The battering of waves against the wooden vessel's hull came to a slow halt as it entered port, and the room remained silent as ever. Chief Hakoda was unsure whether to be fearful or in grief at this point, because he had every reason to believe that his son had drowned at sea. He could spill a story claiming that he died a heroic death for his men to escape and to distract the enemy from making their own, but Hakoda saw through the false glories and ideals of heroism here; his own boy, probably died crying for help in the waters as the boat went under, and he could've jumped in to try and save him, but his men held him back, telling him that Sokka's sacrifice was his own and that jumping into the Eastern Sea to try and save him was just going to doom him too. But could Hakoda live with the consequences of his actions? A mission to capture some Fire Nation higher up had left them with half as many men as they begun with, and his son was amongst the fallen. He didn't even know if they had taken down the target, or they had gotten away none the less; but Hakoda had to report back to his client, the one who had paid them to make the attack on that Fire Nation vessel, and he didn't even know who he had been trying to capture. He heard a knock on the door, and was quick to respond.
"Yes?"
A deep voice responded, "My chief, we have returned to port; will you need time before going to client?"
"No Gilak, I want to look the bastard in the eye and tell him what he did to us." Hakoda stated, his voice more stern and angry than it had been in years.
Hakoda got off his hammock and walked out of the door, meeting his comrade face to face. Gilak kept a warm face to his chief, holding Hakoda by the shoulder.
"My brother, don't get yourself too worked up; for all we know your son and the others could have made it ashore." he explained, trying to assure his chief that not all hope had been lost yet.
"I don't know where my son is- or my own lieutenant; Bato was among those who didn't return to the ship."
"Just go and talk to the guy, we'll get paid and we can go back and look for them, seeing the storm has passed." Gilak assured again, Hakoda turning away and frowning.
"I'll just give him a peace of my mind" walking away toward the roof exit of the ship, "I will be back within the hour, then we set out on our search."
"As you will." Gilak responded, acknowledging Hakoda with a traditional Water Tribe warriors salute.
Hakoda climbed aboard the deck, his fellow sailors weary from battle and many of them injured. They tried not to talk to him, either fussed enough with their own struggles, losses and trauma or fearful of aggravating the chief. He walked down the plank, acknowledging his warriors keeping guard, who nodded back at him. Walking down the dock he walked past a number of Earth Kingdom fishermen, their boats damaged from the storm that his ships had to endure as well, before reaching land; he was relieved to have finally returned to solid ground away from the troubling waters, especially after his most recent experience in battle. Climbing up the hill to the inn where his client awaited him, he couldn't help but turn his mind back to the loss he had experienced; Hakoda felt as if he had failed his son, his men and the whole tribe; he had dishonoured them by leaving so many to die, though perhaps not intentionally, but certainly being causative of their possible deaths.
Opening the door of the inn, he saw he was amongst the lowest of the low, the Earth Kingdom's criminal vagrants and pirates, the kind of people that would be shunned from his tribe if to ever act in such ways to his people; the chief coincidentally felt himself among them as an equal today, after his actions at sea had made him surmountable to a murderer and traitor to his tribe. He walked up to the client, an aged man, wearing a brown cloak, with a clear scar across one of his eyes; the man wore his hair unfashionably out and short, not common for either the Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom; perhaps he was a traitor as well? Sitting down on the seat next to him, Hakoda dropped his head down, feeling still ashamed of his actions and unwilling to look the man in the eye.
"So I see you have returned; did you capture the assigned target, Chief Hakoda?" he asked, his voice harsh and unforgiving.
"I did not, sir; I have reason to believe she drowned." he bluntly explained, making the man curl his eyebrow and question him.
"How did such a travesty unfold? Did your men throw her overboard?"
"No, the vessel sunk- along with half of my men." he responded, his grief and anger suppressed momentarily.
"Oh well that is certainly a tragedy; but I assure you it was worth every man if she did die at sea." the client responded, grinning as he thought of his own victory.
"Worth it?" Hakoda shouted, "My men died for nothing; we didn't capture any girl, we didn't even touch her; I sunk the damned ship because I thought me and my men would be defeated and captured by the Fire Nation."
"So, you saved them from a face worse than death." the client concluded, "I would say you succeeded in helping me even if not in the manner intended."
