A/N. So, after this, two chapters until the Awakening. Don't be too hard on Hakoda in this chapter, he tries his best!

I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender!

Hakoda stood on the dock, seeing the small group coming from the town. In the middle, his son holding some stick with meat on it, talking merrily about something. Katara, looking yet again a bit better. This week had been good for her. There had not been any episodes with the Avatar's health, and she had come out of the room more often.

He saw she was carrying a small bundle of books in her arms. That made him smile. Kya had also liked reading, and each time a merchant had come to the Tribe, before the raids intensified, she had bought a small book or scroll.

And then, there was the blind girl Toph, who, for some reason, was just grinning from ear to ear, casting furtive looks at his daughter. She was clearly trying to hold in her laughter.

It looked like a group of good friends… And that made his heart crack. His children had never had people from their own age around at the South Pole… And to see them now, having fun and taking a break from all the tragedies… It made him happy… Happier than he had been in a long time.

Of course, Hakoda knew it wasn't really a happy group of friends. Sokka was just being extra cheerful for his sister, and Katara herself was just a mess. Even the blind girl was probably much more jovial normally. And of course, there was a gaping hole in the group, where the Avatar would normally be. Hakoda tried to imagine it. The four of them, walking down the street. Sokka, making fun of something, helped by Toph, while his daughter and the Avatar would probably hang back a bit, talking quietly to each other.

That was how he imagined the dynamic of the group, by the stories he had been told by his son and the earthbender.

When the group came into earshot, he heard Sokka talk.

"… You know, these meat kebabs are really good! Maybe, if we put some of the spices from the storage on it, it would be even better!"

Spirits, that young man had two things on his mind: Food and crazy plans. But seen how his plan had worked out, he indulged his son.

"Yeah, yeah Meathead, I believe we all like meat. Especially Katara." The girl bend behind Sokka's back and wiggled her eyebrows, making his daughter blush furiously.

Spirits, what was that about? Well, recalling his younger self, he could very well guess what Toph meant. And he didn't want to think about that. For the love of the Spirits, he did not want to imagine anything of the kind.

"Alright, ready to go back?" He shouted, stopping any further teasing. The three nodded, and Hakoda turned to Gilak, who already sat in the boat, waiting for them. Their supplies had been sent by a transport boat to the ship, so they boarded the boat and set off.

Sitting next to Gilak, Hakoda kept an ear turned to the three young people behind him. He had learned more about them by just watching and listening than he had by asking about them. He suspected that that was what Katara had meant when she had said he was trying too hard. And he had. He had tried too hard to win back their affection. So now, he was just taking a step backwards. And waited.

"So… Katara… What books did you buy?" Toph asked, and the edge in her voice sounded too innocent. It was as if she was trying to get a reaction.

"Just some books!" His daughter answered. Too quickly. She was hiding something. Luckily for her, Sokka was too absorbed into his food to pay any attention. But Hakoda heard the shyness in his daughter's voice.

"Ah… Really… About?" Still the earthbender sounded too innocent.

"Kyoshi! And healing herbs!" Yeah, she was hiding something. Even from his position in the front of the boat, Hakoda could imagine the blush on his daughter's face. Deciding to deliver her from the torture, the chief turned around, and spoke softly.

"We bought some Fire Nation type food, so not to arouse suspicion. I'm sorry to report that we will have to endure Bato's cooking yet another week." The three people behind him groaned, and he could only agree with them. Bato was a very bad cook. But he was the only one who had volunteered for the job, because in his own eyes, he was really good cook.

What a joke.

The boat arrived at the mechanism that hauled it up to the deck, and Hakoda quickly stood up, grabbing the iron bars of the ladder on the hull of the ship. Climbing up, he thought about the conversation he had just heard.

Katara had probably bought something personal that embarrassed her, and Toph had learned what it was. Before taking the ship, he had heard Katara talk about that thing in the barn. And now, Toph was teasing his daughter in a way that left little to the imagination. And even though he didn't want to know about that, the situation made him… well, he needed to know. If something had happened, that meant that there was no stopping them.

