(During The Serpent's Pass [S2:E12])
Okay, I'm getting to the bottom of this. This is ridiculous. Suki softly walked over to the stone arch where Sokka had set himself down, staring longingly at the moon. He'd been acting really weird since they'd left the ferry terminal, and she was going to get to the bottom of it. Casting around for a way to break the silence, she joined him in looking at the moon. "It's a beautiful moon." She offered.
"Yeah, it really is." Sokka sighed and didn't even try to put on a weak smile, sadness written all over his face.
Internally, she rolls her eyes and carefully sits down beside him. "Look, I know you're just trying to help, but I can take care of myself." Looks like I was being optimistic in thinking that we'd beat the sexism out of him.
"I know you can." He said, staring off into the distance, refusing to meet her eyes.
There's something else going on here. "Then why are you acting so over protective?" Pressing on, she gently bumped his shoulder with her own.
"It's so hard to lose someone you care about." His eyes kept avoiding hers, this time focusing back onto the moon, shining brightly in the night sky amongst the curtain of stars above them. "Something happened at the North Pole, and I couldn't protect someone. I don't want anything like that to ever happen again."
Here we go. Answers. "Do you want to talk about it? I find that talking about things can help you gain some perspective on it. I've had to confront some… hard truths recently, and my sisters really helped me out. Maybe I can do the same for you?"
He half-heartedly cocked an eyebrow at her, but she shook her head. "This is about you, Sokka. I think that I've come to terms with me." She prodded him with her shoulder again, with her mouth curving into a small, encouraging smile. "So spill, Mr. Water Tribe."
He sighed and sat looking at the moon in silence for a long minute. Just before she'd given up on him saying anything at all, he finally opened his mouth. "Did you know that the Fire Nation launched an invasion of the North Pole?" He blurted out, finally succumbing to the offer.
"Wait, are you serious?" To say that she was caught by surprise was an understatement. After Fire Lord Sozin's failed assault on the Northern Water Tribe almost a century ago, they'd respected the North Pole's isolationism as much as Kyoshi Islands'.
Laughing bitterly, he nodded. "Led by Admiral Zhao. Here's hoping that the bastard was eaten by tiger-sharks. Aang and the waterbenders of the North must have sunk a couple dozen ships, but they kept coming. Eventually, Zhao made his way into the city and... and he killed Tui."
"Was Tui a friend of yours? I'm sorry about your loss. Losing a friend can't be easy."
"What? No. Tui's the moon. Well, she was the moon."
"…Sokka, seriously?. A notorious Fire Nation monster killed the moon? You know, if you didn't want to talk about it, you could have just said so. You don't have to lie to me." Suki blew air through her nose as she caught the edges of her temper and dragged it back under her control.
"What, no, Suki!" He grabbed her sleeve, desperation in his eyes. "I'm not lying. You don't get it – Aang's the Avatar. Magic spirit stuff just happens around him. I've seen him be Roku, and I got kidnapped into the Spirit World by this giant angry panda-spirit-thing back in Senlin Village. Look, do you remember a few months back when the moon disappeared and the sky went red? That was Zhao killing the moon spirit. Aang found out that the moon and ocean spirits had taken physical form in the North Pole, and Zhao figured it out as well we found out when we went to Wan Shi Tong's Library in the Si Wong desert."
Suki stood up and walked a dozen feet from him, hands in her hair. "And you promise that you're not lying? You've got to know how this sounds. It sounds crazy."
"I swear. Ask Aang or Katara. Or Toph, I guess, but she missed all of that except for that freaky owl spirit's library. I wasn't kidding about things getting weird around Aang. I'm just the meat and sarcasm guy here – if I hadn't seen this stuff with my own eyes, I'd think that I was crazy too."
"So let's say that I believe you. That a man, Zhao, killed the moon." Listen to me. I sound spirit-touched in the head myself. But the thing about the sky going red… no one could understand what happened, and that's one of the reasons that I left Kyoshi Island. Sokka's a lot of things, but a liar isn't one of them. "Who did you lose? Aang and Katara came out alright, and it couldn't have been Appa."
Sokka takes another long look at the moon before letting out a breath, half sobbing and half laughing. "Her name was Princess Yue, and she was the most beautiful woman that I'd ever met."
…Oh. Suki felt her heart break a little. Sure, she'd had a little crush on him, but who could blame her? He was cute, kinda funny and after she'd handed him his ass, hadn't been intimidated by her.
He continued, not noticing the shift in her facial expression before she could school her features back to a sympathetic smile as she nodded. "She had hair the colour of freshly fallen snow, and the cutest giggle that I've ever heard. And I heard it because of my awesome sense of humour." He cracked a smile at her, but it didn't reach his eyes. "She was technically engaged, but it was arranged and she hated him."
Arranged marriage? Why would you let your parents choose your husband? That's just stupid. How are you supposed to trust your spouse if you don't have any input into them?
"I can't believe how fast I fell for her. She was just… everything that a Water Tribe woman was supposed to be, you know? Humble and gentle, and she understood her duty to the tribe." He sighed. "A little too dutiful. She was going to marry Hahn. He didn't care about her, he only cared about the perks that he'd get for marrying her. Can you believe that?"
Can I believe that they… you? Believe in arranged marriages? No. Kyoshi Island isn't like that, though I've heard that the greater Earth Kingdom has them as well. But sacrificing my own happiness to make my mother proud? No. There's a reason why all of the Busan Warriors are our age, Sokka. They either left with Haneul years ago or they left upon getting married. The only reason that I'd leave would be for love, not out of duty.
"I'm sure that she was doing what she felt was right, Sokka." Suki laid a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him.
Sokka shrugged, unwilling or unable to comment one way or the other. "When Tui died… Yue had been saved by Tui as a baby. So she returned the life that'd been given to her and she became the moon. Looking up, I can't help but think of her. I like to think that she's keeping an eye on us, you know?"
"That's a nice way to look at it. It's like she hasn't really left you, then." Come on, Sokka. Disagree with me. You're cute, but I'm not going to be the Other Woman.
"Yeah…" he sighed and returned to looking mournfully at the bright, unchanging surface of the moon.
Suki stood up and dusted off her robes. "Well, I should turn in if I'm going to be of any use to you guys tomorrow." He nodded at her half heartedly, still staring wistfully at the sky. She turned and tried to subtly catch a sniffle. Well, at least that makes going back to the other Warriors easier.