story to him.
"Over the span of fifty-seven years, thirty-six broken chisels, and six thousand steps later, Liu had finally finished his stairway which we now know as the 'Ladder of Love'."
4,999...
Sokka's eyebrows furrowed when she didn't continue. Why would she just suddenly stop? She had been telling him this story non-stop their entire day, why would she just suddenly go silent? "Wait, what are you doing?" He asked her as she wandered off the path and into the grass near a tree. She started to take her pack off her shoulders and laid her sleeping bag underneath the tree. "W-we can't stop now! We have exactly one-thousand-and-one steps left, we're almost there!"
"Sokka, we've hiked all day. We have to get some rest, and it's dangerous to climb the stairs at night. You know what happened to Xu and the river."
"Ok, yeah, maybe you're right. But we still have about 20 minutes before the sun sets. We could still-"
"There's only rocks and dirt around the stairway from here on. Let's just sleep here and then we'll get back on the road in the morning. Ok?"
He gave a worried glance towards the steps, and then back at her. Now that he thought about it, he was feeling pretty worn out. Since he wasn't ignoring it anymore, Sokka felt a rush of fatigue wash over him. He let out a sigh in surrender. "Ok...I guess we can rest for a little while..." He dejected. "But you have to promise we'll finish in the morning! Right when the sun rises, bright and early!"
Suki chuckled at his newfound excitement and determination. She thought his impatience, this eagerness he showed, was absolutely adorable. "Deal," She told him, smiling even wider as he laid his sleeping bag down next to hers. She also giggled when he scooted closer to her.
"What?" He asked, pretending to be defensive. "It's cold up here in the mountain air. You can't just let me freeze to death."
"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it." She replied, snuggling closer to him as he wrapped her tightly in his arms. "Good job today," She mentioned. "I honestly didn't think you had it in you. The climbing is really difficult, amongst other things." Sokka took a moment to ponder what she said. He heard her chuckle again beneath him. "Six thousand's a high number, Sokka."
And he then realized just what it was she meant by that.
He had been counting the steps as well.
..
Now it was Suki's turn to be woken up way too early for her liking. He wasn't kidding when he said they had to get on the move when the sun rose, although he had been packing their things long before then. He woke her up with a gentle kiss, which was nice, until he pulled away and started smacking her with her own pillow.
Suki let out an annoyed grunt and turned to lay on her stomach, but that only gave him the opportunity to sit on her back. "You're abusing your privileges of pillow use," She mumbled, face down into the grass as he kept hitting her.
"Come. On." He said between hits. "We. Have. To. Go."
"What are the magic words?"
"I love you?"
"Actually they were '5 more minutes', but that's close enough." She smiled sheepishly as she sat up, her eyes still heavy. "Are you really ready to go so early? Aren't you even a little bit sore?"
He shook his head vigorously. "Nope. Not me. In fact, I've been awake for hours."
"Why didn't you wake me up?"
"...You're cute when you sleep."
Suki let out a laugh as he helped her back onto the stairway. It made her happy to hear him be the one counting this time. It was even a little difficult to keep up with him at times; he rushed hops up the stairs made her smile from ear to ear. "Five thousand and one, five thousand and two, five thousand and three, five thousand and four,"
There was a point in time when Suki was so lost in watching the dedicated boy with striking blue eyes sparkling in the early morning sunlight with admiration, that she wasn't paying attention to where she stepped and slipped from one of the stairs. She let out a short gasp as she fell down a few of the steps and felt a burning sensation down her legs.
Sokka whipped around and immediately hurried down to her, making her sit upright so he could take a look at her wound. It wasn't too deep, but the solid, hard, clay stairs had left her with a heavily-bleeding gash just below her knee. "This could get infected," He told her, glancing back up to the mountain. "We're closer to the top than the bottom. There's bound to be a place to rest up there." And with that, he stepped down a few more stairs and squatted down, his back to her. "Hop up," He said.
"What?" Suki cocked her head to the side in confusion.
"Hop on my back. I'm carrying you the rest of the way."
"But Sokka-"
"We can't risk you getting an infection. Besides, we only have a little bit more to go and you're exhausted." Suki hesitated for another moment, not because she felt guilty for making him carry her up a mountain, but because she wasn't completely sure he was strong enough. "Get on my back or I will push you down this mountain!"
And with that she hurriedly climbed onto his back, holding tightly to his shirt and neck. "If you let me fall, I swear to Kyoshi, I will-"
"I won't drop you." He reassured him. He let out lathered breaths as he kept on climbing the stairway, sweat dripping from his forehead. He worried he wouldn't be able to hang onto her for long, because his hands were sweaty and he felt her starting to slip from his palms. But he promised he wouldn't drop her, and he wouldn't.