His careful plan would be ruined.

He had planned to speak to the Avatar when he woke up, giving his blessing, on the condition he would wait for the end of the war. If he defeated the Fire Lord, that would only be what? Three, four months? It depended on if the Invasion could still be done, or if the Avatar had to fight the Fire Lord before that "Sozin's Comet" or whatever Sokka had meant by that.

But if the relationship between his daughter and the young man had gone that far… Hakoda doubted he could stop it.

So, he had to know. And he knew that the only one who could tell him, was at this moment not very well disposed to him. So… What now?

As he climbed on the deck, extending his hand to help the others up, the chief knew what to do. Speak to Sokka, to get a certain knowledge about the relationship, without having him learning of what he suspected. And then, if his son didn't know the answers… Talk to Katara, and maybe hear things he didn't want to.

But for her safety, in case of the Avatar's death against the Fire Lord… He needed to know. Because, if this… thing… produced a chance of more airbenders, the Fire Nation would hunt her down. And that… Well, he would be sorry for the Avatar. But his children were his life, and if he lost one of them or both… Well, in that case he knew. Hakoda knew that he would drive his tribe into the ground, trying to fight back.

And he couldn't allow himself to do that to his people.

Toph was the last of the group to climb aboard, and soon, Hakoda felt the now familiar tug in his stomach when the ship suddenly lurched forward. He had given the helm to Kranook, because there, he wasn't able to do too much damage. The old man's stories and preaching were never good for morale.

The blind girl disappeared to the place where the two boys who had been prisoner on the ship were working on the saddle for the beast, and his daughter quickly returned to her wake next to the Avatar.

"Sokka, could I talk to you?" Hakoda called his son, he had been standing next to the big cargo doors in the deck, underneath which was the Avatar's bison.

Appa. He knew that name. He had to start calling the beast that.

"Sure! What is it?" His son turned, and for the first time in a long time, Hakoda saw a genuine smile on the young man's face. This week had been good for everyone.

"Sit down please." He waved to the railing. He had begun to sit there with his son. They talked about the failed plans of the invasion, the travels they had undertaken since leaving the South Pole… They talked, and it felt good. Sokka sat down, and the chief fell next to him.

"How was your trip to the town?"

"Alright, we went to some shops, then to a restaurant, because… well you know. Bato…" Sokka spoke the name quietly, because his friend was standing just some yards away.

"Ah, yes… I see. I understand. How has she been?" He asked. His son didn't need to know about whom he was talking. His daughter had also been one of the favourite conversation subjects.

"Ah… She seems calmer, doesn't she?"

Hakoda knew that that was a symptom of her state of mind. For he had lived through it, and still did. There were periods where you could be calm, even nice and kind. But that could change in a second, to make place for the monster. The monster that didn't care for themselves or anyone. The monster that just wanted to hurt people who may have hurt you. Or not.

"She does. It seems she is sleeping and eating normally now… That is good." It was. The girl with the big bags under her eyes, the dishevelled hair and the crazy, distrusting look in her eyes had gone, to make place for a calmer, saner looking person. And that was good.

"Yeah, it helps that Aang seems stable now. And that his wound has healed partially. She even seemed to enjoy herself before. She and Toph had some weird thing going on, but that has been normal since meeting Toph. So I don't pay much attention." His son explained, pulling off the armour he had been wearing. It was beginning to be warm… too warm. Hakoda had lived through five real summers now, but this one felt… Like the blazing sun was just scorching the land.

"She teases Katara?"

"I guess that is kind of Toph's thing. Tease Aang and Katara."

With other words, the blind girl had been teasing them about their mutual attraction. Spirits, how had it taken Sokka so long to figure out?

"Has… Has Katara talked to you about the airbender?" He had thought about how to tackle this subject. Just ask had seemed the best option.

