Water
The Haishui Prison Rig: Part 2
The prison tunic they gave her was an awful scratchy brown thing, more sack than clothing. Katara wrinkled her nose as she pulled it over her head. At least they let her wear her own clothes underneath it. She was almost convinced that the tunic would give her some sort of disease if it came in contact with her skin for too long. This was a Fire Nation prison, after all. She wouldn't put it past them to deliberately infect their prisoners with—something. It was too bad Sokka wasn't here. He would have a better idea of what sorts of dastardly plans the Fire Nation had for them. He usually did.
The guards hustled her and the other prisoners into a row. A few old men, two women who appeared to be sisters, Haru, and Katara. She shifted her weight and fidgeted. She and Haru were by far the youngest of the prisoners, but Haru at least had the benefit of height to help him blend in. Katara, meanwhile, stood nearly a head shorter than the rest of them. Perfect. The last thing she needed was to attract attention in a Fire Nation prison, and her age and her size were already working against her.
A droopy-mustached firebender surveyed the line, frowning at each of them in turn. "Welcome to the Haishui Prison Rig," Droopy-Mustache said. "My name is Warden Hitoshi, but you may all refer to me as sir or Warden. This prison is my domain, and I expect your behavior to reflect it."
There was more to the warden's speech, but Katara stopped listening. It was all very pompous and predictable. The history of the prison rig, its infallible containment of the earthbending menace, all the nonsensical lies that she'd always assumed the Fire Nation told themselves. The warden paced up and down the row as he spoke, occasionally pausing to twirl the ends of his mustache. While his back was turned, Katara rolled her eyes, and Haru nudged her in warning, wide-eyed.
The warden clasped his hands behind his back and turned again. His gaze landed lazily on Katara. "My, my. The Earth King must be desperate indeed if he can do no better than to send children into battle. Victory cannot elude us long."
Katara bristled. "No one sent me anywhere!" The prisoners all turned her way, aghast. "The men and women of the Earth Kingdom are strong and brave. They can fight for themselves, they don't need to send their children."
"Is that so?" The warden loomed uncomfortably close and sneered. "Then what is a little earthbending imp like yourself doing here?"
She stared straight back into his orangish eyes. "I'm not an earthbender." It wasn't a lie, strictly speaking. She'd mimicked a few of Haru's forms, but no rocks had responded to her movements. She really wasn't an earthbender. Not yet, anyway.
"What?" Turning stiffly, the warden pointed accusingly at two of the guards—Half-Bald and Crooked-Nose, as Katara called them. "Are you imbeciles not aware that there are prisons on the mainland specifically equipped for nonbenders? Accommodations at Haishui are not to be wasted on such—"
"We are aware, sir." Half-Bald seemed to realize his mistake in interrupting the warden too late, and he reddened a fraction. "In this case, sir, a nonbending prison wasn't—appropriate."
Crooked-Nose stepped forward as well. "The girl is a waterbender, sir."
"Why was I not informed of this?" It was almost comical how the tips of his mustache quivered as he whipped around from the guards to Katara and back again.
Crooked-Nose hesitated. "Sir—You were. The captain received word of her capture yesterday and immediately sent instructions to prepare to her arrival." He paused. "Were preparations made, sir?"
"How was I meant to make preparations when I was not told to prepare?"
The guards exchanged a look, and after a short silence, Half-Bald spoke. "We have already begun searching for a more suitable prison for the waterbender, sir. Until the arrangements are final, are there any measures you would like us to take?"
Narrowing his eyes, the warden turned back toward Katara. "Shackle her. Do not allow the girl to access her bending."
They were less than a day's journey from the prison rig now, and Zuko was growing continually more restless. Even training with Uncle—after a second endless Pai Sho game—did nothing to clear his mind. So now, though he had a tenuous grasp of a new firebending form, and the ship was making excellent time, he found himself pacing back and forth across the deck, pointedly ignoring the stares from his crew. Usually, they had the grace to look away in embarrassment when Zuko caught them staring, but today he didn't bother trying to catch them at it. The Avatar was more important. Her and the airbender.
"Something seems to be troubling you, Prince Zuko."
He glared at Iroh but didn't stop his pacing.
