Chapter 8: Tough Choices
This is probably going to be a shorter chapter than normal, as this is what would have normally been at the end of Chapter 7, but because I hadn't uploaded in a while and because I wanted to get out content before exams hit I just uploaded the first part explaining Kya's story.
; ; ;
Hurt. Confusion. Happiness. Longing. Determination.
There wasn't quite a word to describe what Sokka was feeling, sitting by his lonesome on the steps leading up to their temporary cabin. The sky was blanketed with gloomy storm clouds and the first droplets had begun to fall. Normally Sokka would have put on a coat or found some shelter as he had never quite enjoyed the rain, unlike his sister. But he had bigger issues right now, much bigger than the risk of catching a cold in the weather. Issues that threatened to break the inseparable bond he and his sister shared.
; ; ;
-Thirty minutes before-
"You're kidding." Sokka could hardly breathe.
Kirima shook her head, the traces of a smile curling around the corners of her mouth. "No, Sokka. As far as I know she's still locked up in that prison." She sighed. "I'm sorry. I tried so hard to get Kya to come with me, but she just couldn't. We had broken out and our freedom was just a few metres away until Kya chose to stay. She couldn't leave the rest of the waterbenders alone."
Another moment of stunned silence passed between them. Sokka sat, his jaw unhinged completely and his eyes open wide, staring into empty space. Bato wore a surprisingly serious expression, stroking his chin, obviously deep in thought. Katara was the first to react, a wondrously wide smile plastered across her face.
"Mom is alive! Sokka, she's alive!" Katara exclaimed, jumping to her feet. "I can't believe it! We've gotta go find her!"
Kirima reached out and gently touched Katara's arm. "Easy there. She's not going to want to leave the waterbenders."
"Then we'll break them out too! We've got to go and find –"
"No." Bato's stern voice resonated around the room. His gaze was cast to the floor and his hands were balled into fists on his knees. "I'm sorry, Katara, but the mission has to come first. We can't afford to take such a major detour out of our journey to your father, especially now that we have Kirima and that we know about the eclipse. It's just too risky."
Katara gasped. "How could you say that? She's been enslaved by the Fire Nation for years! How can we stand by while someone we know is stuck in prison?"
"And what about all the people you don't know that have been imprisoned over the course of the war? Should we go and rescue the thousands, possibly millions, of people the Fire Nation has arrested, because it's unfair? The fact that it's your mother makes no difference. We can worry about freeing prisoners of war once the war is ended, but we just don't have that luxury right now."
Katara could only stand there, slack-jawed, fuming. "Of course you don't understand. You've never lost anyone!" This is my mother we're talking about, and we need to get her right now! Sokka, you're with me on this, right?"
She turned to face Sokka, who still sat on the bed. His head had sunken into his hands and he was shaking. Too many thoughts were flying through his head at a million miles an hour, and he had so many questions. How? Why? Did Dad know?
"…Sokka?" Katara asked again, her voice sounding wholly devoid of her previous confidence, replaced by fragility and hurt.
He stood up, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I need some time to think," he muttered under his breath, barging past Katara and Kirima to the front door and slamming it behind him
; ; ;
Mom was alive. Of course she was. How could he have ever have doubted that she would be dead? She was the strongest woman he had ever known par Katara. He felt stupid for ever thinking she could really be dead.
He had resigned himself to the fact that Kya was really gone once his father had left for war. Only then did it become crystal clear to him that she was gone and he finally needed to step up as the role model his parents had wished he would be. Of course, he had failed at that and had offhandedly forced Katara to take on the role of their mother. He had felt such guilt at that, forcing his baby sister to have to grow up. But now that Kya was alive, he could give Katara her childhood back. He could restore their shattered family! Just the thought of it made him giddy inside, he, Katara, Kya and Hakoda all sitting back in their igloo, laughing…
Hakoda. How much did he know? How would he react to the news?
The best part about all of this was the fact that she was jailed somewhere in the Earth Kingdom! It would take a few weeks, two months tops to find where she was and bust her out! It would be so easy, and they'd finally be reunited. Everything he had ever missed about his life would finally come back together, and they could end the war as a family.
But therein lay the problem. If they went to find Kya, there was no way they could make it to Salamander Bay to inform the watertribesmen about the eclipse Kirima had learnt about, and then make it to the Fire Nation in time. Not to mention the detour to Ba Sing Se they would need to make to inform the Earth King of the eclipse to acquire potential reinforcements.
"Mind if I join you?" Kirima asked, interrupting Sokka from his thoughts. He turned up to see the woman standing to the side, her hands clasped in front of her and her light-blue eyes gazing empathetically down on Sokka. He nodded to the free space on the stairs to his right, Kirima taking the cue to sit down.
A deep silence passed between the two, disturbed by only the slight pattering of the rain.
"Look, I know I don't have the greatest perspective on all of this. I've only just joined your group, and I haven't even had the chance to properly thank you all for saving me. But whatever you think is the right thing to do, I'll support it."
Sokka was quiet, though his eyes had closed. Kirima could see tears struggling their way through the corners of his eyelids. She placed a reassuring hand on Sokka's shoulder and sighed, before continuing. "I've known your mother for almost all of my life. When we were in prison, she would talk on and on about how great you and your sister were. She loves you so much and I know she would hate having to put you in this situation. She misses you both so much. It was so hard for her to choose to stay with the waterbenders over the opportunity to see you both again, but she did It for the right reasons." Another silence occurred. "She would be so proud to see the young man you've become."