Suki didn't know if it was from the hot sun beating down on the two of them or that she was just physically tired, but she soon felt her eyelids become heavy and before she knew what was happening, she was sleeping soundly while this boy, whom she had known for a mere three years, carried her on his back up a mountain.
..
"Suki! Suki, wake up!" She scrunched her nose and shook her head, trying to hold onto the world of slumber we was currently living in. "Hey, wake up! Look what I found!"
"What?" She mumbled, still not opening her eyes.
"There's a house on the top of the hill. If you get up, we can maybe rest there. Now get your lazy behind off of me!" Right then, he let her slide down his back and she landed on her bum with a 'thud'.
Suki glared up at him, and he only shrugged, grinning smugly. "Now what's this about a house on top of the mountain?" She wondered, rubbing her sleepy eyes. But then they snapped right open. "Wait, we made it to the top of the mountain?" He nodded. Suki suddenly scrambled to her feet and started running towards the said house he told her about. "We're here! We're finally here!"
"What are you talking about?" Sokka asked her as he jogged to catch up to her.
"Come on!" She called from ahead, still sprinting towards the house.
Sokka shook his head and picked up his pace. "You know, the things I do for you..."
..
Suki knocked furiously on the door, so much that Sokka thought about stopping her for the poor people who lived there. But before he could, the door opened, and a short, tan, wrinkled man appeared in the doorway. When his laid upon Suki's face, and then to Sokka's, he immediately brightened and pulled her in for a hug. "My bǎobèi! My dear bǎobèi!" Sokka noticed there were tears streaming down the man's voice as he rocked her in his arms. "You have come home." He said, brushing the hair out of her eyes. That's when he noticed Suki was also crying. "Xu! She has returned! Our little warrior has come finally come!" The man called inside the house.
"Did he just say...Xu?" Sokka whispered to Suki, but she ignored his question completely.
"Come, come!" The man motioned for them to come in eagerly. "Come inside, children!"
Sokka had to duck to get through the doorway, but he felt a sense of coziness and warmth when he entered the small hut. Yes, it was meager, but comforting as well. From what he thought must have been the kitchen, a frail, just as wrinkled, graying woman hobbled in with shock on her face, as if she didn't believe what the man said. But when she saw him and Suki standing there, she smiled with watery eyes and embraced her the same way the old man had. "Oh, how much we've missed you! How much we've waited for this day!" Much to his surprise, she also hugged Sokka as well, a little more tightly than he ever would've imagined she would. Whoever these people were, they seemed nice and they somehow knew Suki, so when they invited them inside for a cup of tea, he happily complied.
"How have you been, my dear?" The woman asked Suki, just as they sat down.
"Good. Great, actually. The warriors and I are doing well, and we might be having some new members joining us within a few months." She answered with a sense of pride in her voice. Sokka always loved the way she lit up when she talked about the Kyoshi Warriors.
"And who is this young man you have brought with you?" The man piped up, eyeing Sokka with a smug expression.
"Oh," Suki turned her gaze downward, and there was a tint of pink that painted her cheeks. "This is Sokka. He was friends with the Avatar and helped defeat Fire Lord Ozai." She explained, but Sokka was a little more than disappointed when that's all she mentioned about him.
"It's very nice to meet you," The woman told him, putting her withered hand on his knee. "Liu and I are always happy to meet more of Suki's friends."
Sokka suddenly paused. "Liu...?" He whispered. "And...Xu...?" He looked up au both of them, their eyes sparkling with amusement. "Y-You mean, Liu and Xu...y-you! Ah-you're from, a-and she! You built the...the thing! Up here!" He took a breath and laughed at himself briefly. "I mean, you're the couple from the story. The ones who built the Ladder of Love."
Liu and Xu gave him a smile, and then looked lovingly at each other. Liu took his wife's hand in his and gave it a squeeze, one in which she returned. "Yes," Xu said, not looking away from her husband's gaze. "The story Suki told you was in fact no myth, as many believe it is. Not many have made it up all six thousand steps, so our tale is only thought to be nothing more than a story."
"So you really built all the stairs by hand?" Sokka asked Liu. He nodded. "That's amazing! You've created a monument single handedly!" Liu offered him a humble smile and nodded on acknowledgement.
"I was so worried about him out there, but he insisted that once the stairs were built, it would be easier to go down the mountain even though I barely went to the village at all...except to visit Suki, of course."
"Do you visit Suki often?" Sokka asked her. "I've never seen you in the village before."
"I barely travel down the steps at all these days, especially with these old bones. They make it harder and harder for me to climb up and down the stairs. But I always try to visit my dear wái sún nû whenever I can."
