A/N. Some of the traditions I talk about are real life Tibetan customs. If I made some errors, and disrespected something, I apologize.
I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender.
Aang looked over the wide-open space where just an hour ago, their campsite had stood isolated in a sea of koala-sheep. Now… Well, not so much. The herd of animals had fled the moment nearly seven hundred people walked into the field. Not that Aang could blame them. If he could, he would have done the same!
Even so, the airbender feared that a good part of the herd was going to finish as dinner tonight. He didn't like the idea of those animals being butchered, but what could he say? Please don't eat the fluffy sweet animals? Yeah… That was not going to go well with the others, he already knew that.
And Hakoda wanted to speak to him. That fact filled the airbender with some kind of tension. It was not that he didn't want to talk to Hakoda…. Just… Well, each time he had done, Aang had done something stupid after that. First time, before the fall of Ba Sing Se, when he had asked for permission… Well, that was the stupid thing. He shouldn't have asked Hakoda before Katara… And the second time, after he had woken up from his coma… Hakoda had kind of given him the go ahead to try to stop the war, wounded and alone.
So, what stupid thing was he going to do now, after his talk? Declare his love for Katara in front of the whole army? Sleep late and miss the invasion, because he had stayed up too late talking to the Water Tribe Chief? There were just too many possibilities…
"So, how were the in-laws?" Toph voice came from beside him, and, turning his head around, the airbender saw the blind girl stand a few feet away.
"Nice actually… He asked to talk to me later." Aang answered, looking over the sea of people in front of them. He could imagine that all those vibrations were disturbing Toph's sight, so he stepped a little bit closer to her, to make sure she would know where he was.
"That's good. Don't let yourself be talked into something or out of something. He is good at that, even if he doesn't mean it like that. Hakoda will talk and talk… And only think afterwards. Kind of like Meathead!" The blind girl laughed, but Aang heard the concern in her voice.
Yeah… Katara had said something similar. That her dad didn't think before speaking… That he tried his best, but that the chief of the Southern Water Tribe was not a people's person. Or rather, a bit short-sighted concerning people's feeling and their emotions. And indeed… Aang had seen it for himself. Instead of talking quietly and nicely to him on the ship… Hakoda had kicked in the door, thrown him out to show how stupid the airbender had been… And then, hadn't talked him out of leaving. Yeah… Hakoda was nice. But dumb.
"I won't… He wants to get to know me… I think. Or rather… I hope." Aang smiled hesitantly, but Toph just clacked with her tongue, making a disapproving sound.
"Sure Twinkletoes. Just watch out, don't let him get into your stupid empty shell you call a head. Alright?" The blind girl knocked him against the side of his head, making Aang flinch.
"Sure Toph." He muttered, rubbing his temple, as the earthbender walked away.
People were still making their way up from the beach, and Aang observed how they kind of walked around him, in a small semi circle, as if he had the plague, and needed to stay away from people. Most of these warriors… he didn't know. But they knew him. Or thought they knew him. Some looked at him with admiration, although he didn't do anything to deserve that kind of praise… But Aang also saw some disgruntled looks. Green eyes that looked at him with accusations.
Where were you when my family was slaughtered?
Why didn't you stop all of this before?
What kind of coward hides himself as good people are dying, trying to protect their homes?
And he couldn't help but agree with the angry looks… Yes, he was too late. Yes, he had more blood on his hands than anyone combined… even more than the Fire Lord himself! Sure… The Fire Lords had killed and ravaged the world during this past century… But he, Aang, was also responsible! Because he had let this happen. Because he had been selfish.
"Hey!" Katara's voice called out behind him, and, turning around, the airbender saw that she was followed by Haru and Teo.
"Oh Spirits!" He put his dark thoughts aside, walking up to them, and closing his arms around the earthbender, who had, for some reason, let his "beard" grow out. Aang had already seen Haru, but had not greeted him properly. Releasing the earthbender, he bent down to Teo's level, shaking the handicapped young man's hands in both of his.
"How have you two been?" He asked, straightening up and taking a step backwards, so he stood next to Katara.
"Oh, you know, helping my dad reclaiming our village… Then, recruiting earthbenders after the fall of Ba Sing Se. That was quite easy, because a part of the military didn't submit. So, in one fell swoop, we doubled our numbers from two hundred to four hundred. And people kept coming." Haru explained, puffing up slightly in pride.
Aang suspected the earthbender didn't tell them what part he had played in recruiting the new people, trying to help them and so on. Haru was humble like that. Aang liked the young man, but for some reason, couldn't help but feel slightly awkward around him. Why, the airbender didn't know exactly.
"And you Teo?" He nodded to Haru, smiling, before turning to the young man in the wheelchair.