"Yeah… she has. Apparently, the thing between them has been going on since we left the North Pole. At least, she said they have been dancing around each other since then."

Hakoda suspected they had done much more than just dance around each other.

"Has… Has something happened between them? Do you know?" Spirits, he sounded just like Kranook, as if he was disgusted by the idea of two people loving each other.

"No, I don't think so. I was nearly always there, and that would have been awkward I suppose…" his son turned his head around, with an eyebrow raised, "Why? Don't tell me you are being an old fool with traditions and customs."

"No, no! I'm just worried…" And that, he was.

"Why? The worst-case scenario, they date for a while. Best case, Aang defeats Ozai and we all live long and happily ever after."

"No. The worst-case scenario, the Fire Lord kills the Avatar and hunts down everyone that loved him to root out resistance. That is one of the worst-case scenarios Sokka."

Realization dawned on his son's face, and Hakoda was sorry to have been so direct. But he had to make sure that he could save his children in that case.

"Spirits… Yeah… He would do that…"

"And an even worst future is if they date, and somehow, she gets pregnant. You understand?" That was exactly the point he wanted to drive home. "The Fire Nation… They would never permit another living airbender…" Hakoda spoke quietly.

"If that happens… we could help her. But why talk about this? It is not like that is a possibility at the moment. They haven't done anything, and if they start doing things… Well, we'll just have to make sure nothing comes out of it! Suki told me that that is possible."

At the last sentence, he saw his son's face heat up.

Suki?

At that, Hakoda felt his lips turn upward. Even faced with this dilemma… He could be happy for his children. He was happy for Katara, even if he was worried sick. And now, it seemed that Sokka also had… someone.

"Suki?"

"Eh… eh… yeah… She's a… a friend! Yes, a friend! She leads the Kyoshi Warriors!" His son just looked extremely embarrassed.

"Mmm… yeah, sure. A friend." Hakoda stood up, "Make sure to tell me about you friend this evening. I would like to hear more about her."

He walked off, not looking at his son.

Hakoda opened the door, leading inside the ship. He had not gotten the answers from his son. Because the chief knew there had been something more than just dancing around each other. Otherwise, the Avatar would never have come to ask his permission. Otherwise, his daughter would not have talked about those things when she thought he couldn't hear her.

And otherwise, the blind earthbender wouldn't tease them. No… There was something. And for her own safety, he had to figure it out and if needed… He would have to say his mind. Say he was worried. Advice against it.

Even if he knew it was a lost cause. Katara would never listen. And nor would the Avatar probably…

But he had to try.

Walking through the metal corridor, Hakoda couldn't help but admire the ship. It was fast, and for its size very nimble. But it wasn't his ship. No, he loved sailing. And this wasn't that. This ship was made for quick attacks. It was a ship made for war.

Walking up the stairs, he thought about how they would get to the other side of the continent. They had kept the fleet behind them updated with minor reports about nothing, and they had gotten messages back, ordering them to go to the Serpent's Pass, and guard it. Well… They would disobey that order. And from then on, they would probably be in danger, first for having disobeyed an order, and later, for having deserted the fleet. But those were worries for another time. Now, he had another task.

Gently tapping his knuckles against the metal door of the room where the Avatar was, he entered. To his surprise, his daughter wasn't there. Her torn blue dress lay on the floor, and the books she had clutched under her arm had been dropped off on the desk. But she wasn't here.

Walking over to the Avatar, Hakoda was surprised by the presence of hair on the young man's head. He had not seen the boy for several days. He had not wanted to visit without being invited.

The Avatar was looking… better. He wasn't horribly pale anymore. There was some colour on the boy's cheeks, and from time to time, Hakoda saw how his fingers twitched. This was the most lively he had seen… Aang… since that fateful night.

