This War of Ours

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

CHAPTER 9

captain of this sinking boat

"So… music night," Sokka said, attempting to smoothen his squeaky, pubescent voice into something manly. "Got any plans, Yue?"

Yue smiled brightly at him before looking down at her lap, blushing. "No, I don't, Sokka."

"Great! I-I mean," Sokka coughed, trying to curb his enthusiasm, "If you're up for it, we can dance, or walk around, or I dunno, do an activity—"

Yue touched his arm to stop his rambling.

"Sure, we can do an activity," the princess said, giggling.

Sokka felt his cheeks burn, but the sound of her tinkling laugh made his heart swell. He made that happen. He made her laugh. He made her happy— happier than the first time he met her a year ago.

"Good, good," he tucked his shaking hands behind his back, faking nonchalance. "I guess I'll pick you up— er, wait for you in the common room, then."

Yue hid her smile behind her slender fingers. "I'll be looking forward to it, Sokka."

He couldn't fight the goofy smile on his face— and when he walked away, he didn't fight the jauntiness in his strut, either.

He didn't even miss a step as he passed by Haru, who had just stood up from Earth Kingdom table.

"Hey, Haru!" He slung an arm over the disgruntled boy's shoulders. "Whatcha doin' on music night?"

Haru raised his eyebrows at him. "Um. Probably training with your sister and maybe you and Suki?"

"Oh, sorry about that," Sokka retracted his arm with a pained grimace. "I guess you didn't know. Jet asked Katara to go with him on music night. And she said yes."

"Are you kidding me?" Haru groaned, turning away from him. "First it was Lee, then now Jet…"

"Is Lee that firebender you've been sparring with?" He asked, momentarily forgetting his lighthearted mood.

Haru's eyes widened.

"You weren't supposed to know about that."

"Eh," Sokka shrugged, "Suki told me."

Haru's head whipped to the Earth Kingdom table behind them, where Suki and Katara were having lunch with the rest of the Kyoshi warriors. His face dropped ever so slightly when he caught sight of the waterbender.

"Is this Lee guy… uh," Sokka ventured, scratching his head awkwardly, "Is he friendly with Katara? Like Jet?"

"Not particularly." The earthbender's brows furrowed. "At least, I don't think so. She said he burned her hair, and that she doesn't believe his name is Lee so she said her name was Kya."

The other boy blinked in surprise, but recovered a split-second later.

"Ah, don't worry! Katara would never go for a Fire Nation guy." Sokka slung his arm around his shoulders once more. "I think it's about time I taught you some stuff about the ladies, my dude."

"I know stuff about the ladies—" Haru tried to shrug out of the Water Tribe warrior's grip, but Sokka just clung on tightly and walked him towards the Eastern Courtyard where the benders' battle would take place, now that the rain had let up for a couple of weeks.

"Now, as her big brother, I don't generally approve of whoever's interested in Katara," Sokka explained, Haru still trapped in his arm, "But between you, Jet, and the firebender, I'd vote for you."

Haru stopped struggling at that.

"Really?"

"Sure, and that's why I'm gonna help you." He plunked Haru down on a bench and stood in front of him sternly. "Now, the number one mistake nice guys like you make: being too nice."

The older boy looked dumbfounded. "You can be too nice?"

Sokka nodded sagely.

"Yep. If you want to keep her interested, you have to act aloof, like you don't really care one way or the other."

He peered over Haru's shoulder. "Oh, perfect timing! Here they come. Remember, act aloof."

"Hey, you guys," Katara waved as she hurried towards them with Suki, Jia, and Ling in tow.

"Hi, Katara!" Haru greeted back, and Sokka resisted the urge to whack him with his boomerang. He settled for a frantic shake of his head.

"I-I mean—" Haru started, but the girls were no longer paying attention, their conversation already on the new technique the Kyoshi warriors learned from Sifu Long Feng.

Sokka sighed resignedly and sat down beside Haru.

"We'll try again next time, man."

"Haru, are you going to join the benders' battle today?" Katara asked, drifting away from the Kyoshi warriors.

Sokka pointedly raised his brows at Haru, who immediately forced a bored expression.

"Maybe I will, maybe I won't," he replied, leaning back casually on the stone bench. In the corner of his eye, he could see Sokka's subtle thumbs up.

"Oh…" Katara looked between him and Sokka, who shrugged innocently. "Well, if you do, maybe you can try that earth column thing you did with Lee the other night. It was really good."

"You think so?" Haru shot forward eagerly, but forced himself back when he saw Sokka's wide eyes. "I mean, I guess, whatever."

Katara looked at him in utter confusion before suddenly kicking her brother in the shin.

