Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender
Author's Note: Here is recommendation #19 of the Iraq Study Group: The President and National Security Council should be in constant communication with the Iraqi leadership. Well, DUH! How many PhDs do you suppose they needed in the room to come up with that brilliant piece of advice, which, by the way, is already being done? From what I've heard, the rest of the report is similarly inane, but that's really the capstone. OK, I'm done.
Sokka's Psyche
Aang took the reins for their next flight, over Katara's objections. Sokka found it somewhat amusing the way she fussed over him. His sister always had a tendency to mother everybody, and in this group, she didn't really have any competition for that role. Sokka almost snorted aloud at the thought of Toph being nurturing. Katara seemed uncertain whether to join Aang on Appa's head. Sokka grasped her by the elbow and pulled her to sit beside him.
"You don't have to be joined at the hip every second, you know," he murmured to her. She tossed him a half-hearted glare but sat down quietly. About two hours before sunset, Aang landed them in a clearing in a pine forest on a mountain slope. Everyone climbed off of Appa and began dividing up the chores for setting up camp.
"I'm going to go collect firewood," Katara announced.
"I'll go with you," Aang offered quickly.
"Hold it!" Sokka ordered in a tone authoritative enough that they both stopped still and looked at him curiously. "You guys are going to gather firewood? Together?"
"Yeah," said Katara.
"Is there a problem?" asked Aang. Sokka paused, quickly running through his options in his head. He could try to keep Aang and Katara from spending time alone together. However, that could lead to two possible consequences, neither of them particularly pleasant: either they would start doing things in front of him that he would rather not see, or the pressure would build up between them so that, when they finally did find themselves alone…
"No, that's fine," he decided to allow it. "But I'm coming after you if you're not back in half an hour." Sokka figured that gave them ten minutes out, ten minutes back, hopefully actually doing their chore on the way. This left ten minutes for…whatever. He didn't think they could get into too much trouble in that time.
He had indeed checked on them the previous night and found them sleeping soundly in their own rooms. Suki, however, had spent the night in Sokka's arms, though she had left early enough that no one knew. Sokka was fully aware of how big a hypocrite this made him. He rationalized it to himself by saying that he didn't know when he would see Suki again, so he naturally wanted to spend every moment he could with her until he had to leave. Katara and Aang, on the other hand, got to be together all the time, with only Sokka to keep an eye on them.
You're still a hypocrite, whispered a soft voice in his head.
Yes, I know.
You got to spend the night in the arms of a woman you care about.
So what? Sokka was beginning to get angry at this internal rebellion. It's not like anything happened. At least, not as much as could have.
Do you expect less of Aang and Katara than you do of yourself? Okay, that stung a little. Still, Sokka stubbornly refused to give in.
Look, she's my sister. Dad told me to protect her. I don't make the rules; I just enforce them.
That's a total cop-out, and you know it.
I agreed with you, okay? I'm a jerk. Can you shut up already? You used to be on my side.
I'm still on your side, were the parting words of his subconscious, but it fell mercifully silent. A brilliant idea occurred to Sokka.
"Hey, Toph," he addressed the blind earthbender, trying to sound casual. "Just how far away can you feel vibrations?"
"Forget it, Sokka," she replied flatly. "I'm not helping you spy on your sister." Sokka knew better than to pursue it. In any case, Aang and Katara returned promptly, and Katara only had a few pine needles stuck in her braid. That could simply have been from bending down to pick up fallen branches. Unfortunately, the needles were clearly the brown, dead ones from the forest floor, which brought to mind images that Sokka would rather not deal with. After dinner, he pulled Aang aside.
"You and I need to have a chat," he told the Avatar, steering him a short distance away from the others.
"Where are you going?" Katara demanded, eyeing her brother suspiciously.
"Aang and I are just going to have a little man-to-man talk," he replied evasively. "It's nothing you need to worry about." He kept moving, not allowing her to respond.