"Wái sún nû? What does that mean?"
"Oh, my dear boy, forgive me for speaking in such ancient language. Wái sún nû means grandchild."
"Gran...child?" Sokka's eyes widened. "Y-You mean you're...she's...hers..." He looked to Suki with a confused expression. "They're your grandparents?"
"You did not tell him, bǎobèi? " Liu turned to his granddaughter and then back at him. "Suki's mother is our youngest child, Jia Li. She even lived on this mountain with us when her parents were called to serve in the military so many years ago. Sadly, we never heard from Jia or bǎobèi's father again. They were said to be missing in action for the past fifteen years."
Sokka glanced in her direction, only to see Suki was looking downwards; suddenly very interested in her shoes. "I had no idea," He said aloud, not looking away from her. "I'm so sorry, Suki."
She tried to offer him a small smile, but the pain of the memory was obvious on her face. Sokka couldn't sworn he saw her eyes well up with tears, and he guessed he wasn't the only one do notice. Xu then stood up and offered her granddaughter her hand, saying "Would you help me prepare some tea, bǎobèi? You two must be exhausted from your long journey up here." Suki nodded and took her hand as she was lead into the other room, leaving Sokka and Liu by themselves.
"You've known our darling Suki long, have you?" He asked him.
Sokka nodded. "Ever since the Avatar, my sister, and I came here three winters ago." He answered.
"Ah, so you're that fellow!" Liu exclaimed, slapping him hard on the back. "Yes, she has told us much about you. You've been her favorite topic ever since you helped her warriors that day the Fire Nation Prince attacked the village."
"Really? She talks about me?" He didn't know why he was so surprised, but it gave him a warm feeling inside to know that Suki took the time out of her day to tell people about him, and to her grandparents, of all people! That would mean a lot to anyone, but to him, it felt especially significant. No one had ever told their family about him before, as far as he knew.
"Oh, all the time! She must really care about you if she brought you all the way up here."
"Sir?"
"We made Suki promise that when she found her ài qíng, she would bring him up here and tell him our story, and let us meet the young man. This task is a test of some sort, one that me and my beloved Xu concocted many years ago when Suki was just a child. If the man she so chooses can make it up the mountain, listen to her story carefully, and love her unconditionally, we will approve of him. And do you know who she brought up this mountain, my boy?"
"Who?" Sokka squeaked, much to his embarrassment. He suddenly felt an instant of intense anxiety. His heart started to pound furiously in his chest and his palms were clammy, although he didn't know why...
Liu suddenly leaned forward to Sokka, to where he was just level with his ear. "You," He said in a low voice, and pulled away with a sly smile. "She cares about you, Sokka. That much is evident."
"How are you so sure?" He looked away from the man before him, a doubtful expression on his features. "Suki could have any man on this whole island, and I don't even live here. I know we'll be together for a long time, but...I'm just not sure..."
"Sokka," Liu spoke firmly, grabbing the young man's attention attention. "I am sure, because she brought you here. She would not have brought you to meet Xu and I unless she could see a future with you. Never doubt someone's love for you, or else they will learn to doubt theirs for you as well."
"Liu..." Sokka asked in a quiet voice. "What does ài qíng mean?"
The old man gave him a knowing smile. "I believe you know, my boy. Anyone could see that Suki holds much affection for you in her heart; you can see it by the way she looks at you. But, the only question is, are you willing to return that affection? Do know in your heart, that you can promise to, not only Xu and I, but to Suki, that you will care for her as much as she cares for you?"
Sokka looked to Suki and Xu as they walked out from the kitchen carrying trays of tea and rice cakes. His heart swelled when he saw her flick her head back and laughed loudly, looking so happy and free. He smiled as he watched her and suddenly the answer was clear, even though it had been all along. All he needed was a little reassurance that she knew it too. "Yeah," He said, still watching her intently.
"Yeah, I will."
The story of the "Ladd or Love" is in fact a true story. The only thing I altered was that Liu and Xu were Suki's grandparents and their story was actually set in the fifties. Xu, unfortunately passed away in 2013, but a company in Chinese business wants to tear down the master piece in order to make an amusement park of some sort where the Ladder of Love is currently located. It's a horrible, beastly act, and it pains me to hear that Liu and Xu's home they buil together and spent their whole lives struggling to survive (Where they are both now buried today) could just be so carelessly wiped away with the blow of a bulldozer. No matter how hard things may have gotten for them, Liu and Xu always say the beauty of reality from their own little world through the power of their love for each other.
Thank you again for reading and I hope you enjoyed my second entry for Sukka Week. Please review!
~Suki17