"I don't want your money;" Hakoda spat, "I want each family of each man who died given reparations for their sacrifices."
"That can be achieved Chief. I recommend that you consider your assignment complete, don't go on a wild goose chase for the girl."
"I don't intend to; I do however intend to find my son." Hakoda replied, standing out of his seat and turning away from the client.
"So your son is amongst the fallen; I do feel pity for your tragedy, but know that if he died, it was for a greater cause." making Hakoda turn back and slam his hands on the table.
"For what cause?! All I see is a variety of dead sailors and some Fire Nation girl drowned or escaped." he shouted, making the client shake his head in disappointment.
"We are a humble group, all we seek is peace and balance; you my friend, have helped us work towards that goal."
"By doing what exactly?" Hakoda questioned, his rage growing from the seemingly worthless words of 'peace' and 'balance' coming from the man's mouth.
"Killing the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation." he stated blankly.
"I- we what?" Hakoda asked, "The target was the Princess? The crazy powerful blue firebending Princess?"
"Yes, the very same." he client confirmed.
"You have no idea what you're doing; we might as well hand ourselves into the Fire Lord. Once word gets out that the Water Tribes attacked the heir of the Fire Nation... We'll be run to ground by raids and invasion." Hakoda explained, growing angrier and more fearful by the minute.
"You made a decision that will effect the outcome of this war; hopefully the Fire Lord is dealt with before your people can even feel his wrath." the client claimed, not soothing Hakoda's fears one bit.
"I'm leaving tonight and I'm going to find my lost men, I want the reparations at the docks by then; I have no desire for wealth, but my men deserve better than to go home empty handed now."
"It is fine Chief, your men will get their reward. Truly, I do recommend against crossing us, or you will find that you know nothing of suffering; we do not deal kindly with treachery against our cause." the client confirmed, standing up as well, before lifting a hood over his face and turning away from Hakoda. Before departing the inn, Hakoda left a final comment.
"My own dishonour to my people outweighs my desire to betray you just yet."
Sokka sat on top of a sand dune, watching the clouds go by, trying to relax his mind after the strenuous day he had to endure: fighting a battle on a Fire Nation ship, escaping said ship while it was sinking, and then trying to survive in the forest with a sworn enemy. Endurance towards arguing of all things was what he was lacking, which he found humourous as he had prided himself on his own wit, before meeting the Princess of course, who happened to be more witty and tricky than he had ever hoped to be.
Looking out to the sea, he had no sight of any vessels, the coastline itself lacking in any civilisation probably of little interest to passing ships. Sokka sketched out in his mind all he had seen so far in the forest, trying to map out the scale of the place if even possible. He realised immediately he had no idea how far he would have to walk to get out of the forest, nonetheless find a village or town along the way; knowing that the Earth Kingdom was the largest of all the nations and the most expansive in wilderness and unexplored places, he wasn't surprised that he was far from anything or anyone.
"And to top it all off, I'm stuck with the snarky Queen of Wit." he added, speaking his thoughts out loud.
Looking down on the dunes he noticed his chest-guard remained on the beach, and Sokka decided he was physically able of wearing it and being able to fight at the same time once again. He walked down the dune and picked it up, dusting off the layer of sand that had built up over the day.
"You're coming with me buddy" he murmured at it, as if he wanted it to know that he hadn't intended to abandon it.
Sokka waded his way back through the forest, and made his way to the grassy clearing easily now, his thought-up map of the forest making it easier for him to get back. Azula was sitting by the campfire still, nearly asleep after her meal, reminding Sokka that he had an enemy in his midst, even if she was calmly sitting by a campfire without a bother in the world.
"You're back." he grumbled at him, before wiping her eyes, "I see you got your armour back? Anything else happen?" she questioned, making Sokka begin to regret coming back.
"No, nothing happened. No more questions and arguments for today, I'm through with that." he complained, making Azula chuckle at his frustrations.
"Oh so you have given in; the proud warrior bends his knee to the Princess, unable to continue his fight." Sokka rolled his eyes at her, slightly offended but too tired to bother giving a real response.
"Whatever... I hope you're appeased for the moment; I don't want to have to start running from fire balls again." Azula smiled at him, although Sokka doubted positive intentions.
"I don't want to hurt my servant now, that would just be counter productive." she jested, Sokka crossing his arms and turning away from her.
