Just about getting to the end of what I wrote earlier. I'm beginning to remember why I never finished this before... I'm tired, lol. This is a long chapter.
DISCLAIMER: "Avatar the Last Airbender" is fantastic, brilliant, beautiful, and totally not mine.
REUNIONS: PART ONE
"Sokka, I'm telling you, we've been going the wrong way for like an hour now."
"Who is steering this bison, woman? That's right: me. So, shush! I know what I'm doing."
Suki rolled her eyes. She was reclining in Appa's saddle, the thin wind of the sky making a mess of her auburn hair. She had taken the maps out a few minutes ago but put them away now, finally coming to the conclusion that Sokka was just going to go whichever way he wanted, regardless of whatever evidence she offered him that he was wrong. Momo was curled up at her feet, sleeping peacefully and snoring very lightly.
Sokka was perched comfortably on the back of Appa's neck, directing the bison with righteous dignity. He would never have admitted to Suki – not in a million years – that he was no longer entirely sure where they were. It was somewhere in the Fire Nation, he did know that much. But where?
Well, it didn't matter, because right now they were going in this direction, and damn it, that was the direction they were going to keep going in. He was trying to formulate a plan by which he might get his bearings, or maybe casually change direction, without Suki noticing. But Suki was too smart; she'd notice whatever he did, and she wouldn't let it go, either. They both liked being right way too much to ever pass up a single opportunity to rub it in each other's faces.
Appa seemed glad to be traveling again. Sokka and Suki had been keeping Appa on Kyoshi Island with them for the past five years (along with Momo – though Momo had actually been there for six years, since Aang had finally decided to just let Sokka have him; Sokka had always had a kind of special bond with the little flying lemur, and Aang had eventually come to the conclusion that it was inevitable that Sokka should have him). After the strange, unexpected disappearance of his owner, Appa had never fully recovered, not even five years later. For a long period of time he was so depressed he would not even fly the small distance around the island, and they had had endless difficulties persuading the bison to eat enough just to stay alive for the first year or so.
Sokka knew that Aang and Appa had had some kind of spiritual link with one another – "bonded for life" was the phrase Sokka seemed to recall Aang using once to try to explain. He had seen Aang's uncharacteristic rage years before, when Appa had once been stolen by Sandbenders in the desert and sold in Ba Sing Se's black market. But Sokka had still never fully understood how deeply the bison's unusual bond with his Airbender ran. It was almost as if, in a way, Appa and Aang shared something of the same heart; when they were separated, they both became lost, confused, not entirely themselves. Something of their identity was sundered, misplaced. He'd seen it happen to a lesser extent with Aang; but he'd seen the full effects through taking care of Appa over the past five years. Aang's absence was devastating to the bison.
Sokka had often wished Appa could speak. Sometimes he'd tried to ask him questions, willing the bison to reply. Appa must have been there with Aang when he vanished; Appa must have known – must still know – what had really happened to him. But Appa was cursed with not being able to share his knowledge, and they were all frustrated with not being able to speak Flying Bison.
Recently, though, the bison had been doing a bit better. Anyone who didn't know would have thought that Appa was perfectly fine and healthy. But Sokka had spent almost a year flying around the world on this bison's shaggy back – he well remembered what Appa was really like, when Aang was around. He knew that, even if Appa was still functioning, the bison was only half-alive, only half-conscious. He'd probably never be the same again. Not unless Aang somehow miraculously returned one of these days.
Sokka's mind drifted into grim thoughts suddenly. Sometimes he wondered if his little sister was not so different from this bison.
He hadn't seen Katara in several months – a strangely long time for them not to visit. But he knew that it had been longer since she'd gone back to visit Gran Gran, Pakku and their father in the South Pole; much longer. Years, in fact. She hadn't been there since Tenzin was still too young to talk.
Katara had been disappearing too, it seemed. Trying to imitate Aang – vanishing into herself, though probably without realizing she was doing it. Even Zuko seemed powerless to stop it.
For the past five years, Sokka had struggled with his own feelings as well. He missed Aang, too; no one really understood how much he did, not even Suki. Master Piandao knew – but then, he knew everything, even things Sokka didn't willingly offer to tell him (which could be frustrating at times). In fact, only a month ago, Sokka had gone to visit his old swordmaster at his mansion in the Fire Nation, and they'd had a chat about that very subject.
"Something's worrying you, Sokka," Piandao said.
They were sparring in the coolness of the late afternoon, on the porch overlooking his master's rock garden. Sokka, after eight years of training, was good enough by now to beat his old master in a fight now and then. Although, to be fair, Sokka did have the advantage of youthful vigor on his side, something that Master Piandao had less and less of each time they fought.
"Oh, just the usual," Sokka shrugged, blocking his master's thrust. "There's a psychotic ex-princess after us all the time, I'm taking care of a depressed flying bison, my little sister's raising the Avatar's son by herself, Suki wants to talk about her feelings whenever I just want to sleep, and Momo's got fleas. Nothing new."
"How long has it been now?" Piandao asked, with a knowing look that always made Sokka feel a little uncomfortable.
