Title: Honor: The Ties That Bind
Author: XArienX
Rating: T(PG-13) for violence, blood and adult themes.
Summary: Almost twenty years have past since the Avatar and Fire Lord met in battle and since then radical changes have shaken the very foundations of the Avatar world. Aang and his friends have found themselves caught in this endless web of love, lust, politics and betrayal, whose end shall conclude the history books of a tumultuous era.
a/n: I thought this chapter would be easy to write, but I am not even sure if I am happy with it now. There was so much I wanted to get into and say but I realized I was only getting ahead of myself. I had exams all week, so please allow me to apologize for the slow update. Anyway, please enjoy!
Disclaimer: This is the completely useless part of every fan-fiction. Obviously I don't own Avatar! Otherwise I wouldn't have to write about it.
Chapter 2: Melting Away
She patiently watched the courtyard procession, hands folded neatly in her lap. She made no move to become part of the conference or let her opinion be heard. Voices were raised and political feathers ruffled, but she remained the silent third party. A figure in the background, her presence was purely symbolic, her words hardly heard. At one time she had spoken, but no more. All she did was watch.
Her two frosty pools gave hint to deep intellect; once as brilliant as the deep sea and as lively as the waves. The tides had now softened, but their depths only grew. Behind the wisdom, elusive layers of pain took refuge.
"We must concentrate on the conclusion of our own reconstruction, the peninsula project has already cost us more than the proposed budget." She fixed her gaze on the speaker, whose attention never shifted to her.
His large nose curved down after a tell-tale battle scar, giving his voice a nasally pitch whenever he pronounced a word with the letter that began his own name. A shock of gray braided into the tie at the back of his head; it contrasted the black companions about it but matched the man's steel colored eyes. Eyes that moved as much as the ore they were described as.
"My Lord, Nyuno exaggerates. Our losses have been minimal and our successes great. The project is just meeting some minor set backs." A leather faced man who had obviously seen one too many midnight suns dismissed his companion's claim. He was thinner than his burly companion and spoke with a quicker tongue. His close shaven head displayed a younger age.
Both men were comfortable in their opinions and authority to express them. Veterans of war from young ages, there was no one assembled that hadn't known its hardship. It had only been ten years since the Great War ended, but these men and women had spent their entire living its horrors. They still were.
"You call them set backs! They are disasters! The settlement we have there now is our third! It looks in no better shape than the other two."
"It will take time to colonize the area, this is true—but we must continue our labors, we have no other choice. Our people must be able to move there!"
"The land is un-inhabitable. To warm for ice and too barren for proper crops, Our people have never lived without the snow. Imagine the resources it will take to adopt a completely foreign culture." The silver streak was in control. His voice was steady, but boomed with a resonance that filled all ears.
Before he realized what had happened, the bronzed man's fist came down upon the edge of a silver platter. The arrangement of whale blubber, fish rolls, and black bread sailed into the air.
As luck would have it, all but one of the food items sullied the frosty table or floor; as luck wouldn't have it, a rather large piece of whale blubber now slide down the face of the most influential man present.
The young man who had shared his sister's composure until now, wiped the slimy grease of uncooked fat from his face. A silence fell over the assembly, grown men holding their breath in anticipation. Moru, the culprit, was already sweating profusely; the authoritive man's facial expressions giving suggestion enough.
"My Representative…I…my sincerest apologies…please…I.." He was silenced by a hand gesture.
"Well Moru…I never would have thought you would learn to read minds. How did you know I was hungry?" The man laughed heartily, causing the others around him to chuckle uneasily. "Please Moru, Nyuno—everyone, let us eat. I would much rather discuss these things on full stomach."
"You're working real miracles hear Sokka." The woman commented in between servings of crab meat.
"It's been a while since your last visit Katara." Her brother replied, a fish bone at the corner of his mouth. His eating habits still left something to be desired, but no one who had lived through the war blamed him. The remnant of many nights without food, Sokka ate quickly and messily. In other cultures such manners were seen as repulsive, but amidst the 'Waterbender Family' a chef felt their worth by such consumption.
"I know, I'm sorry—but you know with everything that's been happening recently." Katara sighed. She had picked here and there at her food with a small appetite. "We've had so much work…well he's had so much work…" She stopped and changed the subject.
"This courtyard is spectacular, I love the ice sculptures." It was small talk, Sokka knew, but he played along.
"They actually finished it not long before you arrived. I wanted us to have an outdoor area to conduct business.—I am glad you like it." The young man looked up at his surroundings, finally taking in the true atmosphere.
Sokka found it hard to believe that only years earlier, this beautiful city had been nothing more than a handful of huts and few lumps of snow. Erected in the once place of poverty, stood a prestigious Grand Hall, miles of canals, and blocks of towering houses. The Southern Water-tribe was finally reconstructing and repopulating. The North had done wonders for its sister, contributing more than sweat and blood. Many northerners even moved to the South, adding their artisanship and traditions to the diversified city.