"What did you say to him?" She asked, planting her hands on her hips.

"What?" Sokka raised his hands in surrender, voice cracking. "I didn't do anything!"

"Oh yeah? Then why is he acting like you when you're pretending you don't want the last piece of seal jerky?"

"I don't act like that—"

The siblings' squabble was cut off by murmurs of anticipation as the first two benders— an earthbender and a waterbender— took their place on the battlegrounds. Sifu Fong stood between them with his hand held high, beady eyes glancing left and right.

He brought down his hand and the battle began.

Sokka immediately jumped up the bench and crowed, "WATER TRIBE!" at the top of his lungs.

The older bender grinned at him from the arena before a chunk of rock thumped his stomach, knocking the breath out of him.

"Oops," said Sokka, slowly inching down to hide in the crowd.

"You know, Sokka," Suki mused, her eyes never leaving the battle, "Maybe there's a wrong way to show your support."

The corners of his mouth comically dropped as the sifus declared the earthbender the winner.

Katara laughed at her brother's dismay and took the seat he vacated. She nudged Haru with her shoulder.

"So, are you gonna battle someone today?"

Haru's mouth twisted into a shy smile.

"You know what? Yeah. I might give it a shot. Even Sifu Fong said I was getting better, and that's saying something. Plus, with Lee joining us, I now know how to handle firebending and waterbending."

"That's great, Haru!" Katara gently touched his arm and he looked at her in surprise before hastily averting his gaze to the new pair preparing for battle.

Haru recognized the other earthbender, Luo, who was going up against the Fire Prince. He was a hulking boy a year younger than Haru, broad where the Fire Prince was lanky. Surely that would give him an advantage— Haru had learned the hard way that earthbenders were weakest when their roots were broken. The prince probably knew that; surely he received special training from the masters.

Haru's brows furrowed in thought— the Fire Prince rarely missed the chance to join the benders' battles, but for the past month or so, he had been conspicuously absent from the field.

Wonder what changed.

The two benders took their stances, waiting for the signal to begin. As soon as Sifu Jeong Jeong brought his hand down, the Fire Prince kicked a blast of flames against the earthbender. Luo barely had time to roll away when another burst of fire flared from the Fire Prince's fist. The earthen wall Luo erected was swiftly cut down by a fire whip, and Luo launched a barrage of attacks but the firebender just met them with flame-coated arms.

Luo sent discs of earth flying towards his opponent's head, but the Fire Prince just dropped to his knees and planted his palms on the ground.

Haru gasped— he knew what was coming even before it happened, because that was how he taught himself the earth column technique, so Lee wouldn't raze his legs with that tight circle of fire that he hadn't seen any other firebender use before—

He turned to Katara as Jeong Jeong declared the Fire Prince the winner, his eyes wide with realization, but Katara was already chatting with Jia, oblivious to the horror he felt.

Koh take us. We were sparring with the Fire Lord's son.

"Winter, spring,

Summer and fall.

Winter, spring,

Summer and fall.

Four seasons

Four loves.

Four seasons

Four loves."

This was one of the more curious things that Headmaster Iroh insisted on doing that bewildered Katara beyond belief.

Music nights.

"Oh, it'll be lovely, Katara!" Baya had assured her, as she and the other Water Tribe girls crowded around the mirror in their dormitory, each in a different stage of primping. "I'm surprised it took you this long to join us."

"It only took Jet to convince her to join us," Gumi impishly nudged Katara with her hairbrush.

She didn't even bother correcting the other girl as she fidgeted with the nicest tunic she brought from the South Pole. Oddly enough, she missed her Gran-Gran. The old woman would probably be clucking disapprovingly at her, warning her of inappropriate things that happened between teenagers in the darkness, and she'd probably be protesting that she was a big girl now, that she knew her limits— it would earn her an irritated tch and a pinch from her grandmother, but she missed the old woman all the same.

Right now, she smoothed the nonexistent wrinkles in her clothes as Jet dropped down the seat next to her, casually draping an arm around her shoulders as they watched the headmaster's performance draw to a close.

"Does he always sing on music nights?" She ventured, trying to ignore the fluttering in her chest as Jet's arm tightened around her.

The boy grinned sideways at her, a hint of bitterness in his smile. "Yeah. Isn't it amusing when firebenders think they can act like we do?"

Katara gulped. So far, the only firebender she'd observed up close was Lee, and he seemed like a normal kid just like the rest of them, but she wasn't about to tell anyone about that.

So she settled for an uncertain, "Yeah…" because she felt that disagreeing with Jet would sour the mood.