Toph had been enquiring about the books, for some reason. Turning around, the chief walked over to the pile. Sitting down in the chair behind the desk, he pulled the stack towards him. There were three books. The one laying on top, a rich green volume with golden letters on the front, apparently treated on the life of Avatar Kyoshi. He opened it, letting the pages pass quickly. Yeah, Kya would have loved this book. She had always loved to read about people, and had listened nearly as intensely to his mother telling their children stories about the Avatar as the young ones had done…

Sighing, he closed it, and put it aside. The front of the second book was decorated with intricate drawings of plants he had never seen before.

Jashi's guide on plants and their uses.

That could be quite useful! He had seen how Katara's healing did nearly everything, but she couldn't make infections go away. That was the one thing that she wasn't able to do. They had given her a salve from their supplies to apply on the Avatar's wounds, but it was good to have other options!

Just as he wanted to pull the last book from under the herb book, the door opened, and his daughter entered with a large bowl of water.

"Oh hey… Oh! My books!" She nearly dropped the basin next to the bed, and quickly took the books from the desk, not looking at him.

Ah… So that was the thing Toph had teased her about. One of the books. But both he had seen seemed very normal and respectable, so it had to be the third. He could only see the back of it, orange and gold. The same colours as the clothes the airbender had worn…

A book about Air Nomads? No… That would not provoke such a reaction…

"Yeah! Good choice on the herb book!" He tried, but he saw how Katara was not looking at him, and was only concentrating on putting the books out of his reach. She put them next to the airbender, and then, sat on the bed, with her back against the wall. And a hand near her books… Well, that was certainly not destined for his eyes. So, he dropped it.

"How are you?" He didn't know if she had followed his advice, and talked to someone about her mental state, but Hakoda suspected she had not.

"Yeah… Alright." She answered, with a small blush on her face, "Did you… did you come here for a reason?"

Spirits yes, but I don't want to ask you right out if you slept with him.

"Just wanted to talk to you about… About what happens after."

That sounded good. It made it sound like he wanted to plan the next few weeks. And he did.

"What are the plans after he wakes up?" Sokka and Toph had been rather tight-lipped about that. The chief had asked his son about that, but he had just shrugged his shoulders.

"Well… I don't know. I know Sokka still wants to do the Invasion plan, but differently… So, that is something to consider…" His daughter didn't look at him, rather concentrating on the small round window in the wall behind him.

"Yeah, he and I are going to talk about that actually this evening… Do you want to come?" Hakoda asked, knowing the answer.

"Yeah… if someone can watch Aang."

He nodded. He would make sure that someone looked after the airbender. As he had promised his children.

"And what do you want to do when he wakes up?" He steered the conversation in the direction he wanted to take it. Hakoda saw his daughter's eyes flicker quickly to the pile of books, before returning to the window.

"I… I don't know."

"Maybe if you talked to someone… you might get an idea?" He probed. It was risky, he knew. But he had to get through to her. For herself. And for everyone on this ship.

"It seems easy now… I want to end this war. I want to see what peace looks like…" She gestured to the airbender, "He is the only one who knows what a peaceful world looks like… And he told me about it. It seems wonderful."

Spirits this was going to be more difficult than he thought. Hakoda had not taken into account the Avatar's influence on her future plans.

"And what if… What if that peace never comes?" Well, here went nothing.

"What do you mean?" His daughter's voice… changed. It sounded harder. Like Kya's when she had been irritated or apprehensive.

"Everyone puts so much faith in the Avatar… What if he fails Katara? What then?" It was harsh. It was unkind. But necessary. It was for her that he was doing this. Showing her the possibilities.

"He won't. He promised." Spirits… That infinite trust in the words of the airbender.

"Sometimes, you can't keep a promise, as much as you want to."

"He keeps his promises." Suddenly, Katara turned her eyes to him, and he felt it. The accusation in that voice. And the fire in those blue eyes.

"Sorry, I… I'm concerned. That's all." He spoke softly. Hakoda knew perfectly well why she had said that. He had promised, before leaving, that it would only be for a year, and then, he would come back. That had been nearly six years ago.