What glistened in front of Sokka's eyes, however, was only a fraction of the olden day splendor he had heard of as a child. The Southern Water-tribe had once been the jewel of ancient times, a metropolis of society. Tui and La had originally settled in the waters of the south, only moving after its fall.
There was still much to be done and Sokka would not rest until he could give every newborn child the fantasy he had been denied. The gentle courtyard slope, whose steps overflowed with falls of frigid water, looked out over much of the undeveloped land. Its sight plagued and inspired Sokka. Desolate and barren, a gaggle of igloos dotted the area; the constant reminder his people's the past and possible future.
"I can feel it in the water Sokka. It's changing." Katara whispered, drawing Sokka back into reality.
"I don't have a full stomach yet, I don't want to talk about it!" Sokka grumbled. "Not even with you."
Somewhere in the background the steam from a roasting seal condensed, raining down little pock marks into the ice. The people, who had once gasped at such a sight, now saw the occurrence as a natural event. Rain in the South Pole no longer surprised anyone.
Back between the siblings, Katara's characteristic temper was rising. "You've already waited too long! The Southern Water-tribe will die…be destroyed. Our people, our way of life, it has to change!" They were attracting attention.
"We are doing what we can, these things take time." Sokka replied with a mouth full of bread.
"Time is the thing you don't have! In the week I've been here, the western part of the city has already had a collapse."
"The ice moves all the time. It doesn't mean that this incident was caused by warming." He was concentrating hard on his food.
"But I know their have been others! The North is having the same troubles."
"And they will make their own decision. Hahn always likes to make a show." Sokka felt himself sicken over the thought of the man. Old rivalries died hard.
"Sokka, it's your duty to attend to Republic meetings! You and Hann have to work together!" Katara reasoned.
"Last time I checked, Sokka, not Katara, was Southern Water Representative!" People were now starring at the two, unsure which one to defend, their Water Representative or the Lady Katara.
"But these are still my people!" She was standing, her finger already waging at her brother. "You're so stuck up on this vision of the past, that you can't see what's happening right now! Lives are on the line here."
"When did you become Avatar Katara?...the last time you screwed him? " Sokka remained seated but his agitation was clear. He knew the potency of his words "Don't throw your virtues at me. Don't tell me how to run my city!"
"Your city? Your…city?" She gawked. "Last time I checked this was the Elemental Republic—and your city belonged to the people!"
There was a long pause; a winter breeze tousled the furs and hair between them. Katara had chosen to ignore his earlier comment. They both knew it to be out of line and ironic beyond a doubt. It did sting Katara though, in more places than she would have liked, but through her anger, through her righteousness, she took a deep breath and stayed her voice. In front of her very eyes was a sight she had feared for far too long. Sokka wasn't even thirty and yet in this instant his face showed the weight of an elder etched in every premature wrinkle and frown line. He looked the weary that was self-made and the strong that covered up insecurities. Just as Aunt Wuu had predicted, Sokka had been destine to a life of self inflicted misery. Her brother, her Sokka, was a young man with too many ambitions and far too little time.
"Katara," Sokka was now speaking to his little sister, and she was listening to her big brother. "Our people look up to me. They may respect your husband more, but I will be the one to save them, not him. My word will determine their fate for generations. They will be forever bound to the decision I make, be it to stay here or move to the peninsula. I could create of destroy with one vote! Don't be so quick to preach what is right and wrong when you have not felt the responsibility of the decision's consequences."
Katara was silent. So many things had changed since a young boy and two teenage siblings flew into the sunset atop a flying bison. So much had happened after a young bride waved goodbye to her selfless protector, separated from him for the first time in her entire life. The chasm his absence left was the first of countless holes which now filled her heart. Perhaps that was why they squabbled so. Sokka had not been ready to give her up, and she had rushed to push him away.
Katara came to realize just how much life had altered the people she once loved and trusted. Even in her own village, Katara was now a stranger. The fissure between her past and present was ever growing, each visit making it more obvious. She was no longer the part of the Water-tribe tale she had once wished for; Sokka was. Katara had decided to rise above them, unknowingly forsaking all that she once possessed.
"I'm tired of this!" Sokka raised his tone and lifted his arms. He turned from Katara to his council. "Our meeting is adjourned. Let us come back tonight when the moon may guide our thoughts."
With that the ex-warrior left his table, guests and sister, not waiting for a response.
"It's really unfortunate that you have to leave this afternoon. I know you want to hear the decision tonight."
"Send a message right away. You know my ship."
"I promise. You have my word."
Two women sat alone upon the defensive wall, backs to the city and faces to the ocean. One was robed in blue, dark of skin and light of dress; the other was drowning under layers of clothing, pale of skin and possessed tawny hair.