"I'm not a servant!" he shouted out into the forest, relieving himself of his anger for the moment, "I hope you learn one day that you can't just make fun of everyone."
"There might be a day like that, but I hope it's when I'm senile and unable to put two words together." she laughed, making him feel like his point of view wasn't really getting to her.
"Please, just shut it already; can we have a conversation that doesn't involve you making fun of me?" he asked her, not expecting a kind answer.
"What would be the fun in that?" she asked, only half seriously.
"How about learning about each other's cultures or something like that; you are an ash-maker after all, and isn't it wise to know one's enemy?" Azula grinned at him.
"Now that's an interesting idea. however I would like an equal share of information, not just a beat down for details on the Fire Lord."
Sokka huffed and sighed, "Fine."
"So did you know there's a secret passage into the Fire Nation Royal Palace?" Azula proclaimed, her voice imitating a stereotypical teenage girls.
"Wait- what?"
"Not that I would tell you, that's a Fire Nation secret." she smirked, making Sokka pout.
"Well that's just grand; got anything else you need to hang over my face like bait?" he questioned, making Azula grin further.
"Yes, I happen to know everything about the Fire Lord, as much as any person could, and therefore you could say that I am your means to an ends." she stated, making Sokka's jaw drop.
"Awww... Come on, there's nothing you can tell me? Didn't you say you wanted to persuade me; spit out some facts that make me flip sides or something?" he jested at her, making Azula ponder his question before returning.
"There's many things you savages don't know about the Fire Nation, like our all powerful industry and technologies that benefit all our subjects." she proclaimed, making Sokka pull a face of disgust.
"I take it back, I don't want to hear your propaganda; I would rather be chased around the forest by you with your crazy firebending than take another line from that book."
"Are you sure about that? My ankle might not feel so good, but I could probably make your life living hell with what I've got right now."
"Try me." Sokka touted, making Azula feel angry at her injuries for their unintended effects; she could no longer set annoying people like Sokka on fire.
"Urgh- you are luckier than you'd think." she confirmed, making Sokka smirk at his small victory.
"Not that lucky, I ended up with you." he admitted, making her look at him with disgust.
"You're far worse: a stinking savage from the South Pole; I couldn't think of anyone more uncultured and distant from my world."
"Cultured-ness is from a personal standpoint, Princess, don't take yourself on a pedestal just because your daddy is the ruler of the world." he argued, his insults humouring her more than offending.
"You do realise you are referring to the Fire Lord as 'your daddy'; you are infantilising the most powerful man in the world."
"Trust me, I mean to offend." Sokka jested, mocking her serious tone of voice.
"Sorry savage, you simply make yourself sound like an idiot."
"Well isn't this great; we still ended up arguing, despite my positive intentions." Sokka sighed.
"You didn't even tell me about your savage tribe, though what you'd tell me wouldn't be of interest to me; it's simply so distant from everyone else that you could all just sit around while the world fell to the Fire Nation and not bat an eye." she explained, making Sokka feel that she really lacked an understanding of his world.
"You can thank the Fire Nation navy from taking us from that mindset; destroying our pittances of 'civilisation' as you would call it."
"Really? So I'm meant to accept that your people have ever had a degree of civilisation to speak of?" she questioned him, infuriating Sokka further.
"What?! Do you doubt that the Fire Nation hasn't been plundering my nation for decades, taking it's benders and mercilessly killing tribespeople?"
"No, I understand that the Southern Raiders as they are called, dealt with a threat, and did so effectively; that is how war is done, by making your enemy too weak to fight back."
"I've proven you wrong then- we sunk your ship, and had a chance of capturing you; you're one of the most highly ranked people in the Fire Nation, yet your guards and sailors couldn't protect you or your vessel from 'savages'!" Sokka proclaimed, his smirk returning.
"That's why I ought to take you down is it? Kill you right now to make sure you never pose a threat to the Fire Nation again?" she asked him, making Sokka tremble, but the smirk remained.
"You could certainly; but you won't, I don't even know why, but that's good enough for me."
"Oh really, so are you going to carry me out of this forest?" Azula quipped, making Sokka laugh at her.
"Unless there's some urgent situation which is involving some deadly animal, I think I can dodge carrying you."