Jet regarded her with a sidelong glance. "You know, Katara…"

The last strains of the tsungi horn filled the air between them as he trailed off.

"What is it, Jet?"

"I have a feeling we have a lot in common," Jet's usually relaxed demeanor turned stony, "Especially when it comes to the Fire Nation."

Katara bowed her head, brushing her fingers against the ridges of her mother's necklace.

Jet ran a comforting hand down her arm. "It's alright, Katara. We're all victims of the Fire Nation here, no matter how much the Academy tries to deny it." He jerked his thumb towards one of his friends down the table. "Longshot over there? His town got burned down by the Fire Nation. One of my Freedom Fighters back in the village— we call him The Duke— I found him trying to steal our food. I don't think he ever really had a home."

"What about you?" Katara asked, peering up at his sharp features, her voice smaller than she'd intended.

Jet's grip tightened on her arm, and she found herself leaning into his side, instinct telling her to comfort, to heal.

"The Fire Nation killed my parents," he finally murmured in a voice barely audible over the din in the Great Hall. "I was only eight years old. That day changed me forever."

She gripped his knee and he returned her concerned gaze with a small smile on his lips, his eyes simmering with anger, with a need for justice.

"Sokka and I lost our mother to the Fire Nation," she told him in the same quiet voice.

He reached up to brush a lock of hair from her face, and Katara's heart flitted around her ribcage like a trapped sparrowkeet.

"I'm so sorry, Katara." He searched her face for a moment, and Katara shyly averted her face, bowing her head. She clutched her mother's necklace.

"Is that why you're here at the Academy?" She asked, veering away from her final memory of her mother. "To learn how to defend yourself from the Fire Nation?"

The side of his mouth with the straw curled upwards.

"Yes. Me and my Freedom Fighters, we're walking into the belly of the beast," he declared proudly. "We'll leave once we learn enough about the Fire Nation tactics to mess them up."

"You won't finish your training?"

Jet looked at her as though she had let him down somehow, and she's so, so afraid that she'd ruined the mood.

"You finish here, you become part of the military, or you become a spy on your own people," Jet's dark eyes narrow in disgust. "Best if you leave early and fight back."

Zuko lingered in the shadows, waiting for the tell-tale flash of blue that was Kya.

His recent win the other day— over an earthbender who was twice his size— left him itching for more training. He wouldn't admit it out loud, of course, especially not to Uncle, but working with benders of two other elements instead of working against them really gave him a new perspective on his techniques as a firebender.

Not enough to beat Kya yet— she was self-taught, and her waterbending was too unpredictable and unconventional for him to learn how to circumvent her moves— but he did learn enough of Haru's movements to identify the weak points of the common styles that General Fong taught.

Where are they?

"Hey there, Lee," a different female voice said somewhere above him. Its cadence was anything but friendly. He peered at the branches over his shoulder— there was a light rustle of leaves to his left and loud footsteps to his right. He whipped around, blood pounding in his ears— he was being cornered, and the flash of blue he saw did not come from a familiar face.

He lit a fire in his palm, ready to attack, or at least run away before he was unmasked. The sudden light revealed a Water Tribe boy, boomerang held in casually in his hand.

"Easy there, firebender," the boy said, and Zuko tried not to let his growl of irritation escape through his lips. Of course— of course the boomerang boy was Kya's brother. The Spirits just loved to play their cosmic jokes on him.

"Oh, relax," Zuko whipped around to see a girl in war paint jump down from the trees. He rolled his eyes under his mask. Everything about this ambush was anything but relaxing.

"We just wanted to thank you properly for training with our friends," the girl continued, tapping a folded metal fan against her open palm. Zuko's eyes widened. The war paint, the fan, the jian sword cleverly concealed within the folds of her forest green robes— this girl was a Kyoshi warrior.

"Where's Kya?" He growled before he could stop himself— wait, that wasn't what I wanted to ask— and the Kyoshi warrior smiled wryly.

"Oh, she's having a grand ol' time," she said, advancing slowly.

Zuko stepped back warily, glancing at the other warrior from the corner of his eye.

"Who are you?" He already knew the answer to his question, but he needed to stall. Was Haru coming? Did he know what his supposed friends were doing?

I thought Haru and Kya were my friends now, too, a hurt little voice in his head piped up. He gritted his teeth and tried to tune out the voice. Of course they weren't friends— they didn't even know who he really was.

"Oh, how rude of us not to introduce ourselves," the Kyoshi warrior said, sarcasm dripping in her tone. "I'm Suki. This is Kya's brother, Sokka."