"Oh, you are going to like this Aang! We have been trying to repair the damage we did in the Temple. It is still not perfect, but it is a start. After this, you must come visit and explain how some parts looked before." Teo grinned.
Yes… That was something he would really love. Restoring the temples to their former glory. That was a good purpose in life, and he would much rather be remembered as the Avatar who tried to restore the world to its old ways than be the Avatar who had caused it all…
"I… I would love to Teo. After this, I'll go to the Temple. Maybe, if you would like, I could take you to the Western or the Southern one, to show you what it is supposed to look like? Would that help?" He asked. Aang didn't really want to visit the temples… At least, he would like to if they weren't filled with bones… And he knew it was probably going to be his duty to clear them after the war.
"Yeah, that would be so cool!" Teo nodded enthusiastically. Aang hid the fact that visiting the temples again wouldn't be "cool" for him, but apparently, Katara noticed, because he felt a hand on his arm, pressing his flesh softly. He turned around, smiled quickly at her.
"Oh, and I have something for you!" The young man in the wheelchair fumbled with something hid in the side of the chair, before pulling a long shaft out of it.
"Sokka said, in the last message he managed to send to my father, that your glider got damaged. So, we made you a new one!" Teo smiled, handing him the pole.
Aang hadn't even noticed that the water tribe boy had been sending messages… Spirits, how had he done that? Just walked over to the nearest post office, hired a bird and got it flying to the Northern Air Temple? Taking the shaft Teo was handing him, he saw that it was nearly as tall as he was now.
"Press the button on the side," Teo explained, and Aang did as he was told. The metal at the top split open, and two wings, in a sky-blue colour emerged, and on the bottom, two smaller fins appeared. Two small handles popped up on the top.
Aang didn't even try to hide his glee. Spirits, he had missed flying! Moving his hand over the light wood of the shaft, he felt a grin appear on his lips. Spirits… This was what he had needed. The airbender had loved using his glider, not only as a tool. He had used it during airbending, amplifying his bending, but also just to walk.
"Ah, you gave him our present I see!" a voice made Aang look up from his new glider, and he saw the Mechanist appear, with a very excited Sokka next to him. The airbender grinned at his friend, and the water tribe boy nearly jumped up and down. Yes… This whole invasion… It was Sokka's brainchild, and Aang could see how much the fact that it had all gone to plan made him proud.
"Thank you so much… I don't know how to thank you." Aang bowed politely to the older man, but he just waved it off.
"No need my boy! I even added a special feature!" The Mechanist grinned, pointing to another, smaller button on the side of the glider, "A snack compartment, when you have to fly long distances. Sokka here suggested that. Don't ask me why." The man laughed aloud, before walking off towards Appa, who groaned softly, seeing the familiar face.
And Aang couldn't hold his laugh too. Spirits, that sounded so much like Sokka! That the water tribe boy had used valuable space on a small scroll to give details on a glider with a snack compartment!
Katara pulled slightly on his arm, and he knew why. They had to move, they couldn't stay standing here until tomorrow morning. The sun was already going down slowly, and there was so much to do…
What he had feared happened, for some of the animals on the island were slaughtered almost immediately, and fires were lit. Walking through the mass of people, Aang stopped from time to time to talk some words with people he knew only by their face. It was the decent thing to do, no? These people were going to risk their lives, just to create a diversion so that he, the Avatar, could stop the Fire Lord.
Aang saw that Toph was standing close to their old campsite, next to the mountain of supplies Sokka had made them buy. He smiled, seeing how there was a bottle in her hand. Hopefully, she would get drunk, and he could get her back for doing that to him several days ago…he was surprised, however, seeing the person she was talking to… The Boulder? And The Hippo? What were they doing here? But then, he realized that Earth Rumble had probably been quite illegal, and had been stomped down on by the Fire Nation occupiers… So those fighters had probably found a new gig. Fighting for the Earth Kingdom. Or so he hoped.
"Aang?" Hakoda appeared next to him, smiling awkwardly at him.
"Oh! Hey!"
"Katara and Bato are preparing some food… So, I thought we could maybe talk before dinner?" The chief suggested, waving towards the small forest on which their open field bordered.
"Yeah! Yeah, sure! Please tell me that Bato doesn't cook everything?" He remembered Bato's cooking skills from the monastery, all those months ago… And spirits, that was not something he was willing to live through once more.
"Tui and La, you know that too? No, he has Katara watching everything he does, so he can't really screw it up… Hopefully." Hakoda chuckled, pulling his knapsack tighter over his shoulder.
Aang moved with the Southern Chief towards the forest. They didn't really talk, just nodded politely to whoever they met, but after a while, the sounds of people talking, shouting and walking around disappeared behind them, until they happened on a small clearing, littered with small boulders.
