Recovery and Plans

Last week's confrontation with Combustion Man had left the warriors on edge. Despite holding no prisoners and being far out at sea, Hakoda mandated that at least two people be on watch at all times, rotating every six hours. Toph was lucky; being blind and at sea, while a drag, had it's perks. Since it was impossible for her to be on lookout outside of the boat, she wasn't required to do any shifts. It didn't stop her from joining her friend's, though. She would often join Pipsqueek and The Duke to keep herself company, and sometimes Sokka too, although she usually found herself wishing it was just to two of them.

Ever since the encounter with the assasin, Katara had been quite surprised at how easy it was to engage normally with her friends again. It was a pleasant surprise, when she thought about it. But to say she didn't miss him would be a lie. A massive fib. She still missed him dearly, more than she thought she had ever missed anything before since her mother's passing. Conversations with her friends no longer turned dour or depressing at the mention of her best friend, but rather, they reminisced in the memories they'd made with him.

"Katara?" She heard the all-too familiar voice of her brother call out her name. "It's dinner time." It took her a while to register what he had said. She had been practicing waterbending absentmindedly on the back of the ship, letting her thoughts, mostly of Aang, run wild.

"I'm really not in the mood to cook, Sokka!" She yelled, wishing the idiot standing before her would have just left her alone to her thoughts instead.

"Well... actually, it's already done, sis."

Katara quirked an eyebrow in response. "Who? Bato's cooking is nice and all but I really can't stomach much more..."

"I cooked" Sokka stated mater-of-factly.

That threw her off-balance. "I, uh... Ugh. You're cooking's probably worse than Bato's" she laughed.

"Hey, c'mon I tried!" He feigned anger, but couldn't, seeing as his sister was actually happy and laughing for once. They walked in synchrony to the lounge. "You know it was actually kinda fun. Putting all the ingredients together and trying out new stuff... like tinkering with the engine downstairs, only you need it to survive."

Katara snorted. "Don't get used to it. It's not all as hyped up as I make it out to be when you have an annoying sibling breathing down your neck. You, dear brother, are about to find out what you are like."

"Aw, I was hoping you'd be proud of me or something."

"A-ha! So you admit you're annoying."

"What did I do to deserve this..."

"Aw, " she said, noticing her brother's downturn in attitude. "I am proud. Doesn't mean I can't get revenge."

"Be nice, okay? I might even return the favour someday."

Katara mumbled in agreement as they enterred the 'living' area of the ship. Most of the crew had already emptied out, heading to bed or to do their nightly jobs, but Toph, Sokka and her father remained. They had waited for her to start their meal. "You waited for me?"

"Don't get all sappy. It's just been a while since we were all able to sit down and eat dinner together" Toph said.

"Almost all of us" Katara said glumly as she sat next to Toph, opposite her father, earning a frown from everyone else. That wound in particular was still raw for everyone, but today they were here to enjoy their evening together, and Katara decided she wouldn't bring the mood of the table down with her.

Despite Katara's internal decision, her comment still left the table in an awkard silence as everyone began eating.

"When do you thinkwe'll arrive at the Northern Tribe?" asked Toph. She wasn't anticipating their arrival, knowing she would have to wear shoes and that meant she was effectively blinded.

"Bato thinks we'll be there in a few days" Hakoda responded. "Although, Gilak, ever the pessimist, seems to think we'll be another week."

"I'd trust Bato on this, but his navigation has always been a bit wacky" Sokka chuckled.

"Is it just me, or is there something off about Gilak? He doesn't seem so keen on much of anything" Toph enquired.

"He doesn't have much family left, and those that he does are stuck in the Southern Tribe" Hakoda explained. "He's not a very happy man."

"I guess the war has broken many homes" Katara stated pensively.

"Except for the Northern Water Tribe, apparently. Excluding Yue, of course..." Sokka rambled wistfully.

"Well, you have Suki now!" Katara chuckled. This seemed to gather a reaction from the table, as Katara had msotly been moping around the past few weeks. It was a relief for her brother and father to see her enjoying herself again. Toph also smiled internally, but she would rather people not see her emotional side.

"Yeah, I guess I do" Sokka smiled, suddenly a lot perkier than he was mere seconds before.

The ship rocked and groaned as the group continued with their meal. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, everyone was just preoccupied in their own thoughts. There was a lot to consider now that they were nearing the shores of Agna Qel'a, and Sokka thought that he might just know what to do about the Fire Nation problem the world's been having recently.

"Hey, Katara, Toph, remember the eclipse we were planning an invasion for?" Sokka threw out to the table. His father raised an eyebrow at this, not having heard much about his kids and their original plans.

"Yeah, what of it? We don't exactly have a mostly-functioning Avatar anymore" Toph said blankly.

Her statement seemed to rub Katara the wrong way, but she knew it was true and Toph was just naturally blunt like that. "Without Aang, we have no way of actually taking down the Fire Lord, nevermind keeping the peace there after!"

"Katara" her brother began, "who was it that held Zuko and Azula back to give you enough time to escape?"

"Fire Lord Iroh does have a good ring to it" Toph answered. "He is pretty wise, for a Fire Nation royal. He'd fit the role we need pretty good."