A bowl of noodles in one hand, Iroh continued watching mildly. "I am afraid you may wear a permanent groove into the deck." He paused to slurp up a mouthful of noodles. "I understand your desire to remain occupied, but—"
Zuko spun around. "You don't understand anything, Uncle!" He advanced until he stood over the old general, practically spitting with rage. "You're a stupid, lazy old man, and you haven't done anything useful in the past three years."
There was grumbling from some of the crew, and Zuko shot an icy glare their way. Only Lieutenant Jee met his gaze, staring back with steely disapproval.
"Don't you all have something better to do?" Zuko bellowed.
After a moment of muttering, a few of the men wandered away from the group, but Jee remained in place, still staring, arms crossed.
Zuko's jaw clenched. "Where is your post, Lieutenant?"
"Anywhere I like, your highness." Jee's upper lip curled into a sneer. "I'm off duty."
Before Zuko could think of a response—an assignment for Jee, something like scrubbing the crew's washrooms by hand—Iroh spoke again.
"An owl fox may be wise and wily, but he cannot catch his prey without leaving the treetops."
Zuko blinked as Iroh turned his attention back to his bowl. "What are you talking about, Uncle?"
"I may be a wise old man, but I cannot read minds, Prince Zuko. If you want help with whatever is troubling you, you must first explain the trouble."
With a prolonged sigh, Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine." There would be far too many proverbs and Pai Sho references, but there was at least a chance that Uncle would bury a kernel or two of useful advice under the mounds of inevitable nonsense. From the corner of his eye, he saw Jee angling nearer, and Zuko scowled. "In private," he added, shouldering past the lieutenant as he stalked off toward his own cabin.
"Now," Uncle said once he had closed the door after them. "What is bothering you, Nephew?"
"The Avatar." Zuko took to pacing again and wished that he'd thought of a way to get rid of Lieutenant Jee rather than retreating to his cabin. The space between the door and his bed wasn't large enough to pace without making himself dizzy.
"Ah. And what is the trouble with the Avatar?"
"Zhao knows that the waterbender's been arrested, doesn't he?"
Iroh rubbed his chin. "I imagine he does. I have no military connections that Zhao cannot also boast."
With a groan of frustration, Zuko rubbed his eyes. "Just my luck. He knows we found the airbender at the South Pole, so he'll know that the girl has something to do with the Avatar."
"Possible," Iroh conceded. "Commander Zhao may have his suspicions."
"So what am I supposed to do?" Zuko threw up his hands, still pacing. "If Zhao gets there before I do—" His stomach lurched at the thought. Zhao knew exactly how important the Avatar was, what it would mean if anyone other than Zuko delivered the Avatar back to the Fire Nation.
"Commander Zhao does not have the same freedom that you enjoy, Prince Zuko." Careful not to spill his noodles, Iroh settled down at the table. "Even if he wishes to pursue the girl, there is little chance that he could reach the rig before you."
His footsteps echoed hollowly—two steps toward the bed, turn, two steps toward the door, turn. "And what do I do then? How am I going to convince them to hand over the Avatar?"
"Keeping the girl's identity a secret would be a wise first step."
Zuko stopped and stared. The old man took the opportunity to shove in another mouthful. "How completely stupid do you think I am, Uncle?"
Iroh chewed thoughtfully before responding. "I do not think that you are stupid, Nephew. You are impulsive, but I believe that with proper planning, you may be successful."
"Ughhhh!" Pressing the heels of his hands to the sides of his head, Zuko let his voice rise. "That's the problem! I don't have a plan! I've been trying to come up with something since yesterday, and I'm no closer than when I started. All I know is that I need them to hand over the girl."
"And the airbender? You still wish to capture them both?"
He began pacing again. "I don't have a choice."
Iroh shook his head, looking a little sad. "My dear nephew, if you would only take the time to look at the world more closely, you would discover that there is always a choice."
Zuko glowered. There was still steam rising from Iroh's bowl. Typical. He wouldn't teach Zuko anything more challenging than breathing exercises without days of coercion, but of course Iroh would firebend his own food. "If you're just going to speak in riddles, go eat someplace else. I need a plan, not proverbs."
With a long sigh, Iroh placed his bowl down and folded his hands over his stomach. "Very well, Prince Zuko. Tell me what you have considered so far."
Sokka was always complaining about her penchant for seeing the bright side of everything. Katara could never see the problem with it. Optimism made for a much more pleasant life than Sokka's constant gloom-and-doom, expect-the-worst attitude.