"Since what?" Sokka asked nervously, accidentally letting his guard down for a moment and barely dodging Piandao's blade.
"Since the Avatar disappeared," Piandao said, easily avoiding Sokka's rebound strike. "Almost five years now, right?"
"Uh, yep. Just about." Sokka sent a series of thrusting jabs his way, driving him quickly backwards.
"Hm," Piandao smirked slightly, countering one of Sokka's blows. That smirk made Sokka more nervous than anything. "Still no idea what happened to him?" Piandao continued after a moment, catching Sokka by surprise suddenly with a quick turn that threw off Sokka's entire attack strategy. No doubt that was exactly what he'd meant to do.
"To who?"
"You know who."
"What, Aang?" Sokka snapped curtly, deciding it was too much trouble to rethink his attack strategy, and simply charging wildly at his master. "Nope. No idea what happened to that guy."
Piandao smiled deviously, using Sokka's impetuousness against him with a cunning dodge that made Sokka lose his balance for a moment. Sokka felt extremely frustrated suddenly, and wondered why he was having such difficulties with the fight today.
"You're still angry at him, huh?" Piandao asked finally, bracing himself for Sokka's next attack.
But Sokka didn't attack. Only looked at his master curiously.
"What do you mean?" he demanded fiercely. "I'm not mad at Aang!"
"You seem a little angry to me," Piandao commented with a shrug. "Maybe not – maybe I'm just reading too much into things."
"Now, hold on!" Sokka cried, sheathing his blade. "Why would I be angry at Aang? I mean- you know – he was a good guy! He was just like a brother to me."
"And now he's gone," Piandao nodded, following Sokka's lead and sheathing his own blade.
"Well, but so what?" Sokka growled. "We all did just fine before he came around. We're all doing just fine again. It's all just great. It doesn't matter."
"Doesn't it?" Piandao asked, seating himself on the ground and looking at Sokka with genuine curiosity.
"No! No, it doesn't!" Sokka stormed. "I don't really see what you're driving at here. You're trying to be all wise and cryptic again, but I think you've got it wrong this time."
"What have I got wrong?" Piandao asked innocently.
"About Aang! You're wrong about Aang! See, I know what you're doing! You're trying to make me think I'm mad at Aang for some reason, because of some deep inner feelings I haven't dealt with, right? But I'm not mad at Aang, so you're wrong! In fact, I don't even care that he's gone. In fact, I'm glad he's gone. He was always so perky all the time – it got kind of annoying sometimes, you know? And all his mystical Avatar stuff, and his stupid Airbender sayings, and his always going on about the olden days or whatever, and his vegetarian issues, and how he was always so ridiculously awake in the mornings… I mean, whatever… Who needs him, right?"
"I don't know."
"Yeah, I don't know, either! Exactly! No one needs him, that's who! No one! Especially not us."
"You never got angry at him because of your sister?" Piandao asked quietly after a pause.
"You mean because he got her pregnant and then DISAPPEARED?" Sokka could hear his voice rising to a shout by the end of his sentence, and felt his face flushing, but he was too worked up to care. "Yeah, I was angry! Of course I was angry! I wanted to kill him! Ooh, I really, really wanted to kill him! But – "
He took a deep breath. Honestly, that anger had dried up in him a long time ago.
"But at the same time, I – I didn't, really. You know. I mean, he was just a stupid kid, right? Really stupid. But he loved her a lot. You could just tell. I'm not so good at telling things like that, and even I could tell. It's just not right, you know? I mean, he didn't know – he didn't know what he did."
Sokka seated himself on the ground now as well, across from his master.
"He didn't know what he did when he left. He hurt Katara a lot, but he didn't mean to. I know he didn't. I just don't know… I don't know… I feel like I still want to be angry at him. I've felt like that for a while, like I really, really want to still be angry at him. But I just can't. It's like needing to sneeze, and not being able to. You ever get that feeling?"
"I think everyone does," Piandao nodded solemnly.
"Yeah, it's just like that, actually," Sokka went on, excited by his own metaphor. "I mean, Aang just left all of us. He was the one I talked to when I was upset about things – then he went and made me upset by disappearing – but I couldn't feel upset at him really because I realized the reason I was upset was because he wasn't around to hear how upset I was. You know what I mean?"
Piandao had cocked his eyebrows in mild confusion. "Um, sort of."
"He just left us, and Katara had the baby, and she was completely messed up. I mean, she still kind of is. And he's the Avatar, you know! I mean, there's no good reason for him to just disappear like he did! So I feel like I really want to be mad at him. I feel like I'd actually feel better if I was mad at him. But I just can't. I guess I liked him too much. So I'm just sad. It's been a long time, but I'm still sad. I think I'd even feel better if I just knew he'd died or something – I think the reason it won't go away is because we still don't know what happened to him. It's just… it's hard."
"I imagine it would be hard," Piandao nodded gravely, sounding sorrowful.
Sokka laughed a little then, quietly. "You know what's funny? For some reason, the thing I seem to remember most about Aang these days is this one time, a long time ago, when the three of us were in the Fire Nation – me, Aang and Katara – and we met your friend Jeong-Jeong. And Aang tried to get Jeong-Jeong to teach him Firebending. And Aang was so impatient to learn that he got carried away, and accidentally burned Katara."
