2 – The Court Jester
Sokka shrugged off his thick parka. The closer he got to the equator, the warmer it got. He wondered yet again what Toph was complaining about when she talked his ear off about how cold it could get during the Fall and Winter. Compared to the weather in the South Pole, this was like a beach vacation. He welcomed the cool air on his overheated skin and tilted his chin up to feel the sun's warmth on his face.
The sea was calmer in this part of the world and while that was beautiful to an artist's eye, it was a challenge for a sailor. The lack of wind was slowing down Sokka's journey but not necessarily hampering it. With a practiced eye, he checked on the engine he'd installed next to the rudder. He had enough coal in the hold to get him to Port Nanhai so he wasn't worried about the engine burning for too long and it was certainly more efficient than he'd expected. Its basic design was from the Fire Nation but he'd made modifications to it to make it lighter and more appropriate for a sailboat rather than the monstrosities the Fire Navy traveled in. The sailor in him was still uncomfortable with using machines on his boat but he was also a practical man and time was not something he was willing to waste if he could help it.
The sailboat chugged along for the better part of the day before Sokka spotted land on the horizon. Even though he'd been sitting for hours, he got to his feet and moved nimbly around his vessel. The wind had also picked up enough for him to unfurl the sails and let the engine slowly die down. He smiled to himself when the canvas snapped upon picking up the breeze. He never got tired of that sound.
After he pointed the bow in the right direction, Sokka looked over at the supplies he'd neatly lined up along the starboard side. All that he needed could fit into a large backpack and a small duffel. Everything else could be bought. As much as he loved his trusty little boat, it was too noticeably Water Tribe—and more importantly, too noticeably his. He could hardly tail the Fire Nation's Most Wanted in it. Fortunately, he was always prepared for such things and his new mode of transportation was waiting for him at Nanhai. He would reach the docks in an hour and when he finished double-checking his things, he sat back down and as he watched the land creep steadily towards him, he let his mind wander.
Unlike other aspects of his life that seemed to occur by happenstance, Sokka chose this path with his eyes wide open. Only he and his father knew that he sometimes stepped outside the boundaries of the law to defend or further the interests of their people.
At the end of the war, it had become apparent that despite the role he and Katara had played in helping the Avatar, their tribe would be something of the poor cousin at the negotiating table. While on the surface, leaders from all the nations extolled equality and open lines of communication for the sake of a lasting peace, Sokka had known better. Behind the bows and pleasantly neutral expressions, deals were being made between the elites, deals that would make the rich richer and the powerful unstoppable. Their tribe trailed far behind the more advanced Earth Kingdom and even their sister tribe to the north. Even the Fire Nation would be able to garner more favor than the Southern Water Tribe because it had a wealth of technology and information with which it could negotiate.
Sokka remembered the first time he'd stepped over the line separating upright citizens from...not-so-upright citizens. During one of his many visits to Omashu, formerly New Ozai, to study the chute delivery system, he'd been invited to a night out with some low-level officials. Drunken revelry ensued but Sokka hadn't been so drunk to miss one man boasting about having seen one of Fire Lord Zuko's councilors paying a visit to the Minister of Trade. It hadn't been difficult for Sokka to dig around and find out that the man had been back and forth between Omashu and the Fire Nation several times in the last two months.
It had taken a little bit more doing to learn about what the two officials had been meeting about, but he'd gone forward because he'd believed—and still believed—that any kind of partnership between the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation could be detrimental to his tribe. He'd broken into the minister's office and rummaged through every single file in the room before he'd finally learned what the visits had been about—from scribbled notes the minister's secretary had shoved into her desk drawer. He'd learned then to never underestimate the smallest detail, no matter how useless they seem at first. He'd come to his conclusion about the visits by reading through the secretary's reminders to herself and treating them like pieces to a puzzle; it had taken him a week to realize there was a puzzle to begin with and a night to solve it.
The Fire Nation councilor had been brokering a deal involving lowering the tariff rates on goods imported from the Earth Kingdom if the King would allow the Fire Nation access to a formerly restricted area of Earth Kingdom waters. Because of the tides, the route would have shortened the journey for Fire Nation trading vessels to the main trading port in the heart of the Earth Kingdom. However, that alternate route would have made an agreement that Chief Hakoda father had been trying to negotiate with the Fire Lord over passage on Water Tribe ocean territory null and void, and cutting off a potential source of revenue for their people.
It was a sneaky move and a delicate one considering the rocky relationship between the two powerful nations. Sokka had been able to guess that the Fire Nation councilor was probably walking on eggshells to get the deal passed which meant Sokka would have a bit of an advantage over him. He'd been around the Earth Kingdom enough times to know how to work the crowd. Though they tended to smile more than Firebenders, Earthbenders were just as suspicious and wary but if there was one thing Sokka knew how to do, it was to talk a good game.
He had moved quickly and alone. All it took was a word or two in the right ear about the Fire Nation maneuvering to muscle the Earth Kingdom out of the growing rice market in the South Pole or the Fire Lord's desire to strengthen ties with the Water Tribes by sharing technical designs of various machines with them—but not with the Earth Kingdom. He'd hid his identity while running his campaign of disinformation, spending more time in front of the mirror in three days than he had his entire life, but it had been worth it.