"We just have a few questions for you, buddy, don't worry," the boy said, holding his hands up in an appeasing gesture. Zuko did not believe his friendly tone, especially when he could see the boy's knuckles straining as he gripped his boomerang. He could still remember its painful thwack against the back of his head.

Zuko was suddenly glad he didn't train with weapons at night— his dao swords would have been a dead giveaway.

"Okay, then. Ask your questions."

The boy glanced at the girl slightly, and she crossed her arms and glared right back. The interaction would have been amusing if Zuko wasn't planning every exit strategy in his head.

The Water Tribe warrior shrugged resignedly, but puffed his chest up when he faced Zuko.

"We were wondering if you know why the Fire Prince is training at night."

Zuko froze. He didn't need to worry about dead giveaways, apparently.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said through gritted teeth, eyes flickering between each warrior, weighing his chances.

"Oh, but maybe you do," the girl said, a little too innocently, "After all, there are only a handful of people who train at night— maybe you ran into him on your way down to see Kya and Haru."

Zuko exhaled sharply through his nose, still assessing if they would give chase if he ran off. Music nights were loud, but to be seen running away would definitely land him in detention. To be seen running away with a mask would raise a lot of questions he really didn't know the answer to.

"Why do you need to know?" He asked levelly, muscles straining in his crouched stance, ready to leap away or fight back.

"Oh, you know, a lot of reasons," the Water Tribe boy said, waving his boomerang-bearing hand nonchalantly as he took a deliberate step toward Zuko. "I'd rather not have my sister walkin' around at night when there are potential threats. I'm sure you understand."

"Your sister's the potential threat," Zuko muttered under his breath.

The girl snorted in apparent agreement. The boy raised his hands defensively.

"Sure, yeah, I get that, she can take care of herself," his voice rose and broke slightly. He cleared his throat and returned to a more somber facade. "Still, who knows what would end up happening? Fire is unpredictable, and the Fire Prince is a pretty volatile person—"

I'm not that volatile, roared Zuko in his head as the flame in his hand flared.

"—and we don't know what would happen if our midnight training stints reach the headmaster's ears," the girl stepped in, arms still crossed.

"Oh," Zuko commented lamely, his posture relaxing slightly. So this was the whole point of the ambush? Hadn't he agreed to train with Kya and Haru on the promise that none of them would rat out the others?

The implication of their statement caught up to him and he stiffened once more. He was used to not being trusted, but Uncle? Uncle let things slide all the time. Uncle was all about working together and harmony and Spirits-forsaken music nights.

"You don't have to worry about Un— Iroh. Or the Fire Prince," he bit out. Yes, they don't have to worry about him. He'd rather forget this whole altercation happened. "It's Azula and Zhao you have to watch out for."

"Azula?" the Water Tribe boy asked. The Kyoshi warrior rolled her eyes.

"The Fire Princess," the girl hissed at him, and this time, Zuko did find the interaction amusing. Maybe it was the relief— they still didn't know he was the Fire Prince.

"Why would we watch out for the Fire Princess and Sifu Zhao?" The boy placed his fist on his hip. It was so reminiscent of Kya that Zuko had no more doubts he was her brother.

He swallowed. If he hurt him trying to escape, Kya and the other waterbenders could just heal him up, right?

You've always been so weak, Zuzu. How pathetic, caring about the wellbeing of peasants.

He took a deep breath. "Because the Fire Princess and Sifu Zhao actually enjoy tormenting people, unlike the Fire Prince and his uncle. Iroh's idea of punishment is lukewarm tea."

"And why should we trust your word for it, masked man?" The girl furled and unfurled her fan, eyes narrowing.

All the tension's back, and the heat of his breath bouncing back at him under his heavy wooden mask was simply stifling. He forced himself to breathe steadily.

"I can't make you trust me this instant," he shrugged, fire flickering. "You only have my word. Take it or leave it."

"Hmm. Alright, Lee."

The girl stepped back and for a split second Zuko thought the interrogation was over but then there was a flash of metal and his mask clattered painfully against his jaw— bits of blue-painted wood scattered in the air as the metal fan made its way back to its owner.

Zuko roared and twisted the flame in his hand into a whip but the girl nimbly leapt into the trees and before he could find her he heard the boomerang whistling its way towards him— he ducked just in time for its sharp edge to graze the top part of his mask.

Retreating was the best option. He will not be unmasked. Especially by two wanna-be investigators.

He punched the ground and sent a wave of fire hurtling towards the boy, not enough to seriously injure, but just enough to send him yelping and dancing away to stomp the fire from his boots.

Zuko glanced up at the trees. He can't do anything to deter the girl now, but if she bothered to pursue him on open ground, he could easily manage.