He opened his eyes and looked forward, out onto the street where a mother was hurriedly chasing her kids inside a house to escape the weather. "I've spent so long wondering if Mom was alive, and what I would do if she was. If she'd be living peacefully in some far off town, stuck in the Fire Nation, I don't know. When I was younger I would always imagine myself, all brave, facing whatever is keeping her away from us and beating it, so our family could be back together again. Hell, I even tried to go to war with Dad when I was ten to fight!
"I gave up because I thought they were just dreams. But now that I know she's alive, and that we actually have a chance, I want to see her again more than anything." Sokka gulped. "But I don't know if saving her is the bravest thing to do right now." He turned to Kirima, tears swelling in his eyes. "I know that we should go to Dad as soon as possible to help with the fighting, especially now that we have a proper chance. But is it right for me to risk her freedom in the vain hope that we can win?"
"If we don't win this war, it won't matter If your mum is out of jail or not. No one will be free." Kirima sighed. "I think you know what you have to do."
Sokka's face hardened. His mind was made. "Rescuing Mom is important, but not as important as ending the war." He stood up, shoulders squared. "She'll have to wait."
Kirima smiled. "Spoken just like your father. I know this is a tough choice Sokka but if you want my opinion, I think it's the right one. I know your mother. She can take care of herself."
; ; ;
Katara and Bato were still in the midst of their little grudge match by the time Sokka re-entered. Bato's face was exasperated while Katara's had gone scarlet from anger. This wasn't gonna go well.
"Good, Sokka you're back. Tell Bato that we need to save Mom." Katara folded her arms and sneered at Bato, as if to say she'd already won. Spirits, this was not easy.
"Katara," Sokka said hesitantly, "I'm with Bato on this one."
Her face instantly paled. She turned from Bato to her brother, her arms slowly falling limp by her sides. "…What?"
"Look, think about it. If we go to save Mom now, we won't make it to Ba Sing Se and Chameleon Bay in time. Now that we know there's an eclipse, we have to use this opportunity to win the war and end the Fire Nation. And besides, once we win the war we can free her easily! Whaddaya say?"
Katara didn't respond. Or rather, she did. Her mouth was agape and tears began to slowly gather in the corners of her eyes. Her arms were shaking ever so slightly and her left hand had drifted unconsciously up to her neck, forgetting that she had lost the necklace.
"Katara, you've got to listen to me. Right now, we have to focus on winning this war. Then we can worry about Mom. You know it's the smarter thing to do."
She sniffed. "I guess so." But her agreement felt weak and forced, and made Sokka feel even worse. Before her could get another word in however, Katara had ran out the door into the rain. He sighed.
Behind him, Bato placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry Sokka," he said. "I know how much you and your sister miss her. But we promised your father that we would return as soon as possible."
"I know."
"Then I'm glad we could reach an agreement."
The tension in the room was so thick it was almost suffocating. Kirima kept on looking back and forth between the two, fiddling with her hands in front of her.
Finally, Bato spoke. "Well, if we have nothing else to discuss, I'd say it's time we made some headway. Sokka, start packing. Kirima, can you go out and check on Katara?"
Sokka and Kirima both nodded, and both set out on their tasks. Normally, Sokka wouldn't appreciate Bato telling him what to do but frankly, he was in no mood for an argument or a witty comeback. He just wanted to leave.
The next hour or so was a blur. Katara returned, silent as ever, ad packed her small bag of supplies up. No one talked, even as they went back to the street vendor to collect their ostrich horses and as he tried to heap praise on them for taking care of the Fire Nation soldiers. Katara especially was recluse when he talked about that, as she was still feeling the regret of the man burning in the forest.
Seeing as Katara was yet to be fully healed and Bato's foot still wasn't at full power, they got to ride two of the horses while Sokka and Kirima walked with the third, placing their bags on the saddle so as to alleviate the stress off their backs.
The walk might have been quiet, but Sokka's head sure as hell wasn't. He still couldn't decide what he should be feeling and what he actually was, a weird mix of happiness, regret, longing, determination, and just about everything else.
His mother was alive. Surely this was something to be ecstatic about. And he could only imagine Hakoda's joy to know that his wife was still alive. Yet all those happy thoughts were pushed to the back of his mind when he saw Katara clopping along, her face wearing a heartbroken expression. Even though she never said it aloud, Sokka knew how she was feeling: her brother had betrayed
He knew he'd have to make it up to her, some way or another.
; ; ;
Notes: Just something I wanted to say about Kirima, I know it might not make sense her being in the story. After all, the show seems to depict Hama as being the second last Southern waterbender when she explains her backstory, but I kind of find that hard to believe. In 'The Southern Raiders' Yon Rha says that he had a source telling him that there was one more waterbender in the tribe, but I don't see why they would have put in a spy in the first place if Katara wasn't even born by the time Hama was taken (when she explained how she was taken, she seemed fairly young). Moreover, the tribe seemed pretty familiar with the threat of these raids which wouldn't have been the case, leading me to believe that more waterbenders had been taken recently. Unless of course the Southern Raiders just went there to loot, but for the sake of things I'm going to ignore that.
Also, sorry about the lateness of the upload! Just been struggling to find some motivation to write lately, hopefully shouldn't be too bad in future but I wouldn't count on it.