"You mustn't be angry with him Katara. He is only trying to do what he thinks is best."
"Yes…I suppose." Katara tore her eyes from the horizon. "I wish he would just get off his high horse once in a while."
"He can get carried away, yes. But he is only defending his…and their honor." The other replied, drawing her knees closer.
"Honor…" Katara mumbled but left it at that. These were the only people with whom she could let her façade down, yet here they were mentioning honor. "I feel like a foreigner here." She randomly commented, even though it wasn't so random.
"I know just what you mean—Its so damn cold! I'll never get use to it." The girl complained from under an extremely large parka. "What I wouldn't give to wear a dress without leggings underneath."
Katara began to laugh. "Sometimes I wonder what possessed you to marry that brother of mine, Suki."
"I wonder too…I'll tell you if it wasn't for his charming looks and brilliant intellect." Suki joked, and the women continued to laugh and poke fun. When they took the chance to breathe again, Katara persisted with her more serious inquiries.
"Honestly Suki, I feel like I'm the Firebender born to Waterbenders. I am more and more alone every time I visit."
"No, your not alone Katara. Everyone still remembers you."
"Remembers! All they see is what I have become, never anything beyond a name." Katara shot a spear of ice, recently formed, off into the ocean, watching it splash into the depths. "I came here because I was lonely, and I leave lonelier."
Suki didn't respond, causing Katara to contemplate what she had said wrong.
"Suki?"
Still nothing.
"Suki wha-?"
"Maybe it is a good thing you are leaving Katara." Suki's lip was stiff and her voice flat. Something had changed.
"I don't understand, why?" A naïve Katara begged.
"For all your wisdom, and all you see…You know nothing Katara."
"Suki, I'm sorr…"
Suki stood up, clutching her clothes tighter. She was suddenly colder than she had ever been. "When you know how it feels to be taken from everything you loved and put somewhere totally new—with no friends or allies to make the transition easier; when you change your entire life for someone else…give up your friends, your family! When you know what it means to be truly alone…" Suki paused, watching somewhere past Katara. "you might understand the ties which bind me here…and why your brother does what he does—until then Katara, don't come back."
A rabbit-gull danced upon the salty breeze, its ears flapping wildly. It twirled and flipped through the clouds, catching the up-drafts before diving toward the sea. For one who wished to see the meanings in life, the bird was the perfect symbol of good fortune. They only flew out on days of fair weather, cawing and cackling to their companions in good humor. This gull, however, flew alone.
Katara took her eyes off the gull when her brother pulled out of their embrace. He took his place next to a child carrying Suki. The little boy reached out for his aunt.
"Kota, Aunty Katara has to leave now." Suki cooed, bouncing the child on her hip. He began to cry grasping for Katara through watery eyes.
Rubbing her fingers together, Katara slowly drew the trail of tears from her nephew's cheeks. Twisting them within her palm, she solidified the form of a tiny solider. The little Water-tribe warrior resembled a certain general, who recognized it at once but would never tell his son. Placing it in the baby's hands, Katara kissed the top off his bald head, hoping someone would remember her this time.
She backed away now. This scene wasn't for her and she only ruined it. Sokka's arm was wrapped protectively around Suki, who in this light finally showed the signs of pregnancy. Kota was nuzzled against his mother's shoulder, chewing on his present. Katara would have given anything to be Suki in that moment. The women had not reconciled, for Suki had meant what she said, but that stranger among friends still had everything Katara wanted. The pang of jealously that filled her heart didn't make the situation any better. Just like the rabbit-gull, Katara was forced to fly alone.
"May Yue send you home safely." Suki added out of hospitality. It was a hard farewell for her to utter, as she had learned of Sokka's earlier exploits, but it had become tradition.
"Look after yourself Katara!" Sokka warned. Their wounds had been healed, but it only made her leaving harder.
"I will." She smiled. "Don't forget to write."
"Don't wait until the baby is born to visit again!" Sokka reminded as Katara boarded the large coal ship. He hadn't said it, but all Katara heard was 'don't wait until your next guilt trip to visit again.'
Glancing to her left, Katara made her traditional Bo voyage to the crumbling ruin of a watch-tower. Every time Katara departed, she found comfort in the one sight that proved all of their humanity. No one had been able to tear the relic of war down, especially Sokka, who rebuilt the shaky structure in exact replication to his 13-year-old craftsmanship. Katara knew why, but she never embarrassed him with the knowledge.
She flashed them another smile and waved quickly before descending into the cabin. The trip home would be a long one.
A/N: Like I said, these first couple of chapters are going to be real cliff-hangers. This one not so much as the last, but if you are someone who feels a little lost or has questions I haven't answered, please know that I am not remaining silent out of meanness.
I would also like to thank all my reviews, especially hUeS -of- h a z e l, whose review really lifted my spirits. I promise I will end your cliff-dom soon!
Read, review and enjoy!
Arien