But really, considering the fact that she was stuck in a Fire Nation prison, things were going well. Her hands were shackled, which was annoying, but at least they were in front of her. At least she could eat a bowl of the strange, grayish soup that the guards were passing out without help. And she hadn't been separated from Haru, which was quite a feat in such a huge crowd of prisoners. The yard—or the steel platform that the guards insisted on calling a yard—was large, but that didn't keep it from being cramped and chaotic. But Haru held onto her hand, and it felt nice. Really nice. She knew he was just making sure they wouldn't be separated, but this was still the first time she'd held a boy's hand. Or at least a boy who wasn't Sokka. Or Aang. Maybe it was silly, but her heart still fluttered at the warmth and pressure of his hand.
Better yet, they found Haru's father. Tyro was white-haired and kind, and though he seemed a little wary when he saw Katara's shackles, he welcomed her right along with his son. She hadn't exactly expected to find allies here, but now that she had, she couldn't help but feel a little smug. Being captured by the Fire Nation was certainly not ideal, but it wasn't as bad as she had anticipated. Escape was never going to be difficult. After all, she was a waterbender in the middle of the ocean, and Aang had a flying bison. Having allies inside the prison could only make things easier.
Tyro cast a suspicious glance at her chains for what had to be the eighth time in as many minutes. "If you don't mind my asking," Tyro said, pulling his gaze away from the shackles. "I am rather curious what brought a waterbender so far south."
Katara raised an eyebrow. "I'm from the South Pole. I've never been this far north in my life."
Tyro looked surprised, but only for a moment. "I apologize, my dear. There hasn't been much news from the South Pole in a very long time."
"Not much has happened at the South Pole in a long time." Zuko had been the first outsider to set foot in their village since the raid six years ago. Aang didn't really count—he had, after all, been frozen in their ice fields for a century. "My brother and our friend and I were on our way to the North Pole before Haru and I got caught."
Tyro gave a grave nod. "I'm sorry your travels came to such an unpleasant end. I can't promise that your time here will be good, but you will not have to be alone. Haru and I will look after you."
Katara felt herself smile. It was a nice offer, and the warmth in Haru's eyes when he nodded his assent set her stomach fluttering. She could look after herself just fine, but it was still a really nice offer. "Thank you," she said. "But you really don't have to do that. I won't be here very long anyway."
Haru's face fell and he picked at the hem of his prison tunic. "That's right. I keep forgetting that they're sending you away."
Katara straightened her spine. "That's not what I mean. Sokka and Aang are on their way here right now, and they're going to get me out of here." When both pairs of green eyes turned her direction, she smiled. "You can come too. Both of you. I'm sure Appa can carry two extra people." Probably more than that, if she was honest. Exactly how many people could a sky bison carry? She'd have to remember to ask Aang once he got here.
Tyro looked at her as though she had sprouted a second head or a third eye. "No."
She returned the confused look. "You can't possibly be telling me that you're just going to stay here. You have to have some plan to get out."
Tyro shook his head. "The plan is to survive. We'll go home if we can outlast the war."
"That's too many 'ifs' for me," Katara said, momentarily forgetting her shackles as she attempted to cross her arms. "I'm not staying here, and I'm not being transferred to another prison."
"Young lady." The old man's eyes were as stern as his voice. "There is no alternative."
She gave up on crossing her arms and glared. "There's always another way. I'm not giving up."
A moment of silence passed as Tyro studied her. "In that case, I think there's someone you ought to meet."
Tyro wouldn't say who he wanted Katara to meet, and after a while, she stopped asking. Apparently, it was "too risky" to speak above a whisper about anything more substantial than the weather, and after a few rounds of "Who on earth do you think is going to change my mind?" followed by, "Shhh! The temperature is lovely for this time of year," Katara had no choice but to give up and wait. Even if she wanted to, she didn't know enough about the weather this far north to contribute to the conversation. Unseasonably cool or not, it was still warmer than she was used to, and her fourteen years of experience with blizzards hadn't equipped her to discuss thunderstorms.
So she sat in relative silence, fidgeting with the heavy chains dangling from her wrists, and tried to pretend that she wasn't simultaneously bored out of her mind and seconds away from jumping out of her own skin. They had to keep their voices down, they couldn't move around too much, they certainly couldn't stand up to stretch their legs, not with the guards watching. Katara was almost tempted to ask what they could do, but she restrained herself. The longer she waited, without her brother and without Aang, with Tyro constantly looking over his shoulder, and Haru mirroring his father more closely by the minute, the more she felt the paranoia creeping into her veins.