Sokka and Azula had joked at and threatened each other for most the day, but now they had been around each other long enough, Sokka begun to doubt if she was really as deadly and evil as he had originally presumed, however his personal sense of patriotism and fervour of hate towards the Fire Nation meant he would never admit such a thing to her face, or anyone's for that matter.
Princess Azula had for one, not had a good day, as she would typically describe it; as she usually didn't end up shipwrecked with some alien savage from the other side of the world every day, and she didn't necessarily find him to be the issue at the current moment. He was a weak, arrogant non-bender who acted like he was just as good at her, even though he probably knew she could beat him to a pulp without a sweat; but they both unspokenly knew the benefits of their 'productive' relationship, as both would rather survive with another person, no matter how disgusting it may seem to associate with their kind, than be stuck in a forest alone, and in Azula's case, her ankle meant that she could easily injure herself further if she was forced to overexert herself, which she would certainly do without her new 'servant'. She mocked him with the title she had bestowed upon him, but Azula saw it as an honour to give; to serve the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation was more than a job, it was a privilege, and just because they weren't in society at the moment, didn't mean that her name and title didn't carry weight in the end: she could save the poor savage from being thrown in prison once she was able to contact Fire Nation authorities... If she was feeling particularly forgiving at the time. The Princess jested, she mocked, but she did not see the need to lie straight to the face of the Water Tribe warrior, at least in the matters that most presently concerned the two of them. Azula decided that she'd had enough sitting around, that was for the lazy noblemen who would rather sit around and wait to be rescued, the Princess would rescue herself, with the savage's assistance if necessary.
"Savage- It is time we move." she declared, standing above their campfire, making Sokka look at her in shock.
"You're kidding me, we were just washed up today; there's enough meat here for a good few days if we ration. What's the rush?" he questioned.
"So the great Water Tribe warrior is lazier than the pampered Princess; how does that sit with your ego?" she mocked, before slowly trudging her way through the mud of the clearing, away from Sokka and their campfire.
"Hey!" he whelped, "I'm just as eager to get out of here, but I'm not stupid; your ankle's probably broken! Are you going to hobble all the way to whatever village is around and hope that the local villagers aren't going to kill you for being Fire Nation?"
"Well... I'm expecting you can carry me in necessary, and I believe it won't be hard to disguise ourselves; look at the mud on your clothes? Do you even look like a Water Tribe warrior?" she questioned, more serious in her tone now.
"Urgh... I guess you're right; but if you get caught by some crazy earthbenders, don't blame me."
"You're my servant now, I expect you to protect be from other peasants like yourself." she replied, making Sokka face palm himself, probably realising the futility of arguing with the Princess again.
"I'm going to get my stuff packed, and we'll leave in a minute." he conceded, making the Princess smile, receding herself onto one of the large rocks scattering the clearing.
In a few moments Sokka had quickly tied up the metal chest and slung the connected rope over his shoulder, sitting alongside his current assortment of weapons.
"Hopefully we find an easier way to carry water- I'm not carrying this box for days on end." Sokka grumbled, making the Princess chuckle at him.
The two walked away from the clearing they had called home for only a few hours before heading northward alongside the escarpment that lay to their west. Luckily for them, there was little large foliage along the escarpment, and made it easy for them to go between large rocks instead of wiry trees, eventually reaching a point where the escarpment blended back into the flat, shapeless forest, leaving Sokka and Azula without any clear direction to go.
"North or east?" Azula asked.
"Uh, probably east; if we head back toward the coast, at least there might be fishing villages."
"I've seen on maps, most of this coastline is cliffs and escarpments like the one we were just following; I don't think there will be many villages on this coastline."
"So north then?" he questioned, unsure if the Princess had any better idea than he did.
Azula considered her options, either to head straight north through the forest, where they would eventually come to reach rivers, which usually housed villages or pathways to them, or to head back to the coast, perhaps by luck find a boat and try to signal one. The second option, although viable, Azula clearly doubted many ships would come along this desolate coast, and even if the Fire Nation sent ships to look for her, it could be weeks until a message would lead to boats arriving here.
"North- Let's be quick about it, maybe there's somewhere we can take shelter for the night."