He fled as fast as he could, making a beeline for the corners of the courtyard, and finally disappeared into the shadows.

Suki jumped down from her perch, grinning.

"That was fun," she remarked, tucking her fan into her belt. "I'm still pretty sure Haru's right, though. Dunno if you're convinced, but it wasn't a waste of a night…"

She caught sight of Sokka slumped against a tree trunk and she grimaced guiltily.

"Um, yeah. Sorry for dragging you away from your date," she rubbed her arm self-consciously. "But our mission's over, so…"

He still hasn't moved from his hunched position. Suki frowned; it was the first time he saw him this… despondent. Maybe she could try to brighten him up, the Sokka way.

She performed an elaborate, old-fashioned bow reserved for Earth Kingdom monarchs. "Your service to this country is much appreciated, m'lord. Your princess awaits."

"Yeah, about that," Sokka shrugged and scratched the side of his head with his boomerang, making Suki flinch at his carelessness. She caught his arm before he could cut himself.

"Hey," she grasped his wrist reassuringly, but in her mind she was still carefully choosing the right words to say. "I'm here if you wanna… maybe… talk about it?"

He shrugged out of her grip, rubbed his arm, picked at the skin of his elbow, scrutinized the hem of his sleeve, scuffed the toe of his singed boots on the ground. Suki waited patiently.

He sighed and crumpled to the ground, head in hands.

"She's engaged."

"What?" She yelped and covered her mouth. The tsungi horn would cover any noise in the woods, but they'd pushed their luck enough. She lowered her voice just a smidge. "How can she be engaged? We're practically the same age! That's too young!"

He lifted one shoulder, jostling his head in the process. When he spoke, his voice was muffled by his arms.

"She's almost sixteen. Sixteen is the marrying age in the Water Tribes," he muttered. Suki started towards him— then jumped when he slammed his fist into the ground.

"I can't believe I thought I had a chance!" He punctuated his words with punches, "I don't get it— one minute she wants to go out with me, the next minute she tells me it's all just a mistake—"

The rage left as quickly as it came and he visibly deflated, head slumping back to his knees.

"I never thought a girl like her would even notice a guy like me. She's a princess, and I'm… I'm just a Southern peasant. But she said she really liked me, so I thought I had a chance. I even carved her this."

He rummaged through the front of his tunic and held out a lopsided wooden... thing. Suki crouched down and tried to decipher what it was.

"It's a nice bear," she ventured uncertainly. Sokka finally looked up just to scowl at her and roll his eyes to the heavens.

"It's a fish! It has fins and everything!" He sighed dramatically. "You have no appreciation for art."

"Oh-kay then, it's a fish," Suki sat down in front of him, a few feet of dewy grass between them. There was a moment of silence as Sokka examined the poorly-crafted fish and Suki tugged awkwardly at the blades of grass at her feet. Finally, Suki couldn't take the silence anymore.

"Do you know? Who she's engaged to?"

Sokka traced circles on the ground with his fish's… head? tail? fin? before he answered.

"I don't know him. But I do know she doesn't love him. She doesn't even like him." He heaved a huge sigh. "But she loves her people. Even though she's not marrying them, but whatever."

He tossed the carving in the air and caught it, tossed it and caught it, again and again until he missed and the fish clattered off somewhere in the dark. He sprawled out on the muddy earth with a frustrated huff. Suki followed suit in a much less sloppy manner, picking spots less touched by rain. Together, they stared up at the dark canopy of leaves.

"Have you ever liked anyone?" Sokka asked, tucking his hands behind his head.

"Of course I have," Suki pushed herself up onto her elbows and side-eyed him defensively. "I am a warrior, but I'm a girl, too."

Sokka kept his eyes on the darkness above. "When does liking someone stop sucking so bad?"

Suki plopped back down onto the ground. "I don't really know. It just sort of… faded, y'know? It disappeared before it could actually hurt. Guess it was because I was just a kid back then."

There was a pause and she thought he'd tell her that she was still a kid, that she was acting like such a girl, but he never did.

Instead, he said, "Guess things are just harder since we're not kids anymore."

She watched as the wind rustled the leaves and stars peeked out at her. It was the first clear night they've had in months, but the heaviness in the air remained.

The heaviness never really let up, though.

"Yeah, I guess we're not really kids anymore."

A/N: Alright, this started out as a supposedly fluffy chapter but it ended up with a lot of angst. Oh well. What's teenage life without angst, anyway? Honestly though, this was a really fun chapter for me to write. Sure, my mind couldn't decide which direction to go, but it was a fun chapter. But please, please leave a comment because, while I know the general plot of this thing, the devil is in the details. Please let me know your thoughts on this!