But when the guards finally wheeled a vat out through the steel doors and motioned the prisoners forward for their evening meal, Tyro wasted no time in steering them both to the opposite end of the yard. Katara shared a confused look with Haru, but before either of them had a chance to speak, they came to a stop behind a tall, black-haired woman.
"We've had some new arrivals, Tae Yun," Tyro said.
"There are always new arrivals, Tyro." The woman glanced back over her shoulder as if to dismiss the statement, but she saw the two smaller figures at Tyro's side and did a double-take. She turned around and fixed a stony look on Haru, then Katara.
"More children?" Tae Yun's hard, square face turned Tyro's direction again.
"My son, Haru," Tyro replied, resting a hand on Haru's shoulder. "And his friend, Katara." Voice dropping to an even rumble, he added, "Tae Yun was our commander before the village was taken."
A commander. The woman certainly had the bearing of a soldier and the attitude to match. And her gaze was uncomfortably intense. Katara wondered if there was a special greeting for Earth Kingdom commanders, something like the silly, pretentious bow the firebenders gave one another. Water Tribe warriors always clasped one another's forearms, but she wasn't certain that would work with her hands shackled. Instead, she smiled and gave a little wave. Her chains clinked against one another and Tae Yun offered her a skeptical look.
"Making trouble already, I see." Tae Yun pressed her lips into a narrow, judgmental line.
"I didn't cause any trouble!" She felt Haru's eyes land on her and Katara's face heated. "Okay, so it was kind of my fault that we got arrested. And I sort of fought the soldiers when they showed up, but after I kicked that one guy in the shin, I stopped."
"I fought back too," Haru said sheepishly.
Katara gave him a grateful smile, but Tae Yun still looked unimpressed.
"And yet only one of you earned a set of chains for your troubles." Folding her arms, Tae Yun narrowed her eyes at Katara. "How did that happen, hmmm? Earthbending is impossible out here. The guards don't bother with chains unless there's reason."
"Like the fact that I'm a waterbender?" Katara asked, deadpan. If not for the chains, she would have planted her hands on her hips—she could manage a pretty intimidating look when she felt like it. Well, it intimidated Sokka anyway.
The older woman did look a little surprised at that, but her stony demeanor settled back into place just as quickly. "A waterbender on the Haishui Rig?" She rolled her eyes up to the sky and muttered, "They catch us, but they can't think far enough ahead to realize that the middle of the ocean isn't the best place to keep a waterbender."
Katara shrugged. "Apparently they're only planning to keep me here until they can find a better prison for me." She jutted her chin out determinedly and her gaze hardened. "Not that it matters. I'll be out of here way before they can figure out where to send me."
"This is why I wanted to introduce the two of you," Tyro interrupted. He gave Katara a stern look. "Tae Yun, it seems that our young friend here is planning her escape."
"Is that so?"
Katara nodded. "My brother and my friend are on their way. They'll help us escape."
"Who is us? Keeping a frog in your pocket, young lady?"
"No!" Katara replied, indignant. "I mean everybody. The Fire Nation was wrong to imprison you all here, and there has to be a way to get everyone out together." Eyes from all around turned her direction, and the low rumble of other voices dropped away, leaving her last few words to ring out over silence.
Tae Yun gave a subtle signal with her right hand and the murmurs began again, though quieter than before. The guards were shifting, scowling in her direction, and Tae Yun's hand came to rest on Katara's shoulder.
"Sit down," Tae Yun ordered quietly. "Too many eyes looking this way."
Katara obeyed—she wasn't happy about it, but she could feel the eyes pointed in her direction, and the hateful look in the guards' eyes was a little uncomfortable.
"Now tell me. What on earth possessed you to think escape was an option?"
Affronted, Katara tried to fold her arms only for the chains to pull her up short. "Well, what possessed you to think that staying in prison was an option?"
Tae Yun leaned forward, narrowing her eyes, and let her voice drop. "Understand this, young lady. Every earthbender on this blasted rig wants to get back home. I have been here for five years, and every day I wish we could be free."
"So do it," Katara pressed in a whisper. "Break out." She turned to Haru for support, and he nodded.