"I'm not sure I like the sound of this," Aang commented, once they were out of sight behind some trees and rocks. Sokka wasn't sure how far Toph's extraordinary senses reached, but he hoped this was good enough.
"I have a feeling you're going to going to hate it," Sokka returned. He was not looking forward to this, but it had to be done. "But if it helps, so will I. See, I have to talk to you about you and Katara."
"What about us?"
"Well, I know you two love each other, right? And I know that will naturally lead to you…expressing that feeling in…various ways."
"You said you didn't want me to tell you anything about that."
"I know, and I still don't." Sokka couldn't take the pressure and began pacing back and forth. "Believe me, inside information on my sister's love life is the last thing I need. But there's one thing I do need to know. I need to know that you understand that I expect you to observe certain…limits." Aang frowned.
"You know I'd never do anything Katara didn't want me to."
"That's what I'm worried about," Sokka muttered.
"I don't understand."
"It's just…" Sokka trailed off, realizing that he had no idea how to continue. He threw up his hands in surrender. "Oh, for pity's sake, I'm not ready to be an uncle, okay?"
"Oh." Aang flushed bright red and gulped audibly. "I, uh, wasn't planning--"
"Of course not," Sokka cut him off. "I'm just trying to…man, this is awkward!"
"It's not much fun for me, either."
"Yeah, I know it's not," Sokka acknowledged, rubbing his forehead with his left hand. He began ranting, half to himself. "I'm not supposed to be doing this. This sort of thing is Dad's job. But no, he had to go off and fight in the war, so I'm stuck with it." He realized that Aang was just staring at him with a perplexed expression, so Sokka forced himself to take a deep breath and steady himself.
"Okay, we just have to get through this conversation, and then, my plan is to never approach the subject with you again," he said.
"Sounds good."
"Okay, let me back up a little. It's not like I don't remember being your age. I know the kinds of things that have probably been running through your mind lately. When I was 13, I suddenly found myself in a village full of women who were married to my father's friends. Talk about repressed! Why do you think I spent so much time building snow fortifications?"
"Ohhhh, that makes a lot more sense now."
Sokka wasn't sure whether to be offended at this or not. He shrugged it off and went on. The sooner he made his point, the sooner they could be done with this horrible conversation and get on with their lives.
"It didn't help that, by the time I turned 15, they were starting to look at me like I was a whale steak."
"A what?"
"Never mind. I'm getting off-topic. Let's just say that it's recently come to my attention that we aren't the only ones who have those awkward kinds of thoughts and feelings. Girls have them, too."
"They do?"
"Not only that, but they're at least as likely to act on them as we are. Maybe more."
"Really?" Aang's eyes were about as large and round as Sokka had ever seen them.
"Oh, yeah," confirmed Sokka fervently. The memory of Suki's virtual attack on him was still quite fresh in his mind, and it was with great effort that he turned his mind away from it. There would be time for those recollections later. "What I'm telling you is that you need to know when to stop, even if she doesn't, because I'm betting your, uh, 'point of no return' is going to happen a lot sooner than hers." There was a pause as Aang took this in.
"This isn't going to be easy, is it?" he asked plaintively.
"It might be the most difficult thing you'll ever do," Sokka informed him. He managed a rueful half smile. "And I know who I'm talking to, so you can imagine what that means." Aang took a deep breath.
"Okay," he agreed. "I'll do my best. Are we done?"
"Yeah, we're done."
"Great!"
The boys returned to camp, and Katara immediately greeted Aang with concern and curiosity.
"Is everything all right? What was that about?"
"I told you, it's guy stuff," Sokka interjected. "Don't even worry about it." Katara narrowed her eyes at him.
"Oh, just like I was supposed to keep my mouth shut while you played 'hide the arctic seal' with Suki?" she accused.
"Katara!" Sokka exclaimed in a shocked voice, face reddening. Aang thought he caught a flash of guilt there, but he was too busy puzzling out to what game Katara might be referring to dwell on it. "There are children present!" Sokka put his hands over Toph's ears, who happened to be standing nearby. She didn't take kindly to that, however, and swiftly elbowed him in the ribs, forcing him several steps away from her.
