Chapter 9
It's All About Respect
We were in desperate need of supplies. I stared at the remains of the food we had gotten from Omashu. We didn't even have enough food to give us a small lunch. Let along a dinner. None of us were particularly worried about lunch as that meal was usually very light. Dinner was another matter entirely.
"Well I'm going hunting." Sokka stated, standing up, his boomerang and club in hand. Aang shot up, eyes wide.
"You can't!"
"Why can't I?" Sokka asked, "if I don't we'll starve until we find a town."
"Can't you find something else to eat?" Aang asked, sounding slightly hopeful, "fruits, berries… nuts?" I jumped and looked up from where I had been petting Momo. The lemur, disturbed by my sudden change of position, chattered and flew off, but not before throwing something at my head. It bounced off my head, catching my attention and into Aang's line of sight. He picked it up and showed it to Sokka, a big smile on his face.
"See? Nuts." I peered at the item and was surprised to recognize it as an acorn. Sokka scoffed at the discovery, this time bringing Katara's attention to them.
"Like you could make a meal from that."
"Actually you can make a meal out of it." Aang pointed out, "we just need a lot."
"By the time you pick enough for a meal, I bet I could have caught two sparrow-hares and cooked them to perfection." Sokka challenged. Aang didn't rise to the challenge.
"No. I won't let you."
"Do you even know where you could find enough nuts to feed all of us?" Sokka snapped, his temper flaring. "Because I can with one animal. What is it with you and this vegetarian thing anyway? Not eating meat doesn't make sense."
"The monks told us that all life is sacred," Aang explained, there was a terse tone in his voice and a strain around his eyes, "you can't just slaughter something for just any reason."
Sokka stared at Aang, unable to speak at all. Finally he looked at Aang blankly before snapping.
"Fine, you pick your nuts. If you can come up with enough, I'll add it to our diet. Fair?"
"Yep." Aang chirped before walking up to the tree behind me and slamming it with a wave of air. At least five dozen good-sized nuts fell from the tree. As did Momo, his pouched cheeks stuffed full. I groaned. Great, nuts. On the plus side though, I realized, this meant that we were getting closer to the next familiar checkpoint for me. Episode five, imprisoned.
I could barely believe I had been in this world for two months and was only reaching episode five now. Then again, this world was real, so time moved at a normal rate. This journey had action but it was far less than how the series portrayed it to be. Then again, the series had sixty-one episodes and it at the least would span four maybe five months. I was beginning to realize that this journey took a lot longer than that. We had left the South Pole during its summer months when the sun was always in the sky. That happened during the rest of the world's fall and winter. About September to January from what I understood. While I had thought that Kyoshi island was in the middle of winter, I had been wrong. I had discovered a few weeks ago that the wheat harvest had just come in about a month before I arrived in this world. Since wheat is normally harvested in late August, early September that meant that the time of year must be around October or November. We had a lot of time to kill before the comet was going to come.
Of course this was mostly estimation and logic on my part. That, and the fact I enjoyed learning new things which is how I knew the basic times of the south pole's summer months and when wheat is usually harvested.
"Hey Pala, help me out here." Sokka called, distracting me from my thoughts. I looked up to see the elder water tribe sibling staring at a handful of nuts, the most baffled expression on his face.
"Help you with what?" I asked walking over. Sokka shoved his handful into my own hands.
"How do you eat these things?"
Dinner was a tense affair. Not only were the chestnuts extremely bitter, a trait that Aang said was common in this type of nut, but Sokka and Aang sat as far apart as they could from each other. This left Katara and I in a very uncomfortable position. Stuck as unwilling mediators. I was confused myself as to why Sokka was so upset and it wasn't just Sokka who was angry. Katara wasn't talking much to Aang either which actually left me as the true mediator.
I was woken that night by the sound of an animal in pain. Shooting upright I looked around. Aang and Katara were both asleep on either side of me but Sokka, who usually slept beside his sister, was gone. I slowly eased myself from between the younger two of our group and then out into the wilds. I had never really bothered to put an effort into tracking people down before so trying to find Sokka was pretty hard.
"Sokka?" I called, trying to find the elusive water tribe prince. I could hear his voice but the words were impossible to make out. I followed the sound until I came to a clearing. There was a cliff nearby, I saw Sokka sitting crouched next to a pile of fallen rocks. There was something brown next to him. The creature, a dear like creature with a set of impressive horns gave one last loud cry before its body relaxed.
"Sokka!" I yelped in surprise. He had just killed the animal. I didn't have an issue with that personally but Aang was going to be furious if he found out. To my surprise Sokka raised a single hand in a dismissive sign and began chanting.
I forgot the worry I had felt for Sokka and Aang's relationship as I was caught up in the strange tribal chant. I recognized the language as the language of the water tribes. I still knew little to none of the words but the tone was reverent. I caught Sokka's own name in his language but that was about it.
The chant ended, leaving Sokka still kneeling beside the carcass of the animal. Slowly I walked over to Sokka and peered over his shoulder. It was then I understood why he had taken the animal's life. The hind legs of the animal were crushed under several large boulders. There was nothing any of us could have done. The animal was ultimately going to die.