"Out of the question. I have worked too long and hard to keep the peace with these animals." Her green eyes flicked up toward the guards. "You are not the first to dream of escape, young lady. Others have tried." Tae Yun's expression remained stony as ever. "No one ever tried a second time. The consequences were worse than you can possibly imagine. And that was just the ones who were caught." She thumped the ground with a fingertip to punctuate her words. "The Fire Nation makes no distinction between the innocent and the guilty. If we put one foot out of line—if one person escapes, anyone left here would face the punishment in their place. Staying here, staying together, staying alive is the only choice we have."
Katara stared back. She didn't have to think hard to imagine the sorts of punishments the Fire Nation might dream up for any prisoners who got left behind. What they'd done to her own mother was proof enough. But that didn't change anything. She couldn't stay here.
The solution was simple, then. She just needed to find a way to get them all out at the same time.
It took all Sokka's restraint to keep from landing Appa in the middle of the yard and collecting his sister in broad daylight. They had to wait until sunset. He knew that. Only a few extra hours of circling and floating on the surface when Appa got tired.
A few hours too many. By the time the sky darkened, and the prison quieted enough to risk entering, Sokka had run through everything that could possibly have happened to Katara in the time they'd been separated. He was itching to move, to fight if necessary. It didn't even look like it would be hard—the Fire Nation was clearly counting on the ocean to do most of its work for them. All Sokka and Aang needed to do was sneak in, find Katara, and sneak back out. They could handle that.
That didn't make Sokka feel any better. Aang kept trying to reassure him—Katara's going to be okay. She's with Haru, they'll take care of each other. The Fire Nation isn't all bad. You know, a hundred years ago—Sokka stopped listening at that point. Aang's blind optimism was bad enough when Katara was there to play along. When Aang started spouting all the good things he'd ever heard about firebenders while Sokka's baby sister was in the Fire Nation's slimy clutches, it was unbearable.
But finally, finally, night fell, and the boys snuck in. They probably weren't as sneaky as they could have been. Sokka's blue tunic and Aang's vivid yellow weren't ideal camouflage, but between Sokka's stealthy hunting skills and Aang's uncanny ability to walk without making a sound—even if he couldn't stop talking—they made it to the barracks without being sighted.
"You start looking over there," Sokka hissed, pointing his boomerang toward the southernmost cluster of barracks. "I'll start here. We meet in the middle as soon as one of us finds Katara, then we go out the way we came in."
"What about Haru?" Aang whispered.
Sokka swore under his breath. Naturally. Of course Aang would share Katara's bleeding-heart tendencies. "If they're smart, they stuck together. We find Katara, we find Haru. We find Haru, we find Katara. Go."
Aang opened his mouth as if to reply, then gave his staff a twirl and trotted off. Sokka watched just long enough to see the flash of yellow vanish around a corner before ducking into the first open-ended building.
Sokka crept down the row of bunks, peering at every face, grateful that the snoring covered the sound of his footsteps. No Katara. Be patient. She's here somewhere. Keeping low to the ground, he darted to the next building and continued his search.
It wasn't until he was partway through his fifth barracks that Sokka saw a familiar face. Haru. And no Katara. Damn it, they were stupider than he thought.
Sokka pulled Haru into a headlock and jammed a hand over his mouth, dragging the earthbender off his bunk and onto the floor. The idiot had to answer for leaving Katara alone in a Fire Nation prison.
Haru jerked and struggled, making entirely too much noise.
Sokka tightened his grip. Damn it, throwing rocks around really made people strong. "Stop fighting, you moron. Where is Katara?"
Haru let out a surprised grunt and peered up at Sokka out of the corner of his eye. With a strange expression, Haru shook him off.
"Sokka?" Haru whispered. "What are you doing here?"
With a tremendous eye roll, Sokka grabbed him by the arm and hauled Haru outside. "Katara? Remember her? My little sister? Your dumb idea to practice bending illegally got her arrested? Where is she?"
Thankfully, Haru had the sense to duck back against the wall and keep his voice down. "Not with me."
"You split up? What kind of idiot are you?" Sokka shoved Haru's shoulder.
"I didn't have a choice."
"What?" Sokka's voice slid an octave too high.
Rather than arguing, Haru pointed up to a sign over the open barracks doorway.
MEN.