"Who are you calling a child?" she asked angrily.
"Thanks a lot; that's going to bruise," Sokka complained, rubbing his ribcage. He addressed his sister again. "Besides, you know very well that nothing of the kind happened." Aang caught up with the euphemism and found himself blushing again.
"It was okay," Aang assured Katara, hoping to steer the discussion into safer waters. "Awkward, but okay."
"What did you--?"
"Don't ask," he advised seriously. "Katara, please believe that I intend to go to my grave with that conversation."
"That bad, huh?" She sounded sympathetic, but Aang knew he had better answer carefully if he hoped to maintain peace in the family.
"It was just really, really embarrassing," he explained, begging her with his eyes to let it go. "I just want to put it behind me, okay?"
"Well, okay," she agreed, after looking at him searchingly. "As long as everything is all right between you two."
"It's fine," he insisted. Suddenly, he remembered something. "I should probably have a firebending lesson in the morning, right?"
"I think that would be a good idea."
"Well, Iroh and I talked about it, before…everything happened. He thinks you should be there for this one. I need to get over my fear of – of repeating my mistake."
"I'll be there," Katara promised, pulling him into a hug. Aang enjoyed that, but he hoped he would be able to sleep tonight. Between his talk with Sokka and the upcoming lesson, not to mention his acute awareness of Katara's body pressing against him at the present moment, it wasn't going to be easy.
--
Member of the Boomeraang Squad: charleegirl, Jesus.Lives, Liselle129
Author's Note: Wow, that was awkward! It was fun to write, but I must have revised it three or four times. I've never seen anyone address what Sokka must have felt like as a teenage boy surrounded by women who hadn't seen a man in two years, so I thought I'd touch on it. I have to give a brief history of the "collecting firewood" bit because I may be using it as a running gag when Katara and Aang need some alone time. Several years ago, I was involved in a role-playing game where my character was married to another character. My character's mother really wanted grandchildren, so she kept sending us to "collect firewood" together in hopes that other activities would ensue, which they usually did. Obviously, this was definitely an adult game. Thereafter, going to gather firewood became a euphemism for, well, you know. So it's kind of an inside joke that I'm sharing with all of you.
Oh, and I'm thinking it's time for Aang's voice to start changing (it actually already is in the series, if you listen closely), so I'd appreciate any insights you guys out there could give me as to what that experience was like. I don't really remember much about my brother going through it; he just sort of woke up a baritone one day. My husband's voice just slid gradually down, which would be difficult to write and not very interesting. Thanks in advance!
Thank you to A Great and Terrible Beauty, Tech-Man, TTAvatarfan, and Kumori Doragon for reviewing Chapter 6.
Review responses:
MormonMaiden: As I mentioned last chapter, the child would be seven or so now, assuming that Zuko was eight or nine when his mother left. Thanks for the luck; I think I may need it!
Jesus.Lives: Iroh and Zuko had a scene sort of like that at the end of Season 1. I just carried it a little farther.
SnakeEyes16: Thank you for all your reviews, of course, but especially for appreciating the humorous moments. Things were getting pretty deep, so I figured I had to throw in some comic relief featuring Sokka here and there.
moira2: Well, you'd already told me you were out there, so it's okay that you don't review. Frankly, I'd rather have you spending your time writing the next chapter of Breath of Silver than reviewing my fics.;) Yeah, the writers are kind of stingy with the Kataang, but that only solidifies to me that they will end up together. It's a kind of classic TV device to stretch out a romance as long as humanly possible if it's what you intend to finish with.
libowiekitty: I did read your story, but I haven't had a chance to comment yet. I thought it was pretty good, though.
MyrmidonGuy: I was wondering where you were! Glad you've caught up and are enjoying this.
kataang93: Iroh would be totally cool to be related to, father figure or not.