"This will do I think." Hakoda put the bag on the ground, opening it. He pulled a bottle from it, and the airbender supposed that he had taken one from their supplies. There were also two small cups.
"Oh, yes, of course… You don't know about this." The chief straightened, looking from the bottle to him.
"Actually, I do. Water Tribe traditions… Were kind of mandatory for me to learn in the Air Temple." Aang sighed as he grabbed one of the beakers. Monk Tashi had explained this one in his lessons. The person selected by the Water Tribe parents was supposed to serve dinner and drinks to them, before there could be talk of welcoming him into their family. And as dinner was being prepared for them… Aang guessed this was Hakoda's way of honouring that tradition.
Even though Aang wasn't a big fan of this tradition, knowing that Katara found them sexist… He felt compelled to go along with it…
He quickly took a look at the bottle and saw that it actually wasn't something they had bought. No, this one was different. It looked older… And for some reason, familiar…
"I visited the Northern Air Temple, to speak with the people there. We rendezvoused there, some days ago. When I explored the caves… I found that. I hope that that is alright?" Hakoda's voice sounded bashful, as if he wasn't sure that it was alright what he had done.
Barley wine. Hakoda had found barley wine.
"Oh… Yeah, sure. Actually, the Northern Air Temple was known for it. Guess I should consider myself lucky you didn't find any fermented bison milk… That would have tasted so wrong… It wasn't all that good to begin with, but I couldn't imagine what a hundred years would have done with it." He chuckled, trying to hide the fact that this overwhelmed him slightly… Hakoda could have warned him. But of course, the chief didn't exactly know how much this hurt. So, Aang decided not to talk about that.
Uncorking the bottle, the airbender poured the liquid into the two cups, handing one to Hakoda, and taking the other for himself.
"Well… On peace?" The chief lifted his cup, and Aang did the same.
"Santipurna." He spoke softly. The airbender had decided against using words from his own language when they had been undercover in the Fire Nation. But no longer.
He put the cup to his lips, drinking his cup in one go. Aang knew the wine contained little to no alcohol. The sweet and sour taste slipped down his throat, and he felt himself thinking of all those years ago… When he had drunk so much of this during his tattoo celebration. It had been the first time he had been allowed to drink wine, for the tattoos symbolized his coming of age to the Air Nomads… Aang had drunk so much of this that he had felt the world turn around him, and he recalled Gyatso bringing him to his room, chuckling all the way.
Without thinking, he grabbed the bottle once more, filling his cup, and holding it out the Hakoda, who obligate without a word. As he was pouring some in the older man's cup, he sighed.
"This drink was traditionally given to an outside guest in the temples, to welcome them. First, the monks would drink some, before offering it to the guest. Kind to show that there was nothing to fear from them. And then, after their stay, they were given two bottles. One to drink whenever they wanted… And the other, to offer to the first Air Nomad they encountered after coming home. To symbolize their friendship." Aang explained. It was weird, talking about this with a virtual stranger. With Katara, he didn't mind… Nor with the others. But with Hakoda, it felt bizarre.
But Aang didn't want to hide his people's culture anymore. He had done that for two months. No… longer. Since waking up from the iceberg. It was enough.
"In the Water Tribes, people are supposed to give gifts to their host before entering their home, to show them they mean no harm. I suppose the idea is a bit of the same." Hakoda swallowed some of the wine, then, sat down on one of the boulders.
"Aang… I wanted to apologize about how I acted on the ship. I should have talked you out of leaving… But I was too focused on preventing things I had no control over." The man explained. The airbender sat down on the rock in front of the Southern chief.
"What things?" He asked. Of course, he wasn't angry with Hakoda… but Aang also knew that there had been several disagreements between Katara and her dad… And he wanted to know what.
"Well… Look, I'm going to be honest with you. I thought a relationship between you and Katara was a bad idea. No. rather… The timing. I have nothing against you at all, but I thought it would be a bad idea to start something in the middle of a war." Hakoda explained, looking straight into Aang's eyes.
Yeah… Aang could understand that. He himself had that a few months ago, just before Ba Sing Se… But he had also learned there was no stopping his emotion, even if he wanted to. They were just too strong.
"Katara made it quite clear that what was happening between you and her was none of my business… But I was just worried. Worried what would happen to her if you died. She seems much more stable now than when I first saw her again… You know, when you were wounded." Hakoda continued.
Aang hesitated. Katara wasn't exactly stable. Or at least, not always. When everything went well, like the last two weeks, there were no problems. But the airbender also remembered how she had acted after Hama. And what she had told him about the episodes she had been having during his coma. Should he tell Hakoda about that?
No.
No, if Katara wanted her father to know that… She would tell it herself.
"Yes, she is okay now." Aang said simply. No need to make the lie more elaborated.