Peering back over his shoulder, Sokka discovered that the same sign hung over each of the doors of the barracks he'd searched. Ah. So that would explain why he hadn't found Katara yet. Why hadn't Sokka realized that he had only seen men?
"Where did they put her?"
Haru shrugged and motioned toward the south. "Women's barracks are that way. I'm not sure which one she's in, but she's not alone." Before Sokka had a chance to berate him again, Haru nudged his arm.
Two figures came hurtling down the aisle, one in yellow, the other in brown.
"Sokka!" Katara threw her arms around him with an odd jangling noise. "I knew you were coming. I was going to wait out here for you, but Tae Yun wouldn't let me out of her sight."
Sokka hugged her briefly. Finding out who this Tae Yun person was would have to wait. "Yeah, of course." He tried to dislodge himself, but he was stuck in a ring of skinny girl-arms and chain. Great. He'd have to figure out how to break shackles too. Stifling a groan, he hoisted Katara's arm over his head and tugged her toward the edge of the platform. "Come on. Appa's waiting for us."
"No." She yanked herself free and backed up to stand next to Haru. "We can't leave yet."
What? This just kept getting worse. Sokka threw his hands up. "What's the problem? We found you, we found your boyfriend—" Katara and Haru shared a glance, and Aang looked confused "—that's all we're here for. It's time to go."
Katara furrowed her brows into that face. The one she always made when she was in the mood for a fight. "I said no. We can't just leave."
Sokka's jaw dropped.
"My dad's here," Haru added in an undertone.
"So go get him," Sokka said in exasperation. Five people. That was fine. He was sure Appa could carry that many. "We'll get your dad out too."
"That's not the point!" Katara put her hands on her hips. Well, she put one hand on one hip. The other kind of just—got dragged along. Uh oh. Hands on hips usually led to yelling and even more stubbornness. "We can't leave anyone behind. The Fire Nation has been horrible to these people, and if we escape, it's just going to get worse."
"That's not our problem, Katara. We need to get out of here and get you and Aang to the North Pole as soon as possible."
She shook her head firmly. "No, Sokka. We are not leaving here unless all the prisoners come with us."
Author's Note:
Once again, the words have gotten away from me and made this story longer than I planned. But hey! For once, I can actually promise the date for my next update—you can expect to see Chapter 10 a week from today (on July 7)! I make no promises after that, since I'm in the process of shopping for my first house, but I'm working on this thing as much as I possibly can.
Thank you SO, SO much to anyone who's left a review. I love hearing people's thoughts (even if it's just a word or two), so please feel free to comment, ask me questions, yell, whatever you feel like. (I do try to respond to comments, but if you're not logged in, that doesn't really work, so I guess if you're a guest and you have a question, ask away, and I'll try to remember to answer you in future author's notes!)
On that note, I've noticed two common (-ish) questions, so here's my answer:
How are there two Avatars when there's only one Raava?
To be honest, I had no clue who Raava was when I first started on this fic (I watched LOK very late), and once I did, I was too attached to this story idea to give it up. So Raava isn't a thing in this world. Actually, most of the lore introduced in LOK isn't a thing in this world. I just like having more room for interpretation, so I'm sticking with what was given to us in the original series. The two-Avatar issue is still messy and complicated, and I'll be dealing with that more in upcoming chapters (I'd say which chapter, but "Imprisoned" was supposed to be a single, short chapter, and instead it turned into three not-exactly-short chapters. So I'll just say that it's coming sometime in Book 1).
Why is this labelled as a Zutara story if Zuko and Katara barely interact?
Okay, so this was probably more an issue on AO3 (because tags), and I did add a smidge of extra explanation both here and there, so maybe I'm just rambling for no reason. But yes, this is a Zutara fic, and you're right, Zuko and Katara haven't interacted much yet. But this is a slowburn (possibly the slowest burn), and honestly? This is going to be a 4-book series, and the slowburn description applies to all four books. Zuko and Katara will be getting a lot more one-on-one interaction soon, but this is going to be a LONG fic and a MASSIVE slowburn.
I hope you all have an amazing week! I'll be back next Sunday with Chapter 10!
Thanks for reading,
SooperSara
PS: I upped the rating on this from K+ to T, because I remembered that I let Sokka swear in the previous chapter. Whoops. Changing the rating probably wasn't necessary, but I just wanted to give a heads-up on why I made the change (I might venture into some slightly darker material later too, but really, it's because my boys want to cuss).