Sokka remembered the rush he got when he saw the officials buy his stories then quickly excuse themselves to check on the information themselves. Within a week, the Fire Nation stooge had left and the next month, Zuko had signed the agreement with the Southern Water Tribe. Thanks to the annual tariff the Fire Nation paid to his tribe, they'd been able to transport Waterbenders from their sister tribe to help build the intricate canal system that now crisscrossed the capital city. More importantly, Sokka had learned the power of information in the right hands and since then, he'd made it his business to know what was happening in the other nations and move if he had to do something about it.
The majority of his work was information gathering. Though he didn't hesitate to act, Sokka knew that often times, waiting and seeing was more effective than actually attempting to manipulate the situation himself. It was too dangerous and the ramifications of his getting caught would, at best, end his family's involvement in political affairs indefinitely, and at worst, end his life.
He wasn't an optimist but things often worked out on their own and he'd learned how to watch the players to be able to gauge what their next move would be. The nations had a strong tradition of leadership and the officials and yes-men rarely changed, so he got to know them and made an effort to make sure they knew him.
It was no big secret that people tended to think of him as some kind of idiot savant, the Waterbender's brother and the Avatar's goofy friend with the crazy inventions. It had bothered him at first, but he realized that he could use the role to his advantage. Who would suspect the court jester? As far as he was concerned, all politicians were egos with legs, and given the opportunity, they could talk the ears off an elephant-whale and he was more than happy to let them talk.
One of those talkative officials had told him about Nanhai. It was a pretty coastal town, too out of reach to be a truly popular resort, but they got enough visitors so that another new face didn't draw too much attention. He'd been there a handful of times in the last few years and told those who bothered to ask about having to get away from it all and needing to lock himself away from the world for a few days to recharge his batteries. Sokka never went back to the same place too often as to not draw attention to himself, and he had a number of impromptu safehouses set up all over the world, but Nanhai was his favorite. He couldn't say why, because it wasn't as beautiful as the White Beaches in the south-eastern part of the Earth Kingdom or had as many hiding places as the lush valleys in the western-most end of the Fire Nation, but maybe he appreciated Nanhai for its simplicity. It was pretty, it was useful. There wasn't much else he needed.
Autumn had settled well on Nanhai and the treetops boasted a riot of colors. Sokka was finding it difficult not to stare at the scenery as he guided his boat into the dock. Slightly elevated on four sturdy bamboo posts, the beach house was standing just as he remembered it, though its thatched roof looked newer than he remembered. He'd sent word that he would be arriving and his caretaker had aired the house out for him.
It was the smallest out of his safehouses, but had a more extensive range of supplies than the others. He didn't own the house but there was little chance someone would find his stash unless they pushed the button behind the third book in the top shelf of the bookshelf, turned the lever underneath the first stepping-stone outside counter-clockwise once then clockwise three times, and then finally pumping the water pump three times to pop open the trapdoor underneath the house. And it had to be done in that order under three minutes.
Sokka grabbed his things and tossed them onto the dock. He made sure the sails were secured before he hopped off the boat and tied the moorings securely. He walked with a strange bobbing, weaving movement all the way to the front door—it always took him a little while to get his land legs back. He unlocked the door and smiled.
The last remnants of sunlight cast shades of orange and gold across the single, open room. There was a generous bed in one corner with four puffy pillows artfully arranged against the headboard. Next to the front windows, there was an armchair with a matching footrest where he often fell asleep. There were fresh flowers in a vase sitting in the center of the kitchen table and he knew there were fresh supplies in the kitchen cupboards as well.
As hungry as he was, Sokka bypassed the cupboards and instead began the process of unlocking his secret stash. He whistled as he moved around the house pushing buttons, turning levers, and even took a bucket outside to fill when he pumped the water pump. He heard the sound of the door underneath the bed sliding open as he strolled back with his bucket of fresh water.
He grabbed the empty trash can by the doorway and getting on his hands and knees, he tossed it down the hole before following it down. The basement he'd dug out himself was almost as big as the house above it and lined with shelves filled with various gadgets he'd acquired or created over the years. His eyes scanned the shelves and he gave his toys the kind of look he usually reserved for a Sunday dinner spread at his father's house.
It took him a second to realize that he had a very wide, very goofy grin on his face as he looked around the room. He was fairly certain he looked like a kid in a candy store...or Iroh near a Jasmine Ice Candy stand. His hands itched to play with something, anything, but he reminded himself that he was on a tight schedule. It had taken a half day longer than he'd expected to reach Nanhai and there was no telling how long it would take him to even pick up Azula's trail.
There didn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to Sokka's organizational methods, but he knew exactly where things were and he gathered what he needed, tossing them into the trash can he'd brought down. There were the metal claws for climbing stone walls that he'd liberated from the Fire Nation, and a set of unbreakable stone lockpicks made specifically for Earth Kingdom locks that he'd come across at a marketplace nearby.
When he was satisfied, Sokka went back upstairs. He packed the trash can's contents into his backpack and duffel bag. Letting out a breath, he straightened and stretched.
Now, he could eat.