"Go ahead, say it."
"Say what?" I asked Sokka. My attention was caught by a long curved knife made out of bone, intricate designs carved into its surface. Sokka was cleaning the weapon like he used it all the time but I had never seen him with it before. Still, the weapon was clearly water tribe in make, it couldn't have come from anywhere else.
"Tell me how we could have saved it or that I'm not treating all life as sacred."
"I'd never say that," I insisted, "Sokka, I know that there are times when animals can't be saved. And I've learned from the water tribe that if it comes down to it, the life of an animal or your tribe, the tribe wins every time. Besides, I like eating meat." Sokka paused and looked at me, then smiled.
"So what was with the chant?" I asked as Sokka began pushing the boulders away from the animal's hind legs.
"That was a prayer actually," Sokka corrected, "I was thanking the moose-deer's spirit for giving us its body to use so we could survive."
"Are we going to use its meat?" I asked, "I'm pretty sure Aang would protest."
"I'm not going to disrespect Aang," Sokka explained, "But it is a little unfair…" he grunted, pushing another boulder away, "that he expects us to follow his ideals."
"I can understand that," I admitted, "you guys are giving up so much to help him."
"I'm not upset about that." Sokka explained, leaning against the boulder he had just moved, "I'd give up more to help him and my sister, I just would like to see that he's willing to give back some." I walked over and leaned against the same boulder.
"It all comes down to respect doesn't it?" Sokka gave me a soft smile and nodded.
Sokka and I found a small trading post a few miles away, after we had finished saving what we could. The guy at the trading post was more than willing to accept the moose-deer's antlers, coat and the salvageable meat in return for a good amount of money. When we returned the amount was secretly added to the coin sack Bumi had given us.
As I lay in my sleeping bag, gazing up at the star filled sky, unable to sleep I allowed my mind to wander to my companions. Maybe it wasn't the adventure itself or the multiple bonding experiences that kept the Gaang together, but the fact that all of them were willing to give up everything and anything for the sake of a single member. That thought made me really stop and think. What did I have to offer, what did I have that I would be willing to give? It seemed to me that I had nothing to offer. How could someone who had nothing to give, give at all?
It was five days later that we found Haru. Sokka had been struggling to find nuts and I was starting to get frustrated with Aang. Sure he was still a kid but he couldn't honestly expect Sokka to know where nuts naturally grew when plants were seldom seen in the pole.
There was a huge reverberating sound and a shock wave ripped through our camp. I jumped, feeling panic well up within me. The first word that came into my head was earthquake. I took a deep breath, it wasn't an earthquake, it was Haru bending. It wasn't an earthquake, it was Haru bending.
"Are you alright Pala?" Katara asked, worry creasing her brow. I nodded, "yeah, I thought it was an earthquake." I saw my friends exchanged worried looks but I brushed it off, "well are you coming to check it out or not?"
We found Haru a few meters away from us, earthbending in a ditch. I watched in curiosity, earthbending was impressive but I didn't find it as impressive as fire, water or airbending. Haru looked just like he had in the series except more real. His hands and shoes were covered in dirt and he had a smear of the stuff across his forehead where he had probably wiped sweat away. I stopped and waited for the others to catch up. Katara didn't stop beside me as I had expected her to, instead she just kept walking.
"Excuse me." Haru spun around, dropped his boulder, took off down the ditch and then earthbended a huge portion to block our way in the span of a minute. I was left gaping at just how fast he moved, then again when people are desperate… I was pulled from my thoughts by Katara turning around.
"Why did he run away? I was just trying to be friendly."
"Hey, he had to be running somewhere," Aang chirped before I could answer, "probably a village."
"And a village means no more nuts for dinner!" The two took off, clambering over the small mound and to the other side.
"I worked hard for those nuts!" Sokka shouted, following after them. I shook my head and followed, barely paying attention to the feeling of Momo landing on my shoulder. I hurried up the hill standing on the top I looked out over the peninsula we were on. There was the little village sitting next to the water and far away in the distance, a smudge of black against the clear sky. The earthbender's prison.
"Pala what are you waiting for? Come on!"
"Coming." I called before running down to where my friends all stood waiting for me.
The village was miserable. That really was the best description. Fire nation soldiers patrolled the area, dressed finely with bears trimmed and armour piled to a sheen. The village itself didn't match. Animal droppings filled the streets, the houses were old, some actually falling apart, the people looked repressed and downtrodden. We picked our way through the streets, trying not to look around too much. Fitting in was impossible, even with me wearing the earth kingdom dress from Kyoshi.
Katara spotted Haru going into his mother's shop and pointed him out to the rest of us before chasing after him. I groaned and followed behind. Honestly, would it kill her to wait for us?
The shop inside was small, a few foodstuffs were scattered here and there but otherwise it was empty. Business must be awful. Then again based on the state of this town, everything was awful.
"Why did you run away?" Haru spun around, eyes wide.
"Haru?" His mom asked, leaning over the counter to look at these strange people who had just barged into her store.