Piandao looked puzzled. "That – doesn't seem very funny to me."
"No, it wasn't." Sokka shook his head. "I was really angry at him then, too. Really angry. I yelled at him – I wanted to hurt him, because he'd hurt Katara. But then Aang… I don't know. Even then, when I was so mad at him, I couldn't do anything about it except feel mad, and it didn't do any good. It was Aang's fault, because he hadn't listened to his instructions. But Aang was just as upset about hurting Katara as I was that she was hurt. And so, I couldn't even stay mad at him for long. I knew he hadn't meant to hurt her – he would have done anything not to hurt her. He would have probably hurt himself to keep her from being hurt. But he was just like me, you know? Me and him were always making stupid mistakes. I could have seen myself doing the same thing, if I was able to learn Firebending. Poor kid couldn't even Firebend at all for a long time after that, because he was so upset about what he'd done. But if he hadn't burned Katara that day, she might not have realized she had healing abilities, so it turned out okay after all."
Sokka paused. He took a deep breath – slowly.
"I don't know. I just keep remembering that, for some reason."
"He burned your sister again, in a way," Master Piandao observed.
"Yeah, sort of," Sokka said quietly. "But he didn't mean to. I mean, I know he was the Avatar, but he was still just human, you know?"
Master Piandao contemplated briefly, studying Sokka carefully. "You miss him too, don't you?"
"He was a good friend," Sokka murmured. "He would have done anything, for any of us. You just – you don't find friends like that every day."
Master Piandao nodded slowly.
Sokka sat quietly for a few moments, allowing all these thoughts to settle in him. Then, suddenly, he looked up at his master, who was smiling serenely at him.
"Hey, wait!" he exclaimed. "How did you do that? You got me to talk about all that stuff by making me not talk about it! I hate it when you do that!"
Piandao chuckled softly. "Sorry. It just comes naturally, I suppose."
Sokka shook his head. "How did you know about all that?"
Piandao shrugged. "I didn't really. You just told me. All I did was get you started. I could tell by the way you fought today that you needed to get something off your chest."
Sokka sighed. "I've never really talked to anyone about it, all these years."
"I didn't think you had," Piandao replied.
"I needed to, though. I didn't know I needed to, but apparently I did." Sokka contemplated, shaking his head at his master again. "So… I guess, thanks for tricking me into it?"
"That's what I'm here for," the old swordmaster smirked.
The two of them soon ordered some cool drinks with lemon slices after that, to help pass the afternoon away. One day, Sokka told himself, he would have a mansion like this too, with his very own snobby butler to bring him cool drinks, and then he would be the wise and cryptic old swordmaster, puzzling all his troubled young students. He could definitely see the appeal of being that guy: the mysterious sword-guy in the mansion.
"Sokka, really," Suki's voice jerked Sokka back into their present state of drifting aimlessly through the air. "Why can't you just admit that you're wrong, so we can all get on with our lives?"
"Because I'm not wrong!" Sokka exclaimed, coming quickly back to reality.
Appa grunted at Sokka in a rather sarcastic manner.
"Oh, hush up, Appa! You always take her side!" Sokka scowled.
"That's because he knows I'm always right," Suki grinned.
"Not true," Sokka shook his head. "Momo, you're on my side, right?"
There was no reply except snoring from the lethargic old lemur.
"Well, anyway," Sokka went on after a moment, "Momo would be on my side, if he was awake."
"Uh-huh," Suki rolled her eyes again. "But Momo's brain is the size of a leechi nut, so I don't know if that helps you out very much."
"I think it's bigger than a leechi nut," Sokka protested, offended on behalf of his favorite pet. "Anyway – AHA! There it is! Oh, oh, I told you! I told you!"
Suki sat up in disbelief and peered over the edge of Appa's saddle. Sure enough, there was the Fire Nation capital in the distance, encircled by jagged mountain peaks shrouded in silvery mists.
"Who was right?" Sokka urged gleefully.
Suki sulked. "You just found it by accident."
"Who was right?" Sokka insisted.
"Fine, you were right," she admitted, laughing a little to herself and shaking her head. "I guess that makes up for the last twenty times you were wrong about things."
"Oh, just let me enjoy my moment," Sokka sighed contentedly, and proceeded to thoroughly enjoy his moment.
Momo awoke, yawning and stretching lazily, and glanced boredly at Suki, as if to query, Are we there yet?
Within another half hour or so, Appa was descending slowly into the heart of the capital city, aiming for a large courtyard at the entrance of the Fire Palace. The small black and red shape that was Zuko grew gradually larger as they came down, and he walked slowly out to meet them when they landed. He must have seen them coming while they were still in the air.
"Sokka!" he shouted, his thick robes swaying in the wind that Appa's large, flat tail stirred up. "You didn't tell us you were coming! Is everything okay?"
"Uncle Sokka!" cried a small voice, and Tenzin came after it, scurrying into the courtyard excitedly and stirring up nearly as much wind as Appa did. "Aunt Suki!"
"Hey, squirt!" Sokka grinned at him. Appa landed, all six giant feet on the cool stones, and Sokka slid adroitly to the ground. His arms flew open to catch Tenzin in a crushing hug, and Tenzin laughed, glad to be crushed.
"How've you been?" Sokka asked him.
"Good!" the boy replied without thinking at all. He beamed at his uncle. "I didn't know you were coming!"
"We wanted to surprise you," Suki smiled, climbing gracefully down from Appa's saddle with Momo cradled in her arms – not an easy thing to do, but she made it look effortless. "Are you surprised?"
"Yeah!" Tenzin laughed, hurrying to receive another crushing hug from his aunt. Poor Momo got caught in between them, and instantly he was fully awake, trying to squirm out of harm's way.
Zuko shook Sokka's hand firmly. "It's always good to see you both," said the Firelord. "But why didn't you tell us you were coming? Is anything wrong?"
"Not yet," Sokka shook his head, darting his eyes around the courtyard and taking in every detail in an instant. "That's why we've come, actually."
"We've lost track of Azula," Suki explained. "We wanted to make sure nothing happened here."
Zuko's expression grew very heavy, and Sokka could see that he hadn't been sleeping well recently. "Well, something has happened. But not Azula. I actually meant to send you a hawk – "
"Hello," said a soft, formal voice from the doorway behind Zuko. Sokka didn't recognize the voice, but when he glanced at the speaker, he almost jumped out of his skin.
Bald head. Arrow tattoos.
Sokka and Suki both blanched in shock – made short gasping, choking noises in their throats – but it wasn't Aang. Sokka stuttered for a moment, and Suki turned pale, as if she'd seen a ghost. Then, almost at the same moment, a new wave of shock passed as they both realized that if it wasn't Aang, then it was another Airbender, and that was nearly the same as seeing a ghost.
Immediately, they both assumed wide defensive stances, raising their respective weapons – Sokka his sword, and Suki her razor-sharp fans.
"Who is that?" they both demanded simultaneously. Sokka's voice squeaked slightly with alarm.
"My name is Yonten," said the Airbender, stopping cautiously several paces behind Zuko, as if Sokka and Suki might be frightened away like skittish birds if he came too close.
"He's what happened," Zuko sighed wearily.
Then, something almost even more astonishing happened. Appa caught a glimpse of Yonten, and for a moment he burst more to life than either Sokka or Suki had seen him in five years. Rearing up on his backmost legs, he gave a great roar of joy and charged straight through all the humans to knock Yonten affectionately to the ground and give him an enormous lick with his great, slobbery bison tongue.
Tenzin burst out laughing. Sokka and Suki glanced at one another in amazement. Yonten looked undeniably uncomfortable, covered in bison drool on the ground, but he gawked up at Appa in wonder.
"A flying bison!" he gasped.
Then Appa realized suddenly that, despite his shaven head and tattoos, the person he had pinned to the ground below him was not his beloved long-lost rider. Instantly, Appa recoiled from Yonten and crouched back, near Zuko, growling fiercely at the impostor. Yonten, though still fascinated, looked a little frightened now as well – Appa's growl said that he very much wished to hurt Yonten, simply because he was not Aang. And Appa was considerably more intimidating than Katara; Katara wasn't large enough to kill him just by sitting on him, but Appa definitely was.
"I've never seen him do that before!" Tenzin cried excitedly, running to Appa and rubbing his small fingers through the bison's shaggy white fur. Appa and Tenzin had grown a bit of an attachment to one another over the years – perhaps Appa recognized something of Aang in Tenzin, and perhaps Tenzin had received some of Aang's affection for the bison hereditarily. Appa protectively encircled Tenzin in one of his large front paws, and glared at the new Airbender, as if daring him to come anywhere near the boy.
"Quite extraordinary!" Yonten gasped again. "He must belong to the Avatar!"
"He belonged to him, yes," Sokka replied coldly. Something about the way Yonten used the present tense to refer to Aang made Sokka feel strange and uncomfortable.
"I've heard stories of the flying bison, but I've never seen one," Yonten went on, wiping some of Appa's slobber off of his face. "I thought they were extinct!"
"Yeah, well, we were all pretty sure that Airbenders were extinct, too," Sokka scowled, pointing his sword threateningly at Yonten. Sokka had a bond with his sword that was nearly as strong as an Airbender with his bison. "Now, you've told us your name, but who are you? And how are you an Airbender?"
Suki stood alongside Sokka, her fans poised for attack. Even Momo looked rather fierce, all the hairs on his back standing on end.
Yonten sighed. He seemed slightly exasperated to have to endure this conversation a second time.
Zuko spared him, though not because he felt particularly like doing the Airbender any favors. He simply preferred to explain things himself.
"The Airbenders weren't all killed, apparently," Zuko said. "There were a small number who survived. They've been in hiding all these years, though he hasn't told us where. Yonten's come out of hiding because he had a message for Katara from the spirit world." Zuko gave Sokka a meaningful look. "A message about Aang."
"What?" Sokka and Suki gasped together, gawking back and forth between Zuko and Yonten.
"It's okay, Uncle Sokka!" Tenzin smiled, extricating himself from Appa's protective reach and gliding like a windblown leaf over to his uncle. "I know all about how Avatar Aang is my daddy. Yonten says he's not dead – just stuck in the spirit world, that's all. Momma's gonna go save him soon!"
Sokka now gawked at Tenzin. He couldn't believe it – was the world turning upside down? Had Katara finally lost it? Something boiling, a deep rage, churned in his stomach. He couldn't let this happen. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair to Katara. It wasn't fair to Tenzin. It wasn't fair to any of them! It was ridiculous!
"Katara believes this guy?" Sokka scoffed, darting a suspicious look at Yonten, who was standing at a distance and still staring in fascination at Appa.
"He was… convincing," Zuko replied softly. Sokka could tell he was quite unhappy about the entire situation. Sokka didn't blame him – he was feeling a little irked himself.
"Well, he hasn't convinced me yet!" Sokka announced, striding past Zuko straight toward Yonten. Yonten barely twitched an eyelash as Sokka took hold of his ragged brown cloak. The tall Water Tribe warrior towered easily over the small Airbender, and his blue eyes glowered fiercely.
"What have you told my sister?" Sokka asked him sternly. Suki came closely up behind him, still with her dangerous fans drawn threateningly.
"Ah… so you are Katara's brother?" Yonten asked calmly, entirely ignoring Sokka's question.
"No, I'm a flying lemur-bat! Don't you see the resemblance?" Sokka growled sarcastically, gesturing at Momo, who seemed to be trying very hard to comprehend the situation.
"No need for sarcasm," Yonten shrugged. To Sokka's aggravation, he seemed completely unconcerned - even slightly amused.
"Answer his question!" Suki commanded him fiercely, raising her fans toward the Airbender's neck.
"Uncle Sokka!" Tenzin shouted in alarm, tugging on the edge of Sokka's shirt. Appa drew near, growling warningly, uncomfortable with Tenzin being so close to the impostor, but also too uncomfortable to get near enough to fetch Tenzin back. "Aunt Suki! Don't hurt him!"
"Tenzin," Sokka said quietly, "not now."
"It's okay, Tenzin," Zuko reassured the boy. "Come stand over here for a minute."
"But – " Tenzin tried to protest.
"Don't worry, Tenzin," Yonten nodded at him. "Do as they say."
Tenzin obeyed. Sokka only felt angrier then, angry that this Airbender – this impostor – had already won over Tenzin. How dare he just show up and insert himself into everyone's lives like this, and disrupt the already precarious balance they had all just barely managed to sustain over the years?
"Listen to me, Airbender," Sokka growled at Yonten, still holding him tightly by the shirt and giving him a glare that could have frozen a Firebender. "I don't know you, and I don't trust you. And I've spent every minute of the past five years looking over my shoulder, afraid of what might be behind me. I'm just a little on edge, you understand. And now you come barging in, thinking you can just take over and tell Katara and Tenzin things that they probably don't need to hear. And I'm just letting you know right now that I don't plan on standing for this."
"I'm sorry," Yonten said humbly, "but I'm not sure you fully understand – "
"No, you're right, I don't," Sokka interrupted him. "But that doesn't change the fact that Katara is my baby sister. Do you know anything about sisters, Airbender?"
"Um… well, I've never had one, but – "
"Then you don't know," Sokka snarled. "You can't know. So let me make this clear: if Katara gets hurt, in any possible way, because of something you've done, then I am going to hurt you. Badly. Got it?"
"Yes, of course," Yonten replied quietly. "But I would never – "
"I don't want to hear it," Sokka scowled, still not releasing Yonten from his angry fist. "Even if you have good intentions – which I'm not sure you do – you have to understand that Katara is broken. She's been broken for a long time, and for years all I've wanted is to be able to fix her, and I can't. And if you come along and sabotage whatever little healing she's managed to do, and break her even more by getting her hopes up for nothing, then I'll make sure you wish you'd never come out of hiding at all, no matter what mystical messages you think you got from the spirit world."
Yonten didn't answer this time. Sokka had successfully silenced him; the Airbender seemed to realize that, for the time being, there would be no point in trying to convince Sokka he was not an enemy.
Sokka finally released his grip on Yonten, and turned to Zuko, who was standing with a hand on Tenzin's shoulder, watching the scene with an expression of dull futility.
"Now, where's my sister?" Sokka asked.
Katara was in the back courtyard, sitting underneath the tree on the bank of the little pond. Her legs were folded over one another, her hands on her knees, her back straight as a rod. She was watching the ripples in the pond, intricate ripples traced out of the water by the subtleties of the wind. On the other side of the pond, a mother turtle-duck was swimming with her three babies, and they were all quacking and squawking merrily, free of the world's troubles.
She was focused very hard, mesmerizing herself with the patterns that the air made in the water's surface, and so she did not even hear when Sokka entered the courtyard. Even when he was only a few steps beside her, she was completely unaware of his presence.
"You really ought to blink once in a while," he finally commented.
She gasped, and sprang to her feet faster than a lightning bolt. The turtle-ducks squawked and swam away, startled by her sudden movement.
"Sokka!" she cried, throwing her arms around her brother's neck.
"Hey, Katara," he said quietly, squeezing her tightly.
"I can't believe you're here!" she exclaimed, laughing a little bit with the surprise. "You didn't tell us you were coming! I'm so happy to see you! Is Suki here too? Did you bring Appa and Momo? Does Tenzin know you're here? Why did you come? There isn't anything wrong, is there?"
"Geesh," Sokka laughed. "One thing at a time. Actually – first, how about we just sit down and relax for a minute?"
"Fine with me," she smiled, resuming her seat on the ground. Sokka sat down beside her, contemplating the ripples in the water as well.
"I'm so happy to see you, Sokka," she said again, beaming.
"I'm happy to see you too," he said. "You've been sort of hiding from everyone."
"What do you mean?" she asked, furrowing her brow.
"Well, Gran Gran and Pakku told me you haven't been to visit them in about four years now," Sokka replied. "And you haven't been to Kyoshi Island in about three years, right? From what I've heard, you barely ever leave the Palace."
"I leave," she protested rather feebly. "I take Tenzin out into the city now and then."
Sokka shrugged. "I've just been a little worried about you, I guess. I mean, I've been worried about you for five years now, but even more so recently."
"Sokka, you don't need to worry about me," she rolled her eyes. "I'm fine. That isn't why you came today, is it?"
"Well, it sort of is," he said. "But I'll tell you about that later. I need to talk to you about something else right now. See, I just met someone out there who made me feel a little… upset."
Katara paused. "Yonten," she said.
"How'd you guess?" he smirked.
She glanced sideways at him. "Did you talk to him?"
"As a matter of fact, I did," Sokka nodded, looking very hard at her.
"So… then, you know why he came here? What he said, about…"
"Aang."
"Yeah." She sighed. So he knew. He'd probably already made up his mind about exactly what he thought, and would not be persuaded otherwise now.
"I didn't listen to much of what he said, though, honestly," Sokka admitted. "I really wanted to hear it from you. I want to know exactly what he told you, and why you think he's so worth listening to."
"You've already decided he's not worth listening to, though, haven't you?" she accused him. "Just like Zuko."
"I'm not in favor of it, no," Sokka shook his head. "But you know I respect your opinion, Katara. I'll support whatever decision you make."
Katara didn't fully believe that Sokka would support whatever decision she made. But she did know that he would do anything for her – even if it meant taking a rather daring leap out of his own comfort zone. He'd done it many times before, after all. He'd even been there to help with Tenzin's delivery – and that was an ordeal far more traumatic to him than anything else. She trusted him to be understanding. Understanding enough, at least.
"He said that Aang was abducted by a spirit five years ago, and he's been lost in the spirit world," she explained. "He doesn't know much about the spirit that took him, except that it's something called the… the Face-Stealer." She shuddered violently. Even still, just thinking of it made her dizzy with horror.
"The what?" Sokka cried, aghast despite his skepticism.
"I don't want to say it again," she whispered, closing her eyes to press out the thoughts and images in her mind. Aang – trapped in the dark – the monster of her nightmares creeping up behind him – his face, gone. What could it have been like? What must it feel like, to have your face stolen? It was too horrible to think about. Imagining Aang suffering that unthinkable terror pierced her heart like a blade.
"Okay… so… a Face-Stealer has Aang," Sokka gulped. He'd been abducted into the spirit world once before, and well remembered the terror; but the spirit that had taken him had eventually turned out to be a rather friendly giant panda bear. He didn't imagine something called the 'Face-Stealer' would be quite so cuddly.
"Yonten thinks I can save him," she went on. "And he wants to help."
"I see," Sokka scowled. "And it's his business, why?"
She gave him a look. "Because – because he was the one who got the message. He thinks it's Destiny that he was sent here to tell me all this. He doesn't see why he would have been sent here if there wasn't a chance to save Aang."
"Right," Sokka grumbled. He never bought all that Destiny business. People made their own choices, fought their own fights. Even with Aang – sure, he was the Avatar. But he hadn't defeated the Firelord because of Destiny. He'd done it because of his training, and because he'd had his friends to help, and because – well, because he was good. But he could have failed; or he could have run away. He chose his own path. Sokka hoped Katara wasn't buying all that nonsense, but something told him she was.
"So, where exactly did he get this big message?" Sokka asked cynically. "Did Destiny give it to him?"
"He was meditating, and someone from the spirit world told him to come bring the message to me," Katara said. "He knew who I was, Sokka."
"So what? That doesn't prove anything! What if he's just after his own thing, and figured you'd be an easy person to use?"
Katara shook her head. "What would he be after, Sokka?"
"I don't know," Sokka shrugged. "He's part of some group of super-secret, long-lost mystical Airbender survivors. Who knows what those guys might be up to?"
Katara just gave him another look. He knew it wasn't the best argument – but still.
"Anyway," Sokka went on, "let's just assume that he's okay, and he thinks he's doing some good by coming here to tell you all this. But how do we know that whatever spirit that sent him is really telling the truth? What if it's just the same spirit that took Aang, and now it's trying to get you too? You know, to complete its collection of… faces." Now Sokka shuddered.
"I've thought of that," she sighed. "I haven't completely lost my common sense yet. But – I don't know. There are just… things."
"Can you be a little more specific?" Sokka replied rather sarcastically.
Katara sighed again, looking back down at the ripples in the water. "I never told you about my dreams, did I?"
That took him a little by surprise. "No, you didn't," he answered curiously.
"Ever since Aang disappeared," she explained, very quietly – she'd never told anyone about her dreams until now, "I've been having these nightmares. They're all different, but they all end the same. I'm with Aang again, and everything seems to be going okay. But then, something always happens. It's different every time, but something happens to Aang. Usually some huge creature I can't really see, with a white theater mask, comes after him – or somehow he ends up in the pool at the North Pole spirit oasis. He gets his face covered, and whenever I uncover it, it's… it's just gone. There's no face there."
Sokka stared very hard at her.
"I've been dreaming that for five years, Sokka," she said. "It's just – it's just too much of a coincidence. It has to be true, about the Face-Stealer."
"That… well, that is strange," Sokka admitted, feeling thoroughly uncomfortable and disturbed. This sort of thing did not mesh well at all with his safe, rational ideas about the order of the universe. "But what about the possibility that whatever sent Yonten here is bad, and is trying to get a hold of you?"
"Yonten said that the spirit he talked to was a woman," Katara replied. "A woman with a red blindfold. That sounds to me like Princess Zara."
"Princess Who-now?" Sokka asked in bewilderment.
"Zara," Katara repeated impatiently. "Remember? Wife of Avatar Tenzin? The one my Tenzin is named after? The story about the princess who slept forever? Any of this ringing a bell?"
"Oh, yeah… I sort of remember you telling me about that."
Katara shook her head. He didn't remember it at all.
"Anyway," she said. "In all the pictures, Zara always wears a red blindfold. I think somehow she came into contact with Aang in the spirit world, and sent Yonten here to tell me."
"Well, okay," Sokka said slowly, "but what if the Face-Stealer thingy just took her face and used it?"
Katara sighed again. "Yeah. I've thought of that too. But, I don't know. I just – I can't really believe that. It doesn't… it doesn't feel right. I know that sounds stupid, but… well, whatever sent Yonten here… it must have really known about Aang."
"Why do you say that?" he asked.
"Well, I…" Katara blushed, ashamed of keeping so many secrets from her brother. "I never told you this, Sokka, but – before he left, Aang – Aang asked me to marry him."
Sokka gaped at her, open-mouthed. "What?"
She couldn't look at him, but quietly pulled Aang's necklace out of her pocket and twisted it in her fingers. "He gave me this necklace. I never told anyone, and no one knew about the inscription on the back. But Yonten knew, somehow."
"He asked you to marry him?"
"Yes, Sokka," Katara answered hastily, flushing. "But did you hear the rest of what I said?"
"Wait, wait – this is huge," Sokka shook his head, waving his arms at her. "So, wait – what did you say?"
"To what?"
"To what! To Aang! When he asked you to MARRY HIM!"
Katara glared at him, then looked away. The shame was simmering.
"I, uh… I said I didn't know if it would work," she finally admitted, quietly.
"You told him no?" Sokka cried. "Katara!"
"Not exactly no," she protested, feeling hurt and angry. She'd beaten herself enough about that over the years – she didn't need Sokka to add to the beating. This was exactly why she'd never told him before. "I said I didn't know. And I changed my mind anyway. I was going to say yes. But he – he didn't come back, you know. So I didn't get the chance."
Sokka was boiling, and he wasn't sure why. Whether it was the shock of suddenly learning that Aang had once proposed to his sister, or the sorrow that Aang had been so close to being his brother-in-law, or the astonishment that Katara had rejected him, or the anger that Aang had disappeared before Katara got the opportunity to change her mind – as if he hadn't given her a fair chance - he didn't know. Sokka knew that last reason was ridiculous, but he felt it nevertheless.
Finally, the rest of what Katara had said about Yonten and the inscription seeped into his sometimes impenetrable skull. Something legitimately strange was going on, he realized.
Katara was still looking fiercely away. He felt suddenly a little guilty, seeing that he'd hurt his sister. He tried to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she jerked out of his grasp bitterly.
"Okay, Katara," he finally said, very softly. "I'm sorry. I can see now why you believe the guy. But – I mean, what are we going to do about it? What are you going to do? He thinks we can save Aang, but how?"
She sighed frustratedly. "I don't know. That's why I'm still here. Yonten's already been here for a few days. Don't you think if I knew what I was supposed to do, I'd already be off doing it? Apparently we only have until the Winter Solstice, or Aang's going to be too far gone for us to get him back."
"Well!" Sokka scoffed. "Nice of Yonten to wait till the last minute! Couldn't he have told us all this, I don't know, like five years ago!"
"He came as soon as he got the message," she said. "It also took him a while to find me. The spirit didn't really tell him much, just my name."