Sokka nodded in agreement, although still concerned that they might make the wrong choice, there were chances of being found by passing ships or travellers, but wherever they go they might accidentally miss others. The two walked through the thick foliage, which slowed them down considerably, and soon enough they both had to take a break to drink, siphoning small amounts out of the crate to drink as they continued through the dark and foreboding forest. Soon enough they saw orange glints fall through the canopy, signalling that they had been walking for a few hours at least, as it was now reaching sunset. The Princess continued to march on despite her ankle injury and even tried to pace faster than Sokka to prove her resolve, unwilling to be weakened in her determination to get out of the forest because of a relatively minor injury; it wasn't like she had her foot nearly torn off by some rabid animal, an experience the Princess guessed that Sokka could have had back at his frigid and dangerous South Pole. The two didn't communicate much other than to ask for water and hog-meat or to guide each other through the forest; finally they arrived at a new clearing, this one seemingly had been occupied, unlike the previous one. There was what seemed to be a cave coming out of an rocky hillside, and the cave had a what looked like the remains of a wooden door on it, and the stumps that torches had been placed on.
"A mine? What's this doing out here; it doesn't seem like there's much nearby, we haven't smoke or seen evidence of other people yet." Sokka asked, genuinely hoping for Azula to ingeniously decipher the story behind the mine.
"It's probably long abandoned; it looks like it was probably made by earthbenders, a long time ago. Maybe there's a old mining settlement nearby?"
"That'd be helpful, but how can we find it? All that's here is thick bushes and trees."
"Villages, even long abandoned ones, need water, so if we can find a stream, it might be near it."
"Ah! Find the sound of water, and we find the miner's village!" Sokka exclaimed it realisation.
Sokka paced himself ahead into the forest, swerving between the trees, stopping for a moment to hear out for water, but heard nothing, before racing further into the forest.
"Savage! Get back here!" Azula called out, trying to remind him of her inability to run, forcing herself to hop along, grabbing trees as a support, slowly making her way toward where she last saw Sokka. Looking down she noticed his boots distinctive prints, and decided it would be easier to track him like they had the hog, instead of panicking and hurting herself further; she'd personally wanted to chase him down and throw a fire ball at his thick skull for his brash escape into the forest, but she couldn't do much but call out and remain agitated for as long as she pleased.
"Sokka where did you go?" she grumbled to herself, already too tired to keep yelling.
Azula continued following Sokka's tracks, and before long she heard the rushing of water, quickening her pace, when she heard him call back out.
"I found it! It's here!" as if to get her to follow by sound, before he turned around and realised she had tracked him from his prints.
"Always remember to cover your tracks... Unless you want to be found." she commented, before turning to see what she had been hoping for.
Two haphazard rows of old worn down and decrepit houses laid across the stream, which was bridged by a rotting set of planks which Sokka was standing on, his face shining with hope and glee.
"So you did it, and only because your legs are moving faster than mine." the Princess grumbled, still frustrated that Sokka had excitedly ran off into the forest without considering her injuries.
Sokka led them into each house, checking them for supplies, which they lacked for the most part, but wasn't really able to find much other than rotten furnishings, leading them finally to a larger structure, perhaps the village's hall, which was made of stone bricks rather than the more usual wood. Looking inside they saw little supplies but it was far less damp and rotting than the other structures, and it had an old fireplace, ready for them to use.
"Somewhere nice for me to make my food for a change; I prefer not to cook in mud." Sokka commented, grinning at the little help he had found in the village.
"Ah yes, the savage has standards. That's a new one." Azula mocked again, still unhappy about his previous run off into the forest.
"Hey come on now, don't you at least appreciate that we have some of that 'civilisation' that you love?"
"Urgh... Fine, yes I'm happier here than sleeping in that grassy clearing." she admitted, shrugging off his attempts to try and make her mood improve.
"Now that we can rest, how about we check your foot?" Sokka offered, hoping to get back on Azula's good side.
"Are you a physician? No- I don't think you'll be of much help." she commented with contempt.
"I know battle medical care, twisted and broken ankles aren't really that uncommon."
"Oh yes, the wise and well-learned Water Tribesman; that must be a first." she mocked, making Sokka scrunch up his face again in frustration.
"Shut it will you, it will only take a minute." he grumbled, moving his hands to take her right boot, making her flinch, not used to being touched without a direct order.