"So you're suggesting we install a puppet" Hakoda asked, a little sceptical. He wanted a free world for his children to live and grow up in, and having a vassal state at his disposal seemed like something only the Fire Nation would do. Would he, in turn, be becoming as bad as the enemy?

"No, Iroh is his own man with good intentions. I have no doubt he'd be a strong leader" Sokka stood up for him. He had his reservations about him, but he knew that Iroh wasn't like his nephew, even if he stuck around with him. Their conversation in Ba Sing Se proved as much, and considering he'd stood against Zuko in the catacombs, he figured he'd be the perfect man for the job.

"Aang said he gives good advice" Katara murmured.

"Well, I suppose that's almost a good enough reason on its own. Now all we need to do is convince Chief Arnook that this is a good idea, just like we did the Earth King."

"The Northern Water Tribe have quarantined themselves for the better part of the past century" Hakoda said, "I am doubtful that they will be willing to participate."

"Well it's either that or get burned to the ground, I'm sure they'll understand if we're blunt enough. Besides, they owe us a favour."

"Sokka, we didn't save our sister tribe to get them to owe us" Katara fumed.

"I'm not saying that they're indebted to us, but we may have to use it against them. As nice as Arnook is, he's a stubborn guy." It was true. Sokka liked him, but he was stuck on his traditions, even when it hurt him and his people, if Yue was a good enough example.

"Technically, we're one nation anyway. Hopefully they'll listen to their southern counterparts, and our northern benders too" Hakoda spoke up.

"We can figure out the plan when we get there, but first," Sokka began, "I think we should include some of our Earth Kingdom friends."

"But we have no army!" Toph said, exasperated.

"I'm not talking about an official army. Just a rag-tag group of our friends and allies from around the Earth Kingdom. Plus whatever the Northern Water Tribe donates to the war effort."

"We'd need to split up" Katara supplied. Her tone conveyed yet another weakness; more split-ups.

"Dad and I will take the ship," Sokka said, eyeing his father for approval, and continued after recieving it, "and we'll journey the western Earth Kingdom looking for our friends. I want to bring some designs to the mechanist and see if we can get some upgrades, in particular. I'll come up with a full list later. Lemme know if you think of anyone."

"You're proving to be quite the leader, son" Hakoda said proudly. Even in the absence of the Avatar, he was still doing his best to lead the world to freedom. Better than Hakoda himself had ever done in his years at war.

The room cleared out slowly, Sokka and Toph feeling tired from the large meal they ate. Katara hadn't ate much, and Hakoda suspected he might need to have a conversation with his youngest child.

It was very uncomfortable for the both of them. No one was eating any more, and Katara could feel her father's eyes boring into her as she averted his gaze.

"I'm sorry" were the first words he said.

"What for?!" she replied, incredulously. Inwardly, she berated herself. She knew she was holding on to a grudge with her father, but had tried her best to be covert about it.

"Katara, I know I was gone for a while, but I can tell when my daughter isn't haveing a good time." His tone was soothing and understanding. He wasn't angry. "You're old enough now we can have a proper conversation about this."

"You were gone for two years, dad. Do you understand?"

"Unfortunately... I know what it's like to lose the one you love."

Raising an eyebrow now, Katara felt confused. "Who said that-"

"Relax" Hakoda chuckled lightly. "It's alright. And obvious. You didn't react too much differently when your mother died" he finished, voice softening towards the end.

"I guess. It was... difficult to admit when he was around" she conceded, finally opening up. "Now it's even worse because it won't matter to either of us if he isn't here to hear it."

"I told myself something similar as I left our tribe" her father started, earning a quirking eyebrow from Katara. "I thought that if Kya wasn't around, there was no point staying. Of course, you and Sokka were there. I convinced myself you understood, even though... clearly you were too young to."

"We knew why you left. We occupied ourselves with our duties anyway, sometimes too much."

"The sad thing is, you seem like the same person I left behind two years ago. You've grown, but emotionally you almost seem the same. Sokka told me a lot about Aang, and you're relationship with him. He knew how to make people happy. I can see why you would miss him."

"You would've liked him. He was a good person."

"It's a shame I never got to have a proper conversation with him" he said blankly. "You know, Katara... I thought about you two every night I was gone. I thought I was escaping the pain but, really... it made it worse."

"It's alright, dad. I guess I had a lot to get off my chest, too" Katara smiled sadly. She got up and ambraced her father for the first time in a while. Probably the first proper hug she'd gotten from in since her mom died. "I'll try to get some rest now. Thanks."

"Of course, Katara" he smiled up at her as she left for her sleeping quarters.

The next few days were much of the same. Katara held a much more upbeat attitude, and was much friendlier with her father now than before. Everyone took notice, but decided not to comment. Sokka, especially, knew that it was a long time coming. He had missed his sister and had hoped some of Aang's old wisdom would at least rub off on her post-death. He certatinly didn't want her to fall back into her old moping routine from the pre-Aang days. It had been a slow recovery process for her, but things were starting to fall into place and he had a good feeling about it as they saw the walls of the Northern Water Tribe approaching.