He saw how her look softened, and nearly sighed in relief. Spirits, that had been close to an… episode. He knew what it was like. One wrong word from someone, and you would nearly explode with anger. He knew.

"I'm concerned that… that if he fails, you would be in danger…"

"He won't fail… And even if he did, the people who would have stopped him would be in danger. Not me." Katara's voice sounded yet again like it had done all these nights ago, when she had talked about killing the princess.

"Katara, that is exactly what I'm afraid of. You can't win against the whole world. And the whole world will hunt you down if he dies. Because then, people will look to you to resist the Fire Nation. Not Sokka. Not Toph. Not me. You."

"Why me?"

"Because the world will soon learn about the attachment between the two of you. And when they do, and he dies… They will know that you will stop at nothing against the Fire Nation." The chief spoke softly. He knew he was getting at what was eating him up. The danger she would put herself in. The danger she may already have put herself in.

"And… if there is a chance of… other airbenders, they will certainly look to you to lead the fight against the oppressors."

There, he said it. He saw the confused look on his daughter's face. Then, it made way for a rather funny procession of emotions. Confusion, sudden realization, embarrassment. And it settled on a look he knew all too well. Resolve.

"You want me to make sure that doesn't happen." She spoke, stiffly and very obviously trying to control her emotions.

"I want you to think about the possible problems this could provoke. Imagine, you and him get into a relationship. Any kind of relationship. And just imagine if the Fire Nation learns about it. They won't care what happened between the two of you. They will just care about the possibility that there could be other airbenders. And they will hunt them, and by extend, you, down."

There, he had said it.

"You… You think I haven't thought about it?" Oh, oh… That was Kya's you screwed up like never before voice.

"I don't care. You hear me? We won't fail. We will defeat the Fire Nation. And also, another thing. In this case, you are. Too. Late."

Shit. He closed his eyes. Hakoda had known this. Feared it. Of course they had not taken into account all these things…

"Katara…"

"No. I listened to you. Now you will listen to me! The Fire Nation already knows, Azula told me herself. Why do you think she captured me? She said it was the only way to make sure that Aang would hand over the city! That he would come back for his bitch!"His daughter voice trembled.

Hakoda winced at the phrasing. He suspected that those had been the exact words of the princess. Shit. He was way too late.

"And he did. Because it isn't something we can just switch off! No! This." She gestured from the airbender to herself, "This is not easy. This is horribly confusing and messed up! But one thing is for sure. We love each other. And there is no stopping that. And we didn't try."

Yeah. He had guessed. So, his warnings would fall on deaf ears… Sighing, Hakoda stood up.

"I'm sorry. I know what it is to feel like that. You can't stop it, I know. But what I said… it came from good intentions… I hope you know that."

Katara just nodded curtly, jumped off the bed and turned her back to him, pulling the water to her hands. Hakoda suspected that was his cue to leave.

At least I tried…

But I failed. I had failed before even meeting her again. And Spirits help them if this war went the wrong way. Because if it did… Well, Katara would die. And he would fall back into his old ways of murder and bringing misery to the Fire Nation for that. And he would take the whole tribe with him into that pit of despair and death.

Tui and La, have mercy.

Answers :

Gabriela N. Gonzalez : Thanks you for the reviews! Yeah, I love Toph's character here. You can see that under all the teasing and hard exterior, she genuinely cares for her friends! And yeah, I laughed while writing her reaction! Of course she would have a field day with that info!

Rak : Yeah, him waking up is going to create a whole new mess lol!

Bay45220 : Oh… Those chapters will be M rated I think lol!

Jjsmith103 : I had planned for Katara to buy the book in Ba Sing Se, but I kinda forgot, so I had to put it here lol! Oh thanks! I really love you saying that!

CoyoteLemon : Yeah, Dark Katara is interesting to write! I think an older Katara would be less inclined to be nice, certainly if she has seen the horrors of war for herself: