Chapter 28: Allies

Sangok wished that he hadn't decided to come to the war meeting early.

It was only him, Jet, and Sokka in the meeting room. Piandao, Bato, and the others were going to arrive later.

Unfortunately for Sangok, both Jet and Sokka thought of themselves as the best war strategist. This led to the two of them arguing, for the past twenty minutes, over who had better war strategies. Sangok had a headache as he listened to them.

"Remember that time when we were trying to capture that crazy turkey duck who kept attacking people? I was the one who came up with the idea to use food to lure it into a trap!" Sokka said, sounding proud of himself.

"That didn't even work!" Jet protested. "You used old, rotten vegetables as bait—the turkey duck didn't want that!"

"Well, I wasn't going to waste, like, meat or any other perfectly good food on a turkey duck. And we were still able to corner it because of my genius plan!"

Jet scoffed. "I was the one who actually captured the turkey duck, by tackling it." He started speaking as if he were giving a lecture. "In war, a leader should never hesitate, and should have the strength and bravery to be the first one to take action."

"Yeah, well, the turkey duck bit you, so I wouldn't call that 'war' a victory." Sokka pointed out.

"I think it's too early to be talking about victories." A new voice spoke.

The boys turned to see Piandao stepping into the room. Bato and several other men followed.

"Good, you're here. Let's start." Jet said, as the men sat down.

The first twenty minutes of the meeting was spent figuring out exactly how many resources they had, and identifying potential allies who would fight with them.

"The Fire Nation is powerful, but people from the Earth Kingdom, Water Tribes, and the Air Nomads combined outnumber them. Many people no longer want the Fire Nation Royal Family in power. The problem is that many of them are scared." Piandao said.

"The Northern Water Tribe is already prepared to fight." Bato informed them. "But if the Fire Nation decides to attack them first, they will need backup."

"That's another problem: we don't know what the Fire Nation is planning, or if they're planning anything at all." One of Piandao's friends, a general from the Earth Kingdom, spoke. "At the moment, we don't have any spies in the Fire Nation."

"No one from the Fire Nation is going to be on our side." Jet said firmly. "That's just the way things are. Everyone in the Fire Nation Capital is our enemy, no matter if they are a warrior or a normal citizen." He went on, "We obviously need to build our army before attacking the Fire Nation Capital. I think we should go to the Earth Kingdom first, and try to persuade the cities there to join us. If we can get Ba Sing Se to fight for us, we have a much greater chance of victory."

Murmurs of agreement filled the room. "But before we go to Ba Sing Se, we need to build our army up more. We don't want King Kuei to look at us and decide that we are the losing side, and that there is no hope for us. We have to look strong—no, we have to be strong, in order for us to convince him to join us." Piandao pointed out. "We can start small, starting with places such as Kyoshi Island. It's nearby, and the Kyoshi Warriors are strong, smart, and reliable. They are already good allies with the Southern Water Tribe—I have no doubt they will join our rebellion."

Bato turned to Sokka. "Sokka…one of your father's last wishes was for you to marry Lady Suki. We had been communicating with her and her people, and they approve of the marriage."

Piandao nodded in agreement. "The marriage would solidify our alliance with Kyoshi Island."

"I'll marry her." There was no hesitation in Sokka's voice. He liked Suki a lot, and something about this felt right. "…I need to make her a betrothal necklace."

"Then you better get started." Jet told him. "We're not going to stay around here much longer. In order to find and rescue Katara, we need to start this rebellion."

Sokka knew that Jet was right. They needed to find Katara and get her back to safety. It was Sokka's main and most important goal.


Katara gazed out the window at the empty city of Taku. Since she was on the top floor of the tower, the view was great.

Zuko and Katara had decided not to tell Kuruk and the others living in Taku about Hakoda's death. The only person they had told was Mako. Katara didn't know what Kuruk's reaction would be if he found out, but she knew it wouldn't be good. He would probably leave them and go back to the Southern Water Tribe, and then everyone would find out where they were.

So many secrets, Katara thought. First it was their marriage, and now this.

Katara felt detached from the rest of the world. It was as if Taku were a place that was unaffected by the world around it.

But Katara and Zuko couldn't ignore the fact that there was no longer peace outside of Taku. The tension and hatred had grown, and it would inevitably get even worse.

Zuko entered the room. Katara turned to look at him as he joined her by the window.

"I want to see Sokka." Katara said quietly. "I don't know how he's handling our father's death. I…I need to be there for him. But I know that I can't go back to the Southern Water Tribe at the moment. So…I just don't know what to do."

Zuko took her hand in his. "We could try to arrange a secret meeting."

"It's easier said than done." Katara sighed. "Your uncle would be great at arranging meetings like that, but he's not here." Iroh had gone back to the Fire Nation about a week ago. "Maybe it's just wishful thinking. If I were to meet with Sokka…he would insist that I return home with him. I…I don't think that he would understand."

"…Give it some time. If he's the type of person you describe him as, then I know he'll be understanding." Zuko told her. "It's just that right now…isn't the time to reveal our relationship."

"People will just assume things, no matter what." Katara said. "It could get really difficult for us, later on…"

Zuko leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips. "Don't worry about it. We'll handle it when the time comes."

"…I don't want anyone else to get hurt because of us." Katara whispered.

Zuko felt the same, but there seemed to be no easy answer. Their families and their people were now enemies of each other. To support one side would mean to destroy the other.