"That's good… I love seeing her like this. Happy. Calm. It looks a lot like how she was before we lost Kya. Sokka told me once that your arrival in her life had made that happen. So… Thank you for that." The chief lifted his cup again, to acknowledge that fact, before sipping his wine.
"I also worried what would happen if you died… I was afraid the Fire Nation would hunt her down if they ever learned of her attachment to you. I tried to make her hide her feelings, but that was, of course, a bad idea. Katara told me that Princess Azula is fully aware of your feelings for one another." As Hakoda was talking, Aang realized that the man was pouring his heart out, putting all the cards on the table. The chef was showing him all his fears and regrets concerning Katara… And hearing them… Well, they did not sound so far-fetched.
"That was another awkward conversation with my daughter. I tried to make her understand what danger she would be in, as the only known companion to the last airbender. So… Tui and La. I tried to make her promise that there wouldn't be any more… airbenders." Hakoda finished uneasily.
"Oh no, she has been drin… No. No need to worry about that!" Aang felt a rather ferocious blush creep on his cheeks. Spirits… he had just told the father of the girl he loved that she had been drinking the tea supposed to prevent pregnancy. Great job Air Head.
Please, don't let him understand…
"Let's just pretend I didn't understand that."
Of course, false hope…
"Yeah…" He muttered, without looking at Hakoda.
"Moving on. I was an idiot, simple as that. I can't, and shouldn't, try to make people hide their feelings. So… I have decided on something." Hakoda spoke, as he pulled the bag closer to him.
"In the Water tribes… It is customary to give your children something before going into battle for the first time. I know it isn't the first fight Sokka or Katara have been part of… But still, I made some things." The chief explained.
"I made armour for my son, as Is expected of any father of a new warrior. And for Katara, I made a water skin with some symbols in the leather… And I also made something for you… If you accept, that is." The voice of the older man sounded rather vulnerable now, as if he was laying his heart open for Aang.
The airbender realized what Hakoda was doing. In the Water Tribes, to be considered someone's child, even though you weren't his blood at all… That was one of the greatest honours someone could give. And Hakoda was doing that for him.
"A-Are you sure? You don't have to do that for Katara, sir. I…" He began but was cut off by the chief.
"Aang, you have saved my children countless of times. Sokka and Katara have become so much more thanks to you than whatever I could have offered them… No, I don't do it to ingratiate myself with my daughter. I do it because I want to thank you for everything you did for my family."
That made Aang hesitate. He didn't deserve that.
"Sir… You have lost so much because of me. As I told you when we first met… My absence is the reason your tribe has suffered… My absence has caused the death of Katara's mother… You shouldn't thank me for that."
"Did you do that on purpose? No. We don't know what would have happened. Maybe Kya's death is on my conscious, for failing to keep my tribe away from the shore. But what I do know, is what you did for my tribe. You protected them when that prince raided the village. You gave my children friends and people they love. No. I can't hold that against you. So… if you would accept… Here." Hakoda handed him a small box, of crude wood.
Aang took the box and opened it. Inside lay a beautiful carved wooden pendant that he recognized as an Air Nomad necklace. Passing his fingertips over it, Aang tried to hold on the tears that were forming in his eyes.
Normally, Gyatso would have carved one for him… When a child left the temple, their master would have made one for them… But Aang had left without saying goodbye, so he had never had the chance to get it. Maybe Gyatso had made one, but Aang supposed it would have been lost to time or war during the hundred years that had passed.
"I hope this is alright. I saw on the frescos in the temple the monks all wore one… And I thought that you lost yours due to the fight with Azula. So… Yeah… I made one." Hakoda explained.
Aang picked the necklace up, looking at it while it lay in the palm of his hand. It did look like those the monks used to wear… And it was really nice of Hakoda to have made this.
"I never had one." He managed to say.
"Oh… Ehm… Is there a reason?" Hakoda asked.
"There were made by the mentors when you would leave the temple. My mentor, Monk Gyatso… he was what you would call a surrogate father to me. I loved him very much." Aang explained, trying not to sound ungrateful. Hakoda couldn't have known.
"Tui and La! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to take his place, or disrespect your traditions. You don't have to accept it!" The chief dropped his eyes to the forest floor. Aang closed his hand around the necklace… Of course, it was foolish to hope he would get one from Gyatso… It was just impossible. And Hakoda had done what he thought was right, hoping to show him his gratitude.
"Sir, no need to apologize. Thank you for this. I'll wear it tomorrow. When we finish this war, I promise." He would put it on after the battle. To show the world an airbender.
And his mind drifted to another necklace, on that was safely tucked away in his own bag… Maybe… Maybe Toph had been right. No better moment than the beginning of a new era.