"I don't know, these people are crazy. Just look at the way they're dressed." The comment was obviously for the airbender and water tribe siblings but I couldn't help but feel a little insulted by it.
"We saw you earthbending," Katara challenged, blue eyes just begging for Haru to challenge her.
"Haru! I've told you before you can't earthbend-"
"No one saw me!" Haru exclaimed, giving up his façade of ignorance. Haru's mother sent her son a stern green-eyed gaze, one that I knew as 'we'll be talking about this later.' It was a look my mother would often give me when I was in trouble.
"You can't tell Haru not to earthbend," Katara implored, "that would be like telling me not to waterbend, it is a part of who we are." I shook my head. How had we gone from demanding he explain himself to arguing against his mother in his sake? Then again, it was Katara doing all the speaking. Aang seemed supportive but couldn't work a word in edgewise and Sokka looked nearly traumatized.
"Katara," I called before this could go any further, "you've seen the fire nation forces here. Do you think they'd tolerate an ability that could smudge up their shiny clothes?" The sarcasm ran thick off my tongue. I knew it wasn't the time but I couldn't bring myself to care. Looking at the slum this town was and knowing it was the fault of those soldiers, parading around in shiny suits made my blood boil.
"What can they do that they haven't done already?" Katara asked, turning to me; it was Haru's mother that answered.
"They could take Haru away, just like they took his father." A knock on the door distracted us from the conversation. Sokka hurried over to the closed blinds and lifted a single panel.
"Fire nation, act natural."
Of course this meant that when the fire nation walked in everything was really awkward. Aang and Sokka were pretending to have a funny conversation but upon seeing the soldiers their funny words dried up. Katara was looking a hand of grapes she had grabbed from somewhere and was looking it over critically… in the middle of the room. I had grabbed Haru and assessing his age close to mine whispered an instruction in his ear then proceeded to pretend to be a stupid girl. I batted my eyelashes and twisted a bit of hair around my finger. Haru had been doing a really good job of pretending to flirt with me as the soldiers walked in but his words vanished upon seeing them approach his mother.
"Tax just got raised," the lead man sneered while I wondered why five soldiers were needed to deal with an old shopkeeper and her teenaged son. Haru's mother didn't move so the soldier moved forward, a flame appearing just above his palm.
"I'd listen if I were you, fire can be so… temperamental." At his last word the little flame grew before disappearing when the man closed his hand. That was a serious threat, especially since this entire village was practically made from tinder. Haru's mother quickly spun on her heels and grabbed the cash box from under her counter. She quickly showed it to the soldiers. They grabbed the coins before throwing three of the little bronze coloured ones on the carpet.
"Keep the copper." He smiled at me, his eyes roaming up and down. They flicked back to Katara only once but Katara was only fourteen and therefore not of much interest. She still had a way to go before she would become the beauty I knew she was. I on the other hand had all my womanly curves (even of they were few) and was pretty much legal age in this world.
I didn't have to fake the shiver that ran up my spine.
The solders left. I took a great big sigh the second the door was closed and turned to my friends. Haru's mother had finished putting the money away in the cash box.
"I'm sorry," Katara looked around then quickly returned the grapes to their spot, "I didn't know."
"I understand that," Haru's mother replied, "but the sooner you all leave, the better."
I was woken up the next day by Katara shouting that Haru had been arrested and it was all her fault. I felt awful but there was little I could do now, Haru was already gone.
"We need to save him," Katara told us firmly, "it's my fault he is there in the first place."
"Listen Katara, I know your upset and all but there is no way any of us can get into that prison."
"Yes, I can." Katara corrected, "because I'm going to get arrested for earthbending."
"You're crazy." Sokka deadpanned. Katara sent a pointed glare at her brother before turning to us.
"Listen, so I was thinking…"
A/N: I'm sorry I have a lot to talk about here. Okay, first thing. The dagger Sokka had was a ceremonial dagger used only in important events or the taking of an animal's life and is never to see battle. It is something all male southern water tribe members carry with them and it is granted to then upon manhood. Since Sokka's father and all the adult men of the tribe weren't around when Sokka was fifteen he normally wouldn't have gotten it. However, Gran-gran still had her late husband's dagger and gave it to Sokka so he could have that knowledge that he was legally considered a man in their tribe.
As for Sokka's snappy remark to Maddi he was upset about Aang saying that he wasn't treating the lives of animals as sacred. The ritual of the prayer (which is a thank you to all kills, with fish and most sea life as natural exceptions) is a sign of just how much the spirits of animals are revered in the water tribe. When Aang accused Sokka of taking life so easily it was like a slap in the face.
Okay now one more thing. Imprisoned had to be split into two episodes because of the first part of this chapter (and I couldn't leave it, character development was to important). The next episodes. After this are The Spirit World part one and two. These chapters will be called Spirits and will be broken down into three chapters and trust me I'm going to need three chapters as this will be the keystone to the rest of my story. It will determine what happens to Maddi and where the story will go from there. Thank you and I hope you've enjoyed the story so far.
Princess Kassie Out.