"Did I tell you to take off my shoe and look at my foot?" she questioned, making Sokka shrug her off.
"I'm trying to help, just calm down."
Sokka pulled the boot slowly off her foot, sliding it off as slowly as he could, trying not to hurt her ankle any further; she flinched with the air touching her foot, and stared Sokka down as he went to examine the foot. He felt the ankle lightly with his fingers, trying to feel a break if there was any.
"I think it's just dislocated, but your walking has probably inflamed the joint. You really do need to stop walking as you have..." Sokka commented as he looked at her foot.
"Appreciating the touch of a Princesses foot?" Azula questioned him, making Sokka blush and take his hands away.
"What?! No! I'm just examining your foot!" he yelped. The Princess was quick to make fun of his reaction.
"You're so easy to rile up, I hope you've noticed that now."
"And there we go again, disregarding my abilities and making me look like an idiot." he complained, turning himself away from the Princess.
"Well I've enjoyed it; I believe your duties are done for the day, servant. You can return to whatever leisure you please." Azula joked, although Sokka took the statement seriously, standing up and pacing himself to the fireplace to distract himself, trying to avoid any further mockery from the Princess.
Azula laughed at the warriors inane reactions to her mocking and jests; even her brother Zuko had less humorous reactions, probably because he was much less willing to argue back and try to justify himself. Even though she had only known Sokka for a day, she found his company tolerable at this point, even if only for comedic benefit; she had no real desire now to just burn his hair off once she had the chance, although she was ready to prove herself to the boy, as if she could make such a chauvinistic Water Tribesman bend his knee one way or another to her, the entire world could follow suit. She was destined to be Fire Lord, and the Fire Lord was now the undisputed ruler of the world; what was the harm of getting to know its denizens and gaining their respect?
The small dark steel vessel struggled it's way into the small wooden dock, where curious onlookers gazed upon the vessel they witnessed; shipwrecked sailors of the Fire Nation's Navy had arrived at port, and this made the locals even more confused, as it was refuted that no one could even sink a Fire Nation vessel, let alone board one. As the dazed and tired soldiers made their way onto the pier, the local Fire Nation garrison rushed to their aid.
"My comrades! A Fire Nation vessel has sunk?! How could this be?" the commanding officer of the garrison questioned the many men, silently standing dazed before a royal guard stood out from the crowd of survivors.
"I am the highest ranking member of the crew, so I speak for them now. We were attacked by Water Tribe ships; they tried to capture our commanding officer, and we were winning the battle on the deck, but before we could defeat the enemy, they set off an explosion which sunk our ship, along with much of the crew. The enemy forces made it away, and our commanding officer was amongst the missing."
"Wait... You're royal guards; who was your commanding officer?!" he asked out fear.
"The Crown Princess herself; the Fire Lord will have our heads for this disgraceful failure of duty."
"By Agni, I hope that she survived; if she drowned, who knows what dread this could bring to our nation."
The royal guard sighed, "Yes- because we know who would be heir then, don't we; the banished prince himself." the distaste towards the Prince was noticeable in the guards words, making the commander tense up.
"U-uh yes," the commander mumbled, trying to change the topic, "I assume you will all need another vessel to go search for the Princess, and another to take the wounded to somewhere to be treated."
"That is our duty, and your assistance is appreciated Commander."
"It is my highest honour to help the Royal Family." he proclaimed, "We will send out messenger hawks at once, so to alert the nearby fleets of your wreck, perhaps they can assist in your search" The royal guard bowed instinctively at the commander and signalled the rest of the crew to ready themselves to leave the pier.
The crew and garrison walked up the pier and toward the local Fire Nation military base, which caught the gaze of many on-lookers. A hooded man stood by the end of the pier, cloaked by a dirty rag, keenly observing the procession of soldiers; he turned to the villager next to him, and smiled.
"Thank you for the cloak, I didn't want the guards to recognise me." he affirmed, patting the villager on the back.
"No worries friend, any freedom-fighter against the Fire Nation is welcome in my village. Will you need a place to stay?"
"Ah perhaps only for the night. I need to find a way back to my comrades at sea." he conceded, the villager smiling back at him.
"What was your name again? Sorry, I just realised I forgot to ask." the villager asked with a smile, the man turning back to him and returning the smile.
"Bato- Bato of the Southern Water Tribe."