"So helpful," Sokka rolled his eyes. "And nothing about how to save Aang, either, right?"
"The spirit said I would know what to do, and that it has to be me who does it," she grumbled. "I have no idea why. And I also have no idea what I'm supposed to do."
"I guess you've got to get to the spirit world," he said.
"Oh, sure, I'll just do that!" she cried, throwing up her arms in exasperation. "I'm not the Avatar, you know! I can't just sit down, close my eyes for a few minutes, and get there!"
"Hm," Sokka contemplated, watching the turtle-ducks circling one another in the pond. Round and round – it distinctly reminded him of something. A sad memory of his. The first girl he'd ever really loved: a beautiful white-haired princess who had become the Moon spirit herself, and a pond not much bigger than this, with two black and white Koi fish perpetually swimming in circles round each other.
But that was there. This was just a pond.
"Too bad," he muttered.
"What?" she asked.
"Oh, I was just thinking," he shrugged. "Too bad this pond isn't all mystical like that pond at the Spirit Oasis in the North Pole. I bet that would help you out."
Katara's entire face lit up. "Sokka – you're a genius! The Spirit Oasis! That's where my dreams always end, at the North Pole! That's where I always uncover Aang's face! That's where everything happens! Why didn't I think of that? It's so obvious! That's where I have to go! Oh, Sokka!" She threw her arms around his neck, exulting in the epiphany.
"What!" he exclaimed. "Now you're going to North Pole, to go jump in some fishy pond? Katara – stop. Just think about this for a second. The North Pole is a long way off. We're not kids anymore – we can't just go flying off like we used to. What about Tenzin? And what about Azula? The reason me and Suki came here today is because we don't know where Azula is. We came to make sure that she wasn't here. I don't feel comfortable with you going off by yourself, or with Tenzin, on a long trip to the North Pole on the off chance that you might be able to save Aang."
She looked at him solemnly, pondering and troubling.
"But I have to go, Sokka," she finally said quietly. "You don't understand – there's a chance for me to bring Aang back. I can fix everything – I can give Tenzin his father back – I can give Aang a chance to live again. I have to. Wouldn't you do the same for Suki, or me, or mom? Even if it was just a small chance, wouldn't you take it?"
Sokka sighed, studying her carefully.
"Yes," he finally admitted. "I probably would. But I still don't know – "
She turned away from him, hugging her knees to her chest. "Sokka," she breathed. "It's so hard."
"I know," he nodded.
"No, you don't," she shook her head firmly. "It may be hard for you, but it's a different kind of hard for me."
"I know that too, Katara," he said quietly.
"Sokka," she said softly, "if you really think it's the wrong decision, then… then I'll think about what you say. I can't guarantee I won't go, but I will think about it. Tell me the truth."
Sokka contemplated for a long while, struggling with himself. It was dangerous – it was so risky – she might fail – she might be hurt, or killed, or come home even more irreparable than she already was – Tenzin might lose her, and he might too – she was his little sister. But she was strong, and brave. And if she succeeded… If she did it, then Aang would be alive again; Tenzin would have a father again; Katara would be well again; Appa would be whole again; Sokka would have his brother back. Maybe he was only resisting because it seemed too good to actually happen. But wasn't it too late? She'd already been offered the chance. If she didn't go, she would regret it for the rest of her life. She would never heal.
"Tenzin can't go with you," he finally spoke up, coming to his reluctant decision. "But if you really feel like you need to go, then… then I guess I'll go with you."
Katara's blue eyes blazed at him, and her mouth grew into a wide smile.
"Sokka!" she gasped.
"I still don't like it," he added, just to be clear on that point. "But I think you need to go – at least to get some closure – and I don't want you to go alone."
She tackled her brother in a tight embrace, stuttering with excitement. "Sokka! You… are… the… nicest… brother… ever! We have to go right away! There's no more time to waste! We should leave tonight!"
"Whoa, whoa," Sokka patted her shoulders to calm her down a bit. "I think we can wait one night. I just flew all the way from the South Pole, remember? I'm tired. And we really ought to plan ahead a little bit, anyway."
"We can take Appa!" She was excited beyond being reasoned with. "We'll get there ten times as fast! And once we get Aang back…"
"If we get him back," Sokka tried to correct her.
"Appa will be so happy!" she beamed. "I guess Yonten's going to want to come too."
Sokka grimaced. "Oh, yeah… Do we have to bring him?"
"He'll insist on going. Remember? Destiny."
"Right." Sokka rolled his eyes. "Okay, but if Appa won't let him on his back, then he's not going. We'll say that's proof that Destiny is telling him to stay home."
"Zuko's not going to be very happy about this," Katara commented suddenly.
"Nah," Sokka shrugged. "But he's never happy."
"True."
"I think he'll feel better with me going with you." Sokka pondered for a moment. "We ought to make a quick stop at the Earth Kingdom before we really get going."
She glanced at him curiously. "What for?"
"There's someone else I really think should come with us." Sokka nodded meaningfully at her, and she nodded back after a moment, grinning slightly. She knew exactly who he meant.